Speaker 1: I think I was playing with a really short player,
Speaker 1: someone who was like five ft tall, and obviously they're
Speaker 1: making everything and I'm missing everything. And I'm like, you
Speaker 1: know what, you know what. I figured out why I'm
Speaker 1: missing all my putts. I'm too tall. This is why. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm too far away from the ball. There are five
Speaker 1: feet tall, there's so much closer to the ball. That's
Speaker 1: why they pretty well. So then in the middle of
Speaker 1: the round, obviously there's no mirrors on the golf course,
Speaker 1: I start to bend lower to the ball. I start
Speaker 1: making everything. I'm just like, I feel so great over
Speaker 1: the golf ball. The ball looks bigger, the whole looks bigger.
Speaker 1: I'm one with the ball because I'm closer to the wall.
Speaker 1: And then after the round, reporters are asking me questions
Speaker 1: about my new punting steps. I'm like, yeah, I'm just
Speaker 1: a little lower to the ball, Like, what's the big deal.
Speaker 1: And I see a picture of myself. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I understand why I look funny. Hi, Michelle Ee West,
Speaker 1: I am a mom or a professional golfer. Hello everybody,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to a brand new episode of Off
Speaker 1: the Beat. Our first episode of Happy New year to
Speaker 1: all of you. As always, I am your host, Brian
Speaker 1: baumb Gartner, and to kick off the new year, I'm
Speaker 1: very excited, as you just heard, I have with me
Speaker 1: pro golf extraordinaire and well absolute badass, Michelle we West. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're anything like me, you've probably been familiar with
Speaker 1: Michelle since she was just a young girl taking the
Speaker 1: golf world by storm. That's right, she began her career
Speaker 1: before most people her age were even in middle school.
Speaker 1: And even more impressive than that, Michelle knew she was
Speaker 1: going to be a per fessional golfer when she was
Speaker 1: only seven years old. Seven. Think about that. What were
Speaker 1: you doing at age seven? Playing hop scotch, perhaps maybe
Speaker 1: collecting beanie babies? I know I was. Uh. If there
Speaker 1: is an award in golf for the youngest player to
Speaker 1: do basically anything, you can bet that Michelle either has
Speaker 1: or had that record at some point. Since starting her
Speaker 1: professional career at age ten, she's hit just about every
Speaker 1: golf milestone known to mankind. And now she is using
Speaker 1: her platform to help women and minority owned businesses, and
Speaker 1: she's passionate about showing young athletes that they can achieve
Speaker 1: all of their goals, including those outside of their sport. Look,
Speaker 1: if you know me at all, you know I love
Speaker 1: golf and in fact, I played with Michelle last year
Speaker 1: at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where I
Speaker 1: will be again this year in Orlando January nineteen through
Speaker 1: the twenty two. It's my opportunity to play with the
Speaker 1: stars of the LPGA Tour, and there is no bigger
Speaker 1: star than the living legend Michelle we West. So without
Speaker 1: further ado, here she is m w W. Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I love Bubble and squeak on Bubble and Squeaker, cooking
Speaker 1: at every month, left over from the nubb before. What's
Speaker 1: up a show? Hi? How are you? I'm so good?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm excited that you're playing next year.
Speaker 1: I won't be there, but I'm so you're playing next year.
Speaker 1: At the time you're gonna come, You're gonna come caddy
Speaker 1: for me? Right? Yeah? No? Is that a note? Was?
Speaker 1: That was just a la? I didn't hear it. That
Speaker 1: was a polite laugh. Oh shoot, there'll be a lot
Speaker 1: of those today, I'm sure. Yeah. You and I played
Speaker 1: together last year at the Hilton Grand Tournament of Champions.
Speaker 1: For the LPGA Tour. Now that might confuse some people
Speaker 1: as to why I was playing in the LPGA Tournament
Speaker 1: of Champions, but uh yeah, there was. There's a celebrity component.
Speaker 1: How how are those for you? How is it for
Speaker 1: you trying to concentrate and have me definite around around now? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I love these formats are so much fun. I had
Speaker 1: a blast. I had an absolute blast. And honestly, if
Speaker 1: we can't concentrate with like outside distraction, then they we
Speaker 1: shouldn't be golf pros in the first place. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's the beauty of golf is that you
Speaker 1: can play with other people. You know, you can't you
Speaker 1: can never have the format and let's say NFL. You know,
Speaker 1: we're not going to just like throw in celebrities and
Speaker 1: be like, let's get tackled by you know, NFL tackled um.
Speaker 1: You know. So it's a great format and golf is
Speaker 1: very unique in that way. Even if you do poems.
Speaker 1: I feel like in tennis it's never the same as well,
Speaker 1: because you're across the net. You know, we've spent we
Speaker 1: spent like five hours talking and get to know each other,
Speaker 1: and it was it was so much fun. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love doing it. I love playing in those events. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's my job because let's face it, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna win. I feel like it's my job in
Speaker 1: a way to stay out of the way. But I
Speaker 1: do feel that competitive thing, like I do. I do
Speaker 1: want to do well. In fact, there is a there's
Speaker 1: a video that's going around. I think it's on my
Speaker 1: all time highlight video because I only have like three things.
Speaker 1: Where last year with you on eighteen I made a
Speaker 1: twenty yeah for Bertie ish and so I think that.
Speaker 1: I think the folks at the Tournament of Champions literally
Speaker 1: scoured my four rounds to find one redeeming moment. And
Speaker 1: of course I did a big fist pump like an idiot,
Speaker 1: like no, and definitely well yeah, I mean a birdie
Speaker 1: is a birdie, right, Hey, it was a great Bertie.
Speaker 1: It was a great Bertie. Um. Well, look, I've been
Speaker 1: a fan of yours for so so long. Um, I
Speaker 1: want to go back to start to to your childhood.
Speaker 1: You grew up famously in in Hawaii. Your mom was
Speaker 1: a golfer, is that right? Yeah? And and was a
Speaker 1: good golfer. Yeah, she played competitively in Korea. You know,
Speaker 1: back in the day though, there weren't a lot of
Speaker 1: women in Korea that played golf. So I think she
Speaker 1: I mean, she said that she won a golf tourn it,
Speaker 1: but there was like only four people in the field exactly,
Speaker 1: and when is a win? Um? So yeah, she my
Speaker 1: my dad and my mom got married and moved to
Speaker 1: the States, and um my mom taught my dad how
Speaker 1: to play golf and they joined those couple's league and
Speaker 1: was very serious about it. And I started playing because
Speaker 1: I just wanted to join in on the fun. I
Speaker 1: felt like they were leaving me at my friend's house
Speaker 1: to do something fun by themselves, so I would beg
Speaker 1: them to take me with them so I could go
Speaker 1: out and drive the golf cart. You you started playing
Speaker 1: at age four, h Yeah. I was playing a lot
Speaker 1: of other sports as well as playing baseball, tennis, swimming,
Speaker 1: I did ballet, funny enough, and imagine that. Um, but
Speaker 1: I did a lot of other stuff, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: golf was just I guess another one that I tried.
Speaker 1: At what point did you decide that this was not
Speaker 1: just a little activity you were going to do as
Speaker 1: a child, but that you were you were serious about
Speaker 1: golf specifically, Uh, you're in a laugh. I was pretty young,
Speaker 1: I was about seven. I really wanted to be at
Speaker 1: tennis pro. I really wanted to be a professional athlete.
Speaker 1: That was your goal, that was my goal in life.
Speaker 1: I really wanted to a professional athlete, want to be
Speaker 1: really good at something. And I sucked at baseball. I
Speaker 1: sucked at soccer, I sucked at swimming, sucked at ballet
Speaker 1: and gymnastics. Obviously, I was like a five foot child,
Speaker 1: and it was tennis and golf, and I was pretty
Speaker 1: good at tennis, could hit the s h I t
Speaker 1: out of the ball, but I don't know. I'm also
Speaker 1: used to doing that around my child or now at
Speaker 1: BCK that spell not yet um no. But it was
Speaker 1: between tennis and golf, and I just couldn't run to
Speaker 1: the net. So I just made it exacting decision that
Speaker 1: I was gonna be a golfer. And that was a
Speaker 1: day wait, meaning you weren't fast. I'm very slow, really
Speaker 1: extremely My feet are like cement blocks, which I guess
Speaker 1: is great for golf. Oh it is. You know what's
Speaker 1: interesting to at least me, that is, this is so
Speaker 1: lame talking to a real golfer about this, but I
Speaker 1: actually most it's not. It's occasionally cement like I've had
Speaker 1: that before, But I do a visualization where I think
Speaker 1: of my my feet my legs as trunks to try
Speaker 1: to sway or you know, to keep the lower half still.
Speaker 1: So I've I've used that before. So good. So you
Speaker 1: actually have concrete on your feet, so that's you don't
Speaker 1: even have to visualize it. Well, I think the next
Speaker 1: time we're together, we're gonna race. I've just decided that
Speaker 1: because I feel like I'm going to lose, well, then
Speaker 1: we definitely should. Okay, So at seven, I mean, it
Speaker 1: doesn't make me laugh because doing my research here, at ten,
Speaker 1: you became the youngest player ever to qualify for the
Speaker 1: US Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Now you're ten, are
Speaker 1: you are you hitting the ball far? Are you keeping
Speaker 1: it in play? Are you put like, what is your
Speaker 1: what is your strength at this point? Or is it
Speaker 1: just everything? Well, I think there's one factor that I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people don't imagine in their heads
Speaker 1: when they're thinking about a ten year old qualified for
Speaker 1: a national event. I was a behemoth of a child.
Speaker 1: I was five seven when I was ten and I
Speaker 1: weighed a hundred and seventy five pounds, which meant I
Speaker 1: hit the golf ball over to fifty. You hit the
Speaker 1: golf ball over to fifty ten years of age. I
Speaker 1: mean I weighed a solid yeah, but still the coordination
Speaker 1: to do this is impressive. Are you doing at ten?
Speaker 1: Are you doing like core exercises? Not at all? If
Speaker 1: you see a picture of me, no, I was double
Speaker 1: fisting ice cream at that point, right, Well, that gives
Speaker 1: you energy, I heard, yeah, wow, And are you shooting?
Speaker 1: What does it? What does it take to qualify for
Speaker 1: the US Women's Amateur Public Links Championships. I mean, are
Speaker 1: you shooting par I mean I was at that point.
Speaker 1: I think I shot like, I don't know, high seventies.
Speaker 1: I mean else. I mean I was also qualified in Hawaii,
Speaker 1: and I think at that point there weren't a lot
Speaker 1: of people. I think now it's become a very popular
Speaker 1: qualifying site, and that's the talent um, you know. I
Speaker 1: think every year it's getting better and better. I think
Speaker 1: that year not a lot of people try to qualify.
Speaker 1: Sorry I was lucky in that sense, but yeah, they
Speaker 1: shot like high seventies. I think, yeah, but that but
Speaker 1: that's misleading for people who don't really follow this stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was recently a man's qualifying event here
Speaker 1: at the golf course where I am in California. They
Speaker 1: set up the course really hard, and the guys were
Speaker 1: over par over two days. So I mean to say
Speaker 1: high seven, it's not that's not like crazy. I mean,
Speaker 1: if they when they set up the course is hard,
Speaker 1: this is you know, it's difficult. How was it? How
Speaker 1: was it to be in the Who was cutting for you? Mom?
Speaker 1: And dad? I think my dad, I think, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: did you have a preference at that point? Um? So
Speaker 1: I fought a lot with my dad, but it was
Speaker 1: the more logical one on the golf course. Um, he
Speaker 1: had better coursevantage. And my mom was like, yeah, go
Speaker 1: for it, Yeah, go for it. Yeah, oh the water,
Speaker 1: you can do it. And my dad would be like, no,
Speaker 1: you gotta lay up. Let's be safe. And I would
Speaker 1: always argue with him because I would think more like
Speaker 1: my mom. But it was great. I needed someone like
Speaker 1: my on my bed And were you like Dad, like
Speaker 1: you're ten, you're not rational conversation? Oh no. There's so
Speaker 1: many funny memories that I have, my dad catting for
Speaker 1: MEAs I would fight with him all the time. It
Speaker 1: was when I was ten at the Public Links, and
Speaker 1: I remember my first time playing in Georgia and know
Speaker 1: it was on Georgia, North Carolina, and there was like
Speaker 1: flower beds and pine needles, stuff that I've never really
Speaker 1: seen before playing golf. And my ball goes into like
Speaker 1: the flower bed and I'm like, dad, flower Like, I'm like,
Speaker 1: why don't you see that? Not blaming myself for hitting
Speaker 1: the bad shop, it was like das ball for not
Speaker 1: seeing the flower bed. And there was one time I
Speaker 1: think I was probably in an LPGA tournament when I
Speaker 1: was like thirteen or something, and my dad was catting
Speaker 1: for me, and you might have noticed that there's little
Speaker 1: markings on the fairway. There's someone spray paints like a
Speaker 1: yellow triangle or like a red circle, and I think
Speaker 1: it kind of confusing at times if you don't go
Speaker 1: stand right on top of it, because they do a
Speaker 1: yellow triangle in a yellow school. And my dad missed
Speaker 1: what shape it was and gave me the wrong yardage
Speaker 1: by like forty yards, and I hit it like forty
Speaker 1: yards over the green and I remember I vividly remember
Speaker 1: taking the yardage book from him, it's like, you're fired.
Speaker 1: I do this. I do this still. By the way,
Speaker 1: this is another thing if you if you're not you know,
Speaker 1: even if you're a golfer and but you're not familiar
Speaker 1: with the tournament golf, there's it's good that you went
Speaker 1: to Stanford. Spoiler alert. There's a lot of math on
Speaker 1: the golf course. There's a lot of math, and particularly
Speaker 1: if you're like me and I do it three times
Speaker 1: a year, maybe at these tournaments that you know, you
Speaker 1: can't use the yardage guns or lasers. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you can call them guns. I'm always like, hey,
Speaker 1: hand me the gun, and everyone's like, what are you
Speaker 1: talking about. Um, there's a lot of math, and it's
Speaker 1: to the front, and then you've got to add this,
Speaker 1: subtract that, and yeah, well obviously you know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. But it's it's it's very difficult and you're
Speaker 1: out there trying not to take time. Especially when I'm
Speaker 1: playing with Michelle we I'm like, just give me and
Speaker 1: just give me just as close as you could get.
Speaker 1: Just give me the number. Move on. How How was
Speaker 1: the attention that you begin getting, How was that for
Speaker 1: your parents? I was I think my parents took a
Speaker 1: definitely heavier load than I did, because back in the day,
Speaker 1: there wasn't you know, Instagram or Twitter or any of that.
