Report

Presumably you had a rule book with you, I don't remember a phone app being available back then.  Clearly someone was wrong. Here's what the 2016-2018 rules said, per www.ruleshistory.com   Clearly he was wrong, and it seems tat you were right, if he wanted FREE relief from the path.  He certainly COULD take Unplayable Ball relief, for 1 Penalty Stroke, and drop within 2 clublengths, which apparently is what he did.      At this point, he has a new situation, and he certainly CAN take free relief from the cart path in this situation, and that relief certainly could put him in the fairway.  

It's so funny. We actually looked it up years ago and that only lead to more debate. Each of us convinced we were correct. 

I just found out, Face Balanced Is NOT Enough!  Turns out you need Face Balanced AND Face Down!  Check it out:  SQ Putter Hybrid - Performance Golf AS FEATURED IN: NEVER 3-PUTT AGAIN: New Putter Moves Straight Back Straight Through FOR YOU Why is a “straight back straight through” putter the easiest way to make more putts? Because that… ELIMINATES an open or... How on Earth do you expect to ever make a putt with the putter you are using!?!?!?!?!?!?

Okay, admittedly I'm sort of a Matsuyama fan.  I really don't have a problem with this. Did the golfer who shot the lowest score win? ... Yes. Did he cheat in some way? ... No. Athletes are getting better, faster, stronger, more highly trained, using statistical analysis, reaching a much deeper pool of potential players, etc...  Here's a fun bit of trivia.  In 1924 the lowest recorded "known" golf score for a 72-hole tournament on was 12 under par for a 276. (There may have been lower scores, but records from 1924 being what they were, this is believed to be the lowest at the time.)  Hideki Matsuyama shoots a 35 under 257. Okay that was on a par 73 course, but what ever. If we adjust the 1924 score of 276 for a par 73 course, that comes out to 280.  So, 280 in 1924 is less than 10% higher than 257 in 2024. In 1924 the world record for the mile was 4:10.4  In 2024 the world record for the mile is 3:43.13 That's an improvement of 11%.  So, over the last 100 years there's been a 10% improvement in golf and an 11% improvement in running the mile . .... It's funny that I don't hear any talk about making the mile longer? 😁     BTW - As you all know I went to a Wiccan woman who operated a boutique malt shop in Southern Rhodesias and math is hard so you may want to check my math... 🤷‍♂️

Pretty cool to see that TW will be going on Grant Horvat's youtube channel for a match.    Wondering if he will be involved when Grant and Phil start their 2 v 2 series this month....