And then there are the rules.

Most players abide by a reasonable — some would say liberal — interpretation of golf’s laws. Every hazard is treated as a lateral, rocks are thrown out of bunkers and gimme putts. SO many gimme putts. In short, a “winter rules” approach for the entire year.

Unfortunately, those rebellious ways don’t fly in competition. The USGA rule book is the law for tournament play; it is absolute, without discussion. If it’s your first time entering in an event, from as comfortable as a club championship to US Open qualifying, you need to be well-versed on golf’s legislation. And because there are so many golf rules, one could feel overwhelmed. Fear not: Here are the 17 golf rules you definitely need to know when playing in a tournament:

Count your clubs

Oh come on. No one would ever have more than 14 sticks in the bag, right?
Right?
Wrong.
Avoid the two-stroke penalty by double-checking your bag before teeing off.

Ball falls off tee

There’s a shocking amount of players that aren’t 100 per cent sure what to do when this happens. Simple: You get to re-tee without penalty. (Exception: You’ve already whiffed on the first shot. If the ball then falls off, you have to play it as it lies.)

This also applies if you accidentally hit your tee ball with your practice swing. Of course there might be a little embarrassment when something like this happens, you can feel solace knowing that a former Masters champion has done this … at the Masters.

Well that's a first. ?pic.twitter.com/w9pBZex6Cd

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) April 12, 2019

On the bright side, since things are a tad more serious in tournament play, you won’t have the jamoke who chirps “One!” when your ball falls off the tee. I hate that guy.

Giving advice

On the weekend, you may ask your friend what iron they just hit, or, while on the green, point to a spot and say, “I think this is the line.” While such behaviour is standard in a normal round, it’s deemed illegal in competitive play. The penalty is two strokes. (Exception: In a team match, you and your partner, as well as respective caddies, can discuss strategy.)

The difference between yellow and red penalty areas

Depending on where you are on a course, penalty areas will be marked with either yellow or red lines. There are important differences between the two that must be understood or you risk taking a drop incorrectly.

For penalty hazard marked with yellow lines, a player has two options: You may take relief by dropping into a relief area using (1) the spot at which your last stroke was made under stroke and distance (see Rule 17.1d(1)) or (2) the back-on-the-line relief procedure (see Rule 17.1d(2)).

A lateral hazard is slightly different. Like with yellow stakes, you have to identify where the ball crossed into the hazard. However, you are given a two clubs length area to drop. You can also go on the other side of the hazard — assuming no closer to the hole — and drop there as well.

Improving your lie or position by moving growing things

Your ball comes to rest under a tree, and it appears you have a shot. Only problem is a pesky limb interfering with your backswing. No worries; you can break that branch off, yes?
Nope: You cannot improve the position or lie of your ball. This includes moving or bending anything growing or fixed in the realm of your envisioned swing.

Tapping down your putts

This doesn’t come up as much anymore, as many players wear softless spikes. Nevertheless, you’ll occasionally come across spike marks on the green and be tempted to press them down. Well, guess, what? Here’s an instance where you’re OK to do so. It’s a change to the rules that came about in 2019 when the USGA and R&A tried to show their softer sides.

Beach rules

What you can and can’t do in a bunker is another rules area that changed a lot in 2019. You still can’t touch the sand with your club immediately in front of or behind your ball before hitting it (during a practice swing or in your backswing) without being penalised (loss of hole in match play, two penalty strokes in stroke play). Other touch of the sand in a bunker, however, is now generally OK, as long as you are not deliberately testing the conditions of the sand. This includes a player now being able to touch or move a loose impediment.

The above, however, is not allowed.

Rake in bunker

This is another area that causes confusion, but if your ball comes to rest against a rake, you are allowed to move the tool, as the USGA defines it as a “movable obstruction.”

Lost ball time

You have three minutes to search for a ball. That’s three … not five as it was prior to 2019. The clock begins when you start looking, not after you’ve hit your shot. After three minutes, the ball is considered lost.

