Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley criticize 'monstrous' expected golf ball rule change, joining PGA Tour golfers in opposition
Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler can be counted among the golfers who dislike the new rollback rules the USGA is probably going to implement. With driving distances continuing to rise, the USGA has been considering limiting how far it can go, thus potentially removing an advantage a strong driver might have. Both expressed vitriolic attitudes towards the rule.
Bradley ripped into the USGA via GolfMagic:
"I think that the USGA … everything that they do is reactionary. They don't think of a solution. They just think we're going to affect a hundred percent of the population that plays golf. For the amateur world to hit the ball shorter is monstrous. I can't think of anything more stupid than that. I don't think it's very smart at all, especially when golf's growing in popularity literally coming out of COVID."
Rickie Fowler offered his own take, but it's no more positive than Bradley's was:
"To take the game and knock it back when it’s in the best position it’s ever been in, I don't want to see it as the golf ball being necessarily the right move. I don't see how when we're at the best place the game has ever been 'Oh, you love the game? Yeah. Hey, thanks for joining us over COVID."
He continued:
"Now we're going to make you hit it 20 yards shorter. 'Have fun.' I understand both sides. But looking at it as far as the game and everyone talks about growing the game, I think it's going to be a huge step back."
They echoed the sentiment of many other PGA Tour golfers. Rory McIlroy, for example, criticized the Tour for this rule and claimed they were only doing it for money.
Tiger Woods doesn't necessarily share Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler's opinion
While many golfers are tremendously upset with the decision, including both Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler, not all share those feelings. In fact, Tiger Woods had a bit of a different take on it.
He wasn't all positive or all negative, but he was much more amicable about the potential rule change. He said:
"This has been I guess the talk ever since I've been out on Tour. And then to finally see it come to this point where I think both governing bodies who control the rules around the world are going to come to a collaborative understanding of how far -- we just don't have enough property anymore."
He added that the idea has always been that the ball needs to slow down. Yet, it has sped up the entire time he's been a professional on the Tour.
He stated:
"As I told you guys, I've always been for bifurcation. I've always said that. Just like wood bats and metal bats."
Woods, unlike Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler, is much more on board with the idea to limit the golf ball's flight in the coming years. The rule is expected to be announced eventually.