No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 192: Hank Lebioda

Episode Date: February 6, 2019

Hank Lebioda joins the podcast to bask in the glory of his Wolf Hammer win on Wild World of Golf, talk about his amazing battle with Crohn’s disease, his path through the Canadian and Latino... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 192: Hank Lebioda appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Wolf Hammer win on knowing us wild world of golf. Obviously, that's the easiest question I'll get all day. I feel like, what was, I mean, what was the reaction like to that? Did anybody say anything to you? Anybody watch it?

Did you get any comments from anyone? Yeah, of course. I got messages all over the board. I will say my followers went up by about, I don't know, like 25% for what I had on both my social media accounts. So I got tons of people reaching out. My wife Mary met a few people in the cloud at Torrey Pines. Really?

Yeah, they'd come out and say, yeah, we had watched Hank on a, well, no laying ups wild world of golf. Are you here watching him, too? Yeah, actually I am. Kind of, yeah. I married him because he was on the wild world of golf. He was so funny on there. How well could you read back the rules of Wolfhammer

if you had to right now? Not very well. I couldn't be able to talk to trash. I wouldn't be able to go over all the different points and whatnot, but I guess the main theory behind Wolfhammer, I could get around to people. Do you think this is a betting game you would take to you and your buddies?

For like Torprow, this would be extremely fun to play. I would think because all the dots are like rewarding really good playing. Yes, I would. It's good if you, like you said, for a multiple Torpro is playing in the same group. It'd be awesome. If you have a Torpro in three amateurs in the same group, we kind of dragged you down a little bit. We got roasted pretty good in the comments for that deservedly so.

But it was like it's a little nerve-racking to be like actually competing. I mean, we get to play with President Decent amount, but getting in the betting game, it's getting filmed, was like, oh man, everyone's going to see this shank. My grips were wet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rady roast to be pretty well. Yeah. So, well, we got a lot to cover with you. I think a lot of people, myself included, don't really know a lot about your story. I kind of got a bit of the background when we played, but said we needed to sit down and do a podcast and kind of go through it all.

Now you've spent a couple of weeks on the PGA tour. I thought it'd be kind of a good perspective for all that you've been through in golf and kind of riding the smaller tours into the web tour and into the PGA tour. I got a lot to cover. So, going back to the beginning, kind of what's your background and golf? Like usually I like to do some research on guys. Your Wikipedia page isn't too thick yet. So I don't have a ton of info.

I'm telling you to do this. I'll get my agent on that. Okay. I'm gonna kind of pump it up a little bit. Just volume of words is all we're looking for in there. So how I set, got started and golf. If we start some controversy on this podcast, that might beef that up a little bit.

So just keep that in mind. Yeah. OK, awesome. How I got started and golf, actually, when I was growing up, my mom was to say, at home, mom, that would be at work. When he would come home to get me out of her hair, he would bribe me with ice cream to go to the local driving range.

And this was, I mean, back then it was awesome in my eyes. Oh, this is the best, it's so much fun, mainly because I got ice cream on the way home. And so that's how he got me into playing golf, or at least got me around the game and whatnot. What really got me going was, I had my best friend still today, lived on a golf course.

And he and his older sister and his dad would play golf all the time. They had a cart, and so during summers summers we would go spend 10 hours a day at the golf course between hitting balls, chipping, putting, walking 18 holes, playing Tiger Woods 2004 on the game due back at his house, having pizza at his house for lunch, and coming back out to the golf course, doing swim practice, and you name it, we are spending time there,

and that's what got me hooked. Well, that, okay, that is the same for me. So why am I lugging all this microphone equipment around here? It sounds exactly like my childhood. We would play 10 hours a day, and God, I can't even break 70 in a row. So, what was your junior career like?

When did you, I love asking people this question, and it's kind of hard to brag on yourself in that way, but when did you know that your talent was different and that this was something that you really wanted to pursue? Well, I was a big Florida State fan growing up. So my mom went to high school in Tallahassee, she grew up in Tallahassee. My grandparents still lived there when I was growing up.

So I would go like the last Florida State Notedame football game before 2014. I went to that game in Tallahassee and I spent all my holidays up there. So Thanksgiving, one Thanksgiving, my uncle was there with us. He took me to the base while stayed and lifted me up over the edge of the fence, the kind of the side fence and I acted like I hit a home run and ran around the bases and whatnot. So when I was in, I guess it would have been a freshman in high school, coach Jones, coach trade Jones at Florida State saw me play at Dothin Country Club at the future masters. I ended up winning the event, about carrying this obnoxious Florida State Golf bag.

Like I used one one on my home, and it's not even as obnoxious as what like the team uses. Are you like going down the fairway, doing the same little chile? In my eyes, I probably was. But coach was walking, obviously in full gear, full Florida State gear. And my parents go up to him like,

hey, like, like you have to have something to do with the program, like, who are you? And he's like, oh, I'm the head golf coach. I'm here. One of our, one of our campers, actually Tom Lively, was playing in my group. He had shot 65 the first round. And he's like, Tom was just at our golf camp. And so I just wanted to come up and see him play. I'd just been a week with him working on the swing and whatnot. And saw that he'd play well. Doathens only two hours away from Tellhassy. So he's like, yeah, I'll pop up. And it just happened to be I was playing with Tom.

I was caring. It's very loud. I knocked his floor to stake all back. Um, then my parents said, they don't know the spots that, hey, if you offer a, like a 30% scholarship right now, you'll take it. And he's like, ah, yeah, good. Yeah, that's pretty funny. Followable.

And he probably should have taken that off. Behind site. Um, sorry. Yeah, that's pretty funny. Followable. And he probably should have taken that off behind site. Sorry, what age was this? I would have been, I think it would have been like, entering my freshman year of high school. Okay, so about 13 or 14. And is that typical for the recruiting process to started at that point?

I guess at least coaches that are making contact. It's not. It is early, but I kind of ex-ordinated the process because of all, I mean, how much I love the university in the town. And so then, so your parents offer. They offer Florida State a 30% scholarship. Exactly.

And then as your junior and high school career kind of takes off, the recruiting process flips and you are a very highly recruited high school players, that right? Yes, I would, I, if you want to say that. Yes, I didn't really open it up. You wouldn't say it, so I had to say that. Yes, I didn't really open it up. I didn't really open it up. So I had to say I love it. I didn't open it up to many schools. Okay.

Because I knew where I wanted to go. I committed to Florida State. What schools were, did you open it up to? I visited University of Virginia and South Carolina. Okay. Loved them both. I honestly had a great time. Kind of the token visits of like,

all right, I gotta go see somewhere else. I needed to do so. Yeah, okay. But I was playing, I had played baseball all that time. So I'd played on our varsity team, my freshman year of high school, and at that point in time, like, so played varsity that year. So it would have been right after I met, or almost a year after I had met Coach Jones, about eight months and nine months or so. I'd go up, play the junior AM.

That next summer Coach Jones is there. Seize me, watch as me play, says, hey, man, whenever we have a spot for you, we're gonna keep a spot for you. You're our man, let's do this whenever you're ready. And so 14 years old, or 15 years old, like, oh my word, this is awesome. I can't believe this is happening.

But I had to make the decision, whether I wanted to actually pursue this, go on, try to play college golf, which I didn't really know much about. A new is, you know, going to play golf at Florestator, being at Florestate was a huge goal of mine. But at 15 years old, when the opportunity just resents itself to you, it's... a huge goal of mine, but at 15 years old, when the opportunity just resents itself to you, it's, you know, world perspective at all, yeah. No, not even a little bit. No, not at all. And I needed to make a decision whether I wanted

to keep playing baseball or not, once I committed. So, talked to the parents, dad actually told me it was a bad idea to quit playing baseball. He said I was better at baseball than I was a golf. But I said, no, this is what I want to do. I have this opportunity to go to Florestate, which was like I said, where I wanted to be. And I wanted to be a coach. Jones is a man who I trusted, man who I thought was going to make me better. And I took that leap of faith at 15 years.

All right, guys, a quick break to let you know. We are giving away a Callaway Epic Flash Driver. All you gotta do is go on to iTunes, leave a five star review and leave a funny ratings. Funny story, do something in there that makes us laugh. You can do a poem, a song, anything. And we will, to the person that gives the best or funniest review, we will give away a Callaway Epic Flash Driver. Again, that's all you got to do.

And if you've done one of the previous contests, go on to your friends' accounts or whatever. Do whatever you got to do. Leave us a five-star review. Go to CallawayGolf.com to hear more about Flash Face and how they are changing the game with drivers. Now back to our podcast with Hank Lebiota. So when did you discover that you had, or when did you find out that you had Crohn's disease? It would have been,

like, New Year's of 2012, 2013. And how old were you then? How'd it been 18? Okay, so this is before you got to college? No, this was in your freshman year. Yeah, middle of my freshman year of college. For those that don't know what Crohn's disease is, how would you describe to somebody because after reading your story?

I had a date a girl in college that had Crohn's disease and looking back. I was the worst boyfriend ever sympathetic enough at all to what she was going through I think you had it much worse than she did. I'll give myself that but after reading about I'm like, oh Shit, that's what Crohn's disease is. Yeah, just keep pumping your ego there, so I can hear your bell. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, so Crohn's disease, like the easiest way to describe it, is an inflammatory disease in your bowel syndrome, like in your gut, basically. I'm infected in my terminal ilium,

which is basically the connection between your small and large intestine. And what does your dad do? He was, he has a retired gastroenterologist. What's like, is there not incredible irony in that? Yes. No, it was, I mean, if you want to get, I can do a very erotic story is he, so he's very

accomplished doctor. He's, honestly, he's a stud. He's really, really good. He's really smart. He's very respected in his, in his industry or in his, in I mean, he worked here in Orlando for about 30 years, but he had only treated patients in like any other hospital bed or in a consultation office or whatever it may be. He's never actually seen current disease play out in everyday life. So when I had been first diagnosed

and I had dropped ultimately about 30, 35 pounds as an 18-year-old, what was caught? I mean, so going up, growing up, it just didn't have the same effect as it did, I guess, starting freshman year of college or did things get worse for you around that time? Or would you be dealing with this for? There are three main causes for cramps. So you have stress as a big component if you're predisposed to it.

So there's some gene in my body that says, hey, you are either gonna have Crohn's, you will get Crohn's, or you are likely to get Crohn's. And then getting sick. So my, what have been my senior year of high school during prom and as some of the listeners may know, like the Sage Valley junior emtational, the tournament for all junior golfers, I had Salmonella.

Oh, yeah, you get that. Eating raw chicken here in Orlando at a local chicken tenders restaurant. But I'm guessing you don't go to anyone now. But that teaches you to not get grilled chicken at a chicken tenders restaurant. There you go. Yes, exactly. But so I had someone out there and senior prom and sage value, which is in my mind, like the worst thing they could ever happen. And they sage value didn't unbelievable job of providing for me and making sure that they

built a fake toilet for me. And they had two doctors or not doctors, but what would you call them? There's this medical staff or two people on medical staff following me around just to make sure if I had an episode or if I had I passed out then they'd have someone there for me. But from that it was kind of a eight eight month process. So you get diagnosed with salmonella. Once you go through kind of that gastrointestinal just nightmare that is salmonella. A lot of times you get IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. So irritable bowel syndrome is just kind of a repercussion of it.

It's not going to last forever, but it's just going to be kind of your body working back to normal or what it feels as normal. IBS for about two months in roll in school, I'd gained about 10 pounds back that had lost 10 of the 20 pounds that had lost through beer or through. Now this is before I got the school. Gotcha. So this is summer leading up to my freshman year.

Get the school. But just to be clear, go on up to your child, you had no symptoms of this at all, nothing, no indications. No, I was healthy. Get to Florida State, start on a pretty significant workout program, and I'm doing great.

I'm doing awesome. I had played in three of the four events, my fall, my freshman year, which I was super pumped about, everything was going good, our last events in Cabo, at the Cabo Collegiate, which is easily one of the best college events. I played in my four years at four state,

get there, I brushed my teeth with the water in the hotel the last day. No, no. Montezuma's Revenge. So Montezuma's Revenge, the week after that. Not great, it's fine. I'm fine at that point in a big scheme of things.

Get the flu going into finals. Geez. Have finals, have the flu, and at that point, it's a snap. That's when everything went bad. So are you going to the hospital for this? Is it like, when everything goes bad, is it just like, I can't get out of bed, I can't even, at that point, no.

At that point, I was still fine. I actually went and played the South Beach Am during, I guess it would have been right after finals. Finish second, lost 20 pounds through the event, even though we were riding in carts the whole time. Lost 20 pounds during the event. Yeah, it was finished second. I finished second.

Remember when I was complaining about my wet grips during the whole week of golf? That's what reads of this. I'm like, wait a second. Like all the little things that bother me and golf, if like one, 10% of what had happened to you, what have happened to me and like, oh, I'm withdrawing.

I got, I'm out for sure. So you lost 20 pounds and then what's the next step? I've got, next step. So I get home, ghost white, dad's looking to me like man, you look awesome. Yeah, you look terrible. And he's like, you're like, let's just lay down, let's see what's going on.

Basically, I'm on bed rest or Christmas. I don't do much, I'm not practicing or anything like that. I have to withdraw from another, I think it was a Patriot all-American amateur, which is right after Christmas, which I hated withdrawing. I think it's still the only...-American Amateur, which is right after Christmas, which I hated withdrawing. I think it's still the only... That's clear at this point that you have.

You got a medical staff following around, say, Valley, and you're finishing second losing 20 pounds, you're not going to withdraw from that. I still think that's the first tournament I've actually, an only tournament I've withdrawn from. Wow. And have to withdraw, he's like, all right, you're not going out to Arizona,

we're gonna get colonoscopy done, We're going to see what's actually happening. So 18 years old, getting your first or second colonoscopy. It's not not the best. Not the best like record you have right there. Go through the process. So as some of the listeners may know, when you have a colonoscopy, you have to take prep to kind of get your whole system flush out and ready to roll for the scope the next morning and the prep didn't work. The laxatives didn't work. Really? I had a complete obstruction in my gut.

So I'm rolling around at 4 a.m. on the ground, just screaming. I have a complete obstruction in my gut, nothing can get through. Go to the emergency room next day. So it would have been like two, almost 30 hours after I had taken the, like the prep that it actually worked through. And I was able to have my colonoscopy. Came back mildly severe Crohn's. And I spent, would have been right after Christmas, 2012 through New Year's 2013 in the hospital. Cheese.

And like, did you even know the word Crohn's to that point? I knew it, but I had no idea what I was getting myself in. Okay. So you spent all that time in the hospital and then you seem open to talk about it. Was this a bit embarrassing at the time? Is it like kind of, at the, you know, what a younger age is, was that different to go through

than it is to kind of accept it now? I Will say that's just to lead off. I am perfectly comfortable talking. Yeah, I think it's a well With all invisible disease not just current disease or collineus even People are shot to talk about it. It's kind of if you look at me now You would have no idea that I have chronic disease. It's a, you know, it's a NASA disease that takes tons of lives and ruins people's lives. But at the same time, I have a platform. I have a platform to speak about it. I have a platform to show that, hey, I am perfectly, not perfectly fine, but

I am comfortable sharing my story. I love talking about it. I love getting people awareness up about chronic disease and it's something I'm proud of. So what after you spend all that time in the hospital, what changes in for you is it like, everything? Let's start. What do we start with? Well, you said, I only knew Crohn's by name. I didn't know idea what it was. I had support groups come in and speak to me and say, hey, like, talking to me, I was on my deathbed. I'm like, me and guys, like, I'm not, like, I don't feel well, but like, this is these

isn't gonna do anything to me. Like, I'm still gonna be the same, I'm still gonna work hard, I'm still gonna beat me. And lying in my hotel, or not my hotel, excuse me, my hospital bed, my hospital bed. You know, I'm looking at this and said, this is an opportunity. This is an opportunity for me to go show people that, hey, you can live outside, live outside

the boundaries that current creates. And I decided that moment that I was going to be part of the solution instead of the problem. And I was going to be part of my solution. And I'm going to use this opportunity to go show people how great your life can be despite having current disease. But you're saying what changed? Everything changed. Diet sleep. How do you diet change? I mean, I went from typical freshman in college, a little better than typical freshman in college kid, to chicken and rice for two thirds of my meals, plain eggs with dry toast, water and pd light only as drinks, no coffee, definitely no lactose, no milk, no, I can have a little bit of turkey and cheese sandwich would be fine, salmon, but that was it,

I was on the like super old man's diet.'s what, I got this from Ryan Lavner's article about you, he says no milk, no fried foods, no salad, no acidic foods, no caffeine, and you couldn't sleep on your stomach anymore. Correct, that was about three months of sleeping on my back. And is that what of those is still relevant today? All of those, I'm guessing the sleep maybe has been.

