Subpar - Steve Marino talks his insane trip on Ernie Els' jet, an amazing round with Tom Watson at The Open

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, former PGA Tour pro Steve Marino joins Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. He takes us behind the scenes of his famous flight with Ernie Els, being co-leader with Tom Watson at The Open and what it was like playing money games with a young Daniel Berger. Subscribe Now to out YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

All right, here we go. Time for another episode of Golf Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Sorry for the one day delay, but it was a little bit of a shit show for me getting back from Panama. Shockingly, the airline industry, things didn't go as plans, Lees. They're normally so dialed in, too. Hard to believe that things didn't go perfect from start to finish. Good news for them, unless you want to take a Greyhound down there, you got to stay on their airline. So you keep coming back to the well, but good to have you back. I know that was a bit of a A bit of a fiasco getting back here. But here we are one day late.

Apologies, but thanks for hanging with us. Yeah, obviously. It was a tough way to start off 2024 for me as far as my travel goes. Flight got canceled, got pushed back two days going to Panama. I didn't get there until Wednesday. Then coming home was getting ready to land in Houston before I connected here to Phoenix to come see you to do our segments and do an interview. And I got told with about 20 minutes ago we were being diverted to New Orleans because we don't have enough of enough fuel to circle and let the weather move out in Houston. So that would be a good.

to just calculate that fuel. We can take a right turn. If nothing goes wrong, we have enough to get to our destination. If anything, if we got to go around a flock of birds, probably all fucked. Yeah, so we ended up going to New Orleans, then flew back to Houston, then rushed like hell to get on the early flight to come here. Bag didn't make it. Had to go get it at the airport this morning, repack, head to San Diego for the farmers.

It's been smooth sail, my man. But you got that premium seat right next to the shitter. 21C. Which is, by the way, after what happened on Alaska Airlines with the doors line up, at least your doors stayed on your plane. Window, not as appealing as it used to be for me. Window, exit row, maybe just go past that one from now on. Yeah, I have, it was in, I was very, I was the last person on the plane.

They handed me my ticket, 21 C. I was like, oh, not bad. Well, there was 21 rows on it. And I was right there on the aisle, about three feet. I could rest my head on the door of the toilet. Everyone that went in there, they walk out and they look right at me. I'm like, sound like everything went right. That awkward, put your head down.

Don't like it, anyone. You can just have a conversation with them while they're in there. Hey, buddy. How's it going? What are you reading? Good news. The way I'm going to look at it is, everything is going to be up from here. Got all the bad shit out of the way. Yeah, dude, everything should be perfect for the rest of the year. There'll be no more we come on and talk about shitty travel situations.

It'll be smooth sailing. But before we get to the PJ tour, since we're talking about Panama, just want to give a big shout out to the Latin American Amateur Championship, Augusta National, the USDA and the RNA, the incredible event they put down. I've been lucky enough to cover this event. This is my third year. I also do the Asia Pacific Amateur Forum, have seen some great champions. come out of there. But this week,

Santiago de la Fuente of Mexico, his life changed. He battled Omar Morales down the stretch. End up winning by two, finishing Bertie, birdie on 17 and 18 with some incredible shots. He has booked his ticket to the Masters, the U.S. Open, Championship, the U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur.

Great name also. Al-a-Puente. Spanish for of the Fuente, in case she didn't know that. I actually came home from taking my little daughter to a little gym where she just runs amuck. Came home. It's like, perfect. I'm going to get ready, watch a little football, click on. Oh, there's Latin American Amp. Watch it. Click it on. Two holes left tied. And I'm like, oh, this is beautiful. Get to watch it. I mean, and then Oscar goes, Stony Bologn, on 17 to about

two feet. And I was hoping for, yeah, I want to see it neck and neck coming down the stretch. And then hits a missile down 18, beautiful wedge, ends up making the putt to win by two. But the dude's facial expression did not change one time. The dude was just mean mug, stone face the entire time here's the and you're you're at the um not the Pacific coast the um what's the other one Asian Pacific thank you here's the formula for winning those things don't be leading going into the final round is a tough door to close when you're you're thinking about masters invite all the things versus nothing because it ain't like the USAM where you get to the finals boom you're in that's a pretty big pretty big nugget at the end of the rainbow there

tough to close for these kids yeah you go back to Australia the Asia Pacific where Samson Jang, your man, your krypton. My man, Samson. He had a big league. Ended up losing in a playoff. And then Omar Morales, Mexico, who is, was the highest ranked player in the field. Santiago Del Fuente, second highest. So we had one and two battling out.

They were miles ahead of third. It was awesome to watch. Santiago plays at Houston. Omar, Texas Tech. Put your guns up, Red Raiders. But Omar was leading the entire week. Had a six-shot lead, actually, with 20 holes to play. Three-shot lead with nine to play.

But Santiago ended up tracking him down. Quick story about Omar. Saturday night, we're at the gala. Everybody's coming up to him. He's leading. He's over there sitting there talking to me, kind of hanging out. And we start talking about Nick Dunlap, who won on the PGA tour this week as an amateur, but he was leading going into the final round. He was talking about how incredible it is. He's like, what do you do if he wins? Like, does he turn pro? Does he stay AM? And all this? And it's like, well, if he wins, he gets in Augusta National. He's already in the U.S. Open. Because of the U.S. Amateur champion gets in either way. I said he loses the Open Championship. It picks up the PGA.

And he was like, he really loses his Open Championship. I was like, yeah. I was like, when I term pro, I had to give that up as well. He's like, you won the U.S. Amateur? And I'm like, Jesus, kid? Where have you been? You don't have a TV? And he's like, he goes, what year? And I was like, 2007.

Then I quickly realized he was four years old when I won. We're in the era now where no one remembers. The new kids countenow don't remember shit that happened before 2015. It's a beautiful era. It'll be like when John Cook talked about. I remember 1981. I was like, yeah, that was a few years from even coming onto the earth right now. So we're in the new era.

That's a kick in the nuts to you. But it will live on forever. But getting to Nick Dunlap, big week for amateurs punching their tickets to some major events. I'll tell you this, dude, when football's on on the weekend right now, we got NFL playoffs and all that. Football takes priority for me. I'm watching football, and then my previous button goes to golf during commercials. I record it so I can catch up and watch all this stuff. But that's typically the way it works.

This week, because it was Nick Dunlap, for whatever reason, I was in it from start to finish. ESPN Plus, watching them tee off on the first hole, the whole thing. That was an unbelievable cool finish for a guy that, I mean, really, really. really until the 60 in the third round, he wasn't really on the radar. Like, this thing kind of came out of nowhere and watching him do it, not just do it, but to close it against Justin Thomas and Sam Burns in that final round, like, other than the one swing on seven, dude, that was impressive shit. And for the whole script, just flipped, by the way, on the 18th,

where he thought he had a two-shot lead and then he gets up there. About ready to chip. He's like, oh, yeah, it's only one. Yeah, I mean, he was right up there. He was 17 under through two rounds and then went out and shot, or sorry, he was 15 under through two rounds, a couple shots off the lead, and then went out and shot the 12 under 60 at Lakeinta. By the way, I don't think this got talked about enough.

The other pro in his group withdrew before the round on Saturday. So it was just him and two amateurs playing out there at Laquinta, goes out there, shoots 12 under 60, and then he's paired with Sam Burns and Justin Thomas. I mean, two massive names, thought he was going to be really nervous, came out, looked great. Hit it close on the first couple of holes, had good looks, stoned it at the par five after he laid up,

and then just the massive whoops on seven, which came out of nowhere. but that was unbelievable for him 20 years old just his fourth PGA tour event ever to show those stones coming down the stretch to do it yet the put on 16 was incredible hitting the green on 17 I mean we saw what pressure does Sam Burns flares it in the water and then the crazy part on 18 there was no way that T shot was going left or the second I mean he's that

talked about his caddy he's like he's like whether this is right or not basically our thought process was don't hit it in the water he thought he had a two-shot cush the second shot I couldn't see where it came down then all of a sudden it comes rolling down the hill someone in the gallery and got a good break, but he was still on a pretty severe downslope right there, but way better off clearly than it would have been. But like to go ahead and get that up and down, that is not, I mean, Sawgrass gets all the attention because it's the players and it is a tough, tough closing stretch here. But that closing stretch there at stadium course mimics it pretty damn closely,

especially 17 and 18. And it's just two shot lead thinking you got that is miles different than one. But for him to do that, dude, it was one of the most into final rounds that I've had in a long time in a regular tour event, a non-major, non-rider cup. I think there's a couple of differences. Obviously, 16 at Sawgrass and at the stadium course, like, they're getable part-fives. You've got the crazy bunker down to the left at Stadium course, and then over at TPC Sawgrass, you've got the water running there. But 17, the big difference, in my opinion, is just the weather.

Like, you always get a dome out there in Palm Springs, and guys are so good at hitting their numbers. If there's no win, they can hit that island. And then 18. You can't really bail out on 18 at Sawgrass. If you do, you're in the trees. You're most likely pitching out. Here, as long as you don't hit it. it out of bounds or in the lip of the bunker, you're going to have a shot to get it up around the green.

But the putty made five feet, nine inches, I believe, to win first person since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win as an amateur on the PGA tour. Just incredible. Now he's got some decisions to make. He's in the majors, except for the Open Championship, which he moved up to 68 in the world, so most likely he's going to be in the Open Championship. Which is nuts, by the way. All the signature events.

So he's going to get seven of the eight and free money, 70 guys, no cut, free points. get any points. And it's basically a three-year exemption because we're just three events in. He's all this year, all of 25 and all 26. I think it's a no-brainer for him to turn pro unless he happens to jump over to live if they throw some crazy money at him. But I expect we'll be seeing Nick Dunlap, that little A next to his name will be gone here very shortly. Yeah, I have no inside information. I'm not, this is just pure speculation. I got to think he's turned pro and he's turning pro damn quick. These took this week off. He had his sponsors into Tori, not taking it, go home, regroup. Life has changed here. There's a lot to digest here in the off week,

but I think you hear a decision sooner rather than later, whether it's at Pebble Beach, turning pro, I think you've got to take all these signature events. The money, his stock will never be higher than it is right now. The only real decision in my mind is, you know, you hear the speculation. You saw a bunch of tweets from live guys after he won, which I had not seen for other tour winners at the time. Granted, it was history. First time in 33 years in Amher, so it's a little different ballgame. But the decision is, for me, if I'm not turn pro but do I go to live? Do I go to PJ tour? One way or another, I'm turning pro. My stock is soaring right now. And it's, these are all good problems to have, good decisions to be making.

There's no losing on this for Nick Dunlap, but I just don't see any way that, I mean, what's left for him other than a national championship? And I'll think anybody on his team at Alabama would blame it. Now, a great reaction from his team in the team van when he made the put to win. I don't think any of them would blame him for turning professional, but you mentioned the tweets. And you saw John Rom, Phil Mickelson, Hudson Swofford, even Greg Norman Jr. Didn't see them tweeting Chris Kirk or Grayson Murray. That's what I was saying. I was like, I didn't seen this avalanche before.

Greg Norman Jr. I just want to let you know, Nick Dunlap won, not Scott. Scott, Nick. Gold jacket, green jacket. Although I think he does have like the blue, I don't know. I think he's got the blue check on Twitter. You got an edit button there. That's a beautiful thing about that blue check. You could have probably got in there quick after the first 20 people told you,

hey, dude, that's not his real name, gone in there and changed it. But, you know, I'm not a PR guy. And I expect him to turn pro as well. If he does stay amateur, the one thing he can do, he can play up to 12 regular PGA tour events as an amateur. He cannot play the signature events as an amateur. So if he wanted to stay school, finish out this semester with his teammates and all that, he can play NCAAs, try to get a national championship. And then turn pro. Could seem to play in events like here at the WM Phoenix Open out of the winner's category.

Yeah, but I expect him to turn pro. I think, you know, we've had him on this show. The little bit I've got to know about him, I expect to. I expect him to make an announcement here in the next few days that he'll be making his pro debut at the AT&T, Pebble Beach Pro Am, the second signature event of the PGA Tour season, and I expect him to get it going,

to see him play at Pebble, Phoenix and L.A., three in a row right out of the gate. That's pretty much what I expect to. I think he does need a week go home. All the endorsements and sponsorships and things like, whatever was in the queue for him when he did turn pro, well, the numbers have changed, the values have changed. His value is higher now than it was 10 days ago.

Prior to this, so you've got to get all. that buttoned up, who am I going with, what am I going to be doing? Line up your schedule. Like the whole thing has changed. He needs a little time to get this going. It's not just like, oh, I'm going to play Palm Springs and then I'm going to play Torrey. And then I'll be back at school. It's like, no, dude, your whole year just shifted.

You got to regroup a little bit. But I think we'll hear something in very short order. But no matter what, congratulations. Nick Dunlap, incredible performance. First amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win on the PGA tour. And you did it against a hell of a field. Xander Shafley, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantley, among many others.

It was awesome to watch. I'm so happy for him, his whole team, whatever the future holds. I can't wait to see. It was one of the most into final rounds I've had in a long time. It was fun to watch and he held up.

By the way, he was going off at plus 140, going in the final round with three shot Lee. Smash. Same. Smash. Thank you.

Yeah. I was like, I was like, dude, this ain't the normal am. This ain't just some regular amator. Like, this dude's a monster and he's got a three shot cushion.

If he goes to shoots a couple, even 200, which ended up getting it done. I was like, There's only a couple guys that can catch them and they still got to have a day. Plus 140. One time we outfox the books. I could use it.

I needed it, by the way. Kids running icy on this NFL. All right. Well, let's get to another subject because Nick Dunlap, just 20 years old. So he doesn't have to worry about dry January. Yeah. Okay. You and I both agreed.

You were involved in a little bit with a group of guys. I was not. I was just doing this for myself. But after the pro scratch out at Whispurrock, which I believe ended January 5th on a Friday, said dry January starts. I am currently on day 18. I've been holding strong, nothing in Panama. I was tempted, but I held strong because I said I was going to do it.

I didn't say I was going to go the whole month. We're just going to see how long we can go because I want to feel ready to rock for Phoenix Open. But how's your dry January going, Slees? Slight update. I'm on day three. Now, I regret to inform everyone. I've fallen off the wagon. I'm a weak man.

I did have a bet with like five or six of us. And dude, it took like attorneys to get involved. for us to agree to the terms of this deal. It's like, all right, dude, it starts on this date. It ends on this date. It can't be the whole month. It's got to be this many days. We settled on 21 days.

We got going. The leader of our group, our patriarch, if you will, fell off the wagon in like three days. He's like, I'm off, boys. I saw him this past weekend. He had four cocktails in his hand. I was like, when are we getting that payment buddies? I'll pay, I'll pay.

Then throughout the bet, you know, we're updating. We're like, our boys, day six, six out of 21. We're done. Seven out of 21. We're all holding strong. Then it's like, hey guys, I'm going on a golf trip this week. I'm going to need a hall pass. Just one hall pass.

Like, it doesn't count. Everyone gets one hall pass. Like, start making new rules and all this. Everyone was just falling off left and right. So finally, I get out there this past week. I'm doing the Bob does sports show with Bobby Fapparez. I'm like, what am I going to do? Not have a couple pops.

Well, if you were strong. You know what I mean? But I'm not strong, Colt. I'm a weak man, as you know. And so, of course, I had a few there. It's like, all right, it doesn't really count. Then the next day. Somebody's in from out of town.

We go play golf. I was like, dude, it's almost disrespectful if I don't have a couple pops here and have a good time. So I fell off the wagon, self-reporting. I failed. I'm weak. And it's not a really dry. It's like a moist January. You know what I mean?

It's not dry. It's not wet. I didn't go crazy or do anything. It's just there's a little moisture in January, which I feel thinks pretty good. 14 days for me. Congratulations. Hell of a job. You went from a strong, committed relationship to dry January to a hall pass.

to an open relationship. Let's see other people. You know what? It's not you. It's me. God. What a disaster. That's best we just call this thing off for both of us. Well, I'm proud of you for attempting, I guess. Thanks, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to make it. If something happens with my flight again, I'm off. I feel free. Honestly, I feel like there's a huge weight off my shoulders. All right, well, let's get to our guest this week who I have a feeling to not participate in Dry January. This is my guy right here. One of my favorites. I miss seeing him out on the PGA tour. He was, he had a great career, man. And one of my favorite guys. guys, he's hilarious, the one, the only, Steve Marino. Yeah, they just, um, just one of the real ones, you know what I mean?

Just one of the, he's like the dying breed in golf, just a guy that kind of gets it, but also hell of a talent too when he's out there and he's, he's a fun talk, he's a fun combo. And just make sure you stay tuned for the whole episode. Great impression. You might get a little. Yeah, it's a cameo. Might get a little cameo from former world number one Dustin Johnson at then.

You never know. Yeah, who knows who could show up during this interview. All right. Here's Steve Marino on golf subpo. far. All right. I am very excited for this one because we have got a dude with us here today. He played over 220 events on the PJ tour. One shot of 59 back in his jickey Jack days. Also famously went toe to toe with Ernie L's on a 15-hour flight, which we're going to get his side of the story on that today. He's just one of the good ones out there. Steve Marino joins us. How are we doing,

fella? Excellent, guys. Appreciate y'all having me on. Pretty excited about it. Yeah, man, this is going to be a lot of fun. Steve, you're one of my favorite guys I've ever come across in the game of golf. Always love getting paired with you. And I got to give you a compliment right now. You by far got the best background of any of our guests. We've done over video. That's a beautiful spot you got there. But I got to know, we haven't seen you much in the golf world lately.

What have you been up to? Well, I was, you know, last year I was kind of trying to play and, you know, had some plans to do some Mondays and ended up having to have a hernia surgery. and that was way worse than I would ever imagine it being. I was under the assumption I'd be back playing in golf in 10 days. And it was probably like six to eight weeks and probably the most painful surgery I've ever had. I mean, I won't really get into it. It's kind of in the man region where the pain was. But and then after that, you know, I just kind of, I went to second stage of Q school

and, you know, played like a jerk and didn't make it. And I mean, I think I'm going to give it a break for now, like competitive-wise. And, you know, I'm just trying to figure out what the next step's going to be, what I'm going to do. I've never worked a day in my life. So, you know, this is kind of foreign territory for me. But, you know, I'm kind of, you know, putting golf on the back burner for right now and trying to get into some other stuff. Yeah, well, don't ever work a day in your life. If you can help it.

You got to figure it out right now. But how's the health now after that surgery? I actually just had a buddy that went through that. And he said it's one of the worst things in the history that hurt you. I mean, it was awful. It was awful. I'm good now, but it's funny. I lost like 15 yards off the tea and a club and the irons and haven't gotten it back.

So that's another reason where I'm like, eh, you know, maybe I'll give it a break for a little bit. But I mean, it was awful. It was awful. Like, and I was under the impression that it was a nothing little surgery. And I remember I went and saw for my post op. I went and saw the doctor and I'm complaining to it. I'm like, doc, look. And he's like, yeah, there's a little drop there and the, you know, whatever.

And I'm like a little drop. Like, you know, what's going on here? why is it so painful and he was kind of laughing at me and uh but it was no joke that hernia surgery no joke sounds absolutely terrible let's talk a little bit about your golf the early on days obviously you played at virginia i know you your your dad was in the military y'all traveled a lot traveled around a lot as a child ended up settling in that area was i know you picked up golf at a very young age but what what made you choose university of virginia well i was being recruited by a couple other schools and Virginia, you know, it was a pretty good academic institution.

And I figured if they're able to, they're going to let me in to go play golf there, I might as well take advantage of it because if I was a, you know, regular Joe Schmoe in high school, they would have laughed at my application. So I decided to go there and, you know, really enjoyed it. Don't regret it one bit. And, you know, had a great time there. Degree in sociology. Yeah, smart dude.

Yeah, good for not. Awesome. They all are, by the way. They all are. Steve, you always had one of my favorite swings on the tour because I think, like, you owned it. You played that left to right as good as anyone. It felt very natural, very, like, you know, unencumbered by a lot of teaching and stuff.

Were you always like that even when you got onto the PJ tour coming up where you kind of like, yeah, you get little bits of information here and there, but more or less, like, don't strip my DNA. Don't try to take away what I do best. Yeah, you know, eventually I think I got to there. I think that's probably why I ended up making it on the tour because, you know, I had worked with some other people on my swing and tried to kind of change it. And eventually I just got to the point where like, listen, I know if I do this, I'm going to hit it solid.

I can make it do this. I can make it do that. And just really worked with a guy named Matt Messer at Bear Lakes Country Club down here and really just kind of tried to fine-tune. you know, what I had with my golf swing and, you know, for a while there that we were able to do it pretty good. And, you know, I think a lot of people can get lost in mechanics and, and I just kind of tried to go out there and play. Like, I knew what to do. I knew how to hit the shots. And, you know, once I kind of stopped worrying about my swing and just, you know, came to realize that that's

who I am, I think I, you know, I was able to kind of come into my own a little more. Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a different looking move, but I spoke to Claude Harmon, who you worked with back in the day as well. I mean, he said you were one of the best ball strikers he's ever come across. Uh-huh. Yeah, I did. I used to hit it real good. It's funny. Like, the putting was kind of always the thing that helped me back when I played. And now when I go play, the putting's probably the best part of my game. So, yeah, I did. I was blessed. I hit it good. I drove it straight. I hit my irons real nice. And, you know, played a lot of good golf, I guess, for a long time. I mean, look, you had a really, really good career out on the PJ tour. I know you never won.

but it was really solid. You had a ton of high finishes, but I want to go back to right out of school. Turn a professional. First off, was turning professional always the game plan? Because I know you went through some years being out on the jickey jacks, as we like to call it.

Yes, it was. I didn't do it right away. I think I stayed amateur like the whole summer after I graduated school. And then actually found myself caddying at Robert Trent Jones in Gainesville, Virginia, during the fall. And during that time, I played my first few professional events.

There was a tour called the Tar Heel Tour. It was in the Charlotte area. And I played a couple of events on that tour and won both of them. And so that kind of really solidified. I was like, you know, January 1, I'm going to move down to Florida and give it a shot. So that was the deal. And, you know, messed around on the mini tours for a few years. And for a while, it was, you know, I was, everybody thought I was going to be the guy to get on the tour and make it through Q school because I played well in the mini tour events.

But, you know, I think mentally maybe I wasn't there yet, wasn't, you know, maybe it was a little bit of a late bloomer. So it took me a couple years to get out there. But, yeah, I messed around for a few, three, you know, I think I was a rookie when I was 26. So not that long. I mean, three, four years on the mini tours. Yeah, and you were a beast down there in like the Florida mini tours, the game. Gateway, the Tar Heald, things like that. Did you think it was going to be as tough? What were your experiences like at Q school, those first few years? Because there was guys out here when I was playing

in Arizona. I was like, dude, no way this guy doesn't cruise through Q school this year. Like, he is playing so good. And then inevitably, they don't. Right, right. You know, the most important thing for me, my first year out of school, I went and played the Canadian tour and didn't play well at all. was traveling through Canada, which was awesome. Like I would never, you know, I don't regret doing that. But then I made a decision to come and just stay at home and play on the Golden Bear Tour and practice every day and just kind of, you know, be in a place where I could really hone my game. But also at the same time, gain some competitive experience against some really good players. So I think that decision was big time for me.

And, you know, you see the mini tours like, you know, in Arizona and Florida. These guys are shooting like the lowest scores ever. looking at it and you're going, what in the hell? Well, eventually, you know, you've got to learn how to do that because that's just the way it is. I mean, that's just the nature of pro golf. So that was good for me to do that. And then, you know, as far as the Q school, yeah, I mean, I remember I drove home crying

from Martin Downs one year. I was so upset. I, you know, I butchered it. I bogeed like two of the last three to miss it by one when I was the shoe in guy, you know, and this was first stage of Q school. And I remember just being so upset. But, you know, I said to my son. listen, you're not good enough.

If you were good enough, you would have made it. So you got to keep going, keep grinding. And, you know, that's kind of the attitude that I had pretty much my whole career. Like, you know, if it's not happening, you're not good enough. You got to try to get better. So people don't know what that pressure at Q school is like. It is brutal. There's a lot of great players that could never make it through.

But throughout your jickegee jack days, who are some of the guys, you know, traveled around with, played with? And was there a guy that, like, comes to mind when you think of a guy that's like, Damn, he was really good. I'm shocked he never made. I mean, 100% one of the best players I've ever played golf with. His name was Hiroshi Matsuo. Like a 6'4 Japanese guy had a ponytail, super intimidating, pounded the ball, perfect swing.

And we played at the same club down here for a long time, Bear Lakes. And he never made it. He got his nationwide tour back then. He got his nationwide tour card and just never really did anything with it. And it was always, I could never really wrap my head around it because this guy was, I mean, I'm like, dude, this guy could win the U.S. Open. He could win the Masters. He was like to this day, he's one of the best people that I've ever seen play golf. And for some reason or another, you know, the traveling or the life on the road or I don't know what it was. Like, he just didn't seem to play well, which was very surprising to me. But he was, man, he was a stud. Or it's just the matter of like getting through Q school and you talk about driving home crying. Like I've been through that.

I know other guys. It's just like a lot of them might be good enough. If you just beamed them onto the PJ tour and said, here's your tour card. Go get them. They might do it? But getting there is a different animal. Like do you remember like same vein as you? Do you remember Nicholas Limke?

Oh yeah. I mean, that kid was like the prototype. It looks like Ludwig O'Bair and swung it just like that. And I was like, there is no way this kid doesn't win everything. Get on the PJ tour and probably win more because this game is more suited for that than it is for these golf courses. You just never know. But take us back to that 59. I believe you shot it out here in Arizona, didn't you?

I did. I did. Yeah. It was at the one of those desert mountain courses. I think the outlaw course. Yeah. It was in the Gateway Tour Championship. And I was actually paired with Mark Tarnessa and another guy named Dave Luteris.

You know, you guys probably know Dave. Do you all know Dave Luterus? I see Luda still every year. Luda. He lives up in Columbus. He's out at the Memorial every year. Oh, no, Luda's got a new gig now. He's the head teaching professional at medalist golf club down here.

Is he really? Oh, damn. He sure is. Yeah, so I see him. When I go out there, I see him, you know, he's doing great. He's got a nice gig and he's doing good. The members love him. And so he's doing good.

Shot out to Luda, but. They must have 15 guys turn their job down. Luda. What's that? They must have had 15 guys turn that job down if he got it. I don't, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what they were going after. I think the diamond in the rough, you know what I mean?

That is awesome. Good for him. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it was me, Tarnessa and Dave Luteris, and Tuna and I were playing our $100 Nassau Auto 2s, like we always play. And I just remember, I think I think I shot like 29 on the front. and I was only one up on Mark. He shot 31 or 30 or having a match. And I wouldn't even really paying attention to what I was doing. And then we came to number 10.

It's like this weird driveable hole and the PIM was front right. But the only place you get hit it on the green is front right. There's a big bunker. But I hit a good drive and you can't see him. We go up there and it's like two feet from the hole. So I made Eagle. And then I was like, oh, damn. I started thinking about it and made a few more birdies.

And then eagled 16. I hit it like three feet. And I knew exactly, I'm like, man, you make this. You're 13 under. Shook that one in there. And part 17 and then left it on the lip on 18 short from like 15 feet for 58, which, you know, at the time. I couldn't even be mad. I was like, thank God.

Just tapped it in. But it was, I mean, that was the best round of golf. I played the best round of golf that I ever will play in my life. More importantly. Yeah. How much did it be two out of? like 900 maybe a thousand i don't know the presses got out of control on the back that's pretty good the only like that many ways that a guy shooting 59 and also you might be one of the only dudes in

the history to shoot 59 on any tour by paring 17 and 18 normally it's like they need to birdie the last three or four they need an eagle or something but just to coast in with a couple pars and that's a real course too that's not like a typical coasting but you know i was kind of gripping that club a little bit tighter but i made it in yeah 59 club absolutely love it you got you got on PJ tour in 2007. You had a great rookie year. You finished 80th. Kept your card. What were some of the things you remember from your rookie year? And I

know, knowing you, you celebrated properly after locking up that card. Correct. Correct. Yes, I did. I got the card in Palm Springs, made it through final stage of Q school. We had quite the class. Snetiker, Anthony Kim, Malinger, John Merrick.

