subject: Honest Golfer brian Davis Calls Penalty On Self, Loses In Sudden Death [print this page] With a $1,000,000 check on the line, it would be very hard for me to call a penalty on myself, which would cost me a win and a whole lot of cash. Maybe that's why my golf game is totally laughable. Karma.
Whatever happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. On Sunday, little known golfer, Brian Davis, had a serious chance of winning his first PGA tournament and endorsing the back of a very large check, $1.026 million to be exact. However, it just wasn't meant to be, but it easily enough could have been if Davis wasn't an honest man.
There is a rule in golf - Rule 13.4 to be exact - that calls for a 2-stroke penalty if your golf club moves any loose impediment during your backswing. Davis found his golf ball in a hazard next to the 18th green, needing to get up and down in two in order to keep playing in overtime against Jim Furyk.
After a lot of thought and pondering, Davis splashed out the muck from a terrible lie and left the ball some 30-feet from the cup. He was still alive, needing only to sink the putt to stay alive. However, he felt something had gone wrong on the shot and called over the PGA rules official for a consult.
Davis told the rules official that out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw his club graze a nearby reed in the hazard. This, of course, would violate Rule 13.4 if indeed he'd hit the reed on his backswing.
Golfers pride themselves on self-policing during play for a variety of reasons, the least of which is the integrity of the game. I'm just cynical enough to say some do it because they know the television cameras don't lie, which means if the penalty isn't caught until the round is over (by watching replays) the player is disqualified. Calling the penalty on yourself at the time only results in the penalty for the infraction and you get to continue playing. Did I mention me and karma and my golf game?
Anyway, Davis called the penalty on himself, a 2-stroke penalty, which would cost him his first professional win if indeed he'd violated a rule. It took replay officials several minutes, and a lot of slow-motion replay of the footage of his backswing, to finally determine that he had, indeed, just barely grazed a reed. Folks, I'm talking whisper close.
Davis could have easily not said a word and there's an extremely good chance no one would have ever discovered the infraction. No one except Davis' conscience, that is. Having called the infraction on himself, he settled for second place and roughly $400,000 less than he would've made had he kept his mouth shut, but at what cost to his game, his integrity, and the rest of his career?
Brian Davis was given a hero's greeting when he got back to the clubhouse, and Jim Furyk said he would have preferred to get the win the good old fashion way, but has total admiration for Davis for self-policing his game.
Mark my words, Brian Davis will find a game he never knew he had as a result of his honest play. Things like this just have a way of working out the way they should. Let's keep an eye on him together, shall we, for golf's sake?
