Rock in a hard place: Englishman disqualified at Irish Open
Robert Rock carded a fine round of six-under-par 65 to tie for second place at the 3 Irish Open this afternoon, but the Englishman will be furious with himself after he signed for the wrong score at the end of the round - and thus found himself disqualified from the tournament he almost won last year.
Rock must have been contemplating the possibility of going one-better here than at his 2009 finish, where he lost out in a playoff to the amateur player Shane Lowry. And his opening round at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club couldn't have gone much better, the Englishman finishing in fantastic form with three birdies in the last four holes.
But all that good work was undone in a trice, as the 33-year-old signed a card that recorded a par on the 14th and a birdie on the 15th, when those scores should have been reversed. According to the rules of the game, that meant there was no option but to disqualify Rock from further play. It was Rock's playing partner, fellow Englishman David Lynn, who recorded the wrong score.
A similar occurrence happened at last year's tournament, when Francesco Molinari was disqualified after the second round for the same offence; the Italian had been in a strong position, having led at the start of the round, when he fell foul of the rule.
Tags: