Subpar - Reacting to Anthony Kim's incredible comeback story | Jimmy Roberts reveals how Arnold Palmer helped him write his first book, what it's been like covering 20 Olympics

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

On this week's episode GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz provide their reactions to Anthony Kim completing his incredible comeback story. They then are joined by sixteen-time Emmy Winner Jimmy Roberts. The NBC Sports and Golf Channel broadcaster talks how Arnold Palmer helped him write his first book, how impactful it was working with the great Howard Cosell and his favorite moments from covering 20 Olympic Games. --Real growth doesn’t happen overnight — start building healthier, stronger hair with Nutrafol at ⁠Nutrafol.com⁠ using code SUBPAR.

All right, welcome back to another episode of subpar, and what a weekend of golf we had sleighs. Between the AT&C, Pebble Beach ProM, the live down in Australia, Anthony Kim, just doing something I don't think many people thought was even possible, winning a professional golf tournament for the first time in almost 16 years.

Got to go all the way back to the Shell Houston Open in April for the last time he won. I mean, this is a guy. We're going to start with him because I think it was the feel-good story in golf. this past week. I mean, maybe probably for the year or multiple years. Absolutely. I mean, it definitely could be the story of 2026.

Going down there, a guy who had, did not make a point the last two years on Live, went to the Live Promotions event, earned his way spot. But they added an extra spot at the Live Promotions event. It was supposed to be two. They added another spot trying to get more access to the tour, trying to get official world golf ranking points, which they have now. Anthony got that third and final spot. Set in his press conference afterwards.

he goes, I'm going to do big things. I'm going to win big tournaments. It's coming. And he finishes 22nd in his first one, which was his best finish ever on Live, and then follows it up, winning their biggest event going toe to toe with the two best players on Live,

Bryson DeShambo and John Rom. And he didn't just beat him. He destroyed them. He beat John Rom by 8 and Bryson DeCambo by 11 in the same group. It was clinical. I actually got home. I was, it was Valentine's Day. Wrap that shit up quick.

I was getting a bunch of messages like, hey, you've seen AK's one back, AK time. I get home, I get to catch the last five holes, watch him run away with this thing all the way through to his little daughter Bella running up to him at the end with that picture is going to go that needs to be plastered everywhere

all over any like rehab facilities and things like that. But what he did, not just doing it, the fact that he won their biggest event in front of the biggest crowds, and in the same group with the two guys, regardless of your feelings of live, no one argues that John Rahm and Bryson de Shambor

weren't two of the best players in the world. And he did it in their same group. If he had, let's just say, for instance, those two guys were having a bad week, which is rare out there, but they weren't in the mix. And he did it in the final group against, you know, two middle of the road live guys. But yeah, it's a good win, but he didn't have to, you know, go toe to toe to any of the big guy. There's nothing you can point to him, be like, yeah, but it was just everything. And the fact that he's come from, I mean, not playing golf for a decade off the map to the point of like, forget golf.

Like, this is a life story. This is like a human story. Like he almost died by his own account. Dr. told him, I got three, you know, three weeks to live. Like he didn't know what's going to happen with his life. The fact that he's back, just over two years back in the game and did something like that. I mean, that final round, there was no, there was no, like, weird stuff. He wasn't holing out eight irons or anything like that.

It was just hitting good T shots, good iron shots. And he putted the absolute shit out of it on that second nine and nine under on that course, which was bouncy. All of it was, it was the first guy, I think, since Liv started where it's kind of like the whole golf world's talking about it now. And really kind of like, leave your allegiance as aside. this is just an unbelievable, really, really cool story. If you're not happy for Anthony Kim, then something's wrong. Yeah, I mean, I was pumped for him. I was keeping track of it all week long.

I was at dinner Saturday night, so I didn't get to see it. I was leaving dinner, and I pulled up on my phone. I said, holy shit, he's got a two-shot lead with one to play. Ends up winning by three. And like you said, I mean, it's just, it's a massive story to come from where he has, to be basically on his deathbed, to be away from the game of golf for a dozen years to come back. and there was a lot of talk when he came back. And it quickly went away and it turned negative.

And he easily could have gone the other direction and stepped away and said, you know what, golf's not for me. But with the support of his family, being sober, he kept at it. And just going to keep working trying to get better every single day. And boy, did he ever to beat those two guys. I mean, the talk going into the final round was, holy shit, look at this leaderboard. It's Bryson DeShambo and John Rom.

Yeah, it's top. Oh, by the way, Anthony Kim's the third member of this group. He's five shots back. He's going to have a front row seat to two heavyweights, battle it out. And he stole the show, man. I'm so pumped for him. I mean, I gave him a shout out on our CBS broadcast, which I was a little nervous to do. I didn't know how to go over, but I just thought he deserved that. I mean, he's a friend of mine. I've known him since we were, you know, 19 years old. I've loved the guy. I've always believed he's one of the most naturally

gifted golfers I've ever seen in my life. And I thought he deserved a shout out on there. No one said anything. I didn't get in trouble, at least as of not yet. It is currently Monday. I haven't got a call yet, but there's still time. Look, I just, I thought that was deserving, and man, I'm so proud of him. Entering the final round, he had a less than a 1% chance to win that, according to all the probability stuff. And I think what makes this even cooler is that like, you know, when he first went to live, like, they gave him a spot. Because it's a huge story. Like, he was a, you know, Sasquatch, like, any sighting of him, any picture would go up on the internet and golf Twitter would, like, blow up.

So everyone wanted to see Anthony Kim. Of course, give him a spot on your tour. He's a wild card. He's not a part of the team. but then he got relegated. And it's like, okay, experiments over. He went over and played in Asia.

He was doing all the things he could and goes back. And like this time, you can't say it. He earned his way. He went through the qualifier, got it. And it's also his first week

being signed to an actual team. By the way, nice scoop for them. First week, your guy comes in and wins the thing. But man, I'm just,

I'm so happy for him. Like, he's been through hell and back. I sent my note after he, after he made it through the qualifier and just said, hey, man, I'm so happy for you, glad you're doing all this stuff.

And he said, something. He's like, I appreciate you guys being in my corner when it hasn't been easy to. Also, it just seems like super grateful. And I think that the birth of that little daughter has might change everything for him. Absolutely. But it was a hell of a cool story. It was a fun, final round to watch whether you love, live, hate live, whatever. That was fun golf to watch. He's up to 203rd in the world. I mean, keep playing well, move up. Hopefully maybe getting that top hundred, get a spot to PJ Championship, which I know would be really cool for everyone. But let's take it one step at a time, but it was just, it was awesome. And you mentioned, you know,

his first week with four aces. I always thought Dustin could be a future GM. Right. He knows how to pick them. Yeah. Knows how to pick them. That's why you got him. Congrats, Anthony Kim, man. We're pumped for you here. Love to have you on the show some time. Come talk about it. Try it. Catch up. You're the man, dude. Very pumped for you. But let's go over to the AT&T, Pebble Beach Pro Am, where we had a hell of a week out at beautiful Pebble Beach. Had a lot of wind to deal with. But still, the scores were crazy low. Collinmore, Calum. ends up getting his seventh win on the PGA tour. His first since the Zozo in 2023,

it was 800 days or something like that. Yeah. It's been quite some time, but you can see how emotional he was afterwards, announced that him and his wife, Kat, are expecting their first child. But man, what a show he put on on the weekend. He was eight shots back through 36 holes.

And I think people need to realize now going forward in this tournament, that's not that big a deal. The two winners before that, Roy McElroy and Wyndham Clark were both six back with 36 to play. He goes out there, and he hits all 18 greens on Saturday. 11 birds, in windy conditions, by the way. Yeah, Saturday, Sunday was hard.

Yeah, he goes out and shoots 62 and then follows it up with a 67 on Sunday, which included that birdie at the 72nd hole. Really happy for Colin, man. It's been a rough year or so for him between not winning, some media situations. It just hasn't been probably the most... Riders Cup. Yeah, hadn't been the most fun for Colin Warwick now, and I think that's why we saw the emotion out of him there on 18.

