Subpar - Rickie Fowler Interview: Playing Grove XXIII with Michael Jordan, Why technology hurt Tiger Woods

Episode Date: November 24, 2020

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 5-time PGA Tour winner Rickie Fowler joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and his close friend and on course rival Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview at the home of Justin Thomas. The U.S. Ryder Cup team member talks what it's like playing the ultra exclusive Grove XXIII with the owner, Michael Jordan, life inside the Olympic village in Rio, and why he  makes sure to congratulate his Tour friends after a victory.

Hello world. It is time to get amongst it on golf subpar. Colt, Nostin, Drew Stolt. What a show we have lined up today, my man. Yes. Thank you, everyone, for your patience. The big three that we recently went down to Jupiter and recorded, Ricky Fowler, Justin Thomas, Matthew Wolf. The time has come. It is upon us, and we will be releasing one of those each week for the next three weeks. And they were, this was a fun, fun show. I know we talked about when we first went down there. Maybe we need to recap that trip just a little bit more and what we did and how cool that was. took a trip down to West Palm spent a couple days with Justin Thomas, Ricky Fowler, Matthew Wolf, playing golf out at the Grove 23. Don't need to talk about the results of the golf, but someone won, someone lost, it's all good. But before

we get to our... Skip over that quickly. Okay, yeah, we'll skip over it quickly. But this week's guest is one of the most famous golfers on the planet. The great Ricky Fowler will be joining us. Before we get to that, Slees, got to tell you by by the little trip I just made out to Pebble Beach. By the way, I've played 11 rounds of golf in the last 13 days. You look exhausted,

by the way. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me. I'm just to recap where I've played and how many rounds I've played it. So 11 to last 13 days. I spent five days at Shadow Creek, a day at Southern Highlands in Las Vegas, which is another fine establishment. Two days at Pebble Beach, two days at Spyglass, and one at Spanish Bay. Thoughts and prayers. I don't know if I want to go anywhere else. Thoughts and prayers for BG. I don't know where you go from there. It's like after going through Derek Jeter's lineup of chicks that he says like, where do you go now? I'll trade them. You've had them all. You've pretty much, you've reached the top. Yeah, but it's been a lot of fun. I just got back from Pebble Beach,

played the tailor-made invitational. My goal was to not finish last. You know, I don't really practice that much anymore. I had a bunch of corn fairy tour guys, PGA Tour champions, LPGA, a couple former PGA tour players as well. I went out. I was pretty happy, so at least, I finished 14th. I finished even par for four days, right where I started at the beginning of the week.

That's good. That's legitimate. That is not embarrass yourself whatsoever. Embarrass the brand. You did very, very well. Even par around that place, around those places, especially when you throw spy into the mix, dude, spyglass is a beast. Yeah.

play out there. It's like a, I just felt like I was hit seven irons, six irons. It was cold. It was wet. I mean, I was like, when's the holes that you make birdies on? Yeah, it's a, it's a very hard track. In Spanish Bay, I never played before. The wind was pumping when I played it. I got around there an even par. It's a crazy golf course, but had two beautiful days at Pebble Beach. Except for Sunday, I was rolling along good. I was four under par through eight holes. We got to number 12. The wind started whipping. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Made a few bogeys coming in, but managed to get it in under par. Shoot 71, my last day at Pebble. Had an absolute blast.

It was a really cool week. That's well done. 14, the uphill dog leg right par five. What did you walk me through that one? Okay. It was about 50 degrees blown about 25. A driver, three wood, Gary. Gary's also known as my four iron hybrid.

Yes. I hit four ivory from 170, which normally goes about 205, and it came up short. Yeah. Went in the front bunker, made bog. But that hole is just a monster. When you get it cold and windy, that whole place is a monster. But that one right back into the teeth. And hybrid's not the one you want coming into that green.

No, not. Lob wedge isn't what you want coming in the rain. We had a couple days where it was whipping. I hit a nine iron from 95 yards on one hole. When it gets cold and windy like that up there, I feel like there's no such thing as too much club. It's like, just give me an absurd club and I'll make it work because never hit it long.

What was the night? Give me a little peek into the nightlife because there's some dudes up there. Like you said, some guys are there to compete like to play. There's a nice little purse for the winner. Was it 60K for win? Kyle Rifers was your champion. 3rd 3001 by 3.

Shout out Kyle Rifers. Nice playing. And then there's other people there like, I'm here to have fun, good time. and they get amongst it in the evenings. Yeah, and obviously I was one of those. I got in trouble one night. I played my jambox a little too loud around the fire pits there at Spanish Bay.

Got to keep it tight up in Pebble, dude. I mean, but the best part of the trip, I mean, they pay for everything. It's one of those weeks. That's why it's so much fun to go. So, I mean, nicest wine, nicest food. Everything's on the house. And it's an absolute blast. Some guys are there to take it serious.

We saw some kids with track men's on the range, something I've never seen before at this tournament. But then there's guys like me, John Malinger, Martin Flores, Brandon Harkins was one Getting amongst it having a good time at night Sitting around the fire pits of Spanish Bay Going over the tap room at Pebble Beach The only problem is In the state of California right now

There's no indoor dining And so everything's outside They got some fire pits and Like heat lamps and stuff But oh my God It gets cold at night There's not enough heaters, lamps, fires whatever to sit outside

At Pebble when it's cold at night That wet wind Nasty What a trip How was Malinger, gong show? Was he the most Was he the MVP socially of the week.

No, I was. There's no doubt. But Mallinger's one of these ones. He always plays well at this tournament. Okay, this is his little hidden gym, and he kind of fake drinks it a little bit. Oh, really? Okay. He wants to mess with everybody for not getting after it, send drinks over here,

send drinks over there. Meanwhile, he's just kind of keeping it neutral. Just treading water. And then shows up and he's ready to go each day, but he did not have his best week. I think he finished 22nd. Fake drinking, John Mallinger. I got to give our guy, Joe Scoverin, a little shout out here. So I didn't know about this until Saturday night,

but there was a wager between Joe Scobron and Joe Griner, who caddies from Max Homa. Griner put me as the plus 120 underdog. Joe took me. Against Mallinger? Straight up, but I have some odds, plus 120, and I took Malli down by five shots. By five.

He shot five over? He shot five over for the week. Malley. Maybe it wasn't fake drinking. Or maybe it was in his game's just loose as a goose. You keep your score on golf genius on your phone. Yeah, I hate those things. But you can look at the live leaderboard and all this.

