It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host Claude Harmon. This week's pod is it's a special one for me, and the reason for that is my guest is rayhn Thomas. I'm sure many of you don't know who Ray is, but he just turned professional, played his college golf at Oklahoma State University, had a top ten in the International Series on the Asian Tour last week in his second professional event as a pro. But the reason why it's special for me is Ray started in
our junior program. I have an academy out in Dubai and Ray started in our junior program when he was nine years old. And to kind of watch his journey and to kind of watch the things that he's done and watch him turn professional now has been pretty cool for me. He talks a lot about his junior career, struggling when he got to college and kind of that jump from junior golf to college golf, and now he's making that jump from college golf to professional golf. And
I've got a massive, massive soft spot for Ray. He's always got a smile on his face. Justin Parsons who've had on the pod before, JP and I were working together in Dubai at my academy. When Ray was a junior and he was young, we would put him through exercises. He couldn't touch his toes. He always had a smile on his face. And to watch him play last week finish top ten on an invite on the Asian Tour, it was really really cool for me, and I think this is a really good podcast because golf, even at
the highest level, can sometimes be difficult. You can go through slumps, you can go through confidence crisises, and Ray talks very very open about it. But I'm so excited to get the opportunity to talk to Ray Hann. I think he's got a big future and I'm excited to see what he does as a professional. So this is a cool one. It's special for me, and I think everyone's going to enjoy listening to Ray Han Thomas and
his story. So my guest today is finishing up his fifth year at Oklahoma State University in the golf program and he just turned professional, made the cut in his first professional tournament. Corn Fairy seventy two, sixty four, sixty seven, seventy three, tied for sixty eighth. Ray, this is a really cool moment for me, not only to watch for everything that you did at Oklahoma State for the last
five years, but now that you're turning pro. You were nine years old when you start in our junior program in Dubai, and to watch the journey from where you started. I mean, I still remember you used to show up. I used to call you short. One day you came to me and you said, mister Claude, I don't like him when I when you call me short. And I said, Ray, you'll load the ground. The journey has been so cool,
and now you're turning pro. When you look back on it, from junior golf to now turning pro, what do you think you've learned the most in the last you know, five years at Oklahoma State. Because for people that don't know, Oklahoma State's golf program is there. They're the Los Angeles Lakers, the real Madrid they are. If you want to play on the PGA Tour and you're lucky enough to go
to Oklahoma State, it's such a privilege. The five years you spent there, what do you think being an Oklahoma State cowboy golfer taught you in those five years?
It taught me a lot First of all, thanks thanks for getting me on here, claud I really appreciate it. And I mean the five years at Oklahoma State it was awesome. I learned a lot more about myself in my game, and that's what Coach Bratton was kind of all about, trying to figure out who you are and stick to those things, know your strengths and your weaknesses. And I struggled for a good chunk of my college career and trying to figure out, trying to figure out
who I was. And this last year has been a really big leap for me, just in my confidence in my game, and yeah, just figuring out what I do well and what I do when I play well, and trying to go back to those things when I see myself straight off the path a little bit.
You had a kind of a really kind of meteoric amateur career, you know, you just started playing so good as an amateur. You want to mean a tour event, and as an amateur where there were professionals playing, you shot sixty one and a tourna made nine birdies in a row. You got to Oklahoma State and you did.
You struggled early, I think, and that struggle for a lot of junior golfers that listen to this podcast, for a lot of parents who have junior golfers, the jump from junior golf to basically one of the biggest colors golf programs in the world and one of the best, that's a big, big step, and I don't think people realize how hard that jump is from high high level amateur golf where you're having success, you're winning golf tournaments.
You know, Ray I have parents all the time, Let's say to me when their kids go to college, were used to seeing him win. We're used to seeing him win junior golf tournaments. Now he's a freshman. Now she's a freshman. She's she's not winning, she's not playing great. What was What was the struggle for you and how did you find your way out of it?
The struggle for me initially was, you know, I'd be at the course all day and I just didn't really have a plan and I would just be going through fields just trying to figure out some way to crack the team and make it. And you're playing Carston Creek. I don't know if you've ever been out there, but it's a daunting and intimidating golf course if you're not hitting the ball good. And so it was just like
the anxiety was building. And you know, playing for Oklahoma State, we'd just come off probably one of the best teams in college history of the last two years in twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, had some amazing players and guys who were in Torno and you know.
You Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolfe. Yeah, christ I mean they want to a national championship. Zach Bowsho was on that team. Zach was a.
Stud Austin's winner on the tour.
