First the Noose, Next the Muzzle?

2008 is the year that drug testing comes to golf, something unimaginable only a few years ago. It also seems that this will be the year when rampant political correctness will finally take hold in this most civil of games. First, we have The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman hit with a two week suspension for joking that young players may have to resort to lynching Tiger Woods in an alley. Now, Golfweek has gotten a taste of PC for depicting a noose on the cover of the very issue that contains their report on the Tilghman/ Golf Channel Affair.

Lost in all of this is the question of judgment. Last week I wrote about the fact that given time to deliberate and act fairly The Golf Channel instead opted to pander to the partisans and pundits rather than stand by one of their most respected commentators. This week shows that Golfweek's judgment is a little dodgy as well. One has to assume that there were more than two heads in the room when they chose the Noose motif for the January 19th issue.

I judge Golfweek less harshly than The Golf Channel for some of the same reasons that I think has made Tilghman a scapegoat. The folks at Golfweek had no ill intent when they chose the noose. Their mistake was to see themselves as above the fray as reporters. While I am not sure they were correct, I can understand their thinking. By contrast, The Golf Channel's actions were self-preserving, nothing more.

The fact is that only Tilghman's actions are wholly understandable. As a human being who is paid to talk she made a poor choice of words. I can only hope that the bold fraternity of golf writers don't find it all too easy to reach for the muzzle next.