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Have you ever met a major winner?

camden_kid

camden_kid

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Have you spoken to, shaken hands with or interacted with a major winner? If so, who was it and what were the circumstances?
 
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Georgia Hall at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions (now called Hilton Grand TOC I believe). Went 2 straight years and followed her during her rounds since she is my favorite professional golfer. Spoke with her while walking a few times and had my picture taken with her. Had brief hellos with Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson at the same tournament while they were graciously signing my Solheim Cup flag.
 
Jordan Spieth autographed my ticket stub at PGA Champ at Bethpage few years ago but we didnt shake hands or talk. Got Rickie, Cantlay and a few others too
 
Met this guy at Bent Tree CC in Dallas at a Veterans event. He and Feherty were there 3E744748-A29F-4D60-B563-3E9C7BC4A61E.jpeg
 
Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, Seve Ballesteros, and Hubert Green all gave me their autographs during practice rounds at tournaments.
 
I mean at The Masters this year Tiger walked by me and I said Come on Tiger! So basically best friends 😂 or Zach Johnson at 2016 Ryder Cup Hazeltine I slapped hands with. Video was too big to upload
 
Met Raymond Floyd my dad had mutual friends here in NC. Really cool guy.

I got signatures years ago when I used to go to Doral but that wasn't really meeting them.
 
Zach Johnson happens to be the only PGA golfer I have ever met. His father was my chiropractor. Talked to him a few times at his father's office.
Here's a little bit of trivia. Zach Johnson graduated from Regis (Catholic) high school. Kurt Warner also graduated from Regis high school (although 7 years earlier than Zach). Can't be too many small Iowa high schools that can boast a Super Bowl winning QB and a Masters Champion. It was so small, it's now the middle school. It's not even a high school anymore.
 
Got to shake hands and talk as I walked with Arnold Palmer at a pre-round Champions Tour event years ago. Also spoke with Paul Azinger and Tom Lehman at the Wells Fargo tournament in Charlotte.
 
Rode out a tornado warning in 1964 or 65 in the locker room basement of the old Colonial C.C. in Memphis with Jack Nicklaus right behind me. When the all clear sounded we talked and he put his arm around my 10 year old shoulder as we came up the steps.
I've riden an elevator twice with John Daly at the casinos in Tunica, MS. He's a real Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde.
 
camden_kid said:
Have you spoken to, shaken hands with or interacted with a major winner? If so, who was it and what were the circumstances?
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Do World Long Drive Champions count? 😁
 
I have when getting autographs during practice rounds. Of the ones i met, by far the biggest name was Byron Nelson; also met Tom Watson, Payne Stewart, Nick Faldo, John Daly, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Curtis Strange, Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Corey Pavin that won majors.
 
Met Jack Niclaus @ The Senior Open when it was held at Canterberry CC in Shaker Hts, OH. I even got his signature on the "sweet spot" of the Tee Off Times pamphlet. Ray Floyd, same event and was a complete dick blowing off fans and just plain rude. I was lucky to meet him in the Clubhouse because I was a guest of CBS Sports. Dale Douglass same event, great guy and I received a signed golf ball from him, BTW he WON this event. His caddy Cowboy stayed at the hotel I worked at, and I got to know him well during the weekend. Those are pretty much whom I have met and got the chance to have a couple of words with.
 
Mark Brooks, '96 PGA Championship, is the only one I've met. Nice guy, will talk your ear off & still a great swing. Every now & then he & Chuck Cook will be in the shop or on the range at UTGC, there's a world of knowledge in 1 room.
 
Adam Scott before he won the Masters. Met him at Firestone, pretty sure I was wearing something Aussie and he pointedly came over to say G'day.

Geoff Ogilvy, I think it was the year after he won the US Open. At the local Golf Galaxy, they had a small invite only meet and greet that I got to attend.
 
Palmer, Watson, Nicklaus abd Daly in that order.

Palmer I shook hands with when I was just a kid. He was opening up a dry cleaning store that my Dad had built for him. He asked me if I was going to be a golfer. Told him "no", that was a baseball player.

My cousin was friends with Tommy Watson. He was in Henderson, NV for a Wendy's 3 Tour Challenge. My cousin introduced me to him, and we all had dinner later that evening. He came across as a pretty nice guy. We visited a couple times after that.

Nicklaus I met and shook hands with during a business meeting at a golf course being built with his name on it. (Coyote Springs) My company was doing the EPA compliance work. My cousin was supervising the off sites, and dirt work for the golf course. I remember he had a wet handshake, and didn't like being told he couldn't do some things due to EPA regulations.

Daly, we just happened to park our RV next to him at an RV park. Iirc we were in east Texas some where. Nice guy I thought. He, and my Wife played their guitars together a few times. Ironically for the two days we were parked together, we didn't talk much about golf. Talked mostly about our RVs.
 
I met Bryson before he won the US Open. I played golf against him in high school and we played a few times together. He smoked me each and every time!
Also just met Tom Kite while volunteering at the Dell Match Play. He just walked right up to me and started chatting.
 
Olazábal stopped where a bunch of our crew was watching an event and spoke to them in Spanish for a few minutes. No idea what they talked about, but they were giddy like school girls when he left.


Class act.
 
Was walking past the range Sunday at the US Open this year as Rahm was walking in to warm up. My buddy and I were watching him walk in and he looked over at us. I have him a head nod and the rest is history.

My college rugby team used to run the parking lot when match play was in Tucson.I was running the caddie/player lot when Tiger drove up. He laughed and waved as we fanatically waved our flags to help him park.

Not sure if either of those count lol.
 
Tom Weiskopf at a charity event a long time ago. Tom Lehman more than once, including when my aunt and uncle had him and his wife over for cocktail hour when they lived two doors down from him in Scottsdale.
 
Team Paradise shared an elevator with Justin Rose (Gold Medal) in Las Vegas. We passed Heideki?? In the parking lot and he nodded his head. Gary Woodland said hello when I spoke on leaving the clubhouse at TPC Vegas.
 
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