Sweaty Lucas Glover is an accessible hero.

A message from a friend arrived a little after 7:30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday evening. which is a short description On the progression of the FedEx St. Jude Championship: “I feel Glover should be allowed to change his pants.”

Lucas Glover is struggling, not with his golf game. He was tied for the lead in the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, but with his beauty Poor Lucas was sweating in the Memphis heat. He was sweating so much that there was a huge dirty stain all over his khaki pants on the front and back.

While fellow competitors Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa looked slim and comfortable in the humidity, the tired, weary 43-year-old Glover looked… well, he looked a lot like us. Who doesn’t feel the cold and dampness of sweat at the crucial moment? And wondering if they have what it takes to push forward? And would it be good if you could change your pants in time?

There is, of course, one key difference between Lucas Glover and his daily sweat-dripping weekend hacker. Glover just won two consecutive PGA Tour events, FedEx St. Jude on Sunday and Wyndham last week, by Made less than $4 million in eight days. It’s not as bad for a guy who sweats worse than a teenager trying to buy a beer for the first time.

“You work hard no matter what. Either you’re fighting something or you’re playing great,” Glover said after Sunday’s win. “You just work hard because you never know when it will turn around. And it’s changing very quickly for me. Luckily, I had a good idea to take advantage of it.”

Not long ago, in June, Glover looked like he was in dire danger of losing not only his PGA Tour card, but his entire career. But also his entire career. In a US Open qualifying match in Columbus, Ohio, he missed an 18-inch putt that would send him back to the tournament he won at. The road was dark, but Glover said he never thought to call it. even one day

“If you will tell me [two consecutive victories were coming] three months ago I’ll tell you you’re crazy,” he said Sunday evening. “But at the same time If you’re legitimately asking me if I think I’m competent or not. I will say yes. however It’s just one of the sad ways athletes are wired. We always believed in ourselves, no matter how bad it got.”

For a long time there, it really sucks. Glover is best known for winning the 2009 US Open, beating Phil Mickelson and others by two strokes after qualifying for the tournament. shortly thereafter He was at a slump for ten years. It’s a tragic tragedy that he has to return to play on the PGA Tour again. Even though the 10-year exemption at the US Open has been reduced to almost nothing. He’s not even eligible to play in any major since the 2022 PGA Championship.

Then why go on? Why hack when the brick wall between you and success seems to grow every year?

“Maybe I’m really stubborn,” Glover said. “You know, [for the last] 10 years have passed until this run. I can do too little and I know that. It’s because of the placement.”

Glover switched to a long putter earlier this summer. And even if it’s not a fast-changing wand But he missed the US Open qualifying long putt, but it gave him the confidence needed to reorient the game entirely.

Now he enjoys day by day more. He has been a golfer all his life. He’s full of old-friend observations that will resonate with pros and hackers alike (“It’s fun,” he says of touring life. “Except when I have to do laundry. And it’s not that fun)

He also indulged in Golf Guy’s ultimate fantasy: Life Hack at the end of Sunday’s tournament. He dipped his hand into a canister with ice all over the field. He’s cooling off, yes, but in true Golf Guy fashion, there’s a deeper purpose as well.

“If you let it go as long as you can bear it, and quickly wiped off Your pores close for 10 or 15 minutes,” he says. “It stops the sweat for a while.” Come on. Will keep you from sweating!” — and here Glover is doing it on the 71st hole of a golf tournament.

Alas, Glover can’t get his back to sweat — the PGA Tour probably disagrees that he puts his bare butt in the fridge — but so what? He’s heading to the Tour Championship, he’ll be exempt for PGA Tour autograph events in 2024, and he’ll play in the majors again.

Every time he sweats He knows he can handle pressure… no matter how he looks while doing it. There is something inspiring even if you frown a little while watching.