Flub Club

Ten of the strangest rules snafus of 2019

- Christopher Powers

The new and improved Rules of Golf, which went into effect at the beginning of 2019, were supposed to make things simpler. Or so we thought. Four days into 2019, we already had our first rules issue of the year at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, when Dustin Johnson incurred a two-stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball. It wasn’t an infraction of a new rule, but it was a sign of things to come. Below we rank the 10 most notable rules incidents of 2019, from least crazy to absolutely bonkers.

10 HAROLD VARNER III

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Varner cracked his driver just before the opening round and replaced it during his round, which is allowed. What’s not allowed is assembling the club on the course during play, which is what Varner did. Had someone assembled it off the course and brought it to him, he would’ve avoided a two-stroke penalty.

9 RICKIE FOWLER

WGC-MEXICO CHAMPIONSHIP

After a shank O.B., Fowler became one of the first victims of the new knee-height drop rule. Instinctively, Fowler dropped his new ball at the spot of his last shot from shoulder height, incurring a one-stroke penalty and eventually making a 7.