The Rules of Golf Can Cost You if You Don’t Watch Out – Did Jim Furyk’s Rules Violation at the Barclay’s Tournament Cost Him More Than Money?

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 6:50 pm

It can happen to the best professional golfers in the world. Jim Furyk and his caddie committed a costly Rules Violation on Saturday at The Barclays tournament. The mistake cost Jim 4 strokes off his score, and possibly a whole lot more.

The mistake he made was starting his round with 15 clubs in his bag.

Rule 4-4 – Maximum of 14 clubs, was the rule that was violated and ended up costing Furyk 4 strokes, $131,250 and 188 FedEx Cup points. But if you look at the bigger picture, this mistake may have cost FedEx Cup Trophy him the chance to win the tournament.

Think about it, on Saturday he started the day at 3 under par and was clearly in contention. He ended the day at 1 under par due to the rule violation. Had the violation not occurred, Furyk would have ended the day 5 under par and well within striking distance of the leaders.

Did the Rule Violation have an adverse effect on his thoughts on Saturday?

Would his round have been different on Saturday and Sunday?

Of course, we will never know, but it does illustrate how important it is to know the rules of golf. A 60-degree wedge with extra bounce was something that Furyk was considering for shots that played into the grain from the runoff areas around the greens. Instead he Jim Furyk elected to use his normal low-bounce wedge, but the other club was left in the bag by mistake.

When the Rule Violation was discovered, Furyk penalized himself for the mistake. He went on to take blame for the error. He didn’t point a finger at his caddie “Fluff Cowan”, even though it is something that Cowan should have noticed. It says a lot about his character.

Next time you are preparing for a tournament, make sure that this one doesn’t happen to you. Be sure you know the Rules of Golf.

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