“Take away his US PGA title!” said… well, no one. But I wouldn’t be surprised.
Bill Haas may have won the Northern Trust Open title on Sunday, but it was Keegan Bradley who was the main talking point of the final round in Los Angeles as the reigning US PGA champion was caught several times by the cameras openly spitting while lining up shots at Riviera Country Club.
Sky’s Robert Lee, alongside studio guests Denis Pugh and Andrew Coltart, aired their disappointment at the American’s antics, while Twitter almost went into meltdown as people tripped over each other to vent their outrage.
“It’s disgusting!” they squealed into their iPhones. But the cameras still stayed locked on the 25-year-old as he rid his body of that pesky mucus, while the commentary team from the Golf Channel, from who Sky pick up their live feed, didn’t bat an eyelid.
I too took to Twitter over Phlegm-gate, asking my American friends if spitting was less frowned upon Stateside. The main response I got is that no, it isn’t, and the habit largely stems from the popular tobacco-chewing culture which was particularly common among baseball players.
Is it really worth the uproar it’s been receiving? Not in my book. There are much more important things to worry about, like the increasing irritant that is rent-a-quote David Feherty.
Tiger Woods was fined almost exactly 12 months ago for releasing a huge wad at the Dubai Desert Classic. But while that was slightly worse as he was doing it on the green and another player may have to putt through it, I remember being similarly amused by the outburst from disgruntled viewers.
“What a terrible role model for children!” was my favourite argument, both last year and this.
Really?
We live in a time where the most high-profile sportsmen in the world are caught doing drugs, abusing people for having the audacity to be born into a different ethnicity, or sleeping with his brother’s uncle’s wife’s sister’s babysitter’s mum. I’d be delighted if my child picked up on just a bit of spitting.
Seemingly unaware of what was going on, Bradley has been forced into issuing an apology. And just like his critics, he took to everyone’s second favourite social network to say sorry.
“I’d like to apologise for my spitting,” he wrote. “It’s like a reflex and I don’t even know I’m doing it. But it’s a long-time habit I’ve got to try to conquer.”
You see what you’ve done, Twitter? You’ve kicked a man at his lowest ebb. A man who has a sickness; a disease; an addiction he’s been battling with his whole life.
How dare you…
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