Why Collin Morikawa received two-stroke penalty in 2023 after Ryder Cup hero called out rules violation

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Collin Morikawa and Matt Fitzpatrick were paired together at the Hero World Challenge back in December 2023.

Morikawa was bang in form at the time, having recently won the Zozo Championship, while Fitzpatrick had won on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour that year.

Over the past two years, Morikawa has struggled badly on the PGA Tour and is without a victory since the aforementioned Zozo in 2023.

Fitzpatrick has endured his own problems as well, although he was a real hero for team Europe at the Ryder Cup in September.

It actually surprised many when Fitzpatrick stood out as one of the best Ryder Cup players at Bethpage Black, but it shouldn’t have.

The Englishman is a huge talent, as is Morikawa. Their careers seem to have taken completely different trajectories over the past couple of months, though.

Collin Morikawa received two-stroke penalty in 2023 after rules violation

Morikawa fell foul of the rules during his third round at the Hero World Challenge in 2023.

However, the rules infraction was not brought to the attention of the PGA Tour until his round had long finished.

Fitzpatrick, his playing partner during round three, sought clarification over the rule from PGA Tour chief Stephen Cox on Saturday evening.

It was then brought to Cox’s attention that Morikawa may have broken the green-reading book rule.

The information was relayed to the two-time major champion, and he was then handed a two-stroke penalty ahead of the final round in the Bahamas.

Fitzpatrick was right to question what had happened. It is every player’s responsibility to uphold the rules in order to protect the rest of the field and the integrity of the game in general.

How Collin Morikawa responded to Matt Fitzpatrick calling him out

Morikawa was blissfully unaware of his rules violation at the Hero World Challenge.

He spoke to reporters after his final round about being called out by Fitzpatrick.

He said: “Me and J.J. made a mistake. From our perspective, the way the rules are put out, obviously we can’t use levels out on the golf course, but from officials we’ve asked in the past, saying it’s happened, how you read a putt on the practice green and use a level and see it move a certain amount and then write it in your book. You can’t do that.

“I think with the players there is still some confusion.

“I think there needs to be a clear line with how the rules are going, it can’t be that difficult. It’s on me, I take full blame on that, thankfully it only happened that one time.“

Players are allowed to look in their yardage books when on the greens, but they are not allowed to use spirit levels on the practice putting surfaces before their rounds.

However, PGA Tour players are allowed “Committee Approved” yardage books that show only minimal detail.

The good thing is that Morikawa being called out by Fitzpatrick made him aware of the rule at the time and he has never fallen foul of it since.