No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 379: Lukas Michel

Episode Date: November 23, 2020

The 2019 US Mid-Am Champ joins us to chat about playing in the freaking Masters, stories from the week, joining some tour regulars for a practice round, the Crow's nest, and everything else from the 2020 event. We also discuss how he got there, the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, the U.S. Am at Bandon, his future plans, and a lot more.  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. We're going to get to our interview here shortly with Lucas Michelle. Lucas is the U.S. mid-AM champ. He is from Australia.

You may remember him from season one of Taurus sauce, the Metropolitan episode. He was featured in that episode. He just played in the US AM, the US Open, and of course the Masters. So we spent some time with him just debriefing on an amazing year he's had and great stories from Augusta and people he learned from. And it's great. It's great perspective on something that everyone really dreams of doing with a year of their life. Before we get going here, the match 3.0 champions for change. We got Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley against Stefan Curry and Peyton Manning. That's going down this Friday at calwaygolf.com slash the match. You can learn more about what Calaway Golf and Stefan Curry, their partnership,

what they're doing with Howard University, their men's and women's golf programs. It's going to be covered on the telecast on Friday. It's something we touched on in Tuesday's podcast with Stefan, but you should definitely check out if you haven't already done so. On that page, you'll also have the opportunity to bid in an auction for custom Stefan Curry inspired wedges with the auction benefiting Stefan and Aisha Curry's

Eat, Learn, Play foundation. On Friday, you're gonna be seeing lots of Calibaway clubs and golf balls in action, especially in the bags of Phil and Mr. Curry. To learn what's in their bags, go to CallawayGolf.com slash the match. And speaking of bags on that page, you'll have a chance to enter to win a Callaway Maverick staff bag signed by all four players. So CallawayGolf.com slash the match and tune into the match 3.0 champions for change on Friday. Let's get to our interview with Lucas Michelle. All right. How far into the quarantine are we and what what's the come down like after the the summer and the year you've had? Yeah. So I'm this is day four stuck in the novetel apartments in Darling Harbour in Sydney.

So I've actually got a pretty good view at my room, but it gets old quickly when you're stuck in the novetel apartments in Darling Harbour in Sydney. So I've actually got a pretty good view at my room, but it gets old quickly when you're stuck in a room, the same room for what is going to be 14 days straight. But yeah, it's definitely, it's obviously a come down, but in a way it's a good time to sort of reflect and I've got plenty of time to think about everything that I've done in the last four months of being in the US and all the tournaments I've got plenty of time to think about everything that I've done in the last four months of being in the US and all the tournaments I've played and people I've met and experiences I've had. So it's actually kind of a good little period to just let it all soak in. Yeah, it's actually kind of nice.

But yeah, I'm not quite sick of it yet, but I'm sure I'll be sick of it in another couple of days. Well, it's got to be, you know, this technology is, it's great. It's so much of it doesn't get put to use, but for a select few people in the world and their families, the fact that every shot you hit at the Masters is catalogued on masters.com,

and you can go back and watch all of it, and your family could see every shot that you hit at the Masters. That has to be a pretty damn cool thing. I mean, that you played in the US open as well. We're going to talk about all that, but that doesn't exist for the US open, but you could watch your masters highlights. You know, you could torture yourself. You could treat yourself to just the birdies.

What's that like? Yeah, I've gone back and watched both rounds like from start to finish. It's really cool. I mean, I can see stuff in my swing as well that are like, oh yeah, my takeaways, my thing I'm working on at the moment, my takeaway gets a little bit on the inside. And I'm watching myself and I know that shot, I forgot about it and then I hit a bad shot.

So it's like really cool to review things and get that sort of feedback from like a golf perspective as well, just understanding what I'm doing with my golfing. But yeah, obviously for my family as well, I mean they were stuck in Australia, there was really no way for them to go. As a player you're allowed to take one other person, either like a significant other or a parent. So I thought about trying to get my mum over, but it's just, you know, it's so far to go and she would have had to get a travel exemption even to leave Australia. And then she would have been in the same boat as me trying to get home. They're probably going to have to fork out enough youth dollars just to get home.

So the experience that they got from that website and the app, I mean, I mean, that's hard to beat. What they're able to do there. I mean, Augusta National, they're pretty damn good. Whenever they put their mind to something, they can just do it better than anyone. Hmm. Your situation, I find, is very unique. And we're going to get into kind of your golf background. And your plans going forward.

And you and I don't know each other very well. You were in Torisau season one, if people don't remember that. But we didn't even get to play together that day. But I think this was as close as I've ever felt to just like a buddy of mine playing in the Masters. So like something that, you know, was just so I remember following your mid-air match, just like knowing that that was the light

at the tunnel for me. And as far as like he's gonna play in the Masters if he wins this, like holy shit, he's gonna play in the Masters. And you did. So like what, how do you go about playing like a round of golf, like that final match knowing what is all is on the line for winning it?

Are you able to like focus on winning the mid-AM and not think about the exemptions or did that creep in it all during that day? What do you remember about that? I know in the lead up to the final, I was really good at sort of blocking it out. I had a funny sort of schedule lined up like I was looking at turning pro straight after the mid-am.

Mid-am was going to be like my last event as an amada because I was 25, I was like okay, it's time to finally turn pro and give that a shot. And so I had some pro events lined up post mid-AM that I was looking forward to. So all week I was playing the mid-AM and I was like, I think, how great is turning pro going to be in playing those pro events. So I kind of had this win-win scenario set up in my mind because if I kept winning matches in the mid-AM, that was great and maybe I'd get closer to winning the tournament. But also, if I got knocked out, I was excited to return home and and and place and pro golf. So it wasn't until I got to the semi final I played Stu

Haggistad and was like three up through seven or something like that and I was like holy crap I could actually win this and win them and be playing in the masses and you know a few months time. So yeah it wasn't until the it was the the semi-final that, that, the realization here. And then obviously that evening going to the final, you know, mind starts wandering and you start thinking about the consequences of the, the next day's play. And I really had to try and settle myself and not think about it. Luckily I sang with some, some good people that were friends of friends that put me up for the week and they weren't golfers, so I could just chat about non-goal stuff with them. So I managed to get a pretty good sleep and got out there on the golf course, and probably to my advantage, I was down most of the day. So I think Joe, my opponent, was probably

thinking more about winning than I was, and then laid down the stretch. I just sort of held it together and my game was really solid. I think I'd 30, 14, 15, and 16 on the back nine. And that kind of got me to a couple up and then ended up winning. So it was kind of, I didn't really expect to win all day because Joe was playing so well, but then some cracks appeared in his game

and my game was really solidly laid and ended up walking away with a victory. It was just, it was a funny kind of week, I guess. Well, it didn't end without any drama. And I had honestly kind of just getting ready for this. I kind of forgot about how it did end, but can you explain what happened on the, what ended up being the final hole of the match? Because even rereading about it, I'm just like how does how does this happen? I Don't really even know what happened like it's it was bizarre

So I had three and a half feet Left and Joe had a like a 12 footer for birdie to win the hole So he missed the birdie part And I was dormitoo. So I had to hold a three and a half footer for the win. But after he missed, he kind of stepped aside and took his hat off. And then I'm looking at him and he starts walking over towards me and I'm thinking what's going on here? What's going on here? And then he's got his hat off and then I take my hat off and we shake hands. And he says,

oh, you're going to have to part it. It's not good. And so I'm like, wait a minute, what's happening here? And so instantly, I'm like, this guy is trying to do something. This guy's done this on purpose to throw me off. And now I'm like, rattled, I've got to hold this three and a half footer for the win. And I was just really confused by the whole situation and luckily I did hold it I mean in my mind just the way it all happened like it seemed like it was some sort of intentional Play to try and throw me off But I did look into like what he said about it and I think he said that he took his hat off To like step aside and let me finish but he said he heard the crowd clapping thinking it was done and that he had to come over and shake my hand which was just well come over to me and explain things but he shook my hand it was just it was all like really I don't know what happened to be honest it seems like it was just so weird.

It was just so weird. I'd love to watch it back on video and really see what happened because I know for sure that you know I didn't think the game was finished I was ready to hit that three and a half footer So there was no need for him to really walk over to me and tell me to hold it. It was bizarre Yeah, I mean you're a three and a like for the win. I mean, I don't care if it was 18 inches like I would expect it to be Putted, but yeah, once I and you've made some comments afterwards Yeah, once that awkward moment happened, like if I'm him, it's easy for me to say, I'm not, you know, a master's birth, not on the line,

but like, I wouldn't want, if you miss it, and the match flips on that, and you go win it, you gotta live with that, and that wouldn't be, that's gotta be difficult. So it didn't sound like, still didn't sound like you were too happy about it, which is understandable. Yeah, no, it was very odd, I didn't wanna win it that way to win it that way, but it was just a bit awkward at the end. Yeah. Thank you for making that putt, then, that we didn't have to.

Yeah, exactly. After the scussell. Yeah, I promise I'm not bearing the lead for anyone that's tuning in to hear about the masters, but I do kind of want to set the scene for, you know, how you got there and what not. So, you know, probably should have just started with this, but your background and golf, you know, I, I, and I think it's, at least in the States, especially it's not necessarily typical for, you know, someone to be competing in the mid-Ams and then turn professional. Usually it's kind of the opposite of a lot of the top mid-Ams where we're professionals that, you know, I've gotten their amateur status back

and whatnot, but how did you end up in the States this year playing in the mid-AM, winning it and kind of what your golf background is? Yeah, I, um, so I grew up playing golf, neither of my parents played. So I kind of just picked it up organically. My, my, I had a neighbor who gave me a cut down club when I was four. And then I started working around the backyard and, and, and then it wasn't until I was seven that I kind of decided on my own that I wanted to do more of this

working a golf ball around. I was an only child and golf's the sort of sport where you don't need someone else to play it with really. You can kind of do it all yourself. So I really like the idea of it. So for my birthday, my birthday, I got a set of just like a really cheap set of clubs and my dad took me down to the park

and I started whacking them and then he sort of, sorry, I had pretty good sort of hand-eye coordination. So I then started getting some lessons, entering some junior tournaments, joined a local club and then yeah, I was kind of, I was kind of off and away and played a bunch of golf through high school and I did at times consider looking into college golf. I probably wasn't quite at the level that I needed to be when I finished high school. I had some good performances in junior tournaments but when you're coming from Australia, other side of the world, those coaches really want to see kind of some international

kind of performances. And I decided to stay put in Australia. I moved from Perth to Melbourne. Melbourne is the golfing capital of Australia. And the coaching's better there, that the courses are better, and just sort of everything about Melbourne was better as a golfer growing

up. So moved to Melbourne, ended up studying there, studying the engineering degree, in that time spent six months in San Andreas, Scotland, on an exchange program to the University of San Andreas, which was probably the best time in my life. And then when I finished my education, I never felt like I'd given golf my full attention. I'd played top level amateur stuff through university but we don't really have a collegiate sort of golf tournament system. So it was all external to college and so yeah, I decided that I wanted to give golf for proper shot after I graduated and spent 20, end of 2017 and 2018, like working on my game and then in late 2018, I entered the Australian qualifying school and was hoping to get a card and turn pro and unfortunately

I missed out by a couple of shots, but it turned out that was probably the best thing that could have happened because it meant that I stayed amateur for another year and made my mind up that I was going to wait it out until the mid-AM because I was 25 that year and I was ranked high enough in the World Amateur Golf rankings that I got an exemption into the mid-AM and that's how I ended up at the Colorado Golf Club in September 2019 and ended up coming away with a victory that I certainly didn't expect to. From what I gather at Colorado Golf Club that week, and seeing some of the scores, there was some of the best players, best mid-ems in the world where shooting some pretty high scores

there. It was firm, firm, firm. I thought back, as I'm watching these results come in and watching you climb up the leaderboard, I'm like, man, that day we spent with you and Metropolitan was about as firm as I've ever seen a golf course So it's not hard to connect the two dots of just like your experience Competing on firm, you know firm golf courses and how that played out for you Yeah, if there was a course set up that favored me it was that week It was so firm and fast

It was exactly like playing Melbourne the only thing was obviously that the altitude, it was that weak. It was so firm and fast. It was exactly like playing Melbourne. The only thing was obviously the altitude, the ball's going 10-11% further. That was probably the one little thing I had to factor in, but I mean, yeah, I would have been probably the most comfortable out of anyone in that field with those conditions, just because it was so firm and fast. Did Joe really hit wedge on whatever the last par three was from 211? Was it play in that fast and firm? Yeah, I hit a nine on.

And, but there was a hole. I think it was the fifth. I think it was a downhill par three on it. It was like 230 yards, but to a back pin, you had to land at 30 yards short. It was so fun. Like you're hitting like Seven on because of the altitude and everything on a 230 yard hold just because it was playing so fun I mean that were really bouncing and rolling out. It was it was incredible to play. It was really cool So you win the mid-am

Obviously you know exactly what's gonna gonna come from this kind of take us through the timeline of how you're getting ready. Where are you spending your time leading up into the playing in the Masters, and then obviously COVID throws a big curveball at you, but kind of take us through what those ensuing months are like. Yeah, so I came back to Australia pretty much, I think it was the day after I won, like I had a six am flight out of Denver. Straight back to Australia. And then I spent sort of the next couple weeks, I played a couple sort of smaller pro events. Actually the pro events I was going to play as a pro if I hadn't,

if I hadn't won the mid-air. And so I played them at the Namadome, sort of got a bit more experience. My game was still pretty solid. And then I played the Australian Open in December, which was a pretty good field. I actually played really well. I was coming like ninth after two rounds and finished, I think 21st. So my game was still in really good shape through the summer or our summer.

