“Unequivocally, the ball is going further than it did 15 years ago,” says R&A CEO Martin Slumbers in an exclusive interview with Golf Digest. “And I see no reason to doubt it will not continue to do so. I’ve long been of this view. And for a long time, I had to keep it private. But once we published our distance report at the start of this process, I was very clear that, for the good of the game, we need to address this issue.

“From that point of view and from an environmental point of view, we have to do something,” he continues. “We have been very clear, as has [CEO] Mike Whan at the USGA. There are only three options: We can bifurcate; you change the whole game; or you do nothing. And doing nothing is not an option. We stand by that.”

For those keeping score, the ruling bodies got together earlier this year and proposed a Model Local Rule (MLR) that gives competition organizers the option to require use of golf balls that are tested under modified launch conditions to address the impacts of hitting distance in golf. The MLR was intended for use only in elite competitions and, if adopted, would have no impact on recreational golf.

But it wasn’t well received in certain influential quarters, and there was much debate and documents filed during the official comment period that ended in August. 

“The game was not happy with the Model Local Rule,” admits Slumbers. “There was a view that it would create a bifurcated game at the elite level. It was a very strong pushback against that. The PGA Tour was very public about it. So was the PGA of America. A number of players spoke out. And our job is to listen.

“But our responsibility is to the long-term future of the game. Along with the USGA, the R&A is a custodian of the game. We’re responsible for our period of time, something that has gone on for hundreds of years and will go on for hundreds more. So, we are listening. And we have made a decision about what we are going to do. We’re working that through at the moment and will make it public before the end of the year.”

While we stay tuned on that one, the R&A recently released the Open Qualifying Series of events that will offer places in the game’s oldest championship at Royal Troon in July 2024. It is a system that has come under are scrutiny since the arrival of LIV Golf. Has the Saudi-backed circuit complicated the process?

“If you look at the qualifications for last year’s Open and the way we structured the field for the 2023 Open, I’m very comfortable we created the opportunities for what we want,” says Slumbers. “That’s the best global field we can get. I care about global. And we did that. There are enough spots between top-50 exemptions on the world rankings, plus our qualifying events in South Africa, Australia, Japan, on the Asian Tour and final qualifying. I am confident that we find the best players and get them into the field. We will do the same again next year.”

Mention of the Asian Tour does raise one other area of contention. Two years ago, the R&A removed the Open exemption granted to the winner of the Asian Tour.

“We feel like our Order of Merit winner is deserving of playing in a major,” said Asian Tour CEO Cho Min Thant. “All four of them.”

Indeed, given that Open places are allocated to players who qualify from relatively weak fields like the one in this week’s Joburg Open, it seems like an odd decision. But it is one Slumbers defends.

“The argument, which I have explained to the head of the Asian Tour a number of times, is to look at this in the round,” says the Englishman. “We give 19 spots available to players from the Asia-Pacific region into the Open Championship. There was 20 when we exempted the Order of Merit winner. But the 19 spots are available to any who plays on his tour, or in the other qualifying events in that region. That’s 19 out of a field of 156, which is something around 14 percent. That is absolutely reflective of the relative strength of the players in Asia-Pacific.

“I much prefer to see the qualifiers come from 72-hole stroke-play tournaments,” continues Slumbers. “In a whole series of events with a whole series of mixed-ability fields. So, it is better to focus on the Open Qualifying events which contain the strongest fields in Asia-Pacific region during that year. If we want the best players from that region, that is the best way to achieve it.”

On a happier Open-related note, the prospect of the championship being played outside the United Kingdom at Portmarnock, just outside Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, is not something Slumbers dismisses out-of-hand.

“The club has talked to us about it,” he says. “The course is a world-class links. But there are infrastructure challenges. We are going to play the Women’s Amateur there in 2024 and we had the Amateur Championship there a couple of years ago. They have had the Walker Cup there, too. The position at the moment, which we support, is that the club is working with the Irish government to ascertain if there would be support for them to make a credible proposition. We will wait and see what happens there.”

