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My Shot
By Larry Rinker
During the B.C. Open in July, Ty's father, Bill, asked me if I wanted to play with his son, so Ty and I spent a day together. I must have made a good impression because Bill offered me a part-time job mentoring Ty. My Tour career was in a lull anyway, and I had always wanted to coach golf. At first Bill asked me to work with Ty on his distance control, especially with the wedges, but a pro learns best during competition, so I offered to loop too. One of our goals is for Ty to learn in two years or less what it took me more than two decades to pick up from Tour veterans. For example, I learned chip shots from Raymond Floyd and bunker shots from Paul Azinger. I'll also advise Ty how to handle the media and avoid situations like the U.S. Amateur. When word leaked that Ty was going pro, he became so immersed in an interview that he had only 15 minutes to warm up. He shot 80 and missed the cut. At 44 I'm old enough to be Ty's father, and I often notice the age gap. I prefer classic rock, like Crosby, Stills & Nash, while Ty likes to blast rap. (The other day my body was vibrating in his car because of the noise coming from a subwoofer the size of my Tour bag.) My two boys recently joined us for nine holes, and they both said, "Dad, Ty's good. He's even better than you." I'm definitely going to miss parking in the players' lot, but it'll be nice not having to play well to make a check. Best of all, I'll finally be able to wear shorts. Larry Rinker won more than $2 million in 513 starts on Tour.
Issue date: September 17, 2001
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Dan Greenwood
