Alison Meyer recently found a way to win a match-play golf tournament despite apparently losing to her first-round opponent.
The 2005 Duluth Central graduate went to a 19th hole against Steffi Neisen in the Minnesota Women's State Match-Play Championship when Neisen knocked in a
40-foot putt to apparently win the match.
But Neisen's mother, who was caddying, didn't pull the pin out and the ball struck the flagstick before going in.
"The rule is if you hit the stick during match play, it's an immediate loss of hole. So instead of winning, she lost it," said Meyer, who when urged by another competitor contacted a rules official and had the matter resolved in her favor. "In golf, you usually call the penalty on yourself or yell 'Pull the pin.' Then they realized they did something wrong."
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Meyer, the defending State Amateur champion, went on to win a 21-hole quarterfinal, a
1-up semifinal and the title 2 and 1 over Mari Miezwa on Friday at Jewel Golf Club in Lake City.
Meyer won't have the same benefit today and Wednesday since the Northland Women's Invitational is stroke play. She'll compete against a prestigious field, including defending champion Betsy Aldrich and former champions Sue Liberty, Jo-Ann Lindsay, Kate Johnson and Anne Zahn. A total of 123 golfers are entered, the most in 12 years.
"I feel good about my golf game," said Meyer, a Ferris State University graduate, who works at Ridgeview Country Club. "I've been working really hard this summer."
The tournament, which is at Northland Country Club, begins with 18 holes today, followed by an 18-hole second round at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
