My speculation was just based on my personal experience being around some of those guys.I have never once seen a Tour Pro look down at a putt without knowing EXACTLY how his ball was positioned--because they position it the same way each and every time.
"I have never once seen a Tour Pro look down at a putt without knowing EXACTLY how his ball was positioned."
That almost defies analysis -- but I'll settle for simply this:
How would you know that you'd seen a Tour Pro look down at a putt without knowing EXACTLY how his ball was positioned?
And this: I know this is a mere discussion group -- but you're suggesting that Padraig Harrington broke the Rules of Golf purposely, when he had absolutely nothing to gain in doing so.
And even though this is a mere discussion group: 'tain't fittin'.
Assuming he noticed,he did have something to gain.He'd already picked up his marker.At that point,he can either call the penalty on himself or just ignore it and hope nobody else noticed.
Just curious,what do you think they're doing when they spend so much time behind their ball before picking up their marker?
From europeantour.com:
Andy McFee, European Tour Senior Referee, explained the ruling in a statement which said: “Harrington was disqualified for a breach of Rule 6-6d for signing for the wrong score on hole seven during the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
“On the seventh green, Padraig replaced his ball and as he began to remove his marker, his finger was seen on TV to brush the ball, causing it to move. The movement of the ball during the specific act of replacing it is covered by Rule 20-3a and there is no penalty to this movement, but the ball must be replaced.
“Because the ball was not replaced, there is a breach of Rule 20-3a, the penalty for which is two strokes. As this penalty was not included in the score for hole seven, Padraig was disqualified for a breach of Rule 6-6d, signing for the wrong score on hole seven.”
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."
He added: “I felt I knew the rule at the time. I applied the rule as best I could in the situation but looking at the video today, it's pretty clear that it, you know, it's a hundred per cent looks like the ball has moved forward and not far enough back, and that's the issue at heart.
“I do believe that the rule is correct in terms of we have to be very precise about how we mark our golf balls and position the golf ball is in, and I do agree, I do fully agree, even though it's only a dimple and a half, in the end of the day, you know, somebody down the road could use five dimples as being okay and the next guy would use an inch as being okay.
“So I think it's fair enough that the penalty is there on the face of it.”