Barstool Riggs, Part 1: His 99 days at Pinehurst.

another log? Five? Nobody here is good time. Welcome to the fire pit with Matt Chenella. Good to be back. Hope you and your family had a safe and healthy holiday. This particular fire pit's coming in a little hot sir. Next, follow off the top given Sam Riggs Bazoian shit about a shortcam to which it just brings more energy and eyeballs to the conveyor Belta content coming from Barstool Riggs his social and digital channels all a vertical under the

umbrella of Barstool Sports. I met Riggs Abandoned Dunes last year. He was a guest of a buddy on my annual Buddies trip, the Uncle Tony Invitational. He was a blast to say. What you see is what you get isn't exactly accurate. What you see is about half of what you get. But as he says, it comes from a great place. He's got a big heart, healthy and infectious attitude with just the right amount of reverence for history, integrity, loyalty,

and tradition. That's not to say he won't pass out on the putting green, but in the end, no harm, no foul, and don't look now, he's a ton of fun. You've got a problem with that, and you're probably not sitting at this pit anyway. Today you're gonna learn a lot more about Riggs's thirty three from St. Charles, Missouri. We took up the game of golf as a kid. My dad got me into it, and we really didn't even blame uch golf. We would just go to the

driving room. Remember that, I love the putting green and I liked hitting balls a little bit, and we we didn't really play a ton of golf, and we did all kinds of sports. I mean, hockey was my big sport, but my dad my parents always pushed playing a little bit of everything. So golf is kind of just like one of the sports that I played. Reegs found enough success in both the books and on the ice to play hockey at Harvard. So yeah, I mean I was

on at one point. I think I was a B list Central Scouting, which meant, you know that I would probably be a top three, you know, three or four rounder in the NHL draft. And then I just when I went to college, I didn't have the like comprehensive

drive that you have to have like I didn't. I would show up on the ice and I'm fiercely competitive and I was skilled, but like everyone else that, you know, the guys that made it were eating right, They're cooking kind of grilling their own chickens that they wouldn't eat like the wrong stuff. They're working out NonStop, they're stretching off ice. I didn't have any I just wanted to go drink and I out with my buddies and play fucking golf. That's pretty much what I wanted to do.

So uh so that was kind of when I realized, you know, I'm not going to play in the NHL. I'm just kind of more of a of a you know, hand guy, and golf was a lot more suitable for that. So I sort of phased out a hockey and into into more golf. What Riggs lacked in passion and perseverance on the ice, he put into getting a gig at Barstool Sports, which at the time was an emerging movement hitched to the trailer of Dave Portnoy and his relentless

onslaught of pop culture commentary and content. Riggs wrote and pitched blogs, articles, and opinions to Portnoy. No shock, Riggs warmed down. I actually got brought onto write about politics, um because it was like Trump was becoming a thing. Barstool wasn't covering politics because Dave was like, we just like to make people laugh. Why would we get polarizing, Why would we create this polarizing type content. I said, no, I'll do it in a way that that is not

taking side, not polarizing. I'm just laughing and poking fun at what the hell was going on in politics. Once in the door, Riggs pitched Portnoy on a golf blog and eventually a podcast, which he launched with his friend Trent and Ryan in the two thousand seventeen Waste Management Phoenix open on February one, two thousand seventeen. Riggs wrote quote just over twenty four hours after its announcement and

twelve hours after the first episode went live. Four Play is the number one sports podcast in the universe and number six overall. Riggs and Trent filled a need to not only test the narrow fairways of the sport, but also the pack of reporters and writers who covered I think Jeff Chagofridge a great example. I think if people were are ever on the fence or they have a certain sort of thought of like who we are and what we do, and it's it's the wrong thought that

like I would point him towards. I think it was in January we had Jeff Shagraford on the show, and I think that they would they would listen to that show, that podcast and go, holy ship, like, Okay, these guys, you know, we're not afraid, we're gonna We're happy to to talk it out with. We believe we come from the right place. In that place is we fucking love golf and we love to have fun there. It is again a love for golf and fun. Go figure that

and the ongoing struggle to get better. And I think one of our greatest assets is that we all pretty much stock to golf. I think the pad's people people try to chirp us all the time, and I think that in the in the golf industry, there is an element of like protecting the belief that you're a you're a stick, that you're a player, because otherwise folks think

you lose your credibility. And our take on it is bro go look at the handicaps like a dispersion, like of people fucking sucking golf, so like they love it and they suck at it, and that it might be there trying to break a hundred and try to break ninety and like they're hitting awful shots and I'll post a scorecard where I'll go, you know, double double bogey, triple birdie, birdie. If people are like that's my guy,

