Davis calls penalty on himself, gives up shot at first PGA win

[buddahj]

Imagine standing on the edge of achieving your life's dream. You make a small mistake that will cost you your dream -- but if you don't say anything, you might just get away with it. Would you own up to the mistake, or would you keep quiet and hope for the best?

 

Brian Davis isn't the best-known name in golf -- or even the hundredth-best-known -- but after Sunday, he ought to move up the list a few notches. Davis was facing Jim Furyk in a playoff at the Verizon Heritage, and was trying to notch his first-ever PGA Tour win.

 

Davis's approach shot on the first hole of the playoff bounced off the green and nestled in among some weeds. (You can see the gunk he was hitting out of in that shot above.) When Davis tried to punch the ball up onto the green, his club may have grazed a stray Josh Gordon on his backswing.

 

So what's the big deal? This: hitting any material around your ball during your backswing constitutes a violation of the rule against moving loose impediments, and is an immediate two-stroke penalty. And in a playoff, that means, in effect, game over.

 

Okay, you can think that's a silly penalty or whatever, but that's not the point of this story. The point is that Davis actually called the violation on himself.

 

"It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye," Davis said. "And I thought we’d check on TV, and indeed there was movement." Immediately after the shot, Davis called over a rules official, who conferred with television replays and confirmed the movement -- but movement which was only visible on slow-motion. Unbelievable.

 

As soon as the replays confirmed the violation, Davis conceded the victory to Furyk, who was somewhat stunned -- but, make no mistake, grateful for the win.

 

"To have the tournament come down that way is definitely not the way I wanted to win," Furyk said. "It’s obviously a tough loss for him and I respect and admire what he did."

 

Furyk took home $1.03 million for the win. Davis won't exactly have to beg for change to get a ride home; he won $615,000 for second place. And he may have won much more than that by taking the honorable route.

 

To be sure, this isn't quite in the same category as J.P. Hayes, the golfer who disqualified himself from qualifying school after learning -- in his hotel room, all alone -- that he had played a nonqualifying ball; or Adam Van Houten, who cost his team an Ohio state title when he admitted signing an incorrect scorecard. For starters, Davis's shot was on television, and while he could have "not noticed" the movement, the TV cameras still did, and someone might have called him on it later on.

 

But the bigger deal is this -- the guy gave away a chance at winning his first-ever PGA Tour event because he knew that in golf, honesty is more important than victory. It's a tough lesson to learn, but here's hoping he gets accolades -- and, perhaps, some sponsorship deals -- that more than make up for the victory he surrendered.

[Gopher]

Watched this unfold yesterday... This article didn't do a very good job of explaining that the reason there was a penalty was that he was hitting out of a hazard. Moving a loose impediment under "normal" conditions wouldn't have been a problem. Essentially, it was the same as moving a pine cone out of a bunker... Can't do it. Noble move by Davis, although at that point (playing your third from a hazard, with your opponent, Jim Furyk, on the green in two), his chances of pushing on that hole, and continuing the playoff, were probably 1/20. Still, it takes a lot for somebody to make that call... immediately after playing the shot, he motioned for the rules official. Classy move.

 

Interestingly enough, Davis spent about five minutes contemplating what he was going to do, after he reached his ball. His other option, since his approach shot originally bounced very near the green, would have been to take a drop (line of flight) short of the green, and try to chip in for par. Davis opted for the shot from the hazard, and actually did pretty well, getting the ball on the putting surface and giving himself a chance for par... That is, if he hadn't incurred the two-stroke penalty on his back swing.

 

Davis will more than likely get another chance to win a tournament... He had a solid year last year, putting himself in contention a few times, and should look at yesterday as a stepping stone in his career. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but feel good for Furyk... One of the true good guys in golf, he had been in a fairly significant drought (without a PGA win) prior to winning at the Transitions a month ago. It was his first win since July of 2007, I believe... a pretty good stretch for a top-10 golfer in the world. Then, after he won, his critics started talking about how he's only been able to win multiple tournaments in the same season twice... He put an end to that yesterday, winning for the second time in five weeks. Good for him.

