No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 224: Angel Yin and her caddie, Kris Maerke

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

20 year old American standout Angel Yin joins the podcast to talk about LPGA life, the KPMG Women's PGA, being the longest hitter on the LPGA Tour, and a lot more. Her caddie Kris Maerke also joins to tell stories, and to reflect on what it's like to work for a long hitter like Angel.  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 Laying Up podcast. Got an interview coming for you shortly with Angel Yen from the LPGA tour along with her caddy Chris Murkey. We recorded this in early May.

We got a chance to play 18 holes with Angel at Hazelteen National, which is of course the site of this week's KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Hopefully you guys got a chance to catch that video either on our Twitter page or on our YouTube channel. Great time with Angel. She is a lot of fun. I think that comes across pretty well in that video. We recorded this before she finished runner up at the U.S. Women's Open at Country Club

of Charleston just a couple weeks ago. So you won't hear any reference to that event in this conversation, but you will hear us talk about this upcoming event and life on the LPGA tour and whatnot. We are out at Hazeltine this week at the KPMG Women's PGA. You guys have asked for more LPGA content and KPMG has been a tremendous part of work with Covering this event and they do such a tremendous job with PGA America putting this event on really I've done a lot to to resurrect this event So if you do get a chance, please check it out on golf channel this week As well as we will have plenty of content coming from the next few days including big Randy got to play his first pro

I'm just today with Daniel Kang and Maverick McNeely, Daniel's boyfriend also joined us. So stay tuned for that. I want to announce something here as well. We are giving away a Callaway Epic Flash driver. Hopefully of course you guys saw that today on our YouTube channel Taurusaw season three episode one launch. We went and visited George Gankus at West Lake. It's a great series. We're really proud of this upcoming season. We think we've taken some big strides in our production quality and whatnot. So Callaway in support of this, which also they sponsored the series.

They want to give away an Epic Flash Driver. All you got to do, you have to subscribe to our YouTube channel and the best comment, the funniest or whatever it is, the best comment on the episode, the first episode, week one gets an epic flash driver. Don't ask for the driver in the comment. You gotta make it very clear that you watched it, the video, you gotta, and the comments got to relate to the video in some way. Make us laugh, entertain us the best

and most gold comment wins an epic flash driver and we appreciate everybody's support on that endeavor. So without any further delay, let's get to our interview with Angel Yinn. She's a 20-year-old LPGA tour player. Finished T4 at last year's KPMG Women's PGA, and like I mentioned, run her up at the US Women's Open this past week and her caddy Chris Murkey

talking about life and whatnot on the LPGA tour. Thanks everybody for tuning in and we'll see you next week. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Langup Podcast. We're here at Hazelteam, the site of the 2019 KPMG Women's PGA. We are joined by LPGA star Angel Yinn as well as her caddy Chris Murky. We just played golf with Angel today. First of all, what did you think of our game? What do you think, do we hold our own against you today?

I think our game was really good. That's not what people want to hear. They want to hear you make fun of us. Well, I mean, I have to speak the truth. It was really good. Other than the, what was it? Nine on the part three was, it was a nine. Yeah, it was quite irritating. I felt like I was watching tennis played by one person

So it was good. We almost ran out of battery filming that hole so Well Chris, why don't you start it stuff what how long of you and Angel work together and how did you guys get get set up together? We've been together like about a year. I started at the Meyer in 2018. She just called me up, asked me if I'd do three weeks and lots of weeks later, here we are. Because a year, correct me if I'm wrong, a year of a caddy player relationship on a LPGA tour is a pretty long time. It's like 10 years of marriage.

Yeah, pretty much. You guys get along pretty well? Yeah, I think we get along great. She's been really good at always telling me, hey, I want this. I want that. From the first time I started working for to the progression throughout the time that we work together, she's always been very fair and talking about, hey, I want to do this to improve or do that to improve.

She's listened to the suggestions that I've had. She's always told me, hey, I want to do this differently and we kind of work it in our schedule. So it works really well. I've had a lot of fun. I've worked for a lot of guys before, and working for Angel is kind of like working from the mensages because of her horse power and her lack of fear for anything. And so lack of filter as well, is that right? Yeah, there's definitely, I mean, there's a little bit of a lack of filter there. But yeah, she like, she'll get after it.

