Tag: Rules of Golf

PGA Tour amending rule on incorrect scorecards (aka the Jordan Spieth rule), effective immediately

Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The PGA Tour is amending its rule on when a scorecard is returned. Call it the Jordan Spieth rule.

As you may recall, Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth, a three-time major winner and member of the Tour’s policy board, signed for a par on the par-3 4th hole at Riviera Country Club, but he made a bogey after missing a 5-foot putt.

As he later admitted, he had to go to the bathroom and so hastily signed his card for one less than the 2-over 73 he actually shot. In the future, he will have 15 minutes to return to the scoring area after he leaves to make a correction.

Across all our tours and other major golf organizations, a player’s scorecard is considered ‘returned’ to the Committee once the player has left the defined scoring area. In an e-mail to players and also available on the player internal web site, the Tour explained to its members that it had been working with the USGA, R&A and DP World Tour to amend this definition, with a goal of minimizing penalties or disqualifications related to scorecard errors.

The Tour announced a 15-minute window “to correct an error on his scorecard, even if he has left the scoring area.”

  • If a scorecard is validated in the scoring system and the player has left the scoring area, he may return to correct an error within 15 minutes of validation.
  • If a player has left the scoring area and an error is identified before the scorecard is validated in the scoring system, he may return to correct the error within 15 minutes of the error being identified by the scoring official.
  • If a player is in the scoring area when the 15 minutes expires, his scorecard is returned when he leaves the scoring area.

“In general, all players will have the ability to correct an error within this 15-minute period which may have previously resulted in disqualification. However, exceptions may apply when constraints within the competition limit a player’s correction time to less than 15 minutes, such as releasing tee times following the cut, starting a playoff, or the close of competition.”

The rule change is going into effect immediately on all PGA Tour sanctioned circuits as well as on the DP World Tour. Count Tour pro Michael Kim as a fan of the change: “I think it is way better this way,” he wrote on the social-media platform X. “Hopefully no more scorecard DQ’s in the future.”

It’s an antiquated rule that was overdue to be revised, but did it go far enough? Tour pro Andrew Putnam would say no.

“Such a dumb rule,” he wrote on X. “In what other sport do players keep their scores? We all have walking scorers with every group and every shot is calculated to the yard. Cmonnn [sic] people.”

The most famous penalty for a scorecard error belongs to Roberto De Vicenzo, who missed out on a playoff with Bob Goalby to settle the 1968 Masters. The likelihood of another “What a stupid I am!” moment has been diminished greatly thanks to this rule amendment.

Nasa Hataoka’s controversial DQ at 2024 ShopRite LPGA could cost her a spot in the Paris Olympics

It took till the next day for Hataoka to be informed that she’d been DQ’d.

Nasa Hataoka’s gut-wrenching disqualification from the ShopRite LPGA Classic didn’t just cost her a paycheck and chance at a title. It could cost the Japanese star a spot in the Paris Olympics, too.

The ordeal began on during the first round on Friday, when Hataoka arrived at her final hole of the day, the par-5 ninth, at 6 under. After hitting her second shot into the tall fescue right of the green, at least a dozen people got involved in the search for Hataoka’s ball.

Eventually, Hataoka later noted, it was a cameraman found the ball, and she called over a rules official to go about taking an unplayable lie.

Golf Channel’s Tom Abbott, who was involved in the search, noted his concerns on air about the search having potentially taken more than three minutes, which is the maximum amount of time players can spend looking for their ball, according to Rule 18.2.

Hataoka proceeded to get up and down for par, draining a 15-footer for 65 over the Bay Course at Seaview Resort.

It wasn’t until the next day that Hataoka was informed that she’d been disqualified from the ShopRite after LPGA officials reviewed videotape footage.

The LPGA released a statement on the DQ:

During the first round of the LPGA Shoprite Classic, Nasa Hataoka played her second shot on No. 9 into the long fescue surrounding the green, her last hole of the day. After reviewing video footage provided to the LPGA following the round, it was determined that the search for Nasa’s ball lasted longer than the three minutes allowed under Rule 18.2a.  After three minutes of search, the ball is considered lost, and the player must proceed under stroke and distance (Rule 18.2b).

Hataoka’s ball was eventually found after the search time expired. The Rules require the player whose ball is lost to proceed under stroke and distance (Rule 18.2b). When Hataoka did not play from where she had previously played from, she played from the wrong place (Rule 14.7). Because where she played from could give the player a significant advantage compared to the stroke to be made from the right place, this is considered a serious breach of Rule 14.7 with a penalty of disqualification if not corrected in time. The player had until she left the scoring area to correct this mistake per Rule 14.7.

