Golf star handed brutal penalty for unusual rule break that cost him £350K

DP World Tour player Gregorio de Leo thought he had won a massive pay day, but later discovered he had lost it all due to a strange rule break.

It's a well known fact that golfers can earn a serious amount of money competing in tournaments across the world.

Last month, Rory McIlroy collected £3.36m in prize money for winning his second consecutive Masters at Augusta National.

However, it isn't only the majors that offer big pay days, as players further down the global rankings have the chance to make life changing money at events throughout the year.

One such event was the Turkish Airlines Open, a DP World Tour event played Antalya, Turkey, with just shy of £350,000 available for the winner.

Among those looking like they had a great chance of claiming the prize was Italy's De Leo, but everything fell apart for the 26-year-old after he received a penalty for taking too long to play his tee shot.

While on the 11th hole, De Leo, who was just one shot off the leader, took over 50 seconds to play his tee shot, leading to the DP World Tour handing him a one-stroke penalty, meaning he essentially bogeyed the par-3 hole despite saving par.

Following the disastrous moment, he went on to bogeyed the 15th and 17th holes, meaning he finished tied seventh with Ricardo Gouveia and four shots behind the winner, Mikael Lindberg.

This means that he instead took home £55,712 in prize money, nearly £300,000 less than he would have done if he had been able to go on and win the event.

Explaining the decision, a tour official told Golf Monthly: "De Leo was given a one-shot penalty because the player exceeded his allowed time for the stroke (50 seconds) by more than an additional 30 seconds, whilst being monitored.

"In such situations, the DP World Tour Pace of Play Policy stipulates a one-stroke penalty to be applied. It was his tee shot on the 11th hole."

Regulations introduced in 2020 established that players who exceed time limits while being 'monitored' for slow play will now be handed an immediate one-shot penalty.

The regulations state: "When players are out of position, their time allowance is 50 seconds for the first to play, 40 seconds for second or third to play. A one-shot penalty will be applied after two bad times (exceeding the time allowance) in the tournament."