I'm missing some guys, so I apologize. guys, but I mean, we had a, we had a real good class. I think we were at the deer, the beer hunter later that evening. And they, you got to go to some, or, you know, the orientation thing they have. And there were quite a few of us in there the next day that were not 100%. I remember that. That's hoodie up, head down during orientation. Just later.

Why are you talking to me right? Correct. Yeah, they're talking about branding. You're like branding. Like, get the hell out of here, man. They should have a documentary on just people that go into the beer hunter because that place is like everyone. That's like one of the only joints out there that you can go to wherever. I mean, the amount of people that have come through that place, the stories would just be legendary.

I know. I know. It's quite the place. I love Palm Springs, man. I like it out there. In the wintertime, it's pretty nice, you know. Dome golf. It's so good.

Yeah. Then you get out there. You have success like Cole talks about. But you ran around. Your little crew that you ran around with was one of the all-time, like, character crews on the PJ tour. You, Matt Evry, Spencer Levine, Willie Mack, I mean, some of these guys. I mean, what a crew that was. Y'all had to have, that was like the last era of the golden era, I would say.

Well, yeah, I mean, I think we, if it was the end of it, we finished it out strong. I know that. But, yeah, we had a good time. I think, you know, I'm not really out there right now, but, you know, I hear stories. and I don't know if it's, you know, quite the same. I think it's a little less fun, a little less camaraderie, a little more serious, which, you know, with the money that these guys are making these days,

I completely understand that. But, you know, we were able to juggle, you know, having a good time and really enjoying it and it's still grinding and playing good golf. Yeah, y'all had a very, very fun crew. That's a squad. The one thing, you know, I'm not playing either, but I'm still out there most weeks.

It's just everyone has their team, right? You got the coach, the caddy, the sports psychologist. You got this four or five-man teams around everyone. Instead of, you know, once the round's done, you and your boys go hang out, grab a beer, grab dinner, or whatever it is. Yeah, or I'll be like, hey, Colt, dude, we watch me hit like a couple seven irons and just look at something. You know what I mean? Like when people, other players used to ask their friends, like, dude, we look at something

real quick, am I doing this? Like, you know, I feel like that's, I don't know if that really happens much anymore. That's a good point. I can't speak to it because I'm not out there, but it doesn't really seem like it does. does, you know. How much golf, I mean, obviously you haven't played much lately, but I know you enjoy playing the game a lot. How much are you playing now that you're home and not doing it competitively? Yeah, I'm not playing a ton, maybe three times a week I'm playing. So I'm trying to, you know, still kind of stay sharp, but, you know, maybe three, four times a week, you know, go out and play with my friends, go out and play with some of the boys that play on tour and on live at the medalist. but, you know, I'm not out there grinding, hitting balls and practicing like I used to. You know what I mean?

All right. Some big news here from Subpar. We have officially launched our own YouTube page. Make sure to subscribe at Golf underscore Subpar on YouTube. Check out this week's video. Like, subscribe, do all the stuff. Colt, we've got some cool behind-the-scenes stuff coming and give you a little outside look at some of the stuff outside the studio.

So please like, please subscribe. You're the best listeners in the game. We love you. Back to the show. I got to ask this, because we're both removed from the game now as well, and we play with a lot of tour guys. Are you at the point yet where you're asking for strokes? It's getting close, bud. It's getting close.

It's a humbling time. I'm refusing to do it. I'm refusing to do it because if I play good, I'll be right there. I'm not going to beat these guys like five and four or something like they could beat me. But if I play well, I'll sneak out of victory here and there, but I don't know if I I keep getting any, lose any more distance is the time is coming very soon. Listen, it's hard to ask, but once you do it and you accept it, there is nothing better than telling Dustin Johnson or whoever you're playing with, that's four for three.

Yeah. You want to press? Hey, when that day happens, I will fully embrace it and embrace it in the shit talk as well. Yes. I'll tell you what I did for a while and I'm starting to lean out of it because I just need it with some of these guys, but I didn't refuse to take shots for a long time, but I was like, I'll play you indie, but it's three to one or four to one. Take odds your way as opposed like, you should beat me.

This should be a layup win for you. Yeah, yeah. Those are, that's one way to kind of get around it. Like, you're going to beat me more than I beat you. But if I do, I want four X. It's not a bad way. Like if I win, it's 200. If you win, it's 100.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. If your body, let's say you had 100% health right now, Steve, do you still have like the itch? Would you want, if everything was feeling good, would you want to get out there and grind? and start chasing some of it a bit? Probably not.

Probably not. And that was one of the other things that kind of was like, you know, made me come to the conclusion that, you know, maybe I'm not going to do it anymore. It's just, you know, I don't have the drive to go out there and grind. And, like, Cole, I mean, we all know how hard it is to get out there. And then when you're out there, how hard it is, how hard you got to work to maintain, to stay out there. And you're not even trying to maintain.

You're trying to get better because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. So it takes a lot. It takes a whole lot. And, you know, honestly, I don't think, you know, that desire burns like it used to. So, you know, you can't fake it. And you got to own it. And that's the way it is.

You know, the one thing I will say, though, it's you look at the results after each week. And when we were playing, you know, if you snuck in there around 10th, you could possibly make six figures. And now it's like if you finished 28th, you're making 100 grand. Like the money is just absurd. I know. I know. I know. It's insane.

It's completely insane. I mean, good for these guys. You know, I wish I would have come around like, you know, 10 years later. But, you know, it's great for them. It's nice to see, you know, guys getting paid because, you know, really now, a middle of the road guy is making a bunch of money, you know, where back when we played, if you were kind of middle of the road, 100th, 125th, you're like, man, what did I make this year?

Like maybe 75 grand after everything's all said and done. I believe. So. Yeah, I believe this year, this past year on the PJ tour, Charlie Hoffman finished $1.29 and made over a million dollars. Yeah, that's crazy. I remember, like, you'd have to finish close to, like, top 30 when I first started to make a mill, I think. Yeah, not counting all the little year-of-end bonuses and the Aon challenges and all this stuff that we don't even hear about.

It's not even official money. There's so much of that flying around, too. But you said, all right, so you're going to take a little breather from it, kind of feel it out. You said there were some things that you're trying to stay busy with, but you also never had a job in your life, which is nice. But you got anything in mind that you're looking to get into? Yeah, well, I was coaching, like the past year or two, I've been coaching a couple people helping them out with their game, and I like doing that.

But, you know, I don't really know. I don't really know what I'm going to do. I wouldn't mind getting a job with Live as like, you know, doing something or the PGA tour or something involved in golf. But, you know, that's just something I've got to try to figure out. but the coaching I enjoyed, but, you know, I don't know. We'll see. I'm just kind of on a little journey to try to figure it out.

But I'm definitely looking to do something because I'm getting bored down here. You know, there's only so much you can do and you've got nothing to do. That's very true. It's a good problem and a bad problem. I got asked, you brought up the coaching. So I'll never forget this. I was playing on the corn fairy tour at the time. And I go out and play a practice around with this young kid who is just getting going out of Florida State.

He's got his phone in his pocket listening to the most ridiculous rap music ever. I'm like, who the hell is this kid? Well, come to find out his name is Daniel Berger. And it sounds like you kind of took him under your wing a little bit. But I got to know, what were your first thoughts the first time you came across Daniel Berger? Oh, man. He must have been like 13 or 14 years old. A little young punk.

He was going through puberty, voice cracking, like all tall and gangly and just a goofy kid you ever seen in your life but would would be like marino you're fat like you suck and would just talk shit to you just a little crap you know and just mean shit so i would play golf with him and stuff and then you know one day we go out and he's talking trash to me he's like oh go play you for 500 bucks on the front nine so i said fine bud so i win he doesn't pay me um and runs away and drive and, you know, runs away as he's, like, talking trash and like, F you, I'm not going to pay you. So the next day I see his golf cart out there. These are the days of the iPod Touch.

You remember that? Oh, yeah. He had one of those thing was sitting in the cup holder of his cart. So I just went, whoo? Gank that thing. I let a couple days go by. I called him up on the phone. I said, hey, bud, I got your iPod touch.

I said, who's Stephanie? I'm on your Facebook sending you a message for her. And he's like, you, he's like, you asshole. better not do that. Like, yeah, and I go, well, give me my 500 bucks and you can have the iPod touchback. I got the 500 bucks. I think his rookie year on tour gave me the money. He said, don't worry about the thing. He said, stop telling people that story, Steve. I'm holding your iPod hostage until I get my 500 and I'm sending some D.S. Yeah, right, man, it's tough love. You know, you need, you need people to teach you how it's done.

That's right. That's how you weren't meant to. You know, he's gone through some injuries as well, but what a player. I know. Oh, that guy was, man, when he's on, he's a killer, you know what I mean? 100%. He's a stone cold killer. It's unfortunate, you know, with the injuries. He's got going on right now.

You know, he hadn't played competitively in a long time. And I know he's working hard, like, trying to get back and get back out there. And I really hope that, you know, us and, you know, everybody else that watches golf can watch him compete again because he's a fierce competitor, no doubt. Hey, he might get stuck in a corner and a round room, but he's got a lot of talent. Yeah, I know. Competitiveness-wise, he's, you know. No doubt. I can ask you about one specific term because the 2009 Open Championship over at Turnberry,

you're tired for the lead after 36 holes with the one and only Tom Watson. Take us through that Saturday because, obviously, I mean, he was trying to make history out there at the Open Championship. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That was crazy, man. That guy, he played so good. So I just remember like, we didn't tee off to like 4.50 or something. It's so weird over there, you know?

