[Mesorah] problems with tipcha, continued

[Sholom Simon via Mesorah]

OK, I just don't get tipcha (despite a few folks here trying to 
explain it to me).

In the last couple of words of Chaya Sarah, we read: "al p'nei chol 
achav nafal".

"Pnei" has a tipcha -- yet "chol" has no dagesh.  If a tipcha is a 
mafsik, then "chol" should have a dagesh.

Is this telling me that the tipcha here is not a mafsik?  Do we have 
a nismach situation here?

Oy!

Good shabbos everyone,

-- Sholom