Yeah. And I was 400 through seven Sunday, and me, John and Martin were on a group text, and John goes, Colts cheating. There's no way this is true right now. But I was playing really good. It was a lot of fun. But I'm happy to be home, back with you,

and looking forward to a little rest on Thanksgiving. Yeah, this is it. This is well deserved, and this is the week, and what better time to trot out one of our biggest interviews that we've ever had, the great Ricky Fowler. I feel like we need to just cut to the chase and get to him because people have been waiting for this for a long time. Yeah, he's a guy that I've known for a long time,

played on the Walker Cup team with him. Obviously, one of the most famous dudes in the golfing world. He's just such a nice guy. I mean, we spent the week with him. You got done and you're like, oh, my God, this guy is just so nice. He did everything for you and I. Oh, dude, I mean, I'd been around him. We played two or three rounds at Whisper Rock before with Joe and some other guys,

and we've been out at night once or twice. But I hadn't been ever been down to, like, you know what I mean? He's in Scottsdale, so we're trying to, like, facilitate things. Down there, he's like, you know, we're sitting around Grover. Like, we got to get an Uber and get out of here. He's like, I'll just drive you. Like, dude, it's 25 minutes this way. You got to go this way.

I don't know, it's no problem. I'm just driving, like, all this. I was like, you don't need to be doing this. But like, it wasn't even, it was like, you didn't even bat an eye. It's like, no, don't even worry about it. I got it. Yeah, he is the best. I can't wait for you all to hear this.

But before we get to Ricky Fowler, a word from our official sponsor, Bushnell. Sleys, we both use the Bushnell rangefinders. These things are incredible. They're number one in golf. 99% of tour players use them. I have no idea what the hell the other one percent are doing. But I know I love it. Making bogey.

Exactly. Yeah. Ricky uses it. Guess what? It's good enough for Rick and 99% of the guys out there playing for real. It's good enough for me. I really love the slope feature on this deal. So you got a little uphill shot up 137 playing up to 140.

Need to know that exactly. Because you're dialed in like that. I am super dialed in like that. Thank you for recognizing that. But I don't know what, if you're not using Bushnell, I really don't know what the other option is, what you're using. These guys own the marketplace and for good reason. Yep.

The newest one is the tour V5 shift. It has the jolt technology when you hit the pin. I like that. You know you're not on it. You're not like, oh my God. 170 all of a sudden it clicks 200 something crazy behind it like out here you hit the little cactus in the background just barely missed the flag hit two clubs too many dirt nap yeah but go get you the newest bushenel two or five v shift range finder you can save 25 when you spend 100 dollars at bushnell golf

dot com by using code subpar 25 during checkout all right here he is our guy ricky fowler on golf subpar all right we are in the presence of greatness ladies and gentlemen five-time pj Tour winner, one of the most beloved players on the PJ Tour. Ricky Fowler, welcome, and thank you. Thanks, boys. Oh, my God. So good to see you. Scovern wanted me to introduce you as the guy that Joe Scoburn turned into a superstar,

but I buckled under the pressure. I feel like he definitely didn't say that. No, I made that up, but I told him I was going to say that, and he said, yeah, yeah, do that. I mean, believe it or not, but, well, I mean, Joe kind of peaked early. We'll say that, but. Did he peek? At one point. There was a peak.

There was a peak. But Joe was actually someone I looked up to. I still do because I love Joe. I've known him since I was basically three years old. But he was locally growing up in Myrietta and our valley. Joe was a good player, a great junior player. And he's eight years older than I am. So when I was eight, nine, ten growing up playing junior golf,

he's 16, 17, 18. And he's, you know, one of the best players in the area. So he was someone that I looked up to. And now he carries the bag and works for me. Things change, moms. And things flip, yeah. Hell of high school quarterback, too. Well, we pumped him up a little bit.

I mean, he was a high school quarterback. Sneaky athlete. He'll tell you he's not very fast, but, you know, no, he can throw a ball. He can hit a ball decent now. But, I mean, he'll say he was better back in the day. So you're just so nice. He is so nice. You're right.

What's it like when Ricky Fowler goes back to Murrietta? I mean, obviously, family's still there and everything. But, I mean, are you just a rock star when you walk around that town? I mean, it's a low-key town, so it's kind of nice. I mean, I'll see, you know, friends and family. You know, people are excited to see me back in Marietta. But it's a mellow town, so it's not like there's a homecoming parade or anything like that. It should be.

Actually, a cool thing about Murrieta. We're working on taking over the driving range that I grew up. up at. And so that'll be something to kind of keep that going and to always be a part of my hometown. But yeah, like I said, it's a very low key. You know, we're almost two hours from L.A., a little over an hour north of San Diego, inland, a little over an hour from Palm Springs. So it's like right in the middle of everything. And it's almost like an escape from the cities around. That's cool. I got to ask you this, though, because obviously everyone knows you're big into extreme sports, motocross and all that. But then there's a lot of

There's motocross and there's golf. Like you can't find two more opposite things. And that's pretty much all you did. At any point, was it like, were you ever thinking, okay, I'm going to be a professional motocross racer compared to a professional golfer? No, I mean, a lot of people have asked that. Damn it. Well, I mean, they bring it up.

They ask about it. But golf was always number one for me. I started playing golf and riding BMX and dirt bikes pretty much the same time. So for me, I fell in love with golf. that was, like I said, that was my number one. I've always really enjoyed riding, building jumps in the yard, dirt jumping. We used to do trips out to the desert, Ocoteo Wells, which isn't far from where I grew up. And so riding was a big part of my life growing up, but it was always second to golf.

And I actually, I got hurt when I was, well, multiple times, but the last main one was when I was 15 going into high school. I guess it was actually right before the new year. And that was kind of my wake-up call if I wanted to pursue golf seriously, that the bikes were going to kind of have to take a backseat for real. When's the last time you're on a bike? Last time I was on a bike. On a bike, like on a track has probably been about seven or eight years. Every once in a while I get back to California,

I'll hop on my dad's bike or I still have a bike there. but I might just go cruise down the street, go up in the hills, but very mellow. People ask, like, how good were you at writing? And I'm usually on the golf course. I say, well, it was basically like a scratch golfer at writing. So I was good, but I wasn't, you know, hanging with my buddies that went on to race professionally. It wasn't as fast or as good as them. But, you know, I could hold my own.

I could get around the golf course of the track. So for me, when it was when people would say, you know, can you go ride for fun, that'd be like saying, go shoot 87 and go have fun. No problem. Do it all the time, dude. You are way under-assimating. Well, okay, go shoot 87 when you're playing a match for money. Never mind. It makes more sense.

Well, let's do go back to the Marietta Valley Golf Range. I want to know about Barry McDonnell, your first coach, Big Bee. Tell us who he is. So Big Bee was, you know, the guy that taught me. me how to kind of play golf and I've got actually first tattoo was his signature on my wrist. Oh wow. So he used to, where that came from, he used to do a lot of kind of pencil and charcoal drawings. And I have a few at the house, but he'd draw anything.

One of his main, who he loved to draw was Ben Hogan. I also love boxing, so he drew a lot of old-time boxers. So I have a couple Hogan pictures that he's done at the house, and I took a picture of a signature there and then had it done. But yeah, he's the one that I, you know, took lessons from growing up. Very old school. He always carry

Hogan's like, what is it, I think, five lessons. Or five fundamentals. He'd always have that in his back pocket, but it was very old school. Probably didn't know how to work a video camera. I've never seen him with one. And it was very much just go out and hit shots.

