Brother of PGA Tour pro explains hilarious "YOLO" disqualification

The brother of PGA Tour pro Mark Hubbard has explained his disqualification from the Cadence Bank Houston Open. 

Hubbard was disqualified after the second round at Memorial Park Golf Club for "knowingly" adding a 15th golf club to his bag at the turn. 

It seemed massively bizarre and when the PGA Tour official communications team confirmed the news it did beg the question as to whether or not there was a typo. 

What exactly happened there?

This is where Nathan Hubbard comes into the picture. 

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If the name rings a bell, it's because Nathan Hubbard was the person who called out Brooks Koepka to withdraw from the Travelers Championship last season when the four-time major champion had all but joined LIV Golf. 

Koepka eventually did withdraw and it allowed Mark Hubbard into the field. 

But back to Mark Hubbard yesterday and it seems that he has a toe surgery scheduled for next week. 

His partner also has a baby on the way and at the time he added a second driver into the back at the turn he was "11 million strokes off the cut". 

Hubbard's brother wrote: 

See here:

Toe surgery coming Monday. Baby coming any day. 11 million strokes off the cut. Hitting 60 yard spectator hazard slices due to wrong driver setting. Changed at turn to make most of last competitive 9 of the szn. Thought it was 2 shot penalty per use. Declared right away. DQ https://t.co/ckxAOy66Nm

— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) November 11, 2022

Per Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport, a PGA Tour official confirmed that Hubbard's Callaway driver "wasn't spinning enough" and the player believed that it was a two-stroke penalty and not a disqualification. 

From a tour official:

"He said he started with a Callaway driver that wasn’t spinning enough….missing a lot of fairways. So, thinking it would be a 2-stroke penalty for each use of a different driver, he “knowingly” switched to a Ping driver at the turn.

My man went full YOLO. https://t.co/kA6ri6iiGB

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) November 11, 2022

This is what the Rules of golf say about the incident:

c. Procedure for Taking Clubs Out of Play

(1) During Round. When a player becomes aware during a round that he or she is in breach of Rule 4.1b(1), (2) or (3) for having more than 14 clubs or for making a stroke with another player’s club, the player must immediately take an action that clearly indicates each club that is being taken out of play.

This may be done either by:

• Declaring this to the opponent in match play or the marker or another player in the group in stroke play, or

• Taking some other clear action (such as turning the club upside down in the bag, placing it on the floor of the golf cart or giving the club to another person).

The player must not make a stroke for the rest of the round with any club taken out of play.

If a club taken out of play is another player’s club, that other player may continue to use the club.

Penalty for Breach of Rule 4.1c(1): Disqualification.

(2) Before Round. If a player becomes aware shortly before starting a round that he or she accidentally has more than 14 clubs, the player should try to leave the excess club or clubs behind.

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But as an option without penalty:

• The player may take any such excess clubs out of play before the start of the round, using the procedure in (1), and 

• The excess clubs may be kept by the player (but must not be used) during the round, and they do not count towards the 14-club limit.

If a player deliberately brings more than 14 clubs to his or her first teeing area and starts the round without leaving the excess clubs behind, this option is not allowed and Rule 4.1b(1) applies.

So there you have it. 

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