Carlota Ciganda GOES AFTER (!) tournament officials after major DQ

LPGA Tour pro Carlota Ciganda has responded to her disqualification from the fourth major of the season at the Evian Championship.

Ben Smith

30 Jul 2023

LPGA Tour pro Carlota Ciganda has responded to her disqualification from the fourth major of the sea — LPGA Tour pro Carlota Ciganda has responded to her disqualification from…

The fourth major of the season on the LPGA Tour saw a peculiar situation develop when Spaniard Carlota Ciganda was disqualified from the Evian Championship.

Ciganda signed for an incorrect scorecard after refusing to accept a two-stroke penalty for playing too slowly.

LPGA Tour officials stated that Ciganda received a bad time on the ninth hole at Evian Resort. It was her last hole of the day.

The 33-year-old immediately appealed the decision but was 'heard and denied' by rules officials.

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Had she not been penalised, Ciganda would have made the cut by one stroke.

Now Ciganda has finally broken her silence about the issue, writing a lengthy statement on Instagram detailing her side of the story.

She didn't hold back and criticised tournament officials for their 'very poor performance', adding: "They don't understand what professional golf is about".

This is her statement in full:

"I got a few messages about the DQ from yesterday. I want to be very clear and the reason I did not sign a 7 on the last hole is because I don't think I took 52 seconds like the Rules Official said. I had a 10 footer on the last hole, last [putt] and the group behind they were not even on the tee on a par 5.

"Very poor performance from the LPGA rules official, they don't understand what professional golf is about, they only look at their stopwatch like if 20 seconds is going to make a difference.

"I had family and friends watching and they all said it was impossible I took that long to hit that putt! Yesterday was tough out there with windy conditions and difficult pins and I wish everyone gets treated the same and they don't pick on the same players all the time! That's all!"

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What the LPGA Tour said in the immediate aftermath of the DQ:

"Ciganda was allowed an appeal with the advance and lead rules officials before returning her scorecard, which was heard and denied.

"Therefore, a two-stroke penalty was upheld. Ciganda opted not to add the two-stroke penalty to her signed scorecard.

"She was told that leaving the official recording area with a signed score lower [without the penalty strokes] would lead to disqualification, and left on her own accord."

Ciganda has been penalised for slow play in the past. She has previously criticised tournament officials for always picking 'on the same players'.

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