No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 352: Jim Furyk

Episode Date: September 14, 2020

It's a major championship week and 2003 US Open Champion Jim Furyk joins the pod to discuss his history in the event, Winged Foot, the transition to competing on the Champions Tour, preparing to host his own tournament, and plenty of Ryder Cup discussion as well.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Podcast, Sully here. I wish I was about to tell you that you're going to hear a full episode debriefing the safe way. Open, Harry Higgs made a great run.

Well, Stewart Sink, man, I don't like Roon against him, but I feel like he does this at all the wrong times. Very happy for Stewart sink a win on the PGA tour at age 47. Very impressive. Thought we were getting a mega podcast bump out of Harry Higgs. I'd be lying if I said we got to watch any golf this weekend. We had an event planned at sweetens cove long before anything got rescheduled to this week.

We missed the whole A&A inspiration. We missed the formula. One race. We missed everything this weekend, we're out playing with a bunch of refugees from a lot of different parts of the country, of people that have signed up to be a part of our event system. So many of our events got canceled this year and we were so happy to gather a bunch of people at Sweden's

cove and play a lot of golf and have a lot of fun. Regrettably that meant we missed a lot of golf this weekend. I'm sure there's many other podcasts you can check into to get a full debrief on the professional golf this weekend. What we have today is an interview with Jim Furek. We're going to talk a little bit about Winkfoot, talk about the US Open this year. His runs at US Open, what made him such a great US Open player. I've gotten no Jim a little bit over the last couple of months.

Great due to talk to just a super interesting guy. For a long period of time, I guess I just didn't consider him interesting before I ever listened to anything he had to say. And there's a lot in this interview. I think you guys will enjoy it. Before we get going, go to Calaway Golf Instagram. At Calaway Golf, there's a giveaway. There's a awesome, just a golf bag.

I don't know how to describe it. It just pops. A USA golf bag, like kind of floral statue of liberty, bright colors, design. You can make it yours. You can enter to win this bag. Go and follow the Callaway Golf Instagram, like the post, tag three friends. The contest ends Saturday, September 19th at midnight Pacific time. One winner will be selected at random and will win the Callaway Golf Limited Edition staff bag. You might need to get in there. There's like 7400 comments as I go to record this little intro here. Also go to CallowayGolf.com. You can subscribe to an email list for a chance to win a Calloway

Maverick Driver sign belt by Phil Mickelson himself. So without any further delay as we roll into US Open, we're in a full US Open preview coming out later this week, but here is Jim Furek talking about me ready to thank some good rider cup stuff here. A lot of good stuff within this, but thanks everybody for tuning in and we'll see you soon, cheers. So, do I introduce you as champions tour player, Jim Furek or PGA tour player, Jim Furek? What's your answer to that? Yes, yes. Very good question. I've probably got 600 and some starts on the PJ Tour one on the Champion Store, so you figured out you do it the way you want. Well, I was saying you should just retire from the Champion Store. You win your first start just like just a complete walkoff. Yeah, it's only going down hell for here for, you know, percentage wise from here, but, uh,

no, I think to be serious and answer your question, I'm gonna play a little bit on the PGA tour this next season. I'm gonna start the year at Napa. I'm feel myself transferring over and being a little bit more of a full-time PGA tour champions player for a number of different reasons. There's still some courses I love. I mean, I love NS Proke and the Valspar, Hilton Head, the RBC Heritage,

that golf course is phenomenal. So there's still be places I'll pick and choose. I like Colonial, but I see that it's also opposite the senior PGA next year. So I've been kind of looking at the schedule and I've always said all along that I really don't want to go 50-50. I don't want to cut my time and I don't care what tour you're playing on. There's enough town on either tour that playing half a season, you're not going to get a lot done or do a lot of damage. So I think I'm going to probably focus my efforts on the champion's tour and cherry pick some events on the PGA tour.

Well, at the media day this week for your tournament, which we can get into here in a second. But you and Davis love kind of pointed out the crop of guys that is currently coming up to PGA tour champions. And I got to admit, I hadn't really thought of it that way until you spelled it out exactly how good the competition is getting out there. But you seem very excited and eager to get out there.

Yeah, and I don't want to cut the guys short that are already out there. I don't want to ruffle any feathers before I start playing full time. There's a lot of talent already there, but you look at a, you know, a routine for Ernie just came out. You got, you know, Phil just turned 50. I turned 50. Mike Weir and I share the same birthday. KJ Choi just saw Rich being played his first event.

And you've got a slew of others on the way. He evolves pretty soon, Justin Leonard, big cats only about five years away. That preceding hairline, it looks like he's gonna turn 50 next year, but I know he's about five years younger than me. Do you think he'll play out there? I don't know, we'll see, we'll see. You know, let's put it this way, five years ago,

I'll ask this question, did you think Phil was gonna play on the champion's star? I don't think he's going to play. No, but what did it look like five years ago? It looked a lot less bright than now. You see him come out and he's got a little hole in his schedule. And he wants to get sharp. And he's playing good.

He finds a course he likes. And he's talking about playing later on this fall. So is he going to play full time? No. He's still hitting his bombs. And he still wants to play the tour and extend that career. But the fact that he'll come out and play some on the Champions Tour now. And then little by little, I think he'll add more and more to that because he likes to compete.

What is the competitive spirit of it like? I mean, I guess just kind of talking to you about your transition and why that is appealing to you from a competitive standpoint, is it? You know, I still think I can compete on the VJ tour. I made a good run at the players last year. Now, it's kind of, you always have your favorite courses. The ones you think you have the best odds to compete on throughout your career.

And the number of courses that I have that opportunity on is dwindling. You know, I'll pick a golf course like Charlotte. You know, Quill Hollow, great golf course was one of my favorites on tour. One there, I think two other second places, if place finishes. It's just, it's gotten longer. I've gotten a lot shorter relative to the field.

I still hit the ball the same distance. My percentages of being able to win there have significantly decreased. And to the point where I almost felt like, you know, I'm wasting my time going to this venue, I need to start picking other places that I can compete at. And so when I look at the length of the golf courses on the champion's tour, they're not short. They're over 7,000 yards. We played World of Cales at the ally from the same exact T's

on 17 of the 18 holes as we did the last time I played there in 2009. I hit the ball the same distance as I did no nine So it was like I never left you know it was hitting the same shots But we're not playing 7600 dirt golf courses, and I'm not playing against guy you know where the majority of the field can hit it You know somewhere between 298 and 302 You know, I'm not giving up a lot of extra yards and then I'm a little above average out there for driving distance So that's what's gonna happen. It's kind of funny how long it's been since I've been above average and driving distance.

You know, maybe since like my first, you know, seven years on tour. So I'm missing friends out there. I know it's a little bit more relaxed, but I saw a lot of guys practice in beaten balls, working on their short game, puttin. I mean, the guys are competitive and they shoot low, low numbers. They shoot, you know, you don't shoot 1500 par. You know, you really don't have any business or any chance to win. And it's a track meet every week. It's a three round track

meet. How different is your game currently at age 50, then, say the best time of your career? I mean, we just played a day, you just shot 66. There doesn't seem to be any decline in my eyes. You won your first start on the Champions Tour. Is it the game has just evolved some from a competitive standpoint from distance or, you know, I just kind of want to compare and contrast, you know, how the best you ever played versus how it is today? I would say, I mean, are we saying right this second, are we saying, we'll look at this season? This season, I didn't have a very good season from around the greens. So if you look at my shots game putting, if you look at my getting

the ball up and down numbers, some of those were actually quite poor. That was a strength throughout my career. I need to put it in a little more time on my equipment. And more importantly, I got to put a little more time in on my technique and the way I get it around the greens. I feel like I've kind of started, I've changed my putting here in the last couple of months. I'm now not left-hand low or cross-handed. I'm back, shouldn't even say back to conventional. I'm starting conventional pretty much for the first time in my career. I feel very comfortable with the putter.

I'm rolling the ball well, so just got to put a little time in my short game. I mean, how much has my game changed? You know what? When I first came on tour, I was a very average ball striker, and I kind of worked myself in my first 10 years on tour I was a very average ball striker and I kind of worked myself in my first 10 years on tour. I kind of worked myself into becoming a very good ball striker by PGA Tour Standards. And I had a really good ball striking last two seasons. I guess 19, 20 and 18, 19, I had two very, very good ball striking seasons. And you know, this year, I mean, you look at

my, if you look at my, you know know percentage hit fairways and actually even look at percentage hit greens it's it's it's pretty surprising I still hit the ball well enough but I'm not getting the ball in the hole and I'm just giving up a ton of distance if that makes sense you know now I started looking at like start looking at stats through the mid to late part of this year and I really believe like the average guys on tour, I throughout that number before, 298 to 302, a bulk of the tour kind of sits in those numbers. I'm average in 281, so I'm giving up at least 17 yards

to kind of that average length. I, you know, the longest I was in my career was 282. But the average guy hit it like 288 to 289. I was giving up six or seven yards to the average then. You know, early in my career, I wasn't giving up any. And so, you know, I'm still a good ball striker and a good iron player, but, you know, from the average guy, I'm giving up, you know,

pretty much two clubs from the middle of the fairway. That ends up. The bombers, giving up even a lot more. So there's courses, you know. Harbor Town can still compete, you know, Valspar. When fairways are important, when you don't have to bomb it, when when guys are even limited off the tee on some of those golf courses, and it's more about placement, I still think I have some chances, but there's, you know, it's farther and fewer between,

and golf course setup has changed, equipment has changed, the game really has changed, and I think, you know, I hope no one paints me as that old bit or a guy that says the game's changing. It's fun. I mean, those your viewers out there, the ones that love golf, the ones that listen to your show. I mean, it's golf's in a great, great place right now. It's fun to watch. It's exciting. It's just different. And when I grew up, it was different from Nicholas's heyday as well. It's just everything changes and evolves. And the best players do with it. I'm just getting maybe a little old to change my style.

Well, what's interesting though is when I go back and getting to know you a little bit, it's weird when there's old highlights on TV, right? And just one that I don't even remember you being in contention of a master, 97 masters, your names on the front of the leader board, like your career span generations. And when the distance boom came in the 2000s,

and it's slowly evolving into the point where it's very streamlined now, I think people have so much more data and know exactly what the value of it is, but so many guys similar-ish playing style to you did not have sustained success for 15, 20 years after the golf ball changed around 2000. All right, but there was guy, I mean, look at a guy like Fred Funk.

I mean, here's a guy who he hit it shorter than I did. Yeah. And straighter. I mean, a guy, I want to the straighters players of all time. But he made like a presence cup team in his late 40s, 48, 49 years old. I think if the heart's there, if the work ethics there, if a guy's willing to put the time in, I think you also see a little fall off from some guys

in their mid 40s, this life changes as well. Your kids are a certain age, your priorities change. Maybe you're not putting as much time into the game to look at like maybe Kenny Perry, where a family is very important to the Perrys and he's a wonderful man. And his game kind of through his late 30s, early 40s kind of faded a little bit, right?

And his kids were kind of at that age where they're growing up and they went off to college and then Kenny's early to mid 40s. He all of a sudden turned it around, started putting the work in and he was a top 10 player in the world, won a bunch of events, played on a bunch of presents, cup teams, rider cup team, you know, just had a really late run. Now he's also got it's big and strong and bombs the ball,

but I think a lot of it's where you're at in your life, and a lot of folks put so much effort into their game and kind of getting and climbing that mountain, and they do it for 20 years, and then just other things take priority as they should. That's a great thing. their game and kind of getting and climbing that mountain and they do it for 20 years and they just other things take Should priority as they should that's as I get older you know I you know five six years ago if you said you know you had 600 career starts up and like oh cool like that is He's super competitive now. I hear 600 starts. I'm like wow 600 weeks on the road away from families got to be just super

Challenging. I mean it, it's a tough balance. I think it's, and it's a balance that we all struggle with. And, and I sought the help. I mean, my, my wife and my dad kind of gave me their input and how they felt I should handle it. And it's sometimes it's tough taking advice from those who you, you love the most. I kind of sought advice at our media day for our event. You heard me say that I as Davis for a Bob Rutellis number. That really wasn't as much about, it really wasn't anything

about golf. It wasn't anything about, I need help in my game room and middle frame on the course. It was a lot more about life. You know, I felt that my mind was wondering that I put the key in the ignition in the driveway and I was leaving two young kids at home and Tabitha was you know home down the fort and and I was kind of my early forties to 44 I was thinking is this really worth it is this what I want to do could it what should I just turning this and off and walk back in the house and and take the week off and when you do that I was able to play well at times but I was miserable you know the golf course and I just I don't like being a miserable person.

It's life's too short. I went to Doc and talked to him a little bit about what I should do. He laughed. You're not the first person I've had this conversation with. In fact, taking a number, it's been a ton of people. We started to cut my season short. It's taken lumps, three and four months off in the fall, playing fewer events.

You know, I was worried that by playing fewer events, I wouldn't play well, but he said, what's gonna happen is you're gonna play better because you're gonna get in a better frame of mind. You're gonna enjoy being out there and competing. And when you do that, you'll play better. And he was right, it just kind of sometimes takes a stranger. You know, my wife said the same thing,

my dad said the same thing, but told a stranger says it to you and it kind of slaps you across the face. And I just learned to manage my time a little bit better and I got a chance. And because I have a wonderful wife and a wonderful family, I got a chance to kind of do a little bit of everything and still play in a career and still feel like I was a husband and a father. Well, I was getting ready to ask what made you kind of want to start your own golf tournament, but now I understand it.

