Former ESPN star Trey Wingo will return to calling golf for PGA Tour Live

Like so many of us, Sebastian Cappelen has seen the videos of people singing “Imagine,â€� one of the late John Lennon’s signature melodies, shared repeatedly on social media in an attempt to lift our spirits in these tenuous and troubling times. Celebrities such as Gal Gadot, Will Farrell and Maya Rudolph appear in one. A pianist wearing a surgical mask, disinfecting the keyboard before he sits down to play in an empty London train station, in another. The plaintive rendition of an orthopedic surgery resident, Dr. Elvis Francois, in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in a third. Related: Golf during previous global crises | Rahm makes plea to young fans | PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s Lange’s experience with coronavirus “Of course, I sat down and started playing that on the piano,â€� Cappelen says almost matter-of-factly. “It’s not a hard song to play but it’s probably a fairly relevant song to play for people right now.â€� Cappelen has been sitting in front of the digital baby grand piano in his Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, home quite a bit these days now that the PGA TOUR has been shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. He plays the piano daily, sometimes for hours on end, just like he might find himself putting in time on the practice range had those eight tournaments not been cancelled and three others postponed. “When I get on and sit by the piano, I always lose track of time,â€� says Cappelen, who has one top-10 finish and eight made cuts in 13 starts as a TOUR rookie this season. “And, I think my wife can attest to that — all of a sudden there’s two hours gone, you’re like, ‘Oh, time for dinner.’ … “I mean, when I’m there it’s not really much else to think about because I’m usually very focused when I’m at the piano. So, it’s nice to be able to do in these times, just sit down and relax and not think about much.â€� Cappelen has been playing the piano since he was 11 years old. It wasn’t his first musical instrument, though. He was in third grade and attending an arts academy in his native Denmark when he learned the violin. Two years later, he began to concentrate on the flute. But as he grew older, Cappelen really came to appreciate the complexity of the piano with its ability to make such a variety of robust and complete music in and of itself. “I just think (it’s) the variety of genres that you can express and the full company of sounds that you can express at once,â€� he says. “It just seemed like an instrument that was very enjoyable and full-bodied without any other instruments alongside it. Where some instruments, you feel like you really require other musicians around you to create a full-bodied sound. “So, I just think piano was the most interesting and the most complex, dynamic, most options, if you would say so.â€� Beethoven’s “Fur Elise,â€� Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Luneâ€� and Scott Joplin’s 1899 classic, “Maple Leaf Ragâ€� – quite the mixed bag of compositions — were among the first really complicated pieces that Cappelen remembers mastering as a youngster. “I can still play some of all of them, but I couldn’t remember them all, note for note now,â€� says the 29-year-old, who also is a talented guitar player. Cappelen can sit down at his piano and play everything from classical compositions to the energetic riffs of Jerry Lee Lewis and Elton John, though. He loves classic rock – he went through an Eagles phase a couple of years ago, while Night Ranger (“Sister Christianâ€� in particular) and Journey are other favorites. But he also likes the Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, and his My Soundtrack station on Amazon reflects his eclectic tastes. “I’ll come home and maybe I discovered a new song that I really liked that we started listening to a lot,â€� Cappelen says. “And, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to try to play this,’ if it’s a good song to play on piano. So then, I spend some time looking at that song, trying to figure out how to play it.â€� About the same time Cappelen started playing Beethoven and Bach, he gave up soccer – his father Ulrik was on the Danish national pro team – and began to focus on golf. He remembers making his first birdie when he was 10 years old, holing a 7-iron from 110 yards. So, which was harder to learn? He doesn’t really know. “It depends on how good you want to be,â€� Cappelen says. “How do you define playing golf and how do you define playing the piano? Because anyone who picks up a club and tries to swing at the ball on the golf course, are they playing golf? Or, anyone that sits at the piano and hits the keys, are they playing piano? “I honestly couldn’t answer that question because I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time doing both, so to me that baseline is going to be very high. But (if) I was honestly saying, for someone to enjoy, it would take less time for someone to start enjoying golf than it would to really get into piano and being able to put a piece together on a piano.â€� Music, though, was always going to be a hobby for Cappelen, a sanctuary, if you will. He rates himself a low single-digit handicapper on the piano if the best musicians are a plus-5 or a plus-6. He’s not going to compete or be giving any concerts, but he enjoys playing for friends. “Music was never my intent to pursue it hardcore, like I ended up doing with golf,â€� he says. “It was always my hobby on the side that kind of gave me relief if I was frustrated or just gave me something else to focus on while you recover from something or whatever it is. “Because you can’t spend 24 hours on a golf course, you’re going to drive yourself crazy.â€� Playing the piano, though, can help keep you sane. Especially in times like these.