No, I could sleep wherever I want. My wife will tell you that I'll roll all over the bed Just fine No, I still stay away from fried foods. Okay as much as I can no fried foods, so but you can drink caffeine now Okay, okay. Yeah, as you took a big sip of coffee So that makes sense now so so what what from that okay? So what from those changes still exist today? I mean is it alcohol bother you? Is it any, how is the disease handled today? I'm extremely fortunate.

Honestly, I'm very healthy as you can tell. I got quite a bit of weight on me now compared to where I was my freshman year when I was diagnosed. But no, it's just, it's an everyday management type of situation. So it's a, I look at tournaments when I go to, go to events, I'm a little bit more strategic about where I eat or how much I eat when I eat, when I have my coffee in the morning, what's going on on the golf course, where are the certain bathrooms that

you could find on the golf course. I know it sounds so wild to think about, but. Well, let's go say the gator invotational might be one of us to ask about that because that's also from Lavner's article. But there's one line in there that says, let me be able to stop that every restroom during his round finished 12th that week. Yes. And how many restrooms were on the course?

Man, that place is a dump. Can't remember how many bathrooms, if I had to guess, there's, oh, I do know. There's one right in the middle of the golf course because that's how it's routed. And you can get to it on It would have been both sides, but you hit it probably two maybe three times out on the golf course That's not as much as maybe it makes it sound

I mean you're thinking about the whole time are you like I'm sick and you just don't hey you got to hit a driver You got to hit a bunker shot or something like that and you're kind of getting getting to your stage, like, man, my stomach's kind of like, turning a little bit. Oh, God. It makes it sound your mind. Yeah, I mean, how much did it affect your play? I mean, is it not much, obviously? Yes.

So you ended up being the ACC freshman of the year that you're despite all this going on. So, well, I mean, that just, I know you told us some of that story, but I just, I, reading that was just kind of stunning to see like, it tells us about like the procedures you had to do on your stomach or still have to do on your stomach. Yeah. So, I was fortunate enough to never have to go into surgery, which was huge.

It was massive. The operation have either, like, to deal with cranes if you're going to go in and have surgery is, it's nasty. I mean, they cut open your stomach. have either like to deal with Crohn's if you're going to go in and have surgery is it's nasty. And they cut open your stomach, they cut out the infected area in about five centimeters on either side and they just sew it together. So it doesn't really treat any issue. It just takes the problem out.

And then you're left with a gut that's sewn together by stitches, a stomach like a skin that's sewn together by stitches, all your muscles in there screwed up from it and you're out for three months if that's the case before you can really do much. But I've been on a regular dose of Humero, which is essentially just a shot, imagine like a massive, big highlighter, is how I describe it to people. You don't see the needle ever and I'd give myself a shot every other Thursday. Just pinch some fat into some, stab myself,

click the pin, hold it for 10 seconds, and that's how I get my medicine. It kind of looks like a pretty happy pin or something. Like that, okay. So that's every other Thursday, isn't it? Okay, all right. Well, that's still pretty, like do you ever forget to do it?

Or is it like, okay, I do pretty like do you ever forget to do it or it's like okay. I do what happens if you forget to do it I've been kind of like guilty conscience kind of situation. I Take it the next day or a certain possible. That's not too bad. All right. Well, I'm sure I I appreciate you talking about that I know as you've probably talked about it a lot, but I just hearing that story was just like it's it's stunning to kind of see what you've overcome But all right, so after floor to, I kind of want to talk just through your professional career to date. So you, I always, I like asking guys this, how do you decide what you're gonna do

right after college? Because you ended up playing PGA Tour Canada. What do you guys think about when thinking about Canada like Tino America? Is it more kind of the climate you're looking for? Is it, you know, you go to both Q schools and figure it out? Like what was your thought process out of college?

The, I did not know much about the Latin America tour when I was in school. But what I did know is the Canadian tour season picked up. Actually, it started. It would have been the week of the national championship that we had my senior year at a new gene organ. So for me, that was the easiest route. I wasn't going to get any web exemptions.

I would definitely was not going to get any PGA tour starts coming out of college. So I needed to play supply. And I figured, look, this is spot where if you play well, you can earn your way, earn yourself like web starts or even web status. I didn't quite understand what it meant at the time, but I knew the ultimate goal was to get to the web, to get to the PGA tour. That was gonna have to be my route. I wasn't gonna be able to,

like I said, get exemptions, earn enough money through exemptions and whatnot. And how many people get, for the listeners, how many people get routed to the web tour from the Canadian tour? Five. And how many people play the Canadian tour? A lot.

A lot of people play the Canadian tour. So you going out there to start, is it overwhelming how many people play the Canadian tour. A lot. A lot of people play the Canadian tour. So, going out there to start, is it overwhelming? How many people are out there and how small the needle is to try to get through? Yeah, at first, yes. And you have no idea what to expect. I had never played in like a professional event before the, shoot, the victory, it's not the Vic open,

but the BC Championship. Like in a name is out in Victoria, British Columbia. But I went straight there from Eugene, so I had no idea what to expect. Not at all. If you'd a guest where, I mean, are you in your mind? Are you the 200th best player in the world? The 2000th best player in the world?

Is it all very overwhelming for kind of what you got in yourself into? Yes. Very overwhelming. And it's just more one of those like, okay, do I have to go register? Am I actually a professional this week? Am I sure I want to, you know, sign and say yes, I am a professional. You know, go down this path for the next three years minimum.

What's the Canadian tour like for those that have never experienced it myself included? I mean, do you drive from course to course? Do you bump up with people? I mean, are you making more money than you're spending or how's that work? The Canadian tour is awesome. It is so much fun. And I'll say this about the Latin America tour as well. But the Canadian tour is a blast.

And Canada for us is, it felt like you're in the 51st state. And that's what one of the rules officials had described it to me as. And the hospitality that we get up there is unreal. A majority of the time, you'll stay with billets or host house. And you'll get a rental car in that situation or if you do a hotel, say the host hotel, they'll have transportation provided.

You're always bunking up with somebody. No one's making enough money out there to kind of ride solo. But do you have sponsors at this point to kind of help you with any costs or are you just slumming it from city to city or how's it work? A lot of guys are slumming it. Okay. A lot of guys are kind of, you know, eating what they kill, type of situation. I was fortunate enough to sign on with Titles right after I graduated from college. So they were my main sponsor and still are my main sponsor today. And that's

what helped me get started. Honestly. And you have a caddy that goes with you or you love caddies. Local everybody's. I think the fee was like $35 a day Canadian. Everyone topping on that. And even if the Canadian tour, I don't think it was mandatory to take a caddy the first two rounds. So guys would carry their own bag. First two round push card mafia guys. No, push cards were not allowed. They're not allowed. Not allowed.

Roundup on. Very fun. So, okay, so you, how did your 2016 season go on the Canadian tour did you play well? Did you, you can look at results and see it, but did you feel like you played well and you felt like I belong out here? I thought I did. I thought I played well.

And then we got done with the year and I got through to first stage of web.com QSchool was like, oh, I guess I didn't play that. What did you finish in the Canadian? It would have been 30, 30, 30, 30, but you can still get through the web through the qualifying. And then what's QSchool and what happened? You said, we made it through first stage and then bombed out at second stage. And so you have this, had this gap from,

would have been beginning in November till May until my season started back up. The reason I want to kind of go step by step on this is it's so, a lot of people that listen to this podcast and to tune into golf on the weekend, watch PGA Tour guys, and the guys getting there gets a bit lost as far as how good the cream of the cream of the crop are. I mean, I was playing a golf a couple weeks ago

with a guy who had played Canadian tour like two years ago, but took the last year off and wasn't sure if he wants to do it again, because he's just like, dude, like it's so competitive on the Canadian tour. We're talking about Canadian and then web and then PGA tour. So you're back kind of at the same place, I guess, after 2016. So you go Latino America and Canadian tour in 17.

How did that process start? Well, my agent, I sat down and said, hey, look, either we're going to travel around play Monday qualifiers to web.com events or PJ tour events, which I have no status on to begin with. So there's no room for advancement at that point. I'm just kind of playing one day, shootouts to try to get into a tournament. Or do I go the route of Latin America and play the PJ tour Latino America? And we decided that, yeah, this is another opportunity to go get to the web.com.

And that's something I should pursue. And so I went down January to Bogota, I got a conditional status, not very good status at all. I actually didn't get into the first event. I went down to the Monday qualifier for that Monday qualifier for PGA toilets in America. Yes. In 2017 in 2017. Okay. You're making starts on the PGA tour in 2018. Yeah. So, yeah, continue. I didn't get through. Shot a couple under, didn't get through and flew back home.

It's like, man, what am I gonna do? What is this, this how it's gonna be? This how it's gonna be for the rest of the spring until summer comes around? Because I watch guys go Monday, try to Monday qualify for PGA tour events. I'm like, man, that seems like a heavy lift to fly all the way to Arizona, try to Monday. And you're flying to South America to try to Monday in the PGA Tour Latino America. Yes. Okay.

So I was fortunate enough, like I said, didn't get into the first event in Bovita, but I got into Argentina, which was the second event. It was two or three weeks later, got in the Friday night before the event. It was told Claudio, Revis called me and said, hey, you're in. You want to get down here? Yeah, I want to get down there, but how do I get the Argentina?

Where, how long is this flight going to be? So we start looking in the flights and I'm like, oh, my word, this is going to be so expensive. How much? It was too grand. Okay. The flight to get down. Honestly, not as bad as I would have expected.

No, for a last minute flight like that. Yeah. Yeah, pretty good. So, pack up everything, short notice. Just head on down there. I don't, and this is one where I said, you know, you don't like no one's making enough to bunk up with people.

I was bunking by myself this week. Yeah. It was not fun. It was tough. It was a, it was a big hit. It wasn't, um, flying down the Argentina of paying for that flight and then paying for the hotel room by myself.

The Latentore works a little different than the Canadian tour, whereas like Canadian tour you have billets and you have host hotels with transportation provided. Everything's on your own on Latin America. Okay. So you can do Airbnb. You can find a price line hotel or hotels.com, whatever it may be, but you're on your own. And so it ends up morphing into a bunch of guys staying in the same area, renting one rental car between six or seven guys and just making it work. And if you could have it one way, you'd probably

would have hoped everything to be a range kind of on the Latino America side versus the Canadian side. Just the way I would have barriers and structure of culture and whatnot. It's probably a lot harder to do on your own in the Latino America. Yeah, it is. But that's what I was going to get into. It's like, that's, I'm so thankful for.

Yeah. And then the PGA Tour of Latino America, I think it's honestly probably the best developmental tour that I could have ever been on. It was such a challenge. It's such a much different, like, like you said, culture, different language, so much, so many things I was not used to.

