My playing partner left with my scorecard – will I be disqualified?

Our scorecard is our responsibility. We all know how Rule 3.3b (2) works and what awaits us if the hole scores aren’t certified, or we don’t return it. That’s right, the dreaded DQ.

But what if your marker needed a fast exit after the round and inadvertently took your card with them?

Have you breached a rule and is your round about to be consigned to the cutting room floor?

My playing partner took my scorecard

Don’t worry. If you’re sitting on a good score, your hopes of lifting a pot won’t necessarily be jeopardised by a careless colleague. There’s an exception to Rule 3.3b (2) that says there is no penalty if the committee finds that a player’s breach was caused by the “marker’s failure to carry out his or her responsibilities”.

It quotes a marker leaving with a scorecard as being a specific example, as well as them going without certifying it, but the proviso – and it’s an important one – is “so long as this was beyond the player’s control”.

There’s a clarification to this rule that reveals how the exception would operate. In our specific example, the Rules say a committee should try and get in touch with the marker but, if they can’t, they can accept the certification of scores by someone who saw the round.

What if the other members of your group can’t do that? If there’s no one else available, the competition committee itself has the power to give your score the OK.

Now, I’ll bet many of you have got another question in your heads right now. What if your marker has lost your card at some point during the round?

Guilty as charged on this one. Luckily, there are all kinds of gems in the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf and this is a question that’s tackled in another clarification to Rule 3.3b.

While it states you should return the card you were given when signing into the competition, there’s nothing in the rule that requires that same card to be handed in “if it was damaged or misplaced”.

So don’t panic if your card is fluttering around the fairways. Pick up another and just make sure it’s all filled in correctly.

Got a question for our expert?

Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.

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