WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Representatives of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (APAC) staunchly denied releasing a statement about racial inequality in the adult film industry, despite published reports attributing the comments to the golf tournament earlier this week.

“While I’d imagine many amateur golfers probably do occasionally indulge in the guilty pleasure of watching a little porno, APAC is in no way associated with the adult film industry,” said Nick Chisnall, a spokesperson for the tournament. “Admittedly, ours is a game with plenty of holes, balls and strokes, but that’s where the similarity to porno ends.”

Earlier this week, published reports emerged claiming APAC had released a statement decrying the apparently widespread practice within the adult entertainment industry of studios paying a performer less based on his/her ethnicity, as well as performers charging a higher rate when working with performers of a different race.

“It is APAC’s position that paying a performer less based on his/her race or charging a higher rate to work with performers of another race is unfair and unethical,” the statement said. “Treating a performer’s race as a determining factor for pay is a violation of performer rights as well as a violation of federal workplace discrimination laws.”

Chisnall said while he’s “inclined to agree” with the assertion, his organization had nothing to do with making it.

“I’d like to believe nobody in the golf world believes in paying people less based on their race, except maybe Fuzzy Zoeller and Sergio Garcia,” Chisnall said. “In any event, we’re an amateur golf tournament, so we’re not paying anybody, no matter their race and no matter how skilled they might be when it comes to fellatio.”

Chisnall conceded there were other aspects of the statement that “do sound more like something you’d hear in golf than in the porn industry,” though. In particular, Chisnall cited a line from the statement claiming APAC “believes in creating work environments where performers feel they are treated fairly and with respect.”

“I don’t watch a lot of porn, but one scene I viewed online included a bunch of lads slapping and spitting on a young woman whilst they called her a ‘dirty slut’ and a ‘filthy whore,’ right up until they all ejaculated in her mouth and demanded that she swallow the proceeds of their efforts,” Chisnall said. “Call me mad, but that doesn’t seem entirely respectful, let alone fair. If it’s supposed to be fair, where’s the mouthful of semen each of these men is to swallow? Why aren’t they being slapped about and called drongos and mongrels?”

Kazuki Onishi, a Japanese competitor registered for the upcoming 2016 APAC at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea, said if the golf organization did weigh in on racial equality in the porn industry, he’s not bothered by it.

“I wish in my country someone make similar statement about unfairness of always cover up most interesting female body parts with black boxes all the time,” Onishi said. “Why OK for cartoons to have octopus fuck schoolgirl, but in real-life pornos, you can’t even see penis go in mouth? This like if APAC legally let golfer drop ball in hole using fingers, but not OK to use shoe to kick ball in hole.”

One performer said she thinks there’s “way too much focus on who issued the release” rather than on the merits of the statement that began the controversy.

“As the leading star of several golf-themed porn parodies, I can tell you there’s a ton of crossover in the market where viewers are concerned,” said Annika Sorenvag, who won three XJIZZ Awards for her performance in the 2011 release This Legally Cannot Be ‘The Masters’ XXX. “Whether this statement came from an actual amateur golf organization, or just someone pretending to be one, it makes a number of good points that should not be ignored or lost in the controversy over who said what and whether media outlets should get a mulligan for not spelling out the full name of the organization in the article’s first reference to it.”

Sorenvag also noted whoever issued the statement, it’s “hardly the first time” the worlds of golf and porn have intersected.

“Didn’t Tiger Woods fuck half the female performers in the industry a few years back? Maybe APAC should have issued its statement then,” Sorenvag said. “After all, getting pumped up on Ambien and risking being assaulted by an unhinged, golf-club-wielding Swedish model doesn’t sound like a very ‘safe and positive work environment’ to me.”

Representatives for Tiger Woods did not respond to requests for comment for this article.