Fore Play - “Waiting in the bathroom” with Stewart Cink

Episode Date: May 22, 2018

Stewart Cink joins the show this week and reveals incredible behind the scenes stories about his 2009 British Open win vs Tom Watson. His caddie Taylor also hops on to discuss the dynamic between the two. And Riggs returns from Shinnecock to detail El Pres' mulligan challenge at this year's US Open venue. Big week, big show, let's go!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 Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, friends. We are back for another week of 4Play. We have a massive show this week. We got Stuart Sink along with his caddy Taylor. Stuart Sink was absolutely phenomenal. He is most famous for beating Tom Watson in the 2009 Open Championship. Now look, this battle, this playoff, Tom Watson was maybe the biggest fan favorite in the history of the world. He was 59 years old. Stuart Sink is completely aware of this. Not only was he aware of it, but he was, and he tells all these stories during the interview,

he was so aware of it that he was conjuring up and whipping up different ideas to try to overcome that fact as best he could. He just wanted to win the British Open. He wanted to win it badly. He didn't care who it was against. And he tells fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. We also, this is the first time that we do a player interview with his caddy as well. So we get the two of them kind of riffing back and forth. It's an awesome interview.

I'm talking to you now. We just returned, just returned minutes ago from Shinnecock Hills. We were out there for Dave Portnoy, of course, doing the Mulligan challenge. He got unlimited Mulligan's to see what he could shoot. We're going to talk about that. But first, we got to talk about when you go into a pro shop, well, really, when you go into a golf course, the first thing that you do, the number one thing that you do, the number one thing that I did when we got to Shinnock, I went straight to the pro shop,

and I looked for Peter Millar's stuff. If you don't know Peter Malar's stuff, then you might not be a golfer, or you've just been missing out. It's literally the first and only thing that I look for. When I went into the Shinnock Pro Shop, I sought out. Peter Millar stuff. I got all kinds of good stuff, including their performance polo. I'm rocking one now. I'm going to be rocking my brand new Shinnecock one tomorrow and probably forever.

Peter Malar's stuff is absolutely the best. It's the most comfortable. It's the most stylish. You rock it on the golf course, and well, you look and you feel about as good as you can possibly look. You're going to play great. I was rocking a Peter Millar shirt, the performance polo. Again, when I shot my career low this past weekend on Sunday.

of 72. No big deal. We can talk about that as well if you would like to. Now look, here's what we're going to do for you guys. All of our listeners, if you go over to Peter Millar.com slash four and check out all their stuff, you use our link. You're going to get a complimentary shipping. So comp shipping and a free hat. I know you guys like free stuff. I know all of our listeners out there. You guys love free stuff. You're going to get a free hat. You're going to get complimentary shipping. All you got to do, you got to go to Peter Millar.com slash 4. That's Peter Millar,

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Their gear is absolutely the best. It's the most comfortable. Again, Peter Millar.com slash 4. That's Peter Millar.com. slash 4. Shinnecock Hills. We just got back. two seconds ago, myself and sunshine.

We just buzzed back. We played Shinnock for the first time, first time on the grounds, first time seeing it. You hear a ton about it, how difficult it is, all of the history, which goes back as long as any club

in the United States of America, basically. You think back to some of the U.S. Opens that have been there to 04, even when the Greens were kind of burned out, and Phil Mickelson collapsing, and blowing it down the stretch Rathief Gousson making a million puts. It's been a while since we've seen Shinnock, right?

It's been, what, 14 years? So it was really, really cool to see it. The course was in phenomenal shape, especially considering the fact that we had such a long winter here, but it was in great shape. Dave, of course, you probably saw the results, but Dave shot, he officially shot a 67, which is 3 under.

He claims that it should be 4 under. What happened on that? front is that on the seventh hole the radan very very difficult part three incredibly difficult part three Dave hit one to I don't know 15 feet or so we'll call it maybe 12 feet something like that and he putted at it for quite a while he putted 30 40 50 attempts at it couldn't make one he was very close he had a couple lip outs about halfway through this process the group behind us rolls up to the tea they're standing on the tea again the head of communications our guy Craig who's playing with us for the USGA.

Awesome guy. He kind of says, hey, look, guys, like, we can't stand here and putt forever. While those guys are just standing on the T, especially at this point, Dave was already one under, I believe. So eventually kind of just said we should move it along. Dave did move it along. So he didn't make a birdie. Bottom line, he just didn't make a birdie.