Announcing the provisional

Confession: I love the word “reload”. It turns an unfortunate event — the prospect of a lost ball — into a course of action. Without checking Webster’s, I think reload’s etymology stems from Clint Eastwood movies. “I’m out of juice. Time to reload; fire in the hole!” (Hard to believe I went so long being single.)

However, saying “reload” does not constitute proper procedure, according to the USGA. A player must announce: “I am hitting a provisional,” to competitors. You must abandon your provisional ball if your original isn’t lost or out-of-bounds, or you determine that it’s in a water hazard:

Conversely, anytime you hit a great provisional shot, you might not want to find your original ball. If someone finds it before you play a shot with the provisional, the first ball is the one you must play.

Relief from cart paths, ground under repair, immovable objects

Most players understand they get help in such scenarios. In that same vein, most don’t know the proper way to push ahead. You take your stance, from there getting one club length of relief. The new spot has to be without interference from what caused the drop. From the USGA: “For example, if the ball lies on a cart path, the ball must be dropped at a point where the cart path does not interfere with the lie of the ball, his stance, and also the area of intended swing. If the ball comes to rest in such a position, it must be re-dropped.”

Order of play

This mainly comes up in match play, but whoever is farthest away from the hole is up. And if someone breaks that order, a competitor is allowed to cancel the shot, forcing them to replay it.
But this comes with a caveat: Unless it’s an egregious offense, don’t call this on a competitor. Unless you want their putter tomahawked into your windshield after the round.

Sprinkler heads

This falls under the immovable object umbrella, but happens so often that it deserves its own section. Relief is granted from sprinkler heads only if your ball, intended stance, or swing is interfered with. Line of play isn’t covered, meaning if you’re putting from the fringe through a sprinkler towards the green, well, you might want to break out a wedge.

Identifying your ball

Buried in the rough and can’t tell if it’s your ball? You are allowed to lift the ball for ID purposes. From the USGA: “The player must announce his intention to lift the ball to an opponent, fellow-competitor or marker, and mark the position of the ball. He may then lift the ball and identify it, provided that he gives his opponent, marker or fellow-competitor an opportunity to observe the lifting and replacement.”

You may also like:
Ciganda targets Spanish success at Aramco Team Series — Sotogrande
WATCH: Highlights from the ISPS Handa World Invitational
Stark and Ferguson prevail at ISPS Handa World Invitational
Chiara Noja consolidates top spot in LETAS Order of Merit
What to make of the Cam Smith ruling at FedEx St Jude Championship
Your FedEx Cup standings
Zalatoris survives playoff for maiden PGA Tour title at FedEx St Jude Championship
Cam Smith lurks at FedEx Cup Playoffs
Doherty and Ferguson close in on victory at ISPS Handa
McIlroy and Scheffler miss cut at FedEx Cup Playoffs
WATCH: Jon Rahm’s ridiculous skip shot
Bubba resignation could change fate of four PGA Tour hopefuls
Tony Finau closing in on Tiger Woods’ mark
Why PGA Tour has not suspended Cameron Smith
Rickie Fowler in the swing with new caddie at FedEx Cup Playoffs
Ferguson and Doherty lead the way in Northern Ireland tri-sanctioned event
LIV Golf’s Scott Vincent rolling again in Singapore
Patrick Reed expects more LIV Golfers to compete on Asian Tour
Reed was ‘on the fence’ but loving team life on LIV Golf
LIV Golfers take in the sights ahead of International Series Singapore
Key stories to follow at FedEx Cup Playoffs
Carlos Ortiz withdraws from LIV Golf lawsuit
Cameron Smith tight-lipped over LIV Golf reports

The post All you need to know: The golf rules you definitely need when playing in a tournament appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

On Friday after finishing up his second round at the Genesis Scottish Open, Thomas Bjorn a 15-time DP World Tour winner and former European Ryder Cup captain, was disqualified from the tournament for signing an incorrect scorecard.

