The post Brian Gay was without a sports agent until a fiery, ambitious one stepped in: his wife, Kimberly appeared first on Golf.

The post Brian Gay was without a sports agent until a fiery, ambitious one stepped in: his wife, Kimberly appeared first on Golf.

Unless you were an obsessive golf fan, the arrival of Brian and Kimberly Gay onto the PGA Tour at the turn of the century was easy to miss. Yes, he’d been everybody’s All-American at Florida and she was, to borrow Brian’s favorite phrase, “a tornado with lipstick.” But for most of the 2000s, Brian struggled to find his place on Tour, just barely getting by with a magical short game. He was one of the anonymous journeymen that the camera rarely finds. Meanwhile, Kimberly threw herself into raising two daughters and, at times, a Tour pro.

“Brian is a very quiet, laid-back, introverted guy who’s happy to be on the couch watching football,” says Gay’s longtime swing coach, Joe Mayo. “Kimberly has a take-charge kind of attitude and so she’s been great for him, pushing and motivating him and dotting all the i’s in their life.”

In 2008, Brian finally broke through for his first win, at Mayakoba, and the following season he turned into a semi-star by winning twice, including a stunning 10-shot romp at Hilton Head.

It was a remarkable emergence for one of the shortest hitters on Tour. Brian had an agent, but Kimberly became increasingly involved as her hubby began fielding more requests for interviews, charity appearances and corporate outings. By late 2012 Brian was without representation altogether. At that year’s tournament in Disney, Kimberly was walking in the gallery — “I try to never, ever miss a hole” — when she spotted a familiar face from various golf gatherings: Mike Flaskey, a top executive at Diamond Resorts. She said the first thing that came to mind: “Mike, when are we going to sit down and do a deal?”

Flaskey was amenable, and by Tuesday of the following week Kimberly had emailed him a 13-page proposal, which led to the creation of an “ambassador” program starring Brian.

(Upon signing, the Gays didn’t have to part with the 20 percent that agents traditionally skim off the top of endorsement deals.) There wasn’t time to get logoed hats made for Brian’s first start under the deal in Hawaii, so Kimberly bought blank caps at the mall and drove around Honolulu to find an embroiderer.

The following week Brian won the Bob Hope and collected a $25,000 victory bonus that would not have been paid if he hadn’t been wearing the Diamond Resorts hat. “She can pull a rabbit out of a hat like nobody else,” says Brian with a chuckle.

Kimberly has served as Brian’s agent ever since, corralling deals with Sligo, G/Fore, EasyGo, PapaNicholas Coffee and Sentinel Spine, as well as the ongoing relationship with Diamond Resorts. Chris Stroud, winner of the 2017 Barracuda Championship, was so impressed by her work that in 2018 he asked Kimberly to represent him too. That forced her to formalize the business and thus GSD Sports Management was born. (It stands for Get, uh, Stuff Done.)

At the 2019 Players she was invited, for the first time, to the annual meeting between agents and Tour brass. Of the 80 or so aspiring Jerry Maguires in the room, Kimberly was one of only two women. “I’ll be honest, that was an emotional day for me,” Kimberly says. “Yes, it’s great to keep the money in the family when Brian signs a deal, but the real reason I do this is to be a role model for our daughters. For them to be proud of me is the most important thing.”

News

Mission accomplished. Inspired by her mom, Makinley Gay is majoring in sports management at Florida and simultaneously pursuing a master’s in international business. The hope is that, among other things, she’ll bring a younger, fresher perspective to GSD’s digital-media offerings. Kimberly’s ambitious goal is to someday have 20 players in her stable. She’s already diversifying, having signed Maurice Allen, the 2018 Long Drive champion, and venturing into event management around their hometown of Windermere, Fla. Kimberly’s is not the only reinvention in the Gay household.

Injuries and the vagaries of aging had kept Brian winless since the ’13 Hope. Finally, at Colonial in 2019, he gave in to Mayo’s beseeching to chase more distance. Mayo, who earned a modicum of fame for his sardonic Twitter nom de plume Trackman Maestro, says that back then Gay generated 107 miles per hour of clubhead speed and 154 mph of ball speed with his driver, carrying his tee shots barely 260 yards. After learning to lift his left heel on the backswing and lengthen his turn, Gay’s speed quickly spiked to 117/173 and he began flying it up to 40 yards farther. The hard work began to pay off that fall in Bermuda, when Gay tied for third. (“I actually didn’t even want to go play there because that weekend was the Florida-Georgia game, but Kimberly talked me into it.”) But Brian struggled throughout the 2020 season.

“I might have been pressing a little bit,” he says. He was aware that, for the first time, colleagues were watching him on the range and whispering about how far he was hitting the ball.

He finally found some peace of mind returning to Bermuda in November, and a month shy of his 49th birthday Brian birdied the 72nd hole for an out-of-nowhere victory, capping what Mayo calls “one of the most remarkable careers in golf history. I mean, for 20 f—ing years he was the shortest hitter on Tour. If Brian can keep adding speed, Dustin Johnson and everybody else can pack up and go home, because nobody else has this guy’s heart or toughness or ability to get the ball in the hole.”

Kimberly memorialized the victory with an emotional video capturing the ups and downs of their two decades on Tour. “I’m just so, so proud of him,” she says. That’s a wife talking. And what does the victory mean to Brian Gay’s agent? “Let’s just say there are some exciting opportunities we’re pursuing,” says Kimberly, “but I’m not at liberty to discuss them yet.”

The post Brian Gay was without a sports agent until a fiery, ambitious one stepped in: his wife, Kimberly appeared first on Golf.

The post Meet the coach who helped build Collin Morikawa’s rock-solid mental game appeared first on Golf.

The post Meet the coach who helped build Collin Morikawa’s rock-solid mental game appeared first on Golf.

Collin Morikawa arrived on the PGA Tour fully formed, or so it seemed. How does a player so young (23!) exude such self-possession? Plenty of credit goes to his parents, Blaine and Debbie, as well as his coaches, teammates and professors at Cal Berkeley. But the biggest influence in Morikawa’s maturation into a precocious major champion is his lifelong mentor Rick Sessinghaus, whose mind-body teachings transcend the usual driving-range talk, which can be as shallow as a 1-iron’s divot. Sessinghaus, 49, has a master’s and a doctorate in applied sports psychology and has long believed that to excel at the highest level the mental game is at least as important as the golf swing, even one as perfect as Morikawa’s. In this regard, young Collin has been both the pupil and the professor. 

“Rick has taught me so much mentally,” Morikawa says, “but I think the one thing that really sticks with me is how important word choice is. If we talk about the word nerves, everyone has them, but how can you mentally change that nervousness into excitement or focus?” 

Case in point came on the 70th hole of the recent PGA Championship, when Morikawa arrived at a short par-4 in the midst of a dogfight with half a dozen other world-class players. All week long Morikawa had laid up on this tight, dangerous little hole at San Francisco’s Harding Park, but now he took the magnitude of the moment and refined it into a kind of rocket fuel, powering one of the most thrilling shots in recent major championship history. Morikawa smashed a butter-cut with his driver, his ball cozying to within seven feet of the flag. The ensuing eagle put an exclamation point on the victory and provided sweet validation for Sessinghaus. A few years earlier he had contemplated a career change, intrigued by the possibilities of teaching peak performance strategies to corporate America. But, in the end, “I was never going to leave Collin,” he says. 

He has learned much from the young Jedi. “Collin is extremely efficient and effective at practicing,” Sessinghaus says. “Having clarity before you practice is crucial. We have never prepared differently for different events. Collin doesn’t get more excited because the tournament is ‘important’ — it’s just a tournament for which he wants to be his best no matter the course or competition. That perspective is applicable to a lot of different things.”

Sessinghaus’ emphasis on the intangible is an outgrowth of his own frustrating golf career. He grew up playing football and tennis but became “obsessed” with golf at age 16. He got good enough fast enough to play for Cal State Northridge but sabotaged his strong ball striking with fits of rage; Sessinghaus once broke four clubs after a single bad shot. After college he gravitated toward teaching. He became fluent in Trackman and certified at the Titleist Performance Institute but still felt the game’s secrets could not be found on a launch monitor: “How does a player look like a world-beater at the range but then go out and shoot 82? I went down the rabbit hole on that question. I enjoyed trying to unravel the disconnect.”

Postgraduate studies and further investigations into young Collin’s beautiful mind led Sessinghaus to become a high priest of what he calls “flow state,” which laymen often refer to as the zone — that blissful feeling when the brain is unencumbered and the game is easy. Flow state can be so fleeting it is usually framed as a kind of voodoo, but Sessinghaus says, “It’s repeatable. You can train for it. What are the triggers, routines and rituals that got you there? When you focus on this, it makes the mental game more tangible.”

News

Morikawa began working with Sessinghaus at age eight and his education included very little time on the range, with most lessons occurring on the course and then ending with chipping and putting contests against Sessinghaus. “Having a coach push me by challenging me made me want to learn more and compete more,” says Morikawa. “It reassured me that what we were working on I could do in a competitive situation. I loved spending time on the course for practice and I still do. Being creative and hitting different shots with different lies taught me to think about the options available instead of just making the same full swing every time, like on the range.”

The final round of the PGA was the ultimate test of all that Morikawa has learned and his teacher has instilled. On that fateful Sunday morning, Sessinghaus woke before dawn at home in Burbank, Calif., and then roared up I-5 to San Francisco with Morikawa’s agent, Andrew Kipper, as copilot. They walked all 18 holes with Morikawa, had a mellow celebratory dinner with him in the Harding Park clubhouse, then drove back, with Sessinghaus crawling into bed at 2 a.m. 

“It was quite a journey,” he says, speaking of both an unforgettable day and the 15 years of hard work together that preceded it.

The post Meet the coach who helped build Collin Morikawa’s rock-solid mental game appeared first on Golf.

The post When the pandemic brought Bandon caddies’ work to a halt, it was the golfers’ turn to help them appeared first on Golf.

The post When the pandemic brought Bandon caddies’ work to a halt, it was the golfers’ turn to help them appeared first on Golf.

The 350 or so caddies at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort are a special part of the experience, shepherding blissed-out golfers across the heaving, windblown terrain while dispensing yardages, jokes and life lessons in equal measure.

For the lucky golfers who return year after year, intimate relationships are often forged, and favorite caddies get reserved months in advance. The loopers are also a big part of the fabric of Bandon, Ore., with its petite population of 3,130. They’re married to teachers and nurses, they put kids in the school district and all those crisp greenbacks exchanged behind the 18th green flow through the local economy. The caddies, of whom about a third leave town for the winter, know that their profession carries the whiff of scallywag, and so they try hard to be good neighbors. 

“The old guys impress upon the new ones that there is a right way and wrong way to do things, and that’s as true off the course as on,” says Todd Petrey, a 17-year veteran of the Bandon caddie yard. “If you cut the line at the grocery store wearing your gear, that doesn’t go over so good. When you’re in town, you’re representing all of us.” In this spirit of ambassadorship, the caddies came together to raise money to build new basketball courts for the town’s youth center a decade ago.

Travel

When Bandon Dunes closed its doors on March 25 due the Covid crisis, the private contractors in white overalls were hit particularly hard. A handful found other jobs: stocking shelves in a grocery store or hammering nails to help build the pro shop at Sheep Ranch. But work was scarce and anxiety was through the roof. The only resource the caddies could tap was the considerable goodwill of the golfing public, which led to the creation of the Bandon Caddie Relief Fund. 

“Getting this off the ground turned into a 12-hour-a-day job, seven days a week,” says Sven Nilsen, a one-time corporate attorney who has looped at Bandon for the last decade. “Some of the guys loved all the Zoom calls and meetings — it was their first taste of the what the business world is like.”

Bandon Dunes management came through with advice, technical support and an okay to use their heavily protected logo on fundraising merch. LPGA star Christina Kim threw her considerable enthusiasm behind publicizing a silent auction replete with goodies, including a skins game with herself and former Golf Channel travel guru Matt Ginella, a round with PGA Tour player Wyndham Clark and a one-of-a-kind FlagBag—a golf bag constructed using the flown flags of every Bandon course. On April 13, the Go Fund Me page went live, with Bandon Dunes spreading the word through social media and an email blast to 20 years’ worth of customers. The caddies, still sheltering in their homes, could watch the donations in real time on the Internet. Group texts lit up. 

“There was a lot of excitement, a lot of exclamation points,” says Nilsen. “We were all chiming in, ‘Hey, that’s my guy, he just donated $500!’” By the end of the first day, more than $90,000 had been raised. All told, in excess of $300,000 came in, with 1,800 individuals making a donation, buying a hat or towel or claiming one of the items or experiences in the silence auction. (Bandon Dunes patriarch Mike Keiser kicked in $25K.) In a concerted effort to be inclusive, 374 caddies received a payout, with full-timers getting close to $1,500 and seasonal loopers taking home about a third of that. The money helped keep all of them afloat, emotionally as well as financially. 

Travel

“One of the guys was going through a really dark time,” says Petrey, “and the fundraiser changed everything for him. It wasn’t even about the money. It was knowing that we hadn’t been forgotten and that so many people out there cared about us.”

When Bandon Dunes reopened its doors on May 11, the fundraising effort ended — but the goodwill endures. Golfers are now showing up at the resort toting hats and towels and tees with the Relief Fund logo. “It’s pretty heart-warming,” says Nilsen. “You should only do that if you want about 50 caddies to come up and thank you personally.” 

Thanks to the much ballyhooed opening of Sheep Ranch, on June 1, Bandon is as busy as ever. Caddies remain in very high demand, even as they are wearing face masks and maintaining as much social distance as possible. Turns out that having a looper by your side is an integral part of the Bandon experience even in these trying times. Maybe especially now, as we’ve all been starved for human connection.

The caddies are hoping to harness all the positive energy they have created into an ongoing movement they’re calling Greater Than Golf. How this will be manifested, in the town of Bandon and beyond, is still being worked out. But to Petrey, the vision is already crystal clear. 

“There’s so much good in the golf world,” he says. “All the caddies here saw and felt that in a big way — people were so generous and supportive. Now it’s our turn to return the favor.” 

The post When the pandemic brought Bandon caddies’ work to a halt, it was the golfers’ turn to help them appeared first on Golf.

The post Macdonald Leathergoods aims to make a carry bag as elegant and earthbound as the game itself appeared first on Golf.

The post Macdonald Leathergoods aims to make a carry bag as elegant and earthbound as the game itself appeared first on Golf.

Consider the golf bag. For many it is merely a utilitarian object, inexpensive and adorned with logos, designed to be stuffed with detritus. For others, it is a statement of personal style to be accessorized with great care. For Todd Rohrer, the golf bag is a holy object. “It’s the most personal relationship we have with any piece of golf gear,” he says. “You spend four hours with this bag slung over your shoulder. Your hands rest on the bag while you walk, engaging that sense of the tactile. When you’re not on the course, the bag sits in the corner of your office or maybe your bedroom and the eyes always go to it, right? It’s calling to you.” 

Rohrer, 59, has always had a deep connection to his gear. He grew up in Portland and played catcher at Eastern Oregon State, back when picking out the right wooden bat could be the difference between a single and a pop out. Rohrer came late to golf but fell hard. By 1998 he was GM at the Reserve Golf Club, outside Portland, when it hosted Peter Jacobsen’s silly season event, the Fred Meyer Challenge. Rohrer was on the driving range when Peter swung by for a practice round toting a gorgeous black leather golf bag. Says Rohrer, “I had a visceral lust. I said, ‘Peter, tell me everything there is to know about this bag.’ ” 

Accessories

As the story goes, Jacobsen had taken a trip to St. Andrews with his brother David in 1985. Their caddie recoiled at their gaudy, oversize bags and relocated the clubs into a couple of elegant, worn-leather Sunday bags. Jacobsen was so smitten he went home and cofounded a company to make these objects of desire. He named it after his colorful St. Andrews caddie: MacKenzie Golf Bags. 

Not long after his driving range epiphany, Rohrer drove to the MacKenzie headquarters and introduced himself to the owner Jim Stewart, who was struggling to keep the company afloat. (Jacobsen had sold his stake years earlier.) Rohrer and Stewart became friends, but by 2005 MacKenzie had been shuttered. Stewart turned the company over to Rohrer and his friend and partner Thom Faglie. “It was a handshake deal,” Rohrer says. “I thought that’s how it worked among golfers.” 

Under their guidance, MacKenzie flourished for the next decade, ushering in the trend of artisanal gear and becoming a must-have for the discerning golfing gentlemen. Rohrer’s attention to detail — “Some might call it obsession,” chuckles his longtime stitcher Cheryl Moore — set the tone. “Todd has been making bags for me for decades,” says USGA honcho Mike Davis. “He strikes me as a real traditionalist and a throwback. I think the craftsmanship of the bags is reflected in that.” 

Seeking to expand, Rohrer and Faglie brought in a business partner who ultimately acquired a majority stake in the company. Artistic and financial differences led Rohrer and Faglie to leave MacKenzie on ill terms in early 2017. Rohrer’s dad died on Father’s Day that year. His marriage crumbled. 

It was a golf bag that led him out of the darkness. For years, Rohrer had dreamed of building the perfect bag, and now he became consumed with making it a reality. A friend who works in the defense industry invented for him a lightweight carbon-fiber spine, so the bag keeps its elegant shape. The finest whole-grain leather was sourced in Austria and Switzerland. Stylish metal components were located in Germany. Macdonald Leathergoods was officially founded on Father’s Day 2019. Faglie remains a dedicated wingman and three former MacKenzie artisans came aboard. Davis helped the company find its footing by ordering 15 bags to be given as presents to outgoing USGA officers and the superintendents of championship venues. “Boy, do people love those bags,” Davis says. 

Pre-Covid, the Macdonald workshop was one cramped bedroom in the second story of a home tucked into a quiet residential neighborhood north of Portland. It was a riot of wielded mallets and clattering sewing machines. On a busy day, the team could produce four bags, personalized for each customer. Now, each artisan is working from home and Rohrer spends much of his day roaring around in his Mini Cooper, delivering raw materials and bags in various states of completion. Business is particularly brisk because Macdonald is serving as a partner to the newly formed FlagBag Golf Co., making one-of-a-kind bags out of actual course flags. Neither product is cheap; Macdonald bags run from $995 up to $1,995. Rohrer admits to some angst about the prices. “I can’t afford my own bags,” he says. “The materials are expensive, but our biggest expense is paying our craftspeople a good wage. We could have the bags produced in Asia and save a ton of money, but they’d be made by people who don’t really care about the product and that would show.” 

Akbar Chisti, the cofounder of Portland-based Seamus Golf, says, “Todd has always been an inspiration for us. He proved that people will pay for quality and, most of all, they’ll pay for story. You pick up one of his bags and can feel that a lot went into making it. Customers care about that now.” 

“Story — I like that,” Rohrer says. “This isn’t just a golf bag, it’s a dream come true. This started as two guys with a vision and one stitcher. To know there are golfers at this very moment carrying our bags at great courses around the world, and maybe we’re adding to their enjoyment — well, that’s a pretty great story.” 

The post Macdonald Leathergoods aims to make a carry bag as elegant and earthbound as the game itself appeared first on Golf.

The post How one training aid took over the golf world during quarantine appeared first on Golf.

The post How one training aid took over the golf world during quarantine appeared first on Golf.

What does it take to create the most popular training aid of the Covid era? Persistence, ingenuity, hustle … and humiliation. Let’s begin with the last one, shall we? 

Oren Kantor grew up in a basketball family — his grandfather owned the Dayton Wings of the defunct World Basketball League — and didn’t come to golf until high school. By the time he was a senior, at the Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauder­dale, Kantor was a strong ball striker tormented by his putting. The nadir came during a taut match when his score would determine if his Panthers were to win or lose. With his teammates circling the final green, Kantor four-putted from 30 feet, leading to a crushing defeat. The memory still haunts him. “I’ll never forget the silent drive back to school on the bus,” says Kantor.

He went on to earn a Masters in entrepreneurship from the University of Florida, then developed a gambling app and a business selling high-end beauty products online. Neither were a home run, but he learned a lot along the way. In 2011, Kantor went to work for the family business, a wholesale grocery shipping service. Playing every week with his father, David, at Mizner Country Club, in Delray Beach, Fla., he fell back in love with the game, but Kantor’s putting remained problematic. Seeking salvation, he ordered a $90 putting mat off Amazon. The shoddy construction and shaggy Astroturf were disappointing, but Kantor loved the Zen aspect of stroking putts in his living room. He decided to build a better mousetrap. 

Months of testing prototypes ensued. While battling the yips as a teen, Kantor had ordered a pair of glasses that projected train tracks on the ground, helping him with alignment and the ability to see the line. He incorporated those elements into his design. The breakthrough was discovering a material called crystal velvet, which feels like the felt on a pool table. On hardwood it Stimps at around 13, while atop carpet it still rolls 11. The Perfect Practice Putting Mat was born. Kantor plowed his savings into ordering 500 units. “I had a pit in my stomach,” he says, “but I believed in the product and decided I had to take the risk.” 

The mats arrived the day after Christmas 2018. A few weeks later Kantor posted up at the PGA Show in Orlando. The feedback was positive and 25 mats sold. But how to reach a larger audience? Kantor began studying how his wife, Megan, shopped on Instagram, often by clicking on products embedded within posts. It was the proverbial lightbulb moment. Kantor spent the ensuing days direct-messaging every Tour player under the sun, offering them a free mat. Smylie Kaufman was the first to reply. A mat was overnighted to him and the day Kaufman posted a video to Instagram, 20 Perfect Practices sold through Kantor’s website golfsply.co. Joaquin Niemann reached out to get one and posted about it, too. Then Jimmy Walker became obsessed. The buzz was building. 

All of these pros can afford to buy a $179 mat, but a freebie is irresistible. “Once they get the mat and see their putting improve, I think they feel bad they didn’t pay for it,” says Kantor, “so they always do a [social-media] post.” These testimonials were priceless for establishing credibility with consumers. And for the pros there are benefits, too. “It rolls perfect, and you can get really great feedback about your putting stroke,” Walker told me. He keeps his mat between his home office and living room. “I walk by it and I stop and putt for five minutes,” he says. “You do that all day long and it makes a difference.” 

Kantor sold 250 mats on Cyber Monday 2019, exhausting his supply. The next day he plowed every dollar the company had made and ordered 8,000 more mats from the factory in China. Fortune favors the bold — the mats were shipped just before all of China came to a standstill over Covid-19. Then the Tour was suspended, and bored pros began flooding social media with footage of them goofing off at home, with Perfect Practice enjoying a starring role. Dustin Johnson posted a lighthearted video with a memorable cameo by his fiancée. “I’ve been using it every day,” Johnson says. “Even Paulina and the boys are having fun with it. I definitely plan on making it part of my routine.” 

Kantor has now sold 25,000 mats and another 2,000 are on back order as three cargo containers float across the ocean. Once the mats arrive in the U.S., delivering them is seamless because Perfect Practice operates out of the family shipping center in Ohio. Since groceries are their primary product, more than 400 employees keep this essential business humming.

The standard Perfect Practice mat is just over nine feet in length, but Kantor will soon be rolling out a more petite version that is easily transportable, as well as a jumbo model that stretches to 15.5 feet. He is in talks with both Costco and Dick’s Sporting Goods, and he is brainstorming with swing-coach-to-the-stars Matt Killen on a variety of other training aids. Kantor, a 3-handicap, is a persuasive salesman because he remains the Perfect Practice’s biggest fan.

“I drain long putts all the time now and it’s such a great feeling,” he says. “When I’m on the course, I imagine the train tracks are on the green and I let the muscle memory take over, because in my home I’ve made literally thousands of putts. I know how to do it. Most importantly, I’m not scared like I used to be.”

Thinking back to the moment that launched golf’s hottest training aid, Kantor says, “I will never, ever four-putt again.”

The post How one training aid took over the golf world during quarantine appeared first on Golf.

The post For former pro Bill Mallon and his loyal looper Bill Greeley, life after the Tour got incredibly interesting appeared first on Golf.

The post For former pro Bill Mallon and his loyal looper Bill Greeley, life after the Tour got incredibly interesting appeared first on Golf.

In 1976, a most unusual duo arrived on the PGA Tour. Bill Mallon had studied physics and math at Duke, along the way winning a couple of collegiate tournaments. As a rookie his idea of a good time was haunting used bookstores, looking for rare finds about the history of the Olympic Games.

His caddie Chris Greeley grew up as the son of a cop in a work­ing-class neighborhood in Boston, but his hockey skills earned him a scholarship to a tony prep school. On the weekends he often looped for his classmates at Belmont Country Club. Chris had been recommended to Bill when the 1973 Massachusetts Open was played at Belmont; they won it and stayed in touch afterward.

In the Tour caddie yards, Chris was the only looper reading books about Watergate and the Vietnam War. Bill didn’t drink and brought an earnest dedication to his craft. Traveling the Tour was much different in those days — Chris and Bill often shared a hotel room and drove together from tournament to tourna­ment, though that changed a bit during Bill’s sophomore sea­son when he married a TWA flight attendant, the former Karen Kurtz. (Chris was an usher at the wedding.)

On the strength of strong iron play and deft putting, Bill fin­ished in the top 100 of the money list in 1976 and ’77 but didn’t crack $25,000 in earnings in either year. If the money wasn’t great, there were still other rewards. This was the golden era of the Tour, with Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino and Johnny Miller all making the scene, to say nothing of a still-vital Arnie.

News

Former mini-tour pro and musician Joe Horowitz is as adept with a Taylor guitar as he is with a 1-iron

“There was so much camaraderie and so much repartee among the players and the caddies,” says Chris. “It was pretty special to be in the inner sanctum. I felt like I was getting to sit in the dug­out at Yankee Stadium.” Much of his on-course banter with Bill centered on the Red Sox. Chris was an effective caddie, particularly skilled in the interper­sonal. He was quick at math, too, though one time, on the 16th hole at Quail Hollow, he did his calculations off the wrong sprin­kler head and Bill pured his approach 50 yards over the green.

Chris’s only words? “Get this up-and-down for me, Pro.” He didn’t.

In 1978, Bill contracted a case of the dreaded driver yips. Ahead of the New England Open, he hit 1,000 drivers a day for nine days in a row, digging a cure out of the dirt. But on the first hole of the tournament, Bill uncorked a screaming slice 100 yards off line that landed on the far side of a lake. With that one swing he knew it was over. Bill and Karen moved into her parents’ house so he could take pre-med classes at Northern Illinois and apply to medical schools. (Jack Nicklaus wrote a letter of recommendation to the Ohio State board of admissions.)

Bill ended up at Duke Med, embarking on a career as an orthopedic surgeon. Chris moved home to Bos­ton and bartended, at least until a girlfriend lectured him about finding a real career. That rebuke was still ringing in his ears when he wandered down to Faneuil Hall to watch Ted Kennedy announce his 1980 presidential bid. Chris was struck by all the people his age who were already part of the campaign. That very day he walked into the headquarters and volunteered. Chris quickly moved up the ranks and, after Kennedy’s bid faltered, he worked on John Kerry’s successful 1982 campaign for Massa­chusetts lieutenant governor. He spent the ensuing 15 years by Kerry’s side, the chief of staff title only hinting at the many roles Chris served for the three-term U.S. Senator.

“You’re still caddying, only now it’s for me,” Kerry once told him.

The post For former pro Bill Mallon and his loyal looper Bill Greeley, life after the Tour got incredibly interesting appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour journeyman Brian Davis may be winless, but he’s not without his victories appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour journeyman Brian Davis may be winless, but he’s not without his victories appeared first on Golf.

Brian Davis might be the unluckiest player in the history of the PGA Tour. He has never had an ace in competition, a streak of futility that is now at 4,529 par 3s and counting.

As of this writing he has made 359 starts on Tour without a victory, the longest drought among all active players. (Omar Uresti, 50, is winless in 368 starts but is now focused on the Champions tour). One of Davis’s best chances to win came at Hilton Head in 2010, in a playoff against Jim Furyk, but, while attempting a recovery shot from the edge of Calibogue Sound, he brushed a tiny loose impediment in the hazard during his backswing, a two-stroke penalty that doomed Davis to defeat. (He alerted officials to what might have happened but, because the reeds near his ball were moving with the wind, it took slow-mo replays in high definition to confirm the infraction.) When Davis blew out his neck in late 2016, it seemed somehow fitting, given the heavy burden he has long shouldered.

