Scottie Scheffler is among a large group of players in T20 after round one of the PGA Championship, having carded a two-under 69.
Scheffler is chasing his first win at the PGA Championship, with both of his major championship wins arriving at The Masters.
But the world number one finds himself well behind early leader Jhonattan Vegas, who sits on seven-under after one round.
Ryan Gerard and Cam Davis are his closest rivals on five-under, after a day of action which was dominated by the conditions at Quail Hollow.
Many players dealt with mud on their balls given the rainfall earlier in the week in North Carolina, making flight difficult to judge at the latest PGA Tour event of the season.
Scottie Scheffler makes unusual complaint after round one of the PGA Championship
And Scheffler was among the players to be vocal about the issue after his first round, with the PGA of America having opted against implementing preferred lies.
Rex Hoggard has now shared his verdict, saying on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav: “My take was that it was short-sighted.
“It is important to point out that almost every player we talked to about this, nobody was surprised they did not institute preferred lies for this round.
“That is simply something that Kerry Haigh, the Chief Championships officer of the PGA of America does not do.
“It has been nearly a decade since he did it and even for that it was extreme circumstances, they had to finish up two rounds on Sunday to make sure there was not a Monday finish.
“That is why they would use preferred lies. He is not going to do it on a Thursday when you have a golf course that drained well enough, there was no standing water.
“It was pretty amazing considering all the rain they had had and the greens were actually firm. It was a strange universe because they are new greens and there was sub-air.
“But I say it’s short-sighted because Kerry Haigh would be at the front of the line along with anyone else who sets up golf courses for major championships and say that the simple tenet that they live by when setting up those golf courses is that you want to identify that week’s best player.
“By not using preferred lies you put that in jeopardy because you are taking the biggest skill in the game out of those who are really good at it, out of their hands, and that was Scottie Scheffler’s point very vocally.
“That was kind of weird, because Scottie is not one to complain, he is not one to second-guess anyone. He is going to put his head down and get on with his business, that is his hallmark and who he is.
“There was an element of him not wanting to talk about it today but he needed to and this really boils down to what happened on the 16th hole.
“That power group, you had world number one Scottie Scheffler, world number two Rory McIlroy and world number three Xander Schauffele.
“All playing together and all on top form, it was going to be the best days, and on 16 Xander and Scottie hit brilliant drives. 322 yards, right down the middle of the fairway, setting up easy approach shots and both of them snap hooked their irons into the water. That is never going to happen in any universe, under any circumstance unless there were mud balls.
“You are taking two of the game’s best ball strikers, brilliant at what they do, they have perfected their craft since they were children and you are taking that skill out of their hands. That is not the way you identify the best player this week.”
What did Scottie Scheffler say about the PGA Championship preferred lie rule?
As Hoggard mentioned, Scheffler’s mud ball struggles were particularly apparent on the par-4 16th, where he dumped his approach into the water.
His playing partner Schauffele did the exact same, with the American duo making double bogey, joined by McIlroy.
Many players will be grateful that the greens have become much firmer due to the sub-air system at Quail Hollow, but the rest of the course remains soft.
And a soft course means mud balls, with Scheffler among the players who believe a preferred lie exemption should have been made.
“I understand how a golf purist would be, ‘Oh, play it as it lies,’” said Scheffler. “But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance.
“In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down.
“When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion, maybe the ball today should have been played up.”
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
