Golf: Mark Hubbard disqualified at Houston Open for using extra club

Mark Hubbard plays his shot from the first tee at Port Royal Golf Course on Oct 28, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

HOUSTON - Mark Hubbard was disqualified from the Cadence Bank Houston Open on Friday for carrying – and using – a 15th club during the second round.

A player is allowed to carry just 14 clubs.

“Hubbard knowingly added a 15th club at the turn and used the club several times without declaring it out of play,” the PGA Tour tweeted.

The extra club didn’t give Hubbard, 33, much of an edge. He followed Thursday’s opening-round 75 with a 74 and would have missed the cut for a third straight outing.

His best finish this fall was a tie for fifth at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October. He has never won on the PGA Tour.

The PGA did not announce what Hubbard’s 15th club was.

Tony Finau shot an eight-under 62 to take a four-stroke lead before inclement weather suspended second-round play.

Sixty-five players will have to finish their rounds on Saturday morning at Memorial Park Golf Course before the 36-hole cut is made.

Finau held a share of the lead after 18 holes at five-under 65. His round of 10 birdies and two bogeys on Friday brought him to 13-under 127 for the event, four better than Patrick Rodgers, who shot a second-round 63.

“I finished five under on my last nine yesterday and I just rolled that momentum right into today,” Finau said. “I thought I made a huge putt for par on No. 1 and then I was kind of off to the races. I almost made a hole-in-one on No. 2 and just kind of cruising from there. It was a really nice round of golf.”

That tee shot at the par-three second hole nestled 2 1/2 feet from the pin to set up his first birdie. He later had birdie runs at Nos. 7-10 and 16-18. He stuck his approach at the par-four 18th inside four feet of the cup for his last birdie.

“I think these last 27 holes is pretty impressive on this golf course,” Finau said. “It’s not a golf course where we’re playing rounds and we’re like, we’re gonna light this place up, right? For sure out there today I do feel like I was in that zone and just able to execute golf shots and at the end of the day it rounded up to 62.”

At nine-under 131 is Rodgers, who started on the back nine on Friday and shot a five-under 30 on the front nine coming in. At the par-five third hole, he reached the green in two, his second shot stopping just two feet from the hole for an easy eagle before three finishing birdies.

“I had great control today, which is wonderful,” Rodgers said. “It obviously starts with the tee shots. I was able to put the ball in the fairway a lot, which makes an enormous difference.” REUTERS

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