Ted Bishop: What Firing for Twitter Outburst at Ian Poulter Means for Golf

Ted Bishop was just getting ready to complete a two-year stint as president of one of the country's most respected golf organizations, the PGA of America, founded in April 1916. It was perhaps not a perfect reign at the top, but without the recent Twitter outburst, he would have been remembered as the guy who fought the USGA on long putters, a club many say they need to be able to play the game.

Now, Bishop's the guy who got fired for insulting women and girls.

He forgot for a minute he wasn't Bishop, private citizen. He forgot anything he said and did as the PGA's president reflected on more than himself. He forgot that it reflected on the entire organization he represented. Making matters worse, he forgot that the PGA has had a recent emphasis on trying to attract more women to the game.

Compounding the issue, there is a PGA sponsorship with Kitchen Aid, traditionally a brand known to women, home builders, contractors and kitchen designers.

Kitchen Aid sponsors the Senior PGA Championship. Then there's the new event, co-created with the LPGA and KPMG, called the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. It is to become a women's major and will be conducted by the PGA of America starting in 2015 at Westchester Country Club in New York.

So that makes his Twitter faux pas almost inexplicable, given his background, given that he has daughters and that he graduated from college after Title IX was passed.

Bishop even has lots of experience working with women. His club hosted women's golf tournaments regularly. And he spent five years with the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament where he ran “Ladies Day with Dinah,” an event that featured LPGA players.

How does that background and the many good things he has done at his home club in Indiana translate into calling Ian Poulter a "Lil Girl" in an opinionated post over who was a good Ryder Cup captain and who wasn't?

Poulter's reply: "That's pretty shocking and disappointing, especially coming from the leader of the PGA of America," he said to Golf Channel (via Will Gray of Golf Central). "No further comment."

As far as what Bishop's firing means, the most important thing is that anything at all was done.

The second-most important thing is that now, Suzy Whaley, who is running as a candidate for PGA secretary, may have a realistic chance of winning. Whaley, a PGA member, became the first woman since Babe Zaharias to qualify for a PGA Tour event, the Travelers Championship in 2003.

“For me to hear comments that are derogatory about young girls, or insulting, just because you are a girl, is offensive,” Whaley said to Golf Central (via Randall Mell of Golf Channel). “Our board of directors took swift action."

She added that she agreed with the decision made by the board of directors.

"Our mission is to grow the game of golf, to be inclusive. I am extremely proud of the PGA membership and what I do on a daily basis to include young women and young men from all backgrounds into the game," she noted.

Whaley added that she had learned golf and been mentored by men who encouraged her to follow her dream.

Should Whaley succeed as secretary, she could potentially move up to vice president and perhaps president of the organization. If that happens, then all the little girls who look up to their mostly male golf instructors will see that the game and the game's leadership really are inclusive. We can only hope.

Is Ted Bishop the first person to lose his position over a tweet? No. According to a list complied by Dylan Love of Business Insider, there are at least 10 others, most notably Gilbert Gottfried, who used to be the voice of the Aflac duck. Not anymore.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour, R&A or PGA of America.