Joel Dahmen

Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Today I am joined by PGA Tour player Joel Damon. Joel lives down in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is from Washington originally and has been on tour for a couple of years amidst the best year of his career. It's on pause right now, but he will be back out there as soon as golf is back out there. It was fun talking to Joel, one of my favorite follows on Twitter of all the pro golfers.

I miss the green for example, I'm already upset when I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.

And when I find my ball in Arid Egg Frida Egg Friday, Friday.

Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course. Hey, how good is Nick Taylor at Mario.

Kart Legit no joke, like top ten in the world. He's a way better Mario Kart player than he has a PJ. Griblair by far. You can look at he this last week or something on his Twitter.

He put out.

Some of his lap times and they're like no one's even coming close, Like it's it's unbelievable.

So that's that's a legit claim. That is a real thing in Canada.

But yeah, I mean I would be.

You know, I mean, obviously there's maybe somebody else out there who's been playing it for the last twenty five years. But the amount of time that Nick spent, Kevin Spooner spent, was there other roommate, a college sculfer at you dub and then myself, I was a distant third among the three of us. But I still have not met somebody

It is just I haven't.

So Nick and Kevin are way better than I'll ever be, and I'm better than i've I've never raised somebody who can touch me.

It's funny how when you play with somebody that is like really good at something like I haven't. I had a buddy who won a state title in tennis, and playing him in like paddle tennis and ping pong growing up, I would just get waxed. I couldn't even like core points. But then you play somebody else and you're like, you just kill them. But exactly, guys are really good. They just it's like demoralizing playing it really is.

Yeah, we're I mean, it's it is remarkable. I know that Nick has kicked up.

He actually his.

Place here in scott still. He's you know, he's been here for the last but over two or three weeks, and he's.

Moved.

He had to get an old TV that had the proper av jacks, took up the instinct spot. He moved it into the proper living room and he set it up and he has this whole thing just set up just for him and is in sixty four.

So he's been putting time in for sure.

He's getting in peak season.

Yeah, exactly. Now would be a bad time to race neck.

So you what have you been doing with this huge break?

Yeah, you know, I'm I'm pretty good at doing nothing, like one of the best to doing nothing.

So this doesn't really bother me too much.

I mean, obviously I want to be out there playing and competing, but it's great to be home. I got a great black lab he's six years old named Murphy W. I hang out with all the time. He just dropped the ball at my feet actually, so he wants to go outside and play. My wife is unbelievable cook, so she's been cooking a ton. I've been doing puzzles, playing board games. Have not unpacked my bag, so laundry doesn't really happened. I still have the bag from the Players

I feel like I call cornhole bags.

I don't know it's the thing, but I think it's a regional thing, you know.

I feel like golfers are like the best bags players in the world because it's I feel like it's very similar to like pitching, hitting like a pitch shot.

Almost yeah, yeah, sure, I mean, yeah, you could definitely make that argument. I think that a lot of golfers are great at bar games, or you know, I don't have any bar games necessarily, but you know, other other little competitive games that don't require like running or jumping. I think golfers are some of the best athletes at I mean it's you get ping pong, or you get darts, you get bags or cornhole, you get little things like that.

Pretty pretty tough bunch, you know.

You If you take the best golfers, man, I think we'd suck up pretty well across the board.

Anything that doesn't require like speed and athleticism.

Yeah exactly. I mean, uh yeah, I think that's pretty fair. Obviously we can't we can't hold our own on any of those competitions.

But I would put you know, if you took the ten best golfers and you put them against you know, top ten of the other athletes and these smaller sports, I guess I would call him a maybe out a six.

Pack of beer on the side. I think the golfers would be pretty darn good at it.

Yeah, that's I I agree with that. Especially the more beer you put involved in it, it's the better, I guess.

Yeah. I mean I imagine, you know, you get a guy like Kissner or some of those guys. I think Coltons can probably play, and he's retired now, but I imagine Gary Woodland with with the bags would be unbelievable. So you get you know, decent athletes out there, and I mean Rory's out there playing tennis like he's ripping four hands down the line.

I mean that's pretty impressive stuff.

Yeah, I imagine the skill of being good at doing nothing is actually probably pretty valuable as a tour pro because we do.

A lot of that.

Yeah. Absolutely, I feel.

Like that's a misconception, is that, like you guys actually have a ton of time because you can't practice all day long.

No, and rest and recovery is just important as you know out you know, when we're out there practicing all the time, as much as we travel different hotel rooms, always eating out, stuff like that, you have to be really good at doing nothing, whether that's netflix. So we will spend more time working out, you know whatever, spending time with your family. But it's like a lot of a lot of downtime. You know what, if you have an afternoon tea time, then you have all morning do nothing.

Do you prefer a certain draw Do you like going morning afternoon or morning afternoon or afternoon morning?

I like late early, so I like going off yeah, in the afternoon and Thursday and waking up and just playing again quickly Friday.

I think the golf course changes less in that time period.

If you play early Thursday and late Friday, golf course can change a ton in that twenty four hours gets Tinday and we can get firm and fast on Friday afternoon, where Thursday morning is typically the easiest time of the golf course.

You know, everything is still kind of wet and slow.

And but also if you play well Thursday afternoon, all you do is you go home, eat, wake up, and play against So there's not a lot of time to think about it.

You're in a good rhythm still most of the time.

And I like posting early Friday because then you go out later Saturday as well, And I don't know, I'd be really curious. I guess the dad is out there somewhere, but it'd be really interesting to see what my splits are on the waves and see which one I actually could play better wrong, because I feel like I play better late early, but maybe that's not the case at all.

I think that's the better one too, because, like you said, if you play well, you're just basically continuing the round. Like there's nothing better than just getting to keep going. When you're playing well, you know, absolutely, Yeah, the more time you have to think about it, the worst golf usually goes. So any any hobbies that you picked up while you're while you've been doing that, you said, puzzles, anything, Yeah.

So.

The we've been quarantining with the Harkins. Brandon Harkins played on tour for a couple of years and he lives just up the road. So the only people we've been seeing is Brandon his life Rachel. They puzzle like crazy. He also play a lot of dominoes. That's a game we just picked up. My wife and I they've been playing, you know, their whole lives. I was kind of family game for them, but we've been playing dominoes.

That's been fun. It's cars it's very slight.

No, So we've been quarantinating with the Harkins and playing dominoes.

So that's that's a fun way. Puzzlers one right next to me. It is a kind of every city, every major city in every state, so that's kind of fun. It's a great way to pass the time.

Digging into a couple of bottles of wine has been has been nicely. We've kind of gathered a large white collection over the last couple of years and don't drink it a ton.

Uh, So we've been kind of digging into that.

And I've been reading a couple of books, uh, Ryan Holliday, which actually Rory kind of made famous this last year. I actually read The Ego as the Enemy prior to that and The Obstacle Is Away. Those are two books that are pretty popular read. It's some of those. And I can watch Netflix with anybody, man, I can crush the Netflix. So that and between social media and just wasting time.

What are your Netflix recommendations everybody?

Well, Tiger King is obviously uh popular. I probably watched that at this point. I think we're gonna start Ozark soon. We watched My Wife.

It's just garbage, garbage, TV, but it's called the Circle.

I couldn't. I couldn't. I can only do it in small dude.

It is so bad.

But it was like I was looking at kind of on the competitive aspect, they're trying to win the game, they're trying to kind of cap.

Fish each other, whatever the whole deal was.

So that one for me like kind of got me hooked and I just hate that crap, but it was it was pretty funny. But I also watched on Netflix recently, Huh what else? Yeah, man, you can, I like any documentaries anything. I'm a big murderment street guy, so anything along those lines, and mind Hunter is a good one. When we watched recently, Yeah, anything documentary, I'm pretty big into.

