A tough break turned into a nightmare scenario for Emilio Gonzalez at the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos.
Playing in front of a home crowd in Mexico, the 27-year-old’s tournament ended not just with a missed cut – but with a disqualification that raised eyebrows across the golf world.
Gonzalez shot rounds of 73 and 71, missing the weekend by two shots. But that’s not what people are talking about.
It’s what happened on the par-4 15th hole that changed everything.
After sending his tee shot into the desert, Gonzalez hit a provisional ball – a backup shot players can use if they think their first ball might be lost. When a ball was found within the allowed 3-minute search time, things got complicated.
Instead of properly checking if it was his original ball, Gonzalez just kept playing with his provisional. That’s a big no-no in golf.
The rulebook is crystal clear on this one: players have to make a “reasonable effort” to identify any ball that might be their original shot. Skip that step, and you’re asking for trouble.
Tournament officials didn’t take the violation lightly. They hit Gonzalez with a disqualification under Rule 1.2a, citing “serious misconduct contrary to the spirit of the game.”
For Gonzalez, who played college golf at St. Mary’s, this was only his second time teeing it up on the PGA Tour. His first came at this year’s Houston Open, where he finished tied for 74th.
The timing couldn’t be worse. After spending last season on the Korn Ferry Tour – golf’s minor leagues – he’s heading to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School next month. That’s where careers can be made or broken.
The San Miguel de Allende native will have to shake this one off quickly. In golf, as in life, sometimes the hardest lessons come from the simplest mistakes.
