[Farm93]

halve, yes using ve, is a reference to playing the hole to a draw.  A player can be "up" or "down" on any hole.  If a player wins the first hole they are "1-up".  Their opponent would be "1-down".

If that players wins 5 holes and loses 2 others, the would be "3-up".

If you are "2-up" with only "1" hole to play you can't lose. The contest stops.  And you are declared the winner 2 & 1.  2-up with 1 to go.

Run the numbers a bit and you can see Stackhouse's odds of victory were not very good.

Ignore ties for a moment.  Even if each hole was a 50-50 deal.  She would have only had a 25% chance of winning both holes, and a 12.5% chance of doing that AND winning in extra holes.  Of course, playing the same number of strokes as your opponent at a hole is very common.  Given the Davis merely needed to "halve" either the 17th or 18th.  The probability of a Davis victory after the 16th was probably well in excess of 95%.

I was all set to send those "they worked hard" & "they exceeded expectation" type messages.  #107 was a true gift.  And will be part of Stanford golf lore.

[Farm93]

halve, yes using ve, is a reference to playing the hole to a draw.  A player can be "up" or "down" on any hole.  If a player wins the first hole they are "1-up".  Their opponent would be "1-down".

If that players wins 5 holes and loses 2 others, the would be "3-up".

If you are "2-up" with only "1" hole to play you can't lose. The contest stops.  And you are declared the winner 2 & 1.  2-up with 1 to go.

Run the numbers a bit and you can see Stackhouse's odds of victory were not very good.

Ignore ties for a moment.  Even if each hole was a 50-50 deal.  She would have only had a 25% chance of winning both holes, and a 12.5% chance of doing that AND winning in extra holes.  Of course, playing the same number of strokes as your opponent at a hole is very common.  Given the Davis merely needed to "halve" either the 17th or 18th.  The probability of a Davis victory after the 16th was probably well in excess of 95%.

I was all set to send those "they worked hard" & "they exceeded expectation" type messages.  #107 was a true gift.  And will be part of Stanford golf lore.