Golf: Peter Whiteford disqualified in India after TV viewers report rules infringement

By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Published on Monday 20 February 2012 00:00

PETER Whiteford’s hopes of adding to Scottish golf’s feel- good factor ended in bitter disappointment yesterday as the Fifer was disqualified from the Avantha Masters in India after becoming the latest golfer to fall foul of an armchair jury.

The 31-year-old from Windy-gates, who led the event at the halfway stage and was only one shot off the lead at the start of the final round, saw his challenge come to a shuddering halt after just three holes on the last day in New Dehli.

It followed an incident at the 18th hole in his third round on Saturday, with television replays of Whiteford’s third shot there showing that his ball rolled a fraction before he played to the green.

Aware that may have been the case, the Scot brought the matter to the attention of his caddie, a fellow player and TV cameraman, but they all felt the ball hadn’t moved and so he continued to finish the hole and signed his card for a level-par 72.

However, following the intervention of some eagled-eyed Sky TV viewers on Saturday night, the European Tour rules committee reviewed the incident yesterday and agreed that Whiteford’s ball had, in fact, moved.

That being the case, he should have called a one-shot penalty on himself and replaced his ball. By not doing so, he signed for a score lower than that taken for failing to include the penalty and that meant he was disqualified.

“Being in the last group he would have had many cameras on him and he could reasonably have known by asking one of us to check the footage,” said chief referee John Paramor, who warned Whiteford of the review taking place before he teed off and drove the player and his caddie back to the clubhouse after the disqualification was confirmed.

“We would have established at that time that the ball had, in fact, moved and he would have been able to apply the correct penalty at that stage. Unfortunately, he didn’t and we had to take a hard line which, in this instance, was disqualification.”

Whiteford, who was bidding for his breakthrough win on the European Tour and had still been out in front until he double- bogeyed the 17th on Saturday, admitted he had made a mistake by not reviewing the incident with a rules official. “I should have reviewed it with the referee before signing my card,” he said. “You can see when you look at it on TV that the ball moved. John spoke to me before I went out and said they were going to review it from a different angle, so my head wasn’t in it from the first tee.”

Whiteford, who had watched all his Scottish colleagues on the European Tour record a host of top-ten finishes in the opening few events of the 2012 season and was on course to get in on the act himself, added: “It’s not been a very good day but I’m not cheating. It’s disappointing but it’s just one of those things.”

The action taken against Whiteford comes just over a year after Colombian Camilo Villegas was disqualified for a rules violation that a television viewer called in during the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Other high-profile players to fall foul of armchair juries over the years have included Craig Stadler, Paul Azinger and Juli Inkster.

Whiteford’s disqualification opened the door for Jbe Kruger to claim his maiden European Tour title, the 25-year-old South African closing with a 69 for a 14-under-par total and a two-stroke victory over Spaniard Jorge Campillo and Germany’s Marcel Siem.

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7

Pedantic

Friday, February 24, 2012 at 12:25 PM

Rules are rules. He thought it had moved and consulted others at the time. He was best placed to see the ball move in the first instance and should have called a penalty regardless of what the others said.

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6

r & a

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:59 AM

surely some of the blame is with the tv stations. there really is no requirement for zoom in's on the ball - what is it adding to the coverage? it's pretty obvious he was not in any way cheating & could certainly have done with the big pay day. sad story.

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5

trenchchat

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 09:07 AM

Oh dear! Now golf is becoming infected by the self righteous officious little people who think that they are bigger than the game, or more importantly, the spirit of the game. Golf is played outside on mainly rough terrrain and is subject to the elements and the laws of gravity all of which can conspire against a player through no fault of his or her own. A sense of proportion is needed in circumstances described above or is golf incapable of reason?

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4

RWC

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 08:24 AM

bet ye the sky guys were all from souv of the border

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3

ELDee

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 07:04 AM

Where does this start and where does it stop? Does this mean where there is a disputed foul or goal in football that wee jimmy an call up the SFA and get it the goal or foul awarded or taken off? The Royal and Ancient better get its act together and stop this rubbish.

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2

Happy Hibee

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 06:57 AM

Two points: How did he not know his ball had moved? The other player is there to representprotect the rest of the field, if he had agreed that the ball had not moved it should have been closed at that point. Golf is going a bit daft!

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1

Phil C

Monday, February 20, 2012 at 04:58 AM

What a piece of nonsense! What sad folk make up this "armchair jury"?

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