Midway through round three of the 2025 John Deere Classic, PGA Tour pro Kevin Roy found himself in the middle of an interesting Rules scenario.
The American had birdied each of his opening four holes at TPC Deere Run and was firmly in contention for a maiden PGA Tour title when he reached the 414-yard par-4 11th.
After striking his tee shot 253 yards right down Broadway, Roy’s second effort was far less accurate and left him in a green-side bunker, short and right of the putting surface.
With 36 feet to the hole, Roy failed to advance his golf ball over the steep face of the bunker and watched it roll back down the slope to just a short distance in front of him.
Then came the possible controversy. According to Fried Egg Golf’s Joseph LaMagna, a nearby Rules official at the course gave permission for the tournament leader to rake his footprint (made during shot three) before his next stroke since it “wasn’t in his line of play.”
Tournament leader Kevin Roy left his greenside bunker shot in the bunker, right above his footprint. Rules official ruled he could rake his footprint before his next shot since it “wasn’t in his line of play.”Huh? This is within the rules??? pic.twitter.com/ge5FnATeLzJuly 5, 2025
Per USGA Rule 12.2b(2), it is permissible for a player to “rake the bunker to care for the course before playing, so long as you aren’t testing the bunker or improving the conditions for your next stroke.” This relates to improving a player’s lie, area of intended stance, area of intended swing or line of play.
In a subsequent X post, LaMagna appeared to indicate the raking of the bunker could not possibly have failed to improve the conditions of his upcoming stroke since there was a small pile of sand which looked quite close to the ball.
However, a later response from Roy himself explained that his golf ball had actually come to rest much further away from the old footprint than the TV camera behind the incident suggested.
Sharing his first-hand experience of what happened, Roy said on X: “First off, I called a Rules official over. TV made the footprint look much closer than it actually was, and since the footprint was not in my way of playing, the next shot we were able to rake it. Now, if the footprint was in the way, therefore [we] would not be able to…
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