If I was, you know, drawing it too much or cutting it too much, it'd be like, hit a couple hooks and then, you know, see where we're at from there and kind of dig it out of the dirt. So he's also someone that my parents trusted to where they would just drop me off at the range as a kid after school or on the weekends and just leave me there and pick me up at dark. And I'd be just hanging out with him. So I spent probably almost as much time with him as I did my family growing up. Yeah, I know he's super special with you.

his style like you talked about like all right if I'm slicing it too much try to hit some hooks I'm hooking too much try to hit some slice do you think spending that much time on the range before you actually started getting out to a golf course consistently like helped you and that once you got out there like I already know how to move it both ways yeah it was it was definitely a way of learning kind of the fundamentals and not going to mechanical like if I was sitting there and you'd say you know let's hit a draw from this pin over to here because I The range I grew up at is very flat. There's some pins out there, but luckily it's all grass,

so you're getting the real effect. You're not hitting off of a mat. And just learning how to hit golf shots and not necessarily teaching, you have to be in this position to do this. It's like, all right, you got to hit it from here and make it go to there. Figure it out. Do it. So once I got on the golf course and even today where I'm at,

Sometimes I just go back to thinking of, you know, swing thoughts are out the window. And sometimes that's where a lot of guys hit the best shots are in the trees. You got to go, you got to start it left of this tree. It's got to start at this trajectory, hit this window, and move to here. Sometimes you're in the middle of the farrow and the pins in the middle of the green and barely hit the green. But if you're, you got those little windows. So I think that was a good thing that taught me kind of the imagination of it. And being able to hit shots when you're out there on the golf course.

trying to visualize those things when there's nothing really there to look at. Yeah, you're playing the game, not golf swing. Such a good way to learn us, but I feel like, especially at the beginning when you're first starting. But you had a superstar junior career, lead you at Oklahoma State. But by the way, I have to say this. And you can correct me if I'm wrong. But am I correct, you revealed which school you were going to by which head cover you

had on at a tournament the next day. Oh, nice. That is true, but I heard this and I hated you. And now I love you. Well, prior to that, I mean, not a lot of people know. I had verbally committed to UCLA. Philip Francis and I were kind of trying to go to school together. And it really came down to Oklahoma State, UCLA.

Two very different schools. One being in the city, still plenty of golf courses and great golf in L.A. around to Oklahoma State, you know, college town, have our own golf course, very far from home. UCLA, not too far. So we had verbaled

and it kind of got to the point where I felt like I made a decision kind of too early. I wanted to take official visits and, you know, see what was really out there and make the decision on my own. So ultimately ended up Oklahoma State and I put the head covers on at USA

am after I made the cut there. What was it about going to Stillwater, seeing it, whatever, that being like this is, I like this better than I want to be in L.A. For me, like I talked about earlier, Marietta is very much like a get away from the city town, especially when I was growing up. When I was a little kid, it was about 20,000 people in Marietta. Now it's, I think, around 110, 120,000. So it's grown over the years, but I grew up in a basically a small town.

And everyone said, you know, going to Stillwater, how is it, you know, it's got to be so much different. California. Well, like the town I grew up in, it's a small town like Stillwater. There's just more attached to it and some bigger cities close by. But I love the small town feel, slow pace. There's no traffic except for game day. Don't catch the wrong side of game day traffic. And they turn out a lot of tour players.

They do okay and golf. Yeah, you guys actually pretty good. Yeah, they've had a pretty darn good history. It's unbelievable. So, yeah, from Labrin Harris to, obviously, you know, Holder, everything he did there and, you know, leading up to McGraw and now Alan Bratton and Donnie Dar. It's just a place for golf. I ran into Coach Holder in Vegas one night.

It was so exciting. I was with Jeff Quiney was actually there. We both look at each other. We're like, is that Coach Holder? And I went over and I was like, Coach Holder, we started talking. We played blackjack until probably four or five in the morning. It was awesome. one he likes he likes to send it a little bit like I was always a little afraid of

oh my god I was like ah there's coach holder don't do it oh yeah no he's he's got that presence about him yeah for sure old school there's plenty of stories about him when he was when he was head coach just from discipline to punishment workouts all kinds of stuff you he ran a tight ship there at Oklahoma State and it's it's something that got handed down from Labor and Harris to him and it's it's still continues on but he can flip a few cards in Vegas. He ain't afraid to do that at all. But you've had success at every level you've played. We played on the 2007 Walker Cup together. You also played on the 2009 Walker Cup team. I got to ask you, don't answer it just because

I'm sitting here. Which team was better? Seven. Thank you. Didn't even have to hesitate. I love it. Nine, nine was great. And I mean, just to go into a little bit more, I mean, when you look at seven and nine, I was a pick in seven and was kind of like just trying to fit in. I'm playing with, you know, I think Stanley and I were picks. And, I mean, from you down the line, I mean, you look at the team. It's a pretty successful team post-Walker Cup. And I'm the guy that's there as a pick trying to make my pick worthy.

So a lot of pressure on me there. We go on to all have a great Walker Cup. When you played all four matches, so you did okay. As a kid, yeah. But going to 2009, I can't remember exactly how many. I know Harmon and I, I'm not sure if there were any others or many more that had played a Walker Cup before. So I went from like the little kid on the team to now I'm the vet in two years.

So it was two very different experiences. But seven was pretty special. You can, go ahead. You can obviously relate to this because you've played on both sides. But I feel like I've only played a Walker Cup over on foreign soil. And I just feel like it's such a bigger deal over there. Like their crowds are incredible insane over there. What's it like playing over here in America?

Do they get behind it over here as much? I mean, to be honest, it is bigger overseas. You know, you can see it a little bit in rider cups as well. I mean, I love playing them on both sides. But it's something about going overseas as kind of the away team. and the fans over there are great. They're going to cheer for good golf regardless. Obviously, they're pulling harder for their home team,

but you play well, make a pot or hit a good shot, or win your match. Congrats, you play better. You win. But playing at home, you know, is the complete flip is like, you know, they're pulling so hard for you and you're the home team. But it's almost in a way like more pressure, just because you have all that weight from all the home fans on you.

So two very different experiences. I'm fortunate to have seen both sides and a few different things. Not a lot of two timers on there. You played with Horshal and 07. You played with DJ, right? How does the team room work? Is it like, hey, I want to play with him and another guy I want to play with that guy? How are the like four balls picked?

I was a pick, so I just fit in. You said I'll play with whoever? I was like, you want me to play, I'll go. And I remember my first match when I went out with Billy, I couldn't find the map for the first few holes. And we're playing alternate shots. So I'm hitting every other shot, trying to get into a rhythm. I struggled.

We're four down through five. And our captain, buddy Marucci, comes up to us. And, you know, you guys, okay. And both Bill and I'm like, yeah, we're good. And Billy was a little bit more, as you can imagine, the energy. The vocal. Yeah. He was insane.