Image: Matthew Lewis/R&A

The post R&A CEO Martin Slumbers says distance rollback decisions will be revealed by end of the year appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Continent of Europe continued its dominance of the Vagliano and Junior Vagliano trophies by winning the senior and junior international matches against Great Britain and Ireland at Royal Dornoch.

GB&I is now without a win in the Vagliano Trophy since 2005 following today’s 13½-10½ defeat, while the junior team fell just short of securing its first win in the Junior Vagliano Trophy after the match finished tied at 9-9.

A combination of Spanish, German, Belgian and Swedish women gave the Continent of Europe captain Ane Urchegui Garcia victory as she led the senior team for the first time.

“I’m so happy,” Urchegui Garcia said after Germany’s Helen Briem earned the winning point, taking her side to the required 12½ points with a 2&1 singles victory over Caley McGinty.

“I feel very proud of the players. This was a very tough match to play and I want to congratulate Great Britain and Ireland captain Maria Dunne because her team played great golf.”

GB&I won the morning foursomes 2½-1½ to level the contest at eight points apiece with eight singles left to play. Strong winds and driving rain should have favoured the home side on traditional links, but the anticipated tense finish turned into something of a damp squib thanks to the excellent play of the Continent of Europe.

Two of the first three singles sessions went GB&I’s way with England’s Lottie Woad defeating Savannah de Bock of Belgium 2&1 and Aine Donegan beating world number one Ingrid Lindblad by the same score after a halve in the lead match between Ireland’s Beth Coulter and Rocio Tejedo of Spain. Those were the only GB&I wins in the singles before the bottom five players in Urchegui Garcia’s order reeled off victories.

“My team was very nervous after losing the morning foursomes but they were determined to go out and fight and they did,” Urchegui Garcia added. “I didn’t have to say anything to them at lunchtime to try to inspire them. They were doing that on their own. They were cheering each other on because there was such a spirit in my team. They all played for each other and inspired each other to this victory.”

GB&I captain Dunne took heart from winning the morning foursomes, hoping her team would kick to victory. 

“I’m gutted for my players,” said Dunne. “We gave it our all. I asked them to fight for every point. They did and I couldn’t really have asked for anything more from them.

“They fought hard to level the match after this morning’s foursomes but we just came up short. On another day the result would have gone our way but we can do ourselves proud because it was so close. The European team was just stronger on the day. They were better putters than us this afternoon, and that was obvious over the two days. We can be proud of ourselves for the way we fought.”

Briem was one of three players on the Continent of Europe team to record three points out of four along with Spain’s Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio and Meja Ortengren of Sweden. Only Woad on the GB&I team managed that feat.

There was a modicum of consolation for GB&I in that the Junior Vagliano Trophy finished level on nine points apiece. However, it meant that the Continent of Europe secured the trophy for the eighth straight time having never lost since the inaugural 2011 match.

“It says a lot about the strength of junior golf on the Continent of Europe,” said Continent of Europe captain Myrte Eikenaar, who was skippering the junior team for the third straight occasion.

“It says a lot about the girls that we’ve kept the trophy. They’re not just great golfers but they bring a lot of energy to the team, and it’s great that in a few days, they can become so tight-knit and fight for each other.

“It’s good to see that GB&I keeps drawing closer. Every year it gets tighter and that’s good for the match. I’d love to have gotten the win because it always feels better, but it’s great to retain the trophy and I’m proud of the girls.”

Irish pair Costello and Dillon deserve special mention. They earned three and a half points each out of a possible four. Germany’s Sofia Maier-Borst was top points earner for the Continent of Europe. Costello and Dillon will be looking to graduate to the senior team in two years’ time, hoping to help a GB&I team finally get that elusive pot of gold.

The post The Continent of Europe wins the Vagliano and Junior Vagliano Trophies appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
For a fresh reminder of where a strong performance in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship (WAAP) might someday lead, the region’s best players need only rewind to last month’s Dubai Moonlight Classic.

