Rahm After Memorial Win, "The ball did move"

A weird final day at the 2020 Memorial will be remembered as the day Jon Rahm became the —- player to be the world’s No. 1 golfer, and his 16 hole hole chip in. Followed by a post-round two-stroke penalty for causing the ball to move (but before he signed his scorecard).

Mike McAllister at PGATour.com with the definitive account of what happened once Tour rules officials started looking at the video and before Rahm signed his winning card.

The shot in question was his second from the rough just off the green at the par-3 16th. As Rahm was at address, the ball moved slightly. Rahm then holed the shot, but slow-motion replays showed the label on the ball moving slightly.

“I didn’t see it,” Rahm said. “You know, I promised open honestly and I’m a loyal person and I don’t want to win by cheating. … The ball did move. It’s as simple as that.”

Rahm was first asked about the potential of a penalty during his post-round interview with CBS prior to reaching the scoring area. Slugger White, PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules & Competition, then showed the replay to Rahm and the penalty was assessed prior to signing his scorecard.

The chip-in becomes a bogey and a 9-under-par winning score over Ryan Palmer, who badly missed the previous week’s cut over the same golf course.

After, Slugger White made clear quite assertively that this was a 9.4 violation and HD had nothing to do with the call.

“The rule is 9.4,” White said. “It was a ball at rest by the player, moved, and since he didn't put it back, he was assessed a general penalty, which is two strokes. That's pretty much the bottom line. …

“When he put the club down behind the ball, it moved ever so slightly to the left, so it changed positions. He accepted it like a gentleman and the man that he is, and we just went on with it.”

Views were split, though Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee feels a poor precedent has been set.

This ruling just set a dangerous precedent on tour & will encourage the very thing the HI Def rule was meant to deter. Hi Def scrutiny now looking at this ruling as the barometer for equity, ready to convict a player for something he could reasonably argue he didn’t/couldn’t see. https://t.co/BW3Vcv2yTi

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) July 20, 2020

Here is shot and a closer look at the ball move. As I discuss on this week’s Shack Show, the practice of so aggressively grounding the club was apparently all week at Muirfield Village and it nearly cost the winner the outright victory he’s enjoying.

WOW. @JonRahmPGA with an unbelievable birdie 💪 pic.twitter.com/UWAmYOUp4W

— GOLFonCBS (@GOLFonCBS) July 19, 2020

There may need to be a video review before Jon Rahm signs his card @MemorialGolf pic.twitter.com/TjhFQIkphl

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) July 19, 2020