MORE: The Scottish Open third-round tee times

According to PGATour.com, the 51-year-old Dane shot an eight-over 78 during his second trip around the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, after posting a five-over 75 on Thursday. On the DP World Tour website, Bjorn was listed as having shot a 77. DP World Tour officials said that Bjorn signed for a 4 on the par-4 11th hole when he had shot 5. By mistakenly signing a card with a lower score on a hole than he had shot, Bjorn broke Rule 3.3b, which comes with a penalty of disqualification.

The frustration of the DQ not withstanding, it made little difference to Bjorn’s plans for the weekend. At 13-over, the member of the DP World Tour board was well back of the three-over cut line by the time he had finished his round.\

You may also like:
Spieth shoots down LIV Golf rumours
Tringale holds onto Scottish Open lead
Dubai’s Chiara Noja reclaims LETAS Order of Merit lead
Kang to miss more events due to tumour
Fitzpatrick enjoying ‘best form of his life’
Hovland reassures all weekend golfers with horrendous shank
Record prize money at 150th Open Championship
Rory calls for LIV/PGA talks
Scottish Open is links golf at its finest
Tringale shapes up nicely at Scottish Open
Ian Poulter won’t trade jabs with LIV haters, says there’s ‘space in the calendar for everyone’
Meronk on top of the world at Mount Juliet
Grace shines in Portland

The post Scorecard rules issue sees former Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn disqualified at Scottish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

That quote came from Ian Poulter, who was yelling back to his caddie as he trudged up Liberty National’s 15th fairway on Thursday at The Northern Trust. The Englishman had just come to find out his ball was resting up against a sewer right of the fairway. That sewer also happened to be in a penalty area.

“You’ve got to me f—ing kidding me,” Poulter uttered to himself.

One over on the day, Poulter seemed to already know his fate. As PGA Tour rules official Gary Young would later explain, Poulter’s ball was resting against an immovable obstruction inside a penalty area. Per the Rules of Golf, free relief is not granted in that situation. Poulter could either play it as it lies or take a drop out of the penalty area—but be forced to add a stroke to his score.

It’s that later point that Poulter seemed incredulous about, considering there was only dry ground where he was playing from in the penalty area, so a recovery shot would have been relatively easy. Adding the extra stroke seemed, well, too great a penalty.

So Poulter chose option 1—play it as it lies—but not before (playfully) getting his money’s worth, a la a MLB manager mouthing off at an umpire after being tossed.

“Come onnnn, this should not be here,” Poulter said to Young, pointing at the sewer, which was quite literally the only obstruction in the penalty area. Poulter just happened to find it.

Young reminded Poulter he should not be there, either. His ball, after all, was in a penalty area, so he had no one to blame but himself for being in the awkward spot. “Unfortunately, he hit it against the only thing in there that he couldn’t get relief from,” Young said.

Poulter, incredulously, then asked where the water was in this penalty area. Young pointed toward the woods, where the water is located well right of the 15th fairway and well right of where Poulter’s ball had come to rest.

“How is that a hazard line?” Poulter asked, pointing at the red line to the left of where his ball was that ran parallel to a cart path. “The water is 30 frickin’ yards that way.”

Indeed, had Poulter chosen to take the drop out of the penalty area, the ball likely would have wound up on a cart path and then he would have been entitled to free relief from the path—but still would have added the penalty stroke for dropping out of the penalty area in the first place.

Said Young: “He’s got to either choose to play it as it lies or he can take his relief options, which would have gotten him out on to this cart path and then he’d have free relief from the cart path.”

To his credit, Poulter calmed down and sucked it up, even yelling back “I appreciate it,” as Young drove away. He played the shot back toward the fairway—avoiding the penalty stroke by playing it as it lies—then came up short of the green with his third followed by nearly holing out his fourth for a miracle par. He went on to tap in for bogey, then followed with a birdie on the 16th and finished with a one-over 72. After beginning the week 79th in the FedEx Cup standings, he’s currently projected at 88th, well outside the top-70 line for the BMW Championship.

