Hideki Matsuyama was disqualified for a ‘non-conforming’ club. What does that mean?

The biggest shocker of the first day of the 2022 Memorial Tournament came between the No. 9 and 10th holes when 2014 Memorial and 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama had to leave the course and the tournament field.

Matsuyama was told by PGA Tour Senior Tournament Director Steve Rintoul that he used a non-conforming club in the round, which meant he had to be disqualified, according to USGA rule 4.1a.

In an interview with The Golf Channel, Rintoul explained that just after Matsuyama teed-off to begin his round, the referees learned that Matsuyama might be carrying a club that had been altered enough to be defined as non-conforming. Rintoul said someone who works on Matsuyama’s clubs had applied a white paint to the face of his 3-wood to help Matsuyama with alignment.

Memorial Tournam: Hideki Matsuyama disqualified from Memorial Tournament for non-conforming club

However, by doing this, Matsuyama violated rule 4.3a. The rule states: “A player may use equipment to help his or her play during a round, except that a player must not create a potential advantage by … using equipment (including a club or a ball) in an abnormal way in making a stroke. ‘Abnormal way’ means a way that is fundamentally different than its intended use and is not normally recognized as part of playing the game.”

What is a ‘non-conforming’ club?

To put it in basic terms, a non-conforming club is a golf club that has been altered in a way that gives the golfer an unfair advantage.

Rintoul likened the substance to Wite-Out that someone might use to cover up a misprint on a paper. The image shown on the broadcast showed the white paint-like substance over the grooves of the club, which affects the spin and flight of the ball.

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By Rintoul’s explanation, the club became non-conforming because Matsuyama could have unfair advantage based on how that substance affected the ball flight once struck by the 3-wood.

“The equipment rules are made to try to make sure that the game is played and enjoyed by everybody without people applying Chapstick on the face of their driver for no spin,” Rintoul said. “But the rules are clear about something that affects the spin, how the ball flies, loft, speed, all kinds of different characteristics that the ball has after it hits the face. So nothing applied to the face specifically is allowed.”

Why was Matsuyama disqualified at Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club?

Per the rules, Matsuyama could have just carried the club in his bag and have been able to finish his round. However, since he used the club, he had to be disqualified.

“Our committee became aware through some pictures that were posted that there may be a substance that has been painted on the face of one of Hideki's clubs. Unfortunately, when we found out about it, Hideki was playing the second hole,” Rintoul told reporters. “And we approached Hideki and went through the process.

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“Hideki, are you carrying this club? Yes. ... Have you used this club? Well, the poor guy has played one hole, and he managed to use it off the first tee.”

Rintoul said he met Matsuyama at the 5th tee and told him to finish the front nine, and he would meet him after the ninth hole after meeting with the USG and equipment standards officials to make sure they got the ruling correct.

PGA Tour Senior Tournament director believes using ‘non-conforming’ club was honest mistake

Rintoul said someone on the referees committee learned of photos taken of Matsuyama’s club that showed the white paint-like substance. GolfWRX took an up-close photo of the club on Wednesday. Rintoul didn’t say where the photo was that was seen, but a photo online was how the committee first became aware of it.

Rintoul said this had happened before, but believes it was an honest mistake.

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“The gentleman that handles Hideki's clubs, his name is Panda … he had done this on Hideki's driver before and had been stopped, on the driver,” he said. “And so he thought it only applied to driver. Then he went down with the 3-wood with it. That's, of course, nonconforming also.”

Matsuyama was 3-over through nine holes.

jmyers@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What was wrong with Hideki Matsuyama's club at Memorial Tournament?