No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 184: 2018 Highlights Show, Part I

Episode Date: December 20, 2018

In the closing episodes of 2019, we gathered up some of the best moments from the top interviews of the years. Get ready to laugh, be inspired, learn, and reminisce on a very fun year.... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 184: 2018 Highlights Show, Part I appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up Podcast for the final time in 2018. This is going to be a two-part episode and they are extra-long episodes.

They're just slightly longer than normal episodes, but had the super- original idea to do a clips show. We're going to highlight our best interviews, best moments of the year, just in general kind of compiling all of what we think this podcast is all about all in one place. There's a huge mix of stuff within this. There's LPGA, PGA, web.com, there's architects, there's statisticians, there's, you know, champions tour.com there's architects there's statisticians there's you know champions tour players there's young players old players major champions and one thing I

noticed was that despite being in the room for all of these interviews and despite listening back to them when I'm editing them and listening back several times throughout the year I drop in from time to time just to just to keep things on top of my mind I'd forgotten about a lot of the things that were said, a lot of the conversations that were had, a lot of the laughs that were had. So if you're feeling encouraged too, I encourage you to go back and go to these episodes. I'll try to include the episode numbers as I introduce each clip. The clips that you'll hear are going to vary a lot in length. There's some that are funny, some are serious, some are sad, some are just things that I think are good things to take away.

And best of all, first of all, I guess I got to want to say a big thank you to all the listeners this past year. It's been a crazy year, obviously, for us. And the first year of doing this full time was definitely a success on our end. And that is, that's because of you guys, the listeners. I know that's cheesy to say, but legitimately we couldn't do any of this without the fan base that is willing to download these things at a rate that we could not have ever predicted.

And you guys often ask how you can help support us, how you can support the show. You can of course shop in our pro shop, but I think also the best way is just a tele-friend. I think somehow, you guys, each of you managed to do that, I guess, in this past year, because our subscribership somehow doubled the last year. And it's so encouraging, and just to kind of get that feedback from you guys is to, motivates us to keep it going and to try to make it

better every day. And we have some big plans for this, obviously, into the next year in 2019. So, and I'd be remiss to not thank our partner, our partner Callaway for all that they do to support this show You guys are very well aware of the partnership between the two of us and their Presence in our content and I honestly I don't have enough good things to say about what it's been like to work with them A lot of podcasts have a lot a lot a lot of advertisements a lot of reads and constant interruptions and Thanks to Callaway. That's not how this show is structured. And legitimately, like all the things you're about to hear in here would not have been possible if it weren't for the people at Callaway

who did not have to take her risk on us. They did. We somehow didn't screw it up. This partnership is going to continue into the new year. But again, not only have we really enjoyed the products, it's the culture that we wanted to be a part of. And honestly, we can't thank those guys enough. And any support you guys can give them in that manner. Apparently, you guys are doing that as well because they just had their two best years, maybe that they've ever had coincidence that the two years they're partner with us. I don't know. That's for

you to decide. But a big shout out to those guys Chad, AJ, Ian, Harry, Ethan. I'm forgetting a lot of people out there, but honestly, it's a great partnership and one that makes it possible for us to do what we do. So without much further delay, let's go roll into it. It's going to be two parts. There's no rhyme or reason or order to any of it, but I wanted to start this off with bones, the Ryder Cup episode that we did with him, his story on Yarmos Sandolin and Phil Mickelson.

And then we're going to go from there, just calling one by one. I'll pop in to kind of introduce the clip, so because you usually can't hear the question before it. But again, thanks to everyone for tuning in this year. Let's do it again next year and enjoy this wrap up from 2019. And if you ever have a friend that you think might be interesting this podcast, I encourage to send them these couple L wrap up episodes because this is kind of the greatest hits the best of and We're pretty excited about sharing it with you. So thanks to give tuning hope everyone has a great holiday and here is bones from episode 167 Wow

I think we get to Yarmou at some point here. I made it like 20 minutes I think we get to Yarmou at some point here. I made it like 20 minutes. So in 96, they used to have this tournament, the old Dunhill Cup, back in the 80s and 90s. It was this phenomenal event that they have in the fall at St. Andrews, where you'd get three players from certain countries, and you go over there, and you'd play against other teams, if you were know, whoever won two matches or what have you would advance and it was a great kind of knockout competition. And early in Phil's career in 96 he made the team. We went over to San Andrews with Stricker and Marco Mera

and played these matches and it was just, you know, it's one thing to be at St Andrews. It's another thing to be there that time of year. It was kind of cold and fun and and the US team was playing well. This was at a time when Stricker was a bit of an unknown quantity and you know guys from other countries didn't know who he was and he was just crushing people over there and it was so much fun it was this great week and and this guy Yarmos Sandin was playing for Sweden and they were playing they were playing South Africa and I believe the quarter finals and Phil and I were playing South Africa, and I believe the quarter finals. And Phil and I were watching it from his hotel room. We'd already won our match earlier that day

and the US had advanced, and we were gonna play the winner of whoever won these matches. And Yarmou Sandlin was playing in a playoff. I think he had tied Nick Price, and they were playing it off on the first hole at St. Andrews there to see who would win the match. Yarmo made a putt and put the putter head up against his shoulder and kind of like a shooting motion and after he made this putt to beat Nick Price and shot at Nick Price, so to speak.

And we were just sitting there, just dumbfounded as to what we were watching. And a lot of locals, a lot of people in Scotland were very offended by this because it was either weeks or months removed from a school shooting in Scotland. That was just absolutely horrific and tragic. And a number of people, a kids lost their lives and it was a pretty tone deaf thing to do to say the very least, not to mention the fact that he was doing it to Nick Price who I think at the time was maybe the number one ranked player in the world and if I'm not mistaken also his caddy squeaky who who passed away way too young was was maybe

in poor health at the time so there was a lot going on with Nick. And it was just stunning to see this happening and Phil said to me at the time, my gosh, if that guy ever did something like that to me, I, you know, the Swedish team advanced and, uh, and of course, we get them. The US gets them the next day and the parents come out and it's Sandland versus Mikkelson. I'm like, oh boy, here we go. And we went out there and played the match and, uh, to the armistice credit, he was playing pretty well. Our, our other two guys, O'Mehran Stricker, were going to win their matches. So the US was going to advance, but on the, uh, 12 to 13, told her they'reth or 13th hole there in San Andrews the next day, he made a five or six footer for par to go, you know, into

increases lead over Phil and did the same thing. He put his putter up to his shoulder and shot at Phil in this kind of shooting motion. And it was just like, you know, Phil wasn't having it and Phil let him know on the next day that he absolutely wasn't having it. It was in my ears as a caddy, one of the more tense situations that you get involved in out there. It was like Holy Cow. These guys were nose-to-nose at one point.

