Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf

dvemail

Pretty world class field playing this weekend with 6 of the worlds top 10 playing.
Kaymer again is off to a quick start as is Harrington. Most of the irish seem to be teeing off later on in the day. Should be fun.

bigtimecharlie

Harrington has made a great start, just chipped in for an eagle on the 8th (his 17th) to get to -7, more importantly bogey free. Playing alongside kaymer who is -5.

ShriekingSheet

Anyone got a link to it online?

aster99

Those changes he was talking about must be working!

bigtimecharlie

Great holed par putt on his last for a 65. Hope he keeps it up.

dvemail

Anybody know what driver and 3w Harrington is using? They both have white heads, looked like a Burner driver, not too sure about the 3w though.

A.Partridge

Yay ! He's 7 under to his 16th hole.


Harro will probably triplebogey the last hole.

That's what he did most of last year.

PAULWATSON

ph gets it home in 65 blows.

I see Nick Dougherty had another howler, 81.

What about The Prince, level through 7. Expecting a return to form for DC this year.

JerryHandbag

Great start Paddy, keep it up. Needs consistency now, too many times over last 2 seasons he's followed up good rounds with poor ones.

blackwaterfish

wow... that is good to see.



The man's just booked his seat on that flight to medinah. No question.

joking aside, delighted for the guy, hope today consolidates.

Cant find his fairway stats, anybody have a clue?

Ben1010

Well done paddy!! Really clued in today!

Damn you Schwartzel...:mad:

dvemail

Schwartzel is just tearing the course apart at the moment, some going.

conno16

C'mon Harro!

is he about to start reclaiming some pride

SSK

Another week, another great GMac round, finishes 6 under after birdieing the last 5 in row. Westwood and Kaymer up there as well, all 3 picking up where they left off last year and undoubtedly the 3 best players in the world on form.

Delighted for Harrington but I ain't counting any chickens yet. 4 rounds in a row is the target for him I'm sure and if he can keep the doubles etc off the card he could well win.

conno16

1. Tiger
2. Poults
3. Gmac
4. Westwood
5. Kaymer

my prediction for world top 5 by June

blackwaterfish

http://veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4cf570d6387ea

yay!

conno16

C'mon Harro!

SSK

conno16 wrote: »

1. Tiger
2. Poults
3. Gmac
4. Westwood
5. Kaymer

my prediction for world top 5 by June

No idea where Tiger will end up, don't think anyone can call it at this stage.

GMac, Westwood and Kaymer will definitely be there, Mickelson will most likely drop out so the other couple of spots are up for grabs.

conno16

C'mon Harro!!

Mister Sifter

I can feel a Conno holiday coming on...

Trampas

great to see Lee standing up for the tour and what a stubborn bunch that run the pga.

world number 1 can't play more than 3 events on the pga tour without taking up his membership.

penkivil1973

goosen had the same driver today,he's done that before.probably put the wilson staff head covers on them.

dvemail

Trampas wrote: »

great to see Lee standing up for the tour and what a stubborn bunch that run the pga.

world number 1 can't play more than 3 events on the pga tour without taking up his membership.

Bit silly alright, the americans are saying Westy snubs the TPC. But it was all the PGA tours own doing.

dvemail

Looks like Harrington could be disqualified. In the first round when he was replacing his ball on the green he hit his ball with his finger moving the ball slightly.
Unfortunetly he has already signed his card so if it is deemed a penalty he probably will be disqualified.
Wont find out what will happen until he arrives to the course later on today. Such a shame after a great start.

plonk

Looking everywhere on the net to see what he did but I couldnt find it anywhere. Commentators said it doesnt look too good though

dvemail

And hes out, shame.

plonk

Harrington out

Tobyglen

What a stupid elitist game golf can be sometimes. What happened makes zero difference yet because the R&A conjured some barmy rules back in ......he gets disqualified. Surely a change in rules is necessary. It's ruined the tournament for me.

plonk

Absolutely sickened tbh. I love watching Harrington and its the first time in 6 months where I would be able to watch the golf all weekend. Also had him backed at 40/1
Oh well, hopefully Mcdowell goes on to win.

