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From: Golf Magazine
by Chris Lewis
It's three days before showtime, but Shaun Micheel has the jitters. The costume -- ACE FREHLEY's original stage outfit from KISS's 1976 Destroyer Tour -- is en route to a GOLF MAGAZINE photo shoot. The makeup and wig are all set, but the reigning PGA champion is preoccupied by the only piece of rock 'n' roll gear he'll have to furnish himself.
"My question is, what am I gonna wear underneath the costume?" he asks.
"How about a cucumber?" a friend says. "Remember Spinal Tap?"
"Maybe a cucumber's the right idea," says Micheel. "I mean, Ace was blessed."
A more magical prop might be Micheel's 7-iron, the club he hit to two inches on the final hole at Oak Hill to seal his victory at last year's PGA Championship. As a tool of transformation, it has proven far more powerful than any garden vegetable.
Before that shot, Micheel was an unnoticed field-filler. A pro since 1992, he'd never won on Tour and had done little to attract attention. "It took me years to adjust to playing out here," he admits. "I was always shy, timid, just not a very aggressive person. I'd hit a drive off line and I was almost ashamed to go into the crowd to find it. I felt like I had to apologize."
The most remarkable entry on his resume before the 2003 PGA had nothing to do with any shot he hit. After a practice round at a 1993 mini-tour event, Micheel and his fellow Memphis pro Doug Barron saved an elderly couple who had driven over a 30-foot embankment into the Neuse River in New Bern, North Carolina. "Nobody else was going to help those people," says Micheel. "So I stripped down to my underwear and jumped in. I wasn't gonna sit there and watch 'em drown." He was lauded as a hero: Shaun somebody-or-other, golfing lifeguard.
Then, last summer, he got famous for that 7-iron at Oak Hill. The week after Micheel outdueled Chad Campbell to win the PGA his hometown NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies, toasted him at halftime. A month later Tiger Woods personally asked Micheel to play in Woods's A-list-only Target World Challenge. This year brought an even loftier invite: As a guest of his congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, he attended President Bush's State of the Union address.
"Incredible," says Micheel. "I met Tom DeLay, the Speaker of the House, who's a big golf fan. Later I heard that my visit was the first thing he talked to George Bush about after the speech."
Micheel also played guest of honor at a flurry of celebrity hit-and-giggles that saw him emerging from his shell. At this year's VH1 Fairway to Heaven tournament, he was paired with Michael O'Keefe, a.k.a. Danny Noonan in Caddyshack. "Do you take drugs, Danny?" Micheel asked after a wretched shot by the actor. Later, after an O'Keefe patio missile, Micheel cracked, "Nice shot, Danny. Right in the lumberyard."
Oh, and did we mention the groupies? "We were on our way to the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii, and this woman comes running up behind us," says Micheel's wife, Stephanie. "The whole time, she's yelling 'It's Shaun Micheel! It's Shaun Micheel!' It was a little scary." (You can understand Stephanie's sensitivity -- she's an attorney at McCrary & Associates, an all-female Memphis firm whose casework is 95 percent matrimonial law.)
Of all his post-PGA perks, the one that really delighted Micheel was a newfound chumminess with the members of KISS. A lifelong fan, he met the band in 2000, his second full year on Tour, but was never exactly tight with his pop-metal heroes. "I flew home on Monday after the PGA, and I'm doing my laundry when the phone rings," he recalls. "It was (lead singer) PAUL STANLEY calling to congratulate me." The next day Micheel sat front row at the band's concert in Columbus, Ohio. Stanley came over during the show to give him a big thumbs-up, and later, backstage, the group lavished him with praise. Micheel hit it off with lead guitarist TOMMY THAYER, a golf nut who replaced Frehley in 2002.
Will he KISS any more major trophies? Micheel has played solid golf since Oak Hill, but many insiders still see him as a one-hit wonder. Such talk annoys Micheel, who admits to some flaws in his game. One of the Tour's better iron players -- he was 20th in greens in regulation last season and 14th this year through The Memorial -- Micheel has never been great with the flatstick. In fact, it was an unusually hot putter that keyed his victory at Oak Hill. "It's not terrible, but it's the weakest part of my game," he says. "At some point I'm going to have to suck it up and ask for some help if I want to contend every week."
Such concerns are far from his mind on the day of our photo shoot. "I love this!" he says, eyes wide, face painted. "I'd do this every day if I could. In fact, maybe I will. I'm going on the road with KISS -- the heck with golf!"
Soon Micheel is dressed to kill, strutting for the camera as a stereo blasts KISS klassics. He howls along with "Shout It Out Loud":
Don't let 'em tell you that there's too much noise,
They're too old to really understand!
You'll still get rowdy with the girls and boys,
'Cause it's time for you to take a stand
Yeah-ee-yeah-eeeee-yay!
Shout it, shout it, shout it out loud!
So much for the shy Micheel.
The next day he shoves our Polaroids in the face of every Tour pro he sees. He even sends one home to his wife. "You could tell he was having the time of his life," says Stephanie. "If there had been groupies, it would have been his dream come true." She has only one reservation: "I was a little disappointed to see how he was holding the guitar. I was looking forward to seeing that cucumber!"
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KISS THIS Shaun Micheel's top 10 KISS songs:
Sweet Pain "It's all about picking up your whip and putting on your leather pants. Doesn't have anything to do with my marriage, though: The only discipline in my life comes from my caddie."
Detroit Rock City "Of all the songs the band opens with in concert, this one's the best. 'Get up! Everybody's gonna move their feet! Get down! Everybody's gonna leave their seat!'"
God of Thunder "A concert highlight. Just before the song starts, GENE SIMMONS does an elaborate bass solo and spits blood all over himself."
I Still Love You "A powerful breakup song, with one of the great howling rock vocals of all time by PAUL STANLEY."
Rock Bottom "A study in contrasts. It's got this beautiful little guitar intro. And then, as Paul says, it gets a little rough."
Cold Gin "Great song, regardless of the lyrics. Liquor was a big part of pro golf back in the old days -- now we just have sports psychologists."
Calling Dr. Love "A classic GENE SIMMONS groupie song. But it's just a vicarious pleasure -- I'm happily married."
King of the Night Time World "A teenage escape fantasy about leaving school and your parents behind, and running off with the rock goddess of your dreams."
Shout It Out Loud "Another showstopper, it's best as an encore, with all the confetti cannons going off and the crowd going bananas."
Rock and Roll All Nite "The national anthem of rock 'n' roll -- and one of my big karaoke numbers! The other ones are 'Baby Got Back' and 'Super Freak.'"
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