Bishopsgate - Day Five

Jaime Diaz is in the building.  Not literally of course, but golf's finest writer not named Jenkins has a piece at GolfWorld that fills in the time line of Bishopsgate, and things get curioser and curioser...

Like me, you've probably been wondering why the man would insert himself into a blue-on-blue fracas:

Those festering feelings became heightened last week as Bishop was spending a few

days with Nick Faldo at the six-time major winner's golf academy at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Things came to a head last Thursday night after Bishop had seen Ian Poulter's autobiography that included sharp criticism of Faldo's captaincy of the European team at the 2008 Ryder Cup.

"I've become friends with Nick and seen the great work he does with kids," Bishop says, "so when I saw another player from today's game showing a lack of respect for an icon of the sport, my emotions absolutely got the best of me. My comments were directed totally in that vein."

The alliteratively festering feelings were that the PGA had  abandoned Captain Watson after the loss at Gleneagles and the notorious presser.  The reader can decide for him or herself how much credit is deserved for the underlying motivation to "protect" a friend.  And for those curious as to his state of mind mid-tweet, there's this:

Bishop had no second thoughts about his choice of words for more than an hour. But before joining his party for a 7:30 dinner at the hotel, Bishop went into a restroom and, while checking his phone, saw tweets calling him a sexist. 

"To be honest with you, there was no hesitation when I typed 'Lil Girl,' " Bishop says. "Because I kind of grew up in a generation where when my dad hit ground balls to me in the back yard, if I pulled my head up, he told me I was fielding like a girl. But in that restroom at The Greenbrier, the light went on, and I thought, Oh my God, I didn't even think about that. How stupid could I be? I felt like throwing up." Bishop adds: "I was for inclusion of women in the R&A and for their equality in the game. I'm not a sexist."

I'm mortified every time my 93-year old father calls a waitress Hon, but there is a generational aspect to this no doubt.  

For me there's two additional takeaways from the Diaz piece.  First, as per this excerpt, the PGA quickly morphed into the CDC and isolated Bishop from the press:

Bishop immediately erased the offending tweet and post. On his way to his table, he received a call from the PGA of America's senior director of communications, Julius Mason. Bishop said Mason told him that Golf Channel had asked the president to appear on "Morning Drive" to address his social-media mistakes. "But Julius said that the PGA had spoken internally and thought I would be better off not doing any interviews," Bishop says. "Julius said, 'Let us release a statement on your behalf.' " 

Mason subsequently released a statement that read, "Ted realized that his post was inappropriate and promptly removed it." Bishop recalls seeing it and telling his wife, "You know, I'm not crazy about this. There's no quote from me, and there's no remorse in this whatsoever."

There's more, but to be fair I do think that we have to strike the allegation that he didn't show remorse.  The there's this:

From l-r, Bevaqua, Sprague, Bishop and an unidentified man at the Ryder Cup.

Later, in a private call, Bishop says that Sprague told him whether he resigned or was removed by the board, he would be unable to serve as an honorary president, would never be recognized as a past president, but could continue as a PGA member.

"I said, 'Wow,' " Bishop recalled. Rather than resign, he decided to make a statement to the 21-person board in a 4 p.m. teleconference. "I apologized to the board, reiterated that I had very much wanted to make a public apology. And I said I don't think the punishment fits the crime. And that doesn't mean I don't have remorse for what I did. Trust me, I abused my platform. I know I made a huge mistake. I'm the first to say that. I let my personal feelings for two guys get in my way, and used a bad choice of words in trying to convey my frustration." 

The statement was over in five minutes. Bishop says he received no feedback or comments, recused himself from further proceedings and hung up. About an hour later, after sources say the vote came in with no votes in favor of Bishop retaining office, Sprague called Bishop, urging him to resign. "If I do that, I make it easy for the PGA of America," Bishop said he answered. 

Bishop says Sprague then said, "Well, it will save your career, save your reputation." Bishop says he adamantly responded, "No it won't. My reputation has already been ruined. As far as my career, I'm going back to run my golf facility [The Legends]. I'm not going to run for another office in the PGA. So there's nothing in it for me to resign."

I like that "Resign or we'll fire you" threat, and either way you'll be a non-person for the rest of your career.  I do have one quibble with Jaime over this, which just happens to be his lede:

As Ted Bishop began recounting the details of the 22-hour period in which his presidency of the PGA of America—commonly considered the most transformative in the organization's history—swiftly unraveled last Friday, it didn't escape him that his demise was entwined with the event that he had hoped would bring his tenure its culminating glory: the Ryder Cup.

I'm not so sure about that "Commonly considered" point, as I've discussed previously.  I'd love to

have a beer with Jaime and hear his case for transformation, which seem to largely rest on having fought a losing battle over anchored putters.

What's crystallized in my thinking in the last day or so is that the tweet and Facebook posts were inappropriately undignified for the CEO of a major golf organization, who should maintain his dignity (there's that word again) and stay above the petty fray of a Euro Ryder Cupper and his former Captain.  We don't expect our CEO's to engage in social media locker room taunts, and he made the classic mistake of punching down.  But the sexism angle is a really thin reed....

But Ted made some people unhappy, whether it was his outspokenness during his term or his all-in bet on Tom Watson, but when presented with an opportunity to publicly humiliate him they seized it with gusto.  

Now that we've got that out of the way, shall we return to our main objective in life, that being to make fun of the New York Times?  Karen Crouse weighs in with her weekly golf piece on Sunday and it's non-stop giggles:

All you need to know about golf in the 21st century is that Lucy Li and Ted Bishop were two of 2014’s biggest newsmakers in the sport. At 11, Li became the youngest player, male or female, to compete in this country’s showcase event and acquitted herself honorably on the same Pinehurst No. 2 course that the week before had chewed up and spit out the likes of the men’s major winners Bubba Watson and Jason Dufner. 

The diminutive Li made big girls everywhere proud by competing in that event, the United States Women’s Open. Bishop, the ousted P.G.A. of America president, reminded big girls everywhere of golf’s ingrained sexism. When Bishop chose to disparage one man, the English golfer Ian Poulter, on Twitter by calling him a “little girl,” he effectively demeaned all women, including his own two daughters and granddaughter.

Karen, the fact that you think he demeaned all women should be your first clue that you've been marinating in the culture of the Times for far too long.  

Bishop, who was removed by the P.G.A. board with one month left in his two-year term, may have been childish to engage Poulter, who had written critically of two of the sport’s legendary male players, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo, on social media. But make no mistake: His choice of pejoratives is so common in country club golf’s social circles that it very likely was not a salvo that stirred debate during cocktail hour.

Yes, it is very common, so perhaps taking to the fainting couch is a tad, you know, overwrought?  And that fact, as discussed yesterday, that women also call us little girls a mitigating factor?

It was telling how many people in the game were slow to react to Bishop’s comments. The L.P.G.A. waited until after Bishop’s forced departure before releasing a statement that said, in part, “With so many positive gains being made among golf’s leading organizations, there is simply no room, nor willingness, to take a step backwards.”

Gee Karen, I didn't realize it was a timed event.  I don't know, maybe unlike the Times they didn't think that the Republic was threatened by the tweet, or perhaps they were even willing to accept an apology for a social medi faux pas?  But at Times we can't allow that, can we?  Because that would threaten our mandate of arbiter of social norms...

Sheesh, and by the way, it took the Time 72 hours to opine on the story, so they don't even meet their own manufactured standards of responsiveness.  Read it if you must, but I hate to give her any hits on that nonsense on stilts.