After 12 years, my tenure covering golf for CBS Sports has come to an end. That is strange to write as this has been a dream job -- the only one any of my four children have ever known me to have.
Reflected on those past 12 years recently, I realized it would be sweet and possibly cathartic exercise to jot down the 10 most memorable moments that came from this incredible opportunity -- traveling the world, watching golf and mixing it up with some of the best to ever do it.
This is an non-exhaustive list, of course, because there have been 1,000 moments, and I could not possibly remember them all.
Still, as I look back at my time writing and pontificating about golf for CBS Sports, here is what I will always remember.
1. My first major: I had attended major championships before -- my grandfather had two badges to the Masters for the last 30 years of his life -- but only as a fan and never with a credential. I showed up at Chambers Bay, which looked like the surface of the moon, and felt like a fish out of water for five straight days at the 2015 U.S. Open. I may have even forgotten how to type. It was a total baptism by fire but also the week I met so many other writers, podcasters and folks in the industry who would become good friends.
Before I got into covering golf or even writing at all, I used to romanticize traveling around and chopping it up with great writers and thinkers. All of a sudden, I found myself stunned to be having beers with people like Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN and Chris Jones of Esquire. It was an incredibly encouraging and formative week in my career.
And of course, as if there was any doubt that this would happen, Jordan Spieth won and gave me the easiest story to write I could have possibly asked for at my first in-person major.
2. June 6, 2023: I don't know if it was an amazing moment, but it was one that I will remember. Sitting at my desk on a weekday morning, getting ready to write and get the day going and the entire golf world felt like it exploded on my computer screen. Other than Scottie Scheffler's arrest on Friday of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, I have never experienced something like the announcement of the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund that I had to reread multiple times to believe what was actually happening. The implications of that day are still being felt right now.
3. 2017 Open Championship on Golf Twitter: Ask 100 people, and you'll get 100 different answers about when "Golf Twitter" peaked. For me, this was it: Spieth against Matt Kuchar for the Claret Jug. The surrender cobra move from Spieth after blasting a tee shot 200 yards offline. The drop by the driving range, behind the equipment trucks. Spieth yelling at his caddie, Michael Greller, to get him "a round number." And then the birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par finish to win his fourth major by three shots, punctuated by the "go get that" eagle.
Not only was this peak Golf Twitter, it was also peak Spieth.
4. Hazeltine in 2016: This was a turning point much of my generation of golf journalists. We were all somewhat fringe-y until this Ryder Cup. The event itself, like all Ryder Cups, was outrageous. Rory McIlroy bowing, Patrick Reed shush-ing him, the rout on Sunday. Obviously, all of it was extraordinary. But the moment I will remember is crossing the bridge back to the media center after it was all over and looking to my left to see Rory laughing. He wound up talking to me about everything that happened that week. To this point, I didn't realize any players even had awareness of me, so this was very much a "welcome to covering professional golf" moment.
5. Playing Augusta National: I wrote about it after the 2017 Masters, so there is no need to rehash every detail, but not mentioning it would be foolish. It was one of those, "I'm almost not even able to enjoy this because it is so surreal" days. Going to the Masters like I did in college with my grandfather's badges was one thing; covering the Masters was another. Then hanging out in the champion's locker room and playing 18 of the most famous holes in the world after winning the media lottery?! It was as grateful as I've ever felt being in my position.
6. 2016 Masters: Annie brushed her hair. That was the lede of my piece about Spieth losing the 2016 Masters. I'll never forget standing near his soon-to-be wife watching as she brushed her hair near the 11th hole, readying what was sure to be her second consecutive appearance on national television next to her soon-to-be husband in his second green jacket.
He was up five shots with nine holes to play. What could go wrong?
At the 12th, even though a lot of physical, and frankly unspeakable, things played out in front of my eyes, it is actually the smell I'll remember. If you've visited Augusta National on the weekend, you know what it smells like. Cigars and beers and grass and fear swirling in those weird winds at Amen Corner. It felt as if a black hole opened up and sucked all the air and joy and delight out of the place in those moments.
Honestly, it was one of the easiest stories I've ever had to write. Annie brushed her hair.
7. Phoenix with the boys: We got to go on site a handful of times for CBS Sports HQ, and those occasions with Joe Musso, Rick Gehman and Mark Immelman were just the best. Running around TPC Scottsdale and cutting up with everyone on air, trying harder and harder to make each other laugh about something ridiculous. Again, a dream job.
8. Rome: What a surreal experience -- flying across the Atlantic Ocean to a city that spent more time (750 years) as a B.C. city than my own country has spent as an A.D. country. All to cover a golf event. Again, Ryder Cups are Ryder Cups -- the best event in sports -- but this one for me was a celebration as I strolled the city's center with some of the friends I'd met nearly 10 years ago at Chambers Bay and covered another wild event in the Italian countryside. I never could quite believe this was a real job, and this week, even 11 years into it, was a reminder of that.
9. Whistling Straits: The 2021 Ryder Cup changed my life. That Sunday -- standing next to a weeping Rory and writing about both the U.S. dream team and why the Ryder Cup is the greatest event -- was an all-time experience. What I wrote about the European team, about how losing together is better than winning alone, is probably my favorite piece ever. It was certainly the one that meant the most, personally.
10. 150th Open Championship: While it's true that I enjoy Ryder Cups more than anything else, a week in golf Narnia was truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip. My first-ever visit to St. Andrews was for the 150th Open Championship?! And Rory was in the mix?!?! And Tiger cried walking up 18?!?!?! Come on.
All of this happened amid a summer of defections for LIV Golf and a lot of disillusioned chatter about money being funneled into golf. The Open at St. Andrews was a reprieve, a harbor from all the tumult. A shelter from the madness.
It didn't hurt that I got to play several extraordinary golf courses that dotted the Scottish coast -- Elie, Crail and North Berwick among them -- with great friends and new acquaintances.
The round at Elie happened as the weekend neared. It was probably 10:30 p.m. when we finished in the dark. I shot one of the best rounds of my life with friends, all of whom were there to cover The Open. It was reminiscent of the experiences this job provided in different cities, states and even countries, over and over over again.
So, as I sign off one final time after writing what I estimate to be around 3 million words about golf for CBS Sports, I want to say thank you -- to you, the reader, for coming on the journey with me. It has been more than I could have asked and more than I ever dreamed it would be.
