Confusing pins, DQs and apology. There is only one golfer expelled

Earlier this month, something was wrong in the first round of the National Women’s College Track and Field Women’s Golf National Championships.

Hannah Ulibarri is evident on the fourth hole of Hannah Ulibarri on the lakeside resort route about 35 miles west of Detroit. When Ulibarri, a junior at a master’s college near Los Angeles, played 3 shots with her two partners, they could see the group in front of them grinding on the next T-shirt box, which seemed far from Tee Off.

This NAIA finale is the biggest event on the Ulibarri calendar. As a freshman at her little Christian Academy, she led by a one-stroke lead in the final round of the game before defeating the 78-year-old 78 to put her tie second. A year later, she missed the layoffs due to her poor swing. This time, Ulibarri told me the other day: “I definitely think of it as a redemption for one year.”

They found a backup in 5-5 as Ulibarri and her partner strolled from the fourth tee. When they reached the tee, the group ahead of them was still waiting to hit. Uribari said: “We’re like, oh wow, that’s a big move.”

The culprit was an evil dowel position on the shelf of the Green Frontline section, and after they hit the ball and waited to play the approach, Ulibarri’s team was evident. “We don’t have a good view because we’re far away,” Ulibarri said. “But we saw the ball rolling down and putting up and down.” Ulibarri remembers thinking, This can be tricky.

Tough, of course. Other words capture the scene as well: Ridiculous, ridiculous, inexplicable. The holes are inaccessible, and as the circle progresses, green produces not only four and five, but also six and seven. By the end of the day, the fifth hole score averaged 6.97, nearly two on par. The shot of the failed putting attempt went into social media, and soon after, major golf media including this media, including this one, began to report on the uneasiness.

With a pitch wedge, she knocked the ball into the hole and then moved quickly after it, eager to get under the moment the ball leaned on the slope. But it never took a break, but went back to roughly the same place where she had just played. For Ulibarri’s sixth slide, her putt came out. Same result. 7 shot: Another putting attempt. The way Ulibarri recalled that ball was “really firm.” “It just barely stopped above the hole, so I just marked it very quickly and dug it in.”

Ulibarri tried his best to push the mess away from his mind and continued, and later signed 77 points. After confirming her score and signing in ink, she gathered with her parents Allen and Allen and Angie, who walked with her daughter. Angie told Hannah that she was praying for positive results as she looked at her fifth green green. “It’s an unconventional pin position,” Hannah said. “But we kind of wondered everyone has to play the same pins. You just have to do that.”

They left the course and returned to their hotel. That night, before going out for supper, Hannah took the shower and used her lonely moments to ponder her circles and where she could save the camera the next day. “So I thought of that hole,” she said of the fifth time. Drive, descend, shoot back to fairway, approach, chip, push rod, second push, tap. …Wait for a minute…seven? Hannah counted her shots again. Say it again. Say it again. “I counted about 10 different times,” she said. “And I realized, like, oh my god, I have to call myself.”

***

When Hannah grew up In Orange County, California, her father started taking her to range when she was about 6 years old. She remembers that the promise of hitting golf was less drawn to the facility than shooting down the hot dog. “It’s kind of fun for me and him,” she said.

However, by 9 o’clock, Hannah showed his talent for the game. She started classes and participated in golf courses and soon became a rising talent for the SoCal teenage team. At Troy High School in Fullerton, she starred in the golf team. As she looked to college, she knew she wanted to play golf, study engineering and computer science, and stay in the state. Hannah’s Christian faith was also crucial to her, so she cheered up when the golf coach of a small Christian institution called “Masters University” expressed interest in Hannah playing for his team. Then she visited the campus. She likes it. Over the next four years, she found her own home.

“The big year has been a good year for me,” she said. Her rigorous course burden at Troy HS has been prepared for her, as is her high school golf program. In her Masters debut season, she won a tournament Redhawk Rumble and went on to be on the Golden State Athletic Conference all-meeting team, an honor she claimed during her sophomore and junior year. However, her major goals in each season have won invitations to the NAIA National Championship, which has achieved success in each of the first three years. She was inspired by her freshman runner-up in the National Championship, but a year later, in the end of what she called the “Soul Slum”, she scored 17 in the first two rounds without smelling the layoffs.

This year, she’s even sharper – she won two championships this season and scored another six top 5 – and determined to burn. “I really think it’s something I’ve made up for last year in the year,” she said. “I do have high hopes. My swing feels good, my putting feels very solid, the debris are solid.”

During her practice at Eagle Crest, she was shocked by the lush beauty of the course. It reminded her of TPC Deere Run in Illinois, a national championship website for her freshman and sophomore year. The Green Party’s smoothness also caught her attention. “I’m a little surprised at how fast they are, but I actually prefer fast vegetables,” she said. “But yes, overall, I’m very happy with the course. I’m so happy to be there.”

***

After Hannah’s shower She wore her hotel room and sat in her parents’ room to remind them of her accounting errors. “At this point, I’m like, OK, maybe I’m just crazy,” she said. Between her own stroke and her partner (one of whom had four or five spines), her head was spinning.

“This has never happened to me before; I usually matter in things,” she said.

She and her father made the stroke clear.

“It’s hard for him to remember, too, just because of all the putts that are happening,” she said. “My mom has the same problem.”

For the fourth comment, they called a coach who was on the side of the group. He is not sure. Hannah tried one of her match partners when the second coach who was with the group didn’t answer the phone. “She must have remembered all my putts,” Hannah said. That’s all the confirmation Hannah needs. “I realized, well, that was my mistake, so I had to call it. Even though I didn’t want to do it at the end of the day, that’s what I was going to do.”

Hannah’s next call was to the tournament director, who asked her to reply to him with all the scores.

“I said, ‘5th, I know I said I have 7, but I definitely know, I got 8.'”

The competition supervisor handed the phone to the rules officer.

“Are you 100% sure? Because you know you’ll be disqualified in the end?”

I said, “Yes, I’m 100% sure.”

Officials’ sympathy did not lose Hannah.

“I can say they’re trying to give me a chance to really think,” she said. “They’re willing to let me call one of mine.” [walking] Score, I’ve called before. ”

She said the fifth green question was not raised.

“They didn’t specify the loophole, but I think, you know, maybe a little sad.”

***

One thing about golf Many non-golfers struggle to wrap their heads, and it is the accuracy of the scores on the card that are ultimately one person, and only one person’s responsibility: the golfer who gets these scores.

It was true during weekend four-ball, amateur and college activities, all the way to the thin altitudes of the PGA and LPGA Tours. Your score is your responsibility. Your signature is your word. Hanna could have suppressed the lingering suspicion in her mind. She could have played the next day. She could have cut eight points. Who knows, she could have won. Hannah did nothing. Should she receive a medal of integrity? She didn’t, nor was she looking for one. Should she be frustrated or angry at the abnormal situation that caused her to disqualify? That’s understandable, but she said she didn’t feel both emotions.

“I never really bothered by it,” she said. “Again, everyone has to deal with it, and it’s my job to keep scoring as a player,” she added: “At the end of the day, it’s mostly disappointment with myself.”

When Hannah stood out from the national championship Wednesday night, you can’t blame her for wanting to jump back to the West Coast. She didn’t. The next morning, she returned to Eagle Crest to support one of her friends in the wild.

“It’s harder than I thought when I was there for the first time,” Hannah said.

But her peace passed by as she walked through the first few holes and replayed the last 24-hour events in her mind. Achieved satisfactiondo you know? I did the right thing.