Meet Kelly Tilghman, an anchor for the Golf Channel. See photos and a biography of Kelly here.
Kelly Tilghman
Kelly Tilghman is backpedaling big time as she is now apologizing for remarks she made during Friday’s telecast of the Mercedes-Benz Championship. She made a comment during the broadcast that today’s young players should “lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley” in an effort to take on Tiger. Um, poor choice of words there, Kelly. The Golf Channel reported that Kelly apologized during Sunday’s telecast and has since apologized and “expressed regret” for her comments to Tiger Woods’ rep.
As a biography, Kelly Tilghman was born in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her family has owned and operated a golf course there for over 22 years. She received a golf scholarship to attend Duke University and graduated in 1991 with a degree in Political Science and History. While on the golf team, she won the 1990 Lady Paladin Invitational.
From 1992 to 1996, Kelly went pro and played in Australia, Europe and Asia. She was a teaching and touring pro as well.
She has worked on the Golf Channel as a reporter, co-anchor for Golf Central, and host of Sprint Post Game and Live From…. In 2007, she was paired up with Nick Faldo and was part of the lead broadcast team for the network’s PGA Tour telecasts.
See more photos of Kelly Tilghman below.
Photos of Kelly Tilghman
January 9th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Fire her now. She meant what she said. She is only apologizing to save her job.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Wow I think Tiger Woods forgiveness of her remark shows what a TRUE gentlemen he is. I am a white female, hate golf but always loved Tiger Woods because I always thought he was a truly great and caring guy. What a jerk she was to say that about him.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Everyone should chill out. The general population is taking themselves and everyone else much too seriously these days.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Are you kidding me……? Ms. Kelly Tilghman????????? It is true, one can never, ever escape his core self…the one that was ingrained during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and that rears its ugly head at the most inopportune, unencumbered moment. That is what Ms. Tilghman experienced while making that horrendous comment about Mr. Tiger Woods. She simply revealed her true self. One cannot hide his true core. Oh, you can dress it up, but that dressing is never permanent, it will surely let you down and it will slip off at the most unsuspecting time. Like a comfortable pair of house shoes, you will forget that you have them on, and casually slip into bed with them on your feet. I know we all done this.
You must know that the only right thing to do, immediately, is to remove her from on-air duty. No decent human would appreciate seeing her face or hearing her voice on a peaceful, beautiful, picture-perfect day, commentating on tourney action, without thinking of this horrible, racist “slip-of-the-tongue.” It will forever be etched in the public’s mind and in Mr. Tiger Woods mind as well. He may publicly accept her apology, but believe me, as a mixed race person, he will never forget what she said. She most certainly will not be his dinner partner anytime soon.
Were she not racist at the core, she could have said, “break his knuckles” or something to that effect, which would not reflect her racist images that come into her head when she thinks of people of color. I guarantee you, that the first cognitive thought that precipitated or generated that comment was the image of his dark skin. The comment would not have even made sense if he were a white man.
Certainly, you must know that she is a “dead duck” now, she is a leper. Organized protestors will appear at every single tourney stop to make their feelings of her known. We are organizing now, to get ready for 2008. We are making signs, sending form letters to send to advertisers, and cable providers to get rid of your channel. Surely we are prepared to hit the Golf Channel where it hurts. We are planning to bombard all of major sports broadcasters that carry PGA events during the upcoming season. Michigan golfers will join a nationwide effort to get Ms. Tilghman off air.
I don’t suggest for a moment that you fire her because I do not make those decisions for you. However, I am urging you to at least relegate her to off-air duties where she will not be an embarrassment to you and a disgrace to the entire nation.
Have you any idea how many public lynchings of free black men that Ms. Tilghman’s grandparents or parents must have witnessed or been a part of in South Carolina? And do you think she believes that lynching is morally wrong? Not! If she did, she would not have even made that unforgivable remark about a man who has given so much to the sport of golf. How do you think Mr. Woods’ daughter would feel after reading that comment that your employee made about her father? This is much larger than your support of a little bottle-blonde girl. You need to get rid of her. This is so unfair, this is so wrong to reward this type of behavior. If you do not remove her from the air, you are supporting this thinking. Your agents represent you. Do you include a disclaimer before each of her broadcasts that relieves you of any comments or actions by your anchors? No? Ok, then the Golf Channel is responsible for …the words that are coming out of her mouth.
