No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 106: Jim Furyk

Episode Date: November 8, 2017

Live from Jupiter, we sat down with the 2018 United States Ryder Cup, Jim Furyk. We talked in great detail about his history with the Ryder Cup, and what his captaincy will be like. We... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 106: Jim Furyk appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, DJ. When I was working at Scratch, there was nothing more fun to work on than adventures in golf. As you guys know, season two is rolling out now. This week's episode takes us to Band-In, go check out. Eric and his crew running around there playing all four courses in one day. It's ton of fun. Go check it out. It's getting right club, be the right club today. Yeah. Yeah. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most.

Better than most. Expect anything to happen. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang a podcast we're down here in Jupiter, Florida. We've got Tron. We've got DJ here and we're joined by the 2018 United States writer, Cup Captain Jim Furik. Jim, how are you doing? Great.

How are you all? Doing well. Have you ever done a podcast before? I have. Yeah. You have, yeah. You're the Calaway one or the? A number of them along the way, but I guess probably five years ago someone had to explain to me what a podcast was

So let's get the we want to talk with the let's talk injury first I know we want to hear kind of update on what your timeline is when the timeline of the injury where you are now what that means for your future What does that look like at the moment? I can answer most of that You know that the injury really started at the US Open, playing in the third round. I hit into some long rough on 14 and decided to have a go at it about 120 yards from the green. I felt like I could carry some trouble

and get it up there on or around the green and made a real hard swing at a ball and some heavy rough and the club just shut down an impact. And you put all that force into it with your body and kind of felt you know a jab back in my shoulder and kind of ran a little bit down my collarbone and since then you know I tried to play through it and started out just being a little bit sore. It wasn't that hard to play through it and then it just progressively got worse. But the time I got to the PGA, I really

wasn't able to create any speed in my golf swing. I was in a lot of pain. And you know, trying to play the PGA tour at 70-80% is difficult. You know, you get so much talent. So many guys out there that had the opportunity to go low each and every day. And if you're not feeling well, you don't feel 100% is tough to compete. And I kind of had to look in the mirror and say, I can't do it right now. And since then I've kind of been struggling to get back to healthy. I've seen a few doctors, seen some confused looks and trying to figure out what was wrong and was going through kind of therapy a little bit to try to get back to 100% and went through a period again where after a therapy session again a lot of pain and soreness but I think

because of that I learned a lot more about the injury and feel like my doctors and I have a pretty good hold on what's going on so we're gonna go back through therapy and hope to be like January 1 kind of ramping up and getting ready for a season again. So, you know, we're sitting right now in early November. I need about, you know, good six, seven weeks of, you know, going back through that therapy program and rehab and if I can get through that fine, which I'm hopeful and I believe I can, I think I'll be good for January 1.

So have you touched a golf club in? Not much. Not much. Not much. The shots have been hitting. I was at a doctor out in Vale and they were at a little biomechanics lab and I hit some shots for that hoping that maybe it would help. I made about 10 or 12 swings there and then I made about 10 or 12 swings off the Eiffel Tower for the Ryder Cup promo and it was the whole I need.

Do you think you can, you know what, if it's the Eiffel Tower, I'll get it done. That's pretty cool promotion, so I chipped some six irons off there and had a lot of fun with Thomas. Sometimes does that help you just to have that time away from golf or the time that went away from the clubs to kind of reset? I'm used to it, early in my career I played a lot, I traveled a lot around the world after the PJ Tour season was over and once I Tabith and I started having children and I wanted to slow down

a little bit, my schedule. And then as the kids got older and the winners, they were playing ball in sports. And it gets harder and harder to miss and be away from your family. And so I identified the time really in that November, December, January was going to be the time where I really got away from the tour. So for about the last five, six, seven years, I've spent three, four months away from the tour throughout the winter months, spent at home and really haven't had a club in my hand a lot during those times, maybe some club testing, you know, with Coway, maybe a tournament here or there, but each and every year I've gone

for four and six weeks at a time without even picking my clubs up and then getting back to it. So this year with the injury, I shut my season down a little bit early, but it doesn't feel much different than any other year other than I know in my heart. I'm not 100% healthy, but for me mentally it's good to refresh, get away. And then January comes around. I'm kind of anxious and hungry to get out there and practice and get ready. The Eiffel Tower thing kind of reminds me that we were talking before you got in just what it's like to captain in Europe versus the US. I know you don't have a great sense to compare the two, but I'm curious, other stuff like

that was there anything that's been kind of wild about having to kind of promote yourself in a different continent and do all that stuff over there, what's that been like for you? You know, it's been a fun process. I think I'm usually really comfortable going to the press room, media, but I actually usually enjoy that process. I've got a lot of friends in the media and I always felt, I guess I start out kind of as a duty. I mean, it was my job to go into the press room, give them a story, give them something to talk about.

And if I felt like I did a good job doing that, it would reflect on me. And they'd do a good job covering kind of me and what I do for a living. And I've always had that great relationship. I was nervous to go to Paris. I mean, you're kind of going to foreign soil. You feel like you go into Ryder cups and I didn't want to say anything that maybe you could stoke a fire. I mean, we know their fans are great.

We know they're loud. No bullets and more material. Yeah, no bullets and more material. And, uh, but really, you know, it was uncharted waters. I really hadn't, hadn't done that before. And usually when I walk into a pressure, I'm representing myself, you know, my brand. into a pressure, I'm representing myself. You know, a my brand and here I'm representing our country and an entire team in the PGA of America. And so it felt like a lot of weight on my shoulders, but I kind of eased into it and felt pretty comfortable after a while. So it's been a great process. It's been a lot of work, but it's been a lot of fun work. As I say, does the captain see kind of help take your mind off the fact that you had this downtime with the injury? I mean, you're keeping yourself plenty busy. Oh, I've been

busier than ever. The rider comes, kept me busy. My wife and I are building a home in Jacksonville, Florida. So the new home is going to be ready here in the next month or two. I mean, Trouch, I look at buying your old place. That's good. There you go. There you go I know you may be for sale in about a year. So, yeah, all right. We'll start saving up. There you go so That's kept me busy and I've got a 13 and a 15 year old home So that that itself is busy. So it's a rude awakening when all sudden I'm starting to think my 15 year Like I don't know, in three years,

she's gonna be in college. So you're doing the learner's permit thing right now? We are doing the learner's permit thing right now. It's mildly terrifying. I've ducked a few times, so I just say that. I might put a hole in the floorboard on the passenger side, because there's a couple of times I want to hit the brake and it's not really there.

But she's a pretty good driver. She's the cautious one in the family. You know, the kids both ski and she and they're both really good skiers. She's the one that's cautious, mindful, uses her head. She drives the same way. My 13 year old boy, that could be, he's aggressive. So, that could be interesting. When you're in a half from now and he has his permit,

I'm gonna be nervous. One of the interests is a good place to learn to drive. Pretty low-key. Except for anyone here. Except for, yeah, you can get rear-ended by some sleepy people behind you. And when it has a few places where people go too fast, especially in like that south pond of nature, you get down south there. But yeah, it's a good spot.

