By James Corrigan
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods led the praise for golf's proposed radical rules overhaul, with the former expressing his belief that the "revolutionary" modernisation and simplification could stop people turning away from the game.
McIlroy is preparing for the first round of the WGC Mexico Championship, in which he will make his first competitive appearance in almost two months after recovering from a stress fracture of a rib.
Keen on the changes: Rory McIlroy.Credit: Getty Images
Yet despite McIlroy's comeback and the fact that 49 out of the world's top 50 players are competing for the £8 million ($12.8 million) purse, the predominant topic on the range here at the Club de Golf Chapultepec concerned the joint-announcement from the R&A and the United States Golf Association.
The sweeping changes - labelled "the biggest in a generation" by David Rickman, the R&A director of rules - have been almost five years in the making. The governing bodies' mission was to make the rule book simpler and fairer, by removing some of the pettiness. The number of rules will be reduced from 34 to 24 and they will be written in more straightforward prose.
Among the proposals - which will undergo a six-month public consultation before being approved next year and coming into effect from January 1, 2019 - are allowing players to repair spike-marks on greens and reducing the permitted time for the search for a lost ball from five minutes to three, a move, which among others, the authorities hope will help tackle slow play.
The revelations did not come as a shock to the professionals, as the R&A and USGA had hosted briefings on both the European and PGA Tours this year. Mike Davis, the executive director of the USGA, even went as far as to take McIlroy to lunch last week to explain the plans, proving how much they wanted the heavyweights on side. They need not have been concerned.
"I think it's great and I told Mike that," McIlroy said. "What's happened over the last couple of years with some rulings and high-profile things that have happened at crucial stages in tournaments, people look at that who might want to get into the game and are like, 'You know the rules are too complicated, I don't want to get into all of that'. Making them more modern to move with the times is good." Woods concurred, tweeting that it was "great work to benefit the game".
The R&A and USGA will be delighted to hear it, because it is not just the amateurs who found the Rules of Golf impenetrable, but also many of the professionals.
"Players were so intimidated by them that they couldn't even open the book and try to understand," Rickman said. "When they did open the rule book and perhaps by great skill and endeavour find the right place to look, they still managed to be confused or get it wrong."
Dustin Johnson, the world No.1, was an interesting character to give an opinion. At last year's US Open, there was a query whether the American had made his ball move at address on the fifth green. He told the referee he did not believe he had, but officials said they could not make an immediate decision and so nobody was sure of Johnson's score until he finished the round. He was then hit with a shot penalty, but, fortunately, he was so far ahead it did not matter - apart from being more dreadful PR.
Under these proposals there would be no such farce, because there would be no penalty. "Some of the changes I think are really good, especially on the green when you don't feel you caused it to move and you're getting a penalty - that to me makes no sense," Johnson said.
"Common sense" was one of the rules panel's buzz phrases. Some of the rule book's ultra-pernickety content led to absurd scenes.
At the 2003 Masters, the American Jeff Maggert launched a shot from a fairway bunker which bounced back off the lip and hit him in the chest and cost him a two-shot penalty. Not under these rules.
At the 2010 Heritage, England's Brian Davis was in a play-off against Jim Furyk when he chipped on to the green from a water hazard but called a two-shot penalty for unintentionally clipping a reed on his backswing. No penalty would occur with these amendments.
There have been countless controversial incidents that put golf and its daft rules into a bad light, which will be averted from 2019. However, not all of them involved penalty shots.
At the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island, Bernhard Langer had a six-foot putt to retain the trophy for Europe. A spike-mark was on his line and, aiming just outside it, he missed the hole to hand the glory to the US.
In the 2020 Ryder Cup, the participants will be able to repair spike-marks, and although Rickman admitted his concern over this and other rule changes - such as greater leeway in hazards and bunkers - opening the way to corruption, he pointed out that the integrity of the players has always been fundamental to the sport.
"Writing the rules for the honest player has been very much part of this work," Rickman said. In this day and age, they should be wished the very best of luck.
The Telegraph, London
Repairing damage on the green
Current rule: A player is only allowed to repair pitch marks or old hole markings.
Proposed rule: Can repair most of the damage, including spike marks and animal rakings.
Player accidentally moves ball or ball-marker on the green
Current rule: Player incurs a one-stroke penalty (with exceptions).
Proposed rule: No penalty.
Time permitted to find ball
Current rule: Ball deemed lost if not found in five minutes.
Proposed rule Deemed lost if not found in three minutes.
Putting with an unattended flagstick in the hole
Current rule: Two-shot penalty if the ball hits flagstick.
Proposed rule: No penalty.
Touching sand with hand or club when ball is in bunker
Current rule: Two-shot penalty.
Proposed rule: No penalty unless player is testing the conditions of the bunker or if he/she touches the club in the area right behind or in front of the ball, in making a practice swing or in the backswing.
Caddie standing behind a player to help with alignment
Current rule Allowed while the player is taking a stance and preparing to play, but not while making the stroke.
Proposed rule: Caddie is not allowed to stand on a line behind a player at all.
The Telegraph, London