“F**King Idiotic”: Fans Lambast Korn Ferry Tour After an Absurd Ruling Ruined a Golfer’s Biggest Dream

It was going all well for a certain American golfer at the Korn Ferry Tour. For the 31-year-old from Atalanta, he was on the verge of fulfilling his long-time dream after the 18 hole. Until the officials informed him of a retroactive penalty, shattering his hopes of earning a PGA Tour card.

The Korn Ferry Tour is a deciding league for the PGA Tour hopefuls. The top 30 finishers earn promotion to the PGA Tour next season. With 16 spots already decided, the last 14 were up for grabs. The journeyman pro sealed his place in the crucial 30 spot until a wild ruling penalized him for two strokes. He slipped from 30 to 32, with his dream of playing a maiden PGA Tour next year still unfulfilled.

‘Lift, clean, and place’: The rule that cost this American pro his PGA Tour dreams

This was the third season for Shad Tuten at the Korn Ferry Tour. The American pro had five top-10 finishes in the tour this season. The PGA Tour bound came to the Victoria National to seal a place within the Top 30.

After finishing with 69-73-69 over the first three days, he scored a 2-over 74 after the 18 hole, keeping him just in the race for the PGA Tour card. However, on the par-5, 15 hole, Tuten finished with a 14-footer birdie that eventually was ruled out to be a bogey.

Apparently, Tuten misplaced his ball by a few centimeters while replacing it after it rolled forward for the first time.

The match was played with a local ‘lift, clean, and place’ rule. According to the rule, if the ball moves after being placed, the golfer should try and place the ball in the exact same spot again. In case, the ball doesn’t sit there the second time, they are allowed to place it at the nearest spot where the ball will rest.

Read More: ‘Gross’: Golf Fans Bash Korn Ferry Tour Pro After His Weird Putting Style Comes to Light

This is where the United States national made a mistake. As per the officials, when Tuten didn’t put the ball in the exact same place the second time, he faced a two-shot penalty. In the video, the ball is seen to be moved a little to the right. That cost him a top-30 finish at the end of the season. But fans are questioning the rationale behind this ‘antiquated’ rule.

The Shad Tuten ruling has left fans outraged and divided

Sky Sports pundit Simon Holmes called the ruling “brutally harsh” during a TV broadcast earlier. He was not alone in condemning the rule, though. Fans poured their anger over the harsh ruling that cost Shad Tuten his chance for qualifying on Reddit.

One fan was baffled that this rule still exists. What advantage can a golfer get by placing the ball two centimeters to the right, they ask. “Get rid of these antiquated rules. Can someone tell me how he gained an advantage because it moved 2 centimeters?”

Another fan, too, found this puzzling and felt the rule exists just for the sake of it. Commenting it does not make any sense, this fan wrote, “Brutal rule. Nothing would have changed except he needed to try a second time to place the ball.”

Some were more blunt in condemning the rule. This fan certainly doesn’t mince any words. “This is an absolutely f***ing idiotic rule. its pick clean place – who give a shit.”

Some of them, however, favored the ruling. They felt that a two-stroke penalty was justified in this case since the player didn’t play by the rule. “Fair enough in my opinion,” commented one of them.

Another fan felt that sole point of this outrage was that the player missed the tour card because of this ruling. According to them, if the rule didn’t place Tuten outside the top 30, no one would’ve batted an eye. “The penalty put him out of contention for a tour card because it moved him out of the top 30. Would we still be having this discussion if the penalty didn’t change the top 30 names?”

One fan was curious about who got the place in Tuten’s stead. “Who’s the lucky dude that made it instead?” It was Rafael Campos who bagged his spot at the number 30.

Does this mean, Shad Tuten’s chances for qualifying are all but over? Fortunately, no. Tuten has to wait for two months, for the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school, where 31-50 ranked players from tour will get a second chance to earn their 2024 PGA Tour cards.

The top five players on the leaderboard will earn their 2024 PGA Tour cards. That means Shad Tuten should keep his chin up and not let go of his dream yet.