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May 26th, 2017
Outrage as Branden Grace defends controversial drop
Paul McGinley and Danny Willett not happy...
Words: Tim Southwell Photography: Getty Images
Branden Grace caused a right old chafuffle yesterday when he took a controversial drop during the first round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Grace was tied for the lead after 12 holes when his shot into the 13th ended up plugged in the high side of a bunker.
The South African called over an official and explained that, after digging his feet in the bunker to stabilize his stance, his shoes were coming into contact with the rubber sheeting at the bunker's base. He insisted he was entitled to a free drop, and was granted one from inside the bunker.
Grace turned a potential double bogey into a chance for par, which he missed but walked away with a bogey.
And this caused outrage in some quarters. Paul McGinley called the drop "ridiculous" while 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett took to Twitter to demand clarification from the European Tour.
Grace, however, insists he has precedence from a similar incident is standing by the ruling at the HSBC Champions in China a few years ago.
"When I took the stance, there was only one or two inches of sand and my foot kept sliding on the material, the rubber, underneath the sand," Grace said. "A rule is a rule, and I took advantage of the rule there, and it helped knowing the rule in some respects. Fortunately for me, I got away with a good drop but I still made bogey."
Grace stated that he was surprised by the comments criticising his actions
"It's quite a steep upslope there," he said. "I was trying to get a stance with my right foot, but my left one I didn't have to do too much.
"The right one was sliding down most of the time and then obviously getting down into the sand I was touching the rubber. A rule's a rule, and that's exactly what the rules official is there for."
On the flip side of all this, just an hour earlier, Ernie Els called a penalty on himself when he made a free drop and thought it had given him an advantageous lie.
As Monty Burns would say. continue the research...
