Sobel's Gem on 'Next Nicklaus' Eddie Pearce

[Dogfish Head]

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Eddie Pearce​

A WORTHWHILE LONG READ: JASON SOBEL'S "Eddie Pearce: The fast life and hard times of 'The Next Nicklaus.'"

If you lived through the 1970s and were a golf fan, then you probably remember there were more next Jack Nicklauses than Tiger Woods Sunday red shirts. Eddie Pearce was one of them, maybe the most talented of them all.

Sobel writes:

You see, Eddie [Pearce] was a golfer. Well, not just a golfer. The golfer. Sports Illustrated once deemed him "The Next Nicklaus." His buddies agreed with the magazine -- and his buddies knew a thing or two about talent.​

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with as much talent as him," says Ben Crenshaw, himself a two-time Masters champion.​

"Eddie had such a gorgeous, powerful swing. He could just hit the most beautiful shots you’ve ever seen."​

"Eddie had as much talent as anybody I’d ever seen," agrees Lanny Wadkins, Pearce's teammate at Wake Forest and a 21-time PGA Tour winner.​

"This was a guy who was going to win frequently and win majors," maintains accomplished amateur Vinny Giles, who also served as his manager. "He was going to be one of the best players in the game."​

As Sobel adds, "It never happened." As he quotes Wadkins, "[Pearce] was the can’t-miss kid who missed."

So who exactly was Eddie Pearce, what kind of player was he, and why didn't he make it?

Read the whole story.

Source: Sobel's Gem on 'Next Nicklaus' Eddie Pearce

 

[IrishGolfer]

Great read, just goes to show you, it's not about talent. Harrington, Poulter etc. all showed that grind worked better than talent. I know so many young talented kids who fell by the wayside, no engine! They discovered Smirnoff, women, spliffs, etc. and ended up getting disillusioned by the game.

 

[anonymous golfaholic]

Yeah, that was a great read. I had never heard of Eddie Pearce...reminds me of a friend of mine that could've got a college scholarship for golf but he was too busy getting gassed all the time.