Hello, friends, and happy Wednesday from Riviera. I woke up at 4 a.m. sharp this morning for absolutely no reason. I thought of Tiger, who said on Monday at his Sun Day Red event that he basically never sleeps, and then considered being productive and starting my day at that ungodly hour. I ultimately decided against it, which is among the hundreds of reasons I am built nothing like Tiger Woods.
I planned on wearing my pink sneakers to the course in honor of Valentine’s Day, but they are currently covered in mud after braving the elements at the WM Phoenix Open last week. I have the next best thing to show you all, which is this video of the pros talking about their better halves.
Shout out to Lacey Homa, Meredith Scheffler, Allison Fowler and all the significant others! I hope each and every one of you had a lovely dinner reservation in Los Angeles.
Tiger and Josh Allen
The GOLF squad arrived at Riviera bright and early Wednesday morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen and Tiger would be teeing it up in the Wednesday pro-am together. When I walked over to the practice green, I overheard Allen telling Xander Schauffele how he’s “got it made” playing professional golf.
It’s funny to watch Josh Allen, an incredibly famous and talented athlete, look at Tiger Woods the way that fans often do: in awe. Allen told Tiger that he loved the Sun Day Red brand, that his brother would be on the bag for him during their pro-am, and that he currently has his driver pretty dialed.
The other lucky members of this star-studded pro-am group included the father-in-law of an executive at Genesis and professional baseball player Aaron Hicks, who is the husband of Tiger’s niece Cheyenne.
Cheyenne came out to follow, and she and Hicks even brought their toddler along for the fun.
Hicks hits the ball a mile. Everyone watching, including Tiger’s team, had a blast watching him tee it up.
And now I interrupt the Josh Allen coverage to tell you that I got the most important confirmation of all today: Tiger Woods has been to a Taylor Swift concert.
It took me everything I had not to ask Tiger what his surprise songs were during his press conference, but I’d love to know what he thought of the show.
OK, back to the pro-am. I asked Tiger what Allen’s game is like, and Tiger had a lot of great things to say.
“Josh’s game, considering what he does for a living and the pounding that he takes on the body,” Woods said, “the fact that he’s been able to play this game, you can see the enjoyment that he has and the addiction that he has for the game of golf. He asked unbelievable questions today about how he can get better that only athletes really can ask those type of questions. That’s what’s neat about being able to play with athletes, see how their brain works. We’re very similar across the board whether we’re playing football or golf or baseball, how we look at things are very consistent.”
As a fellow golf nerd, I’m very excited that Allen got a full 18 holes with Tiger to pick his brain. I’m also proud that he met Tiger for the first time a year ago and got to tee it up with him Wednesday. Incredible manifestation on his part.
In-N-Out
My co-workers and I stopped at In-N-Out for dinner on our way home from the course on Tuesday, and we ended up chatting with Justin Thomas and his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, about it Wednesday. On the sixth hole, JT mentioned that he had never tried it before. On the eighth green, we learned that they had an In-N-Out truck with food for players and caddies.
It really is the little things that are a massive hit for players out here. The pros are always wildly excited about the chicken tenders and french fries at the PNC Championship, the milkshakes at the Memorial, and now, the In-N-Out at Riviera. Max Homa was ecstatic to grab his burger from the truck. JT and his dad both enjoyed a burger, and Bones was kind enough to grab an extra for me. Whenever I’m on the road, I’m consistently reminded that not only am I surrounded by really good golfers, but incredible humans as well. That’s one of a dozen instances I could tell you about from this week alone (and it’s only Wednesday!) where people go out of their way to help each other on the road. Whether it’s someone lending you some sunblock, a photographer moving over an inch so you can get a shot of a player, a media member making sure you get your chance to ask Tiger your question or a pal letting you hop on a cart to avoid the very long walk back up to the clubhouse, I’m always impressed by how kind the people who work in golf are.
OK, enough of that. Back to In-N-Out. I present to you all this incredible photo of Tiger inhaling a burger before teeing off on nine.
Who among us has not stuffed their face when met with incredible fast food? I will henceforth justify all of my less-than-ideal dietary habits with the explanation that I am “training like Tiger.” Oh, this isn’t how he typically eats? Not my problem!
Caddie of the year
Ben Griffin’s caddie, Alex Ritthamel, went above and beyond to make sure his player got his clubs this week. Griffin’s clubs didn’t make it on his flight to Los Angeles earlier this week, so Ritthamel drove to Phoenix to pick them up himself. Talk about going the extra mile (or 738, round trip)!
If Griffin plays lights out this week, we know who to thank.
