Sabbo Unfashionably Late For Dreaded O'Hair Reunion

Jim McCabe reports on Rory Sabbatini's two-shot penalty for arriving late to the first tee Saturday. He was paired with Sean O'Hair, the same player Rory bickered with at last year's Zurich Classic.

Caddy Mick Doran took the blame, though notorious headache inducer Sabbatini can't believe tour officials didn't come and remind him he was about to be late.

When he was on the putting green within 100 yards of the first tee, Sabbatini concedes he wasn’t paying close attention. “I know Mick feels bad about it, but ultimately it’s my responsibility more than anybody’s; it’s my job to be playing golf. It happens; unfortunately it happened today (to me), but it was still a good day.”
Though both player and caddie shared the blame, at different points they indicated a bit of surprise that an official didn’t come down to alert them. PGA Tour officials have never seen that as one of their responsibilities.

“We don’t have too many (late to the first tee penalties),” said PGA Tour rules official Jon Brendle. “But most of the time the guys are late because they’re running late. (Sabbatini) had been here for an hour or so, at least.”

Even before the penalty, Sabbatini’s day figured to be interesting, because he was paired with Sean O’Hair. The two players had a heated inside-the-ropes altercation while paired at last year’s Zurich Classic that was believed to have resulted in a suspension for Sabbatini. The Tour’s policy is to not make public such disciplinary matters, but Sabbatini went two months (June and July) without a start in a regular Tour event. He played the U.S. Open and British Open in that period, neither of which is conducted by the PGA Tour.