SAN DIEGO — Only three months ago, Wake Forest alum Michael Brennan made headlines when he captured the Bank of Utah Championship in his very first PGA Tour start, and in doing so he completely bypassed the Korn Ferry Tour after he’d earned his card there through the PGA Tour Americas 2025 points list.
On Thursday, Brennan became newsworthy for a gaffe that cost him playing the remainder of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. In a brief statement, the PGA Tour announced in the evening that Brennan had been disqualified for a breach of Model Local Rule G-11 because he used “non-permitted green-reading materials.”
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The tour provided no further detail about the rules violation, and Brennan, 23, had yet to make a comment on social media as of late Thursday.
In the third start of his rookie sesaon, Brennan opened the Farmers by shooting two-under-par 70 on the North Course and was tied for 55th. He was coming off a T-56 finish in last week’s The American Express after missing the cut in the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii.
Beginning in January 2022, the PGA Tour started using Local Model Rule G-11, created by the USGA and R&A, that limits players to using yardage and green-reading materials that are distributed by the tour. The intent, according to the tour in a memo it sent to the players, was to “return to a position where players and caddies use only their skill, judgment and feel along with any information gained through experience, preparation and practice to read the line of play on the putting green.”
According to the LMR, a one-time violation of the rule would result in a two-stroke penalty. A second infraction is cause of disqualification.
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Five months after being instituted, the rule claimed its first “victim” when Alex Cjeka was disqualified for using an unapproved yardage book in the third round of the PGA Tour Champions Regions Tradition tournament in Alabama.
The rule was somewhat controversial because players had become so accustomed to using very detailed books to read greens. But the books were also perceived to a crutch for some while also slowing down the pace of play.
Rory McIlroy, who was the president of the Players Advisory Council when the LMR was instituted, said at the time, “It’s not that it’s an advantage really; it’s just taking away a skill that takes time and practice to be mastered. I think reading greens is a real skill that some people are better at than others, and it just nullifies that advantage that people have.
“Honestly, I think it’s made everyone lazier. People don’t put in the time to prepare the way they used to.”
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