Harrington Disqualified In Abu Dhabi

Padraig Harrington was disqualified from the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi this morning following the intervention of the golf police watching on TV.

Almost 24 hours after his ball moved on the 7th green when retrieving his marker, Harrington found himself hauled before the rules committee to be informed he was out.

Despair for Harrington on first significant tournament of the year

The offence was not that the ball had moved but that it was not replaced. That incurs a two-shot penalty. Harrington signed for a three on a hole that should have been scored five. That was the offence for which he was kicked out, signing for an incorrect score.

Harrington was aware that he had touched the ball but judged that it hadn’t moved. When put under the microscope of the super slo-mo camera it was established that the ball had rolled a fraction, three dimples was the best guess, then fell back approximately one and a half dimples, undetectable to the naked eye.

Harrington knew the rules. Had he picked up the marker to replace the ball he would not have infringed the regulations. He did not do that because he in good conscience he did not believe the ball had advanced one iota, and therefore judged any action to be unnecessary.

Tour senior official Andy McFee sympathised, but under the rules they had no option but to swing the axe. The business of applying the sanction of disqualification on top of the penalty in cases where breaches are not detectable by the eye is now under review. McFee conceded that the player and the game had not been served well by the disqualification but was adamant, as was Harrington, that the two-stroke penalty was the correct ruling on the basis that the ball had demonstrably moved and was not replaced.

Harrington has been here before. Eleven years ago at the B&H International at The Belfry he held a five-shot lead at the start of the final round when learned that he had not signed for his first day scorecard.

Harrington said: “I was aware I hit the ball picking up my coin. I looked down at the time and was pretty sure it had just oscillated and had not moved, so I continued on. In slow motion it’s pretty clear the ball has moved three dimples forward and it’s come back maybe a dimple and a half.

“At the end of the day that’s good enough, but I wouldn’t have done anything differently yesterday – there was nothing I could do about it at that moment in time. If I’d called a referee over it would have been pointless because if he’d asked me where my ball was I’d have said it was there. As far as I was concerned it didn’t move.”

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.