Golf: Carter spends a penny - and loses two shots

A trip to the toilet cost England World Cup winner David Carter a two-shot penalty on the opening day of the ANZ Championship in Sydney today.

When play was suspended because of heavy rain Carter thought he had time to go back to the clubhouse both for his call of nature and to collect a waterproof jacket he had left there at the start of the day.

But while he was there officials sounded the siren to restart play and the 29-year-old did not hear it.

John Paramor, the European tour’s chief referee, said: ‘‘He left the course and he should not have done.

‘‘Players were told to stay in position during the suspension (it lasted only 19 minutes), but we spent two minutes looking for him and at that stage he was seen coming out of the clubhouse.

‘‘The fact is that you have to be ready when it is your turn to play.’’

But Carter, who partnered Nick Faldo to World Cup victory in New Zealand four years ago, was not a happy man after finishing down near the rear of the field on minus four points in the modifield stableford event.

‘‘I thought somebody would tell me we were back on,’’ he said. ‘‘I understand rules are black and white, but we were miles ahead of the group behind and after one more hole we had to wait on the next tee.

‘‘I was shell-shocked. Nothing like this has happened to me before and I proceeded to take it out on the course rather than calm down.

‘‘I gather that on the US Tour you can be fined for going to the toilet on the course. When I saw John Paramor he said ‘this had better be good’.

‘‘I said I thought it was, but when I explained he said it wasn’t good enough and gave me the two shots.’’

Australian Tod Power was also penalised two strokes for missing his tee-off time. He was due to start at 10am, but that was just after play had been halted and he was not around when it resumed nine minutes later.

It was on the same Lakes course last year that Paramor penalised Sergio Garcia two strokes for a wrong drop. The Spaniard was leading at the time and eventually lost in a play-off.