No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 292: Rich Beem

Episode Date: March 23, 2020

From working behind the counter in a pro shop, to selling car stereos, to beating Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship, Rich Beem has lived a crazy life in golf. And that's just skipping past all of the fun he had along the way. He joins us to chat about his career, the good times on the road, winning his first tour event, broadcasting, and the upcoming Champions Tour career waiting for him. This was an absolute blast, Beemer is a legend.  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. Solid here. Got a good interview here with Rich Beam coming up very shortly. Ran into him at the players championship last week.

I think it was last week. Was that really a week ago? A week and a half ago. It was a Tuesday afternoon of the players championship week. It feels like it was about two months ago. Had the equipment all set up and just said, hey, come in the studio right now, let's do it. And we did.

So it's a little bit off the cuff, which I think we discussed in the beginning. But he is an awesome, awesome interview and has had a very interesting life in golf. So I hope everyone is getting through this very difficult time. All right. Social distancing, washing your hands, and it's not been great, it's not been fun for anyone, but while you are social distancing, if you are looking for some kind of an outlet for golf creativity, here's something

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style, you can make a blue one, which as I'm saying that out loud, I might have to do that. You can add custom stamping to the wedges if you wanted to put washer hands on there or isolate you can do that. You can add custom stamping to the wedges if you wanted to put wash your hands on there or isolate you can do that. Seriously people please protect yourself, wash your hands, please show kindness to others in this very difficult time. We want to remind people that at every stop that we can. There's a lot of stuff you could do. Tron makes gets new wedges pretty much or new irons and new full set of clubs pretty much once a month so I don't know what he currently has in his bag. We need to get Neil working on maybe a St. Rapio, either the image, you can put images on there, I think. You can do all kinds of crazy stuff,

or maybe just put like hashtag ikorito on there. There's a lot of things you can do again. If you need a distraction, go mess around with the configurator at calowagolf.com slash customs and share the Maverick drivers and wedges you're making. Send us some pictures, we want to see some cool custom ones and maybe we should do a contest. Let me talk with the guys. This is not in the copy. I'm throwing this off the cuff.

They might be able to run a couple of contests so you can come up with the best ideas. But again, calwaygolf.com slash customs without any further delay, let's get to Rich Beam. I'll intro it with this is that what I just told Mr. Rich Beam who's sitting across the table from you. I've never done so little preparation for a podcast. I saw you today and said we need to do one.

And you said let's do it today. So here we are. So tell me everything about your career. I'm not even gonna ask any questions. That's, you know what? Where do I start? Yeah, okay, there you go. 94, you turn pro.

Yeah. When I say to pro, that just means that I took a job as assistant pro, but it's just kind of like you declare it one day. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean like, I'm a professional. Do you have a press conference to declare? You know what, I think I did it in front of my three buddies while we were sitting around drinking a bunch of cooler's lights

on a Thursday night before going out to a bar called Cowboys. All right, so you turn pro, are you chasing status anywhere? Are you entering events? What's, what's, what's, what's, Oh God no, no, no, seriously, you're fault in sweaters? For me to say that I'm professional,

literally would be like you saying, I'm a professional, I mean, like it literally had, I do, I do, I do try to say that sometimes. Listen, my business card say profession. In fact, I'll show you my business card. My business card, you're gonna love this. You have my business card, you can post that. All right, professional dot dot dot dot dot.

It doesn't say professional one. It doesn't say professional one. It just says professional. So. The other side says beamer relax dot dot dot dot dot. Exactly. Exactly. So for me to say I was professional, it literally was like I'm bored. Let's do something today. That's all it was. It had no bearing on me being going out there and trying to play on a tour. I mean, I had aspirations, but I had the faintest idea of what was your game like? I have a good college kid, a good college game.

Which is cool. No, Harvard on the Rio Grande, New Mexico State. You're gonna have to clarify that one for me. That's why I always say, and I always get the same look. It's like, huh? You've led into it and then you went back. I went back because it's all, yeah,

since Harvard on the Rio Grande, like? And folks at New Mexico State we get it. It's our own little joke. Is that where you grew up or how did you end up? I my parents went to school there. Yeah, my dad worked for the work for the government. Funny enough, he was a civilian contractor. He was a golf professional. So he was the head pro at military golf courses around the world. We lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when actually it's called, a missile base called White Sands Missile Range,

which is about 30 minutes away. And then from there we moved to Panama, and then from there we moved to Berlin, Germany, and then moved back to New Mexico. So I kind of from experiences there. Yeah, a little bit different. A little bit different, childhood growing up, growing up, and wall was 1,000 yards from my house,

so he grew his own over there on my bike and check it out. Let's fast forward, at least a little bit here. How do you get, you want to be a championship? We're gonna get to that. But what was the early professional years like? How long were you working in a golf shop before you're trying to play actual events? So I went to go work as a system pro at Westford Hook Country Club

in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which funny enough is Where I'm gonna make my champions tour debut later on this year in Sioux Falls at a different golf course In fact, they're right next to each other like literally ones right above the other one um and You know, I think my first ever quote-unquote professional event was passing my PAT I think my first ever quote unquote professional event was passing my PAT, your ability test in order to,

in order to get your, yeah, in order to become a Pater. Which is basically like a breaking 80 test, right? That's obvious. Yeah, I think you had to shoot, it basically was yeah, a pair of 78s or nine or something like that. And I kind of beat that by a lot. So that was probably my technically my first ever event.

And then I played, I think later on that year, I got to play in a Dakota's tour event back when the Dakota's tour was, I don't even know if they have anymore. I would imagine they have a couple of events up there, but it was probably an eight week tournament up there in North and South Dakota. And I went out to one in Rapid City. I got an invite. I don't know if it invite. I paid to get in, so I was in, but I think I had to ask the pro to give me a spot. I think that's what it was if I remember correctly. Gary Metzger. And it turns out that he thought, you know, he said, I thought I was just giving a spot to, you know, Sussan Pro wanted to get away for a week. I didn't really think you had any talent at all.

And I actually finished, I think I finished top 20, some place. It may not have been that good, but I played well, made the cut, and made a check. So that was probably my first ever true professional event. Did you get the itch after that, and were you chasing it? Yeah, I kind of got the itch.

I mean, I actually got a little money to go play that fall. And this would have been, geez, what year would it have been? 94. Yeah, 1994, I went down to Las Vegas. There was something called the, uh, the silver state tour. And there was a guy named, there was a kid named Warren Scoota a long time ago. He was actually the, uh, Publinks champion champion and he went to school at Nevada Las Vegas South African kid unblueble player unblueble player. Well he was having problems after turning pro on places to play so his dad started the silver state to her and I go out and I I win the first event it was a 36 hole event, but I won after 27 holes because we got snowed out. We got

snowed out in Las Vegas in all places. If you can believe that. And I think first prize was like, I don't know, 1500 or something like that. I mean, it was, it, it wasn't much. That's for sure. But listen, it was a win, you know. And so I think it's not the crystal somewhere, not even the crystal, it's like a wooden plaque, maybe, I don't know. Does it sit right next to all your PGA tour titles? I had a, you know, a lot of them were kind of in the same little area.

My wife said, okay, you don't need to have the Conrad Hilton open trophy next to the water maker, okay? It's just not necessary. I'm like, yeah, it is important. It was a big deal back in the day. So. So, okay, so what year are we in now? So it was just 94,. I'm like, yeah, it is important. It was a big deal back in the day. So. Okay, so what year are we in now?

