Subpar - Vinny Del Negro Interview: Winning the American Century Championship, the best golfers from the NBA

Episode Date: July 20, 2021

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and jicky jack legend Drew Stoltz for an exclusive interview. The winner of the 2021 American Century Championship talks being the first basketball player to win the event, what he learned from playing with Annika Sorenstam this year, and who the best golfers are among current and former NBA stars.

Hello world. Welcome to another week of golf subpar. Colt knows Drew Stoltz. Recapping the 149th Open Championship where Colin Morikawa is the champion golfer of the year. So these, this kid just continues to impress. I mean, he makes history. It seems like every time he tees it up, but picks up his second major championship

in just his eighth start. Yeah, we've been, since he came out, we've been comparing him to Victor Hovlin and Matthew Wolfe. Those are the guys he gets compared to throw that out the window. he's in a different stratosphere from those two guys right now. No disrespect to them. They've been incredible since they got on tour, but he has launched himself into rarefied air.

I mean, the names he's being compared to now are Tiger Woods and, you know, major, like Jack Nicholas and these couple of guys. Like, he's in a different stratosphere right now. And, dude, it is so fun to watch him golf because so many events on the PJ tour is just bomb and gouch, bomb and gouge. Hit it as hard as you can. That's the whole thing. And then you go to Link's golf and you can't really do that.

And you get to watch like shot making and precision, you know, take over. And God does he hit, I mean, his irons, dude, I don't know that I've ever seen since Tiger maybe from 180 out more shots that end up deadpin high. And going at the flag a lot of the times too, like rolling right by. I mean, he's just unbelievable what he does Tita Green. I mean, he's being compared to Ben Hogan, which is arguably the greatest ball striker of all time. Brandl Shamblid did an awesome, you know, his release pattern, you know, after impact on halfway up, he showed him versus Hogan. And it's pretty much identical, which explains why Colin Morkowat does hit these iron shots that are unbelievable. But I told you earlier today, I mean, when Adidas sends him his pants,

they got to like let the crotch out, I think, and customize these things. Because the man has some stones. Let them hang. There is no doubt about it. I mean, you look at this. I mean, when things are going good, all well and good. No problem at all. But when you get jammed up is when you really see what kind of heart and how your nerves are.

And, you know, he missed the green on number 10 coming in with a wedge, which was a very, very poor shot. And, you know, you can say he drew a good lie, whatever you want, but he still hit an unbelievable pitch shot. And he hit the pitch shot that you had to hit. You had to miss long. that's what he did. He hit it to 10 feet, made the par putt coming back. He made the huge birdie put on 14 from below the slope, which is where we thought things were about to get

tight. We're like, okay, here's the only gimmee birdie hole, and he's going to mess it up. He ends up making birdie. Then you get to 15, which is the hardest fall on the course. He misses it left, which is dead. Can't do it over there. Tall grass. Very, very dangerous pitch shot where if he comes up short, it comes right back into the tall stuff, easily could have just seen him blasted at 20 feet by. I mean, he had a pretty aggressive one. He had it. Perfect. But he hit the smart one. Still, went 10 feet by once again. But once again, just buried it right in the middle. And I'm like, man, this kid, he's got it. There's not a moment that's too big for him. Yeah, he doesn't freak out. It's weird for a kid that's 24 years old who's only

played in eight of these things to just do it like so nonchalantly. But you brought up the, you know, 10, 14, 15. Those are the big putts that stand out in that golf tournament. And it's, you know, for so long the narrative has been, oh, Conmore Coward, not a very good putter. And if you look at him, you know, statistically, he's like 170-something in putting. It's amazing that he can go in and win golf tournaments being that that's where he falls in the putting. standings right now. Like he doesn't have to be great because he gives himself so many opportunities. But if he just finds a way like this week, the fact that he was rolling it so well, zero three puts for the entire week. I think it takes the pressure off. Yeah, number one, which is, I mean,

from 170 to 1, that's crazy. But when you're putting it like that, then you have that confidence, it takes so much pressure off his short game. Like if he's having a bad putting week and he's in those situations, maybe you try to hit the perfect chip that rolls up there dead to two feet, but you maybe mess it up and it comes back to your feet. But he was just took his medicine, blasted out there and made those big puts. I mean, it looked a lot like what Tiger Woods used do and he would get in trouble. Just give me a chance to make it. And Colin did it, man. If he starts putting like even average, I mean, there's nowhere he can't go. He's still plenty. He's long enough. He's not one of the bombers, but especially on those firm fairways out there. Like,

he's getting it out there still, too. Listen, I mean, I'm not ever going to compare him to Tiger Woods. I don't think that's fair to Tiger Woods or to the other player who is getting compared to him because Tiger was just on a whole other planet. But when you watch him play, it does remind you a lot of him because, like, listen, Tiger could move it. But how often did he hit driver? He was methodical. He thought his way around a golf course. I mean, at one of the open championships, he won, I think he had three drivers the entire week. Like, he just thinks his way around. And when I see Colin Moore at Cowell played, that's what I see. You know, he talked about afterwards how he wants to know everything. He wants to know every detail golf course, where the hump is here, where it is

over here. And he just, he outsmarts guys around the golf course. He's 24 years old, but he might have the best mental game on the PGA tour. And it might not even be close. Yeah, he looks flatlined out there. I'm sure underneath the surface, there's a lot going on, but he looks flatlined. And that would be like my comparison with Tiger was that like for years and year. I mean, we saw Tiger do this over, you know, years and years. But that's what he did in major championships. You had a 10 footer that he needed to make to keep the cushion, to keep a lead or take a lead or whatever. He made it like every single time.

And when he did mess up, he took his medicine, gave himself a chance. And then he made those. And that was what Colin Morikawa did. Like 14, I thought was the biggest one because Spieth had just come off birdie there, got to within one. If Colin doesn't bury that, all of a sudden he sees that. I mean, anything can happen there. And he made that one on 14, which, by the way, was humming. and had some pace on that.

That would have been a little tester coming back. But, I mean, God, just the major championships when he's given himself a chance. And both of his wins have come from behind, too. I mean, it's, he skews the benchmark for every other young kid coming out because he's doing it making it look so easy and doing it so young that now when we see the other young kids

come out like, oh, why aren't you winning already? Colin did it? You know, like he skews the benchmark. He does all the right things. I mean, he plays beautiful golf. His, you know, the ceremony afterward, trophy presentation. I mean, he just says all the right things.

He, like, deflects all the attention off him and gives credit to the low amateur, Mattia Schwab, his caddy. You know, it tells everyone in the gallery just give thanks to the person next to you because we're thankful to be here. Nothing about him how great he is or anything like that. It's just, it's unbelievable. I feel like he's not human, especially at 24 years old. I know how we were at 24-year-olds and how we are now.

Yeah. Yeah, you don't have to stop at 24, bro. Not near as mature as him, but, man, it's so cool. But I was very happy to see because I tweeted afterwards. I said, you know, the Claire Judge, probably if it could talk, would be like, thank God I get away from Shane Lowry for a little bit, because he has just abused me for two years. Here's Colin Warcawa, a little different head on his shoulders. Probably doesn't like to party quite as much as Shane Lowry. He's going to, the Claret Jones is going to get

some nice, deserved rest this year. But afterwards in his press conference, he talked about, he's like, I can't wait to have a drink out of this thing. It's going to be great. I got some Snapchats from Victor Hovlin last night. They were getting amongst it, so they were having a time. If you wait a major in a trophy that's drinkable out of and you don't drink out of it, then that's a problem. But he said something in his interview too. Like, you know, I'm always looking forward. I don't want to like rest on what I've accomplished so far. But like he said, maybe I take a few more days this time and enjoy it. So yeah, take a few days. Enjoy that thing because what you're doing is special. And in terms of what you said about, you know, how he handles himself in the media. There's another guy in the field this week. You might want to be calling up calling and getting some PR lessons from him because Bryson continues to just shove his foot directly into his mouth and attempts to swallow that thing at every opportunity. Yeah. First off, call Morcal, congratulations. You're the champion. being golf for the year. Bryson DeShambo, listen, I don't know

what's going on in that head of yours, but it's not good right now, Sleaz. I mean, when you have a company that pays you a lot of money, you're the face of their company,

and you absolutely just shit all over them in a media after a round where you played bad. It had nothing to do. You say the driver sucks. Well, as we've talked about in our other stuff, the driver didn't suck at Wingfoot. It didn't suck when you were hitting

over the pond at Bay Hill and just killing everyone. But now of a sudden, your miss hits aren't going straight. No shit. That's called golf, bud. They're not supposed to. Yeah, my miss-hits thing goes straight for a long time, which is why I shut her down.

But that's what happens. Exactly my point. Like, I didn't hear any bitching where you were winning. I didn't hear any bitching when you were, you know, hoisted U.S. Open trophies. Like you said, blasting it over the lake at Bay Hill. Everything was pretty much perfect then. Now you start playing some bad golf and you're looking to pass the buck to somebody else. He shot 71 the first.

Look at the last couple tournaments he's played in. Like, he goes and throws, you know, Cobra Puma under the bus at the British. Not a good look. Then he goes and he's his offending champion at the Rocket Mortgage. who's another massive sponsor his, and he doesn't even give press afterwards. It's like, dude, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Like, you aren't entitled to these things.

And I was, I mean, Cobra did have a response from that with one of their reps. And he came out with a DJ tour. Yep. I mean, he, I was happy. I texted Showman. I was like, dude, good job. I'm happy you stood up and said it because he needs to treat the people that are around him much, much better, in my opinion. I mean, you look what, we don't know the whole detail of what happened with Tim Tucker.

We might assume. but things aren't going very well for him right now, and I think he needs to take a look in the mirror and try to figure things out, change things for sure, because when you have other PJ tour players coming at you that aren't Brooks Kepka, when you have Justin Thomas and Jason Duffner, Justin Thomas, who's one of the most well-liked guys in golf,

coming at you and saying the things he's saying, man, it's just not a good look for you right now. Yeah, that's when you've got to take a look at the mirror. We got Justin Thomas, like you said, one of the most liked guys on the PJ Tour. Doesn't take shots at anyone unless it's just a playful jab or something like that, coming out and tweeting, and Jason Duffner, all these guys.

Like, as soon as you start pissing off Switzerland, you know, you probably fucked up a bit. And I think he needs to just run, like, wind this thing back. Someone needs to get in his camp and be a PR guy. And as soon as he signs his scorecard, give him 10 minutes, like, okay, Bryson, here's what we're going to go say at the podium. Here's how we're going to say it. You're going to smile. You're going to do this.

Just don't shoot. Like, people have been trying to give him the benefit of it out for a long time, including us. Like, we've at times come to his defense. Like, look, everyone relax. You know, it's not a big deal. But, dude, it's just over and over and over. it gets to the point where you just you can't defend it anymore you got to take some accountability but

i mean i agree with you like he does need to work on this but at the end of the day you're an adult as well like come yeah there should be some common sense but obviously it ain't happening one of my favorite things we've ever had happened on this podcast before we sat down with podrick harrington i said podrick you know at the end of the day if you say anything you don't like or something like that you're allowed to edit it out he goes if i say it i mean it and i'm fine and i'm comfortable with it i'm like perfect i love that and the fact that he comes out and and bryson shambos says the things he does, whether it be about his caddy, a golf course, or his club manufacturer. It's just, man, I wouldn't have been one bit surprised if Cobra Puma said, you know what, we're just going to part

part ways with this. And I don't think they'd be out of their minds to do it. I mean, you look around, you go to a golf tournament. I'm out there too. You look around, what do you see? You see eight-year-old kids dressed in Orange Puma, and you got 40-year-old men dressed in Orange Puma. Ricky Fowler moves the needle. He sells product. He increases your revenue for Puma Cobra. I don't know how many guys are out there buying single-length clubs. You know, I don't know how many guys are wearing that little whatever hat you call it. News hat or newsroom hat or whatever the hell that thing's called. I don't see too many people wearing that.

So it's like at what point is the juice not worth to squeeze here? Like this dude's just too much, too much problem than he's worked. Listen, in my opinion, like I think he is very good for golf. What he has done, how he has transformed his game and transformed the game of golf, I think is fascinating. And it's awesome. It's just you got to change the way you treat the people around you, in my opinion. It's just, it's not good. And, you know, hopefully things turn around.

Like, I'm not, he doesn't need to just change who he is because that's part of what has made him great. But when you go in the media and start shitting all over the people that are behind you, that's when you get a problem. These are the guys falling all over themselves trying to make sure you got everything you need. They're sending in 10 different drivers, tweaking everything you need, building your clubs exactly the way we want. These are the guys in your camp and you're going and throwing it at the end. Like, you don't need to change how he golfs or any of that. Like, that's fine. You want to be the scientist guy.

That's all great. That's part of the reason what makes him, you know, kind of interesting. But dude, it's just, if you're trying to, it's like he's just trying to sabotage himself in terms of, like, his reputation. Well, a much more positive note, our guy Jordan Spieth made a hell of a run at the title. He was up there, you know, till the very end. Made a great run on Sunday. He ends up finishing second, lose by two.

It's just so good to see Jordan Speeth back and playing well, especially at the biggest stage, like the Open Championship. You know, I know he's disappointed. He didn't get the job done, but from where he has come in the last two years, it's really good to see. I love, I think the Open Championship is such a good spot. for Jordan speed being that like you kind of get away from technique you start hitting shots and you throw it all out because it's just more creative and it's not as just a to be you know fly the ball to the

hole every single time and we didn't get the weather that we wanted I know you dude I was I want 25 mile hour wins I want some drizzle I want some rank you know I want this thing to play like a like an open championship we didn't get that but it still just feels like that type of golf brings the best out of Jordan speed he turns off like the technical side and turns on the creative side and that's why I love links golf so much we don't get enough of it but like take the bomb and out of Look at those two guys at the top. I mean, Jordan Speeds always good out there, Colin Moracawa, best iron player, most creative, plays it extremely smart.

Like, you got the two guys that deserve to be up there. Yeah, but at the end of the day, Colin Moracawa is your champion golfer of the year. So cool to see. Can't see where this takes him from here. More majors, obviously, he's got the Olympics coming up. It's going to be really cool to see, you know, what kind of numbers he ends up when his career is over. But so leaves our guest this week, another man who hoisted a trophy very recently.

Another major. Vinny Del Nagle. won the American Century Championship up at Lake Tahoe. You were there. I mean, this is a major on the Celebrity Circuit. It is huge. This guy's played in it 20 times. I don't know what his best finish was before,

but he'd never really been in contention. I think he had two top tens maybe in the last 19 events going into this one. And here it is, the biggest one of them all, and he gets the job done, beats John Smolts in a playoff to win the American Central Championship. Vinny Del Negro. Underdog Story of the Year. I mean, I think he was going off at 75 to 1.

That's correct. I mean, when you and I were talking about, it's like, you got your first. four or five guys that you can name right up like these are the guys smoltz being one of them romo being one of them marty fish um mark molder like those are the guys that dominate on conica sorenstam who i thought she was going off at 12 to one and i was like oh my like that's a layup and she she came damn close to doing it but seven hundred thousand times on yeah exactly exactly but vennie's not the guy you immediately think of but you and i play a lot of golf them down here and he's good the one bugaboo he's got

is that that driver can get a little crooked well in desert golf that's a bit of an issue but out there like A, he doesn't need driver all the time. And B, if you miss it, you go and hit it out of the trees. And, you know, it's not like you're reloading or things like that. But, I mean, we're to sit down with him here and you can see just how much that meant to him. I know it was a fun event, but he's big for him. For him with his father passing. But, I mean, just such a cool story.

I mean, here's a guy, you know, who's just an extremely solid NBA player, played against the best. I mean, got to go up against Michael Jordan, you know, played in San Antonio for Coach Popovich. Just had a great career. And now he's going to be a force at this American Century. seems like. Yeah, I mean, a guy that left his NBA career and then got into coaching for a while, too. I mean, but he's really, I mean, we see him out there every day I go out there, Vinny's out there, practicing, hitting balls, doing it. I mean, he gets after it. So, yeah, this is a fun event. There's a lot of grab ass up there. There's a lot of, if you want to have fun and put golf on

the side burner, you can absolutely do that. But then you got the guys that, like, lock in and want to win, and he's one of them. I was shocked when y'all told me that there were people practicing after the rounds. Dude, a lot. I couldn't believe that. A lot. There's more guys, and I think some of them will get on camera, like, yeah, I'm here to mess around have a good time and I think so a lot of them care more than you know but like dude after the rounds and like I was finishing up and walking back there's like 10 guys on there I'm like god man it's 530 you know you got casino 200 yards away maybe go get after it but on that other side of that coin you go into the blackjack room at about 1130 at night there's also a bunch of them in there too

so there's there's two sides of that coin yeah I have a fan I have a feeling our man sir charles might have been in there he might have stumbled around a couple of that actually I'll tell you this I was playing blackjack Charles walked in for the first time First time I'd actually seen him on property the entire time. And I mean, dude, the place, every black, every table guy standing up pictures. I mean, the mob that came over, he had like three security. It was like Elvis had just walked in. Like, Chuck, it takes a backseat to nobody.

His head security guy, James. Be careful. There were some dudes I wasn't going to rush Chuck to try to get him a hug. Well, I can tell you this. I know one of the most popular items, all those guys got in their bag up in Tahoe is Rockford. The greatest speaker you can possibly have on the golf course sleeves. You and I use it. We get amongst it with this thing.

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So you can get your hands on that But dude, there's just no way to play golf anymore without the form, without the rock form in the building. And you get the little bird up there helping to make you tweedy birds around. What more do you need? They're fantastic. You can also pair two of them together if you want to really get it loud and piss off some groups around you. It's fantastic. If you're up in the mountains playing, you lose your cell phone service, no problem at all.

It's got an SD card that stores up to 5,000 songs. So you're just going to be partying all day. Go check it out. Go to rockform.com. That's R-O-K-F-R-M dot com. Intercode subpar for 25% off. Again, that's rockform.com. Intercode subpar for 25% off your speaker.

All right, here's Vinny Del Negro on Golf Subpar. All right, you probably know this dude sitting next to me today from the NBA, coaching in the NBA, doing all that. But after what he just did in Tahoe, you know him now as the Celebrity Slayer. Vinny Del Negro, champion of the ACC, celebrity event in Tahoe. What's up, Vinnie? Hey, good to see you guys, as always, bud. Good to be with you.

Congratulations. That was such an awesome performance. Thanks, buddy. I learned it from you out at Greyhawk when we played in that tournament, you and Chappi and stuff, and me and Marley and stuff. But very fortunate, you know how tough it is to close those things out. So just went my way. I was hit some good shots down the stretch. Very humble. You know, you've played in this tournament a number of years. Yeah. I mean, you're a hell of a player. You're a 1.8 index, at least is what I saw as of most recent. But you're going in that tournament. First off, do you know what your odds were at the start of the week to win this tournament? I didn't know until they told me. It was like, I think, 75 to 1, I think. Yes. You didn't put any side action on yourself? No, I said in the press conference after, I really don't, I'm not into that stuff. I'm not a big, as you guys know, I'm not a big drinker and stuff.

I just kind of go there and love the competition. I'm a competitive junkie. I've played in it for years. I usually go there and play one really good round, one kind of average round and one bad round. And I don't know, I just, from the first tee on, I was just totally locked in with everything I've kind of been going through and my caddy Dirk did a great job and we were just kind of focused

whole by hole, shot by shot and just kind of kept everything under our belt and before you know it, I think what really turned is on the second day, on the front nine, I just, I was rolling it so good for whatever reason. I had it in the right spots and I shot five under on the front.

So I shot 31, so that just kind of propelled me and then in the back nine, I got really tentative and just kind of wasn't being aggressive, wasn't, you know, kind of attacking the pins. And just kind of after the round, I said, you know, I talked to Mark Mulder a little bit. I talked to some people and said, hey, this is where I'm at. And they were like, all of them to a T pretty much said, just go for it. You know, just aim, do what you've been doing, go for it.

And that really kind of cleared my mind a little bit some more. And then once Sunday came around, I just was kind of plotting my way around the course. And then when it was time, I just kind of turned it on a little bit at the end. I'm glad you brought up Mulder because, like, he's won this thing numerous times. And the last handful of years, it's been Mulder, Romo, Fish. Those are the guys. And you've played in this, and you've had a couple top tens in there. You've had some good years.

But when you leave and you see Mark Mulder winning or Romo or whoever it is, do you leave there thinking, like, man, if I show up and play like I can play, I can beat those guys? Yeah, I mean, I've played with all of them, you know, and whether it's Smoltz or Jack Wagner, and, I mean, there's so many players that we've played with throughout the years and all these events. But like I said, I always kind of beat myself a little bit. You know, I just never let it go the way I was capable of. You know, I let one shot bother me or a putt bothered me where this year was kind of like,

I just didn't really think about it so much. I was like, next shot, focused on the next shot. And my caddy was great, Dirk. And we just kind of went and plodder away around. And before you know it, you know, we're on the backside on Sunday. And then it was anybody's ball game. You know, you say you got a little tentative. But like, what are the nerves like for you?

I mean, you've hit game-winning shots you've had, you've been at the free throw line with 20,000 people booing you wanting to get in your kitchen. What were the nerves like for you? coming down the stretch trying to win a golf tournament. You know, it was weird, Colt. I've played in enough of these things, and for sure, there's always nerves. But kind of for whatever reason this year, I just think under the circumstances and where my mind was and my father passing and things, I just was like, I don't want to say in a zone, I was just like, I was just blocking everything out.

I was just kind of focusing on him, what he would expect. And I just kind of went for it and just, I didn't think about all the other stuff. stuff. I just, I didn't have enough time and everyone was like, well, why are you walking so fast? My kids, I was like, I just want to walk. I like to walk fast anyway, but then I was walking even faster because I was like, I wanted to get away from everybody because I was talking to myself, just what I needed to do, what was expected of me and kind of just my mindset. And I was just, you know, my dad always told me, get locked in, man, focus in and get locked in no matter what shot. In basketball, he's like, you miss a shot. Next shot, man, just lock in.

You know, no excuses. You're either good enough or not. Lock into that shot. And he goes, if you miss your first five, you're going to make your next five. That's your mentality. And that's what it was kind of in golf when I was playing on Sunday. I was like, of course, I was a little nervous, but I was just like, if I'm going to, if I'm going to get beat, I'm not going to get beat from being tentative. I'm going to get beat from kind of going after it. Even on that put on the last hole in regular, you hit in there nice and he had a really good look for Eagle.

You know if that goes down, the things over. What was it? I mean, it had to be a long time since you were probably as nervous as that. I was, but, you know, it was in a good position because Smolte was putting for par. He had like a five. He had like a nice bender. I mean, he didn't have an easy put, and he hit it great. And mine was kind of downhill.

I think I came out of it a little bit. I was really just focusing it on the speed. I don't want to roll it by because the cup was kind of set. It could have rolled down like four or five to him, and I was like, hey, I'm hitting my driver good. I just play this whole really well. If we go into a playoff, we're going to play 18 again. It fits my eye. So I was like, hey, be smart.

If it rolls in the side, great. If it doesn't, just make sure it's a tap in, and let's move on to the playoff, because I felt good where my driver was. Explain to the people at home, though, because I think it's different for everyone. When they got a cut, that means a lot. Like, I mean, playing on tour, you know, guys, sometimes it affects their hands. Sometimes, you know, their heart rate. Sometimes everything just gets going crazy fast.

What were you feeling? You know, I'm a routine guy, Colt. So whether I'm shooting a free throw, I did the same routine for years. It's kind of like I just have my routine. I picked my spot, and I just know, like, you know, what the speed is. I was just kind of focused on looking for, the low side making sure I had the breakdown and then making sure I had the speed down and the grain where it was going towards the water and I was like okay this is going to be a little quicker

you know make sure you're just smart about I just picked my spot luckily the speed it rolled out a little bit the greens were great there the superintendent has done a fantastic job they're fast and if you get on the wrong side you can get you can three put very easily on those greens so the poignant can be a little tricky as you guys know just one of the holes I birded at number six they put bent grass in there because they kind of lost it that green was much smoother, much faster, and it has a lot of undulation. So that was a good birdie for me. But 18, it was all kind of process-oriented. Make sure I get a nice, you know, tap in for birdie and make him make the par put. And if we go to a playoff, let's go to a playoff.

And you play the final round with Smoltz, that's who you go into the playup with. You guys are buddies. You've played a lot of golf together. And you know how much he wants to win that. Like I talked to a few guys before the tournament, Molder, Madonna. They're like, Smoltz probably wants to win this thing more than anyone. What was the vibe like in that final round where you guys, your friends, are you out there yucking it up and talking? Or were you both, like, locked in and let's go. I mean, we were locked in, but, you know, it's like anything. It's like, you know, they're buddies, you know, so like I want them to play well,

but I just want to play better. You know what I mean? I don't want to, I want to see them hit good shots. You know, I mean, I'm competitive. I want to put pressure on me to hit good shots, but that's fine. That's what it's all about. So I wanted to, you know, if I was going to be in that position, I wanted those guys to play well, I just wanted to play a little bit better.

I want my friends to play good. I just want to beat their heads in. Yeah. Yeah, that's normal friendship. And I know he's thinking the same thing. You know, I've had Smolzzi out to member guests at Whisper Rock. Maybe we'll play in the National together next year. We talked.

I talked to him today. He was very gracious, as always, in the press conference afterwards. And he's a tremendous player. And like I said, it just kind of went my way at the end. I hit some shots. And that's what it took. Oh, sneaky early favorite at the National at Whisper Rock next year, John Smolts and Vinny Del Negro.

Look out for that. That ain't sneaky at all. That ain't sneaky. Yeah. Well, now that you know they're a team, it's official, they're going to be the favorite. But, you know, one of the stars that week is obviously Sir Charles Barclay. Sure. Were you aware of the bet he put on himself because the over-under was 70th place?

He put $100,000 on himself at 5 to 1 to finish 70th or better. Were you aware of the bet, and which side of that would you have taken? I was aware of it. I will say this. I would have had to look at the roster down that side of who was playing there, I will say this. Charles has actually improved a lot. I mean, people tend to, you know, and I give Charles a lot of credit. I mean, he goes out there, he takes a lot of flack, but, you know, I used to play with Marley and Aege and Confin Simmons and Charles down at the Raven, and Charles would shoot in the high

70s, low 80s, easy. He could chip and put. Now, back then, you know, we were all in, but especially him much better shape. But at the end of the day, Charles's swing is starting to kind of come back a little bit. The hitch, now is he still have some issues with some of those things, of course, but I'm proud of him being out there. I probably would have taken the bet, but at the end of the day, as you guys know, competitive golf under the gun, it's a whole different environment with people and just the whole thing out in Tahoe, especially when you're playing in a real tournament, every putt counts, everything matters. It's a different thing. I think it has been. best final round and I think it was I think they said on the broadcast in his last 50 rounds his final

round this past week was I think he got plus he got plus points he had been coming out to the rock a little bit and playing with some guys out there and I saw him swinging and he was actually swinging it good yeah I mean it's a he loves it and I'm just happy he's going to try to keep working on and I think he can get some of it back stand up nothing more if he wants than just to go out and play with his buddies yeah and be competitive and not being not embarrass himself exactly I was rude I mean, obviously, when I saw you were up in contention, I was like, come on, Vinny, let's get this thing done. But then I would scroll to the bottom and be like, all right, where's our man, Sir Charles? He got a chance.

I thought it would be the best TV ever if he had like a 10-footer on the last to finish 70th or 60-9 or something like that. Oh, my God, he would have gotten that. The fans love him. He's great with the fans, and he loves it out there, and he's been a staple out there for years. And I'm just, like I said, I'm just happy to see him kind of start to enjoy it a little bit more instead of having all of that, You know, golf is hard enough, as you guys know. I mean, for him, he loves it. I'm just happy he's trying to get better at it.

Yeah, Stan Utley's phone is going to be exploding with all the love that he's. You should have got Stan Outley up there to Chicago and get him to teach Joe Kim Noah to shoot pre-throats. If he can fix Chuck, he can fix Joe Kim's prethrows for sure. Other than, obviously, it's a star-studded event. It's unbelievable. Slee's got to go up there this past week. I didn't, I've never been. Who are some of the other guys you love?

I mean, obviously, I don't get to hang out all the time, but that week is a very, very, special. Who are some of the other guys you love catching up with and hanging out with? Well, I mean, I'll tell you this year was special from the standpoint of not only winning it, but on Tuesday, I played with Mike Madonna, my buddy. You guys know Mike. He's great. And Jay Billis, my buddy, and we play with Onica. Yeah. And we had a practice round with Onica, and her husband, Mike, was the caddy, catty in four. And just to play with her, I mean, as you guys know, she's a machine. I mean, she didn't miss a fairway. She was like four yards left, four yards right.

I mean, she can just hit it and could not have been nicer. Talked the whole way. She was very gracious after. We took pitchers and with the trophy and things. She could not have been nicer. I was watching, I was really watching not only guys in my group for sure with Jack and Smoltsy, and they got off to better starts than I did, but I was really watching kind of Romo and Onica.

I thought they could make a push a little bit. And they did. It's just that they kind of ran out of holes. I just kept paring and paring and paring and then I made the birdie in 18. And no bullshit. Like it's really, this is a cool thing to win. There's a lot of good players in this and beating all the celebrities and stuff. That's fun.

