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As the top high school golfers in Pennsylvania descend on Happy Valley for the state championships, only six teams in each class — 2A and 3A — will be competing for PIAA titles on Wednesday.
Six.
From the entire state.
One could argue that such a sparse amount is acceptable for small, 2A schools. But for 3A schools?
District 1 (Philadelphia suburbs), District 3 (Harrisburg/York areas) and District 7 (Pittsburgh area) got one team apiece at State College, while all the remaining districts combined for the other three state spots.
The scarcity of teams in golf seems a bit unfair, no?
We’ll get to that in a moment.
District 1 went to a playoff that lasted three holes at Turtle Creek, with Unionville securing the lone state spot with a 1-stroke victory over Spring-Ford.
The playoff lasted a couple hours. On the first hole, the top four scores out of five were counted for each team. On the next two holes, just the top four golfers competed.
But that format is likely to change next year, according to one person affiliated with District 1 and another affiliated with the PGA, which certifies district results.
Neither person was speaking on the record, as no official decision has been made yet. But an adjustment probably will happen. It’s just a matter of deciding on a new, quicker format.
“You hope to avoid team playoffs, and if you have them, you don’t want them to drag out,” the PGA official said.
The decision will ultimately be up to District 1. Some ideas being bandied about include shaving off the lowest two scores of each team on the first playoff hole, or going the other way and counting all five scores, to differentiate the teams.
Also, there could be a possible avoidance of a playoff altogether, with a similar reduction or expansion of the number of scores counted if there needs to be a tiebreaker after the 36 holes of regulation in the two-day, district championship tournament.
Time will tell what District 1 does moving forward, but next year likely will look different if there’s a tie.
Which brings us back to the question of why there are so few golf teams admitted into states. Many other sports get more than six teams at the PIAA dance. In boys’ tennis, for example, five District 1 teams qualify for states.
“I would say that District 1 is the most competitive golf area in the state, along with District 7, and we each only get one team in states,” Unionville coach Jimmy O’Rourke said. “It’s crazy to think about, because in that way, winning District 1 is really like winning the state championship. The teams around here are that good.”
The PIAA cites logistics as a key factor in the limited amount of state qualifiers for golf. The team competition is a one-day event at Penn State’s courses, while the individual state tournament covers two days (the top 18 individuals from District 1 reach states).
Still, perhaps the PIAA could find a way to be a more inclusive, maybe by making the team tournament two days — taking 12 teams in Class 3A and then cutting it to six after the first day.
Such a change doesn’t seem to be on the horizon, but it’s worth considering.
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or go to ChrisDeFranco.com.
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