Spirit of the links

AN IMPORTANT RULING 83
arose in the course of medal play on the course of the
Higher Bebington Club some time ago. A player had
one of those most tantalising putts a yard in length
to play, and, like many a man before him, he missed
it! In his aggravation at the circumstance he
snatched back his ball, and, without having holed it
out, he replaced it where it was before, in order to try
his putt over again, to satisfy his
amour propre
that the holing of such a putt was not beyond his
mortal capacity. This is an old way of attempting
to gain some small crumb of satisfaction from a very
disappointing business. At the second attempt he
1 holed that putt, but his partner then told him that he
e was obliged to disqualify him from the entire com-
e petition for not having holed out when making his
t!
! putt. The competitor agreed that he had done wrong,
le and accepted this fate; but some time later, when he
it had fully thought over the business, and read up the
er rules, he protested. Yet his committee maintained
ie that he really should be disqualified, and after much
is argument the seers of the Royal and Ancient were
ve begged to give their decision. And it was a very
to i interesting decision. The high court held that Rule
id io of stroke competitions applied, and that, therefore,
if the player replaced his ball directly behind the spot
it occupied after he had missed the putt, the penalty
was two strokes only, the second putt thus counting
as in the competition, though it is fairly clear that the
competitor never intended it for it. "But," said the
committee, " otherwise he was disqualified." Those
who discover feelings and frames of mind behind the
mask of simple sentences would be moved to say, in
this case, that in that last simple sentence St. Andrews
was trying to cover up somewhat the absurd position
i