Xander Schauffele landed in fresh controversy at the U.S. Open. The 2024 PGA Championship winner was spotted ‘improving’ his putting chances at Pinehurst No. 2. Schauffele, while analyzing his putt, stamped on the greens a couple of times with his putter. Netizens didn’t like the strategy one bit when the clip went viral on X (formerly Twitter). 

Many noted that what the eight-time PGA Tour winner was doing was totally unacceptable. Tron Carter of the No Laying Up podcast sarcastically tweeted, “This Xander’s specialty. MASHES an entire trough to the hole.”. Some even termed it an ‘egregious’ act. The question is whether this will incur any penalty on the 30-year-old, who also faced backlash on X for his new brand logo, which fans claimed was similar to the X logo.

Per the United States Golf Association rule, no, Schuaffele is immune in this case. Earlier, a player would incur a penalty for touching the green on the line of play. The rule now reads, “There is no longer a penalty for merely touching the line of play on the putting green (the term “line of play” applies everywhere on the course including the putting green, and the term “line of putt” is no longer used).”

The reason is that the USGA felt touching the green doesn’t affect the player’s chances significantly. This is why it isn’t tantamount to improving the lie, which, by the way, still draws penalties from the governing body. One more reason was that the previous rule regarding the matter caused a lot of confusion. 

Why was USGA forced to change the rule?

Previously, the USGA allowed players to touch the line of play on seven specific conditions. The idea was that players could tap down on the greens with their putter or spike to remove the ‘imperfection’ on the greens. Barring those seven occasions, golfers would draw a penalty for wrongly touching the greens.

However, per USGA’s own admission, the rule caused havoc. It was ‘difficult to administer and penalties were not often applied.’ Moreover, the penalties when applied, had little to no effect. Previously, a player would have drawn a penalty even if the caddie accidentally touched the green with their flagstick. But now both players and caddies can touch the green. What they can’t do, however, is place another object to show the line of play.

Regardless of the rule change, fans didn’t like how Xander Schuaffele pressed down the greens heavily. They believed it would offer some undue advantage to the 30-year-old. Notably, fans labeled similar accusations against the one-time major winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. 

Schauffele received a free drop after his drive landed beyond the penalty area. Rules officials determined that the shot link tower (a temporarily immovable object) prevented the eight-time PGA Tour winner from taking a clear look at the greens. The free drop, however, allowed Xander Schauffele to save par, which didn’t sit well with some fans. The U.S. Open incident offered them one more reason to attack the San Diego State alum.