Phil was not at that point, a major winner or a guy that had been around a long time, but he was a very accomplished player and and Yarmo less so. So it was just it seemed disrespectful. And so when you fast forward, sorry, it's for taking so long, but you fast forward. So it's so long. So hard to the 99 rider cup, you know, all the three years later, you know, Yarmo didn't get, he didn't play at all the first two days. There were two or three guys on that team, Coltart, Yarmo, and maybe Van Develle that didn't play the first two days. And you know, our team is four points down. We're getting our butts kicked. It wasn't that our guys were playing poorly.

It's just the European team was just amazing. And for me back then in 1999, there was this business pre-it, internet pre- you know, cell phones, all this stuff. And when we left the golf course on Saturday night, none of us had any idea what the pairings were. And I just remember going home and saying a small prayer driving in my car back to the hotel,

anybody but Sandel and sure enough, we got to the course the next day, and there it was, 12 guys on each team this supposed random draw and Phil gets Yormo and singles, I'm thinking myself, oh my gosh. So we get out there the next day and we hadn't seen the entire week,

the guy the entire week because he hadn't played and he comes striding to the tee and fills there. And it's tense. And I remember NBC was doing the golf and they'd sent Mark Rolfing out there to cover this match because they knew there was a history between these two guys. And one of the craziest things happened on the second green,

they have the first hole. Went to the second hole was a really tough part three. Phil hit a six hour into about 30 feet. And Yarmou hit this six hour and it never left the flag. And we heard this, you know, kind of gasp, if you will, from the American fans behind the green. He literally almost told it, almost made a hole in one, the ball went about two or three feet behind the hole. And we got up to the green. And I'm cleaning Phil's ball. And I hand it back to him. Phil's going through the process of reading his putt and Yarmo is just standing there. He's done nothing with his golf ball.

It's still three feet behind the hole and it's definitely a putt that you want, you know, you're not going to give to him. It wasn't close enough. But what we didn't realize, and I came to find out later from Yarmos Caddies that Yarmo had something like a special coin that he always marked his ball with. And somehow he had a hole in his pocket in between the first green and the second green. He'd lost this lucky coin or the coin that he used to mark his ball and he had nothing else to mark his ball with. So he says to his caddy, give me a coin.

The caddy's got nothing. So they're not going to ask me. They're not going to ask Phil. He's standing there behind this ball on the second green and he's got no coin to mark his ball with, nothing. And literally, literally, you hear this voice from the crowd, some guy, some spectator that kind of picked out what had been going on. A guy goes, hey, yo, Yarmul, you need a coin to mark your ball and Yarmul turns, and

goes, as a matter of fact, I do. And all of a sudden, coins come raining out of the crowd. And I swear to you, Chris, it was just this incredibly surreal moment where there were 20, 30, 40, 50 coins rolling across the green that's spectators and thrown at them. So we're out there picking up coins. Yarmou finally picks one up marks his ball three footer and then to and Phil went on to uh, t he topped it. He did. He

off the next tee and kind it in the heel and you know I don't know 100 yards down but uh, he was, uh, it was crazy, crazy moment. He topped it off the tee, filled one the hole and went on to win the match easily. Up next is episode 170 with Max Homa. Honestly, this was probably my favorite interview

of the entire year. It was funny, it was educational, it was kind of heartbreaking at times. We're gonna play three stories back to back. I'm not gonna interrupt any of them. One is just Max learning as an 11 year old and then deciding that he was dedicating himself to golf. Two is a story that he has from playing in the Bahamas and his caddy Rudy and the last one is the struggles he's been through and how that's going to be different this time around and what he's learned through those those struggles. So enjoy Max Homa episode 170. But I do remember the first real, real golf term I played on a real golf course.

I think I was 11 or 12 and I played, um, played with this kid named Philip Chin, who I'm actually still friends with. And some other kid that they were both a year older, a couple of years older, I think, and they, they kicked my ass. Like it was embarrassing. I think they both shot 70 and I shot like 85. And I was like, I remember it was like one of my first times playing like a big boy golf course.

Like you had to, you know, I was like new to part five at the time. So, you know, and I, you know, didn't play well, but it wasn't shocking. I remember I asked and I was like, how often do you guys practice at the time I was playing like football and basketball and all these other things? Like, like we have balls every day.

And I remember I went into the car and I was like pretty upset. And my mom's like, you know, how to go. And I said, hey, like, I don't know if this is reasonable, but I need you to take me to the golf course every single day. And I remember that, from that time on, I looked at it as a complete job. It's gonna be fun, of course. Anything in life can be.

But this isn't funny to me. It's not funny to play bad. It's not cool funny to me. It's not funny to play bad. It's not cool not to practice. It's not cool to go to the golf course and, you know, dick around like this is, this is your job now. And it kind of built, I've always been a very, kind of self-motivated person. And I think, you know, to your question about how do people do it, I think a lot of it comes from that.

You just find it in your, in your in your own heart and mind to be like, okay, like I'm going to stick myself to this job and I'm going to treat it as such at a young age. And I'm going to have a single minor focus on, I'm going to play on the PJ tour. And it was incredibly delusional at the time, like incredibly when I look back on it. I was nowhere near as good as these kids, but I really think that it's probably rare to get, 11 or 12 year old to work like that. And fortunately for me, I did. And I think that a lot of the people that are on the PJ tour

and web.com tour have done that in their life. And my favorite caddy story, and we have a lot because we go to South America and obviously we don't have enough money to just be flying down the who's who of caddies on the web.com tour. So we, I go to the Bahamas this year. I didn't think I was going to get into the first event of the season because I was playing on a past champions category, which is like pretty low on the Totem pole. But I, you obviously end up getting in and kind of weak before kind of last minute, I searched searching for caddies

because I hear that Bahamas will not have local caddies. They gave us a full warning, like not on the web.com tour, that this all kind of went awry. So I landed in my first flight. I think I landed in Florida and I was about to hop on over to the Bahamas. Michael Scott's favorite, the sandals resort. And I landed, I get a text from the sky

and he's like, hey man, I'm sorry, I can't make it. And I'm like, no dude, like this is not an option. Like you have to come down here. He's like, it's just too expensive. And I said, I get it. Like it's expensive for me too. Like let's go have a good week. Like I was paying him more money than I normally do.

And it just like he wouldn't come. So I go down to the tournament, I'm like freaking out. Cause they really didn't have have a single local caddy. Like no one, I mean, it's a resort. No one's there to do anything but like hang out. So I, this woman Vanessa that was working for the tour that week, I think was from there and she kind of got on the horn and started trying

to find people. It was actually hilarious. I had to, I tweeted out to people and I was like, they're gonna fly somebody out to like caddy for me. And I got all these sort of responses in it, honestly, it was probably a mistake. I had to, I tweeted out to people and I was like, they're gonna fly somebody out to like, catty for me. And I got all these sort of responses in it, honestly. It was probably a mistake that I did that because I just realized how like naive and stupid everybody is. But people were like asking me like,

hey, you know, the first question was always fine. Like, hey, will you pay for my airfare? I'm like 100%. Like, it's gonna be incredibly expensive. But like at this point, I needed an opportunity to play golf. Like, I, you know, I'd pay any amount of money to like, play in that tournament because I needed to get to play golf. I'd pay any amount of money to play in that tournament because I needed to get myself onto the tour full time again.

