When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Issued by the Australian Open folks:
STATEMENT FROM ADAM SCOTT
I take this opportunity to address the comments that were made by my caddy, Steve Williams, at the Annual Caddy Awards Dinner this week in Shanghai, and the subsequent media reporting.
I want it made very clear that I do not support nor condone racism. I believe there is absolutely no room for racial discrimination in any walk of life, including the game of golf.
I have discussed this matter directly with Steve and he understands and supports my view on this subject. I also accept Steve's apology, knowing that he meant no racial slur with his comments.
On behalf of my team, I apologize personally to everyone that was offended by the reported comments. Please accept this apology so we can all move on.
I now consider the matter closed. I will not be making any further comment.
So, let me get this straight. The PGA Tour does not comment on disciplinary matters, which was reaffirmed yesterday in the Steve Williams matter. Today, the PGA Tour and European Tour Commissioners Tim Finchem and George O'Grady issue a statementsaying "We are aware he has apologised fully and we trust we will not hear such remarks again."
Iain Carter reports on the rest, which sounds like teachers scolding 5th graders:
Their statement added: "The International Federation of PGA Tours feels strongly there is no place for any form of racism in ours or any other sport.
"We consider the remarks of Steve Williams, as reported, entirely unacceptable in whatever context.
"We are aware he has apologised fully and we trust we will not hear such remarks again. Based on this, we consider the matter closed and we will have no further comment."
Doug Ferguson says Adam Scott was shown the statement after his 73 Sunday and is not concerned the story will linger.
The following week is the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, where Scott and Woods - or is that Williams and Woods? - could face each other in any of the four days of competition.
Scott tried to deflect speculation that he could be walking into a frenzy Down Under.
"Hopefully, it's just for my good play rather than anything else. I don't think there's a story going forward," he said, adding that "the matter has been put to bed and I've got nothing more to talk about it with anyone. So I'm moving on."
And we do seem to have different takes on which version of a--hole was used (or was it ar--hole..inquiring minds want to know!).
When asked if he used the words "black a***hole" he initially denied using the racially motivated language: "I did not say those two words."
However, he refused to clarify exactly what he did say on stage at the event, attended by more than 100 top players, caddies and golfing officials.
"Things get taken out of context," he said.
Regarding the context, these comments from Greg Turner probably best sum things up.
However, former New Zealand No1 Greg Turner said he did not think Williams could survive the media backlash, particularly in the United States.
"I can't see this ending well. There's some things you can't get away with and this is one of them. I have been trying to think of a context that might have been acceptable but can't come up with anything. I think this is a pretty big one," he said.
Doug Ferguson, filing from Shanghai, tracks down Tiger Woods agent Mark Steinberg for comment on Steve Williams' racially provocative remarks.
Slate's Seth Stevenson tries to better understand why Rolex would sign Tiger Woods and ends up profiling the company, revealing many interesting and surprising things about this $5 billion company.
Privately held since its formation in 1905, Rolex is a notoriously tight-lipped company. It doesn't release revenue figures, or explain leadership transitions. (It had a total of three CEOs from 1905 until 2008, when then-CEO Patrick Heiniger resigned under mysterious circumstances.) Even the corporate structure is a bit murky. Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf died childless in 1960, leaving control of his company to a charitable foundation he'd established. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation runs Rolex to this day. When I emailed a polite-but-elliptical media-relations woman to ask whether Rolex is essentially a nonprofit, and who the foundation’s major beneficiaries are, she responded with this sentence: "The principal focus of the foundation is to support a variety of philanthropic endeavors."
And regarding the Tiger signing, Stevenson concludes it all comes down to the Asian markets.
Instead, he argues, this move is in large part about Asia. That’s where the growth in luxury watches will come from in the future. Right now, Rolex’s nemesis Omega dominates China—Omega is the other “mass class,” entry-level luxury timepiece—simply because it’s better-established there. Rolex hopes that Tiger, with his Thai mother, will be demographic catnip for the golf-obsessed Asian market.
In Emily Kay's item on James Driscoll reluctantly looking to the belly putter, there was this about his fellow Sean Foley accolyte and Medalist member.
Despite the mass migration to what are quickly becoming conventional blades, Driscoll believes one golfer fans will never see with one is Tiger Woods.
“He was giving me a hard time for practicing with it a couple of weeks ago,” said Driscoll, who shares Woods’ swing coach, Sean Foley, and is a long-time member of Woods’ new course, Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. “He said he’d never go to the long putter. He has tried it and says he just can’t stroke it.”
Robert Lusetich explains the various backstories in the Norman-Woods-Couples-triangle. Oh, and perhaps why Robert Allenby's name got dragged into the drama too.
Perhaps it’s not surprising, given the bad blood between Norman and Woods, dating to when they shared coach Butch Harmon. Sharing’s a difficult proposition for two men accustomed to getting their way.
“Tiger and Greg don’t speak,” said a source who knows both well. “There’s a lot of animosity between them.”
Indeed, one reason Woods wanted the word spread about the course-record 62 he shot at the Medalist course in Jupiter, Fla., a few weeks ago is that Norman’s best score on the course he co-designed is 64.
It was a classic retaliation at the Great White Shark’s declaration a week beforehand that Woods would never win another major.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
