‘That’s a red – off you go!’ Tour star calls for soccer-style card system in golf
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An incident at a tour event left Eddie Pepperell being talked out of walking off the course in disgust. We’ll let him explain…
Eddie Pepperell says he would like to see a red card system introduced in golf after an incident at a recent tour event left him wanting to walk off the course.
The Englishman was competing in the Open de Portugal on the second-tier HotelPlanner Tour when he had to be talked out of withdrawing in disgust after he accidentally hit playing partner Stuart Manley with a club in a brief moment of frustration.
“There was a bit of a moment early doors in the second round,” Pepperell explained on the episode of the Chipping Forecast podcast titled ‘A Throw Too Far’. “I threw my wedge at my bag behind the green and it ricocheted off at an extreme angle, and at quite a significant pace, and actually went veering towards him and hit him.
“He saw it coming, and tried to get out of the way, but it did still clip him, and I felt terrible.”
It was at that point Pepperell was ready to hand himself in before being talked out of it by his caddie-slash-wife Jennifer, as well as Manley himself.
“I signed my card immediately and said, ‘I’m going in – that’s [crossed] a line for me.’ I was ready to call it a day for the game for a long, long time at that point, but he took it really well. and [he was] very kind.
“And Jen said, ‘Look, you didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident. Don’t worry about it. Don’t be stupid. You don’t need to go in.’ So I didn’t, but I was ready to.
“Thank God I was playing with Stu and not someone else who would have been well within their rights to say, ‘Stop acting like a little…’ But that just shouldn’t happen, which is why I felt so bad.”
Pepperell, who went on to card a second-round 75 to miss the cut, also told a story of a similar incident.
“Only one time in the past do I remember putting a player or a caddie in harm’s way, and that was at the Challenge Tour Grand Final in 2012. I threw my wedge, and I tried a double handed throw, tried to throw it forwards and it came out directly sideways left, and it went veering straight towards a guy called Simon, who was carrying for John Parry at the time. A great lad, and we shouted, ‘Simon! Fore!’ He looked up and ducked, and this thing would have taken his head clean off if he hadn’t seen it coming.
“So that was the only time I’ve ever done anything like it. Thankfully, he took it well at the time as well, so these things do happen.
“There’s some funny stories out there from players who have hit caddies or even other players, but it’s a rare occurrence.
“I wish there was a referee present at the time. He could have said, ‘That’s red card, off you off you go.'”
When asked by Cotter if you can get disqualified for such an incident, Pepperell said he would like to see referees get involved and dismiss players if they need to.
“I honestly think that, like football, there should be someone out there saying, ‘No, that’s such a poor code of conduct, you’re out.’ And they would have been well within their rights to say that [to me].”
It’s the latest incident in what has been a rocky season for Pepperell, who took an extended break from the game earlier this summer after suffering from burnout, as well as what he described as his “darkest moment” that left blood gushing down his face at the Nexo Championship.
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Eddie Pepperell would like to see a red card system brought into golf.
