'It's Within The Rules' - Open De France Champion Dan Bradbury Responds To Anchoring Allegations

Recent Open de France winner Dan Bradbury has refuted allegations that he anchors his putter just days after claiming a second DP World Tour victory.

The Englishman triumphed by a stroke on Sunday, carding a final round 66 to see off Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and Jeff Winther as well as compatriot Sam Bairstow and German Yannik Paul at Le Golf National.

The winning moment was completed via two careful strokes with Bradbury's broom handle-style putter - something he has used since at least the BMW PGA Championship - and it was this club which caused a mild level of controversy among some social-media users towards the end of the final-round action.

One notable piece of criticism arrived via golf writer, Matt Vincenzi who posted a close-up picture of Bradbury's putting set-up on X alongside the caption: "If this isn’t anchoring, I don’t know what is @DPWorldTour. Is it a rule, or is it not a rule?"

Anchoring the club against a player's body has long been frowned upon but was only officially banned in the 2016 update to the Rules of Golf.

Rule 10.1b - Anchoring the Club - states: “In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club either directly, by holding the club or a gripping hand against any part of the body (except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm); or indirectly, through use of an ‘anchor point’, by holding a forearm against any part of the body to use a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club.

“If the player’s club, gripping hand, or forearm merely touches their body or clothing during the stroke, without being held against the body, there is no breach of this Rule.”

And it was the latter part of the definition which Bradbury was keen to highlight when defending his technique to Josh Antmann on the Sky Sports Golf podcast this week.

Bradbury said: “The way I grip it, my thumb is at the top of the grip. You’re not allowed that to be touching your chest or any part of your body. That would be classed as anchoring.

"Obviously, as a bigger lad, I have a lot of space up there, I wear baggy shirts. It’s allowed to touch your shirt. That’s absolutely fine.

"I have mine... put it this way, I can sweep down my body and not touch my hand, so there’s at least this much there (1-2 inch gap). I know that, the rules officials know it. Everybody that I’ve played with, everyone knows it. If you’re there in person you can see it.

“But some people want to sit at home and comment on it, and that’s fine. But it’s within the rules. I get the stigma against it 100%. Fine. Say what you want to say. I had that stigma until I tried it and realised how much it's helped me. It’s within the rules, so if you have an issue, change the rule, no? It’s not my fault…"

Bradbury is far from the first golfer to be put under the microscope regarding this kind of issue, with the likes of Bernhard Langer and Adam Scott having received varying levels of criticism over their use of the longer putter since anchoring was outlawed.

Langer always vehemently denied anchoring his putter after the ban arrived, even changing his technique slightly to prove it, while it was a similar situation with Scott - who won the 2013 Masters while using a broom handle-style flat stick.

Bradbury is likely to stick with his new putter and technique when he tees it up at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande in the Andalucia Masters on the DP World Tour this week.