In a bizarre set of circumstances during the second round of the BMW Championship, Martin Laird nearly got disqualified and Bart Bryant got penalised two stokes. Here is the story:
Laird teed off first on the par-three 16th and his ball ended up making a pretty hefty pitch mark in the fringe, a few feet from the green, then it proceeded to roll to around three feet from the pin. Bryant, who teed off second, hit it some 50 feet short directly on the line of Laird’s the pitch mark.
When he reached the green, Laird noticed his rather large pitch mark and asked Bryant, “Is this in your line?”
Before Bryant had answered, the rookie from Scotland was pressing down the grass with the underside of his putter. Bryant confirmed that it was indeed on his line, directly between his ball and the hole, however, his shot pitched well over the mark and that was that...
What went wrong?
Rule 1-2 does not allow Laird to improve a competitor’s line. However, he was not penalised, as he was deemed not to have helped Bryant. Had the ruling gone the other way, he would have been disqualified for signing an incorrect card, as the ruling had taken place after Laird had signed his card.
Rule 13-2 resulted in Bryant getting a two-stroke penalty. The rule covers improving the lie, area of intended swing or stance or line of play. The rule says a player cannot improve the line ``or allow'' it to be improved. By saying a simple “Yes”, he got caught out.
As the Ed always says “What the golfing gods give us, they take away”. Four holes into the third round, Bryant made a hole-in-one...
It's #3
Reader comments: (3)
•full contact? Interesting concept - I'd like to see villegas going head-to-head with charlie 'toothpick' howell!
posted by: Golf Cynic on 2008/09/11
•WOW These are some great T-shots.
posted by: varkie on 2008/09/11
•Rules, rules, rules! Lose all those silly rules and make it a full contact sport! Now that would be worth watching.
comments: 3
