The tournament’s glaring mistake caused quite the stir with Jimmy’s wife Erin on Twitter.
When the 12:44 PM group of William McGirt, Jimmy Walker, and Matt Kuchar entered the tee box to start round one of The Barclays it was only Kuchar that received a special introduction. The tournament official making the announcement referred to him as a “bronze medal winner,” and made no mention of Jimmy Walker’s recent victory at the PGA Championship.
Erin Walker took to twitter to vent about her displeasure with what had just transpired:
In my opinion if you are going to announce the "winner of bronze medal" on the tee you should also announce "major winner" @TheBarclaysGolf
— Erin Walker (@tourwifetravels) August 25, 2016
Alan Shipnuck, writer for Sports Illustrated, responded with his own sarcastic take on the issue and it only threw gasoline on the fire:
@TheBarclaysGolf and that's a tacky comment Alan. You are better than that.
— Erin Walker (@tourwifetravels) August 25, 2016
absolutely not taking away from Kuch just thought it was tradition to announce major winners. If announce one then do other
— Erin Walker (@tourwifetravels) August 25, 2016
According to Laura Neal, Vice President of Communications for the PGA Tour, it is a rule for all major winners to be introduced as such during introductions. She slid into Mrs. Walker’s tweets and explained the situation:
there is a rule – just an unfortunate miss today.
— Laura Neal (@LNeal_pgatour) August 25, 2016
Checked into it. Unfortunate mistake!Medalists, current major & past @TheBarclaysGolf champs this week. fixed for 2morrow!
— Laura Neal (@LNeal_pgatour) August 25, 2016
To clarify: medalists, current major winners, and past The Barclays champions should be properly introduced this week.
Glad we got that settled. That last thing the FedEx Cup Playoffs needs is an angry Erin Walker on the war path.
