Raul Pereda DQ’d from the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in unusual fashion on Saturday morning.
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Late Friday WD is a rite of passage on the PGA Tour.
If you’re not familiar, this tradition takes place on Fridays when the PGA Tour fails to complete 36 holes before dark. On those days, players who know they’re only a few holes removed from missing the cut when play starts on Saturday will opt for WD instead. In theory, the decision is ECONOMIC: saving a player the cost of a hotel for the evening and allowing them to begin their journey to their next destination.
Much less common is the situation that arose on Saturday morning in BUtterfield Bermuda Openin which pro Raul Pereda allowed himself to be appreciated on an early Saturday DQ.
The situation began Friday evening in Bermuda, where Pereda was among a group of professionals finishing the second round of play as the sun dipped behind clouds. With the pace of the game slipping and the weather only makes the problem worseTour was unable to complete the second round of play before the horn sounded for darkness. Only 10 players were implicated in the delay of the third round, including Pereda, leaving each to return to the course at 6:45 a.m. the next morning to complete the final tracks of Round 2.
However, on Saturday morning at 7:19 a.m. local time — 30 minutes after play resumed at Butterfield — Pereda was penalized by the PGA Tour for failing to show up on time. Instead of WD, Pereda allowed the Tour to question him that he was “not in a position to play” when the horn sounded again.
Fortunately, Pereda had little to lose. The 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie faced almost zero odds of making the cut before the DQ. He was four shots off the cut with two holes to play when the horn sounded on Friday, meaning he had to play his final three holes – a par-3 and par-4 – at four-under combined to reach the weekend.
However, it was unusual for the PGA Tour circuit to skip the established tradition of WDing before the start of play on Saturday, as fellow pro Paul Barjon did just minutes before play began on Saturday.
Andrew Novak and Rafael Campos share the lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship heading into Sunday’s final round.
