No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 139: Jon Rahm

Episode Date: May 9, 2018

Jon Rahm joins the podcast to talk about his upbringing in a small town on the northern coast of Spain, coming to the United States not knowing English, his college experience, and his transition to... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 139: Jon Rahm appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better than most! Expect anything different! Alright ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Join today by the number three ranked player in the world. Mr. John Rom. John, how are you? Good, how are you? Thanks for having me. Of course, thanks for joining us. We're here at Players Championship Monday. Last year was your first players championship experience?

What was your initial reaction to this course and this tournament? Well, I mean, to be honest, this course does not do justice on TV to how good it is in person. It's amazing to come here and just see the layout and help hear everything. Usually, PJ Tour courses and PJ Tour events, they do a great job with keeping it as neat as possible. But man, this place is something that is, it steps it up a notch. I mean, it's comparable with the gust that they have good. Everything looks, it's amazing. And then, how hard it is, really.

Like, you know, it's not long. You're not hitting drivers. But it's tough. You know, you have holes in your number four, where you just turn iron to the grid to the fur away and this to wedge. But if you miss the fur away, you're're gonna have a hard time even hitting the green. So it's you know, it's It's really it's a great test of every aspect of your game Which is something that thing all pros love. I mean, it's a very well-deserved player championship title because you will need to be the best player this week I played out here a couple weeks ago with a pro and he said he I was intimidated We played the backs and I'm intimidated and he said

Every shot out here looks harder than it actually is. So like the fairways are kind of rounded a bit to make them look a little more narrow. The greens are shaped a little differently. Once he said that, I thought, I started seeing things a little more differently, so. Not, it looks pretty tough, don't we?

I don't know what to say. It looks tough, it definitely plays tough. Well, yeah, there really is some fur ways that the leg number two looks a lot narrower than it really is, but you just because you need to hit a draw predominantly hit a fade to probably just to my eye, just looks a little different. That one overhanging tree on two is not pretty.

Yeah, same way. If a muck of tee box farther back could actually be easier for some people like me. Just go over the trees and just don't worry about any canals, but yeah, I kind of let some truth to that. Once you get down on the railway, it actually is more room than you think. So I got to ask, was the BMW championship pro-AM last year, was that the most fun you ever had during a pro-AM? Yes, if it wasn't, it's sub-type for the first. I mean that was really fun.

We had a great day honestly, and the group of guys we had, just to have you guys and then someone like Ben Higgins, which is not someone you have usually usually pro-家 and you have a bachelor and then Brian Urlacher. It's a good combination of people. I had a great time. I loved it. It was funny to see reaction of like my friends like most of the females were like, oh well you play with Ben Higgins and most of the guys were like, you play with Brian Urlacher, that's sweet. And it was funny, like the questions that you know that Urlacher was asking Ben Higgins were very different than the ones you were watching because you're a fan of the Bachelor.

No, well, my girlfriend's a fan. And she watches every single episode. And sometimes I've had for whatever reason, I've had had to watch a couple episodes. Sure, sure. And I knew a little bit about it. It's just a couple of things you want to know a quick answer to. And Brian was a little more direct than the rest of us.

But I guess when you're about to become a Hall of things you want to know, and the answer to and Brian was a little more direct than the rest of us, but You guys I guess when you're about to become a Hall of Famer. You're you know, you're entitled to ask whatever you want Do you remember what like one of your first questions you asked him was or the one you were dying to ask him? Oh, it's a stupidest thing. Yeah, it was like the one the one thing I really wanted to ask is because in all this date They have this amazing meal that looks incredible and they never take a bite of it I'm like I always tell my government. I'm like, I could not be the bachelor. Like, I'll be like, hold up. I'm gonna try the steak real quick. Okay, keep going.

Like, and then you explain how they make the set up, everything look pretty, and they have the food there for two hours or even more beforehand. So it's not even edible at the point, but every time I see an episode, I'm like, why are they not even? Now you know. Like, why? Everything on camera is all fake I'm like, why are they not even? Now you know. Like, why? Everything on camera is all fake, so that's why

that's why they never even. How much American football do you watch? How familiar with you were with Brian Arlacher? Well, I mean, there's certain names that just come up to mine, right? And Brian is one of them. It's, I did know American football really, until I came to the States five years ago.

