The new "Golf" spotlights Fuzzy Zoeller, the 1979 Masters champ and the presumed "starter" for this year's tourney, in a two-page feature that ultimately begs the climatic question: Does Fuzzy regret the "fried chicken" slur he slung Tiger Woods' way back in '97?
You'll recall that after Woods won the Masters in '97, earning him the honor of dictating the next year's Champions Dinner menu, Zoeller quipped in a flippant fashion that Tiger might serve his guests yard bird. It touched off a furor that apparently hasn't died.
In the heat of it all, Tiger kept a cool head and accepted an awkward apology from Zoeller regarding the comments. But Zoeller was so offended by one Augusta Chronicle columnist's spoof on his own insensitive choice of words that filed a lawsuit.
Zoeller and Woods on Augusta National's fourth tee during the '98 Masters
When Golf asked Zoeller if he'd take back the fried chicken remark now, if he had the chance, Fuzzy confessed: "No _ That's done and gone. It was blown well out of proportion; but it's over with. Life is not always going to be perfect."
Do you agree that Golf magazine's picking at the scab of an old wound? Aren't we just forgetting the sting of that callous "lynching" comment that Kelly Tilghman made about competitors' options for caging Tiger last year?
Maybe time stands still even as Tiger's thundering galleries march forward. The game, after all, is so firmly packaged around him that the exact same image of Woods driving with a pained grimace at the '08 U.S. Open graces both the cover of April's Golf mag as well as the annual Athlon Sports golf issue on newsstands now.
Fried Chicken Photo: MarylandRoute5
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