PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – A tough finish only got worse after Rory McIlroy completed what he thought was a 3-under 69 on Day 1 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy was cruising along at 6 under for the day when things started to unravel, beginning with a three-putt bogey at No. 6 (he started his round on the 10th hole at Spyglass Hill). At the par-5 seventh hole, the Northern Irishman’s drive sailed left of the fairway and bounced under a tree.
McIlroy declared his ball unplayable and took a drop, with a penalty. He punched his third shot down the fairway and eventually made what he thought was a bogey.
When he completed his round, however, McIlroy was informed he’d taken an incorrect drop at No. 7.
“I took it back on [the] line [about 5 yards],” he said of his drop on the seventh hole. “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.
“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.”
Stephen Cox, the Tour’s vice president of tournament administration, discussed the rule with McIlroy after his round.
“The current rule, which was rewritten in January of 2023, requires the player to go back from where his ball was in line with the flag — this was certainly in his case — and then drop the ball on that line. The ball then, once dropped, can then roll up to a club length in any direction before a re-drop is required,” he explained. “Unfortunately, Rory proceeded under the rules as they were pre-2023, which was you go back on the line and then you would measure one club length off the line in either direction as long as it was no nearer the hole and drop it within that club length.”
With the added strokes, McIlroy signed for a 1-under 71 and was eight shots off Thomas Detry’s lead in the Tour’s second signature event of the season.