Manka Bros., Khan Manka, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, The Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Alister MacKenzie, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore, Herbert Warren Wind, Mezz Mezzrow, Richard Moore, Andy Razaf, Mildred Bailey, Arnold Palmer, Ken Venturi, Byron Nelson, Clifford Xavier Roberts, Dwight Eisenhower, Franke Broyles, Warren Buffett, Pete Coors, Bill Gates, Pat haden, Lou Holtz, Hugh McColl, Sam Nunn, Sam Palmisano, T Boone PIckens, Harold Poling, James Robinson III, Carl Sanders, Kevin Bloomfield, Condoleezza Rice, Lynn Swann, William Lane, Hord Hardin, Jackson Stephens, Hootie Johnson, Billy Payne, Christine Brennan, Martha Burk, Thomas Wyman, John Snow, SAm Snead, Gary Player, Kelly Tilghman, Arnold Palmer, Fuzzey Zoeller, Gretchen Zoeller, Rory McIlroy, Caroline Wozniacki, Ben Crenshaw

The Integrity Of Golf?

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, The Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Alister MacKenzie, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore, Herbert Warren Wind, Mezz Mezzrow, Richard Moore, Andy Razaf, Mildred Bailey, Arnold Palmer, Ken Venturi, Byron Nelson, Clifford Xavier Roberts, Dwight Eisenhower, Franke Broyles, Warren Buffett, Pete Coors, Bill Gates, Pat haden, Lou Holtz, Hugh McColl, Sam Nunn, Sam Palmisano, T Boone PIckens, Harold Poling, James Robinson III, Carl Sanders, Kevin Bloomfield, Condoleezza Rice, Lynn Swann, William Lane, Hord Hardin, Jackson Stephens, Hootie Johnson, Billy Payne, Christine Brennan, Martha Burk, Thomas Wyman, John Snow, SAm Snead, Gary Player, Kelly Tilghman, Arnold Palmer, Fuzzey Zoeller, Gretchen Zoeller, Rory McIlroy, Caroline Wozniacki, Ben CrenshawThe PGA and professional golf, in general, is an absolute joke.

How many times during The Masters did we hear that Tiger Woods should withdraw himself from the tournament in order to protect the ‘integrity of golf’?

This is such bullshit.

First of all, the officials missed the call and it wasn’t until after Woods gave an interview that some caller alerted the Augusta Nationalist (my spelling) Golf Club officials that Woods incriminated himself.

Some caller? I can imagine this was the way the scene played out:

Augusta National Golf Course – 19th Hole

Inside a paneled lounge, several white men with southern drawls are drinking scotch and smoking cigars. There is a general laughter that never seems to die down.

Suddenly, a perspiring office worker bursts into the lounge.

OFFICE WORKER: Gentlemen, someone has just called and said Tiger Woods admitted during an interview to stepping back a yard to take a drop.

An Augusta Member (we’ll call him Scooter) drops his smile.

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, The Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Alister MacKenzie, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore, Herbert Warren Wind, Mezz Mezzrow, Richard Moore, Andy Razaf, Mildred Bailey, Arnold Palmer, Ken Venturi, Byron Nelson, Clifford Xavier Roberts, Dwight Eisenhower, Franke Broyles, Warren Buffett, Pete Coors, Bill Gates, Pat haden, Lou Holtz, Hugh McColl, Sam Nunn, Sam Palmisano, T Boone PIckens, Harold Poling, James Robinson III, Carl Sanders, Kevin Bloomfield, Condoleezza Rice, Lynn Swann, William Lane, Hord Hardin, Jackson Stephens, Hootie Johnson, Billy Payne, Christine Brennan, Martha Burk, Thomas Wyman, John Snow, SAm Snead, Gary Player, Kelly Tilghman, Arnold Palmer, Fuzzey Zoeller, Gretchen Zoeller, Rory McIlroy, Caroline Wozniacki, Ben CrenshawSCOOTER: Aw, Bubby, can’t ya see we’re having our scotch and smoking our cigars. Tiger’s a good ol’ boy and a surprisingly good golfer.

OFFICE WORKER: But more people are calling in. And they’re Tweeting, too!

Another member (we’ll call him Hootie) puts down his scotch and turns grave.

HOOTIE: Tweetin’? Gentlemen, we had better address this issue. Can someone please get a copy of that videotape or film of this interview and set it up in the Hogan Room anti-chamber for our immediate review? Bring your glasses, gentlemen. I have decided that scotch will be allowed for one time only in the Hogan Room.

Etc etc etc (I could go on forever with these guys).

We all know what happened. Tiger got a retroactive two stroke penalty and basically was removed from the tournament – at least in spirit. Commentators no longer praised his play or got excited when he made a good shot.

Golf Channel analysts called his decision to keep playing a disgrace and an error in judgment that will follow him the rest of his career and taint his legacy.

Oh, really? What would have made the situation right?

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, The Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Alister MacKenzie, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore, Herbert Warren Wind, Mezz Mezzrow, Richard Moore, Andy Razaf, Mildred Bailey, Arnold Palmer, Ken Venturi, Byron Nelson, Clifford Xavier Roberts, Dwight Eisenhower, Franke Broyles, Warren Buffett, Pete Coors, Bill Gates, Pat haden, Lou Holtz, Hugh McColl, Sam Nunn, Sam Palmisano, T Boone PIckens, Harold Poling, James Robinson III, Carl Sanders, Kevin Bloomfield, Condoleezza Rice, Lynn Swann, William Lane, Hord Hardin, Jackson Stephens, Hootie Johnson, Billy Payne, Christine Brennan, Martha Burk, Thomas Wyman, John Snow, SAm Snead, Gary Player, Kelly Tilghman, Arnold Palmer, Fuzzey Zoeller, Gretchen Zoeller, Rory McIlroy, Caroline Wozniacki, Ben CrenshawMaybe they should have put him in stocks outside of Butler Cabin for the duration of the tournament and he could have been released by the new champion.

