Staining golf’s image

ESPN – Golfweek cover image more damaging than original comment – Golf
Last week, Kelly Tilghmans “lynch [Tiger Woods] in a back alley” comment occurred during the course of a live, four-hour telecast on the Golf Channel, blurted in response to analyst Nick Faldos estimation that the worlds younger players would need to “gang up” on the No. 1-ranked man in order to defeat him at a major championship. Using the term “lynch” was undoubtedly a poor choice of words and, in the minds of many, an inexcusable offense.

The situation immediately transcended the game of golf — and sport entirely — becoming a sociological hot-button topic, as parties took sides on whether the word was a blatant breach of civil rights conduct or political correctness gone horribly astray.

The latest fragment of this controversy to hit the fray is the most recent issue of Golfweek magazine — and its worthy of discussion because there was a viable thought process behind it. As part of a package of stories on the controversy, the publication used the image of a noose on the cover of its Jan. 19 issue, complete with headline “Caught in a Noose.”

Simply put, the cover image is classless. We can debate for eternity whether it was offensive, childish, journalistically irresponsible or all three, but its difficult to argue that the cover-image selection wasnt in extremely poor taste.

The editor’s gone. What was he thinking?