By far the worst cheater I've ever come across: Steve Nicklaus. AINEC. He tells his caddies not to look for his errant golf balls. Has been seen repeatedly dropping and kicking them into better spots. At Muirfield, the big member-guest tournament is called the Barefoot Classic. Steve would play in it every year and grab a new face with a mid-teens handicap. Naturally, the partner would always play like a 5. He and his partners won it something like 7 out of 8 years at one point. Statistically impossible. Down at the Bear's Club (Jupiter) was the worst story of cheating. Hole 4 is a par 5. During this member-guest, everyone had attempted to lay up instead of Steve's partner, who went for it in two. While everyone and the caddies were looking for a ball lost in the love grass about 100 yards out, Steve walked alone up to the green. You see, the green is kind of a A-shape with the back of the green not being visible from the fairway. Slopes up and then down. The pin was in the back. Steve's partner hit the ball onto the green and it rolled over the top, but nowhere the pin and with absolutely no chance of rolling anywhere close to the pin. So 100 yards ahead of everyone else, Steve goes up to the green and picks up his ball and his partner's ball... before shouting that his partner made it from the fairway for a double-eagle. Steve also sometimes played in what was referred to as the "Lunch Bunch", which was a group of about 20 rich guys who'd play matches every weekday around lunchtime. They'd then go inside to play dice and whatnot for money. At one point, Hank Kuehne (pros often joined in) was into Steve for something like $20k to $40k. Steve went to Jack and more or less said, "Daddy, daddy... Hank is trying to take my money away from me." Jack went to Hank and asked him why he was trying to take money from his son and if he'd let the debt go. Hank said, "Sorry, Jack, your boy has to honor his bet." Heard they ended up clearing some of Hank's dues instead. Pros got to join for free, but they'd still pay dues as members. Anyway, Steve was ultimately kicked out of the lunch bunch. When I worked in the area, I'd often go to Play-it-Again sports because the area was so golf-rich that awesome clubs would be dumped off and priced unaccordingly since they didn't know that shafts were key in pricing clubs. Lots of cool clubs for great prices would pop up. I'm in there one day and spark up a conversation with the guy at the desk. He tells me that the week before, Steve came in with with armfuls of Nicklaus-brand clubs from the previous season. At the time, other than the drivers, Nicklaus clubs were dog shit. So Steve was trying pawn golf clubs for pennies on the dollar. Dude was always bouncing off the wall and sniffling, so take from that what you will. He's certainly the black sheep of the Nicklaus family. Hank Kuehne was a sight to behold, though. Guy would tee off on a par 4 with a 7-iron for about 220 yards. He'd also regularly shoot in the upper 80s. He was playing in a group one time with a guy who set the course record during just an everyday round of golf. Hank's name was on there with like an 88, though. He ended up erasing his score and writing something around par.
Always trying to blame the gc Spoiler coverage today has been shit though. Same 3 or 4 matches over and over
Another one of a player from an earlier era: Worked at a course designed by Ben Crenshaw. As nice as you'd expect. Always with a goofy smile. And when the owner is not looking for something highly manicured with perfect edges, Coore & Crenshaw courses are some of the best out there. Anyway, he shared with us that in the divorce papers for his (second?) marriage, he cited her unwillingness for backdoor action. Nearby was his hot, young, blonde girlfriend. Like I said, dude always has a goofy smile on his face.
Right at the entrance to the clubhouse at Muirfield is a statue of Jack in that iconic pose with his club in the air. As everyone knows, Jack was a bit pudgy (for the times) for much of his playing career. The statue was no different. About 15 years ago, Jack lost some weight. And so did the statue. He had hit it replaced with something more "fit."
NLU pod this week with Steve elkington is one of the best interviews they have done. Super entertaining and some awesome stories. Dude doesn't give a damn. Roasts Phil and bubba half time time.
I thought his roasting Phil for being a nerd, fake, etc would be the highlight. And him doing the Shigeki voice. Then I got to the Montie section and I laughed so hard. Esp the part at Wentworth.
Him reading the shigeki letter in broken English was my favorite part. Calling montie fat tits, telling his wife he needed to play well because "that fatass is coming for me" and then the story about him eating half the custard castle between matches were gold.
I remember hearing the original telling of the custard story live on Rome’s radio show way back in the day and it never gets old. Rome still references it 15+ years since that interview.
