A Mexican golf professional has been disqualified from his country's biggest tournament after committing a rare “gross misconduct” rule violation.
On Friday, Emilio Gonzalez was competing in the second round of the Worldwide Technology Championship in Mexico when the incident occurred.
During the PGA Tour event, the 27-year-old hit his tee shot into the desert beside the fairway on the 15th hole. He made a provisional second shot off the tee.
Gonzalez found the ball in the rough, but tournament officials ruled that Gonzalez “failed to make a reasonable effort to locate the ball.”
The rule states: “If a provisional ball is not a ball in play and a ball is found that may be the original ball, the player must make every reasonable effort to identify the ball.'' It is stipulated that
“If a player fails to do so, the Committee may disqualify the player under Rule 1.2a if it determines that this is gross misconduct contrary to the spirit of the game.”
It was determined that Gonzalez had broken the rules and he was expelled from the tournament.
He will not have any of his proceeds donated and will play in next month's PGA Tour Q School. A top-five finish there would earn Gonzalez a promotion to the main PGA Tour.
It is rare for a tour player to be disqualified from a tournament. This is what happened in February when Jordan Spieth signed the wrong scorecard at the Genesis Invitational.
