{"id":435316,"date":"2025-06-17T22:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T22:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=435316"},"modified":"2025-06-17T22:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T22:41:21","slug":"rich-beem-blasts-usga-over-contentious-us-open-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/rich-beem-blasts-usga-over-contentious-us-open-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"Rich Beem Blasts USGA Over Contentious US\u202fOpen Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former PGA Champion Rich Beem has criticized the USGA&#8217;s ruling on Sam Burns\u2019 stance at the 2023 U.S. Open. Beem described the decision to deny Burns a drop for relief from standing water as \u201ccontentious,\u201d expressing his disbelief at the ruling. The analyst questioned the logic of the ruling, and his reaction was captured in a video after the officials failed to give Burns the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n<h2>Been Urges USGA Need to Rethink Their Rule<\/h2>\n<p>Rich Beem did not hold back after the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/tiger-woods-issues-u-s-open-warning-and-reveals-blueprint-on-how-to-win-at-oakmont\/\" target=\"_self\">U.S. Open<\/a> ran into controversy during the final round. This came after Sam Burns found himself in a tricky situation on the 15th hole at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/u-s-open-oakmont-tough-play\/\" target=\"_self\">Oakmont Country Club<\/a>. His ball landed in what looked like standing water on the fairway. Burns called for relief, believing the water interfered with his shot. But the USGA official on duty said no. The ruling shocked many, but no one reacted more strongly than Beem.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_435320\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-435320\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-435320\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26464645_168416623_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-435320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakmont, Pennsylvania, USA; Sam Burns plays his shot from the tenth tee during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Beem took to social media to voice his frustration, asking if a left-handed player in the same spot would have received a different decision. Beem believes the USGA may have handled the situation with bias or inconsistency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuestion: If a lefty had to stand where Burns golf ball was, as their ball would be in the fairway, would they have gotten relief @usga? Maybe rethink that rule?\u201d Beem posted on X.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Question: If a lefty had to stand where Burns golf ball was, as their ball would be in the fairway, would they have gotten relief <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USGA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@usga<\/a>? Maybe rethink that rule?<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rich Beem (@beemerpga) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/beemerpga\/status\/1934657373987082734?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The issue came down to Rule 16.1, which allows players relief from abnormal course conditions. That includes standing water. If the water affects a player\u2019s stance or swing, the rules say he can take a drop without penalty. Burns believed the water affected both. From the footage and reaction, many agreed. But the rules official stuck to his call and forced Burns to play the ball as it lay.<\/p>\n<h2>Contentious Moment Costly for Burns<\/h2>\n<p>Beem believes the USGA needed to show more consistency in its rulings. He argued that the officials should have put themselves in the player\u2019s shoes. If the water made the shot harder or the player risked injury, then relief should have been the right call.<\/p>\n<p>The moment also proved costly for Burns. The 28-year-old had led after three rounds and was still in contention, but the missed relief disrupted his momentum. He struggled to finish strong and faded down the leaderboard. Other analysts have weighed in on the debate, urging the USGA to revisit the way it handles on-course rulings.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time the USGA has faced heat over rules decisions. Over the years, several rulings at the U.S. Open have sparked debate. But Beem\u2019s outburst may stand out because of the timing and the stage. The 15th hole on Sunday at the U.S. Open is no place for confusion.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Rob Schumacher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former PGA Champion Rich Beem has criticized the USGA&#8217;s ruling on Sam Burns\u2019 stance at the 2023 U.S. Open. Beem described the decision to deny Burns a drop for relief from standing water as \u201ccontentious,\u201d expressing his disbelief at the ruling. The analyst questioned the logic of the ruling, and his reaction was captured in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":435321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19],"tags":[8120,305,63],"class_list":["post-435316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pga","tag-rich-beem","tag-sam-burns","tag-u-s-open"],"modified_by":"Ajayi Segun","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435316"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435322,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435316\/revisions\/435322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}