Dean Wilson’s Growing Pains

Golfer Dean Wilson was disqualified after the second round of the Buick Invitational for failing to sign his scorecard.

Dean WilsonAfter the first round of the Buick Invitational, Dean Wilson was one shot off the lead at 9-under par. Things were finally looking up for Wilson who has had a tough road to the PGA Tour. Friday, Wilson faltered a little shooting a 75. Despite his poor round, he was still tied for 16th, set to make the cut, and finish with a nice check. With the bad round behind him and things finally starting to look up; Wilson headed to the scoring tent, turned in his card, and left. However Wilson forgot to sign his scorecard and was disqualified from the tournament for simply forgetting to put pen to paper and write his name. All Wilson could say after the fact was, “First time as a pro.” However, this is hardly the first time this mistake has happened. Padraig Harrington lead the final day of the Benson and Hedges Invitational but was disqualified for failing to sign his first round scorecard.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Wilson. He finished just outside the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list last year and had to reacquire his Tour card at Q-school. While he was successful in regaining his status on the PGA Tour, his 13th place finish at Q-school was not enough to earn him many tournament spots early in the year. To add insult to injury, Wilson is the only player on the PGA Tour from Hawaii, but he was not offered a sponsor exemption to the Sony Open which is held in his home state. Wilson had to qualify as the fourth alternate and finished 76th. Just when things were starting to look up for Wilson, he is faced with this huge blunder. After all he’s been through, this setback shouldn’t phase Wilson, and hopefully he’ll be remembered more for his many tournament wins and not just as the guy paired with Annika Sorenstam at the Colonial.

3 thoughts on “Dean Wilson’s Growing Pains”

  1. That is ridiculous. I understand that it is a rule and therefore he should know it and follow it, but I think that’s a crappy way to be disqualified from a tournament. How hard would it have been to hollar at the guy, “Yo, you forgot to sign you card?”

  2. It’s not like they check the card immediately. The guy was long gone before the mistake was noticed.

    Rules are rules, folks. “You are responsible for your card” is one of the most basic of rules. DQ was the only answer here.

  3. I agree with you Aaron, a rule is a rule, but the penalty for this one is way too severe. I can understand being DQ’d for signing an incorrect scorecard, but DQ’ing someone for failing to sign a correct one is pretty stout. Why not change it and make it a two stroke penalty. It’s these guys livelihood and I’m sure Wilson could have used that check.

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