Column: PGA (and LPGA) give off cleaner vibe than scandal-ridden MLB – The San Diego Union-Tribune

The boy stood over the golf ball, cozying his putter close, then whoops the putter nudged the ball, rolling it, but only a smidge.

It moved half a centimeter maybe, PGA Tour golfer J.B. Holmes was saying Friday at Torrey Pines Golf Course, recalling his slip-up some 20 years ago.

There were no witnesses to the nudge.

Young Holmes, 14, couldve pretended he never touched the ball, saving him a stroke while improving his chances in a golf tournament far from his Kentucky home, but the boy made a different decision. I called it on myself, he said.

Holmes told the story in response to a question about the PGA and LPGAs dearth of cheating scandals, a stark contrast to other pro sports affiliations, notably Major League Baseball, which has seen two recent World Series managers lose their jobs for their roles in a sign-stealing scheme.

Holmes wasnt holding himself up as Mr. Clean. Thats just how golf is, he said of self-reporting the infraction.

You grew up following the rules, said the golfer, who was in diapers when he took his first golf swings and has won five PGA Tour events since joining the tour in 2006. You didnt get here by cheating. Theres honor-code stuff instilled in you. So, you get a lot of people that dont want to be caught cheating. You followed the rules, you called penalties on yourself.

Every January, thousands of San Diegans flock to scenic Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open.

They pay $60 per ticket and walk the course, at times standing within arms reach of the top golfers in the world.

Itd be a shame if they invested their money, time and emotion in a dirty sport without knowing it.

This has happened in baseball. The Steroid Era preceded MLBs recent revelation of high-tech sign-stealing scams by the 2017 Houston Astros and potentially several other MLB teams.

Holmes dismissed the possibility that the PGA, likewise, has cheaters in its midst.

Nobodys cheating, he said. He said of fans who Friday walked Torrey Pines: Theyre not getting anything shady.

I dont know, and no one knows for sure, if golf is less vulnerable to rule-breaking than other sports because of an honor code.

The immense rewards for the competitive, elite golfers scholarships at universities, and PGA and LPGA tour purses in the millions of dollars have to increase the temptation of golfers and their coaches to break rules.

Look at whats happened with the college-admission bribery scandals.

But heres a plausible sports-ethics comparison: Cheating at professional golf is harder than cheating in the other big-time stick-and-ball sport baseball because golfers are islands unto themselves and the Big Eye is always watching them.

A pro golfers every movement on the course can be caught on camera. TV rights partners telecast all four rounds of pro events. Within sprawling galleries are fans who wield smartphone video cameras.

In contrast, the Houston Astros baseball cheaters operated in secrecy near the dugout, viewing an in-game video feed. They got away with it until a former Astros player blew the whistle.

Its easy to cheat at golf if youre a hacker.

Who can forget brazen Judge Smails of Caddyshack, still a funny movie, kicking the ball out of the rough?

Would-be PGA Tour scofflaws would have to avoid intense scrutiny. Just look at the uproar that accompanied accusations Patrick Reed moved some sand from behind his ball at a tournament last month.

Itd be very difficult for a PGA Tour player to cheat, Holmes said. Theres too many people around, players watching you. So, itd be very difficult to do that.

Holmes also implied that the intense shaming of a golf cheater represents a deterrent.

Charley Hoffman, a San Diegan who has won four PGA Tour events, was asked if a player could succeed at cheating.

I dont think so, he said while signing autographs for men, women and children near The Lodge at Torrey Pines. Because the reality is, we get our equipment from manufacturers, and manufacturers dont want to have that black eye that they may have a hot driver or a golf ball that goes too far. The only red flag would be if someone started playing their own equipment, manufactured on their own, but as far as I know, no one is.

Performance-enhancing drugs, then, represent the greatest threat to golfs integrity, although the coming wave of expanded golf-gaming could quickly pose a big challenge.

Hoffman said providing urine samples and having blood drawn and tested for human growth hormone and other banned performance-enhancing substance is part of a PGA Tour players life.

Of course, dopers have beaten drug tests in a wide variety of sports, including baseball, football, cycling and track and field.

While PGA Tour suspensions for PED use are extremely scarce in comparison with MLB and NFL suspensions, if you think no pro golfers have benefited from illegal PED usage, you probably have a turnip truck in your past.

It could be worth millions of dollars to a pro golfer to increase his or her energy, fitness and ability to recover from exertion by fueling workouts with a banned substance, or a banned substance that increases concentration or calms nerves.

Hoffman struck a confident tone, saying, Weve got a clean sport with a lot of good individuals who usually give back to the communities they live in. Im lucky to be part of it.

His main point: PGA Tour golfers will hunt for every advantage, but within the rules.

Im trying to get everything as close to the edge as far as my equipment and being able to hit a ball as far and straight as possible, he said.

Come Sunday, when the winner at Torrey sinks his final putt, the crowds roar will roll across the course. Youll hear the hoots and whistles as far away as the No. 4 hole alongside the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Only the newly crowned winner will know if he cheated.

But its realistic to believe he didnt. Does that count for something?

Thats why weve got a lot of momentum in the public eye, Hoffman said.

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Column: PGA (and LPGA) give off cleaner vibe than scandal-ridden MLB - The San Diego Union-Tribune