From ESPN’s David Hale, who wrote a fantastic story on why golf is so important for some college football coaches: South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier welcomes being challenged to a round of golf by one of his players, but he’s never lost.
Classic Spurrier:The last to take his shot was kicker Ryan Succop, who played at South Carolina from 2005-08. Succop was good, and Spurrier knew it. The kickers are always the ones to worry about. So the coach made sure to set the odds in his favor, scheduling their match just as spring practice drew to a close. Spurrier had been out on the course enough to shake off the rust during the previous month, but the players rarely have enough time.
“You have to pick your spots when you play someone who’s a lot better than you,” Spurrier said.
Players only get one chance to beat the head ball coach. Succop had two triple-bogeys and shot two strokes worse than Spurrier, though he still shot a 79, which is still excellent.
There’s a lot more to Hale’s story than just the Spurrier anecdote -- for a lot of these coaches, golf is an escape from the hectic nature of their jobs at the top of college football. Interesting stuff.
(Of course, Spurrier had another great quote this week, so it’s been a pretty good week for the HBC.)