R&A: "There is a fresh impetus to have a look at it and see if the rules are still appropriate."

Buried at the end of an unbylined PA Sport story on the Padraig Harrington DQ:

Grant Moir, Rules of Golf director for the R&A, added: "Obviously in the light of this and what happened to Camilo Villegas (the Colombian was another victim of 'trial by television' in Hawaii earlier this month) the significance of the disqualification penalty has been brought sharply back into focus. Certainly with the introduction of every-increasing scrutiny and enhanced images there is a fresh impetus to have a look at it and see if the rules are still appropriate.

"The fundamental principle is that it is the responsibility of a player to turn in an accurate score and eroding that principle would be a significant move,” he added. "But we have looked at the possibility of introducing a decision to deal with a situation where enhanced images show a breach of the rules that even the player could not know about."

Brian Keogh notes one bit of irony here:

McFee revealed that the European Tour has tried to get the R&A to make a change in the rules in the past but to no avail. In an ironic co-incidence, Harrington was appointed as an ambassador by the R&A exactly a week ago.

Karl MacGinty shared these remarks from Harrington, showing why he was appointed an ambassador and while the European Tour's Andy McPhee may not get the same nod.

Typically, Harrington disagreed with Poulter's emotive description of golf's TV vigilantes as "snitches," saying: "I certainly wouldn't call them that. I'm comfortable with people out there watching.

"We had it in our clubs growing up. There was always someone there who knew the rules and wanted to apply them. They were the characters at times. They added to the place. Yeah, it takes a certain individual to act upon it, but we do need those individuals."

Though McFee agreed that the sofa-snoops perform a service for golf, there was a note of distaste in his voice as he declined to reveal the email addresses of the two sharp-eyed viewers who'd alerted the European Tour to Harrington's transgression at 6.0pm on Thursday.

"I don't see any purpose that would be served by giving them the oxygen of publicity," he said.