PGA Tour Denies Ken Green's Application for Major Medical Exemption
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 26, 2010 10:47 AM EDT
in Pro Golf
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PrintThe PGA Tour has denied Ken Green's request for a major medical exemption, Green said on his blog.
Green said that he will not sue the Tour as his only recourse to reverse his denied application. In the blog post, he cites his involvement in the lawsuit between Ping and the PGA Tour that ultimately created the recently closed loophole on the use of pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 wedges.
Green, who was involved in an automobile accident that killed his brother & girlfriend and significantly injured himself, has been seeking to return to the game following the accident and recovery. In January, Green's son Hunter passed away while at college from alcohol poisoning.
He recently spoke with our Jeff Palopoli about his comeback and the status of his MME request.
"I personally feel this is a no brainer and have only asked for what I had already earned. Only the Tour can answer that and certainly they will spin it so they don't look like they are doing anything wrong."
Larry Dorman of the NY Times spoke with Champions Tour President Mike Stevens about the nature of Green's status. He had conditional status for two years on the Champ Tour in the career victories category as a five-time PGA Tour winner. That began in July '08 when he started on the circuit, but did not stop after his accident just eleven months into his 50+ career. There is no recourse for Green to get the remaining 13 months he had. Major medical exemptions on the Champions Tour are only awarded to the prior season's top 30 on the money list.
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this is really unfortunate news
I’m sure Ken is crushed. He’s been working so hard to get his game back to where he could compete again. This has been his focus and distraction away from everything else that’s gone on in his life.
Again, all the eggs in one basket.
God forbid if the Tour decides to grant an exemption to someone that would generate a lot of buzzworthy attention for tournaments. I mean, it’s not like attendance is hurting or anything.
Wait…
Adam Fonseca
I have reached out to the PGA Tour to get their side of this. I just can’t see them declining this request without a very good reason.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
I’ll drop Ken a line as well and see if I can get a response from him. I’m sure he’s pretty pissed.
by Jeff.Palopoli on Mar 25, 2010 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Ryan, all our personal feelings
aside…and I know this is a lot different from drugs…but if the tour gave Ken the medical exemption due to the loss of a leg….than it opens a can of worms as to why the medical exemption wasn’t given to Doug who needed the medications to even survive…It’s a cruel world,..ever wonder why there are so many lawyers and law suits?…don’t have to look far do we….Chicago…doesn’t have anything to do with buzz or attendance….it’s the tour trying to keep their skirts clean, so no on can point the finger at them….STUB
I don’t disagree. There has to be a reason for it. Could be precedent, could be something that we just don’t know.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 25, 2010 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Stub – Baron didn’t need the drugs he was taking to survive – he needed them to boost his physical and mental systems up to Tour levels. Baron was also playing (poorly) on the Nationwide Tour – not the PGA Tour.
Green wasn’t playing on the PGA Tour, either – but he did have status on the Champions Tour. So like everyone else, I’m stunned that they wouldn’t give him a chance to play on the Champions Tour. The guy would bring a lot of good will and put a few more feet in the galleries.
The only reason I can think of to turn him down is that the Champions Tour is already a tight tour for spots. It is the hardest tour to play onto. It will be interesting to find out…if we ever do…why he was turned down. He has talked about rounds he has played lately and breaking 80 seemed like a good day for him. That’s not up to Tour standards – even the Champions Tour – and as much as it’s a no cut tour – it isn’t charity.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Does Green have any opportunity to get sponsor exemptions, or does his denial of this medical exemption mean he wouldn’t qualify for entrance into a tournament through a sponsor?
This is one of those cases where my logical brain and compassionate heart are at odds.
I write about golf at www.tees2greens.com, too.
Your wrong Court..
Baron didn’t need the meds to survive, but he did need them to be able to function….never mind BOOST up to the tour levels….this had nothing to do with the Tour, this had to do with everyday functioning….and I really don’t think that giving Green a physical exemption would have proved anything…Ya can’t shoot in the 80’s on the Champions tour and make it…cut or no, he couldn’t have made enough to survive…is it tough out there? heck yea, but that’s the way the ball bounces….STUB
If by “function” you mean play professional golf – then yes – you are correct. But he could function doing other non-competitive things…which is why those compounds are banned by the USOC.
you’re right about the money – 26 weeks finishing dead last with no WD’s will come out to less than $25k…before taxes and IF he could play every tournament. on the other hand, the guy has lost just about everything in the last year. if the tour let him play, the only people they have to worry about are the people at the bottom who will make less than that $850 for a week. he would need sponsors to back him and a lot of improvement in his game.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
That's not my understanding
My understanding is that Barron needed the meds just to get his levels to be that of a normal human, not a high-performance athlete.
If you’ve never known anyone with a serious testosterone deficiency, I should point out that they can hardly be considered to be functional without the treatments. It is definitely NOT a matter of leading a fairly normal life but just needing that extra boost to handle a Tour grind.
I work a few feet from someone with that condition and he couldn’t even handle a 9-5 desk job until he started getting treatments.
by Double Eagle on Mar 26, 2010 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions
I understand what you’re saying – but Barron wasn’t trying to do a 9-5 job with the testosterone and other drug treatments – he was trying to play professional golf – and the rules of the tour say you can’t take those things. Right or wrong – compassion or not – you can’t play the tour while taking those substances.
Take the drugs and do anything else – but you can’t play on the PGA Tour while doing it. Nobody is saying the guy has to move to the local underpass. He doesn’t have a restriction from the government saying that he either plays professional golf or nothing at all.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
We have no disagreement there. My only beef was your point that he can function doing other non-competitive things. That’s probably a stretch unless those things include stuff like breathing and speaking.
And the only reason I felt the need to point that out is that there is the perception by some that he was trying to get some advantage when in reality his treatments just got him to the point where he was a normal human male.
I think I said this before, but logically, it’s no different from a person taking Aleve to calm down arthritis. It’s a medical condition, relieved by medication, that makes it possible for a person to engage in normal activity. It doesn’t really give an advantage of some kind. So, I don’t get the difference in situations, other than the fact that testosterone can be used to gain an unfair advantage (by someone who is already healthy to begin with). In this case, I think it clearly wasn’t, so the situations are the same.
by Double Eagle on Mar 26, 2010 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions
my bad – the point was that he can take those drugs and do just about anything other than PGA Tour golf (including the Nationwide Tour) and take what he needs to take. But he DOES need them to be able to play competitive golf and that’s why they are banned.
sorry – but taking a pain reliever and boosting up on testosterone and the other drug aren’t anywhere near the same thing.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Why not?
What the difference? Because Aleve is an over-the-counter drug? Both are drugs that let people function normally. There is very little difference between the two situations. It’s not like we’re talking about the Casey Martin situation where he was given the ability to use an artificial device to assist him.
The only real difference between the two is that testosterone has the potential to be abused, so I can certainly understand why it is controlled and that people using it would be initially suspicious. But that doesn’t mean that the situations can’t be handled on a case by case basis. It’s certainly easier just to say no to everyone and if that’s the way it has to be to avoid the abuse, then I suppose I can live with that.
In his individual case, I believe the Aleve analogy applies. If we’re talking Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds or one of those other cheaters, then obviously, it’s a completely different animal.
by Double Eagle on Mar 26, 2010 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
please – they are NOT the same – not even close. Taking Aleve doesn’t boost the body’s systems – it reduces swelling.
We aren’t disagreeing on how WE thought things should have been handled. The guy had been taking these things for a lot of years under a doctor’s care – with plenty of proof of his condition. He complied with the comissioner’s request to try to find a replacement for the drugs and to ween himself off of them as much as possible. All well and good.
BUT – and this is huge – he KNEW the rules and he took the testosterone shots the week of the PGA Tour event he had gotten into – KNOWING that the Tour would be watching. They had to – the players had ok’d this drug testing plan, and they knew that Barron was using the substances. Barron basically dared the Tour to catch him. He took it hoping he wouldn’t be tested and that he could play well enough to earn a PGA Tour check.
If you or I were the commish, we probably would have given him the go ahead to use the treatments, but with regular testing to make sure he wasn’t “juicing” past a treatment level.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
from a pure
business position, they’d be smart to let him play. Think about how many more fans would tune in to Champions Tour events with Ken in the field. Ken’s not the type of person that would want anything handed to him however, but if the Tour was smart (and lately they are proving to not be) they’d give him at least conditional status or something.
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