Click here to read the full article…

Even before winning 25 times on the PGA TOUR, including his signature victory at the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont, Johnny Miller was training for a TV career.  He just didn’t know it. “He grew up with colorful guys,â€� said Todd Miller, one of Johnny’s six kids and now the Director of Golf at Brigham Young University. “He had two guys he was really good friends with in San Francisco where he grew up, Steve Gregoire and Ron O’Connor, and they were always needling each other. They never stopped talking. For my dad, when he got to the (broadcast) booth, it came pretty natural just to come up with something really quick.â€� Miller’s second act calling golf for NBC, a career marked by insights, candor and sometimes controversy, is coming to an end after 29 years. Miller, 71, and NBC announced this week that when he calls the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, it will mark the end of a three-decade run as one of the most iconic soundtracks on TOUR. “Soon, it will officially be Miller time,â€� Miller quipped in a press release. He was more emotional in aconference call with reporters Tuesday that also included NBC Golf Lead Producer Tommy Roy and NBC Golf President Mike McCarley. Miller seemed to choke back tears as he spoke of the highlight of his playing career, his final-round 63 at the 1973 U.S. Open—a tournament, he said, his dad groomed him to win. He said the highlight of his TV career was the relationships with his NBC Golf family like Dan Hicks and Roger Maltbie. “A lot of things going on not only in my mind but my heart, stomach,â€� Miller said.  One thing he didn’t have was a filter, and his microphone was always on. Monday-morning water-cooler talk came to include some version of: Did you hear what Johnny said? Miller once said of a fat pro that his back problems were “perhaps a result of his front problems.â€� He talked especially about choking, or gagging, under pressure on the back nine on Sunday, taking a blowtorch to the heretofore chummy, banal pleasantries of televised golf. “We all choke,â€� Miller said. “For me, I would choke at putting and I would admit that I did.â€� Of Phil Mickelson, Miller said: “If he couldn’t chip, he’d be selling cars in San Diego.â€� Of the stocky Australian Craig Parry, Miller said his swing was so unorthodox as to make Ben Hogan “puke.â€� (This, as Parry was winning the 2004 Ford Championship at Doral.)  He said Tiger Woods “gagged just a little bit because he wanted it so badâ€� at the 2012 Masters. Perhaps most famously, Miller said Justin Leonard should’ve stayed home instead of play in the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline—before Leonard made the clinching putt for the U.S. “He’s just an honest guy,â€� Todd Miller said of his father. “Even with his kids, my brothers and our families, he’s not going to dance around the truth. He’s going to be honest with you. And he’s insightful. He’ll pick things up that other people just don’t see.â€� And Johnny Miller was not above admitting his mistakes, like his Leonard comment in ’99. “I did say he should be home, but I meant the motel room,â€� Miller said. “Even then I probably shouldn’t have said that. I get so into these matches, these Ryder Cup matches. “I apologized to him literally the next day,â€� Miller added.  That was his policy, he said, when he went over the line. Producer Roy praised 99.5 percent of his work. “And .5 percent of the time it was a little bit of a problem for me and our PR department,â€� Roy said. “But that was fine. The great way outweighed the bad.â€� Miller said it came naturally to call it like he saw it, and laughed when reminded of his boyhood friends Gregoire and O’Connor and their formative give-and-take at The Olympic Club. “I remember one of the first tournaments I played, I was walking up to the practice tee and (Lee) Trevino was there,â€� Miller said. “When I walked in, he started razzing me. He didn’t realize that even though he was pretty quick with words, I sort of gave it back to him. He never bothered me again after that in front of all those people. “… I think the one thing I did have that was sort of God-given,â€� Miller added, “was sort of a quickness of spotting things in the swing and a quickness in response.â€� Nicknamed the Desert Fox as a player, Miller was at times dominant, winning 15 times in a three-year span in the mid-1970s. He captured the 1975 Phoenix Open by 14 shots and the Dean Martin Tucson Open, a week later, by nine. He was 49 under par in those eight rounds. He could be just as devastating as an analyst, starting with his first tournament, the 1990 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. At crunch time, Peter Jacobsen, a friend, was sitting on a thin lead and assessing a tricky shot from a downhill lie over water. Miller came in hot. “I said, ‘He’s got this downhill lie. Easiest shot in golf to choke on,’â€� Miller said Tuesday. “I didn’t say he was going to choke. I was just saying if he did, this is the easiest one. Downhill lie over water and you have a tendency to hit it fat or thin like guys do on 15 at Augusta.â€� Jacobsen did not choke, won the tournament, and didn’t talk to Miller for months. (Ironically, he and Leonard both now work with Miller at Golf Channel on NBC.) In retirement, Miller will antagonize only the trout. He will bounce back and forth between his home at Napa’s Silverado Resort & Spa, where he is part of the ownership group, and Heber City, Utah. His 24 grandkids are ready for fishing and golf lessons, and Miller is anxious to provide. He’ll get on more airplanes, son Todd said, but his destinations will be places like Belize, to go bonefishing. Miller is nostalgic, he said, but also excited. “I just figure 50 years on the road, it’s been a great run,â€� he said. “… I’m feeling good. I’m emotional, but feeling good.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…