Hilton Head Island in South Carolina is know for family fun, beach days with your kids, Gregg Russell signing under the oak tree at Harbour Town and for teaching a lesson to America on honesty and integrity. It’s quite fitting that Brain Davis called a penalty on himself in the sudden death playoff in a State where its Governor lied to his people, had an affair and ran to Argentina to be with is mistress.
Brian Davis didn’t make a blatant rules violation, he “thought” he saw something out of the corner of his eye and immediately called for a ruling knowing he could jeopardize his first win on the PGA Tour. As fate would have it they checked the TV reply and he did indeed bush a small patch of dune grass and the rest is history.
Imagine if you would MLB players calling their own balls and strikes, slides into second or close calls at first base…Imagine if you will, Deion Sanders calling pass interference on himself in the end zone with :10 on the clock in a game with a 4 point lead. Imagine for yourself the oddity of an NFL lineman calling holding penalties on themselves….This seems so inconcievable to the average sports fan but in the game of golf it is common place, more than common place actually, its routine.
The stage was set for the Englishman with 2 European PGA Tour wins to get his coveted 1st victory on American soil. If you need to know it was a $500,000 moment on the line and with out hesitation he did what he had to do. He later said in the press room “I couldn’t live with myself if had a doubt about the infraction.”
Refreshing to say the least in a world full of scandal and loose morals. Golf has taken its lumps with the Tiger fiasco of infidelity off the golf course and if he would have applied the same rules to his life with proper guard rails he would be in a much better situation today.
This story is front and center on the golf scene but do you think it got any play on the major network news shows….NO. I guess a story of honesty and integrity just isn’t sexy enough for producers filling time with shootings, crooked politicians and national scandals.
