No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 178: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson
Episode Date: November 21, 2018This podcast is a preview of “The Match” between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. We got a chance to travel to Vegas and sit down with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for a short period... The post... NLU Podcast, Episode 178: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I'm going to be the right club today.
Yeah.
That is better than most.
How about him?
That is better than most.
Better than most!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up Podcast. This is our exclusive preview of the match.
Or should I say capital one's the match. Capital one presents the match. Presents the match? Is that what it is? Capital one's the match? The mouthful.
Miss opportunity for the match presented by Capital One. I wonder? I don't know. Capital ones the match. The mouthful. Misopportunity for the match presented by Capital One.
I wonder how, I don't know how the estates of Harvey Ward, Ken Venturi, Byron Nelson,
and Ben Hogan feel about using the name the match.
It seems kind of weird.
Yeah, they could have, could have got a little more creative.
There's some issues with the match and we're going to get into some of that.
It might be a match.
It might be a match.
Capital ones a match.
We have, hopefully, what is, you'll hear from a few guests
here later in the podcast, DJ and I are getting ready
to fly out.
We're recording this on Monday of match week.
We're getting ready to fly out West.
And interview the two participants in the match.
We had a lot of debate on figuring out
what how we wanted to handle it,
how we wanted to work it out.
DJ Wanchi walked us through kind of the thought process, was there.
Well, Sally had gotten a phone call when we were at Sea Island.
There's a lot of handlers, I guess.
It's kind of a reductive term, but a lot of people making this thing happen.
There's a lot of people involved.
A lot of cooks in the kitchen, one of them who was kind of had a lot of access to both players.
It said, hey, you know, we think it might be kind of cool if you guys wanted to have Tiger and Phil on your podcast.
Sounds great.
For some reason, you know, we had kind of, we were slightly hesitant.
We, solid, I think, was all in.
Tron and I were kind of on the fence, Randy.
I don't know where you were.
Randy's probably out.
Very cynical.
Very cynical, Randy wanted it.
He was looking to go interview the people
like the Nebraska-Foreball this week or something.
But no, the only reason we were hesitant was
or a couple of strings, it's gonna be kind of a 10, 15-minute thing.
It's about the match.
No surprise there.
And so, you know, we're looking at like what this podcast is, and a lot of times it's long
form, it's getting into guys' backgrounds, it's taking a much longer view approach at
those kinds of interviews, and this is not going to be that.
And so that was my only hesitation.
It was like, look, do we want to, you know,
I don't want to bait and switch anybody
into thinking this is a full on interview with these guys
because it's not going to be that.
It's going to be 10 or 15 minutes.
We hope, we haven't recorded it yet.
But I think eventually, you know,
someone kind of snapped their fingers and was like,
hey, it's fucking Tiger and Phil.
It's literally Tiger and Phil on the podcast.
We're recording this right now in a house
that we've nicknamed the Kill House
based on a throwaway comment from Tiger.
Tiger runs every part of our golf fandom.
It's the cat.
It's the cat.
Yeah.
And so ultimately, I think we came to the decision of like,
I mean, who knows what it's gonna be,
but it's Tiger and Phil, like let's just go do it and see.
I just hope we don't,
I hope we don't compromise on our lofty,
journalistic integrity and the taste.
I don't want them dictating exactly what questions.
I want you guys to go out there and ask,
even though it's in a defined space,
I want you guys dictating what questions you want to ask.
Oh, we've got it.
We've got our questions ready.
So that was, I feel like, hey, it's not a bad situation
because we don't necessarily owe them anything.
You know, they're looking for some eyeballs
or some pay-per-view clicks.
Sure.
And, Sally, I think you said it earlier,
we've reached the, the nadeer of, uh,
in our time.
This thing bottomed out.
Like, the match had such horrible momentum right off the bat, and it just kind of all compounded
on top of each other, decision not to have fans and not to blah, blah, blah.
It just all the PR was kind of a disaster for this thing, and it got off to a terrible start.
And I feel like it's come back around, at least at minimum, to the point
where we have to give this thing a shot.
That's my take on it.
It's like,
There's nothing going on on Friday.
Yeah, I mean, I know everyone's pumped
for West Virginia Oklahoma Friday night,
but like, let's get, well, just to get us there.
I know Randy's got some takes
as to how they could have done it differently.
I think if they all wanted to do it over again,
there's a million things they would do differently, but like, you know what, I'd also like, have done it differently. I think if they all wanted to do it over again, there's a million things they would do differently.
But like, you know what, I'd also like probably
would do differently, like our first 50 podcasts.
Like everything we've ever done,
like the first iteration is,
there's always things to improve upon.
So I think for as much as we've wanted different things
to happen in golf, how cool would it,
so let's say something random happened,
like they added a stroke play event this week.
If we were sitting around watching it,
we would be like, you know what would be cool?
If like Tiger and Phil had a match, like I would watch that.
Yeah, they screwed up a lot of the details,
but like, it's, this is gonna be worth at least seeing.
It might stink, it very well might,
but like it's gonna be worth seeing.
Well, going a step farther, I think it's only,
it's $20.
Yeah, that's, yeah.
Which is like three beers on Wednesday night
before Thanksgiving out at the bar, basically.
And it's the kind of thing where we bitch a lot about
the amount of commercials on telecasts and how state
and conservative and outdated golf broadcasts are.
Let's see what they do differently.
That's the part that I'm keeping in open mind for. I think some of the quote-unquote
wagers and all of that I think is a little bit of window dressing, but the
actual views and vantage points and camera angles and I'm curious to see what
they do there because I think these are these matches are probably a trend that
we'll see continue because these you know some of the better players in the world want to get a little bit more of their piece of the pie I think these matches are probably a trend that we'll see continue, because some
of the better players in the world want to get a little bit more of their piece of the
pie, I think.
That's why I'm rooting for it, I think, because there's a lot to be learned from these,
and Rory coming out and just missing it very strongly.
I was surprising, because I'm thinking there's a person that could probably benefit a lot
from some of these things financially.
Who wouldn't want to watch Rory and Randy's boy Ricky in a match or something
like that?
So gross.
Brought to you by Quick and Loads.
Yeah, I'm with you guys.
That's what kind of swayed me at the last minute, not the last minute.
You know, I was as cynical as anyone about it.
And I don't want to, my biggest fear with this was that, you know, we would look like we had a little bit of of access waved under our noses. And
now suddenly, you know, we're going to we have this glowing review of it. And I don't
think that's the case. But I think it's just pure. It's curiosity of, okay, I can't
I legitimately like there's there's really no holds barred on this. They should be able
to do anything they want. So I'm curious to see what that is.
And the other thing is, like you said,
we talk so much about there's 900 million stroke play events
every year and anything that's different,
like we really should be rooting for.
And certainly not writing off before it even starts.
So there's a couple of elements that are concerning,
but I mean, we'll talk about those afterwards.
We'll see how they feel.
Here's what I think is actually the most important thing
about it from a casual, like a viewer perspective is,
I feel like when Fox got into the game at the US Open in 2015,
that broadcast was a disaster that first year.
They'll flat out tell you that.
However, it changed the game a little bit in terms of
Pro Tracer use and like being willing to do different stuff. And I feel like this is has that opportunity. There is somebody outside of the realm of golf that is going to go for something crazy. And it hopefully that raises the bar on broadcasts in other places.
Randy, you look like you still have some concerns over there.
I've concerns.
I think we all share some concerns.
You know, I think the biggest disappointment.
You take no pleasure in having these concerns.
No, and I really don't want to like be just that guy
who takes the opposite side.
But I think the biggest concern
or the biggest thing they screwed up in my opinion
is not playing for their own money.
I think once they decided to make it like this sponsor purse that they play for, I think it loses a
little bit of interest. It loses a little bit of intrigue, I guess. Are they really going to pony
up for five or five? Well, that's the thing. Yeah. I think if that's the case, like it just doesn't happen.
So they have the options to say,
should we pay for it or have somebody else pay for it?
Well, I guess, but they didn't need to play for nine million.
I guess is my point.
I agree.
Had they each pony up 500K and then played for a million bucks.
That's a lot more interesting to me than playing
for somebody else's money.
I get no thrill out of the amount of money that they're playing for. I don't care about
that at all. And the tour said, you guys can't play for.
Well, I don't know if that's 10 million because that's a legend, but I don't know. I have
very strong. The initial report was that it's 10 million dollars. Now they're playing
for nine million dollars. And I can only think of one other 10 million dollars first and
golf that might have been offended by that number
So we're connecting strings true detective style, but I you know, well the other thing too is
They're probably getting some money on the back end. They are they are there's like a organization basically set up for revenue
That is according to the golf world article by Dave Shadlowski. There is muddy to be made off of the actual pay-per-view and match stuff from these guys as well.
You got to think about how many people need paid off this, how many people are working
on this thing and how much has gone into it.
All the airtime that's gone on TNT and Ernie and then interviewing Tiger while he's in
the Bahamas.
This isn't just like, all right, 9 million in goes to these two guys. Like it's MGM's involve, I get to say,
and I think that's part of what your beef is, Randy.
It's like there's just so much going on in it.
Well, when you get that many cooks in the kitchen,
it just loses, it just becomes this out of control,
nebulous, you know, big thing that, yeah,
I think strays from, well, what's interesting at the heart of it
is Tiger versus Phil.
And when you start attaching all this other crap,
like all it can do is just detract, I think,
from my interest in, like, purely what should be
Tiger versus Phil.
Yeah.
I wonder to what the involvement of the
Gaining Commission would prevent Tiger and Phil
like from putting up their own money.
I don't know. I know there's a lot of thought that has gone into involvement of the Gaining Commission would prevent Tigrin feel like from putting up their own money.
I don't know.
I know there's a lot of thought that has gone into
down to where they put the pins for some of these challenges
that are gonna happen where the Gaining Commission has to
make sure that it's set up to be fair.
I have no idea if they put up their own money,
what kind of element that I have to.
So it's the nanny state.
It's like you don't allow, no one else
is allowed to bet on themselves
in sporting events or bet against themselves.
So I think it's complicated.
The whole thing is very complicated.
