So what happens when golfing tribes go to war?
Following the decision of the United States tour to throw down a gauntlet and take on the governing bodies regarding anchoring clubs, we are about to find out.
Given what is at stake for the parties, it is hard to see how this can end amicably. Either one side will be forced into a humiliating climbdown or the US Tour will go their own way. Whatever scenario unfolds, there will be plenty of bruised egos.
The United States Golf Association, who look after the game in America, and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, who are the custodians worldwide, want to ban the anchoring of a putter to any part of the body on the grounds that it compromises the integrity of the putting stroke and diminishes the skill and nerve involved.
For players like major champions Ernie Els, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson, this would mean having to find a new method of putting.
A 90-day comment period was instigated and it comes to an end later this week with the PGA of America, who represent 25,000 club professionals, and the US Tour announcing their opposition.
US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says: ‘The essential thread of our thinking is the absence of data that there is a competitive advantage to be gained by using anchoring, and, given the amount of time that anchoring has been in the game, there is no overriding reason to go down that road.’
R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said at the time of the original announcement he thought they had covered all bases and there is certainly nothing in Finchem’s arguments that will come as a surprise.
So, having come to the admittedly belated conclusion that it does indeed offer an advantage, it is hard to see how the governing bodies — who will announce their definitive conclusion in the spring — can change their minds without damaging their credibility irrevocably.
So how would the US Tour react to them going ahead?
Finchem claims they have not even considered such a step which, quite frankly, beggars belief. If they don’t accept it, will we see anchoring allowed on the US Tour but not at the US Open or The Open or on the European Tour, who have raised no objections?
Achorage: Ernie Els won the British Open with the use of a belly putter To be banned? US Open champion Webb Simpson also uses a similar method of putting‘We don’t think banning anchoring is in the best interests of golf,’ says Finchem, begging the response: ‘And how does the self-serving stance adopted by the US Tour help, exactly?’
As for the PGA of America — as one witty scribe put it: ‘Wouldn’t the 25,000 pros be better off spending their time teaching people how to putt properly?’
Singh still waiting after admitting antler spray useNo decision has been made yet about what to do with Vijay Singh over his Deer Antler spray admission but US tour commissioner Tim Finchem promises it will be ‘relatively soon’.
Wrongdoing? V.J. Singh says he had no idea antler spray contained a banned substanceIt’s almost a month already. What can possibly be taking so long? Meanwhile, Vijay had his 50th birthday last week. That must have been one long celebration, mustn’t it?
Long Day’s journey into nightmareHard to argue with Paul Lawrie and his suggestion on Twitter yesterday that if the US Tour had the best interests of the game at heart, they would be doing something about the long time it takes to play rather than sticking up for the long putter.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK‘When Lee told me he had to move on, it was like my wife was running off with my best mate. It hurts, of course it hurts. It absolutely destroyed me.’Caddie Billy Foster has spent 10 months recovering from a freak cruciate knee injury but the pain of being let go by Lee Westwood hurt more. Westwood’s results since last May suggest fate has been hard on both men.
The antics of people like Australian Jason Day in the Accenture Match Play Championship last week turn more people away from the game than would ever think about quitting because they would have to go back to the short stick.
Who wants to tune in and watch someone standing behind the ball for what feels like an eternity before playing each shot? It’s miles worse in the flesh. While Graeme McDowell was losing to him on Saturday, I was losing the will to live.
Football teams have scored a couple of goals in the time it takes Day to play a shot. How are we going to attract teenagers to the sport?
Unhappy: Graham McDowell was one of several players complaining of the time it took Jason Day to take shots There's no place like homeWhat’s the secret to getting a stellar field to play in a regular tour event?
It’s not hard to see why Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen should all be competing in the Honda Classic at West Palm Beach in Florida this week.
All have homes within 30 minutes of the front gate.
Backyard: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are among the stars who have a house in FloridaMore... Kuchar wins Match Play Championship as Poulter finishes fourth PGA Tour joins PGA America in opposition to proposed 'belly putter' ban Derek Lawrenson: Our unheralded English hero who once saved Poulter's life
