Kudos to Sportsmanship: KY state champ DQs herself after signing incorrect card

Caldwell County's Emma Talley rolled to another high school state title.

Only problem: Her dad noticed she signed for a 5 on a hole instead of 6. Could have shot a 9 on the hole and still won the tourney.

Went to the tourney officials and informed them of what happened.

Took the DQ with class.

I had the opportunity to interview Talley at a local tourney in August or September. Very classy girl.

Surprising ending to a tourney, but I'm not surprised she had the class to DQ herself.

Lexington Herald-Leader story:
http://www.kentucky.com/232/story/973668.html

 

Golf might be the most revealing sport when it comes to an athlete's character. Kudos to this girl.

 

Tough lesson, but good for her. Good for the dad to point it out as well. I know a lot who would not have.

 

Paging, Rick Reilly ... Rick Reilly. You know this is going to be a column in a week or two.

 

Re: Kudos to Sportsmanship: KY state champ DQs herself after signing incorrect c

This happens often, in golf, at all levels.

Similar, almost exact, incident event happened last year at the Big City prep tourney. Girl forgot about chipping out from the rough because she was shooting the shit with teammates about how cool it's gonna be that she wins. And she'll play at an Ivy League school next year.

The integrity is one reason I enjoy covering the amateur and college levels of the sport much more than the pro event that rolls through town once a year.

 

Add in Real Sports, Dahlberg and Litke as well.

 

Ever covered high school tennis? I have seen some real brats in that sport.

 

As per tennis...Abso-freaking-lutely.

In my time, I have covered exactly three tennis championship matches, in two of them, the kids were so poorly behaved, it was an embarrassment. The other was a set of sisters making the state finals in a boys bracket, so it was kind of a oddball story and the behavior was fine.

Dredged up this link from a few years ago. I have seen a lot; this was the worst behavior, by far, I've ever witnessed : http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07108/778810-364.stm
and a folo: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07110/779364-49.stm

 

I guess I understand why it has to be that way, but golf is the only sport where its fans seem to be excited when championships are overturned on a technicality.

 

I don't mind that so much. At least it celebrates that doing the right thing is more important than winning, though I would counter that the punishment is too severe.

What I really hate are the folks who can call up and point out arcane rules violations during a PGA Tournament and they actually enforce them.

Can you imagine if the NBA operated that way? It could be a money maker.

See something our refs missed?

Call:

1-900-HE-WALKED
1-900-TRAVELING
1-900-DBL-DRIB
or
1-900-RU-BLIND

 

Re: Kudos to Sportsmanship: KY state champ DQs herself after signing incorrect c


I'm staggered by how stupid this rule is.

How many worthy winners have been denied because they didn't notice a mistake someone else made on their card?

It would be one thing to issue a penalty of one or two strokes. But a DQ? What other sport does this? What other organized sport even demands that its participants even keep score?

Tennis: "Mr. Federer is challenging the call that his shot was out . . . the ball was out. Mr. Federer loses the challenge. Mr. Nadal is awarded the victory."

Baseball umpire: "You're out of the game!"
Player: "What did I do?"
Umpire: "You did not touch second base on that force play, and you refused to acknowledge it."

Basketball: "Mr. Divac, you fell down without being touched. You're ejected."

Football: "Mr. Addai, your knee was down on the 23, yet you crawled another yard and then placed the ball on the 25. You're ejected."

The Middle East would love golf. Punishment fits crime in a way they would appreciate.