Ludvig Åberg becomes the inaugural player to utilize new regulation for substituting a damaged driver.

LOS ANGELES — Ludvig Åberg and caddie Joe Skovron are part of a notable moment in rules history as they became the first to utilize the 2026 rules update permitting the immediate replacement of a damaged club.

This incident occurred at the 18th tee during the third round at Pebble Beach.

Åberg’s drive went out of bounds to the right on the par-5 18th — his ninth hole — and he discovered that the face of his driver was cracked.

Following Matt Fitzpatrick’s unsuccessful attempt to replace his driver at the BMW Championship at Castle Pines the previous year, Model Local Rule G-9 was revised at the beginning of 2025 to encompass visible cracks in the face. However, players were still required to keep a spare driver or part in the locker room.

This year, the PGA Tour requested an amendment that would allow players to carry a spare driver head in their bag and replace it on the course when a club was identified as damaged.

“They issued rules changes at the start of the year, and one of them was that you no longer had to keep [the replacement] in the locker,” Skovron explained. “Previously, someone had to retrieve it for you. Now you can have it in the bag, and if your driver is determined to be damaged, you can swap it out. I had the backup in the belly of the bag.”

Skovron noted that this change is logical for power players who generate high swing speeds and use increasingly thin-faced clubs.

Åberg called for an official, the crack was confirmed, and Skovron attached the replacement. Otherwise, Åberg would have been forced to use his 3-wood for the next tee shot, and the driver could not have been replaced until they reached the turn near the clubhouse. Åberg nearly salvaged par, reaching the green in two and just missing an 18-foot putt.

PGA Tour rules official Steve Rintoul remarked that Åberg’s situation exemplifies why they advocated strongly for the local rule change.

“If a player finds a crack on the 10th tee, their caddie can go to the locker room. If it’s on the 14th tee, it could take two holes before they get it,” Rintoul stated. “We appreciate that if a club is cracked or broken, it can be replaced immediately. The previous method of replacement was quite outdated.”