So it's not like my knowledge. Is that extent? But I do follow obviously as you, me and as you look now. And then I love watching playoffs in any sport, to be honest. Just I don't follow regular season just because I don't have a favorite team, I have some favorite players and whatnot. But the playoffs is always fun to watch. And it feels like every sport just turns it up a couple notches and you know, it's incredibly fun to watch and football is one of them. I used to I used to live in Europe and I didn't realize how complicated the rules of American football were until I tried to explain them to people. Are you able to pick up on the rules or do you kind of like half in half out on all the rules? No, I know I know the rules. I mean, I wouldn't be able to be a referee. Yeah, but I can obviously I

understand what's going on. I understand the penalties. But it's hard to, when you first come over, you know, as soccer fans, right? I'm going to say soccer. It's very different. And it's never explained. You know, you have the first down, second down, third down, and fourth down and all that,

but you just don't really understand all the rules. You know, when we watch it, we'd relate it to rugby. Right? So I'm like, how about you just, you know, you headlock that guy and put him down. You can't do that. And then, you know, it was very, very hard for me to understand what holding was, what parts that passing their fear was. I'm like, okay, how do you know what the difference is, right? It's just, but once, you know, you watch a couple games, it's easy to follow it. It's not, it's, once you know the basic rules, it's not that hard to understand what's going on.

So you're from Barika, Spain, am I saying that right? Okay, in the bass country just north of Bill Bauer right? Bill, but yeah, right okay So take us there for those of us that have never been there What's the town like what is it known for? Is it a beach town take us to your to your hometown in Spain? Well, the the bass country it's it's a bit of everything in the sense that topography is very rough But it's right on the coast. So you can get an amazing beach, but right behind it you can have the craziest mountains too. Which is a little unusual to what the rest of the world should be, but where I live you can kind of rises into a cliff so there is there. There is a couple good beaches over there

That's a couple good ones. I said no to one two if someone's interested It's a lot of those in Europe. Oh, yeah True they actually recorded some emphasis of Game of Thrones in my town, which is I don't know what it says about it I don't know if I look medieval. I don't know This is but it you know it's rough. It's just a big whole big mountain what it is It's a small town is not big. it's about 1200 people that live in it. There's probably more trees and animals than people, but it's getting a little more civilized. People are realizing how when you're on the top of the cliff, if you're able to build a house,

it's an amazing view. I mean, it's comparable to me in mind to make a situation to Torre Paisala, Hoi area, that you have that cliff and then that amazing view to the ocean but also you know it's it's also known as a fisherman let's say community right there's a lot a lot of towns in the next to the ocean and it's you know fish and it's easy access as fresh fish almost every day it really is nice in that sense but since you have that topography and the bat weather, which is like being in Portland It rains eight months a year. It's cold. It's great for It's great to grow some high quality meat as well You know every every cow is almost every cow is grass fed every animal's grass fed

It's it lives in the wild and you get you know both high quality meat and high quality fish But it's kind of unusual and talking about foods inside of food. Killing their fish. Talking about the culinary world, because of that, that makes the freshness of the ingredients, you know, food is really good in the bass country, not only in what I live, but just the whole bass country in their area. So it's just, I think somebody told me for like X amount of miles, radius, or whatever, is the highest concentration of Michelin star restaurants

Really in the world. Yeah, it's interesting. What's the wine culture like up there? So wine wine is just south of the best country It's called Rioja for people. I know it's just the province right underneath and it's about an hour and a half drive two hours from where I live I mean, it's just filled it's a little more dry and it's just filled with inners. Filled and filled and filled with inners. And then just, it will be a little more south-west, which in Spain nothing really is far compared to the stage, but to us as far away, it will be a 600-yard drive. It's called Rivera de Dueto, which is for people

that know Vegas, Sicilia, is one of the ones that's very better known on site in Spain. So, you know, nothing really is too far, but for us, if you live there, it is far. What's the golf culture like up there? Man, so I think, not as, there's more golf coming in right now, but there's not, there wasn't much going on. You know, what I live, there's two golf courses, there were two golf courses up until not too long ago within reach, 120 minutes away, 110 minutes away. But unfortunately, when my family was never into golf,

so it's not like we were already members, so as you know, family members or anything, you had to get your way in and it's always hard to get into a golf course as private. So my dad joined the golf course that's an hour away. And that's, you know, that's... Do you drove an hour each way to go play golf as a kid? Yeah, so basically we would drive...

Yeah, so I mean we would live at like 8 in the morning, get there at 9 and leave about 6. Because you know, you eat late dinner since the day you think the big of a difference. But yeah, that's where it is. But nowadays I do get access to some of the golf courses closer to me. late dinner since Spain. You think the big of a difference, but yeah, that's where it is, but nowadays, I do get access to some of the golf courses closer to me, so you know, that helps out to be able to practice when I'm there instead of having a drive one hour, but you got to a point dream once it became good at golf before I went to Madrid for a special golf program where my parents rented an apartment on the 10th hall of the golf course, which is about 50 years from the chip in putting green so we could stay there over the weekend for me to be able

to practice more and for them to play as well. So we wouldn't have to drive down every single day, which kind of made it a little hard to go back and forth every time. When did you go to Madrid for the golf school? Last two years of high school. It's a program run by this Panaskov Federation and they basically pick whatever they think is the best six players that year and the best six women that year. And my actually the first year I went, it was just when golf got admitted into the Olympic and as an Olympic sport again. So we got to got included into Olympic committee, which means we went to this, let's this dorm room.

It was almost like a hotel, but it was more of this dorm room where almost every Olympic athlete who wanted could be there. So we had, I mean, and we went to high school basically designed for those sport, like nobody outside could go in. It was just for the Olympic athlete. So in my class, I had Olympic connoisseur, Olympic gymnast, I had people in class that had actually been in the Olympics,

which was pretty cool. So with that run by Federation, it was two years of my life where I could actually practice a lot more golf, because like I said, before home, I'd have a 30 minute lesson on Tuesday, and then until Friday, I wouldn't touch a club again. So just being able to go there and practice Monday through Saturday, it was a big change for golf

in me in that sense. So during this time period, were you competing at all on like a world amateur stage? Did you know where your games stood amongst amateurs at all? When was the first time you really compared yourself to people around the world? Or were competing against the others around the world? Well, I wouldn't really leave Europe.

We never, you know, we had a lot of good European events. And during the year since you're in school, you can't really leave that much, right? My parents were rather have me in school. And the Spanish gotheration was, you know, also emphasizing that having a good education was important. So it's not like we ever left far away. And when we were done with school in summer,

it was basically every single good European event. It's in summer so we never left Europe in any sense. Some people who come to the states to the orange bowl and and or on all that and and winter but my family could never afford something like that and we never knew how big how much of an impact it could get me making your career. So I had no idea. I think the first international experience I had is when I played what's called the Michael Bonne Electrofi, which is Europe against Asia and Pacific. It's kind of like a radical type deal, presence, cap type deal, and on that team we have Hideki Matsuyama, who had already won the Asian amateur twice, he played in the Masters twice, and he

was about term pro and a couple of other really good players. So that was my first really world experience, but I was 16 at the time. So it was a little different to him. You know, when you played against this people you see on TV and I was just a 16 year old. So it was a little, a little, a little one of it, one of those times when I was eye opening for me. And right after that, a couple of months after, when I came to the States. So he wasn't really until I came to the States when I saw where my game was at and how much I had improved. Was that when you came to the States? Was that

to go to college? Was that your first time coming to the States or had you? Yeah. Yeah. That story is quite unique to me. I don't think I've done anything usual in my life. It's like, no, it just never happened like that. No. I came into school with a school year started. I never made an official visit, never had been in the states before. I just left Berea, Spain and landed in Arizona. How did you end up at Arizona State? What was that recruiting process? Well, the thing is, I was playing at European under 18, chemistry, what they called the boys' championship,

whereas it's put juniors here, right? And on the, on the stroke plate qualifier, I was just playing, I think it was the eighth hole we were in, in Chikrope Republic. And I see a coach from the University of San Francisco. Now, my grandma had just been in San Francisco. And me, not knowing any of you, and see that was a rule, so honestly, I had no clue.

I had no idea that a coach couldn't talk to me, right? But since I approached him, apparently that's legal, or not, I don't know. So I talked to him and we talked a little bit and he decided to follow me and I ended up shooting the six out there on the back nine to finish second on the show play and then we ended up winning the tournament, right?

Spain won it, so that's how we got introduced into US golf and I got to offer scholarship from universe in San Francisco, but they made a mistake with my age and they wanted me to stay one year in Spain to then come afterwards. So we were planning on that and whatever, I didn't have any other offers. And then a guy called Ricardo Ralinka, working for the Spanish Gofferation, was in the States, trying to have a guy transfer from Iowa State to Arizona State. For whatever reason, thankfully for me he decided not to do it and stayed in Iowa State. So Tim had an open spot.

And Ricardo told Tim, hey you should check out this guy. He wants to come to the stage right now. He's committed to University of San Francisco but they want him to wait a year. Probably a lot. So, I think at the time I was 14th in the World Rankings, I was top 5 in Europe and nobody in the States had any idea who I was about. So, without meeting me, without ever talking to me, without really anything, Tim sent me. Tim Nicholson, yeah. Tim Nicholson, yeah. Tim ended up sending me an offer.

And they sent me a two-year offer and then the rest, depending on academics and golf. And to us, it was no brainer. Once I looked into it and I was on a state and saw how good the school was, there was a Spanish golfer, a girl with her who was going to be able to help me out. And the Spanish tradition was pretty big over there and the old did really, really well. So I was like, well, let's get a reason why. And never met anybody. He never met nothing at all. I committed tours on a state. And like my dad says, he dropped me off at the airport.

He didn't know if I was in Moscow, Sydney. Johannesburg, he just got a text from me, hey, I'm with Tim, good to go. And it was very different to what I expected. That experience was so different to anything. Cause like I said, this dorm room I was in Spain, it was like a hotel. Sure.

It will clean the room for us. We had a laundry. It was basically like a hotel. So when I got to a dorm in the States, where you take care of your room, it's a little different. It was a very, very, very, I opened an experience in the sense that I was like, okay, I'm gonna have to do a lot more about myself here,

rather than people helping me out. So, I think being able to go to Arizona State was helpful. But... Girl, pretty quick, then in that situation. Yeah, especially because of visa purposes and how late every cosme, because coached Michelson approach me in May. That was two or three months before I had to go to school.

