{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
Twitter is not always the best place to gamble with a little experimentation. Judgment can be harsh and uncaring. Golf Twitter – despite the etiquette and decorum associated with the game – can be as judgy and polarizing as the rest of the social media landscape.
But Sam Harrop sat down at his piano and made a little leap of faith in early 2020, putting himself out there to his golf social media brethren.
“Many of you will know by now that music is my first love (though golf’s pretty high to be fair),” he tweeted. “So … I decided to pen an ode to Tony Finau, set to the tune of an REO Speedwagon classic. As you do. First time I’ve done something like this, so go easy on me.”
When Will Tony Finau Win Again? was – in its own I Can’t Fight This Feeling way – an instant classic. Harrop’s followers went from around 800 to a few thousand practically overnight and quickly grew to 12.5K. His little quips – delivered with the good humor of a roast and not malice – resonated with golf fans.
Its two biggest endorsers – PGA Tour star Tony Finau himself as well as REO Speedwagon founding member and drummer, Alan Gratzer. With that backing, a new golf social media star was born.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Harrop said of the response. “You never know what to expect from Twitter. It can be slightly toxic at times. And from all my songs I’ve seen few very negative comments, though obviously the occasional one. For the most part, people love it and started demanding more – ‘When’s the next one? Who’s next?’ That was something I didn’t expect really. I thought I’d do this one song and maybe people will like it or they won’t and that will be it.
“There seemed to be a niche there that needed to be filled.”
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS UNLOCKED STORY AT GGP+... AND USE COUPON CODE GGP48 TO SAVE 20% ON AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION