After GoFundMe campaign helped with U.S. Senior Open expenses, player gets DQ’d following rain delay

The rules for returning from a rain delay are much like the rules to start a round, and one player at this week’s U.S. Senior Open found that out the hard way.

When weather halted play on Saturday during the third round at Omaha Country Club, in Omaha, Neb., Marcus Meloan had completed 14 holes. He was 5 over for the tournament, which put him teetering on a top-20 finish. Tom Lehman and Peter Fowler tied for 21st at 5 over when the four-round event was completed.

But when Meloan was scheduled to resume play after the break, he missed his restart time by more than five minutes and was subsequently disqualified from the tournament.

Here is the rule, from the USGA:

5.7c. What Players Must Do When Play Resumes
(1) Where to Resume Play. A player must resume play from where he or she stopped play on a hole or, if between two holes, at the next teeing area, even if play is resumed on a later day.
(2) When to Resume Play. The player must be present at the location identified in (1) and ready to play:
At the time set by the Committee for play to resume, and

The player must resume play at (and not before) that time.

If the ability to resume play is delayed for any reason (such as when players in the group ahead need to play first and move out of the way), there is no breach of this Rule if the player is present and ready to play when the player’s group is able to resume play.

Penalty for Breach of Rule 5.7c: Disqualification.

Coincidentally, friends of Meloan’s had raised $1,350 through this GoFundMe account to help defer his expenses for the event.

Meloan had reached the event through a qualifier in June at San Diego Country Club in which he shot a 68.

According to the USGA, 2,999 entries were taken in for this year’s U.S. Senior Open, which marks the third-highest total in championship
history. Qualifying was conducted over 18 holes at 34 sites around the country between May 17 and June 14. There were a total of 27 states that had at least one qualifying site, but California (5), Florida (3) and Texas (2) had additional sites.