Subpar - Mark O'Meara talks his Masters winning moment, if Tiger Woods underachieved in his career

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 16-time PGA Tour winner Mark O'Meara for an exclusive interview. The 1998 Masters champion breaks down his winning moment at Augusta National, what made his Champions Dinner so special and the impact his relationship with Tiger Woods had on both their careers. --Join us at The Bank, Hilton Head’s Beer Garden, for Subpar Live on Wednesday, April 16, at 6 PM EST. Enjoy a night of golf, laughs, and good times with drink specials, giveaways, and more. Whether you’re a PGA Tour caddie, a fan, or in town for RBC Heritage, this is the place to be. Presented by Zone.--Make sure you enter the Golden Bear(™) Sweepstakes between March 27th - April 13th with Fanatics Sportsbook for your chance to win a pin flag signed by Jack Nicklaus. Gambling Problem? See Official Rules at https://sportsbook.fanatics.com/promo-terms/2025/Sweepstakes/ALL_1878.pdf . Sponsor: FBG Enterprises Opco, LLC. Not sponsored, endorsed by or affiliated with Augusta National, Inc.⁠⁠https://www.joinfanatics.com/subpar-signed-flag-sweepstakes/⁠⁠GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Connecticut residents call [phone],  Massachusetts residents call (800)-327-5050, New York residents call (877) 8-HOPENY, Maryland residents visit ⁠⁠mdgamblinghelp.org⁠⁠. --Head to shadyrays.com and use code SUBPAR for 35% off premium polarized sunglasses: https://shadyrays.com/collections/green-wolf--Thank you to our partners at Ship Sticks.  Skip airport stress and costly airline fees with complimentary insurance, real-time tracking, dedicated support, and on-time delivery.  Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shipsticks.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use the code SUBPAR20 to enjoy 20% off your first shipment.--Thank you to our partners at Callaway. The #1 putter on every major Tour—PGA, LPGA, DP World—you name it. More Tour Pros trust Odyssey than any other brand, and it shows with #1 rankings in worldwide wins and money earned. See what it can do for you at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ OdysseyGolf.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.--Choose your style, pick your favorite Birdie Juice logo and shop from a line-up of top tier brands at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.golf.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today! --Thanks to Zone Nicotine for being a proud sponsor of GOLF's Subpar. Warning: This product contains nicotine.  Nicotine is an additive chemical.  Underage sale prohibited.  Introducing Zone Nicotine Pouches - the perfect balance of unparalleled comfort - longer-lasting flavor - and nicotine that satisfies.  Whether you’re zoning in for an important putt or zoning out after a tough day at work, Zone gets you there faster and keeps you there longer.  Available in seven flavors and in six and nine milligram strengths.  Find Zone at zonepouches.com and retailers near you.  Own your zone with Zone Nicotine pouches.

All right, everyone, welcome back to golf subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. The first major of the season is here, and the lights shine extremely bright at major championship sleighs. And when the lights are bright, you got to protect your eyes. And there's only one place to do it, BG, shady rays, and it offers high-performance sunglasses built with golfers in mind. The Green Wolf Collection has semi-polarized lenses to cut glare while increasing clarity. It enhances contrast on the course with tent designed to enhance readability. They're lightweight, comfortable.

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Thank you so much. Yeah, props to you, sir. Might as well. Keep them on over in Hilton Head, too, Sleeze, because we look incredible. We are going to be there for a live event. There's some nice scenery running around Hilton Head Island, so I suggest you bring your shady rays. And also join us in Zone at the Bank,

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Cannot wait to get there, Slees. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'll tell you, that's had a lot of fun this past week. Brian Harmon, who picked up his fourth PGA tour win at the Valero, Texas Open, in some brutal conditions. It was nasty out there. That's one of those days. Fun to watch from the couch. Terrible to be out there.

We actually just spoke to Brian Harmon earlier. He seems to play well in those conditions. You go back to the Open Championship. I think that's a good place to be, just because if it's a good place to be just because it eliminates any super low numbers that are out there. But 75 closing round, normally not good enough to get it done. But that plays itself even when it's not blowing a thousand and freezing cold. So props to him.

And I think the most notable thing called the moneymaker, that putter that he's just made an absolute killing with over the course of his career. He benched her and he brought in a new gamer. And that's one for one with that one. So props him. He said he'd been playing really good, just not getting any good scores out of because of that putter. Yeah, it was the final tune up before the first make. of the season. Interesting. Some guys that chose to play, some that did not. Ludwig Oberg went down there, missed the cut in his master's prep. I believe that's back-to-back

miscuts for him. Brian Harmon, a guy who has played okay at the Masters, not the greatest record, as admitted, it's a really big golf course and he needs things to go well for him to compete around here. But I like, we're here right now. It's rainy. The patrons have been removed from the golf course. I don't believe any of the guys are going to be able to get on the golf course this afternoon. So I think, I think, honestly, the guys that maybe had the week off in San Antonio were able to come here a little early and play some practice rounds actually have a pretty big advantage. Yeah, I think, you know, prep leading into this thing is something everybody keeps a tab on because so many guys, like, spend too much time here because you're so excited to be here. It's Augusta National.

But now with only two days prep, caddies too, a lot of them, especially for first timers, they go out there, do a lot of homework. It's kind of like a cram session. Nice for those guys. They got in on Sunday. But yeah, you know, soften the golf course up a little bit. Looks like hopefully no more rain the rest of the week. But as we go into it, Colt life, I mean, dude, it's Rory and Scotty that are every headline, basically, right? Those are the two guys, Rory in great form, Scotty being Scotty.

Go outside those two guys. And we'll make picks later in the show. But who do we like non-favorants, you know, non-top 10 in the world type guys that maybe not necessarily win, but just have a chance to be there on Sunday. Who are the guys you guys you got circle? Yeah, the one that I got circle that I really like that is, down the betting board, which we'll get to our picks here in a little bit. But you look at his record here. He's played four masters.

He has three top tens, one WD, just because of a back injury. He's come so close to winning a major championship, whether it was the PGA at Southern Hills, the U.S. Open up in Boston. But Will Zalotauris loves this place. If the putter cooperates at all, which we've talked about how much better he looks with the long putter in the bag, his game's built for major championships with how he strikes the golf ball. It's been an okay year this year, not the best.

made a lot of cuts, but just really hasn't been in contention. But we say it all the time. Some people, when they drive down Magnolia Lane, something hits them, and they turn into a different person and find form. Jordan Speath comes to mind. But Will's Al Torres is really, I got him circled this week. Yeah, I really like that one. And his major championship record is phenomenal, given that he hasn't had a, you know,

a lot of years on the PJ tour and playing them just yet. He's been great around here. And, like, for the same price, he could, he's damn near a two-time major champion. at this point. But Tita Green, the harder the ball striking is, the more Will Zaltors seems to shine. I'll give you one. I think it's another guy that you'll agree with here too. How about Russell Henley? I mean, you want to talk about Iron Play, which is Paramount around this place. He's one of the best in the business. When the putter cooperates, he's extremely deadly, having a great year all ready to start. Maybe at Rider Cup lock already, maybe not quite a lock, but can definitely become a lock this week with a good week.

I like him around here in terms of guys who could actually contend that aren't, you know, the top seven, guys in the world. Yeah, he's playing some of the best golf at everybody in the field this week. John Rom is, I know he's not a dark horse by any means, but just talking about guys that I think are going to be in the mix there. I really, we had Frank Nobolo on our serious XM show earlier

today, and I think we both agree with him, like, we think one of the big dogs is going to win this tournament. It's just, it's set up for it, the way the weather is and everything, and it's just at the Masters, we don't see other than, you look at guys like Danny Willett, Charles Schwarzels, another guy that

kind of comes to mind is some people that might have surprised a little bit. But for the most part, it's a big-name guy that normally puts on the green jacket at the end of the week. Yeah, Danny Willett. I mean, if things just go somewhat according to plan for Jordan Speath, that's not the name that would be mentioned. And he needed a lot of things to go right for him that did to win that thing. But yeah, I think it's a big-name guy. We're going to hear about Scott Aydon. Rory all week.

Don't forget about Calmore. Gawa playing some damn good golf plays great around here. Zander Shopla, by the way, two majors last year. no one really talking about him coming off his best approach, strokes gained approach in the history of his career the last time he teed it up. So he's got to be licking his chops. I just, I have a hard time believing it's somebody not extremely high up in the world golf rankings. But there's some guys, you know, if you like to gamble a little bit, maybe top 20s, things like that.

We just rattled off a few of them to at least be there, have a chance on Sunday. Well, let's get to our picks presented by our friends over Fanatic Sportsbook. And we got a nice little fun giveaway for you here. A weekend in Brazil for pro football. Larry Bird signed merch. VIP trip to the NBA finals. Those are just a few prizes fanatic sports book has given to betters. And the latest?

A pin flag signed by Jack Nicholas. The Golden Bear himself. Bring it home by betting $20 or more on golf between March 27th and April 13th, and you'll get entered to win. One $20 bet is one entry, but one $20 bet on subpar weekly picks counts as two. You can enter 10 times max. Download Fanatic Sportsbook to play. Gambling problem?

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All right, you've been on a heater, my friend, I believe four out of the last five in these top 20 picks that you've been loving. So you are up some cash on the year. Let's see if we can keep it rolling. I'm going to let you do the honors. Yeah, four out of five. We're running hot right now. I'll tell you what my gambling problem is, though.

Duke. is my gambling problem. They cost me in a major way. Thank God. Shout out Maverick McNeely for coming through on that bet last week. But I'm going to keep rolling on that top 20. And it's tough this week, Colt. Like that's where I like to live in that top 20.

You got to go a ways down the board before you even get to plus money for top 20s out there. But I'm going with the guy coming off his best finish of the year. Fifth in Houston, great weekend, 6464. He's figured out a little something in his putting. He smashes it off the T. also one of the better putters in the world when he gets going. Those are two things that are pretty valuable around here. All bias aside, Wyndham Clark top 20 plus 230. All right. Yeah, you have it. That is your son. So no surprise to see you picking him. He also gave you a ride to Augusta National.

So I feel like he got forced you. But also thank you. Yeah, no, not biased at all. But yeah, I like it. If you want to give me a left home, I'll pick you next week. All right. For mine, I'm going to go in the top 20 bet as well plus 160 he's got a number of top tens here he's been a he loves this place great ball striker just make some putts for me this week corey conners oh yeah i like that there's another one like a little bit down who has a potential he plays well here i mean he could contend he could contend as well don't hate that one at all all right so i'm going cori conners you're going windham clark both for a top 20 best of luck to everyone out there i'll I think since it is a major championship, though, we should pick a winner.

Okay, you want to go just all-out winner? I mean, it could be the most boring thing of all time. I'll switch it up just a little bit, so I don't say Scotty or Rory. I'll go, I will go Colin Moracawa winning this thing. All right. Well, I'm going to keep it pretty boring. I'm going to go Scotty Sheffler. I think he's going to be the first guy to go back to back since Tiger Woods did it.

It would be just the fourth person ever to go back to back. That'll be three out of four Masters wins for Scotty Sheffler. I just think that it's coming, man. He's played so solid coming off a second place finish. It's last time he teed it up. Everything is trending in the right direction. The golf course is perfect for him. Give me Scotty Sheffler, man.

I will say, though, I have a fun little bet with a friend out there, Sleeze. We each took two guys, just combined money for two days for a nice little side bet. I have Scotty Sheffler and Colin Morikawa. He has John Rom and Roy McElroy. Okay, not bad options on either side. But yeah, you don't got to sell me on Scotty at Augusta National. Seems to like the place pretty well. And yeah, that'll be a juicy little bet.

Rom, too, by the way. He's only top 80 player in the world now, Colt. So he is a ways down. You know, those world golf rankings are. But majors this year for him, I expect him to play a major role in those coming off last year, which was disappointing. Yeah, he's got a bad taste in his mouth with the majors last year. I think he is very motivated. We set it on here.

I just played with him a few days ago. Game looks fantastic. I would not be surprised to see him contend this weekend at the Masters. But let's get zoned in with our friends over at Zone Nicotine. And listen, we had a rather big golf tournament ourselves the last couple of days before we headed over to Augusta National. We had the hang, the member guest over at the Rock. You played with your brother. I played with my good friend, Brendan Morrow, former Dallas Stars captain.

And a time was had. We were definitely zoned in off the course. I don't know if our on the course play. I don't know if you could consider that zoned in. We might have been a little too zoned in. There's a time where you're too much in the zone. That might have been us this week. We got beat like a bass drum virtually every single match.

Lost four or the five, although the one we did win was Ricky Barnes, who has a hurt foot right now and basically playing on one leg. That is irrelevant. We did drum them. But we brought up, we were close to the rear. We weren't the caboose in our flight. but not our best outing. Is this the portion of the show where we drag our partners for saying they didn't do shit?

Or does that come later on? No, I promise my partner. I wouldn't talk about how shitty he played, so I'm not going to do that. That's the props to you for not bringing up how bad Brendan Morrill was this week. And I will say this because I know my brother out there and his boys listened, he was fine. He shot a little 39 on the second day, which was nice showing for him. But we just weren't clicking on all cylinders and just gradually bled out. But we were definitely, definitely.

zoned in as I know you and Bimo. Bmo was for sure. He was somewhere. I will give him some love. He did hoop a pitching wedge on number seven of the upcourse for an eagle that won us the hole. We were two down with three to play. He hoops it on seven to go one down. Our opponents on the par three eighth hit it in about five feet. I made a 40 footer to steal it from him and we end up tying that hole.

We end up, sorry, we were all square going into the last. I actually ended up after all that had an eagle putt on the par five, to win the match. I puked on myself and missed it, but we had an awesome time, ended up losing our flight by one point, almost made a monumental comeback, but fell just short,

but as always, was an incredible time, and we were zoned in. Chad, your shady rays on. When the lights turn on, you turn to shady rays. By the way, shout out while we're doing it,

to the winners of the overall. Coming out of the 19th flight, Cole, Well done. That flight 19 doesn't get a lot of overall champs in it. Yep. That was a surprise, I would say. But a lot of fun at the member guests. We always bring it. And I tell you someone who was zoned in back in 1998, our guest this week, the Masters champion, Mark O'Mara, joins us on golf subpar. All right. Who better to help us preview this year's Masters? And a Hall of Famer with 16 tour wins, including two majors, one being the 98-Mass.

Masters, one of the most well-respected men in all of the game of golf. Mark O'Meara joins us from beautiful Las Vegas. Mark, good to see you, brother. Drew, thanks, buddy. It's really great to be on with you guys. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us. Mark, it's going to be a lot of fun, getting ready for this year's Masters. But I want to go back to your first Masters.

After you won the U.S. Amateur, 1979, you absolutely dusted our man, John Cook, 8 and 7 to to punch your tick. Just 8 and 7. Didn't you have to shower after the match. It was so short. But you get to play in the Masters that next year. I want to know about your first ever time going down Magnolia Lane and seeing Augusta National.

That would be in 1980. Obviously, when the Amateur gets you that invite to go to Augusta National and to play in the Masters. And certainly, look, I think I was 22 at the time, 23. These players today are so much better than certainly I was at that time. And, you know, driving down Magnolia Lane the first time was amazing. And I stayed in the crow's nest. That's what the amateurs get to do if they choose to.

And I stayed up there in the crow's nest and kind of at nighttime snuck down there, looked at the champions locker room. And, you know, I was paired the first day with Fuzzy Zeller, who had won the Masters in 1979. I believe it was his first trip around Augusta. Probably the last time, first-timer has won the Masters tournament. And that first day, yeah, Fuzzy and I were paired together as Dissol. It was pretty amazing, to be honest with you.

Yeah, it's a hell of a lot. experience and what I can't believe when I was going back and digging into some of the stuff, I mean, 27 years this will make since you put that green jacket on. Can you believe that? I can remember that putt watching it in my living room. Yeah, it's gone by way too fast. You know, so many fond memories. And, you know, back to that first trip down Magnolia Lane, I remember it was a pretty short trip because I think I shot, I couldn't remember exactly the scores, but I think I shot 80, 81, somewhere like that. And I remember that Friday afternoon exiting Magnolia Lane with my dad in the car.

And my father was like, you know, Mark, are you okay? And I'm like, dad, yeah, I'm fine. Why? And he goes, well, I know you didn't play that well. And, you know, maybe expected more. And I said, well, I know a couple of things. And I said, first of all, I don't know if I'm ever going to make it as a professional golfer or not, but I know this for a fact, Dad.

And he's like, what's that? I said, no matter what happens in my life, I got to play in the Masters one time. And then sure enough, like you guys pointed out, 18 years later, I stood on that 18th Green. in the final group, you know, with a put to possibly win the Masters. And somehow the thing went in. I was in your more shock and disbelief as probably most people were, you know, why? Why now? Why at 41?

Why did Mark Romero, you know, stand on that last screen and make a putt to win the Masters? But, you know, fortunately, it went in, and I'm very thankful it did. Yeah. And in your record before 98 wasn't that great. I mean, you did have one top 10 before. But going into that week, did you think, hey, this could possibly be my week, considering your past results there? Absolutely no chance. I mean, I played my practice rounds with Tiger. Everybody knows my relationship with him early in my career, certainly when he first came on tour, that we'd always play practice rounds together at these majors and stay together a lot of time. Ninety-eight wouldn't stay together, but we did play practice rounds. And I was hitting it shitty. Sorry, I was hitting it crappy. I wasn't putting well. Let's put it this way. Nobody had me on their radar screen, including myself.

My expectations were low. I had no confidence. I shot 74 the first round. I remember yipping a putt on the 10th green. I shot two over that first round. And now, you know, obviously the goal is to try to just make the cut. Next day I got out there and shot 70, made the cut. And then it was like, okay, all we got to do now is play well enough on the weekend to make the top 24.

Because back then, if you made the top 24, you were in the next year. And that kind of was my goal on the weekend, you know? I mean, you never know what can happen. on a weekend, but I went out on Saturday and shot four under par and got done. It was a windy, pretty tough week out there. And next thing you know, I'm in the press room, going to play in the final group on Sunday with Fred Couples. Yeah, that's a hell of a pairing. But I want to go back a little further because, you know, you mentioned your previous track record. Like, throw that out the window. Who cares? Being that Tiger Woods had just won by 12 shots the year before, your expectations

realistically did anyone in the field think they had a chance that year? It was just like, look, this guy doesn't even need to play well, maybe, and he's going to do it again. Yeah, I mean, look, we've witnessed, certainly I was able to witness it early. You know, I got to play with him. I first met him when he was 17. He came through Orlando and we played Iowa, we together there where I was living, and we stayed in touch, and then we witnessed something when he turned pro at 19. And, you know, we knew that he was going to be special. How special, that could have been debatable, but look, I mean, I saw him. I mean, I witnessed what happened. happened in 97 because I had played with him that week before, as a lot of people may know or

heard. He shot 59 at Isleworth, 13 under par, which was like the easiest. He should have shot probably 57, but he shot 59. And we were gambling, but I'm not a big gambler, but let's say I lost whatever, $500, $10 at one downs, automatics. The next day we go out there at Isleworth, this is literally Thursday, Friday before the 97 Masters. And, you know, Tiger goes out, there and makes a birdie on 10, I'm one down, and he makes a hole in one on 11, and I quit. I mean, I gave him $100 or $200 in his cart, and I said, I'm done playing golf with you. I'm not playing with you anymore, and he's like, you can't quit. I'm like, yes, I can.

And I'll see you on the range. And he's like, I can't believe you're quitting. I'm like, listen, I mean, we've just played 20 holes of golf together the last day and a half, and you're 16 under par. I'm not playing golf with you anymore. Done. And then he went on to win the Masters the next week. So, yeah, I think his expectations were high that everybody thought he should win.

And I think when I look back at everything, to be honest, guys, that sometimes when you lower your expectations, that's when things come through. You know, and that's what I would attribute it to. Yeah, and also, like, just being around him that much. Obviously, he was quite a bit younger than you, but living there, practicing, playing together. Like, how much did he inspire you and motivate you to work harder at your game to be able to win two majors at 41 years old? I mean, I think there's no question. My career was winding down. You know, I'd won 14 times in the tour.

I'd won around the world. I played on Ryder Cup teams, President's Cup teams. And I think certainly being around somebody so special, I certainly couldn't hit the golf ball like Tiger Woods. I mean, hardly anybody can. And I do think that being around him made me a better player. And just watching his game and the way he played helped motivate me, for sure. and he came around right at the perfect time.

All right, before we get back to Mark O'Mara, I want to talk to you about Odyssey, and the thing was on fire this week. If I would have had a partner sleaze, we would have brought home the hardware, but Odyssey isn't just the number one putter brand. It dominates globally. Number one putter on every major tour,

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See what Odyssey can do for you at OdysseyGolf.com. Now back to Mark O'Mara. I was just going to say, I know you guys live together, live in the same place down Orlando, played like that, but you became very close with Tiger during a time where he wasn't really close with anyone.

He was kind of a close shop for a while. Why do you think it was that Tiger gravitated towards you? Well, I don't think there was a lot of 19-year-olds at that time coming on the PGA tour with the hype and certainly the expectation, that he had he had on him. And my manager at the time was his guy that was managing him. And they always kind of knew, like, look, he's 19.

He's kind of raw, even though he played in a lot of pro tournaments as an amateur. And he had called me on the phone. And he's like, look, we're moving him in there because we're going to move him out of California because he's getting ready to sign the deal with Phil Knight and Nike. So look after the kid. And I said to him, I'm like, look, he has my cell phone number. Just have him call me. And he did.

and then everything pretty much fell into place where he was great. I mean, look, I still love the kid. I call him a kid. I understand he's getting ready to turn 50 this next December. But in my eye, I look at him as a very good friend, even though we don't really speak that much, we don't get to see each other that much anymore. But for those 10 years or those 11 years, I mean, he was great.

I mean, he would listen to me if we played practice rounds where we were paired together in tournaments. You know, luckily, I knew the raw talent that he had and where it was going to go. But to be fair, when everybody looks at a star figure like a Michael Jordan or a LeBron James or a Tiger Woods, you know, it's not easy being them. I mean, and being around them,

especially being around Tiger, I think he knew, and certainly Earl and Tita, his mom and dad, knew that I had their best sons, their best interests in their son. And look, I was no threat to Tiger Woods, but yet I think he felt comfortable around me and he could run things by me. So it really worked out for both of us. Yeah, such a cool relationship and it all, I mean, he puts the green jacket on you, which is absolutely incredible. But I want to go back to 98.

So Saturday night, you mentioned you're in the press room. I want to know, like, if you can think back to the nerves, the emotions, like, what was it like Saturday night? And then that long wait Sunday morning before you T. off in the final pairing. Well, it's nerve-wracking. And I remember going into the press room on that Saturday after I got done playing, and the media, you know, they always love to bring it up. You know, hey, Mark, you know, you're on that next list of next great players to have

never won a major. And I remember telling the media on Saturday night, I'm like, look, I mean, I get it. I'm 41 years of age. I said it's a compliment that you guys put me on that list. I mean, I grew up not poor by any means, but a middle-class family. I went to Long Beach State. I washed cars down at the clubhouse cart room all through college to make some spending money. And, you know, when I got on the tour, I got gotten married.

I had a Volkswagen Rabbit. That was really my only thing that I had. And, you know, to have played that many years on the PGA tour and have won tournaments, I felt like no matter what happened, yeah, maybe it would have been a bummer not to have won ever won a major championship. But I never looked at my life and my career as somebody who failed. You know, I did way better than I would have ever dreamed. So that wasn't anything like there was pressure to you because we've seen another guy,

like Sergio held the title for a while. I mean, Phil DeVa, all these guys, they're like, you're the best without a major. That wasn't something that was weighing on you? I mean, it was and it wasn't. Because I think what happened, to be fair, was that I eventually got to the point where, look, maybe it's not going to happen. So, you know, take a step backwards, just say, like, you know what, It's not the end of the world.

It didn't happen. Whatever. So again, I went back to that, lowering the expectations because I think we all as players realize the importance of major championships in one career. And the amount of media attention, certainly the draw that the Masters tournament gets, you know, does put that extra pressure on. Look, I'm going to tell you the truth.

Yeah, I'm nervous. I'm nervous every time I play golf. Heck, if I go out and tee it up with you two guys, I'd be nervous. You should be. I think I, well, I would be. So, you know, and I hope you guys would be nervous playing with me. Terrified. Absolutely terrified.

But, you know, your tea time comes on Sunday. Okay, you're getting ready to go there with Freddie couples. And I would have to think you could hear the insane roars that were happening out there made by a 58-year-old Jack Nicholas, who is just racing up the leaderboard. What were you thinking when you were hearing these roars and you got to be like, oh, my God, really? This guy's going to be the one that makes a move today? Yeah, you can't help but not notice in here at Augusta for sure.

And being on the putting in the putting ready to go with Fred and the last group. And, you know, Fred and I went way back. We played in our first pro tournament, the Queen Mary Open in Long Beach, California together. We went to Q school together in the fall of 1980. I played with him the final round with Q school in 1980. He barely got his card. He was the last guy to get his card. And then to see the fruition of what had happened in both of our careers,

look, I understand he's a fan favorite. He's an incredible player, very talented. He already has a green jacket. Here I am out there, you know, kind of looking at the leaderboard and hearing the roars and seeing what Jack was doing. You know, I think it all comes back to what you can control. And I looked at the last day being nervous and I look back and I realize some of the shots that I'd hit, some of the lot of quite a few of the good breaks that I got that would never have been brought up on TV or this or that, but there are things that I recalled and remember where, you know, if the ball had bounced one or two feet different where it landed, you know, the outcome would have been different. So yeah, I mean, timing is everything. And all you can do

is ask for an opportunity. And I certainly had that opportunity on Sunday afternoon that April. Yeah, I would say like probably the biggest turning point, in my opinion, I went back and watched the final round, was number nine, where you hooked it in the trees and were able to get up down for par. Freddy had 107 yards left in the middle of the fairway and made bogey. Exactly. I mean, those are the things that can flip the script pretty quickly. And I don't think I was ever tied fully. I don't remember the second hole I pulled hook my T shot on the second hole to par five and it kind of clipped the pines on the left. And instead of rolling down into the ditch or way down into the pine needles, it kind of dropped straight down and stayed there. And I kind of

hooked a five iron around the trees to lay up and I hit it on the green and made a birdie pot. So that number nine, like you just pointed out, Drew, I mean, there was a big switch, 12, the par 3. Everybody knows. I mean, look, 12 is 12. You know, you're on that tee and you're kind of close to the lead and you're saying, okay, look, just play for the center of the green, hit it over the right center of that front bunker, over the bunker. I hit an eight iron and I, and when I hit it, I didn't absolutely flush it, but I hit it pretty good.

but it's going right at the pin. And I'm thinking, mine, I'm like, that's not where I was trying to go. And then I'm thinking, that better get up. And it flew on the front fringe and stayed there. It didn't come back. If it had landed a foot and a half short of that, it would have been back in Race Creek. So, yeah, I mean, there's some luck that definitely came into play. Yeah, it's funny to hear those, like, years later, the things that never get brought up.

I mean, your put on 18 gets all the attention. That's the highlight that they show. But if you had to go back to one shot in that final round, not the put on 18, that you're most proud of or you felt like was most important at the time. Is there one that comes to mind? You know, I would say standing on the, I remember Fred and I were both standing on the 15th T, the par five. And at the time, David Duval had posted minus eight. I think he three putt at 16. He was at 9 under one time. And at that time, Fred and I were both six, six under. And I thought to myself, okay, look, I'm going to have to make a couple of birdies here to

to obviously get to eight. I hit a good T shot on 15. Fred hit it way to the right. kind of over by the 17th. There used to be just two big mounds kind of between 15 and 17. Obviously, over the years that they've planted all these trees. But he kind of blew it way to the right. I hit a three iron for my second shot going for the green. I hit it good. It landed basically on the front fringe once again with a three iron and it kind of skipped up.

You know, maybe a yard shorter. It's back in the lake. He hit a six iron over top of the trees to about 10 feet. I two putted. He made his free eagle to get to eight under. I went to seven. But I think the shot through that I was most proud of was on the next tee, on 16. I think I hit a six iron pin was back left like its usual position.

Fred hit a seven iron right of the flag. I hit the six iron to about 16 feet, something like that. And I remember hitting a really good putt. And it just missed on the left edge. It kind of looked like it was going in and it just broke off. And I tapped in for par. I was walking off the green, and you've probably heard this story. Maybe people have.

Maybe they haven't. But I remember I was playing the strata golf ball, and I remember taking on my golf ball, and Jerry Higginbotham, who unfortunately passed away last year, who was caddying for me, I said to Jerry, I said, I'm like, hey, Jerry, as we're walking kind of off the green on 16, I said, you know, that's as good as six iron as I could hit, and that's as good a putt as I could hit, you know, under these conditions. I'm like, give me a new wall. I'm going to birdie the last two holes.

Now, I don't know why I said that. because I didn't believe that, but it definitely came out of my mouth. You know, Fred, so Jerry gives me a new ball, and we go up for the 17th, Fred hits a good drive. I hit a good drive just over the right side of Eisenhower Tree. And we're in the fairway, and Fred's about 15 yards in front of me, and I think I hit a nine iron from my second shot right at the pin, right over the top of the flag, to about 12 feet behind the hole.

And I looked over, and Fred was like, hey, nice shot, M.O. I'm like, thanks, Fred. And so now I'm kind of standing there. And you always hear in sports where these moments where you feel like you're in the zone or you've got this feeling that comes over you. And when I stood in that 17th fairway after I hit my second shot, as Fred was getting to approach his shot, you know, once again, he's 8 under. I'm 7 under. Duval's finished at 8 in the clubhouse. I'm standing there and I'm looking up and I'm like, God, it's beautiful out here. The gallery, the shadows coming into the fairway, the white sand and the front bunker, just the whole thing, all of a sudden this amazing calmness came over me.

Like, wow, this is like really cool. Not like, boy, I'm really, really nervous. And it just gave me in a comfort zone where when I was on the green, I mean, I knew I was going to make that put. I mean, I felt comfortable over that put. And it went in to get to eight under. And Fred had missed it just short right, shipped up, made his bar. And we're standing at 18th tee. Boom.

We're all right there, tied at 8 under bar. Before we get back to our interview with Mark O'Meara, a quick word from our friends at Shipsticks. If you're not shipping with shipsticks, taking your clubs, you're doing it all wrong. We are headed to RBC next week. We will both be using it. All you've got to do is schedule the shipment,

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And right now, Shipsticks is offering our listeners 20% off your first shipment when you go to Shipsticks.com and use the code subpar 20. Go to Shipsticks.com, use the code subpar 20. You get 20% off your first shipment and save yourself to hassle this golf season. That's S-H-I-S-T-I-C-S.com. Make sure you use the code subpart 20 so they know we sent you back to Mark O'Mara. Yeah, I mean, that's all you can ask for. Have a chance to win the Masters on the 70s. second hole. You go up there, you hit it to 20 feet, a very popular spot. We've seen that putt so

many time over the years. People have missed it left. People have missed it right. You buried it. Can you take us through your emotions walking into the put, what your nerves were like, and how did you feel over it? Well, you know, on that tee shot, Fred hit it in the left fairway bunker off the tea. I hit a nice drive in the fairway, and I think I had 157 or 160 yards uphill to that left front pin. And Fred hit it in the right bunker, green side bunker in two. And I hit it to that 18, 20 feet, like you said, Drew. And then as we're walking up to the green, you know, the people stand up and they applaud.

And I remember, you know, working a little bit on my breathing, but I knew I needed some water. Because I think any time you get super nervous, like your mouth gets very dry. And but I was okay. As I walked on the green and I marked my ball. I remember handing it to Jerry. and I said to Jerry, I said, you know, just go over there, clean it up, whatever. And then I thought to myself, you know, Fred's going to hold his bunker shot to get to nine under par. I'm going to have to make this put to tie Fred.

And that was kind of my mindset as I stood and waited while he hit his bunker shot. And he hit it out to about four feet. He had a really good bunker shot to just blow the hole. And Jerry gave me my golf ball. And as I was lining it up and walking around the green on 18, not one time did I ever think to myself, if I make this put, I win the masters, or if I make this put, you know, I'm going to win the green jacket, or whatever, all those things that can come into your mind. What I said to myself, as I marked my ball and walked around, looked at it from the side,

looked it from behind the hole on the other side, I said to myself all that time, I said, you know, Mark, look, this is what you play for. Sooner later you got to make a put, whether it's on this green or 10 or 11 or 12, and the longer it goes on, the more the odds go out of your favor. So why not just try to hit a good putt here? And that's basically what I said to myself. Marked my ball, took my practice strokes, took my routine. And when I hit my putt, it was about two feet off the putter,

and everybody stands up on the other side of the green, and Ken Venturi and Jim Nancer in the Tower on 18, everybody's announcing and watching, as I am too, when it was about two feet off the putter, at least I thought to myself, you know what, I hit a good putt, I have no idea what's going to happen. And it starts going down there, it gets about two feet from the hole.

I'm watching it. Everybody else is watching it. And all of a sudden, I'm thinking, oh, my God, you know, it's going to go in. And it starts breaking to the left and it catches the left center and dives in the hole. And, you know, my arms in the hands and ping answer to, potter go up in the air. And if you look at my expression, I was more in shock and disbelief as what the hell just happened. And I realized I'd won the masters. It's while being that calm and not thinking this is for a green jacket,

especially when you were trying to win your first major championship, was that something you were able to take? I mean, I know you won a major championship just a few months after that, but is that something that was just like unique in that moment where you felt like at ease and calm like you mentioned on 17 or is that something you could take with you that you used, you know, for the remainder of your playing career? Well, you know, I think it certainly was the icing on the cake and it certainly helped. And the timing couldn't have been better because sometimes, you know,

you have to wait for really special things to happen sometimes. And I think you appreciate them more. And certainly when I won in 98, you know, at 41 years of age, it was eye-opening. It was amazing. And as you pointed out, I mean, to be rushed, a lot of stuff happens. You know, they want to rush you right down to Butler Cabin, make sure your card's right. and they kind of rushed me down there. And, you know, I come into Butler Cabin.

And at the time, Joe Ford was, you know, who was a member of Augusta, was the tournament director. Matt Coocher was there. He was low amateur in 1998. And Jim Nansen Tiger. And they're on a commercial break with CBS. And they're like, okay, here's how this is going to play out. We're going to come back live.

We're going to talk to Matt. Congratulations him on U.S. Amateur, or obviously being the low amateur and the masters. Then we're going to talk to Joe a little bit. We'll come to Tiger and then, you know, we'll have Tiger, Mark, present you with your green jacket. And so, you know, that kind of all starts happening. And I'm just kind of sitting there a little still in shock into what the hell just happened. Tiger's kind of sitting to the ride of me. And next thing you know, they talk to Matt.

They come back. They talk to Tiger a little bit. And then they're like, Jim Nance says, Tiger, okay, you know, Tiger, it's time to present Mark with his green jacket. And I stand up. And Tiger stands up behind me. And, you know, he has the green jack. Well, and he can stand behind me. but he's a little taller than I am, right?

And so I'm trying to get my arm into the green jacket, and he's got it up so freaking high. I can't get my arm in there. I'm like trying. I'm like got the gator arm going. I'm kind of swinging. Finally, I look back and I'm like, hey, but he's like what? I said, you've got to lower the jacket.

He lowers the jacket. I kind of get my right arm, my left arm in. And, you know, he gives me a hug. And we go to commercial break. And I look over at Tiger. I'm like, hey, pro. He's like, what? And I said, what was?

that all about? And he goes, I've never put a sport goat or jacket on anybody. How the hell would I know how to do that? I said, maybe we should have rehearsed that before we did it. But yeah, it was awkward, but a fun moment. It was holding it up like you were Mnup Bowl. It was like, give the guy a little help here, dude. Slide the thing down. You know, it's a national TV. You know on him, though. He likes to joke around. That might have been a little bit on purpose. You know, you guys, I mean, you know him. Yeah, he's a practical joke. He likes to, you know, work it for sure. I mean, and I think a lot of times the intimidation factor, as you guys brought up earlier,

from the standpoint that nobody really was in his circle. You know, it was kind of, it was fluff at first, and then certainly Steve Williams and myself and Tiger where, you know, nobody else was kind of in that bubble, you might say. And so, I mean, I used it as a motivating factor, and I also used it as lock. I know that maybe I can't hit it like Tiger Woods, but I also knew that if I putted well, which I think he knew, I could beat him.

And luckily, there was a few times that that happened. Yeah, what a year 98 was, obviously, winning the Masters, then the Open Championship a few months later. But what was the celebration like Sunday night

after winning the Masters? Well, to be fair, I'm not a huge drinker, so it wasn't really a problem. I mean, I can only remember what happened there. Like I stayed on property because after we do all the media stuff, then the club wants you to come and have dinner at the club with some of the membership. And so all I remember is that all that came about.

And I remember leaving the club at about maybe 1130 on Sunday night. And I remember driving back to the house. And when I pulled in the driveway, like Tiger was there at the house. He was staying a couple houses down, but he was in the driveway. And I remember pulling up and he's standing there and I got out of my car and like I've got the green jacket on. So like I'm not really well versed and all this stuff. And I look at him. I'm like, oh my God.

Like I'm not supposed to have this. And he goes, oh, no, I'm oh, you know, you want it. You get to keep the jacket for a year. I'm like, oh, now I get it. Like I didn't know at that time. There are a lot of rules. Yeah. Even on property.

Yeah, there's a lot more rules than I think anybody knew unless you win the thing that you realize that go along with that jacket. What did you serve for your champion's dinner? Yeah. Well, you know, I love sushi. I love Japanese food, but I also am a big Mexican guy. I like Italian food, Mexican food. I like a little bit of everything. So what I did is I served a big sushi bowl appetizer.

It had sushi, sashimi, basically at a pre-dinner cocktail for 35 minutes. It goes quickly. And then we, everybody, you know, it's fun. I mean, then we go in and take our pitcher and, you know, we sit down at the table and I served chicken and steak fajitas. And I'm sitting at the head of the table. And I'll tell you this, that I actually talked to somebody at the Augusta Chronicle this week. And when I won the Masters in 98, 1999, every living Masters champion that was alive came to the dinner in 99.

So I'll set it straight. I mean, you know, I mean, Gene Serra's in. Billy Casper, Gary Player, Jack Nicholas, Arnold Palmer. I mean, I'm sitting at the head of the table with Jack Stevens, who was the chairman of Augusta National at the time. And Byron Nelson sitting to the ride of me because he hosted the dinner before. You know, he felt ill and then passed away. Then now obviously Ben Crenshaw hosts our dinner on Tuesday night. But a quick story, if you don't mind, guys.

Of course, please. When I come in 99 as a defending champion, drive back onto the property. I think it was my, was it my 14th time of trying to play in the Masters and then finally winning something like that in 98. 99, I drive in and I get my golf shoes and the Champions locker room sits right above the entrance to the clubhouse. And I'd seen it before because of staying in the crow's nest in 1980. I looked down at it, checked it out. So I come in and I've got my shoes in the locker room attendants. I see him and he's like, okay, Mr. O'Mare, let me show you where locker is.

