Fore Play - Riggs Returns From Bandon Dunes

Episode Date: May 8, 2018

After 121 holes at Bandon Dunes, Riggs walks Trent and Frankie through the entire weekend… including his brother's first ever hole in one. Is Bandon the single greatest place to play golf on planet earth? Listen to find out. The guys also react to Jason Day's win at Quail Hollow and to the TOUR going power pairings only at The Players Championship this week.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/foreplaypod

Hey, 4Play listeners, you can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Foreplay, presented by Barstool Sports. On this week's episode, Riggs calls in from Oregon and recaps his trip to band and dunes. His brother gets a hole in one. He recaps the whole course, talks about how awesome it is. We then talk a little bit about the Wells Fargo Championship and Jason Day getting the win out there. Then we even talk a little bit about the players' championship.

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That's F-O-R-E for 20% off. Your first order, that's Tommyjohn.com slash four for 20% off. Go get your underwear. Here we go. I would look at Bastille all the time and look at, you know, there's stuff that they post. Some of it's like absolutely stupid, but some of it's actually quite amusing and funny.

Stuff like that is what we need to get people to attract people to the game of golf. Nice to be here, boys. Congratulations on all that you're doing as mediocre as it is. These newer, younger, hipper platforms like Barstool Sport. Taggis had three back surgeries.

He's had one fusion. We welcome in from Barstool Sports. Riggs and Trent. Guys, welcome to the show. Four play, brought to you by Barstool Sports. We're back for another week. I'm joined by my friend Frankie Borelli in studio. Hello.

We are also joined by Riggs Barstool, who is out in Oregon on the phone. Rigs you there? Boys, I'm here. I'm in an airport in Eugene, Oregon, which is, I mean, one of the smallest airports I've ever seen. People are walking. I'm watching people right now.

They're walking out to their plane, like just by themselves. They're just walking out on the tarmac to get on the plane. Let me ask you this. Last time we had you when you were in airport, you were getting your ticket checked and walking through. Are we going to have that issue this time or you're just kind of hanging out in the Eugene airport? Now, unfortunately, boys, this is like the height of depression.

on a golf trip type situation because I still got like four hours until my plane. And then that plane goes from Eugene to San Francisco. And I have like a two-hour layover. And then I have a six and a half hour flight from San Francisco to New York. And I land at 7 a.m. So that's brutal. That could be the worst transportation I've ever heard of it in my time of life. That's like an office manager, Brett type situation.

Did he book that for you? Did you book it? So this is, we're going to get into Band and Dunes, which is where I was and all of that. This is the one knock against it is that it's impossible to get to. And you're looking at kind of the real life example of that, the fact that I'm walking around the Eugene Airport with my laptop open right now. And I'm walking around like a psychopath talking to myself in my corner. All right. Well, let's jump right into it. So you're in Eugene, Oregon.

You went out to play Panand Dunes. Just kind of walk us through your whole experience here. So there's obviously a major highlight, which is, My brother's got his first hole-in-one ever, which we're going to get to. It's funny. Like, we talk about hole-and-ones on the show. I feel like all the fucking time, and, like, half of the, half of the emails that we get from people are about hole-and-ones and hole-and-one-type situations.

We've said many times, I've never seen one. I've never even really been on a golf course when, like, I don't think anyone's ever hit one, ever. And then we go to Bandon Dunes, which is probably the greatest call destination in the world. And my brother gets his first eighth ever. So we're going to get to that But abandoned boys I mean we did four days I booked this thing

Seven months ago We booked it in October So it was one of those things where like You kind of book it and then you forget that it ever happened And then all of a sudden it just pops up So yeah we booked it Like I said in October And then about like three weeks ago

I legitimately started checking the weather forecast and like hawking the weather three weeks ago. Meanwhile, like those guys legitimately don't know the weather this afternoon, and I was hawking it three weeks ago. But weather was phenomenal. Rigsey weather is what they're calling me now, because everywhere I go, I go to fucking Scotland, and they're like, yeah, it's a monsoon every other day.

It rains. Bring all this rain here. 65 and sunny the whole time I'm in Scotland, no wind. Come to Bannadoon. They say the exact same thing. Legitimately, like 62 degrees and sunny basically the whole time. So weather was fantastic. I went with my brother who I only see my brother probably three times a year or something like that.

So, again, we had this whole thing booked. My brother, two of my best buddies. We had to travel across God's Green Earth all on Friday. You got to fly to get there as a battle. Again, this is a big knock against Bannon, but to get there is an absolute battle. We had to fly from 6 a.m. from Newark to San Francisco, and then we had like a two-hour layover, and then from San Francisco down to North Bend. You're breaking up a little bit.

Hold on. Hold on. You just broke up there. So you said you fly from San Francisco. You have a two-hour layover, and then we lost you there. So if you just want to repeat that. Did I walk into a weird spot, boys? Maybe I walked into a weird spot.

I mean, you are in like, you're in a spot where I don't. didn't even think they'd have internet. I mean, we always joke around about, like, Iowa and Trent and being from, like, the Midwest. Wherever the fuck you are right now, I don't even think I could place it on a map. Like, I feel like the map just, like, ends before wherever you are. It's almost like you're in the middle earth of, like, Lord of the Rings. I got to say that I thought Eugene was kind of like an actual city, and maybe I just haven't seen it, but we pulled up to this airport, and it legitimately, I mean, this thing, it's like somebody just put it here, like, last night, basically. So I don't really know where the city of Eugene is supposed to be. But anyways, so, you know, we got to take a, you're going to fly all day across the country. You fly to North Bend, which is like 40 minutes away from Bandon, you drive down to Banda. We left at 6 a.m. Eastern Time, and we got on the T at 6 p.m. Eastern time.

So it's an absolute battle, but that was 3 p.m. local time. We played Bandon Dunes, the OG, the original Bandoning course, played that Friday afternoon. Basically had like 20 minutes after we got there, popped out. We obviously bought a ton of beers on the way. So we're loading up the bags with beers. We're getting ready to tee off at Bandon Dunes. I'm not kidding you that I thought I thought Bandon was everybody kind of calls it Linc-C. It's as close to True Links as you can get and all that.

Bandon, we found out Friday. I mean, this place plays more like Wingskopf than like Scotland. It's that firm. It's that fast. Bandon is, it's, of all, complex. They just have so much earth out here because we're in fucking nowhere at Oregon right now. Literally in nowhere at Oregon. I drove all across today.

So they just have so much earth. And what I mean by that is when you're on property, I mean, they got like this whole practice range facility is like the nicest range you've ever seen. They have like two ranges with green fairways that you can hit at. And then the range is like its own whole entity thing where they've got like they've got its own small little restaurant type deal, gigantic like short game area. That's just the range. Then they have five golf courses on top of that. So you kind of arrive at this whole thing and you're trying to figure out what's going on.

We're on the T in like 20 minutes. Roll up to Bandon. We get basically three holes in, and then the fourth hole at Bandon is like probably my favorite hole in the entire world. Dog leg right. Your second shot is just you're staring right at the ocean. It's kind of like an infinity green. It looks like the green legitimately falls into the ocean. 60 degrees sunny.

I'm not kidding. This is the best place on Earth that you could possibly go. We got to play Bandon again. on Sunday night. So it was a hot start. It was a really hot start. We loved Bandon Dunes. Absolutely loved Banda Dunes.

Again, it plays, it plays very lynxies. Like probably half the holes or so are on the water, on the cliffs. The cliffs, the cliffs, boys, are, like, crazy, crazy tall where you think, like, you think you're playing golf just kind of on the water, and it's like a little bit of a drop off. These cliffs are, like, they're like, they're like hundreds of. feet high and then the beach is the beach is like half a mile long or half a mile wide i guess you would say um to the water so you get just these these like magnificent views after you're traveling all across the freaking country traveling for 12 hours boom all the sudden you get

hit with these views so our first experience at band of dunes the original course the OG course I think it was building like the end of the 90s um was off the charts excitement level was high I will say. So alcohol consumption was very high. And we get to like 16. 16 is like, is kind of the signature hole. It's this short risk reward,

awesome part four cliffs on the right. You can kind of like bail out left if you want, or you can try to rip a driver at the green, even just a hair left of the green and it might trundle onto the green. Because again, everything's super linky. Nobody loves the word trundle more than ricks. Yeah, I've never heard the word trundle before.

I started doing this podcast. You guys are trundle guys? I'm with Frankie, actually. I'd never heard it before. I would have thought it's like a type of chocolate you get in one of those boxes, like the trundle. You're thinking like a truffle, maybe. You might be thinking of a chundel.

This is going to sound gross, but I always think of grundle when I hear trundle, which is an area on a man that the sun don't shine, I believe, is what they say. The Fremunda cheese. I want to say it might just be because you guys haven't experienced the link stuff where the ball just trundles all that. That could be, and you know what? It's funny you say that because I'm actually very angry at you for going to this place and for posting these pictures and for making us watch this stuff over the weekend.

Because believe it or not, this summer, my girlfriend and her family, they're all big golfers, all the cousins, the dads, everyone, the uncles, they all like to pick these destination places to go and golf. And this summer just happens to be banned Dunes. And I kind of bowed out of it. And I said, you know, with my work schedule and, you know, all the stuff we do at work. I just can't do it. But, you know, I'm sure I'll be able to block it out, like, when you guys go and I'm not going to look at all the pictures. And then this weekend, I just, I'm just, you know, just scrolling through Instagram.

And I see Riggs, you know, drone Riggs is posting pictures from these fucking cliffs that looks like he's in Ireland. I mean, these shots were like, I'm like, did Riggs go across the, I got to me honest, I didn't know you were playing Bandon. So I just came across this just out of the blue. And I just looked up, I said, you motherfucker right to my, it ruined. I slipped into a mini-depression. I said, this is where these guys are going at golf. I'm like, this is where her family is going and invited me. And I could have went for a great weekend of just golf and drinking and being on the Pacific.

I've never even been to the West Coast. The furthest west I've ever gone is Las Vegas. Like, the fact that you're in this, like, unbelievable area of, like, Oregon. And I just got so mad. I didn't even want to do the podcast tonight. Frankie. Frankie, the fact that you said no to that trip is perhaps the biggest regret. It should be the biggest regret that anyone's ever asked after having experienced it.

Ah, you poor son of a bitch. That is just so tough. This podcast is going to be miserable for you, pal. It's going to be just... Oh, I'm like clenching a fist just listening to you talk. God, when we get up to that hole in one talk, I may just walk out. So, Frank, so let me... We get to 16, pal, and the beers have been flowing.

We've got transfusions. We're carrying bags of beer. It probably tastes so good with that water, like, just like, when you're looking at the water, everything probably just tastes good. taste so oh it just tastes better because it's just it just tastes better you get it we're on top of the cliffs all that so we get the 16 we're in a tight match we're having a great match i'm like all right boys you got to fill me here make sure you fill me this one's epic i'm not kidding no one's ever hit a ball further right out of bounds like into the pacific ocean that you've ever seen in your entire life there you go frankie feels a little bit better about that and you know what it seems like you have a track record of just hitting bad shots when someone films you because every time you filmed you hit a horrible shot it's getting tough that I almost because I want all the footage you know the footage is so cool to have but then I just dog shit footage because I hit horrible shots whenever people film me

St. Andrews the lady screaming four you're at the black you're topping shots from 18 and then it's like you're probably playing lights out every other time the phones put away but the only time like I mean credit to you though you end up the shot and you let us see it which is pretty funny you know I just like to make people laugh everybody hit terrible shots it's just as part of it I tend to do it more often when people are filming me, which is unfortunate. Also, I noticed, Frankie, conveniently left out the video of me making Birdie on the 18th at the old course at St. Andrews.

Oh, the one that is Stoley photo, right? Yeah, the guy's name, that was Leon who spells his name like Lion, like the courageous animal. All right, well, the reason I left that out is because that's not someone, you didn't self-consciously know that you were being filmed. I think that you have something just, I think you just, you know, it's more of like a pressure thing. I didn't even think of that.

Oh, yeah. a good point. It's not like, not everyone could be as lucky. You remember when I hold out at, uh, yeah, from the bunker. Oh, yeah, from the bunker. I mean, that, the fact that that happened is that kind of was really underrated that nobody talks about that, that, like the one shot I've ever filmed of you, Frankie,

you just hold out from a green side bunker. Like, we're the opposite when it comes to filming. Oh, yeah. Um, all right. So you're on 16. You went way right. So I go way right. I hit it. I'm talking like, like I said, the Pacific's like a half mile away, actually, because the beach is so wide.

And I think, like, I was halfway into the Pacific. Like, my ball might be in Hawaii right now. It was that fucking far right. It's got a little lob on it. Oh, yeah, big time. But again, excitement levels high. We were cranking beers. But at this point, you know, we finish up the round. We have a lovely dinner. They got like three or four restaurants on property. There's, there's like three or four different. clubhouses because you kind of have different entrances and whatnot for the different courses. There's 418 hole courses. There's a 13-hole par three course called the preserve, which might be the best course there. We've got all the water views, which we're going to get to. But anyway, so then, you know, we're all jacked up. We go to dinner, have ourselves a very lovely dinner.

The, like the communications director guy has a nice dinner with us. We're shooting a ship. we're talking about what it's like to be abandoned. He's actually moved out there like 12 years ago and has basically become a wifer. So we're getting all kinds of good stories from him. Next thing you know, I mean, it's like, it's like 930 maybe. We've had the long as day imaginable. They got this awesome bar called the Bunker Bar.

That's great name. Down is unbelievable name. And it's exactly what you would imagine it is, boys. It's like down in the basement of like the main. clubhouse. Everybody's got like cigars. You can just rip stogie. There's a pool table. There's like there's a poker table, which is guys hanging out. So we tried to go as deep as we could at the bunker bar. But in reality, long travel day, 36 the next day. We hit the sack. We pop up the next day and we're playing old McDonald and then banned trails. All right. We're going to take a quick

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Join the club today. Old McDonald's is a Tom Doak course, who is kind of famous for Crazy Greens. I've played a couple of his courses before this, the Stream Song one, and then Sabonic, so I was jacked up to play. He's got a couple courses out there, also Pacific Dunes. And then Old McDonald's. which none of us are big architecture geeks, but Old McDonald is kind of a throwback course to C.B. McDonald and a bunch of his,

like, template-type holes, which, again, I haven't really played many of his template-type holes because I haven't played many of his courses. But that's kind of the premise. So there's even, like, the Eden hole, which is the 11th hole, the old course. They have, like, a kind of a replica or their own version of that, if you will, on the old McDonald's course. They got their own version of the road hole of 17th at St. Andrews. So you get that kind of experience on old McDonald's.

Every time you say old McDonald, I want to scream, EIEIIO! It's whole, it's, I think you should. I mean, it's, I've been looking at Trent just like, I'm like a, like a, like a kettle that just wants to explode. His eyes light up every single time you say and I'm just like, someone has to say EI, I mean, it's a, yeah, it was the elephant in the room.

Everyone listening was like, is somebody going to say EI, EI, I know? And does he have a forum? All right. Continue. Maybe you guys should get like a little one of those audio clips, Frankie. You just hit the button and play the EIEI-I-O every time I say Old McDonald. So Old McDonald is... I just, I'm sorry, I don't want to hijack.

It's just hilarious. It's a ridiculous name. It is. It's a great name. I love the name. Also, they have... So all the courses have their own logos and Old McDonald, don't laugh, Frankie. It might be the best logo out of all of them.

So it also gets a little bit of a... bump from that. But Old Mac, we'll call it Old Mac so that Franky doesn't lose his mind the whole show. Old Mac was way cool than I thought it was going to be going in. Like you kind of have this pre-ranking or this guesswork that you're going to have going in as to which ones are going to be your favorite. Absolutely loved Old Mac. It was probably the most in terms of like variety of shots and kind of like watching the ball roll or dare I say trundle around the greens and take different slopes because all the bump and runs and all the different sections of the greens and the mass of greens.

I think they're the biggest total square feet of any greens of any course in the world, they said. So the greens are gigantic. And again, it just kind of lends itself to you get to play all these little bumps and run. You get to play 120, 130 foot putts where you have to hit it way up a slope and then it gathers and catches the hill and all that. So it was really kind of like circus golf.

but not too much. It was just kind of the right amount. And then we played Bandon Trails in the afternoon, which Trails is the core Crenshaw, and it's very different because it's in the pines, it's in the trees. It's way more like a Parkland-type golf course. Went in expecting this to be our favorite, sneaky be our favorite, because it's just got kind of like a pine valley. or spyglass type vibe where you know you're near the water but it's actually in the trees and all of that

course was absolutely phenomenal but I think that all of us agreed we thought that abandoned trails was our least favorite it was number number four or five if you're going to count the par three course on our list also probably didn't help the fact that their greens are going through like some weird transformation thing where the poanagram ass is like overtaking the greens and too much of the greens are poana right now or too much of them or a mix or something bottom line was the greens were not in great shape which just changes everybody's opinion of every golf course anytime you play a course it doesn't have perfect greens so so that was our saturday afternoon was at trails and again it's core crinshaw so they're

incredibly uh you know renowned and phenomenal architects um they've done friars said, they also have a course at StreamSong, which I love both of those. It looks very core crinch-shallery, just the way that they do bunkers, you know, the way the T-shot set up, you just know right away that you're playing kind of a core Crenshaw type course when you've played a couple before. They just have that identity. So that's all very cool. And again, these courses are like ranking this course. Our least favorite on property is basically meaningless because it would be maybe one of the best courses you've ever played outside of that. It just happens to be whatever.

Maybe it was our least favorite. But it was a Saturday at Banda Dunez, again, boys, just perfect weather. I mean, perfect weather the whole time. We went after this and just raided the pro shop, and I'm talking like we had to ship like three bags of stuff home each from all the stuff that we buy in the pro shop. again, they're very sneaky there and the fact that they have a logo from every single golf course is its own logo because you go to each track

and you go into the pro shop just to check in or whatever and all of a sudden you see a whole new array of things that you didn't know existed because it's a new logo and all kinds of new gear so you're like, well, I guess I got to pick that up. I guess I got to pick that up. I guess I got to pick that up. So well done by Bandon on that front

and then you know, we did dinner, we did another big dinner, very lovely dinner on Saturday night. Nobody really wants to hear about the dinner. They want to hear about the golf. So Sunday morning. Yeah, what did you, just out of curiosity. What did you order?

So I got the sliders, and then we did a group where we would order a bunch of apps, and they had like, they had like these, these mozzarella-type stick things that were actually, they were full of like, almost like a lobster-type mix instead. of just like cheese. So they were actually unbelievably delicious. I'm glad that you guys asked. Sound great. But it was a good dinner. It was a very good dinner.

The food is actually fantastic. You never know when you go to a resort, sometimes the food diffi, all that. The food abandoned, absolutely stellar. And the pricing is, especially when you live in New York, the pricing, very, very affordable, which is nice to see. I just, too, here in Eugene. I just had a nice lunch and my total was like nine bucks, which is just, I mean, I've never heard of it. I had a green juice today that Trent's starting to turn me on to.

I think it was $7.85 for a small little smoothie. Yeah, I've turned to the entire office. I'm trying to get everybody into these green juices because I'm now just a fitness douchebag. I've finally transformed into one of those. He ate an omelet for dinner tonight before the show. I did. And yeah, there's these green juices. I think they're probably about eight ounces and you pay about a dollar an ounce.

But they're very good. It's like celery and lime juice. Celery, lime juice, kale, kale. cucumbers spinach cost them money out of that stuff you're not putting

any meat like what are you spending money on whatever and Rakes is just out here abandoned Dune's fucking resort

I'm not going to be there I won't experience those prices you guys are drinking green fucking gob goop goose

you know what are you guys I don't know what you guys are drinking but I'm out there I'm having sliders wings

pizza I'm playing bandin we had very different weekends a very different last couple

so Sunday so Sunday morning Sunday morning comes to highlight, you know, where this is kind of now we're getting on to the second half of the trip. So Sunday morning, we're playing Pacific Dunes, which going in, I had heard from multiple people who follow Link's Gyms on Instagram and Twitter who puts up incredible pictures of golf courses. And he says that Pacific Dunes, in his opinion, is the best publicly accessible golf course in America. So we're getting all pumped Pacific Dunes. It's got Pacific and Dunes in the name,

so you're thinking there's probably going to be a bunch of views. It's probably going to be very nice. This is also a Tom Doak, so we know the greens are going to be kind of wild and fun and all that. And it is. The place is absolutely spectacular. It's kind of got a really good mix of almost inland, like lynxie-type boles that literally couldn't look more like

a lot of the inland or, you know, non-water holes over in Scotland on a lot of those courses. A lot of these holes that even aren't on the water give you such a lynx like Scottish-type vibe with kind of a light brown, all of that. So a really good mix. We get through the ninth, and then you get to the 10th hole is about 160-yard par three. You got back-to-back part 3 is on 10 and 11. And we're having a pretty standard round. I mean, nobody's playing like lights out.

Nobody's playing poorly. We're having a good match. I think we're all square at the time. I step up. Now, this hole, it overlooks. It's like a very high elevated T-shot down towards a green that sits right on the edge of the water, but it sits well below you. So you've got a great view from up top.

You can see a lot of the golf. course, it's a very beautiful little part three. My buddy Josh goes and then I go and, you know, we both hit fine shots and both of us not filmed. So I film my buddy Josh, my buddy Greg films me. And then afterwards, I'm standing there. My brothers get ready to hit. He's going through his routine and I'm always the scorekeeper, whatever I play. I'm just, I like to have the scorecard. I like to know where the strokes are going to come in. It's just part of my routine. So after I hit, I'm sitting there and I start updating the scores from the previous

hole. Oh, no. And right when I finish, I look up and I'm, and my brother's like addressing the golf ball. So I pull my phone out thinking like trying to get to film it, but I'm not going to have time. So all I can do is I just snap a couple pictures and he hits like this. like this beautiful, beautiful swing right at the hole, like a little bit of a knockdown type nine iron kind of holds off the follow through, hits like four feet before the whole, one hop slam dunk.

Oh my God, a slam dunk. And, dude, we went crazy. Yeah, what's a celebration? I think in your head we all have this sort of idea what we would do, but I feel like at that point you just black out and go crazy. Dude, he like threw his putter or he threw his nine iron like a lot. little bit in the air. I threw my putter and he just was like, oh, and we were just going nuts. Like, we jumped around. Like, he just scored the game winning goal in, like, the World Cup,

basically was our reaction. Like, we were going absolutely nuts. We all, like, we all basically, like, jumped into him, like, kind of, like, tackled them. Our caddies were going crazy. We made the most noise you've probably ever heard in your entire life. Like, the group next to us was on, like, the previous green. They're all, like, looking up and I mean that's like the only type of reaction that could be could be a whole and one reaction so everybody knows and like different groups around the course are clapping and we're just standing on top of like again it's also like a we're on top of this massive dune so like a bunch of people can like look up and see us we're making all this fucking noise

so then you know we take a bunch of pictures up there we're kind of going crazy hands are like legitimately like jittery and I'm not kidding like I didn't even hit the hole in one for like the next two and a half holes like you couldn't even play golf because our hands were shaking so much from the adrenaline it was just insane and it's like like I said you only play golf with your brother I only see him like two or three times a year and able to like book this trip we've been talking about it for like seven months we get out there and the guy gets his first ace on like maybe be the sickest part three on the property. So it was crazy. The next hole is also a par three, and it played as well. And I believe he, like, topped it into the gorse pushes and made, like, triple horse. I mean, you can't expect anything more than that.

I was just an unbelievable experience, right? You go on this long trip. I mean, you're playing a course that you remember for the rest of your life regardless. Then you hit your first all in one there. I always said that if I hit. a hole in one on a shitty like public course i'd go nuts but i always want you whenever you're stepping up to a really nice uh hole you always think in the back of your head this would be a great hole in one hole and it feels like that's like the number one hole like there's a

couple of them right in the world like there's probably a couple at um at uh pebble beachery like all right i'm looking at this hole right now and i'm like this is the one that i'm going to take a picture of put it above my bed for the rest of my life and i'll always have it um something abandoned dunes just had, like you said, it has that, that just overlook of just the whole world, and he'll always remember that hole. It's so easy to just picture in your head. What a moment to just have, not only to just even play

there, but have the hole in one there, but then how do you go on and enjoy the rest of your round? Like, isn't he just thinking about, like, hitting the bar afterwards and just going nuts and telling everyone? Like, your round's essentially over there, right? Dude, the other thing is, like, in terms of golf, like, no golf shot for the rest

of the trip matters at all. Right. Because, like, he's got the hole in one nothing you do matters at that point. So basically to answer your question, like, we essentially, we just kind of like rushed through the next couple holes and then there was a halfway house. I think there's like a little like halfway house-tight deal after like the 11th or 12 holes. So then we run in, you know, my brother grabs like 10 beers, like a couple transfusions.

He chugs a transfusion right away, just chugs one. And then like it starts sipping on another one, drinking a bunch of beers and by, you You know, we went from literally nobody had a sip of alcohol in the first 10 holes to or 11 holes to, I mean, we might have drank like six drinks by the time we were done with the rounds. And we're like shaking, we're jittery. The Marshall comes over and they like take down his information. And they're like, we'll have a plaque of the hole ready for you before you leave. But it's like something you abandon. So they have, he's got like this sick picture of the hole.

gorgeous picture of the golf hole and it like and it like has a little description of the hole and then it's got a scorecard holder in the back of the frame where you like put the scorecard from the day. Okay, now that is a little wrinkled. Now you have to try and play a great round, right? Because that scorecard is.

There's a lot of pressure now after. Now I'm playing now I'm going back on it. I don't agree with what I first said where the round's kind of over. Now is even more pressure to have a better round. Well, in my opinion, the pressure was more on like us because I know that that scorecard going in my brother's room for the rest of his life. And if he like crushes me on the scorecard, he's going to just chirp like my terrible number all day long.

So it did. It got like a little dicey. We were all thinking like this is like a different scorecard. This one's going to last forever. Like we need to kind of post the score, but here we are drinking 11, like what is going on here? So there was a lot going on. He and I ended up both shooting 83.

So, I mean, not phenomenal, but, like, very respectable, a couple 83s. Yeah, but at Bannon Dunes, like, that's a very, very good score to have on a scorecard that you have a hole in one. At least it's not like a 96 where it was like an outlier. Right. Like, you played a great round, you know, a couple bogies in there, but you have a hole in one on there. That's a good looking, that's a sexy looking score card. 100% and so we're all you know we were happy with that he also we played the we played the back T's so like his hole in one wasn't from like oh he's playing way up or anything like that it was like

the back key box um so it just legitimately like you were saying frankly like there's always you always think about this little wrinkle in a hole in one or you hear a lot of times about somebody hits like a bad shot and it like kicks off a hill and somehow rolls into the hole for their first hole in one. No, he, like, played one of the coolest part threes you'll ever see, and he hit just a perfect nine iron, and it one hops, and then when it just dunked, it was so shocking because it didn't, you didn't get that buildup of it, like, rolling towards the hole, and you're thinking like, this might go in. It just was like, oh, that's a pretty good looking shot. Oh, it's in the fucking hole. It was, like, it was nuts. So, so we finish at Pacific Dunes,

incredible golf course. I think it was most of our guys's favorite. I think that and Bandon Dunes are pretty much tied at number one for me. Maybe Bandon's a little bit better. I just thought it was, I thought that the

water holes were a little bit cooler and I thought that the course just tied together a little bit better than Pacific Dunes. But again, they're almost like, they're almost just tied for the number one golf course that you'll ever play ever. They're both just fantastic. And then we played the preserve in the afternoon.

We had like a 230 tea time at the preserve, which is the 13 hole par three course. I think it was Corr-Krenshaw that also designed the par three course. This is like maybe one of the most fun things you can do. A lot of the holes, there's a couple holes that are like 85 yards. And then there's another hole that played like 175. You think when you think like part three course, you think like a chipping put or a pitching putt and it's just not. I mean, the part three course, half the holes are these gorgeous ocean views. The piece of property that they put it on, it's like almost shocking that they even

use this piece of property for a part three course because it's that good. And you tool around there in maybe like an hour, an hour and like 15 minutes is all it takes. So we had a really good battle there. And then, you know, we're, again, keep in mind, we're drinking a lot at this point. We're celebrating every, like, every, like, minute and a half, someone's just like, Kyle, I can't believe you got a hole in one. And he's like, I know, we're just going crazy. And then it's about almost 5 o'clock.

