After enduring months of speculation and critiques about Tiger Woods and his character flaws, how refreshing it was to see a long-time professional golfer name Brian Davis display a level of honesty rarely seen in professional sports.
Davis, a Brit who has been on the PGA tour for years without a tournament victory under his belt, was battling Jim Furyk, the world’s sixth-ranked golfer, for the tournament crown and prize money. Finishing in a tie after regulation play, they entered into a sudden death playoff. On the first hole of the playoff, Davis hit a ball that went off the side of the green, down some rocks and settled on the hard sand bordering Calibogue Sound.
As Davis chipped his shot onto the green, his club grazed one of the reeds sticking out of the sand. He didn’t see it clearly because he was concentrating on his shot, but as soon as his ball rolled to a stop, he approached the tournament director and indicated that he wasn’t sure but believed his club may have touched a stray reed on his backswing. (FYI, the course rules stated that moving any object on the course other than the ball and grass receives a penalty.) The director stopped play to view a video playback and, sure enough, a reed swayed slightly as Davis’s club nicked it – so slight a tap that the movement of the reed was detectable only via slow-motion playback! Viewing it, Davis assessed himself a two-stroke penalty and, with that act of honesty, handed Furyk the victory.
It not only prevented Davis from winning his first professional tournament but also cost him $411,000 in prize money.
Think about this. Nobody but Davis saw the infraction. In fact, not even he saw it clearly – he merely suspected it may have happened. Rather than ignore the possibility of an infraction and instead win his first PGA event, he did the right thing. The honest thing. A costly thing. In an age where it seems as if every athlete is challenging authority and rules to get an edge on the competition, Davis’s behavior seems almost unsportsmanlike in its adherence to the letter of the law.
Moved by the video clip I had seen of this event the night it happened, I cruised the headlines of the major sports websites the following morning, looking for the adulation such a choice should have received. Nada. It was not evident anywhere. I had to dig through a series of articles on the ESPN site to find a recap of the moment. That article was very complimentary toward Davis, but the write-up itself was buried. Maybe that was because the tournament didn’t stack up well when compared to the importance of the NBA playoffs or other sports events happening that day. Or maybe it’s because Americans are just so dedicated to winning that we don’t care much about character.
After all the ends justify the means.
I sure hope others saw that act of honesty and courage and share it. I was blessed to be watching the sportscast that showed the clip with one of my daughters. Neither of us cares for golf (I was waiting for the Lakers highlights to be shown – they finally had a few) but I was so thunderstruck by the brief report of Davis’s choice that I replayed it for both of us to see several times. What a wonderful example for us to discuss and to watch unfold. I hope you get to see it somewhere and enjoy the beauty of someone who lives the values we claim to embrace.
April 19, 2010
Great post.
I’ve frequently longed and pined for such a peer reviewed and objectively tested discipline to apply as a check against my own bias in favor of charismatic claims of supernatural events, that is, to have a profoundly disciplined peer review of the true extent to which our own human hands are the effective agents in touching the reeds (to borrow from your golf analogy), a review of whether and to what extent we humans cause the appearances of supernatural effects.
This kind of discipline and peer review would take some form of a combination of a naturalized theology practiced under a scientific-like scrutiny (the video cameras at least by analogy) combined with brutally objective and dispassionate peer review by believers capable of questioning their own claims – an act of discipline and of self-sacrifice, that is, the self-sacrifice of favorite theological positions, and the self-sacrifice of knee-jerk claims about the supernatural (proving our theology ‘right’).
A way to make charismatic and even cessationist claims of answered prayers – less self-ish.
We’re prolifically inventive of ways to keep score for our favorite theological positions so our theologies can win tournaments – without wanting video cameras of objectivity to double-check us. It’s one thing to laud this honesty in a golf example. Another to cleanse our temples of faux practice close to home.
Cheers,
Jim
April 21, 2010
Great post. For Brian and those that do the right thing there usually isn’t any other choice. Enjoyed your visit @ CCV and look forward to reading more of your blog. Thought you might enjoy this post about CCV and marketing strategy…
http://www.brandaidblog.com/blog/2009/09/01/confusion-at-church
Take care,
Erik Johnson
April 26, 2010
Thank you so much for sharing the story of Brian Davis and his character! It is great to hear positive stories and good examples. Though Davis gave up $411,000 now, the eternal reward is so much greater, and the benefit to those who are inspired by the example is priceless. Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I hope to work it into my blog too.