Subpar - Ian Baker-Finch talks his favorite broadcasting moments, how to fix pace of play

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by Major Champion Ian Baker-Finch for an exclusive interview. The owner of 17 professional victories shares his favorite moments from his broadcasting career, thoughts on improving pace of play on the PGA Tour and who he considers the greatest Australian golfer. -- Thanks to Ralph Lauren, the Official Outfitter of GOLF's Subpar. The RLX Golf collection is available in select Ralph Lauren stores, exclusive private clubs, and resorts, and online at https://RalphLauren.com. -- Whether you’re hitting the links, the clubhouse, or just trying to make it through that afternoon office slump, we’ve got you covered. From now until September 30, enjoy this coupon for 25% off anything at https://5hourenergy.com/. The best part? It’s reusable and shareable — meaning you and your entire squad can putt yourselves back in the game as many times as you want this summer. 25% off anything at https://5hourenergy.com/.

All right, here we go. Welcome back to Golf Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. Got a lot of golf action to get to. It was an awesome week in the world of golf. But first, I want to tell you about RLX Ralph Lauren. At RLX Ralph Lauren, timelessness has been at the core since the beginning. Born on the course, but drawing on the tradition of polo, RLX celebrates classic and iconic products that are meant to be loved and during the test of time while focusing on performance-driven design. By blending the sophistication of style with the precision of sport, RLX seamlessly blends performance wear and elevated sportswear. From sophisticated styles to the most technologically advanced fabrics available, RLX is the ultimate and functional luxury and provides pieces that are ready for whatever the conditions bring, both on and off the course. Ralph Lauren is the official outfitter of the United States Rider Cup team and partner of the AJGA. Ralph Lauren is proud to continue its sponsorship of golf ambassadors Andrea Lee, Billy Horshiel, Davis Love the Third, Devin Bling, Doc Red,

Jonathan Bird, Nick Watney, Sean Foley, Smiley Kaufman, Todd Anderson, Tom Watson, Trevor Werbelow, Troy Taylor III, Tyler Strafachi, and Zach Johnson. Thorallax Collection is available in select Ralph Lauren stores, exclusive private clubs and resorts and online at Ralph Lauren.com, and as always, you look fantastic. Well done. Ditto, I would say, my man. Good to have you. Good to be back in studio. Good to be back in studio with the two of us. Been a minute. You had yourself a nice week up there in Minnesota, Hazeltine, the USAM. We had the FedEx Cup playoffs too. be quite honest.

I think I spent 90-10 was my ratio on USAM versus FedEx Cup playoffs. I love watching that thing. Covering it's got to be sweet. It was, it's my second time to ever cover it. But as you know, it's obviously a very special week being a past champion of the USAM. But this one did not disappoint.

Hazeltine National Golf Club was awesome. The crowds were incredible. The USGA put on a great show. And Jose Leigh Bay Astaire, Jose Le, Jose Le by Astaire, who is, by the way, future guest on Golf Sub Park. It goes right down the road here at Arizona State. going to bring the trophy in here. Can't wait for that.

But him and Noah Camp, man, they put on an awesome show there in the finals of the AM. This kid, he's a stud. I didn't know much about him. You know, you hear about Preston Summer Hayes down at Arizona State. Winnie Ding, they're both superstars in the amateur golf world. But then you got Luke Clanton. You got Gordon Sargent. These are all the guys being talked about.

And then right there is the number 10 ranked player in the world. Jose Leigh by a stare. And I dug into trying to get some info about him and everyone just raves about how he's a freak athlete. Both parents are Olympians. Dad swam for Spain in three Olympics. His mom won a gold medal in the 92 games in field hockey. I mean, and you can see it.

He is an athlete, and he can send it. Beautiful golf swing. I mean, Cruz is in mid-190 ball speed, and it's in perfect balance. I mean, this kid's future is so bright. And for him to go out there and play the way he did, you know, he struggled in his middle couple of matches when he played the two mid-ams in Christian Brand and Bobby Massa. But then, I tell you what, when he got to the semis, something changed.

He started striping it, and it carried right over into Sunday, had the big lead. Noah Kemp made an awesome comeback. And it was, man, it was so exciting. I love that event so much. His game, obviously, the off-the-tee is impressive, but it's honestly become that so many of those guys can hit like 190 now type of ball speed. They're like mid-180s or something. Like, oh, that feels like run-of-the-mill now. But I was more impressed with his short game.

His bunker play was spectacular. The holes that he looked like he could be given one. up and just give a giveaway. Nope, he'd chip it up there stiff. Yeah, for the 10th ranked guy in amateur golf, he didn't get a lot of hype going in. It was all Luke Clinton, which it should have been, by the way, after what he's done on the PJA tour. It was the only disappointment I would have of the whole thing was I'd love to see, like, Sergeant Clinton, Summerhays, some of those guys we talk, at least advance somewhat into match, you know, a couple rounds into matchplay so we could see them go head to head with one another. But dude, I love that thing.

And also just, like, my takeaway from the week is the distance. This isn't revolutionary or anything, but the distances they're hitting it right now at the amateur level is insane. I mean, we got 614-yard part-fives uphill into a puff of wind, and they're getting home with irons. And this is Minnesota. This isn't Denver or something like that. Like, it doesn't, it's not like way above sea level. 250-yard par three is let's stretch them out. Oh, it's five-iron to the moon coming down like an eight-iron.

200-yard part three. Oh, it's just a smooth eight. Like it's disgusting how far these guys are hitting it. And I get it like, I don't know what you like the rollback and things like that. But like how do you make these guys hit anything but wedges? I don't know how you do it because they're all hitting. Feels like most of them are in the 180s plus ball speed. Yeah, I mean, you have to have crazy deep rough and you want it to bounce.

And that's what we had the first few days up there before it rained. And the rough, I mean, it was brutal. It was difficult. And that's why in a lot of matches, we didn't see a lot of birdies. But going back to like the stars moving on in matchplay, like I was. so excited because in round one, I had Luke Clanton's group and he advanced, cruised, played really well, and it looked like he's going to be matched up against Preston Summerhase and the next one. Then Preston lost four the last five to get knocked out. But that's the beauty of match play.

But man, it was, it was an incredible week. This kid, the first time I saw him hit a golf shot in person. I caught up with him on the second day in his match in the afternoon and we're on the par five, 7th and it's 585 yards with some helping win. And he had driver 8 iron. And I'm like, what the hell was that? 585. And he hit it to 12 feet. I was like, what the hell was that? Yeah, and it drops out of the ozone layer and comes down dead. Like it's, by the way, Noah Kent didn't look like he was giving up too much off the tea.

There were times where he was hitting it, he was hitting second into the greens. He's absolutely, but it's like all those guys, even go to the midams like that Bobby Massey you mentioned. By the way, shout out to the midams who are out there. The real ones with real jobs who do stuff and not just play. the entire circuit all year like him uh i mean what was he hitting like 190 something like that he was smashing it by whoever he was playing yeah i mean like there it's everybody it's not like a oh it's nice he's long it's like you have to be that to i don't know how you beat these guys otherwise yeah i mean you if like they they group the top three amateurs in the world together jackson coivan was the number

three ranked amateurs in the world he missed match play and i would say he's one of the shorter guys out there on a golf course like hazel team you got to smash it and that's that's what they all do that This is the way the game's going. I mean, everybody might as well just get ready. The athletes are bigger, faster, stronger. The equipment is obviously way better. You're not going to see anyone that hits the ball short. Go out there and be very successful in this game anymore.

Yeah, for an extent. You might be able to get away with it for a week when the stars align, but doing it week after week against these guys, there's just no chance, which is kind of why nice this past week on the PJ Tour, plays like TPC Southwin. One of the few places I would say where it's not about that. It's not about just smash it, get as close to the green, that crazy, you know, that tricky Bermuda roughs.

so much water out there. And it looked like a snooze fest in that thing with Hedecki, five shot lead to start, five shot lead with 11 holes left. Five shot lead was seven holes left. Excuse me, seven holes left. I was watching the USA and was like done, dirt nap, this thing's over. And then I just like click back once in a while. The next time I clicked back, it was one down.

