Tim Rosaforte: Celebrating a Life and Legacy

the fire pit with Matt Chanella. Tim rose Afford spent his life telling stories about golf's greatest players. Now it's time to tell Rosie's story. A towering figure in the golf media, Tim died on January eleven, at the age of sixty six from complications related to early onset Alzheimer's. It's hard to believe anything could fill this pillar of strength.

In press rooms and on the course, he moved slowly but diligently, the bow and his legs, a byproduct of the sports he played growing up in Brewster, New York. He once told me that as an undersized offensive lineman in college, subbing in on special teams, he had to block Joe Cleco, the future All Pro defensive lineman for the New York Jets. Young Roosfort was driven back so hard by Cleco that Tim could smell the burn of the rubber on the bottom of his cleats. No shock

to anyone who knew Rosie. Cleco didn't block a punt that day. He was proud of that and so much more. Tim was proud of his family, which included his wife Genevieve, their two daughters, Jenna and Molly, and he was out of the men they married, Nick and Mason. He doated on his three grandchildren, and he played a significant role in the life of Grayson. He helped raise Grayson as though he was his own son. Tim stepped in and stepped up because he felt it was the right thing

to do. In all the years I knew him, which goes back to Sports Illustrated in the mid nineties, Tim always did the right thing, quietly and consistently. He didn't want pats on the back. He just wanted to better himself and those around him. Tim had long been celebrated as golf's ultimate insider. He built his career not on dazzling typing skills, but the kind of tenacity that held back Joe Cleco. Tim was always renting a car, hopping a shuttle, catching a plane, and he always made one

more call on one of his two phones. Once Tim started reporting a story, he never stopped. He learned from his father, a garbage man who saw dignity in hard work. As a kid, Tim often wrote around in the truck, either helping out the crew or sliding around in the cab while reading books. His first set of golf clubs were cobbled together from what his dad would rescue out of the trash bins. That kid, from humble beginnings, the oldest of four in his family, went on to win

Lifetime Achievement awards for his writing. The craft didn't come easy for him, so he compensated with conviction, filling his stories with details no one else had and anecdotes only he could get. His first beat was dirt track car racing, and he once interviewed Doc Gooden as a Little League All Star. He covered over a hundred and fifty majors, winning some forty awards, and writing four books along the way.

In all of his travels, Tim rarely missed a chance to tee it up at Olive golf's greatest citadels, his incomparable Rolodex coming in quite handy for setting up a match. He wouldn't want to play for much, and by the end he preferred to play for nothing at all. A plus eight at asking the tough questions, Tim was a good, let's say, ten handicap on the course, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort. It never was with Tim. From Sports Illustrated, Too, Golf Digest, in Golf World, and

then to Golf Channel. I seemed to always be somewhere right behind him, and what a good place to be. Tim never stopped being a lead blocker for me, opening holes so broad and inviting that even I could run right through him. It was as if I had a bodyguard, a guardian angel. I wouldn't hesitate to call him a big brother, and although that felt so special, I know I wasn't alone. Tim Rosaffort was beloved because he was

a great teammate for so many of us. The godfather of golf journalists, Tim led by example, selflessly and unconditionally, always supporting someone in need. No one ever outworked him. He had no enemies, and everyone called him back and when I asked long list of Tim's friends and colleagues to help me produce this podcast, he'd smile, knowing they all called me back. So settle down, settle in the

Tim Rose Afford story here is about to begin. My goal was to out rosy Tim rose effort on his own story upon hearing about his diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's, which goes back to the summer of I did what

he taught me to do, be intrepid. On that note, we start with Jerry Tarney, who was the editor in chief of Golf Digest for over four decades, who throughout this podcast offers his perspective on Tim's incredible life and the legacy he was the bridge from the past to the present in terms of the way journalism is practiced. You know, Charlie Price is an example. Used to take a month to write one column. That's all he did. He wrote one column a month, and it was the

words on paper that matter. That's the thing in the past. Now, what Tim brought to it is he could do all the stuff. Not that not that he was a technologist, but but he he ushered in social media that the digital age being on television. It all came together with with Tim, and what he brought with him was preparedness and he took that from the old world. So he was that bridge from the old world of journalism to

the modern one. And I would add the one thing that he didn't have that so many guys in his profession have and we're all guilty of it, I think, except for Tim, is he didn't have that cynicism, that cynics virus that so many writers have, and it comes from hanging out in bars and pressed and talking to ourselves and in many cases trying to write like Dan jenkins Um, He's not. He was never a cynic. He loved it and he and it's why people trusted him,

because he wasn't going to take advantage of you. Tim told me that it was guys like Davis Sesna, an incredibly connected member at Seminole and Pine Valley, who helped shape his life and career. I asked Davis what made Tim so special? The thing that you immediately recognize about Tim roselford is that he asks thoughtful questions from from his heart and he and he listens to the answer. Here's Craig Doulsch, another Florida base writer who goes back

to the early eighties with Tim. We all love about Tim as he earned everything he ever got in this business. Nothing was ever given to him, and if anything, he's given an off a lot back to the business, and he's ever taken from the business. Mark mulvey was the legendary editor of Sports Illustrated in the eighties and early nineties who hired Tim from the Palm Beach Post. You know,

God knows that he worked hard. You know. Writing did not come easy to him, you know, but he understood that if you saturated a story with facts and let the facts flow in a logical order, you have the hell of the story. Here's Jim Nance on his friend Tim rose Afort. I lean on Nance later in the

podcast for his insight and information about Alzheimer's. So we start with the love of the game undeniable, and then you go with the interior in the integrity quotient, which I mean, I don't know how you have so many scoops and so much inside information and not have people that I feel like they've been burned. I don't know anybody never felt like Tim ever burned them on anything. And I think what it is is that he's just such a good person that people realize he was doing

his job. He worked it harder than anybody else, and he did it with an understanding of the sensitivity of the information, how it affected each individual. So he gave his audience the truth, and he gave the subjects that he was covering. He gave them truth, and he gave them, if you will, um a complete understanding that I'm going to treat this with integrity. It was a love of people Tim has that we'll hear from John Hawkins throughout. Hawk was a colleague at Golf World and Golf Digest,

and together they did some of their best work. Very few people brought that type of intensity and compassion, willingness to share, willingness to to his knowledge was your not and there's not not everybody's like that. He was the greatest teammate in history of golf writing. And we would go a hundred years and that would still be said. And then there's Matt Haggarty, Golf Channels coordinating producer who started working with Tim in the early two thousand's. You know,

he knew so many people. He was really connected. You know, he was a heavyweight that was That was my first impression of him. And then as we got to go, you know, we started to you know, evolve. Then he really became like a like a like a big brother to me, uh in a way you know, um, you know he would I've told this story before, but he wasn't afraid to tell me to talk to my shirt.

He wasn't afraid when I was a kid, you know, to act more professional, you know, like he you know, I think he I mean, he liked me, you know, and I and I was lucky and he liked me. And when he likes you, he's you know, he's honest and he'll tell you how he feels. I mean, I think he's honest with everybody. But he told me how he felt, you know, and a lot of that stuff was really important. And then when I had my first child, you know, I had a daughter, and he would you know,

he would give me advice on parenting. He would say, he can't be so direct, he can't be so direct with your kids. You know. He was always there for me, man, from the day, from the from the from the you asked. I mean, I'm just going on and on and on. But like when you asked the first time I met Tim, Like all these moments and memories fled back and I spoke to Molly Solomon, the executive producer of the Golf Channel. Tim would always track her down and demand coaching on

how and why he could get better on TV. And that's what always frustrated him is that I didn't have that much feedback and say, okay, buddy, you know you don't need those cards. Like he always had cards on the set, right, and he'd rely on his cards. I'd see, Timmy, you know this stuff. I just want you to talk and have a conversation with the audience, just like you have with me. You don't need those cards. But they were a crush. He was like, I know, they're a crutch.

So I always wanted him to believe in himself as much as I believed in him. As you can see, this podcast is running a little longer than the rest, and there are reasons for that. I set out to tell the story of his career while also celebrating the life of an incredible man, and part of me never really wanted to finish this project because by working on it, talking to so many people who had so many fond

memories and incredible anecdotes. Was cathartic. I've done a lot of laughing, a lot of crying, and like I said, I just want to make him proud. So let's go back to the early eighties in Florida. Jeff Russell, Molly Solomon's husband, who would go on to be Tim's boss at Golf World magazine and work with Tim at the Golf Channel, was in his early twenties. He was as fresh as fresh kids, and he was new to covering the LPGA. I will never forget that Tim welcomed me

from the from the day I walked in. You know, he was interested in me, and he I took the time to find out who I was and what you know, what my background was, and and of course I love to play golf, and so did Tim, and we pretty quickly, we pretty quickly, you know, he was inviting me out to play golf, and we'd go and and play, you know, you know, even on days when he was when he was working and had a deadline, you know, he would we'd go and play golf somewhere early. You know, it

was always kind of Tim's choice. And Tim, you know, you know, and and we and That's how we met, and I just couldn't believe. You know, Tim at that time was a you know, he's a big deal in the Golf Writers Association of America. I don't remember if he was president yet, but he was an award winner. He was winning, you know, he was writing awards and and and all the players knew him. And here was this guy. You know, he took me under his under his wing and um and it was fantastic. You know,

it was fantastic. Made me feel like like I belonged, but also pretty quickly made me feel like, wow, you know I can you know I can do this. And and you'd you know, you'd spend spending a month there. You know, the we go to the tournament the next week and Thursday or or or Friday, the you know,

the issue of the magazine. We get to the press room and you know, Tim and pick it up and read it and come up and go, you know, nice job, that was a good story, or hey you got that note that was good or you know it was it was awesome. It was great. He was you know, could not have been nicer, sweeter and more encouraging, you know, to a twenty five year old kid who was trying to get going in the business. Back to Craig Doltra

a recap of Tim's resume of Florida papers. Worked at the Tampa Times, he worked at the clear Water Sun, He worked at the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel at that point the Palm Beach Post where I was working. They went and hired them to be their golf writer, which is a great move on their part. And he worked there for a few years, and then Sports Illustrators started

getting really serious about doing their golf plus coverage. So Mark mulvoy had hired Tim to come in and really kind of head up, be the kind of fullback, the guy that would go out and break the news, do all the hard work. And so Tim worked for Sports Illustrated for about three or four or five years. It was actually just a little over two years at Sports Illustrator for Tim from nine six. Here's Mark mulveaway again, Timmy. When I hired him, I said, Timmy, I really want

you to be the Peter King of golf. I said, I want people when they read your step to find out things about themselves they don't even know, which is the way Peter. Of course, a Hall of Fame journalist UH covered pro football. You know Timmy and Pete. You know they're not Rick Riley behind the the typewriter people like that, Gary Smith. But they're great, great, great reporters.