So I know it's just 94. That was kind of 94. Yeah, so 94. So I mean, I just, I didn't really, you know, I had the itch, but I also saw the guys that could play. I mean, I got a taste of it once again, go back to the coach's tour because we hosted an event at the course that I was working at.

And these guys could fly out play. I mean, I think Cam Beckman won that year, final round of 63. In a golf course, I'm like, damn, 63. I mean, that's not, I don't have that game. And so I just, I wanted to be around the game, but I didn't really think that I was going to be talented enough to actually play it for a living. And something happened to change that? I mean, something had to it.

Oh yeah, yeah, that was a couple of years later. Now we're gonna fast forward to 1998. Have you walked away from golf yet at this point? Because you quit at some point? No, no, so I quit basically, I quit at the end of, let's see, 94, 95, at the end of 95. Okay. I quit at the end of 95, just followed my then fiance to Seattle, or it took a job.

That's when I worked for Magnolia High Fide, took a job selling car stereos, or selling cell phones to begin with, and then they bumped me up to car stereos. And you talk about somebody that had absolutely zero idea about any of that stuff, any of it. But I- How'd you do selling those? I mean, I could sell anything. I had a knack, I had a knack for the BS. Are you kidding me?

I could sell. I mean, it was, I, for some odd reason, I was given the ability to just not lie, but wing it, you know, just go with it. You know, maybe not everything that I sold, I mean, I can't tell you. So when they actually moved me from cell phones to stereos, I didn't realize that each car had a different size speaker in it, so I would go out and I'd sell some dude $3,000 worth of equipment. And the install, you're like, you can't put

those speakers in this, they don't fit. There's not the right ones, I'm like, really? So I'd have to give the money back to the install, you're like, you can't put those speakers in this. They don't fit. That's not the right ones. I'm like, really? So I'd have to give the money back to the guy. I'd have to resell them stuff that I could. I was like, I had no idea what I was doing. I had zero idea of what I was doing,

but I'd tell you what I could sell, baby. Was there anything about that job that made you want to get back into golf or what? No, no, not really. I mean, funny enough, I was actually pretty content. I was working four days a week. It was actually a lot of fun. I met one of my closest friends of all time at that job.

And I just, there was a lot of really cool things that came out of it. And so, no, I never really got the golf bug. The only time, once I got the golf bug was, and it wasn't really to go back out and to compete. It was when I was watching Paul Stinkowski win in Atlanta. And I'm like, I know that guy. He played at U-TEP when I played in New Mexico State.

And so, and I can't say that we were close. I mean, I just, we happened to play the same golf course a couple of times. I happened to meet him a few times. But I knew who he was, because he was from that area. I'm like, I know that guy. So I kicked the rust off the golf clubs and went out there and started hitting golf balls again. And then probably, and this is the spring of 96 down now,

just things aren't going well with the girlfriend, fiance, blah, blah, blah. And so, you know what, I don't think this is quite for me. So, I moved back home for a little bit. I actually played a little bit of golf that summer, but I just kind of went back down there, then I back to New Mexico, took a couple of odd jobs here and there, and then in the fall of 96, the job opened up at El Paso Country Club,

which is funny enough, we're Paul. He would have practiced and played out of when he was going to U-TEP. And so when I knew the head pro there, because he also played at U-TEP, and his dad and my dad were close friends Cameron Donas's name that's when things started kind of kicking in motion because I had a job at a course I really wanted to be at I had a lot of family a lot of friends in the area and I just it was a blast. I loved working there now

I can as you say and my my pro would tell me this because Cameron is still my instructor to this day You are a crap employee you were terrible. We made you a crap employee. I ADD I couldn't he would because he was so regimented and what he wanted done And if he gave me more than one thing to do I mean if I he said go fold all those shirts or fold every shirt in here. I could do that. If he would say fold all the shirts and answer the phones, well, something's going to get messed up. One of those two jobs is going to get messed up. There's no doubt about it that my A.D. doesn't kick in. And the next thing you know, I'm going to be changing light

bulbs in the, you know, women's locker room, you know, I just, I had no ability to stay focused. And so it really came through when I was dealing with folks from behind the counter. And I just, I, because you'd have, you know, all these members coming in from different places, you know, one group's going out, the other guy's coming in, telling me all these things, and I'd be like, huh? I mean, I literally, I couldn't figure that. I mean, I was, I was beyond a clueless. But, you know, it was, you get to play golf, is that how you do it?

I got to play golf a couple of days a week. Cause a lot of pros at courses don't get to play a lot of golf. You know, it's funny because they don't play a lot of golf and they don't play in tournaments. They don't play in the, and there's a lot of Monday pro-AMs at courses around in Texas, but I gotta say I've been living in Austin and they don't have's a lot of Monday pro-AMs that courses around in Texas, but I gotta say, I've been living in Austin and they don't have a whole lot of Monday pro-AMs that guys will go and play.

And that to me was the thing that I lived for. I lived for those Monday pro-AMs. I mean, you'd get out there, I played twice a week because they wanted you to play, the members expected you to play, and they wanted good players there. And it always helped out, it helped you get lessons, book your lesson, book things like that.

But just being seen and knowing that you're a good player, but on the Mondays, I couldn't wait to go play in them. Wherever they were, I'd drive up Sunday night, get a hotel, share it with a buddy, another pro or whatnot, or I'd take three members with me and would go stay somewhere. It didn't matter, but I just, I loved to play in the money prams. And I was thankful too, because the members wanted to play. We had enough members that had their own businesses that could take Mondays off, and they would go to Albuquerque with us.

They'd go to Rio de Janeiro, so they'd go to Santa Fe. They'd go wherever it was. And so we always had a good group of guys that were willing to travel on Sunday nights to go tee it up. So that was always a big deal. But those money programs were the last. We're gonna take a quick break here to introduce a new sponsor here

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Buyraycon.com slash no-lang up for 15% off wireless Raycon earbuds. Without any further delay, let's get back to our interview with Rich P. In this time period, Q-School, how did that work? Is that what your path was to the PGA tour? Are you able to just sign straight up for Q-school? Did you bypass the minor leagues basically? I did. I literally went straight from the pro shop to the PGA tour. So I won the section, the section assistance championship in 1998. And in 1998 is when I really, I started playing really good. And I have no idea what it was.

How old are you at that time then? 98, I would have been 28. Okay. So you're not a young, you're not a young fresh out of college. No, no, no. But naive for sure, and I'll get to more of that later on. But I went to Q school. I won the Assistance Championship.

And it used to be years prior that would actually get you a bypass of going to first stage. So I was an exempt in second stage. Although in 1998, they took that out. They said, no, you still have to go to first stage. So I had to go through all three stages of Q-school. I ended up, my first one was in Scottsdale, and it got off course called Talking Stick, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Court Design, fantastic track,

but I had to shoot 67 the final day to make it through. To make it through first stage. Yep, to make it through first stage. And then the second one was in Houston. On the final day, I was in by about two or three going into the final round. And I was two over through six holes. And on the seventh hole, I had a shot with a wedge,

but in the rough, and I thought, flyer, no flyer, flyer, and I don't think it's a flyer. It was a flyer. And I absolutely airmailed the green by like 30 yards. And I got no shot. I have zero shot. So I get back over there. I find it.

