Jon Rahm on loathed golf rule: "I go back and forth"
Jon Rahm has offered his take one whether golfers should be allowed to take free relief after their ball ends up in a divot on the fairway.
Jon Rahm says he goes 'back and forth' on how he feels about one of the most loathed rules in all of golf.
That rule? Being able to take relief from a divot after you've found the fairway with your tee shot.
Whether you are new to the game or have been playing it for years you have likely experienced the misfortune on at least one occasion.
You've done the hard work of not slicing your tee shot into the abyss and, after taking a relaxed stroll up the fairway you find your golf ball - in all its glory - sitting in a hole that someone else has created and been too lazy to fix.
"I go back and forth," Rahm said when asked about the topic in a recent video with YouTuber Rick Shiels.
Related:
Rahm took on Shiels at The Grange in Australia ahead of LIV's event in Adelaide for the latest instalment of his 10 shot challenge .
"I think you should because it's the definition of ground under repair," Rahm said.
He added: "But, what is a divot, right? Can you call any possible imperfection in the fairway a divot and get relief?"
Rahm added: "The one thing I do feel stronger about is [being able to take relief] from a pitch mark like what happened to Paul Casey at the Players a few years ago."
The 2023 Masters champion was referring to Casey's utterly brutal break during the 2022 Players.
Casey was in contention during the final round of the unofficial fifth major championship at TPC Sawgrass.
The Englishman rifled his drive down the the middle of the 16th fairway but couldn't believe his luck when he found his ball ended up in another player's plug mark.
He was only two strokes adrift of leader Cameron Smith and, as he was only 209 yards from the pin, would have boosted his chances of victory with an eagle.
But his drive didn't 'plug' when it landed and therefore he was unable to move it under the embedded golf rule.
His only option was to knock one down the fairway.
Casey ended up making a par on the hole and Smith held on.
Some golf fans labelled it one of the worst breaks in the history of the game.
As for Rahm, he said he often finds his golf ball in someone else's divot 'way more' than you would believe.
But he admitted it's a 'tricky' subject.
Watch the full video here.
Watched our latest video?
Ben joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
