As a longtime reader of Golfweek I received this “sorry”email notification regarding the cover that is coing out with the “noose” image. I have followed this story over the last few weeks and with some interest. While I know the reference to lynching Tiger Woods was made, aplogies offered and accepted, the most interesting issue is how long the media will continue to run and re-run this story for the shock value that it symbolizes. I suspect Tiger would like this to all go away, regardless of his friendhsip with Kelly or not. But, the media, and maybe I am one at this point, will continue to probe and ask and question and ridicule as long as it sells magazines, newspapers and provides fodder for radio and television.

I wonder who is not going to come to the defense of the poor fired editor? What about the graphic artist? Couldn’t he/she have said “no”?

And, of course I think using the word “sorry” isn’t a very sincere way of apologizing. It’s almost as if they are saying: “We’re sorry we didn’t get away with it.” Plus “management” really doesn’t acept any responsibility for the cover going out. That is pretty sorry even if the tenor of the posting was meant to assure the readers of better systems being put in place so this type of sorry pandering doesn’t occur again.

‘We’re sorry.’

Dear Golfweek reader,

We’re sorry. We made a grievous error.

The graphic image of a noose in the Jan. 19 issue of Golfweek offended our readers, customers, advertisers and people who’d never previously heard of our magazine. For that, we sincerely apologize.

The decision to publish this cover image, which was intended to illustrate a story about the much-talked-about suspension of Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman for a controversial comment said during the Mercedes-Benz Championship, caused an outcry of harsh criticism. It was a story placed on the cover after dedicating four pages of thorough, balanced reporting to the subject.

We made a big mistake. Dave Seanor, the editor who chose the cover image, was fired. (Senior management above Seanor did not view the cover before it was published.) And Golfweek’s solid reputation built on more than 30 years of being a leading publication was damaged.

No organization can experience adversity such as this and remain unchanged; so it is for Golfweek. We are examining our policies, procedures and practices to ensure sensitivity, responsibility and adherence. And we are recommitting ourselves to being golf’s news leader and to covering the many facets of a game so many of you love. We share that passion for the game and what it represents.

There are no degrees to offending people. We now begin a new mission to re-earn your trust. To restore your loyalty. To regain your confidence. And we move ahead determined that an episode like this one will not happen again. We hope that you will not dismiss three decades of diligent and dedicated work with one bad choice.

Please accept our apology.

Thank you.

William P. Kupper Jr.
President
Turnstile Publishing Co.

Woody Austin greatly enlivened the President’s Cup while displaying a great golf ability. Under the “Don’t take yourself too seriously” banner, Woody dons goggles to play the 14th hole he had fallen into the day before. This will be a highlight for years along with his splash into the lake. Can’t keep a good man down.

And after he did this, he birdied the final 3 holes to get a tie in the match. Great job Woody!

Watching Tiger Woods playing over the last 3 weeks has been truly awesome. Mixed in with some great play by Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker (in particular), Rory Sabitini, and Steve Verplank the FedEx Cup was actually more entertaining that I first thought it would.

Saturday at East Lake was particularly inspired with the play of Geoof Olgilvy (62) and by Zach Johnson’s 60. Who says low scores aren’t fun to watch. But none of them could do much more than creep up on Tiger’s 63 for the day… and none could duplicate their scores of Saturday to make a run on Sunday.

Tiger’s 2007 season with the 7 wins could have been even more spectacular if not for putting well at the Master’s and the US Open.

And the scary part is he looks more comfortable driving the golf ball than ever. If he continues to hit 60-70% of the fairways as he has in this latest run, look out even more. Another amazing stat that came out this week: Tiger is#1 in closest to the hole from 150-175 yards and from 175-200 yards on tour. He doesn’t even need a driver, so what happens when he really gets comfortable as he is now?

