Matt Fitzpatrick Furious With PGA Tour Officials Over Broken Driver Ruling

The PGA Tour recently changed its rule regarding broken clubs, finally allowing players to swap a club that was damaged during a round – provided the player did not damage the club out of anger or frustration.

Basically, if a player breaks his club during a round, and it's not his fault, he can replace it. But if he breaks it because he's angry and slams it into the ground, there is no replacement available. 

2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick thought he had earned that opportunity when his driver cracked during the final round of the BMW Championship, the second tournament of the PGA Tour playoffs, known as the FedEx Cup. 

2022 U.S. Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick is furious that PGA Tour officials didn't let him swap out a broken driver during the BMW Championship.

(Pedro Salado/Getty Images)

However, officials determined that his club was not "significantly damaged," as is stated in the rules. 

Now, what constitutes "significantly damaged" is up for debate. Fitzpatrick believed his club met that threshold. Officials, however, did not. 

"Although there was a small crack in the face, there was no separation in the metals, and on that basis, that threshold wasn't met, so his only choice in that case was to continue using that club," PGA Tour Chief Referee Stephen Cox said, according to Golf Digest.

"Now, if that club were to get worse, then we would obviously continue to reassess, and at that point he may have been able to have taken it out, but in his case, I think he chose not to continue to use it and proceeded with his 3-wood from then on."

That's a really terrible ruling from the PGA official and here's why: he says that Fitzpatrick would have to continue using the club, damage it more, and then he could get a replacement? 

So, he's supposed to purposefully hit a cracked club, which of course could have a very negative impact on his shot, just to hope it breaks more? Absurd. 

Fitzpatrick thought so, too. 

"This is outrageous. It’s an absolute joke," Fitzpatrick said when informed that he could not replace his broken club. 

It just doesn't make any sense. If a player has a cracked club, and it's not his fault, and he has a replacement "in his locker" as Fitzpatrick stated here, why can't he use it? 

The PGA Tour just loves getting in its own way.