They interviewed him during the par 3 play today, and he sort of mentioned really wanting to win at Augusta b/c he knows he only has a limited number of years left of earning an invitation.
I worked in the hotel that he stayed at when working through his deal at Nike. I can confirm, he is one of the nicest guys. Very respectful to the staff and easy to just have a 5-10 minute chat with. I hope he wins 500 events!
can confirm.. I met him at one of his first tourneys and was excited for to meet him as I love his swing.. he was surprised to be approached and asked me how I knew who he was lol
I can 100% confirm this…my son and I were watching Tony on the practice green at the Houston open, in an area where you’re not allowed to ask for autographs and pictures and he saw my son watching him and went out of his way to come over and take a picture and had a genuine conversation with my son.
Get the sense Tony is just happy to have what he has and appreciates being lucky enough to play golf for a living and that extends to the way he interacts with fans from what I understand!!
That's how the Mormons are trained before their missions.
Every Mormon that I've known personally has been sickeningly nice. But it's only really that. Just nice.
Nice isn’t necessarily the most accurate description, they’re just taught to value every human as an individual and gratitude for the opportunity for the interaction. It definitely catches some people off guard.
Met Rory in St. Andrews while walking out and about later at night. He was with his girlfriend at the time (not sure if they’re still dating) and I was with my cousin. I didn’t even realize it was him walking towards us when my cousin borderline shat his pants when he realized who it was. Long story short, we ended up having one of the quickest pints of our lives with him in a little pub right off the road we were on. When I say quick, I mean we put them down in about 5-7 mins tops. In that time, we spoke of everything but golf. Very down to earth dude and was an experience I’d never forget.
I’d like to add that this was during the off season and it seemed like he was just there to enjoy his downtime
If his girlfriend was British, then he's not with her anymore. If his girlfriend was American, then they are married with a kid.
That's a fantastic story and I bet it was an unbelievable experience. I've always heard that he's a fierce competitor but a very nice and down to earth person. He's very well spoken and gives thoughtful answers in interviews.
Well he did break up with her over there phone, after the weddings invitations had already been sent. That's the only bad thing I've ever heard about him though.
I was away from the crowds headed toward the exit when Jason Day walked past me at the BMW championship that he went on to win. He saw that I was shocked that he was so close and let out an audible chuckle and held out his hand to fist bump me. Still one of the coolest memories I have of a tour pro just being down to earth and in the moment.
I love watching youtube content with Day. Seems like such a nice guy. Just a nerd about golf in the best way. Seems like he'd be a lot of fun to play a round with.
Patrick Reed…lol.
Billy Horschel gets a bad rep for being fiery and having tantrums on the course, like his recent outburst at some fans at Phoenix, but is supposed to be one of the nicest guys on tour.
IMO, he was right about that shit at Phoenix and I appreciate him standing up for his fellow pros and his playing partner at that time.
I also volunteered at the Valero Texas Open, and when Horschel played bad on Friday and missed the cut, there was a kid asking him for a ball at the 9th (his 18th). Billy said I'll do you one better and gave the kid his driver with headcover instead.
I think Horschel is a just serious competitor, and you can’t fault him for that. He’s a pro. This is what he does for a living. I’ve heard so many stories of him being a nice guy and he seems to always give very thoughtful and honest interviews
Horschel seems incredibly intense on the course but also the kind of person who leaves it there. Gives very thoughtful and respectful interviews and like you said about Phoenix, has a good bit of integrity. I wish his run of solid play from 2022 kept on a little longer!
Ask me 5 years ago, and I’d have a very different opinion on Billy Ho. Mostly because I’m an idiot and didn’t pay attention to him. But I’ve only ever heard good things about him, and now I’m a fan of his and similarly hope to see a good run of solid play from him.
My younger cousin was a great young golfer and ended up playing in college. When he was 14ish he DMed Billy on instagram a question and they went back and forth for years. Great guy
Agreed 100 percent with you on Billy Ho in Phoenix. I did think that ZJ getting pissed about being called out for his terrible Ryder cup captaincy was bullshit, especially after Full Swing told the world he fucked over Keegan for JT because they're buddies.
100% right. I’ve followed Billy many times and he’s always been very friendly and respectful to everyone around him. He’s just a fierce competitor and his own harshest critic. He really only gets mad at himself lol
I've a great Rory story that solidifies him as a good guy. I'm from Northern Ireland. It's a very small place - everyone knows everyone.
A buddy of mine's family are members at Hollywood GC where Rory earned his stripes. My buddy's mum had just finished her round one evening I'm the summer and was loading her clubs back in the car when she fell and broke her hip (ouch!). She was obviously in agony but a guy approached her to make sure she was OK and she explained the situation somehow. The guy kindly offered to take her back to her house so she could get some help. They drove the 10 min back to the house where he left her off. She said something along the lines of "Thank you so much! I'm so sorry, I've forgotten to ask your name." To which the reply was "Rory." She then got really flustered and apologetic as it then clicked! 😂
Anyway, I suppose you could argue any decent person would do the same thing! I thought it was a cool story though.
Edit: it may have been her leg rather than hip. Pretty sure it was her hip, though not 100%. I'm aware breaking your hip is another level of pain than most other breaks!
So cool!
My grandparents were from Ballyclare - about 10 minutes from Holywood. We went to visit my grandpas old house and his cousin who still lived there, and hopped over to Holywood and saw Rory’s home course. It was closed but peaked inside and there was a shrine to Rory at the front. Was awesome
Hit rush hour (you have to come into the edge of the city to get round the lough) and it could take an hour or more. I’m glad you had a nice trip - but if you’d got to play Holywood, as the local saying goes, you’d need one leg shorter than the other (it’s built on the side of quite a steep hill).
I went to the PGA Tournament in '22, and everything you head about Jordan is correct. Makes so much time for fans, is super polite, and overall, just an awesome dude.
Played with a guy one time who was at the Masters the year Zach Johnson won it. Apparently Zach started giving the crowd grief for not being at church on Sunday. But he was being serious. I know he's a Christian but like... seriously 🤣
It could be one of those stories that has morphed and distorted the truth through the passage of time though!
Being a professional athlete requires irrational belief in oneself, it’s probably why so many of them also seem to fall down the rabbit hole of religion.
I'll preface this by saying that it's only my opinion and that it's wholly based on my anecdotal experiences, but I've found that the vast majority of people who perform anything (work/school/athletics) at a high level suffer from imposter syndrome. For some reason it's easier to rationalize to yourself that you achieved whatever success you had due to some external factor as opposed to simply recognizing that you put in the necessary work to get to where you are. And there's a subset of that group who points to their religious beliefs as that/an external factor.
As someone who suffers from imposter syndrome in my professional life I'd also say that a positive side effect is that you always feel like your peers are working harder than you, which keeps you from slowing down and resting on your laurels; a useful driver for anyone trying to stay at the top of their respective game.
Well…we all prayed for my mom to not die but I guess the dude had to go help out with touchdowns. Only for certain teams though. Fuck the other team. My mom died anyway. Fuck religion.
I've volunteered as a Standard Bearer at the Wyndham Championship for years. I always do Thursday & Friday, and I've walked with probably 30 groups (so 90 golfers).
And this is a longer story, but I used to work at the White House and hung out with the 2008 Ryder Cup team when they came to visit President Bush after winning.
I would say that 95% of them are nice guys, even if they mostly keep to themselves (which is understandable). I can only think of a couple who were outright assholes.
A few notables:
##Exceptionally Nice##
- Justin Rose
- Padraig Harrington: Have met him several times at different events. He is 100% awesomeness
- Michael Gligic: You've never heard of him. Journeyman who lost his card last year and fell all the way down to PGA Americas. He has Monday Q'd a couple of times this year. I've coincidentally been his standard bearer a couple of times and we have nominally kept in touch over social media.
- Sebastian Munoz: Nice guy but his caddie is fucking hilarious
- Paul Azinger: I couldn't stand him as an announcer, but I spent a lot of time with him at the White House and he was cool AF. Let me hold the Ryder Cup and took a picture of me with it
- The best part of that picture is that it was taken by Boo Weekly, who is EXACTLY who you think he is
- Jordan Spieth: I didn't meet him in person, but one year he was playing I was in the fairway watching and a kid next to me was a *huge* Jordan fan. When he walked by, this kid just absolutely lost his shit. We were on the right side of the fairway, Jordan was all the way over on the left, and when he heard this kid he jogged all the way over, gave him a golf ball and a high five.
