2 rules officials, Rickie Fowler argue over relief. But Fowler has epic last word

Rickie Fowler, in the middle of an argument, made a joke. 

He’d just finished debating with one rules official over whether he could hit a shot, and now a second one was en route. But, as he waited, Fowler wondered:  

Does the PGA Tour award style strokes?

“So if I hit and pull it off,” Fowler cracked, “do I get like a shot off?”

Never hurts to ask. At the least, it brought levity to a scene on Thursday to the right of Colonial Country Club’s 14th hole. During Charles Schwab Challenge first-round play, Fowler’s tee shot had sailed right, past a collection of trees, and finished about an inch to the left of a boundary fence topped with barbed wire, leading to:

— A talk with Pete Dachisen, the first rules official, with PGA Tour Live mics picking up the discussion. About a yard to the left of the ball was a dirt cart path, and Fowler said that he would be standing on it at address, meaning he’d get penalty-free relief. He also said he would hit the shot regardless of rules help. But Dachisen thought the play was unreasonable, given the lie, meaning Fowler wouldn’t get the drop. That led to:

— A talk with Robby Ware, the second rules official. He’d been called over by Dachisen for a second opinion. Squatting over the ball, Ware also argued that the fence likely ran underneath Fowler’s ball, making the shot even more difficult. At this point, Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano, said: “I mean, if you’re going to hit it, you should get relief, because you’re standing on it. … He said he’s going to hit it regardless.”

After asking Fowler how he’d stand over the ball, Ware and Fowler then had this back-and-forth:

Said Ware: “If the path’s not here, you’re not standing on the path, would you take that shot on? …”

Said Fowler: “I’m going to right now just because the other options aren’t great.”

Said Ware: “OK, the other option is obviously you could take an unplayable on the path and end up over there. That’s one of your other options. The question is whether it’s a reasonable shot for you to play if you weren’t standing on the cart path.” 

Said Fowler: “Well, there’s not really another option.”

Said Ware: “There is, but not a free relief option. … Honestly with the proximity to the fence and if the cart path wasn’t here, I don’t feel like you would take that shot. I feel that that’s too risky because of the proximity of the club and the fence and the direction of the play.” 

The talk ended, leading to:

— Fowler hitting. The officials thought the play was unreasonable, leaving him the choice of hitting his ball as is, or taking an unplayable drop. He went with the former. 

And his ball maneuvered through the trees to his left, and into the rough to the right of the fairway. From there, he made a bogey five, and he finished the round with an even-par 70. 

“An amazing shot,” a PGA Tour Live announcer said. 

Later on the broadcast, Rich Pierson, the Tour’s director of TV rules and video, explained what happened this way:

“His ball was up against the fence, which is an out-of-bounds fence. And the first rules official, Pete Dachisen, thought it was unreasonable for him to play the shot, because he was looking to get relief from the cart path. And obviously you can’t relief out of bounds; his relief would have been to the left side of that path. So Pete thought it was unreasonable for Rickie to play that shot that way. So he asked for a second opinion. Robby Ware came in, saw the same situation and asked Rickie if the cart path wasn’t here, how would you play this shot. And Rickie, as you saw, played the shot from up against the fence.” 

Said an announcer in response: “That’s where I get confused. There’s no recourse and the shot’s been played, but they say, OK, it’s unreasonable that you would do it and then he did it.” 

Said Pierson: “That’s correct, but in the judgement of the officials, it was unreasonable for him to get relief because of that shot.” 

One more thing to note here. 

There was one more joke. 

As Fowler made his way to his ball after his fence shot, he shouted:

“I didn’t touch the fence.”