That's.

Uh.

They got the Bulls Bulls doc coming up the Jordan.

Yeah that's good. That's coming out what in two weeks? I think, yeah, ten days.

Something like that.

Yeah, that's something I'm excited about for sure. SuperSonics, I know it's Uh.

It was just on the MLB Network yesterday.

I had the ninety five Marriers when he came back from O two on the Yankees in the divisional rounds.

So that was fun to watch that game. Five.

Yeah, thank you pitched that game right.

Well, he came in relief, so he pitched game four, and then he came back on one day rest, uh and pitched like three or four.

He actually didn't pitch that great.

He gave up. He gave up a run in the eleventh, but that's when Edgar hit the double down the line.

So yeah, with that.

But then the ninety six Sonics, man, we were so good Atry Payton, Sean Kent Uh that left Shrimp, Percy Hawkins. We had a crew Nate McMillan, so we were good. I mean we were good probably yeah. Yeah, he was our center of the big easy.

Yeah. We had Ian that was our year.

I mean obviously, you know, Jordan's beating everybody at that time, and I couldn't love in the finals. So it was a little disappointing.

I mean I was still.

Youngest time, but I remember vividly the good years of the Sonics.

Yeah. I got so spoiled as a kid because I had the Bulls when I think we're around the same age, so it's like I grew up with, you know, watching the NBA and the Bulls and they've win every single year and it's just like, and you know, I think we're paying for it now a Chicago fans, we haven't had the best run of sports, but.

Yeah, certainly.

But yeah, the year with with Jordans, I mean when he went ninety two, three four, took.

A year off or.

Yeah, and then came back ninety eight.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was like a sneaky Utah jazz fan.

I know it's probably not allowed, but being a Sonics fan, but I was a huge fan of Stockton. He was a Spokane guy and I grew up not far from him. So you know, they couldn't take down Jordan the bulls. So I'm excited for that documentary. That'll be fun and it'll you know, hopefully give everybody a little bit of hope during this crazy time.

Hey, so talk about growing up in eastern Washington. It's not exactly a hot ad for golfers in general.

Yeah, sneaky amount of guys actually. So Kirk Triplett was from went to high school in Pullman, Washington. Follow that guy, yeah, and then he went to University of Nevada Reno and obviously had a pretty successful career for Jews years now, thirty years probably out there, but.

He was there. Alex Prue is from Spokane. He was a couple of.

Years older than me, but uh, it a guy and then you know, quart off you guys in Seattle area through the years. But where I grew up was two hours south of Spokane, five hours east of Boise and five hours sorry, five hours north of Boise and five hours east of Seattle. So pocket in the southeast corner of the state on the Snakeer River.

It was the lowest spot in Idaho.

It was loose and Idaho and then we were at you know, only six or seven hundred feet so could play.

Golf year round, maybe a week.

Off of snow, but not much fun, fun place to grow up with the outdoors, fishing, hunting, did all sorts of stuff on the river, skiing and jet skiing, and so it was a great spot. I had a little country club I grew up on that was one hundred bucks a month as a family afford to join, and we drove drove my golf cart down there. Uh, played almost every day in the summer, and it was just

You probably had going to junior term as you were always having to travel a ton for that stuff, right exactly.

So my mom was a school teacher, so she had summers off and we would hop in the minivan and we would drive. Almost every event was in Spokane for a lot of the beginning of the year, and then the bigger.

Turments were was in Seattle, so two hours.

We'd drive up in the morning, play, come back in the evening, and then Seattle.

Yeah, we'd have to make.

The five hour trek over there often for every type of state tournament or qualifiers or anything that was you know, bigger than.

A regional deal.

We did.

We did a lot of traveling in the minivans for a long time.

Not to bring up a sore subject, but you know, I'll relate. I flunked out of college. Yeah, nice, and obviously it completely changed my life. Like it was like a moment in time were at a you know, relative young age. I kind of had a like wake up moment where it's like, what the what the hell are you doing? Did you went through something just like that? How did it kind of change the way you approached golf in life in general.

Yeah, it's I was from a small town, you know, at ten thousand people in my town, and I was a big fish and small pond and had a lot of people looking out for me. As soon as I went to you Dub over in Seattle, I was just another human on a massive campus in a huge city. And I was not ready for that. I you know, I was struggling with the passing of my mother. I lost my mom a year and a half prior, so I was just a lost kid who.

Kind of took everything for granted.

And I really enjoyed the social time at you Dub.

I was pretty good at that. I was.

I was a coordinator for a lot of my friends, made sure that we all have fun on the weekends, and for me it was sometimes midweek as well. I was plenty smart, like I didn't have any problem with I just didn't really go to client. Didn't think I needed to go to class. I thought it was this

Really. I wasn't even really playing golf. I was just kind of hanging out and being a lazy bumb So.

After the money ran out, which didn't take very long, I was a little bit of a wake up call of what the heck am I gonna do with my life? And you know, you I could go back to school, but that didn't seem very fun. Or I could try this golf thing out, and so I rounded up some money and tried.

Well.

I didn't want a job, so I tried pretty hard. Luckily it all worked.

Out for me in the end.

But man, at eighteen to twenty twenty one, twenty two, I was I wasn't doing much productive in my life.

I had kind of the same thing. It wasn't like the school that was the problem. That was like getting to school that was.

The problem exactly.

And you just like that's why, you know, I ended up going back. But that's why I always tell people, it's like, all you have to do is go to class. In college, if you go to class, it's impossible to not like pass.

Yeah, if you just turn If you go to class, you just turn in this souf you're supposed to turn in.

No matter how happy it is, they're going to get you out of there. Yeah. I was.

I remember it was my first thing in whatever three weeks in we had to turn in like a ten ten page paper and I had never written anything like that in my life. And I had no idea what it was doing. To have tutors to help us, and we had all to help me get I just just.

Figured out whatever.

In high school, I could kind of get by the teachers liked me, and I could scribble something down and get by. But college you just have to show up and do a little bit of work. And they give anybody a degree if you get out of it. But you just have put in your time. And I wasn't willing to do that, that's for sure.

Do you think that you went through this period where you weren't doing much, You were you were hanging out probably you know, partying and everything, and that then when you were young pro trying to make it it actually helped you because you had already like gotten some stuff out of your system.

Uh. Yes and no.

So it helped me be able to compete at a high level while still partying was the problem. Uh. My sponsor was incredible for many years. He always funded whatever. You know, I was good enough of golf to kind of keep it afloat for a couple of years and played on the Canadian Tour and did find up there and played played pretty well the mini tours everywhere I went, state opens and stuff.

But I didn't take it. I mean the money.

I had my bills paid and I had enough money to have some beer at the same time. So it wasn't tell the guys that was better than around me. For a couple years, We're moving onto the Web Tour and on the PJ Tour and I'm like, whoa wait, I'm better than you, Like why are you out there?

And I'm not so.

A couple of years before a wake up call happened, you know, cancer for being dined with cancer help with that as well. That was a little okay, dude, maybe you should probably take this more seriously and not waste the opportunity you have. You know, you don't how long the opportunity to the window golf is going to stay open.

I guess you.

Kind of lived a lot of life early in life, you know, in a way certainly, Yeah, tweet everything with it rise obviously, what going from many tours Canada, Web Tour, PGA tour, did you feel like, what's the difference at each level? I guess, and how you felt does it take it? Did it take time to acclimate and and really start to feel comfortable at each level or did

Yeah?

I always felt comfortable in the Canadian tour. I just wasn't super sharp.

I had to, you know, just get a little bit better at everything kind of deal. I always hit the battle kaye chipped and putted okay, but Canada was just kind of just sticking to it and you know, grinding it out a little bit and staying patient up there, which is hard to do. But felt okay on the Web Tour now the corn Fairy Tour, I guess. But I did okay out there first year, hung around. I didn't feel overwhelmed because there wasn't you were playing with

I don't.

It took a long time. The rookie year, I had no sense of belonging. I didn't think that's good enough. Only got to play in sixteen events because I was playing poorly, and then you know that the numbers didn't work out for me very well. Then luckily got my card back through the Web Tour finals, so I got into a crack at it and started to show some promise on a little bit better golf and got more comfortable out there, and about halfway through the year, I was skinted, picking it up a little.

Bit and feeling like I compete.

And then I went on a nice run in the summer of you know, I finished fifth and then second, and then I get another top ten the week after that.

So it was like a really good run that let me know.

That I could compete out there and hang around for a long time, and what I had was good enough. So I mean, it probably took me thirty events before I felt okay on the VJ Tour like I should be out here week in and week out.

I can't compete, you know, with.

With most of these guys, and then, uh, you know, getting better a little bit too helps, But for me, it was it was thirty events.

It was a year and a half before I feld okay out there about.

Actually showing up to events knowing I could compete, knowing that I could be out here a while, and to get colpful with it.

I imagine at every level you're you're seeing people like your peers that you've played with your entire life, and then it becomes smaller and smaller every way every step up, and then that you get the PGA Tour, and there's so few of them around. It's so exactly so a few familiar faces, uh being you had your status when

Yeah, that was really tough. In the year that I came in, it like.

In the fall of sixteen was my rookie year, and the numbers were absolutely forever reason. I don't know exactly why, but nobody on the web was getting any starts and I definitely wasn't. So I only played two events in the fall. I got into my rookie year. I got into Sanderson Farms, which is a half point event, and I got into RSM Sea Island, So it's two events in the fall. I missed both cuts. I only got

And I got into Pebble Beach, which.

Everyone gets into because it's a big field with three courses and.

You're playing celebrity that yeah, yeah, exactly, so I exactly.

I played in two proms, so four events through the West Coast Swing, and I made a cut at Pebble, but I finished.

Like last so through like February, and then I didn't.

I saw it was bttom in the web list because I started the bottom made one cut, and then I didn't get anything in Florida. That's another four weeks off, and I finally got into Puerto Rico, which is a half point event again, and I think I got into Valero maybe. So I had like six events through like March, which is just brutal and when you only made one cut.

Yeah, and then and then you're it's it's mid June or late June, and you're so far down. You got so much pressure. Every time you may make a starts like I better play really well. I gotta I've got to get three hundred and fifty fed X Cup points

Yeah.

I don't know how many actually categories there are on the PDO Tour like.

Exemption or whatever, but there's a ton. I don't know if there's too many. I don't know how to make it more fair.

I don't know how to get my.

More guys more starts, but it's not easy, and the answer is better, But what if everybody plays better, then that's it's still unfair to somebody. So I wish I knew the answer. If you made fields bigger, if you because you know you have daylight for daylight problems for for half the time.

So you go to two courses on some events. It's tough.

It's it's a lot harder once you can keep it's harder to keep your card.

It's harder to get.

On the tour than to keep your card, but it's even harder to keep your card the first year. Once you can do that, then you can set your schedule a little bit and you already know what you're doing and you can kind of plan it around and be okay.

It's the hardest thing in the world, is rookie to keep your card.

And then if you win, it's really hard to lose your card.

Oh yeah, then you get into you get into all the invites, you get in.

Some bigger stuff. I call it the PGA Tour and the PGB Tour.

The PGA Tour is top fifty in the world where you get in all the majors, You get into the WGCs.

I mean that is really you. She get in the top fifty. It's hard to drop out of the top fifty.

You can cruise and hang in there for a long time. Now it's really hard to crack that top twenty. You got to be really golf in your ball. But you see a lot of guys hanging between thirty and fifty for a long time, you know, and that's it's just hard to be. The other thing is, if you're a guy like me as a journeyman, if you I have the divisor of.

The world rankings, I don't really know how it works, but I have fifty.

We're always playing every event we can to keep our status and to keep going.

So now our divisor's fully maxed out.

Or maybe there's some guy who only has forty events on there, so he's devising by less events and he gets more points per event.

Yeah, and there, and he is a floor in some of those events. Like say he's a guy that plays a hero and like automatically gets the equivalent of a top fifty in a regular event.

Right, which is easy to bitch and moan about when you're on the outside.

But if I get there as soon as I get there, I'm like.

Yeah, this is great, this is totally fair, and you are making all the money and you're doing whatever you want.

And he satisfied contracts, and like.

I get it's I don't I don't know how to change his system. I know the tour is working on revising the world ranking system to make it more.

Pg T or heavy or I guess more equals what they're trying to do.

There's a lot of guys maybe who play other tours, who are getting more points in some events that maybe just don't quite add up. I know that's kind of been an off and on squabble. It's kind of fun to see on social media when somebody calls out a year tour player, a guy from you know, plays at Japan too, or something like that. But I always enjoy those. I don't know, you know how, I'm not smart enough.

A couple months ago. It was ranked like two hundred and fiftieth in the world, and it kept his card for five previous seasons. On two or the one win. Like, man, that's pretty hard to do.

It wasn't like lighting it up every week, you know, and he would maybe finished one, you know, around one hundred and one twenty.

Five for a couple of those years.

But man, I'd be hard pressed if some guys more consistent for that over five years. It was all the way down to two fifty in a world, so little things like that where I think that hopefully they fix it and maybe make it more player's.

Not the right word, but maybe better for a guy like me.

This is a question I always think about this a ton is as a player, do you admire your peers that are seemingly always in the mix but win very little or the guys that you know win a lot when they but they aren't necessarily they're guys that kind of pop up and win, but then they're you know, they might miss some cuts.

And so it's weird how the PG tour works out, so it doesn't actually give you bonuses for being consistent, Like if you just finished consistent fifty to twentieth, it really doesn't get you that far on tour. You need like top five, top tens are good, but you'd really need like top fives and wins are.

Obviously through the roof or even that top two or three.

So I think it's really impressive to have like ten top twenty fives in a year, or if you have like seven or eight top tens in a year is awesome.

But maybe you don't crack it.

You know.

It's it's really hard to win. It takes some luck, you know, it takes a bounce here there, You got to make a pun at the right time, and sometimes it just doesn't happen, and you can't. The harder you push for that, you know, or you can't naturally try and win a golf for I guess, so I'm impressive the guys who are consistent, who really weak in and

I I always think about like Louis U Sason with him and majors, he's he's people are always going to look he's gonna be like, oh no, PGA Tour wins, only one major win, you know, ten wins around the world. But you think about like the last twelve years of majors, he's been a factor in probably twelve to fifteen major championships where.

He's finished second, and every one has any second players as well.

It's like if a bounce goes one way or another way, or putt falls, he's gonna he might have three majors.

You know.

It's just a crazy thing about golf is especially now we have this break, Like you know, you I feel like everybody in golf media, including myself, has been looking back at like historic tournaments and you just start to see these guys that pop up all the time, and you're like, you know, this guy's got this many wins, but this guy was way more present and more big

I'll say the Open Championship was the coolest event I've ever played in.

By Miles, the vibe over there, I shouldn't say the vibe, the.

Feelings over there, the crowds we had on Tuesday Wednesday, we flew in, got their Monday afternoon, you know, kind of unpacked and went out for like a late ninth hole and the sun was up at like ten thirty.

We're playing in eighteenth Pole.

It was back at Northern Ireland for the first time in fifty or sixty years, an incredible golf course. Like for me, that was my first time ever crossing in the Atlantic. I had never been over there before, so like it was just like mystical, magical, amazing experience. I didn't play very well, but I think it was just too caught up and having fun. Like I had a four iron to like forty feet on a tough hole and they all clapped like it was awesome.

I'm like, oh, yeah, you guys appreciate this. Where you like stuff three When I'm a part five on tour and no one cares, it's like sweet.

So like that experience for me was incredible. There's more people like Beth Page was fine. There's a lot of people out there and it's a big tournament, but like when you're cruising around in thirtieth and I think I eventually finished. I shot a million on Sunday, but it's just more people around.

I didn't feel like the PJA was all.

That special, which it's probably terrible of me to say, but like the players of me and figure in the PGA. But the US Open at Pebble was awesome, but I feel like they didn't let them any fans in compared to what they could have. Maybe logistics was kind of a pain in the ass around Pebble because it's just such a tight area.

Like I rented a house.

Not far from the I mean, like I do every year for at and T and it took me an hour to get to the golf course.

Like speed forw Seneticker all had to hop out of their cars.

Jump a fence into the property of the golf course, catch a shuttle to get to where it's going. Only when when I got to the golf course only in thirty minutes to warm up on my first round because it was so like a bust had like route like crashed or something like on the only route end of the golf course and it was a mess.

So that.

But Pebble Beach is my favorite place on Earth for golf, and I think it's just me. And we had perfect weather that week for most.

Of the week.

But I just felt like the US Open was my first one. I was so happy to do, but I just felt like it'd be bigger and it's like better, Like everything's good about it, but I just felt like it'd be more. I would have more feelings all the way around the golf course the way I had feelings at the Open Championship all the way around the golf course.

Did was that it sounds like so like the Open. Was that you played in one US Am? Was that like when you played in the US Am when you're a kid, like I feel like that would that would be like an elevated experience almost absolutely?

Yeah, well yeah, by far, I mean for a kid who only really played on the West Coast, Yeah, to play at Pinehurst and lay in US M, it was you felt like, you know, was hitting pro v's in the way Tree felt like a you know, a very big time event, which it is. You know, I think

Uh with the with the links goff and playing the Open. Did you did you like the style of golf was? Did it was it? Did it feel different and you know than your regular tour tour golf?

Yeah, of course.

I mean most of the time here in the States, we're just flying it to a number and it kind of stays around that number. I love when the ball bounces, the runoffs around the green. You hit so many different shots around the greens. You can putt it or hybrid it or you know. Sometimes over there there was enough room and the greens were soft up where you could lie it around the greens and spin it a little bit. But the winds blow in different angles all the time.

I have a blast. Thing you have to think around, You have to think on every shot of there, where's this all gon.

To run can it run into the bunker, because if you hitting a bunker up there, you just have to wedge it out. So I had a blast with it, I hope. Unfortunately, I think it just got canceled, That's what it sounds like. And I just qualified for it again this year, which I was super excited for.

So I'm hoping I can.

Get over there and play play some more golf if I continue to play well here in the States and maybe get over there for two or three more events a year, and I would really enjoy that.

Yeah, doing like that the Scottish Open before.

Yeah, exactly.

You could do like this the Scottish and the Irish or something like that, and play the Bridge as well.

It would be a really fun couple of weeks over there for sure.

Talk about, you know, the difference when you're you talked about how you're like at the PGA you're just plotting along, uh in you know, in thirtieth and the difference inside the rope feel at when you're when that's going on versus when you're you know, contending, Like you had a really good week at at the Players last year.

Yeah, well, no one's really at bath Page last year.

I think, yeah, it was probably like if I had a good round on Sunday, I think, you know, maybe I.

Shoot even I could have moved up to like a top toolt or something like that, so it would have been nice.

But yeah, it's just I don't know, you feel like you have to play perfect golf in that situation.

For me at bath Page last year, I could miss a fair way because then I'd have to chip it out.

There's no way I could advance towards the green.

It was just like continue to just beat the crap out of you for four days. And it was certainly favored towards bombers that week, and I'm definitely not a bomber, and there was just no.

Way around it the way you know, the rains came in.

Unfortunately, it was wet, it was cold. It was just a kind of a bad combo for my golf game that week, where and you're plotting along out there and you're.

Like, I don't know, there's no you don't have the juices going.

Where at Sagrass you always feel like you can make a birdie or you can get it going, you know, and there's there's fans out there watching. I played with Jim Ferick on Sunday at the Players we shot sixty to four or five, I don't know which, maybe even sixty three, you know, to only lose by one, and it was incredible. You know, it's kind of his home e vent He's been a h resident in that area for a long time, so that was incredible to watch him and be a part of that.

It's neat too because Rory wins that and Furic, who's probably one of the shortest h on tour, finishes second. And at beth Page I did a podcast with Jeff Ogilvie before and he was like, listen, somebody whoever's going to win here is going to be one of the guys that flies at three hundred, because if you don't fly at three hundred at beth Page, you don't have a chance. And I think that's one of the you

Absolutely, and I love that where I gain.

I think I'm like top twenty five right now and driving strokesy and driving, and I very average in link because courses like that where a lot of guys have to hit a two iron off of tee or lay, I'm going to hit my driver down there because they hit it straighter and I can get it down there further than a lot of guys where you know it pinches in for them.

But I'm still gonna run it down.

There past them where they have to hit hybrid off the t or something like that. But sawgrass makes you think all the time, especially into the green. You have to hit it in the right spots and all the part fives are reachable, but there's trouble around them, which I think is awesome instead of just you know, they're pretty generous off to tea for the most part. And then you have to make sure you position it properly

If you have good weather that.

Week and a little bit of wind, it would just play unbelievable that week. And I think that's why Fritish Open. I won't say sometimes you get a fluke winner, but you know you get guys who can hang around leaderboard for a long time and plot their.

Way around if they're playing the correct type of goal.

What What are some of your other favorite courses that you guys play.

I'm a big fan of Colonial.

It's fun, it's tree lined, greens are tiny, so you have to you have to be pretty precise in the greens there as well. You can't really overpower, so The part with that is everyone hits it kind of the same spots in the fairways, no matter what clip you're hitting off the tea. But hilton Head's always fun. I mean, I think DJ is leading through fifty four holes there last year. So like a you know, a bomber can play there versus ct Pan, who's you know, kind of a short guy, you end up winning.

Anybody can compete. I like the Travelers is a great golf course. I think you can get you know, everybody can kind of compete.

Valast Bars one of my favorites in Tampa, especially when it gets firm and fast.

I think eight under seven hundred one last year. I think those are.

A ton of riv is. I didn't think I could compete at riv but it got firm and the sun came out and the wind blew, and that made it awesome because you had to play the bounce a little bit. You had to control your golf ball and the green. You couldn't just fly it to wherever. So it's a

Yeah. That I feel like you get some of the craziest weather of Vallero, Like, oh.

Yeah, you'll get it all absolutely for sure.

Some I mean you'll get some massive hailstorms and you feel like tornado's coming, and then you know, I think last year was beautiful in like eighty five all weeks.

So it's a little bit of mix everything.

Yeah. The uh that course you can make big numbers too, with that ship all around it all over the place.

Yeah, they're doing a better job of clearing that out too, So it's a little more playable than it has been in the past.

But yeah, if you're not driving it well or you're gonna shoot a million.

Yeah, So what are your your best friends growing up? Is your caddye Gino, Yeah, getting he's gotta do the wrap on on social media.

So icon, Yeah, it's pretty funny. I mean it's it's an outlet for him just to kind of be himself.

And he's he's a goofball. He has a ton of fun.

He comes up with crazy ideas all the time and most time he just throws them out there for the world and they think it's pretty funny.

So we were like, he grew up.

He's four years older than me, but he grew up on the loose in side of the river outside of where I should say in Lewiston. And he was a good player, as they say TV. He was a good player in his own right.

He went he got his PGM degree. Uh yeah, that's right, you have professional golf management.

And he went to worked in Saholly for a bit Seattle and realized he didn't like golden shirts and didn't get to play as much as he flagged.

And so he went and got a desk job back home and his wife ended up getting a pretty good job.

And when I got out on the web tour, he's like, Hey, I'm gonna come caddy for you. And I'm like, you are crazy because he don't make any money. Uh, you know, I have no idea how good I am out here. I don't know what's going to go on, and so.

He stuck by you by my side.

We're on our year six and it's been really fun to have him out there. It's nice to have a guy who cares about me more than just you know, the golf shots I hit.

Actually married my wife and I last December.

So that was a lot of fun to have him, uh, to be a part of that and just been a super great guy who's who cares about me a lot. And I'm lucky to have him. And he does a great job on the bag as well. I mean he's not just he's not just a funny guy. Actually can add them subtracks and numbers for me too.

I I mean, being a good player probably helps too, and having known you for a long time helps because he knows your game. And obviously any keddy when you carry for somebody for a long time, you're going to know their game. But I imagine that it's really nice having somebody that you can talk to about anything you know from like pert because it's like you know, if you if it's just as strictly a work relationship, then it's hard to get your mind off things when a rounds going one way.

Absolutely, and he's I mean we come up with everything to talk about. I mean very not often when we talk about golf out there unless we have to be so just nice, you know, he's.

He's super close.

To my wife. We have a lot, you know, all of our friends are kind of the same, so we we really enjoy chit chatting about that.

But yeah, it's it's nice because.

He he knows how I'm feeling, like I don't have We don't have to talk about it. He can kind of tell about how I'm feeling and which way we're going to go and.

Under the gun like he can.

It kind of lets me go a little bit more and doesn't hold the reins as much, which is always nice and just a nice It's great to have your friend on the bag when you know, sometimes you shoot eighty and you can laugh about it.

And other times when you're trying to win the golf tournament, is.

Really nice to look next to you and know the guys have as much fun as you are, and you know you kind of in this together and just yeah, I don't think I could do it with a business relationship. I would always need a friend out here because you spend so much time with him.

You spend you know.

Six eight hours a day, four or five days a week, and that's more than I spend with my wife when I'm on the road.

So you need a guy. You get along with the guy. You're gonna have fun with the guy. You can keep it light and fresh.

I know a lot of time, it's easy for it to get stale, and that's why you see a lot of guys break up.

After a year or two or three years. It's just like, man, I just need something new.

Because we've talked about everything we could, and we FaceTime each other almost every day during this quarantine of what he's doing, what how his family's doing, with this kid's doing.

So like yesterday he played left handed.

H tried to I set a line at one hundred and ten and he played left handed shot one o six.

So he snipped me there.

And we always make little bets back and forth on everything we do, so it's it's a lot of fun.

Do you as a player, I always wonder do you ever like when you're standing over a pot or a shot, do you ever think like, uh, if I do this he's gonna make a lot more money than if I do this has that like I always.

Well, we talk about it because yeah, I don't know if your business mode've probably been talking about it, but we talked about all the time I give him. I tell him he gets paid way too much. I go, dude, you have the easiest job in the world. Do you get to hang out with your best friend and I'm a cool guy. You get paid a ton of money because we're playing well. And I go and I hardly ever practice, like I don't not going to the range

With me on the golf course. And yeah, we talked all the time, like, hey, what's this pow work. He's like, it's probably worth like fifty grand. I'm like, I mean you get like or of it like this this is disgusting. This is like this is paying for your house for like five months. And this goes in and he laughs and we have.

A good time about it, and like you know, it's easier when things are going well.

But uh, the first year's on the web, the first year on the webb, he lost.

Money there, Like I just couldn't even imagine.

It's yeah, So, I mean that was weird. We were splitting room.

We just we split everything that year did as cheap as possible. I think I barely broke even on the web, so we definitely lost some money. And then the second year when he got my card, I think he only made like twenty gre so like that's not going to pay the bills.

And then you know, even rookie year on tour was pretty slim. Uh. And since at that point we've we've done pretty well.

But he put in some real lean years, uh for you know, for it to be good times now.

But he was willing to stick it out.

I think he always believed in me more than I probably believed myself.

When I was younger.

And now that we're kind of, you know, on the same page. But he put in his time, that's for sure.

He didn't just.

Pop up when when things are going well, which is exactly what he told to me, you know, six years ago.

Is it Are there any terms that you like are rounds that shots that you always look back and think about.

Gino does it all the time. I So the more I've played, the better I've got in.

My career, the less I've done that. I mean, I remember shots like in high school and junior.

Golf I hit way more than I do, Like, oh man, that was.

A sweet golf shot. I hit under the pressure out here, like that's saying it my first time. Really, I wasn't incantation of John Deere. But it was my second year. Michael Kim was winning by seven or eight or something, so it wasn't even in the golf tournament, but it was, you know, second place was a huge deal. And hitting a left bunk on eighteen on the at John Deere and I'm not.

A great family bunker player, and I had the worst lie.

It was blowing my feet and I had to hit a big hook and I was like, you know, we just laid up and make five, you know, like just trying to protect like a fifth or sixth or something. And he's like, man, I'm like.

Let's let's go for like, let's let's pull this thing off.

I hit probably the best shot, I mean, probably the best shot I've ever hit.

Hit this big sweeping hook that went you know, I thought I actually was flying.

It came up like forty feet short, but under the gun it was unbelievable golf shot, and it was one of those we kind of high fived each others, like did that just actually happen? And then you know, he had the two puttets still, which fairly snuck that one in. But I remember some stuff from high school that was like, man, I can't believe I've never hit.

That shot now that I like pulled off through the trees.

And you know, it's kind of fun stuff like that when it obviously didn't nearly.

Matter as much.

But Gino's really good at recalling every shots if it scared him to death, or if he thought I was being an idiot and still let me do it, or or times that you.

Know, you'd get me some bad numbers as well, which I remember those. Yeah.

I mean, as as a caddy, probably, I mean it's harder, I think, watching golf than playing golf, Like if you're if you're caddying for somebody or you're watching a friend, it's just it's like nerve wracking to watch.

I caddied for Gino two three years ago now in the US mid Am qualifire. I knew he was like a toos for sure. If he played well, he would be right there. You know, it's a small section, Idaho. There's how many guys there, and he's one of the better players and I was.

Not. But that was a first time I've caddied.

For you know, buddies in the past and kind of goofed off and stuff, and that was like, man, I really wanted qualify for this, and he.

Buried his first three holes and.

I was just out like having a grand old time, Like like I wasn't even cadding. I was just carrying the club, setting him down and letting him do whatever.

And all of a sudden, like.

Like I could tell like he got nervous, and then I got nervous, and then he like made a terrible three point bogume Like what are you doing? Like this is like you could just see I couldn't handle it, and he he was choking hard down the scratch and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Like you try to give him the proper club, the proper line, You try to talk him through it, and then you can just see him like scared hit the ball and I'm like, is this what I look like?

He's like yeah, and I'm like, oh crap.

So being on that side of it is good at times as well.

But thankfully he got it out a tough par in the last and qualified by one for that.

But I kind of what my wife goes through, especially when we were struggling a little bit and actually needed the money, and like.

She quit her job to travel with me.

On tour, and like the pressure she's feeling us prayer, but the nerves, Like she all she does is love me and support me, and she has to watch this like go down. So that's gotta be super hard. And I'm glad that I'm playing and not watching, because that'd be like I can't imagine if my son or you know, I don't have kids yet, but if my kids grow up to be like a great athlete or something like, watching them has gotta be the worst thing in the world.

