Peter Jacobsen Joins “The Charlie Rymer Golf Show”

In this episode, Charlie chats it up at length with 7-time PGA TOUR winner Peter Jacobsen. Among the many topics they cover include Peter’s role in “Tin Cup,” his involvement with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, having renowned caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan on his bag, and the infamous British Open streaker incident!

Charlie Rymer
I’m Charlie Rymer, and this is the Charlie Rymer Golf Show powered by PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com!

So I’m so thrilled on the Charlie Rymer Show to be joined by one of my very dear friends and one of my most favorite people on the entire planet. Mr. Peter Jacobsen. Jake, how you doing, buddy?

Peter Jacobsen
You’re a sweet talker, Charlie. I’m doing really well and the feeling is mutual. I’m so proud and so happy to be joining you, my very good friend, on your show, and thanks for having me.

Charlie Rymer
Well, I’ve got to ask, where are you, Peter? It feels like you might be a little bit up North to me just from looking at what’s going on in the background there.

Peter Jacobsen
Yes, we are. We have a daughter and son-in-law who are both doctors here in Westchester County, New York, the belly of the beast with this virus. So they’re working. And Jan (my wife) and I came up a month ago to watch their kids because the schools are closed. So we’ve been running Nana and Papa Daycare every day for the last month, and I now know why the good Lord doesn’t let old people like us have kids because it’s exhausting!

But it’s incredibly valuable time, Charlie, as anybody out there that has grandkids knows that little special time that you spend each day with your kids is just very valuable time.

Charlie Rymer
Well, that’s certainly going to be one of the silver linings from not only the country but what the world’s going through now with the virus. I know I’ve been able to spend a lot more time with my family. They’re about to send me up there to hang out with you, though. I think they’ve had enough of me.

Peter Jacobsen
Come up, come up!

Charlie Rymer
Well Peter, for folks who hadn’t spent much time with you, you always play the golf announcer and you’re deflecting from talking about yourself. You want to, whether you’re interviewing someone or talking about another professional golfer, you don’t want to talk about you. And please throw that away because I want to talk about you!

You’re one the most talented people I know. We’ll get into the golf in a little bit. By the way, seven PGA TOUR wins for Peter Jacobsen, the last one when he was 49 years old at Hartford, two wins on PGA Tour Champions. Both of those were major championships, and then you won a U.S. Open in “Tin Cup” with Kevin Costner. So in my mind, that’s a hall of fame career right there, Peter!

Peter Jacobsen
Yeah, it is. I don’t know why the U.S. Open, the USGA, they don’t give me credit for that “Tin Cup” win, but it was the easiest win I’ve ever had! I had to beat two 12 handicappers for that crown, so I’m pretty proud of that.

Charlie Rymer
How many surgeries have you had in your career, Peter?

Peter Jacobsen
Well, I had a running count for a while. I was neck and neck with surgeries and holes-in-one, and I just went over the 20 mark in surgeries. I’ve had quite a few holes-in-one because I’ve been fortunate like you to have a job that allows me to play a lot of golf. So I’m 20. I’m at 20 surgeries since I turned 50; that’s scary. I’m 66 now. So that’s about one a year. It’s way too many.

Charlie Rymer
I always enjoy cutting up with you, but I mentioned hall of fame: a little better luck with the body and, ladies and gentlemen, this would have been a hall of fame member right here. So much talent on the golf course.

But take me back right now, Peter, to 7th, 8th, 9th grade, Portland. You’re in a classroom at study hall, you’ve got out a notebook, you’re drawing pictures of golf holes. There’s somebody else in that room that’s drawing stupid cartoons. Finish this story for me, please.

Peter Jacobsen
Yeah, Ainsworth Grade School in Portland, Oregon. 5th, 6th, 7th grade, I got a buddy of mine who just loves cartoons. He loves cutting up and he flips his homework over and starts drawing a stupid little cartoon. And his name was Matt Groening. His cartoon guy was … he became “Matt the Brat” and they flipped Brat around to be Bart. And next thing I know when I’m on tour, my second year on tour, my wife and I are in a hotel and we’re watching “The Tracey Ullman Hour” and on comes a strip by Matt Groening called “The Simpsons.”

