Subpar - J.J. Spaun Interview: His whirlwind trip to the Masters after winning the Valero, getting paired with Mookie Betts at Pebble

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, PGA tour pro J.J. Spaun joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and jicky jack legend Drew Stoltz for an exclusive, in-studio, interview. The winner of the 2022 Valero Texas Open talks going straight to Augusta after his victory, what it was like playing there the first time and getting to compete with one of his favorite athletes, Mookie Betts, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Subpar Podcast: https://linktr.ee/Golf1271 Birdie Juice Merch: https://proshop.golf.com/collections/birdie-juice-collection --------------- The TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4, together with the TAG Heuer Golf app, is the ultimate companion for on and off the golf course; designed for performance, ready for everyday life. Visit https://tagheuer.com/golf to learn more. Thanks to our official sponsor Dewar's. Make sure to check out their page on Reserve Bar today: https://www.reservebar.com/collections/house-of-dewars This week's episode is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you've never tried FanDuel Sportsbook, what are you waiting for? Go to https://www.fanduel.com/subpar or download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code SUBPAR so they know we sent you. Disclaimer: 21+ and present in AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, NJ, NY, or WY. 1st online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires 14 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (NJ, IA, IL), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY), or 1-800-522-4700 (WY).

Hello world. Welcome back to another episode of Golf Subpar with Colt Nosed and Drew Stoltz. Slees, fresh off the plane out of Mexico. Got a nice little tan. I see that. Glow-y-that. I like that. Little bronze. Yeah, didn't understand a word. Anybody said the whole week. But hey, I made it. John Rom's your champ. It was a hell of a week. Blanis Dias, me, amigo, first and foremost, I'll speak in your native tongue. Secondly, smart of us to stay away from John Rom last week because he was going off at

four to one, dude. There's no value in that. Everybody knows that as a good gambler. Four to one, not enough. Listen, I was talking with his manager, Jeff Koski, last night. and he's like he knew going in he was the favorite sure he's supposed to win i mean when you're four to one you're most likely you're damn sure better contend and he went out and got the job done i mean that's that's tiger like stuff when you're that big of a favorite and you actually go out and you actually do hoist the trophy at the end of the week because there is a lot of pressure on you you know Thursday Friday the only people following any golf out there was john rams group

I mean that that's it he was the show and he led from start to finish put on a ball striking exhibition finally got the putter to cooperate a little bit. But man, it still, it wasn't easy for him. No, I mean, you go out there, like you said, four to one. You're expected to win. You finish fifth, and if you guys play great golf, like, that's a disappointment for you. You know where the golf tournament really going, like, top five is nothing. But that's what it was.

For John Rom, there's only five guys in the top 35 in the world golf rankings going in there. But, dude, to do it wire to wire, I mean, I honestly don't think we'd never seen that golf course before. We'd heard about it, read about it, got to see it. You got to see it in person. I think for him to win on golf course like that, John Rom's biggest strength in my mind. he's good at everything, but B, he's the best driver of the golf ball in the world. And those fairways were massive. They looked like.

For the most part. Yeah, there's a few holes. For the most part, you could let it go out there. And I think John Rom, his biggest skill is that he can drive it long and straight. So if you give him a tough golf course with narrower fairways and some penalizing rough, like a Torrey Pines, for instance, that's the place where he's going to excel. He's going to hit driver. He's going to hit more fairways and he's going to hit it longer.

That's where he can pick you apart. But when you stretch those things out to as wide as those on the majority of the holes, I'm like, well, now his driver's kind of normal. He's still long, but there's a lot of long guys out there, and his advantage gets taken away a little bit. I thought it was pretty impressive, given that even though the field wasn't that strong, to do it on a golf course that, in my opinion,

doesn't really give John the advantage that he has at other places. See, this is where I disagree with you, actually, because when the second I walked around that golf course, I went out there Friday morning and walked around, I said, this place is perfect because you know why? He gets to hit 14 drivers or 13, because there's five part three. He gets hit 13 drivers around. He hit driver off every single hole, I think, last week.

Yeah, he's, I mean, why wouldn't you? And as you said, it's the best club in his bag. The fact that he actually gets to use it so much, I thought it was just a perfect setup for him. Yeah, there was just a couple holes. Eight was a very, very tough hole. We saw Cameron Chant make triple on Sunday. Ten was just a brutal hole. John Rom hit in the water there on Sunday and got the best break of his career, I'm going to say, on Sunday.

Pulled it left, going towards the pill in the area, hits the cart path, actually hits the Sirius XM golf cart. Shout out Sirius. Shout out Sirius X-X-M. It kicks down. into the rough. I mean, this ball was gone. It was going in the penalty area. He would have had to drop, had over 200 yards for his third instead. He ends up making bogey, but could have been much, much worse. Incredible break. Ends up winning by a shot. Shout out our guy, Tony Fienow, who had a great Sunday. Finally got the putter click. Dude, putting absolutely freaking terrible. The first two rounds,

I watched a lot of that. I was like, I don't know how you can deal with this as a golfer to hit it the way he did. I turned on the coverage. The first three holes, I think I texted you after this. I was like, I've seen Tony play three holes. He had 12 feet for birdie, miss. Then he had six feet for birdie, miss, miss, and then he drove a par four and three putted. And I was like that I would rather hit it like complete ass and get up and down all over the place and save par and feel like I'm saving shots as opposed to just striped, striped, striped, strip, striped, miss, miss, miss. Nothing drives you more crazy as a golfer than that. And he was doing it.

And then finally, you had to just figure at some point this thing's going to wake up. And man, what a weekend he had a little course record on Sunday. Yeah, the court record with Brandon. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. But yeah, the putter got hot. I mean, his ball striking all week. he was like, came over like 10 shots on the field in,

in his ball striking stats. It was just, it was really cool. Through Friday, he was number one in strokes gain T to Green and second to last in putting. That's what they said on the broadcast. Yeah. So that's tough combo.

But just to make the weekend when he was, he lost more than five shots to the field just Thursday Friday, putting. Tough to make a cut when you do that. You got to hit it pretty damn good. No doubt. But how about this? Tony Fienow,

the last several years on the PGA tour, has averaged eight top tens. You know what I mean? He's got this so far this year? One. One. Single. Single.

Singular. I mean, I said it when we were on 18 to Nancy. I was like, this guy's looking for his first top 10. Like, it's just shocking for a guy who we thought when he won the Northern Trust. It was like, okay, here we go. He got that, you know, he won Puerto Rico, but a lot of people say, you know, that's not a full field. PGA Tour event, the Strong Field. Then he goes out and he beats a badass field there at the Northern Trust up at Liberty National.

And we kind of thought, okay, here we go. Now Tony's about to go. That's the thing that gets so dangerous. Like, there's a lot of guys with crazy talent. We say, like, it's hard to win. But once you do, like, here it comes, open the floodgates, and rarely does that happen. It happened with Scottie Shephler, but Tony's the guy you've been pointing to once he gets that one, once he gets the one and gets over the hump. It's just damn hard to win out there.

And especially with Tony, like, I don't care how good you are putting it like the way he has this year. It's hard to have good finishes. It's a testament to, like, playing weekends. That's how good he hits it when you put it like that, when you five shots on two days to the field. That's not even to the good guys. That's just to the field. The guys that are making everything. That's hard to do.

And he comes back and ends up losing by a shot. I mean, he's got to be on that flight home. Just been like, I could have won by. He could, yeah, I had a feeling you were going to bring that up because you did take him. But look at some of the putsy. I mean, he made a 70-footer. He made a couple bond. On 14 for Eagle that was going mock 12.

I can't believe that went in even without the pin in. I think with the pin in, that thing rattles and comes out, but it popped, hit the back and the one centimeter you can goes up and comes down. But it was great. Nance just threw me under the bus. He had hit his first 15 greens. They tell me to get over there to his group. I show up on 16, Farrow, 187, 7-iron, misses the green.

Yeah. He's like, well, welcome, Colt. You show up. He hadn't missed a really good. send cold out there. It's in that black cloud over there to see if we could fuck this whole thing up for him. Oh, thanks. But congratulations, John Rom, his seventh PGA tour win.

World number two got it done as he should. And we got to give a big shout out to Vedanta down in Porta Viroira. This resort sleeves was unbelievable. The golf course was beautiful. You know, I think they're going to get a stronger field each and every year after they hear what people said about this place. It looks sick on TV, by the way. But the resort has crazy amount of rooms. The place is huge.

The place we stayed in, honestly, probably one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in my life. Had its own pool on the balcony. It was unbelievable. And they treat you like just gods over there. It was a blast to be at. Got to thank them. Beautiful restaurants down on the beach.

Is that where you did your sunbathing? Did you're on your private pool? By the way, look at this. I thought you're about to pull your shirt up right there. You can see this. So we had a different truck this week. So I didn't have my normal backpack that I don't use. I had John Woods backpack because it was an NBC truck.

And he's got this freaking right strap like rigged crazy tight. He's a lot smaller than I am. And so you couldn't adjust it. So it was super tight, uncomfortable. It's the only one they had. So it, like, pulled the sleeve of my shirt up. So I got exposed all day. Oh, yeah, you got a little third degree.

Strawberry burn right here. Right there. It's good, dude. That's that base layer. Man. It's that base layer you need. I was, like, trying to tug it down all day, and I'm like, God damn it. I'm going to get so burned right here on this right arm.

You did. You did. You did. But, man, Porteberra. What a beautiful place. Can't wait to go back next year. We've got to make a trip down. It's easy.

It's a two-hour flight from Phoenix. So nice getting down. I would love to get down there. And shit's cheap. What do drinks cost down there? Nothing compared to here. Way less than here. Yeah.

That's why they got it figured out down there. Beaches, palm trees, cheap drinks. What else you want? What else you want? Tell you what else you need. Tag Hoyer. That's what you need on your wrist, because you've got to bring your golf rounds to the next level.

Passioner about golf, Tag Hoyer is setting a new dimension in watchmaking through cutting edge technology with the newly released connected caliber E4 golf edition. Swing detection and shot distance tracking, interactive maps smart scorecard the tag hoyer connected caliber e4 is the high performance companion to any golfer who wants to take their game to the next level a tag hoyer connected caliber e4 together with the tag hoyer golf app is the ultimate companion for on and off the golf course designed per performance ready for everyday life visit tag hoyer dot com slash golf to learn more go there right now get one

dominate the bar and the golf course listen you want to play good you got to look good as well so get you tag Hoyer, you'll be styling out there on the golf course. Look good, feel good, play good, make good money, become Alpha Barnrat, basically. I'll tell you who's been playing some good golf is our guest this week's Lee's, picked up his first PJ tour win a few weeks ago in San Antonio, hopped on a bird, headed over to Augusta National and the Masters, played very, very solid there in his first appearance, but JJ Spahn has been on quite the heater. I find, I think this interview is going to surprise a lot of people. We've known JJ for a long time. Well, I know JJ, it's been a while since we were playing Canada together and things

that. He's got some juice. He's really fun to be around, but you don't see him everywhere in the media. You don't see a ton of long interviews and things like that. I think JJ Spahn's going to come away from this one with a lot more people rooting for him. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Just the whole experience of Masters Week. I mean, we could have talked about that for hours. I think it's going to be really, really cool for the listeners to hear all the behind scene stuff that happens that week. Yeah, I mean, just imagine your life changing like that. All of a sudden, you're showing up. You've kind of had some stress in terms of keeping your car, things like that. Boom, you win. Oh, by the way, we got the smoker sitting right here. You want to go to Augusta

and play that when you didn't even plan on it. He talks about what he had to do with where it's closed and all that stuff. I mean, there's just a lot of big, like, changing moments right there in the span of a very short amount of time. All right. Before we get to JJ Spahn, I want to tell you a little bit about our guys over at Doers. We are proud to announce that Doers is the presenting sponsor of Subpar in the official Scotch Whiskey of the 1202nd U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Discovered Dewers' remarkable lineup of Scotch Whiskeys. Most notably, their 12, 15, and 19-year-old limited champions edition developed in partnership with the

the USGA. Doers is the perfect after-round indulgence, extraordinarily smooth yet complex. Enjoy Doers' double-aged scotch whiskeys any way you like, be it neat on the rocks in a whiskey highball with a twist or a classic old-fashioned. It is now time for the doers' cheers moment of the week, and we're going to go a little off. We're not going to go golf here, Sleece. We're going to go basketball because NBA playoffs are rocking right now and we got a massive series here in the Valley. Phoenix Suns are hosting our man Jason Kid and the Dallas Mavericks. I cannot wait to sit on the couch the next week and a half. I got an off week, which I'm very excited about.

Pop a bottle of doers and just sit there and watch some incredible basketball. I'm kind of torn here. I'm a Dallas boy. This is what I was getting to. So let's say you were to make your way to the game, okay? And you show up. You got good seats. Your front row, you're going to be on the TV, all that sort of stuff.

What colors are you wearing? I'm neutral. Oh, you're going to just wear white. Black. Yeah. It's neutral. I don't wear white. Because you're from Dallas.

Obviously, you're Dallas guy. But we got Jay Kid, who's a good friend, comes on the show. But then you got Rally in the Valley. You got the Sons. We need to get some of them on, by the way. We need Kaminsky. Is he still on that team? Yes, he still is on the team, though, right?

But I can't wait to watch it. I am torn. I'm rooting for the Mavs. Listen, I'm a Dallas boy. I'm rooting for the Mavs. But if they lose, then I start rooting for the Sons. I'm full of Sons now that the Nugs got destroyed by the Warriors in round one, which maybe everybody's going to do.

But now I'm on Team Sons. So big week. And a lot of betting options. All right. Well, here we go. J.J. Spahn on Golf Subpar. All right. a newly minted pGA tour winner in the house with us today the 2022 valero texas open champ also

recently wrapped up a little top 25 in his first ever trip to the masters the man is making moves right now jj spawn greetings good to have you bud yeah it's good to get the honor to be here with you boys things going all right for you yeah that's good bad lately it's been crazy man it's been a crazy last couple weeks um it's nice to kind of catch my breath now and and rest at home and and kind of let things sink, so it's been great. Yeah, you just told us you're taking three weeks off, which is nice. You can do that when you win on the PGA tour. You get a nice little two-year exemption.

But let's just go back to this, because, I mean, things have been kind of a struggle the last couple of years. Had some health issues, got misdiagnosed, which I would totally blame on the bad golf, correct? I mean, it was a contributing factor. It led to a series of events. You know, you lose a bunch of weight, and you try to swing how you've always swung with that size, and it was just a lot different. And, yeah, I, you know, fortunately was able to kind of grind through it and get the right help and be on a better treatment plan for that stuff.

When you say you lost a lot of weight, like, what kind of number are we talking? So, like, my lightest, which when I was still losing weight, which is like a big symptom of diabetes, untreated, uncontrolled blood sugar, I was like 165. And I can pull up, it's funny, I'll show you later. my doctor's records because Harold Varner was like talking me at the players just like, man, I didn't know you were fucked up like that, you know? I was like, and he's like, how much you lose? I was like 50 pounds. He's like, you didn't weigh 2.17.

I was like, yeah, I did. And I had to like go in my doctor's like notes and pull up and screenshot like my like full on, you know, weight and my height and everything. It was like 2017 and 18. So you weren't, you weren't trying. This was just falling off. Yeah. So about, I lost about 20 pounds in a month without even trying.

Oh. And I was like eating more and more. What is it you don't eat or is it just run through you? Yeah, like so before I didn't know what was going on, like I was getting tired and feeling like lethargic, I barely get through one round. And it was towards the end of the season. It was like my best year on tour so far. So I was like, oh, maybe it's just a long year. Yeah.

And then you know when like, you know, that's bigger guys, you know, like, you know when you're getting down to like another belt hole, you're like, wait, like, I'm losing weight, you know? Like so my wife or my girlfriend at the time, she's like, you need to go to doctor. And, you know, sure enough, like the last time I went to doctor, it was at 216, and I weighed in at like 192. And this was, you know, in the span of a couple months, you know, to just lose weight without even trying. Yeah. And, you know, and that's just when they found out, like I did blood labs and stuff to find out. And type one, is this right? Type one's the one you're like born with egg. You can kind of figure that out quick. and then type two you like develop and that's a different one right so type one is like an autoimmune disorder where your your beta cells and your pancreas that produce insulin get attacked

but there is such thing it's called lata la-a-d-a it's an acronym it's late adult diabetes i don't know what the other is but something like that but it's it's basically a late onset of type one so that's originally what they assume you have type two when you're you're you're you know, not an adolescent anymore, and you've got high blood sugar, and especially if you're overweight, because I was overweight, you know, like, 217 pounds, but I've always, yeah, I mean, I've always been, like, I was always on the hefty side, you know, like my family's all kind of big bone, I guess, but, uh, so that it was just a primary care doctor, and he assumed, you know, that I was type two, and so we did the treatment plan with that, so it's like, lose weight, exercise more. I'm like,

well, I freaking walk, you know, I mean, we exercise enough, um, you know, I'm not sitting at an office, whatever, and taking specific, you know, medication. Just a different treatment plan. I lost, yeah, 45, 50 pounds. Damn. And that's kind of, that makes, so type two, you're just insulin resistant. So you still produce insulin, but your insulin's resistant to, like, moving the sugar to where it needs to go instead of just sitting in your blood and, like, having all these

symptoms. So anyways, that didn't get better. My numbers were still terrible, and this is, like, two years go by. I'm losing weights. Two years. Yeah, two years. Oh, wow. Yeah, so this was, this was the fall of 2018. So then literally 2020, or no, actually it was 2021. Yeah, it was last year, I went to a specialist, an endocrinologist, which specializes in this kind of stuff, like thyroid and like other, you know, like, you know, weird shit like that.

But so she did like this test that determines if you have this antibody, auto antibody and your pancreas that kills your beta cells. And sure enough, I tested positive for that. And she's like, yeah, you're not even type 2. Your pancreas is slowly, like you still make a little bit of insulin, but it's, it's like killing itself, like basically, and you're going to have, you're basically going to make no insulin at all. Like, you know, it could be in a month, it could be in a year, it could be in five years, but it's clear that you're not even type 2.

