And the 2025 season was chock full of all of the above.<\/p>\n
From cheating accusations to career-changing violations and beyond, here are the most costly, controversial and downright strange rules fiascos of the 2025 pro golf season, in no particular order.<\/p>\n
Pro DQ\u2019d for bizarre incident: \u2018I didn\u2019t cheat\u2019<\/p>\n
The first incident we\u2019ll cover came at the DP World Tour\u2019s premier event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in September.<\/p>\n
There, veteran Marcel Siem was disqualified for a bizarre incident on the 18th hole<\/a>. After losing his tee shot right in a water hazard, but not out of bounds, Siem mistakenly hit a provisional.<\/p>\n But it gets worse. After spectators found his original tee shot, Siem went ahead and continued playing his provisional. Given that he wasn\u2019t supposed to hit a provisional in the first place, Siem was quickly DQ\u2019d in the scorer\u2019s tent.<\/p>\n Later that night, Siem took to social media to counter any cheating claims, saying, \u201cHey, guys, just wanted to give you a quick insight on what happened today. I just wanted to let you know I didn\u2019t cheat. I would never do that, so I got disqualified, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n Shane Lowry\u2019s controversial penalty at Open confirmed by video<\/p>\n Amid the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the site of his 2019 Open win, Shane Lowry received a penalty that left him frustrated and confused.<\/p>\n On the 12th hole in Round 2, Lowry made a practice swing in thick rough next to his ball, then proceeded to hit his shot. The TV broadcast noted that his ball appeared to \u201coscillate\u201d after his practice swing.<\/p>\n \u2018Hard to take\u2019: Shane Lowry rules controversy sparks confusion at Open Championship<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n In the scorer\u2019s tent after the round, rules officials told Lowry video reviews showed his ball moved, and he was hit with a two-shot penalty.<\/p>\n Later, Lowry revealed that he disagreed with the ruling but feared fighting the accusation would hurt his reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in there with the rules official and wasn\u2019t arguing my case, but I\u2019m disappointed that they don\u2019t have more camera angles on it,\u201d Lowry said after the round. \u201cThe one zoomed in slow motion, they\u2019re trying to tell me if it doesn\u2019t move from the naked eye, if you don\u2019t see it moving, it didn\u2019t move. I told them I definitely was looking down towards the ball as I was taking that practice swing, and I didn\u2019t see it move.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I had to take the penalty because, to be honest, whether it was or not, but I had to take the penalty because I can\u2019t have my name talked about or tossed around like that, and I just get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy denied relief from \u2026 banana peel<\/p>\n World No. 2 Rory McIlroy had a historic 2025 season, highlighted by his victory at the Masters. But the most bizarre moment of McIlroy\u2019s year came in his very last start.<\/p>\n The five-time major winner made a highly anticipated appearance at the 2025 Australian Open at Royal Melbourne in December. In the third round, McIlroy hit a shot into the rough that came to rest in the most unlikely of scenarios.<\/p>\n Why Rory McIlroy couldn\u2019t take relief from banana-peel nightmare<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n His ball was located behind a large tuft of grass \u2026 with a banana peel resting on top of it<\/a>. Fearing any attempt to move the banana peel would cause his ball to move, thereby eliciting a penalty stroke, McIlroy was forced to hit away.<\/p>\n After his round, McIlroy explained that he was confident that he didn\u2019t deserve a free drop in the scenario, so he didn\u2019t even bother calling in a rules official to help.<\/p>\n \u201cThe banana, it\u2019s a loose impediment and it was rested on the ball,\u201d he explained after the round. \u201cSo if I moved the banana peel the ball would\u2019ve moved. I just didn\u2019t even try.\u201d<\/p>\n 2 Korn Ferry Tour pros DQ\u2019d after 1 reports rules violation<\/p>\n At the Korn Ferry Tour\u2019s 2025 Memorial Health Championship, Cole Hammer\u2019s uneasiness with a moment in the first round resulted in his disqualification. It also got his playing partner DQ\u2019d<\/a>.<\/p>\n When pro Nelson Ledesma\u2019s caddie flashed four fingers at Hammer after Hammer had hit a 4-iron on the 17th hole, Hammer flashed four fingers back at him, confirming that was the club he hit.<\/p>\n Pro\u2019s rule violation confession results in double disqualification<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n The Rules of Golf prohibit players and caddies from giving advice to one another, including information on club selection.<\/p>\n The incident didn\u2019t sit well with Hammer, so he reported it to rules officials in the morning. That\u2019s when they determined that both players should be DQ\u2019d.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think that they would be disqualified,\u201d Hammer said of his playing partner Ledesma and his caddie. \u201cI just thought since I was the one who gave the sign that I would be disqualified. And I thought that was worst-case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n Rules controversy strikes viral Internet Invitational<\/p>\n The inaugural Internet Invitational took the golf world by storm this fall, and it was not without its rules controversies.<\/p>\n Perhaps the biggest of all arrived in the middle of the final million-dollar match. At one point, competitor Malosi Togisala was accused of using the slope function on his rangefinder, which was not allowed during the tournament.<\/p>\n A Zapruder-like investigation followed<\/a>, with accusations and recriminations flying around Big Cedar Lodge. In the end, Togisala denied any wrongdoing and held strong, so no penalty was called.<\/p>\n Rare penalty at Q-School costs pro his PGA Tour card<\/p>\n Ben Kohles was on the verge of earning his PGA Tour<\/a> card for 2026 at Q-School, when disaster struck.<\/p>\n In a share of the lead during the final round, Kohles lost his tee shot at the 8th hole into a wooded area. As he tried to move loose impediments from around his lie, his ball moved.<\/p>\n That resulted in a one-shot penalty<\/a>, and Kohles made double bogey to fall out of the lead.