What is your integrity worth? How about a million dollars. In an era of dirty tricks and shortcuts, some players can still honor the game with their commitment and inner strength.
Sahith Theegala and Ben Crenshaw are singled out in an opinion item by Quin Hillyer in the Washington Times for reminding us why integrity is essential to the game of golf. And it is not just golf. And not just sport. Watching others do the right thing is a spur to the rest of us to up our game in life.
Hillyer recounts a scene he witnessed as a young teen 40 years ago. Ben Crenshaw hit out of the woods from a difficult lie and parred the hole. He would not accept the par, however. He approached the scorekeeper and revealed that he believed he had inadvertently brushed a leaf as he took his club back, and thus deserved a penalty point. This for an infraction that no one else saw – and he knew no one else saw. His self-incrimination was worth a bogey.
As Hillyer tells it, “Crenshaw called the penalty on himself and then moved on.” It was simply how he played the game.
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This recollection came to Hillyer when he watched the “absurdly lucrative” Tour Championship. Theegala hit out of a sand trap and immediately called for the rules official. Theegala thought he had scraped some sand before his shot and would need to be assessed a two-stroke penalty. While the TV cameras show no sand moved, Theegala thought otherwise. He insisted, and the penalty was assessed. His thoughts: “Oh, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
Hillyer adds the final scene: “In the end, the two-stroke penalty was the exact difference between Theegala finishing third and, instead, finishing tied for second. The difference in pay between being tied in second and third? An astonishing $2.5 million.”
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Not many of us can resist such a large temptation. However, golf is exalted, and all golfers honored, when one of us rises to the challenge.
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