He was the start hitting a fairway kid. So from there, we turned all square. And it was definitely a very memorable match that could have went the wrong way very quickly after that start. But, I mean, it's just those team events bring out some of the coolest and most memorable experiences. Billy was that guy that you wanted on your team

and you damn sure didn't want to play against him. He drove you crazy if you played against him. I could imagine. He's got plenty of energy. We love the guy. He goes. He ain't afraid. But you play the O-9 Walker Cup, and you turn pro in 2009, and you're the can't-miss kid.

You're the kid coming out. Do you feel like there was like, is it a tough playing when you're the guy that's being talked about all the time? Like, is there a little extra pressure, especially when the media is nonstop? Like, this is the next big thing in golf? Yeah, there's always that added pressure. I feel like, I mean, you would know as far as, you know, being in the position of playing professional golf. I feel like us as players, you've played professional golf. golf too. Yeah, it's pretty big deal. Just not the tour, but...

I mean, it's similar. It's not real professional golf. One event, dude, isn't no big. But the thing is, is like, you personally, or as you should, you have the highest expectations or put the most pressure in yourself. There is that added pressure and stuff going on out there. And at a young age, it is tougher to deal with. It's, it's, gotten a lot easier over time as you, I've, you know, dealt with it and played well and struggle at times and you know kind of in a low point right now with kind of working on stuff and grinding through it but that's that's part of it um like i said i think at the end of the day as a player you have the the highest expectations of yourself and put the most pressure on yourself so

whether you read comments to you know what's written in the media it is what it is but do you pay attention what a little bit also i'll see stuff here and there uh Sometimes I like to look at some articles and use it as motivation. You know, before I won the players, I think it was, I think it was Poulter and I that were voted. I don't know who or what or what voted, but most overrated players. I didn't vote for you, Rick. That's fine. You should have voted.

He's lying. You told me to vote. Let me do a victory that week. Yeah, I worked out good for you. Well, I mean, you handled the pressure obviously very well. Turn pro, you finish seventh at the Shriners in your first start losing a playoff in your second event at the fries at Greyhawk, and then you go second at Pebble Beach, and then boom, you go through Q School, get your tour card. Like, looking back on that now, 10, 11 years later, whatever it is. Like, is that, if you put that in perspective, like, just how impressive that was for a kid, like, your age should do that?

That's not, I mean, that's hard. Yeah, and I mean, it's getting harder and harder every year. So if someone to go do that, you know, this fall versus when I did it, it was easier than when I did it. I feel like the depth of the tour and the players that are coming out keep getting better and better. But it's still impressive to go back

and think about it to, because I waited to turn pro so I could play the 09 Walker Cup. So I only had a limited stretch of tournaments that I could play. And after, I think it was three, so I played the FRIES, play the Vegas,

Jackson got rained out, so that was a tournament that I didn't get to play. to try and make some more money. Disney, I think I needed to finish about top 10 to get my card. Didn't do that, went to Q school. But no, it's, I'm happy it went that way because you never know, where it can go from there. You know, you see a lot of good players that out of college or when they get starts,

if they don't play well out of the gate, it can be a long shuffle until they, you know, get their card or is it web or is it you know canadian tour a lot in america um it's it's tough so i was i was very fortunate to just play well and get myself out and that's what i think is so crazy about like these kids coming out nowadays with the matthew will of victor hoblin colin more cal like how good they are you used to be the young guy out there now you're not quite the young guy anymore i mean you're 30 now i get to kind of assume a role yeah you're a little veteran role but but why do you think these kids are are coming out immediately and having so much success compared to like it used to be like if an amateur gotten a PJ tour event or a young kid it was like okay let's make the cut and that's a big deal now

it's like no we're going to try to win first week out yeah no i i i like i talked about when you know my fall to get my card was good to do that now is even harder that level of competition or the depth continues to keep pushing further and further back and you go back to guys like tiger that pushed our generation to you know I feel like you know guys like me DJ now JT Jordan other guys are pushing these young kids and there's more more kids playing better competition when they're teeing it up whether it's at a you know AJGA event or wherever they're at and so that level of competition keeps getting better and better at every level and coming out of amateur golf and college golf, they're playing against guys that, you know, can play on the tour. So that's what

you're seeing from Matt, Harvey, Colin. They're not scared. No, they're not. It's incredible. How much different is it do you think now compared to when you first came out winning to now? Like, can you quantify it? Like, and how good these young kids are and how much tougher it is now versus like 10 years ago? Yeah, I mean, we talk about depth. I mean, the tour's always had plenty of depth. You see guys win tournaments that are ranked two, three, 400 in the world.

You know, everyone can play. You know, just because you're ranked number one and you go into, you know, match play event against 64, like, there might be a slight favor towards number one, but, you know, it can be a coin flip at days.

That's golf, but I mean, I would even look at, like, you start talking about the distance side of things and the speed. It'd be interesting to look at like average ball speed or club ed speed on tour. That's gone up since I've turned pro. It goes up every minute. Yeah, I mean, I would say like if you were low 170s ball speed coming out on tour when I did in, you know, 2010, that was, you know, definitely above average, you know, around 30th.

now if you're 170 ball speed you're kind of hanging back there a little bit if you're 155 you're doing a podcast here we are exactly where do you fall on that though right now in this like in this

this craze that you know the race for speed everybody trying to get longer and things like that are you buying into that is speed something you're trying to get are you trying to get longer or you just kind of like you know what

I'm good where I am and I'm going to work on everything else no I'm not trying to necessarily bulk up I don't I don't really have the frame for it. I think you're talking about this earlier. Looking fit. Nice.

Fit and bulk is. Frank didn't believe you. You got some bulk. Frank, can you help me? No, I'm someone that fluctuates between low 150s and high 150s. So that's pounds and weight, standing at 5'8. So I'm more of a efficiency guy and control.

I'm not someone that's going to be able to look. I mean, if I already go to bright, license's kind of stature i might be up there what like 205 that'd be a lot of weight you got a lot yeah i don't know there's enough eating i don't like i can i love to i love to eat but that'd be you got your work cut out i'd be a lot to try to do so i'm someone that's a lot more of trying you know not trying necessarily gain distance but be as efficient as possible you know stay strong stay healthy um i hit it far enough but i'm never going to get to a point where You know, I've got 200 plus ball speed.

That's just not going to happen. Do you like the way, like, do you like what he's doing? Do you respect it or is it like, okay, this is getting a little out of control? No, I do. I mean, I love being able to, you know, see where the limits can go. You know, obviously there's been a lot of talk, you know, probably over the last 10 years of, you know, golf courses are starting to get, you know, kind of out of date or the ball's going too far, or the equipment's getting too easy to hit or stuff like that.

I've for years I've I've practiced with persimmon drivers and and you know go play with balladas or professional balls but you know every once in a while how much harder is it it's it's harder but I love it for some reason it makes me kind of focus a little bit more and you know you got to hit it out of the middle I mean you do hit it out of the middle though so that's it just kind of zeroes you in a little bit more so yeah like focuses on the like it narrows the gap between like talent and there's not as much like room. Yeah, I mean, I feel like equipment has definitely helped, you know, some guys be, you know, better.

