In 2017, the then 22-year-old Jon Rahm faced one of the most scandalous accusations in golf: cheating by moving the ball. During the Sunday games at the 2017 Irish Open, while playing with Daniel Im, Rahm had to move his ball mark because it was on Im’s putting line. However, when he replaced it, he appeared to place it slightly closer to the hole, leading to a scandal. Despite this, Jon Rahm stated that he has witnessed more scandalous incidents in front of him.
Recently, the LIV golfer appeared on the Andrew Santino show for a walk-and-talk interview to discuss how he deals with tough moments in his life. Interestingly, one moment Rahm shared came from his days playing junior golf and from the mention of “the way you mark your ball.” So, why does the Spanish golfer put his initials on his golf ball? “It’s junior golf,” Rahm replied. Rahm quickly followed that with an explanation.
“So, you know, when you don’t have people watching or officials refereeing everywhere, right? It’s very easy to cheat if you want to. It’s very easy to cheat.” Jon Rahm follows with a story about how he started using his initials on his balls. During a match in his amateur days, Rahm saw a ball on the greens that he thought was his; however, it had no distinguishing markings.
Because of the lack of a mark, the others on the field questioned how he could be sure the ball was his. Remembering this incident and one of his friends’ habits of marking his ball, the Spaniard began marking his ball in red with his initials, “J” and “R.” The only time he does not mark his ball in red is during the Ryder Cup, where he has played thrice in his career.
However, Jon Rahm’s claims are not completely without reason. An unofficial survey conducted in 2023 with amateur golfers showed that 15% of them reported seeing others cheat. Some common ways people cheat include moving the ball closer to the hole after marking it on the green or secretly dropping a ball during a search and claiming it is the original ball. However, the USGA is tackling this issue with its 1.2b rule, which states that every “serious misconduct” will warrant a penalty.
Additionally, professional golf has had its fair share of ball-related issues as well, and Kip Henley, Vijay Singh’s former caddie, has spoken about this. According to a 2022 interview, Henley said, “Cheating happens almost every single round. If people think there’s no cheating out there, they’re crazy. Some of it is intentional, and some of it is just sheer ignorance.” However, one other golf circuit has also seen its fair share of scandals.
That one time USGA demanded honest play from its LPGA stars
The year is 2017, and Lexi Thompson has just started a wave of controversy at the ANA Inspiration. Here’s the context: In the last round of the ANA Inspiration, a viewer of the LPGA event sent an email to the LPGA pointing out a possible rule violation involving Lexi Thompson. In the third round of the event, the LPGA star had placed her ball back on the 17th green in the wrong spot.
Thanks to the timely call, Thompson faced four penalty strokes—two for playing from the wrong spot and two for signing an incorrect scorecard. Given the seriousness of the situation, the USGA reacted quickly. In fact, very quickly. In 2017, a day after the incident, the USGA and R&A announced an important change to the Rules of Golf. They created a new guideline to reduce the impact of video evidence when making decisions during televised events.
This guideline was called New Decision 34-3/10, and it was not a strict rule but a suggestion for tournament committees to follow. The main part of this guideline included two important terms: “reasonable standard of judgment” and “naked eye.” These terms helped officials limit the use of video evidence when making decisions, highlighting the importance of players being honest.
The goal was to trust players to make fair calls about what they do on the course instead of relying only on video replays, which can sometimes confuse. What do you think of the issue and Jon Rahm’s statement?
The post ‘Very Easy to Cheat’: Jon Rahm Shares Incident That Forced LIV Golfer to Take Extra Precautions on the Greens appeared first on EssentiallySports.