GREENSBORO (N.C.) — Justin Thomas asked for relief when he fanned his tee-shot 30 yards to the left on the ninth hole of Sedgefield Country Club, and it fell under a tree. A PGA Tour official refused the request.
Thomas asked a referee if a scoreboard fell within his line-of-sight. Pete Lis was called out to hear Thomas’ plea. He concluded, after hearing his explanation that a scoreboard was not in his line of sight.
Thomas replied, “It feels like you don’t understand what I am saying.” I’ve been in this situation many times, where a grandstand has blocked my path and I haven’t gotten relief.
Lis replied: “It is not in your current line of play.” You wouldn’t, because you couldn’t get the hole to line up with the ball.
Thomas took the decision, punched out of the pine straw, and made his second bogey in a round 66. This put him in a tie with 11th place as he tries to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This was a great example of how a player tried to take advantage of the Rules of Golf. Thomas asked a good question.
“I felt that this was going to happen. Sometimes you get decisions where you feel almost bad about it. It’s weird. It was just weird. I’ve had similar situations in the past. “It’s not in your path, but it’s because you’re between them, so you get relief,” explained he. It was because of the tree. You were almost begging for help with your tail between your legs because this would only happen if you had a similar situation. It’s always worth asking because, you never know. I might have gotten lucky and been able hit the green. “So worth a try.”
Thomas had been granted a favorable ruling the day before, allowing him and Adam Scott who were playing in the same golf group to drop on the fairway instead of the rough when they drove their drives into the water at the eighth hole.
He said, “I believe drops are abused quite a bit, and we’re certainly not these guys. But we wanted to be sure it was done right because it’s just not in the nature of things. We just wanted make sure everything was okay.”
