''It was a pure reaction to Keegan and Ernie and Webb."

Strong words from belly putterer anchorer Carl Pettersson in a story by Doug Ferguson.  Pettersson talks about the reasons for the anchoring ban, the lack of outreach by Commissioner Hawaiian Shirt and Pettersson's lack of interest in calling the USGA's Mike Davis back because it's a fruitless conversation.

"'It feels a bit like a witch hunt to me,'' Pettersson said. ''It was a pure reaction to Keegan and Ernie and Webb. They keep harping on the younger generation using them, but I think they're going to ban it because it looks bad. But you have strong arguments from other players, too.''

His arguments against the ban are pretty strong, but this one loses steam when you see how many young players are putting belly-style, reinforcing the USGA/R&A case that it will become the way every elite player putts within a decade.

''There's no argument that it's a better way to putt because then everybody would be using it,'' Pettersson said. ''If it was easy, everybody on the PGA Tour would be using it. So I don't know where they got that from. It's just a different way of putting.''