Yeah, and what a way to have to do it, like waiting 25 minutes in the middle of the fairway, trying to pick up your first win, the Jacob Bridgman situation, weird situation. There's a lot of weird shit going on on 18th day before, Minwood Lee didn't want a pot. That's like trying to get your first win in forever. He's got to sit there on that hole for 25 minutes. He handled that really well. He had a great shot and makes a birdie coming home. But like it was the iron play that you think of when you think of Colmarcault, especially over the last two days that really did it. He actually put it fine.

He made puts that he needed to make, I would say. But he lost strokes. Yeah, he's made him for the week, which is the second time in back-to-back weeks. Chris got her up. Kids, go to the driving range. Don't lose. Yeah, exactly. Don't even worry about it.

But he just, he kind of seemed like a new guy. Like, you know, he's like, I'm not worrying about technique. I'm going to try to have fun playing all this sort of stuff. And it worked out. It was a hell of a good run. I thought we might be in for all. world playoff for a while, but that six iron that he hit on 16 kind of gave him two up to go. Look pretty good at that point.

By the way, that whole location is so tough on the back right there. Saw so many guys just coming up short, spinning it down with wedges. And he takes a six iron in there. He missed his T shot a little bit, obviously, but threw a dart in there. That was the shot of the tournament, I would say, for him. And then, you know, makes the bogey on 17, but steps up. And I was questioning why he was hitting three wood off the 18. I was like, look, now is the time to go out there and win this thing.

but with the hard wind down off the left and him being a fader, I guess he felt like the three-way he could hold up into that wind a little bit. He smashed it. He flew that tree, which is a pretty big carry. I believe that's around 280 yards off the tee and was able to hit a four-iron after a very lengthy weight, as you said, and was able to hit it just off the green there and two-putt his way to victory.

But how about Scotty Sheffler? Let's do that. Let's do that aspect of the show. Two weeks in a row. Ten shots back after 18 holes. He's lost by one and he's lost by two. and, I mean, he shoots nine under par 63 on Sunday with three eagles, three bogies. I really, and the eagle on 18 is just, that just shows you how great he is.

That was the sickest shot. Like, you know, it wasn't even just the six iron, the T shot. Like, it's not the easiest T shot. I know there's some help, but it's hard left or right, ocean left, out of bounds right, and knowing like, yeah, four is cool, whatever, it's a nice payday. But to have a chance to win, I got to make three. And he hit two of the best shots you'll see all year to three feet. When you look at the shot track, you're like behind it.

If you didn't know how hard the wind was blowing, it had on mute, like, you would be like, oh, just a little baby fade in there and it released up by the hole. But like that wind slamming left to right. Like, he hit a pretty good hook on that shot. It started a hook, and then the wind straight out, and then it just fell left to right. Like most guys just don't hit those shot. And he flighted it down, too, so it landed on the front and pitch back. A lot of guys you saw it in those shots started left, and the wind would move it right side of the green or right of the green. And he sets up there and slams a hook up into it, which is,

with the perfect trajectory, too, to give himself a chance. I mean, how many 63s, you know, with three bogeys? Not many. Yeah, and he put himself at the top of the leaderboard at one point, and I was like, oh, my God. Like, God forbid he starts out nice Thursday and Friday one of these weeks. What's he going to do? I mean, it's almost more impressive, though, like we talked about

than other events like Phoenix Open and stuff where it's like he doesn't have his good stuff and he still makes himself a factor on the back night on Sunday. I'm just thinking if you're Colin Moracowah, you know, Sam Burns, Achshabatia, like you're early in your round, you're walking off number two or three there, wherever the first scoreboard is, and you see Scotty Sheffler seven under through seven. When he was eight back and pretty much out of it,

you know, like, come on. Like, you can't just chill for one week. Go away one time to where we don't have to worry about. I mean, at that point, like, when's he going to stop? He might just keep going and do a weird one. But I had a missed four foot or two, and that stretched when he was 700 three. He missed three pretty short putts.

I know he made a ton. And the bogey on, what was it, 15 with the wedge. That was like, that was a good shot. Yeah. That was a very good shot. Just if that pitches and just doesn't grab the rough, it probably comes back, you know, and he has a great look for Bertie.

That was a good shot. Man, he's going. Just 18 straight top tens. 14 of them are top fives. It's a joke. I mean, this is the longest top 10 streak we've seen since like the 1960s. Yeah, 60 years since we've seen this. And the game hadn't gotten less deep.

And he's heading to Riviera, a place that he has not won at yet. By the way, I saw this stat. Combined, Tiger Woods, Rory McElroy, Scotty Sheffler, has teed up 27 times at Riviera. Zero wins for those three. What is it about that play? I mean, that's a big yard world. There's no faking it around there.

Like, if you're not, like, yeah, you're not a guy that can hit it. You got no chance out there. You would think it would, those guys would thrive out there. I mean, Tiger putted bad historically out there, but those other two, it's like, yeah, this should be a good one for you. Hopefully Tiger joins us in the booth on CBS. this weekend and I'm going to ask him. Why do you suck around here?

Hey, quick question, Tiger, long-time listener, first time call her. Why the fuck can't you win here? It's so hard about this place. What is the deal, dude? There's nothing in it. Yeah, we have the same number of wins here. There's nothing here. Yeah.

Man, it'll be good to hear from Dede up. Yeah. A little presser today as this comes out Tuesday. And then, see, uh, he'll be out there always. See, what do you think? Augusta. Odds. 50-50.

You think it's 50-50? I don't think he's going. Okay. That'd be my best. That'll be my lean. Ask him that too. No one will probably ask him that. Tiger, this is off the record. No one's watching. You're going to tee it up or what?

Yeah, that's all it takes. I'll caddy for you. Something like that. Yeah. Part three. No, I'll do the whole thing. I'll do the big thing. Okay. Can I tell you about the main event of the weekend, though?

Yes, please. My match with Wagoo, Johnson Wagner. So I lost 100 bucks when we did the close to the pin from the stands on 16 at Phoenix Open. I wanted to get it back. So we teed it up at Monterey Peninsula on 30. Thursday last week. And we had a tight match going. I was worn up early, then quickly things went south. I was one down. And I believe I was one down heading in to the 14th hole. And I proceeded to win 14, 15, 16, and 17. And put it to bed right there. Sorry, I didn't win 16. I went

14, 15. Was he making bugs or are you making tweets? Mostly bugs. I ended up winning three and two. and he pressed for half, and I won the press. So I'm actually positive Wagyu money. Now you're up 50 bucks. Yes. But we were on the range on Saturday, and Butch Harmon was there with Ricky Fowler and some of the other caddies, and they're like, heard you played good yesterday.

I go, no, no, no, no. I played less shitty than Waggoo. That's all that matters. That's all that matters. But, dude, we had a lot. Wagu's the man. Dunes course? He's been telling Shores.

Shores, I'm sorry. They were redoing nine holes on the Dunes at the moment. So we played the Shores course, which shout out to our host. They were awesome. Bob and our man, G-Man, we had so much fun out there. A perfect weather day. It's the day that everybody was shooting the grass off Pebble Beach and Spyglass. Just hardly any win.

But Waggo's been telling me how he's borderline got the driver yips and he drives it so terrible. He drove fantastic. Every time I talk to him, every time we talk to him, it talks about how bad his game is. So I don't know. But it can't be that bad. No.

He can still roll the rock and hits some really nice iron shots. Yeah, he's a self-deprecating guy. He's not going to be like, I'm playing great. My game's tight. All that. So your career up 50 on him. Yep. That's nice.

He'll get a chance. We're team it up this Thursday at Bel Air weather permitting. Ooh, beautiful. Yeah. Incredible. I love that he's on the squad now because... This is good. This would be like Shell's wonderful world.

Just record these shit for the whole season. Except it'll be Tito's wonderful world. That's what it should be called. Very wonderful. But this is great because Ian Baker Finch is the guy I used to play golf with on the road because he's the other golf nut. And now that he's gone, I was like, who the hell am I going to play with? We sign Wagoo and he's like, I'm in.

Yep. That's perfect. Get to play. It changes everything. Yeah, it changes everything for the course of the season. Teated up in Cyprus last Friday, which was just phenomenal. Another perfect weather day. Played with two kids from Stanford.

Dean Grazerman, Max Grazeman's brother, and my man Cush. And we had a hell of a day out there. They hit it far, believe it or not. Max's little brother hits it far. Apparently he's toned it down. When he was 16 years old, he had 190 ball speed. Good, good. That would be a good match there.

