The Next Nicklaus Files: Eddie Pearce

Jason Sobel comes in just under the 7000 word barrier in looking at the ultimate "Next Nicklaus" and eventual Roger Maltbie drinking buddy, Eddie Pearce.

A sampling:

Sports Illustrated once deemed him “The Next Nicklaus." His buddies agreed with the magazine – and his buddies knew a thing or two about talent.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with as much talent as him,” says Ben Crenshaw, himself a two-time Masters champion. “Eddie had such a gorgeous, powerful swing. He could just hit the most beautiful shots you’ve ever seen.”

“Eddie had as much talent as anybody I’d ever seen,” agrees Lanny Wadkins, Pearce's teammate at Wake Forest and a 21-time PGA Tour winner.

“This was a guy who was going to win frequently and win majors,” maintains accomplished amateur Vinny Giles, who also served as his manager. “He was going to be one of the best players in the game.”

Forget the spoiler alert: It never happened. Eddie never became The Next Nicklaus. Hell, he never became Eddie Pearce, if you listen to the stories.

Comments

[Pepperdine]

Thanks for the link Geoff - I love these stories.

[DRM]

Golf Channel needs to do more stories like this one. Randall Mell just posted an article saying Tiger isn't back until he wins a major. No one gives a crap about Mr. Mell's opinion on the state of Tiger's game. This Eddie Pearce story is a lot more interesting. The history of golf is loaded with these kind of stories, yet we rarely hear about them.

[Chris from DE]

Great article!

[Porterhouse]

I remember being a kid and reading about Pearce when he first came up. I didn't read this article yet but it probably mentions how he actually qualified, I believe, for the Champions Tour when he turned 50 but he disappeared pretty quickly. I don't remember seeing Eddie Pearce on the range at our yearly Tour event that I would attend but I do remember another name from just about the same time period, Jerry Heard, who hit the most beautiful ball flight on the range, and made a totally different noise when it came off the face. Great swing. I know he got hit by lightning and had really bad back issues but a shame to see him not do more. Pro in Florida now.

[John Rattray]

I agree: it's a good article, and I wish TGC, GD, and GW would publish more like it. That said, though, I wish they'd commission a great writer to write them. I like Jason Sobel, but his genre is the tweet, not literary journalism. He doesn't add any depth to Pearce's story, and some of the sentences sound like they're from a first-year undergraduate: "If Eddie Pearce wasn’t a golfer at birth, he became indoctrinated into the game soon afterward." Maybe he just likes thesaurus.com too much.

The same was true of Gary Van Sickle's recent profile of Jason Schechterle at Golf.com. They are great topics with lots of potential, but these guys just aren't up to the challenge. I know, I'm just picky. But I appreciate good sports journalism, and the recent post on SI has me wishing for something that Jason Sobel can't deliver.

By the way, if you wondered how Pearce conquered his putting woes, consider this: "He uses a long putter that is '95 percent of the reason I can play again with confidence.'" That's from Jeff Rude's 1993 profile of Pearce. If only Adam Scott were that honest!

[BenSeattle]

Somebody named John Rattray says "I wish they'd commission a great writer to write them." Well, sorry, pal, but Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer are dead. As is Jim Murray. Certainly you can't be wishing for John Feinstein.

The article was well-crafted and informative; it's not designed to be "art," it's a nicely-done piece of reporting and any complaints are more than "picky," they're nonsense.

What I took away from it (and thanks for tipping us off, Geoff; I virtually NEVER go the Golf Channel website) is that even today Pearce talks about "all the good times after dark," and while he certainly enjoyed his hundreds of nights on the town, I simply cannot wonder just how much MORE fun he would have had if he had traded those bottles of scotch whiskey for PGA tournament victories. Wouldn't making regular appearance in the winner's circle been vastly more enjoyable, Eddie? It's his life and he can (and did) live it how he wanted but for those of us mortals who would sacrifice much to be even half that talented, it can only make us feel that his was a golfing life wasted.

[John Rattray]

@BenSeattle -- Look pal, I didn't deny the trite moral that you took from the article. Nor did I suggest that Sobel should be trying to produce a work of "art." I'm only saying that Sobel is little more than a cipher in this article; he doesn't add any texture to Pearce's story or any depth to Pearce as a character. In fact, he reduces him -- as do you -- to a boring cliche: wasted talent. In that sense, Sobel's piece is predictable and insipid, and its appeal lies in a bunch of anecdotes from Pearce's friends. If you're content with that sort of writing, fine. But don't dismiss my comments as "nonsense" just because I'm looking for something a bit more polished and a lot more insightful. I know I'm unlikely to find it at TGC, but if they're going to do these feature stories, then I'm allowed to hope for more, aren't I?

[John Rattray]

By the way, I'm not saying that I need to read Norman Mailer. Scott Eden's recent piece on Tiger and perfectionism was excellent. In case you missed it: http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/8865487/tiger-woods-reinvents-golf-swing-third-time-career-espn-magazine

[Whatalife]

This from his son in the comments section from the article on the GC website:

Eddie Pearce Jr. • 19 hours ago −
despite his wild times, he has been nothing but a great father, idol, and best friend to me. I wouldn't trade my relationship with him, or the stories from people who love being around him to this day, for anything.

