It’s one of the most important yet simple rules in golf: correctly signing and submitting a scorecard.
A UPS driver failed to do that—and it possibly cost him a tee time at the U.S. Open.
Nick Barrett, of Catonsville, Md., shot 73 in his first round of the 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier at Woodmont Country Club.
Then, he forgot to return his scorecard to the scorer’s tent. Remembering 20 minutes later, it was too late. He was disqualified.
“I stood up after I had a hot dog or something at lunch and I felt my back pocket, and I felt the scorecard in there, and as soon as I did that, my heart went straight to the bottom of my stomach,” Barrett told the Baltimore Sun.
However, Barrett knows there’s nobody to blame but himself.
“It’s really upsetting to go out like that because it wasn’t anything I did on the course or because I signed something wrong,” he said. “I just got caught up in the moment. That was my responsibility, and I just didn’t do it.”
Safe to say, he won’t be making the same mistake twice.
“If people hear this, for me specifically, I can take this as a learning experience,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem with rules in the past, and it only takes one time for you to feel this way to never want to feel it again.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as UPS Driver Disqualified From U.S. Open Qualifier for Failing to Turn in Scorecard.