High School Golfer Coughs Up Individual And Team Titles After Reporting Her Scorecard Error
Golf has some ruling issues for sure and scorecard errors should somehow never happen, but its still refreshing to see a player admirably sacrifice much after calling a scoring penalty on herself.
The latest is the case of one South Dakota high school golfer Kate Wynja who not only DQ’d herself but her team to remove the individual and team state crowns. The Argus Leader’s Brian Haenchen has the weird details.
As they began posting final results following the second round of the Class A state golf meet, Sioux Falls Christian senior Kate Wynja came to a horrible realization. She had submitted an incorrect scorecard, crediting herself with a 4 on No. 18 instead of a 5.
Wynja, who had won the event by multiple strokes, understood the consequences of her mistake. She would be disqualified and stripped of her individual medalist honors. The resulting score change would also cost the Chargers their first team championship since 2011.
The punishment was devastating, but upon realizing her error, Wynja grabbed SFC coach Don Garnaas and explained the situation.
“I knew I needed to tell them,” Wynja said Tuesday night. “It was really sad, mostly because I knew what the result would be. I knew that I would be disqualified and it broke my heart for the team. But I knew I couldn’t leave without saying something.”
Swartos had been following the final group through the final few holes of the event, but neither he nor the marker realized Wynja had written down an incorrect score. Had she not come forward, she would have won individual medalist honors for the second year in-a-row and the Chargers would have closed out Garnaas’ final season as head coach with a team title.
“I told (Garnaas) that I was sorry for letting him down since it’s his last year,” said Wynja, who had been golfing for Garnaas since seventh grade. “I felt so bad, but he said he was just incredibly proud of me. Obviously, he was sad with how it turned out, but he was glad that I did the right thing.”
Couldn’t be prouder of @KateWynja our SFC #1 Golfer – couldn’t be a better role model for our SFC Golf Team and SFC Athletics! @sfc_activities @laurentimss @sydneytims @mariah_deweerd https://t.co/HkOwgrNmP5
— SFC GOLF (@sfc_golf) June 5, 2018
For her part, Wynja — who Garnaas said was back to her “bubbly self” by the time the team met for their post-round meal — said the support has helped her keep things in perspective and stay positive.
“That was a tough situation in general,” Wynja said, “(but) being surrounded by people who love me is awesome.”
Still in this supposed modern era, its sad and frustrating scorecard issues are still a thing.
