No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1138: Craig Stadler, 1982 Masters Champion

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

Craig Stadler paid Soly an in-person visit recently to join the pod and discuss his win at Augusta in 1982, the infamous towel rules controversy at Torrey Pines which we recently profiled (Ep. 1123), his views on the evolution of pro golf since his playing days, and a ton more. Support our Sponsors: Titleist If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Sali here.

Got an interview coming shortly with Craig Stadler, Masters Champion and neighbor of mine, I found out. He actually came over to my house for an in-person interview. A couple weeks ago, we had a great time. It was something I never pictured whatever actually happened. and see him Craig Stadler show up at my doorstep,

but had a great time with him. Greatly appreciate his time here and some stories on the Champions Dinner, all kinds of stuff to get you to wet your appetite, just a little bit more ahead of next week's Masters. Additionally, the beginning of this episode is presented, ad free from title is the overwhelming number one ball at this week's Augustine National Women's Amateur. Without any further delay, here is Craig Stadler.

So we just did a podcast recently where we dove into rules, infamous rules issues of the past. Do you know where I would, where my first question would be on that topic? Yeah, probably. Well, tell us that story. It's pretty amazing and that was 30, 29 years ago.

No, 39, 87. So 39 years ago. Torrey Pines. And it got brought up, I was down to Val Spard doing some stuff for the tour last week for a couple days, meet and greets and whatever. And it got brought up three times that week.

It's just, it's amazing. It gets brought up 20 times a year. For those that maybe did this. Damn near 40 years old. What was, what is the story there? And what happened? I was in San Diego.

Actually, on Saturday, uh, they don't think they do anymore, but on the South course, we're playing Saturday. And I drove to the ride on 14 and was under one of the, they had these like 10 foot tall juniper trees or 150 markers,

neither side of the fairway and right under it. And the, and the things they, ranches grow like a foot off the ground. And I would have greens here, and I'm here under this, I would have to go back about probably 120 yards beyond the trees behind me to get a clear shot if I took a drop. And it was just mucky out, not, it wasn't casual water.

I had white pants on. And, uh, and no rain pants. So I just laid a towel down a needle in the towel. And she'd sit it from here to your bag there, about 10 feet, just got out from under it. and finished the round and played all day Sunday nobody said a word about anything I got done on Sunday I made about a 30 foot

35 foot about to finish second and Glenn Tate one of our actually from San Diego one of our tour officials where I was from Sammy on the green he says do take care of your car but don't sign it okay so I'm walking down to the tent

and I'm like what the hell did I do today one through through 18, nothing. And so he gets down there. I go with card and he was out. He says, what happened on 14 yesterday? I said, I hit it under the tree and put a towel down because it was all muddy, had white pants on. He says, well, we had a couple callers call in in the lead up to the telecast today and thinking that it might be a penalty of building a stance. Like, really? So, didn't sign the card, I went over to the little modular rules trailer, I guess you'd call it. And Mark Russell's in there and Mike Shea and a couple of the guys.

And they had PJ Boatwright, who was the president of the SGA, then had him on the phone at home. I'm sitting there, less than my wife's in there with me. And I'm sitting there looking at the rulebook. And they based it on this thing that happened to some guy in the, maybe college of the desert had their own tournament down in Palm, strings. Okay.

And they were playing Indian Wells where the one par five, I don't know if you're going to whales or not. I don't know if I'm hard, but now. Yeah. Like the third one, two, three, fourth hole, par five was just big rock outcropping on the right.

They drove it up in there and he was here and this was about a hole this wise. He couldn't quite, what was feeling where he said. Roll up a towel. Oh. That's a towel. That's building a stand. And that's what they're comparing mine to.

Okay. So I'm sitting there listening to these guys talk about this. I'm like, this is shit. And I'll give the rulebook and I said, PJ, it's Craig. Yes. I said, you got a rule book in front of you, I assume. I do.

So can you look at page 12, you know, rule 1-4-2 pi squared, whatever the hell they are. They got a billion of them. He says, I have it right here. I said, can you read that to me? He said, absolutely. This is the definition of taking a stance is placing one's two feet firmly on the ground. Okay. So how are you penalizing your,

me for building a stance when in reality I did not take a stance because your feet were in the air yeah he says well in this case your needs take the place of your feet i said where the hell does to say that it doesn't it's just our interpretation i said well your interpretation sucks and on and on so long story short they disqualified me uh because i signed an incorrect card on saturday i should just put six instead of four and they knew this before we teed off they did know but let me let me do it Sunday before the telecast, you know, I was probably on five or six or seven and just let me play all day.

So, yeah, it was, my wife wasn't happy. She walked and slammed the modular door and it came flying off the inches. That sounds pretty good. But then you came back to chop that tree down. Is that right? Yeah, there was about a 20 foot tree actually, higher than that, bigger than 10, but,

no, they had it trimmed up to where just, I just cut its lifeline. line off. But we were laughing with that picture because you're not wearing any eye wear or anything. No glasses, no gloves, no nothing. Somebody actually sent that or said a picture that like three months ago, like not even any

goggles or eyeglass or anything. No. We had a hoot relive with that one. It's good to get the actual story. So we're recording this here a couple weeks ahead of the Masters. What does the Masters mean to you? Now we're going to go back in time and talk about winning it now. Did you have any idea when

you did win it, that it would have a long-lasting impact on your life? Or does it still have a major? No, that was the assumption, I think. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, any major has a part of that in all of them. But certainly the, you know, it's weird because it's the only one that everywhere you are, you get introduced as a Masters champion.

And not everybody gets introduced as a PJ champion and a USJ, US Open champion or British Open champion. But the Masters is every time, which is kind of wild. I don't understand why, but it's kind of fun. I think it has something to do with the eternal nature. You're invited, you can play it forever, you know, and there's just a, they celebrate the history in such a way. So that what is, I'm just curious what it's like now. You go back, you stopped playing in 2014 Masters.

What is, what is the, is it like a no, absolute no brain? Do you look forward to that week every single year still? I do. Yeah. What's the week like now for you? When you go, do you go watch golf or, you know, we go up, we live up, we leave Saturday morning and go out. and maybe catch the tail end of the women's thing for a couple holds

and then watch the kids on Sunday. And then I usually bring, I try to bring a couple or just a couple friends that have never been and stay at the house for three, four days and then go. But now I just kind of, we've got Tuesday night, we've got Monday night, Final Four, you got Tuesday night past champions, you got Wednesday night,

Chairman's Cocktail Party under the oak tree. And then I usually do a dinner. on Friday night somewhere, which I'm doing with John McGuinness this year, so somewhere. If you look at that photo just to your left there, I was fortunate enough to win the media lottery in 2024 and they, you know, get to play the Monday after the Masters. And I get to, I go to the lot. We get to use the Champions locker room for that. Sure enough, I was aside your locker.

Oh, really? You shared with Craig Wood as well. Is that right? Yeah. I got to use your locker. So when you get there is your green jacket in your locker waiting for you there. And you head straight there and put it right on. What's that?

Lately, it's, it's been a little trying because I've been going up and down and up and down weight wise. They usually have two in there. This year, they had one. And I put it on. I got about, I mean, it looked like a straight jacket. I got it halfway on. And I said, no, that's, that's like 48 regular or something. I said, no, no, no.

I'm not, I'm not a 58. I don't weigh 450 pounds. I weigh 260, but I don't weigh 4.50. He said, no, sir, that's your jacket. No, you put it on. This is a skinny little guy. It fit him perfect. And then so they called the club,

JJ came up, the pro came up to the locker room with another jacket. And he says, this was in your locker? She has got you know, he says, that must be your original one from 82, which is like a 42 regular.

Like, I put it on like just like this, you know, can't move. So that's happened three or four times in the past like six, seven years they've got to find a new one or a different one for the night well it's it's funny i i was reading so much about 1982 and and everything after that and it a lot of the i guess what was this like for you because a lot of the writing immediately after you win the masters is about weight and they're asking you about weight you know in the press conference afterward but you waiter wait or

temper one of the other weight and temper or but maybe the writing is is shocking by today's standards and about a lot of that stuff but at the same time you had also said you had gotten down to maybe 190 at a certain point and you didn't like putting at a lighter weight. Is that? I don't remember that, but. Well, your line, I think, had something to do with maybe you liked just having the gut and locked you in or something, something like that was your line. Yeah, 1979, I guess.

I went from like 230 to 185 or something and just, just wasn't, I don't know about putting, but just wasn't very comfortable. What, when, going back to 1982, and I know you've told the story, a million times about about that week. But it can't be, it can't be a bad thing to relive the telling the story about that. Or do you ever get tired of telling those stories? About what?

About 1982, just the week and it was. Do you ever go back when they put all the, the final rounds on YouTube several years ago? Do you ever go back and watch it now? I've watched it when I go to the club once in a while. Okay. In the cottages,

if you stay the night, they have every, I don't know how many years they have on their TV. And they had TV from like the back nine, which in 82, only televised last four holes. 82. I think they, well, whatever they had online now, you come into the picture and nine fairway. They have nothing, nothing earlier than the ninth hole. But maybe that's different.

I think, but television in early 80s, I think we're still doing just 16, 17, 18. Really? Everywhere, I thought. Maybe not. But, yeah, I have no idea what I did the front nine. I shot 33. It was easy. It was easy. Yeah. I don't remember a single shot there. And I remember every shot I hit on the back what so so take us to that back nine because I watched it you know I knew the story of you know that you shot a back 940 to go into a playoff with Dan pole but I went back to watch and I was expecting to see wayward drives I was expecting to see you all over the map you were striping the driver now I had two good shots on 10 two good shots on 11 made pars there then 12 uh I just uh caught a little too solid I put at the back bunker buried

at the back bunker, which you're dead to that left pin. So I came out right and just to make sure I'd hit at the water. I made bogey there. And then 13, another good drive. Hit a one iron just of the right front, right along the edge and then down into the creek. But it stayed out of the creek by a little bit of water, but not much.

Made par there. And then 14, I hit two good shots, like 30 feet behind the hole and three putted. Another first one about four feet by. 15 hit a good drive, good three would just into the back right bunker, of the back right pin came out about four feet and three 50 60 that one not that I know all this I've just seen a million times it's like do you remember more from watching on TV than you do the actual shots probably I thought I was a little closer on 18 after my first foot but 16 I had a really nice six iron that was back right middle top right and just trickled it into the bunker we were

dead and actually I hit probably the best shot I hit all week from that bunker I carried about that far out of the bunker. It just was trickling down towards the hole. And unfortunately, caught the edge and it spun it. And that's what made it go down the hill where it would have stayed, not like, yay,

but, you know, good two putt there. And then 17, I drove that monstrous divot in the middle of the fairway. Half the ball disappeared. I've never seen one that day. And,

uh, almost made two. I almost hold it. I think it was front right up over the bunker. I bounced it up about the air, and it spun back off the green and just a little blink chip for, part of there hit two good shots driver five iron on 18 about 35 40 feet right of the hole just on top and i i remember i used to tell the story until i watched it i remembered you know leaving it like

four feet short i left it like six feet short or seven it might be eight i had to me if you afterward you said about eight feet yeah it was it could be but uh it was a right edge put and i just put it right on the right edge and just melted it over the hole and i just like oh my god What have you done? Because you, you know, around the back, you're cruising this tournament. You're obviously striping the ball. And around, you said afterward that you felt like you had it. Your picture and putting the jacket on around that, around Aeman Corner and things like that.

When did you snap into and make you feel like maybe this still has a golf tournament? I didn't. You, around Amen, your quotes, you're quote, you know, you had, you had, you had quoted in there and saying that your, your focus drifted a little bit around the middle of the round because you, you had such a big lead and you were, you were picturing putting the jacket on. I don't know about that. I just, you know, I, I, I, I, I, the greens were not good that year. This was the first year back to vent grass. They were really spiked up and they were really fast.

And, uh, first, even Thursday, I put it pretty well, put it well the first three days. And then three, three, three puts on the back nine, which kill me. But, uh, you know, I, I just cooked a little too much on 12. I had a, what I thought was within a foot or two feet of having an eagle put on 13, with a one iron, good shot in 14, missed it 8 inches into the bunk ground 15, four inches into the buckground 16, great shot in 17, a good 5 iron on 18. I shot 40. Yeah, margins are, I shot 40 at the front nine on Thursday.

So 80 for bookends. It was okay. It was okay in between, but no, I said it's probably the best 40 ever, ball striking 40 I've ever had. But, you know, I shouldn't have 3.5 14. That was a mistake. but, you know, I shot, I shot 40 to the back and Dan Paul shot 30 of the back, I think. Yeah, he, I think he, he shot 67, 67 on the weekend to get into that, that playoff.

But what, so what happened? You know, you had a six-shot lead. It gets down to four. You make the four bogeys in the back nine. And you're, it's a quick turnaround to get into that playoff. What did you do between finishing out on your 72nd hole and knowing you still got a chance? Sign the card. Then they asked me if I wanted to hit balls or go play.

Let's go. Walked up to 10 and which is not my forte. hitting it right to left and he got up and just a nice little draw down the hill which he does and I just followed him right down. I hit first, pin was back left. I hit first about at six iron about 25, 30 feet short and he found his over on the right fringe, which is not a good spot. And he left it about six, seven feet, he needed you short. I rolled mine up like that and jiggled it in. and he tried to take some break out of it and just hit a little too firm. And if you remember back in the early 80s,

the scoreboard was like left of the green about 25 yards. His putt was under one under the scoreboard. Like 20 yards off the green. His putt. What do you mean? His par puttut. He missed it. He tried to give a little bit too much to take some break out of it. But he just kept going.

But he pulled it right over the left edge. He kept going all the way down the hill under the scoreboard. Oh, my gosh. I love to get a set. Anyway, it was. I was sitting on my bag in the back of the green and it was kind of, you know, you kind of felt as good for yourself. You did bad for him, actually. It's just kind of one of those moments, but it didn't last long, though.

What was that night like? It didn't last too long. We had to get up and get on an airplane at 6.30 the following morning. So go to San Diego for the term champions. Oh, wow. So it wasn't a long night, but it was long enough. You have dinner with the club with the members and whatever. And it was kind of stuffy a little bit.

It's not anymore. It used to be. It's a great membership now, but my wife was pregnant. She was not feeling good. So the escort her out through the kitchen out of the dinner. Nice. What was the rationale behind that? I have no idea.

Huh. No idea. It couldn't have the champion's wife feeling bad or something, whatever. I had, my chairman was kind of weird. I heard Harden. I didn't get along with him real well. What was the basis of you guys not getting along real? I don't know. He just kind of was kind of a hard ass little bit.

But, you know, nice enough. But after that, we've had nothing of a great chairman after that. And he wasn't bad by any of us. He decided to get along with him too well. What is the, what's the champions dinner vibe like these days? There's been a lot of conflict in the world of golf. Some of that conflict between Masters champions has, has the vibe shifted at all in that room in recent years?

No, not really. It's just, it's a fun cocktail party and fun dinner. You know, a couple of years ago when the live guys came, it was no issue at all. Everybody knows everybody. So, you know. Was Phil really dead silent in the, in the first Champions dinner after the live one? Pretty much. He got into it one year with Vichet about something during, not during the dinner, but during the locker room.

I don't know what it was, but I don't know. Who do you find yourself seated with at the champions dinner? You know, if you go back and look at all the pictures, everybody sits in the same place. Every year? Almost every year. Who's an old assigned seats? I'm on the window side or the deck side, I guess. And typically it's like Tommy Aaron, then Floyd, then Nicholas, then Tiger, then me, then Amira.

Why I don't know, unless one of them wins. But I do look at the other side and Langer and Mize are all there together and the Spaniards are all together. And I don't know, it's weird. Do you find it at all weird? I do. I'm a part of this of how much the general public like pays attention to and cares about this dinner. I mean, it's one of the hardest tickets to earn anywhere in golf, one of the greatest honors in golf.

But, you know, it becomes old hat for you guys, you know, as many times as you've probably done it. But I'm just curious if you had any perspective on that. No, it's special for sure. I mean, there's no doubt about it. I just, I love turned down Magnolia Lane every year, every day. You know, it's just a wonderful place. As I said, the membership is just great.

