FORT WORTH, Texas — Tim Clark considers his future in golf uncertain now that the game’s two governing bodies have outlawed the anchored putting stroke.
The next step is whether the PGA Tour will accept the decision made this week by the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The anchored ban, which had been expected, begins in 2016.
“Obviously, now I guess, our tactics have to change,” Clark told the Associated Press from the Colonial. “We had that 90-day so-called comment period, which really at the end of the day we figured was kind of bogus any way. … We obviously during that period tried to reason with the USGA and the R&A and come to some sort of a favorable decision for ourselves.
“There’s been a lot of sleepless nights,” Clark said. “A year ago, my future in the game, I could see it. I planned to play until I physically no longer could play. Now it’s a case of I’ve been told no, hang on, that might change. You’re going to change the way you putt here in a few years’ time and now my future is uncertain.”
The PGA Tour and PGA of America contended before the decision that the stroke commonly used for long putters wasn’t hurting the game and there was no statistical proof that it was an advantage. The ban would apply only to the anchored stroke, not the use of long putters.
Four of the last six major champions used the anchored putting stroke.
The PGA Tour acknowledged in a statement the USGA’s adoption of the ban and said the tour would now begin the process of determining whether “various provisions” of the rule would be implemented in competition and, if so, how. The tour said it would have discussions with the player advisory council and policy board members over the next month.
Four-time major champion Ernie Els, who won last year’s British Open with a belly putter, said from the BMW PGA Championship in England, the PGA Tour should accept the decision by golf’s ruling bodies.
“They are looking out for the best interests of the game in the long run,” Els said. “The argument forever will be they could have done it 25 or 30 years ago, so why now? They have made a decision so I think we are going to have to play ball.”