Brad Faxon jokes about pro-am playing partners

Brad Faxon and his partners had a terrific time playing in a pro-am Wednesday ahead of this week’s Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic and laughed heartily over a series of tweets the Champions Tour player sent out during the event.

The eight-time PGA Tour winner typed the remarks in jest, his partners thoroughly enjoyed them, and I apologize for mischaracterizing them as Faxon being disrespectful of his group and for not confirming their intent with the typist himself.

“On the first tee this morning, when I saw the card filled with dots on their scorecard and showed them how many strokes they would get, they all laughed and made some jokes about themselves and how bad they were at golf,” Faxon told us in an e-mail Thursday. “If I had sensed at all that they were sensitive to anything about their golf, my approach would have been much much different.”

Faxon, who has a deserved reputation as a good guy and takes great pleasure in playing in the pre-tourney events, ended the outing by sharing laughs and hugs with his group and taking part in group photos.

“I take pride every time I step on the course to make sure that the amateurs I play with walk off that course thinking they couldn’t have had a better time playing golf that day,” Faxon said. “I was poking fun at the situation and myself as much as anything.”

I apologize again to Faxon and his pro-am partners.