Loyola 16, Boys' Latin 5

When the lead group stood on the sixth tee box at Hunt Valley Country Club during yesterday's match between Boys' Latin and Loyola, the Lakers were well in control - leading the match with a seemingly secure margin of victory. Alas, humility is often born from presumption.

Credit is due to Loyola. As a team, they repostured themselves into a mentality of doggedness and discipline. They formulated a gameplan, stuck to it, and watched as the Lakers' lead dwindled. However, like Nick Faldo winning the green jacket over Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters, Loyola's formula for victory was 1/2 good play and 1/2 opponent falter.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, victory was eluded due to poor judgement, lost focus, egocentric decision-making, improper planning, misunderstood rules infractions, and misguided frustration. Consider the following:

Preferred lies were provided to players within their own fairway and within sand bunkers. The Lakers continually ignored this benefit - playing the ball without lie improvement.

Putts cannot be holed consistently without consideration of distance and direction. Only approximately 60% of the putts the Lakers faced against Loyola were struck after having been lined-up. This led to increased three and four putts from the team.

Players ran out of golf balls during their round, accidentally hit putts with practice swings, took illegal drops from hazards, played aggressively when situations called for conservatism, ignored yardage markers, and reacted emotionally when errant shots were struck.

This led to an unfortunate collapse.

In the end, an estimated 7 points were lost by 1 hole - a hole where more times than not, victory was lost via mental error and/or discipline mis-cue rather than a poor shot or missed putt.

Coaches Champion, Vaughn, Silverman and Black were not upset by the play of their golfers, but rather by the mis-steps of judgement displayed by their players throughout the day - players who in their opinion know better.

A lengthy team discussion followed the match. This included guidance relating to owning one's failures (and victories) and building a foundation of success based upon such understanding. The Lakers can certainly grow from this experience. As a result of this match, they learned a tough but valuable lesson about themselves - a lesson that will serve them well in the time ahead.

Mt. St. Joe is next on the schedule for The Lakers. The face-off is slated for Thusday, April 13th at The Suburban Club. As has been stressed in the past, The Boys' Latin Golf Team will not quit - and one can expect a new, revitalized team on the first tee this Thursday.