And you can have a tremendous, tremendous success in Sports Illustrated or any other publication if you're a great reporter or a dependable reporter, and nothing stands in your way of getting this. And that was Timmy. Now in the big leagues, surrounded by an insane roster of talent, Tim's self doubt was immersing itself into his keyboard. I kept having to tell him. I said, Timmy, you can't compare yourself to Himie, you can't compare yourself to Rick. You

can't compare yourself to Al Shipment. I said, these guys are different stylists. I said, would you bring something to the table that we desperately needed Sports Illustrated reprotige. You're the Peter King of golf and that's how you'll thrived here, believe me, and he did. Here's Himie Diaz, another legend of modern golf journalism, who offers his perspective on why Tim's time at Sports Illustrated was short lived. Well, I'm being honest. Uh, they were difficult days in many ways

because it was really challenging. Uh. It was a big step up for Tim. He wanted it, and he tried really hard, and he did a lot of really good stuff. But the you know, the atmosphere at Sports Illustrated was was cold compared to where he had worked. You know, he had worked in kind of family situations where you got to know the sports editor and of course everybody really loved him, so he would lean on those kind of nurturing relationships and it was hard for him to

get that at Sports Illustrated. Having said all that, you know, hey, Mark Moboy hired him and and they remained great friends. But I just think the atmosphere was one that was challenging more than the actual work. He just he always like me, you know, but maybe even a little more in some ways. He felt like he always had to prove himself and had some insecurities there, and he just didn't get a lot of approval at Sports Illustrated in

the same way he was used to. So, um, I think he always felt like, man, that wasn't good enough,

that wasn't good enough. And probably drove himself a little crazy. Uh, and so in that respect, even though Sports Illustrated was a great place and in some place, in some ways the epitome of sports writing in this country, he did better by going to Golf World, by going back to Golf World, because there he could, you know, get comfortable with people, and they you understood him better, and it was just less of a big machine and more of

a family. Mulvoy left Sports Illustrated, and so did Rose Afford. If I had not retired, he would have stayed at Sports Illustrator, believed me a lot longer than that. I had a specific idea in mind, is to what he brought to the magazine, which is what I had for Peter and you know Riley and Shipnuk and everybody else we brought. Then. I don't think my success or or success ors, you know, they just wanted to take the magazine to do different things, which is fine, that's the prerogative.

But if I had stayed her, and I wasn't thirteen years was long enough to put out a weekly magazine, I think Timmy would have stayed certainly as long as I did. Feeling snubbed by S I himI Diaz confirms Tim was now even more motivated to prove his critics wrong. Every knock back drove Tim ten steps forward, Like you better if you're gonna knock them back, you better be prepared for what's next, because what was next after Sports Illustrat was probably one of the greatest runs in modern

golf journalism. In my opinion, I agree with you. I mean, he really is a fiery competitor, and he definitely would keep it hard inside himself to get even you know, and to show everybody. And that was a great motivator. And he didn't talk about it much, but you know it would come out that it was there, that that was really in many ways what took him the extra mile when he was doing something to do it spent

in a special way. Here's Jeff Russell on the acquisition of a Hall of Fame clean up hitter, you know, work king at the other shop. He was a formidable opponent, you know, he was he was, he was a pain in the ass. He he got, you know, he got information that that that we didn't have. Now I don't know what happened. I don't never really never really got the full story about what happened to him at Sports Illustrated.

All I know is they one day he became available, you know, he became available and we couldn't hire him fast enough. And when he came to Golf World, um And we were probably so that was probably ninety ninety seven in there, so you know, and and I was his I was his de facto editor for for until two thousand when I became in you know, entitled the editor. So I was his editor for fifteen years at Golf World.

I think we had a great relationship, and you know it was it was just a comfort to have somebody on the staff that you could say, Tim, I need it. I need to know what happened here, you know, I need you to you know, what what happened with Tiger and Tim Fincham, what happened with you know, what happened with Honora you know, Seorenstam and the and you know, I mean, what happened you know, John Day fell off

the wagon? What happened? He would go and find out, He would go and get the information, and you know, yeah, there might have been times where you felt I felt like he was protecting um And and and maybe not telling me everything. He knew, but if I pushed him on it, he he would, you know, if I if I really made it a big deal, I've usually got what I wanted. A lot of times Tim would say, you know, if you would just if you would just back off here and let's take the long view. I

think this will. I think this is We're gonna have enough that we can use it now and and we're going to continue to be able to get information in the source if we need it and it and he was. I thought it was a great partnership and I never never felt like like it it costs golf world, you know, any anything in terms of I mean, he instantly made our team better and and I think not only because he made us better, but because the other guys lost him.

It's Tiger is turning pro and a motivated roos Aford gets a seat at Golf Digest table of talent. Here's Jerry Tardy on getting access to Tim rose Aford. Even in the beginning, he was grounded in that South Florida world of golf pros, and he knew he knew golf, he knew the tour, and he was he was a great reporter. And that even even at the very beginning

that was the case. So so it was an opportunity two get connected to that world and have insight into what players were thinking and what they were going to do before they did it. Um. Tim wasn't a poet, uh and uh and he wasn't a comedian, so he didn't bring that style of writing to the magazine. But what he brought were facts, insight, uh, the real stuff of what was happening. And that was the excitement of

having Tim join our team. Well, Tim was dominating the annual byline count at Golf World a weekly and contributing to the occasional Story and Golf Digest a monthly. In the late nineties, he was covering the end of Nancy lopez incredible career. We grew up together. He wants me grow up on the LPG tour and uh, you know, he was one of those writers that made me who

I am. Um. Wow. You know he was that friendly face in the room when you when you know, the press was all of you talking to and you could and you saw him. He just he just made me always feel happy. He had he had that face you know when you you know how people are when you see send me come in the room like, oh my god, there they come. And then you had that person that oh that's tim you know. That's the way he made me feel all the time. And he was just the best.

And I just I will pray for him because I just hate this news. Um. But yeah, he was. He was specially he was good at what he was, great at what he did, not just good he um. I think all the players felt that way whenever he was around us, um and appreciate his talents and what he did for sports. Absolutely he was the best. I spoke to Bob Ford, the iconic pro at both open on and Seminole, who was Rosfort's close friend. Well, he was extraordinary and he uh, I think he he gained everybody's trust.

Um that so that I mean his Rolo decks like hers would be phenomenal. And you know, when he needed to dig something out of the dirt, he dug it out. And when rose you saw Rosie on your phone, you wanted to talk to him. So and he had that relationship with you know, all the stars everybody, and so I think just trust and faith that we all had and Timmy was one of his great great assets. And not many players appreciate good writing, especially good reporting and

the history of golf more than Ben Crenshaw. Going back all those years, Matt he was he was a bulldog for getting information. He was very very good at that. And uh but people respected him greatly. Uh. He was insider guy and he wanted to report that and he did it so well so many times. Um. But I know, as as a writer and a close observer of the professional golf scene, he was one of the best. I mean he you know, people knew to go to him

to see what the players actually were thinking. They trusted him. Uh and and he could get the information quicker than other people could. Ron Sirac, who has ap roots and a similar dog and reporting style, offers his perspective on his former colleague at Golf World and Golf Digest. Baseball is one of my passions. Peter Damon's was the guy when I was when I was first starting out in journalism, as he was a guy who knew everything. Tim was

the guy in golf who knew everything. Back to Jeff Russell again, who had become the editor in chief of Golf World magazine in two thousand and was writing the rose Board Train all the way to relevancy within the booming industry of golf. The moment when I realized, hey we are now, We're now as competitive a magazine as any other magazine. I mean, you know, listen, sports Philicide.

You know, always be a fan of Sports Illustrated. You know what an amazing, amazing magazine it was, And and Golf Plus was was terrific um and and you know, you never there's never a week where you just felt like, oh my god, what are they gonna have this week?

You know? But but I remember, and maybe you do too, when Tiger Woods was, you know, he was maybe two years into his his PGA Tour career, he turned pro, and he's been out there like two or three years, and he and he got into a he got into a showdown with with Tim Fincham in the PGA Tour where he was basic. I forget, I'd have to go

and look, right, but he was. He was They wanted him, you know, they were holding him to the same requirements for you know, tournaments and tournament releases and all and all this stuff that any other player had, right and and and Tiger was Tiger was basically saying, look, I'm not I'm not going to do that. I if you're gonna hold me that I might go play the European Tour and we're I'll go find somewhere else to play.

And and this was kind of percolating and Tiger decided, I don't know how this happened, but Tiger Tiger decided to tell Tim Roseford about it. That's where he went with with his story. And we got that story because of Tim Rosefort and whatever relationship he had with Tiger and and whatever whatever reputation Tim had with Tiger, and and it was. We put it on the cover and it was, you know, it was a blockbuster story at a time when a weekly magazine could still have a

blockbuster story. And it got everyone's attention, and it got the PGA Tour's attention. And I remember thinking that week, like, man, people are talking about our magazine. Um, and the story that that we got and that was that was Tim and and and also John Hawkins. It was you know, um and that you know, that was a nice I think that was a nice collaboration for us and Golf Digest for for for four or five years, Tim and

John working together. But but again it was you know, Tim was the big hitter on that thing, and and we were um and and and we benefited. It was It was huge inner stage. John Hawkins, another gritty colleague who was also operating at the height of his powers. With their chemistry came a brotherly bond at award winning work. Tim and I were both came from tough towns. I come from Baltimore, He came from Brewster, New York. We shared that um my dad passed away when I was young.

Tim didn't have an easy life growing up. He worked on his dad's trash truck, as you know, and Tim had to work. We both shared that sort of us against the world mentality, blue collar kind of mindset, and we just we hit it off. I was, I was in all of him as a reporter. Still am. As I said on their phone call a few a couple of months back, Matt, nobody has had a more profound

influence on my career than Tim Rose Afford Nobody. Yes, there was Rick Riley, Himie Diaz, Alan Schipnuk, Michael Bamberger, Tom Callahan. Jenkins was still Jenkins. I loved Dave Anderson and Dave Kindred. No one could write funny like Bob Verdie Garrity was always doing gearty, but when Hawk and Rosie would combine forces, the game's cage would rattle more from Heimie Diaz and Tim and John Hawkins had a

great relationship. You know, Tim was the rock. John was the mercurial you know, I say, borderline genius in many ways because tremendous words, Smith, tremendous ability to turner phrase great writer, kind of like Woodward and Bernstein a little bit, you know, in in a golf Stanse wood Word was Tim, you know, the solid reporter who could could always you know, get anybody, and and John the guy that could coalesce

it into something really readable. And those two guys they knew they had something and and they took on big projects. A lot of ambition in both those guys, and they would identify what was really important in golf because had very passionate views about this is the story. Man. You know, we gotta get this guy, we gotta get this issue out there, we gotta do it like nobody else. And then you know Tim might feel similarly, but probably not

to the same extent. But then when he was directed, you know, this is what we need, this is what we gotta have. Nobody was better at getting it, so

it was really formidable and they did. You know, I'm thinking five or six of those things that were oral histories or just simply highly reported pieces long, maybe even had more than one, you know, one installment, and very much probably well, I want to say the best work of their careers, because they did great work individually as well, but I think as a team that that's probably as

good a team as golf riding has ever had. Long before the platform of podcast, there was such a thing as a quote oral history, but it was done in print. Hawk and Rosie right again chronic one of golf's greatest comebacks. I don't know whose idea it was um to do it in oral history. Back then, we were always looking to get into Golf Digests because we got paid extra for it, and because it was the magazine. As you know, Matt, Golf World was the magazine with a great reputation. But

but but Golf Digest was the rock star. Golf Digest was the much bigger book, you know, three four pages some weeks some months back then, and you always wanted to get into that one. And we came up with this idea and we were just met with nothing but help from all the principles I think Tim got. And it's not like I didn't do any reporting. It just looked like I didn't. Compared to Tim, they kind of developed an interesting, you know, sort of an interesting format.

They came up with a formula where where they would work together. They were at work together on big pieces, and the Tiger and the Tour story was one of them. The final day of the Ryder Cup, you know, was the was the big one that I remember they you know that that was that day of that incredible American comeback UM to win on the final day, and they spent um, you know, they spent months talking to every player, everybody who had, you know, had anything to do with

with that UM, with that comeback. That was just like putting pieces of a puzzle together. That was fun. And he would just keep coming back with more and more material and I would just keep on finding spots for it. I think it was just one of those cases where two guys had a kind of a common background and perfect a perfect mesh of skills. It was too much good information to try to make a UM, to try

to turn into a magazine article. I even think at one point they were, you know, they were talking to like a Hollywood producer about about making a movie about it, like maybe there were maybe a documentary film about it. I mean, but it doesn't get done without Tim's Tim's ability to report, Tim's dogged pursuit of information and his relationships with people to this day remains so powerful. It's why we're doing this, Matt, because so many people no Tim and love them. And and um that was I was.

I was the prime beneficiary of Tim's greatest strengths for the better part of ten years. Regardless of the awards and out of boys recognition and respect, Tim never allowed himself to tap the brakes on his hustle and pursuit of perfection. No one was harder on Tim then Tim. A lot of people tried to convince him of his greatness, and that was the only time he turned his ears off.

He loved coaching, he was allergic to accolades. Back to Jeff Russell, who again knew Tim for thirty five years and worked closely with him for twenty five of those. As Jeff notes, the only coaching he needed was to

get out of his own way. Tim operated always operated from a sense of insecurity, you know, he he um, you know he could he could have he could have ninety nine great weeks in a row and and then have a week where he missed something, you know, or or maybe wrote a story that wasn't that that wasn't um you know, super polished and needed a little work, and then it was like man, it sent him into the Dolders. It was like he was starting all over

and you had to remind him. You know. We used to say this, Hey, you know, I mean you're Tim sucking Roseford. That's all you needed to say to him. It's like you are, Tim, Stop stop worrying about it, you know, Um, let's get back at it this week. You know. But you know you're Tim we fucking Roseford. And and you're gonna hear that from Matt Haggerty too, you know, um, because he was that way when he got to the Golf channel. Pete McDaniel wrote for both

Golf Digest and Golf World. Both Tim and Pete were always being asked to get something special on tiger Woods. He did some blocking for me as well, you know, quiet as its gift. Yeah, some opportunities that I got Tim recommended me. I don't know if I always succeeded at him. I probably let him down a few times. But I'm guilty of that too. He's this guy can do it, he can alest you know, you need to give him an opportunity, and I got opportunities. So but

Tim's wanted to get greatest guys. Um, if you had Tim on your team, you had a good teammate. I'll just put it that way. Um, funny guy and I played a lot of rounds ago off together. Really meticulous kind of guy. And the thing that made him such a success he worked. It was alreayst working man in golf. And without a doubt, I couldn't have no way that anybody could could out work And he was not going to need to do it prepared, you know, to the end,

dog gone degree. If there was anything he didn't know, he was really gonna find out, had more context than anybody in the game. And and that was Tim Roseford. I mean, talented and personable and um and a real friend. And in our business you could probably count your real friends on one hand. And Tim was certainly a real friend, no doubt about it. Back to Jeff Russell, who was continuing to lean on Rosaford as a captain of the squad.

I think Tim always had a really underrated talent for um knowing, knowing what's a good story, what's maybe not a good story, knowing what the what the angle is, what the angle should be, and what the angles shouldn't be.

UM And I think he you know, he was he was a good sounding board for me as the editor when when I wasn't when I was trying to figure out a lot, you know, I reached a point where I wasn't always at the major championships on the on the weekend, I would need to come home, you know, go back to the office and kind of you know,

run things from the office. And and Tim became my kind of my my boots on the ground at the tournament and trying to help me understand what was going on and and and what the stories were and what they should be. UM. He was very He had a kind of a good you know, you'd say he has an ear for music. You know, he had kind of a good ear for a good sense of what what

the angle should be. More from dis I remember after nine eleven that the amount of time and work and chronicling he did with Jimmy Dunn was like incredibly you know, uh just just you know, it was it was a book length stuff almost And of course Bill Fields was was was writing the story. And you know it was overwhelming Bill, because Bill was a great researcher too. But I mean that's the kind of thing when Tim got his teeth into something, he really, um, you know, that

was his identity. Then he was going to prove that to himself and to others, that that he could do it, that he belonged, that he could not and that he could be the best. And uh, I think it really um was was really a passionate after a while that he found his niche that he loved this. I mean he hadn't grown up with golf. He hadn't even grown up with sports writing, but he had found something that he loved to do um and could be good at because through force of will, but also he had the

head for it. He knew sports, so golf fell right in there with sports. That was the mentality brought to sports. And and he was a good storyteller and any any any knew good stories. He had good news sense. He

had an idea of how to present something. So it was interesting John Hawkins, I think a spike gate with v J and Mickelson having a J having a problem with Phil with the length of phil spikes, like you know, there are usually a one millimeter long and these were two millimeters or a millimeter and a half, and it's like turn into this big deal. So that was probably uh oh five because I was in the Champions locker room with them. Um, I don't remember him telling the story.

I just remember that he uh, he wasn't trying to attack anybody. He was just I had to share insight into what was going onto the game of golf and and do it in a way that was interesting, compelling, but uplifting to everybody around him. Tim came back and said they almost came to blows in the locker room and there was a pretty heated argument and people had to get up and separate them and the force Michelson to release the statement. And Tim had that kind of

impact on a regular basis. That was one of the more famous ones, one of the ones that I remember, But if you went back you could see many instances where Tim Tim's reporting had a had a pretty powerful impact on the on the on the picture. In general, I was never sure what drove Tim's bus the insecurity or was it just a sincere humility, you know, like he's like Barry Sanders, right. I mean, if you scored a touchdown, he handed the football back to the ref

because that's his job, that's what he does. It wasn't about fanfare, it wasn't about to sell. He had no celebration dance in the end zone that Tim never danced in the end zone in his life. Tim ran around the basis with his head down every single time. Nobody ever wanted to throw a beanball at Tim rose Afford. Well you don't want that big ass guy coming out to the mountain and kicking your ass in front of everybody. But Tim was was. It was a lot bit. It

was a lot bigger than Tim's physical stature. It was his his ability to generate trust and his ability to his his is absolute uh insistence on getting it right all the time. Tim didn't want a bad eight hundred. A lot of sports analogies here, but Tim. Tim wanted to get it right all the time, and and he did. He really did, he very very rarely. He I don't ever recall him making a mistake that was can sequential to the meaning of a story, or the just just

never happened. Facts always travel. Tim's saturated rolodex, impeccable reputation, and incredible consistency had earned him a more prominent role on an alternate platform. Tim was taking on TV, and although he was getting criticized by Golf World teammates with guys like Hawkins who didn't like their starting running back splitting time playing center field in another sport, Tim ignored

those murmurs. They definitely didn't deterine. It was all just more motivation to be an all star at both print and broadcast. If walls were going to fall and writers were evolving into on their talent, who better to smash those walls then Golf's Bo Jackson. Back to Molly Solomon, who has spent her entire career in TV. I think people forget the bigger picture with Tim, like we're all in the you know, the golf industry. But Tim was the first, really one of the first sports television insiders,

you know. I remember Will McDonough in the early nineties and he started to bring these reporters that came into television and gave you so much great reporting and information and really kind of fleshed out the stories. And Tim very much brought that to golf. So it was really being done a little bit in football, but he brought

it to golf. So it was his reporting and his his rolodex or his cell phone, which, as you know, he always had two cell phones, but he had everybody's number, and everybody respected him and everybody returned a phone call um. And that was because of his personality and the trust that he created with people. Like you knew that if you told Tim something that he wasn't going to misuse it or abuse it. He was going to use it to flesh out stories. But he would never embarrass you,

hurt you. He'd give you a sense that something was coming. Like people trusted him when they talked to him, and that made a difference. I remember when he started doing TV, uh and he you know, really started to raise his profile at Golf Channel. He was still working for us.

He would, you know, he would do TV. You know you could sense that he he he was he was doing a lot of TV and his profile, you know, he was getting famous and he was really becoming pretty well known and and he went to great pains to make sure that I could never accuse him of, you know, neglecting his magazine work in order to do TV work. It's like it's like as the better he got it TV, and the bigger he got it TV, the more the more he tried to contribute and do work for the magazine.

And I remember talking to him one time, was before I went to the Golf Channel. So I was still at Golf World, and we were on a bus somewhere, you know, some major writing from a parking lot to the media center. And I and he had on you know, yacht on his suit and tie and and he was gonna, you know, he was gonna write. He was gonna do TV and then he was gonna write a story overnight, and then he was gonna fly back to you know, back to to Orlando to do you know, Monday TV.

And I said, Tim, you know, you don't what are you doing? Like, you don't need to work this hard. You're gonna you know, you're gonna, you know, you're gonna run your batteries down. You're gonna kill yourself. And and and I want you, I said, I want you to know I appreciate everything that you've done for Golf World and and and and how important you are to the magazine and everything you can, but you don't. If you all you have to do is tell me I can't do the writing anymore. I just want to do the

TV and I will understand no hard feelings. And he looked at me like I had three heads, you know. Um so I never you know, I never had. I mean had a lot of people that worked for me as you know that that were hard to manage and tricky to manage, and you had to find ways to motivate them. Um Tim was Tim was never that guy,

not not one, not one single day. You know. The only the only time you ever had to give Tim a pep talk was when he when he occasionally felt, um, you know, like he wasn't good enough, which which is which is lappable. It sounds it's silly, you know, it's really silly. But but that's where he that's where that incredible energy and in his incredible output, that's where it all came from. Was just trying to always trying to

prove himself. Meanwhile, Gary Williams, one of the original hosts of Golf Channel's Morning Drive, was one of many who benefited from Tim's lead blocking. Williams made a successful break from radio to TV. I love television, and I love sports television, and I love the history of people who blaze trails for others, and Tim is is in a category that I think is very particular and very special.

I consider will McDonough that the grandfather of information men who took the printed word and put it in the visual medium. And then Peter Gammon's did the same thing in baseball, and coincidentally, from the same newspaper, the Boston Globe, Peter Vessey started doing it in basketball. Tim Roosevefort was Golf's version of the insider and the one who took the print journalism man and put him in front of a camera and he just opened up that notebook. Here's

Phil Nicholson on Tim's transition. Yeah. So Tim rosy Fort really was the first to kind of transition with the times and with the media, going from print and then moving into video and television. And he did such a great job. He lost a lot of weight, he got physically fit, He had a unique look when he went to the shaved head uh and he just uh. He was a very attractive guy. He looked twenty years younger than his actual age. I can't believe he's sixty six.

He looks forty five even even the last time I saw him. And he was able to articulate as well as he could write. He was able to inflect and keep you interesting. Will also uh getting the point across. It's not easy to do. Some people are great with the written words and people are great verbalizing things. And he was great doing both. And he really transcended into the video world and was the first to do it, and a lot of people followed what he was able

to do it. I don't know if anybody followed quite as well or eloquently as he did, but he was. He was brilliant in being able to transition his career as as social media. Different media's came into play back to Heimie Diaz, who stayed pure print and internet a little longer than most great reporters and writers, mainly because he had a position at Golf Digest in Golf World that afforded him less urgency to diversify his platform portfolio. Yeah, Tim was a reporter, but he wasn't just a reporter.

He had a look, he had a delivery. He had a presence on the air. He cultivated it, uh in a in a very professional way with his look and stayed in shape. He looked good. Um. He always wanted to learn and get better. He also studied what his niche should be and that's really, I think so important in television because it's so collaborative and it's such a um, you know, kind of a positional specialization that that is

demanded sometimes and he had that, you know. He he was the guy that could get anybody UM on deadline with the phone number, with the guy calling him back with the you know, UM, the access to UM a particular player that may not talk to anybody else. Those were really important things in print and in TV. But they really suited TV in a unique way because nobody else had that, and to be honest, no one else since really has to the same extent. And uh, you know,

he liked he liked just presenting. I talked to this guy, I got him, here's what he said, and leaving it at that. He didn't need to offer his opinion, he didn't need to interpret it. He just wanted to put it out there for the other guys on the desk. To talk about it, and so it was all very clean and we're beautifully and you know, there was never

enough of that. I mean, as far as the Golf Channel was concerned, it was like, hey, Roosevelt could get him, you know, and we we saw the starting with President Obama all the way down, you know, people that nobody else could get. Uh And so you know, yes he broke he broke a barrier, but in his own way, in a way that has has not been equaled in terms of that um, that particular specialty. I would imagine you build lineups around guys like that, right, you do.

He's like a part of the starting lineup. And that gets me excited because I can think about alive from a major championship desk and you've got someone like a Rich Learner, the anchor, the quarterback, and you've got a Brandle Shamblee who's analyzing, and then you wanted Tim on that desk because Tim was going to tell you everything you needed to know about the players. Brandle was going to analyze, but Tim was going to tell you about

the person and that was equally as important. I remember when I first got too Golf Channel in I moved Tim into the Sunday night golf centrals because you wanted to know who the guy was or the woman was, who life who's life changed that day walking up the team fairway and winning a PGA Tour and LPG Tour

title for the first time. And you knew, right Matt he could get anybody on the phone and he would find out where they went to high school, what sport they played, and what car they drove their first car like he always fleshed out a story and made it entertaining. Safe to say, Mark Mulvoy, who after retiring from Sports Illustrated, has not stopped playing and watching a lot of golf, will always be one of Rosafort's biggest fans. What I

used to love. You know, you'd be watching on when Timmy was I guess it was NBC he was doing, was an NBC. He'd be doing the NBC thing, and all of a sudden it be some guy that nobody ever heard of, you know, Charlie Slumbakavitz from South Peoria Falls, Idaho. Suddenly he'd be within four shots of the lead, and they said, oh my gosh, this is slumback of its four shots within the lead. Tim what do you know

about him. Tibby would tell you that when he was a little league third base, when he had a home run against the future Major League picture picture that he dated, he took his date to the senior prom was this he hit that? I mean, you knew more about this kid than anybody in the world. Of course, maybe the kid the next day shot eighty four. But the point is Timmy provided instant information. But he knew what he was talking about. It wasn't something off the top of

his head. I mean he was missed a fact toy for the networks, which is what I really wanted it to be. For Sports Illustrated. Well, Gary Williams is the king of recall. He respected Rosafford's rolodex. He always has been so unassuming about all the things that he's accomplished in his career that he never liked hearing this, But it's the truth. There's nobody else walking earth who has every phone number of every living number of the World

Golf Hall of Fame. I think he's the only one, and he's the only one Matt that if he calls or texts that they're all calling him back. Now there's a there's a handful of guys and every Hall of Fame members like, I'm not calling him back, but Rosie, are you kidding me? The king of the callbacks, Why you being on the other side and one of the most prominent players in modern golf, why would you called

him back? So I would always called him back because he would fact checked and he would want to know the truth, and you would when you when you told ask some things to be looked this as sensitive, I don't really want to be on the record about this. He would respect that, and he wasn't trying to tear anybody down. He would present the facts based on his knowledge.

And because people trusted him, they were more open with them and they and that's why he was so great at what he did as far as being an inside of me gave a golf because he earned players trust. He earned people's trust in the golf business and was able to uh to gather knowledge and insight because of that. And he he handled it with as he would present it to the public. He handled it delicately that such in situations that could be a little bit sticky, he

always had a real classy way of presenting it. Lanny Watkins always called Tim back as a player, you ended up with writers you could trust, you know, if you will, Okay, Tim Rosefort was always one I could trust. I mean, I get a kick out of telling people about Jeff Rude. That know, Jeff Rude. You know Jeff Rude. Rude was the Dallas Morning News golf Friday when I was rather kept captain, and Rude warmed me out. Wanted my captain's picks.

I mean, he had to have these picks before I announced him the morning answer the PJ because he wanted to have in the paper. He gave me such a hard time about it. I gave him the wrong names he had. Rude would love that. I mean, I mean Rosefort does that. I Tim would call me about things and he and I would talk. I would be the off the record guy, if you will, for Tim on a lot of things. He would ask me questions. I said, Timmy, no, I really can't have my name out there about that.

But if you here's the deal, here's the school, here's what happened. Back to Russell on the subject of Ryder Cup captains, you know what a big deal it is when the PGA of America decides who the next rider Cup captain is going to be you know, that's that's like a big story to them. It's a big story in golf. It may it may seem like well it you know, after a couple of days, it's maybe not such a big story. That was a big story. And three or four years and three or four times in

a row, Tim figured out. Tim got the name of the Ryder Cup captain before before anybody else. I think at least one of you know that Tom wat When when when Tom Watson became the captain before Glenn Eagles. Tim was the guy who got that story. And that was the most remarkable one because nobody saw Tom Watson coming, you know, nobody saw Ted Bishop was gonna was gonna

pick Tom Watson. And and I remember we were at the Golf Channel then and Tim came to me and said, you know, told me that he had And I was like, Tim, what are you talking to? Like I think you're wrong, you know, I told me, I don't know, it's gonna be Tom Watson, right, And he was right. And but the but the thing I'll never forget is that he became he really became a a thorn in the side of the PGA of America. The PGA of America loved Tim Roseford. You know. They they were in West Palm.

