Jon Rahm embedded-ball ruling highlights officiating gray area

Jon Rahm and LIV rules official, Grover Walker, assess his lie on the opening hole in the third round of LIV South Africa. Getty Images JOHANNESBURG — When Jon Rahm found his opening tee shot in the left rough in the third round of LIV South Africa , he called in a rules official to confirm that his ball had embedded in its own pitch mark, a scenario by which the rules would grant him free relief. The official, Grover Walker, who has three decades of refereeing experience for the USGA, arrived and, in short order, agreed with Rahm and Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes: the ball was embedded.

Hayes noted that it was “down past the root system. ” That the ball had plugged was no surprise. The Club at Steyn City has been drenched by rain this week, and Rahm had tried driving the green, some 330 yards away on a hole with more than 100 feet of vertical drop.

His shot landed in a low area not far from a creek bed. Just moments before Rahm had let his tee ball fly, the ball of his playing partner, Dean Burmester, also had plugged, albeit in the fairway. Less clear, however, was whether Rahm’s ball had embedded in its own pitch mark, which is a requirement for relief.

The LIV broadcast appeared to show something different: Rahm’s drive hitting the ground and bouncing forward about two feet in the air before disappearing into the thick Kikuyu rough. Could the ball have landed in another player’s pitch mark, unbeknownst to everyone on the ground? Absolutely.