He had come runner up four times, and after years of dedication his moment seemed to arrive. The dream was crystal clear as he stepped up to play the18th hole again in a ‘Sudden Death’ play-off against the 49 times PGA tournament winner and Ryder Cup golfer, Furyk.

With the light fading over the beautiful harbour and the greens, both players safely reached the fairway from their tee shots. Davis’s second shot ran across the green, over the edge, bounced off some rocks below and finally settled on nicely packed sand with some reeds behind it. However, he successfully chipped up onto the green with his third shot. Now here’s the magic.

No one saw this happen except Davis. As he played his third shot he thought he might have barely touched ‘a loose impediment’ (a loose reed/bit of straw) which is a penalty. “It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. And I thought we’d check on TV, and indeed there was movement,” Davis said.

He immediately called for the tournament referee, Slugger White, and told him what had happened. It was so subtle that the crowd didn’t see it and the TV cameras didn’t see it.

He felt honour-bound to tell the referee, who checked with the TV slow motion replays and duly imposed a two shot penalty for ‘making contact with a loose impediment in a greenside hazard’ (rule 13.4: moving a loose impediment during a takeaway). Davis’s dream was over.

However, his actions on the 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links course, will be remembered by many for a long time to come. You can see this magical sportsmanship moment. Slugger White later said: “He’s class, first class”. Brian Davis has since received floods of congratulation cards, letters, emails from people all over America and in particular from parents who said they told their children this is how you play sport and this is how you live life.

Davis proves that nice guys are winners. In his own words, here’s how good it actually felt after the high tension game was over. “It’s probably the first time in my career, or in any golfer’s, where [you] lost in a play-off and actually drove home more positive than when you left,” he said. “It has been a good experience for me, and it has been great for the game of golf that we do call rules infractions on ourselves. It’s just part of the game.”

Note: Thanks to Ollie Campbell for alerting me about this story.

Dr. Sharon Kay Stoll on why golfers call their own penalties

Despite his massive disappointment and probable hounding by the media when he gets home, he answered all the questions thrown at him with dignity and honour and he applauded the English team on their victory several times. Even some of Ponting’s critics acknowledge how in post match interviews he always mentions the other team and usually in flattering term.

It was a pity that the interviewer, one of England’s great cricketers and captains, Mike Atherton, had to ask a cheap question about whether his captaincy would be under scrutiny. There’s so much more to ask. There are so many more questions that could engage an audience and extract insights into the mind of a great captain and insights into the wonders of this fantastic sport. Why aren’t they asked? If you’ve thoughts about the kinds of questions you’d like asked by sports interviewers, please send them in. I’ll collate them and eventually start asking interviewers to ask interesting questions, to help to enlighten us all.

Cochran won the event in 10:36, beating Shadle Park’s Andrea Nelson by 3 seconds. Thirty minutes later, race officials disqualified Cochran, ruling that the Harvard-bound runner ran 3 consecutive steps inside the lane adjacent to hers. Bellarmine Prep Coach Matt Ellis appealed the infraction, but his appeal was denied. Everyone knew that Cochrane had not stepped into the next lane and that the officials were wrong.

In a magical sportsmanship moment  when the official 3,200 race winner Andrea Nelson was awarded her first place medal at the podium, she moments later gave her first place medal to Cochran. Redmond’s Sarah Lord followed by giving Nelson her second-place medal, and the other medal winners followed suit. Somewhat reminiscent of the Britain’s  Gold medalist fencer, Judy Guinness at the 1932 LA Olympic when she refused her gold medal because officials had missed her opponent’s scores.

Some days later – the officials, having studied the video tapes rescinded their decision and officially awarded Cochran the gold medal. Congrats to Nelson, Lord and the other young lady who felt honour was more important than metal.

See the Full Story.

score more points than the Springboks over the three test matches – sorry Springbok fans – I can’t resist the stats. Fantastic series and congrats to the Springboks on winning it overall. In fact, it was great to see the Lions applauding the fantastic Springbok captain John Smit as he  lifted the trophy.  The end of a great tour and very fond memories of a great sporting nation, South Africa (I’ve got to come back for the World Cup if  Ireland qualify!).

I caught the Emerging Springboks game in Capetown and witnessed one of the finest conversions ever kicked in the dying moments to give the youngish Springboks a draw. Then I witnessed another killer kick in the Second Test in Pretoria – again the last kick of the game to give the Springboks the series.  The Lions played magnificently but didn’t get the result. However what thrilled me were the Springbok fans who applauded every Lions try, and converted kicks. I am constantly amazed at the generosity of their hospitality – they can’t do enough for us. A great country – I’m coming back (if Ireland qualify for the  World Cup 2010)!

Liverpool have this tradition too. So too do Munster rugby & Queens Park Rangers FC (see story in the book). Now I’m delighted to add the mighty Real Madrid to this growing ‘club’ of sportsmanship.