So now I'm on an insulin, and that's helped me, you know, keep weight on and to manage my sugars and stuff. And it's been a game changer, obviously, physically and even mentally. So once you found that out, how long until you started feeling back to like your normal self again? It took, I would say, I started feeling good within about six months. So it took a while. Yeah, yeah.

Like, it's just a lot, too, like to deal with, you know, learning how to adjust the medication, the amount. And now you've got to count, like, your carbs and like I'm drinking a bud light, but, you know, it's a bud light. So I can get away with it. But it's kind of like adjusting and learning how to deal with that and getting the right amount. And then you can start. So the other bad thing, or the other problem with that,

is you can go low, which is really low blood sugar, and you can, like, go into, like, a coma and shit. Like, it's crazy if you're not on top of it. But basically, it was an adjustment period. And more mentally than physically, I was able to kind of overcome it. And, you know, about a year since my original start to that treatment plan, like, it's been a lot better. God.

So deal with that. And then go try to play golf for a living. Perfect. God. That's a lot of math and keeping up with shit, too. Not just, like, trying to balance it. But you got to keep tabs on it. all of it. What about golf swing-wise? Because, like, you, I don't care even if you're trying to

not change your golf swing. You lose 50 pounds. Things are going to change. Yeah, like, I was pretty self-taught, like, my whole life. Like, I've had a few lessons here and there with some great coaches, like, just when I got really lost. But I was able to always kind of find it myself and, like, dig it through the dirt, you know, dig it out of the dirt and, you know, work hard at it. And everything would kind of, you know, get together, get to where it needed. But this time, it was like, what do I do? You know, like I had, like, the feels were completely different. Obviously, your body's moving different.

I had more space at the top. My hands are higher. Like, before I just felt connected, you know, like I had freaking around bodies. Yeah, swinging around that belly and those boobies and you're like, you know, flush it. You got to wait on them. Yeah, exactly. It's the target. Yeah, like, so everything was just out of sync and, and it took, and that was kind of, you know,

the hardest part was losing my swing. And then also, then you start losing. He was in confidence, and it was, yeah, it was brutal, and I don't, it just took a while. I took some lessons. I started working with Mark Blackburn. He's a great guy, great coach. You worked with Mark for a while. And he helped me kind of lay a pretty good foundation.

And then it just got something, it got a little too out of my comfort zone with, like, technicalities. I'm more of a field player, but I ended up trying to do stuff on my own after a while. And then I started working with Andy Pat now, who works out here. He just works at Starfire. just kind of a low-key coach. And he actually really helped me get back on track with, like, what my old swing was and, like, trying to get that move now from what I used to do back then. You've always hit it good, too.

I can go back to Canada. Like, you were, like, fairway green. It might not be the longest dude out there, but it was just solid, like, T, fairway, green, poop up, make your birdies. I thought you always rotated through the ball about as good as anybody. You still do. You rotate through it. That's the one thing I know is you always turned through it.

Thanks. Yeah. I've always loved that about your golf swing. Yeah, and I think that's like a weight thing, too, because you feel like you have all this mass and you can really, like, feel like you're rotating as hard as you can without over rotating, if you know what I mean, or like spinning out of it or whatever. So I think that is kind of what threw me off because everything started moving so much faster, you know, having the space and, you know, being lighter in general. So, yeah, that's one thing that, you know, kind of threw me off for a while. Maybe that's why I'm shit. You too skinny.

There's more. There's more than just that. You too skinny, bro. I can eat more. There's more than just that. You think it's, no, I don't believe you. But let's talk, I mean, those two years, obviously your game isn't where you wanted to be. You finished outside the top 150 and the FedEx, had to go back to Corn Fairy Tour finals and all that.

I mean, how tough is that? Because, I mean, you had a couple really nice years in a row before your diagnosis, and then you struggle a little bit. I mean, that's really got to mess with your head a little bit. Yeah, I mean, especially 2018 when I found out in the fall of 2018, like, that was my best year. Like, I felt like, you know, my rookie year was solid, kept my year. my second year was solid and it was just kind of like my trajectory was you know positive i was going up and and then all of a sudden like this gets thrown at me and it was kind of weird i didn't want it to mess with me mentally but you know it just was a big change and uh you know to to play to play

2020 and then with all that other shit going on with COVID and all that that was crazy and luckily i mean i would have probably lost my card that year too but they gave us another year and eventually i lost it you know, officially. And I don't know, I think maybe that was, like, the best thing for me. And it's not like it was, like, a mental thing that I was taking for granted of being on tour or whatever. But I don't know.

It was just kind of like, wow, like, you had something that you wanted so badly and, like, now it's gone. Like, not even conditional status, you know, so I don't know. I think going to Boise and I finish, I think, second tied for second or something, that really, I think that gave me a little bit of my confidence back and just knowing that like, you know, like you're obviously going to go through some bad times and play bad golf, but there's still, you know,

there's still some spark there. There's still like some light at the end of the tunnel. And, you know, I was able to play good and get buying card back. And I just been playing good ever since then. And I think that's also due to like a lot of the work that I put in in between then, you know, with my swing and attitude.

and just overcoming like everything. But I would say like the good thing, like, I mean, you come out of school, you have a little bit of struggle on the Canadian tour, but then you have that great year in 2015, and then your career starts going up and up and up. Even though you lost your card and had to go back to Corn Free Finals, you got it back. Yeah.

Like you never had to go PJ Tour and then go spend another year on the Corn Fraternity. Right. Which I think is huge for upstairs at least. Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, like I didn't even know like what I would be doing after, you know, that year. I mean, who knows? I mean, because you still have to finish, you know, top, whatever, 50 on the finals to even have, like, a card on the corn fair.

I know, like, maybe past champion status, but it's still, like, you can, if you lay an egg at finals as a tour player, like, you're kind of screwed, you know, even to get corn fairy status. So, you know, I was looking like, you know, maybe even Q school, you know, could, I couldn't imagine having to go through that. It's definitely on the cards. I mean, if you don't play well. Even if you get it back, though.

Even if you get corn fairy status, it's like taking that step back, it's just such a, instead of playing for all the money and all the nice shit you get on the, now just like come back. It's like, dude, it's a long climb back up again and it can just work. Like some dudes just aren't up for it at that point. Exactly. You know, just sucks it out of you. The motivation, I think, too.

It's just like. You could just quit like I did. Fuck it. Start a world famous podcast. I do a podcast. That's not a bad consolation. Yeah. But now look where you are, PJ tour winner.

Like, having gone through what you've gone through and now to the point where you're PJ a two winner is your perspective different? Like, not that you ever took it for granted, but like, damn, I was down here where I could have been possibly out of the game and now I'm to your exemption. I just got back from Augusta. Like, that's a pretty drastic change and not that long of time. Right. No, and I think that's 100% of it is like perspective, you know, like even playing weekend

and week out now, like just having a different perspective, like, you know, I finished, if I finished 28th one week, you know, and versus, you know, boeing the last, three to finish 28th, you know, it'd be like pissed off. But it's like, it's perspective. Like, what if I bury the last three holes to finish 28th in that? And being in the category I was in, it was like every point mattered, you know, for our reshuffle and everything. So I think having like a better outlook and more positive and a different perspective on things and not expecting everything to come so easily, like has helped me in the long run. Can you describe like what a weight off your shoulder it is? Like you just mentioned before we came on it. Like, good, I got three

weeks off. It's nice. It's nice to not have to feel like I have, or have to feel like I have to go play these tournaments. I can do this and I don't have to worry about anything. Just whatever it is to set your schedule, know your set, and have all that, like, behind you and just get to set it up for what makes you play the best golf. Right. Yeah. And that's, that's one of the luxuries of winning, you know, you know, you have two years. You know, all the tournaments are going to be in. And even this year, you know, I was in a, I was in a category that gets shuffled every, you know, every major. After every major, everyone gets re-ranked. So it's nice to not have to worry about like, oh, am I getting in this week?

Or, oh, you know, so-and-so needs to miss this cut so he doesn't pass me. And then that means I'm not in Hilton Head or something like that. So it's definitely like a huge weight off my shoulders. And it's nice to be able to set plans, long-term plans too, with scheduling and stuff. And now that I have a family, you know, a young daughter, it makes things a lot easier too for them. For me to be around. I mean, I had like about a four or five-week stretch, you know, from the West Coast, including the Florida swing, and they didn't get to come.

And it was, like, brutal, you know, like they're home by themselves here, you know, five weeks without much help and without me being there. And I miss them so much. So that also is a great bonus to winning is, you know, they can come out now and we have more flexibility with our, with our planning. Yeah, that's game changer when you got a fam. That's huge. And just looking at your results, like leading into San Antonio, I mean, you finished 27th

at Vowalspar, but there wasn't a whole lot. I mean, there was some solid golf, but nothing. Nothing was like, hey, I'm about to win on the PGA tour. What did you find that week? What clicked that put you in that position? Because San Antonio, that's a hard golf course. Yeah. Dude, it's weird.

I don't know. I think I just, so I had a week off. I played four or five in a row, including valspar. And then I had a week off. And I literally came home and I did not touch a club for one week. And I knew I had San Antonio, which was a great tournament. I've never skipped that event. But I didn't touch a club.

because I felt confident that my game was where it should be like, you know, yeah, like I haven't had any top, I've had one top 10, but like starting January, I didn't have many, I didn't have any top tens, but a lot of solid golf, like top 25s and all that. So I just knew it was a matter of time where everything would kind of click and whether it would be getting the right breaks or not. And I knew maybe one, I'm just like one week away from that. And so basically I went into San Antonio kind of kind of just feeling good, feeling confident. I didn't feel like I had to overdo anything. I played nine holes Tuesday and then like seven holes in the pro-em. I didn't see, I mean, I didn't see the last two holes, but I didn't, I wasn't worried about it, you know?

Like, I didn't even get to practice the entire course, even though I've seen it, but it's nice to kind of see it once again before you play. But I don't know. I just, my games, I've been driving it well, and I just need the putter to kind of heat up a little bit. And I puttied really good. And I obviously, when guys win, like, they're either putting really good or they're, like, striping it or both. So I think that's what contributed was, was just kind of the putter got hot. Sunday was nice. Yeah. So I guess on the weekend they said I was like 31 for 31 inside of 10 feet. Yeah, that's pretty good. Not one missaroo inside 10 feet. Pretty good. That obviously

helps. But yeah, it was, yeah, it was just, I don't know. It was, it was meant to be my week. Yeah, it's stupid. Don't practice the week leading up, barely play practice rounds. You'll probably went. I think that's the moral of the story. That's what we can always. gather from this. Obviously, you're in the next to last group on Sunday. You got a great chance to win. What are the nerves like Saturday night, Sunday morning? Yeah, so my wife and our child was there and our daughter and I don't know. It was just a fun week, you know, we stay right there and we went to the water park Saturday and Friday and just been chill. Like I think just having, not really thinking about anything helped and busy being a dad kind of stuff, you know, not having to, you know,

let my mind race, you know, while I'm sitting in bed, you know, watching TV, like, okay, I could win tomorrow, you know, like, it was just, you know, I knew I had a chance and I knew, and I think I felt comfortable being the second to last group, too, because I haven't really been in many final groups in a while, but, um, yeah, I just, you know, those things come across your mind. Of course. You're like, oh, we could be going to Augustine next week. Like, and I had people texting me, like, let me know what the azalea smell like next week, and I'm like, too, chill. Like, you try. God. Who, who, do you know? The, Delete.

Yeah, delete. Jeaxing me, but, um, no, it was, yeah, it was hard to not get ahead of yourself, but you kind of think about that. And I just, and it kind of went back to, you know, being where I was back in September of last year, like, I had nothing, you know, I had lost my card and I said, whatever happens next, or whatever happens tomorrow, like, who gives your shit? You know, like, I'm... What about after that little dub piece on the first?

I bet the brain changed a little after that. Well, at that point, I was like, hmm, so. What do I got to do to finish top 10 this week? 10th is good. Tenth is also good. Yeah, I was like, just a nightmare. I really love Hilton Head. I really want to go there.

So what do I got to do? Top 10 this week. But I don't know. It actually kind of calm me down. Like I was just like, what the fuck? Just happened. And it's like one of those courses where, dude, you can do that on any hole. Yeah.

You can do that on a part three, like without even taking a penalty shot. I loved what you said after the round, though. You're like, well, better the first hole than the 18th hole. Yeah, exactly. It's a great way to look at it. You're like, okay, well, that just woke me up. Now I got to go. Exactly.

Yeah, and I think I did finish a couple rounds that week, like shitty like that, where I bogeed 18. I think I might have doubled nine or something, like in the middle of the round maybe. But, you know, yeah, I was just like, well, the odds are in my favorite to, like, make maybe one double, and maybe I just got that out of the way early. Yeah. And sometimes that's, like, a bug or dove on the first, like, it's like a shock to the system almost where it just, like, gets you locked in, like, okay, no more.

Yeah. Like, there's been some good rounds. It's like fighters say they like to get hit early. Yeah. It's not too hard. So you take the first. Just don't be knocked out. Yeah.

Just don't get knocked out. Yeah, you got concussed early. Yeah. And then like, Kooch makes a freaking, just stuffs it on one and stuff's on two. I'm like, all right, well, I'm going to take the little seat here. And just kind of like, but yeah, I don't know. I just hung in there. I try to stay patient and it worked out, you know.

I mean, just, I think staying patient was the best part, especially after that opening disaster. Go back to one thing before, like when you said about Saturday night, Sunday morning, you're like, it's impossible. not to have those thoughts. And I feel like back in the day, it was a sports psychologist, like, yeah, you can't have those thoughts, you can't have that thoughts.

And then there was players that came about and they're like, listen, I know I'm going to have those thoughts. I'm human. It's just how you handle them. Exactly. I mean, you said they came to me. I pushed them to the side,

but first off, you're totally lying to yourself if you don't think those thoughts are going to come to you before you have a chance to win a PJ. Oh, it's 100% impossible. I mean, yeah, exactly, like you said, you're human.

Like, you're always thinking ahead. Like, we're just wired that way. But yeah, It's just like you got to kind of like think about it and you just try not to let it affect you like if even if you think about it the rest of the day like you know like you got to have Have an have a response to that maybe like just like well yeah I know I can get in the master And I know I can win and make a lot of money but if I don't like whatever who gives your shit Yeah there are certain instances where you can get a little too far I'll never forget this is a great story I was playing on the corn fairy tour with this guy and he had a guy named little penny

Cadyinollin for him little penny love that fantastic guy guy birdie's the first hole third Thursday. Yes. I knew we were going to do it. We're going to win this week. We're going to win next week. Then we're going to take next week off. I was like, uh, we played one hole.

Yeah. One hole, bro. First hole in the tournament. It was fantastic. I was, I looked at my cat. I started dying laughing. I was like, is this for real? He was dead serious, too.

I knew there was somebody else. I knew there was somebody else. I've already one through one under three one else. I'm like, serious part of the first hole at the mid-em qualified and already started playing his champions. I was like, I mean, I'm going to win low am. What am I going to say in Butler's Cabin? I got to come up with that whole spiel.

Nance asking me bullshit. You know, that's actually funny because I have, like, thought, you know, I think maybe there's a couple other times where I had a chance to win. And I'm pretty sure I was like, what am I going to say in my acceptance speech? But maybe that's a positive thing. Yeah, but at least he's in the tournament. You're qualifying to get out of the tournament. But if I win that, I get into it.

And, of course, I want to perform once I'm in there. Yeah. It could, hey, maybe it's a positive thing, you know? Like, it gives you that confidence. It's better than getting in there and never thinking of and looking like an ass. on national TV, you know what I mean? You got something worked up. You got to be prepared.

That's not something you just add lib in the butler's cabin. It ain't easy. You know what I mean? You got to have something prepped. Yeah. Back to JJ. So you win Valero. The next day, I'm texting with you trying to get you on our serious XM show and you're on

the Valero jet on the way to Augusta. How about that nice little perk of winning? Yeah. Cozy little jet I saw too. Kind of cramped. Yeah, it was tiny. It was like the La Bamba plane, you know. What did you do?

single prop? Yeah. Was it that night? It was being like, hey, by the way, we got you a ride. Yeah, so I knew there was a charter, but I didn't know, like, if it was from Valero or what it was. But, I mean, there was a lot of guys playing, you know, Augusta next week. So whatever, I assumed that maybe that would be the one and we'd have to scramble.

But, yeah, after I did, like, some media in the presentation, the term and director Larson comes, there was like, all right, so you want to leave tonight or tomorrow? We have a jet, like, waiting for you. We just got to let the pilots know they're there right now. I was like, wait, what? Like, I have the option to leave tonight or tomorrow, and he was like, yeah, like, so I asked my wife and the baby, you know, she's on it. You know how sleep schedules are. Don't mess that up, bro.

Yeah, don't mess with the kid. So we end up going Monday morning and Joe, the CEO from Valero, like, you know, made sure everything was tip top and it was money. Sure you need a little time to book a house and Augusta, book a place to stay. How did that work? Where did you end up? Yeah. You can't get stuff. That's booked like a year.

Yeah, it was crazy. I don't know. Like, so my agent wasn't there. at Valero, but I think he was at Augusta already, and I don't know, he had a connection that, you know, I think there was a family that knew the agency or an agent friend of my agent, and they were like, yeah, if anyone needs a house, like, we'll just get up and leave. So basically they just got up and left and obviously maybe stayed at, you know, relatives' house down the street.

So, yeah, we showed up Monday, and yeah, sorry for not going back, but we've got over it. We landed Monday, and then it was like, we got to go to the house. They didn't even have a car there for us. I was like, oh my God, we had like my kid. And then I had to go run to the course and like register. I didn't even get on the course till three. And the weather was shitty too. And then the weather.

Yeah, and I knew the weather was going to be shit. Monday was all right. Monday was great. Monday was nice. Was that your first time ever? First time. Yeah. All right.

Well, take us through it. Yeah. You get the car. Magnolia Lane. Let's go. Yeah. So we land there. Everything was great.

