« Augusta member's mistake was not asking Fowler to take hat off »

Young Rickie Fowler is a rookie at the Masters this year, and like anyone who finds themselves in a new and unfamiliar environment, can be caught unaware of certain rules and regulations, be they written or unwritten.

Apparently such was the case on Monday during an interview session, when Mr. Fowler was asked by an Augusta National member to turn his hat around, so that the brim faced forward.

Really Mr. Smith? Interesting. (We'll call the Augusta National member in question Mr. Smith, just so we don't have to continually refer to him as the Augusta National member in question for the duration of this post. Good. So Mr. Smith it is.)

This seemingly innocuous request to rotate a cap by 180 degrees has resulted in golf forums erupting with commentary dividing golf fans patrons into one of two camps -- Camp Idontmindwhateverittakestogrowthegame who would let Mr. Fowler wear his cap as he pleases, and Camp Startshowingsomerespectyoungman, who applaud the actions of Mr. Smith.

Rickie Fowler wore his hat backwards on the cover of Golf Digest, but was asked to turn it around during a press conference at Augusta National on Monday. (Golf Digest)You are of course free to choose the camp in which you will reside, but first know this -- to Chapeau Noir, removing one's cap is the only acceptable course of action when entering a room in the first place, making the entire affair no more than pig in a poke.

Once we realize this, the matter of whether it is proper or improper to wear a cap brim forward or back suddenly becomes irrelevant. If it were relevant, Jim Furyk would have been taken to task for doing his best Johnny Bench impression at the end of the 2010 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Instead, this is a matter of simple etiquette that extends beyond the bounds of any golf club, not unlike keeping elbows off the dinner table and saying 'please', and 'thank you'. It's civilized.

So as a matter of course, both Mr. Smith and Mr. Fowler were in the wrong.

Perhaps Mr. Smith realized something was amiss, but for whatever reason -- call it an apparel accessory conundrum -- he was unable to pinpoint Mr. Fowler's apparel indiscretion. It could be he simply couldn't bring himself to tell this otherwise exceedingly polite and respectful young man what's what in front of the media throng for fear of scaring the him for life, or at least for fear of rattling him to the point of no longer being able to look at a pimento sandwich the same way again.

Either or.

Had Mr. Smith mustered the conviction to do the needful, and quietly asked Mr. Fowler to remove his hat rather than just turn it around, he'd have been doing him a supreme favor, and would have reminded everyone that a hat is just a hat, and not a vehicle by which one's corporate sponsor or personal website is given extra 'eyeballs'.

Chapeau Noir's mother never let him get more than a stride into his childhood home without removing his ball cap. Nor does Chapeau Noir imagine that the mothers of Misters Smith or Fowler would have allowed it either. Because that's what Mothers do. They make sure their sons don't act, or look like louts.

Professional golfers are, generally speaking, respectful, upstanding gentlemen -- with certain exceptions. After all, they are trusted to tally the scores of their fellow competitor by hand and call penalties upon themselves. It is the golfer who is said to be the last of the true sportsmen.

So it should follow that any golfer playing at the highest of levels entering the media center at Augusta National Golf Club during his first or his 50th trip to the Masters -- or the local Bojangles for southern style take out -- be immediately compelled to remove his headwear, for the venue itself becomes immaterial when it comes to simple civility.

Taking off your hat is just something you do. Because your mother told you to do it. Over, and over, and over again.

Hat head be damned. People will understand that this isn't how you normally style your hair. You've just been wearing that hat for the last five hours. It was hot. You were perspiring. Unless you are the aforementioned Jim Furyk or folically challenged Matt Kuchar, your hair isn't going to look as good as it does when you're going out with your best gal on a Saturday night.

We get it.

So, our august Augusta National member, 'Mr. Smith' was out of line. Out of line because he didn't ask Mr. Fowler to take the hat off, and not just turn it around because 'that's how a hat should be worn'. The configuration by which Fowler was wearing the cap was irrelevant. Frontward, backward, or askew as if to break into rap. While indoors it should not be perched on top of his Justin Bieber-esque dome. Period.

And as for Mr. Fowler, he too was out of line for not automatically, like a fine pavlovian dog, removing his hat.

Had Mr. Smith given Mr. Fowler a gentle reminder to remove his cap, Mr. Fowler should have in turn thanked him for saving him from further embarrassment, apologized, and promise it to never happen again. With that it would be dealt with like gentlemen.

Mr. Fowler would then be free to go out and win the tournament in his first appearance at the Masters, duplicating what only Fuzzy Zoeller had done prior in 1979, showing everyone that his Sunday orange does indeed go very well with Masters green.

And it would be Fowler's win which would grow the game, and not how he wears or does not wear his hat on Sunday, in Butler Cabin.

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