Imagine Randy Moss calling a push-off penalty on himself, Tim Lincecum claiming he balked or LeBron James saying he traveled. Never in your wildest dreams.
In golf, however, players call their own infractions. Unless, of course, your name is Michelle Wie.
Recommended Stories
On Sunday in the Heritage, when Brian Davis said “my bad,” it came in a playoff with Jim Furyk and cost Davis a chance to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
With his ball beached in a greenside hazard but playable as it rested on firm sand, Davis moved a reed during his backswing. Immediately after hitting his shot, which landed on the green and finished 25 feet from the hole, Davis summoned PGA Tour official Slugger White to ask for a ruling.
After determining, with the help of television replay, that Davis contacted a “loose impediment” during his swing, White told the 35-year-old Englishman that he had incurred a two-stroke penalty, handing first place to Furyk.
Rules violations are commonplace on the PGA Tour. Rarely, however, do they come at such a critical point of a tournament. In 2008, when J.P. Hayes called a minor violation on himself during the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, the resulting penalty cost him his playing privileges in 2009.
While the uninitiated rhapsodize about the integrity of the golf, those in the sport treat self-imposed penalties with a shrug. In golf, it’s simply the right thing to do.
