GOLF Channel Notable Quotes
Golf Central Live From THE PLAYERS
TPC Sawgrass
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Monday, March 9
**Golf Central Live From the PLAYERS continues Tuesday, airing from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET and in primetime from 7-9 p.m. ET.
On defending champion and current World No. 1 Rory McIlroy
Justin Leonard – “He is not caught up in the fact that he hasn’t won these last two or three events. I think he is so involved in the process and the journey he is on. He is getting so locked into his process that I don’t think not winning these golf tournaments is bothering him at all.”
David Duval – “The improvements that he is making in every facet is putting himself into position week after week after week. The ease with which he is doing this, the comfort. We have talked about how he makes it look effortless. We are looking at a resurgence of an absolute monster year for Rory McIlroy.”
Brandel Chamblee – “They always say God doesn’t give you everything, but Rory is getting a lot closer to having everything with his recent play.”
On World No. 2 Jon Rahm
Justin Leonard – “I think we have seen growth this year in Jon. The temper tantrums we saw the first couple of years on TOUR, we don’t see it very often anymore.”
Brandel Chamblee – “He has figured out how to play golf in a self-reliant way. I think that speaks volumes about his consistency and brilliancy going forward.”
On TPC Sawgrass course designer Pete Dye
Justin Leonard – “Pete Dye really liked to get in a golfer’s head. He wants to know what you hate. Players don’t like it when they can’t see where they are trying to go. He liked to obscure parts of the green where it created a little seed of doubt in players.”
David Duval – “You get distracted here. He was master of distracting the player when they are standing on the tee box. That is the beauty of this golf course. Anybody can get around this golf course because it asks you to do all kinds of different things.”
Brandel Chamblee – “He specialized in psychic confusion. He was a master at it. Pete Dye would make you face your weaknesses. Whether they were mental or technical, he would make you face them, and then you would have to stand up there and show the world that you have paid attention. If you didn’t, he terminated you with maximum prejudice and I promise you, I flunked more than once on this golf course.”
On Tiger Woods not in the field at THE PLAYERS this week
Brandel Chamblee – “This is the other end of the spectrum from ‘Hello World’… “As he continues to play less and less, now that every time he plays, we fully appreciate who he was as a player and how lucky we were to watch him.”
David Duval – “Not surprising he is not here. He wants to be 100% healthy for Augusta so he is going to do everything in his power to be healthy.”
-NBC Sports Group-