We've got a lot of friends there with their members now. And do you ever go up there and play much outside? I wouldn't have lunch there a couple weeks. ago with my buddy Roy Simpkins and his son they're both members I haven't seen them a while so I was in Atlanta and just said of coming back I just rented a car and drove up there and then drove home when was last time you played it have you played it since you last played the masters in yeah I played it two or three times I haven't played now in eight years though so what uh anywhere you haven't touched the club in eight years just health reasons or just yeah I've been back and

then a new hip and now my legs it screwed up my TFL ligament or whatever it is here from my leg, that's been two years down, it's not any better. So after my hip. But, uh, yeah, I could, I've, I've gone out and taken my,

my new wife as of last year, uh, taking her out there and trying to teach her chip and putt and whatever in the back of the range at DPC. So awesome. That's fun. Do you miss golf? Not really.

No. Yeah. You know, I, I'd still get enough of it. I still do a couple XM, four XM shows a month and whatever else. So, uh, I'm still involved in a little bit.

I was three days at Ballaspar. Last year I went out to do some stuff with BMW and Silverado. So, yeah, still getting around. What is retirement like for you? How do you spend most of your time? I don't know. Doing a lot of traveling, have been. Not two years ago.

It's like everything done. I got my back done, work done. I got my hip replaced. I got new eyeballs. I got pneumonia. I got shingles in two different things. places the same time. I had a lesion on my kidney that was benign cyst. I had calcification by all the arteries from my heart, which when I did the PET nuclear test, they found nothing

anywhere. And that was all in a period of like 11 months. So I got it all done. But now I've been traveling a little bit because that's a weird thing about golf. I mean, all of us have been all over the world. But we never saw anything. You know, you go to Europe or wherever, Japan, or where you get there and you're regimented you do your get there Monday and do your Tuesday through Sunday and file home. So you've taken a couple cruises to Europe and gone to New Zealand and Bali and Bali, which I won't again, but not for you. That was kind of a mistake. A big mistake, like 30-hour flights. No, a little bit of that and I just work around the house a lot. I was curious about that for people that, you know, spend their life professionally traveling. You know, do you want to get out and see the world after,

you know, after you're done with playing career? Yeah, I try it well, especially a little bit here. Yeah. Because I try to get out of here middle of June and to June, come back and first October or something. I really enjoyed rewatching the 82 Masters getting ready for this. And they had some really cool camera angles there. And the thing that just one of the, I mean, this is obvious, but the things that stuck out

were just the golf shots that were required then are very different than now. I mean, they had a high camera angle of your shot on 18. I mean, you just carve this driver with a huge fade on that one. And then you, they watch you hit it off. know off 10 and you're whipping this draw around right to left they were questioning whether you could you know they were you know you got to 10 t in regulation and they said you know this is kind of a surprise he's more of a left to right player and then you just whip one around right to left when you watch golf do you watch much golf today one is is a question yeah i most of time i do because

i've got a tuesday show and then a saturday afternoon show so do you i got to kind of know what's going on a little bit i long i guess a little bit for the era of watching shots like that where it just felt like you needed to shape the ball and the technology was so different. I'm what, I mean, some of this stuff is, it's, it's obvious when you, when you turn on a TV and see how different it is, but I'm wondering how you could kind of describe the skills that were required more in your era versus what it's like today and kind of what's, what's been lost. Yeah, well, I guess the difference is pretty much everybody worked the ball back then. I mean, you didn't have these clubs that allow you to hit it straight.

I mean, hitting a straight t-ball was the hardest thing in the world back then. It's pretty simple now. for these guys. But, you know, I think that the imagination we had around the golf course was a little bit different than they do now. But, you know, it's the same thing. They're just better. They're better to everything. And, you know, they have their entourage and eight or ten that go with them every week.

Because you've seen the commercials during TPC with Rory. Yeah. Yeah, I win the golf tournament. My team is what does it. And, yeah, we had a team. we had my wife and caddy. That's it. And that was my group, and most of them.

But it's certainly a way, way different game now, especially with equipment and the shape these guys are in as well. Let's talk a little bit about The Nest. The Nest is our membership program. This is our unique way to provide some exclusive content, value, and avenues for connection to our biggest followers and supporters. A quick rundown of what the Nest membership gets you. It gets you two exclusive podcast programs.

months. Sometimes these are golf related, sometimes non-golf, but we're really working to make these a larger window into what we're up to here at No Laying Up. We always post these links to these podcasts in The Refuge. Our message board is a great place to get involved and connect with like-minded folks in your area and across the country. You're also going to get access to Nest exclusive video. We have a great backlog of Ness exclusive features that you can go back and watch. We're trying to get 10 of these vlogs made over the course of the year. We've already dropped three of them so far here in 2026. We also offer Nest members 15% off the No Lange Pro Shop. You can use that on as many orders as you want. You get an annual gift. We send these out in January for all active members at

the time. If you join this year, you get the gift next January. Thoughtfully curated, much debated. Last year's was a total banger. The guys are really flying the flag on that way. We posted about that on last week on Instagram. We're back in the lab already preparing next year's gift and we're fired up about that as well. So if you haven't now, it might be the time. to join the nest. Go to no layingup.com slash join to learn more. Again, no laying up.com slash join. We greatly appreciate your support. Back to Craig Stadler. You know, a lot of the conversation can be, all right, well, their athletes are different now and the technology in terms of track men and launch monitors and all that stuff, the data we now have about strokes gained,

if you went back into the 80s with the equipment you're using, the ball you're using the clubs you're using, but you had, you know, information like launch monitor stuff or maybe better. What is, Would it have changed a lot? You know, would guys be? I'm sure some things would have changed probably, but I don't have no idea what. I've never been privy to it even now, even when I was still playing in the teens.

10 years ago, I've never used trackman. Never been on it. But you know, everything's there for these guys now. I mean, everything you ever needed. I mean, we went into the early 80s and still were hitting shag-bike balls. at some events. Pensacola was one. On the range,

you're saying? Yeah, you could get your caddy out there and you hit balls soon. You know, they're out there with helmets. Yeah. Yeah. It's why we just carry a shag bag with 100 balls in it.

