Ryan French, also known as Monday Q Info, has seen and heard a lot of crazy stories during his time shining a light on the grinders of professional golf.
French has seen and heard everything from a player erasing his score after the round to move inside the cut line to the Q-School “ball dropper” story.
French joined the latest episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast and shared some of the wildest stories he has ever covered, with the “ball dropper” taking the cake.
At a pre-qualifier for Q-School in Nebraska in 2022, Matt Moroz came under scrutiny after his playing partners, Andrew Ni and Grant Haefner, noticed some suspicious behavior and a few incidents where Moroz hit the ball well offline but wound up finding it in a good spot. This caused Nebraska PGA officials to keep an eye on the group during the final round.
On the fifth hole, Moroz once again got a “fortuitous” break. Playing the par-4 fifth hole, Moroz hit his tee shot down the left side and then hit a thin, bladed approach that his playing partners believed would be short of the green. A large mound is in front of the green, meaning players can’t see where their ball lands until they get up to it. Moroz and his caddie walked ahead of Ni and Haefner. When Ni and Haefner arrived at the green, Moroz was celebrating and claiming his second shot had gone in the hole.
“Maybe it bounced off the turkeys,” Moroz said, according to Haefner, referencing some turkeys walking across the fairway.
“I honestly think he may have picked that site because of the blind shots,” French told Knost and Stoltz.
“The other two guys hit driver. He hit three wood so that he would be first to hit and could get over the hill first.”
Two holes later, things got even more suspicious. The seventh hole has trouble on both sides and the tournament put a spotter there to help players locate wayward tee shots.
Moroz hit his tee shot into the right penalty area. The spotter put a red flag in the ground and went across the fairway to help Ni, who found the left penalty area, find his ball.
Everyone except Moroz and his caddie helped locate Ni’s ball. When the group got to the green, they saw Moroz’s ball on the fringe, just 15 feet away. Moroz claimed he found his ball just outside the penalty area and hit his second shot to that point.
Moroz was DQ’d after the round after officials approached him with his ball he hit into the penalty area on the seventh hole.
You can listen to the complete Subpar interview with French here or watch it on YouTube below.
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf. com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end. Josh can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