So eventually, you know, the round, we started and I'm nervous as shit on the first tee. I remember it was the first hole was like if you, a four iron and like a nine iron or a wedge, you know, if you hit it pretty good. And I just hit this four iron high on the face, dead straight right down the middle. But I had like seven iron ends way back there. Hit it on the green. It was kind of like shaking nervous, two puttled it. And then I was all right. But that guy played so good.

I mean, we talked about, you know, y'all talked about how I played that fade. And I drove it good. And I drove it straight. But we had these holes with these crosswinds blowing, you know, 20, 25 left to right. And I could not hit the fairway. I'm like a yard in the right rough on every hole because I got to start it so far left. My ball's coming in like on a 45 degree angle coming into the fairway. And Tom Watson stepping up there and just hitting these balls that are going dead straight, right down the middle, not even moving.

this left to right win and I'm going, dude, what is going on here? And then I'm thinking, man, he must be hooking the hell out of it. So I can't wait to see the right to left holes. We get to the right to left holes and it's drawing like five yards and going, you know, about as far as I'm hitting it. And he was hitting it so good. Just on the button, wind wasn't even touching the ball. And he putted unbelievably.

Man, I mean, he may be the best links player of all time. Yeah. And I mean, talk about it, just a yard from being making history, being the oldest major champion ever. I mean, he had a perfect shot into the 70 second hole on Sunday. It was perfect. Perfect. I mean, if it, if it would have stopped, you know, six inches before, you know, it needed six inches less on it. And he was, you know, 12 feet, two butt for the win.

Unbelievable. But I remember the crowds were so like pro Tom Watson, you know, it was a pretty big deal. And it was insane crowd. Let's go, come on, Tom, come on, Tom. Like the whole way, like, felt like millions of people were out there. I'm in the process of making like dove on 16 on Saturday. I was in it till like 15, 16. I went like dub,

dub or something. But I'm standing on the green and he's got like a 40 footer for birdie. And I'm standing on the green, you know, contemplating my eight footer for like bogey or double or some shit. I don't know. And he rolled this put in and I'll never forget it for the rest of my life. the noise was so loud, the roar of the crowd was so loud, it was deafening and the green,

I'm standing on the green and it's shaking under my feet going like this. And I was like, that's some crazy stuff right there. You know, I never really- That's cool. I mean, go ahead and clean up that. That was nuts, man. I'm not kidding you. It was like being at like Camden Indoor Stadium at Duke. Like, you know, the people that play there say the floor shakes.

Like, that's what I immediately thought about. about that. I was like, and this is crazy. I know you didn't play the way you wanted, but what a cool experience. I mean, those are memories you'll have forever. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I gave it my all, you know. It was hard. But it was. I mean, it was pretty cool to watch that guy play that good at that age. I mean, it was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing. And just being a part of that, especially over there, like the history over there, the fans over there are crazy.

like you'll hit a shot like 40 feet from the hole and like everybody's like you know from the fairway and yeah yeah it's a little bit different over there it's more of like a it's a much more like intimate golf tournament experience you know what i mean it's yeah that was a lot of fun if you get on the right wave it's the best yeah speaking of the fans over there steve is was that the open championship i believe your boy your caddy at the time g dub got uh caught up was some fans on the 10th T, I think taking a little relief, if we want to call it that? Was that event? I don't know if it was that event.

It very well could be. This was in the, I remember other things about him from this trip. He was doing things for money. We'll get to that. Hold that thought. Yeah. We'll get to that. But tell us about the relief.

The relief is good. I don't remember if that was that, at that event. On 10 at Turnberry. Yeah. I can't remember. The story is... During the tournament? Yeah, right?

Didn't he have to go take a leak? And it was like the tent tee and he thought he had some room. No one was around in this particular area. And he went out there and took a leak and turns his head. And apparently there was 200 European fans just staring at him from about 15 yards away. It might have been St. Andrews, but yes.

Yes, it was. That did happen to him over there. And he owned it. You know, he just finished up and, you know, zipped up, turn right back around. and walk to the tea. W. America.

One of the best. America. Absolutely. One of the greatest. Yes. Absolute character. He'd be a great guest on this podcast. He's got so many stories.

You know, back in the day when you were playing out there on the PGA tour, I mean, one writer once said you were the best player on tour without a win. You ended up with having five runner-up finishes. If you look back and there was one, you could have a mulligan on, what tournament would be what's the one you feel like you really let get away uh bay hill bay hill and martin layered one it's funny like in the practice round we're playing 17 and uh i kind of leaked to six iron a little bit and it plugged in the face of that bunker and i'll play him with spencer and i can't remember who else i was playing with and i could not i didn't know how to hit a plug bunker shot i was like

I kept leaving it in the bunker and I couldn't get it out. And my technique was just awful and Spencer's trying to show me how to hit it. One dude's saying, open the face. Another guy's like, no, you hood it. So anyway, I got a one shot lead in the turn. No, I think maybe, I don't know what it was. But I came to that hole with the lead on Sunday and hit a very nice six ironed. It leaked a yard.

And it was plugged this far from carrying it over. They were plugged in the bunker. And I proceeded to get it out. I was like, dude, you got to get this out. But, I mean, we can't be leaving it in the bunker right now. So I over did it and hit it over the green. And then, you know, it goes down. Then you got that brutal chip and chipped it to like eight feet and missed the putt and made dub.

And meanwhile, like Martin Laird's like making putts all over the place behind me. I can hear the roars. Well, I birdied 18 to get back in it. And he ended up getting up and down from par on 17 from where I did not get up. and down for bogey the same spot chipped it had the same put i had like 810 footer for par made that then hit it in the right rough on 18 hit on the front of the green and two putted that like 120 footer to the back right bend yeah and beat me but that's the one i mean like i mean you know and it's fitting that like in the practice round you know it's kind of so weird how it ended like that

you know what i mean uh i know how to hit them now that right bunker that right bunker that right on 17 when the wind gets going it's like one of the only places you can hit like that green becomes damn near impossible to hit so like everyone plays out of that right bunker and some of them plugs some of them don't oh man and they took that pin they hide it over there on the right on sunday it's like five four over the bunker and yeah yeah that place that was one you know i think about that one d a point screwed me out of pebble beach one year got very like he hold one on 14 and then duck hooked one on the next hole hit out of bound stake kick back in bounds hit on the green to like 60 feet and made it for birdie uh that one that one i think about uh him and his

lego belt that but other than that no you know i played pretty good and some of the other ones and got beat you know so yeah five times getting close i mean you got to play damn good golf just to put yourself in that position that many times but speaking of old stories you and i were texting briefly yesterday you are part of one of the most legendary stories in golf the flight with ernie else all that stuff. And you were telling me, like, look, Ernie's told the story from his perspective 50,000 times. The media runs with that. You never get a chance to tell your side. So let's hear it from the horse's mouth.

Is that, is he the one that told, because my friends, they've been texting me like the article from golf, is it in Golf Digest or Golf Magazine? Some, it's like a cartoon thing. I haven't seen it. We had him on here, and he talked about it a little bit. But now we get to hear it from the other side because they differ. Yeah, they do.

differ, but I don't know, actually. I don't know. I think we'll tell the same story. I'll tell you the whole thing, real quick. We met at the yard house. I never met him. We were with like mutual friends. And so then the groups kind of started hanging out and I'm talking to him. He's like, what do you do? I said, I play golf. He's like, oh, what tour do you play on? I said, dude, I play on the PGA tour. I'm like three spots ahead of you on the money list, bud. And he's like, oh, I didn't know that far. That's true. That's so good. He loved that. He loved that.

So, you know, we had a good time and drink some beers. He invited me on this plane. We figured out we're both playing in Japan and coming back to Jupiter. So he offered me a ride back. And I'm thinking, like, hell yeah. But then it was two months away. I'm thinking there's no way this guy is going to remember. So I had another plan to go back.

But as soon as I saw him, it was on. He was like, I can't wait. You know, give your passport to my pilot. Like, give me your passport. So anyway, started off a little rocky because he had to wait for me. for like two hours because I beat him in the tournament on Sunday. He finished well before me. So he might have been a little ornery, you know, pre-flight.

But I finally got on the plane. Everything's great. We're hanging out, drinking beers. I had a nice steak, a bottle of wine. You know, then he didn't want to let me buy to go to the bathroom. Gave me a couple of head butts. I returned to the favor. He got a big smile on his face, like, was just like, yes.

yes I'm so happy it was like a child we're like two children like like fight so we started wrestling and tussling around I was on his back he's shaking me around and the pilots come back and yell at us and it stops and then uh we're both leaning against the bar afterwards and we can't breathe we're out of breath and he says I like you you you know you won't let me you know you didn't you headbutted me back or something I said well I'm not just going to let you headbutt me over and over, but he's like, yeah. So we became good friends ever since. But it was.

It was like two 10-year-olds playing, but a little, you know, but bigger 10-year-olds. That's exactly what it was like. And we've been friends ever since. Was it just you two back there in the cabin? It was just us too. God, that's beautiful. 15 hours. We consumed a lot of alcohol on the plane.

And the pilots had to come back and be like, no, like, the pilots were like, well, I mean, I think that he might have done some things like this before. so I don't think they were in total shock. But yeah, they came back and they were like, guys, what do you do? I mean, the plane must have been bouncing around all over the place at like 45,000 feet, like, over, you know, Russia. But, yeah, that's pretty much the crux of it. You know, it was, you know, like two little kids, like, you know, play fighting almost. I love that.

That lines up. That lines up with what he said, pretty much. I heard if you fly with him, like, you better be prepared to have some cocktails or some beers. Yes, yes, cocktails too. I shared a few other flights with him. The Mexico one was pretty memorable. You know, I respect my elders. So, you know, if I'm on a plane, I'm not going to call it hazing, but if I'm on a plane and, you know,

guys pouring me a drink and telling me I should drink it. And I'm on his flight and he's older than me and a four-time major champion, I'm going to drink the drink. You know what I mean? That's the way it is. And I got no problem with that. You know, I enjoy doing those kinds of things. So, but the Mexico flight ended with, we flew there from Las Vegas.

And it ended with me waiting for everyone to clear customs behind me. They all did. Thought we were done. Tried to walk out and walk face first into a glass door. That was pretty embarrassing. And then Tim West had to drive me to the Fairmont. and check me into my hotel and make sure I was tucked into my bed that night. So that was another flight I shared with Ernie.

That's awesome. Tim Wes. Oh, what a great guy. Tim West. What a legend. I'd heard of this story about him asking you what you did in a bar. And I was like, it's got to be like a made up part. Like there's no like where they just sitting at a bar together and they don't know each other.

But that part's actually true. But when we met, no, it's 100% true. He asked me, I was like, he's like, what do you do? And I said, I play golf. And he said, oh, you know, really? What tour do you play on? I said, but I play on the PGA tour with you. I'm like three spots I'll hell you on the money.

He's like, oh, God, that's good. I love that. So, come on, honey, cheese. It's so good. You know, I know you're taking a break from it now, but you turn 44 in March, I believe. Is there any like, hey, when I turn 50, maybe I'll give this. Yeah, I mean, I think about it. I think about it.

You know, I'd like to, you know, stay playing and keep my game, you know, fairly sharp. but it is a long way away. But yeah, if I turn 50 and I'm feeling good and I'm playing good, I mean, I think it would be pretty fun to play on the senior tour from the, you know, the guys I know, my friends that play on it, they love it, you know. It's like a totally different world from the PGA tour, they say. It's just, you know, they wake up every day, just loving life. Can't wait to get out there and do it.

You know, everybody's having fun, a little bit, you know, a little more friendlier atmosphere, a little more camaraderie. So it sounds like a good time. I would love to do it if I could. And in six years, Bernhardt will probably hopefully be out of there. I'll still be winning. I mean, I don't know. He still might be winning the money list at like 83.

I mean, he's unbelievable. Benjamin Button and dude's going backwards every year. I think he's going to fall off and he just keeps winning, keeps on winning. All right, let's, uh, you're going to the E9 here? Yeah. All right. Let's go. There's some good ones here.

All right. We got our E9 here, a little fun with Steve Marino. We've been mixing this up a little bit. We'll ask you, you're a single man. Celebrity Crush. Ooh. I used to be a me lacoonis, but I don't know, it's tough to Margo, Robbie, and Wolf of Wall Street. I mean, that's pretty good one.

I mean, I think golfers and all males in general kind of have the same thing. Margo's got a stranglehold on this thing right now. For some reason, I can't crack it. Oh, man. Margo, yeah, that's a good one. You got some competition for it, but it's a good one. I know. I know, is she single?

If you want her to be. In your mind, sure. I mean, if you take a stab at her. You know what I mean? She'd come single real quick if Stevie's asking about it. All right, you started to get into this little earlier. We shut you down, but I'm going to give it to you now. Your old caddy, GW cable, wasn't afraid of a dare.

He would do some crazy stuff for money on a bet. What's the craziest thing you've ever seen him do? The most, the craziest thing I've ever seen him do, I might start dry heaving talking about it to you guys. But we're on the way to the British Open. and there was a beer bottle that was like about half full and about half of it was old beer and the other half of it was dip spit with the tobacco like you know ejected in there like somebody was spitting in it and then took their dip out and put it back in the bottle so you could

see like the tobacco in there too it was me anthony kim charley hoffman was involved Anyway, we scrounged up about $3,000 and, well, God. Yeah, dude. If you've ever chewed, you've accidentally taken a swig of a spitter in your life. So everyone knows the feeling that's been there. He just, he took that thing down. Oh, man. He chugged it.

Ten years ago. He's going to really be it. I'm not kidding you. I get queasy every time I talk about it. and just slammed the beer bottle down afterwards like it was nothing and i get i think i think when i think about it i almost throw up and he they paid it was about 3,3,500 bucks that we know we had pulled up for him to do that and he he did it no problem and i was like that's a different kind of dude right there oh that wasn't his spit it wasn't his spit oh god what was the

aftermath of that how many days how many days till you get leveled out after something like that I don't know. Well, then he continued on later that trip. I played a practice round with VJ. And back in the day there, like, player dining was like, I don't know, it was kind of a tent. And, you know, we're in Europe so you can smoke cigs wherever you want. And there's a cigarette butt on the floor. And I just finished, you know, telling VJ about the story of him drinking the dips bit. He offered him, you know, 500 bucks to eat a cigarette butt off the floor. Jesus. So, I mean, we were playing good. The guy wasn't short on money. I don't know what the hell was going on. But he ate that, and he said that was the worst thing. He said he was burping up cigarette for the rest of the week.

His intestines got to be just ruined. Ruined. The spitter story. I heard, I was like, no, not doable. Dude, I was sitting right there. That's tough. But that guy's a legend. Great friend of mine, great caddy, great dude.

father of two now two beautiful young daughters he's he's doing great so shout out the g he's got a guy he's caddying for uh jacob bridgman caddied for him all year last year on corn fairy and they're starting this week i think in hawai yeah they're down in hawai actually was texting with them i was texting with him earlier i was i was texting with him earlier i was like i need some stories he goes we're on the golf course right now trying to monday qualify let me text you later oh damn they're not in hopefully hopefully they get in yeah um all right next Oh, by the way, speaking of dip spit. So a good buddy of yours as well,

Ruggia Amata. We're down in Panama. Corn Fairy. I'm playing Blackjack, and he's standing behind me watching. And he just got this cup and I was like, what are you drinking? He's like,

crown and ginger. You want something? I'm like, yeah, sure. Wasn't crowned ginger. No. He gave it to you? Yes, that is wrong to do. On purpose.

Yes. That's criminal because it's the worst. It's happened to everyone that choose at some point, like on accident. You got like a Coke and you're spitter. And usually you know it immediately. if you're a chore and you can kind of get it out like you won't swallow it like you know something's wrong colt might did it go down no uh yeah i went down i was not happy with oh oh i'm sure you've been

and you didn't even you guys 35 hush out if you could find the guy where where did he disappear to he just started dying laughing and walked away i'm like you are so sorry but i was on a heater on the blackjack day well i couldn't leave that's tough dedication all right next one what do you Brant Job and Scott McCarran have in common. Ooh. That's a very good question. I have no idea. Do you?

You are all three members of the Beta fraternity. Oh, I did not know that. Tell me about this. Let me tell me about this being a frat guy up at Virginia. Mm. It was okay. Ours was weird. Like my frat was,

it wasn't on, uh, rugby road where most of the other frats were like they had gotten in trouble like a few years earlier so we had a kind of like an off campus house um i wasn't like much of like a frat frat guy you know i wasn't i never lived in the house i didn't go to the parties but you know a bunch of friends of mine that uh i was in school with uh they did it i did it there was a bunch of athletes in the fraternity too no no other golfers but um it wasn't like what you're you're thinking though you know what i mean it it was uh i wasn't like super super frat guy i wasn't like

hazing people i did go through a hell week and that sucked it was awful i can imagine some of the stuff i hear from those frat i'm like they get people pay people pay money to do this like some of it seems what was the worst part and they had us doing like crazy dangerous stuff like they had us doing high lows so yeah half the half of the pledge class was on like one side of this mattress and half was on the other side and you couldn't see each other and you had a brother on each side and like you had to run and dive either in the bottom or the top and then like last minute they would tell you like go high or go low and then you know you're hoping on the other side the guy would not be going the same way as you it was like crazy stuff like that sounds terrible that was hell

week at like 4 30 in the morning yeah that's good isn't it virginia where they wear like the ties to the games and stuff they wear like yeah yeah a lot of fraternity a lot of fraternities did like we my wasn't really we didn't do that i don't know if they do that anymore though i don't know if they do that anymore but when i was there dude like everybody wore a shirt and tied to the game i'm like seemed like the most uncomfortable thing ever it's like nine that's not your style no yeah not really no not really yeah it looks like a board meeting over there in the student's section well those people are probably you know solving the world's problems or creating them today some of those probably a little bit of both fair yes probably a little bit of both uh

I'll give you one here. Have you ever led people to believe that you were related to Dan Marino down in South Florida in order to get preferential treatment? Yes. Yes. Smart. My ninth grade English teacher, she hated me. But I somehow ended up charming her and we kind of got into conversation. I told her Dan Marino was my uncle.

And she didn't believe me at first, but then I got some of my other buddies to kind of be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, he doesn't talk about it much. Yeah, it's his uncle. And then I actually brought her, I looked up his autograph and stuff and forged it and brought her a signed football and gave it to her under the pretense that it really was Dan Marino that signed it. And I think I got an A in the class the end of the year. So yes, I have done that. Yeah, that's great. That's smart. Going back to ninth grade too, crafty. Yeah, I love it. Crafty. You know, you said you're possibly looking for another job. Where would you say being a boat captain would rank in possibility for you having a next job? No, no, that's Willie Mack, bud. That's Willie Mack. I have a boat. If my boat broke down in the middle of the ocean, we'd be in big trouble.

But if Willie Mack was on the boat, we'd be good. I think Willie Mack should be the boat captain. He's a great fisherman. He knows what's going on with boats. And I think that'd be a great job for him. For me, no, no, no. I wouldn't want to do that. He told me.