Well, I think what Randy says,
they should do it for the love of the game.
No, no, no.
No.
And I for sure can see that maybe it's not possible
for them to like put up their own money.
I don't know what rules and restrictions are.
But what I am saying is I think it would be much more interesting if like, what are our
favorite stories are like the Tiger Phil gambling stories on like Monday.
Right.
Just play that match.
Like, yo, you all just play each other and make the stakes what you want between the
two of you and play for each other's money.
Like, I'm watching that.
When it's $9 million of capital one,
and it just loses some of that natural interest.
And it's just piss.
There's not a capital one cafe here in Jacksonville.
But I think too, what else the bothers me is,
and Tron, you touched on this.
Like the side bets and the money goes to charity.
Like, this is gonna sound terrible.
Like God bless the charities for getting money.
But like it just, like what are we doing?
Like we're going to Vegas and we're having this
like winner take all lots of money
and then it's like the side bets are for charity.
It just feels so mismatched.
Well, it's kind of, it's Tron's favorite thing is,
you know, the birdies for charity sort of thing.
It's like just give the money the charity.
Right, just give it to him.
Like, why are we doing this?
And if we're going out there to have this like gluttonous,
like winter take all money matched,
then just take the money.
Like, don't give it a shadow creek of all bliss.
It just feels like they want to try to do everything.
And by trying to be too much to too many people,
it just, it cheapens the whole life.
My biggest complaint thus far has been trying to make it one of golf's most illustrious rivalries.
In actuality, how many times have Tiger and Phil, other than the time that Phil beat Tiger's ass
at level, a few years back, that was sick. But But they both just have kind of done their own thing.
And it's been more of a non rivalry than it has been a passionate, new holds bar instinctive
rivalry. That to me is felt the most forced of the whole.
I was surprised they didn't actually play up more
of their use to dislike each other.
They kind of actually downplayed it like the people,
the media has overhyped that we didn't like each other.
I was, that was surprising to me.
I thought that they had a good chance to fake it
if you need to, but like give us the,
oh yeah, I couldn't stand that guy.
He was out of shape and blah, blah, blah.
And you know, tiger head inferior equipment.
That would have been, that would have been
some good trash talk.
I feel like I don't even know tiger anymore.
He's paling around with Bryson,
getting along with everybody.
He's in a stable relationship.
He's new cat.
He's accepting podcasts for quests.
He's new new cat.
Yeah, it's, everything just kind of feels
whitewashed in vanilla a little bit.
I, are you gonna watch?
I mean, yeah, because I think we're gonna be together, right? We're gonna split it up.
Brandy, we're gonna lock you in the house.
And then kill us and make you a-
So yeah, I'll watch it.
The picture in your five bucks and we'll split it four ways.
Well, so we talked about this a bit too, just like offline, kind of debating, you know,
do we want to stay out there?
So this is, we're recording this Monday.
We're allegedly talking to Tiger and Phil on Tuesday, which the second half of this podcast
is going to be very interesting if that falls through because it'll be me and Sally.
We might be rerecording that like the golden nugget, uh, drowning our sorrows.
Uh, but, uh, yeah, we debated like, do we want to stay, you know, through Thanksgiving and stay for
the match and be on site?
And I think, I don't know how you guys feel, but to me, the most exciting part of this
is these guys being mic'd up, nonstop for 18 holes with no commercials.
I mean, that's like, that's the dream.
It's exciting, but it also has me nervous that it's going to be, wait, I mean, I feel
it's going to have two pages worth of one lineers prepared like
Halacious seed from the 24-7 was he thought it was way better than it was
I was made on Halacious seed. He's gonna have a lot of those and I'm a little nervous about that being a bit too forced
I do go ahead, Randy
No, I was just gonna ask are the mics gonna be up the whole time or is it are we gonna be in the hands of a producer? I got to imagine let him. No, I was just going to ask, are the mics going to be up the whole time?
Or is it, are we going to be in the hands of a producer?
I got to imagine letting us do it.
I don't know.
Hey, listen, I don't know the answer to that, but I can find someone who does.
Thank you.
We'll find out for you.
We're going to get some answers from that.
I'm glad we're, you know, we had the opportunity to go out and watch it out there on site.
I don't think there's any upside to being on site or inside ropes. I don't even know if they're going to have ropes with, I guess they've got a hundred or
200 VIPs there, but it's up made for TV product.
Yeah.
Watch it on TV.
So also supposedly part of the reason why they, and one of the things people had beef
with was they weren't allowing fans, but part of the reason was that was because they can't
legally fly drones above big crowds of people.
And there are going to be drones like hovering over.
We're hoping, hoping this happens as well in the back half of this,
we're going to talk to a producer from TNT to talk about how they're going to cover this event
and why it's interesting.
But...
Okay, I got two questions before we wrap things up.
I think the most interesting thing about the match is the ramifications going forward in the golf.
I agree.
And I thought I want to quickly talk about that pilot season right now.
It's exactly pilot season.
And then two, does this like, would you pay 20 bucks to watch anybody else play right
now?
That's a good question.
Patrick Reed versus any like Jordan's B, that would pay for a 50 for right now.
