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BMW INTERNATIONAL OPENJune 23, 2017Andy McFeeMunich, Germany Q. Can you just run us through exactly what happened on the fourth hole with Thorbjørn Olesen and what the mistake was with rule? ANDY McFEE: Yeah, sure. We got a call to stay there was a referee needed on the fourth, so the nearest referee responded to it. When he got there, the circumstances were that Thorbjørn had hit it into the lake short of the fourth. It dropped down to two club lengths and he dropped, dropped and played the ball and it was at rest. Now it's quite a bank there, so there's obviously a risk that the ball will roll back into the hazard, and that's exactly what he did. So the key question is: Was the ball placed at rest. If it was, then it's in play and the only way he can get out of the hazard is under penalty on one. Well, the referee got himself a little bit confused over what had happened, and I think he thought that the ball had been moved by an outside agency. So he was looking to replace it with no penalty, which is exactly what Thorbjørn did. But, look, the way the rules work is that they anticipate that mistakes are going to be made, so that's quite a clear decision in the book which talks about correcting an incorrect ruling. The correction here really works on the fact that if that ball was playable within the hazard, and we as a committee would have denied Thorbjørn the ability to play it, then he could have walked away with no penalty, but that wasn't the case. The ball was in the water and not playable. So the only way he could get out was under one-shot penalty. So I have to correct the incorrect rolling and apply the one-shot penalty to come out of the hazard and the fact that he has then placed it rather than dropped it, well, that's down to us. He did what we told him to do, so there's nothing further on it. Q. One of the things we noticed was when we had to deliver that bad news on the sixth hole, he showed some frustration, saying, this is not the first time this has happened. Do you accept that when referees make mistakes, players entitled to feel a bit that way? ANDY McFEE: Absolutely. I mean, it's an error and it's one I wish hadn't happened. But it did happen. And to be fair to the field, the other 155 guys that are competing against Thorbjørn, that penalty has to be applied. And yes, he's frustrated. It's very soon after the incident, but obviously, you know, I want him to know what his score is. So I've got to do that quickly. It's an easier conversation in the recording area. So yes, I totally understand the frustration. Q. Finally, to clarify, in reality, how much or did that mistake actually cost Thorbjørn anything extra to what it should have been with the correct ruling? ANDY McFEE: Nothing. Nothing at all. The only difference is he got to place the ball coming out of the hazard and the reality is, he would have probably had to do that anyway because of the nature of the slope there. He would almost certainly have had to do what he did the first time around which is drop, drop and place. Q. Talk about the ruling and what happened at the fourth. ANDY McFEE: Well, he hit it into the lake short of 4 green and he called for a ruling because he dealt with the first part himself, which was just drop the ball out within club lengths of his point of entry. And having done that, the ball rolled back into the hazard and he then had to place the ball, so he dropped, dropped and placed, and he did that. He walked up on to the green to have a look at the shot he had left, and of course the ball placed at rest, returned of its own volition back into the hazard and that's the point where he called for the ruling. Now the correct ruling is if that ball is -- that wasn't the ruling that the referee gave. The referee I think was thinking that the ball had been moved by an outside agency, which means he replaced with no penalty, but clearly that wasn't the case. So the rules do anticipate that occasionally there's going to be an error and they tell what you to do in these circumstances. The committee has a duty to correct any individual ruling by rescinding or imposing the penalty. This one turns on the fact that when that ball had rolled into the hazard it was in a situation where it was not playable. Therefore, the only way he could have got out of the hazard was to incur a one-stroke penalty under rule 26-1c, so I have to impose that one stroke. The fact that he then placed the ball outside the hazard is irrelevant, because he did what the committee asked him to do. Q. So when you went up to him to say he had another shot, was there any difference in the total of the score that he would have had? ANDY McFEE: No. The only way it would have been different is if the ball had rolled back into the hazard and it being in a playable situation, then I guess Thorbjørn would have probably played it, and if the circumstance had arisen that we denied him that opportunity, then there would have been no penalty. But clearly in this circumstance, the ball was not playable. It was in the water. Therefore, the only correct ruling is to come out of the hazard with a penalty of one, so he would always have had that one-shot penalty. The fact that the referee told him that there was no penalty, I just have to correct that, because that's clearly wrong. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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