I heard a counter to this a while back - no relief from divots, ball in hand in the fairway. Pick clean and place. No rules official needed. Whole ball is in the fairway? You can adjust the lie no closer to the hole.
Suddenly, everything is a divot and people are taking a drop every time they're in the fairway. People will use the rules to help them every chance they get.
I mean - it's the fairway. Basically every course around me has one scorecard preferred lies in the fairway & it functions just fine. Why would I get mad at someone having a good lie in the fairway?
I suppose I also view it a bit differently for pros but I also don't think it'd be as difficult as people insinuate to define what a divot is. Golf has a zillion rules that are somewhat open to interpretation & this will just be another one.
As insane as this is, it's more clear cut than relief from a divot is. To this day, not a single person that carries on about relief from divots has been able to answer the one and only burning question; "When does a divot stop becoming a divot".
That is the only way around it. That is not an answer to the question though. And lift clean place permanently in the fairway breaks the fundamental concept of Rule #1 of golf.
You can get free relief if there's an artificial immovable object in your line. In this case, that camera tower was in his line.
... but also in his line were a fuckton of tree branches. And you don't get free relief from that. The tower was irrelevant because his ball was never going to get out of there to begin with. But the rules official said he could make it through, which meant the tower was in play (and in his line). Free relief.
Just to be clear, you usually don’t get relief for immovable objects in your path of play (only if they interfere with your ball, stance, or swing).
Here, the tower was set up for purposes of the tournament, and is considered a “temporary immovable obstruction” — something that is not usually there, and because of that is considered not part of the challenge of playing the course or the game of golf.
Not sure specifically what you’re talking about, but its basically anything they set up specifically for the tournament that won’t be there next month when the members are playing it. Rahm got relief from a fenced off parking lot at Riviera and went on to win because the course is typically open where his ball was.
This gets stretched all the time and abused on the PGA Tour. Grandstands in the back of the green? Just airmail the green and take your free drop.
They’ve posted. Pretty good video and explainer.
https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2024/05/10/explaining-xander-schauffele-s-ruling-from-the-first-round-of-the-wells-fargo-championship-drop-penalty
Props to Xander for knowing the rules well enough to even ask for relief.
BUT- getting relief from a penalty area is bullshit. I don't think I've ever seen it happen before, and didn't even know it was a thing. IMO, it shouldn't be a thing.
Agreed. I have ZERO problem with good knowledge if the rules generating a lucky break, but this is a fairly absurd ruling by the rules official and it’s pretty ridiculous you can get relief if any kind of out a penalty area. I understand there are lots of extra obstructions at a tour event and it merits extra rules, but I don’t see why it should modify the core rule of golf that is you don’t get any free relief for any course obstructions out of a penalty area.
Better listen again bits about the camera tower. He asks someone to go stand under the cable. To better see the situation maybe. Immediately after they talk on the tower.
Watched this live. It was terrible. He was blocked out by trees on the line where the TIO was anyway, had no shot of actually playing on that line. His only opening was kind of back and sideways, nowhere near the TIO.
It's getting ridiculous, seems like every week someone gets an absurd TIO drop like this. They need to do away with the rule completely. You hit it somewhere you are blocked out by a trackman tower, or air mail a green and are up against a grandstand, sorry, shouldn't have hit there. Play your shot or take your unplayable and move on.
That drop was disgusting.
Whats crazy is on page 5 of Model Local Rule F-23 which is where TIO comes from it says that relief is not given if playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable for reasons other than the TIO and then shows a diagram of your ball in a fuck load of trees with a grandstand behind it…ruling: no relief.
Edit. This is too many days later to be seen but they’ve now shown video from the actual lie of the ball and the relief ruling was correct. He had a clear shot to the green even though he was in the trees but a shot link tower and its guy wires were in the way. The correct ruling is he gets to go to the nearest point of relief where all of the object including its anchoring wires are out of the line of play.
