14 Year Old Female Wins Delaware High School Golf Title

[boogielicious]

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/girl-power-14-year-old-female-wins-delaware-boys-high-school-golf-title

 

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By Mike Stachura

In Delaware golf, the women are taking over. Well, the young women are.

On Wednesday, eighth-grader Phoebe Brinker became the first female to win the Delaware high school golf championship in its 43-year history, and she and teammate Jennifer Cleary helped Tower Hill win the team title by 22 shots. Brinker, who won by six shots over second-place finisher Matt Pulgini, a recent medalist at U.S. Open local qualifying in Hellertown, Pa., was one of three girls to finish in the top five at the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association golf championship at Rehoboth Beach CC.

“That feels really good,” Brinker told The News-Journal after posting a two-day total of 4-under-par 140. “It’s just really cool. I feel like maybe it’s just male-dominated, and it’s just cool to break that stereotype.”

Of course, Brinker and her distaff friends had a little help. Though they competed on equal terms with the boys, they were not playing from the same tees. The girls played the par-72 course at 5,280 yards, while the boys played it at 6,250. The idea, seen in other states where females and males compete in the same event, was to play the yardage at 85 percent of the boys’ length while keeping similar hazards in play, said Kevin Charles, executive director of the DIAA.

“We’ve never had anything like three girls in the top five before,” Charles told Golf Digest. “You can wonder if we created too much of an advantage for them, but this was no fluke. They played great. They were the real deal, right down the middle all day long. They would have competed if they would have played from the same tees.

 

[iacas]

As much as I am for advancing the appreciation for the talents of young women in golf and elsewhere, playing at 85% means she didn't really "beat" the boys. She played a different tournament.

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Though they competed on equal terms with the boys, they were not playing from the same tees.

Congratulations to her on her fine accomplishment… but let's not stretch the truth, either. That's not "equal terms."

[boogielicious]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

As much as I am for advancing the appreciation for the talents of young women in golf and elsewhere, playing at 85% means she didn't really "beat" the boys. She played a different tournament.

Congratulations to her on her fine accomplishment… but let's not stretch the truth, either. That's not "equal terms."

The state may combine the tournament for cost. I know MA holds separate championships. MA even has the boys in the fall and the girls in the spring. Agree is not the same playing field, but it looks like it is drawing more girls to the sport, which I applaud.

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

The state may combine the tournament for cost. I know MA holds separate championships. MA even has the boys in the fall and the girls in the spring. Agree is not the same playing field, but it looks like it is drawing more girls to the sport, which I applaud.

I applaud all of that as well. It's a whole state, though, so while they might combine tournaments, just have a separate tournament running concurrently for the girls. I mean, it's a whole state… do they have only six girls playing golf in the whole state or something?

With concurrent events, if she happens to shoot 140 and that beats the boys' best score of 146, they can make note of that, while simultaneously awarding them both a first-place medal.

[Phil McGleno]

There is a reason men and women compete in separate events in the Olympics and each get their own medals.

My wife said-That girl did not beat the boys. She did well for herself but she did not beat them.

[colin007]

hmmm... im not sure. if i play with a lady and she plays from the forward tees and i play from the middle ones, and she shoots a 49 and i shoot a 50, she beat me, in my book.

[jamo]

When I was in high school, our matches were co-ed, and they had the girls play farther up. We never had a problem with it (especially when we had the best female high school golfer in the state ). No one else seemed to either.

[Golfingdad]

GCAM Tour doesn't have a lot of women playing in it, so there are not separate womens divisions, and to keep them in the competition, they play from forward tees.  I have no problem with it.  If I lost to one, I'd consider her to have beat me.

[iacas]

41 minutes ago, colin007 said:

hmmm... im not sure. if i play with a lady and she plays from the forward tees and i play from the middle ones, and she shoots a 49 and i shoot a 50, she beat me, in my book.

The difference is that you've agreed to the conditions of that competition. You've effectively given her a handicap based on each of your skill levels.

24 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

GCAM Tour doesn't have a lot of women playing in it, so there are not separate womens divisions, and to keep them in the competition, they play from forward tees.  I have no problem with it.  If I lost to one, I'd consider her to have beat me.

Bit of a difference between a state title and a GC Am Tour event, no?

And cool for you. I'd probably feel similarly. But I know I'd admit defeat if she played the same tees, and just because you make her play from 85% as far doesn't make it fair.

Should a boy who doesn't hit it as far as the other boys be allowed to play from the forward tees?

---

Natalie doesn't compare her scores to boys who play from farther tees.

She does compare her scores to boys competing in Drive, Chip, and Putt because the scoring system locally is the same: they get the same points after hitting the same chips and putts and drives from the same locations.

