No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 187: Sergio Garcia (& Sentry TOC Recap)

Episode Date: January 7, 2019

We got the chance to chat with Sergio Garcia at the Callaway launch event, and discussed his comments at the 2012 Masters, winning his first green jacket, all the changes he’s gone through in the... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 187: Sergio Garcia (& Sentry TOC Recap) 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. 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. We are going to get to Sergio Garcia a bit later in the show. It is a shorter interview, a little less than 20 minutes I think, but we wanted to recap the century tournament of champions

brought to you by Alex Urban. And we had DJ and Big Randy here. Before we get to that, Randy, we got a lot of people who had a lot of interest about this Follack series is gonna be coming out, but there was some confusion around the sign up. Why don't you enlighten us? Well, so the sign up hasn't been posted yet,

so that's probably I'm guessing a large part of the confusion. We were finalizing some things on the back end. My guy Sean at Easy Office Pools shout out. And that will drop tomorrow AM, I would say by 10 AM Eastern. We will publicize on our various social media channels. And the actual site will be on our website. There'll be a link which feeds you onto a custom Easy Office Pools page.

You can find it wherever tweets are available. Tweets? Yeah, probably just tweets. You know Instagram, you know wherever we can link it, we'll link it, right? But you only have like three days to sign up. Yeah, but don't delay. Yeah, and I'll include that in the tweet, and I'll be, so I'm typing up a whole like rules

and information page, and the sign up deadline in the tweet and I'll be, so I'm typing up a whole like rules and information page and you know, the sign up deadline will be on there as well. One sign up per email address. So this is in something like where you want to submit like 20 different teams, just pick one team, roll with them all year, and possibly you could be the Pholex Series champion.

The inaugural. The inaugural, how fun is that? Speaking of champions, I think our, this tournament of champions are excitement for this event, justified. Totally justified. That was a fun little week of golf. Yeah, it was nice to be kind of checked out for a couple weeks.

Have a little tinge of missing pro golf. And yeah, really delivered. I mean, God, damn back of my mind was awesome. How great is it have been in prime time? I mean it just makes the biggest difference in the world. You go out enjoy your day. You don't feel like you're missing out on anything. Like if watching TV when it's like nice out

or when it's sunny during the middle of the afternoon just always does it for I hate doing that. Yeah totally agree. And like watching it if the more golf they can play out West, the better I know they play a decent amount of it, but that was wonderful. That was a good time. Yeah. And Xander is becoming a bonafide, like, stud to watch. I think he's been, that was really, really, really fun to watch. I think he might be there. Some people were churping like, oh, he's still no personality. I'm like, dude, I don't think he has like no personality. We

don't know it in that well yet, but I don't know. I feel like there are people who actively suppress their personality and people who just don't jump off the page. And he strikes me as a completely genuinely awesome guy who just doesn't really jump off the screen at you or whatever. And some people are just like that. I don't know. I mean, it's, you know, hard to do. What would, honestly, Woodland's kind of like that too. I mean, he's, he's someone that's, you know, people kind of, it's Randy smiling because I think maybe he had made a couple comments to this effect that we'll

let him justify. But, uh, yeah, woodland's kind of like that too. I think I really enjoy watching him, but there's not a ton of, you know, excitement about his personality. But, you know, like the people that have their personality jump off the screen or jump off the page at you, we end up hating. Bryson is a big, sorry for your stuff about that. I don't, I don't hate Bryson at all. The Royal Wee, the editorial Wee. I'd be like, people, I think fans will hate you if you run your mouth too much or say too much

and it's like a very tough line to balance. For sure. And just be like, people that are, just be yourself and that's totally fine. And that's what Xander seems super comfortable in his own skin. He's not trying to do too much. Yeah, I've very much enjoyed watching him.

I don't know. I used to think watching Kevin Kizner was boring until I heard from him and met him and talked to him. This guy is the best. I don't know. Just the view you get on TV isn't necessarily what you should decide to root for somebody. You got some stats for us big guy? Uh, well let me quickly comment on Woodland.

I think, because I was kind of saying he was boring and he's not my favorite guy to watch. And it's true he doesn't have a ton of personality, but I, you know, thinking about it, I think my opinion of kind of him being boring is more on his game. And I know he hits it a ton, but there's just not much in his game that I find or that I'm drawn to. He hits some trash rockets, man. Yeah. He just, you know who he is? For me, he's like, he falls in that Jason Day category where there's just something about it that I don't It doesn't capture my

Imagination like I just don't like watching them play golf. That's fair. It's almost like mechanical They bully the golf course. I'm not sure. I feel like I don't know why he falls in the positive category Not the Jason Day category for me. Well, days that's right. Interesting to think about. Murder, murder, the ball. Woodland? No, he's successfully murdered the ball. Well, but he maxes out his swing.

Woodland, I legitimately think swings at like 85% intentionally and has capped himself with that and will not allow himself to absolutely go after the ball anymore. He came out on tour and was like, one of the top five longest guys on tour. And I think he could be if he wanted to be, but he just decided like his game needed to change a little bit. I respect the hell out of it. He's not like, yeah, he's not like, you know, my favorite player, but I like watching Woodland play, but it's

not, he's not the easiest guy to pull for or whatnot. So he just played basketball, right? He's not. Yeah, I just found that out watching the telecast as former college basketball dropouts. I would think you guys would bond over that. Yeah, that is kind of fun. Shout out to the fan that brought the the sign. That was a very cool touch. Yeah, Jay. Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay year. I mean, it's like, it's easy to see why. I mean, there's obviously the weather and the whales and everyone's just in a good mood. But honestly,

think a golf course with wide ass fairways, tons of elevation change and guys hitting shots, you just don't see them hit week to week. I don't think it's a coincidence that like slower greens that are grainy that they have a hard time figuring out turns this thing kind of into less of a putting contest and watch them try to balance the wins and just hit these wild-ass shots, it's like it is truly different. And the rest of the season becomes way more uniform. And a big shout out to the Kona wins,

we decided to show up and buck their heads on Sunday. That's right, very cool. Kunu brought that to our attention before Twitter. And also shout out to Rolfing for becoming kind of self-aware on the Kona wins thing. I believe tag this in a tweet saying hey guys I'm gonna be talking a lot about Kona wins. I know everybody's been missing this. Here you go. Tag this in a tweet. I see. I like it when the when the the self-awareness comes in. I was gonna say it's fun when people lean

in like that. Yeah. And I get that every tournament can't be like this. Obviously for obvious reasons, but the small field really kind of just sets the vibe. And I feel like it gives golf channel a chance to calm down. Yeah, the pacing is really good. Not rush themselves around and not feel like they have to be talking and keeping you updated on so many other things. Even coming to this on Saturday, how they just let the mics, boom mics, like we're right

in that Bryson woodland pairing and they weren't talking over at all. We heard every single word of every conversation and on a course like this where there's so many interesting shots, you got to really decide and commit to how you want to play it where you want to play it safe where you want to risk it. That was cool and a wonderful little touch and I want to encourage that kind of behavior. Please keep doing that. Praise for progress. Yeah, I wonder if in you might have to cut this, depending on how this, depending on how this take material out.

Go. I wonder if the format and the vibe of the tournaments dictate that, because everybody is just inherently more laid back, and the whole thing is all about just basically almost like trying to convey how know, convey how chill you are and how relaxed everything is, whereas, you know, on another given week, the vibe kind of becomes,

there's so much excitement going on. Look at how much we're gonna squeeze every ounce of excitement that we possibly can out of this thing, and it just ends up becoming super flat because it's like that, it just feels super forced. But that, I, like that.

So it's almost like just very, very, very, very zander style, just be comfortable with who you are. Are you saying every week they don't play cheeseburger in paradise? Yeah. That's the outro. Yeah, I might, you know, second, second watch, I might, when I watch the all-22,

I might have some other, some other takes about the broadcast, we'll see. I mean, it did help that there was some tremendous golf play down the stretch. Definitely. Mega, mega bucked his head today. 62, and like a different win scenario. I mean, guys that hit like, I think Leech coming, he had to hit driver five iron into number one, which is usually a downhill, like driver wedge or three wood wedge hole or downwind hole.

That was not, I wouldn't say it was a difficult condition day. I think the wind died down a little bit as the day went on, but no one else was putting anything up anywhere related that's 62. Extremely, extremely interested to see what that golf course looks like next year. Yeah, obviously they're kind of bringing, you know, the cliche bringing the bulldozers in behind

behind the final group to, they're in there right now. To reduce some stuff, corn, crenchai, believe this, I don't know, was it their first? It was their first. First co-design. So yeah, going through to kind of redo that and obviously you saw, you know, the greens have they've been on the edge, you know The sod lines were a little tough although they looked better than they did last year But yeah, very interested to see kind of what they're changing and I don't have a ton of insight on what exactly They're gonna be moving around or or tweaking but obviously regrassing all the greens and figuring all that stuff out. But I would think the run-up areas are probably something they want to look into.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's just gotten, I'm sure they wanted to play a little bit more firm and want people to be able to run shots up on the greens. I imagine they'll reduce some contours kind of around the greens to kick balls away. If you're on the wrong side of them, kick balls towards the hole, if you're on the right side of them, and that kind of element just looks a bit lost, the greens have gotten really circular, and have lost a little bit of probably their original shape, or I don't know that for a fact, but I think that's kind of what they would look at with a fresh set of eyes and say, here's kind of what we need to change aesthetically.

It is cool to see a bit of, I don't know what metric you used to kind of measure this, but it's cool to see this event have what at least feels like a little bit of a resurgence to because I kind of look at it like the pebble event too. I mean, like five, six, seven years ago, like that event seem like it was on its deathbed almost. I mean, I know that's hyperbole, but you know, it just was not exciting. It was not a good field. And then you had Rory, you know, start to, I guess, is Rory playing this year for the first time, I think. But before that, you had Jason Day and Spieth and all these guys start to start to show up, cat play that one year. And, you know, you, you kind of go back after what's filled after Phil left his corpse out there in the, the still water cove. Those events are so good for the PJ tour because they're so different and they're so iconic. And it's and it's cool to see You know, not just the top like not just all the energy being thrown at the majors in the WGC's but having events like this that are such a staple

Just get stronger and stronger is that's cool. I get Rory showing up. That was big deal I like to get cat was like threatening to show up I really show fun Sunday, but that's well. Yeah, that's oh Ready for a transition. A lot of people are, I don't know, are people like, all right, it's time to address the final round concerns for Rory, right? I'm like, I don't know.

I mean, I was kind of lethargic in my excitement for Rory's season. I think we talked about that in the last podcast. I'm not saying he's gonna have a poor season. I'm just done convincing myself that this is the resurgence. This is the year. For me, I'm not saying it again. Yeah, for me again.

So like today, I wasn't like absolutely stunned. It was nice to see him have his wedges really dialed in for those first three days and it felt like maybe he's turned in a corner because that's a, again, a difficult place to calculate wins and elevation change in grain, especially when you have no experience playing there. But I mean, it's hard to string four rounds together, even if yours good as Rory is.