I'm like, okay, cool. And so he takes me around, and it was very small. They've expanded a little bit since then, but it was pretty small, and there's a couple tables, like the four seats. And I come around, and he goes, okay, sir, here's your locker. And I look up in my locker, and it says, 1937, Jean Sarasen, 1998, Marco Romero. And I'm like, holy crap, I'm sharing a locker with Gene Sarasen.

Well, lo and behold, I turn around, and Mr. Sarazen sitting with his back at the chair to our locker. And I'd met him earlier because we used to have a tournament north of Atlanta that he kind of hosted. And so I put my hands on Gene Sarazen's shoulders. And I said, Mr. Sarazen, and he kind of turned around. He's like, Mark, and I said, sir, I hate to inform you, but I'm your new locker mate. And he looks at me and he goes, you know, Mark, at 92 years old, I don't get a lot of free shit anymore. So can you do me a favor? And I'm like, sure, what is it?

And he goes, can you leave a couple extra dozen balls in the locker when you leave? Are you kidding me? I said, sir, give me your home address. I will buy 36,000 balls and send them to you. So I take a lot of pride knowing that there was only, I believe there was only two other times in the history of the Masters tournament, where every living Masters champion came to that champion's dinner. And the third time was the year that I hosted the dinner in 99. So maybe my bill was a little bit bigger because everybody was there.

but it's something that I'll never forget. As long as I'm healthy, I would never miss that dinner. That's awesome. I love that. Well, we'll get into more in the Champions Dinner. I'm guessing in the E-9, but just leading into this year, a lot of changes have been made over the last several years, obviously lengthening 13, lengthening 15, which I haven't been the biggest fan of.

But for you, like, what are some of the changes? Do you like them? Do you think the golf course has honestly become too long for these guys nowadays? We don't see the excitement on the back nine as maybe we used to? Well, I think where they, the problem, everything that's talked about golf is obviously how far all the young players, all the players today hit the ball. And so length is something that, you know, has been talked about how we either roll a ballback, change the equipment, do this, do that. But here's what I would point out. I would point out a couple of things.

First of all, you guys know because you guys play and you watch and commentate on it. The best holes in golf necessarily are not the longest holes in golf. I agree. They're the shortest holes in golf. And if you look at Augustin National, some of the holes that can create the most havoc are holes like number three, holes like number 12. And my pet peeve was I understand why they had to lengthen it. But I also believe that if you want a course to challenge the players, it shouldn't be just about the powerful player has a bigger advantage. What it should be is about creating a little havoc in the player's mind, right?

Make them forced to have to make a decision on, you know, what do I do? do, throw a little strategy in. And I think where Augusta kind of missed the boat at first, when I remember when they first lengthen the course, Tiger and I went up and play, right when they first lengthen it. But they also put that first cut of rough in, which, you know, I looked at that and I'm like, what are they doing? First of all, it's not that deep. And all that does is slow the course down, which benefits the powerful player. If you want to make Augusta tough, then, you know, what it plays tough is when the wind blows there, because it swirls and there's such change of elevation on that golf course. And you've got to be so accurate where you're landing

your golf ball on those severe greens there. But you want to speed the course up. Like I would have taken, I'd take away the first cut of rough. I'd bring the pine needles out. You're either in the fairway or your ball is chasing into the woods and into trees. And the days of watching players play there and creating shots and having to maneuver the ball like the great Sevi Ballesteros. I remember one year when John Houston drove it in the right trees, between 18 and 10, it hit some kind of shot up through the trees, and I think he hold it for it, too. 97. Yeah.

I mean, so, you know, I think planting all the trees and creating an atmosphere where you don't quite have the drama like maybe we used to have on the back nine, I think they've, Fred's done a fantastic job, our new chairman, Fred Ridley, who plays. Obviously, U.S. Amateur champion, you know, he understands the game. And I think over the years, they've realized that, you know, it is all about the back nine coming down the stretch, the excitement. For people watching, for the patrons and everybody who is there, the chance to make an eagle on 13 or an eagle on 15 and, you know, not to see a player run away with the championship. It's better for golf. It's better excitement.

I mean, that's what I like to watch, too, and see it. Yeah, it's why I mean, back nine on Sunday at Augusta, the most biggest drama in golf, you know, typically. And we hear about the precision of iron play that's required around Augusta, right? The shelves and the landing areas are so small. We hear about, you know, knowing where to miss, missing in the right places. But as a guy that played, I mean, it was your 15th time, actually, when you went around and won that thing. If you were going to coach up some young guys, is there something you would tell them, or maybe an aspect of the game that you don't, that's very important around Augusta that doesn't get as much attention?

Well, I think you have to play that court. It definitely helps to have some knowledge around that track, you know, to have played there a few times, to kind of understand where you can miss the ball, to give yourself the best chance of getting it up and down. But I would still say that the number one thing you have to have at Augusta National is patience. And number two, you've got to have a good speed on the greens. Because it's really hard to correlate or let people know at home the severity of those dreams. much break and how severe they are when it comes to the speed and how you have to hit your putts. So if you look at players that have won the Masters tournament, I mean, you have to put well to win there. I mean, yeah, it helps to hit your irons well and drive the ball pretty well.

They want those things to all be a part of the game. But I do believe that you cannot win the Masters unless you put well. And especially coming down on the back nine, there's going to be key putts that you're going to have to make, whether it's a 10-footer for par on 11 or things that people not even think about. Those are the things that at the end of the day, when it comes to that final hole, that, you know, once again, I mean, you've got to make a put. Yeah, you definitely do. And not many have done it better than Scotty Sheffler, as of late.

He's won two of the last three masters. What do you make of what he's done around that great golf course? Well, I think it's incredible. I mean, I would tell you that I enjoy watching. I stopped playing in 2018. because the course is obviously too long for someone of the length that I'd hit it, didn't really enjoy it anymore. And what Scottie has played and done around there,

and pretty much what he's done in the game of golf over the last two and a half years, has been really remarkable. And there at Augusta National, you know, I mean, it's always fun when a past champion wins again because it keeps our locker room smaller. I don't want to be greedy, but it kind of is. But if there was a couple players that are friends of mine that I would love to see, one of them would be Kalamorakawa, who I spent a lot of time with here in Vegas, and we practice and play once and while together, and I'm always on the phone,

texting him and staying in touch with him. And, you know, look, I'd love to see him with the Masters. I know a lot of people, also Rory, you know, we look at the career that Rory's had, certainly the way he's started off this year, winning at AT&T at Pebble, winning last week or a week and a half ago at the Players' Championship, you know, the one thing that he's missing on his incredible Hall of Fame career resume is the Masters tournament. And look, he has all the tools and all the skills to be able to win the Masters.

So, you know, expectations, once again, will be placed high on him this year. You think your boy, Freddy's got another made cut in him? I've never questioned what Fred can do. I mean, he played well this last week. I saw in Newport Beach. He didn't have a great final round. But, you know, everybody, look, we all love Freddie. he's had a remarkable walk around Augusta.

How many more years he'll keep playing? I don't know, but I even look at Bernard Langer, you know, who's my age. Actually, he'll be 68 in October. I was 68 in January. I mean, I would never put it out of the question. Bad back and all, I tell people I'm like, look, anybody hits it 30 yards by me. Doesn't really have that bad back. I mean, Fred knows how to play Augusta National.

He knows how to get it around there, and so does Bernard Langer. Yeah, what both of them done around there is incredible. We actually had Freddie on our serious XM show. Yeah, you'll like this. Go. And he said he might be putting in a seven iron hybrid for Augusta. Longest iron would be eight. Yeah, he's got currently right now longest iron seven, but that might be getting switched

up for Augusta National. Yeah. No, he's got a lot of head covers the half bag. I don't blame them. I mean, you know, there are great tools to have in your bag. And, you know, when you don't produce the speed maybe that you once did and the fact that the ball is harder and that's why people, the ball doesn't spin it. as much. That kind of gets back to the other point. You know, if they really wanted to

help the game, they should create a ball that just spins a lot more. Then force players have to play that ball. Curve. It got fun. Yeah. You know, you look at the guys like Trevino or you look at people who can maneuver the ball around. You look at the days of like a Corey Pavan. I mean, that's just probably not going to happen in the game anymore. I mean, somebody who's got the skill to play different shots and curves the ball a lot. The ball and the equipment, it's just a power a game. It's just different. I bring up a guy that you played against a lot, Justin Leonard. Like, that's a borderline Hall of Fame career right there that probably in today's age would never happen. Correct. Yeah. There's just no fear for these guys anymore with the driver. It's like with

the technology, they're all designed to hit high knuckle balls. The big miss isn't that big of a miss most of the time. So it's like, you know, there's no risk of the old days where you miss one off the toe. It's a quick duck hook. Now it's just like a little draw, maybe in the left rough or something. I'd love to see a ball that spins more. I mean, I think that's the, easiest way to do it. Let's say, you know, you come up with a game plan, I don't know what it is, in the PGA tour, the USDA, R&A, the ruling bodies of golf for professional golf, you create, okay, all the manufacturers can have their different brand, but we're going to make sure that it's got to have X amount of spin on it. You can't have a golf ball. It's got to spin enough

to where everybody's in the same ballpark. And you can't let these guys just keep dominating these courses and think, okay, the only way this is going to get more interesting is to, you know, make the golf courses longer, which I don't find that interesting. I mean, I find holes like seven last year at Trune in the Open Championship. I look at seven at Pebble Beach. I look at 12 at Augustine National. And back to, like I said, the third hole, the par four. I mean, there's so many things that can happen on that hole. And those are the two shortest holes at Augusta National that can create the most problem. So don't keep telling me, We've got to make every par four, 530 yards.

I mean, where's the artistry in that? There's nothing. And it's not good for the fans, everybody watching. I agree. You get, the golf course doesn't have to be that long. You get it bouncing. And, I mean, where the guys lose control and the ball gets on the ground, that's what makes it fun to watch and it test these players.

