Recently, "Daily Princetonian" senior writer Sofia Mata-Leclerc sat down with a pair of men's golfers, juniors Jason Gerken and Jesse Dixon, to chat about nicknames, "Caddyshack" and yoga.
Daily Princetonian: How did you get into golf?
Jason Gerken: My dad played golf, and when I was growing up he kind of dragged me along several times, and I got to like it, got to practicing and started playing when I was four or five and started playing in tournaments when I was 10.
Jesse Dixon: My dad bought my sister and me a set of clubs when I was like seven, but I didn't really play with him that much until I was like 10. One weekend we would play golf and the next we would go fishing, and eventually it just became like every weekend we started playing golf, and it sort of took off from there.
DP: Do you have any nicknames?
JG: Yeah, they call me "Jager." My first tournament as a freshman, they shortened my name to J. Gerk, and [senior] Creighton [Page] on our team immediately said, "Hey, that kind of sounds like Jagermeister." So they shortened it and just stated calling me that.
JD: People have called me "Beef Sak" since sophomore year of high school. It's kind of a dumb story. A kid on my high school golf team just called me that one day. He was kind of a goofy kid, and I made a shot and he said, "Oh, beef sak." For some reason it stuck.
DP: What is Team Total Consciousness?
JD: Oh, it's our IM basketball team. It comes from a line in "Caddyshack."
DP: Are you any good?
JD: Well, we've had some setbacks over the years.
JG: This year we think we're going to be good, but they schedule games at times where not all of us can be there.
DP: Thinking of switching sports any time soon?
JD: To basketball? No!
JG: To robo.
DP: So Jesse, could you describe your relationship with John Locke?
JG: They're the odd couple.
JD: He's really short, and I'm a lot bigger than him. It looks weird if we're hanging out or anything like that. He's like five-feet, one-inch tall, and I'm six-feet, four-inches.
JG: They like to pick on each other, like steal each other's clubs, throw them in trees, hide them.
DP: Going back to "Caddyshack" for a moment, what is your favorite line?
JD: I don't know why I like this line, but it's when Lacey and Ty Webb are standing outside and she says, "I bet you've got a lot of nice ties, Ty. Why don't you tie me up in some of your ties." And his response is, "Why don't we pretend that we're both real human beings." For some reason, I like that a lot.
JG: Mine is, "Do you do drugs, Betty?" and he's like "It's Danny, sir. Every day, sir."
DP: Jason, I was wondering if you could tell us about your meltdown on the 18th hole at last year's Princeton Invitational?
JG: That day I started off badly and ended up playing well, and at that point, standing on the 18th tee, I had birdied 15, 16 and 17 to get to four-under on the day. I knew I was tied for the lead. For some reason I just proceeded to chunk-top it in the water. It was the worst shot I've made in a long time. I hit it no more than 50 yards, right into a pond, which is quite easy to get over. I was just standing there befuddled, ended up making a seven on the hole and losing the tournament.
JD: I didn't see his tee shot, but I saw where he made his second shot from. I was up by the green and thought, "What the hell is he doing?" He was hitting his second shot from the lake, which is still like 300 yards from the hole and we, too, were totally befuddled.
DP: Do you have those club protectors in the shape of stuffed animals?
JG: Yes, I have the gopher from Caddyshack.
JD: I had a Winnie the Pooh one, but I used it when I was 12. After that I was too cool.
DP: How do you train?
JG: We have a sports psychologist from Duke because we're all a little messed up in the head. And we definitely did some team yoga.
JD: Gerken can show you some moves if you want.
JG: What are some of the best moves?
JD: The woodcutter and bear crawling on the ceiling.
DP: How does the woodcutter work?
JD: You put your fears in between your legs, and you chop them in half, and you make a swooshing sound when you do it.
JG: It's called a cleansing breath.
DP: Why yoga?
JG: No idea.
JD: Calms you down a bit, I guess. The end was really cool. They did this little yoga nap. It was really relaxing.
JG: And then she tells you you're perfect . . .
JD: In every way.
DP: Do you find it a little strange that your coach wanted you to do yoga, or is this a pretty common practice?
JG: It's definitely not common practice.
JD: One of the guys on the team proposed it. He's really into it, and the coach loved the idea.
JG: Yeah, and our coach has a bad back, so he wasn't going to join in.
DP: Do you get to drive golf carts?
JG: Every once in a while.
JD: We can't at Springdale. We're not allowed.
JG: I actually have a key from the golf courses back home, and I've always wanted to steal a golf cart from one of the athletes who are injured.
JD: Are you serious?
DP: Have you ever tried it?
JG: I've been drunk and tried it once, and it didn't work.
DP: Have you ever seen a gopher while you were playing golf?
JD: Oh yeah. They used to be all over at my golf club in Michigan. Big fat ones.
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