Weird disqualifications are becoming English golfer Eddie Pepperell’s signature.
Back in November, Pepperell was DQ’d from the Turkish Airlines Open after he hit so many balls in the water on a single hole that he ran out, and was unable to continue play.
On Thursday at the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Pepperell shot an even-par 71 in his first round – but was knocked out of the tournament after there was a series of errors on his scorecard.
Pepperell explained on Twitter that he correctly kept his score of 71 on his card – but there was a discrepancy with the scores his playing partner kept for him. Pepperell’s competitor had him down for a par on a hole he made a bogey, and a par on a hole where he made a birdie. The scores all still added up to 71 – but since the scores on each individual hole weren’t accurate, Pepperell would have been disqualified for signing an incorrect card.
Pepperell caught that mistake, however, and changed the scores his partner had written down. In the process of doing that, however, Pepperell changed a score on the wrong hole and signed his card, forcing officials to DQ him.
Pepperell wrote that he accepts that “the rules are the rules,” but noted that as he had the correct score himself, kicking him out of the tournament for an issue that started with his playing partner’s bookkeeping doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
