Kessler in the Morning

I arrived at the Players press center early this morning because I had an appointment to flog my book on Peter Kessler’s XM Satellite Radio show, “Making the Turn.” (The book, if you haven’t been paying attention, is Tiger 2.0, a collection of my least-embarrassing golf stories from the pages of Sports Illustrated.) I carried a copy of the book into the radio booth and handed it to Peter. I then watched in amazement as he cracked it opened, riffled through a few pages, made a note or two on a piece of scrap paper, and then put it aside.

I say I was amazed because in those fifteen seconds Peter managed to absorb the contents of the book. He must have little scanners in his fingertips. Or X-ray eyes. I don’t know what his secret is, but when you sit down for an interview with Peter he invariably knows things about you that your family doesn’t know. He also has the entire history of golf stored on flash drives in his skull. He knows what club Arnie hit on the 17th hole in the final round of the ’62 U.S. Open and what kind of sandwich Jack had for lunch and how much a spike wrench cost.

Fortunately, Peter wanted to talk about the book. Had he quizzed me on golf history – or even yesterday’s action at the Players – I would have flunked. (I don’t have flash drives in my skull. I have drains.)

Anyway, the experience reminded me of how much I miss his Golf Channel interviews. Any chance that the suits in Orlando will swallow their pride and bring him back to earth?

Comments

[JIM]

I agree, Peter was the voice of the golf channel. It is just not the same without him,though I suspect nothing will change.