And I wouldn't say, you know, like the top players would still be the top players with whatever equipment. They're figuring out and doing it better than anyone else at whatever period of time they're at. But with older equipment or balls it, you know, maybe don't go as far or curve more. It would be tougher for some guys that maybe equipment has made the game more accessible too. But would it be, you know, as fun or, you know, would people at home want to go play with that equipment?

No, they want to hit it far. They want to spin the ball and they want to make birdies. But, yeah, it's an interesting debate, but hey, I'd be all four teamed up with persimmons and old balls. I said this, and I'd love to hear your opinion. like technology in my opinion hurt Tiger Woods it brought a lot more when Tiger was in his prime it brought people way closer to him he was so much better than everyone else and then the equipment got better and it kind of narrowed the gap a little bit yeah when you looked at him through you know late 90s early 2000s was the longest off the tea was the straightest hit the most greens and i think

lead putting there was at some point in there that he did and he wasn't far off on those other years around it. So at that point, yeah, he can obviously hit it out of the middle. He's got plenty of speed and he can control it and make putts. Like how are you going to beat him? What else? What else can you do? I mean, that's it. I think you're good. If you hit the fairway, hit the green and make putts, they might be doing all right. We can figure out the rest. I would know, but it feels like the right blueprint. Well, let's go to the Olympics. I want to talk about the Olympics with you because that's one thing that's unique than not a lot of guys have. You got a chance to represent the US in 2016. Where does that week rank for you in terms of like most memorable weeks of your life?

Yeah, we won't really talk about the golfer where I finished. Yeah, leave that out. I don't really care about that part. Yeah, as far as experience, I mean, because like as a golfer growing up, I mean, everyone, whether an athlete or not, watch the Olympics. You know, it's exciting to watch. It's every four years. Well, if you're watching winter and summer, you got it every two years. But it's a, you know, iconic event, historic, you know, going back. as far as you want to go, but it's the Olympics. Like you watch opening ceremonies, see everyone walk, everyone represent their country.

So for me, I wish I would have been able to experience the whole two weeks, but we were playing the first week and I had to get back to play the second back in the U.S. So I got to walk in opening ceremonies and, you know, that's, you know, a dream come true of basically a dream that I was never able to have because golf wasn't there. You always thought, like, it'd be awesome to be able to walk. opening or closing or be at the Olympics, but golf was not an option. And not fast enough. I can't jump high enough. I can't do any of the other Olympic sports. It's good enough. So to be able to experience that, to thinking back when I was a kid watching the Olympics, like,

man, that must be pretty special. It's really cool. But I don't think golfers or in our space are able to really, like, truly appreciate the Olympics from, you know, my wife, Allison, being a Polvalter and a true Olympic sport, the Olympics was like the absolute pinnacle of her sports, other sports, you know, track sports and stuff like that. So I can't even imagine, you know, what it's like for someone in, you know, like track and field or some other sports that have been an Olympic sport forever to have that as a dream growing up and train for that forever and ever. And then that four-year window of your time comes and you get to do that. It's something that we can't really appreciate.

Can you tell me about the Olympic Village? I'm very fascinated by the Olympic Village. What is that like? Is that like college dorms but just with the best athletes on the planet? Basically, U.S. had, we had, they were basically like high-rise condos. So the U.S. have their own just because of how many athletes we had down there. A handful of other countries shared. Some were shared by like two. Some were shared by six or seven countries. But it's, I mean, it literally is a village.

And go down. You have a big gym where everyone can train at. Went in there a few times. You know, like some golf movement and stuff. I looked pretty cool. It looked pretty cool when I've got like. Usain Bolt, a chick over here just deadlifting a lot more than what I weigh and what I'm doing. I'm just doing this movement stuff.

I'm like, Troy, my trainer that was down there, and I was like, let's just wrap it up and go. We finish this later, yeah, I feel pretty good. It was really cool because, I mean, you've got everyone walking around. It's basically just athletes, trainers, and people involved with the team. And where I've had some of the most fun was just in the, like, dining hall. I mean, it's weird to call it like a dining hall, but you walk in in the middle or scanning everyone's passes. And from the middle split, it's about probably 400 yards wide and about 100 yards deep. And you've got the like identical buffet going both ways from food from all over the world.

And, uh, hey Frank. Frankie. So I, I walked in opening ceremonies with, um, basically all of our dive team for the U.S. And so I got to become good friends with a lot of them and went and watched them a decent amount. A lot of us would eat together throughout the week. And we just go in there, hang out, grab food, meet at a table, and you've got hundreds of other athletes eating around you. So it was just crazy to see how big it was, how many people, how many athletes. I remember we'd always grab fruit loops for dessert, crush some fruit loops and head out.

Nice. Do you mingle with other countries? Do you strictly stay with the U.S.? Are you hanging out with like, did you get to meet any big athletes from other countries? I mean, a little bit. I mean, some countries, there's some language barriers. It was pretty cool to have other athletes that are golf fans and come up, say hi, and talk a little bit. But it felt like, in a way, a lot of the countries or, I wouldn't say necessarily teams or disciplines were kind of everyone would kind of hang together and do their own thing.

but you're all on a big old tent hanging out eating food, so you cross paths a decent amount. Is it something you want to qualify for another team? Is that a big goal of years? It is, but I got a lot of work to do. Well, that's beside the point. No, it would definitely be something that I wouldn't miss if I had the opportunity to do it again. I know one of your favorite events on the PGA tour is the Waste Management Phoenix Open. You had a lot of close calls there over the years, and then you finally got the monkey off your back last year when you got the W. How special is that tournament to you?

And what is it that brings out the best in Ricky Fowler? Well, for me, it starts with the Thunderbirds and, you know. Thunderbird right there, by the way. There you go. Newest. Well, he wasn't around. What the people I'm talking about. If you need a sandwich on number eight next year, text me.

I'll get that right out. The tournament and the people have been special to me. They gave me a spot in 2009. to come down and play as an amateur when I was still at school. So that alone was just a really cool experience. I didn't make the cut, but to be there and just experience the Phoenix Open was special. But it's definitely an atmosphere that I grew up around with going and watching Supercross and growing up around dirt bikes.

It's a loud, rowdy crowd, especially, as you know, once you get there, you know, 10 green, 11 T, 16, 17, 18. So it's, if it was like that every week, it'd kind of get old. But it's like that one week, it's so special. And to, when you're going to that little stretch at the end on the weekend, you're kind of, you get the glimpse of it, like I said, on 10 and 11, or 10 green 11 T, you get your breather. And, you know, once you get the 15, you're just taking a deep breath and like,

let's get this home. Yeah. But you're loved, so they say nice things to you. Imagine being someone when they say the mean things, too. I mean, I've seen plenty of the highlights of the good and the bad. It is such a cool place. I mean, I've gotten booed plenty of times for not hitting a good shot on 16 or missing. Yeah, they're like, oh, way to go, Rick.

Give me a ball. And then they love you again. No, I haven't had to deal with the complete heckling. Yeah, I don't think you ever will. It's perfect that you brought up the Phoenix album because I got this story from Gary McCord yesterday. So apparently you stayed with him at his house. My rookie year. God bless you for the first two years in what I was told, right?

So you went out there and you lived with Gary McCord for a week at a time, two years straight. Second year that you came out there, he said, all right, you're staying in my house, you eat my food. You got to put in a little work for me. And he went out and caddied for Gary McCord on the Monday qualifier as he was prepping for a champion's tour event. Tell me about that day. Well, it was the Monday qualifier for the Phoenix Open. Yeah. Yeah.

But he was doing it. He basically told me, he was like, I knew I wasn't getting in, but I just needed a little. like a round so it was we went out that morning and I I told I mean I had been that I'd been and played the course at the Phoenix Open so I wasn't you know worried about Monday like I needed to go practice or anything like that so I mean a pretty standard you know Phoenix kind of late what is it late January early February day it was cold and raining which doesn't happen so I suited up full rain gear grab the bag

I'll tell you what Gary drove the hell out of it that day That was it nice That was about it Yep that's Fairly accurate He probably talked a lot We had a really good time

It was fun but He said you caddied your ass off for him As what he said he's like I was so bad And he was reading putts Breaking bunkers coming up running out He was like he couldn't have been a better caddy For as bad as I was playing Well like I said at least

At least we weren't searching for balls Because he drove it nice Outside of that I just had to take care of the little things. Did you play the, he said that you played the 18th, at the 18th hole, he's like, I'm a million over, I'm done, I just say, Ricky play this hole, and he said you grabbed the driver out of his bag and played the 18th.

I may have hit a shot. He lies a lot. I can't recall the rest, maybe. Yeah, there's no talent. He lies a lot. There might have been some rebellish, I don't know. Okay, yeah, that's probably, he said you had a driver in a three wood on the green and made birdie,

and we didn't even probably walked off the course. I was like, all right, well, I'll ask him, but it sounds made up from that point. I don't know if I can attest to that or not. The fact that you survived two weeks staying at his house. It's an accomplishment. Yeah. How much do you think the golf world misses him being in the broadcast booth?

I miss him. Being old, like, he would always come up and down the range. And, you know, I've known him for quite a while and going back to, you know, caddy in form. But he's someone that brings a lot of energy and definitely a character. and yeah some of the stuff he comes up with or says i mean you don't know where it even comes from he doesn't either no i know so yeah no we i miss him i don't know if i can speak for everyone else in the golf world but i thought he was awesome and fun to have around yeah i think he's a breath of fresh air

out there i want to ask you one question it's kind of off topic here but you're in the featured pairings pretty much every group that you play or every tournament you play right you're always going to be one of the guys everyone wants to see it makes sense but you get paired a lot with like a lot of the same people a lot of your closest friends you get playing with you know jt or whoever a lot of that a lot of overlap do you enjoy playing like in tournament rounds with your best friends over and over is it kind of like dude it's almost too too light that i lose the competitive edge a little bit no i i like it um and a lot of people have like they've given me hard time for when me or other players have stayed to congratulate someone that's won.

To me, the people I want to beat most are my friends because I don't want them to have bragging rights over me. So, you know, if I go out and congratulate, you know, whether it be J.T. or Jordan or Bubba, whoever it may be when they win, it's like I'm already done playing. I've done everything I can do. So I can't change or have an effect. So like I'm pumping. I'm pump for you you won this week let's go celebrate but playing with your friends or you know JT and I were

in the final group when I won Phoenix Open like I want to beat those guys because you want to be able to have that to like hold over them for that tournament for basically the whole year coming up who would give you a hard time for standing around to congratulate people your buddies

after they win I feel like was that Twitter is that social media people or what You know, it's unfortunate the people or the so-called fans that want to talk trash on us. But yes, there's people that hate on that. Yeah. What an asshole. Sticking around to congratulate his buddy. I hate this.

I mean, it's... Like, I'm done playing. I'm sorry. I'm over. It's my buddy. I'm going to say good job. I finished. I can't do anything else.

Like, good plan. Let's go over a corona. Never underestimate social media and the depths that it can go to. You know you want to fire it? Let's get deep. Let's go into the emergency nine. We do this with every guest. Nine fun questions.

Some are fun, some are serious. Just get to know Ricky, just a little bit more. All right, I'll start it off. And this is an easy one. Yeah, this is the easiest one. This is the easiest one we've ever had. Okay, a movie about the life of Ricky Fowler. Who plays Ricky Fowler?

You can pick any actor. Yeah, you can switch it. And you're going to have like, you have like five. I know. It's ridiculous. Well, let me tell you. Young or older? You get to be.

Yeah. You get to pick. we give our opinion as well okay um i'd say if we're going off like people have said that i look like zach a fron to like leonardard cabrio um so if we're going off looks i don't know i'd probably pick leo there um think highly yourself jesus how's your ego that's not that's not from me i have i had johnny death i don't compare you johnny i mean my my one of my favorite actors i'm gonna I'd have to go like Denzel Washington, but... Oh, you're going to have to fight Gary Woodland for that one.

He's going to have a busy summer. Yeah. That ain't going to work? See, exactly. Gary's not very smart. No, he's not. I had you as the rock. Leo, I don't really see it, but I feel like the rock.

You're right in there. Okay. He may have to bulk up a little bit, but... Yeah, he's going to have to do some things, but he's a method actor. He'll get into it. All right, next question. I feel like your ink is increasing on your body. How many do we have right now?

what's your favorite um let's see what am i seven well it means tattoos people yes tattoos this is one so you can't count is one yeah that's my grandpa's name um got the g for george of each um berry wedding date was the latest got a cross got an f got the rings but you can't show that i'll see doesn't like that um um um Any more in the works? Any upcoming plans? No. Is it just all like impromptu whenever you feel like it?

I wouldn't say impromptu. I feel like, so everything I have or have done is, you know, there's meaning it's something that's not going to go away. Like my mom and sister, I think my dad's still going to get it, but my mom and sister are going to get the F. It was just a kind of family thing for Fowler. Unfortunately, I had to pay my sister to get it. but and she barely made it for like you had to pay her you had to pay her to get it she only she barely made it like 30 seconds she just going for a touch up oh really all right make us this deal when you win your first major you get the trophy tatted somewhere on you okay done done all right now all right

all right also next bet when you win subpar on the face right right right this one's one of those cheek ones always tired those are getting hot right now yeah okay all right that's a deal that's on that's on camera so like fine all right this one's someone's someone serious okay if your career ended today would you be satisfied it's a hard question um no i wouldn't personally but as a as a kid looking at where i am i would just because my dream as a kid was to play the pGA tour um and so i've done that but i want more i mean as anybody that plays competitively like I want to be the best that I can be but if I were to go kind of deep and back in the day it was a kid growing up my dream was to play the PJ tour and yeah you always dreamed of

you know walking up 18 of Augusta and you know that walk to win or but the dream was just to be a PJ tour player so now I get to live out that dream and you know see how good we can make it That's cool. All right, mine's a little less serious than that. I'm going to get one serious. Yeah, I like the serious ones too. I'm going to audible here. Craziest thing or body part you've ever been asked to autograph.

