Xander Schauffele holds a three-shot lead over the likes of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa after round one of the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, but his opening venture onto the Quail Hollow course was not without incident.
Schauffele made six birdies, an eagle, and a solitary bogey in his superb Thursday 64, but it could have been a far more tightly-bunched leaderboard if a rules incident on his penultimate hole had played out differently.
Standing on the par-4 8th at Quail Hollow – Schauffele’s penultimate hole – the American sprayed his drive out to the right and watched it fly towards some trees and bushes near a penalty area.
After almost three minutes of his entire group searching, Wyndham Clark located what he thought could be Schauffele’s ball near a fence but – crucially – just past the penalty area.
As the golf ball was right next to the property fence line, Schauffele consulted a PGA Tour rules official who agreed he was eligible for a free drop. The relief for Schauffele occurred because a ShotLink tower (Temporary Immovable Object) was between player and green just past a tiny one-foot window underneath the foliage.
🚨🫳👀 #WATCH — The full video of the Xander Schauffele #DropGate situation 😲 pic.twitter.com/nsUvXS2fK6May 9, 2024
Despite the unlikelihood of the 30-year-old Californian being able to actually shift his golf ball through the gap, Schauffele didn’t have to worry about it – instead, he dropped his ball onto some pine straw two club lengths closer to the fairway. The new ball position allowed Schauffele a much clearer look at the green and ultimately helped him make a par which seemed extremely unlikely mere minutes before.
The reaction from fans and journalists online was not favourable to the player, but Schauffele explained in his post-round press conference that while he “got really lucky” a few times, his ruling was perfectly legitimate.
Schauffele said: “Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”
Going on to explain the exact ruling from his point of view, the seven-time PGA Tour winner said: “Yeah, I hit it in…
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