Subpar - Padraig Harrington Interview: Where he was when he received the call to be Ryder Cup Captain, betting with Phil Mickelson

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 3-time Major Champion Padraig Harrington joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and his close friend and on course rival Drew Stoltz for an exclusive, in-studio, interview. The European Ryder Cup Team Captain talks why he missed the initial call offering him the job, the unique pressure of competing in the event, and some of his best bets with Phil Mickelson.

Hello world. Welcome to another week of golf subbar. Colt Nose Drew Stoltz coming off the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, not technically an AM, but AT&T Pro and Daniel Berger gets the job done with an incredible final round 65. The boy looked clean, man. He's fun to watch. I really, really like Daniel Berger's golf game because he kind of goes against the mold in terms of like textbook golf swing. You know what I mean? Everybody's trying to be perfect and get out there and taking 800 videos. He's got a homegrown golf swing, super strong left hand, lays it off at the top, bows it.

There's a lot of things that no teachers would teach, but he owns his golf swing. And it showed on Sunday, like he controlled his ball better than pretty much everyone out there. And he was better on the greens too. But I just really like the kid, man. You've known him for a good while. I've gotten to know him a little bit. He's got that swagger. He's got a little bit of juice.

What do I say? If you're useless, if you're juiceless, you're... I kind of ruined it right there. Nice try, though. But he's got it, though, and I love watching that kid. And he's now up to 13th in the world. Looks like he's going to probably make the Ryder Cup team for the first time, which will be...

I think he'll bring a little juice. He's got that juice, a little drip. So congratulations, Daniel Berger. We've got to give a little shout out to our guy, Jordan Speeth. Didn't get the job done. Two-shot lead heading on Sunday, but hey, back-to-back top fives. He is trending in the right direction before that little tournament in April. Yeah, progress, progress.

Like I said last week, if it was one week at Phoenix and he didn't play well this week at Pebble, people could look at it and say, oh, it's just one round, 61, the stars aligned. He did that. But he's done it back-to-back weeks now, put himself in position. And the thing that's really hurt him a lot on Sundays of the last two weeks is that putter, which is kind of what we assume Jordan Speeth is just going to always have. And it's let him down a little, struggle with the speed of the greens. So I don't worry about that, but just seeing himself putting himself in the contention for the last couple of weeks, huge steps for him.

Yep. golf is good when Jordan Speeth is in the mix. So excited to have him back playing well. Look forward for him to do some big things. But Sleez, we have a monster guest. We're not going to waste any time. We're going to get right to it. We got the European Rider Cup captain.

Padrick Harrington in the house. And just before everyone freaks out out there, this was well before he tested positive for the coronavirus. We followed all the protocols. We were very, very safe. This happened well after. But Padraig was in the house and we had a blast with him. Yeah, it wasn't us that gave him COVID. If we're going to give it to him, we're going to give him about the week before the rider come.

I think that would be the time to give it to him. But this was so cool, we have the European Rider Cup captain in here. This conversation, we get into tons of Rider Cup, obviously. But he's a very well-fought-out guy. Nothing happens by accident with him. He's kind of quirky. But everything he does, he does with full conviction. There's nothing happens by accident.

And this conversation was awesome. And you're never going to believe when and where he got the phone call to become Rider Cup captain. Here he has. Patrick Harrington on Golf Subpar. All right. We are flattered to be joined by our next. guest he is three-time major champion with 31 professional wins across the globe and will captain team

Europe at the 2021 rider cup later this year Padraigern. Welcome aboard my man. Thank you. It's good to be here. It's actually the 2020 rider cup in 2021. I didn't know what the actual right thing. I was like it's 2021 but it's supposed to be 2020 so I just went with the current year. Well they've all the branding done. It can't change it. Oh really? So they're all going to say interesting. Oh yeah there you go. Be a collector. Well let's I mean how excited are you? I mean what an honor to be named the captain of the European Let's hope it goes ahead with full spectators and everything

Look I'm really excited to be Ryder Cup captain it's a big deal in Europe To beat the Ryder Cup and You know obviously I played a few I played six vice captain It's kind of natural to go into the captaincy role But it's a big deal You know I want to do a good job

It's tough being away Obviously you've seen that now Home in a way is You know It's tough for the Americans to beat us in Europe when we set the golf course up and equally it's tough for us to come over. Especially, I won't, I can't say this really,

you know, I'd hate to be playing a US team on a typical US golf course. So if we were going to Hazeltine, if we were going to Valhalla, if we were going to the Miracle of Medina, you know, it's so tough to be the US players on what they're used to. Whistling straits, I don't think is a popular choice

really for the US players because it could be kind of a lynx golf course and it could be windy and it kind of is a golf course. it is what it is, can't do much to us. So I'm hoping that plays a little bit into the European side. That's so funny. We haven't had the best run of lately, T-BUSA.

And now we have it in American. We're setting it up on a European golf course. Brilliant. I mean, what the hell are we doing? And in Paris, Europe did such a good job of making that golf course suit, what you guys did the best. And it's like, all right, now it's our turn. Let's have some home field advantage.

Like, oh, here's a lynx-ish style golf. I was like, what are we doing? We can pick any of these classic American places. But I'm glad you brought that up. Were you, when, obviously, it was a tough thing to have to postpone it. But were you 100% like, hey, if we can't have fans and all this, let's not do it. Oh, yeah. Like, when it happens, obviously, pandemic sort of started in March and we were scrambling

behind the scenes and we're getting things done. We're ready to go. We're getting organized. But by the time May came along, there was just so many problems behind the scene. And, you know, everybody kind of knew one thing, like, okay, you can't have fans. But there was such a mix of problem. Like, they were talking about picks. They wanted to give me eight picks.

If I had eight picks for a Ryder Cup, I've been telling people this. It'd be 24 people. The more picks you have, the more people think they're going to get picked. So if you've eight picks with 24 people in play, that's 730,000 different teams you can come up with. Okay. I'm not going to do the math. I'm going to take your word for it.

You studied accounting. I'm trusting that those numbers are right. Can you imagine many unhappy people you have? You know, obviously, you know, the U.S. have gone for six picks. I've chosen to have three. picks for the very reason I don't want that many options because you know you get people who are unhappy if the more picks you have the more people think oh I have a chance whereas with three picks with three picks in Europe you're probably going to have one pick gone for sure so you might have to

decide between five players and two picks which is you know okay three guys are going to be unhappy but it's not not too many bad phone calls to have to make yeah so we had davis love on our radio show recently and talking about the president's cup and the rider cup and he said the worst thing is having to call the guys that don't make it. So good luck with that. I've been on the end of a call when I didn't make it. And I remember the guy telling me, you know, he told me how bad I played for the whole year.

And I just let him keep talking. I wouldn't give him to, you know, I wouldn't say, yeah, thanks very much. I actually just let him kind of dig a hole. Instead of, you know, hopefully, you know, if a player doesn't make it, it doesn't mean he's not in the top 12 players. It doesn't mean he's not a great player.

It doesn't mean, it just means he doesn't suit the team you have. So I'll have nine guys qualified And my three picks would be just matching up those nine guys And unfortunately you could be the ninth there The 10th best player in Europe But you just don't match up So it shouldn't be a You know it's disappointing not to get picked

But it shouldn't be any sort of a Any sort of stigma on your game It's not like you're not a good player Clearly you're still a good player And I've been looking at the qualification at the moment Wow it's hard to make the team It's tough pick's got to be the hardest thing for being a cabin

but going back to whistling straits and looking at that golf course which is a big long golf course I think it plays 7,700 yards last time there's a major there will that course set up dictate at all how you make your picks like all right there's a big long golf course

maybe if there's a bubble guy I go with the longer guy versus the shorter things like that yeah golf course will come a lot into play for who you pick but you know if you had nine big hitters in your team well you wouldn't necessarily be looking for three more

if you had nine experienced guys in the team you'd probably go with three rookies If you have nine rookies, you go with three experience. So it really is the nine guys who have qualified. They determine what you need in terms of your picks. Well, the way that Europe's doing their points is different from the US. And you're basically starting January, the points are 1.5X for a while. And then starting, I believe, in May, they go to 2X.

Is that the best? Is that just to capture who's playing the best at the time the Ryder Cup is going to be taking place? I hope so, because I got to choose it. You know, I suppose it's slightly different in Europe compared to the states. obviously the PGA of America decide a lot you know they kind of whereas in Europe it's more because it's European

tour who run it for our side it's certainly more player orientated and we decide what their captain decides how many picks when the points start when the you know when the multiplier changes so because we've obviously had close to nine months

suspension or something like that we didn't want to discount the players who have earned their points they deserve to be there but clearly I like players who are in current form so you know the points are still counting but if you play well for the next eight months you're going to play your way into the team and I think that's fair enough

but when you look at it you've really got to be in those big events you know you've got to be in the majors you've got to be in those world events where there's some serious points you've got to be sort of maybe top 50 in the world maybe top 75 so that you're playing in Bay Hill so that you're playing in the TPC

the players where the extra points are and that's a good thing from me from my perspective I want to see the guys who qualify you know the rookies to be actually playing in the big tournaments where they're under more pressure more stress and just you know you want you you want a guy who can handle that that sort of pressure and stress and you want to you want to have a guy who's got a little bit of stature because you know he whoever is if it's a you know a rookie or somebody like that, you want them to be able to go up against the best players in the world. The US team is

very strong world rankings-wise. There's no doubt about that. You don't want them to shy away from that sort of thing. So the more he plays in majors and hopefully I want a rookie or two that maybe can get, I'm not saying he has to go and win a major, but I'd like to

see where he's feeling on a Sunday and see how he does. Yeah, you mentioned the pressure. Can you think back to your first router cup when you played six of them. What were the nerves like as your first ever ride-up? I think there's more nerves in a Ryder Cup than any other situation. So if we get nervous as a pro, say it happened, Sunday afternoon you're going to be nervous. T-in-off Sunday if you're in contention. But if you're nervous with nine holes to play in a tournament, you've played well for 63 holes. So you're feeling pretty

good about your game. In the Ryder Cup, you could be playing terrible. You know, you could have qualified, but you mightn't be playing well at all. You mightn't be having a bad week. You're throwing out there Sunday, maybe you're down the order, you know, hoping to have a quiet day. And all of a sudden, with four holes to go, the cameras come on you. You might have played awful. And yet, when the cameras come on, they don't know that. They're expecting to see you at your very best, which, you know, in a regular tournament, you would be at your very best. So sometimes in the Ryder Cup, you're asked to hit, you know, play under pressure and hit the shots when you're not feeling well.

And there's nothing tougher than that. And we've seen that many times. Yeah. Does it make it harder too in that a lot of times you're not only playing in a major you're coming down the stretch like you're playing for you

and I want to win a major championship and add to my legacy but when you're in a Ryder Cup you got a partner and then you got your entire you got all of Europe that you're representing as well I feel like that would be

even more immense than possibly even a major. Yeah, for sure you're worried about letting your partner down in the first four sessions you're worried about letting Europe down but I do feel that

a lot of it comes down to how well, how you feel about your own game and how confident you are, you know, if you're having a good week, you know, things are happening to you, you know, if you're in the singles and you've, you've won, you know, two or three points at that stage, hey, you're going to be feeling pretty good. You go into the singles and you've, you've had zero, you know, you, you haven't won a match. How, how, how, how, how are you feeling?

Like, you're desperate to get a right of a cup point. You're desperate to be part of it. That's a lot of pressure and a lot of stress. So it's, it's, there is massive pressure, but some of it is circumstantial as well how the week is going. I can't imagine that first tee shot at Paris the last time of the record. Like, haven't hit a long arm when you're that nervous. I'm just like, no, I wanted something big.

Anything but a long iron. Yeah. And you know what the problem with Paris was, it was straight down wind. Yeah. Okay, but you couldn't feel it on the tea. So you, you, you, you, there was a huge temptation to take out

the big club and hit it. But like, the ball was running out 30, 40, 40 yards. You had to, okay, it's only going to be a four iron off. tea or a three iron and it's not i don't like that starting out i can't we've had some of the rider cup guys on here talking about that first thing like dude i literally have a hard time getting the ball onto the tea well my first my same as my walker cup in 91 my first worker cup same the first writer cup when i had my first shot i literally was standing over the golf ball and had to

tell myself to go so there was no yeah there was no natural trigger to it you know you're actually standing there and and if like you're there for two seconds but it feels like a lifetime and you you physically have to go i've got to go and you you know your your your eyes have watered up your you're you're kind of you're at the maximum level of pressure and so yeah look you just thankfully the both times i hit good shot so i i i do have one lucky thing going for me in in my golfing career the more pressure i've come under when i've hit that i've actually you know when the backs to the wall I've actually tended to hit good shots so I some of my worst play comes when I'm in between you know when I'm worried about it but not panicking yeah when I'm panicking

you mentioned the Walker Cup yeah so we played I played the Walker Cup over it in Ireland at rural county down and Dustin Johnson and I were alternate shot partners in the first one and they go to announce his name and they go Dustin you're Johnson he hit it before they finished his name and I go what the hell was that he was dude I was so nervous I was wanting to get it over with I got to tell you it even better story about Justin Johnson

so 2000 and I'd say it was 2009 so I'm obviously I'm like

a double major champion I'm playing with Adam Scott TPC Sawgrass

and our third was Adam our third anyway pulled out so Dustin Johnson

is our replacement so he's the reserve now Justin Johnson who's Justin Johnson

we didn't know who Justin Johnson was 2009 so we're standing in the

first tea there PPC saw grass and, you know, hitting this little cut off the tea or with a driver. I see this kid standing there with an iron. Wow, he's nervous, isn't he? Right at about 285. This thing came off like, oh, that was a bit different. Yeah.

Like, I wouldn't have known who he was. Yeah. Like, so I knew pretty well after that tournament that this guy could play. He's, yeah, yes. You were right. It's looking pretty good. With all the success that Europe's had, you guys have won seven of the last nine, coming in as a captain, is it, are you trying to put like your stamp on things and do things different or do you just stick to the blueprint that's been working for so long? Basically tell us all your secrets.

Yeah, I was going to get to that in a minute. I want to know everything. We won't tell anyone. I would definitely stick to the blueprint. You know, what's all the good stuff that's happened over the last number of years, try and do all that. I have seen a few things that I would certainly bring up And you know, there's no major change, you know, But you definitely, there is an element of stuff that I will bring that's from me.

You know, I would assume somebody like Bernard Langer in 2004, I would look up to Bernard Langer in my whole career. He's kind of a good role model for me. And I feel I'd be a bit more like him. So I played under captains like Sam Tarrants and Ian Wuznan. who are very much put their arm around you and make you feel loved and you know they give you that feeling that they believe in you and like bernard is a lot obviously practical he actually i remember on the i tell this story i got the first the friday night we sit down at a

boardroom table for the team meeting and he sits there at the top of the table and he says yeah we'll have no one lay up into the hazard and number five tomorrow i'm saying there was only one guy who'd done that. It's a good strategy, coach. That's awesome. But he would be on the T's, and I kind of like that he'd be on the par three, he's telling you clubs. Like he, and he was like on the ninth hole, Oakland Hills, you know, we played it.

He came up there and he said, like, under no circumstances, he was telling us to lay up at the grain. He said, do not hit a foreiron in there, you know, which was kind of the club you would think. He said, anything long has been disastrous, you know. so you know he he was very much involved i don't think i would be like that but then you have to know your players and maybe there is a player that i would jump in there and help him with it with a clubbing issue and but that was bernard he's very practical as a player were you a were you a vocal

guy in the team room or were you just kind of the chilled sit back and i i i no i don't think i was that vocal i think that and that was one of the problems in 2008 and you know we were missing it was a strange year I know I know this is a strange one because you know Darren Clark didn't get picked and we didn't have a Monty who normally would lead

in the golf course and would be vocal in the room and we were kind of needed a replacement and Darren is larger than life and he probably could have done that job in the team room the three older players were myself I just won two majors and I wanted nothing to do with anything

but myself in terms of you know I was just trying to get myself organized and you know sometimes it's like that when you're you're just busy busy just trying to manage myself so I didn't do the job and the two older players

Lee Westwood and Miguel Anglehem is you know there was no leaders there we didn't do it you know and Falo you know he just we were missing everything that week and it could have been it you know I have to say the pick

that Darren Clark could have been the difference you really do need. And, you know, I would say looking from the outside with the with the US, I think that's often been a problem with them because, you know, Phil is that natural person. He's the guy that players want to follow him. The players like him. They love what he says and all that. But Phil can't do that when you have a better player in the room, Tiger. You know, Phil can't get up and tell Tiger what to do. And I think that's been a huge, I don't know, but I would assume that's an issue. You're, you need a player who feels comfortable to be out there and leading.

But it would be very hard to be doing that with Tiger Wood sitting beside you, wouldn't it? It would be. I mean, obviously, he's hurt right now. But what do you think the chances of Tiger being on that team USA will be? You know, from what I saw Tiger at the President's Cup, you know, he has changed. You know, he gave a lot more. I know he was the captain as well and he played.

I think Tiger has become more. dangerous in that environment because as I said, there is a stage, like I said about myself in 2008, one stage you're just managing your own golf. Then you get a little older and there's like in 2010 I would have had a better role in the team because I got picked and I think Tiger now understands he's got two roles to play. He has got to give back and help the other part of the team and with motivation and just being Tiger because, you know, everybody would love to follow Tiger. You know, that's, you know, if he's prepared to give that of himself, I think his team would fall in behind him. So that is a worrying area for me, for sure.

And I think that's what was like in early 2000s when Tiger was at his peak. I think that was part of the tough thing. And the Ryder Cup was like, everyone was scared to Tiger. You know, he would dare go up and sit down and eat with him and things. And all of a sudden you're sharing a team room with him. I think it'd be hard to be like, oh, let me put my arm around this guy. When meanwhile, I've been terrified of him for the last six years. Yeah.

Clearly, Tiger's changed in its personalities completely. he's a much soft or friendlier person than he was when he was back in the early 2000s, which he was a very disciplined, focused. He was a great guy to play golf with because he was just so straight in the golf course. Like he said, if Tiger said good shot to you, you knew you hit a good shot. He wasn't going to say good shot to an average shot. You know, he was just such a solid individual, but very focused on his golf. So it was tough for him at the Ryder Cup because, you know, he liked to practice at 6 o'clock in the morning and be done.

and then he's been told no you're going out at half ten you're going to be out in the golf course five and a half hours and he's saying when am I meant to do my bit of gym work when you know it was a very hard

for a good player and remember all golfers are self-managed so we did we decide exactly how much work we're doing how much practice we're doing you know when and when we're doing that whereas at the writer cup you're given like a schedule and you know you've got media 830 on Thursday

you've got to be in a tux at 3.30 on Wednesday afternoon. This sort of stuff can be tough on players. And I would have said it was very tough on Tiger because, you know, he really did. Like he did his practice rounds on tour. You never saw him at the golf course. Well, I didn't because I wasn't an early. I'm a late person, not an early morning. He'd be finished and gone at 10 a.m. in the morning.

Yeah. I never saw him out there at all. I'm with you. I went to T and off at 6.30 in the morning. but you mentioned Phil Mickelson earlier I want to bring up your relationship with him because y'all have I had dinner with y'all one night in Charlotte had an absolute blast

but do y'all have a bet every year or is it just that was back in the day when we were when I was playing certainly better I wouldn't want to be betting with him at the moment yeah no we had we feel is he's one of the few guys he's got great banter of him

you know and I know it comes across a little bit now but it's obviously easier when there's no cameras there. We've had a few good ones at different tournaments when we travel the world where, you know, usually it's loser buys dinner, pretty straightforward. I caught him once or twice. He caught me in Singapore one year, which was a real doozy because he,

so he beat me during the week, so I buying dinner and he organizes, actually, I don't know why I'm buying dinner, but he organized the steakhouse we went to, And we turn up private room, obviously they're at the back. I arrive on time, but Phil is there already. And he's got the Somali, eh? And he has all this wine lined up.

And there's like four of us. And I'm not, I don't drink wine. My caddy doesn't drink wine. Bones, as we know, is not a big drinker. But he has like four bottles already open. And he's got this, you know, he's all talk about the wine. But obviously this isn't getting, this is enough. I'm having steak and chips.

Like, you know, it's not, it's not a big, it's, this is not a big purchase. And we, we, we, we, you can't really get through much in the food, can you? So, uh, this kid comes in, or, or the, the manager comes in and says, you know, there's a kid out here, it says, 18 birthday. Can he have a picture? So brings him in and has a picture. So Phil gets a bright idea. He says, you're 18.

Oh, you'll have a bottle of wine. So Phil orders the same bottle of wine we're having the, you know, a nice bottle of wine and sends it out to him. I paid for that wine. That kid thinks that Phil Nicholson bought him a wine And he bought some He sent another bottle out to another table And they're all thinking Phil Mickelson's such a nice guy

Just trying to build up the bill He's getting all the credit for it And then he, and then he This dessert wine Eneskill You've been there It's a wine This guy looked like he talked about this wine

I even had to taste this wine Because he talked about Oh this is so nice uncle Like yeah it was As good as the price it was as bad as the price because I was paying you got a sip of it it wasn't a $10,000 sip did you ever get him back for that have you ever got to sting him back

I think with Phil you do okay yeah yeah no I've done done okay I haven't really you know as I said when you're you know generally in that sort of situation I'm having steak and chips burger and chips and a Coke I really can't burn anybody when it comes to to buying dinner that's hilarious one year at Charlotte you also got him a gift in put in his locker I got a handbag A man bag

Tell about it Yeah Now I was impressed with this Actually Yeah So you know He we saw him somewhere He's got like a little satchel

With his money in it And not a satchel But it was quite a big Wallet It looks like George Costanzas I mean Yeah yeah It was

Well man purse Yeah well It was too big to be a wallet Like it was It was you know I don't know It was like 12 inches By 4 inches

And we're going Like that's not a wallet What you do carrying that around him. He said, that's like, that's like a man bag. So we went out and we bought an actual handbag. Like this is like over the shoulder strap, you know, I don't know what the ladies would call a little bag, you know, but it was, and fair enough, we put it in the locker as a present. And he didn't say a word. He put it over his shoulder, walked around that locker room, and left the clubhouse with it on. Didn't say a word to anybody, did not explain a thing. I'm sure

there was a barred myself and my caddy there was a hundred fifty five players or fifty four players that week looking at him gone i can't believe you i was i was sitting with you at lunch when he got it and he just walks in the locker walks into the lunch here and he goes hey guys how you doing any mask yeah he he and phil is good that way like he can give it but he took it and took it the right way there was no he didn't make any excuse about it he just carried it off and yeah he can take it he takes it out yeah you got to say that he loves to be on the giving him but he can Absolutely. Do you guys feel like you kind of parallel?

Like looking at your two golf games and careers, like you've been always described as a tinkerer. You guys always looking to do something to get better. I would describe Phil in the same manner, always trying to find the next thing. You guys feel like there's a parallel there in terms of the way you approach the game? Yeah, I'd like to have won as many tournaments as him.

Look, yeah, very much so. You know, the two of us have been a little bit wild off the tea at times and we make it happen from there. You know, we don't mind having to play golf from wherever we find a golf ball. we would have good short games so there is parallels obviously he's you know

he's like you know his career like it really is like it's hard to believe how good a career he is you know unfortunately

he goes up against Tiger and you know it really is a stunning career and most of it was against Tiger which is you know that's you know it was hard to

hard to win those tournaments there and especially it's tough when Tiger was at his best it's tough to go up against them because you know you're going there and you're on a hiding to nothing and that's the hardest thing when you know, matter how well you played when you finished around the golf

and Tiger was in the tournament you checked to see what he shot and you just prayed that he wasn't you know, you were praying that he wasn't up on that leaderboard it was the one name you really looked for when you were in those years. That thing pops up at the top you're like oh god yeah here we go again but who who had obviously mentioned Phil.

Who are some guys when things are normal? Who are the guys you'd go hang out and have dinner with and stuff like that? You know, now very much Irish-based. At the start of my career, very much Irish-based too when I was in Europe. There was about 14 Irish pros on the tour, and there was no arrangements. You just turned up at 7 o'clock in the evening. Everybody would be there and you go out for dinner. And it is great crack.

And that's kind of how I've, the last couple of years, last maybe three, four, five years, you know, I was really trying hard sort of 2014-15. I had the putting yips and, you know, you're out here and you're grinding. And it's no fun in that situation. The last five years, I've enjoyed far more because I've made much more of an effort. You know, with the Irish guys, we just constantly go out for dinner. And then I really enjoy the social side of the tour now. More so than I would have in my heyday where you're working hard and you're, you know,

you're doing everything you can. Like I was telling the guys now, you know, you know, maybe, you know, back in 2008, I would have been up three hours plus before my tea time. It would have been, I would have been doing like 45 minutes in the room of exercises. I would have got to the golf course. I would have done, you know, 20, 25 minutes, 30 minutes with a physio. I would have done, you know, a 10 minute dynamic warm up.

I would have been on the range an hour and 10 minutes, probably more than three hours before my. tea time now I'm I'm there today I'm like I had an early tea time seven 40 today and I'm going you know I don't really need to get up before six an hour 40 minutes I wandered like I had 40 minutes of a warm up and I was done with 20 minutes to go like you know I I don't have when you're younger you you you do have that push and focus now I don't need to do that I can I can warm up I could probably warm up in five minutes now. Do you think you're still as obsessive

with the game of golf as you were in 2007 and eight? In a different way, I wouldn't say I really like the practice and I've got to stop myself doing that. So my biggest problem is when I'm on the range, I can hit a golf shot in the range that's second to nobody. Nobody. I was on the range this week.

I got 191 ball speed. Oh my God. You know, but for one moment, I can hit a shot second to no. a towering five iron with spin like on the range and I get so attracted and sucked into that on the range which isn't actually golf you know because say if you're standing in the range and you're hitting a five iron say on the on the range this week I'm hitting five iron out there on the range 230 but if I miss hit it I'm hitting it 215 that's 15 yards out whereas if I'm on

the golf course and I'm hitting a 210 and I miss hit it okay say I hit it 200 well it's only 10 yards out. Your better golfer being 10 yards out of 15, but I'm attracted and sucked into, well, I possibly could do this. And I think that hurts me. It hurts me to hit too many good shots in the range.

230. Yeah, that doesn't speak. 1.91. Damn, that's moving it. Yeah, but you know, I don't bring it to the golf course. Like, I got my but the problem is you don't need that.

Honestly. Like, you know, You need to hit the shot as close to the one that you think you're going to hit. Not the perfect shot. Is that all the tinkering? Would you call that like the tinkering? Is that what you're doing on the range? Like trying different things as hard as you can swing, things like that? Yeah, I do enjoy that.