Now, yeah, and you go into Oklahoma State, I think, knowing a lot about it, but the culture that the coaches and the other players, it is a it is a It is a big family. And one of the things I love about Oklahoma State and the job that the coaching staff does there. All of the players that play on tour still support love, go back, spend time
in Stillwater, Ricky, Victor Hobb. I heard a rumor you're currently living in Vic's house in it Yeah, in Stillwater because Vic's now moved to Duport to live with Christophurt. That's the best to me, that's the best story. Of the year. You've got you got Victor Howland, he wins almost forty million dollars last year. He's rooming with his college roommate who's playing on the corn Ferry, and Chris Vntura. You've got all these guys down here, Ray living in
twenty million dollars houses and Vic's a roommate. You're now, is Vic charging you to stay in the house or is he is? He? Is he giving it to you for free?
He hasn't sent me a billy yet, but I don't think there will be one. I hope not.
I'll tell you what, if Victor Hoblin sends your ass a bill for staying in his house, I'm gonna have a talk with him because he he doesn't need the rent money.
He doesn't know.
But my point behind that is you get to meet these guys that are now playing on tour, and they play a huge part. I think in every player that goes to Oklahoma State. I think there's yes, listen, every college golf program they do the same thing. But I just happen to know. You know, I worked with Ricky. I know a bunch of the guys, and I think they do a fantastic job at taking care of the next generation of players. Said, come into Oklahoma State, they
go back, they play with you. Guys. Everybody I talked to Ray, you were kind of in your five years at Oklahoma State on the golf team. They used to call you the Oklahoma State golf mascot because you were everyone's favorite. Right, You've always got a smile on your face. And that's one of the things I've always loved about you is, you know, I've known you for a very long time and watched you grow as a junior golfer and now become a professional. Your attitude has always been amazing.
And you know when you got to Oklahoma State, you know, justin Parsons and I, we were still trying to help you, and we we knew that you were struggling. I mean, you got the full blown driver yips for a good player. That is scary because you drove it great as a junior golfer. How much of that, Ray, do you feel was your technique and your quest to try and get better, and how much of that was just what all golfers go through, is you get anxiety, you don't have confidence,
you can't see your shape, for you. What was it when you got to Oklahomas Obviously you get a scholarship to go there. You can't fake that. Yeah, you're a good player, and they think you're going to be a great player if you go to Oklahomas State and play on the golf program. But you got there. Was it the situation? Was it being away from home? Was it just the expectation? What was it that caused you to kind of have that confidence crisis that you went through.
I think it was a plethora of things, for sure. Definitely, I think there were some technique issues in my swing, but obviously, like they're guys that's swinging at all different types of ways that can do it. But mentally, I was just, you know, putting so much pressure on myself, especially like you said, like you're winning junior golf tournaments all the time, and your expectations rise so high, and then when you don't meet those expectations, you're putting even
more weight. And I mean those first few years at Oklahoma State, I mean I was down in the dumps with my just because you golf is are weird sport where you can put in a bunch of hours and get worse and it literally felt like that, like I'd be putting in eight hour, nine hour days and just feeling like I was getting worse, And so that weighs on you a lot. And I honestly think that the real changing point was this last summer, I was hurt
with my right hand. I had a broken bone in my hand and I had to take some time off. And so Zach Bowsho got you know well, and who was on the national championship team in twenty eighteen, He asked me to caddy him while he was on the corn ferry, and I knew he was struggling with his game prior to that, and he also had some driver
issues and stuff things gone. And I caddied for him in Wichita and he finished fourth after he Monday qualified in and just learning from him and the way he kind of goes about the game, and I really changed the way I thought about the game. And that was really a big pivotal point. When I got back, I wasn't really as anxious as I was.
I think you had a unique opportunity as a player to go caddy for someone who's a friend, someone who's kind of around the same age as you. But you got to go see him play in a professional tournament. And I remember when I was doing television back in the day for Sky Sports, they put me on course and I'd never done on course commentary and stuff, but I remember it was a FedEx Cup that that Billy
Horsell won. We were in We're at Cherry Hills, and Sergio Garcia had a chance to win this golf tournament and he made some really soft, soft bogies coming in that were just bogeys that you just don't expect good players to make like that. And as someone that was watching it, you could just kind of see, man, that that was just that you just there's no way you can make bogey from from that drive, and you still
have to when you caddied fors at. It kind of make you look at your own game and say, and maybe I don't need to take on some of these shots, fire at some of these flags. You know, I talk about this all the time on the podcast, right, I think so many players don't realize that twenty feet left or right of it is a good shot. But also you go to Oklahoma State and you look at the
wall of players that have won tournaments there. I've seen that locker room in that area where I mean it's just nothing but guys raising trophies, right, Yeah, and so you feel like you have to basically knock it stiff every single shot. You feel like you have to go shoot sixty four, sixty five every single time you tee it up. And that's that's very, very difficult to do.
