By the way, the tournament was won in a playoff by Sun Young Yoo.

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Martin Kaymer is one reason to watch golf

Outsports reader Kenneth Burns has a fun, breezy article in the Isthmus, a Madison, Wisc., weekly, on how he became hooked on golf. Part of it is the nature of the sport, part of it is the clothes and part of it is how the golfers look in those clothes. With the Masters coming up next weekend, don’t expect Burns to be anywhere but in front of his set.

I’m hooked. I plan weekends around watching golf on television. I plan vacations around watching golf on television. I root for my favorite golfers, and I razz the ones I don’t like. There aren’t many of those. Mainly it’s Rory Sabbatini. I can’t stand his hats.

Of course, being a guy into guys, Burns has an added reason to stay glued to his set.

The guys are often cute, and they often wear flattering clothes. Yes, I watch PGA Tour golf for the same reason many people, I suspect, watch the Olympics, which I also adore. It’s an opportunity to look at attractive, physically fit people. True, not all golfers are fit. I like that there’s a place in professional sports for the hefty Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge, who is magic with a driver.

It wasn’t long after I came out as a gay man that I watched the rugged Swede Jesper Parnevik win the 2001 Honda Classic. I gazed in wonderment at his two-tone shoes, his neatly tailored plaid pants. Later I read that Parnevik collaborated on his outfits with the fashion designer Johan Lindeberg, and then I knew this really was the sport for me. Couture is involved.

The great thing about sports is that there is one to fit every taste.

(Photo: Martin Kaymer during the 2011 U.S. Open. Allan Henry-US PRESSWIRE)

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Anyhow, Mickelson lost Northern Trust Open in a playoff. Check out the video of the shot after the jump. 

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Woods had never gone three calendar years without winning a Major…until now. He had never gone 14 straight Majors without a title…until now. He hasn’t finished in the top 3 of a Major in two-and-a-half years. He was once virtually invincible to Phil Mickelson; now Mickelson pairs with him and beats him by 11 strokes in one round. That red shirt Woods wears on Sundays is now little more than a symbol of frustration.

What a terrible string of mistakes he made leading up to his collapse. The circumstances leading up to the night his wife attacked him with a golf club appeared to be those of a Jekyll and Hyde. Unfortunately, it seems Mr. Hyde has permanently taken over the golf great’s club swing.

Will this be the year of the Tiger? I doubt it. While I remain a big fan of Tiger Woods, it’s tough to see him pulling together even four days of golf good enough to win just one of the four Majors this year. It could happen. But whereas four years ago we were conditioned to believe he would win in the end, we’re now conditioned to expect him to lose. And, I have to believe, so is he.

Now the sport of golf’s biggest problem is showing itself: The lack of a star other than Tiger Woods. Mickelson has tried over the years, but he simply hasn’t drawn the TV audience and fanbase that Woods has. The last seven Majors have all been won by a different person, and each one of them winning a Major for the first time. In fact, 10 of the last 12 have been won by one-hit-wonders. Keegan Bradley? Louis Oosthuizen? Charl Schwartzel? It’s hard to believe these men will be the answer to the Tiger void.

I’ll be cheering for Woods at the Masters this spring. But the hope and expectations that once went hand-in-hand with that enthusiasm are now gone.

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Golf, 2010. When trans golfer Lana Lawless won the 2009 Long Drivers of America title, it was too much for the organization to handle. They quickly changed their rules stating that female participants must have been born biologically female to compete, matching the LPGA’s rule. When Lawless was barred from competing in the event and on the LPGA she brought a lawsuit against both entities in the autumn of 2010.

The lawsuit again brought to national attention the fallacies about perceived “unfair advantages” that male-to-female trans people have. Even the International Olympic Committee and Ladies European Tour have opened their policies to allow trans people how have had gender reassignment surgery and have taken corrective hormones to compete as women.

On Nov. 30, 2010, members of the LPGA voted to remove the “female at birth” requirement for players, opening the LPGA to trans golfers for the first time. What was powerful about this moment was that the players themselves said they would welcome trans golfers; It didn’t take a judge to force them to do so.

In May, 2011, Lawless officially dropped her lawsuit against he LPGA and Long Drive contest. The LPGA released a statement praising Lawson:

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (“LPGA”) expresses its appreciation to Lana Lawless for raising the issue of transgender participation in its tournaments and other professional activities. Both Ms. Lawless and the LPGA are pleased that the litigation initiated by Ms. Lawless has been resolved in a satisfactory way, and applaud the LPGA members who voted overwhelmingly to remove the “female at birth” provision from its by-laws.

