Rory McIlroy Caught Out By Rule Change As He Gets Two-Shot Penalty

After a stunning start, Rory McIlroy suffered a late collapse including a hat-trick of bogeys and a two-shot penalty at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - saying he got caught out by a recent rule change.

McIlroy led after playing his first 14 holes at Spyglass Hill in six under, before three straight bogeys saw him finish with what he thought was a three-under round of 69.

However, it got worse for the Northern Irishman as he was given a two-shot penalty for an illegal drop on the seventh hole - his 16th of the day after starting on the 10th tee.

That saw him eventually end the day with a one-under 71 and dropped him down into T39 spot to ruin a promising start to his PGA Tour campaign.

After hitting his tee shot on the seventh into thick rough, McIlroy opted to take an unplayable, then dropped his ball slightly to the right of the direct line to the hole - something which was allowed following a rule change in 2019, but then changed back again in 2023 to require players drop on the direct line.

The change caught McIlroy out, and cost him two shots as he was notified of the infringement in the scoring hut after his round.

"So I took an unplayable on 7 and I took it back online," McIlroy explained. "Then unbeknownst to me the rule changed in January 2023 where you used to be able to come back online, take a club length either side. 

"That was changed in 2019 to be able to do that. I wasn't aware that that rule was changed again in 2023, so I took a drop thinking of the 2019 rules when everything was sort of changed not knowing that the rule was changed again in 2023, so got a two-stroke penalty there."

Despite the sloppy end to his round, McIlroy was generally pleased with where his game is at the start of his PGA Tour season.

"Played really well for the first 14 holes and then obviously had a bit of a bad finish there. But for the most of it I hit the ball pretty well," he said. 

"There's a lot of good stuff in there. Had that run of holes on 6, 7 and 8, but I mean apart from that, I actually played very well.

"I feel like my game's in really good shape. I'm hitting it well, feel comfortable around the greens, on the greens. Yeah, game feels in good shape. It was just one of those - I just let it get away from me those last few holes. "

Belgium's Thomas Detry leads the tournament on nine under, with Patrick Cantlay a shot behind and the in-form Matthieu Pavon just one stroke further back on seven under.

Pavon became the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour since 1907 when he claimed last week's Farmers Insurance Open, and seems to have maintained his form for the next leg of the West Coast swing.