Among the field at the Ladies European Tour event was Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, the winner of the inaugural WAAP in 2018.

Thitikul, who also finished runner-up to Yuka Yasuda in Japan two years ago, has already climbed inside the top 30 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking within a year of turning professional. She also just clinched the Race to Costa Del Sol, the LET Order of Merit, at the Saudi Ladies International.

Need further evidence? How about Filipino Yuka Saso and Thai Patty Tavatanakit, who were tied second and tied 15th respectively in the inaugural WAAP in Singapore, becoming major winners this year. Tavatanakit won the ANA Inspiration in April and 19-year-old Saso was the US Women’s Open champion in June.

All of which makes the 3rd edition of the WAAP, which returns to the international schedule at Abu Dhabi G.C. this week after it was cancelled last year because of pandemic-related restrictions, a tournament to watch.

Organised by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), WAAP has become the most important event in the region with the champion earning places in major two championships – the AIG Women’s Open and the Amundi Evian Championship – as well as an invitation to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Among those to keep tabs on during the 72-hole strokeplay event on The National layout are the reigning Korean amateur champion Youmin Hwang, who is ranked 6th in the world, and Chinese players Xiaowen Yin and Lei Ye, ranked 9th and 13th respectively. Alia Al Emadi, Hannah Cheryl Alan, Hamad Alsuwaidi and Natalii Gupta are listed to represent the UAE.

Youmin Hwang. Photo by Korean Golf Association

It will be Hwang’s maiden WAAP appearance but she is well aware of the opportunity it presents. The 19-year-old has been in fine form this year, winning two amateur titles in her home country after an impressive T-4 finish while playing against seasoned professionals in the DB Group Korea Women’s Open in June.

“As a player, you always want to compete against the best players in the world. Playing the WAAP in Abu Dhabi will be an exciting challenge for me. I am looking forward to testing my game on a formidable golf course like Abu Dhabi Golf Club and in foreign conditions,” said Hwang.

“The rewards of winning the championship are incredible. To be able to play two major championships and have a possibility of playing a round at Augusta National Golf Club, I know every player will try extra hard to finish on top of the leaderboard.”

Yin has been in outstanding form ever since golf made a comeback in China following the first COVID-19 lockdown last year. Since August 2020, she has played 13 events and won eight of them, including three professional titles on the China LPGA Tour).  Her worst finish has been 9th place in a professional tournament on August 20. Last year.

“I was fortunate to be part of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in 2019 and I did well to finish tied 12th in Japan,” said Yin. “However, I know I am a much better all-round player now and it would be amazing if I can add to my victories in Abu Dhabi.”

[divider] [/divider]

What: 3rd Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship
Where: Abu Dhabi Golf Club
When: Nov. 10-13

The post Why the WAAP at Abu Dhabi G.C. this week is a likely barometer of professional things to come appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Almost a year on from having to cancel the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s, the R&A is currently planning three events—no crowd, limited crowd, unrestricted crowd—for 2021. Only one will actually happen, of course, with the odds strongly in favour of a somewhat restricted crowd event at Royal St. George’s. According to chief executive Martin Slumbers, somewhere between 25 and 75 percent of the maximum daily capacity of 40,000 will be on-site when the 149th edition of the game’s oldest major takes place this July.

In contrast with last week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, Slumbers also expects that those able to attend will be asked to wear masks, with the players and staff living inside the sort of strictly observed bubble that remains part of life on the European Tour. In other words, it’s going to be a very different Open, albeit one that will surely be better than no Open at all.

“There is no doubt that different parts of the United States are working under different sets of restrictions,” Slumber said during a Zoom meeting with the world’s press, one also attended by the reigning Open champion, Shane Lowry. “The big uncertainty for us is clarity with respect to what the government and health authorities want with regard to social distancing. Then there is the reality that international travel remains extremely difficult. The audience this year will be much more U.K.-based. Those things will determine what the atmosphere will be like at the Open.”