And I was like, sure, and they're like, what about room and board? I said, we can make a deal with room and board. It's pretty expensive. I said, I actually think I might have an extra spot because we rented a little condo that week. And I'm like, okay, and then like, what about, are you gonna pay for my food and beverage?

I'm like, were you not gonna eat this week? How's that now on me? And like, so I just got so far up with everybody. And then like, you'd finally get a commitment and be like, oh man, I can't make it or, oh, I don't have a passport. Oh, this and that. And you're just like, oh my gosh, this is like so infuriating. And I didn't get to play a practice round

because you have to have a caddy. So I walked the golf course by myself. And then Vanessa comes along with just, you know, my hero Rudy. He's like, I got a guy named Rudy. He works at the airport. No promises. Real.

He was like, he was, might have been named after Rudy. I don't know who's older, but this guy just came in. I could feel like the energy and the music, like part of a champion. So he comes on the range and he's got to have this as Jesus on it. And I'm like, man, this is going to be a great week. So I first of all, teach him, try to teach him to put the bag on his back. I didn't go well. Took a way longer than expected. Uh, second we get to the first C. And he has a smile on his face. He's the nicest guy in the world. But he goes, so how do you know which one of these goes the farthest? I'm

like, Oh, no, like this is good. And this Bahamas event is notorious for like, unheard of wins and reign. And it's just, you know, that's usually when you really do need your caddy the most, because you need an umbrella holder. And like, you know, somebody like, keep everything dry. And now I have to like,

deal with like telling him to like stand right here, don't move. Okay, now you need to move here, because like this guy's, you know, you're going to be in his through line. He also had this. I think I forgot to tell you guys, he also had this watch that the alarm beeped every hour. So, I almost in the back of my mind

had to recalculate what time it was. So, I knew how a bunch of time I had before I had to tell him to run away. So, we did that. So, we play the first hole, goes fine, y'all I'm telling him where to go. It's a lot of people don't get it. It's a lot of like extra energy to like constantly know

what you're gonna do and like deal with somebody else. So actually I just basically explain motherhood. I'm so sorry. I did it for like a few hours. That was really rude of me. A man's explaining over here. So I get to the second hole and it starts absolutely pissing and it's blowing like 40.

And I was like, Rudy, I said, please just stand over here. Like, don't worry about me. I put on my rain jacket. I gave him the umbrella. I said, you stay as dry as you can, but please just keep my clubs as dry as you possibly can. And he's like, cool. So we just stood there. And I got, somebody sent me a video. I like walk out from out of the umbrella,

and I'm just like getting like crushed, like just like getting absolutely slant. I'm trying to hide. And yeah, I look like, I look like an idiot. Everyone else is caddies like standing over them with the umbrella, like the cool like PJ tour looking thing. And my caddies like, stand over there, dries a bone as I'm just getting like destroyed by the rain.

So then play that whole, play the next hole, and I'm walking to the green, and of course, I had a towel that was used into the grip strie, not that you needed to clean the golf box, it was soaked, but to keep the grip strie, and I look at Rudy on about the third hole, and he goes, hey, no towel. I'm like, what?

He goes, I don't know where it is. And I'm like, oh, no, I almost I wanted to cry. I was like, this is He goes, I don't know where it is. I'm like, oh no, I almost I wanted to cry. I was like, this is like my welcome back to golf. I've been playing, you know, the season before was easily the most embarrassing year of my life. And now like I come out to this golf course that's really difficult. Water on every single shot. And I'm gonna like be the guy that I can't hold on to a golf club.

Like this is like the worst thing that could have happened. And like I go around the rest of the day and you know, you're just trying so hard, just keep anything dry you can. And God bless me to a great job. But I got super, super lucky. The next day there was a massive rain delay and we only played like seven holes, maybe. So the next day we were going to have to finish that round and then go into, you know, the, the, essentially, like the, the final two rounds. And after that round, I grabbed a caddy who had his player and missed the cut. And I was like, hey, man, like can you just caddy form me

like rest a week? And I had to say goodbye to sweet Rudy. But. And now here's Max on his struggles. Yeah, man, it was rough. A lot of people don't understand. I actually started in the web season the year before. I had to actually one.

And then just I don't really know what happened. It just went, like it went fast. It was, what goes, what goes? My driver got like, I've never been like a premier driver of the golf ball, but I've been fine. I mean, while obviously stays in play, I do this for a living, yeah. I'm no, yeah, no drunk.

But like it stays in play and all of a sudden, I'm out there and it's like, I could tell you where every OB stake is in the world. And it's there and it's like I I could tell you where every OB stake is in the world. And it's just it's frightening. If a golf course had white stakes like I was like oh like nightmares. It's hard to compete in professional golf when you're thinking like that. It would honestly I didn't think it would be. Yeah, I was surprisingly difficult. Like I was like wow this should so be easy. I mean okay one off the off the tee, okay, two out of about. All right. So I'm in three off the tee, I'm giving you guys all two shots a hole. Yeah. So it became very difficult. So just

kind of lost it. And then, you know, me and I changed coaches. So me and my new coach at the time, tough for him, we had just started getting going and all of a sudden, like, you know, we're like breaking things down as small as we can. I played terrible to end that season and then came back out onto the PJ tour now and I'm like, holy cow. Not that I was that nervous, but I was like, oh, this is a new opportunity. Maybe it's just like my mind was out of it and it just continued. I missed the first five cuts, so I'm not getting into anything.

The golf courses are considerably harder and more demanding. And all of a sudden. And then I'm playing with people who are not saying that the web guys aren't great, but you play with a few PJ guys who are like, holy cow, you guys are the real deal. And I'm over here like, okay, no, I didn't make eight there. I made seven. And I'm like, oh, sorry. It was really hard to keep track I said I totally get it. Like next time I'll have a clicker out for you. So I was like quite embarrassing. But I saw a little bit of success. I think what I did that was, and like I don't like to get serious about a lot of things,

but what I was so proud of myself that year, and obviously going into this year but that year because I would leave Thursday, I'd shoot a bazillion and go to the range Friday. I'd shoot a bazillion, Missica, go to the range. And I had actually changed back to my, my coach I had in college and who I'm with right now, less Johnson. And we, you know, he was awesome. I call him every day and be like, Hey, like, this is what happened today. And we didn't have all bad days. I remember the John Deere and the Greenbrier actually led the field in total driving for the first two days, not all four days, because I didn't get to play those two. But the first two days, and that even was a mental struggle, because

I'm like, gosh, if like the one thing I think I'm terrible at, I'm the best at this week. And I still miss it, but it was just becoming way too much, like too much pressure on myself to do everything great. Also, like completely just like giving up on practicing my wedges and my short game and putty and because it's like, if I can't get the ball and play, what's the point? Chipping for six isn't really like that big of a deal. So, but I'd have weeks where it was just,

I would just be like, okay, I'm gonna miss a cup, but I'm gonna grind as hard as I can in every single day Every single day. I'm gonna learn one new thing about it and just be so freaking prepared For when it comes around and I I posted it on my Twitter after I think I got my card But I found this quote that Kobe had in his locker. I think you got from popovich There was about this stone cutter and it says, you know, like a stone cutter is chopping away at a, at a big, bolder. And he swings at it, you know, one time, two times, three times,

a hundred times without like a dent being made in it. And on the hundred and first time, it completely breaks apart. And it says, a wise man knows it was not the hundred and first blow that it was the hundred that came before it. And I was like, this is me right now. Like, this is how I'm going going to leave my mark on this game. And this is how I'm getting back. And I got, I got, I was fortunate to have a career in general

that I've made a good amount of money where it wasn't a massive financial. It wasn't all my brain that I was just like siphoning off money. But it obviously wasn't great, but I was able to be like, okay, if this takes four years, it takes four years, but we're starting right now, and I'm not going to waste a day or an hour or a minute not trying to get better,

and it actually taught me to get my attitude to be so much more positive, because I realize that if you're playing that bad and you're also thinking negatively, like they don't go together. So I had to lie to myself and just be like, today's the day, dude, like today's the day, we go shoot 65 and everything kind of breaks apart and like this starts to go the right direction.

And every time I thought I hit rock bottom, I found it a shovel and dug a little deeper. And it was shocking. I would come up golf courses and just like in shambles, like mentally and just be like, man, like maybe I'm not supposed to do this. And then, you know, I'd be like, all right, wake up in the morning, going to practice. And I'm very, very proud of myself for doing that. It was hard. And

it makes this year feel like I haven't felt what I felt when I got my car back in, in a canterbury and Cleveland a couple weeks ago, because I have an unbelievable group of friends that supported me and never, you know, like, you know, you lose a lot of people when you do this. Like, I got a lot less text messages, you know, obviously when you're playing bad about hanging out, but my friends stuck by me and it was cool to get texts from certain people and then be like, man, like, I know what you just did and like, that was impressive.

And I was like, for the first time, I was like, I agree, like this one was cool. Cause Embarrass, it's one thing to be bad at your job or to struggle, it's really hard to to like legitimately be embarrassed to be out there. I'm playing its Tiger Woods in Philmico, Sin and Rory McRoy and I'm like shooting 80 and I'm losing, I thought I think one term I lost in two rounds, 14 shots to the field in total driving. And it's just like, what are you doing out here, dude? And I know you down on better than this, but you just think you get stuck in this rut and, you know, glad it obviously turned. I just wanted to leave a mark of resiliency,

you know, and I thought that that would be, that would be who I am. Some people are great hitting a seven iron, some people are great at putting. I'm going to be like the toughest guy you've ever met. And like, that's in my head how I kind of tried to spin it. Up next is episode 149. This is with Ernie Ls. We recorded this with him in Germany at the BMW International. First is a fun one. It is the first time I think that we've ever had confirmation on the legendary plane fighting story with him and Steve Marino, which he does confirm and talks

about. And then on the serious side on the back half of this he talks about his foundation else for autism and what kind of an impact that has had on his son's life which was some of the more meaningful stuff that was said all year long on the podcast. So enjoy Ernie L from episode 149. We've heard stories a lot about the about the plane about the traveling on the plane. I'm like a hot topic right now. Yeah, I hear that. I mean, we've had some interesting flights, obviously.

They don't talk about the flights with your family too often. Yeah. I'm trying to keep it clean. No, you don't have to. You can do whatever you like. No, we've had some interesting flights, obviously. Invite my friends onto the plane, give them a ride where I can. On the aeroplane, very seldom on long flights that we drink water.

Definitely enough beer on the plane. A lot of the guys, my carry used to Ricky used to fly with me a lot and he said that, you know, he thought that the plane could run on Heineken. Yeah, we had so much in there. So, Steve Marino, that's the big one that you saw. I know, I know. Scottie was like a little brother to me. He flew with me a lot. Dustin Johnson, I mean all the guys, everybody flew with me. But the Marina one is obviously the one everyone wants to talk about.

We could just, it was just myself and Stevie from Japan all the way down to Palm Beach. And, I mean, we had a lot to drink. It was the inner of the year and it was a long way down to Florida. So, you know, there was a lot to talk about and, you know, we kind of hugged each other, you know. It was a laugh feast in the airplane, but now where you got really seriously injured or anything like that, and it was all in good fun. I heard at the end of that, hands were shook at the end and I was like, all right, we'll

see you later, pal, that's it. It's actually like nothing happened. It was just, I don't know, it's just what guys do, I guess, you know, there's a lot of testosterone running. We've heard that guys are required to surf the airplane. Yeah, we surfed a couple of landings. Who's the best surfer, Ab's God? Yeah, Scotty is not bad, you know, he's a little bit light, but you know, you have good

footing coming in. It's more like a longboard. But really, you've got to have a good pilot and hopefully it doesn't have to put the emergency brakes on because you'd be through the front window. But everybody's surfed the landing. Everybody I can remember. Who are the best travelling companions on the flight? Like the best hangs?

All of it. I mean, all the guys. I mean, we've had all the way from, as I said, all the way from SSH TV, I mean, I've had a whole tour. I mean, Camille Villegas, Dustin, Jamie Lovemark, Keegan Bradley, Justin Rose. Can anyone not hang? Everybody. Everybody, young. Everybody. Everybody, everybody. It's Henry Stenson, he doesn't have too many.

You know, he was with me from Korea. Graham McDowell, we had a great time. Thomas Bjorn is another one that doesn't really have anything, but you know, we forced him to have a good time. Rolling stones with Blair all the time. Start me up as we get in the airplane. Oh, man. Yeah, we were like rock stars.

We really enjoyed it. I mean, I really got a lot out of the airplane. And my pilot stayed with me for 17 years, Rob. So here's maybe the one to talk to. Yeah, I'm not gonna give you too much. Well, no, it's great. You gave us enough, if you weren't gonna give us the stories, we were gonna go to the sources.

I got you. The story is about it. And so you gave us enough that we won't go digging too much. And I think most people would agree that your foundation work, Elzfer Autism, is one of the most recognizable names in the golf world, I guess, when it comes to charity work. Can you tell us about the passion that is behind your foundation work?

And was there many foundations when you started it? It seems like every golfer has a foundation now, which I know is a big drive at the tour, but was there much of that when you started it, or was it a pretty new idea? Well you know you got to give the PGA to a credit I mean they they a charity based organization I mean that drives them every tournament we go to this charity dollars being given to local charity so you know you have a pretty good understanding of what the tours all. I was lucky enough that I had things go my way, and my parents could send me overseas. My first thought before my family came around was to help junior golfers have the opportunity to be able to do what I did, get aerosod Africa and go and try and play overseas.

