Matt Fitzpatrick Driver Ruling a ‘Disgrace’ after Cracked Club Can’t Be Replaced

Perhaps one of the most head-scratching moments of the BMW Championship had nothing to do with a shot, but a ruling on an obviously broken club.

Matt Fitzpatrick called a rules official to him on Sunday to explain that his driver face had cracked. The rules official recognized and confirmed that the crack was present, but refused to let him replace the club because it was not “significant” enough to warrant a replacement:

Matt Fitzpatrick, 36th in the FedExCup entering the week, called for a ruling for a driver crack.

Under the USGA’s Model Local Rule G-9, a club is not replaceable solely because of a crack, and he was not permitted to replace it at the time due to lack of significant damage. pic.twitter.com/X5kEPkee1q

— PGA TOUR LIVE (@PGATOURLIVE) August 25, 2024

Fitzpatrick called the occurrence a “disgrace” and “outrageous” after stating that all he would need to do was replace the head of the club. He noted he had two additional driver heads in his locker in the clubhouse.

The rules of golf are sometimes so baffling, especially considering rules officials confirmed the presence of the crack.

The PGA TOUR’s Chief referee, Stephen Cox, explained the TOUR’s ruling:

“The rule details a number of situations where the club would be allowed to be replaced, but the rule states that a crack in and of itself does not meet the threshold of being significantly damaged. In our assessment — not only the first official, but also a couple of others including myself — that threshold of being significantly damaged hadn’t been met. Although there was a small crack in the face, there was no separation in the metals and on that basis that threshold wasn’t met.”

It might be one of the craziest technicalities considering they admit there was a crack, which would have obviously caused an impact on Fitzpatrick’s play and the performance of the club.

Cover Image via BroBible