For more information:

• Lawless sues for right to play
• LPGA players vote to include trans golfers
• Video: Trans woman thinks trans people shouldn’t play women’s sports

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The men posed with the head of their golf club covering their private parts. The picture was then posted on facebook with the title Men’s Bethany Golf Team. The coach says the boys were inspired by pictures of the UCLA men’s players who posed with a bucket of golf balls in front of their private parts. Those pictures were published in the magazine Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated.

Bethany is a Lutheran college and the players are appealing the suspension. The punishment is absurd and the players did nothing wrong. These shots are fairly common and ESPN The Magazine’s body issue specializes in them.  It was heartening to see many of the comments on the KAKE saw this properly as much ado about nothing:

• My husband and I are related to one of these boys and when we saw the photo, before the controversy, we laughed at their antics and were glad they chose to do such a harmless and funny prank, which is why we were truly surprised at the severity of the punishment. You see more than they showed on tv and at the beach, and this was a silly and funny way to bond the team members together. We are in our 50′s and 60′s in age and part of the corporate and legal world, and attend church regularly and we still cannot figure out why there was an over reaction to such a prank. Well, good luck boys, you brought a smile to our faces and bonded your team together!

• I see nothing wrong with these boys having a little fun,that was not illegal or hurt anyone. It was probably meant to bond the team together with something funny. How can you not laugh when you see it? Why was the movie “Full Monty” so popular?

• It wasn’t so bad but they all used the “putter” to cover their parts. Isn’t the “putter” the smallest club?????

Here is the offending photo (hat tip to Deadspin):

Hat tip to Jim Allen for the item.

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Last year was another record year for  CCV’s Golf Classic.  CCV netted over $17,000!  Since then, those gifts have gone toward the work that CCV has done faithfully since 1983 – that is, upholding and defending Judeo-Christian family values throughout Ohio and across the nation.

Among those values – again, from their site:

We know that homosexual behavior is destructive to the individual and sincerely reach out to assist those individuals caught up in this behavior.

Well at least they do it sincerely.

Hat tip to Will K.

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Golf, 1996. Few out lesbian athletes have experienced more professional success than Muffin Spencer-Devlin. She was a three-time tournament winner on the LPGA Tour in the mid-to-late ’80s. She is in the top 100 on the Tour’s all-time money list (at just over $1 million in winnings). Her career spanned from 1979-2000, and she has five top-25 finishes at Major championships on the Tour.

The Sports Illustrated article that defined her coming out, dated March 18, 1996, was a revelation. LPGA commissioner Jim Ritts spoke about embracing a lesbian on the Tour like you’d expect someone now, 15  years later, to do so:

I don’t think I’m naive, but I don’t have any concerns about this. I know there are still individuals who have problems with diversity, but we’ve come so far as a society that I don’t see this as a topic that really moves people.

Spencer-Devlin told SI she was coming out for personal reasons, not to become the “mouthpiece” for lesbian athletes. She has since lived openly, proudly, but quietly as a ground-breaking lesbian in the world of sports.

She has retired from golf and now lives in Laguna, Calif., where she has taken up glass-blowing. Her two passions came together when she was asked to design the Kia Classic Trophy; You can watch a fascinating video of Spencer-Devlin producing the trophy below.

For more information:

• Powerful Sports Illustrated article in which she came out
• Muffin Spencer-Devlin’s Web site
• Her full LPGA bio
• More about Spencer-Devlin’s art

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As we’ve mentioned here for the last couple weeks, we are putting together our own “history of gay sports” project that we will begin unveiling next week. The list covers 1970 to the present day, so Babe won’t be in it – so it was nice to see her legacy get some coverage from the Times (and on New York’s gay pride day, no less).

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The golf featured one of the most exciting Sundays at the Masters in memory, a virtual no-name from South Africa, Charl Schwartzel, took home the green jacket by two strokes over Adam Scott, posting a strong -14 score for the four rounds. Schwartzel just joined the PGA in January, and this was his first win on the Tour.

The storylines were quite intriguing heading into the back 9. Tiger Woods again played the role of “making it interesting” on Sunday, but he missed two puts within 5 feet and he was doomed. Rory McIlroy, who led from the first tee on Friday, collapsed in extraordinary fashion. Leading by one shot heading to the 10th hole, he hit a terrible drive and triple-bogeyed that hole, bogeyed the 11th, double-bogeyed the 12th, and when it was done he was done. Plus, at least a half-dozen golfers had the lead at one point on Sunday from all around the world (as the announcers reminded us over and over and over…).

Seven of the last nine Major Championships have been won by a man who’d never won a Major before, Schwartzel being the latest. It’s telling the power of popular champions like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson: When they’re in the hunt, people tune in (the last two years have seen the highest-rated Masters of the last decade).

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