Lee Trevino at his very best, Rory McIlroy at a gas station | Weekend 9

I might not watch golf this weekend. 

But aren’t you … a … golf guy? Yeah, I am — and hopefully still am after the sentence above — but this space promises honesty, and yeah, I’ll only scroll through X, or catch just the final couple holes of the Farmers Insurance Open’s final round, because my wife and I are heading out. We’re taking a short vacation. Renting a small house in the woods. Exerting as much effort as you would on a tap-in. 

And watching football. We did it last year. It was sublime.  

It was a bit of a toast, too. 

This week, the NFL’s conference-championship week, marks football’s penultimate week of play, before it heads to the sidelines for about seven months. We’ll miss it. But we’ll enjoy this weekend. And, in two weeks, the Super Bowl. Then we’ll count down the days to the next kickoff. Which got me thinking about golf. Watching golf, actually. This week, we had TGL on Tuesday. And the PGA Tour from Wednesday through Saturday. And the DP World Tour from Thursday through Sunday. In two weeks, we’ll have everyone. PGA Tour. LIV Golf. LPGA. DP World Tour. TGL. PGA Tour Champions. Korn Ferry Tour. And we’ll get some kind of golf through the middle of December. For me, the golf guy, that’s great; there’s never a content shortage. For you? For a while, I’ve been wondering not so much about the amount of golf, but this:

Do you ever miss it? 

Think about baseball’s opening day or the NFL’s opening kickoff. Or the Masters. You happily await those. You know when they’re coming. But do you have that feeling when golf is available on almost every calendar day? There was talk this week about dwindling TV ratings. Are folks simply overloaded? If every tournament is seemingly ‘big,’ are none of them? This all being said, no one seems to be cutting back any time soon, so dig in to the year-round menu. And if you need to step away, I know a thoughtful website that’ll catch you back up. 

With that, welcome back! Where are you, you ask? I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of this as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs above tell some of the story. Golf writer. Football fan. Cabin-in-the-woods fan. 

Let’s see if we can find eight more items. 

2. So who do I like in the NFL games?

Hard not to like the favorites. But let’s have fun. Let’s go with two road wins. Washington beat Philly in the second of their two matchups this year — and led at halftime in the first — and Jayden Daniels is special. On the other side, Josh Allen finally breaks through. 

One takeaway from the week — and the weeks ahead 

News

3. There was more golf TV news this week — via a letter. Justin Thomas wrote one to his fellow pros, imploring them to be more ‘viewer friendly,’ with the thought that that was the ticket to better fan interest. Maybe they could do more ‘walk-and talks.’ Maybe they could do more pre- and post-round interviews. 

“The more I’ve watched documentaries and specials on streaming services on other sports, the more I’ve come to realize the main reason I love them so much is the access they provide and the insight the players are giving me; a fan of them and their craft,” Thomas wrote. “I had no interest in rooting for certain players, teams, coaches before watching a handful of shows and games. But the way some of them show their cards and how they go about everything makes me an even bigger fan.”

I agree with Thomas’ thought. More insight is good, and it would help. But I think expecting golfers to instantly speak like Shakespeare is a lot to ask, especially while playing. Some are talkers. Some aren’t. You know who’s who there. 

But if the questions asked are good? Then, you can get somewhere. Everyone has a story — you just have to mine for it. Some advice? Everyone loves talking shop. Or secrets. Or family. The answers are usually good on curveballs, too. Ask the whys and hows. And no “talk abouts.”

4. Did Jason Day read Thomas’ letter? Maybe. Maybe not. While discussing participation at this week’s Farmers Insurance, he admitted he might not be the most qualified speaker on the subject. And why’s that?

“I don’t know if I speak for the Tour, you know, as well as some of the other guys because I sometimes — sometimes the Tour sends me emails and I don’t even read ’em,” Day said. “I know there’s guys out there that are a lot more qualified than me to answer for that reason.” 

5. Golf really needs a Manningcast. Action in the background. Stories in your ears. Analysis as needed. 

Best non-GOLF.com read for your weekend 

News

6. What am I reading (besides the thoughtful prose of my colleagues)? This article is worth your click. 

Here, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch conducted a Q&A with former PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, and multiple exchanges were notable, including this one:

GWK: Are you a candidate for the job of CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises?