You don't get to just take parties. So he shot 300 or not 4 under on the official card. 67. He played great. Little teaser here. We're going to have Dave on next week's show. He'll be on. We're going to break it down.

We're going to sit down with him probably tomorrow and record that so you can get all of the details. You're going to get Dave on the show. He can talk through the round. We're probably going to battle back and forth. You know how that whole thing goes. But hand up. I was wrong. I said that if he could post one under from the tips, I would concede that he was victorious.

He did it. He absolutely did it. There's no doubt about that. We went all the way back. We played him at, I think, around 7,500 yards. anyone saying otherwise it's just kind of crazy town we have all the footage and all that so there's going to be a video that comes out keep your eyes peeled it was a big l for your guy rigsy i really thought the course u.s open course three weeks before the tournament would just put him in his place he played

such a strategic game he played it really well very effectively he didn't make any bogies clean card we're going to get into all that more with dave another little teaser here we got the next episode of digs four play digs is going to be coming out Thursday morning It's entitled. Is it entitled is what you would say? It's titled. Phil Mickelson versus the United States Open. We're going to get all into Phil's history at the U.S. Open.

He's finished runner up six times. We've got the U.S. Open coming up. We already talked a little bit about his history at Chinnock coming up short there. It's going to be at Chinnock in three weeks. All that just makes sense. It's a fascinating, fascinating episode going through a lot of details. you've probably forgotten. We just didn't know about Phil's history with the U.S. Open.

So that's coming out Thursday morning. I also want to talk a little bit about my mission. I'm on a mission now that the weather has turned to play to play public golf courses around the New York City area. I want to play everything from the cheap dog tracks, hidden gems, some of the nicer courses. Obviously, I'm using Supreme Golf to do this. If you don't know about Supreme Golf, think golf now. think T-Off or whatever hell the other one's called. Think all of those except it's like a hundred times better because it includes all of those.

It aggregates every T-time app you've literally ever heard of. And boom, they're right at your fingertips. Millions and millions of T-Times right at your fingertips. So go to Supreme Golf. You go to Supreme Golf.com and check them out. You can even do SupremeGoff.com slash barstool. Or just go to the app store, download the app Supreme Golf. Again, if you're trying to book any T-Goff, you're trying to book any T-Goff.

tea times and you're not using the Supreme golf, you're just dumb, it doesn't make sense. Don't be dumb. They have all the tea time apps you've ever heard of, plus just thousands more. So again, do not be a dumb person. I'm going to be used the Supreme Golf to book all these tea times to find all of these golf courses. They let people rate them. They do all this good stuff to basically figure out where you should be playing golf. If any of you out there have any suggestions, any recommendations, hey, Riggs, I know you live in Manhattan.

It's tough to get out in Manhattan. However, there are courses around. Here's where you should go play. Tweet them at me. Okay, email them to me. Whatever you got to do, send them to me. And then I'm going to use Supreme Golf to book them and show that Supreme Golf has the cheapest T-Times, has the most T-T times, all that good stuff. So I'm on a mission.

The weather has turned. It was like 73 degrees today outside at Shinnecock Hills, where we played golf, no big deal. So the weather's turned. We're going to do it. We're going to play a bunch of courses. We're going to review them. We're going to talk about them. We're going to break them down.

You've played a lot of these courses. You're going to love it. You're going to be like, that's what I thought, or I had a different experience, or whatever. Again, we're going to play some dog tracks. We're going to play some sweet courses. We're going to play hidden gyms. We're going to play all kinds of good stuff thanks to Supreme Golf. And if you're not using Supreme Golf, you are not a smart person.

Supreme Golf.com slash bar stool or just go to the app. Make sure you have the app. The app is clean. It's awesome. It shows you everything you need. So we're going to play some more public courses. We're going to go through them. We're going to rate them.

We're going to review them. We're going to talk about him. We're going to use Supreme Golf to do it. It's going to be fantastic. Keep your eyes peeled for digs. Next up, Stuart Sink. I already talked about this a little bit, but this was one of the cool interviews we did, the insight, the stories that Stu talks about, that he reveals, you know,

how in-depth you can tell that his brain was working and how he was working through, you know, the best ways to give himself the advantage or to give himself and put himself in the the best spot to try to win. Even the way he talked about how his game was feeling going into the tournament, which was not great. All this stuff, it's a fascinating interview here is our chat with Stuart Sink and his catty Taylor. This interview with Stuart Sink is brought to you by our good friends at Seekeekeek. Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing,

