NAIA golfer misses shot on purpose, allowing rival into national tourney
 

Grant Whybark loses hole on purpose, lets foe Seth Doran into finals - ESPN Chicago


So did he do the "right thing?"

Did Doran getting to go to the tournament mean some other person didn't?

No. It was Doran or no one else.

I don't see a problem with it. Didn't really harm anyone.

I don't think he's as chivalrous as they are making it out to be. If he was, he would have hit it in the woods and shut his mouth. Why make the other guy think you did it on purpose and feel crappy about that?

Doesn't bother me, then. Maybe it bothers Doran, but I imagine going to the tournament is enough of a thrill to get over it.

Why wouldn't he have been in if he didn't win, wouldn't that have advanced him since the winner was already in?

What would Herm Edwards do?

My only problem with this story is that if you're going to do something like this, then perhaps you shouldn't announce it. It feels like he either wanted people to know that the guy didn't really beat him or just let everyone know what a nice guy he was. It would've been a nicer gesture if you at least let the guy think he won legitimately.

I don't think it was good "sportsmanship" as the article claimed some to feel. Not much sporting about it at all. Was it a nice thing to do for the guy? Sure, I guess so. It is the type of thing in Amateur sports that I am totally ok with.

In a professional sport environment, I feel there is no place for tanking on purpose. So in this particular case, since it is NAIA, it doesn't really bother me too much.

It sounds like the cross country rule back when I was in high school. If you were one of the top 5 individual runners at region, then you went to state. If all 5 runners were already going with their teams, then no extra runners would go.

I think it was probably super obvious that it happened. I doubt he announced it or declared it, I just figure he was too good a golfer for it not to be obvious what he did. Knowing the institutions involved, they probably believed it was a good act of sportsmanship that ought to be highlighted. The mainstream media, naturally tears into it with the bloodlust of a serial killer and wonders how he could do it?

And the quotes in the article indicate that both of them and their coaches are cool with it.

Of course, there's also the possibility that he just screwed up. It makes for a really nice cover story.

The only real issue here is whether the guy "earned" his spot and whether you think that matters. And since most people are apparently fine with NFL teams being allowed to make the playoffs on the back of teams essentially forfeiting games of consequence to the playoff race, I don't think most people care whether he's earned the spot, just that he made it.

Ideally, sports tournament/competition formats should be setup to where this kind of thing isn't possible, or is at least mitigated.

Failing that, I think it's lame to qualify for anything in this manner. Why would you want to be the guy that gets in the nationals this way?

Seems like a pretty easy rule change: Top team and top individual qualify, provided however, if the individual champion is on the championship team, the next highest placing individual qualifies.

He didn't ask for it to happen. I think the only thing the original guy did wrong was not making it more convincing a screw up, rather than just double biffing a putt, but maybe it occurred to him at the last minute to do it.

I'm sure the league will change the rule for next season, given all of this national attention. But the thing about sports at the lower levels is that it's just not as competitive. I mean, it matters. The games, the matches and all of it matters to a degree, but...every institution and the players involved don't care that much.

Plus, there's nothing that he could've done about it. The other player chose to do it. I'm sure if anything, it emboldens him to go to nationals and do his best work and prove he belongs there...it's just not a high profile enough level of competition that being bloodthirsty has any merits whatsoever.

And given it was two religious schools involved...I'm guess there was an added level of morality added to it.

Right, the other person chose to do it, so his "gift" might actually have been a burden, depending on the personality of the benefactor.

Because it's NAIA golf. Probably less about the competition at Nationals and more about spending a nice weekend playing golf and getting drunk with some friends.

I think there's a decent reason for the rule, though. They probably don't want to send an extra individual for every region in the country, just for the special circumstances where the region champion won't be going.

For instance, what if the top 5 people were on teams already advancing. Do you really need to send the 6th place person?

I would think the conferences/regions would want to send the extra person to give an extra chance to bringing home an individual winner.

Perhaps, but I'm thinking there might be financial reasons.

No, not really. It's just probably never occurred to anybody that this might happen. The costs are negligible and NAIA schools -- unlike NCAA D3 -- give scholarships, so...the financial costs wouldn't be prohibitive enough to keep a kid out of a postseason activity. It's just good for the league when it happens and like I said, I can't see how they won't fix the rule next year. It was just likely an oversight on their part.

And if he happens to get on a hot streak & win it, then every player in the tournament was screwed by the unethical actions of this one doofus.

Given that no one was excluded from advancing, this isn't that big of a deal.

That said, I think Whybark's pursuit of plaudits as a result of this action -- basically telling everyone that he was going to be a swell guy and do it -- mitigates about 90% of whatever good karma he might otherwise have earned if he had "flubbed" a putt and kept his mouth shut.

I'd be pretty pissed if I were Doran. He was denied the right to earn his spot -- despite playing well -- by some dope that thought he needed the charity. No one is asking him how great it feels to win the tournament and make nationals; everyone is asking about how he feels that the other guy threw the match. That would suck.

Am I missing where it says in the article that the (fake) winner would have automatically lost had this playoff hole been played legitimately?