The Choking Freaking Dogs' Wounds May Have Finally Healed

Randall Mell believes Meg Mallon's appointment as 2013 Solheim Cup captain was newsworthy because of her openness to a Dottie Pepper assistant captaincy, healing the lingering wounds from Pepper's honest (and accurate) assessment from the 2007 (get over it!) Cup telecast.

“I don’t know who my assistant captains will be yet,” Mallon said. “But I do believe Dottie Pepper should be a captain someday. I also strongly believe that anyone who is captain should be an assistant captain first. Whether it’s me who names her, or another captain after me, Dottie was the face of the U.S. Solheim Cup team in the ‘90s. She deserves to be captain.”

Mallon believes it’s time to welcome Pepper back into the Solheim Cup fold.

“I’m all about forgiveness, and I think both sides need to step forward to kind of have that healing happen, and it couldn’t happen soon enough for me,” Mallon said. “I’ve spent my whole career with Dottie, and I know her whole heart bleeds red, white and blue. She is so passionate about the Solheim Cup that sometimes that passion comes out in ways that have obviously hurt other people. But I still believe you can get over those hurts, and that she will be a captain someday.”

Pepper, 46, was visibly moved when told about Mallon’s comment.

“I don’t know what to make of it, but it’s terribly complimentary, and that means a lot to me,” Pepper told GolfChannel.com.

Update on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 06:28 PM by Geoff

**Here's the announcement video.

Comments

[rb]

Checking back..over half the US team from 2007 will be gone from the 2013 team...so most of the Chokin Freakin Dogs won't be around to choke again.

[gov. lepetomane]

Pepper's comment was not prudent. But I suspect it was no different from how she would have critiqued herself if she had similarly failed.
Golfers who cannot take this type criticism from ex-golfers who have been in the same arena (read: Johnny) need to develop a thicker skin.
Pepper is exactly what a Solheim-type team needs.

[Carl Spachler]

Spot on gov

[Chuck]

Meg Mallon is such a class act. She was a very good Solheim Cup team member and she will be a very good Solheim Cup captain. It is an oddity that current LPGA qualification rules are such that Meg Mallon hasn't qualified for the Hall of Fame despite two U.S. Opens and a stellar international record.

[smails]

Its not an oddity. Its how the rules work. The LPGA is the toughest H o F to get into. Anybody really want to tell me Vijay is a hall of famer?

I personally think it should take more than two majors to get into the HoF.

[smails]

And Dottie is the only Solheim Cup captain that will cause me to pay attention to the leadup.

No offense to Mallon-shes a great pick and her comments are courageous....but Dottie's a fighter, and she's on TV something like 20 weeks a year, which is 19 more then the whole LPGA tour, excluding the events they themselves pay to televise.

If those players who have blackballed her really want to grow the Solheim Cup, they'll use this opportunity to quietly get out of the way.

[Chuck]

Smails - The rules are the rules; no dispute. And let's face it; there are corollaries. Curtis Strange, Andy North, Lee Janzen. All 2-time winners of the U.S. Open. Strange is in the WGHoF; North and Janzen are not. I'd say that Meg Mallon is more "Curtis" than she is "North" or "Janzen."

And regarding Dottie Pepper -- I have no grudges there, either. I'd like very much for there to be a place for her on the team if that is what she wants. The only problem with that is that I sort of like her better as a commentator, for my own benefit, than as an assistant confined to the background.

[Colin MacGillivray]

Vijay was No 1, a more elite bunch than HOFers perhaps.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@smails: Yes.

34 TOUR wins (14th all-time)
9 other EPGAT wins
17 other miscellaneous wins
3 Majors
Vardon Trophy
3-time Leading Money Winner

Oh, yeah. And a FedEx Cup.

Is/was Vijay a pill? That's what they say. So what?

[smails]

Who did Mallon's wardrobe for the announcement?

[OWGR Fan]

@KLG..... Good stuff as always. Though Phil fans don't really want to hear/admit it VJ was really a bigger rival for Tiger in spite of what the media portrayed. In reality both VJ and Phil were nothing more than speed bumps to Tigers place in history in the game. Truth be told you can say Tiger never really had a rival on the PGA Tour from 1996-2009.

That said VJ at one time had the most wins on tour in events that Tiger played in (May still be correct. Perhaps Tom Ierubino can verify), Actually looked Tiger in the eye and took the number 1 world ranking away from Tiger (head to head in Boston) and also has the most wins on the PGA tour (outside of TW) from the time Tiger turned pro (32 to 30 - Phil won 9 times on tour before Tiger turned pro, VJ twice) over Phil and was a multiple time leading money winner and also player of the year. Levels Phil never reached and like will never reach. VJs 9 win season in 2004 is one of the least talked about great seasons in golf history. For anybody to insinuate VJ is not worthy of being in the golf HOF is foolish.