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19th Hole

A dirty joke from Tiger Woods helped Patrick Reed beat Rory McIlroy at the Ryder Cup

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Doubtless, the Patrick Reed-Rory McIlroy showdown at the 2016 Ryder Cup was the most dynamic and defining match of the competition. But it turns out Captain America needed a little help getting to the first tee ready to do battle.

John Feinstein has written a book about the contest: The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup. In an excerpt published to Golf Digest, Feinstein writes Reed was anything but overflowing with McIlroy-slaying confidence on the range prior to their Sunday Singles match.

“I was tight on the range,” Reed said.

“Really tight. I didn’t like the way I was hitting the ball, and I knew it was nerves. I was telling myself to calm down and just get ready to play, but it wasn’t working.”

Woods was on the range, watching Reed and Jordan Spieth—whom he had taken to describing as “my guys” because they had been in his pod all week—warm up. He could see that Reed wasn’t quite himself. “Hey, Patrick,” he said. “Come here a minute.”

“I thought sure he was going to give me a pep talk, say something about my swing or about just relaxing and not trying too hard,” Reed says. “I walked over there. He had his arms folded. I waited. He looked really serious.

“And then he told me a dirty joke.”

When Woods told Reed the joke, his face never changing expression, Reed broke up.

“It was actually the perfect thing to do,” Reed said later. “It just broke the tension. I went back to hitting balls, and all of a sudden I was loose as could be. I was ready.”

Woods’ love of off-color humor is well documented. Charles Pierce’s controversial 1997 GQ article titled “The Man. Amen” went a long way in establishing that.

Pierce’s article also went a long way in compelling Woods and Team Tiger to clam up, ushering in a public persona that endured until Woods’ Escalade hit a fire hydrant post-Thanksgiving 2009, and like a small geyser of water would shooting forth from said hydrant in a cartoon, news of Woods’ expansive indiscretions flooded the mediasphere.

Feinstein, of course, savvy veteran of the golf journalism game that he is, knew better than to publish Woods’ joke, even though you’d have to assume Reed related it (wouldn’t you want to know what he said?).

So, Tiger Woods will be a capable captain when he’s eventually at the helm of a Ryder Cup squad; he has that “say the right thing at the right time to get the win” gene great coaches possess.

He also remains the man with the ribald sense of humor we met some 20 years ago.

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19th Hole

“Is it a Titleist?” – Jerry Seinfeld shares never-before-heard details of iconic scene

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On Thursday, legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld joined the Rich Eisen Show and shared an awesome story from a “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Marine Biologist.”

In the episode, a golf ball goes into the blow hole of a whale. According to Seinfeld, that was never in the episode’s script.

Seinfeld recalls saying the night before the filming of the episode, “What if what puts the whale in distress is Kramer’s golf ball?”

“He’s hitting golf balls at the beach. George is at the beach with a girl, we haven’t connected them!”

“We write that speech the night before at two o’clock in the morning…The sea was angry that day my friend.”

 

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A post shared by Rich Eisen (@richeisen)


Kramer finishes the iconic scene by asking “Is it a Titleist?” Seinfeld told Eisen the show sought Titleist’s permission to mention its name, saying the ball had to be a Titleist. Fortunately for lovers of the iconic show, the company agreed.

If (somehow) you’re unfamiliar with the scene, check it out below.

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19th Hole

Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game ‘on a much more global basis’

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While speaking with Bloomberg, golf legend Phil Mickelson acknowledged that he is inching close towards retirement.

“I’m 53 now,” Phil said, “and my career, you know, it’s — if I’m being truthful, it’s on — it’s — it’s — I’m a — it’s towards its end.”

Mickelson added that one of his focuses now is helping other young players.

“Now, I would like to help others find the same enjoyment and fulfillment that the game has provided me. I’d like them to experience that as well.”

The six-time major champion credited LIV with reaching new markets in golf to help it grow.

“I think that’s exciting for everyone involved in the game because we are going to reach markets that we didn’t reach before. I think it’s going to inspire more golf courses, inspire more manufacturers selling clubs and equipment, but also inspiring young kids to try to play golf professionally. I just see that the game of golf is going to grow on a much more global basis because of the excitement and the presence that LIV Golf has.”

Mickelson is playing at this week’s LIV Singapore and shot a first round 72 (+1).

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19th Hole

Tiger explains why golf has ‘negative connotations’ for daughter Sam

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While Tiger Woods’ son, Charlie, has certainly inherited his father’s love for golf, his daughter, Sam, has not.

On Wednesday, Tiger made an appearance on The Today Show with Carson Daly and explained his daughter’s relationship with golf.

“Golf has negative connotations for her. When she was growing up, golf took daddy away from her. I had to pack, I had to leave, and I was gone for weeks. So, there were negative connotations to it.

“We developed our own relationship and our own rapport outside of golf. We do things that doesn’t involve golf. Meanwhile, my son and I, everything we do is golf related.”

The nine-minute interview touches on plenty of other subjects, such as Tiger’s relationship with his late father, Earl.

It’s arguably the most open we’ve seen the 15-time major champion in an interview and is most definitely worth watching.

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