Oh, come on! It’s not about Seve, it’s the Sergio show
Golf must act now to stamp out TV sneaks
For a moment on Sunday afternoon it looked as if the Masters might fall victim to another armchair rules official. Broadcasters reported calls from viewers to say that after Sergio Garcia took a drop at the 13th, the ball moved. He would have incurred a two-shot penalty. Had this been the case, one of the greatest duels in golf’s history would have been over. replays struggled to find the evidence and, thankfully, a very swift announcement was made by the tournament rules committee that no infringement took place, so the nation’s sneaks could do one — or words to that effect. It demonstrated, though, how vulnerable the game is to these increasingly frequent interventions, in the wake of the Lexi Thompson controversy at the ANA Inspiration event 10 days ago. Thompson ended up with a four-shot penalty 24 hours after the fact, after a viewer emailed to say she had marked her ball incorrectly. opinion is divided on Thompson, who certainly did make an error, but Garcia’s discrepancy, if there even was one, was as good as invisible to the naked eye in real time. Who knows the motivation of the caller, too? The informant might have had a sizable bet on Justin rose and wished to make trouble. Equally, the rule is not there to detect violations that could not reasonably be spotted by either player. When golf’s rules were written, television Justice: Garcia avoided a penalty did not exist. In the spirit of the game, a ball that can only be found to have moved after 15 slow motion replays is legal. old Tom Morris did not have to put up with this rubbish, and neither should Garcia. Golf’s administrators need to act now. The sport is not an extension of reality television. This is not about you. You do not get a vote. You cannot press the red button. Your role is simply to watch and, with luck, enjoy. And if you cannot handle that, maybe it’s time to switch the set off and read a book.