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Matt Fitzpatrick was faced with a rare scenario at the BMW Championship in August when his driver suffered a crack. The PGA Tour pro noticed the issue on his driver clubface during Sunday's final round of the competition. However, he was not able to replace the damaged club as it was not a ‘significant damage,’ according to the rules.
Fitzpatrick was left fuming with the officials’ decision. Months later, the 30-year-old shed light on the same and claimed that the USGA is now ‘changing the rule.’ The Englishman stated that the officials seemed ‘pretty strong’ on replacing the existing rule that left him agitated at the competition in Wentworth Club.
The golfer claimed that it was an ‘opinion-based rule’ which often leads to confusion in such scenarios. He said it made the rule a “bit silly.”
Replying to a media query about the incident at BMW, Matt Fitzpatrick said ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, as quoted by ASAP Sports:
“I think they are changing the rule. I think they are pretty strong on that; that they want to change that. I think the other thing with it, though, is it's an opinion-based rule, and there's multiple arguments to it because one referee's opinion could differ to another referee's opinion. That almost makes the rule a bit silly.”
Fitzpatrick went on to address the quality of the drivers as well. The European golfer stated that the clubs were being made thinner and faster.
Matt Fitzpatrick added:
“But I also understand their side, that drivers are being made thinner and thinner nowadays. A driver cracks and you can replace it with a new one that's just as good or whatever, then I understand that manufacturers might make them even thinner and faster. So, I understand that, too… I think for me, the frustration was, even more so, the situation, that I had a good round going, you never know what could happen.”
The Englishman reiterated that his round might’ve ended differently if he was allowed to change the damaged driver.
Why wasn't Matt Fitzpatrick allowed to change the driver?
Matt Fitzpatrick called for a ruling on the eighth tee after noticing a crack in his driver at the 2024 BMW Championship. However, replacement wasn’t allowed as USGA's Model Local Rule G-9 allowed only ‘significantly damaged’ to be replaced. Officials deemed the damage on Fitzpatrick's driver to be a ‘minor crack.’
PGA Tour Chief Referee Stephen Cox said:
“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.”
Unsurprisingly, Fitzpatrick was left fuming after this. The English golfer, who started the competition at 36th in the FedExCup standings, finished the week at 1-under 287 after playing rounds of 74-72-71. He settled for a T35 finish at the competition and didn’t make it to the top-30 Tour Championship competitors.
Matt Fitzpatrick is back at St Andrews this weekend for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship after a short break from pro golfing following the BMW incident.
