Luke Donald embroiled in brief Masters scorecard controversy

When is a 5 not a 5? When it's a 3, of course.

Luke Donald walked off the green at 18 and right into a Masters rules mess. At issue: whether he shot 75 or 73. More specifically, whether he shot a 5 or a 3 at the par-3 5th hole. The scorecard read 3, but several golf writers recalled it as a three-putt 5.

The issue was not an insignificant one; if Donald signed for a 73 rather than a 75, he'd be disqualified from a tournament in which he was one of the favorites. (Even with a 75, he's in trouble; at the time he finished, he was six strokes behind the leaders.)

Fortunately for Donald, as it turns out, there was no controversy, and no disqualification. Somewhere along the line while faxing the scorecard, a scorekeeper misread Donald's 5 as a 3, and posted it as such, a misfire the club termed an "administrative error." (Yes, Augusta still uses faxes. In 2012. Possibly because monks transcribing scores can't run in fast enough from Amen Corner.)

So Donald lives to play again another day. And the lowly fax machine suffers yet another ding to its battered reputation.

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