As a sports lover, I've been always felt that the unique spirit of golf has left me infatuated with the sport. Golf is a beautiful, noble sport calling for the best sportsmanship.
Sportsmanship in golf means exerting yourself, trying to be a good sport. It also means you must show respect for the game, yourself and your game partners. Accompanying players or opponents are not enemies. Just like us, they are golf-loving people striving to be the best they can be. It behooves you to do your best to help them play to the best of their abilities. You need to avoid interfering or disturbing them so that they can apply their mind to their tasks. Or rather, you need to be considerate towards your accompanying players.
The greatest act of sportsmanship in the history of golf took place during the Ryder Cup in September 1969, when Jack Nicklaus conceded Tony Jacklin's par.
In this Ryder Cup match, Nicklaus found himself on the final green at Royal Birkdale tied with Tony Jacklin. When he rolled his par putt from four feet into the cup, opponent Jacklin faced a two-foot knee knocker to halve the match. It was an uptight putt he had to make to let his team draw with the United States.
The critical putt might have left him under the most nerve-wracking circumstances that he would ever face in his career. Nobody knew what would happen.
What happily happened at that moment was a perfect illustration of great sporting behavior. After picking his ball out of the cup, Nicklaus then picked up Jacklin's marker, conceding the dicey putt. He walked towards Jacklin and offered his hand. Then, he said, “I don't think you would have missed that putt Tony, but in these circumstances, I would never give you the chance to miss it.”
Nicklaus said later that he had felt adrenalin surging through his veins as he lined up his testing four-foot return. The holder of 18 majors (six majors then) later admitted that he had never experienced more pressure over a putt at any other time in his career.
“I don't know why, but I very quickly thought about Tony Jacklin and what he had meant to British golf,” Nicklaus later said. “Here he was, the Open champion, the new hero, and all of a sudden it felt like if he missed this putt he would be criticized forever. This all went through my mind in a very, very quick period of time, and I just made up my mind. I said, 'I'm not going to give Tony Jacklin the chance to miss it.'”
Golf lovers arguably regard Nicklaus' concession as the most exemplary act of sportsmanship displayed ever in golf or anywhere else. His magnificent concession was, for sure, one of the major reasons Sports Illustrated selected Nicklaus as the “Best Individual Male Athlete of the 20th Century.” For the same reason, I think, Golf Magazine chose him as the “1888―1988 Golfer of the Century.”
Incidentally, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe jointly created The Nicklaus―Jacklin Award to commemorate “the concession.” The new Award debuted last month at the 43rd Ryder Cup. Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia received the opening award at Whistling Straits, the 11th-best public course and 49th-best course in America overall.
The author lives in a rural village near Seoul, studying and teaching golf.