Ted Bishop removed from office for calling Ian Poulter a lil girl

[Mr. Desmond]

I don't know @jamo he's supposed to be a smart guy.  Even if he personally didn't think it was wrong he had to know that in this day and age it was going to be viewed as wrong.  I guess we'll see over the next few days if he rides off quietly into the sunset or he tries to make his case in the news.

I think Ted was tired, emotional, and hitting the juice... heck, that's probably how Tom was picked as captain ... out drinking with each other one night and Ted says, "Tom ... man, we need to shake things up. These lil' girls need someone to man them up and bring back the Cup. I want to make that Ian Poulter cry.... what a douche."

[nevets88]

So much for the Friday night news dump mitigating any unwanted attention.

[newtogolf]

I think Ted was tired, emotional, and hitting the juice... heck, that's probably how Tom was picked as captain ... out drinking with each other one night and Ted says, "Tom ... man, we need to shake things up. These lil' girls need someone to man them up and bring back the Cup. I want to make that Ian Poulter cry.... what a douche."

That (hitting the juice) would explain the stupid comment he made about Poulter but not why he wouldn't resign and save himself the disgrace of being fired unless he still hasn't sobered up.

[Patch]

It too bad opinions can get you in trouble in all walks of life.  I have not been a fan of Bishop, or Poulter, so it's not big deal to me. Getting hacked for an opinion is a loss of freedom, which sits poorly with me.

Oh well, I wonder who Woody will want to replace the man. Probably will need a task farce for this selection process too.

[Mr. Desmond]

That (hitting the juice) would explain the stupid comment he made about Poulter but not why he wouldn't resign and save himself the disgrace of being fired unless he still hasn't sobered up.

Watching TGC ... some think the non-apologetic apology is what got him fired.

Seems as if people close to him believe he didd not intend anything derogatory to women ... he wanted to direct something at Poults, and did not choose his words wisely.

He needs a course on mindfulness (awareness) ... we all do, but especially the "Teds" of this world who are leaders.

[Kazoo59]

It too bad opinions can get you in trouble in all walks of life.  I have not been a fan of Bishop, or Poulter, so it's not big deal to me. Getting hacked for an opinion is a loss of freedom, which sits poorly with me.

Oh well, I wonder who Woody will want to replace the man. Probably will need a task farce for this selection process too.

I must  have a blind spot but this seems like a very minor offense to me. Who hasn't called their buddy a "lil girl" or something similar when they leave a put way short? Of all the things in this world to get worked up over this is way far down the list. At least my list. This poor guy is getting blasted for an inconsequential comment. I truly do not get it. To me, the biggest problem with what he said was that it will serve to further unite the European team and make them that much harder to defeat next time.

[AmazingWhacker]

I must  have a blind spot but this seems like a very minor offense to me. Who hasn't called their buddy a "lil girl" or something similar when they leave a put way short? Of all the things in this world to get worked up over this is way far down the list. At least my list. This poor guy is getting blasted for an inconsequential comment. I truly do not get it. To me, the biggest problem with what he said was that it will serve to further unite the European team and make them that much harder to defeat next time.

I am certainly guilty of this - lots and lots of times.  Heck, I don't even consider myself "guilty".  I don't consider myself sexist and I'm pretty sure nobody I know thinks I am, either.  Then again, nobody hears it but my intended audience.  I really think we've gone over the edge, as a society and culture - totally over-reacting about statements people make.  At the most he should've gotten a reprimand from some higher-up and told to watch it going forward . .but this is the age of twitter.  Live by twitter, die by twitter.  I personally do not tweet because even I don't care about most of my opinions, lol.

[jamo]

This poor guy is getting blasted for an inconsequential comment

... On a public forum, towards someone who is essentially (but obviously not technically) an employee. The PGA is an organization [URL=http://www.pga.com/pga-america]dedicated to "promoting the game of golf to everyone, everywhere."[/URL] Last I checked, half of all of those "everyone, everywhere" people were at one point "lil girls," and don't deserve to be publicly belittled for that.

[FarawayFairways]

Quite right Jamo. Bishop is the head of the PGA and should be held to a higher level of account than someone sounding off to his mate when he misses a putt. The two just aren't the same. I'm surprised, but impressed with the alacrity with which they've moved on this. Fair play to them. Bishop is responsible for the games development, and quite apart from the wisdom of entering into a social media slagging match with someone who has a book out, to do so on behalf of Faldo, and to then use female gender in the context of abuse and belittlement - honestly?!

Those who think he's been on the sauce, or still is I did check out the timing of his tweet, and it was 5.38pm.  He followed up with an equally ill-advised Facebook assault too (denying him the excuse of a hack!). OK he could still have hit the bottle early in the day of course, but as someone who'd suggested that his playingpartner might have been Jack Daniels, I'm inclined to think now he was more likely sober.

