Manning Brother's Buddies Trip (Part 1)

fire pit. With Matt Chanella. It was a Thursday afternoon and I was getting a call from Jim Nance. I forced myself to take a second before answering. It felt like high school, purposely pausing so as do not appear desperate or too excited. Jim Nance, I asked, I have

something for you. He said. I'm all ears. Obviously, the manning brothers, Eric Church, Taylor Zarza and some of their friends have just returned from an ultimate buddies trip to Scotland and Northern Ireland, and apparently it was something special.

I wondered if you'd be interested in telling their story in obviously well, fourteen interviews in almost eight hours of recordings later, we've assembled a two part podcast reflecting on and rehashing the best buddies trip that was happening in and around the playing of the open championship at St Drews. There are course reviews and insider info. A man named church breaks into a cemetery and gets inspired to write an original song. There are traditional drinks and magnums of wine.

A tall boy of tenants was used as a t there's a proper lunch, special guests robes red socks and you get the details of a new drinking game that's already sweeping the country. They play a variety of formats in great weather. There was a spirit of competition and a specific spirit that will, as Cooper manning put it, make you forget your middle name. But one thing was made more clear than the Kumo. Nothing was more important

than the Camaraderie. Before I go any further, I want to thank some of the sponsors of the fire pit. We couldn't do this without the support of link soul, the lifestyle brand that was started by my friends John Ashworth and Jeff Cunningham. It's all I wear on and off the course. Use Promo Code Fire Pit off your next purchase at links soul DOT com. I'd like to also think part points, the innovative APP that alters the way you can score the game of golf. I especially

like it for beginners. Family Golf were buddy strips, looking for a way to change things up. Download part points now and go make part and then there's dormy workshop, who we've collaborated with on all of our leather goods. Head to the pitch shop at fire pit collective dot com to see our latest line of CO branded merchandise. All right, in this podcast you'll hear from Peyton Eli and Cooper Manny. Country Music Star Eric Church is here. There's Taylor's oars of Sirius X M, who by day

was playing golf. In the afternoons in St Andrew's he was calling the golf. We hear from Nance Tiger's caddy, Joe Lacava, and more. The trip included Marshall Alexander, who works with Eric Church, Ben Wepbron and Eric Hasberger of a j capital who, along with Cooper Manning and a long list of their friends, bought and transformed the Russex hotel which overlooks the eighteenth green of the old course. And they didn't stop at the RUSEX. Cooper Manning explains.

We're in the hotel business. Me a couple of members of the trip are all in the partners and we have a college hotel platform called graduate hotels, and so we have great, cool hotels and all these great towns from Ann Arbor to Charlottesville to Oxford Berkeley. Anyway, we have thirty five of them and going to do it more.

And we were in the middle of that Um we said look, if we're gonna be a college hotel platform, we gotta have hotels and the two of the greatest college channels of all time, which are Oxford, England and Cambridge. So we wound up meeting a gentleman over there kind of through acquiring them, and I got named Donald McDonald, and he said look, he kind of liked us and likely to get things and he admitted he said, look, I've had this hotel kind of in my hip pocket

for a long time. Personal Account. The RUSSACKS y'all would be probably the right group to come in and bring it back. He had not put it very much money into it and it kind of fall on hard times. But and so we were like, let's take a look, you know. You know, we had no business thoughts or future about going into the golf hotel related business, and so we said, look these things. Wow, this is one of the most iconic assets there is. These things don't ever,

you know, they don't trade. We're gonna look into it. And then so we, UM, being weapon who's WHO's the boss and the visionary here, said this is, you know, this is unbelievable and we, you know, normal. We were private at refirm. We raised money from bigger institutions stuff, and we said let's do this and let's raise this money just by friends and lovers of Golf. Meet Ben Wet,

CEO of a capital. The whole idea was, you know, there was an opportunity to sort of impact and set ourselves apart from anybody else in the space by creating an hospitality experience that matched the uniqueness in history and charm and sophistication of the golf experience. And there was a white space in the market and then to connect it with multiple markets and create the ultimate you know, guys, girls,

trip journey venue. Um, you know, our goal as a company used to create backdrop for life's most meaningful moments. And like we started with, you know, university based hotels, and it's the same idea or thesis and that sort of Disceral, limbrick connection you have in those marketplaces and how your passion and your nostalgia and your connection to

these places. We wanted to create a hospitality experience matches that and that's all through history and storytelling and really, you know, creating a mirror that when you you look at our hotel, it feels like you're looking out into the community, into the market in who you know, St Andrews, into you Truan or Royal County Down or Berwick. It's it's it's all an idea to be a reflection of those places how especially unique they are. And you know,

you mentioned the fifty investors. There's actually more than that. And then they're all so critical and important part of the journey and they're all partners. You asked me. They all own it. We all I don't even think we are stewards of the asset. Having stayed at the rue six the week of the open I wish I could say I own it. We're pretty good at taking old

dogs and bringing it back to life. And so, anyway, past the hat, I mean we got, I don't want to get into who all, but you know, the Jim Nances of the world, and got a couple of golfers and just a lot of the west coast crowd and some a lot of green jackets and a lot of just, you know, really cool people who love golf who, I thought this would be fun and the idea was to say we said get going. I had more fun. It's fun.

Raising money is not hard, I mean it's hard. This was fun because if someone didn't want to do it, no problem, because I knew there was a laundry list of guys behind them who wanted to be a part of this. And you know, I didn't know if we'd had tournaments. I didn't know what we'd do. And we know, everything got it got delayed with the open we knew we were on the clock to get it done. There

was a parking lot next door. We were gonna build more rooms and had this unbelievable rooftop bar, a panoramic, I mean of the of the you know, the most story story of Golf. And so Um covid kind of delayed us a little bit and they pushed back to win and we knew that was a clock. So that that kind of had been brewing. Boy, it would be fun to get a big trip around the open and

and that's kind of how it got. But the concept I started the rebuilding and rebranding of the rusicks hotel to build up to open and the birth of a buddy's trip back to web brin. Originally it wasn't about, you know, bringing our friends together and going on this journey. It was for me. It was like the tell and you know I've been going over there, obviously since we acquired the hotel, you know, whether this one or buck or troon or Royal County Down, but I've never played

over there. I was saving it for this. As you'll hear in both parts of these podcasts, it was all well worth the wait. You know, it's Eli pay was like Eli. I was like, you know, let's see if let's see there's really something there with Cooper just got us into you know, he's like ship, let's go check it out. So there was a lot of curiosity but at the same time the idea of being able to play golf and then watch golf and have the best view in the in the whole world and then do

it with, you know, we have. You know, the trip was made up of kind of it was. It wasn't. We're all at all this close, close friends, summer close. Some don't really know each other's some no, it was kind of pepping around. But yeah, I think it was kind of a little I'm curious. And we wound up going to see three of the four assets. We stayed at Bruce as, we stayed at North Barrack and we stayed at the sleeve donner to Brokaw. We didn't get to turn this time, but you know, it was kind

of a yeah, and investors, uh, let's check on these assets. Also, let's play some of the best golf in the world and have more fun than we can, you know, have in a long time. Before we get to the fun, Cooper Manning, my main narrator of this adventure, introduces the cast of characters involved and then each person explains their role on this ultimate buddy strip. I'll give you a

breakdown of everybody. That's okay. So Ben Wepburn is the is the founder of a J Capitol and he's the mastermind behind Um he's the boss and but but reluctant. He didn't. He doesn't act like it, and I think he had more fun than anybody and he's uh, he's the one that but he was the guys that we got to get a good perfect eightiesome and let's go, let's go figure out, let's go see these assets and

go have some fun. All these things in life, right, doesn't matter if you're not sharing it with somebody right there. Just minutes, then they become moments and then you have memories. That lasts forever and that's the whole reason we all do and everything that we do is to have those moments and those memories and those shared experiences. They just you know, when you get older in your our age,

you're working, your families, you have kids. I mean that's why people are so nostalgic about college, just you and your buddies hanging out all the time. You don't get to do that as much anymore. Right. We all have responsibilities and the things change and life changes and they go on a journey for a week with your best friends in these places, Dude. I mean, I mean I just you know, I could make it up Eric Church.

