'That's One Of Those Rules In Golf Where It's Like, Why Are We Making This So Complicated?' - Wyndham Clark Questions Rule He Almost Got Caught Out By At Arnold Palmer Invitational
The 2023 US Open champion almost fell foul of a little-known golf rule last week at Bay Hill - which he has described as "complicated"


Wyndham Clark has questioned one of golf's most difficult-to-police rules after almost being caught out last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 2023 US Open champion's drive ended up in its pitch mark on the 3rd hole during round two of last week's tournament at Bay Hill, after it landed, bounce up in the air and fell back into the indentation.
The ball bouncing up initially caused confusion on social media as some believed that his ball may have ended up in someone else's pitch mark - which would have been a 'play it as it lies' situation.
Most golfers know that they're allowed free relief from their own pitch marks, but rarely encounter a situation where a ball ends up in someone else's.
Thankfully for Clark, his drive was confirmed to have finished in his own pitch mark and the free drop he took from it was fully within the rules.
Clark's ball finished up in its own pitch mark at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which entitled him to free relief
Rule 16.3.a states: "Your ball is embedded only if it is in its own pitch-mark made as a result of your previous stroke and part of your ball is below the level of the ground."
A week on at the Players Championship, where he finished T2nd last year, the American revealed he was surprised to hear that the incident was even an incident at all after his round and that he wasn't trying to cheat.
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He does think that the rule is "complicated" and admitted that he would have been frustrated if he received a penalty.
"Obviously I found out after the round. I have a few comments on this rule in general. So I approached scoring and they approached me like, hey, there's something that's going to come up in media about what happened on 3," he said.
"I was like, on 3? I hit it in the middle of the fairway, hit it on the green and two-putt. I'm like, what are you talking about?
"He goes, it's your drop. I was like, what do you mean, did I do an improper drop? He said, well, we didn't know if you were plugged. Long story short is you're okay.
You can clean your ball and take free relief if your ball is embedded, but only if it's in your own pitch mark
"Then they showed me the video, and then it leads me to thinking, well, how are we supposed to know. We were 300 some yards away. The ball just hit - we didn't see the ball bounce from our distance, and we get up there and it's plugged. How was I supposed to know?
"No one told us. So my frustration was that if I did get stroked, how is that my fault when no one told me that I rolled into something, if I did roll into someone else's pitch mark. That's one of those rules in golf where it's like, why are we making this so complicated?
Clark finished T2nd to Scottie Scheffler at last year's Players Championship
"I can't see that, and if the volunteers don't tell me and I get stroked for something that I didn't know happened, it kind of seems unfair.
"But I am glad that it was correct because I wasn't trying to cheat by any means. We just walked up, ball was plugged, took an embedded ball rule."
Wyndham Clark responds to ball drop controversy from Bay Hill:“I wasn’t trying to cheat by any means. We walked up, ball was plugged, took an imbedded ball rule.”Side note: It’s wild how the term “stroked” has become mainstream. pic.twitter.com/OJNRLMdBUPMarch 12, 2025
Clark makes his seventh start of the year this week in Florida, having posted a best result of T15 at The Sentry in his opening event.
The World No.8 finished T22 at Bay Hill last week.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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