Change to qualifying leaves 1 team left in race for state golf title

Congratulations to the Palmyra boys golf team for winning the MSHSAA Class 2 state championship.

Before the Panthers even step onto the first tee at Silo Ridge Golf Course they’ve won the team title. Technically, they will need to have their four players finish the two-day tournament which opens Monday, but it doesn’t matter what they shoot.

Bloomfield is also assured of a top-3 finish in Class 1 and there are only four teams competing for the Class 3 team title while Class 4 will feature just five teams.

The largest class will be the most competitive with seven teams, but it will not feature one of the four district champions. Rockhurst won the Class 5 District 4 title by 8 shots but cannot compete for the state title while runner-up Staley can.

How is that possible?

In high school golf, five players compete per team with the best four scores adding up to make the team score.

While the team score decided the district champion again this year, only the top 18 individuals, including ties, from each district advanced to the state tournament.

“The Golf Advisory committee was fully aware of the possibilities when it voted to change the qualifying procedures,” said MSHSAA Communications Director Jason West in an email.

Poplar Bluff coach Billy Pyland is the Southeast representative on the committee, which features eight coaches from around the state and works with MSHSAA to set up the postseason and rules. He didn’t like what he saw Monday at the district tournament.

Instead of players working together to win as a team, it was every player for themselves.

“That’s a horrible feeling,” Pyland said. “At least when you’re playing (as a team), you’re trying to do something to help your team score.

“This was just go out and play and it was a horrible feeling as a coach, and I know as a player.”

Pyland said he’s heard from other coaches and plans on writing a proposal to include the top two teams in each district to qualify as a team.

Rockhurst was 5 shots better than everybody in the state in relation to par Monday. But Rockhurst’s fourth score missed the cut by one stroke while runner-up Staley had four players advance, as did the teams that finished second and third in District 3.

Among all the teams in Class 5, CBC had the fourth-best score in relation to par, lost the district title by two shots and only qualified three players.

“They deserve to go,” said Pyland, whose own team finished fourth but would have won a district title under the old format with twice as many districts.

The sectional round was removed and the eight districts were combined into four when a fifth class was added to boys golf this spring.

“The committee’s primary focus was on the pace of play at the championship level. With the addition of a boys class and two girls classes, the committee wanted to make sure the level of play at the final site was as close to championship-caliber as possible,” West said.

During the girls season this past fall, which went from two classes to four, there were 115 more state qualifiers this fall than the previous year.

The boys are set to have 378 state qualifiers, an increase of only 17, but an extra class means renting an extra course. Taking away the sectional round and cutting districts from eight to four trims the budget.

The pace-of-play concern with the state tournaments may not get fixed.

While the cut in Class 5 this week was between 8- and 10-over par, smaller classes had a cutline above 30-over, so the smaller classes will take longer to compete.

Limiting the number of players in the tournament, from 90 to 70, but not taking out spots for deserving individuals is a delicate balance.

In trying to fix one problem, MSHSAA has created another that goes against its own mission statement, which is the first sentence in the golf manual.

“MSHSAA promotes the value of participation, sportsmanship, team play and personal excellence …”

Golf, like track and field, cross country, wrestling and swimming is an individual sport with an added team component, West said, adding, “The advisory committee focused more on the individual side of the sport with this change than the team aspect.”

Pyland said that’s not how the change was presented to him as a member of the committee.

West said the topic will, “very likely be on the committee’s agenda next month.”

Under a proposal Pyland is working on in which the top team will advance five players and the runner-up is allowed four, plus any who qualify as an individual, eight more players would need to be added in Class 2. That would allow eight teams competing rather than just one for the team title.

Instead of adding three extra tee times, the record book will just be blank after Palmyra’s championship.

Meanwhile, bureaucratic red tape remains undefeated.