Speaker 1: It was only in the physical newspapers. I think there
Speaker 1: are some online articles. But I was going to school
Speaker 1: and now my friends knew who I was. Oh, they
Speaker 1: were not aware. No. My my best friend, her grandmother
Speaker 1: would like cut out a newspaper article and highlight the
Speaker 1: most important part so she would read it because she
Speaker 1: wouldn't read the whole article. Um. But yeah. There was
Speaker 1: this really awkward moment where the mayor I think when
Speaker 1: I was like ten or eleven, ended up assigning a
Speaker 1: Michelle we Day and I was this new kid in
Speaker 1: school and everyone hated me, and everyone hated me even
Speaker 1: more after this, and I was like, great, I they
Speaker 1: wanted to do it at school and I'm like, oh, gosh,
Speaker 1: anywhere but here please. How old are you at this
Speaker 1: point when there was a Michelle we Day. I think
Speaker 1: I got one when I was like a London and
Speaker 1: then I got one like in two thousand and fifteen.
Speaker 1: I don't know it was. I didn't get a key
Speaker 1: to the park, which was very cool, the key to
Speaker 1: the city which I don't know where the key lock
Speaker 1: would be. But did they give you a key? They did?
Speaker 1: See that's weird. I think I was given the key
Speaker 1: to Scranton, but I wasn't given a key. I think
Speaker 1: it was more a metaphorical key to the city. Gave
Speaker 1: me a key, I have a proclamation it's in my office,
Speaker 1: but they did not give me an actual key. What
Speaker 1: is it open? I have no idea. I want to
Speaker 1: find out. It could be like National treasure there. There
Speaker 1: could be some special stuff in there, very special stuff
Speaker 1: that only you could see or whoever else has a key. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I've talked to a lot of well child
Speaker 1: actors for lack of a better term, about what it
Speaker 1: was like for them, not just juggling those relationships between
Speaker 1: school and work, if you will, um, but also balancing
Speaker 1: school with doing the actual work. What what percentage of
Speaker 1: time were you in the classroom here? Ten eleven, twelve?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you practicing all the time? You're obviously
Speaker 1: traveling to tournaments, so you're missing school. Do you have
Speaker 1: a tutor? How does that work for you? So I
Speaker 1: did have a tutor, and I only practiced after school
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, yeah, Um, on the weekends,
Speaker 1: I would spend all day on the golf course, but
Speaker 1: I would probably only practice for like two or three
Speaker 1: hours after school. UM. And then my school and my
Speaker 1: team my parents met and they said that I'm only
Speaker 1: allowed to miss two weeks out of the school year,
Speaker 1: so I didn't miss much school at all. And because yeah,
Speaker 1: because I when I was younger, UM, I didn't play
Speaker 1: in any A j G events UM, which is the
Speaker 1: Junior Golf circuit which you know, there was a tournament
Speaker 1: every week like the LPGA Tour. I didn't play in that.
Speaker 1: I just played in the U s J events during
Speaker 1: the summer, so there was public links US Amter and
Speaker 1: U Studio Girls which and then I also played UM
Speaker 1: in the men's public links as well, so like you know,
Speaker 1: four or five, I would try qualify for the US
Speaker 1: Open as well. And then even once I qualified UM
Speaker 1: for LPGA tournaments and started playing in LPGA tournaments, because
Speaker 1: I wasn't a member, I was only allowed to play
Speaker 1: six throughout the year. Okay, so I mean most of
Speaker 1: my tournaments were in the summer. I missed two weeks
Speaker 1: out of the year, so it worked out perfectly interesting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's surprising. It's I've also I'm just gonna take
Speaker 1: an opportunity to say the two things that I've learned
Speaker 1: so far to be uh comic transcendent golf star is
Speaker 1: to eat just a double fist ice cream and only
Speaker 1: practice after school for like an hour or so. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Mylow on my way. Yeah, my reward for practicing well
Speaker 1: was a king size sicker bar. Oh how often did
Speaker 1: you get those? Exactly? So you just mentioned it. It's
Speaker 1: inconceivable to me. But you begin playing with the men,
Speaker 1: I mean, for lack of a better words, weird um
Speaker 1: in two thousand four, so you're fifteen, you became the
Speaker 1: youngest email to play in a p G A event,
Speaker 1: the Sony Open in Hawaii. You are playing on in
Speaker 1: public legs as well. What what is this? Because you
Speaker 1: were playing against them, like in local stuff like that,
Speaker 1: This wasn't a big deal for you. Was this a
Speaker 1: goal of yours to do? Talk to me a little
Speaker 1: bit about that. So it's crazy and uh, this is
Speaker 1: definitely a mindset of a I was fourteen, fourteen year old.
Speaker 1: I had won the state's biggest tournament, women's tournament when
Speaker 1: I was twelve. By thirteen strokes. Y um. And from
Speaker 1: then on, I just started playing in men's events because
Speaker 1: there was nothing bigger for me to kind of like
Speaker 1: unquote conquer. I guess in the state of Hawaii. You know,
Speaker 1: I was already playing the fifteen through eighteen age range,
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I was just like, to me,
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand the gravity of playing in a
Speaker 1: PG eight Tour event. It was just another tournament that
Speaker 1: was on the island. Because you also have to realize
Speaker 1: that we're five six hours from the West coast, so
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not traveling a lot to the mainland.
Speaker 1: That's expensive for my parents. Um, you know, so I'm like, great,
Speaker 1: another tournament here on the island. It's trying to do
Speaker 1: that one. Um. So I didn't really I guess I
Speaker 1: didn't really understand the gravity of it. It was ten
Speaker 1: minutes from my house. At that point. I had played
Speaker 1: on the boys baseball team, and for me, I was like,
Speaker 1: I did that, I could do this as well, right,
Speaker 1: that was literally my mindset. It's kind of crazy thinking
Speaker 1: about that, but yeah, yeah, well yeah, and you just
Speaker 1: brought it up. It didn't really occur to me like,
Speaker 1: of course you win by thirteen shots against the women.
Speaker 1: Now that it's the Hawaii Stayed Open women's division, is
Speaker 1: that every age woman? Yeah, so any woman in Hawaii,
Speaker 1: you beat them all by thirteen shots, and so you're like, well,
Speaker 1: who bring up the next one? Right? I mean? Is
Speaker 1: that it? Yeah? I started playing, um, yeah, the men's
Speaker 1: tournaments and then, um, I don't know. Just like for me,
Speaker 1: I was just like, let's just try new things. Let's
Speaker 1: qualify for not PJ tournament, Let's play in a PJ tournament.
Speaker 1: I was like, why not? And then people started to
Speaker 1: make a big deal about it, and then I was
Speaker 1: just like and I just started thinking like, why are
Speaker 1: they telling women not to play in these tournaments? Like
Speaker 1: it just didn't make sense to me. They felt like
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be the reason why I can't play in
Speaker 1: these events, you know. Um but yeah, just to me,
Speaker 1: I was just like, let's just just try it out.
Speaker 1: See what happens. What's the worst that can happen? What's
Speaker 1: the word? Yeah, you could play like me when I
Speaker 1: played with you, Literally, that's the worst that could happen.
Speaker 1: You played great, did not? We had fun? We had fun.
Speaker 1: At this age, we're talking about ten eleven, you win
Speaker 1: at age twelve. At thirteen, you make the cut on
Speaker 1: the LPGA Tour, you start playing with the men before
Speaker 1: you before your professional golf. What is the achievement for
Speaker 1: you that you're the proudest of. I think when winning
Speaker 1: the U s Women's probably Links when I was thirteen,
Speaker 1: because I felt like every year at that tournament, I
Speaker 1: was like getting better and better and better. Um. And
Speaker 1: when I was ten, I made the cut, made into
Speaker 1: match play, lost in the first round. When I was eleven,
Speaker 1: I think I lost in the third round or second round,
Speaker 1: and they just kept getting better and better. And by
Speaker 1: the time I was thirteen, you know, i'd want it,
Speaker 1: and I had a really good chance to win when
Speaker 1: I was fourteen as well, but it was just one
Speaker 1: tournament that I really wanted to win. U. S J
Speaker 1: were like family to me by that point. I would
Speaker 1: started playing in the US Open, you know, when I
Speaker 1: was thirteen, I played in my first major at that
Speaker 1: time Craft to Disco now is a chevron um and
Speaker 1: made it into the final group on Sunday, which I'm
Speaker 1: extremely proud of as well. Yeah, you made the cut
Speaker 1: at the US Women's Open when you were thirteen. Um,
Speaker 1: you turned professional shortly before your sixteenth birthday? Are you?