So it's fun to be that on that side of the bag with her. So yeah, once you give us a little bit of background, Angel, first of all, how you kind of got into golf where you grew up and then some background on what your game is like? So I started playing last six years old and it was because my mom's friend wanted her son to play golf. So she was like, why don't you become his partner. So short story is that I went, we did this academy, played for a month, and he quit because he says his son was killing his skin. And, which my mom hoped I was gonna say

because she wanted me to go be home, play the piano and do some stuff. And then I was like, no, I wanna stay extended. So she extended it. And I was like, I'm gonna do this when I grow up. I got my own clubs, and then I got my own private coach and I always requested my mom to like send me there early or leave me there a few hours after, just a six-year-old wondering around, good thing we're in America because if it was in China, I would have been gone.

But other than that, we kept playing, started competing when I was seven, won the junior world when I was eight. So just, let's do that again. You started playing competitive in your seven, won the junior world when you were eight. Yes. That's a pretty quick turnaround. So you recall yourself in natural? Oh yeah, talented. Just talented. Well, and then at the age of 12, what happened? What happened? You won the California State Women's Amateur. Oh, yeah. I was like, I didn't do anything great. Oh, yeah, I won the California Women's.

And my final round, I beat Lauren DeBosci, who is now the assistant coach of Stanford. Oh, wow. Yeah. I didn't get into that school. It was just like me. Did you go to Yeah. I didn't get into that school. It should make me. Did you go to college? No, I'm 20 right now.

I turned pro and I was 17. What was that decision process like? Honestly, it wasn't that hard. I always wanted to go to college, because I never got to experience team play. But if I were to go out, we would have got a SC. But the SC was also very supportive of the coach at that time, Andrew Gaston, who is now not their coach anymore,

was like, you know, I told her I was going to get a Q-scoot. She was like, yeah, that's cool. Go try it out. If you make it, you know, turn pro, just do what you're going to tell us. I got a lot of support. But I always knew I was going to turn professional. I went some time in my career and it just happened. And what is your game like? Are you do you bunch it around or are you a bomber?

I'm a bomber. I would say that I am long and far. Is it what's it like to kind of caddy for for Angel? Somebody that hits it that far. Do you see like in spots that she has an advantage over other players or does the LPGA tour in the setup kind of neutralize something? No, no, she has an advantage for sure. I mean, there's more times Well, there's quite a few times where we can't hit the driver because we'll hit it into something or we'll hit it through something or But she's really accurate with it which also kind of makes it more dangerous because when you're hitting it 270 plus in the air and it's going straight, you'll run out of room in places.

So she's really good with her wedges and she's really good with really short distances with a little 60 degree that she carries around. And so that gave me quite a bit of an exciting. Yeah, yeah, she and her hot place. She's in a big group from everywhere. I think what I told him there was a four degree balance, he kind of freaked out.

He actually shuttered the limbo and he had a little. But it's fun, Katty, for somebody like that, she's super confident, like I said, and sometimes it's my job to kind of pull a break a little bit to say, hey, we don't need to do this. Yeah, when he says we're laying laying up I'm about to cry. And then a urge of wanting to, you know. So you got to try to, you got to try to rain her back every now and

every couple of times where, but, but also it's like her short game is so good. On the 18th hole this year at ANA we had a number where we could kind of go for it, but it's over that water and if you don't get it quite right, it hits that slope and comes back in. And I said, no, we're going to lay up, and we put it to like, I don't know what the yards was. We had perfect number for our 60, and she hit it to like two feet, and it's easy to make birdies. But that, you know, when you go for it, it just feels different when that birdie comes in. You don't have to explain that to us. No laying out. Guys, kind of get us up to speed on what your LPGA tour career has been like so far.

It's been what you expected, what you not expected, what do you think so far of your progress? It's been great. Yeah, I had a lot of competition. Ricky, my Ricky season, has Sonjaan Park, who was formerly the number one golfer for the I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a win last year, but I know this year I will be able to close it off. What was it like playing in the Soulheim Cup? It was honestly the very different. I thought I was going to be maybe a little nervous but I was nervous at all. It's just a adrenaline, pure adrenaline. I was hitting everything ridiculously far. It was just the vibe and everything. It's surprisingly very tiring too.

How far do you hit it if we were talking about in ridiculousy far, how far were you bombing it that week? Chris, you were there, what was it again? I was not there. I was not there. That's number. Oh yeah, sorry, sorry, he wasn't there, he wasn't there. But Fulsie told me last week that you hit one like 380.

Yeah. And a couple of, over well over 300s. I've seen her hit it like 330, 340, a couple of times. We hit, I talked to the funny thing is is like the caddies I'll talk to one another after the rounds and I'm talking to my buddies after Phoenix like whatever five, six weeks ago. And I said oh we had like 40 yards to the front of this green. And like, what did you head or whatever? And it's like, we just, we just had driver, you know, it's no big deal. Your drivers, like, it's only seven degrees, right?

