The PGA Tour called for preferred lies on Thursday after overnight storms hit TPC Craig Ranch. It drew immediate criticism from fans, and the course played softly throughout. Now on Saturday, another half inch of rain fell overnight, and the tournament is heading into Moving Day with the same conditions waiting.

Preferred lies are in effect for Round 3. The tour’s official forecast—issued at 8:30 a.m. Saturday—half an inch of rain fell overnight in McKinney, Texas. The skies had partly cleared by morning, but the fairways had already taken the hit. Temperatures will peak at 84°F by 4 p.m., with winds staying light at 4-10 mph, and while the rain probability sits at 10-20% through the day, an isolated shower this afternoon is not off the table either.

This marks the second preferred-lies invocation at TPC Craig Ranch this week.

This season alone, preferred lies have been invoked four times—the Valero Texas Open, the Zurich Classic across both the third and fourth rounds, and the final round of the Cadillac Championship at Doral—each time drawing identical fan fury.

But the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow tells a different story. The PGA of America refused to implement preferred lies even after days of rain had soaked the course. Scheffler and Schauffele both hit perfect drives down the middle of the 16th fairway, only for their approach shots to shoot hard left into the water. Mud on the ball. Neither had any idea it was coming. Both walked off with double bogeys.

The rule lets golfers clean mud off the ball—cleaner contact, better spin. Scheffler hates it. He said, “It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision, all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes.”

Two governing bodies, the same weather problem, two completely different calls.

The question now is: Will preferred lies hand the tournament to an aggressive player, or level a field already tilted by soft conditions?

History was one par away, and Spieth just reminded everyone he still belongs

Si Woo Kim was one par away from PGA Tour history on Friday. Through 17 holes, he was 12 under. A par on 18, and his name goes into the record books as just the 16th player to break 60 on tour. Instead, he played the green and chipped to 19 feet, the par putt breaking to the right. And that was it.

His only bogey of the day. He still shot 60, still leads by five at 18 under, and he did it all playing with Brooks Koepka and Scheffler. He finally dropped a shot on the newly converted par-4 18th. That was the only hole all day that gave him any trouble. Every other hole, he was untouchable.

Spieth is the other story. Six birdies in a row to start his round, nine for the day, not a single bogey. He gained nearly four strokes on the field with the putter alone. His group’s combined best-ball score was 57. The number tells you everything about how the course played.

Normally, that gap closes the door. However, TPC Craig Ranch is not a typical course this week because of the soft conditions and preferred lies, which reduce the difficulty of approach play.