{"id":7012,"date":"2017-01-16T20:07:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T02:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=7012"},"modified":"2017-02-17T15:42:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T21:42:27","slug":"eight-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/personalities\/7012\/eight-years-on","title":{"rendered":"Eight Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Jan. 16, 2017]–On this day of observing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, something jiggled my memory, and I went into the cyber attic to find the following piece. I wrote it eight years ago, just after Barack Obama first took the Presidential oath of office, for the old <\/em>3 Guys Golf website. It seems like an interesting artifact now–a number of the protagonists no longer with us. But considering what’s about to happen this Friday it seemed worth dusting off and putting back on the shelf, for today at any rate, in a mode of remembrance. <\/em><\/p>\n

Now Stepping Up to the Tee\u2026
\nJan. 21, 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

It was nice to see Tiger Woods at the inauguration concert on Sunday. He spoke mainly in support of supporting our troops, drawing on his own upbringing as part of a military family.<\/p>\n

But it was also nice to see the golf world represented at the seismic shift that Barack Obama\u2019s inauguration represents in our country\u2019s history. Something\u2019s happening here, and it\u2019s big.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger<\/a>

Tiger Woods at the Inauguration Concert, 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s better than being small, as Paul Azinger was back in 1993, when the U.S. Ryder Cup team was invited to a White House reception by President Bill Clinton and Azinger refused to go, claiming he didn\u2019t want to shake hands with a draft dodger.<\/p>\n

Azinger just captained the winning Ryder Cup team, and golf cap off to him for that, although I could sure do without the excessive jingoism that clings to the competition. (Interesting to note that Azinger had no problem heading to the White House to shake President Bush\u2019s hand, probably with nary a mention of Bush\u2019s own dubious military history.)<\/p>\n

In the wake of his victory there was much talk of Azinger being given the chance to captain the Ryder Cup team again in 2010, but Corey Pavin was named, and so Azinger can sink back into the field of the PGA Tour, gearing up for the Champion\u2019s Tour in 2010 instead, commiserating over the political situation with his overwhelmingly Republican buddies.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, polls show that even Republicans wish Obama well at the moment. Maybe even Azinger. Well, who wouldn\u2019t, considering the shape the country is in?<\/p>\n\"Obama<\/a>\n

Tiger has never, to my knowledge, revealed his political leanings, but he certainly tipped his hand after the election, when he was quoted about Obama\u2019s victory, \u201cI think it’s absolutely incredible. He represents America. He’s multiracial. I was hoping it would happen in my lifetime. My father was hoping it would happen in his lifetime, but he didn’t get to see it. I’m lucky enough to have seen a person of color in the White House.”<\/p>\n

\"Obama<\/a>After the election Obama took some R&R time in Hawaii and played a few rounds of golf. A Tiger-Obama pairing is only a matter of time and the bets are on whether it\u2019s before or after the mid-term elections of 2010.<\/p>\n

Tiger, who cited his late father on Sunday, was asked by CNBC how Earl Woods would have reacted to Obama’s election. Tiger said, \u201cHe would have cried. Absolutely. No doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>

Pete and Bruce<\/p><\/div>\n

Aren\u2019t we all welling up a bit? The confluence of symbolism, fact and memory are doing a number on me, that\u2019s for sure. Tiger in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Barack in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing \u201cThis Land Is Your Land\u201d together, it\u2019s all almost too much, releasing a flood of sheer emotion, and more hope than I know is realistic.<\/p>\n

Last year Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s birthday observation fell on my actual 60th birthday, so I had mixed feelings about it all, but did remark at the time that the mere fact that Obama was running for President was a pleasing symbol of how far we\u2019d come since King\u2019s turbulent days leading the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n

Now Obama is<\/em> the President. I\u2019m still not sure if I ever expected to see such a thing happen. But I have no mixed feelings about it. I\u2019m exultant.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie<\/a>

Charlie Sifford<\/p><\/div>\n

This year, on MLK day, the Northern Trust Open golf tournament announced the Charlie Sifford Exemption, which will open up a playing spot in the PGA Tour event, to a golfer who \u201crepresents the advancement of diversity in golf and wouldn\u2019t otherwise be eligible to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great day,\u201d Sifford said. \u201cI always just wanted to get a chance to play, and with the help of many I was able to pursue my dreams as a professional golfer. I am honored beyond words to see this exemption help the next generation of top golfers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1964:<\/a>Sifford was the Jackie Robinson of golf, breaking down golf\u2019s \u201cCaucasian only\u201d rule when, after winning five consecutive Negro Opens, he became the first African-American to join the PGA Tour, in 1961. He won twice, including the 1969 Los Angeles Open, the forerunner of the Northern Trust Open. In 2004 Sifford became the first African-American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

The sometimes lonely steps that Sifford, Robinson and Woods took in the world of sport led, more than merely symbolically, onto the path that Martin Luther King Jr. began to beat down with his eloquent and ferocious determination. But an unknowable multitude of steps led to the moment that Barack Obama stood on the Capitol steps, and took the oath of office on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln for his swearing-in on March 4, 1861.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s almost too much to think, too much to feel. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m grateful to Andrew Rooney for his wisdom and pith on a recent \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d when he summed it all up best by remarking, \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way. A good way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Jan. 16, 2017]–On this day of observing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, something jiggled my memory, and I went into… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":7021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1045965,1199,1002842,1002383,1013493,1013494,1013495,53,1013496,671,675,1182],"class_list":["post-7012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personalities","tag-pga-tour","tag-paul-azinger","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-charlie-sifford","tag-inauguration","tag-andy-rooney","tag-pete-seeger","tag-tiger-woods","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-barack-obama","tag-president","tag-jackie-robinson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/01\/Obama-on-the-Range.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7012"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7026,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7012\/revisions\/7026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}