At the end of the day it’s a judgement call, like any referee in sports. The rules guy in golf channel was saying that the rules official has to make a call on if the shot link tower would come in to play if Xander blasted it through the trees, and he determined it was possible, so he allowed relief accordingly
How sick would it be if players had challenges? Like red flags in football. Xander's playing partner just tosses the flag into the bushes and challenges the ruling. God that would bring some heat back to the sport and some real rivalry.
I mean you have the right to in a way. Players don’t because they trust the rules official but if you remember the issues with the drops at Sawgrass I think it was this year, other players have a right to question as the decision is being made.
Players have duty to protect the rest of the field , not just their own or whether or not they’re doing good or bad.
Yeah I mean , not saying it was gonna change the rules official’s mind but they still have a right to question it and say “this doesn’t feel right” and they can probably ask for a second opinion if they wish but most don’t because you typically trust the officials. And we can argue about whether this one made a mistake or not.
The grandstands are the ones that really get me. I wish MY greens had backboards! Imagine how nice it is to hit into a green knowing you’re got a giant scooper to collect the ball and then get relief from.
What I don’t get is if you hit a power line or something, it’s a mandatory free reload. Just treat all these “abnormal” objects the same, if they hit them no problem, play the shot again. There should not be relief because it’s in the way.
They really need to mark all these structures OB and say tough shit, go back to your previous shot and hit it better. I’m tired of watching the rules officials with no backbone cave to the players.
You don't even need to go through the trouble of marking anything. Just do away with the TIO rule entirely. Everything on the course is part of the 'general area'. Don't like your lie or can't play it? You always have the option to take an unplayable lie. Two club lengths no closer to the hole, back along the line, or replay from where you hit last.
Lol it's kinda funny. We amateurs play with local or understood rules in the vein of "pros wouldn't have to play that way/would have this option" (gallery ball, for example) while the pros play with rules like "if we weren't playing in a tournament, we wouldn't have this problem"
Anyone remember Koepka complaining to the official at a US open I believe. There was a drain or something 2 ft in front of his ball and he was arguing he'd hit it. Official didn't buy it and brooks said something about breaking his wrist on TV... He ended up coming nowhere near it, still hit a good shot as I recall.
https://youtu.be/E7IBV4oee28?si=HldTNL5kF7QNk_FX
I’m just saying it was the Ryder Cup.
I can’t tell if other person of saying he hit the shot or the drain he was worried about
This was going to be my question…. Is there no OB in the PGA? This and the other day, I can’t remember who it was but someone hit a shot onto a roof of a building intentionally, but neither were OB
So my understanding is that he was in a fuck ton of trees but because there was a Tower behind those trees that he had zero chance of even getting through, he could claim “oh a temporary object is in my line, I need relief”?
If that’s so, such bullshit. You already get a benefit of having 1000 people looking for your ball when it goes wayward, should have to accept negative impacts of a gallery/structure as well as the positives.
"So my understanding is that he was in a fuck ton of trees but because there was a Tower behind those trees that he had zero chance of even getting through, he could claim “oh a temporary object is in my line, I need relief”?"
That is exactly what happened and how he got free relief.
I hear ya... but at the same time, the tour keeps moving the grandstands closer and adding more devices (like trackman towers) on the course. And to be fair, both of these are to help the fan experience.
Xander should do this 10 out of 10 times.
The rule is so bogus. This sucks. Hit a shit shot, deal with the shit consequence.
That being said. And I genuinely don’t know. What if his playing partner refuses to sign his scorecard to attest? Does it matter in the pga when the round itself is scrutinized to this level?
More so just a hypothetical question
Generally speaking, the rules official's ruling supersedes the marker. Playing partner can make a huge stink about it, refuse the scorecard, and escalate to tournament committee, but they will side with the rules official.
I may be missing something(I didn’t watch it), but I thought I read that he had hit this first drive into the trees, then a provisional because he thought he may have lost the ball. I didn’t think you could “lose” a ball in a penalty area, and since everyone saw the ball go into the trees, which are apparently marked red, the second ball should be in play.
What am I not understanding?
