There's good news for tournament golfers and competitive golfers in the latest 2023 edition of the Rules of Golf, the first update since a major overhaul back in 2019.
Historically, golfers have been disqualified from a tournament if they didn't sign a scorecard they turned in for play, whether as a player or a marker (unless the marker was protesting a player's score). In fact, that was an easy way for a lot of golfers to get disqualified after they had a poor performance or a frustrating round that left them wanting to get out of playing any more in that competition.
Now, though, the Rules of Golf offer a local rule that will take away that instant disqualification for players or markers who don't sign their scorecard(s).
All of the major professional tours will adopt this available local rule that changes the penalty for returning an unsigned scorecard from a disqualification to a two-stroke penalty added onto the final hole of a player's round. This local rule is available to any level of golfer, though, and any kind of competition.
However, the Rules of Golf still maintains that a player's scorecard has to be correct, including the scores for each hole, side and total. If that is wrong, and a player signs for it, they're disqualified. So, a player can still get DQ'd for turning in an incorrect scorecard. That won't be an avenue for a simple DQ, though, because that would then cause problems for the marker, too.
It looks like the scorecard won't be an easy way for pros to get disqualified anymore.
