Subpar - Chris DiMarco talks his showdown with Tiger Woods at the Masters, controversial pairings at the 2004 Ryder Cup

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 3-time PGA Tour winner Chris DiMarco joins Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The runner-up at the 2005 Masters talks his reaction to Tiger Woods' legendary chip on 15 that year, bringing 'The Claw' to the PGA Tour and the U.S. Team's strategy to pair Tiger and Phil Mickelson at the 2004 Ryder Cup. -- We are excited to introduce our newest partner, Ship Sticks, who gets you from your front door to “fore” easier than ever. They’ll pick up your golf clubs from your home or office and deliver them on time, guaranteed, to golf destinations anywhere, in and outside the U.S. No more airport headaches, no more lugging heavy bags. Just easy, stress-free travel for golfers like you.Ship Sticks. Because golf is hard enough.Enjoy 20% off your next shipment by visiting www.shipsticks.com/subparpod -- Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

All right, here we go. It's time for another episode of Golf Subpar, Colt Nose, Drew Stoltz. Another tournament in the books on the PGA tour, the Valspar Championship, and Peter Malnadi. Obviously, it was just clear as day. Everybody picked Peter Malnadi.

We had that as our picks last week, didn't we? I think I remember going off air saying, look out, this is a Peter Malnotti week. Especially with his track record at Valspar. He's been a beast. Made one cut, best finished 60th, broke par once. Goes out there, wins a golf term.

It totally makes sense. Yeah, it's kind of just the way this entire year is going. Like, you know, we've talked about a lot. it's like outside of scottie's two dominant weeks in a row and then wind him went at pebbleby like there's another writer cup guy and we were set up for a monster final round there with ludwig and that thing but other than that dude it's been like if you're looking for your first win or you've been on a long winless drought and you're trying to get back in there like this is the year that's doing it and i guess that's kind of be expected don't you think but the signature events like all right here's your guys

more or less it's the same dudes every time you're only going to get a little bit of trickle over in the non-signature events from those guys like it's kind of it's not two tours but it's like yeah these are the events those guys, this is their only crack, really. Yeah, Peter Malinotti gets his second PGA tour win. First one in nine years, over 3,000 days. Just an incredibly emotional interview afterwards with Kira Dixon. That was awesome. Shows how much it meant to him.

He's obviously got a great support system between his wife, his kids, his caddy, Chad Antis, who's been cadding on the PJ tour. For over 20 years, got his first win. Really cool for him to get that W. But, man, it was an exciting tournament. The leaderboard was crazy bunched. The last couple hours, I mean, I know it wasn't the biggest names in the world, but it was still pretty damn fun to watch. And Peter, making that birdie on 17 was just huge.

That was huge. And, like, two things about him. One, the interview afterwards, like, with all the bullshit talk we've been going through for the last year, like, this guy signing for this much money. Who's going? He wants this money to play here. No, he just signed for this. No, he's going to, it's like all money, money. It's all millionaires talking about more millions.

And I think it's exhausted a lot of the golf world. And I don't blame him. I know you and I get sick of fucking talking about it, but we have to. but it's like to see Peter Montaetti get up there and win, whether he's your favorite guy or not. Like he just made 1.5. He made 1.3 all last year. Like he cried.

Like this is legitimately like life changing. And there's another side to the coin in pro golf other than which top 20 player in the world is how many millions of dollars are they going to make every single year? It's like these dudes, like that's his real life. Like he's been a hang on to your tour card type of guy for a while now. And it's kind of a breath of fresh air to see like, you know, the other side. I guess. Yeah, I mean, it's a great story. Like I said, no, it's not the biggest name in the world, but for him, I mean, $1.5 million. I don't think that's why he was crying. I think it's because he's had 12 top tens in his career. He won down the Sanderson Farms back in 2015, but for him to get two more years. And also, listen, we were one of them. We questioned why he got a sponsor exemption at AT&T Pebble Beach. Like, he's on the board. It looked a little weird that he was getting a sponsor exemption. Hey, now he can put all that to bed because he's like, hey, I, I I don't need a one now.

I'm in the sponsor exemptions. The rest are in the special, the whatever they're called, elevated events, signature. Signature is the name. All the time. But he's in them this year.

He's in them next year. It was a huge win for him. And it's just, like you said, for a guy that, I mean, I know that life. It's a grind to keep your card every year.

So winning for him is a massive deal. And it's more than just the money. It's the biggest thing for him is the two-year exemption. Yeah, and I know he took heat for getting that sponsor exemption. Anyone that gets offered it is going to take it. You're not going to say no to it. I completely.

stand by the fact. I think it was a total political move there, and I don't think they should be used like that. He was the beneficiary of that, but like you said, he gets to put it to bed now. And the thing that's going around like golf Twitter, whatever you want to call it, the drop on 16 was an incredible, you need lucky things sometimes to happen to you when you're trying to close out and you're not a guy that wins multiple times a year. That was about as good of a break in terms of relief in coming down the stretch of a golf term as I can remember in a long time. That lie that he had, I think was sitting down. You could barely see it. grain into him. Not that he couldn't get up and down, but it made it a lot easier

to Tuput from the French. I mean, sometimes the rules are there to help you. And he, I love the way he went about it with the rules official, Steve Rintull. He's like, are you sure like this is okay? Because this is a really good break for me. It was. And good for him for like confirmed. He's like, dude, everyone's going to be up my ass about this drop. Like, make sure this is within the rules. You don't know if he wasn't. I mean, he still could have got it up there on the shitty lie, but that made it much easier. And then to go on to Bertie 17 and the par on 18, congrats to him, man.

It was a really cool week. I got some good news for you. Can I give you one quick piece of good news? The golf related before we go on to some other stuff real quick. Our guy, shout out. The Rat, Barn Rat over at the Singapore Open, loses in a playoff, bud. Damn it. Eagle the 72nd to get into a playoff,

lost in a playoff. Need him to keep playing well. Need him back on the PJ tour mainly so we can come back here again. but $275,000 for the rat. That's a down payment on a Bugatti or something like that. Yeah, so congrats to the rat on the new whip. But I saw that. Good to see him play well.

He has been struggling. I think I heard he missed like 18 cuts in a row or something. It's been a rough stretch. Good for him. But he's back. All right, I'll throw some good news at you as well. This past weekend, I was lucky enough twice to play golf with one of our favorites on the show here. John Rom, Master's Champion.

Went out. Two days. He still got it, believe it or not. Cool. I thought he gave up after he got all the money. As not hurt his game, the guy is just ridiculously talented, had so much fun playing with him. We had two boys pop off.

Shout out to one of our guests, Ben Lamb, our buddy Shane Sigsby. Went to dinner on Friday night. They got a little liquid courage in them. They decided to pop off. How about we just play you two tomorrow? It didn't end well for him, Sleas. We took it to him pretty good. Hard to believe.

It was still a lot of fun. But the goodness. How many is lambie getting? He got 17 shots. Lamb. He wanted 18. I mean, listen, we just got to... Yeah, we got to...

17, dude, you got to pick up some... You got to win some holes with 17. He played pretty nice, actually. It's a lot of pops. Just not good enough. I mean, you're playing against John Rom. You know, number two, three-ranked player in the world, whatever he is. What do you shoot?

He shot 65 Thursday. It was ridiculously easy. And then probably five under on Sunday. And that was after us having a rather fun night. Not everybody was feeling their best. As it tends to happen. Now, that's the thing about him when you play with him. It's like, what do you shoot?

How did John play? I think, oh, pretty good. Like last time I went out of them, oh, he was solid. We go in and add it up, like, oh, yeah, 64. It was actually better than solid, but it didn't look like that. It looked like the easiest 64. So good to hear he still got it, and he didn't just retire from the game. And I will give another man a shout out.