There's a country music rock star and UH, and he lives there in Nashville, and you gotta have a rock star on your trip. And I think there's just you know whether this guy is, whether he's a real one or whether he thinks he's a real one. That's kind of I've been on plenty of trips where I think I thought he was, but you know, and and Eric's so what's so cool about him is he is a you know, I'm not sure he can walk down. He can walk down and he can't walk down in the street.

You know, when he looks like he's on stage, but when he puts on a pair of accounting Goggle, accounting glasses and has just a good old you know golf had on, he can he can be anonymous, which is pretty neat for him, I think, especially in Scotland, you know, doing all they don't hound him, which I think he loves the anonymity. I was the best drinker of all of us. Um, yeah, I had to. I had to, I had to, had to hold down, you know, the

drinking part. We were in Scotland and Ireland, for God's sake. Um, I had to, had to hold up my musician heritage the rock and roll lifestyle. But I know I hoped that with some of the travel and you know, transfernace across the pond and stuff like that. So we each had kind of a role, you know, the things that we did, you know, and that was no other than just being a kind of fun. That was that was mine. And then uh Eli, Um is. Uh Eli and Ben

are old friends, really kind of introduced. UH, they're really good friends, family friends, kids the same age. I love to have a good time. What is mine? What is my role? Well, I did. I did bring the wine. So that was that was, you know, as he said, you know, I had to had, you know, I had to do something. You know, he kind of had. The plane was going on. Someone had the hotels, coops, always entertainment and storytelling, Um, and so it was kind of

I was kind of searching. It's like what can I do to to help, you know, chip in on this? And and so, Um, you know, asked, asked. WEAPURN feed mind if I brought, you brought some wine for some of these dinners where I have at the rus sacks or other places, and so he said that would be fine. So, uh yeah, brought, you know, eight magnums of of some good red wine that I've been been saving, and so it was. It was happy to include that on the trip and get to have those in some special places.

There's nothing better than having a friend that not only has good, good wine, but is willing to share it right like the worst cases having someone, Oh, I got a great wine cellar, but he never busts out the wine. At least you're you're selfless and willing to actually share. That's the key I needed to drinking. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta make up for some lots time. So I gotta. You know, I gotta Start Consuming. I've done good job of buying, not as good at consuming, but it's not.

It's not been because of a lack of effort. I'll play that. So, uh, I just gotta go on more, more, more, golf trip. So you can bring bring a bunch. Then we had I got in Marshall, Alexander Marshall runs point for all of the Churches UH tours and it just does everything for the church. He's a he's a logistics guy, gets things done behind the scenes, making making it happen. He's a short guy, got a lot of grief being the shortest guy. Is a pretty tall group of this trip.

You know, uh, you know everybody. I always tell him. You know, he he's not even tall as his driver, but he kills it. He hits it a long way. So Uh, you know, he's got a he doesn't get offended easily. I helped with the transportation, just the logistics. You know, that's kind of my role in Eric's world, is is the day to day like getting him from point a to point B. So me and him kind of tag team that side of it. So everybody else, uh, I didn't have to worry about you know where, you

know when to be. H Taylor has all these golf connections, so he had been working throughout the years and tea times and the connections with the golf courses. So it was really a team effort. And Uh, Cooper brought the humor, obviously, as he always does. He probably quickly learned he's uh, he's the Jokester of the group. And you know, it was funny because, you know, the mannings them setting their

pro athletes very tall. Eric's tall, ben is tall. You know, you banks is tall and we did all these group photos and I'm pretty short and UH. So, you know, me, five foot and nothing, standing up to a bunch of you know, six ft five inches. You know, that was a running joke through the whole thing. Is like, you know who's the short who's the guy that brought their kid on the trip? Peyton is loves golf and it

really loves golf and and loves boys trips. Um can be typically pretty anal on like where we're supposed to be, what time we're getting there, who's going? He's kind of a detailed guy and typically likes to be in charge, but had no and no to say so on anything this trip. So he's relaxed because he's like, you know, I can't doing about it anyway. So it's it's kind of takes the edge off Paike. You know, what are we wearing? What time we're gonna BE THERE? What? What's

the dinner? What? You know, like just relaxing and just you can kind of go along for the ride. It's fun and also, I think you know he's he's known, not as known you know, as you know golf, sure, but you also it's I think it's also fun for him a little bit to be in uh, when you're in Europe. He's, you know, he's not the best soccer player in a world right now, you know. So it's like he can kind of he can kind of blend to which is which is fun for him. I was

part of the Logistics Transportation Committee. Uh, me and Eric Church were kind of on that committee together. I'm a big logistics guy and this was a great trip because mark you banks, who was on the trip, who works with Bookbra and bend, he is like Mr Logistics. I mean that is his job to help organize golf trips where people can say at these hotels and play at these courses. So this was right up his alley. It was kind of Nice not to have to organize every

piece of the itinerary. So I enjoyed that part of it. But, uh, I did my part on certain parts of the transportation and logistics and uh kind of help the trip go smoothly. No problems since. So, Um, I feel like I did my job. And we have a guy named mark EU banks, and mark is was formally he was he was the head of of of a golf course called the old farm. For a while. The GM there and we're all we all played golf there and mark came to work for us, just thinking this guy is just such a he is

just built to be in hospitality. He loves taking care of things, of problems, of like if it's chaos and people are coming and going a hundred miles an hour, he's looking at my door now. He is the best. Talking about you, mark. I'm sending your praises, a ton about it anyway. And so like, I mean high profile people who demand a certain level of excellence and Um, anything he gets it. I mean he gets done. I saw an interview where they had Jordan's speed was talking

about how he gets ice. Bass. You know, how do you get an ice? You call it mark eubanks. Mark Eubanks and delivered nights. Everybody kind of just took on a, you know, their own role. Um. You know, I started working on Tea Times with Taylor. We got the tea times together. Transportation came together with with Eric and of course Peyton helped with the transportation. Ben, you know, is

he's the founder of a J and Marina Lawn. So you know, we had the hotels covered, Um, and then it came to you know, where are we gonna eat? And after being at the Russ the eighteen rough top bar. We decided we're gonna be there as often as we can. We had some courtyard settings over marine north berry. So it was it was pretty easy. It was a collaboration with everyone, but Marshall and I kind of made sure that everyone got what they wanted. Another guy, Eric Hasberger,

who's President Aj capital, was over. He was over there earlier with some people who played Presswick, kind of medicine the middle and didn't catch the tail. In my prime, Mary roll would be, Um, taking as many pictures and videos as I can. So the ones you know, the pictures you saw, Um, that kind of got posted by John or by Peyton. The video of John Hitting the beer off the beer can, I that was that was

me on the other side laughing. Um. So you know, I was and I was happy to serve that role and just just be a part of it because, you know, those guys have known each other forever and I've worked with Bennekoper for a long time and I've gotten to know them through Bennekop Um. But being, you know, being a part of that trip with them was pretty it was pretty special for me for sure. And we also had Taylor. Taylor obviously you know serious x him es

Ben Golf Guy. And so Taylor set up his coverage of the open championship in his on a on a outdoor porch. Outdoor, I would call it kind of a porch, I don't know that's the right word, an outdoor of of one of the rooms the Russex. So he had all he was on the headphones sitting out there and his room kind of turned into a makeshift bar and UH, hangouts.

Everybody's winning there, had drinks, we had tunes and you walked out and right there on eight team and he was doing his broadcast from there and he helped line up a lot of the golf because we were on a little bit of a you know, we were not we didn't have this plan to early sort of play some of these golf courses. He was really crucial to lining us up playing with different members where we could get on as opposed to just a bunch of Americans coming over there and have it lined up. We played.

We played with either a pro or a member or even a captain of the club at both at North Barrack, at Mirfield and at Royal County Down, which to me was one of the coolest things I've ever done. It's one thing to go and play with your buddies, nothing even played with your buddies and some locals and members and then have drinks with him after and have lunch and hang out and, you know, shooting your friends like

lifelong friendships. First of all, this is, as you know, as special backdrop as you can have, like just there's no other place in golf where you can watch a sporting event from the russacks patio and overlook this historical moment, and I think that they were so impressed that that you could have that backdrop, number one, and then, number two, to to see what was happening in front of them, which we didn't know exactly that it was going to

happen like that. For that to transpire was was impressive and that was always a part of the deal, Maddie, is that we were going to watch the open championship, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Let them totally live that experience, potentially play some golf in the morning, Um, if everybody wanted to, which everybody did, and then we go watch, you know, the final, Um, the last pairings go off on Saturday, and then watch the conclusion of the open

on Sunday. was was really the plan from the beginning, and then we would go full golf trip starting on Monday. And Me, I'm I I'm in charge of the music. I bring the mutic, I bring up, I bring the tunes everywhere, I bring him everywhere and we always have them just in case you don't need them. And UH and Um, I like to keep everybody laughing and having fun. And Yeah, it's just I enjoy everybody's company. I'm easy. Wait.

So when you when you're in charge of the music on a buddies trip that includes Eric Church, do you just play Eric, Eric Church Music All day? No, that's kind of part of another deal. Rarely, rarely, we played church and church is that's funny. He's kind of my only guy. I gotta kind of check because every now and then he's critical and he has some taste. So

I kind of know and I'll know. I'm trying to always introduce him to something new, but all of a sudden make sure he knows I have a great appreciation for the old good stuff. So it's like, you know, I know his I know his touch points. I mean like you know, if you want to get on his

good side. You just you're playing singer, you're playing whaling, you're playing you know, Willie, uh just, I know where he is, and then you trying to interroucing something new and he'll kind of give you one of these like kind of a it's kind of a like a disappointing uncle, like look, don't, don't, don't, don't say that, don't say that, don't do that. So yeah, it's a little bit of a pressure cooker. So you gotta I was, I was, I was on my my a game most of the trip.

I asked Eric Church if he was inspired to play any music while on this trip and his answer was no. Apparently, when he's on a golf trip it's all about the golf and the group. I mean there's always exceptions that depend on the trip, but I mean I've really never I mean and and the use of the guys I go with. No that I mean when I go I'm there to hang. I don't make you know, Peyton Eli told me a football either. So I'm there to I'm there to hang and just and just hang out, you know.

So we're trying to just get to know each other and Um, I did write a pretty, pretty good song Um at Royal County down. That I was we got there, which is gonna probably work out in the future, but it's just kind of this spooky, you know, kind of deal. So it did have a that was an interesting thing. Musically, I couldn't shut that part off. You know. I didn't have a guitar, so I ended up just writing it with just vocal and but my my phone, you know. I took me like twenty minutes and just fell out.

So there's some juice and there's some juice in Royal County down at least a sleep sleeve doddard. It's a good place. More on the Song Eric Church wrote. Later in the story you might even get to hear a little bit of it, but for now we get this trip started. And where they begin is where Tigers Week is coming to an end. It's Friday afternoon in St Andrews and it's the playing of the open championship. First on the MIC, appropriately, is Taylor Peyton and his wife

Ashley were coming over from Paris Um. So they weren't that he was not there yet. He got there Saturday morning, but everybody else, uh, that was arriving arrived on Friday afternoon. In fact, the live broadcast shows this plane coming into lucers and I thought that has to be them and and I text them immediately and Eric text back confirmed and but the I don't know if they showed it on NBC, but I know they showed it on our USA, but they showed it on sky and here's this plane

coming in. Oh, this must be some Americans coming in for the weekend at the Open Championship. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Next, Marshall Alexander, when we landed in Scotland, you know, we just went directly from point a to point B. There was no like let's drop our bags in the room, there was no hey, let's go check this out. We went right to that balcony overlooking the eighteenth green and it felt like we

were just in a time. I mean that's the greatest view in golf arguably, and uh, to be surrounded by, you know, great friends and and to how that scenario was unreal. You just kind of blink and you're like how did I get here? Eli Manning on following Friday's action. You know, it tiged up well with that Friday arriving and you know, it was like a full full sprint to the hotel. You know, we're kind of getting updates on our phone. Eight Tigers on sixteen, like we gotta

we gotta go, we gotta go. Um. And so, I mean get to the hotel, you know, don't even wait for bags or anything, and go straight up to the to the little balcony. The immediately come out the patio. While I'm on the air, they're like high five thing, you know. You know, we're here, here, here we go. And then, yeah, tigers coming up to last and it's pretty power off a moment. He's, you know, filled with the motion. And that's the that's kind of how we

pressed play on the our our five day adventure. Eric Church. We had landed within the hour, you know, before that, and we come we we were we knew, you know, we didn't plan to do it, but it was very serendipitous that we got there at the same time that, you know, that was happening, I mean and Roy was teeing off and tiger was coming up, and you know

what it was. It was a really great foreshadowing for an incredible memorable trip, because when you you see something like that, it just kind of it sets everything up. You know, that's the first thing we didn't we didn't take our bags to the room. We left the bags.

We weren't running up to the rooftop there at Roo sex and at that time tiger was putting out on seventeen and then he teed off on eighteen and we got to you know, got to watch that and a little bit of a I don't know what Tiger's future will be, but to watch him, Paul's there on the bridge and, you know, the nod De Rory. It was just a little bit of a passing of the torch and I was very, very glad that we made it for that and got to see that and Eli Manning

again on witnessing a snippet of golf history. Eighteen at the old course, Um, you know, maybe his last last British Open. You know, as you know, assumed his last, you know, open at St Andrews. It's you know, it's a while to you know a little bit. Do they have another one? So to see him Um, you know, walk walk through the eighteenth you know, took a couple

of pictures. I've gotten to know his caddy Joe Lacava, uh, fairly well, you know, kind of send him a text afterwards to a picture of him and tiger on on the on the green at eighteen and send him a picture and here's Joe Lacava, Tiger's legendary caddy. If you could just give me your perspective on kind of again that, that that moment in which you're you're in in the colosseum, is they're watching the scene. Do you do you need you?

Can you give me kind of reflections of what that meant to you to kind of be in the middle of all of that? Yeah, no, I first thought is, you know, Steve Won with him twice here, so he deserves and should have the recognition. You know, I'm on the back half of the career but I'm still enjoying every minute of it and I as a golf Storian, being in the business seven, obviously I get it what's going on coming up eighteen and the fact that you had a great parent and you've got two young kids

who idolized tiger. Um You got rory in the mix going down wanting at jt ting off on one. So it's kind of cool in that respect. If you have four young kids that all love tiger, respect the game, respect what he's done. So to steal those guys take it all in from me was neat because I was kind of to the side. So it's neat to see

tiger across the bridge waved the hat. But again seeing the young kids almost like, Oh my God, this is his history for them too, being a kids and name accomplished a lot in the game too, but they still respect everything the tiger's done and then trying to chase him down with his records. So that was kind of neat. And obviously seeing all the bleachers fall. You know, the whole Roos sex thing is full people that you can just hear the noise and the buzz and everything about it.

You know, I try to stay off to the side and let enjoy his moment and obviously hit a couple of good shots in there. Didn't make the pot and still hit two good shots in there, so that was fun to end up that way. I think they've sold, you know, three D thousand tickets. I mean seeing it is always gonna be a great thing in regardless of what's going on. But yeah, definitely an extra buzz. Not so much knowing it could be tiger's last go around, but knowing that he's forty six years old and we

all go with to Tom Watson's competing at fifty nine. Yes, it could happen, but realistically maybe that's the last time he's got a chance to compete and be somewhat healthy. I'm hoping that's not the case, but at the same time, in case it did, you want to be there and you want to be a part of it and I think, like you said, having bones there and the other players there, in the place packed and the buzz, it was incredible.

