Friday’s second round at Augusta went from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of a few holes.
First, the sublime. It was Gary Player’s 52nd and last Masters. The three-time champion is one of only five men to win all four majors and at 73-years-old, he has decided to call time on his ceremonial returns to Georgia.
He didn’t shed any tears on the final green, but he was greeted at the end by a number of the younger South African golfers who he inspired to take up the game, including last year’s champion Trevor Immelman.
It was a reminder, at this most significant of all courses and events, of the enduring historic quality of golf and its traditions and how legacy is handed down, and legends immortalised.
And then, that same timeless quality showed its ugly side. Padraig Harrington, moving along sweetly on the back nine, had a birdie putt on the 15th. Fresh from a magnificent eagle on the 13th, the man looking for his third successive major was moving ominously, faced with a 12ft putt to move up to page one of the leaderboard.
The wind was gusting heavily all around the green as he got ready, his trousers billowing as he struggled to retain his composure within the breeze. He took a couple of practice swings of the putter, and then appeared to address his ball.
It was impossible to see for certain if he grounded his putter from the camera views available, but just after he seemed ready to strike, he stood back and the ball rolled a foot to his right, obviously pushed away by a sudden gust.
Harrington called the referee over, and after lengthy consultation between the two and an exchange between the referee and the head officials, the Irishman was penalised a shot.
He holed the par putt but struggled a bit for the remainder of the round and dropped back to -2. He’s still well in contention, but you couldn’t help but feel had he been able to grab a birdie on the 15th rather than go through what he did, he would be in a much stronger position to challenge over the weekend.
It shows golf at its most archaic and ridiculous. Harrington couldn’t have done less wrong. He obviously admitted to grounding the putter but that had nothing to do with the movement of the ball, it was obviously the wind.
The reason why such rules exist is because of the gentlemanly conduct and expectations of the game but Harrington more than proved himself equal to those expectations in the way he handled the situation.
He probably could have escaped a penalty by saying he hadn’t grounded his putter but he obviously admitted to the referee that he did.
Still he has to pay a potentially crucial price for something he is completely blameless for.
And just minutes later, it emerged that Rory McIlroy was facing disqualification for ‘testing the surface’ on the 18th.
That diabolical sounding charge came about after McIlroy failed to escape from the greenside bunker with his first effort. He brushed his foot against the sand after the shot and then hit his second effort onto the green.
After hours of deliberation, with McIlroy being called into the clubhouse to give an account of what happened, he was cleared. The reason he could have been disqualified is because had he been found to have ‘tested the surface’, he was due a one-shot penalty but he still signed for his card without including this possible punishment.
Considering that McIlroy gained no apparent advantage from his ginger movement of the leg, once again the incident shows the petty nonsense that dogs some of the finer points of the game.
Unfortunately for the Holywood prodigy, his round had unravelled by then anyway, after a spectacular charge that took him to -4 at one point was followed by a double bogey and then that final hole calamity.
Those two dramas, along with the more conventional ones on the course, gave indication at least of the kind of twists to come over the weekend.
Chad Campbell still holds sway at the top after his steady showing, but what about Kenny Perry, 48-years-old and right in contention to become the oldest major winner in history. He sits alongside Campbell at -9.
There were a number of movers, especially towards the end of the round. A lean looking Phil Mickelson moved into contention, hitting some smashing irons on route to a 68 to lie poised at -3.
Anthony Kim’s record-breaking round with eleven birdies propelled him right into the mix and with Sergio Garcia, Angel Cabrera, Henrik Stenson, Vijay Singh, Tiger, and despite the unplesantness, Harrington, all still right there, anything is possible going into the last two days.