They were just two of the comments floating around the office when news of Aussie golfer Greg Chalmers' decision to disqualify himself over a minor technicality cost him a bag of money earlier in the week on the US PGA Tour. Chalmers, the leftie who is making a good fist of it on the money train that is the US Tour, found out that he had broken one of the seemingly millions of rules of the game by sharing club selection secrets with competitors. Tut-tut Mr Chalmers. Despite making such a minor mistake, he followed the fine upstanding traditions of professional golf and disqualified himself from the tournament. While social golf is one of the greatest tests of cheating skills known to man, the professional game is one of the few sports in which the rules are strictly adhered to.
Social golf is a lot more like most other sports.
Soccer players don't give themselves up when they know they are off side, rugby league players don't tell the referee when they have scored a try despite knowing there was a forward pass and cricketers, as a rule, do not walk when they know they nicked one to the keeper. Due to the millions of dollars up for grabs every week on the US Tour, you would think the rules would be bent at every opportunity. Fortunes are there to be made, but the honour of the game and maintaining the respect of your fellow Tour members overrides the almighty dollar. There are a lot of other sports which could learn something from the virtue and honour among golfers. Those who are still unhappy with the NSL grand final being played in Sydney should not take it out on the Wollongong Wolves.