Lee Trevino, one of golf’s greatest players, is talking about his high regard for Jack Nicklaus, perhaps the greatest player, and Scottie Scheffler, the current greatest golfer, and he can illustrate that point, although to help him, he needs a sport other than the one where the three claim their fame.
Volleyball.
Appearing in a video released Wednesday on the PGA Championships YouTube channel, Trevino was asked about several topics by the host Beem richwho, like Trevino, is a PGA winner. They recalled Trevino’s start in golf. His victories. How did he win them? The whole video is worth watching, and you can here. However, one of the most interesting points came when Beem asked Trevino what role Nicklaus played in his success.
Notably, Trevino said it was small, at least at first. He knew Nicklaus’ attitude. He knew what he needed to accomplish it. “You tighten your belt a little bit tighter,” Trevino said, in his Trevino way. Still, Trevino said he thinks his humble beginnings numbed him to any pressure — “I didn’t know what the hell pressure was,” he said — and that helped his game.
Then came a moment at a Ryder Cup.
Trevino and Nicklaus were teammates, and one night, there was a party, but Nicklaus didn’t show up. Later, Trevino asked him about it. The event felt important.
But Nicklaus said his daughter had a volleyball match.
“And then I realized,” Trevino said, “you know, there’s more to this game.”
He went further to Nicklaus.
“I respect his golf, but I respect his fatherhood more,” Trevino said. “He was the best father I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I learned a lot from him. I had kids first. I got divorced, (and) I never got to know them because I was always on the golf course. When I married this young lady in ’83 and we had two kids, she looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to help me raise these.’ And they went everywhere. But she pulled them back. She’ll—no, no, she said, ‘We’re going to see your father.’ You know, ‘We’re going with your dad.’ And Friday nights, man, they were there, come home, everything.
“And I knew exactly what Jack did. That gave me the vision to say, ‘This is what Jack was doing.’
And Trevino said he sees Scheffler doing that, too.
While he has won 20 PGA Tour events over the past four years, including four majors, Scheffler has often talked about his family. He mostly did that during a long answer at a press conference at last year’s Open Championship, where he said his family is his priority.
“I’m blessed to be able to come out here and play golf,” Scheffler said, “but if my golf ever starts to affect my life at home or ever affects the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that’s going to be the last day I play here for a living.
“This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life.”
Trevino has noticed.
“Scottie said, ‘Listen, that’s just not the game,'” he said.
Here Trevino closed his answer with a quick joke. This is Trevino, after all, who is as adept with his words as he is with his golf.
“But I think when you’re a goat, you say, ‘You can spend more time at home.'”
Editor’s Note: To view the entire PGA Championship video featuring Trevino, please click here.
