Wansteadimp

Bernd Weisberger tearing it up today, working on a run of 9 birdies at the moment. Not going in the record books though as they have pick, wipe and place this week.

Beautifully jinxed, bogey, par the par 5, par, bogey, 10 under thru' 17.

Tom Lewis 12 under through 13, needs to par in for 59, but has a 470 yard par 5 coming up!

Top 9 confirmed with Knox playing in the US, the only remaining counting tournament is the Made in Denmark. I would have thought Westwood is certain to be a pick. The only other two players with experience I can see Clarke considering are Kaymer and Dubuisson, the latter purely because the next Ryder Cup is in France, it would be a rubbish decision though. The rookies up for picks are I suppose Knox, Pieters, Lowry & Olesen but 7 rookies would be an awful lot. I would hope he goes for Westwood, Kaymer & Knox.

So on the Olympics website, are they really only giving the top 4 as cumulative under par? The rest of the round 2 leaderboard seems to be the round 2 score only? They can't be this bad, can they? https://www.rio2016.com/en/golf-mens-round-2 Any better leaderboards out there? The european tour leaderboard links to the BBC which just gives the round 2 scores and the round 1 leaderboard and sends you to the link above for in play scores. The PGA tour leaderboard is showing nothing. Okay found one, courtesy of the International Golf Federation: - http://www.igfgolf.org/olympic-games/scores/

I'm sure there is a Jordan walks on water joke to be had somewhere.

Doesn't the view from behind as he plays the shot and his left foot pivots show that he had the ball of his feet on the casual water as well as the toes over it?

Don't know about golf in Northern Italy, though I understand it can be expensive. Slovenia has some nice tracks. Diners and Arboretum in Ljubljana are nice tracks, Arboretum is short but very tree lined, hence the name, I'd happily go back. Arboretum is the better of the two. The King's Course at Bled is supposed to be great, we played the second course because the King's Course was hosting the European Ladies Senior Amateur Championship. Bled is fantastic, cheap hotels, beautiful views, mountains coming down to the lake with the castle over looking it and the church on the island in the middle, easy access to the rest of the Julian Alps. The transfer to the Ljulbljana courses from Bled was 30 to 40 min. People were very welcoming and Slovenia has spent the EUs money wisely, fantastic road system now. As far as handicap certificates are concerned I've played in England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Slovenia, France & Morocco. I think one course in Spain has asked us for certificates. A lot of them post that they are required but never ask.

I agree, the player should have hit his provisional a second time before looking for the original ball. However, decision 27-2b/3 allows him to search, hit the provisional for a second time, then nit his original, is that not an issue with the decision not the player? Is this an issue if they are within the 5 minute search period?

Yes, I understand this but why does the decision let you go forward of where you have hit your provisional ball, search for your original ball, go back to the provisional hit it then go to your original ball when its found and hit it and the original be the ball in play. That's not speeding up play, is it?

So in our Club Championship yesterday we had an interesting ruling. A player hit a cut wasn't sure he would find it so played a provisional which didn't go as far as his original ball. He then went and looked for his original ball, people were waiting on the tee so he went back and hit his provisional. After this had happened but within the 5 minute search period a group playing a parallel hole found his original ball. He wasn't sure how to proceed so completed the hole with both balls (6 with the provisional, 4 with the original)and turned it over to the Committee. My initial thought was that he would have to use the score from the provisional as the situation is similar to the criteria (ii) for playing a provisional: - 27-2. Provisional Ball a. Procedure If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play another ball provisionally in accordance with Rule 27-1. The player must: (i) announce to his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play that he intends to play a provisional ball; and (ii) play the provisional ball before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball. However, we then found a decision which covered the situation exactly: - 27-2b/3 Original Ball Is Beyond Provisional Ball; Player Searches Briefly for Original Ball, Plays Provisional Ball and Then Finds Original Ball Q.A player's provisional ball comes to rest short of where the original ball is likely to be. After a two-minute search for the original ball, the player goes back, plays a second stroke with the provisional ball and then his original ball is found within the five-minute time limit. What is the ruling? A.The player must continue play with the original ball. Play of a provisional ball does not render the original ball lost until it has been played from the place where the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place (Rule 27-2b). So making the ruling became easy, the 4 with the original ball was the one to count. However, it seems to me that the decision is inconsistent with 27-2a(ii), anyone agree or can explain the difference?

