Pro fixes incorrect scorecard, only to be DQ’d for another costly error in bizarre incident

Eddie Pepperell caught his playing partner’s mistake and corrected it. Problem was, he made another costly error in the process.

Pepperell was disqualified from this week’s Qatar Masters on the European Tour on Thursday for signing an incorrect scorecard, erasing what was an opening-round 71, which was seven off the lead.

Pepperell, one of golf’s most outspoken pros on Twitter, took to social media to explain the bizarre situation that led to his DQ.

According to Pepperell, his 71 was correct, but one of his playing partners — either Benjamin Hebert or Mike Lorenzo-Vera; Pepperell didn’t specify — had him down for the wrong scores on two different holes, although the total still came to 71. The wrong card had Pepperell for a 5 on the 11th (where he really made a 6) and a 4 on the 16th (where he really made a 3). Pepperell noticed this and corrected it, but when he fixed the score on the 16th hole he accidentally wrote it in for the 17th hole and turned his card in.

“Quite disappointing as I actually took the time to change the original error, only to make a costlier one myself,” Pepperell tweeted. “I asked the referee if this had any bearing on my disqualification but it didn’t. … The rules are the rules and I 100% accept that, but I can’t help feeling that this particular way of disqualification is a fair distance away from common sense, and that’s also disappointing. I enjoyed the course however and hopefully next time I’ll do a better job.”

In November of last year, Pepperell was disqualified from the Turkish Airlines Open when he ran out of golf balls during the third round.

I picked him up on it and I changed the card to reflect the fact I actually made a 6 on hole 11 as opposed to a 5, and a 3 on hole 16 as opposed to a 4. I then however mistakenly changed the 17th hole(🤷🏼‍♂️🙈), not the 16th hole on my scorecard, and handed it in…

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) March 5, 2020

The rules are the rules and I 100% accept that, but I can’t help feeling that this particular way of disqualification is a fair distance away from common sense, and that’s also disappointing. I enjoyed the course however and hopefully next time I’ll do a better job 👍

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) March 5, 2020

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