That'd be cool.
That would be cool.
Yeah, I don't know.
That's a really good question.
And something that I'm sure producers and everyone are trying to figure out.
But like I would pay, I don't know, 20 bucks a month for a channel for golf that didn't
have commercials.
Are you kidding?
Like that's part of the reason I don't tune into watch with hot mics for sure.
Yeah. Like that's a loan for paying to not have commercials.
I wouldn't pay 20 bucks every time I turn the TV on,
but I think there's something to this,
the difference between no commercials and commercials.
It's a lot of air to fill, little nervous about that,
but it sounds like they have a plan for it.
That is like worth the price of admission,
I think the loan right there.
I think there's kind of like a dirty secret
about that though, because I remember, it's happened a couple times
if you watch as much like PGH or live
and just web tour coverage and whatever
as all of us kind of do.
Sometimes you'll get that weird thing
where like the mic feeds aren't working
and you're just watching natural sound golf.
I remember the web tour, it was the best.
Maybe it might have even been the nationwide tour at that time.
I think I forget who the producer is.
I think Brent Packer maybe.
I don't want to give credit to the wrong person,
but I think that's who it is.
And they did this thing where it was a Saturday afternoon
or maybe even like Friday or something.
And they said, okay, we're gonna,
work this is totally experimental,
but we're gonna try to have a telecast, two hour telecast with basically no commentators.
So, we'll give you an intro at the top of the hour,
we'll give you periodic updates,
but the rest is just gonna be nat sound,
and it was awesome.
So that's kind of the other aspect of this is,
if they have a little bit of restraint,
like I'll watch Tiger and Phil just walk around
and stalk their shot and read their putt,
and I don't need anybody talking.
Yes, agree.
Like, I don't need anybody talking.
I think the worst thing they could do
is try to fill all that air, whereas it's like,
that's why I didn't take a full-carifus.
Yeah, we're not watching,
it's not like stand-up comedy hour here
that we're watching, it's a golf tournament.
Right? Just leave the air natural natural and that feels like watching golf.
And that's my hope too.
If we're going to pay 20 bucks, I want it to be a voyeuristic experience instead of
a feel coming prepared with one-liners and then like...
Fake juice.
Feeling like they got a ham up for the cameras like no just be yourselves
Please and just will ease drop on the whole thing. Yeah, so I don't know. I'm look I'm cautiously optimistic
I feel much better than I did
Kind of when that first trailer rolled out. I was not that was brutal
I was not I thought it was gonna be a lot more fake juice than then I
Think it will be but 24 seven has me as
well-as-my excited.
It wasn't spectacular.
I mean HBO can make anything.
Yeah, what can't you say?
Very true.
I think we can all agree, right, that no one's as a young pope.
That was bad.
No one has cared more about not caring about something as
the people that hate this match.
Yeah, I think that's well said.
There's no reason to hate it before we've seen anything like,
oh, there's no way I'll ever spend money on this.
Yeah, we're flying to end between.
It's like just ignored it.
Honestly, I'm more keen to watch this match than I am.
Like Tigers event in the Bahamas.
Yeah, I agree.
That's when it gets world ranking points for that one,
which is a disgrace, but that's not a here nor there.
It's topic for another podcast.
I should give world ranking points away for this.
That would just to trigger you. So, all right, without further ado. It's topic for another podcast. They should give world ranking points away for this. That would just trigger you.
So, all right, without further ado, let's go to the airport.
I don't know how it's going to go, but we'll try our best.
Hopefully, up next, after this sentence is Tiger Woods on the No Laying Up podcast.
Last call here before we bring in the big guy, Callaway has done it again with another unbelievable
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If you haven't, you must check those out at calwaygolf.com slash golf lives.
And now they just launched their newest original series called the jump, which highlights
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And Dylan Meyer, aka DJ D fun, who finished in finish T20 at last year's US Open at Shinacok.
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And as an added bonus, you can also watch Taurus sauce season two, our original series on Calaway TV.
So make sure you download that today.
All right, so we have arrived in Las Vegas. We're in the shadow of the MGM grand right now.
The interview is done. Yeah, we had a 12, six curve ball throwing at us at the last minute.
Stayed in the box, hit a little bit.
Yeah, we were kind of like trying to wait on it,
wait on it, wait and then just kind of a front foot,
like slap.
Seeing eye.
Slap double.
Yeah.
I hope it was a double.
I mean, I think it may be a right field error.
That's mean.
That's before we were supposed to record.
We got asked to combine the two of them together.
We weren't set up for that.
So we had to split up, I interviewed Tiger,
DJ interviewed Phil in the bathroom on a phone microphone,
which is just through its all for a loop.
So we got our time cut down.
Which, let me say, is understandable.
Like this.
Yes, I was in awe of how many interviews
these guys did throughout the day.
Every time we saw them, they were doing another TV crew,
another this and other that.
No other podcasts, I don't think.
I think we're the only podcasts,
which I don't know if that worked for us or against us.
But, listen, we were thrilled to have them on.
Yeah, no, it was great.
Of course, we'd like to have more time,
but in a different scenario,
but that was awesome.
Thank you to both of them for doing it, for everyone that made it happen. Without further ado, we'd like to have more time, but in a different scenario, but that was awesome. Thank you to both of them for doing it,
for everyone that made it happen.
That for the due, we're gonna play Tiger first
and we're gonna cut to Philadelphia,
DJ in a bathroom,
which went as bad as good as the one.
I think honestly, that might become kind of my block.
If there's anyone listening to this
that wants to do an interview in the bathroom,
I'm game, if you're game,
I'm very easy to get a hold of, just let me know all right let's roll it on
the team from USA Tiger Woods.
All right Tiger you've done exhibitions in the past but never anything like this why did you want to do this?
Well I wanted to be a part of the game in a different way you know I've done
matches under the lights before in the past.
And this is something that's different.
This is something that is unique and interesting.
Yeah, there's a huge economic importance to this event.
But I understand that this is also doing something
that's never been done before.
And try to make something like this successful
is a unique challenge.
And I found intriguing and I'm very interested in it.
We've heard stories of Phil's gamesmanship.
Is he actually good at it?
Or is he just good at telling everybody how good he is again?
He's both.
He's definitely both.
What's a good example of a game?
Well, Phil is one that is very more outwardly towards his jab with his jabs and he tries to
subtly, not always say subtly, also subtly, try and get in your head with either wagers
or it's just one liner's own, just that thing.
And on top of that, once he gets up, he's one of the worst frontrunners
there is. How so? Because he'll just nonstop chap. You know, he'll just chirp nonstop. And
then when he's down, it's a little different deal. Are you the same though when you're up on
him? Are you jabbing at him like that? Yeah. I'm more subtle than that. And I've always been
that way. More so on the, because of the nature of our tour.
That's one of the unique things about this paper
of our event is that we're having mics
on their live non-stop.
Well, how's describing to one of the interviews earlier
is that it's just gonna be very different
from what you normally face.
I said, in essence, not really.
Because when I get to the golf course, I have a camera on me.
When I get to the putting green on a range, I have a camera on me.
I've had people try to sneak in, you know, camera phones and try and catch live audio or
marks in, you know, shag bags that we get on a golf balls.
You know, I've had it all.
And so this is not too different from what I have to face
in a weekend and week out. Yes, it's a live mic entire time.
But we have boom mics that are trying to get us
on this entire time. We have camera phones that people are on
t-boxes that are open and trying to record what we're saying
or even post different things from, if I'm having a
conversation with my carrier
with another player, you'll have gallery members
that are, you know, have their camera phones out,
trying to record all this.
So this is not too uncommon, too new to me.
You mentioned having cameras on you
from the time you arrived.
I felt like this year you kept upping your game
and your arrival attire.
You started going cut off sleeves,
you had backwards hats, sunglasses. Was that a conscious thing? No, it wasn't. I'll be honest with you.
You knew the internet was going to go well. I had done this so many times throughout the
years, but the only difference is that this year there's been a lot more interest in
I think of my round that particular day. Sometimes it would catch me with cut off sleeves
because I just came from the workout trailer
which is in the parking lot.
And so I'd walk from the parking lot
and didn't want to get my clothes all sweaty
because I'm gonna take a shower in a clubhouse.
And so yeah, they get me in those situations.
But that's not too uncommon for a lot of the tour pros.
And I just again happen to have cameras on me
all the time once I arrived at the golf course.
So something that is unique in what I would say,
not so unique, but it's uncommon for me.
It was normality that for me showing up
at a golf course and doing the different things
has not been captured
Your in-fields relationship
It seems like it has evolved over the years and you guys have been kind of quick to downplay some of the
Previous parts of your relationship
But I want to know take me back to like the early to mid-2000s
What's that relationship like you guys text each other?
You talk on the range and how is that different than it is today? No, we definitely didn't then text one other back in those days
We were competing with one other.
I was one and he was two in the world for so many weeks and we were trying to outdo one
other and it's very similar to what Jack and Arle went through early part of their career.
They didn't really acknowledge one other like they did later in their career and certainly
post playing at an elite level.
They became a lot closer. And that's what has transitioned with us is that we become,
we've understood that, that we are certainly more alike than we would like to admit.
And we both care and passionate about a lot of the same things. And, you know, that's one of
the reasons why
it feels donating his charitable efforts to the military.
I was born and raised around the military.
My father served.
And so these are the things that I wasn't really
privy to early on in my relationship with him,
but I've become very close to with him
in a lot of these aspects.
If you could swap out one part of your game
for one part of Phil's game a little bit of definitely a short camp. Yeah, that's good.
It's sick. You know, it's what you can do around the greens is just amazing. I got a chance
earlier in my career. I was working with Butch and Sevy was working with Butch at the same time
that we had coincided a lot of my training camps around Sevy. And so I got a chance to get to no Sevy at a pretty good level
around, you know, short-term wise, and watching him hit a lot of shots,
and having him explain a lot of the things how he did it,
you know, what he did was phenomenal, but I think what Phil does
is even better, because Sevy had a 56-degree sandwich and he had to make it work.
You know, the pins weren't as tight then, but the greens were a little bit slower.
