The Rules Are Your Friend Files: Rory's Bad Drop Edition

Very good perspective from the rules official side of things, thanks to Missy Jones who penned an item following Rory McIlroy's proclamation that some of the rules are "stupid."

Rory’s ball on the second hole came to rest on a spectator crosswalk that was deemed to be ground under repair. The committee did that as a SERVICE to the players, not as a trap to give them penalties! McIlroy could have played the ball as it lie under Rule 25-1, but he elected to take a drop within one club length of his nearest point of relief no nearer the hole. The rule says the player must take complete relief, which means that if you CHOOSE to get out of that ground under repair, you need to make sure that the lie of your ball, your stance and the area of your intended swing are completely free of junk. Not only that, but since he made a drop that had his foot still in the ground under repair, Rule 20-6 (we call it the eraser rule for a reason) would have let him pick it up and make a proper drop with no penalty! The rules do this as a PROTECT to the player and aren’t being “nit-picky” as I’ve read in other articles.