‘I unintentionally cheated’: PGA Tour pro explains why he recently withdrew from Monday qualifier while in contention

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[Photo: Orlando Ramirez]

A PGA Tour pro’s mental lapse cost him at a recent Monday qualifier.

Sam Ryder explained how he “unintentionally cheated” last week to Ryan French on the Any Given Monday podcast. And that explanation makes perfect sense.

Earlier this year, the PGA Tour changed one of its most controversial rules regarding lift, clean and place, a.k.a. preferred lies. Instead of a getting a full club-length relief when this local rule is in effect, players now can move their golf ball only the length of a scorecard.

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Unfortunately, for Ryder, he forgot about that as he started a Monday qualifier for the Valspar Championship. Even more unfortunate for him is that he was playing well when he took himself out of the mix.

“I withdrew because I unintentionally cheated, actually,” Ryder tells French. “Because it was lift, clean and place, which I knew was totally my fault, but I hadn’t played lift, clean and place yet under the new rule. And I played nine holes and I was three-under and I was kind of cruising along. I think six-under got through. I was playing fine and I realised I had not been doing scorecard length. So it didn’t really gain anything for me, but definitely knew there were a couple situations where [I had], so I withdrew.”

That’s rough. But good on Ryder for doing the right thing. Here’s the clip:

And Ryder perhaps got some good karma for the WD. As he points out in the clip, he wound up getting into the field as an alternate and making the cut. And then at this week’s Monday qualifier for the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Ryder shot 60 – without a caddie! – to earn his spot in this week’s PGA Tour event.

Well played. Anyway, let’s hope this rule change doesn’t bite someone in a bigger spot down the line.