Go ahead. What's, you know, if you get a nice boat to captain down here, you can make a nice living. Yes, you can. He told me. DJ's, DJ's captain does pretty good. Yeah, it's a good gig. Who that works for DJ doesn't do well nowadays. Very few.

Yeah. Yeah. Willie Mack did tell me you almost gave him a heart attack once when he was, he let you in charge of his boat. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. It's going to be, it's almost one of those things if you had to be there. Basically, we took a trip down to the Keys, and we usually would take this one boat that was out here, but instead we took a boat that Will shared with this golf coach, Jeff Leashman, it was a smaller boat. I'd never driven it.

So we drive down there, and it was briny bared and myself, Willie Mack, and another guy, Jamie Neer. And we had rented a house for the week. Brianie brought his boat. So he was in the other boat. We launched the boat and we're in the keys and we're in like kind of a little neighborhood. It's not real wide. There's bulkheads on each side. The throttle was sticking.

I couldn't get it to go. Finally, I got it to go. And it went full blast. It threw me backwards. I fell backwards on the way down. I slammed it back into full reverse. and it went like and went up like this

and the seawalls right here it went up and down and did not hit the seawall I was going to be in somebody's backyard you know had I not went down and did that and he was so mad at me will because before this he's like Steve you better not mess up the boat

I'm like I got it dude like don't worry about it it's all good you're in good hands well he witnessed that and he was not happy about it so he drove the boat the rest of the week I would have been at someone's backyard. Relax. There was people outside hanging out.

And all of a sudden this little, you know, piece of waterway where these houses were, it was like a wave pool because of all my wake that I was creating. There's people outside going, what in the hell is this guy doing out here? So that would have been an expensive mistake too. Sidebar to that. And I think.

Go ahead. Go ahead. No, I was going to say sidebar of that, not being a boat captain, would you say right now in your current form, you're better at beer pong or golf? Ooh. I played some beer pong actually on New Year's Eve.

You still got it? It wasn't as sharp as I would have liked to have been, but I think I went like five and one. I had a bunch of different partners. In the professional golf world. I don't know. It's tight. It's close.

You know, I break par pretty much every time I play, you know. Yeah, but you're a shark on the beer pong table. Okay. I am sharp. I'm sharp on beer pong and Cornhole.

Yeah. Who would you say is like your biggest challenger in the professional golf world in beer pong or cornhole? Well, Dustin is pretty good at Cornhole. I can't really, like, there's not really any, Denny McCarthy is good at a lot of things like that, actually. Really? Danny McCarthy is a sneaky, sneaky athlete, very good hand eye. and it's why he's a great putter. He's good at ping pong,

cornhole, beer pong, like stuff like that, like little hand-eye coordination game. So Denny's real good. Dustin and I used to play, you know, those games in battle, and we were fairly similar in ability.

I love it. Yeah, Denny won that three-point shooting contest they had wherever it was last year. He made a shitload of them, by the way. Yeah, went around. Yeah, I think he beat like some dude from the wizard. Like he outshot like one of the shooting guards. He was nice.

Yeah, no, no. Any idea he could shoot like that. No, no, Denny's a sneaky little, a sneaky little athlete. You know what I mean? Like he'll surprise you with stuff like that. Yeah, just a little assassin. All right, well, that segues nicely into the next one because we may have already hit it right now.

But a lot of your friends, Matt Avery especially, he's like, dude, this guy, Steve, he's just a freak athlete. Like, he's good at a lot of stuff. He could shoot, you know, all the games we just mentioned. But if you had to say, a sport or activity that you're best at outside of golf? What would it be? Ooh.

Oh. Ping pong, I heard you real nice at ping pong too. I'm nice at ping pong. You know what I've actually been playing a lot of recently because I got a lot of time on my hands is billiards pool. I've gotten pretty good at that, actually. Billiards. Yeah.

I got a ledger with one of my buddies. We play all the time. It's going good for me. So pool. And you know what, I'm a pretty good cornhole player, I think. I would throw myself up there with a lot of people. So basically like a bar Olympics, if you had like pretty much, like, you know, all the little niche shuffle board probably.

You can't get paid to do real well. I'm good at all of those. Horsesues. Yeah. I'm pretty good at horseshoes. Like, I haven't really, I'm good at horseshoes. I love. Anything you can do while you drink?

Darts? Darts, I'm good at, yeah. Yeah, I'm very good. Yeah. All the drinking games. I like that. Yep, yep. That's 16-year-old over in Europe.

taking over the dart world. Yeah, yeah, there's some super... Oh, there's a new guy in town, a challenge in that Van Gurwin guy? Yeah, 16 years old, just fleecing everyone. Yeah, yeah, you can't be... Yeah, they throw it's like 180 every time. Yeah.

All right, next one. I have to change one of the guys because I know Willie Mack would be the answer now, so I'm going to change it to Matt Every, Spencer Levine, and Daniel Berger are stranded on a deserted island. Who do you have the most confidence in surviving and making it home safely?

Oh, man. Man, it'd probably be a toss-up between Matt and Daniel, because Spencer's too nice, they'd probably eat him first. They'd be hungry, though. Very much there. And then both of those two dudes would be trying to, like, you know, figure out a way to get it done. I'm going to have to go with the older crafty veteran would make his way off the island, Matthew you every i like there you go

lone survivor not every i think so i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i think i you know he like i said he's a fierce competitor you never know yeah bug book book's crafty crafty is he the crafty that he is uh very crafty all right last one with me this comes back to your caddy we talked about gw cable for a while there there was the makings of like a fight like a boxing match between y'all two oh yeah what Whatever happened to that? That was like real.

Y'all were doing like interviews about it. Nothing ever happened. It would have been unbelievable if we actually did it. How did that? How did that start? I think because we've known each other for a long time and we were, you know, good friends before he started cadding for me. So we maintain that, you know, we were always like friends before, you know, caddy player. So, you know, we'd get into arguments as friends do from time to time.

And, you know, we would talk trash to each other. And somehow that idea came up. And, you know, he was telling me that how bad he would work me. And I'm like, you're out of your mind. And so we decided to maybe try to do it. And then I don't even know what happened to it. It just kind of went away. But it would have been very amusing.

I wish we would have done it. GW is a scary dude. He can get angry. So it would have been a brawl, I think. That would be a good pay-per-view player versus caddy fight. Incredible. The whole tour would show. You could just do it on site at an event and everyone show up and pet me for that.

100%. Maybe that's the new gig. You could be a fight promoter on the PJ tour. That'd be sick. I could. Like, solving beefs. Yeah,

players. Yeah, just making fights. Players, caddies, like, you know, rules officials, they could even get them involved, you know. Yes. Oh, do they've been lined up. A few people had lined up with Stephen Cox.

No doubt about that. Oh, my God. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Yeah. That would be a, no relief from the past there. Yeah, see him Monday. We got to get GW on the pod. Yeah, we need fantastic.

Got so many great stories. All right, last one. Okay, good friend to yours, Dustin Johnson. Yes, sir. We're filming this right now on the, a few hours before the start of the national championship game. And I know you'll be tuned in tonight watching Michigan and who the hell are they playing Washington. Go at it. Who we like, by the way.

Who do we like? Nope, that's what I'm going to ask you, who you like. But I need you to do it in Dustin Johnson's voice. Oh, yeah. No, bro. I think Michigan is going to win because they're just bigger and they'll pound the ball. And, you know, they're just going to control the possession and they're going to win the game. That is so good.

Pretty good. I miss hearing you do that interview as DJ. Let's ask some more shit about D.D. Hey, how's your game right now? No, but I mean, Michael Pinnock's, he's pretty good, bro. But, I mean, Michigan, they're just, they're bigger. Oh, that just made the day right there. We're going to run that audio as our promo, like DJs on the pod, talking about football.

Oh, that's awesome, man. Well, on a serious note, obviously, this is going to come out after the national championship game. I know I personally, because I have one guy out there that's an annoying Washington fan, so I'm rooting for Michigan. So I'm laying the five points and taking Michigan. Man, I just, I dislike Michigan. I don't know why. Like, heartball just gets on my nerves. but I think they are so good.

I don't believe in karma. If I did, I would probably bet Washington, but I think they're going to win. I just, I mean, they're just kind of destined for it. I mean, after all this stuff they've gone through, and I don't know. I think it's going to be a good game, though. I mean, I don't think it's going to be a high-scoring game.

It's going to be like a 21-18 affair or something like that. So in that case, Michigan will not cover. That would be great. I'm heavily invested in the under. I think I pretty much align with everything, DJ. just said. I want Washington, by the way, because no one hates Washington, really. I'm a good gambling. All right. We could all three look like assholes after this game's over when by the time this thing airs. But that's good breakdown from DJ. He knows his ball. Knows his ball. He does. He does. I love it. Steve, well, you're the mad, dude. So great catching up with you. Don't be a stranger. Come visit us out here. Yeah, man. I mean, I like last time I saw you guys, that was like the start of my midlife crisis. From there,

I went to Hawaii and then met up with Matt every and then Matt and I went to Bangkok. Yeah. To do the Asian tour to school last year. I was gone for a month. He told us to ask you about that trip. Do you want to give us a quick breakdown on what went on over there and how you guys even got that? Like, you know, I don't really have enough time. I got videos.

We invented a new game in the pool at the hotel we were staying at. Like it was, yeah, there's not enough time. There's not enough time right now. But it was an amazing trip. Van Rock was cool. I rented a freaking car, dude. I'm driving on the wrong side of the road and on this side of the car. I mean, it was it was a lot of fun. We were there for like 10, 12 days. It was awesome. That place is wild. It is like, I mean, how about the wires and the streets everywhere? How does that place not catch on fire? Yeah, it's bizarre. It's an interesting place.