I mean, our exchange rate compared to the dollar and the pound is really weak. So you have to have a lot of capital to leave the country. So my first deal that we did was a foundation. For junior golf, guys were pretty good. We would help them. Through school and given them the opportunity to go overseas and play. And then the family came around, especially with Ben, and when Ben was born, he was with autism. You know, when we got our heads around it, myself and

my wife started the Elf for Autism. And you know, we moved our base from London to the US, because in London, there wasn't the care that my boy could get. It wasn't good enough. We were very comfortable in Florida, and the US people are just the most unbelievable people. We raised money, and we've built this, one of a kind school for autism in Florida. And this kind of school is exactly

what the people of autism needs right around the world. So hopefully governments, people will come and look at the school and build a hundred of these things. Because my boy has gone through the roof. He would absolutely hate going to school. I had to drag him out of the house in the car, out of the car, into the class kicking screaming. He cannot wait to get his ass out of the house, the car out of the car at school. And now we got a dragon out of school to go home. That's how it's flipped in our lives. That's so

cool. And that's and that is where it's at. So it's really changed our world, changed our lives and you know we need to keep going. Awesome. Up next are a few clips from episode 121 with Dustin Johnson. Dustin was the number one player in the world at the time of this interview. We interviewed him at his event, his junior event at TPC Myrtle Beach. And this is three separate clips. I'm going to string them all together, just talking about not caring about what people say about him, about the ruling at the 2016 US Open and again about what major championship heartbreak has hurt the most. Well, that brings up another thing. I mean, do you like, do you read a lot of stuff about yourself and not do you pay attention to what people say about you? Zero. Has it always been that way or have you like, just learned to brush it off?

No, I just don't care. Yeah. That's fantastic. But why it's nothing like for me, I mean, people are going to say, obviously a lot of people have very good things to say, but, you know, there's always people that don't and that's okay. Everyone's got their own opinion. But I just don't pay attention to it because it really doesn't matter. I mean, I got my family, my friends, and I care what they think, but at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. The penalty that I still don't believe I deserve. I don't think anyone really believes you deserve that.

Were you pissed with that happened or were you, I mean- Actually, I really wasn't because the reason I wasn't is because I believe the whole time that I was never going to get a penalty because I did not do anything to deserve a penalty. If I would have made the ball move or if I would have done- Okay, I'd take my penalty and keep going. But even, you know, when I guess there was all the controversy was, I'm going to get a penalty. It was a not, you know, the whole time for me, I believed that I wasn't going to get one. So that's why it didn't. You can't control it either way.

You can't control it either way. But at the end of the day, I was like, there's no way I'm getting a penalty. So I just kept going. So was there like a bit of an FU while you're playing that last hole, like when you stuffed that watch you on TV, like we were all pissed. It was more. You know, so after obviously after we're all done, we're in the, you know, in the, we go in the score stand and then we go into another little side room or something like me and Westwood and Austin and Billy and we're all in there with, I don't even know who the USDA officials were, but you know, we're sitting there looking at the video and Westwood, Billy, me, AJ, everyone's like,

Okay. What happened? Like, where's the penalty, but You know, we're in there for a little while and finally I was just like just give me the penalty. Let's go because it doesn't matter. I won. So So they wanted to give you the penalty. They kept pushing it. Yeah, I was sure. And I was talking to Argyne. So I just wanted to get the trophy. So I'm like, I just gave up. So what would happen if it was a if you won by one? I would still be there.

Was there ever an apology issued by anyone there? I mean, about the way it was handled or anything like that? No matter what, it's a tough situation for everyone. So it's, fortunately it worked out where it didn't matter. I think that helped everyone. And because if it would have been a situation where it could have caused me the tournament, I think it would have... Yeah, we'd still be there, are you?

Which of your close calls would you say hurt the most? Which one bothered you the most? They don't bother you. I mean it's golf, it's a game. You lose a lot more times than you went in this sport. I mean it's just how it goes. Focus that energy on the... So I just try, I mean for me I try to take any positives I can out of any situation. Like I said, whether it's good or bad and move on. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It's already over with.

So, you know, you've got to move on. You can't change anything that's happened in the past. You can only move forward. Up next is Episode 161 with Justin Thomas. He talks about the incident that happened with the fan at the Honda Classic this last year and what the blowback has been like in that experience. So here is JT.

Yeah, it was, you know, and I made it very well known after the fact, obviously, wish I didn't do it. I overreacted whatever it may be. But yeah, it just said just the cries of the Honda can get a little rowdy, you know, it's in little Fret bro, a little bit. Yeah, you know, it's exactly so it's, you can tell that the drinks were flowing very late in

afternoon and yeah, this guy had been kind of in needle in me a little bit and still that's gonna happen. I need to get over that fact, but finally finally it just was the fact that I just had enough and I just after he said that I turned around and I was just like Dude like you got to go. I just I really I'm trying to win a golf tournament here. I don't really care And I handled it very poorly. I said that but I shouldn't have done it at all. I mean in retrospect It's just one guy. And because of that one guy, I've created a lot more people that don't like me as opposed to one guy.

So it is what it is. I mean, if that's one of the worst things I do in my career, I'll be just fine. Well, the first question I had though is how often does something like that happen? Has that ever happened at any other point? I mean, the cameras picked it up is what really made it a big deal.

But I mean, is that a totally unusual thing for a fan to get ejected, or if you'd asked to be a fan to be ejected, or a fellow playing partner to request that from security or something? Well, you know, it's just, it's happened more lately. It's because at these tournaments, you know, guys just, they do, they get drinking so much,

and it's just like they kind of feel invincible on the other side of the ropes, and look, I understand that the needling and stuff like that's going to happen and we do understand that but it's just like when it's inappropriate or when guys are doing it like as we're over shots or they're just I mean when it gets ridiculous it's like there's just no spot, no place for that You know it's I understand yeah we're athletes we're adults but it's it is golf and I think You know people So often like well, you know that's just typical golf being soft or whatever it is But it's like dude like this people different sport you people in football basketball baseball those players can't hear them

You know what I mean like you think Tom Brady can really hear all this people that are doll cousin him in the stands No, it's like it, they're right there. They're right next to us. And it's like, when you start saying stuff about personally or, I mean, I've heard, I mean, I remember it was so cool. It LA this year, this guy was just non-stop on me on 17. And he just was, I mean, being so inappropriate and just rude. And finally, I just kind of like turn around on my dude, like, that's good.

And then he kind of, and then he turned around, of course, act like he wasn't there. And then he, and, you know, he didn't want to say it to my face and I just kind of, you know, I looked at him and I kept going and then he said it again. And then Rory, I was playing with you, he came down and he was like, get this guy out of here. He's like, there's no, there's just no place for it.

I understand that there's different tournaments and different moments that you can get routing and you know, you can be loud, but it's just, you know, like you said, it is golf and it's a shame that it's kind of gotten that way. And yeah, I do wish that I had that moment over. All right, these next couple are going to be story time. And first up is from episode 123 with Luke Guthrie and Justin Hubert. We kind of just laughed through what it was like for Justin to play in the America's Cup

with Matt Koocher and the story that goes along with that how he got selected to the team. I know that the actual story with Koocher is bleeped in this. We had to do that for multiple, multiple reasons. Just trust us that it was hilarious. What is said under here and enjoyed this story from Justin Hubert? What you brought us a nice artifact here from, uh, from, from what you, the America's Cup is this 2015. That is 2015 Mexico City.

