Only at a Monday Q. DQ’d, still playing, and leading

A bizarre situation played out last week at the first Monday Q of the year on the Americas Tour. It involved a player being disqualified, allowed to keep playing, and then somehow posting the best score of the day.

Andrew Morris was on the third hole of the PGA Tour Americas Brazil Open Monday qualifier when the other players in his group—Fletch Wundelich and Will Anderson—noticed silver dots on his clubface.

They were launch monitor stickers.

Morris hadn’t removed them before the round. The stickers don’t provide any advantage, but under the rules, they’re not allowed in competition. The group knew what that meant immediately: disqualification. A PGA Tour Americas rules official confirmed it when he met the group a few holes later.

The group felt for him. This wasn’t someone trying to gain an edge—it was likely just inexperience.

Morris, who was fifth alternate for that week’s event, understood he was DQ’d. But he asked if he could continue playing anyway, essentially turning the rest of the round into a practice round after traveling all the way to Brazil.

According to Wundelich, the rules official initially said no, then reconsidered and allowed Morris to continue. He was still officially disqualified, but he could finish the round unofficially.

That’s where things started to get strange.

Because Morris didn’t just continue—he competed.

“He was grinding the whole day,” Wundelich said.

There was no reason to be locked in. No reason to take extra time over shots. No reason to bear down on six-footers like they mattered.

But he did.

Wundelich said he stopped keeping Morris’ score once the DQ became official. It didn’t matter anymore. Morris kept playing well—which could have been a personal victory—but it shouldn’t have mattered to the tournament.

When the round ended, his unofficial score was 7-under par—the best score of the day.

Then it got even weirder.

Morris walked into scoring with the group, despite having no official reason to turn in a card. He asked Wundelich to sign it, even though Wundelich hadn’t kept his scores past the third hole. Morris had filled in the rest himself.

Wundelich had shot even par. He just wanted to leave. But the whole thing felt off.

“I wasn’t really sure what to think,” Wundelich said. “I mean, it felt wrong the whole time playing because he was no longer in the field.”

Morris told him he “should already be DQ’d in the system.” Another official had confirmed the disqualification earlier, so Wundelich signed it.

Morris then turned in the card. He told me that while the group openly discussed the DQ in the scoring tent, he didn’t specifically tell the official he was disqualified when he handed in the card. Complicating things further, the official didn’t speak much English.

There wasn’t a follow-up question.

“It was just weird,” Wundelich said.

I spoke with Morris, who recently turned pro and has limited experience. He confirmed the story. He said after the round he hung around the putting green telling players he shot 7-under but had been disqualified. It was his best score since turning pro, and he wanted it posted so his sponsors could see.

Though two players told me he also said, “it’s in the Tour’s hands now.” Morris said he researched the rule itself for two hours after the round.

He texted his roommate right after the round with the score and again noted he had been DQ’d. He did the same with his girlfriend.

But when he saw his name on the leaderboard… he didn’t say anything.

Morris said multiple times in our interview that he assumed the DQ was “in the system” and would be corrected.

Wundelich wasn’t sure what to do. He texted the rules official and left.

An hour or so passed.

Andrew Morris was still at the top of the leaderboard.

Eventually, the rules official who had disqualified Morris called Wundelich to confirm it was the same player. It was.

By then, it was too late.

A five-player playoff had already teed off—under the assumption there was only one spot available.

There were actually two.

I spoke with players in the playoff, and fortunately, they said no situation arose where the extra spot would have changed a decision. Still, it added another layer to an already bizarre day.

The playoff finished the next morning, with three players ultimately playing for two spots.

And if the story needed one final twist…

The next day, Morris changed his Instagram name to Andrew “stickers” Morris.

He changed it back a few hours later.