Curtis Luck was at the course. He was hitting golf balls. He went to the first tee.
He was then done.
And his chances to play next year on the PGA Tour took a hit.
In a bizarre sequence Thursday, and as first fully reported by Golf Digest’s Alex Myers and Evin Priest, the 2016 U.S. Amateur winner was disqualified from the Korn Ferry Tour’s Boise Open after he failed to show for his first-round tee time. But Luck was at Hillcrest Country Club, according to an interview with Golf Digest. He said he was hitting on the range at 7:45 a.m. local time.
Which was his tee time.
“I just flat-out misread my tee time,” Luck told Golf Digest. “I thought I was off at 7:55 a.m., and I was just on the range finishing my warm-up. I actually started walking to the tee at 7:46 a.m.”
He didn’t make it, and he was done, due to a violation of Rule 5.3. In a tweet, the Korn Ferry Tour also said that Luck didn’t meet three exceptions to the rule that would have had him avoid being booted. According to the rule, the exceptions read as follows: “Exception one: You arrive at starting point, ready to play, no more than five minutes late: The general penalty is applied to your first hole; exception 2: You start no more than five minutes early: The general penalty is applied to your first hole; exception 3: Committee decides that exceptional circumstances prevented you from starting on time: There is no breach of this rule and no penalty.”
What’s next for Luck? This is where his DQ could be costly.
The Boise Open is the first event in the four-part Korn Ferry Tour Finals. This week, the top 156 players in the regular-season standings play; from Sept. 14-17, the top 144 play the Simmons Bank Open; the next week, the top 120 play the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship; and from Oct. 5-8, the top 75 play the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.
At that last event, the top 30 players will earn PGA Tour cards. Luck is currently 59th, though now he will earn no points this week.
The 27 year-old from Perth, Australia, has won once on the Korn Ferry Tour, at the 2020 Children’s Hospital event, and he’s played in 36 PGA Tour events since 2017.
“I’ll just show up in Nashville and then Columbus and keep throwing everything I’ve got at the playoffs,” Luck told Golf Digest.
Editor’s note: To read the complete Golf Digest story, please click here.
