Two Golfers Sneak Into Field Of PGA Tour Tournament Thanks To A Clerical Error

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The field for this week's Black Desert Championship on the PGA Tour may be lacking star power, but it does include two players who quite literally snuck into the event.

For those unaware, regular PGA Tour events like the Black Desert Championship host a Monday qualifier at the beginning of tournament week in which unqualified players battle it out over 18 holes for a certain number of spots up for grabs in the tournament field.

There are various exemption categories where players with certain status on a number of different tours can simply sign up to play any Monday qualifiers. Players who don't meet exemption status have to make it through a pre-qualifier event to get into the Monday qualifier.

This is where confusion, and a beneficial clerical error for two players, took place regarding this week's Black Desert Championship in Utah.

Ryan French of Monday Q Info was the first to uncover that four players listed in the Monday qualifier field were not exempt and actually skipped pre-qualifier events. It's important to note that pre-qualifiers are not free, and cost thousands of dollars to compete in.

Two golfers somehow snuck into a PGA Tour event after a clerical error let them into a Monday qualifier they weren't actually exempt for. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

After seeing the non-exempt Riley Lewis, Chris Korte, RJ Manke, and John Sands listed in the field, French contacted the Utah PGA, which admitted that the players got into the Monday qualifier field because of a clerical error.

"It is our first PGA Tour Monday, and he just made an error," Devin Dhelin of the Utah PGA told Monday Q Info. "He has done hundreds of tournaments without an issue. He just missed this one."

Other players in the Monday qualifier field took notice of the non-exempt players, but tournament officials responded to their questions by removing them from the Monday qualifier and issuing them a refund.

Things get even more chaotic from here.

The PGA Tour was notified about the situation and held a meeting with their legal department about what to do. Shockingly, they decided to allow all four of the non-exempt players to compete in the Monday qualifier.

You can probably guess what happens next.

While all four didn't make it through Monday qualifying, two did, with Korte and Sands each shooting 64s to get into the Black Desert Championship.

Sure, Sands and Korte played great rounds in the Monday qualifier, but the fact that they quite literally skipped a step in the equation is unprecedented stuff.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.