You just wanted something that was local. Well, yeah, there's a number of different reasons and we've had a ton of support. So my wife and I started, I had a great season in 2010 and we were involved in different charities and different charities here in the Greater Jacksonville area, Northeast Florida, and we just felt like the timing was right. We always talked about storing our own foundation and we just had that platform and into 2010 we launched Jim and Tab of the Fieric Foundation. We had our big fundraiser for 10 years. It's been our Fieric and friends. It's a celebrity professional golf classic. There's a concert involved. I like to, you know, we always tell people and I say it over and over again.

It entails the things that we enjoy the most. Like, that was when I love tailing and football games and fun. So, our event is about food, it's about drinks, it's about golf, music, but really, on all of it, we want to make sure everyone has a good time. And golf is just a vehicle, it is definitely not the most important part of our event. But as I get older, as I get closer to 50, we've had the event now for 10 years, make sure everyone has a good time and golf is just a vehicle. It is definitely not the most important part of our event. But as I get older, as I get closer to 50, we've had the event now for 10 years. We got it to where it was raising a half a million dollars a year, but I was worried about the future of that event.

What happens when I'm 55? What happens when I'm 60? What happens when it's going to be hard to go to the PGA tour and bring folks to come and play, and plus I'm asking the same guys, my friends every year to come out and play the event. And thankfully they did. But you know, what's the future? And so we kind of looked around. I saw Steve Stricker was hosting the MFAM. Good buddy, Davis Love has the RSM up the road in C Island. And I started thinking about it. I was like, do you think? I wonder if we could talk to the tour.

And maybe this could morph into a PGA Tour Champions event. It was funny about the time we were thinking it. The Corn Ferry Tour Championship moved in Indiana. And I was like, well, that's definitely got to help. I had dinner with Jay Monahan one night. We kind of asked the question. You could tell it was a total surprise. We got some support, you know, planted in Miller-Radi's office who runs the Champions Tour and he thought about it for a while, so I think we can make it work. And so, you know, the kind of the pressure was on us.

You know, it was our job to go find a title sponsor. I talked a lot about the venue and we, I think, got very lucky to end up here at Tim Aquana Country Club. And we found a great sponsor and constellation energy who's been a long, long time partner of mine. And they have a big history in golf, both with the PGA Tour and the PGA of America. So they're coming back to the tour. They sponsored the senior players for a number of years. And now they're going to, Constellation is going to help us build an event together,

something that we can do together. And with that, the goal is obviously to be able to get more of our community involved, whether that's through corporate hospitality, volunteering, programs, just coming out and buying a ticket and having fun. Because we're going to set up, I mean, we're going to have basically what we call the tailgate village. It's October, so this is football season. We got a college of 21. It's important to know for 21 So this is this is college football time. This is pro football time. We're gonna have You know, we realize golf sometimes the secondary vehicle We want folks out here and and having a good time and with that

we're gonna be able to raise a lot more money and and and we're gonna be huge You know, we're talking to Davis, you know RSM is kind of the smallest venue the smallest venue, the smallest golf tournament on the PGA tour. And, you know, he said the other night, I thought it was amazing that, you know, it brings eight to 10 million dollars of revenue to Sea Island that wouldn't normally be there. He said, it's like having another floor to Georgia weekend in Sea Island. So the businesses there, the folks, they really enjoy it. And we can do the same for the city of Jacksonville.

Our city's pretty amazing. And I think maybe underappreciated, if that makes sense. With the river, a lot of folks, a lot of the players ask me about the course, and then where will I stay? And I say, you're gonna stay downtown. And it's amazing how many PGA tour players that have played the tour since they were 20 to 25 years old will say, I've never been downtown Jacksonville.

I've almost never been downtown Jacksonville. I've almost never been downtown Jacksonville. I understand. See, I live in San Marco. So I kind of, I guess, a townie now. And I really enjoy the communities, a city itself, and the communities around the Riverside Avenue, San Marco or Tiga. I mean, there's so many wonderful places.

We hope to showcase of showcase Jacksonville and also utilize the St. John's River. Quite a bit, it's beautiful. Sure, I'm hoping to just set up a podcast studio in the clubhouse somewhere and just have a revolving door of guys, because that's where the best interview is. We probably won't charge you too much, we'll probably make you get paid.

I'll pay you, we'll make a donation to the foundation whatever you'd like. What makes this golf course a good fit for PGA tour champions? Well, one, I like. What makes this golf course a good fit for PGA tour champions? Well, one, I think it's a great golf course. It's always one that I've admired, one that I want to always live in across town. It's amazing. You got the ditch here in Jacksonville and if you live at the beach, you rarely go town.

If you live at town, you rarely go back to the beach. It's a town that's almost kind of split in half. That 45-minute drive over here from, say, TPC at Sawgrass seems like that's almost kind of split in half that 45-minute drive over here from say TPC at Sawgrass Seems like it's like one to tala Hassey really. I mean for for some of it was in Ponovidio So as soon as I moved to town I wanted to join Tim Aquana just because I think it's a real class golf course It's an old Donald Ross. They did a good job restoring it You got to push up turtle back greens better have a short,, a very sharp, short game like yourself as a matter of fact. It's just got that tree lined, it's about placement and it's long enough, it's over 7,000 yards.

So it's long enough, I think it lends itself, you know, they had a USJ adventure, they had the senior amateur, they had the ladies 4 ball. You know, you're going to put a PGA Tor event on a 7,000 yard long golf course. No, but it kind of plays perfectly for a PGA Tour Champions event. And I think the guys are going to love the golf course. And I think Tim Aquana is like one of those sleepy golf courses that if you know, if you know and love golf courses, you know it's kind of a little bit of a hidden gem. Hopefully, hopefully not in a bad way that we kind of get word out. That this is a fantastic golf course. You need to be quiet. It's not talking about it.

It's good, but it is a wonderful golf course. And I think it's going to show great. Is Phil going to play? I hope so. I hope so. Call it a favor. What will Phil do next? We would love to have him.

We'll see when it is in the season. I want to see next year in October. I have to look and see where we're at. I don't have a fall schedule yet for. I know where our date is next year. I don't have a fall schedule for the Tori. A quick break. It is no secret.

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the win in 2003 runner up in 06 07 and 16 and three other top fives. One of those was like a another great run at Olympic. Simple question. Why were you so good at US opens? I think when you think of a US Open, maybe not the last five to six years, but when you think of a US Open historically, you think of kind of punishing golf, one of the tests, not only your skill, but your patience, you're going to get upset, you're going to get some bad breaks, you're going to feel like it's unfair at times, and the folks that handle those situations the best do, do the, you know, play well. But, you know, it was always about putting the ball in the fairway, keeping the ball in

front of you, having to get it up and down once in a while. I grew up in kind of in the northeast. I grew up playing, you know, bankgrass, Po, rough, greens where you could, you know, went and down, put it right in front of the green or in the middle of the green, you could, you'd always have a pretty decent putt. That's kind of US open golf. It's what I grew up on, just a little bit more severe test.