Spain didn't join the EU until 1986, well after Seve et al began playing in the Ryder Cup. EU membership really has no connection to the European Tour.

Yes, the double points is part of the European Tour's strategy to get more top players at the event as its the 100th French Open. The European team has an awful lot of rookies 5 of the 9 automatic qualifiers. I think Lowry is a lock for a pick which gives 6 rookies. In light of this I would have thought that the other 2 will be Ryder Cup vets, Westwood and then one of Kaymer, McDowell or Dubuisson. Dubuisson is a difficult choice he doesn't strike me as the kind to take some one under his wing so may not be ideal on such an inexperienced team (he also only has 1 appearance) but I imagine the European Tour will want a Frenchman on the team with the next Ryder Cup in Paris. There are a load of potential rookies in good form that may play their way on to the team, Knox, Olesen, Kjeldsen, Pieters, Luiten etc, not many of the vets look to be in the form to make a run at automatic qualification (Westwood aside).

So the only way it can happen is if the opposition offer the possibility and then you accept? edit Okay I'm getting confused, you have to have already broken a rule then the opposition can ignore the breach, here no rule has been breached (yet).

To play Devil's Advocate, as you're playing a match and your opponents think that the ball was hit by a member of the other group, then they can waive the rule and allow you to drop a ball as near as possible to the point you believe it finished. Obviously you can't agree this beforehand. Now where that leaves you regarding posting for handicap I have no clue, as we don't post matchplay rounds for handicap in the UK. If they don't waive the rule then you proceeded correctly.

Is DJ in danger of double dipping on the penalties? 1 for "moving" the ball and then again because he was told it wasn't a pen not replacing the ball in its original position? If he is judged to move the ball he has to replace it doesn't he?

I wouldn't rely on parking near East Putney (not at a reasonable price anyway), I'd advise you to park further away and use the tube for longer.

CONGU also excludes matchplay rounds and better ball rounds. CONGU works based on a stableford basis so a net double bogey always scores you 0 points (even if you are playing a medal round).

Ernie's meltdown Not safe for those of a nervous disposition

This is something I have thought about and fallen foul of, thankfully in a friendly match not a comp. You ask your playing companion/opponent to tend the flag, you get a putt on line, they fail to take the pin out, you get the penalty. It doesn't seem fair, in my case it was because my playing companion was a space cadet, but in a singles matchplay it could be your opponent pulling a fast one on you. On the opposite side, you have had the advantage (maybe?) of hitting the pin so you should take the penalty and I don't really have a satisfactory alternative, I wouldn't want to go back to leaving the pin in.

I'd suggest that if you're sufficiently off line to be on the wrong putting green then you don't deserve breaks from the rules!

Presumably McIlroy is going out with Sullivan and Fitzpatrick before it kicks off, I really don't care about it. When it wasn't televised and I had no idea of the nonsense that goes on during it I liked the idea, once I've seen what goes on not really interested. Of course skipping it is a good way to avoid the CURSE!!!!

I think the PGA rules team runs the WGCs in the US and the European Tour runs the one in China. The policies are markedly different now as Speith found out in Abu Dhabi (Dubai?) this year. The European Tour has historically been tougher on slow play, I think it was a European rules official (John Paramore?) that gave the penalty to the amateur at the Masters.

Absolutely, but if you're playing in a competition then you have to take relief under the rules not what makes most sense for the course. Obviously you can repair your spike marks before you leave the green as you can after you have putted out. Actually, I'm not sure if this is obvious, I'd be happy doing it if I'd played the hole associated with the wrong putting green already because it wouldn't assist my play of the hole. If I'd yet to play the hole that may not be the case, I'd guess because I'm not playing the hole yet I don't have a line of putt so I should be okay, any ideas what the ruling would be, I've had a brief scan of the decisions but couldn't find anything? 2 things, First, Clause (ii) of the definition of nearest point of relief talks about the condition you are taking relief from, which in this case is the ball lying on the green (not your stance), so the nearest point will be the spot where the whole of the ball is no longer on the green which isn't closer to the hole (the one you're playing I have seen some people try this to the one on the wrong putting green), then you take a club length from there. So there are scenarios where you could end up stood on the wrong putting green to play your ball. Second, you would get no relief if your ball was never on the green but you had to stand on the green to take your shot.