Written; Alex Myers
Voice: Michael Robles
Music: Andrew Apple Pie
Incredibly, even amid a global pandemic that has essentially shut down the golf world along with most of the planet, we can still count on one thing. There will be rules controversies.
As we’ve documented the past couple weeks, mini-tour events in some areas of the country have continued. And on Tuesday, this circuit featured one of the most unusual brushes with the rules book we’ve seen in some time.
RELATED: Former PGA Tour pro has won 34 mini-tour events in past year
In the first round of the Verrado Founders Championship, 14 players—or nearly a quarter of the 60-man field—were disqualified for playing from the wrong set of tees on one hole. Thanks to Ryan French (Twitter’s Monday Q Info) for bringing this bizarre situation to our attention:
Monday Q Info
@acaseofthegolf1
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.
80
5:35 PM – Mar 30, 2020
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To be clear, those golfers in violation played from a longer yardage, so they clearly weren’t trying to gain an edge on the competition. Nevertheless, it’s not allowed and the penalty is pretty clear. And as one player pointed out, the tee markers are pretty clear as well.
Monday Q Info
@acaseofthegolf1
· 17h
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.
mike bateman
@mikeybateman1
Just an FYI. For you guys dissing the event and organizers or the greens crew…The Outlaw Tour uses tee markers so as not to be confused with local markers. Hard to miss.
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8:04 PM – Mar 30, 2020
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Here’s a look at all the DQs at the bottom of the leader board:
View photos
There are a couple of familiar names on there in Monday qualifier legend T.J. Vogel and Cody Blick, the man who earned his Korn Ferry Tour card a couple years back by shooting 63 after his golf clubs were stolen. So these are some serious players involved.
If this sort of thing sounds familiar it’s probably because something similar happened at the 2018 Oregon high school state golf tournament. A dozen high school golfers were disqualified, although in that case, they had teed off from a shorter distance.
Back to the Outlaw Tour, here’s how one player summed up the situation:
James Feutz
@James_Feutz
For anyone interested in a (somewhat) sane player’s thoughts on yesterday’s Outlaw Tour Debacle. @acaseofthegolf1 @PGATOURSMartin @TronCarterNLU
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5:08 AM – Mar 31, 2020 · Buckeye, AZ
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And here’s a statement from the tournament director:
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