Scandals That Rocked The Golf World

Golf isn't known for being a scandalous sport. Even though we're talking about famous, unbelievably rich people, they generally tend to live quieter lives than those who play other things. And fans are certainly known to be much calmer and less hooligan-like than people who watch other sports. But there are always exceptions. And against this more sedate background, those who go off the rails stand out even more.

Sometimes these scandals are directly related to what happens on the course and bring the game into disrepute. But more often it's what players do in their free time that makes headlines. Drugs, gambling, affairs, and violence are seemingly inevitable parts of being famous and rich for some people. For select players, being unable to keep it in their pants seems to be as intricate a part of being a golfer as knowing how to swing a club. Here are scandals that rocked golf.

At 2:30 a.m. on November 27, 2009, a disoriented Tiger Woods crashed his fancy car into a fire hydrant outside his house. The official line, according to the Orlando Sentinel, was that Woods, who has trouble sleeping, was on his way to work out and was not fleeing the family home after wife Elin had just found out he'd been cheating on her. The public was also supposed to believe that Elin had smashed the window of the Escalade with a golf club to free him after the crash, and not in anger. Weird then, if that was her intention, that she broke in the back window.

After the crash, Woods' life fell apart. Women ran to the media to share their stories of having affairs with the most famous golfer in the world. They just kept coming. Vanity Fair says they included waitresses, nightclub hostesses, escorts, a lingerie model, and adult film stars. The seemingly perfect father of two was living quite the double life.

ABC News reports that sponsors abandoned Woods and "his standing with fans fell quickly." To do damage control, he gave a 13-minute statement — his wife did not attend — to say he had screwed up. He described his behavior as "selfish," "entitled," and "irresponsible." He announced he was going into sex rehab.

While sponsors and fans eventually mostly forgave him, his wife divorced him, and his golf game still hasn't recovered.

Golf has an absurd amount of complex and technical rules. You need a bunch of people well-versed in the thick bylaws at every tournament, and they get called in to make decisions on the tiniest little things. It isn't hard to accidentally break the rules, but for professional golfers, intentionally cheating is the worst thing you can do. And women are just as capable of being unethical as men. None more so than Jane Blalock, an extremely talented player who instead of being remembered as a legend of the game is now synonymous with cheating.

According to a Sports Illustrated article from 1972, Blalock cheated basically from the beginning of her career. By 26 she was the leading money-earner on the women's tour but had already been disciplined for infractions on the course. The LPGA had called her in for more than one serious meeting, telling her she had been under suspicion for a year and that there were witnesses who'd seen her move her ball on numerous occasions. They finally suspended Blalock for one year and fined her $500, but she turned around and sued for $5 million.

Her reputation was ruined. Her colleagues on the tour wanted to "plow her under" and see her ruined. They snubbed Blalock and her family and pressured her friends to ignore her. When she returned to tournament play, one fellow player said, "I wouldn't have the nerve to show my face around here. I'd be in South America."

Golfers, like all professional athletes, are under a huge amount of pressure to perform. But even the best are going to have good days and bad. You would hope that their spouse would be there as a supportive shoulder to cry on if things fall apart, and that they won't descend to actual physical abuse just because the golfer didn't play well. Lucas Glover was not so lucky.

According to USA Today, in May 2018, Glover participated in the Player's Championship in Florida but fell apart and didn't make the cut. After he returned home his wife, Krista, started a fight with him over his performance, which, according to what Glover told police, was typical if he didn't play to her exacting standards. She cursed at him and called him a loser, all bad enough on its own, but she did it right in front of their children.

Glover's mother was there, too, and tried to intervene, which is when things got violent. Krista attacked them both. Police reports say mother and son had "multiple lacerations" on their arms and Krista even drew blood. When the cops got there, Glover initially said he wanted to press charges, but changed his mind when he saw his wife being put in a squad car and tried to claim he got the injuries from something else. In a statement, he called the abuse an "unfortunate situation" and that he hoped Krista would be "cleared." It's unclear what's happened since then.

The Ryder Cup is one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf. Held every two years, it pits a team from the USA against a team of Europeans. It's a huge honor to be selected to play, which makes what happened at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Boston all the more shameful. Sam Torrance, the vice captain of the European team that year, called it "the most disgraceful and disgusting day in the history of professional golf," and the BBC called it "a date that will live in infamy."

According to The Guardian, it was all the fault of the U.S. team and their fans. The spectators "behaved like animals," and the American players acted like "madmen." The U.S. was losing badly going into the last day but then started a great comeback. The players got excited and began whipping the beer-guzzling fans up into a mob. Eventually, the normally staid fans were louder than a soccer match, and hurling abuse at European players. Then a fan spat on one of the European players' wives.

But the worst, in golf terms, was what happened near the end of the match. An American player sank a putt that pretty much guaranteed their team the win, but a European player still had to take his putt. Normally, any celebrating would wait until after everyone was finished, but the Americans went insane. It would be seven minutes before it was quiet enough for the European to putt. Shame!

Golfers can be pretty sensitive about their sport being, well, a sport. Not every game is sporting, after all. Golf wasn't added to the Olympics until 2016, and the fact that it's known as little more than "a good walk spoiled" doesn't help matters. Some chess players probably have the same heart rate mid-match that golfers do. So golfers passionately tried to hold onto the one part of the game that was at all sporty: the bit where you walk around.

Sure, amateur golfers who play for weekend fun take carts all the time, but when it came to participating in professional tournaments, you had to do the legwork yourself — until 2001, anyway, according to Time. Casey Martin was very good at all the other aspects of golf, but because of circulatory disorder walking was very painful for him. He sued for a change to the PGA bylaws that would allow him to use a cart between holes. Golfers were divided on if he deserved the accommodation, with greats like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer saying the ability to walk the course was an essential part of golfing. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court.

A 7-2 decision came down on Martin's side. The majority pointed out that walking is meant to fatigue the players, but since Martin was already naturally fatigued it was an even playing field and covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.