You know, I kind of grew up in between, didn't get to play him, but Oakmont and Marion. So, you know, that was my idea of US open golf. And it's just, I think that's the way my game was built. You know, it was built for not making a lot of mistakes, always keeping it in front of you. And you know, even parts of good score and you could shoot, you know, one of those US open to think of open to finish second. I think I opened up with 76 and you know, you're behind the eight ball,

but you know, if you can play even par the rest of the way in or under par the rest of the way in, you've got a chance. And that's kind of what I did. I think I shot maybe one under the rest of the way finished, you know, plus five and I lost the tournament by one. So it just when I look at all the majors early on, I hit the ball kind of flat low, didn't mind playing in the wind. The British Open wasn't wasn't too far off for me. The masters I had to kind of transform my game to to to compete there. You know, the PGA, it kind of changes with golf courses.

It doesn't maybe throughout my career didn't have that one identity. But if you look at the three that have that identity, I think the US Open kind of lent itself to my game the best and it's the one I probably got most excited about. Is it weird to not be teeing it up at Wingfoot this year? It's the first one that I haven't played since, it's actually only the second one of my career I haven't played.

And it's my rookie year at Qualified for Oatmont 94. I missed Qualifying for Shinnecock in 95. And I've been exempt since 96 until now. And then didn't have the opportunity to Qualify, which is, which is, you're a qualifier, try to qualify. I'll probably would have tried. Just, which was, which is probably what it tried. Just, I mean, it's hard not to. And I've had a good record at Wingfoot.

It's like, it's gonna be long, it's gonna be punishing. I think we're gonna see a narrow golf course again, and I really hope we do. I think, in my opinion, in order to win a US Open, you need to hit the fairway. That's the identity. And I don't think we've seen that as much.

We didn't really see that at, you know, maybe four of the last six, where the fairway was and is important, or the fairway's got a little bit wider. And it's just changed. And not that they were bad events, and definitely no offense to the guys at one. They went out there and played the best. But man, I, you know, being a US Open champion, I feel like, you know, US Curtis Strange, you go back in time, if, you know, if we could ask Ben Hogan, I think he would kind of say getting the ball in the fairway is, uh, is part of winner in the US Open.

Is it my least favorite combination though is long and narrow. Like, I think that does not do you any kind of favors. If the golf course is medium length, I think that in narrow, I think that that is the most neutral kind of setup. I like when it's firm, I like wide. I think it's can be a lot more interesting. When you're playing a PGA tour event, I like the word neutral. Right. You're not trying to say that you have to be one type of player to be dominant or well, dominant, you probably do. But in order to make a living, I make a good living, a wingoff tournaments, you shouldn't just be one type of player, right? There should be some neutral setups. And I think

there are. There's enough golf courses, as I mentioned, the Colonials of Alspars, the Riviera, as the Harbour Towns. There's a bunch, and I'm just naming a few. I've talked about my head. There's a bunch of great harbor places that you can play, and you don't have to be a bomber. But the US opens had an identity for 100 years. And I guess Pabble last year was kind of an interesting setup. The long holes, number 10, they jacked at T way back there, and then they made the fairway extremely wide.

But then a hole like number four that's a real short hole was extremely narrow. So the width of the fairway kind of went along with the length of the hole. It was very interesting. I've never seen that before. Years ago they tried, you know, they kind of had the graduated rough the last time we went to wing foot. The farther you hit it out of the fairway, the higher the rough got and the galley ropes were kind of of pushed back so you would rarely get in that trampled area. But if guys are hitting it that far and the golf courses are going to be longer, I still don't have a problem with narrow.

I still think there should be a premium to put the ball in the fairway and I think there should be at the US open for sure, if that makes sense. And if courses are long because guys are hitting along the so so be it. I I guess I have Beth page, you know, burned in my memory of 2019 of it being super long and narrow, but narrow to the point that even the shorter hitters weren't able to hit that many fairways, you know what I mean? When it gets so narrow that this you're an exception to this rule because you're quite literally one of the most accurate players of the last 20 years. But like I looked at someone like Jordan's beef and I'm like, okay,

he doesn't have a shot on this golf course because he doesn't hit it long enough and straight enough. You know what I mean? That's a theory I've never thought of. But I feel like, yeah, I mean, there's a possibility. You're saying Brooks hits it so far that he could hit Wedge Day down for the Ralph someone's a mid-lank sit in 5 iron. They've got no chance to beat him That's that's really the old Nicholas theory, you know what you hit 7 iron from the fairway. I'll hit Wedge from rough And I'm gonna whip you and he did, you know, and then when he got the lead He'd go back and put his hand on his three wood or his two iron and he'd just Fairway green fairway grip basically what Tiger did to everyone, his

entire career, right? Get a lead with a driver and then best ball striker and he'd go out and just fairly green you to death with three woods and two irons off the tee. It's a tough balance to say. It's a tough balance. It really is. I guess my only point and again, I definitely, I'm not here to, you know, stand and say the way it is. I think we should all have opinions in the folks listening, which is my opinion, which

right or wrong doesn't really matter. But my opinion, if you're asking, is that US Open means you got to get the ball in the fairway. So make it a premium. And I think that's a US Open winner. I think when it's firm, like so much of this goes out the window, right? Because the shorter hitters can hang with the longer hitters a lot better with the vols rolling out and it becomes less emphasis. And that's one of the things about Beth's page. It's damp there a lot.

It's kind of cool damp, that long island. You don't get that real firm golf course feel there. It's wonderful golf course. But yeah, and unless it rains, you know, go back to congressional, which is a very difficult hard golf course, but Rory tore it up, but it rained so much. And the golf course was soft. And when that happens, these guys throw it dark. So you're right, US Open. I'm not saying the Faroei has to be 25 yards wide, but, you know, we've seen some 40 plus yard wide Faroei's in US Open. It's just a rare look. And I think from what you know, we've seen some 40 plus yard wide fairways in US Open.

It's just a rare look. And I think from what I hear, we're going to see wing foot kind of thinned out. You know, it's going to be a little bit narrower. I think it's a phenomenal golf course. It's that, uh, it's old Tilling House bunkers. They're, they're alms. They're, you know, you look at some of those greens

and you see the, the big white flash and they're intimidating. And, uh, tough place to play. Yeah. So ironically, the US Open that you won was some of those greens and you see the big white flash and they're intimidating. And tough place to play. Yeah, so ironically, the US Open that you won was one of the easier, not easier setups. There's only a couple guys under par, but it was terrible. Terrible, terrible easy. I think there's two or three guys in front of par. Well, you were like 11 under at one point, which was a record, I think, to that point. But what do you remember about, I guess, we just saw Olympia this past week at the BMW

Championship, did that look a little different on TV this time around? How tough that was? It did. It looks like they lengthened it out some. We saw some extremely good scoring conditions for the US Open that I won. So records were set Thursday and Friday. The wind, the breeze came from a totally different direction. A much easier breeze.

We had overcast skies, fairways and greens weren't firming up. That all changed on the weekend. Water got sucked out of the greens. Breeze changed direction. And all of a sudden, you had a extremely tough golf course. And that happened a lot.

That happened the year Phil and Rateef battled at Chinatocque was at a 04. We broke scoring records on Thursday and Friday there as well. And then the golf course was borderline unplayable on Sunday. But Saturday Sunday was extremely difficult. The scores those two shot under those conditions were some of the best golf I've ever seen played. So you wanted it eight under.

Stephen Leaning was the only other guy that was within seven shots of you. I mean, were you in complete control that whole week or? I was playing extremely well going into that golf tournament. Coming up three top 10s felt really good about my game. It was putting well. Really felt good about my golf swing. I mean, I had my week off. I was kind of licking my chops.

Like, what do I need to do to get ready for this golf course and had never played Olympia Fields and I was putting with this putter at the time that was deemed illegal in my week off So I went to the US open. I didn't actually have a I didn't really have a putter with me So I mean I had a putter in my bag would know something I didn't want to play. Why was it illegal? So at the time it was a It was a double bench shaft. So it was face balanced. Odyssey would call it a one, a paying answer, kind of type of head.

But it had this aluminum attachment on the back that kind of screwed on, and it had a long line. So it kind of made like a big, it was basically an aiming device on the back. And at the time, the USGA deemed that you couldn't add an attachment to a putter solely for aiming. Like if there was another reason for it, like if you wanted to back weight the putter or if you wanted to, and it was made of aluminum, so there's nothing you could really say by

waiting because it was light. And it was there solely for alignment. So they deemed that that putter was illegal. So I wasn't allowed to play it that week and I kind of had a chip on my shoulder. I was a little bit pissed off about that, you know, this putter because it didn't seem to make make a lot of sense. But I kept my mouth shut. I pulled the shaft out of that putter and put it in another one that had a long line, just no attachment on it, a mallet putter, and kind of worked on that putter the loft, the lie, and every day was making a tweak here and there,

and I mean like a tweak, I was driving my tour rep, absolutely nuts, I was like, bending a quarter degree up rider, like it really was gonna matter that much, but I had this... You're a tinkering. I was tinkering with this putter tremendously, and putted beautifully that week, and I think I had a bit of chip in my shoulder too. I got off to a with this putter tremendously and potted beautifully that week.

And I think I had a bit of chipped with my shoulder too. I got off to a rough start, a couple over after the first nine and then I think I shot five under and played a great Friday round and got myself in contention. So. Well, what's it like to win a major is, you're pretty much in the prime of your career.

I think it's safe to say in 2003, is that fair to say? Yeah, felt so. So you, is that fair to say? Yeah, felt so. So, you, is that a weight off your shoulders? Is it just like, I'm trying to understand what, how to place majors in people's careers, right? Because I kind of want to lead this into, you have some so many close calls afterward.

Is it easier to go through the close calls after having one one? I just kind of, I want to place it along that timeline. I don't think it's ever easy. I mean, I had some close calls in 98, both at the Masters and the British. I had some good opportunities. I think for me, it's funny. The feeling when I won was probably for the first hour, it was probably more relief. You know, I put so much pressure on myself. You sit on that tee time, it's at two or three o'clock. I walked into the players dining, kind of sat off into the corner,

and there was a TV above my head. And usually like in the morning or in an afternoon round, I'll watch TV. I would love to have the sound off, but I'll watch TV just to see where the pins are. Maybe I'll see a couple shots. Maybe I'll pick something up on television that might help during the round. It's only for 15 or 30 minutes, but I sat under the TV. I didn't want to,

I just didn't want to watch. I don't want to think about it. And the sound was on, like someone flipped the sound on and I was underneath it. And I heard, I'll never forget this Johnny Miller talked about, he talked about me having the lead at a three or four-shot lead and The words out of his mouth where it's Jim Furex tournament to lose and I Like putt spit my food out like I start a laugh and I was like god It could I couldn't if I tried to think of a worse thing to think about during the day I couldn't have come up with anything worse than it's my tournament to lose and it was kind of almost a good thing to hear because I went well I got two ways to look at it,

but the way I should be looking at this is it's my tournament to win. I mean, I've got a three or four shot lead. I can shoot three shots worse than the rest of the field and still win the golf tournament. So I put a lot of pressure on myself so that kind of come down and have that nice cozy walk down 18 and kind of have the sigh of relief was a lot of fun.

I haven't had that opportunity much in my career. And now maybe looking back, it makes the near misses probably a little easier to swallow. But at the time, there's a few of those events that were very difficult to swallow. And still, a few of them really sting, to be honest with you, events that I feel like I should have won. Is there one or two that stick out the most or the one that you kind of keeps you

up at night still? No, I think he keeps me up at night. I'm pretty good at putting stuff behind me and moving on. Sometimes that takes a day or two. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks. But usually when you step back on the course the next time, I always felt like I had to put it behind me before I went out to play again. I guess from an emotional standpoint, the two near-misses at Oakmont,

and I'll say the one real near-miss was when Cabrero won. I finished second the DJ, but DJ won that golf tournament. It would have been a shame if he hadn't actually with all the ruling stuff. But being from Pennsylvania, my mom and dad are from Pittsburgh. My grandmother died and there's a resting home right at the 18th fairway there, and she died in that home. So my family's got a huge history in Pittsburgh and I felt so much support from Pittsburgh fans. So emotionally those were probably the most draining. There's a picture of me kind of with my hand over my heart kind of walking off 18 and just you don't get that much in your career. So it's pretty cool.

I had it here at the players last year and 19. So that's pretty cool, but probably the Olympic club burns my ass, wing foot, the year Ogleby won kind of burned my ass a little bit, but that one was a little easier swallow. That was a unique situation. That was kind of filling Collins tournament to win. And you know, I had kind of the same putt Oglevy did and he made it. Um, I didn't. He won the golf tournament. That was a little easier to stomach, but, uh, probably let that go.

The Olympic club. Sorry. When you're lining up that putt on the 72nd hole at Winkfoot, are you thinking that there's a possibility that this is to win? No, because I was still, I thought I had to birdie that hole to have a chance to either win or get in a playoff. You gave it max effort, of course. I gave it max effort. I tried to make the pot of dingle win.

I was bummed. I thought I was going to probably cost me maybe I'd finish third instead of second or whatever, maybe fourth instead of second or third. You're always trying to make it, but then when I saw what happened, you're like, I'm driving to the airport just in days. Like trying to figure out what just happened. Like, you know, make power. I'm in a

playoff tomorrow. So disappointing, but part of it was that that difficult that day. I mean, those guys, obviously, the drama that unfolded was as well document in the scores were high. It was kind of take us to what the playing that golf course is like under US Open Pressure. It's long and it's hard and difficult. Did I say long again? I think I mentioned that. I think I got that. It's just, and then it was set up in US Open fashion.

It was you have to get the ball in the fair, where you have to get the ball in the green, limit your mistakes. But if you put Collin and Phil or such good players, if you put them in that situation again, there's no, I mean, put them in that situation again, there's no, I mean, put them in that situation on a full 20 times. There's no way one of them isn't in a playoff. That was a one out of 20 at best.

Couldn't have put money on that for that to happen. Transitioning a bit here. So when I mentioned the 2018 Ryder Cup, is it immediately, is it a happy memory? Catch 22. I mean, I've loved, I love the process. I loved all the work and the hundreds of hours that my wife and I put into it. And it comes to fruition. And I love the 12 guys I had and the way it looked. And that'll always be my team. Most of them still call me Cap. When I look at it, the result, I mean, result stings. I mean, if forever, there's losses that you said will haunt you forever. I mean,

that's the one that I'll never, I won't get over that. But, you know, I can tee it up in a tournament and go play. But I'd be lying if I said it's my favorite event. It's probably the mark on my career that bothers me the most is I've been involved with so many rider cups. I've been, I think, involved with 11. I played in, I might have been involved with more, maybe 12. We've won, I played on nine teams. So I guess I'm involved with my 12th now as an assistant for, in your 16th. For Davis. Yeah, that's right. So, so I'm involved now in my 12th, but you know, 11 events and we're three and eight. And so I look at that way where, you know,

16 was so much fun for me just to watch those guys play so well and and pretty much dominate from start to finish and and bring home the cup. And I was just so proud of them and so happy for Davis because, you know, quite honestly, we shit the bed at Medina and it's something that shouldn't happen. You know, I felt bad for Davis as a player, you know, looking back and in a dear friend. And so to see him do a great job and then the guys go out and respond and play so well, I was just proud of the team and happy for Davis as a captain, you know, to have that scenario kind of flipped and we got, you know, we got off the good start, but then got behind the eight ball

and that second and third session. And I look at it, I'm sure there's guys out there that said, you know, we wish we would have played better. I wish I would have made some, you know, I guess the funniest comment, and funny is a bad word, but the comment that surprises me, it shocks me the most, is I've had a handful of people come up and say, you know, if you got to do it all over again,

would you do something different? And I almost laugh. I'm like, well, what arrogant asshole would have the event go the wrong way and then say, nope, I do everything the same way. Like, I mean, of course I do things differently, right? At nine sites, 2020, and of course I go back and change. At the time, I'm looking at my vice captains, I'm looking at a stats team,

I'm looking at a lot of different things, and having, I'm the CEO, I'm the one that's got to pull the trigger, and make a decisions, and I thought we were doing the right thing, and put a change? Absolutely. Well, I think we all would, if that made sense, top to bottom, and that's part of it.

So, as a bother me, it made sense, top the bottom, and that's part of it. So is it bothering me? It always will. But the whole process itself, it's something that I always wanted to do. After I played in like maybe two or three of those rider cups, you're like, oh man, would it? It would just be cool if I got the opportunity to lead and be a captain of this team. And then after you play on six, seven teams, I'm thinking, you know, it's probably, it's probably,

we'll come to fruition and could be an opportunity someday. And you just kind of wait your turn. And I was kind of thankful that I, I mean, everyone wants a home game, but we're going to go over there. And we're going to win. And we're going to, on foreign soil. And we're going to, I firmly believe, we're going to turn this around.

In order to do that, we have to win on foreign soil. I really wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be the captain of the team that did that. It didn't come to fruition, but it will. And hopefully I'll be traveling over there and maybe I'll be having a cocktail with Curtis and Ben and I'll be big smile on my face when it happens. Well, golf fans, I would definitely say armchair,

quarterback the most with the rider cup, more so than any other, maybe any other events come on. You have never seen me watch a football game, particularly the Steelers. Well, I'm saying of all golf events. That is the one that they armchair the most. Well, yeah, because they're strategy involved, there's teams involved, there's a way you put your order out,

there's a lot involved in it, so it's easy to armchair. Well, that's what I just was wondering if you, it's a weird way of asking this, but is it any easier losing as bad as you did? Because like the team just flat out did not play good enough golf. I don't know what you can do about Tiger going O and four, coming off the tour championship. Bryson went O and three, DJ, a guy you're leaning on a ton,

went one and four, sure you like in, you know, in theory, you could have paired them differently and maybe they would have played better, blah, blah, DJ, a guy you're leaning on a ton, went one and four. Sure, you, like, in, you know, in theory, you could have paired them differently and maybe they would have played better, blah, blah, blah, blah, but I don't know how you, I'm asking this in the way, like, are you beat, do you beat yourself up over anything here because I don't see anything glaring that if you wanted to nitpick, it would be like, all right, Phil probably wasn't a great fit for that golf course, but Phil probably wanted to be on that team. And that was probably pretty easy decision, I would think, to put be on that team, and that was probably a pretty easy decision, I would think, to put them on the team,

but that's the only one with hindsight that I would say. A lot of that was, he actually was playing pretty decent on the way in there, did not play well right after we picked them, didn't play very well leading in, but wanted some experience on the team, going to Europe, and one of the coolest moments for me at that event was walking

to the first tee on Friday morning for the first match and they built that giant amphitheater and you we as players and captains would come in from the top and walk down the steps and I got relentlessly booed down the steps and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. No, the British fan, the European fan said, I never booed the Americans. I loved it. It was awesome. And it's funny how many players in captains

from the European side said, oh, you know, like, we're so sorry that happened. And I said, for what reason? No, that's part of it. That's what sport, it wasn't like a, I think they meant it in a friendly way. Sure. I hate to say that, but like, you know,

it wasn't like one New York and getting called a bum. It was, we're rooting against you all week here at Cums. And I was like, we're ready. That's part of the matter, Cubs. It was fun. I waved, I smiled, thumbs up. That was pretty cool.

I enjoyed that part of it. But I understand the arm track quarterbacking. I watch, I'm a giant sports fan. I watch a stealer game. It's, you know, third and one and all of a sudden we're going five wide and, you know, and you're looking at it and going, what in the hell are we, you know,

just give it to the big guy and let's turn it out for a yard and a half and you can't get it. You can't get it, but I mean, like, you know, what are we doing with five wide and then also no one's open or he makes a quick pass, it's tipped or whatever and you're done and you're like, all right, yeah, I'm making it. What don't I know?

Hey, the full backs hurt, he's over there dinged up with a knee and there's things that I don't know as well. And I'm not saying the fans out there don't, but you do the best you can, you make the decisions you make. I have to live with them, right? And folks are gonna criticize them. That's part of my job. I mean, is there a Ryder Cup captain?

One thing you always have to know, you deserve very little to credit when you win. You're gonna get none, and you really don't deserve much of it, and you're gonna take most of the blame on a loss, and I'm totally fine with that. That's part, I do a lot of work and get ready, and put those guys out there and give them every opportunity

to succeed. And what I change things, sure. But when we look back at it, I have good memories because I love those guys. Remember you saying to the trip? The trip was great. Outside of, didn't you guys spend some time in France outside of the... We really didn't have, you just don't have that much of an opportunity, especially coming off the the the

torch amateurs so you arrive Monday you want to get these guys out to her practice a little Tuesday Wednesday Thursday's a half day with opening ceremonies and then you're right into it I what I really wanted was I had played that golf course a bunch I knew how it would be said I was going to set up just like it was a French open I knew how difficult it. I knew it was a place you had to get the ball and play. I tried to give the guys as much information as I could about the course before we got there. It's just so hard to do that, right? You need that experience of playing and getting around it. And these guys are real-class players. You know, you give them two practice rounds. They're good.

They're able to get it around, but you give them 50 rounds around it, like some of those guys have had and they know it even a little bit better. That's part of it. I think the European side is done a very good job with their venues. And so that was a home field advantage. What I mean by that is they have European tour events on the venue they've had a rider cup. We don't do that in the US.

We pick kind of major championship venues where most of their teams seem to golf course almost as much as we have. And that's a mistake I think we've made over the years. Now, the next away rider cup is in Italy. And I don't think they've yet, it's fallen behind, I think politics. for reasons the golf course isn't ready. They're supposed to play an Italian open there.

They may get one before we play the Ryder Cup. It'll be a good opportunity for us. It won't be as much of a home field advantage. It'll be a place where maybe a little bit, now will they still set the golf course up to favor their style of play and the guys on their team? Absolutely. And for those folks that say that's not fair, I don't know, man.

I kind of like it. I kind of like the fact that, I mean, you can't change anything once Monday morning rolls around. But if we've got a long, you know, wild team and we set the golf course up, you know, a little bit more open and, you know, we like firm fast greens in the U.S. and they like slow greens in Europe, or at least they're more more they're more used to playing on greens that roll ten ten and a half uh... then than we are uh... you set it up to where you guys maybe have a slight bit of advantage

it's that's sports what can you shine any light on the patch of greed situation and how that really unfolded where he seemed to think that he and jordan were going to play together was he ever told that Why didn't they play together? How did that all unfold and re-disappointed in that? How that happened? No, I'll say it again. I said it last year and kind of after the Ryder Cup,

Patrick was fully aware that he was playing with Tiger. I think the options were there for Jordan. JT was kind of in that same group of players, but JT was going gonna wheel more around Tiger or more around Jordan. Patrick was gonna play with either Jordan or Tiger. Tigers have a tough guy to play with, to be honest with you.

He's a tough guy to partner with. JT's done a very good job of it, but you go back into history and the guys that have played with him haven't played very well with them, to be honest with you. And Patrick and Tiger had a very good relationship and passed Ryder Cups.

That was kind of his vice captain, a guy that he enjoyed having Rydercups, Presidents cups. He's a guy that he enjoyed having kind of his hero be his captain and a guy that got him pumped up to play. And he knew going in that he was starting with Tiger and playing, you know, he knew things could change. I'm imagining that a lot of his, you know, being just upset, just being upset about the way we all played, the way things went down, the fact that we lost is a lot of it, a lot of frustration.

But no, I'm going in, I think that absolutely 100% he knew how that pairing was coming. Have you guys had any communication since all that went down in the Apologies? We haven't talked about the rider cup at all. When I see him, I say hello, say hi to Kessler, see how he's doing. But no, say hello.

We're polite. You know, we're friendly with each other. It's a side track here for a second, just because you mentioned Tigers a hard guy to play with. You've played with them in team events. Why is he a hard guy to play with? It's hard to step in his shoes. I mean, you know, it's like living in Michael Jordan's shoes for a day.

It's, I think it's, you know, when I had Tigers a partner, I loved having the best player in the world as my partner. I mean, there were stuff that shots he hit, things that he did as my partner, that I just got like a sly grin on my face, looking at the other two guys going, they're in a chance and hell, you can do that. Like, I know you can't do it, you know you can't do it.

I can't do it either. Cause I can't either. And, you know, and that's my partner by the way. But you also step into that microscope. Like everything he does, from the moment he steps on the property, the moment he steps off is scrutinized. I mean, if you want to go on social media

and follow his every step, you can do it. His every shot, and everything he does is scrutinized. And so just to be put in it, none of us really go through that. None of us are the Beatles, you know, and have that wild factor. So I just think there's an added attention and added pressure.

And I think maybe not as much from the outside, I think guys, you all you hear at time and time again where guys say, I know people are putting pressure on me to play well, but no one can put more pressure on me than myself. And I think they just try so damn hard to because of that situation. And I always kind of thought it'd be cool

to play with Tiger and get paired with them. And we played on like eight teams together before Nicholas put us together. And Jack put us together. I was hurt, I was injured. And I was kind of asking, I was like, you might want to sit me, I have a rib injury. I'm not playing very well.

And he said, I need you, you're going out with Tiger. And I went, oh, great. So like, I got the whole world watching. I'm hitting it terrible. I'm in pain. And, okay, here we go. And so our first match together, I barely helped Tiger for an entire day.

The worst he would have been through 16 is one up on his own ball against the team we played in the present cup. He made me put out on a par five on the back because I had like a four footer and he had like a tap in and he marked it to let me make the four, I was so nervous over the four footer that I'd miss because he already had a tap in.

And then we get to 16 and I've already to 16th hole to win the match three and two. And it was like really the only pot. I might have helped him another hole. It depends. And we win the match. And of course, I was teasing the guys. And like at the time Tigers four ball record was like, oh, and eight, which is pretty much

impossible. And I walked into the team room trying to be a little bit of a smart ass and just said, man, I don't really get what's so hard about playing with him in four ball. I mean, you know, I could have written in a card today and we were one up through 16. What is wrong with you people? I mean, like, how can you not win with this guy and they're throwing shit at me and, you know, giving me a hard time. But I think just stepping in his shoes for a day, it's, I don't want to give you the

woe is me. I mean, it's got to be hard to be yourself. Yeah, but you, you know, like, you can't ask or get all that notoriety and expect there not to be some sort of, I don't know what the right word to do. Just to be out of the situation. But the reality of the situation is there's just gonna be a lot of attention.

And most folks just aren't used to getting that. Now, are there, you know, Phil maybe a little bit, you know, now maybe Rory takes a little bit of that, or but Tiger's still Tiger. I mean, he's still A1. When he steps on the property, everyone else takes a 1 notch down on Takes a Backseat. Back to 18 with the last bit of drama, I think, that unfolded with DJ and Kebka.

I still don't know what happened there. I don't either. Really? Yeah. I mean, may I be struck by lightning this second? I still don't have any idea what happened. And honestly, if you'd asked me in the last I mean until two three weeks ago did they seem to have a riff now or something is it coming up?

I don't know exactly what it is but it's they've downplayed their friendship publicly lately or Brooks has I guess to say like yeah we like there was a I didn't hear it but was there a comment or something to PGA or after Brooks walked off the course you kind of looked at the leaderboard and kind of was like, yeah, I see a lot of names up there. Like a lot of those guys haven't won. I mean, I guess DJ has won, but every time I've been in the situation.