And yet, over sandwiches at a lunch spot in his adopted home of Orlando, this dogged victim of inexorable fate radiated contentment. “In many ways, I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” says the 44-year-old Brit.

It turns out that the January 2017 surgery to repair two disks in his neck was a gift in disguise for a gritty grinder who spent most of his career hiding behind a dour game-face. Davis is a short-hitter who has to squeeze as much as possible out of the rest of his game. If Cam Champ and his ilk make golf look a little too easy, Davis has always given off the vibe of a guy trying as hard as he can, and sometimes a bit too hard.

“Some would suggest that Brian’s demeanor on the course has been quite negative,” says his longtime putting coach Gary Evans.
“He can come off as a really grumpy bastard. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and it’s probably hurt him more than it’s helped him.”

Davis is a deep thinker and does some of his best brooding while cruising the open road atop his Harley-Davidson Street Glide. He has a ready rebuttal to critiques of how hot he has always burned: “I spoke to psychologists, I’ve spoken to friends, and maybe if I had been easier on myself I would have won more. But maybe if I weren’t so hard on myself I wouldn’t have stayed [on Tour] for 20-plus years. There’s always two sides.”

The road back from surgery has been long and bumpy, and Davis begins 2019 in limbo between the bigs and the Web.com tour. Yet on the course he now exudes, well, not joy exactly, but something closer to acceptance. “I’m trying to embrace the struggle,” Davis says. “There are low moments, of course. But I guess I’m getting more satisfaction in working my way through them, instead of letting it bring me down. I’m trying to be easier on myself.”

This broadened perspective came from the first extended break of his career. A native of London, Davis spent his thirties annually playing 30-plus tournaments on the PGA Tour and another handful in Europe. It was a grueling schedule that left his bride, Julie — whom he met, fittingly, on an airplane — to raise their children, Oliver, Henry and Madeline, largely by herself. (Julie’s father Ray Clemence played for Liverpool and the English national soccer team, so Brian says with a laugh, “She knew what she was getting into.”)

Davis didn’t touch a club in the run-up to his surgery and during the long recovery, and in his year away from the game he morphed into Mr. Mom. Driving the kids to school, helping with their homework, attending Little League games — he immersed himself in the simple pleasures of fatherhood. Says Julie, “His relationship with the kids has definitely changed. They’re closer than they’ve ever been, and it’s really wonderful to see.”

Two of the children are miracles: Oliver was born with serious kidney problems, and Madeline’s lungs collapsed shortly after birth. Both kids are now in great health, and that’s just one of Davis’s blessings. Julie possesses beauty and brains, having once produced documentaries for the BBC. Davis has made a healthy $13.4 million playing a game — a record haul for a player without a win. And through all the ups and downs, he retains his passion for golf. “I was born to do this,” he says, “and can’t imagine ever stopping.”

So say he never nabs a victory or jars an ace. That’s okay. For such an unlucky golfer, Brian Davis is a pretty lucky guy.

The post Tour journeyman Brian Davis may be winless, but he’s not without his victories appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan mailbag: Which player/caddie duo is unbreakable? appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan mailbag: Which player/caddie duo is unbreakable? appeared first on Golf.

You may also like Lexi Thompson outdrives Charley Hoffman on 18th hole at QBE Shootout

The post #AskAlan mailbag: Which player/caddie duo is unbreakable? appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan: Which current player would make the best broadcaster? appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan: Which current player would make the best broadcaster? appeared first on Golf.

Which career would you rather have right now, DJ or Brooks? -@theAle Marcoli

Hmmm, which guy is six years younger but has three times as many major championship victories? I know what you’re getting at, that DJ has 19 PGA Tour victories and Brooks only five, and that’s a substantial difference. But how many career victories does Tom Watson have? Nick Faldo? I don’t know without looking it up. Do you? But we can all recite play-by-play from their major championship victories.

It is majors that define a career, and in golf’s biggest events Koepka has proven to be a ruthless closer while DJ has suffered through a decade of Sunday slippage. Koepka’s haul of three Big Ones is already Hall of Fame worthy, and if he can get to five or six that puts him in Seve-Lord Byron-Trevino territory, which is to say, among all-time legends.

Meanwhile, 20+ wins with only one major is Davis Love/Lanny Wadkins territory: very good but not quite great.

Why don’t we see more American players getting inspired by the success of players like Brooks Koepka, Peter Uihliein and Julian Suri and traveling abroad to explore opportunities at the start of their careers? #AskAlan -@TheJoyOfGolf

It’s already happening on the Latinoamerica tour, which in the last few years has become heavily American. Because the players are mostly having great experiences traveling to exotic corners of the world, I think there will be a strong word-of-mouth effect, inspiring more young players from the U.S. to branch farther afield.

The Challenge tour was Koepka’s launching pad and who wouldn’t want to barnstorm across Europe, playing so many different kinds of courses? The PGA Tour China is also likely to see change; as the Latinoamerica and Mackenzie tour (in Canada) have become increasingly cutthroat, China now offers the easiest road to career advancement, notwithstanding the culture shock.

No doubt some ambitious young U.S. players will start heading over there, too. But let’s face it: With the Web.com and numerous other domestic mini-tours, there are plentiful options for Americans who don’t have wanderlust, and life is a little too comfortable here.

What current player(s) can you see filling the role of lead broadcast analyst in the future? #AskAlan -Mike (@mknjvt91)

You gotta start with Tiger and Phil, who are both very smart and keen observers of the game. Tiger is more analytical, Phil more opinionated. Both are excellent trash-talkers. They have seen and done it all and could offer so much insight.