Tim lived in West Palm and it was like a hometown thing. But man, they wanted to keep that secret until they could, you know, introduce the captain themselves. You know, they themselves like they wanted that's something they wanted to do. And Tim kept finding out and breaking the story, and and they and and they would get like, you know, they would get so angry and upset about it, and and there's just nothing they could do. He was he was too good a report and had you know, his

sources were too impeccable. Um that you know, we had to we had to talk about something else. Act they would just get Uh. Here's Matt Haggerty of The Golf Channel for more on Tim's impact on the types of breaking news that went from the Ticker to Twitter and vice versa. The one that always sticks out to me was Dustin Johnson and the Masters when he when he fell down the steps. You know, Um, you know Tim was, you know, we were, you know, we were on the air.

It was I think we were. I think we were. It was weather that day and we were trying to tape the show, so we were like in this tape mode, so we were just trying to get the show to air. And then all of a sudden Tim calls and he says, hey, Dustin Johnson just fell down a flight of steps and it's questionable whether he's going to be able to play

the Masters. And then the next thing, you know, Tim was on the phone with all these different people, you know, whether it was Claude Harmon or Butch Harmon or David Winkle, whoever it was, you know, all these people on the inner circle of Dustin Johnson and um. And it was a big story because Dustin was, you know favorite, I mean he was he was number one player in world.

He was favored to win the Masters. I mean it was huge, and he just it was a really big story and he covered it and he had it all and it was there was and then he delivers it perfectly, you know, on air, and it all happened like boom boom, boom boom. It all happened really fast, and we wouldn't have had that Golf Channel wouldn't have been as good that day. If we didn't have Tim roaster Ford, we wouldn't have been good and we were great that night

because we had Tim. So that's the difference cut to I'll never forget the day I noticed that there might be an issue. We were on set together at Morning Drive and we did a segment with Damon Hack. Although I've been victim of and witnessed to several glitches in memory, especially when it comes to live TV, but I saw that day in from Tim was something different. Something wasn't right. As we all emptied into the hallway outside of Studio AP, I asked the Arna Palmer of our industry if he

felt okay. He said he did. Damon Hack and e Sidebard about what we had seen. We were both concerned but not sure what to do about it. As the story goes, he was at Pebble for the US Open and things were just so far off and disoriented that Jeff Russell called Genevieve and said, we've got to send Tim home. It's just we were really concerned about him, and was the point basically when his career as he knew it came to a close. That week at Pebble,

Tim forgot Webb Simpson had won the US Open. He forgot the U s g A changed their playoff policy, and when asked to chase down some information on Nate Lashley, who was finishing in early round near the top of the leaderboard, Tim burst into the scores tend in search of an interview. Tim, of all people, knew the Scorers trailer is off limits to the media. Matt Haggerty with his perspective, it's almost like, why didn't we say something sooner?

You know, like, but there was so much. You know, Television is such a television is such a fucked up world at times, you know, and you don't and you and and and it it can be there can be tons of insecurity in it. There's tons of pressure involved in it. And I think at for a long time we just thought that, you know, this is part of

the business. You know, it's stressful. You know, you're looking over your shoulder and there's you know, and there's pressure to get things and get things right and get things right on time and quick and fast. You know, like there's so much and I think that so much of of some of the early signs we saw, we just thought, well, that's the pressure. And once, you know, like once we get through this, you know it's gonna get better and

once we get through this, it'll get better. And then it it didn't, and it manifested itself in a lot of different ways, like asking the same question a couple of different times, and then you're like, why is he asking that question? Is he asking me that question because he wants to make sure he gets it right? Or

is he forget it? And there's a fine line because some people ask questions because they want to make sure they they've got it right right, And you're always telling people, if you've got any questions, make sure you ask right, Like if you got any if she asked, so he's asking, and so you walk away. I get answered that question

a few times. Was he just trying to get rock solid on that m again, that was a sign more from Himie dis When I heard about Tim's diagnosis for Alzheimer's, I mean, it was a terrible shock, and it was the worst case scenario, obviously, because there was concerned that that Tim in some ways was losing some cognitive skills um for whatever reason. And uh it had been going on gradually for about a year. UM it certainly wasn't to the point where he was unpresentable on TV. He

was you know, masking it. Well, it was bothering him that he was starting to forget a little bit more. He went to get checked out. Um, he was told it was anxiety. Um. You know, we were all concerned. We knew he played football. You know, you wondered, CTE, could there be some kind of progressive problem physiologically and UM, but I didn't. UM, I didn't really consider Alzheimer's because that just seems as if, um, it's it's more uh, well, obviously it's just more grave. And I guess I didn't

want to let myself go there. Um. And Tim was in denial a bit about not about Alzheimer's, but about the possible issues. You know, he wanted it to be anxiety. He wanted to be something he could correct, something he could deal with, and and he was talking to specialists and he thought he was making progress. And he and I had a lot of conversations, you know, just about

how to relax. Not that I was any model of relaxation or am on television, but I was sitting next to him, and you know, I knew it was going to be a struggle for whatever reason. And you know, I've seen him on the golf course sometimes get anxious, uh, in terms of you know, just getting his own way

about the golf swing or whatever. And you know, it was a strength and a weakness for him to be so conscious of, you know, how to get better, how to get better, and always be you know, focused on that, because yeah, it helps you get better to care so much, but it can help me get worse. Two to to not be able to forget in the moment that you know, all those things that you've been worried about. Let's go

back to Jeff Russell. The diagnosis was crushing. I mean it was crushing, but a little part of me was like, I'm it explains a lot, you know, to find out that he's got a medical condition explains a lot because what I saw, you know, what I saw happening in the last year could not have been you know, it just wasn't the Tim Roseford. I I knew, you know it and and um, but but yeah, you know, if it it's it's uh, he is such a great storyteller.

And it's and the really sad thing is too, is he's got you know, he gets Alzheimer's, which is impacts the storyteller, right, um, and and and really damages that and now Jim Nance, who had gotten involved after it was clear everyone needed definitive answers. Nance's father died of Alzheimer's, and in two thousand eleven, in his father's honor, he created the Nance National Alzheimer Center, which since it opened

has become a world leader in alzheimer research. The hospital in Houston treats thousands of patients a year, with goals to prevent the disease, slow down memory loss, and improve the quality of life for their patients. Tim, along with his wife and daughter Molly, went to Houston for almost a week for a series of tests and analysis. Nance picked up the bill for everything that wasn't covered by insurance. Has been a friend of mine for a long long time.

But all of a sudden you start hearing from the pulse banglers and that Davis testiness of the world. And I hate to even just start rattling off names because there were many many people said, he have you heard about Tim? What can you do? I mean, instantly I got on the phone called Genevieve. I had met her

and his daughters years ago. I remember when the girls were young, and how proud of father he was, and how great father and husband he is um And I said, Genevieve, please please let me just get you at says to our people down in Houston. Let's let's get Tim to Houston and we can get a game plan going and we can try to give him the best care and give him a chance and give him hope. In an effort to try and educate all of us on this

horrific disease. Nance put me in touch with his lead doctor in Houston, Dr Stanley Appell, a specialist in neurology and neuromuscular medicine. Well, Alzheimer's is a very difficult proposition. It's been difficult for patients, it's been difficult for families, and it's really been hard for the medical profession to come up with a meaningful therapy. As a matter of fact,

at present, there are truly no meaningful therapies. And the difficulty is this isn't just a diagnosis of an individual patient. This is a diagnosis that affects the whole family. The old family is implicated. You know, during the early stages of Alzheimer's, the patient is aware at the earliest stage, the family might not be aware, and only the patient might be aware, but as you progress through the varying stages, it turns out that the family is aware and the

patient is aware. And then we get to what I consider the most horrific part of it, when the patient is not aware and the family and friends and loved ones so totally aware, and you can't connect. And that's the difficulty. This interview was almost a year ago. Dr Appelle was incredibly generous with his time, and I'll follow up this podcast with much more on the disease itself from both Nance and dr Appelle, but for now here

he is on the indicators. Is there a few things you give people to look forward to better educate them about this? Hey, it's time to go see a doctor. Well, look, the experience is an interesting one. When you forget a few things, we usually say, Okay, I've forgotten something, big deal. I'm just getting a little older. Well does that happen? Sure? Uh, But then people don't act on that. Patients don't act on that, families don't act on that, and you keep waiting.

And unfortunately, in the old days, you would wait until people were acting out when they weren't themselves, and you say, oh, it's hit the emotional stage. Therefore, I need to get him to the doctor to quiet things down. I think we're a lot better about this now. So Ah, could there be strong oakes causing this? Sure? Could there be sleep at me and causing it? Sure? So the problem is any symptom I give you could have multiple explanations.

All I would say is we need informed patients, and we need informed physicians who don't make the assumption that everything is a stroke or everything is anxiety depression, which people are too easy to implicate. I asked Nance for his advice on how to best handle the situation in which a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I just got to the point where I savored every stage with my dad, even though I would say, for the last five years you couldn't really tell, like even knew who

you were. But you know, the next year would come around and you think, man, I wish he was at the stage it was a year ago. No. I quickly learned that you have to like realize what you have that moment. It's it's as good as it's going to be, because it's only gonna continue to go down a path where it just it worsens, So savor, savor the moment, take it for what it is. They're trying their harness. I used to look at my dad and think that somewhere inside of him, he knows exactly what I'm saying.

