Golf: Ballesteros in time trouble

SEVERIANO Ballesteros shot a three-under-par 69, three shots behind the leader, Andrew Murray, at the BMW International Open in Munich yesterday and then complained that he had been unfairly treated.

The Spaniard's complaint was that John Paramor, the assistant tournament director, had told Ballesteros, the Australian Peter Fowler and the German Sven Struver, that they were going too slowly.

'He followed us for the last six holes and we had to rush every shot,' Ballesteros said.

Mike Stewart, the tournament director, backed Paramor, and said: 'Seve's three-ball took four hours 42 minutes to complete their round, 28 minutes longer than scheduled.

'And our procedure is always to follow a three-ball that is going slow to make sure they make up time.'

The players avoided a fine, although they did not speed up because they did not make three breaches of the time rules. All three took too long over two shots while Paramor was timing them, but none of them did it a third time.