ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Junior Invitational at Norwood Hills Country Club is a big deal.
Eighty-four players from 10 states showed up on the weekend of June 16 to compete for a championship and get noticed by college coaches.
And Priory High School's Nick Seifried was locked in. He shot a tourney-best 64 on day one of the tournament.
But that's not why Seifried's weekend is being remembered.
On the second day, Seifried's act of honesty made sure he would go home a winner, even if he didn't take home the title.
While playing a hole on the second day, Seifried marked his ball on the green off to the side, so his playing partner had a line to chip that was unimpeded. Seifried forgot to move his ball mark back, and putted from the new spot.
After the hole was over, Seifried recognized what had happened.
"I realized I didn't move my mark back after he had chipped. So I went over to the officials and told them I didn't move my mark back," Seifried said.
Seifried was given a two-stroke penalty. He went on to finish in second place, two strokes behind the winner.
Nobody but Seifried had noticed the ball mark error, but he knew he couldn't live with himself if he hadn't spoken up.
"I would have felt terrible about myself. Yeah, that would have not been good," Seifried said.
Looking back, this runner-up has no regrets. And knows he did the right thing, even though it may have cost him.
"I just thought it was the right thing to do. That's what you're supposed to do anyways. I didn't want to cheat at all. That's something I never want to do. So yeah, It was the right thing to do," Seifried said.