ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Pro Begs For Madness-Friendly Tee Time

The Players Championship moving back to its original March date may have been big news in the golf world, the third month of the year on most sports fans’ calendars means only one thing: the NCAA Tournament.

While it was nice to get some big-time golf in March, this week’s Valspar Championship in Tampa will likely struggle to gain much attention as it goes up against the first weekend of March Madness.


And it appears the tournament is struggling to get the attention of even some of the players in the field as one longtime Tour member publicly asked the commissioner for a Madness-friendly tee time so that he could watch his alma mater play in the first round of the tournament.

“Dear @PGATOUR commissioner @jaymonahan, just a quick reminder that the @GoBearcatsMBB play at 12:15 on Friday,” 2016 Shell Houston Open champion Jim Herman wrote on Monday. “In case you were working on tee times for this week and were looking to help out a 7 year Tour member. You know, just sayin. Thanks Boss.”

Herman, a Cincinnati native and University of Cincinnati alumnus, was hoping to catch the Bearcats’ first-round game against Iowa early on Friday afternoon. 

Sure, most business professionals, much less Tour professionals, can’t just take Thursday and Friday off, but two hours here or there for their alma mater is a different story. The Tour pros, they’re just like us!

Unfortunately for Herman, he drew an early-late tee time for the first two rounds of the Valspar, resulting in a 1:36 p.m. tee time on Friday, just about the time the second half of the Cincinnati game will be getting underway.