[wildcat2334]

as much as I a applaud the move, and integrity that generally goes on in the great game of golf, I think most of us make the same call in that spot............ it had no effect on the outcome.

 

let's get real here for a second.

 

- What happens if he doesn't alert the rules official, he risks signing an incorrect card, potential DQ and and forfeit of 615k -that is what

 

- Regardless of the penalty or not, he was not winning the playoff hole, and his penalty cost him zero dollars or W

[detlef]

as much as I a applaud the move, and integrity that generally goes on in the great game of golf, I think most of us make the same call in that spot............ it had no effect on the outcome.

 

let's get real here for a second.

 

- What happens if he doesn't alert the rules official, he risks signing an incorrect card, potential DQ and and forfeit of 615k -that is what

 

- Regardless of the penalty or not, he was not winning the playoff hole, and his penalty cost him zero dollars or W

It also bears mention, as Mike Golic has said on many occasions, that it's this way because it's this way. In other sports, athletes are conditioned to rely on the officials to make calls. They know that some will be missed and others will not. So, it's not their job to point out if they committed a foul or had a foul called on them that actually wasn't committed. This is not a reflection on the poor values shown by players of those sports vs higher ones shown by golfers, it's just a difference in how the game is played.

 

Now, that doesn't mean you're not a vinegar bag if you flop or always try to sway the refs to give you calls you don't deserve. However, it does mean that we shouldn't think golfers are any better than guys in these sports just because, say a WR doesn't raise his hand and say he was out of bounds when he caught the ball.

[Gopher]

as much as I a applaud the move, and integrity that generally goes on in the great game of golf, I think most of us make the same call in that spot............ it had no effect on the outcome.

 

let's get real here for a second.

 

- What happens if he doesn't alert the rules official, he risks signing an incorrect card, potential DQ and and forfeit of 615k -that is what

 

- Regardless of the penalty or not, he was not winning the playoff hole, and his penalty cost him zero dollars or W

I agree. The more I think about it, the more I realize that what impressed me was not the fact that Davis called the official over after the swing... It was the way in which he did so. I would have been more surprised if he had NOT asked the official to come over, given that he obviously knew he had made contact with the object (which was dead reed, or large piece of grass) on his backswing. You make a good point about the cash at stake... Certainly, not saying anything could have cost a guy like Davis a LOT of money. Then, we would be reading about him on the front page, but for another reason entirely.

 

It also bears mention, as Mike Golic has said on many occasions, that it's this way because it's this way. In other sports, athletes are conditioned to rely on the officials to make calls. They know that some will be missed and others will not. So, it's not their job to point out if they committed a foul or had a foul called on them that actually wasn't committed. This is not a reflection on the poor values shown by players of those sports vs higher ones shown by golfers, it's just a difference in how the game is played.

 

Now, that doesn't mean you're not a vinegar bag if you flop or always try to sway the refs to give you calls you don't deserve. However, it does mean that we shouldn't think golfers are any better than guys in these sports just because, say a WR doesn't raise his hand and say he was out of bounds when he caught the ball.

I think that's fairly obvious... Nobody is saying golfers are better people because they "call their own fouls." Like I said, I wasn't impressed by the fact that he called it as much as I was the way he handled himself, which was with the utmost class and dignity, considering the situation. In other words, can you imagine how Tiger would have handled that same situation? The guy curses and throws clubs when he hits a bad tee shot... blowing a playoff by incurring a penalty would have caused a blow-up of epic proportions, most likely.

 

The reality of the situation is that, despite what the media would like to make everyone believe, Davis didn't do anything out of the ordinary, at least in making the call that he did. What WAS out of the ordinary was the circumstances... A penalty in a playoff is pretty much unheard of. You're right, though... Golfers are EXPECTED to do what Davis did. If a WR in the NFL, or an NBA player, called a foul/penalty on themselves, they would be benched immediately.