Like, you know, like my caddy laughs at me because I could be on the range. And after like two, three hours, I say, I'm really, you know, I could hit more balls. And he says, but that's the same every day. Like last week, I was having a light session on the range. And I looked at trackman. 190 drivers. Light session. 90.

Flat. Just a little warm up. Flat out. Just a little baby sash out there. Flats out. How? How's your body feel? Yeah.

Well, that's what I was it. Well, like, I don't. Okay. I'm going to say it myself, I am particularly weird. That's why you're great. Perfect. I did 20 hours of flying on Monday, 11 hours of jet lag.

And on Tuesday, I'm warming up in the range. And my first shot, are coming out at 180 with my driver like 10 balls into my warmup I'm 1.91 like I'm not like I wasn't that today I'm like I'm 176 on the golf course but like how can I do that on a Tuesday after 20 and like I just I can do freakish things but that's not you know competitive golf is about repeating what you know you called you were there you know exactly you hit the shot you hit your shot over and over it's hard like you'd be a perfect example you weren't a long hitter so it'd be very easy for you to get sucked into this you know there's

one particular hole where you will see a guy go hit a golf shot and you say I can't do that but if you did your own thing all the time your stuff actually adds up at the end of the day your stuff adds up as a good or better but we unfortunately that's very hard to do throughout your career because eventually there's some new kid going to come on the block. And I would say this, you know, every time you see a player get to the top of the world, you know, most players kind of peak for about 18 months. They have this attitude to go to the golf course and, you know, they are only interested in how they're playing because they know if they play their best, they're going to win.

And then after a while there's somebody else starts playing well, and they start looking over their shoulder. And they're wondering, well, you know, if I play well and he doesn't, play well, then I win. Whereas when they're on top of the world, they're only concerned with themselves. And I think that if we had the ability never to look around ourselves, to do our own thing,

you know, we'd all perform to our maximum and if you did that, you'd be surprised how good you would be. I played with Steve Stricker this week. You know, Steve's not playing a power game out there. He's not, he's playing his own game. He's leading the tournament by playing his game.

And if he, you know, if he, you know, if he decides to look, he's good. I think sometimes as well, Steve knows his game, so he's committed to doing what he's doing. I get drawn into the fact, well, I can actually do the same. I could possibly hit the golf ball like, like Rory or DJ. So I get drawn into that. Whereas if you're a lot of guys who, again, as we've seen,

the more one-dimensional you are, the better as a pro. So we all go. to the range and we want to hit beautiful fades and draws. But the best pros, barred tiger who worked the ball very well, the best pros are ones who are stuck with one shape. It's a big draw and a little draw, or it's a big fade and a little fade.

And they don't have any other choices. They just, and it makes it very clear. When you're only hitting one shot, but we want, and again, I'm in this, I want to be able to hit the perfect draw

and the perfect fade. But it's not what you need to be a professional golfer. It's what you need to look good. Yeah, very interesting. So let me ask you this, it's staying on the same topic. Your obsessive practice and your constant tinkering, do you think that was your biggest asset and led you to have the success that you've had? Or do you think there were times where you'd be like,

I wish I could just shut my brain off and be like, you know what, what I got right now is pretty damn good and I'm going to stick with it. Well, I did shut my brain off to win the majors. I had a good formula, a good way of peeking, and it took me three weeks to shut my brain down. So literally for three weeks, no practice. No, no technical stuff. And I managed to calm myself down.

this was before the before each major was that for you to not practice when you're a guy that's hitting 190 drivers I'd still hit shots I'd still go out but no technical practice okay so no nothing working on the swing I basically used the swing I had

I think yeah it's like I'm this is I'm in my 50th year so I'm committed this year to give myself a run at what I can this year and I know that means no more technical practice I've got to stick with what I've got.

I've got to play the game in front of me. And it is interesting. I've done so much technical stuff, so much left brain stuff. It's hard to shut it down. I used to be able to, but it's not a light switch. And I think people, you know, for the general punter out there,

you know, you go to the range before you go out and play and you have 20 swing tots. And then you expect to go to the first tee and have be calm in your mind. you know and i've been doing that too much as well i'm not you know but if people are listening to this at home the less they the better off as i said with a five minute warm up where they don't get to think about their swing than an air warm up where they have a hundred or 20 swing thoughts because you can't be calm in your brain if you're if you're overthinking stuff on the range and i i fall

into that category and i think do i have regrets about no because that's who i am you know i All the stuff I've done over the years, good and bad, made me who I am. Have I lost tournaments because of it? Yes. I was famous in Europe. I think I've 30 runners-ups. And there was a good period where there was a lot of runners-up at a time. And some of them were good runners-up where I played well.

But I know I closed too many ranges on a Saturday evening when I was leading a tournament. And that's silly. Because obviously I was in contention. I was playing good enough. I was leading the tournament and oftentimes on a Saturday I'd find something to really spark me off oh, I'm hitting the ball great

and go out and hit the ball better on Sunday but wouldn't make good decisions. Cockiness. Very interesting. Cockiness, you know, if your game is, if you're... I think you're both proof. Exactly.

And I, you know, you take on a pin with a five iron because you're hitting the ball well. But, you know, if the other days you'd be patient and go, no, I don't need to look at that one. I'll just wait for the wedge. shot. And, you know, you make your birdies when you have your opportunities and you, yeah,

I definitely, you know, that's who I was. And if I was talking to it, you know, that's my experience. Unfortunately, when you gain experience, it's no bloody used to you. It's too late. Yeah. Do you think you'll be able to calm that mind, mind and brain down during the Rotter Cup, being a captain? I don't have to hit any shots. No, I'm going to be, you know, I hopefully will be, overthinking it well not overthinking it but we've a good yeah I'd be

thinking and I've good vice captains I've got to say and that's quite important because the one thing people at home wouldn't know at the writer cup there's a lot of distraction for the captain you know there's a lot of media there's a lot of pressure there's a lot of time

constraints there's a lot of things to be done he doesn't get you know it's not as simple as people would like to think that he's there nice and relaxed and he's able to see everything he's not. So your vice captains are very important. What is something maybe like even we wouldn't know

like being a captain of the rider captain, what is something behind the scenes like you've had to deal with already that probably you've never even thought about doing? I spent like over an hour on hats. There you go. Over a house. The uni is important, man. They done a presentation about how.

hats. I thought I was buying the company after 15. So I can tell you that New Year built, made the first baseball hat. So they started off in the 20s making hats for Wall Street. And I think it could have been around the Great Depression. Cleveland Indians, they made a hat, baseball hat. So they made the first baseball hat then. Now, obviously, they've moved on and they showed me all their iconic, you know, pop stars, movie stars who wear New Air hats. And I sat through how many four panels and six panels. And if anybody's ever seen me wear a hat, they realize I don't wear a baseball hat very well.

It's generally a little bit crooked and it sits down in my ears. So I end up at the end of the meeting, and I was very, I says, you know what I'll do? I'll get you two players off my team who know a bit about hats, who like hats,

and they would come and you can do the presentation. But it was a full hour on hats. It was fun. As I said, I do understand the business proper of this. of New Era now but it's but I will say this

the likes of Rory has never worn a hat at the rider coat so many Europeans seem to not wear him for the rider well it didn't fit him that's why he didn't wear

it so now you know New Era are pretty good they have so many different styles that he will have a hat that will fit him so he likely wear one this time that's good news

these little things yeah well I actually I would tell all my players and this is a selfish thing wear a hat And you might go, what's so important wearing a hat?

Why would you, you know, if you have the option and not wearing a hat, why not? But this is really, they'll take so many pictures you during the rider cup

and if you're not wearing a hat, they will use them in every publication for the next two years without your sponsors. So I say, put your hat on so that, you know, and, you know,

if it's a golf magazine or something or not, you know, somebody's trying to put a picture out a year later and it's got to write a cup hat on it, everybody well that's out of date so they have to use a current picture with your current sponsors is it things captains know well it's a player no you should know it's very frustrating as a player as he said if you know this picture keeps turning up and you're going your sponsors get on to you

and go well you're paying for that hat you know why aren't you wearing a hat and you go well it's it's out of date where would you say being named rider cup captain ranks in your career well i was sitting on the toilet when i was told oh god that is awesome okay Let's break this down. How did it all happen? This is Padraig. Yes. Hold on.

Give me a second. All right, now I go. Yeah. Yeah. You know, in Europe, they kind of go about it. As I said, they ask, are you interested? They get two or three people interested. They bring that to the players' committee.

Usually, they would have a favorite. so they'd know but they would have a second and third just so it would some years it's competitive and i think this time round i was lined up to be captain so i i was probably aware and it would have been a surprise if i wasn't captain so yes i didn't know when the phone call would come obviously because as i said it was clearly and when i did get the phone calls from mr guy kinnings to to inform me that it was officially the deal was done, I suppose I was doing the

scared of shit, surprised the shit out of him. That's great. Is it hard as the captain, like when it comes to selecting the team, you've had a relationship with all these, more or less, I feel like every guy in your team you'll know in some capacity. Is it hard to separate? Like, all right, let's put the best team together, but also set aside friendships.