[Jeremie Boop]

The title was a little misleading to me, because upon reading it I automatically assumed they played from the same tees. Upon reading they played the course almost 1000 yards shorter than the boys I immediately thought that it was a pretty big advantage given to them. Not to take away from how well they played, but come on now, 1000 yards is a lot of difference in distance.

[iacas]

In PA, girls could compete on the boys team if there was no girls team, and then compete in the girls post-season stuff.

But if there was a girls team and they opted to play against and with the boys (as one girl almost did on our team - the same girl who was the sister to the kid who was killed by the motorist I mentioned in the "pays with pennies" thread, coincidentally), she had to play with the boys in Districts and States (if she made it to States). And from the same tees, of course.

[bkuehn1952]

I definitely side with those who advocate separate competitions with separate titles (Girls Champion and Boys Champion) OR everyone plays the same course & set-up.

[Elmer]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

As much as I am for advancing the appreciation for the talents of young women in golf and elsewhere, playing at 85% means she didn't really "beat" the boys. She played a different tournament.

Congratulations to her on her fine accomplishment… but let's not stretch the truth, either. That's not "equal terms."

for once @iacas and myself agree! 

That is like If I won the masters, playing from the senior tees, with an allowable kick wedge and 5 mulligans per hole!

But good for her, nonetheless!

Edited June 3, 2016 by Elmer

[newtogolf]

I'm for 100% equality which means I welcome all females to compete against the men but without any advantages.  It's hypocritical to say you want to compete on equal terms with men but then tee off from shorter tees.   Distance is a big factor for golf, allowing her to play from shorter tees took away the distance advantage from the longer hitting boys.  

She didn't play the same course, so while I give her kudos for doing well, she didn't beat the boys.  

Knost is a short hitter on the PGA Tour, should he be allowed to tee off from shorter tees to compensate for his lack of distances?  

[Lihu]

Playing the same tees is becoming the general norm for coed high school golf. So, my guess is in the future kids will be competing from the same tees. Girls are getting longer off the tee too.

Even my daughter played the same tees as the boys even though it cost her 4 to 5 strokes from her normal game. She's going to play the standard tees from now on, and she hits as far as the average male golfer anyway. Just hoping to score better than average.

[boogielicious]

5 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

I'm for 100% equality which means I welcome all females to compete against the men but without any advantages.  It's hypocritical to say you want to compete on equal terms with men but then tee off from shorter tees.   Distance is a big factor for golf, allowing her to play from shorter tees took away the distance advantage from the longer hitting boys.  

She didn't play the same course, so while I give her kudos for doing well, she didn't beat the boys.  

Knost is a short hitter on the PGA Tour, should he be allowed to tee off from shorter tees to compensate for his lack of distances?  

What about the handicap system? Doesn't that level the playing field in a similar manner? I agree there should be different categories for different tees in this particular instance, but it is not unheard of to make adjustments for ability in golf.

FWIW, I think Michelle Wie would have played from the boys tee at this age and had no issue with the distance. 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

What about the handicap system? Doesn't that level the playing field in a similar manner? I agree there should be different categories for different tees in this particular instance, but it is not unheard of to make adjustments for ability in golf.

Handicaps are used in certain events. State championships are not included in that list.

If I give someone 30 shots and they "beat" me by two they aren't the better golfer. State championships seek to find the best golfer that week without any contrivances meant to boost up the lesser players.

4 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

FWIW, I think Michelle Wie would have played from the boys tee at this age and had no issue with the distance. 

If she won from the same tees nobody would have had this discussion. Like when she almost qualified for the U.S. Open… she played from the same tees.

[newtogolf]

19 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

What about the handicap system? Doesn't that level the playing field in a similar manner? I agree there should be different categories for different tees in this particular instance, but it is not unheard of to make adjustments for ability in golf.

FWIW, I think Michelle Wie would have played from the boys tee at this age and had no issue with the distance. 

 

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

Handicaps are used in certain events. State championships are not included in that list.

If I give someone 30 shots and they "beat" me by two they aren't the better golfer. State championships seek to find the best golfer that week without any contrivances meant to boost up the lesser players.

If she won from the same tees nobody would have had this discussion. Like when she almost qualified for the U.S. Open… she played from the same tees.

Erik answered the question well.  

Handicaps that take into account the different slope rating for the different tee boxes evens things out for guys like me playing in club tournament flights and money games but that's not how state tournaments are run or even the A Flight of club championships.  In the A Flight, everyone plays from same tee box and handicap doesn't apply.  

If a female beats a male from the same tees straight up then she's the better golfer that day.