Padraig's Penalty Borders on Farce

I hope the farce surrounding Padraig Harrington does not stay with him for too long, especially as his so-called misdemeanour was only pointed out by a handful of Sky TV viewers who "dobbed" him in to the European Tour.

His crime? The Irishman unwittingly nudged his ball with his finger, pushing it a dimple (a dimple, for goodness sake?) closer to the hole on the 7th green in Abu Dhabi, when picking up his coin. Only slo-mo replays could show that the ball had moved forward three dimples, but only come back a dimple and a half. When Harrington is asked to study the footage he immediately calls a two-shot penalty on himself and is consequently disqualified for signing for the wrong score.

Now, I am all for the fair play that is the very core of golf. It is arguably the sport's greatest ingredient. Players know they are only cheating themselves and anyone caught, especially in professional ranks, become almost pariahs as a result. But when a player is totally unaware, has a standing, reputation and character unblemished in golf, and it needs slow motion replays to even ascertain whether the ball has moved at all, can't there be just a little leeway?

To my mind it is simple. In special circumstances such as this the answer is obvious. Harrington should have been allowed to retrospectively lose two shots and carry on in the tournament. This does not need to open up a Pandora's box. As I said, it has to be special circumstances. But is it really necessary to hit a man such as Harrington with such a penalty, and also land him with a potentially unwanted reputation?