No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 69: Young Neil, Tron Carter, & Brandon Hagy

Episode Date: March 6, 2017

Young Neil and Tron Carter stop by to offer up their thoughts on the WGC Mexico Championship, as we riff on DJ, the Rahm Threat, the vibe in Mexico, and JT’s #TourSauce. Then Brandon Hagy... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 69: Young Neil, Tron Carter, & Brandon Hagy appeared first on No Laying Up. 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. So we're stuck with just Neal, and Freddie, Freddie's in the background, kind of taking a nap. I think Tron is he rolling around, what's going on? We just sped him. Alex out of town.

I just sped him. It's like a brave new world over here. Neal, you haven't been on the pod in years. I'm afraid of this. No, I guess you did one with the Tor junkies, didn't you? I did. I hosted one with the Tor junkies with with with Tron. But yeah, you know, long-time listener, maybe second time caller. Happy to be back. The feedback.

Exactly. I'm excited about the day. Your trap draw, the feedback on your trap draw appearance is is strong to quite strong. People are demanding another trap draw appearance. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, well, I have to get some more material. So may have to make a return visit to the Shatto Relaxo. Also planning to go down to LA and see T4, which is kind of a satellite office of the Shatto Relaxo. He's got few lights down there as well. And as he calls himself,

he's just a little boy with a lot of little toys down there. So if I do, I would hope I'd play a little bit of golf and maybe we can get another trap draw story time with NGSU. If you guys haven't, make sure you're subscribed to the trap draw podcast. It's an episode with the Neil did with the guys back in December and it's fantastic. It's awesome stories. But we're recording this. Let's have your midnight for me. Final putt just dropped. DJ just won another event. WGC.

Bonson. Unbelievable. Bonson. He's a Bonson. He cut the cord on the on the ROM threat that tried to invade it. And DJ kind of running away now with number one ranking. What do you guys overall thoughts on the week?

I thought it was awesome, man. I thought Mexico was a browsing success. Crowds were awesome. Mikkelsen was like performance art from Mikkelsen the whole week. I heard a little bit of flack from Andy from Friday. He was just lighting my texts up with complaints about the foliage on the golf course. Like just bitching about with an angle

and strategic golf. So I do think they need to do a little bit of a little bit of tree trimming down there, but for the most part, I thought it was an awesome event. I mean especially for first time venue, thumbs up, two thumbs up from Tron. I kind of like the narrow fairways. I thought they looked pretty cool on TV. I understand where Andy's coming from, but seeing those guys try to hit it down shoots like that is awesome. And then seeing some of them like Michael send it and up over the trees.

Gotta love that big takeaway for me. Really like the young Euro crop. Showing up on the leaderboard between Peters. This guy Tommy Fleetwood. Big fan, tremendous lettuce. So excited to see those guys continue to play over here on the side of the pond, but DJ obviously take care of business and if I hear that he's unflappable one more time though, I might put the broadcast on mute. I don't know if it's unfauch. I think that's just code for like him being dumb. Like that's just like the nice way of them saying like, oh like DJ's unflappable. Yeah. I think that's the word for it. Have you seen the clip though of the Phil Faraday coming up where Phil says like to be good Like DJs and fucks like this. Yeah. I was like, I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick.

I was like, I'm sick. I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was like, I'm sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick.

I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick.

I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I was sick. I from just kind of the course we see every week, but it was really interesting that the leaderboard that came out of this course. Like I wouldn't have expected like Rory, JT, DJ, and ROM, like guys known as Bombers, to have had this kind of course fit their style, but it was just weird. I felt like it should have probably, the scores should have been lower,

but it kind of played firm in fact. Like what are the yardage do we think it played to with the Altitude? It was only 7,200 yards, plus a 15% altitude. It wasn't essentially playing like a 6,200 yard course. But I think part of that was you've got, A, it was playing firm in fast. So the greens were, that was my big takeaway as far as it set up, was the greens were so firm, it was awesome. But, I mean, I guess to a certain extent, the altitude, the ball doesn't spin as much either, right?

Yeah. So, you know, guys are going to hit it straighter, the guys that hit it longer are going to hit it straighter than they typically do as well. So, the guys that typically driving the ball well, or I think kind of a distinct advantage here, you know, I mean, other than maybe, I mean, who wasn't a bomber that was on the leader board? Who's not a bomber anymore, though, on this tour? It's true. Yeah. It's true. As well. I don't think he moves at that. Snettaker is not really necessarily a bomber. I wouldn't say yeah

but uh... so what i i i i i suppose the most epic day like of film magic ever see i missed all of saturday what basically happened on saturday what didn't i was just getting out of jail i mean jail you couldn't even see him a couple times in the trees and i mean it was

I don't know he wasn't you couldn't have scripted it anymore Phil like it was amazing people like and then like there were certain times where he was in the jungle and Like they couldn't even pick him up on camera and slugger why it would walk over He was nuts and then he and then he made par like it was it was out of control He was nuts and then he made par. Like, it was out of control. At least you'd 68. I'm just saying this now. I'm still trying to piece all this together. A lot of people are really getting really pumped up about Ram.

