Magical Kenya Open: Eight referees, four local and four international set to help the golfers

Indeed, all golfers are expected to know the Rules of Golf and even apply penalties on themselves for errors in play that only they and God would know about. It is not enough to swing a club well; golfers must also be familiar with the writings in the holy book since only honest ones shall inherit the kingdom of champions.

At the Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa, however, eight referees will be at hand to help the competitors for the duration of the competition.

Unlike football where referees may be called upon to give a ruling when a player feigns innocence when they have employed the “hand of God” to score. In golf, the referee is there to help interpret the application of the numerous Rules of Golf.

Golfers do not cheat, but there are situations where they may be stumped when they find themselves in an unfamiliar situation.

Once in a while, an armchair referee watching the game live on TV will see something that does not look right and may make a call to inform the tournament directors of the situation.

In January 2011, Two time open Champion Padraig Harrington from Ireland was disqualified from a tournament in Abu Dhabi after he inadvertently caused his ball to move slightly on the green. He did not notice the error and he proceeded to putt the ball from its new location. Having played from the wrong place, he was supposed to incur a two-stroke penalty. However, since he did not know that he had caused his ball to move and that he was playing from the wrong place, he signed for a score that did not include the two-stroke penalty.

When a TV viewer called and pointed out the error, and upon review of the TV footage, Harrington was disqualified. Thankfully, the Rules have since been changed and a golfer is no longer penalised for mistakes that he or she had no idea that he made. If a player has no way of knowing that his ball moved by a dimple of two, hawk-eyed armchair golf referees will no longer have their way in getting him disqualified.

The official referees at the course are there to ensure that the players are able to interpret the Rules of Golf correctly. All the referees will have sat and passed an exam to test their knowledge of the Rules of Golf. Their main role, however, is to help the players.

They will inform the slow groups that will be falling out of position behind the group in front and if need be, time the slow players and inform them if they take unnecessarily long.

Golf refereeing can be described as calm periods watching good golf interspersed by panic-stricken moments when golfers request for a ruling based on a forgotten Rule. Such moments will be made worse by the presence of all the TV cameras at the Magical Kenya Open.

The saving grace is that referees have the “call-a-friend” option when their memories fail them. With eight referees helping out at the Magical Kenya Open, the tournament administration is bound to be a success.

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