Paul Azinger is the perfect chap to meet for a round of cocktails at the 19 th hole. Face it, the guy likes to talk. Likes to laugh. Is passionate and intense. And does he have stories. In a life spanning 60 years now, Zinger won the 1993 PGA …
Paul Azinger is the perfect chap to meet for a round of cocktails at the 19th hole.
Face it, the guy likes to talk. Likes to laugh. Is passionate and intense. And does he have stories.
In a life spanning 60 years now, Zinger won the 1993 PGA Championship, 12 PGA Tour titles and two more on the European Tour. Captained the U.S. to victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup. Played on winning Ryder Cup teams in 1991 and 1993. Spent 300 weeks in the top 10.
He held his own against the best in the world, including Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and his late best friend, Payne Stewart.
And he kicked cancer’s butt.
[jwplayer Zmk6chRu-vgFm21H3]
Now Azinger talks a great game as the lead analyst for NBC and Fox.
“Well, I love golf,” Azinger said in a chat with Golfweek. “I can’t tell you how much I love the sport and how much I love watching it. I love playing the game.”
While he’s “chomping at the bit” to get back to work, Azinger has kept busy sheltered at his home in Bradenton, Florida, since the COVID-19 global pandemic halted play on the PGA Tour in March.
“I just don’t let myself get bored as much as anything,” Azinger said. “Self-isolating isn’t too bad. I’ve done a lot of work around the house. I’m neater than I think I am. I can clean if I want to.”
The current state and the fear of the unknown concerning the coronavirus is mindful in some ways to Azinger’s successful battle against cancer that began in 1993 when lymphoma was discovered in his right shoulder blade. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments as well as Azinger’s perseverance conquered cancer.
“When I first heard the words, ‘You have cancer,’ immediately it was sort of a similarity to hearing there is a virus going around and we’re all going to have to shelter in place,” Azinger said. “When I heard what the treatment was for (cancer), that’s when I knew it was a big deal. This, you’re just trying to avoid the treatment.
“It’s a weird situation. For a long time there, we all but wondered if we could get it and could it make us sick enough that we could succumb. And that’s just a terrible feeling. And that was similar to the feeling I had when I had cancer, for sure.”
On a lighter note
Azinger’s love for motorcycles: “It’s a feeling of freedom.”
Playing against Tiger Woods at the zenith of his powers: “We were watching something we thought we would never see.”
His love for the Ryder Cup: “The whole patriotism aspect.”
Johnny Miller, Paul Azinger and Dan Hicks in the NBC booth during the third round of the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Azinger also addressed comments he made about Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood ahead of the final round of this year’s Honda Classic that turned him into a European Tour punching bag. One word – that – got Azinger in trouble when he said you have to win on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood, a five-time winner on the European Tour, was trying to win his maiden PGA Tour title.
“A lot of pressure here,” Azinger said on the broadcast. “You’re trying to prove to everybody that you’ve got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on that European Tour or in the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour.”
That European Tour. Oops.
“I’m sure I’ll be some bulletin board material for them at the Ryder Cup,” Azinger said. “I respect all wins. I try to use good grammar when I’m in the booth and I failed big-time on that one. And it didn’t come off quite as I hoped.”
Eventually, Azinger will get back into the booth and is a long way from sitting in a rocking chair and reminiscing about a good life lived.
“I’m still looking to make today a great day, tomorrow a great day,” he said. “I want to continue to try and achieve in charitable ways, be better as a person. I want to contribute to the game of golf in whatever capacity I can. Try to make the game grow and help the game come back from this devastating virus.”
Scroll up to watch Steve DiMeglio’s discussion with Paul Azinger.
Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio chats with Paul Azinger about life in quarantine, his comments at the Honda Classic, and the first time he played with Tiger.
Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio chats with Paul Azinger about life in quarantine, his comments at the Honda Classic, and the first time he played with Tiger.
Host David Dusek and Eamon Lynch discuss the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Paul Azinger, the European Tour and Dustin Johnson.
