Rodel
IT WILL TAKE a great deal of pride and sacrifice to give up something you’ve worked so hard for. Especially if you can easily be protected by the rules or the law.
Accepting reality is often hard to do when people get blinded by illusion.
Haven’t we seen enough of tournaments whose winners are disgraced by their handling or ignorance of the rules?
Rodel Mangulabnan is a breath of fresh air.
The men’s division winner of the recent National Tournament of Champions at Eagle Ridge which we organize, decided recently to return the trophy when he found out that he had used an illegal equipment.
His driver—a Maruman Exim Nano—bought four years ago in a local golf show is nonconforming.
Confusing as it may sound, the driver is not in the list of conforming and nonconforming clubs on the USGA and R&A websites as validated by Maruman of Japan. It was only because of a confirmation by Maruman International that a possible infraction dawned on Rodel.
In his letter to organizers, Rodel, says there was no intention to cheat: “I would like to emphasize that I had no intention of violating the Rules of Golf, in general, and the rule on Conforming Clubs, in particular, having exhausted all means at my disposal to check the legality of the driver that I used.”
He waited for the e-mail from Maruman before he finally accepted the fact that the driver was illegal. He then made one of the most difficult decisions in his life.
“As an advocate of the Rules of Golf, I find that the only honorable thing to do is to return the trophy.”
Such an honorable act, indeed.
The Inquirer and its technical team believe after careful evaluation that there is no longer anything we can do to penalize Rodel or disqualify him under the rules of golf. Rule 34-1 guides us on issuing claims for match play while 34-1b states that “. . .a player knew before competition closed that he was in breach of any other Rule for which the penalty is disqualification.”
It all came down to whether Rodel believes it was worth keeping the NTCC trophy in his cabinet. He felt that it was better to give it back and just try to win it again—with a conforming driver—next year.
Several lessons can be gained from the Mangulabnan case but I hope that the we all see the true beauty of winning with honor, dignity and legitimacy.
Let me end this month’s column with an open letter to Rodel.
In behalf of the Organizers and the Tournament Committee of the 2009 National Tournament of Club Champions we hereby accept your decision to return your trophy as the men’s division winner.
We would like to commend you for your sense of honesty and fair play which all the more exemplifies the proper attitude and decorum that is to be expected from a player of the game of golf.
This only shows how much you value the principles that create a framework where golfers can compete in a spirit of friendly, fair and honest competition. For this, we see you as a true champion of not just National Tournament of Club Champions but the game of golf as well.
We wish you well in your next tournaments and we can only look forward to seeing you do it again when we return to Eagle Ridge next year.
For comments and suggestions, please e-mail jarcano@inquirer.com.ph
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