Journalist Ewan Murray tried to fabricate a Spieth insult about Fowler’s place in world golf. The Guardian writer was forced to backtrack officially (and unofficially) when Spieth called him out.
Golf is obsessed with these ‘top three, fab four,’ ‘who gives a fuck five’ labels that everyone is, ourselves included, determined to create. Player, Palmer and Nicklaus have 16 green jackets between them and probably warrant the use – poor Trevino, but our incessant urge to bookmark golfers is without foundation. Why does everyone do it? Well this convenient tripod of players is a dollar driven initiative because as you know these guys don’t play in four-balls.
We can debate the use of these loose terms but that’s a waste of time, one thing is clear, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are all humble bros who won’t hesitate to downplay absurd comparisons. So when a Journalist tried to create some imaginary beef Jordan said not on my watch buddy.
@mrewanmurray you took this story out of context. Never downplayed Rick, in fact did the opposite. Too early for a “big __”ANY AND ALL of us
— Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) January 26, 2016
Murray knew exactly what he was doing and got caught red handed, have a read of these extracts and you can see how vaguely he interweaves a random assortment of Spieth quotes.
“Jordan Spieth is unsurprised by Rickie Fowler’s surge in form but golf’s world No1 has played down talk of an established top four in his sport, describing the notion as premature.” – he was actually answering a totally different question about the ‘top three’.
This apology falls way short of rectifying a deliberate attempt to convince the golfing world that these guys are anything but harmonious. Sure we can be opinionated, even extend interpretation, but misquoting is the golden rule you don’t break.
*Ewan tweets with one hand puts his shit-stained pants in the washer with the other…
@JordanSpieth opening paragraph has been altered for some reason. I knew precisely what you meant (hence second paragraph!). Will fix today.
— Ewan Murray (@mrewanmurray) January 26, 2016
Twitter occasionally gets it right…
It’s ok Rickie we think you’re ‘Big Four’ material…