Cut chaos at Zurich Classic |
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What arrives in Las Vegas immediately hops on an outbound flight headed for Houston, drives 370 miles to New Orleans and tees off an hour after pulling into the parking lot wearing rain pants, a souvenir golf shirt and rocking a set of rental clubs. I can't imagine this new slogan catching on with the agencies in charge of marketing Sin City as an international tourist destination. For Alex Cejka, this was how he spent the hours between Saturday and Sunday's rounds of the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Just when you thought the worst was over when it came to the PGA TOUR's cut policy in 2008, things took another embarrassing turn. The rule implemented at the start of this season stated that any players who made the cut on the number would be forced to sit out the weekend if the total number of players making the cut exceeded 78. The affected players would earn money and FedEx points for finishing in last place and earn the dreaded MDF (made cut did not finish) classification. Well after much debate and much criticism from the players on Tour the policy was amended to allow for the possibility of a Saturday charge and the points and loot that went along with a better finish. So essentially the updated rule, which would take effect after the third round, would allow only the top 70 and ties to continue unless there is a weather delay. Because the third round carried over to Sunday, that entitled all 80 players to compete in the final round - a rule so uncommon a lot of players were unaware it existed. Cejka, who had the most trouble making arrangements to return for the final round, was one of three players forced to make it back to New Orleans by early Sunday morning. This is how things went for him on Saturday night according to Louisiana's Advocate newspaper. He got off his plane in Las Vegas at 7:40 p.m., then boarded a flight 10 minutes later for Houston - which was as close to New Orleans as he could get on short notice. After arriving in Houston at 1 a.m., he rented a car and drove the remaining 370 miles. Cejka finally pulled into the TPC Louisiana parking lot at 6:40 a.m. - one hour before his tee time He walked into the clubhouse in jeans and flip-flops with no clubs because he didn't have time to recover his luggage in Las Vegas. Cejka was given a Zurich Classic golf shirt, TPC Louisiana cap and shoes and a set of rental clubs. Tour player Jin Park chipped in a pair of rain pants because jeans aren't allowed. Brandt Jobe had the easiest return trip of the three, simply boarding a plane headed to New Orleans within minutes of getting off his flight in Dallas. In essence, turning around and heading back to TPC New Orleans like he had forgotten his great grandfather's watch in the locker room. While Cejka was downing Red Bulls on Interstate 10, Retief Goosen was sleeping like a baby. Goosen merely refueled his private jet when he arrived in Orlando, and he and his pilot and co-pilot were back in New Orleans by 8:30 p.m. Saturday. There was only one problem. Because his regular caddy, Colin Byrne, was going back to Ireland, Goosen had to get his pilot, Derek Crawford, to carry his bag Sunday. Jobe shot an even-par 72 during his final round and wound up in 79th place. Cejka and Goosen both shot their low rounds of the tournament, with Cejka carding a 1-under 71 to finish tied for 76th and Goosen rallying with a 3-under 69 to finish tied for 57th position. Granted the PGA TOUR is quite lucrative today but this weekend couldn't have been very pleasing to any of the three involved. Then again, when you have a private jet things can't ever be going too poorly. |
