NINE THE


BACK HERM EDWARDS JR.


‘BEAUTIFULLY FRUSTRATING’


Monterrey Peninsula left lasting golf impact on ASU’s football coach


By Bill Huffman


— the game of golf. He’s pretty good at it, too, despite not taking up golf until well into his NFL career. Then again, what would you expect


F


from a kid who grew up in Seaside, Calif., where he was a standout at Monterrey High School? Seriously, how many golfers do you know besides Edwards, who played his first round at Pebble Beach Golf Links and his second round at Cypress Point? OK, maybe that sounds a little


hard to believe, but welcome to the world of Herman Edwards Jr. — coach, inspirational speaker and author. “Growing up on the Monterrey


Peninsula, you can’t help but know about the game of golf,” said the 64-year-old Edwards. “My father was in the service at the time, so I didn’t get to play golf but I knew about the Crosby Clambake.”


22 | AZ GOLF Insider | PREVIEW 2019


or a guy who has spent his entire career in football, Arizona State Coach Herm Edwards sure loves to play — and watch


Believe it or not (again!), years later


when he was an All-Pro cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles, Edwards was invited to play in the Clambake. Except for one small problem — Edwards didn’t have any clubs and had yet to play his first round of golf. “I ended up borrowing a set of


PINGs from my buddy and played in it. I don’t remember the year,” recalled the energetic Edwards, who played in the NFL for 10 years and coaching for eight more, taking the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs to the playoffs four times. “I don’t remember how I played


in the Crosby, but I swung hard and I seemed to hit my irons OK enough. The next time I played was at Cypress Point with (Australian pro) Peter Senior, who I’d become friends with through the Crosby. I remember Peter asking me why I didn’t have any woods in my bag and I told him because I can’t hit them like my irons.


“I also remember we got to the


fourth hole, which is right after that little, beautiful par 3, and there was this guy in the fairway taking all kinds of time, and I said to Peter, ‘You want me to hit one down there and get him moving?’ And Peter said, ‘No, no, no!’ Turns out the guy in question was Bernhard Langer.” (Laughter) These days Edwards doesn’t get as


much time as he’d like to play and watch golf because he’s too busy coaching the Sun Devils. In just one year, he’s become the darling of the Pac-12 media for his witty retorts but still is down to earth enough to take a few minutes to talk with AZGOLF Insider about the game he calls “beautifully frustrating.”


10 What do you like about golf? It’s the only game I’ve ever


played where the ball doesn’t


move. All the other sports I was involved with the ball moved. But I love it because you meet so many interesting


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