Dyson gets suspended ban for rules breach
Englishman fined £30,000 for using his ball to press down a spike mark on a green in direct line of a short-par putt at the Shanghai Masters
English golfer Simon Dyson was handed a suspended two-month ban from the European Tour and fined £30,000 (HK$380,000) following his rules violation at the BMW Masters in Shanghai in October.
Dyson attended a hearing on Thursday where he was found guilty of a serious breach of the tour’s code of behaviour for using his ball to press down a spike mark on the green in direct line of a short-par putt.
His ban will become effective only if he commits another rules breach in the next 18 months.
A three-man disciplinary panel, who convened at the European Tour’s headquarters at Wentworth, found that Dyson’s actions were deliberate and “committed by him in the knowledge of the rule forbidding such an act”. However, the panel said it was “a momentary aberration on his part, not a premeditated act of cheating”.
Dyson’s previous good conduct on tour was also taken into an account.
A television viewer noticed the infraction, which occurred on the eighth green at Lake Malaraen during Dyson’s second round, and rules officials met Dyson the next morning.