“It’s one of those, it’s unlucky, right?” Poulter said afterwards. “You get some good breaks, you get some bad breaks. That was a pretty bad break. Over the season, you take the rough with the smooth.”

With a potential Ryder Cup spot on the line, Poulter needs all the good breaks he can get, though he seemed very at peace with the unfortunate break not too long after it happened.

“What are you gonna do? Sh-t happens,” he said. “Nobody died. I’m 79th in the FedEx Cup, if I don’t get in Sunday, it’s irrelevant. I move on to the next event in Europe. Ryder Cup is in four weeks, that’s what’s relevant.”

The post Ian Poulter handles difficult rules situation in most Ian Poulter way imaginable appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
It’s been more than five years since golf’s anchor ban went into effect, but now one of the PGA Tour’s best players is calling for another putting method to be outlawed.

Following Thursday’s first round at the RBC Heritage, Billy Horschel brought up the arm-lock putting style that’s become popular in recent years. And his take might not be so popular with those who use it.

“I’m bringing up something different here and I’m sort going out on a limb, but I don’t think this arm lock putting is—should be allowed either,” Horschel said. “I’ll give the belly putter back and take away the arm lock.”

Go on …

“I think when you look at what guys are doing now with the arm lock and moving the grips to the side where it’s parallel or matches the face and then when you do that up against your arm, I mean, it’s—you know that face is dead square and that face doesn’t rotate at all,” Horschel continuted. “It’s just sort of locked in. Guys are doing it too good.”

Horschel, a recent winner at the WGC-Dell Match Play, is certainly not the first person to question the arm-lock method. Although perfectly legal under golf’s current rules, “locking” the grip of a putter into a player’s forearm does serve a similar purpose as anchoring a putter into the chest or stomach. And several former anchorers have turned to it, most notably Webb Simpson.

The technique was on full display at Augusta National last week with Will Zalatoris finishing runner-up in his Masters debut. Zalatoris has said he started using the method in 2018 and that he shot a 59 at his home course two weeks later. He also just happens to be one of Horschel’s playing partners the first two rounds at Harbour Town this week. . . awkward!

Kevin C. Cox

Other arm-lock putters on tour include Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Kuchar, and Keegan Bradley. DeChambeau tried a variety of putting methods including side-saddle before settling on the arm-lock style. He finished 10th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting last season. Simpson was 13th after finishing 11th and fifth in that category the two previous seasons.

“Yes, you could say it’s anchored,” Horschel said. “I don’t know because I guess anchored is having one point against somewhere and a fixed point. I know that’s not fixed, but it’s something similar to an anchor style.”

It’s certainly something golf’s governing bodies could address. In the meantime, there could be a few players addressing Horschel in the locker room.

The post Billy Horschel says popular arm-lock putting method should be banned appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
In recent years, golf’s governing bodies have relaxed some of the game’s rules, including those regarding the signing of an incorrect scorecard when you didn’t know you’d committed a penalty. What hasn’t changed, though, is a player still has to sign his/her scorecard.

Unfortunately, one LPGA Tour pro found this out the hard way on Thursday at the Pelican Women’s Championship. China’s Yu Liu forgot that tiny detail and was disqualified from the tournament.

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols alerted us to the unusual situation:

Yu Liu was disqualified after the first round for failing to sign her scorecard. She opened with a 74.

— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) November 20, 2020

As Nichols notes, Liu had opened the tournament with 74, so at least she didn’t waste a great score. Liu bogeyed three of her last four holes, perhaps explaining why she might have been distracted in the scoring area. At four over, the 25-year-old who is 28th on the Race to the CME Globe points standings sat 10 shots behind first-round leader Sophia Popov.