Yeah. Absolutely, And so when I saw Zach and when I've played with him, it is just like, you know, he'd miss some shots, but he was playing very well at the time. And what I got from him the most was that he kind of thought of the game as a puzzle and he was like trying to figure out what the biggest parts of the puzzle are and just grind on it and don't look at like struggles as something to be deterred from, but like a challenge
to try to overcome. And I got that. You know, I've kind of narrated down to I think golf, professional golf is just critical thinking and problem solving, and so if you can, if you have the right tools to problem solve it, I think I think you can kind of get through anything.
The other thing, I think that I'm really proud of you for ray your junior year, you're an academic all big twelve. There aren't a lot of golfers playing professional golf that were high on academics. But I think it's something that's really interesting that you talk about the problem solving and the puzzle of golf. A lot of junior golfers struggle when they go to college ray because they forget that your technique is important. Yeah, I mean, you
were trying and you were doing the right things. The first couple of years. You're grinding eight hours a day. You're working your ass off. You're trying to get better, but sometimes in an effort to try and get better, in an effort to try work so hard, you can get worse. And it's a mind I mean, just it blows your mind that wait a minute, I'm I can't work any harder than I'm working like, I can't put more time in that I'm putting in and I'm getting worse.
What's that like? And how do you say? Okay? Was it an adjustment of how much you were practicing? Wasn't an adjustment on changing the way that you practice? How did you find this this kind of bridge to okay? I'm struggling. How do I get myself out of this because I'm already working harder than I've ever worked in my life.
Yeah, it was mainly just once I understood what I needed to do in my golf swing, I just said, okay, range session, just grind on the things I need to because I would always go back and forth with different trying to get fields and things to just have me get through the day. And I was like, I just to myself, I know what I need to do. As long as I get these things done, I will play good golf at some point, and it will it will happen.
And then I changed my practice from where I was spending most of my time on the range because I was just scared to go on the golf course, especially at Carston. I'm hitting balls in the junk every single time and having to reteat It's not fun if you're.
Not driving it good. At cars two Creek, yeah.
You will swear I.
Big numbers.
So I was just like, okay, I keep I'm scared to go on the golf course, and that's where that's where I'm going to be making my my my bread, you know. So I just said, you know, our range sessions are an hour long, go to the golf course and just play as many holes as I can. And that's how I changed, And I'll just kind of beat it out. I was like, I will dig this out of the dirt and beat it out of my system.
Chris Venturo, who was on that national championship team, I worked with him when he turned pro, and I talked to him about you know what they did. You know, him, Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolf, they were all on that team, and he said, listen, we played way more golf than we practiced. He said, yeah, there were times where we would practice. But he said, Vic Matt, He said Matt especially, he said Matt when he was at that at Oklahoma stated he said, he just basically played all day long.
He'd play from you know, sun up to sundown. And I think that's something that everybody that's trying to play competitive golf is. It's important to hear that that you went from eight hours a day on the range to saying, Okay, I'm going to spend an hour on the technique stuff that I need to work on. But then the most important thing is not what happens on the driving range, it's what I actually do when I'm on the golf
course trying to play and trying to score. When you made that shift to try and say, Okay, I'm going
to practice less and I'm going to play more. It's not like that solved the technique issues, right, But what did it do for your confidence to get out there and just say, Okay, I've got what i've got today, I'm only going to hit balls for an hour and I'm just going to go play and I'm going to try and shoot this or because I think so many people listening think what happens on the driving range is a it predetermines what happens on the golf course.
Yeah, it's like people try to recreate tournament conditions and you can to a certain degree, but it's never really the same. And so what I what me and Zach kind of talked about was like progressions, Like go through your progressions. Like if you're working on something into your technique, do it on the range, see it happen. Take it on the course by yourself, see it happen. Do it in like a money game or a little game against your body, see it happen. Just do it in a
tournament and see it happen. And your confidence will slowly grow back, because then you'll be like, Okay, I'm starting to get this thing. And that's what I kind of did with my I'd go by myself and just bang balls off the tee and you know, play play holes and shoot a score and be like, Okay, I can see it happen. Go do it in a money game. See it happen. Go do it on the tournament, and the confidence grow from there.
I think so many people listening Ray struggle with the off the tee and there's nothing I think putting is.
Obviously there's no substitute for great putting. Yeah, but if you can't drive the golf ball, and you can't drive the golf ball in play, if you were going to play any sort of competitive golf, whether it's the monthly medal, whether it's the club championship, whether it's a junior tournament, or whether it's elite Division one college golf, if you can't drive it, you cannot play and you can't compete.
Yeh.