Tobyglen

plonk wrote: »

Absolutely sickened tbh. I love watching Harrington and its the first time in 6 months where I would be able to watch the golf all weekend. Also had him backed at 40/1
Oh well, hopefully Mcdowell goes on to win.

That is sickening.

plonk

Its not the money, I just love seeing Harrington doing well.

Bosco boy

Guess some tv viewer somewhere thinks they are really important this morning, is this a step too far, what next, I can picture the guy who rang it in, ok technically he's right but is the tournament better for it, no!

Adiaga 2

Gutted for him but he can have no complaints about the DQ.

Video

On rte.ie he says he thought the ball 'oscillated'. It does look like the ball the roled back a little.

aster99

What a shame after a great round. If it had been a 76 or something it would nearly be easier to take! It's a rule I know but it made zero difference to his score

Mitch Connor

Adiaga 2 wrote: »

Gutted for him but he can have no complaints about the DQ.

Video

On rte.ie he says he thought the ball 'oscillated'. It does look like the ball the roled back a little.

it looks like the ball moved forward slightly then back into the same position - horridly unlucky to be disqualified for that.

scrubber72

argh conno :mad:

bigtimecharlie

How did this come to light? Surly not some-one watching highlights.

Sad to see.

Trampas

Harrington should have called the ref over to be safe.

Can PH call for a video replay to see if the ball had moved forward?

aliocroc

rte says its moved forward 3 dimples and only back 1 1/2 dimples!! Harrington was on RTE Radio 1 sport news, said that as far as he was cocerned, while he knew he touched the ball, he looked at it and all seemed to be the same, the text on the ball was pointed in the same direction he left it, so he felt at the time that it was the same! On looking at the video he accepted it, seemed fairly ok with the decision but inside id say hes kicking himself!!!

aliocroc

bigtimecharlie wrote: »

How did this come to light? Surly not some-one watching highlights.

Thats exactly what happened, saw it, called it in via email, officials looked at it that evening, slept on it and DQ'd him! Its bullsh!t, what vindictive busybody felt the need?:mad:

bonzer1again

VERY HARSH!!

conno16

harsh but dem are the rules
he'll learn from this and come back stronger

charlieIRL

very harsh seeing as he got no advantage from it - but rules are rules.

Pity as i love watching him play as well.

EDIT - just looked at the slow motion of the video, a holy fook its a very very harsh desision.

Myksyk

Very harsh and disappointing. Moral of the story is ... you touch or even brush your ball on the green while marking it you call the ref over. There's no penalty that way.

VikingG

Good lord .. can you imagine this happening in any other sport... viewers at home emailing the referee on a rules infringement...
I was so annoyed when I heard this as you will not get a more honest player than Harrington.. and to think that some self appointed saddo sitting at home has caused the disqualification really drives me mad... As Harrington said he knew that he touched the ball but honestly felt that it had retrurned to the same position... All this will lead to is more delays on the course as players call for a judgement to make sure that they dont get disqualified...

PAULWATSON

PH, looks like he used up all his luck winning them 3 majors.

SSK

It's a pity alright but by the letter of the law its the correct decision.

Lets just hope he takes a lot of confidence from his excellent first round and brings it forward into the season ahead.

blackwaterfish

yep, rules are rules. and there can be no gray areas ... if an amount of leniency is allowed ie if a ball can move a certain amount... that'll cause more problems then it solves.

so disappointed for the guy but tbh im really surprised he didnt twig that himself and call foul. on video evidence he just doesnt brush up against the ball... he literally pokes it. not calling into question his integrity... he's called foul on himself before right?... but jeez its quite an obvious "movement".

not a great start in his role as the R&A's first Working For Golf ambassador. lol. ah who cares...

hope & pray he can kick on from here and maintain the good form... not 100% sure but i think he's in california next week at the farmers insurance open. if so at least he'll be back in the thick of it early next week.

man am i gutted for the fella.

kagni

I don't have an issue with the ruling that it was a penalty, but I think there is a real problem with the rules officials accepting viewer input after the fact and that then resulting in a disqualification. This is the second time this year it has happened in a high profile tournament.

