Rain delay
The second round of the ninth annual Wells Fargo Championship is in the midst of a thunderstorm delay of 1 hour, 24 minutes that is expected to conclude at 12:15 p.m. The delay has also pushed afternoon tee times back 1:20 from a scheduled start of 12:10 to 1:30 p.m. The afternoon wave should benefit from softer greens following a downpour.
Sabbatini drama
Rory Sabbatini is playing today under the dark cloud of a possible looming suspension. It has been reported and several tour sources have confirmed Sabbatini is facing disciplinary action from the tour for a heated verbal spat with Sean O'Hair last week in New Orleans over pace of play, and that follows Sabbatini's reported berating of a 16-year-old volunteer who marked the South African's wayward drive with an empty soda can.
It was a crazy scene off the ninth green after Sabbatini completed his pro-am Wednesday at Quail Hollow. As several reporters attempted to ask Sabbatini about the possible disciplinary action by the tour, his wife, Amy, pushed her baby stroller through the assembled media with the couple's youngest child, Bodhi Mac, aboard, then waved her arms in a baseball umpire "safe" fashion and said her husband was done answering questions.
For his part, all Sabbatini would say following the pro-am round was: “Well I’m playing this week so I wouldn’t worry about it too much, okay guys. It’s all based on crazy rumors.”
I will be writing a story in the coming weeks on the PGA Tour's policy to not publicly announce any player discipline, which the Sabbatini case is shining a light on this week.
Rule change in works
A couple years ago I polled about 70 PGA Tour players, mostly during the event at Quail Hollow Club, regarding the rules of golf, asking them: "If you could change one rule in golf, which rule would it be and why?"
I got close to 20 different answers, and one of the most common was Rule 18-2b, which states it's a one-stroke penalty if your ball moves on the green after you address it and ground your putter next to or behind the ball.
It possibly cost Webb Simpson a victory last week in New Orleans. His ball moved on the 15th green during the final round, costing him a shot, and he eventually lost to Bubba Watson in a playoff.
The USGA said this week it was looking into changing the rule. It's one of at least a few rules they should change in my opinion, but it's one of most glaringly bad rules in the game and at least it's a start. It might be a little late for Simpson, however.
"Somebody told me they had already been thinking about making a change to it," Simpson said. "I don't know what's going on but I'd obviously be on the petition list."