So it's, I don't know, I'm not freaking out about it. I'm not, it's not that big of a deal, but I don't know, a lot of people are kind of fed up with the final round stuff. I mean, it's not good, but. That's not great. Listen, we need a bigger, we need a bigger stable. Yeah, first of all, it's a steep,

then a bigger, some people are there on a Liar. Some people are there on cruise control. Some people are there to win it. But Xander's the sixth-thricks player in the world now. Jesus. There might be too many good players. That might be, there's so many good players. It's a, yeah, I need like, again, sixth-thricks player. He was on the Ryder Cup team like three months ago.

And like, wasn't that close to making it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously winning a WGCC is gonna give you a huge world ranking bomb But it's pretty impressive is this is this is fourth win is this is fourth win? Oh Al Yup. Yeah Fourth win 61 starts. Oh my god. Is that big Randy's music? Do it there've been a number you know there are a number of people with four career PGA tour wins sure

It's got stallings. He might have three. Kevin Nahl. Now he has two really. Russ, Russ Hanley might have four. Anyone else? Three. But just to pick somebody out of the air. Totally. Let's, you know, this was shopfully 61st PGA event event for wins, you know, turn prone to 2015.

Just to compare that to somebody else, I don't know, I'll pick Ricky. Sure. Do you have something California guy? I think it's an apples to apples. Do you happen to know when he turned pro? I'm going to guess somewhere between 2009 and 2010. Yeah, that's correct. Do you know how many PGA tours start?

See, how many? His main. 180. Solid. 215. More than that guys. Really? Yeah. He has made.

I have it in front of me and it's 215 if you want to argue that. So. Well, let's. Oh, he just flipped it on him. His rickety take has been derailed. No, no, so he's made 215 starts. Yeah, you know, I'm, I know, I guess what I'm presenting this without comment.

Just with a smirk. No comment is the comment. Exactly. Yeah, we'll throw an Abu Dhabi. And it's got to show up in which our obligatory should be mentioned as big time worldwide wins. The defense has rested a long time ago. Okay.

Point, point made. It point made, but four wins in 61 starts for Zane Shoffley is that's astonishing. Yeah, it's, I don't know really what you can say. Underrated no more. All right, what do we think about the new rules? Seeing, I mean, we knew about the rules. Seeing them play out on TV. My take hasn't changed in the last, the last four or five days.

The putting thing is so weird. It's just like, it was weird. I will say the one thing I've come around on, Woodland even had a couple of like 30 foot kind of sliders downhill where he left the pin in. I was like, okay, that kind of makes sense. You know, if you get a little cheeky and it's running downhill, you want to slow down.

That's fun. I can see that. But yeah, like the seven eight footers putting with the pin in is very weird. Am I alone here? Does the pin, does the whole look smaller when the pin is in? For sure, totally. Like usually, which I, it would make sense

Bryson's the only guy that can kind of separate. Yeah. The information that is I is telling his brain and just overruling it. And it just doesn't look right. You know, just, I'm sure we'll get used to it. It's like any change to any social media app that you use every day.

It's like, it doesn't look right. And then like three days later, like, okay, that's, that's probably why they did this. Yeah. I don't know. I just don't understand like why guys do it some of the time and not all the time. You would think as much as these guys are in routines that they would want something consistent and uniform. And like if the science says you should leave it in, then like you should probably leave it in all of the time. Or if the science says you shouldn't, it probably should be out all of the time. But I just hate this kind of a thing. I didn't really see enough of like one guy putting with it out and then putting it back in.

I think that's kind of what's going to be the dividing line. Guys are going to make their caddies put it back in for them. But if they're the first to put it and it's already in and they want to leave it in, they might just go for it. That might, maybe that's what it is. I was trying to kind of figure out what the common thread was on. Yeah. On Bryson, like he had like a seven footer on 18,

where JT had already put it out and he had the pin out. So yeah, I'm not sure. The dropping from the knee thing, watching Bryson go through that on Saturday was tremendous. He's like talking to the, first of all, the rules official rolls up and it is Hawaiian buttoned on shirt,

which is great. They should wear those everywhere. Yeah, they should. And he's like, so I have to drop it from the knee and he goes to do it. He's like, this is so weird, bro. And then finally, I made the awkward stance and dropped it. I just hope people are not gonna do.

Maybe if you do it jokingly, if we're gonna joke about it, this will be fun. But like, let's not seriously call in rules violations for drops. He's below the knee, he's bending. Like, I very much agree with that. I think I mentioned this to Tron. He's like, I think I might make that one.

That's his new corner. Oh, God. That's Tron's new corner. And you can direct any potential drop violations to at Tron Carter, NLU. So shout out, Lou Brown, who I thought had a really good tweet on the whole drop. You know what you guys are talking about,

dropping from the knee. So the knee dropper will might most hurt players who feed off carrying themselves like alphas. Try to imagine vintage Palmer guns out, hair slick back, darting the corner of his mouth in a half-curt seed dropping his ball coming down the stretch. Says you can't, it's impossible.

It's, you have, like, as somebody who's a tall person, is this real prejudice against you? I sure. Your knee is higher than anybody else. Well, I have been in a shoulder tire. Well, I have been in a shoulder tire than our shoulders too. Fair enough. I'd like to do the math to see if it is.

I guess. Are you going to do the math? A bit of a high-test. No, I will not do the math. I was going to say, I forgot to mention Zander, Eagling 12, and then topping it on 13 was absolutely brilliant. That's made my day. Although he was trying to hit like a little flighted shot.

