Matt Fitzpatrick fumes at “outrageous” rules decision

Matt Fitzpatrick’s 2024 PGA Tour season is over, in part because of a rules decision that the former US Open champion branded “outrageous”.

Fitzpatrick, 29, carded a two-under 70 in the final round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado.

That left him on one-under for the week and outside the top-30 on the FedEx Cup standings that will advance to next week’s Tour Championship.

However, he might have had a better chance of making it to East Lake had a rules decision come down in his favour.

Fitzpatrick called in a rules official on the eighth tee to examine a crack on the clubface of his driver.

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The Englishman had hoped that he would be allowed to replace the damaged clubhead but the official disagreed, insisting that the ‘minor crack’ meant that the clubface did not meet the threshold of being ‘significantly damaged’.

The rule states that “a clubface or clubhead is not ‘broken or significantly damaged’ solely because it is cracked” – and it is there that the officials and Fitzpatrick disagreed.

Chief referee Stephen Cox subsequently explained: “In our assessment – not only the first official, but also a couple of others including myself – that threshold of being significantly damaged hadn’t been met.

“Although there was a small crack in the face, there was no separation in the metals and on that basis that threshold wasn’t met.”

Fitzpatrick was, as you might expect, livid.

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Pleading his case to Cox as he walked down the eighth fairway, he insisted: “There’s an obvious crack there that’s causing a defect in the ball flight.”

When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he fumed: “So, I’m going to have to use 3-wood for the rest of the day? This is outrageous. It’s an absolute joke.”

His playing partner Scottie Scheffler was equally incredulous.

“You can feel the crack,” said the world No.1. “The damage to the club is making the club not perform. It’s been damaged throughout the course of play. That’s the first shot offline he’s hit all day and it carried about 80 yards shorter.”

Fitzpatrick added: “I will make sure something is done after the round because it’s a joke. It’s the most obvious crack I’ve ever seen.”

Watch the incident here:

🚨😡⛳️ #WATCH: Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler are not happy with a rules official: "This is outrageous, it's an absolute disgrace.” @MattFitzLegion @SchefflerFans

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— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) August 25, 2024

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor