By Andy Walter

TOWNSEND — Hannah Lydic says she’s the kind of person who’s always ready to move onto the next thing.

But a friend told her that sometimes she really needs to just slow down and savor the moment.

“He told me, enjoy this,” said Lydic, a Sussex Academy senior.

So Lydic says she’s going to appreciate playing one last high school round of golf with her younger sister, Sarah, on Wednesday at Odessa National Golf Club.

The fact that the DIAA girls’ individual state championship might be on the line won’t make any difference to the sisters from Ocean View.

But the fact that it’s ‘only’ the girls’ title that’s up for grabs is what makes the situation unique this time.

Delaware had always had just one overall high school state champion. After female players won the title the last five years, however, the DIAA golf committee recently decided to divide the field by gender.

The top five boys’ players and the top five girls’ players will all receive medals.

The issue is that the course is set up so that female players have about 85 percent of the distance from tee to green that the male players play.

The field that teed off in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday included 13 female players and 83 males.

“We got a lot of grief — a little bit — from mostly the coaches who had good male players,” said DIAA golf committee chairman Kathy Franklin, the Tower Hill coach. “They talked about the yardages and that kind of stuff. I said, ‘Oh, let’s just separate it and be done with it.’

“We thought maybe we can settle some nerves a little bit of the parents and the coaches and the players. I get it. But some of these girls who have won in the past ... are going to the best golf schools (colleges) in the country. And that’s not happening with the guys.”

A year ago, Sarah Lydic won the overall championship as just a freshman. On Tuesday, the sophomore fired a one-under par 71 to sit in third place, two strokes behind her sister Hannah (69) and one shot behind Avery McCrery (70), a freshman from Tower Hill, on the girls’ leaderboard.

Sarah Lydic said she only found out about a week and a half ago that the field would be split by gender.

“I trust that they’re going to make a good decision,” she said. “I don’t really care what they do, I’m just going to play.

“You can do whatever you want, I’m just going to try to do as well as I can and try to beat everybody. ... If the girl comes out and doesn’t beat the guys, I wouldn’t call myself a ‘state champion.’ You’re the women’s state champion but you’re not the lowest so you’re not the state champion.”

Hannah Lydic, who’s going to continue her playing career at Richmond in the fall, was diplomatic about the situation.

“It’s their decision, it’s not mine,” she said. “I’m going to respect their decision regardless of what it it is. I’m going to try to dominate.”

Red Lion Christian senior Evan Barbin leads the boys’ field after carding a 71 on Tuesday. He’s one shot up on Tatnall’s Matt Homer with a total of six players within four shots of the lead.

His older brother, Austin, was the top male finisher behind female players three times in the state tournament.

Evan said that Austin, who is now a junior playing for Liberty, wasn’t recognized for the accomplishment until later on.

Evan said he’s glad that the format has changed.

“These girls are amazing players,” he said. “They have quite bit of an advantage but you’ve still got to put the ball in the hole either way. I try to just beat the guys that hit my yards, my tees. I think it’s better to have two separate champions.”

The team state championship will still be decided the way it always has — with each squad’s best four scores counting, regardless of gender. The top three scores count on Wednesday.

With a six-over-par team score, Sussex Academy leads second-place Tatnall by five shots. Interestingly enough, the Seahawks’ top three players — Hannah and Sarah Lydic and Sawyer Brockstedt — are females.

Sussex Academy coach Doug Grove said he has mixed feelings about the individual tournament being split up.

“It’s kind of a letdown,” he said. “These guys are so competitive, they want to go up against the best players in the state. To me, whoever shoots the lowest score, I consider that person to be the state champion, I don’t care what gender they are.

“I kind of wish we’d crown one person the state champion. I heard what everybody was saying. It is different, that’s for sure.”

Like her sister, Hannah Lydic is going to go out and try to card the lowest score out of the whole field. She had a strong finish on Tuesday, playing the back nine at four-under par.

If Sarah ends up being one of her top competitors, that won’t be anything new.

“I love playing with her,” said Hannah. “I know her game really well, she knows my game really well. We’re all business.

“We’ve always been competitive,” she said. “It’s fun to have somebody to compete with. I’m lucky to be competitive with somebody that is that close.”

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@iniusa.org.
Follow on Twitter at @DSNSports.