Inside The Ropes discussion on TIOs<\/a>, we asked if it’s time for the ruling to be changed, with a mixture of the best responses below.<\/p>\nIf a ball is not found, it is lost<\/p>\n
Many were of the opinion that if a ball is not found then it should be considered lost, and the player penalized accordingly.<\/p>\n
“If the ball cannot be found, they get no relief and treat it as a lost ball. PERIOD.”<\/p>\n
“They should be required to find the ball to determine playability. In my mind it should be determined to be a lost ball if they don’t find it. What would make it cleaner and easier, out of bounds around spectator stands. Simple and fair fix.”<\/p>\n
![\"Scottie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/golf_monthly_808\/97d5f675e180fbd12c9e7de71802ff8e.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
“To be an obstruction he had to have a shot. Without finding the ball and assessing the lie and possible options, [there is] no way to know if the obstruction made any difference.”<\/p>\n
“I get the rule, line of sight with objects, but if you can’t find your ball that’s a problem. You need a ball and a lie to prove your sight line is obstructed!”<\/p>\n
“I understand this is the rule but my opinion has always been that the stands, etc. at the Tour courses are not ‘temporary’ to the players during a tournament. I get that they’re not part of the course 24\/7 but they’re present all week so they shouldn’t be considered for TIO relief.”<\/p>\n
A TIO should be treated like a hazard<\/p>\n
A number of users believe it is too easy for the pros, especially the longer hitters, to exploit this rule for their own advantage.<\/p>\n
“It’s a rule that’s currently a huge help to the guys looking to smash the ball huge distances, knowing if they get it out of a line a bit, they’ll get a free drop. They gotta pay some sort of price for taking that chance and missing the target.”<\/p>\n
Another person offered a possible solution…<\/p>\n
“Just paint a red line around the TIO and play as a lateral hazard.”<\/p>\n
‘Why is it controversial?’<\/p>\n
On the other side of the argument, there were plenty of people who saw no issue with how it all played out.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it’s as big a deal as this thread suggests. What happened with Scottie was fairly clear. His ball was deemed to be lost in a TIO that he was Known or Virtually Certain of entering. He simply had a drop at the entry point, after which he had further line of sight relief. All under the direction of a rules official.”<\/p>\n
“Why is it controversial, it was in place for the tournament.”<\/p>\n
“Sure, let’s clear the stands and disassemble it until the ball is found.”<\/p>\n
What did you make of Scheffler’s controversial TIO drop? Join the conversation in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[16213,208,15932],"class_list":["post-40604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scottie-scheffler","tag-a-tio","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-tio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Scottie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/golf_monthly_808\/2e5187840a16c5c05235d9b7aa5aa1a7.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n