Subpar - Lucas Glover Interview: Playing without a glove, leading the charge into Clemson's Death Valley

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 4-time PGA Tour winner Lucas Glover joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and jicky jack legend Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The winner of the 2021 John Deere Classic talks his 10 year gap between Tour victories, playing without a glove, and leading the charge into Death Valley for his alma mater Clemson.

Hello world. Welcome to another week of golf subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltzley's what a week it was at the BMW championship, arguably the most exciting PGA tour event of the year with Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeShambo going to a six-hole playoff where Patrick Cantley kind of stole one from Bryson DeShambo. Dude, that was fun. I was looking on Twitter. I was watching this thing. People that aren't even big golfers were tweeting about this thing. I feel like the whole world was locked into this thing. And rightfully so, I mean, going back to even regulation, 17th whole. of regulation I thought well this is Bryson's can't lay dirt nap water ball it's over sure enough it comes in on 18 makes a bomb to tie it get into a playoff and then during the playoff I mean there was two or three times I thought Bryson had it won there was one time I thought can't lay had it one when Bryson drove it into the water on 18 there I mean it was just back and forth you never knew what was gonna happen it was just crazy shit over and over and yeah like you said I think I think can't lay stole

one there Bryson had a lot of looks and hit a lot of good puts actually to win that thing but couldn't get it done and I mean can't lay just stayed alive but damn i was one of those i was like damn what time does it get dark i don't want this to keep it going we've had a ton of playoffs lately but this one i was like yeah let's keep this thing rolling well i was a little banged up from the night before so i was actually hoping for it to end because that was my nap time between before the tyron woodley and jake paul fight well it just kept going so i just had get some caffeine in me and keep on rolling but it was so exciting to watch i mean Patrick cantley's putter was the only thing hotter than the arizona summers right now that he could not miss hooping it from everywhere

i mean he still he hit some great shots but he was making 20 footers he was he was made seven putts over 20 feet for the week. It was a joke. I mean, it was just like, it was like video game stuff. I mean, you just line him up and hit it. I mean, he's, he, since they started tracking strokes gained putting in 2004, best, most strokes gained ever in the history of the PJ tour since then he gained almost 15 shots on the field. Five hundred and thirty seven feet of putts. That's a joke. And like, I mean, when Bryson is driving it the way that he did this past week, just hitting bombs after bombs right up the middle. Like, you got to do something weird to beat him because he's going to be flicking wedges in every single hole. I mean,

look at number one. Every guy out there is pulling out. an iron or a wood of some sort just getting a sandwich lob wedge whatever you like into that hole and he's just sending driver up there and hitting a green side bunker flicking it up there and make him bird i mean it's just he's tough to be you got to do something weird to beat him when he's driving like i've i've talked to a lot of very high-ranked pGA tour players and i mean they'll tell you if he's on hitting it straight you can't beat him and like you said you have to do something special like make over 500 foot of butts that'll do it to get it done but i mean still bryson goes out there shoots 27 under you know lowest score ever to not win a tour event they just

just absolutely abused Caves Valley. And once again, shows that it doesn't matter how long you make these places. If they're soft and the fairways are decent where they can hit decently wide where they can hit driver, they're going to torch it. Soft fairways, soft greens, ball in hand on Thursday, Friday, you're going to get some low scores. I don't care if you make it 8,000 yards, whatever. It doesn't matter. I mean, shit, Bryson's hitting wedge from 186 on 17 in the, you know, over and over in the

playoff and landing it behind the holes. Like, how far you got to make the holes? Like, that's not going to do it. And like Caves Valley, not that easy of a golf course. They made it look way. I've played it. And I damn sure didn't think it was that easy. I mean, 27, you shoot in 20 and you're just not even sniffing.

You're not even laughed. I mean, two guys kind of ran away from everybody else. But there's nothing you can do if you give these guys all those type of conditions. It's going to be a, I mean, it's just going to be Scooby Gear type stuff. And that's what they got this week. But they made it look a lot easier than it. No one in the entire field wasn't under par. 69 players, all 69 under par.

Not one guy had a bad. By the way, they're playing all four days, too. There's no cut. So it's only the guys that were in the top. She'll pack it in. Just pack in. He's over. No.

Four over. Who cares? I'm done. I'll get out of here. Nope, not this week. Every single dude under par. I mean, the golf is just, it's a joke. How good it is.

There was a lot more on the line than just the title at the BMW championship because with those guys as well as they've played this season, Patrick Cannelly now becoming the first three-time winner on the PGA tour. But the winner of that playoff got the number one seed going into Eastlake, which gets a two-shot advantage. The loser gets the number three seed, which is going to be Bryson de Shambo. He starts now three shots back, going for. $15 million. I'd like to have that little two-shot cushion. Yeah, it was a huge for a number of reasons. One, the huge payday that you get just for being the winner of the golf tournament. And then, like you said,

now you're the, you're the pole position. You know, you're the first guy out there. You get the big lead instead of starting three back. And I mean, Can't Lay, I mean, what he did on the green, I don't know, he says he's found his putter. You know, he's been tinkering and changing things. He changed his grip leading up to this week. He made it one degree open because he said he felt shut with everything. And obviously that worked. But like to replicate that again for another week. I mean, that was a special, special week on the putting green. So, um, yeah, but you got, he's an incredible putter period, but that was like beyond. Yeah, but I'm interested to hear what you think about the format because, you know, there's been a lot of tweaking of it over the years.

It's hard to get it exactly right. But, but here you are, 30 of the best players in the world, and you're starting with a two-shot lead. You like it? Hate it? I don't know if I like it or hate it. I like the fact that they've been willing to change over the years. They've, they've tweaked it. And it's tough when you're starting everybody at the same. And it's like, all right, well, if Jim If you're it makes this button, this guy misses, then they flip fly. There's so much math and changing going on that as the average viewer, like, dude, like, I can't keep up with this. Like, you know what I mean?

It's easier when, hey, whoever wins the trophy is the FedEx Cup champion, and this is the way that they've done it right now. So I like that they're willing to tweak the formula, but it is tough when you're looking at the leaderboard day one. If some guy that starts, you know, five back plus goes out and has a bad front nine, like, well, you're done, you know? Like, half the guys can't even win the term that they're so far back. My interesting thing would be like, say Tony Fiena, he wins the Northern Trust, the first one.

What if he would have won last week? So he wins both of them, just absolutely dominates, and he only gets the same. He gets the same. There's got to be something in there for that. But either way, I like that coming down the last toll or whatever it is, we know where we stand. It's not like, okay, if a guy that's in 12th misses this putt,

then so-and-so wins the FedEx Cup. I like it. We got one trophy. There's two trophies on the line, but we got one, we're going to know exactly when that last putt hits who won the FedEx Cup. Yeah, 100%. It makes it way easy for everyone watching.

Whoever's on the top of the leaderboard wins. That's what we're used to see. And the thing I don't like. about it is that like last or last year zander shaflake shot the lowest four rounds that he's like but he didn't win the golf tournament because he started too far behind that that doesn't count as a win you know the winner wins you could start with a some guy could start eight back or whatever it is and end up losing by one and the guy that wins maybe had the head start and that counts as a win on his resume where it doesn't for you i don't like the like the official the official the official

the official the official the official it's not an official it's not an official little weird it's not official no the money's official the money is the money is super official but it's not an official win i believe they do it like zander shawflake that counted for world ranking points as a win it should yeah it's like i mean we're adding up scores here guys i don't care where i start the guy who shoots the lowest for four days count as a win and but the 15 million 100% official yeah last place 390 000 so it's nice to get in there patrick reed sat it out you know he's recovering from being sick with the double pneumonia he snuck in there the 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 7th he snuck in there the 3rd 30th spot, which, hey, 390,000 for sitting at home, not too bad. Hopefully he's healthy

and we'll be able to tee it up this week. But a couple guys had a chance coming down the stretch. Alex Noren K. H. Lee both make bogey on their last hole. The Seagull, Charlie Hoffman was right there. He finished 32nd. I was kind of root for him to finish 31st. I'll be honest. Right there. Just a short short bit. Pulling for you, bud. But it's crazy. Like, he finished 32nd and you go back, and I believe he triple bogeed the 72nd hole to Northern Trust. Like, it'd be interesting to go back. Oh, yeah. What if he made part?

Would that have been enough to get in 30? Because you know he might be kicking himself a little bit for that one. Yeah. Triple on the 72nd. That's going to cost you some points there. But you mentioned Patrick Reed. I think he's the big question mark right now. A, will he play this week at Eastlake?

I haven't heard any news on that yet. But not only that, like, what's this do for him for the Ryder Cup? Like, I got to think if you're sitting out these two and then you don't got anything else before the Ryder Cup, it's going to be hard when you're a bubble guy to pull the trigger on that. Like, how you feel in? Are you, you know, have you been able to practice doing whatever? So I don't know. I mean, he's Captain America.

That's the nickname everyone's giving him. He wants to be there more than anything. But that's a tricky spot for a guy that, I mean, in all, you know, I think if he had played and just stayed healthy the last two weeks, he'd be on that team, regardless of what he shot. And with Patrick Cantley's win, he moved to number six. So he got that last guaranteed spot. This time next week, we will know Steve Stricker's six captain's picks. I can't wait to see who it is.

Like I said, a lot depends on Patrick Reed's health. If he doesn't play this week, I don't think he's on a team. I lean that way, too. I just don't think you can. Like there's going to be somebody that plays well this week that's on the bubble and they're going to put a good showing up at East Lake. Meanwhile, Patrick hasn't played too. I mean, it's unfortunate. It's kind of out of his control.

But at the end of the day, it's like you got to go with it. And I think more interesting almost than who makes the team where Stricker makes his picks, although that's very interesting. All right, who are we going to pair all these guys with? Because there was a great tweet sent out today by Jamie Weir, I believe, of Sky Sports going through. All right. So let me get this straight. Brooks hates Bryson. Bryson hates Brooks.

Can't Lay and Bryson don't like each other. DJ and Brooks hate each other. All right, am I getting all, it's like all the dynamics of the, like, team chemistry in the room there. And I was like, it's actually a pretty valid point. Patrick Reed's healthy. He hates everyone and everyone hates him. Everyone hates him. Yeah.

So it's, yeah. What do you think about this idea? Let's just say Patrick Reed plays this week and he gets on the Ryder Cup team just for the sake argument. All right, he's not the most popular dude in the locker room amongst his peers. Bryson, got a few guys that he doesn't see eye to eye with. Put those two together and just be like team, team enemy. You know what I mean? Team bad guy.

Put them both out there. and just let them revel in that. That would also be a good, if those guys went out there and they did that, and they won multiple points, let's say, in the four ball, whatever, as a team and didn't lose or something like that. I mean, I think so many,

they'd get so many more fans, maybe guys that don't like them now, would turn the corner on them because they helped Team USA potentially win the Ryder Cup. I would love to see the two together. Yeah, and there's a lot of talk, you know, maybe putting Phil on the team

so he can be paired with Bryson. Listen, you can put anyone probably but Brooks with Bryson, and I think things are going to be fine. You're telling me Dustin Johnson would be like, no, bra, I can't play with him. No one is going to not go to Strick and Bank. No, dude. I can't play. I mean, you're going to do whatever they ask you to do.

We know Zander and Cantlay are going to play together. Correct. Justin and Jordan are going to play together. Facts. It used to be Brooks and DJ. I don't know how that situation stayed right now. I feel like they'll probably be splitzies. Yeah.

Then you got some neutrals. You got your Harris English. You got your Webb Simpson who had, you know, he took Patrick Reed down in Australia. He takes, he always takes the odd way. He's taking Bubba in the past. He's taking Patrick Reed. But yeah, I just feel like, listen, for the most part, if you told a guy, hey, you're going to go out with Bryson, they'd be, okay, fine, let's go do this. Yeah, dude, especially, Colin Warcow couldn't handle Bryson?

Exactly. And especially in, like, the best ball format, it's like, dude, hey, you go play, you're good at golf, I'm good at golf, you go, you go play how you play, I'll go play how I play. We don't got to be best buddies at the end of day. Just go make some tweets and let's go. It's not like you're getting married to the guy. It's freaking 18 holes. Suck it up and let's go. I'm pretty sure on, like, you know, an NFL football team, there's guys that don't like each other.

100% everywhere. It's like, you know, figure it out. It's not that big of a thing. So anyways, I think the pairings is where the real interesting stuff's going to come together. There'll be a few of those staple teams like you mentioned. Then after that, it's like, all right, let's see how they go. But I hope Phil is in the locker room just as a vice captain, whatever. If you can just get him on property, get that energy in the room, I mean, every guy we've spoken to on here

about the Rider Cup things, what's your most memorable moment? Who's your favorite guy? It's like, oh, Phil, Phil took me under his wing over here at Medina or whatever. I think he's just the best guy. But we've lost four or the last five. Obviously, he's the curse. Maybe we don't need him up there. But no, Phil should be involved, no doubt about it.

I just, I think he should be in the locker room and a vice captain. Because he's going to be a captain one day. Yeah. And we're going to be up at Whistling Strait. Three sheeps. You ever heard of it? Trace, shape us, as they say south of the border. We will be there getting amongst it.

Hope y'all can join us. But our guest this week, Slees, a member of a couple teams, President's Cup teams, Lucas Glover, ball striking Jesse, as they say. Ball striking Jesse. I love that phrase. absolutely stripe his golf ball. Recently won the John Deere after a seven-year hiatus from the victories from the winter circle.

What a great interview he was out at our place, Windyke Country Club there in Memphis. Yes, shout out Windyke. They were a fantastic host for the week. And yeah, that win of the John Deere, a popular one amongst all the tour players. But also cool how he got it done with the putter, which hasn't been his best friend for a long time. Made some clutch puffs coming down the stretch. We might know why.

We may talk about how that all started off. But, dude, he's a guy that I didn't know at all. I've never spoken to Lucas Glover, not friends to him anything. So I was genuinely curious to talk to him. I find him extremely interesting. Soft-spoken guy, walks off carry a big stick type of guy. But, like, I think maybe one of the more cerebral intellectual guys we've talked about. Big reader, really fun to talk to.

I think he could go off on a range of topics. But it was cool for me just because I didn't know him. On things we'd have no idea about. Zero. We'd just sit there and nod and like, yep, agree. Clemson Tiger, one of the best Clemson Tiger golfers ever, got to lead the football team. On to the field there at Dead Valley, which we definitely get into, because that's still terrifying to me. I don't understand it.

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He is a four-time tour winner. PJ Tour vet since 2004. does it all most impressively with no glove. Lucas Glover, what's happening? Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks, Drew. Thanks for being here. You got it.

We'll get into a ton. I got to talk about the no glove thing for a while. I always wanted to be a no glove guy. Couldn't even make contact with it. Is this from day one when you picked up golf just no glove? Never ever wore one. Years ago, Dick Harmon in Houston, he'd cut the fingers out for me, hitting a bunch of balls when I was a kid.

He said, well, you got to try it. Your hands are going to hurt and bleed. or whatever. I said, well, I can't really feel the club. He goes, well, if that's the case, let's not do that when it matters. So we kind of stayed away from it. Just never got into it. I'm a solid 10-handicap with a glove. Really? That is incredible.

Can't hit a shot. I don't know how your contracts are, but I know my contracts were ball, shoe, and glove. Yeah. I've always said they should give me a little more up front since I don't waste any money on gloves, but I hadn't got any traction on that. What's the, all right, so your grips, any special, you got to do anything to keep those things tacky? My

Coup McCatty wipes them down every morning. tournament days, but they're, I've always used full cord just, just in case. Yeah, yeah, just in case. Yeah, are they, let me see those things. They're a little callousy. Oh, yeah, you got some tread on those bad boys. Yeah, a lot of balls. I'm glad you brought up Coop because one of my favorites.

