Professional golfer Sahith Theegala showed again on Sept. 1 why golf is the sport where integrity matters most. In doing so, he brought back to me a memory nearly half a century old of young golfer Ben Crenshaw, one in which Crenshaw taught me a lasting lesson in sportsmanship.

The memory was from either the 1977 or 1978 New Orleans Open. After rain delays earlier in the week, Crenshaw was playing an unusually early morning round with future Hall of Famer Tom Watson and former PGA champion Don January. As a 13- or 14-year-old, I was one of only a handful of fans up early enough for the first few holes that day at Lakewood Golf Club. On the third hole, if memory serves correctly, Crenshaw hit into the trees, where the ball came to rest on some leaves and twigs. I was standing no more than 5 feet from him, with two or three other people, as he hit his next shot toward the green, after which I dashed away to try to get a good view of Watson’s next swing. As I turned to scoot down the fairway, though, I saw Crenshaw point to the ground and say something to his caddy.