The DP World Tour has hit Sam Bairstow, the highly rated young English golfer, with a £25,000 fine after a rules controversy that has caused outrage in the locker room.
Fellow pros and caddies alike have demanded to know why Bairstow, the 27-year-old who has earned more than £1m in his first three years in the paid ranks, was not banned following his clear infraction at the Nexo Championship two weeks ago.
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Inevitably, questions are also being asked concerning the Tour’s transparency and its continuing policy of not revealing the sanctions it dishes out for transgressions.
“This has been hushed up and many of us are unhappy,” one Tour professional told Telegraph Sport. “This is affecting people’s livings and the Tour must be more transparent and not be so paranoid about a wider negative reaction.”
The storm began at the new tournament staged at the Trump International Links in Aberdeenshire and only came to light because of a fan recording a video on his mobile phone during the first round. This footage alerted the referees to the obvious rules transgression and set in motion a series of events than resulted a costly bill for the 27-year-old – and dissension on the range.
The incident in question occurred on the 14th after Bairstow hit a wayward drive and his ball finished on a bank. Telegraph Sport has obtained a copy of the video, which shows the ball suspended in heavy rough. As Bairstow addresses the ball, it plainly disappears deeper into the hay. Bairstow is then seen to stop, pull away and consult his caddie.
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Yet instead of replacing the ball and accepting a one-shot penalty for causing the ball to move, he proceeded to hit it from its new resting position. Bairstow took three more shots thereafter to finish the hole and put his score down as a five on his card.
However, unbeknown to Bairstow, the eagled-eyed fan with the smartphone had already acted. After watching Bairstow, the former world amateur No 7 who notably qualified and played all four rounds at the 150th Open St Andrews in 2022, clearly fall foul of the rulebook, the supporter sent in the clip to Tour HQ.
When Bairstow finished his round, he was asked by officials about the 14th and he denied knowledge of breaking the rules. He was then shown the video and accepted that the five should be a seven, because of a two-stroke penalty – one for not replacing the ball and another for playing it from the wrong spot.
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Bairstow later disqualified himself from the tournament and although that created confusion and intrigue, the official explanation was that he had erroneously signed for a five instead of a seven, had done the honourable thing and the tournament moved on.
Yet, far from that being the end of the affair, copies of the video were passed around caddies and pros and the Tour’s disciplinarians convened a hearing. Bairstow was apparently adamant that he had been unaware that the ball had moved, despite the evidence of the clip. The hearing decided the ball’s movement to another spot had, as the rules state, “been discernible to the naked eye” and Bairstow was handed the maximum fine possible – understood to be £25,000.
In a statement released to Telegraph Sport on Friday, the Tour detailed the timetable of events. “The DP World Tour can confirm that on the 14th hole during Round One of the Nexo Championship there was a rules infringement by Sam Bairstow which at the time resulted in a two-stroke penalty,” it said.
“Following the review of video footage after the conclusion of round one, it was deemed that Bairstow’s actions had caused his ball to move prior to playing a stroke from the sand dunes on the 14th hole. Before the start of round two, Bairstow felt the right decision was to disqualify himself from the tournament.
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“After further investigation, Bairstow was found to be in breach of the DP World Tour’s Code of Behaviour and sanctioned accordingly. The player has a period of review to appeal the sanction.”
It is as yet unknown if there will be an appeal. His management was approached for comment, but at time of publication, Bairstow was competing in the second round of the Betfred British Masters here at the Belfry.