ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Last week at the PGA of America’s annual meeting, USGA executive director Mike Davis said that his association was planning to release a simplified draft of the Rules of Golf next year.
Among the items Davis said would be addressed was Rule 18-2 (ball at rest moved), the directive that cost Dustin Johnson a stroke, but not the title, at this year’s U.S. Open.
“As for the Dustin Johnson ruling, Rule 18-2, that God-forsaken rule, that is going to be getting attention in the near future. We listen and we learn,” Davis said.
In April at the Masters, Horschel endured a similar fate. His ball was blown into a water hazard on the 13th hole during Round 3 after he’d marked it on the putting surface. Although he wasn’t penalized under Rule 18-2, Horschel did receive a stroke penalty for going into the hazard.
“Mine was different because the wind blew it, an outside force, but I think we are all trying to make the game easier to play, easier to understand,” Horschel said on Tuesday at Sea Island Resort. “It’s common sense, if the guy caused his ball to move penalize him, but if he didn’t don’t penalize him. I think Mike Davis and the USGA are doing the right thing.”