I kind of think Pearce did just fine in this life ... just fine, indeed.

[Stord]

Jason Sobel is easily the best journalist in golf at the moment.

[BrianS]

I thought it was really well done piece, and I agree that Sobel is one of the best out there today. Whatever your opinion of his writing, to say that "his genre is the tweet" is patently unfair. I thought he did a really nice job in getting Pearce's contemporaries to share their thoughts, and I also thought the tone was nice - obviously a sad story, but not to heavy on the judgement.

As far as Pearce's life and wast of talent, it is sad, especially in retrospect. At the time he was coming up, how would/could he know that playing pro golf - even for the second or third tier of pros, could be a lifetime profession that could earn you millions and millions ? In his day, that money was reserved for just a few, and for a much shorter time. I'm glad to see that his son thinks well of him - certainly the mark of some quality. Perhaps this quote from a really good writer about something of a parallel topic applies:

“We have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live after that.”
― Bernard Malamud, The Natural

[Taffy]

For those of us who can't and wish we could, tour golf is the epitome. For some who can, like Eddie, it isn't. Man he was good. That is what I choose to remember about him. I am glad he is happy.

[Bobby D]

Nobody should ever have to justify a yearn for better writing; a desire for a good story told with style and literary flair. Who can fault Mr. Rattray for wanting better? The Golf Channel has delivered us pap, junk, cheap headlines and Tiger fist pumps for years and years.. That's how they made their bones. Frankly, I'm dog tired of it.. Now that they have survived (miraculously), merged and even thrived, they can finally sum up the balls to try for the next level: the well-written story of substance. They have spurned this stuff because it doesn't draw eyeballs, it doesn't "trend", it never goes "viral", but now they have "made it big" so they can give it a go. They are finally a success story. There are more Eddie Pearce stories out there. Let's move past the "Big Break", it's insulting. Let the Jimmy Roberts thing play out. Let Jason Sobel get better. We don't need Vidal or Mailer, but gawd let's not ever settle for less than the best we can get when it comes to golf. It's too important.

[OWGR Fan]

@Stord.... Your statement on Sobel as the best journalist in golf today is what I and likelly others would consider damning one with faint praise. The best writer in golf today, Jaime Diaz, doesn't wite nearly enough.

IMO Sobel while not a bad writer isn't in the same flight of the club championship as a writer as is Diaz. Not even close.

[Tighthead]

Diaz is a good choice. Rubenstein as well. I read the story, and recommended it. It is interesting, but I tend to agree that it seemed a little light somehow.

[Hilltop]

For my money, Bill Fields is the best golf writer today.

[Doctor]

Rattray: Your posts are polished and insightful. They are not predictable and insipid. They have texture. You are much more than a cipher. You are up to the challenge.

[DTF]

Is there a website worse than that of the Golf Channel? It's unreal...the site just is not operational. Videos won't run, ever. Entire site often fails to load. Just the ultimate POS....

[johnnnycz]

Good piece on Eddie.

I am very happy to hear he got it turned around and didn't end up like McKnight did...now THAT was a crazy F'd up dude....WOW!

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

The only thing that bugs me about Eddie's story is that I never got to see him play.

[johnnnycz]

Oops...might not have been McKnight. Can't place the name, but he was a crazy USGA champ who basically partied and drank himself to death. Amateur for his playing career...met him at the Cardinal Am in the mid 90's and ran away from him around midnight when the words 'topless' and 'carwash' and 'lots more bourbon' were thrown about the table before the final round....WTF is his name...it's killing me.

Time to get on the ole Google.

[Tom Ierubino]

johnnnycz,

You're probably thinking of Jeff Thomas, winner of the 1993 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Thomas died in 2003 at age 44. He won a record eight New Jersey State Amateur titles from 1981-94, including one at Plainfield Country Club in 1983.

Phil Mickelson defeated Thomas in the second round of the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills en route to winning the championship. Thomas had a 20-foot putt for par on the first hole of his match with Mickelson, who was 10 feet away for birdie. With Thomas taking his sweet time looking over his par putt, Mickelson conceded Thomas his par putt and then sank his own birdie putt to take a 1-up lead en route to a 6 & 5 victory.

[Doctor]

Tom: Mickelson was more like four feet. The account you're reading is like a Moe Norman story--it gets exaggerated over time.

[Hawkeye]

@Johnnycz, here's a good read for you! http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/jeff-thomas-natural

[Tom Ierubino]

Doctor,

I've read 4 feet as well, but T.R. Reinman, who was at that match covering Mickelson for the San Diego Union-Tribune, told me it was 10 feet. I talked to T.R. about it two years ago at the Barclays when it was played at Plainfield.

[ol Harv]

I knew Thomas and the boys from PlainfieldI(they played regularly at the public Plainfield) and they all went to Ramapo CC and were really good players. He was fine early on, it was when he moved to Florida that he went down the wrong path. He dominated the MET section for a few years and then won his Mid-Am title. Sad to see what happened to him.