Glory’s second shot
- Updated: May 16, 2021
Dyar, JSU women’s golf team commits to playing in Barstool Sports’ Let Them Play Classic after regional fiasco in Baton Rouge
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Layne Dyar, like many other senior players on the grounds of LSU’s University Club last week, thought her college golf career had come to a devastatingly bitter end when NCAA officials pulled the plug on their Baton Rouge Regional Tournament due to what they considered unplayable course conditions.
After getting over the initial shock, the former White Plains star has since made plans to get on with the rest of her life, starting with a trip to Kiawah Island with her family this week for some beach time and PGA Championship watching.
But Barstool Sports came up with a solution that spits in the NCAA’s eye and now Dyar, the Lady Gamecocks and at least six other teams who were left out in the cold – well, rain – have one last chance to play.
The Gamecocks have committed to play in Barstool’s Let Them Play Classic, a 36-hole event set for Thursday and Friday at the Whirlwind Golf Club’s Cattail and Devil’s Claw courses in Chandler, Ariz.
“When Wednesday came I thought I was done and when I saw the video (of Barstool’s Sam Bozoian proposing the event) I thought I was done because there’s no way they were going to get all the regulations passed,” Dyar said Sunday. “People like me who were fifth-year (seniors) and done (with eligibility) probably could play, but the rest of the teams who had people coming back probably couldn’t.
“For me it’s one last opportunity to go put on my uniform and go play again.”
The Gamecocks will be joined by the teams from Mississippi State, North Texas, Oregon State, Purdue, Tulsa and Sam Houston State, and individuals from South Alabama, East Carolina, East Tennessee State and South Dakota State.
The top six teams and three individuals from the regional that was canceled as determined by the Golfstat rankings were passed through to the NCAA Women’s Championship in Scottsdale, about a half-hour away from the consolation event.
The Gamecocks weren’t going to play if they didn’t get compliance, but the authorization came through. For compliance reasons, the players must compete as unattached individuals but they’ll still be allowed to wear team gear. An individual champion will be crowned but any team title will be unofficial.
Barstool is picking up the tab for the teams’ expenses and the host facility is offering its golf course for free.
“I don’t think it was as much as a surprise (JSU) decided to do it as it were allowed to do it,” Dyar said.
She still plans to go to Kiawah with the family, then fly to Atlanta to meet her teammates for a second chance to finish her career in style.
Dyar declined to comment on the condition of the course the day officials pulled the plug. But she said the decision that came from the steps of the clubhouse left her “devastated.”
“I knew that my golf career was going to come to an end very soon,” she said. “I knew we had a very good team, so I expected us to play well at regional. Everbody’s hope is to win the conference, play well at regionals and make it to the national championship. That was our hope, too.
“To not have the opportunity to play and finish your career was devastating. It was like we waited a whole year (because of COVID) and we felt like the exact same thing was happening again. We worked so hard to be able to play at regional … and just be standing there on the putting green 10 minutes before you’re supposed to go and not be able to go was heartbreaking.”
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