Browsing: Wingos

In a 23-year career with ESPN, Trey Wingo has had his run-ins with the sports elite.

But as he told GOLF’s Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode of the podcast, there was one day that was unrivaled for star power.

Wingo began by explaining that a lot of his run-ins involved his former ESPN colleague, the late Stuart Scott, because “Stuart knew everybody.”

At the 2003 NBA All-Star game, Wingo was staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Atlanta when he got a text from Scott.

“Hey, come down,” the text said. “I’m having lunch with somebody you probably want to hang out with.”

That person was none other than Tiger Woods.

Trey Wingo’s bold idea to help the U.S. Ryder Cup team

By:

Jessica Marksbury

“[I] go into a little restaurant, back booth, there’s Stuart and I turn, there’s Tiger having lunch with Stuart,” Wingo said. “I’m like the hugest— From the moment Tiger came onto the scene, I was like, this guy is just got it. I have a whole file in my computer of all the things in the awards and all the tournaments he won, all 82 of them. I’m like geeking out.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, hey.’

“Tiger looks up and goes, ‘Hey, Trey.’”

Wingo was like all of us. He lost all memory of how to act.

Woods could only stay for about 20 minutes and Scott left shortly after that. So Wingo did what any of us would have done in that situation: he raced out to call his dad.

“I’m getting ready to call on the old flip phone and the elevator opens in the Ritz in Atlanta,” Wingo said. “Like an idiot, instead of waiting, I just barge in because I am not thinking right. I’m like, I got to tell my dad, I just had lunch with Tiger Woods. This is amazing.

“So the elevator opens — it’s NBA All-Star weekend — and I just walk in and I run smack dab into this wall of a human being. And it’s just solid as can be. And I look up and he goes, ‘Wingo, watch where you’re going.’”

It was Michael Jordan.

“I’m like, ‘Michael, sorry, that’s on me. It’s my bad.’ So I went from having lunch with Tiger and texting, and I run into Michael Jordan,” he said. “Tiger and the MJ in like a 15 minute span. And I was like, yeah, I could die today.”

For more from Wingo, including the story of the golf slip that almost ruined his career, listen to the full episode of Subpar here, or watch it below.

It’s been several weeks since the Americans’ gut-wrenching 15-13 loss to the Europeans at the 2025 Ryder Cup, but conversations about what the U.S. team can do better in 2027 and beyond continue.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, sports-world mainstay Trey Wingo offered a number of takes, highlighted by a particularly bold idea that he believes can help the U.S. team in future Ryder Cups.

“It matters more to them,” Wingo said of the Europeans. “It just does. The first thing I would do is something that Colt and I have talked about on my show: I’d get rid of the Presidents Cup. That’s the first thing I would do.

Team USA’s Ryder Cup dilemma? Justin Rose thinks they have it all wrong

By:

Josh Schrock

“Like, it’s not competitive. It’s just a money-maker for the PGA Tour, and we care, kind of, because we like to win. The Europeans get two years to to get into a lather about this, and we go through this banal, meaningless exhibition. And I’m happy for the Mike Weirs of the world and all the Australian players and the Koreans and the Canadians that get a chance to have this format. That’s wonderful. It’s not the Ryder Cup, OK? It’s not close, it’s not the same thing.”

Wingo suggested implementing a U.S. event that is geared toward additional investment in the Ryder Cup, similar to the Seve Trophy, a Ryder Cup-style match-play team event that was played in Europe in non-Ryder Cup years.

“Basically, a program to get people to care about the Ryder Cup, to get it to be ingrained in their system,” Wingo said.

More reps in team match-play formats would also benefit the Americans, Wingo added.

“The other thing we gotta figure out is how come we don’t play well with each other, right?” he said. “We’re decent in four-ball, we’re OK in singles. We’re not as dominant as we used to be in singles. We gotta figure out a way to play better together. We’ve got to find a way to create cohesive teams that work together better in alternate shot, because that’s killing us.”

For more from Wingo, including the story of the golf slip that almost ruined his career, check out the full episode of Subpar below.