An Honest Game

Voice 1

Welcome to Spotlight.  I’m Andrew Devis.

Voice 2

And I’m Paula Devis.  Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.  It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Voice 1

A woman is alone playing golf.  Golf is a sport where people hit a small ball with a metal stick.  The ball must go into a cup in the ground.  A round of golf is eighteen holes. A hole is the place where a player begins and ends that part of the game. Each hole is a different distance. Each hole has an average number of hits it takes to get the ball into the cup. This average is called par. Every hole has a par of three, par four, or par five. She writes down how many hits it took her on each hole. At the end of the game, the player adds up the total number of hits for all eighteen holes. That is their score for that game.

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Today the woman is playing better than ever.  She has a chance to make her personal best score.  She is now at the last hole, which is a par four. She has taken only two hits so far. If she makes her next hit, she will get the ball in the cup in only three hits. That would be called a birdie. A birdie is one shot under par. Birdies are hard to make. Every golfer wants to make them.

Voice 1

She takes her swing. It looks like a perfect hit straight toward the cup.  But the ball stops on the edge of the cup.  She waits and hopes the ball falls in.  But it does not.  She taps the ball into the cup for par.  She missed her best score by one hit.  She is about to write the number four for her score on the last hole.  But she waits.  She looks around and sees no one.  She thinks about writing the number three.  No one would know.  It would be her best score.  She was so close.  She may never play this well again.  She is not sure what to write.         

Voice 2

On Today’s Spotlight, we look at honesty in golf.  In some sports like soccer or baseball, cheating sometimes happens.  Players pretend to be injured to gain advantage.  Or they try to trip their opponent when no one is looking.  Sometimes coaches even teach this.  But cheating is not accepted in golf.  A golfer who cheats must deal with the negative results for the rest of their lives.  The following golfers were faced with a choice to tell the truth.  Each made a decision.  The results were very different. 

Voice 1

An entire game of golf covers a large area.  A golfer has many moments alone.  If he wants to lie, he can easily make up a false score.  He can move his ball to a better spot.  This makes honesty very important in golf.  It guides a player when no one is watching.

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Truthfulness is part of the tradition of golf.  A player’s honor means more than any score or victory.  Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers of all time.  In 1925, he played the US Open, one of the biggest golf contests of the year.  Jones was close to winning the US Open. It was the eleventh hole of the final round.  Jones hit his ball into the tall grass.  When Jones stood over his ball, it moved.  He had not touched the ball.  But this counted as a hit.  According to writer David R. Smith:

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“If the ball moves, at all, even by accident, it’s a one-shot penalty.  But no one saw the ball move except for Bobby himself.  Not even a gallery member, not his caddie, not even his competitor.  There wasn’t a TV camera pointed at him.  But Jones called the one-shot penalty on himself, anyway.”

Voice 1

Officials questioned whether the ball had moved.  But Jones was sure.  He gave himself a penalty.  A penalty adds one hit to a player’s score.  He lost the US Open by one hit because of this penalty.  Afterwards, people congratulated him for his honesty.  He replied:

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 “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

Voice 2

Bobby Jones played the game of golf honestly. People remember him for his truthfulness as much as for his many victories.

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Vijay Singh is a golfer from Fiji.  In 1985, he was only twenty-two years old.  He was new to professional golf.  He was hoping to make golf his career.  That year in the Indonesian Open in Jakarta, Singh changed his official score for his second round.  He lowered his score by one hit.  This improvement would have allowed him to play the final two rounds on the weekend.  He could have won more money.  But contest officials discovered he had cheated.  Singh was forced to leave the competition.  Singh was then not allowed to play golf for a while by the Southeast Asian Golf Federation.  Singh denied he cheated.  He said it was a misunderstanding.  But an American player who was at the contest said:

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“It was not a misunderstanding.  All of us who were around are very upset that Vijay denies this.”

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For years afterward, Singh had to work part-time jobs.  He played in small golf contests when he could.  He had to struggle to get back to professional golf.  He finally made it.  Many years later, he became very successful.  He won the biggest contests in golf.  He earned millions of dollars.  But he still denied he had cheated.  Many fellow competitors and golf followers never forgave him.  

Voice 1

In 2023, professional golfer Justin Doeden cheated in a similar way to Singh.  He improved his score at a contest for the chance to play in the final two rounds.  He could have made more money.  Doeden erased the number 7 on his scorecard.  He replaced the number 7 with the number 5.  This improved his final score by two hits.  Golfers who played with Doeden noticed his score changed.  So, they contacted the officials.  There was an immediate investigation.  But Doeden quickly withdrew from the competition.  A few days later Doeden made a comment on X:

“I am here to admit one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my life.  I cheated in golf.  This is not who I am.  I let my family down.  I let my competitors down.  I let myself down.  I pray for your forgiveness.  1 John 1:9.” 

Voice 2

First John one nine is a passage from the Christian Bible.  It says: “But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us.  We can trust God to do this.  He always does what is right.  He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done.”

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This Bible verse is a reminder to Christians.  It says that God will forgive them, no matter what they have done wrong.  Unfortunately, the world of professional golf is not as forgiving as the Christian God.  Doeden confessed that he had cheated.  Vijay Singh never admitted he had cheated.  But neither was forgiven by many golf fans.  If Doeden had not withdrawn from the contest, he would have been forced to leave.  He later left that professional golf tour in Canada.  He later played in Latin America.  He hoped for a new start.  But his competitors and golf followers may never view him the same.  He hurt himself, his family, and his friends.  He damaged his character.

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Honesty is as big a part of the tradition of golf as anything else.  It is a sport where honor means more than skill.  Champions have lied and won.  But they never earned the same respect again.  That is the biggest prize.

Voice 1

Have you ever thought about cheating at a game? How would you feel if others cheated on you? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish. com.  You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X.  You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app. 

Voice 2

The writer of this program was Peter Anderson.  The producer was Michio Ozaki.  The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States.  All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.  No AI or artificial intelligence was used in this program.  Spotlight programs are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people, no matter where in the world they live.  This program is called, “An Honest Game.” 

Voice 1

We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye. 

Question:

Have you ever thought about cheating at a game? How would you feel if others cheated on you?