Scott Bess is a long, long time friend of mine. We started playing golf together when we were about 15 or 16 years old. Scott was #1 on my Hickman High School golf team and was a big part of the team winning 3 state titles in a row. My senior year we won the title by 13 strokes, beating Tom Watson’s team by 27 strokes, they were favored to win. Yes, it was that Tom Watson. Scott finished 2nd in the state behind Tom, Jeff Smith and I finished tied for 7th and Tom Dersham, finished 12th in the state. We pretty much lapped everyone that year.

Scott was also the only golfer to beat Tom in the Missouri State Amateur tournament that Tom started winning when he was about 17 or 18 years old. Watson won 5 out of 6 years, only being beaten by Scott.

After college Scott turned pro and has been playing and working in the golf industry his whole life. And he is funny.

He sent this to me today and I couldn’t resist posting it:

“I was thinking to myself the other day that it had been so long since I had a hole-in-one, that I couldn’t remember the last one.  Somebody asked me how many I had and I said 6, then later remembered another to make 7.  To be clear, I was thinking that almost every day in the paper somebody has one at a nearby course, and I was feeling left out.

In short, I guess I need to keep my hole-in-one stories to myself, but I had to tell somebody!  S”

Can’t wait for your 9th one!

Many true statements are included in this exhaustive research work to capture the essence of the insanity of golf:

Don’t buy a putter until you’ve had a chance to throw it.

Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.

When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.

If you’re afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.

The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.

No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.

The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to c ompensate for all of your many other errors.

If it ain’t broke, try changing your grip.

Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Stricker had to birdie 4 of the last 5 holes to end his tournament drought of 146 tournaments over the last 6.5 years. He is really a great guy who knocked on the door all summer at major venues. Besides winning $1,260,000, Stricker also moved up to Number 1 in the FedEx standings. He is followed by K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbitini and then the no-showing Tiger Woods.

The next 3 weeks could be really fun watching Tiger try to win the season ending tournament. One thing you can say is that a number of PGA players are playing quite well now, making the watching even more fun.

Great job Steve and good luck at the President’s Cup!

For the entire article at Golfweek.com, click here.

 What a great story! Blind for 26 years as a result of diabetes, Sheila Drummond made a hole-in-one on the 144 yar,d par-three fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club, near Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Now for all of you guys who bemoan never making a hole-in-one… there is hope. For all of the pros we so lavishly cover, this story is mch more inspring than anything you have done recently. So, congratulations to Sheila!

Blind Golfer Sinks Hole-In-One

“(CBS/AP) For an ordinary golfer, the odds of hitting a hole-in-one are more than 12,000 to 1.

But that’s nothing compared with the astronomical odds against one golfer in eastern Pennsylvania.

No matter, Sheila Drummond beat them anyway.

She didn’t need to see her hole-in-one. She heard it.

Drummond, blinded by diabetes 26 years ago, experienced the highlight of her golfing career Sunday, recording an ace on the 144-yard, par-three fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club, near Lehighton, Pa.

Playing with her husband and coach, Keith, and two friends in a steady drizzle, and using her signature pink ball, the 53-year-old Drummond hit a driver on the hole. The shot cleared a water hazard, flew between traps and landed on the green, where it hit the flagstick before dropping into the hole. ”

For the entire article, click here.

Siting a body that is depleted from winning two tournaments in a row including his 13th major, Tiger stiffed the first leg of the Fed Ex Cup. Like Boo Weekley: “I can’t do the math”, I don’t know if that means Tiger has no chance of winning the season ending tournament that has been a source of season long touting by the PGA. But I’m not sure it matters. Tiger is number 1 and doesn’t need the annuity money being offered. He has such market power he didn’t even need American Express as a sponsor any longer. Who else on tour can say that.

So here we are at the end of another great PGA season and football season starts, so everyone runs to buy a big screen TV to see helmets clashing, not birdies dropping.

BTW: where are all of the birdies on the PGA tour. Making the courses harder has not enhanced the viewers interest. Who wants to see over par golfing anyway.

And boy did they ever Tiger-proof the courses. With a little luck putting, he would have run away with all 4 majors. Think about that for a change and the fact that he is really entering his physical and mental peaks.

Truly, Jack Nicklaus is his only competitor.