Hideki Matsuyama Disqualified from the Memorial Due to Nonconforming Club

The 2014 winner at Muirfield Village had a thick substance on the face of his 3-wood, and playing a shot with the nonconforming club resulted in a DQ.

Hideki Matsuyama, whose first PGA Tour win was in 2014 at the Memorial Tournament, was disqualified from the event Thursday for playing with a nonconforming club.

Matsuyama's TaylorMade 3-wood had a thick white paint-like substance around the center of the club face, which made the club nonconforming according to the Rules of Golf. 

"Our committee became aware through some pictures that were posted that there may be a substance that has been painted on the face of one of Hideki's clubs. Unfortunately, when we found out about it, Hideki was playing the second hole," PGA Tour chief referee Steve Rintoul said. "The pictures were damning. He had so much of the white -- it's very much like a whiteout you might use on a paper at home. A whiteout substance that was very much up on the face of the club which, really, it's very clear in equipment rules that's not allowed."

A Sharpie dot, for example, is legal as a marking to perhaps aid in alignment. The thicker lines atop the grooves, as clearly shown in the photo of the club, are not.

In the Rules of Golf, Rule 4.1-a(3) says players cannot hit a shot with a club that has been changed “by applying any substance to the clubhead (other than in cleaning it) to affect how it performs in making a stroke.”

A player may have a nonconforming club in his bag, but if he uses it in a tournament round he is subject to disqualification. Matsuyama teed off with the 3-wood on his opening hole.

It was the first disqualification of his career. Playing partners Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy finished the round as a twosome.  

Matsuyama, the 2011 Masters champion, has eight PGA Tour wins overall. In eight career starts at the Memorial he has one win, a fifth- and a sixth-place finish.