And sure enough, I knew his family well. His real father’s name is Homer. His real mother’s name is Marge. His real sister’s name is Lisa, and so it’s about his family. It’s autobiographical, and all the things that went into “The Simpsons” were the things that we did growing up as kids, the delinquent kids we were.

But it was really fun to be able to know Matt. Matt, we all thought would end up in prison. We didn’t realize he’d end up as the one of the richest people in Hollywood!

Charlie Rymer
Have you ever had a chance to catch up with him in the last 10, 12, 15 years?

Peter Jacobsen
Not in the last 10 or 12 years. We’ve had a couple of reunions, but he didn’t make it. I think he’s still living in L.A., but he hasn’t changed. He’s still the same. In fact, when we were seniors in high school, he was the editor of the Lincoln Cardinal Times. I was the sports editor and he was also the cartoonist, and it’s pretty cool they’ve went back obviously. At Lincoln High School, they’ve got folders and folders full of Matt Groening cartoons that he did every week in the school newspaper. It’s fun to look back on.

Charlie Rymer
It’s hard to believe so much talent sitting in that one classroom and a lot of people, it’s been awhile.

You put out a couple of albums with Jake Trout & the Flounders with the late Payne Stewart and our buddy Mark Lye. And hold on, I got a little sampling real quick. I want to get to this. I think I got it ready to go here. Oh, this is my personal favorite.

[Plays “Love the One You Whiff” from Jake Trout & the Flounders]

How much fun, Peter, did you guys have? I knew Payne a little bit. I know Mark Lye very well. How much fun did you guys have putting together those two albums?
Peter Jacobsen
Well, as you know, Charlie, when you get on tour, you start to gravitate toward people that like the things other than golf like you do. And so many people hunt and fish. That’s not my deal. Music has always been my thing. I’ve been a guitar player forever, and I knew Payne played harmonica. Mark played guitar, Larry Rinker played guitar, John Inman played piano, John Daly plays guitar.

So we just started messing around and Deane Beman, then commissioner of the PGA TOUR, Deane Beman asked us to put together a show at THE PLAYERS’ championship dinner, and we did. And we did three or four songs. We took songs like we just played, “Love the One You’re With,” and we turned it into “Love the One You Whiff.” And we did two albums and actually recorded that song that you just played, we recorded with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young.

We actually recorded in L.A. with those guys, and we had Alice Cooper and the late Glenn Frey and Duck Dunn and Kevin Cronin with REO Speedwagon. Those guys are all golfers. Darius Rucker is another one. Those guys are golf nuts. So when we played with them, I just said, “Hey, would you ever record something with us?” And they said, “Absolutely.” So we played on the golf course, it was the Pro-Am and when we went in the studio, it was “pro” (pointing at musicians”, “am” (pointing to himself). And we just had a blast. It was such a departure from what we do. Mark and Payne and I would sit in the room, but we’d record and we’d giggle at each other like little kids because we were just living a dream.

Charlie Rymer
So much fun. And a lot of people have really enjoyed in recent years your work with NBC as a golf announcer, “Jake’s Takes,” and with most “Jake’s Takes” you’ve have some original music in there. I know you’ve done some songs. One of your daughters is a great singer. She’s done some work there, too. So that’s been a lot of fun in recent years putting some of the music into “Jake’s Takes.”

Peter Jacobsen
Yeah. That’s the one thing that Tommy Roy, the great producer at NBC, NBC Golf. He gave me two or three minutes on Saturdays on the telecast that I would work, and I would do just crazy kinds of fun things, kind of in the vein of a Charlie Rymer or a David Feherty, and he allowed me to write some songs. And they were mostly about when we did the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, the craziness at 16 the one that’s completely enclosed by grandstands, we wrote two songs for that. One of them was called “Cheers and Boos,” but we couldn’t spell it “booze.” We had to say B-O-O, boo. And then the other one was “It’s a Jungle in Here, and We All Know It.”

