It's Time for Ted Bishop to Return

Originally posted on The Morning Read | By Alex Miceli | Last updated Jan 23, 2025 6:02 PM ET

Is it time to reinstate Ted Bishop?

For those who don’t know, Ted Bishop was the 38^th President of the PGA of America from 2013 to 2014 and was instrumental in appointing Tom Watson as the U.S. Ryder Cup Captain at Gleneagles.

That didn’t work out so well, but that was Bishop; he was always trying to improve the organization, but not necessarily in conventional ways.

He ruffled a few feathers at the PGA of America. Eventually, he was ousted for a nothing comment made on social media in a back-and-forth with Englishman Ian Poulter when he referred to him as a “Lil girl.”

The firestorm was quick and immediate. Within a short period, the PGA of America board ousted Bishop, calling his comments “insensitive gendered based comments.”

So, for over 10 years, Bishop has been in golf exile, but that could change.

Ironically, Derek Sprague, who followed Bishop as president and knows him well, was named CEO of the PGA of America earlier this month.

At the PGA Show, in an interview this week with Golfweek, Sprague addressed the possibility of reinstating Bishop.

“It's been a long time, I saw Ted at a meeting in November and said a quick hello to him,” Sprague told Golfweek. “He's doing a lot of fantastic things at his club in Franklin, Indiana. I think it's worth a discussion with the officers and the board to see what they think about that. Many that are in the boardroom weren't there in 2014. You know, again, I have no hard feelings about the situation, and I would be open for discussion on something like that.”

Time heals old wounds and the fact that many that decided Bishop’s fate are no longer on the board is a positive.

Bishop has done more for golf than many, and his ouster still stings the 70-year-old General Partner at The Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Indiana, south of Indianapolis.

It's not worth litigating his case here, but as much as the PGA of America believed it was doing the right thing by ousting Bishop in 2014, reinstating him in 2025 would be the correct decision.

This article first appeared on The Morning Read and was syndicated with permission.

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