They were together all night. On Sunday, when we left the Radar Cup, there was nothing wrong between the two of them. I mean, yeah, as far as I knew, I honestly, may I be struck by lightning. I've always thought they were just boys and kind of brothers. And if there was a Coral, it was like a brotherly type thing. It wasn't something they were going to drag out.

Was the party at least fun that night? What's a celebration like when your team loses? Yeah, I've seen some as a Ryder Cup player where we had a, it's just a stress relief. You put so much pressure in yourself the entire week. There's a build up and expectation. And the guys will let loose a little bit and try to have some fun. It was different as a captain.

I felt just the need to talk to everyone. Like the families were there. I talked to Brooks's mom and dad a lot after Sunday. And kind of got to know some of the families and people in our team. And obviously I felt bad. I felt bad for the way it ended and such. But as it capped and it wasn't the same as a player, it was more kind of reaching out to all our whole group or our whole unit, over a hundred people that were there, kind of

US, that we had access to, to kind of finally see after the week. So kind of reaching out to those folks and the caddies and their wives. And so I just kind of felt a need to kind of just thank everyone for being there and the support and such. Yeah. Well, as we go to wrap here, I'm going to lean on a couple questions on just some things I've picked here. I may have maybe cheating on some of these. Some of these things I've picked your brain. We talk about a little more fun. I mean, what are you doing?

Sure. I'm like, I'm like over here reliving bad moments and times and I'm going to cry here in a little bit. I asked you about when in the US open. Is that not a happy moment? It was. 17 wins in your career, is that right? On the PJ Tour. On the PJ Tour. Did you ever, I guess, what was the, how do you compare pressure, I asked you this earlier today,

but comparing pressure to competing for the FedEx Cup, you won the FedEx Cup, comparing that to competing on a major championship US open. How does that, can you differentiate the two, is there, are they kind of the same wavelength? In two different times in my career, I probably put more pressure on myself to win the major championship. So I would say I had three years in my career that really stick out as like the best three years. And one was 0-3 when I won the US Open. I also won actually at World of Kills where I just won the Champions Tour event.

I won, so I won twice that year. O6, I had a great year where I want to say I was ranked like number two in the world for over 12 months. There was some guy Tiger that was way, way, way, way out of head. I think like my denominator was like six and his was like 18. But, you know, and I played super for a really long span and that O6 range.

And then in 2010, I had a great year where I won three times and I ended up being kind of player of the year and that was the FedX Cup. And honestly, when I was playing that tournament, again, putting a lot of pressure on myself, we were leaving for the Ryder Cup right after that event and it long-range delay. I had to sit in the clubhouse for a couple hours and think about it,

and look at the scoreboard. And I kind of knew that, you know, if I won the event, I'd most likely win the FedEx Cup. I'd most likely be the player of the year. I was, a lot of things that I kind of dreamed of doing. I was 40 years old. I didn't think the window was closing by any means, but I knew that it wasn't last forever as well,

and put a lot of pressure on myself during that week. Now, was it the US Open Major Championship? Probably not, but I probably was also a little older, a little bit more grounded. I had a little different priorities in life as well, so I probably didn't put as much pressure on myself. The way that I think the way the FedEx Cup is positioned now, so you had to win the golf tournament and win the FedEx Cup is position now. So you had to win the golf tournament and win the FedEx Cup. Now, we're starting everyone at a different score and they're really only playing for one prize.

I think it's going to add more pressure to the players this way. For sure. For sure. For sure. I was just curious if there was a amount of money that you're playing for that makes a difference pressure wise. I still hear a lot of guys saying that, you know, you want to win like the player of the year on the PGA tour, like that's winning the FedEx Cup is more focused on that or is it enough money there that it's kind of like really hard to ignore. But one thing with the guys that are winning the FedEx Cup,

I mean like, for Rory, it's definitely about cementing his place in history. Yeah. Rory's got money and not that no one else wants to win an extra 10 million. Don't get me wrong, but he's not gonna miss it either. That makes sense. I don't have to say that right without it going out right.

You know, for other players, that's a big deal and it causes a lot more stress. The one thing about the new format that I really like is that there's some things that don't like, there's some things I do, but the new format, it will cause more pressure. It all basically boils down to, you're only dealing with FedEx cup at that point, and trying to win that. Basically to put your name on that trophy, submit yourself in history, and as time goes on, right, being the FedEx cup champion is going to become more and more and more

and more important if that makes sense. It's going to have a lot more notoriety. Is it weird at all to go through life with your, I guess, on-course earnings being so public? Is that weird at all? I thought it was really strange when I was in my, I don't know, 5th or 6th year on tour and I passed Jack Nicholas on the all-time career money list. That was really strange. That was weird and awful and you know just didn't feel right. It felt dirty all at once, you know. It's all relative to the time you play. It is what it is. I honestly had never played for money in my career. I've finished events and there's always a purse breakdown in the scoring trail. I said, you know, what did that, what did that a footer on the last toll cost me? Like, I probably would have made an extra 50 grand or something. But, you know, that pisses you off. But at the end of the day, I'm not.

I've never played for cash. If that made sense, I'm trying to win tournaments. And if I'm sitting on the last toll with a five iron in my hand and the pins back right over water and I have to make birdie, I'm taking that five iron at the pin and if I make double I make double. But you're trying to win the golf tournament and I can live with the rest at the end. It's funny how you guys view, you were talking about, it was replaying today, how painful a $20,000 fine would be. Yet that's money coming out of your wallet versus if you miss a putt for 50K, it doesn't bother you nearly as much. Totally different. Yeah. Playing for money on tour. Guys, guys still get nervous. Don't get it wrong. But it's funny how there are a lot of guys that can't,

they don't like to play for money out of their pocket. Yes. Playing a hundred dollar in asset, I'll drive some crazy because it's money coming out rather than the other, the only thing they see on the other way is it's coming in. There's just like this flow coming in and they, if they leave some out, it's, it doesn't bother them as much as actually pulling out their pocket and giving in. And other guys, you know, I think everyone that watches your shows, aware of who the guys that like to gamble on Tuesday, um, there's no gambling a bush would, but if there were, you guys know who that would be.

Is it weird, uh, you know, when when we're playing with many tour guys out here and you take money off them? Is that a weird feeling? You and I, when we won that one day, and Joe shot 61, that felt a little... Well, to take money off of a guy, I should 61 just feels awful. I had a partner that really negotiated himself well and then also played a great day.

It was you, birdied every par five with a shot. But you're a benefit. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day.

I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. I'm excited to have a great day. to be honest because you play great. People are going to turn it off in the, it's time anyways, I promised you an hour so. Thank you very much for coming. I knew how to get, get out of here. So I got an appointment I got to get to. I know how to end this quickly. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most.

Better than most.