The PGA Tour said yesterday that it "needed more time
to decide whether to take the Casey Martin case to the
Supreme Court," according to Clifton Brown of the N.Y.
TIMES. Following yesterday's PGA Tour Policy Board meeting,
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said the Tour was still
reviewing its options. Finchem: "We all root for Casey, but
it's not about him. ... We're asking people to try and
understand that, but it's not good public relations. That's
troubling, because we are an entertainment sport" (N.Y.
TIMES, 3/16). USA TODAY's Gary Graves notes that the Tour's
decision follows a ruling of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court in
Chicago that club pro Ford Olinger could not use a cart for
a USGA event, despite ailing from a "degenerative hip
disorder" (See THE DAILY, 3/8). The Olinger ruling was
handed down the day after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in S.F. ruled that Martin could use a cart for PGA
Tour events, and the "opposite views" by the two federal
courts has led the PGA Tour to say that it "would wait until
summer before deciding whether to ask the Supreme Court to
hear" the Martin case (USA TODAY, 3/16). In NJ, Yi-Wyn Yen
writes that Olinger has asked for a "rehearing" in his trial
and the Tour "has decided to wait and see what happens."
Finchem argues that the Martin and Olinger cases are "nearly
identical, and that a similar standard must apply to both."
Finchem: "We have two circuit courts with different
positions on the law. What is the law in the 7th Circuit is
not the law in the 9th" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 3/16).
FINCHEM KEEPS SPORTS OUT OF POLITICS? Finchem said that
next month's MCI Classic in Hilton Head, SC, "should be kept
out of the controversy regarding the Confederate flag that
flies over South Carolina's capitol." Finchem: "I don't
think we ought to use a sporting event to send that message.
I think there are other ways to send that message, and I
think the people of South Carolina ought to be the ones
sending that message. A Tour event raises a lot of money
for charities in that community" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16).
