Clayton (who was, interestingly, largely responsible for the redesigned layout at Royal Queensland which so suited Lee’s style of play) shared the fairways of the European Tour with the great Seve Ballesteros for several years during the Spaniard’s reign at the top of the game.
When asked how his fellow players felt about the five-time major winner Clayton – as he so often does – finds the most interesting word to explain the relationship.
“The players adored Seve,” he says.
Adored.
That choice of word has always fascinated me, not only because it so succinctly sums up the way his peers felt about Seve but also to wonder why they – and golf fans – felt that way.
This past weekend, Min Woo perhaps gave a bit of a clue.
Not to compare the ebullient West Australian with the mighty Spaniard but they do share some characteristics which help to explain why golfers seem to connect so readily with the likes of Ballesteros and Arnold Palmer but less so someone like Ben Hogan.
To put it simply, we golfers admire the game’s great technicians but we adore its great artists.
And Min Woo is the latter.
Not for the first time it strikes me that Hogan and Seve are the epitome of these two opposite ends of the spectrum.
Hogan is revered for his machine-like play, the relentless repetition of that extraordinary golf swing and the results it produced.
Anybody with even a passing knowledge of the physical skills and discipline required to achieve what Hogan did – especially after the nearly fatal car crash of 1949 – cannot help but be awed.
But there is something missing – at a human level – about that style of golf as evidenced by the reference above: machine like.
It’s other worldly, but in a way that lacks … emotion, perhaps? You can appreciate it, but you can’t love it.
“To put it simply, we golfers admire the game’s great technicians but we adore its great artists.” – Rod Morri.
Contrast that with the almost child-like joy of Seve in innumerable famous moments.
Can anybody imagine Hogan fist pumping to the crowd the way Seve did at the 1984 Open at St Andrews? Or bumping that extraordinary chip between the bunkers at Royal Lytham in 1976 on his way to a runner-up finish?
Min Woo has some of that same child-like joy in the way he plays and as we saw at the weekend, crowds respond.
The 25-year-old is an unabashed show off and crowd pleaser and with a game that has matured nicely over the past few years it feels like we are on the verge of seeing the best of Min Woo Lee.
And if he has – as he seems to – even a dash of what made Seve so special, then the world of golf is in for a treat.
He is several victories and a few majors away from being ‘adored’ but there is no doubt Min Woo is on the right path.
And if the weekend is anything to go by, most of Australia – and the rest of the golf world – is on board for the journey.
Let him cook, as the man himself might say.
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