For the second time this season, a player has been taken off the course mid-round because of a disqualification. While Alex Cejka’s DQ at this week’s Honda Classic was much less offensive to the sensibilities of the game than Sergio Garcia’s a few weeks ago, it was still deemed to be grounds for expulsion from the event nonetheless.
On the 14th hole of his first round, Cejka was informed that he had been disqualified for using illegal greens reading materials.
“It was brought to the committee’s attention that Alex might possibly be using some old greens reading materials,” PGA Tour rules official Robby Ware told GolfDigest.com. “Alex was basically using an old yardage book and old greens reading materials that did not fit the size to scale limit.
“He knew he was using an old book. He told me that. I don’t know that he was completely understanding of what the scale limits are.”
Houston, we have a(nother rules) problem.
Alex Cejka was DQ’d because he didn’t have legal greens reading materials. pic.twitter.com/Wbpzqzutwd— Chantel McCabe (@ChantelMcCabeGC) February 28, 2019
The issue was brought to the committee’s attention by Cejka’s playing partner Cameron Tringale who noticed something looked off about Cejka’s green reading book on the 10th hole.
“I saw it and told my caddie,” Tringale said. “I mentioned it to (Cejka) but was unfamiliar how exactly to proceed. I told the first official I saw what I had seen.
“I was perplexed. That doesn’t look right. Did I really see that? When we finished the 14th hole, I went to use the bathroom and when I came out I saw him riding off in a cart.”
Greens reading materials have had their required size shrunk in recent months to show 3/8-inch equaling 5 yards of the green, and they must conform to normal pocket-sized yardage books at approximately 4 1/2 inches by 7 inches.
In another bizarre twist, the materials Cejka was studying were from a previous year’s event and the greens at PGA National were redone following last year’s Honda Classic.
Cejka was even par through 14 holes. He was not available for comment after being disqualified.
