Golf has updated one of its tricky rules for top male players.
Now, if a player leaves the scoring area and realizes their scorecard is wrong, they have 15 minutes to fix it without getting disqualified. PGA Tour pros shared their thoughts on this change.
Michael Kim, who won the John Deere Classic in 2018, confirmed the news on X. He said: “Oh wow. Just announced a rule change where even if you leave the scoring area, you get a 15 minute buffer window to make any changes to your score without getting DQ. I think it’s way better this way. Hopefully no more scorecard DQs in the future.”
Kim also shared more details from an official document that says this new rule starts right away for many men’s professional tours like PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, and DP World Tour.
Andrew Putnam had a different take. He questioned why players need to keep their own scores at all: “Such a dumb rule. In what other sport do players keep their scores?! We all have walking scorers with every group and every shot is calculated to the yard. Cmonnn people.”
Opinions from Players:
Ryan French from Monday Q Info thinks the change makes sense but believes Jordan Spieth’s recent disqualification pushed it through faster than usual: “Thousands of players sign incorrect score cards across the world …..No rule change. Jordan Spieth does it once in a signature event….rule changes 6 weeks later.”
Fans might feel that these updates are long overdue.
Back in February at the Genesis Invitational, Spieth signed for an incorrect score after his second round and left the scoring area before realizing his mistake—resulting in his disqualification because he recorded par instead of bogey on one hole.
Afterwards, Spieth admitted his error on X: “Today, I signed for an incorrect scorecard and stepped out of the scoring area after thinking I went through all procedures to make sure it was correct. Rules are rules, and I take full responsibility.”
With this new grace period rule in place now, such incidents could become rare or even disappear entirely.
What do you think about these changes?
