| TALES FROM THE BOX
The
Current
Climate
In this new column covering the European Tour, internationallyrecognised golf commentator Julian Tutt talks us through his mini-Asian swing through Korea and China.
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Daniel Wong (Tutt); James Cheadle (Blackstone); AFP (Rumford and Howell)
allantine’s produce a very fine whisky – or so I’m told. Not being an expert I rely on my colleague Dominique Boulet, who many of you will know and who is a semi-professional expert in the ways of top-drawer Scotch. Dom is unlike my other colleague, Dougie Donnelly; a true Scotsman, Dougie is known, in his native land at least, as a teetotal (i.e. he eschews the amber nectar). This was a shame for him because when we turned up at the Ballantine’s Championship on the outskirts of Seoul in late April, the sponsor’s product was much in evidence. Dougie certainly missed out.
The Ballantine’s was a fine championship, despite the absence of star names Dustin Johnson, his namesake Zach and Alvaro Quiros, the ridiculously long-hitting Spaniard. They were – at least their management companies said they were – too nervous about the current political situation on the Korean peninsula to travel. Fortunately, the nearest we came to seeing a mushroom cloud was the dark pall hanging over Dom after four nights of testing the sponsor’s product. I don’t mean to make light of a potentially serious situation, but where and when players play is becoming a serious issue in golf, particularly for the European Tour. Their
Clockwise from right: the impeccably presented Blackstone Golf Club, host of this year’s Ballantine’s Championship; Brett Rumford continued his winning ways at the Volvo China Open; David Howell was guilty by his ignorance of the Rules in Tianjin 34
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counterparts across the Atlantic – and the Pacific, for that matter, given the reach of the European circuit – the PGA Tour, has always attracted and continues to attract the best players from around the world. But in the current economic climate, in Europe especially, potential sponsors are not queuing up outside Tour HQ at Wentworth begging to be allowed to cough up £2 million or so for the privilege of watching journeymen professionals line their pockets with, arguably, indecent amounts of gilt. The legacy of pathfinders like Ballesteros, Faldo, Lyle, Woosnam and Langer is in danger of being squandered by the self-interests of many of today’s young “wannabes”. The issue of appearance money – and say it quietly! – has to be tackled before it destroys the Tour. When players who are being paid fail to turn up, what hope is there? According to the learned Mr Boulet, the course at Blackstone Golf Club, venue for the Ballantine’s Championship, is relatively flay by Korean standards. It should be noted that this was a judgement made by a man who spent four days viewing proceedings from the comfort of his air-conditioned commentary box. He might have seen the course: but it was from his reconnaissance in a super-intelligent, Rolls-Royce of a cart that required no human intervention at all (in Korea, the land of advanced technology, they drive themselves). These buggies are the land equivalent of an executive jet on auto-land, but without the same sort of thrust. Having walked the course for four consecutive days I can assure you that even mountain goats would be demanding extra rates for the challenge. But well done to the seriously fit Brett Rumford. His towering 5-iron to three feet for an eagle to win the playoff opens another page in the history in the Ballantine’s history books. From Blackstone to Binhai Lake in Tianjin, the new home of the China Open, which has been sponsored by Volvo for countless years. A flat, open course with really tricky greens and surrounds presented a totally different challenge for Rumford, but his game was tailor-made for the challenge. On Saturday, he missed nine greens in regulation and yet still made nine pars, some of them of Seve-esque proportions. It was a brilliant master-class of chipping and putting, and it eventually gave him back-to-back wins, something no Australian has done on Tour since Jack Newton, who achieved the same feat a few years before most of the field was even born. The odd it y of t he week was t he disqualification of England’s David Howell. In Thursday’s opening round he hit a ball that moved after he had started his backswing. He told his playing partners, and assured them that it was within the Rules, and there was no HKGOLFER.COM
The issue of appearance money – and say it quietly! – has to be tackled before it destroys the Tour. When players who are being paid fail to turn up, what hope is there? penalty. It was only the following evening, when one of his fellow competitors casually asked a tour referee about the situation that it emerged that Howell was wrong and should have been penalised one shot. He had therefore signed for a score lower than it should have been and when he came to the course on Saturday morning he was disqualified. Rule 14-5 (Playing a Moving Ball) states that there is no penalty “under this rule” if a player strikes a ball that moves after he has started his backswing. However, it doesn’t absolve you from penalty under any other rule – and Rule 18-2b clearly states that if the ball moves after address there’s a one-shot penalty. David was guilty of “a little knowledge being a dangerous thing”, and paid the price. Rather like Tiger Woods with his now infamous two-shot penalty at The Masters, David was condemned by his own honesty. Well done to them: no one would have known any different if they had not spoken up, albeit in Tiger’s case there was an element of boastfulness. But the truth remains: both parties were guilty by their ignorance of the Rules. It’s something that happens so often now and it beggars bel ief t hat professiona l golfers do not have a better understanding of the laws of their game. That said, the Rules are incredibly complex, and any attempt by the R&A and the USGA to simplify them has to be welcomed. Good luck! HK GOLFER・JUN 2013
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