I haven't even got to my good news yet, but on the day that ROM shot 65 in the group behind us was the Lairn, Scott Harrington. Well, 62. Yeah, he texted me, but he said, I'm back. Type it in. Type it in. 62. I would love to see him start playing some good golf. There was a time.

I've told you that. I think it was before you moved here. Back in the day, and he wasn't, I don't even think he had cornfairy status at time. I said, I'll take him at this golf course over anyone you want. It was, he was a machine. So hopefully it brings that to the cornfire. It gets back out on the show. You know what I mean?

It was good to see it. You know, I have more gin money, which will be great for everyone. That is true. Are you ready for the good news now? Yeah, now I'm ready. So John and I were talking, and he said on our show, he's worn the green jacket in public twice. on our show and at the World Series when we threw out the first pitch.

It's the only time he's weren't in public. Yeah, that makes sense. And he told me, he goes, if I win this year, the second I get home, I'll be coming to your studio again to do another episode. So we have that.

That is booked. So I know we're really not supposed to root for people, but I wouldn't mind maybe seeing the spay in your bringing on the roof jacket again. It'd be rather nice to sit down with him again. I don't mind rooting for people at all, and I'll be, yes.

So I figured he's going to be more motivated than ever on that, too, because he hears all the talk. like, oh, you know, it's not as competitive and all that stuff. Like, look, you can do a lot of things, but not being competitive ain't one. That guy wants to rip your face off and anything you played tick-tac-toe. He wants to kill you. Yeah, he still got that in him.

Yeah, the fire burns. It's so much fun. He is so talented, though, watching him strike the golf ball. It's just something special. Yeah. It's just, it's easy. And I'm more hyped for the majors this year just because, you know, the ball that's going on, like, it's going to be juicy.

I hope we get kind of what we've had the last couple of us. It's going to be a lot of fun. Masters is just two weeks away. And speaking of that, our guest this week had himself a chance a couple of times at the Masters. Lost in a playoff to Tiger Woods back in 2005 with one of the most memorable shots in Master's history, the Tiger chip in on 16. But Chris DeMarco is up at the Champions Tour event, sits down with us.

And man, this one was a lot of fun. He's got some good stories. When you really go back and, like, dive in, like, oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Oh, yeah. He's been in battles with, like, some of the best to ever do. I mean, Tiger, VJ, and Phil all coming down the stretch on Sundays in majors. That's about as

real as it gets. And yeah, he was a great sit down. Three runner-ups in major championships. I mean, he could be a multiple major champion. If he just didn't run into that Tiger fellow at two of them. There's a lot of guys that could be multiple major champions. If Earl and Coltita had never met, imagine what would be for some of these guys.

All right, let's get to Chris DeMarco on subpar. It is a pleasure to be joined now by longtime PGA tour player. three-time winner. He's a U.S. Rider Cup team member, as well as the President's Cup, and he put the claw putting grip on the map single-handedly. Chris DeMarco is here. How are we doing, Chris? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, guys. Good to have you, bud. Chris, long time, no C. Great to see you again. I know you're out in Newport right now, getting ready for a PGA Tour

Champions event out there. Let's start there real quick, because I know you've been out there for a couple years now how's life out on the champions tour you know it's great i mean obviously all the guys the camaraderie um the fraternity that's out here is amazing um getting your brains beat in every week is is a little disheartening uh these guys can play some golf out here and they're playing they're playing their their asses off and you know it's we don't really play for much money so i can't say it's big business but it is big business i mean we're still it's a second life for us and you know we're we're out you know trying but it's funny you go on the range on a at today it If you went out there today at 6 o'clock, there'd still be 30 guys in the range banging balls.

So it's not like what it used to be. They're not sitting around a table drinking beer, drinking wine, having a good time. They're working on their game, trying to get better. Do you wish you would go back to that? Yeah, that sounds like a cooler tour back then. I liked it when, you know, I remember 30 years ago, there was only maybe, you know, five guys that can win out there. Now there's 78 guys that can when anybody tease it up can win. So the competitive nature out here is definitely greater than it was.

And, you know, you're seeing guys have second career, Stephen Walker, you know, a guy like Scott Perel, who'd never really played the tour. I mean, you're seeing it. And these guys are, they're not afraid. And they're coming out and they're winning. What's gotten into Stephen Walker? Because he just turned into a behemoth, like, overnight. It seems like he never plays bad out there. You know, the first term he qualified was a couple of years ago to Flint.

And I played the second round with him. We both shot 68 to first round. And I'm like, all right, who's this kid? What's you going to do? And he went out. And literally then he just went out and finished top 15 the next. 28 tournaments in a row with like three wins. So, you know, hits a ball really good.

Hits ball still very far. And he's a great putter. He just doesn't miss anything from, you know, six feet and in. And it doesn't matter the situation. There's really no nerves in them. And, you know, that's what it takes out here is obviously, you know, we're all getting older and nerves play a big part, even though we've all done it many times.

It's still, you know, it's still the competitive greatness inside of you that wants to come out and expectations you put on yourself, you know, and stuff to control those nerves. Nerves are still part of the game. Yes, they are. And, you know, I know a lot of you guys out there that are just getting going on the Champions Tour from early on in my PGA Tour career. And things are changing a lot in the game of golf right now.

What is the talk out there on the Champions Tour about everything that's going on with Liv and all this money being thrown around? Well, we're kind of hoping that Liv buys a champion store. Take it true. Let's play for a little real money out here. I mean, this is kind of a joke when we're averaging 2 million. There was like seven guys last week from TPC that made more money than our purses. yeah wow it was that's wild it's pretty nuts

25 mil i think it went down to like top if you finished top 40 you made six figures at tpc that's nice i mean it's amazing yeah it's unreal but is it for y'all is it like kind of like this is awesome i mean that they're playing for this much money or is it like damn where was this when we were out there you know i was fortunate um you know you came in about the same time as tiger did and for me you're a little later net. But, you know, so I got to go from, we were playing for a million dollars to all of a sudden, we're playing for four and five. And I thought that was, you know, now we're, you know, playing for so much money. And then, you know, now that, you know, Tiger and Rory and all these guys,

and the tours has gone even way more than it was. All of a sudden, they found $150 million out of nowhere and added that to the purses. So now they got, you know, 14 elevated events at, what, $20 million a piece and TPC $25 million. So obviously the money's there. You know, I was fortunate to play during the Tiger era and got to play for. some good money and um you know but not like the kind of money these guys are playing for i mean it it seems like every week there's another person passing me on career money list just in a couple years being on tour yeah i mean where's scotty at right now i mean i know he's having a pretty damn good run but he's like where's he's 11th 11th all time i mean he's a kid it's unbelievable

i mean i was doing some math last year and in 31 tournaments last year he made 30 30 million official in 31 events. It's unbelievable. He's on track this year. Yeah, and it's going down. I mean, last year, number 126, so you lost your card, made over a million dollars. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, it was, I think Curtis Strange was the first ever to win over a million back in like 1991.

So golf come a long way, and it should. You know, I mean, I don't fault any of those guys for going to live. You know, if you would ask me the same thing in 2004 and 5 when I was at the height of my career, see you later. I'm gone. And it was be a purely monetary thing for me. I mean, you're talking generational money these guys are making. It'd be nice to have that in the bank. And I think have your kids taking care of and all that.

I don't see any problem with it. I mean, you know, when they first came out and they said, oh, we're playing this less golf. All that's bullshit. You know what? They just want to, they want to play for a lot of money. And they deserve it. They've had some great careers.

Why not go get some money? I mean, that might be the best take I've ever heard on the whole live situation right there. I loved every word of that. Yeah, you throw nine figures out there. It's like, how do you really, Especially for the older guys, Chris, like you mentioned, like, dude, some of these guys that were in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning of their careers, the bolters, the Stensensens, the Westwoods, guys like that. I mean, that's got to feel like just a golden parachute coming down. Yeah, I got like Pat Perez.

Yeah. I saw Graham McDowell at the old Memorial pro member, and he was telling me, he goes, listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said, listen, I love the tour. But you know what? I'm struggling to keep my card, and these guys are offering me all this money and all these tournaments and less golf. He goes, I'm sorry, I'm going. And I don't blame on one bed. I said, I would have too. Yeah, and a guy like Graham, he's handled it so well.

He hasn't bashed the tour. Like Charles Howe's another perfect example, who is still an ATM machine out there. I remember he came up to me at Hilton Head, year before last, and he's like, man, what do you think about all this? And he's like, what if I got an offer? I was like, honestly, I think you'd be crazy not to go. I mean, you're 40, four years old.

Like, you don't have to worry about beating these young kids all the time. You get all this money up front. It's not too bad. I just hate that it's divided golf. I agree. with you. I mean, at some point, I think, and, you know, not to pass Jay Monahan, but I think he handled it terribly. You know, I think the beginning, just to having the cut and dry thing that he did, I think it was a little too much. I think he should have maybe let some of this soak in and see what's going to happen with

this, and he just got to the point where it was just black and white. That's it. And we're taking this route. If you play there, you're off. I mean, I think he could have done a little bit better job with that. And then the guys had stuck by, you know, Rory McElroy, these guys had turned down a lot of money. You know, now what do they have the show for it? And if these guys, get to come back and play. I mean, I'd be pretty ticked off if I was them. Yeah, I'm with you. It's going to be interesting to see what unfolds over the next year. But let's talk a little bit more about you. I want to go back. You mentioned you aren't playing for a lot of money now. I want to go back to Canadian tour. Yes, that is, Slees loves, we call them jicky jacks out here,

the mini tour events, stuff like that. Canadian tour, though. Take us through your start of your professional career out on the Canadian tour. Yeah, I went actually to South Africa that year. We got married in 91 my wife and I and so we went to South Africa I played pretty good over there finished like 14th on their money list you know how to go over and qualify I made the first qualifier made every cut so I didn't have to qualify again which was nice and then we went we drove in a van from Orlando Florida all the way to Victoria Canada and we played 12 weeks across the country and I finished 13th the first two weeks and then I never finished outside the top 7th and I wanted to order merit with my wife cadamie the whole time thought we were millionaires made 57,000

Canadian thought we were like, you know, the shit. We were hopping and going crazy and actually made more money, U.S. money and bonuses because back then the titleists would pay bonuses. It was unbelievable. I made like another 25, 30,000 U.S. in bonuses. So we were living the high life, I thought. And the Canadian dollar at the time, it's changed over time, but at the time the Canadian dollar was like less than the U.S. dollars. So 57 loonies and tunis were different than dollars at the time. I think it was like 70% of the U.S. dollar. So, So it wasn't much. You mentioned...

You drove from Orlando to Victoria? What is... What kind of hours are we talking on that? I mean, I don't even think that was feasible. 59 hours. It was 3,300 miles. We took us six days. And we just...

And then once we got there, we just drove all the way across. We started in Victoria and ended up in Prince Edward Island. And over 16 weeks. Yeah. It was pretty awesome. We traveled two dogs. That year, it was Steve Stricker was on that. tour. Mike Weir was on that tour.

Kind of named Mike Cheddar, who played really well that year, too. I mean, a ton of guys that played a PGA tour. Guy Boros was on that tour. And so we were like a big fraternity out there. We all would travel together. We'd have this big convoy going from tournament to tournament. We'd all get hammered on Sunday night.

Then we'd recover on Monday, have a couple more beers on Tuesday, and then it was back to real golf. So, you know, it just was a nice, you know, we were all striving for the same thing, which is to get to the next level. That's it. That's the routine. You mentioned the van.

Now, I don't know if this was this year, but I heard it was a special van. We did have a, we did buy a conversion van that was white and blue. And then I went on a tournament in Corn Ferry. My wife, for my birthday, got it all gatored out, the windows all gated out. And I was like, oh, my God. It was great when the gators were winning in the mid-90s, when we were kicking butt, it was great to drive. But when you have, you know, a couple losses in a row, it's not real good driving that van.

But it was a lot of fun. I mean, obviously, you know, I'm known as a Florida Gator. I've always worn it on my sleeve, and I'd never hide behind it. I'm a Florida Gator for life. I bleed orange and blue. And, you know, I'll take, listen, I like to dish it out so I can take what anybody gives me. Bigger Gator fan, you are Billy Horsal. Absolutely me.

Not even close. Love it. So if you and Billy are in the same room, we're watching a Gator game, you'll lose. You break something before Billy? I might take a five milligram gummy, so I wouldn't be that upset. But, you know. You got like figured out, Chris. That's great.

I've definitely calm down watching those now after I take one of those. It's definitely a lot easier. I would throw my shoe through the TV back in the days for sure. Are you still getting down to games? I try to go to one a year. We went to South Carolina last year. And Florida State we went to a couple years ago. The last two that I've been to, we've won.

So I need to go to more games because we're not winning much actually right now. So I need to get down there and watch a couple more. How did you feel about the, is it swamp kings? Is that what it was called on Netflix? 30 for 30. You want to speak on that? Yeah, you know, I thought it was absolutely amazing. As a college football fan, I think that they did a good job of leaving out a lot of the dirt

because there was a lot of dirt that was left out. We definitely had a lot of criminals in that era that was there. And Tim Tebow obviously was a ringleader to tame these guys down. And, you know, I think they left a lot of that out, which was good. I think it was good for college football, but obviously there is some behind-the-scenes things. All I got to do is watch Aaron Hernandez special,

and you'll see exactly what's going on. That's crazy. Is there a bigger, like when he comes on campus, when Tim Tebow comes on campus, is there anyone that could come on that would be bigger than Tim Tebow? I think the only one that is equal to Tebow, and obviously it's a different error. It's almost like comparing Tiger to Jack

would be Steve Spurrier to Tim Tebow. I think they kind of are, you know, of their errors are the two guys. Daniel Werfel's obviously a huge guy too, but he's such a soft-spoken guy. You know, he likes to be in his own lane. But, you know, only three Heisman trophy winners ever at the University of Florida of those three guys. But Spurrier probably, you know, has the personality to kind of combat Teeball a little bit. Yeah, Spurrier.

Old ball coach, man, was a huge, huge fan. You're a Denver guy now. You're making your way. Up in Denver, are you an adopted Broncos or Nuggies fan? Where are we there? I like the colors of the Broncos. They're orange and blue, so they match exactly the same. I've become a Broncos fan.

I've been a Steelers fan my whole life, so always will root for the Steelers. But Broncos obviously watching the avalanche. The avalanche are fun to watch. Our son lives in Tampa, so I'd be kind of a Tampa Bay Lightning fan. So as long as they're not playing Tampa, I'm usually rooting for Colorado. And then, I mean, the Joker and the Nuggets are amazing. I mean, what that guy is, he's crazy. So they're fun to watch.

It's a great sports town. Denver is a fantastic sports town. All right, before we get back to Chris DeMarco Colt, very excited to announce a new partnership that we got here that I think every golfer in the world will appreciate. We all know what a headache it is. Going to the airport, lugging your clubs, put them in the bag, back and forth, the problems. Shipsticks has come on board to make the whole process easier for everyone. I use them virtually every single time I travel. I know you use it as well.

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holes. Tiger kind of came back, but it's obviously known for the most memorable shot in Master's history, probably the chip in on 16, but let's take us through that week a little bit. What were your thoughts going into the week? Did you know you were, you know, possibly destined to put on the green jacket? You know, I played good. their last, the year before, I played in the last group with Phil, watched him win his first major, playing with him. And then at the end of the year, in that in 04, I lost in the playoff to VGA to PGA, me and Justin Leonard. So getting into the position to win majors was getting more comfortable for me, for sure. And I was playing really good going into that week. So, you know,

obviously with great memories from the year before. So I was ready to go. And, you know, we had to come back on Sunday morning and play the last nine holes. And I had shot in 33 on the front and was going to the 10th T and they blew the siren for us to have to come out the next day. And I didn't hit a bad shot on that next nine holes and shot 41. So, you know, just I don't think they cut the fairways. The green for cut. It was a little chilly. The ball wasn't going as far.

And, you know, then I had to wait until 3 o'clock to go again. And Tiger went on a run. Obviously, I think he had birdied like the last three and then birdie 10, 11, 12, and So, yeah, I think I was three back going into that Sunday afternoon. But still a lot of confidence in what I was doing. I was in such control of my game and my nerves, everything. So, you know, I knew just to go out and go do what I could do. And I think it was my – I think I shot 68 to 71, and we obviously went to a playoff.

And I was working with Giavelli at the time, a really good sports psychologist. And the thing we were working on was expect the unexpected. So certainly wasn't expecting him to chip in on 16, but certainly had crossed him. my mind before he hit the chip. But I had the best seat in house. I was right there by the bunker watching that thing go in. Yeah, at what point when it was rolling down the hill where you're like, this is fucking in. I guarantee you because yeah,

I mean, the whole world was like, dude, this is Tiger. This is what happens. I was blowing. I was like, I was trying to hold that shit out. It was crazy, man. You know, you just, you look at Tiger and what he's done and you look at like Mr. Nicholas the same way. And in the biggest moments in the biggest times, they just do amazing stuff. you know, I don't think there would have been anybody else that could have done that other than Tiger.

And, you know, it's what it was. I mean, I knew that I still had a chance. I was only two back with two to go. And obviously he made two really bad swings and made two bogies and I was able to go in the playoffs. But, you know, the great ones figure out ways to do it. And he certainly is one of the greatest of all time. You know, they show that shot on 16 all the time, Vern Lundquist, with one of the most iconic calls in Masters history. Does it still sting a little when you see it or is it just like, man, that was,

incredible to be right there when it happened you know i don't think i've ever got more notoriety for finishing second in a tournament because i really didn't back down i just got beat and um you know i think people love that about you know look at rocko media look at bob may guys that you know that didn't back down to him uh you know he never scared me he never intimidated me did i know he was a better player than me absolutely i mean he had more shots of me uh better focus in me better nerves in me but any given day he never he never ever scared me so i always went in with the mindset that who knows what today has to bring. Let's just go out and bring our A game. If my A game is on and, you know, Tiger has a B plus C game, I can get them. So, you know,

you got to go out and do what you can do. You damn near did get him. I mean, a lot of people forget that he goes in Bogie 17 and 18, which is completely unlike Tiger at that time, such a killer. How shocked were you that he kind of let you back in that thing? And you damn near ended it on the 72nd. I did. I had a really good chip that kind of hit the pin and rattled out. You know, I, again, I was so comfortable there. I just love that place. This is before, you know, they added 800 more yards. So, you know, it just, I was, every T-ball I was comfortable with. And, you know, you don't find those places too many. I was really fortunate that Augusta was one of those places for me. You know, I always felt that way at Hartford. Hartford was another course that I

felt really good at, you know, not a long golf course, something that you could, you know, hit 265, 275, and you're in play. And, you know, that's what you look for on tour. There's a fortunate thing is, you know, there's 43 or 44 tournaments. You only have to play 25 or 26, so you find 25 or 26 of your favorite ones. Yeah, I mean, I would have to think. I don't know if you've talked to him about it all, but Tiger had to respect the hell out of you. Because, I mean, you gave him everything you got every time.

Like you said, you never backed down. He didn't scare you. I mean, to go out there with Tiger with a three-shot lead going in the final round, and you to shoot 68 to his 71, like probably everyone in the world thought this thing was over going into Sunday. And you went out there and said, no, sir, not yet. Yeah, no. And, you know, he was, he's very respectful, but he loves that. That's what he wants.

He doesn't want somebody to cower and go away. He wants to be challenged. I mean, that's his drug. His drug is to be in that situation and then outperform wherever he's playing. And, you know, he is a very respectful guy. He respects you for what you can do. And, you know, he is, you know, he definitely, you know, when you, every, you hear him comment on whether it was the PGA

championship with Bob May or the U.S. Open with Rockomedia, he always throws a lot of respect towards us for challenging him and putting it up to that big fight. That's funny. You look at the three guys that really challenged him, took him to extra holes. Yeah. We're not the longest guys, not the biggest guys.

I mean, they were big under, honestly, probably big underdogs going against him. I mean, he could overpower him, and all three of you just went toe to toe with him until the very end. Well, we all were really good drivers in the golf ball, really good iron players and really good putters. So he knew he had to be on.

It didn't matter. You know, Sunday at Augusta that year, I mean, he was hitting at 50, 60, 70 by me all day, and I was hitting it closer to the pin every hole. So, you know, he knew that the game was on, that he had to go out and play some good golf. I mean, he was working on his golf swing. I think he just started working with Hank Haney at the time.

So, you know, there were some things going on. But, you know, he watched me hit it. And, I mean, a couple lip-ins on a lip-outs on the front line. And, I mean, it could have been a different story. But again, you know, you're playing Tiger Woods at Augusta, you know, he seems to pull out some great things there. And did you chirp him, correct me if I'm wrong? Did you chirp him a little going from nine green to 10T or something along those lines? Am I remembering that correctly?

We were walking down 11 and I just hit one a little closer to him again. And I said, are you tired of putting first yet? And he just went fuck off. You're hitting four-iron prize in Wedge. Yeah, that's old. I mean, but he loves that. I mean, he loves that kind of stuff. He really does, you know.

it's a funny story. I mean, one of the funny stories was as I was playing, that day we were getting ready to tee off and I was on the range and just him and I in the range and the Gators won a national championship in basketball that week on Monday. So I took a golf lot and I wrote Go Gators on it and I chipped it down to him and hit a really nice little chip that right kind of right into his bucket there. And he lifted it up, took a Sharpie out, scratched, set it back down to me. And he scribbled out Go Gators or Go and he wrote, fuck the Gators.

So I still have that golf ball. He doesn't sign balls, but I have that one. That's awesome. Keep that thing. I love that. I'm a good story. I got a question. I'm curious on because I think you're one of the few people that can answer it.

You played in the final round, excuse me, in the final pairing of the final round of a major championship with both Phil and Tiger. In their prime, basically, too. What's the biggest difference between being paired with Phil and being paired with Tiger, if anything? You know, both times that, you know, obviously we're at Augusta. And, you know, both of those guys were obviously huge personalities. You know, Phil was looking for his first major when he won in 2004. So, I mean, you talk about a monkey on the back. I mean, for him to, that's why I think he only got a half an inch out of the ground when he jumped.

That monkey was still on there. But, you know, it's different. I mean, when you play with Tiger, you know, it's pretty much one-sided. It's pretty much for Tiger. And, you know, as the day went on that day, though, in 2005, the tide was turning. There was a lot of people pulling for me by the end just because I was putting up a good fight. You know, Phil, you know, just a thumbs up

and the whole thing. You know, people love him. He's really good to the fans. So, you know, but you kind of people root for both people. I think, you know, obviously it's tougher playing with Tiger just because I feel like, you know, Tiger just, his focus is just, he's not going anywhere. No.

And is it more of a circus with Tiger? Like as soon as he puts out, like, you know, the Army goes to the next tee. Yeah, and he's really good about that. he's really good that if he lags went up within the foot of the hole. A lot of times he'll market knowing that that's what's going to happen, knowing that people are going to come by and, you know, just leave as soon as he gets done with.

The worst thing is playing in front of him or playing behind them. When you play in front of him, he's running up to the green while you're playing. And if you're playing behind him, you know, they put in, you look down to, you know, get a club. Next thing you know, there's nobody around the green. So, I was aiming at that guy in the blue, but he's gone. Yeah, and it's a lot better playing with him, too,

because you had a bad shot. You're hitting somebody, and the ball's only going to. couple feet off the green instead of, you know, 10 yards off the green because you're hitting into the crowd. Yeah, that's a very good point. If I had to ask you, just first thing that comes of mind, other than the chip in at 16, best shot you ever saw Tiger Hit. You know, I think I'd have to go back to that Canadian open, that six aren't out of the bunker. Oh, God. Disgusting. That was, I mean, that was amazing. I mean, I played that year. And I mean, what people don't realize is, yeah, it's a six irons, but there was no angle there because he was in the right bunker.

it was all carryover water. The pin from the angle he hit was only like six or seven on the green from where he was from 250 yards with the six iron. That shot was towering. You know, again, another guy, Grant Waite, that was on the green and two had a chance to win a tournament and Tiger goes and does what he did. I can tell you this, talking to Grant Waite a few years ago, he's still not over it. He's still very upset about it.

Absolutely. I mean, yeah, Tiger does some crazy stuff, man. But you don't put it past him anymore because he's just done it consistently throughout his whole career. You did it over and over and you came to expect it. Let me ask you this because you talked about how I wasn't afraid of Tiger. Yeah, was Tiger a better player? Yeah, he's better than everyone in the world at the time, but you weren't afraid of him. Did any of that have to do with the fact that you had shared locker rooms with him at Rider Cups prior to that? And kind of, I guess, like, I don't want to call it the mystique, but maybe some of that wears off if you've actually

been around him a little bit. Well, I think, you know, the first time I ever play with Tiger in my life in a tournament was in 2001 at the masters and I shot 65 69 and was leading after the first two days and he was going for the tiger slam and we got paired her on Saturday. So you talk about nerves. I mean, those are the biggest nerve. Those are bigger than the first time I ever teed off at Augusta. That, you know, playing with Tiger having the lead and then I went out and I played pretty good. I shot 72 to 68 and he obviously went on to win but I finished top 10 and you know but playing with them and being able to handle myself really goes a long way. And when you can do that, because you know, every shot's watched. Every shot on TV is going to be on TV. So, you know,

what you can go through that and, you know, perform through that, it really gives you a boost of confidence. Yeah. And like Slee said, you shared lockers with them at President's Cup, Rider Cups. I heard there was an interesting story on, I believe it was your first Rider Cup going to the T for alternate shot. And things kind of changed on the way to the T. Yeah. Jay Hawley. was my partner and we had practiced the whole week. We were playing alternate shot. I was going to tee up on the odd holes. He was going to tee off on the even holes.

And, you know, listen, there's been some nervous moments in my time, but the Ryder Cup is by far the most nerve-wracking experience I've ever had in my life. And we did, we practiced all week. I was going to tee up the first hole. And we're at the range. We're at, I think we're at Oakland Hills in, in Detroit. Is that right? Yeah.

Yeah. And we're walking to the T, and I said, Jay, I don't think there's any way I can hit this T ball. Actually, there's no way I can hit this T ball. We have to switch it up. And he's like, all right, we can do it. And so he switched it up. I didn't think it through because I was still really nervous. So he hit a kind of good one up the left side.

I hit it on the green like 30 feet. And then he ran to buy four and a half feet. I'd much rather hit that drive than have a four and a half footer on the first hole in the rider cup. Somehow I, you know, shake her in there. And we went on to win the match three and two. Jay hit it to like a foot and a half. on the 16th hole. And I was praying to God, these guys would give me that putt. And they gave it to me and went up winning that match, which was pretty good for us because

we were getting pretty licked that first day. And we ended up, at least we made a little bit of comeback that morning, but we still got stumped at Ryder Cup. That was the one where Tiger and Phil famously went out together. What was the team, I guess, attitude about that when they heard about it? Was there a shock, surprise, or did you guys know this was coming? You know, at the time, you know, I think there was a mutual respect for each other with Tiger and Phil, but I don't really think they liked each other too much. In fact, I'm pretty sure they didn't like each other too much.

Two big alpha males for sure. You know, and obviously they were one and two and very much ahead of anybody else in the world. So you would think that you put those two together. But if they don't like playing together and they don't like each other, then they're certainly not going to be a good team together. So I think, you know, Hal kind of put everybody all our eggs in one basket, basically. And, you know, they got beat. And, I mean, what a uplifting momentum boost for the, you know, the Europeans when they go out and beat our number one of two guys.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a... I think once I understand, like I've said this before, like one time, all right, little experiment, the two bass, let's put them out. But then after it doesn't work out, I don't know about the second time, I'm like, okay, you know, missed on that one. Let's split them up. Yeah, in my mind, if you're, if the European team and you're like, okay, we just took them down, we got them. Oh, dude, that's the biggest lift of all time. Yeah.

And they did get us. I think they beat us 18 and a half to nine and a half. They drummed us. Do the nerves compare at all? I mean, the President's Cup's a great event. I know it's not quite the level of the Ryder Cup, but it still means a lot. Can you compare the nerves at either of those? Yeah, I think the difference is, you know, at the President's Cup, it seems like almost everybody's playing every day.

You know, it's five matches in the morning, five matches in the afternoon, and then there's like six matches on the third. And you're playing four days. So it's like four days of golf. And I think more people are playing where, yeah, and I think we know the guys a little bit more. On the European side, we don't really know everybody that plays. You know, they always have three or four Europeans that only play the European tour that make the team,

where the internationals always seem that they all come from our tour. So I think we're more friendly with those guys. But nerve-wise, they're both very nerve-wrecking. There's no doubt about it. When you slap that U.S. flag on your chest and you're playing for the country, It is, it's an honor, but it's also a nerve-wracking thing. I mean, it's a privilege.

It's an honor. And you know, you feel like you want to serve America the right way. And you had the honor of making the winning put at the President's Cup, which was an incredible reaction right in front of Captain Nicholas, I believe. Yeah, that was one of the coolest things ever, you know, that I remember that night, we were the night before on Saturday. We were just having, you know, our team dinner and we were all kind of, you know, having a beer here, a beer there.

And then all of a sudden the lineup came out and he put Phil, 11th, they put me 12th, and I said, honey, we got to go to bed. I'm going to bed. The nerves hit me right there. And, you know, I was playing Stuart Appleby that day. And, you know, it was, we were just kind of in the back thinking, you know, our Mac probably isn't going to matter much. And then with five or six holes left, we kind of were looking at the way things were, you know, fixing, figures, figuring to go. And, you know, Phil birdied 18, Ty Cabrera, they went to extra holes. And then me and Stuart were tied going to the 18th pole.

And I, he got on the same line as me. And I was fortunate to watch his put. And then, you know, I was fortunate to make that, like a 15, 16-footer. And then, you know, my idol growing up in golf was Tiger Woods. I mean, Jack Nicholas, I mean, and to have Jack Nicholas kind of hobbled on that hill and no pun intended, giving me a bear hug was one of the coolest things ever. That's awesome. That is awesome. And that 2003-2005 President's Cup, without question, probably the two best President's Cups we've ever had out there. Are those some of your looking back? Are those like your favorite memories from, you know, that era? Yeah. I look at that 203-1 where we tied them and then they put the weight of the whole President's Cup

and Tiger, which we all knew that would happen. But then we're in South Africa, and then you put Ernie Ells, with being a South African, putting that all on him. And the way those two guys went out and performed, I mean, they both birdied the first hole. They made two good par putts. And then on the third hole, the par putt Tiger made from 15, 16 feet. And then Ernie made like an eight-foot or up the hill dark.