SW: You should ask them. [Laughs]

GWK: I’m asking you.

SW: I don’t know. I’m not sure they’re looking for a 66-year-old guy. There’s no expiration date on caring about the game and wanting to add something to the game. I’m happy to help in any way I can.

GWK: What would you tell them they need to do?

SW: Get a deal done. Make the game more efficient, make it sustainable. Focus on the sponsors. Be respectful and understand the ecosystem. Evolve it but don’t break all the eggs. It doesn’t have the same currency that you’re used to. If you were designing golf right now, would you have international and U.S. rules bodies? Would you have a Tour that didn’t own its playoffs or World Series? Would you have an entity of 31,000 own one-and-a-half of the five waterfront properties in the game? Would you have a private club be arguably the most influential entity in the game? It makes no sense, right? You’re not gonna change that overnight. Being part of that is going to serve you better over time, figuring out alliances and partnerships. Don’t come in and think you’re going to change something that’s been in place for a really long time.

Best instruction tip for your weekend 

7. This comes from GOLF Top 100 teacher Cameron McCormick, via an Instagram post, where he wrote:

“MY GARY PLAYER STORY – The year is 2009 and I’m attending my first Masters. I’d arrived at the course & made my way to the 1st tee to find a practice round group which represented 15 major championships. The pairing was Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen. It was also Mr. Players last Masters.

“I followed for the front 9 taking in all i could. As an instructor & fan of golf i was taken at how engaged Mr Player was at helping the group but also how engaged he was with his own game…in fact in one instance he and Ernie were walking up #7 fairway, Mr Player & Ernie stop…Mr Player proceeds for the next several minutes to make animated rehearsals likely discussing swing feels.

“Fast forward 4 hours & I found myself in the Augusta National clubhouse getting a tour from a member friend of mine, we climb the stairs to the 2nd floor, to the entrance of the Champions locker room.

“No admittance is the absolute policy unless accompanied by a past champion, which my client was not, so i was expecting to get the: that’s the champions locker room gesture and then move along; but simultaneously as that gesture was made Mr Player walked out, came right up to my host and there was a meeting I’ve never forgotten.

“A brief introduction, followed by some thoughtful conversation…and then I got to land my question – what were you out there rehearsing on #7?

“His response – In my 63 years as a professional, I’ve won 165 tournaments on six continents over those six decades, I’ve worked my tail off to master this game.

“Every tournament I won was with a different swing, a different feel…sure there was some consistency over time but overall my warm up was always about finding my swing for that day. Today i didn’t find it in warm up…I was still trying to find it on hole 7…and after playing in more golf tournaments than any other human, and hitting more golf balls than any other human what I can most positively tell you is:

“YOU NEVER OWN IT – YOU’RE JUST RENTING IT, AND THE RENT IS DUE EVERY DAY”

Best YouTube video for your weekend (and one of the best interviews) 

8. Here and below, Lee Trevino participated in the “Warming Up” series hosted by GOLF’s Dylan Dethier. As you’d expect, it was full of Trevino gems, including a swing thought that features killing flies. 

The interviewing was great, too, though. Trevino’s a talker. But, as noted above, you need to ask the right questions and you need to know when to listen, and Dethier does both expertfully. 

A golf story that may interest only me 

9. Wait, wait, wait. There’s a Flintstones golf cart?! Car and Driver’s Brendan McAleer describes it here.  

10. Nothing — NOTHING — will ever beat the Bubba Watson hover. 

What live golf is on TV this weekend?

11. Let’s do 11 items! Here’s a rundown of live golf on TV this weekend:

— Saturday
3:30 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Ras Al Khaimah Championship third round, Golf Channel
2 p.m.-4 p.m. ET: Farmers Insurance Open final round, Golf Channel
4 p.m.-8 p.m. ET: Farmers Insurance Open final round, CBS

— Sunday
3 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Ras Al Khaimah Championship final round, Golf Channel
4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational 

What will make you laugh this weekend

12. Let’s do a dozen items! This is so good (though some words are NSFW). Relatable, too.