Pro golfer admits to cheating in tour event

A professional golfer has admitted to cheating at a PGA Tour Canada event last week after carding a false second-round score.

Justin Doeden, who played an event on the PGA Tour in 2020, was set to miss the cut before changing his score for the 18th hole.

The 28-year-old made a double-bogey seven, but according to Monday Q, he erased the number on his card and replaced it with a five after his marker left the scoring area.

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Two players then approached the rules officials upon seeing Doeden’s score on the leaderboard, and the scorecard was pulled as an investigation got underway.

When asked about his score, he assured officials he made a five but soon withdrew from the event and took to Twitter to come clean.

Doeden said: “I am here to confess to the biggest mistake I have made in my life to date.

“I cheated in golf. This is not who I am. I let my sponsors down. I let my competitors down. I let my family down. I let myself down. I pray for your forgiveness.”

https://twitter.com/jdoeden11/status/1683501137905762304

The American opened the Commissionaires Ottawa Open with a three-under-par 68 to sit comfortably inside the cut line, but he struggled on Friday.

Doeden was even through his second round after making one birdie and one bogey, so would need a five on the final hole at Eagle Creek GC to make the cut.

The 593-yard par-5 has water all the way down the right side, which is allegedly where Doeden left his ball after attempting to reach the green in two.

Doeden, who has also played on the Korn Ferry Tour, hit his fourth shot into the front bunker and tapped in for a double bogey after missing a seven-foot putt.

The former collegiate golfer was left on one-under-par for the event, which would be one shot off the cut line, and that is when he took matters into his own hands.

One of Doeden’s playing partners had watched him take a seven, so notified rules officials, assuming a live scoring issue had occurred.

That was not the case, though, as Doeden wanted to ‘double-check’ his card, at which point he tried to slide his way into the cut.

The top-60 and ties make the cut on PGA Tour Canada, so had Doeden remained at three-under-par, 13 players would have been T61, and sent home.

One of those players, who finished on two-under-par, said: “He could’ve affected my career.”

PGA Tour Canada has not commented on the situation.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.