“Real Reason” Matt Fitzpatrick wasn’t allowed to change he fumes at “OUTRAGEOUS” rules decision

[@AaronCrann]

Hey Alex your mic is not on. Just letting you know.

[@1pierrr]

Had a crack in it… his editor wouldn’t let him change it.

[@atthebrink74]

@@1pierrr😂

[@danielterry382]

I think Matt Fitzpatrick got screwed by the rules Officials. The argument seems to be lack of significant damage, they are wrong, the club was compromised. It cost him strokes.

[@mattmcray3249]

And may have cost him a huge amount of money.

[@MC-nb6jx]

What a farce.. Cracked club face, the club is not going to perform how it’s designed 🙄

[@PetSKi67]

Yah, even a hack like me, 3-handicapper feel the difference, when center strikes don’t go anywhere. Had my Mavrik cracked on the face and the ball behaved weirdly. Also, if it haven’t cracked on the on-going round, it would not meet the equipment rule.

[@PetSKi67]

However, you may change - replace a broken club, if it was not mullested during the round.

[@kolpo74]

Hey mate, i think something went wrong with the audio recording. Cheers!

[@stevefletcher7531]

Need to sort your audio out, it was the same on the last video too

[@oahujuniorgolfassociationc6656]

This is an old rule being applied to completely different equipment. The million dollar question is: Do we think the usga would have openly disagreed if they did allow Fitz to change clubs? I doubt it. This little dot back in the day would change nothing even for a pro. And honestly a weekend warrior may not even notice a difference now. But at the elite level with this equipment it’s obviously very noticeable. Ironically Rory broke a shaft picking up a tee but did not ask for anything because it seemed like a bit of anger had something to do with it. The question to ask in Fitz case is if this is an example of why roll backs are needed to equipment like drivers. So they aren’t so fragile and become so diminished by something so small. Bryson talks about needing to go through driver heads constantly. Rory I believe had the issue that his club over time was outperforming standards, which is nuts. That being said, they probably need to reduce the threshold. The important thing is that a player not be trying to bring in a 15th club of sorts for some strategic reason. I also really don’t like the 1 ball rule. Many times all golfers have is a variety of balls. I get rules makers not wanting someone to have a different strategic ball for each hole, but if that isn’t the intention golfers should be able to use whatever ball they have. But anyways again super curious the usga take on this. id like to see mike say they made the correct interpretation under the rules but we will be looking at this issue very closely.

[@arroyo3467]

Any crack on the face is significant damage, what more do you want in order to fit the criteria?

[@mowgli1747]

I was panicking for first minute trying to work out if my phone speaker is broken

[@drdarren666]

Golf is so stupid sometimes. Get a life- replace the club and get on with it

[@neilrober]

silly ruling, driver was clearly damaged. Replace it.

[@PetSKi67]

Rules officials are mostly amateur comps in their past. And have a position, which they abuse sometimes.

[@josephroberts6865]

Would have been nice to see a close up of the crack. You even alluded to showing it but didn’t.

[@charlesbarry7479]

Who even watches the joke known as the PGA Tour?

[@flamingodragon7138]

Me

[@gregschulte2953]

devastating for Matt. Had a similar crack on my driver and it was unplayable. Stuff like this among other things may explain why viewership is way down on tour. Balls in the middle of the fairway in deep divots, cracked drivers....stop the madness.

[@BonanzaPilot]

I don't understand why he didn't just ask Scottie and change the head. Why even get a rules official involved. Scottie would have been a real bro had he grabbed the driver and broke it further

[@mikejones8892]

You are allowed only 13 clubs at the start of a round. Swapping a club for any reason makes the new club the 14th therefore disqualifying the player.

[@soulsurvivor3428]

Details.... As you said the head was "defective." Damaged by outside forces doesn't include the ball.

[@alienrenders]

Isn't this the USGA rule 4.1? "A player is not allowed to replace a damaged club, except when it is damaged during the round by an outside influence or natural forces, or by someone other than the player or his or her caddie." Isn't this natural forces? So the referee was arguing about if it was considered "damaged" and they ruled it wasn't damaged. That's kind of bonkers. I think they should have a failsafe rule. My suggestion is that a player can change any club at any time for 1 stroke penalty. This would help for cases like this where the ruling doesn't go their way but the club is clearly no longer working.

[@PetSKi67]

A broken club is ok to change, if it was broken during the play and not abused by the player in anger.

[@alienrenders]

@@PetSKi67 It was broken and they didn't let him change it. That's the discussion.

[@markgogos2674]

The Rule official just applied the rule as he was supposed to. PGAT has Model Local Rule G-9 in place (as per the Official Rules of Golf), which clearly states, in two places, that a crack does not constitute "significant damage". It was not some personal judgement call or anything against the player, it was just the rules official doing his job and applying the rule as written. When it comes to sports rules, you can only apply the rules as written, you cannot apply emotions and feelings. If you don't like the rules, don't play the game.

[@w1ldwesty]

Depends how the rule is applied. If 'significant damage' is determined via visual inspection then they applied the rule correctly. As stupid as it is. But if by an observable performace impact then loss of 80 yards is significant.

[@whenmullet2674]

One of the officials said it has to be caved in on itself to be taken out of play. They have turned down more egregious damage requests before.

[@billtran9134]

Join LIV

[@gregorybolin4672]

When i cracked my old 95 dt driver the same swing thar cracked it the ball went 50yds shorter.

