No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 611: Darren Clarke

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

Darren Clarke joins Soly for the latest on his career on the Champions Tour and what he enjoys most about continuing his competitive golf career. Darren also offers his insight as a former European Tour member and Ryder Cup player and captain about the players who've joined LIV and its potential impact on the Ryder Cup. He also gives us some awesome stories about his friendship with Tiger and what it was like to compete against him at the peak of his career. 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 got a shorter interview for you today. It is 30 minutes long with Darren Clark, recorded this last week at the Constellation Furekin friends.

Turn of the weeks are always tough, especially in person to get guys for longer than 30 minutes. But Darren packed a lot into this. I promise it is worth listening to and considering a full episode, usually be shoot for the full hour, but we packed about an hour's worth of stuff into 30 minutes and greatly appreciate Darren's time. This episode is brought to you by our friends at original penguin, which is the brand you wear for the good times. They've got stylish apparel for your whole closet and your game. I can attest to this because I've got an entire closet full of original penguin gear.

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BMW USA.com to learn more about the IX and the I4. Now, for the delay, here is Darren Clark. So I love asking the champions tour guys this. So what do you still hope to achieve in your golf career? Most athletes by age 54, I believe you are, are done playing their sport professionally. Golf is unique. So what keeps you going? What do you want to still accomplish in your golf career? Yeah, well, first thing, first things, first is she called me an athlete. That's been a while. But anyway, more and athletes than the Bar, these days, raising my right hand.

But anyway, what do I still want to achieve? You've been a bit of a fun year for me, especially this year, last year and tour I won three times. And this year I've won once. But if I had to pick a tour that I wanted to win when I was playing on the main tour, so it would have been the open championship. That was my one band from Europe, obviously, band from around, you know, as a young whatever, 11 year old, 10 year old, I'd hit them balls on the polling grid. This is for the open, this is for the open, that five for this, if you're open, if you're lipped out, okay, this is in the playoff to try and, try and win it. And I fulfilled that at a late stage of my career, I fulfilled it. And then when I turned 50, obviously coming out here and playing the Champions Tour, it's a wonderful place to come out and play.

The standards so high and the guys can still fly to play, but the one I wanted to win more than anything was the senior British Open. And then I achieved that this summer, which is very proud to have both jugs and all that sort of stuff, which is all the picture of Instagram pages of the two jugs down the harbour bar and the import Russian stuff. And, you know, I went after it, I went really flat for about a month because I've achieved what I really wanted to achieve. Don't get me wrong, I want to win tournaments and all that sort of stuff. But that was the one that I wanted to win more than anything. And, you know, import rush right there, the one I want to my friends from the Abacot Club

are over there at import rush we're playing this morning. And they sent me a picture of the cabinet because the the Clarence, my replica, Clarence Jug and my replica senior jug are sitting beside each other in the cabinet. They sent me a picture of this morning. And you know, it's pretty cool. So to to achieve that, not many people have done it before in history and stuff was, you know, I had to very sit down and try and figure out well, what do I want to do now? And it and took me away. But I want to win more. That's why I go to the reins. That's why I practice as hard as I do because I want to win more. There's nothing. No matter how old you are, you know, out in the Japanese history here,

it's all friendly banter and all that sort of stuff. And choose these wednesdays, thursdays, whatever. But then on a three day tournament soon comes a very morning, every reverse back to being a tour pro. And you know, we got some seriously good tour pros out here in the Japanese Tour. So, you know, you go back into that competitive spirit, it's the competition that we all thrive on. And no matter should it be one of our majors, should it be our regular tour events, Japanese tour events, it doesn't matter. We want to win. We want to put ourselves in the position on a back-night that's only where if you make a mistake at Hertz, and believe me, the competition out here is unbelievable. Most people think

the championship is, you know, we play whatever, 6,700 yard courses, flags in the middle of the greens, and greens running at 910 on the stint meter, but for those that know, it's 7172, and if the pins are flags are, say, four off the left and a regular PGA to a event, we're six off the left. And the greens run between 12 and 13 every week on the, on the, on the stint meter. And the big difference right here in the atmosphere is that we don't have much rough because you know, as we're all getting older,

our club head speed isn't enough to generate the digger out of that thick rough. So that would be me in difference. But the guys can flat out play I mean they're really can and you see the scores and it would indicate you think oh well that's an easy course that's it's not that way at all and that was one of the big things that took me a bit of time to adjust to coming out in the championship was three rounds you know you got to get it after yeah if you shoot a level bar you want to turn them over you know it's get ready for next week. It's a completely different mindset. And that's why I think you