Did you go to trying to shape the ball more and hit shots with your driver, or did you say, Okay, I'm just going to try and become really one dimensional and just kind of hit one shot all the time, one.
Shot all the time. I kind of heard I remember when you when I when I spoke to you a few times, you would just be like, these guys don't shape it all that much. You need to get really good at one shape and then start working it from there. And I kind of took that too, And I've listened some to Scott Foston too. I think he's a really
smart guy. And so I just was like, I'm gonna hit one golf shot and I'm going to pick good targets and just try to rip it and just keep doing that and if it if it, if I hit one into the junk, so be it. I'm gonna still keep picking one shot and hitting it at one target.
You started working with Dana Dalquist. I saw Dana at the US Open. Obviously great win for Dana. He works with Bryson d. Chambeau. I think Dana's one of the smartest golf instructors out there. I've had him on the podcast before. What's the work that you've done with with Dana? And what shape now, Ray are you are you trying to hit? Is it a draw? Is it a fade?
What is it? And what are the technical changes that you've made that in kind of your fifth year, the COVID year that you were lucky enough to have was kind of a great year for you. If you look at your career over the four years previous, what have you done in trying to work with Dana and what changes you guys trying to make.
I've been hitting a fade, at least trying to hit a fade for the most part. I hit it pretty straight if anything. And uh, but I've been just trying to work a fade. And me and Dana, I've kind of been working on some things. He's used the sports box stuff and just trying to keep my height. I tend to get really like squatty and down in my back.
So yeah, yeah, you had to go to Dana Dolquist to tell you that. I mean, and I mean, how many times have we told you, but your head drops right? Good job, fly to California and have someone else tell you that.
And so he's helped me with that and a few other things on my shoulder till it's get I get really into the left side bend on my back swing. And what he's really taught me is like the understanding of the golf swing, which I think is like a problem solving tool for sure, because you need to know what you're like when you do something bad, what you're doing, and how to correct that, I think, and I think as a good golf coach, like you guys, you know, you have to give your students the tools to be
able to problem solve. And he's definitely given me that. Like I understand that when my ball starts moving too far from right to left, that my left shoulder is getting a bit too far down and I'm pushing vertically too early, and.
Then that club at your speed is coming in is just a man and it's struggling. You struggle to manage the face from there.
Yeah, And so he's really taught me just problem solving and understanding, and he's great with like he's great with the technique, but he's also good with talking about how to prepare and he talks about narratives and stories and things to tell yourself and he's big into that as well. So he's a great guy to talk doing a good edition ray.
When you were struggling those first couple of years at Oklahoma State, were you able to try and look back at You know, we always we hear people say, just play like a kid. When you were a kid used to shoot. I mean I remember, I mean when you were kind of playing junior golf and competing after even after I'd moved from Dubai. Like I said, you know, in twenty seventeen, you're playing in a tournament shit sixty one. You make nine birdies in a row, and you're smart.
You're a smart kid. You're intelligent, You're a thinker. You remind me a lot of your Junior President's Cup. You're a part of the junior the first Junior President's Cup team for the international side in twenty seventeen. Your captain, Trevor Ummerman, who's a good friend of mine, who I know, who I worked with. I used to say to Trevor, you're almost too smart to play golf because you try
and overanalyze everything. Whereas guys like Brooks, guys like DJ, guys like Gary Woodland, they are very much seaball hit ball. You know, they don't think a lot, and that is a strength for them. But for someone like yourself, who is a very cerebral type person, was it hard to kind of go Can I just go back to doing what I did as a junior to where I wasn't really income, my brain wasn't with all of this, so I just played golf.
I think about I've thought about that a lot, and what I think is the kid that I was then has led me to this point that I am now, And I think golf and just your mind in general is a constant evolution. And I'm never trying to get back to the kid that I was because it's just not going to happen. There's so much that's happened since then, experiences, thoughts and things like that that have gone, like, you know, I'm not the same person that I was, so why don't I just try to be the best person I
am today? And like, I get there some guys that do the simple and really just you know, and that's great in all power to them. But me, I've learned that I actually, really I'm very curious and interested in the golf swing and all the little intricacies in it. And that's what I've kind of just dove into. And
that's what Dana has been able to teach me. Danny Luf, because who was my coach prior, He's also taught me that, and I've just really enjoyed just learning about the golf swing and what good gootball strikers do, how I can play well myself.
So coming from your parents were Indian, you play for India, but you were brought up and grew up in Dubai and for someone by the time they got to college golf, right, I mean, you have done as much travel as a lot of tour players. You play golf all over the world. When you do that, and you go all over the world and you have to play in the Middle East, you have to play in Europe, you have to play in Ireland, Scotland, you have to play in Asia, the conditions,
the grasses are very, very very different. Your game translates differently in different wind conditions and stuff like that. What did you like about all of the different golf courses that you got to play as a junior golfer.
I just I really enjoyed the competition, obviously, the aspect of just being able to go out and compete against different people in different places. And I thought in terms of just the golf courses, I thought it was just a fun challenge to be able to be able to kind of just play everywhere that anywhere I could play and try to see how my game fit. And I think the travel really helped me when I moved to college because it was like being away from home wasn't
anything new to me. April here was just so friendly and welcoming that I never felt like out of place away from home, like this is home for me now. And I think that's what was really important to you. Just learning how to be independent and be by yourself.
Because I was fifteen, I think was my first trip by myself and I went to the UK for like six two weeks, and I mean I was staying with friends and a lot of Scottish pros and the buy that connected me with people and just being by yourself, you got to figure out how to get around and where you're playing, and yeah, you have to be extremely independent. I think that's what the travel did for me.
That Junior President's Cup team that you were part of the twenty seventeen not Shay botch It he was on the American side. Garrett. He's won a couple of times on tour now. Derrick Heego, the South African he was on that team. He's won on the PGA tour, Carl Phillips's stud Chris so Lampreck. I mean, one of the longest hitters. When you look back at that, it must be kind of cool to say, Okay, I was part
of these kids. And I remember I was at that President's Cup and I came out and watched you play. And what did you learn about that kind of competition? You know, that's a big deal. I mean, Trevor immondwo was the captain for the US, I mean for the international side. I think Justin Leonard was the captain for the American team. It was the first time the Junior Ryder Cup they've been doing for a long time. We've all seen the pictures of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas
doing that. But to be a part of that, I think you were the leading point in the standings to qualify. I mean you were leading the standings going into that tournament. It was it was in New Jersey that week. Must have been pretty cool for you to play.
Oh, it was awesome. It was an amazing week. And the greens were I remember the greens being so fast. I'd never put it everything like that before. Like Trevor Mummerman and he had us hit like these four footers from above the cup on the practice putty green and he was like, just try to leave it short and you just couldn't and uh, just to develop some feeling. It was an amazing week. I played it. I played
against Option the singles and he destroyed me. And you could tell that kid was going to be special and he is and uh, but it was just it's it was an amazing experience and I think it really showed me that I, you know, had the potential to be uh, to be good and uh, to be around those guys was was was a lot of fun.
Oklahoma status, I said, is one of the elite, elite of US college golf programs. When you get there, it is it is kill or be killed. There is it's a fast learning curve and there is a lot of time if you're playing bad you kind of feel like, man, I mean, I've got to play so good because they've
got so many good players. The schedule, you all play the tournaments, you all play that competition aspect of it where you're constantly, constantly in competition, I think is so important for your development for professional golf, because that's what professional golf is, right, from a competitive standpoint, Alan Bratton, the head coach there, Donni Dahr, who was one of
the assistants. What did you learn from Coach Bratton and Donnie about being a competitor and how did they kind of mold who you are as a player today, because they're two of my favorite people. I think they're two of the best in developing great players.
Yeah, I mean, Coach Bratton is one of the best, but probably one of the best coaches, if not the best in college golf right now. And I think Coach darr was the same. He's not he wasn't really an assistant.
He was we had two head coaches. And I think what Coach Bratton's really good about is he he's a good motivate, very good motivator, and he kind of lets you realize that, you know, we we see the guys like Brooks and DJ and Scottie and those those people, and we see them play so well, and he's like, there's no reason why you do that. There's no reason they were in the same spot that you were at some stage. He's like, there's no reason why you can't dream big enough and and be out there with him.
And I think he was. He was really instrumental in helping me get better, and you know, I'm extremely grateful for what he's been able to help me with.
And the culture Ray at Oklahoma State, there is a there is a you can feel it, you can touch it, you can see it. The culture that they've created at a really kind of remote place in Oklahoma. The weather's not great, it's windy, it gets cold. But to be a what's it like to be a part of that culture, to be a part of, you know, the Oklahoma State golf program. I think, you know, if you look at right now, Alabama has a culture, Texas has a culture.
Conrad Ray out at Stanford, he's done the same thing. But to me, the way that the guys at Oklahoma State have done it over the last you know, twenty thirty years. I mean it's second of what's it like being in that culture? And do you do you feel it? And is it something that you feel as it's you know, you've got a responsibility to play well because of everything that has come before you.
I think it more of like a responsibility to just cocked myself like like a cowboy. You know that there's a certain culture that coach Bradden Stratta instill in us and the way we act and conduct yourself, play good or bad. And I think the main thing I got from Oklahoma State was the relationships I've built with certain people like Victor. He's been a huge person for me.