We're all in on this, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I love the swing, man. The way he drops his elbow, very surged, you ask the Spaniards. I don't know. I know Todd, I know you're all about him. and the way he drops his elbow, very surgically asked the Spaniards. I don't know, I know Todd, I know you're all about him, Donald, so. But I like, I like Ram a lot. I mean, he's the Ram threat, he's the conquistador,

he likes beer, pizza, chicks with big boobs. That's about as American as it gets. Bill's brother is his agent. He quit the head coach at New York State. And now he's just his agent. Is that, did I hear that correctly? That's right. Yeah, he called to be his agent.

That's a power move. It looks like a very good decision at this point. My buddy, Tumor, always used to joke about how surgeo like until his like early thirties was called the young spandered and i actually laughed out loud when ferrdy called uh... rom the young spandered now the torches officially been passed that to to rom as the young spandered i just think of it i mean there's so many good gladiator

parallels between rom anything spandered but heard but he's also from the Basque country right so he's got a little bit of separatism in his background you know I'd love for him to wear it he should wear the armor with the horses Argento and I can't remember what the other one is, but we certainly called him here. That's the deep poll. Yeah, that was a stretch alert for sure. Jack Reacher.

This didn't feel enough like a WGC, and I think I'm just now figuring out why. It didn't feel the same without Tong Chai Jai D finishing T57 and never being in contention. That was the big takeaway from me today. It was like Ross Fisher just stacking OWGR points. It was like a mad dash at the end there. They're like, all right, I don't have a chance to win, but I can lock up a top 50 world ranking here for the next 18 months, basically.

Well, hey, to go back to Wood though, so he beat DJ and Abu Dhabi, right, by one stroke. And then they just flip spots here in this one. Um, and Abu Dhabi, that's an HSBC, is that, or... No, Abu Dhabi's the, like, the Euro tour. The Euro tour? Okay. That's like one of their flagship events over there. Okay, but I, I mean, I think, if we're going to talk about young, like, studs, like, Ram for sure, but this guy was, I mean, obviously bombing the we're gonna talk about young studs like wrong for sure, but this guy was I mean

Obviously bombing the ball, but he had I think he had an iron on one of the part 5 on the back and just I mean what a shot took over the trees cut. I didn't like I don't know guys I'm I'm in on Fleetwood. He might have some pop Fleetwood mat guy Yeah, if you're a British guy like playing in WGC's like a good British player and you don't have bad teeth Like get out of here like that's that's that's how I judge on British golfers. They have to have bad teeth. Yeah So Joe is it Justin? Well, there was three of them on the leader There was there was hat and two right and then or there was there was hat and two right and then uh well in West West he's English and he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he I mean, it's like, well, just wasn't just wasn't 5 foot This wasn't his day, but you know, it's like the mini Camilo

He's big for Westwood. Yeah, it's like the Westwood. Yeah. I've got I got an ad respect for Westwood though. I mean long Jeopardy wise, he's still doing it like yeah, he jacks like Ryder Cup didn't go well for him, but I mean still the dudes He was a thoroughbred. He's he has been for years. I think he's 56 or something WGC event like I just blows my mind So that's amazing Many OWG are points. I was gonna say I wonder how many official world golf regging points He's earned in those events, but we talk about the the sauce that jt sprayed on sunday at tron i think you're a fan of it no it was just so yeah tron

like his day i was guarantee you i guarantee you his dad's gonna have a stern lecture form because dad being a golf pro and all that like that was it was too much too far too much i like the i like the premature club release. That's my favorite thing in the world. So I had no problem. Even if he would have hit that fan,

I would have had no problem with that. It's like what he did, it's holes in a row. And then that spike mark blame that he did was like, wholly over the top. That was that's what that's what you love about it They really exaggerated the torso's moves are what makes it so great. I have no problem with yeah But you don't want it to be a tantrum, you know like you don't want it to be it's gotta be it's gotta be in the moment like not as part of a larger like Man things aren't going my way today Like I you know, I'm I'm bitching about it versus like, it's got to be in the

moment unto itself kind of thing. That makes sense. I will say this. So he had a torsos week because he did, he threw that little fishing move a couple days ago. And that was strong. Like that's, that's good stuff. Right.

I, you know, I, I'd love to put it on a t-shirt, but I don't think we can do that justice, right? What I don't think people have really heard what he dropped before that happened So he he hit like that wedge on 18 He twirled it and then what gave it like a getting that whole ball like with a huge southern accent to it Like the cameras barely picked up on it.... i should put the video up and he spun it he's he twirled it and then said get that whole ball and then that's when he did and after that it landed that's when he did the fisherman real thing it was one of the sauce you know you do the fisherman real

while the ball is spinning like back spinning in the green no it had already stopped at that point it was already in their tight yeah but i mean i like i don't want to bite the hand that feeds here, but He laid up today like we're allowed to be at least a little critical of them if he he it was a it was pretty Yeah, it was a tough layup, but I mean come on whatever he's it He's the ambassador, but yeah, I admit the joke today I feel like he's he's spying on the Russians or he's spying for the Russians. I'd say, you know, and we were talking about earlier, like there's so many huge hops on those greens

where those guys would throw dark and the ball would bounce like eight feet up and then, you know, roll off the back. That's gotta be, like, really frustrating for those guys, you know, when they can't they can't stuff the pinata. That adds so much more nuance to it though, like every tournament's like a dart throw. Does, I love it. I love it. Oh, for sure. Yeah. It helped protect the course too, because that was going to be it. Just a massive really good.

Yeah, they were hitting it from like 80 yards out, you know, they were not getting what is that close, which was cool to see. God, I'm about to just throw out a tweet that's going to get me in trouble. You don't have to do this. I want to. I want to. Any other big takeaways from the week? Where's Johnny Miller's week?

I got to take away before we go to Johnny Miller. The marshals were phenomenal. Yes. They were amazing. I saw a little but actually on twitter earlier but like i just noticed it watching they were using the quiet paddles to get the fans height

we were at that that was awesome like they're in the background pop in the crowd up like uh... i was like that we need more that in the in the states and i thought the crowds were good there tons of cell phones out there like every time there was a Like you could get a look at the crowd behind like you know DJ putting or whatever like everybody had their cell phone out filming Which was kind of you know surprised me

But otherwise like I thought the crowds are great. They look like they're having a ton of fun out there and like How about the corporate tenths or the scene on 17? Like that hole was lit too. So I would say that was a type of way for me. I would keep this, I would keep this event there. I think, you know, having, like I get so frustrated when I tune into a WGC and like even Dorao, I mean, Dorao was the epitome of this, but the one in Shanghai, I mean, Firestones, whatever, because it's in Ohio.

But like, when you tune into a tournament, it's supposed to be a big tournament, and it's just totally flat, and the crowd is flat, and there's nobody out there, because they're charging the ton of money for the tickets. Like, this felt like the opposite of that. This felt like a big time. You know?

It did. Yeah. So that's like that. That's as high of a compliment as I can give a tournament. Yeah. It felt like I'm 18. Phil walk it off 18. They're chanting, you know, they're, I think they were chanting Phil.

I don't even know. Maybe they were chanting something Spanish. But like, they were chanting. And like, in Unison, which was awesome. You could see how much it meant to the people there too. Like they were legitimately excited. Like Phil gave us like young girl a ball at some point today. Like during the round and her jaw just like dropped.

Like she was so excited. And the only the only the only drawback I could say of the fans is on the PGA tour Instagram story this week. They were like, quizzed a bunch of kids on who their favorite player was and one kid said who their favorite player was, and one kid said that his favorite player was Jim Furek. So, not the most educated kids on there, but no. I thought it was great to have a WGC that was not outside the US,

yet like within our time zone period, and not like in Korea or in China or something like that, where we're just not gonna tune into it. So WGCs need to be, there should not be three WGC's in the US every year. So I'm all four playing one in Mexico. And I think, you know, there's like Latin America, I mean, I'm all four more tournaments down there. It's like it makes sense to me.

What about a WGC like in South Africa? Would people show up to that? Probably not, would they? They're some big, I mean they're the 20 open there this week. I'm just saying it once. I just remember like the, you know, I wrote a golf dodges South Africa story about, but my friend Barry Havanger wrote it about, they had 8,000 fans at the South

African Open last year and then Rory came this year and they had twenty eight thousand like the like the fans are also nuts down there and if i if a huge field showed up for that event or uh... if you do want to sell that for the fans would come out and and and those for that so yeah you know i i mean i think you know i said that big event that sun city event the million dollar one like they always had a big turn off of that. I'm all for a variety. Give us variety.

Give me less fire stone. No, no. North of the border too. Right, like another Champions tour and the LPGA play stuff in Vancouver area, British Columbia, and Tron, the golf up there, we played last summer. That was unbelievable. I don't know, I'm with you though I think outside the US like if it's not a you know I did for a duck BGC makes a ton of sense. So world golf championship, right? Yeah, exactly. So all right boys anything else from the week that we missed?

I wanted to give a shout out to NB Park. She, I, I think she missed like one fairway this week. And then, and then like right after I saw that, they put up a stat from Phil and it was like, Phil's missed like 28 of 37 fairways in the last like three days. It's like, damn, like that's a different, different ball game, you know,

just totally different styles of golf. So I'd like to shout out, uh, you know, just totally different styles of golf. So I'd like to shout out Thomas Peters, his outfit, murdered out black. Like, I like his, like, colorful, like, I liked his, uh, kind of like the tone down black pantone. He was wearing the same thing as Ross Fisher, who looked like he was a pro-am contestant. I can't wait to see what you've got lined up for England, Tron. It better be on point. That's all I'm saying. I know. It's got to be on point. You put a lot of pressure on yourself. Yeah. I don't know what a good look is.

He really is. I really don't. I don't even know what a good look is. I don't either. I think we're post-fashion. Like we're post-pop. We're post-fashion. We're post we're post glamour I don't know we'll see we'll see what I have on my sleeve unless you look like Morgan Hoffman you're just screwed. Neil you want to give us a little merch update. Yeah for sure so we're doing some big things in the pro shop you're coming up this month hats some new hats will be in and then we're redoing some of the some new hats will be in and then we're redoing some of the t-shirts so stay tuned on that you know small shop big ideas excited about it. Trying anything else to add.

Um, not really, just shout out to all the people in Mexico man. Great stuff, great week. Um, unbelievable session so far, seriously. Yeah, what do we have next week? What do we have going on next week? We got the, we got the, but seriously, yeah. What do we have next week? What do we have going on? We got the, we got a foul spot next week. That's like the most underrated event in the year. Maybe.

I thought I had somebody, I saw a tweet or something. There's a big name that's not playing this week. And I don't remember who it was. Somebody, it's not speed. Is it now? Speed's playing. Yeah, this, this course is like right up speed, Sally. Somebody's skipping this week that they

they're all right. So I want to talk about I got a couple things here actually. Yeah. It had been showing that Stella or Twa water commercial with Matt. And like I'm going to I'm going to make a video with your face in it for you like carrying Ricky's water. The water crisis ending the water crisis, but also,

oh shit, I forgot what I was gonna say. You won, you can do it. I had another take, hold on, hold on. We're gonna always talk about Ricky, and then oh, I wanna talk about Patrick Reed. What's the deal? I don't know,. He does it quickly be coming to forgot man But players have like up and downs like you every time to be as like a three-week bad stretch You say they're forgotten man. You have also said that about Fowler at one point this season

I'm not that way Read all right, so Reed's never finished top 10 in a major correct That that's what that's what gets me man. I can't he's twenty five. I can't sleep on that not on my watch Cuz he like 25 I'm not worried about it He's got time. He's born in 1990. Yeah, he's 26 years old. He's gonna. He's gonna have some Neil it's crazy. Neil, are you the roast my swing? Oh, that's right.

Uh, yeah, I am. So we got, we got a couple of options, a couple of nominees from the archives, but yes, I am. I'm looking forward to, uh, to getting absolutely nape home by the, uh, the queer community. Awesome. Awesome. The sweet car. R the Twitter community. Awesome, nice. All right, Ignatian. This week, RIP Rante.

Oh my God, the responses were incredible. That was way too much. RIP Rante. And RIP Tron, because I have like three or four other videos where your thumb is in the camera. A girl with a horrible tumor. I can't wait for Tron's when he's up next week, I think. When people are going to come, they're going to come fire and I can't wait for Tron's when he's up next week. I think when people are gonna come they're gonna come fire and I can't wait

But if you haven't seen that I think I got a couple good ones in the archives of Tronald like Donald And a couple of solid outfits Yes solid outfits really. Yeah, I got I think so I think so you got you got a sweater look going on at sweetens cove Back in the day that is. Oh, my posture was so bad that I made it. It might be a good one. It might be a good one. I'm like pre-rotting my back, Kenduk.

Like I have scoliosis. Yeah, it lacks pop. You're here, spying angle lacks a significant pop. I don't think I had a spying angle. I think it's like a sp like curvature, you know, so So yeah good stuff. All right. I was she got Haguey on tap. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna cut this now We wanted to just we've got an interview coming up here with Brandon Haguey. It's only about 20 minutes long We wanted to give share some thoughts from

from the WGC before we got to that and Yeah, so we'll cut to that now. Thanks everybody for tuning in and we'll be back next I think next week's gonna be a really good one if it all works out so Tron Neil, thanks for jumping on as well. Cool. Thanks Alex. Thanks, Sally. Cheers Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Podcast. I'm Chris Solomon, a landmark day here in the No-Lang-Up Podcast. Kyle Porter and I have been following this guy for what's like the better part of a decade. Now first time on the podcast, Brandon Haguey, do you kind of understand where the obsession for Porter and I comes from?

Are you completely clueless at this point i know i hit the ball a decent ways and i don't lay up that often so i can kind of put to you together that's actually all the criteria that were looking that were looking for actually so what's going on in your world today uh... nothing much just uh... in scott stale or zona and move here in December uh... john whisper rock and in Scottsdale, Arizona, I moved here in December, joined Whisper Rock and one of the best places to practice.

