Subpar - Ben Higgins Interview: Performing karaoke at the American Century Championship, the difficulty of golfing in front of galleries

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, former star of The Bachelor Ben Higgins joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and jicky jack legend Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The host of the "Almost Famous" podcast talks how being on The Bachelor changed his life,  why he sang karaoke at the American Century Championship, and how playing in front of a gallery at celebrity events affects him.

Hello world. Welcome to another week of golf subpar. We are in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. Sleys, uh, hopefully this isn't our last golf subpar considering we're in Vegas right now. We are cozied up right here on the couch, ain't we? Up here in the room. Yeah, this could be. We got three nights up here. We've already had one. Went well, I thought. Kudos to us for not getting too weird. I did maybe get a little overboard, but the tables were hot, bro. What do you expect the kid to do? my girl Kia. Kaya, sorry. You still don't know that.

Kaya. Kaya. Don't call me Kia. Dealing out Blackjacks. Like handing them out like Halloween candy out there. Never been, never seen more Blackjacks in one sitting than last night. Good omen for the week. It was very, very nice to see. We love being in Las Vegas.

A little Shadow Creek later on today. Going to be a lot of fun. But first, we got to discuss the Wyndham Championship. One of the most exciting events on the PGA tour. Six-man playoff. Should have been seven. By the way, we threw out Russell Henley. in our fan duel segment.

Last week, we almost started off two for two. Almost back to back. I would have bet infinite amount of money standing on the 72nd green there, that that was going to be a seven-way playoff. But that was a tough one for him. But yeah, damn near back-to-back to start off this fan dual partnership there. By the way, a friend of ours, another bad beat second week in a row, had Russell Henley to top five plus 650.

Oh, my God. Because there was a six-way playoff. He finished tied for seventh. Ouch. If he gets in the playoff, obviously, guaranteed win. is a stinger, but we're going to get to our bets later on. But our man Kevin Kisner, guy's going to be a future guest on golf subpar. I'm actually emceeing his charity event later on in November going to be a lot of fun, but the Bulldog got it done and had to catch

the attention of Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker. If it didn't, I don't know what he's got to do. He was a very, very popular win this past week. And I mean, it's just, it's funny like, I mean, you get in a sixth man playoff, like we said, could have been seven. If Adam Scott makes that put on the first playoff hole, we're probably not having the same conversation about kids being on the rider cup team but he went out there got it done and now i feel like the whole world is pulling for kids to be on that team we've been talking about for a long time we need some bulldogs he and brian harmon too double bulldogs um we need some putters things like that he checks all the box with that and i think more than anything just a great locker room guy like a guy just got some juice

like that stuff is contagious man and you look back at like valhalla for instance like everyone in that room talked about anthony cam and the confidence and the swagger that he had in there i think kids is one of those guys i don't know we have a ton of those guys on the u.s side but i know he wants to rip your face off every time he steps on the golf course with you. And I just think that confidence, that swagger he's got. That stuff's infectious, man. I think that spreads throughout a team room. I think it'd be an incredible pick. Infectious and spreading, sometimes not that great. Not always the best in the same sentence. It is very good. But yeah, I'm with you. Kevin Kisner is built for rider cubs, built for team competition, undefeated in his President's Cup debut at Liberty

National, which is where we'll be this week for the Northern Trust. But I love the guy. He's got it, man. He is built for it. I would, I would be very shocked if he wasn't on that team after the performance he put on, you know, I know he had a 0 and 5 record in playoffs. Now one in six, or sorry, one in five. God, nice math. Yeah, math. One in five. In six. Yeah, exactly. But, man, I love this guy. He's got it all. I expect him to be wearing the red, white, and blue at the end of the end of September. But man, I tell you what, it was so cool to be out there. You know, I was, I was on on the call for CBS. Six-man playoff. It should have been seven. I loved all six. of them going down the fairway at one time. As Kiz said, it looked like almost like a hit and

giggle at home, just walking down the fairway with so many people. Adam Scott probably should have got it done, but at the end of the day, Kevin Kisner is your champion. Moves to 18th in the Ryder Cup standings, which in my mind is perfectly fine. Just enough? Just, it's plenty. Yeah, it's like when you look at what Strick's going to have to, you know, these guys, he's going to have to make these picks at some point, man, you can make an argument for a lot of these guys. I mean, he's all the way down at 18 and we're saying he should be on there. I mean, there's guys 17 through 13 and be like, what about? me. I'm up here too. I mean, it's going to be tough. But I think kids, I don't know if he punched

his ticket, but he may have just punched his ticket with that one. It's going to be tough to hold him off. We've got three weeks left. A lot can happen. But I think you need some of those bubble guys that have big weeks to potentially knock him out at this point. By the way, we mentioned Georgia Bulldogs. Ten Georgia Bulldogs made it to the FedEx Cup playoffs. How about that? New all time record. That's why we had our friend on Jeff Mitchell, the legend. Jeff Mitchell, we had him on. I said, can you name all the Georgia Bulldogs on the PJ tour? He got through it. He got through it. Kudos to him, but God, there's a shit load of them. If you're a kid out there right now

and you've got an offer from them, hard to turn them down looking at that track record. Damn. No doubt about it. Congratulations to Kevin Kisner, future guest of Golf Subpar. How about the bot? Not just the top of the leaderboard, though, the bubble drama. Oh, yeah. How about Chesson? Hadley? Marbles. A huge marbles round of the week

goes to Chesson Hadley. Needs to shoot, I mean, something incredibly low on Sunday. It goes out. Shoot 62, just with a little back 9, 29. Oh, by the way, let me sprinkle my first ever ace. Not first ever ace on the PJ tour, but in life, which is hard to believe. I mean, our boy, Chez's got like 25 of them things, and Chesson's sitting on the goose egg until that one.

But, dude, he does all that, and he goes in and he finishes it off with the birdie on the 72nd, knowing that every single shot is, you know, in or out probably at that point. Does it, stamps of 62. It looks like it's going to be enough based on the finish, perhaps, and then it all comes down to Justin Rose, of all people, needs to make bogey on 18 and damned if he doesn't go in three-putt. Yeah. Wow.

Congratulations to Chesson Hadley. So cool to see him get it done. It's so emotional in the interview with Amanda Ballionis, which shows you how much it means to these guys. I mean, the difference in 125 and 126, it doesn't seem like much, but it is a lot. I mean, he is fully exempt next year. He's in the players. He can plan his schedule.

It doesn't have to go to the Corn Ferry playoffs. Instead, he's going to New York for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Awesome. So happy for Chesson, one of the best dudes out there. But Slees, we're switching it up a little bit this week with our guest. You know, going to go away from golf. So if you want to learn a little bit more about the Bachelor, you're going to hear it right here because we've got one of the most famous bachelors of all time

ben higgins who's a huge golfer joined us in memphis and i tell you what i didn't know how the hell this episode was going to go i learned a lot about the bachelor and also learned that ben higgins is a pretty damn cool dude dude i was going in i was like uh all right we've talked bachelor for a while i don't really have a whole i mean everybody's watched it i've watched it you know in the years past but i don't know a whole hell of a lot that goes on we we start off we're talking about golf with him he wants to talk golf and all that stuff like, all right, bro, like, relax. We talk about golf all the time. I want to hear what this Bachelor life is all about. Damn, that's a wild ride being on that thing. Talk about going from just normal job. Nobody knows you and all of a sudden, bam, cover us

weekly, all that type of shit. That's a wild ride being the batch. Doesn't sound all that bad at times. By the way, we actually apply for a job during this interview. A little Bachelor in Paradise. Oh, yeah. We'll get to that. See if we get it or not. We lobbied. But awesome, dude. Saw him out at the golf course all week at Memphis. He was out there following around Ricky Fowler and a bunch of other guys. I met him at Zach John. Johnson's charity event. He's been there, I think five years in a row, just loves it. Awesome, dude.

