He’s the Masters champion with 13 PGA Tour wins who was once disqualified for simply kneeling on his towel

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If you win one PGA Tour event, you can retire a happy man.

However, if you rack up 13 victories on the PGA Tour including a win at The Masters, then it is fair to say that you would have enjoyed one of the better careers in the history of the game.

Golf is not an easy game, it’s as simple as that.

Take Tommy Fleetwood for example. He’s a top-10 player in the world but he didn’t win on the PGA Tour until his 164th start.

To win multiple times is a special achievement.

While double-digit victories, including a major championship, puts you on a completely different level entirely.

Interestingly, though, one man who achieved exactly that, was involved in a really bizarre incident way back in 1987.

When 13-time PGA Tour winner was disqualified for kneeling on his towel

There have been numerous examples throughout the years of professional golfers falling foul of quirky and downright peculiar rules.

However, perhaps one of the most interesting rules violations on the PGA Tour occurred 38 years ago.

Back in 1987 during the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open (currently known as the Farmers Insurance Open) held at the Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego, Stadler was involved in an extremely bizarre incident.

Midway through the rain-drenched third round on the Saturday of the event, Stadler’s drive on the 14th hole finished up underneath a tree in the rough on the right-hand side of the fairway.

The position where his drive came to rest meant that Stadler had to get down on his knees in order to access his ball.

Rather than get his pants wet, the 1982 Masters champion placed a towel down on the ground, kneeled down on said towel, and played his shot. No issue – or so it seemed.

The following day, Stadler was disqualified from the event after a spectator phoned in to report the rules infraction.

Rule 8.1a prohibits players from improving the area of the intended stance before hitting their shot.

So on the Sunday, Stadler was handed a two-stroke penalty retrospectively, which then meant he had signed for the incorrect scorecard the previous day.

That seems extremely harsh, but the 13-time PGA Tour winner got his revenge on the tree which ended his chances of picking up a check at the 1987 Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open.

Craig Stadler literally cut down the tree that cost him so much

Eight years after the unfortunate incident, Stadler returned to Torrey Pines to get his own back on the tree which was the root cause of his disqualification back in 1987.

Amazingly, the now 72-year-old was given permission by the owners of Torrey Pines to cut down the tree with a chainsaw in what was a remarkably entertaining publicity stunt.

Stadler has the look of a lumberjack, coincidentally, and he did a fine job of bringing down his nemesis.

He has always been an incredibly entertaining player throughout his time on the PGA Tour, ‘thanks to his superb highlight reel of both exceptional golf shots and quite unbelievable on-course meltdowns.

However, Stadler’s controversial moment at Torrey Pines in 1987 and the hilarious events that preceded it eight years later were probably two of the biggest highlights of his career.