Australian pro, Anthony Quayle almost completed the mother of all comebacks at this week’s Victorian PGA Championship after “a massive rookie error” which cost him seven strokes in round one.
The majority of his way around the Open Course at Moonah Links on Thursday, Quayle was asked by his American playing partner, Tyler McCumber if preferred lies were in place. The Australian mistakenly confirmed that they were and he had been operating on that assumption all day. He was wrong.
A document sent out to all players in the PGA Tour of Australasia event stated that preferred lies would be allowed on a certain part of the third fairway only. Unfortunately for Quayle (and McCumber), he had incorrectly read it as lift, clean, and place being in affect across the whole site.
Speaking to the PGA Tour of Australasia‘s media team – who first broke the story – after round three, Quayle explained: “The fairways were decent, but you could see how maybe we needed preferred lies because there were a lot of collection areas with divots. Our last three tournaments on tour have been preferred lie.
“The document I was handed is a little half-page document that is highlighted ‘preferred lie’ and highlighted scorecard length.
Anthony Quayle gives a thumbs-up sign at the 2024 New Zealand Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“It’s a massive rookie error on my part. I had just assumed on this tour we play preferred lie a lot. I just didn’t think too much more of it. I’m kicking myself now.
“Turns out on that document it only said it was preferred lie on the third hole in the blue painted area. I guess that sort of sat more in the fine print of the document.”
The fateful moment of realization in round one arrived on the 15th green not long after McCumber had asked for clarification. It was at that point Quayle said he felt “sick in the stomach, I thought I’d done something terribly wrong.”
The 30-year-old immediately called the tour’s referee and tournament director, Heath McLeod over, and he informed Quayle that there would be a two-stroke penalty for hitting from the wrong place on three of his shots plus a separate solitary penalty for another after the Queenslander had replaced his golf ball in an almost identical spot. McCumber was also assessed a single two-stroke penalty.
McLeod…
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