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April 07, 2003
When Is A Golf Tournament Not About Golf?
When it's The Masters, that's when. So, despite the fact that Tiger Woods will be going for his third straight Masters title, much of the focus around this year's event will focus on Martha Burk and her effort to get Augusta National, the club where the tournament is held, to admit women to their membership. Over the past week or two, however, Burk has let her mouth run ahead of her brain, leading her to have to backtrack on some of her public statements: Burk, in a recent speech here at the Capital Tiger Bay political club, responded to criticism by some sports columnists that it would be "unseemly" to continue the planned protest outside the gates of the elite Augusta National Golf Club while America is at war. That's too clever by half. As anyone paying close attention to the story knows, more than a few sportswriters took Burk to task not for planning a protest, but for trying to leverage the war for the benefit of her own protest. Unfortunately for Burk, more and more people in the media are catching on to her act, which has meant a slight shift away from the universally uncritical coverage she's received since the start of her protest. In other golf-related news, more than a few pros have snuck in early practice rounds yesterday, though Woods wasn't one of them. The tournament itself starts Thursday. In the meantime, here are some more Hootie and Martha-related links for your edification. Tomorow, I promise a set of links that concentrate on nothing but the golf. That is, if there are any to find. Local Augusta Women To Stage Counter-Protest, News 24.com. Augusta Residents Brace For Storm, Palm Beach Post. Golf Not Sole Focus Of The Masters, Boston Globe. Major Championship, Major Brouhaha, New York Times.
Eric
11:47 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsI have a wager. Once Thursday arrives, the sports world will focus on the tournament. Perhaps a few news commentators will try to make this into a social issue. Golf fans will only worry about Tiger, and who might challenge him. This is faux news. Posted by: at April 7, 2003 03:41 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |