PGA Tour vs Casey Martin

A detailed Summary of PGA Tour vs Casey Martin

The situation has arisen from the dreams of Casey Martin, a golfer who played with Tiger Woods at Stanford was trying in 1998 to make it as a professional golfer. He has Klippel-Trenaunay-Webber syndrome, a congenital circulatory disorder that causes severe swelling in his right leg and foot and makes it all but impossible for him to walk 18 holes. Martin, at the time 25 years of age, wanted to ride in a cart from shot to shot, as he did in college, but the PGA had strict rules about not doing that. Golfers on the Senior Tour can use carts (not all do), but those on the regular tour and the minor-league Nike Tour "shall not use automotive transportation," according to the PGA. The PGA Tour does allow carts in the early rounds at qualifying school. Martin went to court, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If Casey Martin, a disabled professional golfer, gained an advantage over his competitors by using a cart then the PGA would have been correct in not allowing him to use a cart. However, if he did not gain an advantage, the Americans with Disabilities Act would require the PGA Tour to let him use a cart to overcome a painful circulatory disorder that prevents him f

Beyond the walking issue, Tour officials argue that the courts have no right to fool with the rules of the game at all. Again, they seem to have a point. But the Tour has some unfortunate history working against it here. This is the organization that until 1961 had a "Caucasians-only" clause. To the public, Martin's case probable seem more in common to the struggle of Charlie Sifford, the talented African-American golfer who fought the color line, than it does with trivial rules and regulations disputes.

Standing on "tradition", as the PGA Tour did, is always a risky position. Tradition as a concept is ever changing. After all, used to be part of professional golf's traditions (and by-laws) to exclude non-Caucasian golfers from its membership ranks. For years at the Masters, past champions Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus refused to publicly speak up for a long-overdue invite to PGA Tour winner Charlie Sifford. The sight of Palmer and Nicklaus now testifying against Casey Martin's request to ride brings many ugly images of the game's elitist, private "traditions" to mind. Outsiders consider the PGA Tour an elite private club. However in spite of the intense competition, many members consider it an organization that functions as a team. As stated by Mac Anderson, founder of Successories, "Teamwork is the ability to work together, toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Does this leave the door open for men of lesser character than Casey Martin to demand a cart for their trifling injuries? No doubt, we will see a number of such crybabies come forth. T

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