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The Senior Open Championship should be a celebration of golf’s evergreen champions. An opportunity for fans to see the greats of the game strutting their stuff on a stage and course set-up that acknowledges their advancing years.

As such, it’s a shame that this year’s tournament will be remembered for three things in particular – none of which have anything to do with the actual golf itself.

First, there was the deeply regrettable incident with former PGA champion Steve Elkington posting an offensive and racially-charged tweet following the second round.

Then there was the decision by the tournament promoters to send the final group out at five minutes to three in the afternoon so as, presumably, to appeal to American television networks (as was the case at the Scottish Open a fortnight ago).

And last but not least of this lamentable lot was the frankly diabolical pace of play almost throughout the championship – and the lack of action taken to discourage it.

Let’s deal with Elkington first. On Friday night, the Aussie tweeted: “Things about Southport… fat tattooed guy, fat tattooed girl, trash, Pakistani robber guy, shit food.”

Ignorance is not an excuse. It’s a reason to think before you speak (or, in this case, tweet). It’s a bad habit to get into. But it is most certainly not an excuse.

He instantly came under fire from Twitter users for what was, at best, a completely ignorant remark. Unabowed, he tweeted again on Saturday: “Couple caddies got rolled by some P****s, bad night for them.”

Shortly after he teed off on Saturday afternoon, a statement from Elkington was issued on his behalf, which stated: “In my tweet I was referring to an unfortunate incident involving a caddie earlier in the week. Being Australian, I was unaware that my use of language in relation to the Pakistani people would cause offense, but having been made aware I now deeply regret the use of that terminology.”

But ignorance is not an excuse. It’s a reason to think before you speak (or, in this case, tweet). It’s a bad habit to get into. But it is most certainly not an excuse. Not for anything and far less a comment as stupid, as hurtful and as damaging as Elkington’s.

Apparently he didn’t speak to the media after his round on Saturday and a request for a couple of minutes of his time after he finished on Sunday was reportedly met with a ‘Are you kiddin’ me?’ and a fast exit from the course.

You would think anyone in damage limitation mode and keen to make amends for such a gross error would want to be seen to be cooperative with the media and, indeed, recognise them as a direct route to the biggest possible audience. Which, of course, makes you wonder what Elkington was most sorry about: what he said or the fact that he got caught saying it. Either way, it was another dent to golf’s image that the sport could dearly do without.

Slow play, of course, is an ongoing image problem for the game. Methodical, deliberate, glacial, call it what you will, the pace of play at Royal Birkdale was utterly scandalous at times – but, again, nothing was done about it.

What will it take for the game’s ruling bodies or tournament promoters to finally start dishing out shot penalties for players guilty of taking longer than necessary? Everyone recognises the issue but, incredibly, the people with the power to actually do something about it seem content to lament it rather than eliminate it. That, I’m afraid to say, won’t ‘grow the game’ one jot.

As for the TV matter, hey, we all recognise the importance of the old ‘Aunt Nelly’ in, a) helping the game reach new audiences and b) underwriting large chunks of the costs involved in staging high-profile tournaments. But sending the final group out at 14:55 in the Senior Open, with horrendous weather and the risk of suspensions in play, forecast was a terrible idea. A Monday Finish was just about the only likely outcome the minute the first suspension in play was called. Pity the poor spectators who turned up expecting to see a champion crowned but instead got to see Bernhard Langer dilly-dally over every shot and not much else.

‘Racist’ tweets, slow play, television interference – it all adds up to a rather sad state of affairs, really, doesn’t it? Here’s hoping the many lessons from this weekend are learned so that they never happen again.

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

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