And then the other song I wrote was for Johnny Miller’s last telecast at Phoenix. The song was called “I Think I’m Going to Miss Johnny Miller.” And we went to Austin. NBC allowed me to go down to Austin, we recorded with a bunch of friends of mine in Austin who make up a couple of bands, Reckless Kelly and Micky & the Motorcars, and we recorded it, did music videos and random on the telecast.

The first time they ever ran was on the telecasts on NBC. And you can see the videos on YouTube for anybody that’s interested, and you can get the songs on iTunes. But yeah, for them to be able to let a broken-down, old golfer like me write songs (and I’m not a very good singer and I’m not a very good guitar player), but I’ve got talented friends around me.

Charlie Rymer
But you kill them with attitude. And that gets me to this point, and this is for our viewers. There’s only one thing that I don’t like about Peter Jacobsen. Only one thing. And this is it. When I was doing “Morning Drive” for Golf Channel, Peter would occasionally come in, okay. When Peter’s not there, I’m the funny guy. I’m the guy. Everybody comes in, hangs out around my desk. I tell the stories, I captivate everybody. And that’s like, “Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.” But when Peter shows up, it’s like I’m not even there. I mean, it’s like depressing when you showed up and I was doing more, it was like I didn’t even exist!

Peter Jacobsen
Well, what you didn’t know is that I paid everybody to be nice to me, and I paid them to ignore you. That’s the real story behind that!

Charlie Rymer
Well, the other thing you did is show up for our 4:30 meeting with your damn guitar and sit around like it was a campfire and play songs for them in the morning. And I know you got a guitar sitting by you right now.

Peter Jacobsen
I do.

Charlie Rymer
You said you just finished a song, what you’ve been working on?

Peter Jacobsen
Well, I wrote a song in this down time, and as you know, slow play is a real problem in golf and certainly on the PGA TOUR. And I wrote the song called “You’re Going on the Clock.” Because tour players, as you know, when we fall behind we get put on the clock by the officials.

Charlie Rymer
Not me. I’m not a slow player. Not me. Somebody else. It’s not me.

Peter Jacobsen
I know. I know you’re not. Nobody thinks they’re a slow player. But yeah, the song goes:

We reached a point of frustration.
It’s clear you don’t have a clue.
You’ve got too many numbers and too much information.
It’s time to try something new.
I’m not talking Rickie Fowler fast or Brooks Koepka quick.
Just send it on its way when it’s your turn to play.
Now that would do the trick.

And I’ve got a couple of X-rated lines in there that I’m not going to share with you right now, but basically that’s the song. It’s in minor chords, which probably doesn’t mean that much to you. Minor chords give a song kind of a dark feel. So yeah. I’m going to mess around a little more, change a few of the things and I just may record it. You never know.

Charlie Rymer
Well, I hope you do. And for our listeners and viewers, they would have heard it here first, you reading the lyrics.

Okay, so a serious question.

My rookie year, I’m going to places I’ve never been before, and I was a little intimidated and I was a little scared. And the first tournament I played in was the Sony Open in Honolulu and it might’ve been called the Hawaiian Open. And I think it’s probably one of the tournaments you won. Did you ever win the Hawaiian Open? I know you won at Kapalua before it became a tournament of champions, but.

Peter Jacobsen
No, I just led the field in Mai Tai’s. That’s all I ever …

Charlie Rymer
But I’ve got to I got to tell you, I’ll never forget. I’m on the range, it’s a short range and I walked in and hit some bunker shots. You walked in to that bunker and you introduced yourself to me (like I don’t know who Peter Jacobsen is!), and we were just hitting some bunker shots. We were talking, I told a bad joke and you sort of laughed and you said, “You know what? That joke’s probably one you shouldn’t be telling.” And I learned a very good lesson from you that day.

But ever since then, you would use me in outings. You would come over and you’d hang out. From watching you and talking to you, you taught me how to deal with people, how to be a golf professional. And I know that you’re not smart enough to have figured all that out on your own. You learned that from Mr. (Arnold) Palmer, if I’m not correct.

Peter Jacobsen
You’re exactly right, Charlie. The one thing that impressed me so much when I came out on tour, I first qualified for the PGA TOUR at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and my first practice round I cut in front of Mr. Palmer inadvertently. I didn’t know that he was coming around the corner and I cut across, and he walked up to me and he stuck his hand out and I shook his hand and he was so kind to me. He could have big-timed me, but he’s shown me a lot of kindness. And I vowed back then when I came on tour, no matter how many years I played, whether it was one year or 40 years, I was going to try to repay that kindness to rookies such as yourself and other players.

Because when you come out on tour, boy you’re wide-eyed. There’s (Lee) Trevino, there’s Fuzzy (Zoeller) and there’s Jack (Nicklaus) and there’s Tiger (Woods) and it’s intimidating. And I’m certainly not that level of player, but I’m another one of the guys, and I always wanted to be able to make players feel comfortable. And the two things that Mr. Palmer showed me was, he showed me that you should be grateful for where you are, gratitude, and also kindness. And you’re right.

He showed us all how to be professionals, not just a golf pro out there slinging around trying to make checks and treating people poorly. He always taught us to treat people kindly and to tbe a professional at your job. And I know you well enough, and you and I are a lot of like. We love to have fun and tell funny stories, but you have to make sure you know who you’re telling those stories to.

Charlie Rymer
That’s right.

Peter Jacobsen
And that’s an important thing to learn and I’ve learned it, and I know you have, too.

Charlie Rymer
Well I know you’ve served as a host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill every year since Mr. Palmer’s passing. I know he certainly had a lot of respect for you as a golf professional and all the other accomplishments that you have in your career. But I’m sure the number one thing he was most proud of you about was spending time with young players like me and a lot more that were out there, and passing all of that down. That’s just so cool that you’ve been able to do that, Peter.

Peter Jacobsen
Well, it’s a huge honor. The first year after Arnold passed, the first tournament back, his daughter, Amy Palmer, asked five or six of us to be in attendance as the tournament host. And every year they’ve added to that list. So now after four years, they’ve got a pretty impressive list of hosts: Justin Rose, Curtis Strange, Nancy Lopez, Annika (Sorenstam), Rickie Fowler, Darius Rucker and Governor Tom Ridge, who was one of Arnold’s best friends.

But we all know how hard Arnold worked at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Let’s not forget that. (That’s my TV hat going on right there mentioning the sponsor!). But Arnold would always cover the bases at his tournament. He always wanted to get out and talk to the fans, but he had a schedule, Charlie, as you know, that was never-ending through the day. Corporate visits, charity visits, play your visits.

And what we do as tournament ambassadors is to basically pick up where Arnold left off, carry the baton, so to speak, and make those visits and do those things for Mr. Palmer. Because he’s not there to do them. And I know he’s up there looking down and he’s very proud of not only Amy and Roy, his daughter and son-in-law, but his grandson Sam, who we know is a great player. And we hope that he wins soon on tour.

But all of the players who have picked up the pace and done things in his place because he paved a pretty smooth road for all of us when he was here showing us how to not only play, but how to treat people. So I’m more than happy whenever anybody from the Palmer family or the tournament calls, I’m very happy to help out.

Charlie Rymer
Well, there was nothing that Mr. Palmer enjoyed doing more, I don’t think, than taking up residence at a corner seat in a room, whether it was Latrobe, the dining room there or Bay Hill or at a corporate event like your event, the Fred Meyer Challenge that ran for years and years out in Portland that I had a chance to cover for ESPN. And just sort of hold court in the corner of a room and people would come over and talk to him.

But I’ve never seen him laugh harder than when you were entertaining. Whether you were doing an Arnold Palmer impression or a Craig Stadler impression, or getting up at night and telling a story. And the one that he laughed the hardest at was your story about taking out the streaker at The Open. Can you just tell me, because I’ve heard it a lot and you tell it a little different every time – I’m not sure even if it’s true anymore or not, although I’ve seen the photos. But can you tell me about taking out the streaker?

Peter Jacobsen
Yeah, I’m really sad that The Open Championship is canceled this year. It was going back to Royal St George’s where (the streaker incident) happened. And I know that they always run that. They always run the old tape and that’s on YouTube as well. You could see that. But I was playing in the final round, I think it was the second or third of the last group because we were in contention to win the tournament, but it all happened. We came to the 72nd green and Sandy Lyle, who eventually won the tournament, had a two-shot lead.

We’re on the 72nd hole. Payne Stewart, who I think finished second or third, was sitting on the green waiting for Sandy to see if he was going to win. All of a sudden, the guy takes his clothes off, we think he was a marshal, and he starts running around the green buck naked. And Fluff (Mike “Fluff” Cowan) is caddying for me and Mike Carrick’s caddying for (Tom) Kite. The wind’s blowing 30-40 miles an hour, it was howling that day, and Kite and I look at each other and this guy runs around a couple of times and the Bobbies come out – there’s five or six Bobbies chasing him and Kite and I are standing there going, “What do we do? Do we chip and putt out? What do we do?”

So we waited and I was there with Kite and Fluff and Carrick and they said, “Well, we’ve got to leave this guy alone. Let’s move off the green.” And I said, “Hey, if he runs near me, I’m going to tackle his ass.” And Fluff said, “No, you’re not. Leave it alone.”

Sure enough, he kind of diverted and ran toward me and I tackled his ass. I went down low, about waist high, but I made sure I turned my head because I did not want an afternoon surprise more than that, and tackled him and the Bobbies jumped on top of him and I made bogey. I ended up missing. I missed the green and I had to chip and I missed like a six-footer. I got the biggest ovation any player’s ever got at The Open Championship for bogeying the last hole to fall, I think, out of the top 10 with that bogey.

Charlie Rymer
And the British press had to love every bit of that.

Peter Jacobsen
Well, the funny thing about it is every year in all the newspapers around the world, when you fly out of Heathrow in London, all the pictures on the front page of all the papers in the world have a picture of the champion kissing the trophy. Not (that) year. It was a picture of me with this guy’s bare butt on my shoulder with my face like this scrunched up, my mouth completely shut. And I always tell Sandy, I say, “Sandy, I stole that moment from you and I apologize.” I owe him. Every time I see him, I buy him a cocktail.

Charlie Rymer
Oh. And one of the sweetest people I’ve ever spent any time with by the way.

Peter Jacobsen
Great guy. Great guy.

Charlie Rymer
So Peter, you mentioned Fluff. Fluff was on the bag for you for a long time and he saw this guy named Tiger and he just said, “Peter, I’m done with you. I’m going to go work for Tiger.” Or maybe it didn’t quite come down that way. Tell me how that relationship ended.

Peter Jacobsen
Well, Mike Cowan is still my best friend in the game. He’s a family member. I joke and call him my oldest child even though he’s older than me by six or seven years. He lived with us early on in our relationship. And you know him well, he’s one of the kindest, sweetest people you’ll ever meet. He worked for me for about 19 or 20 years. Tiger was winning the U.S. Amateur in Portland, Oregon, my hometown at the time, I was out watching him. I became good friends with Tiger. We had played a few majors together and practice rounds.

I was taking the fall off because I had young kids. My back was bad, so Tiger through Butch Harmon had arranged for Fluff to caddy a few tournaments in the fall for Tiger and the first event was the Milwaukee Open. And not only did Tiger call me like every night telling me, “Wow, they gave me a free car to drive for the week and I get to eat free food at a hot buffet! And they give me free golf balls in my locker!” His eyes were wide open. It was a new world to a young Tiger Woods.

Fluff would also call me and say, “Peter, you’ve never seen a player hit shots like this kid. The sound of the golf ball coming off the blade, the curve he can put on it the shape of the shots that he hits.” He said, “This kid is a world beater. He’s going to be one of the best players in the history of the game,” which obviously has come true. And sure enough, after the week, Tiger didn’t win he finished, I think 8th or 6th.

Fluff called me and said, “Peter, Tiger’s offered me the job. But I told him, no, I’m your caddy and I’m not leaving to go work for him unless we talk about this.” And I said, “Fluff, you got to do what you got to do. This is a chance to work for Tiger Woods. He goes, “Nope, I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving you. We’re family. We’re friends.”

My wife Jan ran over, who’s much tougher than me. She ran and grabbed the phone and said, “Fluff, you’re fired. You are out of a job. You need a job. Take the bag.”

Obviously, she was joking, and we were both very serious about Fluff having a chance to go to work for the greatest player of this era. I would never stand in the way of a good friend of mine or an employee doing that. And even though they only worked together for I think less than two years, he won The Masters with him in ’97 in record fashion. And I know it didn’t end great with Tiger and Fluff, but they’re still good friends and they did a lot of things together. But wow, going from Peter Jacobsen to Tiger Woods, that is a huge jump up.

Charlie Rymer
And, of course, he’s had a great run with Jim Furyk as well. I’ve had a chance to play golf with him maybe three or four times in my life. I think he doesn’t smoke anymore. I think he’s a lot healthier now. But he would take a cigarette and put it right in there and swing full swing with the driver, and it never moved and right back into the mouth. The smoothest move I’ve ever seen with a cigarette in my life.

Peter Jacobsen
Oh yeah. In fact, when you, we were down for the Immokalee Foundation in Naples last fall, Fluff came down a few days early, stayed with us and we played. And I hate to tell you, he still smokes. He smoked two kinds of cigarettes, if you know what I’m saying. They will be firmly planted in between his index and middle finger while he grips hits and finishes, and it goes right back in. So he’s got that move down.

Charlie Rymer
Oh, he’s got so many things down. Well Peter, I appreciate you coming on the Charlie Rymer Show. It’s always great to hang out with you. I’m hoping I get a chance to see you out at the American Century Tournament of Champions when we work together for NBC. Hopefully when we get into July, the country, the world will be put back together and really looking forward to that event.

Peter Jacobsen
I think that event, Charlie, has become one of my favorites, if not the favorite. I love doing the Drive, Chip and Putt with you and you do an incredible job. Just for everybody watching, it’s a very intricate production with all the 80 boys and girls. I’m up in the tower with (Mike) Tirico or Rich Lerner, but you’re on the green on 18 not only calling their putts, but interviewing the kids afterwards. And like I said, you do such a masterful job because some kids are talkative, some are terrified of the camera and it’s pretty cool.

You get down on one knee, you get down to their level, and they feel like they can talk to you and they do talk to you. But the other event that we do together, the American Century Celebrity Tahoe event, that’s a blast because you got Tony Romo and Steph Curry and Justin Timberlake. And we’re rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest athletes, actors and celebrities in the game. And we can kind of be silly kids like we normally are when we’re together. So I have my fingers crossed this world is put together and we will see each other in Tahoe in July.

Charlie Rymer
Me too. Okay. I got two things for you to finish off with. Item number one, you’re in New York, you might need a little bit of this.

[Displays roll of toilet paper]

Peter Jacobsen
Yes, I just bought some! I bought five rolls today. That is the limit, only five rolls.

Charlie Rymer
Okay, well I want to get your address there, your daughter’s house and send that up. And the other thing is, if you ever come to see us in Myrtle Beach, we’re going to roll out the red carpet. We’ll take care of you, your family, whoever you bring with you. We got some great golf down here and we got some good eating too, so …

Peter Jacobsen
I know. Just roll out the toilet paper. That’s all I care about!

Charlie Rymer
You got it. This is one of those big rolls too. I mean, look at this.

Peter Jacobsen
It is.

Charlie Rymer
Yeah, this lasts me like three days. This is industrial strength. Peter, love you, buddy. Thank you very much.

Peter Jacobsen
Thanks Charlie. Great to be with you!

Charlie Rymer
Thanks for joining us. I’m Charlie Rymer. We’ll see you next time on the Charlie Rymer Golf Show powered by PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com!