Tiger's ignoring the issues

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© St. Petersburg Times
published July 20, 2002

Listen again. Do you hear it now?

Of course you don't, because in the nearly two weeks since Augusta National Golf Club chairman Hootie Johnson publicly blasted a women's group for urging the club to accept its first woman member, we barely have heard a peep from PGA Tour players in support of the effort.

If they've said anything, it hasn't amounted to much. The British Open is going on, you know. They have no time, we can only assume, for silly little things such as sexism, discrimination and effecting social change.

Their mothers, wives and daughters must be very proud.

Tiger Woods was asked about it this week, but even he danced around the issue, offering only a weak response about how "there's nothing you can do about it."

Nothing, Tiger?

For his sake, he better be glad Charlie Sifford or Ted Rhodes didn't have that same apathetic attitude. He, of all people, should be able to sympathize with the plight of women, given his ethnicity.

And he, more so than any other golfer, could effect change with a strong yet diplomatic denouncement of Augusta National.

Augusta National officials have had only, oh, 70 years to find a worthy woman candidate since the club opened in 1932.

It's the same thing at Muirfield, where the British Open is being played. It never has had a woman member, either.

That would be fine if these clubs weren't hosting major professional tournaments that rake in millions from television contracts, corporate sponsorships and ticket sales, for which women are partly responsible.

It's true, Augusta National is making tangible strides in its acceptance of women. Not only does the club now allow women to play regularly, it has somewhat repealed the cloak of secrecy that hung over the club for many years.

The club recently donated $5-million to the national First Tee Foundation, which helps develop and promote minority and women golfers. And it has donated millions more to charities that specifically help women.

But, by their exclusionary memberships, these clubs are essentially telling women this: Your money is good enough for us, but you're not.

They can spin it any way they want, but that's the bottom line.

Still, Tiger and his peers can't be bothered with getting involved. Do you think they would be just as indifferent if it were blacks being excluded instead of women?

Why should it be any different? Sexism is just as hurtful as racism. One shouldn't anger us more than the other.

Tiger, of all people, should understand that. He's the one who shot a Nike commercial a few years ago that mentioned how there still are golf clubs that won't accept him because of his race. He's the one with the charitable foundation committed to cultivating and supporting minority golfers.

Yet, all Tiger could say when asked about the all-male memberships at Augusta National and Muirfield was this: "It would be nice to see everyone have an equal chance to participate if they wanted to, but there's nothing you can do about it. ... It's unfortunate. But it's just the way it is."

Just the way it is?

No, this is the way it is: Tiger is another example of high-profile athletes failing to use the public influence that comes with their celebrity. Michael Jordan is the same way.

Apparently they've never heard that old saying that to whom much is given, much is expected.

Nobody is saying Tiger should picket August National or threaten to skip the Masters until a woman becomes a member. But is it too much to ask for him to take a modest stand even at the slight risk of interrupting his tournament concentration? Aren't there some things more important than golf?

Maybe not to Tiger.

If that's his attitude, fine. Just spare us more of those "I'm Tiger Woods" commercials, because if brave, selfless athletes like Sifford and Rhodes were like Tiger, the only thing Tiger might be swinging on the PGA Tour is a broom.

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