Hell yeah, like let's go. The story we tell today is that of Riggs escaping New York City to quarantine at the pine Hurst Resort in North Carolina. He stayed there, playing an assortment of pine Hurst ten courses and others in the area for nine nine days. Riggs literally rocked the creadle of American golf for more than three months straight, and in doing so, forged a friendship with Tom Pashiley, president of pine Hurst, and he just loves golf. I mean I could see going to a play. I mean,

he came out and played every day. It just was NonStop. And you have to love the game to come out and play it as much as he did. And he shared it with other people, and so he is a the number one fan of the game right now, and he's sharing it with a very wide audience. And I think I think we should, as we did, find ways to to support what he's doing and get behind it.

Going back to the beginning, it was March sixteen when Riggs sent pastially a text quote, all Right, I believe I'm fleeing New York City for Pinehurst and just winging it. I'd rather be shut down there than here. I'd forgotten that that that that is, I mean, that's pretty much exactly how this whole Days thing came to be. It was it was just I saw the writing on the wall. Things were getting bad New York City. You know, now

we've kind of New York's been through it. Everybody was aware of it that New York was the epicenter for at the time, it was a couple of hundred cases. And it wasn't it wasn't too crazy, but people were worried that it was going to me. And I simply said, you know, I don't want to be caged in my

shoe box apartment in Manhattan. I want to I want to be somewhere where I could do stuff, where I could be out and about, um, where I could be on a golf course, where I could film stuff, where I can kind of not be stuck in my Manhattan apartment. It was like, all right, we're in you know, we'll figure it out. Let's go. The part of that texted I cut out what I sent it to you was my reply, which was l it was a phenomenon and and you you kind of knew it while it was happening.

You're like, this is probably never gonna happen again. We hope it never happens in our lifetime that someone has to stay here for ninety nine days. I've not seen it, and you know, everyone's quarantine. I've not seen anybody else who documented their quarantine for three months. Um. But yeah, that that was you know, who knew that innocent enough text message would lead to a lifetime of memories. We'll get the essence of most of those memories, and we have more than ten voices to help us do it.

But for now, it's March eight, also known as Day one of Yeah, I flew. I bought a flight. I think my flight was sixty two bucks at the time, and I just got a flight from New York to uh TO to Raleigh and then just take an uber which was fifty or sixty bucks wherever it is from

Raleigh from r d A to uh Piners. And I didn't even know if I had I didn't know what my situation was because, like you know, Hash is the president of a massive, iconic, prestigious resort, and he's going through the fact that the whole world shutting down, including his resort, so I don't want to be bothered. Him

was like, hey, do I have a hotel room? So I just I had said that text and and and I you know, he had said a couple of things back, but there was no real confirmation and I didn't need it. I was like, I would go down and book a room at to Carolina and I figured it out for a few days and we'll just see what happens. Well, I get down there and I, you know, I go through all this. I finally just arrived at pine Hurst.

You know, they pulled my uber pools right up in the in the little awning there and and they're barrying Kevin and the guys at the front door, who I didn't really know at the time. They were just kind of you know, the guys that welcome you and say welcome to Pinehurst, welcome home. And uh, and I hopped out, just went to the front desk. Yeah, I'm just I'm not sure if you you have me in the system

or not. But but you know, my Sambazoian or maybe rigs that I'll be under and uh, I'd love to just book a room if you don't have me in there. And they're like, no problem, you know, Mr Brazoian, like, um, police follow us this way, and of course pass should put me in the fucking presidential suite at at the Carolina Hotel. You know, that's part of the beauty of being in the hospitality business. We can do things like

that that are unexpected, a total surprise. You're right. We we had plenty of room and and so why not why not go over the top and show him some world class Piners Hospitality, and he stayed in that Presidential suite I think for the first week that he was here,

and then we ended up closing the Carolina Hotel. He was probably the saddest person when that when that decision was made, because it meant he had to get out of the Presidential Suite and fend for himself, which he did, which he did through a variety of properties while we were closed. So let's see, I started at the Carolina Hotel at the Presidential suite. Couple three weeks later, maybe I moved to um a home about, you know, a

