Golfer blew shot to let friend make nationals

[Kilroy]

The top golfer at the University of St. Francis in Illinois says he intentionally botched a shot at a recent tournament to let his friend join him in the NAIA nationals.

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[northern33]

Cool story...although I think it's a bit much for him to openly admit he meant to hit the ball OB. It seems as though he wanted everyone to pat him on the back for his deed. Why not just keep that between you and your friend? Now his friend has to deal with everyone commenting that the only reason he made Nationals is because of his buddy's intentionally poor tee shot. Nice gesture but should have been kept private IMO.

[Shivas Irons]

Brutal.
I wouldn't want this kid on my golf team, nor would I want a 'competitor' I was playing against to intentionally botch a shot. It's bad enough to cheat and win, but this is cheating to lose!

[Hacker]

OK, Tiger and other sare catching crap for the occasional swear word or club slam with their detractors claiming people that such actions are demeaning to the sport, breaking with tradition, against the Gentlemanly virtues of the game etc and now we have something like this?!?

If swearing after you hit a bad shot is demeaning and cheapens the sport what does intentionally losing do to it?? Whatever happened to protecting the field??

[northern33]

I am a competitive person through and through so I don't know if I could ever do something like this. Although part of me thinks it's cool that he would do that for his friend...in the end his friend still had to get to the playoff hole. I just find it stupid to bring it out in the open as he did...maybe it wasn't even on purpose but he's using it as an excuse (after the fact) to why he lost?? Instead of someone who blew it on the playoff hole, he's a "great guy"...definitely a weird situation.

[Kilroy]

Poor sportsmanship. Throwing a game is disrespecting the game.

How could the recipient of such misguided generosity go to the Nationals, with everyone knowing how he got there, and hold his head up?

[Hacker]

Poor sportsmanship. Throwing a game is disrespecting the game.

I Agree...........100%

[fundonny]

Uh, hello? I don't think this university is a powerhouse golf program, unless i'm mistaken. This is a kid who is playing the game for fun. Does he have a full scholarship? Does the school make a lot of revenue off their golf program? Think you're all a little quick to jump over guy in his late teens/early 20's.

[mpare]

I wonder if the guy who intentionally drove the ball out of bounds will find himself disqualified from playing in the NAIA. If there's a requirement that players must not do anything that brings the sport into disrepute, then he may be in trouble. Does anyone know if this has become an issue?

[LobWedge]

Uh, hello? I don't think this university is a powerhouse golf program, unless i'm mistaken. This is a kid who is playing the game for fun. Does he have a full scholarship? Does the school make a lot of revenue off their golf program? Think you're all a little quick to jump over guy in his late teens/early 20's.

C'mon Donny, that's no excuse. Some other kid missed out because this guy played the system for the benefit of his buddy. There's absolutely nothing honourable about that.

[spackler]

C'mon Donny, that's no excuse. Some other kid missed out because this guy played the system for the benefit of his buddy. There's absolutely nothing honourable about that.

Not going to debate the ethics on this but a point of clarification. From what I have read on this story, each region gets to send the winning team to the nationals as well as the individual medalist, so no one missed out because of this. The individual medalist spot would've been absent had OB dude won, he was going as part of the winning team anyway.

[hoolio]

If we assume for one second that these two individuals intend to make golf their future career, then this act could be directly compared to one individual giving a friend, or someone else they know an "in" to a new job opening. He can obviously play if one errand tee-shot by a competitor was enough to get him into the Nationals, so now it's on him to make the most of this opportunity.

The only thing this kid did wrong was to make the gift public information, and open himself up to critisicm.

[stevek]

OK, Tiger and other sare catching crap for the occasional swear word or club slam

.. Well that and 120 other things.