But to say, like, I beat Onica Sorensen. I know she ain't playing golf every day and doing all that, but she's still onica Sorensen. I saw her betting odds before the beginning of the week. And I was like, oh, my God. Like, that's the one. Oh, she can play. I mean, as you guys know, I mean, I think she's won, what, 72 events and 10 majors and

whatever. But she still had the nerves. You know, she kind of lives in that environment, that intensity, that environment her whole life. But she's back to playing competitive golf. She kind of was, you know, I was talking to her. She's getting ready to play in some of these senior, you know, LPGA events. And there's a couple of majors that they have, I guess. And she's really kind of, and really what's gotten her back into golf is her kids. Her daughter is a really good player, but her son is starting to be a good player, and he really loves it. So she said they're spending a lot of time

on the golf course, and she's kind of rejuvenated her love for it. And she loves to compete. And it was just fantastic to be around her, because obviously, she's such a great person. You cannot take the competition out of those people. I mean, they just love to compete. I mean, like you said, 72 wins, 10 majors. She was fist pumping coming down the stretch. Oh, she wanted it.

Oh, she wanted it. It was cool, yeah. Oh, yeah, she, I mean, we're all into it. Believe me, as you guys know, it's those competitive, we're all competitive junkies and something, and we just want to perform well under the pressure. And, yes, you know, it's just, you know, it's hard. It's hard to close those deals out.

Did you pick her brain on anything playing with her? I mean, that's the best ever, do it in her sport, you know, for her sex? Like, did you pick her brain? Like, how do you hit these chips or anything like that? Yeah, we talked a little bit about it, but I tell you what I really was just incredibly impressed with her was is if she was hitting her driver, a seven iron, a pitching wedge, a lob wedge, her back to through motion never changes. Like, her speed is like her speed. And it's like she's so consistent because her turn in her speed, I mean, if you, it's just really incredible, like everything is so consistent with her, like her. Her

speed or tempo or turn. Everything is just, it's just like a machine. It's consistent. There's no hitches. There's no anything. It's back and through. She picks her spots. I think in the practice round,

she birdied the first two holes. I think she hit the first one to like four feet and the other one at two feet. And I was like, wow. Oh shit. Yeah. And the thing that's crazy is, as you guys know, she's hitting like, let's say she's hit an eight iron in there and I'm hitting a gap wedge or a sand wedge and she's hitting it like, I'm hit at 20 feet.

and she's sitting at four feet like but it was just consistent so it's like man I got a lot of work to do to uh you know beat her that tempo that tempo that's solid mesmerizing it's easy she makes it look easy it really does but i'm gonna tell you something no interesting after the saturday round the range usually closes about i think 530 or something um she was done probably about 233 she had some lunch she was out there hitting balls until like six o'clock okay she was like out there pounding balls. Everyone was saying, Anna goes out there,

she's coming after you, six o'clock, she was hitting balls, everything like. I said, I should have been out there. She should have been relaxed like I was. It's funny,

Cina. I didn't know that was allowed at that event. Oh, yeah. Dude, you'd be surprised, man. Oh, guys are grinding, man. I show up,

I'm leaving, and it's like people cramming for a final exam the next day. They're like, I haven't hit balls in six months. I got to get out here and figure it out in the next hour. There was a bunch of them out there

still going out. Oh, yeah. Well, I believe you became the first NBA player to ever win the American Century. You know, obviously you're a fantastic player. What other players in the NBA or just the basketball world would you say are some of the top players? Well, right now, like I talked about in the press conference after, you know, Steph Curry has a great swing, loves the game.

You know, I play with his, you know, they were on the 18th Green and, you know, Dell, who I play with in Milwaukee and Steph and Seth and Seth were there. And I think Vince Carter, Derek, a bunch of guys stayed, which was really nice of them. talk to all of them. And, you know, Steph's swing is fantastic. He's got to stay focused on his career right now in basketball, but I think, you know, he gets enough golf in. But after his career, I think when he puts a little bit more time in,

he's too competitive. He's got too good of a swing. He loves it too much. Another guy that I play with once in a while, I had a practice round with him was Ray Allen. He didn't play particularly well. That swing. He didn't play particularly well in the last round especially,

but I played enough golf with Ray. Ray solid as he continues to, work on his game. I think he's another guy that could be up there. So there's not a lot. You know, there's been other basketball players over the years that have been good golfers, but I'm happy about the basketball thing because the basketball, the NBA goes up there, the logo and all that. But I'm more happy because what the tournament represents, all the past winners, what American Century does for the tournament, Jonathan Thomas, the CEO of American Century, they put their heart and soul into it. NBC, John Miller, Gary Quinn. It's, you know,

they put their heart and soul time, effort, money into it. It's just such a first class event. All the parties, all the concerts, everything we have is so fun. So to be a part of that group and with my name aside of the past winners, to me, that's the most important. Yeah, and that's what's so impressive with Steph is that he's in the middle of his prime right now, and he's still this good. If he can play, when basketball ends and he plays a bunch of golf and retires, like he's going to be a force because it's all there. But you had such a, you had a long NBA career. You played 12 seasons.

that he coached in the NBA. I got to ask one more question about the American Century real quick. Okay. No, this was kind of golf, but go ahead. Yeah. Because Lee's and I, you know, we like to get amongst it to have a good time. Who's the MVP of the party scene at the American Central? There's more than one name.

A couple of the runnings. Yeah. Give me the top five. Oh, man, that'd be tough. I'd say, you know, first thing is Larry the cable guy is always having a good time, no matter what time of day it is, and he's so fun to be around. You know, the Roscoe Flats guys are always there, and they do an incredible job, and they're just fun to be around.

I mean, there's so many different people. It's hard to pinpoint all of them, but the parties we have, the karaoke nights we have, the Roscoe Flats concerts. This year it was Earth Wind and Fire. I've had Philip Bailey up at the Rock, the lead singer of Earth Wind and Fire to play golf, who loves the game of golf, and that place was packed. So, man, there's so many things going on in so many events. So many good people involved with it.

So everyone's having a good time. If you can't have a good time up in Lake Tahoe in July, playing in a celebrity golf tournament with concerts and parties and everything going on, then you probably shouldn't go. I'd say Joe Don Rooney, your ask you play. If someone beat him, then I didn't get to see it. It's pretty good. Travis Kelsey also not afraid.

Travis is always having a good time. Travis was a heck of a basketball player. We always talk about it. And actually, Roma was a good basketball player too. We talk about that. He'll tell you. So a lot of good players. But the fun thing is...

What did you say? What is you say? Robo for finishing. It puts that consecutive tournaments finished at one. We had a little talk about that, too. I was like, hey, but you got to get through 54 out here, but... Come on. No, but there's so many good guys out there.

There's so many good players. I mean, all the guys are going after it. And for whatever reason, just click for me this weekend. Kelsey's got a good golf swing, too, for a big old monster of a human. a joke. Patrick Mahomes won the long drive contest. Mm-hmm. I mean, he sends it. Wow.

363 or something. With a little teaching, that guy could be really good. You can just tell he's just an athlete. By the way, Patrick Mahomes is a lot bigger than you think when you get next to him. He's a big boy. And he's an incredible player. I mean, I had breakfast with Al Michaels. And we talked about football in the season and his career.

And, you know, then you go, you shit with some other football coaches or play. Everyone, it's all kind of a big family there because we've done it. and the weather was great, the course was great. So it was just a phenomenal weekend. Were you playing golf? Go ahead. You said Al Michael. And by the way, I saw he was in the field this year.

I played with him at Bel Air, and I knew Barclay no longer had to worry about finishing last. Al Michael's fantastic, dude, greatest announcer ever, not a very good golfer. No, but you know what's amazing thing is? Because he loves it. Like, that's the awesome thing about it. Like, a guy that's had his type of,

I mean, he's done everything, okay? It's Al Michaels. But he loves being out there. He loves shooting whatever he's going to shoot, however it goes. He likes walking the course, the people, and he's cut. I mean, to me, that's awesome. I mean, at that age and his career, to go out there and not be able to shoot a good number, but have a good time.

He's always got a smile on his face. He's always having fun. I think that's awesome. Yeah, he shows up. Play his golf. Yeah, the grip could use a little. I don't know how he can't put the face on the ball with that thing. He's got the cobra.

He's grabbing a rattlesnakes at that hayboy. Maybe just a slight tweak with a little teaching there. You mentioned some of the guys like Charles when he was shooting in the high 70s and stuff. So were you playing golf still when you were in the NBA? Was it just off season or were you playing during season or what? So I started playing golf when I was 28. I'm 54. Late started.

Yeah. So my wife, we had our wedding at 30 years married last June 15th, her family was into tennis. So I would play tennis a lot in the summer because their family was into it. And I hadn't really grown up playing tennis so much. So I really got into tennis. But as my NBA career kept going, my knees in the summer, I wanted to get off the hardwood. My buddy was a golfer. He was left-handed.

I was driving the cart. And one day when he was playing and he was left-handed. I was a switch hitter and baseball power left-handed. Everything I'd do was right-handed. And I swung in his club. I couldn't hit it. I went inside the next day. I was in North Carolina at the time.

And I called the ping. and I said, hey, I kind of like golf and, you know, send me some clubs, whatever. And I knew a ping rep, and they sent me some clubs. And I just started pounding balls while I was playing in San Antonio, like after practice or, you know, if we had a day off or whatever, I'd just go out to a range, a couple clubs I was a member at and just pound some balls, couldn't hit it anywhere. Really have, you know, I haven't got many lessons, but I've been fortunate, you know, what's made me a better player is Whisper Rock, you know, playing with you guys,

guys that know what they're doing, that have played their whole lives. There's so many good players out there. Why are you chipping it? You know, I'm a knowledge guy. So I'm like always asking, like, why'd you chip with this club or why'd you hit it there? Why'd you hit through instead of driver? Kind of figuring out as best I can what fits my game. So being able to playing all these tournaments, all these years, and then being around really good players, I think, has really helped me.