Yeah, well, it's interesting for me because you know, I suppose some of these players I've played against. Okay, they are younger than me. So some of them I've been competitive with, so they're my peers, and then we have some young guys. And, you know, some of these young guys, they don't know me. If you know, you know, so I have to build a relationship with them.

But most of the guys, the older guys, I have to maybe soften my relationship with, because, you know, I would have been a feisty enough character on the golf course, and I know would have been a hard nut in that sense. So I have to be a little bit softer now. and not see people as my competitors. Now, as you get older, that happens. You know, if I meet somebody who I played against 20 years ago and, you know, say we were rivals,

you're now, because you shared the same experiences, you now feel like your friends and you seem to remember that day that we went at it sort of thing. So there's an element of softening with some of the guys that competed against, and then there's an element with the younger guys of just trying to build that relationship. I got a question here about the Ryder Cup

because I think you're in a unique time in terms of Team Europe. And I'm going to preface this by saying, I know a lot can change in the next eight months in terms of way guys play. But as it stands currently, some of the stalwarts and the staples of the European team currently wouldn't be on the team,

like Justin Rose, Sergio, who are something like Ian Polter, right? Those are guys we've used to seeing for years and years. And so do you feel like this is somewhat of a transatlantic of a transition year where some of the guys that we're used to see and make huge puts and do things for Europe might not be there and there might be some new faces in there that some of the American you know casual fans may have never even seen play really yeah yeah and even having this delay of a year could be a year too far for you know some of the guys are getting older there's no doubt about

it and i think europe has done well in the past by having new fresh faces in the team by having rookie. So I do see there's a little changing of the guard. There is enough of those guys that there will be, I don't think if you look at the team, there's still going to be nine players or so that are super experienced. It's just that we

might have 12 or 13 or 14 players that are super experienced and some of them are definitely, you know, there's just not enough spots for them. But you know, there is a little bit if you turn around to me and say, hey look, you can have the players who played in Paris in the exact same form.

Well, wouldn't that be happy days? You know, it would be nice. We'll have to wait and see. You know, another eight months, you know, it's good to see somebody like, like Frankie Mollinar. He hadn't played really for a year.

And he's come back and played really nicely, you know. So things like that are nice. Alex Noren, you know, who was great in Paris, is showing a bit of form. So, yeah, you know, Justin Rose is coming back, I think, you know,

he had a little bit of a sluggish period after the change. the clubs. So that's nice to see those guys are coming back into form. You would have to think, you know, Holter and Sergio, if they show, you know, they're such Ryder Cup store. It's, you know, it's nearly like they're old of Ryder Cup. So, you know, things like that. It will all depend on how many, obviously how they play, but there's enough of them, Lee Westwood as well, has come back into good form. There's enough of them that there's, you know, there will still be plenty of experience in the team.

You're picking and choosing between them though. There's probably there's probably six really experienced guys there and three of them will probably qualify and maybe one or two of them could have a pick.

It depends how many rookies are in there. No matter what you're going to have a super team, we know that. And just take it easy on us a little bit though. I mean, you know, I'm such a big fan of you that obviously it's going to be hard for me to root for Europe, but I want to a little bit just because of you. That's like treason.

It is like treason. You know what? You know what? Like, just take it easy. I will accept for anybody who likes us Europeans, who maybe likes me, the Irish, whatever, I will accept for you to cheer as hard as possible for your home team to really give it socks and just be neutral to us. That's all we ask in the golf course.

You know, just give it absolute socks, create that atmosphere. create that energy, cheer away, really love it, does be neutral, just in terms of let us try and play our golf, you know, clap if we hit a good shot, you know, ignore us if we hit a bad shot. But, you know, I think the Ryder Cup can be so special that we both teams, and even when you're in Europe,

it's the same thing, you know, in Paris, we saw balls hitting the water by the US and there was cheers going up. That's not right in golf. In golf, just cheer and support your home team. as hard as you can, polite to the opposition, and everybody can play and let us go at it. Because I think the players have found a nice balance.

You know, when I started off in 99, you know, there was conspiracy theories. We didn't know each other. You know, it was them and us. Now the players, we play hard on the golf course, but we celebrate together on Sunday night. There's a good relationship between the players. And we, and you go on the golf course,

you fight tooth and nail, you try so hard, you really give it 100% but you shake hands afterwards and not the beauty of golf and it's got we really got the right of cup in a nice place that the players you know

going back 30 40 years ago when it started to become a match there was too much acrimony in it there was too much them and us in it you know that now I suppose because it's more of a world tour the players get on

and we don't when we're on the golf course, you know, it's funny on the golf course, you know, it really is, it's full on on the course, you know, when it comes to, you know, different situations.

I've seen, you know, straightforward rulings. You know, you've got to love this at the writer cup. You know, you can have a ruling on the PGA tour and a player might say, player might say,

my ball is plugged. In theory, just hypothetically. Just hypothetically. Yeah, just throwing something out. And I swear to you, if that happened on tour if it was casual water

something like that every player on tour would go yeah and just wave it over you know what you're doing and look after there's no way you get involved

with another player you yeah you're good if you tell me that's casual water I ain't coming over in the writer cup it's like a 15 minute

ruling for the referee and you're like yeah oh yeah you go there's well yeah you go there bring in a scientist

yeah yeah I've seen that happen. It's not as bad now, but I think, you know, certainly, you know, if it was a regular event, every pro knows how to proceed. Go ahead. Just get it done there. You go about your business. Because everybody's concentrating on their business.

But it is funny in the writer's up how these things do turn into an inquisition rather than, you know, this is a straightforward drop. Go ahead. That's kind of cool because that doesn't happen unless there's a ton of passion behind it on both sides. you know what I mean? Yeah, I think it gets, that's because it's serious and people are maybe worried about

getting it wrong from both sides and, you know, I don't think, I think tiny, 30 years ago, I think there was worried that somebody was trying to take advantage, you know, because it was so,

you know, it was so much against each other. Now, as I said, players are good with each other. They want to beat each other with the golf clubs. That's the key now.

We want to, we want to outplay, Europe wants to outplay this. States, they want to out play us, want to hit the shots. And the reason the players play, remember, they don't get paid to play the Ryder Cup. They play for the glory of it, the atmosphere, for hitting the shot in front of the crowds and the crowds cheering and the, maybe your fellow teammates, that's sort of the atmosphere, the bonding that you get from playing and winning points under the scrutiny of the crowds.

It's the crowd. Like you mentioned earlier, you know, who knows what's going to happen with this pandemic going forward? Let's hope it's all good to go in September. But the players more so than any other event play for the crowds that week. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's the greatest event. It's my favorite sporting event in sports. I love a lot of other sports.

Now that we're all best friends, tell us how you do it. It is up there, though. It's my favorite. If you're a non-golfer, if you're a golfer, you have a, have to go to it. That's it. If you're a golfer and you can get to the masters, you have to go to it. If you're a golfer, you should go to the other majors, especially if you're a US golfer, you should go to the open. So those are bucket list things for a golfer. But the writer cup is actually a bucket list for a sports fan. I've gone to the Super Bowl. Okay, I like American football,

but it's something you have to do. You've got to go, I've got to the Olympics. As a sports fan, you've got to go and do these things. The Ryder Cup is right up there as something. that if you're a sports fan, don't need to know anything about golf, you can still go and have a great time understanding that you're watching people sweating out in the golf course. You're watching people, you know. And I think that's true with all sports.

You know, people ask me, you know, if I watch any sport, I say, well, as long as there's pain involved in it, I'm going to watch it. You know, as long as the person losing, it means something or the person winning. It doesn't matter who's playing what the sport is. If you could see the agony and ecstasy, you're going to enjoy watching it.

And that's never more clear. That's why the Ride Cup is so cool. You mentioned no money, no nothing. It's just for the pride. It's just for your country, your team. And it's my favorite sporting event in the world, and I'm looking forward. We can't wait for it.

All right, but now. Actually, now, I have to say this. Now, I played with Dan Marley this week. Did you? Thunder Dan. Yeah, on the Dream team. So there's another one who played for Glory. He can play a little bit, too.

He is a very good golfer. Scratch golfer, and we get paired with plenty of scratch golfers and pro-ams and this and that, and you kind of go, yeah, I'd be happy to take him on. Not that. Dan knew what he was doing. He's a big man. How'd you like that back swing? His nickname's Thunder is more of a lightning back swing.

Yeah, he's got a little short, snappy. You know, I've been doing some videos for social media videos, and now I'm putting them on YouTube with golf lessons. So I did all, everything I know is on Instagram and Twitter. So I'm now putting it all on YouTube And I put one out this week on bunkers Thankfully I was 4-hour 4 100% this week I was under pressure But I had two recorder

And the other was on wrists And actually I teach amateurs To do it like that Amateur golfers think that they're going to hit the golf ball Properly or further By using their torso and hip turn It adds so little to the golf swing it's a little bit at the top end

you know making the proper turns but most of the speed comes from just swinging your hands and arms and your hands determine where the club face is so why do people try not to use them and Dan is a great example of somebody just gives a little flick he puts a strike on it you know and he hits it out there he hits it that's cool and his hands are massive

yeah well okay that's your hand you feel like a little baby he's a massive I mean you watch him on TV when he's like oh he's not that big and then you see him in person you're like oh my Yeah, and he moves it for a back swing that gets to about right here. All right, now here we go. Let's get into the segment we call Emergency Nine, Nine Fun Questions. Just know a little bit more about Patrick Harrington.

Okay. I'll start it off. We ask this to everybody. There's a movie being made about the life of Patrick Harrington. You can pick any actor to play you. Who's it going to be? Dead or alive. Yeah.

You know, I obviously should pick somebody who is, I would go, I should pick the, I would like, Matt Damon Okay No Yeah Do you have one I have Liam

Neeson Yeah you know It's funny When you pick Taken Yeah I know But he's Irish He's Irish

Yeah but the problem is You never look to your own If you know what I mean Yeah You've got your Irish actors You go Oh I'm not too sure About that accent

Or that you know You prefer Yeah He's a little bit tall now To do his job I think Matt Would be more athletic I had Jim Carrey

I don't know Why I just kind of Oh wow, that's a big problem. Yeah. Funniest man alive. All right. You used one earlier in the show. I want to ask you, what's the, what Irish slang word do you use the most in your everyday vocabulary?

FEC. It's like, yeah, like, feck. FEC. So FEC, so in school, Feck is actually, so my teacher would say to us, Fekik a Vic, right, which means it's Irish for you will see son. So a Vic is son. so you will see son. So you know, as in trying to... Interesting.

You got that? So Feck is a shortened version. Most people think it's actually it's a bastardization of F-U-C-K. That's what I thought. Yes. It is, but it's actually an Irish word as well to see. Oh, it's a real, okay.

It's a real word which means to see as in which are I is to see. So you say fact, like that's a regular word? FECC would probably be the most regular one. Because you said earlier, I think you said if the average punter out there, what's punter? A punter. A punter. in general is a gambler

somebody who's but we now is turned over to any person who is watching the sport. He's the general punter out there. God, it's amazing. I just, I would use that. I'm trying to explain it. Just a punt. A punter would be the guy betting on a horse race. He's the one putting a punt on it.

Because he's either gambler or someone at least watching it. Yeah, but it's now turned into... For all you punters out there. Yeah, everybody who's sitting at home who's got an opinion. Yeah. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, We're your average punter. Colt has done it, sorry. So you're a punter.

Perfect. I like it. Fair. All right, next question. I know you're not the biggest drinker. You only do it when you celebrate. But Sleaz and I, we like to get amongst it a little bit and drink. If we're going to go toe to toe with Darren Clark and Shane Lowry,

who would we have a better chance of handling at the bar? Not fighting, just drinking. I'm going to tell you the truth about Shane. Darren Clark's going to win that hands down. There we go. Shane has to slow down. He's like, he's like 10 o'clock half 10 he's like already gone he he's had too many too quick that he needs to go to bed

he tires out yeah that's funny you know i should be telling dc yeah no that's great great no i've seen it in person me and him went out over at the british open we missed the cut in world trur and went out and i saw it i know exactly what you're talking about so he goes harder than peaks and then yeah he has but dc can go in front of with his open championship win he did manage not to not not not to need to go to bed at 11 o'clock at night. I would be very disappointed if he would have went to bed at 11 o'clock after one in the open in Ireland. Yeah.

Maybe he's maturing. Yeah. I feel like that celebration ended about three weeks ago from the articles I've seen and things like that. You know, Ireland's a small place and we really do. I think we're one of the better countries in the world for enjoying our success with people. I don't believe, you know, some people who say, oh, you know, begrudge it. I don't think they do.

I think they enjoy nobody enjoyed like Shane is really a man of the people very much so a man of the people at home he's you know you could get him on

on any sport show and he would sit there and talk about gated football or hurling or soccer he's very much you know he's very comfortable whatever sport

he's one of the lads really he's awesome yeah that's probably why his win was so popular it was very very popular he's just he's a

kind of down there guy that they they by the way i am saying that some of this is image you know most kind of people shame works hard he works hard in the gym he doesn't drink during golf events you know this has changed by the way in professional golf so you know when i started out back in the 90s the culture was you know you finish around the golf a couple of pints in the afternoon back and a couple of points of dinner you know it was normal you know i always you know i always Obviously, people like me came along and, you know, we started working more and more and more. There was no drinking. So you very rarely find at a professional golf tournament any pro drinking during the week.

Now, they've kind of, it's gone more now to this stage and this is, they have a good way of, you know, obviously they're young guys. So they're not talking here. You know, they should be out and join themselves. It'd be crazy if you're in your 20s, you know, not to be living your life. but they're very serious about golf they work very hard if they miss a cut or something like that if they're missed a weekend off

yeah you'll see guys go out and enjoy themselves but they don't do it and Shane is a perfect example because he would have people would be at home thinking you know he's having a couple of points he's not he doesn't drink at all during a tournament he works hard he's pretty big into going to the gym

he's nowhere near as big as you think he is you know people look at them on TV and think, oh, he's a big lad. He's a big strong fella. He's a fairly barrel chest guy, so he's never going to look skinny, and he wouldn't be a good golfer if he was skinny. You know, wouldn't suit him. But I think he's very much

the perfect, you know, he has that stereotype because he's Irish and that, you know, maybe he's out there enjoying himself too much. It's not that at all. He has a good balance to time and a place, because we know as well, a pro who comes out

and tour and has room service every night and doesn't leave his room. He will not last. You're going to turn into a mental midget. If you're sitting in, and I would say this, if there's a businessman out there, a businesswoman out there, if you're traveling, the one thing you never do is spend time in your hotel room. Because if you sit in that hotel room and start looking at those four walls,

you're going to find yourself problems. A lot of problems. And we've seen that with professional golfers, again, because we've a good system in Ireland, a good mix of where we've had to drag pros out, you know, who've had a bad day or an average, like drag them out of the room. You're not staying in.

You're coming out at dinner. Because if you don't get out and relax, that two hours for dinner or whatever it is in the evening time, that's when you can reset and get yourself away from thinking about three put in the 18th. Yeah. Yeah. You just do not spend time. I would tell you, I haven't had room service.

10 times in my career. Really? Don't spend time in the room. That's interesting. Yeah. It's a good bit of advice. It's a big thing for European pros coming across. We've had a good few good pros come across to the States who have failed in the States.

Just, no, doing them well. If you don't, if you come to the States on your own, because we don't know the US sports, especially college, completely lost on college sport. You know, the professional sports, great. college sports just kills me when they start talking about and going, you know, why are you a diehard fan of that college

you went for three weeks? You know, if you don't finish your college in Europe, that's sort of on your CV that disappears. Over here, you guys carrying the colors of a college that they went for three weeks and flunked out. I just don't get this. And I don't understand the college side of things in the States. But again, if you're European,

it gets very lonely over here. It's kind of weird that you've got to bring somebody. So I have my best friend basically caddium for me. So he ain't going to sit in the hotel room. So every night, you know, we're going to go out. And like, we oftentimes will come back to the hotel because I practice. Because I was practicing hard, come back at six in the evening. Could be a couple of hours sleep.

And we go out, we could go out at 9 o'clock till 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock. because you feel like you're living if you go out at that time. Honestly, if you go out for dinner at 6 o'clock in the evening, if you go out and get drive-thru, if you get takeaway at 6 o'clock at evening, if you go for the early bird menu, you do not feel like you're living alive.

Hey, you're off to tell us. But I'm not saying I wasn't drinking on those nights. You know, as in, but I would go out many, like the European, I'd have enough sleep. I'd go out from 9 o'clock. to 12 o'clock and I'd feel like I'm living alive because you know you don't feel like you're living in a life if you're if you're finished a half six and you're sitting in your hotel room you know trying to find something to watch in TV that's that's not a that's not a healthy place

yeah yeah and then you do it week after week after week you drive yourself absolutely the things you learn about I know I know dude I feel like I'm going to be taking notes right now all right all right project next one is it disappointing when you go to all these tour events and the practice facilities aren't even as nice as the ones you have in your backyard I've seen it on social media, dude. It is nice. It is a joke. At first when I thought, I was like, that's a country club.

That's weird. The clubhouse is right next to the green like that. And then I'm like, no, this is this house. It's crazy. Yeah. You know, what would you do with it? Like, you know, as a kid, you, you, I didn't have a practice ground in my golf club was a hundred and twenty yards straight up a hill with a howling gale off the right. So I always wanted a practice ground.

And of course, you grow up. you're successful, you make money, you know, so you buy what you want. I'm not, I'm not a, yeah, I just,

it's incredible. But it's the only thing I wanted. Yeah, you're like, if you looked at me, you're probably fine, well, you know,

I did a couple of cars, you know, how silly is that? Wow, I remember having a car, I remember the worst, I remember buying like an 850 BMW and they,

they laughed at me, my friends. I didn't put, I didn't get to 2,000 miles on it. Wow. And I'm very bad with cars. So I just leave.