He just can't respond. He doesn't have the ability to connect everything and show you that he's hearing you and he wants to. I was trying to do some reading is to how I should communicate with tim and not try to make him feel frustrated that he can't remember and or just fill in the gaps for them prior to even teeing them up for a story. Like I just struggle with that, and I wonder, am I what do I need to be doing right or wrong to before we to that? And I'll get to that in

a minute. Everyone asked me to predict the future, doc how long is my loved one done it? When is it going to be worth everything? And we can't do it, none of us can do it because everyone is different. So that's the first issue. One day at a time, you know, that's all we're given, one day at a time. So the one day at a time implies patience. It's patience on the family's part. It's patient on the loved ones part, it's patient on the great friends part. So

we don't have to remind people that they're slipping. They know it at early stages. You know it. Uh, Let's not try and make them smarter, because it's frustrating for them, frustrating for you. Let's remember a couple of things. Number one, most patients with Alzheimer's have great memory of things thirty years ago. It's very comforting. Music is very comforting. So let's take out the picture alboom of what it was like thirty years ago, when we were young, when we

did daring things. That's comforting. It's comforting for the patient, it's comforting for you as a great friend. Music, music that you all love. Amazing to me how music and dancing at some of our centers is an effective way to keep patients involved, happy and remembering what days were like. So when you lose function, you lose the most recent function. What did I have for breakfast? What did I do yesterday? What did I do the day before? That happens to

all of us anyway. But when we go back twenty or thirty years, we may forget the name, but we don't forget the experience. We don't ever forget. You know, it's not what you said that I remember. It's how you made me feel that you don't forget and that you can relate to. And guess what, even patients with alzheimas can relate to that. So there's no reason to challenge anyone to remember anything yesterday or the day before. Get in their comfort zone and really address their comfort

zone so their days can be better. Well. Nance was getting rosfort access to his hospital and doctors. The rest of us were doing the best we could to connect with our friend. By the summer of Tim and I had both been bought out of our golf channel contracts NBC and Molly Solomon, the channel's executive producer, honored the full two years Tim had left on his deal, which

meant a lot to him and his family. I had the time and opportunity to make the same drive Timid made so often over the course of his career, Orlando to Palm Beach. I picked him up at his house on Sunday afternoons and we would play The Palm Beach Part three. The course would give us the run of the place. Tony the pro never charged us. Patrick the starter always had a cart waiting. We jump around, hit some shots, drink a beer, have some fun. If it was too hot, we just sit at the bar and

eat lunch. It was a series of Sundays with Rosie, started with the par and ended with the par How good is that, Jenny Hawk? Where are you? Man? You've been mad at that one? That would have won you a lot? Think too bad? Do? I hope you're doing Bill doing will and I miss you. We had some good times on the road. I'm not so good times. That's what l's all about, right, amen, buddy. I was often joined on these trips by Jeff Russell, Craig Dulch,

Davis Sesna, and Matt Haggarty. I'll never ever forget that day, you know. I'll never ever forget that day. I won't. I won't, you know, from picking him up, from driving from driving down and not knowing if we were actually going to meet him that morning, UM to him coming out getting in your car. You couldn't move because you just had a spinal tap um a few days earlier, so you still sore. Breakfast He was funny. He drank

a lot of iced tea that morning. And then over to the Atlantic Ocean, sitting there looking at it, talking, remembering it, crying, laughing, and then I remember him asking for beers. He wanted to go good beer. So we went back. We had a couple of beers. I mean, it was a really it was a beautiful day, you know. And then at the very end and it was like the whole thing, everything was like everything was all right, and like all day, everything was all right, all morning,

everything was all right. And then we get out of the car and it's been you and me and tim all day. And I get out. I was sitting in the back and I get out of the car and Timmy has gotten out of the car and we were walking and he turned around. He looked at me and he says, hey, is is there anybody in the car. I need to say goodbye to you guys. Let's do this again. Yes, I hope too, buddy. I'm gonna be down.

I'm around with so I'm gonna come back now cool one O nine and just make sure you didn't Oh yeah, yeah, I'll come and ask you. I love you guys. I can get a lift through this. Oh yeah, we're going through it. It I missed him Rosafort. Besides the occasional FaceTime, and because my family and I moved to San Diego. The last time I saw him was in November, the weekend of his second daughter's wedding. It was so good to watch him see Molly get married to Mason. They

had moved up. To date, the SESNA has hosted it and it was an incredibly special evening in Palm Beach. Here's more from Davis. Sesna first and foremost is a great friend of mine. I'm I'm blessed to have him as a friend, and I'm flattered, Uh that he calls me a friend. Uh. And he he is a giver. Uh. They're givers and takers in life. And Tim has always been a giver. Even when he was on the taking side of an interview where he had to get a story out. Uh, he was giving of his heart and

respect to the questions. Uh and to the performance. Uh. He has done that. You know. He and Genevieve been married a long time with beautiful kids. Uh. And uh he uh Uh he never hung out after the show. He most half the time I would talk to Tim, and I'm sure it was with you. Tim was on the road between Orlando and West Palm Beach. That was the time he had to talk because he wanted to

get home to the family. Uh and uh Uh this Alzheimer's for Tim is devastating for him and us because we've sort of felt he was just coming into his celebrated years of being a journalist where he was getting the best stories. Uh. He could walk into any door anywhere in the world. He had achieved the respect and notoriety, Uh to perform at the level he always wanted. Uh. And then it it just shut him down. It's not right.

Uh and uh it just hurts. Uh. We love the guy and he he so wants to be back, and you and and when you talk to him, you so want him to be back, and he can't be And and that's painful. Roseford had an aggressive case of the horrific disease and as a result, he fell. He broke his hip, and that only exacerbated his decline. Prior to the fall, a wide variet idea of his friends would visit Tim. Here's Bob Ford again, the pro It's seminar in Oakmont, who would see Tim on a regular basis

during the opens at Oakmont. You know, he would stay with me, and we had a gal that would cook for everybody that week. And you know, he came home late as you like you would, and you know, ten ten thirty eleven, I'm already in bed. I'm not waiting

up for him. And this guy was so enthralled with who he was, and he was so sweet to her, as you can imagine, and she waited up for him and cook, you know, heat his food up for him, and he'd eat and go to bed, and uh so we didn't get a chance to talk a lot during that week, you know, a week of the U S Open. He's obviously and we're both busy, but you know, those were great times that we had together. And we played

a lot of golf together. He's come over to Seminal a lot to hit some balls with me, and we've had a few lunches this uh this season together with a few of the guys that he knows, and you know, he's he's incredibly engaging and he's timmy pretty much during the whole time. You know, you know, when they leave, you know, tell me again his name and and things like that. But all in all, I think he's been

doing really well. John Hawkins would send Tim video messages which I'd played for Tim while we were on the golf course. To the man who taught me more about being a golf writer than anybody on earth, the man who got me on more great golf courses for free than anybody on earth than any twenty five people on earth. To my hero, my friend, my idol, one of the greatest men I've ever met, t Rose. How about that

put on eight team bro? Oh my goodness, we could have used that at Hillside, as Mattie G pointed out, You slept Mattie G upside of the head for that with Mattie Gee, huge shout out for sending me a video And Tim, I love you, brother, I miss you. I talked to Rude as soon as I got previous movie. We're both thinking of you. We both love you. You've been such a huge part of our lives. You get better, you hang in there, you hang tough. I know you will,

because you don't know any other way. One of the hardest working guys I've ever been around, probably the most influential journalists in my career. Tim Rosafort. I can't thank you enough. Brother. There's anything I can do to make your life better. Please give me a shout. I love you, talk to you soon. Take care. Tim would often ask to fire back. Johnny Hawk here with t Rose Palm Beach Part three. I told him you gave him a call today and wish him nothing but the best. Kenny,

where are you been? Man? I miss you and nobody to fight against him with the last ten years. So let's taking this little injury minor maybe potential setback to move up to a couple of teas Grandpa tease you used today anyway, right tell Ruda said, Hey, you know, let's spend some time together. I was talking about you a couple of times in the last month. It's people, and here you are, Johnny huk H is just like yesterday,

Johnny Off. Yeah, come check me out. Man. The guy with all the memories doesn't get to share him and that's horrible. But you know, life is not fair, and this is just yet another very grim and nasty reminder of that. Of that premise, here's Heimie Diaz on his last trip to see Tim. You went and saw him not not that long ago, right a Stow in September the last time. And what was that like? Well, he was in the facility near his home. He was when

I uh, you know, he was watching television. Uh he was dressed land in bed, uh a little a blanket over him. He was to get chills. He was watching a college football game. I walked in and uh, the nurse that had brought me up to his room said, a friend of yours is here, and he didn't respond, and I thought, oh gosh, I'm too late. And then you know, about a minute later, he goes, hey, what

are you doing here? Iimi, and he recognized me. It was odd, and I guess, you know, consciousness and recognition and you know, all the cognitive things that fly in and out with Alzheimer's are kind of random. So then we uh, I said, hey, man, great to see you. You know how you know, kept it light obviously, um. And even though you know, his short term memory was was poor and and he was kind of watching the

game and this sort of you know, erratic way. We were talking about old days and those those conversations they weren't long ones, but they were coaching, you know, and you'd have a nice little you know, three or forward, uh retort to something, or he'd laugh if he remembered a name or if I mentioned a name or mentioned an old story or a punchline, so you know, it was it was nice just to connect, even though I knew I probably if I came back again, he wouldn't

recognize him. So um, I stayed about forty five minutes and just you know, I just sat at the foot of his bed. Um it was kind of time to go. I could tell he was getting tired, and that, you know, I told him. I started talking about you know, the business a little bit and what a great career he'd had,

and I already missed him. And uh, I always remembered that when I first got started writing about golf, I was always impressed by because we were you know, I wasn't making a lot, even though it's so right now, I was very very lucky to be there. It was still like a thousand bucks here or there was a

big deal. And I started noticing in these tournament programs when I go to a tournament that this guy Tim Roseford always had a freelance story in there, and uh, and I knew it wasn't a staffer for the tournament, because it was at every tournament it was like five or six of them in a row. And he had been freelancing those things just out of industry and and his work ethic. And uh so I started asking about

those and emulating them. And you know, I didn't do nearly as many as Sam, but I did a couple and and um I told him, I said, Tim, I followed you, Man. I followed you. I followed your work ethic, I followed your industry. I followed, uh, you know, the way that you just really made that that job of your life, or tried to at least, and or I tried to. And he goes, no, no, I followed you, and uh, I said, no, Tim, I followed you, and

he goes, I followed you. And so it was this sort of emphatic thing that, you know, very kind of mutual admiration and and love really and so we both laughed. Uh, but you know, I just stayed. I put my hand on his put my hand on his on his ankle, and I told him I loved him and because I love you, Man, I love you, And it was sort of this you know, i'll see you again kind of voice, and and I left and yeah, you know, you know, we all you always hear about male toxicity and how

we're unable to express emotion. And uh, I mean, I've always been kind of a softie anyway, but I might, I might, I might. I mean I'm not a tough guy. I don't mean that. I just meant, you know, sometimes you compartmentalize things away and and moments like that you realize that you're just a kid and and things touch you and it's good too. It's good to share that with another human that you've known a long time and you care about, uh, and just feel like, Okay, this

is life and it ends. But you know, I felt like I closed the circle and as much as possible at least. But you know, it doesn't mean that it wasn't horribly sad, but it was at least something we're all going to experience at some point. And and I thought when I left him, you know, not not because of me, but I just thought, he's at peace, He's okay, this has not been emotionally, um, something that he hasn't

been able to handle. Now. Of course I didn't see all the moments, but I just got the sense that he had a good handle on on everything, that he'd lived a great life, he had a great family. Yeah, it was gonna be too short, but he did his best, and UM, a lot of people loved him. And because you know when I signed in and that was like a Sunday morning, I believe, um in September, and it was that it was at I think I got in there.