Yeah, well, obviously, we're going to get into the basketball at one point. But while we're on the golf, we got to ask about Michael Jordan, who you played a lot of basketball against. Have you played much golf with him? Oh, yeah, yeah. I've been in Tahoe with him a few times. I think we played somewhere else. Michael can play. You know, Michael's got his new course down there with Grove 23.

A bunch of guys are playing now. And I think Ray told me he's a member there, and he goes down and plays with Michael a lot. So I saw George, Michael's business guy and kind of his assistant, he was in Tau. This year, we talked for a while. But, yeah, I play with Michael a few times in Tahoe. And he's always fun to play with. Obviously, as you know, he's very competitive. And it's got a nice swing.

bit short game and I'm going to try to get down to Florida hopefully sometime and get on his course a little bit and play drag him back to Tahoe now that you got the title you got an NBA guy up there yeah you got to get Mike back Mike's busy he's got the young kids you know he's down there so he's kind of just kind of doing his own thing and you know Michael lives in a kind of a different world in a lot of people because he's Michael Jordan so that's a little bit different but Mike loves playing some golf and he loves the competition so I enjoy that and you used to when you were playing against Mike in the NBA. You used to like when you're back,

all right, free throw, you guys are both at the top of the key or whatever. You would talk to him about golf, right? That was kind of your thing. Like, hey, maybe if I make buddies with him, it'll be a little. A little bit, but more, you know,

kind of like you're always trying to like get him off a subject. You know what I mean? Because, you know, he just, you know, he wants to beat your brains in. So at the time, Marley, Dan Marley, my buddy, he was much more advanced

and playing a lot more golf at me at that time. So Dan would always talk to Mike a little bit more about golf. I was just trying to, you know, hey how you doing you know north carolina nc state whatever but mike was just a such a dominant player i mean just uh his his his competitiveness and his just his overall kind of just his presence was was was uh was tough you remember the first time you went up against him on the court for um the first i don't remember the first time um probably in a summer league in north carolina or something like that years ago, and then in the NBA, obviously, in different stints.

But everyone, you know, you can't guard Michael one-on-one. So even if you're on him, you're trying to force him to an area, you know, send him into David Robinson, send him into whoever. You're always trying to get help. And back then you could be obviously a lot more physical than the game is now. And that's what's interesting to me. People say, well, who's this, who's that, best, who's the best? I don't know how anybody, we couldn't guard him when you could try to physically beat him

up and nowadays there's no physicality in the game so like how would you even think about garden him now i mean it's and by the way he could play 30 years like he could play as long as he wanted because think of when you look at films back in the in the days in the late 80s 90s and stuff before the rules were changed the games are so much more physical so much more half court more you know david patrick car malone charles all these great um inside players that, you know, teams were running through. Now there's really not much post up. You've got seven footers shooting threes and everything's different.

It evolved. Just like the golf ball, the equipment. It's just a different time. And you've got to kind of evolve with it. I'm glad you brought that up because I want to get to that in a minute. But let's say you are, all right, the free throw is happening. Somebody's shooting it. You're at the top of the key, half court, whatever.

Mike's there with you and you talk to him about golf. Like, what are you saying to Mike? You walk over to him like, hey, man, how's the game? What's that conversation was like? Well, at that stage, he was probably a better golfer than me. So I would have probably just said, you know, putting it, how you hitting it, you know, how's your swing right now, whatever. Don't dunk on me. Yeah, just, you know, if you try to jump over me, I'm going to pull you down. I'm not going to let

you do it. So, but no, he was, Michael was always, I love playing against those guys. I mean, I loved it because it made me better, you know, being around Kareem or Magic or Larry or, you know, Michael or just any of those superstar guys, of course, those Laker and Celtics teams back when I played were just incredibly dominant. But I enjoyed it back. I learned so much, you know, as a young player at that time. Just, you know, how they went about their business, how great a players they were. It was just a different era.

It was just totally a different deal back then compared to now. Was there anyone that, like, the night before, or before a game, you were like, boy, I might be in for a long night because so-and-so's guarding me. Almost every night for me, Colt. That was a lot. I mean, you know, you know, so you got, tonight you got Michael, then tomorrow night, you got Clyde Drexer, then you got Jeff Hornacex, then you got Mitch Richmond, then you got Chris Mullen, then you got, I mean, there's no nights off in the NBA. I mean, it's just,

luckily I was fortunate in my prime. I played on some great San Antonio Spurs teams where we had been together. You know, we had won a ton of games. We were trying to win a championship at that time. Dave Robinson was our catalyst. And then Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson, myself in the backer. We played together for, you know, six, seven, eight years. With, you know, Dennis came in, and then obviously Tim Duncan came in and took it to a new level. but David was fantastic. So you always knew every night you had a chance because of David. And then everyone else's job was to kind of do their job

and make sure make shots, don't turn it over, play smart, play hard, play good defense. And, you know, we had a style of play that was very consistent and very productive. You were talking about the physicality and how it's changed now. Like Mike, you know, I mean, he would shoot 53 free throws a game now. Like, you could just play different back then. Give me one thing that you think is better about the NBA right now

and one thing that you think is worse about the NBA right now. I think maybe what's better about the NBA NBA game that sometimes is people want to see spectacular plays. So I think with the lack of physicality, sometimes you have some of these star players that are able to do some incredible athletic things in the air around the basket, things that can happen that only a handful of guys back in my air really were doing just because guys were pulling them out of the air or hitting them or whatever. So from a physicality standpoint, I think the fans enjoy that and everyone enjoys that. and everyone enjoys seeing great athletic plays. The speed of the game is great. The thing is that I think right now free agency is so all over the place and guys are kind of teaming up to have super teams to win championships,

to build their brand, to win titles, all that. But back in what I played, there was no way Michael was going to team up and go play with Larry. There was no way Magic was going to go team up and play with Mike. You know, that wasn't even in the realm of their mental approach to anything. Charles could have done that. Charles could have went and played whatever. You know, and in his prime, you know, at the end, he kind of went to Houston to play with those guys a little bit.

But in his prime, if he had left, yeah. But Car Malone, he could have left. I mean, that just wasn't, it was like, I'm the best player. I'm an MVP caliber player. I'm going to win this championship for this city, for this guy, stayed together. But now the salary cap, the salaries, the world has changed as we know. And it's just a difference. You have to adapt.

Yeah. Yeah. So you're sitting at home, you're watching the NBA on TV. Who's your favorite player in the current NBA to watch each night? Probably my favorite player to watch. That's a tough question. There's a bunch. I love watching Steph play just with his shot-making ability.

I really enjoy seeing Damien Lillard play. He's been loyal to that organization to that city. Some of the distance and the shots he makes, especially in Clutch, are impressive. One of my favorite players that hasn't played the last two years, who I think is one of the best two-way players we have in league is Clay Thompson. for Golden State. I love the way he competes. I love the way he guards. I just, he's a winner. Obviously, we consider and say Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving and James Hardner. I love watching Devin Booker play. He's a fantastic player. He scores the ball easy. There's so many really good players

that I'm missing a bunch. Embed for a big guy, his skill set is incredible. You know, the list goes on and on. I mean, Donchich in Dallas is fun to watch. Some of the things he can do is incredible. He's a young player. He's only going to get better. So the league is, is in a very, very good spot. And it's only going to get better with them opening up a league in Mexico, a team in Mexico City, a team in Africa, a league in Africa, rather. So there's just a lot of global support for the game of basketball right now. You got to play for one of the best NBA coaches of all the time, Greg Popovich. Give me, like, we all see Greg and the, you know, in between quarters and he gets the interviews and he don't want to be there and all that. What's Greg Popovich like when the cameras aren't on? He's awesome. I mean, he's just, and he doesn't want to take any credit. It's just not his MO.

You know, he's just, he's a military guy. He has, you know, what he wants to do. And I think, and he knows this, the brilliance of Greg has been that he was able to coach David first, and then he was able to coach Tim for so many years. And those guys wanted to be coached. And San Antonio always brought in kind of high character, very talented play. that kind of build around those guys. So they've had so much consistent success for so many years.

But Pop is, you know, straight point, do your job. This is what I need you to do. If you're going to, you know, there's no excuses. It's like, yeah, you walk in and there's a thing, you know, with a hammer and a rock, you know, pound the rock every day. And, you know, you're going to make a little dent here, a little dent here. But eventually if you keep pounding it, the rock's going to break and you're going to get to it. So he just has a, he's a tough coach.

He's demanding. He's very good with understanding situations. And he wants to get the best out of you. So, you know, I love the guy. Obviously, he made my career better. He was always very supportive of me when I was coaching. I could always pick his brain. The first guy to call me after a playoff win or a playoff series win or something,

my first one was him. And, you know, hey, you need anything. What's going on? We're in San Antonio, blah, blah, blah. I mean, inviting me to training camps, just, you know, in coaches' meetings and just could not have been more supportive. And, you know, you look at the teams I played on, like, I think I did a thing today with ESPN. And in 1995, I think it was, and Pop was still in the front office, we had myself, Avery Johnson, Monty Williams, and Doc Rivers were all in the same team. Wow.

And David Robinson is twice as smart of all of us put together. You know what I'm saying? And then we had Sean Elliott, and we had just Terry Cummings, a minister, and just like unbelievable character, great basketball guys. And, you know, we were always, you know, talking, you know, me and Avery were kind of the starters in our prime.

And then Doc was older, had a great career in Atlanta. And then Moni was like 23 or 4 just kind of come into the league. So he was trying to find his way. So all different levels. So, yeah, just very fortunate to be put in that situation. Yeah, that's just the culture of that franchise. Yeah, just cool.

