Now THIS is reporting.

That is true: Vaughn was definitely talking about Tiger.

 

Wrong.

I just did a Nexis search. EVERY story from Baltimore to Kansas City to Calgary quoted Taylor specifically talking about Johnson. The quote even produced Johnson's definitive quote when asked who is he: "I'm Zach Johnson from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'm a normal guy."

Terrific work by O'Connor.

 

The Taylor quote was about Woods. I was in the roped-in quote area beyond 18 when Taylor said it, and I asked another reporter present his thoughts to make sure and he said it was definitely about Woods. The press conference question posed to Johnson was asked in a "Taylor said this about you" kind of way, so that's why he responded the way he did.

 

The time I heard it, it was asked about Tiger. I was standing right there. Maybe he gave a similar answer later about Johnson to different reporters -- I'm not sure. I think the confusion might lie in the fact when Johnson was asked about it, the reporter said that that's what Taylor said about him.

But Taylor definitely said it about Tiger. I'm sure of that.

Either way, it was a great reporting job ... not saying otherwise.

 

So, everybody had it wrong. (Everybody in my Nexis search, anyway.) OK. I've seen it happen a hundred times, a quote mis-heard and repeated into a question that, already once-wrong, produces an answer twice-removed from the starting fact. One of the dangers of big-event reporting.

 

Part of the problem was probably with taking the quote off a quote sheet. Not many people were actually around Taylor, but the quote sheet had this great line and it wasn't clear from that if he was talking about Tiger or Johnson.

At a college hoops game earlier this year, a player on the losing team had a great line. It ended up as the lead quote in the AP story. Problem was, the quote sheet misidentified who made the comment. So the AP story also had the wrong attribution. Could happen to anyone, I imagine. It's worthwhile to check quote sheets at big events, but the accuracy is always an issue.

 

Sounds about right to me. I trust the press room stenographer quotes more than I trust the woman scribbling behind the scorer's hut at Augusta. Mostly, I don't trust any gang-bang quotes I didn't hear and maybe half of those I think I heard.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to steer the conversation away from what was a very good story.

 

An interesting detour, though...

I'd really like to know when O'Connor called Fleck and the folks in Iowa. Before the tournament ended? Did he make other calls in preparation, say, for Sabbatini? Did he wait until Tiger's 2d to 18 stayed above ground to start the Johnson calls? Or did he wait until Johnson's arrival in the press room or even after that interview? What was his deadline?

Whatever, an impressive display of newspapering.

 

I wonder those same questions too. I wouldn't be surprised if there is another story about this.

 

Gotta give that dude props for finding a fresh angle to take. Super job.