block away from the Carolina Hotel. Then a few weeks after that, I moved to another home down on Donald Ross Drive, So that was three. Then four was this other little home we stayed at for a couple of weeks with a pool. And then five was a condo across from the seventeenth Green on course number five, so right across the main road there. And then six I was back in the Carolina Hotel and I stayed there for about a month. Yet, so I believe I stayed

in six different places while I was there. What Riggs does is deliver. What he delivers is social and digital experiences relating to golf. If he sees it, likes it, he does it and post it. His content is like the weathern Ireland. If you don't like what you're getting, wait ten minutes, something else is coming. And at Pioneers he had the run of the place. I'd love to hear about how it started, the Daily nine and how

that began. And I remember I didn't know if it was gonna stick or not, but he's stuck with it, and you're right, you just whether he was trying to, you know, hit just land of all on a grain or land of all in a bunker, the interactions that he was having with Nick Faldo became, you know, fodder for everything, and just there were so many layers. It was a multi layer cake that that you got to devour every night when you got home to see where

where did the Daily nine take place? Today? Riggs provides more background on the Daily Nine, in which Reggs tried to successfully hit nine puts or chips each day from a different spot, playing a variety of shots. I mean, I knew quarantine was going to be a thing for everybody, right, So I was like, if what's like a relatable thing people were working on their games. Something simple, they're putting,

And that's pretty much where it started. Was like I was just putting in a mat in my apartment because that was the only thing I could do. And um, and so I just started cranking these videos and I was like, well, now that I'm pioneers, I can get a little bit more creative. I could chip, I could play a hole, I could really do whatever I wanted.

But it was a way for me pretty much every single day to put out something like some sort of video golf content and um, and people loved it so like it got the engagement going, it got the chatter going. Nick Faldo was in their roast to me, um, Max Homa JT. Like these guys are all in their roast at me and chirping me, and that's good, Like that's good for business as long as you don't care like how you're actually playing, Like as long as you get

over the fact that you're not that good. Like I know, I'm not that good. I don't make every potot hit, so clearly there's something wrong. So as long as you get over that as great. It's like people were engaged, people were reacting to it. Um, it's getting hundreds of

thousands of yews a day. So I just started doing the dayly night every day, and I mean I still do it pretty much every day, has pastially pointed out earlier Sir Nick Faldo stumbled upon some of this stuff on his social feats, and he tries to explain the success. You know, life's life's a bitch, and then you sit there and watch ricks Puh. I mean, oh my god,

what coop he was. I mean, I think it's you know, it's I think that's what it is when you're fitting down and feeling sorry for yourself and you think God, life is tough of you know, I'm avoiding COVID nineteen, the stock markets crashed, the budgets, got hemorrhoids, and then you look at his stroke and you go, ah, not everything in life is really bad in my life. Although Riggs and his content, more specifically his putting stroke, aren't

for everyone, he could care less. He's committed to his craft and his followers, and he was very content at the Carolina Hotel. He took the quarantine very seriously and and was distancing and I didn't see him. I don't think for the first two weeks of his stay. I just didn't want to get in his space because he really did want to maintain his distance. Um. But he

early on left a note for the housekeeping staff. He left a note, wrote it on a piece of pay for like who, put it outside of his bedroom and the presidential suite. So someone came in the suite, got to the bedroom, there's a note that says, hey, uh, you know, no need to offer services given everything that's going on, probably just not not required at this time. And within you know, thirty minutes of someone seeing that note, I get a picture of it, and everybody thinks he

is quarantining in Pineers because he asked COVID. So he caused a slight little panic early on in his state because he was like, no, no, you stay away, and they thought it was because he was the one that was was infected, and anyhow it was. It was a very thoughtful note, but it went the wrong way quickly. That was probably the first and last time he did anything in days that went the wrong way, as you'll

hear throughout this episode and the next. The reason why this is such a compelling narrative is because Riggs trip to Pineers was so much more than just made or miss putts. It was about the development of interpersonal relationships, trying to stay positive and productive through some trying times. I do think that's sort of me becoming one with

the town, or ever you want to describe it. It got to that point where it was like, no, I am getting my coffee from from the same folks each morning, and I'm getting the same order for lunch, and and now it's beyond just what would you you know, what would you like for lunch? It's more like, how how was that round last night? Did you get out of the grad old again? I did, and they'd be like, I saw that that video. What's up with that twelve year old who smoked you in the golf court? You know.

So it was like I started to build these relationships with people, which then made it you know, that then made it feel like I was at home. And it's probably a result of a desire for that, you know. I was probably a result of like I wanted there to be a home and and I didn't want to go to my actual home back in St. Louis or or you know, be with my parents. I was afraid I was gonna bring this disease to them, and they're older, and I didn't know how that would handle it. So

I don't want to be that guy. So I was kind of stuck a little bit. I don't want to go to New York, so so here I was, you know, stuck air quotes if you, if you will in in pine Hurst and try to make the best of it. And luckily I became pretty tight with those people, which I think everybody saw. Ten days into the trip, while Riggs was still going about his business, the resort was furloughing the majority of the staff. The pinners leadership had

a plan to help their cause. We dreamed up the auction to try to do some good for all the hundreds of employees has had been impacted. And as we came up with these amazing Pinehurst experiences, were trying to figure out, well, how are we gonna promote this, how are we going to let people know about it? And none of us feel comfortable going on Instagram live and talking about things for an extended period of time, and

so the light bulb went off. It was really hard, obviously on the people who were laid off, so he was trying to very hard come up with ideas like I think, you know, I think we have a lot of really cool things at Pinehurst that without too much hard cost to us, we could offer up that I think people would really love. What do you what do

you think about this rigs? You know, I was like, I think that's a great idea that Doring at Cottage is a really good example of like something that they you know, bought and renovated and restored, but they cherish it. They don't let just really anybody go rent it and stay there. It's it's to be protected and used, you know,

strategically and when they really want it. And so there's like, you know, we can offer that up, and we just kind of started brainstorming and you know, patially kind of lead the entire thing, but um, but yes, it's like, would you offer up a couple of items and would you be willing to kind of bring the auction home do like the final home stretch, go on Instagram Live and see if we can push those numbers up. It's

like absolutely so. Just even in kind of building out the idea for the fundraiser, you kind of I learned a lot about why they were doing it, where the money was going to go how you know, and why it was important and so yes, So we offered up three or four different things. I think that the option, the auction items that I put up, you know, um, a couple of spots of the Barcelol Classic match against

me at Pineer's number four. I think they ended up totally over fifty grand just the items that that we put up, and then you know, they raised Pinehurst over three hundred thousand dollars total. I think they were around two hundred thousand, and we started the Instagram Live. I spoke for thirty minutes straight like a psychopath, walking around the the pro shop at Pineers where they opened it up and and just kind of highlighted different things and

spoke by myself. Ben Bridgers is Pinehers director of golf. It was a great moment for all of us because you know, I think that's what he does. You know, people listen to him and he's definitely an influencer. And for I think that was one of those things where we knew who he was as a person because he cares about people and he wanted to help us and our employees, and you know, he's obviously starting to have a you know, having a better time, and I think

you just really got engaged to it. And uh so the members are tuning in and just locals are tuning in, and it was it was it was a lot of

fun to watch. But you know, people came over to me for weeks after that that it might be the superintendent or it might be um, someone who doesn't even work at the resort but but who works in the village and lives in the village and stopped me and say, hey, you know, I got I got a lot of guys on my staff who got laid off because of this, and like what you've been doing last week with with pastially and with Pineers like meant a lot to those people, you know. So it was like and to me it

was nothing. It was like, yeah, I just go on Instagram live at a p M and and talk about Pineers.

How hard could that be? But like, but to them it meant so much, you know, and I do think you're right, Mattie G. And that like that moment sort of took it from hey, I'm on like kind of a weird like pseudo vacation thing to like, no, I'm now like part of this team and this team is trying to get through this tough time, and and I was very much supplanted on that team, and I was I was there to help, and that kind of I guess, catapulted me into this relationship with more than just the

golf courses in the golf resort, but like with the people, which which obviously culminated the other day. So the Riggs root system is starting to take hold. But how is he getting around town? Parksdale and and Bridgers got me a golf cart, right, So they were like, hey, you know our shuttle services shut down. We know you don't have a car down here. We'll give you you want to borrow one of our golf carts. And so I would legitimately got a golf cart from the main clubhouse

where all their carts are. They gave me a charger, a golf cart charger. I drove it to the Carolina Hotel. Then my guys Kevin Barry, Ryan Charles, who run the entrance there in the front door the bell hops at the Carolina Hotel um would charge it and watch over it all night every night. And when I get up in the morning, I walk right out, Boom, there's my golf cart. Sitting right next to the Carolina Hotel hop

in it go over to the golf court. One guy facilitating a lot of Riggs golf I tender right was David Golinsky, the first assistant golf professional. He made lifelong friends here. Um I consider him like a friend now. But it all started with one cradle match, one fifty cradle match at five back to Tom passhilely for some perspective. For whatever reason, Riggs and and Blinsky hit it off

and they became kind of a regular Cradle afternoon. They had a regular game five thirty every afternoon on the Cradle. That crowd would get together and they would they would just kind of attract people as they went, so by the time they would leave the clubhouse, by the time they got to the first tee of the Cradle, there might be eight people in tow and it was actually

kind of a cool scene. I think. I don't know that our people used to play that much golf, but when when they got the invitation from Riggs, they were always quick to say yes. The Cradle is the seven nine yard nine hole Part three course that was built by Gil Hanson, opened in two thousands seventeen, which was yet another modern enhancement to an otherwise storied resort. It's a fun factory, a memory maker, suitable to not only Riggs and his Shenanigans, but it works for everyone, which

is why it's so popular. And at one point Riggs made a hold on one. Yeah, second hole at the Cradle, got my first ace. We played the Cradle. I mean I probably played the Cradle over a hundred times while I was there, and so it kind of became like, Man, I'm really gonna need to get an ace at some point.

And you come close a lot. I mean, if you play the Cradle a good amount, like you're gonna come close, you're gonna hit shots that that spin or catch up hill and go right by the hole, and everyone's gonna get excited. And and yeah, the second hole at the Cradle colonnade. It's called it's a beautiful kalonade in the in the clubhouse in the background. I think it was like eight yard seventy yards something like that. That day, Penn was in kind of the middle left little bowl

and I hit a perfect fifty eight degree. It landed like eight ft behind it started spinning back towards the pin and we were like, go, go, go go, and then it looked like it stopped and then it fell in and everybody. Everybody went absolutely crazy. And that's to this day. It's the only ace I've ever had, and I'm I mean, I think it's about as cool an ace as you can add. And back to passionately for his pert, I think he's played the Cradle more times than I have, and uh, I've I've had two aces

on the seventh hole. So it's just from a statistical standpoint, it's probably a little disappointing to only have one on on the second hole. Um, but it's it's the icing on the cake for him to have been able to be at Pineers for so long, to have his first hole in one, to have it happen on the Cradle around other people, you know, to be able to celebrate

it with other folks. Um, he really does. You know, his his his um, his style, and in his acceptance of the Cradle, of the amount of fund that he has while he's playing golf, the social aspect of the game that he's so good at celebrating is what the Cradle is all about. So it's only fitting that he would find a way to to eke out one ace on the cradle. In terms of these moments, these memories

were just getting started. At this point, Riggs is getting in deep, not only with the culture and community, but specifically with Kolinsky and now Klinski's bride to be. That was sort of my my bridge into the community. Beyond Ashley was was Dave. And and from that moment on, you know, we started playing our fifty hour game, our long standing game on the cradle and um and now, I mean, I'm going to Dave's wedding and I was slotted to introduce him and his wife, him and his

fiance Kayla, you know, literally at their wedding reception. So he and I became very very close. And he is a hilarious little guy. He's the best. Yeah, I get married on July team and him and his girlfriend are coming and he'll actually announce us at our wedding. You know how cool is that. Meanwhile, a man named Mike Myers of Cleveland, Ohio, had also decided to quarantine to pine Hurst. He brought his wife and four kids to their second home to get away from the big city

and get closer to his parents. Were members at the Country Club of North Carolina. Mike's son, Eater, who's twelve, is an accomplished junior golfer. I didn't really uh follow the four playing crew, but um my two sons, the two older sons that I have, are really into it. And so you know, Pioneers is a small town, and so we saw Riggs bouncing around and everyone talking about it. And there was like a Sunday morning where I just reached out over Instagram and just said, hey, my sons

would love more than anything to play with you. And and it was more also an invitation of just like do you want to play CCNC, because you know it's different and it's so it's kind of like, hey, if you would like to come play dog would we'd love to have you rounds on us and the boys love it and and then I just kind of threw in there by the way, my twelve year old, we'll take you down from whatever team you want to play. And yeah, I mean we get you know, look, we get we

get messages and challenges from people all the time. Better you know, I want to take you on, come play me in the magic. But when it kids twelve years old and m and it's like I'm twelve, you're thirty three. I'm gonna beat you in golf. I was like, that's that's a no break. Yeah, I have to do that. So it was kind of a It was as simple as the optics of like this little twelve year old child briefing is going to take on me at golf. When I say, Pete Myers is an accomplished junior golfer.

I've wore over fifty locals tour events, and um, I'm just getting into some of the junior events at pine Hurst called the Red Wete and Blue Tournament and the Junior World Champion Himes. So one May one, forty five days into a ninety Pinehurst to Pelooza, it was game on Mike Myers on being a little overwhelmed on behalf of his son today. As we got to the driving range and we saw that Raleigh News cameras on the tripods and then Brendan Jones, Riggs producer with his camera,

I started getting a little nervous. He needed a great first team ball, which obviously is the hardest shot of the day to get off t there Rags was standing about four feet from him, just kind of giving to the Tiger stare Um. So I was a little nervous there.

They didn't they didn't play real well in the first few holes, and so I was walking along with Brendan, the producer, and he would kind of lean over and say, we have eighty thousand people on right now, and then I was like, what did I get my kid into. As for the match, as Mike said, both players were a little off early. But Riggs Burtie the ninth to get to one down at the turn. So shout to Justin Thomas on um the front nine and he said,

can you beat in twelve year old? And just Thomas replied and said a twelve year old, yes, the one you're playing, no, And that gave me a little confidence that, you know, I could really beat him. So it backfired on Riggs. He tried to reach out to Justin Thomas to get confidence and a push for himself and it ended up being a push for you. Yeah, So Riggs was texting Justin Thomas, were tweeting him. He was texting

and was Riggs showing you the text messages? Yeah, he was showing me my dad and we still have a frame picture in our house in it of the text exchange between Riggs and Justin Thomas saying you can beat a twelve year old, just not this foot yeld. Yeah. On the eleventh hole, I have like probably six seven ft for birdie to get it to one down, and I burned the edge and it went all the way around,

it didn't fall. And then on the twelve hole, I again I have like ten feet straight up the hill for Bertie Pizza and for par and I just didn't quite hit it enough and it curled off. And then on thirteen part three, it's like playing a one seventy shot. He hits it to four ft and makes birdie and at that point I was like, I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble because I think that put me like three down. And I was like, oh, I'm pretty much in trouble.

And it was thirteen. I hit a hit it on the part three too, like two or three feet and pay Bertie there and I called the three pot on fifteen and he three put and I finished him out on sixteen, which was awesome. The last ten holes were just awesome golf. If you love golf. It was fun to watch Riggs, Bertie nine Pete went after a pin that he probably shouldn't have gone after on ten, but it was a great shot and he ended up with an apple. And so the last ten holes were amazing.

I think Rix was like plus two and he might have been even and so it was really good golf. And at that point I was like, Wow, this kid really just kind of put put everything aside and was able to kind of you know, grow and that in that aspect. So it was fun. He was like the all star at the club at c C n C for for weeks and months afterwards. Everyone's coming up to him like, great, word Pete. He's like, thanks, guys, you know, I mean he's twelve, so um. So it was great.

That was so much fun, and I do wish I would have won, but it's probably better that I lost, Like it's probably funnier and better for our brand that I lost, but but it would have you know, I wanted to win, like, I genuinely did not want to be the guy that lost to a twelve year old.

