I was spending time with my wife all day yesterday so I was not able to see any golf from Harbor Town. I did get a chance to see a great hockey game last night (Avs/Sharks) and we watched a fantastic film together (The Blindside), so the day was perfect.

Then I caught a highlight and WISHED I would have recorded the golf.Had you heard of Brian Davis prior to yesterday?

If you still don’t know who he is, Brian Davis is the reason golf is the greatest sport in the world.

See, Brian Davis went into a playoff with eventual winner Jim Furyk for the coveted plaid jacket and a PGA victory. If he were to win said playoff, it would be Brian Davis’ first PGA win and would ensure security of his PGA card for the next 2 years, among other cool stuff, like $1M+.

Things have a strange way about them though.

See, Brian Davis hit the worst shot of his week on the first playoff hole, the 18th at Harbor Town. That is the cool hole with the lighthouse for those that need the iconic surroundings to refresh their memory.

You CAN NOT go left at any stage on 18 at Harbor Town. Brian Davis decided to test that theory this day. He over cooked his approach shot and was quickly on the beach.

Furyk ended up with 6 feet for par when everything went a little haywire.

Davis lined up his shot from the hazard and drew the club back. He fired his ball about 30 feet past the pin and IMMEDIATELY called a rules official over.

Golf is so different from any other sport. There is no 5 man crew watching the action for every infraction. There is no ref walking with the players ensuring that they follow the rules to the letter. Golf does not have such enforcers.

YOU are the enforcer of the rules. YOU are responsible for what you do, the rules official with every group is there to interpret the rules and to ensure that you proceed under the rules that you need to in order to complete play.

So it was not too shocking to have Davis call the official over, what happened next was something that, while it shouldn’t be, was somewhat shocking.

Davis had broken a rule. Nobody saw it and a slo-mo replay was needed for even a seasoned tournament player to find it, but Davis knew it.

On his back swing Davis had brushed a reed in the hazard which is a violation of the rules and HE was alerting the official that a infraction had been committed and HE was the culprit.

This is why golf is so great. He basically cost himself the tournament on something that he could have easily taken with him to a second playoff hole (maybe Furyk makes his 6 footer and its all over anyway, but we will never know).

Davis was not about to let that happen. Integrity is something that you can not turn your back on. Davis was not about to turn his and he should be applauded for it.

While Michelle Wie whines and complains about every rules infraction (a rant for a different blog) this guy cost himself a chance, albeit a long one, at his first PGA victory.

Kudos to you Brian Davis. All respect to you sir.

*****For another great story of integrity, see JP Hayes at Q school, not for the faint of heart******

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