And luckily, I had already taken the SATs. So, but still getting the visa is a long process. So it took a while. And again, I landed with the school, you had already taken the SATs, so, but, you know, still getting the visa as a long process, so it took a while. And again, I landed with the school year, I already started, I had no idea what was going on, never been in a campus before, and didn't know what college was about. I had, I started from zero, and I had to pick up as quick as possible.

And what was your English like at that time? Non-existent, really? Non-existent. I mean, I was that intimidating, going to a country where you didn't speak the language? I was oblivious to be honest. Really? I was completely oblivious. It's meaning you thought that you could get by with Spanish when you when you arrived to... I thought my English was gonna be good enough. I never picked up on let's say the English, the American accent because what we learned to

was British or UK English. So there was a lot of a lot of words that were different. A lot of idioms, just a lot of words that were different. A lot of idioms, there's a lot of phrases that were very different to what I was used to. And just the pronunciation of words was very different to what I was used to. So it took a while to be able to communicate properly. I always, now after the fact, it took me about two or three months to be able to carry on a conversation properly.

I did not understand a single joke for a better part of two years. And it wasn't up until my junior year where I can actually make jokes. Because the Spanish humor was different to the American humor and being able to say what I meant and the weight that made sense in the States was very difficult as well. So it took a while for me to be able to actually be funny. Was how many years of English did you take growing up in school? Did you take it for a long period of time?

Yeah, but the English system is very different. In most Spanish schools are horrible. Basically, every year, the first day of school, press and simple. No matter if you're 10 or 18, literally every year is the same thing. Yeah. So you're not really going to learn. So I did extra classes of English in outside schools that were

independent and that's kind of how I got a little better. But I thought it was okay, like I could communicate in the UK. It was just coming to the stage when it was a little different. It was a little harder to get used to a lot of much faster pace when it comes to speaking English, a little harder to understand the pronunciation was a little different for me. So took a while. I mean, let me tell you, when I got to my first class, Mac economic principles, and there was 365 people in class, and it looked like I'm a wheat theater for me, I cannot believe it. The teacher is speaking with a microphone,

I did not understand a single word. I think I changed like half of my classes my first semester, just to be able to go to smaller classes where I could actually understand what people were saying to me. Wow. No, I think every able to go to smaller classes where I could actually understand what people were saying to me. Wow. No, I think every time I go to Spain, I think that my Spanish... Oh, I got this. I can handle this.

You speak with a native speaker and it's totally different. You're understanding is different. You have to have a thought process. But I remember reading somewhere where you also learned English through rap music. Is that true? Or is that oversinstationalized? No, I mean, it's a good headline and people like to use it. Yeah, that's what I thought.

No, it's not like I learned English. It helped out with an pronunciation and pronunciation a lot. And just being able to carry on a conversation in English and we've been able to process everything in English. It helped out with that. It just been able to memorize those words and being able to pronounce to process everything in English. It helped out with that, you know, just been able to memorize those words, and been able to pronounce those words properly in a fast paced helped me out with being able to carry in with the conversation a lot better. It's not like I learned English,

it's not like you can learn good English, but it's an interrap music. Right. A lot of grammar mistakes. But it did help me out with being able to just, you know, at least understand a lot of cultural things, a lot of just keywords, a lot of slang that I didn't understand because it was the first time I remember freshman year and this is true. My teammate can tell you I was talking to him, my teammate Alberto Sanchez and he was

trying to have me do something. I don't know if he was trying to go. And he just goes, look at me. It's like, come on, dog let's do this. And I'm like, don't call me dog. I'm not a dog. I mean, what are you talking? Actually, you got really mad. Yeah.

And it's like, hey man, dog is like dude, like buddy, like chill out, like it's good. And I'm like, all right. OK. It was like, it's little things like that that I was able to just keep up with. But now I didn't learn English just by listening to rap music. You can't learn English by listening to Kendrick Lamar or Jay-Z.

You're not going to. At least not good English. It's not like it's, but yeah, it helped just being able to learn how to just pronounce it in process. I think that's a little better. Many of you already have an Odyssey putter in the bag or at the very least you have played an Odyssey putter before, but you've never owned or seen one that performs like EXO. It's EXO. This is the new line from Odyssey.

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stay on that line. All three of these XO head shapes are now available for pre- order and they hit stores on May 18th. Tron is already got it in the bag and he is raving about it. It's got me slightly concerned about the BMW Charity Pro in next week but not all that concern. Head over to OdysseyGolf.com to get yours today and start holding more putts now back to John Rom. Was there anything that surprised you about American culture? What's something? Probably the classroom size is one of the first things, but when you got here, where were

you like, whoa, this is way different. Oh, again, I was so oblivious to everything. I'm a person who adapts really quickly. So the one thing that really struck, like, you know, was, it was amazing for me to see, was in all those classes that I was that were big. I was trying to hide, trying to like never be picked to talk in front of all these people. Never, I never wanted to talk to anybody.

