Pro golfer DQ’d after mistake that could cost him PGA Tour card 

The former US amateur champion Curtis Luck was disqualified from a Korn Ferry Tour Finals event on Thursday.

In a mistake that has serious implications for his chances of securing his PGA Tour card, the Aussie was DQ’d from the Albertsons Boise Open after missing his opening round tee time.

Luck was on site at Hillcrest Country Club all ready to tee it up in Los Angeles, but the 27-year-old did not show up on the first tee for his 7:45am starting time and was quickly replaced in the field.

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A Korn Ferry Tour statement read: “Curtis Luck missed his first-round tee time and did not arrive within the five additional minutes allotted under Rule. 5.3a, and was subsequently disqualified. Luck did not meet any of the three exceptions within Rule 5.3a.”

Remarkably, it transpired that Luck had actually walked to the first tee a gut-wrenching ten seconds after the five-minute discretionary period  thathe was allowed – but only because he thought his tee time was ten minutes later.

“I just flat-out misread my tee time,” Luck told Golf Digest. “I thought I was off at 7:55am. and I was just on the range finishing my warm-up. I actually started walking to the tee at 7:46am.”

What is most devastating for Luck is that the disqualification has considerably harmed his chances of seizing a full playing membership on the premier US circuit.

The Albertsons Boise Open is the first of four events in the KFT finals, with the top 75 players on the developmental tour aiming for a spot in the season-closing Tour Championship.

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Those 75 players are guaranteed a Korn Ferry Tour card for the following season, but the top 30 players in points after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship are also awarded a PGA Tour card.

Luck, who played on the PGA Tour in the 2018-2019 season, was 59th in the points list before his disqualification and has missed out on a big chance to gain some vital ground.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.