Casey Martin Trial and Appeals: 1998-2001

Casey Martin was born in 1972 with a congenital defect in his right leg known as the Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome. He lacked the vein that runs along the bone in the lower right leg, so that blood must return back to the heart by a jumble of veins near the surface of the leg. This condition degenerated as he grew and made it extremely painful for him to walk; for normal walking he wore an especially strong support stocking to keep the swelling down, but his right leg gradually atrophied. Even so, Martin took up golf and by the time he was at Stanford University, he was good enough to become a teammate of Tiger Woods.

Casey Martin, suffering a birth defect in his leg, is the only player on the PGA tour allowed to ride in a cart. (AP/Wide World Photos)

Walking the long distances of a golf course, however, eventually became too painful and by his junior year he took to riding a golf cart—a common practice of amateur golfers but not accepted in professional competitions (although it is allowed on the PGA's Senior Tour). In November 1997, Martin decided to sue the Professional Golfers' Association Tour, the sponsor and organizer of many of the major big-money golf tournaments in the United States. Martin argued that golf courses are "public accommodations" as defined by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and that the PGA Tour, as a commercial enterprise, must obey all its rules. At once the case caught the public's attention, and this was further enhanced when in January 1998, while awaiting trial, Martin won the Nike Tour's season-opening Lakeland Classic, which allowed him to ride in his golf cart.

After winning this, Martin assumed celebrity status, appearing on televison and signing a generous endorsement contract with Nike. Meanwhile, as the trial approached, the PGA Tour was increasingly made to look like a spoilsport. Senator Tom Harkin and former Senator Robert Dole, who had sponsored the disabilities act of 1990, invited Martin to Congress; editorial pages took positions; sports columnists had a field day; and golfers and fans of every level took sides—the most notable being Jack Niklaus and Arnold Palmer, who opposed the use of carts. In general, Americans remained equally divided on the subject.