“What happened to the gentleman’s sport?’’
That text came from my sister Joanne, along with a link to an ESPN story with the following headline: ‘‘Police: Officer dragged trying to stop Scottie Scheffler’s car.’’
I responded, snidely, that the term ‘‘gentleman’s sport’’ applies to what happens on the golf course, not to what happens off it.
Then a precision strike from my sister.
‘‘What would Chick Evans say?’’
An excellent question, one I wish golf leaders and the people who play the sport at the highest level would ask more often. I wish Scheffler had asked it before getting into a dispute that landed him in jail. I wish the players who bolted the PGA Tour for LIV Golf had asked it before they took blood money from the Saudis. I wish Tiger Woods had asked it before his career went off the rails because of messy, non-golf issues.
Introducing Charles ‘‘Chick’’ Evans Jr. to a discussion about golf and decency is akin to introducing George Washington to a discussion about cherry trees and hatchets. There are people who can do no wrong, even though they probably have, and Chick is one of them — at least in my house. The Chicagoan, a former caddie, won the 1916 U.S. Open as an amateur. Rather than give up his amateur status after receiving money he had made through golf, he set up a scholarship fund for caddies at the suggestion of his mother. The Evans Scholarship has put more than 12,000 caddies through college, including me and one of my brothers. It allowed my mom to exhale after raising seven kids following the death of my dad.
Chick led a life of service and, if I might project a little bit here, a life of simple goodness. Being compared to him isn’t fair. But, still. If you’re a professional golfer or just a person in the market for a moral compass, picking him as your guide isn’t a bad way to go.
Scheffler, the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer, was arrested Friday after police said he ignored an officer’s order to stop his car outside Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of the PGA Championship this year. A bus had hit and killed a pedestrian earlier, and traffic was snarled as police processed the scene of the accident.
Scheffler said his confrontation with a police officer was a communication breakdown on a rainy, chaotic morning. Police said he willfully ignored directions and tried to drive around the traffic toward the entrance to the club. He was arrested, led away in handcuffs and spent about an hour in jail before being released. Four hours after his arrest, Scheffler made his tee time. The officer involved was treated for abrasions. His pants reportedly were torn while he was being dragged by Scheffler’s car.
What would Chick say? It’s dangerous to ascribe feelings and thoughts to someone who died 45 years ago, but I’d like to think he would have said something along the lines of: ‘‘Stay in your lane, kid. You’ll get to your tee time at the appointed hour. Oh, and a question: You put your golf pants on one leg at a time like everybody else, right?’’
A little humility goes a long way. So does understanding that not everything is about you. In fact, very little is about you, if you ever take the time to think about it. But few of us do when we’re caught up in our lives.
Pro golfers live in a bubble of golf and money. They work on their swings and their sponsorship deals. They travel together from tournament to tournament, pursuing wealth and greatness. There is no such thing as too much for some of them, which is how the LIV Golf cash grab happened.
I feel confident in saying that Chick, who remained an amateur throughout his life, would have been appalled at the golfers who left the PGA Tour to make more money from LIV Golf. Not that he was against others earning a living by playing the game, but I think he would have been angry at their disregard for all the golfers who had built the Tour into what it is now.
It’s beyond obscene to think Chick would have sided with LIV Golf chief executive officer Greg Norman and chief money glutton Phil Mickelson, neither of whom care that LIV is financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The country is responsible for many human-rights violations, including the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Nothing about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift has been good for the game. Good for some pocketbooks, but that’s about it.
Unlike in Chick’s era, everyone and everything is under scrutiny now. Babe Ruth’s image would have been mangled beyond recognition in today’s world. And Woods would have gotten away with everything — the infidelity scandal, the addictions, etc. — had he lived when
Ruth did.
Might Chick have supported Scheffler, like the thousands of yahoos who cheered the Masters champion on the course after his arrest Friday? A nice guy can have empathy for and be disappointed in a fellow human being at the same time.
I know it’s naive and simplistic to evoke the memory of a man who believed in an ideal a century ago. Well, here’s to naivete and simplicity.
What would Chick say? A question to live one’s life by.