They hate when they lose control. They don't know what it's going to do when it gets on the ground. That's so true. Like last week at Tampa or, you know, even at TPC, if the wind blows and you have hazards, out there. You don't have to make the course any longer. I mean, look, they cannot play out of the water. They have a difficult time out of playing out of the trees. Or if you go rough that's so deep that nobody can get out of, yeah, I mean, that's another way to do it too. But I'm under the pretense

of both you two. I mean, play it firm and play it fast. And you know what? Good luck. Look at Harbortown. I mean, when it's firm, we've seen 10, 11, 12 under par went around there, and it's one of the shortest golf courses on the PGA tour. Exactly. You got to maneuver your ball around there and you've got to be accurate. The greens are small. It's just, it's, I think that brings back, once again, the artistry in the game, which creates more excitement and it keeps everybody kind of on the same playing field, which I think is best for the game of golf. Couldn't agree more. One last thing before we get to the E9 here, I just want to know, since you're not playing the Masters anymore, obviously you're going to be there for the Champions dinner, but what's your schedule

like throughout the week? And how long are you there? Yeah, do you want to hang out? You know what? I'm flying there on Saturday. I'm going into Atlanta and I'll get a car and I'll drive over. I'll try to get out there early enough to watch the women amateur finish up, which I think has been incredible for the club. I mean, they've opened so many doors there. It's just, it's amazing what they've done. And then Sunday morning, I'll get out there early. I'll watch the youth, the boys and girls and the drive chip and putt. I'll hand out an award to one of the winners in one of the categories and one of the age groups. And then I'll play Sunday afternoon. So I'll play 18 holes on Sunday. And then I'm pretty busy every night. Most of the days, I usually have some friends come in that maybe have

never been there before. They come and stay with me at the house. I'm able to drive them down Magnolia Lane, show them around the clubhouse, show them the Champions locker room, and they'll let them go out and do their thing. Like, I don't really go out in the course once the tournament starts or even in the practice rounds. But I like to do it. go over to the practice facility to the drive and range, you kind of sit there and watch all the guys warm up. I've got some corporate things that I do at night. I'll play the par three on Wednesday. Last year, I played with Sergio and Patrick Reed, so it was good to see those two guys who I don't get to see very much. And I'll do that again this year. I'll play in the par three

contest, who I don't know. I'll get there when I register on Saturday and see who, you know, is open or if I usually try to play earlier. And then I'll stay there through Saturday, I'll probably leave Sunday morning to fly back so I can watch it on TV. I love that. Hell of a good schedule. Do you get out there ever just during the year? Not Masters Week? Go play?

Hardly ever. Damn. Look, when you win the Masters, you become a member of Augusta National. But to be fair, like, I can go and play there pretty much any time as long as the club doesn't have an event going on. You know, and the course opens, what, middle of October, closes usually the end of May. so it's not open that long and I usually don't really go

even though I have friends that are like real members and one time I brought my father and my son Sean to go and play with one of the members who's a friend of mine. It rained all day long so it wasn't the best experience but like I haven't been back since last year

and I really don't go there very much to be fair if you get the itch you got our numbers you know I figured you know you guys I don't blame you have you You guys played it? I have. He got, yeah, he went out. I played it a couple years ago in November when the fairways were rolling a foot.

Did you play all the way back? I did. I had a lot of bets going on that I had to go all the way back, and it was crazy long. What did we fire? 77. Well, that's very respectable. I think the over under was 77 and a hook, wasn't it? 76 and a half.

76 and a half. That's pretty respectful, by the house. I had a couple three puts early. I had a big night the night before, Mark, in a charity event, and night got away from me a little bit. Yeah. bad but um i did driver on four mark uh it was the the tea was back pin was up top it was a 257 cooling into the wind caddy said give me 275 i said well give me that big one give me the big i'll hit it twice i remember one year playing a practice round with tiger there and yeah after they'd lengthen

and everything it was like kind of what you just said it was like 252 or whatever and he got up and hit a three one and he hit a pretty good one and it like flew just barely got in the front bunker and he kind looks at me. He's like, okay, I'm all your turn, you know, the practice round. You might as just try to drive it over there just short of the neck so you have an easy pitch up the green. Like, of course, I mean, which I did, drive it 12 yards short of the green. I had, when it's cold and windy there, you know, you guys both know. I mean, it's, it's brutal. We watched it last year. I think it was last year. Wasn't it real windy that one day? It's crazy windy. That's such a fun. The whole place is fun.

Sand was blown out of the bunkers. Yeah. Yeah. It was good. Crazy. Yeah, more of that. All right. Let's go to the E9 here. I think we should, let's just say they're going to make a movie about the 1998 season. Who would you like to play Mark O'Meara? Wow, that's a good question. You know, I would tell you I'd want my son, Sean O'Mara to play me. I mean, you know, he's got a big beard, though. He's kind of, but I think he actually didn't really start playing golf till he was about 14 or 15.

And to be fair, like he was a really good athlete. He just could have done anything. And he went to Cal Irvine and played on the golf team there. But I would tell you that I would want him to play the role of me. Because I watched him as a junior golfer and even in college golf. I mean, the kid had as much talent or maybe even more than I ever had. But, you know, you see a lot of people like that. And I love my son.

But like, he didn't want it. No matter what it is in life, you do. You've got to want it. And it can be handed to you and you may not still want it. But I think if I could replay all that and have somebody play me in the role of 98 and winning the two major championships and being the oldest guy to have ever won two major championships for one year. Yeah, Sean Omerer. Love it.

All right. Well, stay on the acting then. Who would have a better chance of winning an Oscar for their performance? Sean Omerer playing you in 98 or you in your recent role in the Celebrity Greens commercial. Oh. Oh. A lot of range. Yeah, no, I think I'm starting to bring it.

I think as I've gotten older, you know, how many 68-year old dudes are doing snow angels in a bunker? I mean, none. And, you know, my relationship with artificial turf, since my home in Vegas, luckily, I've been blessed to have a nice home here and my place up in Park City at 2A, of course that I actually designed, I have all artificial turf. And when you have dogs and everything, it really works out really well. I mean, they don't dig. I don't have to worry about animals, burrowing, and stuff like that. And it looks great all the time. You don't have to water it.

You don't have to fertilize it. You don't have to cut it. What else do you need to know? Nothing. You just sold a bunch of greens. Yeah. You have a salesman and actor. Visit our friends at Celebrity Greens.

Yeah. Use code Mark Omar 20. Listen, you guys know, they're the best. And, you know, my wife, when she saw the commercial, she's like, who's the dude with the dude with the, rope. I mean, that guy's like hot. Oh, Jesus. Whoa, whoa.

How's her eyesight? Wow. She got good taste. Pretty big heads. No, calm down there. She got good taste. She likes you. She likes me. You know what I mean? She has an eye for talent. Okay. I'm glad you brought up the commercial. Okay. Mark, and you're, just be honest with me here. Between you, Parker McLaughlin, the short game chef and Sleece, who messed up their lines the most?

Sorry, Sleeze. I only had said like four words. You had like two weeks. I mean, I'll be honest. Either that or they were, uh, yeah. Sleaze, you had a lot. I had literally get your own celebrity green. How many?

A ton. A ton. I thought. I had to do, I did some ad lib there that I thought was great. I had some good shit that didn't make it into the final cut that I actually have a bit of an issue with. I saw the final end of the commercial. I'm like, where's our boy?

How come? That's it. I thought I was going to get the part where I peaked through the window and I'm looking at y'all. you know, I practiced hard for that. I took classes, did a lot of shit. Hey, Mark, you know, I totally believe you because we actually shot a commercial for our friends

over at Zone Nicotine, and his line was, shit, Kyle's here. Yeah, oh shit. And it took 27 times. There was four words. Four words is like kind of my limit. You know, it's so funny. And I love Weston and Gina Weber,

who, you know, it was their ideas to do all this. And God bless them for doing it, because we have a great team, we have a great company. But I would say this, when they showed me the clip before they were going to put it out there and social media and stuff like that, the 32nd one, they're like, genius, like, hey, we had to believe something at the end. I'm like, well, what do you mean? She goes, well, you know, you had a slip.

And I'm like, I don't know what you mean. She goes, do you think it's okay? And I'm like, you know what? Yeah, send me it. Let me look at it. So they said it to me. I played it like three times. I'm like, you know what, screw it.

I don't, first of all, if anybody knows what that blip was that I said, good luck with that. Because I couldn't really pick it up. I really couldn't. And I don't even know what I said. But obviously it was something you can't say. The commercial's good, though. There's a lot of shit you can't say, no. I'll tell you who had the most takes is Parker had to make like a five-foot putt once

and Mark would come in and say something right after. He missed the damn thing like seven times. Short game, chef can't put. We're running out of film here, dog. You're going to have to knock this thing in. It's bad for business, chef. Mark was Johnny on the spot, though. He was right there for it.

We had a ball. You know, I mean, it was a great day. It was a lot of fun to be with you guys. You know, I love listening to your guys' show on the radio. I know that's kind of weird you think as a pro golfer. I wouldn't, like, tune in, but I do. I mean, I listen to, like, three different stations when I'm driving on my truck. You know, I listen to music because I like music or I listen to my Spotify.

I listen to PGA Tour Network, radio. listen to your guy's show you guys do an awesome job you have a lot of great people that come on I've never been on but that's okay you know you guys obviously you know don't need me which is fine I'm an old guy and I don't really know shit but and then I listen to NHL network oh yeah a huge hockey fan huge I like that who's your squad well obviously when I moved to Vegas five years ago I told my wife the first thing I'm like hey we're moving to Vegas we're buying season seats So this year I didn't keep my seats But for four years I had season seats to the Vegas Golden Knights

Was that most of the games the first year And as you know, every year you cut back a little bit But my first year pretty much almost every game Like there's 41 home games, 41 road games And then a couple of years later Obviously they win the Stanley Cup I was at every playoff game Most of the games during the season

Was there in the final day When they won the Stanley Cup at home here at Team Mobile in Vegas it was amazing. It was like, for me, it was like almost like winning a major championship because I'm friends with the guys on the team. I play golf with the guys on the team, which is so cool.

