While all the major tours are on hiatus for the foreseeable future due to the spread of the coronavirus, many of the mini tours are still running their events business as usual.
One of those is the Outlaw Tour which held an event in Arizona yesterday. The Verrado Founders Championship had 60 golfers in the field, and thanks to one of the more bizarre rules controversies we have ever seen almost a quarter of the field was disqualified.
Apparently there was a confusion about tee markers, resulting in 14 golfers playing from the wrong tee on one of the holes. Twitter user Monday Q Info has the entire breakdown of what happened:
Explanation of what happened:
Tee was set at the 204 plate, scorecard showed hole at 222. First group teed of on the wrong tee, and since there was a backup on that hole other groups followed.
But there was no info from starter that tees had been moved, no rules sheet etc.— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) March 31, 2020
As you can see, the golfers who played from the wrong tee actually played the hole at a LONGER distance than was intended. Despite them clearly not looking to gain an advantage, they were all told to take a hike.
Tournament Director Jesse Burghart took to social media to defend his decision:
Those 14 golfers are now out the entry fee that ranged anywhere from $775 to $875 depending on Outlaw Tour membership.
