Bill Elliott A MONTH TO FORGET

Our editor-at-large dissects a bad few weeks for the game, which has seen a number of rules controversies, a European Tour stop in Saudi Arabia and Sergio’s infantile antics...

Sometimes I despair. This last month was one of those times. Two players penalised for a rules infringement that, to my eye, did not infringe at all does nothing to promote the idea of golf being a good idea to watch or to play, while Sergio Garcia’s infantile antics in Saudi Arabia underlined the thought that, likeable though he usually is, he occasionally can act like a spoiled brat. Whether he, or anyone else, should have been in The Kingdom in the first place offers a separate but important discussion.

Let’s deal first with Li Haotong’s two-shot penalty in Dubai, a penalty imposed because the rules guys believed his caddie had helped him line up his final short putt. Having watched the video of this more times than is healthy I can see no such offence. But The R&A agreed with the verdict and a decision that dropped Li from T3 to T12.

To Li’s credit, he accepted it all in his usual smiley fashion, but if I’d been him I would have taken them all to court. Even more credit to European Tour boss Keith Pelley for describing it as “grossly unfair” and asking The R&A to allow more discretion. Yet why didn’t the Tour apply this discretion themselves?

I know there will be pedantic rules lovers out there who say it’s the strict adherence to the rules that helps make the old game the purest sport in town, but come on. Applying this new rule in this way was up there with the meanspirited policeman who does you for hitting 32mph in a 30mph zone. Technically correct but failing in every other way with the big over-riding rule of life, the one marked Common Sense. Golf is not a fair game but it doesn’t need to be this unfair.

In America, someone called Denny Mccarthy was also done because his caddie was adjudged to have helped him line up a shot out of the rough to a distant green. Which he clearly didn’t. The USGA has admitted subsequently that this decision was wrong and his two-shot penalty has been rescinded. Fair enough, but too little, too late.

Let me be clear... I agree with the intentions of the new rule. No one should have the assistance of a caddie in lining up as this is too much outside assistance when it comes to the actual act of hitting the ball, but these latest incidents are the unintended consequences of a rule that is too blurry. The R&A – as the main rules overlord – is revisiting it, and so it should. Meanwhile, the various professional tours should use that common sense I mentioned earlier.

As for Garcia’s idiocy in brutalising several greens, what can be said except that for a 39-year-old married man worth many millions, to do this is almost beyond belief. He is apologetic and so he should be. He also needs to enrol in an anger management course. He was, of course, disqualified, so, for once, common sense did indeed break out.

By the time Garcia whacked those greens our British hero and current World No.1 Justin Rose was flying back home having missed the cut in Saudi Arabia. No one admires Justin more than me but I was astonished, not by his decision to play in Saudi but by his explanation as to why he did not think it wrong. “I’m not a politician” was glib and thoughtless. You don’t need to be a politician to have a moral compass. Indeed it may help not being a politician. If he had explained that he was picking up a big appearance fee I would at least have admired his honesty.

His further explanation that he looked forward to experiencing the country for himself was equally glib. As it turned out, he didn’t experience much except disappointment. He might now like to ponder on the fact that whatever slight impression he gained of Saudi Arabia, it is more than the murdered journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi can ever do again.

Look, I would understand a rank-andfile pro with a mortgage to pay and a family to feed gritting their teeth and playing, but multi-millionaires like Justin, Dustin Johnson and others accepting big cheques to turn up? Give me a break.

PS: If you want to further define ‘unfair’ then Rickie Fowler’s watery drop in Phoenix is your baby. Twice he dropped his ball and twice it rolled into the water so he got to place it. Then, as he walked away to scrutinise his shot, the ball rolled into the aqua again of its own volition. Despite being nowhere near it at the time, Fowler incurred another shot penalty. That’s the rule and it needs changing before our favourite game is ridiculed out of existence. At least he still won.

“Applying the new rule in this way was up there with the mean-spirited policeman who does you for hitting 32mph in a 30mph zone”