Tommy Kuhl thought he had cruised through to U.S. Open final qualifying easily. He’d just shot 9-under 62, a course record at Illini Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, and two shots better than the next best score in Monday’s 18-hole U.S. Open local qualifier, a 64 recorded by Kuhl’s Illinois teammate Jackson Buchanan.
Kuhl stuck around to watch another teammate, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, compete in a playoff for the final spot. That’s when Kuhl and Buchanan were discussing their rounds, and Buchanan made a comment about putting on the course’s aerated greens that caused Kuhl’s heart to sink.
Kuhl realized that he had fixed aeration marks during his record round, a practice that this still prohibited by the Rules of Golf, so the Illini’s fifth-year senior headed straight to a rules official and turned himself in.
Dumont de Chassart ended up losing the playoff and figured he’d be first alternate, but Kuhl had good news for the Belgian.
“You’re in, dude,” Kuhl told him. “I disqualified myself.”
Rule 13.1c(2) allows repair of almost any damage on the green, but states that such damage is defined to include all types of damage, such as ball-marks, shoe damage, indentations from a club or flagstick, animal damage, etc. The only exceptions are natural surface imperfections, natural wear of the hole and aeration holes.
The story of Kuhl’s self-imposed disqualification was first reported by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French and picked up by various outlets. Speaking with GolfChannel.com on Wednesday morning over the phone, Kuhl wanted to clarify that the greens at Illini Country Club “weren’t as bad as people were making them out to be on social media,” and that the situation was no one’s fault but his own.
“I grew up with a high standard,” Kuhl said, “and I just wouldn’t have felt good about myself had I not said anything. It’s one U.S. Open qualifier; I’ll have plenty more in the future. It was just the right thing to do. It’s the rules of the game. And I tell people, it’s all on me. It’s not the tournament director’s fault, or the people running the tournament, or the course, or the superintendent. It’s all on me. I should know the rules of golf. Yeah, the rules are pretty silly at times, but I should know the rules. This is what I’m going to be doing for a living, so I can’t put anything on anyone else but myself. … I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining. This falls on me. That’s all it is.
“Coach [Mike Small] always tells us when we’re not playing well to play better. And right now, I just need to know the rules better.”
Kuhl’s only ask is that should Dumont de Chassart end up qualifying for the U.S. Open next month, that he remembers what happened Monday.
“I’ve been his Uber driver for last five years because he doesn’t have a car, so we drove to Springfield together,” Kuhl said. “And on the way back, I joked with him, ‘When you make the U.S. Open, you better buy me a nice dinner afterward.’”
By that time, Kuhl hopes to have an NCAA team title. The Illini are ranked third in the country and are the top seed in the NCAA Bath Regional, which begins Monday at Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, Michigan. Dumont de Chassart, ranked fourth nationally, and Kuhl, ranked sixth, have been the leaders for this Illinois team, a season after it snapped a 13-year streak of qualifying for nationals.
But as Monday’s qualifier showed, with Buchanan also advancing through locals, the Illini aren’t a top-heavy lineup. Two other starters, including Buchanan, are ranked in the top 100 in Golfstat while Piercen Hunt, the fifth man, is No. 151.
“There’s been so much growth in our lineup,” Kuhl said. “It’s just great to see everyone playing well. You need that this time of year, but now we have to all shift our mindset to preparing this week for regionals.”
Which means what happened Monday is in the rear-view mirror.
Though one can bet if the greens happen to be aerated in Michigan next week, Kuhl will know what to do – and not to do.
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