see a lot of wonderful players with great PJ tour history coming out to play here. And then they struggle for a little bit. They can't quite get it because of a sudden year course management change is completely, you know, the slangs that you don't go for that you would play away from your triumplier smart, which I find very difficult a lot of the time, but you try and play a smart. But there's no good guys are going right out of it. Guys are making birdies, and if you're not doing that, you're not going to win out here. Well, that's the thing, I played the Monday pro, I'm out here this week at Tim Aquana, and they renovated the course in the off season since you've been here, and it's lengthened

it's longer, and those T-boxes are not moved up. They are not moved up. No, the prime example of that is, you know, the course this week is wonderful. The renovation of Thomas is one of the greens are really far from being new greens, which are going to be. There's rolloffs everywhere. So if you do miss the greens, we get a little bit of wind. It's going to be really tough, but going back to your point there, fast home where we play our players championship at senior players, it's the same course that we that we played. You know, we're not up on any days, it's the same course that we played.

You know, we're not up on any teams. It's the same course we played when I used to go and play WGC's and all that sort of stuff there. It's exactly the same golf course, the same rough, the same T's, the same everything. I'm still an unbelievable test. So going back to 2011, Open Championship, I cannot imagine you're tired of talking about that one yet.

So you had a conversation with Bob Rhotella at one point that week. What was that conversation? What did that change for you? I have, through my career, spent a lot of time with different mental coaches. I think it's a huge part of profession, because everybody out here can play and they're always looking for a little bit of an age. And I've destroyed many. I've had help from

a few. But Dr. Bob has been wonderful with me, I don't know, for years and whatever. And you know, the abstract week before up in, we were playing, where we were up in the sky, where Cass was chute. And I just absolutely ripped it off everywhere. And I put it like a, like Stevie Wonder, you know, I just couldn't make a pot anywhere and all sorts of stuff. So I came down to the open and which was right now the week after we were on the play and coming down there. So when it came in on after Cass Stewart and the Sunday where it didn't quite play so well, very frustrated. And the coach, Matt Kutcher was in there and his wife in the players lounge as well before we all got a private flight going down to St. George's And then we took in a little bit of alcohol and ended up having way too much. I don't know which one who was worse than Kutcher myself

But anyway, we got down there and I was just so frustrated. I would go out and hit balls and just flush you the game But we'll even bother going to the potting green because it was putting so purely and Dr. Bob got me on there and Oh, Wednesday afternoon and he got me doing one of his old drills where get your lower wedge out and and pop with one ball around the green making the ball roll and then all for some of us to get a little bit of touch and a little bit of feel back in again and oh this a little bit a little bit different and then what I would play on things transpired I won. I didn't lead paving by any stretch of the imagination but it actually I've've written it that good.

I was hit in the dark, I think I finished 20th or something, and pulling was not a bad way, but I wasn't holding everything. So, Duck has helped me immensely over the years, and he's a wonderful man, and hence why he's probably the number one in our sport of, when you do work with him, it's easy to see why. He's so good, a simple. We all try to intend to as golfers make our sport more difficult than it needs to be at times.

You know, we're all seeking that technical side of things and you know, I'm as balanced anyway. I watch Instagram, I don't see something on there and just like, oh, I'm gonna go and try that tomorrow. I am that idiot. Oh yeah, I'm not idiot. Oh, that looks good. And then that don't work.

But you know, Dr. Bob, just, I'm not idiot. Oh, that looks good. And then that don't work. But you know, Dr. Bob just You won't challenge all that stupid simple Signing stuff. It actually reads those work. It works. I struggle with making it stick like you can work Oh, yeah, even at your guys level two it seems like you need the refreshers. You need to train your brain Most of them you change your golf swing. Have you figured any that out over the years? I've got to have them figured anything out. But yeah, you do need that refresher. You do need that a little bit because when you do it, you think, oh, why have I forgot about doing this? You know, picking the smallest targets, picking the leaf on the tree as opposed to a tree, all those little bits and pieces. And you know, to gain control, you give up control and let the potter flow and all

that. And you tend to forget these those sort of things. And it's very easy in our sport to go back into looking, if you're not playing so well, look at a tank, what, and technically if you're doing something wrong, it's not always the case, usually as mental, when you get to our level and out here, you know, and where you've got to, you know, just free it up and let it go to your target and accept where it goes. Acceptance is the big thing. If you can't accept where the ball goes, then you're going to struggle from the get go. So you've got to really just let it go and see what you've got and do the best you can do with that week. I wanted to ask you this because you've been heavily involved in the Ryder Cup for many years. You captain the Ryder Cup, and we haven't

really had a chance to talk to a European Ryder Cup captain about this since it all happened, but what do you make of the drama that has gone down with the captaincy over the past year? Is it, was it avoidable? Is it foreseeable? And I have a lot of questions related to that. But what's your reaction to how it all went down? Disappointment more than anything.

You know, it was a previous rhetoric up. And I was part of the committee that selected Henwick as a rhetoric up captain. Disappointment and what happened yet at the same time, nothing ill towards Henwick. Henwick is a good friend of mine. And you know, it's the same as that whole lives in there. If the guys want to go, that's fine. I got no issues with the guys going at all. You know, they've obviously been paid huge amounts of money and what have you. Because if you think about what they're getting paid, you know, you double that in top of their taxes and what have you

done there, they're gonna have to make double that or whatever on tour, which is a lot of wins, you know, you're looking at a Tiger-esque type of career, even will Tiger over many years, but you know, you're looking at that sort of level of performance, which not many people actually get that level. So, you know, to go there and do it, that's fine. But I just wish, wish it had happened before his selection is right. A cup cap. Yeah, it's, it's a little bit of, uh, do you think there was any foul play in terms of the price going up when once he accepted the captaincy?

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not privy to that information. So, so I don't know. But, you know, it was disappointing because I'm sure Henrik would have made a wonderful Ryder Cup captain. That being said, you know, we have a brilliant Ryder Cup captain there and Luke Donald, his record,

World War I number one, very successful Ryder Cup player. He's very thorough. He's very darned to my new details. And I'm sure he'll do a wonderful job as well. It was just a little bit of a black mark on the whole scenario. It was disappointing as a former Ryder Cupness, it was a disappointing the scenario that played out. Well, as a golf fan, the Ryder Cup's my favorite event.

And it's just, there's nothing like it. It's nothing like it. And it's the, but it's the pinnacle of competition for me. And it's the one with no money, ironically, for the players. But it's the one I care about the most who wins. And it's part of the main reason why I became a golf fan in the 1990s You know, I was down at home and the Abihul Club in Windy Bend behind me last week and I was watching the President's Cup, you know, I said that I watched the whole thing and it was the American team were outstanding again the international's come back. I thought it was exciting.

And, you know, I haven't been to a president's cup, but the Ryder Cup just seems a little bit more, a little bit more feisty, a little bit more, a little bit more niggle, a little bit. I'm not, I'm not demeaning the president's cup at all by any stretch to the imagination, but the Ryder Cup's just a little bit more niggly. The American team has been a punching bag for jokes for for many many years

I think for a lot of times it seems to have been subsided ever said the task force was a I think a lot of golf fans It poked a lot of fun at looking back at it I know you're not you're I'm just getting your perspective from the European side It seems like it's been rather effective in the development and the and the System they've used I'm wondering what your reaction is to how the US team has evolved. Yeah, I think the task forces obviously worked. What I think they did was take a look at the blueprint that the European guys used. Well, maybe that's working.

So, maybe we should try a little bit of that. Now the international's are doing that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's for a long time. You know, the PJ Tour is a little bit different. The PJ Tour is, it seems to be when you look at a little bit more about individuals. If you look at the European Tour, you know, that go to the European Tour event, you go to

the local restaurant, you'll see tables of 8-10 players dining together. You don't see that in the PJ Tour, because there's more restaurants and bathes, there's more options to do what you're doing. But you go to some places in the European tour event, you know if you're walking to a certain restaurant, you're going to see tables over a lot of players. So because that has always been a little bit maybe more camaraderie in the European tour over the years. Now that has changed in recent years with the Ryder Cup because you see a lot of great friendships and great partnerships being formed right there, like Jordan and Justin for example things like that like Zander and Patrick Cantola you know good buddies and good friends obviously socialized a lot that didn't always happen back in the

day when we were playing Radar Cup so it's it's changed a lot and I think Zinger Paul Azerin deserves a lot of credit for that as well because his little Paul system where you put the guys together and stuff for Fowler that that worked that was the first I think that was the first real breakthrough of whenever The American guy seemed to pull together a little bit more. They veered away from that and they kind of kind of come back to it again What do you think and either you can answer this as if you were the captain of this team or just what do you think in general? What would you be open to having live players the European live players as part of the team. Oh that's a hard one. I'm a journalist. I

have to tell you that's a hard one. Right now I just want to say I don't think so. I don't think it's a pretty sad situation where we are right now in the world of golf. You know you've got your golf, you know, you've got your established PJ tour and you've got the DP World Tour and you've got, no, you've got live coming and they're trying to change things and they're trying to change make the game a little bit more, their product is a little bit more towards the fans a little bit more modern and what have you and that's fine, that's okay. But you know, the tours have had to make a stand. It's like any any company trying to defend

itself, they've got to make a stand and unfortunately you know at the moment those guys are rules ineligible to be part of that team and you know if I wish all of this had been, I wish a lot of people had a sat down and spoke before we all got to this position, round the table and I'm trying to figure some way out because it's the fans and the teams that are going to lose I took, you know, because you don't see you're currently not going to see a Dustin Johnson playing in the rider cup, you know, Dustin's obviously still one of the best players in the world. That's a lot of an LHK, yeah. In a way, he was amazing at Whistling Strayettes, but that's DJ, but I'm just throwing

him out there, not that no disrespect to any of the rest of the guys that would be on the team. It's just, it's going to make it, maybe you want to see the best players in the world going against each other and that may not be the case going forward, which is sad for the whole, for majors, for radicals for everything, but it is what it is. The the the the animosity between live and the other tours at the moment is disappointing. But as I said, the tours are trying to protect themselves. And does that make sense in your mind as a as a tour player yourself that has played

on both tours? Does the policy, the hardline policy of this makes sense to you as a player? And for the listeners that don't understand how the structure works like why the tour would do that, you know, kind of help help explain that as well. Yeah, well, you know, the tours are protecting their their rights, their their players. You know, when you when you get your tour card, you then sign up to a membership of whatever tour that may be. Should it be the PJ tour? Should it be DP World Tour? You get your card and you abide by these rules. And if you abide by these rules, then you get all the benefits that come with being a member of that organization. Now, in these rules, there's certain things you cannot do. Unfortunately,

the guys have decided to go to live which break the rules. The world is full of rules, there's consequences for breaking the rules. As I said, I'm not saying it's wrong for those guys to go to live, but there was always going to be consequences. All those guys that went to live, they would have been very well aware that there was a little bit of hassle coming there when they went. That's pretty easy to see with the way the media has been and reporting on it. It's a really difficult now. A lot of those guys there are my good friends that have gone to live to play on live. It's a really awkward situation that those guys have chosen to do it, but at the same time, they've had to give up their benefits that they have lost through the PJ Tourist. You know, those guys have made their

names and their careers via the PJ Tour and the DP World Tour. That's how they've generated their should be say legacy, how it would generate their value. Their value, their names that people would recognize. Going to a rival tour, which is trying to play in the same countries as what the PJ tour is playing, the DP was tuned, that's against the members' regulations. So that's the easiest way of phrasing it, because I'm not going to say, you know, liver or bad, because they have some really good, I have been an event,

but from what I watch and what I read, and the guys all love it, the guys already enjoy it, but at the same time, you have your established tours, PJT or DP World Tour, those guys won on those tours and made their names, made their living on those tours, so it's a hard one, it's a real hard one to find out what the right answer is. You were offered, I believe, a commentator's position. What was the decision making process like for you on that? They give me a really generous. Seems to be a lot of those offers go around.

Yeah, they give me a really generous offer to go to comment. And I've done a little bit of commentary and I really enjoy it. I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit like David Ferry. I'm a little bit out of left field, you know, and that's sort of not afraid to say what I think a lot of the time. There's a lot of room for that engulf of players that will just be yourself on the air and don't do an impersonation of an announcer, right? I enjoy that.

Yeah, so I'll be a little bit different. And then they offered him through there, that's sort of this year. Basically, I went to the tour, the PJ tour, because I know I'm a fortunate and pride to be a member of the Champions Tour. I love the Champions Tour. I said, listen, this has been offered to do this. Can I do this? The request came back and it was denied.

Because for obvious reasons, they said, if you go and do that, then you're going to have to speak favorably about live. And that's not part, again, you'll be then breaking our rules, which I totally understood. It was like having your cake and eating and all that stuff, you know. That a really tough spot, too. Yeah, that one of an a real hard one. You know, I just basically, if I'd said yes to it, then that's me hanging up the clubs. You know, it wasn't a go-play, it was a sit-in-boom and get on the mic, and I wasn't ready to do

that, and not ready to do that, because one one of my thoughts earlier in the year whenever that was when I was me at that very generous offer was for do this. I can never win this in your British Open. So now you want it. Please, I'll go to live now. Now it's really I can't talk to enough players about all this stuff. Yeah, you got to the stakeholders in this and the fans are big stakeholders. Of course, yeah. Of course, yeah. Of course, yeah. You know, I'm, you know, I watch what people say and then Rory, I think, said, last

week, you said, so we need to get around the table and I'm, I'm, I'm talk a little bit and then you got Adam Scott sent, Liv is in pure evil. And, you know, at the same time, I'm a huge PGA tour fan and DP World fan because I grew up playing on those tours and PGA tours been very good to me as well over the years because I was playing on European tour coming over and playing over here was a member over here as well. So you know I've had the benefit of playing on my home tour, DP World Tour, which I've loved and the PGA Tour and reaping all the benefits of doing that. So then to see live come along, it's a really awkward

position. You know if I'd have been, I don't know, 43-44, and live had to come to me and offer me whatever I can track, I can't honestly say, tell you what I would have done. I'm out of go. I don't know, thankfully, I was 53 or 54, should not want to do it. Which is wonderful. What would reconciliation look like at this point though? I am of the mind that I think the Taurus made their stance. They've drawn a hard line and I don't think you can come back to the table now. I just can't picture world, but where reconciliation works. Medic night.

Yeah. At the moment I've heard Rory call for it and I don't know what he's calling for. I'm by far not smart enough to come up with with any sort of solution. I'm like, I'm like, I can't, I don't know what it would look like because there's been, there's been a lot of mud slung in all directions. There's a lot of misinformation has been put out there in all directions. Law suits, I mean, there's a personal, that's very personal to people. Yeah, you know, law suits are an American thing. They just, you know, if you're not, I don't know.

I can't see it. I can't see how they can come to, how they can coexist under the current situation. I really can't. There has to be big changes somewhere, I know there ever is gonna happen, you know, on this. Yes, it's probably normative. That would take that way to start it.

He's polarizing. Yeah, Greg is polarizing. You know, he's been a former world number one. He's got his opinions. You know, he tried to do this world tour back in the day and it didn't quite work with the PGA tour. And so, you know, Greg is polarizing. Moving on to a different one.

I've heard this story that I cannot be able to get out of my mind for many, many years. I believe it was on the driving range in Germany in the early 2000s. You are warming up near Tiger Woods. Do you know what story I'm talking about? Could you please tell it? I need it on this podcast. uh, near Tiger Woods. Mm-hmm. Do you know what story I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. Can you please tell it?

I need it on this podcast. So, taking a, I've been very good fans for a long, long time. And you know, we both worked at Boucharm and, um, Arten Vegas and, you know, whenever they're the three of us who had for dinner and it would always be, are there butch or myself would pay for dinner because Tiger was cobwebs in his wallet. It's sort of, I don't know. I don't know. I said rumor that he has a wallet because nobody's ever really seen it. So we were going, we were going to get on really, really well and have a lot of fun. He used to call me

double F and I used to call him B dash dash dash, I see it, or whatever. So it came over to you. So when it come over to Europe, he would come walking on to the range and usually if there was a spot beside me, you put the bag down. Stevie would put the bag down and hit balls. It was I mean, well, how you doing? If I'm I'm not sure stuff so back in the day in Germany and it was Deutsche Bank, Tournament of European What was it called? I can't remember one of our big tournaments over there TBC Europe or whatever it was Tiger was

Put his bag down, start hitting some balls. Now back on those days in Germany, they weren't allowed to use certain pesticides on the grounds in Watthavis. So unlike the perfectly manicured courses you have these days, it was good, but it wasn't quite what it is today. So because they got used certain pesticides, it was wormcaps coming up everywhere and the turf was a little bit damp Not wasn't firm wasn't crisp around thing Tiggie was was going through his whole back start with his low wage start with them into nine irons And then he had if you turn around and give me a little bit of a shoe. It's shit. Give me a little bit of a juice

Go back head and some more balls and all that sort of stuff and he flushed every shot. I mean just pureed Every shot didn't mess one just pureed it. And you know, he finished he's finished off with his driver obviously he teed the tea that was up, but finished off with his driver and stuff. And about 45 minutes later he says, okay, okay, FF I'm aware, see you by my, I'll be, I'll be wonder. So I looked down at his David pattern and all it was was the grass was still drained and it was all brushed. It was, there was no divots and he purered every shot. No.

Some of your listeners might not quite understand that, but that is to this day the single most impressive thing that I have ever seen in my career. I will never see it again. Not one divot, not nothing, just absolutely, absolutely pureed every shot. I mean, just off the charts. I love that story. That stage, he was obviously number one in the world

and by and all, but he was just incredible. He just pureed it. I can't get enough of that story. Yeah, it's it. I've got to read that golf digest bit like every chance I get. Wow, so unreal. He was that it. I've got to read that golf digest bit. Like every chance I get. Wow, unreal. He was that good.

Well, you got some more good Tiger stories to him. I've matched play in 2000. Was that the year you beat him, right? And that you guys have breakfast together that morning. Yeah, we did. We did. We did something to him about his celebrations if I remember.

Oh, yes. So I'm sitting here, Tiggie sitting beside me. The other side of Tiger was Butch Harmon. The other side of me was Toby Chandler. The other side of tiger was but charm and the other side of me was chubby Chandler the other side of but charm and was Mark Steinberg the other side of chubby was my catty bitty foster on the other side of Mark Steinberg was Stevie Williams and we're all having breakfast and

Sit there and I said I said now listen if you chip in today because a couple years before you remember I memorially hold that chip and you start running like it's pulling the toilet chain all the way around the grave. I said, if you do that today, I will slap you in the face. To achieve, his head was done as Blitney, lifters had up and those big white teeth come out and he looked at me, he says,

you can f-off you, f-f-you couldn't f-ing catch me anyway. That was the start to our morning. Oh gosh, I feel like you got a lot of stories over the years. Yeah, yeah. But Tiggie, you know, he's always been so cool to me and so good to me. When I won the open in 2011, he was texting me every day because he was out with his leg injury and our back injury can't remember which one. And he said I was watching DC.

He says I was watching FF don't be careful over there. Stay away from that bit over there. Go over there and he's texting me every then trying to help me every day. That was pretty cool. And you left a note in your locker after WGC at LaCosta left a note on the local rules that week. He says congrats B pride PS. you're still a F F T W T. Well, that was not a phase in Tigers life when he was as friendly towards other players in that regard. No, you know, that was that was a period of his time when he was dominating and I'm doing everything and everybody seemed to be a little bit more, I don't know, whenever Tiggies

didn't get up there, he seemed to have that effect on people. I didn't care. I just, you know, I'd give him some abuse and try and play and what I've been. I just threw my time playing with him and I'm practicing with him in Vegas. And obviously got very close to him. I was fortunate.

He would help me. At any time I asked him for a little bit of advice, a little bit of help. He was there for me and I was offered. Last one, I should have worked this earlier. We were talking about the Champions Tour, but I played in the Monday Pro in this week and I went into the reception afterward and saw the amount of players that were in there.

And I it just looked, it was starting to click to me as far as how, how fun I'm sure the champion store is for you guys. And there seems to be, you're talking about the Americans kind of going to dinner on their own. Your opinions doing something different. There seems to be a real camaraderie amongst the players, Alan Machabie, stores that they're selling. Yes, there really is.

You know, we, we are a little bit different. We're all obviously post 50. We've all been through all our time on, on, on the tours. Whereas out here, you come out here and everybody supports the championship. We realize how fortunately ours, as 50 year old plus guys to be playing on a tour where we can still make a very good living, still compete, play in some of the best courses with wonderful sponsors, with wonderful fans whenever they come out and playing, we're still very fortunate to be able to do that. So, you know, unlike other tours with the pros,

maybe only playing nine holes in the pro-am, but we don't, we play a team and then we go and have lunch with them, we have drinks with them, we go to the pro-am drinks parties, it's a different scenario out here. The players really respect Miller Brady, our commissioner of Arthur and Jimmy Gableson and the guys, and they're all trying to cultivate an atmosphere with the sponsors, want to keep on supporting us. Without the sponsors, we wouldn't be able to do it. You know, we are part of the PGA tour, we're proud to be part of the PGA tour. And this is a tour where a lot of people think this tour

is a little bit ceremony, you know, the guys just go out there and have a little bit of fun. Yes, certain degree, but it's also, you want to kick the ass of the guy's time, but you want to win. And that's the thing. So we're very thankful to Jem on home and the PGA Tour for giving this opportunity to the Ducal.

Thanks so much for spending some time on those best of luck this week up through the end sometime. Yes sir. right club today. That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Thank you.