As part of Compleat Golfer‘s year in review series, we look back at a selection of the controversial talking points from another dramatic year of golf.
Hank Haney
Tiger Woods’ former coach is never far from controversy and he proved as much when he spoke on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio ahead of the US Women’s Open. Haney said it was ‘a safe bet’ that ‘a Korean’ would win and then followed up with: ‘I couldn’t name you six players on the LPGA tour. Maybe I could. Well … I’d go with Lee, if I didn’t have to name a first name, I’d get a bunch of them right.’
Haney was suspended by the PGA Tour and SiriusXM earlier this year for comments deemed racist and sexist.
Bio Kim
Kim, the leading money winner on the Korean Tour for the year up to October, was banned for giving a fan the middle finger. What did the fan do? He snapped a photo of Kim during his downswing in the final round of the DGB Financial Group Volvik Daegu Gyeongbuk Open. The Korean PGA said he had ‘damaged the dignity of a golfer with an etiquette violation and inappropriate behaviour’. His ban was later reduced on appeal to one year.
Slow play
JB Holmes and Bryson DeChambeau were the main culprits as they once again turned the spotlight on to slow play. The latter made headlines for all the wrong reasons when a clip of him preparing to putt at the Northern Trust at Liberty National went viral. The American took longer than two minutes to putt and still missed his effort. Eddie Pepperell and Brooks Koepka both took exception which led to fiery comebacks from golf’s scientist.
Holmes lost fans for his part in a five-and-a-half-hour round during the Genesis Open, which he won. He angered more fans for his glacial pace of play during The Open.
