How Do You Feel About Furyk’s Victory?
This weekend’s Verizon Heritage came down to the wire when Brian Davis sank an 18 foot putt on his final regulation hole to catch up with Jim Furyk, sending the 2 into a sudden death playoff.
As Davis took his approach shot on Harbour Town’s 18th hole, he moved a reed with his backswing. He noticed his error out of the corner of his eye, and quickly called himself on it. Upon review of the slow-motion playback the officials agreed giving him a 2 stroke penalty costing him the chance at his first tour victory.
How did Furyk feel about this win? Well, just as awkward as he felt during his victory at the 1997 Argentine Open against Eduardo “El Gato” Romero, when Romero signed an incorrect scorecard. Furyk was dumbstruck and asked Davis if he was sure, to which Davis replied, “I know I did, I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had not.”
This Caveman agrees with what one my Facebook Rockhead’s exclaimed:
“Golfers like Davis show the world what sportsmanship and class is all about.” – Chris Colburn
What do you think you think you would have done in either of their shoes?
~Scratch
Honesty is the best policy! Davis set an example for a lot of people to follow by doing what he did.
Not really sure. If this was for my first win, it might have been tough to call it on myself. But, who knows he may not have beat Furyk anyway.
I don’t profess to be an expert on the rules of golf, I’m not. Good for him, he is an honest player. However, I don’t see why it is a foul. You take your arm back as part of making a pitch, you take your stick back as part of shooting a puck. Why is he penalized? He was just trying to hit the ball.
Here’s one from a green horn in the game, but what is the deal with that rule? You can’t move an impediment with your backswing. Seems we move a ton of them with the foreswing.
Calling the penalty on himself was the decent and honorable thing to do, but it had no effect on the outcome of the tournament. Without the penalty strokes, Davis made either a 5 or a 6, depending on whether he had made the second putt. Furyk made 4 and thus would have won even without the penalty strokes on Davis.