Got to spend day with a bunch of the golfers playing in Tour Championship yesterday inside the ropes. Some observations …
Ludvig Aberg - just an incredibly nice young man. Incredibly easy to pull for - very bright. Shared that he chose Texas Tech over Arizona State because of the people and felt ASU had too many distractions. Very mature kid.
Sahith Theegala - very kind, nice young man. Very cerebral and uses his brain to his advantage on the golf course. Shared a lot about his golf strategy and very humble about challenges in his golf swing, periodically.
Byeong An - just a funny, funny young man. Says he doesn’t do a lot of thinking on the golf course. He kept saying he doesn’t over complicate anything in golf
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Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka, and Russell Henley - spoke to all three about UGA football. They could have talked for an hour and they would have been happy. Like talking to anyone of us. Great representatives of UGA.
Patrick Cantlay - had breakfast with him and a small group. Nice young man; but, a bit socially uncomfortable. He is very smart and seemed more like an analyst in a consulting firm than a golfer. Very literal without much of a sense of humor. But, a nice young man.
Tony Finau - maybe my favorite golfer after spending time with him. Total family man. Talked about one of his favorite things is having drawing competitions with his little kids. He listed all his kids and their ages. Xander Schaufelle, was listening, and just said “damn man, are you out of your mind?”. Xander was very very funny. Said that he skipped the opening ceremony of Olympics because he wanted to lay on the beach in Portugal.
Colin Morikowa - very kind, but, kind of quiet.
Wyndham Clark - very small frame. Very smart, great conversationalist. Never felt like I was talking to a golfer.
Keegan Bradley - one of my least favorite golfers prior to yesterday because he seems very odd and fidgety. Man, just an impressive guy - well spoken, family guy, just very likable when talking to him. Now a fan.
On the new East Lake - closer to what Bobby Jones played when it was the Atlanta Athletic Club - which is good. Like any new golf course with new Bermuda greens, very few shots will hold and they are having to adjust by landing on front of greens and letting ball roll out. They were all pissed about making the adjacent fairway to number 18 being out of bounds. They said it was really a screw up by East Lake and the golf architect (Scotty Schefler was hitting his drives to the adjacent fairway in practice round). The really were angry about the poor design.
Got to play in a Pro Am with Larry Mize - just one of the nicest human beings I have ever spent time with. Talked about how he loves UGA as well as Tech. His wife went to UGA. Said that Larry Nelson was the greatest Ryder Cup player in US History and got completely screwed by not having him selected as Ryder Cup captain. Could tell he really didn’t like Seve and Greg Norman. He said he is still thanked to this day for beating those two in the 87 Masters. I asked him … in their prime, same equipment, same ball, who wins in 10 matches with Tiger and Jack. He said Jack wins 6; Tiger 4. Reason - while the field is deeper in Tiger’s era, the golfers of Tiger’s era were “soft” competitors. The golfers of Jack’s era were so much tougher competitors and it wasn’t close - Raymond Floyd, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson, Arnie, Player, Trevino, etc, etc. Also said Jack was a better athlete (could have played college basketball at Ohio State), much physically stronger (particularly in his thighs and hips - “Jack was built like a tree trunk”) than Tiger (“Tiger was a skinny kid who was muscular in his torso, not his legs”), and Jack had virtually no injuries because his swing relied on Jack’s natural strength - while Tiger’s swing led to all his injuries.
Ludvig Aberg - just an incredibly nice young man. Incredibly easy to pull for - very bright. Shared that he chose Texas Tech over Arizona State because of the people and felt ASU had too many distractions. Very mature kid.
Sahith Theegala - very kind, nice young man. Very cerebral and uses his brain to his advantage on the golf course. Shared a lot about his golf strategy and very humble about challenges in his golf swing, periodically.
Byeong An - just a funny, funny young man. Says he doesn’t do a lot of thinking on the golf course. He kept saying he doesn’t over complicate anything in golf
.Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka, and Russell Henley - spoke to all three about UGA football. They could have talked for an hour and they would have been happy. Like talking to anyone of us. Great representatives of UGA.
Patrick Cantlay - had breakfast with him and a small group. Nice young man; but, a bit socially uncomfortable. He is very smart and seemed more like an analyst in a consulting firm than a golfer. Very literal without much of a sense of humor. But, a nice young man.
Tony Finau - maybe my favorite golfer after spending time with him. Total family man. Talked about one of his favorite things is having drawing competitions with his little kids. He listed all his kids and their ages. Xander Schaufelle, was listening, and just said “damn man, are you out of your mind?”. Xander was very very funny. Said that he skipped the opening ceremony of Olympics because he wanted to lay on the beach in Portugal.
Colin Morikowa - very kind, but, kind of quiet.
Wyndham Clark - very small frame. Very smart, great conversationalist. Never felt like I was talking to a golfer.
Keegan Bradley - one of my least favorite golfers prior to yesterday because he seems very odd and fidgety. Man, just an impressive guy - well spoken, family guy, just very likable when talking to him. Now a fan.
On the new East Lake - closer to what Bobby Jones played when it was the Atlanta Athletic Club - which is good. Like any new golf course with new Bermuda greens, very few shots will hold and they are having to adjust by landing on front of greens and letting ball roll out. They were all pissed about making the adjacent fairway to number 18 being out of bounds. They said it was really a screw up by East Lake and the golf architect (Scotty Schefler was hitting his drives to the adjacent fairway in practice round). The really were angry about the poor design.
Got to play in a Pro Am with Larry Mize - just one of the nicest human beings I have ever spent time with. Talked about how he loves UGA as well as Tech. His wife went to UGA. Said that Larry Nelson was the greatest Ryder Cup player in US History and got completely screwed by not having him selected as Ryder Cup captain. Could tell he really didn’t like Seve and Greg Norman. He said he is still thanked to this day for beating those two in the 87 Masters. I asked him … in their prime, same equipment, same ball, who wins in 10 matches with Tiger and Jack. He said Jack wins 6; Tiger 4. Reason - while the field is deeper in Tiger’s era, the golfers of Tiger’s era were “soft” competitors. The golfers of Jack’s era were so much tougher competitors and it wasn’t close - Raymond Floyd, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson, Arnie, Player, Trevino, etc, etc. Also said Jack was a better athlete (could have played college basketball at Ohio State), much physically stronger (particularly in his thighs and hips - “Jack was built like a tree trunk”) than Tiger (“Tiger was a skinny kid who was muscular in his torso, not his legs”), and Jack had virtually no injuries because his swing relied on Jack’s natural strength - while Tiger’s swing led to all his injuries.
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