To listen to the BBC 5 live Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

BBC 5 Live

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I was delighted to hear that he used to ask the Nottingham Forest fans to resist using foul language by showing them his handwritten sign. Any fans out there can tell me what words he wrote on the sign?

To listen to the BBC Nottingham Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

BBC Radio Nottingham

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It was, in fact, more than a moment, it was several minutes. When the new Irish anthem was sung, I heard Welsh people sing it with great gusto. When I looked around me, I saw every man, woman and child (all dressed in red shirts) singing the Irish song along with the Irish. It felt fantastic. And then came the Welsh National Anthem, The Land Of My Fathers. I’ve been in both the new Millennium Stadium and the Old Cardiff Arms Park and heard the Welsh sing their song with great pride many times before. This time, however, it seemed louder and even more passionate – if that’s possible.

The Welsh wanted a big win to secure the 6 Nations Championship (and a Triple Crown by beating England, Scotland and Ireland). The Irish were attempting to win three titles: The Triple Crown , the 6 Nations Championship (having already beaten France & Italy) and an illusive Grand Slam (beating everyone). Illusive because we’ve only done it once, way back in 1948.

Ireland won 17-15 by a last minute drop goal from Ronan O’Gara in what was a fantastic game of rugby. Afterwards  I was really taken by the hundreds of Welsh fans that came over and congratulated us. I love the Welsh, their passion, their singing, their stadium, their city, their rugby and most of all, their sportsmanship.

I was in Cork visiting Marian Ormond the widow of Dennis to whom the book is dedicated. As I left she handed me a newspaper article which recorded a recent lunch time chat from some of the famous Munster 1978 side, one of whom is the flying winger and personal friend of the Ormond family, Jim Bowen. More than 30 years later, he revealed a sportsmanship moment I never heard of before.

The all conquering 1978 All Blacks became the first New Zealand rugby team to win a Grand Slam by beating Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Their only defeat on that tour came against Munster. It remains to this day, the only time any Irish rugby team actually beat the mighty All Blacks. Graham Mourie’s All Blacks seemed invincible, until they stepped into a jam packed Thomond Park and met the mighty Munster men.

Wing forward Christy Cantillon scored a try and fly half Tony Ward kicked 8 points to register the Province’s 12-0 win over the world’s best. They even wrote a play about it called Alone It Stands, which has played to packed houses all over Ireland and overseas.

The All Blacks were fast, skilled, strong and very aggressive. Losing is not in their psychy. They play hard and fast. They play to win. And they do win. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are regarded as the best team in the world, regardless of who wins the World Cup. And on that tour they beat everyone (except Munster). Losing is not entertained. Munster winger, Jim Bowen recalls :”They were very gracious, although not initially. Certainly that night at the dinner they (All Blacks) came into dinner on their knees, linking each other, singing Hi, Ho…They were good characters.” Despite being the best in the world, they took defeat with dignity and good humour.

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Editor’s note: The Munster captain, Donal Caniffe was born in the general Hospital in Westmeath (Leinster) but the family were living in Dromod, Co. Leitrim (Connaught) and in his own words: “I’m claiming Leinster, Connacht and Munster lineage.”

The Irish Times 15 Nov 2008

DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team traveled by bus for two and a half hours and then waited another hour past game time to get their chance to take a big city scalp when they played Milwaukee Madison Senior on a Saturday night in February 2009. The essence of sportsmanship was about to emerge.

Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee captain Johntell Franklin died at a local hospital (after a five year fight with cervical cancer). The school offered to cancel the game but Franklin asked them not to do so and to play it without him. They had only 8 players but the game went ahead.

After the game had started Franklin turned up to support his team on. Milwaukee coach Aaron Womack Jr spotted him entering and called time out. The team (and some of the crowd went over and hugged him). The coach asked Franklin if he’d like to sit on the bench and young Franklin said he’d actually prefer to play.

Because Franklin was not listed on the official team sheet, it incurred a penalty of two free shots at the basket if a player is brought on who is not on the team sheet. Aware of the opposition captain’s desperately sad news, The DeKalb coach, Dave Rohlman told the umpire they didn’t want the call. However the referees insisted the penalty must be taken.

DeKalb captain, Darius McNeal (he must have Irish blood in him) bounced the ball a few times, looked at the rim of the basket and then threw the ball two feet in the air and let it roll towards the end line. The second ‘shot’ rolled out of his hand and onto the floor. The Milwaukee team turned and applauded the whole DeKalb bench for their gesture of true sportsmanship. Soon every spectator stood and applauded the kids and the coach from DeKalb.

Franklin actually went on to score 10 points in a game which eventually ‘broke open late in the second half as Milwaukee went on to win 62-47.

“I did it for the guy who lost his mom,” McNeal said “It was the right thing to do.” Fair play to McNeal, his team mates and coach Rohlman for they all know that ‘it’s not whether you won or lost….it’s how you played the game.”

Thanks to Shane Smith for alerting me