Last week-from 5th Dec to 8thDec,2007, Eagleton golf resort near Bangalore hosted the prestigious Ladies European Masters. I was one of the three Indian referees invited to officiate in the tournament. The ladies European Tour(LET) had three professional tournament administrators-Mark Vandy Broek,Andy Lott and Rowland Hill. It was a pleasure to learn from them about many aspects of tournament administration.
Eagleton was a simple course. There were few issues regarding rulings. Moreover, the ladies were well versed in application of rules, especially relief procedures. Most of our time was devoted to ensure pace of play guide lines.
The holes cut in Eagleton, due to nature of the soil, tended to fray at the edges, causing some problems to players and administrators.On hole no 5, the edges of the hole was slightly damaged, but the dimension of the hole was was not changed materially.Becker had a 4 foot putt. When she was lining her putt, her caddy try to smooth the edges of the hole.This was brought to my notice.The player and the caddie confirmed the incident.I imposed a penalty of 2 strokes to Becker for breach of R 16-1a., confirmed by decision 16-1a/6.
In another rare incident related to damaged hole, hole no 4 on the third day was found to be badly damaged, after a few groups have played that hole.the tour director Andy Lott authorized the relocation of the hole within a yard in a similar position-exception to R 33-2b.
Rules Ravi
