Subpar - Joe Skovron talks his unexpected path to becoming Ludvig Aberg's new caddie

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, veteran PGA Tour caddie Joe Skovron joins Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The new caddie to rising star Ludvig Aberg talks why he couldn't pass up the chance to work with him, their special pairing with close friends Max Homa and Joe Greiner in Augusta and how Ludvig's galleries compare to those of his former boss Rickie Fowler. -- Cincoro Tequila, an award-winning portfolio of luxury tequilas founded by 5 NBA team legends on a mission to create the most delicious tequila anyone had ever tasted, in fact, they set out to create the Gold Standard in Tequila. Cincoro Tequila is ultra smooth, rich, and delicious with a long luxurious finish. If you’re interested in learning more about Cincoro, the story behind the brand and its founders you can follow them on Instagram @cincoro or visit their website, https://Cincoro.com.  If you’d like to give Cincoro a try for your next time on the course, you can go to https://Cincoro.com or your local spirits retailer to buy a bottle and give it try. -- We are excited to share our listener offer from Ship Sticks, who gets you from your front door to “fore” easier than ever. They’ll pick up your golf clubs from your home or office and deliver them on time, guaranteed, to golf destinations anywhere, in and outside the U.S. No more airport headaches, no more lugging heavy bags. Just easy, stress-free travel for golfers like you.Ship Sticks. Because golf is hard enough.Use code SUBPAR or visit www.shipsticks.com/subpar to learn more and take 20% off your shipment. -- Thank you to Rhoback for being the official apparel provider of GOLF’s Subpar.  Use the code “SUB” on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off your first order.” -- A Special thanks to our official sponsor Zone Nicotine Pouches.  Warning: This product contains nicotine.  Nicotine is an additive chemical.  Underage sale prohibited.  Introducing Zone Nicotine Pouches - the perfect balance of unparalleled comfort - longer-lasting flavor - and nicotine that satisfies.  Whether you’re zoning in for an important putt or zoning out after a tough day at work, Zone gets you there faster and keeps you there longer.  Available in seven flavors and in six and nine milligram strengths.  Find Zone at zonepouches.com and retailers near you.  Own your zone with Zone Nicotine pouches.  -- Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

All right, here we go. Welcome back to Golf Subpar, Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. So he's dessert classic is in the books. Roy McRoy, Shane Lowry, two of the favorites going in, got the job done in a playoff off of obviously Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer. But before we get to that, I was down in New Orleans. The Cincooro was flowing. The tequila, it's just so beautiful. And hey, subpar golfers, today we've got something extra special to talk about. A tequila that's as smooth as a perfect swing on the course. Get ready to dive into the world of Sincoro tequila, crafted by number. none other than five NBA team owners turned tequila enthusiasts.

Scott, we have an exclusive Grove 23 connection. Golfers, here's an inside scoop for you. Did you know that Sincora was served at Grove 23, Michael Jordan's exclusive golf course, and it's often awarded as a trophy at golf tournaments? Imagine winning a bottle of Sincorro. Now, that's a gift worth swinging for. And Sli's, one of the best holidays right around the corner. Cinco de Mayo.

If you're looking for a delicious and smooth tequila to indulge you in this weekend on Cinco deMile, whether it's on the course or with friends and family, Sincoro tequila is the perfect tequila to celebrate and enjoy. Pick some up at your local liquor store or online at Sincoro.com. And here's a toast to excellence. Subbar listeners, whether you're sipping it on the green, sharing it with friends at a tournament, or presenting it as a trophy. Sincorro tequila is a toast to excellence.

Cheers to the pursuit of greatness. On the course and in your glass. Cheers, Lise. Cheers to you, bud. Anejo, one rock, orange slice, just greatness. Orange slice is cute. Vidal. Yes.

Vital. say. Let's get to New Orleans because, man, the team event, it was so much fun down there. I was there all four days covered in New Orleans. I love the city. It's just the food is incredible. The nighttime activities are incredible. And the golf was also incredible this week. Yeah, I think, dude, Zurich's done as good a job as any tournament in like creating interest, making their tournament different as any tournament out there that's like a non-signature event. It's hard to get some eyeballs, hard to generate interest when it's not a signature event. Changing to a two-man tournament. I think it's the best thing they ever did. Also, the second best thing that

ever happened to them is Rory McElroy and Shane Lowry winning that playoff and just winning that tournament. Because, like, not to hate on any of those teams out there, but it was those two are headliners. And there was a bunch of names, unless you are a diehard golf fan that you probably had no idea who they were when you saw that leaderboard. And lo and behold, Rory, you know, sacks up. It's the monster drive on 18 and reg. Then just an unbelievable pitch shot from over on the left side. Huge marbles on that. Shane knocks it in. Truth be told, I was pulling very, very hard for Mark Hubbard. Ryan Brim would love to see them gotten a piece, get a piece of that playoff. But yeah, shout out to them, dude. And like, they've made that tournament fun.

I honestly think with Rory and Shane winning it, you might start to see some more like marquee names joining this thing because they're coming back next year to defend. Yeah, I agree. It was awesome. The crowds. I've never seen, I've been there 10 years covering it, whether playing or covering the golf tournament. I've seen crowds like that. Obviously, Rory is a huge part of that, but it was awesome. Weather was great. Golf course was fantastic. And it was a show, man. At one point, we might have like a four-way playoff. But Rory, first time in a long time, I saw the old Rory Club twirl and the strut off the tee. That T-Shodd 18, that he shipped down there. And Shane Lauer only had 218 yards, and they made a clutch birdie after Rory's pitch. But good to see Rory kind of get some of that cockiness back, which I think he's been missing. a little bit. And I think this is going to jumpstart him. Wouldn't be surprised to see him contend in a couple weeks of the PGA championship.

Yeah. A place he loves, clearly. And yeah, you're right, he had a little juice back in his step. Winning is winning. I view this completely different than winning an individual tournament, even though it goes down. It's his 25th win on the PGA tour. But dude, some of these distances he's hitting it off the tee are just dumb dumb right now. And we're talking like 380s and stuff like that.

I don't know, I'm not a huge roll the ballback proponent. But like, damn, it's getting. kind of absurd. Ryan Brim driving, what was it, the 390 yard 13th? He hits missiles, by the way. But it's just like, man, it's getting weird out there. But yeah, all he's got to do for Rory's just tighten up those short irons a little bit because everything else is pretty damn good.

Yep. It was awesome to see them. I'm sure they had an incredible night on Bourbon Street on Sunday night. Shane Lowry loved that guy. It was so much fun walking with them. I got them on Thursday and then again all day Sunday. And they were having a blast out there. Cool to see them.

get the win and honestly not one bit surprised that they got the win. No, and lucky, like I said, for Zurich that they did get that win, A, because the rest of the name is not a ton of people knew. And B, the other like headliners, the cant lays, the shoplays, things like that that you expected, Morikawa, you know, Zaltors and Tagalog, like, they weren't really a fact. I mean, they didn't play the weekend, but those guys weren't a factor. They needed, you know, they needed some stars to show up. And they did. And they did.

And speaking of stars, hold up real quick, getting the zone. stars were out of Pine Valley this week too, but we can't get through this thing without talking about that little trip. How was it? How did the match shake out? What was it? You and Justin against Smiley and Ricky

the way it ended up? Yeah. That's how it was. We had an awesome time. Shout out to Eli Manning for being an incredible host. Aidos went up there, battled it out on one of the hardest

and best golf courses in the world. A lot of cocktails, a lot of great food. It was so much fun. But yes, JT and I played Smiley and Ricky. We did a little Nassau on the low ball and a Nassau on the high ball. So everything counted. You couldn't fake it out there. And the first day, it was a push.

Second day, JT. and I went out there and took care of business. Absolutely just destroyed them on the highball. I believe we were seven up through 11 in the highball. Smiley had her going a little sideways. His pitch out game was tested quite a bit at Pine Valley. But man, what a place. Golf course is so hard. You know that.

But we got so lucky with the weather being actually warm. up there in April, you know, it could be rather cold, but it was a lot of fun. But doing that and going right into New Orleans, I'm ready for a little nap. Don't blame you. Well deserved. Well deserved. I'm a little bit in the same boat coming off the member guests this weekend. But let's see, I want to hear a little bit more. Give me, what, what's Eli, Eli's golf game like? So I believe he's a seven index. I played with him the second day when Ricky made the whole and one in the group behind us on number three. We were on number four T.

and Eli and the group ahead hit it right over the lip of the hole. We thought he made it. And then Ricky goes out there, makes it. Justin said, told the caddy to film it. He's like, I feel like someone's going to make one here and damned if they didn't film it. And awesome celebration. Justin jumped on his back.

But so much fun, man. It's a special place. If you ever get invited, do not turn it down. I mean, I've said it a million times. It's the best 18 holes I've ever seen by a mile. By a mile. And by the way, that whole and one that Rick, it went everywhere. wasn't even the first one of the day.

And you guys went off at like 9.30 or something like that. That is correct. I'm actually going to give him a shout-out because I was informed of who that gentleman was because he plays out with our boys Bob Bayer and then out at Mesa Verde Country Club. John Pence, congratulations on the whole-in-one. 8.20 in the morning went ahead and made it

and then Ricky, I said, I was going to hold it that hard. Ricky went ahead and made it just an hour after him. It's all the line. It's a lot easier the second time around. Shout out to him and for being friends with him. Bob Barron still being alive and insane. Not an easy task. Ricky saw the line on PJ2 or live earlier that morning.

Yeah, he's probably watching the coverage early, I would have to assume. All great players do. Speaking of fellow members of the golf media, member guests this week, Colt, as fate would have it, final match, my brother, Jeff, flies into town. Flight 5, by the way, we're battling. Flight 5's where all the action happens, okay? My brother had to played a little reduced handicap,

so shout out to him for sacking up. doing it, but we show up. We're tied for the lead. We need some points. We play Riggs and his partner, Corey Kispert, NBA player for the Washington Wizards. Stud, by the way. And luckily, we're able to...

Why the hell is he hanging out with Rakes? Out of Win. Good question. By the way, the dude's like 6-6. Beautiful. He's like a one handicap. Shoots the shit out of the balls. After I saw him for like two swings,

like Jesus, some dudes just have everything. They got it all. But I get it. We grease one. You know how I. goes, dude. You know, occasionally. Just a few of you.

Just a few of you get it like that. But we were able to grease out of win. It was the final match of the week. So everyone was in good form. You know what I mean? As we were out there. But props to my brother, Jeff, for showing up in a major way at the member guest. Way to go, Jeff.