You're dealing with a lot, and it seems like whoever deals with all of the other variables the best, probably plays the best golf. Yeah, because that's a lot of distraction. People kind of take it for granted, you know, flying to different countries, different cultures, and watching the top guys do it over and over again, but that's just like a lot going on

Outside of just playing the golf course and the golf courses are pretty different down there as well, right? Yes, I mean we went One week we're in keto Ecuador, which is I like 9,000 feet elevation to Dominican Republic on the you know on the coast Yeah, just right on the water So then after you play really well in Latino America the coast. Yeah, just right on the water. So then you play really well in Latino America. Yes. And then are you close to getting top five Latino America to get web status? You end up back on the Canadian tour. How about when? So they're in during the entire spring. I get mentioned I only had conditional status. So I had to top 20 into each of it each next event. So I went I think four four straight top 20s. It didn't have been like four straight top five finishes, I think, but just kept top 20, top 20, top 20s. So I can keep playing in

these events at the, in the Latin America tour stops, they take the summer off. And then they pick up again in the fall, because it's winter down there. Yes, in South America. It's kind of places. Close to the equator. Yeah, exactly. The same. But it works well with the Canadian tour schedule for the most part. So I was able to go, I think I ended up playing 15, either 14 or 15 Latino America events and seven PGA tour candidate events between the two tours. So I had a full schedule. I was all over the place, but I had a full schedule played well all spring in Latin America, went, spent

the summer in Canada, played well in Canada, and then went back down to Latin America, once the Canadian tour finished up. And you won in Canada in 2017. How did you, so did you get status then through the Canadian tour, through the web tour? No, I finished, I actually finished 11th on the money list. 11th in Canada. TJ Vogel beat me by $124 Canadian dollars over the full season. And he got the 10th spot, which was an automatic exemption into final stage Q-school.

Oh, God. And TJ, if you're listening, I'm sorry, I still hold that over your head. So you didn't get any status through Canadian or Latino America in 17? No. So ended up finishing 6th on the money list in Latin America. Which got me to Final Stage. Final Stage, okay. And then you got your web status.

I played with Final Stage, got away through. And then good season on the web.com tour. You come out in 2018, which is again, just last year. When you get out to the web tour, I feel like it's more of a, it gets closer to a full test of golf more so than it is. And some of the stops you would make in Canada in Latin America. Does that make any sense? Yes, it does.

It does make sense. Yeah, I understand what you're getting at. Yeah, golf courses are more difficult. The atmosphere is more like what you would assume is like a tour event, almost. Correct, yes. It kind of, I think it just kind of gives you a different, can give you a different level of confidence to be in a different group of peers.

So when you get out there, what's the competition like compared? I feel like Latin America and Canada, you're so far at the bottom, that it can be kind of overwhelming for how much you have ahead of you. Yes. And as you get further up, it's like, all right, now I know what my competition is at this level and what I need to beat to get to the top level. Because I mean, web.com every week, you're going to have former either PJ Tour champions or just PJ Tour multi-year players on the PJ Tour.

Correct. So you can see how good they are, how good they were, what their game is like. That's what they use at the next level. So the web tour courses and the setup there, was that a good fit for you, do you think? Yeah. May it work too. We've got you in the the set up there was that a good fit for you, do you think? Yeah, it worked. We've got you in the PGA tour, but some guys talk like, man, I think I honestly would have more success

on the PGA tour because the way courses set up, et cetera. So I was curious as to kind of how you viewed those courses. Yes, but you think you'd play making excuses. Yeah, I think they're making excuses. I think, yeah, I think good players will play. The cream rises, note without a doubt. I think somebody, you look at that guy like Cameron Champ, who I think was, he got to the PGA tour

on his first web tour. He came to a step though. Yeah, but I think he was held back a bit by set-ups on the web tour. Yes, I know. Yes, I know. I mean, he had like six straight top 10 finishes, including a win.

Well, he is clearly emerged on the PGA tour as the top guy coming graduating from the web class and he didn't win the web finals or didn't win the money last year. I mean, like SungJM's doing also. Yeah. Sam Burns is a pretty good player. Hey, you can disagree with my theories here. I'm just throwing these out here. Yeah, okay. So you play the web tour. Yeah. What is what is your game? Like your 5-11, you-11, you're not a big guy, but you're a longer hitter on tour, correct? I'm long enough. Okay, you're not a bomber, but you're long enough.

I classify myself as long enough. Okay, that's a good thing for the DJ tour. What was the kind of the highlights, I guess, of the web tour season? Highlights of the web tour season has it in like where I played well. Yeah, what you played well. What you learned and what was that experience like playing on

the web.com tour. I love being on the web.com tour. I mean, it was fun. It was obviously a step up in competition. Every week you go from in Latin America or the Canadian tour, where 10 to 15 guys could win each week to 75 guys could win each week on the web.com and then PGA tour everyone that's theirs has a chance to win starting the week. But the way dot web.com tours I had a blast honestly go to a bunch of different places

that that's the first time you really travel in alone like you're not really traveling in a pack like you were on the Latin America tour on the Canadian tour you're staying in hotel rooms by yourself. You have a full-time caddy that week. You have more gyms available to you, you have physios available to you, you're hitting good golf balls on the range. You have ropes up, you have grandstands, you have things like that.

And it kind of is like, as a rookie last year, I was like not quite getting my feet wet, a little bit more than getting my feet wet into what like a PGA tour, I was like, not quite getting my feet wet, a little bit more than getting my feet wet into what a PGA tour event would be like, or what, you know, the angle, like the PGA tour lifestyle is, or a PGA tour week is like, it taught me a whole lot, honestly. And for the listeners at home, how did you earn your card? How did you make your way to the PGA tour?

I was in the season long 25 guys. And where did you finish on that? 25. So you get your car, but you go into the PGA tour season, like the bottom of the rail. I was 49 out of 50. So you're gonna play every single PGA tour event that you get to.

Correct. The last event of the regular season, you have kind of a car, a celebration, a car there, and then you go to the web finals, and then it's like straight, almost a week, two weeks later, straight to the safe way. Yeah, we're a DJ tour. Yeah, are you nervous as hell to tee it up

on the PGA tour for the first time? I was, yeah, I'm glad that, I don't know who caught it on camera, but caught my first T-shot. They got it on my way. Yeah, I mean, it was the longest drive I hit all season. What, it's down. It's because you're just riddling with others. Everything was pumping, everything was going.