And of course, if you just leave it sitting there, you come back like two weeks later. And like, it's battery's dead. This car never moved. It just didn't move. Good purchase. It was a great purchase because it then realized, wow. You know, you just, you just, yeah, but you have to go through it, don't you? You have to learn buying all the, and by the way, cars are twice the price in Ireland and they are in the US.

Like it's very easy to drive a flash car over the US in Ireland. When you, I have never put, like I, I actually have a few cars, but the first car I bought in 1998 was first car I ever bought. First car I ever owned was a Mercedes SL 500. I still have it. Really? And it hasn't got 30,000 miles on it. That's hilarious.

Well, you don't got to leave because you got your practice facility in your back. Last question on that. Do you have like Greenskeeper or something? Because it looks perfect. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Of course. I don't, yeah.

Yeah, I didn't know if you were out there moan or not. No, no. No, I'm not. I don't, yeah. If you haven't seen it on social media, check it out. It's the best backyard. It'll make all of you very envious. All right, next question.

I'm sure you've seen Connor Moore. He impersonates a lot of different tour players. You being one of them. On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate his impersonation of you? I would give him nine. Nine, no. Yeah, I think he's really, he's got it down. Like, at the very start, I would,

wouldn't have done it. I give him nine. I actually like, I like his impressions. He, he, very hard when you're doing impressions because you want to make them funny. They've got to be close,

but they can't go over to, over the line. And I think he, I suppose, obviously because now he works with golf channel, he does have to be, does nice, nice, good.

Now, I will have to say, obviously, you know, if you're not being parodied, you're not, you're not doing well, right?

But I have, I'm a permanent fixture on most of the radio shows at home. So my permanent fixture is literally every time on a radio show, it's the truck reversing. It's part of it all the way. That's right. I like it. Good job, Connor.

That's nine. Yeah, that's the tip of the cap. I think he's a, because we've seen him obviously progress. He's really done a nice job. And he's very, you know, it's amazing with this. as he's improved, you can see how he's trying to learn all the time. And he,

he, it's, it's, it's, there's an artist in there. It's, an artist with a bit of work. It's not, it's not, it's not all talent. Yeah, that's a town. His polter is, and it might be my favorite one. All right, next one. Any chance the Podrick Harrington handlebar mustache makes a return for the rider. I mean, we gotta have the people want this, dude.

If you told me it would make a difference to my team, I would absolutely, actually, I think the Americans would embrace it. If they should, see you show up looking like one of the hells, angels out there but i like this guy yeah actually i'm just thinking to myself you know there is a kind of thing now and god they haven't brought it up but i'm sure they will you know if you thomas peorne did this he got a tattoo yep yeah right on his butt right on the butt with a half point too i don't have any tats so what do i mean let this would be a great show to it's so the butt's completely available yeah that's great would you would can we say

you'll do that if you do get the win no you can't dang it nothing to do with you guys. It's true. I just want you to say on our show that. There's only 12 people that can say that. Okay. Okay. And they ain't you guys.

That's fair. Nobody could push me into this, but 12 people. And unfortunately, I shouldn't have brought it up because, yes, this could cause me. Yeah, this could be an issue. We're the 13th and 14th. No, no, I'm going to tell you. And nobody's listening to this, obviously. Clearly.

You're not allowed tell them, okay? I'm hoping they've forgotten. I don't think they have. They're going to have something playing for you. I'm hoping. Wasn't it Paul Casey? He was like, it wouldn't be the worst if we missed this buck because then there'd be an extra half point that gets tattooed on his ass.

He came on and told us that story. It was the extra half point. You did have to get the... That's another, I don't know, what does that take? 30 seconds of getting asked. It's so funny. All right. Is it mine or yours?

It's you. Man? Okay. Obviously, you're going to be captaining in Team Europe. We don't know who the team's going to be yet. We have an idea of some guys that are going to be on there. If you had to pick one guy, current guy right now, that's most likely going to be in our team to make a 10-footer

to win the Ryder Cup, who's it going to be? Wow. Last match, this whole thing's tied, 10 feet. For all the marbles, as we say. Who would I want that to be? A lot of punters watching. Yeah, well, you know, clearly I'm not, I'm... Sorry, Rory, it's not you.

Okay, okay, okay. We'll assume he already won his match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rory, you've won five and four. Yeah, yeah, yeah, early there. Early, early. And true, you know, I think I think I, you know,

couldn't look past John Rann. I just, you know, he's a young guy but he looks like he's just got a lot of bottle. Yeah, I'd like to have him on the heart team. He does. Yeah. He wants that light too. Yeah, he looks like he.

He wants that stage. You know, it, you know, I'm trying to think back through the guys who have puts to win, you know, obviously Kimer holding a nice cup, but he's been a lovely putter. But Paul McGinley holding the winning putt in 2004. Paul McKinley was the unluckiest putter that's ever set putt.

I played a lot, obviously, a lot of team golf, a lot of golf with Paul. And like, Paul is the guy who could hit the perfect putt all day and it would miss. Wow. And then, you like, yeah, he was like always a great teet green player and always like a poor putt. I'm not saying a poor putter because he wasn't a poor putter, but he just didn't hold puts. You know, he'd have 36 puts around.

thing. It was like, and for him to be presented with the winning putt and then to hold it, everybody now thinks, oh, yeah, McGinney was a great putter. And it's the one thing he, like, he was a great ballster. Paul McKinney was a beautiful golfer, beautiful ball striker, you know, Tide Green, lovely, like, player. And now he's forever known as, ah, he must have been a rubbish ballstrike and a great putter. That's funny.

I like it. One add on to that. I'll give you all time, Europe. It doesn't have to be current. It could be any, any era you ever want. 10 footer I'd have to pick Sevi yeah I do I just think yeah you know there's something about putting to something about golf that it's not all of us you know it doesn't not all about being perfect perfect put and stroke there's a

will and a want and I do believe that you can actually be so driven and want to hold a put that you can make it happen and I think Sevy was that way you know Can't argue that. Yeah, the words red on Sunday. That's done a few of those too. All right, next one, ready? I think you have, I'm going to pose this as a question. Sorry, that was a European.

Yes, yes, that was a European question. You do, like, maybe not right a cup wise, but like Tiger, obviously. Yeah, Tiger would probably be. Had the will and the one to hold a part. Yeah. He's a good bit. I'm not sure that one of Tori Pines popped over and bounced in the hole. Every time I watch it, phenomenal.

It's like, no, that's right, right, right. Nope. Count it. Right here, right here. Plixie. I tell you what, you know, you know, you know, the other guy who's wearing black and red in the sunday patrick reed looks like a guy who can do that too he uh yeah yeah that's a that's a subject for another day yeah yeah he say what you want about the man

he rolls the rock and he ain't afraid of a whole lot but yeah yeah well um he just he just seems to like drama he feeds off it i think it fuels yeah yeah without question all right next question i'm gonna ask this to you this a question to you i want you to answer it i think you have arguably the most unbreakable record in all of sports. Do you know what it is? No. If you had to guess, you're the only player to win three

par three contests at Augusta National. Yes. Is that the most unbreakable record? I don't think anyone wants to bring it. That's why I think it's the safest. I, and, you know, I'm entitled to actually go and play the Masters Par three tournament every year. I got my invite this year and now.

I can't see myself turning up to try and win it unless I'm in the tournament. But I really want to win. the paratry and the masters you want to break the curse oh i don't believe there's a curse i want to prove everybody wrong i don't believe there's been enough time over time there only there's a what's been 75 masters or so or a little bit more that's not enough to prove that you can't do i just really like the idea i my whole life i want to prove everybody wrong i've a big you know i'm the youngest of five boys so you know it really is like if you told me that sky outside was was

was blue, I tell you it was green. And I'd want to, you know, I like that sort of thing. And the masters, I always, I try, I want to go out there and win it so that I could just prove everybody wrong. I love that. You're clearly not superstitious then, yeah? I would make every effort to debunk any superstition. Absolute rubbish.

You have to be. If you're going to win that three times. But you do realize superstition works. In what regard? Well, if you believe it, it works. Oh, if you believe it, yeah. Trick yourself. Yeah.

Yeah, the placebo effect. But the problem with it, and this is why I don't tolerate superstition, as much as it works if you believe it, it works against you very quickly if you believe it. So, like, you know, parking in your favorite car park spot and you win great. And then what happens when it's important and you don't get your favorite car?

You know, it's, you know, and you're going to wear out your favorite pair of underwear anyway, like, you know. Yeah, been to me, dude. I was into my career. My lucky greens. Last question. We were talking before the show. you like you you you'll drink to celebrate yes okay when you do something cool so you obviously

you've got a claret jug a couple claret jug yeah want to make a trophy which one's better to sip that vodka out of uh you know obviously claret jog i think is it is a much more drinking vessel i think the one i love that terminology it's great i've got to say the first drink that went into was my managers we actually picked a drink before I won the open on the week of the open on the Monday my manager is drinking John Smith's smooth bitter

okay out of a can and like I says oh if I win this week I'll put that in it so that was the first drink then clear enough whiskey goes in and there's a reason for the whiskey going in okay and I have to tell you anybody who wins a trophy out there when you're drinking out of that trophy

there is always that little nagging feeling in the back of your head what went in this before yeah and like you would you would drink and you would go yes i've done that but then there's always one guy like i had a relation cousin young guy big lad very irish wow did he like drinking whiskey or that like every time i'm going you know where has it been what's like what's in there you know obviously whiskey kills everything so it was It is probably the drink to go with for the trophy. But there is that nagging feeling of where is that being before? A little easier to pick that one up too compared to the wannamaker.

Yeah, I think the want to maker would be like your high school prom. You'd be mixing the drinks in. Oh, put the punch in. Yeah, you come everyone. Oh, okay. Yeah, you can feed a party with that. It is a private party. It is a big trophy to want to make it.

Actually, strangely enough, when I, because I have boat at the same time, So when I, the open give you, they give you a 90% replica. So when you've got a 90% replica, you can't tell the difference. And the PGA used to give you a 50% replica. And surprisingly, 50% looks ridiculously small. So I had the two of them, and people would come up for a pitcher, and they pushed the PGA trophy out of the way because they had no idea what it was. So in 2008, probably 2009, I went to the PGA of America and says,

you're really destroying your brand here nobody knows what this little trophy is it's a replica but it's a little one so i was the first person to get a 90% replica of the wanter maker oh you did so is that is that go on from now on or everybody yeah and i i believe they they i think they went back a few years and certainly you can i think you get given it i don't think you have to purchase sometimes you have to purchase sometimes like there's a limit you can't get a whole stream of them like with the open you i think they give you one free and you can buy one but you can't because i wanted to buy 10 i did i was the first i said like how many can i buy these are like but and then they brought in a rule actually that no you can get you get one and you get one and you get the one you win and i think you get one time

to buy another racket but they're they're they're really cool that's awesome good conversation piece i'll tell you what this has been really cool this has been a blast for us podrick thank you so much much. Best of luck at the Ryder Cup. Take it easy. Maybe bring the stash back and we'll think about being quiet when you guys are hitting. Yeah. We've got a lot of influence on this show, Patrick. We'll send the soldiers out there.

Just be as hard as you can. Be as, you know, really get behind your team, really support it. But, you know, when it comes to the opposition, just let us have a go. We got it. We're looking forward. We cannot wait. Thank you so much, my man. Thank you.

Thank you, guys. We're USA all the way, but that was so cool to have the European Rider Cup captain here. We were digging in a little. I wanted to know the secret socks. How do you guys do? What do you do? The team room, all that sort of stuff. But man, it's so cool to sit down with him for that long and to dig in.

I found it really interesting. Like with this being a different year in the Riter Cup being pushed back, you look on the U.S. side, and we got six captains pick. That opens up half the team could be a pick, you know, and it could go all the way down the list. He didn't want that. He went the opposite wins that. I only want three. I want the decision to be made for me.

I don't want to have to make a bunch of different decisions that could then be questioned. So it's kind of two different strategies on the two sides. He's going to have most of his team is obviously going to be playing the best golf leading into the Ryder Cup because he's only got three captain's picks. But the one thing I took away from that is you never go to the shitter without your phone. Who does that? You got to take it. You're looking at social media, what it is. Or if you get a call to become the Ryder Cup captain, you got to have your phone in there.

You never know who might be calling you while you drop an old quick deuce. And in his case, it was a rather important phone call. but what a time to get that call. What a story that was. So good. I love that so much. And also, his relationship with Phil Mickelson, I think is so cool. The way they go back and forth, playing jokes on each other, having the bets here and there. Really cool to see a guy who's, obviously, a superstar in America and a superstar in Europe to have such a great friendship. I think he and Phil, there's actually some, like, real parallels there. Podrig was a constant tinker in his golf game, always doing something, even after he went through that stretch of winning all the majors, he was trying to revamp his swing and do new things.

And Phil's the exact same way on the American side, no matter what, it's like something, whether it's a quick, or swing or whatever. He's always trying something new. So I feel like those two guys actually like parallel one another pretty well. Yeah, but it was a blast sitting down with Podrick. I mean, I felt like he could go for four hours. He didn't want to stop talking. I think we could have him back and do three hours and not talk about golf for one second. And he would have plenty to say. He's just a fun guy to sit down and have a conversation with.

He really, really is. Very, very entertaining. And speaking of fun and entertaining, let's get to last week's gambling here on Golf Subpar. Producer Mark, can you please tell us what happened at AT&T, Pebble Beach? Yes. So Drew, you came in with the lead. You took Will Zeltaurus, finished T-55, 18,000 in change. Another check. Another top 60 for the sleeves.

Colt, you had Jason Day, who came in at 30 to 1 to the event. He tied for 7th for $228,930,000, putting you back in the lead by $79,619. That sounds wonderful. I hope that's exactly how it ends. but now we have got a big big week the genesis invitational out of riviera i'm not sure exactly what the person is i believe it's around 10 million dollars this is a big one so let's get to it this is an important week tons of the top guys in the field this week i mean this feels like a major yeah it's close to i mean and just how difficult this golf court is it tends to yield some big names

up top yeah there's a lot open this week yeah we got strategy involved dustin johnson rory mackroy John Rom, Justin Thomas, is Andrew Schofle, Bryson DeShambo, Patrick Cantley, Brooks Kepka. I mean, the field is loaded. They're all there. This is going to be a tough one, but let's get to it. Since I, I have the honor. It's your honor. Yes. I'm going to go with a guy. This is going to pain you a little bit. I already know, and it already sucks. He knows this place very well. Went to school right down the road to UCLA. Coming off two top threes in his last two finishes, I think he's due for another win. And he's 18 to one this week, which seems like a lot to me. Patrick Cantley.

knew it was coming. I had to have an audible. He was my 1A guy, especially what he did at Pebble this past week. And he didn't put worth of shit, which normally he's a really, really good putter. I love him down there this week.

I was conflicted this week. There's so many big names. Like, all right, you want to save him for the majors in the big tournaments, but this is one of them. So I didn't know whether to go tippy top of the world golf rankings or not.

But anyways, I'm going back to Xander Schaulay. That's my pick. Neat game. Kiding. Kidding. I already used him. This is, he's going to be like,

Oh, if I wanted to pick the same thing as Colt, I actually can go back to a guy I've already used. I know you're going to change the rules of the game. Yeah, you've got to try to keep up. All right, obviously I'm not taking Xander. I already burned him, but I am going down the board a little bit. 30 to 1, Adam Scott. I'm still doing no research.

I'm two for two on cuts made since I stopped looking it up. Defending champion. I know he's the defending champ and that he plays really, really well there. 10th, I believe, at Torrey Pines or a top 10 at Tori Pines. The last time he teed it up. Big boy ball striking golf course. I'm a good guy with some good course history. Adam Scott.

Yeah, he plays really well around here, and he was actually my second choice. Oh, okay. So I got him out. We were aligned. All right. Well, those are our picks for the one and done. Obviously, I'm going with Patrick Cantley is one of my favorites. It's kind of hard to bet against Dustin Johnson around this joint.

It just sets up perfect for him. But I'm looking at a dark horse, and I couldn't believe his eyes when I saw it. He's at 50 to 1. Tied for 7th in his last term at the Waste Management, Phoenix Open. A guy, we both agree, he's going to get a win this year. There's no doubt about it. He was the rookie of the year last year. Scotty Sheffler.

Yeah, great fit for that golf course, too. hits it long, hits it high. A mile in the air. A mile in the air. He's 50 to 1. Similar to the guy that I'm going to pick, I don't think you're going to find a lot of events going forward where you can get these guys at 50 to 1 or north.

I'm going to go to the guy sitting at 60 to 1. Matthew Wolfe. So I think he's a little bit down the board because he struggled his last time out. He's been battling that little finger injury that you saw him have out there at Torrey, but definitely has the length. There's a big long golf course.

And he's played well on tough golf courses too in the past, obviously at Wingfoot, Harding Park played some great golf there. So he's got the type of game that could do well around RIV. So I'm going to go Matthew Wolf 60 to 1 for my long shot. It's funny you picked him because this is how dedicated I am to this show in our brand. I got asked to stay in California and fly down to L.A. and play golf today. It was going to be me and Jimmy Melton, who's a legend.

Caddy's from Wayne Gratzky all the time and Matthew Wolf and Dustin Johnson out at Sherwood. But I said, nope, I can't do it. I got a show to film. Commitment, dude. That's what it is. Life in the Big Time. You're going to have to pass up some cool shit. I pass up cool shit every day to spend more time with you.

But that's, which is cooler. All right, well, those are our picks for this week. Next week, another awesome guest coming in the studio. A World Series champion, our man Cody Ross will be in the building. Yes, big time golfer as well. So we'll touch a lot of baseball. He's got some great stories from his playing days. A very, very good golfer as well.

So he will be in studio that will be dropping next week. They did a good time. Just keep rolling. Yes, they do. That's going to do it for us. We'll talk to you on next week's golf subpar.