Obviously I'm staying at his house and you know, he's been able to you know, He's I bounce ideas off, Zach Bowshoe, Austin Necker, all these people are huge, huge for me to be able to talk to and kind of bounce ideas off. And I've learned so much from him that and these are connections I'm going to keep forever. He coached Bratton, somebody I talked to on a daily basis and get his ideas and things. And I think just having that kind of support system and that culture
is huge. And I think all the Oklahoma State guys have a kind of thing of paying it forward, you know, whether it's through the pro am or talking to guys like us and seeing if they can help us get better. Everybody wants everybody from Oklahoma State wants the guys to do well. And it's awesome because my first few years, Victor was living in Stowwater and he I think he missed the cut somewhere, like I think it was the
players he missed the cut. In the next day, he was qualifying with us at Stillwater Country Club on a bunch of greens, and I was like, man, this guy works hard and he's trying to get better, and he's not afraid to just pitch up with us and play.
Ricky Foller is probably as famous as anyone who is associated with the Oklahoma State program. I know you've spent time. Every time I would see Ricky when I was working with him, and if he was at Oklahoma State, I'd always say to him, how's my boy Ray doing? And he would always say great things about But Ricky's kind of, I think, a global ambassador for Oklahoma State golf, right. I mean the orange clothing that he that he wears,
he kind of leads orange. What are some of the things that you've learned from Ricky and the time that you've gotten to spend around him, because I mean, you couldn't meet everybody thinks that their public persona might be different than who they really are, right. We're going through that right now. A lot of people are saying, hey, Bryson. It's all in act. He's not really like that and stuff. But Ricky is what you see is what you get. He is just one of the nicest human beings I've
ever met. Talk to me about the times that you get to spend with with Ricky and how that's shaped the way that you do things.
Yeah, I mean I've spent some time with him. I played I think a nine hole practice around with him in Abu Dhabi. I think you were there.
Yeah, I was there.
Yeah, we set that up. It was sweet. It was sweet to do that.
And at that time, it was funny that we set that practice round up with you when you qualified where we were like.
Sixteen, yeah, sixteen or seventeen, Yeah, it was it was you know you.
I mean, you weren't even on Oklahoma States radar at that point. So the fact that she played in Abudabi with Ricky at that time and then went on to follow in his footsteps, that's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool. And so from Ricky we played. So he came down to still Water I think maybe two years ago now, and we had like everybody wanted to play with him on the team, and so we ended up playing like an eight sum at Carston, and I just thought that, you know, just watching him go about his business and how kind of focused he is, even when we were in the eight. So I'm like, he's trying to shoot the bows score he can possibly shoot. And that's what I've went from Victor too, when we
were just having fun games. He is trying to shoot the lowest possible score you can possibly shoot. And I think seeing that and seeing how diligent and focused he is on trying to get better. And Coach Bratton always talks about how Ricky was such a stud in college and he was like he knew he was going to be great, and he is.
But I think what you just said there is something that's really important for people listening. If you're going to play so many times, it's easy to go out on the golf course and just say, listen, i'm not hitting it good, so I'll work on my game, or I'm not going to try and shoot the lower score. But the guys that make it to the tour, they are fierce, fierce competitors, and when they go out, they're trying to play their best and they want to shoot the lowest score.
And I think I say that to so many of the juniors. Listen, if you're going to go out and play, if you want to hit a couple of balls, that's fine, but you have to keep score every time you go play. Otherwise you don't understand the competition aspect of it.
Yeah, I mean, Victor was Victor because I had spent so much time with him and played with him a lot. I mean, you can just see the focus that he puts into his practice. Like when he's playing, he is shooting the lowest score he can possibly do. He's running through his gold routine and he's trying to beat you, and he's trying to get his chip out. They paid for.
So the big jump from junior golf to college golf. Now you're making the ultimate jump from college golf amateur golf to professional golf. Make the cut in your first competitive professional event in the corn Ferry. You got a sponsors invite. I was talking to Donny Daher about it. He said he thought the sixty four, the sixty seven that you shot in the second and third round, seventy two in the first, seventy three in the last round. But he said he thought those two rounds were really,
really important for you moving forward making the cut. What was it like playing your first professional of Was it different than you thought? Is it different ray than elite college golf?