I love living there. I've been there now for over, I think, for 21 years. What brought you guys there? Just curious of all the spots you can get. Yeah, early in your career, I was a no-mad. I mean, I basically was a gypsy living out of my car for the first couple of years playing mini tours and the web.com tour.

So I look back, I left school and I graduated in 92. That summer, I played some mini tour events out of the trunk of my car. I went back in the fall to Arizona to graduate, took me four and a half years and went through tour school as well. I got a conditional card on the web. From there, it was back home in Pennsylvania for Christmas back to Arizona, working on my game getting ready.

I grabbed the car and I started a new Arizona. I had to car in Florida. I had it in a state of Maine. I had to car in Florida. I had it in the state of Maine. I had it back to Texas. I got that car all the way up to state of Washington. What kind of car was it? It was a Pontiac Bonneville. Oh, that's right.

And also I wanted to make sure that I cruise control. That was the most important thing. But I mean, that car hit four corners in a year. And a lot of fun, but I never really had a home. To be honest with you, I'd be in Arizona for the winter. I'd be in Pennsylvania for the summer, two places, grew up, I went to school and then when I kind of established myself on the PGA tour in my rookie year, I started looking

for a place to live. Mark Carnivale was a young player on tour and he had just moved to Pont of Edra. He was telling me about a townhouse he bought there about the cost of living, the Prax facility. And I was looking to buy a townhouse back home in Pennsylvania that was almost twice the cost. Taxes were higher, weather wasn't as good. And then I had TPC at the Prax facility. In Pont of Edra, I kind of said, well, this is crazy. And during the Masters that year, I went to Pond of Ejra, stayed at the Marriott there at Sawgrass. My parents came down the visit and they helped me look for a place to live

and then buying a townhouse there. So I've been there ever since for 21 years. In the Jags. I mean, the Jags had to be a big selling point. I was trying to get him hyped up on the Jags on the way here. He wasn't taking his fans. He's big still. Yeah, I'm just doing it little Jags wore the Steelers out

or this year. It's a store point. I think there's only like two or three teams in the league that Steelers have a lifetime losing record to it. And Jacksonville's one of them. Which is crazy. There's only one or two teams in the league that the Jags have a winning record.

That's probably not that bad. But you brought that up there just the mini tour life and what not. And I think that's kind of the part when you can look back at your career, that's probably not what somebody would focus on. But what do you remember most about those days and what's the funding like when you're initially getting started? Do you have sponsors that are helping fund your travel? Because the prize money is not there.

I did. We raised some money. I grew up in Lank's for Pennsylvania. We raised some money with some folks at the club I played at, some friends of the family. So we probably raised close to $20,000, which now doesn't sound like a lot of money,

but I'm very thankful to folks that lent me money to go out and play. At the end of the year, they weren't trying to make money, which is usually you have a contract where kid goes out, maybe the sponsor's raised $50,000. He travels on that for the year, but for every dollar he makes, he may give back 75% of the first $50,000 and then that number keeps dropping. And I have heard stories where even paying to it.

It took him years to get out from underneath and his ensuite. Well, both sweat and tease about rich beam. I think it was El Paso, Country Club, or whatever, all those guys got together and give them money. And then he ended up winning the camper and they ended up forgiving his debts and all that. But that was a big deal.

Otherwise, you'd have to owe 75% of that winner's check to them. Right. And so I was lucky. At the end of the year. I gave back the money. There was one gentleman that wouldn't even let me give back, you know, what a $7,500. So, you know, I always feel indebted to those folks and they were real close friends of the family. A couple of those folks, you know, if anything ever happened to mom and dad, they would be the guys I would lean on for advice and kind of being a surrogate father. So my grandmother also, when I was, when she worked for the newspaper and every check, she put $25 away for her grandchildren. So I had close to $15,000 when I graduated from college that we threw into that pool as well.

So I'll never forget what grandma did. And she was telling me I was a kid that she was throwing these, you know, putting them in the CD and putting here and putting there and we're saving money. And when you're eight years old, you're like, oh, okay, you're great. But it once I turned it around, it was really cool. That almost accounted for half the money that they that we'd raise so You know, I wasn't a kid that came out of college where anyone expected you know, there wasn't any agents knocking on the door My first year out I was playing Tommy Armorgoth, quote my dad worked for Tommy Armorgoth. He was a sales rep My dad was an ex-club pro

So no one I mean no one was knocking on the door, no agents, no club companies, no ball company. I really, you know, I had a decent, I was an all-American a couple times, I had a decent college career, but I was a kid with a goofy swing and I played OKAD and have a very good amateur career in term pro. So I needed kind of the mini tours, I needed a a web dot com tour i needed a place to kind of grow at my own rate i think one of the things i feel almost bad for some of the kids come out of college i feel great for them that

you know they're going to sign with a company they're going to make a little money but it put so much pressure on them and folks expect everyone to be the next Jordan's beef and someone that matures it in ultra-rapid pace. And so the expectations sometimes on these young kids is difficult. And it's not their expectations, it's outside expectation. It's hard, but it's sometimes it's hard for a 20-year-old to deal with that.

And they're not allowed to improve at their own rate. And I think kind of back to maybe even someone that came out, maybe a little on Todd of like Ben Curtis had the same thing. He went and won the British Open so early. And I'm sure he wouldn't trade it for the world, but then they expect them to be a major champion. And heck, I had never heard of Ben Curtis when he won that tournament and I was on tour. So, you know, he's a great guy and it took him a while, but he matured into a great player, one more, one more golf tournaments.

But stuff like that was hard for young players. And I had never was dealt that card. I was always dealt to, you know, no under the radar, no one looking my way. I was able to improve at my own rate. And when I did gain some success as a young tour player, and by the time I won my first event, I was prepared for it, if that made sense.

You know, I felt confident in who I was on tour and that I belonged and that I could back it up. And by the time I won the major championship in 03, and people identified that as a life-changing experience, I really felt like, well, you could build no tour for us. I built up to it. It was my seventh win. I felt like, you know, I was ready for that. And it changes things, but it wasn't a life-altering experience for me from that perspective. That's insane that, so, that was Ben Curtis won the Open that year. I think it was. Yeah.

Can you imagine another time when the defending US Open Champion has never heard of the next major champion? That's something. I didn't know who Ben was. He was in his rookie year. No, of course. Nobody did. He played well, I think, at was. He was in his rookie year. Oh, of course. Nobody did. He played well, I think, at maybe he played well at maybe like in Chicago that year and

earned enough money to squeak into the field. Anyway, one the tournament I actually really never met this guy. Oh, totally. That he like he won again on tour after that and kind of shout out to the booze Allen classic. Yeah. He won in Texas too. Didn't you? Yeah. Yeah.

And it's career and turned into a real song a Ryder Cup player turned into a real solid player. But yeah, he played the Ryder Cup in 08 when we won. Oh, that's right. That's the thing. He's one and oh. I mean, he's game might have the secret. That's what we've been doing.

Might have to tap into this. Future captain. Make a call. Who are your assistant captains? Right now, Davis Love has been named. So and we'll probably, I'm not sure when the PJ of America, what time they have in mind. I have some guys obviously in mind that and I have, I'm allowed to name five ice captains. So I would expect maybe in January, February, we'll name two or three more.

Hey, Tron, the holiday season's coming up soon. What are you doing for the holidays? Oh, man, it is coming up. I'm going to Australia play some golf. I am too. This is your first ad read, by the way, isn't it? I am too. Why don't you tell us a bit about the holiday gift guide, the Callaway, our friends at Callaway. Well, we could probably use some of these. It's some Chromesoft balls. The ball that changed the ball, 3199 plus free personalization on the website. Anyone use that ball that we know?

Jim Furek, who we're actually sitting with right now. He's making faces at us as we record this. I'm 58 with it. Go to CallawayGolf.com slash gift guide. Stock up on these, take advantage of the great offer while it lasts. Chrome's off. The ball that changed the ball.

Now let's get back to our conversation with Jim Furey. It's actually a really good deal. It is a very good deal. That's good transitions. I've got a myriad of things I want to ask about the rider cup. He's like obsessed. I'm a big rider. So I do want to go back to.

Talk about how I go through like Q&A, like're gonna test my knowledge. Oh, no, no, no It's not a true. 23 Samuel Ryder So I want to go back to 14 at the press conference I didn't look up the exact quote, but you famously said something along the lines of if it was up to me I would have changed this shit a long time ago You're now the captain for the 18 team. So has this shit changed? Can I say that?

Yeah. I said that in the press conference. Yeah. I was probably trying to avert any attention that was going other way during that press conference. Look over here. If you look at the tape, if you looked at the tape with that press conference, I was sitting to the camera's far right.

As far right as I could get. Fiddle, let me set off this page. Because I've been in, you know, my biggest regret really, and my whole career is, the rider cups my favorite event. It's, it is the greatest sporting event in golf, in my opinion. And so for me to go into nine of those as a player and have those teams come out two in seven. So losing seven times is my biggest regret. And I've sat in that press conference so many times and you know, the questions are coming up and they're, you know, starting to point fingers and we've stayed pretty unified as a team for the most part and it just, I'll be honest, sucks to be up there and to lose

and then to immediately because the losing team you go right to the closing ceremonies and then they marched the losing team right into the press. So you haven't really had a lot of time to digest what just happened. You have, you sit on the stage and you go through the ceremony and one team's happy and one team's not. It's uncomfortable. And then you walk over the press and you know, and it starts and so, you know, it used to be Tiger and Phil were on all those teams

and they were gonna answer 90% of the questions, right? They're gonna ask Tiger the first question I'm gonna follow up with Phil, the captain, the rest of us, I mean, I used to say, I used to say honestly, I could sit on the one side of stage, probably pick my nose and no one would notice. And, and so we're walking into the press room and I'm looking around and I said, wow, you know,

Phil's here and I'm looking at all the guys on the team and I said, I don't know, like, you know, I've played Nate or nine of these now and I'm the guy. I'm gonna get the second question. I know it's coming. I mean, I know it's coming. And so they lead in with Tom and, you know, he talks about disappointment and we didn't win and then they lead, you come to fill and I know I'm getting the next question so I remember thinking I'm just over here mind him on business and and uh yeah I think the quote that I made if when you go back and read it. is we didn't have a lot of answers at the time. You know, there was criticism that we weren't a team,

that we weren't together, that we weren't close. Now you read the press and Jordan and Justin and they're all buddies and they hang out off the course and everyone's tight. I mean, winning solves a lot of issues when you look at it. You know, when your football team's winning, the coach is the greatest coach in the world. And when it wasn't that long ago,

Mike Tomlin was a heel, right? Now they're winning and coach is the greatest coach in the world and when it wasn't that long ago, Mike Tomman was a heel, right? Now they're winning and he's the greatest coach ever. It's everyone jumps on that bandwagon as far as it's an easy story. And so, you know, for us, though, as a team, we kept coming up empty and losing those events and we were looking for answers. And so I think when the press looked and said, what's going to change it? And I was like, well, if it was that easy, we'd be winning, right? If it were that easy, we've all worked hard. We've all tried to make it better. But we keep coming

down to losing end. And so I think, you know, we all got together in West Palm as a group. And they, you know, it was called the task force, the right to cut task force, which not the best name, but I think it's, it, it helped us get together as players, as past captains, as the group as PJ of America as a whole to kind of get together, band our thoughts together, and try to create a plan for the future. And a long-term plan for the future of what can we do in any way to help this team improve and to get better and and give them the best opportunity to win. And now we've had some success. We want to ride our cup. We want a president's cup and I read the stories and you know it all goes back to, well I don't know what they talked about in that room, but well you know the president's cup team has had success

for a lot of years. You know Fred Couples ran a great ship. Went to Jay Haas, they passed it down the Steve Stricker. I think that would be almost a shot to them to say that the task force made us good in that event. But the Ryder Cup committee's worked hard to give the team and the captain an opportunity to succeed. And I think one thing we can't do is look and say, well, just because of those meetings, this team's playing great now.

The kids, you look at the guys that played in the Ryder Cup and the shots that were hit and the quality of not only the veteran play, but young players stepping up like a Brooks-Kepko playing in his first Ryder Cup. They've hit some great shots and they've played amazing. And he got Phil Mikkelson shooting whatever it was 52 and coming out with a have against Sergio and one of the greatest Ryder Cup matches ever on Sunday so the guys have played really good golf

Our job is captains our job With the Ryder Cup Committee in the PJ of America is just to be able to set an atmosphere and give Give the guys on the golf course every opportunity to be able to compete and play well and Davis did a great job both and his first time as captain and a second time as captain is really kind of setting that atmosphere and letting the guys go out and play and play free and it was fun to watch it was fun to be there as a captain and you And I feel like we all felt like we had a little part in it, but I'm so proud of it happy, really not proud even a bad word.

I'm so happy for the guys that played on that 16 team to watch them have success because my error didn't have that much success in only two wins. So I mean, I always go back to like 12, Ryder Cup, where obviously the US team didn't end up winning, but I didn't feel like that was poor leadership in any capacity. I mean, the leadership in my mind kind of goes into that team structure for the team play when singles rolls out other than determine the order.

There's not really anything I can do. So I look back at that team and think there was not anything functionally wrong with that. And it probably things don't get blown up if we don't lose that Rider Cup Do you see it that way or is that am I am I thinking too far in 2012 so back at Medina right? So we're 10 6. Well, I don't want to say I don't feel like I've ever played for a poor leader that we've had poor leadership in any sense of the form I've never played for someone where I mean the folks I've played for have spent two years of their life and now being a captain I know how hard they worked,

how hard they tried and I've always felt like I've played for great captains and my captain's he will be a reflection upon it. I mean I'm going to pull bits and pieces from every ride I've got by play on, things that I loved about the captain and how they manage the team and I'll pull bits and pieces from everyone and it'll be a reflection on each and every one of them. 12 was, I mean we dominated Thursday and Friday, our Friday and Saturday. You know we should have been, there's a chance that we could have been five or six points up on the Sunday and it would have been over and that we had a four-point lead. It had only been overcome once and I was on that team in 99.

We just, we laid an egg on Sunday. We didn't get it done. We didn't play well. They got the momentum. And as that momentum turns, you can feel it on the golf course. And I was one of those matches. I mean, I had Sergio in my mind beat.

I was one up on 16 and he was dead and made an unbelievable up and down. I lipped out of birdie putt and we have that all. I lost 17 and 18 lost to match one down. I was part of that problem and definitely probably one of the most dejected feelings, I think, as a player to walk out of there after a four point lead on Sunday. And I guess for all the wrong reasons, I mean, I felt as a player, I felt terrible. And then having a close friend and Davis be the captain, I felt bad for Davis as well. But one of the things you have to realize is a captain. And I mean, you're in the hot seat, no matter what. The team does well. They play it up like, you know, it was a great

cap and see. And I think every good captain will say, give it all the credit to their team. I mean, they're the guys that in the shots, but you have to prepare it as a captain if the team for one reason or another doesn't do well. You know, it's your fault. You know, you take the job knowing that and, but the event means so much to me and it meant so much to my career. And you know, we all want to win golf tournaments.

We all want to win major championships. And for me to start, at the start of every year, one of my goals was to make those teams. And one of the proudest things in my career, I guess, would be that I was able to qualify for so many of those. What was your first one? 97?

97. 97. At Valderama. And that was a strange week with the rain. And I was, they always, you tell every rookie that like your first Ryder Cup, the first three or four days of practice will feel like two weeks. And then Friday, Saturday, Sunday will like go by in 15 minutes. I mean, it flew by. I really was so green and so young. and I over-practiced and I wore myself out. And then I went out and put, I mean, I did it, everything, like stereotype, what you could do wrong during a Ryder Cup week, I did it that week, I mean, without a doubt.

Shut up really early and state practice, too late, rushed. You don't, you don't, you're a whole're, you're a whole, the heart, one of the hardest parts about the ride a cup is it totally flips your normal schedule. You're not on your own schedule like usual, you're on a team schedule, which is pretty easy for most people, but we're out, we're up later at night for functions and dinners and stuff we don't usually do early in the week in a normal event. And then you're up early every morning because there's really no time to sleep in until Sunday. All right, matches start early on Friday and Saturday. You have to be up early for practice because they have media schedule, they have picture scheduled, they have opening ceremony schedule.

So you get your practice in early as well. You just, guys don't get a lot of rest. And that'll be one of the challenges. That's a big challenge of flying east, going over the pond, jet lag, guys are worn out, so it'll try and demand our time well and get these guys enough rest and prepare and getting over the jet lag will be important. Is there a week off this year?

Is there a week off this year? Right after the Torch Amhersthip, so. It's tough. We'll have guys, we'll meet in a hotel in Atlanta, Sunday night, kind of get organized, and then we'll hop on a charter and fly. I'm imagining we'll probably, I'm trying to put the numbers together, but we'll probably arrive in Paris. We'll probably land around noon on Monday, not with the time change. So is there a week off before the tour championship? There is. There is.

So we have the three playoff events in a row, one week off in torch championships. What for you as the captain is kind of the most unexpected, I don't wanna say time suck, because it's all valuable, it's all details that you have to kind of factor in, but what's the biggest surprise to you? You're like, man, it took me eight hours to choose these rain suits. So, yeah.

You know what, we've kind of got it. The PJ of America's got it down pretty good right now. If anything, I would say that there's times where I want to be more involved. But Polo Raff Lauren is the clothing supplier. This is the fourth time they've done it. So, you know, right now we've vetted through issues, problems, you know, and you can only reinvent red, white, and blue so many ways. So it's a tough challenge for them to make the clothes look sharp and, you know, they've been doing it now. This is this is four times. So they've had to come up

with 29 different red, white, and blue shirts by this point. But I guess nothing's been a giant surprise. I enjoy like at home, I have a little golf tournament in Jacksonville for some friends that about four or five of us host. And so we each do a little bit. Like I make t-shirts and hats and it's kind of like gifts for everyone

that we do. We make a logo. So I'm gonna hand me down and it's like the best t-shirt I have. By the way. So we have fun with it. I like design and the hat. I like doing that part of it. So we've designed the hats for the Ryder Cup, the clothing is pretty much done. I did the media. And right now I'm just more in the collecting data. I just came back from a really cool

the PJ of America had their annual meetings in Austin, Texas and they invited me to come out And they had they were trying to get all six Ryder Cup captains that live in Texas and Jackie Burke Wasn't well enough to make it but I had Lee Chirvina Lani walkins house Sutton Tom Kite Ben Crenshaw All up on stage and I sat in the back like a little kid and watched and they talked about their Ryder Cup experiences and then after about an hour they invited me up on stage for like the last 30 minutes and I got to sit up there and talk about being a captain and it's just an honor. I mean I look I've said this a million times but I started playing for Tom Cuyton Ben Crenshaw so two folks

that I wanted to emulate that I looked up to that I watched when I was a kid And then were my first captains and then as I grew you know through House what Curtis Strange and then it went to House Sutton who I played against Paul A. Zinger and also it became like the folks that I played against then yeah, Davis love and I'm like all right Here's one of my friends. It's almost my age. And so it was kind of a nice, fun growing experience,

but to spend that time with what the past captains and hear their ideas and how the rider keeps changed so much and blown into this massive event. And to hear them talk about it was really cool. So in the way you described it, it doesn't sound like a ton actually ended up changing about the process and the captain's seed. I mean, is that accurate to say?

Well, I think there was a couple key points. We talked about how we were gonna identify captains in the future, what was important. I don't know, there wasn't like a list made that here's what we're gonna do for the next four or five years, but the idea was one of the important things I came out with it was we're going to want to identify the future captains and we're going to give them some experience. So I think one of the things we've done to the captain in the past, I think they've

all done a good job, but I think they all would have liked to have probably been a vice captain to start with. And I think I might add of the nine captains, nine times I played, I played for eight captains, maybe one or two of them had experiences of vice captain before. I think Davis was a vice for Cory, and Cory might have been a vice captain for a Lehman.

