Clubbed: Austin’s penalty horror
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Poor Woody Austin. Crazy Ol’ Woody Austin. Take your pick of which description applies best to the 49-year-old tour pro, who incurred the maximum four penalty strokes for starting his second round of the PGA Championship with an extra club in the bag.
Poor/Crazy Ol’ Woody had been trying a driving iron on the practice range before the round, but the extra club went into the bag and wasn’t noticed by either Austin or his caddy, Dave Lawson, until they reached the third hole.
Austin reported the breech of the rules to an official, and two strokes were added to his score for each of the first two holes. That turned a par and bogey into a double-bogey and triple-bogey, sending him on his way to a 75 and a total of 4-over-par 144.
“Can’t say I was angry because it was more of a shock, so you’re kind of pretty bummed,” said Austin, who gave the extra club to his son to carry for the rest of the front nine. “I think, after 20 years (as a tour pro), you do one stupid thing of each, and that’s the first time I’ve ever done something like that.
“Now all I’ve got to do is figure out how to get DQ’d.”
Many golf fans will know that this isn’t the first time such a thing has occurred in a major championship. Ian Woosnam of Wales famously incurred a two-stroke penalty in the final round of the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for having an extra driver in his bag on the first hole.
Woosnam’s caddy that day, David Byrne, survived the extra-club incident, but was fired a few weeks later after failing to arrive on time for a round in the European Tour’s Scandinavian Masters.
Austin, who would miss the cut for the weekend rounds by one stroke, said Lawson had “not a whole lot” to say about Friday’s mishap.
“It’s my fault as much as his fault,” Austin said.
“It’s both our jobs. It’s just one of those things.
“If it wasn’t raining, we would have caught it, but you’ve got the rain cover over everything and you’re worrying about towels and whatever, so you don’t see it.