Loose impediments

December 18th, 2025

Rules Review: Before taking a drop, can you ‘clean up’ the area of loose impediments to ensure a better lie?

article, drop, golf digest, How To, loose impediments, Rules of Golf

rules-of-golf-review:-i-know-i-saw-his-golf-ball-move-when-he-removed-that-pine-straw.-why-wasn’t-he-penalized?

April 18th, 2024

Rules Review: I know I saw his golf ball move when he removed that pine straw. Why wasn’t he penalised?

If you want to know how to deal with pine straw – and loose impediments in general – in terms of removing them and playing your next shot without penalty, read on.

rules-of-golf-review:-can-i-move-a-stone-if-it-improves-my-lie?

July 7th, 2023

Rules Review: Can I move a stone if it improves my lie?

Be careful when you remove stones and other loose impediments, but know you’re within your rights to do so if you do it in a reasonable manner.

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WM Phoenix Open - 2026

Pos	Player	Tot	Thru	Rnd
1	Ryo Hisatsune	-11	-	3
2	Hideki Matsuyama	-10	-	3
T3	Pi Coody	-8	-	3
T3	Chris Gotterup	-8	-	3
T5	Akshay Bhatia	-7	-	3
T5	S.W. Kim	-7	-	3
T5	John Parry	-7	-	3
T5	Sahith Theegala	-7	-	3
T5	Matt Fitzpatrick	-7	-	3
T10	Sam Stevens	-6	-	3
T10	Stephan Jaeger	-6	-	3
T10	Min Woo Lee	-6	-	3
T10	Maverick McNealy	-6	-	3
T10	Zach Bauchou	-6	-	3
T10	Kevin Roy	-6	-	3
T10	Nicolai Højgaard	-6	-	3
T10	Michael Kim	-6	-	3
T10	Jake Knapp	-6	-	3
T19	Chandler Phillips	-5	-	3
T19	Kristoffer Reitan	-5	-	3
T19	Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen	-5	-	3
T19	Max Homa	-5	-	3
T19	Brian Campbell	-5	-	3
T19	Mackenzie Hughes	-5	-	3
T19	Michael Thorbjornsen	-5	-	3
T19	Davis Thompson	-5	-	3
T19	A.J. Ewart	-5	-	3
T28	Chad Ramey	-4	-	3
T28	Sami Valimaki	-4	-	3
T28	Sudarshan Yellamaraju	-4	-	3
T28	Rasmus Højgaard	-4	-	3
T28	Daniel Berger	-4	-	3
T28	Ben Griffin	-4	-	3
T28	Ryan Fox	-4	-	3
T28	Scottie Scheffler	-4	-	3
T28	Zecheng Dou	-4	-	3
T37	Takumi Kanaya	-3	1	3
T37	Mac Meissner	-3	1	3
T37	Keith Mitchell	-3	1*	3
T37	Viktor Hovland	-3	1*	3
T37	Cam Young	-3	1*	3
T37	Max McGreevy	-3	-	3
T37	Nick Taylor	-3	-	3
T37	Harris English	-3	-	3
T37	Michael Brennan	-3	-	3
T37	Jacob Bridgeman	-3	-	3
T37	Rickie Fowler	-3	-	3
T37	Neal Shipley	-3	-	3
T37	Adrien Saddier	-3	-	3
T50	Tom Kim	-2	1	3
T50	Rico Hoey	-2	-	3
T50	Cam Davis	-2	-	3
T50	Jordan Smith	-2	-	3
T50	Christo Lamprecht	-2	-	3
T50	Sepp Straka	-2	-	3
T50	Kurt Kitayama	-2	-	3
T50	Joe Highsmith	-2	-	3
T50	Patrick Rodgers	-2	-	3
T50	Gary Woodland	-2	-	3
T50	John VanDerLaan	-2	-	3
T50	Keita Nakajima	-2	-	3
T62	S.H. Kim	-1	-	3
T62	J.T. Poston	-1	-	3
T62	Collin Morikawa	-1	-	3
T62	Xander Schauffele	-1	-	3
T62	Hank Lebioda	-1	-	3
T62	Johnny Keefer	-1	-	3
T62	Patton Kizzire	-1	-	3
T62	Bud Cauley	-1	-	3
T62	Wyndham Clark	-1	-	3
T62	Alex Smalley	-1	-	3
T62	S.T. Lee	-1	-	3
T62	Kensei Hirata	-1	-	3
CUT	Emiliano Grillo	E	F	2
CUT	Thorbjørn Olesen	E	F	2
CUT	Joel Dahmen	E	F	2
CUT	Adrien Dumont de Chassart	E	F	2
CUT	Max Greyserman	E	F	2
CUT	Rafael Campos	+1	F	2
CUT	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	+1	F	2
CUT	Mark Hubbard	+1	F	2
CUT	Vince Whaley	+1	F	2
CUT	Chris Kirk	+1	F	2
CUT	Karl Vilips	+1	F	2
CUT	Peter Malnati	+1	F	2
CUT	Corey Conners	+2	F	2
CUT	Brooks Koepka	+2	F	2
CUT	Garrick Higgo	+2	F	2
CUT	Matt McCarty	+2	F	2
CUT	Erik van Rooyen	+2	F	2
CUT	Austin Eckroat	+2	F	2
CUT	Jeffrey Kang	+2	F	2
CUT	Tom Hoge	+2	F	2
CUT	Dan Brown	+2	F	2
CUT	Matthieu Pavon	+3	F	2
CUT	Billy Horschel	+3	F	2
CUT	Charley Hoffman	+3	F	2
CUT	Chandler Blanchet	+3	F	2
CUT	Haotong Li	+3	F	2
CUT	Marcelo Rozo	+3	F	2
CUT	Jordan Spieth	+3	F	2
CUT	Tony Finau	+3	F	2
CUT	Nico Echavarria	+4	F	2
CUT	Matti Schmid	+4	F	2
CUT	Pontus Nyholm	+4	F	2
CUT	Austin Smotherman	+4	F	2
CUT	Brice Garnett	+4	F	2
CUT	Marco Penge	+4	F	2
CUT	Davis Chatfield	+4	F	2
CUT	Harry Hall	+5	F	2
CUT	Aldrich Potgieter	+5	F	2
CUT	Sam Burns	+5	F	2
CUT	Brian Harman	+5	F	2
CUT	Webb Simpson	+6	F	2
CUT	Davis Riley	+7	F	2
CUT	Andrew Novak	+7	F	2
CUT	Adam Schenk	+7	F	2
CUT	Alejandro Tosti	+8	F	2
CUT	Danny Walker	+8	F	2
CUT	Eric Cole	+9	F	2
CUT	William Mouw	+11	F	2
CUT	Thomas Avant	+17	F	2
WD	Emilio Gonzalez	-	-

