No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 361: Hudson Swafford & Mackenzie Hughes

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

Hudson Swafford joins us shortly after his win in the Dominican Republic to talk through the pressure of the back nine, how he channeled the nerves, persevered through a double bogey, and his health battles the last few years. On the back half, Mackenzie Hughes joins to talk about his wild ride towards the end of the season, needing to par the last at the BMW to make it to East Lake, getting back in the majors, Winged Foot, Corales, and a lot more.  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. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang up podcast. We have an episode two players on not together had an opportunity to catch up with Hudson Swofford, Freshoff, his win down in the Dominican Republic. We caught up with him pretty quickly.

He was commuting and it's been obviously a crazy couple of days right after you went golf tournaments. So I didn't want to take up too much of his time. As well as the interview we had planned for a little longer with Mackenzie Hughes. It was kind of a little bonus on top that he competed down there in the Dominican Republic because I want to chat with him about his season.

Obviously the ups and downs coming down the stretch of the BMW all that. I'll talk a little more about that as we transition into that interview Up first is Hudson Swoffered, but up even before him our friends at Odyssey golf now we update you guys About of course Odyssey winning the putter count at the PGA championship back in August an update for that They also won the putter count at the US open. They won at the A&A on the LPGA tour. They have not lost a major count in over two years. Something like, I didn't realize this.

Something like 60% of tour players use mallets and Odyssey has more mallet offerings than anyone else. They have a putter for just about everyone. They have the Stroke Lab Black. They have the two long milled putters, Triple Track, Stroke Lab women's putters and even arm lock styles. You could get lost in this, so be careful if you do do this,

but please go to OdysseyGolf.com, check out all their offerings there. It's really hard to get fixated on one thing that you love. Even though I love my Stroke Lab 7, I am constantly always looking at all the new potential options. And who knows, I might be making a change at some point in the future. So Odyssey Golf.com, Odyssey the number one putter on tour, up first Hudson Swatford, then Mackenzie Hughes.

All right, you didn't make it very easy on the people that were rooting for you to close it out yesterday in the Dominican. No, probably, I guess I didn't. But I had it really, honestly, and truly I had it on cruise control. I felt like I really felt like I can just control in all parts of my game and. He did a bad spot on 12, but you know, first ship came back to my feed and TV probably doesn't do a justice, but I was by 30 feet below the pin in the green surface. So I tried one shot and I didn't work and I tried another and that one worked out great as probably a best shot of the tournament for me. Getting up and down there and really unfortunate break on 13 with the ball just trickling over the back part of the green where I hit it and when never even touched it, hit a

great shot. And I personally only hit one bad shot yesterday. That was the quiddy nine iron on 15 and left it in kind of a bad spot And honestly had it actually a really good chip just hit right into the grain just popped up and stopped and fairly missed the putt but other than that I really Well, I wasn't very nervous felt in control my gang Yeah, I gave some shots back on the back nine, but I still never was overly worried about the situation. I knew some pins were on the front on 16, 17. So I had chances.

Well, all right, so Corralis is an interesting course to watch. And we touched on this on our recap pod, but because of the short grass around the greens, it causes some really uncomfortable shots. So take us through some of those uncomfortable shots down the stretch, right? Because I wanna unpack, you kinda ruined like eight questions I had there

about being nervous there. I'm saying that you're not nervous, but what it's like to try to hit shots off tight turf where the margin for error is so, again, reminded me honestly, we talk a lot about sweetens, cove, and Tennessee, and some of these pitch shots that are off tight turf right into a mound.

And if you miss it, like the balls come back to your feet, deal them with that while in contention on the PGA tours gotta be kind of crazy. It is, yeah, no, especially this week. So I played here one other time and it was in March. So that time of year, the grass is very lush. It's gotten a lot more rain and it's actually pretty easy pitching and chipping around there. You can get under it. In this time of year, they hadn't had much rain. So everything was burned out, brown, fast, very thin. Like when you saw a

guy's chip in a rather grange, you'd see a lot of sand, but it was really just crushed up rocks, but it's it's way it's way different. It's very soft and grainy around the greens this week. And that's not what you want when you're trying to get the ball up in the air. And so you feel like you have to smash it into these hills and TV just, I know it can't do a justice on the slopes because I had a couple of people say, you know, do you, I mean, is it that hard to get it up? There's five-flip slopes or whatnot. I was like five foot.

I mean, the one on 12 is probably, I'm literally 30 feet below the green. The one that I was chipping behind 13, I'm probably a good 10 to 12 foot below the green surface. So you're coming off the tight lie and you've got to get some air on it, but you have to have some speed. So you're trying to hit a hook shot with, you know, with a small little area and try to get it some air on there is not.

It's really not that easy because if you hit it a little low into the green, it just pops up into the past down. That's just the type of grass that it's going to do that. So it's not going to take a big bounce and maybe check like a Bermuda or some bent. So there's a lot of elements that go into it for sure. Well, and it's the margin for air is small, right? Because you can hit one a little too firm and it's tough to stop it once it's going past the hole. It's not like you have a bailout safe shot in a lot of those situations. Oh, absolutely not. And especially on 13, if you hit that shot with any speed, and it goes just trickling over your next shot from 50 yards below it, at least 50 yards.

You go out in 31, couldn't have made it look much easier than you did, honestly. Is it weird? Does anything change when you look up and see yourself three clear, four clear versus one clear? Is it hard to kind of put your foot, keep your foot on the gas pedal in that regard and not think about like, oh crap, I'm giving away shots here. I'm giving up a big lead. Any of that is because that's what's going through as as a viewer watching it. That's like what you are imagining somebody's thinking, but get look watching your press conference and stuff

after it. I did not get that sense. I really didn't have that sense to be honest with you. I mean, like you said on the front nine, it was I felt like it was pretty easy. It was pretty cruise control. And I continue with that. I hit hit it in the rough on 10, but hit a great night. I heard the correct spot of the green. Absolutely hit it in the rough on 10 but hit a great nine iron to the correct spot of the green. Absolutely hit one of the best six irons I've hit in a long time to about 80 from 237 on number 11 and hit a good pod just slipped out. Obviously put my bet self in a bad spot on 12 but an incredible up and down for par. I really wasn't too nervous and I wasn't really, I wasn't thinking about winning at that point,

I was just thinking about executing shots and that's what my main focus was that day. So I didn't really, I saw I had a three shot lead at the turn, but I didn't really know like after 10, there's no leader board still probably about 14 green. So I didn't really know like after 10 there's no there's no leader board still probably about 14 green so I didn't really know if anybody was making birdies or anybody was making bogies and I wasn't really too concerned about it I just was concerned what I was doing and after the double I still I had a great look on on 14 and just kind of ran over the lip. And really the only shot that I just didn't commit

to the whole day was the nine-hier on 15. It was just kind of a bad number, maybe a bad choice of shots that I was trying to hit up in the wind. I was trying to hit a little high nine-hier, so it had no chance of going through the wind and going long and just kind of caught on it. The area was very poor execution. All right, so, were you, are you somewhat more freed up

maybe going into 17, and if anyone that didn't watch, you know, the wind is whipping into your face and several groups before that, nobody was getting it on that green. It just was a tantalizing shot as far as and they did a good job of kind of setting that up and you step up and hit what they're calling the shot of the day and just drain a putt right on top of it. Like were you I guess now the lead had gone. Did anything change? Any mindset? It doesn't sound like it, but I'm wondering if

internally anything did. I tell you what, and everybody, when I won for the first time on the desert, everybody's like, well, oh man, how nervous were you? You had to be so nervous. And I explained to them. I was like, honestly, I was less nervous because I knew I had control of my game. I'm more nervous trying to make a cut with my C game than I was in these positions. If that makes sense, I know that's hard for people to relate, especially for a guy that doesn't win as many times as Tiger Woods is a percent. But

when you're in control of your game, you're hitting the ball solid. And honestly, all day I've bis hit one golf shot. I know that I'm still going to have chances, you know. And I just, I felt confident what I was doing. Yeah, I was a little uneasy, maybe on 15, just after I hit a bad golf shot, but I mean, that's just with anything. And I, you know, regrouped and had a really good pot for par after a mediocre chip, but actually the chip was a lot better than I couldn't get under it. I was in a burnout area.