It is definitely a little different obviously now you're on your own. I mean, when you're with the team, you know, you got coach Bradney's telling you where to go, and you know what we're doing and for the day. And now it's on your time. You know, you decide when you're going to go play or practice, strond what you're going to do for the day. And so it's definitely different that in that aspect. But at this end of the day, it's just golf, like good golf anywhere. It
doesn't matter, like you know, good golf travels. And so when I went out there, I kind of had its expectation on the corn Fray that you had to just go shoot lights out, which you kind of do to make the cut because those cuts are just so low. But I put that weight on myself that first round and I wasn't hitting the ball all that good those few days leading to it, and it just kind of showed. And then that second round, I spoke to Dana and
I had a late teeth time. So I got out there and just hit a few extra balls and I was just like, Okay, I know what I need to do, just with my movement. If I made good movements, I will shoot a good score. And that's what I did. And that last round I was playing pretty good and just kind of let it go a little bit. But it was awesome. And I got to play with Chris Vinchuur in that last round, and he made the game look very easy.
He's in, Chris fin Tura should put putt better. I mean, the guy, he's one of the best. He's one of the best pure. I mean, listen, I've been around the game a long time. Chris Fintur was one of the best pure putters I've ever seen.
I mean he also put through ten holes and when I played with him, he was six hundred ten.
And you know this. The other thing is he works his ass off on his putting.
Yeah, he looked like he was. He was doing a whole bunch of drills before the round, and I mean you could tell when he started putting he was like, Okay, I get why he was doing those, Like he's making everything.
I had Matthew Pavall on the pod a couple of months ago and he's done. He's moved to kind of Jupiter, and he was I was letting him practice at Floridian. He does ninety minutes a day ray of putting drills, like every day, ninety minutes. So when he was on the leaderboard US Open a couple of weeks ago and everybody's looking at it, going where is this coming from, I'm like, this is not a surprise. And he hits driver everywhere. Everywhere. He doesn't hit it miles right, he
doesn't vomit. He hits kind of a little bleed cut. But a great example for you moving forward is he just gets the ball in play with the driver and he's got so much confidence in it that he's hitting driver. And if you remember watching the US Open, he had a ton of drivers and he really really did the jump now to competitive professional golf. Talk me through what the plan is, because I don't think people realize that
when you are in college golf, everything is done for you. Yeah, the travel, the school, you know, when you have to go to school, the coach and the team as you went to practice. As soon as you get out, you have to find a place to live. You have to find a place to practice. You have to find all of this stuff yourself. And I think one of the big jumps that is hard for a lot of players early on is everything's kind of been done for you as a college golfer, especially when you're at a program
like Oklahoma State. I mean, you guys fly private at Oklahoma State as much as the tour players do. So now you're about to go play your first kind of big international. You're going to play the International Series as part of the Asian Tour in Morocco. I grew up at that golf course by the way. Really yeah, my dad was the first head pro at Royal Darslum that
they ever had. We moved to Rocco when I was in nineteen seventy two, and there is an island green that they have there and my sister and I used to have we named two ducks that lived in the pond, and when we were kids, we would go feed the ducks. But my dad the first head pro. Have you ever played there?
I've never played there.
They've got fifty four holes there. Ray it's Trent Jones and it is old school. You will love it. I mean, it's just tree lined old school. So now you're going to go play international series Morocco? Are you are you excited? Are you nervous? What are your expectations? And then after that, what is the plan to get on a tour somewhere? Are you going to go to Europe and you're going to try the US? What's what's what's the plan?
Uh So yeah, I'm feeling all kinds of things about Morocco. You know, I'm excited. It's like when you turn pro in college, you have a schedule and you know what you're going to be playing in and when what we're doing as a pro, like I've turned if you're not a superstar, you don't know exactly what you're what you're going to play in. So you're scrambling looking for events,
looking for money, looking for people to sponsor you. And you know, as an Indian you have to like you know, get a visa for here and a visa for there. And you know I've talking been talking about visas for the last three months and so that stuff is all stuff that I wish I didn't have to do, but you have to do is just a you know, an adult and a professional. But I'm excited you know, just try to get like, I don't care where I play
right now, I just need to play. I just need to get as many tournaments as I can get into, and just just keep getting reps and get ready for I'm going to do the corn for your Q school and uh, I've got conditional status on PGA Tour Americas and so I'm gonna try to see if I can get get into some of those events in Canada and so just try to build a schedule off that and just get ready, just get as many reps as I can until Q School and hopefully get a maybe a PGA Tour card or a CORN free card.
Yeah, who's going to caddy for you? I mean, I mean obviously both shoes gotta he's got to pay it back, right, I mean, both shoes, both shoes got to take the job of caddying for you and Morocco.
Yeah, that would be sweet. I love that. I mean, and him have a great time together, so that that would be awesome. But I'm just going to do a local guy. I'm in a position where I just need to get local guys until I get status somewhere and then then I'll get somebody.