There are three names in front of me that day, and then the day before I turned the page back there had been like six names. So people were visiting Tim constantly, and you know, everybody was doing the best they could to show him. And I think he actually knew shifting gears. And as a celebration of his life and legacy, we're circling back to get more uplifting memories and reflections from friends, colleagues, and players, starting again with

Jeff Russell modern day golf writers reporters. I mean he's on the Mount rushmant for me, I think he is. You know, I think he is. I think, I mean, I think you know modern you know you got Tim, you got him, me, you got Alan shipnuk Um. But Tim, Tim, you know, Tim was the first one to make that transition from from writing to television. And look, at the

end of the day, television was was probably his best medium. Um, when you talk to You talked to the producers at the Golf Channel back in probably from two thousands and two on, and they talked about how they'd be doing a show and you know, something would fall through, or this would father, something would have, you know, or somebody was late showing up for a press conference and they'd have ten or twelve minutes and they would they didn't know what to do, and they would put they would

put Tim up and just say, you know, kind of the TV version of empty your notebook. And he and he would, he would do it, and he would kill it. He was, you know, full of information, full of of nuggets, you know, and and it was and it really interesting TV. And he was you know, he was the first one in golf to do that. And there were you know, Adam Schefter and Tim Kirchin and Peter Gammon's and I'm thinking of all the experts and other sports, but but golf.

You know, in golf, Tim was you know, Tim was that guy. And Um and a lot of really good golf writers couldn't make that transition, you know, weren't weren't Um. You know, look, TV's hard, it's not it's it's you know, it's hard to get up in front of a camera and and and be yourself and and and be entertaining and and you know, I think a lot of people

think it's easy. It's not easy. It's hard. But Tim was Tim was was really good at it, and maybe better at it than then he was, you know, working in a media center, although he was good at that too. Here's more from Imi Daz. Jim's got his own spot. You know. Uh, I always measured myself from a different way, and I felt way short. And I mean there were guys and you know, friends to this day, you know who I know, you know, I just I did not have their ability of their talent, and and I'm good

with that. I mean, I think we all just run our own race, you know. Um, And I've been I'm I'm I'm very satisfied with the race I ran. I could have run it better, but I'm just saying it was not going to approach the race a lot of guys, right, But but Tim had his own lane, you know. And uh, and you know you look back. I mean talking to Rick Riley, who was one of those guys who I

would never be able to approach. He he you know, he used to call Tim trunky because the job at s I when Tim, when when Rick was doing a a major was for the other guys to go out and get stuff. And Tim was his you know, secret weapon. Nick. He was the guy that you know, he could really count on to get something from somebody who would be otherwise hard to get or in a difficult, difficult you know maybe moment where they had maybe blown it or

whatever talking about player. I mean, And so he called him trunky because he said, look, I want you to be there when he opens the trunk in the morning in the parking lot and when he slams it at night and he leaves and and so that's what Tim did. But you know those files he gave the Rick, you know, we're just like for Hawk. You know, those were gold and uh, you know, nobody could do that better than Tim.

More from Mark Mulvoy, I think he'd go down as as really perhaps the most intrepid reporter maybe the game has seen. It was that way both in print and on television. You know, I mean the uppiscatory rhetoric or rhetoric that I think pervades these broadcasts. They think I worry about right now and all of these but going on. Is my god, you never hear a discouraging word on any of these telecasts in any sports, you know, and the dot coms and all these major leagues. It's sort

of like prov you know, state controlled media. It's really I always think I visited once in Muscow the offices that comes comes to Mulskaya Pravda. That's what when you're reading these various pro leagues, they think, say, oh my god, this is just you know, state controlled. And uh, Timmy was not controlled by anybody. Timmy was controlled by his instincts, and his instincts were those of a great, great, great reporter. And here's Craig Dulch. When you think about how he's

been honored since this happened. You know, when the PJ of America made him the twelfth honorary lifetime member, the first journalist he was able to get the award from Jack for memorial. You know, Jim Nance presented him up at at the memorial h on the classic name the Media Room after him, they created the Tim Roseford Distinguished Writers Award. You know, all these things happened. You know, you're ste Rhode Island endowed a scholarship in his name.

So there's always going to be a college student going to University of Rhode Island and Tim, there weren't a lot of college graduates in his family. He was among the first to really get serious about it. And to know that, you know, Tim has left something behind. At least he's had some time to kind of experience the

love that people have for him. And I think that's the one thing that helps a little because I know, even though it can be, you know, not the same as if he was their full body and spirit, he knows that people love him. And I think that's helped him get through the last two or three years, and I know it's helped his family get through it as well.

In June, Tim wasn't able to make it to Ohio to accept his award from Jack and Barbara Nicholas, so instead they made a video of Tim sitting with the Nicholases.

Jim nance led to the video. Trust is an important thing, I always felt, Jack, and you know, you can't walk away from a great story, even if it was just hey, you play he worded, and so you could tell the whole story and still and and have and have a relationship with someone over the course of time, and you respect the guy his intelligence, his work ethic and where he went and what and what he did, and Tim

rose Afford was that type of person still is. I'll never forget, sadly, Jack, the day that I called you to tell you what what what's going on with me? Medically? And when you talk about authenticity, Um, it couldn't have been more than than that day that we went through that. Jack. There's billions of people that love Jack, but you know, the way he handled the way he felt over that was obviously something that I don't think I'll ever forget.

So thank you for everything starting from that. How bless would you Bob everything over all the time. Back to Matt Haggerty on the industry rally around Tim rose Afford, I've been so impressed with the golf world on this. I've been so impressed with the the people in this space, whether it's the U s g A or the p G A Tour or the PGA of America. Um, Jim Nance, I mean, you know, it's a great it's a great industry,

it's a great sport. It's a great sport. I think it's part of the reason why we're so attracted to the sport, and it's a great sport. We really do. I think, I do think we look out for our own. We look after our own, you know, and and and and when it's somebody like Tim, when it's the Legend, when it's the Godfather, even more so big bear hugs all the way around, Timie Diez. Could you describe him in one word? Huh? I always think of warmth. I know,

you know, I just think a heart. I know his effort, and but I think what was so endearing and what formed his relationships and the relationships became the basis for his work, was the the ability to connect with people and too really have a relationship, to really be friends, you know, to put aside um, you know, the compartmentalization that we all do and work and in journalism very

often even ask you to do that. He had a gift for for being friends, being able to write about people, still being professional and sometimes you know, having to temporarily at least wound that friendship, but always healing it because because Tim was a healer. Tim, you know, you couldn't stay mad at him, and he could get mad, but

he wouldn't even stay mad forever either. Um. It just there was just a big heart and UM, great sentiment, great sense of the right thing to do and and the right way to treat people, and decency and just those virtues, those human virtues. I think that's what I think of because um, that's why I loved him. UM. You know, we all work, we all try to do our best in the end, that's not what defines us

as much as the kind of people we are. And Tim was a special person and that you know, it's reflected by how many friends he has, UM, how many will loved him, Molly Solomon. He always wanted to get better and be the best at what he did. But in a really UM I used the word earnest to describe him. And when I went in the possaurus and looked up um and said, you know, is that the best way to described him? And besides ernest came up diligent, heartfelt, impassioned,

purpose felt and sincere. Tim Rose support Jeff Russell. I mean, Jen told you know, UM, I mean one word, you know, he's he's um. UM. You know the word I would I would say, you know, just just like indefatigable, like like you couldn't um. You know you couldn't. You couldn't

make him work hard enough. You couldn't. You couldn't outwork him, you know he so but but but as just gentle sweet kind um you know, good too, you know, never I don't think he really ever big time to anyone, good too, you know, always good to you know, you know I told you the story of him being nice

to me when I was twenty five. Eventually I was eventually I was five, and the boss, you know, and and he would he would tell me about some other young kid who was just starting out in the you know, some hey, you know you ought to pay attention to that is so and so golf writer that you know. And I'd be like, who, like who you know? And and he'd be like, hey, hey, you know, like, don't be you know, I'm trying to I'm trying to help you here. You know, you might need to hire that

guy someday, you know, you might want to. Um, I mean he never stopped, you know, he never stopped doing that. Jerry Tardy, Well, everybody uses it. It's it's trust. He had everybody's cell number. Everybody called him back. Um, you knew he was going to give you a fair shake and to use that old Bob Jones line. When he got the unfair shake of all, he still met life with a smile on his face and a gratefulness in

his heart. And that's why we love everybody did the people he covered, the people who rode alongside him, the people who managed to try to manage him. But he didn't need any managing. He he marked. He marched to his own DRUMA Craig Dulch loyal, you know, I mean, I can't begin to tell you, you know, what he's done.

