Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally took a beating yesterday in the Detroit Free Press and elsewhere for having putted while Ford burns. Five days before Ford announced a mind-boggling loss of $12.7 billion for last year, Mulally was playing golf at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Two weeks after the announced loss, he played in the pro-am at Pebble Beach.
As you might imagine, Ford workers, their friends and neighbors are miffed, to say the least. But Mulally is not without his supporters, according to the Free Press. Tour player Len Mattiace, Mulally's partner for three rounds at Pebble Beach, probably won't endear himself to the thousands of Ford workers afraid for their jobs. Of Mulally's time at the tournament, Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez wrote, Mattiace said: "I can tell you there's no downside to him being there. There is a lot of networking. All the CEOs of major companies are there. And I know when he's off the golf course, he's spending a lot of time with all these other CEOs, and I think it's smart of him and it's great for the company for him to be there."
On the course was a different matter. Said Mattiace of Mulally's play: "...he certainly didn't play like knockout golf, you know?" Must have had something on his mind.
