2021 Professional Golf Thread

[Imurg]

The ball bounced up about knee height....
How come thr free drop didn't embed the ball..?

 

[Blue in Munich]

So going by the rules as they are these days you are

Allowed to take a drop from an embedded ball anywhere on the course

You can take the drop without requiring clarification for a referee or playing partner

So on arriving at his ball he believes it to be embedded he can check and if he believes it’s embedded he can take the drop and carry on

That’s the exact process that it appears Rory did on the 18th and apparently because of the ground and the weather they have had

But what muddied the waters was calling for a referee- why ?

Was he unsure if he had done the right thing
or

Was is still in the mindset that you need the referee to confirm the drop

Or was he covering up

Going through the conversation the referee appears to have no issue with anything that Reed has done

So is it guilty because it’s him or because he did break the rules ?

And if that ball embedded from a height of about 90 feet on the first bounce you'd need a shovel to dig it out & it would be covered in cack is my experience of that situation. He doesn't seem to have done either, which is why I have trouble believing his version of events.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

The ball bounced up about knee height....
How come thr free drop didn't embed the ball..?

In an area that was a bit drier ?‍

Is this all because it’s Reed ? As was said by Golf Channel multiple people had the same drop including Rory on the 18th - the referee was there and checked and he appeared to think it was fine ?

Obviously suggestions of making the indentation by using his fingers to create it etc can’t be proved so if the ball did make a very small indent and with the rules they play to then his drop was fine - as the referee deemed so

Guess ultimately the only one who will know for sure will be Reed - anything else is just speculation

And if that ball embedded from a height of about 90 feet on the first bounce you'd need a shovel to dig it out & it would be covered in cack is my experience of that situation. He doesn't seem to have done either, which is why I have trouble believing his version of events.

That’s where its different on the tour - it just needs to make a slight indent as opposed to being “plugged” - the indent can be very small as well - daft I know but that’s the rules they play. It’s not the embedded ball we would witness

 

[Blue in Munich]

In an area that was a bit drier ?‍

Is this all because it’s Reed ? As was said by Golf Channel multiple people had the same drop including Rory on the 18th - the referee was there and checked and he appeared to think it was fine ?

Obviously suggestions of making the indentation by using his fingers to create it etc can’t be priced so if the ball did make a very small indent and with the rules they play to then his drop was fine - as the referee deemed so

Guess ultimately the only one who will know for sure will be Reed - anything else is just speculation



That’s where its different on the tour - it just needs to make a slight indent as opposed to being “plugged” - the indent can be very small as well - daft I know but that’s the rules they play. It’s not the embedded ball we would witness

I'm fully aware of the rule thanks Phil, I'm also fairly conversant with the laws of physics, and a ball dropping from 2 feet into grass that thick is not going to leave an indent in the grass with a lip, as per the commentary. No way.

The more you try and argue his corner, the more things seem wrong, but you crack on.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I used to like Reed as your "non comforming" American, but now I can see why so many over there dislike him. Theres far too many "dodgy" actions and situations involving only him going on and I don't believe one person can be that lucky/unlucky.
Is he deliberately cheating, I don't know but it certainly doesn't look good with the amount of situations he's involved in.
What I do know is I have lost all respect for him.

 

[USER1999]

You could be really unlucky, and have it bounce once, into a previous plug mark left by another player.

It's a thought. Bad luck happens sometimes.

 

[Imurg]

You could be really unlucky, and have it bounce once, into a previous plug mark left by another player.

It's a thought. Bad luck happens sometimes.

Possible
But I doubt even Callaway's supercomputer could work out the odds.

 

[Whydowedoit]

Moving on. How dreadful is Adam Scott's putting stroke? So bad yesterday it was embarrassing. There's no way I could hit the tremendous 3 wood shots he hit, but I could definitely putt better as could most people subscribing to this forum. He really must get rid of the broomstick monstrosity, you cannot be that bad with a standard putter. It's difficult to recall a top player with such an inadequate stroke & method. He needs help. Be interested to see if he changes it tonight. He should do!

 

[Dando]

So now even Stevie Wonder can see that Reed wasn’t entitled to relief can the PGA take action?

 

[Dando]

Moving on. How dreadful is Adam Scott's putting stroke? So bad yesterday it was embarrassing. There's no way I could hit the tremendous 3 wood shots he hit, but I could definitely putt better as could most people subscribing to this forum. He really must get rid of the broomstick monstrosity, you cannot be that bad with a standard putter. It's difficult to recall a top player with such an inadequate stroke & method. He needs help. Be interested to see if he changes it tonight. He should do!

