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Garcia Drops in Trouble

Sergio Garcia after returning a 68 in the Third round of the Greg Norman Holden Tournament, found himself in trouble with the rules on Saturday. To his considerable annoyance the 68 he had carded was changed to a 70 when it was ruled that he had taken an incorrect drop at the first hole.

Garcia now goes into the final day level with 19-year-old Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley on the 16-under-par mark of 203 and only one in front of Ian Poulter, who moved into third place with a great eight-under 65.

Garcia's opening drive finished against a pine cone and close to a tree, but more importantly behind a sponsor's sign. He took relief away from the sign, but a spectator suspected he did not go far enough away and raised the matter with an official. Playing partner Norman was watching and thought there was nothing wrong when the Spaniard then played his second shot and parred the hole. But going to the second tee both were spoken to by John Paramor, the European tour's chief referee. Paramor explained that the drop had to be outside one club's length of the nearest point of relief and it was left that while they continued he would study the television footage again and talk to them both at the end of the round.

Garcia confirmed "Of course I'm angry," when the penalty was handed out. "I was two ahead and now suddenly I'm tied for the lead. "Hopefully even with John Paramor's rules and everything I will be able to win the tournament. In the rules it doesn't say what he was telling me, but there is a local rule, he says, and I'm lucky I was not disqualified."

Had Garcia gained a significant advantage with his wrong drop he would have been disqualified but Paramor confirmed that in his view Sergio had not.

A soaking wet Garcia said"I really don't want to talk too much about it," adding "You can probably ask 500 players and they will tell you it shouldn't be done that way. Of course Greg apologised to me - he is a gentleman and he didn't think it was that way either."

Greg Norman the Tournament host, whose 71 on his 46th birthday dropped him from second to fourth and two behind the leaders, said: "You can read the rule in a couple of different fashions according to the interpretation from John Paramor".

"I am sure 90% of players who have taken relief without an official (in such a situation) have all violated the rule".

"I feel bad personally because he asked me for the ruling and I went through the procedure what I thought was correctly. Thank God he wasn't disqualified. "

Paramor, asked about Garcia's reaction when told of the penalty, replied: "I have not found a player yet who is happy to get a two-shot penalty. There's never been one who said 'thank you very much' The onus however is on the player and if he's not sure then he should get a ruling".

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