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Error on official scorecard leads to 12 players being disqualified from state golf championship

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A dozen golfers were disqualified from the Oregon Class 3A/2A/1A boys state tournament for playing from the wrong tees.

And it wasn’t entirely their fault.

The Oregonian reported Monday that the first four threesomes hit from the red tees instead of the blue tees on the 13th hole at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks.

The competitors had been instructed to play from the blue tees, but they instead trusted the scorecard they were given. It listed the 13th hole at 172 yards, which was the distance from the red tees; the blue tees were playing at 210 yards.

Officials noticed the problem and warned the groups that followed.

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Do you think they made the right call to disqualify the 12 golfers?

However, the Oregon School Activities Association — after consulting with the rules committee and an outside rules group — decided the 12 players who had already finished the 13th played a different course than the rest of the field, and they were disqualified.

Without a first-round score, the golfers — all from Rogue River, Columbia Christian and Grant Union high schools — were out of the individual competition, as were their teams.

Peter Weber, executive director of the OSAA, told The Oregonian there was no recourse.

Weber said that while it was unfortunate, the students had been told to play the blue tees.

“It is the first bullet point on the rules sheet,” he said.

The disqualified players didn’t get much sympathy on social media.

The controversy overshadowed an incredible round by Scotty Kennon, a freshman at Bandon High School.

Kennon shot a 7-under-par 65, tying for the second-lowest score in the history of the Oregon state tournament.

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He led his team to the state title.

Meanwhile, three other schools came away with a valuable lesson about the unforgiving nature of the rules of golf.

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Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He has worked as an editor or reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years.
Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from the University of Miami (he dreams of wearing the turnover chain) and has worked as an editor and reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years. Todd started at The Miami News (defunct) and went on to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, The Baltimore Sun and Space News before joining Liftable Media in 2016. He and his beautiful wife have two amazing daughters and a very old Beagle.
Birthplace
Baltimore
Education
Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Media, Sports




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