Stadler Stoic on Bad Break : Use of Towel Under Knees During Shot Cost Him $37,333

It didn’t take Craig Stadler long to get over the disqualification that cost him a second-place tie and $37,333 in the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open golf tournament Sunday at Torrey Pines.

Monday, Stadler served as host of a charity pro-am on his home course at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, a few miles from the site of Sunday’s tournament. After he and 16 other touring pros had completed their rounds, he spoke with an air of resignation about the disqualification.

“I actually haven’t had time to think about it today,” Stadler said. “But I broke a rule, I paid the price and I just have to put it behind me.”

A bizarre succession of circumstances led to the Professional Golfers Assn.’s decision to disqualify Stadler.

In Saturday’s third round, Stadler used a towel to keep his trousers dry when a lie beneath a tree forced him to play a shot on his knees. The course had been dampened by a steady rain Friday night.

The violation went unnoticed by PGA officials until television viewers called in Sunday after seeing replays on an NBC telecast.

Had Stadler realized that he was in error, he could have assessed himself a two-stroke penalty when he signed his scorecard. Because he didn’t do so, he was found guilty of having turned in an incorrect card. The penalty was automatic expulsion.

Afterward, Stadler was so upset that he refused to talk to reporters. Monday, however, he had mellowed. He wouldn’t even say publicly that the rule is unfair.

“I don’t think there was anything unfair about it,” he said. “The only thing that might seem unfair is the matter of intent. It might cause people to think there was intent involved. There was no intent to cheat at all.

“But it was in the rules, and I just wish I had known about it. It’s very disappointing, but what can I say? If those people had called in a few minutes later, nothing would have happened, because the round would have been over. The first call came when I was on the 17th tee.”

Stadler referred to the fact that if the tournament had ended before the violation was reported, he would have been OK.