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Stewart Sink and his caddy Taylor. First time we ever had a duo. on here. Gentlemen, how are we doing today? Happy to be here. It is the first time we've had to do on here. I'm hoping we don't pit them against each other in any way and make them support break-up. See, I'm hoping that we do. That's what I'm looking for. Well, that'll never happen because I'm always

I usually just bow or whatever. If he tells me what to do in this podcast the next few minutes, then I'll do it. Uh-oh, that could be troubles. Here we go, he said. So, well, then with that, Stu, my first question is, what is the worst advice Taylor's ever given you on the golf course?

on the golf course. He doesn't really ever give bad advice. I'm serious about that. He's really good with advice and information. He's dependable to all. That's one of the things I like about him working for me as a caddy is that he's always, you know, he's got good information because he's got good player instincts.

And there's a lot of caddies out there that work on the PGA tour and various other tours, and they have to learn those. So Taylor comes from a golf background, and it's natural to him to understand how the wind's affecting the shot and the distance control and all that. So we think alike out there. So you guys, I'm plugging. We're trying to pump you up, man. This is helping you out.

You're welcome. Yeah, yeah. So we had Kip Henley on here. We love caddies. We love the, you know, the player caddy dynamics. Dude, just curious, you know, how do you go about finding a guy deciding like, hey, this is going to be the one guy that's inside the ropes with me when I'm, you know, doing my job? Well, I think people that is in the caddying profession, so very rarely do you see a new guy come on the scene that is a, like take Michael Greller, for example. He was kind of new on the scene because he had a relationship with Jordan in the past as far as I know, and so he didn't caddy for anybody before.

Most of the time, though, it comes from a relationship you've made in the past by playing with another player and his caddy. You know, you got to know that guy, and then you both become available at the same time. And so that's how works usually. In terms of some of the kind of the early success, I mean, how much of it depends on, like, if you're just playing really well and you bring the guy on at the right time, I feel like a guy can almost get kind of lucky and be like, well, I guess this guy's a good luck charm or something like that.

Yeah, I can. I mean, a player, a caddy can start working for a player at the right time when a player is just about to really bust out. And, you know, it takes, really it takes, like, a couple of key parts of your game to come together. And you don't have to do it all great. putting well helps. If those two things come together, for instance, at the right time,

then you're going to have some good weeks, and you might have a good stretch of tournaments for a couple months where you play really well. That's the one, you know, a caddy that just comes on. It's kind of like hitting the jackpot in a way. And the caddy really doesn't have a lot to do with it. But there's also times when, like I think last weekend we just saw, or recently we saw WebSince a win where Paul Tesori is a real big part of his golf game

to develop several years now. That's the other side of the spectrum where a team kind of forms, and then they start making a lot of progress, and then you see a big culmination in a win like the players. So recently, a couple weeks ago, I did a little history podcast about the 08 U.S. Open. I talked a little about Stevie Williams, kind of Colin Tiger, off of the wedge you wanted to hit on the 72nd hole. So, Taylor, I'm curious if you're at the point where you kind of have the balls to call Stu

off a certain shot at this point. I'd have given him some, you know, respect to my opinion a little bit. I'm never really worried about making the wrong decision. I'd rather, we talk about this all the time, I'd rather make the wrong decision and make sure I spoke up than to, you know, kind of swallow my words and feel regret after the shot, especially if, you know, it was the right opinion. And sometimes I'll say something and it's just, you know, flat out won't be the right thing.

But or sometimes, you know, I say something and, you know, he kind of, you know, takes that information, he'll say, like, you know what, I'm just feeling this a little bit more. And then he'll explain why. And, you know, I accept that. Ultimately, the player hits the shot. So I'm always, you know, all for his opinion and whatever he feels is best. But sometimes, like, it's very hard for me to just not say anything. So I very rarely don't say anything.

It's interesting because. And I'd say, Taylor's pretty good about speaking up. And it's rare that we disagree and we come to, like, where we just can't come together on a, decision. There's almost always a way for me to get him on to my side or for him to get me on to his side. And usually we end up in the same place, almost every shot. Maybe like once or twice a tournament we kind of don't come together on a shot. Yeah. Well, sometimes say like it's a back flag and he wants to hit a longer club, whatever, and he wants to kind of tidy it in there. You know, just hit a good full shot. Say it's like a back

flag and you need to hit an eight to get it close and a nine to end up, you know, and take what you can get. Like, very rarely is it, you know, as long as I don't speak up and say, like, you know, hey, you know, a nine would give us a good hard shot and we just kind of take what we can get. Or, like, if he says, you know, I'd rather just cozy a nine back there and see what we can get then, you know, that's, as long as we both speak up and accept and know, like, what the shot is, I would hate to, like, have him hit a full eight and just send it and then go along and then wonder, like, what the heck? There's always that, that culmination of shot. So there's never really, like, any actual bad

advice or like decision as long as we talk about it. So it's interesting because on last week's show, we were saying how we think the most interesting thing as a spectator on TV is when they get in there with the mics and you just hear the player and caddy talking over the shot and the announcers don't say a single word for like two or three minutes. I think that's the most fascinating thing as a golf fan. Yeah, and that's a really big part of playing competition golf especially. You've got to make pretty crucial decisions when your mind is racing. and you're not always in the right type of, you know, condition to really be making crucial to determine the outcome of the tournament.

You know, someone maybe is real hasty with their decision and anxious about getting to see that result. And it's tempting. And maybe they're... So, Stu, speaking of, you know, crucial decisions, let's go to the biggest week of your career, the 2009, the British Open, Turnberry. My first question is kind of, you know, just out of curiosity, going into the week, beginning the, week, is there any kind of indication, you know, on the range or in a practice round or anything earlier in the week that made you think like this is going to be a little different? A little bit about, I had played pretty poorly in 2009 up until that point, and I'd changed

a bunch of things just recently, completely overhauled my putting at zero expectations. So that was one part. As far as did something kind of pop up and feel like a spark, it's a funny little story but on Wednesday evening pretty late you know over there you can hit balls on the range until about 10 p.m. and it's not getting dark because they're so far north I was uh after my practice you know nothing great I was kind of struggling like I said no expectations and I was headed over to the range for a late evening practice cool it down before the next day and it was like 8 o'clock at night and Mike tariko is one of my friends you know one of the best

TV hosts in history of sports oh yeah so he came by and we were chatting briefly just small talk about families and whatever we've known each other for a long time and he walked away and said goodbye and then he turned around and said hey by the way you got anything this week you know meaning you know how's your game and I turned to him and said Mike I'm going to be it and that's where I was that's where I stood and I just didn't feel very confident and I was you know the practice round I was sitting it all over the place and I felt like my putting was off and I just was not really playing great but I was super contenting because the week before I'd been in Ireland with my family, Lisa, my two kids who were about 15 and 12,

just playing golf all day and having fun playing on links courses and having dinners at night and just relaxing. I was so content yet I was full of zero expectations. So I told Mike Tarrico I had nothing. And then I go to the range. Suddenly I had this tempo that I was kind of remembering back to a few years ago that, you know, when I was getting my swing kind of in a good smooth tempo sort of vision, tempo and rhythm because it's really windy over there a lot of times and you know you want to have good solid you know consistent flight of the ball to predict for what the wind's going to do to it so

I went to the range I felt little something and got a little spark and I said well I'm just going to go with it if I don't have anything else to go with and I went with it and I really hit it awesome for four straight days I played some days it played easy the first day it played really easy it was flat calm and everybody shot low and then Friday through Sunday it was like a hurricane and I played well all the way and last man standing. I really saw that Toriko story going the other way. I thought it was going to be your Joe Namath moment where you turned around and were like,

I'm going to win this thing. You're like, nope, I got nothing this week. No, the exact opposite of that. Oh, that's amazing. I thought so, too. I think there was something a little bit therapeutic for me kind of admitting to myself that I don't have anything, and you know what, I'm okay with it. I mean, I really was,

I wasn't distressed or, you know, frantic wigged out about it at all. I was just I realized that, you know what, I'm having a great time over here, my kids are here, It was only like the second time the kids had ever been to the open. We're just having a good time. And so golf was sort of taking a back seat in a way to just me enjoying my equipment.

That's really cool. That's very unique. Yeah, it's interesting because I always say that whenever I have, you know, we're weekend golfers play once or twice a weekend in the summer. And I always say whenever I have a really good range session before I play, I always play terrible because I've got these expectations, right? I'm like, wow, I'm flushing it today. I'm going to shoot great.