And then over the last couple years, you know, my time I spent in Utah, I've gotten to know, well, Ed Bastian, who's the CEO of Delta and Ryan Smith, who owns his jazz. Obviously, Ryan, you know, bought the coyotes or brought the coyotes up to Utah. So, like, when they're bringing the

Utah bringing the NHL to Salt Lake City, I was like, yeah, I'm in. My wife's like, well, wait a minute, how can you do that? How can you pull for two teams? I'm like, why not? I can pull for both teams. I'll be happy. And so, yeah, last week on, I think it was Thursday of last week, I finally went to my first Utah hockey club game.

They played the Buffalo Sabres. I got there early. A friend of mine runs the arena who used to work for the Miller family. He used to own the jazz. Worked for Ryan Smith, who I know Ryan, who owns the jazz, and also owns the Utah Hockey Club. So I pull in down by the players, you know, that's what's kind of nice sometimes if a guy that maybe was in the Hall of Fame or whatever, play decent golf, you kind of

get some of these perks. And so I pull in down by where the players are parking, a friend of mine, Jim Olson, who runs the arena for Ryan Smith, is kind of down there. And Tony Fiena pulls in front of me. And I obviously know Tony. Tony gets out of his truck. He's got his Utah Hockey Club jersey on. Like, I bought a hoodie that has Utah.

hockey club and I had that on with my wife Meredith and I get out of the car and Jimmy's like, wait a minute, M.O. And I'd given Jimmy Olson a master's shirt that I brought for him and a master's hat because that does go a long way. You know, being a master's champ and going and spending a lot of money in the merchandise tent and bringing stuff home and always having that to be able to give away to people, it's a huge plus. And I know you guys probably hit the merchandise tent. but so I get out and I hand Jimmy a master's shirt and a master's hat and he goes I go whoa whoa whoa whoa don't go anywhere and I said what the next thing you know he comes to his truck he pulls out a Utah hockey club jersey with like number 24 with my name on the back of it

and I'm like he goes well you can take it home no no I'll take my hoodie off put that jersey on we go into the game and sit down there in the corner by the boards and got to see Ryan Ryan had just flown in because he was at the BYU basketball tournament where they were in Denver and he went to BYU. So obviously he's pulling for his team for those Cougars making into the sweet 16 now. And I sat there and watched the whole game and they won. I mean, it was really cool. I love the NHL. Those guys are incredible assets.

Live hockey, nothing better. Playoff hockey in person. Nothing better. We're going to have to get you on the radio, but 8664669-026. That's the line. Just call in any time, dude. We'll slide you right through. You guys got my numbers.

Just call me. We're going to. We're going to. Stand by on that, and it'll be in the near future. All right, my next one, you answered. One of them was about you and Tiger putting on the jacket and Butler Cabin. So that's been done already. So I'm going to just ask, I'll audible here and go with, give me the best show you've seen in Vegas.

Oh. You know what? That, I don't, like, once again, I'm kind of an oddball from the standpoint. Like, I don't gamble. I'm not a big better. I don't gamble. I don't drink. Vegas is a great place.

I guess I don't think that's alcohol. I mean, I know it's no good for you, but I drink Diet Pepsi. Like, I was never much of a drinker. So I'm not much of a partyer, but I will say this. About three weeks ago when we were up at the house in Park City, I told my wife, I'm like, look, why don't you go online and buy us Eagles tickets at the sphere? Because even though I've lived here in Vegas for four and a half years, almost five years, I'd never been to the sphere. And everybody asked me, you live in Vegas, have you gone in the sphere? Have you gone in the sphere?

No, I haven't. And so I said to Meredith, I'm like, hey, get us tickets. So she did. I came down, we came back down about two and a half weeks ago, and we went and saw the Eagles on Friday night at the sphere. We sat in like Section 204 somewhere around there. You either want to go and see them in Section 200 or 300. You don't want to be down on the floor.

And I don't know if you guys have been to the sphere. Like, I've seen the Eagles a bunch. I used to play golf with Glenn Fry. Big Eagles fan. it absolutely was incredible. I would, no matter what you think of my cost or what, even the artist themselves, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, they were both saying, and Vince Gill is obviously playing with them too.

All of them said, look, we've been doing this for 55 years. They tell everybody in that stadium in the sphere, this has been one of the greatest things we've ever done. It is an experience that is beyond experience. I've not heard one bad thing. Everyone just raves about it. Incredible. I love that.

I got to make a trip to the sphere. It looks so cool. All right. Next one. There were some videos made a couple years ago about like Tiger and Justin Thomas club twirling in all this. Yeah. I don't feel like you get enough credit. I believe you were the OG club twirler.

You know who is? You know who really is? Who? Who starts at all? Come on. Oh, Jim Colbert? Oh. No.

Arnie? No. I can see who you're doing right now with the, You grab me the collar? The collar. Lanny Wachman. Oh, that makes sense. Lanny, yeah.

Lanny Wadkins was the club twirler. I mean, obviously Johnny, too, but those guys twirled it. And then I was twirling it. And I remember when Tiger first moved in in 97 before he went to Milwaukee, we were all playing at Isleworth. And he's like, what is that when you hit like a shot like down? I said, I don't know. It just kind of, yeah, the club just twirls.

And he's like, that's pretty badass. I'm like, whatever. I said, I'm not the first one to do it. And so then he starts doing it. But I will say this. I remember we were playing that day, and literally he was getting on a plane to go to Milwaukee to play in his first pro tournament as a pro.

And I said to him, we're in the fairway on nine at Iowa, with the dog leg right to left. And he was in his car. I was in my cart. He comes over and he's like, I looked down and I said, hey, I said, you want to know something?

He goes like, what? And I said, I have learned two things by playing with the best players in the world. And he goes, what are they? You know, he was just always, he wanted to be fed information. And I said, okay, you ready? Are you listened? He goes, yeah.

And I said, number one, Tiger, to really be great, here's what you got to do. You got to learn to hit the ball pin high. You can miss left and right, but if you're always around pin high, you're going to play good golf. So what that means is distance control. Doesn't matter if you hit your adorn 120 yards or you hit your radar 180 numbers. Pin high. Pin high. And he's like, all right, I got it.

He goes, what's the second thing? I said, the second thing is you've got to have good speed on the greens. If you have good speed on the greens, you eliminate three puts and you make more puts. And he goes, got it. So those are the two things I need. Yeah, pretty much. Makes sense. I think he did okay with those two things.

Yeah, worked out all right. That pencils, that math pencils. Speaking of that, while you just mentioned that, because since you said you did all right, I want to know this is, this guy has a tough question, but obviously he's accomplished so much. 15 majors, 82 wins. but you've been around him. You played against Jack Nicholas. You've been around him.

Did Tiger Woods underachieve in his career? He did. He did. I look at it, and I remember I did Farity's show, and David asked me, he goes, okay, you know, the 30-second spot like this or that, quick answers, right? He goes, Jack or Tiger? And I said, look, that's a really hard one.

I'm sorry. I mean, I grew up idolized in Jack Nicklis. Jack Nicholas has got the most majors. He's, you know, blah, blah, blah. And then I looked at the camera and I said, you know, Jack, please don't be mad at me. Tiger Woods is the greatest player I've ever seen. And I truly believe that. And I would tell you that I look at Tiger's career.

He doesn't, if you go strictly by performance and numbers, Jack Nicholas is the greatest player. But when I look at the work that what Tiger did and the era that he did it, not, I mean, probably, look, the era that Jack did it, he played against, you know, the best. and achieve the best. But I would say that I look at Tiger's career, and I would tell you that, you know, with all the on and off course and the injuries and this and that, and the equipment, everybody likes to bring up the equipment. The equipment has made these players so much better.

I would tell you that if everybody had to play Presumman clubs and the old ballad of golf ball, I think Tiger Woods would have won more tournaments than he won. 100%. That's how much better he would. was than everybody else. And, you know, certainly it elevated the game, but I just, I don't know. I mean, I think Tiger Woods is the greatest player. I mean, I really do. And his career was shortened from injuries and then the fact that who would have ever dreamed that a golfer would come

along and not only be one of the greatest golfers or greatest athletes, but one of the most famous people in the world as a golfer. I mean, that even as great as Mr. Paul was and Mr. Nicholas was and, you know, the era before them, with social media and the interest that the game had and the amount of people that Tiger, you know, Tiger made golf cool. He made it to where parents were like, hey, I don't necessarily need to get my daughter or my son and, you know, football or soccer or basketball or whatever. You know, maybe get them introduced to golf. I mean, when I started playing golf at 12 and a half in 1969, like you didn't play

golf. Golf was not cool. golf is definitely cool now and to be fair you guys help make it that way too us and tiger us and tiger not the first time we've been compared to i could not agree more with everything you said and i don't think anyone

ever will change the global landscape of golf more than tiger woods but i think that was really really eloquent the way you put that all right you answered another one of my e-9s already so i'm in audible to this one since we're on the tiger topic give me the most memorable shot you've ever seen tiger woods hit doesn't have to be in tournament competition. I mean, I've seen him hit so many shots, but I'm going to make it real easy.

If I ever wanted Tiger Woods to do something in my relationship around him, all I would have to do is say, hey, he's like, what? I said, don't go over there. That's the sure way to make him go over there. So what I'm going to bring up is something I've never really told that much, this story, and it was, I don't remember exactly what year it was. But anyways, we're up at Glen Abbey. playing in the Canadian Open. And we play a practice around nine holes before the pro-M day. And it's just Tiger and I are out there. Everybody comes out to watch Tiger Woods.

