Let them hit cake: Top players not fond of PGA Championship ruling

CHARLOTTE — There was a bit of mud-slinging from some of the top players in the world on Thursday after the PGA of America’s ruling that balls must be played as they lie during the first round of the PGA Championship.

With the Quail Hollow Club soaked following recent rains, even lies in the middle of the fairway left mud on golf balls that caused some stray shots.

“It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go,” said Scottie Scheffler, the top-ranked player in the world. “I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player.

“You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision, all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don’t make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules.”

Scheffler still managed to fashion a 2-under-par 69 in the first round despite a double-bogey 6 on the 16th hole. His approach shot to the green, with a mud deposit on his ball, found water.

Defending PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele also found trouble at 16 because of mud on his ball. He also hit a shot into the water from the fairway while recording a double bogey before he finished at 1-over 72.

“I’m not the only guy. I’m just in front of the camera,” Schauffele said of his disappointment that players were not allowed to clean golf balls with mud on them. “I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway.”

A lift-clean-and-place rule is not uncommon during regular PGA Tour events. But the rule is not so easily granted at major tournaments.

“When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for,” Scheffler said. “On a golf course as good of conditioned as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would be the least likely difference in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are all really good.”

Schauffele essentially asserted that a shot into the center of the fairway was akin to taking a penalty when mud clings to the ball.

“It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway,” Schauffele said.

And as unfortunate as the 16th hole was for both Scheffler and Schauffele on Thursday, the mud issues are expected to get even worse, even if it doesn’t rain. As the course dries, the mud will become clay-like clumps on the ball instead of the wet dirt deposits the players are dealing with now.

“I don’t know, maybe it hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn’t carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance,” Schauffele said, while considering his options into the weekend. “It’s a bit of a crapshoot.”

–Field Level Media