Tag: incorrect scorecard

PGA Tour amending rule on incorrect scorecards (aka the Jordan Spieth rule), effective immediately

Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The PGA Tour is amending its rule on when a scorecard is returned. Call it the Jordan Spieth rule.

As you may recall, Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth, a three-time major winner and member of the Tour’s policy board, signed for a par on the par-3 4th hole at Riviera Country Club, but he made a bogey after missing a 5-foot putt.

As he later admitted, he had to go to the bathroom and so hastily signed his card for one less than the 2-over 73 he actually shot. In the future, he will have 15 minutes to return to the scoring area after he leaves to make a correction.

Across all our tours and other major golf organizations, a player’s scorecard is considered ‘returned’ to the Committee once the player has left the defined scoring area. In an e-mail to players and also available on the player internal web site, the Tour explained to its members that it had been working with the USGA, R&A and DP World Tour to amend this definition, with a goal of minimizing penalties or disqualifications related to scorecard errors.

The Tour announced a 15-minute window “to correct an error on his scorecard, even if he has left the scoring area.”

  • If a scorecard is validated in the scoring system and the player has left the scoring area, he may return to correct an error within 15 minutes of validation.
  • If a player has left the scoring area and an error is identified before the scorecard is validated in the scoring system, he may return to correct the error within 15 minutes of the error being identified by the scoring official.
  • If a player is in the scoring area when the 15 minutes expires, his scorecard is returned when he leaves the scoring area.

“In general, all players will have the ability to correct an error within this 15-minute period which may have previously resulted in disqualification. However, exceptions may apply when constraints within the competition limit a player’s correction time to less than 15 minutes, such as releasing tee times following the cut, starting a playoff, or the close of competition.”

The rule change is going into effect immediately on all PGA Tour sanctioned circuits as well as on the DP World Tour. Count Tour pro Michael Kim as a fan of the change: “I think it is way better this way,” he wrote on the social-media platform X. “Hopefully no more scorecard DQ’s in the future.”

It’s an antiquated rule that was overdue to be revised, but did it go far enough? Tour pro Andrew Putnam would say no.

“Such a dumb rule,” he wrote on X. “In what other sport do players keep their scores? We all have walking scorers with every group and every shot is calculated to the yard. Cmonnn [sic] people.”

The most famous penalty for a scorecard error belongs to Roberto De Vicenzo, who missed out on a playoff with Bob Goalby to settle the 1968 Masters. The likelihood of another “What a stupid I am!” moment has been diminished greatly thanks to this rule amendment.

College golfer signs not one, but two incorrect scorecards on same day at Pinehurst No. 2

Hopefully down the road, it will be a funny story to tell. 

File this under something you don’t see every day.

SMU’s Areen Aggarwal was in the lineup earlier this week at the Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst No. 2, site of the 2024 U.S. Open. The freshman played 36 holes on the opening day of play Monday before finishing up the tournament with an 18-hole final round on Tuesday.

However, neither of his scores counted toward the team score on the first day.

Aggarwal signed not one, but two incorrect scorecards on the first day of play, disqualifying both of his scores. It cost SMU 10 shots in the team competition over the first two rounds.

In the final round, Aggarwal shot even-par 70, the second-best score of the day for the Mustangs, which finished at 30 over and solo 10th of 12 teams. Without the incorrect scorecards, SMU would’ve placed sixth.

A tough situation, for sure, but Aggarwal bounced back strong on Tuesday. Hopefully down the road, it will be a funny story to tell.

Right call or outdated rule? Social media reacts to Jordan Spieth’s DQ at 2024 Genesis Invitational

Does the rule need to be changed?

Friday was a wild day at the 2024 Genesis Invitational.

First, there was tournament host Tiger Woods withdrawing from the tournament at Riviera Country Club because of an illness, even a scare with an ambulance waiting to possibly take him away. Then after the round was completed, one of the stars of the PGA Tour was disqualified.

Jordan Spieth was DQ’d after signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth signed for a 3 after making a 4 on the 245-yard, par-3 fourth hole. He hit his tee shot into the left rough, chipped to within four feet and then missed the par putt.

Spieth owned up to his mistake, posting on his social media accounts about the ordeal.

The announcement came late Friday night, with Spieth in the third-to-final group of the day, and it sent social media into a frenzy discussing the rule and how it happened in the first place.

However, that didn’t stop the shortage of people discussing whether the rule needed to be changed or if it was the right call. Here are some of the best reactions to Spieth’s DQ:

Cameron Tringale DQ’ed for rules violations at PGA Championship … again

Cameron Tringale was disqualified from the PGA Championship for the second time in the last seven years.

For Cameron Tringale, Friday at the PGA Championship was a case of deja vu all over again, as baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once memorably put it.

During the 2nd round of the 102nd PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park, Tringale signed for a score lower than he actually made on the par-3, No. 8. He signed for a 3 but made a 4.

After his scorecard was officially certified, he then left the scoring area, but later returned to notify the Scoring Referee of his mistake. He was subsequently disqualified for violating Rule 3.3b(3).

As rule 3.3 – Wrong Score for a Hole – states, if a player returns a scorecard with a wrong score for any hole:

  • Returned Score Higher Than Actual Score. The higher returned score for the hole stands.
  • Returned Score lower Than Actual Score or No Score Returned. The player is disqualified.

Tringale, 32, had signed for 2-under 68 and was going to be sweating out the cutline the rest of the day.

Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times | Photos

But this isn’t the first time Tringale was disqualified from the PGA Championship for a scoring violation.

In 2014, a guilt-ridden Tringale called the Tour and disqualified himself after finishing T-36 and earning $53,000. He claimed to have missed a stroke when attempting to tap in on the 11th hole of the final round.

“Realizing that there could be the slightest doubt that the swing over the ball should have been recorded as a stroke, I spoke with the PGA of America and shared with them my conclusion that the stroke should have been recorded,” Tringale said in a statement after the 2014 PGA.

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