Excuse me, a ton of tour guys and incredible facility. So I'm just working away at the game. Does the Whisper Rock, like the roster out there, will you put that up against any of the Florida clubs? Or what would you say is like the strongest club? Yeah, I mean, I think it's got to be at least in the top five, you know, around the country of in terms of just number of tour players that are out here. And then not only the tour players, but the Am's out here too are pretty filthy.

So I've read something somewhere that like there's something like 45 members or something ridiculous that are like plus that are better than scratch players out there do you believe that? Um, I could believe that the first guy that I played with beat me. He's called the the assassin out here, so he's been notorious for taking some money from the pros, so yeah, it's a super competitive environment out here. That's one of the main reasons I moved to Arizona and this bottom particular was I really felt like I could improve my game at times. Man, I can't think of a better nickname or a better thing to be known for than to be

an amateur out there taking money from the pros. But, so, I'm at least familiar with your background. Some of our listeners might not be despite the fact you've been mentioned on this podcast many times. But can you give us a quick summary of your background, how you got to where you are currently as a, you're not officially a rookie on the PGA tour, though. This is your first time with full status on the tours, I understand it. Yeah, I'm not sure what that's all about to be. I'm a pseudo rookie, I guess we'll go with that.

So you had, you had like eight starts, I think in 2015, so that ruined your rookie status or something like that. And then you played last year full time on the web tour, correct? Correct. So yeah, I went to, I went to Cal or known as UC Berkeley in academic circles up in the Bay Area. Was there five years or three-tumble American there and then I missed at second stage at Q-school my first go out but then I was able that year to get a bunch of exemptions like he said which is actually really helpful for this year just getting all that experience and feeling a little bit more comfortable on tour and then I played on the web tour last year.

I kind of had to play my way into getting in star, it's only at conditional status to start the year on the web tour. I was able to get a sponsor invited into an event early in the year and made a check there that kind of got me off and running and then I had a bunch of top five finishes and was able to finish in the top 25 on that tour. So yeah, it's been, it's been crazy. I mean, you know, last year, you know, not this December, but last December, if you told me I was going to be on tour based off of the status, I had on Web 2, I would have been,

you know, super stoked about that. So yeah, it's been good. Do you, a lot of the guys I talk to really speak very highly about their time on the web tour saying it teaches them rhythm, it teaches them a different kind of competitiveness and a grinding factor. Was your overall web experience like that? Would you speak highly as well of your web.com experience? Yeah, it's super well-run.

There's a lot of really good golfers on that tour. It's kind of an interesting combination of you know young fresh out of college guys and there's a few veteran guys in there PJ Tour winners major champion. I mean, it's it's an interesting group of players, but you have to play at a high level. I mean, I've heard a bunch of people say that you know making cuts on the web Tour is almost the hardest out there because they you are like 5, 6 under par every week. So, but it's a great proving round and that was really the first time in my career. I've played 70 tournaments in a row. I kind of had to because I was working in charge of my card and I never played that much golf in a row. So that was a good learning experience.

Coming from the WebTour, you have now full status on the tour, but if I'm reading it right, you finished 19th on the Money List last year, so you don't have full priority, or you're a bit down on the priority list. Am I right in saying that? Yeah, so coming off the WebTour, it's interesting. We kind of have our own category. There's 50 of us or so in that category. And, you know, we're all competing against each other to get in kind of the more high profile events. So it's kind of, I guess, you can look at it as kind of like a three-force card, because, you know, especially the first part of the year there's a bunch of tournaments that we're not getting in we're not getting all the WGC's Riviera, WACE management, you know

Valspar next week I probably won't get in the field I think I might maybe 10 out and I'm 24th in the category. So it's pretty competitive to get into some of these events. I've been fortunate to snag a few sponsor invites here and there this year which has been good. Like last week I got a sponsor invite and I would have finished first alternate and had a good week so it kind of shows you how important starts are especially out of our category. Do you once you have your I, a full-time member, do they limit how many sponsors, exemptions you can take?

No, so once you're a full-time member, you can kind of get as many as you want. So, you know, I've put in the work, and I've, you know, wrote letters called Termin Directors. You know, I've had various connections here and there, but, you know, I've really worked directors you know i've had various connections here and there but um... i you know i really works uh... torts trying to secure those spots in twenty fifteen you know you got you got that initial experience you got a lot

of sponsors exemptions you went down the web to our now your back p j tour what's the biggest difference in your in your day-to-day life your p j tour life first your web dot com tour life you notice a huge difference in you know, courtesy cars and just the way things are handled and is it something like once you've experienced the tour life, you never want to do the web tour again? No, I think the biggest difference is probably just the overwhelming support from all angles on the PJ tour. You know, when you show up, you got the courtesy card desk at the airport, the hand-gird or keys, you jump in your courtesy card, you go to the core.

There's always a locker room, there's always a locker room attendant, the locker room that is filled with everything you can think of, food, everything. So, you know, and I would say probably, obviously, the stage is bigger, you know, everything is just bigger, you know, the hospitality tents and the crowds, all that, is a little different. But in terms of the day-to-day routine, my routine is almost exactly the same on the,

you know, on the PGA tour, as it was on the web tour. I've tried to keep that pretty consistent. And I think that's part of, you know, as a rookie, you know, getting a feel for what works for you. I was really important and that's why the WebTour helps with that. Is he really do start to get a feel for what works, you know, multiple weeks in a row, you know, how often you in the gym, you know, when are you getting to the course, you know, afternoon tea time when you're waking up.

I mean, all these things you want to try and keep as consistent as possible and the web tour is a great testing ground for that. Without having the full status, are you any tournament that you are able to get in? Are you saying yes or are there still turn, are you still making some selections in your schedule? Well, yeah, I mean the first part of the year I'm just playing in whatever I get in. You know, hopefully work to a point where I can take a few tournaments off down the stretch later in the year because basically after the players, we start getting in most of the tournaments. So you know, then there'll be quite a few in a row.

So you know, at that point, you know, I'd like to maybe, you know, take some off when I can, that would be good. Putting the vibe and the life part aside of the differences between Web and Tour, what's the biggest difference from a golf perspective? I know you, again, like I said, you've been out there in 2015, you've seen what Tour events are like,

you've played with a lot of these players, but is there a skill that gets tested on these PGA tour courses that maybe wasn't highlighted as much on the web tour and has there been like a moment where You see a guy do something and you're like, well, I don't have that shot yet or I need to improve on that You know, I would just say there's more courses on the PGA tour that are for that are significantly more penal terms of ball striking, which kind of lends itself to just having to be mentally sharp, even more than on the web tour. The web tour has a lot of easy, there's some easy golf courses.

Obviously, there's some super low scores out there, but it seems like on the PGA tour, if you mentally check out out there, there's more severe consequences just because the courses are more difficult. And then also, each shot, there's so many good players, since the top players in the world, each shot is so much more important. So I just think that mentally it's maybe a little bit more taxing than the web tour. So I've really tried to work on that part of my game the last couple of years. So I think that's definitely helped. Was the Honda that you recently had? Was that your best finish so far on the PGA tour?

No, I finished 14 in Mississippi. I think two years ago I finished 14 and Puerto Rico. But yeah, it's one of my better finishes so far. I mean, that's a big field there in Florida in this one. And that's a really tough golf course. What was it about that course that you felt kind of other than the corner you could cut on 18 that we all saw you at three hundred forty eight yards whatever was what was it about uh... p.j. national that suited you yeah i mean it's it's a beast of a golf course

you know ball-shaking has always been my strength and i feel like it rewards some of my longer straight drives you know more significantly than other venues. And I always felt like I've played better on more difficult golf courses. I just, I think my length off the tee is just a bigger advantage in those scenarios. I was getting the chuckle from that drive on 18 because the guy following Fowler were freaking out over his drive,

you know, in the last group and I was like, well, that was a cute drag. You know, that was good. Yeah, all right. Now we can get into the good stuff now that because I think, you were already on my radar back in 2015 and you played,

and when you played in the US open and I think you did kind of a running diary or something for golf.com, where you had this quote that's still stuck with me where you said you know you played you played a practice rounds with a bunch of guys I don't remember everyone you played with but you said DJ is the only guy you played with that can keep up with you off the tee so how it seems like you do take a lot of pride in how far you hit it is that fair to say? Oh for sure I mean that's that's something I've been known for a long time. So I just kind

of run with it, for sure. What is your swing speed measure, Nat? Um, I don't know what it was last week. It's like mid 120's and right around 190 at the ball speed. Have you always been like crazy long and the rest of your game just kind of developed as you matured or was linked something you'd kind of developed later in your coming up as a golfer? Yeah, I would say kind of my transition from high school. I mean I was pretty long in high school. My transition from high school. I mean, I was pretty long in high school. My transition from high school into college, you know,

my freshman year and then into my red shirt year in college. That's when I really started to pick up some length. I think I got a little bit bigger and you know, just a little bit more developed technically. So I was able to kind of use that power more effectively. So are you buying? Yeah, it's always kind of. Sorry, are you buying it? It's always kind of... Sorry are you buying into any of that to like calling Justin Thomas Pound for Pound

the longest guy out there? You want to remeasurement of that? Well I really want to see if he's actually 145 pounds. I'm not too sure about that. What do you weigh? I'm 160. You haven't seen that much smaller than me. He has been like, they've been citing him at 145 for like three years now. So I'm kind of with you there. We might need to re-measure him on that one.

Maybe he's just dieting. Maybe he's keeping it right at 145. I don't know. I think he would probably like to get rid of that narrative as much as the rest of us would. So you grew up in California, is that right? Yeah, West Lake Village, which is sure what country club is my home club back in LA, or Tiger had that event for a bunch of years. Right, and how did you decide on going to Cal? Was there anywhere else that you had considered

or were you pretty dead set on that? So my entire family actually went to USC. So I really wanted to go to SC. Cal was one of the first, like the original schools that recruited me pretty hard and made it clear that they really wanted me. I just with my background, I mean literally like for my cousins, grandpa and uncle, long dad, you know, my entire family went to SC. So that was kind of where I wanted

to go and at the last second they said that they weren't gonna have a spot for me. And so that kind of made it pretty easy for me. Calb, I was pretty good student. So Cal had the academics and was still in the patch wall. So that was kind of a no brainer at that point. But we did pretty well against SC for the next four or five years, I would say. So that definitely felt good.

Did you rub that in at all to your family or were they kind of not not as Competitive on the SCverse cow is a golf thing No, they would they would rub in the football stuff. Yeah The golf stuff there wasn't there wasn't much to talk about on their end for a few years So that was good. No, they were totally totally on board with me going to cow and So that was that was no big deal. If I got into UCLA, they might have just shown me.

Right, that's some problems. Has there been anyone out there that seemingly kind of gone out of their way to show you the ropes out on the PGA tour or a friendship you've made in recent months that you didn't previously have? Yeah, I would say James Hahn has been really cool with me. He played at Cal. I talked with him a lot about my decision to go to Arizona because he did the same thing five or six years ago. I'm kind of right when he started to pick up and he was really high on it.

So I've talked with him a lot. I've played practice rounds with him. I'm trying to think who else. Sean O'Hare has been really cool to me. And then just getting to know some of the Whisper Rock guys now, Graham Delette, Scott Stallings, Ricky Barnes, there's a few guys out here that have been cool. So that's that's super helpful to have some veteran guys that kind of show the ropes a little bit. Definitely. How many guys are you comfortable with saying out there are longer than you are?

I would say probably DJ in Gary Woodland. I played with Gary on Tuesday last week. Just kind of randomly I was going to play the back nine and he was on the tee and we played together. I definitely think those guys have a little bit more extra on me than the regular cruising speed. So, I would say those guys. Do you have, when you're a normal tee shot for you or one that you can kind of free swing at, do you have like, are you going hundred percent of that or do you have like an

extra gear that you only go to and certain situations i i would say it's kind of situational in almost kind of subconscious like if there's a like that drive on a team the third round i mean i knew that it was a pretty good carry over the corner. I wasn't thinking of swinging all out, but I think it kind of gets me into that mode, you know, so it just kind of comes out of me. So, um, but yeah, I mean, I would say I swing, I pretty much swing 100% on driver most time on the golf course. I just feel like I hated

straighter that way. I've always felt that way in my career when I'm going full speed with driver It's gonna be a better swing for me just moving my body well and being aggressive If I need to take yardage off I'll do full swing three would or like choke up and tee it down in a driver and still swing full speed So that's that's kind of the way I go about that Seems to be there's a bit of change in the way in a lot of things in golf currently. The European tour is changing all kinds of events, doing all kinds of crazy new stuff. At least one PGA tour event is changing with the Zurich class at going to a team event. And then this week, the USGA and RNA announced major changes in the rules of golf. What's a change that you'd like to see either on the PGA tour

or maybe within the rules? I think range finders would be great. I feel like it would speed up play so much. That's in the new rules. That's in there. Sorry, that isn't there. Yeah, it's in the proposed new rules. I think they're still pending approval of that. But yeah, the distance measuring devices are allowed there. So that isn't there. Yeah, it's in the proposed new rules. I think they're still pending approval of that. But yeah, the distance measuring devices are allowed there.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, that's one that I agree with. I feel like, you know, if we're trying to speed up play in tournaments, that would, that would eliminate a lot of time. I know the Catties probably would object to that, you know, because that's a big part of their job. But at the same time, there's a bunch of other factors that the caddies are helping players with on the golf course. So, you know, I feel like the game has changed so much and rangefinders have become such a big part of the game that that's kind of a logical step. Have you seen all the detailed new rules?

Are there any of them that you disagree with if that's the case? I didn't look super close on all of them, but the ones that I saw I thought made a ton of sense. Having just penalty areas, simplifies it. Being able to tap down spike marks. If a guy like can't pick up his feet in front of you and there's a huge spike mark on your line, I think that's totally fair to be able to tap that down. Yeah, I just saw some criticism from players on some of the on the spike mark rule and that I think I

I never heard of this. On the European tour several years ago, they tried something like that and guys were taking advantage of it and kind of fixing stuff near the hole that might help it guide it towards the hole. And do you foresee any of that kind of being a problem? You know, it's a game of honor. Yeah. You know, I don't think that. And I think that's kind of something that's another proposed role where at the time the players and the group and everyone decide that a drop or where

a ball crossed is correct, that you then can't go back and look at video evidence and stuff and say, oh no, you're lying, that's not right. So I think that goes along the same lines of, we all believe that we're honest with each other when we play on tour, and I would hope that that would not happen. So a week like this, where you're off, how much do you or do you?

Do you look forward to going to the golf course to practice or even as a young player do you already view golf more as a job? Yeah, I mean I really look forward to going to the golf course every day. I mean I wake up pretty early, I'm a morning person for sure, I usually get to work out in pretty early before I get to the golf course. So that kind of gets me going and then then, I mean, for me, you know, there's lots of little goals along the way, but, you know, I feel like if you're in this

profession, you know, playing professional golf, your goal should be to be number one in the world. And, you know, every day, I wake up with that in the back of my mind. And that's kind of what I'm working towards. So, that has to get you jacked up to get to the golf course. Have you ever experienced burnout of any kind in your golf career? I would just say last year was the first time where I played so many events in a row, like in the middle of the country,

where it was like 95 degrees, 90% humidity, where my feet and body were just a little tired after all that tournament golf. So it's interesting, people like what, you know, what hurts after, you know, four or five tournaments in a row and my feet are what end up hurting because this, and I'm sure other players feel the same way, it's like so much walking, you know, people don't think about it. I mean, it's like six miles a day on the golf course not even counting the practice rounds you know it's like 50 miles a

week of walking it's a lot. So but you know I would I would just say you know I'm playing on the PGA tour has to get you jacked up to go out and play so it's you know I really haven't had that much burnout. That was just more of a fatigue situation last year. Yeah, I think the PGA tour, once you get to that level, it's a little easier to look past any possibility of burnout. But I know that there's a lot of kids that grow up playing the game that are really focused hard on the game, want to play it professionally,

and spend a lot of their childhood practicing and playing and traveling for tournaments and whatnot, and can experience burnout at times. I know I grew up with some guys that traveled the country and eventually did burnout. Part of that was due to lack of success, but I just find it interesting to talk to guys on how much they wake up, how much do they look forward

to going to the course. I think it's good, very key at the early part of your career that you do still enjoy getting up and going to the course, but obviously when you do it for several years, I think perspectives will at least change at some point on certain things. But look, go ahead. Yeah, I would say for me as a kid, you know, I think the biggest thing for me is I played other sports, you played football basketball through my freshman year of high school. So it was kind of, I guess I was a little bit of a late bloomer in that sense, especially compared to nowadays where I really didn't start playing my like national junior competitive stuff until sophomore year of high school,

which is very late compared to some of these, yet really, really young kids that are playing tournament golf. So I think I was kind of pretty hungry at that point to really try and get better. So that's a big factor. So I mean, my advice would be to have your kids play other sports as long as possible. Do you, so looking forward for the rest of the season,

are there specific goals you have in mind or are there particular courses that you're looking at like with eyes wide open that you're excited for? Yeah, I mean, I definitely would like to win this year. That's a goal for me. You know, in terms of courses, I'm really looking forward to Bay Hill. I got to spawn into that, tournament a couple weeks. I played two years ago, I think that course forward to Bay Hill. I got to spawn into that tournament a couple weeks. I played two years ago, I think that course really suits my game.

I like courses where the longer you hit it, the wider you get it, and the more hazards you take out of play, which is the case at Bay Hill and a lot of holes. So that's a course I'm looking forward to. I honestly was really looking forward to Tampa, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get into that term. I'm going to get into that last year. That was a really great course. I think some other courses that we got coming up, the majors that I can get into them.

I basically just like the courses as difficult as possible. I know Quick and Loans is on a challenging course. I've watched that on TV, and that seems like a course that would suit me well. I'd say that those ones. All right, top of my head. Any betters listening, whatever the odds were putting them on it, putting it on at Bay Hill. So we'll get you out of here on this one.

What's your go-to snack on the course? When you got to eat out on the golf course, what do you eat? P.B. and J. Do you make them? when you got to eat out on the golf course, what do you eat? Oh, PB&J. Do you have... Do you make them? Oh, I make them. Last year, my caddy was all about making the perfect PB&Js. This year, I've been making them. PB&Js, that's the key to distance.

Like, never like the uncrustables, right? Like, they have to be homemade. No, no, no, no, no. You can't cut corners like that. It's only its own. It's on its own time. Only for the dog legs. All right, Brandon, I'll let you out of there on that.

Thank you for your time, man. I know you got to get to the course in practice. But we look forward to continuing to following you. And it's been a goal, mine, to get. I needed to get you on here before you want to turn them in. And I got a little bit scared. I'm not going to lie when I saw you up in the top five at some point last week.

So best of luck with the rest of the season. Are you going to be playing them a moral, do you know? Hopefully. Hopefully I'll play my way in. Well, if that's the case, look forward to maybe we can catch up over a beer there. And if not, we'll meet sometime in the future. So thanks for your time, man.

Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, it's high p.s. in here. Cheers. Give it a big club. Be the right club today. Yes. Yeah. That is better than most.

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