Honorable athletes to be found on golf course

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Reassurance comes from golf, as it often does, that sports is not so bad after all, not just full of drug cheats and sucker punchers, hustlers and self-promoters, though the noise they make drowns out the little moments of genuine honor.To be sure, one small act of honesty will not change the big picture, nor will any committee of Congress call before it an amateur golfer named Michael Thompson and demand to know why he called a penalty on himself in the Masters when only he knew why he should.They could demand, what kind of example is that for the kids, hurting yourself that way?This would be in the second round of the Masters on Friday, far from the ensuing drama, far from Tiger Woods, which is usually the same thing.On the 15th hole, with a chance to birdie, to put himself below the cut line, Thompson stepped up to his putt and, for no reason he caused, his golf ball moved.There are rules against the sort of thing. Oh, golf is full of rules, most of which are unnecessary for the best and ignored by the least. And since Thompson's ball moved after he had heeled his putter, it was a stroke penalty. Dumb rule, sure, but so is suspending an NBA player for standing up to get a better view of a fight, and that cost the Phoenix Suns the NBA title last year and they're still griping about it.Thompson policed himself, bogeyed a couple of more holes and missed the cut, as did all the amateurs, and the world tried to pay attention to someone named Trevor Immelman but, really, the Masters was over when Woods clunked a little putt on the fourth hole Sunday.We must, from time to time, be reminded of what an absurdly honorable game is golf. Otherwise, it has little but scenery to recommend it. At least in Thompson's case, there were no snitches from TV land calling the tour cops, as they have most usually. Sometimes decisions come down days later, costing golfers significant money. And you thought football instant replays took forever.It is this kind of exasperating honesty that separates golf from other sports, that and the complete lack of perspiration. Golfers do not sweat, or if they do, they don't smell bad enough to change shirts for dinner. Woods himself was once caught "standing astride" when he tapped in a putt at the Masters, and much teeth grinding and overnight agonizing was endured until Woods was exonerated of violating a rule that no one is sure of anyhow. Woods went on to win.The rules of golf are many, and unforgiving. Some years ago, Denis Watson lost the U.S. Open because he waited a few seconds too long for a putt to fall off the lip of the cup. Hale Irwin blew a British Open because he whiffed a putt, though only he knew he had done it. Ian Woosnam assessed himself a two-shot penalty at the Open because his caddie put too many clubs in his bag. Greg Norman once disqualified himself because his golf balls were stamped incorrectly.The most famous incident of all time featured Roberto De Vicenzo signing an incorrect scorecard to lose the 1968 Masters. "I am such a stupid," De Vicenzo said, blaming no one but himself. Golf is the one sport that does not really need sentries. Not like baseball, which employs four of them, six for the playoffs. Or football, which has seven and a replay official.I've lost track of how many tennis has, but it needs them all as well as electronic line calling.In other sports, whatever you can get away with is legal. Somebody holds on every play in football. Nobody confesses. Dreadful things happen in basketball when the referees aren't looking. Holding, shoving, gouging. In basketball, strategic fouling is an essential part of winning.The acronym BALCO is as familiar a word as is Canseco, synonymous with snitch. The title of the world's fastest human rests with whomever is the last not caught. Spygate will soil the New England Patriots' legacy only because it was so unnecessary.Here in Colorado, we have the example of Matt Holliday not touching home plate on a play that put the Rockies into the playoffs, leading to the National League pennant and the World Series. Had Holliday been a golfer, he would have refused the run once replays showed what had actually happened.Good thing that wasn't young Michael Thompson running in from third base.(Contact Berne Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News at lincicomeb@rockymountainnews.com.)