Witness Says Players Would Rather Walk

Attacking the argument that golf carts give players an unfair advantage, Casey Martin’s lawyers put on witnesses Tuesday who said carts neither improve performance nor provide relief from great fatigue.

“I prefer to walk,” said Eric Johnson, the Nike Tour’s leading money winner. “It helps me with my rhythm. You get a full effect of the elements.”

He also said walking helps him get a better feel for the course and noted that in last year’s PGA Tour qualifying tournament all 160 players had the option of riding in a cart and only seven or eight took it.

Martin, who suffers from a rare circulatory disorder that has shriveled his right leg, has said he too would prefer to walk rather than ride, but it is too painful. He is expected to take the witness stand himself today or Thursday.

Martin limped to court for a second day of trial on his lawsuit against the PGA Tour in which he is using the Americans with Disabilities Act in an attempt to ride a cart on the pro golf tour.

The PGA Tour contends that walking is a fundamental part of the game and that allowing Martin to ride would give him an unfair advantage.

Under questioning from Martin attorney William Wiswall, Johnson said he considers walking as a part of the game “only as a purpose to get to the next shot.”

Johnson said golf rarely makes him tired and tournaments on the PGA Tour give golfers rides in carts when there is a long distance between the green of one hole and the tee of the next.

Martin’s attorneys bolstered Johnson’s statements with testimony from Gary Klug, professor of physiology at the University of Oregon, who has specialized in the study of muscle fatigue.

“Because of the low level of physical activity required in golf, it is not an activity that would be considered particularly taxing physiologically,” Klug said.