Even the very best can get it wrong sometimes – and the penalty can be brutal.
Whether it was a scorecard error, a ball search that took too long, or a laser that should have been left firmly in the bag, there have been some high-profile golf disqualifications in 2024.
Let’s take a look at who fell foul and consider a couple of other players who just narrowly failed to follow suit…
2024 golf disqualifications: Whose tournament was ended early?
One digit out of place
Jordan Spieth had a weekend off at the Genesis Invitational at Riveria in February. The American hadn’t missed the cut. His interest in one of the PGA Tour’s biggest early season events ended because of a wrong digit.
Spieth was dismissed at the halfway stage after signing for an incorrect scorecard following his 2-over second round 73 in Los Angeles.
The tour said he’d signed for a 3 on the 4th when he’d made 4. Sign for a score that’s lower than you’ve actually taken and the penalty is disqualification.
Spieth accepted responsibility but it was later reported he’d been ill and had rushed away to a bathroom and hadn’t checked his score properly.
That’s not the end of it. This drama has actually helped bring about a change in the PGA Tour’s terms of competition.
There is now a 15-minute error for players to correct an error on the scorecard, even if they have left the scoring area.
Get back in time, fix the mistake, and there will be no longer be a disqualification penalty.
Golf disqualifications: Your caddie did what?
Ana Pelaez Trivino would have comfortably made the cut at the AIG Women’s Open in August but was kicked out after her caddie used a distance measuring device at St Andrews.
Rangefinfers are forbidden at the major, but Pelaez Trivino’s bagman had reached for one on the 10th and 18th holes.
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The first breach was a two-shot penalty. But once it happened again, the only option left for rules chiefs was disqualification.
What may have made it more confusing is that DMDs are allowed at LPGA Tour events and they’ve also been used at the Women’s PGA Championship since 2021.
Searching for a ball? Don’t take too long!
Reducing the time you’ve got to search for a ball from five minutes to three minutes was one of the most high profile rules changes in 2019.
But even though it’s drilled deep in the heads of golfers, it’s still easy to lose track of how long you’ve spent looking.
Nasa Hataoka discovered this the hard way when she was disqualified following the first round of the Shoprite LPGA Classic in June.
Going for the green with her approach to the par 5 9th, her final home of the day, she found some particularly thick fescue.
At one point, more than 12 people were hunting. The ball was eventually found, she talked to a rules official, took an unplayable ball and carried on. She would make a par that appeared to put the seal on an opening 65.
But after looking at video footage following the round, the LPGA determined Hataoka had spent more than the three minutes allowed looking for the ball.
Once that happened the ball was lost and she needed to go back and play again under stroke-and-distance.
Having not done that, and now having played from the wrong place, Hataoka was deemed to have gained a significant advantage compared to the shot she should have played. That carries a disqualification penalty.
Hataoka had until she left the scoring area to sort it.
Golf disqualifications: These players came pretty close too
Late for your tee time? These two managed it…
Being on time to tee off is one of golf’s basic rules. But, sometimes, life gets in the way. That was the case for Scott Vincent, who narrowly avoided being booted out of the International Series Morocco at the start of July.
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His clubs had been misplaced on his way to the African country. After he went back to the airport to try and retrieve them, he then took a wrong turn on his way back to the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam course and missed his 12.30pm time.
You get disqualified if you’re more than five minutes late and Vincent managed to race onto the 1st with just 30 seconds to spare.
But he couldn’t avoid getting a two-stroke penalty for failing to hit on time. Playing with borrowed clubs and starting the first hole with a sanction, he still managed to shoot a 5-under 68! It was his best score of the week.
Vincent wasn’t the only player to get hit with this penalty. Mackenzie Hughes also picked up two strokes after he turned up late for his third round of the Scottish Open at Renaissance in July.
It was particularly costly for the Canadian, who had been poised for a charge. He was four shots back of leader Ludvig Aberg at the halfway stage, but his par became a double bogey after the general penalty was tacked on at the end of the 1st hole.
He’d recover to a 69 but a two-over 72 on the final day saw him end up tied for 46th.
Now have your say
What do you think of these golf disqualifications? Were they justified? Do the rules need to be changed? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
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