To be fair that dreadful stroke has won him a few quid

 

[Tashyboy]

Listening to the commentary on YouTube Reed is heard saying he “believes it broke ground”. And due to unprecedented rainfall they were allowed to “lift clean and place”. But even so if he is moving his ball why not show another player before doing so. I do when playing amateur golf at our place so why not him. And if that was plugged he would of not walked straight to it in that grass As just the top of the ball would be showing. Again why not mark it before moving it. Most balls I have seen plugged look like a cream egg. Did he actually clean it or just move it.
From what I have seen a poor show.

 

[garyinderry]

It's a pity the camera man didnt go over and give us one of those up close lie shots they love to show on the European tour.

 

[Oddsocks]

2nd bounce or not, to me he creates an indentation with his fingers before the ref gets there.
Guy is an embarrassment to the game.

This!!!!

The ball bounced from the same height as he’s free drop, surely it would have plugged on the drop ESPECIALLY as it was on a slip so the water would have drained down the bank towards the edge of the path.

 

[nickjdavis]

Just watched the video.

A spectator/volunteer told Reed that "she didn't see it bounce". Reed concluded therefore that it didn't bounce. Picked the ball up and moved it aside to check if there was a depression and then called a rules official over.

Reed showed the rules official where the ball had been lying and asked the rules official to confirm that the ball had been embedded. Rules official prodded around with his finger, decided there was a depression and that Reeds ball had been embedded.

Very fishy. In my opinion it was not reasonable to conclude that the ball was lying in its own pitch mark. Concluding that the ball lay in its own pitchmark on the basis that a single spectator/volunteer said that she didn't see it bounce (note that she did not say. "it did not bounce"....a subtle difference) was dubious to say the least, and then moving the ball before allowing a rules official to examine the position of the ball was plainly wrong. If Reed wanted the rules official to give an opinion then he should have left the ball in situ so the rules official could see exactly how the ball had been lying.

At the very best Reed manipulated the situation to his advantage by i) extrapolating what the spectator said, to mean what he wanted to hear; ii) denying the rules official the opportunity to see the ball in situ.

I'm surprised the rules official didn't seek out the spectator/volunteer and clarify exactly what she had seen, and not just take Reeds word for it.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Where are you getting any info that they use different rules?

Sorry let me clarify as they were discussing last night

On tour they use the rule to the very limit

If the ball as made just the slightest indent to put even just a fraction of the ball below the level of the ground - where as your standard Amatuer club golfer wouldnt - they would play it as it lies until it’s as was previously described on here that you have to dig the ball out and it’s covered in mud . It’s two levels using different interpretations of the rules as opposed to two different sets of rules - sorry for the poor language interpretation ?

And going by all the rules and what the referee did then it’s hard to point the finger at him beyond his rumoured history

 

[Dando]

The PGA have just released a photo of where reeds ball landed in the rough

 

[Imurg]

Where was Tyrrell's "when you're feeling glum, stick up a thumb"?

 

[Blue in Munich]

Lift clean and place is nothing to do with this situation, that's for the fairway length grass.

He did the correct procedure, he marked his ball before checking if it was embedded.

The issue is how the apparent plug mark, or broken ground indentation, appeared when the ball had only bounced a couple of feet.

This. ^^^.

Ball comes down from about 90 feet, ground firm enough that it bounces a couple of feet up in the air, again yet drops from a couple of feet into a similar area, thick with long grass, with sufficient force to create an indentation with a lip...

 

[Imurg]

Ever seen your ball leave 2 pitch marks on a green..?
Jus' asking.....

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Well yeah I know where you're coming from but that's more to do with an individual player's knowledge of the rules.

I'm still struggling to comprehend how a ball can fall hard enough to embed from a 2 feet bounce when it didn't embed after flying 150 yards or whatever it was.

He doesn't actually need the official there when checking, but it would have been better if he'd just put his ball back in place and left it alone until the official came and had a look.

It appears from the pictures and sequence that the official was just looking at the area that Reed had been scraping his finger around in.

And that’s the only doubt that people have - the process he did was correct even if it might have been better for him to ask the referee before moving it but if there was an indent there from his ball or from an old Mark and the referee clarified it then we surely can only take the words of the player and then referee.

I still don’t think someone is that daft to be digging a hole with his fingers to make it out as if there was a indent ?‍

Also if it was someone else would people be arriving at the same conclusion

In hindsight he probably wishes that he called the referee over at the start