“Tiger, you can’t be blamed on this occasion.”
An Australian tabloid newspaper, showing a picture of Woods with good friend, Michael Jordan, wins the ‘Overboard Award’ of the week in reporting children at a Melbourne primary school will be denied access to recreation time in the school playground during the up-coming Presidents Cup.
The Melbourne paper displays a picture of Woods on its website but the American nor any of the 24 players set to take the famed Royal Melbourne course have absolutely nothing to do with this piece of newspaper sensationalism at its grandest.
Tiger Woods' last win was in Melbourne but he's nothing to do with a Melbourne newspaper 'beat up'.
Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun reported the Black Rock Primary School has been paid $AUD 15,000 so as to restrict student access to the Royal Melbourne course for the staging of the November 14th to 20th Presidents Cup.
The newspaper indicates school principal, Julie Luiten confirmed a ‘financial agreement’ had been struck but declined an opportunity to say what it was worth, citing a confidentiality agreement.
“I think it’s against the contract to say how much it is,” she told the newspaper.
“We’re using it as a fundraising opportunity. We take the opportunity gladly.”
‘Concerned’ parents contacted the paper to raise fears their children would be locked in classrooms or have limited play space while the tournament was on.
What we are talking about here is a golf tournament involving just two dozen players, and for the school children of Black Rock that’s 24.
It’s not 50. It’s not 100 and certainly not 156 golfers as is the norm usually when major events are held at ‘The Royal’.
The newspaper said one parent provided a letter written by his eight-year-old daughter who was so upset she would lose access to the playground.
Not surprising, the newspaper actually got access the eight year old’s dramatic piece of verse.
It said: “It will be quite upsetting because you can play in the trees and roll in the grass and you can play in the ground as much as you want in the playground.
“The bitumen is hard – there’s not much and you can fall over.”
The bitumen is hard! Someone please hand me a tissue as I’m starting to well up.
But let’s get down to the real facts.
According to the paper, Ms Luiten said only part of the school would be used by the tournament, with recess and lunch breaks to be staggered to avoid clashes.
“No children will be denied their play or exercise time,” she said.
It’s an example of what they commonly refer to in Australia as ‘Tally Poppy’ syndrome.
Here’s a major international sporting event set to take place, in the so-called ‘Sports capital of Australia’, and a wild beat-up the Sunday Herald Sun, that will be fish and chip wrapping come Monday, is cutting the ‘Tall Poppy’ Presidents Cup down to size.
The Presidents Cup along with the prior week’s Australian Open is being seen as the biggest fortnight of golf in the history of Australia. The tournament will be beamed around the world, showing Australia and indeed Melbourne at its best.
Try and put a figure on that sort of TV coverage.
The newspaper would be better served highlighting for a few days inconvenience $15,000 will buy an awful lot of computers or teaching aids for the precious Black Rock Primary students.
Think about the hundreds of schools in Africa and other parts of the world who’d gladly give up a portion of their playground, paved or otherwise, for a $15,000 handout.
Don’t be surprised if Presidents Cup organisers come along and hand out a bunch of tickets, if they haven’t already, to those associated with Black Rock Primary.
And here’s betting the father of one eight year old attending the school will gladly accept those tickets, and delight in taking his little daughter to the tournament where she will avoid any bitumen and freely roll in the grass of Royal Melbourne.
