It was a simple gesture, but clearly it was weighing on Cole Hammer’s mind.
The former University of Texas star, now on the Korn Ferry Tour, was playing in the opening round of this week’s Memorial Health Championship in Springfield, Illinois. After hitting a 4-iron on the 232-yard par-3 17th hole, Hammer looked at Nico Torres, the caddie of his playing partner, Nelson Ledesma. When Torres flashed four fingers at Hammer, a clear inquisition of whether he’d used a 4-iron, the 25-year-old Hammer lifted four fingers in response as confirmation.
Ledesma and Hammer finished their rounds, but on Friday, Hammer self-reported the incident. It was determined that both players were in violation of Rule 10.2a, which prohibits players from giving or asking for advice from anyone other than their caddie. Hammer and Ledesma were both disqualified from the event.
“Out of instinct, I flashed ‘4’ as well,” Hammer told GolfChannel.com, which reported the story first, about the incident. “It was a heat-of-the-moment thing, and I didn’t think a whole lot about it until after the round.”
After the first round of play, Hammer was 1 under while Ledesma was 2 over.
A decade ago, at Chambers Bay in Seattle, Cole Hammer had one of the great coming-out parties in golf. Not only did he qualify for the 2015 U.S. Open at age 15, the third youngest to ever to do so, but he shot 77 in the first round and beat Tiger Woods by three strokes that day. With his boyish grin and precocious game, Hammer Time was born.
According to Rule 10-2a, during a round a player must not:
- Give advice to anyone in the competition who is playing on the course
- Ask anyone for advice, other than the player’s caddie, or
- Touch another player’s equipment to learn information that would be advice if given by or asked of the other player
A similar incident was debated at the 2023 Masters when, on the par-5 15th hole, Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland hit their tee shots to the same general area, but Koepka was away. Video of the hole showed Koepka hit his second and handed his club back Ricky Elliott. As he stuck the club back in the bag and grabbed Koepka’s putter, Elliott appeared to say “five” in the direction of Woodland’s caddie – Brennan Little – before Woodland hit his second shot.
The Masters Tournament Committee released the following notice after the completion of an investigation: “Following the completion of Brooks Koepka’s round, the committee questioned his caddie and others in the group about a possible incident on No. 15. All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested. Consequently, the committee determined that there was no breach of the rules.”
Read the full article here