Published: Feb 5, 2001 1:00 a.m. ET

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PGA bid to bar disabled golfer smacks of elitism



WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Golfer Casey Martin can't walk without difficulty. The Professional Golfers Association is rendering him even more disabled.

"Casey Martin is a highly skilled professional. All he's seeking is an opportunity."
Neil McKittrick,Attorney

The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering whether to keep a young man from pursuing the use of his skills to make a living because he needs a ride to work.

Martin chose golf as his profession and he's good enough at driving, chipping and putting to achieve the dream of millions and qualify for the PGA tour. But he's had to call on the force of law and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to get the association to let him play.

The principle of opening business and the professions to the disabled, it seems, may still be vulnerable to a well-financed and well-represented individual business determined to be the exception to any rule. And too many exceptions undermine rules.

Just getting there

The problem is walking. Martin suffers from a circulatory disorder, Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, that restricts the use of his right leg and causes him great pain.

Walking an entire golf course day after day would be unbearable, and observers agree that even with the use of a golf cart Martin's condition still puts him at a considerable disadvantage to other golfers.

Echoing the exemption Major League Baseball enjoys from federal antitrust laws, the PGA argues participation on its tour should be beyond the reach of the government. It says altering its rules requiring walking between holes would fundamentally alter the game of golf.

Of course even if taken as true, that would hardly sound the death knell for golf. Baseball's American League hasn't folded since introduction of the sacrilegious designated hitter rule. Neither has the National Basketball Association since the arrival of three-point shots and 24-second clocks.

"It's about moving barriers, not about unfair competition."
Neil McKittrick

"Casey Martin is a highly skilled professional. All he's seeking is an opportunity," said Neil McKittrick, a Boston lawyer and advocate for the disabled.

"This is about giving people the chance to earn a living, to compete, to gain access to government services -- a chance for people to achieve their full potential, to participate in American life. It's about moving barriers, not about unfair competition. (The ADA is) a law like the civil rights act, meant to remove barriers."

It's almost like a glass ceiling for the wheelchair-bound. The PGA is in essence saying: "You can watch us -- the law says we have to accommodate you as spectators -- but don't even think about joining our lofty ranks."

So would the PGA have let FDR take a ceremonial swing?

Minor accommodation

Most severely disabled people are eliminated from participating in major sports at the most competitive, professional levels. Yet our national game of baseball has proven itself willing to accommodate anyone who can compete, whether blind in one eye, missing a hand or just too old, overweight or physically worn to run the bases, yet still capable of swinging a big bat.

Rather than celebrate a Casey Martin who's achieved proficiency and overcome a considerable barrier, the PGA seeks to bar him, and treat him as if he's complaining about an in-grown toenail. Why is the PGA intent on retaining golf's historic image as an elite and often-bigoted sport?

Martin isn't looking for strokes to be taken off his scorecard. He's not asking to drive his #3 wood down a shorter fairway or start every hole on the green. He's not asking for clubs that swing faster or balls that fly further. He's just asking for a minor accommodation.

Maybe the PGA believes that leveling the playing field would eliminate the roughs, sand traps and artificial lakes on which its members compete.

No one would want to see a "Tourette's syndrome defense" to a profanity-induced technical foul in an NBA game; a major league baseball game delayed on account of a migraine; or a postponement of a pro-tennis match because of the heartbreak of psoriasis.

But golf and the law are capable of distinguishing between a real and superficial disability. The ADA needs to be interpreted broadly to allow people disabled by injury, illness or accidents of birth to earn a living and participate in public activities.

Mark Twain used to refer to golf as "a good walk spoiled." Let's hope the Supreme Court doesn't spoil Martin's ride.

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