For 24-year-old Wilson Furr, an innocent mishap may have cost him a lot more than just a two-shot penalty.
At Lakewood National Golf Club in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Lecom Suncoast Classic, Furr was playing with Alejandro Tosti and Mason Anderson, and they started their second round on the 10th tee. As they were turning from the 18th hole to the first hole, they saw a volunteer ushering players to the first tee in a cart since it was a pretty far walk.
“I asked the guy, ‘Are you giving rides to the first tee?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, jump in,’” Tosti told GolfChannel.com. “I know that I cannot jump in a cart that is not official, but this was almost like organized.
It almost seemed like someone sent this guy to give us a ride. “It was ready, waiting for us to walk off the green and give us a ride to the first tee, and that guy apparently was not supposed to be there.”
Instead, the driver was taking players from the practice area to the first tee but was not allowed to take anyone that had already teed off to the first tee.
The tournament was being played under a Model Local Rule that stated players and caddies could not take transportation during a round, except in instances of stroke and distance penalties.
A supplemental rules sheet did make one exception, however, allowing transportation between the seventh green and the eighth tee.
A Korn Ferry Tour official told Ryan French of MondayQ.com the cart, which was gas-powered and noisy, was there because it had stopped while the players putted.