Rained on but not rained out
The annual Delaware State High School Golf Championship, a 36-hole event normally played the Tuesday and Wednesday after Memorial Day, has traditionally enjoyed nice weather.
In part, that’s because Delaware’s Memorial Day weekends preceding the tournament have traditionally “enjoyed” less-than-pleasant weather. By comparison, the days immediately following that weekend are nearly always sunny and pleasant.
That is so annoying.
This year the holiday weekend’s weather stayed true to form, mostly. It featured gale-force winds that forced the temporary closure of all service on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. The weekend never really warmed up, either, but at least it didn’t rain.
Instead, the rain came when the high school tournament began May 28, at the venerable Rock Manor golf course just outside Wilmington. A steady shower began in the early morning, and didn’t really tail off until late afternoon.
Mike DeStasio, one of the two Cape Henlopen High School Vikings to play in the first round, said, “We weren’t rained out, but we were definitely rained on.”
Nonetheless, DeStasio did not blame the lousy weather for his 92, which put him seven strokes above the eventual cut line of 85 for the second round. “I shot a 41 on the front, and then blew up on the back nine with a 49. I got into some bunkers, and I just had no rhythm.”
Mason Jones admitted to a case of nerves for his first state high school championship. A 9 on one hole and a 10 on another took him right out of contention, with his final 102 total well above his usual 18-hole average.
“I didn’t do well on the front nine, and neither did the guys I was playing with, who were individual qualifiers from Saint Mark's and Wilmington Christian. It was better when we started talking to each other on the back nine. Some of the long carries off the tee kind of intimidated me. Other than that, I liked some of the holes,” Jones said.
Local club competition results
The Rehoboth Beach Country Club Ladies’ 18-Hole Golf Association held its Opening Day Scramble May 22, followed by an awards ceremony and a luncheon meeting.
Barbara Bullock, Joan Crowley, Sharon Emerson and Elaine Taylor combined for a winning low net score of 60.
Only one stroke separated the winners from the next group, made up of Pat Beebe, Judy Bennett, Paula Blasey and Dee Moore.
Ann Cunningham, Christine Moore, Peggy Roca and Karen Storms earned the third place spot, only a single stroke behind second.
Closest to the pin awards were handed out for each of the four par-threes at RBCC. Beebe put her tee shot on No. 3 to 6-feet-1 1/2-inches. Mimi Mathews landed her approach on the fifth hole only 8-feet-5-inches from the pin.
Emerson won two of these awards, which may also help explain her team’s winning score for the day. She put her tee shot 14-feet-1-inch from the pin on the 13th hole, and only 3-feet-10-inches away on the 15th.
On May 23, the Kings Creek Country Club Ladies Golf League played a 2, 1, 1 format, using four-person teams.
First place went to Slatcher, Karapurkar, Alwood and Smith. Second place honors were earned by Vaughn, Mezger, Derville and Slatcher.
Julie Dickson won the closest to the pin contest that day, with an approach on the eighth hole that finished 19-feet-11-inches from the pin.
Little bits of ground under repair
A recent USGA Ruling of the Day discussed how to deal with tiny patches of ground under repair when taking relief from the condition.
According to the USGA, nothing in Rule 25 bars the golfer from measuring the one-club length limit through such small areas, in order to determine the nearest point of relief. In some cases, the GUR area is sufficiently narrow to make this an option.
