PGA Tour star makes bizarre rules request with maiden victory on the line

There’s using the Rules of Golf to your advantage – and then there’s this.

Beau Hossler had just birdied the 71st hole at the Sanderson Farms Championship to take the outright lead and put one hand on his maiden PGA Tour title.

But then he pulled his tee shot at 18 and found himself in a position more familiar to a midweek medal.

The 29-year-old’s Titleist Pro V1x had nestled right up against a tree on the Country Club of Jackson’s finishing hole, putting an end to any chance of finding the green in regulation.

But, before he was forced to take his medicine, Hossler chanced his arm with the rules official by asking for Temporary Immovable Obstruction Relief.

Now, TIO allows a player to take relief from a temporary immovable obstruction should it interfere with play. Hossler claimed he could play his second shot to the left of the tree, but that would bring the grandstands and scoreboards down that side of the fairway into the equation.

Wild golf rules situation at the Sanderson Farms.

Beau Hossler appeared to be arguing for TIO relief on theoretical grounds to get a free drop from behind a tree.

"What if I just told you I was aiming right at the [left] tent?"

2 officials eventually denied the request pic.twitter.com/dfjWEFB7EC

— James Colgan (@jamescolgan26) October 6, 2024

Hossler asked: “Don’t I get relief if that’s between me and the pin, the grandstand and that scoreboard?”

It was a bold strategy, but it would have also required Hossler to pull off one of the greatest slice shots ever seen in our sport.

Unfortunately for the American, the official was having none of it, so Hossler asked for a second opinion. Another official turned up and also denied the request, and Hossler was ordered to play the ball as it was.

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While his attempt to take relief was perhaps deserving of any criticism that subsequently followed, Hossler certainly deserves credit for the way he responded.

He chipped out into the fairway before getting up and down from 130 yards to force extra holes with Kevin Yu – who birdied the 18th both in regulation then the playoff to earn a first PGA Tour victory of his own.

I’m a little disappointed with the outcome,” Hossler said afterwards. “I’m a little salty right now.

“We play 28 weeks a year, and, for me, just to get in contention however many times, this is what I train for and have been working for since I was a little kid.

“All in, a lot of really good stuff this week.”

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor