Is it fair to knock our top players

[drawboy]

I see Lee Westwood has come in for a lot of stick again for his final round performance in the PGA. Now I have said on here lots of times I do not think he will win a major. I do not think he can hold it together on the final day, he isn't alone in this though as there can always only be one winner of any tournament and lot's of top quality players fall by the wayside on the final day but he has been slagged off to high heaven especially on Twitter today.
I do not think it is fair to have a pop at him because some Rabbit who can't even get it around in 120 thinks he is fair game because they think he cannot putt.
Of course he can putt, compered to the idiots who have ridden him he is a putting God. Most of us would sell our soul to have the game and lifestyle Lee has. Why do we ride our top players like we do?

 

[Bobirdie]

Well said. Exactley what i think.

To be fair though they should be able to rise above the bait. If they cant dont have a social network account. Simples!

 

[Hacker Khan]

Considering what else has been going on on Twitter recently regarding death, bomb and rape threats to women, a golfer getting a bit shirty because someone has said he can't put is not really that bad.

And the simple thing if you don't want to get abuse from meat heads is not to go on twitter. Or at least just ignore deliberately provocative tweets directed to you anyway. It will always happen. I even got some troll having a right go at me on twitter because I got a hole in 1, claiming I made it up just to get a letter in a magazine etc etc. I just ignored them as I am pretty confident that he was a very sad individual.

All I fear that will happen now is that he will get more trolls having a go at him as he rose to the bait.

 

[Pin-seeker]

Some of our Top players seem to get a lot more stick than others, Rory,Westwood for eg.
Then you've got the likes of Donald,Harrington who's patchy form hardly gets a mention.
Not sure I'd be on twitter if I was a golfer/footballer,not worth the hassle.

 

[Birchy]

Its very sad that some peoples lives are so dull they have to go on twitter and give abuse/taunt professional people like that or anyone else for that matter. If they put as much effort into their own lives im sure they would have better things to do.

 

[AmandaJR]

I don't think it's either fair or right to knock anyone who, in the heat of "battle", are trying their best and on a huge public stage...

Hats off to them all - they're worthy of admiration imo.

 

[hovis]

Sorry if this sounds a little strong but it seems that its human nature to want to knock people off that pedistall. I put it down to insecurity and having a hollow or unfulfilled life and knocking others somehow seems to make these people feel better about there own sorry existence.

 

[Golfmmad]

I see Lee Westwood has come in for a lot of stick again for his final round performance in the PGA. Now I have said on here lots of times I do not think he will win a major. I do not think he can hold it together on the final day, he isn't alone in this though as there can always only be one winner of any tournament and lot's of top quality players fall by the wayside on the final day but he has been slagged off to high heaven especially on Twitter today.
I do not think it is fair to have a pop at him because some Rabbit who can't even get it around in 120 thinks he is fair game because they think he cannot putt.
Of course he can putt, compered to the idiots who have ridden him he is a putting God. Most of us would sell our soul to have the game and lifestyle Lee has. Why do we ride our top players like we do?

Well said Drawboy, couldn't agree more.

It always amazes me how certain players get so much stick, unnecessarily in most cases. As far as Twitter goes it just proves what a destructive influence it can have on peoples lives by sad individuals hiding behind their keyboards.

As for Westwood bottling it on the final round - what about the others, Jim Furyk, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson......? I could go on, but don't hear any moans about them.

As for Westwood ever winning a Major, it's possible, never say never. I hope he does, and I for one will be cheering him on!
:thup:

 

[Imurg]

Knock - Yes
Abuse - No.

Yes I thing it's fine to knock the performance of a player/team if they have underperformed - and I doubt there will be many who will say that Lee over-performed. Post that he played badly, couldn't putt his way out of a paper bag etc but there's no need to descend into the gutter.
And there were an awful lot of players who performed worse - Tiger, Segio, Poults, Mickleson, Luke, Bubba, Ernie - the list goes on
Have they all been getting offensive messages..?
Lee was daft to get sucked into it all but, for me, it shows that he was trying as hard as he could and he's defended himself against some ugly words.
Do any of those who abused him really, honestly think he didn't go out there to win? Do they think he wasn't trying?

 

[Val]

No one is above criticism however there is a way to do it and its not twitter directly to them.

 

[Conman85]

I'm afraid when your at that level criticism comes with the territory. I do not agree with mindless abuse, but people having a go at him for his putting I think is fair game. It was woeful yesterday for a guy at that level to be that poor at putting is beyond comprehension. Hopefully it was just a one off, but I do think this guy has several mental issues that will stop him winning a major and this twitter outburst done nothing to dispel my line of thinking.

 

[Fader]

I think its totally fair to knock a top sportsman for repeated poor performance in the same area e.g Westwoods putting. BUT there is a way to do that and abuse over a social media site isn't the correct way to do that.

