Tin Cup moment as poor Pepperell runs out of balls!
AROUND the time he was due to complete his third round in the Turkish Airlines Open yesterday, Eddie Pepperell was back at his hotel, sheepishly nursing a glass of wine.
Yes, this really is the game that can drive a man to drink.
What happened to Pepperell that led to him being disqualified halfway through his decidedly fateful 13th hole will go down in the annals. An amusing anecdote recalled in clubhouses everywhere but with less gaiety at Tour HQ, who will surely be handing out a fine.
Ever heard the one about the top-class pro who quit because he ran out of golf balls? It almost happened to Kevin Costner’s character in the Hollywood blockbuster, Tin Cup. It did happen last July to the little-known Frenchman Clement Berado, but that was in an obscure Challenge Tour event. It really should not be happening in a prestigious £6.5million Rolex Series event, for heaven’s sake.
Pepperell was not having a good day when he arrived at the par-five fourth, his 13th hole. On the third, the maverick Englishman had putted out for a second successive bogey with a wedge, rather than his putter.
The second shot to the fourth requires a bold stroke over water, if the green is to be found. On Thursday, Padraig Harrington ran up a 10 after finding the water several times – at least he had enough golf balls to carry on.
Martin Kaymer, Pepperell’s playing partner, takes up the extraordinary saga. ‘Eddie put his second shot into the water,’ said the German. ‘Penalty. Then his fourth shot into the water. Penalty. Then his sixth shot into the water. Penalty. Then his eighth. After he put his 10th into the water, he walked up and said he had run out of balls. He had me wondering if I’d counted right. Was it four or five in the water? I am thinking 80 per cent five balls and 20 per cent four. It happened so quickly. The only time I’ve ever seen anything like it was the movie Tin Cup and now I’ve seen it live!’
Pepperell was tracked down at the hotel on site by Sportsmail, and Kaymer was right. He wasn’t happy, and reluctant to go into detail. ‘I don’t think it’s worth recording,’ he said. ‘The facts? I’m willing for people to say what they want to say. I ran out of golf balls, it was literally that.’
Asked how many golf balls he had in his bag at the start, he added: ‘I don’t know but it was a good few. I lost a few when going around, and then I ran out.’
Officially, he was disqualified for ‘failure to complete a hole’.
As for the event itself, Austrian Matthias Schwab will take a three-stroke lead into the final round from a chasing quintet including American Patrick Reed and Scot Robert MacIntyre.
Justin Rose’s bid to become the first man in nearly 20 years to win the same European event three years in a row, is nine back after a 73. Shane Lowry (75) is five shots further behind, but still three ahead of Harrington (74).