Tuesday, March 02, 2004
TheStar.com - Golf's quest for quiet puts muzzle on hecklers
"Hey Davis, what's the III stand for — three-time loser?"
Is that what the goofball said that so enraged Davis Love III? Is that why Love refused to continue his match against Tiger Woods until the heckler was tracked down Sunday and removed from the course in California?
Did he taunt him with (borrowing from Monty Python) something like: "Hey, Love, your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberry wine."
No, the guy, according to reliable sources, said: "Whoop!"
And, separately: "No Love!"
The nerve.
But in heckling, like comedy and the stock market, timing is everything. Plus, this is golf, where the signs read "Quiet please!" rather than the "Make noise!" and canned roars you get elsewhere.
The "whoop!" came as Love missed a par putt that allowed Woods to square the score in the Match Play Championship. The same fan repeatedly yelled "No Love!" as III prepared to tee off on the V (fifth), hole.
Love was triply incensed, Woods was singularly sympathetic (to Love) and golf purists were righteously enraged. Everyone else might be inclined to say: Take a pill.
Golf wants it both ways: It wants to hang on to its country club roots and hushed-up traditions while at the same time appealing to the sweaty, beer-swilling, TV-watching, money-spending, mouthy masses. Something's bound to give.
Who goes to the golf course to aggressively and loudly root against Davis Love III or anyone else? Certainly not someone who understands and appreciates the sport. Especially anyone who has ever tried to play the game in anything approaching a competitive fashion.
Those who would try to put a golfer off his game by saying "No Love!" — or worse — don't deserve any.
Love said the offender was "just another one of those fans that doesn't respect the game. ... He didn't deserve to watch golf." In Love's world, that's just above deserving to breath.
"I think it's our whole society," Woods said. "They don't respect what other people do, don't respect elders, don't respect other people's space, don't respect traditions or etiquette or customs."
Love didn't win another hole after the flare-up, although it would be a stretch to suggest it played much of a role in his collecting only $700,000 (all figures U.S.) to Woods' $1.2 million.
Maybe its the big money and the "Tiger factor" exposure that makes people think that it's all right these days to transfer the classic ballpark heckle to the golf course ("Mrs. Doubtfire!" aimed at Colin Montgomerie at least had a touch of humour to it the first time out, but it got old real fast).
Alcohol might be a factor, too. Love, who exudes more of a gin-and-tonic than lager air anyway, says fans offered him beer repeatedly, as if he was just another duffer on a Sunday stroll and they were along for the toot.
Ted Leonsis, owner of America Online and the Washington Capitals, recently paid a $100,000 fine and served a week-long league suspension after he confronted a persistent heckler who carried a sign that said: "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock — See A Pattern?" Leonsis later apologized.
Somehow, I can't see Love in a similar boat, toasting détente with his nemesis.
Then again, I can't see him adopting the approach taken by a young Winston Churchill, while on the political stump. "Vote for you?" a heckler cried out. "Why, I'd rather vote for the Devil!"
"I understand," Churchill coolly replied. "But in case your friend isn't running, may I count on your support?"
"Hey Davis, what's the III stand for — three-time loser?"
Is that what the goofball said that so enraged Davis Love III? Is that why Love refused to continue his match against Tiger Woods until the heckler was tracked down Sunday and removed from the course in California?
Did he taunt him with (borrowing from Monty Python) something like: "Hey, Love, your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberry wine."
No, the guy, according to reliable sources, said: "Whoop!"
And, separately: "No Love!"
The nerve.
But in heckling, like comedy and the stock market, timing is everything. Plus, this is golf, where the signs read "Quiet please!" rather than the "Make noise!" and canned roars you get elsewhere.
The "whoop!" came as Love missed a par putt that allowed Woods to square the score in the Match Play Championship. The same fan repeatedly yelled "No Love!" as III prepared to tee off on the V (fifth), hole.
Love was triply incensed, Woods was singularly sympathetic (to Love) and golf purists were righteously enraged. Everyone else might be inclined to say: Take a pill.
Golf wants it both ways: It wants to hang on to its country club roots and hushed-up traditions while at the same time appealing to the sweaty, beer-swilling, TV-watching, money-spending, mouthy masses. Something's bound to give.
Who goes to the golf course to aggressively and loudly root against Davis Love III or anyone else? Certainly not someone who understands and appreciates the sport. Especially anyone who has ever tried to play the game in anything approaching a competitive fashion.
Those who would try to put a golfer off his game by saying "No Love!" — or worse — don't deserve any.
Love said the offender was "just another one of those fans that doesn't respect the game. ... He didn't deserve to watch golf." In Love's world, that's just above deserving to breath.
"I think it's our whole society," Woods said. "They don't respect what other people do, don't respect elders, don't respect other people's space, don't respect traditions or etiquette or customs."
Love didn't win another hole after the flare-up, although it would be a stretch to suggest it played much of a role in his collecting only $700,000 (all figures U.S.) to Woods' $1.2 million.
Maybe its the big money and the "Tiger factor" exposure that makes people think that it's all right these days to transfer the classic ballpark heckle to the golf course ("Mrs. Doubtfire!" aimed at Colin Montgomerie at least had a touch of humour to it the first time out, but it got old real fast).
Alcohol might be a factor, too. Love, who exudes more of a gin-and-tonic than lager air anyway, says fans offered him beer repeatedly, as if he was just another duffer on a Sunday stroll and they were along for the toot.
Ted Leonsis, owner of America Online and the Washington Capitals, recently paid a $100,000 fine and served a week-long league suspension after he confronted a persistent heckler who carried a sign that said: "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock — See A Pattern?" Leonsis later apologized.
Somehow, I can't see Love in a similar boat, toasting détente with his nemesis.
Then again, I can't see him adopting the approach taken by a young Winston Churchill, while on the political stump. "Vote for you?" a heckler cried out. "Why, I'd rather vote for the Devil!"
"I understand," Churchill coolly replied. "But in case your friend isn't running, may I count on your support?"
