Scottie Scheffler’s crafty use of Local Rule (twice) saves him from blow-up at Torrey Pines

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in the hunt for his first win of the season this weekend at the 2025 Genesis Invitational. But he may not have had the opportunity if not for a clever use of a Local Rule when trouble struck on Friday. Twice.

Following an opening-round 70 in treacherous weather conditions at Torrey Pines, Scheffler started Round 2 on the back nine. And things went sideways quickly.

At his second hole of the day, the long par-3 11th hole at the South Course, Scheffler sprayed his tee shot badly to the left.

While the shot was definitely long and left, the visual representation on PGATour.com shows a much worse story. With the hole playing 215 yards, Scheffler’s ball settled 257 yards from the tee box.

But the undisputed best golfer alive didn’t airmail the green by more than 40 yards. Instead, he caught a bad break when his ball took multiple bounces off cart paths. Those caroms turned a bad situation into a horrible one.

Now Scheffler was staring down a difficult 40-yard chip from thick rough for his second shot, with a possible crooked number in the offing.

But just when everything seemed to be going off the rails, the veteran pro took advantage of a Local Rule to escape his terrible lie.

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First, Scheffler noticed that a Genesis Invitational sign near the 12th tee box was impacting his stance, so he took relief via Model Local Rule F-23.

That rule states the following: “Relief from a Temporary Immovable Obstruction is normally allowed when there is physical interference or line of sight interference from the TIO.”

The rule allows a player to drop their ball at the nearest point of complete relief without penalty. The tournament sign counted as a TIO, so after a lengthy discussion with a rules official, Scheffler was able to drop his ball one club-length from the original spot onto the collar of the tee box. The new lie was much improved but still tricky.

But it didn’t end there. After practicing his swing from the new spot, Scheffler seemed to feel the sign was still impacting his swing. So after another discussion with the rules official, Scheffler made a second free drop another club length away, this time ending up with a perfect lie on a flat portion of the 12th tee box. You can watch the entire sequence on the PGA Tour’s YouTube page here.

After his two fortuitous free drops, Scheffler relied solely on his world-beating skills to avoid a big number. With a wedge in his hand and a good lie in front of him, he dropped his second shot to three feet. Then he drained the ensuing putt for a ho-hum par.

From there, Scheffler added three birdies and an eagle to shoot a 67, moving him one off Davis Thompson’s lead heading into Saturday’s third round.