Jim Furyk once brought an extra wedge to a tournament round. It cost him $131,250.
Ian Woosnam’s spare driver was even more expensive. And neither man needed to hit a shot with the offending club to suffer the consequences.
Professional golf has produced some remarkable examples of equipment gone wrong: unfamiliar clubs introduced through lucrative contracts, a different golf ball model hiding in a bag, even a practice sticker left on a clubface.
Some of the costs can be calculated from the leaderboard while others are lost opportunities or difficult seasons that followed a change.
10. Rory Sabbatini’s forgotten launch monitor stickers (2021 RSM Classic)
The cost: Disqualification after an opening 68.
We start with a relatively minor one but it’s representative of many similar situations that have happened over the years.
Sabbatini left reflective tracking stickers on the face of a fairway wood and used it on the first hole during a PGA Tour event at Sea Island. The attachments made the club non-conforming.
He finished the round with a four-under 68 and looked to be on his way to weekend contention. Instead of taking that score into the second round, he was disqualified.
It was an especially frustrating kind of mistake because the testing session was over but something used to collect its data remained on the club. A fitting detail that would normally be removed before competition became the reason his tournament ended.
There are many other scenarios that fall into this bucket such as when Alex Cejka used improper green-reading materials at the 2021 Honda Classic. Sabbatini’s was just a recent example that shows how easily a DQ can happen when you aren’t careful with your equipment.
9. Jim Furyk’s $131,250 extra wedge (2009 Barclays)
The cost: Four strokes, $131,250 and 188 FedExCup points in penalty-only consequence.
Furyk had been considering a 60-degree wedge with more bounce for the conditions at Liberty National. He chose his usual version for competition but the alternative stayed in the bag by accident.
He discovered the problem near the second green during Saturday’s third round. By then, he had played two holes with 15 clubs and received four penalty strokes as a result.
He tied for 15th. Subtracting the penalties would have put him in a tie for sixth, a difference of $131,250 and 188 FedExCup points.
The extra wedge was another version of a club already in the bag brought along to solve a specific problem.
The problem it created turned out to be considerably more expensive.
8. Juli Inkster’s warm-up weight (2010 Safeway Classic)
The cost: Disqualification from a tournament in which she was three strokes off the lead.
Inkster had a 30-minute wait at the 10th hole during the second round at Pumpkin Ridge. To stay loose, she attached a doughnut-shaped weight to her 9-iron and made practice swings.
A television viewer noticed and contacted officials. The weighted training aid violated the rules in force at the time and Inkster took a trip to “Dairy Queen” (DQ) after completing her round.
She had shot 67 and reached eight under, just three shots behind leader Ai Miyazato with one round remaining. Instead of preparing for a chance to win, she was disqualified from the tournament.
We can’t know where she would have finished but we do know a routine effort to stay warm eliminated a genuine chance to contend.
7. Corey Pavin’s PRGR transition (1997)
The cost: A dramatic fall-off in play that last several years.
Pavin’s PRGR agreement began in 1997, less than two years after his U.S. Open victory with Cleveland equipment. He would spend the next five years with the brand and the deal was worth seven figures.
The first season of the new partnership was a struggle. Pavin made $99,304, 169th on the money list and just one top-10 finish. The previous season, he had earned $851,320 and finished 18th.
Equipment reporting at the time described Pavin having difficulties getting his specs right, particularly with the driver.
Still, Pavin also acknowledged problems with his own game. “It’s just me,” he said.
A change followed by a slump isn’t proof that the equipment caused the entire slump. But it’s fair to say that such a steep decline shared a relationship with the club change. He only had one top-10 major finish during the length of the contract. His career was never the same.
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Read story →6. Phil Mickelson’s badly timed Callaway switch (2004 Ryder Cup)
The cost: Struggling at the Ryder Cup.
There are quieter moments to overhaul your equipment than immediately before a Ryder Cup.
Mickelson moved from Titleist to Callaway shortly before the 2004 matches at Oakland Hills. For the reigning Masters champion, it meant taking a new setup into one of golf’s most scrutinized competitions with little time to establish competitive familiarity.
Then captain Hal Sutton paired him with Tiger Woods. I mean, what could go wrong?
The dream partnership (sarcasm intended) lost both Friday matches, turning what was supposed to be an American advantage into the defining disappointment of the opening day. The United States eventually got drummed, 18.5–9.5, and Mickelson’s equipment change became another decision to question.
The clubs can’t be blamed for the Americans losing, obviously. The Europeans dominated.
But the timing left Mickelson open to an obvious criticism.
He went on to great success with Callaway so this is mainly isolated to the Ryder Cup.
5. Craig Stadler’s towel (1987 Andy Williams Open)
The cost: Disqualification after posting a score that, before penalties, would have earned second place.
Stadler was trying to save his trousers. Instead, a towel cost him his place in the tournament.
During the third round at Torrey Pines, he needed to play a shot from his knees beneath a tree. He placed a towel on the ground to avoid getting his trousers wet and then played the shot.
