Senior Open Players Say Many Professional Golfers Get Away With Cheating

After a scandal was revealed at the PGA Tour Canada last week, the competitive integrity of the game has been called into question.

PORTHCAWL, Wales – One of the prime tenets of golf is that players call penalties on themselves, and, at the same time, police the game.

With 18 holes and 70+ players on the course at any one time, two, three or four referees are not capable of covering the whole field of play. And unfortunately, the lack of officials—and the lack of support by the tours regarding players calling violations on other players—has apparently made professional golf a paradise for cheating.

At the Senior Open this week, Padraig Harrington was asked about cheating, specifically regarding the incident on the PGA Tour Canada when Justin Doeden altered his scorecard to make the cut last week.

Harrington said he’s observed cheating on tour and that it’s difficult to stop, since players could potentially face legal ramifications (such as defamation) if the case is not 100% certain will indisputable evidence.

Without naming names, the 51-year-old Irishman talked about a player known to mis-mark his ball on the green, joking that if the golfer were able to mark it three times on the same green, it would be in the hole.

Harrington said has talked to the player and his team, but nothing has changed over the years.

There are also numerous tales of different players kicking their ball out of trouble with a “foot wedge,” sometimes by players who ride carts and arrive at their ball sooner than those walking.

Tom Gillis said that because spike marks can be tapped down, some players have used that opportunity to tap down marks through their entire line, with their putter toe pointed toward the hole, creating a trough that makes it easier for the putt to find the hole.

Ken Duke is also familiar with the trough routine: when he saw a player do it recently, the 2013 Travelers winner said he tried to interject, pointing out that the five feet nearest to the hole doesn’t require numerous tapping with the putter.

Scotland’s Raymond Russell saw a young player in the amateur ranks use a foot wedge at an event. The player didn’t see Russell until after he had done so, and when the young man looked up, Russell said sarcastically, “Everything O.K.?”

Without a beat, the golfer responded, “It is now.”

That player is now a professional.

“It’s obviously very disappointing when anybody cheats, because the game of golf was built and founded on honesty and integrity and that’s what we try to teach our younger generations, and that’s what we all try to be, role models for that and uphold the rules,” Bernhard Langer said this week. “Let’s face it, golf is very unique in that way. What other sport penalizes yourself?”

Yes, golfers call infractions on themselves, but because the policing of an entire field is basically nonexistent, many players must live with the cheating that happens all around them.

The Marvelettes recorded a song called “Your Cheating Ways” in the 1970s. In the lyrics they sing, For I know somehow, somewhere, someday, you’ve got to pay, boy, for your cheating ways.

That may be true in song, but in professional golf, where cheating is well known and little is done to stop it, paying for your cheating ways is unlikely.