Tuesday at any major is a news day. You hear from the most players in the interview room in the press building on Tuesdays. There is a ton of sound gathered from players in “flash” interview areas and you learn the groupings for the first two days of the tournament. Tuesday is also the biggest workday for players as they all know the golf course will be closed Wednesday afternoon once the Par 3 contest gets underway. The fact that I didn’t leave the press building until 4 PM after arriving at 8 AM is not only sad, but it also amplifies the need for me to get out early tomorrow morning and see the new Par 3 course and conduct my traditional walk of the second nine.
One thing I don’t want anyone to deduce from this diary is that it’s just an exercise in name dropping. I’m going to drop names, most of them are media members, as a way to share who I ran into and why this event in particular brings so many people together in mass since the last major which was last July. Add the plush nature of the environment inside the press building and people enjoy their work more and simply have a joy about themselves that is not present every week.
The day started with a solid and standard breakfast of egg whites and bacon which I enjoyed with the SiriusXM team of radio broadcasters. I was originally a part of the team going back to 2010 when I was the morning host on Mad Dog Radio and also hosted 12 events on the PGA TOUR. I fell in love with golf on the radio in 2002 when I listened to the radio broadcast of the Open Championship at Muirfield. This team, led by Taylor Zarzour, are a combination of career broadcasters and former tour players, like Carl Paulson and John Maginnes. Add to that Brian Katrek, Drew Stoltz, Jason Sobel, Fred Albers, and Chantelle McCabe and you have a group with serious golf bonafides. Plus, this week Rocco Mediate will be the lead analyst on SiriusXM and the absurdly versatile TV star Mike Tirico will once again play radio host for the play-by-play coverage starting on Thursday. It’s a great team, with real chemistry and they care deeply about the game.
The first presser on Tuesday was Rory McIlroy and naturally there were going to be a couple themes: LIV golfers, crossing his personal Rubicon and completing the career grand slam. As usual, the answers were thorough, and thought was given to each and every query. When I met Rory, it was five weeks after his final round collapse at the 2011 Masters and we were doing a day with him at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio and the biggest take away I had from 5 ½ uninterrupted hours with the then twenty one year old McIlroy was his listening skills. That’s a very unselfish trait and he has always been giving off time and engagement. Answering questions about something he desperately wants to do in the game can be counterproductive to the mind space he wants to get into come Thursday and he actually spoke directly to that today. I asked him about his sluggish starts in his career at the Masters, only 2 sub 70 rounds on Thursday and the last four opening rounds have produced a scoring average of 74.25. I also asked him if he had a theory as to why no player other than Tiger has come from outside the top 10 after the FIRST round to win since 2005 and it was that year, and 2019, that Tiger turned the trick twice. He thought the pressure to get off to a good start tests patience and forces you to take chances on Friday and then you may find yourself quickly out of the tournament. McIlroy should be the favorite and he’s built to win the Masters, but he reminded everyone before he left the interview room that there have been great historical players who seemed destined to win the tournament who never did. Lastly, on Rory. he made a point to let Andy Johnson of the Fried Egg know that he liked something that he posted this week. Simple gestures, and complimentary acknowledgments are why Rory is a darling amongst the media.
- The balance of the morning included the following thoughts from these players in the interview room.
- Jon Rahm… He knows golf history and acknowledged that he watches old tournaments all the time in the little spare time he has and he has a true working knowledge of the accomplishments of the great players all time. That is beyond rare. I asked Rahm what is the most valuable data point that would indicate a good week for him. He said chipping and strokes gained around the green are the key indicators. Rahm is a curious type with an appetite for context on who did what and when. His recent sluggish play is a head scratcher and I think people are sleeping on him.
- Justin Thomas has not had a good start to his year. Not getting the results and I asked him how he finds the right balance between caution and chance on a golf course that is very exacting. He said “Bones” his caddy was with a guy, Phil Mickelson, who for years who took countless chances so he will never appear to be taking too many chances compared to Bones’ former employer.
- Scottie Scheffler is exceedingly normal, and his pressers are not boring. They are an exercise in asking questions to someone who is not going to say things just to sound interesting. I asked him about the Champions Dinner and if he thought he would get emotional being around golf royalty and he said he most certainly would. He was asked to tell everyone what the most interesting thing about himself was, and he said, “to ask someone else.” Scheffler is simply not an attention seeker.
- My day was made when a gentleman waiting for me outside the bathroom to tell me a story about his brother watching “Morning Drive” from the beginning. He shared that his brother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and that he was a huge fan of my work. I share this because it was very flattering and humbling. Anyone who takes the time to tell you someone in their life enjoyed what you do is something I’ve never taken for granted and my gratitude was overwhelming for the moment early afternoon on Tuesday.
- I also bumped into my old partner Charlie Rymer. Charlie has had a battle with cancer the last 16 months, and he’s come out the other side. Charlie drove me crazy every day when we worked together. He knew what made me crazy and flatulence is something that makes me nuts when it’s coming from a 280-pound man and its nonstop. I love Charlie and hugging him made me feel smaller than I already am.
- Lunch today was another bowl of Clam chowder and a piece of seared chicken with broccolini, and I indulged in the talk of the dessert options at the Masters. The Peach Ice Cream Sandwich. The size is that of a chipwich and the thickness is ideal for biting into, but I think it’s overrated. The peach flavor is good but not great and the bread outer shell is not very tasty. I’m one and done on the item. I also made my first trip into the main merchandise building adjacent from the tournament practice area. I entered at 4 PM and walked out at 4:15 PM. It was efficient and painless. Two hats, a sweatshirt for a daughter, a long sleeve tee shirt for the other daughter, three coffee mugs for Christmas gift exchanges and one metal sign for the 5 Clubs studio. Three hundred and two dollars. Not awful and the expediency was fantastic.
- I will add that I had a very healthy discussion with Michael Breed, host of his own SiriusXM show and an elite instructor. I’ve known Michael since I was an assistant at Seminole and Michael was at Augusta National. He does not support the proposed ball roll back, and I actually do support what the USGA and R&A are trying to do, so we have divergent viewpoints. I didn’t expect him to relent to my position nor did he expect me to come over to his position, but we shared thoughts and we will talk more.
- The award for best dressed media member today goes to Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN. Gene is not only a fantastic essayist he showed up today in a dark suit with a blue shirt and navy tie with cognac-toned leather uppers. Smart and stylish. Honorable mention to Wright Thompson wearing his Grateful Dead hat, maroon-colored sneakers and shorts. Reports on the Champions dinner tomorrow and my first time on the course this week. We are almost there.