But, and that was a little trying because, you know, he had to get it out there and every once in a while, one of them gets hit by somebody. But I remember doing that. Well, not with,

not with caddy. but the Yos Open calling at Canoebrook up in New Jersey. And the last time we did that was like, never Bethpage was the first time. 05 maybe. Something like that. 02 U.S. Open was in Bethpage. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. And you're still hitting yellow striped balls, warming it up for your qualifier, 36-0 qualifier. And they're like 10 years old. Like, really? But anyway.

What, I mean, some of the stuff is obvious the food i'm sure that the you know the accommodations and everything but what what what what's something about playing in your era that today's today's guys would not even begin to comprehend the exemption the exemption uh criteria hotel standing at cSA line for starters both suburban red houses and fly private yeah you know i don't i don't know any of them the drive tournament to tournament you did a lot of that oh yeah how did you do that three two three years what kind of uh vehicle were you in and how did that work uh for When I first drove back to Milwaukee is my first event.

As I went through the June tour school, they had two a year back then and had a hatchback Camaro that took Scott Simpson's brother with me and he caddied for me for a little while. But it wasn't much fun. I went, I went, so I started like Milwaukee was like the last week in June or first week in July. And I finally got in Hartford as an aldermanet. I never shot hired in 67 on Mondays. And it was like five weeks later, I finally got in. I made the cut in Hartford.

No, it was probably 10 weeks later. I missed the cut. I got Milwaukee and then missed the cut. Then I got in Hartford and made the cut. And then made the cut in Cincinnati and Ohio, the, wherever that used to be, Kings Island, maybe. Could have been, yeah. I think.

Kings Island made the cut. cut there and then I made the cut in Silverado. Would that have been, 79? That was at 76. Okay. I can look up exactly. And if you made the cut, you got in the next week's event. That's playing for your live. And I made the cut at Silverado the end of the year, last tournament. And Ohio Kings Island Open. That would have been in September 19th,

I racked up $2,150 or something for the summer. What did you spend? Probably 12,000. Was there a question as to whether not pro golf was for you. Oh, yeah. I mean, it worked out, the way it did, it worked out good. It gave me whole, gave me like November, December to think about it. It's just, really what I want to do?

Or what am I doing wrong or whatever? And then the first week in 77 was Pelham Beach and I finished tied for fourth. And I had to go June to June. I had to make 12,500 to keep trying to play Mondays. and exempt was the exemption was top 60 then I think and uh finished four tied for fourth at pebble

or fourth and made uh 6,400 so I've got 80, 80, 8, 800 now I'm like if I can't make $4,000 bucks between now and June I'm not going to do this anymore. And I had a good West Coast and you know, it, uh,

I was exempt that year. So I only had to qualify for a year, basically. and rest was just a bit of history, I guess. Were you, before you got out there, were you, like, well-versed in the tour? Did you have guys on tour that you especially looked up to? Like, the big names was it, you know, when you're sharing a range with them, what's that like in your early? Yeah, it was wonderful.

All the guys are good. There were a couple of them that, you know, maybe on not even one hand that you, I wouldn't want to go have dinner with. But all in all, it was a great, great bunch of guys. Did guys go out? Did you guys do stuff during tournament week? Now it's, you know, the guys who get their Norma Tech boots on and they're in recovery and tracking their sleep and everything. But was the tour a little bit more fun back in that day?

Yeah, we did. We had probably six of us that pretty much quasi-traveled together when we play a little bit. Pat McGowan and Gary Coke and Wooded Blackburn. Just very good friends. But we all stayed in the same hotel most of the time and whatever. Meeting up for dinner, having a few drinks. Is it a little bit more? Yeah, walk over.

Mainly the places we'd back then, we'd just, nobody had any money. So we were going to Morris's and Morrisons and Piccadilly buffets and whatever. And we had dinner there probably four or five nights a week in places where they're there. So a little different. When you, you got. We weren't going to three forks very often, put it that way. Or a capital girl. Back to your amateur days, though.

So you, when you won the U.S. Amateur, that got you a two-year exemption. the masters is that right who did you end up paired with uh your your very first master's on the thursday first day i played with jack and uh what was that like that was uh pretty surreal actually i'm finally for the fourth time hitting balls that morning we teed off at like two 30 finally hit balls for the final time one of the putting green putted and came on the back of the tea and the umbrella table there was in the back corner of the tea uh he was stand there talking to forget who the starter was then.

But anyway, I walked in through the crowd onto the tea and like, all right, here we all. Walked over to the table and just as I got there, he turned around. Look it right out. I go, Jack, Craig Staley goes, I know who we are. Like, holy crap, this guy knows who I am. I'm just this little snot-nosed kid from California. How does he know who he?

but I guess he was, he watched, I don't know if he played, I think he did, but he watched the, uh, some of the, uh,

final round of the LA open in 73, uh, when I was like a junior, just a junior, I think in college and I think I tied for third. And so he says, I remember watching you in Riviera. He played in college.

You a damn good player. blah, blah, blah. Like, wow. So as is every year of the Masters, if you pass champions in the group, they tee out first on one. And we continued that him first, me second for 18 straight holes. Never cut him a hole. Not out of kindness of your, not out of deferring the honor. Not once.

But it's funny because I shot, I think I shot, I don't want to shot 77, I think. 79, maybe something like that. But next day on Friday, got paired with Tommy Aaron, shot 71, missed a cut by a shot. second year, I got paired with Palmer the first day and shot 77 or six or he's jack shot 67, Arnold shot 68. And the second day, they compared to Tommy Aaron again, shoot 71 again, miss the cut by one, which is pretty pitiful because, you know, they cut to 44 in ties back then. There's only 52 or four in the field.

So like eight of you are going home. What, you mentioned the things that people wrote. but back then it was either one or the other, one of them being temper. Why, I guess, was it well documented, for those that didn't grow up in that era, that you had a temper, was an on-course thing, was kind of take us to that time turn.

How did that evolve over your career? Pretty much. I don't know. I just got pissed all the time. Do you have, uh, I was my worst is when I three-putted. I just, I couldn't have that very well. But, you know, I was my own worst enemy in the late 70s, no doubt. And, uh, just, you know,

You know, finally, somebody, in 83, before the Masters, the week of, but before on like Tuesday or something, I was in the media room. And some of the first question was about my temper about something. And who was the beat writer for the LA Times? Forever did the whole side page. I just said this in interview recently. Is it Jeff somebody? No. No.

No, anyway, he wrote an article on Tuesday about the upcoming Masters and also Monday the year after, the day after I won. But it talked about overweight, temper, yada, yada, yada, and about the fifth paragraph down was, oh, yeah, he's also pretty good play. He won the Masters yesterday. So it took this whole lead off to get to that. I almost had it. I just watched an interview you did. You had the 80s. 80s L.A. Times sports writer.

Oh, I can get newspaper. And you know who it is. He's a common name. But anyway, so he was in the press room on that Tuesday of the next year. The first question he asked me, I said, you know what? I don't understand why you guys get so much into me

getting pissed off on the golf course. It's my issue, not yours. and I think that was finally the first time that I just realized that, you know, you got to work this out. This is not good. So in the end, he probably was one that helped me just get pretty much way more level-headed on the golf course. Because I'd three put a hole in the late 70s.

I'd take, I'd boogie last three holes. I was so upset. LA time. Sorry, I'm trying to find this because I know it's going to bother you. Everybody's in the, in the, their car is probably, uh, probably screaming. LA Times sports writer early 80s. I'm looking, I have the LA Times.

Kim, I'll get it. We'll get it. We'll get it for you. Because I, I, I'd heard the, I guess I'd read this story. What happened in the 1975 British Amateur? Do you remember what happened there? The caddy? That was in the, uh, um, this was the British enemy.

Yeah. Yeah, he fired me. In the middle of around, huh? Uh-huh. I read that you had thrown your club at the bag and the caddy was fed up and walked off. Yeah, these real deep set eye sockets and just looked like a, yeah,

looked like not a very good guy. And after about the 13th hole, he said, I've had enough of you. I don't even put the bag down. And now he's waiting for him when I finished. Some guy, some dock worker was in the crowd. Oh, catty for you. Okay.

He just came running out, catty for you. Yep. So I've walked, we got done and walked, it was a Burkdale, or not Burkdale, a Hoylake. And walked in and he's standing over by the door. Big giant guy. He could have broken in half in a heartbeat. And I walked right by, but just over to the side of him. He yelled at me.

I came over. He says, yeah, I'm sorry. I did that. What you need to pay me something. Yeah, I'll pay you. I'm no problem with that. And what are. And then he just.

Giam the nicest guy in the world all of a sudden. He walked up before he got the money. Yeah. And so I guess so when around 83 is when you'd say that you started to get, get things more under control. Pretty much. And were you, did you carry? I still wore everything in my sleeve. Yeah.

That's part of you. That's why I think you were part of like why you were a popular player. I think did you feel like you had a lot of popularity during your playing career? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Did the nickname help? probably i think it probably did i'll tell you a quick story i we uh my mom was in town we were we're dining here at 1810 a little mexican place around the corner and uh and i'm sitting there and

and you walked by and i said to us like you're not going to believe this but that that guy won the masters and and she was like who said that's craig stadler she's like craig stadler she's like kragler why do i know that name i was like the walrus she's like oh my gosh the walrus she she knew you from that but what was the first time you referred to as the walrus it was Is that something you embraced in your, in your career? I really had no choice in the matter, I guess. It happened to the Walker Cup in 75. Jerry Pate put that one on me.

It stuck, obviously. Head cut, you, you know, you did it. You know, you had head covers and embraced the logo for it. But, yeah, did you, did, did players call you that as well? Or what was that like? Yeah, a few of them did all the time. not many but what what was the champions tour like you know you you come out were you were you uh chomping at the bit to get out on the champions tour i think two on 2003 or so you would have

you would have turned 50 it probably uh it i'm amazed what happened but i won the well i guess the gus was 10 years to the world series day two gave me 10 years world series of night who gave me 10 years to the end of o two and i turned 50 in June of 03. So I used my top 50 to be exempt in 03. And I played every West Coast event. And then I played Bay Hill. I wasn't in the players.

Played Bay Hill and Honda and Hilton Head. Augustine Hilton. And Hilton head. I missed every single cut. I think I shot four. 42 or three of the first nine at Hildenhead. And withdrew because my back was sore, which it wasn't. I just was sick of playing crappy golf.

And I basically just quit until June. And, you know, just practice and went to start working. Well, I was working with Dick Harmon then a little bit as well. But, you know, I went down and worked with him a couple days here and there and just waited until I turned 50. just kind of just started building up this thought process that, you know, I'm playing horrible, like the worst I've ever played and consistently bad. But, you know, I beat these guys a lot when I was younger. And now I'm going to see these guys haven't seen in five, six, seven years.

And, well, maybe things will be different. And my caddy was sick the first day at Erronomic, which is my first event, the senior PGA. So I took my cousin back and he caddy for me. And it was rain and it's butt off the first morning. Teet off the time was 10-10. And went and hit balls, came up and putting green. It sits right above the first tee, like 40 feet. But everybody's got umbrellas up and whatever.