Maybe Tiger should have performed hara-kiri like a Japanese samurai on the 18th green because of what he has done to the great game of golf.

Has the great game of golf and its legacy of racism and exclusionary policies really taken a hit here?

You know what hurts the integrity of golf? The Augusta National Golf Club and its past policy of excluding women and minorities and doing VERY LITTLE to correct the problem (adding Lynn Swan and Condoleezza Rice doesn’t really get you there).

You know what hurts the integrity of golf? The hypocrisy of all those who point a finger at Tiger Woods for cheating on his wife when half the field at The Masters is on wife number 2 or 3 or 4 – with countless girlfriends in between (or during).

You know what hurts the integrity of golf? Old white men commenting that the sole black golfer competing in the tournament should quit when you know they wouldn’t ask that of Fred Couples if he committed the same infraction.

You know what hurts the integrity of golf? Playing a tournament at a club that was founded by a man – Cliff Roberts, the first Augusta Chairman – who once said: “As long as I’m alive, all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black.”

You know what hurts the integrity of golf? Those crappy looking green jackets that are mythologized to appear as though they were made by the hands of God.

The Masters – ‘a tradition like no other’ – and golf, in general – had better change its ways or it will be going the way of the dinosaur and the Republican party before too long.

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13 comments

  1. Lester Aldrich · April 15, 2013

    Great piece, Jill. I couldn’t agree more!

    • Jill Kennedy · April 15, 2013

      Thanks, Lester.

    • Mike · April 15, 2013

      Lester,

      Do you even play golf? Some would say that playing chess is a boring waste of time.. I would not because I never played chess and I don’t understand it..But I respect the fact that people all over the world really enoy it and are passionate about it. Therefor it must have some quality to it that is positive..

  2. Randy F · April 15, 2013

    What if the 14 year old would have broken the rules? Would they have demanded he withdraw for the integrity of the game?

  3. john · April 15, 2013

    t
    That was the most bias and un true article i may have ever read.No facts lots of bias and prejudice toward the club.I’m sure you have never meet any of the people you make fun of-let me guess a mad liberal female.What a surprise your bias opinion is.Why is it ok for the left to be bias and southern white guys fair game.

    • Jill Kennedy · April 15, 2013

      Poor southern white guys. So unfair. They never get a fair shake. Whatever, John.

  4. Justin Doyle · April 15, 2013

    Agreed. The whole Rule Book must be ripped up as well and re-written to get in touch
    wit modern times. Also, golfers are using galleries/grandstands as a cushion and a ‘get-out-of-jail’ option-even to play a good shot! But worst of all-and it was a TOTAL DISGRACE-was the penalty for slow play handed to 14yold Guan! Crenshaw was ‘sick’ and ‘apologised’ and it was first time in 18 years (since 1995) a golfer was penalised for slow play on US Tour. Crazy! (Justin Doyle, Golf Author and Writer)

  5. Steve Freeman · April 15, 2013

    All I can say is this girl has balls! I write that last sentence and cringe, what will people think I ask myself. Yet Jill Kennedy writes like she could care less what people think, I want to be more like her! I’m not a golfer but I do love attitude!

  6. Don Peek · April 15, 2013

    Golf is based upon integrity. Most golfers never break 100. Most don’t know when they cheat. Most don’t know the rules. But Tiger knows.

  7. Jery Rowan · April 15, 2013

    A round of golf IS like Hollywood. 18 xxxholes in every studio. And all of them perform under par.

  8. Barbara · April 15, 2013

    Tiger Woods withdrew from a tournament?

  9. Bill · April 15, 2013

    What a stupid, uninformed article. You must have done your research by reading other stupid, uninformed articles because you clearly know nothing about golf or its rules.

  10. Mike · April 15, 2013

    That is your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it.. But many people disagree with you.. Obviously , anyone who doesn’t play golf or understand the game would be more inclined to feel the way you do. Certainly does not make you correct just opinionated about something you have no knowledge of. I try not to form opinions on things that I am not familiar with, would make me look foolish. I am more inclined to take offense to your argument as I am a PGA Club Professional. I know what a great impact the sport of golf can have in peoples lives. Being a golfer means you hold yourself accountable as you are the only one responsible for your own game. I guess I can see why a liberal progressive person would not like golf.. No one to blame for shortcomings but yourself. That is a great contradiction for a left wing person and a big obstacle. Golf teaches patience, discipline, hard work and perseverance, see a trend forming here? While I agree that the perception of golf being a rich person’s game and deserved as it is expensive and time consuming , it is not the game itself that we should blame. There are many wonderful people that play and enjoy the game that come from all walks of life. To say that the game of golf has no integrity is a gross characterization and is no better than saying a whole race of people are lazy welfare takers.. Don’t let your disdain for wealthy old timers who probably are racist mysogonists allow you to hate on a game that you do not understand. While some people may argue that golf is declining and from a numbers perspective it is. It is only because the Tiger Woods era is ending and things are going back to pre Tiger era numbers. Golf doesn’t need the whole country watching… It was fine before Tiger , was more exciting during his era and will be fine until the next Mega Star/ Dominant force arrives…