Clever use of the new rule by the main champion leads to epic waterfowl

Sometimes the rules of golf are so deeply ingrained in our minds that we can’t shake them even after the rules are changed. Many golf fans may have experienced that feeling last Sunday, when Wyndham Clarke was leaving in a water hazard.

You may have forgotten that the rules governing banning clubs in jeopardy changed a few years ago, but 2023 US Open Champion of course not. He used the new rule to its fullest extent to help create an otherworldly bird up and down a water hazard in World Challenge of Heroes.

Here’s what you need to know.

Wyndham Clark’s watery swings raise eyebrows and end in the bird

When he started Sunday’s final round at the 2025 World Heroes Challenge, Clark was just three shots away Scottie Scheffler’s 54 hole bullet. After a forgettable season on the course, Clark was hoping to end his season with a bang.

When he put together a putt for the ages for birdie on the 9th hole, it looked like he might just clinch his first win since the start of 2024.

The 9th hole at Albany GC is a par-5 with a long, narrow lake running along the entire right side of the hole. Clark certainly found the middle of the freeway with his car, but he was not so lucky with his approach.

From 310 yards out, Clark hit a 249-yard shot that went wide right and ended up in the water at the edge of the lake, well inside the red posts that mark the penalty area.

Instead of dropping a putt and swallowing the penalty that would have come with it, Clark decided to take the ball out of the water and try to get to the green about 60 yards away.

But before he did, Clark left his ball, returned to a nearby patch of water and took a few practice swings, his club splashing into the water on each one.

The sight of Clark raking the water inside the red pins may have felt wrong to players with a less thorough knowledge of the rules than the three-time PGA Tour winner. But he was within the rules, as the telecast noted.

“That’s perfectly legal. That’s new. You’re allowed to do that.”

Had the old rules been in place, Clark would not have been allowed to make full practice swings by splashing his club in the water, as he did on the 9th hole on Sunday. Neither would he have been allowed to touch the surface of the water with his club, nor any grassy area within the stakes.

Fortunately for Clark, that rule has changed.

In 2019, The USGA and R&A revised many of the Rules of Golf in the interest of simplicity. The rule governing the banning of clubs at risk was between them. First, governing bodies announced that they would no longer use the term “water hazard” to describe red-track areas on the course, instead referring to them generically as “penalty areas”.

According to the new rule 17“There is no longer any particular restriction when a ball is in a ‘penalty area’.” Additionally, the new rule states that “a player is permitted to touch or move loose obstacles and touch the ground with his hand or club (such as landing the club immediately after the ball) for any reason, subject only to the prohibition of improving the conditions for the stroke.”

Knowing this rule change, Clark opted to take a few practice swings in the water, giving him crucial information about how his club would react during his actual swing. And his clever use of the new rule paid off with a memorable birdie.

Unfortunately, Clark was unable to turn that big moment into a drought-ending win. A double bogey on the par-4 13th put him out of contention and he eventually settled for a T8 finishseven shots behind the winner Hideki Matsuyama.

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