You know, I played Australian amateur, master of the amateurs, bunch of the amateur tournaments through January, February, March, and then on March 11, I left the head to the US to get over there to prep a little bit early for the Masters. I landed in the US, but I mean, everyone knows the timeline. March 11 was just as things were coming out with COVID. It was actually the day the day I landed was the day that the NBA suspended the season. And then the day after was the first round of the players'

championship which they played with crowds and then they ended up suspending it or canceling and then canceling it or suspending the season that evening. So I kind of knew at that point that it was a slim chance that I was actually going to be playing the Masters in April. I bought it a flight the following morning to Atlanta. I was going to actually head to Augusta for a few few days on the weekend to play the course with a member and my caddy will was going to join me and then we boarded the flight, checked my email and it said the tournament was going to be postponed. But thankfully the member that I was going with still was keen to play. So we did spend the weekend that weekend at Augusta National and we stayed in Butler, Cabin and had the full kind of guest experience, which was just amazing, but

I always knew on the back of the mind it was that dampener that I wouldn't be playing the masses in April, which was a little frustrating. Yeah, I hopped on a plane back onto Australia, literally a couple days later and spent eight weeks locked down, not able to play golf in Melbourne because we had a pretty strict lockdown at that point. Finally, got back playing golf in mid-May. Sort of things were pretty normal in Australia for probably a good sort of three months. I was playing a fair bit and then August 6, I actually left for the US and that was the start of my trip over. I played the amateur at band of tunes and then was basically from,

from then on in the US until when I returned back this week. A quick break to check in with our friends at Elijah Craig. I know we had previously mentioned in another read. Lauren Cogland, one of our young hitters, her husband, John, being a huge bourbon fan, a huge logic crank fan. Actually had them over last night and saved him some of the barrel proof, which he gave me a great tip. Don't leave the bottle on its side because it gets in the cork and you're not supposed to do that.

So again, I'm kind of an amateur at this stuff, but he's teaching me. We're learning. Thanksgiving is obviously coming up this Thursday. It's going to be a very, very small one in this household. I hope that everyone is being very safe with their gatherings this year. But I think I'm gonna be busting out the Elijah Craig to work on my old fashioned

that I've been working on as well. Kentucky Mules, Kentucky Mules are big in this household. So the Elijah Craig, it's exceptionally smooth, it's well balanced. I also like to drink it on the rocks. We've mentioned many of the ways that we like to enjoy the many different kinds of Elijah Craig, it's exceptionally smooth, it's well balanced. I also like to drink it on the rocks. We've mentioned many of the ways that we like to enjoy the many different kinds of Elijah Craig. So for more recipe ideas, visit ElijahCreg.com and discover the greatness within.

No laying up is brought to you by Elijah Craig, Kentucky St. Berb and Whiskey, Bartstown, Kentucky, 47% alcohol by volume. Elijah Craig reminds you to think wisely, drink wisely. Let's get back to Luke's Michelle. Fascinating Instagram follow the last several months, just popping up golf courses all over the country, like you had yourself quite a trip. But how's it work with,

once you're in the field at the masters, I guess did you already know an Augusta member that was gonna get you out on the golf course or are you able to call them up and say, hey, I'd love to come down for a practice round. Is there a chance you overstay your welcome? How does all that work? So as an invitee, it doesn't matter, I think if you're an amateur or a pro or anything

like that, but as an invitee, I think you can go on a company and I think it's like four or five days worth of play. So you can play like 54 holes a day if you wanted, but it's basically five on a company days. I think it is. Yeah. So fortunately, Will and I actually both knew a member. Go there with Will and Will was able to play as well, Will and my Cady. And we spent the weekend there.

Normally as an invited player, you can't stay on site, but obviously with a member, you can. So we got the truly authentic member experience. Yeah, staying in Butler-Carbon, we were hoping that that was a good moment for November and it ended up being. And I think actually I've worked out where they're exactly to the day the weekend, maybe what was it would have been eight months prior

to when the ceremony was, we were there on the Sunday, but yeah, turned out I didn't unfortunately when the low amateur on, it was still pretty cool. Well, all right, we've, you know, we've lasted this long without getting into what it's like to play in the freaking masters. So, I mean, you, the first question I have though, is in relation, if you were given the option

to defer your master's exemption to a time when there would have been fans, would you have taken that option? That is a tough question. Your pro timeline might affect your answer there. I think I'd probably just do what I did. I mean, I was, yeah, I would probably take the November invite just because I don't know, I feel like the experience I got

was in a lot of ways very unique. And at the same time, I wouldn't want to delay my sort of plans for my golf and my career another year or two. I mean, who knows what April is going to be like, you know, coming up. Like, I doubt it's going to be full fans. So I would expect it wouldn't be until 20. I mean, I'm no expert on the pandemic, So I would expect it wouldn't be until I mean, I'm no expert on the pandemic, but I would expect not until 2022 until we actually get a full

kind of crowd out there at Augusta with normal sort of travel. So yeah, I think I would probably just take the November one for what it is. And you know, it was really unique in a lot of ways. And the experience I got was was pretty cool anyway. Yeah, that's why I was just I was I was wondering for the people that it was their first time. I'm sure you were chomping at the bit, you know, having to wait eight months to do it or however many months it was seven months to get there that, you know, you probably couldn't wait any longer than you did. And yeah, it's not I was just curious to answer this. That doesn't surprise me really. But what, so you would see in the golf course

before the week of the tournament. And I know this is a weird one with it being in November, but everyone's always said like, you can go hit the shots prior, you can go play the course, but it's nothing like it is during actual tournament week. Did you feel that difference from, you know, from when you had played it previously to tournament week? So I've been there. I actually went in

December 2019 and that was probably the closest that I saw to what it was tournament week. In December, it was really similar like the fairways were similar and the amount of ride that had come through and certain spots around the course. It was soft for tournament week unfortunately and I I was hoping it was gonna be firmer and faster. But say when I was there in December, it was probably most similar. I obviously asked for that weekend there in March, and that was starting to dial up towards

what I would expect the masses to look like for a Tournament Week. It was interesting to see the place. I've now seen it in November, December and March. So it plays very different at different times of the year. Obviously've now seen it in November, December and March. So it plays very different at different times of the year. Obviously, the maintenance schedule that they do is sort of based around it peaking for April. So they're in November. It's a very different golf course to when it is in April. And as hard as they tried to replicate the conditions of April, I think

that the weather and the climate just didn't quite allow them to get it how they wanted to, which was a little unfortunate. I would have liked to play to Ferman fast masters, but you know. Next time. I'll take that I can get. Yeah, you got to, it's gonna be a little, you're gonna have a different route back to getting there

once you turn professional, but let's just make this one not be the last one. But what, what are some things maybe you learned about a gust or things you see differently after having competed on the course? And I don't know if it's something that you maybe would have learned in prior trips to the masters, but I'm just wondering, you know, when you walk off, do you say, like, well, I didn't wasn't expecting that or, wow, that was different or kind of what your overall reaction was.

So in terms of like what I expected to see even prior to playing it ever before, I think the greens, I always thought the greens, and I'd never been to a masters before, I always thought the greens had a lot of tilt on them. But for me, I was surprised at how they were kind of segmented with like a lot of sections. So you got greens like five and 14 and six that have like all these shelves on them, which I actually didn't expect them to be like that. I mean, I've played a lot of Alistair Mackenzie courses in Australia, and none of them

are really like that, but I guess Mackenzie didn't spend that much time in Australia actually building the golf courses he did, whereas you look at the courses he's done in America like past Tiempo and Augusta National and those ones tend to have more of that character. So in terms of like the green complexes, that was probably the most surprising part, because I did think, you know, the courses of the Sambo would prepare me a little better for how they were, but they were a little different to what I expected. In terms of how it played, I think overall, whenever I was there, it always played a little softer than I expected, but I think because I never really got to play it when it was firm. You know, you watch it on TV and it always looks, you know, most years it looks fairly firm and fast,

but yeah, unfortunately I never got that opportunity to play it when it was really kind of sort of baking out and playing a little firmer. Everyone talks about the elevation change, and you know, it's a very hilly golf course and you know, Metropon where I play. It's almost dead flat. So that's something that I had to go in Australia and try and go find some golf courses that had had some more hills to prepare for. So that was the advantage of going into December when I did that I could kind of see the course early and it gave me two or three months to actually prepare for what I saw. Everyone's watches it on TV every year and they feel like they know the course pretty well and it didn't surprise me a crazy amount. The thing that I found was actually a big advantage

for me playing the first time. I potted it quite well and I read the Greens really well but I was just using Aimpoint Express which is reading it with my feet. And I felt like I had a really good gauge on which way they were breaking, because I think a lot of the time, the difficulty with reading those greens

is like the optical illusions that you get when you've got greens that are built into sort of pretty broad slopes. It's really hard to read them sort of against slopes. But when you're just reading with your feet, kind of gravity doesn't really lie. So that was actually a picket of handage., I felt like I actually put it pretty well. It's a shame I didn't hit the bullet bit better. It seems like, you know, at least I've obviously, I've never played a

guest up, but in the two practice rounds that I've walked, you know, of course everyone talks about the elevation change, all that, but the part that always stuck out to me or as somebody was obviously picturing hitting these shots as I'm walking, I'm like, man, the lies, the uneven lies and the awkwardness of the shots down 10, the shot into 13, the shot on 9. I don't know, you could probably list a bunch more, but did that play much of a factor in terms of how difficult, you know, a lot of these guys make these shots look easy, but doing it from those lies is very, very different. It's tough. Yeah, I hit it. I actually hit the fairway, like on 15. I mean, I, I missed so many

fairways, so when I hit a fairway, I was actually like, surprised. I hit the fairway on 15, and I hit it down like the middle pretty much just down the right side of the middle, and there's these like little mounds in the fairway that are maybe 220 yards out from the green. So exactly where you hit your driver to. And I put it on the back side of this little mound. And I was looking at that, shot into the green, and I was like, holy crap, this is so much harder than it probably looks on TV. Just because there's this little subtle mound, I've got a three-iron in my hand that I'm

trying to cut up to the to the pin and make sure it doesn't sort of Double-cross and go left into the long water left. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of a lot of little slopes I mean, that's not even one of the broader fairways. You know, you got a 13 or you know 9 or 2 and there's you can get some Seriously, it's like lies, but just even like a little Little just a little mound like that can have such an effect on how, how, how precise a good player can be on their approach shots. So yeah, that was, that was definitely something that I noticed. Well, and 15, man, that one standing up on top of that hill. I know on TV, it doesn't look

like an island green, but you stand in that fairway. That, that does it, does it not look like an island green? Yeah, I mean, obviously like for a right-hand, the pull shot always goes a little longer. And so you've got that water on the 16th that creeps in on the left of the grain. And then obviously you cut one up too much and you can miss it short as well. It's kind of like a longer version of 12 in a way. Like 12, you know, it's one of the hardest greens to hit just because your pools go long and you hit it into the long left area and then your pushes go short and go in the water.

So it's kind of the same kind of strategy as the approach showed into 12, it's just a little bit longer. What's the shot on 12 like, you know, I, well, I maybe wanna hit that shot more than any shot in the world, I'm sure a lot of the listeners are the same way, but what's it like to, you know, hit a shot more than any shot in the world. I'm sure a lot of listeners are the same way. But what's it like to hit a shot under pressure, especially on that hole? It's tough.

I mean, I almost hit it into the, I mean, it actually landed in the trees behind the green. Thankfully, thankfully ran, ran back down the hill and kind of into that little chipping area. But it's tough. Yeah. For a right-handed, like I said, it's tough. Like it really suits a left-handed shape.

I actually tried to hit a draw, because when I was fading the ball, I was really struggling with a short-right miss, and obviously that's not what you want on that hole. So I was just trying to hit a low-draw, trappy draw into that green with like a nine-on, but, you know, missing it long-left. I mean, I've made up, I actually made birdie in round one, from long-left, I chipped it in,

and then paren round two. It ended up being a fairly easy place to get up and down from. But yeah, certainly it's a nerve-wracking shot to have to play. I do wish I was a left hand applying that goal for. Did you, I mean, did you have any welcome to the Masters moments like, you know, it's hard to picture this without the fans, right? But any kind of moments where you're kind of, you know, I don't want to say shit in yourself, but kind of like, holy crap, about to compete in the masters or, you know,

anything like that. Yeah, without the fans, it definitely, it wasn't as, it didn't feel as real as, as, like, a proper, you know, major golf tournament. I was talking to someone else before and I was saying that I actually felt like with the most nervous I got all week was waiting for my negative COVID test result because that was obviously the point where I knew I was either playing or not and waiting that hour or so for it to process was actually probably the most nervous I got all week. But, you know, still standing on the first tee there and everyone sort of waiting for you to hit

because there was still, you know, maybe 20, 30, 40 people around the tee box,, but you know, still standing on the first tea there and everyone sort of waiting for you to hit because there was still you know Maybe 20 30 40 people around the t-box, but you know, certainly nothing compared to a normal masses But I did feel my heart rate really start to elevate didn't really get any getting me sort of like shaky sort of nerves But I certainly it felt a lot reala had that point in a way it is an advantage for this guy's like me who don't have that experience of playing You know major golf tournaments to be able to sort of get off the mark in a way, but I would have still preferred to have a genuine authentic nervous masters first t-shirt I think Did you seek anyone out for practice rounds or who did you play practice rounds with if anyone?

Did you seek anyone out for practice rounds or who did you play practice rounds with if anyone? Yeah, so I didn't really I mean I didn't really seek out people I actually listened to your podcast with Maddie Kelly So I was speaking to to Leisha bit we were gonna play on Monday But it just didn't work out. I just rolled onto the tee on on Monday and turned out Patrick can't lay and Max Homer and Standard Shuffle they had a spot in their group. So I jumped in with those guys, which is pretty awesome. I mean, they're some of the young, really good up and coming players. So it was good to sort of see where my game sat next to theirs.

And I mean, they were great guys. I go along so well with them. Max Homer's got to be one of the most down to earth, genuine guys in the world. We had so much fun. And Sand is awesome, such a good player. And I'd played with Patrick before at the US Open, so we had sort of things to catch up on.

It was such a cool experience playing with those guys. And you kind of see that they're still human. That's the other thing, like they still hit bad shots. I remember seeing Zandered block one off the second T into the right trees and thinking, you know, that sort of wouldn't expect that sort of shot him and actually will my caddy was like telling all his buddies back home. Don't bet on Zanda you know he's playing no good and then he ends up shooting five under in the first round and he was copying it from

all his mates so that was pretty funny but yeah it was it was just like a really cool experience playing those guys, Zander and Patrick dropped out after nine. So it was just myself and Max Himer on the back nine together. And it was Max's first experience as well at the Masters. He didn't even have any practice rounds prior to that. So walking around with him and seeing him go through all the, you know, emotions of playing Augusta National

for the first time was really cool. We were both chipping on the back of the 15th grain. It was actually really funny. Max actually brought this story up in another podcast of his, but we were chipping at the back of the 15th grain. I was playing this little ship shot. I couldn't believe how firm the little sort of approach area

was behind that grain. I was able to bump through like a lob wedge really well. And I said to Max, I was like, look at this, look how well this bumps through. And then he went and attempted the shot and it just stuck. It just like literally just stuck and bounced backwards. And he was like, oh, come on, like, is she don't need to put me off now? And I told him I was like, well, I'm not planning for money. So I'm just see if it fun. But he liked that. So that was,

that was a good little, we had just a good little fun time on that building back nine holes together. It was good. If you're out there with, you know, some of the best players in the world like that, are you able to still be preparing for the tournament or are you now playing golf with those guys and like kind of stressing a little bit about how you're playing? Do you see what I'm getting at? Yeah. No, I was, I went forth off in that group of the first tee and that was, that was a nerve-wracking tee shot.

Absolutely. That was probably as nerve-wracking as the first tee shot on ground one because you've just watched like three guys that are all in the top, you know, well, couple of them in the top sort of 30 in the world, you know, bomb one down the middle and then you're just this hack mid-am trying to

trying to just make up the field and just squeeze one out. So yeah, that was probably the most news. I was prior to maybe the first tee shot and outside of the covert test as well. Yeah, I was it was definitely trying to just not embarrass myself in front of those guys. What was it like playing with Larry Mayes? I mean, he had a great day one, especially, but what did you learn from him playing and what was like playing with him? It was really cool. I mean, he hits a dead straight. He doesn't miss a fairway. He actually, he reminds me so much of how Mike Clayton plays golf. I play golf with Mike Clayton all the time. It was like I was just playing with Mike again. Dead straight, 250 down the middle, you know, nothing more, you know, miss hits on and,

you know, it's not, doesn't look too happy about it. And it's like left edge of fear way. It was, it was, it's actually quite similar to, I guess, how the top women play as well. I mean, they, you know, when they mischotted, it's like on one side of the fairway, it's on the rough. So yeah, it was kind of like playing with like Suo as well. Yeah, it was seriously impressive. And he had a great day that first round, obviously.

I mean, he didn't miss a shot, hitting woods into most of the long path fours and then putting great, I mean, it was really cool. And he's a really nice guy. We had a little joke about the Greg Norman in 1987 when he chipped in on Greg to win the Masters. One of my buddies from back home who's not the biggest Greg Norman fan wanted me to thank him for what he's done. He actually said thank him for what he did for golf in Australia, which I'm not sure was accurate,

because when he went in the Masters would have been a great thing. But yeah, he wasn't the biggest Greg fan, so Larry had a laugh about that. Did you have any specific goals in mind for the week? Did you put pressure on yourself to make the cut or anything in particular? If I had a goal, I wanted it to be lofty and I didn't want it to be some sort of, you know, I made the card or something like that or not embarrassed myself or something like that. I wanted it to be some sort of, you know, I made the card or something like that or not embarrassed myself or something like that. I wanted it to be, you know, a fairly lofty goal.

So the one I wanted to set myself was an invite back, which is top 12, which is, you know, fairly lofty for a player in my caliber. But I didn't think it was like completely ridiculous either. And I felt like my form was decent coming in. So I definitely pegged that as my goal. And obviously I felt quite a bit short. But yeah, I really just wanted that invite back

to play maybe a more authentic master's in April, you know, with some friends and family around. But unfortunately didn't achieve that. But I suppose in a way also didn't really completely embarrass myself, which was good as well. I just would have liked to play it a little bit better. And this is where I don't want you to be shy about this, if I asked this. You know, minus nine was T10, which was what, top 12,

everything that finished minus nine or better, got the invite back after seeing the golf course, knowing your game, do you think it was possible that you could have in the right circumstances, without it being completely ridiculous, you know, holding out from fairways, whatnot, you think you could shoot that over four have in the right circumstances without it being completely ridiculous, you know, holding out from fairways whatnot. You think you can shoot that over four days in that golf course? Yeah, I think so.

I mean, I told myself at the beginning of the week, like, two under each day is very doable. So I mean, with how I played, I hit my driver so poorly in Round 1 and hit my iron so poorly or weak. I mean, there was easily, I easily could have shot a couple under every day if I just had a solid ball striking performance. Really, that's all I needed. There may be three under one of the days as well, but you know, that would have got me to minus nine and that would have been in the spot there. So, yeah, that was sort of the takeaway was that my game, you know, even though I missed

the cup by six, I'd still didn't feel like my game was actually that far away. It's just getting my bowl striking hell of a lot better because my short game's good enough. And that's what I saw. It's just hitting the bowl in a way that, you know, just a bit more consistent because yeah, I just was very disappointed with how I struck it. Do you at the in the same vein, though, do you see minus 20 on that golf course over four days? That's that's a little harder to see certainly for myself.

Well, not I'm not even saying for you just like do you even understand I kind of can because like I know I mean you see how good that guy is a golf. I mean, I mean he's so good a golf. So like for a guy like him I mean obviously he played great anyone by by five in the strongest field in golf, one of them. You know, for that guy, you know, you can kind of expect it. But yeah, it's, it's obviously quite a ridiculous score. I definitely could, could never really see myself shooting that score, unfortunately. But yeah, DJ on the other hand, I mean, I wouldn't put much fasting. Did you do the typical one night in the crow's nest? Well, unfortunately, to do COVID, they weren't like that.

As soon as I asked that, I've just realized, yeah, you couldn't do it. It's as I asked that. Well, you couldn't do multiple people in the crow's nest at once, but I still got to stay Sunday night and no one had booked in at the Saturday night. So I booked Saturday night as well. So I got to spend two nights in there, which I think was more than anyone else, any of the other amateurs,

which was really cool. You know, they send you a little menu and you order from the, it's like room service, they come up with the little, you know, tray of food from the kitchen and yeah, it was, it was really cool. Masters films are on the TV so you can just watch whatever one you want to watch. It was a really cool little experience up there and you can really feel the history of the place. I slept under a photo of Ben Crenshaw and all the photos on the wall are great, all the amateurs that have competed up there and then got on to win Masters. It's pretty cool. Recently got married and I remember thinking during the reception thinking like if I could just pause a moment in my life, you know, I just wanted this moment to go slower than

it is. It goes and it ends up going even faster. I'm sure you probably don't the same kind of rush of just like the time passes just like it's any other day and even with it's the most anticipated moment or you know golf moment of your life, you can't make it slow down in any way. That's got to be such a weird feeling. Yeah, I felt, yeah, that was how I felt about the whole week really. I mean, it does move so fast. You get there. I got there Sunday afternoon and next minute it's Thursday. I'm tying it up like it just goes so quickly. There's so much you kind of want to fit into that.

You want to try and you you know, like, meet Tiger and you want to do this and you want to chat to Romaco. We want to do all these things. And then next minute, you're like sitting in a hotel room in Australia, thinking, huh, wonder if I get that opportunity again. So it's like, it's, yeah, it goes really quick. But I mean, I can't complain.

I had such a good experience there. And I did so much of the things that I've always wanted to do. And I mean, I'd play the Masters tournament now. So it was an incredible week still. Any other really cool moments that, did you get to meet Tiger? Did you get to meet Rory? Did you, anything else from the week

that you'll tell for many years? I mean, Phil was on the range. I was hitting Paul's opposite here and he introduced himself, which was really cool, really nice guy, obviously, man of the people, super friendly. Bryson actually was hitting bombs on the range next to me as well. And my caddy, myself and my coach were just like in the war of watching him and he came over and had a chat to us and introduced himself, which was cool. but probably the funniest one was, on Saturday, I headed to the pro shop

to pick up a few things from my caddy and my coach. And I'm in there, and obviously as an amateur, I'm dressed, I'm not wearing all the sponsors logos, I'm not wearing like, I don't look like, a pro as much, I suppose, and on top of that, I'm wearing a mask. And so I'm in the shop and I'm sort of looking around but I don't really have any items and Adam Scott's in there and I played with Adam Scott at the US Open and

I'm in a practice round and so he knows who I am and he looks over to me doesn't recognize me. I think someone of the people working in the shop one of the like the assistant pros and starts asking me about the shipping or something or getting getting the items home. And just like looking at me, obviously with a mask on. And I started cracking up and I pulled my, I had my little accreditation badge on. And I just held it up against his face.

And he was so embarrassed. I was so apologetic. So we had a good chat after that. It was funny because I told him I was like, you know what actually the first person is asking me, because I had two of the two player wives did the exact same thing to me. So I guess I was dressed like I was working in the in the pro show there. It was pretty funny.

Oh, that's great. No, I felt like I was just was along for the ride there for for play in the masters. It's it's so cool that that prize is available to mid-Ams and then then it's honored and that sounds like you had the had the time of your life But I feel like feel bad kind of bearing the US open after all, you know, we're coming fresh off the Fresh off the Masters, but I mean what was that? What was that like kind of leading up to that? That's your first major championship that you've ever ever competed in what was your game like coming in and how do you how do you go about preparing for a place like Wingfoot? Yeah, I mean, my preparation was probably not ideal. I was actually working for Mike

Devreese up in Michigan on a project, learning some hands-on golf course construction stuff in the lead-up. So, I mean, I was practicing like most days for like parts of the day, but I was also pretty keen to, yeah, like I said, learn some practicing like most days for like parts of the day, but I was also pretty keen to get, like I said, learn some hands on construction stuff. So I sort of got to winged for having not really played a tournament since it was ban in June's, the Amara and before that it was the Rivsdale Cup in Australia in March. So I'd really only played one tournament in six, six, seven months. So my preparation probably wasn't ideal.

I certainly felt like I could get my game up for it. But as soon as I started, I think I'd probably burned myself out a little earlier in the week. And it's a long week. And I got to the back nine on Thursday. I mean, I think I'd exhausted all my mental energy playing the front nine and just grinding it out. I was even par three nine and then finished 10 over the day. Certainly didn't have a great day or great week overall at Wingfoot, but it's still

was my first major experience and I always remember it. It was still really cool. I don't mean to, I shouldn't start straight with this, but I was just going through like your card and everything. And you got to help me out with the shot tracker on the 18th of the year. Yeah, so I mean, everyone's seen that tee shot. It's a bit of a shoot. I pulled it left and it was a bad shot, but it hit a branch and just ricocheted straight left and it was pretty much on the 17th grain. Like it went, I don't know what the Tracer said, but I think it went like 63 yards, something like that, the T-shirt. So it was like on the back edge of the 17th grain, which was actually kind of fine, but it was obviously embarrassing because the group behind like this, you know, guys look at me like what the hell's this guy doing. But I managed to, you know, I drew a good lie where I was and I had a shot to play straight up the 11th theory on the east course, which runs parallel to 18. So I had like a good shot up the

hole, but I screwed that one up as well and put it in between the two holes and then had to chip out and then three parts, I made triple. So I ended up shooting. I was like, I go to the, I didn't tell you I was like, well, at least I'm not going to shoot 80 and then made triple and shot 80. It was, yeah, it was, it was annoying. What do you think of the way that golf course was set up as a test for major championship golf? And I'm wondering how you can compare and contrast what it's like to compete on a course like a Gusta and a, and a US open set up at Wingfoot. I, I really like the set up at Wingfoot, if I'm honest. I know the fairways were like super narrow and the rough was kind of ridiculous, but

