Grounding clubs in sand traps will be allowed in PGA Championship

The PGA Championship this week at Kiawah Island, S.C., will be different from just about any tournament you ever will see. For this one week, players will be allowed to bend one of the cardinal rules of golf: Everybody will be allowed to touch the sand in a bunker before hitting a shot -- an action known as "grounding the club."

To which Dustin Johnson had this reaction: "I just said, 'You're welcome.' "

Johnson could easily have said, "Thanks for nothing" or "So now you do it." But he was philosophical and jovial, two years after he lost a chance of winning the PGA on the final hole at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., because he mistakenly grounded his club in a bunker. He had not realized it was a bunker when he addressed the ball.

The rules of golf allow a player to place the clubhead on the ground when the ball is on grass -- or on sandy areas that are not officially designated as bunkers. Confusion can enter if you're not sure whether a patch is a bunker. Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty and missed being in a playoff with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson. He never has won a major.

At Kiawah's Ocean Course, there is sand everywhere. So, to make things easier, the PGA of America announced that nothing will be considered a bunker -- even if it is a classic sand trap next to a green. So players will be free to take practice swings and remove loose impediments as well as grounding clubs.

The no-bunker policy was in effect at other Kiawah events, including the 1991 Ryder Cup. But the decision this year, for the course's first major, is sure to make people think officials want to avoid another Johnson-like snafu.

"I just laughed," Johnson, a South Carolina native, said of his initial reaction. "I think it's good, especially at a place like that, where there's so much sand. If they didn't, I think it would slow play down tremendously."

Still, he does not think there is much advantage to the PGA's generous rule. "It's actually almost strange: you're in a greenside bunker and you can ground your club," he said. "I'm not going to."

Darrell Kestner, the director of golf at Deepdale Golf Club, will be the oldest entrant, at 58. This will mark the fifth decade in which he has competed in a major, having made his PGA debut in 1979 at Inverness. In 1993, also at Inverness, he made the first double eagle in tournament history.