Column: Golfer makes save of the year for prep sports
The Aspen Times
Nick Massaro Jr. / Special to The Aspen Times |
Leave it to a high school golfer to save the day.
In a turbulent year on the local prep sporting scene, with coaches suspended in record numbers and a visiting fan ejected from this week’s Aspen girls lacrosse game, a golfer from Rifle High School reinforced what high school sports should be.
The scene is the Aspen Invitational golf tournament at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale, on the deck outside the clubhouse, overlooking the course with Mount Sopris overlooking all.
As the golfers finished their rounds, they submitted their scorecards to tournament officials, who double-checked the math.
Official scores then were posted by hand on the scoreboard, as is the tradition in golf.
With maybe half of the scores posted, Savannah Seay of Rifle went right up to the officials and told them they had given her an incorrect score. A 92 was posted. But Seay insisted she had a 95.
Officials explained that some scorecards were adjusted because the tournament was a double-par maximum score event.
In other words, the most strokes you could post on a par 4 would be an 8; the most on a par 3 would be a 6; etc. Some cards had scores too high.
But Seay said that her card was correct and she insisted she should have three more strokes on her score. Minutes later, Seay returned to the scoring desk with Rifle coach Roger Walters, who reassured the officials that Seay’s score was, indeed, a 95 and not a 92.
They both insisted.
The scorecard was retrieved from the box.
And guess what?
Savannah Seay was right. And her coach was right.
Long before all the team scores had been totaled, they battled to give back three strokes because it was the right thing to do.
The Rifle girls, perhaps through no accident, won the tournament. Aspen’s Dolores Sharaf was the individual medalist.
But it was Savannah Seay of Rifle who saved the day.