That being said, there were still three rounds to go, so anything’s possible. Well, anything other than Liu making this mental mistake again.

The post LPGA player disqualified for failing to sign her own scorecard appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

During Friday’s second round of the Wyndham Championship, Rafael Cabrera-Bello found out.

Playing the 232-yard par-3 seventh at Sedgefield Country Club, the 36-year-old Spaniard’s 19-foot birdie try tracked toward the hole only to stop and hang agonizingly on the lip.

Thus began a slow walk by Cabrera-Bello. And wait. Some 21 seconds passed from the time his ball stopped on the edge before it wobbled then fell into the hole.

So why didn’t he get hit with a penalty?

Wait for it … ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/VscpNLOMJC

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 14, 2020

Rule 13.3 states that if any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole the player is allowed a “reasonable” amount of time to reach the hole plus 10 more seconds to see if the ball will fall into the hole.

As video shows in Cabrera-Bello’s case, the ball stopped next to the hole at the 6-second mark. At the 27-second mark, with Cabrera-Bello standing nearby, the ball began to wobble and dropped in.

As much as we love fast players, that certainly seems to be a reasonable amount of time, but it was close. Had, say, another 5 seconds passed there might have been a problem.

Under the Rules of Golf, if the ball does not fall into the hole in the reasonable amount of time it takes to get to it plus the additional 10 seconds, it is deemed as being at rest. If the ball fell in after that, it would have counted as being holed but Cabrera-Bello would have been hit with a one-stroke penalty.

The post ICYMI: Rafael Cabrera-Bello’s putt took more than 20 seconds to drop. Why wasn’t it a penalty? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
During the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Haotong Li was hit with a two-shot penalty on the final hole because his caddie was lined up behind his putt. A new rule specifies that from the time a player “begins to take a stance for the stroke” until the stroke is made, a caddie “must not deliberately stand on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason.” As our Ryan Herrington notes, Li could have avoided the penalty had he backed off the stroke and retaken his stance.

However, video puts the validity of that penalty into question, as Li was arguably not in his stance during the infraction:

@EuropeanTour this is a marginal interpretation of the new Rule 10.2b @haotong_li good playing. pic.twitter.com/jNxT0aokxj

— Brian McKinley (@brijon5555) January 27, 2019

The penalty dropped Li from a T-3 to a T-12 finish, which translated to loss of $100,000 in earnings. Many of Li’s fellow players defended him on Twitter, raising the profile of the controversy.

On Monday, rather than douse those flames, European Tour CEO Keith Pelley agreed with the assessment.

“Let me state initially that, under the new Rules of Golf…the decision made by our referees was correct, under the strict wording of the rules,” Pelley said. “It is my strong belief, however, that the fact there is no discretion available to our referees when implementing rulings such as this is wrong and should be addressed immediately.”

Pelley stated he believed Li had “no malice or intent” to gain advantage from his caddie and that the penalty was “grossly unfair.” Pelley also asserted he was voicing his opposition to the R&A about the lack of referee discretion on this rule.

Said Pelley: “In an era where we are striving to improve all aspects of golf, we need to be careful and find the proper balance between maintaining the integrity of the game and promoting its global appeal.”

The R&A’s chief executive Martin Slumbers later released the following statement:

“We have reviewed the Li Haotong ruling made by the European Tour referees and agree that it was correct. There has been some misunderstanding of the new Rule and I would point out that it is designed to prevent any opportunity for the caddie to stand behind the player as he begins to take his stance. Whether the player intends to be lined up is not the issue.

“We appreciate that it was a very unfortunate situation yesterday and I completely understand Keith Pelley’s concerns when a Rules incident occurs at such a key stage of a European Tour event but there is no discretionary element to the Rule precisely so that it is easier to understand and can be applied consistently.

“We are continuing to monitor the impact of the new Rules but I made it clear to Keith that our focus is very much on maintaining the integrity of the Rules for all golfers worldwide.”

