Pro John Lyras has been disqualified from his maiden Korn Ferry Tour event after an error on the first hole.
The Australian was competing at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Club, the first Korn Ferry Tour event of the season. However, per Ryan French of Monday Q Info, it didn’t take long for his maiden appearance on the Tour to go badly awry.
Lyras began his challenge in a group with Josh Creel and Andrew Kozan from the 10th hole but hit his second shot into a penalty area to the right of the green.
Thinking he had hit the ball into the water that dominates the right-hand side of the hole, Lyras dropped a ball in front of the penalty area. However, by that point, the other two in the group were ahead of him, and Kozan alerted Lyras to the fact that his original ball had, in fact, avoided the water and was playable.
Lyras’s mistake came when he then picked up the ball he had dropped and instead completed the hole with his original ball. That proved to be a violation of the rules because once a ball it dropped it becomes the ball in play.
A costly rookie mistake resulted in John Lyras getting DQ'd one hole into his Korn Ferry Tour career. The details on a DQ that could cost Lyras dearly since he finished one stroke outside of guaranteed KFT starts at Q-school. My story: https://t.co/4bBII14ppS pic.twitter.com/TmJtYLQkkbJanuary 14, 2024
Nevertheless, it wasn’t immediately clear whether or not Lyras had fallen foul of the rules. After consulting a rules official shortly afterwards, Lyras continued playing to the turn, at which point the group was interviewed and Lyras learned his fate.
The agony of disqualification is compounded for Lyras, who turned pro four years ago, by the fact he only holds conditional status on the Tour, leaving his place at next week’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in serious doubt.
After the incident, Lyras wrote on his Instagram stories: “Incredibly disappointed, embarrassed and ashamed at my DQ today. Pure rookie mistake. Amazing what happens when you’re super excited and anxious all together. You make stupid and quick decisions that can cost you so much, everything you work for.”
"To all the players and rules officials at the @kornferrytour today in Exuma, I apologise for damaging the integrity of the game.”
Before his ill-fated debut on the Korn Ferry Tour, Lyras had played mainly on the Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, where his best performances came with runner-up finishes at the 2023 NZ Open and The National Tournament later in the year.
Last year, golfer Zach Williams was disqualified from a Korn Ferry Tour event after just two holes for using a rangefinder.
