Davis Riley was hit with a two-stroke penalty during the second round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Saturday after accidentally using the slope feature on his rangefinder
Tom Blow Deputy Sports Editor
04:45, 04 May 2025
Davis Riley was penalized at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson(Image: Getty Images)
Davis Riley was slapped with a two-stroke penalty during the second round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Saturday for inadvertently breaking one of the PGA Tour’s latest rule changes.
Riley unintentionally engaged the slope feature on his rangefinder, a gadget currently under trial at PGA Tour events to quicken the pace of play. The rules permit players to use only the distance-measuring aspect of the golf device, barring any advanced capabilities like the slope function. Scottie Scheffler is among those to voice his skepticism of the rule change.
Riley accidentally activated the banned feature while gearing up for his tee shot on the 17th hole and promptly reported himself to a rules official. The brutal penalty knocked him down below the cut line to three-under-par.
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However, Riley clawed back into the tournament by nailing an eagle on the final hole, securing his place above the cut. Despite this comeback, he expressed disappointment over the blunder at the 17th.
“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 shared with the press regarding his mishap.
“It is what it is. That’s the rules of golf. And we certainly have a trial period here with this, and I know the (United States Golf Association) is trying to do something about the rangefinder and the pace of play.”
Bryson DeChambeau using a rangefinder device at LIV Golf’s event in South Korea(Image: Getty Images)
Riley faced a delay until Saturday to wrap up his second round at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson due to inclement weather on Friday. Tournament officials have given him a stark warning: if he uses the slope feature on his rangefinder once more, he’ll be disqualified.
“In that moment, I was just, like, ‘Wow,'” Riley added. “It’s just one of those times that it just sucks. It was a tough deal, and it’s just a bad break.
“All I can boil it down to is bad luck that, by the time you put the thing in there and pull it out, it switched from just raw number to slope. It was tough.”
The PGA Tour is currently testing the use of rangefinders to improve the pace of play, with this trial set to last six months.
Riley then opened up about the significance of integrity in the sport and why he self-reported his mistake, despite his confession leading to a punishment.
“It’s very important to me because I love this game,” he continued. “That’s kind of something my coaches from a young age, my parents instilled in me.
“This is a game of integrity, so play with it and act that way. When something like that happens, you just have to own it up and just that’s part of the game, the integrity of the game.”
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler leads the pack at the CJ Cup Bryson Nelson, sitting pretty at 23-under-par following his third round, a cool eight shots clear of closest rivals Adam Schenk and Erik van Rooyen.
