A day after a rare video review led to a penalty in the first round of the 85th Masters, another unusual rules situation unfolded in Round 2 when Matt Wolff was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
No, this wasn’t exactly Roberto De Vicenzo in 1968 — Wolff was well on his way to missing the cut — but it was a curious bookend to a difficult week for the 21-year-old superstar-in-the-making. Wolff opened with a 76 on Thursday. On Friday, he was 10 over for the tournament when he arrived on the par-4 17th hole, where he hit the green in regulation before three-putting for bogey.
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But that’s not the score that Wolff penciled on his scorecard.
According to a brief statement from the tournament Wolff “returned a scorecard with a hole score lower than he actually made on hole 17. He was subsequently disqualified under Rule 3.3b(3).”
What number Wolff did record on his card or what caused the mix-up is unknown; he did not speak to reporters after his round.
Wolff is one of the brightest young talents in the game. In 2019, he became only the third player to win an NCAA title and PGA Tour event in the same calendar year. In 2020, he tied for fourth at the PGA Championship, at Harding Park, and was the runner-up at the U.S. Open, at Winged Foot, after holding the 54-lead by two.
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In recent months, though, Wolff has struggled. In 2021, he hasn’t recorded a top-30 finish in six PGA Tour stroke-play starts. A wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the the WGC-Workday Championship after an opening 83. Wolff also withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open, in January, after a first-round 78.
Wolff has spoken in the past of his burning desire to perform well at Augusta National.
“If I know it’s the Masters and I really want to play well, it can be harder,” Wolff told our Dylan Dethier, looking back on his missed cut at the 2020 Masters. “It wasn’t that I was, like, physically nervous standing over shots. It was just a tiny feeling: I need to play well.”