I can't remember, but there was only one or two that had any experience at all as a captain. They all played in a lot of Ryder cups, but the B behind the scenes to see the decisions that have to be made, the timing of those decisions, interaction with the team, I think is valuable. So for me to do it at the president's cup twice for Jay Haas and for Steve Stricker and to also be a vice captain for Davis to last Ryder Cup is invaluable for me. So that's one of the things we wanted to do too.

I think we kind of developed more of a long-term plan instead of we have to win now. You know, it was kind of the idea was let's look ahead. Let's look 10 years, 20 years into the future. What's it going to take to build? And I think any major corporation will look at their business that way. You want to be successful now. But what's going to help carry us? Let's the back of our mind. What's going to carry us in the next 10 rider cups? And the goal would be to try

to have a winning record for the next 20 years. That would be a success, especially coming off of 20 lean years, where we, you know, went two and seven or two and eight. And I guess last a lot of it was what's going to help the players you know succeed. What can we do and the idea was the PJ of America committed to the players in the captains. We'll do whatever it takes. And so Davis left me with some wise words that I'll never forget. When decisions are made and especially heat of the battle, heat of the moment, or leading up to the Ryder Cup because a lot of decisions we've made in the last couple of months. The one question he said he always asked himself was, will this help the team? You know, there's gonna be a lot of chaos and a lot of noise and you know, even picking

uniforms. I mean, what the guys to be comfortable? Will this help the team in all the decisions? So, you know, one thing as a captain, we always want is I want my players comfortable. I want them knowing exactly who they're going to be playing with. I don't want to throw many curveballs Friday, Saturday. So I want there to be a nice game plan going into the rider cup. Right. And I don't really want to veer from that game plan too much. We'll have a plan, a plan, a plan, a backup plan, and I want them going to prepare the ideas. They're going to play the torch amgorship and someone's going to be trying to win $10 million. The day that we leave for the Ryder Cup, right?

I'm thankful to have that week off the week right before the Ryder Cup. I think that gives me a chance to talk to the guys to prepare. Who do you want to play with? Who do you think complement your game? Sometimes you want to be thankful that you won towards your championship. You didn't have to go play the Ryder Cup. I did.

I hopped right on the play. I was a manor. Yeah, that was Celtic Manor. I hopped right on the play. I never got a chance to celebrate. I think I had a beer at the hotel. We hopped on a playing one over there and it was like full mode right in Derider Cup.

So I know what that guy on, they know exactly how he feels. I lived it. I think Corey sat me out of the first match on Friday morning. And the idea was he wanted to give me a chance, I think, to decompress. And then the plan was to go play the last three matches in the singles. And then we got the the rain and we had a session cut short. So it was everything kind of got flipped on top of itself that week but.

You want the guys to really go in there comfortable to not have. Any curve balls to not have any changes and. It sounds easier than it is in the whole process. It's been a really eye-opening. And now that the President's Cup has changed and we play less matches there, we have a lot of the same issues with matching up players and when to sit, when to play. It's been a great experience for me for the last three years.

The President's Cup, have you kind of used that as a proven ground for some, I mean, there've been a cohesive effort to do that. I think it's good for us. I think you look at the European team and they have the, they call it the Asia Cup or the... The Euro-Asia Cup.

Euro-Asia Cup. So that's kind of a practice run for them. I think it also, maybe some of their top players, you might not see like Justin Rose, Henry Stinson, every year in that event, but it allows them to give some of their younger players some depth, give them an idea what's going to happen during Ryder Cup time and it gives the captain kind of a practice run as well so he has a a year to kind of get used to some of the guys how he's going to pair them who may fit well who may not I think it's good for them and that's what the president's cup does for us it gives us a chance to see personalities we had five guys this year

playing the president's cup that had never played an international competition. So I think it was great for them to get some experience, get an idea of who they are, who they match up with, who they pair well with. Great lessons for us. You mentioned vice captains a little earlier. I know he's been around the last couple of times. What's vice captain Tiger like? He has been great, great for the team.

I think it's been a good, it's been a good two way for him as well. Tiger's been away from competitive golf now for quite some time and I think he misses kind of being with the guys a little bit with, we have a great camaraderie and a lot that locker room talk and the jabs and the barbs and the sarcasm, but the camaraderie and the hugs afterwards,

when you know a job will done, I think he's missed that. And it's good for him to be in that atmosphere and be back with the guys. And then we get twofold for him, arguably the greatest player of all time. So not only physically, but mentally, right? We get to see kind of a strategy and a style That's what I was gonna say like what kind of stuff is he brings the table. He's good with pairings Good at maybe picking out what the other captain may may or may not do

He he's been an unbelievable resource for both Davis and Steve and Trying to pair up guys. And then I think you all side to the other side of it. There's a lot of guys on that team, young players that actually play golf or living because they wanted to be the next Tiger Woods, right? So to have him in the team room, a couple of them, I think the first time I was just worried that they'd be in awe, like, oh my god. And he's helping, you know, helping me, but it turned into, it was this positive that, you know, they like to kind of give him,

ribbon him, give him some barbs, but they really enjoyed having him in the team room. And, you know, they were poking at him a little bit the first year, like, okay, we want you to get healthy. We want, we want to play against you. I mean, we grew up wanting to be you. And we want to beat you.

And you can see a couple of like me and Lehman and Davis were over there going, you know, be careful with you. Asked them, man. We had 15 years of getting our rear ends beat. So we're like, you might not want to go that way. Just say it. Well, that's what I'm curious about. You've been a peer of his for so long now.

You've probably seen him change a lot. I'm curious kind of what he, you know, seeing him in that atmosphere, has he always kind of had that side of himself or is he as kind of closed, you know, back in the day, was he kind of as closed off as people make him out to be? Or no, I don't think he was closed off. I think you look at Tiger when he was a young player. He's the best player in the world. It was kind of like Jordan's beef, you know, being so young,

but so good and cast into that leadership role. And I think probably for Tiger, he probably felt like there was older players on the team. He didn't want to step on their toes. He didn't want to assume a leadership role when you had guys that have played in 5, 6, 7, right, or cups on the team. And so I think he was happy early on kind of going

about his own business. And then as he grew and as he got older, and I think he started assuming early on kind of going about his own business and then as he grew and as he got older and I think he started assuming that role more and more but I think from the outside folks looked at him a little bit Maybe viewed him as close but he was young as well and I think one thing that my my era you know a Mikkelsen myself Tiger I always wanted to show respect for the players that were there before me. And I wanted to make sure that when I played on a team with Tom Laman or I played on a team with Payne Stewart or I mean they were our older older player or veteran leaders and you know you want to help and you want to be involved and you want to be in the team

room but you also want to you know you want to follow their lead. They've been there they know how to get to the end and win. So I think Tiger was doing much the same. And as he grew, he grew into that role of being a leader on the team. What does Tiger call you? Just Jimmy or like, he's got a little nickname for everybody. I guess he does.

