Controversy in NCAA D3 Women’s Golf Championship

Thursday’s round of the NCAA Division 3 women’s golf championship was canceled due to an unplayable hole! Sixty percent of the field had completed their round when the decision was made to cancel the round. This has created much controversy and anger.

 

VIDEO

 

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Round 3 of the NCAA D3 Women’s Golf Championship was canceled (with nearly 60% of the field finished) because of this hole location, which the NCAA deemed “unplayable.”

Story: https://t.co/lJdUMFYQDc pic.twitter.com/rrsZg2ySIS

— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) May 12, 2023

 

 

Here is the committee’s press release as seen on the golfchannel.com’s coverage of the tournament.

 

“Throughout Round 3 on Thursday, and despite efforts to improve conditions, it became apparent that the pin placement on hole No. 6 was unplayable… After play was suspended due to lightning late Thursday afternoon, the committee analyzed numerous different options on how to complete the tournament in the time allotted.”

 

According to the coaches, the hole was placed with about a five percent slope. Imagine a putt putt hole where the hole is placed on an incline and NO WOOD/STONE barrier behind it!

 

6th Hole debacle!

The par-4 6th hole at Mission Inn and Resort’s El Campeon Course in Florida was the site of the disaster. Imagine a 10-20 footer below the hole where you either hit your putt just short or just left and the ball trickles back to you or around the hole AND back to you.

 

The average for the hole for all golfers before a rain delay was almost 6, nearly a double-bogey average! According to the golfchannel.com story, one coach was quoted as saying:

 

“They should’ve known not to put [the hole] there…They just said they were sorry and they felt bad.”

 

The NCAA is responsible for hole placements, not the course. There was talk from coaches that roughly half were in favor of the move while others were not.

 

Before the Thursday round, George Fox University held a five shot advantage. As play continued Thursday, Claremont Mudd Scripps had trimmed the deficit to three shots, while Emory University in Atlanta got to within seven strokes. But with the cancellation, Fox reverted to their five shot lead.

 

Fox Wins D3 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

George Fox completed their quest for their championship with a 933 total to win the event by five strokes over Washington University. Mudd Scripps was third, ten strokes behind. Who knows what might have happened if the third round wasn’t canceled?

 

George Fox wins the NCAA D3 women’s golf national championship https://t.co/44K4reYwOw

— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) May 12, 2023

 

 

Ohio Teams

Denison and Otterbein Universities both were there but did not make the cut to the final round after the Thursday debacle. The committee decided to cut to the top 15 teams after the mess. Denison finished 17th with Otterbein 19th in the final standings, so they had a chance to be one of the top 15 playing for a crown.

(Courtesy of Otterbein Sports)

In only her first year with the Cardinals, Becky Williams from Otterbein was the top Ohio golfer with three days of 79-82-79 golf, good for a tie for 29th in the nation. A pair of Denison golfers, Isabella Dolan (FR) and Laine Hursh (SR from Chardon) finished 36th and 38th respectively.

 

Division 2 gets underway next week.

(ED: The story has been updated to show Fox had a five shot lead after round two.) 5/16