If you live under a rock and haven't heard of this story, here's the quick background.
Grant Whybark, a sophomore at St. Francis University in Joliet, Ill. found himself in a playoff for the individual title of his conference championship against Seth Doran of Olivet Nazarene. On the first playoff hole, Whybark was informed the winner would
garner the conference’s individual spot for nationals. He already was
going by virtue of his team's winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship.
What did Whybark do? He addressed his ball, aimed right, and proceeded
to hit his tee shot 40 yards askew of the fairway onto the practice
range, which was out of bounds. He would make double bogey; Doran made
par and is headed to nationals.
In an interview with Golfweek Magazine, Whybark commented, “I think some people were surprised, but my team knew what I was doing and were supportive of me. I felt
Seth deserved to go (to nationals) just as much as I did."
“It was one of those things where I couldn’t feel good taking
something from him like this. My goal from the start was to get (to
nationals) with my team. I had already done that.”
Driving into work on Thursday morning, I was a little surprised to hear this story had made it's way to Mike and Mike in the Morning and it wasn't going away. Mike Greenberg tried to frame the story as the potential "feel good" story of the week, while Golic purported it was a travesty and against the very fabric of sport.
I'm mixed here. I understand what it means to play in a major amateur championship and it's a memory I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. Seth Doran is a Senior and this represented his last shot at experiencing the pinnacle of college golf as he knows it. Grant Whybark didn't have a lot of time to think about what he was doing and I believe he sincerely felt this was the sportsmanlike thing to do. In 10 years he may want this moment in time back, but today he's a sophomore in college and excited to be heading to the National Championship with his team.
Mike and Mike were trying to compare this moment to others in sports, such as Strahan breaking the NFL single season sack record compliments of Brett Favre taking a fall or the UCONN women's basketball player who broke the scoring record compliments of an opposing team parting ways as she made an uncontested layup. While I appreciate the need to try and put this situation into context, it's just not the same. Golf is different. This case is different.
Nobody will be left out of having a chance to play in the NAIA National Championship because of Whybark's decision. Sure, there will be another player in the field, namely Doran, but what impact does that really have on the outcome of the National Championship? Time will only tell.
And then there's the argument of would you want to win this way? Of course not. No competitor wants to have it handed to him on a silver platter. We all want to hit the big shot under the pressure to win the championship. It's just not quite the same if you can three putt for bogey to win - or is it?
In 20 years, will Doran really care how he advanced to the National Championship? He played himself into a playoff and he didn't put a gun to Whybark's head or ask him to lay down. He wasn't provided the opportunity to flag a 7-iron from 160 yards to 3 feet to kick in the winning birdie putt. He very well may have, had he been given the chance. We won't ever know, but that's not Doran's fault. He merely did everything that was asked of him and he's now taking his game (a very good one at that) to the NAIA National Championship where he will represent his team at Olivet Nazarene. Good luck Seth, go ahead and win the damn thing.
Considering what the pundits have said, I agree harm was done to those
other than the two in the story. The entire field at the National Championship each now has a slightly reduced chance of winning a trophy.
Harm was done to the friend Doran, who was denied the opportunity to win
on his own merit or show magnanimity in defeat. Whybark cheated himself
also by soliciting praise for an act of "self-sacrifice" that cost him
little or nothing. I do agree with those that say, play fair, play to win or don't play. Don't think too much, just tee it up and try to win. Let the putts fall where they may.