And I got in one, and everybody was just racing their hand, trying to give their opinion, talking, and just how publicly, how brave everybody was. Now it's like, God, I'm like, if I'm, you know, I come from a class in Spain that we were 15 to 20 people and nobody wanted to raise their hand, like nobody wanted to talk. So like, to go to a class where everybody was trying to participate, it was real eye opening. It took me a while to get used to that, but at the end, you know, it helps out. It's a little different, I think, it, is the, you know, a little more confidence in the American way, I'll say.

Yeah. No, it's fascinating background. I've always wanted to hear the whole story, like, in your words. But for not to move to golf, because this has been great. But was there any doubt kind of where your game stood when you got here? Did you know that you could compete at a really high level at Arizona State or without a giant question mark? Well, I've always had an extreme amount of confidence in myself and I know I could do it, but when I got to the team, I thought great, I'm gonna have at least maybe one or two years,

at least one where I'm gonna be able to learn from somebody on the team and you know, they're gonna be number one, two and three, and I'll be maybe lucky if I make the team, whatever, that's when I was thinking about, I'll be able to learn. And a little did I know that as soon as I got there, we played well the final days. I was playing as number one player in the team.

I was like, how does this even make sense? Like, I was trying to get there to learn it right away. I had to be a leader, which it was not what I expected in my mind. So, goal-wise, I know I could make it. Is this, I was used to, you used to playing in Spain and having a bad tournament if it was in 10th. If I came to the States and had a bad tournament, I was going to finish 30th of 40th.

So that was tightening a little, my golf game, as much as possible. It helps that when you're first round in college is 81. Woke you up a little bit. Oh, yeah. Started with an 81, played horrible, and woke me up real good. Yeah. So you turned that career into 11 wins, your second to only fill an Arizona State history.

Yeah, it was right hand there to a plane. You played in the 2015 waste management as an amateur and finished fifth. That was your first taste of professional golf in my second. I played in my aqua just a couple months before. Okay, it was a little different than probably playing it in Phoenix. Oh, imagine. It's very little different than probably playing it in Phoenix. Oh, great. It was very different. So I want to know, when you get to that tournament, when you're on the range, who did you see on that range or who did you see in where kind of star struck, like, whole, I'm actually

here? Everybody, basically. But Tiger was playing that year. And looking at Tiger, I couldn't hit balls because Tiger was hitting balls behind me. Yeah. It was just like, I'll hit a ball, then I want to look at mine, I'll just look at him, like, what'll hit a ball. I want to look at mine. I'll just look at him. Like, what is he doing?

And unfortunately for all of us, that was the time where he was struggling with a short game and he didn't play good. So he wasn't having as much fun as he could have. But then I was trying to look at everybody, to be honest. Nobody knew me and I knew everybody on their range. I was just looking at what everybody was doing. I was talking probably to every tour rep that was there I mean, what do you have there? What do you have there? What do you have there?

Cuz like, you know, I just go with my golf bag put it down. I have no gadgets nothing I just I've always been a person who doesn't think I don't have any tools. I don't think I just don't do it You know, I just go put no to tea. That's it And I see all these people practicing with you know lines and this and the chalk and all these things normally holy cow Do I have to do this? And luckily they didn't do it. But nobody knows that first that Phoenix open I actually had a stomach bug. Now they need much a week. I will go play golf, go back to the house and just stay in a couch. Like nobody knows that I was actually sick. Yeah. Did you put a Jersey on in that in that Arizona State jersey on in 2015?

I know you do it now. I did it every day. Yeah, every day even back then, okay. Yeah, but nobody really read it. I was gonna say you were still pretty animated back then. Yeah, I was never able to make a birdie, but I did it every day. And it was pretty cool on Sunday when I was kind of close to the lead. I hit it to 10 feet on the back left pen and that was pretty cool for me. I was really am top and they got really, really loud. So know I have a couple videos remembering that moment. They didn't make the putt but you know just that shot and how nuts it went. It was pretty cool. So you turned pro after the US Open in 16, you were you forego your entrance into the Open Championship. Was there

I'm guessing the main reason behind that was you probably had sponsors exemptions lined up and wanted to go for a special temporary membership. I had six invites in all basically all the events I could play and my goal was to get my tour card and those six events. I knew all these data gens I come close a year before so if I didn't get my tour card at least maybe get enough so I can get to the web.com playoff that was my mindset. And so you were dead set on you wanted PGA tour career right out of college like Like that European tour PGA tour there wasn't a decision to make you want a PGA tour. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it was the biggest opportunity and if you can make it it's you know, I mean you play in the best golf courses in the world the money the person's a very different you know when you

in Europe there's a lot of traveling you know it's it's more than European tour as a world tour so much where you're going. So I wanted to start on PGA tour and then move over to European tour. And luckily I was able to do that. And within, I think, eight months, I was memorable of tour. So and winning on both of those. You moved over and started. That was within a year. Yeah, that was not expected.