I guess I hear Jimmy a lot. He calls my wife Tabs a lot. He puts an S at the end. Tabs. I love Tabs. Tabs a lot. He puts an S at the Tabs. I love Tabs. I said Tabs. Uh, Jimmy. That's like the IE to everything. Yeah.

You know, I guess he's called me a lot more names than that. They probably couldn't repeat. And I, but I've always taken it in a daring way. So we, we both, the one similarity we have is we're both very sarcastic. So like with my friends and people I'm close with, I like to give them a hard time and rid them and and he's, I think he's really enjoyed that but he's very good at giving a back and ultimately he's the best ever. You're gonna lose. He's got the trump card. Not only do you have this all-star team of captains, but is it safe to say Phil

kind of plays a assistant, like a playing captain's role in kind of a more senior role in the team, too? He really has. He really has. And it's good to see. I think when couples was captain, he would always, you know, the president's cup teams back then didn't have a lot of captain. You know, he usually had one vice captain.

So the veteran players, it would be like striker woods, Michelson, Fierrick, get back here. I want to talk to you. And he would lean on us as far as what do you see out there? You're playing with these guys. Who's playing well? Who needs to keep playing? Is there someone that's struggling?

Who do we put an arm around? Who do we need to help out? And so Phil's been in that role for quite a long time. I think, you know, you saw it with the Keegan Bradley. You saw it with some younger players. Phil tends to take, I know even as a veteran player in 2011, I was having a terrible season. I squeaked on it after playing so well in 10 and being player of the year. I barely squeaked on the team in 11. And the first person Phil asked for it, I want to play with Fiorek.

And I always took that as always. He's saying that because he thinks he'll get the best out. I mean, he wants to kind of put his arm around me. And I know he had a tough year, but I know it's in there, we're going to go out there and win. And we did. We went three and O as a team. I played O's probably my best team event.

I've ever played in my career. It was in 2011. And really, he gained a lot of energy out of me. It was a great teammate. And he kept me loose, which was great. I think in these events, when you're young, you tend to worry about, you know, the best way I can help this team is I can go play my best golf. And you get so focused on yourself and playing well. And then as you grow into a Phil Michael center tiger, whether someone that's played on a lot of teams, you realize that it doesn't matter how well you play, you can't win it individually, right? It has to be a team effort. And you start looking around the team, you find the guy that's struggling and they have it hanging his head because of a pot. You, you know. You start trying to raise the level of everyone around you,

and if you can do that, if everyone can try to do that and try to help their teammate, the team becomes much better for it, and then you start playing well as a team. That's when you start winning these events. What do you guys talk about on the earpiece? Lois. Lois, fast. I love the earpiece. I get criticized. Tiger likes how the earpiece. Voice. Voice mask. I love the earpiece.

I get criticized. I get criticized. I get criticized. I get criticized. I get criticized for my banter a little bit. I like to tell you know it's quiet out there. A lot of times we're by ourselves. And you're not talking to your team that much.

So I want to talk to someone. But you hear some jokes. I think probably my favorite thing that I've ever heard. I wasn't far behind the Macaroy Patrick Reed match at Hazeltein. But you could just hear these epic roars coming from ahead. And you knew where it was coming from. You knew it was that match. And Tiger would have to wait for like two minutes for everything to calm down before we

could even hear him on his mic. And so, you know, you'd say, all right, you know, they both just birdied four, reading knocked in a 10 footer, Macquarie topped with an eight footer. Well, they got the number six. And with the par five, and we hear this epic roar, and it takes, it seemed like minutes before he could come on. And finally, when it quieted down, someone said, Tiger, you gotta let us know what's going on up there. He goes, you won't believe this.

You know, McElroy knocks it in from here. And he said, you know, read out this unbelievable 15 footer, he knocked it in. He said, he bowed and shushed them all at once. I'm the way up to walking to the hole. And trying to envision that, my mind was, I got to see it on tape later, but I about fell over. I was laughing so hard. And you know, the fans are looking at you and you feel like an idiot because I'm laughing

and talking and trying to hear and then they're, you know, they're closer like, well, what did he say? So I just think the little stories, the what's going on in the golf course. What do you see? You know, I ever once saw someone hits a bad shot and I'll say, all right, when you get to number six, you've got to check it out. Look at the hot dog stand left. But someone hit it under this hot dog stand and you just got to see where it is. Because you guys essentially turn into fans at that point. There's you're we really are. You can do during play. No, I think really at that point once once your

Adam the golf course the vice captain really can kind of lend to the captain. Hey, here's where the match stands. These guys are playing well. Um, these guys have a good rapport with each other right now. They're doing well together. I think we need to send them out this afternoon or you know, I have got a guy here that's struggling with this game. He's missing a lot of fairways. We'll probably app to sit out this afternoon, or you know, I have got a guy here that's struggling with this game. He's missed some a lot of fairways. We're probably apt to sit in this afternoon, give him a chance to practice, get him back out on my golf course tomorrow.

But those decisions have to be made pretty early. Sometimes you make those at the turn, right? For one of the last groups. Because the afternoon pairings have to go out, and sometimes they'll turn around, and they'll on the back nine, something clicks and make a bunch of birdies, they win a match and you got to walk up to the guy and, yeah, what time I go on this afternoon?

You're not. Now, we're going to sit you down a little bit. So it, a lot of it's just having a report, the players, giving them knowledge after the round. What's going on? Are you playing? What time you're playing? Let me give you a ride.

Let me get you ready. Having anything on that cart ready that they may need. You know, Lanny Watkins was telling a story about how Nicholas always had like, it looked like a toolbox or something on the cart. He said it was full of just crap, but he had everything you could possibly need. He said, I was back in the days of metal spikes. I had the spike that fell out of my shoe. He was selling his ice cream out of their teeth.

Might have been. They did talk about him eating ice cream afterwards and how good Barbara could cook. But he said it was on the inside of his right shoe and every time he was kind of wet and every time he went to push off, he was slipping on his right foot. And he said, I walked over to Jack and he had a pair of golf shoes on and he said, Hey, can I pull a spike out of one of your shoes and put it in my right foot? He's showing me, goes, I'm missing this spike. I'm slipping. And Nicholas just reached in the cart and he had a spike wrench and spikes. And he, Lanny, put his foot up and he goes in here. I got Nick, Jack Nicholas changing the spike in my shoe. It's just priceless. So will you wear golf shoes as captain? Uh, sometimes I have, but you know,

I wear a spot. I wear a, I wear a, those are your bars of shoes. So, they're spike the shoes. I think we're walking a lot. We're, and we're used to being in our golf shoe while we're walking. So, you don't want to get four in a row. I wear like a running shoe. You know, I'm the deepest, the deepest guy. So, with shoes, I'll wear a running shoe or I'll wear the golf shoe that I wear on tour that kind of looks like a running shoe anyway. So I don't know if I'd go out there with the big metal spikes and walk around, but I'm on my feet so much and a lot of times Walking the better part of 36. Yeah, so I want to be in a shoe that I'm really really comfortable on. Has the

Has the ping pong table ever gotten like too heated? We had a guy this year in the presence cup Dive for a ball and I have I just say die Dive so it comes off the end of the table and he goes running across and makes a diving effort on the ground to hit and I was like all right well wait I'm swearing at the guy I go are you absolutely kidding me is Kutcher just heads and shoulders above everybody? Yeah, you know, he doesn't have a legit. He doesn't without a great serve, too the guy I go, are you absolutely kidding me? Is Kutcher just heads and shoulders above everybody? Or is he ever legit? Yeah, he does it without a great serve too.

He just puts the serve in play and toys with everyone. But his volley and getting it back is phenomenal. He beat me, this year I was joking around them. I knew he would, but he beat me. He played lefty and beat me. I just have fun. I said, I think I can beat you lefty and he went, no. So I lost a few bucks on that one.

Let's say you just come out, just dukes of hazard, just dig in this year, just come off that injury and like you win twice or something on the West Coast swing. And you're playing well, you're playing well. And you start rising up those rider cup standings. Like would you ever? It'll be a tough year as far as media lies.

And that is it. Let's just start. When I was namecapped and I was, you know, that year, earlier that year, I was ranked number four in the world. So the idea at the time wasn't that far-fetched. Was that kind of a weird feeling when you're playing that well?

And it's like, well, hey, come on. Come on, come on. It was earlier that year. I'd been hurt for a while and I was asked the question, you know, by some folks, is this a good time for you for the captain or do you want to continue trying to make the teams? And I just felt like it was the right time.

And now I'm really thankful. I'd been hurt for a while. I haven't been playing. But I really wanted to be, I always wanted to be the rider of captain at one time in my career. I felt like the timing was right for me because I'm still on tour. I'm somewhat relevant. I can go out there and play practice rounds with, you know, at the time like this last year, I knew Justin Thomas, but I didn't know him that well. And I wanted to play some with him. I wanted to see his game. I wanted to get to know his personality There's going to be more young players

Coming up Maybe as Andrew Schoffler or maybe I hate the name names because I don't like to put pressure on these guys But there's always going to be young players coming that I don't know very well And I want to get to know him because it's not only knowing their golf game, but it's knowing their personality And how to how to pair them up how they're going to fit into a team, what role they're going to play. And I knew I could do that better before the age of 50 before I was maybe out playing the champion store, still engaged. And I know some of the younger players, you know, now I know Justin Wells, say Jordan

Speed, Patrick Greed. I can lean on those guys a little bit and say, hey, you know, let's go play a practice round, but let's go get these two guys to play with us because I need to get to know them a little better. Now I've got a guy that's comfortable with me that can kind of break that ice and I always wanted that. I wanted to be relevant on tour. And Davis was able to do it at maybe a little older age, it's say 53 or 54. A lot of it was because it drew. I mean, drew play college golf with Justin. He knew Jordan growing up. So he already had that relationship with some of the younger players that most 53, 54 year olds aren't going to have.

I like how you very subtly dropped that you're somewhat relevant. I mean you're one of the few guys. You're one of the few. I have been playing. So it's a a month since I play one of the few guys who I think and walk into any golf course and everybody's gonna know who you are and and it's kind of I always thought this about golf it's kind of weird you know golf has these superstars that kind of get isolated almost in golf I'm curious outside of golf how much anonymity do you have I mean you've you've done everything in your sport depends a little bit where I'm at it ramps up if I play well and when it at. It ramps up. If I play well and win a turn,

yeah, it ramps up a lot, but there's still places. My wife from Columbus, Ohio. We go to a couple of house, state games every year and in the parking lot, 150 people will walk by and want a picture or say hello. I mean Columbus is a giant golf town. So kind of depending where we travel and where we go, it might be in Paris and a random personal walk up. And if it's just tabling on the family, we might walk all day for hours and a random personal walks up and says it takes a picture and it's kind of out of place. But it's fun.

I'm very fortunate in that most of the folks that want to say hello, and it's just such, it's a nice experience. Fans want to come over and maybe take a picture, say hello, wish you well, and off I go. I've never been where I couldn't take my family to Disney or hang out with the kids or having normal, your famous, but you're not too famous.

Well, that's kind of a right level thing. So for like a tiger or a fill or that's not always possible. They don't go to dinner in peace. Of course. That makes sense. Where I can go to dinner and I may hear my name, like, hey, that's Jim Fierrick, as I'm walking by, but we can sit down and have a normal dinner. I, you know, I might look around and there may be a few eyes staring at me.

But for the players this year, we were sitting at known of blue in Panavidra and Jordan and Smiley were sitting over there in the corner and like, you know, some like 60 year old guy walks up and just like interrupts the heck out of the dinner and asks for a picture. And it's just like, have some shame people. Well, that's what kind of what I was going to get at is like, you know, you're kind of one of the, one of the few remaining guys of that generation that didn't, you generation that didn't have social,

didn't have all these, you didn't have to put yourself out there in all these crazy ways to raise your profile and serve your sponsors and do all that stuff. It seems like kind of a blessing almost to be in that spot. Yeah, I think that, you know, I'm now on Twitter because the PGM America wanted me to with a Ryder Cup. That's a fair answer. And it's been cool. I mean, I've enjoyed it. do you have America wanted me to with the Ryder Cup? That's a fair answer. It's been cool.

I mean, I've enjoyed it, but I guess I also enjoyed not having to do it and being a little bit anonymous. And I've always felt like there's a couple things that are sacred to me, once my home. So if you've noticed, there's rarely, I don't know if there is a picture of me in my home We're talking before he came in and I'm like he's one of the most famous people in golf I don't even know if he has kids like I don't know anything like about his personal

I was I have a 13 and a 15 year old that are great kids my daughters of sophomore my son is 13 is an eighth grade We have a close family. They used to and still travel quite a bit in the summer. I thought by now they wouldn't want to, but they love traveling because that's what they've always done. And my home is kind of sacred. Not really, I mean, some folks know my, I mean, in the media, they know my family and my wife. Now, sometimes we walk in an airport and people like if I'm not right there, they'll walk by and they know she's tab of the fear

because of the web.com commercial. And she was on it and I've had people walk up and say, you know, I didn't really recognize you, but I saw your wife and then I looked over and and I get the biggest kick out of that. So. She's like she's busy all the time, like not just on like a creep, but I see her around.

Jackson of each like she's always. Really busy. She runs our foundation for a full time job. She sits on a lot of boards. She sits on the board of the Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville. I get to go to a lot of events as a plus one. It's kind of cool.

I'm 30. How do you do that? How do you do that? I have a beer, chat with everyone. It's pretty easy. The plus one job is a really good gig. Just saying. How'd you meet her?

I met Tabitha at the memorial. So her last couple two and a half years of college she worked for a mere field really. So she worked away through college there. Her boss at the company loves golf. I mean a golf freak show I guess would be the best I could say. Just loves golf, talks at 100% of the time back then he did. And he would take a week off of work to work a radio show at the event. So I think he would plug into him every 20 minutes, what's going on, it updates scores, it goes over to like a concession stand or hit talk to fans and it would be like Mr. Goff, you know, it would sign in and it'd say something about what was going on to Memorial. And so my wife's job for the tournament was basically, you know, it's a social,

it's a huge social event. He hung out, she hung out there with, with him and his fiance at the time and happened to be there for a few hours and then she was going to meet some friends later at the tournament. And I was walking off the 18th green after a practice round and he interviewed me, but while he's interviewing me, I'm checking her out. And I said hello to her and then he kind of realized what was going on, introduced us. And he loves golf, so he asked if I'd go to dinner with he and his fiancee and her. Time he asked, I actually didn't know which one was his fiance. So then I was very uncomfortable for a little bit, that I might be checking this guy's fiance out,

but it worked out. We went to dinner a lot that week and been together ever since. What favorite question we loved to ask people, when was the last time you paid for golf? San Andrews. And I don't remember the year, but probably in the last 10 years,

San Andrews to the best of my knowledge has no free lunch. So I've always paid when I went there. It was like 85 pounds or 100 and so I don't know. It was, but no big deal. Yeah. A lot, a lot of fun. A lot of fun.

The beer's a lot cheaper and the, yeah. Yeah. And the pub just to the back right. That's right. So good friend of mine, you stone it. What is the biggest fashion regret you have in your career? The shirt with the butt. I was hoping you'd save that.

I was hoping to save it. I was pretty quick, too. Show the buttons. I feel like the shirt with the butt. Wow. You should bring it back. It was unique. I have a goofy swing.

I do everything different, man. Putt cross and it. I have a weird grip on the club. Loop in my swing. My eyes will just throw the shirt with the buttons in there. One of our guys, Big Randy, created a wrote a piece for our site that's called The Tiger Tax. And he calculated how much money Tiger pumped into the game. It kind of did a rough economic study. And one of the things we always ask people to is we were going to do a part two. We haven't done it yet. Well, I'll say this before you go there. He cost us a ton of money because you always won. I mean, Ernie L's would have like 15 more wins if I were for Tiger Woods.

That being said, he still made us way more than he cost. That's the question is if we were the second part was going to be we were going to start invoicing players say this is how much money you get a tie to Tiger. You have to pay a tie to Tiger. How much money would you say Tiger has earned you in your career? Well, you got to think when I started playing the tour a pretty good size purse was 1.5 million. Right. And some of them are only one million at the time. 1.5. Maybe a major was two. I don't remember. And then that was 19 that was 1994 by 2000. You know, a pretty good purse was six million dollars early 2000. Less than 10 years, they quite droopled. And a lot of that had to do with with Tiger. So, you know, I don't know if you made me four times the amount of money, but probably triple wow

Double for sure. Yeah, that's usually we answer we get like Charles house at IOM half of my earnings probably Not technically now go on record right now he hates to pay a bet So I don't know how much I owe back Tell us more about that. Yeah, just kidding I know one of my favorite stories I heard you tell in a press conference a while ago was he didn't lose very often so you didn't have to. That's true, it's not used to it. I remember hearing in a press conference you talking about your first time on the range at Sony. I remember telling that story and the day I heard it I was curious to give me a refresher on that. Yeah one of my funniest and probably worst feeling moments in my career. So my first tour event as a member, I guess I played some as a non-member, but we went

over to Sony. Sony's got the smallest range on the PJTOR. It's tiny. Can't fit anyone on it. Because of that, by Wednesday, there's no grass on the range, right? It's just chewed up. And it's a real sandy soil. It's always the trade win there is a hard

into right to left wind. So I've hit that wind there a lot. And sandy range, get up in the morning. Lanny walkins is on my left. And I go to hit some balls. And kind of my normal routine would be to grab a sand wedge and just kind of hit some four year, 50 yard shots. And there was a little pin always short left on the range

Which is kind of funny. So I just break the ball in and I'm talking to my dad and I go to hit the sandwich over at the first pin I'm stiff Real sandy soil. I I mean I hit it really fat And the sand goes up and I mean I can hear it hitting Lanny next to me and I'm not quite sure who's behind me because I didn't really pay attention. So as I turn to look, I go, oh my God, it's like Lanny walkins.

Who's one of the more, for only being about five foot eight, he's one of the more intimidating people I've ever been around. And so I turn and it's Lanny walkins and I go, and in my mind I'm thinking, oh shit, I didn't just do that. So I just said, hey, sorry about that. And I didn't just do that so I just said hey Sorry about that and I turned to look to my dad. He's back there teaching me and I had just grin on my face

Like can you believe I just did that? So I rake another ball in Aim at the same pin Hit it fat again Sand flies up and it's pelting him and he's he's over a shot Now I'm like it's hit me the first time I kind of thought it was cute and funny Second time I am now I'm intimidated as could be and I didn't know what to say so I said you know like hey Sorry about that. I tried to

Don't add some light to it. I said Maybe I should aim a little farther right and without breaking shot. he's over the shot and he just tilts his head up and he goes, that'd be nice. And he goes in and goes in and hits the shot. And so now I reach in my bag. I bypass the pitching wedge because that's probably going to be fat too, right? And I go straight to the A-dion and I aim it up the net down the right side and I blade the hell out of it.

I mean, I just bone it up the right side because I'm so intimidated Eventually I kind of get even right. I kind of get it back to where I'm hitting it solid and feel pretty good about it but I've told that story back to Lanier a few times and we've laughed about it quite a bit He's been great to me in my career. He uh, he's really been a lot of fun for me Awesome. Well, let's wrap it up. We kept it for an hour. This was great. Appreciate all the insights and stories. That was an hour. That was an hour. Yeah. I didn't seem like any more than two. I got one last question. What do you get at Sundelli? Sundelli is either Babs Best or the Narlie Charlie. I've never had a high school.

So now you got to go double meet. Okay. Double meet. And then you go what you have to get the white roll. I mean the wheat's good, but the white roll, they have the best bread in town. That's my opinion. So, great folks. Shout out to Sundelli. Always looking for some handouts. I don't know if they listened to this podcast, but I need to give my heads up. They're more into the BMX Viking scene, I think.

That makes it. Skateboarding scene. Well, let you carry on the rest of your day. Appreciate you spending an hour with us and best of luck with the tap and say, thanks skateboarding scene. Well, let you carry on with the rest of your day, appreciate you spending an hour with us, and best of luck with the tap and say, thanks for sharing. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm going to write club. Be the right club today. Yes. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most.