Blaming The Messenger

On Thursday, Dustin Johnson's caddy, Bobby Brown, mixed up the time his golfer was scheduled to go off in his round. As a result, Johnson was about 40 minutes late and earned a two-stroke penalty. Halfway through the round Golf Channel reported the mix up and Jim Gray went out to get the story from Brown himself. From reports, it sounds as if Brown declined to talk about it with Gray while his golfer's round was still going on but in doing so he held the group up further, angering the other golfers in the threesome. This led to Brown and Gray getting into an expletive-laden shouting match at the conclusion of Dustin's round. Then today it was announced by Golf Channel that Gray would be removed from the rest of this weekend's coverage to avoid any further conflict. Because Gray only works for Golf Channel as a freelancer, it is not known when he might be back on the channel.

The reason Gray getting removed makes me uneasy is because I'm sure that Gray didn't just do this on his own and some producer sent him out there to get the story. In that regard, he was only doing his job. Caddies have a long tradition of shooting the course reporters a look or a hand signal as to what club is going to be used, so clearly there is no rules against them talking and I don't question why Gray would make an attempt to get the full story. Also, I'm sure Brown would have liked to have fully explained himself and what caused the mix-up. The thing is, that can't be conveyed as quickly as telling a reporter your guy is using a 7-iron. Brown can't be expected to conduct a full-scale interviews during a round and Gray should know that. The fact that it went on long enough to hold up the group makes me wonder if Gray was unwilling to take no for an answer. If that is the case then he was obviously in the wrong. Still, I don't think this warranted the Golf Channel removing him from tournament coverage for the weekend.

Working against Gray is his history. Between last summer's "The Decision", the long-standing resentment from some people who believed he ambushed Pete Rose during the announcement of the All-Century team at the 1999 All-Star Game and getting into it with Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin (and his wife) about Tiger Woods' role on the team last year, it is safe to say that public sentiment is probably not on his side. People seem to feel like Jim Gray will be relentless in trying to get a story, which can rub some people the wrong way. I'm not a fan of the 'gotcha' style of journalism, but Jim Gray has had a long career, so you can't really fault him for it. Still, this is golf and a certain level of etiquette is expected. I just hope Gray is eventually given a chance to redeem himself.

You Stay Classy, Tiger

On Sunday in Dubai, as his round was slowly disintegrating, Tiger Woods knelt behind a putt on the 15th green. While trying to figure out the line, Tiger turned his head to the right and fired off a quit spit. Immediately, the announcers went off on him, pointing out that this was both disgusting and disrespectful because there were other people on the course and now they might potentially have to putt through Tiger's spit. (Although, this was Dubai and it was 115 degrees outside. For all we know it evaporated before it hit the green.) Still, the European Tour agreed and fined Woods an undisclosed amount for it the next day, after which Tiger apologized through Twitter. But, because this is Tiger Woods we are talking about, the issue couldn't just be over after that. People have taken to the airwaves and blogs to either condemn Tiger as a petulant brat who doesn't respect the game or defend him as a human being who did absolutely nothing wrong because, hey, everyone spits. As with most things in life, I find myself landing somewhere in the middle.

I'll start off by saying that I am not a spitter. Those who say everyone spits on the golf course have never played a round with me. I have never understood why some people think athletic competition is an excuse to become part-camel. However, I have friends who spit when they golf and I'm not about to end our friendships over a little saliva. My issue is with the location. If you have to spit, you shouldn't be doing it on the green. Aim for the woods or the deep rough. I find it very ironic that Tiger was grouped with Sergio Garcia, who might have conducted the most disgusting act on a golf course when he spit into the cup after he picked up his ball. I think about spitting the same way I think about smoking - I don't care if you do it, but watch where your smoke is blowing. I don't care if you spit, but do it over in an area where a ball shouldn't be landing. As long as your spit isn't going to end up on mine or anyone else's ball then we don't have a problem.