Tour players have an early chance to put the newly revised Rules of Golf into play today [Thursday] at the year’s first PGA Tour event, the Sentry Tournament of Champions held at Kapalua Plantation Course in Hawaii.
The tournament has attracted one of the strongest fields in its history, with Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas all in the starting line up.
Ahead of the tournament, officials from the United States Golf Association held a meeting with players to discuss some of the new rules, which came into force on January 1, but it seems that a degree of uncertainty remains.
“I’ve tried to spend a lot of time looking over the new rules,” said Justin Thomas, the current world No 4. “A handful of them are quite a bit different, and I think you’ll see it across the field, especially during these first couple of months, everybody’s going to be calling a rules official in. So, unfortunately, play is probably not going to be too fast.”
Among the key changes are that players now have just three minutes to search for a ball instead of five, while drops can be taken from knee, rather than shoulder, height. Players are also allowed to putt on the green with flag still in a hole, although given the presence of caddies, it is unlikely that many will chose to do so, despite statistical evidence that a putt is more likely to drop with the pin in.
“If I have an eight footer to win a tournament, I couldn’t really take myself seriously if I kept the pin in,” said Thomas. “It just would be such a weird picture on TV to see me celebrating with the pin in and my ball resting up against it. If I have a putt I’m trying to make, the pin is definitely coming out.”
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