SPORTS LEGEND: A professional golfer protested a missed putt during a playoff match due to duck dung being on the green.

In 2003, professional golfer David Hartshorne (shown below from his victory at the SRIXON Club Pro Championship in 2004) found himself in a bit of a predicament.

Hartshorne was in a three-way playoff match in a qualifying match where the winner would qualify to compete in the New Zealand PGA Open, where the winner could win $750,000. So a lot was at stake.

It got to the point where Hartshorne needed to drill a 35-yard putt to stay in the competition.

The problem was that there were duck droppings on the green between his ball and the cup.

Hartshorne requested that the duck dung be removed from the green.

The judge denied his request, arguing that “because the droppings had adhered to the green, they were not loose impediments. Furthermore, the droppings had been flattened and would not affect the outcome of the putt.”

After missing, Hartshorne appealed to the PGA for admittance to the Open anyways, but he was denied.

Done in by dung – so sad!

Thanks to Golf Digest for the quote from the New Zealand official!

STATUS: True.

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