Walking In Memphis

I got off the train and put my bag on a bench. Grabbed my phone from my pocket to hail the Uber. This trip is a train to Memphis, then an Uber to the rental car place, then a rental car to the golf course, and then repeat the process tonight. I'm trying to decide between Uber and Lyft when I hear...

"Looking for a taxi?"

Do I trust him? He's not standing by a taxi.

"If you're looking for a taxi I can take you."

Sure, why not. His name is Robert, after all.

It wasn't a taxi. It's just a guy who waits next to his car when the City Of New Orleans train arrives in Memphis at 7:22 every morning. He used to run the station there, but he's retired now. Still heads down to meet the City of New Orleans most mornings, though. Force of habit I guess.

I asked if I could pay with a card. He said no but that he could take me by an ATM. I checked my wallet and yep, I do have some cash on me. Let's do this. I told him I needed to go to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car downtown. He knew where it was because a lot of his morning passengers go there.

Again, this is just a retired guy with a car. I wouldn't recommend my wife do this (get into a car with a stranger with no credentials). But he seemed like he was the kindest man on earth and I enjoy trusting people.

He immediately started talking about his grandkids. Which led me to talk about mine. You'll understand someday - it's the best conversation two men can have. He told me the name of the youngest but I can't remember. His grandfather name is Pawpaw. Mine is Bolo.

I decided to take this trip last night. Let me look up the time on the Amtrak receipt. I booked the ticket at... 9:44 pm. Overnight train to Memphis last night, overnight train back to Champaign tonight. Sleeper car both directions. I like to think of it as falling asleep in my hotel room and my hotel room moves from Champaign to Memphis overnight (with free breakfast!). Tonight, my hotel room moves back to Champaign (with another free breakfast!).

Back to Robert. He's telling me how his kids live in LA, Atlanta, and Chicago so his grandkids are from all over. He's mostly lived in Memphis. As he's telling me this, we drive past the Lorraine Motel. The moment isn't lost on me. He was likely here then.

He asks why I'm there and I say that I'm going to cover a golf tournament. He immediately says "I thought you were a sports guy! I can tell by your voice." I explain that I do record things all the time and pull up my phone. As he continues his stories about what he did for a living, I press record.

Roberts Taxi

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I was sad to leave Robert's taxi. I had that weird feeling when I got out of his car that I wanted to get his phone number to have him be my taxi whenever I'm in Memphis. But I didn't say anything.

I went into Enterprise, got my car, and headed east. The golf tournament was at Colonial Country Club, and somehow, it's a course I've played. I have an uncle who lives in Memphis – well, he's not my uncle, he's my dad's cousin, but I've always called his sister Aunt Gail and I've always called him Uncle Jim – and he belonged to Colonial Country Club for years. When I was visiting down here in 2003 or so, I played this course with him. I remember it being impossible.

And impossible it is. There used to be a PGA Tour event here - the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic. Al Geiberger's famous 59 – the very first 59 on the PGA Tour – was shot here in 1977:

I didn't remember that fun fact from when I played here with my uncle (first cousin once removed), but I did remember another plaque. Two days before Geiberger's 59, in the Pro-Am, on the 5th hole...

I didn't really remember the course layout, though. And when I arrived, I couldn't find a course map or a course card. I knew that the final round was a shotgun start, and I knew that the Illini were starting on 1, 2, and 3, but private country clubs don't really have "go this was to get to the 1st tee" signs. The membership just knows.

I looked up a course card online but couldn't find anything. But one of the coaches had left his cart by (what I would learn is) the 18th green while talking to a player on the green, and the course card was right there, so I grabbed it off the wheel, flipped it over, and took a quick picture:

OK, now I can figure it out. I immediately headed to the 4th green/5th tee because I figured all of the Illini would be rolling through there once I arrived. (I left Enterprise at 8:15 am, the shotgun start was at 8:30, so by the time I got to Colonial CC, all Illini had completed one or two holes).

This is where I'll switch from telling you about the day to telling you about the golf. I mean, they're intertwined, of course, but it's time to flip the switch to "it's so much fun to watch a Mike Small team compete." Let's see if I can describe how much fun it is for me.

I've been mostly oblivious to all of the basketball happenings this week. Just yesterday someone was telling me about the Twitter mess, but I really don't see any of it. I have so many people muted (and so many words muted) that it barely makes my radar. I don't want it in my head and I go to great lengths to avoid it. I understand the game that's being played, I understand the lengths people will go to get the clicks, it generally makes me sick to my stomach, so I do everything in my power to avoid it. Wake me in June.

Instead, I do things that I enjoy. I originally thought I was moving to Champaign to become a "reporter", but I quickly transitioned away from that. Yes, I could probably boost my subscriber numbers if I told you what I'm HEARING, but I'd hate myself. Why hate myself? Instead, I'll go to practice and talk to Coach Bielema for 10 minutes and then I'll tell absolutely no one what we talked about. This is a business model that can work!

I'm here to write these articles, not those articles. Travel to Memphis on a moment's notice just to cover a second-tier golf tournament and then write an article that very few people will care about instead of teasing "here's what I'm hearing GET INSIDE" and making actual money? Yes, please.

There were no other ranked teams in this tournament. Which, for Illini golf, is a "we'd better win" tournament. The home team will always have a chance on their home course (that's Memphis), but beyond that, we'd better beat everyone else. It's just how it goes when you have a top-10 program.