Still, one thing will look the same at Royal St. George’s, which will host the championship for the 15th time. Slumbers was quick to point out that the familiar infrastructure will be in place (and that range finders will definitely not be allowed). The building of the big grandstands around the 18th green and first tee is well underway, this time in a way that can be adapted to take account of social distancing. He was keen too, to underline that there will be no repeat of the crowd scenes we saw on the 72nd hole at Kiawah Island.

“We absolutely will be keeping the spectators back behind the barriers in place,” Slumbers said. “We want the players to have the freedom to move and play the final hole unimpeded. We are conscious of the fact that there might be a playoff. So we need to keep that space safe and clear. The 18th fairway will be ‘clean’ come July.

“Otherwise, I’m cautiously optimistic with regard to the crowd numbers,” Slumbers continued. “But we have to be patient and let the government do what they have to do. We will have a clear indication by the middle of June and once we know that we will simply put on the best show we can. I’m keen to get as many spectators in as possible. I do think that is what creates the atmosphere and make the players perform just a little bit better.”

That theme was reiterated by Lowry. Fresh from his T-4 finish behind Phil Mickelson at Kiawah Island, the 34-year-old Irishman is clearly eager to show what he can do in front of the crowds that have largely been absent from European events since the coming of the pandemic.

“I was so disappointed last year when all the cancellations were announced,” said the World No. 44, whose only previous round at Royal St. George’s is the 81 he shot in the stroke-play qualifying round of the 2006 British Amateur Championship. “I selfishly wanted to play in the Irish Open as the Open champion. But I understood. I didn’t pack the trophy away in July and think that was my year over. The decision was made for all the right reasons. I’m going to prefer going back to defend my title in front of crowd as opposed to doing it last July in front of no crowds.”

Speaking of the trophy, Lowry had an admission to make. A familiar admission, as it turned out. Like some of his predecessors (Zach Johnson being one) the “champion golfer of the year” for 2019 owned up to having a little bend in the claret jug repaired. But that fact should not be construed as a lack of respect on Lowry’s part. Quite the contrary.

“I had the claret jug with me in Dubai back in November 2019,” he said. “I was wheeling it in its box through the hotel lobby. A guy stopped me and asked if the trophy was in there. He begged me to see it. So I opened the box and let him hold it. He started to cry. That’s what that trophy means to people who love their golf. Just to have it and share it with my family, friends and everyone else has been incredible. I’ll be sad to give it back.”

Lowry and the jug might not be parted for long, of course. Lowry’s form has seen a definite improvement over the past few months, especially in the bigger events. His T-4 last week followed an eighth-place finish at the Players and a T-21 at the Masters. All of which has him in good position to make what would be his European Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits come September. A close friend of captain Padraig Harrington, Lowry would make a stout addition to the side charged with defending the trophy.

“If I play to the best of my ability over the next few months, I’ll be in with a good chance of making the team,” he said. “That’s my main goal, to qualify automatically or get so close that I all but make Padraig’s decision for him. It’ll be mentioned that I’m a Ryder rookie. But I don’t feel like one. I’ve won big tournaments. I’ve competed at the highest level. I feel like I would bring a lot to the team.”

One last thing. Like just about everyone else in golf, Lowry has seen the now-infamous encounter “enjoyed” by Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka during last week’s PGA.

“I’m not sure they like each other,” said Lowry with a smile. “But that’s the way it is. There were 150 big egos there last week. So not everyone is going to like everyone else. And it’s obvious they don’t see eye-to-eye.”

The post Shane Lowry excited to (finally) defend Open title, admits needing to get ‘bend’ in claret jug fixed appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Golf fans are mostly grateful at Monday’s joint announcement from the game’s governing bodies, in which they offer hope that three of the four men’s majors and the Ryder Cup can still be played in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, as the sport does its best to salvage as many events as possible, more high-profile tournaments have become causalities of the schedule crunch.

