"How dare he stray after all they’ve done for him?"
Scott Michaux in the Augusta Chronicle praises the club chairman for lashing out at Tiger Tuesday:
I can tell you that there was not a writer in the room who wished he hadn't penned those words him- or herself. It was an eloquent summation of the whole saga.
It was certainly the strongest public statement rebuking Woods since Parnevik apologized for introducing Woods to his future wife, Elin, for thinking "he was a better guy than he is." Payne obviously doesn't have to worry about offending Woods and causing him to take the Masters off his schedule.
It was a fatherly sort of scolding, expressing disappointment while offering hope. It definitely sent a message that the club is as disturbed as the rest of us with Woods' behavior.
George Vecsey offers a very different view of Payne's remarks in a column titled, "Thanks for the Tasteless Sermon."
Sounding like a caller on some bad sports-talk radio show, Billy from Augusta dredged up the drama that has been going on since Thanksgiving night. He came armed with a statement about a golfer scheduled to tee off Thursday and make a lot of money for Billy Payne’s people.
Rather than perform for these people, Woods should have picked up his ball and headed down the highway, get about the real business of his life, which is rehabilitation and trying to save his marriage.
Payne, who ran the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, is now the moral voice of the Masters, or still was as this was being typed. The board members had not yet hauled him off for doing something worse than streaking amidst the azaleas.
“His future will never again be measured only by his performance against par, but measured by the sincerity of his effort to change,” Payne continued. “I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants this swing, but would settle for his smile.”
Who asked him? Who really asked him? Perhaps Payne was busy in recent weeks and missed Woods’s somber demeanor as he discussed his return to golf after revelations of his multiple affairs. We know all this, dude. The mark of a gentleman is not to jump all over somebody in a precarious spot.
But Payne could not let up.
Vecsey also asked, "Just asking, but would Payne have been so quick to deliver his little sermon to a white golfer who was caught straying?"
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 06:36 AM
Reader Comments (29)
Payne had no business dressing down a player the day before the tournament. That's totally bush league.
Payne's remarks were especially timely given the premier of that treacle of a TV spot from that Portland, OR company, Which between them rang of more truth? The briefly spoken moral perspective or the tortured, inane words of a dead womanizer?
Defending sexual perversion and attacking common sense and decency is difficult but you have done it. Perhaps you need to go to a clinic also. You have destroyed the respect I had for you. I held your columns in high regard but now think of you as odd, in the worse sense. Bizarre. Go have a drink with Spitzer and talk about how things ought to be. He’ll fit right with you.
Vescey - here is what the 99% of the world would say about decency:
Scott Michaux in the Augusta Chronicle:
I can tell you that there was not a writer in the room [George Vescey must not have been in the room] who wished he hadn't penned those words him- or herself. It was an eloquent summation of the whole saga. It was certainly the strongest public statement rebuking Woods since Parnevik apologized for introducing Woods to his future wife, Elin, for thinking "he was a better guy than he is." Payne obviously doesn't have to worry about offending Woods and causing him to take the Masters off his schedule. It was a fatherly sort of scolding, expressing disappointment while offering hope. It definitely sent a message that the club is as disturbed as the rest of us [excluding Spitzer, Geo. Vescey and few odd ones] with Woods' behavior.
I will add - Thank God Wm. C. Rhoden is still around.
jb
First question: Is there a particular reason why only one of the articles mentioned above is blessed with a link?
Second question: Why don't we just resolve this whole situation and have each of the golfers sign personal behavior pledges just like they sign their scorecards at the end of each round.
I'll let Geoff answer the first question, but the second I'll take a stab at. The reason is that, there would be no golf tournaments, sporting events and probably not much human interaction at all. Billy Payne's moralistic screed from the podium of a club that barely lets racial minorities join, doesn't let women join and is the shining symbol on the hill of unabashed privilege needs to STFU when it comes to commenting on other people's morals even if I agree with him.