Welcome to episode 36 of Forward Press, the weekly Golfweek podcast.
Host David Dusek is joined by Eamon Lynch and the two discuss the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the future of the event, Paul Azinger’s comments about the European Tour and the subsequent social-media roasting he took for it, the decision by Dustin Johnson to announce that he’s skipping the Olympics and more.
In each episode of Forward Press, you’ll get insight and commentary on all that is golf from David Dusek, Steve DiMeglio, Beth Ann Nichols, Eamon Lynch and Adam Schupak, as well as special guests throughout the industry.
Ian Poulter called out Paul Azinger on Twitter during the Honda Classic Sunday for showing “disrespect” toward European Tour players.
[jwplayer kWYQE367-9JtFt04J]
Don’t disrespect the European Tour while Ian Poulter’s listening.
Poulter called out Paul Azinger on Sunday after the NBC analyst’s comments about Tommy Fleetwood, who was in contention at the Honda Classic. Fleetwood, held the Honda lead after 54 holes, and was seeking his first PGA Tour win.
‘There is a lot of pressure here (on Fleetwood),” Azinger said during the broadcast, according to the Daily Mail. “You know you are trying to prove to everybody you’ve got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on the European Tour, the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour…
“They know that, and I think Tommy knows that and it’s put a little pressure on Tommy, but this is where they want to be and they want to come here and prove they can make it at this level.”
Fleetwood, who has six European Tour wins, finished third at the Honda Classic, two strokes behind winner Sungjae Im. The 29-year-old has 17 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.
Azinger, the 1993 PGA Championship winner who served as captain on the victorious 2008 U.S Ryder Cup team, also said when he asked English golfer Lee Westwood about the concept of winning of the PGA Tour he “took offense.”
So did Poulter clearly.
“I like (Azinger) a lot. And get on with him great. But Paul please do not condescend or disrespect the (European Tour) and our players like that,” Poutler wrote on Twitter Sunday evening. “We have slapped your (ass) in Ryder Cup for so long. I know you captained a win but seriously that was embarrassing today.”
Azinger has not publicly responded to Poulter’s tweet in which he was tagged.
I like @PaulAzinger a lot. And get on with him great. But Paul please do not condescend or disrespect the @EuropeanTour and our players like that. We have slapped your arse in Ryder Cup for so long 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆I know you captained a win but seriously that was embarrassing today.
See what PGA Tour stars past and present say about Jack Nicklaus as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
As Jack Nicklaus turns 80, we asked some of those who know him well to give us a sense of what The Golden Bear has meant to them. Here are the responses of PGA Tour stars past and present who view Jack as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
Greg Norman, Under Jack’s wing
Two-time major champion
“Jack’s books, Golf My Way and My 55 Ways to Lower Your Golf Score, were my instruction bibles. Without those books I’d probably be flying a jet somewhere. I’d have been a fighter pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force and then gone into commercial and private flying. Instead, I learned from his techniques and went from a 27 handicap to scratch and won my first professional tournament within five years of taking up the game.
I still remember the first time we met like it was yesterday. It was the Australian Open in 1976 and I’d just won my very first golf tournament the week before in Adelaide. Lo and behold I got paired with Jack and I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I cold-topped my first tee shot. I’d never done that before. I’ll never forget he came up to me in the locker room afterwards and put his hand on my left knee and said I had the game to play in America.
Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus at the 2001 Masters (Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
From there, I kind of invited myself under his wing. He’s a humble man. He set the standard for all of us on how to be a professional and to never put yourself ahead of the game. Originally, I was living in Orlando, but I grew up near the ocean and missed the water and moved down by Jack and Barbara to Jupiter Island in 1988. One day, Jack called me up and said his friend was putting his home on the Intercoastal on the market and that I should take a look at it. I went and checked it out, bought it and I still live there today. So, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Jack’s been one of the most influential people in my life.”