Lastly, Ray as a junior golfer. You came through our junior development program as a nine year old, and I think so many kids they need Indian golfers. You're the next generation of Indian golfers, right, and there is a there is a long Jo t Rendawa Jee Milka sing, there's a bunch of guys, Auto Bandla hereing now is kind of one of the guys and Shif Kapor old school.
Do you feel like it's an opportunity for you as a golfer but also a golfer to represent India because I think junior golfers always looked to the superstars, right, you're sixteen years old, like, Okay, I want to be Rory McRoy, But if you're not from Northern Ireland, you can't really relate to what he did. And I think it's important that Indian young Indian golfers look at someone like yourself, Ray and say, okay, Ray, it's from the same country as I am. He kind of had the
same upbringing as I did. Do you feel like it's important that you kind of fly the flag now and hopefully can fly the flag for Indian golf moving forward.
Yeah. Absolutely, India has been great to me when I was a junior and amateur and kind of helping me get my way. And even the Academy back in Dubai, you know, they've done a great job of developing some good players and sent some guys to some pretty nice colleges like you know, Joshill Tennessee, Toby Bishops in Florida. Yeah, and you know, Justin.
We've spent thirty I think we've sent since we started. You were the first group of junior golfers that we really from an elite standpoint, started working with in two thousand and nine, I think since two thousand and night. I was starm to Justin about this the other night. I think we sent close to almost thirty kids to play Division one college golf out of out of Dubai, which is a very very small, small golf market.
Yeah, there are a small place. I mean, you wouldn't really expect it, but you know, the facilities at the Academy were fantastic, and the and the development program was huge for me as a kid, you know, not only just for my golf game, but you know, I got to hang out with some of my best friends to this day, and so I always had a blast when I was at the Academy and kind of just took that along with me as I progressed on. And I
mean the Academy was huge for me. I mean, learning from Justin he's still a huge mentor to me and yourself. And being able to talk, bounce ideas off you guys, and reach out to you guys when I need something. I mean, that's huge, and the Academy has been a big part of that.
Well. I can't tell you how proud I am of you.
Ray.
It's it's something that that Justin and I and all of us that that watched you in Dubai kind of do what you've done. It's it's pretty special. Lastly, Ray, go to Indian Come on, give it to me. What's your go to order when you go when you go home? When you when you go home and you get what's what's the what's the Indian food that because obviously Indian food in America? When you go home, what's the go to? What do you crave? What do you say, I've gotta have that?
So my when I go back home, my mom knows exactly what I want and she'll set up like the menu for the week and Uh, it's like this semolina rice thing and this fish curry she makes, and it transcends, it puts me in a place like it brings almost brings tears in my eyes. I talked to talk about it with the guys at school and they don't quite understand it. But for an Indian, for an Indian like, the food is just so important to us, and it takes me back to back to them my child today.
It's it's an amazing thing. So yeah, I will be How spicy can you go? I honestly can't go too spicy. I think I've been pretty westernized. I mean, you can't even here. You wouldn't even know I was Indian if you didn't didn't have the video on, you know. So I kind of go too spicy. But she knows how to do it just right, justin And.
I think of you like you're part of the family, and uh, we're proud of you regardless of what you do. And I know whether you make it in professional golf, you're going to make it in life because I think you're one of the best kids that I've been lucky enough to meet. So good luck, We'll all be watching play good and say hello to the say hello to my pet ducks on the on.
The part three will I will thanks great to talk to you right lost. Thank you.
So that was a really cool talk with rayhn Thomas, and listen, I think he's somebody that you're going to want to follow. You know. I can't imagine anyone listening to that podcast and not saying, Wow, what a cool story. He struggled, He had a standout junior career, kind of caught lightning in a bottle late as a junior, went to kind of the one of the top college golf programs in the country, Oklahoma State University. He struggled, he fought through it. He's trying to make his way as
a professional. Now made the cut in his first professional event on the Corn Ferry and now as a top ten on the international series on the Asian Tour. And I think ray can do some really really cool things. But I think it's a great story. He's a great kid. I've never seen him not smiling. He loves golf, he loves life. He's a smart kid, and I root for him. I think all of you follow his career. He's going to get more starts. He's going to Chase. Now he's got to try and find a way to be a pro.
He's got to try and find a tour to play on, and it's going to be exciting to see what he does. But as I said in the opening, it's a cool story and for me to kind of see a young kid who was He wasn't the biggest kid in our junior development program. He was just a great kid.
He still is.
I'm proud of him. I'm excited to see where he goes as a pro and hope everyone follows his career. Thanks everyone for listening. We've got the last major of the year coming up next week and I'm excited to get up to Troon, Scotland. It's one of my favorite in the open road. It's a great golf course. It's going to be cool to watch. Son of a Butch comes to you almost every Wednesday. We will see you definitely next week.