As to the race thing brought up in Vescey's article. I think it's impossible to say whether race is playing a role in the super-sized coverage of Mr. Woods. But how much more flesh are we going to ask of this guy? He's admitted he was out of control and if true, I'd definitely qualify sleeping with your neighbor's daughter (perfectly legal and criminally stupid) as being out of control. And while it satisfies our prurient interests, I don't see anyone tracking down the list of Eliot Spitzer's prostitute trysts, or David Vitters's, or Michael Jordan's or Charles Barkley's. And don't give me the excuse that it's because of the holier than thou image, because Jesse James's chicks are surfacing all over the place and that dude never attempted to sell us a wholesome image. But perhaps that's it? Maybe the folks doing the most criticizing have seen Tiger Woods the golfer and Jesse James, the tatooed, bada**, bike-builder as the same type of person? Or maybe, this is just how we're going to treat the personal lives of the rich and famous this way from now on. Incredibly, I'm beginning to feel more sickened by the incessant moral flogging than I am the by the actual lousy behavior.
I thought it was pithy and appropriate.
I also think that there is a lesson to be learned from Bobby Jones, the now revered founder of the Masters, who by all accounts had a boorish demeanor and hot temper in his early years.
I mean, Tiger never broke a club and walked off in a huff at St. Andrews...can you imagine the uproar if he were to do that? Well Jones did and lived to become a beloved, respected icon of the game.
Payne also included in the statement the point about second chances, probably knowing Jones went through a similar re birth resulting in control of his temper and mastery of the game.
Lip Out: what is wrong with you? you think there is something wrong with people who like to have sex? You've got a weird sense of humanity buddy. If you want to rant on the morals of a married guy cheating on his wife, OK, but to say something is wrong with someone for wanting to boff hot, young, LEGAL, chicks - makes me think you are the one who has something wrong with him.
"All the news thats fit to tint."
Don't let Jack's record hit you on the ass on the way out...
Several orders of magnitude?
Don't think so.
Completely irrelevant. Even if he had, Payne hasn't made millions off the back of a squeaky clean image. That's the difference Average Golfer.
Still, I find myself in agrement with Geroge Vecsey. If Augusta was really disapproving of Tiger, they might have not invited him. But once invited, it seems a bit presumptuous to lecture him on national television.
I'm not at all comfortable with having the press massaging Tiger while Billy Payne scolds him. Seems backward. The golfing press ought to be eating Tiger for a late Monday lunch, making him answer hard questions. And Billy Payne ought to be answering questions about the club and the course. Instead, we have the golf writers lobbing softballs to Tiger, while the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club dishes out moral advice for raising children.
I would not put anything past the ego of Tiger Woods, including trying to discredit The Masters because the chairman slighted him. Robert Tyre Jones he is not.
If you think Billy Payne has the pull that Tiger Woods has, I have a bridge for sale that you should see. See the Nielsen ratings on Sunday if Tiger contends for further information. The guy is the biggest media draw of any kind in the world. You can probably count the number of people who are more famous than him on one hand. That is what "several orders of magnitude" means. Billy Payne is an important man...but he's no Tiger Woods.
Is this suppose to make me feel like Augusta National and its members have put the little boy in his corner and scolded him. Am I suppose to feel that Augusta and its members are the moral compass of the nation?
But, isn't Payne the Chairman at Augusta National? Why, his club is about to make millions (more) off of this toonamint and his statements surely seem to suggest a squeaky clean image.
How about the squeaky clean image of the IOC and the Atlanta Olympic committee? Come to think of it, Payne has probably paid for a lot of IOC folks to have them some sex.
Pot, kettle. Kettle, Pot.
Nevertheless, they do say timing is everything. Had it not occurred to you that Payne merely made these remarks to throw Woods off-balance ... an Augusta-style punishment if you like? Not that that made any difference of course! Well, it wouldn't, would it, to a narcissistic control freak like Tiger Woods?
Yet they (ANGC) opened the press conference with a statement saying that "there will be no limitations oin what can be asked" and ended Wednesday by issuing a WELL-DESERVED rebuke to Tiger at a time when the golf press was being criticized in some corners for taking it too easy on Tiger on Monday...
Mr. Payne was correct and hisw words , spoken on BEHALF of the ANGC and its membership, were well-chosen and correct. They also were not this "horrid rebuke" that is being portrayed throughout the media. In fact, one member of the media in the room stated on a radio show that he didn't even pay attention to what was said until others writers came up to him and asked hime, "Did Payne really say what i think he did?"
He responded with, "What are you talking about..."