The Loop

Still Spitting Mad Over Sergio

April 01, 2007

__*In golf, humiliations are the essence of the game.

-- Alaistair Cooke* __

Hard to believe, since it happened on Saturday* a week ago*, but the sputtering about Sergio Garcia’s spitting into the cup at Doral continues. This single regurgitation has drawn the ire of gentlemen, hygienists and people who don’t like Spaniards who dress like that.  It’s been a topic on blogs from here to the UK right through this weekend. We’ve got a ton of letters on it. The latest, from Greg Tucker of  Columbia, S.C. __“You didn’t need a $15,000 flat screen to see what Sergio did after he putted out at Doral.  Spitting? That was a major melt down.  A fine won’t hurt his wallet.  He needs to have strokes taken away for behavior like that”. __ Greg, $15,000? For his part Sergio went from saying it was “no big deal” to snapping at reporter who inquired about it: “I apologized already.” That from Mark Cannizzaro in the New York Post. In between, apparently, there was an apology. Let me say three things about this. As mad as we’ve become on the golf course, we’ve never thought to spit in the cup. It’s a first, as far as we know. Second, it would have been nice if Sergio, whose behavior resembles that of a brat sometimes, had said simply: “Man, I lost it. Never do that again. I’m sorry as hell. ” Third, it’s time we let the outrage dry up. You can be sure that Sergio has been fined and just as sure that Tim Finchem was, well, spitting mad, when he heard about it. (Although I suspect Finchem’s first question might have been: ‘What was he wearing?’). In short, I think it's time to say,  "No mas."

-- Bob Carney