Mauri Villmann’s misplay saga at the LWS Open at Idlewild during Round 3

This post has been created for archival purposes and is all about the misplay saga by Mauri Villmann at the LWS Open at Idlewild during the final round on Hole 9.

Players on the lead card:

Gannon Buhr, Mauri Villmann, Chris Dickerson and Mason Ford.

The group was accompanied by a DGPT Marshal, Tom Odegaard.

What happened?

Mauri Villmann was putting for birdie on Hole 9 during the final round at the LWS Open at Idlewild.

He putted from inside a bush, hit the rim and the disc took a bad roll into his bag, resulting in a +1 stroke for his equipment interfering with the disc.

Mauri initially went to putt from where the disc hit his bag, but was then pointed back to his previous lie. He went back to putt from his original lie, like he was supposed to, but then the group thought the correct way to play was to play from where the disc hit his bag and the marshal agreed with them.

He confirmed his new lie with the marshal and the card, then hit the putt for bogey to finish the hole.

Later, after the round, he was given two more strokes for a misplay after following the marshal’s instructions.

Instead of carding a 4 or a 5, he ended up carding a 6. +1 for interference and +2 for misplay.

Mauri’s Round 3, Hole 9 PDGA live scorecard:

Full clip of Mauri Villmann’s misplay saga at the DGPT LWS Open at Idlewild during Round 3 on Hole 9:

Aftermath:

The LWS Open at Idlewild took place the very next week after the controversial Rainers Balodis and Aaron Gossage foot fault call at Pro Worlds and fans were still extremely upset about the topic. This controversy only added more fuel to the fire.

Fans once again started questioning the judgment of the PDGA & DGPT Marshals on the ground and asking what their purpose is if such officiating mistakes keep happening.

In addition, some fans online have stated that after back-to-back horrible officiating calls, they have unfollowed/unsubscribed from the Disc Golf Pro Tour.

Because of this officiating mistake, Mauri ended up tied for 11th instead of tied for 5th, costing him around $1,000 in payout and valuable Disc Golf Pro Tour standings points, which are extremely important with the Playoffs about to begin.

DGPT CEO Jeff Spring stated on the Ultiworld Disc Golf podcast that it was an unfortunate event, but Mauri Villmann would not be compensated for the misplay, either financially or with additional points.

Villmann on social media: “I learned my lesson, NEVER trust anyone even if they have rules in front of them! Yeah, it was a really bad situation.”

“USA disc golf has a lot to improve” & “And another European got screwed over.”

Multiple professional disc golf players online were upset about the call and the additional penalty, especially the fact that Mauri was penalized for following the Marshal’s instructions.

Drew Gibson speaks out about Mauri Villmann’s officiating saga: “Marshals not knowing the current and accurate set of rules the costing players strokes and money will never not be an absolute joke to me.”

The Disc Golf World’s YouTube video about the topic: “This is embarrasing for disc golf.”

Conclusion:

The ruling stands and Mauri Villmann finished tied for 11th spot at the LWS Open at Idlewild.

Pro tip! No matter what, always throw a provisional…