But he played great. What are you gonna do? That was launch we So the next week we went over to for Sheldon Pinehurst and we we bought lunch for all the doctors and nurses helping um save lives for the coronavirus and for everyone in the hospitals, and it was it was an awesome experience to help other people. So yet another moment memory and another opportunity to make an impact and further endear himself into the fabric of

the sand Hills. But there are at least a few dudes in a few carts who were happy to see Riggs go home. It was funny. I mean, it was like mid you know, in the heart of sort of co of it and the world being shut down, and Pineers was pretty dead at the moment, and I went out at like five pm to film a couple of

videos out on Pires number four. And I'm out there and as you know, you know very well, like on course four of course too, there's just you can't ride a cart anywhere on the on the fairways or you have to stay in the car path the whole time. So it's like, you just know, everybody knows that, and so of course it's closed. But I had hit up and said, hey, I'm gonna go out and film some things that cool. They're like, yeah, no problem. So I'm

out there on the second hold. Just come whizzing down the fairway, or like four carts that just come whizzing down the fairway hitting shots on number four and I simply took a picture of it and just texted to my guy Dave, who works in the golf shop. I said, hey, do you know who these guys are? Like they might have been buddies of his who just ripped around at night. It might have been totally kosher. I didn't really know. I was just like, I just want to know if

you know what's going on here. So I'm sitting at dinner with my fiancee and he sends me, sends me a picture of these guys in the fairway on whole thirteen on course four, and I was like, it didn't take me any time to respond. I said, Okay, I'm taking care of it. I'm sent the rangers headed out there. And he's like, what are you doing. I'm you're That means I'm an arc. Everybody's gonna know that it was me, And I'm like, dude, that's against the rules. Thanks for

letting us know. And Ress like, what the funk you shouldn't have You shouldn't have said that, and YadA YadA yah. I was like, hey, dude, it's still against the rules. You did a horrodic thing out there. Marshall comes out asked him to you know, does a little investigation turns out that they had snuck on the golf course. Uh and and they were asked to leave. So I told the story on the podcast and Frankie and Trent were roasting me. They're like, what a narc what a loser

you are? In my defense, like I'm helping out my guys, like they're you know, they're just trying to do their job. You can't be driving the carts all over. If these guys were just walking down of the course, I wouldn't have even said anything, but like, you're driving the carts all over, you can't be doing that across. It ended up a radar put it on their radar. They got kicked off the course. Well, Frankie was like, what do you think You're like the moral cumpass of pine Hurst um?

And I was like whatever and we moved on and that was it. And as he's telling this story to his his buddies, who sometimes sneak on golf courses themselves, I believe one of them says, who are you the moral compass of Pinehurst. Meet Frankie Barelli, one of riggs co hosts of the four Play podcast. You know, we like to give each other ship. That's what we are, that's the type of podcast we are, so Um and Riggs.

We like to tell Riggs that he takes the game extremely seriously and and that's a good thing we have. I think we have four different views of the game of golf on one podcast. I think that's what makes us a little bit different, right, Like Riggs takes things super seriously. He wants to win everything he plays. He's very he's very much comes from that angle of like this is the way you do things on the golf course. But we still can have fun, but like make sure

you go by like the standards or whatever. And so like we like to give him ships up from time to time. And him being at Pineers for nine nine days and seeing some guys driving up on on the golf course that he's at, taking videos all over the place and taking pictures of him, it just felt a little dirty to us. Um and I've even said this to pass me. I'm like, you know, we gave him ship on the podcast, but there's no denying that that's the right move to to. You know, they're giving him

all this access to this golf course. He's raised a ton of money. They have a great relationship, which we'll talk about later. Um, but it's just the picture and Riggs and everything about that scenario just came off very Rigs to us. I don't know if that makes any sense, but like it's very stereotypically Riggs for him to take a picture of guys playing the golf course and send it out like it was, I don't know, like the biggest crime in the world. That's it. That's perfect. That's that.

You know, we have a new mascot, Sam Riggs, some moral compass of pineers. I'm googling, uh, you know, gift items and trying to find compasses for sale. Spend a decent amount of time taking just the right compass engraved to fix a Putta Boy logo to it, a beautiful brass ball mark that fits the thing perfectly, and presented it to him um in a in a understated ceremony, really for given the honor and the prestige that comes with it. Well, like a week later, pastially shows up

and he had I guess um. He So he had a compass, an old wooden compass that when you open it right, it's like, um, you know it's it's it's like a box. It's like a compass in a box. And when you open the box, on the underside of the lid was engraved Samuel Riggs, Brazilian Moral Compass of Pineers. So if that doesn't say that this man gets it, that patially totally gets it. Um it's so perfect. It's probably the best gift I'll ever receive. And I mean, I've got it with me and I'll carry it with

me all the time. But that's how I became the moral Compass of Pinecings. If if we find ourselves at a crossroads and we need to decide, you know, do we go down this road or that road, We're gonna a consult with the compass to make sure that we

