CRUNCH

30 SPORT TUESDAY 4 APRIL 2017
SPORT
GOLF
Thompson TV
heartache fuels
row over rules
FRANK DALLERES
@frankdalleres
GOLF chiefs are facing renewed
scrutiny of the game’s rules on the
eve of the Masters following the
bizarre chain of events that deprived
American Lexi Thompson of her
second Major title.
Thompson, 22, was reduced to
tears at the ANA Inspiration on
Sunday when she was informed,
while leading by two shots with six
holes to play, that she had been
penalised four strokes.
The sanction related to an incident
almost 24 hours earlier, in which she
incorrectly replaced a marked ball,
that was missed by course officials
but investigated following an email
from a television viewer.
World No4 Thompson composed
herself enough to tie with Ryu So-
Yeon and force a play-off, only to lose
to the South Korean at the first extra
hole at Mission Hills in California.
Tiger Woods echoed widespread
disbelief that an armchair pundit
Thompson was penalised after a viewer
saw her infringement and emailed in
had been able to wield such
influence over the outcome of one of
the most prestigious and lucrative
events on the women’s LPGA tour.
“Viewers at home should not be
officials wearing stripes,” the former
men’s No1 wrote on social media.
Justin Thomas, a three-time
winner on the PGA Tour this season,
added: “Whatever number this is
that people can call in [sic], it needs
to go away.”
Thompson’s initial reaction to
being told of her four-stroke penalty
– two shots for the offence and two
more for signing an incorrect
scorecard – was to respond: “Is this a
joke?”
She added after the tournament: “I
did not intentionally do that, so to
the officials or whoever called in,
that was not my purpose. I didn’t
even realise I did that.”
Ryu admitted to mixed emotions
at winning the tournament, saying:
“I cannot believe the situation. It
hurts me as well, it is a weird feeling
but at the same time I am proud of
myself.”
LPGA rules official Sue Witters
said she felt the tour had little choice
but to punish Thompson once they
became aware of the infringement.
“I can’t go to bed knowing that I
let a rule slide,” she added. “It’s a
hard thing to do, and it made me
sick to be honest.”
FOOTBALL
FA set to quiz
Moyes over
slap remark
ROSS MCLEAN
@rossmcleanRMAC
SUNDERLAND boss David Moyes could
still face punishment from the Football
Association (FA) despite issuing a public
apology for suggesting he might slap a
female reporter at the end of an
interview.
The FA have written to the former
Manchester United, Real Sociedad and
Everton manager and asked him to
explain his behaviour during the
exchange, which occurred after his side’s
goalless draw with Burnley on 18 March.
In the incident, Moyes was asked
whether the presence at games of Black
Cats owner Ellis Short exerted any
additional pressure on him. He
dismissed the notion and, after the
interview finished, said: “It was getting a
wee bit naughty at the end there, you
just watch yourself.
“You still might get a slap even though
you’re a woman. Careful the next time
you come in.”
The exchange was captured on film
and emerged yesterday. The BBC
journalist in question, Vicki Sparks, is
said to have accepted his apology, but
Moyes, whose relegation-threatened
side play defending Premier League
champions Leicester tonight, may still
face FA action. He could even receive a
ban given the nature of the threatening
language used.
“There will be anger about this and I
deeply regret what I’ve done,” Moyes,
who insists he has not considered
resigning, said yesterday. “It was the
heat of the moment. The business we’re
GOLF
TROUBLIN’ IN DUBLIN Wasps’ woes
underline Aviva Stadium’s status as
bogey ground for English teams PAGE 29
in, sometimes you only have seconds to
think and answer. It was the wrong thing
to do.
“I have said that I regret it. I have
spoken to the girl, who I apologised to
and she accepted it. I rang her on
the Monday morning, she was fine and
accepted it.
“I spoke to [chief executive] Martin
[Bain] immediately after it happened. I
spoke to Ellis about it on the Monday
morning as well. They were aware of it
two weeks ago, but for some reason it
has come out now.”
It is believed that Moyes is unlikely to
lose his job over the matter, although his
actions have courted considerable
outrage, including criticism from
domestic violence charities, women’s
groups and Parliament.
Shadow sports minister Dr Rosena
Allin-Khan MP said: “If you look at the
fact that he wouldn’t have said that to a
male reporter, and I truly believe that, I
think the comments, his behaviour and
attitude were sexist.
“With the FA, part of what they have
been criticised for in the past is not
tackling sexism and other forms of
discrimination, which needs to be
stamped out across sport.
“Fundamentally it’s a male-dominated
environment that women find incredibly
difficult to break into and comments like
this do nothing to encourage women.”
Bottom of the table Sunderland have
endured a miserable season and have
won just one of their last 14 matches
across all competitions. The Wearsiders
sit eight points adrift of safety with just
nine matches of the campaign to go.
Day ready for Masters battle
after traumatic start to 2017
ROSS MCLEAN
@rossmcleanRMAC
FORMER world No1 Jason Day
insists he is ready to move on from
a traumatic start to the season and
rediscover his Major-winning form
at this week’s Masters in Augusta,
which starts on Thursday.
An emotional Day withdrew
from last month’s WGC-Dell
Technologies Match Play after just
six holes of his opening match in
order to return to his mother’s
side as she underwent surgery for
lung cancer.
“Golf was the last thing that I
was ever thinking about when this
first came about,” said the
Australian. “I’m in a much better
place now. I feel happier to be on
the golf course and I’m enjoying
myself out here a lot more than I
was the last month or two.
“My mind was so far away from
golf that I was hitting shots out
there on the golf course and I’m
like, ‘what am I doing?’. It would
be a wedge from 140 yards but I’d
be 20 yards out. I’m coming into
this week focused a lot better.”
Day, whose sole Major victory
was the PGA Championship in
2015, has recorded just one top-10
finish in five PGA Tour starts so far
this year.
ATHLETICS
Coe’s apology after Fancy Bears
hack into athletes’ medical files
FRANK DALLERES
@frankdalleres
ATHLETICS chiefs the IAAF are braced
for a leak of confidential medical
data after revealing that they have
fallen victim to a cyber attack from
hackers Fancy Bears.
The hackers made headlines last
year when they published a list of
therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs)
relating to some of sport’s biggest
names, including Sir Mo Farah and
Sir Bradley Wiggins, obtained by
illegally accessing the database of
the World Anti-Doping Agency.
IAAF president Lord Coe said TUE
files had again been compromised,
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despite the organisation’s efforts to
strengthen their cyber security, and
issued an apology to athletes.
“Our first priority is to the athletes
who have provided the IAAF with
information that they believed
would be secure and confidential,”
said Coe. “They have our sincerest
apologies and our total commitment
to continue to do everything in our
power to remedy the situation and
work with the world’s best
organisations to create as safe an
environment as we can.”
Fancy Bears is thought to be a
Russian group whose stated
motivation is to expose what it says
is hypocrisy within sport.