Fred Couples' Ryder Cup Changes and My Favorite Ghost Story

Table of Contents

welcome! you ask where are you? I call this “Weekend 9.” Think of it as a spot to warm up on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I have an idea. Here’s a hint. I’ll keep tweeting. However, there are only nine in total, sometimes more, sometimes less. who am i? The following paragraphs will tell you part of that story. The contact information is as follows nick.piastowski@golf.com.

Aaron Rye believed in ghosts.

I was remembering last weekend when Rai won the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and people learned more about this gentlemanly Englishman. His story is also a great one, and GOLF’s Dylan Desier perfectly explained it all on Instagram earlier this week. he has intelligence. he is a thinker.

And I was reminded of that a few years ago when we were walking down the 7th fairway at Oak Hill and talking about Buffalo Bill. Although he has been dead for over 100 years, he probably still visits the stream that runs through the hall from time to time.

I learned about it as part of my staff’s preparation for the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, and continued my research. For several years, Bill Cody lived near the course in Rochester, New York, but probably kept coming back. A former club historian, who I was told was a serious man, once wrote:

“Some people say Oak Hill is haunted!

“For example, try walking down the 7th fairway on a warm summer’s night. It’s been said that if you huddle along the shore of a stream and look closely, you might be able to see the faint silhouette of a fisherman. If you look closer, you might be able to discern a big fancy hat, a fluttering mustache, and maybe even boots.”

“That’s Buffalo Bill, they say, a great Wild West showman who hunted and fished here in the 1870s.”

“William F. Cody, better known as “Buffalo Bill” for his incredible prowess with a rifle, spent his childhood as a pioneer in the rugged American West. However, in the 1870s, he brought his family to live in Rochester.

“While here, the property that would become today’s Oak Hill was Buffalo Bill’s favorite hunting and fishing location. At the time, he was already active in the famous Wild West Show.

“Buffalo Bill’s grave is on Lookout Mountain in Colorado, but three members of his family are buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester.

“Should we really wonder that he might still visit Rochester from time to time, walking the green lawns of Oak Hill’s beautiful fairways…when the nights are warm and quiet?”

What a story!

I called two Buffalo Bill museums. I consulted a medium in Rochester. And she taught me how to summon ghosts. I talked to Oak Hill’s current club historian and he agreed to walk with me to No. 7 once we got to the course. I also talked to some players about this, but most ignored me once they learned I was writing about potential visitors from far away.

news

Aaron Rye, Nick Piastowski, Buffalo Bill

Then there was Rai.

Two days before the PGA, he was playing No. 7. I approached.

Hello Aaron, this is Nick from GOLF.com. Can I walk with you for a little while?

It’s done.

OK, this is probably the weirdest question you’ll be asked this week, but…do you believe in ghosts?

He did. His reasoning was profound. “I think ghosts are also spirits,” Lai says. “I believe that all living things have some kind of spirit. I just believe that. There is more to living things than just a physical body.”

we continued walking. I explained to him about Buffalo Bill. We got to the water. I delivered the words that the spiritual medium told me.

there is nothing.

At that point, I wanted to thank Rai for his time and wish him well, but he interrupted me.

He asked if he would like to try summoning a ghost.

Yes, yes, you can!

So he tried it. Unfortunately, again nothing. I reached out to shake his hand, but he wasn’t finished yet.

He wanted to know if we were both up for the challenge.

Yes, yes, you can!

And we did. But no Buffalo Bills. After this attempt I thanked him profusely and he departed.

Then, two years ago, I became the main character in the story. And today.

See if you can find 8 more items for Weekend 9.

1 item to take home for the weekend

news

Kai Trump lines up his putt on the 9th green as Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy looks on ahead of the Genesis Invitational 2025. — Kai Trump lines up his putt on the 9th green as Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy looks on ahead of the Genesis Invitational 2025.

2. Is this week’s Anika Tournament the most talked about LPGA event of the year?

Yes, it seems so.

But isn’t that the most important thing?

That’s one aspect of golf that’s outrageous. There’s also a major. Next week is the big-money CME Group Tour Championship. The schedule is packed with meaningful competitions.

But this week we have something to talk about. How many words and videos did you see about Wednesday’s Pro-Am featuring basketball superstar Caitlin Clark? How many sights and sounds will the president’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, receiving a sponsorship invite to Annika be seeing in the coming days?

How many new people are interested in other people? Maybe there are several.

Maybe they will stay there too.

Because golf alone should be enough to pique your interest.

3. But I thought it was odd that we only saw about 30 minutes of Trump playing during Thursday’s broadcast.

Another takeaway for the weekend

4. This week on SiriusXM’s “Katrek and Maginnes On Tap,” Fred Couples offered a Ryder Cup suggestion.

We need to reduce the number of people near the players.