I only ususally listen to the NLU pods when I’m traveling. I’m home next week but I am 100% listening to next week with Jordan Spieth the day it comes out
If Rory doesn't do that or more, what an embarrassment for him!!! He's right in the middle of his prime, coming off a win. We'll see!! Btw, how is Phil doing? Golf Channel seems to not be showing or mentioning him. Tia
I'm sorry...I think you must have misread my post. I asked, HOW IS PHIL DOING IN THE WGC EVENT GOING ON THIS WEEKEND?
Because you're spreading, not so pleasant stories about a "great" Buckeye and by gosh...he doesn't like it!!!
Probably that. It wouldn't be the first time I told an OSU fan before he claimed that I -- and pretty much every caddie who had ever carried Jack's bag -- must be wrong. It was always funny how whenever we'd hear Jack's name over the radio, all caddies who knew better would find reasons to escape the caddiemaster's eyesight.
Another funny story, though not of a pro golfer... Was caddying for Jim Brown in a foursome. Guy was, you could say, a bit odd. Among other oddities, whenever he'd stand over the ball while putting, he'd expect not only silence but for everyone in the group to stand absolutely still. Sure, it's standard golf etiquette not to talk or walk around in the guy's periphery when he's putting. But Mr. Brown took that to the nth degree. If you even so much as shifted your stance while he was putting, he'd stand back upright and wave you away without saying anything. You'd move 5 feet and he'd wave you more. Move 5 more feet and he'd continue waving you away until you were pretty much off the green. Didn't matter if you were a caddie, member, or guest. Everyone got used to standing directly behind him or directly in front of him. To the left or right was no doubt a no-no. So we get to the green on hole 12. He's down in his putting stance about to hit the ball before he stops and stands back up. Everybody expects him to do what he's already done about a dozen times and wave someone away. Nope. Without saying anything, he walks -- I kid you not -- off the green to a bunker with a rake next to it that was probably 20 yards away from the nearest person. He picks up that rake and helicopters it deep into the fescue. Doesn't say a word the whole time, walks back to his ball, and putts out. The rest of us exchange glances and smirks. A freakin' stationary rake a couple first downs away bothered the dude. CTE is real.
Ah. I see. As I might have mentioned before, it's not like I idolized him growing up in central Ohio; however, it was still a letdown to get a glimpse of his character hidden behind the legend. I'm not assuming that you idolized him, but there is an obvious reverence for the guy if you're from the area and/or a Buckeye fan... or a golf fan. On one hand, I caught Jack on a bad day when he was understandably tired and cranky. On the other hand, he didn't have that excuse all the other times. Fortunately, other experiences with Tressel, Archie, Warfield, and even Jim O'Brien were much better. All were very nice.
He was on the pod a long time ago before NLU really blew up. I’m pretty sure it was one of the first I listened to that got me hooked
18 is > 14 however the level of competition that Jack had to face compared to Tiger is not remotely close
Eh. There were long stretches of his career that were wastelands when Phil was the only other real talent
2000 money list 4. Hal Sutton 2001 3. David Toms 2002 4. David toms 2003 5. Mike weir 2004 5 Stewart cink The fact that any of them sniffed the top of the money shows how bad golf was. I could keep going but I’m getting on a plane
You listed one player per year. One. They also are all major winners. Not exactly the best way to prove your point. Nice try tho!
In 1970, Jack Nicklaus was the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world; Player was No. 2, Casper No. 3, Palmer No. 4, and Trevino was ranked fifth. Aside from Jack Nicklaus, Player, Casper, Palmer, and Trevino won nearly 18 percent of PGA Tour events. In 1972, the best year of Nicklaus’ career; a year that saw him win three out of the four majors, Nicklaus was ranked No. 1, Player No. 2, Trevino three, Bruce Crampton four, and Palmer five. In 1972, Player, Trevino, Crampton, and Palmer won 16 percent of PGA Tour events. In 1999, the start of the "Tiger Slam," Tiger Woods was ranked No. 1 in the world, he was followed by David Duval, Colin Montgomery, Davis Love III, and Ernie Els. In 1999, aside from Tiger Woods, the remainder of the top-five ranked players in the world won only 10 percent of PGA Tour events. In 2000, other than Tiger Woods, the remainder of the top-five ranked players in the world won 11 percent of PGA Tour events. In 2007, aside from Tiger Woods, the remaining members of the world’s top five won just 10 percent of PGA Tour events.