Former winner Chris Evans is barred for life from the Dunhill Cup

Chris Evans, who won last year's Dunhill Cup with playing partner Nick Dougherty with a score of 40 under par, has been banned from the competition for life! Speculation seems to centre around his handicap of 10 not reflecting his ability. Presumably the handicaps of the amateur players are checked for a prestigous comp such as this? Was it just a case of Evans and Dougherty both hitting top form at the same time, or would the ban suggest that there has been some investigation, which has found evidence of handicap protection. All a bit strange if you ask me!

I'm sure we've all had experience of losing to players who's handicap does not seem to match the level which they played at in a comp, but a life ban??

Full article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2177978/Golf-bosses-ban-Chris-Evans-life-prestigious-celebrity-tournament-weeks-defend-title.html

A very strange tale indeed Mary! Thanks for bringing it to our attention

I don't like Chris Evans, but trying to put those feelings to one side, I'm really struggling to understand this story. One one side, I can't imagine the organizers taking such a draconian stance without having some fairly compelling evidence - on the other hand I'm sure we all know (either because it's happened TO us or AGAINST us) that pretty much every golfer can play out of his skin one weekend in his life - and as the article says, the leading pro score for the tournament was -22 so -40 for a better ball event doesn't seem entirely beyond the bounds of possibility. Anyone know what Dougherty's score was?

I hope something more comes out of this story, one way or another.

I had a chuckle last weekend, when playing in a mixed open as it seemed the average points totals were around the 63 mark. Looking at the leader board when we completed our round, the leaders were 72, 71 and 65 with 5 groups still to complete. Upon having our meal and going to the bar, we discovered the group behind us had posted 84 points. We noted that the lowest handicapper was playing off 16, but we had seen one of this group drive the ball a mile and was not far from hitting us on 3 occasions. The other 3 in the group seemed to be having plenty of problems looking for balls etc, so it makes you wonder why such a large score was amassed. Yes the 16 h/c could have a had a great round, but it would also follow that one of the ladies also played out of her skin, as it was best male and best female scoring on each hole

I've had 47 points including a blob off of 16 before so it is possible to have that one round where it clicks. But if that scoring continues in a similar vein for a while then something is up.

Without having read the article and this is just pure speculation. Maybe Evans was a member at one club and maintained a handicap there before joining another club and getting a handicap at the new one. If the new handicap was higher and the one he used I can understand why they have treated him this way. Clubs has been thrown out of county comps for this kind of thing when players are not honest about handicaps elsewhere.

No-one has said anywhere what club Evans belongs to - if he belongs to one. The article says, rather strangely, "giving himself too generous a handicap". Does that mean he hasn't got a club handicap and just said, as we have all heard (especially when someone is a guest at a society do, and then wins with 52 points) "I play off about 10". Surely it was up to the ET officials at the Dunhill Links to check the validity of his handicap claims? It's difficult to play in a simple club-level Open without producing a handicap certificate so I'd find it hard to believe he was allowed to play without one.

Something suspect here, I fancy

I'm not surprised you had 47 points off 16 Grumps you old cheat, especially when we can all see that your handicap is 9!

The key word was before and after that 47 points it was 13. Anyway I get to play off either 10 or 11

An interesting little nugget which has been added to the original Daily Mail report

Chris Evans claims to play off a handicap of ten, meaning he expects to go round a golf course in ten shots over par.
In the Alfred Dunhill tournament the team score for each hole is the lower score of each pair, with the handicap taken into consideration.

As the pairings are made up of one amateur and one professional, the amateurs receive a stroke allowance equal to two thirds of their handicap, meaning chris Evans would have been given one shot on the course's six hardest holes (those given a stroke index 1 to 6) each round - or a total of 24 over the whole tournament.

So on a par 5, Evans and Dougherty might have both taken four shots, but if it was recognised as one of the six hardest holes, Evans' score would be a net three - or two under par for the hole.

This is how they were able to run up net scores of 66, 57, 64 and 61 (against par of 72) for a total of 40-under pair, leaving organisers suggesting that a handicap allowing Evans 24 shots was a little generous.

But he is not alone, suspect high handicaps are the subject of much debate in golf clubs around the country.

Players who claim to have a higher handicap than their ability suggests are branded 'bandits'.

Hmmmm - 2/3rds difference? Never heard that before!

Have to snigger a little at the part I highlighted, but given that many, perhaps even most, golfers think that way too, I suppose it's hardly surprising it was explained this way in an idiot's guide

I think he should be given some slack. To shoot those low scores with Chris only getting six shots on those tough courses, suggests that he played very sensibly and Nick Dougherty played very well.

Oh and when I went to school two thirds of 10 is 6.66 meaning Chris should have had 7 shots. I suggest he writes and formally complains...

Apparently Nick missed the cut for the final day pro part of the comp

According to the Dunhill Links website, Evans said he was in "a bit of a daze" after winning and admitted to having had "a couple of net eagles". He and Dougherty were 9 under after the first 10 holes and shot a net 61 on the last day - but Dougherty still missed the cut in the individual competiton which does make it all a bit strange. Dougherty picked uo a cheque for $50,000 as well.

It also says: "Evans, who was playing off a handicap of ten, is a member of the Pinheros Alto club in Portugal and also enjoys playing at Sunningdale and Wentworth in Surrey. He married Natasha Shishmanian, a writer for Golf Punk magazine, in August 2007." It doesn't say he HAS a handicap of 10, it says he was PLAYING OFF 10.

So his handicap is from a Portuguese club - how often does he compete in qualifying competitions there and, when he plays at Sunningdale and Wentworth, does he put in cards at his home club for handicap? I doubt it! Interestingly, when you click on the link to the 2011 Amateurs' handicaps, nothing comes up.

For the record, Dougherty shot 73, 65 and 74 then missed the cut and their team score was 66, 57 ( ), 64 and 61 to win by 3 shots.

17th st Pinheros is a replica of the 17th at Sawgrass.

Manged a 2 there, the one time I played it. Knocked it in to 6 ft & sank the putt. Nearest the pin was inside mine by about 3ft, & he missed the putt...LOL

A case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted if ever there was one. The time for being Draconian is at entry time not months afterwards. I get the impression the Sponsors/Organisers were quite happy to court the publicity attracted to the event by the likes of Evans but never gave enough thought to the validity of handicaps. Surely though the organisers simply dont let the contestants "declare" their handicaps...do they? If a celeb gets invited to this event and they dont have an active handicap then they should play off scratch (or get an active handicap - it's not a hard thing to do).

The fact is nowadays there is a unified handicapping system, you dont have a Club handicap as such anymore, you have a CONGU handicap that your home club administers for you (unless of course your club isn't congu affiliated) . I'm guessing this next part but I assume other national assosciations operate the same way so... there shouldn't be a situation where you have a handicap at one club then go to another and get a higher one.

If...what Evens did was have a fairly low handicap at say Suningdale then went to Portugal and got a higher handicap at Pinheros separately whilst his CONGU one was still active then that is pretty pathetic and deserving of a ban.

If however he doesn't play enough medals to maintain an active handicap (possible) then the simple solution is to have him either play off scratch or off the lowest he has ever been.

...and those scores were achieved at St Andrews, Kingsbarns & Carnoustie...so yes waaaaay false in my opinion. I think the organisers are as much to blame as Evans to be honest. It'll be interesting to see what attention is paid to handicap checking this year :-/

Dull but true, Evans used to be a member at my club.

So what was his handicap then Merc?

BlueCoverman wrote:So what was his handicap then Merc?

It was before I was a member (I joined November 2008) but I believe it was around the 13/14 mark.