What is wrong with Patrick Reed? He is a great golfer but a rather marmite character who seems you either love or hate. Sadly, given his propensity to sail close to the wind with the golf rules, supporters are few and far between.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bunker, or waste area, the Patrick Reed saga pops its nose out again. This time its the world number two Brooks Koepka giving his two pennyworth and he, as usual, does not pull any punches. Koepka described Reed’s actions as “building sandcastles in the sand.”
To hit a drive that bounces on the fairway and runs in to a divot is bad enough but if it runs in to an old pitch mark that really tries one’s patience. You curse your luck and play the ball as best you can – right? Not the Kooch who decided to try and invent a whole new sub rule!
Former LPGA player Ann Walker was not exactly burning it up at the recent Senior LPGA Championship but then her score got a lot worse in fact 58 shots worse! Unfortunately, our Ann did not pay attention when the new rules were announced at the beginning of the year. The result, 42 penalty shots imposed for her opening round and a further 16 for her first five holes on day two.
This one could run and run. And the run some more. Were DQ'd college teams actually instructed to play from the wrong tee?
Did this really happen? It's got the golf world going bonkers...
Doris Chen's mother gets her disqualified from LPGA qualifying after kicking her daughter's errant drive bak into play.
Keegan Bradley said that he felt he was on the right track. “I feel better than ever. I really do,” Bradley said after a practice round for his sixth appearance at The Players Championship. “I know I’ll turn the corner.”
Despite all the excellent communication from England Golf and other bodies golfers are still struggling to get their heads around the new World Handicap System. It's not the calculation of the Handicap that seems to be causing the most discussion but the differentiating factor between golf courses known as the 'Slope Rating'. A few key facts are Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating /113)
It’s etiquette right? You hit the ball in the direction of another person on a golf course, you shout ‘fore’. It instilled in you from almost your first shot on a golf course, be you ten year’s old or eighty. However, it seems for some professionals that once they have reached the lofty heights of the tour this unwritten rule no longer applies to them.
It was great to see Graeme McDowell win again on the European Tour but had the tour applied the slow play rules more strictly come Sunday afternoon might it have been a different story? The Northern Irishman was carrying a ‘bad time’ after a transgression during his second round and playing in the final pairing come Sunday he and partner Victor Dubuisson became detached at the back of the field.
The The European Tour has announced a concrete four-point plan aimed at tackling the issue of slow play in professional golf. The plan will be implemented at the start of the 2020 season and focuses on four key areas: regulation, education, innovation and field sizes.
