Columnist Dean Juipe: Tour needs to rethink its position

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The PGA Tour is among the most benevolent organizations in the world.

Last year alone, the men's pro golf tour donated $45 million to charity. It was the eighth consecutive year the tour has increased its charitable donations.

So the tour, as such, has a conscience.

But you really wouldn't know it by its disgraceful and autocratic handling of one of its members, Casey Martin.

You're probably familiar with him. Pretty good golfer; has a bad leg; sued the tour for the right to use a golf cart during tournament play.

But the stuffed shirts at the tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., didn't like to be challenged and appealed when Martin won Round 1 in court.

They appealed again when he won Round 2 in court.

And now a third Martin vs. PGA Tour case has found its way to the Supreme Court, where it is expected to be heard early next year.

The case will never be moot because of its ramifications down the road when and if other disabled players request a cart, yet it's entirely possible Martin will be off the PGA Tour by the time a final verdict is rendered.

He's playing in Las Vegas this week but is dangerously close to losing his tour card. His prize money this year hasn't changed in three weeks and his position on the 2000 money list has done nothing but decline.

He's currently ranked No. 178 with $123,624 in official earnings.

He missed the cut (71-76) two weeks ago at the Buick Challenge in Georgia and he missed it again (71-71) last week at the Michelob Championship in Virginia.

Unless he rallies to finish in the top 125, Martin will lose his exempt status and will relinquish his tour card for 2001.

Worse, his physical condition is deteriorating and, at the age of 28, it's apparent his ability to play professional golf -- even if escorted around the course by limousine -- is nearing an end.

The PGA Tour should be ashamed of itself and its almost brazen disregarding of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990 and is designed to give those with a physical hardship an equal opportunity to do as they choose.

Martin is not able to walk and play; the tour says that's tough.

While predicting a Supreme Court decision is guesswork, the guess here is that it sides with Martin and holds the PGA Tour in spiritual contempt.

Many golf fans already do.

They like Martin and like his spunk. Despite being born with a rare circulatory disorder (Klippel-Trenauney-Weber Syndrome) that has caused his right leg to atrophy to half the girth of his left leg, Martin was an All-American at Stanford who worked his way through the minor tours and qualified for the PGA Tour this season. But his leg is worsening and his ever-present limp is more pronounced.

He's not going to be playing pro golf much longer, with or without a cart.

The tour, however, is adamantly opposed to anyone playing who can't walk the full 18 holes. That's OK when it comes to protecting the integrity of the sport, in that you don't want someone riding because he has an ingrown toenail, but it's sorrowfully out of date when it comes to someone who's clearly incapacitated.