The Supreme Court will decide whether disabled
golfer Casey Martin has a legal right to ride in a golf cart between shots at PGA Tour events.
The court said today it will hear the tour's argument that a
federal anti-bias law does not apply to Martin's case.
A federal appeals court ruled last spring that the Americans
with Disabilities Act requires the PGA Tour to waive its
requirement that players walk the golf course during tournaments.
Martin has a circulatory disorder in his right leg that makes it
painful for him to walk long distances. The disorder, a congenital
vascular condition, is called Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome.
"The Tour reiterates that this issue has been from the start about the Tour's ability to set and implement the rules of its competitions,'' the PGA Tour said in a statement today. "Those rules include walking as an integral part of elite championship golf played at the highest level."
Martin said he wasn't surprised by the Supreme Court's decision
"It doesn't come as a big shock, but it's obviously disappointing,'' Martin said from Callaway Gardens, Ga., where he is playing in the Buick Challenge this week. "But, I'd like it to come to an end. I don't think it changes anything. I go play golf, and I separate that from what's going on legally.''
A final decision from the Supreme Court could be forthcomingby mid-year 2001. The PGA Tour will continue to provide Martin with a golf cart for his use in PGA Tour events throughout the Supreme Court review process.
Martin sued the PGA Tour in 1997, citing a provision of the ADA
that bans discrimination on the basis of disability "in the full
enjoyment of ... facilities ... of any place of public
accommodation.'' The law's definition of public accommodation
includes recreational places such as golf courses.
A federal judge ruled for Martin, saying that allowing him to
use a golf cart would not "fundamentally alter'' the nature of PGA
Tour events.
Casey Martin and the cart that has caused so many problems.Allsport.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last March.
"Providing Martin with a golf cart would not give him an unfair
advantage over his competitors,'' said the court, based in San
Francisco.
The next day, a Chicago-based federal appeals court ruled the
other way in a similar case. Ford Olinger, an Indiana amateur, sued
the U.S. Golf Association for the right to ride a cart in the U.S.
Open, but the appeals court decided that letting him use a cart
would change the nature of competition.
In the appeal acted on Monday, the PGA Tour's lawyers said the
9th Circuit court's decision "bars the tour from requiring that
all competitors at its events play by the same rules.''
"So far as we are aware, no court has ever before held that a
professional sport must waive a legitimate competitive rule to
enable a would-be participant, disabled or not, to more
successfully compete,'' the tour's lawyers said.
The tour's lawyers also said the ruling would open the door to
workplace discrimination lawsuits by independent contractors and
other non-employees.
Martin's lawyers said golf "is not a race against the clock or
against human endurance'' and that allowing him to use a cart would
not affect the competition. A ruling for the PGA Tour would allow
professional sports to exempt themselves from the ADA, his lawyers
added.
Martin has made the cut in only 12 of his 23 events on the PGA Tour this year, and is danger of losing his card for next year. He is 177th on the money list with $123,624. With only six tournaments left, he will need to finish with about $400,000 to avoid going back to
qualifying school.
His best finish this season is a tie for 17th in the Tucson Open in
February, the same week the top 64 players in the Official World Golf Ranking
were at the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship.
