[Interesting Golf Rules] Is Drawing a Circle on the Club Face a 'Disqualification?'

First Day of Matsuyama Memorial Tournament Golf Rule 4a(3) Violation "Disqualification for Club Performance Modification," Blair and Anthony Kim Also in Tears

Hideki Matsuyama was disqualified on the first day of the Memorial Tournament for using a 3-wood with a circle drawn on the club face.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] Even monkeys sometimes fall from trees.

People who know the rules well also occasionally make mistakes. The unlucky protagonist is Hideki Matsuyama (Japan). He is a star who won a total of 8 PGA Tour titles, including becoming the first Asian player to win the Masters in last year’s “Masters Legends.” Along with “Tank” K.J. Choi (52, SK Telecom), he holds the record for the most wins by an Asian player. The “disqualification incident” occurred during the first round of the Memorial Tournament (total prize money $12 million) on the 3rd.

The starting point was the discovery of a large white circle drawn on the black face of Matsuyama’s 3-wood in a social media (SNS) post. After receiving the tip, the PGA Tour checked Matsuyama’s 3-wood and explained, “The line protruding significantly from the grooves on the face surface could affect the club’s performance.” When touching the face surface with a finger, it was not smooth, and it was judged to be a foreign substance that could affect the amount of spin when striking, resulting in disqualification.

Matsuyama had drawn the circle on the face for alignment so that he could hit the ball inside the circle. This is Matsuyama’s first disqualification in his professional career. According to golf rule 4a(3), players must not intentionally alter the performance of a club during a round or make a stroke with a deliberately altered club. Having a non-conforming club in the golf bag is allowed, but using it during play is grounds for disqualification.

Matsuyama bowed his head, saying, “I expected it to help my shot visually,” and “It is my fault for lacking knowledge about the rules.” Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia), the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, also made a mistake. In the first round of the RSM Classic last November, he was disqualified after informing the rules committee that he played with a sticker on the face of his fairway wood after submitting his scorecard.

Sabbatini had been practicing with a sticker on the face to accurately identify the impact point during training but forgot to remove it and took it out to play, which caused the problem. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A), which establishes the world golf rules, is strict about equipment rules. It stipulates, “No substance may be attached or applied to the face to affect the clubhead.” Using a club that intentionally changes performance results in automatic disqualification.

Jack Blair (USA) got angry after missing a short birdie putt on the 5th hole (par 5) of the second round of the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship and vented his frustration on his putter before holing out. The putter was slightly bent, which ultimately resulted in using a deformed putter. Anthony Kim and Matt Every (both USA) were disqualified for making shots with damaged drivers and irons, respectively. So-yeon Ryu (32, Mediheal) shed tears after making strokes with a bent putter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.