So we have a Justin Hubert bag cover here with American flag, but signed by your partner, Matt Kucher, the coach, baby. What can you tell us about that experience? Or how did you get up on this team? So it is a week or two weeks before the event, we're in Santiago, Chile. And the whole deal was Tiger and Coocher are going to come play. And I had a partner in Kent Bull. And we had, I mean, we'd already got the matching foot joys shoes with American flags on it. We were going to be play and I had a partner in Kemp Bull and we had, I mean, we'd already

got the matching foot joys shoes with American flags on it. We were going to be over the top. My wife was coming to Catti. He had Aaron Flainer, Big Cat, the real Big Cat. And we were just going to have fun. We had USA visors like the whole deal. Just way over the top going to go have fun. And then. What is the America's Cup? You started that? So yeah, it is a, I don't even know. and then so yeah I don't know how it works these three arch and team guys pony up all this cash to host this event and their goals to get tiger there and so in bridge stone was the, so then I think that's how they got coach. Just a two-man team event, best ball for four days.

And the way it worked on Latin America, they got three teams if you were all inside the top 20 on the money list, the US did. And then each country, the top player, if you were in the top 60, got a team, whatever. Pretty cool little deal. And then you were going to get to tee it up against Koocher and Tiger. It's in Mexico City. Yeah, Mexico City. Of course it was actually it was the Tigers golf course I've ever played. Like these trees that were a yard off the fairway that touched the ground. Like if you hit it off fairway, it was darn near chip out. And it was it was a blast. And anyways yeah

I'm gonna play with Kent. They come up to us two weeks for tournament and said tigers What's wrong because of his back and we're trying to get Fred couples to come and I was like all right That'd still be kind of fun to play against those guys and I don't think he wanted to and ended up They're like all right. Well, it's gonna be the low American on the money list So naturally humor was the next one American on the money list. Who else will you find out? Yeah, yeah. Brace that on some of them I pull out. So naturally, humor was the next one after. Yeah, next in line. And they're like, yeah, a little American on the money list gets to play with

Coocher. And they sent me an email to ask me if that was okay. And I'm like, yes. I don't know how to respond to this. I come busy. So anyways, it's like, yeah, you get to play with Coocher. And show up on the Monday, I guess and Go play my practice around by myself. Could we talk about could we talk about the replies to the tweet first was the announce the announce

So yes, so Jason Sobel said PJ tour announces that Matt Coocher's partner in upcoming Bridgestone America's golf club replacing Tiger Woods will be Justin Huber. There's what? Who? Aren't they one and the same? Who? And the TV execs are salivating. You're either too late or too early for April fools.

Of course, I have no idea what the America's Cup is either. Hey, those are both top 750 players right there. So win, win, for Cooch, either way. Nick Johnson, no exaggeration here. I've literally never heard of him. Who is Justin Hubert? This is my favorite one. Justin Hubert?

Didn't know there was a 734th ranked golfer until now. It's a big confidence boost. They would have been better off replacing Tiger with his surgeon. This is a joke, right? Good thinking. Throw another big name in there. Sounds like a snoozer. Oh yeah, it's at the public's parking lot crying while reading notes with my wife. So you did see all these words? Oh yeah, my buddies are like fire in these like screenshot and I'm over to me and I'm just like oh my gosh. It was yeah, I got 16 retweets, 23 likes and 24 replies.

So the ratio is not a great ratio. But I remember I asked you last year, I asked you what the best round of golf you've ever witnessed was. Hands down, hands down, final round. We're playing best ball and I kid you not. We didn't use a single one of my shots. We shot 60. We shot a single one of my holes. Like we tied on a few holes, but he was, I went, did the math the other day. He birdied one, he flipped out for eagle on two, and made birdie. So he's two under, part three, stuffed it on four, part three, made birdie.

I make birdie on four, but he rolls in like a 50 footer for eagle on top of me. So he's five under through five. He birdies, yeah. 100% freedom up. And then, I think he burties six and seven and then par's eight. He had a good look but he missed it and then he hits it to like four feet on nine and then makes another 15 footer on 10 and he's nine under through 10 and I'm like, all right,

six shot lead. Let's go guys. Go team team. Go team. And then the next hole, we get to 11. And he hooks it left on the trees. And I'm like, I looked at my wife. And I honestly was like, this is my chance. I'm going to prove myself to Cooch here.

And hit it down the way. This is actually four days of playing. Are they going to have a face of playing with it? I didn't know what to do in sign books out there. Just walking around, just like Cooch is making pus. He's just shaking his head, just like, smiling the whole time, and he's walking like inside the ropes,

or whatever, just being the man. And anyways, we get the 11 fairway, I hit it on the green, and coach like, hits it way right of the green, chips up to, I don't know, 8-10 feet. And I hit my first pot like three feet by, but I had to wait for the other group to play. We're playing with Fabrizio Zanotti who's been like kind of deast on the European tour recently.

And his partner from Paraguay. And anyways, Kuchten rolls in the 10 footer for par and I just scoop up my coin. I'm like, oh, never mind. And then the best part is we get to 18. We got like a 5, like legit five or six shot lead. And I hit it on the green to probably 15 feet and he's about the same and I was like, join me, I'll putt first. He's like, no, I got it. Cash. I just scoop up my quarter with my putter and go shake hands and I'm like,

oh, that's the easiest 30 grand I've ever made. Well, it was his vibe like coming into the week. I mean, he was he pumped up to be there. Was he just going through the motions? I honestly thought he was going through the motions. I assume he was getting paid. He was the nicest guy in the world. Like, him and Steinberg took my wife and I did dinner two nights, and we had police escort

through downtown Mexico City. So out there and talked to him for a few hours. Steinberg had to catch a flight back to see his daughter's volleyball game the next day. So he's taking the red eye. So he had to leave dinner early and coach just sat there and talked to Sarah and I for another hour, hour and a half probably.

And anyways, I thought he was just kind of going through the motions. We're out there. First day, he's just kind of going through the motions. We're out there. First day, he's just kind of plotting along. He's even down the left trying to hit those fades, but you're at such high elevation. They're not cutting. He's just hitting on the left trees every day or every hole.

And he didn't play well the first day. And then the second day was better. Third day was better. And obviously the fourth round. But we had dinner before the last round. And he's like, I didn't come down here just to play. I came here to get my name on the trophy. And I was like, all right, man, like, cool.

I'm in on that. Let's do that. Let's do that. And then he goes out and shoots 60 the next. He made a bogey. The other time I could have helped him. He was right in the middle of the fairway, and then he missed the green with a wedge, and I was over-chopping in the trees, like just trying to get down as fast as I could.