And it's like 10.05. And this guy was just walking off the tea in front of us. And I've been on the putting green for about 10 minutes. And the Marshall was down there watching me put. The last guy hit. He said, Mr. Stadler, your group just teed off. What? And time was 10, not 10, 10.

I misread it. Like, why don't you tell me that three minutes ago, dude? So I started off with two shots. And, you know, here we go again. And I ended up finishing fifth. Oh, man. That week somehow. And then, you know, three weeks later, I win the Ford players in Detroit.

And then the next week, I win the B.C. open. So then just you cleaned up there for a while eight I think eight wins between 2003 and 2005. Yeah. Those that first half year and a half was just amazing. You know, I made way more money I ever made on tour. Really? The money was that good on the Champions Tour in the early 2000s. Well, it just wasn't when I was true.

Playing, you know. Yeah. I made 54,000 one of the masters. Yeah. And 72, 72 seems a long time ago. 82 doesn't seem that long ago. Yeah. for some reason.

But yeah, I think that that year and a half, I think I made, geez, five million dollars probably. Wow. One half anyway. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That, yeah, it's wild.

I've been doing a lot of research on the 90s, too, and about how, like, the money was on Champions Tour or Senior Tour at the time and PGA Tour, because that was Nicholas Trevino, all of them in 90s. The money was close. I mean, it was maybe 75% of what the PGA Tour was playing for at that point. I think the first. When was the first tournament that played for a million dollars, I think in 90. Or 91.

It was Vegas maybe or something. But, yes, it took their very time. And we were making $16,000 for first when I came out. I got to ask you about this. It says in 1984, United Airlines held a promotion for its frequent flyer members. You could fly any member who flew the airline to all 50 states in the U.S. In a 50-day period would receive free first class flights for a year. and you were one of 78 people that completed the challenge.

Is that true? We did a, uh, Smiley Kaufman, Steve Sands, myself and Scott Oak last Wednesday, a dinner. We sat up on bar stools and we did a Q&A with all of us.

And Steve Sands asked me the exact same thing. Like, I've never heard of that before. It's not true. Ages. In ages. Yes, it is true. Okay.

Yeah, except, uh, you know, you got to, you have to send in all your receipts and it's in your Wikipedia page. now is what's probably where he got that's where I got it so yeah he has sending all your receipts by certain day and I had them all sent them all in and I just I just I think it was 50 states and 50 days I think that's what it said yeah 50 and it was like from October 15th to December 1st and we weren't playing anywhere so I just I was living in arena at the time I just I'll see I'll be back

And I just got on plane and what places. What did you do? I just fly for three days, come back, mess around. I mean, the weird one, I flew from from Reno to Vegas to Portland, to Seattle, to Anchorage. Got off the plane on Anchorage, got right back on it and flew back to San Francisco or no, to Chicago, another plane. and then went, did something pop, pop, pop, pop, and back to Reno. So I was gone like three days and I think I hit 13, 14 states. Like, this, this just shouldn't be this easy.

And it was. And I got a thing in the mail after I set them all in. I got a thing in the mail from United that said, congratulations. You earned a round-trip coach ticket for a year. And it said first class flight. It wasn't first class. Just like, no.

So they had some kind of number. I called somebody to talk to somebody and said, no, you missed, you missed Portland, Maine. I said, no. He says, we have two. Oh, my God, one's Portland, Maine. Once Portland, Oregon.

They're right next to each other. He said, okay, I'll take care of this. I'm like, what the hell is this? All I work at coach, I don't even want to fight coach, period. Well, how much did you spend out all these flights? Was it worth the upgrade? Did it go anywhere, anywhere in the world? And so the next year, did you fly just in first class?

Did you go a bunch of different places? Yeah. Was it worth it? All that? Well, I had to pay for my wife first class when she went. So. But it was actually, it was quite fun. It said really weird routes.

One of them was United Flew from Charleston to Jacksonville. Really? Back then. Yeah. So strange, but it was fun. What, do you, how much do people bring up tin cup when it comes to your seen it. Not very often.

No. What was filming that like? How long was that a one day shoot? No, were there probably three days? Oh, really? I guess. What was the buzz like at that time about that movie?

There weren't a lot of golf movies. No, nobody really knew, but it got a really nice opening. They did an opening in a theater at Louisville, the Tuesday night of the PGA at Bahala, Gossner and Sheets. They were all there. So it was nice. It was fun. But honestly, fairly boring half the time because it takes so long in between shots,

move the cameras around, whatever else, and just got tired of doing nothing. But it was fun. Stand around and wait on a lot of those things. Yeah, hurry up and wait is what they say. Cheech and Cheech was amazing. And, you know, all we heard, I didn't know any of these guys. Costner was, he was fine. He just went back to his trail every time.

Cheech went and practiced at balls. Really? He just, he would never take it up golf and he just got hooked. And all we heard, before he went out there was what a, what a not great guy, Don Johnson was. And he was just salt to the earth. He was so nice. Really? Yeah.

He played the role of the not great guy in the movie really well. But, uh, but Cheech Merrim was just, oh, man, he was a, what a fun guy, great guy to be around. That was such a, uh, such a unique, unique time in, uh, in movies, especially for sports movies and golf, of Happy Gilmore around that time. Do you, I guess, before the Champions dinner back to that, do you pour over the menu before when it comes out? Are you anxious looking for the menu? Do you always eat what's served?

Or do you can also order off a separate menu during the dinner as well? I don't think that was separate menu anymore. That's frowned upon. Yeah. No, they've all been good. Yeah. They're all the black cod that Hedke served. Yeah.