This is what me and my partner, Jim, who was our host, played the two young fellas. There were some strokes involved, but we took them down. Oh, you got them. We got some of that NIL Stanford money. Good negotiating. Also, sidebar on our personal golf, I made an ace. Oh, yes.

I'm off the freaking Schneide, dude. Me and AK, but at the same time, 12 years, bam, we're back. 12 years since you made one. I was trying to go back and figure it. I think it's been literally my last year playing professional golf, I'm pretty sure. That ace number two? That's number six, but I was on five for a decade. What was the bar tab?

I meant to Venmo request to you. No, this is what makes it so good, dude. So it's a one-day member guest. I'm the guest at my Pops's place. So we get done, and I'm like, come on in, get whatever you want. My Pops is take a care. I don't have a number here or else I'd pay for my Pops. Just listen.

Yeah, yeah. So we all get in there. And, you know, like, they make an announcement or whatever. And they're like, what a day to do it. You know, drinks are included as part of the entry fee in this tournament. So everybody, get whatever you want, all this type of stuff. I was like, we get out for $0. payment, me or my pop,

which is the American way. That's how it should be. You should not come out of pocket when you make an ace. But it was cool. Honestly, it was cool to do with my dad. I was going to go to my dad in a while. Did he get excited? He almost smiled.

Did he say, Sleez? What does my put to do over here? Literally, he was still bitching about his shot before that, I think. You've never seen probably less excitement in a group when a ball goes in. There's one dude. He's like, that went in. I was like, yeah, I think I'm almost positive it did too. I've seen less excitement.

When I made it versus you and pout, pout, Brian Water. Or is it Cal Club? No, there was a motion. It was just, I was pissed off. I wasn't happy for you.

I was sad for us. I was sad for us. There was a motion. This one was just like, I think it went in. I was like, I was one shot, boys.

That's it. But it was nice. Get off the Schneid. Congratulations. Now they come. That's cool. Now they come in bundles. Oh, really?

Okay. All right. Yeah, it's all like, it's like a wave on this type of stuff. Ebs and flows, peaks and valleys. You know the deal. Justin Rose.

You know the deal. All right. let's get to the Genesis Invitational this week, another loaded field signature event. 72 guys, but there is a cut. Six guys are probably going to miss the cut. That's a tough one if you go home on Friday. But it's going to be great.

Weather looks downright terrible, at least early in the week. The weekend looks nice, luckily. But hopefully it's not too bad early in the week. But obviously, Scottie Sheffler, are the favorite going off at 3 to 1. But we're going to make some Beth. Patrick McNeeley, you're sitting right there,

top 10, everything was great. You played fantastic on Saturday. I think I'll leave shot 9 under 63, and then you just shit the bed for me on Sunday. So I'm looking for a winner here, please. And my guy this week, it's his favorite golf course on the PGJ tour. He has not won here, but he's got a great record. And you can get him for a top 10 bet at plus 240.

Played really nice last week at Pebble. Just ho-humed it, kind of backdoor to top 10. Give me Patrick Cantlay. Okay. Patrick Cantlay, plus 240. Top 10. Top 10. All right.

I'm going to go with a guy that, hasn't had his best start to the season this year. He's got a 40th and MC and a 45th. He had to WD. WD from Phoenix Open with some illness stuff. Hasn't been his best, but he played two good rounds on the two toughest days this past week, 67, 68, the final two days at Pebble.

I'm going to a top 20 because top 10 is a little less wiggle room. And there's only 72 guys in this. So top 20 isn't that far-fetched. Two-to-one money on JJ Spawn for a top 20. Okay, wow. Those are some weird odds. Yeah. I mean, he's been this year.

It hasn't been great. But the fact that he played well those last two days at Pebble in tough conditions, I'm like, maybe we're getting back to the JJ we know. All right. Well, you made a haul and one. I'll take it. You made a hole in one.

You're about to get hot. It's time for our picks to get hot as well. It is. Justin Rose, I never contended. I didn't like that pick just because everyone. It's so popular. Everyone was on him.

I know. That's why this one won't be. Nope. So there we go. All right. Let's get to our guest this week. This one is a lot of fun. I mean, this guy is a legend.

He's seen it all. He's done it all. He is Jimmy Roberts on subpar. All right, it is an honor and privilege to welcome on our guest today. He's one of the most well-respected sportscasters in the history of the game, from golf, the football to boxing. The man has covered it all. He's won 16 Emmys.

Might as well rename him the Jimmy's at this point. The great Jimmy Roberts is here. How we doing, Jimmy? True, I swear to God, I mean, well-respected. You're obviously not asking the people. who live in my house. You don't know the other guests we have on here. Your most well-respected guests we've had on this show in a long time.

It's a low bar, huh? First question, though, I said 16-time Emmy winner. The Internet can't seem to figure out how many you've won. I get anywhere from 13 to 15 to 16. So I just picked the highest number and went with that. I don't even know if that's right. Dude, I'm impressed because you know what? I mean, honestly, I mean, whatever.

Who cares? But you happen to be correct. Yes. I like it. We do a lot of research. here, Jimmy. What year was your first Emmy? You know, I want to say probably 1984. I was in production.

I was an associate director on the, I don't think it was the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo or the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. But, you know, there are a couple among that group. I don't really like to talk about this stuff because it doesn't really matter. But there were just some, for me, personally, some really cool moments like Once, I got one, the first individual one that I got, I shared it with Jim McKay. And, you know, to go up there on the stage with Jim McKay, which he was a guy, you know,

it'd be like if you were a golfer growing up and you got to go get your trophy alongside Jack Nicholas or Tiger Woods. So there was that. And then the guy who handed me the statue was Arthur Ash. So that was, you know, kind of cool. And then the other one that really meant a lot to me was I got one for Ryan. writing and words matter to me. So anyway, enough of that talk.

Yeah, well, you're one of the greatest journalists, a sports journalist we've ever seen. I want to go back to some early years here. And you working under the legend Howard CoSell because I'm sure you have some unbelievable stories. And I heard you do a rather good Howard CoSell impersonation. Oh, yeah. I have no idea what either of you is talking about. That is good.

So here's, so yeah, I worked for Howard. And here's a sad thing. You know, if you talk to, I mean, for my money, and I would challenge anybody to give me another name in this category, he's got to be the most famous or consequential or biggest deal sports broadcaster of all time. And the only reason anybody would probably say he wasn't was because they're not familiar with him, you know? I went one time, I had an old buddy of mine from ABC Sports who left and he was teaching a class at the University of Texas, the Moody School there. And we were doing the match play back in the day in Austin. And he asked me if I come and talk to his class.

And I love doing that stuff. You know, I just love doing it. So I go to the class, it's like 100 kids, all of whom want to be involved in some kind of facet of sports, communications, or, journalism or business. It's like 100 kids. And my friend Joel says, well, why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about your background? And I said, okay, so I kind of run through, you know, how I got involved in the business, who I've worked with, who I've worked for, and this. And at one point, I mentioned Howard CoSell. And as I'm saying it, I'm looking around the room. And I swear to you, both, not a glimmer of recognition from anybody in the class. And I literally stopped myself.

I said, whoa, whoa. I said, hold up here. Show a hand. How many people in this room have heard of Howard CoSell? Now, if there were 100 students in that class, probably 15 of them raised their hands. And I would say half of them, half of those 15, kind of like tentatively, like, yeah, I think I might have heard of the guy, I'm not sure. And I just thought to myself, these guys all want to work in sports and they don't know who this guy is. Something's wrong, you know?

He was a giant. What year was that when you went and spoke to that class? So what was the last year of the match play in Austin? Probably like four years ago. 21? Yeah. 22, Scotty won. Was it after COVID?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it might have been 22. Okay. It might have been that year. It might have been the Kisner year. I'm not sure.

So it was around then. But it's like, what are we doing? Yeah. You know, what are we doing? You know, and it wasn't like their fault, obviously. But like, you know, Edward R. Murrow wasn't around when I first started thinking about journalism. But I knew who he was, you know. So it bugged me.

Yeah, you got to work alongside Howard CoSell. I mean, obviously so many greats. You're one of the greats. Is there anyone you wish you had a chance to work with? Wow, that's a really good question. No, look, I'm pretty lucky. I'll tell you, the one person who I never, again, you guys are so deep in the golf industry, you guys know everybody. And I've had a chance to meet a bunch of people, you know, through no distinction of my own, just from being around, I got to meet some pretty cool people.

I met, you know, I got to know, not know. I spent some time around Gene Saracen around Byron Nelson. you know, all these greats. I mean, I had a really close relationship with Arnold Palmer. The one guy I never met, and I'm most curious about, was Ben Hogan. Because it just the guy, I mean, talk about the Hogan mystique. You know, I think about that old Jimmy Demerite line when he walked in, you know, and the funny thing is, is that Jimmy Demerrit, who is this, you know, lighthearted, outgoing guy, and he was one of Hogan's best friends, right, which totally didn't make sense. So Hogan apparently, or demerit walks into a room, and I'm going to have, maybe I'll have some of these details

wrong, but Hogan, demerit walks into a room one week at a tour stop and sees Ben Hogan sitting at a table by himself, and he, you know, at the top of his lungs, he says, hey, look, there's Ben Hogan sitting with all his friends. You know, it's like, whoa, that's harsh. But, you know, I just, he must have been a fascinating guy. And, you know, he's not the greatest golfer of all time, depending on who you are or what you believe it's got to be either, you know, Nicholas or Woods or maybe Bobby Jones. But damn, I'll tell you what, as far as being a ball striker, I want that.

Oh, yeah. No doubt. He's the gold standard. I mean, he was a tough character. I don't think he let too many people in his inner circle. No, no. Did either of you guys know him? No.

Meet him. I have a friend who's an older gentleman from Fort Worth who became very close with Ben Hogan after he retired and all this stuff, but he was still playing a lot of golf. And the story that sticks out to me is he been, or Mr. Hogan only had like two guys that he would play with at this game at Shady Oaks, my buddy being one of them. And he used to say, we'd go out, we'd play threesome, we'd be flying around. And of course, people would show up and be like, hey, do you mind if I join you? You know, I'd love to see. And every single time they would do that.

He's like, Mr. Ogan would look at his wrist. He wasn't wearing a watch. Like, boys, it's about time for me to get home. And he would just leave. And he's like, he wasn't mean. He wasn't rude to him. But he just wanted no part of anybody that he wasn't like friends with. basically. Yeah, you know, and you got to kind of admire somebody whose focus is so like that.

I mean, you guys know the story about playing that practice round with Claude Harmon at Augusta on the 12th hole, right? I don't. What is that? No, I don't. This is beautiful. So, you know, Claude Harmon was one of these guys who was pretty close with Hogan. And so I guess they're playing a practice round. And if anybody's out there listening or watching, and I've got the story a little bit wrong. Please forgive me, but the essence of it is true. So, Harmon hits it in the hole.

No, Hogan goes first and, you know, hits it to about five feet or something like that. Then Harmon hits it in the hole, and they're walking up to the green, and Hogan turns to him and he says, Claude, you see my shot? It's pretty good, huh? Never in acknowledge the whole one. He didn't even, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't on his radar.

Yeah. He didn't even know probably. Yeah, he was a special one. And honestly, one of the, in my opinion. I would, anyway, to answer your question, and to answer your question, that's the guy I wish I had met or at least been around to observe. It's still one of my favorite photos. I mean, it's iconic in the golf world, but him and Arnie, Mr. Palmer with the cigarette in the mouth, standing there on the tea waiting. That is one of the coolest pictures.

I saw someone put that up recently and put a great caption. He goes, imagine. these two standing behind you as your aim pointing from three feet. I was like, yep. Different era. Like what dudes were cool. And you were really close with Mr. Palmer, weren't you? Or he had a good relationship with Mr. Palmer.

Yeah, it was. He's advertised. I never got the chance. He's just the best guy. He was the best. You know, I got a million stories about him, but, you know, the one I was thinking about this morning. So the first book that I wrote was called Breaking the Slump. And it was, you know, just about golfers trying to,

to break out of slumps. And the reason I wrote it was because I was struggling terribly. And I got to thinking, I thought, well, you know, there's two types of golfers in the world. Those who've had a slump and those are going to have a slump. And it doesn't really matter who you are. So, you know, I opened up my address book and I started calling around trying to see if I could talk to people about it. And the literary agent I was working with said to me, you know, and because I didn't have any experience with this is my first book. He said, yeah, you got to write a sample chapter. And you're you should write a sample chapter with somebody, including somebody who will get their attention. So I went to Arnold, and I told him what I was doing.

And, you know, it involved us sitting down for a few hours and talking. You know, I took a bunch of his time. And I told him what I wanted to do. And he said, absolutely. Happy to help you, right? So I write the sample chapter. It gets submitted as part of the pitch. And, you know, Harper Collins published the book, and I got a decent advance.

And not only do I think that Arnold was responsible for kind of giving me that opportunity, but also when I would go to people, other people, and say, hey, I'm doing this. And they'd say, who do you have? As soon as I said Arnold, the answer was, okay. Yeah. You know, so I don't Arnold and Jack and, you know, Greg Norman and Ben Crenshaw, President Bush, 41 did a chapter. with me. Dan Jansen, the Olympic Speed Skater, did a chapter with me. But Arnold was responsible, I think. I always have thought, for making, opening that door for me. And that's just the kind of guy

he was, you know. And I also think of any honor that I've ever had after Arnold passed away, you know, I went up one year to his office and my book's on his bookshelf. And that means a lot to me. That is awesome. That's cool. That's really cool. I do believe he did help, but I can tell you one thing. He damn sure didn't hurt it by any means. I mean, anything he put his name on, people would trustee. You got that right, man. Seems like a good idea to me.

Jimmy, going back to that book, was there any like, I mean, you interviewed people from across the spectrum. You've got presidents. You got world class golfers, yeah, athletes. Was there any weird, like, techniques you heard from people that, like, when I'm in a slump, I like to do this? You know, I don't recall that that was the case, but there was, you know, it's funny. I started off writing a book about golf, and I ended up writing a book about how successful people handle adversity. Because basically, a slump is just a problem to be solved. You know, and everybody, it happens to everybody.

Like I said, I always, you know, when I was talking about the book a lot, and this goes back a ways, I say, look, you know, Jack Nicholas and I are really the same kind of animal. It's just a matter of degree. When he struggles, he loses the ball to the left. When I struggle, I just lose the ball. So it really kind of applies to everybody. I got a couple of favorite stories from the book. I think my all-time favorite, though, was from Davis Love, Jr. So as you guys know, Davis' dad was a really good player and a really good instructor himself,

and he played his college golf at UT, and Harvey Peanick was his coach. So one day, Davis Jr. is out on the range, and he's sitting balls, and Harvey walks by, and he's watching him for a little bit. He says, hey, Davis, what club are you hitting there? And he says, well, coach, I'm hitting seven irons. He says, I want you to get me some six irons up there on that green you're hitting at. And Davis, Jr. turns him. He says, coach, he says, that green's 155 yards away.

Okay, now remember, it's 1950-something, whatever. So he says, that green's 155 yards away. Why would I hit six iron? He said, I can get seven iron there. Might be able to get eight iron there. And he says, because, you know, young, man, sometimes the answer is to try less hard. And I thought, damn, you know, tell me where that doesn't work in life. You know, tell me what we do that we might not do just a little bit better

if our hands weren't like so tightly gripped on the steering wheel. And I, you know, there was stuff like that, which I love. Sometimes when I struggle with something, I just have to remember, you know, try less hard. Um, a big broadcasting. that I got was once something that somebody told me about, you know, Arnold and Jack also talked about. Slow down, you know, slow down. Anyway, there was a lot of good stuff in there. It was just a lot of fun to write that book. It was great. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, that's really cool. Before we get back to Jimmy Roberts, a quick message from Nutraful. Good hair days do more than we give them credit for. When your hair feels healthy, you show up differently. You feel more confident,

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I know you had him on your podcast recently, the big swing, which I believe you have 12 episodes out now, one including Greg Norman. How is the sit down with him? Long. I mean, you guys know him. He's, listen, he's fully willing to open a vein for you, you know. and he's a polarizing guy.

A lot of people don't like him. He's always been really good to me. I remember when he blew that Masters in, what was that, 96, I was working for ESPN at the time. I went down and I sat with him for two hours. And he talked about every shot. And we argued about his second shot on nine because that's where I think the thing unraveled for him.

You know, you guys know this. You know, front hole on nine, you don't go after it, you know. because if you're long, you don't want to have that third shot coming back, whether it's a putter or a chip. And if you're short, you might be 100 yards away for your third. But the point is, he was candid, I think, and it was interesting. And I know it probably rubbed a lot of people the wrong way that we did the interview. But I don't have anything to apologize for. He's a newsmaker.

look, the last few weeks have been pretty consequential in terms of what's going on with Liv, not the best of news for them. And you guys know the whole story, but he was candid. You know, I asked him if he'd do anything different. He said he would go camp out in Jay Monaghan's foyer and stay there until he met with him. Now, I don't, you know, who knows if that's just theatrics or not. But, you know, he's undeniably an interesting guy. And we got a lot of traction on it, man. We got, I don't know, to this point, 30,000 people have, you know, watched it on our YouTube channel, which for, you know, an infant podcast, that's not bad. Absolutely.

Yeah, I think it's cool. You did it. Like, both sides need to be told, not just the one perspective, you know. It always amazes me when people get mad about who you have on your podcast. I'm like, first off, he's a newsmaker. You're going, like you said, you're going to listen to it. Like, first off, it's your podcast. you can interview whoever the hell you want.

Yeah, and my feeling was, don't, if you don't like it, don't watch it. Yeah. You know, but there were questions to ask this guy. And listen, our show, which, by the way, time for a shameless plug, airs on Golf Channel on Tuesday mornings at 7 and 9 and sometimes 11 a.m. And then you can find it on YouTube or Spotify or any of the other platforms where you enjoy your podcast,

probably a lot like your guys. But we try and bring people discussions with people about the business of golf. You know, we don't talk about shots. And this whole thing got started because I was working with my business partner as a guy who is a longtime sales and marketing executive, accomplished guy from ESPN and Time Warner Cable and a guy named Fred Boucher, a really smart guy. And we started talking about the fact that this industry, last year, the total global economic impact of the golf industry and allied industries that contribute to golf, it's just about a quarter of a trillion dollars. You know, there's more golf courses in the United States than there are McDonald's.

A third of the American population is involved or what they call engaged in the game of golf according to the National Golf Foundation. but nobody's really covering it. So this has been an opportunity to talk of, you know, talk to business leaders. We've got Steph Curry coming up. He's really, you know, very involved in a variety of golf businesses, the underrated tour. You know, we've had Greg Norman. We had, you know, some of the people that you might expect. Ed Stack, CEO of Dick Sporting Goods.

We had Grant Horvad on, you know. So anyway, we got a bunch of people. Hopefully we're going to have, we're talking to Steve Ross, maybe Mike Trout. We'll see. But really enjoying it. Tell Steph you want a little piece of that new Nike shoe contract. He's got some walking around money, Jimmy, because you need some. Yeah, you and me both, pal.

But look, look, I've seen you guys up at the American Century Championship. That's a legit swing. Yeah. Oh, he can play. Yeah. And look, you know, I think that the whole calculus of, you know, how good are these guys. One thing that I have learned is that there is, and I'm going to tell you something you don't know, the distance between the lowest rank player on tour and the best amateur that you've ever seen is vast.

Those guys who play on the weekend are just different animals. I am sorry. But Steph, you know, just the sound that that ball makes coming off of his club, it's totally legit. And he was, you know, he grew up playing high school. He was like the captain of his golf team. They won a district championship. He's not some guy who just took it up. So, yeah, he's for real.

He swings it beautifully. And by the way, I can't think of another. But, like, you could argue at the time when he won, like, you're arguably the best basketball player in the world. Or one of them. You're in the conversation. And then to beat all these guys, normally it's. these guys that are retired and they've been out for five and they do nothing but play golf. The fact that he comes off an NBA season and then does that, like, he's legitimately good.

Yeah. So the other person I put in that category is Jim Courier. And I don't know if either you guys have had a chance to see the rock play. But, you know, that guy was number one in the world. He won four major championships. And that's a totally legit game. I mean, I'm not saying, you know, that he could compete. at the highest level of amateur competition.

But I could be wrong. I think he's scratch or was when he and I played. Yeah, he can play. There's a lot of them out there. I mean, Joe Pavelski, he's up there, Martin Fish. There's so many good ones. But talk a little about Tahoe because we went up there a few years in a row to do some podcast stuff.

Yeah, come on back. It's the most fun week of the year. Right. I mean, how can you beat that? It's nuts, man. You know, one year almost died there, literally. So, yeah, it's a funny story now. It's really fun.

Almost died. So I think this might have been about 2009 or 10. I wasn't feeling really well. And then on Friday, so now they do closest to the hole is that little competition. They used to the Long Drive Championship. So I'm, you know, emceeing it and out there kind of being the ringmaster as everybody's given any. Can I curse on this thing? Absolutely.

Of course. That's encouraged. I'm out there as everybody's giving each other shit. And so I'm not feeling good. You know, I just didn't feel really well at all. So we do the thing, and I go back to the hotel room, and I start to sweat, and something's wrong, you know. And, you know, when you travel for a living, you know, invariably you're going to get sick on the road. But this is the worst I ever felt.

So I called up our production manager, you know, person who handles logistics. And I said, look, I don't know what's going on. but you got to send somebody over here. I got to go to the hospital. So they take me to the hospital, this little hospital in Lake Tahoe. And, you know, it's a little hospital. And some doctor comes in and he's like, Doogie Hauser. It's like 12 years old.

And I tell him what's going on. I said, yeah, my gut really hurts. He does like an ultrasound. He says, you know, there's a guy in the operating room right now who's got a broken arm, but we're going to take him out. We're not done with him yet because your appendix just extremely. exploded. So we got to take you in. So they wheel me in, take out my appendix, whatever. And I obviously miss the weekend. But then there's a complication. I'm in the hospital in Lake Tahoe for two

weeks. And it got pretty serious and scary after a while. They ended up taking me home, you know, on like one of those air ambulances. And I was not in a good place for a while, but things worked out really well and, you know, props to those people up at that hospital because they took really, really good care of me. But I do have a picture of me interviewing Alfonso Roberto, who won the Long Drive. And every time I look back at this picture, I laugh because I'm thinking to myself, I'll bet you it's just about now at the moment that they took that picture that my appendix exploded. Was that last year? No, this was 2010. Oh, okay, because they moved it back from Long Drive to closest to the pin again last year.

That's crazy. I'd never heard that story before. Tahoe's dangerous. It's a dangerous place. I'll tell you that. That's your fun one to cover. Like, you cover it, but it's a fun event. You've covered everything in the world of sports.

I feel like, do you have a favorite thing, whether it's a sport or a competition or anything that just stands out like every time you do it. Like, that's the pinnacle. All right. Well, let's just exclude golf here because that's just not a fair discussion. You know, there's so much about golf. which is cool. I mean, the Masters, the Open Championship,

the U.S. amateur, props to Colt. As a matter of fact, little known fact, although Colt knows it. You know, who is the first person there to interview him when he won in San Francisco? You? Yeah. Anyway, let's just throw golf out of the discussion.

As far as being a fan, I love college football. I just love college football. I hate where college football seems to be going. I was not a fan of the expanded playoff, although this year it was pretty good. I still think it's too many teams. My biggest gripe was that the best thing about college football

was that every Saturday really, really mattered. And, you know, I just was afraid that what was going to end up happening was we were going to end up at some point with this expansion where you're going to get a three-loss SEC team in the playoffs. And guess what happened this year with Alabama? A three-loss SEC team in the playoffs. It shouldn't be disqualifying if you lose a game, but, you know, the regular season needs to matter,

and an expanded playoff makes it matter less. I'll just leave it at that. So I love college football. I went to the University of Maryland, so I love college basketball. That's been fun, although not so much fun. my Terps this year. La Crosse.

I mean, I love lacrosse. That's how I kind of got started in the industry. Yeah, you were a player, right? I was when I was younger. But, yeah, I mean, I'm just, when I was at ESPN, once I covered the world chess championships. Yes. Which was a little different. Hosted Wimbledon for a while, half-time in Notre Dame football.