There's no doubt. You had every over there every 12 days. God damn. That's terrifying. That's good. We had to get Maddie on and talk about that. We survived it. If we can, anyone can. true. Yeah, true story. All right, my man, well, really enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Yep, you're the best. Thanks for having me. Good catching up. All right, that was Steve Marino joining us. And if you weren't watching YouTube, you probably would have thought Dustin Johnson joined there at the end. Snuck in there quickly. That's a good impression. He's so good, man. I wanted him to keep going. If I'd known it was that good, I'd have some more questions, answer it as Dustin Johnson.

Just let him go. He's hilarious. That was great. I love this guy. I loved him talking about when he first met little punk-ass Daniel Berger back in the day. I mean, that relationship, I can see those two just going at it. Big Brother, Little Brother. But by the way, good to see Daniel Berger back on the PGA Tour as well. Shout out to him, played nicely in his debut since the 2022 U.S. Open. And then the much talked about wrestling match with Ernie L's, got his side of the story. Yeah.

I didn't know it started with a headbutt. Yeah. It's physical. It's physical up there at 30th. Yeah, I was talking to him before. He's like, dude, let me get my, it's like, because Ernie's talked about it a million times, Media always asked him. I've never gotten to give my side of stories.

So, like, dude, the floor is yours, but that's an all-time. Classic story. Also, the bets with his caddy. G-dub, who we need to get on the program. The drinking the spitter dude is enough to make you want to puke, just listening to it. If you've ever chewed, or even been around a guy that chews, you've probably at some point accidentally done it, Coke bottle, whatever it is. And it's just, like, immediate.

And he took the whole thing down. I don't know what his week looked like out there at the open, but it had to be. He ate a cigarette. I had to be miserable. He's a cigarette. We used to have a kid in our little group. We'd call him, what do you give me, bets? Like, what do you give me to eat that?

He ate a dollar bill once, by the way. You gave him $100 to eat a $1 bill. You want to mess yourself up? So eventually he made 101. Eat a single. Yeah, eventually. I don't know that it was usable once the single came out. I thought it was awesome listening to him talk because that's a great trivia question.

Like, who was in the lead or tied for the lead with Tom Watson after 36 at the open? It was Steve Marino. Playing alongside him. It was cool to hear him talk about how he handled those crosswinds out there and how good he was on the links golf courses. The reason he's one of the best open championship players of all time. Yeah, he's, that was an incredible run that he had there with Watson before the crazy ending there. And his little crew that he used to run with, I mean, Marino, Spence, Matt Evry, the beautiful Matt Every. Dude, that's a good squad.

And there's just not many like that out there anymore. You know what I mean? Dying breed for those guys. Love Steve Marino. Can't wait to get him out here in Scottsdale and play some golf. Man, we need more like him in the game of golf. Played with them at the Twin Fin the last year they had it. It was fucking stripes it too.

It was a special. Yeah. It was a special 18. Yeah. But always fun sitting down with him. One of the best. Hope everybody enjoyed that episode. Let's get to some picks real quick for the Farmers Insurance Open, which is where I'm headed.

Doing Wednesday, Thursday, Golf Channel, Friday, Saturday, which is weird to say for CBS because Sunday, CBS. He'll be calling the golf Friday and Saturday from the Ravens Stadium. press box up there and then he'll be getting ready for the AFC championship. What a time. Between them and the Kansas City Chiefs. And then we're on the NFC side. We've got Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers. We'll get to those picks in a second. But first,

Farmers Insurance Open. I'm going to go with a guy who's been making some noise with his fashion lately. New fashion this year, new clothes this year, wearing the Malbon has a great record at Torrey Pines. And I like this number, too. 25 to 1. Give me Jason

Day. Great track. record around Torrey Pines. What do you think about the new look? Pants? It looks comfortable. He can fit some money in those things. Yeah. He can smuggle some things. As a man who likes comfort, who likes a little bit. No, no Euro fit. No, no Euro fit. I'm okay with it. Yeah, he's changing the game right now. Swing looks good and like you said, crazy good track record at Tori. All right, you're headed out there. You know what's been going on. Monday qualifier cancels now Tuesday qualifier because it's just pouring rain. Of course it's going to be soft. It's going to be wet. Rough's going to be thicker, harder to get out of. It's already a long golf course. It's going to play longer.

I'm going with the best driver of the golf ball that I can think of in the field. I think it's going to be Paramount this week. Who better than Ludwig O'Berr also 20 to 1? He was out in San Diego last week, doing some work with Toddlist, getting everything all dialed in. I feel like you're going to pick him a lot this year. I probably will. Probably will pick him. He'll be my new Cory Connors.

Okay. Yeah. Well, that's saying something. Yeah. That's a lot of love. Everything's open right now. My dark horse, I could not believe this number when I saw it. 80 to 1.

Just shot a final round 62, 10 under part. at the American Express. And I know this golf course is much more difficult, but you mentioned how important it is to drive the golf ball well. This isn't a birdie fest. If it stays wet, plays long, I can see 10 to 12 under par winning. No, not many drive it better than this guy.

Give me Keith. Cashmese. 80 to 1, the rain's gone, but it could be a little cool. His kind of weather. Be right in his element. Come on, Keith, bring it home. Be right in his element. You never get any argument.

Do one. Get one for the Viser family. You know what I mean? We only got a couple. We're dinosaurs out there. My next pick, I'm also going with another European whose name is hard to pronounce, but he's spent the last two weeks over there on the DP World Tour coming off a top 10 in Dubai, Rider-Cupper, it's bombs, same kind of blueprint, same kind of formula for the reason I picked Ludwig.

But give me Nikolai Hoygard going off 45 to 1. Slightly different conditions than he's seen in the desert the past couple weeks, but smashes it. Great golf swing, extremely young. It doesn't get enough credit for being one of the young guns because he's so young. I'm going to take him. one of the young guns because he's young because he's not old you know what I mean that's why he's a young gun

all right quickly before he wrapped this up let's do a little football bet both of mine will lose championship this is tough I thought from the start of the playoffs it's going to be Baltimore San Fran that's not going out on a limb at all but the way Kansas City is playing the way they played against Buffalo catching three points I mean they always get to play at home they proved everybody wrong they went to Buffalo got the job done this is going to be a hell of a game I think that's why the line's only three points but I'm going to take the points.

Give me Patrick. Anytime you're giving Patrick Mahomes some points, I like it, give me him and the Chiefs. It's good. Someone's going to be a winner, depending on the tail, because I'm going with the Ravens. I think they're on a mission right now, at home. There are rumors circulating.

This could be Travis Kelsey's final season. You know who will be in the booth? What do you think of the little, whatever, the little heart signal. Soft, dude. You can't be killer, Travis. You can't be killing Travis. You know what I mean.

You know what I love Travis. Speaking of that. incredible suite that was loaded with the Kelsey's, Mahomes, Taylor Swift, Jason Kelsey, stole the show. Love that man. Never met him. Huge fan. Congrats on a Hall of Fame career. And you are enjoying it, my man. Drinking out of the bowling ball, shirtless, jumping out of the suite, jumping back into the suite. Love everything he does. Retired life is good. Hell yeah. God, he was going crazy with the Bill's Maquis. Eagles guy coming in, Bill's Mafia embraced him. He, that's what you can do when you're retired. He was one of the few people that

could steal the show from Taylor Swift in the booth. All right, so you got, you got Chiefs, I got Ravens. Let's go to the next. All right, next we got Lions, traveling to San Francisco. San Francisco had a hell of a time with Green Bay. Yeah. They're catching seven points. Jared Gough is on a freaking heater, man.

I love it. Their defense is nasty. Dan Campbell is my favorite coach in the NFL, and I don't even think it's close. Give me the Lions plus seven, man. I don't know if they're going to win, but I think they can cover seven points. If they get to the Super Bowl, I'm here for it. I'm going to adopt the Lions as my second favorite team. Might be my favorite team with the Cowboys Keep Sucking.

I just love Dan Campbell. Bad news for you here. That's also where I'm going. I'm a de facto Lions fan. My team has not been good in about six or seven years now. Love Dan Campbell. They've also been shit for so long. It's like the people of Detroit deserve something to root for.

The Niners have been my Super Bowl winner prediction for the entire season. They just don't look quite as good. They struggled real bad. with Green Bay. Need to escape out of there with a wind, but I'm going, Lions in a tub, I'll take the points there.

So, tough break. If San Francisco... Because I am icy. Oh, great. Yeah. If San Francisco makes tickets available for the public and don't just hoard them all

like we've seen people do in the past, the Detroit fan base will travel. That place will be rocking. I just, I love everything that Detroit's doing right now. If they get to Vegas for the Super Bowl, they're just going to be overrun with Lions Blue. in that place. And I'm all for it.

Give me the lions. Like I said, they've been so bad for so long. I just want the biggest underdog to win. Love Dan Campbell. I'm all in Detroit. All right. Well, there it is. Boom. So you can only fade one of us. Yeah. I mean, I guess the proper play to be to take San Fran minus seven.

San Fran. And then, yeah, just pick your poison on the first one. I have not won shit in the NFL in a good while. All right. Well, thank you all for listening. We got a great one coming your way next week. The U.S. Open Champ, Wyndham Clark, joins us to recap his 20-2020. four season. You are not going to want to miss this. It is a fantastic episode. Have a great week. We'll talk to you on the next subpar.