Justin Thomas: ‘Almost like he’s a father to you’
12-time PGA Tour winner, including 2017 PGA Championship
“The first time I met him was in 2000 at the PGA Championship. I was 7 years old. I remember he did a clinic. I was fortunate to go to the clinic because my dad was working for the PGA of America. I remember (Nicklaus) was talking to someone and I was standing there listening to him talk and I held my hat up. And I remember Mr. Nicklaus signed my hat and I was bragging in school the next day how I got the greatest golfer of all time’s signature. And everyone was like, ‘Oh, you got Tiger Woods?’ And I was like, ‘No, Mr. Nicklaus.’ Of course, no kid in my class knew who the hell Jack Nicklaus was and Tiger was the best at that time. I’ll always remember that.
“And now I have a relationship with him. It almost doesn’t make sense, almost doesn’t seem real. First off, he doesn’t need to take time to sit down with me or answer a phone call. But he genuinely wants to and it’s really cool. I reached out to him a lot more my first couple of years on Tour, when I was searching a little bit more and trying to figure out my way around. And I have a lot better feel about what’s going on now because of a lot of talks we’ve had. It’s almost like he’s a father to you. When I see him, the first thing he always says is he’s happy for me. And like my grandpa, he always goes, ‘Hey, great playing in Hawaii,’ or wherever, and then he’ll go, ‘Boy, you tried to give it away, but you really got it done.’ He always keep me humble, which I like.”
Rory McIlroy, The best thinker
Four-time major champion
“I always remember the first time I met Jack was in the Gardens Mall parking lot (in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida). It was 2009, I had just been put out of the match play by Geoff Ogilvy, and my dad and I flew to Florida early for the Honda Classic the next week. And we were in the parking lot and a gold Lexus pulls up beside us, and Jack gets out of the car and I obviously I recognize him and I introduce myself. ‘Hello, Mr. Nicklaus,’ and my dad calls him Jack. And I’m thinking, dad, this is Mr. Nicklaus. Not Jack.
“Jack has meant so much to me. That week we had lunch at the Bear’s Club and he gave me some advice then. Over the years, I live at his golf course, I practice at the Bear’s Club, I’ve lived there for nine years, and I see him a lot. And I’ve met Barbara and his children, as well. They are such a nice family. I think more so than anything else, they’ve kept who Jack Nicklaus is and all the stuff he’s done on the golf course and they’ve kept this normalcy about them. It’s endearing. They take an interest in other people, they do so much for charity, they are the epitome of being a class act and how you want to be. Jack and Barbara are great role models for me and Erica (McIlroy’s wife) in what they do for the community and charity. They are such a wonderful family.
“He has been the best at giving advice on how to play golf. Not how to swing, but how to play the game. He’s talked to me about his strategy and how to play the golf course and how to play the game and what he thought. The common denominator for him and Tiger is they are the best thinkers in the game. Just to pick Jack’s brain about that, and about preparation, and how he got himself around a golf course, that’s the best advice you can get. He was a master at playing the game.”
Annika Sorenstam, ‘Just normal and cool’
10-time major champion
Jack and Barbara both mean a lot to our family. They have been so generous and supportive to us. They have become genuine friends rather than just professional acquaintances. You can just feel the love they share and they always make us feel so welcome. One fond memory was when they had us to their house and the kids swam with Mike while I played tennis with Jack and his friends. I love how active he stays and his quick wit. He’s just normal and cool.
Paul Azinger, A great sportsman
Won 1993 Memorial Tournament
“Jack’s impact on the game of golf will live forever. He set many records we wanted to achieve. He has shown us all how we should behave. He’s shown the world what sportsmanship looks like many times over. Happy birthday to the Golden Daddy.”
Curtis Strange: A legacy for the ages
Won the 1988 Memorial Tournament
“All of us who followed Jack, both amateurs and professionals, have been inspired and motivated by the golfer and the man. His legacy will last for generations to come. Happy B’Day, Jack.”