I'm not sure he really topped it. I think he really topped it, but I think he, like, yeah, I don't know how far it went. It went like all the way into the bunker. He only like 129 in or something like that. Really? I mean, I think it was, I think it was trying not to hit to the bottom of the hill

and he's just trying to hit like a little punch driver, but it looked a lot like a top. Enjoyed a lot of, you know, the obligatory current FedEx cup leader Charles Halfinishing out on 18, getting that mentioned in. And I also enjoyed the graphics that showed the results of the four majors and the results from the players. It was like, who's looking at that? If you just had the majors up there, who's looking at that and being like, oh, yeah, but what about the players, man? Like, I get why they're doing it, I get it.

But yeah, that felt like a little bit of a PGA turflex. It did look like they were not doing the little green graphics next to players on the graph, like the little green FedEx projected movement next to the players on their score. Is that a new thing? It's gonna continue now. I'm not sure I noticed that was there.

Oh, it was there like, that was the best. It was like there in January. I was like, oh, this guy's gonna fall to the top 125. Not good. What'd you guys think of the new graphics package? Honestly. Like, it was fun. It doesn't bother me.

Yeah, it's one of those things that my gut reaction to that question is, who cares? Like, I don't want to talk about this. If you had to put a gun to my head, it said, you're on a podcast talking about golf. So weigh in, come in with some hot fire on the graphics package. I'd say it looked really fucking stupid. But I was going to say my- Is that fair? I don't care, but also it's dumb.

Yes, and I think my influence could be drastically swayed one way or another if I found out how much money was spent to develop the new graphic. That's my whole thing with it. Is like somebody got paid to switch this to whatever it is. Is there a search committee for your graphic card? Yeah, exactly. And somebody made a point in the refuge, which I'm hoping is the case, is the new graphics,

it's a very ambiguous graphics package, is this gonna be uniform between Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS? And does this mean we no longer have the coverage gap? It could be. If that's the case, I'm gonna withdraw and comment here. For sure. If that's the case, then all in. Well, that's all of course.

I don't care enough about the graphics. I agree, it looks dumb. But I don't really actually care. I guess that's all of the course. I don't care enough about the graphics. I agree it looks dumb. But I don't really actually care. They looked very generic like which I guess would lend credence to your point. I believe all the comments would look like a video game. Yeah, exactly. It looked like an online service. Like an online service to video game.

Yeah. Which I guess I was like very much looked like it was designed by committee. Yeah. Which could lend some credibility to the fact that both CVS and NBC is going to use it, which we'll see. There's any PR folks that are listening to this and want to share that announcement

that the coverage gap is going away. We would celebrate that very strongly. The coverage gap is going from 15 minutes to 12 and a half minutes. And also include the budget and the time spent to develop. I would be very keen to see that data. I want to explain the... There was a lot of shot tracer, by the way. There was.

A lot of shot tracer from the fairway. Yeah. So that was cool, especially like on 18, it's a perfect place. Yes, shot tracer. Kind of a non-sequitur, but regarding the telecast and Hawaii, it's awesome. And somebody, gosh, somebody should spell out out if anyone from golf channel is listening to this Someone should spell out how this actually works because it's legit fascinating a fascinating feat of logistics How they get all the TV equipment between Maui a Wahoo and wherever the champions event is yeah

Because they have to legit put them on shipping barges and move them around from one week to to the other and It's really cool. They do that usually. Yeah, there's a picture or two or video that goes out that like makes you kind of realize the logistics. Yeah, and that's where exactly. And that's where just, you know, for a little bit of keeping this hashtag fair and balanced. Every time we rip on the telecast, I'm like, I guess you guys do have to put all the shit on a barge and float it between islands to try it. We are praising this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are praising the graphics barge? Yeah, and not load it between eyelids to judge it. We are praising this thing. Try to get this thing set up.

Yeah, yeah, we are praising it. The graphics of dumb. Yeah, that's the way it is, but praise and telecast. I want to explain and open up open discussion on my swag walks. Start the conversation. Yeah, start the conversation. I said the two swaggy.

You have to open a dialogue. Walks in golf are DJ in Woodland and everyone's, oh, Rory, Kata. Well, I said Rory also before you tweeted it, but it's best. Well, I asked you and you're like, no, that's fine. You're good with this. I was like everyone's, oh, Rory! Well, I said Rory also before he tweeted it, but that's, I asked you and you were like, no, that's fine, you're good with this. I was like, yeah, it's Rory, you're like, no, it's not, like, okay, cool.

No, listen, Rory doesn't have a swaggy walk, he's got like a strut, it's not swaggy, like it's too much energy. Well, he's not tall enough for it to be swaggy. Exactly, kind of, he kind of bops, like he kind of bounces down the fairway. Are you with me? Which is why I backed off, I agree with Chris. Yeah, it's like a, he's kind of bops like he kind of bounces down the fairway. Are you with me? Which is why I backed off.

Yeah, that's fine. I agree with Chris. Yeah, it's like a, he's kind of just got his, both of them kind of have their pelvic area. You guys can't see this, but it's very accurate what he's doing. Far out in front, they kind of walk with this like, don't give a fuck attitude, and like that is the difference between the way Rory walks

and those. I think Rory's shoulders are too far forward. Yeah, for it to be swaygy. So a lot of balance. It's, your shoulders gotta be way back. I like it when he's got it going. Dustin and Woodland have their shoulders way back. Yeah, I will say this though, I think VJ might be the Godfather of the swaggy walk.

That's a really good take. That's a good take. I forgot about that. Because he has VJ's very lightweight. Languid. Yeah, yeah. He is, he has an oily gate like very, language. Yeah. Yes. He has an oily gate, like a jungle cat. He does.

The people saying tiger, like, come on. That's not, yeah, I agree. There's nothing crazy about it. It's not, it's all context. It's the cag. But like, come on. All right, that's all I had to explain. I almost got ratioed on that one.

Last thing, and then we'll get to Sergio here. But I want to talk about Jay Monahan's comments this past week on The old golf ball in distance. This is from golf week. He said Here's the way I look at it. Players are getting younger. They're getting more athletic Look at those two things then you look at technology and data and players can optimize their swings They can optimize their clubs and that trend only continues in terms of power of technology and data You look at course conditioning and you look at weather. There's a lot of variables that go into it.

This is in response to like, which is pretty, pretty boilerplate anti-rollback. Yeah, it's, but it's, that's in response to the drives going four yards longer in 18 and 17. Then you say a lot. That's a lot. Then he says, we're going to understand everybody's perspectives as the USGA and RNA move forward with their distance insights project. But it's hard to argue you should be changing anything right now because the sport is growing

and thriving. Oh, that last part is like, that's the reason why I had to say a lot of it. I would say it is, but technically it is hard to argue because nobody is on the same page and everybody has their own like biases and blinders I was kind of yeah he needs to show his cards on that one so semantically it is a very hard argument to have with anybody And also the growing and thriving thing like are we saying that before tiger comes back this year like ratings are look look at ratings for 2015 2016 2017 Obviously this year. It's like a huge spike.

Are we gonna try to pretend like the game is growing and thriving? Well, let's throw it over. I mean, too, we have an in-house grow the game corresponding, big Randy. What do you think about this? I love growing the game. Nothing gets me as passionate as growing the game.

Except maybe shrinking the game. Except shrinking the game. So for the last three years, it's been a somewhat private crusade, but I've been a big proponent shrinking the game. I do not know. I've not been convinced how growing the game, well, there is one way, but what I was going to say is I've not been convinced how growing the game benefits me as an individual. And I will say the one way, maybe it does,

and it's very circuitous, is if you grow the game, it's global, then the chances that you capture like the phenom gets pulled into the web of golf is greater. And so- Just makes it more enjoyable to watch. As a viewer, it makes it more enjoyable to watch. Right. I'll say the only other way is like having more people

of like similarities that you could play golf with is another way it would benefit you. But yeah, but then you run into the whole downstream stuff of like, yeah, well, that's like that for everybody and then everything's just crowded and long and, you know. Well, I think the sweet spot is like the game needs to stay the same size as it. Right? If it's not growing, then it's maybe possibly probably shrinking.

If it shrinks too much, then course is close and then blah, blah, blah. So it's hard to say because we're in a very sweet spot right now because we have a local community that's not too crowded. Right. We have a bunch of other. We can kind of play a lot of golf. It's not too crowded. It's not two crowds, not two expensive, but obviously, you know, if the market shrinks too much,

then that changes. So listen, the shrink the game thing is more tongue, it's obviously much more tongue and cheek. And we're gonna continue to study it. And I know I'm supposed to say obviously it is. And this is where I'm like also saying like, not really, I totally hear you. The whole hashtag, grow the game is put on,

push by people that benefit greatly, financially, by the game, considering big. And that's where I will say, what was the quote? It's hard to argue, you should be changing anything right now because the sport is growing and thriving. I don't know if the sport is growing and thriving or if the PJ tour is growing and thriving or if the USGA is growing and thriving

or if blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but all of those things are so, like they're so subjective, and there's so much context. And it's like how many golf courses were built this year versus how many closed? Like the sport is not fucking growing. It's not getting to wiving when like bunkers are totally out of place now,

because you can't push T-Boxes back far enough, and so many courses that have become obsolete because of how far the golf ball goes, and how uniform the product of the PGA Tour has become, and the golf courses you go to, and how you set it up. So I will say, the other flip side of that is from a strictly PGA Tour perspective, and as the commissioner of the PGA Tour,

with all of the crazy amounts of, you know, again, downstream effects that would go into changing anything. I get where from his subjective position, yeah, it's hard to like think about why this should change right now. There's a, there's a ton and I'm sure people will, will chime in on all the things you just said about golf courses, not being relevant and, you know, players being rendered obsolete and all these different things. But I agree. I was the most complex issue that there is. And so I get him saying that and I also get a fan being like, that's dude, it's like not hard to argue. I can give you 50 reasons why it's not the case. But I get what you're saying. I think what's

really interesting too, and this could be a terrible take. But if you project out, you know, where this, the PGA is headed, right, professional golf, it's because everybody, because of technology, everybody has access to the technology, everybody is becoming more athletic, stronger, right? The margin, the skill of playing golf is shrinking, right? And so I think what professional golf is in danger of is becoming almost like Formula One racing, where the separation is just so fractional, it's on the margins, right?

And I think looking at some other major sports like basketball, when they loosened, when they give offensive players freedom of movement and really started enforcing hand checking and take some of the physicality out of the game, that lets the skill flourish. And I think that's where this is headed is professional golf is just gonna turn into a very vanilla bland

somewhat argue already there. Exactly. And, you know, I think that's where these people just don't have the foresight is, you know, you got to impose some stuff to really let the skill shine. And that's what frustrates me the most, I think. Well said, I think that's pretty much it. We have for everything else we have. We we were out actually at the, so we'll roll into that right after this with our interview from with Sergio Garcia

from the Calaway product launch, which I think that's what I was going to say. The only thing I was going to add is like Neil hit it 325 with the new driver. Right. I'm excited. Like the ball's going really far. It's going really far. And the equipment's going really far.