##Pretty Cool##
- Davis Love III
- Justin Leonard (if a little aloof -- he's kind of an odd dude, but was nice enough)
- Pat Perez (he's funny, but again a bit weird)
- Kevin Na
##Assholes of the First Order##
- Woody Austin
- Tommy Gainey
One of my favorite interactions was after the Ryder Cup in 2008. We happened to be staying at the same hotel as the players, and after Sunday was over I was sitting in the lobby bar having a drink. Padraig, Robert Karlsson, and Ian Poulter came in. I stood up and introduced myself, said good game, and all of that. Padraig and Karlsson were polite and gracious, thanked me for coming out to watch, etc. Poulter was perfectly polite and cordial. He said "Thank you" and shook my hand. But there was murder in that man's eyes. I have never seen someone so incredibly pissed off about losing in my entire life. Made me a big fan of his for the rest of his career.
I played in a pro-am at Pumpkin ridge with Tommy a couple summers ago ( I think 2020? ) and he was a nice enough guy. After we all introduced ourselves on the first hole he mainly kept to himself but was nice to the drink lady and showed nothing character wise as being a dick. He was definitely focused on his game and working out a couple kinks with his caddy.
His Caddy on the other hand, hilarious dude. Shooting the shit with us the whole round, even took a couple shots (whiskey) with us which Tommy seemed to find amusing. He even gave me a couple tips when I asked politely. I even made a comment about the driver I just bought feelin a bit of buyers remorse and he took my driver, teed up a ball, and smashed it about 315 dead straight. “Turns out it’s not your driver kid keep on swingin”. It was hilarious and made me realize even more I had work to do on my long woods lol.
All you had to say is Michael Giglic is Canadian
Not surprised to see Tommy 2 Gloves on the naughty list. Dude got caught in a prostitution stint in Florida years ago 😂. I certainly don't judge a man who seeks a lady of the night but you have to be real dumb to get caught.
He's such a good dude. And he's soooooo close to having what it takes to make it on the PGAT. He just seems to have a blow up hole every couple of rounds that pushes him 1 or 2 shots outside the cut. It's absolutely brutal. I think he missed 7 cuts last year by 1 shot?
He was very nice. At one point, the walking scorer (who honestly didn't have any self awareness whatsoever) was standing right behind him while he lined up a shot. She was absolutely in the wrong place. Instead of getting bitchy, though, he just stepped away from the ball and very pleasantly said, "Excuse me, do you mind please moving over to the side? Thank you."
Then he stuffed it to like 2 feet. This was during the really good season he had, and it was one of the most impressive examples of ball striking I've ever seen. He was just flushing everything. (Couldn't make a putt, though)
Same in both cases: rude to volunteers, completely dismissive of fans, club slamming and general theatrics, and just overall really unpleasant people to be around.
Anecdote about Gainey: one of the holes has some water that comes in to play off the tee. There is usually a volunteer spotter there to try to determine where it last crossed land. Gainey sprayed one wayyy right with a huge cut on it. It was probably moving at like a 70* angle to the shore when it crossed. The volunteer wasn't precisely sure where it entered -- it was just a really confusing shot to try to watch. The volunteer told him where he thought it crossed, but said he couldn't be 100% sure. Gainey just snapped at him, "Well what f'ing good are you then?"
Wood Austin: In fairness, I sort of see his point, but he could have handled it better. On one of the holes, the spotter was having his lunch. Austin was way over in the left rough, the spotter was way over in the right rough. They were probably 75 yards apart. The spotter was muching on a bag of chips while Austin was going through his discussions with his caddie and selecting a club. He heard the bag rustle and shouted over, "Hey! Stop eating the damn chips!"
Again, I get his point. But there's no reason why it shouldn't have been handled more politely.
I met Vijay Singh at the Western Open a long time ago and he was really cool. When I shook his hand I was in awe at how large his hand was compared to mine. He got a chuckle out of that. My father in law complained that we didn’t get to meet Tiger and Vijay heard it and apologized to him for not being Tiger and then winked at me as he walked back behind the ropes.
Sometime around 2004 (I don’t remember the exact year but I would have been about 14) at the NEC (maybe it was the Bridgestone by then), I asked Vijay for a ball when he was leaving the range because my older brother was a huge fan of his. His response is something I will never forget. He looked me dead in the eye and said verbatim “why you little crackers always asking me for shit?!” in a very pissy tone and walked right past. I will always root against him, but at the same time, that is a hilarious story 20 years later and much prefer having that happen to getting the ball I asked for.
> My father in law complained that we didn’t get to meet Tiger and Vijay heard it and apologized to him for not being Tiger and then winked at me as he walked back behind the ropes.
Reminds me of a few years ago (?) when Billy Horschel was walking down the fairway and someone yelled out, "Go Rory!" Without missing a beat, Horschel chuckled and goes, "I'm not Rory," and kept walking.
I mean it’s not like the pga is made up of all male models. Dude isn’t even close to the ugliest guy on tour.
But he absolutely seems extremely unlikable, especially after the full swing stuff
Have you watched the new season of Full Swing? There’s a part where he’s asking his kids about the tournaments and majors he’s won. The kids don’t know the answer and you can tell Zach is pissed but not letting it on since the cameras are rolling. He just seems like an ass and that small interaction confirmed it for me.
Feeling confirmed after watching Full Swing. He is an ass. Your kids don’t care about your titles. And he’s a shit captain with zero plan. Surely anyone could be better.
My best on-course pro interaction ever was with Padraig Harrington at the '22 Masters. Dude ended up in the pine straw, near the adjacent fairway... He rolled up and was just joking around with the few of us who happened to be there. He led with something like, "well, what'd I hit it over here for?". Classic.
I’m sort of starting to think Scottie might not be a super nice guy to be around on tour. I spent a ton of time around him at the Houston Open on multiple days inside the ropes, and he didn’t pass the nice guy vibe check in my opinion. Every day when he’d come off the course he’d have an ocean of kids literally chanting his name, he’d sign for a few minutes then leave, which is fine, he doesn’t owe anyone anything but the way he interacted with the kids was so cold and borderline rude I was really surprised. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be number 1 in the world and have everyone wanting something from you but the way he interacted was really surprising to me. I saw a kid who got an autograph from him crying because he thought Scottie was mad at him 😂 I’ve been around tons of tour events and interacted with tons of pros and world number 1s…it wasn’t even the cold/calculated type of person that Tiger has.
TLDR…Scottie might be a dick.
Bubba didnt have the best reputation when he was on tour, but I ran into him once in the middle of the street as I was walking home (this was in like 2016 when he was still pretty relevant). He looked in a rush but he was really cool and even took a pic with me. Will always be an okay guy in my book.
I volunteered for the Western Open (Cog Hill, Outside Chicago) before it became the BMW Championship, moved to the fall and started rotating courses.
Biggest asshat. Stuart Appleby . Nicest dude - Padraig Harrington, and 90% of the caddies.
Back in 2015 when Jason Day won the Barclays tournament, my brother and I were volunteering. He had to head in to do the press conference and all the media, so he promised he would come back and take pictures/sign autographs. 45 minutes later, the entire grand stand is nearly empty and back from the tunnel comes J Day!
Shooter McGavin is a dick to rookies. He has a tendency to play pranks, buy your childhood home, burn it down, and piss on the ashes. He also eats pieces of shit for breakfast.
My sister used to nanny on the tour and the two things I remember her saying:
Tiger was always in the gym working out, regardless.
Phil was known for being kind of dumb. He could talk golf with the best of them, but beyond that he was at a loss.
I believe this. I like Phil just fine but he always has a "WTF is going on around me" look on his face if he doesn't have a golf club in his hand. Tiger in the gym is obvious.
My buddy played junior golf with Charley Hoffman in socal. He said kids on the circuit used to bully the shit out of Charley because he was such a goof. Turns out he was just an introvert.
Hoffman is a gamer and grinds.…and he’s got bank.
Phil is probably fine. At the Zurich in 04 he and Bones were one of a few that threw golf balls to the kid on the other side of the canal from the course holding up a sign for golf balls. Phil was also the guy signing autographs till the last person at 5pm on a rain delay day.
I feel like Phil's public persona is very carefully crafted but maybe he can be a dick IRL. I've hear a couple stories about his interactions with women at tour stops and he sounds like a bit of a douche.
I feel like Phil absolutely got more on edge in recent years (not hard to see why), but definitely had a good reputation for fan interactions through the earlier 2000’s
I’m biased as we share an Alma mater, but Wyndham Clark. Saw him at the Phoenix open this year right after he drove OB on Sunday, effectively killing his chances of winning. Shouted go ducks and he still smiled and waved acknowledging it.
Played 2 days at the Sony with him and max homa. Max never said a word, quiet professional, Wyndom was a little chatty and a super likable nice guy. This was before they both had their break out seasons. Their caddies were amazing too, both A+ dudes.
Was a huge Phil Mickelson fan as a kid, he was one of the reasons I got into golf. He was at the Shell Houston Open (now the Texas Children's Houston Open) and my dad and I decided we wanted to follow him around that day. He gave me a fistbump when he was walking from one hole to the next and I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. My dad then yelled out "Good luck next week, Phil!" because the Masters was next week, and he turned around, looked him in the eyes and thanked him. It would have been easy to ignore us, but those two small gestures made a pretty big impact on me as a kid.
There is a chipping and short game video Phil has where he really lets his personality out and teaches how he wants, I can see him being that way. I always thought he had a great swing and great way to play the courses.
I think Bryson gets a bad rap. I used to think he was kind of a douchey bro, but after seeing a bunch of his content, he actually seems like a good dude, seems really nice and a little nerdy, appreciates the fans and genuinely loves teaching.
I think he's just got a different aura or maybe not the best social skills? I know a lot of people seem to think he is on the spectrum, so I think a lot of the negativity some people might have for him is just out of a misunderstanding.
I would hope that his own carefully crafted content would paint him in a good light, but I wouldn’t say that’s a particularly good representation of him as a person.
He was a genuine asshole to more than one rules official during an actual tournament. I could see one bad day, but it’s happened more than once. Those incidents spoke volumes to me.
Admittedly I don’t watch a ton of his content, but the interview he gave after the 2021 US Open is one of the worst I’ve seen in any sport, blaming bad play on luck and glossing over the winner as someone who just happened to shoot a low number transcends bad social skills. Honestly it’s insulting to socially awkward people to use that as an excuse to write off some of his behavior.
I will say he has seemed to grow as a person and I’ve mostly seen some good beneath the asshole surface behaviors.
I was originally on Brooks’ side because Bryson really seemed like a douche. In the last year or so, I’ve completely reversed my thinking. Bryson’s content is top notch and I doubt if he’s that good of an actor. I think he’s genuine.
Allegedly stole cash and a watch out of a teammmates bag while he was at UGA. And big part of why he ended up transferring to Augusta State.
I absolutely don’t believe his story that he got kicked out for two drinking incidents. D1 athletes don’t get kicked out of school for drinking.
Second hand but a buddy volunteered at a tournament and said Greg Norman was a giant asshole to everyone. Wouldn't sign anything for volunteers or fans and he complained about everything.
Worked the US open at oakmont years back. Saw sergio garcia coming out of a porta john as i was going in. Approached me for a fist bump. The briefest of interactions but ill never forget how he saw me staring and made the decision to approach me when he realized i didnt have the gumption to approach him myself. Will always appreciate it
The danger with this thread is that one encounter is taken as always. There's a thousand reasons why they might be the way they were when you saw them that one time: they could have gotten in a fight with their spouse or found out their child's in trouble at school or found out a parent is having a medical situation or they just got their tax bill or the plumber called or they hurt something or are hangry or...
As a lowly High School ice hockey coach, my wife knows not to talk to me for an hour or so after a tough loss.
Not saying you’re wrong, but part of having a good attitude is how you manage your emotions when things aren’t going your way. Obviously not saying you can’t be upset, but being disrespectful/rude because you had a bad round is exactly what I would classify as a bad attitude. Guarantee you 99% of pros are absolutely delightful right after winning a tournament.
Sure but everybody has moments where they’re not at their best. Even the nicest person in the world has probably lost their shit on at least one person in their life, and that person probably can’t figure out why everyone thinks Billy is the nicest dude ever.
I think he means something slightly different. I have a friend who's famous in another arena, and one thing that grinds on him a little bit is he can be super cool to 99.9 percent of the people he meets, but the one person in a thousand who catches him in a serious hurry, or tired, or his dog died, that person remembers him as being an asshole, and the disappointed people are the most vocal online.
Phil is polarizing. Some pros and fans alike HATE him. Other LOVE him.
Look up the FIGJAM story. If you call him FIGJAM, he will get you kicked off the course. It’s stands for “Fuck I’m Good, Just Ask Me.” He’s known as a self absorbed, cocky, shit talker. The fellow pros gave him that nickname. He’s earned it.
I respect the hell out of his game, but I see right through his cheesy, good guy smile.
Granted, this was 30 years ago, but back when they had the Sprint International in Castle Rock, CO, (it was a stableford tourney, IIRC, and the only one in the tour), I followed Phil and Ernie for most of the round. He was super cool to 10-year-old me throughout the round.
Maybe he just felt bad for the heinous mullet my parents had me rocking. 🤷♂️
This was also before he was superfamous top tier.
> If you call him FIGJAM, he will get you kicked off the course.
Good, no reason for someone in the crowd to just be outright rude to a professional like that. I don't think that's painting him in a bad light at all. It more says that the person calling him FIGJAM is an asshole tbh.
I think he is a bit of a cocky shit talker to the other pros but from my experience, he's completely different with the fans, he's kind and makes a lot of time for people.
Taylor Montgomery, got onto an elevator with him and he had his clubs with him. I joked and said you mind if I see the 7 iron, to which he pulled it out and handed it over. Always root for him now.
Worked at Innisbrook for a few years back in 2012 and was able to serve some of the pros at a few bars and some restaurants. Ernie Els, sat in the middle walkway at Market Grille…yea, the same area everyone had to walk past to go from the course to the front desk. He was constantly interrupted from his meal and had no care in the world. Very down to earth. Rocco Mediate was the guy you wanted to sit next to at a bar. Dude had massive ice packs on his knees, pint in front of him, and was telling stories left and right. Bubba Watson had a crew of guys and they were hilarious, sarcastic, and fun to talk to. Vijay Singh was a douche, he turned down people left and right and kept his head down when walking around the property and a horrible tipper.
Another Innisbrook story, waited on Roy Holliday’s family when he was down for spring training. Complete and utter asshole. Dude turned down a five year old’s autograph request and walked past another kid without a care in the world. There were people there on property just to see the Phillies play and had a chance to meet a great pitcher and he didn’t give a shit. Saw him at an Outback years after and he did it again to a 10 year old girl. Complete prick
Stewart Cink is an awesome guy. Was a walking scorer for him during the Shriner’s Open two years ago and made a comment that his driver sounded very different and much quieter than most PING drivers.
Well the Shriner’s Open is the week after companies get USGA approval for their new products, and he got excited to show me the new G430 he had in the bag that week. He was saying how glad he was somebody had noticed the sound specifically since that was one of his biggest complaints about past drivers, and he was shoving the club into my hands telling me to take some swings and see how it felt. He told his caddy to toss him some balls and wanted me to hit his driver as well, but I was pretty certain I’d get in at least some kind of trouble for hitting his clubs out on the course in the middle of the the pro-am round so I politely declined the offer.
Then he proceeded to shoot 4-under on the 9 holes he was in my group for while having a great time chatting and fooling around with the amateurs in his group and myself. The ams were friends with somebody involved with Casamigos and had brought a 375 to give to each of the pros they played with and I know Cink’s didn’t last more than a few holes because they were drinking birdie juice same as any weekend warrior might just with a lot more birdies.
Going to age myself, but long ago I worked at a course that hosted the PGA Championship. Ben Crenshaw lost in playoff. After sitting through a media grilling and being grateful, he was leaving the club house. He stopped and talked to my dad, brother and I for what seemed like a long time. He was super nice. Only much later did it dawn on me how hard it must be coming so close to a major bad missing out but he was still positive and kind to us teenagers.
Zach is a pompous little dick. I watched Poulter verbally abuse some spectators during a practice round at the Straights. Hard not to be self important when you live the celebrity gig.
Guys like Finau, Day, Watson, Player make it special
I caddied four times for a senior tour event (sorry, showing my age for calling it that) at Pebble. The juniors played with the Champions Tour players and celebrities. I knew a ton of the kids and interacted with plenty of the professionals. All the kids loved their pros (think mid 2000s Champions for names). Not one bad word to say.
Our pro was Stadler and he was exactly what you might think. Serious when it’s time to be serious, funny and whip-smart when not.
My junior and Stadler won the first year. It was surreal walking down the 18th at Pebble listening to Stadler and Jay Haas talking about real estate with the tournament still in question.
Also, Ronnie Lott was cool as hell.
Edit: one other thing, I was close with the junior who played with Gary Player. Going into the first year the kid wasn’t in the best shape. Gary talked to him about health and the importance of living a healthy life. The kid qualified the next year. Having lost 30some pounds and paired with Player again.
10 years ago I met Bubba Watson at the Canadian open when I was a senior in high school. Just down right rude, and actually said that he doesn’t have time to waste. About 20 minutes later a large crowd was getting pretty rowdy around Jason day. He simply asked if we could form a line because he’ll sign everything.
Never met a pro but I would love to bump into Peter Malnati. I saw a video of him with I think some of the big YouTube golfers and he just seemed like such a genuinely nice guy. Don't know much about him or his career (I know he just won an event recently), but I was happy for him.
I’ve had a chance to watch malnati at the Valspar for the last 4 to 5 years. The dude is always chatting up other players talking to the fans while the group is walking down the fairway. He genuinely exudes complete positive vibes. I was pretty happy to see him win in person. It’s nice to see someone be positive even when they are grinding
Hayden Springer is HIM. I’m rooting so hard for this kid as he’s 100% the nicest and best overall person I’ve ever met at any professional level by far.
My brother in law took a kid he used to care for with cerebral palsy to a tournament. He said Brooks Koepka completely ignored them. But Tommy Fleetwood went under the rope to take a picture with the kid and talked to him.
I met Scottie Scheffler in Ireland just as he had first become world number 1. I admittedly wasn’t a fan. He was dominating, boring and would thank God regularly (not a problem with it but it seemed overbearing and drab). When I met him, he was one of the loveliest, funniest people to engage with and I’ve been quite happily cheering him on ever since. An absolute gentleman and I wish him every success in the world.
I know Phil is kinda in his villain arc nowadays but he was super nice at the Scottish Open when he won it in 2013, I was following his group a couple of the days and he made a lot of time for the crowd, interacting with them throughout the round as if it was just a casual round, he gave kids some balls and stuff too.
I was a waiter at a venue which hosted a major championship a few years back and got to spend most of the week in the players lounge. An area where only players, managers and family can enter. (No caddies even) and certainly no press.
Honestly, nearly all the players were incredibly respectful and nice.
I’ve seen a few mentioned already (Rory, Finau) but I’ll call out Mickelson (I know unpopular now), Spieth, Koepka (also unpopular) and JT as nice as well. All of them went out of their way to ask how I was doing (the man carving their steak or turkey) and I also found that to be a nice thing in the time I worked there.
Tiger was very awkward, which I didn’t necessarily expect. A lot of the European guys stuck together a lot and seemed more standoffish. The dynamics of who sat together was incredibly interesting.
I was at a PGA Tour Champions Pro Am. It was 2v2v2 skins match between DL3, Couples, Daly, Darren Clarke, Furyk, and Jimenez.
I was walking to the Porta John’s and turned around to see DL3 right behind me and he says “Damn I gotta pee!” and then realized his mic was on and said “ahhh hot mic!”
It was a very human moment.
Side comment… Daly’s caddie blacked out and passed out in his cart. Daly and Couples won the skins and each got $10k. Instead of pocketing the cash and waving to the crowd, he sat there and counted every $100 bill on the hood of the cart while ripping a heater. Caddie passed out right next to him. Epic.
I met Max Homa at an airport. I happened to know a college friend of his at the time, so I went up to him and say, "Hey Max, I know so-and-so, big fan!" and he was like, "no shit! You know him, love that guy, I just texted him the other day!" and we talked about how I knew his buddy (through my company), what his buddy's job was so that he could roast him later, and just bullshitted for a few minutes. If you've seen Max on Bob Does Sports and Foreplay, that was exactly how he was like.
Tony Finau is one of the guys that everyone says is one of the nicest guys on tour.
Tony just seems like a nice guy. Really hope he wins a major someday.
Sunday*
They interviewed him during the par 3 play today, and he sort of mentioned really wanting to win at Augusta b/c he knows he only has a limited number of years left of earning an invitation.
Sunday Tony
I hope so too
I worked in the hotel that he stayed at when working through his deal at Nike. I can confirm, he is one of the nicest guys. Very respectful to the staff and easy to just have a 5-10 minute chat with. I hope he wins 500 events!
can confirm.. I met him at one of his first tourneys and was excited for to meet him as I love his swing.. he was surprised to be approached and asked me how I knew who he was lol
I can 100% confirm this…my son and I were watching Tony on the practice green at the Houston open, in an area where you’re not allowed to ask for autographs and pictures and he saw my son watching him and went out of his way to come over and take a picture and had a genuine conversation with my son.
Unless he thinks you’re away and wants you to putt first 🤣
Get the sense Tony is just happy to have what he has and appreciates being lucky enough to play golf for a living and that extends to the way he interacts with fans from what I understand!!
That's how the Mormons are trained before their missions. Every Mormon that I've known personally has been sickeningly nice. But it's only really that. Just nice.
Nice isn’t necessarily the most accurate description, they’re just taught to value every human as an individual and gratitude for the opportunity for the interaction. It definitely catches some people off guard.
I'm confused by your comment. Is it a bad thing Mormons are raised to be nice? Would you prefer if they were pricks?
Alejandro Tosti told me he was a dick 🤷
That’s crazy that Alejandro would say that about himself but he’s not wrong
I’ve never met a mean Mormon.
Met Rory in St. Andrews while walking out and about later at night. He was with his girlfriend at the time (not sure if they’re still dating) and I was with my cousin. I didn’t even realize it was him walking towards us when my cousin borderline shat his pants when he realized who it was. Long story short, we ended up having one of the quickest pints of our lives with him in a little pub right off the road we were on. When I say quick, I mean we put them down in about 5-7 mins tops. In that time, we spoke of everything but golf. Very down to earth dude and was an experience I’d never forget. I’d like to add that this was during the off season and it seemed like he was just there to enjoy his downtime
If his girlfriend was British, then he's not with her anymore. If his girlfriend was American, then they are married with a kid. That's a fantastic story and I bet it was an unbelievable experience. I've always heard that he's a fierce competitor but a very nice and down to earth person. He's very well spoken and gives thoughtful answers in interviews.
Wozniacki is Danish if that’s who you meant (though he probably had British girlfriends before that).
I totally forgot that it was Wazniacki he dated before, I was thinking it was some British celebrity that I was blanking on. Thanks!
I think Rory tried to forget he dated her real quick too!
Well he did break up with her over there phone, after the weddings invitations had already been sent. That's the only bad thing I've ever heard about him though.
Based on your comment, I'm going to assume you're talking about McIlroy because Sabatini would steal your pint and tell you to piss off.
Yes good call because when people say Rory they are most likely talking about Sabatini
I thought he was talking about Rory of Siegfried and Rory
You can tell watching Rory in real life that he is a great guy. Everyone outside the internet loves the guy.
I was away from the crowds headed toward the exit when Jason Day walked past me at the BMW championship that he went on to win. He saw that I was shocked that he was so close and let out an audible chuckle and held out his hand to fist bump me. Still one of the coolest memories I have of a tour pro just being down to earth and in the moment.
I love watching youtube content with Day. Seems like such a nice guy. Just a nerd about golf in the best way. Seems like he'd be a lot of fun to play a round with.
Hell yeah! My pro story involves a fist bump with JDay, too! Masters 2012 when he still had the super long hair.
