19th Hole
This wild tale of legendary football coach Pep Guardiola playing golf at Liberty National proves his coaching obsession
While speaking with GolfWRX, agent Chubby Chandler told a fantastic story about the time he played golf with legendary football coach, Pep Guardiola.
“There’s a soccer coach in Europe and Britain called Pep Guardiola who is the best in the world, and he came to the Masters with us in 2013, I think. He was between jobs Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
“And he his agent rung and said 10 days before the masters, he said, could you, could you facilitate Mr. Guardiola and his son for the Masters?”
“I said, oh yeah, of course, we can because we used to have this big facility and we used to have like 90 people eat, eating every night, family guests, players, everything, but you know, to have Pep there was a big deal.”
“So we looked after him and he was just great with everybody. Absolutely great. And he lived in New York then and I was dating a girl in New York and they said will you be in New York next week?”
“Yeah,” Chubby replied.
“Do you want to play?” said Pep.
“Because I’m a member of Liberty National bizarrely and we went and played Liberty National and he, you know, we were talking in the car going and, and he’s, he’s telling me how it was great for him there because nobody knows him and he can just play, and he says, you know, I used to think the girls like me, he said, but I know now they used to like the badge, not me.”
“And I mean, he’s a handsome bugger and, we get to the golf course and the assistant on the range actually knew who he was, which is quite a surprise. He comes over to me, he says, is that the soccer coach?”
“And we go out and there’s just two of us on a cart with a caddy and we, I’m trying, I’m making conversation about his new job and this, that and the other and we get into the specifics of soccer a bit. And I said, you know, who would you sign, if you could sign one player to go to Bayern Munich, who would you have?
Guardiola replied by saying a guy called Iniesta [Spanish player Andrés Iniesta].
“And then he started going on about why he would sign him. And then he starts telling me that he didn’t understand [how they play] in Britain. ‘Because they play the good players down the edge of the pitch and the edge of the pitch acts as a defender. So that good player can only go one way, he can only come inside, he can’t go outside. He said ‘I don’t understand that’.”
Guardiola then went on to lay all of the headcovers and towels on the fairway, acting as the players on the field to demonstrate what he meant.
“He said, you know, I play in yesterday, he goes down the middle and then next thing we’ve got head covers and towels all over the fairway and he’s showing me the tactics on the eighth fairway at Liberty National. And I’m thinking this is crazy. This guy is the best there is and he’s showing me who actually knows nothing about it.”
“And we got round to the short of 14 and he had to have the photograph with the, with the statue of Liberty in behind us.”
Guardiola is currently the manager of Manchester City.
More from the 19th Hole
- Rory McIlroy urges Ryder Cup eligibility rules to be re-written following Rahm’s LIV move
- Report: Former World Number 1 not joining LIV despite speculation
- Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC side and prominent golf journalist trade insults over latest LIV trade
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off
One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).
Golf Channel Brandel Chamblee in his biggest about-face since the Framework Agreement on June 6, now says that making a deal with the PIF "is the better end of the bargain."
He says:
"The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone (LIV… pic.twitter.com/XDZaC1I6B8
— JCAGOLFReport (@JCAGOLFReport) May 10, 2024
“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.
“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”
Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.
Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship
During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.
The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.
When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.
However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.
Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.
??? #WATCH — The full video of the Xander Schauffele #DropGate situation ?
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 9, 2024
After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”
“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”
“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.
“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”
“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”
Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis
According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.
Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.
However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”
Here's Rory McIlroy talking about the PGA Tour policy board and the "subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason." pic.twitter.com/0skNOwtWxz
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 8, 2024
The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.
The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.
The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.
The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.
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