Tag: 1987 U.S. Open

Scott Simpson on AT&T partner Bill Murray doing snow angels in the bunker, why he’s anti-LIV and how Greg Norman became ‘a jerk’

“He was just grumpy and entitled … nobody liked him.”

HONOLULU — A year ago, while covering the PGA Tour in Maui, I heard that former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson not only had moved to Hawaii after his playing days had come to an end, but that he had become the men’s golf coach at University of Hawaii. Who knew!

So, I looked him up and met with the seven-time PGA Tour winner the following week at the Sony Open for what resulted in an enjoyable two-part Q&A and a standalone story (Part I here; U.S. Open flash back here; partnering with Bill Murray at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am here). A few weeks ago, during my return trip to Oahu to cover the Sony Open, we sat down again for another solid hour and delved deeper into partnering with Bill Murray at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, coaching the modern golfer, why he supports a rollback of the ball and doesn’t like NIL or LIV as well as how Greg Norman turned into a jerk. All that and more. Enjoy.

Scott Simpson Q&A: How he ended up in Hawaii coaching the men’s golf team, why nice guys don’t finish last and what happened to his Magnum P.I. mustache

“It’s so fun,” Simpson said of coaching. “Hopefully they’re learning some things and I don’t mess them up.”

Scott Simpson has enjoyed success at nearly every stage of a golf career that spans six decades.

The 67-year-old won consecutive NCAA men’s golf titles (1976, 1977), was the recipient of the 1977 Fred Haskins Award as the best male collegiate golfer, played on a Walker Cup team (1977), won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the 1987 U.S. Open (in exactly 600 career starts), represented the Stars and Stripes in the Ryder Cup (1987) and picked a pretty good spot — Pebble Beach — for his one and only PGA Tour Champions triumph.

Simpson last played more than a handful of senior events in 2016 and called it quits in 2020 but as he told Golfweek during an interview at the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii, he wasn’t the type to sit around in retirement and watch the grass grow.

Instead, after moving to Hawaii full time in 2014, he volunteered at the local First Tee chapter and with the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and dabbled in some coaching at the high school and college level before being named men’s coach of the University of Hawaii in 2021.

Imagine being coached by a winner of the U.S. Open.

“It’s so fun,” Simpson said. “Hopefully they’re learning some things and I don’t mess them up.”

Here’s more from a riveting conversation with Simpson, who discusses among other things how he ended up in Hawaii coaching the men’s golf team, why nice guys don’t finish last and what happened to his Magnum P.I. mustache.

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