Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy avoided a potential disqualification from the 73rd Masters on Friday when the tournament competition committee ruled in his favor on an 18th-hole incident.

The 19-year-old prodigy will play the weekend after making the cut on the number at one-over par 145. He tees off in the third pair of Saturday's third round alongside reigning Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa.

McIlroy suffered a frustrating finish with a double-bogey at the par-3 16th and a triple-bogey at the par-4 18th, in which he kicked the sand in a greenside bunker after playing a shot that remained in the trap.

Golf rules prevent a player from testing the condition of a hazard before playing a stroke in it, with kicking the ground potentially constituting such a test.

Rules also allow a player to smooth sand or soil in the hazard after making a stroke provided nothing is done to improve his lie, the area of intended swing and his line of play or its extended area.

"At the request of the committee, Mr. McIlroy returned to the club at approximately 8:40 pm, met with the committee and reviewed the (US television coverage) tape," committee chairman Fred S. Ridley said in a statement.

"Based on the tape and Mr. McIlroy's statement of what had taken place after he played the shot, it was determined that no violation of the rules had occurred."

AFP

RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook