Why was Kamaiu Johnson disqualified (DQ) at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Exploring the bizarre circumstances where the American was disqualified.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational is currently underway at Bay Hill, Orlando, Florida. Jon Rahm was in the lead after the first round but dropped from top of the leaderboard to 13th after a four-over par second day.
American Kurt Kitayama currently leads by two shots heading into the weekend after the PGA Tour rookie went nine under par through 36 holes.
However, the event was overshadowed by golfer Kamaiu Johnson getting a DQ under bizarre circumstances.
Why did Kamaiu Johnson get a DQ at Arnold Palmer Invitational?
Kamaiu Johnson was disqualified (DQ) at the Arnold Palmer Invitational for signing an incorrect scorecard. The incident was first reported by Twitter account @acaseofthegolf1 who claimed the dispute centred around Johnson’s score on the 9th hole, where he made a triple-bogey 7 but signed for a 6.
At the time Johnson was battling for survival after shooting a 3-over par in the first round, and was in a group with Nick Hardy and Kyle Westmoreland.
His group had been put on the clock due to slow play. Hardy and Westmoreland proceeded to the 10th hole after making par and a bogey respectively on the 9th.
That left Johnson struggling on the 9th where he missed a 22-foot par putt as well as several subsequent shots. He eventually made his 7th stroke which gave him a triple-bogey on the par four hole.
Video footage was needed to prove how many shots he took
However, it took a video replay to confirm whether Johnson actually took six or seven shots on the hole. The walking scorer noted a difference in scoring as Johnson claimed he hit six strokes. Others, however, claimed the number to be seven.
Over an hour after the incident, the officials had video footage of Johnson taking seven shots on the ninth hole. As a result, Kamaiu Johnson got a DQ for filling in an incorrect scorecard.
Here’s the rule that was reportedly broken: ‘The rule that was broken comes under Rule 3.3b(3), which states that: “During the round, the player should keep track of his or her scores for each hole. If a player returns a score lower than the actual score or no score returned, the player is disqualified.”
Johnson ultimately finished at 8 over and would have missed the cut by six anyway. It’s not the first time it’s happened to a player and more often than not it’s an honest mistake.
Nobody is suggesting foul play in regards to Johnson either. In fact, it is nearly impossible to cheat on a scorecard these days anyway due to the multitude of camera angles on a golf course.
He seemingly made a simple counting error that proved pretty costly.