Indian Open Golf: Rule change to Matteo Manassero’s rescue

The 23-year-old Italian had shot a four-under 68, given the tough scoring circumstances on the first morning of the Hero Indian Open, an exceedingly good effort.

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On a day when the redesigned course tested the skills of most golfers, 23-year-old Manassero shot to a lead with a round of four-under 68.

For someone whose name was atop the leaderboard, it was with some trepidation that Matteo Manassero entered the clubhouse to sign his card. The 23-year-old Italian had shot a four-under 68, given the tough scoring circumstances on the first morning of the Hero Indian Open, an exceedingly good effort. But what was troubling Manassero was that, on the seventh hole, his ball had accidentally moved from its resting position.

The technical committee summoned the footage of the incident. A recent rule change regarding accidental movement of the ball means golfers don’t have to fret much over such incidents. But Manassero was perhaps worried because, in the last four years, days like today when he has brought out his A-game have been few and far in between. He wouldn’t want some stupid rule to spoil it. He waited anxiously for the officials to arrive at a conclusion.

‘Wait’ is a strange word in the context of this gifted young man from Verona. When Manassero was in his teens, it seemed he just couldn’t ‘wait’ for his time to come — he almost fast-tracked it. He was a prodigy like few before him. At 16, he was rubbing shoulders with the legendary Tom Watson at the 2009 British Open.

The next year, in his first year as a pro golfer, he became the youngest winner ever on the European Tour. Before turning 18, Manassero had turned a millionaire. And at 20, he was already a four-time winner on tour. At that time in 2013, American Jordan Spieth, a fellow prodigy, was still a few months away from his first pro triumph. That, however, was that. A ‘wait’ began as Manassero suffered an inexplicable loss of form. The titles dried up, and for the last couple of years, he has rarely been in the final groups on tournament Sundays. His backstory shows that at most times, golf is tough. And his nervousness on Thursday exhibits that on those occasions, when complex rules kick in, the game can be downright cruel.

The accidental movement of the ball has caused a great many heartburns in the past. Nine years ago, at the Johnny Walker Classic at this very venue, Gaurav Ghei was disqualified in the aftermath of an inadvertent, 1 cm movement of the ball when he was assessing a lie. At the US Open last year, after intense drama the leader Dustin Johnson got a retrospective one-stroke penalty for having unintentionally moved the ball by a couple of centimetres. Though it didn’t affect the outcome as Johnson had a comfortable cushion, there was avoidable uncertainty as it wasn’t before the end of the final round that USGA arrived at its decision. Following the fiasco, however, the said rule was amended, and with effect from January 1 this year, the one-stroke penalty in such cases was removed.

Much to Manassero’s relief, the committee swiftly cleared him, and his four-under round meant he held the clubhouse lead on a day that saw play suspended due to the “threat of lightning”.

The course played as was expected, punishing most in the field, and only nine players out of those who had completed their rounds broke par. There was no Indian representation in that list.

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Rahil Gangjee, Shubhankar Sharma and Ajeetesh Sandhu played even-par rounds, while the biggest homegrown star Anirban Lahiri went four-over. “I’m quite disappointed actually,” Lahiri later said. “I was playing well at the start but a couple of times just waiting to hit my shot threw me off my rhythm. One instance was on the 18th when I stood on the tee for a long time and couldn’t make up my mind whether to draw or cut the ball. I ended up making a bad swing there. That led to a double bogey.”

He put Manassero’s effort into perspective. “Four-under on this course is really a very good score, almost as good as an eight-under. I’ve got myself a long way out of position now, but it’s now up to me to see what I can make of it.” Sixty-six players, including England’s David Horsey (five-under through 15 holes) and defending champion SSP Chawrasia (one-under through 15) will complete their first rounds on Friday morning.