Former PGA Tour winner Ben Crane was disqualified from the Corales Puntacana Championship for a major gaffe, with the PGA Tour forced to release a statement. Crane has won five events on the Tour and only narrowly made the cut at the tournament in the Dominican Republic.
At least, that’s what the American thought, with his tournament later cut short after returning to the clubhouse because he played the wrong ball. Typically, an error like that would render a two-stroke penalty, but only if it’s corrected by playing the right ball.
Instead, Crane ended up paying the ultimate price, with his place in the tournament taken away from him. Explaining the decision on social media, the PGA Tour said: “Ben Crane was disqualified during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Championship for a breach of Rule 6.3c(1) that occurred on hole No. 8. Crane played a wrong ball on hole No. 8 and failed to correct the error before making a stroke to begin hole No. 9.”
There couldn’t be any complaints from Crane, as the rule stated: “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 their scorecard, the player is disqualified.”
Frustrated with his mistake, Crane posted a video on social media, captioned ‘Disqualified myself today here is why’, with the 49-year-old saying: “On the eighth hole, Saturday, I hit my tee shot into the hazard. After I hit the hazard, I went forward and took a drop. In the fairway, there were two balls, both mine and me and my caddy were like ‘wait a minute, what’s going on’.
“We realised that my ball has hit off the rocks and gone out onto the fairway. I now have two balls on the fairway. I assume that my ball on the right was the second ball I put in play. I play that golf ball, putt out, but realise there’s a rock scuff on that ball. I didn’t do a good job when I took the drop of identifying which ball I was playing. I realised I had played the wrong golf ball and I had to disqualify myself.”
Crane turned professional in 1999 and boasts eight pro (five PGA Tour) wins to his name. His best-ever finish at a major came at the 2004 PGA Championship, where he placed ninth.