So I couldn't get any height over it to fly it over the ridge. So I was trying to bump it into it and just hit and popped up straight up in the air and then go anywhere. So I really didn't even have that bad chip. I had a great pot right over the front lip. So I had nothing to be mad about other than the non-committed nine iron from the fairway. When you're out there though,

do you, are you at all thinking about all the things that come with a win? Are you thinking about Augusta? Are you thinking about the majors? Are you thinking about two years of exemptions? Does that, do those thoughts enter your mind at all? Yeah, I mean absolutely. I definitely thought, you know, when I was on 11 and I was kind of having a cruise, I was just, man, I definitely thought

about Augusta and winning. Like, it's cool to be to get back in the winter circle, but at the same time, I was like, man, you gotta focus on one shot of the time. I kind of just was focusing on my rhythm all week. So I kind of snapped out of that pretty quickly and then, you know, made a great up and down. And I was just like, man, this is just, this is just kind of my time to, you know, step up and do some good stuff.

Hit a great drive on 13, hit a great pitch wedge and then watch a trickle over the green. I just knew that was going to be a very difficult up and down and that kind of compounded mistakes with the ball coming back to my feet. But honestly, I never got ahead of myself. Probably the biggest shot on the back nine for me, other than 17 was the nine iron on 14, getting it past the pin and not coming up short again. Probably really hard to tell,

but anything short of that pin, you're gonna be 50 yards off the grain and having it possible up and down. So I hit a really good nine iron from about 142 yards to about 10 foot just behind it, 10 12 feet. So that shot kind of got me dialed back in honestly other than having a very similar shot of an excellent just not committing to it. But it really kind of zero my focus back in and even with the bogey on 15, I knew I knew with the wind I could still be aggressive on my shots coming in and I had you know two really good looks on 16 and 17 obviously you know

hit in a great six iron on 17 that you know drew it off just how envisioned and kind of pulled from memories of my shot on 17 at PJ West when I won, you know, hit an eight-hour to three or four inches on an island green. That's all I could play in the back of my mind and just to step up there and, you know, commit to the golf shot and just say to the sol is possible and I win. Well, that, okay, that kind of helps answer something I wanted to ask, which is, is it easier? This is not the second time you've been in contention, but is your second PGA tour win? Is it easier in that regard to kind of pull off, pull on some memories and,

and having, I, I just envision like, all right, if you've done this before, there can't be, you know, the self doubt shouldn't be there at any point to say, like, all right, if you've done this before, there can't be, you know, the self doubt shouldn't be there at any point to say, like, no, I've literally done this before. Is it easier the second time around? Did you have any kind of perspective on what it was like this time around? Oh, I had some, I had some good pictures

from winning obviously and you can draw on that, but no, winning's not easy. It never, I don't think it gets any easier. I'm one of many tour events. I've won. When I was on the Web. When it was a Web.com now at Cornfairy, I won there. It still wasn't easy. My first BGA tour when wasn't easy, it took me four years. And, you know, being hard where I've been the last few years, it's

been tough and this wasn't easier. It presented different challenges, but I was comfortable in the situation. But I've also failed a lot. I've been in the final growth, in the final group at waste management and a couple of back going to the last day, birdie the first hole, and you know, I end up ninth, but I feel like I never got ahead of myself that day. And I really did a good job that yesterday, never getting ahead of myself, even when I made double. I didn't press the panic button, I just kind of stuck to my routine. And I knew how good I was playing that. If I didn't get ahead of myself, I

was still going to make some birdies coming in and I was gonna be fine. Can you, I've always wondered this, you have an eight foot putt to win, you know exactly what the putt is for, you know, didn't look like there was a lot in that putt, but it sounded like there was some back and forth of you and your caddy on what it was gonna do, et cetera. But how do you, you can't practice being nervous, right?

You can't, I don't know what you can do to prepare yourself to stand over a putt like that, which is like, in my mind, the perfect length pressure putt of, you know, this could go either way. How do I hit a normal putt? What do you do in that situation? How do you handle the nerves of, you know, a putt that you want to treat it as normal as possible, but you absolutely know exactly what it's for. Oh yeah, it's tough. It's really hard to practice that. I mean, there's drills that you kind of get down to the last pot to move on, type deal, or you're playing your buddies for an uncomfortable

amount of money, whether it's $20, $50, $100, you know, I mean, everything's gonna make you just kind of, you know, just tense up a little bit. And I didn't know what the putt was. I actually hit a really good first putt, but I think it's been more time in the air going up the hill than it on the ground. It started bouncing pretty quickly. And so in the back and forth between my can, I thought it might go a little bit towards the code where we were looking. I thought it might go a little right. He was thinking I was going to go a little left. Obviously, around that hole, there had been a lot of traffic. It was the green

for getting really burned out and fast. So it was pretty wavy. He's like, man, I think you just play it pretty straight. And just think about hitting a solid pot. And that's, I've been putting great all week. And just hitting really quality parts. I can, I think I can count on one hand how many bad parts I hit for the week, which is usually a pretty good thing. It was really just focusing on hitting a solid pott and I can't control anything else after that. Well you didn't yeah you didn't sauce it very well because it went in the dead center of the hole and it took you a second to

react almost. Yeah I didn't I didn't really want to look up I wanted to keep my head down. I just wanted to make sure that I hit the most solid putt that I that I could. I didn't even see really where it went in. And I looked up, when I looked up, I kind of looked at my caddy, looked at the hall and the ball disappeared. And I just it's kind of a blackout moment. But I guess I was just so kind of in trench and just trying to hit the most solid put that I possibly could because I knew if I did that, that it's going to roll on a good line. And it's going to have a really good chance going now.

Well, you touched on it there, just kind of some of the things you've kind of gone through over the last couple of years, you know, you've got a rib injury, you broke a bone in your foot. It's been a tough road back and it kind of take us through what your status, your fight for status has been like, how COVID has affected you.

And because I remember that was a storyline this spring, as far as you know, a waste management, you're kind of playing for your status on a major medical and all that. And I know there's some confusion amongst a lot of people out there on how all that works. So kind of take us to what you were, what was pending for you, what this means

for you going forward as well. Yeah, absolutely. So I was on a major medical, I had foot surgery a year ago this patch to lie. My first event back was in October and then first event back on PGA tour was November. So I was out for four months and or a little over four months and being hurt in this sport it's's not fun. You get put behind the eight ball, you kind of get

shuffled back. It's not like other sports where you know, you get hurt and you kind of either slowly get back into the groove or you know, you're maybe pampered a little bit more. This is all on you. I mean, you go and there's no one else out there

really to help you. It's just you and your caddy. So I had seven starts on my medical, which is plenty of starts, you know, get stuff done. And I was playing fine. And like you said, I was playing for my card of waste management, it up 9th. It's a really solid week that week.