Back to Ben Weppron such a big event and everybody knew it, you know, with the good of the evil and live and all this stuff going on, and like something special was happening even on, you know, Monday, and you knew that before, and then when you saw that and tiger, I mean I just that was that was really impactful and he's such a hero to everybody there. That was really cool. And to watch it for the balcony. Yeah, big time. And then we had a fun dinner that night.

Um Joe Lacava, uh, you know, Tiger's Catty, had dinner list on on the rooftop of the rust acts, which is called eighteen, as they're starting their trip. You're kind of decompressing. What do you remember about getting in the mix of this? Well, I fortunate enough to get asked to come over and have a beer two with the guys. You know, Ben, who's running the show there, and skinner

and you know the rest of the guys. They're all having a blast and you know I'm people that know a little bit about me know that I'm a huge Shians fan and I've come across many he as a potential stalker. I don't know. You know. So of course I got the giants lid eyes and I'm all in. I'm hanging out with the guys and I actually texted my door I guess what, I'm hanging out with him, hanging out with Eli and the giants had too much. You know, you're legit. You've been a real giants fan

for whatever fifty years now. You can. You can go ahead and with the giants. They know you. So I'm just having a good time and actually forgot that I hit it off with was cooper because I didn't really know him now well, and he was hilarious. I mean you could see the manning's habit, the drive, sense of human whole nine yards. I get it. But I think Cooper might be the funniest of them all. I had an absolute blast with him, Um, but just just sit

there and have dinner. Like you said, the sun setting at that place. You know, we're talking a lot of golf. Yeah, Mike, bummed out that. You know, we didn't make the cut. Of course I am, but at the same time you gotta try to make the most to be not gonna sit your bedroom and I feel sorry for yourself. So so so I gotta get out of the hotel room. Having a good time with these guys and we have an absolute blast. I was told Lakaba knows so much about

the giants and the franchise. He was actually coaching Eli up on the team's past. In turn, Eli was sharing what he knows about the future. See, he really never saw the dark days that we saw growing up as kids in the seventies and early eighties. I mean they were off of the worst team in the sport. So he can't appreciate that. He came in. You know, the first couple of seasons weren't great, but he had a lot of success throughout his entire career. Obviously there. So

he doesn't know anything about the dark days. You know, we hear about it, but then to hear a fan, like a passionate fan, go after him a little bit and tell him about it. The other stage you're thinking, I never thought as a kid growing up they ever actually get to the playoffs, let alone win one and then win four super bowls. So you know, as a as a gnarly giants fan, that's just all you had growing up. They were just bad. He knew they were gonna be bad. Um, thank God they turned around with

Sims and then Eli and stuff like that. But we had a lot of fun and actually Eli is one of those guys where you know he's gonna he knows he's gonna get bombarded with giants questions. So I'M NOT gonna kill him on that because I get it. You know, I'm around these guys that don't want to talk golf when you're with tigers, so on and so forth, but he's kind enough to engage the conversation. We talked little Daniel Jones, a little Barkley and he gave me some

insight on those guys too. So we had little. We had a great back and forth and I know he's a he's a giant, you know, giant Nutt and and you know, put him in touch with kind of the equipment guys with the giants and say hey, we gotta send him like the most updated gear, like he's gonna wear it at the masters, like he's got to wear it at the British Open. You'RE gonna see it underneath.

You know, the kind of the caddy bid like, you know, let's get him, get him the hat, get him the stuff, like make sure he's got the new stuff going here. You know he's representing the giants like this is. You know, he's gonna get a lot of air time. You know, no one's getting more airtime. And if tigers number one, it's like, but is like number two, then it's rory. You know, no one's he's gonna be on there. It's

make sure he's got the right gear. I got a box just big at home of all sorts of golf stuff, t shirts, workout stuff, the whole nine yeards. I think part of the problem is, you know, I'm I'm old school dinosaurs, so I think the stuff that I show up with the giant stuff in Augusta is the same stuff year after, year after year, because I just get comfortable with and I like it. That's my giant stuff. So some of the stuff is probably eight years old.

They're like, Oh my God, that's like vintage, like nineties. Get this guy something news. I'm decent here. So he was kind enough to send me a big box, more than I need. Obviously my kid got two thirds of it, so I don't have much of it left anyways. Meanwhile, back at the rooftop restaurant, Eli's jet lag is kicking in and we're having dinner, you know, and I was sitting next to the Kava and it's I don't know

what the time it is. It's eleven o'clock or eleven thirty, and like I am, I'm crashing, like I'm getting very tired, but I had, you know, the food hadn't come yet, and I'm just like, I'm so tired, yet I need some I know I need some food in my system right now. I kind of skipped, skipped, you know, it didn't really have breakfast, we didn't have lunch, so like I needed my one meal of the day and I've

just gotta fighting through it. The thing I remember most is I guess they got that big seafood pladder or whatever it was. I'm just engaged in conversation a couple of years. I'm not paying attention. The next thing I know they kind of put it down to my right and Eli was to my left and all I got was for I think twenty straight minutes, all I had was his hand and elbow coming across, grabbing seafood after seafood after seafood, and I'm like, what is going on here?

How is this guy in such great shape? He ate probably four, I'M NOT gonna at four or fifty oysters, those lobster the whole night yards and he was kind of he was so hungry, like you said, so tered he was kind of leaning over, grabbing and putting his mouth, spitting on me and just ship with twine everywhere. It was incredible. He was so hungry and I think finally after he ate a little bit and got a big belly, all of a sudden now he's tired. He's going like this.

Now here's the deal. Everyone was insisting you go to bed like you're tired. You're seeing. I'm like, I know you're firing. You're firing. You hang in there, because I want to talk to more giants football. So I was the only guy trying to keep him up. Everyone else to tell him I go to bed. And so we watched that night with dinner with Joe. We were all kind of at one point Eli has got up from dinner at you know, jet lag. He goes, I got I'm going to bed. I'm like, can you do that?

Can you just leave in the middle of dinner? Apparently you can. On the first night. I guess you get a pass. You just the body. The body just breaks down. So Um and so the next day we started off and went to King's bards now, apparently, and that night at dinner, Um John Daily Texted Church dinner and said where are Y'alls? That we're up top. Was I'm coming up. Church like, Oh God, here, you know, no telling what's coming.

So they started talking and he tells him we're playing at kingsbarns tomorrow and then he goes I'm gonna come out there. So I rumped into John. We were at the we're at a restaurant. uh, that night ethnics was called at at at Russacks and Um John was around and we started talking and I knew John a little bit from from Nashville and just being around him and Um, he just you know, he asked, Um, what do you guys do tomorrow and said we'll playing. I told him

the whole trip this is what we're doing. What time you play in Kingsbarr and I was like, well, I won't player on ten, you know, in the morning. He said you mind if I joined and I thought it was you know, we're late at night with drinking. You know, I thought this will never happen and about five minutes still tea time, John Daily Rolls Up and POPs out on an SUV and proceeds to grab my beer and put up golf ball on it and tee off from

the first team. Destroyed my beer, by the way, but he hit a damn good drive down the down the fairway. If Daley was in on the golf it meant s Burger was out, but he didn't mind. He pulls up as I don't even remember what he was driving, but as I picture it, it's like it's like this giant bus right. I mean, I don't think that's even right, but he rolls out and he's got St Louis Cardinals shorts on me. You know, he's just just loud everything, big beard. I mean it's just it's so clearly John Daly.

And he steps out and the first thing I think it's like this guy wanted this guy wanted open and and he's one of the most talented golfers maybe ever. Um, and just a legend. And he almost made the almost made the cut the day before, which is incredibly think about me and shoot, tiger was I don't know how many strokes behind him. Um. So always you roll. He steps out and announces that you know it has been a big night. He's still feeling it a little bit.

