In all her years coaching, Plant City High girls golf coach Meg Jordan has never had a group quite like her 2013 squad. Throughout the season, the Lady Raiders played the way Jordan had taught — with dignity, respect and honesty. They were cruising on the stat sheets, too, and seemed poised to embark on a state championship run.
But, that all came crashing down last week, when an incorrect scorecard at the Class 3A Region 5 tournament, hosted by Venice High School, disqualified one player and thus dropped the team out of state championship contention. Plant City contested the disqualification with the Florida High School Athletic Association, citing several incidents of mismanagement at the tournament, but lost the appeal last week.
Now, with the season coming to a disappointing end, Jordan said she wants her players to finish the same way they started.
“We’re trying to get over it; we’re trying to move forward in most positive away possible,” Jordan said. “I want this team to finish with grace and pride. And at the end of the day, I want them to be remembered as district champions and a great group of girls.”
Lady Raider Kaylee McIntosh was accused of submitting an incorrect scorecard at the end of the tournament. McIntosh had her scores correct on her own card, but the one submitted had a 3 instead of a 4 on one hole. The difference would not have altered the tournament results.
“We feel like there was a little bit of a set-up here,” Jordan said.
According to Jordan, McIntosh followed proper tournament procedure in reviewing her card with the tournament’s scoring official, and everything was fine when she signed off on it. Then, a short while later, Venice players approached McIntosh and told her that something was wrong.
But Jordan said the problem is nobody with the power to do anything to correct the issue took action. It was a complete turnaround from a week ago, when a similar incident happened to Kellyanne Hurst at the Riverview district tournament. But Hurst and the official caught the mistake before the scorecard was signed, and it was corrected immediately.
“[Hurst’s] scorecard was fixed immediately,” Jordan said. “The people working that tournament were professionals and handled the situation properly.”
The Lady Raiders had high hopes — a state championship — for this season. According to FHSAA’s state golf director, Dale Klaus, there is no other course of action.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to them,” Klaus said. “But, we have to abide by the USGA rules. Once a ruling is reached, it’s final.”
The FHSAA is investigating other accusations regarding the way Venice hosted the tournament. The Venice girls also were allegedly breaking advice and spectator etiquette rules — behavior that angered not only Jordan but also some of the other teams competing.
“There were so many infractions that took place, but they only noticed ours,” Jordan said. “VHS parents were talking to their players the whole time, and you definitely can’t do that in a big tournament.”
Klaus said he fielded calls from the other coaches regarding Venice’s behavior.
The rulebook states the penalties for breaking the advice rule are as follows: a warning to the coach, a two-stroke penalty on the guilty player, and then disqualification. Klaus said that, in lieu of disqualifying the players, sometimes, officials will decide to eject the coach. Spectator etiquette rules state each school is to be held accountable for the actions of its spectators, whether affiliated or not, if they speak to the players.
However, Venice is receiving no punishment for its infractions.
“I spoke with the tournament director after the other coaches called me about Venice, and he assured me that nothing was wrong,” Klaus said.
However, the tournament director just happened to be Venice’s head coach, James Slaton.
Per USGA Rule 6-6, all golfers are to be held responsible for their own scorecard. A violation of this rule will be examined by a jury of five area coaches and the course’s USGA official — normally its head golf pro — before a ruling is reached.
“[McIntosh’s] total score was still correct,” Klaus said. “That was the hardest issue for us. We determined that she was still in violation of Rule 6-6.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.