The greatest game

There’s an old saying for offensive linemen: If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Ask any defensive lineman, and the offense holds on every play. Ask a wide receiver, and D-backs hold on every play. And when the other guy is playing fair and square, you complain to the refs anyway, better to get the call next time.

NBA players flop. Soccer players are carted off the field. Juiced-up pitchers throw spitballs right by juiced-up hitters with corked bats.

Then there’s golf.

Kate Wynja is a senior at Sioux Falls Christian in South Dakota. She and her team thought they had won the Class A girls state golf tournament the other day, and Kate herself finished first overall for the second year in a row. And it wasn’t close. She was several shots ahead.

Then she looked at her score card again. And realized she’d given herself a 4 on the last hole instead of a 5. She’d already signed the card and turned it in. Which, as golfers know, means a penalty.

In golf, you call penalties on yourself. Kate and her coach reported the violation to tournament directors, and they promptly disqualified her. As she knew they would. And her team didn’t win the championship, but finished second. As she knew it would.

And everybody around her, from coaches to tournament directors to her friends to national columnists, have called it a great display of sportsmanship. She is a true golfer.

We can think of few better compliments.