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t get better at the next hole. At the 9th, Kohles hit his tee shot into the water, eliciting another penalty and another double. He eventually signed for a five-over 75, which dropped him into a T29 at six under, five shots short of a playoff for the final Tour card.<\/p>\n Pro suspended after \u2018reckless infringement\u2019 of rules<\/p>\n Swiss pro Cedric Gugler got into a whole lot of hot water this year on the DP World Tour\u2019s junior circuit, the HotelPlanner Tour.<\/p>\n Pro \u2018recklessly\u2019 broke the rules. Now he\u2019s paying the price<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n At a tournament in the Czech Republic this year, Gugler was disqualified for \u201cplaying his ball from the wrong place on putting surfaces on multiple occasions\u201d during the first round.<\/p>\n But the punishment didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n In November, an Independent Disciplinary Panel ruled that Gugler had \u201cconducted himself in a manner that fell below the standards of behavior and ethical conduct expected of Tour members.\u201d Furthermore, his actions in the Czech tournament constituted a \u201creckless infringement of the Rules of Golf.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of the findings, Gugler was suspended for the first 10 events of 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n DP World Tour pro fined for \u2018breach\u2019 of behavior<\/p>\n At the DP World Tour\u2019s Nexo Championship in August, pro Sam Bairstow disqualified himself after learning of a penalty he committed on the 14th hole. But after an outcry from fellow pros, Bairstow was also fined<\/a> for a \u201cbreach of the DP World Tour\u2019s Code of Behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n So what happened? A fan video showed Bairstow\u2019s ball move before he hit his second shot from deep rough on the 14th. He should have placed the ball back and taken a one-shot penalty, but he did not.<\/p>\n When confronted by rules officials after signing his scorecard, the pro first denied any wrongdoing, but eventually disqualified himself when shown the footage of the penalty.<\/p>\n Bairstow reportedly received a \u20ac25,000 fine for his actions.<\/p>\n Davis Riley self-reports rangefinder penalty<\/p>\n Safely inside the cutline on the 17th hole at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Davis Riley\u2019s heart sank when he looked through his rangefinder and saw two numbers. One represented the yardage for his shot, the other showed his slope-adjusted yardage.<\/p>\n Players were permitted to use distance-measuring devices early in the 2025 PGA Tour season, but they were not allowed to use the slope function.<\/p>\n Riley didn\u2019t think twice. He self-reported the violation and received a two-shot penalty<\/a> to fall outside the cut line. Incredibly, he eagled the 18th to make the cut after all.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a game \u2014 it\u2019s a gentleman\u2019s game,\u201d Riley said after his round. \u201cThat\u2019s just something, when you start out with that, that\u2019s the integrity of the game knowing guys are going to keep that there. You kind of have to have that same trust as if guys, what happened to me today, have the security to say, \u2018Hey, I shot this, and it was accidentally on slope.’\u201d<\/p>\n Pro\u2019s slow-play penalty threatens Tour card hopes<\/p>\n At the 2025 Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital Championship, the second of four Korn Ferry Tour Finals events, Bryson Nimmer was in 36th place in the season-long standings. He needed to jump into the top 20 over his final events to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026.<\/p>\n Slow-play penalty threatens pro\u2019s PGA Tour card hopes<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n It was a tall task, but one within reach. But Nimmer made his quest even harder when he earned a slow-play penalty at the event<\/a>. According to Tour officials, Nimmer took 68 seconds to play his approach shot on 18 in the opening round, which far exceeded the 40 seconds allotted for most shots.<\/p>\n Due to a rule change that increased the punishment for slow-play violations, Nimmer received a one-shot penalty. He would go on to miss the cut and finish 47th in the final Korn Ferry standings, missing out on a PGA Tour card but securing KFT status for 2026.<\/p>\n Amateur plummets down leaderboard after improving lie penalty<\/p>\n Thanks to his 2025 NCAA individual championship title, amateur Michael La Sasso earned invites into several PGA Tour events. And at the Sanderson Farms Championship near his college, Ole Miss, La Sasso thrilled the local fans with an opening-round 66 that put him in second place.<\/p>\n But it wouldn\u2019t last. Unbeknownst to fans, La Sasso earned a penalty on the 6th for violating Rule 8.1a which governs improving lies<\/a>. A two-shot penalty. That dropped the star amateur to four under and into a tie for 13th.<\/p>\n On Friday, La Sasso struggled to a 76 and missed the cut.<\/p>\n 2 pros penalized for playing wrong ball on same hole<\/p>\n The last rules scenario one the list is one you may have never seen before.<\/p>\n During the final round of the 2025 Sentry, PGA Tour pros Cam Davis and Will Zalatoris committed what might be the most embarrassing rules violation of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n ![\"zoomed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/shane2.jpg\")
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\n Alan Bastable <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/RoryMcIlroy_BananaPeel.jpg\")
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\n Dylan Dethier <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"Cole](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cole-Hammer.jpg\")
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\n Jessica Marksbury <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"Cedric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cedric_gugler.jpg\")
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\n Alan Bastable <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"Bryson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bryson-nimmer-korn-ferry-tour-slow-play.jpg\")
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\n Kevin Cunningham <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"Cam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CamDavis.jpg\")
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