Speaker 1: You're like a junior sophomore junior. I went to school young.
Speaker 1: I was seventeen when I went to college. Okay, why
Speaker 1: why Stanford? Um? That was a school that I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to go to since I was a kid, partly
Speaker 1: in fact, because my dad didn't get in. Um he
Speaker 1: still went to Epen, but my uncle went there and
Speaker 1: my aunt went there. My grandfather was a visiting professor there.
Speaker 1: My dad didn't get in, and I wanted to rub
Speaker 1: into his face that I got obviously, as you can
Speaker 1: probably see the dynamic between me and my dad. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just I went on a visit there
Speaker 1: when we were young. My cousins and I went there,
Speaker 1: and then I found out there was a mall attached
Speaker 1: to the university. I was like, well, I have to
Speaker 1: go here, to go here, So it's just like this.
Speaker 1: It just became one of my like lifelong childhood dreams
Speaker 1: to attend Stanford. But it's interesting, right you you have
Speaker 1: two childhood dreams at least one is to become a
Speaker 1: professional athlete, and two is to attend Stanford. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously you can spoiler alert again you did both of
Speaker 1: those things, but you're putting that one dream in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways on hold. For the other. You can't
Speaker 1: play on the Stanford team because you've decided to go professional.
Speaker 1: Was that difficult for you, No, I think because I
Speaker 1: never played in any team setting. I never played in
Speaker 1: high school golf either. I turned pro in high school.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I was putting anything on hold.
Speaker 1: I just felt like I was doing I felt like
Speaker 1: I was two trains on two tracks, just going at
Speaker 1: the same time. Because when I was younger, it was
Speaker 1: really weird. I felt like I had a dual life
Speaker 1: completely because on the golf course, I was a different person.
Speaker 1: Off the golf course, I was a different person. I
Speaker 1: was still going to school full time, UM still had
Speaker 1: the same friends, and I just saw college being the
Speaker 1: same thing as high school that I could do kind
Speaker 1: of the same thing at the same time. I still
Speaker 1: played a full schedule on tour and UM with school.
Speaker 1: I went four and a half years because I didn't
Speaker 1: attend the spring quarter. I took one quarter off so
Speaker 1: I could play in more tournaments, and I actually, you know,
Speaker 1: one twice in college, which is something that I'm extremely,
Speaker 1: extremely proud of Yeah, this has got to be difficult though,
Speaker 1: juggling these these two lives. I mean, it's got to
Speaker 1: be it's got to be difficult. I don't know, to
Speaker 1: be honest, Like, looking back, I do not know how
Speaker 1: I went to college, how I graduated college while playing
Speaker 1: golf professionally full time on tour. I don't know how
Speaker 1: I did that because I also took the maximum number
Speaker 1: of units I could, because if I didn't, I would
Speaker 1: have been on an eight year track and I didn't
Speaker 1: want to be a thirty year old at college still. Um,
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I just I didn't ever feel
Speaker 1: like it was difficult. I had a blast doing it. Mentally,
Speaker 1: it really saved me from burning out. I feel like,
Speaker 1: and also some of the years out o that college
Speaker 1: was more my some of my toughest years on tour
Speaker 1: because I was going through injuries. I just didn't play well.
Speaker 1: Could that been because of college maybe? But I felt
Speaker 1: like at the same time, you know, college was great
Speaker 1: for me mentally and um for my emotional development. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Did you have fun in college? Oh? I had fun,
Speaker 1: BEAUTIFU had a lot of fun. Yeah that's good. That's good.
Speaker 1: I love that because I think you know, as someone
Speaker 1: as everyone as the world watched this all happening from
Speaker 1: the outside, and we're seeing you as a as a child.
Speaker 1: I mean there's no other way to say, as a
Speaker 1: child dominating these events, playing with the men, and then
Speaker 1: deciding that you're going to go to college. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's how is the media scrutiny or the media attention
Speaker 1: for you? Because I know they were around Stanford. I remember,
Speaker 1: I remember it, like, how how was that for you
Speaker 1: to juggle that? Oh? The media scrutiny was awful. I
Speaker 1: mean people were ripping me apart about my decision to
Speaker 1: go to college, which I truly did not understand. I
Speaker 1: don't either, by the way, But I also feel, yeah,
Speaker 1: I also feel like I think I thankfully paved the
Speaker 1: way for other girls to you know, attend college and
Speaker 1: you know, do golf professionally at the same time. So
Speaker 1: I feel like it was all worth it. Um, you
Speaker 1: know Al's and Lee and you know Bronte Law they
Speaker 1: finished u c l a UM and then also turned
Speaker 1: professional as well. So I just wanted to show other
Speaker 1: girls and boys that you don't have to give up
Speaker 1: education to be good at a sport or to be
Speaker 1: dedicated to a sport. I mean, I got recruited by
Speaker 1: MG Academy, and I could have easily have left to
Speaker 1: why gone to I MG Academy and just done golf.
Speaker 1: But you know, it was really important to my parents
Speaker 1: that I leave lead a as normal as a life
Speaker 1: as that I could, and that I you know, pay
Speaker 1: attention to that. And I'm really glad that they put
Speaker 1: a lot of emphasis on that. Which it's funny because
Speaker 1: the media was, you know, scrutinizing my parents for the
Speaker 1: complete opposite reason, saying that they were pushing me to
Speaker 1: be in the spotlight that there you know, that I
Speaker 1: don't have a normal life that they are. You know,
Speaker 1: it's cruel that I'm doing all of this, but yet
Speaker 1: they were focused. I mean, they could easily have been
Speaker 1: in the parents that they had made them out to
Speaker 1: be and made my life completely different. But they put
Speaker 1: so much emphasis on my my happiness over my career
Speaker 1: that I felt like all the scrutiny was really unfair.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I never I never got that either, because
Speaker 1: I felt like, she wants to go to college. I mean,
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna say this before, I you know, I
Speaker 1: knew what I wanted to do eventually before before college.
Speaker 1: And you know, I chose to go to s m
Speaker 1: U in Dallas because at the time I felt like
Speaker 1: it was the best theater training program in the country
Speaker 1: that was not like, uh a Juilliard, Like I wanted
Speaker 1: a university experience that was something that was really important
Speaker 1: to me. It was sort of the same thing. I
Speaker 1: could have gone to Juilliard or Carnegie Melloner, you know,
Speaker 1: some of those smaller places, or just not gone to school.
