Television executives and PGA Tour brass should encourage more players to join golf broadcasts for their ‘Walk-and-Talk’ interviews, which have become a staple on weekend telecasts.
Fans, media, and fellow players alike have all been exposed to great content and tremendous conversations, such as MacKenzie Hughes’ discussion with Jim Nantz on CBS last week at the Genesis Invitational.
But you can add England’s Matt Wallace to the growing list of wonderful walk-and-talks.
Wallace agreed to speak with the NBC broadcast during the third round of the Mexico Open at Vidanta while playing the par-5 14th hole.
After missing the fairway to the right, Wallace had 265 yards left to the flag. Despite lying in the rough, he decided to pull out his 3-wood and go for the green, even though water lurked short and right.
Alas, the Englishman found the pond as his 3-wood spun mightily to the right.
“I thought the lie was good enough,” Wallace told NBC’s audience immediately after his misfire.
“We knew it’d come out a little spinny. Wind out of the right, it was a perfect number for 3-wood. I didn’t expect it really to come out that spinny and that cutty… Yeah, it’s not quite going my way today.”
At that point, Wallace sat at 11-under, even par for the day. He went on to bogey the 14th but bounced back with a birdie on the next hole, the par-4 15th.
He ultimately settled for an even-par 71 on Saturday.
Understandably, the Manchester United supporter was frustrated, especially considering he began the day seeing his side suffer a heartbreaking 2-to-1 loss to Fulham, whom his caddy, Samuel Bernard, roots for. Dan Hicks, NBC’s lead announcer, joked with Wallace about United’s loss too.
Needless to say, it was a challenging conversation for Wallace, who started Saturday’s third round with a share of the lead. He fired rounds of 66 and 65 on Thursday and Friday.
Still, he persevered, showing remarkable resilience and strength, much like he did on the 15th hole Saturday.
“This is all part of it, isn’t it?” Wallace said.
“I need to deal with this. I need to get stronger. I need to play better golf and accept it. Get this up and down, and we go again. I can’t do anything more than what I’m trying to do right now. It’s just not going my way [today].”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
