Saudi Arabia … Graeme McDowell muscled his way in ending a near six-year Tour drought at the Saudi Invitational only be left seeing red after being handed a yellow card bad time warning on the course laid-out along the Red Sea.
McDowell is now staring at an immediate one-shot penalty should he infringe again over the weekend rounds in Saudi Arabia.
G Mac superbly added a two-under par 68 to a blistering first round 64 and move to eight-under and head to the weekend rounds just two shots adrift of Scottish-based Frenchman, Victor Perez
Perez, and with former Rory McIlroy caddy JP Fitzgerarld on the bag, grabbed a second straight 65 to lead by a shot at 10-under par from former Asian Tour No. 1 Gavin Green of Malaysia.
Graeme McDowell seeing red after being handed Saudi International yellow card slow-play warning on Red Sea located course
McDowell, who lies third, ended his round near lunch delighted with his efforts as he seeks to land a first European Tour triumph since 2014 in capturing back-to-back French Open titles.
“It’s always hard to come out right after a good round like I shot yesterday and try and keep the pedal down,” he said.
“I felt like I played pretty loose today. It was obviously better conditions this morning. I three-putted the 11th, my second hole of the morning, which sort of derailed me a little bit. I continued to hit fairways which is key on this golf course. I hit some really quality iron shots.
“The back nine in particular is quite difficult on this course. It was tough to get going. A couple of birdies on the front were very pleasing and it was nice to hang in there coming in.
“So, all in all, very happy the way I hit the ball today and looking forward to being in position going into this weekend.”
Though McDowell was far from happy after being approached by fellow Northern Ireland-born and Tour referee, Andrew Snoddy from the tiny town of Moira to the south-west of Belfast, who nabbed McDowell at the par-5 fourth hole or the 13th hole of his round.
Very soon after teeing-off, McDowell was approached by SKY’s Tim Barter for a short on-course interview, and as Barter had done a day earlier with McDowell and other players, and continues to do with an arrangement in place with the Tour.
Once again, McDowell very kindly agreed and a practice supported by the Tour but once he reached his ball, and some 215-yards out, he was timed by Snoddy in taking 84-seconds to play his shot.
It seems McDowell’s group also including Phil Mickelson and Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello had been ‘on-the-clock’ for a number of holes and with McDowell, who was legally allowed 40 seconds plus additional 10 seconds being the first to hit.
Technically, McDowell was 35-seconds over the allowed time in taking his shot.
“I called Tim [Barter] over on nine (McDowell’s 18th) and said, ‘you might want to have a word with them’ because if I am going to do that for you, which I want to because we are in the entertainment business and I think it’s a good thing for viewers to get an insight into what is happening out on the course, and for the referee to give me a bad time, then everyone is going to say ‘No’,” said McDowell.
“We are trying to make our product as fast and as interesting as is possible. It’s not always the most exciting product in the world this stuff out here and I think those on-course interviews are a nice little addition.
“I’m like saying to the referee, ‘come on man, where are you from?’ I told him, ‘I’ve just given Tim an interview’ and am first to hit with 215 to the flag with a 3-iron then the wind lays down.
“I’d have called a time out if that was on my radar. I actually jokingly called a time out after the shot because I thought he’d have given me the benefit of the doubt, but he was like, ‘no, that’s a bad time and you are now officially on the clock’. I’m like, brilliant mate!
“I literally said it to Kenny (Comboy, his caddie) a couple of holes earlier that I really feel great with my routines at the minute. I was never the fastest player in the world, but I’ve made a concerted effort to be faster and be more re-active because I think it helps me as a player.
“Then bang, I’ve been hit with a penalty.
“Tim is great at his job and I don’t want a situation where guys won’t give him an interview but I’m not going to sit there and argue with a referee. There’s no point as he’s trying to do his job and Tim is trying to do his job.
“We’ve got entertainment on the one side and rules on the other side so give me a break!”
Snoddy then advised Tour Chief Referee, Mark Litton of the time warning he’d issued to McDowell and with Litton rubber-stamping the ‘yellow card’.
Incidentially, Barter and Litton has been seen in ‘deep’ discussion at the back of the Saudi clubhouse prior to McDowell ending his round.
However, no-one, including McDowell, seemed to be aware of the ruling and it was not to well after McDowell had handed in his scorecard that a Tour official made it known to the media McDowell had been given a yellow card warning.
It means should he incur a ‘bad time’ over the weekend, McDowell will be given a one-shot penalty that, and getting back to his actions in happily allow himself to be interviewed by SKY Sports seems very unfair.
Bizarrely, Barter sought an interview with Cabrera Bello at the same hole a day earlier and with the Spaniard walking off with a triple-bogey ‘7’ and for obvious reasons declined another SKY interview.
SKY Sports Golf has been conducting European Tour on-course interviews for three-and-a-half years.