If I have to pick one I’ll go with Phil, simply because I think he’d be more entertaining. But neither one needs the money and I doubt either would want to commit to a full schedule, so if we’re talking about more realistic options, my first choice is Geoff Ogilvy. He’s so eloquent about how the game is (or should be) played and is always bursting with counter-intuitive ideas. Padraig would be great, too, bringing a droll wit and golf-nerd viewpoint.

#AskAlan What do you think turned around for Danielle Kang from freezing on her stroke to eking out a come-from- behind win? Is anxiety in international golf a big question that needs immediate attention? -Anand (@SportaSmile)

I loved how brutally honest Kang was about her mental struggles, and all the ways she brawled her way out of that dark place. It reminded me of Jon Rahm talking about the extensive mental preparation he did (alone and with his quasi-life coach) from Saturday evening at the Ryder Cup until his tee time the next day versus Tiger Woods in singles.

There’s so much that goes into tournament golf beyond swinging the club; in a recent podcast I did with Brendan Steele, he estimated 50% of Tour players are afraid to win and hold themselves back, consciously or unconsciously. So Kang’s struggles aren’t unique, only her candor is.

No love for Sergio’s third win at Valderrama? -@JacekPerson

Plenty of love! It is a measure of Garcia’s ballstriking wizardry that he has now won three times on the tightest, most claustrophobic course in championship golf.

I’ll never forget following Sergio around Colonial in 2001, when he won for the first time in the U.S. I was in awe of how he shaped the ball around that twisty course, and Valderrama requires even more precise ballstriking. It’s nice to see Sergio back on top at the end of a tough year.

Which 2018 USA Ryder Cupper (if any) would have made the cut at Valderrama? -@theAleMarcoli

Vice captain Zach Johnson.

Any thoughts on the new 8-round cumulative score LPGA Q Series that starts Wednesday at Pinehurst on #6 and #7? 102 players in the field, top 45 plus ties earn LPGA cards. Playing Pinehurst #6 and #7 courses. -Dave (@PopsandSunshine)

It is absolutely brutal, borderline inhumane … and I love it.

How many PGA Tour players, when playing “their best” cannot be beaten? I think there are at least twenty. -@RobFord58

I’d say it’s a heckuva lot more than that. Here are some of the players who won Tour events during the 2017-18 season: Ryan Armour, Patrick Cantlay, Patton Kizzire, Austin Cook, Ted Potter, Brice Garnett, Satoshi Kadaira, Aaron Wise, Michael Kim, Troy Merritt, Andrew Putnam.

All of them played their best that week and no one could beat them, and there are dozens and dozens of players in golf more decorated than any of ‘em. A more select group is players who can win when they are *not* at their best. There are maybe half a dozen of those guys, and they reside at the top of the World Ranking.

#AskAlan Which gamer would you have liked to write: ’91 Ryder Cup, ’84 Open Championship, Nancy Lopez’ rookie season, Cherry Hills, or The Match? -Oskar (@tallboy199)

These are all spectacular options but I’d have to say the Match at Cypress Point between Ben Hogan-Byron Nelson and Ken Venturi-Harvie Ward in 1956. All the other events were pretty well-chronicled at the time, but for more than half a century (until Mark Frost started sniffing around) the Match was little more than an urban legend.

I sneaked onto the grounds in 2012 when Davis Love, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and Nick Watney did a quasi-recreation and Cypress Point stole the show. To go back in time and watch those four mid-century legends combine to make 27 birdies and an eagle — and then to be the only person that gets to tell that story to the world — would be a dream.

The post #AskAlan: Which current player would make the best broadcaster? appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan Mailbag: Does Patrick Reed deserve all the hate he gets? appeared first on Golf.

The post #AskAlan Mailbag: Does Patrick Reed deserve all the hate he gets? appeared first on Golf.

If Spieth, Koepka, and McIlroy dominated the majors like Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic dominate the tennis majors, would golf be more fun or less? – @David_Troyan

Both. Dominant players clarify the storylines and help draw in casual fans, because they are attracted to sustained excellence and don’t want to have to do the work to try to appreciate the Frankie Molinaris of the world. I think all of us would love the electricity of Rory going on another big run, and Spieth contending at a major is always high drama, so that would be good fun, too. And the historical element is cool – winning five or more majors gets you into very rarified air. But for us golf nerds, it’s always refreshing when a Frankie Molinari breaks through and we can focus on their particular gifts and backstory.

You may also like Who’s No. 1? Four players could hold the world’s top spot after the Tour Championship

As we finish the season: 1. Who is your biggest surprise player, 2. Who is your biggest disappointment, 3. Who will make the big jump next year? #AskAlan – Mark (@cottonmc)

1. I can’t say Bryson because I’ve been expecting this all along so I’m going with Webb Simpson. I know he’s won a U.S. Open but it had been five years since his last victory and not only did he dominate the Players but he backed that up with strong performances in the majors and fought his way onto a stacked Ryder Cup team.

2. It has to be Jordan. It seemed like he was battling his game practically every week, which accounts for the zero wins. But twice he caught a little magic and could have salvaged his year but stumbled badly. As electric as that 64 was on Masters Sunday, I can’t get over that Spieth came to the last hole with the green jacket potentially hanging in the balance and a) yanked his drive off a tree and b) missed a do-or-die 8-footer. And then at Carnoustie he made a mess of the final round to kick away the Open.

3. Matt Wolff. I’m all in on this guy. He’s already got a national championship and has won the first two tourneys of his sophomore year. I think he’ll turn pro next spring (if not sooner) and come out like gangbusters on Tour.

Looking ahead to next year: Is there more pressure on Rory to win at Augusta or the Open at Portrush? #AskAlan –@JoshColey

Portrush for sure. I think part of Rory – maybe a big part – has already accepted that it’s not gonna happen for him at the Masters. For all his firepower, that course amplifies McIlroy’s weaknesses: putting and distance control with wedges. But he’s only going to get one shot at Portrush in what is supposed to be his prime so there will be a ton of pressure on Rory to make a run there.

What cities/markets that don’t currently have a Tour stop should absolutely have one? – @MackRenner

Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Philly (sometimes), Chicago (sometimes).

How many major titles does Tommy Fleetwood finish his career with? #AskAlan – Andrew (@a_h_davies)

I’d put the over-under at 2.5.

Would love to know about the logistics of players who don’t fly private. Do they reserve flights on Sunday and then scramble Friday if they miss cut? What about hotel reservations? I know they get courtesy cars…does your agent handle the rest? #askalan – @CarterLyons

It would be pretty sad if they booked in advance a flight home for Friday night! The Tour has various arrangements to make things easier for the players, notably relationships with airlines that give the players discounted fares with no change fees. I’ve heard plenty of stories of guys who are struggling during the second round ducking into a port-o-potty to call their wife or agent to tell them to change their flight to that night. Pre-smart phones, there used to be a dedicated travel agent who was stationed in the player locker room to help with such things but that person disappeared eons ago.

You may also like Say it ain’t so! Here’s what to do when an airline loses your golf clubs

If you’re a big-time player you have an agent or other handler more or less permanently on call to help with such trifling matters. The Tour’s middle class handles it themselves or leans on a significant other. Hotels are a little dicier. For each tournament there are a couple of “official” spots at which the Tour has negotiated lower rates and they, too, have more lenient policies for check-in/check-out. But some guys want privacy, or to be closer to the city center, or points, so they crash elsewhere. Most players traveling with families prefer to stay in rented houses. If they miss the cut and go home early they usually have to eat the unused nights.

Does Reed deserve all the hate? Is he just complicated like Bubba? If we give Tiger multiple second chances then don’t we owe it to the other players as well? – Mary (@Mergett1_mary)

Does Reed get that much hate? I think it’s more like benign eye-rolling, or mild poking of fun. The well-documented estrangement from his family is awkward and unusual but do fans hate him for it? I don’t feel that; more like it just adds to the widespread belief that he’s a different kind of dude.

You may also like ‘We’re the underdogs’: American star Patrick Reed says Europe is the Ryder Cup favorite

Certainly Reed’s life is complicated but he himself is not – he’s a good ol’ boy who loves BBQ, his cowboy boots, his wife, and making birdies. Bubba certainly has more layers. There is a central conflict between Bagdad Gerry, the God-fearing, small-town family man who does lots of admirable philanthropy, and Augusta Bubba, who loves fancy watches, fancy cars and other trappings of success. Add in his social anxiety and attention-deficit disorder and you get some highly unpredictable behavior. Tiger is certainly a template for forgiveness, and I think Reed and Watson benefit – for all their little controversies and gaffes and rough edges, I think both remain pretty popular.

How much do you like or dislike Tiger’s new attitude? Seems more engaging and open to fans and media, or will that change when he is more back in the flow of Tour golf? – @MattBare23

It’s been a delight to see up close Tiger’s metamorphosis from a golf robot into an actual human being who shares his thoughts and emotions. I’d like to think it lasts forever, but I keep flashing back to the scene at the 2010 Masters, laid out in one of the tell-all books, when Woods’s agent grouses that Tiger, who was trying to make nice in his first post-hydrant tournament, can’t win another green jacket unless he reverts to being a jerk. (I’m paraphrasing.) Woods played at such a high level this year yet didn’t win; something metaphysical was holding him back. At his peak he was monstrously selfish. He felt he was entitled to all of it: wins, money, women. He deserved the spoils simply because he was Tiger F’ing Woods. This was a problematic worldview, clearly, but it did help him play the most dominant golf of all time. Tiger is a completely different person now. Can he still be a champion? I hope so.

Do writers prepare advance copy for the deemed likely storylines, or scramble from their existing notes? – Paul (@LiveTweetGolf)

Yes to both. Assuming we’re talking about game stories at a major, it’s always good to have a plan, and you can bet on the outcome and write a big chunk of your story before the leaders even tee off: what brought the player(s) to this point, thoughts from caddies/swings coaches, scenes and observations that paint a picture of the week, etc. But things usually go pear-shaped and you have to scramble. That’s the fun part!

If you could go for a beer with Rory, Jordan, Justin (Thomas, not Rose) or Dustin (Johnson, not Gee) who would it be and why? – @MarkTownsendNCG

Rory. He’s a great talker, deep thinker and has an edge, but, at the same time, is a pretty relaxed dude.

Hey Alan! I have a question for #AskAlan. What is the average lifespan of a ball for a PGA player? If they don’t lose it/damage it, do they keep it the whole round? Or are they switching every hole? Thanks! – @JeGronka

This is a highly personal thing. Ernie Els believes every ball has only one birdie in it, so as soon as he makes one he swaps out the ball for another one. Some guys do it by rote, changing every three or six holes regardless of how they’re playing, on the assumption that tiny, unseen imperfections can affect the ball. Brad Faxon once said he tries to use the same ball for the entire round, because if you’re finding the center of the clubface it should remain unscathed.

What’s your opinion on a Ryder-Cup type event for Champions Tour golfers? Langer and Monty vs Freddie and Lehman, et al. ? – @ShootingYourAge

I love it, because these guys already have so much history at the Cup. The old grievances would add some dramatic tension. And given their already fraying nerve endings, can you imagine the yippy strokes we’d see coming down the stretch? It would be riveting theater.

Based solely on the hype it received going into the round, what course is the biggest disappointment you’ve ever played? #AskAlan – Steve (@_SMisner)

Augusta National.

The post #AskAlan Mailbag: Does Patrick Reed deserve all the hate he gets? appeared first on Golf.