Eddie Pepperell’s week at the Turkish Airlines Open came to an embarrassing end after he was disqualified for running out of balls.
The Englishman was playing in Saturday’s third round alongside Martin Kaymer and George Coetzee and was at level par for the week.
The group had reached the 4th hole, the 13th of their round and Pepperell dunked multiple balls into the water that lurked close to the par-5 green.
He was two-over for the day coming into the hole having dropped shots at the previous two holes and from there it all unravelled quickly.
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According to Kaymer, he lost “four or five” balls to the H2O and that saw him left with an empty ball pocket.
He informed his partners of the situation and left the course which meant that he would be disqualified for failing to complete a hole.
He broke rule 3.3c which is stated as follows:
“You must hole out at each hole in a round. If you fail to do so, you must correct that mistake before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the final hole of the round, before returning your scorecard.
If you do not correct the mistake in that time, you are disqualified.”
Kaymer gave further insight into what went on after he had completed his round of 69.
He said: “Eddie hit his shots to the green, then came over to tell us he had run out of balls.
“Then he walked off. I thought he lost four or five. We are about 80 per cent sure it was five, 20 per cent four. He was so quick, so it was hard to keep track. He did not ask if he could borrow one from me or George. It did not look like he wanted to play. He did not putt with his putter on the third hole; he putted with a wedge. So there was a lot happening.
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“I have never seen anything like that before. I only watched it on television, in Tin Cup. This is the first time I have seen it live.”
Pepperell responded to a text message asking about the incident simply saying there was “nothing really to add.”
The World No. 47 remains well inside the top 60 of the Race to Dubai standings which sees him head to next week’s Rolex Series event at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
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