Speaker 1: But for me, and I feel like it sounds like
Speaker 1: it's the same from you. I've certainly seen images. My
Speaker 1: images weren't being paraded around on every broadcast. I had fun,
Speaker 1: I enjoyed the college experience, and that decision was ultimately
Speaker 1: really really good for me. Yeah, no, it was. It
Speaker 1: was the best decision I ever made. I remember, and
Speaker 1: I give a lot of kudos to Meg Mallon, who's
Speaker 1: an LPG at Hall of Famer, and I remember replying
Speaker 1: with her. You know, she was like my second mom
Speaker 1: on tour, and I just was like, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm turning pro, but I also really want to go
Speaker 1: to college. I was like, do I have to choose
Speaker 1: between one or the other. And she's like, why do
Speaker 1: you have to choose? You can, Why don't you just
Speaker 1: do both? You want to do both? Do both, it's
Speaker 1: your life. And I was like, okay, Like it makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense because you know, at one point
Speaker 1: there was a lot of doubt in my head if
Speaker 1: I could do both. But I'm like, again my life motto,
Speaker 1: what's the worst that can happen? Exactly, what's the worst
Speaker 1: that can happen? Yeah, let's just try it out. Let's
Speaker 1: try I fail, well, but you did it. Also, I
Speaker 1: do want to ask you this in terms of your
Speaker 1: support at that time. You know, when you're taking the
Speaker 1: time off and you're going to participate in outside tournaments,
Speaker 1: who's going with you? Who's who your parents? Your parents
Speaker 1: are with you through college? Yeah? If they Yeah, they
Speaker 1: travel with me to tournaments. And it was it was
Speaker 1: great because I didn't have a tutor and my dad
Speaker 1: was a professor, so I would make him help me
Speaker 1: with my homework. That's amazing, that's amazing. Yeah, so you
Speaker 1: had you had support when you were on the road.
Speaker 1: Were they still living in Hawaii or did they move
Speaker 1: to California? Um, they moved to California. They did there
Speaker 1: between Florida and California. I also got a dog as
Speaker 1: well too. In the middle of college. Again, I was like,
Speaker 1: what's the worst that can happen? Oh my gosh. So yeah,
Speaker 1: now it's like my parents, my dog, and we're just
Speaker 1: this big traveling circus. Oh my gosh. Um, after you
Speaker 1: graduate college in you win the US Women's Open, talk
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about that. Well one at
Speaker 1: an iconic course, Pinehurst number two. Talk to me a
Speaker 1: little bit about that experience for you and what it
Speaker 1: meant to you to win that tournament that had been
Speaker 1: very important for you for so long. Yeah. You know
Speaker 1: when I talk about childhood lifelong dreams when in the
Speaker 1: US Open was definitely one of them. And two thousand
Speaker 1: fourteen set up with such a cool, unique event because
Speaker 1: we were back to back with the men. The men
Speaker 1: played the week before and then we played the same
Speaker 1: golf course a week later. Yeah, and Honor say, I
Speaker 1: contribute a lot of my win because we followed the men,
Speaker 1: and I um followed the last group Ricky and Martin
Speaker 1: Khimer on the last day on Sunday, And it was
Speaker 1: funny because I didn't see a lot of other golfers
Speaker 1: walking around, I'm like, why why didn't you as like
Speaker 1: a free preview, um, And it was like me and
Speaker 1: Jessica Corner that we were watching all around and I
Speaker 1: saw Martin Khimer just shoot lights out, so you know,
Speaker 1: before I get there, I'm super scared of Pine his
Speaker 1: number two because everyone's talking about how it is the
Speaker 1: hardest golf course ever. Winning scores can be like ted
Speaker 1: over pars andthing like that. I see Martin Khimer shoot
Speaker 1: you know, a lot under par, and he may He's
Speaker 1: making the golf course looks so easy. So from then on,
Speaker 1: I have a complete different attitude going to the week.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, he did this, I can do this.
Speaker 1: Oh it's making the game a lot easier. And another
Speaker 1: fun fact is, you know, I was unclose to Ricky
Speaker 1: Fowler and he I asked him for his yardage book,
Speaker 1: so it was like cheating on a test because he
Speaker 1: wrote down pretty much every break on the green, we're
Speaker 1: not to go where to miss it on this pin
Speaker 1: And we basically had the same pins and the men
Speaker 1: so um, it was a really cool experience, especially to
Speaker 1: win there you had the same pins all like all
Speaker 1: four days, like Thursday, Friday, Sturday didn't. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: pretty much the same. Wow, that's crazy, that's so awesome.
Speaker 1: I remember. And of course again spoiler alert, why do
Speaker 1: I keep think spoiler alert, we didn't know each other
Speaker 1: at the time. I remember watching you in that event
Speaker 1: and rooting for you so hard. I don't I can't
Speaker 1: even explain it. I don't. But there was something for
Speaker 1: me about, you know, having seen you for so long, knowing,
Speaker 1: not really understanding, but intellect really knowing what you had
Speaker 1: to have gone through for all of those years. Um,
Speaker 1: and to see you they're doing it was It's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite memories watching golf of of all. No
Speaker 1: for real, um dagger weighing the Masters a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, that might have surpassed it, that might have
Speaker 1: surpassed it. There have been, but there have been a few,
Speaker 1: but that no, for real. I, UM, you know we're
Speaker 1: not we're not a golf program here, but I do
Speaker 1: want to ask you, um about the evolution you know,
Speaker 1: at that time of of your your putting stance, so
Speaker 1: what you call it, you're putting putting stance tabletop that's right.
Speaker 1: For those of you who are not familiar, I mean
Speaker 1: she went to a nine degree angle when she was
Speaker 1: putting at that time. So what wow? What was explained
Speaker 1: to me? The reason? And then I'll just do it
Speaker 1: if you if you can give me a compelling reason
Speaker 1: right now, I'll start tomorrow. I'll give you two words.
Speaker 1: And that's all I need to say. Putting yips? Putting yips?
Speaker 1: Was it? Oh? I had the yips. I had the yips, Dad,
Speaker 1: And I was so uncomfortable over the ball. I mean
Speaker 1: I was just like, the ball looks so tiny, the
Speaker 1: whole looks so tiny. And it was funny. So the
Speaker 1: year before UM, at the last tournament of the year,
Speaker 1: the Tour Championship, I'm hitting the ball great, putting awfully.
Speaker 1: As as that year UM, and I think I was
Speaker 1: playing with a really short player, someone who was like
Speaker 1: five ft tall, and obviously they're making everything and I'm
Speaker 1: missing everything. And I'm like, you know what, you know
Speaker 1: what I figured out why I'm missing all my putts.
Speaker 1: I'm too tall. This is from the ball. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: too far away from the ball. There are five feet tall,
Speaker 1: there's so much closer to the ball. That's why they
Speaker 1: pretty well. So then in the middle of the round,
Speaker 1: obviously there's no mirrors on the golf course. I start
Speaker 1: to bend lower to the ball, I start making everything.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, I feel so great over the golf ball.
Speaker 1: The ball looks bigger, the whole looks bigger. I'm one
Speaker 1: with the ball because I'm closer to the wall. And
Speaker 1: then after the round, reporters are asking me questions about
Speaker 1: my new punting steps, and like, yeah, I'm just a
Speaker 1: little lower to the ball, Like what's the big deal?
Speaker 1: And I see a picture of myself. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I understand why I look funny, But it worked. I
Speaker 1: felt comfortable. I didn't have the US anymore, and that's
Speaker 1: all I cared about. How long did how long did
Speaker 1: you continue to put that way? I think I putted
Speaker 1: that way. Um, I mean I gradually start as the
Speaker 1: more comfortable effect over the putts that I started gradually
Speaker 1: coming up a little bit. I mean I would say
Speaker 1: like two years or so, maybe, okay, I mean degrees.
Speaker 1: It was yeah, yeah, visually shocking. It was fishually shocking.