Matt Kuchar: The intimidation factor
Won the 2013 Memorial Tournament
“I was hugely intimidated by Jack in my younger days. Took me a while to get comfortable around him. Great memory is having won the tournament and watching the replay and watching my kids high-fiving Mr. and Mrs. Nicklaus. Something I’ll have forever. To look back and see my kids at such young ages jumping up and giving Jack and Barbara high-fives. But he was one that I was nervous around. I mean, to the point he was the greatest ever, and what can I say to this guy that he’s not already done, accomplished? If you caught a fish this big, felt like he caught bigger fish. I was nervous around him. Fortunately have spent enough time, and Barbara is so great, so easy to be around, that our relationship has become one that’s much more comfortable from my standpoint.”
Rickie Fowler, The start of a friendship
Five-time PGA Tour winner
“I had seen Jack and been around him a handful of times, but I think the real start to the friendship, roughly eight or nine years ago, was when Barbara reached out to me about playing The Jake, which they host every year for the foundation. So Barbara had called and left me a message and I know exactly where I was when I called her back. I was playing in the Match Play when we used to play it at Dove Mountain and I was on the putting green and Jack answered the phone. So I said hi. We chatted briefly but kind of kept it short. And that was our first real conversation. I was like, sorry, Jack, I need to speak with Barbara. It’s a funny way to tell him that Barbara is the boss. She runs the show. Jack would say he wouldn’t be where he is without her. It’s an amazing thing to have a relationship with both of them. It’s pretty special.
“To be able to sit down and have lunch and give each other a hard time, to talk to him as a friend, is pretty cool. We all watched the highlights of him playing his best golf. You pinch yourself every once in a while, knowing you can talk to him about all things golf and so many other things.”
Gary Player: The greatest gentleman
Nine-time major champion
“He’s my best friend in the game. We played together probably as much if not more than anybody and all around the world. We competed fiercely not only in America but Great Britain, in Australia, South Africa and Japan. Everyone talks about what a great player he was, we all concede that, but I’d have to say Jack Nicklaus is the greatest gentleman I’ve ever played against. The way he accepted defeat was absolutely incredible. His father taught him a lot while he was growing up, including that he had to be a gentleman in defeat too. And he was a very good father. He’d go to watch them compete the day ahead of a tournament. I cherish the times that I have spent with him. Barbara has been an absolute angel, supporting to the hilt. Our wives made our lives.”
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus walk to the first tee during the first round of the 2019 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
David Graham, A friend for life
Two-time major champion
“One of the unknown things about Nicklaus is how much travel around the world he did. I first met him at the Australian Open, which he won six times. I remember sitting on the end of his golf bag and watching him hit golf balls. I remember distinctly getting a phone call from him later that day asking me to get dinner with him and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
“He had a set of clubs that were made for him by Slazenger that were a duplicate of his MacGregor set because he had an overseas contract with Slazenger. He wasn’t going to take them back to America. I asked if I could try them. He said, ‘Yeah, have them, please.’ Later on, Jack hired me as his chief designer at MacGregor. We co-designed the VIP irons, which I used in winning the 1979 PGA Championship and also created the Jack Nicklaus Limited Edition irons, which Jack won the 1980 U.S. Open and PGA with prototypes and I used to win the 1981 U.S. Open.
He was extremely instrumental in convincing me to play in America, and a big help to me once I moved here from my native Australia. As a matter of fact, he had a share in a golf course facility in Delray Beach, Florida, called The Hamlet, and he persuaded the owner of the facility to build (my wife) Maureen and me a house. I represented that particular club for a couple of years. We’d have dinner with Jack and Barbara at Lost Tree Village all the time. He and Barbara enrolled our children into school. That’s the type of friend he’s always been to me.”
Contributing: Steve DiMeglio, Adam Schupak, Beth Ann Nichols,
Adam Schupak questions Paul Azinger’s suggestion that Tiger Woods captain U.S. Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup teams for the foreseeable future.
