ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | The dis-
ciplinary process which saw Elliot Saltman being
issued, during last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Cham-
pionship, a three-month ban for “a serious breach
of the rules during last September’s M2M Russian
Challenge Cup,” seems likely to be reviewed.
Though George O’Grady, the CEO of the Euro-
pean Tour, indicated that there were no plans for
any immediate changes. Keith Waters, his No. 2,
was somewhat less adamant.
“From everyone’s point of view, the process
took far too long,” said Waters. He indicated that
the main reason for the delay was down to the dif-
ficulties attached to getting committee members
together in the off-season.
A second criticism concerned whether players
should be passing judgment on their peers. More
than one member of the eight-man party of com-
mitteemen and officials at the hearing said they
hated to do what they had to do. “It’s way beyond
what you sign on for when you join the Tour,”
interjected a regular member.
Sunday afternoon, as Martin Kaymer was
improving on his lead, fellow players were amus-
ing themselves by taking a guess as to how many
majors the German might accrue over the next
five years.
Australia’s Brett Rumford started at two but
eventually opted for four, while Christian Cevaer,
winner of the 2009 European Open and an ex-Stan-
ford student, did not budge from his initial forecast
that Kaymer would win one a year in each of the
next five seasons. “We all get to be pretty good
under pressure but he’s virtually pressure-proof,”
Cevaer said.
What had left Cevaer open-mouthed was the way
Kaymer put pressure on himself at the half-way
point of the halfway point – he was then three ahead
of Charl Schwartzel – by announcing that the A
All the cool
golfers are
doing it. { }