The post Keith Pelley’s call for rule makers to rethink “grossly unfair” Haotong Li penalty falls on deaf ears  appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
As golf fans are well aware, Dustin Johnson has had two of the more famous rules run-ins in recent golf history. There was the accidental grounding of his club in a waste bunker that cost him the 2010 PGA Championship and the accidental micro-moving of his golf ball that nearly cost him the 2016 U.S. Open. So with a major revision of golf’s rules taking effect at the start of this year, it made sense that the former World No. 1 was asked if he’s stayed abreast of the changes. And — perhaps, not surprisingly — it doesn’t sound like he has.

Here’s an exchange Johnson had at his Wednesday press conference ahead of this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, where DJ is the defending champ:

Q. I know you joked about it there at the start but have you paid any attention to the rules changes or how much effort have you put into looking at what the changes will be?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I actually just looked at it for like a minute upstairs before I came down. They’ve got a big poster in the locker room. Yeah.

Here’s the poster to which Johnson is referring:

Posted on the wall in the locker room at @GolfatKapalua for @Sentry_TOC participants. Handy review of new #RulesofGolf. Love the grade school review of “areas of the golf course” and how water hazards now known as penalty areas. I think guys can figure this out on their own. pic.twitter.com/eXDJjPT6uD

— Dave Shedloski (@DaveShedloski) January 1, 2019

The follow-up question asked Johnson about his brother and caddie, Austin:

Q. Austin? Has he had instruction —

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I had one of the TOUR officials do a printout that I’m going to give to him to study later on today.

Q. How is that going to go?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Probably not very well. (Laughter.)

But I’m going to have to look at it a little bit.

To be fair to the Johnson brothers, they had a wedding to deal with this off-season. Still, you’d expect one of the game’s best players to do more than “look at it a little bit” when it comes to the new rules. Especially, when that player has such an eventful history when it comes to the game’s rules.

RELATED: 14 ways your golf game can benefit from the new rules

In any event, Johnson begins his title defense at Kapalua’s Plantation Course at 12:40 local time on Thursday. And in Bryson DeChambeau he’s at least got the perfect playing partner if he has any questions.

The post Dustin Johnson and his caddie spent the entire off-season studying golf’s new rules (Kidding!) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With the objective of making the Rules easier to understand and apply, the result is a reduction in number from 34 to 24 and a reorganisation that consolidates principles and simplifies the overall language to make it more practical to current golfers and more accessible to newcomers.

Several forward-thinking updates originally outlined in last year’s proposed Rules remain in place. They include a reduction in the time spent to find a lost ball from five to three minutes, elimination of penalties for accidentally moving a ball on the green or during a search, allowing for the removal of loose impediments and touching the ground in hazards, and fixing spike marks among other relaxed procedures on greens and in bunkers.

There have been some changes, however, from the proposed Rules that take into account the 30,000-plus pieces of feedback the two groups received last summer. Most notably, the USGA and R&A have written a local rule that permits committees to allow golfers an alternative to the stroke-and-distance penalty for lost balls or balls hit out of bounds. Under the local rule, which is not intended for professional or elite-level competition, golfers can opt to drop the ball in the vicinity of where they lost or hit the ball out of bounds—including in the nearest fairway area—under a two-stroke penalty.

“This addresses the issue you hear at the club level about the practical nature of going back and playing under stroke and distance just doesn’t work. It has a negative impact on pace of play, and so how can we introduce something to resolve that. That’s what this local rule is about,” said Thomas Pagel, USGA senior director of Rules & Amateur Status. “You simply estimate where it’s out of bounds or where you ball is likely to be lost, you can go all the way out to the fairway and drop anywhere behind. … But the primary objective here is to keep the player moving forward, and we think that’s the real benefit of this.”

Courtesy of the USGA and R&A
The new local rule that’s an alternative to the stroke-and-distance penalty allows you to drop in the fairway even after hitting the ball out of bounds, but will cost you two strokes.