Anyways, I hit it out to like six feet, I got to the bunker and I had that left for par and he did chip it by and missed it so I was like, hang, I got to make this for par and obviously I missed. So we shot 60 with a bogey and I'll take my bogey. So I did help out. Can you attest that he's not like, oh poop, oh, shucks, oh crap. This moment was what made me enjoy him even more.

Because we're playing as the third round on number 15. And he caches another 15, 20 footer. And there's several hundred people around. They all go, cooch, whatever. He's walking to the hole. And he's got the smile on his face. And he mouths these words. And I have no idea what it is.

But I'm watching him. And we're walking off the green back to the next tea. And I'm like, hey, what would you say there when you made that putt? And he looks at me. And he's been saying, oh, fart, oh dang it, I'm adding the whole time, like whatever.

And we're walking back there and I, so what would you say after that putt went in? He goes, f**k, f**k, f**k. And I was like, excuse me? Like, just something I said. Just so nonchalant.

And I was like, what? And I was like, how'd you come up with that? And he's like, it's kind of a go-to for me when I kind of need a little kick in the pants. Like, to get me going, he's like, the cameras don't pick it up. Like, I'm smiling. I was like, what? Thank you.

What? Up next is from episode 164. We recorded this at the BMW Championship with Mark Leishman and his caddy Maddie Kelly about their first big paycheck on the PGA tour and how they celebrated it. This is the hardest I laughed on the podcast all year long. I remember our first tournament on the tour was at Sarni.

And I remember we finished, I think it was 12th. And we were both, as you should be, but we were both so excited. And we went down the beach and just, we were drunk. We were drunk. Well, he made like a hundred grand. We were so much better than this.

It was not, it was not any something thousand dollars. I was a lot better. I'm not one of those credit cards, right? And it was the funniest thing, because Maddie's like, have you ever seen anyone do this? And he told me what it was. And I'm like, no, he goes, I'm gonna do it. So he goes into the, goes into a 7-11 or a ABC store,

goes in and buys half a gallon of milk, downs the whole thing. And then, he shoves his fingers down, he throws his power spews, goes like, it goes goes, it would hit that wall, it goes five yards. And this is only like, you keep each beat. It was dark, it was dark, but I am on the ground just like I've completely lost it. I'm just crying, laughing. And he still spew in over in the corner.

And that was it. That's the, I remember the chick check and I remember that about that week. Yeah, but it was just like one of those things. It was so excited. Yeah, that was our first week on tour. It was all done. One thing I'll never ever forget. Up next is episode 139 with John Rom talking a bit about his upbringing and coming over to the states without being able to speak English and how he learned English. And what was your English

like at that time? Not existing really? Not existing. I mean, 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're around. I thought my English was going to be good enough. Okay. I never picked up on, let's say, the English, the American accent, because what we learned to was British or UK English show, there was a lot of words that were different,

a lot of idioms, just 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, you know, 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 could actually make jokes. Because the Spanish humor was different to the American humor and being able to say what I meant and the way 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 that you take growing up in school? Did you take it for a long period of time? Yeah, but the English system 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, 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 communicate in the UK. It was just coming to the stage when it was a little different. It was a little harder to take a use 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 it took a while. I mean, let me tell you,

when I got to my first class, my economic principles, and there was 365 people in class, and it looked like a movie 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 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. Up next is episode 138 with Tommy Fleetwood. I forgot to press a button on this one and it accidentally recorded from my computer and not the microphones, but please ignore that. Here's the story of his relationship with his coach, Alan Thompson, the driving yips that

he went through and how he powered through to be one of the best players in the world. When I first got into England sort of squad, so that was, I reckon, must have been like 12, so you got into this like regional stuff and he was the coach but... Sorry, what was his name and then I think it was... Alan Thompson, that's right, okay. So I know Northwest of England, he was the regional coach, so he was the coach then, my first lesson I think, often was then. And then we've had like three stints and then I think I went on my own for a bit, when

I got to like 17 and I thought I knew better, then got him back, then yeah, and I started working with him about three months before I turned pro and I got to all the number one amateur with him and then one on tour with him and then decided I was going to do my own thing again. The way he told the story though was that he kind of nudged you in that direction even that he thought it was. Yeah well I think at the time it was a relationship difficult I might in tour like they just are and I think I was kind of I was we were pushing something that I wasn't quite getting enough out of and then we just

nudged away from it a little bit like expectations are getting high and what I was, we were pushing something that I wasn't quite getting enough out of and then we just nudged away from it a little bit, like expectations are getting high and what we were working on. It's probably how things just work out, that happens all the time. You just can't quite seem to get out of what you're trying to do. Fast forward like three years later and you know, we do everything that we were doing before but more and I get better but it's just at the time and just time it happens sometimes and as long as I think that's what it's really important just to leave on good terms

and keep good relationships with people because you're always that's one massive thing I've learned is that you're probably going to end up working with these guys again so you have to do it in the right way when you do split from people and it, you know, for us it worked out. But yeah, we kind of, there's a lot of pride in this job and I think if it's not going how we want it to, we like to just, you know, we speak, it's, it doesn't let you know, we speak to this mind and you just want to what's best for you. And then the last time you went back to him, I mean, it was pretty, it was pretty immediate, right? You saw the results. Yeah, I mean, so I, Yeah, I mean, so I sent him, I actually sent my dad a text first to asking what to do because I was in China and like, there's not been much said about it, but I had a yip at the time with my driver, and I couldn't keep it on the golf course at all and I was playing

this practice round, I thought, this is like, what am I doing? This is just ridiculous. I mean, middle of China with nobody here. Can't let me out. I've got no chance of making the cut. What's the point? And anyway, I sent Tomo a couple of videos, because he said just text Tomo,

because Tomo knows you're swinging better than anybody. He just texted us. I sent him a couple of videos. I asked him first if it'd be all right. Looking at it was kind of, you know, I'll think he might say no yet. But he was made up to have a look and he had a look, so that would have been like April time, so. And then we sort of started working and then went with 2016, so that was May, was like me lowest point ever where I was playing the practice rounds.

I played a pro-am and we played this thing, Paris, your friend now, so if you can't make a bird, you just pick up. And I think that day I hit 12 T-shirts and just walked the rest of the course. With my playing partners, I could, I mean, I was just awful. And I walked off that pro-am and I thought,

oh my gosh, I went, you know what? And Finna actually came to watch. I think I wasn't counting it at the time. He comes to watch, because it's one of my mates and seeing Thursday morning he was like, how's it going? And I said, I was seeing off in the afternoon. I said, I don't think I'm gonna play. I can't get it off the first tee.

I don't like the first tee shut there anymore. And I said, Finna, honestly, yeah, I don't think I can make it off the first tee. And he was like, what's wrong with you? I just listened, I can't hit the ball. I ran this anyway. I played first T-shirt. I stepped up on that tee drive about a millimeter off the deck, I made it to 40, I was instanti-trees right, and I was really happy because I didn't talk. As long as I got it off the tee and I found it, I was going to be happy. Played horrific and actually shot like level par with someone which was not leveled, but Finore said it was the worst and then it seemed to be played. So that was the lowest and we've been working together for like a month at the time.

