Two-time champion Lee Janzen has been knocked out of US Open qualifying for wearing metal spikes at a golf course that doesn’t allow them.
Janzen was at Woodmont Country Club for a 36-hole qualifier and opened with a 75 on the North course when it was discovered he was wearing metal spikes.
All players were informed in a May 20 letter saying steel spikes were not allowed for the qualifying rounds or even the practice rounds.
Janzen said on Twitter he received the spikes rule in an email. “More concerned about my game. 71 1st round put me way back anyway,” he tweeted.
Only eight players from the Woodmont qualifier advance to the US Open next week at Merion in suburban Philadelphia. Janzen won the 1993 US Open at Baltusrol and the 1998 US Open at Olympic Club.
“You’re responsible for knowing the conditions under which you’re playing,” an official said.
Janzen was disqualified for the metal spikes nearly eight years after a short-lived debate about spikes on the PGA Tour. A petition in August 2005 sought support from the Player Advisory Council to get rid of the metal spikes. Janzen was quoted in a story in USA Today as saying, “It’s got no chance. You can’t ban metal spikes.”