But yeah, that was my mindset. I was trying to do PGA tour first. So you won in January 2017, the farmers' insurance. And even in your short time out there, you were knocking at the door, you were close, but were you surprised to have won that quickly, or did you figure out pretty quickly, like, hey, I've got the game to win out here. Well, I mean, my first pro start, I was contenting for the lead. Sure.

You know, I led the tournament all through the first three rounds, and I was contenting for the lead. Quick and long, is that right? Yes. And if he wasn't for my lip out on 15 and that flyer on 17, maybe, you know, story would have in a different, a little different. But I'm actually glad I didn't win that one

because that gave me experience. And I learned there and I applied that in the Canadian Open, which I almost won as well, had an eagle putt to tie the lead and I missed it and I was one off. And I kind of promised myself, next time I was in contention, it was, I was gonna get it done.

And luckily for me, it wasn't that far afterwards when I got to Tori Pines and actually had a chance to win and got it done. I mean, it's just, I don't know why. I promised myself and I ended up doing it. So tell me about your relationship with your catty, Adam Hayes. How did you guys get introduced to each other

and what's your guys relationship like? So he was working for Russell Henley, right before me I think, and I was stuck and we talked to bones and I kind of gave him my criteria. I'm like listen, I'm a very serious person when he comes to business so I want somebody who's committed this not going to go out drinking show up tired the next day. I want to professional somebody with experience, but at the same time, you know, from shot to shot, we need to laugh, you know, just do whatever. And he, and they, you know, he said, well, this guy's gonna be perfect for you.

And we ended up talking to each other, and he agreed to work with me. And we started in, in, at Savvy Open, in 2016. So that's why it was funny when, when and fill had split that people were the rumors started flying that I was like wait a second bones that kind of helped set the two of you guys up I do that the rumors go is a say the rumors just go wild you know people were also saying the Phoenix open that I was turning pro afterwards and I'm like where do people come like on Monday I'm flying to Hawaii to play with the team so like how is this like how was saying I haven't said anything like this. So like, there's always gonna be somebody, you know,

something, I had to call Adam about that too. So I'm like, hey man, just so you know, this is not true. Like, I'm not going anywhere. I luckily got probably the best caddy I could ever get for me in my personality, you know. It's just, we're both equally as aggressive. So it kinda works out. We never back down from a challenge.

It's great for both of us. So you went over to Europe last summer. You went over to France, finished 10th, and then you won the Irish Open in style. So had you, do you have a lot of links golf experience before winning it for Stewart? That one could not be any more unexpected. Yeah, I did not expect to win that time.

And especially the way I did it. I did have links golf links experience, but I never played good. Really? I don't know why I think every time I went to the UK, it was just the time in my life where I was playing bet. For whatever reason, I don't know why. It just happened that way. And this week, it is the links golf course,

but it's a little different. There wasn't as many bunkers up at T. We just have to have a little bit of freedom. And the rough was on the thick. And there was a lot of people watching, saying we were trampled down. I was hitting a lot of drivers. Me and Adam were trying to be smart

We're like, okay, we're set up the fairway. Do we need to favor in order in case we miss a shot? We can you know missing the ruby still have a shot So I think I missed really smart that week Every time I missed in the ruby was down grain. I always had a shaft for the pin and You know all that added with the phenomenal putting week. I mean, the amount of putts I made that week was incredible. You know, you ended up being what ended up being. That's why I followed you for a couple days that week actually, and I actually charted

how often you were missing to like fat sides of the pin and stuff. And you were just, you were like at a position like three times or something in the course of three days, but yeah. I remember you guys were teeing off on seven. It's this dog leg right, par five, and Adam's picking out. He's like a line at the TV tower, and you saw a line that was a different TV tower that was even further right of that. Do you remember this? Yeah, yeah. And you had a downwind, and you were just playing so aggressive, cutting corners.

Was that the first, second, the third day? I don't remember. I don't remember. I think it was the first day when I made eagle, and I absolutely smoked it. And I'm like, that TV tower is like, well, I meant the third day. I don't remember. I don't remember. I think it was the first day when I made eagle. I absolutely smoked it. And I'm like, that TV town is like, well, I meant the other one. I'm just like, and it's dead center of the throw

and I haven't ate iron in. So like, yeah, from day on, we're like, okay, we can go for the right way to go. Perfect. Gas pedal was down there. So, I mean, we were not. We actually, the greens were so flat that we could be realized there were maybe,

in one, but there were not many onjulations. And we were like, if you just hit the center of the green and you have 30 feet you're gonna make some putts and that made a lot of 30 40 footers that way. So I I had followed you around a couple months prior to that at the memorial and I think when I met you I actually talked to you about this. Oh, that wig was bad. I was not hitting the go that way. You were not hitting the great you were paired with Ricky and there was just kind of like a lot of going on in that pairing. A lot of commotion you weren't playing well. And it looked to me like the crowd kind of got to you a little bit and you were kind

of boiling over with some anger. And this is kind of a documented thing that people talk about, you're kind of the way you try to channel anger on the golf course. I think part of it, if I'm looking objectively, is what makes you a great player, is you have this kind of spirited nature. But is there anything you kind of do to address some some temporary issues you may have in your game?

