Apology Not Good Enough: Golf Channel Suspends Tilghman
Kelly Tilghman courtesy Golf Channel, Tiger Woods by Mike Ehrmann/WireImage
Despite an apology for
her extremely poor choice of words regarding Tiger Woods, Golf Channel play-by-play sportscaster Kelly Tilghman has been suspended for two weeks by the network.
Last Friday, during a PGA Tour event in Hawaii, Tilghman said Woods' young rivals would need to "lynch him in a back alley" if they were to have any chance of defeating him. Tilghman later apologized and on Tuesday, Woods, through his agent, said "there was no ill intent in her comments," and called it a "non-issue."
The Golf Channel, sensing rising outrage, didn't see it that way. The network released the following statement on Wednesday night:
"The Golf Channel regrets the poorly chosen remarks made by Kelly Tilghman on a recent broadcast and, again, extends our apologies to anyone who was offended. There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this. While we believe that Kelly's choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate. Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately."