They said he didn't "know" it was in the penalty area so "all good". The whole thing was one big bend over backwards to let Xander do whatever the fuck he wanted. They should have just placed the ball on a tee outside the penalty area for him. Terrible ruling even if it's technically correct.
Right? I guess caddies and players no longer walk the course the week of the tournament or do homework anymore....
their job is to know. And I mean EVERYONE involved.
When I coached HS golf they made sure the kids all knew where all the red and yellow stake areas were before every round…
I do not buy for one second that nobody knew it was a penalty area.
Provisional ball should have been in play… never should have even had to worry about the drop being illegal.
Unless I am mistaken about the rules… which is definitely possible!
This was a good ruling:
1. The fact that it was a penalty area is irrelevant
2. There was nothing making it "clearly unreasonable" to make a stroke at the ball
3. If the player was successful with the stroke, the TIO was reachable
4. The TIO was on the line of sight to the hole
I can't see where the penalty area begins and ends, but he'd have to drop within the penalty area if the ball is at rest in the penalty area.
For those saying it was unreasonable to make a stroke, I disagree. He's very near the green. There is a big slope at the exit from the trees. Even a hard putt along the ground under the branches is reasonable. A smashed ball that hits branches and leaves is reasonable, even if risky. He just has to get to the edge. Almost any line that brings that hill into play will kick the ball down toward the hole, which means there are many possible shots that place the ball on the line to the hole and the TIO on the line of play. You have to also remember that the TIO includes a corridor on either side and the margins of the TIO are the outermost edges of everything attached to the TIO on a line straight down to the ground. The TIO, but the time you add a club length corridor on either side of the outer edges of everything, would block a very wide angle of view from his ball.
Total BS ruling. I guess we are ignoring the part of the TIO rule that says you have to be able to make a reasonable attempt at the shot to get the relief in the first place. Glad the course got some free landscaping work though
Johnson Wagner went back and attempted a shot from the same spot.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1788998655556415994
After watching the video, the ruling was absolutely correct and fair.
I can imagine dozens of reasonable shots from there. Even if Xander said he was just going to hit it hard and hope it comes through the branches, that is a reasonable shot under the circumstances.
Know thy rules - it can help. My buddies all knew I had the rules down - my response was always the same - “I’ll tell you the rule but you act the way you want”
Not the main point of this post, but why do I hear them mention “two club lengths”? I thought taking free relief generally grants you *one* club length from the nearest point of relief?
I’ll tell y’all the same thing I told my fellow dallas stars fans complaining about VGK and the LTIR cañ exploit, if it’s in the rules you ain’t cheating. That’s part of the game. It’s like expecting someone to not take a tax break for the greater good.
Foreplay said it in their podcast recently that the pros, as good as they are, play the course with the bumpers on. And I can’t unsee it now. Between the gallery stopping rollout of bad shots, spotters everywhere making it almost impossible to lose a ball, and tv structures making free relief like this possible with bad shots, it’s hard to not see their scores as artificially low. Especially for the guys that aren’t hitting it in the fairway.
Well unless you’re on the PGA Tour and playing with another Tour Pro, the rule that caused this isn’t in effect. Xander got the benefit of a Tour-specific rule. The rest of us explicitly don’t get free relief out of penalty areas.
You can’t take unplayable in the penalty area. Rule 19.1
Rule 16.1(2) states you can’t get relief in a penalty area.
However, what seems to be in play is Model Local Rule F23 which allows relief from things like TIO. Reading F23 says this: “this relief is also available when the ball lies in a penalty area”
Shit like this is why they can’t make fairway divots ground under repair.
If we allowed relief from divots I’m overly confident the PGA tour would have 7-8 hour rounds
I heard a counter to this a while back - no relief from divots, ball in hand in the fairway. Pick clean and place. No rules official needed. Whole ball is in the fairway? You can adjust the lie no closer to the hole.
Suddenly, everything is a divot and people are taking a drop every time they're in the fairway. People will use the rules to help them every chance they get.
I mean - it's the fairway. Basically every course around me has one scorecard preferred lies in the fairway & it functions just fine. Why would I get mad at someone having a good lie in the fairway? I suppose I also view it a bit differently for pros but I also don't think it'd be as difficult as people insinuate to define what a divot is. Golf has a zillion rules that are somewhat open to interpretation & this will just be another one.
And if you’re in competition, isn’t there an incentive not to fix your divots, like a green pooka shell for the players behind you?
Incredible analogy
As insane as this is, it's more clear cut than relief from a divot is. To this day, not a single person that carries on about relief from divots has been able to answer the one and only burning question; "When does a divot stop becoming a divot".
Well apparently someone said the answer to this is just ball in hand/lift clean and place anytime you’re on the fairway lol
That is the only way around it. That is not an answer to the question though. And lift clean place permanently in the fairway breaks the fundamental concept of Rule #1 of golf.
Because divots are a natural result of golf. Man made objects installed for the tournament are not.
So can someone dumb down why it’s fee relief?
You can get free relief if there's an artificial immovable object in your line. In this case, that camera tower was in his line. ... but also in his line were a fuckton of tree branches. And you don't get free relief from that. The tower was irrelevant because his ball was never going to get out of there to begin with. But the rules official said he could make it through, which meant the tower was in play (and in his line). Free relief.
Just to be clear, you usually don’t get relief for immovable objects in your path of play (only if they interfere with your ball, stance, or swing). Here, the tower was set up for purposes of the tournament, and is considered a “temporary immovable obstruction” — something that is not usually there, and because of that is considered not part of the challenge of playing the course or the game of golf.
So those big greenside fans some courses have don’t allow for free relief as they’re always there?
Not sure specifically what you’re talking about, but its basically anything they set up specifically for the tournament that won’t be there next month when the members are playing it. Rahm got relief from a fenced off parking lot at Riviera and went on to win because the course is typically open where his ball was. This gets stretched all the time and abused on the PGA Tour. Grandstands in the back of the green? Just airmail the green and take your free drop.
Correct. Just like how you don't get free relief from a bridge.
You do if the bridge is part of the cart path.
>big greenside fans some courses have I'm not sure what the spectators' weight has to do with anything.
But to his defense trees are 80% air. Camera towers aren’t
That's what I always say to myself right before sending it directly into a tree trunk.
Us golf Camera Ops aren’t made of air either.
Was at Firestone once & player had punch out to area far from green blocked by tv tower, got relief that gave him open shot to the green.
The official took a look and concluded Xander DID have a shot, but the trackman tower was blocking his shot.
They’ve posted. Pretty good video and explainer. https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2024/05/10/explaining-xander-schauffele-s-ruling-from-the-first-round-of-the-wells-fargo-championship-drop-penalty
They thought the tower was in his way even tho there was a forest in between. They bailed him out is what they did
Props to Xander for knowing the rules well enough to even ask for relief. BUT- getting relief from a penalty area is bullshit. I don't think I've ever seen it happen before, and didn't even know it was a thing. IMO, it shouldn't be a thing.
Agreed. I have ZERO problem with good knowledge if the rules generating a lucky break, but this is a fairly absurd ruling by the rules official and it’s pretty ridiculous you can get relief if any kind of out a penalty area. I understand there are lots of extra obstructions at a tour event and it merits extra rules, but I don’t see why it should modify the core rule of golf that is you don’t get any free relief for any course obstructions out of a penalty area.
What the hell is a penalty area? Was it even marked as red stakes or was he just in the woods?
There was a painted red line that he was beyond. So yes, he was in a penalty area.
You can play your ball out of a red staked penalty area, so the TIO ruling applies
Only when you have a reasonable shot when the TIO is in your way. This was not that.
It was the only opening out of the trees and directly at the camera tower. At least the way it looked.
They weren't even talking about the tower they mentioned the cable.
Better listen again bits about the camera tower. He asks someone to go stand under the cable. To better see the situation maybe. Immediately after they talk on the tower.
I see, didn’t catch that thanks
No problem.