At the forefront of these cancellations is the Open Championship. Four days after Golf Digest reported that the Open was not expected to be played this season, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers officially announced the world’s oldest tournament had been called off for 2020.

“I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing the Open this year, but it is not going to be possible,” Slumbers said.

Slumbers later remarked it would have been “unreasonable” to “rely on the support of the emergency services, local authorities and a range of other organizations” given the demands of the COVID-19 outbreak. Conversely, part of the reason the championship is being cancelled—rather than postponed as is the case for the other three men’s majors—is because of insurance, a source told Golf Digest last week. Similar to Wimbledon, the R&A has a policy that shields against a global pandemic.

It marks the first time the Open will not have been played since 1945, when it was cancelled because of World War II. Slumbers said Royal St. George’s will now be the venue for the 2021 Open Championship and the Old Course at St. Andrews will host in 2022 rather than 2021. The Women’s British Open remains on the LPGA schedule, slotted for Aug. 20, while the R&A and USGA had already postponed this year’s Curtis Cup until 2021.

Next is the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Although the Masters will be held in November, the club has decided it would have to wait until 2021 to follow up the event’s 2019 debut. “Ultimately, the many scheduling challenges with NCAA tournaments, the World Amateur Team Championships, the LPGA Q-Series and other events when women’s amateur golf resumes led to this decision,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement.

Ridley did clarify that each player who accepted an invitation for the 2020 championship will be welcomed to compete in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, provided they remain an amateur. That might mean increasing the field in 2021 beyond the 72 players expected to play this year.

Likewise, the USGA has scrubbed two of its majors, the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open, for 2020. The 41st U.S. Senior Open had been scheduled for June 25-28 at Newport (R.I.) Country Club and now will be played at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club from July 8-11, 2021. The 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open, had been scheduled to take place July 9-12 at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn.

“Canceling this year’s Senior Open championships was a very difficult decision to make,” said USGA CEO Mike Davis. “Not only are they important pillars of our championship schedule, but we also value our relationships with both Newport Country Club and Brooklawn Country Club and were looking forward to staging incredible events there this summer. Given the ongoing health and safety issues related to COVID-19 and the significant consolidation of schedules into the back half of 2020, including the postponement of the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open, we felt it necessary to make these unfortunate adjustments to our 2020 championship plans.”

The USGA’s first two scheduled championships for 2020, the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Fourball, were cancelled on March 17. The USGA stated it will continue to rely on CDC and WHO recommendations in determining schedule considerations for its remaining eight 2020 amateur championships. The U.S. Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y. has been postponed until Sept. 17; the U.S. Women’s Open, originally scheduled for June 4-7 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, will now be played Dec. 10-13.

The PGA of America announced last week that its Senior PGA Championship, scheduled for May 21-24 at Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Mich., has been cancelled. “While we are incredibly disappointed, we all understand that protecting public health is the highest priority,” PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said. For the moment, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is scheduled to go on as planned for June 25-28 at Aronimink in Newton Square, Pa.

The PGA Tour could see additional cancellations to its calendar, but as of now, the Tour has only announced it’s moving its regular-season finale, the Wyndham Championship, and all three FedEx Cup Playoff events one week later, starting the week of Aug. 10 and concluding with a Monday, Sept. 7 finish for the Tour Championship. The Tour is also working to reschedule tournaments into the weeks formerly occupied by the U.S. Open, British Open and men’s Olympic golf competition in June and July.

As for the European Tour, the Old World circuit released little information in the joint statement. The Scandinavian Mixed scheduled to begin June 11 and the D+D Real Czech Masters slotted for Aug. 20 have already been cancelled, but the European Tour only added more details about its schedule would be coming “of due course.”

The post Augusta National Women’s Am, USGA Senior Opens are latest prominent golf events cancelled for 2020 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The Open Championship boasts about its global footprint, with R&A officials bringing Qualifying Series events to countries around the world to establish a truly international field to determine the Champion Golfer of the Year each July. And for just the second time in the championship’s 159-year history, the Open is being held outside Scotland and England with this week’s playing at Royal Portrush. The combination of the two has generated some discussion about the possibility of one day holding the championship outside the British Isles.