I'm not sure exactly when he went to bed. Like John. You want to go to the range, like John Dayley doesn't go to the range right. So he gets he gets all the stuff. It's in a cart which he's driving with a speaker blaring Eric Church music, none of which is allowed at kings barns. Marshall Alexander's Perspective, the guy is a legend, uh, obviously for what he does

and what he's done. Um, you know, he goes up to Eric and says hey, Co'm bar t yeah, yeah, here you go, you know, because he grabs his tall boy beer instead of tenants beer. Is What we were drinking, Scottish lager, and I was like, okay, I guess it. Once beer takes that, plops it on the floor or on the tea box, teas his ball up, nails a three hundred yard drive and goes best drive I've had in three days. And the fact that, you know, he

showed up three minutes before his tea time. He drove a golf cart on of course they don't allow golf carts. He was listening to music louder than anyone there. You know, it was just you couldn't have painted a better description of what what what came to be. It was pretty hilarious my talking it all mine three days back to Ben Weppron. That was a serious that was a serious and it was like that was the beer we drinking the whole time. I mean, I don't know, Eric was

mad about the beer. Like Dude, it cares about the beer. That was amazing. Did you just see what a what a Jeb took a cart. No one's allowed a cart. He just comes up in a cart playing country music. The legend that was hilarious. It happened and he was John was sweet man. We had a great time with him. Um, we had to kind of foursome going on that day. We broke it up a little different, but he played eleven or twelve with us and then he had to he had to head back, you know, to the to

the old course. But Um, it was, it was. It was just a fun memory, you know. But you know again, I mean you're kicking off your your trip as far as spectating with tiger and you're kicking off you're playing with John Daly and I just uh set up a

pretty good, pretty special, pretty Starchi trip Taylor. But I think he made history that day by driving his own cart with his speaker blaring Eric Church and Hank Williams jr another country music out on the course and uh, he puts his golf ball on a tenants beer on the first tea as his tea and stripes one down the middle and and here we go. I I couldn't believe that that that's how we were starting our golf trip.

But Um, Peyton and J D put that out on their social media and Um, my boss at Sirius Xm said are you working the open championship this week and I said yes, I am, but I'm doing some research right now. Uh. At kingsbarns before the third round we took a group picture. John posted that on instagram so everybody was made aware that we were in Scotland right after that. But I missed the tee off the UH, off the beer cap. I've seen John do that before on social media, but it sounds like I was a

pretty cool view up close to personal. But that was our first round at kings barns. Uh. kind of like my last trip. I feel like I peaked too early. I shot seventy seven at kings barns. I'm like, this is it, I got it, I got the rhythm. I'm going low at you know, North Berrick and I yourr field. I just seemed to kind of go a little higher from that before and on. So Zarz gets back to cover the Saturday afternoon at the open. The rest of the crew takes it in from the various Rusix texs

and bars that overlooked. To finish, it's like a super bowl at Lambeau or or or world series at Wrigley Field, or or or you know or fenway it's it's like for us it's the greatest venue with a longstanding history that goes back to the beginning of the game. You know, it's an NBA finals at at at I don't know, like you know, at the old garden right, like, I mean,

it's just it's just, it's just different. We were trying to do, you know, you see, there's a Jimmy Roberts is there, Mike Tarko is there, UM, and it was fun to kind of Bait them and like how do you compare this, especially just setting right there, with where the russas is, and they were like it'd be like, you know, it's not, it's not. It's like, Um, if you're being at Riggley, but but being on top of the pictures man or. I mean you can't even like

there's no better spot to watch something like that. Ever, I was trying to search for some sort of, you know, hypothetic comparison, and I'm not sure Youboy, came up with something this perfect. Here's Eric Hasberger on the vantage point that the rustix hotel provided. I think we said like maybe if you could build a hotel on the on the Te box, on a Ben Corner you know, like

have you purged up there? And I you know, have access to this amazing like hospitality suite and then your room right around the corner if you want to go, laid out and if you want a pizza, you just say hey, mark, we get some pizza, and he was of course, we can get some pizza and it's just there. It was. It was unbelievable. Kick I try to explain to my buddies Um got back home. I'm like, I don't even know how to tell you about this because

you're not even gonna believe it. That night, on the eve of the final round, having already had a few unexpected guests on the trip, they get their first call to action. Back to Hasburger. Tell me about the cemetery. So how, how? How? How did that all come about? And what? What do you remember about it? Yeah, so, Um, so we've gotten to know Um Jim, Jim nance since he moved to Nashville. Ben In particular, that wasn't doesn't

really well. And and so I guess Jim has a tradition where he goes and pays tribute to old Tom and young Tom um the night before the Sunday of the open on the cemetery. We hear from Church and then that night Jim Nances, like you guys got to go to the cemetery. Yeah, okay, this one now Jim has never I know Jim pretty good. We have never really talked about this. This is something that he he

sprung on this kind of last minute. Said if you guys are game, you have to go there at midnight, and we're just sitting there, you know, all going and finally we decided, you know what, we're here. It's that kind of trip. Let's go, not knowing where it was, not knowing how far, you know, we just we just all, you know, jumped out and here we go. And then I didn't realize. I thought you could just go see it. Now you gotta break in the place. You actually have.

You can't just they don't let you in. You actually have to break in. On that Saturday it started. There's several different streams. I got a picture of Taylor and Marshall. You just booked to Marshall Right too, and then we were toasting you, my man. I love you, my man so Bo. That was from Ben I said. Has To be incredible being there on the eve of great history. We just saw your pal trevor. He's at Rusex with

everyone else, you know. And then I said my tradition at midnight on Saturday night since two thousand is to climb the law at the Old Town cemetery and go pay my respects at the grave side of old and young Tom Morris. Any takers tonight? It's a four block walk from the hotel. So I seated the idea and uh, they had shifted over to another stream. So I seated the idea. So the first guy to right, two minutes behind me, was Eli. He says I'm in. So I

had to have somebody step up. Belies such a good dude. Nan said. You gotta ask him about the cemetery. I guess you were on this trip. I was on it. You know, I've definitely on any on any Um guy's trip. I'm definitely on the no man left behind, and so someone's someone's you know, hopping a fence or jumping on something like. I gotta be included. I gotta I can't miss out on these opportunities, on these adventures that you never know what what might happen, but usually a great story. Uh,

this is where the great stories come from. So they're kind of telling me about, you know, about man's and then hopping the fence and the tradition and you had to keep going and go see old old Tom Morris's grave, and and and. So I was like yeah, you know, I'm in involved a graveyard and popping a fence like it sounds right at my speed and much to my amazement, later on I started to realize this had taken hold and the great majority of the group decided this was a good idea. So I said to them I it

at the last four opens at St Andrew's. The wall can easily be climbed by you athletes, which is not that easy. We know that. Maybe I oversold that. Here's Taylor's ours, Ben Eric, Marshall, Eli and I ended up going and Marshall got in. Marshall Um was rather fearless and he jumped over very quickly, jumped over the trash Canon over the wall and immediately cut his finger wide open as he did it. The rest of us were a little bit more thoughtful of how we got over

the wall. This was, I guess, midnight, at one am, and uh, full of excitement, said all right, we've got to go to old Tom's grave. You know, that's part of the tradition. And and and uh, let's go. So we stalked up, you know, back full of beer and walked down the streets and we get to the cemetery and uh, you know, the they had built a temporary chain length fence. Obviously you probably want to keep people out,

which Um was. You know, I didn't keep us out, you know, but we uh called the fence and I didn't even kind of look. I was at that point where I just kind of hopped over and landed on the on the ground. Said, man, I looked at my finger and it was bleeding pretty good and grabbed a beer and washed off the blood and uh, and then it kind of kicked and I go we're at the beginning of a five day golf trip and the best golf courses of the world. What the Hell Am I

gonna do? So Uh got through the night, I got a band aid and I was, like I said, you know, I couldn't feel a thing at that point. Obviously the Morris Gravesite is on the right wall of the cemetery. My guess is there will be a few people, perhaps a dozen, that are they're doing the same thing. Your flashlight APP will come in Handy and Taylor wrote. Well, we're at ruse x right now. Cooper wrote, I'm wearing camouflage. Peyton said, Jim, do we have to wear a turtleneck?