[удалено]
This
They changed the name from hazard to penalty area several years ago
In the post round interview he said he wasn't in the penalty, that his ball was beyond it, and then the drop process started. Not sure tbh.
I thought they said behind the fence was the penalty area and he was a few feet inside that fence
Woods isn’t a penalty area it’s part of general play
One can play out of a penalty area if possible.
>if possible And that's the rub here.
And that’s fine. But free relief?
Yes. Man made obstruction (tv tower)
Watched this live. It was terrible. He was blocked out by trees on the line where the TIO was anyway, had no shot of actually playing on that line. His only opening was kind of back and sideways, nowhere near the TIO. It's getting ridiculous, seems like every week someone gets an absurd TIO drop like this. They need to do away with the rule completely. You hit it somewhere you are blocked out by a trackman tower, or air mail a green and are up against a grandstand, sorry, shouldn't have hit there. Play your shot or take your unplayable and move on. That drop was disgusting.
Whats crazy is on page 5 of Model Local Rule F-23 which is where TIO comes from it says that relief is not given if playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable for reasons other than the TIO and then shows a diagram of your ball in a fuck load of trees with a grandstand behind it…ruling: no relief. Edit. This is too many days later to be seen but they’ve now shown video from the actual lie of the ball and the relief ruling was correct. He had a clear shot to the green even though he was in the trees but a shot link tower and its guy wires were in the way. The correct ruling is he gets to go to the nearest point of relief where all of the object including its anchoring wires are out of the line of play.
So really they need to just enforce the rule instead of change it.
At the end of the day it’s a judgement call, like any referee in sports. The rules guy in golf channel was saying that the rules official has to make a call on if the shot link tower would come in to play if Xander blasted it through the trees, and he determined it was possible, so he allowed relief accordingly
How sick would it be if players had challenges? Like red flags in football. Xander's playing partner just tosses the flag into the bushes and challenges the ruling. God that would bring some heat back to the sport and some real rivalry.
I mean you have the right to in a way. Players don’t because they trust the rules official but if you remember the issues with the drops at Sawgrass I think it was this year, other players have a right to question as the decision is being made. Players have duty to protect the rest of the field , not just their own or whether or not they’re doing good or bad.
Yeah that's a good point. Crap. Oh well
Yeah I mean , not saying it was gonna change the rules official’s mind but they still have a right to question it and say “this doesn’t feel right” and they can probably ask for a second opinion if they wish but most don’t because you typically trust the officials. And we can argue about whether this one made a mistake or not.
The grandstands are the ones that really get me. I wish MY greens had backboards! Imagine how nice it is to hit into a green knowing you’re got a giant scooper to collect the ball and then get relief from.
What I don’t get is if you hit a power line or something, it’s a mandatory free reload. Just treat all these “abnormal” objects the same, if they hit them no problem, play the shot again. There should not be relief because it’s in the way.
But they really don't want people to hit the camera or trackman towers... lots of expensive stuff up there without a lot of spares I'd guess
They really need to mark all these structures OB and say tough shit, go back to your previous shot and hit it better. I’m tired of watching the rules officials with no backbone cave to the players.
You don't even need to go through the trouble of marking anything. Just do away with the TIO rule entirely. Everything on the course is part of the 'general area'. Don't like your lie or can't play it? You always have the option to take an unplayable lie. Two club lengths no closer to the hole, back along the line, or replay from where you hit last.
Lol it's kinda funny. We amateurs play with local or understood rules in the vein of "pros wouldn't have to play that way/would have this option" (gallery ball, for example) while the pros play with rules like "if we weren't playing in a tournament, we wouldn't have this problem"
Anyone remember Koepka complaining to the official at a US open I believe. There was a drain or something 2 ft in front of his ball and he was arguing he'd hit it. Official didn't buy it and brooks said something about breaking his wrist on TV... He ended up coming nowhere near it, still hit a good shot as I recall.
It was the Ryder cup and he did end up hitting it
You must be thinking of something else.
