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Biggest mistakes of 2001
Ian Woosnam, Open. Warmed up with an extra driver on the range, yet
neither he nor caddie Miles Byrne thought to check on the first tee that the extra
club wasn't still in his bag (it didn't help that they were nearly late to the
tee). Two- stroke penalty assessed after violation of the 14-club limit was discovered
on the second tee ultimately cost Woosnam solo second and a Ryder Cup berth.
Larry Nelson, SAS Championship (Senior). Wiped out his four-stroke lead
by making a six-over-par 10 on the 13th hole of the second round, a calamity brought
on by not announcing he was hitting a provisional ball. The error was compounded
when he holed out with the original ball after it was found in bounds, drawing
a two-stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball.
Sergio Garcia, Greg Norman Holden International (Australia). Took line-of-
sight relief from a temporary immovable obstruction without consulting a Rules
official about the procedure; he ended up being penalized two strokes for dropping
in -- and playing from -- the wrong place (he actually should have taken one more
club-length) during the third round. He lost the event in a playoff to Aaron Baddeley.
Graeme Francis, Dimension Data Pro-Am (South Africa). Disqualified after
playing his ball from a crocodile pit during the second round. There were no crocodiles
present at the time, but a Local Rule -- and common sense -- prohibited play from
the pit.
Paul Gow, B.C. Open. Angry that his putt lipped out on the 11th hole
of the second round, Gow threw down a coin to mark his ball. The coin struck the
ball and moved it, costing Gow a one-stroke penalty. He ended up losing in a playoff
to Jeff Sluman.
Tommy Horton, Senior PGA Championship. Disqualified in the second round
for using a non-conforming club (he didn't know that the TaylorMade model driver
he was using was non-conforming in the U.S.).
Phil Mickelson/Kirk Triplett, WGC-NEC Invitational. Mickelson was assessed
a one-stroke penalty in the third round when he lifted his ball for identification
without giving his fellow-competitor a chance to observe the lifting and replacement.
The extra stroke put him in eighth place instead of fifth. When he heard about
Mickelson's mistake, Triplett reported that he'd done the same thing in an earlier
round -- he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
Strategy
Phil Mickelson, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Rather than trying
to get the birdie needed to force a playoff by using his wedge game (see David
Toms, PGA Championship), he hit a low-percentage driver off the fairway into the
ocean on the 18th hole of the final round.
Isao Aoki, Royal Caribbean Classic (Senior). Whiffed a tap-in on the
first hole of the final round, costing him two points in the Stableford system
(minus-3 for a double bogey instead of minus-1 for a bogey). He finished one point
behind.
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