Special Report on SSNews tonight.

[chrisd]

I didnt mean that beacause it was a minor he shouldnt be banned I was trying to think where moving the ball no more than an inch would gain an advantage.

What annoys me more is Monty in the past when he dropped his ball about a yard away from where it landed after a delay in play and gained an advantage from it and never had a hearing just got told they wasnt happy by it?

I wasnt sure if they should be telling him as they play as they couldve said first time you didnt makr your ball properly there thats a penalty then he wouldve known not to do it again and nipped it in the bud early on. Just seems strange that the other 2 players got together to decide not to do it. Surely they couldnt tell each other during the game that he was doing it or did they both just spot this on there own accord.

Now in my opinion if he had a hearing and he pleaded guilty he should be banned from all competitive golf for 3 months and that be it. I dont see why he would get a frosty reception from other pros especially as when monty done it he then went onto be ryder cup captain. Should just be do ya time then come back and end of because everyone will be watching him like a hawk from now on.

I suspect one player spotted him and asked the other to check and then they agreed to keep an eye on him until the end of the round and then , the ultimate, refuse to sign his card - they are entitled to do it that way

Monty came under a lot of flack for his problem and some pro's are still unhappy, I believe. It was though, a once off, overnight (I think) matter and there was enough doubt to cloud the matter.

Any golf pro who cheats is going to earn a frosty reception, in a sport that relies on the utmost integrity as cheating brings the whole game into disrepute, everyone else plays by the rules and one arse cheats.

We have one or two players at our club who come regularly under suspicion and if I play with them I watch like a hawk but it does seem different to those who just don't seem to know enough of the rules - we just help them and trust they improve



Chris

 

[viscount17]

Program mostly opened the debate on who should be making the decisions i.e. the players committee or a committee of non active players.

there is already a legal precedent (in US) where a player's ban was declared illegal because active players were part of the committee that imposed the ban.
It hasn't been challenged though that may be because the LPGA weren't given leave to appeal.

 

[richart]

Evey lip out could become a lip in by moving ball forward the smallest amount. Not sure if it was done on just short putts ???

 

[jammag]

Yeah I can see moving it may have helped a little as you say and I think he is very stupid to do it 5 times or what ever it was in a round. There probably needs to be set punishments for set crimes so they cannot just change from player to player. As I said before monty got a big advantage in what he done and never got any kind of punishment although he did give away his £34k in prize money to charity, but compare the 2 events who's cheating give them the biggest advantage. I still dont think its right though to have players judging on the punishments.

 

[Tommo21]

I watched the report tonight and I thought fair enough hes banned for cheating for moving his ball no more than an inch a few times, Me personally I dont understand what advantage he got from that so if you can explain that to me would be handy.

However what I am thinking as well is people say these players upheld the rules but did they as surely they shouldve been calling the penalty from first time they see it? Or did everyone know he done this and it had been circling the tour? Or was they thinking once ok thats fair enough ok twice now hes done it I will mention it to others and keep an eye out.

But are they not breaking rules for not calling the penalty?

What part dont you understand....these two guys noted Saltman marking his ball wrongly at least 5 times.....how the hell can they be breaking the rules.....where did you get this idea from. This "no more than an inch" as if its not too bad. It's nothing to do with advantage. If you tee your ball in front of the markers for you drive...what advatage do you get from a couple of inches. Answer, none, but you broke the rules. On the green, marking and replacing the ball wrongly is a big no no. There is no room for any player who marks his ball one way to then replace it another.

 

[jammag]

I watched the report tonight and I thought fair enough hes banned for cheating for moving his ball no more than an inch a few times, Me personally I dont understand what advantage he got from that so if you can explain that to me would be handy.

However what I am thinking as well is people say these players upheld the rules but did they as surely they shouldve been calling the penalty from first time they see it? Or did everyone know he done this and it had been circling the tour? Or was they thinking once ok thats fair enough ok twice now hes done it I will mention it to others and keep an eye out.

But are they not breaking rules for not calling the penalty?

What part dont you understand....these two guys noted Saltman marking his ball wrongly at least 5 times.....how the hell can they be breaking the rules.....where did you get this idea from. This "no more than an inch" as if its not too bad. It's nothing to do with advantage. If you tee your ball in front of the markers for you drive...what advatage do you get from a couple of inches. Answer, none, but you broke the rules. On the green, marking and replacing the ball wrongly is a big no no. There is no room for any player who marks his ball one way to then replace it another.

read what I put, I know he broke the rules and I am NOT sticking up for him I am saying I couldnt understand the advantage he got as to think a couple of cm would make a big difference hence the cheating to advantage being nothing at all. So I didnt put an inch here doesnt matter did I?

The reason why I ask was the other 2 breaking the rules was because I thought surely you should call the foul at the time not just refuse it at the end of a round. Why let him continue in his ways for 18 holes call it straight away then it makes it not such a big issue at the end. Dealing with things at the time. AGAIN I wasnt sure on this hence the question mark after the statement.

Please read carefully next time before basically accusing me of saying minor cheating is ok because in no way do I condone that and I was just raising thoughts that come to me during the report.

 

[chrisd]

The reason why I ask was the other 2 breaking the rules was because I thought surely you should call the foul at the time not just refuse it at the end of a round. Why let him continue in his ways for 18 holes call it straight away then it makes it not such a big issue at the end. Dealing with things at the time.

If they had asked him at the time they saw it, he would not have signed his score card as being correct and then put it in, he would then not been accused of cheating openly because he would have had the chance to alter his card, adding the penalty shots as necessary. His playing partners do not have to police his actions, that is something he should do and, in this instance, they were obviously of the opinion that his transgression was a deliberate act of cheating rather than an error and acted as, I believe, most other tour Pro's would in those circumstances.

On the other hand, if I played with someone, in a comp or otherwise, who transgressed the rules, I would politely draw ttheir attention to it as I would assume at an amateur level that they may not realise what they had done infringed the rules - a tour player would know he had done wrong and there is no excuse.

I dont know if this helps

Chris

 

[Tommo21]

Your still suggesting there isn’t much of an advantage, and I’ve read it right. Its nothing to do with that.

Your words “I couldnt understand the advantage he got as to think a couple of cm would make a big difference hence the cheating to advantage being NOTHING AT ALL.”

It’s much much ,more than nothing at all. No disrespect, but you need to change your mind set.

The other two players done the right thing, they were in the middle of an open tournament. Saltman was repeatedly cheating so they didn’t sign his card and informed the officials.

 

[jammag]

I was posing the questions as I said I wasnt sure as to why. I can see why monty put his ball in a different place because he gained a big advantage, I can see why club players may kick there ball out from under a tree as they gain an advantage. I am saying I dont know why he done it because I cannot see what advantage he got. I am not saying because it was minor he shouldnt of been punished.

Thanks for clearing up why they wouldnt say it from the start and it kind of makes sense. Reason I said about that was because most sports I play in you do something wrong a foul or anything then most are dealt with at the time and there are pre determined bans or fines in place as to what you do.

 

[Robobum]

Saltman made himself look even more of a tit in that report IMO. Being filmed whilst on the phone taking advice from his solicitors just struck me as though he was playing the system and was looking for technicalities to challenge this ban. Disproves the rule, on this occaision, that any publicity is good publicity.

One very thick skinned (or thick!) individual if he goes back on tour, as the reaction from the main tour players was a lot more damning than the guys interviewed from the mini tour he was on.