So I've been lucky. I've gotten some great opportunities and had some amazing trips and some of the stories that gotten a chance to do that aren't necessarily stories that are about the X's and O's or about the results, those have been some of the most satisfying things that I've had the opportunity to do. Yeah, I was doing a little dig, and I saw that the first event, I believe that you covered for ESPA and one of my favorite things, you got to see Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks. What do you remember about like a young Mike? I mean, I can remember watching when I was a kid, and it was like there was nothing like that.

Well, you know what I should do? I should text you guys the picture of me with young Mike in a headlock. Please do. Please do that. I will text you that. Yeah, we need that. I'll text you, I'll text you a couple of pictures. But so the funny story that I remember, so I had been on the other side of the camera for eight years working at ABC, ABC Sports and then ABC News, then ABC Sports. And then I just decided I thought I was going to get, you know, let go because they were doing some consolidation. I thought, well, the only thing I know how to do is write and produce these features should be able to do it for myself. sent out a bunch of letters, got a bunch of rejection notices, and then the only opportunity that looked like I might be able to get was at this tiny little cable outfit in the middle of nowhere called ESPN, you know, which back then was a pretty, was on the kind

of brink of being pretty obscure. I mean, I remember, and this will give you an idea, I remember when I left ABC Sports and I went to ESPN, like one of my first assignments, was I calling somebody on the phone somewhere, somewhere in America, because I want to come and do a story and I introduced myself. I said, hey, my name is Jimmy Roberts. I'm from ESPN. And there was silence on the other end of the line. And then this woman said, hmm, SPN. What is that? Wow. It's like, you know, I mean, can anybody who's, can either of you guys or anybody who's listening or watching really imagine a time when somebody in this country wouldn't know what ESPN?

is, I mean, it's so culturally iconic now, but it wasn't that long ago. It was, you know, it was the middle of nowhere, both literally and figuratively. But anyway, so the first event I do is Tyson Spinks in Atlantic City, which was a huge fight. And I thought that I was going to be doing just features, you know, pre-recorded features. And, but we get down there, and it was one of the first times they took Sports Center on the road. And so it was going to be me. and this guy Eric Clemens, who was an anchor or sports center. And I was so unqualified. I just was, I mean, it would have been like a 15 handicap, you know,

teeing it up on the first tee at the Masters. I had no business being there doing this. I was unqualified, but that was ESPN at the time, you know? I mean, they just throw you in the fire and, you know, just get it done and try and get to the finish line and learn along the way. right? So we're having a production meeting. And part of this was, you know, they'd throw it, Chris Berman or somebody would throw it down to, you know, the remote sports center and to be me and Eric on the set and we, you know, we kibbets about, you know, what's going on down here. And then one of us,

we'd throw to a pre-recorded interview. So one of the interviews was going to be, I was supposed to do with Robin Givens. Now, for those who don't know or remember, Robin Givens was like a very popular actress who was one of my who was married to mike tyson and one of the narratives just prior to that tyson sphinx fight was that she had had a miscarriage and there was all this chatter and um you know suggestion that she had miscarried because she might have been the victim of domestic abuse you know i who knows if any if any of that approach anything more than gossip right so we're in the production meeting and this guy who is the producer, guy and God rest his soul, Barry Sacks, he was a real New Yorker. And he says, okay. So, okay, Jimmy, you do the interview with Robin

Givens. And I think that the very first thing you need to ask her is about the miscarriage. Did she miscarry because Mike hit her? And I said, yeah, I said, yeah, you know, I don't know if I feel comfortable with that, Barry, and I'm hoping I could kind of dissuade him from this. And he says, no, you've got to ask her if Mike hit her. And that's the way, that's why she lost her baby. So back and forth we go. And finally, I said, so Barry, listen, I know I'm kind of new around here, but let me just say this, unless you're a ventriloquist, those fucking words aren't coming from these fucking lips. That's good.

By the way, don't blame you one bit. Good for you, especially as a young kid, like your first thing with him. You want to make them happy? Like, oh, yeah, I'll go ask that. Well, listen, in all honesty, at this point in my career, and this is one of the things that you learn, I could probably figure out a way to bring up that topic, although be respectful and not brazen. And people ask me all the time, what did I ever learn from Howard Kossel? the thing that impressed me most about him was that he could ask a difficult but necessary question without losing the person that he was talking to. You know, I've spent a lot of time in my life

having to ask difficult questions, and I'm not saying I'm any good at it. You know, you sometimes you got to, you just got to do it. You know, you just got to do it because the people who are watching you, that's the thought that's in their mind. Now, I'm not saying the thought that that's in their mind back then was, I wonder if she miscarried because Mike hit her. But, you know, it's something that you got to do sometimes and you got to find a way to do it and be respectful. Yeah, because, I mean, you lose him. Like you said, like Howard Grissel would not lose it. I mean, it's done.

And then they hate you forever, by the way, and you'll never get a piece from him again. Then they're done that. Yeah. How'd your boy handle it, the New Yorker, when you told him, not unless you're a fucking ventriloquist. Well, let's just say I didn't ask the question. Okay. Fair enough. I win.

They were my lips. That's right. Another, I mean, you just had just an unbelievable career with everything you've covered, but is it 20 Olympics? Yep. I mean, as a kid growing up, could you ever imagine? Like, I'm going to cover 20 Olympic games. No. I mean, so a couple of things stand out to me.

So my first Olympics was Lake Placid in 19. 1980. And I was a runner, you know, a gopher. Actually, my job in Lake Placid was I did all the graphics on, you know, Colt, you know what this is, obviously, Geron, I'm not sure how familiar you are with this aspect of, but I did the Chiron, you know, the lower thirds, the names and numbers that went on the screen. I did that at speed skating. And that, of course, was the Olympics where Eric Hayden won five gold medals. And actually, I just spoke to Hayden yesterday, who's a fascinating story. But, um, So, but the night before the game started, they rounded up all the runners, all the gophers, and they were doing a rehearsal. And they had all the, you know, the young gophers and runners and production assistants stood in for, you know, announcers all around the Olympic venues, you know, out at Alpine for Bob Beatty and Frank Gifford. They had a couple of kids up there with signs hanging over their heads over their necks. It said Bob Diatti and Frank Gifford, you know, Keith Jackson at speed skating. And they picked one person.

There must have been 100 runners. They picked one person who they sat in the studio and played Jim McKay. And that was me. That's how my Olympic career started off, pretending to be Jim McKay, which was like one of the coolest things that, you know, you talk about, could you ever imagine? and one of my biggest misgivings was, I know they recorded the whole thing because they wanted to see everything looked, and that was the point.

I wish I was smart enough back then, had the presence of mind to go right from the end of rehearsal to the tape room and say, all right, who's got that tape? I need to take it with me, so I can tell my children that this happened. That's good. But, yeah, I think also one of my proudest moments ever

involved Jim McKay, So 2002 Olympics, I used to do a segment every night in primetime that was sponsored by General Motors. And it was just a story, you know, a story that I wanted to tell. And Dick Ebersole, our boss in Salt Lake City, had decided that he wanted to bring Jim McKay back and have him work with us. And so, long story short, he comes to me and he says, listen, here's what I want you to do. I want you to do a segment with Jim McKay. And I'm thinking, wow, I mean, that's pretty he he'dy stuff. So he, Jim and I did a segment together and I didn't never forget it, you know, like it was yesterday.

We come back from commercial and I say, you know, we're back at the Salt Lake Games. I'm Jimmy Roberts. And I now get to say something that in my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined I would ever have the opportunity to say. I'm joined by Jim McKay. And then they cut to a shot of Jim and myself. And you know what he said? he looks at me in the way that he always did, and he said, you were always my favorite production assistant.

But listen, a lot of great memories, you know, not enough time to tell all the stories, but just such great opportunities. And yeah, I love the Olympic Games. They're great. I hope everybody watches. Oh, absolutely. I actually spoke to Dan Hicks through text message this morning.

He just landed in Italy for the Olympics. That a boy. Yep. Just landed. He's got the skiing. He's got a big. story on his hands between Michaela Schifrin and Lindsey Vaughn. I mean, it's going to be a lot of eyeballs on them. And, you know, listen, I know you work with Jim Nance, but just a shameless

plug, I'm not going to play the game of, you know, Tiger or Jack, who's better. But I don't know that I've ever worked with, you know, a better dude or a more qualified broadcaster than Dan Hicks. He's just a pretty special and talented guy. He's a great man. He can do it all. He really can. Him and Rowdy during the swimming at the Olympics. I mean, he's just a pretty special and I mean, it's pretty good, huh? So good. I love it. Well, like you said, we could, we could go for hours with all the stories you have through your incredible career.

But we got to get to the E9 where these are the real tough, serious questions, like, you know, the ones you don't want to ask all. Real journalism, Jimmy. Bring it on. Bring it on, boys. True. I'll let you start the first one, let you pick our one. We kind of rotate around the first one. We'll give you this one, just because you're a very worldly man.

But you get to change lives, trade lives with somebody, dead or alive for one. one day. Damn. Who would you like to be? Come on, man. You guys should have sent these questions ahead. Yeah, it's a kind of a thinker. Well, we sometimes ask childhood crush,

but I didn't feel like that one would be as appropriate. Yeah, I hope you wouldn't be watching. You know what? Let me just say this. I'd like to give you some kind of really, really smart response, but I'll just say this. And it'll go back to something that we talked about before. Just give me Ben Hogan for one day so I can see what that.

feels like. Yeah. I just want to know what that feels like. Probably like your golf swing, but different. Right. Yeah. Similar, but it just goes exactly where you're looking pretty much every time.

That'd be a good one. That'd be a good one. That's a good golf guy answer to. All right. Well, I mentioned I spoke to Dan Hicks, and apparently you have a couple of nicknames. One of them, very easy, J-Roe. So I need to know, do you like J-Row? Yes, they're right there on the coffee mug.

or Meals on Wheels better. Oh, where'd you get that from Mike McQuaid? That was from Mr. Hicks, Meals on Wheels. Can you explain why that's a nickname? Okay, yeah, I can. So, J-Rowe is obvious, but the genesis of it is actually kind of amusing. So Dan Hicks, Roger Malp, and I, we always refer to ourselves as the supper club because whatever anybody else was doing when we were out on the road,

and you know how this goes, you're out on the road, That was our little posse. We would go out because we all enjoyed a good meal and a good cocktail. I mean, I hate to say this. I mean, at one point I said, I probably had more meals with Dan and Roger than I did with my wife. And I could order for both of them, blindly. But so back in the, when I first came to NBC, that was kind of around the time when Jennifer Lopez was a big deal.

And so it was J-Lo. and Dan started to call me J-Row. But Roger got, he was just outraged. Because to this day, he will claim that he was the one who came up with it and not Dan. So they fought about this for all these years. But the funny thing is that your colleague, Doddy Pepper, when she was at NBC and we were talking about, she one time referred to me on the air. She just came out with it.

she, because they don't call me J-Roe anymore, they just call me Roe. So, uh, Dottie on the air, just referred to me when throwing it back to me as in a tower or something. She said, well, I don't know about that Roe. And you guys both know Tommy Roy, our producer up back there. He just said, you can't call him that. Nobody knows what you're talking about. So, um, another good impersonation.

Yeah, I heard that. Um, but Meals on Wheels comes from when I was working with ESPN. actually came from a guy named Mike McQuade, who now runs just about everything at ESPN. But back in the day, Mike was the kind of remote producer when it was just, you know, me out there running around for SportsCenter covering golf. And I will never miss a meal because I love to eat. I just love to eat. And so I guess I was always talking about food.

And so at one point he just said, who are you? Meals on Wheels. and of course it's stuck. So, meals on wheels. He also told me that you're very, very good at getting dinner reservations, even if it's last minute. Let me just say this. It's all about what's important to you, right? Yeah.

Food, obviously. What's the secret to getting in late res out of a place that's hard to get a table? I don't know. I guess call someplace you know. And say I'm Jimmy Roberts. Yeah. No, I never, ever, never, never, never. Because you know why, if I did that, I'm sure the answer would be more times than not would be who?

You know, listen, I think the answer is just call someplace you know or they know you, you know, personally. Meals on wheels. Meals on wheels. The supper club's good, too, for the three of you. I like that. Yeah, that's a good name. That's a good name. All right, Ro, as to all our TV guests that we have on. But you're a pros, pro, so you may not even have one that's memorable. But give me an on-air blunder.

Oh, this is one of my favorite stories. And by the way, it said pros, pro. I'm not a pro. I'm a pro volone. That's what my best friend likes to say. Nice. But food reference. Yeah.

Back, I want to say, 2,000, 2, 3, 4, 5, whatever it is, we're doing the Deutsche Bank, even before it was part of the playoffs. And so I don't know if you guys would remember, but I used to, one of the things that I used to do at NBC is that we would do these sports updates. And I did them in the studio for a long time, but they're sponsored by U.S. Bank. We take them on the road. So we do these, you know, two or three minutes sponsored segments where I'd come on camera and, you know, hey again, everyone, Jimmy Roberts here with the U.S. Bank Spotlight.

And we'll bring you up to date on some of the other activities in the world of sports today. And we start in baseball. Okay. So, and then you just roll. into like a three or, you know, a two-minute kind of highlight package, right? But it's a little bit trickier when you're on the road and you don't have all the technical support and everything and you're kind of flying by the seat of your pants. And my producer was this guy, Ricky Diamond. He was, you know, an industry legend. He had been there forever. Started at NBC as a page, produced all sorts of

things at NBC. So we're at Deutsche Bank and I would do this update. What they do is they'd go and I'd sit in between Dan and Johnny and they would move to the side or maybe off to the side. Anyway, and I would do it from the 18th Tower. And so the information was kind of sketchy sometimes and you really had to, you had to ad lib and you had to kind of just fly by the seat of your pants, but that's okay because that's kind of what we do, right? Anyway, so the note that I got, I was doing a baseball game or a highlight of a baseball game. And I don't even remember who the player was.

But I had my run down in front of me and, you know, I do my intro and then they're going to roll some tape. And I know the first event is a baseball highlight. And I say, you know, we go to Cleveland where, you know, Jim Smith, the note says whomever the player's name was huge home run. And it's underlined like three times. And there's no more details. You know, it might have said fourth inning, whatever somebody sells pitching, right? So we go to the highlighters. We go to Cleveland, third inning.

You know, Don Smith on the hill facing Jim Jones and the pitch. And I'm here to tell you, it's the most massive home run I have ever seen. You know, and the trick for doing this stuff is not to read, but it's to watch the screen so that you can intuitively describe what you're seeing, and that's broadcasting, right? But I was caught totally unaware about how big this home run would be, right? So I'm watching the screen, I say, and the pitch, and I go the following. Holy shit. And I only get as far as S-H.

And I didn't have the presence of mind at that point to kind of pivot and say something like, Holy Sh, sugar. Holy Shomoli, whatever, right? I was just so overwhelmed by the magnitude of this home run. I just left it at, holy sh. Okay. So I look over and Johnny's laughing hysterically. You know, he's like, who, who, who, and Dan's looking at me like, what?

And I was just humiliated. Now, I didn't say what I almost said, which is fine. And I figured, okay, nobody's even watching. I come out of the booth and I start walking back to the clubhouse and I run into Steve Stricker. And he says, Nikki just texted me that you just said, holy shit on the air. Is that true? It's like, oh, my God. Anyway, that's, I mean, I'm sure I've done other things that have been worse.

That's good. I mean, it's a big learning curve. It makes me feel better. You were reacting as a fan, which that's the reaction. I was. I was. You know, and by the way, in 20 years later, I've heard a lot worse on the air. Exactly.

All right. You've pretty much covered everything. And you might not even have an answer to this question. But sporting event you've never covered that you always wish you could have. It's kind of hard. We've done everything. Well, let's see. Let me, I've done it.

You know, I've never done the French Open in tennis, which is a really cool event. And I've never done the World Cup in soccer. Ooh, there you go. Which are two pretty cool events. I mean, I don't, you know, that's like what golf course have you not played. Hey, do I get to ask you guys a question? Yeah, we're an open book, bro. Okay.

Each of you guys, what's the one golf course you've never played that you want to? I mean, Augusta is easy. I'd say Royal Melbourne for me. Hmm. I got to think a little bit on us. Augusta would, obviously, I'll take that one if anyone's listening. Yeah. I got an open slot.

