3M Open Preferred Lies Decision Sparks Fan Backlash

The 2025 3M Open is officially done with Kurt Kitayama taking home the prize.  Despite being overshadowed by The Open over in Northern Ireland, the tournament had quite a bit to offer.  Max Homa had pressure to play the best he could before he could go home to his wife and soon-to-arrive child.  Then there were the players honoring Kayla Hales after she tragically passed away by wearing black ribbons with her initials on them.  Another issue that arose as the tournament began was the preferred lies ruling in effect.  Fans were not impressed by it.

What Is Preferred Lies?

For a quick reminder, preferred lies is a special rule used based on course conditions.  It rained right before the tournament, and as a result, players were allowed to place a marker, clean their ball, and then resume play.  Players are allowed to place the ball within one club length of where it was, but never closer to the hole.  It is meant to avoid issues like mud balls.  An incident that occurred during the PGA Championship in May.  The decision not to use preferred lies then was very controversial among the players, as even the best were struggling to keep their balls on the fairway.

Fan Response To Decision

On the official PGA Tour Communications Twitter account, the decision to allow preferred lies was made.  Fans did not take it well as they felt it wasn’t in the spirit of the game.

One responded, “Softest tour in the world. I’m watching LIV this week anyway.”

Another said, “Pathetic.”

One commenter simply said, “Booo.”

One of the comments gets to the core of what the controversy is around when they replied to the preferred lies rules with, “Lift, clean, and cheat.”  One of the most well-known rules is to play it as it lies.  It is so well known that it became the setup of a joke and plot point in the original Happy Gilmore.  For some, it is seen as a way to move the ball into a more favorable position.  Generally, when most people play, they play it as it lies.  However, when the course conditions are bad, the players will have problems.

Preferred Lies Will Be Used Again

The 3M Open only used preferred lies for its first round.  For the rest of the tournament, the weather was clear, giving the field enough time to dry before the second round.  Although preferred lies is controversial among the fans, that is far from the case with the players.  As stated before, the PGA Championship was not the best time for the top players during the first round.  Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy often found their balls veering off course while caked in mud.  It was an odd decision not to have preferred lies then.  

So long as the players remember what it is like to play with mud balls, they will call for preferred lies.  The governing bodies aren’t interested in removing the rule entirely and will ignore fans.  Favoring the performance of the players instead.