Tour winner hit with obvious accusation after equipment switch: "Is it a rule or not?!"
Dan Bradbury claimed the 2024 Open de France with an assured final round performance, but his putting technique was put under scrutiny.
England's Dan Bradbury claimed the 2024 Open de France but it appeared only a matter of time before his putting technique was put under scrutiny by the online sleuths at Golf Twitter™.
Bradbury switched to a broomstick-style putter for the DP World Tour event at Le Golf National.
And the tinker immediately paid dividends, with the Wakefield native securing his first title since the 2022 Joburg Open.
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Bradbury made a clutch two-putt at the 72nd hole to post the clubhouse lead of 16-under.
As many as four players tied for second.
GolfWRX writer Matt Vincenzi questioned whether Bradbury was 'anchoring' as he drained his par putt on the 18th.
Tagging the DP World Tour, he wrote: "If this isn't anchoring, I don't know what is.
"Is it a rule, or is it not a rule?"
See the video here:
A lively discussion on X ensued.
Some suggested Bradbury should be given the all clear, given there are officials on hand.
Others claimed Bradbury wasn't playing by the rules.
Here's some reaction:
"If you can't tell there, then you can't tell in any situation ever, so get rid of the rule."
"You can't tell hence why it's about relying on the players integrity which is true for many situations within the sport."
"I'm with Matt on this one. Nothing against the player whatsoever but a massive grey area with the rule that needs to be eradicated as much as possible. If it's not anchoring it's so close to the banned action that the difference is minuscule."
"And if anchoring was banned because of its advantage then it's very difficult to tell here whether or not Dan is getting that advantage. Of course we have player integrity but the difference between legal/illegal here is so minute that the rule becomes a nonsense."
