Veteran PGA Tour pro Jason Kokrak shot a respectable three-under 67 in the opening round of the Travelers Championship. With another solid round on Friday, it looked like Kokrak would be playing the weekend in Connecticut. But his second round did not end as planned, in fact, it technically didn’t end at all.
That’s because after hitting his ball out of bounds, Kokrak picked up his clubs and walked off the course in one of the most bizarre moments in an already bizarre PGA Tour season.
After hitting a long drive on the short par-4 9th hole on Friday, Kokrak’s final hole of the round, the 37-year-old airmailed the green entirely with his approach shot.
The PGA Tour ShotLink play-by-play tells part of the story:
- Shot 1, 327 yds to left rough, 43 yds to hole
- Shot 2, 87 yds to unknown, 44 yds to hole
But then the play-by-play ends, with no further shots recorded. Why? Because after a brief search for his ball, Kokrak decided to leave it wherever it came to rest and proceeded to walk off the course.
At that point, Kokrak was four over on his round and fresh off a double bogey at the 8th, and he had no hope of making the cut. As a result of his walk-off, he was disqualified for failing to record a score on his final hole and failing to turn in a scorecard.
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Rumors quickly spread that Kokrak may have fled the course in frustration, maybe for good on his way to join LIV Golf, but reporter Jason Sobel found otherwise.
In texts with William McGirt, one of Kokrak’s playing partners on Friday, Sobel learned that the group took a long time to determine 1., that the ball was out of bounds and, 2., where the correct drop zone would be. Not wanting to force the group behind them to wait in the fairway, Kokrak decided to pick up and change his MC to a DQ.
Kokrak, who is ranked No. 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking, has three PGA Tour wins in his career, all coming since 2020. The most recent came at the Houston Open in November 2021. In 16 starts this season, he’s missed the cut three times, but this is his first disqualification.