I was moving nice and ball just went. It was a great shot. I mean, is there, has there been a moment on your time on Tori at the, you've been kind of starstruck or kind of look around? Like, oh my God, I am actually here. Yeah, that was the last, the Tori pods. Yeah, yeah.

What was that moment? I'm practicing on the putting green Wednesday and then five, all of a sudden you have like 10 to 15 kind of security guards. Start moving people around. I know where this is going. Probe start going up and they had already been like crowded around the putting green because it's a program day. So you got a lot of different guys kind of moving in and out, team off on the north or south course. And it could just be a group of people. He's around. And so it's like kind of here like the rumbling of people chattering and whatnot.

And then all of a sudden just screams tiger, tiger. And it's dead stop. Whatever drill else working on or whatever putt I was hitting. And it's kind of like we're gonna say Brant's Netacre. Yeah. I'm sorry. No, sorry. And here comes Joe Lekava with his bag throws it down on the pudding green and

security guards are holding everyone back. And then here comes Tiger just emerges from this crowd of people to the pudding green. Oh my god. He's watching me like it. I think he's watching this putt or is he looking at it? Now, let's go through your body. Nothing like that. but I did give him plenty of room on the putting green, whenever you're almost same. You're not saying green, same. No, no, he's earned his own whole at this point in time.

So what, you missed your first two cuts in the tour, was that nerves or were you just not quite, where does that kind of, how does that happen in your mind? I wasn't ready to play, come here safely. Okay, now why was that? I was too busy looking at everything going on around me. Way too busy kind of soaking in the scenes, you know, just like being all struck about being on the PGA

tour and playing in your first of it. And of course that, which is natural. Yes, it is natural. You wish you could not get sucked into it, but it's gonna happen. Yeah On a course that I actually really enjoyed. I thought I was gonna play well there Got just completely obliterated wasn't even close to making the cut Go to Saint or some farms and miss by one with a few bad holes coming down the stretch and I was disappointed

Honestly, I was because I knew that While that was all happening like I needed I needed to make cuts. Otherwise, I was going to get just completely left in the dust with this reshuffle. Yeah, because in the fall, like the top top players are not filling out the fields in a lot of those events. So you get all the guys that just graduated from the web tour, able to get into all those events. And then there's a reshuffle after Sony. Is that right? No, after RSM. Well, after RSM, at the end of the fall, there's a reshuffle, so you got to play well

in those five events, or you are not going to get when the big guns come back, starting really at Tori. A lot of the rookie and young guys don't get into a lot of those events. So there's a lot of pressure on you immediately to get out of the bottom of the priority. And I didn't get into, didn't get into Vegas or my Copa. Yeah, my priority number, they just wasn't high enough.

And we probably had 15 of us, Monday qualifying for both those events, trying to get in. It's God's name. Yeah, so stuff. It was really tough. And when you miss the two, like, assume that you're only going to get in maybe two or three events, and you miss the first two cuts, you're pulling it.

You're here like, oh my gosh, is this already over 14 stars? That's, yeah, that's a deal. The kind of, I guess the, what people don't think about a lot I think is, you know, you, getting your PGA tour card doesn't mean you go play whatever PGA tour events you want. And, you know, it does, it doesn't set you up, you're not set up great for success being bought like 25th from the web to go to the PGA tour.

So it is like an extra layer of pressure. So, what? Missed layer of pressure. So what? First two cuts then what happens? Uh, make the, I play well at our sim, uh, make the cut and shoot, uh, I think I found around 65 to move me up and that moved me from 49th to 24th in our category. Enormous huge. Yeah. Massive. Because where does it cut off for like Sony or, uh, Tony, Sony ran pretty deep, uh, Tory did not. I think Tory was probably at like Sony or a Tory. Sony ran pretty deep. Tory did not. I think Tory was probably at like 35 or 40 maybe.

So that one round really got you into Tory, which parlayed into you were in six, I think going into Sunday. Yes. Are the nerves going then again, different going into the final round of the Pee Chitoy. They're very different.

It's a safe place. You could admit that. So I you nervous sleep. It's not sleeping on the lead, but you're sleeping like just for reference sake Yeah, you're you're playing for every pediatric or event you teed up You're paying playing for 10x money that you ever really have played for correct and so I've ever earned ever Yeah, so you were answers earnings on course gambling. Are you is that what you're thinking about or is like what no What are you thinking about at that point?

I actually had a pretty good mindset this week. This past week and it was knowing it was gonna be difficult, knowing it was gonna be something different and doing everything I can just to accept what came. Just my acceptance levels, I'm just trying to give myself every opportunity, trying to be my best friend out there that could possibly be.

Because I knew if I'm going out, just, you know, beat myself up after every, you know, so, so shot or a miss a birdie putt, like, oh gosh, and you're not gonna get another one. You're just ruined it. No, you're not gonna, that's not gonna help you play well. And so that last week I had a really good mindset each round going into it, saying,

hey, you're gonna have your opportunities, trust yourself that you're gonna be able to get more. If you, even if you don't take advantage of if you have it really on, they'll come, stay patient, trust yourself, accept what happens. And I did, I played really well for the first three rounds. Unfortunately, I missed too many greens the last day, and it was just around that golf course,

you can't really miss too many It catches up to you quick. Yes, sorry ponds. It does but so in in six so you you've played at six starts You made three cuts. Yes, you've made a hundred K so far. Yeah, sure on the PGA tour Mm-hmm. I think you made a hundred and sixty K last year on the web tour. Yeah, so that's just kind of gives you an idea of Of the of the range and difference and just kind of I don't know Everybody knows there's a lot of money professional golf, but you know, just seeing the size of some of the paychecks