Because Hataoka’s ball was deemed lost after three minutes expired, she played her fourth shot from the wrong place (near the green). Hataoka should’ve instead gone back to where she hit her second shot.

It is unclear why a rules official monitoring the broadcast in real-time didn’t step in.

Jenny Shin, who led after the second round, took to twitter to weigh in on the situation:

Hataoka is not in the field for next week’s Meijer LPGA Classic, which means she has only the KPMG Women’s PGA to solidify her spot on Japan’s Olympic team.

With U.S. Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso moving up to No. 6 in the world after her victory at Lancaster Country Club, Hataoka, No. 19, currently holds Japan’s second spot. Ayaka Furue, however, is hot on her heels at No. 22. Furue is currently in a share of second at the ShopRite and in prime position to pass her compatriot.

Miyu Yamashit is No. 25.

Brooks Koepka had a rules discussion at LIV Golf Houston 2024 — with Patrick Reed

There was an interesting exchange after the five-time major champ dunked one in the water.

It was a rough opening day of the LIV Golf Houston event for Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC, which fell 11 strokes off the lead after the first day of play at the Golf Club of Houston, but there was an interesting exchange after the five-time major champ dunked one in the water on the par-5 fourth hole.

Koepka wasn’t sure where the ball had crossed and gone into the water, so he needed to confer with a playing partner, who happened to be Patrick Reed.

Of course, Reed has been no stranger to rules incidents. He was the center of attention for one at the Farmers Insurance Open, which followed a two-stroke penalty at the 2019 Hero World Challenge.

And at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Reed got into a disagreement with an official over not being allowed a free drop, which led to a bit of a contentious situation. At one point, Reed blurted out, “I guess my name needs to be Jordan Spieth, guys.”

On Friday, however, Koepka and Reed finally agreed on a spot for the Florida State product to drop and after the ball rolled back into the hazard twice, he finally placed it on the edge of the bank.

Koepka made bogey and finished the opening round at 2 under, five strokes behind leaders Calen Surratt, Martin Kaymer and Adrian Meronk.

The second round begins on Saturday at 1:15 p.m.

Why are pros using laser rangefinders, GPS at the 2024 PGA Championship?

A reminder, this is the only major that allows the devices.

The PGA of America announced back in 2021 that it would allow the use of distance-measuring devices in its three professional major championships – PGA Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – starting that year.

The devices made their first appearance at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in South Carolina.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our Championships,” said Jim Richerson, then the president of the PGA of America. “The use of distance-measuring devices is already common within the game and is now a part of the Rules of Golf. Players and caddies have long used them during practice rounds to gather relevant yardages.”

The PGA of America became the first major body to allow the devices in all its premier professional events. There had been speculation for years that such devices might help speed play, as players and caddies don’t have to walk off yardages to sprinkler heads and other fixed positions.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: How to watch | Tournament hub | Friday tee times

The United States Golf Association’s Rules of Golf have allowed the use of laser rangefinders and GPS devices in casual play and tournaments since 2006, but a local rule allowed a tournament committee to ban such devices. At elite professional levels of play, the devices still have not been embraced for competition rounds, though they have been allowed in the U.S. Amateur since 2014. They are still not allowed during competition rounds at PGA Tour events or at the U.S. Open and British Opens.

In keeping with Rule 4.3a (1), the devices allowed can report only on distance and direction. Devices that calculate elevation changes or wind speeds, or that suggest a club for a player as well as other data, will not be allowed.

2024 PGA Championship
Wyndham Clark checks the distance to the 11th hole during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Clare Grant/Louisville Courier Journal)

The devices aren’t new for the pros, many of whom already use laser rangefinders and GPS in practice rounds.

Many laser rangefinders provide information on elevation changes and “plays-like” distances. Most of those devices come with a switch to turn off such information, but many elite players opt for devices that do not provide elevation and other data as a precaution against forgetting to turn off those functions.

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Jordan Spieth explains his crazy gutterball shot at the Valero Texas Open. Would he do it again?

How insane was the line Spieth took during Saturday’s third round in San Antonio?

How insane was the line Jordan Spieth took during the final hole of Saturday’s third round at the Valero Texas Open?

It was still the talk of the tournament nearly 24 hours later, at least until Denny McCarthy rallied to force a playoff with Akshay Bhatia.

After pulling his drive left through the fairway on the 618-yard par 5, Spieth’s second shot ended up near a drainage ditch in an area. It appeared like he’d punch the ball back into the fairway, but then turned the opposite way and launched a wedge that found a gutter atop the TPC San Antonio clubhouse. The move had social media buzzing.

Spieth wound up making double-bogey after three-putting and he said Sunday that he regretted his decision-making process.

