Jon Rahm was left fuming at the 2026 Open Championship after making the same costly mistake on consecutive days. The two-time major champion hit his opening tee shot out of bounds on both Saturday and Sunday, forcing him to re-tee each time. The bizarre repetition left Rahm so frustrated that he even tore his gloves in anger.
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But what exactly happened? As reported in July this year, after his opening tee shot went out of bounds, Jon Rahm was unable to find his ball and had to return to the tee to play another shot. The penalty and extra stroke left him with a double-bogey six on the opening hole. But what do the Rules of Golf actually say about a lost ball?
Lost ball: how does it work?
For both the R&A and the USGA, once a ball goes out of bounds, the player has three minutes to search for it, starting from the moment the player or the player’s caddie arrives at the area and actively begins looking. If the ball isn’t found within that time, it is officially deemed lost. Even if it turns up just seconds after the deadline, the player can no longer use it.
So, what happens next? Under Rule 18.2, a player whose ball is lost or out of bounds must return to the spot of their previous stroke and play another shot, incurring a one-stroke penalty. This procedure is known as ‘stroke-and-distance relief.’ But that’s not the only rule golfers need to know when dealing with an out-of-bounds shot.
The Scottie Scheffler incident with TIO
Then there’s the Temporary Immovable Obstruction (TIO), a ruling that World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler knows all too well. A TIO is a temporary, fixed artificial structure placed on or near a golf course. Examples include grandstands and spectator seating, television and scoring towers, hospitality tents, concession booths, scoreboards, leaderboards, portable toilets, and temporary fencing.
Under Model Local Rule F-23, TIO interference can occur in two ways. The first is physical interference, which happens when a ball lies in or touches the obstruction, or when the structure interferes with a player’s stance or intended swing. The second is line-of-sight interference, where the TIO obstructs the player’s view along the intended line of play between the ball and the hole.
Scheffler encountered this situation during the same Open Championship in which Jon Rahm suffered his two costly out-of-bounds shots. During the final round at Royal Birkdale, the world No. 1 sparked controversy on the par-5 17th after his wayward tee shot disappeared behind a grandstand and was never recovered.
Officials ruled that it was virtually certain the ball had come to rest inside the TIO structure. As a result, Scheffler received a free drop rather than the penalty for a lost ball. He subsequently hit his next shot to within 10 feet of the hole and made birdie. Although the ruling was consistent with the applicable golf rules, it drew widespread criticism from fans, analysts, and fellow players, some of whom argued that the decision effectively rewarded a badly errant shot.
Ultimately, the contrast highlights how the rules can produce very different outcomes. While a TIO ruling can offer a player a valuable reprieve, an out-of-bounds shot can prove far more costly, leaving little room for recovery.