At one point Thursday, Rory McIlroy held the lead alone during the first round of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. However, at day’s end, his score is going to be a bit worse than it could have been thanks to a penalty.
Before signing his scorecard, McIlroy was assessed a two-shot penalty for an improper drop on the par-5 seventh hole at Spyglass Hill. McIlroy’s drive was wayward on the hole, and he had to take an unplayable. Where he dropped it was determined to be illegal, so what he thought was a bogey 6 turned into a triple bogey 8.
PGA Tour rules official Mark Dusbabek joined the Golf Channel telecast and said McIlroy “totally owned the mistake” when it was brought to his attention in the scoring area.
Rory McIlroy has been assessed a two-stroke penalty after this drop on the par-5 seventh hole. pic.twitter.com/7PtnytRc5t
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 1, 2024
The rule states a ball can roll up to a club length, whereas McIlroy dropped his ball a club length to the right off the original line, which is where the penalty came from.
“So I took an unplayable on 7 and I took it back on line,” McIlroy said after his round. “Then unbeknownst to me the rule changed in January 2023 where you used to be able to come back on line, take a club length either side. That was changed in 2019 to be able to do that. I wasn’t aware that that rule was changed again in 2023, so I took a drop thinking of the 2019 rules when everything was sort of changed not knowing that the rule was changed again in 2023, so got a two-stroke penalty there.”
McIlroy was 6 under thru 14 holes, then he went bogey-triple-bogey and signed for a 1-under 71 at Spyglass Hill.
It’s his first PGA Tour start this season. The last time he teed it up, he won the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.