And sort of from that point, everything had to move forward, because it couldn't go any worse, so it had to move forward. So yeah, and then once we sort of got a little bit of momentum, things started to get a little bit better, but it's always difficult. You can come back, but when your head's like, you've lost so much confidence. We're going to wrap part one with a clip from episode 178. I tried not to lean too heavily on the more recent episodes that you guys would have heard in more recent months.

But for these two guys, we're going to make an exception because we had Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on the podcast. I think it kind of goes without saying that how much of a thrill it was to get these guys on to be able to talk a little bit of golf. Obviously, a lot of the conversation around it was related to the match, but we really appreciated that we got this opportunity and thought we got some good stuff out of it. So we're actually going to play those two interviews in their entirety to take us to the end of part one. Stay tuned for part two of the podcast, the clip show, which will be out later this week with a whole new married of guests. Curtis Strange, Jessica Corda, Lydia Co, Maverick McNeely, Paul Azinger, Mark Brody, just a lot more to come in part two. So don't be sure to catch that and enjoy us playing out with Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson. On a tee 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's 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. 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 against it? He's both. He's definitely both. What's a good example of a jab?

Well, Phil is one that is very more outwardly towards his jab with his jabs. And he tries to subtly, not only say subtly, also subtly, try and get in your head with either wagers or it's just one liner's on just that thing. And on top of that, once he gets up, he's one of the worst front runners there is. How's that?

Because he'll just don't stop chap. And 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 You know more subtle than that, you know, and I've always been that way more so on on the Because of the nature of our tour. That's one of the unique things about this paper for you Yet is that we're having

mics on their live non-stop. Well, I'm describing to one of the interviews earlier is that it's just gonna be very different from what you normally do 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 sneak in, you know, camera phones and try and catch live audio or marks in, you know, shag bags that we give on a golf balls. You know, I've had it all. And so this is not too different from what I have to face, you know, week in, week out. Yes, it's a live mic, the entire time.

But, you know, we have boom mics that are trying to get us the 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 or with another player, you'll have gallery members that have the 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. No, I'll be honest with you. The internet was gonna go wide.

I had it. I had done this so many times throughout the years. But the only differences is that this year there's been a lot more interest in I think that of my round that particular day. And you know, sometimes it would catch me with, you know, 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 going to 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 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 and what I would say, down so unique, but it's uncommon for me. It was normality that for me to show you up at a golf course and doing the different things

has not been captured. Your and Phil's 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 wanna 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 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, you know, post playing at an elite level. They became a lot closer. And that's what has transitioned with us is we've become, we've understood 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 Phil's 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 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 game. Yeah, that's easy. It's sick.

It's what you can do around the greens. It's just amazing. I got a chance early 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. So I got a chance to get to No Sevy at a pretty good level around, you know, short aim wise and watching him hit a lot of shots and having him explain a lot of the things how he did it.

What he did was phenomenal, but I think what Phil does is even better because he had a 56 degree sandwich and he had to make it work. The pins weren't as tight then, but the greens were a little bit slower. But what the pins are being so tight and Phil going to like a 60 or 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. That's what Macevie's so amazing is that he hits shots that we only maybe even thought about entertaining for 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?

What's the first phone call you're making? Well, that's easiest, Phil. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. Uh, the way 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 these types of... These type 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. They 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 McAtee 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? I mean, was it all swollen after that?

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 swallowing 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 T-shot ever in a PG-2 event.

I was an amateur in 16, and I'll never free it. 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, teed up, teed up 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 just hitting right down the middle of the fairway but I don't remember what impact felt like. Right, blacked out on the street. 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 in your competitive? No, nothing has ever felt like that. I've had some pressure, I think some pressure pots that I've made but nothing has ever felt like that. If you could have one mole again for any one shot in your career, what would it be? Oh gosh, there would it be? Oh gosh, there's one big just one.

There's so many. I think if I look back on the round I played at the quad cities in 96 when I lost to the gripper, that was a moment where I forgot all of my training and I forgotten 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. You know,

we were at the time, you should remember, Ashworth had the shirts, the double thick cotton that went past our elbows, but we all wore them because, you know, Freddie wore them. Yeah. You know, he made it look cool. That's why we picked up our sleeves and tried to make it fit and tried to hold it up on our neck. But that was a time in which we all wore baggy stuff. And I, everything's going to more tighter stream line 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? 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? 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 bike comics. Back when you had hard, hard, hard, hard bike comics. And so that was a time in which yeah, 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. I absolutely love the so that's been fun over the years. And cool, appreciate it. You got it, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Of course, thanks. Thanks, Arbara. On a P from USA, Phil McGotson. APPLAUSE

Phil, I got to 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, which for you I got to believe is the leather jacket on

Faraday, was that you know was that a conscious choice, was that a performance-ire piece of some sort what was what was the thought process? Was that the most pressing question? No, 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 what's that? Does 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... 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 SMAT talk is 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. People don't always get to see that from him. What's he like behind the scenes? 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 it 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 gonna 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. 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, one of the things that kind of jumps out about the match is obviously the money. You guys are the two highest earners in professional golf history. What is, can you put in perspective, what does 9 million dollars mean to you guys? 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 in up close and personal scene, the shots, the swings and so forth, as well as having on screen the actual odds to win the hole, to win the match, to hit certain shots, closest to the pin. The side challenges that we're going to 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 you watch a lot of golf on TV and I think you don't have to take it from any positive frustrations, anything, and put it into this?

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 is, it 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 that 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. I mean, there's so much stroke play golf throughout the year. There's so much PJ Tour Golf European Tour. I mean, 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 pro golf?

And then the follow up there is what excites you about pro golf right now, what concerns you about pro golf, 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 golfs never have been put on paper you and second we've never really taken the risk and had it become so intimate where the players are marked where you do get to hear the in-depth conversations between player and caddy the actual smack talk or or conversations amongst players and what actually goes on inside the ropes this 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 a paper 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 as 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, I've always been curious about these things. Let's hear it. So I always love listening to you. Like the leather jacket, right?

That's exactly right. But what else is interesting to you? What? 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 I used 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.

Do I really do? No, I wouldn't want to do, I wouldn't want to be a psychologist psychiatrist because you're always working out of the negative. You're always working with people's problems. And that's not really how I live. I'm much more positive. I don't really enjoy that. So 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 underappreciated 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 seemed to be the impossible, 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 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 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 him. But we get that sense tiger. I've had a lot of players come along and say, oh, this kid is great. He 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 a amateur. There was a funny line that Sandy Lyle said when they said, what do you think of Tiger with? He says, I don't 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, 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 hold different level? Well, this is this is a stage unlike any other this week that we'll see on Friday So best of luck and thanks so much for the time. Thank you. All right. Take care. My pleasure. Thanks Give it a right club. Feed a right club today

Be the right club, be the right club today. Yes! That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different.