And I was like, oh my God, I've missed some sort of a debacle. But then sacked up and got it done. Bertied 17 and 18 was number one in the field and putting. And also proximity to the hole. So you normally hit it the closest and you make the most. punch, you're probably going to win. Helpful. But I think the biggest test was surviving the heat in Memphis.

That looked miserable. I talked to Steve Sands. He's like, dude, it's so ridiculously hot here. I was there last year, and it was probably the hottest I've ever been on the golf course. Saw a great picture of Johnson Wagner, who was doing live from, sport coat outdoors, took it off in his shirt. I mean, it was a wet t-shirt contest. Yeah.

Look like he jumped in the pool. I was texting. I was like, take that jacket off. Let me see what that underneath. He's like, dude, you have no idea all day out here, outdoor set. Hey, come on. Let the guys wear a freaking golf shirt or something out there for the TV. Memphis.

So it would be a good time to introduce that you can wear shorts if you want to rule for the players, by the way. Memphis and August. I get it, FedEx, the St. Jude Championship. They're an incredible supporter of the tour. And what that tournament does is amazing. God damn, I don't want to go to Memphis in August. It's tough. It's tough.

You're our press to find a place stickier than that. Normally the wind blows like zero, too. Yeah. And that golf course, I mean, what I've, first got on tour, when they just switched to Bermuda Green, it's like, you got to double digits. You had a chance. And that's when it was played in May, and it was a lot firmer, a lot windier. It was tough and they had rough.

But now it's like it's just, it's hotter in hell. It's soft. They're going to make a lot of birdies. Yeah, that's what they do everywhere. I've had some friends who played out of Memphis actually played out of TPC South of my dude in the wintertime when this thing gets going and gets firm and bounces. It's a monster at that point because it gets tougher and tougher to hit the fairway ball, rolls, bounces into the rough.

But yeah, shout out of deck. He gave himself a chance. Shout out Nick Dunlap, by the way, playing his way into the top 50, giving him a spot, not getting any points for his win out there in Palm Springs, Monster Week for him.

Had to par 18. And we go on. The hardest toll on the golf course. Saw Tom Kim, who finished 51st, finish 666. Tough, super tough finish for the lab. That's for all the signature of inch and all that.

Let me ask you this. I asked you on Sirius X-M earlier today. Do we appreciate how, How good, Scottie Sheffler is at golf? I mean, I feel like he wasn't really in the pitcher much at all this past week. Fourth. I feel like we talked about this maybe earlier in the year when he was going on his run. And it's just like we take, I feel like we just kind of take it for, we assume he's going

to be there every single week, winning, contending, which he pretty much has. I think he just, I think this was his 15th top 10 of the year. The guys won six times and a gold medal and we're like, yeah, maybe not player of the year. I believe 17 events, now 11 top fives. And the only tournament he's played bad, and it was the US Open at Pine. I told you earlier. The only one. I can't remember who tweeted it, so I'm not trying to steal your info.

But going into last week, which the number will still be less than this, he hasn't lost to 100 guys this year. 92 or something. And legitimately, I think he was around 46th or something at the U.S. Open. I think he's 50 something. Oh, was it in 50? So more than half of it does that one week. Other than that, he's lost to 40 guys-ish the entire year.

He's not going to give you the most incredible sound bites. He's not the flashiest guy in the world. He's not all over social media. But, dude, this shit ain't normal. I mean, this is so good. It is just so impressive to see week in and week out there and just never play bad. I hadn't missed a cut in two years.

He's doing it right now. Zander ain't too far behind right now. He's not playing bad. He was, what, was he eight back starting Sunday? Nine back starting Sunday. For a minute, it looked like he was going to be in a playoff to win the thing. He's not playing a whole lot of bad golf right now. We got two guys that are operating at a level so far beyond everyone else that it's,

yeah, it's easy to just kind of expect it. But as good as these guys are, like, Tiger's been here. We've seen, you know, that kind of run. Like, it doesn't, don't take it for granted while it's here because it's hard to stay at that level for a long period of time in golf without going through some peaks and valleys. We got some big-name guys that they were playing like this a number of years ago right now that we're, you know,

struggling to make the playoffs or going home right now. It doesn't always stick around. No, it's going to be a lot of fun the next couple of weeks to see who ends up winning the FedEx. Obviously, Scottie Sheffler, Big Fair. I think he's minus 125 to win the FedEx Cup right now. But I want to give a shout. Brooks Kevka, who?

We won for the fifth time over on Live. Jordan Speath has announced he's going to have to have surgery on his left wrist. Sounds like the recovery times like six to eight weeks. It's been bothering him for a long time, though. But good to hear he's going to go get that fixed and hopefully a speedy recovery. And Jordan gets back to play in the way we know he can. Yeah, because he's driving it better than he ever has. It's just his iron play isn't even close.

It's got to be something. That risk has got to be, even if it's not painful to him every time, just like the doubt and the questioning it. It's hard enough to play good golf when everything feels good. If something doesn't, it's going to be hard-pressed. to beat those guys. So hopefully he just gets that nipped in the bud and gets back and we see what we're used to out of Jordan. But man, it was an awesome week in the game of golf.

There was so much action going on. Oh, and by the way, I survived a week with Jim Fernhulls. God bless you. That's dog years. You age at 7X whenever you're around. Shout out to the great Jim Fernhulls. Up there. Got some good face time.

I knew it was coming. I was like, here comes some facetimes. And then they're still talking about the one you answered with not many clothes on. I was about to get in the shower. I was like, I'll take this anyways. You look like Oscar Deloia. You know, yeah. I was on that same routine, man.

I was like, let me just prop this up right here and let you guys see what I do. But I don't want to cause a ruckus in the bar, dude. But I do want to give a shout out to Olympic Hills up there. We're out of blast. Spring Hill was fantastic as well. And can I share a quick little story that just happened before I headed over to the studio? Of course. So I was grabbing a little lunch, a little sandwich over at Subway.

When I saw something rather interesting there. Gentleman in front of me in line, nice, attractive older lady in front of him, see he can get a little tap on the shoulder, introduces himself, says, I'd love to take you out sometime. Hands his business card. She goes, sir, I'm happily married and walked out the door.

I was like, okay, trying to spark a little romance at Subway, love it. Then I turn around, and there's a couple sitting on the same side of the booth together at Subway. I was like- Oh, same side of the booth is. At Subway, dude. Have you ever sat in the same side of the booth unless you had to? No.

Ever? But I was just like, what is going on here? Is this like the new little swingers? spot here? Shoot your shot. What's going on? I like the dude just taking a swing.

Maybe check the hand, see if there's a ring on it. Or maybe it doesn't give a shit. You know what I mean? You got a shoot. Yeah, dude. I don't know how many times Babe Ruth struck out,

but I know he had a lot of dingers. I was right behind him and I was just like, I was hoping I didn't say out loud. I was just like, oh my God. This is happening. It's 1145. Did you make eye contact with him after he got just shot down? Just like, ooh.

It's a tough break, fellow. Yeah, go over there. Go over to Quiznos. It's easier fishing. They're a little sluggier over Christmas. There's some real ratchet birds over there. Can I tell you personal things and they're doing some personal shit?

Because you weren't here last week for me to talk about this. I talked about it on the radio, dude. I had a traumatic experience last week, of which you can still see some of the aftermath. Dude, I had a dream the other night, Tuesday night that caused me to go into a full panic. It involved the red snake that I thought was chasing me. I've had a nightmare since I was like a little kid.

I need you to tell me what this means. means. I was sitting down at a big dinner table, like a last supper type of a table. You know, they have the thing that you lift up to show you like what you're eating. And there was a red snake there, which didn't freak me out at the time. Then all of a sudden, his head disappeared and I could see it like uncoiling on the plate and something triggered in my brain, dude. I, without waking up, by the way, it's like sleep white. Launched myself off of my bed onto the hardwood floors, almost blew up both of my knees. You can see this. I must have thrashed around the dresser, full on freak out dude

I'm talking and I'm crawling to get away my wife had to get up in shape I didn't wake up till she like shook me you know I was yelling like snake snake and she wakes me up and I'm like I was like what the fuck is going and she's like I she was having a heart attack she thought like something really bad was happening but anyways I had like a night terror

or whatever you call it involving a red snake I had some people reach I told it on radio some people on Twitter reached out to tell me how to like interpret my dreams and shit but it threw me for a loop dude I was sitting there like three in the morning with ice packs on both knees like an old washed up catcher. And I was like, what just happened?

