McKINNEY, Texas — Davis Riley eagled his final hole to make the cut on the number Saturday at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson after the PGA Tour’s first two-stroke penalty in the experimental use of distance measuring devices.
Riley self-reported the violation on No. 17, his eighth hole of the second round, when his distance finder flashed a slope measurement, which isn’t allowed under PGA Tour rules. This is the third of four weeks that players are allowed to use the devices to measure distance as the tour tries to improve pace of play at its tournaments.
The 28-year-old Dallas resident made an 11-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 ninth to finish the round 5 under. Hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler was 18 under and held a six-shot lead after 36 holes at TPC Craig Ranch, then stretched his lead to eight strokes after the third round later Saturday.
Riley said he knew immediately it was a slope number that popped up on his device as he used it. He talked to a rules official while still on the par-3 stadium hole at the course in the Dallas suburbs.
“Unfortunately, it was just kind of one of those moments where your heart sinks a little bit, like you’re just throwing away two shots,” Riley said. “We certainly have a trial period here with this, and I know the USGA is trying to do something about the range finder and the pace of play.”
It’s not the first time Riley has self-reported a two-stroke penalty. He did it in the match-play final at the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur, against Scheffler no less, when his ball moved as he addressed a birdie putt on No. 16. The resulting bogey gave Scheffler a 3-and-2 victory.
“It’s a gentleman’s game. That’s just something, when you start out with that, that’s the integrity of the game knowing guys are going to keep that there,” Riley said. “You kind of have to have that same trust as if guys, what happened to me today, have the security to say, ‘Hey, I shot this, and it was accidentally on slope.'”
Riley said he and his caddie had checked to make sure the slope measurement wasn’t turned on, and that it was accidentally engaged when he took the device out of its case.
“I think there can be some more, a deeper look into this, just because I know this has happened a numerous amount of times,” Riley said, referring to other tours. “I’d hate to see something happen coming down the stretch and you pull out a range finder, and it ends up a two-stroke penalty and costs the tournament.”
Riley at least kept himself in this tournament with a clutch shot from 223 yards on his final hole, which got him to 5 under. He will be the reigning champion later this month at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in nearby Fort Worth.
“This tournament has been good to me. It was my first PGA Tour start,” Riley said. “So playing with family and friends here, and being able to play the weekend is very important to me. That would have been a tough pill to swallow off a two-shot penalty to miss the cut by one. So it was a lot of relief.”