Video: Bishop Says PGA Legacy Now "Flushed down the toilet"
/GolfChannel.com's Will Gray sums up the timeline presented by Ted Bishop regarding his downfall from the PGA of America and it matches up with the events as presented in Jaime Diaz's Golf World story yesterday.
The most dramatic moments came in the final few minutes of the interview with Gary Williams, where Bishop bluntly sums up what his comments mean for his legacy (text version here) and friendships. (Video of parts one and two of the interview below.)
"The remorse I feel is because it potentially wipes out a lot of really good work that I've done over my career with women," he said. "It's painful because it's taken a lot of things that I've done and put them down the drain."
Bishop explained that he was given three reasons for his removal by PGA vice president Derek Sprague, now the organization's interim president: negative media feedback, potential damage to relationships with sponsors and an "outpouring" of negative responses from PGA members following Bishop's comments.
That's the first time I've seen a suggestion that the PGA's corporate partner relationships might be damaged. Many of you have sent me debatable sexist hypocrisy by PGA partners and I've resisted posting them since sponsors and partners have not been cited previously. Let's see if that defense is wheeled out before we start going down that road!
Back to Bishop.
"I could have done some PSAs for the PGA that would have helped educate people on the correct usage of social media and been an outspoken advocate for women's rights in the game," he said.
Golf needs as many new PSA’s as it needs task forces Task Forces.
More sad knowing how well they got along is the assertion of Bishop that he'll probably never speak with incoming PGA President Derek Sprague or CEO Pete Bevacqua as a result of the PGA Board of Directors' actions.
Instead, he was removed by the board of directors - impeached, according to Bishop - and stripped of the privileges typically bestowed upon past presidents when they leave office. After speaking on a daily basis during his tenure with Sprague and PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua, Bishop believes those relationships are also casualties of the situation.
"I'll probably never talk to those guys again the rest of my life," he said. "I'll probably never see them again the rest of my life."
And his closing comments made and showing obvious emotion...
"When I wake up at 2:30-3 a.m. and I can't sleep, it's because I look at the things I feel like I've done in my career, for my girls, for women from Day 1, and I think these things, they're flushed down the toilet," he said. "And that's going to be my legacy. That's it. That's the situation I created for myself."
