We are a golf marketing firm specializing in communications, strategy, products and services

_____________________________

Friday, January 21, 2011

Harrington DQ...this is getting silly

So, Padraig, he of the ever changing pre-shot routine, is the latest to be disqualified in the trial by television debacle that is invading golf. On the replay, it's clear the ball moves, but Harrington says he didn't see it which is plausible as he was above the ball and not at the angle shown by the camera. No player or official said anything at the time and he signed his scorecard and headed to the range to adjust his pre-shot routine for the 13th time that day. Then he was informed by Andy McFee, the referee, that some eagle eyed viewer had once again "called one in". So instead of having Harrington in the field he is hanging by the pool in 120 degrees waiting for the next flight to Bahrain. IMG and HSBC must be thrilled by that and once again the rules are robbing the 283 expats who paid to watch the event on site.

Ian Poulter, the master tweeter summed it up very nicely in 140 characters "Rules of Golf Book Rule 22-4 paragraph 3 line 7, "the rules of golf are complete bollocks and are stuck back in 1932". Couldn't agree more". Why not just adjust the card by adding the 2 stroke penalty and move on. Don't give me all that "he should know the rules" and "rules are rules' nonsense. The game of golf needs to adapt and not let HD TV and someone with clearly too much time on their hands dictate the outcome of an event. In professional golf the 2 shots are more than sufficient as a penalty. Getting the Governing Bodies of the game to agree - that's another matter!

No comments:

Post a Comment