Martin Laird involved in controversial
ruling over repair of pitch mark

A two-fold ruling nearly got Scot Martin Laird disqualified and wound up costing American Bart Bryant a two-stroke penalty late in the second round Saturday morning at the BMW Championship.
It was all because of a pitch mark on the par-3 16th.
Laird's tee shot landed on the fringe and rolled to 3 feet. Bryant's shot came up just short in the rough, some 50 feet from the flag.
As they approached the green, Laird noticed the pitch mark left by his tee shot and went to tamp it down.
"I said, 'Is this in your line?'" Laird said to his playing partner.
As the rookie from Glasgow tapped down the grass with his club, Bryant told him that indeed, it was in his line between the ball and the flag. It did not affect the shot because Bryant's play was to chip well over the mark.
Slugger White, the US PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition, said a decision related to Rule 1-2 does not allow Laird to improve a competitor's line. That ordinarily would be a two-shot penalty -- disqualification in this case, because Laird already had signed his card -- but he was not penalised because it was deemed that he did not intend to help Bryant.
Bryant did not get off so easily.
He was guilty of Rule 13-2, which covers improving the lie, area of intended swing or stance or line of play. The rules denote that a player cannot improve the line "or allow" it to be improved.
By agreeing that the mark was in his line -- a simple "Yes" was all it took -- Bryant was assessed a two-shot penalty. That turned a bogey into a triple bogey and a 66 into a 68.
"I can't believe he got a two-shot penalty," Laird said.
White said he asked Bryant whether there was any way to stop Laird from tamping down the pitch mark. Laird said he asked Bryant as he was in the process of fixing the mark with his putter.
"Bart said to me, 'I can't look you in the eye and say in good conscience that I couldn't have,'" White said. "His integrity is amazing. He's a classy guy."
As unfair as it sounds, Bryant made no excuses. Asked whether he should have been penalised, he replied, "Yes, because I broke the rules."
"I didn't knowingly break the rule," he said with a gentle smile. "I didn't even know that rule."
White conferred with the USGA as Laird stopped for lunch between the second and third round, and Laird teed off in the third round not knowing whether he would be disqualified. He got word on the fourth hole that he was OK, but he started the third round with three bogeys and a double bogey over his first six holes.
Laird needed to finish the tournament to secure his tour card for next year. He wound up with a 76 and was tied for 65th among 68 players.
Bryant earned a small measure of redemption. Four holes into the next round, he made a hole-in-one.
"That's good karma," Laird said. "I told him, 'You got the two strokes back."
But aren't the Rules of Golf so unfair at times?