Tim Clark "could find himself at the center of the biggest golf-against-golfer disability battle since PGA Tour Inc. v. Casey Martin."
/It's going to be fascinating if the anchoring debate shifts from a philosophic to a disability debate, but that seems to be the route we're headed based on his extended comments to John Garrity.
Cross waiter off his list of potential jobs after golf:
"Silly little things are difficult for me," Clark says. "Like carrying plates. I could not be a waiter." To clarify his condition, he asks you to extend your arms with your palms facing. "Now turn your palms to the sky," he says, confident that you'll have no problem doing so. "If you think of holding a bowl of soup, that's supinating" -- Clark, known for his dry wit, misses the pun -- "but I can only go to here." He tilts his hands slightly outward to demonstrate the relative immobility of his forearms.
Normally we wouldn't dwell on a golfer's infirmity, but Clark's funky forearms could soon be the talk of the golf world. At 37 he is a dark-horse pick to win the U.S. Open next month at Merion, a course well suited to his anachronistic skills. But even if Clark's popgun game fails to beat Tiger Woods and the other long knockers, the unassuming 5' 7" pro who calls Scottsdale, Ariz., home could find himself at the center of the biggest golf-against-golfer disability battle since PGA Tour Inc. v. Casey Martin.
Based on Peter Dawson's comments last week as reported by Phil Casey, the governing bodies aren't too worried, meaning any case Clark would make would be against the PGA Tour.
When announcing the ban, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson admitted he was concerned that players could file lawsuits, but added: 'I don't think lawsuits will be on particularly strong ground.
'We are not so sure of ourselves that you can always be sure you're going to be right, but we have certainly done our homework on this one, far more than anything else in my time at the R&A.'