CHARLOTTE — The PGA of America typically enjoys a sterling reputation among professional golfers for its set-up of the PGA Championship. There is no integrity of par or aspirational score, instead taking the course how it is and doing the best with what officials find. However, the organization’s decision to implement “ball down” rules during Thursday’s opening round at Quail Hollow provoked unmistakable frustration, with multiple players from the morning wave voicing criticism of the ruling given the conditions.
Despite days of drenching rain in North Carolina, the PGA of America announced Wednesday evening that preferred lies would not be in effect. This decision stands in stark contrast to the PGA Tour’s regular-season protocol, where “lift, clean and place” rules are routinely implemented after heavy rainfall. Under these conditions, players can pick up their ball in the fairway to remove mud and find a cleaner lie—a practice that significantly eases the challenge for competitors.
Golf traditionalists have long criticized the frequency of preferred lies in regular tour events, viewing it as diminishing the true test of the game. Majors typically hold firm against this practice, maintaining that championship golf should be played as it lies—regardless of conditions. The lone exception was the PGA Championship in 2016 at Baltusrol, when the final round was played on Sunday with preferred lies after soaking rain the previous few days, a move that was widely ridiculed by critics.
Still, players were not exactly thrilled about the decision at Quail Hollow, with Scottie Scheffler leading the charge.
The World No. 1 made a double-bogey 6 at the par-4 16th after his approach from the fairway hooked hard into water. Scheffler later attributed the shot to mud on his ball and questioned the ruling.
“It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go,” Scheffler said. “I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don’t make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules. I did a good job of battling back today and not letting a bad break like that, which cost me a couple shots, get to me. Did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score.”
Indeed, Scheffler finished with a two-under 69 score. He was asked several times later in the interview about the matter. While acknowledging this would be his last answer on the subject, he proceeded to provide a thoughtful explanation to his perspective.
“I think when you’re looking at the purest forms of golf, like if you’re going to go play links golf, there’s absolutely no reason on a links golf course you should play the ball up,” Scheffler said. “It doesn’t matter how much rain they get. The course could be flooded under water and the ball is still going to bounce somehow because of the way the turf is and the ground underneath the turf.
“In American golf it’s significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball, and that’s just part of it. When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for. On a golf course as good of conditioned as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would be the least likely difference in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are all really good. So I understand how a golf purist would be, oh, play it as it lies. But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance.
“In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down. When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up.”
Scheffler was not alone is his opinion. Defending champion Xander Schauffele was displeased, saying his approach shot at the 16th—which also found the water—was a byproduct of mud on his ball.
“We were in the middle of the fairway, and I don’t know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably. I’m not sure. I aimed right of the bunker and it whipped in the water and Scottie whipped it in the water, as well,” Schauffele said. “It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid.
“I’m not the only guy. I’m just in front of the camera. I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out.
“It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.”
Luke Donald, who turned back time with a four-under 67, said he had standing water in the fairway in multiple instances. “The rest of the time, it was just sort of a watery, muddy residue on it, at times,” Donald said. “It wasn’t really lumps of mud, which that’s when it gets very dicey.”
In Schauffele’s opinion, the conditions are only going to get worse throughout the week. “They’re going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it’s kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. I mean, you just keep … I don’t know, maybe it hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn’t carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It’s a bit of a crapshoot.”