We are organizing, right now. This is only the beginning.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
msprw, wow! you are wound pretty tight. I’m suffering from depression and I’m not that screwed up, wow!
January 10th, 2008 at 12:42 am
msprw, you have some serious problems…let me guess, you’re related to that fine chap, the Reverend Al.
Here’s the scoop…lynching by definition in law and in each and every dictionary makes no mention of color whatsoever. YOU are the one bringing color into the equation. Sorry you don’t like it, sorry there’s connotations from the nation’s past, but that’s the way it is.
This is exactly the kind of overhyped, reactionary, inciting comment that utterly mischaracterizes the situation and only serves to create problems that don’t actually exist.
Does the mighty Rev. Al, already bellowing far and wide, seriously mean to tell us that he utterly believes that Kelly (someone who’s known Mr. Woods for over a decade) publicly implied on-air that a bunch of young golfers should track down one of the world’s most elite athletes (have you ever even tried getting his friggin autograph, Al?), chase him into an alley, tie a noose round his neck, and take his life? Please. Get a grip on reality.
If you could see past your bigoted nose, you’d recognize it as a backhanded compliment (i.e. he’s that good the only way to beat him (no pun intended) is to do away with him) simply offered as a comeback line to her co-anchor who was similarly complimenting the man (or is it Da Man?)
Here’s the deal: 10 coloreds beat a colored to death = lynching . . . 10 coloreds beat a white to death = lynching . . 10 whites beat a white to death = lynching . . . 10 whites beat a colored to death = lynching . . . 10 orientals beat a … oh, what’s the point. You’re just gonna believe your own line of b/s anyway. Anyway, like I said, that’s the law. Oh, and, by the way, every dictionary definition I looked up of the word said the same thing. More white-man conspiracies at work there, eh?
Maybe we should all petition the Golf Channel and request a public beating of Kelly by Da Man with his 6-iron/putter/club of choice…would that assuage some of the ‘insult’ your race has been subjected to and repair some of the irreparable damage caused?
Idiot. Try being part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. “We are organizing” and “This is only the beginning”…hmm, why not just wage all-out war on the honkies and have done with it? It’ll save you so much angst and probably reduce by blood pressure by 20 points.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:10 am
MSPR is right, on many of his points. Lynching is serious and the thought that Kelly Tilgham would feel comfortable making that joke on national television reveals a part of her personality that is racially imbalanced to say the least.
I can see how some white people would simply downplay this, but it is very serious and offensive and regardless of what the press or Tiger’s people say, it was a crisis Kelly created that ultimately he solely has to deal with. Sadly Shamus you missed the point, when Kelly said lynching it did become about race, that was not MSPRW, ME, Tiger or anyone elses fault, but instead solely hers. Your use of the word colored, old racist slang for black people, suggests you have your own issues as well. Racism must end and after Imus, it’s clear some people still find humor in this kind of dark humor.
January 10th, 2008 at 6:24 am
This racist should be fired! Also, Tiger should make a statement denouncing this remark. If she didn’t realize the severity of her statement, she should still be fired for stupidity! What rock has she been living under?
January 10th, 2008 at 8:43 am
If Tiger can let it go, why can’t anyone else?
Welcome to the United States of the Offended. We live in a sad place in history. Let them cast the first stone who hasn’t said anything, EVER, that was offensive to someone else. It must be nice to sit around all day judging others. It’s just unbelievable.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Shamus…using words like “colored” and “oriental” pretty much shows that you’re a f#cking MORON. Your rationale is “off kilter”, its kind of sad. The awful truth is that there are people like you who have these values. Kelly Tilghman should be let go. If she had any dignity she would resign. MSPRW, you could not have said it better, your words resonate with people like-minded. Why is it, that in America we hear this “hate speak” by national on-air personalities? Why would she make this kind of comment about one of the nicest guys in ANY sport? This shows her lack of sportsmanship and that she did not have “The Right Stuff” to be a competitive.