How a couple random breaks, but a couple of divot balls the last day that maybe led to two bogies, but you know, played solid at waste management then turn around and play to really solid tournament minus nine holes at Honda and finished 20th. So the game was trending in the right direction. Everything was going well and I had one more tournament to go and fulfilled and I had to make 19 points to fulfill my medical and then COVID came and everybody knows that everything's kind of been weird and shut down everything. So you know, the unknowns didn't know when we're going to play, didn't know when we're

going to come back. So it took time off, obviously, and then heard that, you know, speculation that we're going to start, you know, early May, then he got moved back to later May. And so I got my game back in shape, and I think every aspect of my game got better during the break. And when I came back, I didn't see any results, didn't see good results. And it was tough, it was frustrating. And I started thinking about my medical more and more, which is no way to play golf.

I mean, if you're playing handcuff before you tee off, you have no chance. And I know that, but it's way easier said than done, right? And so I also had the option of restarting my medical. A lot of people probably aren't clear about that because they, the board came up, you know, so all the web guys got to, they were going to keep their status, they couldn't go backward. So the only people that were losing something were people of medical. So they gave us the option of restarting. And I thought seven starts to win, you know, one event versus one event to try to win.

That's a lot better sample size because you're not going to win most of the time in one start. So a little bit more chance of the win. That's where my team and I came up with. Yeah, it was a struggle mentally, but I did some great work with Dr. Brett McCabe you're kind of just get to be playing kind of like a kid again enjoying the game you know just you know accepting my shots and results as a you know before I was probably getting ahead of myself, getting out, I think a couple of holes before, think of outcomes before they would happen, which getting ahead of yourself and golf is just, it makes for a long miserable day.

I'm like, off course. That's the reason why it's so, so, so cliche, but the one shot at a time thing has so much credence, right? I mean, it is the way you have to play. If I 100% is and it is, it is very cliche, like you said, but it is so hard to do. But I got in a great mindset this week and really focused on that.

And nothing really bothered me. I felt like I played pretty free golf and saw a lot of good stuff. I mean, yeah, people can say I made it very dramatic coming down the back nine. And I did, you know, I missed it in a spot that I, that you can't miss it. But I literally that, I missed that shot by four feet. If it stops just a little quicker or the wind hits it just to touch, I've got eight feet for Bernie. So I really only hit one bad golf shot yesterday.

And you looked confident too, there's the thing and they alluded to it too. Like you step back up a driver pretty much every situation. And as you were standing over, like I was, I was, I was, it was hard. I was, I got, there were several friendlies up at the top of the leaderboard. I'm kind of like, man, of all these guys, like I know Mackenzie had just gotten, he had advanced to the tour championships, so he had gotten in all the majors. So I was kind of like, I think I'm pulling for Hudson here

because he's got the most riding on this for the most part. But so I was, I mean, I was invested in it yet at the same time I was like, every time you stood over a shot, I'm like, his swing is absolutely on point right now. And I was confident you were going to hit a good one. So you talk some in your press conference about you alluded to getting in your own way. And I'm wondering what that means at your level and for you specifically. Uh, for me, it's jumping around and trying to predict outcomes before they're happening,

wanting things to happen as opposed to making things happen, hoping that I play this whole well. Or I just need to get, you know, 14 and par 5 and I have a good birdie chance as opposed to focusing on one shot at a time. The cliche, you know, saying, it's just that's, you can't, you can't get a hell yourself and golf. And I, I know that's a weakness of mine. And I really focus on that this week.

And really enjoyed all aspects, even my bad shots, at least I could kind of laugh about it. And they didn't really rattle me this week at all. So it was something I learned a lot this week and kind of a little self-talk, little self-belief and a little bit more how I need to think going around the golf course. Well, you shared a lot of those thoughts with us.

I think it, and people can take that to their game as well and whatever way that means. But I'm always, I'm impressed, I guess, with the lack of nerves as well, just with everything you had riding on it and knowing that you, you know, especially with the medical and the things you were kind of alluding to, things that you've had to block out

over the best of your ability that you're able to pull through. So congratulations, man. Thanks for coming on and telling us the story and we'll be glad we're going to be seeing you out there for seven more years. Absolutely. Appreciate having me, my friend. All right.

Take care. We'll see you soon. Sounds good. All right. The second half of this episode is going to feature Mackenzie Hughes. I thought we maybe could only grab him for about 30 minutes or so. And it's been almost 50 something like that. I lot to catch up on for him as a big year for him. Obviously, we detail some of the some of the great play

had coming down the stretch. Some excitement at the BMW. Before we get to him real quick, want to point you guys in the direction of a new story that came out this past week from our friends at whoop. Bought a month ago, maybe a loyal follow-up of ours named Pascal reached out to us and said, hey, can you help me get in touch with somebody at Woop? I just had a crazy life occurrence and that I had some spikes in some of my data, some really concerning things on my wristband.

And if you don't know what Woop is, it is a fitness wearable, provides personalized insights on the performance of your sleep, how recovered you are, how much stress you're putting on your body throughout the day, et cetera. You know, he had a stressful day of golf, but the numbers just weren't adding up for him.

And he went to go get checked out to figure out why. And it turns out he was having a heart attack at the age of 33. And he wanted to get in touch with somebody at Woop to tell them the story to say, hey, I don't think I would have survived if I didn't see this spike in my data. And he wrote an incredible story about it.

It's on Woop.com. You can find in the newsletter, we shared it on our Twitter as well. It's on Woop's Twitter. And we want to again, remind you guys that you can get 15% off your own Woop band. If you use code noLangUp at Woop.com, whoop.com. Inner code NoLangUp is save 15%.

You'll sleep better. You'll recover faster and train smarter with Woop. Again, you save hundreds of dollars if you use this promo code as well. I know you guys have been crushing it with the promo code and using it, but I want to give a special shout out to Woop and that story and make sure you go find that as well. The only further delay here is Mackenzie Hughes. So is anyone out there on tour calling you, Mr. 66, 66 yet? You know, that hasn't quite caught on yet, but I definitely, I'm on Twitter a little

bit and I see all the dimensions and people talking about it. It's definitely... It's gaining traction. I know that. I don't even know how it started because the Honda obviously kept talking about it. And then Tron was getting into death and then people were just all over it. And then it was like whenever I shoot 66, it was like, okay, you know, you shot 66, 66 one time. And then it was just...

Yeah. It's how the dumbest joke started. It was, we were doing the Honda recap, pod. And we talked about you in the first like 10 minutes of the show about how you shot 66, 66 on the weekend. Yeah. And then Tron brings it up like 30 minutes later. It's like, wait, we gotta talk about McKenzie Hughes.

He shots, and we're like, dude, yeah, we talked about it, man. And then he did it again. And so we just like kept hammering him for it. And then now it is, it's, so anyone that missed the Honda Classic recap pod has probably been extremely confused every time we've referred to that.

But I'm having a lot of fun. We're both having a lot of fun keeping it going. Hey, it's all good with me. I don't mind having that nickname. So Honda, if I'm right, if I remember this right, Honda is the week that you were intentionally banging balls off the grandstands, left of the green coming down the stretch there on 18.

Do I have that right? That was it. Yeah, I thought, I thought, wow, look at that backward over there. I'm just going to fire it over there and then hopefully get a good brick of shit. And I thought if I hit one of the railings, it might get on the roofing. But I shot a little too high. It was a bit too much of a home run.

So unfortunately, I missed all the hard objects and I must have hit some of the soft siding. But next time I'll try and fire in find a little harder and I hope we get that right bounce. Oh God, that was, you know, before COVID and everything hit, Twitter was all up in arms about, you know, like the grandstanding and that whole conversation was happening. I got to, people that don't maybe understand what I'm referring to, as you had a shot there on the 72nd hall that you hooked way left into the bleachers.

And my point was like, the tour needs to potentially look into some safety issues that come with this. Because while of course you were not aiming for the bleachers, you know that you have a bumper there of some kind to the point where it becomes okay for everyone in the field to blow one left if they need to. Is that at least along the lines of what guys are thinking of sometimes out there when you're out of position, you

have a specially difficult shot and you know you have an opportunity to bang one off something. You at least know that that can help you. Am I right in saying that? In particular situations, yes. Now I wouldn't say in that scenario, like that grandstand was was left. I mean, it was left of left. And there was not any part of me that thought, you know, I'm gonna, I have that backboard over there. Like, it was never crossed my mind. I'm in the left side of the green trying to hit a little cut and last second, smother it left. And I mean, instantly know all the face that it's going way left.

And but there are certain events where, you know, whether they're just landlocked or whatever, but the grandstands are way too close. And you know in your head that like there are certain misses that are pretty good up against a grandstand. Like Sony Open years past, they put the pin right in the back of the green and the grandstand is like a yard and a half over the back.

But like missing short of that flag is no good. So if you're in between clubs, you're like, well, if I do hit it back there, worst case scenario is if it was long, it would be a yard and a half long. And there are just little things throughout the year that comes in play. It's very rare, but we saw it at the Anna,

which I didn't even see that finish there, but I heard that was pretty controversial with that wall there. And I mean, did the wall have to be right behind the 18th green probably not but yeah, it's It's kind of it's part of professional golf at this point, but they definitely could maybe try and find ways around You know some of those aspects. I mean I know During COVID we've had a lot less structures. So I even noticed the first week back at

Colonial, we had a lot more action behind the ninth green. You know, the ninth green there, I had team balls in the past, you know, flyer, other rough and all that, you know, bouncing off the grandstand back on the green. Now you've got guys that are hitting flyers, 30 yards over the green and that's no fun back there. So it's definitely a little bit of a different element and it comes in play here and there, but for the most part, it's not really a thought, but occasionally, occasionally it can be a factor. Yeah, and I think that, you know, every time

that anybody talks about backstopping, grain stopping, any of these things, the common easy low hanging fruit reply is, well, if they were that good, they should just aim it at the pin. And it's like, well, that's not, it's exactly the point is like, sometimes you just need like these buffers and what not.

And it's not drastic effect. I think going back to that conversation, I got no problem with like, you know, if you bang one off the lower part of it and everything like clearly, that is gonna happen no matter where you put stands. But if you are exiting the stadium, if you are outside of the bleachers,

that that could, the potential of that being either out of bounds or like a shot penalty, is going to change the way guys play some of those shots. Well, I've got a great one. So can you picture the 18th hole at Valero, the par five? Yes. So I won't mention any names, but I was planning with a player who was going for the green and missed the structure

all together left. I mean, hit it 70 yards left the green over the grandstand. And the people in the grandstand were like, well, we heard it back there, but whenever we saw it, ball was never found. And it was like, we treated like a hazard. So he got to drop just beside the grandstand, took his like two club lengths or whatever,

and just proceeded to play from there, and then go up and down and birding. And like, that ball is a hundred yards left for the green. Like, we don't even know where it is. Like, it could be in a tree, it could be in the clubhouse right now. I have no idea, but like the ball was so far left. And I mean, that just, I guess the way we're playing it,

I don't know, I guess it's the rule, but I was like, wow, I mean, that ball was so far left. And without a grandstand there, like we're probably talking about going back and replaying the shop, because it's like, we never found the ball. So, but you know, we just, we play the arena that we have. I mean, this is what it is and the rules are the rules.

I mean, if there was, you know, like, you've mentioned before the long rough around the greens. Like, you know, you could run a ball through the green and you know it's only going to go a certain distance because of the rough. Well, that's just what we play. So if you see a ball running through the green really fast, that guy's probably thought that through that longs okay,

because it's only gonna go three, four yards over the green. You know, and so, and if that became a, you know, an area where it was, you know, shaved down and would run 30 yards below level the green, well then guys would play a different shot. But everyone's taking all that stuff into account and just playing the venue that we have, you know, if it's thick rough, if it's run offs, whatever it is, you know, guys are thinking of all that stuff.

Yeah, no, I think I'm never like blaming the players in any of this. It's like, yeah, you guys are exactly to your point. You're playing in the arena that you're playing in that you should be. Players are, I think your guys guys intuition and just general course management slash intelligence is very underrated and like all the things you guys have done to figure out how to get in the ball and the whole effectively and all the calculations you're making. I mean, if you got to play that ricochet off the shitter, I mean, you got to play the ricochet.

Exactly. It's part of the game. It's part of the game. Yeah. Play as well as the lies. Well, but it's all the lies. Well, now I'm going back into the shot tracker to try to find who made this drop back in. You might you probably figured out, but I could probably figure it out. But let's go to Corralis then you know, I wanted to have you on, you know, post BmW to talk

about, you know, the little heart attack you gave everyone coming down the stretch there and then after you us open and then just the cherry on on top you almost go down there and win at the Dominican Republic. Take us there. You know, I've got the good history at Kerala's last year missing the, well missing winning by one. But we can last full there. And then just, you know, yeah, I was feeling good about things and I thought, you know, I kind of wanted to play something after the US opened to kind of remind myself that I could still play half decent, wing foot, you know,

bash me in pretty good. Yeah, it was a fun week. I'm not really accustomed to being one of the bedding favorites. And I got a lot of, a lot of, you know, play on social media and Twitter and all that stuff about people saying, oh, I picked you, yada yada, I put this money on you, and I see all that stuff, and it's nice to see that because it means you're playing well and you're doing the right things. But it was a new position for me. Now obviously it was not one of our top top fields, but nonetheless

it was kind of cool to be one of the odds on guys and tried to treat it that way, tried to go in there with the intent to win the tournament and unfortunately just didn't quite do it. The last few holes didn't hit the shots. They need to hit, but yeah, it was fun to be in the mix and just got to keep knocking on the door and hopefully get done next time. Well, to that point, it's interesting how the fall series works and that it is a little less money than the dea for this event in particular,

but all of the benefits that come with a golf tournament win are dangling right there in front of you without all the top players there. So for a lot of guys, and I wouldn't even put you in this group because you're, you're ranked top 50 in the world, but for like a lot of guys, these events are like the Superbowl. Like this is as great an opportunity as you're going to get to rack up a ton of points and all these things that. Well, and to think about the guys that play on sponsor exemptions, I mean, I know for like that Justin

Yeah, he You know, he had a top 15 so those are big points for him as far as you know, making it into the finals next year And things like that, you know, wills al Torres had a good week and You know for even past champion guys like guys that you, are trying to work their way into a higher position in the reshuffle. I mean, it's just big for everybody that's down there. Everyone that's down there is down there for that reason, is that they want to get off to a good start. And they realize that there's a good opportunity there in Dominican. So, you know, yeah, it wasn't about going there to make a bunch of money It was that the points were you know the points where what they were there full points You know that guy that wins going the masters Maui all that stuff. So yeah, I mean all those rewards are there and Yeah, not not quite your you know top top to your field

You're singing you are just singing the PGA tour music there. It's not about the money. It's about the points So that was I did you know, I don't know if I get paid for that and you are just singing the PGA tour music there. It's not about the money, it's about the points. That was beautiful. No, I did. You know, I don't know if I get paid for that, but. No, but to that point though, it is interesting. It is full points yet not full money. Like it was, I was just surprised to see all the points in the standings and stuff knowing that,

I like the fall series. I mean, I always say it's optional viewing for a lot of fans and that you don't, it's not must see TV every week, but you can watch a lot of people's lives change in it. And I got to say like you're what happened at BMW. It's in some way made me not root for you as hard. I am friends with both you and Hudson. And I was like, God, this would be huge for Hudson. And you know what? McKenzie's already in all the majors next year. Like he's already locked up all those. The honestly the only thing that well there's two things you know you don't win a lot

in golf so like for me it's always big when you go to a tournament and you feel like well you know that you beat everyone there you know like you walk away with a trophy say I just I beat everyone that was here this week and then the other thing is that yeah the exemptions all that, I'm fortunate enough to have those already, but the two-year exemption and the security, that's really what a win means for me right now is just like, yeah, I'm top 50 in the world, and I've been playing nicely, but I'm not guaranteed

anything as far as Hudson is down the road, in terms of my job. Hudson's coming off in injury and I was super happy for him and his family. But the exemption is big to anybody. Anyone that doesn't have that security, that exemption is huge. And I think that's probably the biggest carrot

that dangles anyways for me, as far as a win goes. It's like, wow, you're exempt for essentially a three-year exemption with you when you win early in a season. So, but yeah, happy forum. And I know that was a big one forum. Yeah, and I don't, I don't mean to downplay the fact that you are in the top 50 in the world right now, because I mean, as of, you know, as, as we turned over into 2020, you

were hovering just under the 300 ranked in the world. So you have had kind of a slipping under the radar, of course, the 66, 66 at Honda made a big difference in that, but you've had, especially since COVID, you know, since golf has restarted, I guess, T3 at the Travellers, you had a T6 at Memorial, a T10 at BMW, and then a gross T7 at the net club championship at the end of the year, and then to finish this off the third place finish.

So it's been a big 2020 for you. It has. Yeah, the handicap championship that we played in was tough. Now, Grant, I was super excited to be there, but you know, on your spot in Dustin 10, that's a tough deficit to make up. Now, I don't know what the perfect format is, because I know the previous format was not perfect to confusing reviewers, you know, to have, like the scenario where Tiger won, but Justin and I were on the FedEx Cup, I don't like that. But at the same time, I shouldn't be level with Dustin Johnson either. Like, I shouldn't

start where he did because he had an incredible year. I had a good year for sure, but he had an incredible year. So I don't think we should start at scratch, but yeah, I don't know what that perfect format is, but anyways, yeah, it was a great summer and it set me up for a nice year next year with Hall of Majors and hopefully, you know, the's something for a nice year next year with Hall of Majors and hopefully, you know, the way that I can really finish it off is to finish the year, but, you know, top 50 and then that gets me into a couple more WGC's next year and yeah, really, that's to be up nice.

Well, I was thinking about this actually and that, you know, it is hard. I'm sure of like a actual mental hurdle for players to clear when you come into a tournament, 10 shots back. But at the same time, I think for the people that are near the bottom, I think the new format actually works out a lot better for you, and that it used to be that, you know, the guys at the top, even if, let's say, you know, if you're in first place and you finish 30th in the Torch Championship, you don't fall that far. And now, if you come in and you play portally in the Torch

Championship and you're near the top and you fall into 25th place, you get 25th place money overall, whereas you used to get, you used to drop down to like fifth or something like not even that far. So I agreed. I agreed. The, um, now the only thing with the old format is like, say you were a third-yearth and you had a really a great week and you say one of the tournament, like you were going to be like third in the second.

One's Andrew won the two-year championship, he went from like 28th to like third in the FedEx Cup. That's hard to be the 28th guy, starting even par and to finish third. I think I would have needed to shoot like minus 18. I think that was second or minus 17 for the week to finish third. So it would have been tough, but yeah. There's just not a perfect way to do it.

I think the match play idea intrigues me, but they don't wanna to lose their top guys in the first couple of rounds, and then have, you know, I'm going to make plan on myself, but they don't want me versus, you know, I don't know, something J.M. or any non-marky guys that they don't know much about. I mean, that's no knock on Sungjae's incredible player, but they just don't want that to be their final. Even though match play would be amazing, like to have Dustin Johnson on the ropes in the first round, you know, would be cool, but I don't know. Yeah, you, I want to kind of ask that, I guess, going in, coming down the stretch at BMW,

first of all, going into the week, do you know exactly what you need to do to qualify for the tour championship? And what is, within that, what is the thing that is dangling there that you are most excited about? Like what is the thing that, of all the benefits that come from making the tour championship, if you could pick one, if you could only have one

of those things, what is it? So I would say, I would say the Masters for sure, but I found out just before the week started at BMW that you also got into Maui, which was like an unbelievable care that I just got dropped in your lap and you're like, man, like behind Augusta and I hadn't been to each other at that point,

but I mean the Mallee was just sitting there staring me at the face staring me in the face and I was like this is one of my I've been there once and it was just a dream week 30 some of our guys and you know a full point full-person event I mean it's just it's too it's almost too good to be true, too gravy. And so you're like, well, I get dad as well as the majors and a WGC. It. Well, Maui for both the golf and the family, right? I mean, yeah, yeah, family trip.

It's nice to bring the family down there and start the year. But I knew going to BMW, they projected that I would need a top 15. In my head, I was like like I think I need to be at least top 10 and I was really just trying to win the tournament. I felt like I was playing well enough to to go and have a great week and just I thought well if I try to win and then you know if I don't win hopefully I'm somewhere in that top 10 and I really had a great chance going into Sunday. And you know, this is not an excuse at all. It was just what happened, but I woke up some day with a pretty bad neck. I slept on a

fine and we were getting worked on all morning and trying to get it to a point where it felt decent, but it was just not good out of the gate. I was hitting everything right and was just trying to put puts together. I was just scrapping my way around and kind of got a little better as the back nine got gone on. I was I was swinging and the next started to feel a bit better. But by that point, I was I was kind of out of it and my main concern was to kind of hold my position and try and make easelake. But is that an easy thing to track while you're playing? I imagine it is, you know, with leaderboards where you stand in a tournament, but like as far as the projected FedEx cup

and all that stuff, did you know exactly what number you needed to get in at? I didn't know exactly because, so it would tell you what your projected was, but it didn't tell you like, okay, with the birdie, you're this, and with a bowie, you're that. So like on 17, you know, I'm putting out for ae, I have a 444 for Boe, I tap in, and you know, before I made Boe, I was 28, but my Boe didn't change my projection. So I was like,

okay, I'm still 28, but like, do I think if I make another Boe, am I gonna go to 30, am I gonna go to 31? And so I'm talking to my cat on the 18th tee, and I said, do we need a par, he goes, yes. And I said, do I have any wheel room? He says, no. I'm like, okay, all right. But I mean, I wanna know. I mean, I don't wanna think I can make bowie

and then find out I couldn't. So, I would say probably one of the top two or three hard holes in the golf course. The 18 T-shirt was kind of awkward. Yeah, I take over the corner a little bit and you miss that fairway. It becomes a really difficult four. And so I did the hard part. It had a great drive, probably the best drive of the day. And, you know, I don't know if I just kind of eased off a little bit or just felt like I was, you know, kind of home free, but, you know, you don't put in a bunker and you're like,

what are you doing? Like, I was like, I mean, what needy it? Like, I'm just thinking to myself, you just put it in a perfect spot and now you're gonna be just grinding for a four. Like making this so hard. And I'm walking up there thinking, just please don't plug. I mean, I just fan the wedge right in the bunker.

I'm like, there's a pretty good chance that it buried. And I get up there and it's not plugged in the way I are. Okay, got a chance. And then I just trying to, you know, kind of refocus myself and get back in the game. And, you know, there was a couple of good ways to get that blow up close. If I hit it like 15 feet past the hole,

I'm gonna come back. And I knew the worst shot I could probably hit was like six, seven feet if I hit it past the hole and kind of got caught in the middle. Hit a pretty good shot. Five and a half feet pass the hole. And I mean, I'm just like, I hit a pack pass the hole and I'm just like, oh, I know how fast that part is.

I'm like, this is so greasy and I have to make this putt. I have no other option. Is this comparable to like, it's your own personal internal tournament you're having right now. Is it comparable to competing for a title? A hundred percent of this. But I almost felt like this was more gut wrenching because you know like say you had a put a put to win. That just is a bit more exciting than like the finality of eSLAQ or not in your season

being over and not getting all those perks. The 31st guy doesn't really, now I might say it doesn't get anything. He just doesn't get those bonuses, those perks. And the financial implications of making the top 30 from your sponsors. There's so many things that come into play with top 30. And so it was that plot for all of it, or you missed it and nothing. And not to mention, for my personal psyche, if I had gone Bo-Yi-Bo-Yi to miss Tour Championships by one shot, I mean it would have been a really long, gross time to think about that. I would just sort of sat home watching Eastlake and be like, oh my god, I just coughed up how it right there and blew it.

But to kind of gather myself and hit a great pot and see it go in was, yeah, it was like winning a tournament. I didn't really, you know, it's funny. You guys had Joel on not long ago and he talked about how, you know, it's a big deal when you make a big chunk of money and, you know, look at your, you know, your tax mature and it says, oh, you made this. But that was one of the only weeks where I, I went a few days, not even really knowing what I made and didn't care because it was just like,

I'm going to, I'm going to use like, I don't even like whether it was a 150 or 400, whatever it was, I didn't matter to me because I had made Eastlake. And so it was a really big deal for me. And obviously, you know, it goes without saying that it sets me up nicely for for the season. God, that's awesome. That was, I felt like I was going through that journey all over again. It was, they did a great job. They picked you up right at the right

moment and kind of highlighted everything new. So we as viewers knew exactly what the putt was for and bite base. And I internal them kind of like I wonder if he knows. I'm sure he does, but I just wonder if he does. And then as soon as you fist pump that reaction and how hard you're grind on that part, I was like, yep, he knew what that part was for. Yeah, yeah. And it was, I mean, if they had shown showed 17, it would have been probably pretty good theater as well, because I was really hacking my way up the left side of that hole. I was in the trees. And at a certain point, it was just like damage control, trying to make it five. And then all my wiggle room was gone.

You know, I make that bogey on 17 and, you know, now it's like, okay, we'll par, par, go home. So yeah, pretty nerve wracking stuff for me as well and thankful to have, yeah, got through it. Yeah, no, I think it's, you know, part of, you can get caught up during the FedEx Cup playoffs of just like, oh my god, this is about the money, the money, the money, the money, the money. And it is, the little intricacies like that can get lost a little bit.

I'm blaming myself for that as much as anyone else. But like that, all that riding on it was, was fun to find. And then it's like, well, Adam Long ended up being the 31st guy. And, you know, a guy that I'm not rooting against in any way, but I was, it would have been to your exact point, it would have been agonizing to see Bogey to last two to miss that out. That's what made it interesting. It's like that pressure is what had to have caused that.

I know that was extremely difficult that week, but you had to be playing a little bit differently those last couple of holes because of you. For sure. Yeah. For sure. I knew exactly what I needed to do coming down the stretch and like I made an unreal up and down 16, 17. There was a little creep down right there and you know I always he wasn't going

right. So again, I had it left and yeah, I was just fighting so hard and battling and I just knew I just need to get this get this in the house. Couple more pars and you know, you're just trying to run the holes out. And you know, once I actually had a decent chance, I thought to win like even with seven eight holes to go, I got back to even par and leave with minus three. And so I kind of try to keep my eyes there for a little bit, bogued 14 and part 15. So I didn't, you know, my focus kind of shifted towards the end where I was like, okay, like just,

let's just get this thing in the house and just, just got in time. Well, let's go to Wingfoot then. You know, you and I were chatting about doing this podcast before Wingfoot and I said, you know, let's wait till after, because I have a feeling there's gonna be some reaction to this golf course after it's all over. So, you know, you said earlier that Wingfoot kind of

chewed you up and spit you out, but I was listening to the No-Laying Up podcast. And the Tron and Big Randy were telling me that Wingfoot was way too easy. So I'm kind of confused as to how I chewed you up and spit you out. Well, so the only time in the first, well, so I only play the Thursday Friday rounds, but the only time that I witnessed that really playing really difficult was Friday afternoon. I don't know if you watched much of the broadcast Friday, but like Friday afternoon the golf course changed significantly. It was really windy and the course started to kind of get baked out.

The greens were getting a little bit brown, a little purpley. The golf course was not lost, but it was getting tricky, very tricky. And then I started out my day on one shot two over the first day, which felt okay, but seeing the scores, I was honestly disappointed myself, seeing that there were 65s and 66s. I just kind of was bracing for total carnage, and then the first day they kind of had it set up a little bit softer.

I didn't even play that great, but managed to shoot a couple over. It was a bit soft for Wingfoot, and they had overdone it for sure, being a bit extra cautious. And then Friday, the water was turned off, the wind picked up, it was cool. And I mean, I just got smacked in the face right out of the gate. I was six over through six.

And, but it was just, like, it was kinda harmless. The way I was making bogies and a double here and there, it was like, wow, I didn't even feel I did anything that bad and then it was just, like, it was kind of harmless. The way I was making bogies and a double here and there, it was like, wow, I didn't even feel identity in that bad. And then it was like double. And like on number one, the second day, the pin was in that middle left bowl. And you saw guys that were like, short of the green

or whatever, like chip past the hole. And it would run back. Well, I kind of chased one from the right rough, just through the back right portion of the green. And it was a total no no. I mean, you just couldn't be long. Anything past pin high there was really tough. Now I was just trying to like keep it somewhere within like 15 feet

and that little like left section of the green. And like down the middle, there's like a kind of a trough that runs everything down to the front. And I was just trying to get it over that. it would probably stay somewhat near the hole. It would actually would have been better for me to chip it through the green and have a shot from just kind of pin high left but it kind of came out fluffy and it starts kind of breaking too soon and it's going down the middle of the green and as soon as I see it breaking I'm like that's off the green and I had a 70 footer from the front of the green now. And so like, you know, you start your day

like that. Well, now you're like, I've got this really tough two-pud. If I leave it six feet short, it's back in my feet. You know, and you just, that's what came out to you all day. And yeah, I mean, I think Friday, for sure, was if we had played those conditions for four days, for sure was if we had played those conditions for four days, I think that eight over would have won. I'm not trying to exaggerate. It was really difficult to shoot two or three over that day. It was a great round in the afternoon. I've never seen green complexes like that before. So unique. Every hole. There wasn't two holes that really looked alike in any way. Just a really neat sign. I loved it as much as it kicked my teeth in on Friday. I thought it was great. Just a little bit disappointed in the way that it was set up,

you know, too inconsistent. Like, you know, Thursday, kind of a bit of a birdie fest. And then Friday was really hard. And then I think Saturday, Saturday,, like, you know, Thursday, kind of a bit of a birdie fest, and then Friday was really hard, and then I think Saturday, Saturday, there was some good scores I think, and then Sunday got in kind of a hard again, but it just didn't quite have the flow, and I think, now obviously Bryson destroyed it in chop 600, but I was hoping for like a 5, 6, 7, or a par winner. I would have been pretty cool, but I'm sure most of you guys were too. Well, help me with this though. Like, I agree.

And, you know, Tron and Randy have maybe conflated my point a bit on Thursday. Like, it was obviously very soft Thursday, but my point was just like, if you don't get wind and there was almost no wind Thursday, that's one less, that's a huge factor in greens drying out one. And two, there's not like a, what is, I guess it's a better question. What is like the hardest golf you've ever played when the wind isn't blowing? Because of how good all of you guys are,

wind is like the variable that actually is what affects scores the most. You can set a course up so freaking hard and if there's no wind it's just not hard for you guys. So I just don't know what to compare it to. It's like, Hey, this this golf course on this day when there was no wind was so difficult. And that's what wing foot should have been is the bridge that I can't cover. Yeah, it's it's the firmness. So on Thursday, there was no wind, but the firmness wasn't there. I mean, you could. But those two work together, though, right? I mean, the wind is going to help drive out. Yeah, they do, though, but you can have firm conditions without a day of, you know, they could be firm prior to getting wind on Thursday.

So if you're playing Wednesday and the course is starting to get firm and you're propping it for for Thursday and you know the wind's gonna be light. You don't need the water as much come Wednesday evening because you know it's gonna be a little bit of a calmer day that more is gonna hang in the greens a little bit better so like you don't you prepare for that and say okay I'm not gonna I'm not gonna dump water on this place because it's not gonna blow tomorrow. Now, if you mess that formula up, you can have carnage, but to me, firmness is like the holy grail of making a golf course hard.

Like firmness with like run-offs and tough greens to hit. Like, again, like you let Bryson hit these greens with wedges from the rough. It almost shouldn't be possible to hit the green. Now, I get it with a great shot. Maybe you get on the green. But he was doing it pretty consistently where you could get it on the green, get the ball to stop. I don't think in a proper setup that should happen. I think it should be repelling balls off the green, unless you're in a fairway. You're in a fairway, then you can get a ball. A great golf shot is going to stop on the green

and you're going to have a look. But yes, me, it was a bit too soft and Olympia fields. Like if they had not dying, Olympia fields, they watered, I think, a fair bit on the weekend. I don't know if they'd like dying Olympia fields they watered I Think a fair bit on the weekend. I don't know if they'd like to scores the first couple days I loved it thought it was amazing. I was one over through two rounds, and I think I was like six or maybe even better like I mean, I think two under was leading something like that one under I mean it was amazing Is that more fun than birdies like to me to me is I think 200 was leading something like that or one under. I mean, it was amazing. Is that more fun than birdies? To me, to me, it is. I think, I almost feel like you don't have to be as good,

but you have to manage your game and think really well when those conditions arise. It becomes more of a strategy game management scenario. We're like, say you go to Aaron Hills, and Brooks Capital wins the US Open at minus 16 to minus 17. That requires a lot of really precise ball bashing, hitting it far, hitting your long irons, really well, putting great. Now, that course is long, but it was kind of soft and just a big ballpark. So, for me, that would have been hard for me to shoot minus 16 that week at Aaron Hills,

unless I had a career week, but at Olympia Fields, it kind of brings guys together. It puts more of a premium on the way you think you're way around the golf course, short game, chipping and putting. So to me that's more fun. I like that better. It makes like I like to be able to say, okay, Mackenzie, like this ball is going to land here, but what's it going to do when it lands? And how's it going to react? But when you play, say, Aaron Hills and it's soft, it's just like, okay, hit a six iron, try and fly it 195 step done. Like, if you give us conditions like that, like guys are

going to tear it up. But as soon as you introduce, like, you know, weird bounces and just really crusty greens, firmness, then, you know, all help and break loose, which I kinda like. As I was gonna say, weirdly, when it's firm, I swing so much better because I'm just not, I'm more creative and I'm just thinking more about the golf shot than I am the swing. And that is, that's why I asked if that was more fun at your level because we say it all the time

that golf is more fun when it's firm, but I think it just frees you up to just play so much more creatively and it all loves it. I think there's more there's more shots available shots around the green become more difficult to be like being shortsighted that has a penalty. You know where you're going to miss the ball. You start thinking about those things. So yeah, I'm with you where I like to have the options and you know, the ball can be on the ground. You you can be 195 yards and you have a back pin but you're trying to land it 30 yards short

like front edge of the green because you know it's going to balance and chase up there kind of tongue blow the rough and you got to guess and judge all that stuff and take into into into consideration. So yeah it's me that that's the alphanus I would go. What so you played in the Masters once in 2017. What's what's the I guess? What are you looking forward to the most might be kind of a lame question to ask, but you know, what what stuck with you the most? What did you remember the most about that week that you're like, I can't wait to go do this again.

So I have I have a pretty interesting master's experience because you know to run through it quickly Monday afternoon playing the back nine get rained out call off the course Monday is done Tuesday glorious day 85 sunny like wow this course is kind of manageable like I mean it's hard but I can I can I think I can get my way around here. Wednesday, there's like a tornado warning in Augusta. So the par three contest is probably one of the highlights the week that I'm looking forward to, canceled. Thursday, we see a cold front coming in.

