PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.(AP) CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty apologized Sunday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a morbid joke that went bad in a Dallas magazine.
Feherty, one of the most popular golf analysts for his sharp wit and self-deprecating humor, was among five Dallas residents who wrote for ``D Magazine'' on former President George W. Bush moving to Dallas.
``From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this though,'' Feherty wrote toward the end of his column. ``Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.''
Feherty, a former Ryder Cup player who grew up in Northern Ireland, has gone to Iraq over Thanksgiving the past two years to visit with U.S. troops, and he created a foundation to help wounded soldiers.
``This passage was a metaphor meant to describe how American troops felt about our 43rd president,'' Feherty said in a statement. ``In retrospect, it was inappropriate and unacceptable, and has clearly insulted Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, and for that, I apologize. As for our troops, they know I will continue to do as much as I can for them both at home and abroad.''
Feherty has lived in Dallas the past dozen years. Along with working for CBS Sports, he writes a monthly column for Golf magazine and has written four books, the last one titled, ``An Idiot for All Season.''
CBS Sports distanced itself from Feherty's writing, saying it was ``an unacceptable attempt at humor and is not in any way condoned, endorsed or approved'' by the network. The PGA Tour also criticized him for an attempt at humor that ``went over the line.''
CBS is not broadcasting The Players Championship this week. The network resumes its PGA Tour coverage next week in San Antonio with the Valero Texas Open.
