Do the Rules of Golf require change after Spieth's latest disqualification?

There are 34 rules governing the formal playing of golf, a handful of which, if you were to break during competition, will lead to your disqualification.

Three-time major winning Jordan Spieth fell foul of one of those rules – Rule 6-6b – and was immediately disqualified following his second round at the 2024 Genesis Invitational being hosted on the Riviera club in suburban Santa Monica.

It’s been reported that it’s the first occasion in 263 PGA Tour events the Texas-born Spieth has been DQ’d from a tournament, and he did so by signing for an incorrect score in putting down a ‘3’ at the par-3 fourth hole when he played the hole in four shots.

The error was not recognised by tournament officials until after Spieth had left the scorer’s hut.

It was a cruel blow for Spieth, who after a super opening round of a 66 struggled on day two of the ‘Signature’ event in ending his round with an 18th double-bogey in a score of a two-over 73 to be back to three-under and 10 shots adrift of Patrick Cantlay, who led the field by five shots at 13-under.

Spieth later took to his ‘X’ account accepting responsibility for his actions.

Today, I signed for an incorrect scorecard and stepped out of the scoring area, after thinking I went through all procedures to make sure it was correct. Rules are rules, and I take full responsibility. I love this tournament and golf course as much as any on @PGATOUR so it hurts…

— Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) February 17, 2024

While it may be Spieth’s first DQ from a PGA Tour event, the American also was outed from the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am when he incorrectly picked-up his ball on Adare Manor’s 14th green, not realising the pro-am was both a team format and individual event.

Spieth’s expulsion at Riviera on top of Tiger Woods’ withdrawal plus also losing the likes of Wyndham Clark, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and last week’s Phoenix Open winner Nick Taylor to the weekend cut, clearly robbed the event of many of it’s original stars.

And while the loss of the tournament host Woods, after just a handful of second rounds holes, came as a shock so too did the manner of Spieth’s departure.

I recall standing outside the scorer’s hut on day three of the 2003 Open Championship when both Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik were disqualified for signing for wrong scorecards. Roe, who went into the week as world No 305, had jumped up the leaderboard with a third-round 67 and was set to head into the final day still in contention for a career-changing major success.

Playing alongside Roe was Parnevik, struggling to an 81, but with both players only realising after finishing their rounds that they had forgotten to swap scorecards before teeing off. Roe was doubly gutted and ruined a potential Royal St. George’s Sunday pairing with Woods and the opportunity to challenge for the biggest win of his life.

Headlines such as ‘The Dumbest Rule in all of Sports” while social media has also been in overdrive calling for the rule to be amended, including DP World Tour player Eddie Pepperell demanding the rules bodies adapt the regulations in order to prevent punishing both the player for their error as well as the fans and the sponsors by disqualifying one of the field.

Pepperell said: “Why are we still doing this guys? Nobody benefits in this. @RandA and @USGA Can we please look at changing this rule to a softer penalty please?”

Mike McGee, and husband to Annika Sorenstam, said: “It’s time to stop the nonsense of players being disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. That rule was meant for the old days when it was only the players in the group that could vouch for each other. Today there are hundreds if not thousands of people following these marquee groups each week. Everybody knows what everybody shot. Computers, walking scorers, media, etc. A simple scorecard signing error should not matter”.

American sportscaster Shane Bacon seems to have suggested there should be one rule for Spieth and a different rule for everyone else by going onto to his ‘X’ account and remaking:

Golf rules are pretty hilarious when you really break them down – “the 12th ranked golfer in the world was told today that he can’t continue to do his job because of math.”

— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) February 17, 2024

Barstool Sports added their two bits worth declaring on their ‘X’ account: “The Dumbest Rule In Sports Strikes Again: Jordan Spieth DQ’d From The Genesis Invitational For Committing The Blasphemous Sin Of Signing An Incorrect Scorecard”.

Then there’s the website ‘Pro Golf Now’ adding what transpired on Friday at the Genesis Invitational to the ‘complete disaster’ start of 2024 that the PGA Tour’s faced these past few weeks that includes the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am being cut to 54-holes due to extreme weather conditions and the player backlash to the events at last weeks WM Phoenix Open in Arizona.

However, not everyone is in agreement and not everyone who plays the game is under the watchful eye of TV cameras as Spieth’s fellow PGA Tour colleague Dylan Wu reminds us through his ‘X’ account:

Amazes me how often this happens in pro golf. Math is hard….I guess . Takes 5 seconds for the Tour officials to read your scores back and for you to check them. Hot take but this is equivalent to forgetting to write your name down on a test lol. https://t.co/nIxTn97sJn

— Dylan Wu (@dylan_wu59) February 17, 2024

And this is where Wu is correct and the likes of Bacon and Barstool Sports fail to accept the bigger picture, as Rule 6-6b is not in place just for those professionals who are the focus of TV cameras and have their scores read back to them at the end of each every of their rounds but also those millions playing the game who are teeing-up in club matches the world over.

It’s again why the game of golf will always be bigger than the collective sum of individuals playing the ancient club-and-ball game.