Major champions take aim at PGA Championship officials

Have the officials in charge of the PGA Championship already made a mistake?

That debate quickly ensued in the Sky Sports commentary box after the three best players in the world made, as Nick Dougherty described, “a pig’s ear” of the 16th hole at Quail Hollow.

The marquee group of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler all made double bogey sixes on the par-4 – the start of the brutish ‘Green Mile’ stretch.

While McIlroy erred with a hooked tee shot into the left rough, Schauffele and Scheffler’s were in from prime position in the middle of the fairway and their approaches long into the water would usually would have been deemed inexplicable.

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But as was clearly the case with an exasperated Schauffele, mud balls are proving a problem on the Charlotte course.

It is an issue that has been widely predicted ahead of this second major of the season given the deluge of rainfall early in the week which disrupted practice rounds.

Yet in spite of the sodden fairways, the PGA of America made the unorthodox decision on Wednesday night to go early and confirm that preferred lies would NOT be in place.

So rather than lift, clean and place, it’s go ahead and get on with it.

“We do not plan to play preferred lies,” a statement read. “The playing surfaces are outstanding and are drying by the hour. We are mowing the fairways this evening.

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Wayne ‘Radar’ Riley, out on the ground following the marquee group, clearly was baffled by this logic.

“Sometimes you’re on the Green Mile and you’re having a crack with mud on the ball after hitting one 312 off the tee,” Riley said. “It’s just… I wonder.”

The 2002 US PGA champion Rich Beem concurred.

“I agree with you Wayne,” he said “I don’t think it would have had any mark on the championship if you were playing (preferred lies) just on the Thursday knowing you have clear skies for the rest of the week.”

Claude Harmon III added: “I agree with what you’re saying there Beemer. You just don’t see guys like Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler from the middle of the fairway hit it 40 yards off line.”

Former Open champion Mark Calcavecchia was also left highly unimpressed.

“Man I can’t believe @PGA decided to play the ball down?” Calcavecchia wrote on X.

“Mud ball city.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.