OK, maybe long putters aren’t cool, but it does seem that Adam Scott has at least made long putters an acceptable option for players that previously wouldn’t consider one. Lee Westwood put one in play at the Masters. Ernie Els is reportedly thinking about bagging one this week at the Verizon. and are right there with him (even though Greene thinks they should be illegal).
Bill Haas is also apparently considering making the switch after Brendan Steele used a belly putter to win the Valero last weekend. Tiger was even photographed practicing a long putter stroke during his golf tour of Asia last week. After all of his 3 putts on Sunday at the Masters, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s at least been testing one.
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The USGA and R&A have finally come to their senses and announced a rule change that will allow players who learn of an infraction after signing their scorecards to be assessed a penalty rather than being disqualified.
The new rule applies when a “player is not aware he has breached a Rule because of facts that he did not know and could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning his score card”.
The change comes after Padraig Harrington and Camilo Villegas were disqualified for signing incorrect scorecards earlier this year in different tournaments. In Harrington’s case, his ball moved on the green. He knew that the ball had moved, but thought that it had returned to it’s original position and consequently did not replace the ball and take a penalty stroke.
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Whoops! Camilo was DQ’d this morning for this rules violation from yesterday’s round. Probably not how he imagined his birthday. Rule 23:1 states:
When a ball is in motion, a loose impediment that might influence the movement of the ball must not be removed
The kicker is that it looks like the piece of turf wouldn’t have been in the path of the ball if he hadn’t moved it. Score another one for eagle eyed TV viewers. I still can’t decide if I’m on board with people calling in rules violations or not. Something just doesn’t sit right with me about a guy getting DQ’d the following day when the player, his marker, and the officials didn’t see a penalty at the time.
Time for Camilo to hit the beach with a few Pina Coladas.
PGA Tour
Last Monday, Brett Waldman, shot a final round 68 at PGA Tour Q-School. It wasn’t enough for him to earn a PGA Tour Card, but it was good enough to get him a Nationwide Tour Card. And the Nationwide Tour is where you will find Waldman next year.
There was quite a bit of speculation about where he would be in 2011. Would he be on Camilo’s bag or making a go of it on the Nationwide Tour? If he had earned a PGA Tour card, the decision would have been a no-brainer. But the Nationwide Tour wasn’t necessarily an easy choice.
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Photo by Rob Hayashida Sandbox8.com
I’m posting a generic Camilo Villegas pic, because well frankly I can’t bring myself to put a picture of a buck naked Camilo Villegas on the front page of my blog. First we have Rocco doing his best Camilo impression and now Camilo had to one up him by posing nude on the cover of a magazine. WTF were they thinking? Do that many women really buy ESPN magazine? Couldn’t they get Natalie Gulbis or Paula Creamer or somebody?
I’m predicting very low sales among their typical audience for this issue. Click the continue link if you really want to see the picture.
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This is apparently what a Camilo Villegas impression looks like when you’re about to turn 48 and have a bad back. He’s not quite as flashy as Camilo, but I give him an “A” for effort.
