A female high school student who had the best score at a boys' golf tournament in Massachusetts has been denied the trophy because she's a girl.

Lunenburg High School junior Emily Nash's score of 75 at the Central Massachusetts Division 3 boys' golf tournament was four shots better than the runner-up.

Emily Nash, after winning an earlier tournament (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Golf Association)

But Nash wasn't awarded first place and won't advance to next week's state tournament because of a rule set by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA).

The rule states that girls playing on a fall boys' team can't be entered in the Boys Fall Individual Tournament.

That means the 16-year-old Nash can't compete as an individual, and her score on Tuesday only counted to her team's total.

PGA.com reports that Nash played from the same tees as the boys.

The tournament director, Kevin Riordan, told The Telegram & Gazette he had made Nash aware of the MIAA rule before the tournament began.

Riordan told the T&G he plans to personally purchase a first-place trophy for Nash.

Riordan said the teen who finished second, Nico Ciolino, offered the first-place trophy to Nash, but she declined to accept it.

Brittany Altomare, an LPGA golfer who attended Shrewsbury High School in central Massachusetts, said the decision was "very disappointing."

With reporting by The Associated Press and WBUR's Benjamin Swasey