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No one saw. Probably no one would have seen. The movement was as miniscule as to not be noticed by anyone.
And yet he saw.
His name is Shane Lowry. He's a twenty-nine year old chubby, sloppy-bearded golfer from Ireland. He's not a big name in the sport. He's never won one of the major tournaments, after all.
He was in contention, though, at this past weekend's US Open played at Oakmont just outside of Pittsburgh.
At a critical point in the third round Saturday, as he was working hard to keep up with the leader, Dustin Johnson, he settled over his ball on the 16th green. As he laid the putter head behind the ball, the ball quavered ever so slightly.
Any movement of the ball when a ball is addressed is a one stroke penalty.
And yet no one noticed. So minor it was that it caught nobody's eye. Not his playing partner; not a caddy; not an official; not a fan.
But he noticed.
What thoughts must have flashed through his mind in seconds. One of golf's biggest stages, him never having won at this level, in contention now...and no one has said a thing.
As Tod Leonard wrote for Tribune Newspapers, the ball moved, "maybe no more than a couple of dimples."
Besides the movement gave him no competitive advantage whatsoever. That would be the perfect justification to say nothing, yes?
And there he was, alone in his standard of ethics. It's just him and himself now. What was he going to do?
"I had to penalize myself," he said after his round. "It's very frustrating in a tournament like that."
I'll say.
Now you can tell me that this is the unwritten code of golf. That it's a gentlemen's game and what he did would be expected of everyone.
You could also say that with all the cameras around that it's possible someone might have eventually picked up on the slight shift of his ball.
And I'll say both are true.
Still, for all he knew it was completely on him. It was apparent to him that no one else had seen it. But he had seen it. And he couldn't live with that.
In this Shane Lowry embodied the answer to the classic question, "Why be ethical?"
Answer: Because winning is not all that matters. How you win matters too. And not just to others, but to yourself.
Indeed, when you win unethically your happy exterior is betrayed by a vacant inner joy. For all the hype, your conscience will eventually void ill-begotten gains. The trophy might rest on the mantel, but the hearts' mantel is bare.
You want to push them away, but the thoughts of winning as a cheat agitate in the mind and stress the soul. You blanket them with justifications, but they toss and turn, insistently badgering.
When the dust cleared on Sunday Dustin Johnson won the US Open by three strokes. So at first blush Lowry's honesty didn't seem to hurt him. Except for this: He tied with two others for second. Not finishing one stroke better cost him thousands of dollars.
And yet Shane Lowry won. And I'm not just referring to the universal admiration and respect incurred by his honesty. Nope, he won something even more important.
He won a good night's sleep.
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