7.5. 7.5. I mean, you probably get one of the highest ball flights. I mean, you're considerably high. I've been trying to bring it down a little bit in the past year or so after training professional, but it's still quite high. It's a lot lower I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned.

I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned.

I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm pretty concerned. I'm didn't have an answer before that. I mean, I just knew I was in the circle of me. I mean, it's always surprising because I was so young.

I was a rookie. I was definitely close on points, too, by myself. But captain's pick, it doesn't matter. Captain picks whoever is going to fit well with the team. And for her to believe in me, like that, it means a lot. You had a great week last year at the KPMG Women's PGA. What was different about that week versus any other? That's your best finish.

You finished T4. It's your best major finish today. What was different about that week? Well, it was a little different. It was on Friday. I had a chip and eagle from the water, feed in the water. And yeah, I just, I like the golf course to lay out. It was great. And they know I just I like the golf course to lay out was great.

And they know how to set up a golf course. Do we talk a little bit about that in today's round because you kind of had some good points on on on how the PGA of America sets up a golf course and you you had some high praise for it. What makes what makes the kind of the way they set up a golf course different than what you guys see week to week? To be completely honest with you, I don't know how Carrie does it because he only does it once a year, but he just does a really good job of setting up the golf course.

He puts a pins and good spots. Like she was hitting the ball great that week. We actually had switched putters. Yeah. So that to the putter that we have now, the bloodline putter, and she was putting unbelievable. And it, I feel like on our week to week tournaments

you see a lot of pins that are like 25 on three from the left 15 on three from the right or 27 on three behind it so it takes this like go pattern out of the game and it's just like oh let me just hit to the fastpot take my pot and go along whereas I felt like at KPMG and I've done the I did the KPMG two years ago at LNP, it feels for another player, and it felt like it was really good for all players. And it wasn't like all these super talk pins that you couldn't really get at, so they give you a shot to go for. She was hitting it great that week, and so we could get at a lot of flags.

And like you guys have said, she hits it really high. She has a lot of ball speed, so it's not going to hit and roll out a bunch. So she could go at a flag that's five or six off the left or five or six behind it. We can get aggressive. And she's really good at that. How do you think Hazelteens sets up for you then after seeing it today? I think it definitely plays to my favor. It's still hard to tell because we're so far away from tournament week and it will look so different

when I come again. The greens will be different just to grass will all be different. It'll be a little warmer. You you're not like 50 degrees today. No, I'll grow up in LA. This is not a weather. Yeah, we had to get our cup of soup downstairs for lunch so she can warm up. Yeah, before this, I couldn't talk, but I think my lips turned blue during the round. Going back, you played ladies' European tour for a year before LPGA. Was that just because of the age limit on LPGA? Yeah, I mean, I couldn't really try out for LPGA, so I didn't really have a chance and

LEDT gave me the chance. And with my amateur in Kierco, straight to Final Stage. And I just went straight to Morocco, got my card. How was that? How was that year out there? It was fun. I made a lot of friends that we still keep in touch. And, you know, AM&DAM was one of them.

We're still waiting on one of our friends, Olivia Cowan, who still is in the European tour. She's not stepping out of her comfort zone. But I think the series, she's going to come and try out for Q-School. And then going back, you played in the European tour, she's not stepping out of her comfort zone, but I think the series is going to come and try out for Q-School. And then going back, you played in the US women's open as a 13 year old? Yeah, 13. How was that?

Tell me about that experience. Where was it? It was a Blackwell front in Cola, Wisconsin. It was definitely a really cool experience and being know being able to I think I got it out as an alternate to so I didn't qualify and I got a call. So it was really exciting going to see all these people that we see on TV but I've always as a kid growing up was like I can't fan girl because if I do I'm not in the same field as them and then I need I'm here to compete.

Doesn't matter. She felt like you belonged when you showed up. Well, I had to belong because of not that I want to be able to compete with them. I'm just going back to thinking about myself as a 13 year old. It blows my mind that you could be competing in the US women's open as a 13 year old. It's, it's wild. That's like wisdom beyond your ears, I think. Well, I like kind of your perspective on that, Chris,

you know, you've caddied on the men's tour and the women's tour. Why is, why are, it seems like the women come out so unbelievably well prepared for professional golf at such young ages? Is there anything you see there as to why that might be? Well, I think that the ladies tour window is much smaller than the men's tour window.

