PGA Tour pro admits he 'unintentionally cheated' after removing himself from tournament
A former top-100-ranked player has admitted that "unintentionally cheating" was the reason behind his withdrawal from Monday's qualifier for the Valspar Championship.
Sam Ryder, who has earned more than $10 million over the course of his golfing career, raised eyebrows when he suddenly withdrew from the qualifier mid-round.
The 36-year-old was playing reasonably well but after accidentally breaking a new PGA Tour rule around preferred lies, which is also known as "lift, clean and place", he decided to walk away.
When preferred lies rules were previously in place, a player was allowed to drop within a club length of their original spot after cleaning their ball.
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But ahead of the new season, the PGA Tour reduced the relief area for placing a ball from a club length to the length of a scorecard in a bid to avoid extreme mud, poor fairway conditions or temporary water.
Exceeding the area by mistake can be corrected without penalty before playing the next stroke, but Ryder was unaware and played by the old drop rules.
Speaking about the incident on the Any Given Monday podcast, he explained the "embarrassing" moment.
"I was embarrassed to say but last week I did the Monday in Brooksville, and I withdrew because I unintentionally cheated," said Ryder.
"It was lift, clean and place, and they changed the rule this year, which I knew; it was totally my fault. But I hadn't played lift, clean, and place under the new rule yet.
"We played nine holes, and I was three under, and I was cruising along. I think six under got through; I was playing fine."
"I realised I had not been doing the scorecard length; it didn't really gain anything for me, but I definitely knew there were a couple of situations where [it happened], so I withdrew."
"I was bummed about that, [but] it ended up working out; I got in," he added.
As he mentioned above, Ryder managed to book his place at the Valspar Championship after Akshay Bhatia withdrew before the first round.
PGA Tour rule change explained in full
The rule around preferred lies reads: "The relief area for placing a ball when using preferred lies has been reduced from a club-length to the length of a scorecard. This will be denoted by a green sticker on your scorecard."
In a further explanation, the PGA Tour said: "A scorecard length is used universally by other organisations and will provide fairer outcomes during competition as the ball will be placed from closer to its original spot.
"The Tour philosophy when preferred lies is used does not change.
"It is used only in cases of extreme mud throughout the golf course, when relief from temporary water takes a player outside the fairway, or when poor fairway conditions are likely to negatively impact the competition."
It adds: "If a ball is placed outside of the scorecard length by mistake, it can be corrected without penalty before the next stroke is made."
Topics: Golf
Jack Kenmare