“I think this is the beginning of the Open taking its place as the Open and moving around the world,” Pádraig Harrington, a two-time Open winner, recently told the Irish press. “Where else would be the first place? Yes, Portmarnock would seem the logical first step, but in my lifetime it is possible to see it being played in the Netherlands or maybe Australia. These are all under the auspices of the R&A so it could move around the world.”

RELATED: Live Open coverage to be streamed to Middle East fans

It could. However, when the idea was posed to R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers during a Wednesday press conference ahead of the 148th Open, he did not suggest that taking his show on the road has much support at this time.

“There’s been a lot of talk about that this week, and a lot of it is due to the great success of bringing it to Royal Portrush for the first time for a long, long time,” Slumbers said. “But we have 10 courses in the pool that we use for the Open Championship. We think that’s 10 of the best links courses that we have in the world and we are very happy with those 10 courses. … We are not looking at the moment beyond that pool of 10 courses.”

A few years back, officials with the PGA of America said they were considering taking the PGA Championship occasionally to venues outside of the United States, but those discussions did not get very far.

OK, so maybe taking the Open to other continents is a little too grand a thought. But what about trying other courses in Ireland or taking the championship to Wales. Similarly, Slumbers politely hinted this

“That is somewhat of a challenge at the moment,” Slumber said. “But we do have as we said, 10 courses that we’re very happy with.”

The post R&A chief quells talk of taking The Open beyond the British Isles appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Jaime Diaz
There’s been a lot of theorising lately that Western civilisation is going through the “post-truth” era. The supporting evidence from the world of golf could be the current controversy over whether Bernhard Langer is anchoring.

It’s not that a game that so values honour and integrity is being plagued by public lies and blatant spinning to the same extent as the general culture. But there has been a noticeable eroding of the once almost unquestioned presumption that players are telling the truth. It seems as if—from charges of PED use, to taking drops in the right place, to correctly marking balls, to anchoring—golfers don’t quite believe each other like they used to.

Ensnared in this evolving perception are Langer and Scott McCarron, who have continued to use a long putter despite the USGA and R&A’s 2016 ban on using an anchored stroke. Each golfer vehemently maintains that by holding their top hand away their body and keeping it away during the stroke, they have legally adjusted to the new rule.

However, it’s easy to find fellow PGA Tour Champions players who will contend, off the record, that in the cases of Langer and McCarron, there is no perceptible daylight between their top hand and their chests when they putt. Some of these players believe that top hand brushing against clothing constitutes anchoring. It amounts to a substantial group of peers who feel there is enough visual evidence to warrant a strong suspicion that the two players are illegally anchoring.

Other objections to the methods of Langer and McCarron are founded in the language of Rule 14-1b, which in prohibiting anchoring states, in “Note 1”, the following: “The club is anchored ‘directly’ when the player intentionally holds the club or a gripping hand in contact with any part of his body, except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm.”

It is the word “intentionally” that led Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, who considers Langer’s and McCarron’s putting methods “questionable.” to deduce that anchorers have a built in “get out of jail free” card.

“And intent, I think there is apprehension on the governing body’s part not to ruffle feathers further,” Chamblee told Golf World’s Tim Rosaforte, cutting seven letters off the key word. “When it’s time to dig in, they’re reluctant to do so. Their acquiescence is to pass this rule, but the only violation is the intent to break this rule. … Basically what the USGA is saying is, ‘If you can live with cheating, then fine. If you can sleep with yourself, then fine.’

However, PGA Tour Champions rules official Brian Claar told Golf Channel that the word “intentionally” was put in the rule to protect a player from being penalized in the rare case of an accidental slip or strong wind during the putting stroke pushing the hand against the body.