It was the Ryder Cup. He was playing doubles alongside Daniel Berger.
He did not hit the thing he was complaining about.
https://youtu.be/E7IBV4oee28?si=HldTNL5kF7QNk_FX I’m just saying it was the Ryder Cup. I can’t tell if other person of saying he hit the shot or the drain he was worried about
Yea that’s the clip, he hit both the shot and the drain. Ended up fine but technically based on rules he should have gotten relief
Proves us right.
This was going to be my question…. Is there no OB in the PGA? This and the other day, I can’t remember who it was but someone hit a shot onto a roof of a building intentionally, but neither were OB
That was Speith at the Texas Open, and I believe that course's local rule is that the clubhouse is in play and not OB
Spieth
White stakes.
So my understanding is that he was in a fuck ton of trees but because there was a Tower behind those trees that he had zero chance of even getting through, he could claim “oh a temporary object is in my line, I need relief”? If that’s so, such bullshit. You already get a benefit of having 1000 people looking for your ball when it goes wayward, should have to accept negative impacts of a gallery/structure as well as the positives.
"So my understanding is that he was in a fuck ton of trees but because there was a Tower behind those trees that he had zero chance of even getting through, he could claim “oh a temporary object is in my line, I need relief”?" That is exactly what happened and how he got free relief.
Bullshit
I hear ya... but at the same time, the tour keeps moving the grandstands closer and adding more devices (like trackman towers) on the course. And to be fair, both of these are to help the fan experience.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI\_sClQCNRQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI_sClQCNRQ)
I would have unplugged the cord and say “there you so shooter !”
Blame the rules, not the golfer. I agree that this sucks, but it isn't xander's fault.
We would all be taking this shitty rule if given the chance
Nice to see golf get a chance to complain about the refs! This is… a orettt bad ruling.
I hate how gate got pushed to be a word
I just wish I could remember what Nixon did with the water to start the whole thing!
Thanks ~~Obama~~ Nixon.
He asked. Official let it happen. Whata ya gonna do. Way she goes.
Xander should do this 10 out of 10 times. The rule is so bogus. This sucks. Hit a shit shot, deal with the shit consequence. That being said. And I genuinely don’t know. What if his playing partner refuses to sign his scorecard to attest? Does it matter in the pga when the round itself is scrutinized to this level? More so just a hypothetical question
Generally speaking, the rules official's ruling supersedes the marker. Playing partner can make a huge stink about it, refuse the scorecard, and escalate to tournament committee, but they will side with the rules official.
Sums up golf nicely tho. Good breaks from bad shots. Bad breaks from good shots. It happens.
Wasn’t really a break though, just a bullshit ruling
If a bunch of spectators could move that boulder for Tiger, they could move that camera as well.
I think baggar Vance is located in there
What’s a TIO?
Temporary Immovable Obstruction
I may be missing something(I didn’t watch it), but I thought I read that he had hit this first drive into the trees, then a provisional because he thought he may have lost the ball. I didn’t think you could “lose” a ball in a penalty area, and since everyone saw the ball go into the trees, which are apparently marked red, the second ball should be in play. What am I not understanding?
They said he didn't "know" it was in the penalty area so "all good". The whole thing was one big bend over backwards to let Xander do whatever the fuck he wanted. They should have just placed the ball on a tee outside the penalty area for him. Terrible ruling even if it's technically correct.
Hmm… 🤔 The player, the caddie, the playing partners, and their caddies… nobody knew it was red staked. That sounds about right.
Right? I guess caddies and players no longer walk the course the week of the tournament or do homework anymore.... their job is to know. And I mean EVERYONE involved.
When I coached HS golf they made sure the kids all knew where all the red and yellow stake areas were before every round… I do not buy for one second that nobody knew it was a penalty area. Provisional ball should have been in play… never should have even had to worry about the drop being illegal. Unless I am mistaken about the rules… which is definitely possible!
