Preferred lies have been at the centre of controversy for the PGA Tour this season. On one hand, the tour is criticized for using it, and also for not using it. Now with the TOUR Championship, the same scenario replays. After heavy criticism for rolling out preferred lies in the first two rounds, they doubled down instead of backing off. Now, with Round 3 underway, the Tour has once again implemented preferred lies, stirring the golf community.

Taking to X, the official account of PGA TOUR Communications tweeted, “Preferred lies will be in effect for round three of the TOUR Championship.” And very obviously, the golf purists were triggered once again.

Fans are known to hate the rule because it softens the challenge and feels like the Tour is sanitizing the game instead of letting golfers grind it out. This disdain was witnessed during the first round when the fans went overboard with their criticism, calling the Tour a “joke” and an “unserious organization.”

Now here’s where the whole thing gets tricky. The weather at East Lake hasn’t exactly been disastrous. On Thursday, it was humid but playable, with only light showers in pockets. Friday was forecast to be stormy, and tee times were bumped up three hours, but the rain never truly wrecked play — the field got 18 holes in without serious delays. Saturday’s forecast again has called for scattered thunderstorms and heavy humidity, with highs around 78°, but conditions on the ground before the start of the play weren’t bad enough to demand lift, clean, and place.

So the question is whether the Tour is being overtly cautious or simply bending the rules in a way that changes the competition. On one side, officials can argue they’re preempting soggy fairways and potential mud balls. On the other hand, fans see three straight days of preferred lies without unplayable weather and think the PGA Tour is watering down its own flagship finale. “Meanwhile, there’s some great match play going on in Michigan, one of them commented, hitting a nerve by bringing in the PGA Tour’s rival LIV Golf. LIV is conducting its Team Championship in Michigan, with the semis set to be held today.

To many, this might come as a move taken to ease it for Scottie Scheffler. This season, the world number 1 has been very vocal with his frustration over this “odd rule.” “I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules,” he said after a disastrous first round in the 2025 PGA Championship. He is currently in 6th position on the scoreboard with a total of 8-under par. And some fans are quick to take a jibe at it. “Just wire Scottie all the money now,” one critic commented.

When asked about the weather, Scheffler didn’t look very optimistic. “Today the weather forecast looked pretty bad as we were and we were able to get 18 holes in, so we’ll see what happens over the next couple days.” In fact, he isn’t the only one. Even Tommy Fleetwood, currently tied at the peak of the score board with Russell Henley, backed the PGA Tour’s move to implement preferred lies for the second round.

So, what does the weather say for Sunday, the final day of the Championship?

Will the final round call for another rule-bending?

Sunday’s forecast at East Lake is far from perfect, but it isn’t unplayable either. Rain chances drop to about 40 percent, though scattered afternoon thunderstorms could still pop up. Temperatures are set to range between 66-82° F with sticky humidity around 76 percent, and winds will stay on the lighter side at 5-10 mph. The National Weather Service has even flagged a Flood Watch through early Sunday morning, warning of localized downpours in central and eastern Georgia. In short, it will be a warm, muggy day with the threat of storms hanging around.

That leaves the PGA Tour with a decision to make. After three straight rounds of lift, clean, and place, does it really need to extend preferred lies into the finale? The softer setup could be justified if afternoon storms bog down the fairways, but with firmer conditions likely in the morning, critics will see it as overkill. And with the FedEx Cup hanging in the balance, the Tour risks turning its biggest finish into a talking point about the rule-bending rather than raw competition.