No Appeal from Saltman

Its quite clear by the lenient sentence that the European Tour are even undecided about the situation, if it was clear cut he'd have been banned for life not a token 3 months.

I don't think that's the case at all.

The European Tour admitted during the process that their own procedures and regulations weren't as good as they should be to comply with legal requirements and are updating them.

Coupled with the fact that there was no televisual evidence just the word of two of his competitors against his.

Bearing in mind we are talking about less than an inch and the potential conflict of interest as they potentially stood to gain financially from his failure, a decent QC would have had a field day with his two playing partners in court.

If they had banned him for 5 years, 10 years or for life, they would be effectively finishing his career. With substandard disciplinary rules, they would be open to legal challenge and, potentially, huge damages for loss of earnings, sponsorship and damages.

Can you imagine the potential career earnings for a Tour Pro? A loss in court could run into millions and millions in damages.

They have opted for a safe ban length which made it unlikely for him to take them to court but enough of a ban to say we believe that he cheated. It also gives them time to introduce proper disciplinary procedures to allow the Tour to handle such cases better in the future.

The stigma of being found guilty of cheating is huge in golf and will already deny him tournament invites for years to come as well as put off those companies who might have been interested in sponsoring him.

Make no mistake, whilst his ban may be relatively short, the consequences for his career will last his lifetime.

I'll refer you to my first post in this thread then sir, with regards to stigma!

My point still stands about the European Tour being quite convinced of his guilt.

Their banning him for three months was a smart thing to do as it reduced the litigation risk and limited potential damages claims.

The length of ban has little to do with their belief of his guilt. The fact that they banned him has everything to do with their belief of his guilt.

Thr European Tour have been pressured into acting as its been handled so badly from the outset.

If it had been clear cut he would have had a ban in terms with the length given to to Tomba! (I think that was him name, may be wrong!0)
 
Higley and Davis shot 78 and 76 to Saltmans 72 on the day it happened. Could be said that the way they were watching saltman put them off their game
 
Thr European Tour have been pressured into acting as its been handled so badly from the outset.

If it had been clear cut he would have had a ban in terms with the length given to to Tomba! (I think that was him name, may be wrong!0)

The 10 year ban for Johan Tumba was nearly 20 years ago in a significantly different legal landscape. It was also when players' earnings were a fraction of what they are now. Furthermore, it was for altering a scorecard and not for incorrectly marking a ball.

All of those factors mean that you cannot realistically compare the two situations.

Cases of cheating have been so few and far between have meant that the European Tour's disciplinary code failed to keep pace with sports and human rights legislation or with recent precedents.

That is extremely poor from an organisation as wealthy and of such size as the European Tour but, once you are in that situation, you have to deal with it as best you can.

This normally means by bending over backwards to be as "fair" as possible and seeking legal advice at every single step of the way with one eye firmly on a potential court case at the end of the process.

The European Tour has made a clear pronouncement of guilt in this matter and banned him. They have allowed the official stamp of cheat and the stigma that goes along with that verdict to form part of their punishment.

Their procedures are under review to avoid such situations happening again and, whilst I hope we do not see their like again for many years to come, they will be handled in a much more robust process.
 
Higley and Davis shot 78 and 76 to Saltmans 72 on the day it happened. Could be said that the way they were watching saltman put them off their game

It could also be said that they are both clearly pish at golf.

Or it could be a racist thing against us Scots because he kicked their backsides! :eek:
 
It has to be addressed at the time, professional event, monthly medal or bounce game. It needs to be addressed as soon as it comes to light, not at the end of the round when it can be disputed!!!!!!

Are you saying it cant be disputed if it was addressed there and then? Cheat Saltman is sowing the seeds of doubt in peoples head. It's a shame he didnt think of that when he went along with his DQ.

Oh this is fact.....In an interview with journalists in Spain Saltman indicated that in the immediate aftermath of the events in Russia he had agreed he had broken the rules. He then retracted this.
 
It has to be addressed at the time, professional event, monthly medal or bounce game. It needs to be addressed as soon as it comes to light, not at the end of the round when it can be disputed!!!!!!

Are you saying it cant be disputed if it was addressed there and then? Cheat Saltman is sowing the seeds of doubt in peoples head. It's a shame he didnt think of that when he went along with his DQ.

Oh this is fact.....In an interview with journalists in Spain Saltman indicated that in the immediate aftermath of the events in Russia he had agreed he had broken the rules. He then retracted this.

Your starting to sound like Mulder!
 
I think the fact hat he might have got a stiffer penalty will have had something to do with it. Its the same with a lot of sports like football rugby etc. Lose your appeal and they normally whack an extra game suspension on top.

Also by taking his punishment now, he'll be free to play a lot more of the bigger purse tournaments once the season really gets going and so has more chance of earning enough to keep his card.

Personally for my money he has cheated, he knows it and has been caught. Deal with it and move on with the baggage you'll be carrying for the rest of your career. If you are man enough to front it out in front of the tour big boys and you earn enough to keep your card fine but I suspect it'll all get too much and he'll quickly disappear from the scene
 
I agree with whoever said point it out quietly to a rules official. They can then keep an eye on the situation leaving the 2 golfers to concentrate on their own games.
 
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