A rules issue breaks out — and a referee doesn’t drop his comedy chance

Sunday, on the 9th hole at the tranquil Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club carved among the Swiss Alps, just to the right of an electronic leaderboard flashing scores from the final round of the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters, a rules official explained rules relief.   

But not before he offered comedic relief. 

Truly, humor can be found at any time, and laughter can be created by anyone.

The scene came following Andrew “Beef” Johnston’s tee shot, which sailed right on the par-5, before finishing a couple feet to the right of the aforementioned leaderboard, inhibiting him from taking a full cut. Rules help was called for. One of Johnston’s playing partners, Matt Wallace, also offered a hand. What followed was captured by Golf Channel cameras and shared by the DP World Tour’s social media team.

Said Wallace: “There’s two rules for this. There’s one where you take a swing from it. And then two, from there. As in, you’d get to the nearest point, then two club lengths. Get to the nearest point and then two club lengths. So it’s the new rule.” 

Said Johnston: “Yeah.” 

Said Wallace: “Yeah, so it’s not a swing.” 

Said Johnston: “OK, so how …”

Said Wallace to the official, standing a few feet to the right of Johnston: “It’s like nearest point, right?”

Here, the official paused. As two others were admirably trying to find an answer to the job he was hired to do, how would he respond?

Like this:

Said the ref: “Oye. Let me do it; I’m the referee.” 

Here, for about 15 seconds, Johnston and the folks gathered around laughed. The official stood with his hands raised. Wallace walked away. Said Johnston eventually: “You’re a comedian, too.” 

Eventually, the rules help was given. 

Said the ref: “So you have two possibilities. The TIO rule or the immovable obstruction.” 

Said Johnston: “OK.” 

Said the ref: “So immovable obstruction, you make the swing and you are free and then you have one club length to drop the ball.” 

Said Johnston: “Yeah.” 

Said the ref: “It’s the nearest point of relief. So take your club and make the swing without touching.”

Here, Johnston took a swing, and the leaderboard appeared to be in the way.  

Said the ref: “OK, now the nearest point …”

Said the ref, pointing at a spot to the right of where Johnston originally was: “Is here, OK?” 

Here, Johnston took a swing, and he was clear. 

Said the ref: “Yes, that’s fine. Nearest point of relief, then you’re dropping one club length.” 

Said Johnston: “All right, perfect. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s perfect.” 

From there, Johnston punched a shot forward, and he bogeyed the hole. 

Said an analyst on Golf Channel: “Boy, that was priceless. That was a very funny moment, wasn’t it?” 

Said another analyst: “Absolutely. Wally [Wallace] just laughed at the referee.” 

Rules

Good stuff, for sure. We’ll finish here with a look at the two rules that were noted. The leaderboard was considered an immovable obstruction, and relief for immovable obstructions is covered under Rule 16.1, where it says: “Interference exists when any one of these is true: The player’s ball touches or is in or on an abnormal course condition, an abnormal course condition physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing, or only when the ball is on the putting green, an abnormal course condition on or off the putting green intervenes on the line of play.” Here, the relief area is “the nearest point of complete relief in the general area” and a club length of that reference point.

But what about the mention of the TIO rule? A online rules brochure explains Model Local Rule F-23 this way: 

“TIOs (such as a grandstand or a tent) are not normally present and are not considered to be part of the challenge of playing the course. Because of their temporary nature, this Local Rule provides an additional relief option that is not allowed from immovable obstructions, although the player can still choose to treat the TIO as if it were an immovable obstruction and use the relief procedures available in Rule 16. 

“The additional relief provided by this Local Rule includes the ability for a player to take relief when the TIO is located on the straight line between his or her ball and the hole (known as ‘line of sight relief’) by moving sideways, keeping the same distance from the hole, so that the TIO is no longer between the player’s ball and the hole (also known as moving along the ‘equidistant arc’). 

“When a player takes relief from a TIO, whether under this Local Rule or the relief procedures in Rule 16, the player is guaranteed complete relief from physical interference. But only when relief is taken using the additional relief option under this Local Rule will the player be guaranteed complete relief from the TIO being on his or her line of sight.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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