City are entering an exciting new chapter. Pep Guardiola’s departure in May has signalled a changing of the guard at the Etihad Stadium. Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Rodri are among the legendary players who have said farewell this summer. However, City aren’t looking to stand still. Enzo Maresca is aiming to rebuild the Blues as they look to continue challenging in all four competitions. Phil Foden, Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku have all signed new contracts, Elliot Anderson has arrived in a bumper move and the main man Erling Haaland will lead the line as ever.
Nobody knows how the season will unfold for City, but what we can promise you is comprehensive coverage of the Blues throughout the 2026/27 campaign. As well as our in-depth written coverage, our City reporters will be bringing you Talking City podcast episodes every week.
Aug 20, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones (78) celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
As Aaron Judge makes incremental progress in his recovery from a fractured right rib, the New York Yankees are on one of their best stretches since losing their captain over two months ago.
The Yankees are riding a four-game winning streak as they return home Friday night for the opener of a three-game series against the surging Toronto Blue Jays.
There is still no timetable for Judge to return, but the three-time MVP started hitting off a tee on Thursday and seems likely to increase his batting progression during New York’s 10-game homestand.
The Yankees, who are 36-32 since Judge last played on May 31, completed a three-game sweep of the host Baltimore Orioles with a 6-1 win on Thursday.
New York is on its fourth four-game winning streak without Judge and is attempting to win five straight for the first time since May 24-29. While the Yankees are batting .202 over the past six games, they are coming off consecutive games with double-digit hits.
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“I do feel like we’ve been better for the last week or 10 days, even on some of the days where we haven’t had results,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like some individuals are in a little bit of a better place. As a team, we’re in a little better place offensively, but we got to keep getting better. There’s more in there for all of us, and we got to keep getting it out.”
New York rookie Spencer Jones homered on Thursday in his second career three-hit game. He is 9-for-30 (.300) over the past eight games. Luis Garcia Jr. also went deep and collected three hits in the finale at Baltimore, his first three-hit game since being acquired from the Washington Nationals on Aug. 2.
Toronto split a four-game series in New York from May 18-21 and has split the 10 meetings with the Yankees this year. After winning two of three close games against the Yankees last weekend in Toronto, the Blue Jays scored 21 runs while taking two of three at Tampa Bay to open this week.
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After hitting three homers in a 5-1 win on Thursday, the Blue Jays are 14-7 in their past 21 games. Toronto totaled 38 hits in the three games against the Rays.
Blue Jays rookie Kazuma Okamoto has homered in two of the past three games and has a six-game hitting streak. Alejandro Kirk is batting .405 (15-for-37) during a nine-game hitting streak and is 8-for-16 in five games against the Yankees this season.
“I think we’re coming in the ballpark confident every day, and it feels like it’s showing up more as late,” Toronto right-hander Shane Bieber said.
The Blue Jays will be without Vladimir Guerrero Jr., though, as he is expected to return from the concussion list on Saturday. He hit an RBI double and drew two walks in his first rehab game for Class-A Dunedin on Thursday.
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Toronto shortstop Andres Gimenez may also be out after tweaking his right hamstring on Thursday. He won’t need an MRI, according to manager John Schneider, so the injury isn’t believed to be serious.
Cam Schlittler (10-6, 2.19 ERA), who is winless with a 2.90 ERA in his past four starts, will start the series opener for New York. Schlittler allowed just one run in each of his past two starts.
The right-hander is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA in five regular-season starts against the Blue Jays. Schlittler held Toronto to four hits over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision on Saturday.
The Blue Jays are expected to use a bullpen game on Friday before Dylan Cease and Jose Soriano start the following two contests. One of the pitchers who might appear in the Friday game is Spencer Arrighetti, who has not pitched for Toronto since being acquired from the Houston Astros in exchange for Daulton Varsho at the trade deadline.
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Arrighetti has been on the injured list due to a nerve issue in his right foot.
One of the UFC’s heavyweight mainstays and a former interim title challenger is set to re-sign with the promotion on an extended deal, but the fans are divided over the move.
