After teeing off on the par-5 eighth gap, Matt Fitzpatrick observed a slight crack in his driver, which clearly affected his ball flight.
He referred to as over a PGA Tour guidelines official, who inspected the small crevice that scarred the center of the face. The referee then used his nail to coarse the crack, inspecting it intently to see if Fitzpatrick might change his driver head halfway by way of his spherical. The 2022 U.S. Open champion mentioned he had a few spare driver heads in his locker and would make the swap on the flip if allowed.
Nevertheless, the official, citing a United States Golf Affiliation’s (USGA) mannequin native rule, deemed that the membership was not replaceable because of the crack’s lack of severity. Due to this fact, Fitzpatrick couldn’t change the pinnacle because of a scarcity of great injury.
The Englishman referred to as the verdict “outrageous,” including that he must hit 3-wood off the tee for the remainder of the day.
Matt Fitzpatrick, thirty sixth within the FedExCup coming into the week, referred to as for a ruling for a driver crack.
Below the USGA’s Mannequin Native Rule G-9, a membership isn’t replaceable solely due to a crack, and he was not permitted to interchange it on the time because of lack of great injury. pic.twitter.com/X5kEPkee1q
— PGA TOUR LIVE (@PGATOURLIVE) August 25, 2024
“There was a minor crack within the precise middle a part of the face, of which you can not solely see, however there was a point of really feel connected to that. That is the place the committee has to decide as as to whether that membership is considerably broken. Versus the traditional guidelines of golf that apply to everybody else, he would be capable of change that broken membership as a result of it didn’t occur in circumstances of abuse, for instance,” defined Stephen Cox, the chief referee for the BMW Championship this week.
“However we on the PGA Tour, similar to different main golf excursions all over the world, have a barely stricter guideline concerning when a participant is permitted to take a broken membership out of play, and that membership must be considerably broken. In our evaluation, not solely with the primary official but in addition a few others, together with myself, that threshold of being considerably broken hadn’t been considerably met. Though there was a small crack within the face, there was no separation within the metals, and on that foundation, that threshold wasn’t met, so his solely selection in that case was to proceed utilizing that membership.”
Cox added that if Fitzpatrick broken it additional, the tour would reexamine it after which reassess its choice. As such, Fitzpatrick tried to make use of his cracked driver on the troublesome par-4 tenth. However he hit a snap hook off the tee. He wound up making double, additional fueling his frustration.
Regardless of that, Fitzpatrick did bounce again considerably, making 4 birdies and two bogies over his last six holes. He posted a 2-under 70 for his last spherical, which put him in a tie for twenty sixth. However his late rally down the stretch was not sufficient. Sadly, Fitzpatrick didn’t qualify for subsequent week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, as the highest 30 gamers within the FedEx Cup standings make it to East Lake. Fitzpatrick is projected to complete thirty sixth, thus lacking the Tour Championship for the primary time since 2021.
So not solely does Fitzpatrick go away Colorado with a cracked driver, however he additionally finishes his PGA Tour season with a bitter style.
Not less than he completed among the many prime 50, thus guaranteeing him a spot in each Signature Occasion subsequent season. Hopefully, he can have a extra appropriate driver by then.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. You should definitely try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
