NASSAU (Bahamas) – Collin Morikawa received a two shot penalty for violating the local model rule G-11 which prohibits the use green-reading materials on the fourth-hole of the third-round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge.
A player on the course asked a question late Saturday night that alerted the rules committee to a possible rule violation. Chief referee Stephen Cox, of the PGA Tour, confirmed that it was Morikawa’s playing partner, Matt Fitzpatrick during the third-round, who raised the issue.
In 2022, the local model rule was introduced to protect this fundamental skill. This is not the first instance a Tour professional has broken the rule.
Cox and JJ Jakovac met about two hours prior to their final-round tee times of 12:03 pm. Jakovac’s putting chart was revealed after reviewing his yardage. This is not a rule violation, but how he obtained the information is. Jakovac wrote down a note in his yardage book after using a level to measure the distance on the fourth green during the third round on Saturday.
Cox stated that “fortunately, it was the only instance in which a player or caddie had used this chart or formula. On that basis, the breach remained at two strokes.”
Cox said, “This is an extremely complicated issue.” We were clear that the handwritten notes had to be obtained using traditional methods in order to protect our sport’s fundamental skill of reading the greens. That is why we implemented the model local rule. The player in this case, again unknowingly, used a level on the practice green to determine the degrees of slope. This, by itself, is not a violation, but what the player did was formulate a chart and transfer that into his book.
Jakovac would not have received a penalty if he had created a chart with his feet, estimated the slope using the measuring device or retained the information from the measuring instrument in memory instead of writing it down.
Cox informed Morikawa of the penalty at the range approximately 10-15 minutes prior to his tee-time. Cox, when asked to describe Morikawa’s response, said that it was “very similar to any other conversation which results in a penality.” He was extremely frustrated. “It’s a complicated rule.”
Morikawa was given an even-par score of 72 for his third-round score on the fourth hole.
Cox, NBC Sports’s analyst, said: “They understood that the rule had been broken. But anytime rules are applied to penalize a person there is an inevitable pushback. This frustration was shared both by the player and the caddie. It is human nature.”
