‘Controversial Golf Rule’... ‘Harvard’s Club Excess Disqualification’

Last November Houston Open Round 2 Situation

This is a case where a player was disqualified for deliberately adding an extra club.

This is the story of Mark Hubbard (USA, photo). It happened during the second round of the Cadence Bank Houston Open (total prize money $8.4 million) held last November at Memorial Park Golf Club (par 70, 7,412 yards) in Houston, Texas, USA. The veteran, who turned professional in 2012, made a fatal mistake.

After struggling with a 5-over-par 75 in the first round, Hubbard put a backup driver with a different shot shape into his bag. This increased the number of clubs to 15. According to golf rule 4.1b, a player is allowed a maximum of 14 clubs. Players receive a two-stroke penalty for each hole where the violation occurs, up to a maximum of four strokes per round. The problem arises when the extra club is added intentionally. According to rule 4.1c, this results in disqualification rather than a penalty.

Hubbard took out the backup driver starting from the back nine. He admitted, "I deliberately added a 15th club," and "I used the club multiple times without declaring a suspension of play." To carry two drivers, Hubbard should have removed one club he rarely used from his bag. He scored 74, 4-over-par, in the second round. Even without disqualification, this score would not have been enough to advance to the third round. Tony Finau (USA) won the tournament.

Hubbard is a player who joined the PGA Tour in 2015 after playing on the Korn Ferry Tour (the second-tier tour) in 2014. He has yet to win a tournament and is ranked 168th in the world. In the 2022/2023 season, he played in nine events and performed well with a tie for 5th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship. His FedEx Cup ranking is 72nd. His best individual result was a tie for 2nd place at the 2019 Houston Open.