News
ENLARGE
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Charles Barkley also is called “Chuck,” “Sir Charles” and the “Round Mound of Rebound.” He isn't called a good golfer.
Nevertheless, he is the undisputed star of the American Century Championship.
“He is the face of the tournament,” said Phil Weidinger, who has been the event's publicist since 1992. “Barkley will talk to people. He's entertaining. He'll sign autographs. He'll banter back and forth. And then you've got the swing. People want to see a train wreck waiting to happen.”
The swing.
It really has to be seen in person to truly understand how god-awful it is. And it gets worse every year. Halfway into the downward swing, Barkley suddenly stops. He has a look of shock as if the ball has just turned into a coiled rattlesnake ready to sink venom into his leg. Agonizing moments later, the swing resumes, the ball is struck and it rolls up the fairway.
He said he's considering playing left-handed this week. Sports books have generously given Barkley 500-1 odds to win the tournament.
“At one point he was a pretty darned good golfer,” said John Smoltz, a former Atlanta Braves pitcher who is one of a handful of players who has a chance to win this weekend. “I heard that somebody gave him a tip to look at the club as you swing back and he went to his hotel room and he kept doing that. I don't know if that's true how he got into a funk, but unfortunately that's what happened.”
Eight-time champion and another former big league pitcher Rick Rhoden was considered to be in the same competitive ballpark as Barkley when the tournament began.
“I played with Charles Barkley one year when he could shoot in the 70s,” Rhoden said. “He didn't always swing like that. He had a normal swing. All of a sudden he showed up one year with the yips he's got and he's been like that ever since.”
“Is there hope?” asked five-time champ Dan Quinn. “I don't know. We've watched him for about 10 or 12 years where he's gotten himself in this predicament. It's probably very hard for him to play a round of golf with something that slightly resembles something he used to be able to shoot when he was an 8 or 10 handicap. It's just a shame because there's nothing more he'd love to do than be able to shoot an 85 or a 90 at some point. But from what we see, I don't see it happening this year.”
It's hard to imagine such a great athlete being such a lousy golfer.
Barkley, an in-studio basketball analyst for TNT, is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, just one of four players to score 20,000 points, grab 10,000 rebounds and have 4,000 assists. The 1993 NBA MVP also was a player on two gold medal-winning Olympic basketball teams. Yet the Dream Team member has a nightmare of a golf swing.
And it doesn't matter to the fans.
“The people of Lake Tahoe, they just roll out the red carpet,” Barkley said. “Even though I'm not very good at golf, they are out there cheering, telling me to hang in there. I find that really cool. I know I'm not very good at golf but to have a few hundred people in your gallery wishing you the best is pretty cool.”
When the Angora fire destroyed 254 South Lake Tahoe homes in 2007, Barkley opened his wallet the day got into town. “We can't just come here, play golf and have fun and act like nothing happened,” he said at the time. Over the years Barkley has donated an estimated $250,000 for fire victims, environmental restoration and emergency workers.
“He's endeared himself with this community with his donations to the fire funds over the years and for his participation and just for being who he is,” Weidinger said. “He's straightforward. He's honest. He's a sinner, not a saint, but he's up front about it. People can relate to a guy who is telling the truth and saying what he thinks.”
It's not surprising one of the songs he chooses to sing with Arthur “Arty the Party” Hervey” at Harrah's Center Stage.
“He likes “My Way” by (Frank) Sinatra,” Hervey said. “That would pretty much fit his persona. That's probably why I like the guy so much. Charles is the only guy I know who truly does not care what people think of him. All of us to an extent wear a mask, but this guy is the least of the pretenders.”
Perspective no doubt is a trait that gives Barkley, reciprocative with the Tahoe love, to be a man who knows how to seize the day.
“I don't know what to say about my golf game, to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “But I'm gonna have fun. There's worse things to suck at in life than golf. I'm gonna have a great time. It's so awesome up there.
“American Century has done a great job supporting this tournament but Lake Tahoe to me is really the star. Depending on where you have your dinner or are just walking around, man, that's one of the most beautiful places I've been in my life. Lake Tahoe is really the star of that whole tournament. Think about it. When you're walking on some of those holes, if you can't get excited about that, there's something wrong with you.”