And I'm still battling the wounds. You think you just fell out of the bed and hit the dresser? I think I launched myself. I couldn't have just, I didn't get out of bed. Are you sure Marissa just didn't beat the shit out of you? No, and I think she drugged me, by the way, too. People are like, what did you take? What'd you do?

I'm like, I swear to God, dude, nothing clean for chicken and rice for dinner. I mean, I was buttoned up everything. And it was legit, I was like, for the next day or two, I was like, I'm scared to go to bed. I can't take another one of these, dude. I'll be out for the season. Watch out for those red snakes. Do you got any ideas? What do you think it means?

No, I don't know. A friend of ours who I know goes through the night tears, I sat next to him on a plane one time. And it is violent. It is terrifying. They scream crazy loud. And this is on a plane. I'm like, what in the hell is happening?

And everybody's looking at me. I'm like, I don't know what to do. So, no, I don't know what it means. Dude, I just had a connipion. I don't know what happened, but I'm over it. I'm back. Now it's time to start another four-year run. The good news is, you didn't sleep that great that night.

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or just trying to make it through that afternoon office slump, we've got you covered. From now until September 30th, enjoy 25% off anything at 5hourenergy.com using the link in our YouTube or the podcast episode description, BG, you want to get fired up. What's better than a little tranny five hour? You take two of them things, you know how many hours you get?

A lot, 10. Feels like 10. SMU math. Now we're talking. Yeah, but maybe just don't only handle one. Yeah, maybe start with one. It gets you plenty out. And it's delicious, too, by the way.

Yeah, I'm terrified to go to sleep, so I have to stay awake all night. I'll probably take two of them. Genius. Yeah. Love it. All right. Well, let's get to our episode this week. We got one of the nicest dudes in the game of golf.

Love this man. I get to work alongside him at CBS. We got the 1991, British Open champion, Ian Baker Finch on golf subpar. All right. Joining us today, we have 17-time winner professional events across the globe, including the 91 Open Championship. You know him as a golf broadcaster for CBS. Ian Baker-Finch joins us.

Finchie, good to have you. Great to be with you guys. Thanks for having me. It's a nice time at the end of the year. We're all done with CBS golf cult, so playing some golf myself. Yeah, first off, it doesn't matter if the CBS season's over or not. You play golf every day. You play more golf than anyone.

I do enjoy playing. I don't hit a lot of balls anymore. I'm not really grinding, but I love to play and still love to shoot in the 60s. when I'm putting okay. And, yeah, it's sort of five or six hours out of the day. I go to the gym every morning and stretch before I go and go join my buddies and have a beer or two afterwards. And, yeah.

Be honest. That's a dream. How many rounds a year, you think? I think last year, I had 200 on my game. Damn, wow. That's a lot. It's getting it done. That's getting it done.

You know, a lot of it's, I'll just go up to the club some days. A buddy and I will just zip around in two and a half hours. But, you know, I'm trying to, you know, it's not like I'm playing serious professional golf and shooting that many rounds. A lot of it's just, you know, hey, I've got three hours spare. I'm going to zip up to the club and play some golf. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty nice. Are you enjoying it now?

Is there a part of you that enjoys it now that it doesn't matter more than when you're playing and it does matter? I find a lot of guys that get out of golf. It might take a while, but after a minute they're like, dude, I have more fun now because I don't care if I hit it bad. It's not like my life. Hmm. Now Sleese, you play really well. Relatively.

And Colt knows this. I think when you've played at a high level, you're never happy not playing at a high level. It's true. Right. That's very valid. I'm grinding. I was grinding on a 20 foot of a birdie on the last hole yesterday for 69. I'm just playing with my buddies for 30 bucks. You know, I just, I want to shoot the best score I can. I played with Colt a month or so ago.

I was embarrassed. I was jipping it. I was playing terribly. I probably shot 79 or 80. He played great. He had like six birdies in a row. But if I don't play well, I'm embarrassed. You know, I want to still play well.

But I really have no right to play well because I don't go grind it out anymore. I just think, I mean, the story of my whole life, I just intimidated Finchie. Was it the length? Did you just know that I can't? There's no way. How am I supposed to compete with this? That's what it gets a lot of people. I'm one guy that can't throw off at Colts distance because he hits it past me.

Oh. Yeah. He was getting it up. He was getting it out there. He could still fly at 260. And flying at 260, you need to be up around the 160 ball speed to be able to do that. So I'm only flying at about 245. And when I swing really well, I'm swinging 100 mile an hour and I can fly at maybe 250.

But that's my best. That's moving pretty good. still, a hondo. Did you correct me if I'm wrong, this comes from Gary McCord, which you got about 75% of what he says is bullshit. As you know, are you recently on a new hip? Yeah. Yeah. Late February, got a new hip. Oh, nice. And that's working out, obviously. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I played over, I heard Colt this morning talking about he did 26,000 steps at the AM because he played one morning, then went out and worked that afternoon this past weekend. And I did the same thing over in Scotland.

I walked the course in the morning where we were doing the tournament for CBS. Then I went out and played and then walked back to the hotel and whatever. And I'd done 26,000 steps. And I kind of said a little prayer saying, hey, man, thanks for looking after me. I could never have done that for the last 10 years. This new hip has changed my life. No pain. I can walk.

I can carry. Yeah, it's really good. That's awesome. Well, speaking of carrying, and you've had to carry a lot of your cops. colleagues over the year since you got into the TV world. I would love to get into some stories. I mean, you worked with the great David Farity, Gary McCord, Frank Nableau. I mean, you're alongside Jim Nance every single week.

Can you share a few stories about some of those guys with us? Yeah, I think most of the stories everyone's heard about Farity, because Farity stories are always the best. But I think the best one was when he was on his way over to the, from the lodge. To meet a couple of friends, I won't mention their names. at one of the restaurants over at the other hotel over there at Spanish Bay. And while he was coming down through the forest, he ran into a deer.

And he didn't know what to do. And, you know, David was all, you know, frenetic and running around it, didn't know what he was going to do. And he decided that he'd, you know, shove the deer off the road. Well, the deer was still alive, barely. So he grabbed one of his guns. He always carries a few out of the car and shot it, which was the, nicest thing to do. And then he tried to put the deer over the fence. Well, as he was trying to get the deer over the fence and off the road and out of the way, it sort of leaked all over him.

And when he arrived at the restaurant, the guys in cult, I know you've heard this story, so you know who I'm talking about was there. They said, wow, David, you smell like deer piss. And he said, it's a long story. But that was probably something that you may. have to cut from the show if you're going to take this and send it out. But that was one of the funniest things that we were there that week. I wasn't in the car with him. But I can just imagine David in that situation. David finds himself in more unusual situations than on earth. And, you know, the times that he would be at Augusta when he would be doing the late night show and for the last decade or so. I've done the late night show, Thursday and Friday nights. And David would come over

and just have so much fun. The crew loved working with him. He would drive across the par three course to get to the Butler cabin from our compound. He just did so many crazy and outrageous things that it's a wonder he wasn't sort of put in jail every week with some of the outrageous stuff he got up to. But one of the greatest human beings and one of the greatest human beings and one of the greatest guys to spend time with for sure he was special there's no doubt i mean he's like for golf i mean there's obviously been a lot of personalities but he was the first like out there personality then you put him with mccord and i mean they were just they were beautiful together yeah because yeah the the uh the juxtapositions in in the storylines and the way they told them and and david like you

colt he always has a quick comeback he doesn't need to say much you know i'll always try and explain myself, whereas you guys are so quick and so sharp, David would conjure up an image in his mind, and he would figure out the best way to portray that image on air in as fewer words as possible. And then McCord would just wind him up. McCord's a reverse. What's the most words I can use? Yeah, exactly. And most of them were superfluous, but he was very good at it.

He would often say to David. And he knew David had no opportunity of getting anywhere near the green. And he'd say, David, so what's that putt going to do? What's he got down there? And then eventually he got so sick of McCord doing that to him that he'd say, well, listen here, you've been sitting there all day, you know the green. Why don't you tell me what this put's going on. And, Colt, you're out there on the ground with the players and having a great time

and they all love you being there with them. But sometimes it's hard to get close to read a put. and sometimes you're getting thrown under the bus when guys like me or McCord say, hey, Colt, what's the line of that put? Oh, yeah. Yeah, what's the story? I think it was Quill Hall.

You've probably heard this one, Finchie, but McCord's calling it. Farity's walking with the group, and they see Faradie after the shots being played, he calls it, and then he scoots over. He's got to go to the bathroom or something like that. And McCord sees that, and he's like, oh, okay. So as soon as they send it to me,

I'm going to ask Farity, like, what's this put look like? And he's like, I know his pants are down inside the porta-potty and all this stuff. So they send it down to him. And he's like, hey, David, you're down there on 16. What's he got here? And he said something, this won't be verbatim, but he's like, oh, this is a stinky one here, McCourt or something,

because he knew that he was in the shitter at the time. And it's just like stuff like that. That was like probably the golden era, I would say, of kind of personalities at the time. It really was. Another quick one similar to that with Ferreti was he and Costas were on the ground at the PGA championship and the truck went down. So maybe the,

the generator ran out of fuel or whatever happened. Someone pulled a wire, but sometimes it happens that the whole tower goes down. And I've been in a situation where one of the guys in the tower will get it on a streaming feed or whatever and bring it over. Or they'll just run a sound through from the trucks so we know what's going on because we have no visual. Well, anyway, that had happened and they threw it down to Peter Costas and David Ferreti. And Costas picks it up and Lance Barrow's in his ear. and he said, oh, Costas, costus, you guys pick it up. We lost the truck, we lost the truck. So Costas picks it up and he says, well, here we are at the 13th with Shigeki Mariyama.

I find it so hard to say by this. I always say marijuana. I say marijuana. But anyway, he said, we go with Gecki Mariyama. And he's got a three wood. David, what's he got down there? And David said, it's a long way to go, Peter. I'm not too sure whether he's going to make it. And we hear this, whoosh? And he hits it. And Peter says, well, how was it? And he said, man, he really smoked that one. So he had in his mind, you know, the marijuana. And anyway, it was just a, it was a moment where David always had the quickest, funniest, wittiest thing to say, right? His, here's marijuana and he really smoked that one or something. But it was so many. But it was so many,

fun times with David. I've been at CBS now for 18 years and McCord and Costas left at the end of 19, so four years without them. David, I think about four or five years before that. But Doddy came in to replace David and she's been great. She's one of the most popular announcers on television, I think one of the best walkers ever. We just have a really, really great team. You know, very, very fond of everyone there. But I just think in general, the times we used to have, Colton, you were probably born 20 years too late. You would have had a great time in the 70s and 80s with the guys and what we used to get up to on tour compared to now where the guys are in the gym and not drinking and it's kind of boring. And I think TV is a little that way as well now that there's so much

you can't say and so many things you have to adhere to. And you just see the difference with you guys on a podcast in comparison to us on a broadcast. It's two totally different products. And I think the younger audience want it to be more like a podcast and a little bit more out there. But network television, you've got to toe the line and it's just a little more different, a little more structured, if you will.

I'm glad you brought that up because, like you said, you've been in the TV world for a very long time now. If you could change one thing about how golf television is, what would it be? Um, the one thing that can never happen because the networks have to pay for the telecast and the rights, but there's too many ads. Yeah. So if you're going to watch TV and really enjoy it, it would be just all golf. And to be honest, I kind of turn the sound down and enjoy the pictures and enjoy the beauty of the game rather than listening to us.

telling you about it or trying to inform you. I think that would be the biggest thing to me. We can't do that because we need 20 minutes of ads and promos and whatever per hour to be able to pay for the telecasts and pay for the TV rights and pay for the whole thing, right? So that's never going to happen. If there was one thing I'd do that was possible to do, I'm not a big fan of slow play, as you know, to me on TV. I'd try and find some way of speeding it up

where you had to play in four hours and you really only had 30 seconds to play each shot. And only you could read the put. Or things like that that would just speed up the game because five and a half hours is ridiculous and I think it's killing the game. Yeah, they just had it at the window. I'm going to ask about it.

Because like every golf person, whether you're a casual fan, a professional playing out, there. Everyone says the game's too slow. Like what, how much more noise does there have to be for the PJ tour to eventually come in and say, all right, we got to start actually taking some action on this. Because the 520 at the Wyndham was just a joke trying to get that thing in. Yeah, I think it has to start before then. I think it has to start in junior golf and then college golf. So when they get on the tour, it's not just, hey, you took five and a half hours in college,

but now you've got to take four and a half. You know, it has to start before then, like so many rules. I think you have to start it younger. But the tour is really, they say they're doing the best they can do without actually putting penalty strokes on the players. And I think that's always going to be a hard one because you don't want to get into legal battles. So I don't really know how they address that. But if they say at the start of the week,

the time par is 423 for a course in threesome, adhere to the 423. Yes. I don't understand how 530 is okay. And at Windham, there's only 67 players on the weekend. So it wasn't like it was 156-man field that they had to try and get through. And you can't play any faster in that first group because you catch the last player off the other nine. So you have a two-hour front-nine and a three-hour back nine.

That wasn't the case there. So anyway, I just hope that they're thinking about it. another thing that I'm not popular with my point of view is I would allow measuring devices range findings. I think that would help speed up, especially when players are hitting it in the trees or hitting it out of play where there's no sprinkler heads or nothing mapped. They need to walk up to the green or what have you. I think that would help. I know a lot of the caddies think that I'm down on the caddies for that and I'm not at all. I'm a caddy fan. Unlike Frank. Frank hates caddies.

Yeah, well, yeah, that's another one. There's a lot of things. What do you guys think? What would you guys do? I'm in on that, by the way. I've been in on it. I think there's other technology that's come out in golf that's made the game a lot easier to play

and has a bigger impact than guys using a measuring device to probably get the exact same yardage or within a yard or two of what they're going to get by pacing it off and going and then looking at the pin sheet and stuff like that. I think it just makes sense. Finchie, I was at the U.S. Amateur this past week, and they use range finders there. And when I'm thinking back at it now, like, no kid in that tournament was slow.

Like, they played at a really good pace. It was enjoyable. Yeah, the ones I watched were really good. And I think also it becomes, and here I am pandering to Frank, the caddies want their airtime as well, it appears. Like over the last decade, there's more and more caddy conversations. You know, it seems to be a minute of discussion. before they even get to line up to the shot. And I think that's something that, I don't know how you change that rule or what you do,

but that would be something. I mean, how can you get to the ball and take a minute getting your yardage and then a minute discussion with your caddy and then a minute to hit the ball? That's not right. You're supposed to hit it within 40 seconds, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

And to the caddies that don't like it, I would argue like your value to your player isn't being able to step off a yardage. And hey, 142. hey 165. Like that's not your value is like talking to them, getting the best out, get them comfortable, talking through difficult situations. Like I think that's the true value of a caddy.

Whereas like if they said, oh, you're kind of minimizing our job. It's like this is the most basic part. There's a million people that can do that part of the job. Exactly. And for many years, I had some caddies that were exceptional out of Pete Bender was one of the greatest caddies of all time he caddy for me. Steve Williams was my caddy in the 80s for two or three years. Got some great steedy stories before he went to Tiger.

So, yeah, they were good at that and I allowed them to do it and I trusted them impeccably. But I would often do my own yardages and I don't think, as you said, I don't think that's the big thing. I think knowing your player, knowing his game, being more of a, you know, a sidekick, a mental therapist. You know, I think that's more their value, allowing the player to feel more comfortable to allow him to play more efficiently. that's why I'm not a big fan of those one minute, two minute long conversations. I don't see how that helps. Yeah, I'm with you too. And in TV now we're taught to lay out and to listen to all that.

And just because we like to have fun with Frank, pretty much any time we can get Frank to have to talk about the caddies, we do it. I remember at Oak Hill at the PGA last year, it was pouring rain. It was miserable. And I just waited until it was Frank's hold. I was like, you know, Frank, you really got a feel for these caddies out here today. It's a tough job.

They've got to keep the grips dry. I was like, it's a tough job for them. And he's like, you can just hear him. Like he's boiling inside. He's like, yeah, yeah, tough job for them today. Can't say enough about these caddies and the job they're doing, eh, Frank? It drives him nuts. It's so fun.

It is fun. Because, you know, there's some over the years, and I said that had back in the 80s, Steve Williams caddied for me from 85 to 87, and then he went to Greg Norman, and he'd worked for Greg in Australia for a long time. You know, Greg would play four or five tournaments every year in Australia, and he was golf in Australia. And he made it great for all of us

because we were on TV every weekend in Australia playing with Greg Norman, playing for good money on great golf courses. The players from the 80s and early 90s in Australia are better known than a lot of the more modern players because we were on TV all the time because Greg came to town and we had big tournaments. Steve would caddy for him

and then he'd come across the pond in Europe and Japan and whatever and caddy for me. But he was one of the first characters. You know, he would fold, his towel up into four or five times he'd fold it, and he'd use it like a catcher's mitt, and he'd catch the ball. He didn't run around and wait for it.

He was too big and strong. He would catch the ball, wipe it in his hand like this, throw it in the bag. Catch the ball, throw it in the bag. This is when we shagg balls. You guys probably too young to even know that. Even until 2000 in Europe, we shagged our own balls. So he was doing that one day,

and we're playing in the Spanish Open. This is 1987. It was the first tournament, Nick Faldo. one after he rebuilt his swing with David Ledbetter. And he's down there, I played in the morning, and he's down there catching balls. And I was hitting seven irons, you know, about 195 yards down there. And I see him kind of go like this, went whack, got him right in the nose, right in the middle, just split the lip, straight open like that, knocked the teeth in, straight to the ground.

So I ran down there, sort of half dragged him. He was unconscious when we first got the half-draged and took him up to the clubhouse. And this is in Spain, in, uh, down in Bethelona. And he, the doctor was at lunch and he obviously had a few white wines. And he came down, we couldn't understand a word he said. And he didn't understand a word he was saying either. He was so drunk. And he stiffed Steve up like this and he caddy for the rest of the week.

And if you ever look at Steve, he's got these two big, beautiful, shiny white teeth. Well, that's because of me. because they knocked his two front teeth. Wow. No kidding. I'd never heard that story. That's great. That's good.

Good shot, by the way. Good swing. Nice catch, Steve. Yeah, we're on that one, dip shit. But he still kept doing it. He still kept catching balls with the mid. Most smarter guys used to let it bounce once. Man, shagging the ball era is a difference.

I mean, imagine how long these guys practice. They're out there Monday. I saw a thing today. Callmore cars already out there practicing for next week. If they had to shag their own. or their caddy had to. I wonder how much that would decrease the hours spent practicing. Yeah, and there's a lot more guys out there now, too. So it'd be pretty hard. You know, you imagine it's one of those smaller, older ranges running around, catching balls.

But I think a lot less hours spent hitting balls these days. A lot of the players might disagree with me on this. But I think the science in golf has allowed for a lot less time. spent actually on the range trying to figure it out. You know, the great Steve Elkington, you know, calling it, you know, finding it in the dirt, right? We had to find it. We had a set of clubs and we kept them for as long as we could if we liked them because they were good and they were mild steel and they used to wear out in the faces and that bend all the time. But we had to figure it out. We had to find a way to improve and it might be 500 balls a day and, you know, you often hear stories of guys practicing till their hands bled and those sorts of things.

I think now great coaching, so much fantastic sharing in the world of coaching because of internet. You know, fancy that the last 30 years internet. And video and 3D and track man devices and launch monitors and put the plates that we use now to see where we are during our swing. I think you can learn so much in a half an hour hitting balls that you see. to be a day or a week or something for us. It's interesting concept, I know, but I think the guys spend a couple of hours more in the gym each day than we used to do. But I think we spent a couple of hours more on the range than they used to. Yeah, technology has definitely changed the game. Totally different subject. We mentioned Frank because we all love Frank stories. We've had him on the pod here,

but I want to know, like, the first time you met Frank Nabilo and what your thoughts were. I thought he was kind of a buttoned-up Kiwi. He was very proper. He was always working on his swing. He had a beautiful swing. Frank and I had the same age, born in 1960. And I met him at a tournament at Taralgan. The Taralgan Classic, it was like the Victorian PGA Championship.

It was a tournament that he played very well in. That was his first event, one of my first events. We were both 18 or maybe just 19. and I knew he was going to be good. And we played a lot of golf through the 80s. This was 1979 or 1980 that that tournament was. So we knew each other well as competitors. I remember beating him in a couple of playoffs.

I remember him beating me in one and I ran second to him another time in Europe at the Longcombe Trophy, one of the great tournaments in Europe. So we had a good friendship and now we have, we kind of, weren't together much for 15 years or so as he kept playing and I started doing television and he was in Europe and I was over here and then once he came to here and now he's doing the TV it's kind of rekindled the old spark as Colt knows we have a great time and he

as you know Colt he was an exceptionally good player he won many times the only one once in the US but he won many in Europe and around the world but he was always tinkering with his swing He always wanted the perfect swing. And when he got injured, that hindered him from hitting that many balls that he just couldn't keep up anymore. But yeah, good fun. And we have more fun now as old gray-headed old guys. We're walled off and Stadler. You know, the two old Muppets that sit in the grass stands?

That's good. That's our nicknames now. That's good. Now that you work with him, do you still think he's a buttoned-up Kiwi? Is that how you describe him now? No. No, he's definitely got a different personality now than he did when he was playing. He was a bit more serious then.

He's good fun, good guy to be around. And when Nick and I would get together with Frank, it was always good fun. We were kind of three brothers. I miss McCord a lot too. I mean, he was always good fun and great company. And Costas was like a big brother figure to me when I first started. The TV world's been fantastic to me. I started in 1998 at ABC and I did eight years with ABC and ESPN.

So I was with Rossi and Curtis, Mike Torrico, young fresh-faced Mike Torrico, Judy Rankin was like my big sister, she helped me a lot, Steve Melnick, and then the great Peter Alice, that was our team back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Andy North, when I did some ESPN stuff, Billy Cratsett, Charlie Reimer. So there's been some great characters over the years that I've had a chance to work with. And now with Colt, I won't be doing this for too much longer, but Colt's got a long way ahead of him. Trevor Inman's very, very good at what he does.

He works harder than anyone. He really researches a lot, knows all of the players and coaches. And Amanda with the interviews, Mark Immelman, he's the great wordsmith. And of course, Jim Nance is the glue to all of it. just the best ever. Between Mike Torrico and Jim Nance, you couldn't get any better than those two guys, could you?

No, I mean, we talk about it all the time. They make a very difficult job look really easy. Yeah. I mean, we had at 3M a couple weeks ago, Nance had this whole line planned out, this little joke to make, and he actually like stumbled a little bit doing it. And we go to commercial,

and I was like, did Jim Nance just stumble on a line? He's like, I won't be able to sleep tonight. What a bum. Fire him. Yeah, it's terrible. And then you got Tariko, what, sorry, go ahead. You can see, Nance, I look at it.

Where we sit, Frank sits to my right. We're about five or six feet apart at the same desk, same monitor. And just on the other side of their camera is Trevor and Jim. So the four of us now in the super tower, as they call it, we're there together the whole time doing the shows. And we can see each other's reaction. And I can look over like this to Trevor, and Trevor's got a point. And then Jimmy will stick his hand up and he's got something to say.

And so it's a lot of fun. I like the way we do it now. Yeah, you got a good crew. You just recently said, had an emotional, everybody had an emotional goodbye to Nick Faldo when he left. And then this year, the last year we're going to see Vern Lundquist, you know, at Augusta. What's it going to be like being down there without Big Vern? I mean, he, you know, what you think of a lot of the time. He's an icon, isn't he?

Yeah. Absolute icon. I've never, you know, we use, we throw out the word great so easily these days. but I think he really is a legend in the game, in the business, and an icon for CBS Sports. Vern had only done the Masters the last handful of years, and before then he was really just the PGA and the Masters, the two big events.

He wasn't really a part of our weekly 20 events a year crew, but it was always so great to catch up with him. And I did a few other tournaments with Vern as the analyst, and he was the lead. So I had a chance to work with Byrne many times in that role, just the two of us. Things like the PGA, Grand Slam and Skins games and things like that. He'll certainly be missed at Augusta, the voice of Augusta, the voice of the great calls of Augusta. And he's been able to regale us in fantastic stories for many, many years. He's always got, hasn't he?

He'll sit there in the lunchroom and just tell us stories in his 80s now. Sorry, Vern, to give your age away, but you've been incredible. No, you're exactly right. I mean, one of my first, I think the first event I ever worked with him, I actually got moved up to the regular CBS crew at the PGA Championship of Kiowa. And I had never met Vern in person before. And so we're sitting there in the trailer, a bunch of us sitting around, and Vern's telling stories.

And Frank kept interrupting him. I'm like, Frank, shut up, let Vern talk. I want to hear his stories. I can hear yours every single week. But I love his SEC football stories. Those are my favorites because he's been to all the good places. He sure has. And then certain places didn't like him because he was always, you know, seemingly an Alabama fan.

You know, I'm an SEC guy too. I mean, there's the AFC, the NFC and the SEC as far as I'm concerned. But that's all changing with NIL, but probably don't have enough time to go there, do we? Who's your team in the SEC? Alabama. You're a big Bama guy? Sorry, tough run, you guys have been tough. Yeah, I know it's been tough.

My son-in-law was a gator. but costus and his wife went to to bama and i had a lot of good friends there and friend of the coach and he's a member at my club at jupy hills here in florida so yeah it's just it's been it's been good fun watching them obviously but it's it's changing um the world of college football and college sports is changing isn't it yes it is big time big time uh one last little funny college story. So my senior year, I believe at SMU, I'm out at a bar and I go talk to this rather nice, attractive young lady. And she introduced herself as Haley Baker Finch. I'm like, uh, any relation?

She might have been a freshman. Not sure how she got in there. That's beside the point. But, uh, yeah, I met I met Ian's daughter before I met him. Finch, you dodged a bullet, bro. Good on your, she obviously got good taste and said, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. I hope she got out of there early. I had to check that out later. But yeah, Haley went to SMU and what a great school. And that was, you know, I was looking the other day. Got time, got a minute?

Yep, too. We got all the time in the world for you. We were looking at some great old pictures at Wyndham. And Colt was number one emitter in the world back in 07, and they showed the Walker Cup team. And I'm looking at all the faces on there. I'm like, man, is that the best ever? USA Walker Cup team, 07.

I can't go through all of the names, but, you know, obviously Dustin Johnson and Billy Horshaw, I think, was standing next year. It was a contest to see you had the best hairdo with you. That team, and then I thought, shit, Colt was number one against all of those guys. So Colt, you should be proud of yourself, the way you play. And that's when I met you was around that time, I believe. if Haley was, she finished high school in 07, so she would have been, yeah, September 07 would have been her friend.

Yeah. All that wasn't enough to impress Haley. She must not have been keeping up with those amateur rankings at the time. You know what I mean? Thanks, buddy. Keep it moving. You're an idiot sleaze. All right, real quick, let's do the E9 with Ian Baker-Fitch so we can let him get out of here.

He's got to move houses, which moves sucks. Yeah, you're moving. Congratulations. Take that Claret jug up above your shoulder. Don't forget that. Yeah. Oh, sorry. I will. I've actually got a nice blue box here that it sits in.

I take it up to the club every year at Open Week. If I'm home on the weekend, I take it up to the club and everyone, that's got to be the best trophy in golf, I think. It's just so special and everyone wants to take a photo with it. So, yeah, I'm proud of that, obviously, for having won it and played so well, but just to have it there is pretty special. And everyone comes over and occasionally on special occasions, we'll clean out the lip and throw a nice bottle of,

Clara enjoy it. It's good. Well, that was going to be one of my E9 questions was, what's the coolest thing you've done with the Claret jug? Oh, boy, I've done a lot of cool things. Shared it with a lot of great people and a lot of great friends. You know, drank Grange Hermitage, the Great Australian Shiraz out of there. The night we won, we filled it with Fosters. The boys ran down to the shops. There's a whole bunch of the

Australian junior team or amateur team with Air. Robert Alambe, was one of them. Few of the boys that are playing champions to are now. And they ran down and we filled it up with Fosters and had a great party. We stayed in a house. Haley was just two years of age. But just the parties and the love I've had have been able to share it with family and friends

and buddies and contemporaries and allowing them to drink out of it. At the tournament we used to play in Ohio there after the open in August, I remember Phil bringing his back in 2013. and we all got together and drank out of it. So same sort of thing. Just a lot of great times doing that.

Nothing outrageous. I never broke it, never dropped it, never really dinted it or anything like a few of the boys, but definitely had quite a few good times with it. Beautiful. Beautiful. Good for you. I'm going to put you in this guy because you had a beautiful,

beautiful golf swing, in my opinion. But there's been a lot of great golf swings coming out of Australia in my Elkington, Scott Ogilvie. You can go down the list. In your opinion, who has the most beautiful golf swing of all the Aussie grades? I've got to go with Peter Thompson. He was my mentor in the 50s, 60s, won five Open Championships. If you ever have a chance to look at Peter Thompson, it was simplicity in personified.

It was just pure. Modern swings, Adam Scott, for sure. And I think a lot of people try and copy Adam's swing. And I've known him since he was a kid. The year I won the Open in 91, he was just. junior champion at our club. So I've known him since he was 11 or 12 and good friends with his dad, Phil. So, yeah, I've watched his whole career and handed him a lot of trophies as a junior

and then as a pro over those years. I admire him. For someone in his early to mid-40s, he's really kept himself in good shape and maintained that ability to perform. I mean, he's playing this week. He's top 50 on tour. Yeah, he's a stud. It's really annoying how perfect his golf swing is and how good looking he is as a human.

I hate it. And he's nice. Yeah, and he's a good person, and he's smart. Yeah, he just gets it. He's never been in trouble for doing anything. He's kind of out of the news. He doesn't want the spotlight. He just goes about his business, hits it perfect and keeps it moving.

He's been good since he was, since, like you said, 91. Yeah, and I think now too, not just the Aussies, but I like Ludwig Goldberg's swing. Oh, yeah. That's pretty pure as well with a lot of power. Yeah. That's a tough one to beat. But some silky, silky actions coming from down under. I tell you one that gets forgot about because, I don't know.

I don't even think he plays anymore. Michael Simm was about as good as it gets. Simmy, I know Simi, well, he's on out, I'm on the board of the Australian PGA and also on the tournament players committee. And Simmy's on the tournament players committee with us. So it's got a good sense of humor and we catch up every couple of months on Zoom. Very good swing. He heard his back.

It was like me. He had injuries and kind of compensated and never really, but he still plays well, but not as well as he did when he first came out. Yeah, what's he doing now? Because that was when I was on the corn freight through. got the battlefield promoted. He was it. Like, you couldn't beat the guy. Yeah, he's, um, he still plays well. He won, he's won a couple of tournaments in Australia over the last couple of years. Um, he has a young family, lives on the Gold Coast, uh, up near where I am in Queensland.

But so he's, he's sort of full time trying to play golf, but only in the Australian tour at the moment. I don't think he travels. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Next one. You were captain of the Australian Olympic golf team, 2016, 2020. I want to go to 2020 in Tokyo. Yeah. Did they accidentally send the Australian cycling uniforms to Cam Smith and Mark Leishman? You know, it's funny. We did everything we possibly could to change those uniforms.

I had to wear them too. Imagine me strutting around there for three weeks in that stuff. It's a uniform. It was the same for the swimmers. It was the same for all of the track and field. And they wouldn't let me change it. I said at least let me get trousers. and anyway.

No, fortunately this year they were a little better. I don't know if you saw Jason Day and Minwu Lee. Yeah. I just remember leash in the hat that looked like Lance Armstrong's cycling hat. Final stage of the tour to France. He bikes to the golf course and just didn't change. This year I saw him in some all green gumbies. We need Australia.

There's some good designers down there, I'm sure. I feel like they could tighten up the uni's just a smidge. Well, the whole Olympic committee makes you adhere to all of the rules. And they send 450 athletes and there's a thousand other people hanging on. And we all get the same kit. And anyway, actually, I got an Australian bag over here. I should bring up and show you. But yeah, very interesting.

That's cool. You're two-time captain over there at the Olympics for the Aussies. All right. It's fine. Finchie, I read that you famously went to a hypnotist when you were trying to explore ways to get your game back at things like that. I want to know, A, does that work? And is that something that an average guy listening out there who's struggling a little bit? Should they go seek out a hypnotist?

I think the guy I went to see is currently seeing a hypnotist because he couldn't help me. What do they do? I'm actually curious. Like, what are they? He tried to get me into a zone, and he would occasionally get me into that zone, but he could never get me to, that I could really get by the scar tissue that I had developed over a year or two. But yeah, trust me, I did everything I bought and read every book, I did everything I possibly could. But I think I played with injury

and that started the mental side of things and then the layers and layers of scar tissue just built up and then it gets to be really, really hard to compete. And now I go play and I play, play well and I have done for 30 years, 25 years, still play very well, still as good at some parts of my game as, you know, I could possibly expect to be. But if I had to go play in the Open Championship tomorrow, I think I'd be so nervous that I wouldn't be able to play because of that, that build up. When I turned 50, I went and played in the four ball thing for the

champions tour and was a shot out of a playoff one year, I won at one year, I was six with Taylor on another year. So when I had a partner there and the pressure wasn't on me on every single shot, I could still perform and I made three birdies in a row to finish the year we won with Bart Bryant. So I could still play somewhat, but there was just something in there that stopped me from being able to perform at that high level. And so I guess, in Estated your question, I'm sure they do help people. They wouldn't have a job if they couldn't. But no, it didn't help me much. I don't want to try one, just see what they do.

Yeah. Good luck. Getting in there. Just for fun, just to make me better at all kinds, maybe for pickleball, just anything I can improve upon. His confidence gets a little low sometimes. Just to see if they can penetrate Fort Knox here. Just to see if somebody can get in there, you know what I mean?

I don't imagine that. You know, pick a few locks. I think that got invented alcohol, wasn't it? Yeah, that's my hypnotist. That works. He's a hell of a dock, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, he wins every time.

Yeah. All right. is just for the people to maybe learn a little more about Ian Baker-Finch. Give me your favorite chick flick of all time. Oh. Oh. Because you're a big fan of them. That's another, that's Novela.

He watches, he's on that, what's that channel? I can't think of the name of the channel. Lifetime? There's another one. Hallmark. Hallmark. Hallmark. Movies.

Nobler likes Hallmark movies? Yeah, he puts his slippers on and cuddle. after the dog. I'd have to go with four weddings and a funeral. I thought that was a pretty good show. Love it. Are you a,

like a rom-com, chick flick connoisseur? No, no. I'm drama, action, you know, all of the fast-moving sort of movies. And my wife's the same,

actually. We very rarely watch the too many rom-coms. I like them when I watch them. Well, Dottie must have been on her like second bottle of wine the other day when I asked, because she said he is a huge chick flick fan. That's Doth.

Thanks a lot, Dottie. Are you and Dottie catching some flicks together? I think we did watch one. Jenny and I were traveling one year in Wilmington, and we stayed with Dottie. And I cry at supermarket openings. So I probably was crying for these movies, and that's what she remembers.

That was, yes, the crying thing. I didn't know if I wanted to bring that up, but since you brought it up, The question was going to be, do you go through more tissues or golf balls in a year? I only, you saw how straight I hit it cold. I only need one golf ball a day, so 200 balls have seen me for the year. But, yeah, probably just shirt sleeves, you know. Hey, nothing wrong with a grown man showing a little emotion.

Very secure, too. Now you can talk about it. I'm on the first of that. I got two daughters and two granddaughters, been married for she's nearly 40 years. years. So, yeah. Good man. Good man. No shame and a good chick flick. I'll ask you a serious one here, Finci. Most memorable moment in your broadcasting career or a call you're most proud of that comes to mind. I think the most memorable moment and as an Australian, the most poignant, would be when Adam Scott won the Masters and I could barely get it out. I've been sitting down on

the 12th tower. It was dark. It was raining. I've been sitting out there since they've gone through 12. The trainers had come through. That's how late it was. And Jimmy threw it over to me and he said, Ian, that's just a fantastic effort for Adam Scott. And I said, from down under to on top of the world, Jimmy. And it's really all I could say. It's really all I could get out. So that was something pretty special.

The best story was when I started doing it. I got to the tournament. It was the senior players championship in Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan, 98. And it was my first time on US TV and I'd had lunch with a couple of the crew, you know, Steve Melnick, Judy Rankin, and they're kind of saying, hey, you'll be fine, just do this, do that. I've done a couple of years in Australia. And I got there and Jack Graham was our producer and he says, that's where you sit, that's your microphone, don't F up. So my first day, that was what I was told. And I thought that was, thanks very much for the, for the, for the

the grounding and for the, you know, the kind words or whatever it I was expecting. I was expecting something a little more than that. That's where you sit. Don't F up. So I think baptism by fire, isn't that right, Colt? In the business. Yeah, it's good advice. Here you go. Good luck. Don't suck. That's it. Yeah, exactly. Don't suck. Yeah. Beak up. Yeah, it's an interesting business. There is no doubt about that. All right, my last one for you. I need you to confirm this, that you are the reason so many more females watch the game of golf because of your legendary shot at Colonial. They're still talking about it down there.

The first to ever to get down to his undies and hit a shot. Yeah, I was. I was a trend set. They all started doing it after me. But yeah, it was the front of the 13th green. It used to be just a mud wall there, not a brick wall like it is now. And I was playing really well. I think I was maybe four under par.

and I was playing with Nicky Price, and I hit it into the bank, and it rolled down, and it was in this black mud. So I want to get down there, and at summertime, you don't even take rain gear in the summertime in Texas. It's so hot, you're not going to put rain gear on. It'll be a storm and lightning and will go in. So I just took my trousers off and walked down into the mud in my undies. And the funny thing is, I always had a habit of hitching my trouser leg up, just before I played my shot. And I did the same thing with my boxes. As I got in there to play the shot, I just hitched the boxes up.

And all of the females in the gallery followed me for the next four holes, singing it in the water. So I think I bogeyed the last four holes. What did the tour say about that move? I did get a letter, but not a fine. Okay. I got a letter. It was a tongue-in-cheek.

Basically, the last paragraph was, the colonial has never received so much publicity. You are front page news or back page news, you know, sports around the world. So thanks for the good, you know, thoughts, good memories, good media, I guess, from... That is beautiful. At least I do it. They should have had the PIP back then. Yeah, exactly.

You have a little 20 mil in the back pocket, you know what I mean? I was Adam Scott before Adam Scott came away. Yeah, exactly. I've always said that, Fitchie. Long flowing black. He's just Finchie 2.0. You're the original. All right, last one from me.

You go out to a nice dinner. You sit down, you want to order a glass of wine. They only got two options there. Frank Nobalo's Nobalo Wines or Nick Fowledo's Katnuk Estate. Which one do you order? Well, you go to Nick Faldo, Katnook Estate, because that's an Australian churaz or Australian Cabinay down there on the Kunawara. And I have a lot of great Australian wines and a lot of American cabs.

love hall wines they do a good job yeah so um bv's another goody but yeah wine's wine's my thing i know tequila's colts thing my wife and i share a bottle of wine with dinner most nights and franks that's not really that's not really his company yeah right i just put it on that it's it's got his name around it i was like screw it let us do it yeah franks you also you could you could have thrown in jim nance the calling as well oh yeah we got a lot of options yeah jim he's done a great job there with his company, Peter and his group. Yeah, really good.

