Thanksgiving was this week, but don't expect Ian Poulter to be thanking the Rules of Golf *carnhorn*.
The Englishman who we tend to poke fun at over in these parts was in a playoff at the Dubai World Championship, when he encountered one of the dumber rules in golf, not to be confused with the thousand other dumb rules of golf.
Poulter accidentally dropped his ball out of his hand in a playoff against Robert Karlsson, hitting his ball mark and forcing it to flip over, incurring a one-shot penalty and essentially locking up the playoff for the Swede.
The rule is Rule 20-1/15, and it says, "Any accidental movement of the ball marker which occurs before or after the specific act of marking, including as a result of dropping the ball, regardless of the height from which it was dropped ... results in the player incurring a one stroke penalty."
So, yeah, Poulter dropped his ball, not doing anything to really give himself an advantage, but the rules of golf were written by people that kick dogs and spit on grandparents, so yeah, that's it.
I am not the biggest Poults fan, but this does suck for him. Was he probably going to lose the playoff with Karlsson in tight for a birdie? Yeah, percentages would have been in his favor. Is something missing a four-foot birdie putt in a playoff that insane? Nope, just ask Tim Clark.
The blunder cost Ian $400,000, which sounds horrible to you and I, but the guy still won $833,000, so it isn't like I'm setting up a PayPal account in his name for us to donate into. Still, the rules of golf need a makeover, as I've said 10,000 times in my life.
Also, what better way to wrap up 2010 than to have the final tournament of the season that means anything to end with a rules infraction?
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3 comments:
Kind of a stretch there big dog. $400k poorer would indicate that he had that $400k and had it taken away. He didn't win the tournament and then had the $400k deducted. That would be $400k poorer.
He only managed a one under 70 when everybody around him was posting 67's and 68's.
And another thing was that even if poulter didnt make that tiddlywinks error, he still had a 40 foot birdie putt vs his opponent's closer birdie putt. Like he had even an ounce of a chance sinking a 40 foot birdie probably highly unlikely.
Just people blowing up poulter's error out of proportion. Gotta take the whole picture before making a judgement...
"written by people who kick dogs and spit on grandparents.." pure literary genius dood. utter genius... amen!!!
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