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 top-ranked golfer, and he can illustrate that thought, though to help him, he needs another sport besides the one where all three claim their fame.
Volleyball.
Appearing on a video released Wednesday on the PGA Championships’ YouTube channel, Trevino was asked about several topics by host Rich Beem, who, like Trevino, is a PGA winner. They remembered Trevino’s start in golf. His victories. How he won them. The entire video is worth a watch, and you can do so here. One of the more interesting points, though, came when Beem asked Trevino what role Nicklaus played in his success.
Notably, Trevino said it was small, at least at the start. He knew Nicklaus’ standing. He knew what he needed to meet that. “You kind of pull your belt a little tighter,” Trevino said, in his Trevino way. That said, though, Trevino said he thought his humble beginnings had numbed him to any pressure — “I didn’t know what the hell pressure was,” he said — and that helped his play.
Then came a moment at a Ryder Cup.
Trevino and Nicklaus were teammates, and one of the nights, there was a function, but Nicklaus was a no-show. Later, Trevino asked him about that. The event felt important.
But Nicklaus said his daughter had a volleyball match.
“And that’s when I realized,” Trevino said, “you know, there’s more to this game.”
He went further on Nicklaus.
“I respect his golf, but I respect his fatherhood more,” Trevino said. “He was the best dad I have ever seen in my life.
“I learned a lot from him. I had kids in the beginning. I got divorced, [and] I never knew 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 she says, ‘You’re going to help me raise these.’ And they went everywhere. But she pulled them. She would — no, no, she said, ‘We’re going to go see your dad.’ You know, ‘We’re going with your dad.’ And Friday nights, man, they were there, come home, the whole thing.
“And I knew exactly what Jack did. That gave me the vision of saying, ‘This is what Jack was doing.’”
And Trevino said he sees Scheffler doing that, too.
As he’s won 20 PGA Tour events over the past four years, including four majors, Scheffler has often talked about his family. He most memorably did so during a lengthy 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 started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that’s going to be the last day that I play out 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, it’s just not this game,’” he said.
Here, Trevino ended his answer with a quick joke. After all, this is Trevino, who’s as skilled with his words as he is his golf.
“But I guess when you’re the GOAT, you say, ‘You can spend more time at home.’”
Editor’s note: To watch the entire PGA Championships video with Trevino, please click here.