PGA Championship 2026: Jon Rahm was right to use the Rules to his advantage. But is this rule too generous?
The Spaniard shouldn't feel guilty about a drop he was allowed to take from the rough to the fairway. Here's why according to a rules expert
Golf isn’t always a fair game, the rub of the green landing like a punch to the stomach to golfers—whether weekend warriors of millionaire tour pros—when the break is a bad one. Which seems like the majority of times. It’s why, then, that when the Rules of Golf actually wind up working in your favor, it almost feels too good to be true.
That’s probably the way Jon Rahm was feeling on Thursday morning at the PGA Championship when he managed to use the Rules to his advantage. Rahm started his round at Aronimink Golf Club on the 10th hole and proceeded to tug his drive just into the left rough. It settled down, leaving him a tricky lie for just his second swing of the day.
However, his ball was in close proximity to a sprinkler head, which is considered an immovable obstruction. And under Rule 16. 1 , a player can take free relief from this if it’s interfering with the lie of the ball, the area of the intended stance or the swing.
After quickly confirming with a PGA of America rules official that he was indeed OK to invoke the rule, Rahm then got the additional benefit of being about to take one club-length of relief in any direction, including to the right of where his ball landed in the fairway. We’ve seen this happen in numerous PGA Tour events. At the Players Championship in 2025, J.