I'm not poo-pooing. Well, now you got it in. Yeah, I got two now. I'm just put, you know, I'm just diversifying. What do you got? I'm trying to think. Like, I've never played Sabonic. If you want to like, yeah.

Oh, sorry. Let me, I've never played St. Andrews. There it is. That's easy. Oh, okay. Yeah. How many times have you played Augusta? A number?

Let's just say I've been a lot. A number. What's your best round at Augusta? I have been very fortunate to have been invited to have played at Augusta number of times. And, you know, one of the guys who invited me, you know, back when was a guy who passed away last year, who you guys are going at East Lake this year. And I hope he's, I know he passed away just before the Tour championship last. year, but Tom Cousins, who I think was one of the more remarkable people I've ever met. Forget about golf, forget about sports.

But I hope his legacy doesn't ever fade because he was, you know, you talk about the people who leave a lasting impression on your life. You know, for those of you who don't know who Tom Cousins was or what he did, I won't belabor the point, but go look it up because he was an amazing man who changed a lot of lives. Absolutely. That's good. That's good. All right, Ro, I'm going to give you one more here.

I actually have that question. I love this. I have that question, so I'm going to audible to a different one, but I know you got experience as a caddy, as a young man. I'm going to eliminate Ben Hogan, because when I wrote this, I didn't know you had like such a, you know, I knew you had respect for Ben Hogan, but I didn't know, like, he was the guy that you would answer for all these.

So, but you can go back in time and you get the caddy for any player in professional golf for one round of golf that they played. Where would you want to be on the bag? Where? Yeah, like what? It could be like Tiger 97, you know, or a master, you know what I mean. Okay, you're not going to, can I give you two? Yeah, of course.

Okay. And they're the polar opposites, okay? It's Jack Nicholas any year at Augusta. Good one. Okay. Or Paul Goidos any year, anywhere. What's the love affair with Paul Goidos? Yeah, I would not have pulled that one.

Okay. Here's the Paul Goidos deal. What an answer. Paul Goidos, to me, is one of the most delightful people. I have, he's funny. He's smart. And there has never been a time where I've talked to Paul where the conversation hasn't lasted like a half an hour or somebody, or somebody says, look, I got to go. I just got to go.

Because he's always got an opinion on something. he's really smart you know is he the best player ever no what he won a couple times on tour he won he won an ornie's tournament he won in Hawaii you know I mean he's he's in the books

shot 59 what's that he shot 59 hell yeah but he's just like one of the more interesting amusing people and I can't think of somebody who'd be more fun to spend he almost won the players

who'd be more fun to kind of walk 18 holes with because I can only imagine, you know, what he'd say. You know, the other answer is obvious. I mean, Nicholas, just because I'd want to watch it. Maybe Hogan. I don't know. You know, same type of deal.

Although, you know, the great Hogan story about yardages. You know, they'd always used to joke about how Johnny used to ask for his yardages and half yardages, which, by the way, Johnny says is not true. You know, they would never ask Andy Martinez for that. But the joke about Hogan was that, you know, this is back in the fourth. 40s, you know, long before there were tour caddies. And Hogan's out there with some new guy somewhere in the middle of nowhere. And this guy's on the bag. And, you know, Hogan has said two words to him all day beyond, you know, give me a seven or whatever, right?

And what's the yardage, whatever? So they get to about the 14th hole or something. It's a par four, middle of the fairway. And Hogan's got the cigarette in his mouth. And he's looking at the camera or looking at the green. He says, what do we got? And caddy says, I don't know, Mr. Hogan. 146, 147, Hogan takes a drag and looks in him, he says, which is it?

Yeah. I've heard that. That's good. By the way, there's so many good ones with him. Just saying, if you were on the back for Goidos, Sergio wouldn't have won that players. He wouldn't hit it. He wouldn't hit it in the wall. You got that right.

That's right. Nicholas Hogan and Goidos. That's it. Those are the three. They get lumped together all the time. I love Paul, man. I was lucky enough to play with him a few times throughout my career, and he's just, he's greatness.

Yeah, well, then you know, right? Because he probably wore you out. I mean, it wasn't like he wasn't talking, right? Well, we both like to talk a lot. So there was constant chatter. There was no listeners was the problem. Yeah, there was no listeners in the group that day. That's all right.

I got two more for you. Yeah. Have you ever gotten into an altercation at a rider cup? You know, Steve Sands texted me the other day and asked me about this. I don't recall it. I mean. Well, that's who told me to ask it. Damn it, Steve.

Sands just making stuff up? Yeah, well, I don't know. Listen, I mean, the only thing, Sam Torrance once wasn't happy with a question I asked, but it wasn't that big a deal. Okay. I mean, yeah, Sands texted me this morning and asked me that question. Yeah, Steve, you're fired.

Okay. Yeah, that's right. Our sources are pretty unreliable, Jamie. Do you have any more? No, I read an overlap. All right. Last one. Yeah, bring it.

This is a good one for you. Okay. Most expensive piece of equipment you've ever broken in TV compound. Oh, that's just not fair. You guys, man, I know where this is coming from. So, at least I know where you got your information from. So it was probably a, it was probably one year they loved to tell this story.

Where was it? It was, maybe at the father's son, I was driving a cart and I drove the cart, you know, was coming to our tower. And, you know, the, you know, the. grass was pretty high back over by the tower. And there was a wire, apparently on the ground, that led to a camera. And the bottom of the cart caught on to the wire of the camera. And I ended up dragging the camera for, I don't know, however long. Boy, that one hung around my neck for a long, long time. You got that one from Sands, man. I'm getting back at him. Sands, I don't know

if he's a podcast guy, but I know where you live, Sands. He said, I know where you live. You drug it for 150 yards. I don't know if that's true. Yeah. Let's just say this.

It wasn't my finest, my finest moment, but, you know, shit happens. And what are you going to do? Shit always happens. And by the way, when we have Sands on this show, we're going to reach out to you and you can return the favor,

give us some dirt on Sands. How about that? Oh, yeah, baby. By the way, we'll give you. I asked you guys. I asked you guys about favorite golf courses that you never played. The two that I've never played, and there are plenty I've never played.

I'd love to play Royal Melbourne. I've covered an event there. But I would love to, I've never played Chicago Golf, and I've never played Fisher's Island. Those are the two that I've played either. I don't play either. Those would both be good. You have a very short list. I bet you can get on.

I bet we can make it happen. I bet we can find somebody. They'll be happy to host you. All right. Who's going to be our fourth? Paul, Goidos. Yeah. Steve Van.

He doesn't play. Now, Steve Stas. Yeah, bring Sands to carry the back. I will say it wasn't just Sands, so you know. Dan Hicks said, you can also ask him if he ever had any golf card incidents while on the courses covering the golf. The list is long and funny. Well, that's actually not true. Because it's all kind of like an exaggeration off that one story of dragging the camera.

But, you know, that's okay. That's how stories grow over the years. We'll give you ample opportunity to return. favor when we have santa on i promise you but jimmy love it jimmy you're the man we appreciate you make sure everybody you go check out his podcast the big swing wherever you get your podcast youtube everywhere but it's been a pleasure my man that was really cool yeah it's a lot of fun talking to you guys continued success i love listening to you guys you bring a breath of fresh air no thank you we hope to see you in tahoe my man all right that was the great jimmy roberts joining us on

subpar i mean how about some of his stories starting off boxing with mike tyson yeah how about that. Destroyed some camera. Yeah, destroying some camera equipment. Come on, Jimmy. Clean it up a little. Happens to the best. Guys done everything you can possibly do in sports.

He's been doing it well for a long, long time. He's a good one. How many Emmys? 15 or 16. The internet doesn't know. Okay. What was it? 16?

I think it was the bigger number. When I finally was like, all right, so I asked like, I checked a bunch of stuff. They were all different numbers depending on the date. So I was like, all right, couldn't figure it. I was like, Grock, what is it? He's like, Jimmy Roberts has one between 14 and 16. It couldn't figure it out either.

So I just went with the highest one. Yeah. That's his shitload of him. He was a blast, though. Make sure you check out his new podcast, the big swing. But that was cool, man. Jimmy Rogers guy that I've looked up to for a long time. Always cool seeing him out there on the golf course.

Absolutely. Look forward to seeing you in Tahoe later this year. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us. Hope everyone enjoys the Genesis Invitational. And we'll talk to you next week on Subpar.