I hit it back to the front of the green. I got about 60 feet left. I'm choking and I'm mad on the same breath. I mean, I can't control myself. I'm literally trying not to vomit. Because I know that making it define on this is a big deal. Well, before I even thought about. Cause I know that making it to finals is a big deal. Well, before I even thought about it,

I pulled the trigger, hit it, knocked it in. And then I ended up burning the next two holes. And then I shot, I think I shot 71 and got through comfortably at the end of the day, but there was some, the pressure of the stories you hear about Q-school and about how much pressure it puts on you, it's unbelievable. Cause if you don't get through second stage,

you just wasted 5,000 bucks. You got nothing. You got nothing. You got no status anywhere. And so that was a big deal. That was a huge deal for me. In fact, funny enough, Ilheim, who caddy formed me for 14 years and is gonna come back and caddy formed me when I turned 50.

He actually was at the same venue. He lost in a playoff, because back then they had a playoff. He lost in a playoff to go to finals, and then he actually drove out to finals in case anybody withdrew in finals. He was the first alternate and nobody dropped out. He figured that out of the 200 and some on guys are at finals, somebody would drop out.

One guy, nothing. Nobody dropped out. So turned out to be in both of our favors because I mean, I had a great career together. He's one of my closest friends in the world, but it was pretty funny how that all happened. Yeah. And you make it all the way,

how many of, I'm looking up your class right here on Wikipedia, you have 41 guys make it through. How many are you estimate, I don't know the answer to this, but how many are you estimating had to go through from the first stage all the way through? That's 41. I love those to this, but how many are you estimating had to go through from the first Stage all the way through that's what he was guys there was a few of them that had to come

You know, I said to be fair. I don't know what the I Got you bovan pelt Charles Warren Jeff Brehart and Brehoe. Yeah, Brehoe and David C wall and Roy Sevatini had made zero PJ tour starts You're the only guys on there that had made zero PGA tour starts. So my buddies that came out of that was Bovamp Health, Brynie Bayard. Brynie Bayard. I got to be close with, oh, I'm drawing a blank. I can't believe I'm drawing blanks on this. I'm so bad with names. It's killing me. But, you know,

there was a bunch of guys that I became, you know, just because we went through that process together It really was it's one of those weeks where you just kind of put your head down and you just keep on going I know Mike we're wanted. Mike's Posea. That's the other guy that was you know Mike's Pose and Brynie Beard Just because we we hung out together When we just right after you got your card you went to a class and we went through media class Which I think that everybody in the room, everybody, well, I know for me, factually, I didn't hear a single word and I know that the big

gop in my hand wasn't really a big gop. It was a big gop but it wasn't as advertised. So what is your reputation? What is your reputation? I guess, did you have a partying reputation on top? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Where did it, it was a founded reputation, well-founded. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that. I mean, it's interesting because I think that a lot of the guys, and it's true, I listen, as soon as I get done playing golf, I like to have a beverage. I absolutely like to have a beverage. I'm not gonna deny that one Iota. It was kind of in the era though, when Tiger was kicking everybody's ass.

And workouts were becoming super popular. Fitness, all of that, sports psychologist. I mean, all of it was, it was, you know, that's how it was. But I mean, before the final round at the camper open in 99, I had a big old, fat inch, a lot of plate and four couriers lights, you know, that was my dinner.

That was just how I did it, you know, and I think that a lot of times it was frowned upon were in generation before that, you know, it's kind of like smoking. Everybody, everybody used to smoke. Now nobody smokes. Because it's frowned upon, it's looked down upon, right? But listen, it was,

get some good times. I had some good times, there's no doubt about it, you know, and I was successful at what I did, and how I did it, so. Well, way at least a lot of people work, some people work, you need some sort of release, I imagine, after tournament golf. So like when I'm, when I've played in a couple of tournaments,

like in between rounds, I'm like, dude, I need a drink after grinding for four or five hours. I think that there's, there's something to that. I think it, yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot to that. I think that there's, I think for different people, it, you know, having a, having a drink,

it's, for me, it's more psychological because I needed because I've got ADD and I needed a way to stop thinking about golf. I needed a way to sit there and not fret over what my stroke or what my swing felt like or anything like that because if, because I could sit there and just go nuts, I still do go nuts. I mean there's a lot of times from just laying in bed in the middle of the night and I'm literally thinking about my putting or I'm thinking about my shipping. I'm thinking about something that has to do go nuts. I mean, there's a lot of times from just laying in bed in the middle of the night and I'm literally thinking about my putting or I'm thinking about my shipping. I'm thinking about something that has to do with golf. That's just the way

my mind works, you know, and after a while you just get tired of that. Sure. You just get burnt out of thinking about it all the time. It just eats and it naws at you. So for me, when it came to the PJ tour in tournament golf, I mean, listen, I, I, there are probably very few rounds and even very few rounds. I can probably more so today. I don't have, I don't drink a lot when after I play golf, just kind of get into that age and my body just doesn't like it that much anymore. But I just, I needed to have something to kind of smooth me out because I was so high strong, you know, and listen to other people do it different ways some guys want to go do pushups Some guys want to go running. I

Like the smell of of wooden barstools and Inside of a you know sitting at the bar watching TV Well, I think that there's a lot of people out there that kind of long for those days on the BJ tour both players and fans kind of that kind of long for those days on the PJ tour. Both players and fans, kind of, you know, a lot of people love the, some of the beer guts and that kind of culture seems to have gone by the wayward. And would you say you were one of the guys

that kind of kept that going into the 2000s and who were some of those guys that would kind of more celebrate that lifestyle? No, unfortunately, he's not on tour anymore, but Anthony Kim was legendary. Yeah anymore, but Anthony Kim was legendary. Yeah. Oh, Anthony Kim was legendary. Give me absolutely everything you've got.

I'm not gonna give you everything I've got because I took to be fair. I mean, some of it I don't quite recall, but I mean, I remember, I didn't even hang out with them. I didn't hang out with them a lot off the golf course. I think that probably was good for both of us, because I think we would have enabled one another quite a bit, but I mean, I remember Vegas a couple of times, and you just, you hear the stories about, you know, when it was a five-day event, and he was out, and he

was legendary. I mean, he would go hard, and he was not afraid to spend money. I mean, the kid was an unbelievable talented player. I mean, there's no doubt about it. And, but he could go. There's some guys that couldn't get flat. I mean, for me, it was more, I actually would have, I would probably sit there

with my caddy and hang out with my caddy more than any. In fact, I'd probably go there with my caddy and hang out with my caddy more than any of them. In fact, I'd probably go sit in the caddy room instead of hanging out up in the players locker room. I spent more time just going out the day with my caddy than I did any other players. But you know, you could hear stories about some guys who like to go and some guys.

When I first got on tour, there was a few guys. Ted Purdy was always a fun hang, especially when you'd miss the cut. Ted was always a fun hang, especially we would miss the cut. I mean, Ted was always a good dude to hang with. It's not like John Daly asked where you would go into and where you would just go into your run into a wall and then you'd back up and run through the wall and go. I mean, it was, by our standards, it was fairly tame,

but it was just sitting around, just having a giggle and enjoying life and whatnot, not letting anything get you down after a miscut or celebrating after a nice week, having a solid week or something like that. But there are some guys that are very quiet about how they do it. But I can promise you, there's guys out there that are right in the middle of it Yeah, and they like to have fun. Well, who was your caddy that you would that was it Steve DePlanis?

