"So golf carries on perpetuating the myth that nobody cheats."
He filed it Saturday but I just got around to reading Tom English's provocative take on the Lyle-Monty spat, calling it "golf's twisted morality at work again."
Lyle's great crime was to talk about something that golf has no stomach for. He mentioned cheating in the game and the establishment turned on him. Team Monty went on the attack and they spun this issue into something it wasn't. They wanted you to believe that this was about Lyle's bitterness at being snubbed for the captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team, but it wasn't, not really. Only the game's cheerleaders saw it in such a convenient way.
What this was about was honesty – or the lack of it. Sandy Lyle told the truth. The locker room accepted that he told the truth. But Sandy Lyle is attacked and painted as a fool because golf cannot handle the truth.
I'm not sure I agree with this, since Lyle's real problem still seems to be that he's upset about not being selected Captain, making him a lousy messenger.
That said, this is an interesting point and worthy of discussion in light of the Kenny Perry and Richie Ramsay incidents:
So golf carries on perpetuating the myth that nobody cheats. On the record, the players say it's pure as the driven snow out there. Off the record, they have their suspicions about certain guys, they have stories they tell, they know the reality but won't talk about it because it's "not good for business". It's a terrible hypocrisy. It's golf's secret shame.
Monday, July 20, 2009 at 08:16 PM
Reader Comments (4)
If Monty had an ounce of class, the overblown, under performing choker would have owned up to his sins. Instead, he makes a show and in essence steals money from lower finishers and gives it to charity in a futile attempt to absolve himself of responsibility.
Typical and predictable for a man like Monty. The Euros should be ashamed to have picked him for their 2010 Ryder captain.
Unintentional cheating? No such thing at least in golf. Probably everywhere but let's limit it to golf for the sake of this discussion. "Unintentional cheating" is simply breaking the rules. "Intentional breaking of the rules" is simply cheating.
On topic. That Lyle is bitter there seems to be little doubt. Surely if we're objective Monty's crime (intentional cheating in my view) tops anything Lyle has done recently - to include walking off the course last year.
Let's get to motivations. How useful is it for the British press to turn on their captain one year out from the competition? This whole thing smacks of jingoistic journalism to me. Lyle is pilloried because in this story someone has to be and they don't want it to be Monty. And Lyle is making it easy.