I didn't even know this was a rule, probably becuase i don't play too much "real" golf
but Michelle Wie was DQ'ed for not signing her scorecard. I think i also read somewhere that this isn't the first time she's done something like this .
http://sports.aol.com/golf/story/_a/bbdp/wiedevastatedbyscorecardgaffe/
90296?icid=100214839x1...
1
Golf Wie Devastated by Scorecard Gaffe Golf
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (July 19) After
finishing Friday and Saturday in second
place at the State Farm Classic, Michelle
Wie was one good round away from
finally living up to her deep potential.
Then, minutes after tapping in her last
putt of the third round, Wie sat redeyed
at a folding table in front of a couple
dozen baffled reporters and
photographers, explaining why she’d
been disqualified from the tournament.
The 18yearold,
playing her best golf of
the year, broke one of the game’s most
basic rules: She failed to sign her
scorecard before leaving the scoring
area.
“I don’t know why or how it happened,”
said Wie, who had been crying moments
earlier.
Wie took no questions before leaving the
clubhouse at Panther Creek Country
Club. She climbed into an SUV with her
parents and drove away.
That left Yani Tseng leading the
tournament at 18 under, followed by Katie
Futcher at 16 under and HeeWon
Han
and Ji Young Oh another shot back.
Sue Witters, the LPGA’s director of
tournament competitions, disqualified Wie
in a small office in an LPGA trailer at the
course after asking her what had
happened.
“She was like a little kid after you tell them
there’s no Santa Claus,” Witters said.
And with that, Wie was gone from a
tournament where either the $255,000
winner’s purse or the $155,252 second
prize would have put her comfortably
within the top 80 money winners for the
year and
virtually guaranteed her a
place on the LPGA Tour next year.
The State Farm seemed tailormade
for
Wie, a parttime
player trying to become a
fullfledged
tour member for the first time.
Only two of the top 10 money winners
were in town for the event, and Wie said
before play began that she was looking
forward to opening up her long game on
the wide fairways and flat greens of
Panther Creek.
She shot a solid 67 on Thursday, then a
65 on Friday that tied her with Tseng, the
woman who rallied to beat Wie in the final
of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public
Links in 2004.
Wie told reporters that after she finished
her round Friday, she left the tent just
above the ninth green where players sign
their scorecards. She was chased down
by volunteers working in the tent, who
pointed out she hadn’t signed.
Wie returned to the tent and signed the
card, and “I thought it would be OK,” she
said.
http://sports.aol.com/golf/story/_a/bbdp/w...scorecardgaffe/90296?icid=100214839x1...
2
But Wie, according to Witters, had
already walked outside the ropedoff
area
around the tent. At that point, the mistake
was final, Witters said.
Witters said she and other tour officials
didn’t learn about the mistake from
volunteers until well after Wie teed off
Saturday morning, so they let her finish
the round.
“Is it real?” Tseng asked reporters just
after Wie’s qualification.
Without Wie, the tournament loses some
of its luster, and likely some of the
viewers who might have tuned into
Sunday’s final round.
“She was one shot off the lead, she was
going to help boost the ratings,” said
Christina Kim, who entered play Saturday
as the leader before falling back to 12
under and a tie for seventh. “She was the
player to beat this week.”
Wie’s short career has been colored by
controversy, starting with her
disqualification from her pro debut at the
2005 Samsung World Championship for
taking an improper drop.
Since then, she’s angered LGPA icon
Annika Sorenstam for withdrawing from
last year’s Ginn Tribute a
tournament
hosted by Sorenstam and
leaving early
to start practicing for the next stop. And
she’s withdrawn from multiple events after
poor starts, citing injuries.
LPGA veteran Betsy King, working as a
TV analyst at the State Farm tournament,
said Saturday that she always had her
caddy stand over her as she turned in her
scorecard, making sure nothing had been
missed.
Tour officials weren’t sure whether Wie’s
caddie accompanied her into the scoring
tent.
Wie said she usually signs her scorecard
immediately, and had no idea why she
didn’t Friday.
“Hopefully it won’t happen again,” she
said.
Tour officials and other players, while
sympathetic, said the signature rule is at
the heart of golf’s honor system.
“Bottom line, we are held accountable to
maintaining our scorecards and making
sure that we attest the scorecard,” Kim
said. “But it’s such a shame.”
Michelle Wie gets DQed from tournament.., for not signing her scorecard
Jul 20 2008, 11:31 AM
but Michelle Wie was DQ'ed for not signing her scorecard. I think i also read somewhere that this isn't the first time she's done something like this .
