Ten days after a Golf Channel anchor was suspended for her use

of "lynch" in commentary on Tiger Woods, an editor was fired

Friday for illustrating the controversy with a noose on the cover

of Golfweek magazine.

Dave Seanor, vice president and editor who took responsibility

for the noose cover of the Jan. 19 issue, was replaced by Jeff

Babineau.

Golfweek's controversial cover for its Jan. 19 issue. The magazine has removed it from its Web site. Golf Weekly

"We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received

extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and

advertisers across the country," Turnstile Publishing Co.

president William J. Kupper Jr. said. "We were trying to convey

the controversial issue with a strong and provocative graphic

image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover

deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic."

Turnstile is the parent company of Golfweek, which has a

circulation of about 160,000.

Golfweek removed its Jan. 19 issue from its booth at the PGA

Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., while Babineau made the rounds

on news talk shows to offer more apologies. The magazine also

removed the cover from its Web site.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem called the Golfweek cover

"outrageous and irresponsible" and accused the magazine of

tabloid journalism. He distanced himself from the firing of Seanor

with a statement from the PGA Tour that Finchem merely was

responding to an inquiry, and that his comments were not a "call

to action."

Woods, out of public view for the last month, makes his 2008

debut on the PGA Tour next week at the Buick Invitational, where

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman returns from a two-week

suspension.

Woods has not spoken publicly, although his agent said in a

statement through Golf Channel last week that Woods and Tilghman

are friends, and "we know unequivocally that there was no ill

intent in her comments."

The episode began Jan. 4 during the second round of the

season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship when Tilghman and analyst

Nick Faldo were discussing possible challengers to Woods.

Faldo suggested that "to take Tiger on, maybe they should just

gang up [on him] for a while."

"Lynch him in a back alley," Tilghman said, laughing.

Golf Channel issued a statement four days later to say it

regretted the comment and that Tilghman had apologized to Woods.

But when the Rev. Al Sharpton demanded on CNN that she be fired,

Golf Channel suspended Tilghman for two weeks.

The Golfweek cover shows a noose against a purple sky with the

title, "Caught in a Noose." The subtitle said, "Tilghman slips

up, and Golf Channel can't wriggle free." For many, the noose is

symbol of lynchings in the Old South. According to Tuskeege

University, 3,466 blacks were lynched in the United States from

1882 to 1968.

The magazine devoted four pages of news and commentary on the

topic, including a column on the back page supporting Tilghman and

asking that the controversy be kept in context.

In an editorial, the magazine explained why it felt the Tilghman

story deserved so much attention. It was accompanied by a cartoon

that showed Sharpton holding a noose and offering it to a pair of

Golf Channel employees staring into a hole of thin ice, presumably

where Tilghman had been standing.



"One [potential] cover we had this week was on the young Australian phenom Jason Day," Babineau said Friday in an interview on the Dan Patrick radio program, "and had we had to do it over again, certainly we wish we could go back to Monday and put that one on the cover."

Babineau said he will write a story in the next issue of Golfweek to address the controversy.

"Our job is to say we're sorry, and we're going to do it with a front cover letter that I'm going to write, and we'll go on and cover the business of golf as we always did."

The harshest criticism came from Finchem. The PGA Tour is in the

second year of an unprecedented 15-year contract with Golf Channel

to broadcast its weekday coverage and full coverage of 14

tournaments.

"Clearly, what Kelly said was inappropriate and unfortunate,

and she obviously regrets her choice of words," Finchem said in a

statement. "But we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose

on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of

tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep

alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion."

The tour issued a statement Friday that said Finchem's comments

were "a response to an inquiry and an expression of the tour's

dissatisfaction with Golfweek's choice of a cover image." The tour

said Golfweek's decision on its editorial leadership was an

internal matter.

Jim Thorpe, 58, is one of two black players on the Champions

Tour. He sharply criticized Seanor.

"That was absolutely stupid. That was just throwing fuel on the

fire," Thorpe said.

"Why would you do that? He knew better."

Thorpe has won three times on the PGA Tour and

13 times on the Champions Tour.

"It's a shame we live in a world today stuff like that still

occurs," he said.

Thorpe defended Tilghman, whom he knows personally. He said her

comments weren't intended as a malicious statement. He said the

anchor could have used many different words instead, but chose the

wrong one.

"We know there was no racist intent. It was just a bad choice

of words," he said. "But the guy from Golfweek? Let him get

barbecued. That's just a major mistake on his part."

Meanwhile, CBSSports.com reported Thursday that Jack Peter,

chief operating officer of the World Golf Hall of Fame, said tour

officials had told the magazine it might withdraw $50,000 in

advertisements for the World Golf Village.

"Jack was not speaking on behalf of the PGA Tour," spokesman

Ty Votaw said Friday. "I can categorically tell you the PGA Tour

has not threatened any advertising pull."

Among the tour's corporate marketing partners is Golf Digest

Publications, which publishes the weekly magazine Golf World, a

competitor of Golfweek. Golf World has an editorial relationship with ESPN.com.

"We have partnerships with a lot of media companies," Votaw

said. "This was an editorial decision that Tim was expressing an

opinion about. I don't think anyone should read anything else into

it. It was simply a reaction to the image on the cover."

Babineau has worked for Golfweek the last nine years as editor,

deputy editor and senior writer.

"We know we have a job ahead of us to re-earn the trust and

confidence of many loyal readers," he said. "Our staff is very

passionate about the game. Our wish is that one regretful error

does not erase more than 30 years of service we've dedicated to

this industry."

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report