And we decided last minute we were like, let's just go play Banded Dunes. Again, I think we got time. There's nobody in front of us. So we rush into the pro shop. It's like, hey, can we sneak out? Can you get us out? They're like, look, there's not a single group in front of you for an entire hour. And you have about three and a half hours until it's dark.

Good luck. And so it was just myself, my brother Kyle, my buddy Greg, our fourth, dropped out. So the three of us carry in our own bags at Band and Dunes on a Sunday evening. the weather at this point was better than it had even been the rest of the days, and it was pretty much perfect the whole time. But there was not a breath of wind. It was like 65 degrees. It was perfectly sunny.

And we basically just raced the sun, which we've all done a million times with our buddies or with your pal or with your brother back home or whatever. We sneak out to a late twilight round, except this one was that fucking band of dunes. And we had just, that was probably outside of my brother's hole at one, the highlight. was just how casual, how peaceful it was out there. I was getting kind of also a little drunk, as I said. So at this point, I was getting even like a little emotional on my Instagram story talking about how cool this was.

Did you shed any tears at all? I mean, I felt like I wanted to, I might have shed a tear. I've been like, this is just so perfect. I'd be weeping. It's not like I'll have a chance to go there. You're a crier. It sucks. Yeah, it does suck, Frankie.

You have to go back for you. Those Pacific Ocean sunsets. Like, are you kidding me? Oh, my God. We think we have sunsets here. I go to like, I go outside of my house in like East Meadow, Long Island. I'm like, oh, look how nice that sunset is. Like, it's going behind like a fucking building.

Like on the east side. Can you imagine just watching it just dip on the other side of the world? Imagine this, Frankie. You're just, you're just standing on top of these like 200 foot high cliffs in Oregon. You got like a 10 foot put on perfect greens on this gorgeous hole. The sun's setting behind you. It takes longer to set too, Frankie, because, like you said, there's nothing between you and just the edge of the world.

There's no skyscrapers. There's no bullshit. So we're just standing there playing some of the coolest golf holes in the world. The sun's setting. Oh, Frankie, you'll love it. You got to get out of the band of it. Riggs, that last minute a hat. That was mean.

Well, you just did to Frankie. That was mean. It's just honest. I'm just trying to be honest. And then we got up this morning. This is Monday. and we had kind of a victory lap, kind of our final little victory lap.

We played Pacific Dunes again. At this point, are you tired? Dude. Like, do your fingers feel like they're going to fall off? I cannot explain to you how exhausted we were. Like, walking. So, first of all, we walked all this. On Sunday, we walked, we walked 49 holes on Sunday alone.

And all the ground is so firm. It's so firm. Your feet are just beat to shit. hit. Like my feet right now are absolutely killing me. And like my calves, my calves, it feels like somebody took like a baseball full of pain and just like injected it into the back of my cat. That's good visualization, but that sounds like it hurts like hell. It hurts a lot. Like my calves hurt. I'll be out. Like my calves hurt. Oh, good. So you're right. There's a lot of walking. Shout out to a couple stoolies. I was taking some

some bets on my over under on my last two rounds. I lost on Sunday, but I won today. So very clutch of me. I played very well today. I played like dog shit yesterday. But it was just a nice little victory lap. It was kind of our final round. And then now you guys know where I'm at now.

I'm in a very depressed state as I'm in fucking Eugene, Oregon, sitting in the airport, heading back to work. I don't get to sleep in my bed for two days, but I've got to go to work all day tomorrow. So it should be fun. It should be interesting. So what's up next for you? You're on quite a run.

You've been on quite a run these last like 13, 14 months. What's up next for world travel and golf rigs? You know, that's a good question, Trent. I don't have, I don't think I really have anything on books as of right now. So if anybody's out there, they want to put something on the book, and that would be a really good time to do it. And have we talked about, I think maybe we have where it's like, Do you are hesitant to play like normal courses?

Because you've been playing Band of Dunes. You've been playing all these great places. No, because, I mean, over, remember this, because over Christmas when I got a day back home with my boys, like three days before Christmas, when it was probably 46 degrees out, and we played this little local public track that I played, you know, 50 times with my pals.

And I remember afterwards, just thinking like that was as much fun maybe as I've had playing any golf anywhere. So bottom line is just playing golf is that much fun. And it may be a little bit more enhanced when you're playing some of these places. But false golf, Trent Eddy. All right. Well, it sounds like an awesome trip. We can hop into a little bit of PJ Tour action. The Wells Fargo Championship was this weekend.

Unless you got anything else on your trip, you cleared everything out? Yeah, I'm sure I'll think of something. But at this point, you know, I think I put it all out there. I think, I think Band and Dunes, no joke, if you're going to do a Buddy's Golf trip and you're wondering, like, money-wise, is it this? Is it worth it to do this? Should we kind of, you know, should we save a couple bucks and maybe not go to a certain place?

I would just throw all that out the window and go to Banded Dunes. Forget about what it takes to get there and all of that because there's nothing like it on earth. This place is just designed for golf. There's no like chandeliers. There's no tennis court. There's no pool. It's like golfers heaven. Okay.

I think we're, I mean, at this point, at this point, I think we got it. Frankie, another thing I have to add is that our two caddies we had were absolutely phenomenal. Oh. Did you let them read putts? They were just. Oh, yeah. I let them do whatever the hell they wanted. They were phenomenal.

They were our guy won, our caddies' name was bro. literally his name's bro. So I'd be like, Yo, bro. What club you think it is here, bro? And then the other guy was Brett, and they are just, they were exactly what you want in a caddy.

They spoke up at the right times when there was definitely something to be said. They didn't, you know, they weren't like obnoxious. They didn't overstep here, but then they were really, their personality, They were funny.

They were chatty. They were into the match. They knew all their shit. They hustled. They didn't pitch about anything at all, not one thing the whole time. So the caddies, I mean, they were just perfect, just absolutely perfect. So again, Frankie, just throwing that into the wrinkle. Another little tidbit in there to talk and show how Band of Dunes is something that you shouldn't be missing out on later this year.

If Bannon Dunes is so good that it allows Riggs to treat caddies like human beings and actually like respect them and use them like to their fullest extent and why they're there, then that means that means Bandon Dudes is the best place. You can't get a higher recommendation than that. I mean, if he's saying that he actually just like listen to the caddies and like let them do like what he says, he just doesn't let them do it every other golf course. That means that this place is so far and away the best golf course in the world that I actually think I'm. I'm going to go back and just book this golf course regardless of what I have to do this summer. That's how good it is, but I love the caddies. That's that good. Quick interruption here to talk about our friends at Indochino.

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when entering the promo code 4-F-O-R-E at checkout. That's 50% off the regular price for made-to-measure premium suit plus shipping is free. That's Indochino.com promo code 4, F-O-R-E, for any premium suit for just $379 and free shipping. Incredible deal for a suit that will fit you better than anything off the rack ever could. All right, like I was saying, Wells Fargo Championship is a busy sports weekend with the Kentucky Derby, NHL, NBA playoffs, all that. So busy. I mean, it's two weeks in a row now that golf has kind of taken, even with Tiger and Golf's kind of taken the back road. It's true.

But we had a big-name winner this week in Jason Day. He had kind of a weird Sunday. I caught some of the action where he had two bogeys on the front nine, then two bogeys on the back nine. Finished off 16 and 17 with a couple birdies. So he got a two-shot win over Aaron Wise. our guy Tiger tied for 55th. He's doing this thing now where he'll just barely make the cut and then we have to watch him for two more days

when he's completely out of contention. It's kind of, I'm not saying I'd rather him miss the cut, but it's it's anti-climactic when he just barely makes the cut and that is completely a non-factor. It's kind of the, and Regs, I don't know how much you were able to watch along with the way he was playing, but it's kind of like the Bruins, they just lost to Tampa Bay, and I know a lot of Bruins fans were saying,

you know, they didn't even want. want to win that next game because it's like why even why even make me go through it the next game because i know the series i know how the series is ending like we knew from the first round that tiger just didn't have it and right and it's like week after week we're kind of just getting dragged along like we know we know from his first couple holes if he has it or not you could just tell you know he's missing every single drive he's he was putting like shit i mean he made 31 putts both rounds saturday and sunday you're just not going to win a golf tournament making 31 putts two days in a row.

So yeah, it's kind of just weird. I mean, you know he's on, you know. Then you're just hoping for just him to go low at some point. Like, let's just make a couple of birdies and for next week. Let's get some momentum for next week. Yeah, I think we're beyond the point where it's like, oh, it's just exciting to watch and play. 100%.

Yeah, on Saturday and Sunday when he's out of the tournament, like, no, it's not. It's fucking sucks. Like, he needs to be in contention. Otherwise, he might as well not even be in the tournament. And he just didn't have it. He was never even really that close. Jason Day, huge stoolie, by the way, people forget that. Jason Day had on 17, the shot that he hit in there,

that thing almost did exactly what my brother's ball did, where it like one hop and then almost junked on the second shot, or on the second bounce. But, you know, look, when you're out at Banda Dunes walking around these cliffs that I very clearly described to Frankie Borelli earlier, you're not necessarily watching the golf and all the sports. Now, luckily with Twitter and all that, you could follow along. So I was following along how Tiger was doing.

I was following along with Jason Day. I do love Quail Hollow. I love that golf course. It always kind of produces a lot of drama and stuff down the stretch. But I was pulling for J-Day. I've been a huge J-Day guy ever since, basically, he said he's a huge basketball guy. So anytime one of our guys wins, one of the good guys, that's fantastic by me. So then this upcoming week, obviously, the players' championship down at TPC Sawgrass.

The big headlines coming out of that right now. did see they've got 50 out of 50 of the top players. So it's obviously a stacked field. It's the most stacked field in golf. But the big thing right now is there's all these crazy pairings. Like Tiger and Phil are playing together, which is something you don't see all the time, which is pretty cool. Ricky rounds out that group.

And then Jason Day, Henrik Stenz, and Sergio Garcia. But Tiger and Phil playing together. I've always said they should have these players miced up. And I'm going to be really, really mad if they don't have Tiger and Phil miced up for the first two rounds of them playing together. I think that's a great idea. Also, I mean, it's such a no-brainer for tournaments to do this. Just put Tiger and the biggest fucking stars together every time.

And then it just makes the tournament must watch for certain portions. And that's when these guys are playing when they're out there together. It makes it must watch. Whereas, like, you know, anytime you lose even a little bit of that star power from that group, you spread it out too much, it doesn't necessarily become like appointment TV or appointment. I got to stream it. I got to watch it. When you get all three of these guys in the same group,

everybody's already talking about it and the buzz is really high. They haven't even put out tea times yet, but they announced this pairing because they know that it's going to draw the eyeballs and it's going to get people interested and all that. So this is an absolute no brain. The fact that like every tournament doesn't do this and just stack everybody together is fucking dumb at this point.

This is a no-brainer move. I love it. Another one of those groups is Rory, JT, and Jordan Speeth, and Riggs. I don't know if you saw what our guy Smiley Kaufman shot this week at the Wells Fargo, but he went 80-79, and he, and he's in a bad place. I'm thinking there's,

I wonder if those guys are going to, like, talk shit about him while they're playing TBC Sawgrass. Yeah, I mean, I am, so in all my previews that I do every Wednesday, it's been called the Stephen Bowditch Memorial DFL Award for whoever I think is going to finish dead fucking last that week. And Smiley, legitimately, I think we're going to have to rename the award after Smiley Golfman.

I mean, what is going on with his golf game? He's getting to the point now. have to address how bad your golf game is on like Twitter and like Instagram he had to put out a thing about like this has been really tough stretch but there'll be brighter spots ahead, which I love. Like I love that attitude. We like Smiley a lot. We've hung out with him. We know his crew well.

Smiley's a great dude. We love them. But when you got to put out like a PR statement about your golf game, that's not a good time. Dude, I got the tweet right here. I pulled it up as you were saying that. He said golf has been very difficult for me over the past year. As most of you know, I have been working extremely hard. but all the pieces haven't come together yet.

I know there will be good times ahead. Thank you for all your support. And I saw that Justin Thomas quote tweeted that and was like, hey, man, you're going to be fine. Go get him. When you've got to put something out like that and know that you're going to get pity from, you know, the guys around you like Justin Thomas, that is, you're in a really, really bad spot. And I don't know. Hopefully he plays well. Obviously, he's one of our guys, but he is in a really bad spot right now.

Such a disrespectful move by Justin Thomas to fake say, like, hey, you'll come back. You'll be there. You'll be as good as me one of these days. you'll contend. I actually thought it was a weird move by Justin Thomas to even address it. Why bring more light? Like, obviously, Smiley's just doing that because he's spiraling out of the control

and he just wanted to get something out there, like, to try and, you know, just save whatever fans he may have. He's like saying, like, hey, guys, I know it's bad. Right. He doesn't need Justin Thomas being like, you'll get there, buddy. This is exactly what the picture we painted when he had his wedding. And we thought that he was sitting in the back room just breaking down. Everyone just had their hand on his back as he just had.

had like just straight liquor in his hand. Just like, I mean, he said golf's been very bad for me. I think that's a very dark, deep statement. Right before we get more into that tournament, I need to give a shout out. I don't know if you guys saw Phil Mickelson's shot on 18 on Sunday. Yep. He hit this shot against a rock. He was in a creek on the side of the hole.

The water was flowing. They showed the ball. It was inside two rocks, right? He had no chance they hit this ball. He came out. So he ends up hitting this ball perfectly right into the air. He ends up and down from it. Save par, two under to get into the top ten.

Finish great. His just, the way he explained it after the round, he says it was leaning against a rock. And I've done this so many times in my life that I knew I was able to hit it vertically. So I hit it off the toe. And off the toe of my wedge, it was all banged up, not the sole, but the very far end of the toe is where I hit it. I semi-played it into the rock to kick it to the right over towards a pin. So I went vertically up over the rock Like this guy

This guy is so mechanically crazy With these funny shots And these ridiculous shots That I actually laugh out loud When he hits these shots It's this one It's the one that he hits like off the wall sometimes It's the one that he hits over his head

When he has it all the way above his head All the way above his body He says that he's practiced it a million times So you think Phil Mickelson's just walking around Putting balls inside rocks And hitting them onto greens Just so that the one And one million times

his ball ends up in a flowing creek, he can hit the ball onto the green. I mean, if anybody else had said this, I'd be like, you're just bullshit and you're, like, playing it up out great of a shot it was. But I do think there is a part of Phil who just practices the most insane shots possible. Did you hear the description he used? I did. He said he was hitting it off the heel and then transferred the weight to the toe and that he used the left side of the rock to move the ball to the right and then use the bottom side of the

we're talking about rocks. If you don't think I'm taking a drop there and just fucking just taking a nice, a nice little sand went down to the green. What's the difference between finishing 10th and 12th? That just shows who Phil is. I mean, he is a master of these quirky shots. I love it. When we were in one of the U.S. opens that I went to,

I can't remember which year was one of the two at Pethpage Black. I remember Phil. Humble Bragg there. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm just down the block from my house. So I used to walk there. You're trying to get some licks in on Riggs after you, like, rub Band and Dunders. I mean, Riggs just played the black like four times in the last four weeks.

He played the black four weeks in a row, and then he fucking played Bandon Dunes for. like 15 rounds in three days. I'm basically a member of the black now. Essentially. I just remember he needed to like eagle to, I think it was on like a Saturday and he wanted to get really low. He was in contention and he walked up to the green and took the pin out from like 165 yards away. It's just like filled those hilarious things because he honestly, he has made shots that have that have, you know, anointed him this short game master.

Yes. But he has taken it and run. Like he has, he has. like a little swag to himself when he has one of these funny shots. Well, I mean, they always cut to him during a tournament. He'll be in the middle of the trees. And she's like, all right, he's going to get up now for part. He does it on the regular. I find a laugh. I love funny. When he hit that shout out of the rocks, I cried laughing. I mean, every

time they cut to him and he's in some crazy position, it's just like, I turn the volume up, I get my phone out. I'm like, this is going to be awesome. Like, I watched him once in trouble. He took his watch off, like, because he was going to take a ridiculous swing. Like, he just does very weird things. Like, I remember specifically, he took his

watch off and like hey, he's like, I'm about to go nuts right now. Like this wrist is about the turn in ways that this watch is going to restrict me. I'm looking at a couple more of these players' championship pairings. Patrick Reed and John Rom, that's, I mean, that's a fistfight way to happen. Oh, maybe Patrick Reed will get what's coming to him. No, it's the, well, yeah. I was going to say, I think you get into the wrath of John Rob, anything can happen. I hope he spears him.

I was going to say this is the time that John Rom's finally gets to blow off a little bit of steam. Kind of the same thing just on the other side of it. I get these visuals of John Romge. Like, I just picture him with an anger management, like, person. Like, he's just talking to a therapist on, like, Tuesdays right before his round. He sits down, like, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to talk about? He just steams.

I mean, can you imagine him hitting one in the water on 17 and then turning around and is beating the shit out of Patrick's? Oh, yes. That'd be such a frumpy, like, fight. Because they're both, they got weird body types. It'd be a very weird. John Rom's body type is just straight up. weird. That's like how you would describe it. It's just fucking weird. I almost feel bad I've paid that

John Rob to be this absolute psychopath but he just continues to show why he may be. We don't know that he is, but he's showing that he may be. There's something under there. There's something. There's a deep, deep darkness in there. I love it. So I think that'll do it, Riggs. Thanks for calling in your trip from Eugene. Safe

Travels on your way back. I know it sounds like you've got to go San Francisco and then a six-hour trip back. Is that right? Yeah, something like that, Trent Daddy. It's not good. I mean, I can't imagine you're going to be very, you know, full of life tomorrow when we come into the office and, you know, see you. I'll make sure to keep my distance from you because I wouldn't want to be around. I wouldn't want anyone talking to me if I have that much travel. I very much appreciate that, Frankie.

I will say that I traditionally sleep a lot on planes. I can attest to that. I can't sleep but all on planes. Riggs and I have traveled a lot together over the past year. And before we take off, Riggs is passed out, and I just can't do it. thing that's hurting him is the layovers and, you know, multiple cities. I don't think it's going to matter. I think Riggs is going to be a trooper. He's going to sleep right through all of that. Well, we're about to find out, boys, which really sucks.

All right, man, we'll save travels. We'll see you back in the office tomorrow. All right. Up next is four-play digs. In case you missed it, it's deep dive in the 2008 U.S. Open. Tiger's legendary win with a torn ACL and a fractured leg. Diggs is brought to you by bettdyesi.com. BetDSI has been in business for over 20 years, paying winners. They are an A-plus rated on sportsbook review sites. Use your sports knowledge to make some extra cash. We got the NBA playoffs that are going on right now. We got the NHL playoffs are going on right now.

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walks towards the 18th green at Torrey Pines' fame south course. Wearing his traditional red and black, Tiger Woods removes his cap and acknowledges the tens of thousands of fans standing, screaming, cheering, very respectfully of course, but standing and cheering as he marches towards his 12-foot birdie putt. Tiger walks towards what could potentially be the most meaningful putt of his entire life, of what could potentially become the most clutch putt ever struck in the history of the game. Now, what makes this putt so meaningful, so impactful? How could this one putt, this one 12-foot putt be so different?

How could this one putt be potentially the single most clutch putt in the history of a a game that dates back nearly 600 years. Tiger walks to his 12-foot putt, and after his playing partner, Lee Westwood finishes out, Lee Westwood, famous, of course, for not being able to win major championships, which is very fitting as he's not going to win this major championship. Tiger begins his very regimented routine,

which he carries out for virtually every single putt he hits. Tucker walks a full 360 degrees around his line, then pauses behind the ball. He visualizes for several moments, and then he steps in. He places his putter down next to the ball and takes two practice strokes. He then looks at the hole in back as he moves his left foot forward, then his right, and slides the putter in behind the ball.

He looks again at the hole, then back at the ball, and nestles his feet. Once settled, once comfortable, Tiger takes one final look at the hole, then back at the ball and pulls the trigger. Do you see anything like that? How do you define greatness? Now, the reason I ask this question is because on this show, we're going to be talking about the U.S. Open and golf, we're going to be talking about the 117 year history of the U.S. Open, and we're going to be talking about a tournament that on paper is basically the exact same year to year. I mean, on paper, the 2008 U.S. Obed is no different than, let's say, the 2012 U.S. Open.

None is significantly greater on paper than the other. The winner gets a nice hefty paycheck. The winner gets a 10-year exemption into the U.S. Open. The winner gets a five-year exemption into the Masters, into the PGA, the British Open. On paper, these tournaments, these U.S. opens are identical. Again, none is greater than the other. But I ask it because when we're talking about this tournament

and we're going to get into, hey, this may be the greatest U.S. Open of all time, maybe the greatest U.S. Open of our generation. It's important. It's an interesting thought-provoking exercise to ask yourself, why is that? Why is it different? Now, if you look in the dictionary, you'll probably get something. for greatness that's distinguished or prominent, something like that.

If you look at Google, it says the quality of being great, thank you, Google, very helpful. But for this, greatness is going to be essentially boiled down to context. Now, there's several, there are a handful of U.S. Opens of our lifetime that stand out that could be considered significantly greater than the other. You might think of the 1999 U.S. Open, Payne Stewart, defeating Phil Mickelson by one stroke at Pinehurst, his fist pump, which is now a statue pain Stewart, would pass away that fall, which further cements that, the context of that makes that U.S. Open that much greater. And also Phil Mickelson, and, you know, that was an early, early knock in his sort of lifelong pursuit, failed pursuit to win a U.S. Open.

That makes it great. That context makes that U.S. Open that much greater the next year, 2000, Tiger Woods. Woods wins by 15 strokes. That Pebble Beach. Pable Beach, such an iconic place, right? That's great. That makes that great. Now you look at 2012, Webb Simpson at the Olympic Club.

No offense to Webb Simpson, but nobody gives a shit about Webb Simpson winning the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. Although, on paper, these tournaments are, of course, the exact same. They're both U.S. Opens. They provide for the winner, in theory, the exact same thing. So the reason I ask, how do you define greatness is because the answer is very simple. The answer, of course, is context. And this show, this podcast is going to focus on that context.

Tiger Woods himself said about this tournament, about the 2008 U.S. Open, quote, my greatest ever championship, the best of the 14. So what is greatness? How do you define it? Well, you define it by context. and we're going to begin that context. We're going to begin the definition of the greatness of this tournament in 1991. To understand Tiger Woods' love for Torrey Pines,

you have to go back to the 1991 Junior World. Tiger grew up in Cyprus, California, just outside of L.A. His home was Southern California. His childhood was Southern California. His heart was in Southern California. And when he came to the 1991 Junior World at Tori Pines, It already won five junior worlds and was on the hunt for a sixth. As a 15-year-old, this would be the first year Tiger was eligible to compete in the 15-17-year-old age group.

No 15-year-old ever had won that group, but this was Tiger Woods. Kevin Riley, the older brother to Chris Riley, Chris was competing against Tiger. His older brother Kevin said, looking back, Tiger was just a scrawny kid. hit. We all knew who Tiger Woods was because he won all the junior worlds, but that had been on the shorter courses and he didn't get to show off his length. Unquote. Tiger and Chris had a back-nine battle. When Chris Birded the 11th, he took a one-stroke lead,

but on the very next hole, Tiger's abilities took over. Chris, who would go on to play on the tour, and, interestingly enough, was paired up with Tiger in a 2004 Rider Cup match, which they won. They beat Darren Clark and Ian Poulter, thank God. Chris remembers he says, quote, Tiger hit it over 300 and was like 50 yards ahead of us. He just blew us away from there. Even at 15, he was a man amongst boys, unquote.

Tiger posted a final round 69, very nice, and became the first 15-year-old ever to win the 15-to-17-year-old junior world age group. It was his first win of many at Torrey Pines. south course. Asked afterwards by the LA Times how many tournaments he'd won, Tiger said, quote, I have no idea. I quit counting after 11 and under. I had 110 trophies. I threw them all into the garage, unquote. Pretty savage. By June 2008, Tiger had won at Torrey Pines as a professional six times. Just six months prior to the U.S. Open, he had trounced the field

at Torrey Pines at the Buick Invitational by a whopping eight shots. Tiger loved Tori Pines. Caddy Steve Williams, on In-depth with Graham Bensinger, describes the incredible attention, excitement, and anticipation Tiger showed towards the 2008 U.S. Open from the very moment that the USGA, years before the tournament even began, announced that Tori Pines would host it. You know, Tiger spent more time talking about that tournament. Since the announcement, when the USJ made the announcement that the US Open was going to be held at Tory Pines,

Tiger, every year that we went to Tory Pines and in the years between the tournaments, he would always talk about the US Open there. It was just, it was one tournament that he wanted to win more than any tournament that I'd carried from for. He would talk about, you know, every hole where the pin might be. located how this hole might play in the U.S. Open. To understand the importance of the 2008 U.S. Open to Tiger Woods, you simply have to understand the importance of Torrey Pines to Tiger Woods. To understand the hype, the anticipation, the pressure felt not just by the spectators or the commentators or the field in general, but to understand the pressure and the impact on Tiger Woods, you have to understand Tiger Woods' relationship.

with Tori Pines. You have to understand where in his heart Tiger holds Torrey Pines. And the answer is very close. We're going to fast forward 16 years. We're going to fast forward to the end of the 2007 and the beginning of the 2008 PGA Tour season. Tiger Woods is as well. He's Tiger Woods. Now, today, this podcast, it's recorded in May of 2018.

And Tiger Woods, you know, we get excited that he's. that he's back, that the comeback is real, that hopefully we'll get even a shadow of what we used to get. And people, the critics, they like to say, you know, we'll never get the old tiger. We'll never see that dominance. We'll never see the Tiger Woods that we came to know and that we became obsessed with.

Well, that Tiger Woods is, even though he's almost mythical to us now, he is in this period that we're talking about, this 2007 to 2008 period. He is, he is Tiger. Woods. He has won at this point in early 2008. He's won nine of 12 tournaments with two second place finishes and a fifth place finish. This stretch includes a major championship, the 2007 PGA, which for the record my brother and I were at, Southern Hill is very hot, very impressive. This also includes

winning by eight at Torrey Pines, which we've now mentioned for a third time. This includes winning the match play. This includes winning at Bay Hill with an incredible incredibly explosive, stunning, but also not really putt on the 72nd hole for Birdie in front of Mr. Arnold Palmer, the hat throw to win yet again at Bay Hill. This includes all of that. This was Tiger Woods at his peak. He was virtually unstoppable. Longtime Tiger Swing Coach and friend of this podcast, friend of the program, Hank Haney. In his 2012 book, The Big Miss, My Years coaching Tiger Woods, writes, quote, in the midst of

of his winning streak at the start of the year, Tiger let his guard down just long enough to say the Grand Slam was easily within reach. He'd in the year with another streak of five in a row and seven of eight, the non-win being a second. And at the end, he was blowing fields away.

Tiger was only 31, yet Nicholas contemporaries like Gary Player, side note, that's our close personal friend, and Lee Trevino were conceding that Jack had never been so dominant. quote. Tiger then finished fifth at the WGC and second at the Masters. It was shortly after the 2008 Masters that everything changed.

It was shortly after the Masters that everything changed. Tiger underwent arthroscopic knee surgery shortly after the master's simply to have his knee cleaned out. He'd had various knee issues over the years and this wasn't an overly unusual procedure. However, once inside the knee, Dr. Rosenberg was stunned. to find that Tiger's left ACL was fully torn. Well, Tiger had had prior knee issues. Nobody knew, nobody suspected. Nobody could have ever anticipated that his entire ACL was torn,

was fully torn, because Tiger had built up his supporting muscles around it so much so that he was getting by relatively fine. In the Big Miss, Hank Haney details the situation. He writes, quote, immediate atrophy after even minor invasive surgery is normal and the muscles supporting Tiger's knee lost their strength as swelling, stiffness, and soreness set in. That caused the joint to become much less stable to the point that the tips of the tibia, fibula, and femur began to touch where they met at the knee, unquote.

Now, a normal person would have obviously taken a bunch of time off. They would have let their muscles heal, regain their strength, etc. But Tiger didn't have the time. He immediately began training for the U.S. Open, and it waged absolute war on his knee. It was absolute chaos on his knee. Tiger's original plan was to prep for and play in Jack's tournament, the memorial, a few weeks before the U.S. Open, and then go on and play the U.S. Open in Torrey Pines in mid-June. But something else happened.

Haney writes, quote, Two weeks before the memorial, on the 18th hole of a round at Ioworth, Tiger said he hit a five-iron approach from a downhill lie and felt a crack below his left knee, unquote. Tiger underwent an MRI after this, and on May 31st, just 14 days before the first round of the U.S. Open, Dr. Rosenberg flew in to consult with Tiger over the results. With Haney and Tiger in the room, Rosenberg opened up his laptop and showed that Tiger had two significant stress fractures in his left tibia. The standard fix for this type of injury?

Four to six weeks on crutches, then four more weeks at least of rehab. The U.S. Open began in two weeks. Haney describes what happened in the room next. Quote, my thought was that our season was over, and there was now no point in waiting to fix the ACL. Finally, Tiger spoke. I'm playing in the U.S. Open, he said, and I'm going to win it. Dr. Rosenberg informed Tiger that he could try to play,

that there really wasn't much more damage he could do, that it would essentially boil down to how much pain Tiger could take. A few days later, he began hitting balls, and he was absolutely terrible. He was atrocious. He could only hit a few at a time, less than 50 total per day. For a guy who spent eight,

maybe 10 hours a day for weeks leading up to major championships trying to prepare, this simply wasn't enough. He also had to wear a leg brace which significantly hindered his movements. On June 2nd, just 12 days before the U.S. Open,

Haney spoke to Tiger's agent Mark Steinberg and told him quite simply he didn't think Tiger would even be able to play. On the Wednesday before the U.S. Open, Haney and Tiger flew to California. He played around each of the next few days, and again, he was terrible. Haney writes in his book, How Things Went on Saturday, just five days before the start of the open. Quote, on Saturday morning, he was terrible again.

He sprayed shots over fences and into hazards losing six balls in nine holes. He actually ran out of balls after hooking his second shot into the water on the ninth hole, but instead of expressing disgust, he kept his reaction amazingly light. Wow, ran out of balls, he said, after searching his golf. bag. Not good. Got a little work to do, unquote. There was a bit of a breakthrough that afternoon. During lunch, Haney convinced Tiger to walk nine holes, pointing out that he'd have to do so eventually so he may as well begin now. Tiger agreed, and they also decided to do away with the knee brace. It turns out, Tiger was much better without it, and the two took some positives away from

Saturday afternoon. However, on Sunday, the reality of the situation again reared its head. They checked into their hotel near Torrey Pines, met Stevie Williams, who hadn't seen Tiger play since the Masters. Haney details how their first golf back went. Quote, three of us went to the par five ninth hole, which was the closest to the hotel. To start a practice round, Tiger properly hooked his first drive over a boundary fence on the left out of bounds. He turned to Steve, who hadn't seen seen him play since the Masters, and said in a deadpaned voice, oh yeah, I've got a new miss, unquote. Publicly, nobody knew of Tiger's injury.

Tiger would play and practice in a very, very unusually limited fashion that week. And the media wrote headlines about how it was simply a precaution following his surgery. Tiger obviously had no interest in letting the field in on the extent of his limitations, and despite all the hype around the U.S. Open, despite the media, despite the microscope that's constantly on Tiger, it really wasn't until Thursday's round that the world first saw the grimaces. And it wasn't until well after the tournament. that the world learned what was really wrong with Tiger Woods. On Thursday, Tiger teed off with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott on the first tee.

Now, the first hole is a very tricky uphill, 448-yard par 4. It gives guys plenty of trouble, plenty of fits on normal days, but nobody more so this week than Tiger Woods. Tiger began this U.S. Open with a vicious hook about 50 yards left and made double on the first hole. Shortly afterwards, he looked at Stevie Williams and said, quote, Stevie, I don't give a shit what you say, I'm going to win this tournament, unquote. Tiger was all over the place Thursday.

Despite the rough start, he'd get back to one under, then he made another double on 14 and ultimately finished with a one over par 72. It was the first time he had walked 18 holes since the Masters two months prior. Jim Vernon, the president of the USGA at the time, walked with the group, and afterwards, he said, quote, watching Tiger on Thursday, I was first amazed that he finished the race. second, I was amazed he came back Friday to play." That night, the army that allowed Tiger Woods to even walk, let alone play golf, let alone contend in the U.S. Open was hard at work. It displayed the type of unrelenting effort that would be practiced and required for the entire week

to make Tigers improbable run possible. In his book, Haney describes the process and the efforts of trainer Keith Cleven. Quote, at Torrey Pines, Keith spent more time with Tiger than Steve did. he would get up early to supervised Tiger's morning workout, which was intended to retain the leg strength, and follow that with long sessions of manual manipulation and icing designed to get the swelling out of the knee and block the pain. After Tiger played his round, he'd come back to his room, nearly spent from the increasing pain, and Keith would work on him again in multiple sessions between dinner and midnight. I broke it, you fix it, was Tiger's refrain with Keith, as if he were a machine.

but Keith knew that with each fix, Tiger's condition was deteriorating. The trauma from the stress fractures were getting worse, causing swelling and stiffness so that Keith's skills were in a race against the quickly diminishing strength and rapidly escalating pain in Tiger's leg. It wasn't a race he was confident he could win, unquote. Tiger teed off five shots behind the leaders on Friday, and things looked grim when he bogied two of his first three holes to again get off to a terrible start.

He went out in 38 on Torrey Pines back 9, and missing the cut became a very real possibility. But then Tiger caught fire. He birdied the first hole from a cart path and made four more birdies to post a second 930. It was a 68 total, and he was just one shot off the lead. It was a miracle. The greatness was starting to materialize. Mike Davis, the current president of the USDA, who was then the organization's director of competition,

said, quote, The event started to get a little magical on Friday afternoon when Tiger did what he did on his back nine. He shot 30. I certainly knew it was borderline whether or not he should have been playing. All of a sudden he went crazy on the back nine. That's when I recall that year's open really starting to get exciting. On Saturday, things got even wilder. Tiger teed off one shot off the lead behind Stuart Appleby and tied with Rocco Mediate and Robert Carlson at 2.1.

under par. He again, amazingly, he again doubled the first, then dropped another stroke at the par four-fourth, and by the time he came to the 539-yard par 513th hole, he trailed Rocco Mediate by five shots. But the 2008 U.S. Open will forever be known as having perhaps the most electrifying moving day in the history of the event. On 13, Tiger hung his T-shot well out to the right, but drew a very favorable lie, and from about 208 yards, he launched a long iron high into the air and dropped it right next to the pin. He damn near slammed dunked it into the front pin location. But it was downwind to very firm greens, to very fast greens, so the ball bounced to the back

edge of the green. He was left with about 80 feet for Eagle. Trailing by five, he did this. You're looking pretty far right, Murph. Yeah. Looks like he knows what he's doing. I'd guess that. His eyes are way out in here, Murph.

Yeah, he might be playing it good five feet. They could change the championship. Shout out to Johnny Miller for calling that eagle, for then patting himself on the back for calling that eagle, and then for calling that eagle a very impactful moment in the tournament. Johnny Miller is the best. I love Johnny Miller and always will. Tiger Woods then bogeed the 14th,

and after Pars on 15 and 16, he slapped it all over the place on the difficult par 417, before finding himself in a very precarious spot near the green. He had hit a massive cut around some trees and landed in rough on a severe upslope in a tongue just above the green side bunker. Tiger caught his chip just a bit too cleanly and well, just listen. After the dramatics of an eagle on 13 and a chip in Bertie on 17, Tiger Woods came to the 18th hole needing an eagle to take the lead going into Sunday. He found the fairway, then carved a tiger-like moon ball with a fairway wood slice into the middle back part of the Green. He followed it with a very, very severe grimace. Now, at this point in the proceedings,

at this point in the tournament, nobody really knew the extent of Tiger's injuries. His body language's faces very clearly showed that he was in distress, but nobody knew. Nobody had any idea. Once he got to the Green, Tiger faced about a 40-foot downhill breaker for Eagle to take the lead going into Sunday. A little bit left to right going down here. His practice stroke is easy. He's aiming way left. Do you see that, Roger and he's looking way left like two and a half feet. Now, these are the moments when you have to just, you have to sit back and you have to ask yourself, how does one man, how does one dude, how does one guy produce so much?