Not what you think. You sign a lot. What do you think I was thinking? I haven't been asked to sign what you think. I honestly don't know. It's a family show, Rick. We don't think about those things. Yeah, I wasn't.

I was thinking like a program or? No, I would say one of the, I thought one of the kind of, coolest most unique because I haven't signed many of them but there was a guy behind the fourth green at bay hill he had a little trash can that you'd basically put like in your bathroom and he was having everyone sign it I thought that was kind of a cool like random idea yeah that's interesting so you wouldn't just have like a random white little trash can by your toilet just you could throw your wet snot on a ricky father yeah yeah good didn't you sign a baby for commercial.

Oh, okay, that was just for the commercial. It was not. You didn't actually sign it? I thought it was real. I did, but it was not in Sharpie. Okay, fair. Okay. And the baby just stood there. Took it. Yeah. All right. I like it.

That's weird. All right. Well, the last few years at the Waste Management of Phoenix Open, you've rented the legend Jeff Quinney's house, which I helped broker, by the way. But the first year you stay there, you win. You stay again, but the first year he stayed there, he left you a bottle of wine and an autographed pitcher. Yep.

Do you still have the autographed? picture from Jeff Quiddick. It's at the house. What does it say on it? First off, he spelled your name wrong. He did. He said. He said it was a Y. He's a little bit of why. Yeah. Perfect. I'm trying to remember what it said. He normally writes, I love your body. No, it was not that.

I can't remember the exact words. I love that you still have it, though. It's at the house. Left some flowers, a bottle of wine. I think this year, I left a picture for J.T. Perfect. Yeah. That's awesome. It's a gift that keeps on giving. Yes.

That is a gift. That's what Quinny is. If ever he was anything, that's what he is. All right. Most fun non-golf celebrity to hang out with. Remember, I don't play golf anymore. He's still in golf world. Yeah.

Okay, fine. Non-golf. I'm going to go MJ. Yeah, that's probably tough to argue with. Is that up there? Yeah, I feel like that's the Trump card. Okay, career against MJ, up or down money. You playing golf against MJ.

You against MJ. On the golf course. Are you up or down lifetime? I'm up. He's tough. Yes, that's only because I haven't played them much at Grove. It's basically called the nickname for it is Slaughterhouse 23. God, that's good.

That is good. So leading up to the Grove opening, which is a little over a year ago, we've only played together there match-wise a couple times. there's a few other courses where I feel like it's in my favor if I play well Grove is just like if I don't play absolutely nice that day I have no chance well it's his golf course so it's set up very well for him right

exactly what makes that the gate what is it wide open or easier up the tea or what not necessarily um it's almost the shorter you hit it the wider it is perfect take me now hello sweetheart and And so the T's are, the T's and pins are done every day. So the golf course is basically set up around, they can play as long as you want, but they set the back T's at roughly, you know,

seven to 7,100. MJ just plays the back T's wherever they set them. And they set it up kind of based on where the wind is that day. So it's, I mean, it's cool to have kind of that thought that goes into it. It's not just like T's staying the same spot or move one back, and just throw the pin wherever. Like the par three is, if it's into the wind, they're going to move up. If it's downwind, they're going to move back.

You know, pin's not going to be front if it's down and different stuff like that. But it's a golf course where he can basically hit driver on all the par four, par fives. And if I want to hit driver, I have to kind of put it into a little bit of a tighter spot. And I can, I mean, I can obviously play back if I want, but that becomes a little bit of a disadvantage, especially if it's a hole where he's, getting a stroke on he's great with wedges in his hands around the greens bunker player he'll put anyone straight up like you can't kind of if if I'm giving him a shot I can't then play from the same spot he is when he's laying zero I mean it's how many shots you have to give him 10 who

he's that's tough well-designed course by see that's how much you respects me I have to give him eight eight yeah probably down to six now well I mean it's tough I mean straight up I don't know. I'm not sure when the last time I broke 70, but I mean, he can shoot anywhere from, I mean, I've seen him plenty of times shoot, you know, 71 to 74. Yeah.

That's a problem with 10. Very much. Given 10, that's an issue. Yeah, but I mean, he can, I mean, on the high end, he's going to shoot maybe, you know, low 80s. A lot of times he's shooting that 75 to 80 window. But at 10 shots, I mean,

because some of those, or a lost ball double or, you know, whatever it may be. If I'm, if he's shooting 77 and he's got a double in there, it's like, yeah. Yeah. I got to shoot 65 to have to hang, to get to hang. Yeah. Yep, that makes it tough.

That's awesome. I can't wait to play it. And I think he strokes on 18 too, so. Of course he does. Of course he makes it. He designed the place. All right, we've played four Ryder Cup teams. We're just going to imagine.

You're obviously going to qualify for the next one. We're going to make that happen. Okay. The whole Ryder Cup comes. down to your single match. It's all on you. You can pick any guy on the European tour team, past, present, future, whatever want. Who are you playing in that Rider Cup match?

Who do you want to... Just smack. Right in the mouth. Who do I want to... Well, is it just that I'm going to... I actually have to go out and... You're going to win. But who do you want to beat? The whole thing's on you. I'm going to go with... I'm going to go with Sergio.

Partly because he's... he's a good friend of mine um but he he won his last uh match against me in paris to become the all-time points leader so i feel like i help get him that so then you know you owe him one no he owes me one well yeah but i owe him one you owe me yeah yeah so i feel like it'd be fair you know he got one for me and yeah i get one from him yeah all right i'll allow it um not allow it not allow it Next question. Give me the first moment where you realize like, holy shit, I'm famous. It still goes on.

Is it tonight on the show? Getting asked. It's actually a great point. What is this thing? No, there's still times where I remember like thinking back a couple of years, my mom and I were going to the grocery store. It's dark out and we're walking through the parking lot to go into the grocery store. and someone stops and like yells my name and she's like how do they know it's you um i'm like i don't know well mom i'm autographing babies on tv or like even like wearing masks and

stuff and people recognizing like i it's it's awesome and it's a great thing i mean to be recognized or or people wanted me to come on you know these darn podcasts and it's big that's that's a good thing um So it never really ceases to amaze me that when people recognize me or, like I said, with a mask on or whatever it may be. It's cool. It's humbling, but it never, I don't think you ever really like get to the point where it's, or I haven't, where like, oh, I'm famous. Look at me. And you're so good with the fans. Like, I mean, we've played a lot of practice rounds together.

And, like, you know, there'll be a bunch of people out there following. And you'll be like, listen, I'll get to you after the round. I promise and just you don't want to sign while you're working and all that. And you get done and you sit there until every single person has an autograph. And I just can't applaud you enough for that. I think it's so cool. Yeah, like I said, it's great or it's a really good thing to have like the people that want that or being asked for things.