Yeah. What would you say your coaching style was? Were you a lot like a Greg Popovich, or did you kind of take pieces of him in other coaches? You know, I think it's important in coaching to be yourself. I think you take pieces from everybody, but I think you have to have your own personality. I think you can't be, you know, you're trying to be a salesman, but you can't be fake. You have to be yourself. Everyone has their own experiences, their own way of how they grew up, what they believe in, what they don't believe in,

what the makeup of your roster is, what your star players are. So there's a lot that goes into it. But for sure, I took a lot of my coaching and things from the San Antonio system like a lot of people do. But then I have my own spin on it, things that were really important to me. I wasn't a rules guy. I was a standards guy, how we want to create these standards to be consistently successful. But I was a players coach. I wanted to hear from my players.

I had played, so I understood what they were going through. And then it really depends on how you're, how your best players buy into everything because once they start moving and get everybody pulling in the same direction, then everyone's just understanding what their role is, how good we can actually be. And we're going to take bumps along the way. But if we learn from them, then we're going to be better in the future. Yeah, tell me about that because I think coaching professional, at the professional level

has got to be one of the hardest things in the world. It's totally different than college. You can use the rah-rah and all that stuff. You can't do that in the NBA. What's it like? How hard is it, I guess, as an NBA coach, to get the guys that are like, hey, here's a 23-year-old. he's making $20 million a year more than, you know, more than I am. How do you get those guys to buy into actually being coached?

You know, you'd be surprised. You know, people say that all the time. Some guys that you would think wouldn't want to be coached so much are very coachable. And everything is different. It's a, you know, you got to learn personalities. But my assistant, I had great assistant coaching staffs that kind of, I dictate to them how I want things run. My job is to make sure the details are done. So when I spoke up, the guys knew it was a very serious, you know, I didn't.

I wasn't a rah-ri yell every day. And, you know, that wasn't my deal. It was like, okay, we're going to do this, this, and this today. And if you do it right, my three stipulations were you had to play hard, you had to play in selfish, and you had to be a great teammate. And people always say to me, what does that mean be a great team? I mean, set a great screen. Your job is a big guy, get the lower part of the body, the guard.

You're supposed to set somebody up. Sprint back on defense. If somebody falls down, everyone should be over there picking them up. We're all in the same. Everyone has to be on the same page. If one guy's not on the same page, it doesn't work at this level. The guys are too good. Teams are going to make adjustments.

We have to be able to get to our second, our third counter. If you can get to your third counter, that's why cohesiveness is very important when the game was more physical. Now when it's opened up, it's quite not as good. You can get to your second option. You don't really have to get to your third. And what I mean by that is say you run a play and we're going to swing into the weak side and we're going to run a flare screen. And all of a sudden the timing's off and the defense knows the flare screen is being overplayed. Well, if the flare screen is being overplayed, it's an automatic back door.

or it's automatic you're going through the back coming off a double on the weak side so there's always counters to everything and the better teams that stay together understand that you got that colt you can't over you can't overplay the flare screen dog or it's just straight it's just straight back door right here yeah you got i run through i don't got to tell you bro i don't got to tell you whatever the circumstance is there's counters to everything well i'm reading some articles right now veney are you interested in coaching again in the NBA i don't know it would have to be the right situation You know, it was out there that, you know, Portland and this and that, that's fake news. That's not accurate.

Well, what is accurate about it is, is I have a tremendous respect for Chauncey Billups, and Chauncey reached out to me, and we had a really good conversation, and I told him I would help him in any capacity I could because he's a great guy. He's a great ambassador for the game. He had a great career. He was one of my players that I stood by when he got injured, and I wanted him on the roster because of what he stood for and kind of his leadership, I think he'll do a tremendous job. So I said, let's talk.

So we talked for a little bit. And I really was like, hey, Chanty, let's just keep talking, whatever you think is best for you. And then it went out like, oh, if any, didn't get the job. You know, it wasn't even about that. It was about what was best for Choncy. That's the most important thing. And then Scott Brooks wanted to get back in because he got released from Washington where I think he did a heck of a job. And Scott's a friend.

And I think he's an excellent coach. So he hired Scott, who has relationships with Neil O'Shea, the general manager out there, who I work with. is a great guy and does a fantastic job. So Scott's perfect for Chauncey, and he'll be fantastic. So things get skewed out there and everything. I really wasn't that interested at that point in going to Portland, but it got put out there that I was.

I was just trying to do something really solid for Chauncee because I have so much respect for him. Love Chaunce. That's awesome. Yeah. Shout out. Well, if you do go anywhere, I know you'll do a tremendous job. Belize, should we get into the E-9?

Yes, let's do this little E-9. All right, Vinny, this is nine fun questions, golf, non-golf, whatever. We just fire it. You want to go first? You want me to go? Whatever you want this, please. All right, I'll fire it off. We asked this.

We changed this up recently, but this is a question. You get to trade lives with someone for one day, and it can be past or present, right? And you get to live their life for one day. Who's life would you want to live? Wow, that's a tough question. I was just with them last week, Justin Timberlake. You have a big-ass security detail. Right.

You got a better chance than getting in the Oval Office. I always tell him every year, he is, for being such a superstar talent, the whole thing, he is so good with the fans, he's so polite,

he makes everybody feel good. It's amazing because everywhere he goes, it's just hysteria, nonstop, security. He's so talented, but I've always been impressed with people at that level,

how they deal with the interaction of fans and things, and he's fantastic. You can bring sexy back. You may have already brought it back, dude. No, It's already here, dog.

He is so talented. It's crazy. He's crazy. Army, army, like SWAT vests. By the way, there was like an army of Whispera Rock guys this week in Tahoe. It was like not only players and, oh, I mean, there was like 30 guys up there. It was awesome. There's one right here.

That might be why Justin Timberlake has such security, do they know about Chip? Is Fooge in the corner over there? No. My boy Perry's here, Chick-a-Relle. I love it. All right. next question. We talked earlier about, you know, the discussions during free throws and all this.

I'm going to give you the chance to set the record straight because Dan Marley, your good friend, there's been some disagreements about what exactly happened during a certain free throw where either you distracted him or he distracted you and one of you got to broke away with a layup. Tell us the true story. I was being a gentleman. We were, I think we were shooting a free throw or something. And me and Dan were talking like at half court. and we're like, hey, what's going on?

How's golf? What's going on? Let's play this, you know, summer next week or whatever. I can't remember. And all of a sudden, I think we missed a free throw or made it. And Charles took it out and we're talking. And Dan, like, shoved me and he took off, right? And Dan just, like, rock the rim, like, threw it down. The fans go crazy. And Popovich was the coach.

And he's looking at me like, what the hell are you doing? Like, how does he even get behind you or whatever? I was like, it was so embarrassing, stupid. So I'm like, you're supposed to. to be my friend. Now I'm the coat. Pop's going to ream me out, whatever. I actually ended up having a pretty good game I remember too. But me and Dan have been buddies for years, competed for years. Dan's a fantastic golfer and obviously a great basketball player. Pop, we got a 930 tea time. I was trying to set up a golf match tomorrow. He took off.

Yeah. He only wants one aside. How does Marley tell it? Marley says he definitely was not trying to distract Vinny at all. He's lying. He is so lying. No, he's so lying. Because the only way to slow, I used to grab Dan's shorts as much as I could. That's the only way, Dan's so strong. I mean, if you try to grab him up, he's just so strong. I mean, we had some fun matches and good playoff matches. But, you know, Dan's a buddy.

We play a lot of tournaments together, a lot of golf tournaments. You guys are a little dynasty. We try. We try to team up pretty good. A little dream team. Kevin Tapel and I took you down. We finished second and the scramble. I know it.

Oh, you beat a couple NBA guys. Way to go. A couple of PGA guys beat a couple of Indies. Play them in two on two. No, we were together. We shot like, no, we shot like 23 under. We lost. Or 20.

How do you, I mean, we shot 23 under, we lost. Yeah. Shocking. Yeah. Shocking. Tough. A lot of cheating asses. I love playing with Chapel too.

I love watching Chapel hit it. Yeah, he moves it. He moves it. He moves it a bit. All right. Next question. More riveting interview in sports. Dustin Johnson or Greg Popovich?

Who hates the media more? Well, I love watching Pop because Pop's at a stage where he can get away with anything. You know what I mean? It's like Charles can say anything. Pop can do anything, say anything. No one's going to question it. And by the way, even if you do question with Pop, he doesn't care. So it doesn't even like phase him whatever.

I'll tell you, you know, in those coaches, meaning you, he does not like those TV timeout interviews. He's like, he's like, I'm just going to. going to give him the one word. Yeah. And even if you know him, you're still nervous because you're like, you can't ask a long question. You can't ask a poignant question like what's going on in the game because he's not going to tell you anyway.

So you have to come up with like, hey, pop, what's your favorite wine? Like, whatever it is. That would be better than what they ask. He would like to talk about that because he loves wine. So I got to tell you a quick story. Yes, please. So I'm playing in, this is Pop. So I'm playing in San Antonio.

I come home from practice and my wife's always there, right? So this is years and years and years ago. This is early 90s, or middle 90s. And I come home and my wife Lynn loves red wine. Well, Pop is a wine guy. So I come home from practice. She's not home. I'm like, where is she, right?

So all of a sudden, I'm like looking around the house, come out, I hear the garage door comes up. So Pop's back in his car or truck back into my driveway. And I'm like, what's going on? Pop had after practice had already set it up with my wife. where he was going to take her to wine shop. Oh, nice. Not telling me.

Very thoughtful. My wife didn't tell me. He didn't tell me. Yeah. So they come back and Pop's like, give all these cases of red wine to Lynn, whatever like that. So Pop's like,

you are so screwed because your wife loves me and I can do anything I want to. So you better get your ass back on defense. You better not miss a shot. You better, whatever. So he's like teasing me. He's like driveway. He'd hawking the horn teasing me.

