McIlroy speed secrets and Hatton ‘looks like a farmer’: The Weekend 9

At 12:30 in the morning on Friday, in January, I was watching a baseball game from 2014. 

My wife even double-checked. 

“At 12:30 in the morning, in January, you’re watching a baseball game from 2014?”

I was. 

“Uecker?”

Uecker. 

She walked away, and I continued to watch. Or listen. To Ueck. Like I did in ’87, on 620 AM, when Deer and Sveum went deep on Easter Sunday, and 9-year-old me was listening at the kitchen table, 3 miles from metallic County Stadium. I listened in ’92, too, though this time on the way home from the yard, in the dark brown station wagon bought from Bud Selig’s Buick dealership, on the night Rockin Robin hit No. 3,000. I also listened Thursday afternoon to some of Uecker’s final words from last season, after the Milwaukee Brewers were stunned in the playoffs’ first round. Those hurt. He said the loss stung. And it did. Another year, another wait till next year. The longtime radio voice of the team had been battling cancer, though, and Thursday, we learned that he had passed. 

Should you be unfamiliar, Uecker once had his hand in everything, in an everyman kind of way. Miller Lite pitchman. Carson guest. Sitcom and movie star. He was also called Mr. Baseball, which you knew was ironic, as he played six mostly undistinguished MLB seasons — though no one embraced the irony more than Uecker himself. He leaned into it. No one jabbed Ueck more than Ueck, which made the Milwaukee native a bit of a guy-next-to-you-on-a-barstool guy — and a perfect fit when he grabbed the radio play-by-play microphone during the Brewers’ first season, in 1971, and just kept on talking. About the team. About himself. About whatever. Baseball has built-in gaps, like golf, after all. 

Right, golf. Let’s get to the point. There are a few. 

First, welcome! Think of this as a spot to warm you up for the weekend. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am, the first few paragraphs above do the job there. Milwaukee kid. Grew up across the street from a bar. Lovely wife. Sports watcher. Golf typist.    

And someone who’s heard the cries of dying interest in the pro game — and wondering if any of the pros watched how Uecker did it. Maybe golf needs a Mr. Golf. And a Ms. Golf. Trevino’s one. Who else?

Rest in peace, Ueck. Onto to our other eight. 

One takeaway from the week — and the weeks ahead 

2. Where do we stand with TGL?

In a very unscientific scan, the reception by those paid and unpaid to remark was good in week one. Lots of bells and whistles, though not enough hammers. Fast-paced, though a bit slow at the end. It was different. At the least, it was some golf to watch on a Monday or Tuesday night.   

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But then week two came.

And the tech seemed off to folks. The play, too. Things were too casual. Does anyone care if they’re winning? Or losing? Comments were being made. Should we care about this?

Here’s saying we should wait. Give it time. Maybe till week 7, which comes at the end of next month. Things should be more buttoned up. We’ll also get three matches then, two on Monday, and one on Tuesday. How will the league get us to watch all of that?  

Speaking of …

3. What did my now-17-year-old correspondent think of week two? In week one, I (sort of) forced my golf-loving teenage nephew to watch, then talked to him afterward, as he’s exactly the audience TGL is trying to woo. 

But he didn’t watch this week. Sort of. 

He didn’t tune in to ESPN’s coverage. But on YouTube, he did catch Good Good’s go inside the TGL dome. 

That says something. 

Best non-GOLF.com reads for your weekend 

4. What am I reading (besides the thoughtful prose of my colleagues)? Two articles are worth your click. 

Here, Golf Digest’s Luke Kerr-Dineen wrote why the pros are airmailing greens during TGL play — and the reason isn’t the tech. Kind of. LKD asks ‘why’ as well as anyone. 

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5. Here, the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay took his turn in reviewing TGL. This was gold: 

“Golf reimagined. That’s what TGL pledges, which should necessitate an adage: Any time you see ‘__________ reimagined,’ investment firms have entered the chat.”

This was also great:

“The night kicked off with the zenith expression of sports enthusiasm: the dramatic walk-out. Low-key men accustomed to quietly stepping from tournament courtesy cars marched into the rowdy ‘SoFi Center’ like gladiators wearing pressed pants. Woods, naturally, got Tuesday’s biggest ovation, walking out last to the rumble of Survivor’s ‘Eye of the Tiger,’ a song old enough to qualify for a discount at most South Florida restaurants.” 

Best instruction tip (and best YouTube video) for your weekend 

6. What am I watching to try to get better (besides the thoughtful videos of my colleagues)? 

A YouTube video from YouTube star Grant Horvat is worth your time. In it, Rory McIlroy reviews the moves he makes should he be “really going after one,” and the video can be found by clicking here or scrolling immediately below.

Horvat, notably, has been on a heater. He also recently posted an instruction video with Tiger Woods. 

Best golf story that may interest only me 

7. Is European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald preparing his side for the potential rowdies at New York’s Bethpage Black? Apparently so. Tommy Fleetwood, in his press conference ahead of this week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, alluded to the effort that was in place at last week’s Team Cup. 

“Look, there’s no way you can replicate what a Ryder Cup is like, that’s for sure,” he said. “But you can definitely try your best and create different environments that will help us come the time where we do need to handle that, and I think Luke has been great and very on task, if you like, at certain challenges that we will face; that the team will face come September playing in an away Ryder Cup. I think it’s more about being aware and trying to develop certain skills that will help you best deal with those situations, and then being able to practice that.

“So there’s no way you can replicate what the first tee is like at a Ryder Cup or different scenarios there. But you can definitely put your — create sort of minor situations, if you like, that will help you work on the things that you need when it comes to that time, and I think last week was a great example of that where I’ve definitely never, you know, done things like that before, and I think it can only help.”

Bunkered’s Ben Parsons offered more detail — and his story can be found here. These paragraphs were something:

“‘They changed a few things with distraction tactics because we’re going to New York,’ Jordan Smith, a member of the Great Britain and Ireland side, told bunkered.co.uk here at the Dubai Desert Classic. 

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“‘They had these big microphones and speakers on the first tee, baby noises, things going off, people shouting and coughing. Then when we got onto the 7th, which was a tough par-3 with water around it, they had an American guy there shouting all sorts at us. He was an American comedian. 

“‘He said to Tyrrell Hatton that he looks like a reborn Amish farmer because of his beard. He was trying to put everyone off, saying you’re going to put it in the water, you’re going to hit a s*** shot.’”

Best golf story that may interest only me, part two

8. The New York Jets’ Sauce Gardner was giving away golf clubs earlier this week. The story comes via Golf Digest’s Alex Myers, who had watched Gardner’s Instagram stories, where Gardner wrote this, below a video of a collection of clubs:

“Don’t ask me why I have so many clubs. Just help me get rid of them. At one point last offseason I thought that it was the club that made you golf better. Not the other way around lol.” 

What live golf is on TV this weekend?

9. Here’s a rundown of live golf on TV this weekend:

— Saturday
2 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Hero Dubai Desert Classic third round, Golf Channel
4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: The American Express third round, Golf Channel
7 p.m.-10 p.m. ET: Mitsubishi Electric Championship final round, Golf Channel

— Sunday 
2 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Hero Dubai Desert Classic final round, Golf Channel
Noon-3 p.m. ET: The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic first round, Golf Channel
4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: The American Express final round, Golf Channel

Your golf moment of zen 

10. Let’s do 10 items. 

The photo below is mesmerizing.