The Irish duo of Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell have been drawn into the rules controversy that has erupted following an incident on the final green of last Sunday’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
China’s and defending champion, Haotong Li was slapped with two-stroke penalty after it was deemed his caddy to have helped in lining-up his birdie putt.
A European Tour rules official advised the actions were illegal and with the bogey that Li had to place on his card, and this after he had birdied the hole, sent him from a then T3rd finish to eventually share 12th place and also forfeit some Euro 90,000 in prize-money compared to what he would have earned in finishing joint third.
Keith Pelley calls rule that saw Haotong Li penalised as ‘grossly unfair’.
European Tour CEO, Keith Pelley went so far to releasing a statement declaring the ruling to be ‘grossly unfair’ after Li had been deemed to breach Rule 10.2d (4).
“Let me state initially that, under the new Rules of Golf issued on January 1, 2019, the decision made by our referees was correct, under the strict wording of the rules. It is my strong belief, however, that the fact there is no discretion available to our referees when implementing rulings such as this is wrong and should be addressed immediately,” said Pelley.
“Everyone I have spoken to about this believes, as I do, that there was no malice or intent from Li Haotong, nor did he gain any advantage from his, or his caddie’s split-second actions. Therefore the subsequent two shot penalty, which moved him from T3 in the tournament to T12, was grossly unfair in my opinion.
“In an era where we are striving to improve all aspects of golf, we need to be careful and find the proper balance between maintaining the integrity of the game and promoting its global appeal.
The R & As CEO Martin Slumbers.
“‘I have spoken personally to R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers to voice my opposition to the fact there is no discretion available to our referees in relation to this ruling, and I will be making additional representation to the R&A in the near future to discuss the matter forth.”
Well, no sooner had Pelley issued a statement and Slumbers was also releasing a statement in response.
“We have reviewed the Li Haotong ruling made by the European Tour referees and agree that it was correct. There has been some misunderstanding of the new Rule and I would point out that it is designed to prevent any opportunity for the caddie to stand behind the player as he begins to take his stance,” said Slumbers.
“Whether the player intends to be lined up is not the issue. We appreciate that it was a very unfortunate situation yesterday and I completely understand Keith Pelley’s concerns when a Rules incident occurs at such a key stage of a European Tour event but there is no discretionary element to the Rule precisely so that it is easier to understand and can be applied consistently.
“We are continuing to monitor the impact of the new Rules but I made it clear to Keith that our focus is very much on maintaining the integrity of the Rules for all golfers worldwide.”
The R & As response was not what McGinley or McDowell clearly wanted to read.
The 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open host went onto Twitter saying: “This is so ridiculously marginal. The player should be given the benefit of the doubt. The rules changes are largely about the spirit of the game and the play and not his pedanticness ….”
(An example of someone who is pedantic is a person at a party who bores everyone while talking at length about the origin and details of a particular piece of pottery – Author).
McDowell, who is currently nursing a wrist injury, backed McGinley’s assessment.
“I see no evident of the caddy trying to assist the player in alignment of the putter here,” G Mac said on his Twitter page.
