European Tour: The Avantha Masters

Not sure how much interest there will be in this with a very weak field, but just in case any talking points come up...

Only 3 of the OGWR top 100 in the field - of the slightly more recognizable names, good starts from Scott Jamieson and Peter Uihlein - both -3 after round one with the leader currently on -4

Anyone seen the size of Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat who is leading at -4?

He makes Shane Lowry look anorexic...can't wait to hear what S_R will have to say about that!

haha i just came on to comment on the pie eater only to see you got there first!

Problems again for Big John. A first round 79, including a treble bogey at the par 5 14th, leaves him next to last at the conclusion of the opening days play.

Odds on an overnight withdrawal or a bag full of balls heading towards a lake tomorrow?

BlueCoverman wrote:Problems again for Big John. A first round 79, including a treble bogey at the par 5 14th, leaves him next to last at the conclusion of the opening days play.

Odds on an overnight withdrawal or a bag full of balls heading towards a lake tomorrow?

He just can't seem to get out of his own way.

He's withdrawn with some sort of arm injury

Davie wrote:He's withdrawn with some sort of arm injury

Unbelievable!

Howler....out in 32 back in 44 grrrrrr.

It is good to see the Scots guys playing well again.
We seem to be making steady progress after a few very bleak years.

venice1 wrote:

Davie wrote:He's withdrawn with some sort of arm injury

Unbelievable!

See my explanation on the Big John thread. He badly damaged his elbow on his 9th hole - it wasn't "unbelievable"!

LadyPutt wrote:

venice1 wrote:

Davie wrote:He's withdrawn with some sort of arm injury

Unbelievable!

See my explanation on the Big John thread. He badly damaged his elbow on his 9th hole - it wasn't "unbelievable"!

I see I jumped the gun. I guess many of us grown to expect and suspect the worse from JD.

Suffolk's Jamie Moul going well, 68 today to finish in joint 13th position on -5. It is Jamie's debut season on the European Tour, no doubt he will be hoping to keep his good form going at the weekend and pick up a useful sized cheque.

Great to see Paul McGinley up with the leaders. Scots boys have faltered a bit on the closing holes.

Watched a bit this morning

Is it just me or does the course look really shabby . Pretty sparse crowds as well. I know that the intention is to spread the game tonew markets but it such a shame that England gets one ET event a year when there are millions of golf fans and hundreds of fantastic courses.

Ray - it's all down to money. If you offered a million or so to sponsor a tournament in England, I'm sure the ET would love to stage it. Commentators on Sky have been saying the greens look much worse than they play. At least there are some nice flowers and a couple of waterfalls to look at!

Whiteford DSQ.
Ball moved on 18th, trial by telly again.
He thought his ball may have moved, he asked his caddy and a TV man and they both said no.
Seemingly if he had consulted an official they could have looked at the cameras to determine if it had moved.

Ah, that explains why there's no sign of him on telly!

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2012/tournamentid=2012007/news/newsid=155004.html

I bet he feels a right plonker for not getting verification from a ref. Hard lesson ... hopefully learnt.

I'm sorry but this type of thing really grips my shit! Excuse the language but some pompous prat sitting in his arm chair victor meldrew like notices something the player has checked with his caddy and cameraman (ok should have had ref as well) and thinks I know I'll ruin this guys chances of making money to secure his living.

Hope that guy is enjoying his knowledge of what he achieved today, sky should've named and shamed him, more likely he's sat there in his Y fronts holding his man sausage cracking one off to spoiling someones day.

Anywhoooo rant over.

Well done to JBe Kruuger a deserved win for his play but turn the collar down it looks stupid, however another RSA winner on tour certainly a golfing hotbed down there at the moment

and another thing the ET morons should look at is the fact the footage clearly shows he wasn't looking at the ball but the flag so how would he have known the ball had moved 100%.

The to DQ amid playing the 4th round is a joke

I hate this trial by TV. When the incident happened yesterday, no-one would have noticed if Whiteford hadn't said he thought the ball might have moved. However the muppet was who called the ET from the comfort of his armchair (what a sad bastard) would not have been aware of anything if Whiteford had kept his mouth shut. Nor would we have noticed Marcel Siem's ball move but he was obviously aware of Whiteford's DQ. I don't agree with this rule - if the ball moves forward then OK you should replace it, but in both instances it moved about 5mm backwards. Where's the advantage in that?????

LP 100% agree no advantage gained except for some sad bastard sat there feeling smug!

I'm aghast at the whole thing how they've not learned from last year with trial by tv thing I do not know. What is even more a joke is that they would have know that at the end of his round he stopped and asked the cameraman so they couldve looked at it then instead of waiting for Mr Sad Bastards phone call.

They've handled it yet again appaling and to punish him for gaining no advantage is a joke, the other thing is from what I'm hearing his group on the 3rd round (the leaders group) had no referee out walking the course with them anyway!

What I can't understand is why he didn't check with an official before he signed his card. How long would that have taken?...no more than a few minutes I would have thought

I can't understand how anyone at home can possibly have seen it. I watched it live in HD, and saw it again tonight, and even 'knowing' it moved I couldn't see it. I can believe that with the benefit of slo-mo replays the rules people can retrospectively have seen it but for anyone at home to have been certain enough to report it - sorry, I just don't buy it.

I agree SJ - I couldn't see it move when they were discussing it in the studio last night, even though they said "look, it rolled sideways"! I think if the player, his caddie and playing partners all agree there is no problem, then that should be the end of it. After all, what happens in the case of us mere amateurs who don't have the benefit of referees, rules officials, TV slo-mo cameras and the like? We ask our playing partners .......

i think this trial by TV ruling is unfair... it only effects the players on top of the leaderboard. if whitford was down in 20th place then he wouldnt have been on tv and wouldnt have been reported.