Players

OOPS: Eddie Pepperell Disqualified Over Scorecard Mistake

Published

6 years ago

March 10, 2020

Eddie Pepperell found out the hard way this weekend, that a mistaken scorecard will disqualify you!

Pepperell is one of the most popular players on the European Tour but seems to have a problem keeping himself in events. This week at the Qatar Open, Pepperell was disqualified for the second time in 6 months. This disqualification seems to be because of some counting errors on Pepperell’s scorecard. The funny thing is, he actually noticed the errors but still signed an incorrect scorecard!

According to Pepperell, his playing partner was keeping track of his strokes but once the round was completed, he noticed some irregularities. Pepperell noticed that he was marked down for a 5 on one hole when he really made a 6. And on another hole, Pepperell made a three but his partner marked it as a 4. So Pepperell’s total score was still right, just the strokes he earned on each hole. Despite knowing this, however, he still ended up signing a wrong scorecard.

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How did Eddie still end up signing an incorrect scorecard and getting disqualified? Well, he explained that for us all. “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.”

So, unfortunately, Pepperell ended up messing up his scorecard after trying to correct it and do the right thing. He asked the rules official if there could be any reprieve for him since the mistake was made in good faith but as he was told, rules are rules. If he would not have been DQ’d, Pepperell would’ve ended up at even, seven shots back of the lead.

It’s unfortunate that such a small mistake could come with such a stiff punishment, but those are the rules. I wouldn’t expect this to be a big problem moving forward since it seems like a freak accident but it does serve as a good reminder to always check your scorecards before signing them!

Cover Image Via Twitter