I mean, it was dark. And both of them were just going off the green to the next hole. And that's when Jack and Gary kind of called it in and said, let's just, you know, share the cup, which I thought was great for the game of golf. Yeah, I agree. That was a really cool moment. One will never forget in the presence cup. All right, before we get back to our interview, a quick break to tell you that if you haven't done it yet, go check out our YouTube page. It's golf underscore subpar. We've got some new content coming up at the ASU facility. We're going to have some more stuff coming out as the year goes on. So if you haven't yet, go to YouTube, subscribe, golf underscore subpar, and now back to our interview. I do have to ask about, because he said you were the OG claw, which I don't know if you call it claw, which way you want to do.

Here's a little different. How did you come up with that? So I was the first one to bring it on the tour. I wasn't necessarily the first one that ever thought of it. We were I was playing a two-day pro pro-pro event with a guy, a buddy of mine, Anthony Ballistero in Orlando, and there was a rain delay, and Skip Kennel was in there. And he's like, what are you going to do next year?

I said, I don't know. I'm dying and drunk from a foot and a half. I don't know what I'm going to do. And he showed me this grip. I'm like, yeah, right, whatever, you know, whatever you, whatever. So the next day I went out, I had one of those pots. I knew there was no chance I was going to make it. I said, let me give this a shot. And literally the putter went back like I was 12 years old. It went just straight back, straight through, good speed, good transition and stroke.

And I'm like, holy crap. And immediately I went from shooting 73. I hit 17 greens around and have 10 puts inside 10 feet and shoot 73. And I went back to shooting 63, 64 overnight. And without that, that was in December of 95. And then what, out and actually qualified for the first three PGA tour events, two in Florida, Honda, and Dural and then Atlanta. So I went up to be a Monday qualified for him to get in. And then went up, I had status on the Canadian tour that year for winning to order in 92, and I won an event up there, and then missed it finals.

That was the year that they canceled the sixth round of finals. I was won out with one round to go, and they canceled the final round. and then went on and played really good that Nike tour that year and finished third got my tour card and had it ever since. Yeah, you made the,

like you weren't the first guy to ever do it, but you kind of put it on the map, in my opinion, and golfers will copy anything that they see working for other people. Look at the Ricky Fowler party, and then Windup Cart gets it now half the tour, I feel like Sputton with some sort of version of that. How many people came to you after they saw what the claw did for you

and did you ever help other pros? Like Phil went to it for a while. Like there's a bunch of guys that moved to it after that. Well, I remember I was playing, I was, I qualified for Doral, and I was putting on to putting green, and Calquevecchio walked by. Didn't say anything to me, he just looked at this catty and he goes, oh, this one way I know I'm never going to fucking putt, and sure enough, he's been new and it's ever ever putt up ever putt up ever putt up until then. Yeah. So, you know, Tim Herring, the same thing. Tim's been using a long time.

And, you know, different variations. I know Kevin Sullivan's got one, one win on tour. And the only time he ever putt it with the claw was that week at the match play. And he won the match play, punt with the claw. So on our tour, I would say there's probably 30 to, 40 of the 78 to put with some version of the claw every week. Yeah, for sure. I think Lumpy went to it because he can hold a cigarette.

Yeah, he can smoke while he puts. Yeah, you can keep the smoke right there. Yeah, exactly. I've got to fill it. Because we're talking about your putting, I don't ask you a philosophical question. You're a guy that is a very, very good, you're known as a great clutch putter. We could name a bunch from the but the putt you made at the Buick, the putt you made, you know, at the Masters or the, or the President's Cup, is clutch putting more great technique,

great mechanics and just being a good putter, or is there something like mental that makes a great clutch putter? I think it's a combination of the two. I think it's definitely a good routine goes a long way. Confidence is probably the biggest thing. I think, you know,

and when I say confidence, I think it's wanting the ball. There's been times in my career where I haven't felt comfortable and I don't really want the ball because I don't want to have to hit that put in front of people. And that was before the claw.

And then once I went to the claw, I felt like at least I was going to put a good stroke on it. When you can at least put a good stroke on it, it takes all the kind of the main nerves away. Because really there's only two things the ball can do. It's either going to go in or it's not going to go in. That's all it's going to happen. So if you can just give yourself the best chance to make the putt,

and you know that you're going to do that, then it really frees you up. Yeah, I love that. I think, you know, great putters have such a great mind. They believe they are going to make every putt. Yeah. I mean, yeah, when I feel like, when I feel like I'm going to hit a good stroke, and even in the situation, whenever it is,

I really feel like I'm going to, I mean, I visualize it going in. I mean, I visualize the crowd going crazy. You try to visualize all that stuff. I mean, you know, it really goes a long way when you can really get into that type of visualization. I work with that with G.O.2.

You watch Match Coutcher when he, before he hits a shot, he closes his eyes. He's visualizing the shot he wants to hit. And sometimes when you visualize that, you know, you pull it off. Yeah, there's just something about the putter, like great putters,

whether they have great technique or not. It's just like, like you said, wanting the ball and just kind of know, Reggie Miller when he was shooting a game winner. It's like, all right, dude, his form's not great, but like, this is Reggie, like this is going. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, look at Jack Nicholas.

I mean, Jack Nicholas, when it ever mattered, he was, he was going to make the pot. I remember the last British Open he ever played in. I played it was St. Andrews. I was over there with my brother. Jack had like a 15 for Bertie, and I said, there's no way he misses his pot. This is his last British Open. It's on the last hole. There's no way he misses my brother.

He's like, oh, he's not going to make it. I said, I'll bet you whatever you want to bet. I said, I'll give you 10 to 1 odds on 10 bucks because you're on it. And of course he made it. And it broke a foot and a half. It was like not even close. Yeah. Great players, great players like that in the situation, just know how to do it and make it go in.

They will it in the hole. Like the putty made against Rocco at the U.S. Open. Nobody else makes that put put put. But Tiger willed that put in. In the world, you could roll it perfect off the stimp thing 100 times in a row and not less than half probably go in. I agree with those bumpy greens. Yeah.

All right. Let's get to the E9. Yeah. This is going to be a little fun. Okay, nine fun questions. And we ask this to everyone, which way do you want to go? You want to go? I'll let you pick.

Okay. I'm going to ask, give me Chris, childhood crush. I know you've been married to your wife for a long time. You know, you guys go way back, but celebrity crush. Whoa, celebrity crush. Probably Suzanne Summers. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, we could rephrase that. Like, if you had a hall pass, let's just say. Or at my wife's right here, and she said, she looked at me like, no, Jamie Lee Curtis. It was Jamie Lee Curtis. She's right. Jamie Lee Curtis. Yeah. That one scene in trading places, that was a pretty good one. I like it. I love

that she just told you what your celebrity crush. You should say, Jamie. All right, I'll give you my first one here. All right, give me one guy on the champions tour that you weren't friends with before you got out there, but now that you got out there, your buddy's like, wow, this guy's cooler than I

thought. Oh, that's a hard one too because, you know, everybody out here, there's really nobody out here I dislike. And there's, you know, I mean, I always got along with Vijay. I mean, people, he gets a bad rap. It's such a good fraternity out here. I mean, there's a lot of guys that I didn't know, like a guy like Scott Perel, who's one of the nicest guys in the world, but I had no idea who he was before I got out here. A guy named Mike Goodas, the same thing.

You know, a guy like Rob LaBritz, I mean, just a super nice guy. that, you know, never would have an opportunity to do this, but the Champions Tour is affording him this, and he's taking advantage of it. You know, it's guys like that. I mean, all the other guys I've played golf with so much and dealt with and did whatever. And, you know, you have your days,

you have your good days, your bad days with these guys, but ultimately they're like big brothers and little brothers, and you just go on and make up and go to the next week. Yeah, man, I don't want to get older, but it seems really fun out there. Yeah, I quit a long time ago, but like when I turned 49, I might have to start a accident again. I'll catty for you. I feel like, yeah, they get it.

All right, Chris, worst injury you have ever had in your career, and how did it happen? So I think the worst injury was my, I had, I had shoulder surgery, but I cracked a rib in my lower back the week before TPC. And I was skiing and I had a backpack on and I had a bottle of schnapps in there. and a couple guys came out of the trees and I kind of went down and I didn't I first checked my wrists and my my my knees and my um my ankles and all that was good and then my back was just starting to hurt a little bit so we kind of we we we skied down and I started having a couple more beers thinking that would go away and actually the pain got a little worse so I went to have x-ray nothing was broken but I had a really bruised rib and it caused me to actually have a shoulder surgery later that year but that's the one that

that, you know, I had a missed TPC that week, and I played Augusta, literally, like, just, I mean, I was hitting six iron, 155 yards just because I could barely swing. Damn schnapps got in the way. Did the schnapp survive? Damn snops. Well, the funny thing is, is I had two in there, but we finished one, so there was only one left. So I'm glad there was only one left. I probably were to hurt more of my back. Yeah, well done. All right. Next one for me here, Chris. Let's see. All right, ask me, I want to hear this one. Tell me about this recurring nightmare you used to have. I don't know if you still have. have about going on the prices right? Oh, yeah.

I mean, I think everybody has that where you get on the prices right. Of course, you get there and it's for a new car and you know, you answer all the question. Or you get up there and what's the game? The game's the putting game. This is before a claw, by the way. And, you know, you get up there and your foot from the hole and, you know, you ask what your profession is and you say a professional golfer. Then you miss a put on national TV.

That one was, that one was crazy. And, yeah, that one, it doesn't happen anymore, thankfully, ever since I went to the claw. but that was before the claw, that was there for sure. That was like, you had that over and over, being on the price right, getting called up, getting, like answering questions, getting a foot from the hole and then not being on to kick it in? Yeah, that's good. Forget having a foot put to win the Masters. Price is right, we got a problem.

Bob, bummeling like an asshole in front of Bob. Exactly. All right, this one's a thinker. Have you won more PGA Tour tournaments or ejected more fans? Who I'd definitely say ejected more fans. Without a doubt, yeah. It's happened quite a bit. Yeah, I mean, and again, it's, it takes a lot for that to happen for me.

I mean, they've got to really be an asshole for me to eject them. I was pretty good at not necessarily listening to a lot. But since, I would say, the late 90s to now, I think the fans are trying to get more into the player's head. There's certainly a lot more obnoxious than they ever were before. You know, I don't mind anybody yelling out, but, you know, when they're yelling out, you know, bad things. about you and you know nothing's positive that's the kind of things that bother me i don't care if they tell me i suck that's fine you know i don't care if i misogreen at 16 at tPC i deserve to get food it's a nine iron i should get food for that and you know but don't tell me that my wife's fat or my

you know this is that or whatever it is you know just keep it to golf they get a little personal sometimes yeah yeah and just inebriation is part of it and you know it was funny i was talking with um a guy um jeff fujicarra you guys know jeff don't yeah i do and he's a thunderbird and we were talking about that. And I said, the easy way to solve it is you just put a couple hundred undercover cops in the stands at 16. And the first guy that says something he shouldn't have done, you throw them out. You throw 10 or 12 guys out. People are going to get the gist that you can only go so far. It's good for golf. I don't mind the hole. I think it's great. I think it's exciting. It's whatever it is. But I can tell you right now, any player that says he loves it is lying.

You might have the National Guard in here next year after what happened this year. There's a few, there's a few situations. Yeah, I mean, the guy that jumps over and goes into the bunker on 16, like you're banned for life you're out of here i'm done with you should be for sure i agree yeah can't interrupt play be loud yell after they hit don't yell while they hit don't yell crazy shit it's not that hard and and you can drink all you want and have all the fun you want that's it and they just push the envelope to the point where until somebody tells them they can't do it they just push it to the end until it gets to that point and it's usually just just past the line usually half the time um all right next one for me this is this is a real here's a golf one here

because you get referred to as a bulldog, right? Certain guys, certain type of golf games, and he's a bulldog. Brian Harmon comes to mind right now, right? Give me the Chris Lamarco top three bulldogs of all time on the PJ tour. You know, I think, oh, like all-time, like guys like me that were... Yeah, like not like a Georgia bulldog, like a, you know, their style of play. They get called a bulldog.

Yeah, and like now, like now, right now? Yeah, or any time. Just guys that you think, like this is a, this guy's a, tough out. Like he ain't going to lay down and die. Like the same way you were. Probably not like the most powerful guy in the world. Yeah, one that's got a grind his way out and just get up and down. You know who's like that was Paul Aisinger

was like that for sure. I mean Paul Ezinger, he wanted that. I mean, the bigger the moment, especially when it was a rider cup or a president's cup was huge like that. You know, even though he's not that vocal, David Thompson is like that. I mean, that guy, you give him the ball when it

matters. He's stepping on your neck. And he ain't afraid of the moment. either. I'm trying to think of who else. So many guys that are like that. I mean, that are just Billy Horshaw's like that. Yeah. Billy Horsal.

I agree. I mean, he, I mean, he gets, you talk about somebody gets fired up. That guy gets fired up. I love Max Homa, I think, is a lot like that, too. I love watching Max Play. He gets fired up. You know, I like the guys that show their emotions that aren't afraid to, you know, to get crazy out there.

Justin Thomas. I mean, he's awesome to watch. I love watching them, especially in the Rider Cup and President's Cup, because he brings the emotion he need there. Even though my favorite guy in the world isn't in, and I'll only say the only time I kind of like him is at the Ryder Cups. That guy is Patrick Reed. I mean, I think he's a dick in life, but I think he's a great player. You know, on the President's Cups and Rider Cups, I think he's fantastic. I just think, you know, he worked really hard to be an asshole. He embraced that, too, like being the villain. Like, he loves that. He did. Like that match with Bory. He was won all of it. I mean, I don't deny his golf game.

I think his golf game is awesome. It really is. But, you know, he just worked really hard to not really be liked. Well, we can stay on the Ryder Cup for my next one. You played two Presidents Cup, two Ryder Cups. MVP of the After Party. Oh, MVP of the After Party. Oh, God.

That's a good one. I mean, probably me, for sure. Nice. That's perfect. Yep. Self-suck 20 bucks into our cup here. Yeah. I remember the one at the K Club.

Every time I'd walk out of the bar with a full beer, Tiger was doing DJ. He'd say, C-D, and I'd go over and just go chug my beer, and I'd have to go, but I can get another one. So he was having a good time that night, too, even though we got smashed. But we got smashed twice. We got smashed that afternoon. We got smashed that night. Sidebar, this doesn't count as a question.

Tiger's the DJ. What's Tiger playing? Oh, I know this answer. Oh, shit. What would Tiger play? It was... I need to know this. I don't, you know, I don't listen to that kind of music.

Like, as far as, like, I'm not a rap guy, but I'm sure it was something to that extent, some type of, you know, back that would have been 06. I don't even know who was big back then in 06. Who is it? It's Drake. Nice. Good pull.

Back in 2006, that was the gold there. Who's Beyonce married to? J-Z, T-I. Maybe some J-Z. Lil-Wain. Yeah. He's night. Little Wayne.

Little Wayne was monstrous. Every time I've been around him, it's always like 90s hip-hop. He'll throw some R&B in there. No, I love that. Yeah, I know it's your stop. That's beautiful. That was the golden era. All right, that didn't count as a real question, Chris.

My last one, real question, two-parter here, okay? Which tour player do you dread talking to the most after their alma mater beats Florida in football? And who do you look forward to talking to the most after you beat, after Florida beats their school? It's almost the same person, but I love when we win and Jeff Slumman or Paul Easinger, both Florida State guys. when we beat Florida State. And then I hate when, and he's great about it, but I just, I, because they've beaten us so many years, but David Tom's, and he doesn't say a bad word once,

but it's just, it's so annoying that he is just beaten my butt. The Gators, or the Gators have lost to them so many times. Yeah, that's a tough conference to come up out of golf wise, because it's just like, man, they're just killers every year. I mean, Florida's been it too, but you get Georgia, LSU. I mean, there's just somebody's going to be switched every year. There's so many Georgia Bulldogs. Bama.

Kisner and, you know, all the Harris English, Hudson Swofford and all those guys, you know, Tommy Tolls in my era. You know, it's, it's, yeah, Georgia Bulldog. Those were Georgia and Tennessee where the two schools my kids were not allowed to go to for college. Anywhere else they could go, but they couldn't go there. I like that. All right. Last one. We're going to go back to the 1988-U.S. Amateur.

Okay. Which decision would you like to have over again? would you actually like to book a hotel room or not given Buddy Alexander your Walkman? I think I probably would have liked to book my hotel room. But he did come back with a great response because I said, I said, buddy, I think I'm going to need that Walkman back when we were playing each other next day. And he goes, you know, I think I'm going to need those irons back. I said, yeah, you can keep the Walkman tonight. They're fine.

They had to play. Because I was using the University irons. Yeah. So Buddy Alexander was his coach at Florida. They had to play each other in the second round of the U.S. Amateur, and they were rooming together because Chris didn't book a hotel room. Nice. A little bit awkward. A little bit awkward.

Do you like your scholarship? Would you like to keep it? So buddy said, his walkman broke. And so Chris let him use his each night to listen to it. And then they end up playing each other. And he's like, hey, I'm going to need my walkman back. He goes, well, I'm going to need those irons back. I'm going to need all the shit in your door back.

I need it all about. How did the match end up? Forgive me that. I don't know. He, no, he waxed me. He played some good money. My buying games with me for sure. But, you know, he was really good at that type of format.

Obviously, he was a U.S. Amateur champion. So, you know, he won in 86, and that was only three years later that we played each other. I can tell you this. I talked to him for a little bit this afternoon. He speaks so highly of you. He loves you. Said one of the most fierce competitors he's ever had on his golf team. Yeah, he taught me a lot about the game.

I owe him a lot to that. He taught me how to play the game. I was natural. I had my ability, but he taught me about what the game of golf. was and how to play the game of golf. And for that, I owe him a lot because, you know, he was really good at it. That's all the all time. Great. Well, this has been fantastic, Chris. We really appreciate you coming on with us. Best of luck this week out there in Newport. Thanks. Thanks. Hopefully we get a little hot streak. Got my wife caddying again. So hopefully we can read some puts and get a W.

Yeah, go put Steve in an ochre and check, dude. Let him know. Just free rein. I have to give him a little shoulder bump to start to let them know him here. Just something. You know, bend a wedge or something, yeah. All right, that was Chris DeMarco, joining us on subpar. Man, some great stories. I love when he flicked the go-gater ball down there to Tiger. Tiger had some nice things to write back on it. That's a nice little keepsake to have with you.

And then talking about the chip, which, of course, we're going to get into in that interview. But, like, dude, as soon as it starts going down the hill, you got to be like, anyone else in the world, this ain't going in. But it's Tiger sits there, like, there's no way. And that, I mean, dude, what if that ball doesn't go in? And he goes on to win that thing. Like that clip vanishes, and it's probably the most played clip in golf history. Oh, my God.

He's, I mean, he's... Every one of the tiger finish runner up with this chip that almost went in. It doesn't exist. One of the greatest calls in Master History, Vernon Lundquist. And by the way, this is his last masters. You don't think they're going to show it a few times this year?

In your life. Yeah. Yeah, great cool. But, man, and I remember Lanny Watkins on that call said, he'll be lucky to get this inside of DeMarco's ball, and he freaking holds it with perfect speed. And it just sat on the lip for Nike. just for just a little bit there too.

Two trillion dollars of marketing probably on that. Thank you. People do forget, though. That's why I wanted to bring it up. Like, bogey, bogey finish for Tiger and that thing, which is so untieger-like, normally once he gets a lead, like that thing's done. And in that situation, like, dude, he damn near stole that thing with the chip on the

72nd and again in the playoff, really. But, yeah, he's been through some epic battles, man. Tiger and Phil at the Masters, pretty remarkable. V.J. as well. he's been around. He made some monster puttuts with that claw. He put the claw on the map, in my opinion. I'm sure people did it before him,

but I don't remember him when being good and holding as many meaningful putts as he did. No, he's a stud, man. I really enjoyed sitting down with him. But let's get on to the Houston Open this week. Scotty Schaeffler will be teeing it up. Surprise, surprise. He's the favorite sleaze.

Two and a half to one. You like it? I mean, dude, I'd rather bet the first half of an NCAA game than that's to win the golf tournament. To win. In a full field, we were doing our serious XM show earlier, and we were informed he is minus 140 to top five and minus 275 to top 10. There are odds in some books that are like tournament winner without Scottie Sheffler.

Like he's entered the area where entire sports books are making categories that don't include him because like, okay, yeah, we all know Scotty, but what about without him? Yeah, that's different level. Wyndham Clark will be the favorite. You can, I saw that this morning. Wyndham Clark is 10 to 1 to win, not counting Scott. Not counting Scotty. Yeah, just don't count him.

So two and a half to one. Nice little payday, if you want to load up on that one. I do make some dumb bets, but that one might not even be enough. Go ahead and lay that minus 140 for him to top five. I like that. That's a nice clip. 140 to win 100. Let's get to some picks.

And, God, this guy, it's just, it was just jumping off the page at me. I love this guy. Mount Naughty. Back to back. Last time he teed up, the players finished T6. He's one of, like I said, one of my favorites. He's hilarious. It's going off at 30 to 1, my man, Si Wu Kim.

Love him. It's the back on the little putter, by the way. Yeah. What happened to the big boy? He is. He makes it up below. He probably broke the big one, I'm guessing. Yeah.

That was why he liked it so much. Wasn't it the first time? It's harder to break? He said, yes, harder to break. And I also asked him why his driver has so little loft on it. He said, sometimes I have to put with it. Sometimes I got to put with it. That's a good way to pick your driver.

He's the best. If you're out there in the market. All right, dude, we talked about it. Non-signature events. Nobody's picking. the people that are winning these things right now. So we've been using a little too much logic here, staying too tight to the top of the board.

I'm going to go down a little further. I basically have two long shots for this week. First one's a guy we've been calling for for a long time. Went to the University of Texas. Very familiar with the Houston area playing golf down there. Been playing very good knocking on the door. Bowhossler. The Boe Show.

Yeah. 55 to 1. I'm not even sniffing up top. For the record, I think Scottie Schifler does win, but I just know what to bet it. You can't bet it. Yeah, exactly. All right.

Bo Show, I like it. I'm going to go from my dark horse, 60 to 1, coming off a T3 at Valspar last week. I don't know why I just feel like this is a really good fit for him. I know he's been playing some really nice golf, working hard to make that international President's Cup team, Canadian, McKenzie Hughes. Been playing very nice. He's going to, that'd be floored if he doesn't make that President's Cup team up there. But yeah, I had a good shot this past week.

Sticking with my trend on my long shot, he is a long shot. Also looking for that first win, a guy that when he first turned pro, we probably would have bet he'd have five plus wins at this time. But been getting close, I've been getting close in these non-signature events. Might as well. Pick one off this week.

Patrick Rogers, 90 to 1. Okay, that is dark one. I'm just trying to like go against the, you know what I mean? We've been picking up high and these non-signatures is just, it's been a free-for-all. So I'm going way down

where most of these odds have been. All right, well, there you have it. That's our picks for the Houston Open. Everyone have a great week, and we'll talk to you on next week's subpar.