“I know it’s really selfish and that’s all I know,” the couple said on the show. “When I play Augusta, even after ’92 when I won, I go out Saturday and Sunday, and I don’t want to put 10 people in the car. You drive to the course, and I want to go at my own convenience. The car comes back and picks up everyone else. I don’t want to say hello to 400 people, I don’t want to stand in the breakfast line. I want to go with a partner. Let’s say I was playing with Davis. 1993 was great, but you don’t want to be around a lot of people, and in the Ryder Cup you’re with a lot of people.

“The answer is they’re the same. There’s team dinners, there’s big dinners with tuxedos, it’s all part of life. But in the team room, I think they really just want to see the 12 players and maybe their caddies, and the caddies are there for them. There’s no real reason to be there unless you say, ‘Hey, I have rain gear in my locker, it’s going to rain.’ When they play in the majors, they don’t have people around them, and in the Ryder Cup, I think there’s too many people around, and I think that’s upsetting.

news

Bernhard Langer on the fairway at the Charles Schwab Cup

“And you know what happens when you fall behind? Everyone pats you on the back and says, ‘You’re going to catch up today.’ If you don’t go get it, you’re not going to get it today. I’m not a la-la guy, and I never have been. Ki. For the captains, the Presidents Cup is much, much easier to run than the Ryder Cup, but I feel like there’s a huge sense that it’s outrageous, and I don’t see that, I think of it as golf.

Then the couple thought about the crowd.

“I think it got out of control in New York. Let’s say you and I are golf fans and we go to New York to watch four groups. 50,000 people to watch four groups? That’s impossible. And you say, well, what do we do? When I played, there were less than 50,000 people. They made money and did great. Now it’s a cash cow, but you don’t need 50,000 people to watch four groups of golf.”

“It’s impossible to see. It takes away the pain.”

You can listen to the entire show here.

Another weekend takeout

5. Ahead of this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Saheeth Seegala was asked about his memories of his 2021 partnership with Bermudian professional Brian Morris, who passed away from cancer in 2023, and Seegala shared the story of the versatile athlete.

“Well, he said a few things that I can’t repeat here, but one of the things he said made me laugh. He was like, “Hey, this is what you were talking about in the early days.”

“It’s like, ‘Hey, how was it, how are people going to treat you, what’s your prognosis?’

“He was like, ‘Fuck, Saheth, now I have cancer, I can say whatever the FI wants to say, I can do whatever I want, I can ask for anything.’

“Even in the darkest moments of his life, and the people around him, he was able to do that – still show his humorous side and never take for granted every day that he still had life. There were many moments like that.

“He hit a few shots, he whiffed a few shots, and first of all, he put his hands around me and just hugged me. He was like, ‘Saheeth, this game sucks, this is the worst game ever.’

“But he also said many times that it was the best game ever and that golf had saved his life in a significant way. I think he attributed many of the fair relationships he built through golf to feeling so lucky in his life.”

Interesting tweets

6. I thought the following tweet was interesting.

Interesting videos

7. I thought the video below was interesting.

good news this week

8. This article written by Ben Gagnon of the County Press is great.

Michigan’s Eldrick Norris and his father recently won a tournament, winning $225, and the fourth-grader donated the money to his school.

Principal Jennifer Christian said, “I didn’t know what to say. I asked him what he wanted and what we could do to help him, and he said he wanted churros back on the lunch menu and that he could bring a basketball and a soccer ball during recess. He’s a great kid with a great family.”

What golf will be on TV this weekend?

9. Here’s a rundown of the golf that will be on TV this weekend.

– Friday

2am-8am ET: DP World Tour Championship Round 2, Golf Channel

10am-1pm ET: Annika Round 2, Golf Channel

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET: Butterfield Bermuda Championship Round 2, Golf Channel

4:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET: Charles Schwab Cup Championship Round 2, Golf Channel

– Saturday

2:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m. ET: DP World Tour Championship Round 3, Golf Channel

11:30am – 2:30pm ET: Butterfield Bermuda Championship Round 3, Golf Channel

2:30pm – 4:30pm ET: Annika Round 3, Golf Channel

4:30pm-7pm ET: Charles Schwab Cup Championship Round 3, Golf Channel

– Sunday

1:30 a.m.-7:30 a.m. ET: DP World Tour Championship Final Round, Golf Channel

11am-2pm ET: Butterfield Bermuda Championship Final Round, Golf Channel

2:00pm-4:00pm ET: Annika Final Round, Golf Channel

4:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET: Charles Schwab Cup Championship Final Round, Golf Channel

What you can listen to this weekend

10. Let’s try 10 items! Recently, I was a guest on the “Golf to Go” show and talked about prison golf. Click the icon below to listen.

One story about something other than golf

11. Isn’t Weekend 9 something that usually airs on Fridays? That is. So why Thursday? That’s because I will be visiting some universities with my nephew over the weekend.

Email us your conversation topics for 10+ hours in your car.

The post Fred Couples’ Ryder Cup Changes and My Favorite Ghost Stories | Weekend 9 appeared first on Golf.