The towel was deemed to constitute building a stance, an action that carried a two-stroke penalty. The problem wasn’t identified until the following day after television footage brought the incident to officials’ attention.
By then, Stadler had returned his third-round scorecard without the penalty. Under the rules applied at the time, that meant disqualification.
His unadjusted tournament score would have placed him second. Instead, an everyday accessory had helped turn a strong week into a tournament exit.
4. Ian Poulter’s ball marker mishap (2010 Dubai World Championship)
The cost: A one-stroke penalty during a playoff he subsequently lost. The difference between winning and losing was $416,667.
A ball marker is about the least intimidating piece of equipment in a golfer’s bag. Poulter nevertheless found a way for one to become a problem during a playoff.
Competing against Robert Karlsson for the Dubai World Championship, Poulter accidentally dropped his ball onto his marker on the second extra hole, moving the marker inadvertently.
Under the rule in force at the time, the accident carried a one-stroke penalty. A routine part of preparing to putt had added another stroke at precisely the moment he could least afford one.
Karlsson ultimately won the playoff. It would overstate the incident to say Poulter simply dropped away the title: Karlsson’s golf mattered, too, and the penalty alone doesn’t establish how the hole otherwise would have finished.
But as examples of tournament pressure extending to the smallest details go, this is difficult to beat.
3. Kevin Stadler’s bent wedge (2005 Las Vegas Invitational)
The cost: Disqualification while in contention and fighting to retain his Tour card.
Stadler arrived for the third round in Las Vegas near the top of the leaderboard with more than a good tournament finish at stake. He was fighting to retain his Tour card.
Then a damaged sand wedge ended his week.
On the first hole, Stadler showed rules official Slugger White a wedge with a visibly bent shaft. He didn’t know when the damage had occurred. Under the rules applied at the time, the club was deemed non-conforming and Stadler was disqualified (extremely harsh).
White later recalled Stadler breaking down in tears—and White becoming tearful himself, knowing how important the opportunity was to a player trying to protect his livelihood.
There is no way to know where Stadler would have finished or whether that check would have secured his card but he was in a promising position at a particularly important moment in his season.
2. Payne Stewart’s difficult Spalding switch (1994)
The cost: A five-year decline in play and lack of major contention.
There have been many situations where players chase lucrative equipment contracts only to have it backfire over the long haul.
Stewart’s reported five-year, $7 million Spalding agreement (a fortune at the time) took him from Wilson forged blades to cast offset irons and from a wound ball to a two-piece Top-Flite.
We may chuckle at a player like Justin Rose experimenting with Honma or McLaren but this move was a complete departure from everything Stewart had been doing with great success.
He was changing several important parts of his setup at once and that didn’t work.
After finishing sixth on the money list in 1993—he had three top-12 major finishes in 1993 including a runner-up at the U.S. Open—he earned just $145,687 and finished 123rd in 1994. His play largely struggled over the next few years as he didn’t earn another top-10 major finish until the 1998 U.S. Open and only captured one victory during that time.
Once the contract ended following the 1998 season, he became an equipment free agent and promptly won the 1999 U.S. Open.
The contrast made this one of golf’s enduring cautionary tales about equipment switches.
While the contract’s $7-million value was money coming to Stewart—and not every dollar of his earnings decline can be charged to the clubs—it was a famously reckless decision that could have easily cost him major contention.
The defensible lesson is that a financially attractive switch can still be a difficult competitive adjustment.
1. Ian Woosnam’s spare driver (2001 Open Championship)
The cost: Two strokes and approximately £218,333 in a penalty-only consequence.
Woosnam began the final round at Royal Lytham & St Annes tied for the lead. His opening tee shot finished inches from the cup on the opening par-3 first (yes, a rare par-3 to start), setting up a birdie and an ideal start to a major Sunday. He had used an iron for that shot, of course.
Then his caddie, Miles Byrne, discovered a second driver. There were 15 clubs in the bag. One had been there for practice and was never removed.
Had the course started with a par-4 or par-5, as nearly all courses do, Woosnam and Byrne would have undoubtedly caught the error prior to play beginning. Golfers can arrive to the first tee with more than 14 clubs and are only penalized for it after making their first stroke.
The two-stroke penalty changed that birdie into a bogey. Woosnam ultimately finished tied for third at 278, four strokes behind David Duval.
Removing only those penalty strokes would have put him alone in second. That position paid £360,000 rather than £141,667 for his six-way share of third—a difference of roughly £218,333.
However, the financial aspect is secondary here. The reason it’s at No. 1 on the list is that you have to wonder whether the difference in momentum would have altered history. Woosnam certainly had a shot to win the Claret Jug and his hopes were dashed from the start.
The most frustrating part of all these stories is how little some of the mistakes had to do with playing golf. An extra club, a tiny marking or a forgotten practice attachment can make an entire week’s work irrelevant.
Meanwhile, others are premeditated decisions where a golfer chose guaranteed cash over future earnings.
What do you think should be at the top of the list? Any that we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Top Photo Caption: Ian Woosnam at the 2001 Open Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Andrew Redington)
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