After a career-best finish at a major last August with a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship, Graham DeLaet seemed poised to be on the cusp of breaking through and finally notching his first PGA Tour victory.
DeLaet struggled for the final two weeks of the 2016-17 season; however, admitting his body was hurting, and had been for a while.
Despite a tie for fifth at the first event of the 2017-18 season, the Safeway Open, DeLaet withdrew from The CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges two weeks later, and that was the last we heard from the 35-year-old from Weyburn, Sask.
DeLaet reveled on Twitter last week he had an intradiscal stem cell injection – he told Sportsnet.ca that the treatment occurred at a clinic in California – and he had yet to recover.
It remains to be seen when he’ll be returning to action on the PGA Tour.
In an exclusive interview with Sportsnet.ca, DeLaet chats about his treatment (he also had major back surgery and missed basically the whole 2011 Tour season), how a fun video he appeared in before Christmas came to be, Tiger Woods’ return to action this week, and more.
The video you posted on Twitter before Christmas was lots of fun. How did that come together?
A couple buddies and I have chatted about it, like, “What would they say if we came into their office?” and I finally said, “We should do that, it might be kind of fun.” I thought it was pretty funny. Most people just realized it was a joke, some people took it a little too serious, but that’s Twitter (laughs). It got some pretty good play. I was kind of surprised. I wouldn’t consider that it went viral or anything but it made its way around pretty well.
You do realize people are going to be yelling ‘honey cruller Timbit!’ at you now, especially at the RBC Canadian Open?
Most likely, I didn’t even think about that until after we posted the video. But yeah, you’re probably right (laughs).
I think that was the funniest part of the video for me – how did you land on that particular donut?
When I played Canadian Tour (now Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada) me and James Love and Barrett Jarosch would go to Tim Horton’s every morning basically and grab a coffee or whatever or a breakfast bagel. I loved honey crullers but I didn’t want to eat the whole donut so I always got one honey cruller Timbit with my coffee and a bagel in the morning so that’s where that came from, it’s my favourite.
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You’re also enjoying a successful beer business (Prairie Baard). Are you impressed with the reception of it?
We’re doing alright! I didn’t really know what to expect. Obviously it’s kind of a little bit out of the realm of what I’ve done my whole life and career but I’m a beer drinker, so I wanted to do something that I enjoy myself. I thought I wasn’t going to play golf forever so eventually some day if I can make a little bit of money that’d be great.
For now we’re just plugging along. We’re trying to grow slowly and stay within our grasp – we don’t want to get too big too fast – but it’s been going pretty good. We’re all pleasantly surprised and hopefully we can keep reaching further and further.
You became a father a couple years ago to twins, Roscoe and Lyla. How has it been going, especially now that the kids are getting older and nearly school-aged?
I took Roscoe out to the golf course this morning, and obviously I’m hurt right now so I’m not doing much practice, but I missed being around it. I didn’t really miss being away from it until basically the Sony Open started, that’s when all the guys are back at it.
At the end of last year I missed the last four or five events and it was the end of the year. You’re tired and kind of worn out from a long season, so it didn’t mean too much to miss all those, but now with the West Coast swing, I love it. Torrey (Pines – host of the Farmer’s Insurance Open this week), and the (Waste Management Phoenix Open) is a fun week and (the Genesis Open) I love so I’m getting the bug to hope I can get through this soon and get back out there playing.
The event in Phoenix is always known as a big party. Do you get a chance to just stay at home during that event when you play?
I do normally, and I’ll be here for the tournament, so it will be a little weird being here and not playing. Tim Clark is a good buddy, he lives down the road, and even when he was healthy he never played the tournament he just kind of hung around with the boys and had caddies over so maybe I’ll just tag along with him for a few days next week.
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Do you have any sense of when you’ll be able to return to action?
Not really. I haven’t even started playing yet. The whole thing has just taken longer than anticipated. The doctors (have been) just assuring me that it’s going to turn around and it always does. Some people react differently than others so it’s all about just being patient right now, which is hard.
I’m a golfer and I get cooped up inside… I want to be outside. That’s one of the reasons why I went to the course today with Roscoe. A couple of my buddies were out practicing so I wanted to get outside and be at the course and smell the grass. It sounds kind of weird but you miss it.
Despite being hurt, you mixed it up on a Sunday at a major for basically the first time at the PGA Championship last year. How did that feel?
Obviously it was good. There were a couple decent rounds (that week) but obviously (some spots) where you could also shave a couple strokes here and there away from really being in contention. It was cool. On Sunday… I wouldn’t really call it a charge but to shoot 2-under on a Sunday at a major on that golf course, I was proud of it. I was moving in the right direction. I played with Patrick Reed and he had a great day. You could see the fire in him, and that kind of event only comes around for or five times a year if you count The Players, which I kind of do, it’s as big a tournament as any of those and you want to be in the mix for those tournaments. It’s what really gets your blood going and gets the goosebumps on the skin and the hair on your neck standing up. That’s what it’s all about.
In talking to Mac Hughes and Adam Hadwin, who have both won on the PGA Tour, they point to how it’s not just about you playing well, but things really need to go your way, too. Do you agree?
I feel like I’ve played well enough to win, and not necessarily did I not get the breaks, but maybe someone else did. A couple of those putts hang on the high side and they don’t quite drop… so that’s the difference between (winning) or being fourth or fifth. I desperately want to get that first win and get the monkey off my back. I don’t like talking about it all the time. Every time I do an interview that’s what everybody asks me about. But you know I’m trying my best, that’s for sure. I believe it’ll happen some day but we’ll just have to wait and see – time will tell.
Sorry to ask.
It’s all good (laughs).
The PGA Tour is announcing a new schedule in 2019 that will see The Players Championship and the PGA Championship move around, and there’s a chance the RBC Canadian Open might move too. What are your thoughts on the new schedule?
For golf as a whole I think it’s really good. To avoid any kind of competition with the NFL or college football down in the U.S., as far as TV ratings go that’s where the money comes in for the PGA Tour, so from the business perspective it’s a great play. I think the guys will like having one big tournament per month basically from the spring through to the middle of summer. I actually think it’s really a good thing.
I’m still not a fan of the wraparound season – I liked the way it was before with the Fall Series… you could play if you wanted and if you didn’t want to you didn’t have to… and I feel like more and more guys are getting hurt because they’re playing more than they have to. They have to play a few events in the fall and not start the year 200th on the FedEx Cup list and feel like they’re battling the whole year. I really think that’s why more and more guys are getting hurt. They’re just playing more and it’s a tough sport on the body, whether people think of it or not. You watch football and hockey and you realize how much it takes a toll on you, but it takes its toll on us, too.
Speaking of a body that has taken its toll, Tiger Woods is returning to action this week on the PGA Tour. Is his return good for golf?
One hundred per cent. I’m excited. I don’t really watch golf ever unless my buddies are in contention and I’ll turn it on to see if they can make a run down the stretch… but I’ll watch Tiger. He’s the reason why the majority of us, my age, are playing professional golf… from watching him as a kid. I’m excited to see what he can do.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back to win again. I was kind of doubtful until that tournament in the Bahamas when he was showing signs. He was hitting it so hard and that’s the modern game. If he can still pound it and hit it with these young guys… with the rest of his game and his mentality… if he can stay healthy he can make a run. If you look at it from a historic standpoint it might be the greatest comeback in sports. Michael Jordan, when he came back and out of retirement was one, but if Tiger comes back and wins a major… what a story.
