Ken Schofield thinks the rule governing the Solheim Cup incident – in which a European player failed to wait a full 10 seconds before picking up a US ball which had stopped on the hole’s edge – needs to change.
“I’m in agreement with what Thomas Bjørn posted on Twitter,†said the former European Tour supremo. To quote Bjørn’s words verbatim: “Do rules officials in golf realise how unbelievably stupid they make our game look?â€
To give a précis of the incident, Nelly Korda, who was playing alongside Ally Ewing in the first afternoon fourballs, had all but holed what was a 20-foot eagle putt at the 13th hole. As Schofield said, her body language told its own story.
“The way she went down on her knees was precisely what you would have expected of someone who knew she had just missed,†he said. “Had she thought her ball was going in, she would have hurried up to the hole to see if it was still oscillating.â€
Madelene Sagström, from the European duo, picked up the ball and the party set off for the 14th tee without anyone thinking anything was amiss.
Enter Missy Jones. This highly respected referee suddenly interrupted what up until then had been a day when everything, from the golf itself to the spirit in which it was being played, was 100 percent.
Referees, however, must work strictly within the rules that govern the game and the reason Jones had materialised was because she had witnessed what she saw as a breach of those rules. With that the case, she had no option but to act.
Feeling as she did that the ball had been overhanging the hole, she advised Sagström and her partner, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, of Rule 13.3b which stipulates: “If the opponent in match play … deliberately lifts or moves the player’s ball overhanging the hole before the waiting time has ended … the player’s ball is treated as holed with the previous stroke.â€
John Paramor, one of the most revered referees in the game, messaged GGP to say that Jones had indeed done what she was meant to do.
“I did notice a bit of action on WeChat and I think the European conceded a putt before the 10 seconds (after a reasonable time to reach the ball) had expired,†he said. “Certainly, this is a situation that we advise all Ryder Cup teams of in advance so that they don’t do precisely that. The match referee has to act on any breach he/she notices and so it was thus. … Nobody would like this one but the player conceding the next stroke wasn’t allowing the opponent an opportunity for their ball to have fallen into the hole of its own accord with the previous stroke. When you consider the action in this light, it is a reasonable penalty. … Even though most people will hate it.â€
“I naively have the impression that the rules fraternity are there to assist the players with the smooth-running of a match.â€
Ken Schofield
Sagström and Koerstz Madsen had both told Jones the putt was never going to drop, and that the Americans had clearly thought the same. But since they, like European captain Catriona Matthew, felt the referee’s decision had to stand, and since the American pair were not inclined to disagree or do anything about it, that was that.
Jones announced that the Americans were 1 up and the match resumed, albeit minus its earlier charm. (The Americans won the match, though there would be signs that Korda, who is renowned for her lovely attitude, was having ongoing problems with the situation.)
Schofield had an afterthought about Jones’ actions.
“Given that the eagle-eyed official stepped in more or less immediately (after) Sagström picked up Korda’s ball, wouldn’t golf, not to mention the Solheim Cup, have been better served had she prevented the infraction by stopping or attempting to dissuade Sagström from lifting the ball too soon?†Schofield said. “I naively have the impression that the rules fraternity are there to assist the players with the smooth-running of a match.â€
One way and another, the incident had added to his impression that referees want to intervene because they can, “and then use the rule book to cement what they have decided. … My whole point on this occasion is that given none of the players had called for assistance, there was no need for any intervention in the first place – and hence the need for a change in the rules.â€
Enter another voice, that of Denis Pugh, who has coached Colin Montgomerie and Francisco Molinari, among others.
He felt that if ever there was a moment when both captains should have been called to the scene, this was it. (Matthew was there but there was no sign of US captain Pat Hurst.)
“They could have talked it through and, given that this was a situation in which it was pretty darned obvious what was the right thing to do, they should have insisted on over-riding the official decision,†Pugh said. “It was crazy to go ahead with a ruling which was only going to allow the game’s hierarchy to shoot itself in the foot.â€
It was one of Pugh’s best golfing friends, a referee whom he did not want to name, who summed things up in what can only be described as a manner which, crazy though this might sound, made sense: “It was the right call but the wrong call.â€
Top: Nelly Korda's missed putt set off a controversial sequence of events.
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