Punctuality Truly Counts - Just Ask Angel Cabrera & Gwladys Nocera
by IceCat on Nov 1, 2009 5:22 PM EST
18 comments
By now, you all know the story last week of how Masters champion Angel Cabrera - despite his best efforts - was late for his opening round tee time in Spain the day after competing in Bermuda at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, getting a DNS for his troubles and effectively ending his Race to Dubai.
Now let me share with you a story from this weekend on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the 2nd Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open, co-sanctioned with the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT) and the China Golf Association. This event last year, you might recall, was Annika Sorenstam's last ever (for now) worldwide victory as she prevailed on the 2nd playoff hole over China's Ye Li Ying.
The drama begins with a minor controversy, as a member of this year's European Solheim Cup team, Gwladys Nocera of France, shows up a mere two minutes late for her opening round tee time Friday morning with the aforementioned M.s Ye as well as Thailand's Porani Chutichai - a fact that went unnoticed by the officials. She shoots a 68 and goes to bed that night believing she had a share of the lead.
Come Saturday, when she reports for her 2nd round, Nocera is duly informed by tournament officials that one of her playing partners reported her tardiness the previous day. Under Decision 34-3/1 of the Rules of Golf, she was assessed a two-stroke penalty. She had the same two players alongside her for the 2nd round, so after asking Chutichai if it was she who ratted her out to the committee (it was actually Ye) didn't speak to either of them the rest of the round en route to a 71 and refused to speak with officials or the media afterward.
Said Chutichai after her round: "We never spoke at all after I had told her that I did not make the complaint when she questioned me. All I know is that she was late but I never made a complaint thinking that the officials there would have handled it."
Ye Li Ying, however, was more blunt: "We play to competition rules. This is a tournament and all players should abide by the rules."
Little did Gwladys realize was that those two strokes would come back to haunt her in Sunday's 3rd and final round. Korea's Bo Mi Suh was the overnight leader after opening with back-to-back 69s, leading 4th-place Nocera by 3 shots. In windy conditions, Gwladys tied for low round of the day with a 70, but Suh's even-par 72 was good enough for her first professional win and completed a Korean sweep of the Asian continent this weekend.
(Na Yeon Choi winning the LPGA/KLPGA's Hana Bank/KOLON Championship and Mi-Jeong Jeon winning the JLPGA's Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Kagu Ladies.)
The one-stroke loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Gwladys, but she gamely said afterwards: "I tried my best but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough. We will start afresh next week."
The LET's next stop, ironically, is in Korea, an event co-sanctioned with the KLPGA with the confusing moniker of the Daishin Securities Tomato Tour Korean Ladies Masters.
FanPosts are written by Waggle Room members. Viewpoints expressed do not necessarily reflect those of WaggleRoom.com and its editor, Ryan Ballengee. The Waggle Room member whose byline appears with the FanPost is solely responsible for its content.
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What is the rule ? Does the clock start when your name is called ? When your group is supposed to be on the tee ? After the other players hit ?
(take note, Mr Whan – this is the kind of thing you’ll have to deal with)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 9:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
What irks me
Is Nocera only got a two-stroke penalty. Now she didn’t assess herself the penalty before signing her card for the round. So she therefore didn’t sign a correct scorecard and as we all well know that’s grounds for DQ. She left the scoring area, like somebody else I know and I’m sure the other player was ignorant to sign just like Nocera was ignorant of the rule.
Or was she? The press reports state she asked who reported her. Seems to me she was trying a fast one.
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 9:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Even a better comparsion
Craig Stadler was ignorant about his building a stance under that tree in 1987. He didn’t assess himself a penalty on his 3rd round score card and was DQ on Sunday because of it.
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 10:01 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I’d think you’re right on that one, Bill. Gwladys should have been DQd.
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by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 2, 2009 10:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Is this the way women’s golf is going to start going since Michelle Wie got her DQ ? It’s just too “mean” to DQ a player for a silly rule violation.
How much pressure can these ladies stand ? Hitting the ball…even with a caddy to point them in the right direction….counting all those shots (even Barbie said “Math is hard”)…sign that card thingy with all the numbers…and now they have to be on time, too ??
I will disagree on Stads until the day I die – he wasn’t building a stance, he was keeping his pants clean. That was a horrible call.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 10:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
We agree
CG,
I never felt Michelle was wrongly disqualified.
As for Stadler, yep all he was trying to do was keep his pants clean. Like the Mark Roe DQ at the 2003 British Open, these were two of the uglier golf rulings I’ve ever seen.
We agree on two points in one day. Is Mars transiting Jupiter right now?
