Rory and Nick, Follow Up

Iain Carter in The Guardian has even more fun details on the story that NBC and various American press outlets either won't touch or completely missed.

If you missed it, here's the original story on the Faldo-Sabbatini spat, complete with a photo of Amy Sabbatini in her "Keep Up" t-shirt. Carter fills us in on the comments that Faldo made at the Booz Allen last year that were clearly on Sabbatini's mind when their pairing was announced this week, and when they were put on the clock.

'When people say that if they were paired with you they would "slow play" you, that leaves a lot of questions about their morals and professionalism,' said Sabbatini, who is aware of Faldo's observations from the commentators' booth.

In response to Amy Sabbatini's decision to plaster her 'keep up' message across her chest, Faldo, who has always taken a painstaking approach to his golf, quipped: 'I think it's very embarrassing for them to bring their sexual problems to the golf course. Poor fellow. I thought he had enough problems as it is without her announcing them to the world.'

Referring to the first-round incident when Sabbatini became enraged because the stopwatches of officialdom were deemed necessary, Faldo said: 'He completely lost his head with the official, so I don't know what his problem was. Camilo lost his ball on the 10th and that's why we were put on the clock, but we were back in place within one hole, so it was no big deal.'

Sabbatini refused to blame the six-time major winner Faldo, but he made his feelings clear when asked if he had any complaints against his playing partners. 'You know, Camilo played great, he did his part and kept playing as well as he could. He was a true gentleman out there and showed good professionalism. I'll leave it at that,' he said.

In truth, Sabbatini's biggest argument is with the way that new slow play rules were ignored in this incident. Regulations permit referees to warn and time individuals rather than the entire group and he believes that this is what should have happened. 'If players create policy then why not use it,' he said. 'I would say there was a situation that occurred that should have resulted in me not necessarily being put on the clock.'

A PGA Tour spokesman said: 'Our pace of play policy does allow individuals rather than the group to be put on the clock if we are able to determine that one player is responsible for the group being behind. In my opinion our officials do a good job on pace of play and apply it consistently.'