Irish official incurs Ballesteros's wrath

Seve Ballesteros yesterday suggested that an Irish PGA rules official "is not up to the job" and "should be retired", after he had been warned for slow play in the German Masters in Berlin. Following the breach of Tour regulations, Ballesteros is now under threat of a one-stoke penalty and a fine of £500. "It's not fair and I am very angry and upset," said the Spanish player. "Ken Schofield must review the people who are out there acting as referees. Tony Gray should be doing something else. He is not up to the job. This guy should be retired."

"I told him that conditions were very difficult, that I had to twice step away from my putt at the 16th because of disturbances, and that we were not holding anybody up. I am fed up it's plain stupidity, and maybe I should now play somewhere else."

Replying to the criticisms, Gray said: "We now time players without any prior warning if they are behind schedule and out of position. I made every allowance for Seve at the 16th because of the strong wind, the crowd and the interruptions. But he was still way over the limit for that putt."

Gray, who has more than 20 years experience on the PGA European Tour, and latterly the Seniors' circuit acted after the group, which contained Ballesteros, American Tom Lehman and German Sven Struver, had fallen 30 minutes behind shedule and over one-and-a-half holes behind the group ahead.

He put the players "on the watch" at the 14th and recorded the breach of timing regulations on the 16th green by Ballesteros, who eventually holed an awkward five-foot putt for his par four. But according to Gray he had taken 55 seconds instead of the 40 permitted, and that required Ballesteros to be warned that if a further breach occurred before he finished the round, the twin penalties would automatically be enforced.

The Irish referee delivered his warning after Ballesteros had played from the 17th tee, and the Spaniard responded with his stinging rebuke after dumping his second shot into the lake at the 18th to take a double bogey and six to finish with a 74.

Tournament director David Probyn pointed out that Gray had only been following new directives, which had been insisted on by the players themselves, at their last committee meeting a fortnight ago. "Each player had been handed a "pace of play" notice on the first tee which reminded him of the tougher regulations that were brought in at the British Masters two weeks ago " he said. "We are now under direction from the players themselves to strictly enforce them, and that is what we are doing this week."

Ballesteros didn't receive any sympathy from Bernhard Langer who was playing in the match behind. The German, who shot 68 to share the lead with England's David Howell and Martin Gates, said: "Seve's group was very slow and we were held up on every shot almost the whole way round." Langer, who is aiming to overhaul Colin Montgomerie at the head of the Volvo Ranking, and win his tenth European event on German soil, suffered little reaction from his exploits at Valderrama. But it was a different story for the rest of his Ryder Cup teammates and any thoughts that Darren Clarke entertained of a lap of honour were swiftly swept away by the autumn gale, sweeping across the Motzener See course.

Clarke began his defence of the Linde German Masters title with a 73, but it was a struggle throughout, especially after the Ulsterman lost the benefit of two early birdies. "All I want to do is go to bed and sleep. I don't want to go anywhere near the practice ground," said Clarke afterwards, thankful he had not incurred the sort of trouble that Lee Westwood found in crashing to a 79.

Jose Maria Olazabal, meanwhile, shot 69, and Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn both had 71, while Per-Ulrik Johansson matched par. However American Cup men Tom Lehman and Phil Mickelson both had 73, and last year's US Open Champion Steve Jones struggled to a 74 in the blustery wind and showers. Paul McGinley was the best of the other Irish contenders, having four birdies in his 71, one better than Padraig Harrington, Eamonn Darcy and Philip Walton.

Harrington, who had two birdies in his first six holes from the 10th, put his seven-iron approach into the water at the 18th to lose the benefit. Then he slipped at the finish of the inward nine, after getting an eagle three at the downwind fifth from a drive and eight-iron to a foot. He was short with his approach to the eighth, and put his second shot into an electric buggy behind the green at the ninth. Ronan Rafferty and Raymond Burns both shot 75, while Des Smyth, who had two sixes in an inward 40, took 77.