Masters 2012: Luke Donald Lucky to Remain in Field After Disqualification Scare

Luke Donald had the scare of a lifetime at the first round of the 2012 Masters.

The Englishman signed his scorecard with what he thought was a 75, but the total was later changed to a 73 on the scoreboard. This sparked a two-hour investigation by the PGA (via Guardian).

The dispute was over the fifth hole, where Donald had scribbled down a five on the par-three. A Masters official reported he finished with a 73, with Donald actually scoring a three on the hole. Well, somebody realized that a “3” and a “5” are easy to mix up.

Eventually a Masters official called it an “administrative error” and Donald was cleared to play on Friday. His wife Diane confirmed the news:

"

Just got off the phone with Luke, NOT disqualified. Thank goodness.

— Diane Donald (@DianeDonald) April 5, 2012"

It was an odd scare and one that had to rattle Donald pretty badly. The Northwestern alum may not be near the leaderboard, but the prize money that comes with placing somewhere in the 40s-to-60s sounds a lot better than 95th place.

The 75 was the worst ever first round for Donald in eight career Masters starts. He kicked off the week by wearing a black wig to impersonate Rory McIlroy and going on a comedic rant about how he gets zero respect as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world.

Well, he got the attention he thought he deserved on Thursday, but for all the wrong reasons. He declined to comment to the media about the fiasco that almost ruined his shot at a win almost before he really had a shot.

On Friday he has to do a better job of getting near the green on his second shot of any par-four hole. On Thursday that’s where four of his bogeys came from.

While it will certainly take an incredible effort to make up eight strokes and pass 63 other players, at least he has the chance. For a brief period of time on Thursday, it looked like Donald’s weekend was going to be over before it really even started. 

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