But when the pins are being so tight and feel going to like a 64 degrees of loft, he's
able to hit shots and no one could hit.
But then again, he's trying to pull off shots that no one's ever tried to pull off and
he does.
You know, that's what makes Sevy so amazing is that he hits shots that we only
maybe even thought about entertaining for, you know, a millisecond, but he'd pull it off.
What Phil's doing the same thing, what seems like high risk to a lot of us is not high risk
to him because he's that good.
If you had to pick a partner for a $9 million match,
who's the first phone call you're making?
Well, that's easiest, Phil.
Yeah, no doubt.
Because of his gambling.
Because of what he does all the time
and the amount of side wages that he always plays with,
and he's very good at playing in these types of games.
He does it every Tuesday.
You know, you look at him on a major championship
for us, we can, sorry, normal events.
His Tuesday games are legendary.
There you are, you know, pick a partner, come get us,
and therefore, you know, pretty large amounts
and it's cash on site, so it's pretty good.
All right, we've got a few list of questions in a folder
we marked if we ever get to interview Tiger.
We'll do a few rapid fires.
You did an interview with Bill McAtey in 2015 with the masters that no one followed up on.
Did you really pop a bone in your wrist out of place at the 2015 masters and put it back in?
What was the follow-up like for that? Was it all swollen after that?
It was. Yeah. It was swollen and I didn't play for another couple weeks.
It was ice and stem for a couple weeks before I tried to,
even get to the point where I tried to strengthen it again,
but I had to get the swelling out.
What's the most nervous you've ever been over one golf shot?
Oh, that's very simple.
It was the 92 Nissan LA Open.
It was my first tee shot ever in a Pugetour event. I was an amateur in 16.
And I'll never forget it was, this is no big deal, right? It's just a three wood down the
fairway. I just like am the other three wood. But I practiced things for fine. I got a ball,
a tee-dup, tee-dup fine, built a stance, took it back. And all of a sudden it felt like
the club weighed 15 pounds.
I didn't know where it came from.
I'd never felt, evidently, I didn't have the nerves
until, well, nervousness until I got into a position
where I'm starting to make a golf swing
to hit this golf ball.
So once I get past the takeaway,
it's when usually when I start thinking
about trying to make a golf swing,
and then all of a sudden boom, this 15 pound object shows up in my hand and I'll never forget this hitting right on the middle of fairway
But I don't remember what impact felt like right blacked out on it. I was like wow
I can't believe I should pull that off and I had never felt a feeling like that ever since has anything in the more
Competitive part of your career has anything. Oh nothing has ever felt like that. I've had some pressure
I think some some pressure, I think some pressure pots
that I've made, but nothing's ever felt like that.
If you could have one mulligan
for any one shot in your career, what would it be?
Oh gosh, there's one be just one.
There's so many.
I think if I look back on the round I played
I think if I look back on the round I played at Quatt cities in 96 when I lost to the gripper, that was a moment where I've forgotten all of my training and I've forgotten how
I won events.
And I got, you know, I took myself out of rhythm and how I won events and I got, you know,
took myself out of rhythm and how I played events
and just because it was a tour event.
I learned from that lesson and I won a few weeks later
at Vegas for my first event on tour.
But that was a big learning moment for me.
What's your biggest fashion regret in your career?
None, because I fashion regret.
No, because at the time I made it look good.
He was the MC Hammer pants, he was a big baggy shirt,
but we all wore him.
I know.
You know, we, at the time, you should remember,
Ashworth had the shirts, the double thick cotton
that went past our elbows, but we all wore him
because, you know, Freddie wore him.
Yeah.
You know, he made it look cool.
That's why we picked up our sleeves and try to make a fit
and try to hold it up on our neck.
But that was a time in which we all wore baggy stuff
and I were going to more tighter, streamlined fit.
Very last one.
What is a skill of yours that you think
is somehow unappreciated or underrated
that maybe people don't give you enough credit for?
I'm asking you to brag on yourself, but I was always curious to hear that one.
I probably underestimated my level of enjoyment for comics. Yeah, comics. Yeah, I grew up trying to
comics. Yeah, I grew up trying to save my savings from gambling at the golf course or my paper routes or in all those different things to buy comics. Back when you had hard back comics.
And so that was a time in which I've always fell in love with Marvel and DC universes and everyone around me knows that how much I love it.
My mom loves it. She actually keeps it more up to date than I am.
And so that's been fun over the years.
Cool. Appreciate it.
You got it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Of course. Thanks.
Thanks.
I'll be from USA.
Phil McGlosson.
Phil, I gotta say, I've hoped to speak with you for a long time.
This isn't how I pictured my first time in the men's bathroom at Shadow Creek.
Thank you very much for doing that.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely.
So we always start with the most pressing question, which for you I got to believe is the leather
jacket on Faraday.
Was that a conscious choice?
Was that a performance-iron piece of some sort?
What was the thought process? Was that the performantire piece of some sort of, what was the thought process?
Was that the most pressing question?
That was, yeah.
So I have multiple leather jackets
that I wear out mostly with jeans and a t-shirt.
That's kind of my outfit that I feel most comfortable in.
So I have probably five to eight that I rotate and wear.
