Eddie Pepperell experienced a Tin Cup moment in the $7 million Turkish Airlines Open on Saturday when he was disqualified for running out of golf balls.
The Englishman had to leave the course when he deposited the contents of his ball pocket into a pond beside the fourth green.
Pepperell was level par for the tournament, but 2 over for his round when he arrived at the par-5 fourth hole. The 28-year-old went for the green with his second shot only to see his ball find the water. So did his fourth shot, and his sixth, and his eighth until he and playing companions Martin Kaymer and George Coetzee lost count.
“Eddie hit his shots to the green, then came over to tell us he had run out of balls,” Kaymer said.
“Then he walked off. I thought he lost four or five. We are about 80 percent sure it was five, 20 percent four. He was quick, so it was hard to keep track.
“He did not ask if he could borrow one from me or George. It did not look like he wanted to play. He did not putt with his putter on the third hole; he putted with a wedge. So there was a lot happening.
“I have never seen anything like that before. I only watched it on television, in ‘Tin Cup.’ This is the first time I have seen it live.”
As the story made the rounds on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, Phil Mickelson was among those to weigh in.
Pepperell isn’t the first European Tour player to have to leave a course because he didn’t have enough balls. Sweden’s Anders Forsbrand was disqualified from the second round of the 1994 French Open after losing nine balls in the pond in front of the 18th green at Le Golf National.