And it's, as long as it's legal, like we're gonna have fun with this stuff. Exactly. Like for us, it's fun to hit it really far. Listen, like it's, we're not, again, it's because it's legal. And it's like steroids and baseball, right? It just became the three run home run game. Yeah. And now you're seeing a bit more, you know, different styles of, I just feel like we've seen this in other sports.

This, you know, everything is just becoming so, it's just too similar. Anyways, I was gonna say we had a great time at the product launch where the ball is going very, very, very far, but it is so hard to do something like what they did, which is in a very corporate environment, kind of just rolling it out, having a bunch of people out and saying,

you guys can go do whatever you want, create your own content. Like we're not gonna schedule your day out or anything like that, just like go have fun. And it was a blast, it was so much fun. Yeah, it was hard to picture, kind of even like what it was gonna be. Yeah.

I've never been to one of these before. Yeah. It was kind of just like a big playground where you could do whatever you want. You hit drivers or wedges or irons or putters or yeah. Super fun. Ton of great people. They brought together. It's good to, you know, we consume as much or more golf content than anybody else. So cool to meet a lot of people behind a lot of that stuff. That's always fun. And we got some good stuff coming, starting with the interview that you're about to hear. And we got to test the new Epic Flash woods. I've got, I just ordered my Epic Flash sub zero driver featuring the new Flash Face technology. And what really actually impressed me was the 2019 Apex Pro Ions, which as soon as I can get those in the bag, I will be doing

so. And that was I think the first time for all of us ever really getting properly fit for a driver. It was fun to kind of tweak the shafts and the heads and the settings and just watch that ball speed rise and rise and rise. Coincidentally, the gentleman who just won the event, Zander Shoffley, has both of those already in the bag. So Callaway is off to a very quick start in the 2019 season.

So a lot more from our experience there from the product launch and you can also find a ton more info at CallawayGolf.com. You'll see why a lot of people are talking about this driver and all of the ball speed that's been gained from this one. So without any further delay, let's get into our interview with Sergio Garcia. Thanks again to the folks at Callaway for helping set this up and for to Sergio for the time. Cheers. All right, so we're out here at the ECPC with Callaway. You made a big equipment change last year. What's the most important aspect for you when you're making a change? Is it

the balls, is it the irons? What's like your go-to, would you say? Well, I think probably the biggest change is the ball. Yeah, I think it's the most important kind of change that you piece of equipment that you can do. Obviously, the club is important, the driver is important. But the golf is probably the only thing that doesn't change in every shot you hit. So it's the one that has to perform every single time.

And what do you look for in a ball? Do you play a spin in your ball, low spin? Do you look to loft it? No, I'm usually a high spinner kind of swing player. So usually I try to get something a little bit with less spin, but still because I'm 39, I'm almost 39 and I was brought up with two balladas and professionals and stuff like that. I still like to see a little bit of spin so I can work the ball. Nowadays, a lot of the young kids, they just did up high and hit as hard as they can and everything has happened here.

So I still like to try to work the ball a little bit. So it's a mix of a little bit of spin but obviously trying to maximize the launch and spin conditions for maximum distance. We talked a little bit about it when we were doing the video out there on the range, but I want to kind of understand where your swing came from. I think when we all saw your swing in the 90s for the first time, I was a kid. I was trying to imitate it.

I was trying to learn how to get the lag. It ended up with a lot of Hossil Rockets. That's right. But where did you learn that swing and how is it really evolved over the years? Well, I mean, my dad is the one that taught me. But you had to be small to start with when you grew up playing golf, which I was. And it was just a movement that I developed.

Because obviously, I wanted to keep up with the guys I was playing with, that were taller than me and all of them me and it was kind of my way of being able to get a little bit of extra distance, you know, being able to get a little bit of extra speed and, you know, I developed that little lag and kind of worked on it as the years went by. And then just kind of as you got later in your career, did you was it a conscious decision to have less lag in the swing? And just kind of tightened it out. Yeah, definitely.

I remember when it was to, with my dad in 2003, I think it was a rebere. I sat down with my father and and said, we need to tighten things up because I'm getting a little bit bigger, I'm getting a little bit stronger, and I feel like I'm losing control of that lag. It's too big, and I'm kind of losing with my body. So, we start working on it, trying to make sure the path would be a little bit not as, it wouldn't be quite as much movement. And you know, we worked on it as a year, obviously without losing it because it is my signature

move and I don't want to lose that, but kind of tightening it up a little bit. Asking you to go back in the memory bank, I mean, you've had a long successful career, but I wanna know, you've burst on the scene at such a young age, and I wanna know, is there a moment that you could look back at and remember when I'm like, holy crap, like I'm here faster than I thought I would be, or kind of a star-struck moment,

or a moment that felt too big for you, or something kind of in that initial part of your career, where you look back and like, wow, I was young and out over my skin. Yeah, no, when you turn pro, obviously, I was fortunate to have a good amateur career, but once you turn pro, you start from zero, you start from scratch. So, yeah, I mean, I was confident and I believed in my ability and stuff, but you never know. It's a first star.

You're playing against the best players in the world. And I think that to when I won my first tournament in Europe on my fourth start, that obviously was important. It was huge to get me a momentum. My first tournament in the U.S. The bar Nelson that I finished third. That was also very important for me to kind of settle down and kind of show myself. Yeah, I know I know that I can do it, but this is kind of confirm it for me.

And that you know that start obviously gave me a lot of confidence and kind of settled me in and into the tours and and kind of made things a little bit easier. Not easy because it's never easy when you're playing against all these amazing players, but it kind of made it a little bit easier, not easy because it's never easy when you're playing against all these amazing players, but it kind of made a tiny bit easier. Was it intimidating to come to the States before, I talked to John Rom, some about this too, he said he was oblivious as to how he thought his English was good enough when he moved here and then he got here and he's like, oh, I don't understand at all. Was it intimidating all when you made that transition to go to a place where it's not your first language? I mean, you speak it wonderfully, of course, but was at that time was it intimidating all when you made that transition to go to a place where it's not your first language? I mean you speak it wonderfully of course, but was at that time was it different?

Yes, it was for sure. Thank you, by the way, but The good thing for me is when I started coming here I was I think I was 13 years old So I knew that my my English needed to improve and and I was getting lessons in Spain I not only you get it in school, which is mandatory, but I was getting lessons in Spain, not only you get it in school which is mandatory but I was doing like lessons outside of school to make sure I knew that if I ended up playing golf which is what what I love doing that I was gonna need to speak English you know early easily so then I realized yeah but the good thing for me is I'm

I'm never been a shy kind of guy, so I wasn't afraid of making mistakes and and then people will, you know, will tell me, oh, you know, this that way and then you kind of learn from it. But I do have some some funny stories about, yeah, and I remember... Were you some of your favorites? Yeah, I remember one playing a... I think I was playing a breeze-dew in England. And I played in the morning, and it was with the Spanish team. And I think it was like six or seven of us. So I played in the morning, so I finished,

and typically, like the courses in the UK, you know, the clubhouse, like the bar, it's the restaurant, it's overlooking the 18th hole. So I remember I sat down, I finished my run, I was like, okay, you know, I'm just gonna have a little sandwich or something, eat something, and I'm gonna watch my partners kind of

come in as they finish. So I went in there, I think I was like 13 or 14, and I went into the bar and I sat down and I read the way it took comes, and it's like, what would you like to eat? And I'm like, okay, can I have a lemonade to drink and kind of have a jam and cheese sandwich. Obviously, I wanted to go to a ham and cheese sandwich. But, you know, I saw you all and I didn't speak English perfectly. And I was like, can I have a jam and cheese sandwich? And the guy looked at me and said, it's like,

jam and cheese. And I was like, look at me, yeah, jam and cheese. He's like, Jaman cheese. And I was like, look, yeah, Jaman cheese. It's like, are you sure? I'm like, yeah, yeah, Jaman cheese. So he leaves and I say, okay, okay. So he leaves and I'm thinking, I mean, what's so weird about ordering a hamen cheese sandwich?

I mean, what's wrong with this guy? I mean, he's never, I mean, we have hamen cheese sandwich in Spain all the time. So, I don't think much of it and I'm sitting there and I'm looking at the guys coming in and finishing their rounds and stuff and the guy just puts my drink there and puts the sandwich and obviously it's a jam cheese sandwich. It was like, I don't know if it was strawberry but I think it was berries. It was like blackberry and cheese.

I looked at it and I looked at him and I said, what is this? And he's like, jam and cheese sandwich with what you order. And I just thought for a minute and I looked at him and I was, oh my god, sorry. I mean, jam and cheese. He's like, okay. I'm like sorry. No, I mean, ham and cheese is like, okay.

I thought that game. But yeah, it was a weird looking sandwich. A lot has changed for you, but both personally and professionally the last two years of going from Wayne Masters. I don't remember exactly when you got married and you had a kid. How do you begin to kind of sum up what this the last couple years have been like? Yeah, I won the Masters then obviously got married that same year in 2017 in June and then

we had as earlier the next next March. So yeah, no, it's been it's been fun. It's been great. Obviously, having a kid, it's been the biggest change. You know, when in Masters was amazing, it was an unbelievable experience and something that obviously I was looking forward my whole career, my whole life and dreamt of it for so many years. But then obviously getting married to Angela and having our first child was something amazing. And, you know, we've enjoyed it. Obviously, we've been a lot of changes and you have to get used to them,

which is not easy, but, you know, we have. And now we're really, really enjoying it. You know, it's almost 10 months old and it's, it's getting a lot of fun. And you get to do a lot more things with her and stuff. So it's, you've been a dad. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun and you get to do a lot more things with her and stuff. So it's, you've like being a dad, so I think, yeah. I think that's good. I mean, what is, what changed from you

from a career standpoint after winning the Masters? Did you feel like anything really changed for you as far as how you viewed your career? Did it was that a big monkey off your back? I mean, I'll be lying to you if I didn't say it was a little bit of a monkey off my back for sure, but it wasn't that a massive deal. It was more than anything. For me, it was more like feeling proud of myself than proving anything to anyone.