I love it.
So you guys are mic'd up this week.
Does that mean are you going through and kind of writing one line
as you looked extremely comfortable in the press conference?
What's that? Is it all come natural to you?
You seem very well positioned for this.
On Tuesday, we're going to be more affable than we are on Friday when we're...
The intensity and the pressure when you start playing for those kind of numbers especially
in a match play head-to-head format it gets to be much more intense but the
smack talk has been a gift that Tigers always had that I feel like I've been
okay at and when we're might I think you're going to kind of see some of the
banter that goes on between us.
You'll certainly get the in-depth analysis that a player in a caddy experiences.
So I think that this event is going to showcase aside to the competition that most people,
most viewers don't get to see.
But one of it is going to be that banter smack talk.
You talk about Tiger being very skilled in that regard.
I don't know.
You know, people don't always get to see that from him.
What's he like behind the scenes,
paint a picture from?
The reason they don't get to see that,
he's got microphones in his face all the time.
So when he does say something,
he kind of says it under his breath,
where you can't see his lips move
so that you can't identify that it's him,
but he always makes these little subtle,
passive aggressive jabs.
And they're funny.
I mean, he's great at it. I think that
that side of him is going to come out in this event and I think that's a good thing because
it's a bit of a risk any time you put stuff out there that is more intimate like that that
you don't always let people in but I think that side of him is really funny and a real
plus if people have a chance to see it
So to the casual fan, you know, one of the things that kind of jumps out about the match is obviously the money
You guys are are the two highest earners in in professional golf history
What is can you put in perspective?
You know, what does nine million dollars mean to you guys?
So is that a fair question? Does that make sense? I get what you're saying
But keep in mind that it's an entire person of the PGA tour.
It's four times, four or five times what we ever play for first place check.
So it would be the largest first place check ever.
And no matter how much money you make, it's enough to make you nervous and uncomfortable.
So we definitely want to win, but what it's also doing though is
showcasing the future of what watching sports is going to be like because with
only two guys we're able to do things you can't do another telecast. By
limiting the number of people that are watching we're able to have a
technical side of production that you can't normally have. We're going to have
guys with a camera walking around us getting views and angles that you never get to see,
drones that are up close in personal scene,
the shots, the swings and so forth,
as well as having on screen the actual odds
of the odds to win the hole, to win the match,
to hit certain shots, closest to the pin.
The side challenges that we're gonna have as well as being Mike, it's more than just the 9 million.
It's kind of a glimpse into the future
of where sports watching is going.
So do you, when you, you know, off weeks and everything,
do watch a lot of golf on TV and you don't have
your taking any positive frustrations, anything,
and put it into this?
I usually watch during the season because it helps motivate
me to practice all. Watch a little bit. I usually watch during the season because it helps motivate me to practice.
So I'll watch a little bit while I'm practicing on the weekends.
I don't watch too much in November, December, because there aren't really tournaments
going on, but this has had a match like this been out there when I was growing up or watching
as a kid.
I would have definitely been a part of it and excited to see just like I was with the
skins game when I was out.
I still crave to watch golf, but there aren't events that excite me at this time.
So there's so much stroke play golf throughout the year.
There's so much PJ Tour Golf European Tour.
There's so much golf that looks very similar.
This obviously looks incredibly different.
I'm curious in that regard, how does this fit into the world of ProGolf
and then kind of the follow-up there is what excites you about ProGolf right now, what concerns
you about ProGolf, anything like that? Not too much concerns me about professional golf,
where it's headed, we've had a great infiltration of young talented great golfers that are great
people too that really puts golf in a great spot. And I feel very comfortable about the guys that are a big part of the game right now.
And this event though is a bit of a risk if you will, because first of all golf's never been put on paper.
And second, we've never really taken the risk and had it become so intimate where the players are, Mike, where you do get to hear the in-depth conversations between player and caddy, the actual smack talk, or conversations amongst
players and what actually goes on inside the ropes.
This type of coverage has not ever been done.
So it's a bit of a risk that we're taking, but I think that from a viewer standpoint,
it's also what viewers crave.
By taking it off of Telecast and putting it on
Pay Per View and getting rid of the commercials, you get to hear the in-between shot conversations
that takes place. Again, it's something that you don't ever get to see, but crave is
a viewer.
A couple of grab-back things before I let you go, just because I'm talking to Phil and
I've always wanted to be curious about these things.
So I always love listening to you.
Like the leather jacket.
That's exactly right.
What else is interesting to you?
I always enjoy listening to you in press conferences.
I always enjoy you're very thoughtful in all of your responses.
Absolutely.
I'm curious if you were to go back to college right now, what would you study?
And why?
I was a psychology major in college. I used the studies to this day on human behavior and my kids.
And you know, I use it all the time.
My kids know about a lot of these studies.
They are aware of it.
And I think I would study psychology again,
because I've been so interested in it.
I don't know what job I would ever do.
Dr. Really?
No, I wouldn't want to do a psychologist psychiatrist because you're always working out of the negative.
You're always working with people's problems.
That's not really how I live.
I'm much more positive.
I don't really enjoy that.
