High school golfer denied history

Caroline Inglis was poised to become the first golfer in the history of Oregon high school athletics to win four straight individual titles. However, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

Inglis was disqualified after her final round for signing an incorrect scorecard. She shot a 3-under-par 69 at Trysting Tree Golf Club and would have finished at 2 under and won by nine shots.

Inglis' scorecard, however, reflected that she shot 68. Although golfers keep the cards of their playing partners, United States Golf Association rules dictate that each golfer must make sure that the individual score for each hole on her own card is correct before she signs it and turns it in.

Inglis' signed card showed that she made a par on the 18th hole, when she actually made a bogey, her lone bogey of the round. She was in the scoring area when someone mentioned that her score had been posted as a 68.

Inglis made a beeline inside, got her scorecard and reported the mistake. OSAA officials, following the USGA rules the tournament was played under, disqualified her.

Sure, it's every golfer's responsibility to double check his or her own scorecard before signing it, however, it's unfair that Caroline will be denied her rightful place in history because her playing partner can't add, and she did not catch the error in time (I imagine her adrenaline was in overdrive knowing she just made history).

The USGA needs to update its rules to make sure "clerical" errors like this do not prevent a deserving champion from winning. There is no worldly lesson, in my opinion, to be learned in this situation to justify the rule. It's just a silly rule that needs to be updated.

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Image via Flickr, arjunkamloops

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[ comments ]

DoubleDingo says:
That sucks, but it goes to show that you need to make sure everything is correct before signing. I bet she verifies the totals prior to signing her cards from this point forward.

5/16/12

snuffyword says:
A total score for a round isn't that big of a deal. Many people make adding errors many times. What matters is that she signed for a par instead of a bogey. I do agree that the USGA need to update various rules but we won't see that for another 4 years.

5/16/12

DoubleDingo says:
I agree that adding errors occur. In this case it was her playing partner that made the error, but Caroline failed her "peer review" of the card before signing. Peer review is a must, even if it's your own card that was filled out by a partner.

5/16/12

mustang6560 says:
The broken image is related to the website maintenance. It should be fixed soon.

5/16/12

clevelandstever says:
A 2 stroke penalty would be a better punishment. In a case like hers, she would still win the title since she had such a huge lead.

5/16/12

DaRupp13 says:
I agree with cleveland, 2 stroke penalty for signing an incorrect card. DQ as a punishment doesn't match the crime.

5/16/12

Duke of Hazards says:
that sucks big time

5/16/12

scottccherry says:
I worked with the juniors at the Oregon Golf Association a couple years ago. Caroline was one of our best golfers, obviously, and the act of 100% reviewing your scorecard and making sure it was totally right was reinforced strongly after every tournament round. It's too bad she forgot about it this time, I bet she never will again.

5/16/12

Bryan K says:
At the very, very, very least, a player should be allowed to correct a mistake such as this. It's ridiculous that she is the one who reported the error getting herself disqualified. Personally, I think every golf tournament should have an official scorer to make stuff like this irrelevant.

5/16/12