I go like, my wife's like, pop, call me. He wanted to take me. wine shop and I thought it was a good idea. Look at all the great wine. So that's kind of pops, you know, that's how he kind of, he's the best, man, I'm telling you. You're going to need a new contract after we get back. He's the best. Screaming Eagle, I love this wine. It's so good. Yeah, he's the best. That is fantastic. I love it. All right. Well, stay, because I learned this from Dan Marley, you know, all athletes are pretty superstitious. Like for him, he always has one socket. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you have any weird superstitions or any traditions before every game you play? I'm a total routine guy. I'm a total like what time like what time I had pasta my wife made me pasta every day okay what time I took a nap after shoot around get to the arena I had a certain if I had a good game the night before I had a certain workout before the game I if I had a poor game it wasn't shooting while I had a different type of workout I wanted to be in the locker room at a certain time to watch my film look over the notes look over the board I got taped at the same time I just what happened for me is the more routine I was in the more reliance relaxed I was as the game, I just felt I'm a preparation guy. So the more mental prepared, physical prepared I was, and the more area that I could get myself as comfortable as possible, it seemed I played the best. So I always wanted to kind of stay with that. You know, even on the road, I kind of did the same thing, what time I had room service, or what time I went to lunch, or it was always kind of a dictated of when the game was. And then it depended on if we had a, you know, national Sunday game on NBC at the time, or if it was a night game or a Sunday game at

or whatever, I was very routine-oriented. Was it always pasta before the game? Yeah, always. True Italian. Pente pasta with red sauce, maybe a little chicken on the side for some protein, and that's what I always, my wife made it every game. There you go. It ain't broke, don't fix it.

All right, next one. How long did it take you before you actually could understand, understand what Avery Johnson was saying when he talked to you? It's like you need a Rosetta Stone for Avery. Hey, Benny. Go to the wing. You know, it's funny, like, people would tell me that, like, because we were called Red Beans and Rice, Italian, and he's from New Orleans and all that stuff. So, but I could understand, like, when you play with somebody that long, it's like, I can, he could just look at me or I could look at him.

He knew what I was going to do, and I kind of knew what he was going to do. It's just, I know it's hard to explain, but it just was like, it was, by the way, he didn't stop talking. You know what I mean? And I always talk because I'm Italian and I use my hands a lot. So whenever you see things like when we play with Dennis Rodman, Dennis wouldn't pay attention to the timeouts. All he did was take his sneakers off, tighten up his ankle braces, put his sneakers back on.

The timeout was over. We'd walk out and Dennis would say, to me or Avery, what are we running? And we'd say, okay, we're running four out and we're in this defense. And Dennis never made a mistake. He never missed the play. Dennis was really smart basketball player, believe it or not. Obviously a great player in his own right. But I could tell you a million Dennis Robbins stories that'll blow your mind.

but he's a phenomenal player. But Avery was competitive. The thing about Avery, that was really good. Avery knew exactly what he was really good at and what he wasn't, and he always put himself on the court in a really good position where he could be successful. And that's what smart players do, and that's why I think he ended up being a really good coach.

Yeah. You had a better chance. All right. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I'm now changing one of my questions. I need to know one of your favorite dentists. Rodman story. Yeah.

Let's see the next hour on Dennis. I'm fascinated by Dennis Rodman. I think he's like, please. Did you help him into his wedding dress? No. I'll tell you two real quick. I don't know how much time we have, but I'll tell you. As much as you want.

So the first night I met Dennis, we were at San Francisco Steakhouse having our media session and first team dinner. And that was the night that the movie Demolition Man came out with Wesley Snipes. Yes. So we have our thing at Old San Francisco Steakhouse. So a bunch of us go to a movie. Well, Dennis's good friends in San Antonio was a hairdresser. So we go to the movie.

Dennis had the regular hair. Dennis shows up the next day. I think his hair was blue or gray or orange or whatever Wesley Snipes' hair was. And he got so much attention from it and he enjoyed it so much. He just started changing his hair weekly. So me and Dennis, we enjoyed watching movies and things, we would sit together on the plane. So the stewardess would come and give, you know, the little pillows or whatever.

And by like the fourth road trip, we ran out of pillows on our private jet. And because Dennis would get his hair done, he would use the pillow if he fell asleep. And you'd get up with a pillow and the pillow would be orange. Then it be red. Then it be green. Then it be a rainbow. And then there's pillows all over the place, right? So Dennis was, that's how he got his, that's how it started with his hair.

But this is how competitive Dennis was. Two things. We're playing a game. I'll never forget it. We're playing a game in the Alamo Dome against the Dallas Mavericks. And I think it was, and I'm not sure, I think it was Popeye Jones.

And at that time, I think Jason was on Dallas and Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson. They had some good teams. But we were much better. And Dennis had like 10 rebounds at the half. And right before the half, Popeye hits Dennis with an elbow and like bust his nose a little bit and there's blood everyone his eyes and the whole thing so they

take dennis in there at halftime now grant you we're up like 20 something points i think at the half so at half time we go and check on dennis he's like okay and you see i see him his his lockers right across from mine and uh i see him there and he's got the white tape taped up and we're like hey d all right whatever and we're like we got we got this you just you know chill take care of yourself we got this and dennis's like he didn't say anything he's like no no i'm playing the second half. I'm playing the second half. We're like, okay. So he comes out in the second half. I think he ended up with like, I don't know exactly. I think he had 24 rebounds with like a busted nose. Like, and every time he got a rebound, he was pointing to the Dallas bench and he wouldn't

stop. Like he would not, we're up like 30 and he doesn't care. He's like diving in the stance. He's getting the ball. He's staring at him. I mean, he was like, when he got in that mindset, it was like, you ain't stopping him. He just had that. that crazy. He could read where the ball would come off. Like in practice, I always wanted to be on his three-on-three team because he didn't want to shoot. He said, my job is to rebound, Vinny, your job is to shoot. I said, fine, you throw me the ball. I'll shoot you go get it. That's great. And that's all he did. He'd have a lay-up. He'd throw it out, shoot it. So we always won three-on-three in practice. The last thing is I'll tell you about Dennis is we're playing at Indiana. And Indiana at the time

had Reggie and Schmitz and they had the Davis brothers, Dale and I can't think it was like Antonio Davis, really tough physical guys, whatever. So we have our little team meeting and I think Bob Hill was the coach at the time. I don't think it was pop. It was early on. And Bob's going over, hey, Weekside, Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, they're killing, they get rebounds, they're kicking out to Reggie for threes, Schmits, da-da-da-da. We got to get back, Weekside defense, Vinny, Avery, you got to V back, get into their legs. Dennis Dave, you got to come back over, whatever. So says it, and Dennis is like, okay.

So now me and Avery are watching Dennis during, like, the shoot-around, and you can see, like, he's a little pissed off. Okay, he's like not, like, you know, and he wasn't a big shoot-round guy anyway. So we're like, okay, so after we bring it in, like, hey, anything wrong. So me and Aver are like, guys, me and Aver are going to V back on the weak side, but Antonio Davis and Dale Davis, man, they're big, we're going to put our butts in knees or we're going to try to ride them out and rebound. But if the ball comes off high, okay, somebody's got to get over there with us, right? So we're just nudging them, nudging

them, nudging them. Then before the game, they do the film. Bob Hill says it. Me and Avery say it again. And Dennis isn't saying a word. So we're like, me and Avery are laughing. We're like, Dennis is going to go crazy in this game, right? So Dennis never said anything in a timeout. Before the timeout, we got to the middle of the court, me, David, Avery, Sean, whatever it was, Chuck Person, whoever it was, and we're like, okay, ready to go. And Dennis goes, I'll never forget it. He goes, I got the two Davis boys tonight.

He goes, I got the two of them like that. So me and Avery are laughing at each other like, shoot, he is going to go crazy, right? Because once he gets that mindset, he's going to get the ball. He's going to get the ball. So the end of the game stopped. The game goes, I think he got either,

I think he got Dale Davis thrown out of the game, or Antonio, I can't remember which one. He's shooting a free throw. we're winning the game. We win the game. He's shooting a free throw, and he's yelling at the free throw line. V, or to Avery or me, it's like, V, I thought you said these Davis boys were tough. I thought they were good rebounders.

One's in the locker room, and you can't do anything against me. I mean, he was crazy. He was just nonstop. And I have the most respect because Dale Davis was a great player. Antonio Davis was a great player. But we had Dennis so riled up for that game, he was just, He wouldn't dive in in the stands, diving on the floor, getting every rebound, holding it, pointing at people.

I mean, and you can say what you want about him. Myself, Avery, Sean, even David, had the best years of our career with him. David won MVP. I mean, he was just a fantastic player. Everyone sees all the other stuff, but when he was locked in on the basketball court and if I had to play a game tomorrow

and my life was dependent on it, he'd be one of my five for sure. Yeah, unbelievable teammate. All right, my next question. is tell another Dennis Rodman's story. I love hearing those. All right, my next real question is, all right, you get to choose one or the other, right?

You can either come back to the NBA as a head coach and win a title, or you get your champions to a card and you win a major championship, which would you prefer? Oh, NBA. Yeah, I would do NBA just because it's been my life. You know, I've had some opportunities as a player, been in the playoffs as a coach, but basketball's been my life, you know,

since I was a kid, just dribbling a ball up and down, going to school, and just everything I've been through from a basketball standpoint. And the game has been so great to me. You know, so, yeah, basketball. I love golf. I love that I have something that I can play with, that I can enjoy, that I've been able to meet so many people, so many, you know, I've played with Arnold Palmer.

I just play with Onica Sorenstan. I just had the fortune of what in the American Century that I played. I play, you know, with all great players out at Whisper Rock, traveling and play. And, you know, I've done a lot of business on the golf course. So golf has been more than great to me, but my life has really been about basketball. Yeah, you want a major already. Yeah.

Yeah. All right, my last one. One last round of golf to play. Where's it going to be? And who are the other three people in the group? Wow, that's a tough one. It would probably be my favorite course that I've played, and I haven't played, obviously, all the courses you guys have, obviously, but I've played some really good ones.