God, it's so good. I think everybody in the room went back for another piece. Really? Yeah. But this will be, this will be, it's a good dinner. It's going to be an amazing wine night. Yeah.

That's what people are most surprised with. That's pretty much what I served. I served a Pulini Montresche. And I think a 66 loft in 83, but I didn't do it. I didn't go to the Shokka to the Kim route. Did you, did they hit you?

You get hit with the bill for the dinner? Is that true? You get the wine bill. You get the wine bill. Okay. And you knew that going in. Yeah. Okay. But, you know, Lafitte in 83 was 180 bucks. I mean, it wasn't 10,000 like it is now. Right. But in the Monterey was, I don't know, 18, 20 bucks or something.

And you pay their wholesale prices, you don't pay the many prices, which back then, you know, that was still when they were buying, they were buying Camus for $40 and selling it for 44. They put 10, they put 10% off the wine, they paid for it. And then all of a sudden now you get a bottle of 7,8, that's a $210 of the winery. It's $500 in the dining room. So they're, they're making a money making machine everywhere now, not just the golf course. Do you stay at Augusta throughout the entire tournament week?

Are you there all the way through Sunday? What was, what was last? Come back Sunday. You come back Sunday. I come back Sunday morning, watch it on TV. So you weren't there for the conclusion with worry. No. And what all that was like.

I was curious, I'm sure that it would have been, do many champions stick around for all the way through Sunday? Or? You usually see, you know, the guys that are friends. You know,

he goes almost back to the scoring trailer. And, and, oh, who's the guy with one with the beard, Irishman. God. Player?

Yeah, he's Rory's best friend. Oh, Shane Lowry. Shane. Yeah. He was there and then, Andy Fitzpatrick's there. All the Europeans are there. Congratulations him.

So it's just what's certainly. And they're usually hanging around waiting for the winter if he gets there. Yeah. Yeah. Do you, when was, when's it time? How did you evaluate when it was going to be time to not play in the Masters any longer? Kind of, you know, 2014 was your last time? Yeah.

Did you know long in advance that was going to be your last time? and what was it like kind of giving it up? No, I just started in kind of like 2007, 8, 9, I got tired of Barbie in like 75 or 6. And it's funny because once or twice a year, I'd see Kevin somewhere, and we start talking about something. I said, you know what, you just need to win. And about three years later, I said, you just need to win.

He's why do you keep telling me that? Because when you win, you're going to be in Augustus. That's going to be your first. It's going to be my last. So he finally won Phoenix in 14, and that was his first of my last. So that you were waiting specifically. Yeah, I was going to play until he won. Really?

Or if he never did, I'm not going to play that late. But, you know, I could have played until probably until 2020 or so maybe if I wanted to. Well, I could play now if I want. Yeah. But, yeah, and he just, he had an amazing first year there. He was lying second to fourth all Sunday. and bogeyed 17, 18 to finish 8th, I think, or something. Gosh, I don't think I realized that.

Very impressive. I love watching it. And you guys played a practice round together that year. Is that right? What was it like shared Augusta with your son? It was fine. It was great. Loved it.

Played bar three together and, you know, everything. So, and I walked, I walked. They didn't Paris. I wish they had to Paris like late apart. So you could go watch. They put me like 30 minutes behind him. So, you know, I'm not worth a new range. I could watch over, get to watch him tee off in the first tee and then come back and hit balls and go back again.

So I was kind of not a great moment. I would love to see him tee off in this first one. But, but no, I walked the whole weekend and watched every shot and was proud Papa. That's awesome. Do you have any insight or predictions as to what might happen in the coming Masters? Any picks? Yeah. Somebody to win.

Do you root for a specific champion based on what that might be served the next year? you know no no we've had just a ton of great dinners i mean uh rungs was good the emmlements was really good uh cabrera brought a whole assata up from argentina and whatever and yeah it's good stuff what's last question for you what is what's something about being a masters champion that maybe the general public doesn't know or wouldn't think about like what what's a what's a perk in some way or some way that it has uh uh affected your life or something you get to do that we wouldn't know. No, there's not.

There's, I mean, there's not many perks. There's, I'm a member with an asterisk. I can't, I can't take people. If I take two guys, we turn into three guests. Yep. I have to get one of my member, but he's the host us. But, uh, you know, the cool things. I can go up there anytime I want.

And I, I, when I went up there a month ago or three weeks ago, I just, I called, uh, Turner. I said, you know, you better call the clubs. I don't know if I can just come in and have lunch with you guys or not. He goes, normally if you're in the club you got to play golf if you're there you got to play golf you can't just go over for lunch he says but you know you've been a past champion you might be different i don't know in two days i'd call me he's good to go like cool and you don't go put the green

jacket on if you're there outside of master's week do you uh during master's week outside of master's like if you're there for that lunch you go wear the green jacket well for we get if i take somebody there and we stay overnight we have dinner you have to have to Jack. To have it on. Remember has to have a jacket on dinner. Okay. But I don't put it on just during the day now.

Yeah. Okay. Take them up to the show in the locker room and put it on. Yeah. Whatever. If they want a picture or something, whatever. Yeah.

Well, I'm definitely in a master's mood and I appreciate you. I appreciate you taking all my master's questions and coming over. Yeah, it's all good. Yeah. Great to meet you a person and appreciate you sharing some stories with us from your time. And,

and yeah, I think people are going to, people are going to ask you about the master's all the way until your last day. So really appreciate your time. It'll be a good one. Yeah. Again. that's a cool thing about Sunday in it yeah exactly right this is a gift that keeps on giving

really appreciate your time thanks for joining all good thank you yep