"PGA Tour is shit, learn from LIV" - Fans react to preferred lies being enforced at the Tour Championship 2025

PGA Tour Communications recently declared that golfers will be able to use the rule of preferred lies over the final 18 holes of the ongoing Tour Championship. Fans on social media have now reacted to this declaration.

Adverse weather conditions, rain, and thunderstorms have plagued Atlanta for a couple of days. The rule will allow the Tour professionals competing at the venue to lift, clean and place their ball within a specific distance to improve their positioning amidst less ideal conditions.

Take a look at the X post by the Communications department of the PGA Tour:

Screenshot from Tour Communications X post / @PGATOURComms

However, this decision was not received well by all the fans. A section of them heavily criticised the Tour on X:

"PGA Tour is shit, learn from LIV", someone heavily criticised the Tour.

Alexei Brock

@fakPedReaAdpuVl

@PGATOURComms PGA Tour is shit, learn from LIV

"Just change the name to the LCP Tour", someone commented below.

"TOUR Championship more of an exhibition than LIV events", an X-user wrote in the comments.

"Have the people complaining preferred lies actually watched any of the tournament this week?...", a fan defended the decision made by the PGA Tour.

john barnes

@manunited19901

@PGATOURComms Have the people complaining preferred lies actually watched any of the tournament this week? Nearly every single ball that lands in the fairway is picking up mud. They are playing for a prize purse of 40 million dollars. They have absolutely no choice but to use preferred lies.

"You can clean your ball on the green. Why not the fairway?", a fan slammed the Tour.

The decision to use preferred lies is not something entirely new. In fact, this rule was in effect during the second round of this year's Tour Championship. Even if some fans are ripping it apart, this rule is preferred by some of the most successful pros.

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When an 18x PGA Tour winner vouched for the usage of preferred lies

The night before the PGA Championship began, the PGA announced that golfers would be unable to use the preferred lies. This decision backfired, as some pros at Quail Hollow faced a significant hurdle in the form of inclement weather. Scottie Scheffler was one of them, and the golfer did not hold back from firing shots at the decision.

The PGA Tour pro spoke up after a mud ball led him to score a double bogey during his opening round. Scheffler said (quoted by Sky Sports):

"It's frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it's going to go. But I don't make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules."

"...'oh, play it as it lies'... 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... all of a sudden, due to a rules decision, that is completely taken away"

The decision of not invoking preferred lies was unfortunate considering the inches of rain Quail Hollow received before the 2025 PGA Championship. Apart from Scheffler, Michael Kim also suffered from mudballs while playing in the major. The golfer left a post on his X account, depicting how bad it went for him.