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Has any ever witnessed a tour pro cheat? Well I have and was shocked.

1989 or 1990 US Open. (Oakhill, I forget the year). 17th hole on the Sunday.

My wife and I are walking along the 17th Rough heading out on the course. A ball comes crackling through the trees. Player X has hit the big push or slice. It is so far right there are no ropes and my wife and I wait to see who hit this beauty. Player and caddie check it out. They have no Idea on yardage and player X does not care about the yardage and tells the caddie to go back to the fairway and watch for the ball. "Just give me a 3 wood and I'll blast it". Caddie leaves and player X addresses the ball. It rolls a good 6 or 7 inches. Player looks up at my wife and I, addresses the ball again and lets it rip. I tell my wife "We have to see him hole out. I need to see the score". Takes 5 to get down. We check the main leader board later in the day and you guessed it. A big 5. What a weasel. At the time this was a top player!!!!!!!!!

brianf

Ok...spill it! Who was it?

I have it on very reliable information that Leonard Thompson did almost the very same thing in the late 80'sa. My former business partner (who's a runner, not a golfer) witnessed Thompson kick his ball out of some tree roots when he didn't think anyone was watching. Thompson didn't see my partner on the jogging path until after he hit his shot and when he did see him he gave him an embarrassed smile and one of these He only knew it was Thompson when he saw his picture in a media guide. I never viewed Thompson in the same light again.

Why was he running down a jogging path during a PGA Tour event?

The path was behind his parents home and it cut in (briefly) to the golf couse property. There was a large stand of trees between the course and the path and he was out for his morning run.

Wasn't there an episode with Hal Sutton marking his ball a few years back? I remember something in a golf mag.

I know Mark O'Meara had a ball marking incident but I don't remember one involving Hal Sutton.

The Mark O'meara thing, even if intentional was a ball being moved closer to the hole by about 1/2". No advantage so my guess is Mark did not intend to do this.

brianf

Still an active tour player. Not going to say who on an open forum. I always wanted to confront him with it. I knew he would say something like prove it. He used a golfball that almost no other player used so I would at least been able to prove that much.

brianf

brianf

I agree, but as I recall, some whiny lower echelon European Tour player called for O'Meara's head on a platter. Even after he was cleared of any wrong doing.

BTW That's not a slur on Europeans or the European Tour. Just that particular whiner.

I remember at the time wondering how this story got so much press. Really a non issue.

brianf

First of all I must agree with brianf not to mention names on an open forum. When it comes to integrity I would like to pass on what I was told by a European tour caddy last year when I was home in Scotland. A couple of years ago a well known player from the U.S. reluctantly accepted an invitation to play in the Quatar Masters, not only was he paid a hefty " appearance fee " he ( accompanied by his wife ) was flown first class from New York to London then on to the U.A.R. then placed in lavish five star accomodation. There was no cost involved for the trip or the accomodation for this golfer and his wife, on the eighteenth tee, second round, he asked his caddy what the cut line was, a simple par would have ensured his stay for the weekend. According to the caddy who related this story the golfer hit a " perfect snap hook " then hit his next shot into a greenside bunker, " thinned " his bunker shot across the green, pitched on and two putted for a smooth double bogey. This caddy by the way was on the bag of a young Englishman who was paired with the above mentioned golfer, there was absolutely no doubt in the minds of this caddy and the kid he was packing for that the " star " player deliberately missed the cut. The player and his wife were back in their first class seats jetting off home that evening, thanks for the money folks !

Thanks, because I don't want to mention the name of the guy in my story. All I'll say is that most people here would probably recognize the name. (It was NOT Arnie, Jack, or Gary.)

It's the mid-1960s. Me, the old man (also named Jim; then-chairman of the Rules Committee at the course where he played), and his buddy Duke are at the Philadelphia Open. It's early in the day; only a few spectators are following the group we're following.

Player X has come up about 20 yds short on his approach shot to a par 4. The other spectators have gone up to the green; the three of us are about 10 yds directly opposite Player X, wanting to see him play his chip.

He's in the fairway, but his ball had the bad luck to settle in the middle of a weed (dandelion, probably), such that the ball is resting up against a small leaf of the weed, right where the clubface will hit, preventing clean contact.

X leans down to remove loose impediments. No problem. Then he touches the offending leaf. As we can see from our vantage point, the leaf is clearly healthy, nice and green. X tugs gently at it. It doesn't budge. Tugs again, a little harder. Leaf hangs on. Tugs again. This time the leaf is broken free, with an audible snap.

Duke turns to my old man and loudly asks, "Hey, Jim, he ain't allowed to do that, is he?" My father, just as loudly replies, "Heck no, he ain't!" Player X looks up and gives us a sheepish grin. He then chips on and makes the putt for his "par."

We later determined that his failure to call the penalty on himself cost the guys immediately below him in the standings about $700 each, as I remember (smaller purses in those days). Can't think of this guy without remembering that incident.

You guys are all spoil sports for not calling a cheat a cheat. :nodsmiley You saw what you saw and I'm curious.........If you were playing in the tournaments and saw these guys do these things would you still not tell someone who they were?

I don't understand libel law well enough to be sure that I wouldn't be exposing myself or Golf Rewind to litigation.

In my men's league, players do "protect the field" by calling penalties on fellow competitors. Rarely happens, though. Players often seek (or are given) clarification before a violation occurs. No one wants to be thought a cheat.

The most famous "Protect the Field" incident was at the Masters one year. Seve was tring to get relief from and area with some mud. It had rained and this area was so far off the line of play that it had not been marked as ground under repair. Seve is trying to talk a rules official into getting a free lift and the official is starting to soften up. Seve had one problem. His playing partner was Ken Green. Green was over like a shot and told the rules official not to give in. Seve played it where it lay. In this case Seve was not cheating. He was just pushing the rules envelope and Ken pushed back the other way.

This was out of an old Golf Digest article which told a week in the life of Ken Green.


brianf