My twitter feed started going off and then emails and then texts.

All of it about AAC and reports, big ugly reports of big ugly damage. It was this tweet that seemed to be at the heart of it all:

@KellyTilghmanGC Kelly Tilghman

‘Major’ hiccup: Maintenance crew takes chunk out of front right portion of the 17th green at the PGA Championship with mower.

Now, you know you love Kelly. Everyone does because she got her job because of that great radio voice of her’s, right?

And when Kelly tweets, a lot of people listen. And the word spread. Quickly, because that’s what this new viral social monkey media does. It broadcasts all kinds of crap that people say in all kinds of ways and about most of it is complete BS and some of it interesting and a tiny bit has facts and all of it is designed to make you think something or perhaps make you think that you are in the know. Fine.

But there’s this disgusting TMZ type race going on with this. Where it’s like someone has to make a big deal out of seeing Lindsey Lohan get out of a limo. In this case, an equipment failure. Now, raise your hands, Turfheads, if you’ve had some kind of crazy freak thing go on at an event of whatever size. Exactly. Stuff happens. And I have to admit going on a google search for pictures. Wasn’t anything right away, but not long after, Geoff Shackelford’s Golf Digest Blog belched out this.

Ok so now some cat has pulled out their smart phone and whammo….pictures out in cyberland.  And because blogs often bring out the worst in usual anonymous trolls, check this out from the comments:

The damage is the result of a rise in the dew point? It sounds like something Cliff Claven would conjure up.
It looks a lot worse that “brush damage” – it looked like there was about five pounds of sod that was turned over.

08.10.2011 | Marky Mark

Marky Mark. Nice. Isn’t that just special. But you’d expect that from the 12 year old going on 45 who probably hangs out on Golf Club Atlas and so…big whatever. Stupid drivel, but whatever.

Our friend Kelly T wasn’t done yet. She had to take the “official” word from the PGA and give it just a hint of doubt.

@KellyTilghmanGC Kelly Tilghman
PGA of America says greens on 14th & 17th holes suffered damage from mowers but it has been ‘fully’ repaired & won’t affect play.

Now I’ve known Ken Mangum as an Icon in the biz of grass for a long time—I don’t know him well, but I know him. I know him better via the good coverage he’s gotten leading up to the tourney. He’s a strong soul and he’s smart enough to have Kasey Kauff and a bunch of other great folks on staff at AAC. And he’s got a bevy of great people volunteering. All of them good hearted. And in looking at those pics, most all of us have fixed that kind of thing at one point in time or another. Obviously no one wants to go through the drill, but they do. It’s part of the job. And I think that’s the part that mainstream media doesn’t get. Why? Because they haven’t been there to see it. Oh, but wait… now they are. Via the magic of Twitter and Smart Phones. OMG!, I mean like…take the picture of Kimmy K, the dress might come flying off any second.

It sickens me that in a couple hours, this is all that anyone will be able to talk about, the damage to 14 and 17 and what it means to the security of the tourney, the players and the world financial markets and the price of Trout Chow. If ever there was a time to get a life, here it is.

And to be brutally honest, I found myself circling the drain too. Looking for the inside dirt and texting with folks about what really happened and triple checking my twitter feed. Took a few minutes for me to catch myself and really ask, “Who Cares?”. And that’s the truth. Who really cares? I’m sure Dew Point or not, the guy mowing that green was vomiting his guts out at the thought of this happening to his (and I mean “His” because we all know that when you mow a green for a big event, it damn well better be yours) green.

Malfunction, be it wardrobe or greens brush brings up all kinds of thoughts. We all wanna know how what happened and I’m sure they have figured it out and we will get the official word from Mr. Mangum via all kinds of press. And the tweets will continue and the media will jabber this to absolute smithereens.

So my hat is off to Ken and Kasey and the whole gang at AAC because they not only had to beat it to fix this before play on thursday, but they had to beat the tweeters and bloggers who just had to have the scoop. Somehow that kind of access inside the ropes just doesn’t do much more for me than think that Kelly and Company needs to take a shower and clean themselves up. And you think of all peeps, she would know better and would keep away from throwing others under the bus of media attention. Remember her comments about Tiger?