Riyadh 2026 Leaderboard

PlayersTeams

Pos	Player	Tot	Thru	Rnd
1	Elvis Smylie	-19	9	4
2	Peter Uihlein	-18	9	4
T3	Jon Rahm	-17	9	4
T3	Thomas Detry	-17	9	4
T3	Abraham Ancer	-17	9	4
T3	Thomas Pieters	-17	11	4
T7	David Puig	-16	10	4
T7	Byeong Hun An	-16	10	4
T9	Carlos Ortiz	-15	10	4
T9	Talor Gooch	-15	9	4
T9	Lucas Herbert	-15	10	4
T12	Scott Vincent	-14	9	4
T12	Sebastian Muñoz	-14	10	4
T12	Marc Leishman	-14	10	4
T15	Jason Kokrak	-13	10	4
T15	Bryson DeChambeau	-13	10	4
T15	Branden Grace	-13	10	4
T15	Tom McKibbin	-13	10	4
T19	Cameron Smith	-12	10	4
T19	Paul Casey	-12	10	4
T19	Joaquin Niemann	-12	10	4
T22	Richard T. Lee	-11	10	4
T22	Laurie Canter	-11	11	4
T22	Anirban Lahiri	-11	10	4
T22	Yosuke Asaji	-11	11	4
T22	Tyrrell Hatton	-11	10	4
T22	Josele Ballester	-11	11	4
T28	Graeme McDowell	-10	9	4
T28	Sergio Garcia	-10	10	4
T28	Bjorn Hellgren	-10	10	4
T28	Adrian Meronk	-10	10	4
T28	Ben Campbell	-10	11	4
T33	Cameron Tringale	-9	10	4
T33	Anthony Kim	-9	10	4
T33	Caleb Surratt	-9	10	4
T33	Younghan Song	-9	10	4
T33	Louis Oosthuizen	-9	10	4
T33	Harold Varner III	-9	11	4
T33	Dustin Johnson	-9	11	4
T40	Ian Poulter	-8	10	4
T40	Richard Bland	-8	10	4
T40	Charles Howell III	-8	11	4
T40	Charl Schwartzel	-8	10	4
T44	Michael La Sasso	-7	10	4
T44	Danny Lee	-7	10	4
T46	Luis Masaveu	-5	10	4
T46	Sam Horsfield	-5	11	4
T48	Miguel Tabuena	-4	10	4
T48	Ben Schmidt	-4	11	4
T48	Martin Kaymer	-4	10	4
51	Minkyu Kim	-3	10	4
T52	Matthew Wolff	-2	10	4
T52	Bubba Watson	-2	10	4
54	Victor Perez	-1	10	4
55	Dean Burmester	E	10	4
56	Ollie Schniederjans	+2	10	4
57	Brendan Steele	+6	10	4

Loose impediments

Rules Review: Before taking a drop, can you ‘clean up’ the area of loose impediments to ensure a better lie?

Rules Review: I know I saw his golf ball move when he removed that pine straw. Why wasn’t he penalised?

Rules Review: Can I move a stone if it improves my lie?

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