You know, the funny part is sometimes when players get mad, they blame their caddies, in my case for whatever reason, I just blame the crowd. I don't know why I just blame it on somebody else, because you know, as players has never had our fault. Of course. Yeah, I have to blame it on somebody. It's not always the crowd.

Sometimes we know we just miss the shot. We made it to the thing and we need an out. And that's a lot of times how I've done, especially earlier in my career. Because I got to the spotlight, let's say, so quick that I didn't know how to deal with those things. And that was one of those weeks. You know, we got to know.

And Mario, Ricky's loved everywhere. And there's so many people there. And I didn't know how to deal with it. So I was just blaming it on a amount of people there. and I'm like, oh, it's not my fault. It's never my fault, right? But yeah, in that sense, I'm just an emotional player where people obviously, it's easy to point out the bad, but whenever something's good, my reaction is always great as well. So it's just, it kind of balances out, but yeah, it is, you know, something has gotten out of hand, and

that is just something that I need to work on. You know, it's something that is constantly when I need to work on it. I don't think it's been that bad since Memorial last year, you know, I'm trying to turn to work on it slowly. I don't want to make it, make a drastic change, because there's been tournaments where I get to the course and I say, okay, I'm not going to get mad. And I don't get mad. I'm really happy and I play horrible. So I'm like, okay, let's not gonna get mad and I don't get mad I'm really happy and I play horrible

So I'm like, okay, let's start by playing good and then you know, we're gonna to to make it better So yeah, it's just low process, but it does get better each and every day There's sometimes a setbacks, you know, you need to make mistakes to get better But but it is it is getting every day and I work on it, you know, there's a lot of techniques We're working on so hopefully there will be one day when When maybe there's no, you know, there's a lot of techniques we're working on. Hopefully there'll be one day when maybe there's not saying anything to talk about. Hopefully he comes soon. I could see the difference of granted. You won obviously in Ireland, but the difference in those two months, obviously your whole demeanor and everything on the golf course was totally different.

So, you and I actually talked about it last year in Akron, and that was your exact reaction. I was like, oh, Memorial, that was a tough one. He was so bad. I was playing so bad, I was tired, I played a lot of goals. So it was just, you know, like me. I think perspective on everything you've talked about, just with all you've been, you're 23, right? Yeah, 23. Like all you've been through up to this point, it's so easy to forget how old you are, you

know, and where you are in the process of all these things. Well, you know, it's, I understand it though, you know, golf is, you know, golf is used to some, let's say some etiquette and some, some stand up, but the game is changing and I think, you know, every player is guilty of it in some way. Tigers, I mean, Tigers, you know, what I'm saying is that I think everybody loves a good reaction. Of course. Right, but if everybody has a good reaction and reacts like that to a good thing, he's going to have the same one to a bad one. You know, I'm not like DJ. I'm never going to be like DJ,

but when I make a putt to win like a Tori, I'm going to react when I make when I hold out like a number four in Ireland, I'm going to react. You know, whenever something good happens, I'm going to react the same way when something bad happens. I'm going to have a reaction. It could be better at words, but I will have a reaction. And you know, there's a lot of people out there to tell me that's what it makes entertaining to watch me. You know, you're going to like it more or less, but you know, it's something I am working on and need to work on to keep it a little bit more on their control. No, I appreciate your perspective on that willingness to talk about that, but you how challenging

is it for a player like you to kind of make a schedule out between the US tour and the European tour? It's hard. It's hard. What are the hardest decisions hardest weeks? Well, you know, the great thing as you know when I turn pro they had just come out with a Rolex series events. So in that sense I focused it on that which it makes it easier for me. But otherwise you just need to kind of see what tournaments in the PGA tour I'm not willing to give up. For example, the waist goes swung or something I'm not willing to give up because I love that type of golf and I play good on it, which you know, that kind of contradict conflicts with Dubai, which is also something where I want

to play some days. So it's just hard. And then I also figured you know, the best weather in Europe to go to is you know, I mean so I try to play a bit more there in summer That's why I go over to France and Ireland But then you guys to a point after the US open that you have no control of a European tour schedule like Opigate to there's just so many WGC Some majors in a row that you just can't say no to all of those and then we have the FedEx cup And then this year there's a right of cup if I play so this is so much I need to take into consideration So I try to play some before summer and then something, some tournaments at the end of a year.