I said required at the door, preferably tweet jacket also. Peyton then said Hello, dead friends, Web said, hysterical and had been said grave jump, a tradition unlike any other. The good news is they're in. The bad news they don't know where to go. Here's Eli Manning, you know, typical morons, like we hopped the fence or in the graveyard and it's kind of like, Oh, where is it? You know, we do anybody taught the Nancy tell us any direction? Like we're just like looking at random, you know, Um,

you know, stones. They're trying to like, you know, have a flat, got the iphone, you know, flashlight, trying to say this it, no, this is it. I mean we would have been there for, you know, two hours until, you know, we found the way. We should call Nan's and he give us a little directions. So got got him on the on the phone and then it turned

into a facetime call, which I did not expect. I'm trying to think of where I was when I received that facetime call because I was outside somewhere, back to Ben Weapron. I totally felt like he was there. We facetimed him, Um uh, when we got to the grave and he was you know, we couldn't find it and so, you know, let's call Jim's called him up, you know, and he told us to where to go and we had no clue we were going. We just walked over there.

He got to go there and we didn't know. We've never done it before, and he guided us through the whole thing. And is Jim man's voice. Yeah, even I got on the facetime and said, Hey, Jim, where is this thing? I'm looking at it like a Batman looking structure, Batman building. It is part of the old ruins that are there. And I said, Oh, I know exactly where you are. Make a right turn. It's up against the wall on the right side. It's about equal distance with

that one structure. You're in the neighborhood and I could hear a voice up ahead. I think I found it. I think I found it, and you know that we would have never found this without the help of Jim man's because we're going through. It's a massive cemetery and we said, Hey, does it tell me what? You know what? Here's what I'm looking at. I see this big thing that looks like Lord of the Rings, you know, it looks like a Batman building. He's that perfect. Go to

that and take a right. And then we did that and we keep walking. He said, you can't miss it's along the East Wall. There's this ivory tombstone that's implanted in the wall. You can't miss it. So it was gonna show up a little bit, even under darkness, with a Moonlit Skuy. It just it popped a little bit and someone I could just tell, was running towards it and discovered it. They were like just a bunch of

kids on a treasure hunt. So we keep walking, keep walking, and finally see, you know, the the old Tom Morris, young Tom Moors, great and then we um Taylor's ours are. He was with us. Gave a little speech and well, commemorative thing that we that we we facetime Jim on and sent him. The signal broke up and so he did fall off, but we sent we did a video

while we were there. We sent it to Jim. He he was incredibly appreciative of that and you know, as as you know, he's just Um, in my opinion, the voice of Golf, and for for him too to ask us to do that was was a real honor and I'm I'm really glad we did, because I think all of us were pretty moved by it. Here's the recording of Taylor's speech that night. Old Tom Morris and young

Tom Morris started major championship golf. Jim Nance is one of the greatest voices in American sports history and we're here to pay tribute to our friend Jim Tonight by seeing two of the greatest golfers of all time that gave us major championship golf. And here we are at the edition of the Open Championship, the most historic major ever, paying tribute to the guys that started all of this.

We pay tribute to them and we're thankful for all the people that came after them and whatever happens tomorrow will certainly be significant, but it all happens because of what these guys created. Okay, I'll be in the lobby.

I think it was just powerful to to be standing there, you know, in that moment, and it was funny because Eric always waffles about early morning golf and we were playing Don Barney the next morning at eight thirty, and so I gave this little speech and, uh, everybody was kind of taking in the moment and Eric said, okay, I'll be in the lobby at eight thirty tomorrow morning. A really good tradition. He does it every year and it was it was really cool to keep it going,

you know, and he couldn't be there to do it. So, Um, I didn't know what we were participating in, but I was all in for breaking into own it's very poeted. It was almost psychot of dead poet society where we, you know, demeanor shifted to this more Shakespearean like let's pay homage and read some you know. You had Taylor, whose commentary has got a voice of uh, you know, and it was really kind of stoic how it all happened and meaningful and it was great. It was awesome.

At twelve fifty two their time, they sent me the video of of their escapades and when I saw the video I said indescribably poignant. Brought tears to my eyes. It did. Thanks, guys, thanks to all of you. The tradition continues, I said, at the hundred and fifty open

at the stroke of midnight. FREAKING FAN astick. So for this old soul who's into these kind of connections with the past and bringing it all together, to have some buddies on the ultimate buddy trip go and actually stand in for you and allow you to experience it vicariously, connect me live via facetime, worlds apart, eight time zones removed, had me there live and in person. Very nice gift,

gift of friendship. Golf does that to you. You get to understand it through this game more than any other thing. You can think of, any other endeavor that brings people together. Meanwhile, Mark Eubanks was back tending to the duties of running the Russis hotel. Were you involved in the cemetery trip? Now you could. You didn't go to the cemetery. I

was the q rf for that one. That's the quick reactionary force in the event that there was any issues with them jumping the fence and going to the grave side of old Tom Morris. I said you just sent me a text and there will be a group of people show up that will extract you from the situation. Safely and get you back to the hotel. So No, I was not a part. I saw the picture and I said what is this and they said don't you remember? And I'm like no, I wasn't a part of that.

Woke up in the morning. Yeah, I couldn't move my finger very well get to the driving range of Dumb Barney and uh, I was just like, I can't, I don't know. So I changed my grip and I was able to do it on the fly and ended up shooting seventy seven that day and it was fine, but it's still bleeding a week later. And but yeah, that was that was, you know, one of those moments where

you're with your best buds. It felt like, you know, college or high school getting into something fun, Tom Fleury and and uh so, yeah, Tom Tom Morris's spirit was with us for the whole trip after that. As for a course review, here's on Dum Barney. I can see why there's some chatter about them potentially hosting the Scottish open at some point. It's got very similar vibes to renaissance and Kings Barnes. And you're right, uh, the Greens. You can tell they've had some issues but you can

tell they're also coming back. They were slow, but there they were in much better shape than I thought that they would be in Um and I just have to let layout was beautiful and so different than the old course or any of the St Andrew's courses. And there it's fifteen minutes away. It's just it's neat to be right on the water and have such a different experience than what you would have at at the at the old course. Um and so yeah, I'm absolutely glad we played.

We had a we had a great time there and UM, a couple of great group back to coopermanning. Some guys took caddies and some guys even carry their own bag. Um. I had a great caddy who I literally he had the thickest accident I could. I understood about every sixth word. That's why I played so badly. I've been blame it on him the whole time. You know. Yeah, it's a it's an unbelievable track of land and gorgeous. They had

green trouble. So the Greens were really slow and but you can tell that's got the you know, the makings of Scottish open you know, in the next few years or whatever. I mean, it's just it could get really hard and we had the best weather. I mean everybody we wore. I never, I don't think I ever put on a rang jack the whole trip. I mean we just I didn't know you can wear shorts. Back Times, when I've been a long time ago, they were long pants. It's little more funny wear shorts and a little more.

I mean some people didn't. Church didn't breathe shorts. Yeah, he looked like he was bested as a a polar bear. I mean he was sweating his you know, sweating his tail up. Yeah, Dun Barney, I don't remember very much of done Barney, if I'm being a hundred percent honest with you, but I I remember Saturday was a really long day for me. So Dun Barney I got part of.

I don't I think I I'm not sure. I may have lost money that day too, but I remember getting back and then getting there for, you know, the final round, and that was something we had looked at, you know, all day. We were following along as we played. You know, are they making noise? What's happening here? You know, we were kind of doing that thing. But it was really interesting. I was certain that rory was gonna win. I mean I certain. I would have bet any amount of money.

I'd have bet any amount of money on two things, that tiger would have made the Putt at eight team and he didn't, and Rory would have won, because he just felt like it was one of those things. And when we got back, you know, Um to the to the for the open to watch the final round. The leaders were on the front night. So they had not cam had not made that that launch. Yet you know that all of a sudden everything changed in five holes.

Golf is the hardest spectator sport to watch. You know you you're only seeing the action in front of you and you don't really know what else is happening. So I have a monitor that our engineers had wired into the truck and Um, Tommy Roy, who I'm sure you saw at some point last week, is also staying in the same hotel and he's just mind blown how we created this and he's like this is how did you do this? He's like this is the greatest spot. But

we had we had a program feed out there. Um that Jeremy Davis and Darryl doss are our producers and engineers had had wired for us and so the entire patio was hovering over my shoulder and Carl Paulson's shoulder as there as we're watching the action. You know what is already doing and what is Cam Smith doing and Um. So they're just watching all of this transpire and that was pretty cool. We've got Um, we've got peyton Manning, who was literally stationed between Carl and me. He was

hovering in just trying to watch what was happening. was was awesome. Yeah, Taylor's Golf was not very good on Saturday or Sunday because, hey, I don't think he was supposed to be playing golf. Uh. A matter of fact, when daily posted the picture, that sort of you know, uh made everybody a where, you know, who was playing golf. I think Taylor's boss calling and said, Oh, you know, hanging out playing eight team with John David Day. You know. So,

so much for your pre tournament preparation. But his golf was terrible because he was thinking about am I gonna be back on time? He was checking his watch. So he was a good opponent to uh those first couple of days, let's say that. But yeah, you have to get back and to be able to watch that. And you know, when you when you know some of the golfers vs some of the proms and I played in through the years at Pebble Beach Or, you know, the

memorial sponsored by Work Day. Now I've gotten to know, you know, Rory and and George Speed and Justin Thomas, and so when you see him play, you certainly pulling for him. And look, it was very obvious that so many people were pulling for Roy Matheil Roy at that time, as he had to lead. I was no different. He was staying there at the hotel uh, as was Speith and Thomas, so that was pretty cool and uh, but

it was exciting to watch both those rounds. Are Golf between, you know, watching it alive on eighteen and having a TV and watching the broadcast at the same time. It's funny. We're watching, we have a TV on inside, inside and we also are watching listen to Taylor actually broadcast what's going on. He's got a TV, so we're all kind of looking at his TV and then, you know, looking down watching, you know, what's going on a team and the leaderboard. It was it was Finomal, it was it

was it was so fun. Coop decided to come out in his bathrobe. Everybody else was was out there and you know, Sunday Golf Attire and cook comes out in his russacks bathrobe and he's great looking robes and Brussacks. He's Great White Terry cloth rose with a with a great bad RUSSEC, and I said, shot, I'm gonna wear that down to the I got dressed and just put that on real tight and you can see, and I went down, you know, out there, everybody on the deck.

This is, you know, for four to thirty in the afternoon and you know, Y'all obviously have a different I thought on how you're gonna Watch Golf, and I do. I like to be very comfortable, and everybody want to take pictures out. You were drinking and uh, it was, you know, Cooper coming out in a road that's the least surprising thing that happened on the whole trip. Just say, you know. Then all of a sudden you kind of hear a little buzz about Cam Cam Smith, you know.

You know, hey, he's had three birdies in a row. Hey, he's had four, break five birdies in a row. You know, all of a sudden he's you know, he's one, he's one back and uh so this thing is getting this thing is getting pipe. Taylor is doing his broadcast on the balcony. So we had really we could hear, you know, what was going on on. You know, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen coming up and cam on a Birdie parade. Um It was you know, you just knew. I mean you

were just part of something really special. I used to do some NASCAR work and in the last few years of daylor and Har Junior's career it felt like he was playing a home game every time he was in a race, that everybody in the entire everyone at the racetrack was cheering for him. It felt like you were playing. It was like on the Ohio State or Alabama or Georgia home game in a way, and that's exactly what

it felt like at the open. Rory's popularity has grown so much even this year that now people are chanting his name every time that something good happens on the golf course for him. When he hold that bunker shot on ten on to day to make Eagle, immediately you have all these chants of Rory, Rory, and that carried him around the golf course. No one was upset that Cam Smith won or has anything against him, and everybody said well played, but you're right, everybody was cheering Ferrari

and it was kind of the icebreaker. Conversation that we had with the head pro or anybody on site at the golf courses the next couple of days or the caddies was I can't believe Rory didn't get it done, or I thought he was going to get it done. Everybody wanted to see it Um. So yeah, I think that to a degree it was a bit of a bummer that the last nine holes didn't go the way everybody thought that they would, but to see Cam Smith play that well and and go out and win the

Claret Jug like that still was very enjoyable. It was a remarkable setting. You know, four or five days removed from it, I still got flashbacks going through my mind to be able to be there with those special people, to see Taylor do his craft, to hear the crowd honor Cameron as well as rory. Um, it was. It

was epic. And also rory was staying at the Russacks, so we, you know, behind the scenes, were hoping, you know, if rory one, you know, the party comes back there and we, you know, we'd already rehearsed drinking out of Clara Judd. We had like big you know, I was saving up. I was like this is gonna be the greatest night of my life. You know, upstairs in the room, everybody saw it. So we were, uh, you know, I would say, secretly pulling hard for him. And and you know,

I know Ky. I heard Cam had a really fun, good party at the Old Corps Hotel, which we didn't get invited to. So but when you're Russix guys, you don't get to the saying you you good, loyal ru six year old course hotel. It's it's not Tiger Phil, it's Cama Rory. I mean that's the way it gets. It is thousand percent, thousand per cent. So that being said, I'm not so sure Cooper was cheated out of a party back to Eric Church on that robe. And what came of the night? Were you a part of this?

Cooper coming out in the robe? I wasn't a part of it, but Cooper came out in the road. Yeah, when I when I got there, I didn't know what I missed. You know, Cooper was in a robe and,

you know, debauchery had ensued. A lot of players and other people were on the balcony and he turned into a it turned into a hell of an event and it turned into a decently late night we had that we had to get up pretty early the next morning head to North Barrick and so we didn't have as long of a night as we did, you know, Um,

the night before. So, but it was just a lot of celebration, a lot of you know and again, uh, to be there for an event that's that's that historic and your buddy happens to you know on the hotel and you're with your it just was it's just not something you can ever make up. None of our lives would ever collide like that. Like we're all people that do different things and incredible things and we're all busy and just to get everybody in that spot was just

not something that would that ever happens. And then I got in the road and we have underneath in the bottom of the Rusex. I don't know if you went that bar of a bar down there called one under and I went down there and it was had a girl playing tunes and everybody was in there. Just I went down there and got it. I got behind the bar and started bartending and got into a drinking game

where these people. I'M gonna cut coop off here. We'll get to the drinking game in a minute, but we don't get there without more time with him behind the bar pouring pints. Here's Hasburger on the events that led up to one under. You know that the story was he ended up down to one under curfain drinks right and playing, playing the beer game or drinking games. But

the initial intent was there was some guys. So everything was over right, done the trophy ceremony and the crowds and the crowd just swarmed the eighteenth and then they slowly kind of you know, dribble away and there was some guy who was clearly having his own nostalgic moment, who was just lying down on the eighteenth fairway and he had like a pose where he had his knee up, you know, and his elbow up and he's kind of he's sort of posing and sort of his weird his

weird position and goes I think I'm gonna go lay next to that guy in my bathroom. So he's down there trying to you know, the only way in was to climb the fence and there was no way he was climbing the fence on the bathroom, but I don't think he realized that. So he had to bail on that plan, originally for the original plan, but to get down there, I think he went through the one under and that that's where, you know, that's where it clicked. And so next thing you know he's he's down there

and he was down there before anybody else. Was it just him? You know, the staff at the Russ sex contact me and they're like, Mr you, thanks, we have a problem downstairs in the one under, and I'm like what, what's the problem? Peyton manning is wearing a robe and pouring Biz for free. And I said, well, that's not Peyton, that's cooper and it's okay. How are you gonna Stop Cooper?

