When is breaking the rules cheating?

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3712372

This was oh, so much more timely a week ago, but I've been dealing with life and Thanksgiving a lot over the last couple of weeks and so didn't get a chance to write intelligently about this until now.

In case you missed it, this professional golfer was all the rage on talk sports radio because he turned himself in for using an unapproved ball on one hole in a qualifying tournament. That was important for a couple of reasons. First, the PGA, under its ridiculously draconian rules, disqualified him from the whole tournament. Second, and perhaps more importantly, because it was a qualifying tournament, it cost him his chance to get a tour exemption, that would have allowed him to play in all of the PGA tournaments this season without having to qualify. So, we are talking a pretty serious penalty for a pretty minor offense.

Because of all of this, he's being held out as a paragon of purity and a symbol for all that should be right in sports. "What a sacrifice he has made!" they all cry. "What a great guy, that he would take bread off of his family's table because he couldn't live with himself by cheating." "Would you do the same?" they ask. "Would you turn yourself in, knowing that you would lose your livelihood?"

OK. Wait just a second. Hayes didn't have a qualifier's card last year either and according to ESPN.com, he did okay. "He earned $312,152 this season, making just seven cuts in 26 events. He was 176th on the money list -- the worst showing of his career." Um, what "sacrifice" exactly was he making then? A pro golfer, even in his worst year, makes a LOT of money. Turning himself in didn't exactly mean that his family doesn't pay the mortgage this year. Did he give up more money? Yeah, probably, but I'm not ready to pass the hat for the guy. That's a heck of a safety net to fall into after "sacrificing" yourself to your high moral standards.

Look, he did an impressive thing. He did make a sacrifice and he deserves recognition. But he ain't exactly a Greek tragic hero, undone by his own character.

Anyway, I'm not so sure he isn't a little stupid. He turned himself in not once, but twice. "I realized there was a penalty and I called an official over," Hayes said, according to the newspaper. "He said the penalty was two shots and that I had to finish the hole with that ball and then change back to the original ball." For most competitors that would be the end of the story. He showed the ball to the official and they said the penalty was two strokes. But Hayes felt compelled to go beyond what the official had said and prove that the guy had made a mistake. When he got home, he looked up the list of approved balls, and found that his wasn't on it. So he says "Oooh, ooooh, PGA, you didn't punish me enough, even though I gave you the appropriate opportunity to do so and your official completely botched it."

No wonder they disqualified him.... He was making everyone else in the world look bad.

But if you feel sorry for him, it was because of his Titleist prototype ball that he got disqualified. He was doing them a favor by practicing with it and it screwed him. Apparently, there are sponsor and manufacturer exemptions at tournaments that would allow Hayes to make more money. If you think he deserves it for being such a stand up guy, write to ole Wally Uihlein at Titleist and tell him they should "Let Hayes Play!"


Mr. Wally Uihlein
Chief Executive Officer
Titleist/Acushnet
Worldwide Distribution Center
333 Bridge Street
Fairhaven, MA 02719