The governing bodies also decided to drop the penalty for a double hit, allowing golfers to simply count the one stroke they made to strike the ball, something that had not been introduced in the proposed Rules last March.

Two other originally proposed Rules changes have been amended. Rather than allow drops for relief to be done as close as two inches above the ground, players will be required to drop from knee height. Pagel said this seemed a fair compromise, helping simplify the dropping process while preserving the randomness of a drop.

Additionally, the provision that outlined a 20-inch and 80-inch standard measurement for taking relief returned to the two club-length standard using the longest club in your bag.

“I think of all the changes, that one is the real concrete example of we listened. This feedback period, we were sincere in asking for people’s views,” Pagel said. “Because the fixed measures, philosophically, makes total sense, but from a practical standpoint with people are saying I’m scratching my head a little bit, I’m not sure how I’m going to measure this, we had to step back and say OK lets change. … It’s a lot easier if I just use my club length. And so we just went back to the drawing board.”

Mind you, not all Rules issues that received lots of feedback were acted on. Pagel noted that while getting many requests about finding a way to provide relief when a ball comes to rest in the fairway in a divot hole, the governing bodies stood firm on the notion that this was something too fundamental a change.

“One of the primary objectives for the overall initiative is to make the rules easier to understand and apply, but to also make sure we maintained the traditions and principles behind the game,” Pagel said. “And the principles are to play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it. So to write a rule that allows a player to sort of deviate from that, was not something we were wanting to do.”

Courtesy of the USGA and R&A

So what happens now? Well, more than 30 “how to apply” videos have also been created as educational tools and can be viewed at usga.org/rules. However, the USGA and R&A intend to wait until the fall before implementing a more comprehensive educational effort in preparation for Jan. 1, 2019.

“From our perspective, there is a recognition that there are nine more months of play under the current rules, and so we don’t really want to really create a mass level of confusion,” Pagel said. “So you’re not really going to hear much from us. That information will be available for those who want to find it, but really it’s not going to be until September where we’ll be pushing education and doing it at all levels of the game.”

That’s not to say the USGA and R&A won’t be busy. Between now and the end of the summer, the governing bodies will work toward producing the accompany materials to support the new Rules, specifically the three primary publications:

The Player’s Edition of the Rules of Golf: An abridged set of rules, written in the second person, that’s intended to be the primary publication for golfers.

The Rules of Golf: The full addition, written in the third person that will include illustrations.

The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf: The publication that will replace the Decisions book (and be about a third of its size) intended for use by tournament committees and rules officials.    

Drew Hallowell
The USGA and R&A will begin educational initiatives in earnest in September to help rules officials and golfers better understand the new Rules.

There’s also the task of translating the Rules into more than 30 languages as well as the creation of the Rules in digital formats that include easy to use search capabilities.

“There will be a lot of stuff going on in the background,” Pagel said.

However, the heavy lifting has officially been taken care of, and the result is something officials with the governing bodies can be proud of, according to Pagel.

“I would say we’ve very confident and pleased with where we’ve ended up.”

The post USGA and R&A officials reveal final draft of modernised Rules of Golf to debut in 2019 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers

The 2017 Presidents Cup, AKA “The Romp By The Swamp,” got historically out of hand on Saturday. Only a late, unlikely rally kept the International Team in the competition. But Nick Price’s squad seems to have less of a chance to come back and win on Sunday than Jim Carrey had at pulling off those one-in-a-million odds with Lauren Holly in Dumb and Dumber. Anyway, to wrap up another lopsided day at Liberty National, here’s our latest look at winners and losers.

Winner: Team USA

The Americans basically won this four-day event in THREE days. That’s ridiculous.

Loser: International Team

The Internationals basically lost this four-day event in three days. Again, that’s ridiculous.

