Pádraig backs belly putter axe

Triple Major winner Pádraig Harrington declared it’s in best interests of younger golfers taking up the sport that golf’s ruling bodies will ban the anchoring of any club against the body.

As widely predicted, the St Andrews-based R&A and the New Jersey-based USGA announced players at both the professional and amateur level will be in breach of the Rules of Golf from January 1, 2016 if observed anchoring a club.

The rule change has been prompted by the belly putter anchoring actions of American Keegan Bradley winning last year’s PGA Championship and compatriot Webb Simpson doing the same in capturing this year’s US Open plus Ernie Els a month later winning a third British Open. The club will be illegal in just over three years.