don't veer kind of from the north Star. Really some halftime reflections on Riggs is ninety nine days at Pinehurst once again, Sir Nick Faldo, how can you look at the room menu for the room service for it's bad enough for two days in the row, isn't that when you like keep looking at tomato soup or should I have the prawns kiss? Ada? Okay, done that? And then you go to your Ahai tuna and your chicken and

and and your biddest sound. And I see it. I mean you've seen the seen the same menu for nine days. What was he doing in there? Meet Sheila Wilson, a grade school teacher, child psychologist and bartender at the Pine Cone, the mobile drink station that overlooks the Cradle. Well, I mean one thing, I know. You know he's crazy and he does all. I love the fact, being an elementary teacher myself, I love when he kind of switches gears when he sees young kids, like we've got a lot

of local kids and a lot of members. The kids are out here playing. He approached He approached him, you know, every time there was a kid out here playing on the cradle. I love the fact that you know, how's your gold, how's school? You know, stay with it man, and that you know he's really kind of switched. And um, I love how he approached the kids. Had that impressed me. Pete Myers, the kid who took him out three and two on a couple of cool anecdotes and what has

happened since his win. The Jonas brothers were on the podcast talking about me, and I think that was pretty cool. I got a couple of college letters. It was awesome, and the whole process, it's it's just been an awesome experience. Mike Pete's dad again. Yeah, So he he was. He walked into this thing and so open minded. I mean, I can't tell you how many people we would run into who he gave his mobile number two and they would say, I texted him today and you know, and

he replies to them. And so it wasn't like this guy who just was too cool for school. I mean, he really kind of came and with an open mind and it became a part of the fabric of er. What Riggs did was superpotful and I think he had a good time while he was down here too. Riggs on his content the Cradle and proper credit. They deserve proper exposure and proper excitement, right, And I think that that's something that I'm able to convey, is that like, I'm not I'm not posting the stuff that I post

because I feel this deep obligation too. I I share things in my life that I've experienced and say, holy ship, this is so good, I have to share it. And like the Cradle was something that I shared all the time because I just couldn't help it. I was like, people the internet has to see this right now, like they won't believe and and so you're right, like they he deserve that, and and the place really is that awesome and it never gets old. One more from Tom Passionate.

After the first two months, we began to understand his nuances and yeah, we were able to get under a skin and it became personal and it was no longer the trophy hunt. It was no longer about what he shot, what his score was. It was just about the people that he met while he was here. And I love that. I really do love when I can tell people that, you know, they're real people that are working here, who are raising their families here, who have lives, who love

Pinehurs just as much as they do. And when we can convey that, when we can share that, and when you feel it, you really kind of begin to understand what makes Pinehurs so special. And some people it happens in one day. Other people it may take a week, or it may take your third trip here. But at some point, uh, you connect with Pinehurst in a meaningful way,

and clearly that's what happened to Riggs. In Part two, which will drop next week, a lot more on the tear jerking chemistry between Riggs and Pashley, Riggs and pine Hurst, and of course the pain Stewart putt to beat Kevin Kissner. Anybody would anybody who plays golf would kill for this chance. You're on you know you're we had I think we had our peak twenty six thousand people watching live on

Instagram live. You know, the video is gonna get tons of views, and we put the edited video out which I think it has six seven hundred thousand views something like that already on YouTube. Um, there are a couple of hundred people there and you're not just playing against your Joe Schmo like weekend Golf group it So this is to beat Kevin Kissler. So it's like all of that. I think the Instagram poll that I put up when I said, um, who's gonna win us or kids? That

said like eighty four percent of people said Kissers. Are you looking for good value on great golf apparel? As a listener to this podcast, my friends John Ashworth and Jeff Cunningham at links sol in Oceanside, California, are offering you a discount on all future orders of What I Wear All Day, every Day, on and off the course. Whenever you go to link soul dot com, just use promo code matty G M A T T y G. Thank you for listening to The fire Pit. It's produced

by Alex Upeggy. It's edited by Rex Lint. The theme song is by Joe Horrowitz. Please rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts and we might track you down and send you one of our new Imperial Row pats. Got a question, comment, or a story for us to track down, you can find me on Twitter at Matt Janella or on Instagram at Matt Underscore Janella. And if you haven't already done so, please subscribe to The fire Pit on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to

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