Bill
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Here's another two
Esteban Toledo and Brandel Chamblee who were DQd for signing cards after not assessing themselves a penalty for an improper drop. Both player’s rule violations became known after Marco Dawson ratted them out to told officials. Dawson had been their playing partner.
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 10:27 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Well – it IS the responsibility of all players to uphold the rules for themselves and the people in their group.
The question comes up as to whether Dawson mentioned the impropert drops to Chamblee and Toledo when it happened or if he kept quiet and just waited for the end of the round to say something. That’s dirty pool. (how do TWO players have improper drops in one round – bet the odds against that are astronomical)
One of Harvey Penick’s books (I think it’s “And if you play golf, you’re my friend”) – he tells the story of Tom Kite and how proud he (Penick) was of Kite for obeying not just the letter of the rules, but the spirit as well. In a tournament, his playing partner had to take a drop from ground under repair, but didn’t take complete relief. (your feet have to be completely out of the area marked – not just the ball). Kite stopped him before he took his swing and had him re-drop so it would be correct. If he had hit his ball with his feet in the GIR, he would have been given a 2 stroke penalty. Kite lost the tournament to him by a shot – but said that he didn’t want to win like that.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
From my Star Tour playing days
I was in the semi-finals of the 2001 Ft. Lauderdale tournament. It was a best 3 out of 5, and the player I was facing off against was down two games to 1 and we were playing a very close game 4.(The 3 previous games had been close too)
There is a Star rule that you can’t use a reliever four games in a row and I inadvertently announced I was sending in a pitcher who was ineligible via that rule.(He had appeared in one game, and faced only one batter, the player who hit a game winning homer to beat me. So in the pitching chart I should have written a zero for the game but had instead put an x by mistake) My opponent told me I was making a mistake and I quickly rectified it. I went on to win the game and take the series 3 games to 1.(However I lost in the finals)
Under star rules if my opponent hadn’t corrected me and went on to lose, he could have then brought it up after the game. I wouldn’t lose the game on forfeit, but we would have had to do a do over.
That same year there was a big controversy about a west coast player who would question roll results, after the dice had been picked up.(The player used to do this most often against less experienced players but twice tried it against me) He would also rarely call errors on his players. This was a player who like myself played somewhere between 8-12 tournaments a year. An experienced player will get to know his most commonly hit to players error calls by heart after a few games. I did, by mid-year I probably mumbled the die rolls for Edgar Martinez, Derek Jeter, Fernando Vina, Mike Hampton, and Luis Gonzalez in my sleep because I drafted them so many times*.
By late in the year at the West coast regionals, some players were refusing to play this person. He eventually was suspended but not till after the year ending championship.(Where he lost in the finals and if I hadn’t lost a series 4 games to 3 in the Q-finals, we would have faced off against one another) The player hasn’t come back to the tournaments since.
- Eight years later I still can tell you Jeter’s error rolls with 3 dice were 3, 12, and 18. Martinez was 11, 13, and 17.
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 11:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
IMO Nocera lucky not to have DQ, but assume she arrived within 5 mins of her official start time and officials either accepted her explanation (or were embarrassed that they hadn’t noticed and she had already played full round) and imposed lesser penalty of two strokes as is their right.
Still shaking my head on the Stadler ruling – “building a stance” – for heaven’s sake.
Now now CG, have you been stood up again? Maybe she was just 5 mins. late?
by WendyUK on Nov 2, 2009 12:37 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
It’s their right to impose a lesser penalty ? Where is that written ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 1:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Those officials
Probably wanted to be appointed judges in the United States. Here members of the bench can make up the law as they go all they want.
by Bill Jempty on Nov 2, 2009 1:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
R & A Rule 6-3
“a) Time of Starting. The player shall start at the time laid down by the Committee.
“Note: The Committee may provide in the conditions of a competition that, if a player arrives at his starting point, ready to play, within 5 minutes after his starting time,………….the penalty for failure to start on time is loss of the first hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play instead of disqualification”.
Cabrera was more than 5 minutes later = DNS/DQ.
by WendyUK on Nov 2, 2009 2:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
well there you have it – thanks Wendy
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 2:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
but it still doesn’t address the lack of a DQ for signing an incorrect scorecard.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Nov 2, 2009 2:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
True, but
this is not a penalty that the player is expected to call on himself , (Committee decision). To be really, really pedantic (and I can be when push comes to shove) it says that the penalty should be applied “at the first hole” . The Committee failed to do that, so she could not put it on scorecard until informed, and penalty applied retroactively = no DQ. Lucky Nocera.
by WendyUK on Nov 2, 2009 2:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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