AUSTIN, Texas — While Bryson DeChambeau wasn’t thrilled with his consistency during his return to action on Wednesday, he was the beneficiary of a favorable ruling during the opening round of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, one that warranted an explanation from PGA Tour Chief Referee Gary Young.
During pool play, Thomas Pieters hit a ball that landed against a sprinkler on the 13th hole at Austin Country Club.
Pieters, who was battling Tom Hoge, was not extended relief because a marked penalty line touched the sprinkler head region. He lost the hole but went on to win the match, 2 and 1.
But Young said the line should have been painted around the area, a mistake he said might have been the result of painting the line during windy conditions.
When Bryson DeChambeau hit a ball into the same area later in the day, rules officials had already decided the intention of the line was to allow for a drop from the sprinkler. DeChambeau was given a drop, salvaged a par on the hole, and went on to tie Richard Bland in his opening-round match.
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Here’s Young’s full explanation:
“Obviously, in match play, each match is its own individual story … To me, two wrongs don’t make a right. So to make the correction before Bryson’s match got there was important when we heard about the original ruling. The way the penalty area is marked, the line — and as you look at them out on the golf course — the line kind of goes around each sprinkler head, keeping it in the general area of the golf course, not in the penalty area, that way players always going to get relief.
“When the golf course was marked the line got a little bit closer. Obviously, there’s a lot of wind when you’re marking these golf courses. The line got a little too close to it. The official who ruled on it was going based on what he was looking at, okay?
“Obviously, the intention was to keep them all out outside, but when he was looking at it, he ruled on it based on the fact that that red line was technically touching both the ball and the sprinkler head. So at that time, I don’t want to say he ruled incorrectly because I think he ruled based on what he’s looking at it. It then got brought to our attention, we talked about it as a committee and said, and felt very firmly two wrongs don’t make a right. We’ve got to correct this because clearly, it should be outside.
“As they were down on their way down there with some paint to correct the line, the Bryson situation came up. He called me on the phone and asked, he said, ‘I’ve got the same situation. Now that I know the intention was to have it outside the penalty area, are you comfortable with me ruling on it that way?’ And I said, ‘yes, I want you to rule on that way because we’re about to change the marking on it.’ There was nothing we could do to fix the Thomas Pieters situation, it was over with, but just to get it right, was important.
“It’s the great part of the fact that this is match play and we can make those changes because each individual match, you know, you could change something like that. If it was a stroke-play event, we would had to keep it that way through the entire day until all competitors finish their round and then make the change. But because of match play, we did it in between.”