CarMike
05-17-2007, 03:17 PM
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-va.kent16may16,1,6212389.column?coll=bal-home-columnists&ctrack=2&cset=true
There were at least three other playing partners and an observer at the eighth hole at Long View last Wednesday during the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland golf championship, none of whom saw Hayley Milbourn strike the wrong ball.
Truth be told, Milbourn didn't even know what she had done until one hole later, when the round was done, when she could have claimed her third straight IAAM individual championship.
Milbourn could, and probably would, have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for one thing: her conscience.
"I could have [gotten away with it]," said Milbourn, a senior at Roland Park. "But I would have been disgusted with myself if I would have just put the ball back in my bag and taken the trophy.
"When I was on the green thinking about how I should tell everyone, I thought about if I put the ball back in my bag ... I thought about taking the trophy and I couldn't even see myself walking up to get it."
So, Milbourn reported her violation to tournament officials and took the automatic disqualification with no sympathy asked and without a trace of regret.
"Hayley certainly knows the rules of golf and she knew that this was going to have a consequence," said Tara Kramer, her Roland Park coach. "And in the back of her mind, I'm sure she had thought disqualification. That just makes it that much more incredible. She could have just stuck the ball in her pocket and walked away. And she didn't do that."
Read the rest clicking on the link provided above.
What a great story. Some professional athletes could learn a lesson or two.
There were at least three other playing partners and an observer at the eighth hole at Long View last Wednesday during the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland golf championship, none of whom saw Hayley Milbourn strike the wrong ball.
Truth be told, Milbourn didn't even know what she had done until one hole later, when the round was done, when she could have claimed her third straight IAAM individual championship.
Milbourn could, and probably would, have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for one thing: her conscience.
"I could have [gotten away with it]," said Milbourn, a senior at Roland Park. "But I would have been disgusted with myself if I would have just put the ball back in my bag and taken the trophy.
"When I was on the green thinking about how I should tell everyone, I thought about if I put the ball back in my bag ... I thought about taking the trophy and I couldn't even see myself walking up to get it."
So, Milbourn reported her violation to tournament officials and took the automatic disqualification with no sympathy asked and without a trace of regret.
"Hayley certainly knows the rules of golf and she knew that this was going to have a consequence," said Tara Kramer, her Roland Park coach. "And in the back of her mind, I'm sure she had thought disqualification. That just makes it that much more incredible. She could have just stuck the ball in her pocket and walked away. And she didn't do that."
Read the rest clicking on the link provided above.
What a great story. Some professional athletes could learn a lesson or two.