Harrington Disqualified..?

[Oddsocks]

is one and a half dimples going to make any difference. at most that ball would habe moved 5mm.

 

[USER1999]

It's about the rules, not the distance.

I guess with so many rules, there is less room for allowing a little slack (such as no penalty, as no advantage taken).

Poults didn't get much of an advantage when he moved his marker, but still took the penalty.

 

[Oddsocks]

i think if no advanatge is gained, penaltys could be relaxed slightly.

 

[Dodger]

It's about the rules, not the distance.

I guess with so many rules, there is less room for allowing a little slack (such as no penalty, as no advantage taken).

Poults didn't get much of an advantage when he moved his marker, but still took the penalty.

Either did Saltman and look where that's got him.

 

[Robobum]

Rule 20-3 .........c. Spot Not Determinable
...........(iii) on the putting green, the ball must be placed as near as possible to the place where it lay but not in a hazard.

He hasn't overuled anything unless the spot is known exactly.

 

[Imurg]

I think it's happened before when a referee has made a decision that has actually been wrong but as the player was advised by an Official of the "incorrect" course of action there was no penalty.

Bit surprised Paddy didn't call for a ref.

 

[Lawrence22]

Interesting tweet by Poults today on the subject.
Rules of Golf Book Rule 22-4 paragraph 3 line 7, "the rules of golf are complete b****cks and are stuck back in 1932". Couldn't agree more

 

[19th]

Lawrence, I could not agree more!!This is a load of pure rubbish!!

How close to the ball does one mark? If, like me, you have a larger than usual .... hand(!) ... it is impossible to mark hard up against the ball but the ball is replaced back to the same spot as the marker is retrieved.

Hard against it and we have a PH sitution ... far enough away to get the marker back up and TV shows a potential cheat!!

The area the ball is marked on has hundreds of spike marks, historic pitch marks just below the surface and worms etc all offering a slight movement of a replaced ball.

We will all end up with the ball markers a la snooker - with a backrest to touch the ball on marking and slide the whole unit away on replacing.

All for a maximum dimple sized movement!

What a sad, sad golfing world we now live in!!

 

[Robobum]

Have you got Kenny Everett sized hands????

Praise the Lord.

 

[Pip]

I'm sure many will realise from my Poults posting before Xmas that I fundamentally disagree with the way some of the rules are implemented. It's not the rule per se, but being DQd for moving a ball 2mm, when replacing it on the green in the normal course of marking probably has a wider margin of error, is just not good for the game.

 

[JustOne]

Too bad, Harrington should have called the referee over and said.. "I touched the ball but don't think it moved, it appeared to me that it rocked forward and back what do you want me to do?", then it would have been the refs decision. alternatively he could have just put his marker back down picked the ball up and remarked it.

I'd have thought that when you are playing for £300K everything matters.... call a ref!

 

[Mike_j_golf]

Its a bit harsh to go from pick it up and replace it in the new spot no penalty to go from that to a DQ but Paddy took it in good grace knowing how precise he is it was not noticable to him that it had move he knows its no penalty if he adjusts it back to its original position so there is no question he was trying to get away with anything.
Mike

 

[Bacardibatman]

with this latest incident the pga tour.com have even opened up a Debateo the rules need changing?

http://tourreport.pgatour.com/2011/01/21/debate-do-the-rules-need-changing/


if Theyre Questioning it, to even Open a debate surely says that things arent right

lets hope some good comes out of these daft recent occurrences & rulings and the R & A and USGA sort them for the better of the game

 

[Pip]

Have just watched Sky's interview with PH and I'm even more convinced that something needs to change. He knows the rules as well as any player and I'm sure that if he honestly thought the ball position had moved he would have called it on himself. Anyone who blindly thinks that rules are rules, so tough luck, is missing the point in my opinion.

 

[JustOne]

He knows the rules as well as any player and I'm sure that if he honestly thought the ball position had moved he would have called it on himself.

I don't know why he didn't, there's no penalty so he might aswell have called the ref!

 

[bozza]

As mentioned above it's not easy to mark your ball exactley without the marker/coin touching the ball which incourse could result in the ball moving and then either getting some armchair ref emailing in and reporting that the player either moved the ball when marking or his marker was 0.1mm away from the ball or a player having to get a ref to give a ruleing on nearly every ball they mark when putting in fear of be DQ because someone sat at home with nothing better to do than grass someone up.

Players are now going to have to be so careful with every little thing now that surely it's going to slow the game down even more which is one of the biggest problems in professional golf!

Rant over

 

[Lawrence22]

I think the big problem here is what if it happens on the final days play. Say a golfer is one ahead going up the last, he will play this hole differently than if he is one behind, as would be the case if a 2 shot penalty is later applied. Paddy pointed this out in his bbc interiew earlier. Sadly it is probably better to leave it as it is. Or just ban armchair referees. If playing partners or referees don't notice then player may get away with it, but in the long run I think deliberate cheats will still be caught.

 

[bobmac]

I wonder if the name and address of the person who sent the original e-mail will ever be made known to the golfing public.

 

[Bacardibatman]

I wonder if the name and address of the person who sent the original e-mail will ever be made known to the golfing public.

I very much doubt it seeing most of the comment about them are quite negative

at least @DaveAndrews723 the guy about C.V. came out himself and said about it

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I can't abide this DQ by remore control. Way before every event was televised, even going back 10 years or so when the tour purses were still pretty good but Sky hadn't quite got wall to wall coverage of most events this never happened.

How can someone even witht he biggest HD screen be 100% certain what has happened from the comfort of their armchair when a guy as honest as Paddy is right there. Any doubt and I'm convinced Harrington would have either called it himself or asked for a ruling