Hold the finish... hold it....
Former US Open champion Cristie Kerr returned to Twitter yesterday afternoon to reject – emphatically, repeatedly – suggestions she is a callous, uncharitable prima donna.
The LPGA veteran was spurred into action by the mushrooming public relations fallout from “Flag-gate” (I might be the only person calling it that), a controversy that originated on the Twitter feed of Swedish star Sophie Gustafson.
The Solheim Cup legend and GWAA award-winner publicly castigated Kerr on day two of last week’s US Women’s Open for refusing the opportunity to sign a flag she intended to donate to charity.
Kerr, who has been inundated with tweets from “negative people” since the confrontation came to light, began by thanking her followers for their support…
Then, it got a bit Mean Girls…
Anxious to prove her charitable credentials, Kerr also retweeted a timely commendation from PGA professional Trace Gardiner. Apparently, it’s considered classier to hand out signed photos of yourself – like a matinee heroine from the golden age of cinema(?) – than it is to sign an autograph in person.
Who knew?
Gustafson later interjected to refuse Kerr a second bite of the cherry (in best Soup Nazi voice: “No flag for you!”), in turn prompting the 34-year-old to suggest a more convenient alternative.
Her offer has yet to elicit a response.
Conor Nagle
*Update from Stephanie: Cristie would like to set the record straight. I was actually humbled that she tweeted me, but it doesn’t sound like she actually read the post. Conor, who as you can see from the byline at the top and bottom (I know the one at the top is not clear and that’s being adjusted by a programmer in the next few days, but the one at the bottom is in bold), actually did include many of the positives she tweeted. Sometimes it’s hard to convey a message in 140 characters, but I think Cristie’s tweet meant that she wants people to know she and Sophie are not in a fight.
I guess this means Cristie and I are in a fight now! Rawr! I can’t keep track anymore. Oh, this whole silly “misunderstanding” continues to get more and more amusing. –SW
*Update 2: This post was published before Sophie’s reply. All is forgiven. Sounds like they’ve kissed and made up. Hooray.
White girls, white problems
Let’s put it this way: this doesn’t make me think better of either of them
@Shoshana … I fail to see what Cristie did wrong here. She is headed out to play in the USWO — the biggest tournament on the LPGA schedule and didn’t stop to sign a flag.
Given that Sophie has been a tour pro for a number of yrs, I’m assuming she asked at a normal time. Or Kerr could have asked her to come back at another time.
In CK’s tweet she says she was headed to the 1st tee. If that is the case then I don’t any blame for this should be place with her. And if you read her timeline it appears that CK is doing everything possible to squash this …
more than a little catty, it seems
FYI — Gustafson did reply to Kerr in a tweet …
“@CKGolferChic Thanks CK. Very nice of you. I did it for Carin Kock’s thing. I’ll pass it along to her. Fair play.”
and Kerr’s final tweet on the subject…
“Moving on…next topic,wine!”
Then it all seemed to die away. Thankfully
What is the deal with idiotic Public Relations and golfers. This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Why do this in public?
I wonder if Mike Whan is stepping in behind the scenes telling them to stop acting like 6 year olds in public. Do it privately like the PGA tour.
Like McIlroy????
@Conor maybe it would e a good idea to do a little research on all the charitable work that Kerr does, before you suggest Cristie needs to “prove her charitable creditials”.
BTW her foundation is called Bridies for Brest Cancer. She also donates time to several other charitable efforts.
Let’s remember that Sophie (the Solheim Cup legend) went public with this accusation and Cristie had to respond — publicly. I think her response was very appropriate and gave Sophie an opportunity to end it all. Yet Sophie choose to offer another snarky remark.
Lastly, since Kerr was headed to the range to prepare for her round of golf I certainly understand what she did. Sophie indicated that Cristie was walking when she was asked to sigh the flag, but failed to mention that she was in her pre-round routine for the tourney.
I support Cristie on this one.
Whoa there, Frankie!
I’m not suggesting she has no credentials to speak of (her foundation does great work, I’m sure), merely that her increasingly vocal attempts at damage limitation struck the wrong tone.
It all looked a little desperate.
I will say this, though: does stopping to sign a flag really constitute a significant deviation from one’s pre-round routine?
Not sure where I fall. See both sides. Cristie was on way to first tee? Or was it the range? Some conflicting info on that. If first tee, then definitely on her side, that’s game time. But if on range, then just sign it, geez.
Otherwise, whatever, who cares.
I’m all for twitter being used to hash out disagreements publicly too.
Conor, that’s not anyones call but the players’, maybe CK considers it a significant deviation. Doesn’t seem like that big a deal to just sign the flag but she’s well known for being a little intense. SG had tue, wed, & after thur & fri round to get this done, why do it at the last minute before someones round. Maybe she was on her way to missing the cut and leaving town early( I don’t care enough to look it up) I can’t understand why someone would want to start a public pizzing contest
I still can’t get my head around all this. Two of the players I respect the most on that tour. I guess things can happen. It’s happened quite a few times on the PGA tour over the last half century (probably even way before then) so I guess it is not a big deal. It would have been fun seeing Player and Watson in an all out tweet out.
I just watched the Modern Family episode where all the women in the house were “cycling” at the same time… Just a thought…
Tempest in a teapot…
The comments thread in the Sophie v. Cristie posts have been epic. I haven’t been this entertained by a discussion in a long time!
Well done, Conor. You deserve a raise.
This is my new favorite topic, beating out (narrowly) the updates about Erik Kuselias — and I REALLY would like an update on him. Is he network president at NBC yet?
Nothing better than cat fight…….meoooowwwww!!!!
Mark this under who gives a sh*t. LPGA is a utter joke. They put face paint on in Solheim Cup and bedazzle their rain paints.