One player’s Korn Ferry Tour debut was cut short because of a rangefinder.
Zach Williams, a 23-year-old recent graduate of Southern Indiana, Monday-qualified into the Memorial Health Championship in Springfield, Illinois, but after carding a pair of pars to open his first round on Thursday, Williams was disqualified for using a distance-measuring device.
Monday Q Info’s Ryan French first reported the story while a KFT representative confirmed the DQ to GolfChannel.com, noting that Williams had violated Model Local Rule G-5, which states, “During a round, a player must not obtain distance information by using an electronic distance-measuring device.” The penalty for a single infraction, as determined by Rule 4.3, is two shots, but because Williams had used his rangefinder on multiple occasions, he was disqualified.
While rangefinders aren’t allowed in PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments and on a handful of other high-level pro tours, they are permitted in amateur golf and many professional events, including a major (PGA Championship) and Monday qualifiers such as the one Williams advanced out of this week.
Prior to Thursday, Williams had yet to play in a world-ranked professional tournament.
Williams posted six top-10s as a senior this past season at Southern Indiana. He capped his college career with a T-8 finish at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, and his career scoring average of 74.03 is a program record. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science last spring before recently completing his Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in data analytics.
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