So you got guys like Max who just won last week and J2T used one or a bunch and Ricky and all those guys. They did their college because at 20, they would not have really been super prepared to play at the highest level. So going to college for them is probably a better step. They would not have really been super prepared to play at the highest level. So going to college for them is probably a better step. But I think with the girls, you have a lot of girls that come from Asia that have been

playing golf over there for forever. Angel grew up here and played golf in the States forever. I guess probably a really talented pool in California. So it's kind of like a a it's a timing issue. You got to be at the right time. You don't see a lot of like great female golfers that are probably over 30. Whereas like a bunch of dudes are really good over 30. What's your like preparation process like for a major? Like this is not normal for you to come with this far in advance and play a practice round. Is it?

Well, I can't just see you guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. And when you bump, that's right. She's looking for the bump. I don't treat it any different because if we do, then you put too much pressure on yourself, you know, perform correctly.

So I don't. I just really came out to see you. Did you really? No, laying up. Because I remember last year, you guys invited me in, but didn't want me to do a podcast with you. Did you really? No, I am. I remember last year you guys invited me in, but didn't want me to do a podcast with you. That's not true. We were supposed to do a podcast with you in LaZette

and LaZette didn't show up. Well, you could have done it with me. We could have, but the LPGA bumped it trying to get LaZette to come in. I just thought you didn't like me enough. Well, that was also true, but. So who are on that note? Who are some of your best friends out on the LPGA tour?

Well, the no-show girl, Lizette Salis and Janenko, who is currently number one in the world right now. So yeah. That's a good company to be in. Yeah. What would you say you've learned in your few seasons on the LPGA tour so far? What are some of the most valuable things that you look back at? And when you got on the scene, you did not know or understand.

How distance control is so important. Really? Yeah. I just whacked it whatever and, you know, try to stay with my short game. But here, every short counts and you really need to have a nice in your game and have to be able to control the distance. The few yards really matter. What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on a golf course? need to have a nesting your game and have to be able to control the distance. The few yards really matter.

What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on a golf course? I don't know. I don't know. What is up with that question? Everyone asks me that. I'm like, what is embarrassing? That's everyone's got a great funny embarrassing story. You know what happens with embarrassment?

We throw it in the trash bin. No. You remember that window browser? There's a trash bin that happens. Go in there and we delete permanently. Do we have to go to Chris for this? Well, no. Last week at Lake Merced Golf Channel did, Cady knows best with us.

And the funny thing is, is we practiced for all these questions. We were talking through all the questions, and we got two of them right. I practiced, okay. I talked to some kids. We talked about a couple of questions, but they asked me, like what's the most embarrassing moment? And I was like, I can't even think of one. Like nothing she's ever done on a golf course.

Like we never tripped over anything. We've never like done anything scruely. So I was like, I don't know. And then we, the only thing I could come up with was, and it's not even embarrassing, was ended up on ESPN top 10 which is when I center in the water to hit the shot at the KPMG last year and she hoops it and I was like that's not even embarrassing it was awesome yeah yeah so yeah we're neither one of us could come up with anything no like during play we don't we haven't

anything embarrassing. You're tempting fate right now, but send that. Yeah, I mean, well so many people on Twitter sent that video of you, you were like a hundred yards out. This year, you're like a hundred yards out. Yeah, and Hawaii. And banked off that, but like, everyone was like, oh, this is back, like that wasn't backstopping.

You're a hundred yards out. Like you're not gonna ask somebody to mark the ball. The funny thing about that. Backstopping. Oh, okay. Okay, so when a person's five yards away from the green and they choose not to market, that's not backstopping.

Oh, so next thing, what's next? When I hit from the tee box on a par four and I hit a ball and it goes in the hole. Backstopping. That's what I'm saying. There's a definite delineation between being... We thought that our ball went over. That's what it looked like until the third full time

you watch it. Yeah. That's when the economy Gregor walk came in. Yeah, yeah. So what has, you know, we talked about this in the course today, but as soon as back stopping was mentioned, and Chris even made the comments, like you guys are the ones that were responsible

for the area of Jotana Garden and Amy Olson incident, not true. Tadikku we went to port a little gasoline on the fire but it's there been a is there been kind of is that a thing that's been talked about now on the LPGA tour which we don't we also were adamant that we don't necessarily pick on the LPGA tour in that regard we're just as hard on the men even if you don't believe it. What's that what's that conversation been existing, I guess, out there? I think people now are more aware of it, but I don't think there's any more talk about it. Our job is done here, then, if people are aware about it.

The difference between girls and guys is that girls freak out. It's like once they get caught drunk driving, they will never get drunk driving again. No DUI will ever happen again. That's how scared. But with guys, they get a DUI next time, like, you know, I drink half a shot of vodka. Then I'll drive. So they still do it.

And so for girls, us girls right now and tour anything, like, oh, running a hundred yards. I'm in a market. I mean, there's definitely, I think our whole point is that you know when it's like, when you should go and do it versus like, even like 50 yards away is not necessarily, like the likelihood is so small and it's not like you can play your shot any differently. But if you're right green side and I think that, you know, the men are just as guilty as this, being super lazy of just letting balls sit there, that probably shouldn't sit there.

But we're moved on from that topic on our regard. How's your season going so far this year? It's been good. It's been, it's been good. It's been frustrating to you at the same time. I've been in contention twice already, and I haven't been able to play well. And it's not because I felt the pressure in a while, and it felt good, but it just haven't been able to play well and it's not because I felt the pressure in a while

and it felt good but it just haven't been able to perform. I'm missing a cut last week really was tough but I feel like my game is doing really well. I've been fixing my swing, adjusting from a draw to a baby fade. Why are you doing that? Just distance control or? Less miss. With a hook you can become a snap hook. It's a bigger miss.

And sometimes in contention, you can't afford to make those mistakes. It's truly a worldwide schedule for the LPGA. What's your favorite part of the schedule or what's your favorite place you've played thus far? I always love going across the pond to any little island over there. But I love Singapore.

The beginning swing is really one of my favorites and going to Japan. Is it just the hotter it is, the more you like it? The hotter it is, the better it is. You hate Minneapolis and in May. Well, back to talking about your game and we were just talking about this before we came on, but you had a tweet from, not very long ago, where you said, you know that feeling when you're doing everything right,

and trying the hardest you've had in your life, and it gets worse and worse and worse, like worse than you tried before. That's what I'm feeling. Helpless, hopeless, whatever it is. Do you regret tweeting that? A little bit. You know, honestly, I never check my Twitter. Like, I just write

whatever I want, and I just leave it be. People who reply, I don't really look at it. And I thought, I was just whatever, I can write whatever, because no one follows me, right? And then, surprisingly, a lot more people follow than my Twitter than I, and imagines. Because on Instagram, I can just post whatever no one notices. And I think I only have like 2000 followers. So I'll be like, okay, I can just do whatever I want. I'm, uh, it's not like I'm to a point where I'm like page, spirit, spirit, spirit,

spirit neck. Is that how you say it? Yeah, there, I mean, like a million followers with people actually care, you know, but was there any reaction to when you posted that, that tweet or what was it about? Yeah, I got a lot of pat on the shoulder. I was like, I'm okay. Just you know, had to vent it out. I saw Jane Park responded. She said she'd been feeling like that for the last year. Probably since she played with us last year.

Should I be worried? What is what is Jane Park like? Do you know her very well? I can't say I know her very well, but she's a very nice person. Very funny. She's got to just got some jokes for sure. So going back to Soulheim Cup, you you sat out the morning session and then you went out in the afternoon and one six and five. You and Liz had yes. Were you frustrated sitting in the morning session? Was that kind of part of the plan as you were rookie? Yes. Were you frustrated sitting in the morning session?

Or was that kind of part of the plan as you were rookie? I was a little disappointed that Julie didn't put me out there, but probably Julie knew me better than me knowing me that I am not a morning person. So putting me out. Definitely not a morning person. Yes, as the Christmas. We know too. No, no. The reason we were late today was because of me.

Oh, yeah, surprisingly. Oh, I know you guys flew in it. Yeah, we got in it like two way. I called him and was like, ah, oh no. It's like it's OK. Then you sat the next day in the morning, too. So that was definitely a... Yeah, I thought my distance would have been helpful to other players, but really the way

she said it up she knew what she was doing. So I don't question my captain. Speaking specifically on the KPMG Women's PGA, you guys were saying some things about the little things, kind of the things that really make this event stand out versus other events. What are some of those kind of really weird little things that mean a lot to the players? Do you want to start off? Ice cream in the clubhouse. No, I think like the food and the way the PJ of America treats everyone at the tournament is very noticeable and at a good level. As opposed to other majors and how they, you know, how those are handled.

I've always been super impressed by the way they've done it. Like I said, I've done two KPMGs, this will be my third, I've done some other majors and I think that they just do a really good job of understanding where to check all the boxes at. And they pick great golf courses, obviously. Hazelteen has got a lot of history here, but I just think they do a really good job all the way around with that. Angel probably tell you more about the inside stuff. From the golf perspective, the golf is the golf. I mean, we could play it like a wonky

golf course, but they happen to pick good ones, but I think she'll tell you that she likes all the amenities. Like the text messages. The text messages, the food. Yeah, I mean, just honestly, a little things. And it feels like a major when you're at that event. Yeah. Who are some of the players, I guess, that you played with or you see out on the

tour regularly that you look or admire a particular skill they have, like the way somebody chips or the way somebody hits irons or the way somebody puts, whose skills really stand out to you? I guess the question could go to either of you. Yeah, you want to answer while I think? I don't honestly, I don't really pay attention to a lot of other people. What a great answer. And I'm very partial of what Angel does. She's very disciplined.

She does her drills. She works on that part. She doesn't slack off. No, she's not a morning person. But that means that we just start a little bit later in a day and she just gets it done. We always do this circle drill with the putting and she's very diligent on making sure that they're all good pots, even if they miss.

She kind of has this thing where she says I just wanted to be a yes pot versus like, so it felt good. Maybe it doesn't go in, but it felt like a good stroke. A lot of girls out here have their caddies put out cones on the range. I just feel like for some reason she's way better at it than most of the other ones that I see. I mean, if we have like a late round, a golf on like say a Friday, we did this in LA. We played late, right? We played late on Friday and we were the only people in the range who was like her and I and a coach,

and instead of putting the cones out, I just went and stood out there and stood at 30 yards and she can hit them to me. Like, Polly, Tassori, and VJ used to do. And I can go to 40, she hits them to me, 50, she hits them to me, 60, 70, like that. And she knows where to put the golf club, they hit it to me, and it's just like,

I just stand there and I could catch him. So I think she does that well. I think there's all the girls, like, I don't know, maybe I've been a little bit of a fan of Uni G's putting. I can't think of anybody else. I wouldn't say anybody hits it better than she does. Out of anybody on tour, nobody strikes it, this good.

No, I mean, it's like, it's a ball striking clinic. Yeah. Yeah. Do you agree with that? I'm working on it. I don't think I'm that good, but yeah, I'll take it. I would say that I want to be, I sometimes tap into the mechanical side of my brain, which is not good. I'm more of a field player, but not when I panic, but when I'm under stress or whatever, I kind of tap into the mechanical

brain, but I want to be able to be more like Shenshin who uses more of her athlete's side and feel it out, be able to feel her distance more accurately. Was there anybody when you first got on tour that, or even before that, that really took you under their wing or looked out for you, it kind of showed you the ropes? We had a pod, but I was friends with, I'm not was, I'm still friends with Momarton. And Megan Cain was on the tour before and we played junior golf together. And when I ever had questions, I just text either one of them and they would just give me really good insights.

But when I was a rookie, we still had pod systems where we would have a current LPJ player, a past LPJ player, a LPJ staff member, and four more other girls in the same pot. And we would just look out for each other. And I think that was really helpful for us. Is that still going on? Have they still do that? No, they don't do that anymore. you go to high school like for like like at a high school or what's a proper? Yeah, I want to a proper high school where 80% of the school is Asian okay, yeah, and then you did but you didn't play golf on you just played individually Yeah, I just couldn't I just there was some reasons why I didn't play and you know

Yeah, the coach wasn't very understanding What is the, what is the LOL in your Instagram and your Twitter handles? Angel Yen LOL is your handle. Yeah, I was never really into social media and then my friend was like you're gonna make a social media and those were like Instagram when the like was The trendiest thing you can never do and and I wouldn't like, was the trendiest thing you can never do. And I was like, okay, I made this angel yen and they said angel yen is taken. I was like, well, how dare they? So then I was like, well, why don't we just put LOL?

So it was just there for temporary. Whenever we check in back, check back in and see if angel yen is available, then we would have to, but it just stuck. And now everything I do is Angel Yenawa. All right, hobbies include reading, traveling, adventuring, eating, and hibernating. Yes, hibernating.

Let's start with hibernating. Sorry, hibernating, we're going backwards, okay. Chris, Chris knows this one. How many hours do I sleep? Well, I mean, if you want to talk about hibernating, we can directly correlate it to the fact that you're not a morning person. And so as a result, it's like, oh, she's just sleeping.

Like, I'll text her at eight o'clock at night and say, hey, what time do we want to meet tomorrow? Like, for a practice round. The only days I know when she's going to be there at a time, or the days we have tea times. So it's like on a Monday or two, it's like, hey Angel, what time you want to meet tomorrow? It's like eight o'clock, I get no response. And then I get a response, I get seven o'clock or eight o'clock the next morning, she's like,

yeah, I was asleep. So yeah, she just likes to take naps. Yeah. I'm along sleep was 17 hours Do you battle like crazy jet lag as someone who needs your sleep and in? I don't have bad jet lag. I just sleep whenever it's dark. I sleep. Okay. I can't pull all nighter I think last year my I was in Shanghai with some friends and it was new years We pull all nighter and it was deeply regretted. Never ever do that again.

It was so hard for me. As far as traveling goes, I mean, it's almost like the LPGA you play a combination of European tour, Asian tour, US, Canada. I mean, all over the place. Do a lot of the ladies travel together? Yeah, we see each other every day. Yeah.

Yeah, and then when we go overseas, we see each other too much. Yeah, because all of, I mean, you get a lot of, I mean, it's like a circus over, especially like in Asia, because the Asia events are really cool because they move us around in bulk. Mm-hmm. But it's like every player in all the caddies are in one hotel and it kind of gets yeah, I feel like five weeks you're kind of like bumping in the same people all the time and you just kind of want a little bit of space. It's like marriage, I don't know, I don't know about marriage, I'm still single, but I think in marriage you are together for a while, but you need some time

on your own. Oh yeah. That's what we don't get. Yeah. So when we go to Asia. Where's your favorite food? What is my favorite food? Well, we'll wear like what stop. What stop all Singapore hands-out somewhere? Yeah. Is it those food courts in the like in the mall?

I know they've got this. They got the hawker halls and, yeah. And Singapore. No, it's the chili crabs. These monster crabs, they're in this big sauce. She took me to eat them this year, it was phenomenal. Yeah, I've had some, that's just hands down. I've had some incredible food.

The one thing about working for, the one great thing about working for Angel is that I get to eat all over the places that I would never usually find. Not that I wouldn't try it, it just wouldn't know to go there. Where do you get? No burgers and fries. What's your source of your food?

Where do you get your intel and where to go? I got my sources, don't worry about it. Let's get all over. So what's you were trying to pick our brains for the latest gossip? What we're going to pick here is what's the latest gossip on the LPGA tour? What's the scoop? What do we need to know that people are talking about? Let me think a little bit.

Chris, you got anything you want to share? It's usually about what you've got. Fire, what you've got to quit, who's higher and who, there's not a lot of dating that goes on, so there's no romantic relationship discussions, but or like if somebody, some of the funniest things, it just kind of probably goes back to the way the rules work or whatever, is like somebody get fine this week for slow play? Did somebody get a stroke for slow play which hasn't happened? I guess in a while, but Like that type of stuff is usually late is gossip

So your favorite player and then damn got dequeed in Hawaii because she didn't show up to her Proam fast forward a week week it was the week of uh... it was last week actually this and the another girl didn't show up to her program and i think you so i don't know what's going on but apparently these girls don't understand that you don't show up you get the good well

i don't even call it rickie was sick i think it's just plain dumb you know it's just plain dumb. Yeah, so do you get like I know on the PGA tour, you get one or two withdrawals from a pro-AM a year. I know Jason Day uses those quite frequently. Really? Do you get a withdrawal from a pro-AM? We get one exemption. Okay.

But you have to use it. You can't just not show up. Yeah, you got to let them know ahead of time. Yeah, you have to. Okay. Yeah, you got to, you got to let them know ahead of time. Yeah, you have to. Yeah, we go through alternates a lot too. How do you deal with slow play out there? And how is the pace of play for the most part? So I know Brooks says that, Brooks Keppcut says that he

goes to the bathroom, comes out, and then they're on the clock, and they play at a pace. I don't do that but I do walk very slow and then once we're on the clock then boom I'm good. You were exceptionally quick player with my today. I take it down not during the tournaments because I have to go through my routine but I like to play fast and just to train my brain out to think and hit. You kind of stay out of your own way. Yeah, because I do that a lot over think things when we play to turn it.

Chris, what we talked about how long you and Angel have worked together, but the high turnover rate that's on the LPGA tour, what's that atmosphere like? I mean, our most kind of when player and caddies separate out there, is it pretty amicable the splits for the most part? I mean, you guys are just going to see each other in a lot of places. What is what is that kind of vibe like out there with a high turnover rate? I think it's probably pretty amicable. You don't see a lot of like crazy breakoffs, let's say. Jessica Corda firing somebody in the middle of around and putting your boyfriend on the bag.

