MacIntyre Denied Relief Under New 2026 Embedded-Ball Rule

Robert MacIntyre finished his final round at the BMW PGA Championship with a birdie-birdie-eagle burst to share 10th place at 13 under, but the Scotsman was still fuming afterward over a ruling that cost him relief from a plugged lie at Wentworth on Sunday.

What happened on the 11th hole?

MacIntyre's drive on the par-4 11th found the left-center of the fairway, but his ball was plugged in what appeared to be another player's pitch mark. Golf's Model Local Rule F-2, introduced in 2026, generally allows free relief for an embedded ball in a pitch mark. The rule carries an exception, however: no relief is given if a referee determines the pitch mark had already been repaired in some way, including being stepped on, run over by a mower or otherwise pressed down.

DP World Tour chief referee Mark Litton assessed the lie himself and ruled that the mark showed signs of having been partly repaired before MacIntyre's ball arrived, so no free relief was granted. MacIntyre said he requested a second opinion on the spot, and the ruling stood.

How did the ruling affect MacIntyre's round?

Playing his approach from 96 yards, MacIntyre missed the green, left his first chip in the rough and needed two more shots to hole out, making bogey. He bogeyed the next hole too, the par-5 12th he had eagled and birdied earlier in the week, before rallying with the late run that pulled him back to 13 under for the tournament.

A rule written to remove judgment calls on plugged balls still leaves the final word with a referee's eye.

Why does the ruling matter beyond one hole?

Golf's governing bodies added the embedded-ball provision this year specifically to cut down on gray-area rulings, but the repaired-mark exception still turns on a referee's read of the turf rather than a fixed test. MacIntyre argued the standard needs to be simpler.

"The rule is absolutely ridiculous," MacIntyre said. "It is all down to a referee's decision."