Challenge Tour golfer Clement Berardo disqualified after running out of balls
GOLFER Clement Berardo was disqualified from a tournament after running out of balls during a nightmare round that saw him 10 over after 15 holes.
The French star, 32, made a quadruple bogey nine on the par-5 first hole at Valle Romano Golf course in Malaga, Spain, and things got no better after that.
He lost the final ball in his bag on the 16th hole of the Andalucia-Costa del Sol Match Play 9 and was disqualified for failing to finish his round on the Challenge Tour, golf's equivalent of the Championship.
In truth it probably came as sweet relief, especially given Berardo's horrid run of form has seen him miss the cut in his last four starts.
He made four pars after the opening-hole horror show before dropping further shots at the sixth and eighth to go out in six-over 41.
A double bogey followed at the par-5 10th and successive bogeys from the 14th saw him plummet to 10 over.
It was on another par-5 that the man ranked 1,909th in the world finally ran out of balls after losing his drive.
Interestingly, the rules do not specifically state that Berardo had to be disqualified because he ran out of balls - but was DQ'd for failing to finish his round.
That in itself is not a reason to be kicked out of the event - he could have borrowed a ball from a fellow competitor.
Rule 4.2 states: "A player may get a conforming ball to play from anyone else, including another player on the course."
However, there is the 'one ball condition', which states the players must end the round with exactly same type and model of ball he started it with.
Tiger Woods came close to being disqualified from the 2000 US Open, an event he won by 15 shots.
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Woods forgot to replace the balls he had taken to his hotel room the night before and was down to his final one after hooking his tee shot into the ocean on the 18th hole of the delayed second round.
Then caddie Steve Williams, who did not tell his boss he was down to his final ball, begged Woods to hit an iron off the tee but the 15-time major winner smashed another driver and made a bogey, unaware how close he had come to disaster.
Woods would not have been able to borrow another ball from a competitor because he had just put into play a unique Nike ball.