I mean, you really think about it. This back nine of the U.S. Open, he's five shots off the lead on the 13th T. He eagles 13. He holes out for Bertie, a chip that had no business going in on 17. He eagles with another bomb. on 18. You got to just wonder how does this guy, how can he possibly do this? I mean, even outside of this event, you look at the 2005, the chip in on 16 at Augusta. You look at the PGA championship, the playoff with Bob May when he's chasing down the ball. I mean, you look at the hole in one,

even at the waste management, the 16th hole. It's become one of the more famous, famous settings in all of golf. He's got a hole in one there. You look at the better than most put on sawgrass, is Iowa and green, maybe the most famous green in the entire game. He's one. He's got a hole in the entire game he's got a massive the biggest putt in the history of that green how does one guy do all of that two eagles a hole out it's crazy and after all of that he has a one-stroke lead going into sunday and he wasn't done yet not even close tiger began his final round with you guessed it a snipe-hook t-shot on the first hole he made a double bogey and looked incredibly sluggish he bogied the second and just like that he was three strokes off the lead

It looked like he began to steady the ship. He birded nine. He birdied 11. Things looked good as he sat in the middle of the fairway again on the par 513th hole. He'd eagled it twice this week and he had a chance to take the lead. Instead, amazingly, Tiger yanked a wood out of play left. He made bogey and he found himself going in the wrong direction. Another bogey on 15 left Tiger one stroke behind.

Racco mediate playing a group in front of him. got into the clubhouse at one under par. Tiger was three over for the day and came to the 18th tee knowing exactly what he needed. A birdie would force a playoff, a par or worse would mean that everything we've done to this point, all we've talked about, all he's been through, all of the efforts were for nothing. No one who began the day in the top 10 shot under par and it left Tiger with a chance. After pulling his T shot into the left bunker, he had no choice but to lay up. Tiger made an uncharacteristic mistake with the layup,

flaring a short iron into the right rough. From there, Stevie Williams and Tiger engaged in a detailed debate over how to play the shot. Hank Haney describes the situation. Quote, From there, Stevie made a courageous call under the greatest pressure, convincing Tiger to hit a 60-degree wedge rather than a 56-degree wedge he wanted to use. Tiger was originally going to try to land the ball short of the green

and have it bounced towards the hole. But Steve felt the slope in front of the putting surface would kick the ball too far left. He made a case for Tiger taking the higher lofted club and hitting an extra 20 yards by swinging hard, in the process creating enough spin to fly the ball all the way to the pin and have it stop. Tiger pulled the shot off, leaving himself a 12-footer for Bernie.

Stevie Williams himself describes this moment, this call. He describes what it meant to him and what it was like being in that moment, what they were facing, and ultimately what that conversation with Tiger Woods was like. here's Stevie in his own words. It was a special week for me as well because I felt like we had that long conversation

on a 72nd hole about what club it was for that third shot and he absolutely didn't agree with what I had to say and it took some convincing for him to hit the shot that I thought that was required and he did hit the shot obviously and it turned out obviously being the right shot

and you know made that put to get into a playoff so I hold that tournament probably as highly as any torment just like he does for that reason. Tiger walks to his 12-foot putt and after playing partner Lee Westwood finishes out, coming up, of course, one stroke short. Tiger begins his regimented routine, which he carries out for virtually every single putt he hits. The greens and Torrey Pines in this area of the country in particular are much, much more difficult.

The polar grows at a different rate than the rest of the turf it's mixed with, so later in the day the inconsistency and the growth of the grass creates bumpy conditions. You mix this with spike marks and an entire day of players trundling over this area and Tiger's 12-footer becomes even more difficult. Later, reflecting on the putt, Tiger discussed his thoughts and his mental approach to the putt. He said, quote, You can't control the bounces. All you can control is making a pure stroke. Go ahead and release the blade and just make a pure stroke. If it bounces offline, so be it.

You lose the U.S. Open. If it goes in, that's even. better." TIGAR walks a full 360 degrees around his line and pauses behind the ball. He visualizes for several moments and steps in. He places a putter down next to the ball, takes two practice strokes. He then looks at the hole and back as he moves his left foot forward, then his right, and slides his putter slowly in behind the ball.

He looks at the hole, then back at the ball, and nestles his feet. Once settled, once comfortable, Tiger takes one final look at the hole. hole, then back of the ball, and pulls the trigger. Tiger for 18 holes tomorrow. After the putt dropped, a good friend and competitor of Tiger Woods, Mark Kalkavecchio, said of the putt, quote, I figured he was going to make it. Those greens suck at their best, and they weren't that good that week.

Bounced, hobbled, wobble all the way down there, went in, could have lipped out, curled right in there. It's the legend of Tiger Woods, unquote. Now, you can watch the replay of this putt. It bounces. It hobbles. It's all over the place. And, man, it barely catches the lip.

He has to play this thing. Probably about a cup. I think he says a cup outside the right edge of the hole. It's a fast put. And a lot of people say, you know, of course for Tiger Woods, it lips in when it very easily could have lip up. out for someone else. But these types of greens, when you watch that roll, if you hit these putts imperfectly,

they're way more likely to bounce offline. But when you hit it so perfect, so flush, and when you're able to do it under pressure, under the most pressure that this game can possibly provide, that ball holds its line, that ball takes the break that it's supposed to take, and that ball catches the lip, and it goes in. Tiger had earned himself 18 holes against Rocco mediate. The USGA doesn't do sudden death. It doesn't do a three-hole playoff.

The USGA does, at this point, an 18-hole Monday playoff, and that's what we would get. Very good for the fans, very bad for Tiger. Hank Haney describes Tiger's mood after draining one of the greatest puts in the history of golf. He writes, quote, Sunday night, Tiger seemed more. worried than elated. He'd mentally geared up for his leg to survive 72 holes, but now he had to go

at least 18 more, and it meant digging even deeper than he'd anticipated. He knew Rocco was going to be steady, but his biggest concern was himself. Unquote. Tiger had doubled the first hole in three of the four rounds, but he hit the fairway on Monday and threw his arms in the air and a friendly exhale. He parted the first and played very steady on the front nine, building a three-stroke lead after Rocco bogeed the 10th hole. But Rocco was very resilient. He was relentless. He showed absolutely no quit. Rocko rattled off three

birdies in a row against a few Tiger mistakes and once again, on the back nine at Torrey Pines, Tiger found himself chasing. Once again, Tiger came to the 18th hole trailing. This time, he hit the fairway and when Rocco laid up because he didn't have the distance to get there in two,

the two players were effectively tied. There was a back right pin and Tiger ripped a four iron into the front left portion of the green. Rocco hit a wedge to the middle of the green, and the two had long putts. They both lagged them just past the hole, just outside that comfortable range,

and Tiger faced about a three and a half to four-foot putt for Bertie. He brought Stevie Williams in for the reed, and although these putts don't get talked about enough, a three-and-a-half or four-foot must-make putt to extend a U.S. Open on these greens is no gimmy. Tiger drilled it right in the heart, and then Rocco matched.

The two moved to the par four seventh hole for the 91st hole of the tournament. Jim Vernon, the USGA official who was walking with the group, described the scene. Quote, before we started, Tiger had gone off to take a bathroom break. The fans were screaming, and as we were waiting on the tea, on top of the stands, a bunch of fans were hanging over the edge. One of them yelled down to Rocco, come on, Rocco, give it your all. and Rocco said, What the hell do you think I've been doing all day? Unquote.

Tiger hit the fairway on 7, then left himself about a 20-foot uphill putt for Bertie. Rocco had struggled in the 7th the entire week. It just didn't suit his eye. It didn't sit up well for him. He struggled again on Monday for the 91st hole of the tournament. He drove his tee shot into a fairway bunker and then viciously hooked his approach shot violently left of the green.

From there, he could only muster his ball to about 15 feet above the hole. Tiger's birdie putt came up about a revolution, maybe two revolutions short, and he tapped in for par. After Rocco's par bid sailed by the hole, it was over. And sort of an anticlimactic way, and on sort of an anti-climactic part of the golf course, Tiger Woods won perhaps the greatest U.S. Open, in up to this point, the tournament's 108-year history.

A few days after that Monday playoff, the world thought, found out about Tiger's knee. The world found out that Tiger Woods had won the 2008 U.S. Open in 91 holes with a fully torn ACL and two stress fractures in his left leg. Eight days later, Tiger had reconstructive knee surgery

and missed the next nine months. As of the recording of this podcast, we are just a month away from the 10-year anniversary of Tiger's last major championship victory, the one we just detailed. You have to ask yourself, what type of U.S. Open of major championship in general?

What type of major win could possibly top this one? What could be more great than everything that we just detailed? And well, if Tiger Woods, after everything that he's been through, and you know what I'm talking about, if Tiger Woods silences the doubters, the haters, the critics, whatever you want to call, if Tiger comes back from the last decade, of disappointments. And in dramatic fashion,

something like what we saw at Torrey Pines at the South Course, if he somehow comes back and takes down another one of our national championships, could that tip the context scales? Could that provide the level of greatness we haven't seen in a decade? I guess we'll see. What you just listened to was the first episode of Four Play Diggs. Diggs is, as you have just witnessed, a reliving of events or people or places,

or really whatever the hell I want with a lot of behind the scenes, a lot of little nuggets of information that you may not have known beforehand. Diggs was created by myself, Riggs from Barstool Sports, and was produced, of course, by Barstool Sports. If you enjoyed,

please feel free to show your appreciation for our hard work by pulling out your credit card and buying our merchandise online at store.barsetports.com. Also throw us a follow on Instagram and Twitter. We're at 4PlayPod. The next four play digs, episode two, will be released on Thursday, May 17th. Thank you for listening.

All right, that'll do it for this week's episode of Foreplay. Enjoy the player's championship. Hit it hard. I hit it hard, man. So far, man. These ups and downs, somehow I just keep on playing through. So all you critics pull up a chair at the winter circle soon. I'll be there with a high five and a smile.

For you, these lawyers and strings spending money like my ex-wives. Sure I gamble and a drink and smoke three packs a day. Hell, ain't country music supposed to be this way. It's from the hard, man. I hit it hard, man. So far, man. So far. No laying up.