Fifty Years Ago, James Bond Vanquished An Arch Villain On The Golf Course. But Did He Deserve To Win?
What a hot mess. The infamous scenes of a golf match between James Bond and the villain Goldfinger are roughly six minutes of cheating, bad etiquette, rules violations and glimpses of perhaps the scariest caddie in golf history. Fifty years after the movie “Goldfinger” debuted, it’s still memorable. So much so that we had a prominent rules official review the footage applying current rules. He asked to remain anonymous because “007 has a licence to kill.” Here’s what the rules official said.
With the match all square going to the 17th hole, the two agree to raise the stakes from a shilling a hole to the value of a rare gold bar that Bond possesses – worth £5,000. They also make a point of agreeing to play by “strict rules”. Bond splits the fairway with his tee shot, but Goldfinger follows by knocking his in the rough. While pretending to search for the ball, Goldfinger’s caddie, Odd Job, cheats by slipping another ball down his pant leg and then notifying Goldfinger that he found the original. James Bond tells his own caddie that he knows it’s not Goldfinger’s tee ball. Why? Bond is purposely standing on it to hide its location.
Rules official “Both should be disqualified for blatant cheating right there (Rule 33-7). Putting that aside for a second, Goldfinger would lose the hole for playing from the wrong place (Rule 20-7a), because he should have returned to the tee to replay the previous stroke and taken a one-shot penalty for the lost ball.”
After the 17th hole gets halved, 007 slyly switches Goldfinger’s Slazenger 1 to a Slazenger 7 ball he found on the previous hole and tosses it to the unknowing villain. Bond and his caddie discuss that if Goldfinger doesn’t realise the switch and tees off with the new ball, he’ll lose the hole for playing the wrong ball. Goldfinger steps to the tee box ahead of Bond and hits his drive.
Rules official “We’ll get to the ball switch in a minute. Goldfinger could have been made to recall the stroke by Bond for playing out of order in matchplay (Rule 10-1c). But Bond chose to ignore that violation.”
Goldfinger makes a 5 on the 18th and Bond needs to sink his putt or he loses the hole and the match. Bond misses. He then pulls Goldfinger’s ball out of the cup and pretends to be surprised it’s not a Slazenger 1. Bond says Goldfinger must have played the wrong ball in the fairway and therefore loses the match. Goldfinger doesn’t dispute it and leaves in disgust.
Rules official “Bond’s wrong-ball claim is incorrect. Goldfinger holed out with the same ball he teed off with, and he’s allowed to substitute balls between holes (Rule 15-2). But since he agreed with Bond’s claim, he lost. In match play, if opponents unwittingly agree on a wrong procedure or ruling, it stands. But again, they both would be DQ’d for cheating.”
An Alternate Ending – Goldfinger should have won…
Goldfinger could have outsmarted Bond if he’d known Rule 15. When Bond confronted him about playing a wrong ball, all Goldfinger had to do was challenge 007 for evidence. Obviously, Bond couldn’t prove he played a wrong ball in the fairway. And if Bond, in desperation, informed Goldfinger that he was aware that Odd Job had cheated on the 17th, Goldfinger could have countered that it’s too late to make that claim. Bond would have had to call Goldfinger on the violation before either of them teed off on the 18th. “Moot point, Mr Bond: You lose the hole and the match.”
