Golf’s Honor Code

Mark Calcavecchia disqualified himself the day after the Texas Open when he realized he signed an incorrect scorecard, raising some interesting questions.

In an age when computers can do virtually everything except calm the nerves of a player who needs to two-putt the 18th at Augusta from 40 feet to win the Masters, is it silly that a player still verifies his own score?

Why not just automate the whole thing?

And, in any other sport could it happen that the outcome of an event be reversed by a competitor the next day because he realized an injustice had occurred?

Maybe it is an archaic act of silliness. Maybe golf is just full of itself with its insistence on a self-imposed code of honor.

But maybe, just maybe, it represents an accountability and a sense of honesty needed in other sports.

If the impact of Tiger Woods will be to bring young people into the game, perhaps the impact of golf on young people will be to teach a sense of decency and integrity.

No trash-talking. No in-your-face attempts to humiliate. No pride in getting away with bending or breaking the rules.

Maybe there is a lesson in the way the game is played that can carry over to how people should treat each other.

Calcavecchia’s act-returning $10,817 in winnings and jeopardizing his spot in the lucrative Tour Championship where last place gets $48,000-stands out so dramatically because it seems so out of place in other sports.

What would be the reaction if it happened anywhere else?

Climb into the wayback machine and slip gently back through time to the morning of Oct. 10.

Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees takes a good look at the replay of his game-tying home run against the Baltimore Orioles and realizes it wouldn’t have left the park if a 12-year-old fan had not reached over the fence and knocked the ball into the stands.

“I was credited with a home run when in fact the ball should have been caught for an out,” Jeter tells a stunned news conference. “In good conscience I can not accept the home run and therefore I request that Game 1 of the American League Championship Series be given to the Baltimore Orioles.”

Furious teammates shun Jeter.

Owner George Steinbrenner asks the American League for permission to put Jeter on the disabled list and replace him on the roster, arguing that Jeter is “just plain nuts.”

American League president Gene Budig refuses Jeter’s request to reverse the outcome of the game saying: “There is no room in baseball for acts of conscience.”

Whip the old wayback machine to the morning of Sept. 8 when heavyweight boxer Bruce Seldon takes a good look at the punch from Mike Tyson that knocked him out only 109 seconds into the fight the night before and decides it really didn’t hit him that hard after all.

“I know that many of the fans who yelled ‘Fix!’ in my fight last night against Mike Tyson feel that I did not put up a full effort,” Seldon says at a hastily called news conference.

“After watching films of the fight and reflecting on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that the fans, Mr. Tyson and the sport of boxing were done a disservice by my half-hearted effort,” Seldon said.

“Therefore, I will return my $5 million purse to Don King, whom I am certain will donate it to some worthy charity.”

The flyaway hair on King’s head fairly sizzled with fright when told of Seldon’s action.

“There is no room in the sport of boxing for this type of behavior,” King said. “It’s sets a dangerous precedent for honesty,” he said, shaking his head and mumbling, “Only in America.”

Perhaps it’s not all that bad in other sports. And perhaps golf sometimes gets carried away with its self-righteous image as a sport of individual integrity.

But perhaps in the win-at-all-cost world of sports, it’s not a bad idea to teach children that getting away with what you can get away with is not an admirable goal.

What’s wrong with a little schmaltzy morality?

One of the most sentimental of all sports writers was also one of the best. Grantland Rice was also a founding member of the Golf Writers Assn. of America.

The timeless line penned by Rice was this:

“For when the one great scorer marks against your name, it’s not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game.”

Some things don’t change.

Well done, Mark Calcavecchia.