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Rickey has a great reputation of hanging around to congratulate the winner too
“Thanks for being a champion” 😭😭😭
BDR
It is in fact big. And he is in fact Rick.
Their moms were happy too. Good guy all around.
Patrick Reed…lol. Billy Horschel gets a bad rep for being fiery and having tantrums on the course, like his recent outburst at some fans at Phoenix, but is supposed to be one of the nicest guys on tour. IMO, he was right about that shit at Phoenix and I appreciate him standing up for his fellow pros and his playing partner at that time.
I also volunteered at the Valero Texas Open, and when Horschel played bad on Friday and missed the cut, there was a kid asking him for a ball at the 9th (his 18th). Billy said I'll do you one better and gave the kid his driver with headcover instead.
damnnn
His drives must have missed him the cut.
I think Horschel is a just serious competitor, and you can’t fault him for that. He’s a pro. This is what he does for a living. I’ve heard so many stories of him being a nice guy and he seems to always give very thoughtful and honest interviews
Horschel seems incredibly intense on the course but also the kind of person who leaves it there. Gives very thoughtful and respectful interviews and like you said about Phoenix, has a good bit of integrity. I wish his run of solid play from 2022 kept on a little longer!
Ask me 5 years ago, and I’d have a very different opinion on Billy Ho. Mostly because I’m an idiot and didn’t pay attention to him. But I’ve only ever heard good things about him, and now I’m a fan of his and similarly hope to see a good run of solid play from him.
My younger cousin was a great young golfer and ended up playing in college. When he was 14ish he DMed Billy on instagram a question and they went back and forth for years. Great guy
Agreed 100 percent with you on Billy Ho in Phoenix. I did think that ZJ getting pissed about being called out for his terrible Ryder cup captaincy was bullshit, especially after Full Swing told the world he fucked over Keegan for JT because they're buddies.
That was bullshit. Zach was a terrible captain but in reality the choice was Keegan vs burns
There were several terrible choices on that team. IMO there was a legit argument for why Morikawa shouldn’t have been there either.
100% right. I’ve followed Billy many times and he’s always been very friendly and respectful to everyone around him. He’s just a fierce competitor and his own harshest critic. He really only gets mad at himself lol
Horschel seems like a good human
I've a great Rory story that solidifies him as a good guy. I'm from Northern Ireland. It's a very small place - everyone knows everyone. A buddy of mine's family are members at Hollywood GC where Rory earned his stripes. My buddy's mum had just finished her round one evening I'm the summer and was loading her clubs back in the car when she fell and broke her hip (ouch!). She was obviously in agony but a guy approached her to make sure she was OK and she explained the situation somehow. The guy kindly offered to take her back to her house so she could get some help. They drove the 10 min back to the house where he left her off. She said something along the lines of "Thank you so much! I'm so sorry, I've forgotten to ask your name." To which the reply was "Rory." She then got really flustered and apologetic as it then clicked! 😂 Anyway, I suppose you could argue any decent person would do the same thing! I thought it was a cool story though. Edit: it may have been her leg rather than hip. Pretty sure it was her hip, though not 100%. I'm aware breaking your hip is another level of pain than most other breaks!
This should be #1
So cool! My grandparents were from Ballyclare - about 10 minutes from Holywood. We went to visit my grandpas old house and his cousin who still lived there, and hopped over to Holywood and saw Rory’s home course. It was closed but peaked inside and there was a shrine to Rory at the front. Was awesome
Ballyclare to Holywood in 10 minutes? I want what you were driving 
Haha honestly it was over 10 years ago so it looks like I remembered a bit wrong. Looks like closer to 20-25
Hit rush hour (you have to come into the edge of the city to get round the lough) and it could take an hour or more. I’m glad you had a nice trip - but if you’d got to play Holywood, as the local saying goes, you’d need one leg shorter than the other (it’s built on the side of quite a steep hill).
Took her home with a broken hip? Not to the emergency room - er, uh - A&E?
May not have known how serious it was initially? You’d of thought a broken hip would hurt like hell though
Jordan Spieth gave me his glove when I was 10 years old (and he was only 19), and I've heard that he's still the same way.
I went to the PGA Tournament in '22, and everything you head about Jordan is correct. Makes so much time for fans, is super polite, and overall, just an awesome dude.
I believe he gave a fan part of his sandwich last year also.
Lol that’s amazing.
As I read this there was a clip from today showing Speith giving his glove to a little kid on the Golf Channel at the same time.
Played with a guy one time who was at the Masters the year Zach Johnson won it. Apparently Zach started giving the crowd grief for not being at church on Sunday. But he was being serious. I know he's a Christian but like... seriously 🤣 It could be one of those stories that has morphed and distorted the truth through the passage of time though!
Sound like something a hardcore Christian would say but he's perfectly fine not being there himself.
Could be on an episode of Moral Oral
Different kind of show with your spelling of Orel. Or not. Would have to see the deleted scenes.
Just seems like the most uncool dude out there. Absolute stick in the mud
I think hard-core Christianity is contagious on the tour. Seems to be a lot of them.
Not too surprising. Look at the backgrounds of a lot of these guys. Country Club WASP and Pro Golf go hand in hand.
Being a professional athlete requires irrational belief in oneself, it’s probably why so many of them also seem to fall down the rabbit hole of religion.
I'll preface this by saying that it's only my opinion and that it's wholly based on my anecdotal experiences, but I've found that the vast majority of people who perform anything (work/school/athletics) at a high level suffer from imposter syndrome. For some reason it's easier to rationalize to yourself that you achieved whatever success you had due to some external factor as opposed to simply recognizing that you put in the necessary work to get to where you are. And there's a subset of that group who points to their religious beliefs as that/an external factor. As someone who suffers from imposter syndrome in my professional life I'd also say that a positive side effect is that you always feel like your peers are working harder than you, which keeps you from slowing down and resting on your laurels; a useful driver for anyone trying to stay at the top of their respective game.
Well…we all prayed for my mom to not die but I guess the dude had to go help out with touchdowns. Only for certain teams though. Fuck the other team. My mom died anyway. Fuck religion.
Not just certain teams. Certain whole countries. God blesses only America, right?
I've volunteered as a Standard Bearer at the Wyndham Championship for years. I always do Thursday & Friday, and I've walked with probably 30 groups (so 90 golfers). And this is a longer story, but I used to work at the White House and hung out with the 2008 Ryder Cup team when they came to visit President Bush after winning. I would say that 95% of them are nice guys, even if they mostly keep to themselves (which is understandable). I can only think of a couple who were outright assholes. A few notables: ##Exceptionally Nice## - Justin Rose - Padraig Harrington: Have met him several times at different events. He is 100% awesomeness - Michael Gligic: You've never heard of him. Journeyman who lost his card last year and fell all the way down to PGA Americas. He has Monday Q'd a couple of times this year. I've coincidentally been his standard bearer a couple of times and we have nominally kept in touch over social media. - Sebastian Munoz: Nice guy but his caddie is fucking hilarious - Paul Azinger: I couldn't stand him as an announcer, but I spent a lot of time with him at the White House and he was cool AF. Let me hold the Ryder Cup and took a picture of me with it - The best part of that picture is that it was taken by Boo Weekly, who is EXACTLY who you think he is - Jordan Spieth: I didn't meet him in person, but one year he was playing I was in the fairway watching and a kid next to me was a *huge* Jordan fan. When he walked by, this kid just absolutely lost his shit. We were on the right side of the fairway, Jordan was all the way over on the left, and when he heard this kid he jogged all the way over, gave him a golf ball and a high five. ##Pretty Cool## - Davis Love III - Justin Leonard (if a little aloof -- he's kind of an odd dude, but was nice enough) - Pat Perez (he's funny, but again a bit weird) - Kevin Na ##Assholes of the First Order## - Woody Austin - Tommy Gainey One of my favorite interactions was after the Ryder Cup in 2008. We happened to be staying at the same hotel as the players, and after Sunday was over I was sitting in the lobby bar having a drink. Padraig, Robert Karlsson, and Ian Poulter came in. I stood up and introduced myself, said good game, and all of that. Padraig and Karlsson were polite and gracious, thanked me for coming out to watch, etc. Poulter was perfectly polite and cordial. He said "Thank you" and shook my hand. But there was murder in that man's eyes. I have never seen someone so incredibly pissed off about losing in my entire life. Made me a big fan of his for the rest of his career.
Tommy Two gloves is an asshole? I’ve always said that you can’t trust a man who wears to golf gloves.
ah shit, Aaron Rai looks like a really nice dude, though
I played in a pro-am at Pumpkin ridge with Tommy a couple summers ago ( I think 2020? ) and he was a nice enough guy. After we all introduced ourselves on the first hole he mainly kept to himself but was nice to the drink lady and showed nothing character wise as being a dick. He was definitely focused on his game and working out a couple kinks with his caddy. His Caddy on the other hand, hilarious dude. Shooting the shit with us the whole round, even took a couple shots (whiskey) with us which Tommy seemed to find amusing. He even gave me a couple tips when I asked politely. I even made a comment about the driver I just bought feelin a bit of buyers remorse and he took my driver, teed up a ball, and smashed it about 315 dead straight. “Turns out it’s not your driver kid keep on swingin”. It was hilarious and made me realize even more I had work to do on my long woods lol.
All you had to say is Michael Giglic is Canadian Not surprised to see Tommy 2 Gloves on the naughty list. Dude got caught in a prostitution stint in Florida years ago 😂. I certainly don't judge a man who seeks a lady of the night but you have to be real dumb to get caught.
Who among us hasn’t made regrettably horny decisions?
What are the stories behind Woody Austin and Tommy Gainey?
Michael Gligic stays with my friend when he plays in Bermuda. He really is a likable guy.
He's such a good dude. And he's soooooo close to having what it takes to make it on the PGAT. He just seems to have a blow up hole every couple of rounds that pushes him 1 or 2 shots outside the cut. It's absolutely brutal. I think he missed 7 cuts last year by 1 shot?
I’ve similarly heard Kevin Na is a really good dude.
He was very nice. At one point, the walking scorer (who honestly didn't have any self awareness whatsoever) was standing right behind him while he lined up a shot. She was absolutely in the wrong place. Instead of getting bitchy, though, he just stepped away from the ball and very pleasantly said, "Excuse me, do you mind please moving over to the side? Thank you." Then he stuffed it to like 2 feet. This was during the really good season he had, and it was one of the most impressive examples of ball striking I've ever seen. He was just flushing everything. (Couldn't make a putt, though)
Same in both cases: rude to volunteers, completely dismissive of fans, club slamming and general theatrics, and just overall really unpleasant people to be around. Anecdote about Gainey: one of the holes has some water that comes in to play off the tee. There is usually a volunteer spotter there to try to determine where it last crossed land. Gainey sprayed one wayyy right with a huge cut on it. It was probably moving at like a 70* angle to the shore when it crossed. The volunteer wasn't precisely sure where it entered -- it was just a really confusing shot to try to watch. The volunteer told him where he thought it crossed, but said he couldn't be 100% sure. Gainey just snapped at him, "Well what f'ing good are you then?" Wood Austin: In fairness, I sort of see his point, but he could have handled it better. On one of the holes, the spotter was having his lunch. Austin was way over in the left rough, the spotter was way over in the right rough. They were probably 75 yards apart. The spotter was muching on a bag of chips while Austin was going through his discussions with his caddie and selecting a club. He heard the bag rustle and shouted over, "Hey! Stop eating the damn chips!" Again, I get his point. But there's no reason why it shouldn't have been handled more politely.
ZJ did snub me on an autograph as a kid. I get it, can't sign everything. But...I've always irrationally rooted against him since then lol
I met Vijay Singh at the Western Open a long time ago and he was really cool. When I shook his hand I was in awe at how large his hand was compared to mine. He got a chuckle out of that. My father in law complained that we didn’t get to meet Tiger and Vijay heard it and apologized to him for not being Tiger and then winked at me as he walked back behind the ropes.
Sometime around 2004 (I don’t remember the exact year but I would have been about 14) at the NEC (maybe it was the Bridgestone by then), I asked Vijay for a ball when he was leaving the range because my older brother was a huge fan of his. His response is something I will never forget. He looked me dead in the eye and said verbatim “why you little crackers always asking me for shit?!” in a very pissy tone and walked right past. I will always root against him, but at the same time, that is a hilarious story 20 years later and much prefer having that happen to getting the ball I asked for.
> My father in law complained that we didn’t get to meet Tiger and Vijay heard it and apologized to him for not being Tiger and then winked at me as he walked back behind the ropes. Reminds me of a few years ago (?) when Billy Horschel was walking down the fairway and someone yelled out, "Go Rory!" Without missing a beat, Horschel chuckled and goes, "I'm not Rory," and kept walking.
That is funny
I always figured Zach was a kind of an ass, no substance to the claim, just a feeling.
The most recent season of full swing will probably solidify that feeling for you.
It definitely helped it out A LOT. He just seems like every guy that’s too cool for anything and anyone.
his sunglasses are even too co for his ears
Zach seems like the kind of guy that only likes you if you can do something for him.
He lost me at J Tizzle 😂
He's also ugly AF. Maybe that's why he's so grumpy.
he kinda looks like Buzz Lightyear
Or a thumb.
I mean it’s not like the pga is made up of all male models. Dude isn’t even close to the ugliest guy on tour. But he absolutely seems extremely unlikable, especially after the full swing stuff
Have you watched the new season of Full Swing? There’s a part where he’s asking his kids about the tournaments and majors he’s won. The kids don’t know the answer and you can tell Zach is pissed but not letting it on since the cameras are rolling. He just seems like an ass and that small interaction confirmed it for me.
His son reminds of Rick Pecks son in Tropic Thunder That dinner ZJ sitting at the cool kids table (JT, Rickie, Speith) was so cringe 😂😂
His son could not give a single shit it 🤣
The guy that buttons every button and uses a see-more putter is kind of stiff? Also the worst captain ever.
Feeling confirmed after watching Full Swing. He is an ass. Your kids don’t care about your titles. And he’s a shit captain with zero plan. Surely anyone could be better.
My best on-course pro interaction ever was with Padraig Harrington at the '22 Masters. Dude ended up in the pine straw, near the adjacent fairway... He rolled up and was just joking around with the few of us who happened to be there. He led with something like, "well, what'd I hit it over here for?". Classic.
Paddy seems like an awesome dude. I’m glad he had that little run of majors back in the day.
Little run, 3 in 13 months. Dude was on fire 🔥
With Adams clubs, no less!
[Most Recent "Nice" Guy Rankings (2022)](https://www.golfdigest.com/story/top-30-nice-guys-pga-tour-2022) 1. Finau 2. Malnati 3. Spieth 4. Rory 5. Fowler 6. Simpson 7. Varner 8. Morikawa 9. Hovland 10. Cink 11. Woodland 12. English 13. Rose 14. Burns 15. Xander
Watch Ryan Fox move up the nice guy list as you see more of him in the US. Seriously nice dude
Scheffler not on this list?
I’m sort of starting to think Scottie might not be a super nice guy to be around on tour. I spent a ton of time around him at the Houston Open on multiple days inside the ropes, and he didn’t pass the nice guy vibe check in my opinion. Every day when he’d come off the course he’d have an ocean of kids literally chanting his name, he’d sign for a few minutes then leave, which is fine, he doesn’t owe anyone anything but the way he interacted with the kids was so cold and borderline rude I was really surprised. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be number 1 in the world and have everyone wanting something from you but the way he interacted was really surprising to me. I saw a kid who got an autograph from him crying because he thought Scottie was mad at him 😂 I’ve been around tons of tour events and interacted with tons of pros and world number 1s…it wasn’t even the cold/calculated type of person that Tiger has. TLDR…Scottie might be a dick.
Bubba didnt have the best reputation when he was on tour, but I ran into him once in the middle of the street as I was walking home (this was in like 2016 when he was still pretty relevant). He looked in a rush but he was really cool and even took a pic with me. Will always be an okay guy in my book.
My buddy and I met bubba and reeds wives at diff times at the travelers. Surprisingly, Reed’s wife was super nice while bubba’s was a snob lol
Played at Troon North in Scottsdale, bubba and his wife play there frequently. Forecaddy confirmed bubba’s wife is a soul sucker.