Speaker 1: I love that you played with someone short, that you
Speaker 1: attribute that to playing with someone short and thinking, well, there,
Speaker 1: they can see the ball so much clearer because they're
Speaker 1: closer to it. Yeah, I I love that. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: it was I mean, it was iconic. It just felt
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I mean I joked about the
Speaker 1: Tiger thing before. It sort of felt like what needed
Speaker 1: to happen. And as you brought up well one in
Speaker 1: a special place at Pinehurst, number two two in the
Speaker 1: sort of unique setting with the men there as well,
Speaker 1: and I feel like, I mean, the US Open in
Speaker 1: golf always gets attention. I feel like there was extra
Speaker 1: that year because of that. The opportunity to to see
Speaker 1: a course so many times. Of course, as you you know,
Speaker 1: that's the greatest moment for you on a golf course. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Um, I mean the worst moment probably came
Speaker 1: from when I was looking for my golf all the
Speaker 1: bush on sixteen. I was going to bring that up
Speaker 1: and I didn't know. I didn't know if there would
Speaker 1: still be PTSD talk. People take people through that so
Speaker 1: so pine Pinehurst. One of the reasons that it makes
Speaker 1: it so difficult is if you miss the fairway, it
Speaker 1: doesn't go out abound. There are these little bushes where
Speaker 1: a place I played golf at a lot at Wilshire
Speaker 1: Country Club kind of adopted this same diabolical craziness. I
Speaker 1: bring it up because the women play there now, have
Speaker 1: a tour event there now, So talk us through sixteen
Speaker 1: final round leading the US Open, you hit your ball
Speaker 1: and what happens? So UM to paint the picture. I
Speaker 1: start the day with four shot lead, and Stacy Lewis
Speaker 1: is having a great day, so she's making up ground.
Speaker 1: And now I t up on sick team with you know,
Speaker 1: three holes to play with a three shot lead, so
Speaker 1: pretty feeling pretty comfortable. I want to play conservative. Um
Speaker 1: writ my ball into the fairway bunker and I should
Speaker 1: have played conservative, but from then on I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hit a hybrid out of the bunker, and
Speaker 1: trying to get on the green, I basically shank it
Speaker 1: out of the bunker. And now I'm in this bush
Speaker 1: that you mentioned before and we can't find the ball.
Speaker 1: Everyone's looking for the ball, the real officials looking for
Speaker 1: the ball, and you and golf you only have five
Speaker 1: minutes look for a golf ball. That's it. And now
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, it's about that time, and I
Speaker 1: can feel Stacy Lewis coming on the range getting prepared
Speaker 1: for a playoff now because I'm gonna position where I'm
Speaker 1: going to make either a double bogie or a triple bogie,
Speaker 1: and you know, now I won't have a lead. And
Speaker 1: thankfully the rural officials, I think, with like three seconds left,
Speaker 1: finds a golf ball. I hit it out. I have
Speaker 1: like a six quarter five or six quarter for double bogeye,
Speaker 1: And now I'm just like super nervous. And I think
Speaker 1: it was that moment that I'm the most proud of,
Speaker 1: not the birdie afterwards, but that moment where I was
Speaker 1: just so nervous. It was like a right to left
Speaker 1: uphill put um and for double bogey, and um, really
Speaker 1: proud that I made it and kind of set the
Speaker 1: next two holes up. Yeah, it was. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: It was like Rory with the ball in the tree thing.
Speaker 1: That's what That was the only other thing that reminded
Speaker 1: me of m Has it been difficult for you to
Speaker 1: say goodbye to golf these last few years? And why
Speaker 1: was that? Was it? The injuries? Yeah? So, Um, I
Speaker 1: actually gone into a car accident two thousand sixteen where
Speaker 1: it really messed up by neck. I actually had like
Speaker 1: a little fracture, I had hern age ship So I've
Speaker 1: had a lot of cortisol injections and you know, stuff
Speaker 1: done to my neck. Ended up having to get hand
Speaker 1: surgery because of that, and my shoulder was messed up.
Speaker 1: I have like nerve issues, and you know, after having
Speaker 1: my daughter, I just never wanted to get to a
Speaker 1: point where I couldn't play golf with her or hang
Speaker 1: out with her or lift her up, because I was
Speaker 1: really scared of that. But after having her, you know,
Speaker 1: I really wanted to play on tour and you know,
Speaker 1: show her that mom plays golf. Um. So it was
Speaker 1: really hard to make the decision. It took me a
Speaker 1: really long time to make it. But I'm at completely
Speaker 1: at peace right now because I love being able to
Speaker 1: spend almost every day with her. And I still travel
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there for work, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's a different type of travel than when you're on tour. UM.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest decision, the fact that that was
Speaker 1: that was made was I was gone for two months
Speaker 1: and I brought her and my husband was traveling as well,
Speaker 1: so he couldn't see her for two months, and she
Speaker 1: was really young at that point, and you know, when
Speaker 1: you're going by months, two months is a really big,
Speaker 1: you know step. They're doing new things, you know and
Speaker 1: all that, and I just never I just didn't feel
Speaker 1: comfortable with that. But I felt like it was really
Speaker 1: unfair that either I couldn't see her for a month
Speaker 1: at a time or my husband couldn't see her for
Speaker 1: a month at a time. So it was a very
Speaker 1: personal decision for me and my family. But I feel
Speaker 1: at peace with it now and definitely was going through
Speaker 1: a little bit of an identity crisis moment because I
Speaker 1: felt like I was like, what am I now? But
Speaker 1: I'm going through it. I think I've met the other
Speaker 1: side of it now. Did you play your final professional
Speaker 1: round of golf with me? Uh? No, I did not,
Speaker 1: damn it, because it was close though it was very
Speaker 1: close that I just played the US Open after that,
Speaker 1: I just played one more tournament. So yeah, I thought
Speaker 1: you had. I thought you had. I remember you're talking
Speaker 1: to me that day about, you know, feeling like you
Speaker 1: were you were done, but you know, the US Open
Speaker 1: comes calling and you're going to go back, and damn it,
Speaker 1: that would have been such a cool feather in my cap.
Speaker 1: Do you make the put on eighteen? And that was
Speaker 1: my set off. I make the pot on eighteen, and
Speaker 1: You're like, guess what this guy does that I can't
Speaker 1: play anymore. We're done, We're done. I'm hanging it. I'm
Speaker 1: hanging it up. You spoke a little bit about your
Speaker 1: injuries there. You were very guarded, You were very Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick in about your injuries while you were playing. Why
Speaker 1: Why was that, I don't know. I think it was
Speaker 1: just part ego, part I didn't want people to know,
Speaker 1: part I didn't know what was exactly going on. I
Speaker 1: think that was the last one, I think with the
Speaker 1: biggest part, because when I was going through my injuries,
Speaker 1: they were never really clear. I mean, some of them
Speaker 1: were very clear cut, but the first one that I had,
Speaker 1: you know, it was ever changing. So I never wanted
Speaker 1: to announce one thing and then have it be changed
Speaker 1: again and again. But a lot of times I was
Speaker 1: just like, I don't know, I was I was ignoring
Speaker 1: the fact that I was injured, which was very stupid,
Speaker 1: because you can't ignore something like that. And I think
Speaker 1: it made my injuries go on longer because I just
Speaker 1: didn't face it head on. I kind of ignored it
Speaker 1: for a little bit um but just later on just
Speaker 1: realized that there's nothing to be ashamed of, you know,
Speaker 1: you get injured, Athletes get injured. That's just a part
Speaker 1: of life. And um, I think that's when I just
Speaker 1: started to be a little bit more at peace with
Speaker 1: it myself internally, because I did go through a lot
Speaker 1: of injuries, which was really hard for me mentally and emotionally.
