Subpar - Jon Rahm recaps his 2023 golf season, throwing out the first pitch at the World Series

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 2-time Major winner Jon Rahm joins Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview from Phoenix Childrens' charity event at The Manner Babershop in Scottsdale, AZ. The reigning Masters Champion talks how often he has worn his green jacket, throwing out the first pitch at the World Series and his incredible experience at the Ryder Cup. *Note: This episode was filmed ahead of any of the recent LIV Golf rumors/news involving Jon Rahm, that is why it was not mentioned during in this interview* ----- 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 ----- As we always say, Rokform is the #1 speaker in the game today.   Visit http://rokform.com and use promo code SUBPAR at checkout for 25% off your entire order.

Hello world. Welcome back to Golf Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz, our final episode of 23. It's been an incredible year. As always, my man, Slees, thanks to everyone out there for listening. Can't wait to do it all over again in 2024. An enormous thank you to the listeners. We love you guys. You're the best in the game. Thank you for all the messages. When we show up on site, everybody hollering, get amongst it. We love you. Thank you for listening. Yeah, slow year for golf in 2023. Hopefully it ramps up a little bit, uh, 2024 for us. And if y'all want to get us a Christmas present out there, we would love for y'all to go to our YouTube page, subscribe, like all that. We've got the

incredible OGO caddy video up there where Slees and I absolutely dominated carrying the bag. Pro jocks. A lot of requests coming in. I don't know about you. It was 100%. Just having a tough time negotiating the fee. These guys are so cheap. I'm whittling down who I'm going to caddy for at the WM Phoenix Open this year as we speak. Who do you got to narrow it down to? Taylor Montgomery and whoever Monday qualifies. Anyone else that I meet in the parking lot at McCormick, Ranch. Done. That's pretty much yet, but man. Perfect. Speaking of Taylor Montgomery, I was just up in Vegas, Shadow Creek, playing with Monty, Taylor, all the boys up there had an absolute blast. Wow, speak of the devil,

Monty Montgomery just texted me as we're doing this right now. Hang on. You didn't pay your bill. But cruising around Shadow, our favorite place on the planet, to tee it up and get amongst it, had my rock form going, playing all the tunes out there, having an absolute blast. You know we love rock form. Love them. Took it to Vegas. Didn't have to charge it all week. Best thing about it.

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Real weird. We highly recommend getting it. It's a great Christmas gift. Go to rockform.com. That's Rokforg.m.com. Rockform.com, enter code subpar and get yourself 25% off. 25% off. Just a heads up to all my close friends and family for Christmas.

You'll be getting a rock form. And you're welcome, because that's a good ice gift, by the way. Something you actually use. You don't got to take that back and return it or get shop credit like you do for most of the other stuff. So Merry Christmas, early to all my friends and fam. Rockform.com code subpar 25% off. All right. Let's get it going here.

A little slow week in the game of golf. Had the PNC championship, which is always awesome to watch all the parents and their kids, or the kids and their grandparents, whatever, out there teeing it up. A family event, it's awesome to see. And surprise, surprise. Bernard Longer won again with his son, Jason. His fifth title in this event, tying Raymond Floyd for the all-time record. This is his third with his son, Jason.

He won twice with Stefan back in the day. But I believe his first wing came in 2005. Now he wins it again in 2003. The guy is just, as we always say, he's a robot. Jason and Stefan start having kids. He's going to probably win with the grandkids at age 85. The dude doesn't do anything but keep on winning. Shout out to them.

Obviously, the big, you know, draw for the PNC. Tiger and Charlie Woods. I'll say this. Charlie did not disappoint. He's 14 years old. They moved him back some T's, then stop him from driving some greens. I got a text from a buddy on the PJ tour, who I don't even, like, talk to all that often, like super regularly.

Got a text randomly. Randomly. It wasn't the lair. The layer was locked in at Q school down there. But he said, Charlie Woods has the best swing in golf. It's a bold statement. Which is bold.

And like we said before, I was like, prepare for all the freakouts about Charlie and we're going to give him 15 majors and all that stuff. He might win 10 majors. He might never play on the PGA tour. There's a lot of distractions that aren't there at age 14 that come on later in life.

But dude, the golf swing is, it's disgusting. It's like a hybrid of early tiger mixed with a little bit of Rory right now. it is good for 14. I mean, he hit a couple three woods that I saw, whether the monitor was right or not,

but 165 mile an hour ball speed. He can move it. And by way, once you're getting 14 years old, he was playing farther back than Bernhard was. Is that right? Yeah, Bernhard was one set that sees up from Charlie. Well, Bernard pretty damn good. I don't think he has 165 ball speed with a three wood,

nor does that many guys, period. He's 65 years old. So whether they're juiced or not, I don't know, but the kids moving it in the golf swing, whof, just, uh, Keep doing what you're doing, bud. Tiger and Charlie ended up finishing T fifth, but congrats to the Langers on picking up their fifth win down there at the PNC Championship as I dropped my pen. But also Q School going on right now.

Actually, as we're filming this, final rounds going right now. A lot of stressful moments out there. TPC, Sawgrass. They're playing the Dye Valley course and then Sawgrass Country Club just down the road. Five PJ Tour cards on the line. Then the next 40 get basically eight events on the Corn Ferry Tour before the reshuffle and everything. but man, Q school, it's going to be awesome to watch. Five guys, five in ties, we'll get through to the PJ tour and their life will change.

But man, I can't imagine. They got five inches of rain down there between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Rain 24 hours, basically. Had to take a day off. Golf course was too wet. Just basically did not play on Sunday. Had to come back on Monday and finish it up. Worst case scenario for those guys that are in the top five or just outside the top five.

If you're in contention for that tour card, sleeping the night before the final round is already tough enough as it is. You finally get through it. you wake up, you're ready to go, let's get this thing going, and then like, oh, we're not playing today. And then you can't, like, I imagine, unless you go somewhere indoors, you're not able to practice, hit balls, do anything, and then you've got to show up and play the biggest round of your life the next day. When we left, this thing was underway. It was jammed up. We got a lot of juice, a lot of mojo. We're trying to send to the way of Spencer Levine,

trying to make one of the great comebacks in golf. Everyone loves him. Spence. World beater amateur player, great junior player. Over 200 starts on the PJ Tour, and then lost it all. Lost his Corn Ferry Tour status. Was playing mini-tebray tour status. tours and then via Monday qualifiers made his way back into this spot right now so huge shout out to spence i hope he gets it done out there but damn this is this is one of the probably the greatest day of golf in terms of like actual drama in terms of affecting people's lives that you can possibly have i'm glad i'm not there i got sweaty hands just even talking about it big day because you got your cashmere big day and we did and we matched up today little carolina blue little

carolina blue shout out to the heels i love it um all right well let's get to our guest this week Oh, wait, one last piece of news. That's pretty cool. It announced via Dan Hicks at the PNC. Kevin Kisner will be headed in the booth for two events. This isn't a full-time permanent replacement. They still haven't announced that yet. It's still a hobby.

But Century Tournament of Champions and, shout-out. WM. Phoenix Open, too. It would be great to get Kiz on there. I think Kisner just kind of testing the waters, but I know it's going to be something different than they've had in that booth for a long time, a breath of fresh air. I assume we're going to get the normal Kevin Kisner that we always get, which is the reason he's got this opportunity.

It's going to be fun to see him in there. He's only 39, so he's got a lot of good golf ahead of him if he still wants it. Look, I like this move. I think it's going to be great for NBC. Kiz, a very fresh voice, never done TV before. He's hilarious. He knows the guys very well. He's not scared to take some shots.

Needle the guys. He's one of the best shit talkers there is out there. I think this will be great for TV. We always said we don't agree that you have to be a major champion to be in that chair. Kiz has won plenty of times on the PJ tour. He's played a president's cup, contended to major championships. He can give his opinion. And I think people should respect that opinion.

You don't have to win five majors to have an opinion on golf. The guy's been around golf. He's been good at golf since he came out the womb. He's one of those guys. I hope, like, I don't think we got to tell him, but like, just be Kiz. You know, we don't, like, don't morph Kiz into, like, just the generic golf voice that are on a lot of the channels out there. I hope he's him.

I hope they give him the room to run and be him because it's going to be, it's a, like, legitimate reason to tune in and just watch those, even if you're not that into it. Just see how Kiz does. I think it's going to be awesome. Yep. going to be a lot of fun. They're trying a couple guys. Jeff Ogilvy also is getting a chance there.

Jeff's great too. He's fantastic. All right. Let's get to our episode this week. Yes. And we want to make this very, very clear. This is our final episode of 2023. Episode number 199 in subpar history.

We wanted it to be very special. We were invited to an event for Phoenix Children's, which is a hospital here in the Phoenix Scottsdale area, which I know you've done some things within the past. We know a lot of the people involved. It's a fantastic. cause. Okay, well, they wanted John Rom to be the interview that week.

And they invited us to come to a subpar episode down at Manor Barbershop. Shout out Edgar for the incredible host. I don't go to a lot of barbershops, but yours is beautiful. If you did, he's nice with the straight razor. John got touched up before the interview, the whole thing, the beard, the whole nine, Manor, home for the stars. That's a great job. But this was filmed about a month ago well before the John Rom going to live announcement.

it. So before anybody freaks out and starts commenting, we just want to let that you know, like this thing was filmed before then. There is no live talk in it. This is all about his incredible year, winning the Masters, the incredible league at the Rider Cup, some great stories and also talking about why he wanted to be involved in Phoenix Children's and this great cause. This is all about positive. It's the holiday season. We don't talk about live because we didn't know what was going to happen. Nobody knew what was going to happen. We had this, like he said, it's been over a month since we recorded this. We were saving it to the last one. John's getting involved in a great cause. He's.

He donates money to this great cause. He puts not only his name behind it, but he also puts resources behind it, too. And like you've said, we did not know. John had made no indication that this was happening. So we didn't skirt the live topic. We didn't talk to him yesterday. John just came out and said, look, I'm not talking until February. By the way.

So when February rolls around, trust me, we'll be on the horn with John Rom, trying to get him in here and talk about everything that he's allowed to talk about at the time. But at this time, nobody knew. We didn't know. The golf world didn't know. So we didn't just skirt live and not talk. about it and fluff him the whole time. Like this was pre any of that happening, just to be clear. And some great stories. And once again, thank you to Phoenix Children's for inviting us and

having us out. We had a blast. It was cool to be in there. And it's always fun talking to John. This was also coming right off his pit, throwing out the first pitch at the World Series, which was really cool. Right. Yeah. He had a lot of stuff going on, made the time for the kids. Awesome stuff. All right. Here we go. John Rom on Subpar once again. All right. Welcome to a very special edition of Golf Subpar here in front of a live audience. to set the stage here for the listeners in just a moment, but first introduced the man of the hour he's had a hell of a year. Four wins, not to mention a rider cup trophy, another rider cup trophy, and a green jacket, just coming off a fresh cut to senior guapo, John Rom. How we doing,

brother? Doing good. Doing good. You're not happy to be a part of this special edition. Hopefully make it a good one. Yeah, always obviously good to see you, John. We've now had 195 subpar episodes. You were guest number one, only because Scott Harrington wasn't available. But thank you so much for being so loyal to us. But we're here at the Manor Barbershop, which is where you come to get that beautiful haircut and beautiful old town, Scott Stale. Tell us a little bit about this place. Obviously, shout out to Edgar for hosting us tonight. This is an incredible spot.

Thank you, Edgar. You got you looking right, too. Yeah, this was a very expedited version of we usually do it here. I like coming with my friends, like Thursday night, Monday night football, whenever the sport, so they can take their time. We usually like to be the last people in here. And I'm not going to lie, he does an incredible job. We're almost here for two hours because we're talking so much.

But yeah, it was actually a friend of mine. His name is John McMurray. You might see him out there in the Long Drive amateur competition. If not, he is, like he likes to say, slinging medical devices. Slang him. That's what he does. So he's the one that came here first. then he introduced me to Edgar and me coming here as often as they can.

Barbershops have changed a lot since I had hair. This is a nice place. Yeah, no, I mean, they could still look your beard. When was the last year you got one? Last, like, haircut or beard trim? Oh, probably when I was like 21. When I didn't have this a long time ago. Lost it young, John.

You know, if I had hair, it wouldn't be fair. This is, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. No. But most importantly, you have a beautiful beard, though. Thank you so much. Yeah, nice beard. You're way nicer than Drew. Sometimes.

Yeah. But most important. We're here for the Phoenix Children's Hospital. Yes. A great cause that I know you are very passionate about. And it's just, it's crazy to think 40 years ago, they just had one location. Now they're over 75 pediatric subspecialties and 40 locations throughout the state. It is an incredible institution.

And I know you're very proud to be a part of it and help contribute. You know, it's being in the position that I'm a professional golfer, I try to help if I can as much as possible. So it's such a cool idea, such a cool project to be a part of. And yeah, I'm just glad I'm just glad I was available tonight to be able to do this. It's a beautiful event. And, you know, somebody that had I been born here, very likely would have been a patient with my club foot.

So, you know, for many to come, it's only fair that they get the best year possible. And does it resonate with you a little bit more even? Now that you're a father or two, like it kind of hits home a little more, doesn't it? Yeah, just meeting some of the people in the room that, you know, obviously people behind the camera, I'm kind of thinking, I hope I never get to see you again in the hospital. I hope I never get, I don't have to walk into those doors with my kids

because it's one of the scariest things in the world when, you know, they're not feeling right or, oh, they might need the care that, you know, not everybody can provide. Yeah, they're doing great things. And obviously, this live studio audience we have has done a lot of great things. So far to date, they've raised one point. $3 million to support the foundation and the Hope Fund. It's the biggest charity golf tournament, which happens next week, the biggest charity

golf tournament in Arizona. So thank you all so much because none of this would be possible without y'all. Thank you. Clap it up for yourself. Absolutely. With Johnny, it's been a while since we've had you in studio. April, right? And you're finally getting a little downtime in the golf season after a busy year.

How does John Rom feel his time when he's not playing competitive golf? What are you been doing, dude? Oh, it's a lot of downtime. I'm actually back to practicing now, but the last three weeks after the Spanish Open, I do nothing. Nice. I am terrible at doing nothing. Going absolutely nuts at home, driving my wife nuts. Getting kicked out of the house, obviously, because I was driving nuts.

I mean, just at the end of the day, trying to be a dad. So I wake up in the morning, you know, get Kep out of it. He usually wakes up earlier, and I take him to school, you know, make him breakfast and whatever he's going to need for lunch. and just do the normal things that I can do with my kids, pick them up, be with an echo, which I rarely get to spend one-on-one time with each one and be quality time because usually I'm playing and have to share those hours that I have with them. So it's really fun to be with both of them.

Glad that they haven't gotten sick of me yet in those three weeks. They still miss me, which is great. I was just a Nekal always shoot Monday and Tuesday and got back home, and it's the excitement, the same excitement as if I've been gone for two weeks. It's great to see. Besides that, not much. Call of Duty? No, I have not being playing whatsoever. Being a parent, got to put a damper on that a little bit.

Everybody ain't texted like, oh, we get it at 9 p.m. And that's an early time for them. Man, I'm going to sleep at 9. Like, I'm not wasting three hours of my night playing the video game badly. Right? That's just not going to happen. So I try to use that time to spend with my wife, which again, we usually, you know, put the kids out

have dinner and I'm kind of getting ready for the next day or the next day of practice next day of tournament so it's nice to have that downtime with them as well how's John Rahm around the house

you know dinner I'm guessing you don't cook no I'm horrible at cooking when I said they cooked breakfast I'm glad nobody was here to call me out on it like it's more like it's just he gets his

no not even luckily Kippa does not like breakfast like he likes this fig bars he'll eat in the car and that's it like that's not chef John but but I can micro over the heck out of some meatballs.

So that's, that's usually how it goes. Do you do the dishes? I do the dishes, yeah. Oh, what a good husband. Yeah, I do like things being clean. And I do enjoy actually doing the dishes, which is weird. Diapers.

How are you? Speed-wise, have you gotten better? I should be on the Red Bull team changing diapers, okay? It's an art, isn't it? I'm quick. I'm quick. You and Slee should have a race. We should film that for some part.

Get in as quick as possible, but. It depends on the kid. It depends on the kid. Now that kept. but I was old enough, he just sits there and helps you out. When they're younger, they do not want it. So it's a big difference. Yeah, that's a different experience.

That first time you get in there, mix it up. You're coming. I think we got to go back to April. Yeah, let's move past that subject real quick. Bring Natalie and she's surprised guys. We got to go back to April because, obviously, you won your second major championship, one that is very special to you. I know with Seve's history there and it being an anniversary for him there,

but to win the Masters, a green jacket as a kid from Spain, how special was that week? Extremely, extremely. It's hard to put into words. It really is. Something you dream of your whole life and to have the luxury to win an unusual master's, right? With the weather delays, the rain,

playing two rounds or a round and a half on Saturday, it's, you know, take pride on that. It wasn't the easiest tournament to play. So it was an honor to have a chance and get it done. And again, there's so many things, right? For people that don't know, It was 40th anniversary of Sevi's second master's win. It was his birthday, April 9th.

My catty was wearing number 49 because when I signed up, I was a 49th player. So many things that kind of made it so, so special. And, you know, the one thing I keep remembering is I have a picture in which I'm holding my son and my dad is hugging me and bracing me on the 18th green. So to see that always makes me emotional. It's quite unique to see three generations right there and to share it with both my son and my dad was something I never thought of.

How often do you look at the green jacket? Just to remind yourself, like, for it to set in, just like, dude, I want... It's got to be... I know. 50,000 people. We'll get to that in a minute, but when you're just at home on a Tuesday,

be like, let me go check that thing. So it's... Where it is in my closet, I basically walk past it every day. So I see it every day. Nice. What about taking it out? I know there's a lot of rules

on, you got to get permission to take it out. Where is the coolest place the green jacket's been thus far? It might have been just recently. Well, no, it's made two appearances. What I've had it on, your podcast being first. Yes. Yeah, nice. Well done. This is why we love you. For you future master's champions. Yeah. Hello. Well, and then I did have it on the celebration and display. I didn't have it on me because the champagne shower would have not agreed really well with it. Yeah, did I, but whatever. that's another point. Second time was the first pitch of the World Series. Yeah.

Which you dominated. How do you feel about that first pitch? It was, I very few times I've been that nervous in my life. No kidding. Yeah, because the problem is, I should have blocked a few numbers. You can call them out.

We'd love to. Because these friends are just haters. Like when I tell people, I told a family, I'll just say, I'll tell my brother-in-law. And when he found out, it's like, man, you've got to throw a, strike. I'm like, throw a strike. Who do you think I am? Like, if I had a forehand in hand, I'm confident I can do it, but like, I'm not right in this. Like, yeah, you can't love it,

you can't bounce it. I'm like, thanks. So I started asking baseball players on what to do and everybody was pretty much on the same level. They were like, don't go on the mountain, which I wasn't allowed to do. It's great, but then everybody's like, don't love it, don't bounce it. I'm like, okay, well, that leaves me one option. And then the one friend in common, he comes up in this podcast a lot, Ben Herman. I'm driving. to the stadium and the text I get is, man, you should let your wife throw it because I know she's going to get it over the plate.

For people that don't know, my wife threw javelin in college. She has a heck of an arm. He texted Eva Longoria, well, I'm in the clubhouse, so he comes up to me to show me the text. And I'm like, man, this is five minutes before and I'm getting all this, like players actually giving me a hard time. Meanwhile, can we talk about his texting Evan Longoria right before a World Series game?

Maybe leave the guy alone. That's exactly what I was thinking. I'm like, yeah, maybe don't text them. One thing to text you, but the guy actually has to play in the game? Yeah. Yeah, thanks, Ben. He's probably texting you five minutes before your final round tea time at the Masters. No, no, he didn't.

He didn't. Actually, I don't know. I didn't look at my phone. But, yeah, there was a few haters. I did practice, though. I did practice. In the jacket? Yes.

I didn't practice on slacks, though. That was the mistake. The leg kicks hampered. There was no movement whatsoever. So that's why. So in all my practice, I never missed the pitch right, ever missed it. right. And when that knee came up and barely moved, I'm like, well, I guess we're going from here and that it was straight to right. No mobility. So actually, there was a couple good ones at home that I

feel good about it. I'm like, actually, it's respectable. But, but yeah, I just, 50,000 people weren't watching you though. Yeah, no, that was really fucking. That plate, that plate became real small. I'm going to say. Travis Matthew, you get some stats. The only balls the Rangers didn't hit that night, though, no that I think of it. It's the only balls the Rangers didn't hit that night. Yeah, good for you. There were some good tweets after that. That would have been a wall because they would. I would have smoked him straight in the face. There were some good tweets from the golf people after it was 10-0. And the third, they're like, did they leave John Rom in for the first three innings?

They might. I mean, yeah, I might as well. Bullpen games. Yeah, I would have walked the first three guys and then, you know, they would have just hit the next and beat 50 either way. Well, I know a lot of people here. Some were actually in attendance over in Europe in Rome at the Ryder Cup, which congratulations, I guess. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. So, John, just tell us. why does the USA suck when they go to European soul? Give us all the secrets. I don't know. What do I know? I don't know what's going on on the other side. Yes, you do. I really don't. I wish I did.

Give us your opinion. I mean, simply put, this time, we played better than they did. That's what I can say. That's a boring answer. I don't know. I just... For 30 straight years over there. I'll ask you this, because so much was made about the 30-year drought.

The Americans can't win. I think he has more to do with us than it does with them. That's my guess. Do you think there's more pressure, was there more pressure on you guys as a European team being like, we got to be the team that doesn't lose the 30-year streak? Or is it more on the Americans? Like, we got to be the ones that break this? I can't take for the, I can't talk for the whole team, but I certainly felt the pressure. Being first out with Terrell, you are, you know, you're kind of put in that position to set pace

and get some blue on the scoreboard, which likely we did right away. But it's, I felt it. Yeah, I mean, you don't want to be the team that lost it at home, right? So there was pressure, there was pressure for sure. But it's also motivational, right? We had with Jose Chema as a vice captain and he can tell you all the stories in the world because he's been part of most of those teams that defended that cup at home, right? And changed it. So it was part of a team that won away for the first time, Amirfield Village.

So it's great to have somebody with his charisma and his stories and his legacy in it. And I think a lot of little different things combined that make it so special for us. that is what made us play the way we did the first two days. I heard Jose was unbelievable in the team room. Hard to explain. That's so cool. I have a picture on my phone that would tell you right there exactly what it means. It's hard to describe, but he doesn't know they took this picture.

Well, I told him, but he didn't know when they took the picture. Luke made this, I don't know if there was a video out there, this soccer-like locker room where we all had our name and a sentence on our native languages. that some people didn't even know they had, like the Irish and the Celtic languages and all that. And in the middle, they had Sevi and the last ever shirt he ever wore as a writer-cup player. And there's a picture of Olli on Sunday after everything happened.

He goes in alone because there was a door. You could actually just be locked in by yourself. And he just puts his hand on the glass and he's just face down kind of holding himself like that, obviously, try to feel that connection with Sevi. And that was, I mean, that tells you everything you need to know. That's awesome. For somebody like me, when I'm talking to him, he says certain things.

Like, the emotion I have going to that first T is so different. It's just hard to explain. That's cool. Really hard explained. I hadn't heard that. Oh, and he's telling you stories about everybody. It's just so much fun. That's awesome.

And, like, hindsight is really easy. I like to evaluate captains after the fact and question things. if you're on the losing side or praise things if you're on the winning side. But from the jump, Cole and I agree on this. Luke Donald seemed to be doing an unbelievable job with the European side. Would you agree with him being just a world-class captain? Yes. And I think the whole team wasn't kidding when we're all saying two more years

because he and his wife, Diane, absolutely killed it in every aspect of things. That was such a good writer cup that he set that bar extremely high. All right, some big news here from Subpar. we have officially launched our own YouTube page. Make sure to subscribe at Golf underscore subpar on YouTube. Check out this week's video. Like, subscribe, do all the stuff. Colt, we've got some cool behind-the-scenes stuff coming

and give you a little outside look at some of the stuff outside the studio. So please like, please subscribe. You're the best listeners in the game. We love you. Back to the show. I got to put you on the spot here because I'm curious. At the opening ceremonies, which some of the people were there, you know, they had the fighter planes go over.

They had the red, white, and green colors of Rome. as they went over, and then Zach Johnson gets up to give his speech. Yes. And they just happened to do just another flyover right in the middle of it. I kind of interrupted. Did you know that was coming? None of us did. I feel horrible for him because that is nerve-wracking enough,

especially as he's trying to pronounce names in Italian. Yes. And another flyover goes by, it's, uh, whoops. Yeah, sorry, not sorry. They were closed. I don't think that was meant to happen. There was no chance that was meant to happen.

He just looked. Circle back, circle back. He started. It was like, right. when he was getting going, trying to speak a different language. Yeah, he actually caught on the stride and he was going good. He was doing great. Yeah, no, that was.

That set the time. I really felt bad for him. I mean, no, that's no way everything else happened. That's what we think. Maybe, maybe not. There's no way to really know for sure. Rory recently said, he said he thinks winning a Rider Cup on Foreign Soul is one of the hardest thing in sports, not golf.

You've played on both sides. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I can agree with it. Yeah. I mean, if you think starting besides 2012, it's 2014 every time the home team is won by a landslide. I mean, he hasn't even been close. I would say, though, you are going to have a much different team,

obviously, heading into Beth Page in a couple of years. I mean, the guys that were, you know, legends of the Ryder Cup, the Poulters, the Westwoods, the Garcias, obviously were getting towards the end of their career at Whistling Straits. And that's why, I think that's one of the reasons it was such a massive blowout. Now y'all are young. Well, the U.S. played incredible that week, though. I mean, the goal of the U.S. team played was absolutely amazing.

So it's a combination of things, though. Yeah, I just think y'all's team is much stronger now than it wasn't. We needed that, I don't know how to say it, that it's not a reshuffle, but it's like a re-renuil of the team. Like you just said, I mean, there was four or five players that were part of nearly 40 rider cubs combined. And if you're out of the vice captains, so many. So, yeah, I mean, they're part of a team, they're part of the history. But, again, sometimes having those new younger players, like a Ludwig, it's a good. good thing. So I think that's one of the big reasons why we played so well. You have the

youngest period of wanting to continue the legacy of what they've seen growing up. How, like, how much did it mean to you for Captain Donald to put you out first in singles? Because that's a hell of an honor. Yeah, he told me early too. When I saw, I wasn't playing on Friday after, on Saturday afternoon, I figured I was going to go early. In all the conversations I've had, they've always wanted me to go early, but he arrested me to go first, and it's an honor. It's an honor. Again, when you're going first, they want you to set the pace, right? If you see blue early on, that's going to motivate the other guys a little bit more, and hopefully demoralize the other team, if that matters at all to them. And you do feel the pressure, especially at home.

It's unlike anything I've ever felt before, and it was a lot of fun, you know, and it was great to have a great match with Scotty. We both of us played good golf and I think that that half was a pretty pretty deserved score for both of us because either of us could have taken it. I think the way we played down the stretch, I made birdie on 12, tapping 13 and yes, tapping on 14, bird is 15. We both birdie's 16. I mean, it was just great golf. So I think it was very deserving to have that half. It was a big half for both sides. We needed that full point. You guys needed to keep us off the board. That was just a great match played all around. Go back to the foursomes because you played with Tirol both times.

You were a former bull duo. How did that team come together? Was that analytics? I know you guys looked a lot of that. Or was that like, hey, he and I, we mesh really well together. I think Teryl and I made a lot more sense together after a psych evaluation, to be honest. That's kind of what I was getting at. Were you the Tony Robbins of that pairing?

Who's the positive guy? Oh, me, me, me. I mean, he's very positive. This is a thing. Tiro and I are both severely misunderstood. Like, right. Yes and no. Like, we, I think we mean a lot of what we say.

It's just, when you say it, you get it out. And it's a way to just keep fighting, right? When somebody is like that, usually they have a lot of great within them. Antiro is an incredible player who also, when he gets frustrated, plays incredibly good golf. So having somebody like him next to him, it's a lot easier because we both understand. If you ever got mad, I was like, yeah, man, is it? out let's go get it going like he was pissed after missing that second shot on 15 and the parpot on 15 um on the saturday foursums in the morning and then hits a good t shot i hit a bad

chip shot and he makes that 15 footer right before zander has to putt and you know it just brings out the best in a player like that sometimes so knowing each other like that i thought was very very important and i think that's why we made so much sense i don't think it really mattered teeter green he's an incredible ball striker he's good at every really. So I teed off on the holes I teed off on because I'm a longer player and in theory a bit of a better iron player. But I think our match was more mental and in personality than anything else. How do you think Tura will handle the very welcoming and courteous crowd up in New York in a couple years? They're friendly. Friendly environment. I love New Yorkers.

I love New Yorkers. Get out of front of it. No, I love going over there because it's really fun to play sports over there, right? Obviously, we're going to be the enemy for the week, so we're going to hear what we're going to hear. But you also have some of the best sports fans over there, even a whistling. Like, I'm playing with Sergio. Clearly, they don't like us. We're playing good, even less. And even after making a good pot or winning a hole, you know people are angry, but you can still hear a lot of the crowd giving you props. And that's what I respect. It's always going to be the two or three guys, maybe one or two hundred guys are going to drink a little too much and say some things that maybe they shouldn't say.

But for the most part, they understand sports and their respect sports. So we're going to see both things. But unfortunately, where you hear most and louder is going to be the comments that you wish you wouldn't hear. But there's a lot of people that respect it as well. So there's both sides. Now, I think Turrell and I might get paired again together. So we might need a full-time shrink on that for some to calm us down, somehow keep us together in that on that golf course. I would like to follow that match.

Honestly, I think I love the atmosphere being on the other side, and I think Turles are going to like it as well. Yeah, you two are the guys that I would think, like, that might fire you up hearing the booze and the things like that, but there are some guys, especially like golf. We hear things like that so often at this point that is just because the way we are. Like, every time we get mad, I always hear somebody, oh, there goes around again.

Like, yeah, well, I mean, you know it's going to happen. What do you expect? Like, I hear it, he hears it. You laugh, you move on. You should start doing like, cooch and just be like, shoot. Darn it. Golly, golly shucks. I've tried.

It almost fresh-raised me more to just say that. I don't know why. Speaking of drinking too much, most importantly, who is the MVP of the after-party? I was the LVP, the least valuable player. Oh. It's disappointing. Yeah, yeah, no, I let the team down severely. So I thought it was going to be Shane, but everybody told me that Dark Horse in the race was

Seb Straca. Oh, yeah. Apparently, Seb can put down some... The ox can put some drink, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's basically from Georgia. It's not even really fair. He was on y'all's team.

Well, I don't know. I think if there's a drinking competition, the European team wins by a landslide. And also, who came up with that incredible song that America is terrified in Europe's on fire? The USA's terrified. Yeah. That's the one.

That might win at Grammy. That's the one. That was the crowd. That was the crowd. So you guys saw the video of us doing it on the bus, but we heard it. through the entire tournament. And you hear different versions.

I heard the USA Starfight, Rambles on fire, Rory some fire, Tiroz some fire. So you could do it with so many names that we heard it throughout the entire tournament. That was great. Since it's coming to the States and we get dominated in the chanting and the singing over that, how is it that they always come up with?

We were there every day and it was like, dude, there's a new one. They got a new one on number one. Who's coming up with this and getting it out so that everyone on the first team knows it? And I think it's because they're football hooligans. That's just what they do. Sorry, soccer.

That's a big advantage. Yeah, they're just what they do every season. They come up with something new, so they figure it out. If I'm going to say something for anybody going to Bethpage in a couple years, please come up with something new to support your team. Yeah. Because if there's something about the U.S., you hear the same three to five chance on every sporting match of every team of everything in this country,

which is great, but it almost seems like you're cheering for both teams. Right? Like, that's kind of, like, if you can get going with stuff for your team and personalize it to the players, I think it'll make it a lot more fun. You don't think that USA chance, real creative? Well, you hear the USA. That's pretty good. They spent a lot of time on that one. The I believe that we will win.

That one as well. Yeah, that's it. Got that one. That's the end of it. Yeah, and a couple others that just, you know, I just would like to see a little bit more. Well, there's two guys sitting right here that are happy to go up a week early, Seth Waugh, if you're listening, and work with the crowd. a little bit. Get some creative things going.

A little juice in the area. I mean, that's it. It's hard. I don't know how they come up with what they come up with. But they're good. Did you at any point think, I've meant to tell you this, but I also was like, be honest, with Team USA that week, even though you're my guy. But this was the perfect, you're the Spaniard, you're in Rome, the Coliseum, the

Gladiator mask. I thought, we've talked about this and I was like, he's going to wear it. He's going to come out of the tunnel in the gladiator mask. No, God, no. You regret looking back now. They're like, dude, that was the moment. We talked about doing it on 16. at the Phoenix Open, I'm like, dude, this is actually wrong.

You know the amount of pressure I would have to walk out with? No chance I'm doing that. It would have lived forever. Now, in hindsight. On that part on 18, against Scotty, because it was so long, I had a lot of time to think and your mind's racing. When they started going online down the hill, I was thinking, if this goes in, I'm stealing a mask because people had them and I'm going to the green.

And given the, are you not entertaining to tell? Now, then I was thinking, well, I'm the first one out. You never know. and then I missed it, and they didn't do it. I would have been filthy. It would have been so dirty. Had my pot on Friday afternoon not being quite a bit of luck on 18, I probably would have done it there too.

We're in with nice dying speed. I mean, it's in. It is what it is, but perfect line, obviously. But had it not been like that, even if you just hit the back and not jump up, I think I would have been able to celebrate it in a different way. But yeah, we definitely missed an opportunity with that. Yeah, that was the moment.

thought somebody in the crowd was actually just going to start chanting Spaniard at one point. I don't know. I just, I was hoping at least, but it would have been our American friends. I was very close. Very close to texting. Like, dude, this is the time. I don't, you know, I can't, you know, I can't commit treason, but if there was ever a time, this is it.

It would have been, yeah. All right. All right. It worked out all right for you. Well, since we are here at the Manor Barbershop and this very special occasion with Phoenix Children's Hospital, we're not going to do the E-9. Instead, we have some questions from the audience. Okay.

Okay. And I don't know if we should say the names because with some of these questions. Don't do it. We'll just keep it anonymous. We'll be able to tell who wrote it by once you read it. This one's actually serious. What is the most meaningful win in your career so far and why? I've actually haven't been asked this in a while. Oh, they all mean something different. As special as the U.S. Open was, the Masters was just hard explained. That Masters meant so much to me that.

And I didn't think it was going to be like that. I thought the U.S. Open was always going to be the highest because the way I finished the last two holes in those pots. But, yeah, this masters, I think, may go down as my most meaningful one. Can't argue with that. Hard to argue. Yeah, I mean, unless I happen to do it on some other anniversary, I guess next year is Ollie's first year.

First Master's 30-year anniversary, so you never know. Oh, great. Go ahead and bet John again. There we go. some inside info for you guys over there. I think the last two times is finished on Sevi's birthday, a Spaniard has won. I think the last time was Surge on 2017. See, this is helpful information before the tournament.

Pre-termament. Well, people say those things. I don't know. It's just, I think they might, I don't know. I could be very wrong. Yeah, your turn, Salis. All right, fair enough. This one feels like we may have someone in the audience from the Northeast.

But, John, did you like the country club at Brookline as a venue for the U.S. Open? I thought it was a great golf course and it was a great venue. They didn't make it as hard as they could have, and he was still a six-under winning championship. So I enjoyed it a lot, so I hope we get to go back. Next one. If you were to play a competitive round with Slees, how many shots would he need to give you? It's been a while. He used to give me two a side.

You've gotten better, though. I'll give you that. Yeah, we might be at one and a half a side now. It's competitive. It all depends on how many Red Bulls he has before T-Noff. That's a good point. Yeah. He's switched.

He's over on Celsius now. Oh, you're in Celsius? Anything that gets the heart moving? I like to feel like it's worth something, you know what I mean? That's why I'm ready for the cup. I'm ready for, I'm ready for Bethpage if they need me. Shotgun two Red Bulls do ten pushups and that's how you... That's how you practice for pressure.

That's the next level. Some people here know, but he wouldn't... I mean, he'd, what, a total of five balls, three puds, two red bulls and go to the T. What else do you need? Yeah. Everyone else is overthinking it. Yeah, no. It's not over-complicate this thing.

We know some Whispuraug members are there an hour and a half early, so... And it don't... Does it work? Well, there's one particular one I'm thinking of, yeah. He's a doctor... Well, a fake doctor. He's a dentist. He can write prescriptions.

I love that you know what I was talking about right of all. By the way, there's one. You only think he's there an hour and a half early because that's when you get there to have breakfast and everything. He's been there. He's the first person on property. Is he? Oh, yeah.

He beats the staff there. That's when he starts warming up. He's eating three hours before. Steam, the whole nine. No wonder he gets up and down from everywhere. This is a juicy burger right here for you, Johnny. In your opinion, who will be the next world number one who hasn't already occupied that spot? Victor Havland.

That's probably the right. I would probably agree with that. Anyone else in the mix? God, I started to think about rankings. Yeah, I would have to say Victor. Victor should be, I think in my mind, is the one that sets ahead. Yeah, he's got it figured out. There's a lot of players with potential to do it,

but based on his progression in the last few years, I think he'll be the clear one. And that short game, yeah. Kind of set the tone at the Ryder Cup with that first the chip in. Anybody's seeing this, and there's a fan of Victor that I don't understand. I'm a fan of Victor. Not his music, but spin love. Him, yeah.

Spinloaf, yeah. You remembered a couple places here in Scottsdale. Where is it easier to win money? Whisper Rock or Silver Leaf? Silver Leaf. Can you go into detail why? Well, because last time I went to Whisparok, I shot 9-under and lost $600. So, yeah.

Do you want to talk about her your partner was that day? Because there's a bunch of vultures over there, that's why. They've gone from wolves to vultures. I mean, it's insane going to that golf course. I'm sorry. It's a nice place. I gave somebody five strokes. Like, I shoot an even par.

Like, what is going on? Like, it's not. Mr. Trias, don't listen to John. It's a wonderful place. The worst thing is, I'm glad the people I play with the last few times don't look at the handicap they have me at because it's ridiculous. Plus nine.

Actually, they do. They screenshot and send it to me. They'd use a plus nine and Wyndham as a plus seven. I said, please make one wrong, give Wyndham one aside. Exactly. I mean, listen. That's exactly my point. And then I get some scratch golfers up.

I need to give you nine strokes. No chance. In match play. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. Let's play this game for this match. Of course. Look how tough it's made you, though.

Yeah. Got you a green jacket. That's why I go as often as I used to. That's worth it, ain't it? When I play a server leave, if I play Ben, I give him three strokes, and it's a lot more competitive because I have a chance of winning and losing, but it's a lot closer.

You give Ben Herman a non-professional golfer only three shots. She beats me more often like that. Used to be two. No, it's three. Tough. Tough game out there. Funny, his name just came up because I actually have a write-in from someone not in the audience.

From Ben H. from Scott Stale. You kind of already addressed this, but he wants to know, are you the only golfer on the BJ Tour, whose wife would have thrown out a better pitch. So he's here even when he's not here. Wait, seriously? Yeah, it was a right in.

Right in, he's not here. He wrote it in. He wrote it in? Yeah, of course. Yeah, I think my wife, pathetically, will do a lot of things better than most. There's some obviously, like Allison Fowler, who was a Paul Volter,

and a couple of others that were athletes as well, but I would put Kelly up there in most sports. The one complaint you seem to be. to have had over the about this is a question this isn't for me just so you know this yeah let me guess you've you've you've had over the years this number of bathrooms out on the golf course in the pga tour yeah what would is the number you would like to see out there to satisfy how is that so difficult i can't choose when i go when you're nervous you go is this kind of how it is that that is people around these cameras i've already seen on national tv taking a piss against the tree so

i will think they want to want to protect that but apparently not is that i mean the so unreasonable. This is why everybody was so concerned because live this. I didn't write the question, John. Merger this. What's going to happen with this? Are they going to compensate who? What's all the... I just thought, well, I'm not going to, you know, with the least objectionable request I can find. So, want to hold.

These bathrooms. Want to haul? You want to hear some funny? Yeah, I do. I like funny stories. The same week. I love you, Kelly. I'm sorry. Yes. That same week. Jason Gore, who works for the PJ tour. goes to Kelly. It's like, hey, Kelly, is there anything

the PJ Turk can do better for you? It's like, well, you know, as wise from where out, there's really hard to find access to a bathroom. Is there, you know, is there a chance we can go to a tent? That was literally, she hadn't seen it, like two or three hours after I did my press conference. Oh, she had no idea. Talking about porta-potties.

So here comes to, like, I think people must think we have an obsession with bathrooms, or a problem, one of the two. I don't know. Yeah. Stam Ram family has a bladder problem. We're very hydrated. I did notice now.

But in her point, though, is more like when you're following certain groups, like if I get paired with Scotty, especially which I did that week, there's a lot of people following. They can't go to every porta party, not everywhere's accessible. They can't go on all the sponsored tents, right? So that's kind of what she meant. Is there anywhere we have access to go in peace? Shit, when I played, you could just go down out of the T-box.

Nobody was watching. Playing the wrong tourneys, bud. It's also a lot easier for men than it is for women, right? Yeah. I did notice now, though, they're putting inside the player, port-a-potties, a list of where all the bathrooms are located for you. Oh, so you can plan ahead. I mean, that's just so over the top like this.

I thought that was really courteous. I saw the list, and I was like, I'm going to forget in the next two steps. By the way, wait until you get to Beth Page. There ain't going to be any bathrooms. Oh, I know. It's funny because one of the things in the writer, Luke was sending me texts about I, John, this is where the bathrooms are. This is holes.

And surprisingly, they weren't on every hole, which is kind of frustrating. But, you know. They make you show a passport to get into one. That'll be our secret at Bethpage. No pissers for the year. You can, that's when I got shown on TV and against the tree. Yeah, that's right. That was Bethpage.

That was the time. You got caught. Well, I either go through a million New Yorkers to go to the public bathroom or I take my chances in the hay with the ticks. So I just went on the tree. They're very understanding people up there in New York. No, they liked it. It was fun. Very accommodating.

Yeah, they all thought it was funny. Yeah. You got any more? Well, Johnny, we appreciate you so much. Thank you for everything you do. Is that all you had? Three questions? No, it's not.

I was like six. Oh, sorry. Yeah, we only got a certain amount of time. We had one in here that you got already answered during the show. Yeah, but first off, we got to say thanks to Edgar and the Manor Barbershop. This has been incredible. Yes. Thank you so much.

If you're an old town Scottsdale, come see him. There's a bunch of bars very close by, so good reason to come on in. And also, Phoenix Children's Hospital. Thank you for everything. Thanks for having Sleez and I in the Subpar podcast. All right. Well, that was John Rom. joining us on subpar about a month ago for Phoenix Children's.

Just had an absolutely incredible time down there at the Manor Barbershop. Once again, thank you to Edgar and all his people involved there. It was really cool sitting up in the barbershop chairs. I thought it was a really cool setting. He's got all his incredible memorabilia behind him and everything. But it was cool to sit down and go over a year that was fantastic for John Rom. Obviously, before the Live announcement, you know, we kind of went back and forth on what we should do with this episode once the announcement happened.

We reached out to his team, talked to them. They're like, look, it's all positive stuff. It's for a great cause. Let's just put it out there anyway. Yeah. And I couldn't agree more. Like I knew right when he announced that, first thing texted you guys. Like, uh, so the ROM episode, what were we going to do with that?

We just want to like once again make it very clear. The live had not been announced. We did not know about it. John had made no indication he was going to live. It was not even a topic of conversation at the time. This was just an interview we did with John kind of recapping his year. And if and when he's able to speak about live and the move and all the factors that went into it. We hope to get him in here right now because he's been as good to us as anybody right after

the Masters. I mean, he said the Green Jack has been, what, two places, one of which he's here in our studio. He's worn it twice in public outside of Augusta National. And that was here on subpar the week after he won the Masters and then to throw out the first pitch at the Diamondbacks World Series game. Yeah, he's been as good to us as anybody every time, you know, he wins the Masters and reaches out like, hey, you want to do an episode? I'm home for eight days. Let's get it done. Like he goes out of his way to help us. So all the live stuff put it to bed. And by the way, like, let's focus on what he's actually doing for good.

There's all this, like, talk about what's going on. It's bad in the golf world. Like, he donates money to Phoenix Children's, young kids with cancer. Like, there's not a more, you know, there's not a cause you'd rather support more than that. And John Rom's doing it. So shout out to him, man. I always love talking to John. Great dude.

Couldn't agree more. Always love having him on. And once again, thanks to Phoenix Children's. If you can donate to that great cause, please do. they are awesome. And John is awesome for coming on with us at all times. Like I said,

we wish we could talk about the lip stuff, but we didn't know what was going to happen when it came out. So hopefully everyone understands that. And when you can talk about it, we'll do it. Yeah, and let's send you all out a winner in 2020. Let's see if we can give you some winning football picks, which is obviously our expertise.

Last week, we didn't lose. We both pushed. I know. That's hard to do. Hard to do, by the way. Chiefs 10, 10 at the Patriots. The Bears lost a heartbreaker. for me.

It was on the Bears, dude. On the Bears, too. That was, they had that one pretty much sewn up and then found a way. All right. Well, let's go ahead and pick one more NFL game. This one's just wild to me. I don't, I just, I love the story of Joe Flacco. The fighting Flackos, the Cleveland Browns, are catching two and a half over the Houston

Texans, by the way, who I like, but C.J. Stratt, I believe, will be out again. D'Amico Ryans could possibly be coach of the year. He's done an incredible job with him. but give me the Browns plus two and a half over the Texans. Flacco time. He's here. A defense is sick. A defense is nasty, and he hasn't been perfect,

but he's led some game-winning drive since he got there. He's doing things that a lot of quarterbacks in the league can't do. What are they on their fourth quarterback in Cleveland this year? It's like that franchise, damn, they just can't keep a quarterback around. I'm going to go here, Cole, with a team that's trending. The team that, like, I don't think we've even spoken about in terms of, like, playoffs throughout the entire season, but they're starting to play good, and there's a way for them to get into playoffs.

That's the L.A. Rams. They're giving four at home against the Saints. Saints good at home. Haven't been great on the road this year, but Stafford's starting to play. That team's starting to play. And all of a sudden it's like, damn, here come the Rams. So give me the Rams running hot, minus four over the Saints.

All right. Chicken. Hopefully we send you out a winner in 2023. Real quick, give me the two winners of the college football playoff games. Here we go. This is my prediction. The winner of the Michigan Alabama game will be your national champion. I think that's going to be a great game.

I'm going to go. Michigan winning the college football championship over Washington. Perfect. We're on the exact opposite side. Give me Nick Sabin, a month's prepare. I'm not 100% confident in that quarterback, but I think Nick Saban is just arguably the best coach of all time in college football. I know Jim Harbaugh is fantastic,

but they've gone through a lot this season. I think Alabama pulls the upset on Michigan. And then I've got to go with the Texas Longhorns, man. I'm a Texas guy. That's who I root for other than SMU in college football. football. Quinn Ewer is a stud. I think that's going to be also a great game against Washington, but I'm going to go Texas versus Alabama. And Texas is officially back. Horns doing it again. Give me the horns of the national title. Two dubs, hard to beat a hard to

beat a great team twice. They did. They obviously had the heartbreaking loss last year to them. Then went to Tuscaloosa this year, took care of business pretty handily. I know it's tough to beat Nick Saban twice, but I think the horns are going to do it. Yeah. Bama, a different team than they were earlier in the year. But this is why with all the shit that was going on with the college football playoffs. We did get two sweet matchups for the playoffs. And these are both really good and I expect two really good ball games followed by a good national championship. TCU set the tone last year with that squeezer, you know, that nail biter throughout. We've kind of set the bar for great championship games. Hopefully they can live up to it. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch.

Can't wait for it. And also, once again, that's it for us for 2023. We got a couple of weeks off. We're going to go enjoy it with the family. Have a little downtime film, some episodes. And we'll be back to you in 2024. Can't thank you all. enough for listening. It's been an incredible year on subpar. Thanks to our sponsors, everyone behind the scenes for all that they do. We'll talk to you on subpar in 2024. We love you.