Ben Coley golf column including Phil Mickelson rulings

It’s hard to know where to begin after the week that was in golf.

Primarily, the news is positive: a brilliant golf course produced an enthralling event from start to finish, one which ended with Dustin Johnson’s second win of the year.

In the post-Tiger era which we must acknowledge has existed for some time, this Masters appetiser stands out as the best by some distance. Titles are now being shared between a growing group of elite players, yet so many of them have managed to get their hands on at least one in 2017. Augusta cannot come soon enough.

While Golf Club de Chapultepec had looked good on paper, in reality it was exceptional. If only more golf courses followed this old-fashioned and now unfashionable path, where power is still an advantage as it should be but must also be harnessed; where creativity and thought are demanded and where the natural lay of the land remains largely intact.

What I most enjoyed was the idea that every shot came with inherent risk and reward, regardless of club selection or the length and nature of the hole. Wayward tee-shots made for awkward approaches, not impossible ones, and it was rare to see a player forced to chip back into the fairway, a redundant act which entertains nobody. 

The hope is that those days of sideways hacks out of knee-high rough are all but gone, except for only the most wayward of shots on the most penal of courses. Surely, through their own social media accounts and the career of Phil Mickelson the PGA Tour have realised the value of the recovery shot over the consolidatory one. Even the USGA are edging towards the same conclusion.

Mickelson, however, brings us to the sour element of last week’s event, for what happened on Saturday reflects particularly badly on both the player and how the game is managed on the ground.

In a week which started with tweaks to golf’s archaic rule book, it was somehow fitting that there would be not one but three notable incidents, all concerning the left-hander, during his third and most wayward of rounds.

Quite simply, on two occasions he benefited from a ruling which most other players in the field would surely not have been given. That is straightforwardly unfair and should be considered unacceptable.

One decision came on account of the flimsy evidence of a star-struck observer; another because of what appeared to be a bare-faced lie on Mickelson’s part. There’s using the rules to your advantage, and there’s what happened as he tried desperately to cling onto his hopes of winning for the first time since 2013.

Mickelson is a uniquely wonderful golfer, an artist in fact, and he’s blessed with charm. In the eyes of many he can do no wrong – how little has been made of his seven-figure payment to get the FBI off his back – and on Saturday we saw his status advantage his score in a sport which would claim to pride itself on values like honesty and fairness.

I’ve no doubt if the more polarising figure of Tiger Woods had received those decisions, he would’ve been castigated both within and outside the sport’s media circus. A slow player like Jason Day would’ve been criticised for taking forever to cheat. A foreign player like Hideki Matsuyama would not have been able to engage in the necessary debate.

Self-governance in this sport is considered by many to be one of its strengths, yet on Saturday it allowed for a charismatic captain of American golf to talk his way to a better score than his play deserved. It’s a relief that he did not win.

How to avoid such a scenario occurring again is not straightforward, but for starters I would suggest that a ball is considered lost unless it has clearly entered a hazard or can be seen. One paid-up spectator stating that another had run off with it is a ludicrous basis for a ruling. 

Ultimately, though, golf will always rely on its performers to determine what is right and what is wrong and that’s where Mickelson failed. The blame for what happened on Saturday lies squarely with him.

Players to watch

Two players I tipped for the Honda Classic caught the eye in Mexico, with both Kevin Kisner and Paul Casey recovering from poor starts to post top-20 finishes.

Kisner putted exceptionally well over the final three days and remains one to keep firmly in mind for upcoming events which really should suit him, while it seems clear that Casey is getting to grips with his new golf ball and should be a factor this summer.

In the Tshwane Open, it was good to see Dean Burmester rewarded for attacking golf to land his first European Tour success, having flattered to deceive once or twice over the last two years.

While not of the calibre of a Branden Grace or a Louis Oosthuizen, Burmester is capable of winning outside of South Africa and an event like the Portugal Masters, or indeed the Nordea, should be right up his street.

Further down the leaderboard, it was pretty clear that James Morrison would’ve made life really tough for Burmester but for an abysmal putting display, while Chris Hanson (62nd) played much better than his finishing position.

It was at around this time last year that Hanson struck form, contending for the Challenge de Madrid at a lower level before finishing fifth behind Jeunghun Wang in the Trophee Hassan, and he might just be one to take a chance on in India this week with the long game in good shape.