How McIlroy Fell into Tiger Woods’ Rules ‘Trap’
In today's article, we talk about the penalty imposed on Rory McIlroy during the first day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, where he was sanctioned with a two-stroke penalty. The incident occurred on the 7th hole of Spyglass Hill, ending his round. The penalty was incurred for an incorrect drop of a ball he had declared unplayable. McIlroy received the two-stroke penalty for his lack of knowledge of the rules, specifically for applying the 'Tiger Woods rule,' introduced in 2019 and later modified in 2023.
What happened?
After declaring the ball unplayable, McIlroy decided to drop it backward towards the flag. When he found the spot where he wanted to make the drop, he marked it and from there, he took a club, without gaining any distance towards the flag, in an attempt to find the best angle for his shot. This was how it was done between 2019 and 2023, primarily after Tiger Woods had dropped a ball in a similar manner during the second day of the Masters at Augusta after going into the water. This incident had sparked a lot of controversy because, even though Tiger had done it wrong and should have been penalized with two strokes or disqualified for signing his card incorrectly (he would have missed the cut), the referees forgave him because they didn't notice the error, and it was only discovered when a spectator called Augusta to report that Woods had made a mistake. By the time that call was received, Tiger had already signed his card. The error was attributed to the referee for not communicating it in time, not to the player.
So, between 2019 and 2023, a player could drop backward towards the flag and then use a club to the left or right, without gaining any distance toward the hole, to improve their angle.
However, in 2023, a U-turn was made, and it was decided to revert to the old system, that is, without a club; the backward drop must always be made at a point aligned with the flag.
McIlroy seemed to be stuck in 2019 and was unaware of this rule change, so he received two penalty strokes for playing the ball from the wrong place. After his round, McIlroy stated,
"I wasn't aware of the rule change in 2023, and I accept the two-stroke penalty."
McIlroy finished that hole with a triple bogey, slipping many positions in the standings. One of the PGA Tour tournament officials, Stephen Cox, explained that
"the situation came to light through our video review group. It seemed that Rory had not followed the rules for club relief correctly. The current rule was rewritten in 2023 and requires the player to move back from where their ball was in line with the flag and then drop the ball on that same line."
Once dropped, the ball can roll up to a club in any direction. If it passes the club, a new drop must be made, and then it must be placed if it happens again. That is the current rule. Unfortunately, Rory followed the rules from before 2023, which involved tracing a line backward and then measuring a club off that line in any direction as long as it wasn't closer to the hole. In other words, there was a possibility of playing from outside the imaginary line drawn between the ball and the flag. All of us, including the golf governing bodies, were very uncomfortable with the 2019 rule, so it was rewritten in January 2023. As soon as I discussed it with Rory, he realized and accepted what had happened. He played from the wrong place and received two penalty strokes."
The lesson to be learned from this situation is that for some, you should never do anything on a golf course without consulting the referees. However, this slows down the game. The real moral of the story is that knowing the rules saves you strokes.
