Rattled Love has man removed at fifth tee
I wasn't going to play anymore until somebody got kicked out, because he had already cost me a hole. I mean, I hit awful shots at two. I wasn't going to put up with it. I want to win and I want to play and I want to play fair. If his fans are pulling for him, I'm used to that. I've played with Fred Couples. Freddie is just as popular in California as Tiger Woods, but you can't have people picking on you.... I think it's our whole society," he said. "They don't respect what other people do, don't respect your elders, don't respect other people's space, don't' respect traditions or etiquette or customs. You see it in every sport, you see it walking down he street, not holding the door open for a lady when you're supposed to.
- Davis Love III
It's unfortunate that we are living in a time where that has changed quite a bit. You know, the past, I'm sure, 15, 20 years, it was never like that. Golf fans were excitable, but they weren't raucous and they didn't have to yell out just because the ball got airborne. We do have our names on the bags. We are pros. We can get the ball in the air.
- Tiger Woods
One of the truly striking differences between the game of golf as I play it and the way PGA professionals play the game is that I play in solitude. A PGA pro like Tiger Woods plays in front of thousands of prying (and sometimes drunk & obnoxious) eyes. If you've ever watched a golf tournament on television, and especially if you've been to one in person, you hear people going nuts for the simplest of things. Theme warning: Tiger Woods hits a shot, to be followed soon afterward by some maroon screaming "You da man, Tiger!!" at the top of his lungs. It's as predictable as death and taxes, and not nearly as interesting.
Golf used to be governed by a unspoken but well-understood code of conduct. The term "golf clap" is not just a euphemism, but a reflection of the restrained nature of the sport, as well as a recognition that there are other players plying their trade on other holes.
Since the appearance of John Daly and Tiger Woods, golf has experienced a new surge of popularity. This fact has it's good and bad points. The good side is that it has opened the game to segments of the population who previously may have thought that golf was an uncool game played by old men in plaid pants. The bad side is that the restraint that used to be inherent to the game is fraying at the edges. Bad behavior among fans is becoming less the exception and more the rule.
Perhaps Love is right. Perhaps this is a reflection of the general state of our society. Perhaps we are losing our collective sense of decor, restraint, and courtesy.
Professional golf is unlike any other sport in that the only barrier between player and fan is a thin white rope. On parts of the course, even that barrier is not present. When I was at the Samsung Championship at the TPC at the Woodlands last fall, I stood three feet from Grace Park as she hit a shot out of the rough. At several points, I could have reached out and touched Annika Sorenstam as she walked by. In our increasingly security-conscious society, this is truly an amazing anomaly.
Thankfully, on the back of each ticket is a disclaimer stating that fans can be removed from the grounds for egregious and disruptive conduct. Davis Love III was well within his rights to demand the moron be ejected. No, it's not going to solve the problems of our society, but at least someone took a stand. It's just too bad that it threw Love off his game and possibly cost him the match. Love deserved better.
