What a lousy week for professional golf. First boats start floating across fairways at The Greenbriar Resort, forcing cancellation of the PGA Tour event and sending everyone scrambling for rescue and clean-up efforts after a disaster displaced thousands in West Virginia. But then came the embarrassing double whammy that a) Jordan Spieth is pulling out of the Olympics for “health reasons” and b) the USGA President is a lush who can’t get anyone’s name right while speaking to grillions of golf fans across the planet.
First, Spieth joins a long and growing list of professional player skipping Rio over fears of the Zika virus. From the article:
“Peter Dawson, president of the International Golf Federation, announced Monday that Spieth, the world No. 3, will not play for the U.S. in the Summer Olympics in August.
Spieth joins No. 1 Jason Day, No. 2 Dustin Johnson and No. 4 Rory McIlroy as players opting out of playing the Rio Games. As well, No. 8 Adam Scott and No. 10 Branden Grace will not be playing, either.
The U.S. team will now be represented by No. 5 Bubba Watson, No. 7 Rickie Fowler, who committed to play on Sunday, No. 13 Patrick Reed and No. 15 Matt Kuchar.
More than 15 players have decided not to play because of concerns about security, the Zika virus, schedule, travel and political unrest in Brazil.”
Then came the single most shockingly offensive and possibly patently false comment by Peter Dawson, who should be taken sharply to task for this:
“Personally, I think there’s been something of an overreaction to the Zika situation, but that’s for individuals to determine, and there’s certainly a great deal of concern about this issue inside the game of golf, no doubt about that,” said Dawson, being dangerously cavalier with the health of his athletes and patrons.
His position is as outrageous as it is dangerous. The health risks are severe and there is no cure and people are overreacting. If they come and get sick, they should sue the Hell out of him for covering up/poo-pooing how serious the situation is. Again, we wonder publicly if any people working on building the golf course contracted Zika, along with the potential nerve and brain damage and possibility of birth defects. The women should stage a mass exodus if they know what’s good for them.
Then there’s USGA President Diana Murphy, making an ass clown of herself as much as Hillary Clinton does ever time she opens her mouth. After her wine-soaked speech at the U.S. Open where she butchered Jim Furyk’s name (calling him “Figh-rick”) and slurred every S she pronounced, this time she got the newly-minted U.S. Women’s Open Champion’s name completely wrong. It’s Brittany, not Bethany. Do you know anything about the sport or did you just donate enough money to he right person to get the gig? Cut her off for the entire week of USGA events. No more Bank of America tent for you, Lady. You need to know your limit.
So there you have it – Golf’s Proper Rejoinder to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: a dissembler of a dandy on the one hand and a lush and a joke on the other. And they want people to risk their families’ futures for the sake of made-for-TV schmaltz. 