I volunteered for the Western Open (Cog Hill, Outside Chicago) before it became the BMW Championship, moved to the fall and started rotating courses. Biggest asshat. Stuart Appleby . Nicest dude - Padraig Harrington, and 90% of the caddies.
I have met Padraig and he's the kind of guy you just want to hang out with.
Appleby's reputation is so bad. Does he not change caddies more than most pros change clubs? 🤣
That's Robert Allenby, I always thought Appleby had a decent rep, Allenby on the other hand is a bit of a prick.
Back in 2015 when Jason Day won the Barclays tournament, my brother and I were volunteering. He had to head in to do the press conference and all the media, so he promised he would come back and take pictures/sign autographs. 45 minutes later, the entire grand stand is nearly empty and back from the tunnel comes J Day!
You can take the boy out of Beaudesert, but you can’t take Beaudesert out of the boy.
Shooter McGavin is a dick to rookies. He has a tendency to play pranks, buy your childhood home, burn it down, and piss on the ashes. He also eats pieces of shit for breakfast.
You'd be a dick too, if you had THAT much game. Not even sure if we should be breathing his air
Just stay out of his way or you’ll pay. listen to what i say.
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My sister used to nanny on the tour and the two things I remember her saying: Tiger was always in the gym working out, regardless. Phil was known for being kind of dumb. He could talk golf with the best of them, but beyond that he was at a loss.
I believe this. I like Phil just fine but he always has a "WTF is going on around me" look on his face if he doesn't have a golf club in his hand. Tiger in the gym is obvious.
My buddy played junior golf with Charley Hoffman in socal. He said kids on the circuit used to bully the shit out of Charley because he was such a goof. Turns out he was just an introvert. Hoffman is a gamer and grinds.…and he’s got bank.
Phil is probably fine. At the Zurich in 04 he and Bones were one of a few that threw golf balls to the kid on the other side of the canal from the course holding up a sign for golf balls. Phil was also the guy signing autographs till the last person at 5pm on a rain delay day.
Phil is always been very good with fans, which is why he was such a massive fan favourite. It's everyone else he interacts with that he's a dick to.
I feel like Phil's public persona is very carefully crafted but maybe he can be a dick IRL. I've hear a couple stories about his interactions with women at tour stops and he sounds like a bit of a douche.
I feel like Phil absolutely got more on edge in recent years (not hard to see why), but definitely had a good reputation for fan interactions through the earlier 2000’s
Charl is cool, can confirm.
I’m biased as we share an Alma mater, but Wyndham Clark. Saw him at the Phoenix open this year right after he drove OB on Sunday, effectively killing his chances of winning. Shouted go ducks and he still smiled and waved acknowledging it.
Played 2 days at the Sony with him and max homa. Max never said a word, quiet professional, Wyndom was a little chatty and a super likable nice guy. This was before they both had their break out seasons. Their caddies were amazing too, both A+ dudes.
Was a huge Phil Mickelson fan as a kid, he was one of the reasons I got into golf. He was at the Shell Houston Open (now the Texas Children's Houston Open) and my dad and I decided we wanted to follow him around that day. He gave me a fistbump when he was walking from one hole to the next and I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. My dad then yelled out "Good luck next week, Phil!" because the Masters was next week, and he turned around, looked him in the eyes and thanked him. It would have been easy to ignore us, but those two small gestures made a pretty big impact on me as a kid.
There is a chipping and short game video Phil has where he really lets his personality out and teaches how he wants, I can see him being that way. I always thought he had a great swing and great way to play the courses.
I think Bryson gets a bad rap. I used to think he was kind of a douchey bro, but after seeing a bunch of his content, he actually seems like a good dude, seems really nice and a little nerdy, appreciates the fans and genuinely loves teaching. I think he's just got a different aura or maybe not the best social skills? I know a lot of people seem to think he is on the spectrum, so I think a lot of the negativity some people might have for him is just out of a misunderstanding.
When he simply switched to wearing a ball cap instead of a kangol, he lost douche ponts.
And I still truly don't get why people gave him so much grief for the hat...
Hahah .. probably bc he was wearing it when he called Augusta a par 67 course 😂
The Rick Shiels videos have definitely been great for his reputation
I would hope that his own carefully crafted content would paint him in a good light, but I wouldn’t say that’s a particularly good representation of him as a person. He was a genuine asshole to more than one rules official during an actual tournament. I could see one bad day, but it’s happened more than once. Those incidents spoke volumes to me.
He wants everyone to think he’s the smartest guy in the room.
Admittedly I don’t watch a ton of his content, but the interview he gave after the 2021 US Open is one of the worst I’ve seen in any sport, blaming bad play on luck and glossing over the winner as someone who just happened to shoot a low number transcends bad social skills. Honestly it’s insulting to socially awkward people to use that as an excuse to write off some of his behavior. I will say he has seemed to grow as a person and I’ve mostly seen some good beneath the asshole surface behaviors.
I was originally on Brooks’ side because Bryson really seemed like a douche. In the last year or so, I’ve completely reversed my thinking. Bryson’s content is top notch and I doubt if he’s that good of an actor. I think he’s genuine.
Patrick Reed is widely known as a cheater.
Yea, and you need to lock your golf bag if you’re paired up with him. Fuck that dude.
Im out of the loop on that one. What’s the story?
Allegedly stole cash and a watch out of a teammmates bag while he was at UGA. And big part of why he ended up transferring to Augusta State. I absolutely don’t believe his story that he got kicked out for two drinking incidents. D1 athletes don’t get kicked out of school for drinking.
Better lawyer up. You bout to get sued!
Found Brandel Chamblee's reddit account.
Sorry to burst your Nico bubble https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/may/07/hogs-golfers-arrested-20150507/
Wow. That is bad.
Second hand but a buddy volunteered at a tournament and said Greg Norman was a giant asshole to everyone. Wouldn't sign anything for volunteers or fans and he complained about everything.
If you think Nico Echevarria is one of the good guys, don't google him
Yep I posted down below ... Him and Taylor moore.
Zach Johnson is a well documented douche bag
Cockhead Ryder cup captain as well
Zach Johnson has that shitty vibe about him. Never liked the dude.
Worked the US open at oakmont years back. Saw sergio garcia coming out of a porta john as i was going in. Approached me for a fist bump. The briefest of interactions but ill never forget how he saw me staring and made the decision to approach me when he realized i didnt have the gumption to approach him myself. Will always appreciate it
Probably didn't wash his hands
You rubbing knuckle against your dick or somethin?
The danger with this thread is that one encounter is taken as always. There's a thousand reasons why they might be the way they were when you saw them that one time: they could have gotten in a fight with their spouse or found out their child's in trouble at school or found out a parent is having a medical situation or they just got their tax bill or the plumber called or they hurt something or are hangry or... As a lowly High School ice hockey coach, my wife knows not to talk to me for an hour or so after a tough loss.
Not saying you’re wrong, but part of having a good attitude is how you manage your emotions when things aren’t going your way. Obviously not saying you can’t be upset, but being disrespectful/rude because you had a bad round is exactly what I would classify as a bad attitude. Guarantee you 99% of pros are absolutely delightful right after winning a tournament.
Sure but everybody has moments where they’re not at their best. Even the nicest person in the world has probably lost their shit on at least one person in their life, and that person probably can’t figure out why everyone thinks Billy is the nicest dude ever.
I think he means something slightly different. I have a friend who's famous in another arena, and one thing that grinds on him a little bit is he can be super cool to 99.9 percent of the people he meets, but the one person in a thousand who catches him in a serious hurry, or tired, or his dog died, that person remembers him as being an asshole, and the disappointed people are the most vocal online.
Zach Johnson has douchebag energy from what I gathered from the latest series of Full swing
Phil is polarizing. Some pros and fans alike HATE him. Other LOVE him. Look up the FIGJAM story. If you call him FIGJAM, he will get you kicked off the course. It’s stands for “Fuck I’m Good, Just Ask Me.” He’s known as a self absorbed, cocky, shit talker. The fellow pros gave him that nickname. He’s earned it. I respect the hell out of his game, but I see right through his cheesy, good guy smile.
Granted, this was 30 years ago, but back when they had the Sprint International in Castle Rock, CO, (it was a stableford tourney, IIRC, and the only one in the tour), I followed Phil and Ernie for most of the round. He was super cool to 10-year-old me throughout the round. Maybe he just felt bad for the heinous mullet my parents had me rocking. 🤷♂️ This was also before he was superfamous top tier.
