THE GOLFWEEK COVER

Yesterday, I got the call yesterday about the Cover. When I saw it, my jaw dropped. What the hell were they thinking?

“Was it an arresting image?” said Dave Seanor, Golfweek editor. “Yes, it was. We chose it because it was an image we thought would draw attention to an issue we thought deserved some intelligent dialogue.”

Intelligent dialogue? How about opening intelligent dialogue without insulting people? Seanor said there was significant internal debate about art for the project. “If you’re going to do this story on the cover,” he said, “you don’t have many choices. It’s Kelly Tilghman’s face or a noose.”

Lets put this in perspective…this is what a noose represents in our society.

Get the picture? Here’s an intelligent comparison- Imagine if Kellly Tilghman had said “gas him in the ally” and Golfweek came out with an image of a nazi flag on the cover. Yeah, its that bad. If you don’t believe me, check out some other sites to see how Golfweek just set us back about a hundred years. The Starting Five is a great place to witness this outrage…or check out Steve Elling’s blog on CBS, where he writes: “The thing is, no matter where the tour, fans, readers and viewers stand on the matter of whether Tilghman should be fired, the provocative image of the noose is viewed almost universally as repulsive.”

Thankfully, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is equally as outraged. “Clearly, what Kelly said was inappropriate and unfortunate, and she obviously regrets her choice of words,” Finchem said. “But we consider Golfweek’s imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.” (USA Today)

PGA execs are meeting today with the editors of Golfweek magazine to discuss the cover of this week’s issue…and I am on my way to Torrey Pines for the Buick Invitational, which starts next week, where Tilghman and Woods are both expected to be present.

As always, thanks for reading.
delinda@athlebrities.