Steve DePlanis was my caddy for for the camper open win. He was my he was a caddy for me for Probably about five months five months, and I finally said I can't hang with you anymore, dude Yes, we're just a bad influence on each other. Well, part of it, but I think though, in one of my rare mature moments, I figured that you know what, I probably need somebody that's a little more grounded. And I went through probably three or four guys, so I found the right one. And then once I found the right guy, it was great, but, but Steve was awesome. In fact, Jim Furean, I had a conversation about

not long ago, it was because he worked for Jim for many years. And Steve was, Steve was legendary. I mean, that's that big legendary. Just the fact that he had no concept of time. Time just did not really, is it important for a catty? The time did not really agree with Steve There was more often a night and Jim and I were talking how many times you carried the bag to the range

I he carried the bag to the range as I did carry the bag to the range before the final rounds of when there was winning tournaments You know and so it's just he was Steve was Steve was up unto his he was He was a different breed. He was a different breed. He was a different animal. And I've been around Steve at times, after we won the camper open. This is a perfect example of Steve right here.

So we win the camper open. I cut him a check for 45 grand. That's 10%. And I sent it to him. He had a week off. And I give it to him. I said, cash this on Thursday or Friday because the funds won't hit my account until to Wednesday. This is not a problem. So we take the week off afterwards and we

come back in Memphis and Memphis at that time, if you ever wanted to buy a Rolex or a nice watch, there was a jewelry store, a jeweler in Memphis that had, gave you a great discount on watches. And everybody knew it. And I was wearing, I don't even know what I was wearing, Swiss Army watch. I think it was just, it was a nice Swiss Army watch. It was a Swiss Army watch.

Anyways, I meet Steve on Tuesday morning before we go play. And he goes, pro, hell of a job, last week, or the week before, hell of a job there. Let's keep it going. Let's go. Yeah, that sounds great. And just, you know, this is how much I believe in you.

I went on and bought myself. Okay. He bought himself a $25,000 gold presidential Rolex with a white face. And out of the $45,000, he spent $25,000 on that. And who knows where the other $ 45,000, he spent 25,000 on that. And who knows where the other 20,000 went. I mean, I'm pretty sure it did not go to Mr. Tach. I was gonna say there's a tax rate. I don't really think that that,

I don't think that existed. So, you know, that was Steve. That, I mean, he went out and bought himself that watch and I'm shaking my head going, are you kidding me? I mean, he went out and bought himself that watch and I'm shaking my head going, are you kidding me? I mean, I was unbelievable. Unbelievable. I told that story to Sephiric and he goes, that is about right.

That is, that's about right. I mean, but you get him inside the ropes and he was, I think the nickname they gave him that week was Yoda because he was always in my head, is always in my face and whatnot during the winter camper, but he was so good at whatty to the cadding, but he had no, and it's funny when I say no concept of time, and he goes out and buys himself a role, like that's going to help out Steve.

Like, that's going to help you. It really doesn't. That iron he was lost on me. Yeah, so he just, you know, I miss him dearly. I really do because I think that, I think that as he, as he would have aged, he would have slowed down a little bit and probably gotten the bag that he deserved. I think he would have been one of those caddies that would have been on the bag for a long time.

I mean, I look at him like a bones, like a Steve Williams. I mean, he really was that good at saying the right things at the right times, but he just was not very reliable sometimes. Yeah, that sounds like it. Yeah. Well, so the book, the book, the Buds Wet and Teas, which I'd immediately, I have not read, kind of chronicles, at least your guy's relationship and your rookie year on tour. I think what is what's the good in the bad from that book? You know, I don't know, to be fair. The bad is that you and I got paid the same amount for that book. So to be fair, I haven't read it. I read a little bit of what the author what he wrote. I read a little bit of my part on it. I've never read it. And so it's been out since what 2001, I think.

Was that 19 years ago now? I haven't, I have no idea what's in that book. I mean, I, listen, I gave the author a lot of time with myself with my, and I made time, you know, told my family and my friends. And he went out and interviewed a lot of people and sat there to a couple of things that we did.

And then he just, I asked him about painting and he was, oh no, you're not gonna get paid for this. Me being naive, there's no doubt about it because he approached me in September of 99 about a book. And I, what guy wouldn't, it'd be kind of kind of fun right but I was so naive that I just saw my name on the the board right there to be there you go yeah I think I'm going to get something in TPC saw great numbers whole number seven I think I made it to

there that must have been it I must have made to that yeah anyway was was it for highest score no it was not that you'd be nice we are recording this during players week here at TPC sawgrass I forgot to mention but But back to the book. Yeah, I don't know. I really have no earthly idea what what's in there. I mean, I know that I didn't tell the truth, the whole truth, another man. I mean, I I laid back on some stories because I just thought, eh, I don't know if I really want everybody to know how much of a degenerate I was that night. Well, that's why you're here today. You're here to tell us now.

No, I'm not. It was a listen. I have a 16 year old and a 14 year old. They listen to podcasts. They don't listen to golf podcasts. Oh, you listen, my wife's, eh, I don't know about that. I was gonna say, I feel like I've been, not hesitant to, you listen, my wife said, I don't know about that. I was going to say, like, I feel like I've been not hesitant to have you on, but I've wanted to have you on

for a while. But I feel like you've got so many good stories that it's got to be hard to know which ones you can tell. Well, you know, part of it, it is, it is kind of an art form of work and media. I still work in media. And I, you know, I'm going to be out there playing again. And so I don't wanna completely blow my opportunity to have some corporate sponsors. Yes. So I do have to kind of hold back. But listen, I'm like this guy in the world.

I mean, I truly am. I mean, to go from where I was and what I was doing in 1996, in 1998, I was making $13,000 a year at a golf shop. $13,000. That was my yearly salary. And that's not even last place here this week. I mean, last place is going to make $20,000. So, to do that, and to be where I'm at, and to achieve everything I have, I mean, listen,

it's silly. And if you're not going to go out there and have some fun on the way, then shame on you. I remember when I was a rookie going up to one of the guys on tour, Scott Cuppet, he used to work for Calloway Odyssey. And we were just kind of having a chat. And I go, you know what, this might be my one shot. This might be my one year on the PJ tour. I might only have one year. This is be my one year on the PJ tour. I might only have one year.

This is before I won. You know what? I'm gonna have some fun. I'm not gonna, listen, when I go to a town, I'm gonna go see the town. When I go do, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna explore and I'm gonna have some fun. And I did and I, listen, it was a blast.

And it's still a blast. I was gonna say, I mean, if I think it would be, everyone's gonna be different than the same way we were talking about, kind of with just the party scene, but it would be very, I don't know if depressings the right word, but if you were just a robot and went from hotel to course, hotel to course,

hotel to course, I don't, you wouldn't enjoy your time on the road at tournaments, right? That point being on the road is a detriment. You know what I mean? You'd rather be home doing that if you had some. Yeah, exactly. I would have never survived. Right.

I would have never have survived. Cause this is not my personality. And even now is not my personality. You know, when I go over to Europe, you know, when I do my work for Sky Sports, I mean, I go out. I go out and I play golf. I go walk around the towns, you know, I pop into a- work for Sky Sports. I mean, I go out, I go out and I play golf, I go walk around the towns, you know,

I'm pop into a- Especially so you go out. To the places you're going, you got to. That's exactly what I'm like. Yeah, so I go out there, I look, I explore, I have fun doing it all. Now, you know, in the US, I get kind of locked in these places because you've been

into these towns so many times that you kind of have your old haunts that you want to go to, your local flavors, things like that, but you know, it's Over there if I haven't been there before Hell I'm gonna go out there and see what's going on where some of your highlights of places you've been in Europe How many events a year do you work for Sky? I work 23 weeks a year. Okay. Um how many are in Europe and how many are I work seven of them over there and

16 of them here, but this year it's gonna be a seven of them over there and 16 of them here But this year's gonna be a little bit less over there and more over here just because the writer cup Which team you say is gonna beat the dogs not out of team here by the way. Oh, man I was just getting ready to say that's okay I would get all of our all of our European listeners have nothing but praise for you like they're I have you ever listen to rich beam on sky. He's great and you went and said that and now you lost a ball No, no, no, no, no, no, no, they can fire back at me and this is all in good fun I am I'm gonna bleed red white and blue for team USA eight days a week

Especially working with my crew because they hold all the cars. They have us dead to rice. They've been beating us like unwanted reddit and stepchildren for the last 20 years. And it's just the, oh, so every little ounce I can squeeze out of them. But you know, let me see. I mean, I think every town that we go to last year, last year in Ireland, where the boys played, that was probably- But hitched there, yep. That was probably the most fun I'd ever seen. Because were you there?

I was not, we were there a couple of months before it, but I saw the pictures of the town. The town shut down. Like literally they had to divert the cars around town. The one main road that goes through town, they shut it down on Friday and Saturday night and everybody was there. Everybody.

It was, it was so cool. I couldn't believe it. When I first took the job with Sky, I worked with a crazy guy, love Neteers, Wayne Riley, Radar. And Radar is not right in the head. He's Australian and he's literally not right in the head, but he's got the biggest heart in the world. And he's telling me the first week that we're working together in Abu Dhabi because, oh

mate, when you go to Ireland and Scotland, you're going to be a rock star. I'm like eh, seriously, they they they you're going to be a rock star. Right. Whatever. Literally you walk out. I mean I when I'm over there in Scotland and Ireland, I get I get great treatment. I mean it's it's unbelievable and I'm just I'm me I tried it to be anything else except for me And I just and I'm accommodating you want photos. It's not I mean I walked down that street in Liddansh And after I got to the street I'm like, okay, I'm tired not only am I tired I'm slightly drunk because everybody wants to buy you beer everybody Everybody wants to buy you beer and. And you hate to say no.

You can't. And it's Guinness. So I, but it's really interesting. He was right. I mean, I, there's proper golf fans. Oh, they're great. They're the greatest fans in the world. They, they truly, when it comes to golf, and it, it's just, they love it.

They embrace it. They can't get enough of it. And they sit there and I just, I love the stories. I cannot get enough of being over in Scotland and Ireland. It's just, I met my first year over there. I, on Twitter, a guy reached out to me named Paul Vaughan. Paul Vaughan's ahead pro at Art Glass. Art Glass is about 20 minutes away from Royal County down. And, says, fan a game. Sure, why not?

So I hopped in a cab, went over there, introduced myself. We went upstairs, had a pint, went out there and played golf, about two in the afternoon or some. And we get done, or sorry, this is one of the stories you're going to enjoy. So we're halfway through the round, and the views are

spectacular. Absolutely spectacular. It's the only course in Ireland you can see the water from every single. It's unbelievable. And so halfway out there I look over at Paul and said, where's the beer cart? No one full well there's not a beer cart out there. There you go. Yeah, not like a very good remedy beer cart and I'm like, well you should. Hint, hint, hint. Well, by the next hole, this old boy comes pulling up in this rickety old cart. And he's got, I mean, I'm not lying.

He probably had like seven cases of beer in bottles. And they're just rattling around in the plastic carton, what not. And he follows around. That's all warm, as you would expect. So all warm. We sat there and Paul goes, this is a great idea, I said, listen, do you have any Americans come over?

And he says, yeah, I said, you need to have a beer cart. Well guess what, our glass has a beer cart. Because thanks to you. Thanks to me. They need to make it happen. And there's gonna be a halfway house. Did you go to Port Rush last year?

I didn't go to the tournament, no. Okay, but have you seen the new little halfway house? They have where you walk in and it's gonna be a halfway house. Did you go to Port Rush last year? I didn't go to the tournament, no. Okay, but have you seen the new little halfway house they have where you walk in? And it's just, they're gonna build something like that out by the ninth green tenth tee box so they actually have something there. Perfect. Paul's the bomb.

I love Paul DeTier as he's become a really, really close friend, but I am, I got a beer cart at a golf course in Ireland. Did they gonna name it after you? Oh, I don't know, I'm sure. I'm bigger. I'm sure. I'm sure. You need to go to the grand opening or something. Like the first day, I need to picture of you on the wall.

Oh, no, the beer carts have been in service for 15. Oh, it is. Oh, it's been in service for, oh, this is in 2015. So it's been in service since 2016, the very latest. Got you. You need a picture on the wall up there. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah.

I'm a member there now. Yeah, yeah, it's great. I love it. I love going over there. I love going over there. I think absolutely. Oh, yeah. I'm a member there now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. I love it. I love going over there. I really, I love going over there. I think Ireland is just it's probably one of the greatest countries and just the people, the golf, the atmosphere, the everything. I love it. I absolutely love it. So how did you, how did you end up with sky? I mean, was this, was this something you always pictured yourself doing at any, at any point? You're kind of in that, you know, in that, we still got to talk O2PGA as well, but you're kind of in that weird No Man's Land for professional golfers, the 45 to 49 age, and it seems to be a common

place that people end up working in media. So you can work on your game, still getting ready for Champions Tour, or what was your mindset? You know, funny enough, I never really thought about it until I started having some success on tour, and I guess I was, you know, such a good interview, you know, people like chatting with me because I would give them an honest answer, like, like Brooks Capka does, like Rory Macaray does. And I was always, I was, I always had fun with it, right? And so a couple guys just put an idea in my head. You should really go into commentary. And I kind of molded it. It was just something that was stuck in the back of my mind.

And then once I started not playing as much and not playing as well, the end of 2012, when I was on the European tour, I missed the cut. I was over in Switzerland. I missed the cut. And I had nothing to do before, and I wasn't leaving until Monday. So I thought, you know what, I'll cruise on down and see if they want anybody, you know, do anything in TV.

So I walked down there and chatted with them on Saturday morning and they said, no, we really don't need it, you know, need anything right now. Ask the producer who's now my boss, Jason, he goes, do you have any experience? I said, I have none. He goes, we'll get some experience and be happy to talk. Fast forward to the next year. I take a job doing 10 events maybe with golf channel, start off doing inside, inside work, golf central, morning drive, a couple other things. central morning drive, a couple other things. And then the following year in 2014, I did 20 events, 20 events live golf.

And halfway through the season, Sky Sports was just now going to start covering more golf in the U.S., they're gonna bring them a production team. I get a phone call from Jason. Are you, would you be interested in working with Sky Sports? Yeah, absolutely. And away we go.

I'm going to see how much you can comment on this. How do you compare and contrast the way the US television networks operate a golf tournament versus how Sky does it? It's night and day. It's totally different. It's two different worlds. And it's not a crack on how the US says that we just do it differently. We don't have, we don't have towers where guys will go sit into.

We have basically a room, not too dissevered what we have right here. And what we'll do is we have two TVs in there. And whatever comes on that TV we talk about. And what we do though is we rotate. So between three of us, we'll rotate in 45, 45 minutes to an hour segments. So you and I would do one hour together then I would step out somebody would come in,

you do the next hour then you would step out and I'd come back in. So you just rotate in and out. So you always have a fresh voice. You don't have somebody on 16-tower, 17-tower and the 18-tower on the ground. We do have a guy that's on the ground, but we only have one. I think for the big term minutes, ground. We do have a guy that's on the ground, but we only have one.

I think for the big tournaments, maybe the majors we have two. I think only two for the open is what we have, but it's different though. I mean, from that standpoint, it's a lot different where we're always just kind of rotating in and out or never out there. Like I said, sitting in a tower all by yourself.

So you're just picking up the feet, the world feed that comes. Sky is picking up the feed that's coming from CBS or NBC golf channel. And we basically take their commercials out, we take their, we don't take as many breaks as they do. We only take four breaks instead of that's exactly right. Show, yeah, we show a lot more golf, but unfortunately, one of our biggest problems is that sometimes there's nothing to show. Our producers have it really tough because they've got to find something to show.

Now this week, the players will be easy because there's always gonna be live golf somewhere, but what they have to do is hopefully there's a feature group from PGTour Live or they're showing par threes or even like number 10 at Riviera. They'll show that and they'll always feed something in but it's it's hard. They've got a tough job so a lot of times when we go do a run of leaderboards that's because the the producer scrambling to find some golf to get out there and you know and we do a different whole pieces

That we set up early in the week. We have the guys at the SkyCart which CBS has has copied the SkyCart with Amanda Baleonis who does a great job with it and I know NBC I don't think they particularly like that so they don't have one yet, but I mean I Think the what they do what Sky does is a little bit cutting edge. I mean, we do stuff on the driving range. We get players out there for the open. We have the open zone. We have players out there.

We have challenges. We have all sorts of fun. It really is good. I think that we have a really good product. I really do. It's impressive. That's where a lot of people will push back on us for our criticism of USTV and say, oh, it's so hard to do all these things.

I'm like, no, guys, there's a model off there. It exists. Yeah, I think that there's different challenges here. And I think the tour is, not, I don't know, mandate is the right word, but the commercial interruption is a shared issue, I think, for the tour and the networks. It's not straight network problems, not straight tour. I think it's a combination.

You got to, I mean, as Peter Cross has said in his podcast, you did it within, which was brilliant, by the way. I thought that the honesty out there was pretty amazing, but you got to pay for it somehow. You know, you got to pay for it somehow, and how are you going to do it? And this is how you do it. You got to show commercials now, whether you do it, the picture and picture, where they show a commercial on one side, and then the playthrough or whatnot. Yeah, that's good.

Showing live golf, I mean, I don't want any part of the producer's share. I could promise you that, because there's all these golf balls in the air at once. Listen, you can't show live shots all the time, but what they do on the European tour, which I don't know if it would fly over here as much, but what they do on the European tour,

is that they will actually have two featured groups in the morning or the afternoon. It's, let's just say we have one feature group, two feature group in the afternoon, and we're off for four hours. We will show every single shot from those two groups and then they fill in with other stuff around the course when somebody else is playing well

but they will follow that group because it's usually the biggest names out there. And that's interesting because they won't break away. So what that does, it gives the guy on the ground a little more time to talk. It gives the, to have a little more interaction between the commentator and the booth to have with the guy on the ground

to ask a question or set something up. So I think from a standpoint of, of watchability, you can kind of get a sense that I feel like it gets you in a little bit better rhythm where in the US side as soon as the putt stops or the shot stops they're going somewhere else and you're trying to I understand why they're trying to show as many different shots as they possibly can

But I think sometimes when you try and do that you miss the big picture that hey they they'd like to see You got to build up a little bit. I'd like to see a shot build up a little bit instead of just going back and just showing Yeah, and showing nothing so you can tug on so many strings You got to build up a little bit. I'd like to see a shot build up a little bit instead of just going back and just showing nothing. Yeah. You can toggle on so many strings it just comes back to the commercials, right? That's exactly right. You can, you know, the things that you're talking about allowing for, they just don't have

the time windows to do it. I still think they waste a lot of time on the air doing some things. I'm sure there's reasons why it all happens. Yeah. And we try and we try and not do, I I mean obviously we don't interview the tournament host that week We did we don't do that in the tower. We don't have Jack Nicholas coming and sitting us with a Honda obviously We don't do a lot of that because I Think essentially the folks it's guy and and sky is a for the you guys don't know sky is actually a subscription based channel

It's like direct TV is actually a subscription-based channel. It's like direct TV, and we own all that, but it's subscription-based. And so I think that, what, since it is subscription-based, people say we want to watch more golf. So we try and show them as much golf as we can possibly get out there.

Now sometimes we just, we can't, it's difficult, this and that, but we don't do a huge build, this and that, but we, we don't do a huge build up. We don't do a 20 minute build up. We do a five minute build up. We do something, unless we have like last week, we had an hour and 45 minutes before the last group went off and went on air. So yeah, we'll spend in 15 minutes at this guy cart, but we'll also show shots, we'll show highlights, we'll show what guys are doing out there already to kind of fill in a little bit just to give,

since there's just two of us in the commentary booth that week, it gives us a little bit of time to, to, if you're actually minutes to, to take a break, but, but there is a lot of that. And, you know, do you, do people really want to watch somebody out there shooting on, on a Sunday morning that's shooting 80? Do you want to, you really want to show that? Or just because it is live golf, or do you want to do something else? I mean, everybody's going to have a different opinion. I mean, and so you just- Gotta have a better sense.

You're always going to have somebody out there going this sucks. That's never ever ever going to be perfect, that's for sure. I can't believe we didn't lead for this, or there were this far end without talking O2, PGA. Are you feeling any different coming into that week? Are you, you've won a couple times on tour to that point? Yeah, I wanted, actually won two weeks prior, but I, at the international, but you know,

going into it, yeah, I mean, I was feeling good about my game, but it was one of my fourth major and majors have a different feel. They really do. It's, it's one of those things where everything is bigger. It's not small and compact. I mean, everything is just it's ginormous. Everything is just exponentially bigger. So I wasn't really too comfortable with playing in majors. And so your major record to that point was I was cut T 70 cut at the open the PGA and the US open.

Yeah. And you hadn't played any of the majors in 2002. No, I missed out, I missed out qualifying at the US. In fact, no, I met the US open. I played 18 holes and bagged it because I think I shut like even par. I think 63 was leading the other and I don't have an extra gear right now. And so getting into the PGA, you know, I went out there, I got up there on Saturday, played golf in an outing on Sunday. And my caddy and I said, you know what, let's go out there first thing Monday. Let's go see what it's like. Let's get a feel for it. And we got out there. And instantly we both loved it. It was a great driving golf course for me. It was fantastic. And so we played 18 holes on Monday, first thing

out, the first guys on the course, and then we played 18 holes on Tuesday. Pretty boring. We had Robert Gomez, Pat Perez, Fuzzy Zeller, and John Daley. Pretty, pretty low key. Pretty, pretty low key, no gambling or swearing or stories, which is great. Nor smoking either. She's like a huge cloud, just following us down the fairway as hysterical.

But I remember playing with, playing with those guys and on the fifth hole, par four, dog leg left or right. And I just took driver and just hit it right over everything and then the fifth hole par 4, dogly left or right, and I just took driver and just hit it right over everything and then the fairway and had, you know, small wedge in. And fuzzy goes, what are you doing? I don't know. Just hit your freaking two iron or whatever is up here, the five wood and then you got eight iron in. It's a nothing hole if you do that. It's fuzzy. I'm driving it unbelievably well. I said, I just won two weeks ago. I got about 1.6 in the million in the bank.

I got to your exemption. I'm hitting driver everywhere. And he goes, all right, there you go. But it was a golf course I fell in love with. And I just, that really rarely happened to me. I would get to golf courses and I would always be intimidated by him a little bit, just because you're like, man, how do I figure this out?

Because a lot of times I'd just watch it on TV before, before being on tour, but I just, they were also difficult. I mean, they really were. And I just got to this one and I thought, man, I like this. And obviously when you're playing well, you're going to see the golf course in a different light. But I felt, I also felt like I had the green speed down I felt like the putting green that they had the old putting green right next to the first tea

I felt like it was it was way faster than was on the golf course It was also on a pretty good sized pitch too, so I Just I didn't put much. I did practice my putting I was out there. I hit you know I don't know maybe 15 pts before I've got to go play and I was out there, I hit, you know, I don't know, maybe 15 pints before I would go out to go play and I felt like I had the pace down. Again, everything I was doing was working. I felt great about my game,

but for whatever reason, it just, everything felt easy, but the golf course, I could just go back to the golf, I just, I fell in love with it. I really did. It was just it fit my eye. Everything about it fit my eye. I go back there now and I look at it and I'm like, what the hell?

How did that? How did I do that? That. Are you sure I want to hear? Really? It really is that way. I mean, it's part of it's because they've changed it. There's no doubt about it.

But there's parts of it that I just don't, I'm like, I can't believe I did that. I really can't. What is, I mean, coming down the stretch there, remind me of the order, the sequence of events, right? Because Tiger, I know Tiger Burdy the last four holes to get within one. Bastard.

See behind you, is he ahead of us? He's in front of us. He's in front of it. So Justin Leonard and I were in the final group and he's playing alongside Fred Funk. And I had, I'd made Eagle on 11, and then I birdied 13, and as I'm putting it down the hill,

I make it, and I pick it about the whole, and I mean, is dead in my line as a leaderboard. And I'd been looking at leaderboards. I mean, I wasn't chasing away from him, but this one was right in front of me. Why didn't realize I had a six stroke lead with five to play Oh, no see a lot of people didn't realize that I had a six stroke lead with five to go and Then there's about a 75 yard walk from that tea or from that green to the next tea and thankfully because that's when That's when I started feeling it. There's no data started feeling it.

I drove it, I did misaffaire with the final round. It says I hit 13 to 14, but on the 10th hole, I missed it by not even a yard. I drove it right down the middle on 14, right in the middle of a divot. I plug it in the bunker, make bogey, which was fine. I was like no big deal, I still feel great. And I make it easy par on 15 and

All the sun you start here in some roars you're on 15 and then when we're on 15 green we hear a roar on 16 And all of something in myself is go Fred Funk go go Freddy Funk Freddy because Freddy was a great story that week because his brother was battling go Freddie Funk Freddie because Freddie was a great story that week because his brother was battling alcoholism and he you know Freddie talked about his press conference and gotten pretty emotional about it and the fans got behind him and and so every time that a putt went in I'm thinking Fred funk it's all Fred funk I mean because I never once thought you know Tigers making all like so I did I you know I was hyperventilating as it is anyways. And I remember my caddy telling me on 16 after he hit the T-Shine, how you feeling?

I said, Billy, I wanna throw up all of my foot, Josh, he goes, good, got you right where I want you. I'm like, oh geez. But, you know, to make the putt on 16, and that's one of the shots that, when I go back to 16 at Hazeltein, and I look and I see where that flag was and I see where I made I'm going. How in the hell did I ever read that the right way?

And you go back in I put it right in the middle. I mean it wasn't even as good. How long was the putt? God it must have been over 20 feet, probably 25 maybe not quite 30 feet. But I just I mean it's right in the heart. It's perfect pace. It's incredible. Force out lead with two holes to force. Force out lead with two to go. Your target. Tiger still starts, yeah, he's still throwing everything including the kitchen sink at me and I'm going, what are you doing?

Stop. But the, the, the one that I remember as well, very vividly is Billy and my driver on the last. He takes the head cover off and he pulls a club out and he usually never does that. He pulls the head cover out, but I used to take the club out. He hands me the driver, he goes, do me a favor, go what's that? He's hit this thing as hard as you can.

Well, he knew that the way I played, I could swing it as hard as I wanted, not gonna go offline. I'm just gonna hit it dead straight. So I got up there and just unloaded on one and just, it was the longest drive of the day on that one, just bash it. But I drive of the day on that one. I just, I just bash it. But I'm walking down there and I'm literally shaking.

And I'm standing over that second shot on the last hole and I thinned it, I came up short because I literally was afraid I wasn't shankin'. I couldn't feel, I literally could not feel my body. I couldn't feel my body. That's what I wanna hear. Like that, so I feel like so many people will say, like yeah, I was nervous, but I wasn't nervous.

Oh no, no, I literally, I was one bad breath away from having a full-blown panic attack. I literally I'm not kidding you. I thought I was gonna shank it. I couldn't feel it. I could not feel myself swinging the club and I wanted this thing over with. I wanted to be done. I couldn't I mean mean, it couldn't, I couldn't get off the golf course quick enough. I was so uncomfortable. It was, it was unbelievable. See, chip up short from short. I, I was just on the collar.

Yeah. I potted it. I potted it about 10 feet by, and then I just, I, I think I was actually on the green because there was the only three put I had all week. And I, my 10 footer, I knocked by a foot and a half and brushed that in. And did the punch? The punch felt great, but the, when I'm literally standing over that second shot on 18, and I cannot, my whole body is just numb.

It literally is numb. And it was crazy. It was just, it literally was crazy. You just, I couldn't feel, I mean, as I'll say it again, I literally thought that I could shank this because I have no feeling. That is, I can relate to that. So one, I'm guessing the answer is no. The dance. Do you regret the dance at all? Oh hell no. No, no, no, I don't regret it. Listen, what do you do?

I know. It's like, I mean, I saw Tiger even listen. What do you do? I know it's like what do you do? I mean I saw Tiger when the first two majors that year and he raised it. Yes, you know with the big fist pump with both arms and what not And I remember thinking to myself one time if I ever win a major I am not gonna do the frickin' arm pump and yes, and I'm like so I I just did you a little did, did my little jig, baby? Yeah. What was the celebration like after that? Oh God.

