Keegan Bradley’s sponsor, Cleveland Golf, took to Twitter Monday to tell tweetists who complained about the New England golfer’s spitting that the club maker stood firmly behind its man.
“we support @keegan_bradley if he spits or not!” @ClevelandGolf tweeted in response to widespread criticisms of last year’s Rookie of the Year that began on Twitter during CBS’ coverage of the Northern Trust Open finale. “we couldn’t be happier to have a guy like @Keegan_Bradley as an ambassador for CG and @SrixonGolf!”
Indeed, the reigning PGA champ had the Twitter-verse in a twist during Sunday night’s broadcast of the tourney’s final round and playoff. But it wasn’t the 54-hole co-leader coughing up the advantage and losing, along with Phil Mickelson, to playoff winner Bill Haas that had TV viewers gagging; it was Bradley’s nasty habit of hocking up a few gobs of slobber during his pre-shot routine that caused a flurry of messages decrying what one tweep termed “Phlegm-gate.”
To be fair, Bradley was not the only golfer in the field last week who gave Riviera Country Club the look and feel of a major league baseball game — without all the incessant scratching and adjusting. Golf Channel and CBS cameras caught Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez discharging a few juicy tidbits as well.
Spitting is hardly a new phenomenon practiced by golf’s new breed. Tiger Woods gets a regular skewering for watering the greens with his spittle, and who can forget Sergio Garcia’s particularly repugnant display of frustration when he left his calling card at the bottom of the 13th hole at Doral in 2007?
But Bradley’s constant spraying, combined with the bazillion practice swings and ritualistic tics reminiscent of former Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra that he exhibited before finally taking a swipe at the ball, was just too much for many observers.
“I must say I do like young Bradley’s pre shot routine,” tweeted someone pretending to be BBC commentator Peter Allis, “twitching and spiting like labrador on acid.”
Canadian scribe Bob Weeks wondered whether Bradley’s drooling had run afoul of the Rules of Golf. “If Keegan Bradley horks in the bunker and his loogie lands in the sand,” posited @Bobatscoregolf, “is that a penalty for grounding?
Karen Stupples, an LPGA Tour golfer from England, weighed in as well. “its just disgusting,” tweeted @Kstupples, “and really no need for it!”
And when one of Bradley’s globs trickled down his shirt and never made it to the turf, a member of the Twitterati earned Tweet of the Night honors by opining that last year’s Rookie of the Year “spitslikeagirl!”
We’ll never know what, if anything, PGA officials plan to do about the drooling epidemic that’s rampant on the tour, but Cleveland Golf made it clear that its official Twitter feed was proud of Bradley.
“We don’t have the licensing agreement for his saliva!” @ClevelandGolf pointed out. “he chews sunflower seeds, they have to go somewhere.”
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