{"id":357838,"date":"2026-01-07T22:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T22:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/357838\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T22:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T22:33:11","slug":"pga-tour-makes-major-change-to-controversial-rule-and-tournament-winner-loves-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/357838\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour makes major change to controversial rule and tournament winner loves it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PGA Tour has confirmed a crucial change to their preferred lies rules ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

It comes ahead of the first event of the year in Hawaii next week.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour have changed their rules regarding preferred lies for the 2026 seasonCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

PGA Tour<\/a> events will now mirror the DP World Tour when preferred lies are in operation.<\/p>\n

From this year, players will be allowed to move their ball by up to a scorecard length instead of a club length.<\/p>\n

The alteration falls under the 2026 PGA Tour’s Model Local Rules.<\/p>\n

Preferred lies permits players to lift, clean and place their ball on the fairway when the surface is muddy or wet.<\/p>\n

READ MORE GOLF NEWS<\/p>\n

The ruling is generally in operation following heavy rainfall during tournaments.<\/p>\n

PGA Tour rule change explained<\/p>\n

With the change, the new rule now reads: “The relief area for placing a ball when using preferred lies has been reduced from a club-length to the length of a scorecard.<\/p>\n

“This will be denoted by a green sticker on your scorecard.”<\/p>\n

In a further explanation of the rule change, the PGA Tour said: “A scorecard length is used universally by other organisations and will provide fairer outcomes during competition as the ball will be placed from closer to its original spot.<\/p>\n

“The Tour philosophy when preferred lies is used does not change.<\/p>\n

“It is used only in cases of extreme mud throughout the golf course, when relief from temporary water takes a player outside the fairway, or when poor fairway conditions are likely to negatively impact the competition.<\/p>\n

\"Dustin<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Players will be able to move their ball by a scorecard length instead of a club length when preferred lies are in useCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“If a ball is placed outside of the scorecard length by mistake, it can be corrected without penalty before the next stroke is made.”<\/p>\n

The rule change has already received the approval of a current PGA Tour star.<\/p>\n

World no.37 Michael Kim welcomed the measure as he wrote on X: “Great new rule change to the PGA Tour lift, clean and place rule. Instead of a full club length relief, it\u2019s only scorecard relief.<\/p>\n

“Experienced it during the DP World Tour and thought it was much better. A full club length can really change the angle of a chip shot some times.”<\/p>\n

Kim won on the DP World Tour last year, clinching the FedEx Open de France back in September.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

PGA Tour star Kim has hailed the rule change, which will mirror the DP World TourCredit: Getty\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Golfers will have less room for manoeuvre this yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he is also a former winner on the PGA Tour, having tasted victory at the 2018 John Deere Classic.<\/p>\n

The rule change is set to come into operation for the start of the 2026 PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

Following the cancellation of The Sentry<\/a>, the first event will be the Sony Open in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

This year’s edition of the tournament at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu will take place from January 15 to 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The PGA Tour has confirmed a crucial change to their preferred lies rules ahead of the 2026 season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[43452,5904,137521,8693,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-357838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-dp-world-tour","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-michael-kim","11":"tag-pga-tour","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}