DORAL, Fla. ' Aaron Baddeley had made a move up the leaderboard on Friday, shooting a second-round 69 following a lackluster 75 on Thursday. The Australian was 1 over through eight holes on Saturday when he was informed by Tour officials hed signed an incorrect scorecard a day earlier and was disqualified.Baddeley realized his mistake when he called for a rules official Saturday after hed hit his tee shot into a water hazard right of the third fairway and wanted to know if he could move a cantaloupe-sized rock that was interfering with his stance.
The official said he could not, and Baddeley realized hed hit into the same hazard on Friday ' within a foot of his Saturday drive, in fact ' and moved a similar rock, which meant hed signed an incorrect scorecard and violated Rule 13.4c.
It was annoying so I just nudged it, Baddeley said. Its such a simple rule so when I saw (Tour rules official Mike Shea) on No. 9 I called him over and said, We need to have a talk.
Baddeley, whose next event will be the Arnold Palmer Invitational, said hed never experienced a similar situation and was happy he realized the violation now instead of after the tournament ended.
A similar incident occurred in 1991 to Paul Azinger at Doral. A television viewer realized Azingers miscue ' which occurred on the final hole during Thursdays opening round ' and called Shea who determined Azinger had violated the rule.
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