Subpar - 2023 U.S. Amateur Champion Nick Dunlap talks his historic victory at Cherry Hills

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 2023 U.S. Amateur Champion Nick Dunlap joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and jicky jack legend Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The sophomore at Alabama talks his post-victory conversation with Nick Saban, drawing Vanderbilt's Gordon Sargent in the first round of match play and becoming the only player besides Tiger Woods to win both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur Championships.    -- Thanks to Ralph Lauren, the Official Outfitter of the United States Ryder Cup team and of GOLF's Subpar.  The RLX Golf collection is available in select Ralph Lauren stores, exclusive private clubs, and resorts, and online at RalphLauren.com. https://www.ralphlauren.com/brands-golf?&utm_source=OtherPartners&utm_medium=GolfSubparPodcastRLSponsorship_GolfSubpar_PodcastPlacement_2023_GolfSubparPodcastRLSponsorship -- Thanks as always to our official sponsor FanDuel.   If you’ve been thinking about joining FanDuel, there’s no better time to get in on the action. The app is so easy to use with a ton of different pre-tournament and in-play markets.  And when you win, you can get paid INSTANTLY! Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. PLUS,  ALL customers who bet FIVE DOLLARS will get ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS OFF NFL SUNDAY TICKET from YouTube and YouTube TV. Go to FanDuel.com/Subpar and sign up to get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS – WIN OR LOSE!

Hello world. Welcome back to golf subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. The 2023 PGA tour season is in the books. Victor Hovlin. My goodness gracious, what a couple weeks for him. Winning the $18 million prize, the largest prize in golf. He is your FedEx Cup champion. He'll be over in Rome. As Will Weasleys, he'll be representing Team Europe. We're in the red, white, and blue. Which, by the way, you're at Pine Valley right now. Very polo place. You look great, getting ready to go out there and tee it up. Thank you. How's Pine Valley treating you? We just arrived, dude, and I got, like, I got that excitement, like, a little kid when

you just want to get out on the golf course, you know? This is, this place is special. As you know, my favorite place in the world to play golf. So we got a few days here. We're doing a cool little father-son trip with some guys from back home, and we're going to get in as much golf as humanly possible. We might have a little rain on Tuesday, but I don't care if it ain't lightning on my head. I'm playing maximum holes allowable out here.

So very much looking forward to it. A little rusty, but, you know, when you show up on property, dude, just like the lights come on, you got to go. Place is the best. I'm very jealous. It's still hotter in hell in Scottsdale. You haven't missed anything. But obviously, we're filming this right now.

This time tomorrow when it comes out, a lot of you, by the time you wake up and listen to it, we're going to know who are the final six picks for Team USA and who's going to be rocking the polo Ralph Lauren gear over in Rome. Who is going to have that honor? And Ralph Lauren is proud to continue its partnership with the PG. of America as the official outfitter of the 23 United States Rider Cup team. Combining the rich heritage of the greatest team event in golf with innovative performance fabrics, Ralph Lauren will provide the U.S. team with apparel to be worn during the tournament play at the 44th Ryder Cup,

which will be contested at Marco Simone, Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, from September 29 to October 1st. Ralph Lauren will also outfit all caddies, spouses, and partners of the U.S. team, including Ralph Lauren Golf Ambassadors, U.S. team captain Zach Johnson, and Vice Captain Davis Love the 3rd. The RLX Golf Collection is available and select Ralph Lauren stores, exclusive private clubs and resorts, and online at ralphloren.com.

Go get yourself some red, white, and blue, because it is time. I tell you what, I cannot wait for this. This thing keeps getting more and more interesting. So, ladies, we're gambling, guys. At the start of the season, Team USA was over a minus 300 favorite to win the Ryder Cup to break the 30-year streak. It's down to minus 135 over with our first.

friends at Fandle. That's insane how much it's changed. It's insane how much it's changed. After whistling straights, dude, I mean, you and I were up there. We came back and talked about it. We're like, what's going to change? I mean, I know some things will change in the next two years, but tell me what's going to happen to this core of U.S. players that Europe can put a team out there that could possibly beat them. And now you fast forward two years later, and sure enough, they got a team that can potentially do it. That's reflected in the line. But I mean, Colt, like, I've always said their top of their team is stacked as well as our team is, too. I think we have an advantage on the depth side.

But you don't play, you know, you only try eight guys out there for each session. But right now, if you look at their top six, I don't know how big the U.S. advantage is, given the way some of those guys are playing on Europe right now, if any, they might have the advantage on the top side. They got a Dolly Parton squad. They're top heavy. Yeah, you can't sleep on their stomachs. Got it.

that too. But yeah, man, they're loaded. I mean, this Ludwig Aberg just played really well last week. I'm very confident he's going to be on that team. You got one of the Hoy guards. They're twins, so just pick one of them, which everyone's playing the best at the time, throw him in there. But yeah, it's going to get interesting. Obviously, the golf course is going to be set up really well for them. They're going to make it tough. I imagine deep rough, narrow fairways. But Captain Zach Johnson, he's got a tough decision to make. There's rumors going around. It's already kind of been leaked that he's got his mind made up on five of the six guys. When this comes out tomorrow, you'll know if we're right or not, but I'm hearing

Jordan Spieth, Brooks Kepka, Colin Moracawa, Ricky Fowler, and, and, and roll-tide, Justin Thomas. Littering, and, yeah. So, and then still that six picks up for grabs, and I think it comes down to, you know, a very small group of people. I think you look at Sam Burns, Cam Young, Keegan Bradley, possibly. Lucas Glover. And then if Zach wants to just go not off the grid, but just would be a surprise pick, a guy like Dustin Johnson. Well, in the team room, I don't think there's not a guy that wouldn't raise their hand for Dustin Johnson. Would it be off the grid in the sense to like,

yeah, he's only played the major championships? And, you know, he's showed some good form, but just there's other guys that you're picking from that we know exactly what they look like right now. It's that last pick. If that's the way it shakes out, and that's the way the rumors are going right now. Man, that's three tough phone calls, dude. Just if you were the cap, not who do you think he's going to pick, but if you were making that pick right now, which way would you go? Sam Burns, because they'll team him with Scotty Sheffler. Yeah, that's the thing. Scotty, I think that plays a lot. Yeah, I think Zach goes to Scotty and be like, who would you feel most comfortable with? He's going to say, Sam Burns, one of his best friends in the world.

But it's a tough call. Like Keegan Bradley was sitting there in a great spot. He was in the next to last pairing on Saturday at the Tour of Championship. I thought if he had a good weekend, he didn't have to win, but if he finished third, fourth, somewhere around there, I thought he had a great chance. Cam Young, I mean, he's a stud, dude. He hasn't played that great as of late. He had a top 10 at the Open Championship.

But, I mean, the team room is part of it. Let's be honest. And he's not the most vocal guy, kind of shy, keeps to himself. And then, yeah, Lucas Glover, it'd be an incredible story. But I just don't see him picking Lucas Glover over Sam Burns. I can be wrong.

It's happened before. three weeks ago I went ahead and said I think Lucas Glover's been enough I think he's on this golf on this team going into this week I also thought like those are kind of the names and the ones you just mentioned were the ones being thrown around I was like I don't know that anyone can play their way off the team this week but there's damn sure a way that some of these bubble guys could make a huge last statement in terms of being picked and I thought keegan bradley had that opportunity I don't want to put too much emphasis on like one round he shot three over in the final round like dude we've been picking for over two years it's hard to put so much emphasis

on one round, but the fact that he slipped to nine, Sam Burns finished in ninth place, and Lucas Glover, 18th, there's no real, like, great closing argument. I don't think for any of those guys, but ultimately, I think it comes down to Glover and Burns, and I don't know, I think it's a coin flip. Honestly, I could see your argument with Scotty Sheffler. That's his guy. They'll team up together. Boom.

Perfect. Also Glover, like, dude, if you look at this golf course, the way you just described it, who's a better driver on tour than, you know, and Ball Striker, really, than, Lucas Glover, an alternate shot format, he'd be a beast. So there's no wrong decisions here, but that last one, assuming what we're hearing is true, it's going to be juicy and there's some tough phone calls, man. Yeah, it's part of the job. Listen, the last time Team USA won across the palms 30 years ago. The two captains picks that year were ranked 22nd and 30 second in the points list, and that was Lanny Watkins and Raymond Floyd. And they went over there and won. So imagine if he

went that far down the list. I mean, all hell would break loose. People think, my whole deal is when people say so and so earned it. I'm like, no, he didn't. Listen, I get it. Like, he's played great. Like, Brooks Kebke, yeah, he's done a lot to prove his, to make his case of being on that team. He only had four events that counted this year, and he finished seven. But the criteria is there's six automatic picks.

So in my opinion, six guys earned it. The rest of them, it's up to Zach Johnson. Does anyone know how Lanny and Raymond's form is right now? Are they playing good? Is it too late? Run it back? They got the four. I think I would pass on them right now.

They got the blueprint, but yeah. Raymond Floyd was over 50 years old, by the way, when he got picked. Steve Stricker and Bernard longer. What if they come out of the woodworks with Bernard? Tough match. Throw a little senior. Yeah, that'd be a tough one. But it comes down to this every time.

Whether we have two captains picks, four, six, name it, whatever, it's always going to come down to the last one, possibly two. And that's exactly what we got this year. And whoever he picks, dude, you're picking a world-class player. So that's the benefit of being the U.S. team captain is you have a depth. You have so much depth with talent in the U.S. that like the picks won't be, I mean, at the end of the week we'll add them up and see how many points they got, but you're picking, you got good options, I should say.

Yep, can't wait to see who he picks. Can't wait to get over to Rome for the Ryder Cup. But one man that's going to be there, and he is going to be a problem. Victor Hovlin, this man has turned into a complete player. He does it all. We've always known about his ball striking. His putting's always been pretty good. now he's got a short game to go with it.

It is rather impressive what he is doing. You go back, you go throughout the whole playoffs, please. Take out the first round 72 at Memphis. He is averaging just over 65 per round. It's absurd how easy he is making this game look. I was with him on Saturday, or sorry, Friday, in the next to last pairing. The dude, it looked like golden tea out there.

Just spin it back, push it forward, and the damn thing went dead straight, 320 down the middle of every fairway made it look so easy on a golf course look some people like east lake some people hate it it sucks in august just because it's so soft and the wind hardly blew all week so these guys torched it but the fairways they average less than 25 yards wide you got to drive the golf ball the rough was three and a half inches it sank straight to the bottom but with how hot and human it was the greens are soft and when it's soft you can't stop these guys you can't hide the pins from them and victor hovlin is a damn robot right now and he went on and put a

clinic. I thought Zander Shaflai was going to give him a little push. It looked like it was going to get tight there for a second, but every time it did, Victor Hovlin stepped up and made a huge clutch putt. When was the last time you can remember a guy having a six-shot lead going into the final round and shooting a 63? Yeah, it doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. Like, guys put it on cruise control. It's like, just don't mess up. You knew Zander was going to try to make a run, and he did everything in his power. Should he shot a 62, but it just couldn't get close. Victor was was automatic. I thought the most impressive thing he touched on it was Colt like the short game. He's been very open about that. Like I, you know, he famously said, I suck at chipping. He led the field and scrambling this week.

Granted, he didn't have to chip a whole lot of times. He only made two bogeys, but he led the field and scrambling along with virtually every ball striking category you can have. But that's, that's Sunday, man, to have a six shot lead and to not just say, let's put this in cruise control, but let's keep going and shoot a 63. Dude, that's, he's, we need him to chill out a little bit before Rome, because it's been fun to watch the last couple of weeks, but let's bump the brakes just a little bit. And Cole, I know you were at Quail earlier this year with Wyndham and Zander, and you walked around and said that might be the best pairing of golf I've ever seen

between the two guys this Sunday at Eastlake, the 63-62 bogey-free out of both of them. I mean, that was a joke how easy they made it look. I'll still stick with Zander and Wyndham on that just because I thought that golf course was playing much harder that day. Granted, this was the final pairing, and they had the two lowest scores of the day, which doesn't happen very often. When you're the leaders and you go out and you shoot the two lowest rounds, when everybody else can freewheel it,

it's pretty special. But, you know, I was on the range with Xander and Austin Kaiser before he teed off. And I was just talking to him going back and forth. Like, what's the plan? Obviously,

you're six back. You got to go low. He's like, I think we go out there and shoot seven under 63, like, could possibly have a chance. And I'm like, yeah, probably with $18 million on the line.

I mean, Victor's going to feel it a little bit. 63 sounds pretty good. He shot 62 and he made up a shot. Yeah. Barely got close. barely had a chance to get close. You're sitting there, you're Zandershawfling,

you're going into the day and you're like, okay, I'm going to shoot 30 on the front nine. I could really cut into that lead. He picked up one shot at the turn. Like, it was just, imagine if we had a match play situation or a stroke play situation, you know, if they all started at zero at the start of the week,

those two would have been in a playoff for 18 million, an $11.5 million difference between first and second. Which would be a dream scenario for that, to have one round or a playoff or whatever, just kind of all the chips on the table moment. at that deal. That's the risk you run with that format as someone like Victor comes out and does what he does. But

Van der Schaithelay, man, if they could just host some more events at Eastlake, I mean the kid does not miss around East Lake. Never shot over par in his career. 28-muffs. And that with that rough, like you mentioned, dude, it just takes a wayward drive here. They're not even a bad drive.

Just a little bit off. And it sinks down to that bottom of that Bermuda. You get a squarely lie. Boom. You know, you make a couple bogies. He hadn't done it yet. It was, that was, that was, That final round golf, man. That was something special. So I'm glad at least one of those guys in that duel is going to be wearing the red, white, and blue here in a few weeks. No kidding.

But shout out, Victor Hovlin. You earned a man. That was an impressive last two weeks. He's your FedEx Cup champion. And it was a hell of a week for me, Sleaze. Not only did we just wrap up our CBS season, 23 weeks, the most we've ever done, just did 19 of 21 weeks in the year. So I'm about to go into full football and couch mode, not moving for quite some time. but one of my highlights of last week.

You know I'm a big country music guy. Never seen Chris Stapleton before. He was in Atlanta last week. He played Friday and Saturday night. I went Saturday night with our man Charles Barkley. And my goodness gracious, you talk about a boy that can sing, not Charles. I've seen Charles sing.

It's not near as good. Chris Stapleton might be the best voice I've ever heard. Did he sing the national anthem? Did he open with that? Because I think that was the last time I cried, actually. Well, to be fair, because of the weather delay, we got there about three songs in, which was tragic because I missed his new one white horse. But I will say this, we had all planned on going.

Okay, so they set us up with some tickets. Everything was good. Well, Charles decided Friday night, he's like, you are going to Chris Stapleton? I want to go. So our CBS guy emails Chris's manager. He goes, well, believe it or not, Charles Barkley actually wants to come to the show. You think we can do anything? He goes, yep, pull into the back gate.

You're parking next to the bus. You're sitting side stage or front of house, whichever one you want. and then Chris would like to meet him after the show. So things kind of changed when Charles Barkley's involved. It's kind of nice. I hate to give him credit, but it was a hell of the time. And thanks to all Chris's team for helping us out. It was, what a show it was, man.

I was so impressed by that guy. And then to meet him afterwards was so cool, man. Don't get starstruck very often, but that one was up there. I like that, though. You're a country music guy. Like, those are your guys. Those are the ones that move the needle for you. And luckily for you, as fate would have it, if Charles wants to go.

typically some spots open up so that's a nice uh you know little stroke of luck there with chuck yeah but it was a fun week in Atlanta it was a fun week on the pg or fun year on the pga tour shout out to all my teammates over at cbs and all the people behind the scenes for all the hard work they do because i got a lot of loyal listeners out there camera guys all that spotters everybody are fantastic um it was an amazing year two for me and i can't wait to get it started all again and troy pines in january and congrats to you man on a on a great year. You guys have done a great job throughout that entire process. It's a long year. It's a long haul. And tip of the cap, bud. Great work. And looking forward to next year. Yep, cannot wait.

But now, let's get ready for some football and some gambling because football season is here and we got incredible offers from Fandu. America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Plus, all customers who bet $500 will get $100 off NFL Sunday. ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Obviously this week, we got college football. So we're going to go to that instead of the NFL. Let's just show them. Finally, we're in something we actually know what we're talking about. We've been talking about golf for so long. Now we're ready to rock. You ready for this? I'm going right out of the gates. You know, they already played one week, so I feel like they knocked the rust off. They didn't cover. But this man is probably going to be

the next quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. He's going to be the number one picking the draft next year. Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans Fight on are minus 38 and a half against Nevada. I know it's a shit ton of points. I know nothing about Nevada, but I feel like Caleb Williams is the best player on the field by a long ways, and he can handle that.

Nevada, that's where Vegas is. That's the state where Vegas is located. But the school is in Reno. Correct. The school is in Reno. He used to go to first stage up there. Can get frigid. I like that. 38 and a hook, huh?

That's it. We are going to, we just said, you know, we're getting into the shit that we know and how we're talking about. We're going to look like the biggest just public schmucks in the world because you know where I'm going with my pick, B.G. This ain't going to be a surprise, buddy boy. TCU Hornfrogs, your national champion runner-ups, I might add, just coming off a tight loss at the end of last season.

Hopefully they put that behind them. But they're giving 20 and a hook to coach prime and the buffalo. It's a lot to give to prime. It's a lot to give the prime. Being a proud Colorado native that I am, I got a lot of friends that are Buffaloes. There's a lot of shit being talked around here. We got a lot of new dudes. They got virtually an entire new team.

First week of the year, it's like, man, I haven't had a whole lot of time to work together. We have, I'm going to take my boys, 20 in a hook, ride or die. I'm a homer. That's what I do. But I'm going to be tuned in, and I'm gassed up for some college football. Your 455-pound offensive lineman might eat coach prime for a snack. Oh, my God. I don't think he's ever going to play this year, but please God, just put him on goal.

First, whatever in goal, from the one, you put him in at four. back, I dare, dare somebody to get around him and get the running back. All right, well, now is the best time to join Fandul. The app is easy to use, and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more. So visit Fandul.com slash

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for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-8-N-Y or text Hope N-Y in New York. NFL Sunday ticket offers 9-1823, no refunds, terms, and embargoes apply, $100 off NFL Sunday ticket, no YouTube TV, YouTube TV-based plan required to watch YouTube TV. Redemption requires a Google account and current form of payment, commercial use excluded. All right, let's get to our interview this week. We've got the 123 U.S. Amateur champ in the house. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Nick Dunlap joins us. This is a fun one.

Let's get to it. Here's Nick Dunlap on subpar. All right. Our guest here today just had himself a week. Just became the only man not named Tiger Woods to win both the U.S. junior and the U.S. Amateur also announced to the U.S. Walker Cup team and is only headed into his sophomore year at the University of Alabama. Your U.S. Amateur champ, Nick Dunlap.

Nick, hell of a week, bud. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, man, congrats. That is so cool. 123rd U.S. Amateur Champion.

Just tell us what the last few days have been like. Obviously, the week was incredible. I know that was your goal going in. You're one of the best players in the country, but how's life changed in the last few days? It's weird. You know, just earlier today getting to talk with Coach Sabin and our AD for a little while and Mike Shanahan.

called me a dinner and it's just simple things like that you know j t's text to me it's like it's weird how fast some of that stuff can change um and just and i mean in a day um like it's i don't think it's quite set in yet um i finally you know this morning kind of got to sit down and and you know recap it all and watch the videos and um just realize how that how that week went down and um and it's really cool you know i've spent a lot of time working for this trophy and just to have my name and mention the tiger is something that it's unforgettable and something that I'm going to cherish for a long, long time. All right, before we get going into the USM and all that stuff, we're going to get into that,

but I got to hear about this meeting with Sabin. How does this happen? Does he just call you and say, yeah, I want to meet with you? I assume whatever he says happens. Uh-huh, yeah. So he spends a lot of time at our facility and I actually gotten to know him a little bit over the last couple of months. And what's cool with him is he doesn't, you know, he's 71 or 72 or however old he is.

He doesn't just go and play golf to have fun. Like he's got that competitive, like always trying to get better. He'll, I mean, he sat, actually before I left for the AM, he sat and watched me hit balls for two and a half hours, you know, picking my brain on what he can get better at. And it's kind of eye-opening for me that, like, he doesn't have that off switch. Like he doesn't, like he's always trying to get better no matter what he's doing. And he'll text me from time to time and congratulate me on how I'm playing or we'll talk a little bit about how the team's doing. But he called me right after we finished on Sunday and congratulated me.

He was actually at the facility and popped in and watched the last couple holes, which is pretty cool. But no, just to have somebody like that in his office, there's obviously even bringing that trophy, which is a fairly popular trophy. and you bring that into his office and it's about his, you know, the fourth most, um, that's what I say this. Prestigious. Yeah, fourth most prestigious thing he's got in there. And, uh, you know, just to, just to kind of have him, have him speak about, um, USAM and watching me and what it means to him.

And it was just, it's a, it's a really cool experience for me and to share that with somebody like him. I talked to your coach, uh, Jay Sewell, just a little bit ago. And he told me, Sabin kind of said to, the same thing to you as he did his team after they won their national championship, said this isn't the end. This is just the beginning. It's just beginning, yeah. That's so cool to hear, man. Yeah, it's pretty cool. That's awesome. You got a great relationship with him,

but go ahead, Sleeves. I was just going to ask, while we're on the football topic, you said you got a call from Mike Shannon. Peyton Manning was out there all week, walking around, watching the matches. You get a chance to chop it up with Peyton at all? Peyton came out and talked to us a couple days early, and, you know, just to hear his insight on playing on the road as we're going to go to Scotland. It's not going to be, the crowd's not going to be in our favor. And just some of his tactics that he used, you know, playing against an away crowd

or maybe playing a game where the weather's not favorable or just some things like that or, you know, jet lag or some things that can kind of help us next week. That's awesome. I got to spend some time with him. He's obviously extremely knowledgeable and extremely funny. He cracks me up. He was wearing John Cook out on the broadcast about wearing a purple shirt.

He said, I'm not going to talk to anybody with an LSU colored shirt on. He blamed somebody for it, which was great. But let's go to the start of the week because I think a lot's been made about your start and stroke play being five over through seven. Then Jeff Kroll wrote you the note in the yardage book and obviously turned things around. You end up being the 41 seed. But just take it through that because I mean, you're one of the best players in the world. You want the Northeast Dam, the North South. You're heading in there as one of the favorites.

And then probably the worst start you ever could have imagined happened for you. Was there any panic that set in at all? Yeah, absolutely. And as you know, like, you know, you had some starts like that. It happens. It's just kind of the way, you know, I played well at the Western Am before that week, kind of got boat raced and the quarter's against Christian Moss. We played really well.

You know, I thought my game, you know, this tournament in particular is circled on my calendar start of the year. Like, this is the one I want. This is the major. This is the one all eyes are on. And to kind of get off to that. start and you know, I hit the wrong ball on number three made triple, four putted the fifth, made a terrible bogey on seven. I had a midiron in my hand at a par five, and I'm going to have

that start and all you can see is red. Like your head's spinning. You're like, man, like, I had such a good summer and like this is how this is going to go out. And like, and it's not like you have four days to figure it out. You know, you're playing against 320 of the best players in the world. And you got 36 holes to beat, you know, four, six of them. And I think Jeff did a really good job of calming me down. You know, I kind of got out of my rhythm, got out of my process. We talked a lot about our game plan at the start of the week and sticking to that. I kind of got out of that for a couple holes.

And it kind of wrote me that note and snapped back into it. And I'm like, all right, like, let's take, you know, each shot for what it's worth. We've got a 35-yard pitch. Let's hit the best shot we can no matter what we did six holes ago. Like, this is all we can do. Like, if we play these next, you know, 29 holes the way we want. And if we don't get in, we can hang our hat on that. And it just kind of fell into place.

I kind of got into rhythm, birdied eight, birded nine, birded a couple more holes in the back. And honestly, our only goal was to just get, you know, get myself in a position come that back nine on Tuesday at Cherry Hills to maybe, you know, make it run and get into matchplay. And, you know, fortunately got it back to even for that day and played well at Cherry the next day. Yeah, dude, you battled and it would be easy to pack it in at that point.

But you didn't, like you said, you grind your way. You get into match play and then boom, match number one. you fellow native Gordon Sergeant, number one in the world golf ranking, amateur world golf rankings. What went through your mind when you saw that was the first round matchup? Yeah, we actually, you know,

from Gordon and I, it's pretty cool. We grew up together and grew up in the same place. And I think something that's kind of cool is, you know, we always grown up playing against each other. You know, we grew up, you know, go to different rival SEC schools and always kind of compared against each other, put against, you know, playing against each other.

And those couple days, right before that event started, you know, we kind of got to know each other for more than just golfers. We kind of grew a little bit of a relationship. And, you know, we both have a lot of respect for each other and what we've done. And obviously, you know, he's the number one player in the world and his accomplishments stand for itself. But you need that kind of bond, you know, going over next week, playing, planning the same team together for, you know, representing something that's greater than just us. But Jeff actually talked a lot about beginning of the week, like, man, this is fate. Like, you battled back from being five through seven.

We hit the wrong ball. You know, I gave a terrible three put on the last, and you draw Gordon in the first round. And just take it for what it's worth, you know, enjoy the moment, enjoy the crowd. And that, you know, this was meant to happen and, you know, take it for what it's worth. Yeah, you end up getting him two and one. But, I mean, like Slee said, tough match. Has seen what he's done, him also being, you know, from Birmingham, being number of the world, getting the spot at the Masters has like that kind of like pushed you even more.

I know you're from everything I've talked, all your coaches, everything, Brian Speakman to J.C. Well, everyone says you're the hardest worker they've ever seen. But has his success kind of motivated you even a little more? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And not only that, but it's cool for, you know, just the opportunities he's brought to amateur golf. And obviously, you know, playing in the Masters getting the NCAA exemption and just the things that he's done, And, you know, I personally dislike losing more than I like winning. And, you know, to see somebody, obviously, have that amount of success and playing really well, it motivates me. You know, I want to be in that spotlight.

I want to be, I want to have a chance to do something great. And honestly, it only fuels me. But no, all respect to him. And like I said, I'm really looking forward to team up with him finally. Yeah, that's going to be potentially a hell of a pairing if you guys end up going out together in that deal. But your relationship with him, is that, would you classify it as a rivalry or is that something like the media put out because you're both from Alabama? You're both, you know, some of the best players in the amateur game. Do you view that as a rivalry?

I mean, I think you can just because we're from the same hometown. But I think if you asked him, I mean, it really is. It's all respect between both of us and, you know, just the text he sent me. after we played was really cool. You know, I said, hey, man, like, you're, you're arguably the best player in the world right now. Nothing but respect. He's like, hey, man, go out and win this. I'm cheering for you.

And just to have somebody like himself and, you know, just after the match, we just played. And, you know, I know how I would feel if I got beat. And for him to do that and to take the time and text me was really neat. And something that I think is only going to grow our relationship. Yeah, and you end up beating him two and one. and then Cruz the next few matches before you got to the quarterfinals against Jackson Coyvon, which went 19 holes.

Was that really the only one that kind of gave you a little stress after getting past Gordon? You could say that. There's a couple of matches, even that second and third match, where you could kind of feel the momentum change, especially during that. You're playing the Colorado native, and 98% of the crowd is rooting for him.

And you can kind of feel that momentum switch a couple times during the match. But I think you always have that one match. You know, it's a long week. You get six matches, but you're always going to have that one where you don't have it or, you know, something doesn't go your way. You're going to need. You just have to get by that one person. And for whatever reason, after I finished the quarters, I finished the round of 16, we were at dinner.

I'm like, man, I just don't have a good feeling about this for some reason. Like, you know, I've played with Jackson a couple of times. He's the number one junior ranked in the world and obviously, you know, done some really good things to get there. And for whatever reason, I just did not. I had a bad gut feeling about it. And ended up, you know, I had three, three puts doing that match. At two hazard balls. And, you know, momentum switched a couple times.

You know, early in that match, you made some sloppy mistakes that kind of, I let it linger and I should have wasn't able to capitalize on some of the areas and gaps that he had given me. And, you know, three putted last hole to go to extras. But it was kind of one of those matches where I had to figure out a way to get by it no matter what. Yeah, it looked like on 18, like you had the advantage. That match changed so much.

For the people listening that didn't see that, walk us through like 18 green and regulation and then into 19 because 19, that was kind of a flip as well. Yeah, even, I think it honestly goes back to 13. You know, I won 13, I think, to go to one up and then, you know, snap hooked it in the hazard around 14 and then, you know, 115 and then three putted 16. So it was kind of back and forth and went to 17, tied 17. And then 18, you know, I probably wasn't an easy put, but I had 50 feet, you know, breaking probably eight feet, and then three put at that as well.

And I was kind of, kind of felt like a deja vu moment from earlier. I'm like, man, I just had, you know, a really, really good chance. And you normally don't get two chances to win a match like that. And I had six feet to win it. And obviously you go to one, you know, kind of not trying to let it get to me, like stick to the process, stick to what we had our game playing. hit a great drive in the front bunker. It's a fairly easy bunker shot, and I kind of pull hooked it left.

Off the first tee, they played a drivable from the Palmer T. It was kind of weird all week. It was kind of the way I hit it out of the rough. I play it with a fairly open club face and kind of hood it coming back. I don't chip with a 60 out of that bent rough for whatever reason. I just don't catch a ton of ball. And it's a lot easier for me to chip with a sandwich out of that rough. I can kind of, it's more consistent.

I have an idea of what window it's going to come out. of and I catch more ball and that lie and that certain shot if I hit it with a sandwich there's no way of his thing on the green unless I tried to bump it through the rough and it was kind of you know just like he's like man you've got to you've got to try to you've got to hit this with an el wedge we we have no chance um and it's like all right like you know and honestly I'm just trying to hit it to 25 feet and pray that he gives me a chance to try to make it to go to extras and honestly I felt a second a second life he didn't hit the the the the greatest of bunker shots and had about 12 feet.

And it kind of sparked me a little bit. And, you know, I wasn't putting it great. It's kind of weird. You know, Jeff and I normally are pretty similar on reeds. And for whatever reason that day, you know, not only were we not seeing it, we were, I mean, we were a foot apart in some reads. And, and on that particular hole, you know, we both kind of pointed at the same corner of a divot at the same time, you know, like, man, like, I started right there, you know, and I've hit some bad putts. but all you can do is hit a good one. And if you miss doing it,

he makes it, I can hang my hat on that. And unfortunately, you know, it came out and crested right at the corner that divin would right in the middle. That's, wow,

yeah, that was a hell of a match. And, I mean, just, you know, I've never got a chance to sit down and talk with you,

but talking to everybody, they tell me you're the most mature 19-year-old on the planet, and I'm starting to see that. Now, just from 10 minutes of talking to you. But I got to go ahead to the, to the semifinals,

because one, you know, obviously, the winner and the runner-up getting the masters. That's the thing everyone pays attention to. What were the nerves like the day of the semifinals compared to the finals? Honestly, I've told a lot of people with this. I think I was more nervous against Gordon than I was the entire week until the finals match.

I felt that it just goes back to my respect for Gordon in his game. I felt like if I could get by him, I could make it a good ways. and but no, you know, it kind of goes back to what Jeff and I kind of said throughout the week like, hey, like,

and it's actually, I've talked to Brett McCabe a lot and I talked to a lot throughout that week. Like, look, we have a process that's stick to it. And if somebody can beat me in my process, then great.

So be it. Hats off to him. But I'm not going to get out of my rhythm in my process for somebody, whether they hit a good shot. Like if I was going to hit it to 12 feet before they hit it to a foot, I'm still going to hit it to 12 feet

try to make a put. And I think that helped me once the pressure amped up and realized, like, look, I've done this four times. Like, I'm sticking to the process. I'm sticking to what I can do and something that, you know, I think everybody kind of knows about it, whether it's the PJ-TURU or PJ-Tur accelerated or the master's exemptions of the U.S. Open. I think something I've done in the past is try to push all that away and not acknowledge it.

And it's something that I talk with Brett a lot this week is, like, you know, let's embrace that. You can't tell your mind what to think about or what not to think about. And embrace that and take it for what it's worth and go after what we want and execute our game plan. Yeah, and it sure as hell worked. And you get through that semi-final match. Boom, now you're in the finals. And that morning, some of your boys from Alabama show up for the final match.

I think they left Atlanta at like 3 in the morning or 3.30 in the morning, something like that. What did you think, A, did you know they were coming and B, when did you see them for the first time? So I talked to, it was really cool. First of all, Coach Sewell State and watched the Gordon match, which is cool for me. He had to go back and be a head coach for a little bit, but told me he was going to come out back out in the weekend if I made it. And sure enough, he showed up Saturday for the Parker Bell match in the semis. And my parents flew out, a couple other buddies from Huntsville flew out. And then candidate actually told me all weeks like, hey, man, if you make it the Sunday, I will be there.

It's like, I don't know how I'm going to be there, but I'm going to be there. but I had no idea some of the other guys were coming. I think Canon posted a video on his Twitter of them leaving. But no, I had no idea. Jonathan Gray is my roommate and Thomas Ponder and JP,

which was our starting five last year. It was cool for me just to see them out there and how unselfish they were of, you know, taking two days out of their practice and out of their life in college and coming and supporting me. And I think that shows testimony.

to how close we are and what we've grown here at Alabama. And, I mean, I'm looking forward to going back and battle with them here in the tournament coming up in the fall. And, yeah, I mean, they brought the energy. I needed it. I knew exactly when they showed up on seven when I made that putt. They got loud and they kept it. And it was cool to celebrate with them after.

That's really cool to hear that they flew out there. Slees, how about that? His roommate's last name is Gris. Sleez's dog names Gris. I wanted to mention it. saw. I think it was at the amateur, like last year, maybe he was playing somebody, and I took a screenshot. I was like, don't know this kid, but I'm going to also my new favorite player in college. The Grizz. Love that. Tell him, shout out to him. Love that. I will. I will.

Absolutely. Go to the finals quickly because we know you got a lot of stuff going on, but you play Neil Shipley, who seemed like kind of one of the crowd favorites, had the long hair going. Love to celebrate. I didn't get to see a lot of it, but it just looked like a lot of people were cheering him on. What was the finals like? Because y'all both played great. Yeah, I think, I think I kind of started early on the week, and I played Colorado natives, didn't really feel all the love from the crowd. And then the next match, I was playing a young kid, which I think a lot of the crowds are rooting on. And I said it, I said it to Jeff, and I think somebody overheard it that I like being the villain. And I think that kind of goes back to, I kind of use the crowd as motivation for myself.

And something I watch a lot is watch a lot of baseball. But I think there's a 20 for 20 on the Boston Red Sox in 03. 30 for 30 against or 30 30 there go against the gold jacket yeah yeah same against the Yankees and and how

you know Boston's down to you know 3 O and and how Kurt Schilling all he wanted to do is was to shut the crowd up and that's something that kind of we used a lot throughout the week and obviously in that finals match where you know

I think Neil Shipley kind of became an overnight sensation and I wasn't really feeling the love from the crowd that finals match and we talked a lot about it's like hey like let's quiet the crowd and that's kind of all I wanted to do all that all that you know the finals match and that second 18 I had a couple opportunities and was able to capitalize it on that you know that ninth and tenth hole and I was able to kind of quiet them and you know kind of get back to what I was doing yeah you guys had you guys both played an incredible morning 18 I believe you matched 66 is basically you go in all square. That match, you started to jump out to a little lead in that second 18, but you made some monster putts when he was trying everything he could to cut into that thing and make it a close match. And he had some really good opportunities. If you had to pinpoint one moment, one putt in that second 18 where you're like, dude, that's the one I needed. This is mine. What would it be? I think three was a big one for me. I wouldn't say that was the turning point,

but three, it kind of set the tone. I was able to kind of get a lead. And that's kind of what I try to do in match play. I don't I don't try to beat somebody seven and six. That's not my goal. You know, I try to get a lead and basically suffocate them and basically make them feel like I'm not going to mess up, make them feel like they have to try to make something happen, and that's ultimately when they mess up. But I think it was on nine. That put on nine, you know, I was three up. He kind of hit one in there close. The crowd's starting to get a little bit louder. I could feel it. You know, I had 30 feet. I hit a great shot. I hit exactly where I was trying to hit it. You know, he went better than I did and, you know, inside of me. And I felt like

that was kind of an opportunity that I could steal a thunder away a little bit and made that. And, you know, I was pretty confident he was going to make it on top of me. And then, you know, go to 10 and you make that put on 10. And, you know, you kind of have all the amount back. Yeah, you did. You end up finishing off four and three. You're the 123rd U.S. Amateur champion. With that, as I mentioned earlier, He'll be teamed up at the Masters next year alongside John Rom the first two days. One, have you ever played Augustin National? And two, have you ever been to the Masters? I think I went to the Masters.

I think the year that Jordan won and set the record for however many birdies he made or whether I don't think broke the actual record. But I went that year, I went that Saturday. I've never, it's funny, Coach Cuell was talking to this morning about maybe going over and playing with Jeff Knox a little bit as Lee Knox. played here, but I actually, I've never played it. It was funny, my first time on Augusta, I actually bent

down and picked up a piece of grass because I thought it was AstroTurf. But, but no, I'm looking forward to it, and it's something we talked a lot about. And, you know, getting the opportunity to play Augusta and with John Rom's going to be incredible. Yep, that's

going to be unbelievable. You got a big slate of major championships coming up. You got the Walker Cup coming up. You also have college golf season with all the shit you have, going on right now and all the stuff coming up. Like is it hard to not have a letdown when college golf starts? It's like it's been a whirlwind and then boom, there's like no break for you. No, there's not much of a break.

Honestly, man, like when I'm playing, when I'm playing well, I just like competing. Not a huge, I don't love practicing, I do it. And but I just like competing. I like playing and, you know, especially when all this is happening. We got a couple events coming up. up. But just to have, you know, St. Andrews and Royal Trune and Augusta on the same schedule for me is unbelievable. And I don't think I've quite wrapped my head around it yet. But I mean, even our college schedule, we're playing Olympia Field starting off. And we're good to play Birmingham

Country Club. And I'm just fortunate enough to be in a spot where I'm able to play at all these places and, you know, being led by Coach Sewell and all that. It's, you know, it's going to be a lot of fun. And even though I am looking forward to a break, I've still got some, a lot of golf and a lot of fun left to have, and I'm looking forward to it. Well, I can tell you one thing. I got a chance to play on a Walker Cup team and wearing that red, white, and blue. Obviously, you have an extremely bright future and you're going to want to do massive things, but that Walker Cup will always stick with you. Going over there and playing with your boys, representing your country is one the coolest things you can do. So make sure you enjoy that. And it's at St. Andrews, by the way.

Yeah, it's, it was something cool. One of my buddies from Huntsville gave me. I'm not sure exactly how he got it, but he's got a ball from the very first Walker Cup. And it's been sitting on my nightstand ever since it was announced that the 100th Walker Cup of the 100th anniversary was going to be a San Andrews. And it was a goal of mine to get on that team. And I did everything I could. I wasn't, after playing poorly at the U.S. Open at L.A., I wasn't planning on playing northeast or north-south.

And I, you know, unfortunately looked back. I'm glad I did. And I was playing well. And I wanted to play him healthy. credit to Clark you guys saw earlier he's done a lot to get me in a place where I can play with my wrist

and last week I was hurt for a little while there which a lot of people don't know about but now I'm just I'm looking forward to it and it's going to be a blast and don't forget not most importantly but very important football season's coming up dude

probably try to get to a game or two do you and the boys go to all the games every time that they were home and the team is at home. We're there. We're actually, I think it's in between the first and second quarter. I'll get to go on the field here, the Texas game coming up, which will be kind of cool.

I think it's the first time that we've hosted Texas, I believe. You know, a big first home game, and I'm just looking forward for SEC football to be back. It's one of my favorite times of the year just to veg on a Saturday and watch some football and enjoy that, so I'm looking forward to it. man that's going to be so cool especially the texas yeah that was a battle last year in austin all right let's get to the e9 something we got we got to have a little fun with you here um we do this with

everyone and we ask this same first question you can be anyone for a day in the history of time dead or alive you get to walk in their shoes for a day who would it be michael jordan there you go that's a quick answer um yeah i think he's the greatest athlete ever um you know obviously the most dominant i don't say dominant the uh you can say check is the most dominant, but I think he's the greatest basketball player of all the time. We'll get no argument from us. We're in the wrong age group to argue that LeBron stuff. If you do become Jordan for a day, but just send us some kicks.

Send us like all the exclusive. Absolutely. We'll get you our sizes. All right. First one from me. Is Coach Sewell nervous at all that Coach Saban might steal you away, being that you were once a finalist in the punt passing kick competition? Oh, gosh.

I knew that was coming. Yeah, I need to hear these stats on the competition. Gosh, I hope not. No, I can't remember exactly what age I was when all that happened. But I'd love to be on that field of the, and Brian Denny. Playing in front of 5,000 people gets my, gets me pretty nervous. I wouldn't even imagine playing in front of 100,000. You all never punt, though.

Huh? You know, y'all don't punt that much, though you wouldn't get a lot of action. That's true. That's true. They score every possession or every possession. it seems like. I think once you get hit that first time by an SEC lineback, you'd be like Coach Sewell, I'd like to come back and play golf.

Yeah, I'd like to play golf again. All right, Clark's going to be busy. All right, you're 6'3, you're a big dude, you're really fit. Would you say you've done more two a days in the gym or at Chipotle? Oh, who did did did you come from? Probably honestly pretty close. I would probably say Chipotle. the lunch and dinner Chipotle combo is something when I'm home, you can kind of just,

kind of just cash it. I found out apparently this year that there's a Chipotle app. Didn't know that. And I think I've accumulated close to like 21,000 points on that, which I think is pretty good. I've heard your number one goal is to be sponsored by Chipotle and also that you have like the most ridiculously simple order ever. It's the same thing every time. I actually, the guys in Huntsville, all of the people that worked there knew my name, knew my order. As soon as I came in, then they made the same two bowls and went right to the checkout. Is it just really rice, chicken, and cheese? That's it.

Right. It's double rice, double chicken, and cheese. That's all you got. No balls. Nope, no sauce. Oh, my God. Wow. Okay.

That's exciting. You need a low food budget, though. That's good. Your master's champion's dinner is going to be riveting. It's going to make Bobbill Watson's look like, God, Bobby Sue Fly or something. It's going to be fantastic. It's super simple. I respect that.

No, no sauce. Ain't nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with two a day, Chipotle. Sometimes if I'm feeling a little aggressive, it might go some queso, but it's got to be, uh, you know, it's got to be one of those kind of days.

You splurge. You win the USAM, you splurge on a little queso. That's good. Keep that humility. I got a real, I got a real golf win for you on this one. Because a lot of people,

they may have heard your name, but this last week is probably the first time getting to see you in real life and see your golf game. Give me the one guy currently on the PJA tour that you think your golf game resembles the most. Can it be a live player? Are they the same now?

Yeah. Yeah, any golfer plays like you. I would probably say Dustin Johnson. Good one. I think my long game in driving is fairly similar. I think over the past couple years, my putting has gotten a lot better, something I focused a lot on,

especially this first year at Bama. I was always fairly good inside of 10 feet and 8 feet. It's kind of my money range. But over the last year, Coach Dua and I have worked, we've worked a lot of my speed and my lag putting. And I think it's something that was kind of shown that final match is, you know, I don't, it used to be, you know, me marking, I would have to market every time from 30 to 40 feet.

And now it's gotten to a point where, you know, that's either a gimmie or I can tap it in and it's taking a lot of stress off, off my irons and knowing that I can be confident enough hitting it just on the green somewhere that I can two putt it and not have to worry about three putting and it's something that's helped me a lot. Well, he's had a pretty decent career, so I like that a lot. All right. Listen, you play at the University of Alabama. There's some nice perks that come along with that.

A lot of it's flying private to tournaments. But recently at the SEC championship, you chose to take an eight-hour van ride with your assistant coach Hunter Hamrick. Can you please explain to us why you would do that and not fly private? Yeah. So that's another. Clark's been there for me a couple of times. But so we live on a lake here and we've got a lake house in Tuscaloosa. And my parents recently moved out here. And as college kids, you find rocks that you probably shouldn't jump off of, whether they're high or, you know, get out to see or whatever.

And you kind of, you back the boat up, see how deep it is. And, you know, if it's reasonable, then you jump off. And we had your four or five teammates out there. and we all got up and jumped off the first time. There's one guy that wouldn't jump. I'll always say, it was Dylan West. He wouldn't jump off the rock. And so finally, we all went back up there to try to get him to jump off.

And you always see these videos of somebody that's terrified and their knees lock up and they won't jump. Well, that actually happened. He wouldn't jump. And it's not a place where you can just walk back down. Like, once you're up, you've got to jump. You're not getting back down the way you came up. And when we went back up there, as soon as I jumped off

I popped up out of the water and my world is spinning like I can't see straight felt like I was going to throw up and you know felt like I had water in my ear for about three or four hours and finally got back to my apartment and you know it was jumping on one foot

and you know blood started coming out of my ear and ended up busting an ear drum was told that I probably shouldn't play at SEC's and we finally we made a molding of a of earwax that swimmers use for swimmers here and I was able to keep that because you know when

you bust your ear jump your equilibrium is completely off and I was running into corners running into walls like it's really weird and I played with that big old orange thing in my ear all week long and you know I got as soon as that happened you came back in like hey you know we're flying to SECs here in two days like might be able to do days like now you got a bus of your germ you can't you can't fly so I ended up driving and actually it's funny after that week, I went back because obviously, you know, I'm wearing that mold and it pushes everything all the way to the bottom where that, where that, there's a hole in your ear. So I'd get all that cleaned out. And the guy was like, hey, like, you didn't have to, you didn't have to

drive. What are you talking about? It's like, well, when you have a, when you have a hole in your ear, there can't be any pressure. There's a hole. He's like, most of the pilots that have, that have that kind of problem and have those head problems, he's like, they will get tubes stuck in their ear and purposely puncture their ear drum so they don't have any pressure in their ears. Well, so I just drove eight hours to Seattle for no reason. That's beautiful. By the way, I think your team, whenever you decide to turn professional, we want to keep you in a padded room. You sound like that's bad. Yeah. Be careful. It's injury awaiting to happen. Yeah, you make money on the course, not jumping off cliffs. Yeah. Yeah, you're going to need a

handler of sort of sort or when you get out there. Sneaky pulling my shoulder, throwing balls at a clown at Dave and Busters. Yeah, either that or yeah, both of those. Yeah, that can happen. It's incredible. Typical golf injury. Right before the semis, yeah. All right, my next one here, I know you play a lot out at Greystone,

so I'll give you a chance to bag on some of the pros out there. You're 30 and two from what I read in matchplay as an amateur. Which pro at Greystone do you think you have the best match play record against? It would add to that total. That I could beat or that I, could or that would be cool to add to that they would be cool that you've just been beaten i know you've been playing with him for a while just one that you've been beaten up on for a while or feel like you have beaten up on i don't know if i can call anybody out um honestly just the way he's

been playing um i'd love to play against step um you know he's obviously he's shown that he's one of the best players in the world right now um it's been really cool knowing him you know corn fair years to you know went into her events contending in majors And it's helped me a lot growing up, honestly, you know, growing up 13, 14 and, you know, watching that. And it's cool for me, you know, you shoot 68 and you get beat by four by those guys. And it's like, okay, like, you know, I got to get better. And you get to watch them how good they are with certain clubs, how they navigate around a golf course. And, you know, I think it's a different mindset of, you know, the adversity going out and playing with your buddies and you shoot 68 and you win by four.

You don't feel like you have to get any better. And it's something that I've worked. Don, and I've thought about it's like, man, if I can compete against these guys that are, you know, winning on tour, you know, your Lee Hodges and guys like that, then it's just giving me that much more confidence playing against the guys that I'm currently competing against. But yeah, I'd probably have to say said. He's been playing some very nice golf, maybe playing for a fair of squares. I know. Tell me about it. I need some squares. Oh, my. You hit bombs. Next one. You mentioned Birmingham Country Club earlier. What's the earliest you've ever woke up for a qualifying round at, Birmingham Country Club. For the team?

Team qualifying Birmingham Country Club. What's the earliest you ever got up? 515. Don't lie to me. This is the trust tree on this podcast. 515 or maybe 5. There was no 3 a.m. wake-up call for maybe a little another sport activity before the qualifying round.

What are you thinking about? Oh, boy. 3 a.m. wake-up call. I heard you had to get some fishing in before a 9 a.m. qualifying time. I did. You're right. I forgot about that. I did. You're right. So we were, it was Shoal Creek, actually. It was Shoal. We were playing Shoal and one of my buddies is a big fisheries, a professional fisherman. And he fished on a lake or it's a river up in North Alabama. And whenever I get a text, he's like, hey, man, like, top water's hitting right now. Like,

all right, I'm coming. So I got up. I think it was actually earlier in that. I think I got like 245, that it's probably three o'clock, drove two hours up to Huntsville, fished for five hours, drove all the way back, got in at like 1.30 to 2 o'clock, and then teed it up at Shole. Yeah, I don't think coach knows about that one. I was a... Sorry, Coach. I heard you played good, to be fair, though. I did. I think I did play pretty well. It was fun day. We got to... I didn't do great. I caught a couple. He caught the hell out of them, but that was fun day. God damn. That's commitment to fishing. Please is not getting up at 3 a.m. for anything.

Nothing like a top water bite, nothing like it. Oh, tell me about it. Tell me about it. All right. My last one, and I've been informed that you don't have a girlfriend, so you can answer this freely. Correct me if I'm wrong. You are correct on that. Okay, beautiful.

All right, you get to invite one celebrity date to attend an Alabama football game, the Texas game with you, walk on to fit the yard line with you this year. Who you bring in? Anyone can be on your arm. you got a little wish list can she be married she could be whoever you want she only can be married a little bit if she goes out

center field she goes that to the yard line with you center field kind of jealous of DJ I'm not going to lie oh oh Helena hello yeah I have to say her oh wow and your golf game is like his holy he's got stressed right now

yeah yeah probably probably her oh wow I was the old end with the new Paulina. She listens to this. I'm pretty sure Paulina listens to this show. That's great. Expect a call. All right.

Last one. You know, we always, pretty much, you've always been taught growing up, return whatever you have better than when you found it. You know, people talk about leaving the game of golf better than when they found it.

Well, you just recently won the Habermier trophy. Do you think if you had to return it right now, you'd return it better than you found it? You heard about that too? Oh, God. That was funny.

I just took it in to see Coach Saving and the top fell off. I forgot to tell them. It took us four hours to break it. There is apparently a newly added. I don't know. Colt, did they have a, it's a wire connecting the middle of the trophy of the top to keep the top and fall off. I don't know if that was. Nope.

I might have something to do with that, though. So they added this wire that goes all the way through the top and there's like a screw on the top that you can kind of screw it on. and so this metal wire as I welded or whatever to the bottom and when you're trying to drink something out of it there's like a wire sticking out it's kind of a poking hazard so you kind of move that out of the way

and yeah we snapped it off and now the top just falls off again it happens they'll fix it it's no big deal it's yours it's yours you can do it every one I think you should take it you should take it to Chipotle and have them put your ball in it

just not a terrible get a little there's no telling what's been inside of that thing fill it with guac i have a little bit of an idea i wouldn't do that fill it with casso and yeah yeah awesome nick well man we really appreciate you coming all congratulations on winning the u.s ammeter best of luck over at st. Andrews at the Walker Cup uh really enjoyed sitting down with you thank you so much I appreciate

you having me it's uh it's been cool to kind of watch your podcast and the in the finally talk to you I appreciate it you got it man congratulations you man keep up the good work all right well that was the USAM champ Nick Dunlap joining us here on subpar how is he 19 years old? He talks like he's 35. He's got the body of a Greek god. It's not really fair. I don't like it.

I like him. I just don't think... I got dealt a bad hand. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, that's tough. That's that 2-6 off suit. He appears to be very good at golf from what I watched. I was very, very impressed with him.

Not only that start that we got into, like 5 over 3-7 dude, at the AM, he figured it's going to take a round par. Like, that's not an easy place. Those two golf courses to go make that up. The fact that he did. it. And then it's like, all right, pressure, not pressures off, but all right, I made it. There's a little sigh of relief. First round, Gordon Sargent, you know, your home state,

like, rival, number one guy in the amateur rankings. It was a hell of a run for him through that thing. And also, like, you could feel it just, just watched it on TV. Like, you know, he mentioned he played the Colorado native, the kid from Colorado State earlier in there. All the fans, obviously, room for the Colorado guy. In the championship match, watching it, too, it just felt like, you know, Shipley had like more people kind of on his side throughout that thing. It was kind of like the, I want to say he was the underdog, because he's one of the best players in the country. But like fan-wise, it felt like, you know, a lot of people were on the other side

the whole time. And he was just rock-solid that whole week. He played unbelievable. He's over at the Walker Cup this week at St. Andrews. Can't wait to watch Team USA over there. He'll be teared up at the Masters in April. If he possibly wins, sounds like Chipotle will be catering the champions dinner. Kind of love that.

Interesting. I mean, rice, chicken, and cheese? Like, what are we doing? I respect. I would hate on it. I would hate on it, but in college, I ate Chipotle minimum three nights a week. Yeah, but you always put stuff on it. Yeah, I do have some stuff on it.

It's an actual burrito with some shit on it. But the kid, you know, he likes what he wants. You know, another thing he likes? Paulina. So look out, DJ. There's a new young buck on the scent. On the scent. On the scent.

That's what bucks do. I think they sniff. I don't really know. I'm not a big animal guy. I don't really know. But I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Nick Dunlap. Everybody just raves about his talent. He's a big kid.

His coach, J.C. Will told me he's got another 15, 20 pounds of muscle to add on. He's going to still continue to fill out. He's going to hit it even longer, which is terrifying. But this could be a superstar in the making. Cannot wait to see what he does. I mean, he could be on the PGA tour very quickly with these accelerated points in the PGA tour. So awesome. I have really fun to sit down with him.

And best of luck to him and Team USA. over at the Walker Cup in St. Andrews. And everybody, enjoy football season. Get a little break from golf. Can't wait. This is what my friend Pete calls a no-touch week. So leaves from me. My feet are not going to touch the ground.

God damn. That's a hell of a goal, dude. That's a hell of a goal. And I love that. I'm going to start implementing that. All right. Well, you enjoy Pine Valley. Don't embarrass us.

Have some turtle soup. And enjoy. Go low. Tell everybody up there, hello. And that's going to do it for us. We'll talk to you on next week's subpar.