CASEY Martin got what he wished for. Our pity. Despite the ruling,
Casey struck outSo feel pity for him.
By suing the PGA Tour and winning the right to use a golf cart while playing on the Nike Tour this year, Martin is, to me, the real loser in this case. This Casey struck out in my book. He won on the grounds of pity, no matter what his lawyer says.
The ramifications in this landmark case are staggering, even if the judge ruling on the hearing says that his decision by no means allows others to use a golf cart while playing professional golf. In other words, Martin got a carte blanche ruling because of his special case. As if no one else is special enough to be extended a similar privilege.
Obviously, whining helped. And boy, did Martin whine. But then, that's how it goes in this day and age. Such a pity. You think Ben Hogan would have sued to ride a cart in his brave comeback after an auto accident?
The U.S. magistrate, Thomas Coffin, doesn't know what it's like to golf, let alone what it's like to play competitive golf at the highest level. It's not about riding a cart and breaking 100 playing social golf.
Thus, Coffin, who doesn't play golf, ruled that giving Martin a cart would not significantly alter the sport. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Believe me, I know.
When I golf in my amateur -- in the real hamburger sense of the word -- way, there's a difference of three or four strokes in my score if I have to stay on the cart path. Which, by the way, makes me wonder what happens when Martin has to remain on the cart path on rainy days? Is he going to sue so that he can drive to his ball?
DON'T just take my word for it.
Ask Fred Couples, who's here for the United Airlines Hawaiian Open, which began today at the Waialae Country Club. He is so bothered by a chronic back problem that he hates sitting in an airplane for five hours. That's why he rarely plays here. The flight kills him.
Couples was quoted as saying he'd be the first in line for a cart if Martin won his case.
"I think I was being a little smart-alecky," Couples said. "But yeah. Right now I'm physically exhausted. I don't understand how anyone can say, golf, you don't expend any energy playing it. That's the biggest farce in the world. That's the only thing that irritates me a little bit about this. I don't know where that comes from.
"It's much easier to play golf riding a cart."
Martin won the season opener on the Nike Tour while riding a cart. He missed the cut in his next event, so it's too early to say whether he won because of his skill or because of his use of a cart. But either way, his performance will always have an asterisk in my book. Victory a la cart.
THE judge also ruled that during a tournament, a golf course is a place of public accommodation and is covered under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. And Martin is entitled to a reasonable accommodation, which in this case is using a cart.
That could open up a can of worms.
I can see this scenario unfolding, no matter what the judge said: Other touring pros with legitimate physical hardships will ask to ride a cart, too.
Then we'll have a sort of mini- Indy 500 on the fairways. And in Martin's case, his cart will probably be splashed with the Nike logo. That's the next targeted equipment, isn't it?
More than that. Now that there's a legal precedent, I could sue the PGA Tour so that I can ride a cart while reporting on a golf tournament. After all, the golf course is my work place during a tournament.
But it'll never come to that.
You won't find me asking for pity.