Was this shot fair game? Devious? Leader explains ‘grandstanding’ stroke of luck 

There’s using the rules to your advantage, and then there’s using the tournament infrastructure to your advantage. Ewen Ferguson, your 36-hole outright leader at the Dubai Desert Classic, kinda did both Friday. 

The 28-year-old Scotsman, who resides in the U.A.E. not far from Emirates Golf Club, is used to playing into the 18th green with nothing surrounding it. The 564-yard par-5 is a bit wonky, requiring less than driver to bend around the corner of a dogleg and then a lengthy shot into the green covering a water hazard. All of which means you’ve got to launch your approach into the sky, carry the water and hope it lands softly. 

Unless you’re playing it in the Dubai Desert Classic. Then the 18th green has a crash landing zone that might help. 

Among the most beloved tournaments on the DP World Tour schedule, the Dubai Desert Classic tries its hardest to bring spectators as close as possible to the finishing hole … while also offering them some shade from the high temperatures in the Middle East. That just doesn’t make for much room surrounding the shared green of the 9th and 18th holes. 

In the instance of Friday’s second round, the hole location was cut deep on the green, just a few paces from the back edge, which is just a few more paces from the rigid grandstand that surrounds the massive green. One stroke back of the lead, Ferguson drew his tee ball into the fairway, leaving 243 yards to the hole.

But it was in the evening and cooling down with a breeze into his face. Ferguson clubbed up to a 3-wood, choked down on the grip a few inches and swung hard, hitting a cut. His ball soared against the iconic Dubai skyline until it clanged into the grandstand behind the green. This being the late stages of the second round, only a smattering of spectators were still on hand to hear it. Certainly none of them saw it. But a few were awfully close to being hit. 

The Sky Sports broadcasters were confused what happened. Did the ball strike a sprinkler head? If it hadn’t flown so far, maybe. But this ball flew all the way to the grandstand, smashing enough to create an echo, and then bounced back onto the green, rolling inside five feet. 

All Ferguson could do is chuckle and walk up to read the break on his eagle putt. When he made that, he jumped into the 36-hole solo lead, earning him a late Saturday tee time — and plenty of criticism online. 

Did he deliberately play his shot long, knowing he could get a favorable bounce off the grandstand? Such an act is known as “grandstanding” and takes place in pro tournaments all over the world. If his ball got stuck in the hospitality area, he’d get a favorable drop.

It is not the player’s fault that an artificial backboard has been added to the golf hole. But is in the spirit of the game? Or is it just luck that makes these things happen? A sample of the responses on social media don’t love how it played out. But what did Ferguson think? He was asked about it following his round. 

“A few players have taken advantage of the backboard,” a reporter asked. “Was that your intention today?” 

“Honestly 7-wood or 3-wood and into the wind,” he began, “getting a bit colder as the day was getting a bit late. I thought, you know, what I’m just going to go to the back and even if I have to go in the drop zone, I’m just going to splash it out.

“If I had a 15-footer on the last, I would have been fine with that. Still would have made that for a good day, but a wee bit of luck goes a long way. The game kicks you enough, so to get a little break is nice.”

Now, does that absolve Ferguson of any guilt — in the eyes of the all-powerful internet viewer — or criminalize him? He openly admitted to accepting the fate of any shot that goes long, even if he has to play from a drop area. Well, the only way he’d play from a drop area was if he sent his ball soaring into the grandstand. So the idea that he wasn’t just going to go too long, but too too long, was on his mind. 

But was he wrong to think that way? 

Again, there’s no right answer here. At least not one that can be policed. What if he played that 7-wood instead and thinned it, low and shooting, one-hopping over the green and bouncing back in play to a similar spot? Recall how the reporter began his question, too: A few players have taken advantage of the backboard …

Ferguson was clearly far from alone in this line of thinking, which leaves us with a different, final question: whose fault is this? Is tournament golf just bound to have this happen? Should players be penalized? Are tournament staffers supposed to plan out pin positions after they’ve organized the hospitality suites? What comes first? 

The best answer we’ve seen to those tricky questions comes from the R&A, which often rings the 18th hole at the Open Championship with grandstands. They’re able to do it and avoid scorn because the drop zones they paint near the green are made to be as brutal as possible. If you can play it out of foot-long, grabby grass, well, then you can feel comfortable launching your ball into the grandstand. Be our guest.