Match play

Golf Digest, June, 2005 by Craig Bestrom

Match Play

With Craig Bestrom

Golf vs. hockey for the pride of Canada

     MIKE WEIR                                       WAYNE GRETZKY

Kenny G? I know he's 1  Tiger Woods' friend   1  Kenny G ... I came in
a member there. Ask    and Stanford teammate      second in 2003 with
Gretz about winning     Jerry Chang won the       Jim Jerome, a buddy
 the grand slam of        member-guest at         from Edmonton, and
Sherwood. I think he   Gretzky's home course,    Iwon the net title of
won his division in     Sherwood C.C., with      the club championship
the golf and tennis    which Sherwood member?     that year. But the
club championships.                               truth is, I got my
                          Answer: Kenny G        lunch handed to me in
                                                the tennis tournament.

The claret jug. When 1  Which is older: the   1 The claret jug's older.
I was a kid playing      Stanley Cup or the     It's been around since
hockey, I definitely        claret jug?          1876, right? I think
  wanted to win a                                 the only time it's
 Stanley Cup. Now I    Answer: The claret jug     been in Canada was
  want that claret      was first awarded to       when David Duval
        jug.              the British Open         brought it on the
                         champion in 1873;       charter to our Skins
                        hockey's Stanley Cup             Game.
                        was first awarded in
                               1893.

I'm out, that's for  0  Who's been the main   0  People send those to
 sure. I'd have to      image on more Sports      me all the time and
     say Gretz.         Illustrated covers:      ask me to sign them.
                        Gretzky, Weir, Tiger      It's probably Tiger
                           Woods or Jack        Woods. [Told Nicklaus.]
                             Nicklaus?          Well, give Tiger three
                                                 years, and he'll pass
                       Answer: Nicklaus, 22;             Jack.
                       Gretzky and Woods, 12
                          apiece; Weir, 1

 I remember this; I  1 In a made-for-TV event 1  Ivan Lendl and Larry
 watched it on TV.        in 1990, Gretzky        Bird. We were tied
Larry Bird and Ivan      partnered with two      on the 17th hole, and
Lendl. Now I've been    other famous sports     all three of us hit it
  able to play in       stars in a best-ball     out-of-bounds. Norman
  Gretz's charity        golf match against      told us we'd all have
 event a few times,    Greg Norman. Who were       to reload, and we
  and he played in             they?              ended up losing to
  mine last year.                                        him.
                        Answer: Larry Bird,
                             Ivan Lendl

I'm gonna say Wayne. 0   If you Google Mike   1  Mike Weir I don't use
 I'm not much of an    Weir and Wayne Gretzky      the Internet very
  Internet guy. I      separately, which name    often; I pick up the
 don't even have a      yields more results?     phone. Wait! I bought
 favorite website.                              my son a [Los Angeles]
   Well, I guess       Answer: Weir, 905,000;     Dodgers jacket on a
 MikeWeir.com is my       Gretzky, 453,000        website yesterday.
     favorite.

Al Geiberger, David  1   Only three players   0    David Duval. John
 Duval and ... Does    have shot 59 in a PGA       Cook? Davis Love?
the Nike Tour count?   Tour event. Name them.    Sam Snead? [Told the
  Oh, I know--Chip                               other two.] I played
 Beck. I've scared     Answer: Al Geiberger,     golf with Chip Beck.
59 a few times, but    Chip Beck, David Duval    My career best is 78,
   61 is my best.                                  but I'm a 10- or
                                                     11-handicap.

 The U.S. gets the   1   The U.S. has more    1 I had a lot. [Laughs.]
 least amount? Wow!       golfers, but its        More than I needed
  I'll say unlucky       workers get fewer      and more than I wanted.
  number 13. [Told       vacation days than         [Laughs again.]
   he's correct.]        those in any other      I'll say the average
 That's really sad.      country. Italians         American gets 14.
And we get double in     average 42 days a
Canada? Actually, I     year, Canadians get
 probably took only    26. Within three, how
  20 vacation days       many do Americans
     last year.               average?

                             Answer: 13

 It was the Stanley 1/2 There hasn't been an  1 I've gotta think about
    Cup Finals.         NHL game since June     this one, it's been so
Tampa beat Calgary.     7,2004. Who played,       long. Tampa Bay won
I want to say it was   and what was the score    the Stanley Cup, 2-1,
3-1 ... This is the        of that game?        over Calgary. How much
   time of year I                                  do I miss hockey?
    really miss         Answer: Tampa Bay 2,     As much as you would
hockey--playoff          Calgary 1, in Game 7       miss watching the
time.                     of the Stanley Cup          four majors.
                               Finals

  My victories, no   1    Which number is     1  Mike has, what, seven
question. I remember    larger: Mike Weir's       victories? I was in
  he had one fight       PGA Tour victories      one fight. I got the
with Ron Duguay at a     or Wayne Gretzky's      Sportsman of the Year
game in Detroit, and     fights during his        award before a game
 I was there. Well,     20-year NHL career?     one night, and minutes
  it was kind of a                                into the game I got
      fight.              Answer: Weir, 7;      into my only fight. Me
                             Gretzky, 1            and Neal Broten.
                                                  Neither of us was a
                                                   great fighter. We
                                                  laugh about it now.

   Total: 6 1/2             Gretzky wins               Total: 7