HISTORY repeats itself, goes the saying.
Some three years ago, a player and his marker were disqualified in the Fil-Am Golf Invitational in Baguio’s Camp John Hay and Baguio Country Club.
That was a rarity in the annual event for amateurs classified into Seniors and Men’s Regular, each division playing one week apart.
The player was disqualified for signing a wrong scorecard.
His marker was also disqualified for signing a score on one hole, admitting afterwards that he knew it was an incorrect entry.
That was a serious breach on the rule of honesty, which is the game’s back bone.
Before the player dropped his scorecard in the box, the marker said he signed the scorecard “under protest.”
That won’t hold water.
Had the marker consulted the Rules Committee before signing the scorecard, he might have escaped disqualification.
Under the rules, a marker must not sign for a score that he “knowingly knew” to be incorrect.
Once the scorecard is submitted, that marker is doomed.
It happened again in the just-ended 69th Fil-Am Golf.
A player insisted he wrote the correct score on a hole, signed the scorecard and dropped it in the box.
But the marker knew the player wrote an incorrect score.
“I signed it because the player kept complaining,” he said.
That won’t hold water, either.
The duo’s two flightmates came to the rules men to complain, accompanied by the marker.
The Committee eventually disqualified the player and the marker.
But here’s heroism at work in the Fil-Am.
Jun Saavedra of Davao’s Apo Golf Club knew he had signed for 32 points on Thursday. Hours later, Jun saw in the internet he scored 33.
He had an eagle instead of a birdie that he had actually scored on No. 8 of Baguio Country Club.
Jun’s 32 was replaced by the score of his team’s fifth man: 19. That dropped Apo from third overall to sixth, 21 unreachable points behind leader Forest Hills.
“I was careless. Didn’t recheck my scorecard. The error bothered me,” Jun, 44, said. “My disqualification is but right. I can sleep soundly tonight.”
Who said the game is bereft of honest men?