That was a big one. Right. Yeah. I mean, in those types of situations, you never know what's really going on. I mean, a couple of years ago, it happened on the P.J. tour in Canada. The Cate got a standing ovation for it, but he put the bag down and took the bib off and walked in. He didn't get fired.

He quit. I remember that. And so, it was, uh, it was, uh, it was, uh, it was, uh, it't get fired, he quit. Oh, I remember that. And so, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was Alamby and he had this caddy who was a great guy. He actually, he's like kind of from Atlanta, owns a bar in Atlanta. And Alamby allegedly was like speaking to him very poorly.

And he's like, I'm not going to deal with this. And he just put the bag down and took the bib off and walked in. He got into the catty shack and all the cats that were in there stood up and gave him a round of applause. But it was a situation where it's like, you know, he probably didn't deserve to be called what he was being called and all that.

And so, but I think on the LPGA, it's just, I feel like there's some players at certain parts of their career who think that the caddy is like the godsend or like this magic lucky coin and if they're not working then it's just like off on the next one and I'll just keep looking for I do have a gossip for you let's's go. I cannot say the name though. Okay. There is a player out here that will fire a caddy after the first round if they do not work well together.

How do you find one in time for the second round? They don't. They don't. They have one of their parents go on the bag. Oh, interesting. Yes. Now I'm ready to shut the mic off and find out who this is. So we can keep it out of it.

Because apparently it's like that birthdays don't match or this and that. It was like, I was like, there's like a lot of superstition involved in this like arrangement. So you have to be properly organized or born at the right time for it to work out. Is that how I would say it?

I probably a minute off is too much. Would you rather it be decisive like that though? Like if it's not going to work, you have to run around. It's not cool. Well, I mean, well then that comes in professionalism. How professional is it to, I mean, yeah, you're going to pay this guy for the whole week, but that's still not right. Are there any female caddies?

Yeah. There are female caddies. Not much, we can probably name like six. And three. That I can think of as the top of my head for. Probably six. Yeah, I mean, Missy works for Brittany Litzer Combs, Ben Honor Pag for Forever.

Kim Kaufman, Caddy, Audrey. There's a lady, Janet, Janet, as a Chinese player, her caddy was a player out here and is still like top 200 in money, I want to say career. She's good. Yeah, she was, she was good player. But she played when they didn't have a lot of money on the tour Not like you know not as they do now and so but yeah, she was really good Jackie there's a couple Probably Back then, you know you just more more guys but girls are getting you know stronger

They're standing the ground. I want to try things out and they just come out and caddy. How long did it take you all to get comfortable or get feel like you're really clicking? Oh no. I mean, like, I guess that KPMG was, the first week we worked together was Meyer and we did okay, not great, but, you know, we made the cut and kind of got a feeling for our game and everything. And then we went to KPMG at Kemper Lakes and we got to where we were talking better with one another through shots. Or, you know, I would ask her to do things like, hey, just tell me where you're going to hit this.

Just so you're hearing it out of your head, like I'm going to hit it on that line. And, you know, just what we do regularly has constantly progressed but it's always and it's really like a credit to her because she'll come to me and say hey I want to add this in like I want to put this next ingredient into the mix and let's work on that and so we've constantly progressed that way to try to do that. I think to answer your question, well, not to answer, just to add on, I think the difference between a female and that male is that, you know, we, it's harder for us to be able to talk to a caddy or tell them what's wrong.

It's not like that we feel lesser than them, but there's that barrier, it's unexplainable that guys feel more comfortable talking to another guy about what they need to improve or tell them what's going on, but for girls, it's harder for us to have us sit down and talk, have what the one-on-one, what the caddy and tell them what to improve, what to do better, so then our solutions just to fire and hire next one. What are your goals? What are your primary goals?

Soulheim? No one tournament. It's simple, yeah. In the tournament, we'll probably take care of Soulheim too, right? Hopefully it's a big one. So I don't have to worry anymore. And then I can take them one monthification. Do you, are you more of, do you like to go out and play?

Or do you like to beat balls on the range? I like to go out and play. I go through mood swings, so some days be simple. Do you play a lot when you're home? No, no. I don't play golf at all. Okay. All right. Well, I think that's going to wrap it. We've taken up a lot of your time today, but thank you for coming out and playing with us today. We had a blast and for sitting down and doing the podcast and best of luck with the upcoming season.

We'll see you back here in about a month. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Give it a right club. Be the right club today. That is better than most.

How about him? That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most.