Winner: Patrick Reed & Jordan Spieth

Maybe Reed and Spieth were listening yesterday when we declared Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler Team USA’s new super squad. Our apologies, guys. On Saturday, this dynamic duo went back to dominating, winning the lead match of both sessions, which never allowed the Internationals even a glimmer of hope. With two more victories, Reed & Spieth, still Team USA’s top squad until further notice, ran their record as a pair to 3-0-1 this week, and an incredible 8-1-3 dating back to the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Winner: Dustin Johnson

While the pair of Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth get most of the attention for Team USA, Johnson is actually the lone player on the squad to have won all four of his matches. For the World No. 1, it doesn’t matter who he plays with, as he sports 2-0 records with Matt Kuchar in foursomes and Brooks Koepka in four-balls. With another win on Sunday, DJ would become just the sixth player in Presidents Cup history to win five matches in one year.

Loser: Nick Price

This really isn’t a knock on the International team captain, because there’s nothing he could have done to stop the American onslaught. In fact, Price tried just about everything from breaking up his best team to pairing guys with the same first name—and nothing worked. But facts are facts, and Price will go down as the losing captain of record at the Presidents Cup. For a third straight event. Ouch. On Saturday evening, Price sounded like he’s turning over the reigns to Ernie Els for next time. There’s only so much one man can take.

Winner: The game of golf

Yes, this event has had less drama than an episode of Judge Judy, but the sportsmanship we know and love shined as brightly as Lady Liberty’s torch when Kevin Chappell conceded the final putt of the day—a two-and-a-half-foot tickler—to Anirban Lahiri, which resulted in the Americans’ lone loss. Well done by Kevin. Although, it’s not quite Jack Nicklaus conceding the final putt to Tony Jacklin at the 1969 Ryder Cup. And it was odd timing after everyone watched Chappell grind out that seven-footer for a par. Maybe Captain Stricker got in his ear. Regardless, the gesture drew rare applause in the media center. And it meant the Internationals are still at least mathematically alive heading into Sunday.

Loser: The rules of golf

Spieth and Reed had to concede the 12th hole of their match after Spieth raked away an Oosthuizen eagle attempt and tossed it back to him. The problem? Oosthuizen’s ball—although some 15 feet past the cup—was still moving. Barely. Of course, none of this wound up mattering because Spieth and Reed are on Team USA and Team USA has basically won every match this week. This match was no exception as Spieth and Reed came back to win. Obviously. But the rule seems silly and everyone involved seemed to think so. Except rules official Andy McFee. At least it led to this funny exchange in which he dismissed Tiger Woods:

He said WHAAAAAAAT to ??
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/5rAZv8cwGn

— Skratch (@Skratch) September 30, 2017

Loser: Jason Day

The Aussie lost twice on Saturday, dropping his record for the week to 0-3-1. But it gets worse. For a second consecutive Presidents Cup, Day, who is arguably his team’s best player, has laid an egg. Combined with his 0-4-1 record in South Korea two years ago, the former World No. 1 is now a dismal 0-7-2 the past two editions and 4-11-4 career in this event.

Winner: Anirban Lahiri

If not for Lahiri, the U.S. would have been spraying champagne around Liberty National on Saturday. But clutch birdies on 16 and 17, followed by an up-and-down on 18 (He’s probably glad Kevin Chappell didn’t putt that last one) gave Lahiri and Si Woo Kim a 1-up win over Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell. Sure, his rally was the equivalent of someone getting an infield hit to break up a perfect game, but we appreciate the effort.

Loser: NBC

Already up against NFL football, a slate of all-but-meaningless singles matches could draw lower TV ratings than the 2015 Presidents Cup. And that was contested in South Korea while most of America slept.

Miller on Yank win tonight: "That wouldn't help our ratings too much tomorrow."
Dan Hicks: "You always call 'em like you see 'em, Johnny."

— Steve Elling (@EllingYelling) September 30, 2017

Yep, Dan and Johnny are going to earn their money on Sunday.

The post Presidents Cup 2017: The winners & losers from Day 3 at Liberty National appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.