Way to clutch it up. Congrats on winning the fifth flight. Sorry, y'all missed out on the shootout. The museum let you down in the shootout. Oh, dude, yeah, my brother. You got hit like the 60-yard shot of terror in front of the whole club with Denny Pellie. like, you know, ragging you while you're doing it.

He's nervous. He's all shit. They pick who hits it from each team. So, of course, they pick my brother. Sacks up. It's a beautiful shot, like 12, 13 feet right behind the hole. Perfect, perfect, perfect shot. It's like a right edge, putt.

I hit it right edge. Dunn break. Museum let us down. And then damned if Hayden Wood and his partner, Andrew Buchanan, fellow SMU Mustang. By the way, for you, don't end up taking home the bacon. Crushing blow. Hurtful.

The museum rarely shies away from situations like that. ponies win. That's what we do. Cowboys, too. But congrats on the fifth flight. It's huge. There's nothing bigger, dude. You can only beat who you play. Can only beat who you play. That's right.

King of myacova, this one will go down, feather in the cap. I love it. All right. Well, before we get to our interview this week, I want to tell you about Roebuck. I'm rocking the hoodie right now. They are the most comfortable hoodies on the planet. And thank you to them. They just sent me a couple of fresh ones for the road.

But the easiest way to describe Roeback is best fit, best feel. The quality of the gear just speaks for itself. Just in time for your summer tea time, check out their new releases. We can't get enough of their performance polos, hoodies, and cruise because they're just so comfortable. The fabric is soft. The fit is perfect. It moves with you, and it performs in the heat, keeping you cool and comfortable. Like I said, we got polos, hooties, cruise.

Got it all. Make sure you go to rowback.com. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-com and type in code sub, just SUV, and you get 20% off all polos, hoodies, and cruise with the code sub. Make sure to check out before summer, and they'll have you, for whatever travels or activities you have. All right, our guest this week, a returning guest, but for a much different reason.

This man's got himself a new horse. We got professional looper, Joe Skobran joining us, longtime caddy of Ricky Fowler, been on the back for Tom Kim for a couple wins. Now with the young up-and-coming superstar, Ludwig Oberg, coming off a runner, coming up of a runner-up finish at the Masters. Here he is, Joe Scobron on subpar.

All right, what a pleasure it is to have one of our good, good, joining us today. One of the best pro jocks in the game coming off a runner-up finish at the Masters with his new thoroughbred Ludwig Oberg. We got our guy Joe Scoverin in the house. What's up, Joey? What's up, guys? How are you? You look great. It looked like you're on an episode of America's Most Wanted, like running from the cops. This is a beautiful, beautiful video we got. This has been tough, man. You know, I'm just doing everything I can to get on here with you guys. I guess I guess that check from Ludwig's second place finish hasn't gone through yet. can't get you at a place with some nice Wi-Fi.

Some Wi-Fi, dog. Apparently I didn't pay for Wi-Fi this week or something. I don't know. Well, we appreciate you joining us, dude. You're out at Harbottetown right now. I know you're a busy man, so, yeah, like he said, we appreciate you coming on. But talk a little bit about last week. Well, first of up, let's go back because everyone knows you,

you've got for Ricky Fowler for a very long time. Y'all had a ton of success. You won twice with Tom Kim. Then you had the choice. You got to offer the job with Ludwig Oberg, who's a stud. There's no doubt about everybody knows he's going to be a stud. But what was it like when you got that phone call

and going through that decision to make the jump from an incredibly solid player in Tom Kim? Yeah, I mean, that's not an easy decision. It's never an easy decision at all to make a switch in this profession because, you know, it's more than just your job. You develop a relationship. You develop friendships. you know, and over time, that always increases.

And Tom and I had a great relationship. But I just made the decision that I thought was better for me and going forward. And, you know, Tom's going to be a great player. I still support Tom and want him to play well. But Ludd's just one of those jobs that you feel like comes around once in a generation, and I felt like I had to take it. Yeah, without question. I mean, I generally, I think Colton and I both agree with this.

Like, this dude comes around once in a blue moon. It had to be a hugely flattering to you to get a phone call from him, given that there are not many caddies in the game that wouldn't take that gig. What did they say to you when they called you why they thought you were the right guy for the job? Well, I mean, I'm going to leave to what happened there. And, you know, it was just like you said, it's very flattering to have any job offered to you. and especially to have two of the best young players in the game and just felt like we could be a great fit

and so far, so good. And, you know, I'm just really excited about it. You know, I don't know how much you got to see him play before you actually took the job with him, but like give us your first thoughts when you saw it up close and personal. I mean, that beautiful golf swing. I mean, every part of his game is just incredible. Yeah, I mean, I'd heard everything, you know, college coaches,

rave about him, other players raved about him, agents raved about him, you know, people that had seen him play raved about him not only as a player, but as a person. And when you get to see it up close and personal, you see that it backs it all up. The first thing that gets your attention is how high and straight the driver flies. But I, my first impressions, I was surprised in Maui at how good he chipped it and how good his bunker play. it was and how good he was flighting wedges that week in the wind. And so those were the three things that kind of got my attention

that I wasn't expecting that really impressed me. Yeah, there's not a whole lot of weakness in that game that I can detect thus far. Serious question for you. How many different iterations of his name did you go through in the pronunciation before he got to the right one? I feel like it's been set. Like nobody, to this day, I don't even know if we've come to a consensus. So I asked him right off the bat, you know, and he told me how it was properly said.

I'd gotten confused because, you know, this O'Bair thing came out of nowhere. And then, you know, everybody in America says Aberg. And then a lot of people say Ludwig. So when he told me, it's like, okay, that's pretty simple. I still call him Ludd. I don't call him Ludwig very often unless somebody asks, you know, how to say his name. But they're still saying O'Bair on the T. People are still confused.

You hear it all different ways. We just kind of laugh about it. So the real one is what? Just for everyone. Clear it up right now. Oberg. There you go. Ludwig Oberg.

Settled. Luda just seems like a really easy thing to call them. Yeah, Luda's nice. Yeah, I like Luda. Yeah, it's just so simple. It's just like it's golf game. It's just so simple. But let's let's go back to last week.

obviously the Masters. He was in contention, played awesome. I want to get some of the rounds he shot at some point. But at first I want to just ask, because I got to know, is he as calm and relaxed as he looks on television? Yeah, I mean, that's how he acts out there. You know, obviously there's nerves inside. You're feeling it, the whole thing.

But his demeanor with me is the same as what everybody sees. He's just very good at taking it in stride. He has a very good perspective. on golf and life last week. I mean, you know, multiple times he mentioned how much fun he was having, how cool the place was. And it's just so refreshing, right? Like, it's refreshing as a caddy.

It's refreshing as a fan to see somebody that plays the game that way because that's what we're supposed to do, right? Like, we all dreamed of being there. We all wanted to be there. That's why you go hit balls. That's why you're going to do all these things, and now you're doing it.

And then, you know, it kind of takes over you and the stress gets in the way. you know it being your job and all these things and he's just very good at put it in perspective all right before we get back to our interview I want to tell you guys about our new partner shipsticks and just how easy they make traveling with your golf clubs if you've never used shipsticks before here's all you need to do first you can just drop your clubs off shipsticks will provide a box you can ship it that way or you can use a travel cover like this ojo alpha travel cover mid comes preloaded with a little box here all you do put the label in there

there, boom. Once you got your labor all on there, all you got to do is you can drop it off at your local shipper, you can leave it at your golf club, your golf course, wherever it might be, they'll come and pick it up, then boom, don't worry about your clubs, all you got to do, pack your bag, hopefully just to carry on, get on your golf getaway, know that your clubs are protected and insured. If you never use shipsticks, all you got to do is use them once, you'll never not use it again. And for anyone listening, go to shipsticks.com, use the code subpar, you get 20% off, or go to shipsticks.com slash subpar and you get 20% off that way as well, you'll never travel without it again.

It's not often that a major championship rookie is one of the favorites or has high expectations from the golf media going into his first time. But your boy has it. Expectations are huge. Does he pay attention to any of that? He seems pretty far removed from like the social media and the things like that. Yeah, we don't talk about a lot of that stuff. He's, I don't know how much attention he pays to it. You know, he doesn't talk about it much. We just kind of try to go do our thing, make our plan. He's very good about, you know, he doesn't seek the limelight. He's not into all that stuff.

He's kind of just comfortable in his own skin. And that's what's so nice about him. And he's great to be around with that. That he's got a lot of, you know, Scotty Schaeffler, Adam Scott in him, where, you know, that kind of combo. And he's just paying attention to the golf and doing his thing and cruising around and enjoying it. Yeah, I said, I put it on Twitter, I think after Saturday's around, I was like, I can't wait for the next decade of Scotty Shepbler and Ludwig O'Bird battles because these two,

they are so good. I mean, Scottie's obviously the number one player in the world by a long ways. What he's doing is incredible, but Ludwig is so special and I can't wait to see what happens. But going back to last week, you've been around Augustine National a hundred times. You've seen all the conditions. Have you ever seen anything like you saw them back-to-back days on Thursday and Friday this year at the Masters? I haven't seen two days in a row like that that I can remember. If I did, I forgot about them.

But I've seen a day like that, but not two days like that. That place was very hard. It was hard all day, Thursday. It was hard in the morning on Friday. It was even harder in the afternoon on Friday. It was showing its teeth for sure. And your guy goes out there Friday afternoon and shoots 69, the only person to break 70.

where would you rank that among like most special rounds you've witnessed? I mean, it was way up there, especially when you put the fact that he's a major rookie, a master's rookie, and he made a couple of bogeys there early in that round. He bogeed five, six to go back to two over for the tournament. And at that time, we don't know where the cut's going to be. There's no one thinking it's going to go to six over or even five. You're thinking it's going to be more like four. And so for him to do what he did, most, you know, so many guys would kind of get into panic, start worrying about the cut, all these things.

And he just went on a run from 8 to 16 and he got it to 3 under for the tournament. And then made bogey on the last to finish it two and shoot three that day. And it was just, I think it was just really good golf. When he starts playing golf like that, he makes it look easy so you don't really think that much of it because you're like, oh, man, that didn't seem that hard today. but then you look at all the other scores and man it was a while yeah everyone else is shooting a million out there and in his interviews leading up to the week and during the week he was giving you rave reviews joe about how important you were to his preparation how much you've helped him that week what do you think you helped him with the most either leading up to the masters or doring well fortunately you know

i'd been there so many times with rick i was there with tom last year and it was his first time so that kind of gave me an idea of what first timers need to see um so we kind of I came up with a plan. We did an early trip for two days. And then we had a plan for the week of how we were going to do it. What he needed to see, which putts, which chips were the most important. Because you can't see everything in that amount of time. And we kind of just tried to make sure we were as efficient as possible and getting him ready and making him feel comfortable.

But, I mean, bottom line is he's just so good at getting comfortable and being that guy. And he can produce so many shots. And the way he drives it, you know, of course. of course, just, but the biggest thing I saw was how well he saw the Greens. You know, he was talking to me about all the reads, but I wasn't having to move him off reeds. He was seeing him really well. And, you know, he finished number one in putting for the week, according to the dad of golf stats. And that's what I was so impressed with was first-timer how well he saw the Greens. Yeah, you're exactly right. For a first timeer

to finish number one in putting around Augustin National, that is special. But I mean, it's driving. That just takes so. much stress off anything. I mean, everybody talks about Rory's driving. These two, they can have a battle because not many hit it longer and straighter than Ludwig. Yeah, I mean, guys will make comments to me about how the ball doesn't move, you know? Yeah. The shot, I mean, the shot tracer's just unbelievable on TV. I'm just like, good God, this guy's a robot. Yeah. And he, when he gets in a rhythm, he just starts walking up there and hitting it. It's just, it's really, it's really fun to watch. Let me ask you this. Just off the top of your head, first one that comes to my best shot you saw him hit

last week. Man, I should have been quicker with this. I saw him hit last week. There were so many. Man. You know, situationally and everything else, I'd probably say the second shot on 13 on Sunday. Yes. I'm sure there was other ones that he hit better, but just walking up there with the four iron, you know, it made the double on 11, still not out of the tournament, need to get something going and hitting it in there, you know, 13 feet, whatever he did for Eagle. That was a beautiful golf shot because, as you know,

that fairway, those golf shots coming in there aren't that easy off the side slope and everything else. And that one was awfully good for the situation. I'm sure there's probably another one that he, that was better, but that's the first one that comes to mine. And coming off of that double on 11, Joe, it looked like he was unfazed. He was like laughing at times.

But how long did it take you when you started work with him to figure out like how he ticks? All right, this is a time where I need to jump in and kind of pump him up. or this is a time where I need to step back. What's his kind of emo out there with all that? Yeah, after those first couple weeks, I think we got a better feel. My whole thing with him,

the first couple weeks was, you know, to kind of take a step back, be more like speak when spoken to, you know, kind of just let him go through it, ask him questions, go there. And then I kind of started getting more of a feel for him, everything else. He doesn't need a whole lot.

He likes to keep it light. He likes to talk in between shots. And that's kind of my nature anyway. I'd rather do that. So it was a good fit for that. I didn't have to really change my personality when I'm around him. I can just be me and he can just be him and it just kind of fits. Is it true?

He really went to Taco Bell before the final round on Sunday? I have no idea. We didn't talk about that. I heard that he went there. It was like 90 minutes, two hours. He was a little hungry. So he stopped at Taco Bell on the way. of the golf course. Well, it would have been

at least more than two hours because we met two hours before to go over pins like we always do so. But it's possible he did stop on the way to the course. I don't know. I don't know. That's amazing. Taco Bell before the final round of the Masters. A little chelupa. A little chalupa sitting in there

while you're playing A-Men corner. I like that. And second, white pants? It was a big deal on the TV when the guy knocked the power bar or the pro bar out of his hand going to the 10th T. If you go back and slap that guy right now, would you? Because, I mean, he did three under on the first nine and even on the second. Could he use a little more energy?

It was actually pretty funny. I didn't know what happened. I thought somebody had spilled a beer on him or something because he was in front of me and I couldn't tell. And then he's like, oh, no, he just knocked out my protein bar and he had a little bit left. We had a bunch of sandwiches in the bag. So it was all good. We didn't really think about it again.

That was criminal by that guy. He's nice enough to give you a little pound on the way there. Don't just slap his entire hand. The guy's trying to feast. That was after he made that bomb on the ninth, which at the time tied him for the lead in your brain. What's going through your mind at that point? You had to start having some feelings like after that goes in,

like this might be it. I mean, that was so cool. The roar was so loud. We talked about the line on the pot, and I was kind of trying to move him up towards that little spot. that you get the upslope and kills it so that the put doesn't get away from you. And right before he got into the pot,

he said, I'm going to go a little lower. And I said, okay, bud, trust it. And that was the line you make it on, but that's also the line that it gets away from you. And that thing went in. I just kind of laughed. The roar was huge. But yeah, definitely when we got up on 10T,

you know, there was definitely belief that, hey, this kid can get this done. You know, definitely went through my mind. And then you just get back into the moment. you just kind of go try to do your thing. But it definitely at that moment felt like, all right, this is real. We can get this done. Man, when they were through nine holes, it's like this could be the most epic playoff.

We could have Ludwig, Scotty, and Max in a three-way playoff for the Masters. It would be unbelievable. And speaking to Max, y'all are very close friends. How much fun was it getting to see him? One of your best friends have his best major finish and going alongside him and Joe Griner out there in the final round of the Masters. Yeah, it was so cool. I mean, the morning leading up, I thought about it a lot, like, just how cool of a situation it was to be working for a rookie in his first major with a chance to win and going to play with two of my best friends, Griner and Max, with them having a chance. And, you know, just that possibility of maybe the winner comes from that group.

And just, you know, that morning, I kind of allowed myself to think about that. You're not going to think about it when you're out there much, but just, of how cool it is, like, in our profession, you know, as golfers, to go get to be a part of that at that place with them. It was one of the coolest weeks and coolest days of my career, for sure, just to have that opportunity. Yeah, and I saw when Max got that bad bounce on 12, and the ball went up in the bushes and they were looking for it.

