PGA Tour Pre-Qualifier Shoots 69...On The Front Nine

Shooting 69 would usually be a cause for celebration for most golfers in most events, but not when it’s for your front nine!

That’s exactly what happened in an eventful PGA Tour pre-qualifier as one golfer produced one of the most incredible two-hole stretches seen in competitive golf as he carded a birdie two followed by a generous 17 before withdrawing from the event after finishing the front nine 33 over par.

Syed Zaki showed up at the ChampionsGate Golf Club in Orlando for pre-qualifying for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship the week before the traditional Monday qualifiers for the PGA Tour event.

Nick Scheib was playing alongside Zaki, and his first-hand account of those remarkable nine holes make to eye-opening reading, as quoted The Fire Pit Collective.

A few eyebrows were raised by some dodgy shots on the range, forgetting a couple of clubs and a lack of knowledge on etiquette on the greens – but Zaki still walked off the 10th hole, his group’s first of the round, with a par. Nothing to see here then?

Not so, as three snap-hooks off the next tee and a genuine fear of running out of golf balls on the next saw Zaki card a 12. Just a bad hole?

Absolutely not, as he followed up with a double bogey and quad before giving his partners a wild ride by watching him smoke a three-wood to just over a foot from the flag on the 231-yard, par-three 14th hole.

After walking off shouting “That is my first birdie!” according to Scheib, Zaki then swaggered to the next hole full of confidence, before eventually trudging off the green having signed for a 17 – which should’ve been more as he finished up with the wrong ball.

From the sublime to the ridiculous has never been a more apt saying that after a two-hole stretch like this – where Zaki repeatedly found a penalty area before playing the wrong ball out of the hazard but being left-off with a 17 by his partners who must have been in a state of shock.

After a further bogey and double bogey, Scheib says they estimated Zaki had made a 10 on the 18th before he said that was that for him and he left the event – with his scorecard as a keepsake.

This is one of the reasons the PGA Tour hold pre-qualifiers to sift through “pros” who may not be exactly up to scratch, but who pay the $250 entry fee to give it a go.