I mean, it'd be hard to walk into a media center these days and not find someone that Tim has really played a huge role in their lives, you know, whether it was just some advice, whether it was making a phone call for somebody, writing somebody up on a resume, you know, a nice reference letter. For me, it always

goes back to my son Eric. Eric almost died of nsetholitis in two thousand five, and it was a really, as you can imagine, a heartbreaking event, not only to have this happen, to have your healthy fourteen year old son go to completely disabled. We didn't know if he

was going to live. We had no idea what we're going to do for the money, and Tim just took it upon himself to plan a fundraiser of the week Behind the Classic in two thousand and six, And all he ever asked for me was just some names of friends and family that I would want invited to it. And that's all I really did. At the time, I was living up in Boston, My son was in rehab up there, trying to get better, and we can down to the Monday before Behind the Classic, and Tim had

this thing all planned at Old Palm. He'd done to Raymond Floyd and Maria Floyd and they had everything was picked up and the amount of money we received that night was overwhelming. I mean it enabled us to to buy a wheelchair accessible van to do the accommodations we had to do to our house before our son could come home. Uh. You know, just how do you say thank you to somebody who did something like that? And you say thank you when people opened the door for you. Uh,

you know, it's just beyond amazing what he did. He never asked for anything, you know, he wasn't you know, Okay, I did this for you. You know that scratch your back that stuff. That's just what Tim did. And obviously my situation is a little unique, but I would think you and everyone else out there can think of countless times that Tim has done things for you. You know, even when it came to coming on the Gulf Channel.

We had a radio show every Sunday morning for eight nine years, and every once in a while, I'm like, I hate to do this, but I'm gonna ask him again. And Tim never said no. He was always willing to split to spend those ten fifteen minutes. You know. As as successful as Tim McCain, he never really lost his his presence as a down to earth individual and he cared about people. Phil Nicholson classes the way I would describe him because of the way he treated people, handled himself.

Everything he did was with class, whether it was his family, his career, his friends. He uh, he just always handled himself with such dignity in class. John Hawkins dogged D g E D. And I mean that as somebody who's not dogged. Uh. Tim was the greatest partner you could ever have, at least I could. I mean just astounding them, haven't. Tim? Hoarding your story was like having rock call Welch is your waitress. It's like I can't do any better than that.

Here's Damon Heck, a giant of golf journalism, someone who I read before I met, which was pretty cool to finally meet him. I mean, I read his Raising the bar on Tiger uh back in two thousand, kind of giving us an inside look to to the greatness of Tiger, and I'm reading this guy, I'm thinking, Man, this guy is someone who I want to be. This is a great writer, a great reporter. Uh. You could tell how

tireless he was in his research. And then to finally meet him in the early two thousand's when I started covering golf for Newsday and to share press rooms with him, just so impressive, larger than life, intense, but a teddy bear at the same time, someone who could, you know, host a golf writer's dinner at Augusta National and make us laugh and not miss a beat. To someone who could ask Tiger or Jack or Arnie the toughest question and didn't get a great answer. Um. I loved working

with him at Golf Channel. Someone who was so meticulous and insensitive to and for, someone who is a giant of our game and journalism, would sometimes have, you know, little fits of vulnerability and damon, how did that go? Did I do a good job? I'm like, man, I would say, Tim, you just beat Tim. Nobody has your Rolodex, nobody has your reach in the game. You know, no one else can say, you know, I spoke to Tiger, I spoke to Jack or find you know, Peter bald

Naldi's childhood swing coach. Or I just talked to the head pro at Tyler Duncan's club, you know in Indiana. I mean, the guy just his reach was just breathtaking and so cool to grow up reading someone that s I and Golf Digest and read his books, and then to be able to share a morning meeting with Tim Roseford. I would walk by, you know, at his desking golf channel. I would just say, there's the legend, there's the legend

that he used us whatever. Alright, alright, But I knew he liked it too at a certain level, because he he is a legend, a giant of golf journalism. I love I love Rosy Lovel, Matt Haggerdy. You know, I just think everybody trusted him that he was, that it was going to be fair like it might. It wasn't always gonna be what you didn't always it wasn't like whoever he was reporting on or whatever he was reporting about. There was obviously, you know, in certain circumstances. It wasn't

going to make everybody happy. You know, it wasn't gonna make everybody happy, but it was gonna be fair. And I think at the end of the day, that's I think that's what everybody wants. They want to be treated fairly, right, and Jim treated everybody fairly and run syrac. Tim and I are about the same age. In fact, he's younger than me. I think he's five years younger than me, and which when all this breakfest was like bone chilling for me. Uh so we were sort of of the

same generation. But talk to somebody who's twenty years younger than him, and one of the things that they'll tell you is how generous he was with his time, how generous he was with his contacts. He would help people, he would he would give he would give young writers advice, he would share contacts with with the young writers to help them on a story. So there was not only an innate fairness in the man, an innate goodness in the man. Here's Gary Williams. He always did the right thing, Matt,

because you know what, never burned one person. Nobody ever turned their back on him. And the lines of communication with tim and every interview subject or every important figure in the game of golf was always wide open. That never changed. It never changed. And and for somebody who loved the game of golf, God, I wish the game loved him a little bit more. Back I played in

one member Guests with the man one member guest. He invites me to medalists to play in the member guest in and Jordan's playing Tigers, playing Keickan Bradley and Mater Shan, and he is so uptight. The practice round we play with Ken Kennerley, who's a dear life fog friend of mine, and his guests, and and on the second tea he starts with, I'm sorry, You're sorry. We played one. Oh, Davis saysna tim Uh became a golfer reporting on golf, and I must say he was a much better report

than he is a golfer. That the truth. He's like a plus eight and reported, he's like an eighteen time major champion of reporting. But he's poor. Guys struggles on the under guard. I think he got as probably as low as about an eight handicap. I think is uh, well, he's so he's so competitive. But every time I say H'm going to hit a shot, I I feel like the Wizard of Oz. I want to go get the

oil can. He's laughing right now too. I can tell you that more from Phil Nicholson, his legacy is how and the way he'll be remembered will be how he made you feel, because he would gather knowledge, gather information, presented, do his job and transcend into his business, be the best of what he did. But he would always make you feel good and positive about it. He was never trying to take unnecessary shots. He would always try to

present facts in a very sensitive way. And I think that his legacy is going to be the way he made you feel when you are around. Did you ever see his golf swing? I have, and I've I've tried to suppress that memory. Of all the memories we have, not many of us are gonna try to remember his his eloquent golfing. I guess exactly. Tim always wore me out because we played each other once in a member member tournament at the Floridian and he he and his

partner beat me and my partners. So I have never lived that down that I lost a match to Tim rose Afort. I mean, the probably the lowest point of my career, that I lost a match to Tim rose Aport. I don't I don't know how he gets worse than that. Um he could not play, yeah he could, but he loved the game. And he's a dear friend. I miss him. I'm missing him and I want to wish him all the best because and he does he has want to know against me, and so that that will stick with

me forever. Mark Moulvoy, thank you so much for asking me to do this to me. Was a treasure. I loved every all the moments we spent with him. Uh. We had a very heartfelt I said a very heartfelt goodbye last year. I thought, you know it was it was coming, and unfortunately we seem to be at that moment.

God bless him. He's a great guy. He'll be always have fond memories of him and what he did for me, what he did for Sports Illustrated and what he obviously did for Golf, World Golf and Digest and also for television. I mean when's the last time somebody on television told you things about people that not even the people knew. Nobody does that anymore, reporting as a lost art again, Jerry Tardy. It really, in my mind was the nineties.

It build up to it in the latter half of the eighties, but it was a golden age of journalism when you look back at the number of writers who were had come together and sat at our table, from you know, at the end of her Wind and Alistair Cook, um Ptword, Thomas Uh, certainly, Peter Debriner one of the great poets of the game, but Dan Jenkins joining us, Charlie Price, Tom Callahan, Uh, and then Dave Kindred, Peter Andrews, the start of of High me Diaz, and Tim rose Afford.

Tim brought a different step than any of those others, Um, but he was right there at the top in terms of respect, and I think there was there was what you talked about, that that humility, that vulnerability that he had because he had been kicked around as a writer, that he brought preparation to the table like nobody else, and all those great voices would would quiet when Tim

talked because he had the real stuff. Um they could take it and make it into poetry some of them um and they could make it funny and but but Tim was was such a believable humble guy that that just carried tremendous respect. Craig. I can't tell you how many times I'd walked into the PJ National entrance and go into a Honda cover of the day's tournament and

we'd be headed to the media center. I'll be there with Tim, and I would never make it there with because after about halfway through the lobby, everyone's like, hey, Tim Rosie, you know, and I'm like looking, I'm like, how do you know all these people? How do you remember all these people? And he said something that was

very I thought was very interesting. Well, he said, it's like a p J professional, you know, when you go to work in the morning and a member walks in the door at seven oh five in the morn and you better know who their name is. And I think that gets back to kind of what we've talked about.

Tim is his work and like ethic. You know, he was a guy that stayed at some really you know, got to do some very special things in his life, but he was still a nine to five kind of guy who punched the clock every day, who worked as hard as he could, and who wanted to know your name. And I've had a lot of friends telling me that is I'm surprised him remembers my name. You know, I'm not a big shot, but that's the way Tim was. Tim remembered everybody's name. And because of that, I think

we're always gonna always remember Tim rose Afford's name. And we ended all with Jeff Russell. You know, you'd get to the end of the year and you count up the byelines. Nobody had as many bylines as he did. And and um, you know, he he just was always, you know, always working, always always on it. And and I think doing you know, doing it because he was

he was. It was a kind of a mixture of he loved doing it, and I think he he also knew that he'd come a long way from from what is you know, the life his father had, you know, and his his family had and that and you know in uh in New York. Yeah, I mean I think I couldn't believe, you know, I think he reached it.

He was like, I can't believe I'm here in South Florida where it's you know, sunshine through in sixty five days a year, and I'm playing golf and and I'm just you know, I don't ever want it to end. I don't ever want it to end. It's just an amazing life. Put another log on the fire. Nobody hears getting tired, Settle down, and settle in. The story is about to begin, the circles starting to tickets, shape seats the field, and the tired sun plans and escape, and

everybody's got some glory. Just wait, unto unphoned. Everybody's got some story. Just wait until be too. The place for that is here. All those smiles and loose teas, let them go. Put another log on the fig. Nobody hears getting tired, Settle down, and settle in. The story is about to begin. Tales were told of warring, going lover is lost in a lifetimes dreams ours so and maybe you should stop in the sun at the wisdom and the baby. You should pour your heart out. We ain't

go in anywhere. I'd your mercy in the sound as the smoke gets pushed around in your soul. Put another log on fire. Nobody hears getting tired, Settle down and st m the story hears about to begin, the story hears about to begin, the story hears about to begin.