TIGER, NOOSES & GOLFWEEK

January 18th, 2008 · No Comments

You have got to be kidding me!

What the hell about this cover actually made the editor think that this would be alright!

My God! We need serious racial intervention in this country.

Check out an excerpt from the story in AP today:

Reaction Intense to Magazine Cover
By DOUG FERGUSON

(AP) The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week’s issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word “lynch” in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.

“We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn’t anticipate the enormity of it,” Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

“There’s been a huge, negative reaction,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails. It’s a little overwhelming.”

Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be “outrageous and irresponsible.”

“It smacks of tabloid journalism,” Finchem said in a statement. “It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”

Kelly Tilghman was suspended for two weeks because of comments she made during the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, when she and analyst Nick Faldo were discussing young challengers to Woods.

Faldo suggested that “to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up (on him) for a while.”

“Lynch him in a back alley,” Tilghman replied.

Tilghman said she apologized directly to the world’s No. 1 player, and Woods’ agent issued a statement that said it was a non-issue.

Seanor said editors at the magazine debated several choices for a cover, and he took responsibility for the noose. The title of the cover is “Caught in a Noose,” with a sub-title, “Tilghman slips up, and Golf Channel can’t wriggle free.”

Asked if he regretted the cover, Seanor paused before answering.

“I wish we could have come up with something that made the same statement but didn’t create as much negative reaction,” he said. “But as this has unfolded, I’m glad there’s dialogue. Let’s talk about this, and the lack of diversity in golf.”

He denied the cover was an attempt to sell more magazines, noting that Golfweek is 99 percent subscriptions.

“I was a little shocked by the commissioner’s reaction,” he said. “It was rather strong, particularly from someone who rarely comments on things on his own tour.”

The day after Tilghman was suspended, Finchem said it was clear the Golf Channel was “was taking this unfortunate incident very seriously.”

“Over the years, many PGA Tour players and staff have had the chance to get to know Kelly,” he said. “Knowing her, her comment seems to us to be very uncharacteristic and we believe it was completely inadvertent. We have no reason to believe that she was intentionally malicious in her remark.”

Golfweek is one of two weekly magazines devoted entirely to golf.

Golf World, coincidentally put on its cover this week a photo of Bill Spiller, one of the black pioneers in the sport, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his push to integrate the PGA Tour.