Magnificent. We got done, God, I think the last, I think about six o'clock is when we finished playing, I may not even be that late, but I think we finally got out of there about nine, nine or 10. All the parties afterwards were like the receptions, you go in the clubhouse and you toast the membership. And one of my closest friends to this day

is a member of the RISM, is Patrick Hunt. And he and I taught, you know, I don't see him enough. That's how close we are. And I got to spend time with him for the first time and met him and all the people that were responsible for putting on the tournament and whatnot and all the committees and things like that. And then I remember Scott Ben Pelt was with golf channel then.

I think it was still then. And I went in, I did an interview with I was a Scott. I forget who. Anyways, but I remember my wife coming over and she had a Styrofoam cup. And I think I think there was actually a little bit of Coke in there, but there was a lot of Jack. And by the time I got done doing it, I think there was four or five interviews I did for TV. I wasn't feeling any pain. I was feeling pretty invincible. But so we flew from there to Seattle. We had this, I mean, I was flying privately at the time. We had this small Ler 35 and Ler 35 and not big.

I mean, it fits four people and luggage, and not much else, but the gift baskets and the stuff that we're given to us afterwards. I mean, and ordering food, you couldn't move. You couldn't hardly move and you got to, what I think we had about a three hour flight over there. And, you know, it's my wife, my caddy, gentleman by name Bill Escherbrenner,

who's a long time club pro at El Paso Country Club. And we're just, we're laughing and smiling and giggling. And I don't even know if we tell any stories because we're just laughing so hard. Like, what the hell just happened? That just happened. What the hell just happened, right? And it was just one of those things where, where you're just like, how is it even possible? And then we land in my buddy who lives in Seattle,

you know, lines up this limousine to pick us up and take us to the hotel. And we finally pass out. It wasn't even sleeping. You finally passed out about 4 a.m. I woke up at 6, just laughing. Like literally just sitting going, that just beat.

Because that's Tiger. He said he won the first two majors, had a shot at Mirafield too and then he got blown off the course on that Saturday. But I do not mean this disrespectfully at all, but do you know what your second best major finishes? Oh God, no, it's probably not even 40th maybe. No, you had a T15 in Augusta.

Oh, I did, yeah, I did. That's right, first year I played Augusta. No, my record of majors is terrible. That is your only top 10 finish, you have three top 25s and you won. Yes, it's awesome. I mean, it's awesome, that you're, but that speaks to that moment being so big,

is like, I feel like some guys won't, either won't admit that or don't feel that, because they either think they're gonna have more opportunities or whatnot, but for you, I think it was the least I've feeling in that, like at any point was it like, well, this is my chance. You know, I never really sat there and thought about it like that

because I think I was just having too much fun doing what I was doing. I mean, even though I was ridiculously nervous and all that, it was still fun. That's what you wanted to do. You want to be that nervous. You want to be in that situation. So I was having a lot of fun with it,

but it never once even dawned on me think this is my one chance And it's not because I didn't think that It's not because I thought that I would have more chances. I just don't think I ever even would stop and say You know what an unbelievable opportunity blah blah. I just I mean everything I Couldn't even believe I was at one two P.J. Torvins by the time anyway, so I mean I'm not gonna sit there and stop and think about you know what this all could mean in fact tiger afterwards said To the medias is sometimes it helps to be a little naive in a situation like that being the first time in contention a major This and that and pull it off and somebody said that said or doesn't that

What do you think about that? I go he's right? a major this and that and pull it off. And somebody said that and said, or doesn't that, what do you think about that? I go, he's right. If I sat there, I stopped and I thought about it. I mean, come on. I mean, I'm going to, I'm absolutely going to, I truly would have vomited everywhere. But I just, you don't sit there and you think about it. And I think these days with social media and all that and all the information you can get at your fingertips, it's a different world. I mean, I might have looked and might have seen what all comes with it, but it wasn't something that I was thinking about.

This might be my only chance. I was having too much fun playing Good Golf. Well, before we let you go, what are we leaving any, what do you have a go to story that you were leaving on the table? What are we leaving on the table here? We covered a lot here, but there's a lot of stories we're leaving. All right, I'll tell you the craziest thing that I've ever seen in a golf course. People always want to know what's the strangest thing or the funniest thing, but this is

by far the strangest thing I've funniest thing, but this is by far the strangest thing I've seen in golf course. So I used to play on the Monday Pro Am's at in Dallas when they had two different golf courses. And I was the first group out at the TPC lost cleanest one course and we're on, we played one, two, three, walked across the road and run four T. I'm standing on four T and I've got, I've got my four amateurs with me and we're, we're having a big old time as we always do to have to laugh. How much time I see this car drive right in front of us? And it goes across the bridge and starts driving down the ninth hole. And I'm just a concession stand over there. It's probably just going to drop something off.

hole. There's a concession stand over there is probably just going to drop something off. Then a few seconds later I see two motorcycle cops drive by. They're chasing them. No way. They're chasing this guy. Well, he drives down nine, turns right around, comes right back up six, and we're sitting here watching this whole thing. He drives back up six, drives up seven, a par five, is looking for a way to get out. Doesn't find it, so he drives back down eight. Well, now these two motorcycle cops, I mean, they're right behind him, but now you've got three

golf carts filled with police officers. You've got, at the time, the head of tour security, Danny, out there, and they're all in pursuit and we see these Officers take the cart there's three of them in this cart They all bailed out and as soon as they bail out and they're feet of the ground They pulled out their guns and then they're they're aiming it right at this car driving down the eighth fairway I mean right at him. So finally, the car stops. The guy gets out, they go and gang tackle him,

you know, put him in cuffs, haul him away. And we're just sitting there watching this. I mean, this is all like literally unfolding right in front of her eyes, going, this is awesome. And turns out, turns out the guy, the year before, had hopped over the fence of the driving range and started hitting golf balls like he was going to go play. And he had some mental issues. And the tournament actually knew about him from that instance.

So Danny Colson, I find out the story afterwards when I was talking to Danny that he'd hopped the fence earlier. He said, yeah, we'd actually contacted his mom before the tournament just to see if he's okay. Yeah, he's on his meds, everything's fine. Well, apparently he went off his meds for a couple of days and got in his car and wanted to go play golf and drove out onto the golf course literally. And thankfully, you know, they took him away, put him in the right place,

got him back where he needed to be. But I asked Danny, I said, I just got to know, I said, how close, how close were they to unloading their chamber on him? I mean, that's what police officers supposed to do. And they said, about five feet. So if this guy would have driven five more feet, he probably wouldn't be around anymore. So I mean, I'm thankful that it all happened, but it was by far the most bizarre thing. I mean, there's literally a police chase on a golf course

at a tour event on a Monday, and I got to witness it. Oh my god. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. That was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen and I got off course by a long shot. Wow. Yeah. That's a good way to end it right there. That's a good way to end it right there.

But there are definitely more stories when you ever have. We'll do a part two. When you have a podcast of when you just, you need to have a podcast where you just need to walk up to tour plays and tell me your favorite story. Tell me just your favorite PJ tourist story. I'll have another one for you. Whenever I ask that question, I always get the, oh man so many I can't tell.

No, those shirts always react to it. Oh, it's supposed to be. There are plenty of them that you can't tell. There's no doubt about it. This is a family-friendly podcast. Yes, now sometimes. So, all right, Mr. Rich Bean, best of luck this week at the players and with your upcoming Chapin Story schedule. Cheers, I appreciate it. Great, thanks for coming on. Absolutely. Let's give it a big club. Be the right club today. That is better than most.

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