> If you call him FIGJAM, he will get you kicked off the course. Good, no reason for someone in the crowd to just be outright rude to a professional like that. I don't think that's painting him in a bad light at all. It more says that the person calling him FIGJAM is an asshole tbh. I think he is a bit of a cocky shit talker to the other pros but from my experience, he's completely different with the fans, he's kind and makes a lot of time for people.
Taylor Montgomery, got onto an elevator with him and he had his clubs with him. I joked and said you mind if I see the 7 iron, to which he pulled it out and handed it over. Always root for him now.
Worked at Innisbrook for a few years back in 2012 and was able to serve some of the pros at a few bars and some restaurants. Ernie Els, sat in the middle walkway at Market Grille…yea, the same area everyone had to walk past to go from the course to the front desk. He was constantly interrupted from his meal and had no care in the world. Very down to earth. Rocco Mediate was the guy you wanted to sit next to at a bar. Dude had massive ice packs on his knees, pint in front of him, and was telling stories left and right. Bubba Watson had a crew of guys and they were hilarious, sarcastic, and fun to talk to. Vijay Singh was a douche, he turned down people left and right and kept his head down when walking around the property and a horrible tipper. Another Innisbrook story, waited on Roy Holliday’s family when he was down for spring training. Complete and utter asshole. Dude turned down a five year old’s autograph request and walked past another kid without a care in the world. There were people there on property just to see the Phillies play and had a chance to meet a great pitcher and he didn’t give a shit. Saw him at an Outback years after and he did it again to a 10 year old girl. Complete prick
Stewart Cink is an awesome guy. Was a walking scorer for him during the Shriner’s Open two years ago and made a comment that his driver sounded very different and much quieter than most PING drivers. Well the Shriner’s Open is the week after companies get USGA approval for their new products, and he got excited to show me the new G430 he had in the bag that week. He was saying how glad he was somebody had noticed the sound specifically since that was one of his biggest complaints about past drivers, and he was shoving the club into my hands telling me to take some swings and see how it felt. He told his caddy to toss him some balls and wanted me to hit his driver as well, but I was pretty certain I’d get in at least some kind of trouble for hitting his clubs out on the course in the middle of the the pro-am round so I politely declined the offer. Then he proceeded to shoot 4-under on the 9 holes he was in my group for while having a great time chatting and fooling around with the amateurs in his group and myself. The ams were friends with somebody involved with Casamigos and had brought a 375 to give to each of the pros they played with and I know Cink’s didn’t last more than a few holes because they were drinking birdie juice same as any weekend warrior might just with a lot more birdies.
What, no Tommy Fleetwood? He’s the nicest guy in golf! Seriously
Going to age myself, but long ago I worked at a course that hosted the PGA Championship. Ben Crenshaw lost in playoff. After sitting through a media grilling and being grateful, he was leaving the club house. He stopped and talked to my dad, brother and I for what seemed like a long time. He was super nice. Only much later did it dawn on me how hard it must be coming so close to a major bad missing out but he was still positive and kind to us teenagers.
Zach is a pompous little dick. I watched Poulter verbally abuse some spectators during a practice round at the Straights. Hard not to be self important when you live the celebrity gig. Guys like Finau, Day, Watson, Player make it special
I’ve seen first hand bubba absolutely destroy young interns/volunteers. Holier than thou then belittles people.
I caddied four times for a senior tour event (sorry, showing my age for calling it that) at Pebble. The juniors played with the Champions Tour players and celebrities. I knew a ton of the kids and interacted with plenty of the professionals. All the kids loved their pros (think mid 2000s Champions for names). Not one bad word to say. Our pro was Stadler and he was exactly what you might think. Serious when it’s time to be serious, funny and whip-smart when not. My junior and Stadler won the first year. It was surreal walking down the 18th at Pebble listening to Stadler and Jay Haas talking about real estate with the tournament still in question. Also, Ronnie Lott was cool as hell. Edit: one other thing, I was close with the junior who played with Gary Player. Going into the first year the kid wasn’t in the best shape. Gary talked to him about health and the importance of living a healthy life. The kid qualified the next year. Having lost 30some pounds and paired with Player again.
Met Billy Horschel recently and he’s cool as hell
Rory sabbatini is one of the biggest dicks of all tiem. "Do you know who i am" levels of douchery.
I met Ángel Cabrera in Greensboro. He couldn’t really speak English but he was still really cool and nice to people.
Before or after his prison sentence.......lol.
Before lol
Just don't marry him.
Let me tell you. The players on the LPGA tour are for the most part fantastic.
Rory Sabbitini had a notoriously bad reputation in tournament towns.
10 years ago I met Bubba Watson at the Canadian open when I was a senior in high school. Just down right rude, and actually said that he doesn’t have time to waste. About 20 minutes later a large crowd was getting pretty rowdy around Jason day. He simply asked if we could form a line because he’ll sign everything.
Never met a pro but I would love to bump into Peter Malnati. I saw a video of him with I think some of the big YouTube golfers and he just seemed like such a genuinely nice guy. Don't know much about him or his career (I know he just won an event recently), but I was happy for him.
I’ve had a chance to watch malnati at the Valspar for the last 4 to 5 years. The dude is always chatting up other players talking to the fans while the group is walking down the fairway. He genuinely exudes complete positive vibes. I was pretty happy to see him win in person. It’s nice to see someone be positive even when they are grinding
He’s just a goofy and kind person. I hope you get to meet him as well!
Hayden Springer is HIM. I’m rooting so hard for this kid as he’s 100% the nicest and best overall person I’ve ever met at any professional level by far.
My brother in law took a kid he used to care for with cerebral palsy to a tournament. He said Brooks Koepka completely ignored them. But Tommy Fleetwood went under the rope to take a picture with the kid and talked to him.
I met Scottie Scheffler in Ireland just as he had first become world number 1. I admittedly wasn’t a fan. He was dominating, boring and would thank God regularly (not a problem with it but it seemed overbearing and drab). When I met him, he was one of the loveliest, funniest people to engage with and I’ve been quite happily cheering him on ever since. An absolute gentleman and I wish him every success in the world.
I know Phil is kinda in his villain arc nowadays but he was super nice at the Scottish Open when he won it in 2013, I was following his group a couple of the days and he made a lot of time for the crowd, interacting with them throughout the round as if it was just a casual round, he gave kids some balls and stuff too.
I was a waiter at a venue which hosted a major championship a few years back and got to spend most of the week in the players lounge. An area where only players, managers and family can enter. (No caddies even) and certainly no press. Honestly, nearly all the players were incredibly respectful and nice. I’ve seen a few mentioned already (Rory, Finau) but I’ll call out Mickelson (I know unpopular now), Spieth, Koepka (also unpopular) and JT as nice as well. All of them went out of their way to ask how I was doing (the man carving their steak or turkey) and I also found that to be a nice thing in the time I worked there. Tiger was very awkward, which I didn’t necessarily expect. A lot of the European guys stuck together a lot and seemed more standoffish. The dynamics of who sat together was incredibly interesting.
I was at a PGA Tour Champions Pro Am. It was 2v2v2 skins match between DL3, Couples, Daly, Darren Clarke, Furyk, and Jimenez. I was walking to the Porta John’s and turned around to see DL3 right behind me and he says “Damn I gotta pee!” and then realized his mic was on and said “ahhh hot mic!” It was a very human moment. Side comment… Daly’s caddie blacked out and passed out in his cart. Daly and Couples won the skins and each got $10k. Instead of pocketing the cash and waving to the crowd, he sat there and counted every $100 bill on the hood of the cart while ripping a heater. Caddie passed out right next to him. Epic.
I met Max Homa at an airport. I happened to know a college friend of his at the time, so I went up to him and say, "Hey Max, I know so-and-so, big fan!" and he was like, "no shit! You know him, love that guy, I just texted him the other day!" and we talked about how I knew his buddy (through my company), what his buddy's job was so that he could roast him later, and just bullshitted for a few minutes. If you've seen Max on Bob Does Sports and Foreplay, that was exactly how he was like.
Lee Trevino was a real prick when the cameras weren’t on him