The Skins Game forces PGA Tour players to externalize the internal

Life as a professional golfer can be interesting to say the least.

You are one of the most skilled people in the world at a game that is extraordinarily difficult. You lose way more often than you win. Way more often. Those are difficult things to manage from an emotional standpoint, but somehow PGA Tour members are able to do it.

This is something that I am fascinated about in general, but particularly in advance of something like The Skins Game which is set to take place on Amazon Prime on Black Friday at 9am ET.

Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry will take on Keegan Bradley and Xander Schauffele (I’m sure nobody will bring up the Ryder Cup!) in a nostalgic nod to the original event. People often refer to things like this as the “silly season” in golf, but this type of stuff is awesome and in no way silly.

Part of what fascinates me about an event like this, something that is by nature meant for a viewing audience, is that the players are the main characters of the story. They cannot internalize their thoughts because the audience cares about them.

I decided to ask Tommy Fleetwood what he thought about it all.

“I think so much of what we do regularly is internal. And like even if I’ve got something horrible I want to say about Xander… I just keep it to myself. This time I just let it out. Just speak, I guess. Make it external.”

Tommy took my question in a playful way with regards to potential trash talk for Xander Schauffele, but the whole idea is interesting even if it is about general golf thoughts. Think about when you are out for a round yourself, even if you are with your friends. There are so many parts of what we all experience that we don’t say out loud. If we go in a bunker or slice it off the tee or miss a putt… the thoughts stay in our heads.

But no one is watching our standard rounds of golf whereas all sorts of people will be watching this crew. “The Capital One Skins Game” coverage begins Friday, November 28 at 9:00 AM ET / 6:00 AM PT on Prime Video, with no subscription or Prime membership required.

Let’s see who externalizes what they normally internalize.