Golf’s Black Eye

     Sergio Garcia makes a “silly remark” about serving fried chicken to the world’s most famous black golfer, and shortly thereafter the top official of the European Tour makes a cheap reference to the many “coloreds” who are supposedly Garcia’s friends. And then, when the you-know-what hits the fan, Colin Montgomerie dismisses the social outrage as “making a mountain out of a molehill.”
     We all know that golf has a seamy side, but rarely is it visible in such painfully sharp relief.
     Racism is golf’s deep, dark secret, the one we dare not discuss, even when luminaries of golf serve it up on a platter. Indeed, the comedy of terrors created by Garcia had only been on the boil for a week before we were being advised to put it on the back burner. Garcia begged for mercy and expressed a desire “to settle things down and move on,” while George O’Grady, the CEO of the European Tour, noted that he’s already “moving on.” A cynical commentator might conclude that their statements had been scripted. Tim Dahlberg, a columnist for the Associated Press, went even farther, calling for “a moratorium on talking about race for a while” because of the great discomfort it brings us.
     But instead of moving on, maybe we should hold on. Now that Garcia has put fried chicken on our mental menu, it might be wise to consider exactly how much racism we’re willing to tolerate in our business. This is not a time to forgive and forget. This is golf’s Sandy Hook moment. Our industry has swept its rudest proclivities under the rug for decades, and where has it gotten us? The ugliness simply continues to simmer. Occasionally, someone like Garcia flips a switch and it boils over. Then we rinse and repeat. The nightmare never ends.
     The PGA and European tours are evidently willing to accept an occasional flare-up over fried chicken, even though Tiger Woods is their major meal ticket. O’Grady and Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, had what O’Grady described as “a very full and frank discussion” with Garcia after he made his nasty comment, and they came away persuaded that “he was trying to be funny.” As a result, they imposed no penalty on him whatsoever, not even a short suspension that might have looked good on the public-relations ledger. Garcia’s apology was apparently punishment enough. He may harbor thoughts that make some of us squirm, but that evidently shouldn’t compromise his bank account.
     Some of the checks cashed by Garcia come from TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company, as part of what’s reportedly an annual $7.86 million sponsorship deal. The company has called Garcia’s jab at Woods “offensive” and says that such attitudes don’t reflect its “values and corporate culture.” But let’s be serious for a minute. TaylorMade knows that Garcia is a traveling billboard not just for its products but for its image as well. Years ago, when Fuzzy Zoeller made a lame fried chicken joke at Woods’ expense, Kmart immediately understood that its customers aren’t likely to distinguish between the message and the messenger. It dumped Zoeller right away, and that took courage. When TaylorMade-adidas makes a final decision about its relationship with Garcia, we’ll get a true insight into what its “values and corporate culture” are really all about.
     Garcia made his “silly remark” at a public function, in the company of other professional golfers and his bosses from Europe and the United States. In a conversation with USA Today, a college professor said that Garcia “probably felt that the people he was with would not be offended” by his comments. That is, Garcia may have felt emboldened because he believed he was in a safe place, with like-minded people. If that’s how he was actually seeing things, the implications for our business are ominous.
     The professor may very well be right, however, because these days Garcia’s defenders and apologists are everywhere. One of them, Adam Fonseca of Yahoo! Sports, believes that Garcia has “poor taste in humor” and “poor judgment” and “should know better when speaking publicly.” Other observers have made similar statements, tacitly excusing Garcia’s racist predilections while focusing on the “poor judgment” he displayed in revealing them.
     Sadly, these writers are saying that it’s okay to have distasteful beliefs as long as you keep them to yourself. They’re suggesting that the appearance of race-related propriety is all golf really needs. But wouldn’t actual race-related propriety be preferable?
     Montgomerie wants us to believe that Garcia is a victim of political correctness run amok. Quizzed by a reporter from the Daily Record, Montgomerie confessed that he and his colleagues in golf are, as a result of the furor sparked by Garcia’s mean-spirited crack, “frightened to say anything. We’re scared to open our mouths in case we say something that isn’t kosher in 2013. Somebody should tell us what to say, because no one is quite sure what’s right and wrong.”
     This is utter nonsense. When it comes to race relations, we all know what is right and what is wrong. There is no confusion. No doubt, some people can’t yet accept the social changes that have occurred in recent decades, but the rest of us have become accustomed to working with black people, with living next door to black families, with our children having black friends. We long ago stopped thinking of African-Americans as “coloreds.” We’ve moved on.
     As for Garcia himself, in a public apology he said his caricature of Woods was “totally stupid and out of place.” Stupid, yes. But “out of place”? Where is the proper place to make stupid jokes about black people and fried chicken?
     Consider this: If Garcia is willing to go “fried chicken” in public, what vile utterances does he make in the privacy of his home?
     For years, the golf industry has claimed that it wishes to attract more minorities. I’m wondering now if this is just an example of people saying the right thing while believing something else entirely. Maybe our efforts to bring black Americans into the game haven’t succeeded because our heart really isn’t in the enterprise. In ways both large and small, golf makes it clear that it really isn’t inviting to black people, and they know it. They look at golf, and it reminds them of Mitt Romney.
     A recent survey by Sport England indicates that only 2 percent of the 850,500 people who play golf weekly in the U.K. are non-whites. In the United States, the level of participation by minorities isn’t much better. In 2009, when our nation had more than 27 million total golfers, the National Golf Foundation counted only 1.4 million black golfers. That’s half of what the number would be if it reflected the U.S. black population.
     In fact, if Woods had been present at the dinner where Garcia went over to the dark side, he would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite his fame and fortune, Woods really hasn’t broken golf’s color barrier for anyone but himself. Today he’s the one and only African-American on the PGA Tour. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
     If you’re wondering, there aren’t any black women at all on the LPGA Tour. I don’t hear anyone complaining, though.
     Garcia’s employers made a mistake when they let him off with a mere slap on the wrist, because his loathsome stupid joke can’t be defended or excused. By doing nothing, they’ve made their feelings about fried chicken crystal clear. If Tiger Woods and other “coloreds” want a part of golf’s bounty, they’re going to have to prove that they can take a joke.
     This is no laughing matter. When it comes to racism, golf’s current leaders aren’t part of the solution. They’re part of the problem.