Yeah, I always say so. I I used to play a lot of midamn stuff, and I'm like, I'm a snorkeler and you guys are nuclear subs. So like if I get off, if I get off to a hot start, my my my snorkel tubees going under the water and water is just gonna rush in eventually, and I'm coming up prayer and it's like you guys just go and then you just keep going down further and further. It's like you're you guys get uncomfortable when you're around par and it's like the ninth.

Hole, right, because we gotta make berries. We gotta go.

Yeah, and if we if we're like two under, we're like, uh, I other protect this two.

Under three right exactly.

That's there is a there's a line for everybody, whatever it is. I mean, like you feel you feel un comfortable at some point, and uh, it's not like you automatically like Tiger's the only one. He's like, guess broke through it. But I guarantee you he's still nervous and fell uncomfortable at times, but you know he's he's.

Battled through it.

Where that was a thing for me is like once I realized that the guy's around me in contention, I don't know if it's Rory or rom or whoever. Dude, they're nervous too, and they're like they're playing for I'm playing for money, and you're going to be great to win a couple of times and playing for kind of career they're playing for like a legacy type thing of winning all these tournaments and winning majors and building that like Hall of Fame career type thing.

They're just as nervous as.

As I am, and they care about it just as much, and they're I wouldn't say worried about it, but they're you know, they get nervous over the same gulf outside, so you know, kind of they put on their pants the same way we do type of thing. But that was a good lesson for me as well. It's like, damn, like they're worried about the t shirts same as everybody else is. So yeah, it should help the lesser players or the guys not as well known, like suck it up and get it done.

How much did that you talked about that deer finish where you you it was like one of your first top ten, top five finishes. How much did that help you the next time you were in that area, like, because then you went like last timmer you went on, you had just kind of a string of them where you you know, for five weeks you were six weeks you were just in contention every single week.

Yeah, it certainly helps.

You started, you start expecting to see your name around there, and you want to see your name there.

So you.

I mean, I'm a big believer that you kind of play to whatever you think you're going to play too. If you're trying to make cuts, you're gonna be around the cut line if you're you know, the best players always think they should be in the top ten, so that's what they do. Like if you I thoroughly believe that I, if I play solid, there's no reason I should be, you know, consistently around that top ten point. If I played hout well, then I'm gonna be around

So once you.

Instead of everybody has goals to go to their ceiling everybody, but there's a floor that everybody has as well, and most people are gonna end up at the floor.

Not many.

Oh everybody wants to win this and do that or get the tour championship. But if you get if you're like man, I would be really bummed. If I didn't finish top fifty on this year's Best.

Cup, that's probably where you're gonna end up closer to that number. So I think that wherever your floor is, if you're okay with.

Top twenty five, you're probably gonna finish top twenty five if your floor is top ten, so you're probably going to find a way to do that as well.

So it start of, you know, when seeing your name up there, you start.

Feel more comforble, get more comfableround like cameras.

Honestly as well, when you start making more money, like you don't worried about making money as much. It's a huge deal when you're like, all of a sudden, maybe like get rive this year. For me, I was in the fairway on eighteen.

I thought I was one back at the time I need to make Bertie had a great drive and I went after the back left pan at riv because I thought I needed to make a three. I didn't realize Scott had thirty seventeen. I don't think he had yet actually, and I was like, man like, this is my chance, and all of a sudden, like I lived out like a five footer for par which would have kept.

Me T two, but I missed it. I dropped down in T.

Five.

And in the past I've been like, oh my god, like I maybe would have hit a nine rod and thirty feet out to the right and two putted to save you know whatever it was two or three hundred thousand dollars. But for me, it was more important to go after the w and you know, stand up to it and hit the golf shot that was required at the time. So I felt better about it than I ever have at that point. And you know, those guys who have all.

The money in the world will never have a money problem.

Like they're so easy to free wheel it and go after some golf shots down the stretch that a lot of guys are maybe just protecting from par and just kind of hanging onto that two five thing.

So that matters a lot as well.

It's interesting to think about from like the mentality standpoint, because once once you play on tour long enough and have enough success, the money aspect becomes not there's not as much pressure associated to the money as there is to the finish right, to the just the.

Exactly right exactly that no, you're totally right. It's and for me the first time in my career where I mean I finished second a couple of times, but I really had a chance to win. Like I had a putch tight lead on seventeen. I hit a good you know, the part five whatever, so I had a chance to tie lead on seventeen.

I'd never felt that before and that was a big moment.

But I felt okay there, like I felt like, oh this is you know, I can do this eighteen stripe to drive and was willing to go after it. And because I was okay if I screwed up and made like I was okay with it. And that's a hard place to get. You know, I don't have massive endorsements off off off the course, I.

Don't have.

I'm not pulling in those type of figures. And you know, I've been a journeyman forever.

You're thirty two, that's not a journeyman.

Well compared to what you see now, you have like more Kawa, and you have Wolf and you have even like Ricky and JT and these like it's weird. I don't know, like it's mind bolving to me. You know, they just come out at twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. They're signing million dollar deals in they're winning majors in there, cruising it and like that's great.

You know, they are the top ten in the world.

But I think I feel like it's it's there's been like this recent phenomenon that's like shifted the like you think about like Kevin Kissner. Kevin Kisser didn't get on tour until he was like twenty seven twenty eight, and

Yeah, you know you're you're totally right, like unless you're you know, Mark how is like probably the best ball striker on tour.

If not, you know, he's for sure top five, and.

The way he just appears all the time, so you don't have to putt great where Wolf is a bomber type of thing, or you have these other guys where they have these unbelievable skills or they hit it super far so they can make up for a lack of this somewhere along the way where I think kiss guy's pretty similar. He's a way better partter than I am. But he's pretty steady, not overly long, it's it pretty solid all the time. When he puts well, he's he's competing,

So for I had to improve a little bit on everything.

Over the course of five six years ago on tour, where a lot of these guys already have two or three skills that are good enough to get out there, and they can kind of mass their weaknesses a little bit because they're so dominant one area, which is driving the ball mostly now the way you can drive a golf ball.

And overpowered golf course, if you hit it far and straight, you can get away with a lot of stuff.

Yeah, it's like Champ is so long that he's just going to run into win every year.

Yeah, he can't if he drives a ball consistently. He does, and then all of a sudden he pits a couple irons close and he huts it decent. He can't not win once.

Through twice a year. Yeah, he just says, too big of an advantage, so.

The only way to get through. It's crazy. I mean it is, so I'm really used to it. But sure, it's just like the fact that you can't touch anything. It's just crazy to me.

It is.

Yeah, it's like for me, luckily, I can just.

Sit at home and kind of do nothing. We have everything we need here.

But my wife's going a little stirt crazy, so she's been having a couple extra SIPs of wine at night. That's for sure, to to get away.

From it all. Sometimes we start a little early in the afternoon, but it's when it's eighty degrees outside you want to see on your patios. Not too bad.

Yeah, that's they I don't know. It's gonna be crazy to see when when you guys come back.

Yeah, it's gonna be a while too.

I think sounds like it anyways, so hopefully it's sooner rather than later.

They should. Honestly, they should be sending like five camera men and you guys should be doing like matches in Scottsdale.

And so we've talked about that and we almost had one kind of going. They put us in lockdown, but courses still open. We talked about doing a simulator match Scott Stowe guys, get five scotts Stoe guys against five guys in Jupiter and have Scott still against.

Jupiter and then you can do maybe the winner of that would.

Play like the Vegas team and then maybe a team in Dallas or something like that where you play indoors simulator but you just put a camera up and you just crap talk each other back and forth on a simulator.

You could there's no reason you couldn't.

Maxim Ike couldn't go and have a match right now at Mason Country Club or wherever with have a cameraman follows around and Mike us up and have a blast.

