Hideki Matsuyama turned professional in 2013, and until Thursday at the Memorial he had never been disqualified from a tournament on the PGA Tour.
Matsuyama was approached by tournament officials as he walked off the ninth green in the middle of his first round and was informed he was being disqualified because of an illegal marking on the face of his 3-wood.
The club had white paint on the face near the impact area, bringing rule 4-3(a) in to play, which states:
(3) Deliberately Changing Club’s Performance Characteristics During Round
· By applying any substance to the clubhead (other than in cleaning it) to affect how it performs in making a stroke.