Honest Blyth calls himself out of Iskandar Johor Open
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Australia's Adam Blyth has shown what the game of golf is all about when he disqualified himself a day after the conclusion of the US$1.25 million Iskandar Johor Open.
Blyth, who has plied his trade on the Asian Tour since 2005, thought he had finished tied 50th at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club in Johor, Malaysia's southern most state, which was worth US$5,250.
But before leaving Johor on Monday morning, he realised he had signed for a lower score in the final round.
The 28-year-old immediately called the Asian Tour's tournament office to inform them that he should have signed for a 73 instead of a 72 and was duly disqualified from the tournament, won by Ryder Cup star Padraig Harrington of Ireland.
"I looked at www.asiantour.com on Monday morning at the airport and saw that I was as two under which I wasn't. I was hoping it was a mistake as I had a 73 and immediately rang up the office.
"It's no one's fault but mine. There was no hesitation to call in straight away. It could have been left as it was and no one would have known but it's certainly not the way to do things. I wouldn't have been able to live with this. It is a shame as I needed the money for the Order of Merit. But I couldn't handle it if I had let it go,"said Blyth today.
He added that the error was on the second hole which he had a six but signed for a five. "I knew I had a six. I was hoping it was a computer error and that the card was okay but it wasn't. It's the first time I've been disqualified,"said Blyth, currently ranked 38th on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.
Asian Tour Tournament Director Jittisak Tamprasert lauded Blyth for his noble actions. According to Rule 34-1 b under exceptions (iii), a penalty of disqualification must be imposed after the competition has closed if a competitor returned a score for any hole lower than actually taken (Rule 6-6d) for any reason other than failure to include a penalty that, before the competition closed, he did not know he had incurred.
"This is a wonderful example of the values of professional golf which is all about honesty and integrity,"said Jittisak.
"What Adam did was honorable and we laud him for reporting his mistake with his final round score, which subsequently led to his disqualification from the tournament. The manner in which he handled himself in this incident shows the high values of our players, but more so, it showed Adam's true character as a professional golfer which is exemplary.”