I know, but it's I think the tour they could, you know, that's what they should be thinking about because like no other sport and it's like golf, like you could do all these cool little things that.

Are totally especially if you walk, you just there's no the pins or whatever. You put a stiro froam thing in the cup so you don't have to touch the pins. You don't have to touch A break six feet apart is so easy on a golf course.

Yeah, I'm surprised something hasn't come up.

I know there's been a couple of years floaded, but nothing is definitely stuck, that's for sure.

I think like one of the things I think about is like, if it worked really well, people would want more of it, and it would take away from seventy two hole one hundred and forty four player stroke play, which is like the bread and butter, and they wouldn't want to show a format of the game that was was better when the main thing is maximize playing opportunities.

Right, Sure, And I get that too.

And I know Tiger and Field kind of tried the match thing and that was a big flop.

They weren't as entertaining as it could be, the golf was crappy, The whole thing didn't work overy well.

So I imagine that I don't know if that was a flop because I went to all my buddies are not golfers like that, are just like my college drinking buddies. Sure, they like I went out after that because I had to cover it, and I went out and met my buddies and all of them were like, what what happened to the match? Who won? You know? And they they could the only thing they care about is like the masters.

Right, Sure, but they were asking about the match they.

Were nuts about. They wanted to know so much about. They never ask about anything. They don't ask about the players, they don't ask about you know. They might ask about the US Open, but nothing but the match they asked about. I think it's because it's so easy to understand.

Well, it is, certainly that I think. I guess we were expecting a lot more back and forth, you know, kind of shit talking, a little bit more side bets that were it just seemed a little forced. A Tiger's not the best in that environment either. Probably Phils can be very good at it, with the way that he can give the needle and the way that he can chat.

But man, if you'd put.

I mean, if you get some normal guys in there, I mean, you can, like I feel like Ricky and JT would be fun at it.

Rory would be good at that type of thing.

A little more personality to put some drinks in Stara from cup and you're.

Gonna get a lot of fun out a lot of golfers.

I mean you put kids and you know selfishly, you put me and kids against like Homa and you know maybe JT.

Those kinds are buddies.

Like then you go put us like in an alternate shot match, like it would be an absolute blast.

Like you could be ahead too, and you guys start talking about like what the other person's doing. You wouldn't really need announcers as much if it was alternate shot totally.

I be able, like because you can just skip ahead. You don't even really watch your partner, you just keep rotating ahead. You can play in like two hours. You would have an absolute blast. And uh, I mean we do that stuff here anyways with somebody. So we played a game called Auto two down Shotguns.

So if you got two down, you had a shotgun a beer and that was That was a pretty fun game. So we're trying to set set another one of those matches up this weekend.

I think.

That's one. You know, some people I used to carry for this guy. He would he was like he was just he was unbelievable because once you got like six beers in he was he went from like a six to like a plus two.

That's awesome, you.

Have two beers and then like the course would come around the fourth hole, would loop back around the men's locker room and grab two bar and then we get to the turn and then he was like a world beer you know, like he won the club championship as a six handicap and it's amazing.

If you it's all about getting your levels right. Some people only need a couple. Some people need a lot, and they got a start earlier. But then if you cross over the line, then you're absolutely told. I think it's really ugly fast. So everybody has their level. Some people at zero, some people at six, some people it's ten. Some people it's only a couple. But everyone has their line.

Where they play better golf from.

And did you qualify for something after drinking at Sciota?

Yeah? It was.

So it was this year's or last year for Pebble Beach. I was doing just fine. I bog you to my last like four it to get which I thought was gonna bump me out. I knew if I parted in like I was, I would have it.

Looked at it.

We're completely choked because I wanted to play in the US Open the Pebbles so bad, like that was a huge deal for me.

And uh choked.

So then we're at the we're at say I own the homest course of allence. We had to drive back and then I was one of the earlier tea times. We had like an hour to wait, and I was like positive.

That we.

I got bumped out already. But then they're like, hey, there's a playoff. Probably they'll be a massive playoff for like the last for an alternate spot. And I'm like, okay, whatever, Well I don't really care. And some guys like, no, you need like you should, you should play in it. Okay, Well, so Gina and I we have an hour away, so we go grab a couple of beers and then we drank them, and then we grabbed a couple more, and all of a sudden, they all right, just let it

And I was like, oh okay, I had in Baldon hour.

So I was drinking beer on the range like kind of whacking balls and guys like one of the other players.

Was like, dude, you can't be doing that, and I was.

Like, what do you mean? Like I was like, this has been some rules, like I didn't. I was kind of playing dumb whatever and so usg G he didn't care, So anywo, I make I a thirty footer on the first hole to make birdie and to have there's only one of the guy made Bertie, so then went to the next hole. Uh and I made par and he made bogie and I was the first videos opening got in like two weeks.

Later or a week later, I guess. So it's pretty awesome.

It's funny. We just did this vignette on on Sandy Lyle on my other pod and he had the same thing happened where he finished this event in like the eighties, really early on the European tour, and he shot a good score and he thought he was gonna be in the top ten, so he's having a glass of line. He ended up having like four glass of line. The weather got bad and and Seve like completely blew it

He's like, it's awesome.

Yeah, I think it's I mean, obviously that doesn't have very often because class, but there's beer in the locker room forest on Sundays, so like it's easy to go in there and grab a beer real.

Quick and and have a couple, so I wouldn't.

I'm sure it's happened four times than people would ever imagine that that somebody who posted early would have a couple of pops before they went back out.

Yeah, I mean it's like that. It's almost like Sunday is like your Friday forever.

Absolutely, Like it's like, you're exactly right.

I'm done with the work week. I could I can hang out for a while. It's like Friday afternoon exactly.

Most of us have Mondays off travel day for us, So by the time we're Tuesday roll around, we're back and rate a.

Roll, So Sundays of our favorite day for everybody on tour.

Most people, Hey, so tell me about your limited practice theory. I'm interested that.

Well, it's probably a little over one. I do practice.

I grew up at a place with a bad driving range and a very like not even a chipping area type thing. So I did all my practice on the golf course. I was lucky that no one was out there in the evenings. I could just cruise down and so I got used to practicing on the golf course. Well, so I'm not a range rat. I never really had a coach until, you know, a real serious on until I got on a web chair where I worked with them all the time and we just My swing doesn't change much.

I can always hit it.

As soon as I set up correctly, my swing comes back in five or ten balls and then I'm good to go.

So and I've always been a pretty good ball striker, and I.

Can so and I hate practicing putting, man, and that's probably the only thing I need to practice. But I just can't stand like hitting putts over and over again. That just drives me nuts. So I had not a range rat. Like sometimes there's been times on Thursday, I'll ask Gino where the rain, just like I haven't been to the rain yet until Thursday warming up. So I'm trying to get better at it, just like consistently being a little bit more.

Consistent at practicing.

But yeah, there's times I won't have seen the I'll just show up on Tuesday, play nine, play my Wednesday pro am, and be off, so I don't spend any time after the round hitting balls. I'm tired normally after I play eighteen holds, so I just kind of go back home. But I'll play a lot when I'm home. I love to play with the buddies and hanging out. But when I do see coach, my coach, Roberts Shelle. He's head of instruction here at TPS scott Still and he's incredible.

He's fun.

He understands me like he's He played on tour in early two thousands European Tour, a couple of US opens. He was a crazy grinder, like all he did is practice, like all day every day. Everything was dedicated to golf. And he understands with me like we're at the players. This year he flew out for a couple of days of like hey, what are.

You gonna do Wednesday?

And I Mike, maybe play nine, and he's like feeling and just just go goof op for night holes.

And be done.