Yeah, he's the best. He is the character. Tell me about the first time you met Coop and, I mean, I think y'all have one of the longest standing relationships out there. I think we, uh, I think we're third behind Jim and Fluff. Um, they were 2000-ish and then James Edmondson and Ryan Palmer, they got together same year we did, but earlier in the year, like 2003. We met on what was then the nationwide tour, now the Corn Fairy Tour. We were in the

same group, the same time in Omaha, and I was like, man, I kind of like the way that guy works with his guy, and we kind of hit it off chatting this and that. A few weeks go by, both of us missed the cut, his guy, and me and my guy, and oddly enough, ended up at the same place shooting pool, having a few beers on a Friday evening and we just kind of hit it off and said I got next week off he goes yeah me too I fired my guy I said that's weird me too let's get together and two weeks later uh Eugene Oregon was our first event and then three weeks total we won in Arizona and got our card what did you like about when he's in the same group with you and like I like how this guy operates he's just straightforward and he was level and the same and you could tell in between shots he would

he'd cut up a little bit but you know there's 30 seconds every shot that matters for a fast player, thankfully, but, uh, um, pun intended. But, um, and outside of that, he doesn't take himself too serious. He doesn't take me too serious. At the time, he didn't take his guy too serious. And he was, he was just fun to be around and just a good, just a good dude. I was talking to a buddy about him today that's known him for 14, 15 years. And that's what he said. He was just, he just, you could probably have ended up with a number of good caddies, but probably not as good a dude. He's just a dude. Because you're around them. I mean, it's like a marriage. You're around him more than anybody. I mean, you're around him.

You got to like the guy. Yeah, for the 30 weeks, 25 to 30 weeks, I play a year. I'm with him more than I'm with my family. There's no question. And I don't think we could have done 18 years if we didn't just really get along. Yeah, without question. Let's go back a little bit to the beginning because you're a well put together fella. So I actually have no idea about this, and I've known you for a long time.

Did you play other sports? Were you an athlete growing up? Yeah, played everything through about eighth grade and then kept, kept the old, I don't know how it is throughout the rest of the country, but those that weren't good enough to play high school basketball always played for their church. And when I grew up, all my buddies played for the same church. We had church league basketball one practice a week, and then Saturdays, and it was eight or ten of us that were all boys in high school. I did that through high school, but it came down to baseball or golf, and I was a catcher. My grandfather

was a catcher, so I kind of had some tricks of the trade from him. And when I moved up a division, and the big boys could throw curve balls, lost a couple between the wickets, and got in the car after practice. And my grandfather said, well, what happened there? I said, I just got under my glove and I want to go to the driving range tomorrow. So that was the end of baseball

and then just kept up to fun basketball and concentrated on golf. And I liked it the most. And I was more advanced than the other sports, even though I enjoyed them. But football wasn't any good. but that was the center somehow. Yeah.

Small dudes. I was short and a little rounder then. Nothing wrong with that. I know. Nothing wrong with that. I was careful how I voiced that, Colt. Yeah, choose your words. And didn't like that as much.

And the running thing never, after practice, I never did it. So golf, you don't have to run unless you're running back to a T, hitting one from out of bounds. What was your basketball game? Are you like all the other golfers that play just, I like to spot up and shoot? And not played D? I was, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that's all we're good at because otherwise you have to run and not doing that. So I've already ruled that out.

Can't score on defense. No, no, no, no. I don't do that. I was tallest on the team and played point guard, believe it or not, just for whatever reason I could dribble. And I like to rebound, but I wasn't very good. It was just fun, something to do. Yeah, just shoot. One thing you're very good at is compressing a golf ball.

Well, thank you. But tell us about this golf swing. Was this something just God-give? natural talent or was it a working progress obviously worked over time but yeah yeah um both both hand out hand out coordination and bat on ball club on ball you know paddle sports I could always flush it you know give enough time I could hit it solid if there was a ball involved and um used to have believe it or not when I was a kid a really really long back swing and kind of almost loose at the top and then kind of rained that in with some of the club pros around

Greenville, South Carolina where I grew up. And then my grandfather took me to see Dick Harmon when I was 12 and that's kind of where it kind of, I think that's when I realized I could do this if I put my mind to it. And he kind of walked me down the right path. And the best thing about Dick and the other Harmon's is they're not going to change it too much. They're going to take what you got and work with it. And that's kind of what he did. We got to it a little shorter. And then just, you know, he wasn't afraid to let me draw it, which was good. And over time, that's lessened, but still like to work it right to left.

But solidity, luckily, has not been an issue. Over curving it sometimes is an issue. But yeah, it's both. To answer your question, that was a very long-winded way of saying both. But blessed with good hand-eye and able to put the bat on the ball, club on the ball. And then after that, it was some work. I'm very jealous. What do you have to work on now?

Because it looks like pretty effortless, your ball striking. It's set up for me. It's set up. And I've got two surgically repaired knees. And I've found as I've gone around those surgeries and looked at that, it's when I got into some bad habits for me, the protecting it are coming out of the rehab. So staying in my posture, set up first and then staying in my posture

through my golf swing is paramount. to maintain the hit, the shaft lean, and the shape I want. If I get out of my posture, I don't have that real solid hit with the shaft lean, and I start missing it both ways, which for me is detrimental. I can't aim left for the right miss if I don't know if it's going over there. I think that's one thing the listeners at home could really learn a lot from is one of the best players in the world. When things get off, you immediately still go look at the setup. You don't worry about the swim.

Everybody else panics about their golf swing. Like, let's just start at the beginning. Yep. It's always on the ground or from the ground at our level when it gets off. Everything, these club positions, club face, all of that, 95% of the time start from bad fundamentals. Our swings aren't going to change that much at this level, whether you're a 23-year-old phenom or a 45-year-old guy that's been out here for 20 years. It's just not going to change that much to where it has to be a path overhaul or something because all that can be fixed. on the ground. You work with Dick Harmon, like you said, like all the Harmon, they're not going

to change. They're not going to revamp the whole thing, which I think is one of the brilliance of that family. I got to work with Billy, who's a hand of a guy. One of the best characters in the world, by the way. But have you ever been like a, hey, video me, put it on the screen, let's draw some lines, or is it just all you let the ball tell you? Yeah, yeah. Well, the ball unlaw, as we all know, I've never been a big track man guy unless this club test and ball test and something like that. I still don't understand spin axis and smash factor. I really, I really lot there yeah yes it's a lot and too much for me because I didn't grow up with it I understand a 25 year old that grew up with it yeah that's their that's their deal

that's their that's their thing for me it's just it's overload but um yeah I just I haven't been able to make that adjustment to where it matters that much I think they're brilliant for distance control brilliant for club testing brilliant for all that but putting lines on the screen if I'm off yeah for sure see where feeder pointing see where address is and then what that does to the swing or what that does when it gets back to where it's supposed to be. Not going to overdo it with that. I always kind of say Mondays are for video and you know Tuesdays are for for for work and Wednesdays are for dialing it in and after that I don't want to see it. Tuesdays are for gambling. Well yeah I know but Tuesdays are for drinking.

You're like well it's cold you're not out anymore. I don't have anybody to play with. We used to have some good two days. Yeah we did but growing up was there did you try to model your swing or Were you a fan of anybody's swing growing up that you tried to really kind of put into your golf swing? Not really. I was fortunate to have a lot of really, really good players around. Jay Hosses lives in my hometown. I got to see Jay hit a lot of balls, and I kind of, to be honest, kind of modeled myself after how he acted more than how he swung the golf club. He's just a consummate professional.

And as far as mirroring somebody's golf swing, it was more of a, um, I'm going to have to do this my way because mine doesn't look like a lot of people's. You know, that kind of short and real shallow it out at the top. And it's kind of funny now a lot of guys are trying to do that. And I'm very lucky it does it naturally. I get to the top and the hands just drop a little bit. Don't have to think about it. It's nice.

But to say there was one person or a type of swing I wanted, I didn't. And I'm very thankful that I was able to kind of do it my way as a hard way because there's so many people that have hit a lot of golf balls better than me. me in the last 120 years. But my way is, you know, golf's such a personal individual sport and thing that if you try to get into the mirror game, I think it can be, I think it can hurt you. Positions or a look or a feel is one thing. Like when I'm trying to hit a, when I'm trying to hit a certain shot, actually, I'm trying

to hit a low short iron, I think of Justin Leonard's finish, just low and around kind of, and I'm trying to hit a high driver. with some distance. I'll think a tiger's big high finish where it's almost straight vertical just to get it in the air because I'm a low ball hitter. Those little things I think, you know, YouTube can help you it. But I don't know if you're trying to mirror it, I think you can get out of what you do as a player or what, you know, like you said, for your listeners or your viewers, what's good for them or what makes them them. And that's the beauty of golf is there's so many different ways to do it. And you got Jim Furek swinging it one way and

Tiger Woods of 2000 is borderline perfect. And They both made a lot of birdies and a lot of money. No doubt about it. A lot of ways to do it. Before we get to your pro career, I want to ask you about one little amateur event, which was the Walker Cup in 2001 at Ocean Forest, where your team was loaded. Loaded. And y'all got slapped around a little bit. Smoked.

Flat smoked. And a couple weeks ago with the Open Championship, I did a little driving range bit with Nick Doherty, who was on that team. And he reminded me not quite as eloquently as you, and you were even direct right then. But no, we did. We got spanked. We got slapped around pretty good. I remember playing Luke Donald and Nick, Nick Cassini, and I played them in a four ball, and then I played Luke in the singles.

I think I was three under through four and two down to Luke. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think he was funny. That seems fun, guys. Tighten it up, Lucas. Yeah, I know. Sorry, guys. I think he, yeah, I think three birdies and an eagle or four birdies in an eagle for him.

And I'm just going, okay. He's going to do all right to the next level. Yeah. What's the statute of limitations on the bragging rights of stuff? Like going back to the Walker Cup. The dudes are still on that team, like bring that up? Yeah, I think similar to. Yeah.

I think similar to, you know, 1997 rider. Don't think Aisinger doesn't remind Faldo anytime he can about that singles at the Belfer. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I think that's lifelong bragging rights. A team event like that or a singles match or a real hotly contested, you know, whatever it may be. I think you take that with you as long as you want. Yeah, bragging rights are indefinite. Oh, for sure.

Ever ever. Infinite. Playing for pride is more fun than $100 bucks sometimes. So correct. So sometimes. Hundreds nice. I like the action.

100 ain't bad. But, you know, 2004 was your rookie year on tour. Finished 134th on the money list. Got your card back. And then you win an unbelievable fashion in Disney in 2005. We got to talk about this. That was the sickest. I actually looked this up this morning to rewatch it.

I mean, 35-yard bunker shot, which ended up you hold to win the golf term. Right. Where I think most people would be like, dear God, just get this up and down. somehow to playoff. Well, that's what I was thinking. Well, I was so far ahead of the guys in the last group. I think I was four or five groups ahead. And that was, I knew, similar to a couple weeks back,

and I'm sure we'll get there. But I had, I just, I wanted, I had a number in mind that I wanted to get there and press, press, press, press to get there. And kind of a squirly drive off 18, of course, bad second shot. And then I'm in this bunker. I'm like, back pin, got another bunker to go over. All right, let's, you know, make good contact first. Give herself eight, 10 feet, see what happens at the end.

And it goes in. You know, that was just, it was just one of those. But, yeah, exactly, exactly what you said. Get it up and down, see what happens. And then it went in. That was one of the nastiest holeouts to win that, like, it doesn't, you know, there's been some bunker shots to hold out to win, Jordan Spee's, you know, that one's, like, given the level of difficulty is disgusting. When Pernice got in, because you beat Tom Pernice, I believe, in that turn, he didn't know clearly, like what you had done to get there. When he saw it, when he saw it, did he say anything? You, like, are you freaking kidding me? I didn't see him until the next week. I was on the range, because I was on the range,

because I was fully expecting a playoff. I was on the range. I think he did what he did, sign his card, and then obviously they take you away. And I saw him the next week. I want to say it was in Tampa, and he just winked and laughed and just shook his head at me. But, yeah, well, yeah, I think that was the veteran way of saying that to a 24,

five-year-old, whatever I was then. That's, I mean, what a way to get your first win. But, you know, you have four PJ Tour wins now, including the 2009 U.S. Open, which is where I think the world really found out about Lucas Clever. First off, you go through sectional qualifying, which sucks, 36 holes in a day. It's not really enjoyable. No.

And then you're rewarded by getting to go play Beth Page Black for four days. Yes. Take us through that week because, I mean, I don't hit it anywhere, so that's my biggest nightmare on the planet is that golf course? Sure. But you were the guy who hoisted the trophy at the end of the week. Yeah, no, it was the way this crazy, silly game works, as you guys know, I missed the cut at Memorial. And I'm playing awful. And I got this Monday qualifier, and I got to find something.

practice at Memorial, played a little bit at the lakes in Brookwood, Saturday, Sunday, and kind of found something at Memorial on the range at Mearfield, and took it with me that Monday and hit it nice, hooped everything the first day, 63 at the lakes, and then just hung on at Brookwood, got home practicing with my grandfather, and before events like that, he'd say, who cares about the driving range? Let's go on the golf course, just hit a bunch of shots. So we did it, and we were driving back from practice. and he said I counted, we did two or three drives off every T. He said, I counted at least

12 drives that we could have taken two to three steps to pick up. He said, I'd keep doing what you're doing. I said, all right, well, I'll take that with it. So I took that with me the next week, and it was a simple little takeaway move, just kind of let the toe swing open. I remember like it was yesterday, just let the toe swing open and then just go. And all of a sudden they started hitting it nice again. So I get up there and it's crazy. crazy, nasty, rain out, basically rained out practice rounds Wednesday. I didn't hit a shot Thursday. Nothing on the driving range, nothing.

I mean, I don't know that guys, I think there were a few guys that finished five or six holes Thursday. Friday comes around, I think I played five holes. So it was just a weird, odd week. And then for the rest of the week, it was play till dark and pizza burger on the way home, bed up at five and go do it all over again. And it compacted it and just, just mushed it all together. There wasn't much time to think about it.

There wasn't much time to get nervous. I mean, we finished Monday. My first shot Monday was a pitching wedge out of the second fairway. I mean, how often does that? You just doesn't happen that much. But the week itself was as crazy and odd as it was. I was just, I was hitting my numbers.

I was hitting it in the fairway. They got one three putt for the week. On those greens and those conditions, wet the poana. Po Anna. Those wonderful New York crowds. Well, yeah. They were, luckily, I'd think somebody, on my benefits, snuck in there. I was a Yankees fan, so they were behind me. But a little bit. But it was obviously a great week and a great ball striking week. And putting inside 10 feet was nails. And I was just executing coming down the stretch. And that's what you take from those things. The most

gratifying thing is, all right, this is the highest pressure a golfer can be under. And to hit the shots you see and your speed's good, your hands feel good and you just, man, that was... Does it feel any different coming down the stretch there compared to John Deere a few weeks ago, Disney when you... No, no, the focus and the... The focus and the mind is so into it that, yeah, there's nerves, but the focus is so there all you're thinking about. I got 162. I got to hit this 162 into this left.

after right wind and you just go. If you start thinking about it, I think, you know, like I've said after the deer, that's when you kind of, I'll just make par here, I'm gonna be all right. Some people can operate like that. I gotta hit it, I gotta be aggressive. This is, this is all I'm doing and all I'm trying to do is make birdies.

And this is kind of how it was that week, deer, Disney, Wells Fargo, whatever, you're just there, 165, 170, eight iron, seven, and what's the right club, could go. And so to say I was more nervous here versus there, The answer is no. It's all the same. It's just the, you're just that moment in that zone athletes like to talk about. And it's true. You just get into that mindset. In hindsight, do you think

the weather being with the weird week you said it was like there wasn't much time to think? Was it easier for you maybe actually that it was so jammed up like that, even though it was still a longer week. It was five days instead of four? Well, first major in contention and not having to sleep on being tied with Ricky or one ahead or one behind or whatever it would have been had we stopped on after 54 holes. I don't remember how we stood. We played 55 and a half holes and then got up Monday, but to not have to sleep on it with that 225 East Coast tea time, yeah, probably was an advantage as a 29-year-old never haven't been there before. You know, I'm not, I'm not going to say it didn't help, but, you know, I don't know one way or the other, but it couldn't have

hurt. Yeah, that too, that early afternoon tea time for a guy trying to, it got to be the worst. stretch, worse waiting in golf. You know, you're not going to sleep good. You know, you're going to be up at 5.30 and you just, what do you do all that? Got to kill eight hours. Yeah, I had a 3.54 at the open this year and, I mean, just. Happy hour by the time you'd tee off. That sucks.

Right. I played so bad. I probably should have started with that. But, you know, you win a major championship. You're a very laid-back guy. Did life change it all for you after you won a major? It did. It did.

I always joke about this, but it was true. All of a sudden, a lot of people asked me what I thought about things. So it's not the same thing. Same thing I thought two weeks ago. You know, I still, you know, but it's kind of tongue in cheek, but kind of not. You know, my views and my opinions and all that didn't change, but all of a sudden people cared more. Manager called and said, now you actually have to get a phone that works. Good advice.

Yeah. So I'm going to have to be able to get a hold of you via email, phone call, whatever. So that was my first, like, smartphone. I was like, this awful. I was still on the flip, you know, that just text with, you know, takes. seven minutes to push okay. But yeah, it got busy. I got in some awesome tournaments, turned down some awesome tournaments just to rest because I played, I think I played the four in a row after that. You played incredible, too. I was on a run. I didn't want to stop and I actually had to stop.

I got shin splints at Turnberry that year and they said, you're done for a while. All right, dang, I'm playing nice. But yeah, it just changed in that regard. I got in bigger tournaments and got to play a bunch of really, really great golf courses with a bunch of guys. I hadn't been playing with until that happened. Did you like the spotlight? Because you're a pretty, you know, chill, dude. Like, you're not out there making a bunch of noise and stuff. When you go from just, all right, regular tour player to boom, U.S. Open champion,

there's a big light that comes on. Did you like that or is that cumbersome? I didn't love it. But I feel like I handled it well. I didn't change it all. I wasn't going to hang out with different people, act different, any of that stuff. But like I said, I just, I got better T-Times with higher profile players and got in some really all.

some events for five years in a row. Whether that that changed, my schedule changed, I can honestly say as a person or my mindset or any of that didn't change. Now, are there expectations that go along with it? Yes, that's the mental side of it. There was some expectations to be tempered. But showed up at the PGA and finished top five. And that was kind of a, that was kind of a, all right, I can do this more and more. Like a validation. Yeah, yeah. Like US Open was a springboard and then all right get to that PGA and Yie Yang obviously won. Tiger played great and right there at the end but it you know I was kind of there for a while hanging around and and I don't think I had a great Sunday I don't remember exactly but that was a valid yeah exactly

validation of all right I can do this and hadn't been back there and been in that position again in a major but that little three month span I was playing nice yeah that was nice golf Nice for the bank account too. Yeah, Grand Slam. Are you surprised at all you didn't win an Emmy for that Nike commercial? This is a three-footer pal? Yeah. Yeah, well.

That was incredible. Yeah, that was a great, great ad. Their writers were fantastic, but they jinxed me because I've had the yips since I've made that damn thing. We're not talking about that. Don't use that. Edit that, cut that. I don't have that. That's good.

That's great. How many times? How many texts do you take you for that commercial? Oh, man. That part, not many. I remember, I remember the, uh, I remember the, oven and Fort Worth there with Nike on the short game area. And yeah, we nailed it in a couple. It wasn't too bad.

Ever since then. It was maybe two years after that. No, I'm just kidding. But, you got to leave that in. That's good stuff. That's true. Yeah. We love it. I want to talk about it. So you went in 2009 and then went in 2011 again. 2015, you don't have the best year. You find yourself going back to finals, which I mean, you're major champion not that long ago. You won again. In the meantime, now you're back there. You got it back easily. You know, nothing's easy, but you got it back with room to spare. What's that like going from, you know, six years ago, man, I'm freaking U.S. Open champion.

Now I'm back here with these guys I've never heard of. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I'd heard of a bunch of them because this game's hard. Yeah, it's hard. But, and I said this after the deer a couple weeks ago, perspective comes with struggle. And I'd struggled for a couple of years. And the perspective that I learned was this game's hard. It's hard.

It's still a round ball and a flat object, and it's a fine-tuned motor skill sport. And it's hard. And those struggles lent me that perspective. And I still hold on to it, you know, but that's maturity too, I guess. But struggling, you know, I struggle to eat at the open after winning the deer. And it's just, it's a hard game. And it's a hard game to play well consistently for a really, really long time without some down years, without some lean years. To answer your question in 2015, it was more of, I have an opportunity to get my job back.

and that's how I went into the Corn Ferry Finals was I have an opportunity to get my full card back. I think I was, I don't know if I was in the 150 or not, but I had an opportunity to go get my job back. And I was playing well enough to where if I didn't just make a complete, you know what on myself, I was probably going to finish in that number. And I was able to do it, thankfully. And then I think I went back again in, I don't know, 17 or 18,

and that was the same mindset. It's hard. I'm struggling. It's hard, but I've got a chance. I've got an opportunity and I'm still good enough. I just got to put a couple weeks together or in that format one good week gets you through and one week I played solid the whole time or one year I played solid the whole time the other year. I think I had one really good finish and got it that way but it's just perspective. Yeah, it's just so much it's so easier said than done because I ran into a player at the airport on my way here who had his card for a number of years but he just recently his medical ran out. and he was on his way to Utah to play in the corn fairy event. And he's just like, man, this sucks. I got to go play in this event. Can't make any money out here and all this. And I'm like, that's the problem.

As you play out here for so long, then you have to go back. Yeah, yeah. And that attitude will get the best of you. Yeah, that attitude will get the best of you. And there's a bunch of hungry people with the right attitude that will beat your brains in. There's 22-year-old kids. They're like, I'm so happy to be here right now. I want that shot.

Right. Or a guy that's coming off a medical and barely got his status out there. There's so many different scenarios. And, like, you know, it's all about perspective. And if you don't give yourself the right chance mentally, it's even harder. In 2018, when you were back, I mean, you got out on tour in 2004. You already had a long career. I mean, that's a long career on the PJ tour.

If you hadn't gotten it back then, was there any hesitation you would have had going back to the cornfrey tour and playing there? I think, no. I don't think I would have. You would have done it, no question. Well, I don't know that I would have had to play a full year, you know, the whole schedule. I had to have a past champion out here and gotten fair share of exemptions. and whatnot, but no, I wouldn't have any problems playing as many as I needed to out there to, you know, support my family and do what I needed to do. And, you know, at this point, that's,

that's what it comes down to. You do what you've got to do to get better. You do what you've got to support the people you've got to support and yourself and still try to, you know, at the same time, you're playing for a trophy and not money. That's the hard, that's the hard, that's the hard mental breakthrough now is I've got a family. I've got to support them, but how do I keep money out of it, I'm still playing for trophies instead of, I'm just cashing the check, so that's good. You get that mindset, and you're down the road again. But, you know, over the last decade, there's been some up and downs. You know, you really started to turn it around this year, and then you get to John Deere, and you put it all together.

Sunday, I mean, I picked up your group with CBS, I believe, on the 13th hole, and you just put on a clinic coming in. You know, what was going through the mind trying to break that decade-long winless street? Get to 20 under. There you go. That was it. Simple. And you didn't do that. You didn't have to.

I know. Well, I wanted to. That's why I went forward on 18. But I had that number in my head. I looked at the board coming off nine. I made a great birdie on eight to kind of, enough of a birdie to take a look after nine and see where everybody was doing it. Nobody was really going crazy behind me. I said, all right, we got a 31 or two back here.

And I was just trying to keep pressing, keep pressing. And I knew it was close. I knew if a couple iron shots just got close. It's a couple of putts when it's something to get the ball rolling. Terrible line for a golf conversation. But anything could happen on that back nine. You've played there. You've been there.

Got a drivable hole. We've got par fives you can get at and some wedges and 16s of nine iron wedge par three. And it was just one of those situations where I was motivated to get to 20 under if it was possible. And I had a chance. And 10-year drought never entered my mind. I can honestly say that it did after. You know, wow, this was, that was a long time coming, a lot of hard work, a lot of struggles. And, but out there that day, I knew I was playing nice, and I knew I was hitting it good enough to make some birdies,

just make a couple of puts, make a couple of those mid-rangers, you know, hit it five feet every hole. You damn near did. No, I tried. Seems like you did. I tried. I was like 14, beautiful. I mean, the big one, though, was obviously 17, where you made the 12-footer that broke about a foot. That was a, that looked like you.

That dripped in like coal. What, on Friday morning before I booked my flight? No, yeah, 17 was, again, standing on 17T. All right, we're into, it's raining, it's chilly for there in July. I'm not getting there, so let's get it in the fairway. And, you know, good smart layup, try to get a good number. And it's a good pin to spin it back to. So I wanted that full, and, you know, the ball wasn't going anywhere.

I think I had like 109 and I hit my 52, which is like a 130 club. So just a different, a very different week there with conditions. But, yeah, I knew I was laying up and I just wanted to get a good number where I could spend it back to that hole. And even if it stayed left, there's no danger there. You're not going down to right or anything like that. Big break and put. But I was reading them nice. I read them good all week.

If I got it on my line, I made them. And they were just that perfect make speed and just get it going, get it on. line. That was one of those. You know you're not going to hit it too hard. So you might give it about half a ball more break and it just dripped in the front. In 18 at TPC Deer Run might be one of the best finishing holes on the PGA tour. Agreed. Agreed. I mean, you can't fake any shot on that hole. No. No, you can, yeah, you miss left. You're in that fairway bunker. Difficult shot because in the water's in play. You miss right. You got the tree. I went, I did three wood because I didn't want the bunker. And

I hit it down the right. Got a fortunate break out of the rough. I think. You got a very nice bounce. Yes. It did. Yeah. And then first cut, and I think I got a little water jumper. I think high won 80s. And 80s is a seven iron for me right now, and I think it just jumped a little. No plans to fly that whole high. I was trying to use the green to run it back to it.

But I was pleased with how aggressive I was, and I hit a nice shot. I think it just jumped a hair. It was really cool. I mean, this game is such a game inches. Yeah. Your ball was in the first cut by six, seven inches. If it's six inches to the left,

I mean, you're marking that cleaning it. Yeah. Dry ball, no problem at all. Right. Or if it's six, seven inches, to the right. Well, yeah. Luckily, I was far enough down. A little adrenaline on that three wood, I think. I didn't know if it would get it around the corner, but it did. Yeah, six, seven inches the other way, to your point, might have to think about laying it up and wedging it back

to that pin. But, yeah, game of inches, a game of good bounces, bad bounces, and it's golf, it's hard. With the, like, I mean, you've been winning tournament since you're in, you know, junior golf, college golf, all that stuff. But with like the 2018 going back to Corn Ferry final, and then, you know, the 10-year drought and all that, where does John Deere rank in terms of, like, most gratifying? Oh, it's way up there. It's way up there. It's way up there. Probably the most, because I'm 41. Yeah.

And, you know, now looking back on it, 10-year drought, going back to Corn Ferry a couple times, finals a couple times, and just going through the struggles, the golf struggles. I mean, that's all it is. It's just golf. You look at anybody's career on a graph, and every one of them does this for two years or 20. It's crazy. But, yeah, gratifying. definitely the most just because of the length of time had passed from my last win. And what was so gratifying about it didn't shy away from, you know, you could smell it.

Yeah. You kind of smell the blood in the water, whatever you want to phrase it. But I could smell it and it didn't freak me out. Was there ever a time during the years prior in between, I guess, the tenure gap where you doubted yourself like maybe I'm done winning. No. Maybe I won't. Yeah. It seems like you have like a great perspective on even when things aren't going great.

Always and two, again, perspective, you see numerous guys on tour that'll miss three or four cuts in a row win or finish 54th miscut, 53rd miss cut, miss cut, miss cut win. So always in the back of your mind, it's just something. Something clicks. Something clicks or you get closer to the putter on the putting green on Tuesday just to try it and you start hooping everything and boom, you have a big week. Just, yeah, that's the, again, the maturity, the growing, the perspectives from the struggle. As you know, it's just one week that can change it. Or it could be, you know, to be honest in Detroit, I wasn't having a nice week. I started trying some stuff.

And it clicked a little bit, and next thing you know, I changed the grip on my putter at the deer and start hooping everything. Well, it was awesome to watch. You know, I was happy to be there and follow that group. I know that was one of the most popular. I mean, it was very popular amongst your peers out there, which I think is one of the coolest things that can happen. When all your peers congratulate you, it has to mean a lot. Yeah, coolest thing about winning, and I've said this for years, is your peers congratulating you then or the next week. And on tour, it's usually the next week because everybody's got families to see or another tournaments to go to.

But I've got, you know, getting to the open and guys that, you know, I know well and don't know well, come up to you and shake your hand or patch you on the back or in COVID times, fist bump or whatever. Yeah, that's when it all sinks in. You're like, all right, these guys, you know, yeah, I beat these guys, but they understand that, you know, Nick, this week could be their week. I'm going to do the same thing for them. And it's the coolest thing about winning on tour. Did you hear from anyone after you won that one that you particularly, like, surprised to hear from? Like, oh, wow, that was nice that guy to reach out.

No, no really players other than guys I would see. But, yeah, I think I had 225 texts to return Monday at the open. That's tough on a flip phone. Yeah. Yeah, well, the answers would have been shorter back there. Smiley face. Yeah, exactly. Send.

Yeah. That's awesome. All right, let's get to the E9. Yeah. All right, we do this, Lucas. Nine fun questions to get to know just a little bit more about you. All right. All right.

We ask this to everybody. You can trade lives with someone for one day, dead or alive. Who's it going to be? Dead or alive trade with one person. Who, that's a good one. Ken Follett, an author, my favorite author. Oh, wow. That's Colts, too.

That's weird. That's a cold-same guy. What's your favorite book of his again? I forgot that one you always talk about. Yeah, and only to, so I can actually figure out what goes in his mind, goes on in his mind to figure out how he writes these books. Okay, give me. Wow, that's the most intellectual answer we've ever had by a mile. Give me Kevin Follett's your favorite book.

Ken Follett. Ken, see how he knows of name. Give me Dr. Seuss. What do you like? Pillars of the Earth is Ken Follett's most famous book. Is there an audience? A video book of that for maybe the slower readers in the group? Probably.

Probably. I got another reading question for you coming up here, but I'm glad you mentioned that. That is by far and away the most intellectual answer. He blows me away every book he writes and I just, I'd like to know how he does it. I love that. All right. Next one. Confirm or deny.

You fell asleep face down, head on the table passed out at your PJ tour rookie orientation meeting. This is from... Confirm. Yeah. Confirm. That was real. Okay. I didn't know.

Are the source that gave it to me not the most reliable? He was probably right there with you. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. He mentioned names. I'm not going to do it. That's fair. Yeah.

We protect our sources here, too. There's a lot of famous sayings out there in the world. You know, if you don't use it, you lose it. No glove, no love. You agree with that? No glove, no love? Yeah, maybe. Maybe not.

I don't know. Just for you? It's like, I wanted to throw that in there on the broadcast, and I'm like, I'm too new at this. I'll probably get fired. Yeah. I hadn't really thought about it that much. I guess the gloves wrong hand.

You use no glove and you get lots of love out there on the golf course. Yeah. Yeah. There we go with that. No love. I never really subscribed that. All right. Next one.

Whose hair would you rather have for the next year? Trevor Lawrence or Cam Smith? Trevor Lawrence. You like that flow? I like it better than Cam's. Cam owns it though. He does. He's doing that thing.

That visor over at the Olympics? Oh, buddy. Well, when he let it out that his mom didn't like it, that gives it up for totally. He's a wide open target if mom doesn't like it. He's free. He's fair game. Yep.

Girlfriend doesn't like it, but it's working. We can stay on with Trevor Lawrence. Let's just imagine things are going to go normal for the next while, okay? Clemson Tiger quarterback, better NFL career, Deshawn Watson, or Trevor Lawrence? At the end of the day? At the end of it all? Trevor, not because he's better individually than Deshawn, but I think he's got better structure around him currently.

Okay. And Deshaun has had or will have. Okay. Fair enough. All right, here's my reading question. Okay. I read, you can tell me if this is true or false, that you read four books during your U.S. Open win in 2009.

True. True. Do you remember what they were? Do not. Okay. They were all airport books. I call them airport books. I was going to say four.

I mean. Yeah, the ones you can pick up and read. Cat in the high. Yeah, yeah. A few of those out, but read books. Four is getting it done. Yeah. Well, I traveled with two, and then I saw the forecast

and grab two more at the airport and they just bust through them. All right, nothing like crazy, mind-blowing that led to the wind or the winter. No, no 1,000 page can follow it. Are you still reading, like, every week when you're out here, I go back to the... Fair amount, not as much as I used to. A lot of FaceTime with the kids and when I'd usually be reading, and I've gotten kind of addicted to crosswords a little more than books now. But anything to pass the time.

Colt knows, I mean, you travel, you're alone a lot. Yeah. You've got to find something to do. You know, Netflix can, I think I might have finished Netflix during COVID, so we've got to move on to something. What's your genre of books? Like, do you have one particularly that you like? Murder mystery, spy stuff.

Daniel Silva is another favorite. He just had a new one come out. I read that one on vacation a couple weeks back. But mostly fiction, historical fiction, I like. I like the guys that will take real events, make some fiction out of that, but still get a history lesson at the same time. We can learn a little something, but get a little Hollywood too. Eric Larson, he's a classic.

Great caddy too. Yep, you're right. Elar. That's exactly right. I love that. That's how I remember the author's name. I think of Harris's caddy. That is great.

All right, well, mentioned U.S. Open winner. Great trophy. Yep. Got a lid on it. Do what you want with it. What's your favorite thing you did with the U.S. Open trophy? Drink out of it, of course. Favorite, what, okay, favorite thing you drank out of it?

Red wine. Is that your go-to? Yeah, I'd like it. I do like a glass of red wine. Okay. Don't drink much on the road anymore, but at home, yeah. If I'm in the kitchen cooking or my wife's cooking, I'll, yeah, we like to split a bottle of red about every night.

Sidebar question, this isn't part of the E-9. Like, you don't appear to, like, splurge on crazy stuff. If you win something, you're going to reward yourself, like John Deere, what is it that you, is it wine, watches, car, you got any sort of thing like that you love? We had a vacation plan for my wife's 40th, which is next week, but we had it planned, actually for this week, got in here, so backed it up to the last week. and yeah I might have ordered a few more expensive bottles and a bigger steak than maybe normal but yeah we drank we drank some nice some nice french wine last week on vacation and enjoyed it

which was my present to my wife and I for for the win so things you consume yeah yeah definitely not a collector I'm a consumer no watches or polter or barn rat situation with the garages all right here's my next one all right an alien comes down from outer space he doesn't know anything about the U.S. or anywhere. You got to explain to him the difference between the University of South Carolina and Clemson. How do you do it? What's the difference between those two? Winning and losing. Perfect. That's as simple as it is? Pretty much. Okay. Pretty much. All right. Winning and losing.

Yeah. Like, do you have an actual like hatred for the University of South Carolina? Hatred? No. Strong dislike. Yes. I mean, it is an education of higher learning, according to their graduates. So yeah, no, I don't hate them, but I'm not allowed to say anything positive or like them at all, just from just the way, you know, blood runneth orange and all that. All right. Well, winning and losing. That's it. Yeah. Last one. You win the U.S. Open. You're Clemson Tiger. You get to go home to Death Valley and do the tradition of touching Howard's Rock and then leading the team down onto the field. First off, we've got to talk about this hill y'all run down, which is terrifying and I don't

understand how y'all's football coaches or athletic director lets this even happen. the history behind it. So my grandfather was there in 1948 to 52. And when he was still there, they got dressed at the, it's called Fike Fieldhouse. And obviously with facilities the way they are, they're not there anymore. Fike's still there. It's where all the intermural sports are played. And I think it's, I think it's professor offices now, but those used to be where the athletes stayed and then where they dressed and came down. And it's literally, you go right down the road and down the hill from Fike to get into, and that's how they got into the stadium for, to play. And so that tradition just stayed. And then I think 1963, an alumnus brought Coach Howard,

Frank Howard, a rock from Death Valley, California. And he propped it up, literally used it to prop his office door up on campus, or prop it open, excuse me. And the lore is, or the story is, he finally moved it one time and we got off a losing streak when he moved it. And he said, well, maybe that thing's lucky or weird or something. And so he had it installed at the top of the hill to mainly just put a mine trick on the guys. And it stayed. And so now, yeah, right around from the locker room, get off the bus, touch the rock, and run down the hill.

The trick to the hill is there's a little bump, about three quarters of the way down. and if you're not expecting that you could completely eat it coming down. Yeah, I've been done. I've seen players do it, unfortunately. I've seen a cameraman for a local TV station who was a friend who thought it'd be cool to try to go down backwards, film the team coming from this direction, and he ate it, and I think that was a broken collarbone and maybe a femur even. But so luckily I knew that.

But, no, Davo was so sweet, and he'd heard that that was a bucket list of mine, and I believe it was November 7th, Florida State night game. And yeah, we torched them. How nervous were you going on that? Yeah, how was that run? I was much more nervous than any shot of hit at the US Open, that's for sure. Were you at the front right first, like first coming out?

I followed coach, I followed Debo. He said, he said, follow me. He said, when I hit the bottom, you won't catch me though. If you at the bottom. He does. He cooks it going through there. I mean, he's four or five flat. going from the goal line to the sideline.

I feel like the line for Clemson football game shouldn't be set until everybody makes it down the hill. I agree. I agree with that. Yeah, that's an ACL waiting. Yeah, 100%. Honestly, I think they practice the freshman going down it because if, yeah. Well, it's funny.

A little drizzle. Oh, man. No, no, you're eating it going down if you're not careful. The linemen take it easy. Those skill players, they go. Yeah. And there used to be a little thing that some of them would jump off the little bump. And dab, I think, Davo put a stop to that after.

I would have been wheeling Trevor Lawrence down. in a wheel chair. Hey, buddy, we're going to go ahead and get you down there. You can be the captain. You can run down it afterwards. You don't have to run down. Awesome. Lucas Glover, thank you so much, my man.

Thanks, awesome. We appreciate you, bro. Good times. Thank you. All right, well, that was Lucas Glover on golf subpar. Siles, you never met the man before. Give me your thoughts. Love him, dude.

Love him. I think he'd be an incredible guy to sit down and drink a little wine or whatever with. I think he's got a wide range of topics he can talk about very well read. One of the only guys that I've, definitely amongst our friends that are like, oh, yeah, I read three books that week. I was like, oh, that week? Are you meaning in like in your whole life?

We're talking full-time resume here, but I mean, I thought that was cool about the U.S. Open. He read three books that week. And honestly, getting into that week, one thing that I guess I never really just thought about, the fact that that week was so condensed and jammed up

and like they had to go out and play when the windows gave them opportunities to. The fact that he got to go out there on the Monday and finish without having to, you know, we talk to these guys like, dude, the worst part.

I don't tee off till 248. Sitting around and killing all that time is the worst because your brain just goes crazy. He didn't have that, at Beth Page when he won. I think that's probably a huge, I guess a huge advantage for a guy trying to win a major championship for the first time. And we were not going to bring it up because he does have some little putting issues,

but we don't like to talk about that stuff unless it's with Graham DeLette because he's our guy and he's not really playing golf right now. Right. He can handle it. But yeah, but Lucas, you know, had a little issue with the short putts. And he goes back and he goes, you know, come to think of it when he filmed that Nike commercial and he told the kid, he goes, heck, kid it was just a three-footer. He goes, that's kind of when I got the yips.

Maybe it's Nike's fault. I blame Nike. Blame the swoosh. Blame the oven. But how can you imagine playing in the middle of summer on the PGA tour, these hot, humid places in the Midwest, no glove? Dude, I always wanted to be a no glove because I love Freddie growing up, right? I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

So like as a kid, I would go out there and hit with no glove and I'd slap it around, put on a glove and it was like 10 times better. I always wanted to be a no glove guy, but could never do it. I have no clue at the speed these guys swing and all that how he gets it done. And some of these plays. I mean, you see the glove coming on, wiping off the towel, grip, getting it wet, and then drying it, all the different stuff. I mean, I don't know, but I'm envious of it. And I think the whole tour, if they did away with gloves, you might be looking at the number one player in the world.

Well, he should try the Quater glove, but he might change his mind. Yeah, he should get one of those red, white, and blues. No doubt about it. But, man, the thing I was really excited to talk to him about was Death Valley. And running, you know, touching the rock there at Clemson, he did it after the U.S. Open and then running down the hill. I don't understand how Davosweeney has not outlawed this tradition. of running down the hill onto the football field. It is terrifying to me.

I don't understand how some star player has not gotten injured and out for the season, but Lucas did it, and he agreed. It's steep, and it's very nerve-wracking. If I'm Dabo last year, Trevor Lawrence is on my team. Okay, bud, the whole team's going to run out, then we're going to bring you down in a wheelchair monitored by an arm security tank in front and behind.

It's just, that'd be the worst way to end a season, but I see it all the time in the night games. I mean, they come piling down there. Then you've got that rock in the middle, if you're not paying attention, or maybe it starts drizzling a little bit, and the thing gets wet. I'm just like, dude, somebody one of these days

is going to have a spill down that thing. But, I mean, what a sweet deal for a place like death foul. I mean, one of the best atmospheres in all-college football to lead your squad down that thing. I mean, I just get little goosies just think about it. Yeah. You know, he broke that windless drought of seven years at the John Deere, and I think it's one of the coolest things is when it's popular amongst your peers.

Like, that was a very, very popular win, much like a Tony Feenout at Northern Trust. Like, it's so cool when all of the PGA tour is congratulating you. Especially when like for a guy like Lucas who'd gone through that drought and things like not only did he not win, but like he had to go get back and get his tour card multiple times. You know what I mean? The tour was almost gone.

He might have been playing the cornfrey tour but playing on conditional status or things like that. So he went to like the top of the mountain, major champion, U.S. Open champion, everybody, you know, watching you to, I might not have a job on this tour next year. Then to get back to the winter circle. I mean, that's when he says like, man, that was maybe the most special one. Like you have such a new appreciation, I think, for what it means to win out on the PJ tour and how hard it is.

because you've been to the top and you've been to the bottom. And there's not a ton of guys that are able to do that. There's guys that go to the top and then fall off, but not a lot of them come back. It's crazy. I used to play a lot of practice around with Lucas. We'd always have some action, him, myself, Ches Rievy, and then someone else. And I just would always remember we'd play on Tuesday. And I'm like, my God, does he make this game look way easier than I do?

Just stripes it, ball sounds incredible coming off the club face. But then you get to the green and there's a little bit of ify thing. But it's gotten a lot better. He has turned it around this year, has starting to roll the rock much, much better. But dude, I tell you what, you walk up and down the range and not many, there's not a much better audio from a tour player than Lucas Glover. I was just going to ask you. So I'd ask a lot of tour. Like, who's the most impressive?

Who's the guy you want to watch hit the golf ball? Like, you would stop on the range and watch. And there's like three names that come up more often than anyone else. One's Henrik Stenson during his day. He's like the long irons or a joke the way he can hit it and that three would too. Sergio Garcia gets brought up by a lot of them and Lucas Glover. They're like, dude, just the sound, the flushness every time. He's a flusher.

You hear that term thrown out for a few guys. Even he said, I think in the interview, it's like, you know, sometimes I have too much curve on my ball, but hitting it out of the middle. It never been a problem. He's like, I sometimes get a little too much right to left and bend it too much. I got to work on that, but middle in it ain't an issue. And damn, that's nice. Just know you go out and hit it off the center of the face every time. Andy has one of the most legendary bagman of all time.

Donald Cooper, otherwise known as Coop, just an absolute beautiful man. You would love him if you ever get a chance to spend some of some of some Coop. Let's get on. Let's get on Coop. He is fantastic, but really got to thank Lucas Glover for taking the time out and join us. It was a lot of fun, Sleys. And now it is time to get to the gambling segment, which I know everybody is making on.

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See full terms at sportsbook. dundle.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. All right, Sleys, let's get to it. Let's make our picks for Fandle this week. We've got the Tour Championship at East Lake. It all comes down to this. The grand finale. The granddaddy of them all. That's right. All right. And we've got- Pasadena of Atlanta. That's what they call East Lake. Perfect. Yeah. All right. Really cool golf course, old school. Can't really blow it all over the place. I love that. Narrow deep Bermuda rough that gives these guys all kinds of problems. But it's going to start out. with Patrick Cantlay with a little two-shot lead over Tony Fee now, three-shot lead over

Bryson DeShambo, four-shot lead over the co-tournament favorite John Rom. Start four-back, be the co-tournament favorite. That's when you know the world thinks you're pretty damn good. Foreback, yeah, I still like him to win it. Yep, at Fandle, him and Patrick Cantlay, John Rom and Patrick Cantley are both plus 360, which, wow, I mean, you're spotting Patrick Cantley four shots. He just shot 27 Unge. Not terrible.

That's a... That's tough for me. But Patrick hasn't had the best track record around Eastleigh. I believe his last three times out there has not cracked the top 20. That is correct. So not his favorite spot, at least in terms of results in the past. Well, if he puts it the way he did around Kay's Valley, I think he's going to be just fine. He can't slap it around that joint.

But we're looking for value here. We want to make some money. And when you got a guy that's playing as well as Tony Fienow is right now, starting just two shots back. He's in that last group. He's going to be looking, Patrick Cantley right in the eyes. and he's plus $6.50? I know we both really, really like that one. That's both of our guy this week.

We're going to go with Tony Fee now starting two back. I mean, he's made this putter change. He just won at Liberty National. Finally got that monkey off of his back. Doesn't have to answer those questions anymore. And if you like a trend going into Eastlake, like 63 final round on Sunday this past week, I mean, the guy is playing golf.

I think he just feels free right now. I feel like he just felt like you had shackles on him for a while and just couldn't get the job done, couldn't get it done, and then finally does. And I love him this week. And he putted well again this week. It wasn't like Liberty National was a one-off fluke. He putted well again this past week as well.

So maybe there's something there. If he gets that putter figured out, I mean, that's really the only thing that's been holding them back from winning a bunch over the years. And he should be playing very free right now. I mean, he finished seventh on the Ryder Cup standings, which he's not an automatic qualifier. He's on the team, guys.

He's going to be wearing the red, white, and blue, and he's going to have a chance to win $15 million come Sunday, starting just two shots back. Love him at plus $6.50. You know, at Dark Horse, he's a long ways back, but there's nobody that plays Eastlake better than Zander Shafle. You can get him the plus 2,600 on Fanduil, and, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if something crazy happens. He goes out there and just torches the place. We mentioned he shot

the lowest score. Yeah. Last year. Seems to do it a lot around here. It was too far back of Dustin Johnson to catch him. Eight's a long ways back, but if I'm looking for a dark course, I like Zander Shaflay right here. If he could just go out round one and pick off something, you know, if he could shoot a mid-60s and just make up some ground, then all of a sudden it becomes real again. But I mean, who are you going to bet on other straight up, other than Xander Shaflai around Eastlake. He's been a beast. I'm looking at some value around the same line as you.

I'm looking at 22 to 1. A guy that's been playing some really good golf, he rolls his rock, chips his rock, wedges it like a beast. Cam Smith is sitting there at that 22 to 1. He's going to start off five shots back. So, I mean, everybody's got their work cut out for him. If Patrick Cantley goes out there and rolls it like he did last week, this thing might be bedtime.

But like I said, I know the best track record. And Cam, Cam can shoot some low digits. Just shot a little 60 burger not too long ago. So the boy can go low. And I like that bet if you're looking for a little bit of a value a little further down the board. I mean, these leads can go away pretty quickly. I mean, we say Zander Shafley start and eight back, but like you said, he goes out and shoot 65 to maybe a 69 from Cantley. All right, we just cut it in half right there as long as somebody else doesn't do anything crazy.

So you never know. It's going to be very, very exciting to watch. But look, at the end of the week, someone is going to be $15 million richer. I'm re-h-h-b-h-h-h. That's going to be the victory speech. That'll be a great one. And it's drop the mic. Hey, how do you feel about the win this week?

I'm rich, bitch. See you. That would be fantastic. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us. Everyone, enjoy the Tour Championship. And we'll talk to you on next week's golf so far.