Two pros disqualified from tour event after rules breach

A pair of pros have been disqualified from this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event after being involved in a bizarre rules breach.

At the Memorial Health Championship in Springfield, Illinois, Cole Hammer called what ended up being a rules violation on himself.

And it resulted in the disqualification of both the 25-year-old and his playing partner, Nelson Ledesma.

The rule in question was 10.2a, which prohibits players from giving or asking for advice from anyone other than their caddie.

Whilst on the par-3 17th hole at Panther Creek Country Club, Hammer and Ledesma’s caddie, Nico Torres, are believed to have each violated the rule.

• New 12-hole Scottish golf course officially opens

• LIV team manager makes wild claim about future plans

Hammer, who had never been disqualified from an event before, had just hit 4-iron onto the green when Torres flashed four fingers, a universal signal for, “4-iron?”.

Speaking to Golf Channel on Friday afternoon, he said: “Out of instinct, I flashed ‘4’ as well. It was a heat-of-the-moment thing, and I didn’t think a whole lot about it until after the round.”

The American reached out for some advice, knowing the incident had taken place, and felt he couldn’t let it slide.

Hammer consulted KFT rules official Claudio Rivas, who met with chief referee Jordan Harris and a USGA representative to determine what would happen next.

He was unaware if Torres had even seen his hand signal, but didn’t alert him or his Ledesma at the time to avoid causing unnecessary doubt.

• Nelly Korda shows gruesome dog bite photo that forced WD

• Major champ in surprise link up with legendary caddie

“I feel like I know the rules really well, and I’ve always tried to uphold them to the best of my ability,” Hammer said.

“It just didn’t sit right with me last night, and when I woke up this morning, I felt compelled to go talk to the rules official and tell him what had happened.

“I didn’t think that they would be disqualified. I just thought since I was the one who gave the sign that I would be disqualified. And I thought that was worst-case scenario.”

Under Rule 3.3, the pair were disqualified since they had both signed their scorecards – otherwise a general penalty of two strokes would have been applied.

Both players were outside the cut line during the second round when the KFT made them aware of the decision.

Ledesma later told Golf Channel: “The decision made is the correct one, according to the rules.

“I can’t do much with it except accept it,” while he added that his caddie was “shocked by the situation,” but accepted the mistake.

Hammer added: “I feel a lot better now that I at least got it off my chest because it was weighing me down. It’s just unfortunate that it’s a caused a little storm around the tournament.”

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 Tryst Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.