There’s an old saying in sports that goes “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” but one amateur golfer took it too far and is now facing the consequences.
Zach Holland, a former collegiate golf player, has resigned in disgrace from WingHaven Country Club after security footage revealed that he had faked a hole-in-one during a members-only event.
Holland, who is a 2-handicap amateur golfer, admitted to cheating at the O’Fallon, Mo., course after the incident went viral on social media.
How did Holland cheat?
Before the tournament — which featured a hole-in-one prize pot — began, Holland learned that his group would be the first to reach the Par 3 fourth hole.
He then lied to his playing partners, telling them he was expecting a phone call because he had a grandparent in the hospital. He said he would run ahead and hit his tee shot on the fourth alone in order to keep up the pace of play.
What the group didn’t know was that Holland had shown up before the round began, parked his car by a shed near the fourth green, and then went out, made a divot mark and placed his ball in the hole.
During the round at the fourth hole, Holland faked taking his tee shot while no one was around. He then told his partners that he had “thinned” it and didn’t see where it went, but that there would be a divot on the green.
Once the group reached the green, they discovered Holland’s ball in the hole and celebrated.
However, once word travelled around the club, several members asked the superintendent to check security footage to see if the hole-in-one was legit.
That’s when it was revealed what had transpired, and Holland faced the wrath of the club’s membership and the golf community.
What did Holland say about the incident?
Holland spoke about the incident during a radio interview on The Morning After show on 101 ESPN in St. Louis and admitted his wrongdoing, expressing deep regret for his actions.
“You do something as dumb as I did, there are consequences for that,” said Holland, who competed for William Carey University in college.
“There’s no excuse for what I did and I was completely in the wrong,” he added. “There’s really no motivation. Just complete stupidity and we were giving two shots back to the field and that’s not an excuse. There’s no excuse for what happened.”
Holland added that his biggest worry is for his family — he has a wife and two young children — who also face online hate after the scandal.
“I made a terrible mistake,” Holland said. “The lack of moral character — I can take the banter and the chatter and the heat because I deserve that from a golf perspective.
“What I am most worried about is my family … It’s not fair to them for me to put them in that situation where when they walk through a room, there is a stigma there that your dad is a (cheater). So questions that they may get asked or be getting asked down the road, that’s the worst part. The golf is secondary.”