The below article was after the Villegas incident a few weeks ago and raises the same issue and suggests a rule change which makes sense to me...

Should viewers be allowed to disqualify players from home?

It happens a few times a year. Someone at home is watching a golf tournament, sees something that didn’t look right, and phones it in to the tour. It happened to Juli Inkster last year, when a viewer called in because Inkster was using a swing weight during her round, eventually disqualifying her from the Safeway Classic.

It again happened on Thursday, when Camilo Villegas was struggling on the par-5 15th. As his second attempt at chipping up a hill failed, Villegas nonchalantly moved a divot out of his way. While it seemed like nothing at the time, it broke rule 23-1, and since Villegas signed his scorecard without acknowledging the penalty, he was disqualified from the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The viewer that "phoned in" on Villegas (he actually sent a Tweet to the tour and The Golf Channel) commented on a Dogs That Chase Cars article I wrote about the incident, saying that, "I actually never ‘phoned in’ to the PGA Tour. I sent one Tweet to the tour and one to Golf Channel saying that they might want to take a look at the video. I never heard back from the tour or the Golf Channel, so I can’t say if they read my message or not.

"I still find it hard to believe that nobody in a position of authority saw the infraction when it happened or on the replay on TV."

Obviously this can go both ways. Is golf the only sport that this could ever happen in, when a viewer could see something nobody else notices and actually make a difference? Yes, there isn’t a sport like it, and it adds a personal touch for the viewer and fan at home. Is it fair that golfers have millions of eyes on their every move, when they themselves might not know when they’re doing something that could be deemed illegal? It doesn’t seem like it.

The problem is, if Villegas had been called out when it happened, it would have been a two-stroke penalty. A tough but fair cost to Camilo, it would have allowed him to finish the tournament, collect a helpful check and start the season the right way.

While I don’t blame the person that sent the Tweet at all (it is his right to do whatever he feels like doing, and he’s just trying to be a good ambassador of the game), it does bring up something that should be changed; viewers should be allowed a voice, but it shouldn’t be big enough to disqualify someone from a tournament.

Like I said over at Dogs, if a person isn’t directly involved in the golf tournament, there should be amendments to the rules for when such a person becomes involved. Say I call in after Villegas finished his round to talk about the ruling, the situation can be reviewed, but a non-direct rules violation (me, not directly being in Hawaii to call him on it when it happens) should result in just the penalty, not being disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. The viewer, and nobody else around there, knew what happened, and if they did, they would have brought it up before that signature went on the card. When someone calls in, it should be a time sensitive deal (say, before the next round begins) and whatever penalty would have been assessed at the time should hold true.

With the improvement of the camera, and the coverage, this isn’t going away anytime soon. The Rules of Golf, while ancient and tough to change, are lengthy, adding an addendum to make it easier for viewers to help out without ruining a player’s week seems fair and necessary.

http://www.golftv.ws/golf-news/devil-ball-golf/2011/01/should-viewers-be-allowed-to-disqualify-players-from-home/

Martin567

I saw a suggestion from someone recently about this very issue. There is so much money on the two main Tours now that they should consider employing a Rules Official to sit and watch the tv pictures which the viewers at home are seeing. If this Official spotted anything which could cause trouble, he could then bring it to the player's attention before they signed their card.

As things stand, the players who feature on tv more often are at a disadvantage. It is likely that similar incidents occur away from camera where no action is ever taken. As an extreme example, take last year's USPGA. There is no question that Dustin Johnson correctly received a penalty. However, with the amount of sand on that course, does anyone believe that none of the other 155 players made a similar error during the week and were not penalised?

PhilipMarlowe

It feels harsh alright. In his interview he stated that if he had called over a referee he would have said 'hand on heart' that the ball had moved but returned to it's original position because everything seemed lined up as he intended so without the benefit of HD slow motion replay he would have argued that he was correct to continue... The camera showed otherwise and out he goes.
McDowell had an issue yesterday also where he put his wedge down right tight to the ball on the fairway and it oscillated... called for a ruling and the replay showed it move but also return to it's original position so no issue.

Moral? It's no wonder you see these guys call for a ruling so often.