So that's the way I looked at it. And I was just proud of being able to do it. And after having so many close calls and more than just kind of showing and saying, ah, there you go guys. You see, the old love view that you said I couldn't do it. There it is. No, it wasn't that. So, but it was, it was very special the way, the way it happened, obviously against who,

who it happened against Justin and the, the Wigitz friends and, you know, the reception I got on 18 and everything. It was, it was just something, something very, very nice. Is there any way to prepare for what the, the pressure of a playoff at the masters is like? Did it feel really different than anything else? It's I don't know to to be totally honest. It just depends on the moment. Like that moment, I felt comfortable. I felt calm. I felt very at ease. So I've had play-offs that had been much stuff and they weren't for a major. So it's just the moment is how you feel that right at that time

and how you kind of take that moment. But fortunately for me, I felt really, really comfortable and really good and that's why I played the way I played. Looking back at it now, I think it was in 2012, I forget the year exactly, though, maybe it was a little later. You had a comment rather infamous quote where you said you didn't think you could win a major in that you were playing for second. Do you regret saying that or what was kind of the reason behind saying that? No, no, no, I don't. No, I mean, I've always said it. I'm very honest and very truthful. And that's the way I felt right at that moment

after that round. I remember it was a Saturday. I think I played with Rory. We were both close to the lead. And neither of us had a good day. And at that moment, I felt like that. It didn't mean that when I left that week my mind changed and I thought you know I of course I can't do it because I kept putting myself in situations to do it. So you know but you know I was

just one of those moments where I was a little frustrated and I just said what I felt. And you know, that's the way it is. Did you see, I kind of want to hear from you, what your relationship with, relationship with American fans has been like over the course of the years. From my perspective, there's been some kind of rocky times, I think you would say, and then it feels like on the closer to the back half of your career, it felt like the crowds have really rallied around you. Is that is that how you would view it? I wouldn't say that. No, I don't think.

I don't think there's been Rocky times. I think that it's a mix of obviously I'm European and I play Ryder Cups and I've done one in the Ryder Cups. So some of the American fans fans are not gonna like that the the true my true fans americans are not americans it they don't care about that you know they they just they just love to follow me no matter what and obviously yeah it doesn't mean that

when the good one will get to a ratican they're gonna they're gonna cheer for europe you know they're happy if i do well and they're even happier if the US team wins. But it's that little percentage that we all have, not only myself, but and they like to be heard, they like to be funny and you know maybe they're out there with the friends and they're just trying to make funny comments to feel important in front of the friends as I'm like that.. But unfortunately, that happens in every sport and it happens to every single player. I don't think there's a player that doesn't get a little bit of a heckled here and

there it doesn't matter who you are or what your name is. It's getting worse now with cell phones. Now people can record themselves yelling something at a player and get a reaction from people around them. That's what it is. It's the way that the world is evolving and spores are evolving. It's nothing you can really do about it. I was curious after what was a bit of an uncharacteristic season for you, what the process

was like leading up to your captain selection, how close in contact you were with Thomas Bjorn, whether or not there was a specific vision for who you were going to be playing with, and whether or not that course was a great fit for you. What was that like this past year? Did you feel pressure to make the team on your own? No, I started the year great. Obviously the last 17 was great and and the first

three Yeah, the first three months of of 18 were great. You know played play great in in Singapore one there had nothing two or three Top six seven finish in here in the US So I was doing I was doing well and then unfortunately obviously we we hit a little bit of a bomb there where where things just didn't happen a lot of you know a lot of miscats by one shot and and things like that so I couldn't really get much much momentum going. So as the as the

season went on those those three three and a half months that there were a little bit rougher. That was right. Oh, it was right after you had a zailier, right? Well, yeah, it was a little bit after. But yeah, it wasn't her fault, though. No, I'm not playing with her. It's like being a father of a baby change. No, it does change. It does change things a lot. And you have to get used to them.

You routine. And yeah yeah and that obviously took me took me a little bit of time and but it was good to go through it I think it made me even stronger after that and so as as as that happened yeah the the worth thoughts of you know I thought I was gonna make it by myself and then though I was kind of like just out and and then there were thoughts where oh you know I maybe there you know, Thomas won't even pick me because even though I felt like I wasn't playing badly but you know, things were happening where you know, I was missing a cup by one here and

there and there and I couldn't get any momentum going. So unfortunately, you know, I played a little bit better in a couple tournaments in Europe, just before the summer in Germany and at the French Open, where we were going to play the right cup. So that was, I think that was important, probably for Thomas, to see that, even though without being on my best, I still almost won that the French open, I had a chance to win it. So, and I like the course. And then, and then, you know, I, I, I played quite nicely in, in Greensboro, even though I didn't have the, the, the greatest finish on Sunday. And I felt like, you know know my game was starting to to get

better and change and mentally and everything and then obviously picked me and I played great in Portugal and obviously played very nice at the right cup and then the end of the year was really really solid really good. It seemed like your guys team had a little chip on your shoulder a little bit this year with the maybe the cockiness or arrogance a bit of the American team or fans. Does that seem to be a presence in the locker room? No, well, there's always, I mean, we don't need, I don't know, obviously, I'm not American, I'm not in there in the team room, but as the European, we don't need extra motivation

for a variety of things. We love it. But it did feel like some people were already given the trophy to the US team because, yeah, they don't get me wrong, they had a great team. But, the RIDICA is different. And once you get there, things happen. And obviously, the course was an ideal for them, which was great for us because we were more comfortable in that kind of course, it's a course that we've all played and we felt very familiar with it. So you know, there were several things that were in our favor coming into it and obviously they showed us as a week went on.

Great. Well, let you get out of here on the very last question. It's one of our favorite questions we'd love to ask. It was the last time you paid for golf. I don't... well... Yeah, I think I remember it's not like that far away, but I remember we went on a trip with some friends to Ireland and we obviously had to pay for accommodation and you know the plane for all of us and stuff but I would say it was probably at least seven or eight years ago. That makes it. Alright thanks for time Sergio Besselac is coming here and we'll hope to catch up with you again soon.

Thank you guys. It's the right club. Be the right club today. Yes. That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different.

Expect anything different.