PINEHURST, N.C. — The temptation can be to consult with a change within the scorecard process because the “Jordan Rule,” solely as a result of Jordan Spieth was the latest instance. Gamers now have a further quarter-hour to appropriate their scorecard earlier than it’s deemed to have been returned.
Gamers have been knowledgeable on the U.S. Open of the change. The USGA adopted the amended definition of when a card is “returned” on the U.S. Ladies’s Open two weeks earlier. It now goes into impact on most main excursions this week.
The PGA Tour mentioned the objective was “minimizing penalties or disqualifications associated to scorecard errors.”
Spieth was at Pinehurst No. 2 on the Sunday earlier than the U.S. Open. He mentioned Scott Langley, the USGA’s director of participant relations, approached him and mentioned, “This is not due to you. However that is what we’re doing right here.”
The scorecard beforehand was thought-about “returned” when the participant left the scoring space.
Spieth was battling abdomen points at Riviera when he made double bogey on the final gap for a 73, rushed up the hill to scoring, signed his card and hustled off to the lavatory. He inadvertently wrote down a 3 as a substitute of a 4 on the par-3 fourth gap, and subsequently signed for an incorrect rating and was disqualified.
Beneath the brand new rule, he would have had quarter-hour to repair the error or for an official to search out him and alert him to the error.
“For an trustworthy mistake that I assume might be the distinction within the event, I feel it is nice,” Spieth mentioned. “I do not assume it is a ability of the sport, particularly on the skilled stage. If any person plugged in a mistaken rating, they’ll return and replug it in.”
As for the quarter-hour, there’s a time stamp when a card is accepted, and the quarter-hour isn’t all the way down to the second. It would not occur fairly often, particularly on the PGA Tour the place scores are checked in opposition to a pc.
And there are exceptions. If a participant stays in scoring for quarter-hour (Phil Mickelson is understood to linger there), the scorecard can be thought-about returned when that participant leaves the realm. Additionally, the 15-minute rule might be affected by a playoff, or by tee occasions having to be posted instantly after a lower.
