Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Supreme Court: Martin Can Use Golf Cart on PGA Tour

Aired May 29, 2001 - 11:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A victory today for golfer Casey Martin and the Americans With Disabilities Act. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Martin should be allowed to use a golf cart at professional tournaments. It's a 7-2 decision, the justices saying that not allowing Martin to use a cart would violate the Americans With Disabilities Act. Martin suffers from circulatory problem.

The PGA was opposed to Martin's using a cart, saying it would fundamentally alter the game. And with more on that. let's bring in Laura Okmin, our sports expert here.

Obviously, huge victory for Casey Martin, also for the Americans With Disabilities Act, but does this mean that next week, when we tune in to watch our favorite PGA environment, we're going to see Casey Martin on the tour?

LAURA OKMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He wished. Unfortunately for him, for Casey, it's really a moral victory. He didn't earn his card this year, his PGA tour card. You have to finish as one of the top 38 golfers. Casey was not able to do that, and it's really right now a whole issue of heart or head, which one do you rule with?

Obviously, the Supreme Court going a little bit more with heart as well as what they thought was right. But right now, Casey won't be playing, we won't be seeing him, and that's why he's been a little bit out of sight, out of mind since '97, when this entire outcry, when so much of the world thought the PGA tour as taking an unsympathetic view of someone with a disability.

So no, he's on the Nike tour right now. We will not be seeing him on the PGA tour because he did not earn card.

KAGAN: You mentioned the heart. The two justices that dissented, Justice Scalia and also Justice Thomas, said that the court, in its ruling, was having a benevolent compassion, is what they said, that they don't believe the court has a right to impose. Obviously, the other seven justices thinking the court does.

Now, in terms of the people on the tour, the other players, he's -- Casey Martin is well-liked, but as well -- whether or not they support his cause, it's been very divisive on the tour.

OKMIN: That's been really interesting to watch, especially considering Tiger Woods is a Stanford teammate of his, and Tiger says, one of his closest friends. They're very good friends, and Tiger has been one of the, you know, really one of the guys that has stood up and said he doesn't think that Casey should be allowed to ride the cart. Not only Tiger, but Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus; some of the legends of this game saying that Casey Martin would fundamentally change the game by being allowed to ride the cart.

Even Arnold Palmer has given a deposition on behalf of the PGA, saying using the cart could provide a competitive advantage for Casey Martin, although doctors and especially Casey Martin would say walk a day, walk an hour, walk around in Casey Martin's shoes, and no one would call that an advantage, saying that he could literally step in one hole, step in one sand trap and his life could snap, and eventually, doctors say that he may lose the leg.

So, so many people rooting for this young man to follow his dream if he's able to because he doesn't know if his dream will last another day, another year, another round.

KAGAN: Well, it'll be interesting to see, even with the cart, if he makes it one the tour. That's not a given. We'll have to see that and also try to see who else takes advantage of this, maybe somebody with not as great a sympathy as Casey Martin, someone who just says he has a bad back or a bad knee or something. We will watch. The story is not finished. Laura Okmin, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com