I think the USPGA hasn't come out of this as badly as they would have done had they let him limp on and serve out his tenure, although I'm still bemused as to how on earth the President of the PGA gets fired over a comment made by Ian Poulter regarding an English commentator's opinion of a Spaniard from a game played six years ago. Bizzare

[Mr. Desmond]

Quite right Jamo. Bishop is the head of the PGA and should be held to a higher level of account than someone sounding off to his mate when he misses a putt. The two just aren't the same. I'm surprised, but impressed with the alacrity with which they've moved on this. Fair play to them. Bishop is responsible for the games development, and quite apart from the wisdom of entering into a social media slagging match with someone who has a book out, to do so on behalf of Faldo, and to then use female gender in the context of abuse and belittlement - honestly?!

Those who think he's been on the sauce, or still is  I did check out the timing of his tweet, and it was 5.38pm.  He followed up with an equally ill-advised Facebook assault too (denying him the excuse of a hack!). OK he could still have hit the bottle early in the day of course, but as someone who'd suggested that his playingpartner might have been Jack Daniels, I'm inclined to think now he was more likely sober.

I think the USPGA hasn't come out of this as badly as they would have done had they let him limp on and serve out his tenure, although I'm still bemused as to how on earth the President of the PGA gets fired over a comment made by Ian Poulter regarding an English commentator's opinion of a Spaniard from a game played six years ago. Bizzare

5 pm ... don't know about Europe, but that's drinking time in the USA.

"It's 5 o'clock somewhere .." Jimmy Buffett.

When I travel to one client's city, I head to his country club at 5 pm. At 5:15, the crowd is enjoying the drink.

They are about the same age as Ted ... cheers.

[FarawayFairways]

[Mr. Desmond]

:-)

Sante'

[Shorty]

Who hasn't called their buddy a "lil girl" or something similar when they leave a put way short? Of all the things in this world to get worked up over this is way far down the list. At least my list. This poor guy is getting blasted for an inconsequential comment. I truly do not get it. To me, the biggest problem with what he said was that it will serve to further unite the European team and make them that much harder to defeat next time.

You don't get it? Have you been living under  a rock?

You think that calling someone a girl is an insult? That that's "inconsequential"?

I'm guessing you're not female.

And all of you people who were praising the "like a girl" campaign .... this is the point, isn't it?

[iacas]

Oh well, I wonder who Woody will want to replace the man. Probably will need a task farce for this selection process too.

Nope. It's the PGA. The secretary becomes the vice president, the vice president becomes the president, and the president becomes the honorary president or whatever every two years.

[mvmac]

Watching TGC ... some think the non-apologetic apology is what got him fired.

Yes it seems like he's rubbed people the wrong way before and this was an opportunity to get rid of or defame him.

Seems as if people close to him believe he didd not intend anything derogatory to women ... he wanted to direct something at Poults, and did not choose his words wisely.

Alan Shipnuck called it his "hubris". In his mind he just used a figure of speech but he was ignorant to the fact that it would be seen as sexist. He was really focused on called Poulter a little girl, he did it in two tweets.

Just "engaging" with Poulter in the first place is a bad move. He's the President of the PGA, what's the point in putting himself in the middle of a European scwabble?

I must  have a blind spot but this seems like a very minor offense to me. Who hasn't called their buddy a "lil girl" or something similar when they leave a put way short? Of all the things in this world to get worked up over this is way far down the list. At least my list. This poor guy is getting blasted for an inconsequential comment. I truly do not get it.

It's one thing to call your buddy a "lil girl", doing it for everyone to see (two tweets) to disparage a participant in your two big money making events (PGA and Ryder Cup) is another thing. Bishop was in a leadership role, one of his duties was to grow the game and make it more diverse. He was wrong.

[Roblar]

Ian Poulter isn't a little girl, he's a douche

It seems to me that this makes for appropriate reading:

https://medium.com/human-parts/douchebag-the-white-racial-slur-weve-all-been-waiting-for-a2323002f85d

[Roblar]

...and total speculation on my part, but:

Bishop was out of line, but for him to actually be fired, I think that says that his 'bosses' were already unhappy with him.  Maybe only in parts, but if they were anything more than content, I think he would have kept his job -- or, at the very least, it would have taken more time for him to lose his job. I'm guessing this was just the incident that allowed them to axe him - and not some 'out-of-the-blue' case of (very) poor judgment.

(Or maybe it was just that his term was coming to an end soon anyway, and they thought it would be a way to grab some PR for the organization / PGA and sling all the blame at the individual / Bishop.)

Whatevs.

[Mulligan Jeff]

It takes years to build a solid, upstanding reputation but only a few words to destroy it. As one of the most outspoken PGA Presidents, maybe it was only a matter of time for Bishop to stick foot in mouth. How ironic that Suzie Whaley, if elected as PGA Secretary, will be in line for PGA President in a short few years.