The flight was awesome. We have a debacle. We have a debacle getting the car. Anyways, we get the car, drop my wife off. in the kid at the house they unpacked so we're Mark Karen Mark Karen's my caddy and I we drive to yeah freaking Augusta

so first off we go the wrong way you know and then we go to like you know I've been maps Google Maps like oh you know Augusta and they take us to like you know the main entrance for like the fans and stuff I'm like where the fuck are we like so anyways I'm like well we just got to

find Magnolia Lane and then I do Magnolia drive or something and I'm at the wrong place there so I'm like Holy shit. Where is this place? Because it's random. It's like... Well, it comes out of nowhere.

Yeah, you're like on this main drag. It's like being on freaking Pima Road. And then all of a sudden there's like this random wall of trees and it's like, here it is. And you make a quick right. Yeah. And then there's like cops everywhere. And then so yeah, so we pull in and it's like, oh shit, here we are. And you're just like driving down.

It's so cool. It's everything. It's like everyone's like, did it exceed your expectation? I was like, no, because my expectations were so high to begin with because that's all know, you know, everything being the way it is, and it is exactly what it, what I imagine it to be. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. It was just... Well, it's like the top of the pedestal, like every golfer. It's like, you can overhype it, you know, and then kind of be let down. But I did overhype it, but I knew it was, it was exactly

that. How much, let's just keep going through it. You get there. You get out of the car. Yeah, so we get there. Yeah, what were you wearing? I don't even remember, dude. Like some, just like some, like some, some Oh, I think I was like, I think I showed up in shorts and you like, you can't wear shorts. Oh, that'll get you. I was like, oh, shit. That'll get you five to ten. So luckily, yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. So luckily I had some pants in the back. So threw those on. We park. And it's like right when you turn a right and you see the main clubhouse turn right. And there's another parking lot. Park in there.

And I see like, Tiger's girlfriend. And I'm like, hmm. Hmm. And they're like, this is the champion's parking lot. Oh. Yeah. You're doing good. You're doing great.

We are rolling, but. I was like, oh, that makes sense. So anyways, but they're like, they're like, it's right. Yeah. Nice to see it. They're like, it's fine. Just like, you know, just be quick. So we register.

And I think registration, you know, it's, you know, it's, you know, part of the clubhouse. I think that's when it's sunk in where I was like, oh my God, am I really here? I can't believe they even have registration at the mat. I feel I just always thought like it would just be like, you just come. Yeah, the caddies go get their stuff. But like, I just figure players like, you're in, dude. If you're on this property, like just go. So like registration, you literally sign this like old book that like it's like a, I don't, I think it just goes back to like whatever, the last 40 years, however many pages it can fit.

And then they're like, here's the replica of like their original one from like the 1800s or however old it is. Yeah, what's it? 1900. Were they? 19, whatever. And I'm like, damn, dude, this is crazy. So yeah, you literally like write in this book to register. That's kind of when it sunk in, I was like, dude, is this really?

Like when they say like, oh, is this a dream? Like, I actually felt that. I was like, dude, this can't be real. And it was. So signed the registration. I'm like, all right, where's those pomeo cheese sandwiches? I took some extra insulin today for that. So, yeah, so then we punished some sandwiches in the club, or up in the player

locker room area. And of course, Karen's went to the caddy house where the beer keg is. You know, they have like the beer keg there on draft. another cat. You're gonna pull up a cot here and sleep here all week. And you almost did. You know, you drank that much. Might as well.

Might as well. So how much prep did you get on the actual guard? Because you get there late. You didn't even know you're in. How much time do you get actually on the golf? Yeah. So we didn't land until maybe, it was kind of a long flight. But it's fine.

Small plane. Yeah, it's tiny plane, slow plane. So we land at like, I think 1230, maybe one. So literally by the time, like I run to the range, it's like 2.30. Like, I'm just going to hit, like, you know, 10 balls to get loose and then let's go play. And I was like, what do I do? Like, where's the first hole? And I'm asking all the green coats out there.

Like, I don't know if, sorry, I don't know if that's a bad reference. You're never invited back. Yeah, I don't think like, we're not green coats. But everyone's the highest compliment. But everyone's dying to be a green coats. They're like, yeah, you can do whatever you want here. I was like, all right, great. So we tee off at three.

We're kind of playing, it's just me. And we're playing a slow practice round and just trying to see everything we could. And, you know, we're, I'm just amazed at how purple the greens are on Monday. I was like, what the hell? They were glossy Monday. I was like, what is like, okay. Well, I mean, I know it's Augusta. So.

And that was incredible. Kind of like that first tea shot. But I think the coolest part was, was kind of getting on the course and walking in the tea and just everyone kind of like congratulating me, which was like a cool feeling. Because I didn't really get to celebrate anything, really. It happened so fast at Valero and, you know, I had a quick dinner with my family and Mark and his girlfriend. And it was like off to Augusta next day. So it wasn't like a huge celebration, but kind of getting to Augusta and like even like DJ, I've never talked to DJ in my life.

Like came up to me and was like, yo, congrats, bro. And I was like, thanks DJ. Wow. That's incredible. Exactly. You knew about this? Is that what you said? Like literally like, congrats, bro.

Yeah, that seems right. Did you play the part three? So, yeah, so we played one hole because of the weather. Yeah. We were scheduled to go later, and I think they were cool, the starters, because they were about, they're like, we're going to blow it in like six minutes, so they're like, just go up there and hit, and it was like McElroy, Shane Lowry and Pogick Harrington, you're supposed to play three sons, but like just go up there and just tee off with them because they're not going to

play more than one hole. So that was cool, so we got to hit one shot, and then, you know, my daughter was there, my wife. We know wearing the white jumpsuits. Yeah, that's been sick. We really want to do that for the experience and for our daughter's sake to kind of, you know, be able to look back on that and be like, oh, like, that's me. So that was a blast.

But, yeah, so we played eight holes and they kicked us off the course on Monday. Oh. They're like, the course, I mean, they weren't like, obviously. They were very nice about it. They're like, yeah, hey. So the course closed at six and it's seven right now. I just got here. I was like, oh.

I've been waiting my whole lot. I didn't get to hit the T shot on nine. So then, yeah, so we basically got pulled off the course, but it was fine. And then Tuesday, we ran out there super early before the weather came in at like 10 and 30 or 11. It was supposed to hit. And it was funny. So going back to the house, we didn't really like get settled in yet because I went straight to the course. So by the time we got back, it was like, yeah, 7.30, 8 o'clock.

Ordered food, ate some food. By the time you know it's 10, 30, 11 o'clock. do some laundry. I packed one outfit for San Antonio because I figured I was coming back, you know? So I literally packed one weeks of golf clothes, you know, for, you know, for that week. And then now I've got three weeks to, so I had to wash clothes and all that shit. And so we get to, so it's like one in the morning. I shower finally.

The baby's asleep. I'm like, I'm going to shower. I'm going to go to bed. One in the morning, I pulled the duvet down the bed and there's no sheets. It's just a mattress on the bed. I was like, oh, shit. Agent. Yeah, I was like.

Thanks for the house, but also fire. Yeah, so I had to call the guy that owned the house. I was like, bro, where the sheets? Like, oh, they're upstairs, blah, blah. So I had to, like, make my own bed at one in the morning. Half asleep. Yeah, exactly. Half asleep.

So it was a whirlwind of just exhaustion, you know, one in the morning. And you're all hyped up on adrenaline. Yeah, and you can't probably sleep. Yeah, dude, you're like, all that shit that happened so fast. And you only played eight holes at Augusta. You're ready to get out. Yeah. So did you get any Wednesday?

No, so... You didn't end up seeing 11 of the holes? No, so then Tuesday, so that was Monday night where I had to put the bed sheets on. So I went to bed at one. I knew we had to wake up early and go

before the weather, so I woke up at 6, so I got five hours of sleep. And then, so we played nine holes with Jordan, Spieth, and Bug and Tom Hogi, and that was fun. We played the back nine before the weather hit.

It was just a quick back nine. Didn't really get to see the course in depth how we wanted to, but, you know, we, at least we saw it better than not seeing it. You saw 17 holes. Yeah, I saw 17 holes. Okay, so your first goal was tricky for you.

Nine was a little tricky. What is this hole? Never seen it. It's downhill, like, right. I'm kidding. I was like, what? This guy is a back nine only and a gustic kind of guy. So tell me that.

Your first time you played 17 holes, what was the hole that when you left, you're like, God, that was even better or surprised you maybe a little bit? I think two. Yeah. Kind of like you just. Just like, you know that hole, that T shot, that second shot, the downhill. I mean, even one, like stepping on that T and you, I think it was actually one. You're just like, oh, my God, like this so hilly.

Yeah. It's like straight down and then straight uphill. Dude, I hit. It's a big-ass hill. Yeah, it's a long hole. I played into the wind every day. I hit like five iron in the first round because it was raining. I was like, great.

Well, it wasn't raining. It was like a very heavy mist. So I hit five iron in the first round. I think I hit seven iron in Sunday on Sunday because it wasn't as windy and it was warmer. So it is a pretty, it's a pretty demanding first hole. I said it's, I think if it was like number seven, it wouldn't be near as hard as it is. Because it's number one at the masters, the nerves are a lot higher than normal. Yeah.

It plays extremely tough. But I mean, how about you go through this? You obviously don't get to prepare the way you want. Then you're the first tea time Thursday. Yes. I mean, with Jose. With Jose. With Oli, bro.

Let me sleep a little bit, guys? Yeah, so. And then I heard some guys scream out when on, I think it was Wednesday or maybe it was Tuesday when they released in, T times. He was like, yeah, last man in, first man out. And I was like, oh shit, did the T times come out, I guess? And maybe I'm like first out. And sure enough, I was.

And I was like, damn. Like, so that was going back to why I slept in on Wednesday because I was like, dude, I haven't gotten more than eight hours total in the last two nights. Like, I need to sleep. And it was kind of the same deal as Tuesday was where the weather was going to come in around 10 or 11. So everyone was out there rushing Wednesday to get anything done. But I was like, screw that. Like, I need some rest.

Yeah, for sure. And so whatever, I think that maybe helped me kind of just to relax and let the body rest. And, you know, I literally maybe did a little bit of putting practice before the par three contest. Yeah, the pro-am. Yeah, the fuck I get it out. The par three pro-am. And that was it. Like, dude, it was just like, well, I kind of went back to how I felt going into San Antonio.

I knew I was playing good. You know, I just won a tournament. So obviously, I have the belief that I can come out and have a good week. So even though I felt like a little underprepared, I didn't really let it bother me. And, you know, you kind of know enough generally how to play the course just from like watching it so much. It's the only place you can go there and you know every single hole. Exactly. But then you remember puns.

The greens, yeah. But I still think as a golfer, like you watch so much of it, you still remember like. Yeah, you're like, oh, I remember when you're probably in here. Roughly chart a lot of the greens having never played there just from watching because you watch every shot. I agree. Yeah. And I think that was the benefit of it was kind of knowing a little bit beforehand. I mean, you play solid T-23 and your first masters?

Were you excited at the end of the week? Yeah, I was excited and freaking exhausted. Like, I mean, it wasn't easy. I mean, obviously it's the master's first off, but we had some pretty tough conditions, you know, three out of the four days. Yeah, it was brutal. Like, windy blown 20 to 30 pretty much every day except for Sunday. And, but yeah, I just tried to grind through it and just kind of reflect on, you know, how lucky I was to be there. And just to let it like, you know, to enjoy it.

And I think that helped. Give me that Thursday, Friday with Jose, who I'm assuming you're not friends. with or hadn't met before. Did you talk? Did you ask him like, hey, dude, I've only played actually 17 of these holes. Any advice would be appreciated. Yeah, so he was very determined. I think he made the cut the year before.

So he had expectations. You know, he's not out there to bullshit and, you know, have his, you know, annual, you know, stroll around, 36 holes. Yeah, exactly. So the first hole, fuck, on Thursday, he, you know, hit this little drive to, 30, 2.40. And then it hit a three wood into that back right pin to 15 feet and birdied the first hole. I was like, oh, shit.

Burn hard. God's like, yeah. And then he like, he like stiffs it on two, but then he like three putts or something like that. But he was like good. And you could tell he knew how to play the course. And that's why he's won there twice. And I think that experience around that place like really helps you.

And he was good, man. He was, he was awesome. He was super kind. He was in it up until he knew like it was over. Perez text me on Tuesday, or Tuesday, Thursday after the first round, I was like, yo, you should get a green jacket for playing with him. I watched your first six total. That guy needs to leave.

I was like, Pat. I was like, yeah. From the chiefs. Yeah. I was like, Pat, the guy's won the tournament twice. He got two of them things. Yeah. He's like, they should be giving you a green jacket for.

We're playing with that guy. Only Pat. That's Patty. It was fucking nice. But what a year it's been for you. I mean, first Masters, first PGA Tour win. Earlier this year, you're a diehard Dodger fan. You get to play with Mookie Betts at the AT&T Pebble Beach.

Yeah. First off, I met that week as well, the nicest guy. Yeah. Amazing. What an awesome deal. Yeah, he's got it all, you know. Like, he's got the talent. He's got the athleticism.

People love him. Money. He's got the, yeah, he's got the cash. But I couldn't believe, like, how shy and how nice he is. I mean, Giftsley's $400 million contract. Are you, I tell you what, I'm not on this podcast right now with $40 million. I ain't talking to you right now. That's fucked up.

That's not, okay, I do this for the love of the game, but otherwise I would, don't even fucking look at me if I got 400 million. I would hire a guy to just shoot anyone that looked at me if I had 40 million. Hey, I think that guy just glanced at me shoot him. I didn't approve that. So I like $40 million. I like Mookie. I like Mookie.

I like Mookie. He's more well deserved of $400 million. How'd you get linked up on that? So yeah. That's your guy, I would assume. Yeah, I mean, dude, Mookie, like, when he came over three years ago, was just like, that was the deal of the year. So he's been a great addition to the team. And I don't know how he got hooked up with me, but I'm pretty sure I was like, you know, I'm pretty sure Max was getting to be the number one guy for that group.

But he wasn't playing. Yeah. And also, Disney plays with, like, Rogers, if he plays in that or I don't know if he's got. He's got some super celebs probably. I mean, the guy's, you know, he's Twitter's pretty much a B-Less celebrity, you know, like, so, yeah, so Ross Berlin, you know, Ross. He's like, hey, so you might, you might be playing with a pretty cool guy. And this was Tuesday, you know, playing Pebble, just, you know, playing Fracton. I was like, really?

Who? He's like, mooky bets. I was like, what? God. I was like, you're shitting me? And I got, like, white in the face. I was like, dude, this is, like, more nerve-wracking than fucking anything, you know? like even playing Augusta.

Who knows? Is that a good draw for you being like, because most of the amateurs are like nervous because like, oh shit, I'm playing with the pros and people are watching. But for you, like, you don't care. But when you get a dude that's like your guy, all of a sudden, like, oh, I need to show Muky like. Yeah, I'm not trying to miss four footers in front of Muky bet. Yeah.

So you're like, you think it was harder playing with Moogie? It was hard. It would have been with some random CEO. 100%. Yeah. I mean, we were, I mean, he was my partner and like I wanted to do good for him, you know? And he's obviously a winner. He wants to win.

Like, I'm sure he's not there to waste his time. You know, he doesn't want to, you know, bullshit around and waste his time. So, yeah, he told me that. I was like, damn, no way. But your caddy, correct me if I'm wrong, is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan. Yeah. Which is where Mookie came from. So how was that for him?

No, he was through the roof. I mean, his son is a huge Red Sox fan. And Mookie was his favorite player. So he got him. So after one of the rounds, he sent like a, he did like a, personalized video for Mark's awesome Mark's son so I thought he might have been out on him because his former song's like hey what do we got to the pin here figured out yeah right yeah I'd tell you if you were still wearing the right unit exactly yeah so it was great yeah it was awesome but

yeah he's like yeah basically you know Steve John the tournament director asked who should we put mookie with and you know knowing that I was the you know one of the bigger dogger fans on on tour I think everyone's a Braves fan on that tour they threw my name in the had and, like, got picked. Do you all keep up? Do you talk to him? Yeah, so he texts me the night I won. Yeah.

Oh, sick. He said when anytime, you know, I want to go to a game, like hit him up. Like, so I'm going to take him up on that. Yeah, you got to. That's the cool thing about that. Like, you just don't know who you're, and I didn't know until Tuesday who you're getting. I thought it was kind of like prearranged for you being the Rogers guy.

And I wish it was kind of like we could have, you know, played practice rounds together because I think that's what, you know, normally when you find out who your partner is or if you come with a partner, you kind of, and that kind of, and that kind of would have broke the ice instead of the first tea. Like, hey, Moogie. Holy shit. I'm hard to cheat. And then I had to, we started out Monterey, like, you know, the first hole is like not that easy of a hole.

Like, it's 500 yards, downhill. Like, you got this freaking tree right here. I'm like, do I could smoke this tree right in front of Moogie? And you'd be like, who the hell do you pair me with? He's probably shitting himself thinking the exact same thing. Yeah. So that's kind of like what I had to put myself in his shoes and be like, well, dude, he's, he's way more nervous than I am. But, you know, I think, you know, I played a pretty nervy first two rounds.

And then there's Saturday I played really good. So, and it was, it was good. I think he, I think we almost made the cut. We missed him by like a shot or two. That's awesome. What a year it's been. And now your boys will move. Yeah.

Now you got MOOC on the speed dial. It's been a crazy year, man. A lot of good things been happening. That's awesome. Well, some more good things are about to happen because we're going to go to the emergency nine here. Nine fun questions for JJ Spahn before we wrap this thing up. All right. We asked us to everyone.

You can trade lives with anyone, dead or alive, for a day. You get to be them for a day. Anyone in the history of this planet, who are you going to be? Damn, that's a crazy question. Is it deep thinkers, dude? Is this like a time question? Well, we would like to not sit here all day. We'd rather not sit here.

I have to go to New Orleans tomorrow, so. Dude, I don't know, man. You could be mokey. You could be Jose Maria and play with you for 36. That'd be weird. Um, I don't know. I feel like I do like... There's no wrong answers.

Like Elon Musk or something. That's great. To be like... Yeah, to be like someone so damn smart and like so rich and just like can do whatever, like do whatever you want. Buy Twitter if you want to. Yeah. Can you go ahead and handle that Twitter deal?

If you do that? Go ahead and just secure that Twitter. Yeah. Offer more. Let's lock that down. Yeah. I mean, shit. Like all the stuff he's doing like for humanity.

Like shit. That's good guy to be. be kind of an issue. Yeah, he's a weird dude too. He doesn't even own a house. Weird out. He's got like $20 billion. He's like I just couch surf. Yeah. Yeah. I just buy. He's mind about sleep on your couch tonight? You were asking me about Mookie Betz money. If I had Elon Musk money, I mean, then I would understand. Don't even. Don't even think of glancing at me. All right, here you go. How would you respond to a fellow tour player who said,

you've gone Hollywood after your win by wearing sunglasses all the time Bo Hossler's been telling me that. I was going to ask you if you could guess who said it. Bo Hossler has been telling me that shit every I'm like bro I wore these when I beat you at Valero so these aren't like stunner shades because I want like they got to stay on now you know

I was talking to him bro and his direct quote was like dude he brushes his teeth with his shades on now he's like he's so fucking Hollywood that's good I was going to ask you bonus ball if you could guess who the tour. And I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you, but it took you two seconds. God, that was easy. When I was beating you, I was wearing them.

Sorry, Bo. Love you. Sorry, Bo. All right, next one. You mentioned Pat Perez earlier. Obviously known for his Jordan collection, among other things. You've got a Jordan collection. Yeah, I don't.

I don't know why that's on there. Well, you need to fix this. That ruins one of my future questions. So MJ or, Pat, like, well, Pat's funny. He's like, they don't make these shoes inside six. Of course he does. Yet his daughter's running around. Yeah, I'm like, bro, let me get some 11s or something.

They don't make these in fucking six and a half. Of course. Like, he's got, he has all the comebacks. It's not even funny. So we were playing at Pebble. It was a funny side story. Playing Pebble on Sunday. He played great.

We're on 14. And like the hole before, he hit it past me. He had a good drive. And then the next hole, the par 5, 14, that kind of the hard one, uh, fucking I hit it by him. whatever, five yards. And I walked by like, mm-hmm, because he like, you know.

Yeah. And he goes, what bitch? He's like, I'm going to bury you in that bunker like a cat turd. I mean? Like, how does that, like, just out of nowhere. And I love that the five yards bothered him, like that much. Dude, and I'm just busting up in the fairway, like, with everyone watching and like. He's a special, special man.

He's got something. Like a cat turd. Yeah, I'll bury you in that. bugger like a character. Oh, he's special. Oh, shit. Well, that might fuck up one of my future questions. I don't have a lot.

I got on your profile, but you got to tighten that up. Maybe I did say that. I mean, when I had like four pairs, I thought. Yeah, maybe it was like a hype beast thing. Like, I had four shoes, so I thought I was a collector. Yeah, rocket science. I'm big into that, too. I'm really smart.

All right, well, this will test that profile again, too. Are you the oldest person in America to have a season past the Disney world before having kids? No. No? Disneyland. Disney land. What's the cross the country from each other? Yeah.

The same shit in some different states. Disney World is humongous. I've never even been there. But Disneyland, yes, California. I don't know. I'm pretty sure there's older guy. Actually, like how often do you go? Yeah, we're going next week.

But no, I didn't know like how many time did a year. Before kids. So I lived in Orange County. It was 15 minutes away. But I went. I only got a pass because my girlfriend and wanted to do that. So that was like our thing.

Like, you know, we can shoot over. Yeah, we could shoot over there after work. Throw up on the roller coaster. Yeah. You're probably on some red flag list with the government. Like, this is an old dude, cruising out of Disneyland all the time. Exactly.

No, I mean, dude, I don't know. It was just, do they have like a, so they had a SoCal residence pass. It was super cheap. It was like, basically you buy a one day pass and you can go the rest of the year for the same price. So, yeah. That's, it wasn't like I'm going there by myself.

Your profiles right on that. I thought you were just a random dude. Just like, I'm going to go. Yeah, I'm going to go. Just ride the teacups, 47 times. Oh, yeah, freaking. Hey, Mickey, can I get a selfie? I'm just, yeah.

Not like that. Staying on Disneyland. Say Slees and I were Disney characters. Who would we be? Slees would be goofy for sure. Of course. Does he have skinny legs, big head? Yeah.

Yeah, that feels right. Cole. Yeah. Where are you going? Oh, perfect. Everybody loves winning of poo. Just a lovable guy. I was a lovable guy.

I like that. Well done. I like that. All right. Let's stay on your caddy. I want to go back to your caddy for a minute, right? Because we all know somebody with the putting or the chipping yips. Tell me about your boy who's got the follow-through yips.

I've got six. I've seen, he's got six videos in the last couple days. Yeah. He ends up on the ground or on a knee. So he didn't want to do the fucking dry heat. That's why y'all didn't hit. You were.

You were the only, and you didn't hit either, by the way. You snuck out before you got what was coming. That honestly, that leads to a penalty. We do you remember that? We ran this by Dell. We're like, if you don't hit. If one of your people don't hit the two-shot penalty. Yeah.

No, no. So it's the start of the tournament. If you don't hit it, both of you don't hit it four. That's a good plan. We take all this time and effort. That's actually the most flattering thing to hear that he was too scared. He was too scared. Because we were cooking.

Yeah. Cooking. We would have buried him. I didn't even know that that's what he did, but I would have destroyed. I would have buried him like a cat. So like the lake in front, like his club would have went in the lake. We had. I'm not even joking.

Why? Dude, he just, it's, I don't know. He doesn't, I try to ask him. He's like, I don't know. I got to show you the videos I got, dude. I've seen it. I mean, dude, he rolls around like he just got shot in knee after you. Yeah.

He just took a fucking strayed in the kneecap. He rolls around and his swings okay. It's just the afterwards. It's a disaster. His putting is incredible, too. Like, he'll do it with his putting. he like makes puts and it's like what but he used to be a pro he got his and status back just to play the twin fin what oh that's respect too but y'all were the only team because they were

like no i just saw him i was like where did they leave no it means well tell them if you don't do it next year you're four over before the turn starts we're gonna stop the music and do a whole presentation on this guy next year yeah yeah for sure okay i know who i think you look like is in the celebrity world do you ever get confused for anyone that might be a celebrity out there Okay, so. Hold on. I know. I don't know.

It could be completely different, but. I got one. Michael Panyan came up to me at Pell was like, yo, you're my doppelganger. I was like, yeah, hell yeah. That's a good. I was like, yeah, I can see that. And he was like, dude, people were out there thinking that I was you, calling me JJ. Like, play well, JJ.

Like, yeah, nice fucking double. This guy swings. I could be on tour. This guy's hitting it too, whatever. No, not that Michael's a bad golfer. He's really good golf. He's a great dude, too. They played very good.

So, yeah, that's, I've gotten that plenty of times, Michael Pena. Did you have a different one? Yeah, Shea Mooney from Dan and Shea. Oh, dude. Yeah. Did Davenport send you that video? No.

Oh, God, God, I need it, though. Davenport's got a video? It looks like Shea. Yeah, I can see that. Tequila. Tequila. But, yeah, I think Pena's. He always, yeah, well, when I had, like, my hat off with, like,

if I get the little pothog going. Yeah. Look, just like it. You still got that? singing when I taste tequila that's a little longer that's that rich guy's flow when I taste tequila

see there you go wow he's got it dude you're good in L.A. when you go God he's sent it to you got to send me this video later but it's it's it's Shay saying you down port where's J.J. at and then he goes fucking says

the line when I taste tequila it's pretty tight I think Benji got it for him or something like that because Benjie got it G and Davenport, they always, like, call me, you know, Dan & Shay. Yeah. Dan and Shay.

Well, I started that with Davenport back in the day. He did not come up with that. He don't know who the fuck Dan and Shea is. Let's get that straight. He struggles to put sentences together. Let's be honest. He's not coming up with any creative. That's right.

Well, you're good at Nashville and L.A. wherever you go. You're straight. All right, well, this is a little bit fucked now, but whatever. You love Jordan's fast cars. And you're really good. You love fast cars. And you're really good at golf.

Are you sure you're not the ill? legitimate son of Paperez. You know what? And I end up buying the same freaking car as Pat Perez too. And he's like... There's a Liz's like... Look-alike and not all the way.

So I think maybe he looks at me and, you know, like, let me help this poor kid out. Wishes you were his son. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't... Who knows what Pat was doing, though, around age... How much older is he than you? 14 years or something?

I think... That's like 14. Dude, he's... Yeah, he's... Yeah, he's... No, he's 46. No, he's 46. It's 46.

What are you? 31. Yeah. 15 years, that's very possible. That's like, yeah, the older, bigger brother. He could have been up to no good as a youngster and maybe you came out. There you are. I can drive him fast whips and hit and making birdies.

Disastrous old brother. God, that would be, don't ever do it. What is it, 23 and me or whatever? Don't ever do that. You don't want to know. Just assume he's not. By the way, since you have three weeks off, you should take an hour and watch our last podcast with Pat Perez.

Dude, yeah, I heard it's amazing. Unbelievable. He is on another place. Yeah. He's hard to go out of his show. We're like, hey, this is bad. Let me, it just launches. There's never a dull moment with that guy.

That's why he's the best to be around. Like, it's just like. Even in tournaments. Something new. I mean, it's the same way. Yeah, exactly. All right, last one. I think I know the answer already, but we talked about the Dodgers.

Okay, there's a bus coming at Clayton Kershaw and Mukie Betts. You can only get one of them out of the way. Who's it going to be? Oh, but. I mean, you got your legendary pitcher. Yeah, but I mean, is this like today? This is right. This is right.

Game's about to start. I mean, whose numbers in your phone. Yeah, MOOC. Mook's getting saved. Have that ass. Clay.

Curse, all you're dead. Cursh. Tough break for the dog. He only got one year signed anyway. If they were to let him finish that perfect game out, you might have said. Yeah, like what is Doc doing,

bro? Talk to your boy. That was a disaster, by the way. Like, just let him get a perfect game. It's not like it happens every other week. But I guess Clayton understood, so Kirsch understood.

Yeah. He's like they pay me 33 million. I'm sure he didn't want to finish out the perfect. Yeah, like, did not. Well, dude, JJ, congrats on a great year so far. Keep this thing rolling, my man. That was fun. We'll have you back. Thanks, boy. Thanks for having you. Appreciate you. All right. Well, that was JJ Spawn, joining us on golf subpar. I mean, what a year this guy's

had, Sleeze. Diehard L.A. Dodger fan gets to play with the stud. Mookie bets at Pebble, sparks up a friendship with him, just goes and gets his first PJ tour win in San Antonio, then just hops on this badass private bird of Valeros, flies over to August National and finishes top 25 in his first ever master's appearance. Yeah, he needs to talk to these doctors that misdiagnosed him the first time. Like, you really put a wrench in my shit. This would have been happening years ago if you guys had diagnosed. But it's crazy what he's gone through to do the weight fluctuations. I knew he'd fluctuated weight a little bit. I didn't realize it was to the extent that he had. And man, it just shows like it's golf is hard enough when everything's clicking.

Your body feels good. But when you got that going on and you have to battle swing changes and weight changes and things like that, that's a tough deal. But this dude's off and running, man. He's a good, good player. And I don't feel like we've, the last few years, we haven't seen the real JJ's on. I think you're seeing him now. Yeah. What the health issue? but man, pump for him to get his first win, always have loved his golf swing. Nobody rotates through the golf ball, in my opinion, better than JJ's spot. He just hits, it's just over and over. When he's on, it's just kind of like robotic.

It's just like, yeah, that's going to be solid. As you said, I think this interview surprised a lot of people. I mean, dude, he's a fun dude. Yeah. And the story's about Augusta just, I mean, taking us day by day through there, playing with Jose Murillo Othabble. So cool. Yeah, we need to get a 23 and me done to see if he's, in fact, the legitimate child of Pat Perez.

There's some similarities, dude. You know what I mean? All right, we'll rule it out. It's time to step up to the T and take a swing at betting the PGA tour on Fandul Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can place their first PGA tour bet risk-free, and if you don't win, you'll get up to $1,000 back. If you've been thinking about joining Fandul, there's no better time to get in on the action. The app's extremely easy to use.

There's a range of betting options like outright winners, head-to-head matchups, nationality props, and so much more. And Sleeves, when you win, just get it in two hours if you want, fella. Maximum, two hours. You get paid super, super fast, and we are on. to the Wells Fargo, which is moved this year from Quail Hollow because the President's Cup is going to be there. We're on to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm outside of Washington, D.C. It's golf course freaking hard, sleaze. I played it as well. It is a beast.

It is very, very difficult. The weather does not look very good. It looks nice Thursday. Cold front blows in. Rain Friday, Saturday. Highs in the upper 50s on Saturday. High of 60 on Sunday. I was on the plane with some guys here to Phoenix, and they saw the weather forecast.

It was like, yeah. Maybe a little skipperoo, yeah. But I think it's going to play very, very tough. Last time they played here, Francesco Molinari won by a million. That was a, that was like a forgotten. A forgotten clinic. Didn't he went by eight or something like that? Went by eight.

He shot 21 under around here, which is just absurd. That course is way too hard to shoot that. And I believe the last, the year before they played, Kyle Stanley beat Charles Howe on a playoff at not very many under bar. Yeah, it should be like. It was seven under par was a playoff. Yeah, I would think of a decent weather, minus the Molinari, weird one, like low double digits type of deal.

Also, this is the Joel Damon drop. Sun Kang. Yeah. Exactly. So we get some drama at this place. All right. Well, we've been doing pretty good. I mean, you had Tony Fienel last week, finished second. Davis Riley was a sleeper pick. He was up there. By the way, I followed him on Saturday. My God, this kid is freaking good. It's common. I know it's good, but just to watch it up close and personal and an action. I said this on the broadcast. This is how you know someone thinks you're really, really good. Lance Bennett, his caddy, who was a long-time caddy from Matt Coocher, Bill Haas.

left a job on the PGA tour, left a bag, to go to the corn fairy tour for the last several months of the season last year to caddy for Davis Riley. He's like, that kid's going to be a superstar. I'm going to suck it up and go caddy for a few months out here, and we ain't ever going to come back. I'm going to hitch my wagon right over here. It's going to move slow for a minute, and then it's going to move really fast. That's going to be a long-tenured relationship if they stay on the same page because that kid's talented, man. All right, well, let's make some money here. I'm going to go this week.

The field, once again, not crazy strong. Roy McElroy is your favorite at 7 to 1. The next betting favorite is Corey Connors at 20 to 1. It was a great player, but it's just shocking to me. Obviously, you know, people are getting ready for the second major of the year, the PGA Championship. But look at the winners that we have had. Okay, since I started back with CBS at Augusta National, we have gone. Scotty Sheffler, Jordan Speath, Zander Shafley, and Patrick Cantlay in the team event, and now John Rom.

A bunch of relative unknowns. The studs are rising into the top. A bunch of sleepers. once again, I wouldn't be surprised if Roy McElroyd gets the W but with Dodds 7 to 1, I don't really like that as far as a betting perspective but I wouldn't be one bit surprised

if he gets the job done. He's coming off in the last round he played. He played incredible at the Masters to finish second. The stars are out right now. I just think moving like Quill Hollow, great golf course. Roy McRoy hit the seeds there, move it to TBC Avin now. It's a little bit of different style. Distance isn't as big of a factor.

I'd say it's more accuracy iron play than just than hitting rifles. It's a ball strikers golf course. Quail? Yeah. It's definitely tighter than Quail Hollow. But looking at the betting odds, I'm going with a guy that's 21 to 1 for my pick. And his last 10 starts, he has eight top 20s. Four of those are top tens. He's a very consistent player.

And he does well when the golf courses are very, very hard, and the weather's bad. Matt Fitzpatrick, 21 to 1. Like that. Little Euro, going to know how it goes. If it gets a little chilly, a little bit breezy. I'm actually going to call last minute audible here. I like that pick. I'm backing off my previous pick now that I'm thinking about and I heard about the weather. And just thinking about that golf course a little bit more, I don't care as much about, like, distance off the Tee as much as I do at a Quail Hollow.

I'm going to go with Tirohattan. One of the best iron players in the game, very straight driver of the golf ball, also plays in Europe, also knows how to play in the cold weather and things like that. So I'm making a last minute audible here. I'm going to go with Tirol Hatton as my guy up top. And what are his odds? 31 to 1. Okay. Still some juice that.

All right. Going a little further down the board, I'm going to go with one. of our favorites. He's a ball striking machine. He's been down in Birmingham the last few days working with Mark Blackburn getting it all dialed in. He's made six straight cuts for those top 20s. There's a ball strikers golf course, like I said, not many hit it better than Max Homa going off at 41 to 1. Love it. Love it. Maybe become a little two-time champion at two different golf courses. Yeah. That'd be nice. I'm going to stick with a guy who's in some good for him as well. He's got top 13 and four of his last five starts, okay? Drives it long, like I said, not as important,

but it's one on a difficult golf course as well at PJ National down at the Honda. I'm going Keith Mitchell going off at 55 to 1. About 55 to 1. I mean, dude, his last five starts has been awesome. He's played really, really solid this season. We've had him on our Sirius XM show recently. He talks about how consistent he's been playing. Super pumped about that.

Short games gotten a lot better. He has. He's been working with Parker McLaughlin, the chef, on his short game. It's gotten a lot better. And he's knocking on the door. Wouldn't be surprised to see him contend around TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. All right, that's our picks. And it's time.

So go low this summer and bet on the PGA tour. Just download the Fandul Sportsbook app. and sign up using promo code subpar to get your first bet risk-free up to $1,000. Remember to use our promo code subpar to get this special offer today. Fandall Sportsbook, official betting operator of the PGA Tour. Must be 21 years and older and present in select states. First online real money wager only refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply.

See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 next step or text next step to 5334242. In Arizona, call 1-800-5-2-4-7-0 in Colorado, 1-88-8-8-9-7-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois, 187-8-1877-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-Y. That's 4-67-39 in New York or 1-800-5-2-2-4-7-00 in Wyoming.

Way to grind that out, bud. That's all you got. Way to grind it out. All right, and we got another banger of an episode coming next week's Lee's. We got the one, the only Michelle Wee West, joining us. This is a good one. She's a fun, fun one to hang out with. All right, that's going to do it for us.

We'll talk to you on next week's golf subpar.