Speaker 1: But I just started to realize it's part of life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it no, it is, I mean, and golf is really
Speaker 1: difficult on your body. I mean, I'm so such a
Speaker 1: genius for thinking of that. Actually, no one's ever said
Speaker 1: that before. It but it really, you know, it really
Speaker 1: is risks. As you mentioned, back legs hips, so many things,
Speaker 1: and especially when you've got a tabletop putting dance. This
Speaker 1: is not this is not easy. But I yeah, I
Speaker 1: so admire you for I mean, you may have been
Speaker 1: guarded about injuries, but I felt like you were always
Speaker 1: very open and accommodating to the people around you and
Speaker 1: to your fans, and in a lot of ways, to
Speaker 1: the media. I felt like you gave them probably more
Speaker 1: attention than they deserved at times. But I really admire
Speaker 1: the way that you handled yourself. Oh, thank you. I mean,
Speaker 1: the way I looked at it was that the reporters
Speaker 1: are just trying to do their jobs as well. You know,
Speaker 1: I was a communication major. Actually had to write some
Speaker 1: articles and interview some people as well, and you had
Speaker 1: to have some uncomfortable interviews, and I just at that
Speaker 1: point is realized that they're just trying to do their
Speaker 1: jobs as best they could. You know, I respect the
Speaker 1: media and you know what they're trying to accomplish. At times,
Speaker 1: you know, hurtful things were said and done, but you
Speaker 1: just kind of have to not take it too personally,
Speaker 1: I guess, and realize that it's all of you know,
Speaker 1: professional relationship. Yeah, you had a dream to go to Stanford.
Speaker 1: You had a dream to become a professional athlete. You
Speaker 1: also changed women's golf and brought women's golf into the
Speaker 1: spotlight at a time where women's golf was not getting
Speaker 1: very much attention. I mean it's been said more times,
Speaker 1: it's almost a cliche now that you were the Tiger
Speaker 1: Woods of of women's golf and brought all of that attention.
Speaker 1: There was that ever a conscious thought in your mind
Speaker 1: or was this something that happened to you as opposed
Speaker 1: to you feel like you driving that Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: never a conscious thought for me. Um, I think it
Speaker 1: is a conscious thought. Now I'm doing everything I can
Speaker 1: to bring more attention to the l p g A
Speaker 1: and try to make our tour a bigger and better place. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but back in the day, definitely wasn't a
Speaker 1: conscious decision. Yeah, And I mean, well, let me ask
Speaker 1: you this, also, at what point were you aware that
Speaker 1: this was happening. I don't think I was ever really aware.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of belief at times. Us Come on, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I just I don't know. I just felt like, I,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm just trying to win out there.
Speaker 1: I felt like there were so many better players and
Speaker 1: me out there. Um and you know, so many different
Speaker 1: and better goats. As you might say, it was never
Speaker 1: you know, number one in the world. I felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, I just felt like I never really lived
Speaker 1: up to people's expectations. So I never thought of myself
Speaker 1: as like someone that I guess changed the women's games
Speaker 1: that in my mind there were so many other women
Speaker 1: that did. But mean, I think now after retiring, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it is a very conscious decision for me
Speaker 1: to know that I have a platform and that you know,
Speaker 1: I can use it to help future female athletes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting hearing you talk. And I have gotten to
Speaker 1: know Anka Sore and Stamp quite a bit. She lives
Speaker 1: up in Tahoe. I obviously participated in the event up there,
Speaker 1: and I've gotten to and she's played up there and
Speaker 1: and at the event in Orlando. Amazingly generous, nice person,
Speaker 1: always has been to me. But there was something about you,
Speaker 1: and I guess part of it was we started following
Speaker 1: you so early, and and that just makes a person
Speaker 1: root for that person and then want to follow that person.
Speaker 1: That just felt different. It felt different with you, and
Speaker 1: I think that's I think, I mean, I'm sure that's
Speaker 1: in part where the tiger thing comes in as well.
Speaker 1: He started so young and we started becoming aware of
Speaker 1: him so so young. But yeah, it's it's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1: And for those of you who haven't been out to
Speaker 1: an LPGA event, it's crazy. I mean, it's truly crazy.
Speaker 1: I think the distance control is quite frankly better than
Speaker 1: the p g A tour. I mean, what when I
Speaker 1: the people I've played with. I played with Lydia Co
Speaker 1: one time. I think I told you this last year.
Speaker 1: I played with her one time in Scottsdale for an
Speaker 1: event and we were through. We were just farting around
Speaker 1: and we were through thirteen holes and I suddenly started
Speaker 1: doing the math, which is difficult for me, and I
Speaker 1: was like, she's gonna shoot fifty nine today, She's gonna
Speaker 1: shoot She's gonna shoot fifty nine. Just and it was
Speaker 1: like all of the shots so just close, just in,
Speaker 1: not putting, not She didn't need a tabletop. She just
Speaker 1: hit it to four ft and knocked it in. It
Speaker 1: was It was crazy and I feel that way so
Speaker 1: much there, the distance control, on the approaches to the
Speaker 1: green on on the LPGA tour. It's so fun to watch,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, the talent out there is unbelievable. Do
Speaker 1: you want to be an actor? I was actually telling
Speaker 1: my agent. I was like, I want to be that
Speaker 1: random person that's in all these random movies as an
Speaker 1: extra and like, oh my god, schel in a movie.
Speaker 1: It was like hello, But yeah, that's so, that's what
Speaker 1: Because you did Hawaii five. Oh yeah, I hadn't blast
Speaker 1: you did. I feel like a lot of times athletes
Speaker 1: get bored, like they get they get bored of that
Speaker 1: of that work. Yeah, you know, it's funny because I
Speaker 1: think athletes are kind of all adrenaline junkies. UM. And
Speaker 1: it's funny because after transitioning, I haven't you know, felt
Speaker 1: that adrenal. The only time I feel that greneraline is
Speaker 1: doing live TV or doing a live you know show
Speaker 1: or something like that. Um. But acting in front of
Speaker 1: a camera, it's kind of like one of It's like
Speaker 1: well as most we have to perform, you know. So
Speaker 1: I feel like actors and athletes are very similar. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, wait a minute, team, can you please get that?
Speaker 1: Can we cut that sentence right there and send just
Speaker 1: that to me? And I'm going to use that. I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's my ring tone that might be weird
Speaker 1: as a motivational Oh my alarm clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to use it. Athletes and actors
Speaker 1: are very similar. Yeah, I think so, Oh god, I
Speaker 1: love that. I uh well, I wish you luck with that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're you say you're going through an identity crisis.
Speaker 1: You're you're you're doing a hell of a lot already.
Speaker 1: You're focusing your business on on women and my minority
Speaker 1: owned businesses. Is this something you have always wanted to do?
Speaker 1: Is this conscious? Does this has to have to do?