But there is a, you know, time and place and that time management part of it. I would say that's been one of the easiest things with this kind of pandemic and new life on tour is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, not having fans has made it a lot easier to just, you know, go play golf or go practice or get done what you want to get done. But I miss the fans come Thursday to Sunday and being able to feed off them and, you know, have them out there. But it's, uh, you can't do without the fans. Yeah. And I got to ask you that this is off subject, but we're at Justin's house right now. And I don't know if you've been experienced the same thing, but I asked Justin, like, since we came back with no fans my tv the sound keeps going in and out every time they show justin on

tv does yours experience the same thing at all when you're watching him well i think for the most part we've played about the same events and then i haven't watched him if i okay so i don't know if you take an off week and he plays check on it yeah it's this weird little glitch right like just kind of right right after he hits it's just weird it goes out then it comes back though i feel like i need a new tv but i don't know all right they can ask you this last one i think that's a player problem Mm-hmm. As we mentioned earlier, you played one of the few guys to play on two Walker Cup teams, 2007, 2009. Both teams won. Whose victory party was the best? Oh, it's not even close. Well, I don't know how 09 went. I know, well, actually, I don't know how O'O7 went either. But... Well, 07 started with... There was a dinner for both teams and families, went through the dinner, and it starts to get to, like, dessert time.

and then all of a sudden, Colt comes through the doorway with a tray full of shots. It's not the first tray, though. I can't remember exactly what color the first tray was, but I'm going to go with red or white. The next, so let's start with red.

The next tray that came in was white, and the next tray was blue. America. Yeah. My guy makes sure everyone has a good time. You know what I mean? He's a good host. I did until the next morning.

That's what he does. So you're saying the party at 09 wasn't quite as good as 07. No. I don't, there wasn't much of anything. I'm going to have to sit this 09 team down. You've got a captain. No, you're going to need to captain this team, take it over, and make sure they learn how to celebrate properly.

Do you have a lot of say in this golf world? I need to be a Walker Cup captain. I'd love that. He can do that. He can do whatever he wants. But I think going back to 07 is, you know, we're staying there at the Sleevedon right off of Royal County down. We're all right there, convenient.

Like, Marion was. awesome but we had to shuttle back to the hotel and like we were celebrating in the in the the bus back but it's just not the same when you walk off the golf course after closing ceremony it's just here we go yeah colt send it I did you will a little rocket that's I'll tell you what Rick this has been an absolute blast can't thank you enough for sitting down with us my man yes sir thank you very appreciate you perfect and that was the one and only Ricky Fowler joining us on golf subpar sleeves like we said one of the nicest guys on the planet. I've been lucky enough to play a ton of golf with him, was on the Walker

Cup team with him. He was just 18 years old when he was on the Walker Cup team with us. Just one of the greatest dudes. He's so much fun to be around. He's a little kid still at heart, even though he's married and obviously has an unbelievable successful career. But I thought it was really interesting to talk to him about whether or not if his career ended right now, if he would be satisfied or not satisfied with his career. And here's a guy, I mean, there's so much pressure on Ricky Fowler. I mean, they had that survey come out where he was the most overrated player. And then he goes out and wins the players. You know, he's a guy who's never won a major, but he's finished top five in all of them in one season.

He's an interesting guy to kind of pick apart. Yeah, absolutely. And he is the guy right now. If you looked at a lot of the list, I think he would be who's the best player to not have won a major. Ricky Fowler would be at the top or near the top of that list with anybody. And I know he's going through some swing changes right now. It's kind of one of those one step back to go two steps forward type of deal.

But to me, watching him play golf when we played with him and just watching him on TV, it's like he's one of those guys that just there's something innate that he has, like an ability. I think you could give him a bag of shovels and like, hey, figure out how. how to hit this good and he would do it. So I think the more he just gets to plan naturally and hitting shots and doing what he does best. He actually made a comment when we were leaving the Grove and it was blowing like, what, 15, 20

miles an hour, which is windy for us relative to Scottsdale. But the day we left or the day after, it was supposed to start humming. It was supposed to be like 30, 35. And he said something to me. He's like, I would be like, oh, no golf for me that. You know what am I going to do? He's like, I love days like that because I go out and play and I don't think about anything.

It's just hitting shots and hitting. And I was like, that's what you do better than, you know, most guys on Whenever the Open Championship comes around every year, I mean, bad weather conditions. Ricky is one of those guys that's always a favorite going in. Like a lot of people think that's the major that suits him the best because of how creative he is and how many different kind of shots he can play. Yeah, absolutely. And we've gone on and on about what a good dude he is.

I actually had Joe, when you were out of town this week going up to Pebble, I had his caddy, Joe Scover and co-hosts with me on our radio show, Graving the Sleeves. And I started to ask him about, like, Ricky's just a given week in the life of Ricky Fowler. And he was walking me through, like, how much extra stuff he has to do every single week. week that goes unnoticed by the cameras, but it's like show up, sign for 25, 30 minutes, right? Then try to walk in. Oh, there's eight interview requests. And he's like, he does all this stuff. And then we finish our round like, hey, I'll sign after the round just come see me. And he's like, sure enough, there's a hundred people in line. He's like, he'll sign for all of them. And then,

up, walking out, another interview request from some low. And he's like, he says yes to almost everyone. He's probably the most generous with his time of anybody out there. Maybe a Phil Mickelson would fall into that same category. But he tries to say yes to every single person. And dude, that's over the course of a year, a course of a career, that there's a shitload of extra energy that you're spending that a lot of other guys don't have to. Because a lot of guys would just say no. They get asked for it. Nope. See ya. Ricky tries to do it all. Yeah, he does. And I mean, I know he did a special little video for a friend of years. I've reached out to him at the same time. You know, friends are going through hard times. You know, there might be a death in the family

or something. And a kid just is obsessed with Ricky Fowler. And I'll text and be like, Ricky, you mind doing just a short little video saying hi to this kid or something like that. Never once as he said no. Always sends me the video. Always so nice about that stuff. He's one of the good ones, man. It's hard not to root for the guy. Yeah, I think that shows why he has as many fans as he does out there. Winning, not winning whatever. People are looking for Ricky Fowler, want to be around Ricky Fowler. I remember at the Phoenix Open last year. I was there and he was coming up from the range and there was like Wauke-Tockies going off. Like, Ricky's coming off the range. I was just standing there. And he comes through and it's like one of the Beatles just showed up.

You know what I mean? I was like, damn. This is every, this is, I mean, Phoenix opens a little a little more, but that's every week for that guy. There's just so much extra stuff going on his life that you don't see. And he says yes to almost all of it. Yeah, I love him. Can't thank him enough for joining us on golf subpar but sleese big the big names keep on coming tell them who we got next week the train keeps on a moving ricky fowler this week following up with a little man named justin thomas who we also recorded when we were down there in jupiter at his house his little dog was running around all over the house special guest frankie frankie was in the building just yapping around i believe there's actually a little clip of ricky chasing him around if you watch on youtube

ricky in the background chasing a little frankie around but man what another awesome interview I mean, these three coming up are incredible and how generous they were with their time. And we probably got an hour with each of these guys. And it was fun, dude. You're not going to want to miss next week. It is going to be great. But I hope everyone has a very good Thanksgiving.

We'll be back on next week's golf subpar.