Pau Gasol, the 7-foot-1 former NBA All-Star, is making his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am debut this week.
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — In golf, as in life, top is a bonus till it isn’t. There comes some extent when the advantages of a giant swing arc butt up in opposition to the challenges of being actually tall.
No one wants to inform this to Pau Gasol.
“Length is a plus,” Gasol mentioned. “But this is a sport of accuracy, and for that, I think it’s better to be closer to the ground.”
It was a cool, grey morning in Monterey, and the 7-foot-1 former NBA All-Star was warming up on Spyglass Hill, braced in opposition to the chilliness in lengthy sleeves and a beanie as he prepped for Thursday’s begin of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an occasion he’s debuting on this 12 months. He’d arrived on the town on Tuesday, driving down from his adoptive house, close to San Francisco, having simply deplaned a flight from his native Spain, the place he’d been on a whirlwind for a company sponsor.
Jet lag wasn’t going to maintain him from getting in his hacks. Aside from household time, not a lot does as of late.
“If I want to get better, if I want to be more competitive, I’ve got to put the work in,” mentioned Gasol, who’s 42. “At this moment of transition in my life, this is exactly what I need.”
Golf was not a necessity Gasol ever felt in his 20-plus-year hoop profession. Growing up in Catalonia, he by no means touched a membership. The identical was true in a tenure that took him from FC Barcelona to the Milwaukee Bucks, with stops alongside the best way in Memphis, Chicago, San Antonio and, most famously, Los Angeles, the place he helped propel the Lakers to back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
His change in outlook got here when the world stood nonetheless. Rehabbing from a foot damage, mid-pandemic, Gasol had been hoping to get again on the courtroom when he wound up attempting his hand on the course. This was on the Big Island of Hawaii. Fresh air. Exercise. Challenge. Beauty. You understand how these items go. The man was hooked.
In 2021, when he hung up his hightops for good, golf turned the much more important outlet that it’s for numerous retired athletes.
“It’s a very humbling game,” Gasol says. “That makes it good for so-called ‘high achievers.’”
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His in-laws tried to assist him on his method with a drive-by buy at a sporting items retailer, the place they snagged the longest clubs on the rack. Gasol quickly upgraded to a correct becoming. And classes from a professional. And a simulator, put in at house. He took to enjoying upwards of 5 rounds every week.
“I should probably take more lessons than I have,” he mentioned. “Problem is, I always want to play.”
The delicate fingers that made hims so efficient as a middle and energy ahead have translated right into a deft quick sport. Chipping and placing are Gasol’s power. But his swing has come round properly, too. His present focus is on shallowing the membership whereas synching up the motion of his higher and decrease physique.
“I’m trying to take my right side out of the equation,” Gasol mentioned. “It want it to be less of an initiator and more of a follower.”
His proper aspect appears to be obliging. Last summer season, when he appeared in a YouTube-broadcast outing at Half Moon Bay, Gasol was listed as a 16 index. This week at Pebble, he’s enjoying off 11.
Though the AT&T is by far the largest stage to which Gasol has introduced his sport, it isn’t his first pro-am. He took half in a single not way back, in Spain, at Valderrama, the place the crowds have been a fraction of what they’re in Monterey. It’s like that in his homeland, Gasol mentioned. Despite the prominence of names like Seve, Rahm and Sergio, golf stays a light-hitting home draw.
“Soccer, tennis and basketball, those are the big ones,” Gasol mentioned. “Golf just isn’t that closely followed. Even guys like Jon and Sergio, for all they’ve accomplished, they don’t get the same love over there that they do here.”
Gasol was a product of that tradition. As a child, he was conscious of Ballesteros however had no sense of his world stature. Even after they met in individual, within the early 2000s, on the marriage ceremony of a Spanish royal, the younger hoopster didn’t grasp the golfer’s world stature.
“I didn’t know how big he was,” Gasol mentioned. “It was only when I started coming to the United States that I was like, ‘Oh, Seve. I get it now.’”
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Outwardly, no less than, Gasol has none of Seve’s swashbuckle or swagger. In the NBA, he was generally known as Mr. Nice Guy, unmatched in his openness to autographs and interviews, deeply engaged in philanthropic efforts, whereas sustaining a Twitter account the place he was — and stays — the sunniest presence on social media this aspect of @sesamestreet.
But no athlete achieves greatness with out fireplace and focus. And on Thursday at Spyglass, Gasol appeared locked-in, honing his stroke on the placing inexperienced, a 7-footer engaged on his seven-footers. A flock of followers adopted when he strolled to the starter’s tent.
The tallest participant ever within the AT&T, Gasol had 13 inches on his professional accomplice, Mark Hubbard, who returned the favor by outhitting Gasol by roughly 50 yards off the primary tee.
Gasol’s drive strayed proper, selecting the cart path. But after taking a drop, he hacked out, scrambled and wound up saving par with a artful chip that would have made Seve proud.
So it went all through the day.
“I’d watched him play basketball, so I knew he had great hands,” Hubbard mentioned after the spherical. “What surprised me was his swing. His clubs are about as tall as I am, but he’s got great tempo and good control.”
It was all Gasol may ask for.
“As an amateur, you’ve got to give yourself some grace,” he mentioned. “We’re not pros. We’re here to have fun, hopefully make it fun for our pros too, and maybe move on to a good finish.”
As a crew, they stood in a tie for forty fifth. By any measure, the minimize appeared inside attain.
