Popular PGA Tour player Justin Thomas hit his drive into a “waste” bunker on a long par 5 in the third round at the RSM Classic tournament on Harbour Town golf links in South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island on April 19, 2025. Thomas attempted to remove a small shell next to his golf ball, but the ball moved ever so slightly; only he saw it. He called over an official, and explained the situation, and then called a one stroke penalty on himself. That’s integrity in golf, as it should be. In the Player’s Championship tournament in March fifth-year PGA Tour pro Sahith Theegala “felt like” he moved a few grains of sand while taking his backswing in a sand bunker. He called a two-stroke penalty on himself (for “improving his lie”), thereby sliding him down the leaderboard several spots. That bit of honesty cost him over a quarter-of-a-million dollars. “I’m pretty sure I breached the rules,” Theegala said, “so I’m paying the price for it, and
I feel good about it.” Another example of golf integrity.
But that’s not always the case in high-stakes professional golf. A couple of years ago PGA Tour Canada pro Justin Doeden was caught fudging his core card, erasing a 7 on a hole and replacing it with a 5, thereby pushing him within a shot out of the cut line. Doeden subsequently withdrew from the tournament. In the 2019 Hero Challenge tournament Patrick Reed (one of the original PGA Tour players that jumped ship to the LIV tour) was caught on camera manipulating the sand in a bunker to better the lie of his ball while making practice swings in a bunker and was assessed a two-stroke penalty. Reed vehemently denied doing so, but the TV camera didn’t lie. In the 1985 Indonesia Open Vijay Singh (now playing on the PGA Tour Champions circuit) was caught deleting a stroke from his score card, which allowed him to make the cut. He was later disqualified.
Cheating happens in every walk of life; professional golf is no different. As ardent golf fans we hope it doesn’t happen too often. A few years ago USA Today had a couple of its sports reporters interview dozens of PGA Tour caddies about how many players on Tour are “cheaters.” The results of the poll was highly mixed. Here are a few revealing responses: “it’s got to be 10 to 15 players;” “most of them;” “everyone is aware of who they are;” “under 10.” These are Tour caddies, who watch every move by players in hundreds of events!
The most famous and most revered amateur golfer of all time was Bobby Jones. From 1923 to 1930 Jones dominated top-level amateur competition and often beat the world’s best professional golfers. But he is most famous for his victories in all four major tournaments of his era – the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur – completing the first original “Grand Slam,” all in 1930. In the 1925 U.S. Open Jones lost after he called a penalty on himself for causing his ball to oddly move when no one else saw it. Hailed for his honesty, Jones shook his head and said: “You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.”
Unlike a sport like football, self-policing is one of the unique elements of golf, but it doesn’t always cure one dark side of human nature – cheating.
Charlie Blanchard is a guest columnist. He is a retired golf teacher and writer. He is credentialed by the PGA for playing ability. He can be reached at docblanchard71@gmail.com.
