"If he's a former Ryder Cup captain, he ought know better, right?"

Steve Elling fleshes out the Bernard Gallacher-Jeff Overton incident. Gallacher really comes off poorly in this one.

Overton walked back toward his ball as his father, who had been stationed several yards away with a handful of other American fans, observed the broadcaster speaking to his son in demeaning fashion and stepped in to set Gallacher straight.

"Nose to nose," as Ron Overton described it.

If there is a truism in golf, it's that reporters are on the course to observe, not participate. Unless a player initiates a conversation, it's best to keep your trap shut. Gallacher was so far beyond the pale in antagonizing Overton that he ought to be ashamed of himself. Ron Overton didn't know Gallacher's name, much less his pedigree, until afterward. That only made it worse.

"If he's a former Ryder Cup captain, he ought know better, right?" Ron Overton said. "A ruling is between a player, the second player and the judge. Any player has the right to have a ruling explained to him. Nobody else has the right to say anything to either player."

And this was nice to read...

Ron Overton said he first spoke with Gallacher in a level tone that escalated from there. Fans were reportedly shocked by the exchange, and rightly so. Ron said it was the only cross words he had with anyone the entire trip.

"Please make a point of mentioning that I said that [incident] was the only rudeness we experienced from the 100,000 fans we encountered over the four days we were there," Ron Overton said Wednesday after arriving home in the States. "They have the greatest fans in the world. This was the only poor sportsmanship I witnessed the entire time."