that come in, like the guys that are doing this for the first time, this is a very serious thing. I think I saw one of your tweets right after Adam Longerbun. And Adam's been a pro for five years, six years maybe? I think even longer than that. Yeah. He doubled his earnings in one week, his earnings in 1 585k or something through eight professional seasons exactly and then one a million bucks. Yeah, and it's awesome. It's the

opportunities that we have out here on the PGA tour to provide for our families To play in front of fans the way that we do is incredible. It is so so unique and so cool So what's next for you? And what are you in events going on? Are you, are you, but the reshuffle is after Genesis after Genesis? So you will you slide up again based on your finished it's worry or use I would hope so. Yeah, I would really hope so. I don't know though. And that's kind of the scary thing. We were planning out travel. It's like, well, we're going to Pebble Beach next week and maybe Los Angeles. Do the Monday Qualifier for Los Angeles

and then we'll go down to Puerto Rico and after Puerto Rico, I'd love to play here in Florida, but same time, same. But this new schedule, you don't know how many guys are gonna wanna be playing early in Florida. If they're gonna be doing prep for the players that's coming up here in about a month and it's coming up soon really quick.

We have two WGCs in the next six weeks, I think. Like it's packed. Yeah, it's very packed early on. So I have honestly other than Pebble and Puerto Rico. I don't really know where I'll be playing next. It's funny to hear like your excitement for WGCs, which means that there's an opposite world. Yeah, that's just, yeah, I get a starter.

I get a starter. I get a Puerto Rico in Dominican. How do flights work? I mean, what do you, like you said, you don't know what you're going to have to bubble, you don't do a return flight booked or do you figure that out on a... I have a crazy expensive to fly last minute all the time.

Yes, it definitely, you lose a couple hundred bucks every time. I travel with my wife. I'm very thankful that she's out there with me now. It's way more enjoyable than it was when you travel alone. Despite what Curtis and Max may think. Oh, you know, hanging out together every afternoon, every night. The, yeah, it does get to some, but we have a rental car booked for a monorade to LA one way. And hopefully we can drop it off and trade it in for a courtesy car that week and stay in LA and then fly from LA to San Juan Puerto Rico.

But we'll see. God, that's amazing. All right. If we're going to predict the event that you have your first PGA tour win at, what would you guess the event is going to be? What's a golf course that you're like, okay, that one's for me. I don't know. I honestly couldn't tell you where I would love to win.

Should I first sign? Bay Hill. Okay. I grew up here in Orlando. I didn't play Bay Hill. I was a professional. I went out to the tournament. Never was invited out to play.

Never got on the golf course to actually play. I had walked it, actually followed Sam Saunders around when I was in high school. After we went to the same high school here in Orlando, huge fan of his growing up when he went to Clemson, turned pro. He was playing in the third round with Khan Montgomery in like 2010, 2011 or something like that. I just think I saw every shot same hit that that that round. And it was awesome. It was fun. It was so cool. And it was something that I love going out and seeing. Arnold Palmer has such a not only huge impact

in golf world, but here in Orlando. I mean, he has the Arnold Palmer Hospital, the Winnie Palmer Hospital for women and children. And this is something that, you know, half of my friends here in Orlando were born at Arnold Palmer Hospital. And it's such a huge effect on the town, the city that winning at home,

place that grew up, place that grew up going to the event would be so cool Looking for an exemption there into that one No, it's in that audio right? I wouldn't do that. That would be pretty sweet All right last question when was the last time you paid for golf last time I paid for golf More recently than I'm probably proud to sell. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a powerful thing.

Definitely when I went out to play every time I go out to play winter park nine, I'll pay the $15 or $20 or whatever it is. How often do you go out there? Four times a year? Five times a year maybe? I love it. It's a blast. It's the best.

I think it should be compulsory for all golfers in Central Florida, or at least junior golfers to go play. What do you love about it? The redesign is so much fun. It provides so many different opportunities to hit shots. It's cheap. It's easy to go out there and walk nine holes. I mean, it's going to take less than an hour and a half to walk nine holes.

What do you shoot out there? Every time I go out there, I'm like, oh, right, this is, this course is easy. It's 2,300 yards in the nine holes, and I don't think I've broken part of it once. But I imagine it's different for you. I shot before the redesign, which is, it was a same track, same exact shapes, the holes and everything, but very different style. I probably was way different. But the previous, they were much easier.

I probably shot 30, 10 times when I was out there, but since they redesigned probably five, four under maybe, is that, that's 31, I think, out there? Yeah, I mean, but it's not simple, is the thing. No, no, no, and I also don't have more than a four iron. Okay, well that'll do it for you. Yeah, it's a little short. You're in the first hole is 230 yards or something like that.

Part four, yeah, parts irrelevant. But yeah, it's, but the shorter courses actually end up testing your long irons more than, like, I hit way more long irons at winter park than I do any course I play in Jackson. And you're a little nervous because there's some nice cars driving around. Oh, man, it is, and they come into play more than one hole.

Yeah, I hit a few graves, Tombstones is trying to come to the corner. Not proud of that. Sorry, didn't mean to disturb anybody. But well, I think we've covered most of everything and you've been glaring that I missed there. Not that I'm aware of, so. Nothing you're trying to get off your chest.

No, nothing I'm trying to get some. Well, thanks for spending the time. I know you got an important accounting meeting here in a couple hours as you're now making real money. So, no, but congratulations on making the tour we look forward to following you and hope the best for you. Thank you so much. Thank you all for all the work you guys put on.

That was awesome stuff. Appreciate that. Cheers. Cheers. 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. Expect anything different. Expect anything different.