By Robert D. Thomas
SCGA Senior Director of Communications
Few things cause more problems when it comes to golf tournaments than scorecards, as was proven again at this weekend’s SCGA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP and the LPGA State Farm Rail Classic.
At the SCGA Amateur, Mark Nickeas, the Saticoy Country Club champion, was in sixth place after the first two rounds but disqualified himself before his third round on Saturday after he realized that he had signed for a score lower than he actually took (had he signed for a score higher than he took, the score would have stood and he wouldn’t have been DQed).
At the LPGA tournament, Michelle Wie was disqualified on Saturday following an incident on Friday when she left the scoring area not having signed her scorecard. A volunteer working at the score table went after her when she realized the card had just one signature and got Michelle to sign the card. The next day, when LPGA officials learned what had happened, they spoke to Wie after her third round was completed and subsequently disqualified her for leaving the "scoring area" without signing her card.
Oddly enough, we dealt with both of these issues (and a few others) in a Know the Rules column in the September/October 2007 issue of FORE Magazine MORE.
As I said in that column, more players are disqualified for not having two signatures on a scorecard than for any other reason. It’s almost always the first question we ask at the scoring table: “Do you have two signatures on the scorecard?” But whether or not that question is asked, as the above column notes, it’s ultimately the player’s responsibility to follow all the Rules before turning in his or her scorecard.
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