I hope you guys enjoy it. Here's Ben Higgins on Golf Subpar. All right, well, before we get to Ben Higgins, I want to talk a little Travis Matthew. Slees, it's no secret. We like making money. Y'all like making money. So why not where? The Moneymaker Golf Shoot by Travis Matthew.

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All right, we got a fellow podcaster in the house today, Colts. We've got to run a tight ship here. Very. He's the host of the Almost Famous podcast. You probably all know him as a Bachelor alum. Now he's a die-hard golfer. Ben Higgins, welcome aboard. I think the golfer part came first.

So I was a golfer then the bachelor. Golf from the jump. I would actually like to say maybe the reason I became The Bachelor is because I was a golfer and the host at the time was a golfer. And I was like, I think he thought like we get on play a little bit. That's fair. Yeah. But I would say this is our first like real podcaster we've ever had on him.

He would Riggs. He doesn't count. Doesn't count. Max. Max, home, but definitely doesn't count. But, okay. So you were, you've been a diehard golfer for a long time. When did you start?

So my granddad was a golfer. And so he was tall. He was like six, four. He used to take me to the course when I was like seven years old. I picked up my first club. I played up until high school. Stop playing golf for other sports. Blew out my knee, my sophomore year, picked the club back up again.

And I've been playing ever since. I played more now than ever. Six handicapped, I think you told me the other day? It's gone up a little bit this week. Oh, good. Or of last like since. Handicap. So I need one more aside.

Yeah, I think I'm up to like a 7-1 now. Solid. I've had a rough week, man. I can't get off the tea. Solid. You're playing some of these like celebrity events now. I think Tahoe Diamond Resorts, all that stuff. How's that been?

Like playing in competition, you've got to actually put a number up a little tougher. There's a lot to that. So when I was The Bachelor, I came off the show and my, I signed with an agency and he goes, what's the one thing you want of this? Well, I was like, well, obviously like some hosting gigs would be great or like some money. Somehow, some way. Yeah.

Yeah. The second thing is I want to get in these golf. tournaments. Like I want to play in these celebrity golf tournaments that you see and I want to get around. Because I just I love the game. I love I love doing it. And so he got me into a lot of them with the help with some other people. And then my dad caddies for me. So like the part is fun for me to play in competition because it makes me feel like I'm actually like a decent golfer. Yeah. Like for like four days in my life, I feel like I'm okay. And then my dad gets to walk with me and walk the fairways. And that's like a memory we'll have forever. He loves it. I love it.

And so it's special. Those things are awesome. When you when you go to those events, Like, are there any expectations or is it just, dear God, I hope I don't kill anyone. Let's just have some fun out here. Both. My expectation every year now is to break 78. And I would like to try to do to all four days. I haven't yet. But that's a goal for me as like with my handicap and kind of where I usually play.

And the second part of that is, yeah, I don't want to like, I got into, I play in this one called Diamond Resorts in Orlando. It's an incredible event. and last year I got the hooks and so I was left on everything like duck like duck hooking it like just yanking it left and that gets scary because then you're like telling people to move out the way at 150 yards down like left

so that's the second goal is just don't get the yanks I laugh though at those things because I mean I watch them on TV and you know playing on tour I think the gallery is crazy where they stand and these are the best players in the world you guys do other things for a living and they're standing in the exact same place

I'm like what are y'all doing? It's wild I've seen, I have a good story of Ray Romano, not a good story, I guess, but in Tahoe, he hit a spectator and he comes in and he's just a mess. Like, just like breaking down at dinner. Like, I can't believe I did that. I hope they're okay. Like, and so I get out on the tea the next day and I'm playing with a couple guys. And everybody's like shaking on the first tea, like shaking and everybody's saying like because of what Ray did yesterday. So I'm with you.

Like I think it's crazy. Like not too many people are good golfers who don't play consistently. I'm one of those people that sounds like great. I'll see Barkley like hit one in the trees and the gallery swarms it and then guys are sticking their head around to try to get the birds out. I'm like, he's over here for a reason, bro. And I don't know if you've seen the clip. Have you had any like embarrassing? Because playing in front of a camera.

There's cameras that are all these things, a lot different just playing with your boys. Any embarrassing moments or anything that stands out? So I think those two aren't NBC. I think the coverage is. And there's, I was in Tahoe. And you can hear the, it was like my one clip of and you can hear my dad going, all right, we just need a good shot here off the tea. just get a good drive out there i was like okay good so i swing and i just top it like right into the grass in front of me and you just see the best one i had the most embarrassing thing for me is to see

my dad in the background just go oh god he's let me down yeah it's not my son yeah it's not my head sink to his chest my face is just blank he's my caddy which their one job is to keep you going right and he just just gives up like this is that first tee uh no that was probably like the 11 t i think at that point i'd had a couple more of those at least it wasn't the first yeah well Maybe you get rid of it after the first. But I feel like, I mean, Tahoe is the one of those events. It's the big time one. You know, you get the incredible field, the gallery.

How much fun is that week, though? Getting to see all those other athletes and celebrities. Man, it is, it is special. So the two big ones are, like, Tahoe and Orlando. Like, those are two big ones. Tahoe is the one that's, like, kind of, if they ever did a tour, that would be the finishing tournament. Like, the biggest deal to those guys. For me, it's incredible because I come from the world of reality television.

I'm not going to sit here and say I have any tangible skill set that put me on that show, right? Like I've gotten very lucky to kind of have this like very layman's view of the celebrity world. But we're sitting in a room like, this is a good story. So we're sitting in the room the night before Tahoe. My dad and I are so nervous. Greg Maddox is sitting behind us who is my like childhood like celebrity like idol. Larry the cable guy sitting one row in front of us. And it's this room full of like Hall of Famers, everything they've done.

And so they do the announcement. they do this every year where they announce like the new guys to Tahoe. They're like, here's DeMarcus Ware, nine-time Pro Bowl, or sack leader. Here's Emmett Smith, you know, all these things. And then they get to me, Ben Higgins, 20th season of The Bachelor. And you have to stand up and wave and layer the cable guy looks back at me at this room full of people. My dad sitting next to me, we're nervous already goes, well, that's pretty underwhelming. It's so like, you know, for me, I just feel like I am.

I'm lucky to be in those rooms. But they are exciting. And it's really unique because some of these guys are really good. Like, you know, this year in Orlando, we had Anika Sorenstanstan. Which is incredible to be playing next to her. So there's great things I take from them. These are memories that will last me a lifetime. Have you played out there long enough to develop any rivalries?

Like a guy, you like, more or less the same skill set and you want to beat him? You know, I, yeah. It's Kevin from the office. Yeah, we're about the same handicap. He's a great dude. And like, anytime he's in a tournament with me, like, I kind of kind of like match myself up with him if I'm playing better. And Brian Erlacker.

So Brian Erlacker and I got to play with John Rom a few years ago and the BMW. It was in Chicago. And this is when, I mean, how many years ago was that when it was in Chicago? Like maybe five, four or five years ago. So John was young. Like he was just coming on. People knew he was going to be good, but he wasn't like the well-known name he is now. And Brian and I played in that together.

And we were about the same. So those two guys are the guys I kind of measure myself up to. And then they're also like Brian's the guy if I ever go out to Scott's I try to play with. Does he pull it any pranks on you? He's the biggest, he's the oldest 12 year old in the world. Who, Brian?

Yeah. Yeah, and he's also the biggest mountain biker you'll ever see in your life. Yeah. So, like, he picked that up here recently in life, and he'll, he's massive, and he'll come into these tournaments now in shorts and, like, his legs will be all cut up.

He's like, because I was just cruising, you know, 30 miles per hour down the mountain last night. Yeah, he is. He's a massive child. So, he's the best. Is Bumgarner or Kevin from the office? Yeah. Oh, my God.

Love him. Sweater vest every day, whether it's 110 or 50. He's fantastic. I saw him out there this year and talked to him just briefly, but how weird is it the first time you meet him? All you've ever seen him is Kevin from the office, and you kind of expect that. And then he's like a really well-spoken, articulate, very smart guy. And you're like, oh, man, I had no idea. It's probably why he's so good at what he does, right?

It's this thing. I mean, it's weird for me for all these things because I get to meet these people that I've watched for years like him. And you meet him in person and you're playing golf next to him. You're talking about life. Like Jim McMahon and I got to play together in Tahoe. And he's walking out of the fair way. He was a character, right? but like I mean seeing the hits that he takes seeing this his history and now I'm playing golf alongside

of him here's another one I'll keep ran but Tahoe does this thing and and I and I want to preface all of this was saying like and I don't mean this is to me myself at all I have a great life I'm I'm very like happy with the life I'm living but you have to understand that like I grew up in Indiana at 26 years old I was asked me on a reality television show I go on this show become the bachelor and then all of a sudden my life changes in ways that like I never expect. And over time, you know, I start to believe I'm actually pretty cool. And then you get humbled a little bit. But no, so all this is like coming from somebody that kind of gets a living dream, like for, without a lot of work put into it, which is unfair. But I get invited to Tahoe, which is one of my dreams in life. I love watching that tournament.

They send an email out to anybody that's signed up for the golf team. They say, hey, now is a chance to sign up for karaoke night at Tahoe. And all my buddies who have played in this tournament had said, if you want to get invited back, just say yes to everything. Do whatever they ask of you. It's like, well, that's my motto. So they say, here's karaoke night. So I'm like, I guess I'm signing up for it. Like, karaoke sounds fun.

So I sign up and like, what song do you want to sing? And so I sign up for Whitney Houston. Smart. I want to dance with somebody. And I'm thinking this will be fun. This will be easy. This will be hilarious, right? So we go to that opening meeting that I told you about.

After the meeting, they open up a cocktail bar for everybody. And we're standing getting cocktails. and this guy comes up who's a guitarist for the event. And he said from Rascal Flats. Yeah. And he said, Ben, you must be a good singer. No, man, I'm terrible singer. Like, I am.

And I don't know what this is coming from. I'm like, I'm a terrible singer, not at all. And he goes, seriously? He said, yeah. He goes, why do you ask? He goes, well, you signed up for the hardest karaoke song like Whitney Houston for karaoke night. And I was like, well, yeah, just to have a good time.

He's like, do you know what karaoke is? I have no idea what karaoke is. I've never been to this thing. He goes, Ben, karaoke is actually just an excuse for Tahoe to have, like, Justin Timberlake sing a song on stage for free. Like, Brascal Flats, all these. Yeah, Brascal Flats, like, all these. Not Ben Higgins.

And I'm like, oh, crap. But I was like, I've already signed up. Like, I can't back out now because that would be a terrible look. The better thing would have been not to sign up at all. So it gets to the evening of karaoke. Karaoke is actually on the lake there. There's 1,500 people. everybody in the tournament and everybody goes one at time finally gets to me and it's

all professional singers who have gone at this point I get up there you don't even have words these songs so I start singing and I finally like start singing and everybody in the audience just turns and starts looking at me and I could just feel it I mean and I look to my left and there's Tony Romo and Aaron Rogers staring right there at me like front row my parents are out in the out in the audience my dad probably has his head in his chest again not looking at the stage I walk off stage after this horrible, awful. Any applause? No applause. Perfect. And Tony Romer puts his arm around me. He goes, man, you've got some big balls. Like, really proud. And all week, that's what I was

known for. I thought it was going to get me invited back. It didn't. But if you can find a clip of it, it's more than embarrassing. Who was it that told you that, hey, you got to just say yes to everybody. Cole Ford. Was he just prank in you or no? Yeah. I feel like he was because he's a professional singer. So he's saying just fine. Yeah. I also think like in his mind, is probably my best move is just to do it and see if it makes a name enough for me to get invited back. It didn't work. That is fantastic. How fast was your heart beating while you were up that? Oh, like, it's one of those moments that, you know, you have those dreams that, like, all of a sudden you're standing in front of a room full of people naked and, like, you're embarrassed.

It's kind of how I, like, it's really like the first time. In a long time, I had been, like, shocked, like, to, like, paralyze an embarrassment on stage. And then something clicked in my mind, it's like, you're already up here. You can't walk off now. You've got to own it. Dude, props to you. There's a bunch of people watch that thing too. How many cocktails before to get up there? Oh, we took, as soon as I found out what it was, it was at the bar until the announcement. I'm telling you, like, I know this story probably didn't do it justice, but when you stand in front of 1,500 people, most of which you watch on TV because they're really good at their sports and all the eyes are on you.

And everybody's, like, giggling and laughing. Like, it's not a great feeling. Especially because you feel like you don't belong there anyways. And you really don't. But yeah. And they put you at the end after all the other, all the good acts. Oh, yeah.

We got Justin Timberlake, Ben Higgins, then Roscoe Flats. Perfect. It was awesome. It shouldn't be a problem. Anybody needs to go get a drink now. Yeah. A hundred.

But something you said earlier said, you got asked to be on a reality show. Yeah. So I want to know because I have no idea how this process. I see the number come out after the show and everything. Yeah. We're going to dive into this. Let's go.

So you actually got asked. You didn't sign up for it. Well, kind of. So what happened was I was coming. I do some work. with an organization out of Honduras and I was flying home from Honduras and I was connecting in Houston. So I was with a couple of buddies of mine who had gone down with me and we were sitting

there in Houston on the plane and a guy walks past. My buddy goes, oh, that's so-and-so from the Bachelorette. And I'd watched it with my mom growing up and so I knew of it, but I hadn't watched it for a few years. And it hit me at that point. This is kind of a weird story. It hit me at that point that like regular people go on the show. Like some guy getting on a plane sitting in the back of the plane was on the show at some point. My buddy knew him. And so I go. And so I go. go back to the office and I was working in financial services at the time and I'm literally three days later I'm sitting there and the marketing director at the company came up and she's like Ben casting calls are for the bachelor downtown Denver today will you go with me she has no idea that I just met

like that just had already been fresh in my mind I was like I'm not going to a casting call like no way you're going to need to go to a dating show casting call and uh she said well if I sign you up will you sit next to me and do like the video and the pictures and all that I said of course That sounds great. So we took an hour that day, sign me up. A week later, they called. And that's where the process started. And it mostly was me going, while somebody, I'd seen this guy on a plane.

And then two days later, somebody just asked me. And so I kind of got signed up, but kind of helped with the process. All right. So you go through that. I got to know how we get actually onto the show. So there's got to be a million dudes out there that all go through this stuff. And they weed out 90% of my thing, right up the jump. And then they weed it down.

What happens after all that? You got to go through like some interview processes or back. Background checks or what? Oh, yeah, all of it. You go through all your health checks, background checks. But then it's really like week after week they kind of call you and check in on you. Or they like to Skype with you, I think, to see what you're up to. And that lasted for about six months until.

Yeah, it's the real deal. Yeah. And then finally they said, hey, will you come to L.A. To meet people in person. So then they fly you out to L.A. This is my first time in L.A. was when I flew out for the casting. And you stay in this airport down or this hotel down by the day.

the airport and you walk into this room full about 20 people and they just start throwing questions at you. I was fresh off in ACL surgery at the time. So I was on crutches, which I think like gave me the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, the sympathy. Smart. Yeah. But then that happened. And a month later, you find yourself back out in LA for the show. So it was, it was about a week after my time in L.A. they called and they said, hey, we want to actually ask you to be on the show. And then things start getting real real. So were you ever like, I don't know if I want to do this or just like, nope, you know what, let's just go for it. I don't know if I ever was, I don't know if I want to do this. What happened, the only thing restricting me was my job. And so I had told myself if my,

my job, my parents, my family, if any of them said don't do it, I wasn't going to do it. And so I told my friends and they're like, you should do it. Mostly I think they wanted to like, you know, make fun of me the whole time. Yeah, of course. My family was all on it. I was living in Denver. I was working this job and didn't love. I didn't really have any friends. out there at the time. I just moved there. And so I think they were wanting me to spice life up a bit too. And like I said, I was young. I was 25 years old at this point. And then my boss said, hey, how about you take a sabbatical? Take three months. Go do what you need to do, do this show, come back, you have a job again. I was like, I'm going. Like that. Then there is no question

in my mind if I should do it or not really. It just felt like it would spice life up, if anything. So take us. Go ahead. I'm fascinated by this. So you get there. So now we're getting ready to start shooting the show. I don't know how many producers there are or anything like that, but how much are they in like everyone's year saying, like we need someone to act this way, we need someone to act that way. Yeah, scripting. I don't, okay, so how I'd say this is like they kind of play God.

So like there's 200 people that work on that show. It's a huge show. It's a massive deal. And so they kind of have cameras everywhere, where they have camera people everywhere. And they have their control room that they sit in, that people for whatever reason think it's like an evil control room. It's like, well, it's a television show it.

in the day like they got to have a place to produce and so they see everything going on and then they're talking with you but they become like it's a bubble so they become your only friends they become your confidants they become the people you lean on for support and help and so at some point they do have some ability to manipulate the situation but I never remember them ever tell me you need to do this so I always say when the people you know come off the show and they blame production for whatever it's like well you had a choice in the matter like you were just easily swayed. So for me, I never felt like I, I, uh, they manipulated me too much. Um, but I always remember them saying, hey, you should go, she should go talk to her right now. And it's

like, well, she's talking to my buddy. Like, well, you should go interrupt that. She'll blow that up. Yeah. It's like, well, how can I do this to not make him upset? Like, that's the kind of situation you're in. Do you know who the girl is when you like apply? I found out the, so you go to a hotel three days before shooting starts. So you're in a hotel up in Agora Hills. And I was able to watch TV in the hotel. You're not able to watch TV on the show. And I was watching the ABC.

I was watching the bachelor's ending. And they announced the Bachelorette that night. And then the next day we start filming. Oh, so you find out the day before he's on. No TV. No TV. No TV. On the time of year it was.

March Madness is usually. You don't know who's winning nothing. Well, they gave a bracket out. and they would update us on that, but like no TV, no cell phone, nothing. Like you are, which is actually kind of nice because you're trying to date in a weird environment. And so when you like don't have anything else to do but to talk about dating, you do get focused in. But it also can get really boring. But how long is this process?

Because I mean, you're saying no cell phone, no TV. And I mean, you were second runner up. Yeah. Yeah. So I was third. So how long is this whole process take? I was there about 11 weeks. Damn, that's a long time.

Yeah, it's a long time. 11 weeks from start, well, maybe I even got on the 13, or 12 weeks start to finish. So you're there about three months without any access to the outside world. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah. No phone, no nothing. No nothing. Yeah.

What happens if you show up and you find out the day before they just announced some train wreck girl that you can't stand. You're just like, out. See you. I think you just got it out. Yeah, I think most people nowadays would say you get out. So, like, I was on The Bachelor before social media was really a big thing. This is 2016.

And so back then, you really only go on the show to, like, have fun. Like, see what happens. Nowadays, I think people go on the show to try to get, like, some monetary benefit. And so nowadays, I think you just say, yeah, I'm going for it. I think back then, like, we, the season I was on had two Bacheloretts. So we had to vote night one on which one we wanted to stay.

And one of the guys that was on the season, actually wanted the other girl to say that wasn't chosen. So he left on night one. And I don't think he regrets it. Because back then you just did that because you wanted to see if this would work out. I think nowadays people would just stick around just to see what could happen. Follow me on Insta. So you're off the grid for 11 weeks doing the show and then it comes out.

Yeah. At what point do you kind of realize, wow, I'm kind of famous now? For me, it wasn't really until I was The Bachelor. Really? Well, yeah, because it was in between the social media started getting really popular. and then you're one of 30 dudes for, you know, a long time. And then as soon as they announce you're The Bachelor, all of a sudden, now you're on the cover of magazines.

Now people are talking about you. Now your following starts to increase. Now people are judging and criticizing you. That's when you really start to feel like that little moment of fame is because you start to get criticism for the first time. When you're on The Bachelorette, you don't really get that much criticism because people forget about you pretty quick. But now you realize, oh, no, people actually care to have an opinion on me.

when you start seeing the negative stuff. When you're the Bachelor and you're the one picking and you're giving out the roses and all that, is there ever a time where they come to you and be like, hey dude, even if this chick ain't the one, let's keep her going because she moves the needle. Because it seems like there's no matter if it's Bachelor or Bachelor, there's always a one psycho that gets in

that makes it like way further than they should. You know what I mean? I'm like, how is this chick still around? She's a train wreck. So there's a couple ways to do that. One is they hide you from a lot. Like if I'm in this room and somebody's in the room next to me and they're having a breakdown,

They're never going to let me go in that room. So I'll never see it. So unless they tell me or somebody else tells you as the bachelor, like you don't even know what's happening. So you're not familiar with a lot of the stuff, the crazy stuff that's going on until it's time for you to see it. And that's why I kind of say like, hey, I wasn't really like manipulated much.

I just wasn't aware of a lot. You're kind of unfamiliar with it. Now, if you're letting somebody go, because you do get to choose who you let go and the show once in the state, I guess the best, like, it's kind of an unspoken secret where they're like, hey, there's more to get to know about her. And instead of me, like, throwing a fit and be like, you know, I want to let her go. Like, no, like, I mean, you want to have a good relationship with the people in the show. You know, you know where you want this to end anyways with hopefully meeting somebody if not having a good time.

You're tired the way it is. You don't want to argue with them. You just say, okay, you know. She makes girls cry. You should probably keep her out. There's more to get to know about her. So one thing, like, I mean, the first rose ceremony, there's, what, 25? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. How many times does it take to go through there with you saying the right name every single time? Oh. Yeah, that's a common question. You got to have name tags. So that's the easiest part of the night because what you actually do is you can pause whenever you want. Okay.

So nobody knows this. So, like, you can walk out of the room. Now, the show doesn't love it. But like, if you're like, I'm stuck, you can walk out, get a drink, take a breather, like, figure out what names come. coming up next. That can happen. And then it just, it's not as long of it like a process. You have to remember 25 names. The hardest part, though, is for the most part, night one is very like free go and the show just follows you is when like somebody comes up to talk to you on night one and you don't have any resource to know their name. And I had two girls,

which I think is a terrible move go, what's my name? Like the whole like, that's just setting you up for failure. Exactly. And so I think that's the hardest part because all of a sudden you're anxious all night about these girls names and like that part but the rose ceremony you can like i tried to do like every five girls because you don't want the girls to think you're going back to getting their names anyways they got to know though there's no one that can memorize 25 after two-minute little meetings you got to try to stay impressive i don't know have my cousins yeah yeah yeah yeah so but you come up there and you got to give like the monologue like hey girls out a great time how many takes does that take because that's like a little lengthy that's a little lengthy speech no

you're just going straight off the top or what you just go with it freestyle yeah respect there's no like re-editing like no redoes here like that's the cool part about this show is like there's no redo so if somebody's like a total dofess they're gonna look like it you just you know yeah there's no like hey can i start this over mostly because like the hardest part about the show is the bachelor is like you want these women to feel like you're actually attempting to date them for a long time like you don't want them to think that this is some like fake thing that they're playing into yeah so you try to keep it as natural as possible for as long as you can't even know, you know, 25 people.

So in this three months, do you ever get a day just to go be by yourself and do something you want? This is the wildest thing. So I'm an only shop. And like pretty big introvert. I really need my time. It's probably why I love the golf course. Like I need my time just like sit and think. The show knew this about me.

And then at some point during the process, the show decided to have my handler like pretty much follow me around wherever I went. Like I think like to exhaust me. I have yet to get a good answer and why this guy followed me, my age, following me around. But he did. He followed me everywhere. So, no, you don't get any time alone. Flights, you kind of get alone. Like, if you fly somewhere, you're flying and you get some quiet time.

Except two of our flights, the woman actually ended up being on the flight with me. And so, like, they'd be, like, sneaking notes up front to the plane. You're on the same plane? Yeah, which is super awkward. Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, super weird because you can't talk to them because there's no cameras filming. So they're just like don't say anything. Like don't make eye context.

You just like sit in your seat and they're sitting four rows behind you. It's real weird. How hard is it when you go? I assume you watch like your season when you were the bachelor, right? Like you go back and you see some of these like, you know, you got one on one. We've all been there. You've one on one with a good. You say some things.

You might not necessarily want your boys here and back home. You know what I mean? You're like, dude, I'm going to get worn out. Like, you know, my heart beats whatever. That type of shit. You're like, oh God, dude, it's over. That's tough. Oh, it's awful.

And it's still to this day. is something that like I get texted. The memes and the jiffs are the things I get texted to this day for my buddies. Like, yeah, I mean, there's a hundred of them you could Google like where like I do something embarrassing and stupid. Yeah, you just get mushy and say something. Oh. You get dragged by your buddies.

You watch it with your grandma one night and like they do the up close scenes of you kissing and the sound is on. You know, you have a mic and so you can hear it. She's like sitting next to you and you just like want to crawl away. You feel like a teenager all over again. It's funny though. Like my buddies handled it pretty well. Before I left for The Bachelor at, one of my best friends came up to me. He's like, well, this would be fun for you.

But we'll see in a couple weeks. And I was like, well, that hurts. He's like, well, there's some studs on that show. Like, there's some, like, you're going to lose, dude. Yeah, you're not that sweet. And then I was announcing the Bachelor, the same guy said to me, goes, well, now you're just king of the nerds. And so I've always kind of laughed about it because he's not wrong. Like, everybody there is just a bunch of dudes or women just trying to figure it out, probably pretty young.

And I just, you know, was King of the Nerds. What was that moment like that when you found out you were going to be The Bachelor? Because, I mean, that's crazy. I mean, you're on every magazine cover. Yeah. You're on every talk show. Yeah. I watched to deal with you on Ellen earlier today.

That's large. Nice research. Yeah. I was actually sitting at my cubicle. I was working a job in, I lived in Denver, but I was flying to an office in Tampa, Florida every week. And so I was sitting at my cubicle in, Tampa, Florida when I got the phone call. So I'm in this, like, office at this brokerage firm, sitting in my cubicle when I get a phone call and they're like, hey, do you, like, we want

to ask you to be the bachelor. And like, you want to talk about two weird worlds colliding. Like, I'm in the basement in an IT department writing user manuals for living. I get a call to ask me to be a bachelor. And I have to say yes in that moment. Like, I mean, I'd say the biggest thing was like, kind of just the shock. And then the coolest part was calling my family and be like, hey, this is happening, and just hearing their support. So you had to decide right then. Like, then you say, I had a minute. I pretty much knew.

Yeah, I had a week to, like, kind of decide and negotiate, like, all the, like, terms of it, which means pretty much are you going to sign this or not. But, yeah, it was a weird time. I mean, it still feels almost like a dream for me. And I say that just because, like, you know, you both have accomplished cool things in your life. And I believe I have, too. I just never expected reality television to be a thing that kind of, like, enhances it at all.

And for me, it's been a wild experience. I mean, I'm getting to hang out and play golf this weekend with a bunch of cool people because I was on a show a few years ago. Yeah, I get to sing karaoke in front of famous folks. I bet that's the, I honestly bet. I don't know. I'd be interesting if one day you ever met like Romo and you ask him, do you remember when Ben Higgins sing karaoke at Tahoe?

I think it was so bad that he might just say yes. God, I hope so. Yeah, we can find out. He's been on this show right now. Yeah. yeah we were just up there um was i gonna ask you oh when you get announced to be bachelor all you're the bachelor right it's gonna come out all this stuff every dude that shows up like it's like they got on steroids and get in the gym and all this stuff they make you like hey dude

you need to start working out cut your hair we're gonna do your hair this way like they do the whole nine or what do i look like i'm on steroids right i don't know some of these dudes show up and i'm like what are these guys do they're like oh i'm a sandwich maker and then they're just yoked i had long hair um like down to my shoulders when they first asked and they asked me to cut it. They did do that. They said, we think you look better with the cut. So I did cut my hair. I dieted hard and I lifted as hard as I could and I still was like the smallest dude there. I remember sitting there at night one and these guys walk in. Well, okay, I was, we get picked up at the hotel on night one in a limo and you drive over to the mansion. I'm sitting in the limo.

We're all like nervous and asking each other, what do you do for living? One guy was a former professional baseball player. Another guy was a doctor. Another guy was a dentist. Another guy owned his own gym that was doing. super well and then they're asked me and I'm like I'm I write user manuals for living like I don't belong here and then like one happens and you're sitting I was the very first person out of the limo so it's the very first person in the mansion I'm sitting on the couches uh watching these dudes walk in and they are they walk in they're confident their suits fit nice I just got in my suits at coals so I'd bought three suits at coals and got them tailored down and I thought that was like

going to work perfect but these dudes are walking in and like they're like I don't know Versace like clothes and their shiny shoes and their hair is all slick back. And then, like, two days later, we have a pool day. And, like, everybody takes their shirts off. And, like, I remember this. I'm in the bathroom there because we only have four bathrooms in the mansion for, like, 25 people. And I'm, like, trimming my chest with my, like, razor.

Push up and shit. I'm, like, pound it out there. I really was. I was, like, I remember this, like, panic, like, oh, gosh, like, I don't want to do this. And I walk out and just everybody's cut up. And then finally, one of the producers came out to me as a good buddy now. And he goes, just own it. Like, you're not here for that.

It's not you. And I said, all right. So I did. In fact, when I was The Bachelor, if you watch, when my shirt was off, I had just the hairiest chest of all time. Because that guy was like, make a statement. Like, bring the hairy chest back. Yeah, bring that.

I love it. Yeah. I'll be honest. Throw back. The only season I've watched all the way through, and this before I even knew you, and I think I told you this at Zach's event was yours because I knew Jojo from Dallas. Oh, yes. Yeah.

He used to party it up in Dallas a little bit. So I actually watched that whole season. And now we're sitting here with you. This is crazy. What did you think of me back then? What was wrong with Joe? Jojo, dude. No, I'm kidding.

You'd be amazing many times I've got that question. I thought you were fantastic. I like you way more now, though. We've had some good times. That's funny. You said that, Joejo was awesome, and her whole family was, like, connecting this Dallas scene. So, like, I knew, I have met so many people have been like, yeah, I know Jojo back

then, and you had said that. And it's just, yeah, it's wild that, you know, people like you used to get to pick it up because you knew somebody on the show. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, this has been fascinating for us. This is definitely a different direction than anything. We have a lot of golf questions typically. Now we're digging in.

I'll say one though because I mean, obviously you played quite a bit of golf with Chris Harrison. Yes. Former host of the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Who gets the better at who on the golf course? We're pretty even. It matters where we're playing at. So I always love playing Sherwood with him out there in Los Angeles. And we go back and forth.

I will say he's probably a better competitive golfer than me. He gets less nervous. I get pretty nervous. pretty anxious, but like he's just used to calm in the nerves. He actually, man, he's been good to me. He took me to Pebble Beach a few years ago. We got to play that together. I've had some of my best golfing experiences

with him. But he, I don't know, he might be playing more golf now than usual, but when I played with him, yeah, when I played with him last time, I think we were both around a seven. Yeah. He might be a little lower at this point. Did he have the best gig on the planet? Because like some of these episodes

I'd watch it and like, you don't see him, it's all you all day and then he comes in and it's The whole two hour show or whatever was he coming, like, ladies, this is the final rose. And then he walks up. I'm like, that's all he did for the whole freaking show. He's probably playing golf for the last three days. Well, in paradise. When they're in Mexico, they stay at the big resort down there that has a Greg Norman course.

I forget the name of at this point. But like, there would be days that he wouldn't have to go to the house. So he would just play golf. Best gig of all time. After 20 years of being pretty good at your job, you kind of like earn that moment, right, to be able to do that. But I remember even during the Bachelorette. I was, we were staying on, in Northern Ireland at Ineskillen, which is a Fowdo course designed there. And my room faced the 18th hole. And I would look out my window. And I promise

you, like three times a day, I would see Harrison walking up the 18th hole. Like, I think like when we were out there, we had a week off. Yeah. Because the storms had came through. And so you'd just be out there playing golf. Yeah. It was a good gig. Like I, but, you know, again, after 20 years, he kind of deserves it. And it was cool because it was something we connected on. Like, we became actual buddies where like you go on the show and you feel like I'm just another dude that he has to coach through this process at some level we actually started talking golf and then you know we'd be able go and play golf when no cameras are around and actually get to know each other and yeah I'm thankful for him he's he's a good friend I got to meet him at the greenbrier we went to a

Kenny Chesney concert shared quite a few cocktails together what a great he's a good yeah he's a good time um he is and I and I hope he's doing well and I actually just got to talk to him um because his birthday was what a week ago. And I know there'll be more golf to come for him and I, but I do. Yeah. When anybody asked me, like, what's when some of the cool stuff Harrison's ever done for you? I was like, well, he took me to Pebble. Like, that's pretty legit.

It's hard to beat that. Yeah. Well, he had it figured out. Yeah, he did. He had an unbelievable gig. We got to let you talk a little bit about your podcast. Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcast. Yeah.

By the way, I pulled it up on Iheart radio, and I love the description of Ashley I who says, she's a notorious crier. Yeah. I feel like you wrote that for like, I'm scared if one of us wrote our description for each other. Oh, it's, yeah, I think I did. That's been, so we've been going on five years now with IHeart. That happened kind of randomly. I had a weird story.

I was working at the office I was telling you guys about. I'd start a company called Generous Coffee Company. So we sell coffee and we donate 100% of the profits to nonprofits. And I was working both jobs. I was starting generous and working writing user manuals. And I was like, I don't know. if I'm going to be able to make the both these work. Well, then I heart called and they said,

hey, you want to do a podcast? And it allowed me to leave the brokerage job. So podcasting is a great gig because, you know, you work a couple hours a week. You get to have some great conversations, which I love to do. And then I could leave this, pretty much put my computer down and go and start working for generous.

And so it's been a wild ride where we talk pop culture. I also have the best job in the land because my whole gig is Ashley Ikenetti, who's a crier. knows everything about pop culture, knows who's dating who and why they're dating who and what's going on in the world. And all I get to do is sit there and learn because I know nothing about it. So I'm like the dad in the game that just gets taught lessons. And it's been cool enough where like I've actually a month ago launched a new podcast called Hope Still Wins, kind of bit off of

almost famous in the platform that's been built because it's something I care about and it's a passion of mine. So yeah, it's been a fun ride. We get asked all the time, dream guests. You get one. Who do you want to have on? Oh, that's a good question. I mean, it would have been Anthony Bourdain. That would be the one until he passed that. I always would say like that. I just, I've always found him fascinating. I think Justin Timberlake, because I just think he brings an audience. Like, I think he brings a crowd. And right now, like, we need it. And I feel like he's a pretty good interview. But for my co-host, Harry Stiles and for my fiance, she likes them too, I guess. I just found that out.

Those two. The girl doesn't. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Timberlaken styles. So, yeah, thanks for asking that. Almost Famous in Hopes to Wins have been cool gifts in my life. That's really cool.

That's fun. Check it out. You've been doing it for five years. We've been doing it a year and a half now, and it's just so much fun. Just sitting here talking with guys like you. Yeah, getting to meet people. And, you know, my whole life last few years have been getting to meet people. And, you know, like you mentioned, we got to hang out the Zach Johnson golf tournament last weekend.

Another dude who I've gotten to meet kind of through the golf. the golf world who a few years ago took me to the masters with him. My dad was suffering from bad heart disease and Zach at that event had heard my dad over talking that his pocket list was go to the masters and so Zach goes, well, come on out. And so. I think Zach can make that happen. Yeah. You got any pull down there? Yeah. And Thursday we drove down Magnolia Lane with Zach to his first tea time. My dad's bawling. I actually have the video on my phone and yeah. So it's just been a cool world. And the golf world itself has been really, like, fun to get to, like, meet people, talk to him because there's some cool people in this.

I love it. Keep tightening up that game. Start beating Mark Mulder in these things. Have you gotten to meet Mark? He wins all these celebrity things. It's obnoxious how good and tall he is. He can't miss him. No, he's, he's intimidating.

I've gotten to meet him. He plays in all of him, but he's intimidating because he's like, I don't know, he's taller than me. Yeah. And I'm, I'm like 6'4. He's taller in me, and he, his shoulders stick out to about here. Yeah. Him and I have nothing in common.

He'd be the guy taking the shirt off. quick at the bash. Oh, what, pool time? All right, I'll go. Yeah, but no, I've, yeah, he's always up there in the lead to board. Yeah, go get his ass, bro. All right, let's get to the emergency nine. Nine fun questions we ask.

Okay. We do this with everyone. You can trade lives with anyone for a day, dead or alive. Are you going to choose? Right now, Zander Shafley. Oh, wow. Shout out, Zander Shafel. Yeah.

Be a little jet lag right now. A little jet lag, but he's also in Memphis playing golf right off of a gold medal in golf and uh he's gonna like hearing that yeah i think that's a big deal i mean uh he's he's one of my favorites on tour right now i mean obviously i like rama a lot and i love zach um but like i really respect zander and i think his his game is great so he's kind of living the dream this week i like that he's doing it yeah you're gonna have a long career in front of him all right next one you got a book entitled alone in plain sight if you're gonna write a book only about your golf game what would the title be uh short misses short

misses. Okay. Short and crooked? Yeah. Short and crooked. Good. Shit. I can write the sequel to it.

You're an Indiana Hoosier. Yeah. Favorite all-time Hoosier. Oh, that's got to be a pretty easy question for me. Honestly, Cody Zeller. Good buddy of mine. Just signed with the Blazers yesterday. Just a stud.

And when I was at IU, he turned the program around with a couple other guys. What are games like there? Oh, incredible. I was also there when IU was terrible. Like that was the Crean's first year. So we had to bring in this. Like, so I played for Indiana elite in high school, which is an AAU team. That when we were ranked nationally, four of my buddies and teammates went to play for IU.

There's a reason I didn't. But they all walked on or played for them. And so I got to go to these games and watch it. They're insane, no matter if we're good or bad. That's awesome. Is that how you blew the ACL? Basketball? Football, actually.

I rolled out in my junior of high school and three. and blew the ACL out and then I went and kept playing pickup and blew it out again. So then I realized I was done. Oh, you're a quarterback. Yeah. Way back. Still quarterback. Yeah.

All right, here we go. I don't know how closely you follow golf if you'll know these names, but I kind of hope you don't actually for one of them. Which tour player would make the better bachelor? Okay. Harry Higgs or Wyndham Clark? Harry Higgs. Yes.

We knew you'd nail it. Isn't the match coming up with him in it? And one of the reasons he's got chosen because of his jersey. Yeah, Liberty National. Yeah. And if you notice, like, I haven't buttoned my shirt up in a while because I feel like I look like him. He's bringing the chest hair back to him. He would have no issue.

We're complimenting Harry a little too much right now. I just knew it wouldn't be wind of him. He doesn't have it. We did nickname Harry Higgs Big Beautiful. Oh, he is. And his last name's great. I actually, uh, Draft King, uh, bedded on him a few months ago. No, Fandle.

You fandool then? He's bandled. smart. I fanned dueled Harry Higgs a few months ago. Mostly, this is maybe over a year ago during quarantine. There's a tournament going on. I never really heard of him. I did it. And I looked him up. I was like, oh, no, I like this guy. Yeah. Yeah. He's a good dude. He is a great dude. So much fun to be around. All right. Next one. More nervous teeing it up at Tahoe the first time. We're waiting to see if you got a rose on your first ever show in The Bachelorette. Tahoe, no question. In fact, I, I, uh, I, uh, I, uh, uh, I, uh, uh, uh, I, uh, uh, uh, I, uh, uh, uh, uh, I, uh, uh,

went over with one of the Sharp brothers in the van from the hotel from my very first tea time. And I was, he was like, dude, are you nervous? I was like, I'm so nervous, man. Like, I'm shaking in the back. Like, there's, I don't know, 15,000 people there. And he's like, come with me. So he walks me back in a locker room and like Steph Curry is sitting next to my locker and all this stuff. And he pulls out a bottle of tequila.

And we take a shot of tequila. He's like, this will help you. There you go. I don't know if it did. See, they know how to get ready up there. They know how to get ready for an event. We were built for Tahoe. Oh, dude.

We're built for the jiggy jacks. I told you that. I had one. You already answered. It was going to be, does Chris Harrison get to bring his clubs when he goes on all these trips with you? So I'll ask you a different one here. Yeah,

that's a hell of a gig. All right, I'll give you one. Most embarrassing moment, we're rewatching your show. Is there ever a moment where you're just like, oh, my God, I can't believe I did that.

Oh, this was, yeah, this one's going to really. I really hate talking about this moment because it's just not, like, great to keep publicizing, but,

but people like self deprecation. Yeah, so, If you look at my season of The Bachelor and you look at the promo picture, it's me standing in a waterfall with Jojo. I love it. And we're in bathing suits and we're close to each other. And you can imagine what's happening at that point.

Well, it's embarrassing enough to have it on TV and, like, it flashes through. And, like, it's kind of from a distance. So nobody can tell what's going on down below. Let alone, it becomes the promo picture. And so I don't know if you've ever watched a Bachelor where, like, they have the picture. And then they black out, like, the background. and they like sketch the picture it's kind of like what they tease every week well they sketch this thing with what you know with me you know fully happy and cold water dude cold water damn guys

and so like for every week my family had to watch this promo come up on tv every week they don't edit that out what do they do i don't know what they were thinking like i don't know like it's very obvious to me you can actually yeah you can actually google it like i've never been so embarrassing like oh yeah so that one still pops up like ever all of a sudden on my time fun. Yeah. That thing pops up. Yeah. Cold water.

Come on, bro. But that is one of the most embarrassing moments. But it's also like some of you're very cautious of on the show. Because you got to think, like you got to allow for that. It's three months. Yeah. Tight quarters. All right.

My last one. Listen, you're obviously one of the most famous bachelors of all time. I know you got some pool. But we've seen that Bachelor in Paradise show where, you know, all these girls run around a bunch of bikinis. Can you get me and Sleez to be the bartenders on that show? Yeah. Who's the bartender with Thales? Adams who's actually here this week. He needs some help, bro. He's playing in this with me this week.

We'll be the bar back. He just went. He became the host this year. So he's taking over the duties. And so the bar is open. Vacant bar? The bar is open. Transfusions for days. We'll be the little moles. Transfusions. Wow, you. Yeah, get you one of those. Ben, yeah, I think we can make this work. I mean, I think you can do it. I feel like you can make your drinks. A lot of margaritas down there. Subpar, we're going to have a little hiatus. We're going to be the bartenders on paradise. We'll figure it out. All right.

Last one from me. What was more nerve-wracking? What's more nerve-wracking for you? Having to hit a high, soft pitch off a tight line in front of a gallery or getting ready for the first night in the fantasy suite. That's pressure. First night in the fantasy suite. I'd actually say, like, at this point in my golf career, I am there to enjoy the moment because I don't know how many more moments I'll be getting. And so if I chunk one, I'm still out in front of a gallery, and people are still watching.

First night of Fantasy Suite is the very first time you have to talk to somebody for like a couple hours straight without a producer standing 10 foot from you. And like, you become like the awkward boy in the corner that's just like, I don't know what to say. So definitely more. You've got to be ready. Yeah. Okay. Man, this has been so much fun for us. By the way, plug your restaurant real quick before.

Yeah. If you ever in Denver, I have two restaurants out there, Ashkara, which is in the Highlands. And then Mr. Oso, which is in Rhino, one's Puerto Rican, one is Mediterranean. They're great. It's a fantastic spot. So thank you. Come out, check those out. Check out.

Check out generous coffee shop out there. If you're in Denver, it's a place to be. If you're in the mile high, hit it up. Ben Higgins. Thank you, Ben. Pleasure. Hey, thanks, guys. Appreciate you, bro.

All right. Well, that was Ben Higgins on golf subpartsleys. Much different interview for us. A lot of fun. And just for you future people out there that want to be a bachelor, maybe just lie and say you love golf. Yeah. It's a hell of a process to get in there. full body scan to become the bachelor and i knew it i freaking knew it when they go in there and they're

twenty chicks or whatever at the beginning and they got to go through he's like angela you know rene jill like there's no way you can remember all those names after talking to these girls for three minutes one time so i knew they were going back and forth and had to get like all right give me that chick's name again knew it happened always thought so and now we have confirmation but damn what a ride and we're going to be we're going to be bartenders probably is what a bachelor in paradise bartenders gravy and the sleaze yeah colton drew we're going to be there on Bachelor in Paradise, most likely, if they don't, they're crazy. A bar keep, can I get a pinocula out of?

Nope. Double transfusion. Shut up. Here you go. All the time. We know how to make transfusions and tequila shots. Right. What do you want?

Sorry, you're not going to qualify for this year's basketball. You're going to get kicked off this show next week anyways. But it is crazy. I mean, what a world we live in. Here's a guy. He just really didn't like his job, got this opportunity to go on the Bachelorette and became one of the most famous dudes in the world. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You wake up one day and you're writing script or whatever that he was writing at the time. It's a regular 9 to five job. Bam, Us Weekly, everywhere you go, cameras. I mean, that's a hell of a run in a very short period of time. That Bachelor life's a different beast. But it was fun getting the, I mean, every dude out there, whether you like it or not, you've seen The Bachelor, you've watched it. It's kind of fun to get the little ins and outs of all that show, what goes on behind the scenes.

And I loved him talking about how he handled Tahoe, how nervous he was, teened up in front of people. The karaoke story, which was unbelievable. You know, here we got Justin Timberlake, Rascal Flats singing. Oh, and Ben Higgins, take it away. imagine imagine that JT and then you think it's a spoof deal that's a hell of a prank even if it was unintentional that is a hell of a prank to pull up there all right but you're up go get them oh pick whitney by the way that'll be an easy one to do oh I love it so good and Chris Harrison getting to play golf bringing sticks every single place he goes that has to be one of the best gigs on planet

are you come in guys this is the final rose all right see you tomorrow I'm going to play San Andrews here's 12 million and I'm going to go play golf right how many roses left oh final one Got it. All right. Go get your tea time, bro. All right. Man, Ben Higgins, that was awesome. Really, really enjoyed it.

A little different for us, like I said, but a lot of fun. Hope y'all enjoyed it. All right, Sleys, it is time to get to the gambling part, and that means Fandul, the number one sportsbook. Sleys, you want to add a little excitement to your golf watching experience by betting on all the action on Fandual Sportsbook? There's a reason why Fandual is America's number one sports book. Sleys, the biggest thing for us is the app is very simple to use. That could not be emphasized enough how easy the app is used. The worst thing in the world is, all right, football game, I want to get some action on.

Oh, it's about the kick. Let me sign in. Let me do all this stuff. And you can't get there in the balls in the air. And it says, bet not available. You get on Fandual, that thing is easy to use. Even I can use it. It takes two seconds to place a bet.

It's good. It's scary slash awesome all at the same time. But there's all kinds of cool promotions, enhanced odd boost, everything you want. And if you win, they even get you your winnings in as quickly as 24 hours. Also cannot be oversteen. stated how important that is. Some of these books you go in, you win, all right, give me my money. And they need like a birth certificate and a urine sample and all this stuff. It takes forever. You end up just losing it. Fanduel gets you that money. And right now, Sleas, Fandle, is letting you place your first bet.

Just place a bet on any game or golfer and Fandul refund you up to $1,000 back if you don't win your first bet. I mean, are you kidding me? You just throw a thousand dollar bet out there. And if you win, great. If you lose, no problem. That's the kind of book I'm into. When will pay you lose? Don't worry about it. Not many of those around. Like I said, if you lose, you'll get your entire bet up to $1,000 back in site credit. No big deal. That is absolutely incredible. That is why Fandul is the best.

That's why in our very unbiased opinions, best sports book on the planet. I lost a lot of hands in blackjack last night. You know what they didn't say? Hey, don't worry about it. We'll just pay you when you win. Here's your chips back. You know what, good try. You should have won on that 19 against the 21, the 8 card 21.

All right. Well, if you've never tried Fandul sports book, what are you waiting for? Go to fandul.com slash subpar or download the Fandul Sportsbook app and get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code subpar so they know that we sent you. Disclaimer must be 21 years or older and present in New Jersey. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply.

See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem? 1 800 gambler. All right. Well, let's get to our speed down for the kid. Exactly. All right, let's get to our Fandual Pixleys.

We almost started off this wonderful relationship, 2 and O. We got Abe Anser at the WGC in Memphis. We touted Russell Henley, who was in full control for 71 holes. Three-putt bogey on the last ended up missing a playoff. God, I mean, if we would have started 2-0, boy, we might have to have Fandle add a couple zeros to that contract. Shut it down at that point. Yeah, it just comes out with the lead day one, leading the entire time.

Even in the 70 seconds, I was like, all right, worst case. he's going to catch a playoff, at least have a chance. And it just wasn't meant to be. But pretty good run there we had. So let's get to our Fandual picks here before we get into our one and done picks. Two different things. Let me start off here. I know you got one you like.

I like sitting at 22 to 1. Zander Shafle, the gold medalist. I mean, things are going pretty well for him right now. I think he's had enough time now for that gold medal in the media circus and all the stuff that comes along with it to die down. It's time to punch the clock again for him. But 22 to 1. I mean, I feel like he should be a lot less than that going in.

of this week. One of the guys I would pick outright, honestly, and he's there at 22. So Xander's my fan dual pick of the week. Really like him. Yeah, we got John Rom is the favorite at 11 to 1. Colin Morcala and Dustin Johnson at 17 to 1. You know, I'm looking for Dustin Johnson to finally get it going and be in contention. I really like Dustin Johnson around Liberty National. As far as some guys with a little bit of value, I am shocked by this. This man has had a nice track record around Liberty National. He just lost in a playoff at the Wyndham Championship. Adam Scott. I mean, he's a good looking man and so are his odds. 43 to 1.

Yeah, 40. It could be a little hangover after that little whoopsie daisy there in the playoff last week. But when you're Adam Scott, you look in the mirror and be like, I'm still better looking than everybody. My swing's prettier than everybody. And I'm rich.

So, I mean, maybe you shake that off a little faster than the average bear. But yeah, that's a great number for Adam Scott as well. So good looking for Adam Scott here as he makes a little run into the playoffs. So those are the fan duel picks. No, no, no, no. No, no. We're not done done yet. I got one more for you, Slice.

Oh, you got a double dip. We're trying to make a little dip. We're trying to make a lot of money here. Okay, who we got now? And just because this man shook his ass all over Liberty National during the President's Cup, Seawu Kim is going to shake his ass over Liberty National once again. He's going off at 90 to 1. Just got to throw him in there for some value.

And just to say shaking that ass a few times back here. That was totally, even if you don't like him. I hate him, but let's go with Siwu shaking that ass, Kim. Love it. All right, there you go, 91. Get paid on that. All right. Well, still, make sure you go sign up at the Fandual Sportsbook and use promo code subpar, let them know that we sent you and get amongst it with Fandul and golf subpar.

All right, Sleys, let's get to the one and done, which was a little rough last week. You took Ricky Fowler. I took Ches Revy. We can bind for $0. A couple of goose eggs on the board props to us for those astute picks. Stay hot. I wasn't really necessarily, I wasn't expecting Ricky Fowler to win this thing or whatever, but being on the bubble like that guy that's been in huge situation.

I thought he would go and have a week and get to the playoffs. I did. It wasn't like, hey, I think this guy's going to win. But I was shocked by that, and I'm still shocked by the fact that he didn't play the barracuda the week before, just to give himself two cracks at it. So disappointing and a little regroup time for Ricky right now. I guess he can go to the drawing board and figure out what's working and what's not, and hopefully he gets back playing some good golf.

It's that putter, man, that's really, you know, kind of abandoned him. Yeah. And my guy, Ches Revy, I found out Thursday after his round in Windham, I saw him. He stepped in a hole in Tahoe. hurt his knee. I was like, hey, bud, maybe just say, hey, just in case you're going to pick me this week, I stepped in a hole, tweaked my knee a little bit, ends up missing the cup, but he's on to the FedEx Cup playoffs. So, Chez, you owe me a drink or 12. These damn holes out there. You've got to avoid those beasts.

We never know in this game. All right. Well, that's going to do it for another fantastic episode. We've got to make our one and done picks. Oh, shit. I got ahead of myself. Yeah. I know you want to miss another cut. I want it to be over. I want it to be over. I don't want to miss another cut. All right. Well, let me, I'll lead her off then, because I only got two big names. I have not used them. DJ and Rory are still in the chamber. I'm sending DJ out this week. I mean, he's had two top tens in his last three with a little miscut in between.

But, like, I mean, I'm using the whole year. I got, these are zero thought behind these. It's just DJ and then Rory. So DJ this week for the sleaze. All right. Well, I'm going with a guy. I'm just going, my year is totally screwed. So I'm just going off the board.

I mentioned him in our fan duel pick. He's a good looking man. Played really nice golf last week when he had to make these playoffs. He loves Liberty National. Adam Scott. Okay. All right, fair enough. And next year, we had talked about this last night as we were at the card tables, as you know, here in Vegas. There's a lot of dancers, a lot of activity around. So we had some go-go dancers around the blackjack tables. I was sitting there and I was like, what would it take to get up on there and dance for a song?

And then I had the idea next year for our gambling, losers should have to dance up there in uniform for one song or you could buy your way out of it. This will be discussed later on. Let's take it one year at a time. Video for days. All right. Well, that is now going to do it for another. fantastic episode of golf subpar. Next week, we got a ball striking. Jesse joining us. Lucas Glover will be with us on Golf Subpar. Thanks for listening.

Everyone, have a great week. We'll talk to you next week.