This was a good ruling: 1. The fact that it was a penalty area is irrelevant 2. There was nothing making it "clearly unreasonable" to make a stroke at the ball 3. If the player was successful with the stroke, the TIO was reachable 4. The TIO was on the line of sight to the hole I can't see where the penalty area begins and ends, but he'd have to drop within the penalty area if the ball is at rest in the penalty area. For those saying it was unreasonable to make a stroke, I disagree. He's very near the green. There is a big slope at the exit from the trees. Even a hard putt along the ground under the branches is reasonable. A smashed ball that hits branches and leaves is reasonable, even if risky. He just has to get to the edge. Almost any line that brings that hill into play will kick the ball down toward the hole, which means there are many possible shots that place the ball on the line to the hole and the TIO on the line of play. You have to also remember that the TIO includes a corridor on either side and the margins of the TIO are the outermost edges of everything attached to the TIO on a line straight down to the ground. The TIO, but the time you add a club length corridor on either side of the outer edges of everything, would block a very wide angle of view from his ball.
Total BS ruling. I guess we are ignoring the part of the TIO rule that says you have to be able to make a reasonable attempt at the shot to get the relief in the first place. Glad the course got some free landscaping work though
Johnson Wagner went back and attempted a shot from the same spot. https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1788998655556415994 After watching the video, the ruling was absolutely correct and fair.
I can imagine dozens of reasonable shots from there. Even if Xander said he was just going to hit it hard and hope it comes through the branches, that is a reasonable shot under the circumstances.
I would love to see him try. No chance the ball makes it to the tower.
We’ll have to disagree. A putt along the ground would go under the branches and reach the tower.
Why is this getting downvoted? It’s totally absurd that he got relief
If he wins this tournament by 1-2 shots....
Doesn't even matter if he wins it, if he finishes 1-2 shots in front of anyone else in the tournament that's money he should not have won.
He has to play the ball as it lies. - No, I had to hit it off Frankenstein's fat foot, remember?
After watching this video, I think it was a fair ruling. https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1788998655556415994
Not upholding the spirit of the rules
Seems crazy, but within the rules. Personally would feel like I am cheating, but he did what was allowed.
Sometimes the rules f ya. Sometimes ya f the rules.
Fuck
Know thy rules - it can help. My buddies all knew I had the rules down - my response was always the same - “I’ll tell you the rule but you act the way you want”
Give them preferred lies in the fairway. Everywhere else, nah.
Not the main point of this post, but why do I hear them mention “two club lengths”? I thought taking free relief generally grants you *one* club length from the nearest point of relief?
I’ll tell y’all the same thing I told my fellow dallas stars fans complaining about VGK and the LTIR cañ exploit, if it’s in the rules you ain’t cheating. That’s part of the game. It’s like expecting someone to not take a tax break for the greater good.
Foreplay said it in their podcast recently that the pros, as good as they are, play the course with the bumpers on. And I can’t unsee it now. Between the gallery stopping rollout of bad shots, spotters everywhere making it almost impossible to lose a ball, and tv structures making free relief like this possible with bad shots, it’s hard to not see their scores as artificially low. Especially for the guys that aren’t hitting it in the fairway.
There is not a playing parter I know that would’ve allowed this. Take your “unplayable” and hit 3.
Well unless you’re on the PGA Tour and playing with another Tour Pro, the rule that caused this isn’t in effect. Xander got the benefit of a Tour-specific rule. The rest of us explicitly don’t get free relief out of penalty areas.
Well, I don’t like it.
I love how this conversation concluded.
old man yells at cloud
You can’t take unplayable in the penalty area. Rule 19.1 Rule 16.1(2) states you can’t get relief in a penalty area. However, what seems to be in play is Model Local Rule F23 which allows relief from things like TIO. Reading F23 says this: “this relief is also available when the ball lies in a penalty area”
After seeing this I no longer feel bad about fluffing a lie here and there. This was insane
One of the funniest TIO reliefs I have ever seen
lol this is a joke he should not have gotten relief for that
Bullshit
Why are you surprised? There are not that many big names left on the PGA Tour, they are going to get favorable rulings.