The 2019 PGA Tour season has only been underway for a little over a week but the new rulings made by the USGA have already had their criticism. By Lewis Blain.
PGA Tour Stars Question Knee-High Drop Rule
The new Rules have only been in force for a little over a week yet they have already caused quite a stir amongst Tour professionals.
Jordan Spieth, who is making his 2019 season debut at the Sony Open this week isn't sure why the rules have changed.
"One that I don’t really understand necessarily is the drop.
"You drop it knee height, but like, what’s the advantage of dropping it shoulder height? It’s actually probably a disadvantage, so why can’t you still do that? You should be able to drop it from shoulder to knee height in my opinion.
"It doesn’t do any good and honestly it’s like, a frustrating asterisk that I have to re-pick it up and re-drop from your knee."
Spieth then almost dropped from shoulder height during round one of the Sony Open:
A number of players are in a similar boat to Spieth following last week's Sentry Tournament of Champions. Bryson Dechambeau, a fan of putting with the flagstick in, called the knee-height Rule 'a bit absurd'.
The five-time PGA Tour winner said: "That you have to drop it from knee height is a bit absurd, unfortunately.
"I think that you should be able to go from knee height to shoulder height. There should be no issue with that, whatever you want to do, honestly."
Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy said, "We're saying that Brian Harman has got a big advantage, he can basically place it.
"Where you got someone like Tony Finau who is dropping it probably from like waist high for me."
The USGA quickly responded to the reactions in Hawaii by saying "It's not just a drop from knee-height, but now it's a focus on the relief area."
Thomas Pagel, senior managing director of governance of the USGA, added: "People say that dropping from shoulder-height is simple, and it is, but under the old rules, there were nine different times you had to re-drop. We wanted to eliminate all those complications."
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