Jon Fister Jr. was feeling pretty good when he made a birdie on the 18th hole Friday afternoon to defeat Todd Tanner 2-up in their golf match at the State Amateur.
His happiness didn't last long, however. A few minutes later, after huddling with Utah Golf Association officials, Fister's smile had disappeared. He had been disqualified from the tournament for innocently using two different caddies on the final hole. Fister was heading home to Roy for a lonely evening while Tanner was on his way to the quarterfinals.The Rules of Golf had struck again at the State Am, this time in the cruelest fashion. It wasn't a case of a stroke for playing slow or two strokes for showing a club to a competitor, two penalties that were handed out earlier in the week.
This time a ruling eliminated a competitor from the tournament after an apparent victory on the golf course. It was akin to a basketball team winning a game and being told after the final buzzer that it had actually lost because of a decision by a referee.
Fister's disqualification put a damper on an otherwise fine display of golf at the picturesque Hobble Creek Golf Course. There were positive stories galore as eight golfers who moved on to Saturday's quarterfinals.
How about local favorite, 34-year-old dental lab technician Robert Shunn knocking off a pair of collegiate golfers, Weber State's Chris Myrick and BYU's Will Huish? Or little-known Todd Mullen from the small town of Newton, winning a pair of matches rather handily.
Then there was Richfield's Ryan Oldroyd, a BYU-sophomore-to-be, who scored an upset by defeating medalist Scott Hailes and Jeff Anderson, the former Utah State basketball player who moved into the quarterfinals for the third time.
Joining those four are defending champion Jason Wight, who had to fight for his life to eliminate Kevin Haslam in 21 holes, two-time champion Doug Bybee, last-year's runner-up John Tagge and Tanner, who was fortunate to move on because of the misfortune of his opponent.
Fister, the first-round medal leader, who knocked off Ed Ingram in the morning round, was obviously devastated about the turn of events and at first declined to comment before relenting.
"It's too bad to play your guts out for 18 holes and then lose," he said. "I didn't make many mistakes today (on the course), but I guess I made the biggest mistake of all. What do you say after you beat a great player 2 up and lose? It's tough."
"I hate to see it happen that way," said Tanner, who will have a tainted victory if he happens to emerge as the winner this weekend. "I had no idea. I didn't realize it was a disqualification. But that's what the rules of golf are for."
The ruling was made by match referee Dave Huntsman, who was unavailable for comment afterward. Tournament rules chairman Lee Samsel explained that Huntsman was simply following Rule 6-4, which states, "The player may have only one caddie at any one time under penalty of disqualification."
What happened to Fister was that after hitting a sand shot on the final hole, he gave his wedge to someone other than the caddy he'd been using all round, who was on the green at the time. That meant he was using two different caddies, a violation of the rules.
"He's bound to call the rules," said Samsel. "Every person was informed every day about the rule and it was the first item on the local rules sheet we handed out. We even underlined it."
Fister said he'd never used a caddie before Friday afternoon, so he wasn't cognizant of the caddie rule. "I had no idea. I guess you live and learn."
Although the ruling was technically correct, there was strong disagreement among UGA board members about whether the call should have been made against Fister on such a seemingly innocent mistake unrelated to the outcome of the match. At least three different UGA board members questioned the decision.
UGA President Ron Hitchcock sided with the golfer, calling it a "travesty" that he had been disqualified.
"I'm heartsick for Jon, like anybody would be," said Hitchcock. "It's a shame that something completely negligible like that reverses a match. My problem is with the severity of the penalty after hands have been shaken and the match is over. I have a hard time meting out judgement that severe."
UGA board member Arlen Peacock suggested that Rule 33-7 could have been invoked in this situation. It states: "A penalty of disqualification may in exceptional individual cases be waived, modified or imposed if the Committee considers such action warranted."
Tanner has a tough task in facing the 35-year-old Bybee, who has one of the best match play records in State Am history. Bybee broke a string of four straight second-round losses since his last victory at Jeremy Ranch in 1991 by beating Doug Baxter and Tom Johnson.
Wight said his overtime win over Salt Lake's Kevin Haslam in the afternoon was tougher than any he had last year in winning at Logan Country Club. He hit a 6-iron within three feet on the third extra hole to win.
"This was the hardest," he said. "I knew one mistake and it was over."
Wight will face Mullen, who golfs for Southern Utah. The two played against each other in high school when Wight played for Box Elder and Mullen for Sky View.
Oldroyd never trailed in his two wins over Doug Oldroyd (fourth cousin or something) and Hailes. The 20-year-old redshirted at BYU this year and is the last Cougar in the tournament. He'll face Tagge, who beat him in last year's opening round.
Tagge, who just completed his career at the University of Utah, has come on strong after opening with a 76 Wednesday. He beat Jon Hadfield in the morning and hung on to beat veteran Ken Cromwell in the afternoon 3 and 2 after going 5 up at the turn.
The final quarterfinal features perhaps the two most unknown golfers among the semifinalists. Shunn admitted he was "choking like a dog with a bone" against Huish when he nearly blew a three-hole lead. "I was physically shaking," he said. "Outside of Hobble Creek, I'm an unknown quantity There's going to be a lot of `who's he?' tomorrow."
Anderson is hoping to move past the quarterfinals for the first time and believes this might be the year. He beat Shane Flowers and Bryan Dalton for his two victories.
"The last two years I was just kind of hoping to win. This year I feel I have as good a shot as anybody to win. I'm just thrilled to be here," he said.
The quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals this afternoon before the two survivors meet Sunday in a 36-hole final.