Sleepy Furyk disqualified from The Barclays

Jim Furyk has been disqualified from The Barclays after the American player overslept and missed his allotted Pro-Am tee off time after the player over-slept.

Furyk, third in the FedEx Cup standings and twice a winner on tour this year was among the pre-tournament favourites to win the first of the FedEx Cup playoff series but will now be forced to watch from the sidelines.

Furyk explained to officials that he had set the alarm on his mobile phone in plenty of time but awoke just before 7.30am to find his phone had run out of charge. Rushing to the Ridgewood course, Furyk arrived at 7.35am minus his belt and socks and with untied shoelaces. He had been due to start at the 11th hole, but had no chance of making it to the tee on time, leaving officials at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, where The Barclays is being held, were left with little option but to disqualify the player.

The PGA Tour adopted the strict policy on pro-ams in 2004 after some players began skipping the Wednesday events for suspect reasons. Now, players automatically are disqualified from the tournament if they miss the pro-am except for injury or family emergency.

Furyk isn’t the only high-profile player to have been disqualified under the ruling. In 2005, Retief Goosen was disqualified from the Nissan Open after failing to meet his pro-am start time.

There’ll be some consolation for Furyk, however, as despite the enforced layoff he shouldn’t slip far enough down the rankings to jeopardise his place in the Deutsche Bank Championship next week.