Friday 26 May 2017 10:57, UK
Wayne Riley questions the contentious drop given to Branden Grace at the BMW PGA Championship and praises Ernie Els honesty during the opening round.
The guys sitting in the locker room at five or six under aren't going to care as much as those who are trying to grind a cut, but I'm not surprised by some of the reaction to the Grace ruling and the stir it has caused.
This is nothing to with Branden personally and I emphasised that when describing the incident on our broadcast, it's to do with the rule. It could have been Joe Bloggs, Joe Bloke or Aunty Martha as far as I'm concerned!
It wouldn't have mattered, as the issue wasn't to do with the player who was there. It was the ruling which, for me, was just simply a little soft.
Grace has suddenly gone from being plugged up the face and staring at a double bogey to having a 15-foot putt for par, which is a huge advantage.
When you're going into the bunker with a plugged lie, you can shuffle in there not rehearsing what you intend to do. It was only when Grace was ready to play and shuffling his feet that he noticed the netting.
How far do you go down there before you find the netting? It's one of those contentious issues and something I felt strongly about when the ruling was given.
They are the rules of golf and we can't do anything about them, that's just the way it is. I think the European Tour are all over it and as Chief Referee Andy McFee - a very good official - said, it's the first one they'd seen this week.
The Tour didn't know it was going to happen and I don't think we'll see it happen again this week. McFee did say in an interview that they may have to change it and have a local rule.
In another incident, Ernie Els showed how much of a true gentleman he is by calling two shots on himself. It was so honest from him to do that and hopefully karma rewards him for it.
I was sitting with some of the Sky Sports commentary team at dinner afterwards and wondered if we could give him those two shots back.
It's probably too late now and I don't think he probably should have called it on himself, but it was a marvellous thing to do from someone who has had such a great career.
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