In My Sporting Hero, a new podcast series from Nutmeg, footballers talk about the athletes who inspire them. Sometimes those sportsmen and women are also footballers. Sometimes not. You can listen to the audio on this post, on the podcast app of your choice (just search for ‘My Sporting Hero’) or enjoy the written version below.
Our next guest is Scott Brown.
A product of and a League Cup winner with Hibernian, Scott went on to become one of Celtic’s most decorated players, winning an incredible ten league titles, six Scottish Cups and six League Cups, chiefly as Hoops captain. ‘Broony’ was also a midfield stalwart for Scotland, winning 55 caps.
After stepping into management with Fleetwood Town, he is now in charge at Ayr United.
Scott is a keen golfer who has had the privilege of playing rounds with some of Scotland’s golfing elite, and his hero is Tiger Woods, the 15-time major winner who changed the face of the sport forever.
I love golf, so thinking back to the late ’90s and early 2000s, it’s definitely got to be Tiger Woods. I actually went to one of the Opens in Scotland and it was the only time he ever missed the cut – and I went on the Saturday! So I was a wee bit devastated that I didn’t see him. It was at Troon or Turnberry. That was one of the things that I regret, not being able to see him up close and actually follow him around. And everyone knows he’s a little older, he’s had a few injuries and stuff, and that he’s struggling a bit, but he’s still a fantastic golfer, and you can see the crowds going around – they all still follow him.
Him and Rory are still the two big attractions in golf, and he’s been playing for 20, 25 years, so it’s incredible how he keeps it at that level. He was probably the face of golf for a long, long time and you could see he was an athlete, he looks after himself and he’s all about posture and he brought speed into golf, power, distance. And I know the lads now are continuing to do what he did, but he was the original one who was not that overweight guy who’s drinking down the club. For him it was about physique; he looks after his body, he maintains it and he makes sure he can be available for four rounds in four days.
He changed everything about golf, and he probably brought Nike into the golf world, and everyone knows about that putt. When he sinks it, it’s about a 40-footer, and it’s just lying there. You see the Nike ball inch-perfect just before it drops in the hole, and then he’s celebrating. And then his outfit on the Sunday as well: black trousers, red shirt – it’s small details that he continuously sets. But he sets standards for everybody, and you look at all the golfers now, they always look up to Tiger, they want to beat Tiger. Maybe they can beat him now, which is fine, but he has had those injuries. He came back and he won another major yet again. So that’s incredible, because a lot of people wrote him off and said that he’d never win anything again. Although everyone did have those expectations that he was going to beat Jack Nicklaus’ majors record.
So for me, it’s got to be Tiger. When he plays, you hear the Tiger roar, and although he would maybe be two or three shots behind, you knew he was birdie-ing. He was aggressive with his play, and he was exceptional. And you would hear the roar of the crowd when he got a birdie, and then he’d go again, birdie again, and then you’d just see people falling away. It’s that mentality that he’s got, a never-say-die attitude, which is brilliant. I’ve always kind of looked up to him, wondered how he can do it continuously. Because with golf you’re on your own, just you and your caddy, so it’s totally different compared to football. In football, you’ve got 11 teammates if you’re having a bad day who can help you out. For him, it’s mind over matter. It’s being self-driven. It’s having those standards daily, and he knows that if he has one bad day, he’s not winning.
I’m very aggressive with my golf as well, but miles off what he is, but I enjoy going away and I enjoy the walk. You always think that you could be a top player, but these guys are miles away. I’ve played with some good professionals, and you’re a million miles away from them. I’m sure all these people that say, “I could have been a golfer”, when they actually go and play with a professional, they know they’re miles off it.
Bob MacIntyre is a lovely guy, and you can see he puts everything into every swing. He’s got the understanding. He actually talks to his caddy and takes the information in from his caddy, but at the same time he makes his own mind up. And they actually work really well together. I’ve played with Stevie Gallagher and Paul Lawrie as well. So I’ve had that luxury to see how top-quality golfers actually play and drive. But they all punch the ball 300-plus yards and I’m lying 40 or 50 yards behind. Look at what Bob was hitting at the Renaissance where it’s links golf and the ball is bouncing for miles. To be fair, the caddies have walked the course, they know the greens and the slopes, and it’s exceptional the amount of work that goes into it. You think they’re just turning up and carrying clubs, but they’re out there walking for hours and hours. And say the pro ends up going on a Tuesday, Wednesday, the lads are already there after the Sunday competition, driving straight there and walking the course and knowing the distance from each area, how Bob will play or Tiger will play, what kind of swing they’ll hit. Bob is just a normal guy and he is very, very humble. Obviously, he’s a top-quality golfer, but you wouldn’t know that. He just walks about and he’s very polite to everybody that he speaks to. Even the fans – he’s got a lot of time for them. I’ve seen a lot of golfers walking past the fans. Yeah, they’re in the zone and I get that, but afterwards be respectful to the fans.
Golf chills me out. It gets me away from the missus and kids! But now the kids have got golf memberships, so they come along with me. It’s good to pass it down from generation to generation and seeing them improve as well. I’m very competitive, but at the end of the day, I know most of the time I’m probably not at the level that I want to be at, that I’ll ever get to. And I’m okay with that. I quite enjoy just being absolutely bang-average at golf but I enjoy the competitiveness but also the walk. You have to have time with your mates and stuff as well, but for me it’s that four hours just walking the course and enjoying it. I get frustrated with some shots but the good thing about it is, I’ve got an opportunity about 20 seconds later to go and play out of the rough yet again, so as long as I go around and I score not too badly, I’m happy.
Tiger Woods, I don’t know if he’ll win again. He brings so much money to the sport. And, as I say, the crowds turn up for him and Rory. They will always turn up to watch him to see those special shots. You just hope he tries to get back to what he was. He’s had a lot of injuries and everyone knows about it. But what he’s done so far in the game is exceptional, and he’s done it his way. His dad was a huge driving force. You see in the documentaries, his dad was there, making sure he had 100 putts: “You’ll putt 10, you’ll putt 10, you’ll putt 10”. It’s just that drive that he installed in his son, and I’m sure Tiger will be installing that to his son as well, because we’ve seen a couple of competitions the two of them have played in together, and his son’s got a lovely swing as well.
I really enjoy watching Rory, and it must be hard for him as well, because there’s a lot of understanding of how well he plays, and then it’s maybe just one bad day, it’s maybe one bad shot that costs you. It happens at golf, it happens at football, it happens everywhere. He’s another fantastic character as well. He’s won a lot of majors, he’s won a lot of trophies, and he’s done really well for himself in golf. He’s kind of jumped on the Tiger phenomenon, looking after himself, making sure he’s ready. His swing speed is exceptional. Everyone now looks up to Rory, because of what he did in my generation when he was coming through. I’m sure he’ll do it (another major). I’m sure he’s got that mindset, that he’s a driven person and he looks like he wants to win. And it obviously hurt him getting beaten in the last hole (at the US Open). But I’m sure he’ll bounce back.
I’m sure Tiger still believes he can win
I don’t think Tiger will ever shut that door. You don’t ever give up the love for golf or give up the love for football. And it’s the same with myself and Steven (Whittaker) as well. We’re retired, but you want to do the next best thing. You always want to be involved. You want to be involved with the lads. Yeah, we distance ourselves a little bit now, but it’s the next best thing to go into a coaching room where you know the lads have got your back as well. I’m sure Tiger will want to keep playing. I’m sure he still enjoys it, maybe not enjoying the practice as much if he’s sore and achy and stuff like that. But I’m sure he’s still got that drive and I’m sure he still believes he can win.
When I went up to Aberdeen, I knew it was almost coming to the end. And I wanted to just finish the season. I did have a two-year deal, but I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last. (Stephen) Glass left, and Jim (Goodwin) came in. For me, it was just small details: I knew it wasn’t me going out wide, I couldn’t have caught the young ones. And people want you to man young players out wide. And my whole game was sharpness over three to four yards, getting the ball back, driving up the field, making sure we were able to dictate play. I didn’t really want to drop down the levels and drop down the leagues. But Aberdeen were very understanding and it led me here. You just wish you could play longer, you still wish to be part of it. But as I said, it’s the next best thing and I was lucky enough to get the job at Fleetwood and then to come here. It’s different. We’ve had to join in a couple of times, due to numbers. We’ve not got a lot of young ones around and we’ve not got the academy players that we can just bounce back and forward like we did at Fleetwood. So now and then myself and Steven have to join in. We don’t really want to, if I’m honest, and it’s not great either. So, yeah, there’s a reason why we retired!
My Sporting Hero: Scott Brown on Tiger Woods