I was fortunate to have played with Lucas Glover during the pro-am in the Puerto Rico Open a couple of years ago. Playing with PGA Tour players on superb golf courses in superlative conditions is a thrill. It never gets old. But it takes on indelibly unforgettable status when your professional teammate is a first-class human like Glover.
Before extolling Glover’s many virtues, here’s some context for my claiming to be somewhat of a PGA Tour pro-am expert.
Having played in roughly 15 of them, I know a good playing partner when I meet him. These include rising young bucks like Vincent Norrman and Joseph Bramlett, veteran journeymen like John Senden and Scott Brown, and icons, major championship winners, and former world no. 1 ranked players like John Daly, David Duval, and Loren Roberts (the “Boss of the Moss!”).
Each of them connected with us beyond the obligatory “Nice shot!” or “Great putt!” compliments they routinely pay to amateur partners. Considering that many of us are bogey golfers, that’s no small feat. Week in. Week out. Year over year. It must be numbing. But you couldn’t tell it by how those guys interacted with us.
Like life, not everything’s perfect in pro-ams, however. There were a couple of players who were preoccupied and not ready, interested, or able to put their best foot forward.
In one case that was due to a wrist injury the player was battling (Ian Leggatt). Physical and emotional pain will do that to a person. Not that Leggatt was rude or standoffish to us. But he was hurting, not playing well, and feeling understandably down. In another, it was pure selfishness, like when a player left the course with two holes to play. He had grown weary of the slow pace, the lift, clean, and place soggy conditions. (Who hadn’t?) He didn’t say goodbye to the amateur group. Instead, he said to me, “I’ve had enough; tell the guys I said thanks,” then split.
Obviously, my guys were bummed — for most amateurs, playing inside the ropes at a PGA Tour pro-am event is a thrilling, pinnacle golf moment (like making a hole-in-one). So when they learned that the player was no more, to say it was a buzzkill is an understatement. Fortunately, Fred Funk was in the group behind ours. When we explained what happened, he insisted that we finish the round with him and his group. That took our pro-am experience from the outhouse to the penthouse.
Then there are some players who are just different. Unique. John Daly and David Duval for example. Daly was a fabulous partner who engaged with we amateur chops non-stop. As for Duval, after learning that I had been in the 82nd Airborne Division during my time in the U.S. Army, all he wanted to do was talk foreign policy and the threat of war. “What’s next?,” he asked rhetorically. “Iran? North Korea?” Cerebral guy who was more interested in that “real-world” subject than the game we were playing. “Hey David – we gotta go – it’s our turn to hit!”
Suffice it to say, there’s a spectrum of people, players, and personalities that determine how each pro-am plays out. And Glover stands foremost on my Mount Rushmore of PGA Tour pro-am partners. Glover asked everyone where they were from, what they did for a living, about their families, and did so in a casual yet genuinely interested way.
Amateurs play different tees from the PGA Tour pros. But Glover would hit and then walk briskly up to our tees so that he was there in time to fist bump teammates after good shots and to share encouraging words that made for a relaxing, fun, we’re-all-in-this-together vibe. As a veteran pro-am participant who is usually the leader of our amateur groups, I’ve learned to play quickly so not to slow down the pros, including having one of us teeing up moments after the pro’s shot is airborne. Glover was not to be denied, however. He started to jog up to the amateur tees so he could cheerlead in real time. And in between shots, he chatted about an array of things, the state of the game, the latest news from the PGA Tour, his beloved Clemson. You name it, he was game for it.
The author with Lucas Glover during the 2021 Puerto Rico Open PGA TOUR pro-am.
After Glover won two weeks ago he teared up (along with his young daughter) when speaking about being away from his family while grinding on the road week after week, that the win would enable him to be home more. Based on my experience playing with him, that struck me as 100 percent genuine. While playing golf at the top level has taken him around the world and provided him with great professional fulfillment and financial benefits (and a U.S. Open championship!), he’s also suffered crushing slumps and the commensurate self-doubt that accompanies them. The polarizing highs and lows can be too much for some. For Glover, it has made him more real and uplifting. Perspective, earnestness, and gratitude have a way of doing that to a person.
Now that Glover has won in consecutive weeks, catapulting himself to the top echelon of his craft in his mid-40s, he can pick and choose his schedule with much more latitude. That’s a well-earned, priceless byproduct of his success. And it’s the best possible scenario for him as a dad.
Karma is real. Sometimes good guys do finish first. And if you ever get a chance to play in a pro-am with Glover, don’t hesitate. You’ll be better for it.
