A birdie on the 18th would’ve given him a round of eight-under and the clubhouse joint lead. But that little disappointment of the missed putt was rapidly forgotten as a bombshell was dropped on Gaurav Ghei. Going into the official scoring area to submit a fabulous third round card at the Johnnie Walker Classic here today, Ghei was told that he would have to be disqualified from the tournament for a rule breach that had taken place during his round yesterday. Ghei had hit the cart path with his second shot and taken relief in the presence of a referee. But, according to the statement by John Paramor, chief referee, European Tour, the ball moved as Ghei was assessing the lie before his next shot.If that had been noticed and corrected before the shot was taken, the penalty would be one stroke. But because it was not detected by anyone at that time, the offence was signing for a lower score, hence the disqualification. What is remarkable is that the movement was not observed by anyone present at the spot at the time. A stunned Ghei only issued a statement iterating his disappointment. “It’s deeply disappointing and it’s a shame that all the people around and the referee did not spot the incident near the 18th green,” he said. The episode only came to light when a referee in the United Kingdom saw it on the television broadcast and sent a text message to Paramor late last night. Paramor, however, read it only this morning. The chief referee was unable to have a look at the replays before Ghei started his round today and by the time the review could be done, the Indian was playing the 18th hole. Cruelly, Ghei had to be kept waiting at the recorder’s area till the assessment was completed. Paramor said he would’ve tried every way to get Ghei out of the penalty, but there was no “room for maneuvering.”“The movement was probably a centimetre at most, around a quarter of an inch,” Paramor explained. “It’s reasonably clear, however, when you look at the TV pictures. It’s quite possible that it was missed by everybody there.”The seven birdies-no bogey round today would’ve put Ghei in the nine-under bracket of the tied tenth spot at the end of the day today. But as it turns out, the disqualification being applied after round two, from a potential top ten and a big share of the $2.5 million prize money, Ghei will go away completely empty-handed.The bigger irony, of course, is that had the breach been noticed and the stroke-penalty applied, Ghei would’ve ended day two higher than his two-under aggregate, and so would’ve missed the cut.