And then whenever I'm hitting it terrible on the range, I've gotten to the point now where I just know and I just tell my buddy, or whoever's my partner that day, I'm like, hey, we're in great shape today. I'm hitting it like, shit on the range. So then at what points, you know, throughout the week do you kind of realize, like, actually, you know, when I said to Tariko, that was not right. I've kind of got something this week. Oh, I don't know if I ever realized that because if I, if that had come across my mind,

I probably would have like puked all over myself right at the moment when that occurred to me. So I don't think that ever happened. I just was doing a good job to state in the moment. You know, when you think about expectations, you're thinking about the future and what's coming. And when I said I had no expectations, I think part of that was I was not looking to the future. And then, you know, enter Tom Watson into the frame. And that just served as another distraction to keep me off myself. And just like any other sports fan and a lot of people around the world that week were paying attention to the open that probably normally would not,

I was paying attention to what Tom was doing. It was kind of keeping me going. I was doing became a little bit and took a little backseat. And I didn't really pay attention to myself much until once we're pretty well into the weekend. And I realized I was in contention. I mean, it's not like I didn't know. But, you know, I really started focusing on grinding and playing hard and getting what I could out of it. And, you know, I combined that intensity with, you know, feeling and rhythm and feel for the course.

Yeah, I just have this image of you waking up Saturday. Like, wait, did we make the cut or what happened? Like, okay, great. Yeah, actually, it's that week. Another weird thing in statistical record books, but on Friday I had a whiff really deep up right outside of green on a part three, and I go to take a whack at it, and then I hit, you know, of course, it's deeper in the rough, and I had to take another hack at it and get it on the green and make double.

But I would think that going back in history, I might be the only player to ever win a major with a whiff in the same week. Wow. You heard it here first. I had no clue, that little whiff. That's awesome. So final round, you know, you come to the 72nd hole, kind of walk us through. You know, I'm always really curious what guys, you know, how much are you paying attention to the leaderboard? How much did you know? Because, you know, I was watching the highlights before we even recorded this. And it seems like, you know, you knew that that putt meant a lot.

You gave a pretty good fist pump and all that. So what all is going through your brain as you're kind of coming down the stretch there? Yeah, well, I was not in the final group. And so when you're in that position, you come to the 72nd hole. And no matter what you do, you don't know for sure if it's going to be enough or if you're short, you just don't know. So all you can do is your best. It was playing really tough, and I had bogeyed about two holes in the last five. And I'd also birdied about two holes in the last five.

So I was back and forth, you know, with conditions and just playing golf, it happens. and I had a good birdie look on 18. It was playing downwind, but it was also playing really tough because it's hard to control how far the ball rolls and into the green there because you've got to land it way short of the green and let it bounce on. I had worked really hard on my putting and completely thing routine. I'd been using the long putter up until about two months before.

Completely changed everything. I do remember, I'll never forget it actually. On the 72nd hole, I had that birdie putt, and I got to the ball, and it was a flat putt, but because of the wind blowing so hard, it was about six inches left to right. It was easy read, actually. I mean, it was not a tricky.

I got to the ball, and then I backed the rank Williams at the time he carried for me for 14 years, and he kind of wandered over there, and he got near me, and I said, he probably thought I was going to ask him for a second look on the read. And I said, you remember that routine I've been working so hard on? And he goes, yeah. And I said, do you think right now it's a good time to abandon it? And I was laughing because that's the kind of mood I was in.

I was having a great time. And you can see if you go back and look really close at the video, when I call him over there and I'm looking down the line one last time, I've got like a smile on my face. Like I'm making a joke. And he kind of said, he was surprised I was making a joke. And he said, no, I think you should do it one more time. And so that was my goal, you know, going into that putt.

First of all, I wanted him to know that I was still committed to doing the routine and not there because it was 75. second hole with major and I knew I was in contention. So I got in there, smiling, feeling great, did the routine. And, I mean, when this ball left my putter, there's no way it was going anywhere to put the center of the hole. And, you know, it was, the fist pump came out of, stayed in the process all the way through the 72nd hole.

And, you know, I was really excited. And I didn't know if it was going to be enough to win, but I knew that Berger said. But, yeah, if you go back and look really close, you can see me a little smirk on my face like I'm smiling. That's a really cool story. Yeah. I'm glad that you said you knew it was in right off the first. face because I was going to say that might have been one of the earlier walks I've ever seen

on a put going into the hole. Well, like I said, it was a pretty simple read. I mean, it was flat green and the wind was blown across. And the wind, that weekend, anyway, that week straight off the ocean, it was very not gusty. You know, it was just a solid wind. It was blown about probably maybe 20, 15 to 20 miles an hour. It was a solid. You could depend on it on your shots.

You had to hit the right shot, but you could depend on it to do what it should do to the ball and putting is no different. You could expect to consistently, and that was one putt. It did exactly what was supposed to do. So now the playoff, going into the playoff, you kind of touched on it already, but, you know, Tom Watson, almost the whole sports world was kind of focused on. He's 59 years old. A lot of people would think because, you know, clearly just because of a lot of the emotions

of it, a lot of the uniqueness of it, it probably felt like everybody was pulling for Tom Watson, and I was going to say, you know, I wonder, did that hurt you at all or whatnot? But you almost make it sound like I feel like that might have. to freed you up and helped you a little bit. Because it, and that's what helps me. I knew that I didn't think anybody was pulling against me, but I completely understood that historic. I understood that.

And so one of my, one of the off-suits of that understanding was that to get myself ready for the playoff. And my plan was pretty simple. It was to get to the T second. I didn't want to get to the T first. I wanted at least Tom to have to hear some applause for me because I knew he would feel the support. He bogeed the 72nd.

hole, I felt like he was a little bit down and that, you know, that, that moment was a pretty overwhelming one. I wanted to beat to the T second and Tom standing there on the T and I, you know, hear the crowd at least politely applaud softly from the T. And so, so I knew that there was a Porter John off the T, about 100 yards in front of, we started on number five and they started on number five. And so I went to the Porder John first and waited until I heard him walk to the T and heard the applause and then that was my cue and I popped out of the border john and walked to the tea

there it is a little applause and they clap for me and then uh you know so i i worked my plan even though you know probably didn't have any real impact on anybody but i felt like i was somewhat still in quotas and my uh you know i sort of operationally in charge off we go in the playoffs and uh i had a good one-stroke lead after the end up the rough on the term was pretty much the side of you. Wow, I really, I respect that you were, you know, you were trying to make sure you pulled off anything that you could to get an advantage, make sure that, you know, you felt comfortable, you felt like you're in the right spot to win. And I mean, Tom's got five. We're going to get one, right? Like, come on. To reiterate, I can't stress this enough, actually. I

completely understood that situation was challenged for me to, something that, you know, understood by people. I never had any kind of animosity towards the crowd at all. In fact, While I was out there in the playoff, I remember seeing Tom Lehman, who's one of my great friends, in the crowd watching. I remember seeing Justin Leonard in the crowd watching, also one of my great friends. You think they were out there to watch me? My own friends are out there to not watch me and probably pull for the other guy. Well, I mean, regardless, it's really cool to hear the other side, right? Because we've all heard the Tom Watson's story, and a lot of people have focused on all that.

But, I mean, you won winning the Open Championship at Turnberry. is one of the coolest things somebody can win in golf, and it was well-deserved, so it's really cool to hear it from the other side. So I want to get into just out of curiosity. You spent, I believe, you spent 40 weeks inside the top 10 in the official world golf rankings. You got as high as sixth.

What is it like to know and to be, you know, the sixth best or a top 10 best player in the entire world at something? According to the world rankings, you know, the same beliefs are inside. my mind and my soul, just like they were then. It's just that sometimes the ball, like it did then. And that's just, it's such a fine line that it's hard to explain the difference. But, you know, I do remember being, I had no idea where the ball was going.

And I was with, you know, T-balls, hitting errant T-balls and missing puts. But that used to bother me because I felt like I was the only one. But I've come to understand that even when Tiger Woods was on his, like, it probably won't ever be dominated. again, I promise you he felt that way sometimes. You know, he probably felt a little bit afraid over a short putt or over a difficult chip or a bunker shy or a tee ball. And so that's just the way golf treats you and it's one of the things that make it

such a great game. So Taylor told us that you're a little obsessed with barbecue. He gave us a little tidbit about something called a barbecue competition team called Q School. We've got to hear more about this. Yeah, I know a little bit about that. I get to hear about it for hours every day. Good.

How long is your podcast got? You can have as much time as you want, all the time in the world. We, about 10 or 12 years ago, we searched it and learned how to do it and everything, and according to the plan, we cooked it, and it was pretty close to inedible. It was really terrible. And so that started us on like this little quest that has become an. session and are cooking and trying to get a little bit better. And so what that's led to is competition barbecue team now. A couple times a year we compete against other series of events

and it's run by a group called the Kansas City Barbecue Society, which is kind of like the PJ Tour of Barbecue. And so we compete in that and it's four categories. It's four ribs, chicken, brisket and all four categories. We also do a lot of catering for like my foundation, for since we do a lot of stuff for that. And it does really great for the auctions, and it's a great way to entertain people and teach a little bit and raise some money about it's a blast. So I think obviously we're going to have to try your barbecue at some point

