golf and cheating and...why?

Monday I volunteered at a charity golf tournament. It was a first for me. I've played in many of these things, but never volunteered to help run it before. Therefore I don't know how prevalent this practice, about which I will pontificate, is. I got there early and loaded carts with goodie bags, stocked the beverage carts with beer, water and soda, helped with the putting contest, and then sat on a chair by one Par 3 hole where you'd win a car if you got a hole in one. They need someone to sit there so there's an unbiased witness if someone actually manages the hole in one. Also on this hole, having nothing to do with me, was a closest to the pin contest. There was this marker stuck in the ground. If you managed to hit you ball closer to the flag than the marker, you wrote your name on an attached pad, and moved the marker to your ball.

So I'm sitting there, dodging the occasional errant shot. OK, to be honest, it was more than occasional. I ducked...more than once. Sometimes I thought they were gunning for me. One guy admitted as much. He said he told his foursome he would aim for me and draw the ball back to the green. Yeah, like he's good enough to pull that off. He missed me, but not by much. I digress though.

I'm sitting there getting a decent sunburn, and one guy hits the green, but he's not closer to the pin than the little marker. I could tell from where I was that he was fairly close, but not closer. With me and the other three guys he's playing with watching, he picked up the marker, put his name on the pad and placed it where his ball was. I was appalled, but apparently, this wasn't a first. I was talking to other volunteers, afterwards., who worked this tournament in past years. One woman observing the hole in one hole last year saw someone do the same thing.

I kept my mouth shut. It was none of my business. I was just there to witness the improbable hole in one. How does someone do that though. Is it worth that much to you to win a contest? For what? Maybe a free dinner? These are people who paid $125 to play in a charity golf tournament. How hard up can they be for a meal? I don't understand why someone's integrity is worth less to them than a steak at Outback...or something similar.

The prize car for a hole in one finished the day safely back where it came from, and Mr. Cheater, whoever he may be, won the closet to the pin thing. I was so hoping someone would legitimately hit a ball closer than he did, but karma was asleep at the wheel Monday afternoon. Maybe she woke up and slapped him silly later.