Golf has gone down the road of getting bang for your buck. Peter Malnati is a refreshing throwback to what sport should be. About the love of the game.
Malnati earned his second PGA TOUR win and first since November 2015 at the Valspar Championship last weekend and he instantly endeared himself to golf fans and became a cult hero of sorts with an extremely raw and emotional winners interview.
Malnati, a dictionary definition of the term journeyman pro, stood on camera in tears as he held his son in his arms following a potentially career changing win.
He wasn’t thinking about the $1.5 million cheque he was about to receive he was just elated to have finally won again on Tour and secure his playing future for two years. He will also make his first ever appearance at the Masters next month.
The rewards don’t stop there. Malnati is the centre of attention in Texas this week at the Houston Open and he will play the first two rounds with world number one, Scottie Scheffler.
Malnati is proof that even in this murky landscape, golf still has soul. It should be about winning, not how much you get paid.
“I think at the end of the day — do you remember like we can all probably remember when we were kids, and we were all kids at different times, but the things that moved us that we watched. I remember watching Jordan and the ’97 Bulls, I remember watching Tiger in the 2000 Masters. I didn’t care one iota what Jordan’s contract was. I didn’t care one iota what the winner’s check at that U.S. Open was,” explained Malnati on Wednesday.
“And I think people are sick of that. I think people are just sick of the narrative in golf being about, you know, contracts on LIV, purses on the Tour, guaranteed comp on the Tour. I think people are so sick of that. They want to see sport, they want to see — they want to see people who are the best in the world at what they do do it at a high level and celebrate that, celebrate the athleticism, celebrate the achievement.
“Obviously this is a business and to the top players who drive a lot of the value in this business, we’ve got to compensate them fairly, we’ve got to make that happen. But I think we’re doing that above and beyond, and the narrative, the storylines, the conversation needs to come back to the product on the course and what we do.
“I think for me that was like I just, I just feel like no kid dreamed when they were watching Jordan dreamed of having his salary, they didn’t care about that. They dreamed of being in that moment, hitting that shot. I think that’s what our fans care about too and that’s what they want to see.
“I hope those tears that I was crying on that 18th green had nothing to do with my share of that, what was it, an $8.4 million purse last week. My tears had nothing to do with my share of that. I’m going to enjoy it and we’re going to use it to do a lot of good in this world, but it had nothing to do with that.
“And I don’t think our fans care about that either. I hope that connected with some people and I hope that that can be — I do think everyone out here who plays and competes would agree with me on that. I just hope that can be the story that we tell can come back to the best athletes in the world competing on the biggest stage in the world and doing it to show off this amazing skill that we have that can be so entertaining for people. I want that to be our story.”
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