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Phil Mickelson will be disqualified if he repeats US Open rule breach, says R&A

Phil Mickelson stopped his ball rolling off the green at last month's US Open - R&A
Phil Mickelson stopped his ball rolling off the green at last month's US Open - R&A

If Phil Mickelson hits his ball as it is rolling off the green he will be disqualified from this Open Championship. That was the barely-disguised message from the R&A on the eve of the British major.

Golfing infamy already has it that at last month's US Open, Mickelson’s frustration at the conditions at Shinnecock Hills boiled over to the point that on the 13th hole of his third round, he ran down the slope and putted his ball as it picked up pace down the slope.

Mickelson was hit with a two-shot penalty for a breach of rule 14-5, although many experts felt he should have been thrown out under rule 33-7, which also gives a tournament committee the right to disqualify a player for a serious breach of etiquette. There can be no doubt the latter would happen here.

"We understand the USGA and the referees' decisions that were made at Shinnecock, and we completely respect those decisions," Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, said. "In the event of a similar situation this week, clearly, the first thing is you understand the facts because you never get the same situation and there will be lots of reasons.

"But we have looked very carefully at the rules and I don't think it was good for the game and not the right way to have played this wonderful sport. We would make a decision based on the facts of any incident that happened later in the week.

"There are other parts of the rule book which refer to etiquette and the powers of the committee, and we're fully aware of those clauses that are in that rule."

In fairness, Mickelson has (eventually) been effusive in his apologies and promised it will never happen again. And as Slumbers pointed out, from the start of next year it cannot happen again because of the new rulebook. “As of 1st of January 2019, there will be a DQ option in that equivalent rule,” he said.

The Open 2018 | Read more
The Open 2018 | Read more