2024 Valero Texas Open
Jordan Spieth plays a ball on the 18th hole during the third round of the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio on April 6, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)

“I should have just hit it left-handed out into the fairway. I thought I could get it — I asked the rules official, he told me there’s no out-of-bounds and that if you could get it up here and you know where it is, then you drop it by the scoreboard, which is better than if I were to hit it lefty up towards the fairway,” Spieth explained. “So I tried. It didn’t come out very good and sure enough I was left with the same kind of situation on the next shot and then I did it. If I didn’t three-putt, I maybe felt like I would have saved a shot, but ultimately I could have just re-teed and made a better score.

“It looks weird. I actually played a really, really solid tee-to-green golf course this week and of course highlighted by a weird hole yesterday that makes it look all crazy. But I was just asking questions and to be honest, if it was out of play here, I probably would have made a better score playing the normal route out. I thought I could finagle a stroke, saving a stroke out of it and it didn’t quite do so.”

Spieth said he did not intend to hit the ball on top of the clubhouse, but merely was trying to advance it far enough for a good drop.

“I just needed to get it far enough up to where I would be close enough to the pin to where my drop would be past the hazard,” Spieth said. “So I had to get it far, but you still had to know where the ball was.”

The former University of Texas star rounded out the week with a 69, putting him into a tie for 10th place on the week at 6 under. He also finished the day with a birdie on 18, avoiding any gutters along the way.

“I had come off two missed cuts so I wanted to kind of find out really where I’m at and really feel like I made progress. I felt like my game’s actually been in a better place than other years and it just hasn’t shown for it in the last six, eight weeks. But I wasn’t exactly sure,” Spieth said. “So I think it proved it this week. A couple mistakes. I played the par 5s over par, which is one of my best stats of the year, and I lost like three around the greens, which is also a strength of mine. So it was a very weird. So if I just do those things normal, I’ve got a chance to win. And there’s always ifs, ands and buts.

“I feel like I came into the week unsure if I was confident in being able to win next week and I think I come out of it saying I’ve got a couple things I’ve got to work on, but overall I think I’m in a good place to be able to have a chance. Mission accomplished in that sense, but I do wish that I didn’t kind of give away a few that I gave away this week.”

Right call or outdated rule? Social media reacts to Jordan Spieth’s DQ at 2024 Genesis Invitational

Does the rule need to be changed?

Friday was a wild day at the 2024 Genesis Invitational.

First, there was tournament host Tiger Woods withdrawing from the tournament at Riviera Country Club because of an illness, even a scare with an ambulance waiting to possibly take him away. Then after the round was completed, one of the stars of the PGA Tour was disqualified.

Jordan Spieth was DQ’d after signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth signed for a 3 after making a 4 on the 245-yard, par-3 fourth hole. He hit his tee shot into the left rough, chipped to within four feet and then missed the par putt.

Spieth owned up to his mistake, posting on his social media accounts about the ordeal.

The announcement came late Friday night, with Spieth in the third-to-final group of the day, and it sent social media into a frenzy discussing the rule and how it happened in the first place.

However, that didn’t stop the shortage of people discussing whether the rule needed to be changed or if it was the right call. Here are some of the best reactions to Spieth’s DQ:

Carl Yuan loses ball near hospitality tent, gets questionable free drop after PGA Tour official’s ruling

Yuan’s lost a ball after a wayward shot on the 18th hole which led to a controversial ruling on Sunday.

Carl Yuan was bailed out with a wild ruling on Sunday in the final round of the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.

On the 18th hole, a 550-yard par 5, Yuan was in a five-way tie for the lead at 16 under and found a fairway bunker off the tee. His second shot was wayward to the right and was bound for a hospitality tent down the right side of the fairway. Yuan’s ball wasn’t found, but a PGA Tour rules official granted the 26-year-old a free drop in the short grass two club lengths from the hospitality stand, which was ruled as a Temporary Immovable Obstruction (TIO). Yuan was unable to take advantage of the break and made par to take the clubhouse lead at 16 under.

Shortly after the incident, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported on the broadcast that a rules official said there was “virtual certainty” from video evidence and fans in the stand that the ball was lost in the tent.

According to the USGA and R&A, if a player’s ball is not found but is known or virtually certain to have come to rest in a TIO, “the player may take relief by using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the TIO on the course as the spot of the ball for purposes of finding the nearest point of complete relief.”

The video shows a white ball flying near the white tent before it disappears. The question is, if the ball wasn’t found, how could the rules officials or fans know with any certainty it was lost in the tent? Hospitality tents aren’t exactly quiet, so if fans heard the ball hit the tent, how do they know it didn’t ricochet out of play since it was never found?

