Leading woman golfer quits tournament

One of the UK’s leading female golfers, Elizabeth Mallett, has quit the English Women’s Amateur title at West Lancashire Golf Club after being penalized for slow play.

Mallett then proceeded to launch a withering attack on the governing body, claiming she had been singled out by rules officials when other players were much slower than her.

“I lost complete trust in the quality of the refereeing”, said Mallett.

Mallett was involved in a lengthy confrontation with the chief referee and tournament director over the penalty, which was incurred for taking 65 seconds over an approach shot.

She was then told that there were no grounds for appeal and after the chief referee reportedly told her to consult her coach about her pre-shot routine, Mallett, decided to quit the tournament in protest.

“I lost complete trust in the quality of the refereeing in this event and was shocked by the seemingly biased decision making of the England Golf tournament director,” said Mallett, who was one shot off the lead heading into the final round.

“Faced with the prospect of more of the same during the final round, I decided to stop playing in the tournament at a point when winning the event was well within my sights and capabilities.”

Mallett then timed the remaining groups, and reported that her group was nine minutes behind, while the following groups were 29 and more than 30 minutes behind.

“To be the only player who was subject of a one-stroke penalty, when everyone in the final four groups also finished over their time, some two holes behind us, makes the penalty against me difficult to justify,“ she concluded.

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