MyTurn
by JIM DUCIBELLA
Not Cheating Himself
Goochland teenager Cole Pollard’s character revealed
through a disqualifying mistake
“It was the right thing to
do, and I guess it reflects
on my character”
– Cole Pollard
I
’m not sure what has prompted this,
though I can make an educated guess
as to why, but there’s been a spate of
articles on cheating and golf lately:
How to cheat, why we cheat, how to suspect
someone is cheating, how many different
ways do we cheat, even whether it should
bother us if the other guy cheats.
Here are a couple of examples of dicey sit-
uations players found themselves in recent-
ly, with the same result but an entirely dif-
ferent taste left in our collective mouths.
Start in North Carolina, where Doris
Chen was playing in the LPGA Q-Series
at Pinehurst. On the 17th hole, she hit a
tee shot that was determined to be out of
bounds, only to somehow find it in bounds.
She continued playing the hole.
But how’d the ball get to where Chen
found it? Her original explanation was that
she was farther up the hole when told that
“someone” had kicked the ball. Chen said
she wasn’t told the ball had originally been
out of bounds, so she thought she could play
on. She was disqualified for playing what,
by definition, was a wrong ball.
40
That’s not the end of the story. Turns out
someone who owns a home adjacent to the
hole saw Chen’s mother find the ball and
kick it back in play. Once informed of this,
Chen’s caddie told his player to go to the offi-
cials and explain what happened. Instead,
he said, she told him to “keep quiet.”
“Doris did the wrong thing,” the caddie
said. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
A little closer to home is a prime example
of doing the right thing, courtesy of Gooch-
land High School’s Cole Pollard.
Pollard, a mere 5-feet-8, 135 pounds,
has such skills that coach Knox Milligan
says, “he can be as good as he wants to
be.” He finished the Virginia High School
League regional finals at Kinderton Coun-
try Club in late September with a score of
73, good for first place by several strokes
and a trip to the State tournament. In
other words, heady stuff for a 14-year-old
(he has since turned 15).
But something about that 73 just didn’t
feel right. Cole, a member at Hermitage
Country Club, asked his playing partner
what score he’d given him for the sixth hole.
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 18
Par, he was told. Pollard had written down
bogey, which would have given him a 74,
still more than enough for a comfortable
victory. After asking the partner to describe
the sixth, Pollard recalled making a par on a
hole configured as it was described to him,
so he changed his card to reflect the lower
score, signed it and turned it in.
But it still bugged him, and the next five
minutes would prove telling. He’d only
seen the course once before, but he and
his dad reviewed the holes in their minds.
Turns out his playing partner had con-
fused the fifth and sixth holes, and Pollard
had indeed made bogey on No. 6. There was
only one thing to do.
Pollard found the tournament director
and informed him of the disqualifying
mistake then went and told his teammates.
They thought he was joking.
“I was a little bit in shock,” he said. “It
was tough and shocking. But I got over it
pretty fast with the help of my friends. It
was alright.”
Pollard said he’s never for one moment
had second thoughts about his decision.
“No, I’ve gotten some recognition for
it,” he said. “People have seen that, and it’s
made it good for my reputation. It was the
right thing to do, and I guess it reflects on
my character.”
There’s no guessing about it.
Pollard said he doesn’t know anyone in
his immediate circle of talented youngsters
who cheats—but he admitted to having
heard stories in the past.
“I think some of the worst players will
cheat, just because they know they’re
already going to lose, and they don’t care,”
he said. “But I would say I don’t know any
good quality players that cheat.”
He could have added “or good quality
people.”
vsga.org
At a time when cheating seems
commonplace, Cole Pollard sets an
example for doing the right thing.