Els-Feherty Row Surfaces Over Tavistock Cup Ribbing

Golf.com reveals the backstory in the July Golf Magazine. Apparently Ernie Els, a.k.a. The Big Easy, who was rather yippy with the blade and not exactly handling it with class, took issue with David Feherty's first tee joke where the funnyman said Els would soon be "putting with a live rattlesnake" following his Transitions Championship woes (golf.com says Bay Hill).

"It wasn't a very classy move, but then again it's how he makes his living these days," Els said. "He's kind of a shock jock."

I guess Ernie won't be retiring and heading to the announce booth...

"...At the end of the day, I screwed up in front of a lot of people on live television. But I'm still in the game. I didn't quit. I'm still trying to win tournaments and majors, and the people who are criticizing you, their life journey was to (play golf for a living) and now they're a journalist."

Calling Feherty a journalist is one of the nicer things you could label him!

Sadly, Feherty is already backing down.

Feherty told the magazine that he was just trying to have fun and "I gave everybody a hard time at the Tavistock Cup, and I did it in proportion to how much affection I have for the person. If that backfired with Ernie, I unreservedly apologize, because I love the guy.

You can see the crime in this GolfChannel.com video. As you'll see, Feherty was an equal opportunity ribber: