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Ex-Golf Channel Lisa Cornwell drops bombshell details of alleged mistreatment from previous employers

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For those of you who aren’t on social media, you may have missed Lisa Cornwell, employed by the Golf Channel for seven years, speaking out recently alleging mistreatment during her employment with the network.

On this week’s episode on the No Laying Up podcast, Cornwell, accompanied by her attorney on the show, discussed the mistreatment.

Before getting into the allegations, Cornwell made it clear that “what she went through is nothing compared to what dozens of women at the network had faced”, and that her January 1st tweet was “calculated” as she could now finally speak out.

The allegations cited? They range from a management hierarchy that she believes actively tried to keep her off broadcasts, a “downhill spiral” which began with a broadcast alongside Brandel Chamblee, as well as an executive making fun of an analyst seriously struggling with anxiety.

The latter was the first allegation brought up on the show by Cornwell, with the incident occurring at a company dinner at the 2016 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon hosted by the head of Golf Central. Per Cornwell, this is what went down at the dinner:

“The person leading that dinner, and there are 15 people there, he’s the head of Golf Central. We have a new analyst who’s had some anxiety issues on air, and he’s basically making fun of him.

I stood up, he’s a friend of mine, I said ‘What are we doing? We don’t do this. This is not who we are. This was a big issue, and it was hard for him, and we’re not going to sit here and make fun of it.”

The “downhill spiral” which the former Golf Channel analyst claims she’ll never forget occurred on August 2018 when she appeared as a fill-in co-host alongside Brandel Chamblee – who she says “never liked me from day one”.

Cornwell revealed that she made a mistake with a strokes gained graphic on that broadcast alongside Chamblee, who responded by making frustrated gestures during the program and wouldn’t talk to her after the show ended.

Following that incident (According to Cornwell, the 4th or 5th run-in with Chamblee), she called senior vice president and executive editor for Golf Channel Geoff Russell to discuss the incident, who she later found out is friends with Chamblee. Per Cornwell, she told Russell that “I am pissed off. You have to fix this. I am tired of working in this environment, with this man, who treats me like I shouldn’t even be there.”

After being told that the incident would be looked into, Cornwell said that “there is a clear timeline from August 2018 to where things started to shift.”

In December of that year, Cornwell stated that she received a scheduling email that for the first time she would not be hosting the 2019 NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Arkansas – Cornwell’s home state.

“I had always hosted the women’s NCAAs since I had been at Golf Channel. I get a scheduling email that I would not be the host that year at Arkansas, that I had been demoted to a reporter, and they didn’t even have the guts to tell me.”

A decision related to what had occurred on-air with Chamblee a few months earlier? Per Cornwell: “100 percent, how could you justify it?”

Last March, Cornwell and her attorney Tom Mars filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and having received a reply, they were due to send a follow-up report in September.

One of the final straws she describes then came at the ANA Inspiration. Cornwell revealed that Xi Yu Lin (Known as Janet) and her instructor Tony Ziegler had been unable to get their hands on Mizuno clubs despite a club fitting just two weeks before the event.

What resulted was that Lin and her team were forced to buy the heads off the rack at an Orlando-located Edwin Watts and had attached Nippon overnighted shafts to the heads.

Following the first round of the ANA Inspiration and before an interview with Lin, who was two shots off the lead, Cornwell referenced the Mizuno incident on air and also sent multiple tweets calling out the incident which you can see below.

Per Cornwell, a day later she received a phone call from Russell who expressed that Mizuno felt Cornwell unfairly represented them. After Cornwell explained that it’s a common theme on the LPGA Tour and that GolfWeek’s Beth Ann Nichols had written an article on it, she says that it “flipped a switch” with Russell who Cornwell claims started “cussing and screaming” at her.

Cornwell was sent home from the event three days before the EEOC report was due:

“A man, in his 60s, who was my boss, screaming and cussing me out and sending me home over a gender-related issue from a women’s golf tournament during the middle of a retaliation, gender-discrimination, EEOC case. I don’t know what organization allows that to happen, but Golf Channel didn’t do anything about it.”

Cornwell said she wouldn’t let anyone talk to her that way and that following the ANA she was never allowed to interview another LPGA player on live television again, despite covering two further majors this year.

Per host Chris Solomon, Golf Channel declined to comment on the allegations based on how he “summarised them in the email”.

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

19th Hole

“Is it a Titleist?” – Jerry Seinfeld shares never-before-heard details of iconic scene

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On Thursday, legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld joined the Rich Eisen Show and shared an awesome story from a “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Marine Biologist.”

In the episode, a golf ball goes into the blow hole of a whale. According to Seinfeld, that was never in the episode’s script.

Seinfeld recalls saying the night before the filming of the episode, “What if what puts the whale in distress is Kramer’s golf ball?”

“He’s hitting golf balls at the beach. George is at the beach with a girl, we haven’t connected them!”

“We write that speech the night before at two o’clock in the morning…The sea was angry that day my friend.”

 

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A post shared by Rich Eisen (@richeisen)


Kramer finishes the iconic scene by asking “Is it a Titleist?” Seinfeld told Eisen the show sought Titleist’s permission to mention its name, saying the ball had to be a Titleist. Fortunately for lovers of the iconic show, the company agreed.

If (somehow) you’re unfamiliar with the scene, check it out below.

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Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game ‘on a much more global basis’

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While speaking with Bloomberg, golf legend Phil Mickelson acknowledged that he is inching close towards retirement.

“I’m 53 now,” Phil said, “and my career, you know, it’s — if I’m being truthful, it’s on — it’s — it’s — I’m a — it’s towards its end.”

Mickelson added that one of his focuses now is helping other young players.

“Now, I would like to help others find the same enjoyment and fulfillment that the game has provided me. I’d like them to experience that as well.”

The six-time major champion credited LIV with reaching new markets in golf to help it grow.

“I think that’s exciting for everyone involved in the game because we are going to reach markets that we didn’t reach before. I think it’s going to inspire more golf courses, inspire more manufacturers selling clubs and equipment, but also inspiring young kids to try to play golf professionally. I just see that the game of golf is going to grow on a much more global basis because of the excitement and the presence that LIV Golf has.”

Mickelson is playing at this week’s LIV Singapore and shot a first round 72 (+1).

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Tiger explains why golf has ‘negative connotations’ for daughter Sam

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While Tiger Woods’ son, Charlie, has certainly inherited his father’s love for golf, his daughter, Sam, has not.

On Wednesday, Tiger made an appearance on The Today Show with Carson Daly and explained his daughter’s relationship with golf.

“Golf has negative connotations for her. When she was growing up, golf took daddy away from her. I had to pack, I had to leave, and I was gone for weeks. So, there were negative connotations to it.

“We developed our own relationship and our own rapport outside of golf. We do things that doesn’t involve golf. Meanwhile, my son and I, everything we do is golf related.”

The nine-minute interview touches on plenty of other subjects, such as Tiger’s relationship with his late father, Earl.

It’s arguably the most open we’ve seen the 15-time major champion in an interview and is most definitely worth watching.

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