"I've never cheated in my whole life. I'd rather shoot 85 than shoot 65 cheating."

Golf.com's Josh Sanburn reports on the latest Tour tiff between Sergio Garcia and Cliff Kresge, though this catch-basin relief-inspired spat is not as sexy as Woods-Sabbatini. The photo is courtesy of Golf Channel's excellent collection from the final round.

A bit of confusion arose when Garcia took relief from a drainage area on the 2nd hole. His playing partner, Cliff Kresge, and Kresge's caddie questioned the drop.

"I've never tried to do anything wrong on a golf course," Garcia said. "If I would have felt at any time that I wasn't taking full relief, I would have called for a ruling and do whatever was right. But I felt like I did and that's all there is to it."

Garcia said it affected his play on the 2nd and 3rd holes and may have even cost him a stroke.

"They were calling me a cheater on that. You never like that. I've never cheated in my whole life. I'd rather shoot 85 than shoot 65 cheating."

He said he finally relaxed toward the 4th or 5th hole. "It probably cost me at least one (stroke). It's fine, but you never know. Maybe I would have not finished the way I finished."

Comments

[Donald B. Franklin]

I would not expect a player who is certain of his own integrity to be that defensive.

Garcia looked pretty upset when his drop on #18 was questioned as well. It certainly looked like the dropped ball (#18) came to rest nearer the hole than his nearest point of relief and the conversation between the players suggested (to me) that they felt the relevant reference point was the ball's original position rather than the NPR.

[86general]

"I would not expect a player who is certain of his own integrity to be that defensive."

That's a compelling judgement, but I think defensiveness comes also from being insecure or having the dreaded "low self esteem." I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt that he did not knowingly break the rules, and that he did what he believed was proper at the time.

[Eric Stratton]

The interesting thing is Kresge gave him the thumbs up on the drop on #18 and then the tour officials came around after the fact (he'd already removed his tee's from the ground) - even though he had not hit the shot if the drop had been declared defective he would have been assessed a penalty.

As to the post above, it's easy to say "if you are innocent you shouldn't be upset"...but I know if my integrity had been called into question twice in one round I'd be ready to take someone's head off.

ES