It wasn’t the homecoming Emilio Gonzalez probably imagined.
The 27-year-old Gonzalez, from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, shot rounds of 73-71 and missed the cut by two shots at the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Friday. But things got worse for Gonzalez, who was later disqualified for violating Rule 18.3, also known as the preliminary ball rule.
According to one Golf overview reportGonzalez, playing alongside competitors Alejandro Tosti and Andrew Walker, hit his tee shot on El Cardonal’s par-4 15th hole in a desert area before hitting a preliminary drive. After a brief search, a ball was found, but although it was within 3 minutes, according to the PGA Tour, Gonzales did not make a “reasonable attempt” to identify the ball and continued to play his provisional ball, eventually carding bogey.
Defining the rules: If the provisional ball has not become the ball in play and a ball is found that may be the original ball, the player must make all reasonable efforts to identify that ball. If the player fails to do so, the Committee may disqualify the player under Rule 1.2a if it decides that this was serious misconduct contrary to the spirit of the game.
Gonzalez, who played college golf at St. Mary’s before turning pro in 2020, spent last season on the Korn Ferry Tour, logging 25 events. This was his second career PGA Tour start, following this year’s Houston Open, where he finished tied for 74th. He has qualified for the final leg of the PGA Tour Q-School in December.