My favorite course is Pine Valley. I just like the whole environment there. I love that the first time I played there 15 years ago or whatever it was. When I went to lunch, I could tell you every hole and how they were all different. And I think there's very few courses where you can sit down after round. There's always a few that kind of, but if it was me, it probably would be Pine Valley. Obviously, I've never, I had the great honor of playing with Mr. Palmer. Obviously, Onica, some of the great players, tons of pros and tons of great players, but I've never played with Tiger.

You know, I've never played with, I've met Jack Nicholas, but I've never played golf with him. So those two for sure. And I've actually, I've never played a round of golf with Phil and being a lefty. You know, I know Phil from basketball and he was sitting near the bench and seeing him out at Whisper Rock and saying hi or, you know, in some tournaments he's playing. played in there and just kind of whatever, but I've actually never played with Phil. So being a lefty, that'd probably be fun. You know, Tiger, Phil, Jack, and myself at Pine Valley, I could be a great day. Think how much you'd learn from Phil.

He could teach you how to coach basketball along with rocket science and brain surgery and whatever else the hell he wants to talk about. He's so funny. I mean, I watched that because then I saw Aaron Rogers, you know, he was in Tahoe. We were talking like, I was like, man, I was loving, you know, telling Phil, you want to pick it up. we'll go to the next hole or whatever. I mean, you know, because Phil will give it to you, I know, so I love it. But that's what makes it fun. You know, those guys, Aaron had such a fun time, played well in that match.

And it's good for the game of golf. Yeah. It's good for the game of golf. Absolutely. That'd be a good group. That'd be a hell of a day. All right. Last question.

Have you ever had to carry a teammate more than a hungover Dan Marley at the Whisper Rock member guest? Well. And I saw him. Boy, was struggling. Yeah. Well, no, we've had our, he's played well, and some I've played well and some. We've both played bad. We've played enough golf over the years and a bunch of tournaments. We had fun at the Arizona Cup this year. We did well in our flight. We got in this shootout,

but, you know, we've played so many tournaments and so many things. But, you know, Dan will get after it. I've actually, I don't think I've ever seen Dan drunk. I think he has a wooden leg, but he'll get after a little bit. He's a heck of a golfer. He loves it. He's just got a, I'll always, you know, text me when he's like, I just played St. Andrews today. I'm like, because he just put it, you know, Six months ago, he put a simulator in his house. So he's playing all the time. He's just, so I saw him like, he's like, I said, what's wrong with your elbow? He goes, man, I've been hitting so many balls in the simulator.

I thought, my elbows killing me. I said, well, maybe just tee it up and hit some woods or some drivers. But he loves some golf, man. And he's competitive and we always have a lot of fun playing. Yeah, you guys are a little dynasty. We played pretty good together. Yeah, we play pretty good together. Well, Vinny, we can't thank you enough, man.

Congratulations on your huge win. I know his pops is looking down on you, smiling right now, but we thank you for the time, man. You guys, always the best. Always fun to see you guys. Here Pound for Col. Thanks, Col. You got it, buddy. Appreciate you, man.

Thanks, brother. All right, well, that was Vinny Del Negro on Golf Subpar, the American Century champ. Best thing about Vinny D. Winning this thing is he gets to walk around Risper Rock for the rest of the year and rub it in Mark Mueller's face. Tough shit, Mark. You're not perfect anymore. Vinny's got the trophy.

I love it. And by the way, I mean, at Whisper Rock, too, right there by Brent's desk. You know, they've got the case with all the most recent winners. You got Chez Revy when he won Hartford. You got John Ron. who's going to need his own section. Yeah, we're going to build a separate wing for that kid. But now Vinny gets his pitcher up on the trophy.

I wonder who are they going to bump out. There's only so much room in that spot. He's got to be like last in first out. Tanigawa beat it. Yeah, tough breaks, son. You're out of here. We replaced one major for the next. My only regret in that whole thing was that we didn't get to Rodman earlier.

I think we could have done four hours of Rodman stories, which I would have been in for every second of those things. It's so cool. I never knew that that's where his idea of changing the color of his hair came from was demolition man and Wesley Snipes. Really cool. But I loved it. They had to get new pillows because Rodman ruined all of them.

That's good. Could have listened to those all day. I mean, what a dude. And even Vinny said, like, just a guy you want to go to war with. Every team needs a guy like that. Problem is, there ain't many like it. And a guy like Vinny, who I think, you know, could almost be like a Colin Moracawa of the basketball court where he thinks his way around.

You know, he's not the flashy guy or anything. Yeah, he ain't going to jump over your head and don't. He's a couple steps ahead of everybody else. It seems like he knew how to get Rodman going. And I loved hearing that. Like him and Sean Elliott, those guys, they knew they're like, okay, we just kind of wind him up a little bit here. Out there, he's going to go nuts and it's going to be very good for our team. Yeah, 100%.

I mean, yeah, Vinny's not the guy that's going to jump over your head and dunk on you and things like that. But you got Rodman sitting there and just wind him up a little bit and unleash him. I mean, fun dude to watch, which we've got a little more Rodman stories. But good sitting down with Vinny D. We'll see if he ends up coaching the NBA again in some capacity. But no matter what, it'll always be ACC champ. That's true. Cannot take it away from him.

First hoopster to get it done. All right, Sleys, well, let's get to the gambling part where I continue to suck. I mean, I don't understand. It's 118 degrees in Phoenix, and I'm colder than shit right now. It's really embarrassing. Justin Thomas, I'm sorry, I picked you. I mean, I'm going to start picking, like, the craziest names. People that probably will never be on here, so that way I don't bring them down and they don't hate me for picking them.

You scoop the top 40 out of JT, the world number three. At least I'm going to cut. Yeah, you got a check. But Brooks Kevko, once again, I got a little hot on Sunday. They made a nice little run for a six-place finish, I believe. I believe that's nine top tens in his last 11 majors. Yeah, and one of them was the Masters. The only major he didn't finish in the top 10 this year was the Masters

where he couldn't even bend over to read his putt. So, yeah, top 10 in the other three. John Rom, as the season ends, the only player to finish in the top 10 in all four majors, also led in cumulative scoring for the year. A little side fact. Not too bad. Not too bad. All right, producer, Mark, it's getting the standings.

They're getting a little out of hand, I believe, now. Yeah, that T6 earned Sleeves 386. $6,500. It's a Lambo. Increasing his lead to $1,232,142. It's a lot of money. This thing has gone really south for me since the U.S. Open with John Rom. Hot plate.

Hot plate. It's been a little rough. How many more events do we have? Still doable. Yeah. By the way, we messed up. We didn't take anybody in the Barbisol this week. We should have done that because picked guys in both things.

I would have shameous power. I was big on shame. Okay. Just give him shame. Yeah. I'll take shan. For $700,000. That's $2 million, we'll call it.

All right. Well, this week we got the 3M. I will be there for Golf Channel and CBS on the call. TPC golf course, big, wide open golf course. You can smash it. Saw Michael Thompson win there last year and said he's going to contend every week from now on. That's right. Kind of an anomaly in terms of that golf course.

That's a Michael Thompson type setup. But I did say he was going to contend every week. Give it time. It's only been a year. This is where Matthew Wolf broke out, got his first PGA tour win in incredible fashion over Colin Morc Gawa and Bryson DeShambeau. Good to see Colin put that in his rearview and get over that one. He did. He got over it pretty quickly.

But really good field. Yeah. I believe Dustin Johnson in the field, among a lot of other top players, but you have the honor. Yep. Who are we going with? I was going to pick somebody that wasn't coming back from the Open Championship just because the back and the fourth and, you know, you use a lot of energy in a major championship. But ultimately, I decided not to.

There's not that many weeks left. And I'm going to go with a guy that showed some nice form over there, finished 15th, including the final round 67, also hits the shit out of it. So this would be a good golf course for him. I'm going to go Tony Fee now. I haven't used them yet. There's not that many weeks left. This feels like a good type of a place Tony could pick off that second.

I agree. And I like it. And if you remember last year, our man Boyd Summerhays actually had to fill in on the bag. Boyd, who doesn't wear shorts too often. Oh, my God. Had some lobster legs going out there after day one. It was unbelievable. He stole the show.

Forget Michael Thompson went in. Boyd Summerhase's sunburn was the talk of the tour that week. He wears the long socks like the kid. I respect that. You know, he got the socks up, all black, everything for Boyd all the time. They're up to the middle of the shins. They were pretty long. And his legs, he was sending in the pictures afterwards.

I mean, it looked, it looked paint. That's like the type of burn that you can't get in the shower. You know those types? Yeah. It was, I mean, and he's never in shorts, obviously. So now he's catty. Like, hey, dog. They got sunscreen on the teas.

How do you forget that? You know, I try to keep the dome tanned out a little bit even, but sometimes you get a little too much and it's burnt when that shower hits it. That hot water feels like needles are stabbing. A light burn on the dome. I've seen Stavler and ploy that too. You need a light burn just to let it know that it's alive, but you can shake off a light burn.

This was like third degree amputation style burn on those legs from Boy. All right. Well, you're going Tony Fino. I'm going with another big hitter, a place that I feel like should set up so well for this guy. Dog legs, he can hook it around corners, fade it around corners, smash it all over the place. And he should be rested because he got absolutely screwed.

It wasn't able to go over to the Open Championship and play. And I'm going with Bubba Watson, who's been playing some great golf, you know, was up there at the Travelers, had a disastrous last six holes, then comes back, plays the great final round at Detroit, which was his last event, to top five it. I'm looking for him to continue this.

Bubba Watson, I need you. I need you. He's vaccinated, anti-test negative. Maybe they'll let him in the field this week. All right. Well, I sure hope so. That'd be nice. Dear God, I just want this thing to be interesting coming down the stretch.

All right, well, thank you to everyone for listening. We'll talk to y'all next week's golf subpar.