Hideki Matsuyama

A poor start by Matsuyama ended after a marking was found on his club.

Though his play through nine holes did not indicate that he was going to be competitive on the weekend, it's still a bummer that Matsuayma was disqualified from the tournament. Matsuyama explained later that the substance applied was for alignment purposes. A bit later in Matsuyama's round, after Rintour conferred with the USGA rules folks, they determined that the club was illegal.

Matsuyama shot a three-over 39 through his first nine holes at Muirfield Village, but was pulled off the course before reaching the 10th. Tournament officials ...

Have you used this club? Yes. Have you used this club? Matsuyama was told about the potential issue on the second hole and reconfirmed what happened on the fifth.

Matsuyama, who won his first PGA Tour title here in 2014 and won his first major championship at the 2021 Masters, was informed on the 10th tee that he was ...

A whiteout substance that was very much up on the face of the club which, really, it’s very clear in the equipment rules that’s not allowed. But that much substance is clearly above what the equipment rules allow,” Rintoul said. “So not being allowed renders a club nonconforming. Rintoul regrouped with other rules officials and the DQ came through rule 4.a.(3) of the equipment rules. “It’s very much like a whiteout you might use on a paper. Unfortunately, when we found out about it, Hideki was playing the second hole,” said Steve Rintoul, chief referee of the PGA Tour for the tournament.