Louisville, Kentucky was certainly not short of witnessing sporting drama in May. Just days after a three-way photo finish in the 150th Kentucky Derby, the 106th PGA Championship got underway at Valhalla on the eastern outskirts of the city.
As with any major golf Championship, there was an international Rules Committee with 30 referees from across the world arriving at the Championship during the practice days. I was fortunate to be one of them.
It is always an exciting moment when you first lay eyes on the venue; seeing the infrastructure in place, the crowds start to build, the course in immaculate condition. There is an intangible anticipation in the air which develops at these major sporting events.
I arrived in Kentucky on Monday evening and had two days to familiarise myself with the golf course and the venue ahead of the first round on Thursday.
First, I’m required to collect information from the Championship office, uniform for the week and then walk the fairways to see what may be in store for the week from a Rules perspective. Just as the players do their homework in the practice rounds, so do the referees, looking at the margins of penalty areas, obstructions which may come into play, and the numerous fixed objects that are on the course especially for the Championship, classed as temporary immovable obstructions (TIOs).
On the final practice day, we have a meeting to discuss final matters, for example clarifications on the Local Rules, and to ensure we are a refereeing team who will be consistent across the golf course.
For the PGA Championship, each hole has a referee stationed at it alongside a team of roving referees managing pace of play and the overall Rules operation, including giving or denying relief for ground under repair to ensure a consistent approach across the golf course.
On Thursday morning, I find myself on the 16th hole for the day next to a tranquil stream equipped with a chair, refreshments and one or two nerves! An hour or so into play and the first groups start to make their way through my section without issue, and then the first ruling of the week occurs.
Dustin Johnson calls me over; he has tried to take relief from a path, but his ball is resting against the tee-peg he used to measure his reference point. From a referee’s perspective, seeing tee pegs and a golf ball on the ground is not ideal, so establishing what has happened to this point is key.
A quick conversation with Dustin, including some questions around where the ball was originally, clarifying what the tees on the ground identify, and we have our answers. Dustin has inadvertently not taken full relief from the path as his follow through may well have made contact with the tarmac, so we start the full process again under Rule 14.5a. And following two drops, and two places because the ball would not come to rest, his ball is back in play.
The remainder of the day is a mixture of rulings and watching the best golfers in the world play the extremely difficult 16thhole. Having mentioned TIOs earlier – these do have their own specific set of rules, most notably a golfer can get line of sight relief from these. So, when Erik Van Rooyen hit his second shot behind the Shotlink tower left of the green, he needed assistance. Because the tower is not normally on the golf course, he was entitled to line-of-sight relief if the tower was between his ball and the hole, which was most certainly the case here.
Friday takes me to the 7th hole, an exciting split fairway par-5 with water running the length of the hole and this was set to be a busy day. A delay in starting play meant players were not going to finish their second rounds, so we were geared up for a suspension of play when the light failed.
As referees, we have airhorns with us and we have cards which can be completed to note down the position of a player’s ball when they end play in case course maintenance or another factor may disturb tee pegs or ball markers. This can also be very useful in helping with the resumption of play the following morning.
As the day progresses, I have a few rulings, mainly around where the ball last crossed the margin of the penalty area and where to drop. In the absence of evidence, this really falls to the player and those in the group to agree that the player in question is making reasonable judgement in determining where the ball last crossed the red line.
As the sun is really starting to drop, Robert MacIntyre hooks his second shot and finishes directly against a temporary structure on the right-hand side of the hole, and it becomes instantly clear this could be a tricky one.
Under the Rules, MacIntyre is against the wall of the TIO but also entitled to line-of-sight relief from this and, under the Local Rules of the Championship, he can choose to go either side of the obstruction for line-of-sight relief – and this obstruction is large!
His relief at the side nearest to him puts him directly behind a large tree. The opposite side option which is around 100 yards away takes him into the concessions area for fans, but potentially offers a clearer shot. MacIntyre’s original shot is 64 yards, so we find the point where he would have a 64-yard shot on the opposite side using a rangefinder, this being one of the few top level tour events where these are permitted to be used during play.
Now there is a lot going on in the area of the course – there are small trees very close to his relief area and ground conditions are really not good following a day of rain and tens of thousands of spectators walking in this area earlier in the day. Measuring out MacIntyre’s relief area accurately is going to be vital here and a matter of inches could make a huge impact on what his next shot would be. We complete the process of measuring, but conversation with Robert then turns to whether relief would be granted from the ground conditions he would be dropping in, as there are significant mud accumulated from the spectators.
As a hole referee, I am not in a position to grant relief for Ground Under Repair, and a roving referee steps in to answer this question. MacIntyre is informed he would get relief for this area and, as it would be a new situation completely independent of the original drop, his nearest point of relief would be on the steps of the concessions stand and then he would have one club length from that point, which he measures out.
The ball is dropped first on the ground for the original relief from the structure he was up against, and then dropped a second time up on the concessions stand from which he plays, and miraculously makes his par! That was quite the scenario and certainly an intense way for me to finish the day.
As we reached the weekend, resumption of play was completed on Saturday morning following a delay for fog, and then round three had a two-tee start to make up for lost time. This ensured that it would be completed on Saturday and the final round could be played as planned.
Rules incidents for me were few and far between on the weekend, one or two embedded balls from the rain and the checking of Alex Noren’s ball to confirm it was cut and could be substituted, without penalty. On Sunday, I returned to the 7th hole but had a largely quiet day with just one ruling which involved where the ball last crossed the penalty area and a turtle making its way through the bunker meaning I needed to rake behind it!
This gave me the opportunity to enjoy the golf unfolding in front of me and watch a very high-class leaderboard battle it out for the Wanamaker Trophy all the way to the 18th.
Following play, we had the chance to congratulate Xander Schauffele on his victory and share a toast with the new champion. As a committee we gathered that evening, reflecting on the week and affirmed some new friendships before the return journey home. 
