Pro gripes to rulesmakers about often-criticized rule. Does he have a point?

To scroll Pablo Larrazabal’s Twitter is to see all he’s thinking about. The shirtless celebration at the Solheim Cup? He wasn’t a fan. Jon Rahm’s LIV Golf victory? “Spain conquering the league.” That rope-hooking stinger Larrazabal hit this week at the BMW PGA Championship? A controlled draw, he says. 

Okay, how about the way he finished his round Thursday? Larrazabal was so irate he took to the Internet to gripe about it to the R&A, international stewards of golf and how it is governed. Normally, we wouldn’t condone the Twitter complain, but in this instance, he may have a point.

“Dear @RandA,” the post began. 

“Do you think is fair to hit the middle of the fairway in the hardest hole of the course and end up in another players pitch mark and NO relief? I know that is unlucky but come on… check the rules of our game to make it fair please. Thank you and see you guys soon….”

Looking at the statistics, and using Larrazabal’s first-round scorecard, we’re guessing he’s complaining about how he played the 15th hole. The 15th hole at Wentworth Club is among the most demanding on the property, a 491-yard par-4 that played as the toughest hole on the property during the first round. Only 16 players from the 126-man field carded a birdie. You have to funnel your tee shot over a creek, but then keep it short of the same waterway further up the fairway — hitting it long enough for an optimal angle into the hole, but not playing so aggressively that you bring the creek into play up the right. 

Larrazabal throttled back Thursday, playing his tee ball just 273 yards into the center of the short grass — but also into a divot hole. From there, we know he made a frustrating bogey, with his approach ending up short and left of the green, in the rough. His third shot ended up short, in a greenside bunker before splashing onto the green and tapping in for a 5. It being the only bogey he made in his finishing eight holes, you could understand how this result could stick in the Larrazabal’s craw as he signed for a one-under 71 and then took to Twitter. 

What he presented to his followers is one of golf’s great Rorschach tests. One could look at a ball in the middle of the fairway that rolls into another player’s divot mark as preposterous and an easily avoidable result if the Rules of Golf would just allow for a free drop. It feels like a well-struck ball that rolls into such a predicament could be deemed as finding “ground under repair,” right? 

Another perspective is simply, That’s the course of play, mate. Get on with it.

We can probably all agree that these situations are unfortunate, but but not everyone believes they’re unfair. In fact, one of the immediate comments on Larrazabal’s post acknowledged that his lie was simply the “rub of the green.” In other words, this is one of those tough-luck bounces that golf is known for. It happens. That’s what the sacred Rules of Golf say, and that’s why Larrazabal is picking on the R&A. He thinks it’s a crummy rule. 

Whether Larrazabal is correct or not, the situation is a classic dispute over the black-and-white nature of the Rules. They’re written with precise verbiage to ensure that they can rule over any situation, many of which are not black and white but instead very, very grey. If Larrazabal needed any reminder of that, he could just check his replies. Multiple followers chimed in with a dose of reality I think we can all accept:

Were professional golfers to receive free relief from divot holes and pitch marks, we may find ourselves constantly on our knees, hands on the turf, inspecting every crevasse and impression left on the ground. As golf writer Ben Coley said, “simply isn’t enough time in the day.”