Category Archives: PGA Players

“I’m not running for President; I’m a Golfer” — Matt Every

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Professional Golfer, Matt Every, is leading the Sony open after the third round but unfortunately that is not the big story hovering over Every.  The big story is how he handled himself and what he said in an interview with Kelly Tilghman of the Golf Channel. 

To make a long story short, back in 2010 Every was at the John Deere Classic and was suspended for 3 months. He was suspended because he was arrested for possession of marijuana (he pleaded no contest and charges were later dropped). So as part of her interview, Tilghman, asked about that time.  Instead of just saying something like it was a learning experience and I’ve moved on, Every just went on and on saying some really stupid (for lack of a better term) things.  For example, “Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don’t smoke marijuana. I know that’s probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it’s the truth.”

When I saw this interview, I felt sorry for Every because I assumed his “management” had done him a dis-service by not giving him any PR training on how to answer questions.  Some online chatter blamed Tilghman for asking a personal question but what many may not have realized is that Matt Every was on a Golf Channel “reality” show called The Big Break and they ask lots of personal questions to get the back story on the contestants. Tilghman did her job and Every should have known how to answer quickly and move on.

He lost my sympathy vote the next day during the press conference. When asked about the interview with Tilghman, Every went on and on again and at one point he said ” I’m not running for president; I’m a golfer. So I’m really not trying to, you know, piss anyone off.”  The word that he excluded in his statement was “just” (I’m just a golfer) but it was implied (in my opinion).

When someone says (with all seriousness/not joking) “I’m just a [fill in the blank]” it is a cop-out. They are basically removing any ownership or responsibility for their own words and actions.  That just doesn’t cut it for me; especially with professional athletes because they are role models and so at a minimum should think before they speak.

Hopefully Every will learn from this experience but I will not be cheering for him to win the Sony open. I’m cheering for Jeff Maggert, the co-leader after the third round, not just because I am not a fan of Every’s but because I am a fan of Maggert’s. After all, he is one of my golf fantasy picks.

Golf pundits all a “Twitter” about Jason Gore

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Golf is often given the bad rap of being a traditional “old boys” sport so I am not surprised by that the fact the big story today is that Jason Gore was given a sponsors exemption because of Twitter — Golf fans are not so old school after all. No surprise to a fan like me!

If you don’t know the score…back on January 6, Jason Gore sent out a tweet that he was signing up for the Northern Trust Open (Feb 14 to 19) qualifying event and tweeted he’d be “stoked” to get a sponsor’s invitation.  His fans delivered with a twitter campaign that filled the Northern Trust Twitter page with support for Gore.  Just 6 days later, Northern Trust sent out a tweet that Jason Gore is awarded an exemption.

Why I am writing about it? Because my profession is online marketing and it was fun to see how all this played out.  By the way, it didn’t hurt to have media outlets like the Golf Channel commentators talking about the twitter campaign on TV over the last few days (before Northern Golf make a decision) and giving it even more exposure.  Northern Trust got it right — They listened to the golf fans and gave them what they wanted — an exemption for Gore.  Now, Northern Trust also got what every company loves — lots of free press! And, it’s good press.

But the most important outcome is that a guy who is ranked 643 in the world and did not qualify for the PGA Tour this year got his wish thanks to his fans and twitter.

Phil Mickelson: My Favorite PGA Player

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You know you are a big fan when you can remember where you were when a player had something big happen in their career and I can remember being at my mother’s home watching The Masters in 2004 and hoping Phil Mickelson might finally win.

Watching it was nerve-racking and I actually felt on-edge because “Lefty” (that’s his nickname) had come so close to winning a major so many times and had not won a major since his career began in 1992.   So in 2004, at that point in his career, he was known as the best player to have never won a major. When he won, I remember feeling actual joy — cheering & clapping & yelling “finally” out loud.  He went on to win two more green jackets (2006  and 2010) and I hope he wins another before his career ends.

By the way, it is not easy to win multiple jackets — Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have four and the legendary Jack Nicklaus has six green jackets. Not many people think anyone will break Jack’s record; especially given the number of young players challenging seasoned pros that have been playing poorly.

So why am I a “Lefty” Fan?  Originally he caught my eye because he was so creative and daring in his sort game (I love to watch him hit a flop shot) and he can be very inconsistent with wild shots of the tee (so that adds drama to his game).  He was the one player during the height of Tiger’s era that really was a “rival” of Tiger’s and that made the game exciting.  Over the years he has not only been entertaining on course but in watching him “off course” (with fans and the press) he just seemed like one of the “good guys.”

In recent years, he has had adversity in his personal life — both his wife and mother were diagnosed with breast cancer (something that hits home for me because my mother had breast cancer) and in 2010 he announced he has psoriatic arthritis.  Sounds awful but he says it is “treatable” and is now a spokesperson on TV and has lent his name to a website, On Course With Phil.

By the way, Callaway Golf sponsors Phil and I guess I am a marketer’s dream because I am a Callaway consumer (so much so that my friends gave me a new Callaway golf bag as a gift). I even have GalCallaway as my user name for Fantasy Golf and Twitter.

So needless to say, I am a huge fan and will be cheering for “Lefty” in 2012.

Fantasy Golf 2012 Starts Today

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This year, for the first time, I have entered a Fantasy Golf League online.  It seems appropriate that this be my first post.  Why?  Well, because it is winter in New England and so I don’t have any “on course” antics to share.  So, I am going to share my golf expectations for how well I will do in the Fantasy Golf League.

My expectation is optimistic – if you are a numbers person, a 7 out of 10 that I will do reasonably well (or will be in the top 10 in the leader board and will win one week sometime this season). Now, I have never participated in a fantasy league. I’m sure those that I am competing against for the weekly, sectional,and year-end grand prize have all kinds of statistics and knowledge they use to pick their predictions; but I will start with just my gut (basically players I know and like to watch or maybe throw in a golfer just because I feel like it)

The first tournament is the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and my guys are:

(1)  Bubba Watson – because he is a lefty, and Phil is not playing. Plus he just had a round of 58 on his home course so I take that as a good sign that he will play well this week.

(2)  Keegan Bradley – because he is from New England and his aunt is Pat Bradley, one of the LPGA’s finest (in her day, won 31 tournaments and is in the Golf Hall of Fame).

(3)  Kevin Na – because he won Justin Timberlake’s tournament last year and I actually like the fact that Justin supports golf as a sport.  Timberlake is the owner of  Mirimichi, an eco-friendly golf course and Callaway Golf just named Timberlake as creative director (and I’m a Callaway fan.) I guess Callaway is hoping he will “bring sexy back” to golf and young fans to Callaway.

(4)  Brendan Steele — to be honest I don’t really know anything about Brendan but I had to pick someone from the list in “group 4” and I recall seeing him play. This is my “what the heck” pick.

Now, you may look at my picks and think to yourself that my optimism is crazy but this is only the first tournament and the field is only 28 players (so many of my favorite players are not in the running because this tournament is for golfers that won a tournament in 2011.)

I have many, many tournaments to improve my predictions.  Check out the next post to find out the results.