[jwplayer Xx43OCcU-9JtFt04J]
NBC golf commentator Paul Azinger cracked the code for the U.S. as 2008 Ryder Cup captain with his ingenious use of the “pod system,” in which he broke the 12-man team into three 4-man groups to foster stronger bonds. The U.S. won in a rout and ever since it feels like anything Azinger says about the Ryder Cup becomes gospel.
His latest hot take is one I’m not ready to get on board with for a variety of reasons, but first here’s what Azinger told Gary D’Amato of Wisconsin.Golf:
“I would lobby for Tiger to be the all-time captain for both the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup,” Azinger said. “I just don’t know who else is more qualified. Especially the way he handled the Presidents Cup and that situation and all the things I’ve heard since, how relaxed he was after they got waxed the first day.
“They were all stressed, didn’t know how to act. He came in, big smile on his face, ‘Hey, relax. We still have jet lag. We don’t even know the course yet.’”
One step at a time
There’s no doubt that Woods deserves to be U.S. Ryder Cup captain – likely in 2022, or as soon as he wants the job. And I would pencil him in to return to the Presidents Cup in 2021. After all, both Fred Couples and Jack Nicklaus did three consecutive tours of duty, so there’s plenty of precedent for an encore performance. But I want to see Tiger manage a victorious Ryder Cup team before I hand him the keys to the kingdom in perpetuity, and, in particular, a road triumph. The U.S. hasn’t won on foreign soil since 1993. Let’s see him end that streak and then we can talk.
Tiger Woods waves as teammates applaud during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Ryder Cup. (Photo by Franck Fife/Getty Images)
Woods earned a victory in Australia last month, but for the better part of three days he looked as if he was going to fall into the Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan camp in a coaching role. History suggests that most great players aren’t able to transfer what made them special to being great leaders of men.
Let’s be honest: Woods made several rookie mistakes in his managerial debut. Had the Americans not rallied in Sunday singles, he was going to be just the second losing skipper for the stars and stripes in Presidents Cup history and second-guessed for allowing the Patrick Reed-Webb Simpson experiment to go on far too long (they were 0-3); for encouraging and allowing the majority of his team to play the Hero World Challenge (there’s a reason for the jet lag that contributed to their digging an early hole) instead of arriving early and playing the Australian Open; and for benching his best player, himself, all of Saturday.
Woods helped his cause by going 3-0 in the matches he did play. But how will he handle the situation when the team is behind and he can’t affect the outcome by hitting a shot? There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence from various players detailing how Woods buried his nose in a litany of stats and poured over information in assembling his lineups. He took the job seriously, and I expect that will only continue.
A new era of captaincy
The days of a captain being simply a mascot of sorts, a former major champion who stands up, takes bows, salutes the flag and says funny things are over. They haven’t come better than Paul McGinley, the European captain in 2014, who was a master tactician, always plotting his next move and finding surprise, but correct, pairings. McGinley proved how ludicrous it was that a captain had to be a former major winner, as did Jay Haas at the 2015 Presidents Cup.
As Brad Faxon once put it to me, “How many Super Bowls did Bill Belichick play in? So, what difference does that make?”
The U.S. has a system in place where future candidates for the captaincy get to experience Cups in the vice-captain role, allowing for more continuity from year to year. Totally makes sense. That means Zach Johnson is in the pipeline and maybe 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk deserves another turn at the wheel a la Davis Love except at a future Presidents Cup. Then again, if the U.S. loses this time, the task force may have to blow up its blueprint for the next two decades and think more outside the box.
Maybe the simplest reason to nix Tiger as permanent U.S. team captain is that the move would eliminate the chance for Phil Mickelson to grab the reins. And won’t that be some great “What Will Phil Do Next” theater – win or lose.
Not to mention that if the U.S. does lose this year’s home game at Whistling Straits, the call to the bullpen should go to one man and one man only and his name isn’t Tiger Woods.
