General

Wachovia Pro-Am Is Kind of a Big Deal

May 1, 2008, 2:45 PM UTC

Jim Ryan, SN’s resident expert on country club sports, will be covering the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, N.C., this week. Next week, he may or may not be covering lawn bowling.â†µâ†µApparently, I was a year late to the Wachovia pro-am party. In 2007, Tiger Woods teamed with Michael Jordan, and Peyton Manning also took part in the event. This year’s edition was lacking such mega-wattage, but it wasn’t without some sports celebrities, namely Carolina Panthers coach John Fox, NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, and South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier.â†µ

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â†µâ†µAfter getting over my initial shock that three affluent, white males aged 32-63 were golfers, I decided to watch Spurrier, Fox and Johnson, who were conveniently playing in consecutive groups.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Ol’ Ball Coach is an Augusta National member and a single-digit handicap. He said he was only playing so-so Wednesday, but he hit a greenside bunker shot to gimmie distance on the 18th, and he made par on the first (Spurrier started his round at the 10th). While signing autographs at the first tee for a gallery that could not have cared much less about pro Pat Perez, Spurrier said everyone missed the fun at the 17th. The coach claimed he let a heckling Clemson fan hit his tee shot on the exceptionally difficult par three. The heckler hit the ball about 20 feet and into a lake, much to the amusement of the crowd. (Also, Spurrier did not, to my knowledge, urinate on the course.)â†µ

â†µâ†µFox, teamed with defending U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, was in the next group to play the first. He hit his approach shot on the par four into the woods to the right of the fairway. On his third shot, he successfully hit the ball over a small tree, but it landed in a greenside bunker in what probably was some kind of metaphor for the Panthers’ 7-9 season.â†µ

â†µâ†µJohnson was playing in the day’s final threesome with pro Mark Wilson. The defending Cup champion hit his approach shot on the first well short and into a greenside bunker. He then flew the green and took two chips to reach the fringe before picking up. In other words, Jimmie Johnson is the kind of guy I could play golf with.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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