Visits: 2
“After the first nine, he said that he wanted to shoot the highest recorded score in USGA history”
Last Updated: 17/07/19 12:20pm
A PGA Tour caddie has been disqualified from a US Amateur qualifier for deliberately attempting to post a high score.
It was believed the player shot an 18-hole total of 194, but it has since been revealed that the golfer, 33-year-old Trey Bilardello, signed for a 131-over 202, only the person entering scores didn’t know how to input anything higher than 19 on a single hole.
Bilardello, who missed the cut by 124 shots, is listed as a 2.2 handicap and caddied for two-time PGA Tour winner Matt Every at last week’s John Deere Classic.
The Florida State Golf Association, which ran the qualifier from July 15-16 at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club, confirmed the scoring error and how Bilardello was disqualified after the conclusion of the event on Tuesday.
“The Florida State Golf Association, after consulting with the United States Golf Association, has disqualified Trey Bilardello under Rule 1.2 for serious misconduct and failing to play in the spirit of the game,” Beth Major, the USGA’s senior director of championship communications, told Golf Digest.
Live at the Open
July 17, 2019, 2:00pm
Live on 
Major added: “His disqualification was deemed appropriate as a result of the individual’s failure to show consideration for other players-deliberately playing away from the hole to run up his score.”
Bilardelo teed off the 10th hole in Monday’s opening twosome alongside playing partner Kristian Fortis and parred each of his first two holes before making triple bogey at the par four 12th hole.
He then carded a 10 on the par-5 13th, his first of 10 double-digit scores on individual holes.
He’d be right next to the hole and then I guess he’d think to himself that he didn’t have enough strokes and he’d hit his ball in the opposite direction of the hole.
Kristian Fortis, who played alongside Trey Bilardello
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Fortis told Golf Channel. “It was quite an experience.
“He just started off like normal. He was actually not a bad golfer, and he hit some nice shots. He had two pars, and then it started to go a little downhill.”
“After the first nine, he said that he wanted to shoot the highest recorded score in USGA history. He just did not care. He was really rude to a lot of the officials, too. Something was off.”
According to Fortis, Bilardello looked for creative ways to add strokes to his score.
The Open Live
July 18, 2019, 6:30am
Live on
“He would chip shots and scoot his ball around on the tee box just to add strokes, and then he would just pipe a two iron down the middle of the fairway, hit it on the green and then just scoot his ball around again with his putter,” Fortis added.
“He’d be right next to the hole and then I guess he’d think to himself that he didn’t have enough strokes and he’d hit his ball in the opposite direction of the hole.”
Fortis, who ended up shooting 76 and making the cut, said Bilardello’s antics affected him a couple of times during the round but that overall it wasn’t too distracting.
But Fortis agreed that what Bilardello did was not within the spirit of the game.
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
“There are people there trying to shoot a good score and go full at it,” he said. “And there’s this guy out here just kind of chipping around the course and not really giving any effort.”
