Carlota Ciganda, a multi-time LPGA winner and five-time European Solheim Cup member, was disqualified after the opening round of the Amundi Evian Championship 2023, an LPGA Major.
Officially, the Spaniard was penalized for signing a wrong scorecard. However, the incident began when a slow play penalty was assessed at Ciganda’s final hole. The Spaniard refused a two shot penalty and signed her card with the two shots left out. She was then DQ.
Ciganda’s score was 3 over par after her round. If she had been penalized, her score would have been 5-over-76 and she would be 12 shots behind Paula Reto in the first round.
Ciganda played with Anna Nordqvist, a fellow Arizona State alumnus. She also played with Celine Herbin. The threesome, officially Group 14, started the tournament on the 10th green at Evian Resort Golf Club near Evain-Les-Bains in France.
They were told by the rules officials when they reached the seventh, their 16th, hole of the day that they had moved out of position.
The group, which had failed to make up lost time, was placed on the clock at the eighteenth hole of their round. Ciganda played the ninth hole too slowly and received a two stroke penalty in accordance with the LPGA’s pace of play policy.
She appealed as she was entitled to do, but the officials who handled the rules in advance and at the lead were not receptive, so the penalty of two strokes would stand. She chose to sign her scorecard, without accounting for these two strokes. Ciganda received a warning that if she left her official recording area with a scorecard signed incorrectly, she would be disqualified. The LPGA claimed that she had left on her own, resulting in the DQ.
A LPGA spokesperson told Golfweek : “Rule 3.3b(3) says that if the returned score is less than the actual score the player will be disqualified from competition. This Rule is not affected because Ciganda knew about the penalty strokes she received and was upheld prior to signing her scorecard or leaving the recording area.
Ciganda finished 12th at her latest event, the Dana Open. She had previously tied for 20th place at the U.S. Women’s Open as well as tied for third at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She is ranked 14th in this year’s money rankings with $876.447 and is ranked No. Rolex Women’s World Rankings: 31. In 2016, she won both of her LPGA titles.