[@subpar6812]

Both PGA and DP World Tour had dissmal officials the past week. I found it utterly disconcerting that high level Tours get this quality of referrees. It is causing undue frustration to players and need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

[@gerharduslaing8061]

What would have happened if it was Tiger, Scottie, Zander, etc?

[@jonmilburn5259]

If that "exception" to the rule allowed that ruling then it should be changed. Ridiculous to make a guy play with a club that doesn't perform. He's at a disadvantage and shouldn't be. Stupid rule.

[@dgriley7280]

I’m glad you tapped the mic to make sure it was working… 😂😂😂

[@nealfreeman01]

Not a good look for titleist if the face cracks in the center of the face? I can see the crack around a weld or outside the face like on the TM.

[@brianbrookes6559]

Matt should have overruled official and change the driver and sort it out after the round get a second opinion

[@craigunderwood4032]

Matt was mad about it but kept his cool, many other top players would have spat the dummy much worse

[@thomasholland6291]

What do expect from a sport that wont let you take relief from a divot. Hit a ball out of bounds and reload for 3? Hit the ball in water drop for 3 200 yards further up the fairway . No sense to 19th century rules not updated to allow for the amount of players playing golf now.

[@robertcoleman6153]

A complete inability to apply common sense on the part of the official. Was the player trying to gain an unfair advantage? No.

[@Tiyokb]

Do you review before posting? It’s absolutely annoying trying to listen to this video without your mic on. It would’ve only taken a few extra minutes to re-record. Pull it down and re-post.

[@bradleyrosenberg8201]

If this was tiger they would have stopped play and let him warm up with a brand new club….what a joke. The pga tour has become a complete joke.

[@anthonycoleman1909]

My wife walked by when I was watching this and thought that I was watching a silent movie.

[@stiggsmasta]

you didnt turn it up? you just watched anyway?

[@anthonycoleman1909]

@@stiggsmasta my sister is deaf so I helped her learn to lip read. It helps sometimes.

[@Stuart.Mckenzie]

The yanks have never got over Matt winning “their” Open, imagine if this had happened to say Scottie or Xander, I think you know where I’m going with this!

[@terryjeyes1371]

Sorry can't hear ya had to turn it off

[@SLAMBANGO]

You're not focusing on how the driver was damaged in the first place. Please focus on that because that is the most important aspect

[@cleveland2022]

How was it damaged? I did not see it. Did he slam the club or throw it against something?

[@oahujuniorgolfassociationc6656]

@@cleveland2022It was just damaged hitting the ball most likely.

[@stevenjenkins3882]

Stop asking for thin club heads. TRAMPOLINE EFFECT.

[@BJ-WHU]

Too many referees are trying to cause controversy as they want to be in the limelight. What a stupid decision. I would sack both referees from the next two tournaments. Just like VAR! 😤😤😤

[@albertmaynard1147]

5:30 "look at these images right here" ... doesn't show the images ... OK then.

[@kevinharris3672]

Your sound system is not working properly

[@cleveland2022]

It was hard to tell on the video on the PGA Tour website, however, unless it was damaged by slamming the club, any crack should be automatic no questions asked replacement. The significant damage wording in the rule is just asinine

[@Lucky13Twice]

Can't even hear the video without earbuds

[@bongofly]

is that mic for show - Love it !

[@alanking5001]

Think there's a crack in your microphone are you allowed to change it halfway through a vlog 😉

[@williamsanders6092]

Was the driver face metal or carbon composite?

[@smeagainagain]

did Rory get his replaced

[@oahujuniorgolfassociationc6656]

No. He did not even ask.

[@dg-wq4py]

Join Liv Matt,PGA have had it.

[@soothsayerbh1038]

I don't think he likes wearing a clowns outfit, he's fine where he is.

[@seanmawson6286]

Now now Mr salty 😅😅😅😅​@@soothsayerbh1038

[@camden1977]

I think you need to calm down and stop carrying on.

[@shankedit65]

Matt is the wrong colour according to the prime minister

[@tamoose1]

This is the worst video I’ve seen in 15 years….

[@jgoog7442]

It's been explained. If they allowed this type of damage to permit replacement, they feel the club manufacturers would take advantage by making the club faces thinner to get more flex and more distance. So the rule forces the club makers to make the face thick enough not to fail.

[@gregschulte2953]

I thought there were limits in place regarding face thickness-could be wrong.

[@pererik1202]

1. Thinner cost less to manufacture. 2. Broken drivers needs to be replaced more often, i.e good for manufacturers bad for customers/players.

[@billfrohberg3206]

You need a new spund engineer.

[@oahujuniorgolfassociationc6656]

On that note you could use a new spell check. (Sound)

[@michaelwhelan93]

i'm wondering would an American golfer receive the same ruling - one in particular ?

[@edanzore]

Stupid comment

[@oahujuniorgolfassociationc6656]

Jordan ? Tiger ? Scottie ?

[@A-FrameWedge]

Hard to have an informed decision without having a good look at the club, yet all the Brits are blowing gasket without knowing shit.

[@coobay4786]

Bad reffs🙉

[@brettcollier7906]

I'm quite sure if it was an American golfer they would've agreed to letting him replace it. .......

[@iangodsell9073]

Hope it happens to Scottie next time and we will see if the same rule is applied. After all, we now have a precedent!