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November 9, 2007

Nice guys on the PGA Tour

Golfweek's Jeff Rude provides this entertaining column in which he passes along some of his experiences with the truly nice fellows on the PGA Tour, the nicest of which, in Rude's view, is Beaumont native and former University of Houston great, Bruce Lietzke:

[Lietzke] had all the attributes you want in a next-door neighbor: Self-deprecation, humor, a pleasant nature, a realness, a playfulness, a deep sense of family and a vintage car collection to die for. With Lietzke, you could walk next door and get a golf lesson, borrow a wrench and, for the umpteenth time, hear his famous banana-under-the headcover story or about the time he revved one of his hot cars up Magnolia Lane.

My favorite Lietzke story, and the one that clinched his status as No. 1 favorite, happened in 1995. I needed to interview him but our schedules were conflicting. I was leaving for the British Open, and he was going on one of his long summer vacations and time was running out. So I read him the list of questions while in a taxi on the way to the Dallas airport and asked him to leave his answers on my answering machine. I told him I’d then listen to his answers and transcribe the quotes during a layover in Chicago on the way to Scotland.

When I retrieved messages at O’Hare Airport, sure enough Lietzke had called. Problem was, my voice mail cut off after two minutes. So to make this work, Lietzke had to call back and continue with his answers. And call back and continue. And call back and continue. When I got done writing down his answers, I realized he had called my answering machine 13 times.

I mean, telemarketers looking for cash don’t call my answering machine 13 times. And this was a PGA Tour player with 13 victories. I mean, some winless players don’t have 13 seconds (as in time) for someone carrying a notepad and pen.

Professional athletes in need of media training don’t need a seminar. They just need to hang out with Lietzke for a day.

Read the entire piece. I had the pleasure of playing a round with Liezke years ago at a University of Houston function and concur with Rude that he is a perfectly charming fellow.

Posted by Tom at November 9, 2007 12:00 AM

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