Rory McIlroy has lost the U.S. Open 2023 to Wyndham-Clark just one shot since he made his only blemish on the par-5 14th hole.
If you remember Sunday’s event at Los Angeles Country Club you will recall that McIlroy was granted a favorable ruling based on an embedded lie which allowed him to make bogey and remain in contention by dropping in the bunker.
An executive from the United States Golf Association informed Sports Illustrated on Monday that McIlroy had dropped his ball incorrectly after consulting a veteran rule official.
Thomas Pagel, chief governance officer of the USGA, said that the nearest point of relief had been misidentified. It should have been directly in front of the ball. If there is no area directly behind the ball, then you should go to the nearest point in the area. If you look where the ball was, a grassy field was below it and that was the starting point.
Rory McIlroy is relieved from an embedded ball at the 14th hole during the final round the 123rd U.S. Open Championship on June 18, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images).
McIlroy’s third shot into the 14 th green was caught in the thick grass surrounding the greenside bunker. After a quick search, his playing partner Scottie Scheffler found the ball. Courtney Myrhum confirmed that the ball was embedded in the grass and gave McIlroy a free drop.
Pagel agreed with the official that “his ball was embedded 100 percent.” “And a ball that is not embedded in sand, but rather is embedded, has a right to relief. Rory did all of this at the discretionary decision of the referee. She decided, at her discretion that the reference point was the side of ball. From a ruling perspective, that’s it.”
Pagel continued to defend Myrhum by stating that “she is an extremely qualified referee, and she made every effort to use her judgement as to where to operate the dropping.” After further review, however, it was determined there was a specific spot immediately behind the ball which was the reference for relief.
McIlroy had the right to drop the ball from “the general area”, not closer to the hole. This meant that a drop in the bunker would be incorrect.
Pagel explained that if you looked at the place where the ball was embedded, the point of starting (to take one club length off) should have been just below. Pagel said that even if the club length was measured behind the ball, the player would still have dropped on the shelf where he had played. He measured the club’s length by measuring from the top wall to the left. He had to drop the ball a second time as he was dropping it out of this area.
Pagel said, “The question arises when you have to deal with vertical faces.” In this case, a lot was going on. There was a spot behind the ball that he could have measured.
“He didn’t receive a break from where he began measuring.” He did this at the referee’s discretion. He didn’t do anything to gain an edge and was simply following the rules on where to drop.
