Bob Harig, Golfer and Author - Afterhours
This podcast episode delves into the captivating realm of professional golf, featuring a dialogue with esteemed golf writer Bob Herig. We explore various dimensions of his extensive experiences at prominent tournaments, highlighting his appreciation for Scotland's scenic courses and the camaraderie of the golfing community. Our conversation probes into the nuances of the game, including discussions on underrated players, the decorum expected of spectators, and the challenges of comparing legendary figures such as Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. We also touch upon Herig's forthcoming book, which promises to engage readers in the ongoing debate surrounding the greatness of these golfing icons. Join us for a thorough examination of the sport, enriched by Herig's insights and anecdotes from his illustrious career.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- ESPN
- Sports Illustrated
- Tiger Woods
- Arnold Palmer
- Michael Collins
- Michael Kim
- Russell Henley
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Grilling at the Green After Hours.
Speaker B:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker A:Hi, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Welcome to After Hours.
Speaker A:We're going to make this quick, Bob, because I know you're against the deadline here.
Speaker A:So we got a few new questions in after hours.
Speaker A:Anyway, everybody, welcome to After Hours.
Speaker A:Here on Grilling it's Green, I'm jt.
Speaker A:Today we got Bob Herig, my transient friend from Florida who seems to be at all the major golf tournaments around like that.
Speaker A:Plus he does si and does a great job there.
Speaker A:So as I promised him, we've got some new far reaching questions for a golf rider of his stature.
Speaker A:Okay, you ready?
Speaker B:I think yes.
Speaker A:What's the first song you want to hear in the morning on the radio when you start your car?
Speaker B:September by Earthwork, Wind and Fire.
Speaker A:Okay, that's fair.
Speaker A:You knew that.
Speaker A:You knew that right off the top.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's kind of a nice happy song.
Speaker A:You're on the road a lot, Bob.
Speaker A:You, you know, covering the different, bigger tournaments and all that.
Speaker A:What's a place in your travels that you always look forward to going?
Speaker A:And it might not just be the venue of the tournament, it might be a specific restaurant or a hotel or something.
Speaker A:But I mean, we both have, you know, several million miles on our airline credit card, so to speak.
Speaker A:But what's one place you always look forward to going?
Speaker B:I really, really enjoy going to Scotland for the Open.
Speaker B:I don't mind going to England or leaving this year, Northern Ireland.
Speaker B:Those are fine too.
Speaker B:But I really, really enjoy Scotland.
Speaker B:I just, I think it's beautiful country.
Speaker B:The golf there is really great.
Speaker B:I've come around over the years to appreciating some of the things that they eat.
Speaker B:And obviously I like tenants, beer.
Speaker B:It's, it's.
Speaker B:I just, I just really do.
Speaker B:I really look forward to it.
Speaker B:I mean, there's a lot of places that I like going, obviously, but that one, you know, it's, it's not every year in Scotland and you know, I just don't take it for granted.
Speaker B:I enjoy it.
Speaker A:You a fish and chips guy?
Speaker B:You know what, I've tried to not be as much because it's not great for you, but I mean, sometimes that's all you got and so you go with it.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Are You a haggis guy?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right, we can move on, then.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:We can move on.
Speaker A:Name a player on any tour.
Speaker A:Men's, women's, Europeans, whatever, that you think is underrated.
Speaker B:Underrated.
Speaker B:That's a good one.
Speaker B:Well, let's see.
Speaker B:Let's see.
Speaker B:On the.
Speaker B:There's probably a bunch of guys that are.
Speaker B:That are.
Speaker B:I'm trying to narrow one down.
Speaker B:You know, I. I think on the.
Speaker B:I. I would go with on the.
Speaker B:On the PJ Tours, because I know it the best.
Speaker B:A guy like Michael Kim, who, you know, he hasn't.
Speaker B:He just won in Europe, actually.
Speaker B:He won the French Open, but he hasn't won much on the PGA Tour.
Speaker B:He's really come back from kind of a low point.
Speaker B:He lost his card.
Speaker B:He had lost his game.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've watched him a few times, and he's got a lot of game, especially for a smaller guy.
Speaker B:And, you know, you come to appreciate just how good these guys are.
Speaker B:You know, somebody like that who not too many people think about.
Speaker B:It's really, really good.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Do you have somebody you could think of that you would name them?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:Not the.
Speaker A:But an unsung hero of the golf world.
Speaker B:Oh, unsung hero, huh?
Speaker B:You got me there, Jeff.
Speaker B:I. I get low.
Speaker B:Let me.
Speaker B:Let's narrow it down.
Speaker B:Are we talking about with.
Speaker B:Within playing the game or just the overall stuff that's going on in the game?
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's narrow it down to playing the game.
Speaker A:How's that?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Fair enough.
Speaker B:Unsung hero.
Speaker B:I. I mean, look, you know what?
Speaker B:He didn't have a great Ryder cup, but I think Russell Henley is a heck of a player.
Speaker B:You know, he's.
Speaker B:He's just so understated, and I felt bad for him.
Speaker B:They didn't play better in Beth Page, but, you know, he was going in ranked third in the world.
Speaker B:I mean, I mean, maybe we argue about the rankings, and are they.
Speaker B:Are they appropriate?
Speaker B:If you had some live guys, he'd be farther down, obviously, right?
Speaker B:He only won once this year, and yet he's.
Speaker B:It shows you how consistent he is that he's been able to get to third in the world.
Speaker B:You got to have some good results.
Speaker B:You got to be playing some good golf to be up that high.
Speaker A:Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker A:What's your favorite color?
Speaker A:Lifesaver, Bob.
Speaker B:It's got to be the red one.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:I'm a red or green guy.
Speaker A:When you were doing a lot of stuff for ESPN and you've done Tons of other television.
Speaker A:Name something that was probably the funniest thing you ever saw happen to a colleague while you were on the air.
Speaker B:I was with Michael Collins.
Speaker B:I'm not sure if you know Michael.
Speaker B:He's still at espn.
Speaker B:And we were doing something that was live, actually, and Tiger was playing and he saw us and he started chirping at Collins just good naturedly.
Speaker B:And Collins had all he could do to not start cracking up on tv.
Speaker B:And we had to sort of like afterward we had a good laugh about it.
Speaker B:That was probably.
Speaker B:That was probably it.
Speaker B:I mean, it was.
Speaker B:It was maybe a little bit bordering on the.
Speaker B:On the.
Speaker B:On the side of things that you wouldn't want to be on tv.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Being said.
Speaker B:Which made it even funnier.
Speaker B:So that's.
Speaker B:That's what I.
Speaker B:That's what I remember.
Speaker A:Well, here's a new standard question, but I think we covered it in the regular show.
Speaker A:What's one thing you wish spectators would not do?
Speaker B:Yeah, well, look, I just don't think they should.
Speaker B:They should impact the play.
Speaker B:They shouldn't be yelling in somebody's backswing, shouldn't be yelling when somebody's about to putt.
Speaker B:I think we understand that there's a decorum that doesn't exist in other sports.
Speaker B:It's because that's what we're used to.
Speaker B:And I don't know why golfers should have to change that.
Speaker B:So that would be my easy thing.
Speaker B:I have no problem with people being vociferous, rooting hard, you know, cheering.
Speaker B:But when it's time for these guys to hit, you know, I think you have to.
Speaker B:I think you have to know better.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:What's a course, Bob, that you want to play but you have not played yet?
Speaker B:Cypress Point.
Speaker A:I think you're the second person this week that said that to me.
Speaker B:Yeah, I got the bug, too, after the.
Speaker B:After the Walker Cup.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What's the first thing you reach for when you're.
Speaker A:When you've finished a round of golf?
Speaker B:First thing I reach for is probably my.
Speaker B:My range finder to make sure that I put it back in my golf bag.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right, that's fair enough.
Speaker A:What's his name?
Speaker A:A quick story from covering the tour that you've never told anybody.
Speaker A:And this, this part of the show doesn't go over the radio, so you can swear if you need to.
Speaker B:Actually, you know, this one was.
Speaker B:This one was written in my.
Speaker B:One of my books.
Speaker B:So I. I guess I have told people.
Speaker A:People.
Speaker B:But it's still a pretty good story.
Speaker B:That, that, that you wouldn't necessarily share.
Speaker B:It has to do with Arnold Palmer and Tiger and this obviously Arnold's been gone for a while.
Speaker B: as, this was I believe at the: Speaker B:The Tiger won and the, the tournament had to go to a Monday finish because of bad weather on Sunday.
Speaker B:And Tiger had a lead but he had five or six holes to play and coming up to 18 get a two shot lead.
Speaker B:If you know the, if you know the hole at Bay Hill, there's big water in front of the green that kind of protects it.
Speaker B:And Tiger hit his tee shot in the right rough.
Speaker B:Now nobody in their right mind would go for the green from there with a two shot lead.
Speaker B:And so Tiger just kind of laid it up into the neck there in front of the green.
Speaker B:He got it on the green and two putted to win.
Speaker B:And later I came upon Tiger in the locker room.
Speaker B:This was unrare for him.
Speaker B:He, he actually was sort of celebrating for a while.
Speaker B:I guess he had nowhere to go.
Speaker B:Was him as caddy, a couple of other people in the Bay Hill locker room.
Speaker B:And Arnold came in while he was in there and he was on the other end of the locker room and he had used the restroom and he was at the sink and he just started yelling at Tiger and he was, he was calling him a pussy for laying up on 18.
Speaker B:He just wouldn't stop.
Speaker B:And Tiger loved it.
Speaker B:Tiger just loved it.
Speaker B:He thought it was great.
Speaker B:He was laughing.
Speaker B:He thought it was so great that Arnie was giving him a hard time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Why did you go for the green?
Speaker B:You know, I can't believe what you know.
Speaker B:So anyway, that's kind of funny to think that the legend Arnold Palmer was given legend Tiger woods grief.
Speaker A:There you go, there you go.
Speaker A:Last question.
Speaker A:Bob, if I gave you a box with everything you've lost in your life in it, what would be the first thing you reach for?
Speaker B:Oh boy, everything I've lost, I've lost.
Speaker B:You know, probably I had, I had one time where, where I had a computer bag stolen out of my trunk when I was on the road.
Speaker B:And I had some like personal effects in there.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:That are gone.
Speaker B:You know, like obviously the computer got replaced the charger, you know.
Speaker B:But I had like some photos, you know, things that you're just not going to get back.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You know, so that's probably what I would say.
Speaker B:I mean it's still to this day bugs me that that happened.
Speaker B:Like I understand, I think somebody.
Speaker B:I don't know if I left the trunk Open by accident, but they just came along and just grabbed, you know, the whole bag, everything.
Speaker B:I had a passport in there.
Speaker B:Obviously, I got that replaced, but still.
Speaker B:Pain in the ass.
Speaker B:So, you know, so it's still several years ago.
Speaker B:It still bothers the hell out of me.
Speaker A:I can tell.
Speaker A:I can tell, buddy.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Bob Herring, Sports Illustrated.
Speaker A:Is there any place.
Speaker A:And Bob's been on about his couple of books that he's written.
Speaker A:Have you gotten a new book in the works?
Speaker B:I actually do, as a matter of fact.
Speaker B:It's coming out next spring.
Speaker B:It's basically done now.
Speaker B:It's called Tiger v. Jack.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:It dives into the whole aspect of their greatness and all of their triumphs and sort of tries to come to a conclusion, which is very difficult, by the way.
Speaker B:And I've sort of, you know, I've made a choice, but I've also pointed out that I don't think there's a wrong answer.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:You know, I had.
Speaker A:Earlier this year, I had Michael Arkush on.
Speaker A:In his top 100.
Speaker A:Yeah, he did that book.
Speaker A:And you get down to the end, and again, it's Jack and Tiger and all that stuff.
Speaker A:And be interesting to have you two on sometime.
Speaker A:And I'll just let you two discuss it.
Speaker A:I'll be the moderator.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's a great debate.
Speaker B:I mean, that's.
Speaker B:I think that's subhead.
Speaker B:You know, golf's great debate or something like that.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've always take, like, I've run into people who will get mad when you take the other side.
Speaker B:And I'm like, look, I'm not here to get mad over it.
Speaker B:I think it's a great discussion.
Speaker B:I think there's a lot of way law reasons is hard to compare them.
Speaker B:I think you have to do a really, really deep dive to compare eras, which I've tried to do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And, you know, but look, Jack, 118 majors, Tiger 115.
Speaker B:Tiger has more.
Speaker B:Tiger has more PGA Tour wins.
Speaker B:I mean, there's so much to dive into and kind of.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:They're just miles ahead of everybody else.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I would think you probably had to take in consideration the.
Speaker A:The competition levels on the tours at the time they played.
Speaker B:You know, no question.
Speaker A:I mean, factor in.
Speaker B:Yeah, people will argue that, too, but there's just no doubt that Tiger played in a more competitive era.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, it's just the way of the world.
Speaker B:When Jack was starting out in the 60s, there were far less golfers There were far less golf courses when Tiger came around in the late 90s.
Speaker B:The number of players increased.
Speaker B:The number of worldwide players increased by osmosis.
Speaker B:You're going to have more players to compete against.
Speaker B:It's just that simple.
Speaker B:So, you know.
Speaker B:But that's just one aspect of the argument.
Speaker A:Well, I look forward to getting that book, Bob.
Speaker A:I really do.
Speaker A:Okay, we got to get out of here.
Speaker A:I want to thank Bob Harry again from Sports Illustrated.
Speaker A:Read his stuff.
Speaker A:It's great stuff.
Speaker A:And we'll be back next week, like I said, with Charlie Reimer, one of our all time favorites here.
Speaker A:So until then, go out, play some golf, have some fun and be kind.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
