fnufan
A rules official was there, an Australian rules official (I think). Jimenez simply went over to inquire about how the rules official came to his determination, and (within his right) questioned the validity of the drop and how he (Bradley) was granted the latitude of relief he ended up getting. He simply wanted an explanation.
At that point Bradley interjected and told Jimenez to go back over to his ball, that they had it under control. Jimenez informed Bradley that he was talking to the rules official, not him personally, and that he had a right to know.
Bradley's caddie then became part of the fray, mocking/humiliating Jimenez in broken Spanish dialect and informing him that he wasn't entitled to interfere.
Jimenez told the caddie to shut up - he was talking with the rules official.
And then at that point Bradley's caddie got all uppity, short of challenging Jimenez to an outright fight, before Bradley came in, brushed his caddie aside, and said (pointing a finger into Jimenez's face) "You do not tell my caddie to shut up! Go back over to your ball, leave us alone!"
It was an utter embarrassment. The rules official could've and should've stepped in and defused the situation, but didn't. Which, in itself, leads one to question the validity of his judgement with giving Bradley the liberal latitude of cart-path relief he did.
After watching this transpire - I couldn't care less if Keegan Bradley ever makes another cut on tour.
I understand that sometimes emotions run high in the heat of the battle, but Jimenez was well within his right to know what was happening. This was matchplay format, he wasn't necessarily protecting the field in this instance, but himself.
Keegan always struck me as an entitled snot-nosed punk who somehow realized his pinnacle of success early on with his PGA major championship win... and this did nothing to dissuade me from my impression of him. But that's my own biased viewpoint.
In any case - I couldn't possibly see any justification for Jimenez being disqualified for invoking his competitive rights, under the rules, to inquire about a rules situation involving his opponent in that situation.
I think the rules official showed such a degree of incompetence in that situation that he should've been blackballed from ever officiating another PGA Tour event. His indifference with how that situation unfolded, how he allowed it to escalate, was not befitting of a tour-qualified rules official imo.