Can I throw, do you have time for one more bonus question? Yeah, yeah. This is one bonus question, because I think people would love to hear this from you because not a lot of people get to go play golf in Australia. I just did this past year. You were nice enough to set me up at Kingston Heath. The Asia Pacific Amateur was at Royal Melbourne.

I played Victoria across the street there. Give me your top three Australian golf courses. Kingston Heath? Yes. Royal Melbourne? metropolitan Victoria, they'd be the top four. And they're all in one area. If anyone listening wants to go to Australia to play golf,

there's great golf all over the country. There's some fantastic golf in Perth, in Adelaide, down in Tasmania, Barnbougal dunes. But in Melbourne, there's an area called the Sandbelt. And it's like going to Long Island and playing all those great courses up there. It's just an area where you can stay in one hotel and drive no more than five miles to 20 high-quality

shinnock-like golf courses. It's just spectacular. And Colt can attest, you were there at Royal Northern? Royal wasn't in its best condition when you were there. It's much better. Those courses are much better from December through April because they have a cool, wet winter. So they firm up and dry out a little bit more in the springtime.

Yeah, it was cold when I was there. In the fall. I should say after. Yeah. It was chilly. I was there in October, but I caught Kingston Heath on a perfect day, and that place is special.

Thank you so much once again for setting me up with that. That picture up there is an original Graham Baxter of Kingston Heath. That place, man. Presence Cup's going to be there in a few years, right? Yeah, it'll be there. Oh, sweet. In 28, so. Yep.

Good. I'll be there for sure. I won't be working. I'll just be there watching. and a fan and I'll take you guys out to play. So remind me. Don, we're going to throw your name around all over that place. It works. Finchie sent us. Yeah. Any time. Please do.

Duh. Well, Ian, man, first off, I can't thank you enough for coming on with us. And also, it's just a pleasure to get to work with you every week out there on CBS. You're one of the best. Thanks very much, Cole. Love joining you guys. Sleece. I enjoy your show. I don't listen to many of the podcasts, but I enjoy you guys, and you do a wonderful job. It's nice to have. someone new and young and fresh and fun on our crew because we've got a great crew, but having your voice and you sort of livening it up a little bit, I think really, really

helps the whole show. Honestly, we're nothing against NBC or any of the guys at Golf Channel, but I think CBS just has the best team. Well, I obviously agree with you, but like I said, this has been a lot of fun and look forward to working together again soon. Yep, I'll be back. See you soon. All right.

That was Ian Baker-Finch. We're joining us on golf subpar. So he's one of the nicest dudes in the game of golf, in the world. I love the guy so much. It's so much fun to work with him. And I love the, I was Adam Scott before Adam Scott. The pants off. Pants off.

He set the trend, dude. I was talking to McCord, like, before he came on. I was like, got anything good for Finch. He's like, he might be the most squeaky clean guy out there. There's no, like, dirt on him. Everyone loves him. He's like, we used to call him the Golden Retriever, just because he's like, nobody doesn't love a golden retriever.

And he's been around a long time doing a great job. And he got a really fascinating story with him. He came out, boom, becomes a major champion. And then probably, you know, struggled with his golf game. Like we've seen a lot of guys. But for a good while and then got out, made a hell of a career in the broadcasting side. And one thing we didn't even get to, he's been hitting the head with a golf ball twice. Yeah, Rich Beam got him at the PGA.

And one of them, he was doing an interview, I believe, at the Open Championship. And the ball just drilled him in the head. And that's when he stood up and started yelling four. Nice. Back at the guy. Nice. It happens. It happens.

The shagging the ball story. used to happen more back in the day. That's why Stevie's got them beautiful chompers. I love it, man. So much fun. Thanks to Ian Baker Finch for joining us. All right. We're heading to your old stomping grounds.

Denver, Colorado this week, the BMW championship, second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Surprise, surprise. Scotty Sheffler is your favorite. Around three and a half to one. Castle Pines Golf Club. I know you know it well, but it just went under a major renovation.

So I don't think many people in the field probably know anything about this golf course. I would be surprised if many of them I've even played it once. Wyndham Clark, Wyndham will be the only guy, and he's played it a ton. He played it all through high school.

He was just back there last week, getting a couple rounds in. And it's a golf course. Like, you'll see, it is awesome. It is one of the most fun golf courses. There is a ton of elevation change. You'll see on the first hole, 610-ish, let's call it, par five.

Guys will be hitting well, I think they'll be moving it well over 400. It's probably 50 yards above the fairway, and it's that altitude, and it's going to be 80-something degrees up there. There's some elevation changes on par three's, It's a really exciting golf course. Like when they used to have the international there,

the Stableford system was perfect for that golf course, especially that back nine gives you some like risk reward. There's some equal bowl holes. You saw crazy stuff happen on 17, which even back then everyone could get to and to the double equal from Steve Lowry. It's a fun, fun golf course. I think there's, it'll be, and they've redone it's 8100 yards. It sounds like a ton, but it's really not going to play.

Longest course in PGA tour history. It won't play like that. I mean, just knock 10% off right off the jump for the altitude. But it's a very fun golf course. course, it's different. It's maybe the toughest walk on tour, but it's a cool spot. I'm glad, like, all the fans will get to see it after it's been redone. The house that Sleeves built, a lot of people called that.

Yeah, okay. Anyways, let's get to some picks. For my favorite, like I said, I don't know much about this golf course. I've played it one time. I'm not sure who it favors. Obviously, 8100 yards, but like you said, it's not going to play that long. So I'm going to go probably one of the best iron players in the game outside of Scotty Sheffler.

He was on the range. He was first guy on the range. on Monday. So I expect him to be ready to rock going off at 14 to 1. I'm going to go Colin Morcawa. Okay. I like that a lot. In terms of like who it favors, I don't know, you can go back and look at the international winners. There's not like, oh, it's the long guys. Oh, it's the best putters. Like it's kind of across the board. It's a nicholas course. The fairways aren't the smallest in the world. You got some room to hit it out there. But I'm going to go just based on what I just said. I don't think anybody's seen this golf course more than maybe a time or two

other than Wyndham Clark. Playing at altitude is a bit of a different thing. He does it all the time. He was just up there recently, and it just comes off a nice little 60 foe, the final round down in Memphis for a top 10 down there. So give me Wyndham Clark in front of the hometown fans. That's such a homer pick, but whatever. Big time homer pick. Yeah, I am who I am. He's going to think he's Justin Bieber walking around there. Yeah, he's going to have, we got to get one event in Denver, and pick the Denver kid.

Okay, fair enough. You know? My dark horse is 70 to one. And I think the main reason I'm taking it is because you said, you said Steve Lowry with the double eagle. So I'm going Shane Lowry. Oh, the Lowry. God, that was an all-time-bye. God, that was an all-time back nine from Steve Lowry back in the day.

All right, my dark horse, 75 to 1. The only guy or the most recent winner out of the city of Denver when a golf tournament has been held there. How about Nick Dunlap with his U.S. AM win last year? Cherry Hills had a great week to get inside the top 50, give him all the signature events, everything. And to do that with one of his wins, his first win in the year, out in Palm Springs getting no points for it. Dude's playing good. He's got nothing to lose. He can just kind of go for Brooks.

He needs another monster week to try to make it to East Lake, but he's running hot right now. Just to throw a little something else on there for you about Nick Dunlap. His second win of the year? Was that at altitude in Tahoe? Valid. Good point. He's probably one of the only guys that's played at Altitude this year

because most of the guys at the Kuda aren't in the top 50. You just love saying the Kuda. I love the Kuda, dude. All right. Well, once again, thanks to Ian Baker-Finch. Make sure everybody get your five-hour energy. Get hyped. Stay awake.

Love y'all. Talk down the next subpar. Thank you.