AMY WANG WILL BE THE MOST ADMIRED RULE BREAKER AT LM GOLF SCHOOL.
“This is a great story for golf and tournament honesty,” said Luiz Martins Head Coach Pro of LM Golf School.
Amy, 17 years old, a junior golf player, in her participation in the LPGA Championship in Chateau Bromont, noticed that when she received the Confirmation of her final score on the second day of the competition there was an error on the score card made on the 14th hole (one shot less than she had). Immediately she communicated with her Coach. After receiving an explanation of what could happen because she had already signed her card with that result, she herself expressed a desire to correct the error with the tournament organizers. As she admitted not checking her result hole by hole Amy admitted the mistake even though we know she would be disqualified – “I violated a rule and had promised myself that I would never accept a number on my card that was not what I actually did and I must receive my punishment,” Amy said.
Amy didn’t have to give in. Nobody filmed. No one else saw and no one would ever know about the end result of hole 14. “No one would know, but I knew,” she said. “And I myself would be looking at myself, some people like my parents and my Coach who would know, I couldn’t live with that consciously, so that was the decision I had to make.”
Character, they all say, is what you do when no one is looking. While it is a powerful mantra, it is easier said than lived. And for an early career player who works hard to improve her tournament performance, admitting her mistake poses a talking point for all the youngsters who play tournaments and don’t own up to their mistakes and some of them even take home the champion trophy. Amy’s decision to turn herself in had set an example for all of our athletes at school. In a world where some people think that cheating is the same as trying: “Parents who allow their kids to alter their results to take advantage of competition. Amy could have kept quiet. “The lessons kids are learning today, when you talk about sports, it’s like getting away with things in general,” said Coach Luiz, who has trained more than 10,000 players over 22 years since he founded his own golf school.
I absolutely agree. It is the most honorable game. By letting the organizers know she’ll be disqualified for signing a scorecard for a lower score than she had. The right thing to do as she has a long wonderful career ahead of her and she’ll learn from this. Every great Pro I know has signed a wrong scorecard and they learnt from that. Thx Luiz Said Kevin Thistle CEO of PGA of Canada.
“Often young players are taught that it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.” Amy honors golf’s tradition of self-policing. But golf has always been a little different. “Golf has a tradition of honor and self-policing,” Coach said of the sport’s longstanding politics. Golf great legend Bobby Jones once said of the code of honor, “You can also praise a man for not robbing a bank.” Amy also refuses to blame anyone else, as she mistakenly signed her card and didn’t correct it. She considers it a personal oversight. Amy paid a price for giving herself up; he missed the chance to finish his first professional tournament playing as an amateur. But even though she can’t make it to the final day of Bromont’s Ororo LPGA Championship, she doesn’t regret it. “I’m proud to have had beautiful shots during the tournament, I know I missed a few shots but the many greats I hit made me happy. As for the card situation, I reacted as I should,” she said.
Amy Wang’s decision to turn herself in is a small setback for the golfer and an unusual victory for virtues like honesty and integrity.
Renilson Ferreira
Press Coordinador