The ruling was an odd one, and while it didn’t wind up impacting the winner of the tournament, the Tour may have some explaining to do.

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PGA Tour pros sound off on potential golf ball rollback

Some PGA Tour pros are calling it “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.”

NASSAU, Bahamas – The USGA and R&A haven’t even officially released a rule change that would universally roll back golf ball distances and already some PGA Tour pros are calling it “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.”

The governing bodies are expected to make an announcement early next week after a three-year “Notice and Comment” period with equipment makers and other golf organizations. After initially suggesting that it would be added as a local model rule geared to elite players, the USGA and R&A reportedly have changed directions and intend to roll back the ball for everyone, including the weekend warrior.

Collin Morikawa hit with 2-stroke penalty for ‘unwittingly’ violating Model Local Rule at 2023 Hero World Challenge

Morikawa’s third-round score at the fourth hole was changed to a triple-bogey 7.

NASSAU, Bahamas – Collin Morikawa was assessed a two-shot penalty for violating local model rule G-11, which restricts the use of green-reading material, on the fourth hole of the third round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge.

The rules committee was alerted to a potential rule violation late Saturday night after a question was posed by a player in the field. When asked if it was Morikawa’s playing partner during the third round, Matt Fitzpatrick, who brought the potential rule violation into question, chief referee Stephen Cox of the PGA Tour confirmed that was the case.

The local model rule was added in 2022 to protect the fundamental skill of reading greens. It’s not the first time a Tour pro has violated the rule.

Cox met with JJ Jakovac, Morikawa’s caddie, about two hours before their 12:03 p.m. final-round tee time. After reviewing his yardage book, it became clear that Jakovac had created a putting chart, which isn’t a violation of the rules in itself, but the manner of obtaining the information is key to the ruling. Jakovac used a level on the practice putting green and wrote a note directly into his yardage book and used it for assessing the read on the fourth hole during Saturday’s third round.

“Fortunately, that was the only time that a player or caddie used that chart or formula and on that basis the breach remained two strokes,” Cox said.

“This is a very complicated issue,” Cox added. “We were very specific in the fact that these handwritten notes needed to be obtained through traditional methods to protect the fundamental skill of reading greens through our sport and that’s the foundation of why we put the model local rule in place. In this situation, again, unwittingly, the player used a level to determine degrees of slope on the practice putting green, which in itself, isolated, is not a breach, but what that player did was formulated a chart and transferred that into his book.”

Had Jakovac devised a chart using his feet and estimated the slope or simply retained the information obtained from the measuring devise to memory rather than as a handwritten note, there would have been no penalty.

Morikawa was informed of the penalty on the range about 10-15 minutes before his tee time by Cox. When asked to describe Morikawa’s response, Cox said, “It went very similar to any other conversation that results in a penalty. He was very frustrated. It’s a very complicated rule.”

As a result, Morikawa’s third-round score at the fourth hole was changed to a triple-bogey 7, giving him an even-par 72.

“They understood the rule was broken but anytime the rules penalize a player there is inevitable pushback and frustration and that was shared by both player and caddie, which is human nature,” Cox told NBC Sports.

“At the end of the day we made the mistake and it’s on us. Thankfully it only happened that one time,” Morikawa said after his round Sunday.

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Rory McIlroy explains why he doesn’t understand the ‘anger about the golf ball roll back’

“It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability.”

Rory McIlroy is taking some time off after a busy 2023, but a brief break from competition doesn’t mean the world No. 2 is completely checked out from the game.

On Sunday morning McIlroy took to social media to voice his opinion about the recent report that the USGA and R&A plan to announce a universal golf ball rollback next week.

“I don’t understand the anger about the golf ball roll back. It will make no difference whatsoever to the average golfer and puts golf back on a path of sustainability,” McIlroy wrote. “It will also help bring back certain skills in the pro game that have been eradicated over the past 2 decades.”

The four-time major champion stood up for the two governing bodies and told fans their anger should be directed at elite professionals as well as the equipment manufacturers “because they didn’t want bifurcation.”

“The governing bodies presented us with that option earlier this year. Elite pros and ball manufacturers think bifurcation would negatively affect their bottom lines, when in reality, the game is already bifurcated,” he argued. “You think we play the same stuff you do? They put pressure on the governing bodies to roll it back to a lesser degree for everyone. Bifurcation was the logical answer for everyone, but yet again in this game, money talks.”

McIlroy has been on the frontlines for the PGA Tour in its battle against LIV Golf for the better half of the last two years and has been an active voice in the game for most of his career. The 34-year-old recently resigned from his position as a player director on the Tour’s Policy Board.

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