CADDIES ROLE:ROSS FISHER was in contention to win the Wales Open a couple of weeks ago in Celtic Manor. He was tied for the lead heading into the back nine on Sunday. There is an unwritten theory on tour that if you are within three shots of the lead standing on the 10th tee on Sunday afternoon you are in with a chance of winning.

A couple of putts at the right time in this position and suddenly you could find yourself on top of the leaderboard. This is why it is so difficult to win. Because so many talented and success-hungry players are circling the winning prize, but you can only control your own performance despite the distractions of the predators surrounding you.

It was an unusually tightly packed leaderboard, so if you were the type to be swayed by what was going on around you, there were over a dozen eye-catching and threatening distractions beeping on your radar.

To add further complication to the already tough task, the weather had deteriorated with the wind strengthening and the rain becoming more persistent which made it even more difficult to make club decisions.

Any sports psychologist will tell you the most important rule for the player to adhere to is consistency of routine. If you deviate from your standard routine it signifies a change in your thought process and opens up the possibility of negative or confusing ideas popping into a mind that is under the duress of dealing with potential victory.

So when the rain started pelting down across the Usk Valley, Ross Fisher, like the other contenders, had another variable to deal with which not only disturbed his routine but put him under pressure from the rules officials about playing his shots within the designated time restriction.

There are numerous players on tour who are notorious slow coaches. As far as I am aware, Fisher in not on that unofficial list, so I assume it was the pressure of being in contention again coupled with the awkward weather conditions that fatally slowed him down in Wales. He had slowed enough to get the rules official’s undivided attention on the back nine.

Having holed a putt on the 14th hole to keep him within one of the lead he commenced the long walk to the driveable par four 15th with enthusiasm. When he arrived on the tee he was informed by the chief referee John Paramor that he did not, in fact, have a four on the last hole but a bogey five as the referee was giving him a stroke penalty for having his second bad time of the round.

Most seasoned pros, like the multiple winner Fisher, have come up against adversity in the hunt for a title but this was an unforeseeable that Ross had never encountered before. It completely deflated him and signified the end of his challenge for the Wales Open. He finished tied sixth an hour after he thought he was in a strong position to win.

The European Tour handed out a shot penalty some 10 months ago although the competitor was not in contention to win. This is the first time in the past couple of decades that a player in contention has been penalised a shot for slow play late on a Sunday afternoon. I wonder does it finally signify a change in policy by the tour officials regarding slow play or was it just a temporary change of heart on a rain-drenched afternoon in Wales?

The same referee was audacious enough to issue a warning to Pádraig Harrington while he was having a showdown with Tiger Woods at the World Golf event in Akron in 2009. He did not, however, dock him an irretrievable shot at such a crucial stage of the event.

Such is the way with the bizarre enforcement of slow-play rules, in most cases the players who know they are slow and whom every man and his dog know are slow are also experts in dealing with officials when they know their progress is being scrutinised.

They have two speeds; their own laborious speed and an unnatural alacrity when a tour official arrives on the scene with a prominent stop-watch flapping around his chest.

The scene, which all of us on tour have witnessed each and every time we get paired with infamously slow players, is a bit like the calm that descends on an unruly classroom of children when the authoritarian teacher re-enters a chaotic, unsupervised class. So it is with slow players and rules officials with a stop-watch on tour; instant order is restored.

The irony is that it is often the quick player, not used to playing the slow-play game, who gets caught for a bad time by inadvertently hitting a bad shot while the official is observing and thus requiring more time than usual to make a decision about how to get out of trouble.

It is the most common complaint on tour that the slow players are too savvy at slipping out of the authorities’ grip and the innocents pay the price.

Ross Fisher was aware that he was maybe a little tardy on some shots because of placing being in operation and the nature of the strong wind and driving rain.

The fact he had not really been in contention for almost three years might have held him back too. But whatever about a hefty fine, he never thought he would have been docked a crucial shot. He probably felt victimised as he is not known for having an aggressive nature.

Perhaps it was just time for the Tour to make an example of a slow player under the spotlight.

Fisher responded last week in Sweden with a stoic second-place finish, obviously adopting the attitude of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.

There is no doubt the authorities need to speed up play. I am not sure that penalising a player in contention is the right way to do it.