Since most of the time I actually live in the real world, I don't always get my fairy tale endings and I have to readjust. Readjusting often means feeling the pain and learning the lesson that comes with an ending that I didn't really want.
Mason has had an awesome high school golf season. He gets to play with a good group of kids, the older kids have been welcoming, his coach is great and he gets to miss a ton of school to golf. Not a bad gig. His team played in districts on Monday and Tuesday. They needed to be one of the top four teams to advance to regionals next week. From what I gather, since Sherwood became 6A, advancing beyond districts has been elusive but this year they had a decent shot. They came into districts in third place. They were hoping to hold on and secure their spot in regionals.
Since Mondays are a day off for me, I walked with Mason the 18 holes at Stone Creek. He played well and seemed to be enjoying himself. Never one to be much of a scorekeeper, I at least had a pretty good sense that he was playing well and it was confirmed when he enthusiastically walked off the 18th hole. He has felt pressure (self-induced) to help get the seniors to state. They haven't been to state as a team and this is their last chance. Three of the five team members are seniors. I have talked to him a few times about how it isn't his job to get his team to state. It is a team - equal responsibility. And, as a freshman, that's a pretty great burden to take on. Regardless, I was happy for him that he had a round he felt good about and would help his team. I left him all smiles to find out how his teammates did and wait for the scores.
After I got home, I got a text from Mason stating that he had been disqualified. I immediately had a huge knot in my stomach, empathizing how that must feel to him when he had wanted to help his team so much. He didn't give me many details besides telling me it was a scorecard error. Knowing my extremely fast moving son, I pictured that he had seen the score, signed the scorecard carelessly and moved on too quickly only to realize the error a split second too late. No matter how it happened, I knew he must be devestated and his team disappointed that they couldn't include his score. They ended up the day 6th.
When he got home that night the truth of the situation was a little different. His scorer had read his numbers for each hole as Mason checked them against his own score. They seemed to match so Mason signed the card and turned it in. When he saw his total added and written on the board, it was one stroke off from the score he knew he had gotten from his own adding. He then went back and pulled out his filed scorecard to do a visual check. He found the discrepancy - on one hole the scorer had given him a 4 but Mason knew (and had on his scorecard) he had gotten a 5. Signing an inaccurate scorecard is a disqualification. He alerted the tournament officials knowing he would get disqualified.
Should Mason have visually checked his scorers' card against his card and not just listened to the scores? Absolutely. I like to think he won't make that mistake again. Better to learn it now than at the Masters. Did it make the blow better knowing that Mason's honesty prevailed over what he wanted for his team? Absolutely. The knot in my stomach was still there but now in addition to being sad for him, I am also proud of him.
So how did I hope this story would end? Rainbows and unicorns. He wasn't disqualified from the entire tournament so he could still play Day 2. We were all hoping the team would come out, all play well and somehow redeem the third or fourth spot to advance to regionals. And, they did all come out and play well. Mason had a bit of a rough start - I have to think the pressure he was putting on himself for redemption was probably massive, but he finished well. Unfortunately for them, all the teams ahead of them played really well too. So, they stayed in 6th and did not advance to regionals as a team. Not the fairy tale ending I would have written but we all learned something from the experience.
From what I have heard, Mason's teammates and coach handled the dq really well. They didn't place blame and felt like they all could have done more to put themselves in a better position. I imagine all of them might check their scorecards a little more carefully next time. And a surprising rainbow came out at the end - two of the seniors and Mason qualified for regionals as individuals. A handful of kids that don't qualify with their teams can qualify based on scores throughout the season and ranking. In a slightly ironic twist of fate, Mason was the last kid to make it. The 200 they gave him for the round he got disqualified definitely didn't help.
The lesson keeps giving back, as I imagine it might for some time. I am training for an upcoming race. I needed to do a 12 mile run this morning to stay on track. The sun was actually out and my legs felt fine. But, about mile 9, I had a mental block. I was just kind of over it. I paused for a minute and tried to give myself a pep talk (I don't have a lot of motivating words at mile 9). But then I thought of Mason. On Monday, Mason proved he could do hard things. Calling himself out even when it meant disappointment. Things that are way harder than running three miles. I told Mason when I dropped him off at school that I was going on a 12 mile run. How was I going to explain that I had stopped at 9 for no good reason? I wasn't. I finished the three miles. It wasn't pretty but I think I saw a unicorn at the end.
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