But with the schedule change next year, maybe it allows me to play a lot more events, you know, in the middle of the year in Europe. It's just something I need to figure it out. Yeah. You view those schedule changes as a positive thing for a player like you, with the players moving out. I don't know yet. Yeah, it's hard to tell. Exactly. I just know the players is going to have you earlier and there's not going to be any major in August, which is great. The FedEx Cup is going to finish a lot earlier, which actually opens up this gadget for me to be able to go Europe a little more.

Yeah, I would say it's a positive. Great. You finished fourth of August of this year. It's your first time being in contention at a major. Did that feel totally different than being in contention on the, like a normal PJ tour event? No. No.

No, once, I mean, it is a gusty day to this whole day, but once I get to the golf course, no matter what tournament it is, it's all the same. You know, I guess you are aware sometimes once I hit that ball on 15, I was really aware I just lost the masters. I was very aware of that. I was not a great feeling, but, you know, before that, I was just full on pedal like I always play. I was just really trying, at the end of the day, I'm trying to win a golf tournament.

He wasn't until that moment where I realized like, man, there goes the masters. Did you draw on any previous major championship experience? Like the first few majors you played, were you more nervous than usual and kind of drew on that at Augusta? Well, the thing is, I mean, the first few majors I played, I was extremely aware that I was playing a major. First. Making, I was changing my routine, doing different things,

practicing more light thinking, I had to do more to win a major. And what I did this year, I actually went to Augusta a week earlier. I'm playing Monday and Tuesday with some of the tour pros and then I stayed the week there. I was trying to make it so going to Augusta National seemed as normal as possible. And at that point I had played so much that it just seemed normal, you know, I just kept doing it and I was so familiar. You know, I think

it's always, I thought we'd fill about this, right? You need to find your formula in a major. Jack Nicholas Love, taking the week off and spending some time there as much as Tiger, Phil likes playing the week before. So, you know, you just need to find your formula. I've played the week before and I have not played the week before and so far and I've played the week before, has helped out in my case. So, you know, we'll see if it keeps working, that might be there, what I have to do,

if not, you know, I just do some adjustments. But what everybody says, you just need to treat it as normal as possible. Cool. All right, last one we'll get you out of here. Talking about Ryder Cup 2018, you mentioned it. You took up your P&Tore membership, I imagine, that had something to do with, you know, wanting to be part of those Ryder Cup teams.

Oh, definitely. How far along in the process are you? You're a lock for the team. Are you talking about parings already? Have there been team meetings or anything like that? Listen, I'm not, I mean, you can always assume that about five players are playing, right? Rory's playing, Roshi's playing, Stenson's playing, at this point, you know, Poulter's playing,

Sergio's playing, right? You got five, if I'm forgetting somebody, I'm sorry, but then based on rankings, you got Tommy Fleetwood, Terrell Hatten, Alex Noren, Rafa, me, and some other players who are out there over there in the bubble. So I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I guess when he gets closer to the time, I will ask questions to where I need to ask questions.

But parents, I mean, I'm just an easy-going person. I can play with anybody, to be honest. I think whoever they put me with, I'll get along great and I'll be able to play with them. I don't have a problem in that sense, but I just hope I can manage my nerves that week because I know it's not like anything you wear a play, even when you're told me it's going to be completely different to what you usually play. So be ready and I'm like, okay, how am I going to be ready? So it's just, I think the tournaments leading up to it, like in the FedEx Cup where all these great players will be there or hopefully all, most of the European players would be there, I'd be able to, you know, feed off of them and ask them and all that, because at the end of the day, those regular events would play, they're

doing their job as well. You know, I don't want to go up to the range and be like, hey, man, let me bother you for a couple of minutes. I never do that. So unless I play with them, I'm not going to ask any questions. With Rory since I play with them at End of the Masters. We've already did ask him a few of them. He did try to help me out, but like everybody, the answer is the same, even Thomas B. on Tell Me, listen, enjoy tournaments, play good, and whenever the ready cup gets there,

we'll talk about it. Yeah, I'm like, great, thanks. Got it. All right, so yeah. I've talked to guys too that have, you know, for alternate shot, they, one guy was planning on hitting the first shot, and he got there and he's like I can't do it we got a switch like he's got somebody else has to hit the odd shots because they're just so nervous because it's just such a different aspect.

Oh first tee. First tee yeah. So the first tee friends luckily is not I mean you can hit an iron and then you're good to go. I mean if it's my turn I'll be like hey listen expect this one to go really bad and we'll go that way. We'll figure it out. Yeah I'll figure it out. We'll figure it out, I think. Yeah, I'll figure it out. I don't know.

It makes sense. It makes sense. It makes sense. It makes sense. It makes sense. Cool. All right, John, we'll let you out here. Thank you so much for your time. Best of luck this week and the rest of the season, but not in the right or cup. Well, let me win my match.

Let's just listen to that. That's great. Okay. You win your match and then the US retains the cup. All right. Cheers. Thanks, John. Thank you. Better than most.