Arnold Palmer quits golf: Others need to follow his example

Following a miserable experience at the Administaff Small Business Classic on the Champions Tour, Arnold Palmer, 77, said he was permanently retiring from competitive golf, making literal something that has been figurative for a dozen years or so.

So with Palmer riding off into the sunset clutching his back, it’s time to look at a few others who would be best leaving golf behind.

Lamar, S.C., Police Chief Mike McDonald

They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Therefore, it goes to figure that a miniscule amount of power corrupts minisculely.

For the ridiculous crime of stealing an $80 windshield from a parked golf cart – while in uniform – McDonald quit his position, and turned himself in to Darlington County police last week to face the charges of petty larceny and misconduct in office. He was released on $1,000 bail.

“I messed up, your honor,” McDonald said at his bond hearing. “It’s embarrassing for my position.”

Canadian golf fans

If you want to see pro golf on TV in Canada, it’s pay for the Golf Channel or make do with little for golf-loving Canucks, as TSN, which will have aired more than 500 hours of top-level golf by the time this year ends, will have that coverage seriously sliced into after the network couldn’t forge a deal with the Golf Channel.

“We contacted the Golf Channel and very much wanted to be a partner with them but we couldn’t come to terms,” said Phil King, president of TSN. “They seemed uninterested in doing such a deal.”

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star put it best:

“No doubt this was a good business move.

And no doubt forcing golf fans to subscribe to the channel that produces no Canadian content and is here basically to collect subscriber fees is a pretty good business move, too.

But it does little to serve Canadians.”

Alex Roland, owner, Horseshoe Lake Golf Course in Washington

Horseshoe Lake settled a sexual harrassment lawsuit against Roland for nearly $400,000.

“The first question he asked me was ‘How far would I go for money?’ ” said Amber Privitt, one of up to 24 women involved in the lawsuit.

–WKW