And in the first two rounds yesterday, it didn't go like that. The Illini were five shots back going into the final round today with (home team) Memphis in first. I was discussing it with Shank on our Slack yesterday and, well, here's how it went:

"Robert, describe your personal ethos."

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The thing I mentioned there about Jackson Buchanan and snubs – I wrote all about it in the golf preview – ended up playing out in the first 20 minutes I was on course. I won't ever approach the players during a round. But it's pretty casual out there, and sometimes they'll approach me. I cover a lot of their tournaments and we know each other.

So as I was standing on the cart path looking at the 5th green, Jackson Buchanan had just teed off on 6 and said something to me (seeing that I had traveled to Memphis, he said something like "we have to put up a good one for you today"). I knew what came next so I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and pressed record. There needed to be another snub.

Jackson Buchanan yesterday (2 rounds): 4-over 76, 6-over 78.
Jackson Buchanan today after the snub: 1-under 71.

(We actually put the snub thing to bed after the round. Shook hands for real for the first time since the home tournament at Atkins last April. He thanked me for coming and thanked me for my snub service over the past year. He's all growns up and now it's time to win without the snub. The snub is dead. Long live the snub.)

It was fairly obvious from the start that Illini golf was Illini golfing. The five shot Memphis lead was immediately erased. It would push to two, then back to even, and then, on the back nine, it started to creep up to a six or seven shot Illini lead. Memphis made one last push and cut it to three at one point, but then the 16th hole happened.

The 16th hole made the entire trip worth it. I get so into these golf tournaments that moments like 16 are very similar sports-wise, for me, to the run late in the Purdue game to put the game away and end the losing streak to Purdue last month. I don't expect even five other people on the planet to feel the same way, but that's how I felt out there. It was one team, coached by one great coach, walking through the door marked "tournament champions", turning around, looking their opponent in the eye, and slamming the door in their face. No admittance.

Here's the 16th hole at Colonial CC in Memphis. I'll draw the centerline of the three shots required for this par 5.

But that doesn't really tell the full story. The drop from the upper fairway down to the lower fairway is at least 50 feet. It's always hard to show slopes like that in videos, but here's a video I took while walking the hole. See the little white X above near the cart path? That's where I was standing when I took this video:

At the end of that video, you see Mike Small standing at Ryan Voois' ball. On the tee box, Voois hit it blindly over the trees. Scroll back up and look at the aerial view again. You have to feel so silly on the tee box taking that angle. You're turned 30 degrees away from the fairway in front of you and hitting directly over the trees. BUT, if you end up near the edge of the water, you can take a poke at the green in two.

That's what Ryan Voois did...

...and that's what several other Illini did, and that's how Illinois won this golf tournament. Final margin over Memphis? 5 strokes. The Illini on just the 16th hole today? -5 with five birdies.

From that spot there (X marks the spot) I saw Trey Marrion birdie on the green ahead (you give a thumbs up to your teammate in the fairway if you birdie, don't you know) and then I saw Voois reach the green in two while both Memphis and Southern Mississippi had to lay up. Shot after shot after shot.

So then I went up to the green and watched Max's approach from there. Max's drive had been even further forward (and further right) than Voois' drive, so he had a perfect angle in taking a lot of the water out of play. Actually, let me make a graphic to drive the point home. Here's the line Max took and where his ball ended up:

I wish I had been on the tee box for his tee shot. Can you imagine your playing partner turning 35 degrees and aiming right over the trees in front of you? An INSANE line.

And that's what I mean about Illini golf (and why I enjoy this so much). Our team does demoralizing things on the golf course. Max's playing partners will likely go home and tell everyone they know about the insane line he took. Our team can do things that their team can't, and that's insanely fun no matter the sport.

Max went on to birdie, our fifth consecutive birdie on that hole. Which pushed the lead back to eight and slammed the door. Here's what I tweeted at the time:

And all five of them did it on THAT hole. Incredible.

The only thing left at that point was the individual race. Max was two back of his playing partner on the 18th tee and needed an eagle to tie for the individual title. The team event was wrapped up at that point so he took two big pokes at it to try to reach in two. His second poke found the water and that was that. He double bogeyed, the Memphis guy birdied, and the team win was only five shots, not eight.

After the trophy ceremony, I had the chance to chat with Mike Small about the win (and the season). Here's that interview:

Colonial Country Club

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What's left for me? Well, first it's returning the rental car and then dinner with a friend (one of the Engine 77 owners lives here in Memphis). After dinner, head to the train station for the overnight trip back to Champaign. Go to sleep in my Memphis hotel room and then wake up with that hotel room moved to Champaign. Maybe there's even an open portion of football practice I can attend tomorrow.

Basketball portal drama? Who needs it?

I have impromptu trips to Memphis to take.

I haven't done this in maybe a year but writing the whole subscription thing above made me realize that I should make this one a free post and then add a little thing about subscriptions here at the bottom.

If you want to support my work (and my impromptu trips to Memphis), you can do so with a subscription. We have an introductory rate of $25 for the first year. We also have a $77 yearly subscription that gets you extras like our Slack Channel and our season previews and we have a "Seventeen Club" tier for those who jump all-in on supporting my work. If you're interested, just find that little orange box over there to the right (or all the way at the top right corner) and click "subscribe." Thanks for your support.