How should the PGA Tour react to Justin Thomas' homophobic slur? Should golf have boycotted Donald Trump sooner? Dame Laura Davies, Nick Dougherty, and Meghan MacLaren feature on the Sky Sports Golf podcast
Tuesday 12 January 2021 10:22, UK
The new Sky Sports Golf podcast is out to look back at a week where the sport has produced plenty of unwanted headlines.
Dame Laura Davies, Nick Dougherty and Meghan MacLaren all join host Josh Antmann for a busy opening podcast of 2021, with golf coming under the spotlight for its handling of several controversial storylines over the past week.
Justin Thomas apologised for using a homophobic slur after a missed putt during the Sentry Tournament of Champions, picked up by a greenside microphone, with the world No 3 coming under scrutiny for his language.
"He needs to be punished and fined, because there's just no place for it," Dougherty told the Sky Sports Golf podcast. "What he did just not acceptable in the world of golf. He's made an unfortunate mistake and something that is really hard to explain, because to swear is one thing but to say something like that is something you can't take back.
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"I've seen the argument that in America it's a very different mentality, but it doesn't make it right and make it more acceptable. I'm grateful that he jumped straight up and said that he was really sorry."
The 2022 PGA Championship has been moved away from Trump's course in New Jersey and the R&A confirmed The Open wouldn't be held at Turnberry - also owned by Trump - for the "foreseeable future", following Trump supporters illegally and forcibly storming the U.S. Capitol last week.
Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam were criticised for attending the White House to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump, with the ceremony taking place a short distance from where the violence occurred.
"It's so unfortunate for those players, as they're legends of the game and it's such a shame they've been caught up in this, as it's not their making," Davies told the Sky Sports Golf podcast.
"It would've already been in motion, the fact that they were going there to do that and personally I don't blame them, I blame the powers that be for allowing the ceremony to go ahead."
Away from the controversy, Davies pays tribute to LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan after he announced he will be stepping down in the coming months, while Dougherty explains the work Bryson DeChambeau has been doing with World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire over the off-season.
The pair also offer their 2021 major predictions and look at some of the players who could potentially have successful seasons, while MacLaren sits down for an extended chat about her career so far and discusses her hopes of featuring in the Solheim Cup this autumn.
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The Vodcast version is out now on Sky Sports On Demand, with the show also on Sky Sports Golf this Tuesday at 10pm, and Wednesday at 7pm and 10pm.
