Sharvin refuses to blame cruel two-shot penalty for Q-School miss
Cormac Sharvin
Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne expressed their sympathy for Cormac Sharvin after he confirmed yesterday that he incurred a cruel two-shot penalty in the final round of the Qualifying School that may have cost him his card.
The Ardglass talent (26) was reluctant to confirm on Thursday that he was penalised two shots for inadvertently teeing up “a couple of inches” ahead of the tee markers at the 170-yard par three-seventh at Lumine Golf Club’s Lakes Course.
The former Walker Cup player was 15-under par for the tournament after six holes, two under for the day, when his German playing partner, Alexander Knappe, pointed out his mistake.
He went on to card a gutsy, two-under 69 but agonisingly finished one shot outside the 16-under qualifying mark and admitted yesterday that he said nothing because he simply didn’t want to blame one hole, or Knappe, for his failure to get his card.
“I teed off a couple of inches ahead of the tee markers causing a two-shot penalty then I had to retake the shot and got it up and down for four,” Sharvin revealed.
“But as you know things then may have panned out differently so I’m not dwelling on it as a reason for me missing out. That’s why I’ve avoided any questions on the matter.
“Alexander was very apologetic and was very upset that he didn’t call me off the shot. He said he noticed as I took my backswing.
“Genuinely was not his fault. He could have maybe shouted in my backswing which may have worked but he didn’t. I take full responsibility for the mistake.”
Sharvin added: “With the pin being so far left on the green it obviously through me off [in my alignment]. But I didn’t let it affect me in any way and just treated it as a test of character and I feel I showed great character to respond the way I did!”
However, fellow professionals Dunne and Lowry, whose caddie Brian Martin is Sharvin’s uncle, where sympathetic.
Lowry said: “I was very sorry for Cormac Sharvin. He was very, very unlucky and he will get his day out here.”
On hearing of the reason for Sharvin’s two-shot penalty, Dunne added: “Wow. That’s hard to take. I thought he might have hit it in a bush, which is usually do!
“I actually played with Cormac a couple of weeks ago. He's playing great. Even with that category, he'll get a few starts here and there and a full year on the Challenge Tour. His game is good enough and hopefully it shows on the big stage soon.”
Both were delighted for Gavin Moynihan, who regained his card on the 16-under par mark by holing a five-footer for par at the last.
“He has always had the game,” said Dunne. who won the unofficial GolfSixes with Moynihan in May. “He was a serial winner as an amateur but everyone takes to it at different stages in professional golf.
“He's shown in his performances — at Valderrama recently he played very well, the Irish Open last year — so I know what kind of a player he is.
“What's very important for anyone coming out of Q-School is they go and play these four events before Christmas and just get off to a good start.
“Gavin struggled at the start last year and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the year. But if you can get off to a good start — get a bit of momentum — hopefully he can keep that going and have a few good finishes before Christmas and he will be off and rolling, I think.”
Lowry said: “I texted Gavin last night and said, ‘It just goes to show what you have, after the year you've had, to get through again.’
“Robin Dawson did alright too. So it's nice to see Gavin come out and hopefully have a better year than he had this year and get a few more lads out here as well.
“We need a few lads on tour. It will be nice to see a few of the younger lads that have had great amateur careers get out. Apart from Dunners, they haven't really come out and done much.
“It would be nice to see them get the head down and come out and join us out here. It would be great to have a few more lads to play practice rounds with.”
Sharvin wasn’t the only player to suffer the wrath of the rules at Q-School as England’s Tom Murray was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score just a few days after being edged out for the last of 15 Challenge Tour cards by just 604 points — the equivalent of one-shot.
“After two days I was in a strong position at seven under par and then it all went wrong,” Murray explained in his blog.
“On Sunday I was playing with two fellow ISM players. Toby Tree had marked my card and later that evening he was looking at my scores on the app and texted the other member of our group Gavin Moynihan thinking they were wrong.
“Gav then texted my manager Jack Barber and I saw that it was wrong. On the 12th hole I made an eagle two but was down for a three and on the ninth I was down for a four instead of a five.
“The overall score was the same, but I’d signed the card, I phoned the recorders to let them know and was disqualified.
“I’d three-putted the last and was fuming. I just didn’t go through the normal process– it’s the first time in my career I haven’t checked through hole by hole – and because the overall score of 70 was correct, I just signed. There’s no excuse and it’s absolutely my own fault.”
Murray added: “People get disqualified for all sorts of things, but I wasn’t trying to gain an advantage and I didn’t gain an advantage. If you tried to explain to a non-golfer that I scored 70 and signed for 70 and was disqualified they might think it was stupid but they’re the rules and I have to hold my hands up.”
Sharvin clearly wasn’t trying to gain an advantage either but such is the cruelty of professional sport and those implacable Rules.
