Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
June 8 , 2001, Washington Post

An Honest Mistake

Honesty cost pro golfer Greg Chalmers $90,000 a few weeks ago. Honesty cost Maryland high school golfer Tom Eicholtz a first-place finish in a county tournament last fall.

You see, golf is different from other sports. Golfers play by a strict honor code. There are no referees. No umpires. No judges.

Golfers call penalties on themselves. Some of the penalties can knock them out of the competition, even in high-stakes tournaments.

Honestly.

Two weeks ago, Chalmers, a 27-year-old Australian pro, was playing in the Kemper Open in Potomac. On the first day of the tournament, Chalmers hit a bad shot. Another player's caddy glanced over to see what golf club Chalmers had used. Chalmers was angry about his bad shot and when he saw the caddy's glance, he snapped: "I hit a 6-iron. Just get away from me."

Nothing too different there. Lots of athletes get mad when they do something wrong. But there is a rule in pro golf that you can't give advice to another player or another player's caddy. Chalmers broke the rule when he said that he had hit a 6-iron. And when you break the rule you are supposed to give yourself a two-stroke penalty.

Chalmers didn't realize he broke the rule. So he didn't add two strokes to his score. He reported his score as 71 when it should have been 73.

Chalmers realized his mistake later. He was in the locker room during a rain delay when he heard about an incident just like his in another tournament. That player had taken the penalty.

So Chalmers turned himself in. He was disqualified and lost more than $90,000 in prize money.

It is not just pros who stick to golf's code of honor. Last fall, Eicholtz, a junior at McDonough High School in Charles County, had the best round of golf in his life. He was playing in the county golf championship. After sinking a long putt on one hole and making a spectacular sand-trap shot on another, Tom finished in first place with a score of 76.

As with professional golfers, Tom had another player keeping score for him. On his second hole, Tom had shot a 5 but his scorer and friend had accidentally written down a 4 on the scorecard. When the friend added up the holes, he made another mistake and actually came up with the Tom's correct score of 76. Tom knew he had shot a 76 and so signed the scorecard.

But tournament officials posted the hole-by-hole score and gave Tom a 75 -- which is better than a 76.

That's when Tom discovered that his friend had written the wrong score for hole 2. In golf, you are disqualified if you sign a scorecard that is not accurate. Tom could have kept quiet, and no one else would have known about the mistake. But Tom spoke up, and his honesty cost him the first-place finish. The champion's plaque was awarded to another player.

Tom isn't bitter and blames only himself. "Golf is a game of honor," he says. "You have to play by the rules."

And that is what makes golf different, and maybe a bit better, than other sports.

FRED BOWEN is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail: kidspost@washpost.com.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company