Besides the lynching comment, I still don't know what Kelly Tilghman has done to get so many PGA Tour golfers and viewers riled up. Several weeks ago, Jim Gorant of Sports Illustrated confirmed that there are a number of tour players who dislike Tilghman...
A players' meeting was held last week at Wachovia, and conversation on two topics became animated and went on for more than a half hour each: slow play, a perennial problem; and near-unanimous criticism of Golf Channel commentator Kelly Tilghman. Said one player in attendance who asked not to be identified, "I was pretty surprised."
And apparently, according to Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports, the complaints from the players were made loud and clear to the commish, Tim Finchem...
At last week's PGA Tour player's meeting, several players-apparently under the impression that Commissioner Tim Finchem is the Hitman-told Finchem that he needs to get Tilghman hushed up, pronto.
The players' complaint wasn't with anything specific Tilghman said-including a certain comment from earlier this year vis-à-vis Tiger Woods and Southern Justice-but with her perceived inability to manufacture drama out of thin air, as any good golf announcer should be able to do on a moment's notice.
Finchem pointed out that the PGA Tour doesn't actually control the Golf Channel, but simply the fact that this story leaked out of the players' meetings means there'll likely be action. Expect Kelly to start talking in a much lower register and using words like "majestic" to describe routine chip shots.
It really is a shame that Tilghman is so unpopular among tour players, especially since she has worked her tail off over the years to get this far with the station. Now, the players displeasure is getting attention. And you know this is big golf news when one of the more popular sports blogs, Deadspin, picks up on it...
Brian Hammons was the lead anchor during The Golf Channel's coverage at The Colonial earlier today. Perhaps this is the beginning of a less visible role for Tilghman at the network.
