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Tour avoided ugly incident
Posted: Monday June 19, 2000 12:55 PM
WILMINGTON, Del. -- Even though a week has passed, allowing matters to settle, there is probably still some mudslinging going on concerning the preferred-lies/player-boycott episode in Rochester two Sundays ago. In my lifetime, I have seen basketball, baseball and football players go on strike, but I never imagined that golfers, let alone the normally conservative, not-outspoken LPGA version, would one day threaten to walk the picket line. But on June 11, led by Annika Sorenstam, the LPGA's version of Jimmy Hoffa, the tournament almost had a second cut of the weekend with many of the big names packing their bags early. This whole escapade started during the first round when several players were upset about finding mud on their balls in certain fairways. Recently, the LPGA asked the players to put in writing any complaints they had about the way tournaments are being run. So they did just that. After the round the players started a petition. Even the eventual winner of the Wegman's Rochester International, Meg Mallon, added her John Hancock, injecting a little humor by including a new middle name -- "Mudball." But the LPGA officials found nothing funny about the petition or the new nickname. "They didn't have to start a petition," said LPGA official Sue Witters. "If they would have just come and talked to us we would have listened." Well, as it turned out, only a threat to not play the final round made the LPGA change its mind. On Friday and Saturday, on holes 1, 3 and 6, in particular, players were still landing in mud, some even came up plugged, but with no relief in site. If this were the PGA Tour, the men would not only have been playing clean and place, but officials would have passed out tees and ball polish. Last year, the men did so 29 times while the ladies were allowed to shine up their balls and get a good lie only thrice. While the women understand the notion that they all must play under the same conditions, their concern is with the public's perception of their abilities. The hardest part of hitting a mud-laden ball is that the player doesn't have a clue where it is going to go. An old golf adage says that if the mud is on the left the ball will fly right, and if the mud is on the right it will fly left. But when the balata looks like an 8-ball, it could go anywhere. So when the ball is sailing into backyards and bunkers, and not toward its intended target, fans aren't saying, "Oh, there was mud on the ball." Instead, as one player put it, they're saying, "Oh, they are just ladies. They can't play." And that's why, two Sundays ago, after a thunderstorm had doused Locust Hill Country Club, Sorenstam held a town meeting on the putting green. Sorenstam and her allies, who included Karrie Webb and Betsy King, were making more noise than the thunder from the sky. "We are sticking together on this," Sorenstam told the group of 15 players waiting for a decision. "We are not going back out there unless we play the ball up." After a brief meeting with the three player members of the Executive Committee and a consultation with Barb Trammell, the head of tournament operations for the LPGA, the officials decided to invoke the preferred-lies rules. While some will view this mini-protest as another illustration of overpriced crybabies, that most certainly isn't the case. Golf has become an entertainment business more than a sport. Fans come out to see birdies and eagles. They don't come out to see bogeys -- they can see plenty of those at their own clubs. Instead, the players should be applauded for sticking up for their values and the integrity of their organization, and so should the tour for listening. Because had this argument escalated into a final-round mass exodus there still would have been mud -- on everyone's face. Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, caddies for Sara Sanders on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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