Yet another scoring error (!) ousts high school golfer from state championship

It’s been a banner week for disqualifications. On Tuesday, a Korn Ferry Tour hopeful competing in the tour’s qualifying tournament forgot to sign his scorecard before leaving the scoring area. His penalty for the infraction: DQ. Then, on Thursday, two college golfers at a prestigious amateur team event in Texas neglected to catch an error on their scorecard before endorsing it. Their penance: yep, thanks for playing.

Amazingly, neither qualifies as the most bizarre DQ of the week.

That distinction goes to a Maryland high school golfer playing in his state championship, as reported by the Capital Gazette.

The weirdness began when D.A. Regala, a freshman at Severna Park High, made a 7 on a hole at the University of Maryland campus course. Trouble was, the coach walking with his group — every group was assigned a coach, who kept a secondary scorecard for the players — mistakenly penciled in a 5. After holing out for a 78, Regala consulted with the coach and cross-referenced their scores.

Seven or five? Five or seven? The teen was befuddled and, yes, it must be said, a bit careless.

“The freshman had taken his coach’s notes as gospel,” writes Capital Gazette reporter Katherine Fominykh, but even though “a slight discrepancy nagged at him,” he proceeded to sign and submit his card.

Soon after, Regala was standing near a scoreboard when he saw a 76 appear next to his name. He knew the score was wrong, so he consulted with officials who helped him identify the error on his card, at which point officials had no choice but to disqualify him from the competition.

“Any kid could have disregarded it,” Regala’s coach, Pete Buck, told the Gazette. “He could have taken a 76. But that’s not the way we do it at Severna Park. I’m proud that he owned up to it.”

Added Regala, “In the end, I knew I did the right thing.”

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