Speaker 1: With your impact on the LPGA, etcetera. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: You know, I want to help bring you know, more
Speaker 1: access into the game, but also into the venture side,
Speaker 1: you know, get more give more access to women and
Speaker 1: minority owned founders, and yeah, hosting LPGA VT next year
Speaker 1: as well, which I'm super excited about. But kind of
Speaker 1: my mission to a lot of things that I'm doing
Speaker 1: is I want to help bring the more access to
Speaker 1: the game, help bring more diversity into the game, and
Speaker 1: you hopefully break down barriers. So kind of everything I
Speaker 1: do kind of has that thesis, right. I was told
Speaker 1: one of the companies that you've invested in is sports
Speaker 1: Box AI. Yeah. Yeah, so talk to me a little
Speaker 1: bit about this. Sounds fascinating to me, one from gaming perspective,
Speaker 1: but two actually could be helped full for golfers as well.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about it. Yeah, it's perfect. AI is
Speaker 1: a really cool concept. Before, when you had to get
Speaker 1: three D data for a golf swing, it was very
Speaker 1: expensive to get because you have to put all those
Speaker 1: white dots in your body. The technology is very expensive,
Speaker 1: so only a few teachers, you know, have that, which
Speaker 1: means only a few students get to have access to
Speaker 1: it and those students who usually have to pay a
Speaker 1: lot of money, they kind of going back to, you know,
Speaker 1: getting more access into golf with four stocks AI. All
Speaker 1: you need is your phone and place it in front
Speaker 1: of you and take a video of you swinging a
Speaker 1: golf club and then the phone. Yeah, it makes a
Speaker 1: two D video into a three D video than which
Speaker 1: use the eight different angles you can see it from,
Speaker 1: and it gives you all the very accurate um like
Speaker 1: shoulder turned rotation numbers, tilt sway, all of that. You know,
Speaker 1: So teachers, any teacher can now have access to it
Speaker 1: at a very low pricing point versus you know, you
Speaker 1: have to buy like a vest before or buy all
Speaker 1: this sort of technology. Not just you just have your
Speaker 1: iPhones an app and they just recently came out with
Speaker 1: a use your Friendly version UM so that you and
Speaker 1: me can use it. Because let's be honest, even I
Speaker 1: when I look at three numbers, I'm like, I have
Speaker 1: no idea what I'm looking at. UM. So they've kind
Speaker 1: of created this like workout program esque for golf. It's
Speaker 1: like Peloton for golf, where you know you have, okay,
Speaker 1: I want to fix my slice, so you click on
Speaker 1: that practice plan and it gives you, you know, like, okay,
Speaker 1: thirty minutes on the range, here are ten drills that
Speaker 1: you need to do and it works well. It talks
Speaker 1: you through it. Yeah, and then you can also in
Speaker 1: the beginning of the lesson, middle, and then the end,
Speaker 1: you can also film yourself. He's in the three D
Speaker 1: data to see exactly where you are. Instead of being like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm rotating my shoulders a little bit more,
Speaker 1: this gives you the actual data. It's very clear that
Speaker 1: one you really know what you're talking about in terms
Speaker 1: of what this company does, and too that you think
Speaker 1: it's cool I do as well that I can't even
Speaker 1: I mean, I've done the Dots thing. The Dots thing
Speaker 1: is a is a production. But to be able to
Speaker 1: do this and do a session, do a range session,
Speaker 1: and mid session be able to kind of recalibrate, that's
Speaker 1: very cool. Yeah, you have to try it out. I'll
Speaker 1: send you a code, all right, send me, send me
Speaker 1: a coach. Can you send me a new phone too,
Speaker 1: because here's the crazy thing. Your phone can do all
Speaker 1: these things. But yeah, I'm mad at the phone people. Now.
Speaker 1: It's it's you know what it is it's exactly two
Speaker 1: years now. My phone are messed up, exactly two years.
Speaker 1: We can analyze me in three D and then it's
Speaker 1: gonna die in two years. I am so bitter about it.
Speaker 1: I'm so aggravated on my phone. Um, you started a
Speaker 1: new podcast, golf mostly with your old bestie Hollie led Better.
Speaker 1: Talk to me a little bit about well one, how
Speaker 1: it's going into. What was your your idea about starting it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so Hallie and I've always wanted to start it. We
Speaker 1: never lived in the same city before, so now both
Speaker 1: of them in l A. It was a really cool
Speaker 1: opportunity to, um, you know, do more media content together podcast.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it is just the beginning. We want to do YouTube,
Speaker 1: we want to do live shows. Um, we want to
Speaker 1: do all of it. We want to do get togethers.
Speaker 1: But mainly we just want to show people the fun
Speaker 1: side of golf. We it's called golf. Mostly we talk
Speaker 1: about golf maybe of the time. That's not mostly, that's
Speaker 1: not mostly. I know sometimes should be golf, sometimes Quali
Speaker 1: occasionally it sounds like, yeah, golf occasionally, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean we're both golfers, so I think inherently it is
Speaker 1: a golf show. Um, but it's been really fun to
Speaker 1: talk to our guests, our friends who you know don't
Speaker 1: play a lot of golf, and also ask them what
Speaker 1: the stigma of golf is and how it's you know,
Speaker 1: a changing or how it can change. So it's really
Speaker 1: fun to get into that. And you know, all the
Speaker 1: interviewes that we do, um, you know, it's fun to
Speaker 1: get to know another side of them. Like with Tony,
Speaker 1: we had both Tony and his wife come on and
Speaker 1: it's really cool to hear Lena's side of things and
Speaker 1: you know, her stories of travel with the kids and um,
Speaker 1: there's things that you know, Tony doesn't really get to
Speaker 1: talk about a lot, and we really want to deep
Speaker 1: dive and the things that you don't really see. So
Speaker 1: it's it's been a lot of fun. We record it's
Speaker 1: even one and um we're working on season two right now.
Speaker 1: But it's been a lot of fun. Honestly, if no
Speaker 1: one listened to it, Hallie and I are having so
Speaker 1: much fun doing it that that's all worth it to us.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Congratulations, you are easy to root for. I
Speaker 1: wish you great success moving forward. I appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: and talking to me, and quite frankly, your candidate answers,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I'm gonna leave you
Speaker 1: with this. People ask me all the time why I
Speaker 1: play golf, and for me, it brings me back to win.
Speaker 1: And this is gonna sound like a joke, but it
Speaker 1: brings me back to when I was an athlete as
Speaker 1: a kid, competing and for me, the competition was the thing.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't matter how good you are or not.
Speaker 1: There's a handicap system that enables you, as you said before,
Speaker 1: to play with anybody at any time and compete. And
Speaker 1: for me, the reason I love golf I've never talked
Speaker 1: about this on this program before, is that for me,
Speaker 1: it's a four hours that I put my phone away
Speaker 1: and I'm concentrating on one thing and one thing only,
Speaker 1: which is to get this stupid little ball into this hole.
Speaker 1: And that's it. That's all, it's it's it's a very
Speaker 1: simple game when you boil it down to just to
Speaker 1: just that, and it makes everything go away. And I
Speaker 1: think it brings me back to when I used to
Speaker 1: play basketball and baseball and all these other sports when
Speaker 1: I was a kid and and compete and I think,
Speaker 1: dare I say that part of the legend, the aura,
Speaker 1: the existence of Michelle we is exactly that as well,
Speaker 1: is taking us back to when we were kids, to
Speaker 1: watching you as a kid and beginning to root for
Speaker 1: you and wanting you to make it like almost like
Speaker 1: as a as a replacement for those of us who
Speaker 1: chose different paths. Is like, look at that kid, I
Speaker 1: want I want her to make it. And you seem
Speaker 1: likable and all of those things as well, but but
Speaker 1: really that and and look, getting to know you a
Speaker 1: little bit, you you you don't disappoint. So good luck
Speaker 1: to you. Good luck to you and your husband's warriors,
Speaker 1: um go dubs the rest of the year. And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I hope to see you out at the golf course soon. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which definitely play. Yeah. Thank you so much, Michelle, Thank you, Michelle,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for stopping by. I guess now
Speaker 1: the cat is out of the bag. I am a
Speaker 1: huge fan and so now thank you for the tip.
Speaker 1: As another tall person myself, I am going to give
Speaker 1: your putting stance a try, maybe this month at the
Speaker 1: Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, who knows, maybe this year.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna win it. I'll let you know how it goes, listeners.
Speaker 1: I will see you all again next week with another
Speaker 1: fantastic guest. Until then, I hope that the first week
Speaker 1: of is off to a spectacular start, and to each
Speaker 1: and every one of you, I want this year to
Speaker 1: be the best year ever. We'll see you soon. Off
Speaker 1: the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia,
Speaker 1: Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer
Speaker 1: is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Sammy Cats.
Speaker 1: Our theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great
Speaker 1: friend Creed Breton, and the episode was mixed by Seth
Speaker 1: O Landscape, a