And we get done. And we're driving back to the hotel. And we stop at a Boston pizza to get a pizza and a salad, Caesar salad. So we're sitting there in this booth. And it's Tiger and Steve Williams and myself on the other side. And I look over at Tiger and I look right at him. And I say, hey, he's like, what? And I said, I've got something you don't have.

And he goes, what's that? And I said, I've won the Canadian Open. You haven't. And he paused and he just looked at me, stared at me for like five seconds. And he goes, well, not yet anyways. And guess who hit the five or six iron out of the fairway bunker on the 18th hole on Sunday at Glen Abbey, over the water, on the green, and wins the Canadian Open that week? Yeah.

The sickest shot. That's the way he rules. The sickest shot ever, too. Yeah, one of them. Unbelievable. And to be fair, early in his career, he was not a good fairway bunker player. In fact, he was terrible. And, like, I never hit the ball that good, but I never really picked much divot,

and I kind of picked the ball or whatever. And I was a decent fairway bunker player. And you always ask me, he's like, how do you hit those fairway bunkers like that? I said, well, just pretend you're hitting it off the cart path. You've got to pick it. You can't lower like you do on all your shots. That's why you're such a great ball striker, and I'm not. But I could hit good fairway bunkers.

So he'd be out there practicing. And sure enough, that week, he hit some remarkable shots, not only the one on 18, but a lot of other ones. 17, I think he hit a really good fairway bunker shot, too. So I remember calling him after he'd won. I think I missed the cut. Of course I did. And I call him after he pulled out on 18, left him a voicemail. I'm like, hey, way to go, blah, blah, blah.

I'm not going to say anything else. Good going. I'll see when you get home. He comes out of the press room, and he calls me as he's going to the airport. He's like, hey, I'm all. I'm like, what? And he goes, I got something you don't have. And I'm like, what's that?

And he goes, my name's a lot further down on that trophy than what your name is. Always. He's always got one. He's always got a comeback. Yeah. By the way, I've played probably, I think three or four Canadian opens at Glen Abbey. Every time I'd play there, I'd walk over to that bunker. And I'm just like, how?

Why? You don't even look over there. Yeah. I mean, but who, you know, and to be fair, he hits some of the most amazing shots. And when you think about his career and what. he's accomplished, you know, certainly some of the putts that he's made, too. I mean, I tell you, look, the two greatest players are Jack Nicholas Tiger Woods. You can debate, you know, most people would say that Jack is, which he is straight by the record. But there's the two greatest

putters of all time, too, even though they don't want to admit that they were great putters. Clutch putters, for sure. Very clutch. Incredible. All right. Give me your best and worst champions dinner. You can't choose your own as your favorite. Mine wasn't that good to be fair It really wasn't I was kind of disappointed I would tell you that You know

I wasn't a member or I wasn't there Because I hadn't won yet But I've heard Sandy Lyle Yeah Everyone says that Let's come up Yeah

Yeah I didn't have to go to that dinner Because I hadn't won the Masters yet But I would reckon that that might have been That probably would go down is if you've never had haggis in your life, you certainly would want to make sure you got a lot of hot sauce. I don't. I don't ever want to try it.

No. Yeah, not good. But I thought that Scotty's dinner was amazing. Hadeki. Yeah. Matsiano's dinner was phenomenal. Scotty's dinner was amazing. You know, Tiger, a couple years ago, after he made that incredible run in one in

2019, I think that was the year. Is that not correct? That's correct. It seems like very fast. The next year he served. chicken and steak fajitas. I'm like, hey, what? Like, that was my deal, bro. And this was actually better than mine, to be fair. So I would say I saw Scotty's menu for this year. It's pretty similar to what he had two years

ago when he was up there. John Rom's meal was really good. But Scotty's, yeah, I'd put Scottie's right at the top of the list for sure. Scottie doesn't get too fancy with it. No, and Scotty just for a little fun throwing the ravioli appetizer. Yeah. Yeah. Handmade. He brought it up a notch. I guess after you won, what, nine tournaments like last year like he did, I think he can afford the bill. Yeah, that's his specialty. Yeah. That's his, all right.

Last one from me, Mo. As you said, you played the Masters for the first time in 1980 as an AM after winning the U.S. Amator the year before. Question is, could you fathom in any situation ever under any circumstances in the history of planet Earth where someone would be so dumb as to not accept that in by? This is just rude and really. Not just, it's a hypothetical. Like, could you even fathom being like that out of your brain to say no to that?

I don't see how that happens. Has that ever happened? I don't know. No one knows. Bad advisors, that's all I can say. Turn that one down. Who wants to play the Masters? Are you kidding me?

I mean, yeah. I mean, certainly, like you said, just to get the invite in the mail and certainly to have the opportunity to compete with, with an opportunity possibly to win the Masters tournament, and then knowing what that means in the history of the game and the club, and to be able to know that you're a very small part of the history of the Masters tournament and the tradition that happens there. You know, the other majors are unreal. And like people all the time would have asked me,

hey, Mark, you know, back in the day when I had my playing career on the regular tour, you know, if you could have one major, which one would it be? And, you know, luckily, I have a U.S. Amateur Trophy over there, and so, you know, Colt knows about this. But anyway, I would tell you that if I had one tournament to win and only one, I'd want the Clare at Junk. Because I played a lot worldwide, and I love Lynx Golf. And I think that Link's Golf is like the best form of golf. But in my mind, I got lucky, like, I won two of the best, because the Masters tournament, we haven't had a major since July. lie. And everybody knows that come April, it's a special time in the sports world. And you know what

that is? It ain't spring training of the beginning of the major league baseball. It is the master's tournament. Yeah, it is so special. Can't wait to get there. To turn that down, Mark, I agree with you. At least some of us were offered the opportunity. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, some of us whipped on it. Yeah, some of us just couldn't, you know, couldn't perform. All right. Don't do it. Last one. Well, let's get out. Simple question. who wins the 2025 masters? Ooh. I can only pick one, right? Yeah.

Only one. I'd say, I want Colomor Cowell to win so bad. There you go. And I think he has the pedigree to do it, right? But, I mean, it's tossed up between he and Rory. I mean, but I don't see how Rory hasn't won yet around that place. but in my personal preference in my heart, not that I would sway one way or the other,

look, I'd love to see Colomorkella win, but if not, I'd say Rory McElroy, one of those two I think is going to win. All right, so the whole, you have to pick one thing, isn't really a thing. I've got to pick one. I'm going to give you two. We'll allow it.

We'll allow it. Colin Moray with your heart, but Roy McRoy, if not. Yes. Fair enough. Well, Mark, man, it's been so much fun catching up with you. Thank you so much for all that info about the masters. I can't wait to see you under the tree

here in a couple of weeks. I can't wait you guys. You guys are the best. Are you sure you don't want to see the trophy right now? Oh, you might as well take a little. Take us a little stroll. You got to have a stroll. We got to have a stroll. Okay, I'll try to hold the camera somewhat with my ugly mug.

But anyways, so when we, most of my stuff I keep up in Salt Lake at our place in Park City. But we come to Vegas, we have the traveling road show. So when I come home to Vegas, I bring this trophy home. There it is. The Masters Tournament. What's cool about that trophy is on it, it has the Masters Tournament. It has my name and the score I shot.

But around the trophy, it has the signatures. I know you guys can't pick it up, of all the players that played in the Masters in 1998. And then next to that, over here, we have. There it is. That is the Claret Jug. And so that kind of sits down here with that. Those two, the two majors come down here.

And then over here in the corner, it's kind of weird. Because, I mean, the Masters trophy comes in a nice green box, but then I wrap up the other two. And then that one right there. There she is. Don't put that thing in the corner. That looks like it's in timeout. It's a little too tall to sit over where the other ones are. So, yeah, and then we got to show you the last thing.

On the ground in the corner by the TV. You put it on the toilet. That's where I put like, yeah. So then in the backyard's bed. Oh, look at that. Yeah, that's sick. That's where all the Vegas pool parties happen. Look at, look.

How about the flowers? Like, I'm a total flower guy. And then, oh, by the way, look at that celebrity green. How about that? Beautiful. Celebritygreens.com. That's right. That's some free.

Yeah, hell of an ambassador for them. Check out my bunker, too. Oh, yeah. That is awesome. No wonder you're so good. All right. You guys. Looks like a nice day in Vegas.

Oh, Mike. It's like 80 degrees here. It's beautiful. I love it. Well, we'll see you in a couple weeks, man. Thank you so much. Tell Meredith,

I said hi. You guys are the best. We'll see it, Augusta. All right. All right, that was Mark Omerer, and that was brought to you

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zone gets you there faster and keeps you there longer. Available in seven flavors and in six to nine milligrams strengths, find zone at zonepouches.com and retailers near you. Own your zone with zone nicotine pouches. Man, that was a lot of fun sitting down with a master's champion. Marco Mirr, just an unbelievable story. It went at 41 years old. Also followed it up with the Open Championship later that year.

But his career, just remarkable, U.S. Amateur Champion, two-time major champion, Hall of Famer, his relationship with Tiger Woods. It was just so cool to hear some of those inside stories. Yeah, we got a few, you know, I feel like we ask everyone that's been around in that era for Tiger stories. Heard some from Mark that I hadn't heard before. And he's one of those rare guys called like we talked about. Like that was a time when Tiger was pretty closed off. Like Tiger right now, a little more open.

know he's taking Justin Thomas, he's under his wing, he's friendly with all the guys. Back then, it was like very few people entered that circle. And he was one of them. And he picked off a couple major championships. He'd turned into a hell of a commercial actor as well. Sounds like you can learn from him. He's, look, he held his own. Let me just say that. The man can do some acting. But that was a fun interview, really fun interview sitting down with Mark. anytime you can join someone that put on the green jacket, cool stuff. Yep, a lot of fun.

The Masters is going to be awesome this week. Hope everyone enjoys it. And also next week, 6 p.m. Eastern, don't forget, we will be at the bank in Hilton Head Island for a live golf subpar performance. It's going to be so much fun. Hope to see you all there. Enjoy the Masters, and we'll talk to you on next week's subpar.