Rules mix up in mini tour event sees FOURTEEN players disqualified

The Outlaw Tour’s stated intention is to “stir the pot” – and the organisers certainly did that when the Arizona-based mini-tour’s latest event in Buckeye on Monday turned into a Rules of Golf drama.

KK Limbhasut led the Verrado Founders Championship, at Verrado GC, after three birdies in the last four holes gave him an opening 66 and a one shot lead in the three-day tournament.

But it was what was going on at the bottom of the leaderboard – first reported by Twitter’s Monday Golf Info – that was grabbing far more attention from golf hungry watchers prepared to pore over any action during the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 14 players were all disqualified for playing from the wrong tee markers, on what appears to be the par 3 3rd, and not correcting the mistake before they started the next hole.

Explanation of what happened:
Tee was set at the 204 plate, scorecard showed hole at 222. First group teed of on the wrong tee, and since there was a backup on that hole other groups followed.
But there was no info from starter that tees had been moved, no rules sheet etc.

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) March 31, 2020

Jesse Burghart, who said he made the decision to toss the players from the tournament, copped some stick but doubled down on his decision in a Facebook post:

Was the self-styled ‘Sheriff’ correct? As far as the Rules of Golf are concerned, you bet he was.

Rule 6.1b states that a player “must start each hole by playing a ball from anywhere inside the teeing area”.

Playing from outside the teeing area includes from a wrong set of markers and, in strokeplay, an offender would initially get the “general penalty (two penalty strokes) and must correct the mistake”.

But here comes the judgement for our offending golfers.

“If the player does not correct the mistake before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the final hole of the round, before returning his or her scorecard, the player is disqualified.”

James Feutz, who was one of the unfortunate players to be DQ’d, said the tour had made the right decision but added some context.

“The biggest factor was that our personal scorecards printed out by the tour had the third hole yardage playing from the tee that everyone that got dq’d played from,” he tweeted.

“Had that scorecard said the yardage that the tees were actually set up at, we wouldn’t have had this problem. It’s a tough situation all around.”

For anyone interested in a (somewhat) sane player’s thoughts on yesterday’s Outlaw Tour Debacle. @acaseofthegolf1 @PGATOURSMartin @TronCarterNLU pic.twitter.com/TvmPKTolAy

— James Feutz (@James_Feutz) March 31, 2020

Have there ever been more players disqualified in a single event? What do you think of the Outlaw Tour’s decision? Have your say in the comments or tweet me.

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