European Tour players have to watch what they tweet

[TN94z]

The European tour players have been told they could get in trouble for what they tweet .  With social media running rampant now, EVERYONE seems to have a twitter account.  I see this very often in the MMA world.  Fighters calling out other fighters, complaining about salary, complaining about the company, etc....

Quote:

The European Tour has reminded players that they face disciplinary action for breaching social media rules after James Morrison of England recently criticized the Wales Open in an online post.

The European Tour says sanctions will apply for any "offensive, threatening, disparaging, hurtful or otherwise" comments, and stuck a memorandum on a notice board at the BMW International Open in Germany on Thursday to remind players of their responsibilities.

Morrison wrote on Twitter to describe the Celtic Manor course as a "dump" and say "one more round and then can't get over that bridge quick enough!"

Is this right, wrong, or fair?   I can see it being an issue if the posted message brings about negative attention to the Tour or golf course in any way, but is this opening a can of worms?  We all know how opinions vary on what has crossed a line and what hasn't.

[Timothy Voyles]

Honesty hurts? If he's a calling a course a dump, perhaps there are other issues going on there to be looked at. I can't recall ever seeing a tour course that just didn't look amazing. Perhaps tour players become a little jaded with the super high quality of courses they are seeing.

I've always wondered how those guys would play on a $25 public beerman course with the choppy greens that are always "recovering from aeration"....

[Chas]

Not surprising when it comes to the U.K., where freedom of speech is a thing of the past and where "offending" someone can get you brought up on a charge. Not the country I remember.

[jamo]

I could have swore I read somewhere that the PGA Tour has a similar policy, but I can't seem to find it.

[Chas]

If you find it Jamo, let us know what it says exactly - should be interesting.

[ghalfaire]

If you're employer has a policy you can either follow it or find work somewhere else.  What's new about that?  If for some reason you think the policy is not lawful (fair isn't an issue unless it is only unfair to a specific group) then you can hire a lawyer.