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19th Hole

Greg Norman reveals that he contacted an on-site official immediately after watching Patrick Reed bunker incident at Hero

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This week, Greg Norman took to his Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio Show “Attack Life Radio,” and the Australian didn’t mince his words concerning Patrick Reed’s conduct at last week’s Hero World Challenge—claiming he was “repulsed” by what he saw.

On the show, the Australian discussed how he feels his native country will treat Reed at this week’s Presidents Cup, and also shared his thoughts on Cameron Smith’s public spat with the Texan. 

Norman also revealed that while watching the Hero on TV, he immediately texted a Tour official at the event after seeing Reed twice brush sand out of the way in a waste bunker. What’s more, the 64-year old claims that he “was the first person to reach out to anybody about seeing what had happened.”

*All quotes courtesy of SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio

“So much so when I actually – I’ll tell you what happened – when I was watching the Hero Challenge – I don’t normally watch it but I came in and I was going into my gym that afternoon and I just happened to turn it on. And I was watching it and I’m looking and I actually immediately text a Tour official that I knew was there, immediately. ‘Hey, where are you?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m on the 11th green.’ [I said,] ‘Have you seen what’s going on?’ He said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘Get yourself into the NBC trailer right now and rewind that tape and just watch what Patrick Reed did.’ I said, ‘He’s improving his lie. He’s cheating.’ 

That’s what I said. So he said, ‘Ok, let me regroup.’ And he went into the trailer and he goes, ‘Ok, yeah.’ He said I was the first person to reach out to anybody about seeing what had happened. Now, I can’t speak for the NBC commentators. I can’t speak for the production crew that’s in the van watching all these multiple screens and stuff like that. All I know was that I was told that I was the first one to notify the Tour officials of this infraction. And rightfully so. I feel for not just the pros. I feel for all the amateurs. Like today when I played in the pro-am, what was the first point of conversation? ‘Oh, well Patrick Reed did it. Can we do it?’ Well, you can’t do that.”

The veteran was even more blunt when discussing what he felt after seeing the Reed incident in The Bahamas, stating that he was “repulsed” and how he would always do whatever necessary to protect the integrity of the sport.

“From my personal perspective, you know, I get really repulsed with that because, to me, you’ve got to protect the integrity of the game, not protect the player. Over the years that I’ve been involved with the sport, for 40-plus years, I’ve seen a lot of things happen and, to me, I’ve always been at the forefront of protecting the game before anybody else.

 I don’t care what it is, whether it is an infraction of the rules, or signing a scorecard incorrectly, or taking an illegal drop, or whatever it is that I see, I will always, always stand on the forefront of protecting the game first.”

Concerning his countryman Cameron Smith’s forthright views on the incident where he accused Reed of cheating, Norman explained how that forthrightness is an Australian trait and a taste of what Reed will be dealing with at Royal Melbourne this week.

“Look, I think how he’s going to be received, the sampling’s been given by Cameron Smith. He was very articulate. He was very forthright. You’ll find that the Australians and the Australian media, and the general public, they’re very forthright in their comments and there’s not a whole lot of tolerance for people who step across the line and take advantage of anything in sport.”

Attack Life Radio with Greg Norman airs on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio.

 

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

19th Hole

Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off

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One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.

This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).

“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.

“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”

Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.

Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.

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19th Hole

Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship

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During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.

The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.

When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.

However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.

Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.

After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”

“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”

“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.

“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”

“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”

Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.

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19th Hole

Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis

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According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.

Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.

However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”

The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.

The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.

The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.

The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.

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