Spanish Fork athlete tried to tee off

When the Utah High School Activities Association sanctioned girls golf as a sport, it was a positive move for most everyone involved in that arena.

But it had a negative effect for at least one high school senior this year as Spanish Fork's Aly Tingey found herself having to choose between her two favorite sports — two sports that could each take her to college on a scholarship.

For three years Tingey was able to play both golf and softball for her high school, and she was happy for many reasons. First, she kept busy all year long as she sandwiched the two with basketball in the winter. Second, she didn't have any tough decisions to make. She just took to the golf courses in the fall and focused on softball in the spring. Now, with girls golf being a sanctioned sport, the top girls were forced to move their tee times from September and October to April and May. And that created quite a conundrum for Tingey.

"I love both sports. It was just hard because I had to choose one sport because the golf tournaments are always in the afternoon at the same time as the softball games," Tingey said, wishing the girls golf sanctioning could have come just one year later.

"I was so bored last fall. I totally planned on playing with the guys, then they threw a curve ball at me," she said.

But she received a bit of a reprieve when golf coach Justin Nelson and softball coach Don Andrews agreed to let Tingey play in the final Region 4 golf match at Fox Hollow two weeks ago. The league coaches only agreed to the move after a 45-minute meeting where they wanted assurance that this was not an attempt by the Dons to bring in a ringer.

Tingey's main purpose of playing in the final league match was to showcase her talents to Southern Utah golf coaches, who wanted to see her compete in an 18-hole event. However, rain shortened the match to nine holes, and Tingey finished third by firing a 48.

"I had to do something so I could send in scores. I only have like two chances to show them," Tingey said about her hopes to gain some collegiate attention for her golf game. She's keeping her options open and hoping to have a chance to choose between a golf and softball college scholarship.

Still, Tingey thought she could get that 18-hole score at the state tournament last week at Davis County Park, but the Region 4 principals, even though there is nothing in the league bylaws supporting their action, voted not to let her play.

"We were not trying to do anything sneaky or underhanded. We just wanted to do what was best for this athlete and help her get that college golf scholarship," Dons athletic director Doug Snell said. "The girl whose spot she was going to take even agreed to it."

Comments