I saw you in there on like your hands and knees fishing for that thing. I was like, that's a good friend. That's a good. There was like, there's no chance they ain't finding this golf ball, by the way, with scov in there i didn't even realize it had gone in there and then joe said hey scoff can we get some help so i ran over there and then i was digging pretty hard because you know like i said the rules for the show i said if i touch the ball it's not a big deal right and he's like now i want to make sure so i was trying to dig hard so that they wouldn't have to do that you know because you don't

want them to get penalized you know by touching the ball or doing something so but joe was the the one that ended up finding it yeah it's crazy too that fine fine that three the change to three minutes looking. I mean, it's just, it goes so fast. Yeah. I mean, it's a big difference, but awesome that you were over there helping him. And good thing he found it. He did get a horrendous break there.

But still, congratulations to you, Ludwig. And obviously, I know it was cool. They're watching Max go out there and finish T3, but we got to talk a little about Scotty Sheffler, because you've been out there a long time. You've caddyed for some of the best. You've been paired along all the great, paired alongside all the greats. Can you just kind of describe what Scottie Shephler is doing right now? Yeah, I mean, I got to be.

be around Scotty quite a bit last year with Tom. And man, he really made me a believer. Just the way he does things, how he operates his program. And then when you watch him day after day after day, just continue to hit those golf shots and continue to play like that. I mean, what he's done these last two and a half years or whatever it's been, you see the stats of, you know, whatever it is now,

24, 25 top threes and 55 events. I mean, it's just mind-blowing stuff. It's, you know, I mean, it's got to be the biggest gap we've seen, you know, since Tiger, I guess, the gap between him and whoever number two is, you know. I'll give you a little stat, Joe, because I know you like numbers. So he is 6.3 points ahead of Rory McRoy, who is number two in the world, which is the largest gap since Tiger back in his era. And Rory is the same number of points behind Scotty Sheffler as he is ahead of world number 80, Robert McIntyre. Wow. So that's just, that's the gap right now.

Yeah, I mean, he's, how can you argue with it? Everything he's doing the way he plays. I mean, even last week, you know, every time you thought you kind of had a shot, he just responds, you know, and he goes and stuffs it, stuff it, and it's just, it's really impressive just what he's doing. I don't know if people appreciate how hard it is to do that. You know, I know I didn't watch in Tiger back in the day until I got out here, like how hard it really was to do that.

and what he's doing and how consistent he plays is just, it's really amazing. It really is. Yeah, and I don't think there's that many guys that can compete with Scotty other than just hope Scotty plays really bad, and then they might have a chance. But I'm saying this, and this isn't because you're on the show and we're friends and all that stuff, but I think you truly have one of the few guys in the world of golf

that could stand toe to toe with a peak Scotty Shepler. Yeah, that's what we're hoping, you know. We're hoping to close the gap on him. You know, Ludd's still young, he's still learning, but you feel like he's got that kind of talent. He's got that kind of mind. He's got everything it takes. You know,

and you just kind of take steps day by day and don't get ahead of yourself and keep trying to close that gap. And, you know, hopefully we get many battles with him in the future. Yeah, I mean, if you sit back and look at it, he hadn't even been a pro for a year yet. Like, he hasn't seen most of these golf courses twice yet. That's what's crazy.

Like, all these ones he's going to be coming up to in June on, like he's actually seen before. So it'll be interested to see his second go-around out of these golf courses, what he can do. Yeah, absolutely. That's the thing. It's like he's out here, you know, figuring out where to stay, what to do, where to eat, you know, all the stuff that we all know, you know, where he gets his courtesy car,

you know, where the first he is, you know, the whole thing, right, on most of these golf courses. And he's still playing this good. Yeah, so you just, you feel like it's just going to keep getting better and better and better as he learns them. All right, before we get back to our interview, a quick break to tell you. If you haven't done it yet, go check out our YouTube page. It's golf underscore subpar. We've got some new content coming up at the ASU facility. We're going to have some more stuff coming out as the year goes on.

So if you haven't yet, go to YouTube, subscribe, golf underscore subpar. And now back to our interview. Joey, you caddy for Rick when he was a young superstar come up in a similar vein as Ludwig right now. Like he's coming up. He's world class. Do you feel protective at all over Ludwig in terms of not letting too many people, try to kind of get in his orbit, his gravitational pull and kind of suck off the teat? Yeah, absolutely. I think I think you definitely do when you're working for a guy like this.

And then, you know, fortunately for me, I was able to learn a lot of stuff along the way too, right? Like just getting to see it with Rick, getting to see a little bit of it with Tom, getting to see it now again. And so, you know, that's the good thing is I've gotten to see it a little bit. And yes, you definitely feel protective because there's so much more to playing golf out here than just showing up at the golf course and playing, right? You know, your home life, family, friends, you know, the outside stuff, fame, commercials, all these different things, right, that take away from what you're trying to do or can distract you or anything there. And the simpler you can keep it, the better it's going to be. And I think that's one of Scotty's strengths is what he's done. And I think it's, I don't think it can be overstated what his off the life,

off the course life does for his golf. Yeah, I would agree with that totally. I mean, you saw what Ricky Fowler had to go through his off the course stuff, how many hours he puts in. The good news is for you and Ludwig is Ludwig's just not pretty enough to be in commercial, so he won't have to shoot it. Yeah, he's more of a voiceover type of a guy. Honest question.

Better looking gallery, Ricky Fowler's gallery, or Ludvigs? So far, Rick would still win that. All right, girls. You're listening. Get out there and follow Luda around. When they are around Luda, do you think it's more for you or for him?

Who do you think is drawn to win? No one follows counties. I will say I had no idea there was this many Texas Tech fans and a lot. Guns up everywhere. Oh, I did. And they're diehard. They are loyal. They're all in.

I mean, I made a little Texas Tech joke on air one day, and I got so much hate from Texas Tech people on social media. It was great. Yeah, I had no idea. They are loyal fan base. I did say, though, at the Masters on, like, Thursday and Friday, especially Friday when he was playing. So I was like, dude, this kid went to Lubbock, Texas. I mean, he went to Texas Tech. This wind is not going to bother him.

I know it's playing extremely difficult, but there's one thing that won't bother this kid, and it's wind, because it blows 30 on a month. minimum out in Lubbock every day. Yeah, he's played in so much win. We've talked about that. And then, you know, he had the big 12s that I think it was at Prairie Dunes when he won by, I don't know how many shots. And they said it was playing as hard as it could play. And he played these unbelievable rounds of golf.

So he's seen, you know, he's seen those conditions. He's been in it. Yeah, he knows how to do it. What's his instruction? Like, his golf swing looks so simple. Like, there's just no technical thoughts going on. Is he working with an instructor week of tournaments? or is it kind of hit hit or miss here and there type of deal?

Yeah, he has Hans, his guy that he's had forever from Sweden. He comes over a little bit. He was over there last week. I've been really impressed with Hans how simple he keeps it, how much they work on setup, ball position, you know, keeping it simple, kind of has the same two or three keys that he's had for a number of years now. There's not a lot of technical stuff, but they're keeping an eye on it and they're always kind of staying on top of it.

Ludd seems to know his golf swing really well. And then he's got Peter Hanson as well, who does kind of the performance side of things and has really worked with his chipping and his short game a lot. So he's got a great team around him that really helped him. And I think his personality as well is to naturally keep things simple and they've built something that you can keep simple. And it's nice to see.

Yeah. It doesn't look like much can go wrong with that golf swing. It is fun to watch. Well, Joe, we appreciate you coming on all this. Congrats on a great week. I do have to ask you a little bit about the Chargers. They're off-season moves. Jim Harbaugh coming to town.

I know you're extremely popular. How do you feel about the rumor of them possibly trading Justin Hermann to move up in the draft and get J.J. McCarthy? I just don't see that happen. I'm not buying it. I mean, I know he loves J.J. McCartson. I'm not buying into that one. one.

So I'm pumped about our new GM. I'm pumped about everybody Harbaugh brought over the new style of football. It's going to be fun. Scott, where is Luda in his NFL fandom? Like, is he followed football that he can console you throughout the football season when you're just bashing the Chargers following a devastating loss? We've talked about this a little bit. He's no NFL yet, but I'm feeling he's going to get into it.

He's a big soccer guy. Liverpool guy. But I feel like, I feel like once the NFL season rolls around, he'll start getting into it. I've tried to get into Liverpool a little bit. I check the scores. We talk about the games.

I mean, I know nothing about soccer, but, you know, he loves to talk about it. Just watch Ted Lasso, teach everything you know. Yeah, exactly. It's where I got all my shit from. I'm going to turn Luda into a cowboy fan.

I told him one rule. Just do not become a cowboy fan. It's the only rule. I can't believe he didn't. like football going to Texas Tech and go to some of those games? He did. He said he went to games. He watched. He goes to some basketball games. So, yeah, he pays a little bit of attention to American sports. All right. Fair enough. He has to have one flaw. Thank God. You know,

beginning to think the dude had nothing. He had nothing. Well, Joe, congratulations on an incredible week. The first of many Sundays where you guys are in contention in a major championship. And we appreciate you joining us. And making a little drive in your car to you so. Yeah, maybe splurge for the Wi-Fi. What a guy. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. You got it, brother. Thank you, guys. All right, that was Joe Scoburn, joining us on subpar of the caddy for Ludwig Oberg, coming off a second-place finish at the Masters. Please, I mean, this kid, we can just absolutely to talk about him all day long,

about how great he is, how great he's going to be. I mean, this guy is going to, a future major champion. If he doesn't win one this year, I'd be really surprised. The golf swings a joke. We always rave about how Roy McElroy drives a golf ball. We actually did that right as we came on. This kid drives it every bit as good, if not better than Roy McElroy. I mean, dude, the golf swing, you don't want to say perfect, but it's

about as damn close to it as I've seen for a long time. And shout out to Joe Scoburn, like when Ludwig decided to make a switch, like there's not many caddies out there that probably wouldn't leave their guy for that job, right? So he's got the pick of the litter, and he's, he circles Joe Scobrin as the guy to lead him.

That's got to be a huge, huge feather in the cap for Joe. And not easy to leave Tom Kim, another young up-and-coming stud. I don't know other than Scotty Schaeffler, Colt, for the next decade, if you're going to be on one bag the entire time, who you'd prefer over this guy. Like, he's that good. And he's the guy that, quite frankly, both you and I think can challenge Scotty, one of the few that can do it right now. I mean, he's a monster. I threw it out there to Johnson Wagner on the broadcast because it was NFL draft week in New Orleans. I said, hey, let's do an NFL draft of PJ tour players. Obviously, Scott, he's number one. Who are you taking two? And he said Roy McElroyd. I said Ludwig O'Berg,

just because he's young and so talented. I think he's going to be the number one player in the world on time. Also, shout out your Denver Broncos on taking Bo Nix. I know you're super happy about that pick. But in my opinion, Ludwig O'Berg, second best player in the world right now. Ludwig O'Berg, better draft pick feature considered than Bo Nix, in my humble opinion right now. We'll get into the Denver Broncos at a later date. I got a lot of shit to say about that. But this kid, I mean, I don't know what more can be said, man. He's got every single aspect of the game he'd won. He's laughing off double bogeys, you know, at the Masters on a Sunday.

He's contending his first time around the place. Like, the sky is the limit for this kid. And Joey put himself in a good, good spot. We just tighten up the power bar, you know, exchange at the turn. Grip strength. That's all we got to do. We got to get Joey. We got to get him in there.

Maybe don't give him the power bar until he gets through the tunnel of people, things like that. But you live and you learn. But he's a monster, dude. absolute monster. Yeah, but always fun sitting down talking with Joe. Let's get to our picks this week for the CJ Cup here at the Byron Nelson, TPC Craig Ranch. They shoot the grass off this place.

You've played it. It used to be a long golf course. It's not long for these guys anymore. Pretty generous fairways. Perfect greens. It's going to be soft. Most likely going to have some thunderstorms. Unfortunately, Scottie Shephler, good news for his family.

They are having their first child, him and his. his wife, Meredith. But bad news is, it's the week of his hometown tournament here in Dallas, so he will not be teeing it up. You got Jordan Speeth is the highest ranked player in the field. Will Zalotaurus is teeing it up. Tom Kim, Jason Day, C. Wu Kim is in the field. Not the best field in the world, but it's Dallas. It's a special place for me. It's my old hometown. I'm excited to be out there for it. And for my favorite, I'm going on with the guy who lives here. And he's been playing some really good golf. I know they missed the cut last week in the team tournament, but I think this golf course is perfect for him. He's going off at 22 to 1.

give me Willie Z. Will Zillatoris. I like that. Would love it. Would love it. Hometown Kid, hometown hero. What else needs to be said about Willie? We know how he is. Teeter Green and he's come back quickly, quickly from that injury. I'm going to go with the guy that I love. Everyone I think loves him that knows him. He's 18 to 1 Colt hasn't missed the cut all year.

Five top 20s. Almost got a piece of a playoff of this thing last year. Was right there at the end. He's known to shake that ass all around Dallas. See, Wu, Kim. go. And a new member of Royal Oaks Country Club here in Dallas. Out there practicing with the Big Cat, Frank Voight, also home of Scottie Shephler, and my beautiful bronze bust.

Yes, very busty. Very busty down there at Royal Oaks. Congratulations to see you on the new untaxed wealth that he will have coming to him from Frank, the Big Cat. That's nice. That is, yes, he is going to do just fine. Actually, Scottie's probably a little upset because he's going to be cutting into some of that income. But Scottie's got enough. he's just fine wouldn't worry about him who you got on the

on the dark course side okay I'm gonna go down a little bit because like I said the field's not that strong I think this is where someone you know maybe not the biggest name in the world could come out here and pick up a win and trying to change their season

change get that two year exemption it'll be huge form 75 to 1 went to the University of Texas the golf the greens are so good he's a great putter like I said it used to be a long golf course I don't think length is that big a deal out here anymore. You got to make a lot of birdies.

I'm going Doug Gim. Okay. I like that. One of the mini Texas longhorns around the PGA tour right now. And you're right, dude, it used to be long. It used to be long, especially at second stage of Q school and it's freezing balls. Now they're just flicking wedges into some of these holes that used to be long irons. But I thought this dark horse pick was tough this week, you know, as you get further and further down.

Yeah. My guy's going at 40 to 1, okay? he's playing good golf of late he was fifth at the texas open 12th at the masters earned himself a trip back next year was playing decent at hilton head until the last round but i think he's one of these vets that could add to the list of first time winners on the pjure this year i'm gonna go adam shank yeah he's man he's been knocked on the door for a while had a great yeah yeah had a great season last year i believe he finished eighth in the fedex cup um so yeah and both guys both of our dark horses have like really slimed down they've lost a lot of weight dug slimed aka Doug Gim. You're 40 to 1. That's a tan horse. That's media. Like I said,

I was going down the list. I was like, damn, where do I go here? And I just went with the 40 to 1. But I do think, like, he's been sneaky having some nice years on the PJ tour.

And I think one might be on the precipice for him. And I am in the zone right now, Colt, so I do like my picks, but I do have to give you a warning about that because this product contains nicotine, okay? And nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Underage sale is prohibited. And we are introducing zoning nicotine pouches, the perfect balance of unparalleled comfort, longer lasting flavor, and nicotine that satisfies. Whether you're zoning in for an important put or zoning out after a tough day at work, zone gets you there faster and keeps you there longer. Available in seven flavors and in six and nine milligram strengths, find zone at zone pouches.com and retailers near you. Own your zone with zone nicotine pouches. Love these bad boys. Colt personally got a little nine-milly peppermint in the grill piece.

right now. Well, enjoy, my man. And everybody enjoy the Byron Nelson this week, and we'll talk to you on next week's subpar.