Cape golf team loses to Dover
May 14, 2010
The Cape Henlopen High School golf team ran into a bit of a buzz saw in their May 4 match against Dover High School.
The Senators played an unusually good round at Maple Dale Country Club, their home course, beating the Vikings 155-164. Bradley Glascock of Dover shot a one-over-par 37 for medallist honors, with teammate Andrew Devine only one stroke behind him.
Shane Ghigliotty played best for Cape, with his 39. That was a two-stroke improvement over his round at the same course the day before, while playing St. Thomas More.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, their hosts provided the next two scores. Alex Kimbro and Nick Tretina shot a pair of 40s to complete the Senators’ tally sheet.
Casey Anderson and Nicholas Purnell both finished a single stroke behind Kimbro and Tretina, with a pair of 41s. Matthew Kersey shot a 43 for the Vikings’ fourth spot.
The Vikings’ 164 total was their best score of the season, but it just wasn’t enough to carry the day.
The squad was scheduled to play Woodbridge May 11 at Heritage Shores in Bridgeville for their final match of the season. They next compete in the Henlopen Conference tournament at Shawnee Country Club May 20.
If the Vikings’ overall record is good enough compared to their competition, they will qualify for the state golf championship, held this year at Maple Dale CC on June 1-2.
Continuous putting is a matter of grace, not privilege
During a recent local golf match, an interesting situation came up that helped illustrate the difference between the actual rules of golf and what I thought was a routine way to speed up a round.
The game was being conducted under match play rules, as part of the regular Shawnee CC evening league series. In these contests, two players face another pair, with the lower-handicap players against each other, and the higher-handicappers also competing against each other. Points are awarded for these A and B matches, and another point is earned for the teams’ combined scores for each hole.
All four golfers reached the green. The B player for one team had the honor for the next stroke, because his ball was furthest from the hole. His putt finished about two feet from the hole. He announced he was going to finish the hole with his immediate next putting stroke.
The A player for the other side warned him off, saying that he had putted out of turn. The now-annoyed B player protested, saying that he was allowed to finish his putting because it was continuous.
Nobody made a huge deal out of it after the round, but the issue nagged at me a bit.
It turns out that putting protocol is one of the areas in which it makes a difference whether the contest is medal or match play. As noted at leaderboard.com, “continuous putting” isn’t really a rule. It’s actually a routine part of medal play, common on the pro tours, because under USGA Rule 10-2b, there’s no penalty for playing out of turn.
On the other hand, in match play there’s a chance that your competitor might object, and he’ll be able to do something about it, under Rule 10-1c:
If a player plays when his opponent should have played, there is no penalty, but the opponent may immediately require the player to cancel the stroke so made and, in correct order, play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played.
When it comes to match play and putting out, therefore, it always helps to ask for permission.
Otherwise, you might be asking your playing partner for forgiveness—especially if you miss your next putt when the other side requires you to replay it.