Like you're gonna get your games in a good spot. The best thing you can do is go home and relax and you know, kind of get my mind right. So for me, I do better when I'm refreshed, when I'm not wasting time with the golf course hitting a bunch of balls and practicing a ton.

And I do practice plenty, and I a lot.

When it's with Rob it's structured and we go we practice for a couple hours, But I get.

Burned out after a couple hours practicing. I can't. I can't think about golf that long and be, you know, hundred percent into it.

I guess there's the Deval had the theory that if he's hitting it good, he doesn't want to go mess anything up, and if he's hitting it bad, he doesn't want to go reinforce anything bad. So like why spend a ton of time? I mean, I think I'm kind of the same way. It's like, if I go to the range, I'm more likely to just screw myself up. If I'm playing well.

If I'm playing well, it's fine.

If I have like, Okay, I gotta go hit thirty balls with correct alignment and you know, fill with club faces and get that, then I'll can go through that in a bag of balls real quick.

And be just fine. Like the same thing.

If I'm hitting it well, I definitely am not going to the range, you know. I like chipping. I like sometime with bunker playing goofing off there, and I've improved out a ton the last couple of years. But everything I have to do has to be competitive. I bet gino. You know, hey, on any type of web shot or chipping or anything, it's like, hey, you have five balls, can even.

Do this with it? I have to say really competitive when I practice. Otherwise it just gets so bland. So whatever.

And I like practice with buddies. If we're gonna go out and have a chipping contest, whether that's great. But I play way more than I practice.

I think you're right. I always have said that setting up to the ball is the hardest thing in golf.

Absolutely.

If you can set up correctly with the proper alignment for whatever you're trying to.

Do, It's different for everybody. But whatever you.

Play beast at, if you can do that consistently, then your swing, your swing doesn't really change.

Your alignment changes in your maybe your poster changes.

A little bit and that stuff, and then you're then your swing changes because your setups off, not because of your swing is changing.

So I think that's the biggest thing for most everybody.

All right, last question, we'll get you out of here, so you know quick one. When do you think if you were going to guess your coming that the tour is coming back, and what would you like to see him do with given the circumstances, do you just like, do you wipe the year clean? Do you do you do like a truncated thing where it you're into the playoffs right away, or do you go deep into the year you know, and you have a shorter season next year.

This is a very tough question they I think, I think what they should do if we can start on time, which I think is like mid May right now, I think we're on supposed to be a colonial I highly doubt that's gonna happen, you know, based on everything else has already been canceled months past that, you know, I think things are getting canceled in June and.

July already, so maybe just roll the year over.

I know there's rumors of them, even like the playoffs, so like I've heard the rumors of the Tour Championship could be one hundred and forty four players, just a full field that let everybody play. If this, if this delay happens, for it, you can't throw out the previous result. You can't throw out the previous twenty seven events. I think you just roll over the tournament year and make it like a year and a half long deal and

To play great. People that play bad you get a whole nother chance at it.

It really stinks for the corn fairy players who have maybe got off to a good start because then they're down there for another year, and it really screws the bottom guys in the golf world.

The problem with the corn faery is like their seasons not as long as yours. So it's like you can't give somebody a card who played well in like five events, you know, right.

They've play played six events so far.

They would have to get off, they'd have to play right away and get a lot of events in.

I just I can't imagine what they're going to do or how they would make that fair.

But for us two guys, I mean, man, we've we've already played what twenty events or something, or the possibilities out there.

I know some guys have only played like eight or nine.

But it's crazy because like the fall has become so big now that right exactly, it's weird that you're like almost three quarters away through the season, you know, right like halfway actually, and it's too bad.

We've missed every quote unquote big event.

We've missed the four Majors, and the players didn't get finished, and so you know, you feel like the golfleet doesn't even start until now almost, is what a lot of guys, you know, feel like kind of maybe Rive kicks off the season and you go through Florida. But I'm just super happy I don't have to make the decision because what ever it is, people are going to be really happy and really unhappy. I don't know about it. I'm I'm pretty good at sitting back and letting people make

The best of it.

So I just hoped that, you know, everyone, like everyone else, I hope this goes away sooner rather than later.

I hope everyone stays healthy.

And you know, I hope the economy is okay after all this.

That's a whole other world to go down.

But I just hope that everything comes out okay and when it I really really think that the world needs sports. So if you think about major moments that we've had in the past, like sports brings people together.

It gives them a relief, an outlet.

So you know, I remember after nine to eleven, Bush throughout the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, and it was like this amazing moment. It was like united, like this as divided as a country is, whether you're black, white, purple, or you're leaning left or leaning right, like it doesn't it doesn't really matter at this point. We just need to do the right thing for everybody around us, and whatever that is.

Do it.

And then whatever if we can get NBA to go to Vegas and play their their games and just stick everybody hotel where they're isolated and play a game, and I'm sure they have resources to figure that out. No fans, obviously, I think golf.

Could play with no fans. It would be limited volunteers.

You wouldn't have people in the locker room, play out of you know, like go mini tour style, play out of the trunk of her cars, bring your own food.

You could have coverage and better competition without fans.

Yeah, I mean you could do so much stuff with and then Yeah, sure, I mean there's a you would get a lot of It'd be different, but I think that you would still get great competition.

The players would still play and it would be I think it'd be great.

So I don't care who comes back, but we need sports somewhere somehow to have an outlet for you know, we can only watch so many old school classics before you know, those kind of run out as well.

So I don't care what it is.

I don't care if NBA or Baseball or somebody figure out a way to get sports back in the world so people have an outlet. I don't care if it's called or not, but sometimes a sports somewhere.

Yeah, I like your idea of the season and a half. I think that makes actually a ton of sense. And I've been thinking about it. It's like I've always said, just wipe it and start over, but it doesn't. It's not really fair to somebody having a great year.

Yeah, I mean, you got Sung Jamis leading the fed Ice Cup. You got a guy like me, he's off to a pretty good start.

You got guys like you know who maybe have won for the first time or something like that. You can't wipe that out. So I think you just carried over and the other.

You can't just move this season ahead because then you're these these fall tournaments. You can't just you know, we're gonna play the Masters and where Vegas is, Like, I mean, you can do that, but like it'd be terrible, you can't, So I say you just roll it over.

I don't know what they do with the past. De Vinci didn't work out. I'm not smart enough to figure that out. But get everybody a fair shot.

Let them just kind of continue where they're at and.

And you'll see more big names play in spots they don't usually play.

Whatever first tournament that comes back is could be the greatest field in histuy, Like, can.

You imagine if it's like.

Like the John Dear and everybody's just I mean you have, like it's better than the players field or something. It'd just be mind boggling. What would what would come back? So maybe it's a barber salt or something like that. It would just be awesome to watch players play.

Tiger comes back to the Quad Cities in place for the first time since he, uh, since Ed Fiori took him down in ninety six.

Is that a real story? That's awesome to look into that.

It's a it's a great story, he called. He was he was talking about retiring golf from golf the week before and captaining a charter boat. And then the next week he beat Tiger, and then the next in a final round, Tiger had the lead in a final round. Next guy to beat Tiger was y. Yeah in that situation.

So that's so awesome.

Yeah, the Tiger comes.

Where we need it. We need where is Ed Fiori, Now that's what we need.

He's I did a flashback Friday on Ed Fiori. So but he just is like hanging out at a pool in his house. Calls him the pool boy.

Now good for him. Well, that's so awesome, all right. I think that'd be fun whatever it may be. I hope it. I hope it all works out in the end.

Yeah. Hey, thanks for the time. People can follow you on Twitter. You're active there and hopefully everybody's got a new player to root for, so I hope.

So yeah, thanks for having me on, Andy, I appreciate it.

Yeah, for sure, I'll hopefully see you in a few months when this thing gets gets going again.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it for sure. All right, all right, take care, thanks man, you bet