Taylor Twellman talks pressure of playing golf vs. soccer

Former U.S. soccer player Taylor Twellman discusses how golf has taught him patience and humility. He also shares his thoughts on the USMNT losing in the Round of 16 to Belgium on Monday night.

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Now, it was a tough week for the US Men's National Soccer Team at the World Cup as they lost the round of 16 match to Belgium by a final score of 4-1, but a fun few weeks as the men's national team attempted to capture a world championship.

Taylor Twellman knows a thing or two about playing for the US Men's National Team.

He made 30 career appearances for the red, white, and blue.

He since traded in his cleats for a microphone as an analyst for Apple TV.

And Rex, while Taylor might not be playing soccer any longer, he's turned his attention to the golf course.

And this week, teeing it up once again in the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe.

And just as a reminder, coverage of a celebrity event in Lake Tahoe begins this Friday, 3:00 PM Eastern Time, and will be streaming on Peacock.

It's great to be joined now by Taylor.

And before we get into your game, can we focus on the game, what happened a couple nights ago with the US Men's National Team going up against Belgium?

Why can the Americans not get over the hump in the World Cup?

It's a great question.

it- that is as bitter of a pill as I've ever had to swallow, and yet I didn't play in that game.

I'm 46 years old.

I've been retired from now more than 15, 16 years.

So they, they, i- it's a, it's a On a macro level, it just felt like the moment was too big for them, which I think is the hardest thing to comprehend, because we've got some of the players, s- some of our players are playing in the biggest leagues in the world.

So, that's a tough one.

Here you are talking to me, what, two days after that game, and I still don't know if I have any, any real concrete answers about what happened, other than it felt like the moment was too big.

In 2019, you gave a take, again, on American team loss- in a big match.

That is famous.

For those of us in the TV business, I have watched that so many times, 'cause it's a textbook takedown.

It's well thought out.

It's passionate.

Everything you did in that take.

Do you feel the same way this time around?

no.

I feel more defeated- in this one.

This one's, this one's more, I would say, heartbreaking.

That was real frustration.

That was, in 2017, when we failed to qualify for the World Cup, that was inexcusable.

And, and everyone knew that.

This is, we're in the round of 16.

This is where we go out.

This is where we can't find a way to get into the final eight of the world, and that's the frustrating part.

But that doesn't mean you blow this thing up and you under- Y- you've got to evolve and get to the point.

2017 felt like a real, real, moment where we all had to look in the mirror.

This one is, can you fine-tune it?

Can you do little things to, to change?

The what are we doing, straight off the cuff, wasn't prepared, because I was supposed to play Shinnecock the next day.

I think I was more upset about that.

the reality is I think we just, we, we need to find a way to get this done.

You know, just generally about your journey, you're a former player, and you've since gotten into the media space as a commentator.

Just curious, why would you want to subject yourself to even more scrutiny, being behind a desk and, and analyzing the game that way?

Ah, it's a good question.

I think I've got a thick skin.

So, I, I can, I can deal with it.

I remember trying to get, thinking about what I was gonna do, right?

A- and trying to get into this business.

And I remember Joe Buck telling me, "You, when you call games, just remember, 50% of the audience is not gonna like you.

50% is, because one team's losing and one team's not winning."

Now, at that time, when he gave me that advice, guys, it was interesting, because there was no social media.

Now you've got to really have a thick skin to deal with it.

And quite frankly, I was that way as a player.

I'm the same way that I am now.

It seems as if this World Cup has made us all fans.

Yeah.

Whether, if you were a soccer fan before or not, is this what the expectation was, bringing it to the United States and Canada and Mexico- Yeah and having this golden age of American soccer?

Yes, absolutely.

You gotta remember, the '94 World Cup came here.

It was a, it was a novelty.

And the legacy of that World Cup was Major League Soccer, which launched in 1996.

Now, 32 years later, you've got MLS that has been around for 30 years.

And when you think about the World Cup team just for the United States, 21 of the 26 players were developed in Major League Soccer, played in Major League Soccer, or both.

And so that's a product of what Lamar Hunt and all of these owners saw in 1996, Robert Kraft and others, and Phil Anschutz, when they launched Major League Soccer.

Now, e- 32 years later, they didn't know the World Cup was coming back.

They thought it was, it was gonna be a little bit sooner.

They thought it would be the 2018 World Cup, but I digress.

The point being is that now what does the next 20 years look like?

But over the last five to seven years, guys, you guys know this as well as anyone with NBC, the power of the Premier League, the power of MLS stadiums, now we're 25, soon to be 27.

Like, all of that now gives these 6 to 14-year-old kids When I was in the '94 World Cup, we didn't have anything after the World Cup.

Now you can immediately do something with your interest of soccer in the United States and around the world.

That's where this is completely different than it was 30 years ago.

Taylor, your playing career was cut short in 2008 because of a very serious concussion, but you turned to golf.

I'm curious why that transition was so important for you, not just physically, but also mentally.

Yeah, it, it's a great question.

And honestly, I could talk about it for hours.

I, I grew up in a family that loved golf.

My, I had an uncle that was on the PGA Tour for 20-plus years.

Everyone within my family, you know, you're anywhere from a two to a six handicap.

We love playing.

That's what we do, right?

And the, and we really do, love the sport.

But for me on a personal level, to miss out on the 2010 World Cup, to miss out going to play in England, to miss out on the money and, and the job and the profession that was behind that concussion when I was 28 years old and didn't know what to do- Golf has completely saved me.

it's given me another avenue to explore.

It's given me an avenue to improve, to find something different.

I've met way different people and more people that I would have never met because of the game of golf.

Some of my best friends here in Tahoe for the American Century Championship, it, it would have never happened without golf.

So I will always be indebted to golf because it gave me a second life, and it also gave me humility and reality and, and all of those buzzwords that we all use about the game of golf.

But on a personal level, it, it, it saved me mentally.

Now, you have played well in this event.

You played really well in the American Century last year.

Can you equate the pressure maybe that you felt last year or playing in this event to what you did when you were in your prime playing soccer?

Yeah, it's a, it's, it's a great question, 'cause the pressure in a physical sport, I can run off that anxiety.

I can tackle someone.

Sure.

I can physically get rid of that anxiety.

In golf, you cannot.

And so the hardest thing for me in this, and I've been doing this, the, the golf events and stuff like this for probably about three or four years, even with the Hilton Grand Vacations down at Lake Nona and all of those.

What's really interesting is you've got to understand, it's a full 18 'Cause we play stableford, and I'm used to playing stroke play.

And so maybe I'm not as aggressive in this as I should be, because birdie bogey is better than two pars.

But the pressure that comes from a three, four-foot putt, especially here in Polana, where in the later in the rounds, the ball's bouncing all over the place, it's running at about 13, i- i- i- that's where this game gets very interesting.

And I remember last year, reflecting on it, because even going into 15, I was in the lead with Joe Pavelski, but it was hole five.

I had an eagle putt from about 14 feet, and it rimmed out and came back to me.

And then at hole seven, I had a birdie putt, it did the same thing.

Those little things literally are the difference between you winning or losing, but more so maybe taking the pressure off of you.

And so that's why you've just gotta be not trying to go 100 miles an hour at the beginning of the round, but make sure over four and a half hours you play the entire round.

And, and who knows?

This game will give it-

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