Nevertheless, he is the undisputed star of the American Century Championship.
“He is the face of the tournament,” said Phil Weidinger, who has been the event's publicist since 1992. “Barkley will talk to people. He's entertaining. He'll sign autographs. He'll banter back and forth. And then you've got the swing. People want to see a train wreck waiting to happen.”
The swing.
It really has to be seen in person to truly understand how god-awful it is. And it gets worse every year. Halfway into the downward swing, Barkley suddenly stops. He has a look of shock as if the ball has just turned into a coiled rattlesnake ready to sink venom into his leg. Agonizing moments later, the swing resumes, the ball is struck and it rolls up the fairway.
He said he's considering playing left-handed this week. Sports books have generously given Barkley 500-1 odds to win the tournament.
“At one point he was a pretty darned good golfer,” said John Smoltz, a former Atlanta Braves pitcher who is one of a handful of players who has a chance to win this weekend. “I heard that somebody gave him a tip to look at the club as you swing back and he went to his hotel room and he kept doing that. I don't know if that's true how he got into a funk, but unfortunately that's what happened.”
Eight-time champion and another former big league pitcher Rick Rhoden was considered to be in the same competitive ballpark as Barkley when the tournament began.
“I played with Charles Barkley one year when he could shoot in the 70s,” Rhoden said. “He didn't always swing like that. He had a normal swing. All of a sudden he showed up one year with the yips he's got and he's been like that ever since.”
“Is there hope?” asked five-time champ Dan Quinn. “I don't know. We've watched him for about 10 or 12 years where he's gotten himself in this predicament. It's probably very hard for him to play a round of golf with something that slightly resembles something he used to be able to shoot when he was an 8 or 10 handicap. It's just a shame because there's nothing more he'd love to do than be able to shoot an 85 or a 90 at some point. But from what we see, I don't see it happening this year.”
It's hard to imagine such a great athlete being such a lousy golfer.
Barkley, an in-studio basketball analyst for TNT, is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, just one of four players to score 20,000 points, grab 10,000 rebounds and have 4,000 assists. The 1993 NBA MVP also was a player on two gold medal-winning Olympic basketball teams. Yet the Dream Team member has a nightmare of a golf swing.
And it doesn't matter to the fans.
“The people of Lake Tahoe, they just roll out the red carpet,” Barkley said. “Even though I'm not very good at golf, they are out there cheering, telling me to hang in there. I find that really cool. I know I'm not very good at golf but to have a few hundred people in your gallery wishing you the best is pretty cool.”
When the Angora fire destroyed 254 South Lake Tahoe homes in 2007, Barkley opened his wallet the day got into town. “We can't just come here, play golf and have fun and act like nothing happened,” he said at the time. Over the years Barkley has donated an estimated $250,000 for fire victims, environmental restoration and emergency workers.
“He's endeared himself with this community with his donations to the fire funds over the years and for his participation and just for being who he is,” Weidinger said. “He's straightforward. He's honest. He's a sinner, not a saint, but he's up front about it. People can relate to a guy who is telling the truth and saying what he thinks.”
It's not surprising one of the songs he chooses to sing with Arthur “Arty the Party” Hervey” at Harrah's Center Stage.
“He likes “My Way” by (Frank) Sinatra,” Hervey said. “That would pretty much fit his persona. That's probably why I like the guy so much. Charles is the only guy I know who truly does not care what people think of him. All of us to an extent wear a mask, but this guy is the least of the pretenders.”
Perspective no doubt is a trait that gives Barkley, reciprocative with the Tahoe love, to be a man who knows how to seize the day.
“I don't know what to say about my golf game, to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “But I'm gonna have fun. There's worse things to suck at in life than golf. I'm gonna have a great time. It's so awesome up there.
“American Century has done a great job supporting this tournament but Lake Tahoe to me is really the star. Depending on where you have your dinner or are just walking around, man, that's one of the most beautiful places I've been in my life. Lake Tahoe is really the star of that whole tournament. Think about it. When you're walking on some of those holes, if you can't get excited about that, there's something wrong with you.”
