No. 10: Golf's Impact on LeBron's Legacy
Dear Pards,
4.2 with the driver yips and a decent set of mitts. Hotel GM.
Happy Masters week! Before we jump into how many shots you think Ludvig is up by when he starts the second nine Friday I wanted to talk Lebron. He seems to have caught the golf bug as bad as the rest of us. Watching him fully engaged in a Bob Does Sports video this past weekend has me wondering…
How does this recent golf obsession by LBJ play into the GOAT conversation? I’ll be honest… historically he’s bothered me, but now I’m realizing… we spend our evenings the exact same way: Red wine and YouTube golf.
-LeHyatt in Memphis
Dear LeHyatt,
My first exposure to LeGolf was a grainy phone video of the Laker at a TopGolf in late 2023, taking a lash like he was seeing three balls after a Draymond eye poke.
None of us are strangers to the fibs that have floated out of James’ mouth over the years. Contrary to his soccer itch, the golf bug that has recently bitten LeBron seems to be real.
Unlike the Godfather, he was actually able to quote a moment from the Internet Invitational in his latest video with the BDS crew.
I even got word from an inside source in Brentwood that James claims he “saw a 4-year-old named María striping balls on a range in Colombia back in 2010 and told everyone she’d win the ANWA one day.”
At this rate, I would not be surprised to see him reading Alister Mackenzie’s biography on the treatment table before his game tomorrow night in LA. He might even be able to tell Lisa Salters who designed the infamous course in Augusta that all of our eyes are drawn to this week.
I can hear it now, Friday morning after Corey Conners posts a first-round lead:
“I watched Corey hit a 7 iron 181 yards on the Masters range tracker and told AR this dude bout to shoot -8”
I was not born early enough to remember MJ at the peak of his powers on the court, though LeBron's antics over the years have always put me in the camp of millennials who favor MJ’s career over his. Forget about the basketball.
Jordan’s relationship to golf, however, has been well documented, and I do think it ties into the conversation about LeBron’s legacy versus his.
Long before the YouTube bois were shotgunning beers in nine-hole scrambles, Jordan played 36, drank a dozen Diet Coors, then dropped 52 in a Finals game later that night.
I’d be lying if I said I was immune to a glass of French Burgundy and some YouTube golf to wind down on a random a** Thursday. But LBJ has to take a much bigger backswing to get back into the GOAT conversation.
Åberg by a million,
P╞r╠℮P.S. This week’s Postage Stamp is the Tree Farm outside Aiken, SC, not far from Augusta, by Dave Baysden. If you’d like a copy, you can grab it here.