It's gonna be high of 55, and it's gonna be blown in 30 miles an hour. I'm like this is not a golf course I've prepared for it to be 55 and blowing 30. And I get on the first tee. I'm bundled up under armor, like can't have enough warm clothes and the first hole is a driver and a foreign. I'm not even over the hill. I'm down in the ceremonial tee shot area. It's just like, you're like, wow, this is a gusty right here. I'm hitting a foreign to like the hardest rear on the course to start out my day. Anyway, I didn't play great. Conditions were tough and I missed a cup by a lot. So I was mostly looking forward to just getting back there and having redemption at the golf course and kind of

playing it. I just picked your Augusta National like 75, 80 degrees and blowing five miles now. Like not that you can't have tough conditions there but that's just the way I picked your Augusta and playing it just, you know, using the slopes and having some kind of idea what the ball was going. You know, I remember that day the ball was awesome on the greens and it was so hard to make plus because you're playing wind and the greens are incredibly fast and there's so much slope. But yeah, I think the thing I was most looking forward to with Augusta would have been

the park getting back on the par three Hopefully having that you know run this year. I mean, I don't there's so much uncertainty now with How things are gonna look even next year in spring? I'm hopeful to have fans there at Augusta. I mean But that's up in there as well, so Yeah, I feel like it sounds like you just felt like you didn't get the experience. I did get the experience. Yeah, I just, you know, I was hardly on the courses all Monday.

Wednesday I practiced for like an hour and then I was going to do the part three contest. It was totally rained out, like totally off the golf course. So I basically got like a day and a bit the first three days. I played Tuesday but then the first couple of days were, you know, one day when they were crap. And then I played shitty Thursday Friday and I was out. So I just felt like, wow, went really quickly and I hardly got to be on the property it seemed like.

So I'm looking forward to being back there in the spring and hopefully, you know, we've got some fans in the par three contest. It'll be a lot of fun. It's gotta be weird to sit out a master's knowing you're exempt for the next one. Yeah, it is. And people have asked me, like, oh, you know, with your good run of play,

does that get you into the fall master's run? Well, no, I mean, it's been frozen since April, but there's nothing you can do to get into. It's weird. Like, there's gonna be four April, but there's nothing you can do to get it. Yeah, it's weird. Like, there's, you know, there's going to be four Canadians. There'll be the top rank Canadian, but I won't be in the field. You know, just just the way it works. You know, I mean, I've had a good summer.

So, but I do that all along and they, I totally get the system. I mean, they, they had a field in place and, you know, they have a limit on their size and that, that's it. So, Daniel Berger is not in the master's and he's 10th in the world or 12th in the world. So, there's definitely a few guys that you know could be worthy of a spot, but just the way it is. Yeah, no, I think it's crazy and it makes sense at the same time. This event is just was supposed to happen in April and we're just moved into November keeping everything the same. So. Yeah, we just got this total, total magazine season of tournaments, which seems, it seems

crazy to think that we have 50 tournaments in a year. It's, it's wild. I was giving it a say, it's awesome, but I don't know if it's awesome, but it's, it's great for you guys. I mean, the playing opportunities are all there. Yeah, you know, I'm, I'm kind of with you where I question whether it's the best. I mean, to have the opportunities is amazing, but then you wonder with other sports, they get that off season, they get that you get a chance to miss football, you get a chance

to miss baseball, you get a chance to miss hockey, all those things. Like with golf, it just, it keeps on going. Like, there's never that, that downtime. I mean, you can call December a break, but I mean, it's, it's what, four weeks. And this week is going to, it actually going to be like three weeks this year because my Acoba is in the first week of December. So, you know, that calendar flips and it's like, boom, Maui, you know, and I, I'm very grateful for the fall portion of the schedule because I I won the RSM I mean I might not be here right now without the RSM so it's just

it is a lot a lot of tournaments and again I I'm with you where I don't know if it's the best way to maybe go about it but but the opportunities are amazing. It's kind of weird. Like I don't know if you had, say, 35 tournaments in a two and a half month off season, would that make people more eager to watch come January? I don't know. But. It's hard to say, like, hey, these events shouldn't exist. You know, like it's hard to even as a fan, like, would like a break.

It's hard to say that. So, like I said, I think it's kind of optional. It's kind of like the, but it, but it's not. Oh, I'm saying for fans for, for, for players, it's not at all optionals. Yeah. For, for players now, you know, you look at some guys that were sitting out last fall. And now obviously COVID mess things up. But like, you know, they've probably wished they had played in the fall with what happened with COVID, right? I mean, you know, their opportunities were way down in the summer. And so if they had played more in the fall, they would have been a better position. And that was just like a little microcosm of what, you know, it might kind of look like sometimes when you play the fall or don't play

the fall. I mean, if you go over great fall and walk your card up in the fall, I mean, that's amazing. And it kind of sets you out to be free in the new year, or you can go through the fall and not play much and be way behind starting in, you know, say, I don't know, Honolulu or Palm Springs. You're just like, you know, I'm just starting my season, but guys have already, you know, accumulated 1000 points or 800 points and you just kind of start in your year. It's tough to make that up. I've actually played last three falls. I've played not good at all.

Like I've almost been better off not playing. I had 10 points this season through Pebble. So I played 11 tournaments, made two cuts and was, you know, just trying to kind of find something. And so like in my head I'm like, well, should I continue taking four months off and just come back at Honda? I mean, I've been basically in the same position. It's kind of, it's kind of weird the way my falls have worked out recently. Trying to kind of buff that trend this year, but. 190 points last week.

We'll do it. 190 points. Yeah, that's going to, that's going to get me off through good start. So, yeah, the fall, I think the fall is important. And it's hard, yeah, like you said, to just say, hey, you know, to these tournaments, they, you know, take a hike. I mean, they're, they're all important sponsors of the tour. And it's nice to have, you know, to these tournaments, you know, take a hike. I mean, they're all important sponsors of the tour and it's nice to have, you know, those opportunities

and that support from, you know, from great sponsors. So yeah, it's just a lot of golf. And like I said, the fans had that choice though to either tune in or, you know, maybe tune out for a little bit. I was trying to get some attention going for Corralis, and it was just like Cricket on Twitter, but it didn't have to be at a really entertaining tournament. I was trying to get some attention going for Corralis, man. And it was just like crickets on Twitter. But it didn't have to be at a really entertaining tournament.

I will say so. Yeah, you know, it's just, yeah, it's up against a little of a ball, man. It's just like you're not going to win. Yeah. You shouldn't try to win. So you can try. But yeah, it's tough.

And we get it. And it's just a tough time of year to be, I guess, fully engaged. And especially, I don't know how it is for the viewers and for you to watch, but it does feel like the tournaments have even a little less buzz without the fans. Like, it's almost harder to, like, it's better in ways to watch because you can hear a lot, but at the same time, you think, man, like,

how cool was some of these moments have been with, you know, the crowd, right? The crowd going crazy, you would just be all over. I don't know if it was Keppka who made a 50-footer on 17th at Memphis, and then he tied the leader up one back to the lead, and it was like four people in a back yard were clapping. The place would really gone numb. It has an effect.

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's just like that. That would have added a charge to that moment. You would be like, oh, this is like, this is exciting. It's been so long. But like, you make it and you're like, well, that was huge. And it's like, oh, but yeah, no one's no one's sharing this. There's been some big ones. I mean, gosh, the DJ and Ron Puts, JT and Mark Howell.

Yeah, those moments would have been unbelievable. It's, we can all agree it's better to have golf with no fans than no golf at all though. So it's for sure. Yeah, it just comes to the territory. Not necessarily evil right now, but yeah, we definitely miss it. Sweet. All right, man. Well, thanks for jumping on. Congrats on the success this fall and the season in general. Can't wait to see the see in the majors next year and in Maui. That's gonna be a lot of fun and we'll hope to do this again soon.

Yeah, sounds good Chris. Thanks a lot bud. You bet cheers. Let's get the right club. Be the right club today. That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most.