JP Hayes Disqualifies Himself!
Hey Rock Heads! As you may have heard, JP Hayes recently disqualified himself from the PGA Tour qualifying tournament after mistakenly using an unapproved golf ball. Now THAT is an honest guy! A long ways away from the popular phrase “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying”. This is causing some GOOD news in the sports world for once! So here’s a two-part question for all my Rock Heads.
1) Would you have admitted your mistake the way JP did?
2) Why don’t we see this kind of honesty in other sports as much as we tend to see it in golf?
Let me know your thoughts Rock Head Nation! And in the meantime, two big Caveman Thumbs Up to JP for his honesty!
Scratch the Caveman
Don’t know much else about him, but he sure seems like a class act based on this. I bet you he won’t have to pay for a drink in any clubhouse for a while! And you never know, maybe this exposure will lead him to a new sponsorship or something even better down the line…
I’ve never played in a tour event, but if I discovered I was inadvertantly playing a hot ball, I’d probably knock it over the fence and off the premises. It was a good thing JP stepped forward, but just think if he had kept on playing and somone else discovered his ball was unapproved. Honesty is the best policy.
Honestly I don’t know if I could do it. I mean, one tourney that I messed up in and had to DQ myself…I would probably do that. But this was the PGA qualifying tourney. He DQ’d himself for the WHOLE SEASON! That takes guts right there. I don’t know if anyone can know what they’ll really do until they’re put in that position. Definitely a breath of fresh air from the football players I hear getting sent home because they can’t agree with their coaches. Ocho Cinco, I’m looking at you!
Another reason why golf is a gentlemans game. You compete against others but don’t wish them ill will. I salute JP as it took a man who is very comfortable not only in his own skin but confident enough to take the road less travelled even though its gonna be a harder one. Pro athletes should take note!!!!
It goes to show you gentleman on not only from the south, As much as Wisconsinites will bear their chests at Lambeau and appear not the brightest–it truly is a testament to the honesty,integrity that abounds in our state
what is an unapproved golf ball? i have never heard of the term. maybe its only in the usa.
Kudos to JP for self-policing. Golf is and has always been a gentleman’s game and JP did a heckuva job maintaining the integrity of the sport. Let’s keep the game honest!!
It was a class act what JP did. The guilt that he would have felt knowing what happened but was against the rules and not reporting it. He did the right thing and because of it I bet he will get many sponsor exemptions next year. He showed everyone that he is a man of honor by doing the right thing.
Golf truly is the gentleman’s game, and we do police ourselves on the course, but in this day of huge money it is truly refreshing to see an athlete penalize himself with so much on the line, when he probably could have just slipped that ball in his bag and started playing another. I think this should be an example to new (and some old) golfers who sometimes don’t seem to see (or know) the importance of the etiquette of our game. Mr. Hayes should be commended for his actions and held up as an example for all young athletes in this country of what is good in sport.
Is there an easy way to find out which balls are non-conforming? I would imagine the PGA has a list of balls that are unapproved. Does anybody know if there is a list posted on the web?
Question #1. I always play by USGA rules (to the best of my knowledge of them) when I play competitve golf, no matter whether it is a formal tournament, an informal tournament, or just competing with my golf buddies. It isn’t hard to be honest, for my generation.
#2. I have no idea why these people cheat so much in so many other sports. How many times have you seen a football receiver trap a ball and try to act like he caught it when he knows he didn’t? That’s just a sorry, cheating….loser. How can Vince Young and Mack Brown be proud of a ‘National Championship’ when Vince knows he was down on one knee before he scored. And Brown made sure to get the extra point kick done quickly so they couldn’t review it? How can Vince be proud of himself and sleep at night? Oh, wait a minute, he can’t!! And neither could I.
This isn’t that remarkable. It is what sets golf apart from other sports.
I agree with most of what has been already said. Golf is an honorable sport and is played differently than anything else. However, I don’t think it’s completely fair to compare golfers calling penalties on themselves with football players attempting to get away with not having penalties called on them. This is a part of golf that is stressed to all of us from the first day we pick up a club. It’s the legacy of the game for hundreds of years. Other sports don’t have this advantage. They are just played differently, and penalties, ball placement and other details of the game are controlled by officials, not the players themselves. These are head to head, man against man competitions where as others have said, if you’re not cheatin’, you’re not tryin’. If the officials miss a call, that’s on them, not the players and the coaches. In golf, it’s man (and woman) against the course and the playing conditions. Where is the accomplishment in saying you broke par when you know you took a mulligan, improved your lie, didn’t count those penalties, etc. Golf is a game of personal accomplishment, and is thus on a higher plain than most other sports.
I believe professional golfers are fully aware which balls do and do not conform to USGA rules. I’m going to play Devil’s advocate here and guess he was desperate in his final chance to qualify. Maybe later “re-thinking” his actions or possibly realizing he may have been “spotted” he relented and bowed out gracefully appearing honorable. It’s hard to imagine he “Suddenly realized” his ball wasn’t conforming. Anyway, as I mentioned, I’m playing Devil’s advocate here.
Only he knows.
1. The ultimate act of sportsmanship. Especially so since he doesn’t have his card next year and must rely om sponsers
exemptions, or by winning tournaments.
I’m sorry to report that I seldom see even minimal sportsmanship among the younger golfers I play with. They call
rule violations on other golfers when there was no rule violation, For example, I was playing in a tournament with my
partner and two young men in their early twenties. On one hole three of us were on the green in regulation, but my
partner was about 20 yards short of the green.
On my partners pitch his ball bumped the ball of one of the youngsters; I took careful note of the bumped balls positon
so we could return it to its rightful place. The owner of the bumped ball immediately called a rule violation on my partner,
who calmly explained the rule that if a ball off the green strikes a ball, at rest, on the green there was no violation and
the bumped ball is returned to its original position. While this was going on I put my finger on the green at the spot of the
ball’s original position and told the other member of the opposition to put the bumped ball there. At this, the owner of the
bumped ball flew into a rage and demanded that his ball be returned to it’s last position, only a few feet closer to the hole.
At this point a course marshall walked down to the green to see what was going on. The marshall explained the rules, and
the irate golfer stormed off the green, in a stream of profanity, never to be seen again.never to be seen again.
This golfer was never taught the rules or etiquet of golf. Perhaps his father never taught him the game, or more likely, he
never knew his father.
2. Golf is a sport a true player plays against himself. Sometimes it gets intense, but is soon relieved by a cool drink in the clubhouse. I’ve ofton pored over my scorecard looking for the lost stroke that would let me break eighty, but only to help me remember the lost opportunity the next time I played. There are those who cheat in order to get that lost stroke in this
round, but they soon become known to the other members who, when asked by the perpertrator if they could fill-in will
prompty say, “I’m sorry, we already have a threesome”.
In almost every team sport we see players faking “late hits”, or similar LIES in order to achieve an empty victory. The fans
take this type of behavior for granted, saying, “So what, the other teams do it too”.
I much prefer the politeness, honor and a spirit of sportsmanship that comes with golf.
I think what JP did makes me proud to be a golfer and a golf fan. In the days of sports where everything is about “me”, it is refreshing to hear a story like this. Hopefully some of the sponsors will remember the name JP Hayes instead of extended exemptions to the likes of John Daly and Michelle Wie next year.
I’ve never given this a try, but I think it’s about time I do.