The start of Rickie Fowler’s second round at the WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City was less than ideal.
Coming off of an even-par opening round, Fowler started his second round on the par-4 10th hole. A decent drive up the right side, Fowler’s round began to unravel before it even started.
Facing 194 yards to the hole, Fowler cold shanked the approach out of bounds. Seemingly in disbelief, Fowler received another ball from caddie Joe Skovron and immediately dropped it and hit what he thought was his fourth shot.
Except those pesky new rules reared their head again.
Since he dropped the ball from shoulder height and played his next shot without re-dropping, Fowler was penalized under Rule 14.3b, improper procedure of drop.
He would go on to make a triple-bogey 7, and he would vent his frustrations after the round.
“I was just going through the natural kind of progression of what you do with the drop, that’s just what you’re used to,” Fowler said of the drop. according to GolfChannel.com. “I have done that for 28 years. So, yeah, got an extra shot on that.
“With the new rules that have been put in place, it’s not doing any favors for our sport. I get why they went to knee (height). I don’t understand why there can’t be an area maybe, whether it’s waist to knee, or leave shoulder in there if you take away the extra area of relief that was always there.”
Back-to-back double bogeys on two of the final four holes of his round derailed what had been a resilient day on the course. He settled for a 2-over par 73 and will play the weekend starting in a tie for 39th place.
Fowler was the second player to be penalized for an improper drop so far this season on the PGA Tour.
