Hosted by the hotel on the bucket list of each and every avid golfer, enticing stars to sign up for the fun is as simple as finding a candidate for an extra-priced ticket to the Super Bowl. After thinking about it, Spieth revealed his most memorable organization at the tournament, comprised of country singer Jake Owen, Dustin Johnson and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
“There were several rounds where we spent the whole day talking to each other because we had a game between teams; Pointing to Gretzky for all the T-shirts that appear, he says, “Why are those other people here?It’s a golf tournament”; Jake goes to somebody’s house, they’re going to have a guitar, and he starts betting music and he doesn’t see that we’re looking to play ten yards away from him,” Spieth recalled.
While celebrity star power has never been a problem, in recent years field strength on the professional golfer side of the ledger has waned with schedule and status shifts buoying neighboring tour stops being the primary culprit.
Bygones, the former Bing Crosby Clambake who will tee off at the end of the month, has been chosen to be the timing of 8 flagship PGA Tour events with h8 FedEx Cup themes up for grabs and a field of 80 elite PGA Tour players competing. This brings the purse from $9 million last year to $20 million, with a check for $3. 6 million at the most sensible point in the rankings.
A smaller box required some formatting changes. The celebrities now see two rounds of action and the entire tournament will be played on two golf courses – Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill – with Monterey Peninsula Country Club excluded from the process.
Pro-am participants will also only be culled from the sporting world, so fans will see Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Buster Posey but no Bill Murray or Ray Romano. That decision made by tournament director Steve John was simply a practical way to thin the herd with less spots available due to the halved field. Spieth’s perennial playing partner, the deep tenor voiced “Beachin’” singer, took the news in stride.
“I talked to Jake about it as well and he said, ‘Look, every year I get an invite, I’m surprised and excited and I don’t care. ‘I hope I can play there one day. ” I don’t think he’d need to play there if he was the only one of his friends who’s there regularly,” Spieth explained.
In Fit, AT
The location of the hairpins on the penultimate hole of the iconic par-three course, which sits on a curvy green that is difficult to maintain, greatly affects the technical strategy. In an effort to help raise as much money as possible for charities. Spieth contented himself with revealing his tactics.
“You have to hook it to the right pin because you can get a friendly bounce even if it lands short. The one with the tee raised is nothing more than a new iron or an eight. You’re going to see a lot of birdies on the right pin,” Spieth said.
“On the left keel, I was hoping you’d tell me because it can be a challenge, especially with this tee going over two hundred meters. With the ocean wind, you’re stepping out to launch a shot that also stops temporarily. The secret is to try to periodically hit it in the air so that it lands as smoothly as possible, but you can’t feel the wind blowing over the bushes on the right side of the tee. It’s quite temporary and that’s why it’s a very tricky shot when you go to the back left of the green,” he added.
Spieth triumphed at this tournament back in 2017 and the feelings from that leaderboard topping performance still resonate. He remembers finishing up in the shadows on the Saturday after getting up and down on 18. He can still picture the sequence of following a punch shot 3-wood under the trees with a 50-yard pitch to within one foot to put a final coda on a dynamite round.
“On Sunday I remember hitting a good shot into one and making par. Then I hit a three wood into two and I was hitting it so well. When I hit that shot, I thought, ‘Alright this is my day. I’m just going to stay the course,’” he said.
“There were very few occasions when I dared to think I was going to win this golf tournament today, but that’s the case right now, I take Sunday,” Spieth added.
During his school years, Spieth led the Longhorns to their first national championship in 40 years by defeating Alabama 3–2. Stopping the purple tide will be something they’ll want to resolve in a more normal case when Texas officially joins the SEC. this summer.
“Going into the playoffs with 12 groups is definitely a smart thing for us. I think it’s going to be tough to have undefeated seasons or one-loss seasons in an expanded SEC, especially this first year where we pass Ann Arbor and then we’ll have Georgia at home for the first 3 weeks,” Spieth said.
“The concept that we can make the playoffs with a couple of losses gives us a little breathing room to move into a more potent conference,” he added.
Spieth would probably agree that predicting the fortunes of a high school football team coming off a hot season and led by a quarterback on each and every shortlist for the 2024 Heisman Trophy is very straightforward compared to predicting Tiger Woods’ next apparel deal, But he still has ideas.
“I’m on the phone with him a decent amount—I’ll probably send him over a pair of the shoes I wear and see if we can start there.”