and see for ourselves. Yeah, well, any reason, any excuse I can get to throw something on the smoker and massage it for a little while, you know, I'll take it. So we'll just have to make a date for that. There's just something therapeutic about it, isn't it? Just kind of hanging out there and tweaking it a little bit? There is. And, you know, I find it to be a lot like golf, actually, because you try to do your best

to control what you do before the shot or the cook happens. And then what happens after is largely not your responsibility because you're dealing with a lot of different variables. And, you know, sometimes when we cook in competition, the judges taste are a little different because you cook to a lot of different judges. If there's a person, if there's 60 teams in the contest, there's usually about 60 judges. And so very different taste profiles, and you don't ever know what you're cooking to. And golf, you know, you don't always know exactly how the wind is going to gust or what the lie

of the ball is going to do or how the green's going to react. So learning how to pursue golf the way I have a little bit better cook to what I can control. And you get to hang out with the boys and have a couple beers on the weekend. I think that's a small story there. I mean, you know, when we do these contests, it's basically like going camping. We rent an RV and we, park it in the little place with the contest is with other RVs, and there's a lot of people that are, it's really good folks. You know, me and two of the guys, the other two, one's from Boston, who's my swing coach, Mike Littnick,

and then Chad Parker is my third teammate, and he and I from the same town in Alabama. So we kind of grew up with this. It's kind of a heritage thing. You know, if you're from Alabama, it's like smoke is in your blood veins. So I can't get it out. So I got to ask, a few years ago,

you were playing in the Sony Open. You're coming off. I believe it was your Thursday around. You finished up. You took your hat off. You had a picture that went a little viral with the tan line. Did you have any idea that the tan line was going to look like that? Were you thinking in your head, oh, I wish I didn't have to take my hat off right now?

What was going through your mind when you saw that picture? No, at the time I didn't. I do know that that tournament is really bad for a lot of our tan lines. And it's because most of us have been shut up in the cold wintertime for months. And then you go to Hawaii where it's suddenly hot and sunny, and you know, you get pretty roasted. And so I'm no different. And one little unique part about that day when that happened was that it was very end of the day. And the cameras had opened up the, I don't know much about cameras, but they opened up the lens.

And so whatever looks light looks lighter and whatever looks darker. And so it created even more of a contrast. I had no idea that it happened until the next day. And I finished the next day, I think it was Friday, and I finished in the middle of the day. Nondescript round, maybe I shot like one or two under, and I made the cut. I think the cut was going to be one under, and I was three under, maybe. So I'm, you know, I'm in about 50th place. And there's like 25 reporters standing there at the scoring.

And I'm just thinking. And so it's like none of them wanted to ask. I guess they thought I knew, but I didn't. the one reporter that I knew the best in the group, I said, what's going on here? And he told me, oh, I guess you don't know. Well, and then that was the story. That still comes back to me all the time, by the way. When I look at Twitter or if I look at any of my social media, almost every day, someone sends me a picture of that.

Hey, I hope you use sunscreen today. It is, I mean, it is a historic tan line. You're right. They open up those bulbs and they get, you know, the contrasts a little better. But it is one of the best timelines. Dude, they did you dirty with the camera. Digit dirty. They did.

They did. But, hey, you know, no such thing as bad publicity. That's right. That's right. You got a bunch of reporters out there. So you obviously played a ton of pro-ams. We are sort of, you know, the podcast for the common golfer. We got a lot of our guys are, like I mentioned, a bunch of weekend guys, just trying to get better.

Everybody's trying to get better. What's a number one tip you would give to an amateur kind of weekend golfer? The bigger is the golf shots are on putts on the greens. I've been on greens. where you got like a severe slope, like the ball will barely stay on the green, and they're putting from 40 feet. And the pro, you got this about, like, left edge? And I'm like, I'd go more like 10 feet.

And that happens all the time. People just don't understand how much break you see guys that just miss by so much. So definitely if you're one of the listeners and you're going to play in a pro lamb, or if you play with a really good player sometimes, ask them to help you read your putts and pay attention, and you'll learn how to read puts a lot better yourself. We're really amazed at how much break the... Number one, the greens are a little faster,

and most people just don't pay attention to the details like that. So that's the number one thing I see is reading putts. Interesting. What's the most bizarre thing you've ever heard from a member of the gallery? Oh, I had a really good comment. In 2001, in the U.S. Open, you may remember, but maybe not. I had a short pot on the little 72nd hole. I was just trying to get out of Routhe Gooson's way.

