GOLF RULES

Merv Simpson is a Kano who is more Pinoy than most Filipinos. After all, he has spent more years in our country than most of us living here today. Furthermore, he loves it here -- despite once having had his heart broken by a faithless Pinay wife who took his money and ran.

But sing no sad songs for Merv. He's fine. The years may have slowed him down a bit, but he still has the sparkling eyes and the jaunty smile of the strapping lad who won the Philippine Amateur Golf Championship at the age of seventeen. Merv maintains a full schedule, managing the Corinthian Plaza in Makati, playing golf and meeting friends at a favorite bar -- to hoist a few while playing "balut," that dice game played at many upscale watering holes.

Merv called when he read my column decrying golfers who refuse to wave faster players through. If you remember, I also said that rules of etiquette -- including pace-of-play guidelines -- have always been a feature of our golf code although, traditionally, there have been no loss-of-hole or stroke penalties for violators. But Merv said there's another way: Rule 41.

Since the code only gets to Rule 34, I asked: What's that?

"Rule 41: Don't play with bastards," he chortled.

There's bound to be a few of those in every club. But at Manila Golf, where Merv used to be the club manager, unpleasant characters (the uncouth, the cheaters, the ill-bred) would have a hard time getting a game; other players always found an excuse to avoid them.

Now you know. There's a nice way to police our ranks: Remember Rule 41!

Brian Gay, playing in only his 34th PGA Tour event, learned the most costly lesson of his fledgling pro career when he was penalized one stroke, dropping him from a second place tie to a tie for fourth at the Honda Classic in Coral Springs, Florida recently. That cost him $88, 993 -- more than he made all of last year. But don't feel too bad for the 29-year-old Texan; fourth still meant a $127,600 paycheck. (Why, that's five million, one hundred thousand Pinoy pesos!)

On the 17th hole of the final day, Brian's 30-foot birdie putt from the fringe stopped on the lip of the cup...then eventually fell in. The problem was that he waited too long for the ball to drop, thus breaking Rule 16-2 -- Ball Overhanging Hole:

"When any part of the ball overhangs the lip of the hole, the player is allowed enough time to reach the hole without unreasonable delay and an additional ten seconds to determine whether the ball is at rest. If by then the ball has not fallen into the hole, it is deemed to be at rest. If the ball subsequently falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke, and he shall add a penalty stroke to his score for the hole; otherwise there is no penalty under this Rule."

Rules official Slugger White "viewed the TV replays with Gay and determined that the ball fell into the cup at least 13 seconds after Gay walked up to the hole. He stood over the ball, waving his index finger as he coaxed it into the cup." Therefore, he was deemed to have holed out with his last stroke -- but got a one-stroke penalty for having waited more than ten seconds before his ball fell into the hole. So he made par instead of birdie.

Brian later said if he had walked more slowly to the hole, he might have given the ball more time to drop without exceeding the time limit. He has a point. Indeed, the 10-second period does not start until the player reaches the hole. However, that ploy might boomerang. What if it's ruled that there was "unreasonable delay" in his walk to the hole?

Is Rule 16-2 a bad provision? No. It is, in fact, so good that it has been reprinted word for word in the new code that became effective Jan. 1, 2000. Consider this hypothetical case.

Q. Players A and B are both putting birdie. A's birdie putt stops on the brink of the hole. He walks to his ball without unreasonable delay, waits 20 seconds before the ball falls in. B's birdie putt also overhangs the cup, and he also walks to his ball without delay. B likewise waits 20 seconds for the ball to fall, but it stays up. What's the ruling for A and B?

A. Player A was deemed to have holed out with his last putt, but incurred a one-stroke penalty for waiting more than 10 seconds before his ball fell in. Therefore, Player A made par. On the other hand, Player B's birdie putt remained on the lip. Despite exceeding the 10-second time limit, he incurred no penalty (that is the meaning of "otherwise there is no penalty" under Rule 16-2.) When B tapped his ball in, he also made par. Hence, both A and B made par.

In short, if the ball falls into the cup more than 10 seconds after you walk up to the hole, you're penalized one stroke. If the ball remains on the lip, no penalty. What could be fairer -- while at the same time preventing an interminable wait for the ball to drop?

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