In a recent post on X, combat sports journalist James Lynch revealed that Curtis Blaydes is set to re-sign with the world’s premier MMA organization on an eight-fight deal.
According to Lynch, the new contract will begin with a September 12 clash against heavyweight knockout threat Waldo Cortes-Acosta at Noche UFC.
Check out James Lynch’s announcement about Curtis Blaydes below:
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Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
The 35-year-old fighter from Naperville, Illinois, has been a fixture in the UFC heavyweight rankings for years. ‘Razor’ has notable wins over the likes of Alexander Volkov, Jailton Almeida, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and Alistair Overeem, among others.
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Blaydes also challenged for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 304, losing to Tom Aspinall. He is 2-3 in his last five fights, most recently suffering a unanimous decision loss to Josh Hokit at UFC 327.
Blaydes is one of the best wrestlers in the 265-pound division and boasts an impressive collegiate record, highlighted by a gold medal-winning performance at the NJCAA Championships as a redshirt sophomore at Harper College.
His upcoming opponent, Cortes-Acosta, currently sits at No.7 in the UFC heavyweight rankings. He is 3-2 in his last five fights, most recently suffering a unanimous decision loss to Volkov at UFC 328. Known for his heavy hands, Cortes-Acosta was riding a three-fight knockout streak before his most recent loss.
When Dana White was impressed by Josh Hokit and Curtis Blaydes’ UFC 327 showings
Curtis Blaydes and Josh Hokit delivered a banger at UFC 327, racking up a combined 351 significant strikes in three rounds. While Blaydes came up short, the bout helped solidify Hokit as a legitimate heavyweight contender.
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Despite the loss, Blaydes’ showing may have played a role in his new contract with the UFC. During the post-fight press conference at UFC 327, White praised Hokit while also lauding both fighters for their impressive performances, saying:
“Nothing but respect for both of those men tonight. That fight was unbelievable, and you won’t hear a word out of me about [Hokit] from here on out. He walked the talk. It’s one thing to have a shtick and act, whatever, and it’s another thing to go in a fight against the No.5 guy in the world, who’s a bad dude, and do what he did tonight.”
As announced last Friday, the 14 Women’s Bundesliga clubs have officially established their own league organization during a meeting in the German city of Frankfurt.
Katharina Kiel of Eintracht Frankfurt was elected as the first president of the Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V. (Women’s Bundesliga Association). Veronica Sass of Bayern Munich and Florian Zeutschler will serve as vice presidents. The FBL’s stated purpose is to take the league’s marketing and professionalization to a new level, and it will reportedly be rolled out in 18 months time.
“Today marks a historic moment for German women’s football. For the first time, all top-division clubs are joining forces and pooling their interests within a league association,” Kiel said in a statement posted on Eintracht Frankfurt’s website.
“For us, this represents a provisional high point in a process that we, as clubs, began together approximately 18 months ago.”
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Going it alone – without the DFB
The founding meeting was held in a hospitality suite at Eintracht Frankfurt’s home stadium after it had been moved from its original location, the German Football Association’s (DFB) headquarters nearby. The decision to move the meeting came last week, after the 14 clubs announced that they would go it alone in their plan to establish the FBL, meant to be similar to the DFL (German Football League), which markets the men’s Bundesliga.
This was the result of a major row that emerged between the clubs and the DFB, with the clubs accusing the the football association of making “unacceptable demands” regarding a deal that would have seen the two form the league association as a joint venture. The DFB has denied this. In stark contrast to the harsh words of last week, the tone on Wednesday sounded more conciliatory.
FBL President Katharina Kiel (center) with her vice presidents, Veronica Sass and Florian ZeutschlerImage: Michael Brandt/dpa/picture alliance
Door remains open
“At this point in time, we cannot enter into the partnership because there are still unresolved issues between us and the DFB,” Kiel said.
“Every path has its advantages and disadvantages. The DFL also started on its own. The project with the DFB has not fallen through. We will examine it with an open mind.”
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In a further possible sign of willingness to patch up the dispute, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf was present at the founding meeting, although he didn’t actively participate.
At the heart of the row appears to be a disagreement over which side should have the most say in the FBL, with the clubs arguing that they should have the final word as they are estimated to invest somewhere between €300 million ($351 million) and €900 million to move the Bundesliga forward. It is unclear what this association’s founding may mean for the DFB’s commitment to invest €100 million in the women’s game over the next eight years.
One thing the two sides do agree on is the urgent need for investment in the women’s game in Germany in order to maintain both the league’s and the national team’s competitiveness with other top football nations like England and the US.
Among the concrete proposals up for discussion are a minimum basic salary for players and minimum requirements for personnel and infrastructure.
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The DFB is also hoping to use the 2029 European Championship, for which Germany secured hosting right last week, to help generate momentum for the women’s game in the country.
Walti said she is “passionate” about pushing for change because she is privileged to have experienced professionalism in England.
“We used to not have good conditions. It wasn’t professional. Our first salaries were not enough to live from,” said Walti.
“Now, seeing the growth in England and being with players who try to push the game in their own countries, it makes you feel frustrated to still see the reality.
“You forget sometimes, when you’re in your own bubble, that this is not the norm. You’re just one of the lucky ones who can experience it.
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“A lot of talent in women’s football gets lost because they are in bad environments where nobody sees them or they don’t have the chance to reach their potential.
“I try to make an impact and I think that was really hard in Italy because I felt like when we spoke up, nothing happened, and that was frustrating.”
When Walti was weighing up her future, with a year left on her Juventus contract, she knew Brighton were a club who could offer her a quality environment.
In 2021, the women’s team moved into their training facilities at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre – the result of an £8.5m investment.
On the pitch, they have invested during the transfer window and reached the Women’s FA Cup final for the first time in May.
Dario Vidosic’s side have ambitions of breaking into the WSL’s top three and Walti believes she has joined a club “that cares” about women’s football.
“After that experience in Italy, I knew a bit more about what I probably wanted, or didn’t want,” said Walti.
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“I had a pretty big trust in Brighton before we had the conversations because I had been in the league and seen what the club was doing.
“I’ve heard from other players about the club investing a lot and I only heard really positive things. There is no better feedback than from other players.
“Once I started to have the first moments with the club, it proved to me that this is the right place – that cares about women’s football, that invests in women’s football, and who has the right people in place.”
Brazil great Ronaldinho has landed in Ravenna, a city more famous for its nearby beaches than its soccer team.
The lyrics “and the world’s going to know your name” seemed ironically superfluous as one of soccer’s most recognizable figures stepped on stage in front of thousands of fans on Thursday.
That song, “Hall of Fame” by The Script, had been belted out throughout the presentation of third-tier Ravenna’s team for the upcoming season before the team’s new No. 10 walked out.
Thursday was dubbed “Ronaldinho day” as the soccer legend was presented first to the press before a glitzy beachside ceremony in front of around 6,000 fans, waving flags and holding flares aloft – despite the intermittent rain.
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In a surprise announcement in June, the 46-year-old Ronaldinho signed with Italian third-division club Ravenna more than a decade after retiring.
“I’m very happy to be here with my friends, but let’s wait and see if things go well with the team,” Ronaldinho said Thursday when asked about how he was feeling, before later answering a question as to when Ravenna fans could expect to see him on the field.
“I feel fine,” he said with a laugh, before later adding: “I don’t know, it depends on the president and coach. I don’t know.”
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Ronaldinho arrived by private jet at nearby Forli Airport – about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Ravenna – around midday local time. He signed a couple of soccer balls for airport staff before getting into a car on the runway, skipping the handful of fans that were waiting landside.
He was accompanied by Ravenna President Ignazio Cipriani of the Cipriani restaurant brand.
Ronaldinho will not feature in Ravenna’s first Serie C match of the season on Monday, at Reggio Emilia, and it is still unclear how much he hopes to play during the campaign. However, Cipriani has said it is his dream for the Brazilian to score his last career goal for the team.
“If that happens even better, no?” Ronaldinho said. “I’ve come here because of the friendship we have, and that’s it, let’s wait and see how the team does I’m here to help.”
Ronaldinho last played professionally for Fluminense in 2015. It marks his second spell in Italy after featuring for AC Milan from 2008-11. He won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and the Ballon d’Or in 2005.
Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia urged football fans to boycott the upcoming high-profile friendly match against Brazil in Kolkata. Bhaichung pointed out that spending crores for a 90-minute exhibition match will be a misuse of money when Indian football is in desperate need of financial assistance. India are all set to take on the five-time FIFA World Cup winners Brazil at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on October 3. Media reports claimed that the whole event will cost around Rs 60-70 crores and the AIFF decided to withdraw India from the FIFA ASEAN Cup in order to prioritise the Brazil clash.
During a recent interaction, Bhaichung urged football fans to not support the game. “Boycott that Brazil match. Then I think that is a big message. Then every organiser, every federation will think twice,” Bhaichung said on 420 Grams.
He went on to request the Bengal government to invest the money elsewhere and added that such a big amount can end up helping athletes and sports infrastructure in the long run.
“If the Bengal government is going to pay or try and raise [money] for this match, please raise it for Bengal to have the next few gold medals in the Commonwealth Games,” Bhutia said.
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“So when you have Rs 30 crore, please invest it in the next four years to have 10 medals in the Commonwealth Games. We are trying to bring the Olympics here. Try and have Olympians from Bengal winning medals there. Or with the Rs 30 crore, make 100 futsal grounds — seven-a-side futsal grounds. You can have 100 grounds in different [areas]. Use it, utilise it properly. Don’t waste it for one 90-minute [match] and think the money is gone.”
The former India captain accepted that the excitement around a match against Brazil will be huge in India but questioned what would happen once the spectacle is over.
“If the match happens, everybody is excited, fans come in, you know, media, the government, everybody will be happy. But once the match happens, your money is gone and your football is 20 years behind,” he said.
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Allianz Stadium will play host to Saturday’s
Round 25 NRL game between St. George Illawarra Dragons and
Canterbury Bulldogs. The game kicks off at 7:35 pm with Canterbury Bulldogs heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the St. George Illawarra Dragons vs.
Canterbury Bulldogs
game and give you our free tips and bets.
St. George Illawarra Dragons vs Canterbury Bulldogs Odds
St. George Illawarra Dragons vs Canterbury Bulldogs Preview
St George Illawarra has doubled its season win tally across the past fortnight, upsetting Cronulla before edging Wests Tigers 24-22. Daniel Atkinson starts at fullback with Mathew Feagai on the wing, while the Dragons’ emerging forwards again face a demanding assignment. Canterbury has slipped outside the top eight after losses to the Roosters and Rabbitohs, making this contest effectively non-negotiable. Bronson Xerri returns in the centres and Enari Tuala moves to the wing following Jethro Rinakama’s season-ending injury. The Bulldogs have won six consecutive meetings, including a 15-14 golden-point escape in Las Vegas, although four of the past six clashes have produced no more than 38 points. Canterbury’s greater urgency and collection of attacking game-breakers should be enough, but the Dragons’ renewed resilience promises a tight contest.
St. George Illawarra Dragons vs Canterbury Bulldogs Teams
Dragons team: 1. Daniel Atkinson 2. Mathew Feagai 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Tyrell Sloan 6. Lyhkan King-Togia 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga 9. Jacob Liddle 10. Emre Guler 11. Dylan Egan 12. Hamish Stewart 13. Ryan Couchman 14. Damien Cook 15. Toby Couchman 16. Jacob Halangahu 17. Jacob Webster 18. Setu Tu 19. Josh Kerr 20. Blake Lawrie 21. Luciano Leilua 22. Kade Reed
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Bulldogs team: 1. Connor Tracey 2. Jacob Kiraz 3. Matt Burton 4. Bronson Xerri 5. Enari Tuala 6. Stephen Crichton 7. Lachlan Galvin 8. Max King 9. Bailey Hayward 10. Leo Thompson 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jacob Preston 13. Jaeman Salmon 14. Kurt Mann 15. Josh Curran 16. Harry Hayes 17. Alekolasimi Jones 19. Jake Turpin 20. Sean O’Sullivan 21. Jed Reardon 22. Jonathan Sua 23. Jack Underhill
I was 25 when I wrote “The Green Road Home,” in my parents’ house in Patchogue, on the South Shore of Long Island. On my 26th birthday a copy of it arrived there, hot off the press. That was in 1986. This piece is from a new afterword for it, a 40th anniversary edition that was published recently.
Gloriously available again, forty years after it was first published—now with a new introduction by Brad Faxon, a new afterword by the author, and a batch of newly discovered time-capsule photos—The Green Road Home is the classic account of a young caddie on the PGA Tour, and the book that launched Michael Bamberger as a bestselling author.
I was kind of amazed, the day that first copy showed up 40 years ago, as I didn’t know what I was doing, certainly not as a caddie, but not as a writer, either, not really. Since then, not much has changed. I’ve come to accept that as a writer and reporter my thing is to puzzle on through. For better or for worse, that’s my modus operandi, the swing thought of my professional life. Ask questions, look around, size things up, like a detective. (TV’s Lieutenant Columbo is one of my inspirations.) I don’t know what could be more fun than being a reporter.
In “Joyride,” a memoir of her writing life,Susan Orlean notes the outsized impact of the first years after college: early jobs, early loves, early discoveries. Of course, for innumerable people, the just-out-of-college years as a chapter of life is not a thing at all. It doesn’t compute. But for others, Orlean’s observation must scream. It screams at me. I graduated from college in 1982 and moved to Martha’s Vineyard to work as a reporter. I caddied on the pro golf tour in 1985 and my book about that stint came out in 1986. Later that year, I got hired as a high school sports reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. My life in the typing trade was off and running. My life life, too. “Joyride.” Nice title.
The Inquirer had a dripping-molasses writer who went to USC (South Carolina) named Joe Logan. Logan had reviewed “The Green Road Home” in the period when I was trying to get a job on the paper. I figured his write-up killed my chances. Then I got hired and met Logan. “You trashed me,” I told him. “I didn’t trash you,” Logan said. “I lukewarmed ya.” Newsroom fun.
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The only outside-the-house offices I have ever known are newsrooms, along with press tents and press boxes, if those count. A newsroom is a good place to play Nerf basketball from a swivel chair and bet the imaginary house on “Jeopardy!”Everybody at The Inquirer knew the story about the paper’s editor, Gene Roberts, dating back to his cub reporter days at The News-Argus in Goldsboro, N.C. The editor of The News-Argus was blind and young Gene would read him his stories. The boss offered this critique on at least one occasion: “I can’t see it — make me see.” Any reporter could run with that.
Then there’s this famous (to some) quote from Red Smith, the legendary sports columnist: “I like to get where the cabbage is cooking and catch the scents.” Sight and smell. Two of the big five, right there, along with hearing/listening (No. 1), plus touch and taste. The reporter’s tool kit. (This hardly needs to be said: Empathy and curiosity are job prerequisites.) On my way to getting hired, Roberts told one of his deputies, “I like the way he got around the country on the cheap, doing that caddying thing.” My gateway to the big leagues: off-peak flights on People Express.
When the kids at Dartmouth came up with this campus greeting, a hundred or so years ago, they were on to more than they likely knew.
Student 1: The places you’ll go!
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Student 2: The people you’ll meet!
