PGA Player DQ'd After Hitting Himself In Head With Putter
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - PGA Tour golfer Zac Blair has been disqualified from the Wells Fargo Championship after hitting himself in the head with his putter - and then using the bent club to finish out the hole.
Blair smacked the putter against his head Friday after missing a birdie putt on the fifth hole.
He could have finished the round by using a different club to putt, but was disqualified when he finished the hole by tapping in for a par with the bent putter.
Blair was disqualified by officials for breaking rule 4-3b, which stipulates if "a player's club is damaged other than in the normal course of play rendering it non-conforming or changing its playing characteristics, the club must not subsequently be used or replayed during the round."
Blair said in a statement he didn't notice the putter was bent until the next hole, at which time he immediately turned himself in by notifying a PGA Tour official of the situation.
Blair said he let his emotions get the best of him.
"Going forward I'm going to do my best to not let my emotions get in the way out on the golf course, and I'm going to learn from this mishap and move on," Blair said in the statement. "My game feels very close, just need to clean up silly mistakes and I'll be right there."
At least the 25-year-old from Salt Lake City had a sense of humor about the mistake, tweeting out a funny GIF of Woody Austin, who hit himself in the head at Hilton Head in 1997.
Blair was 7-over par for the tournament when he was disqualified and would have faced an uphill battle to make the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