Accusations, or suggestions of cheating in golf are always startling, especially when they involve prominent players. Langer has been dominating the senior circuit for years, as much at age 59 as ever. This year he is ranked second in putting average, as he was last year. McCarron, who has won four times on the 50 and over tour, is currently second to Langer on in the Charles Schwab Cup and ranks third in putting. At the Constellation Senior Players Championship two weeks ago, with unrest over the inssue among some their peers, they finished 1-2, with Langer giving up a lead late to McCarron.

It’s worth noting that there is a third player who made the same adjustment with the long putter as Langer and McCarron—Billy Mayfair. But the 50-year-old journeyman, whose T-9 in Wales marked his best finish on the PGA Tour Champions, has not been publicly questioned.

Phil Inglis/Getty Images
Despite the whispers, Langer has won five of his last 10 senior major starts, and enjoyed the latest with his wife Vikki (left) and daughters Christina and Jackie

Will Langer’s win Sunday at Senior British Open in Wales douse or intensify the controversy? It marked his third senior major victory of this season and his record 10th total. Langer is also the only player to have won all five senior majors, and with his 33rd official career senior victory, he would seem to have a shot at Hale Irwin’s once considered unapproachable record of 45.

RELATED: Langer cruises to Senior British Open title

His additional bona fides would appear impeccable. Langer is a Hall of Famer, a former World No. 1 with two majors and 42 victories on the European Tour, a Ryder Cup stalwart as a player and winning captain. His doggedness has enabled him to overcome the putting yips four times, and his legendary attention to detail gained him a reputation as one of the game’s slowest players. He applied those traits to his adjustment after the anchoring ban, saying it took him four to six months to get comfortable with keeping his knuckle away from his body. He is also known for being deeply religious. His integrity as a golfer has always been above reproach.

Langer, who says the accusations have been “hurtful,” insists he is following the new rule to the letter. He and McCarron have both checked with rules officials to make sure they are not anchoring and have been told repeatedly they are not in violation of the rule.

In a joint statement earlier this month with the USGA and McCarron, Langer said: “I believe in honesty and integrity, and I could not live with myself if I broke the rule and did not incur the penalty. I’m certain that I’m not anchoring the putter and that my putting stroke is not violating the Rules of Golf.” For his part, McCarron said: “I’d like to emphatically say that I do not anchor my hand, arm or club against my body during my putting stroke.”

Most importantly, the USGA issued this clearance, which made a point of addressing the subject of loose clothing: “We are confident that Rule has been applied fairly and consistently and have seen no evidence of a player breaking the Rule, which does not prohibit a hand or club to touch a player’s clothing in making a stroke.”

Langer, predictably, has mostly remained stoic. Recently, perhaps to reduce confusion among his peers, he has stopped “anchoring” in his preparatory practice strokes. But when pressed in Wales, he told The Telegraph: “It’s human to be jealous, let’s put it that way. If I was 180th on the money list, I don’t think anybody would be talking about it. But I’ve been No. 1 the last few years.” Fair point, given that Mayfair has escaped public scrutiny.

Bottom line, this controversy should stop. Perhaps the ruling bodies should be more precise with how “intentionally” is meant to apply to Rule 14-1b. Perhaps distributing some high-definition close-ups of the movement Langer’s and McCarron’s top hands as they putt could be helpful and even definitive. But until then, there’s nothing more to discuss. Langer and McCarron—whose version of events as individual players (in the absence of definitive evidence) are to be believed over the accusations of another player according to The Rules of Golf—both firmly contend they don’t anchor. And the rules officials—the final arbiters of the rules—say they don’t anchor. End of story.

There are those who believe that Langer and McCarron are being unfair to the other players by coming so close to a violation. As one PGA Tour Champions competitor told me, “Why are they putting us in this position?”

But the real question is, “Why are fellow players putting Langer and McCarron in this position?” As a society, we might be the “post-truth” era, but as golfers, we should never relinquish the game’s fundamental trust in the player.

The post Why is Bernhard Langer guilty until proven innocent? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.