The people I met in rapid succession at the Vineyard Gazette, at The Inquirer, on the golf tour — it almost doesn’t seem fair. On the Vineyard, my neighbor (for a time) was Toni Smith Giamatti, a deep reader with a gift for encouragement. At The Inquirer, I wrote about a poetry-loving skier, Wesley Wilson, near 90, whose father was born into slavery. On the golf tour, I got to know Billy Britton, Mike Donald and Brad Faxon, to cite three soul-of-golf golf pros; Sam “Killer” Foy and Bruce Edwards, to drop the names of two celebrated Tour caddies; Chuck Will, the sui generis golf director for CBS Sports. Scores of others.
I wouldn’t trade my first half-decade after college for anything.
Brad Faxon in 1991.
Getty Images
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In the summer of ’85, I received a boilerplate rejection letter in response to something I had submitted to The New Yorker, except this missive had an addendum:William Shawn, the magazine’s editor, inviting me to see him in his office the next time I was in New York. For those who don’t know the name, William Shawn was a word god. Wallace Shawn, inquisitive dinner partner in “My Dinner with Andre,”is his son.
My appointment fell on a hot summer day and Mr. Shawn was wearing a suit. (I was, too.) I told him that I had been working as a caddie on the golf tour and planned to write a book about the experience. He asked (asked!) if he could offer some advice. “Celebrate the lark,” he said. What Shawn knew about golf came from editing and reading Herbert Warren Wind. He was sizing up my little golfing adventure on intuition alone. In 1985, PGA Tour caddie yards were still dominated by traveling caddie lifers from the South, many of them Black. As a band on the run, this group contributed immeasurably to the Tour’s color, language and culture. The number of English-major caddies from the Northeast with typewriter dreams was nine short of a minyan.
Herb Wind’s phone-booth office was on the 18th floor, one floor down from Shawn’s. I met Herb in early 1986, when I brought him “The Green Road Home”in manuscript form, hoping for a blurb or something. He had a framed letter from Bing Crosby on a wall. I met my future wife later in the year, at a dinner party at a friend’s apartment, 40 or so blocks north of the New Yorker building on West 43rd Street. Christine left that dinner with her hockey-playing boyfriend. Soon after, somebody (me) sent her a book. You can guess which one.
The PGA Tour I got to know in 1985 was rich in every way. Compared to the PGA Tour today? Well, you can’t compare the two, because the modern tour is no longer a tour and hasn’t been for decades. The paydays are beyond the pale. There’s no reason, for player or fan or caddie, to care about the money list anymore. Once, the money list dominated Tour talk, and guys roamed. Players and caddies, windblown and roaming. Raymond Floyd got it down to three words: “We were gypsies.” And he was a star.
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The PGA Tour I got to know in 1985 was rich in every way.
The Tour was an excellent place to test your instinct for survival. It was cutthroat and brutal, on its playing fields and in its caddie yards. The players were self-reliant and independent, and the caddies were con men in the best sense, giving players the confidence they needed. (Nothing but driver, babe.) You were trying to win or top-10 or make enough cuts to “stay out.” Going home was not a good option, unless you had a clear path back. The Tour was fair, intoxicating, merciless. But all the while, random acts of kindness softened the whole enterprise. I couldn’t see that then but now, 40 years later, I can. Small kindnesses as a sort of protective coating, softening the sharp edges of all those accumulated scorecards. Mike Donald, hitting balls next to Bill Britton, or Brad Faxon next to Tom Kite, pointing their knowing eyes at highly specific swing issues.
Try flexing that right knee a hair more.
A swing.
That’s it.
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Now the players are the CEOs of their own privately-held little corporations, with the swing coach in on every practice shot, the caddie recording on an iPhone.
The regular caddie was less of a thing in 1985, except at the top of the money list. Tom Kite had Mike Carrick, Tom Watson had Bruce Edwards, Hale Irwin had Killer. Brad Faxon didn’t have a regular guy. Neither did Bill Britton or Mike Donald.