That said as well Westwood in his position should be man enough to realise that in the modern media & celebrity access world being so active on twitter he will get criticism from fans and trolling from morons. He has to be big enough to accept that fans are doing it because of frustration at wanting him to succeed and trolls do it because they're sad and pathetic. He has to rise above both equally and accept criticism where its deserved and in case of his putting it is deserved, but he needs to rise above the trolls by mot giving them the arguments that they want to create by writing such things, all he did by responding was give them what they want and that's their names mentioned in a tweet to more people than would normally see it thanks to them being tagged by Westy.

There's a lot more bigger sportsman and celebs that get more abuse than Westwood does on a daily basis but they don't all rise to it.

 

[dufferman]

It's not on... if Twitter wasn't around, would these idiots walk up to him in the street and start abusing him? No. It's a cowardly way for people who have nothing in their lives to feel like they are having an impact on the world. If you would say it to his face, then you should say it on twitter. The stuff he received wouldn't be said to his face, so using an internet messaging website doesn't make it ok. Anyone who thinks it is 'fair game' should probably ask themselves would they like it if a stranger starting having a pop at them for their golf game and how much they'd appreciate it.

Having said all that, being a 'celebrity' means dealing with people who are jealous or want to steal a bit of the light from them. So as much as it's not ok, it's something they have to put up with. Ian Poulter on Twitter gives as good as he gets... that's one way or dealing with it!

 

[bladeplayer]

I see Lee Westwood has come in for a lot of stick again for his final round performance in the PGA. Now I have said on here lots of times I do not think he will win a major. I do not think he can hold it together on the final day, he isn't alone in this though as there can always only be one winner of any tournament and lot's of top quality players fall by the wayside on the final day but he has been slagged off to high heaven especially on Twitter today.
I do not think it is fair to have a pop at him because some Rabbit who can't even get it around in 120 thinks he is fair game because they think he cannot putt.
Of course he can putt, compered to the idiots who have ridden him he is a putting God. Most of us would sell our soul to have the game and lifestyle Lee has. Why do we ride our top players like we do?

:clap:Top Post DB

Its very sad that some peoples lives are so dull they have to go on twitter and give abuse/taunt professional people like that or anyone else for that matter. If they put as much effort into their own lives im sure they would have better things to do.

Same goes for facebook

Sorry if this sounds a little strong but it seems that its human nature to want to knock people off that pedistall. I put it down to insecurity and having a hollow or unfulfilled life and knocking others somehow seems to make these people feel better about there own sorry existence.

Jealousy

It's not on... if Twitter wasn't around, would these idiots walk up to him in the street and start abusing him? No. It's a cowardly way for people who have nothing in their lives to feel like they are having an impact on the world. If you would say it to his face, then you should say it on twitter. The stuff he received wouldn't be said to his face, so using an internet messaging website doesn't make it ok. Anyone who thinks it is 'fair game' should probably ask themselves would they like it if a stranger starting having a pop at them for their golf game and how much they'd appreciate it.

Having said all that, being a 'celebrity' means dealing with people who are jealous or want to steal a bit of the light from them. So as much as it's not ok, it's something they have to put up with. Ian Poulter on Twitter gives as good as he gets... that's one way or dealing with it!

or just deleting the account ..

 

[HawkeyeMS]

To be fair, if these people open themselves up to the world by going on twitter in the first place then they have to expect a bit of abuse. Is it fair? No, but if he can't learn to ignore it then he shouldn't be on twitter.

 

[Curls]

To be fair, if these people open themselves up to the world by going on twitter in the first place then they have to expect a bit of abuse. Is it fair? No, but if he can't learn to ignore it then he shouldn't be on twitter.

To be fair I think many of them are coerced into having an online presence by their sponsors, its instant "free" advertising for them. Not that I know whether Westy would have an account anyway, but if it were me I'd give social media a wide-berth because of the inevitable idiots that you're bound to have to deal with. I follow Rory on Facebook and wonder if he ever actually reads the comments under the pictures he posts. I hope he doesn't. Then he signs a deal with Bose and a couple of million people know about it, its the most direct form of advertising there is.

 

[Alex1975]

I think its fine and normal to chat about them on here or face to face or whatever, its normal, the football guys talk about players all the time. However I dont think its very classy to go to there twitter page and do it to there face. The difference being if you do it direct you are looking for a reaction.

 

[Matty]

Sorry, but I disagree with the idea that it's okay to be critical of anyone on social media sites.

Just because Lee if a professional golfer makes it okay to criticise his putting direct to him when you've never met him and likely never will?
Just because someone is a politician it's okay to send them death threats?

Sorry, but no, it is not and it never will be. To criticise someone directly you should show some respect and at least know them personally first. Sadly, the internet and all of it's social interaction mediums have given everyone the ability to criticise without the need to have very much responsibility or show any respect.

Imagine if someone had done that around the ropes on the 18th at the PGA Championship - they'd have been removed from the course by the security I would think. So, why do we accept it when the tirade comes via Twitter? Totally unacceptable IMO.

 

[cookelad]

Constructive criticism is fine and in a perfect/ideal world could lead to a cure to whatever the criticised is suffering from, unfortunately a lot of the tweets Lee would've been receiving (I haven't read them) no doubt were more in-line with an attack on his golfing ability!