Spaun’s skater life, Horschel’s honesty, 125 feet high at the Players | Rogers Report

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Hello, friends, and welcome to today’s edition of the Rogers Report! It was a very fun and very windy moving day here at TPC Sawgrass. I hung around the first tee for a bit and watched the final groups tee off, then found myself bouncing back and forth among groups on the second nine. It was a big day for broadcast cameo appearances, and I’m so honored that No Laying Up considers me one of the best drivers of all time.

There’s a 99-percent chance whoever tweeted that didn’t notice me in the photo, but I’m going to run with the possibility that they were talking about Rory McIlroy, NLU’s Tron Carter and me.

54-hole leader J.J. Spaun

I have to admit that I don’t know a whole lot about J.J. Spaun, but I really liked what he had to say in his post-round presser on Saturday evening when asked about his career goals at the Players.

“I didn’t have, like, the pedigree of a junior golfer growing up. I wasn’t raised or groomed to be a professional golfer. I walked-on to a California state school. I didn’t really — I guess I kind of blossomed as I took on this journey, whether it was like junior golf, then high school golf, then college. I didn’t know what my ceiling was, I guess you could say. I still guess I don’t know what it is. But if you were to say before I turned pro, hey, you’re going to win a PGA Tour event and you’re going to play nine, 10 years out there, you’re going to make some good money and you’re going to have fun doing it, that would be a great accomplishment in my terms. But yeah, who knows. The sky’s the limit.”

Incredible perspective! I suddenly found myself wanting to learn more about Spaun, so I took the liberty of doing a deep dive on his Instagram page to learn a little bit more about him.

We’ll go through some of Spaun’s notable posts in chronological order, starting with this inspirational paragraph he either wrote or saw somewhere on the internet and decided to share.

I’m not sure if Spaun wrote this paragraph himself or simply reshared it to his followers, but I think this post aligns pretty well with what he had to say in his press conference on Saturday evening. Spaun is all about enjoying the journey and being thankful for what he’s got.

Next up we have something that all golfers hope for (non-major win edition): a letter from Arnold Palmer himself, which Spaun received after winning the 2016 News Sentinel Open on what’s now the Korn Ferry Tour.

And now for the grand finale. The coolest thing I scrolled across during my deep-dive of JJ Spaun was his skateboarding content.

Will he be the first professional golfer in history to ollie on site if he wins on Sunday? Probably not, but I’d love to see it.

The most relatable moment of the day

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Every time Billy Horschel does an interview, I like him even more. From his “Dirty Bird” dance to dressing like Tiger for an arrival look, he has brought so much fun to TGL this season. And on the course, he’s always up to something.

So it’s no surprise that he was a content gem on moving day at the Players during his mid-round interview. Check it out.

“I have no god-honest control of my golf swing and I don’t know where the golf ball is going right now so I’m trying to get into the house as fast as I can.”

I love the transparency! And how relatable it is. Who among us hasn’t felt this way about their golf swing? It’s actually probably more rare when we don’t feel that way about it.

The coolest thing I saw on Saturday

Fair warning: If you’re afraid of heights, this content probably (read: most definitely) isn’t for you. I saw a lot of great golf and great people on Saturday at the Players, but as I was scrolling Instagram, this jumped out at me as something I hope you all see. The PGA Tour had one of their camera operators share their point of view from 125 feet (!) in the air, and the views are insane.

This has to be the dream job for any golf nerd who also loves to be left alone. I am left with a few questions, though. Like, how did he get up there? What if he needs a snack or has to use the bathroom? How long are his shifts? How does one even acquire this gig? This is one of those jobs I could absolutely never do. I think I’d freak out the second I got up there and then would need to come down immediately. Massive respect to this camera operator, though. He appears to be having a great time while doing some really important work.