Suzy Whaley boosts PGA profile in backing ouster of Ted Bishop

Suzy Whaley asserted herself Friday as a staunch advocate for women in golf when she publicly backed her association’s ouster of Ted Bishop from the PGA of America presidency in the wake of sexist comments he made on social media.

The PGA board acted quickly and correctly, in our view, when it voted Friday to strip Bishop of his title a month before his tenure would have ended. While we believe the board’s decision to erase the former president’s name from the group’s records was overkill (a misperception on Bishop’s part, PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua told Golf World), Whaley spoke for us when she condemned Bishop’s online insults aimed at Ian Poulter.

“Obviously, I was extremely disturbed by it,” Whaley said on the Golf Channel Friday night about Bishop calling Poulter a “little girl” in two posts on Twitter and Facebook. “They were insulting and sexist.”

Bishop, in a mess of his own making, appeared with Faldo Thursday at a junior golf program and then went on Twitter and Facebook to lash out at Poulter for shots the Englishman took at his 2008 European Ryder Cup captain in his newly released autobiography.

“For me to hear comments that are derogatory about young girls, or insulting, just because you are a girl, is offensive,” said Whaley, a former PGA board member who could become the organization’s first woman president. “Our board of directors took swift action. The PGA of America finds it quite critical to be inclusive and we will continue to do so moving forward.”

In 2010, Whaley became just the second woman elected to the PGA board. Should she succeed, at next month’s annual meeting, in her campaign for secretary of the organization, Whaley would be the presumptive favorite to take over as president in 2018.

Being part of history is nothing new for Whaley, who, in 2003, became the first woman since Babe Zaharias 58 years earlier to qualify and participate in a PGA Tour event. Whaley could not have accomplished what she did without the support of her golf teachers.

“We need to really empower young women and young girls ... I was mentored by male PGA professionals, who encouraged me, who taught me the game, who taught me life lessons, who really wanted me to understand I could do anything, anything with the game of golf, or with anything I chose to do in a profession later in my life. That came from a male PGA professional,” said the New Jersey native who teaches golf at TPC River Highlands, site of the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship.

Bishop’s words were especially stinging to the long-time instructor who, among her many endeavors, serves as National PGA Growth of the Game co-chair.

“I’m in 100 percent support of the board of directors,” Whaley said. “Our mission is to grow the game of golf, to be inclusive. I am extremely proud of the PGA membership and what I do on a daily basis to include young women and young men from all backgrounds into the game. There are 27,000 of us out there each and every day teaching young men and women, that are changing their lives through the game of golf. I’m so proud of that.”

Perhaps emboldened by Whaley, the LPGA, which had kept its own counsel about the incident, added its support on Saturday for Bishop’s removal.

“The PGA of America’s quick and decisive action sent a strong message -- reinforcing a consistent belief that with so many positive gains being made among golf’s leading organizations, there is simply no room, nor willingness, to take a step backwards,” the women’s tour said in a statement.