the greens were firm and fast. And in a way, having the rough how they had it, which was like super thick but kind of like consistent, you could actually start hedging angles off tees because if you missed it in the wrong rough line, so like down one, dog legs left, green opens up from the right. If you missed it in the left rough, rough line, you like basically couldn't hit the green, but if you missed it in the right rough line, you had like a really open shot to sort of run something up the front. And then on two of the opposite, like two opens up to the left of the

fairway. So you miss it in the left rough and you find you miss it in the right rough, you're dead. And so it was actually quite strategic off the tee, which is really interesting. It was obviously completely contrived. But the strategy of the tee shots and angles actually kind of, it actually kind of mattered a bit playing, playing at wingfoot. So somehow for 22 yard wide fairways with thick rough angles actually matted at Wingfoot. It was, it was strange. Okay. So that I was going to ask you there, you're saying angles actually mattering. I was, I was going to ask, are you seeing like at the top level of the game how angles aren't really nearly as important or, or you just say and basically like, all right, even though

it was super narrow, it mattered kind of where you were coming in from. Yeah, I think Wingfoot more than anywhere, obviously Australia, San Belor, Royal Melbourne, kind of firm and fast, I mean, that's the ideal. But Wingfoot more than anywhere I'd played recently, the angle that you were coming in from into that green because you had to be on the correct rough line or fairway side. It actually made you think about what you're doing off the tee a bit more than most places, which is cool in a way. But obviously, not probably an easy thing for most golf courses to aspire to.

Given the rough as ridiculous as it was, every day play couldn't play out of that, but for the best players in the world, it kind of worked to get people kind of being a little bit more strategic off the tee, which was interesting, but yeah, it wouldn't be how I'd suggest things set up. Hey, how did you end up playing a practice round without him, Scott?

Did you guys have a relationship beforehand and what was it like playing with him? Yeah, so I got in touch with Australian guy Evan Priest who he's like a I think he works for the Associated Press and he's just an Australian reporter and he had a line to Adam Scott and we were talking he was talking to me and I said to Evan whether it be okay if he put me in touch with Adam and Adam a couple days later texted me and actually missed the text when I got it

and it took me like 14 hours to reply to it, which was funny. But I got a text from Adam and texted him back and we lined up for I think it was in the Monday of Tuesday we played with Curtis Luck as well and Rio and Chicago joined us too, which was a cool group, kind of Three really cool guys to play golf with. And that was fun.

Adam's like nicest guy in the world, obviously an incredible player as well. So to just see how he gets around a golf course, how he kind of tries to figure out the greens and the chip around greens to figure out where the best misses are around the greens as well. And just learning little things off him was really fun. Yeah, I'm sure all those little things aren't, you know,

they're not going to change your game overnight, but you accumulate enough of those little things. I find it. Yeah, I especially find it just like watching LPGA golf when I'm there. It's like, oh, man, it doesn't have to be super complicated. Like just kind of do it, almost kind of accepting what they're doing in front of you into your own mind. And I don't know, obviously I'm not comparing, I'm not even playing next to these people.

I'm just saying, just being around great golf can really have some kind of effect on you. I'm sure you saw so much great golf in the last year that it's hard to even process all the things you saw. Yeah, I've definitely come away with a really good understanding of where my game needs to get better and where my weaknesses are, which is obviously useful feedback for me to try and get better,

because I mean, there's no better way to learn than from off the best players in the world. What would you say those things are? I mean, almost entirely with my long game, but driver, I'm just my dispersion's way too wide and then I'm playing as well. I think it's not so much that, like, I can hit all the shots, but I just,

like, instead of hitting them like, you know, 9, 8, 7 out of 10, I'll hit them like 5 out of 10, you know, times through a target or something like that. So I've just got to really dial in how I practice to be more focused on, you know, getting my tightening my dispersions with all my clubs, because it was pretty stark how well they struck the ball compared to how I struck the ball, which is,

yeah, it's just, yeah, I think it's obviously a little bit of technique stuff. Obviously, I struggle with left and right misses quite a bit. And so there's something to be there in terms of how I manage the club face into impact. But yeah, I think a lot of it will come down to just some more dedicated practice on my long game. I'm not sure what the original source of this. It might be one of the cheesy motivational posters. This might be the cheesiest thing you've ever heard. It's always stuck with me, the amateurs practice until they get it right and pros practice until they can't get it wrong. What you said there kind of resonated on that. Like you have all of the shots, but the next level is getting to a point

where you're not making a mistake. And that's not a meant, I don't necessarily think that's a mental thing. You know what I mean? It's not like there's a mental mistake you can make, but even if you know what the right shot is, the very best players just aren't gonna make that physical mistake nearly as often even as

someone at your level. Is that kind of what you're getting at? Yeah, I think so. And I like, like I look at my technique and my swing looks really pretty to look at, but there's some stuff in there that I don't like. I think I listen to your podcast actually with Mike Lorenzo Vera and he was talking about the same things. You know, he swings it, you know, he's got a pretty golf swing, but when you really slow

it down, there's a lot golf swing, but when you really slow it down, there's a lot of stuff that you can pick out. I mean, I see that how much face rotation I come into the ball with. I mean, the club is literally rotating so much through the impact zone that how do I match that up? And limiting how much that rotates will be a big part of me hitting the ball better. And so that's like one technique sort of thing that I've been working on. I mean, it's kind of a combination of technique and then just dedicated practice to really dial it in, I think. Well, is it got it's got to be hard for you to make any kind of technique adjustments leading

up into this stretch, right? You weren't going to swing overhaul before playing the US Open and Masters. That's got to be hard to know the things you need to work on and not be ready to have a full tear down. Yeah, I mean, I did, I had that eight week period in Melbourne where I was locked down and I couldn't play golf. I had a net in the backyard. So I was working pretty hard on some technical stuff. And that was actually a really good opportunity because I knew I'd have a lot of months to get it kind of bedded in. And so I worked really hard, but I mean, I mean, I'm only 26, but when you've been playing golf as long as I have, there's so much stuff that's just drilled into you to try and make

changes, it's so difficult. I mean, Tiger was so amazing with what he did, like, changing his golf swing as drastically as he did. I mean, I'm not sure if a lot of the time he did it for a good reason or if it actually band-a-footed him, but how he was able to change it and change his patterns so much. I mean, that guy is incredible. Yeah, that's really interesting. I want to talk a little bit of band in here before we let you go and then there's one particular golf shot. I know I got to ask you about at the end of this as well. But the band and doons is not, I wouldn't

say designed to host, you know, the top amateur event in the US. But what was it like to compete on those golf course on band and doons and band and trails? And had you been out there before? And, you know, as you're a golf architecture lover, which that might be a separate podcast we would do, what was your experience like out there before and you know as you're a golf architecture lover which that might be a separate podcast we would do what was your experience like out there. I mean people talk about Augusta National being Disneyland for golfers but that's probably even closer to it. I mean it's way more accessible for everyone. It's such a cool place. Playing the tournament there was really cool. Obviously we were playing at band and tunes and band and trails. So trails, I played the first round there. I mean, I got so much wind in that first round. I played late on the first round. I was playing 16 and I think it was like driver three would six on and the six on I hit up the hill literally just ballooned and went

about 70 yards. It was insane. So that was borderline unplayable. But I mean, if it wasn't the US Amateur, it would have been so much fun. But having to play that under tournament conditions was pretty, pretty tomorrowizing. But yeah, I mean, I loved it. The place is awesome. I went and played the three other golf courses, while I was there, plus we did the the preserve as well. There was like a pre tournament, sort of fun nine hole thing or 13 whole thing that we did. It's such a cool place. It reminds me a lot of Bamboo June's that we have in Australia, which I've been to a couple times, but I mean band is just

everything Bamboo was got at times three. It's just, yeah, it's awesome. It's just amazing how long of a trip you need out there to really get the full experience, you know, like you, You can go and miss. If you miss one of the courses, you're truly are, you're missing out. Did you have any, well, I guess what was your favorite or what, which one resonated with you the most? Subjective, of course, hot debate. Any time you talk band in.

Yeah. I mean, it's not the most scenic, but I thought, oh, McDonald was just the coolest. I thought the green complex is like, the templates were so good. I remember hitting the, so that the redan, when I played it was like straight downwind. And I mean, a redan for me, like, I mean, normally, it's really hard to play a redan,

how it should be played, you know, you landed at the front right, and then you roll it around. That a back left pin on the redan. I mean, I still have the six on because it was so heavily downwind but I hit this little six on it, landed the front right edge, the little draw and fed all the way down to like three feet and I was like it was like I was ecstatic that I just played the redan how it was supposed to be played because I was such like an architecture nerd but I loved Old McDonald. I thought that I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the

I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the

I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the

I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I had a lot of fun with the I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite, out of them, but Pacific and Old Mack were probably two of my favourites. And then I actually didn't play Sheep Ranch. I ran out of time and walked around it. I mean, it was at dusk and it was so beautiful. It's the most scenic of probably all of the courses. And that was awesome to see, but I'll have to go back and play it. And then Trails was great, obviously, playing the tournament there was really cool.

You get to see parts of the golf course that, I mean, you kind of don't really appreciate parts, unless you play it in tournament play, I think sometimes that 14th hole, that short path, four down the hill, that was just diabolical downwind. That was so crazy. But it was in a way, so fun, just because it was so ridiculous. But yeah, I mean, it's an awesome. It's an awesome golf Golf destination. I loved it What's funny is Pacific and Old MacDonald are four and five on my list yet like I Get where you're coming from like I yeah Like you can't no matter where you rank them or how you fall out you end up with something at the bottom that doesn't make any sense and

You know big Randy loves Old MacDonald. That's his favorite and I'm like, you end up with something at the bottom that doesn't make any sense. And you know, big Randy loves Old MacDonald. That's his favorite. And I'm like, you know what? Like that's what a folks emotion for you. It's funny. I've always struggled with the red and so that's like my least favorite hole out there. I can't get that one. I can't get that one. That is a tough one though. I guess I didn't play it once, but it's a tough red and for sure. It's got a little part in the middle of it that actually starts to work away from you and over the green back to the right which I didn't necessarily enjoy. But all right, we're gonna let you out of here with,

I've read about, I've seen the video, I knew about this but I've read an article recently that talked about a particular shot you hit at the old course that maybe no one else has ever hit before. I'm wondering if your statute of limitation appears to be up on this, but if you could tell us this story. Yeah, this is probably the one time I can tell it. So I studied for six months at the University of San Androids at a room, it was in Macintosh Hall, which is like a building, sort of like

parallel on the right of the 18th hole on the Alcourse. And the room I was in was on the top floor, 170 yards from the 18th grain, and I had a window facing the 18th grain, also facing out to like west sands and like a beautiful view of town. And so I got there, I moved into my room, I remember, and looking at the window and going,

holy crap, I could hit a shot on today, but that was the first thing I thought of when I moved into my room, I remember, and looking at the window and going, holy crap, I could hit a shot on today, didn't it? But that was the first thing I thought of when I got into the room. But then I was like, at the same time, I was like, that's a horrible idea. Like, why would you do that? And then I kept thinking about it.

I was there for a semester, and I kept thinking about it. And I discussed it with a few friends. And I came up with a plan to do it on the last night I was there because I was leaving the following morning at like 7 a.m. in a cab to get to the train station which was then taking me into the airport. And so I thought if there was a time I could do it where they can't really stop me and there'd be almost no consequences, it was probably late night the night before I leave. So we were a little few friends, we went in, I got a beer to settle the nerves, not just one, not too many. And then we kind of mapped it out,

what I was gonna do, we had a few people down on basically on the 18th grain, I mean, it's the middle of the night, it was like midnight. So we had three or four people like standing near the grain, sort of waiting for the shot to come down, because I didn't want too many people making a lot of noise in my room and kind of attracting attention. And many people making a lot of noise in my room

and kind of attracting attention. And then I had a couple close friends in my room to sort of watch the shot and record it. And I've got it on video, but I'm not, I'm not putting it out, I don't think, but it can sort of stay in verbal kind of conversation here. Anyway, it was an eight-iron. I'd been to the range that day

and figured out how far away from the wall or the window I needed to be was an 8-iron. I'd been to the range that day and figured out how far away from the wall or the window I needed to be for the 8-iron trajectory to come out perfectly at that height of the window. And it was two 8-iron lengths away from the window. And I lined it up and fiended the first one straight into the wall, made a massive noise, but it was into the wood paneling. So it actually didn't do much damage. I was lucky. And then the next one I flushed out onto the grain, and everyone was like cheering and everything, and I actually got a noise complaint. But thankfully no one found out what I was doing and went down with my buddies and the guys on the on the green found the ball. It was just at the back edge of the grain. And I

I two-potted made a three from from my room in San Andreas, so that was pretty cool. That's a hell of a way to go out and that's where you're going to go out on this podcast. We're going to let you go. So congrats, man, on an amazing, amazing year and I loved hearing the story, I loved following it and we can't wait to see what's next for you and thanks a ton for coming on and telling the story. No, bro.

And I think so. Have me. Give time. Cheers. Give it a big club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most.

That is better than most. Better than most.