I don't know what job I would ever do, but I really enjoyed being educated in that field.
So you've played professional golf for a long time.
You've seen a ton of players who sticks out to you as the most underrated player you've
seen.
The most under-appreciated player you've played against.
I don't really have a great answer for you.
I think the most underestimated player would be Tiger.
I don't think that people realize how great level and play that he I've seen him do things with a golf ball and hit shots in
certain moments that seem to be the impossible that or certainly the improbable
and he became the norm and he was able to do it with ease. I saw him do that too
much throughout my career and his career
to think that and it leads me to believe that people don't appreciate the level of greatness
he has achieved. And the last thing, you've kind of seen Tigers' entire career both from a
place of being a golf star when he arrived on the scene. I'm curious, what do you remember
about the first time maybe you've heard about him. You heard, you know, this young guy is coming. That sort of thing.
And then what do you remember about the first time you met him?
I remember hearing about him when he played as an amateur in the LA Open, and there was
just a curiosity to... But we get that sense tiger. I've had a lot of players come along
and say, oh, this kid is great. He's got into this tournament, this PJ Tour event, and you watch him.
And there are some good players, but nobody ever turned out to be as great as Tiger.
So my first time aware of him was when he was in the LA open as an amateur.
There was a funny line that Sandy Lyle said, when they said, what do you think of Tiger Woods?
He says, I don't know know I've never played it and you know it's funny now and it's funny how that
has come come back to Haan everybody or him because of how well his career has
gone and what a great player he's come but it goes to show that until that point
that was at that LA Open there at Riviera so until that point nobody on tour
was aware of how good he was.
And when he won in 1996 to the Las Vegas Open, you could see what was coming.
And then the Masters in 97 propelled him to and the game to a whole different level.
Well, this is a stage unlike any other this week that we'll see on Friday.
So best of luck.
Thank you.
And thanks so much for the time.
Thank you.
All right.
Take care.
My pleasure. Thanks. All right, that was a lot of fun and real quick.
Before we go, we got a few minutes
with the executive producer from Turner Craig Berry.
He's talking a bit about the broadcast,
what it's going to look like, the drones, and stuff like that.
So we're going to end it with the short interview we have with him,
and everybody enjoy the match.
All right, so what is going to make this broadcast different
than what we're used to seeing on TV?
So what are the cool things you guys are going to be doing?
Right, so I'll start the answer philosophically first. I just think as we approach content
in general, there's some really important philosophical ingredients that need to be recognized. One is, you know, kind of straddle that line of sports
and pop culture, access, access access to be as close
to the player, to the field, or in this case,
the course, to the game as possible.
Be authentic, be diverse, and be experiential, right?
So I think when you take those philosophies and you apply them,
we're checking a lot of those boxes.
So first and foremost, when we talk about access,
you know, going down the line, the mics, right?
So making sure that we create an opportunity for the fan to create an emotional connection
with both Phil and Tiger through the ability to hear them interact with each other and
with the caddies.
And essentially, you know, what the 1999 is, not only are you seeing this very competitive
match, but you're getting to
walk the course with Phil Intiger.
The placement of cameras inside the rope, steady cams, and additional camera angles that
once you apply to the mics will even get us closer and more intimate to the personalities
of the players.
I think the drones, the drones.
Tell us about the drones, how are they gonna be used?
I mean, I just think I think this will be the first time
in any live sporting event that we were able to apply
live drone coverage.
Generally, there's all kinds of regulations around the crowds
and in this case the galleries,
because we have a limited gallery, it has created a door or a portal for us to be able to access drone coverage.
So yet a different, a whole new lens to be able to watch the, you know,
the game through the match through.
What about the microphones?
So the players are going to be mic the whole time.
Are we going to hear them the whole time?
Or is it going to be turned off and just recorded
and cut into the live broadcast?
Yeah, so look, I mean, if we had our way,
we would have them provide the entire narrative of the match.
So it's going to be a balancing act
between our announcers, which we have quite a lot of.
If whether it's Ernie, Darin, and
Impeter, and then of course we have Adam, Pat, Charles, and Sam, and then on Bacon and Natalie.
So we have kind of a myriad of opportunities for people to interject and to kind of extend the narrative.
So the best case scenario, and all of them have certain strengths that they can speak to
when it comes to these guys going head to head.
So in the end, when ultimately we try to find that balance, our choice is to have their
mics up and potted and for them to kind of drive the
storyline behind the match. I would also say that I just think from an approach standpoint
that we understand the hardcore fan and the golf fan, but we also feel like we have
an obligation to the casual fan, to create an entertaining product for someone who may
just be watching with someone or someone who's actually watching because it's a relatively large event and they want to be entertained.
So I think the dynamic of the talent we have and the chemistry of the talent plus the
nature of the event and the iconic nature of Phil and Tiger really lend themselves to
kind of the entertainment factor.
Awesome.
Well thanks so much for giving us an insight in that.
Best of luck with the event and now we're looking forward to watching.
Great, thanks Craig.
Thanks Craig.
Get the right club.
Be the right club today.
Yes.
That's better than most.
How about it?
That is better than most.
Better than most. How about in? That is better than most.
Better than most.