Korn Ferry Tour Pro and his game partner were disqualified in the Memorial Health Championship in Springfield, Illinois for breach of Rule 10.2A, which bans players from sharing or providing advice. This includes touching another player’s device to learn information, which will be advice if other players give or ask; giving advice to anyone in the game; asking anyone to give advice in addition to your caddies.
Brentley Romine of the Golf Channel completes the story. According to Romine, 25-year-old Pro Cole Hammer played side by side with Nelson Ledesma, 34, on Thursday when Hammer hit the No. 4 iron on par 3 at the Panther Creek Country Club. When he returned to his bag, Hammer told Romi that Lidsma’s caddie Nico Torres raised four fingers in Hammer.
“I also flashed through the ‘4’ out of instinct,” Hammer told the Golf Channel on Friday. “It was a moment, and I didn’t have a lot of thoughts about it until after the round.”
However, Hammer was upset about the interaction and contacted other pros after the round that night. Although many people told him that this interaction was a common occurrence of tours and no need to worry, Hammer didn’t believe it.
“I feel like I know the rules very well and I’ve been trying to maintain them as much as I can,” Hammer told Golf Channel. “It didn’t sit next to me last night and when I woke up this morning I felt compelled to talk to the rules officer and tell him what was going on.”
Hammer was told that a decision would be made after explaining the incident to Claudio Rivas, a rule officer at Korn Ferry.
“I don’t think they’re disqualified,” Hammer said of Ledesma. “I just thought, because I’m a sign that I’m going to be disqualified. I think that’s the worst case.”
In the middle of the second round, the decision was passed on. Both Hammer and Ledesma were disqualified because they had signed scorecards since the first round. If this is not the case, the fine would be two strokes.
The event marks Hammer’s first ever DQ, who has pursued an excellent amateur career before turning around in 2022.
“Since I’ve at least taken it off my chest, because it pushed me down,” Hammer said. “It’s unfortunately a storm on a tour.
“It’s a learning experience and I think I’m calling myself in a better head space.” “I’m never frustrated or nervous about the outcome of the next extension. If anything, I can play clean slate and clear awareness and hopefully continue my game in Wichita.
“There are still a lot of activities and I feel that doing the right thing, protecting the game will be better for me in the long run.”
According to the translation reaction to the golf channel, Ledesma’s caddie was “shocked” by DQ.
“Based on the rules, the decisions made are correct,” Lesma said. “I can’t do a lot of things other than accepting.”
This is not the first time that a review consultation is being conducted on a tour. At the 2023 Masters, Brooks Koepka and his caddies seemed to share Koepka hit the No. 5 iron to play partner Gary Woodland and his caddies. However, after investigation by Augusta’s state, no fine was imposed.
