Golfers have some of the best nicknames in sports. From the Golden Bear to the Black Knight to The Walrus, monikers forged on the links have a way of sticking.
Count Tim Herron — aka Lumpy — in the elite golfer nickname club, even if his is a little less menacing than those of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Lumpy grew up in Minnesota and played golf his entire life. But it wasn’t until he reached high school that he was bestowed his now-famous nickname.
“I got this job at this blue-blood course,” Herron said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “And they go, ‘Do you have a nickname?'”
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At the time, Herron did not have any name other than the one given to him by his parents. So, when he went out to the range to pick balls, the pros in the shop decided to come up with a better one. When Herron returned, they revealed his new brand.
“They go, ‘Lumpy, how are ya doin?'” Herron said. “I go, ‘I don’t like that.’ And they go, ‘Well, it’s gonna stick.'”
The pros were right. When Herron won his first event on the PGA Tour in 1996, the broadcast team dug up his old nickname in their research. And from that day forward, Lumpy was officially mainstream.
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below as Herron discusses his go-to practice round group, dodging an NCAA rule and more.