That was Cooper Manning, who has, uh, unfortunately, favors me and sometimes doesn't always correct the person when they call him Peyton. You know he will, he will run with that for a little while. He's used to do that back when I was in college. You know, I'm asleep the night before a game he's out at a bar in Knoxville. He's visiting, like Peyton, what are you doing out? He's yeah, you know, we're just playing banderbilt tomorrow. What's the big deal? You know, and he takes the puff

of his cigar. So, you know, not helpful to me. And unfortunately, twenty something years later he's still doing it. I would never wear a robe probably anywhere, much less, uh, in a bar at the open championship. But coope was in his element. He was bartending, he was writing the mix. I was down there, I was, I was taking lots of pictures. There are a lot of fans down there, uh, you know, a lot of Americans, and so I was. I was in the mix, doing my part, you know, socializing,

but I was. I was dressed in golf clothes like most normal people. Back to Ben Weppn, you know, one under the bar on the road, on the on the road. I went down there one night with I was I don't know, Eli and I don't know who else. I think it was just Eli, and we walked down there and couples behind the bar and bartending. No one's surprised. We were just like Ye, take a Tenet over to

Eli for his thoughts. Couch ROB is this? I mean, uh, let's it's saying it's it's not the first time I've seen coople go into a public setting in a row. So I'm not shocked by it. You know, uh, kind of come to expect it. Just went. When's it coming? The best is the best is I'm sitting there with you know, Weaburn, you know, a guy, you know when the GM old Shamus I think, kind of comes up and it's like hey, we we have, we have an issue.

We have a major issue. was that he's like peyton manning is in a row down at one under and he's handing out three beers to everybody. He's handing out pre beers to everybody and like I was like, I don't think that's Peyton, that's that's debbely, not Peyton, and I think, you know, I think you'll be okay. It's definitely that's definitely coops move. He likes to get behind bar and just, you don't know how to make any drinks and you don't know how to take any money.

Maybe some tips, but you know, just, you know, handing out beer, as anybody once one. Yeah, I guess Peyton says he's been pretending to be Peyton. You know his whole line. Yeah, yeah, he did it at Tennessee, he did it. You know, did it to be at old mess. Just got out out on a Friday night before a game and, you know, smoking a cigarette, drinking a scotch, and people like Eli, what do you know, what are you doing? And Coops, we just got Kentucky tomorrow. No,

no big deal, you know. So you know, I was like, I'm like, Hey, you gotta calm down on this. It's it's funny for a little bit. I think image I'm to get in trouble. Coaches think I'm out in the town on a Friday night. We do an interview with the winner of each major. So I had to go as the as the Brits say, get in the queue for for Cam Smith over there near the first tee on the practice putting green and my phone was blowing up saying you're you're missing uh cooper pouring drinks in

his robe at the down. What is it? The Down Underbar? The ONE UNDERBAR? Yeah, and so I hate that I missed that. We we we tried to hustle back after the interview to see it, but we had missed it. At that point he was playing drinking games, I believe. Um, we missed his turn, as as the bartender, but that does not surprise me. Cooper is the life of the party.

My group left me. I hung on there. Played a game called Essen P with a bunch of people, a bunch of uh, you know, Scotland, Americans and Europeans, where you go rounding around and you gotta think of a word that starts that doesn't. You can't say a word it starts with SNP, but it's got to be related to the next word. So, in other words, this guy starts off, he goes uh, donkey, and I say, if I say Dorito, I gotta drink, but if I say,

you know, horse, I'm good. I keep going. But if you say word and so exact when you're sober, exact, like one of the easiest games in the world. But if you say a word it starts SMP and to drink. People could not put say words and started with s. They would say pony, like moron, drink. You know. It was like and so I'm in a road down there, you and this people leave like who the hell is this guy, I think. Think the spot. You take a wrong turn in the spot and wound up in the bars.

What the Hell is going on? But that was a blast. It was a total pivot. I had to do a little I was tired of my group at that point. I was laughing out loud to myself for like an hour and a half yesterday the because I was down the rabbit hole on cooper wearing a robe, going going down to one under porn pines, playing drinking games with the locals. Yea, and he brought that. He brought a great drinking game. I think everybody's everybody's used it since

the SMP, right, SMP. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So funny. So fine. They went to Um. They go to this fair every year um down in Mississippi, and I think he brought it down there too. So it's already it's spreading. He sent me, he sent me pictures of like his yeah, he's brought it to his family together. Yeah, he's UH, he's he's a character, isn't they? Oh my God, I had no idea. Oh Yeah, unbelievable talent. So this is where the trip takes a turn. They're leaving the home

of golf. And now they start the part of the trip that is golf centric. But before they leave St Andrew's and before we segue to part two of this podcast, final thought from weapon. My thought the whole time we were doing this. This is the home of golf. We want this to be the living room. That was it, where everybody comes and they gather and they tell stories and they have a beer and they, you know, talk about history and meaning and like purpose, and that was it.

This was, you know, you said, like my dream when we concepted this and whatever, was like this is going to be the epicenter of the open and it came true. Like this was all manifested through all of these things and I think the idea were like this fell up great and good and connect everybody cared. It was the headspace everybody was in. They were so grateful, they were so glad, they were so appreciative to be there celebrating this monumental occasion in this backdrop, which was really special.

And I think you know, what we tried to do is, you know, you talk about you know something that felt good to you. It feels good to us to write. I mean it's like, you know, Eric doesn't write or make a song. You know what he thinks people want to hear. He does something that feels true and real to him. It's the same idea, you know, in our businesses we build stuff that we really connect to and

hoping that it connects to the broader market. And you know, like you saying that in the seven of set, like that's why we do. You know what we do and you know and the culture that you mean the general manager and mark and everybody, and Philip like they just, you know, they all bought in right. This was a shared mission to bring these any of these hotels, you know, skin, our investors, everybody. This was a shared, you know, idea

that is now living out in real life. and to see an idea from you know, to execution to fruition is super meaningful to all of us, everybody involved. And you're right, by the way, CBS, ESPN, ABC, it didn't matter. Rory Justin Thomas George's speak, like I was just holy ship. I can't, I mean, you couldn't write this, Dude. I

mean you can't see. You couldn't write the script. And here we are, like I swear I thought rory was gonna you know, hit his drive on a teen and make it like I thought I was gonna go in, because like that's how all of these things dude, I'm sitting here like this, this is real. I'm sitting here on the balcony one sixteen with my best friend and this like kind of just, you know, so blown away and, you know, and grateful. At this point, mark eubanks goes off the clock at rue six and he joins the

golf component of the trip. Hassburger is headed home. His final thoughts. Like I said, I left Monday morning and they carried on for another couple of days and at the end of dinner, that's Sunday and eyes exactly what I said. Just thanks for having me. You know, this is and that meant like on all of it right like seven years ago, Ben when you decided that it might be cool for us to partner together. You know, thanks for having me. You know, Peyton and Eli, some

kid that you kind of know. You know, thanks for having me, Eric, like let's like, it's just, it's it's just the appreciate. That's I think that's the coolest part of the whole thing is everyone was having an amazing time and it was fun. It was everyone was so appreciative, you know, and not not necessarily appreciative of of you know, yes, the hospitality and the access and all those things, but just being able to be a part of the whole thing, you know, and it's all one the package together, is

just something that you never never put together again. In part two of this manning brothers ultimate buddies trip podcast, they play over the stone walls of North Barrick. Only a few of them go for it to go in. They have the Perfect Mirror Field Day, which is to say they washed down that famous lunch within infamous drink and they busted up to Royal County Down, which is where, at the base of the mountains of Morn, Eric Church

gets inspired to write a song. He's currently recording a bit of that song that I'll be able to end the whole podcast with Church's version of a song that he wrote about this trip. You know he could do that. His mind is genius and Eric Starts, starts getting an idea and it just the dots get connected really quickly. Put another log on the fire and hears give the time