SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 Player conduct on the golf course has long been part of the Rules of Golf. This is the first time all four majors published their code for the players, and there already have been ramifications.<\/p>\n
Sergio Garcia was given a warning at the Masters when he smashed (and broke) his driver twice into the ground and then against a table holding a water cooler.<\/p>\n
The USGA opted to bypass the warning and give Joaquin Niemann a two-shot penalty in the first round of the U.S. Open for heaving his wedge on his 15th hole (No. 6) at Shinnecock Hills after twice driving out of bounds and then hitting into thick rough. There were no spectators anywhere near where the club landed in the dunes.<\/p>\n
The two-shot penalty turned his 9 into an 11 on the hole and he shot 78. He still tied for seventh.<\/p>\n
Jon Rahm, who describes himself as an \u201cintense\u201d player, doesn’t mind the code of conduct. His only question is who it gets applied. Because while the principles and penalties are similar at the four majors, it’s at the discretion of each one how it gets applied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s good. I get it,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cThey have a code of conduct and they enforce it. Why not? It’s not going to change how I play. To go from zero to a penalty? I don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The R&A’s conduct policy reads: \u201cIf a player\u2019s (or their caddie\u2019s) behaviour is so far removed from what is expected in the spirit of the game of golf, in accordance with Rule 1.2b, the Chief Referee, in consultation with the Chief Championships Officer, may issue an official warning or apply a penalty of two strokes or disqualification, taking account of the frequency, impact or potential impact, intent and severity of the misconduct. An official warning does not need to be given prior to applying a penalty of two strokes or disqualification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rahm was playing with Garcia when he lost his temper in the final round at Augusta National. He still doesn’t know exactly what happened with Niemann. But his views on the policy made him wonder why this was getting more attention than pace of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cSergio received a warning. I think Joaco maybe deserved a warning \u2014 I don’t know what he did,” Rahm said. \u201cWith all the policies we have on pace play, you get a warning, another warning and then you MIGHT get a penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rahm suggested a warning was warranted on the first offence, especially in the first round.<\/p>\n
Faldo questions DeChambeau\u2019s strategy<\/p>\n
Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut at the first three majors this year. Nick Faldo wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the American failed to make the weekend at the British Open, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say it to his face \u2014 DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy,\u201d the three-time Open champion said on the Sky Sports Golf podcast.<\/p>\n
Faldo questioned DeChambeau\u2019s attacking approach in links golf, saying he needed more creativity and to \u201clook at humps and bumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t think: \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll just blast it down there. Can\u2019t see where I\u2019m going,\u2019\u201d Faldo said.<\/p>\n
DeChambeau has two top-10 finishes in eight appearances at the Open Championship, including a tie for 10th at Royal Portrush last year.<\/p>\n
No regrets for Justin Rose<\/p>\n
Justin Rose tied for fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and turned pro a week later.<\/p>\n
He famously missed 20 cuts in a row when he turned pro. He has only one major, the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. That\u2019s among his 25 victories worldwide, which includes an Olympic gold medal when golf returned to the Olympic program in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
He was asked Tuesday if this is what he imagined when he left Royal Birkdale 28 years ago. It\u2019s impossible to answer, and Rose eventually said he would stand pat with what he has done.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-eight years later I\u2019m playing in The Open Championship,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I think about that, that\u2019s still an amazing achievement, just to have the will to keep wanting to be here.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould I have won more of what I\u2019ve already won? Yes. Would I love to be a multiple major champion? Yes. Do I feel I could have pushed towards close to a Grand slam? Yes. I\u2019ve had results that nearly put me in that realm. So a little bit of luck here and there, I could be sitting here with a very different career.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he was happy with the career he has, which includes five stints at No. 1 in the world. And his hope is being comfortable with all that he\u2019s achieved gives him freedom to achieve more.<\/p>\n
The wait goes on for Rory McIlroy, one of Britain\u2019s greatest ever sports stars, to receive a knighthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that honour were bestowed on me one day,\u201d McIlroy said Tuesday, \u201cthat would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the holdup? After all, it\u2019s more than a year since he won the Masters to become the only European golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
Sections of the British media have reported that a tax issue might be the reason and that was put to McIlroy at his news conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nick Faldo, who also has six major titles, has been knighted.<\/p>\n
Minor bump for Open prize fund<\/p>\n
The Open Championship has increased its prize fund to $17.5 million, remaining as the lowest purse among the four majors after having the smallest increase of the majors.<\/p>\n
The Masters increased it purse by $1.5 million to $22.5 million. The PGA Championship also had a $1.5 million bump to $20.5 million. The U.S. Open increased its purse by $1 million to $22.5 million.<\/p>\n
The R&A announced a $750,000 increase in its purse, with $3.2 million for the winner, $100,000 more than Scottie Scheffler won last year.<\/p>\n
Sam Burns, the runner-up at the U.S. Open, was at Royal Birkdale on Monday for the Open Championship. The original plan was to skip the final major because of the due date of his wife’s second child. Their daughter was born the first week in July, and Burns made the trip. … Scottie Scheffler is legendary for wanting to dress like a PGA Tour player when he was a boy, and he always wore pants to look the part, even in the summer heat of Dallas. He wore shorts during practice at the British Open. \u201cI’d like to think I’ve gotten less dumb since I was a kid,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cOne good decision I made is to start wearing shorts every now and then when it’s hot out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 Player conduct on the golf course has long been part of the Rules of Golf.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-801875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}