Tim Herron is one of the PGA Tour’s most notorious smokers.
It’s a habit that pre-dated his time as a pro and even began before he got to college at the University of New Mexico. His smoking even surprised his coach, John Fields.
“I was a freshman and he had no idea I smoked,” Herron told GOLF Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stolz. “I’m going down around that corner and I’m having a heater. He sees me going the other way. I’m like, ‘Oh, s***, I think he just caught me.’
‘It’s gonna stick’: How Tim ‘Lumpy’ Herron got his famous nickname
“So he waits a day and I get the call saying, ‘You need to come into my office.’ And I said, ‘Here we go. I got to quit smoking.’ So he comes in and goes, ‘You know what? You’re 18. You’re an adult. He goes, You can do what you want.'”
The coach’s words shocked Herron and he said his smoking increased from five cigarettes a day to 15 to 20 with the threat of being discovered no longer a worry.
But then two years into what ended up being a standout college career, the NCAA banned tobacco onsite at events. Herron quickly devised a workaround.
“What I would do is I would walk out of bounds and that was it. Because I was off the site,” Herron explained. “And I walked down the OB line and come back in to hit the shot.”
That’s not to say all opposing coaches approved of the three-time All-American’s methods.
Herron recalled a situation at Arizona State’s tournament when he was standing out of bounds, smoking, next to a tee box and talking through a shot with his coach.
“The Texas coach, Clayton, he goes, ‘Man, you can’t be smoking! What are you doing, man? That’s an NCAA rule violation,'” Herron remembered. “I go, ‘I’m out of bounds.'”
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below as Herron discusses his go-to practice round group, how he got his famous nickname and more.
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