Killer was a legend, a Houstonite, a former boxer, a gent. In ’85, I exchanged nods with him my first week (Honda), talked to him my second (New Orleans) and on we went from there, through 1985 and beyond. He always had time — for me, for anybody — and was willing to point the way to the better breakfast buffets and reliable budget hotels. (Small kindnesses when you need them most are huge.) I was surprised, reading “The Green Road Home”recently and for the first time in years, to see that Killer and I had dinner together at the ’85 B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y. I don’t recall the meal and I’m sure it was no elaborate anything. But just knowing we broke bread together tickles me. I met a man a few years ago, a member of an old-line Boston club, who told me he knew Killer when Killer was a caddie at the Houston Country Club and the man was a rich-kid junior member. “Killer raised me,” the man said.
Sometimes you hear that same thing said this way: So-and-so “grew me up.” A Southernism, and a phrase that was once in regular circulation on Tour. In the 1980s, the PGA Tour was still more Southern than anything else. Southern and Texan, the players and their tournament locales. Curtis Strange and Lanny Wadkins; Payne Stewart and Ben Crenshaw; Hubert Green, Keith Fergus, Bill Rogers — the list of Southern and Texan players goes on and on.
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The Tour had a bunch of glamorous events, the three American majors, of course, but also the Pebble Beach pro-am; Doral in all its glitz; the Memorial, Jack Nicklaus presiding. But the real Tour, for the players and caddies holding on for dear life, unfolded across the South. If you were playing to keep your card, you needed good weeks in Columbus and San Antonio and Pensacola. Ray Floyd and Big Jack were off hunting and fishing. You had a chance, or more of one. Every tournament ended with payout information followed by a fresh money list. Shots played equaled money earned.
The 1985 Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational had a purse of $950,000, the most prize money of any American tournament that year. Curtis Strange won the event and its first-place prize, $171,000. It was a five-round affair played on multiple courses, well-heeled amateurs playing alongside the pros every day. There was something tacky about the event, with seedy Las Vegas as the backdrop. Both those things, the tackiness and the seediness, added immeasurably to the fun, the stakes, the adventure of it all: amateurs arriving at golf courses via stretch limos choking with cherry air freshener; slot machines at soggy dive bars; check-cashing stores with harsh lighting and late hours.
Curtis Strange in 1985.
getty images
I caddied in Vegas for an amateur, a long-limbed man in his mid-30s named Lee Roy Pearson III, an oil prospector from Ranger, Texas. (He’s the star of the book’s fourth chapter, “The Two-Fisted Golfer.”) We met in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Country Club, where (per Killer’s advice) I had situated myself, looking for work.
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After returning home from the 2024 Masters, another season under way, I wrote to Lee Roy. A week or so later I got a two-page, handwritten letter back, on stationery stamped L.R. Pearson across its top. This is about half of it.
Michael My Boy,
It was so good to hear from you. It has been 39 years since we met. I still remember that you went after my brother-in-law, Jim Adams, first. What a mistake that would have been. Your CAREER would never have been the same without me.
I was always known as a pretty good golfer all throughout West Texas. I wasn’t a constant champion but I did win my share. But after your book came out I became A LEGEND. My wife swears that the main character (Roy) in the movie “Tin Cup” was based on my chapter in your book. What do you think?
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I remember back in Las Vegas one day I asked you what you did at night after the round. You said you just went back to the room and wrote down things that happened to you that day. I thought that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. But after the book came out it suddenly all made sense.
Things are OK here in Ranger + Eastland. I have my cattle and of course still have some oil. I’m 75 years old and can still shoot my age (not every time). If I am ever in Philadelphia I will call you and we will play. By the same token, if you are ever in Fort Worth or Dallas, call me and I will be there. It’s just 85 miles.
It was great to hear from you, Michael. You made my day.
With a little distance I can see now that Lee Roy’s letter captures the spirit and promise of that old campus greeting, the places you’ll go/the people you’ll meet. I hope this book does, too. It does for me. I got myself from New Orleans to the parking lot of the Las Vegas Country Club. Lee Roy got himself there, too. He played and I carried his gigantic golf bag for a week. I wrote about the experience — Lee Roy in Vegas — as best I could. That was 40 years ago. In a manner of speaking, we’ve been together — the two of us, dateline LAS VEGAS — ever since.
;)
;)
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