He looked like he was going to win the tournament, and I missed for about 18 inches. I mean, it was just a tiny little ugly tappet. And I missed. Routique goes on to 3-5 from 10 feet, and it cost me a chance to be in the playoff. And, of course, I didn't know at the time, but it was pretty devastating.

So the next week, I'm playing at Westchester and playing really well again, maybe top 10 or five. and I hit my shot up on the green on the 18th hole on the Sunday, 72nd hole, 10 feet maybe for Bertie. And the crowd is kind of applauding as we walk up. And then as they settle down, one dude from way in the back yells out, sink, go put out. You know, I was thinking to myself, well, maybe no one remembers that because that's something you kind of want to hide from missing a tap in it on the 7th and 2nd hole the major.

especially when it was costly. But that guy put it right back in the forefront of my mind. Whoever he was, it kind of actually made me laugh because I just thought it was funny that, you know, the situation there I played well the second week, and the week after that, I think the guy's got the worst. They got him just sitting on that all week. I was getting a little bit of advice.

What's the most nervous you've ever been over a golf ball? That's pretty easy. The most nervous I've ever been in my 2002, I grew up with Jim Furrick. Jim hit Tee ball for first T, and he hit it in the right first cut, which is the most perfect place to be for your first shot in the Ryder Cup. It's an eight iron off a lie that was teed up, like, better than a T. It was so perfect. And I was so nervous.

What is my pre-shot routine again? I forgot. I couldn't remember. So that was the most nervous I ever was. Second most nervous, though, was probably after I hit. that shot. I'm so glad that's over. And hit it on the green and for birdie. By about four feet. So now I have to make the four footer in the first hole to keep the match square. And so that was the

second most nervous I've ever been. Oh, man. Yeah, you're like... I made that one too. And the rest was, we ended up winning. We won the match and that was fun. That's great. What is the, what do you think is the greatest shot you've ever hit? Greatest shot at hit shot that don't look that they have a lot of special that are just like dropping like how did that happen and so the in the second someday and give myself a chance to win and on the 13 close about like 70 degrees from the sand up to the green and it's not vertical but they're close they're really steep and then my ball i had in i hit in the bunker and it was right up against the base and i really

had no shot and decided to uh open the face up and use the boards use the angle and sort of glance it off the boards and let it go straight up in the air, and I felt like it might just either come back in the bunker, which was playable, or it might just barely creep over the fringe. Luckily, did the second thing. It barely got over the fringe, barely carried on the green and just trickled off. Oh, I bet you were just thinking like that was pretty cool. Well, I played with Woody Austin, and Woody was notorious for, well, let's just say, Woody did not really feel the same sense of excitement when you hit a good shot that you did.

I think he would admit that too. I was playing with him and we were kind of having a good time. We knew each other pretty well. We were goofing off and I hit that shot. And even Woody often kind of smiled at that one. And it was lucky. We all knew it, but I'd take a chance and it pulled it off. So last question since we've got Taylor here.

How often do people think that he's your son? I'd say, well, Taylor is about, Taylor's 28, I think, right? Saylor's 28, and I'm about to turn 45. I'm really tall. He's not as tall as me. He's short. I'm sure. I'm sure.

I think that it must be my son. I don't know. I guess if you see two people that are a little bit different ages and different heights, that one must be the father and one must be the son. I'd say it happens at least once a week average, at least. A lot of times it happens more than that. Yeah. And that's all the times I don't tell him. Right.

So when's the next time people can see it teeing it up out there, Stu? Well, I'm going to be teed up at Fort Worth Invitational or Colonial next week and playing the next three, and hopefully more than that, I have to qualify the U.S. Open. But we'd love to get in that one again, and I'll be playing most of the summer and I'm looking forward to getting a little groove going. Awesome. Well, everybody, all the listeners out there show Stu some love, Stuart Sink, major champion. Taylor, thank you very much. And guys, we really appreciate it. This was a lot of fun.

Yeah, no way. You got it, guys. Good to be on. All right. Thanks, guys. Take care. All right, big thanks to Stu. Big thanks to Taylor. That was a fantastic interview. We really appreciate those guys taking the time. Big Stewart Singh fan, by the way. Trent, Danny and I were talking right after we recorded that interview last week. Incredibly chatty guy, very insightful guy, and people may forget that he was a top 10 guy in the world for a very long time. major champion, all that stuff. So if you see Stu out there, see Taylor out there, show those guys some love, we really appreciate it.

Keep your eyes peeled for four play digs this Thursday. Phil Mickelson versus the United States Open. That's all we got. We'll see you next week with Dave Portnoy on this very show.