Speaker 1: Matt Fitzpatrick said the smartest thing you can say on
Speaker 1: a Sunday night, and I think he really meant it.
Speaker 1: I'm not changing anything. I know what works. I'm going
Speaker 1: to keep that going what works no matter what. He
Speaker 1: now is in the same conversation as Tony Japlin for
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. He's an Englishman who won
Speaker 1: the US Open, and not only that, he wanted the
Speaker 1: same place he won a US Amateur that puts from
Speaker 1: the same company as Jack Nicholas. So he has had
Speaker 1: He's a young man, he's had a great golfing life
Speaker 1: already and he'll either keep it going or he won't
Speaker 1: keep it going. He's going to be around for years.
Speaker 1: Put another log on the fire nobody hears give the time. Hello,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another Fire Drill podcast. This is Alan
Speaker 1: the ship Nik. Sitting right next to me is Michael Bam.
Speaker 1: We hear at the country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. It's
Speaker 1: Sunday evening after the US Open. Jeff Ogilvy is joining
Speaker 1: us from Melbourne, Australia on the Internet. What the US Open?
Speaker 1: I mean today was so much fun. I just loved
Speaker 1: the energy of it. Great golf, big time players, Jeff,
Speaker 1: what did you see that you liked on this this
Speaker 1: kind of memorable show. I mean, yeah, you're right, it
Speaker 1: was perfect on it. It was a few birdies to
Speaker 1: be had, lots of lots of big names, two or
Speaker 1: three guys who hadn't won a major. Chefla keeps showing
Speaker 1: up even though we underestimated. No one ever picks him
Speaker 1: at the start of the week, but he's just there
Speaker 1: every time. And he was one part away from being
Speaker 1: in it in the playoff. Gussie. I mean, what a
Speaker 1: bunker shop from Fitzpatrick on the last time. Pretty impressive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just a great tournament. It was. It's great to have
Speaker 1: a US Open than isn't marred by some sort of
Speaker 1: pitching and moaning about the setup. And there was some birdies,
Speaker 1: but there was plenty of carnage and lots of guys
Speaker 1: had a chance. I think a lot of guys will
Speaker 1: look back after the weekend that they had. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of guy If you look back, a lot
Speaker 1: of guys had a chance with two rounds to play,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But Matt, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you look back to Southern Hills, he was probably one
Speaker 1: of the best players in the field. If not the
Speaker 1: best player in the field, and he sort of looked
Speaker 1: a little testy, and I even Billy looked a little
Speaker 1: grumpy with him. Sort of towards the end of Sunday,
Speaker 1: I thought, at least watching on TV, that his man
Speaker 1: had sort of lost his way attitude wise. So I
Speaker 1: kind of felt that he was sort of ready for
Speaker 1: ready to go the next step. You would have learned
Speaker 1: tons out of Southern Hills. And he came here and
Speaker 1: got the job done, finished it off like a proper
Speaker 1: major champion, seventeen grains. That doesn't happen very often, and
Speaker 1: he was open. What do you think, mate? Agree with
Speaker 1: all of that, and agree with your sentiment. And I've
Speaker 1: always rooted for the US open for the greatness of it,
Speaker 1: and it's it's hurt me actually on a personal level
Speaker 1: to see sort of the masters you surve it and
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about this week. And
Speaker 1: I think you felt the same, Alan and Jeff, had
Speaker 1: you been here, I think you would have built the
Speaker 1: same And like for the second we got on campus,
Speaker 1: We're like, this is what it's all about. It's so cool,
Speaker 1: it's so intense, it's so beautiful, it's charming, and it's tough,
Speaker 1: it's got history, it's the whole package. And I just
Speaker 1: feel like I feel like the Usapeen elevated itself this week.
Speaker 1: I fully agree. And you know, even even though it's
Speaker 1: US in the summer, except when you're maybe at Pebble
Speaker 1: or Tory, I mean, it's a hot weather tournament, but
Speaker 1: sort of that that the coolness and the gray skies,
Speaker 1: it felt right. I felt like she'd been wearing tweed,
Speaker 1: you know, like everything about you instinct that they think
Speaker 1: back to nineteen thirteen and all all the great history
Speaker 1: here and the old history, and it just it just
Speaker 1: felt right, a little gloaming, and it really did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it felt spooky, and this place is a little spooky
Speaker 1: and a little weird Ben Crenshaw, you know, kissing the
Speaker 1: Green and it's got weird and spooky and it was
Speaker 1: just neat and every way. By the way, I only
Speaker 1: learned it trucently in thirteen. They played it in September,
Speaker 1: so they probably had some kind of cooler weather. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this is really what it's all about. It only sorry
Speaker 1: Jeff was in the field. I think he would have
Speaker 1: so appreciated the whole thing. I know indeed, Um, well,
Speaker 1: let's let's give our due to the champ. I mean
Speaker 1: you said it, Jeff, that that shot out of the bunker,
Speaker 1: and I mean Fitzpatrick was nailed all day. He was
Speaker 1: playing so beautifully and he was just letting the club go.
Speaker 1: I mean he just looked like he was free swinging
Speaker 1: out there. And then really the worst shot he had
Speaker 1: all day was probably that quick cook off eighteen t
Speaker 1: and he's like, oh, oh, you know, we needed Johnny
Speaker 1: Miller on the call. That's pressure, you know. And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, here we go him, and let's be fair.
Speaker 1: I mean, Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick is I think over six in
Speaker 1: the Ryder Cup. He did struggle at Southern Hills, So
Speaker 1: you had this sense of like foreboding, like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: is he gonna let this get away after playing so beautifully?
Speaker 1: So what is it about a fairway bunker shot of
Speaker 1: Jeff that is particularly challenging or maybe there's something you know,
Speaker 1: the way you can pick the ball clean out of sand,
Speaker 1: like talk us through the mechanics of that shot under
Speaker 1: pressure and just how good it was. Wow, I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's the last place you want to finish. I
Speaker 1: think on the last while. I mean, because so much
Speaker 1: can go wrong. I mean, look, John showed us yesterday
Speaker 1: that you stend a little bit, you stay in the bunker.
Speaker 1: It's you get one grain of sound between your club
Speaker 1: and the ball, and it's not going to get to
Speaker 1: the green. It's a very sort of low margin for
Speaker 1: error shot. He was let off a little bit that
Speaker 1: he kind of had to fade it. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's the same and everyone else is
Speaker 1: the same, but I've always felt a fade out of
Speaker 1: a fairway bunker is kind of what you want to do.
Speaker 1: It's a lot easier than trying to hit a drawer.
Speaker 1: If he'd had the same sort of draw around that
Speaker 1: little mound, that would have been exponentially more difficult. I
Speaker 1: would have thought, so let off there, But he was
Speaker 1: right down on the steel and the grip on it.
Speaker 1: He wasn't going to hit the ball fat And yeah,
Speaker 1: great shot, incredible, You're right. He looked very free, free
Speaker 1: all day. And his putting stroke just looks money. It
Speaker 1: looks like if you just watch his putter, it looks
Speaker 1: like it's a robot punting. It's just perfect. You know.
Speaker 1: When he kept that sort of that pace. He's quite
Speaker 1: quick for an analytical, methodical guy. He gets up to
Speaker 1: it and goes really fast, which I really like. It's
Speaker 1: fun to watch watch him play. And he didn't slow
Speaker 1: down at all. And he hit that put on the
Speaker 1: last pretty fast, hit the bunk shop pretty fast. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He looked at everything a winner all day really, and
Speaker 1: I was interesting about him and Will coming up the
Speaker 1: last because those two sort of I mean, I know,
Speaker 1: if it, Matt's won a lot of times in Europe
Speaker 1: but hasn't won over here and needed to sort of.
Speaker 1: He's trying to win his first major. Wills trying to
Speaker 1: win his first tournament. It's unbelievable. The majors have got
Speaker 1: the one he's gonna hit. Looks like he's going to
Speaker 1: get his first win, and I major Will, Um, so
Speaker 1: I was interesting to see it just come down to
Speaker 1: those two on the last hole and they both played
Speaker 1: the whole last hole like Tiger and Ernie, right. It
Speaker 1: was it was impressive. Yeah, it was neat to hear
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick talking about that, but you know he's a free
Speaker 1: day taught Will too much, you know, just so and
Speaker 1: so matched play and of course, uh Fitzpatrick where playing
Speaker 1: match play, when he went went, when he won the
Speaker 1: USM What what do you like about the kid? He's smart,
Speaker 1: he's methodical, he's English, he's straight Uh. He seems like
Speaker 1: a straightforward personality. Doesn't look like he's playing games with anybody. Hum.
Speaker 1: And he just stood up there, you know, Will was
Speaker 1: the field was serving him a lot. And when you
Speaker 1: looked at that board at the turn, you know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't like, oh this is mine to loose. It's like
Speaker 1: anybody could win this thing. And then things changed a
Speaker 1: little bit. But he seems like a methodical, intelligent player
Speaker 1: that should win a US Open, like Faldo should have
Speaker 1: won a US Open. Yeah, yeah, interesting? Can I as
Speaker 1: Jeff a quick technical question? Always, Jeff, when you're getting
Speaker 1: that you know those fairway bunkers. I heard this as
Speaker 1: a kid. I've been doing ever since. But I'm bad
Speaker 1: at a fairway bunker, So maybe I don't have the
Speaker 1: right idea. Do you choke up as much as you
Speaker 1: dig in? Um? I try not to dig in too much.
Speaker 1: I try not to get too deep with my feet.
Speaker 1: I mean it depends on the sand and it's all
Speaker 1: every bunder South's different. That's the the fun part about bunkers, Um,
Speaker 1: I would always choke up a lot. It depends how
Speaker 1: it feels. And if the balls above your feet, you
Speaker 1: choke up a lot. If it's below, you don't. I
Speaker 1: think it's a feel thing. I think your issue is
Speaker 1: you might need to just practice them a little bit more.
Speaker 1: You don't do much. One doesn't generally. Generally it's not
Speaker 1: a shot than anyone practices. And I think we're actually
Speaker 1: very fortunate when we play on tour because we played
Speaker 1: courses where fairway bunkers are so prominent, and we're in
Speaker 1: them all the time. We just get natural practice by
Speaker 1: playing on tour out of fairway bunkers. Yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: see many of us practice him on the range. There's
Speaker 1: very few places you can actually practice him, so you
Speaker 1: really have to just play lots of golf and just
Speaker 1: working out as you go along. I think with certain
Speaker 1: swings suit it. Certain swings suit fairway bunkers. He's very
Speaker 1: shallow on the down swing, which is going to really
Speaker 1: help him and other swings. Other guys seemed to their
Speaker 1: fairway bunker shops all the time, and some guys seemed
Speaker 1: to finn him. Greg Norman was incredible out of a
Speaker 1: fairway bunker. Yes, a lot of guys. Tiger has been great,
Speaker 1: but it's just practiced a lot. Yeah. Yeah, Savvy was
Speaker 1: a great bunker player, fairway bunker. But he really picked
Speaker 1: Was he really down to the steel? I didn't pick
Speaker 1: up on that? Was he that choked up? It was
Speaker 1: pretty low. There was a lot of inches of grip
Speaker 1: above his hands. Yeah that's cool. Yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1: So it's cool to sort of sort of feel it
Speaker 1: out on the last hole. Not rely. I mean for
Speaker 1: a guy who's quite formulaic, I guess um he sees
Speaker 1: does seem to play quite feel based golf. For a
Speaker 1: guy who jots down every shot and stat he's a
Speaker 1: stat ging analytic sort of guy. He does seem to
Speaker 1: play a very feely based game, which is sort of
Speaker 1: fun to watch. This is another subtle thing, but I
Speaker 1: want your your take on this. Jeff is Fitzpatrick puts first.
Speaker 1: He's got maybe two feet, I mean, nothing to gimme
Speaker 1: when the US opens on the line. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: he hold out and then let will have his his
Speaker 1: put to tie, which sort of denied himself the glory
Speaker 1: of rushing in the last put. And you know, the
Speaker 1: moment and hugging the caddy like at an emotional level,
Speaker 1: he may have he may have denied himself a once
Speaker 1: in a lifetime opportunity, But what is the thinking there?
Speaker 1: Just to get your put you know, get your ball
Speaker 1: in the whole. First, it was so close, it was
Speaker 1: not you was never going to miss that. I was
Speaker 1: surprised he tapped it in, to be honest. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: from a tour player's perspective, and everyone else thinks this
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. But I was thinking he's going to stand
Speaker 1: on his through line. You can't stand on his through line.
Speaker 1: But then I started thinking, well that days through line
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter because he's he's not going to win
Speaker 1: if he doesn't make it. But I thought he was
Speaker 1: going to stand on his line through the hole, And
Speaker 1: then I thought, you don't tap it in because you're
Speaker 1: not going to miss it anyway, and you're gonna have
Speaker 1: a chance to tap at him. And the winner is
Speaker 1: supposed to put out last right generally if you can
Speaker 1: make it happen. But he was obviously a match play
Speaker 1: mindset in those last couple of holes. So just get
Speaker 1: the ball in the hole. And I don't I think
Speaker 1: it turned out perfectly. He was standing next to Billy.
Speaker 1: Billy was clearly genuinely chuffed to use a word that
Speaker 1: they would use over there, just just genuine happiness that
Speaker 1: he'd sort of finally got his major and he'd got
Speaker 1: his man over the line that obviously had some frustrations
Speaker 1: at Southern Hills on Sunday and stuff. And I just
Speaker 1: think it was a nice moment that they were standing
Speaker 1: next to each other when he won. Talk about Billy
Speaker 1: faster than Caddy, who's been out here forever and one dozen,
Speaker 1: does the tournaments with different players but never won a major.
Speaker 1: What do you know about Billy? Well, one of the
Speaker 1: funniest people on tour, one of the brightest, and probably
Speaker 1: could be a great writer, Cup Captain. No, Joe just
Speaker 1: actually could be a great writer, Cup Captain. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've been in groups of them many times, Jeff. What's
Speaker 1: he like to be in or has he ever been
Speaker 1: on your bag? Or what's he like in a group
Speaker 1: If he hasn't been, I've never had him on the bag,
Speaker 1: but I've been out with him lots and lots of times.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's fantastic, He's a very funny man. He
Speaker 1: could be a stand up comedian without any troubles. I
Speaker 1: think he gives great speeches at golf clubs and always
Speaker 1: got lots and lots of stories. Tells fantastic heavy stories,
Speaker 1: brilliant Westwood stories and Darren Clark stories. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: caddied for the Who. So he's basically caddied for every writer,
Speaker 1: cup hero that Europe's ever had, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: He's just a legend of the game. He's say, sort
Speaker 1: of ageless, really, I mean he was well experienced, sort
Speaker 1: of long time caddy when I got out Onto I
Speaker 1: went up went to Europe in ninety ninety nine and
Speaker 1: he'd been there a long time and he was very
Speaker 1: respected then and he's still going strong. Probably the pick
Speaker 1: of the Europeans that you would pick if you had
Speaker 1: if you had a European caddy to pick out of
Speaker 1: the basket, you would pick Billy if you had a
Speaker 1: chance to get him. Fantastic Keddy and and as you say,
Speaker 1: arguably the funniest man out there. I mean, the caddy
Speaker 1: is a funny people, but he's probably the king of
Speaker 1: the bunch and has has more great story. He could
Speaker 1: fill up ten hours of a podcast with just stories
Speaker 1: and you'd just be begging for more. Fantastic. Yeah, that's neat.
Speaker 1: It's actually a good idea, noted, very well noted. Yes, Uh,
Speaker 1: in ninety one when I carried for Peter tarvan In
Speaker 1: in Europe, he was ninety one. That's a long time ago.
Speaker 1: He was already catting for Sevey and Sevey was playing
Speaker 1: good golf then. So you wouldn't have gotten that job
Speaker 1: job in ninety one, you know, thirty plus years ago,
Speaker 1: unless you were damned good at your job. And here
Speaker 1: he is winning years Open, and here's two time US opened.
Speaker 1: Andy North come through the house and we got Jef
Speaker 1: Vogelby on the line here. Yeah, a lot of people
Speaker 1: the US Open here, but not me and you Michael Um.
Speaker 1: I mean that that was cute because I was I
Speaker 1: had a perfect glimpse of it where you could see
Speaker 1: will missus putt and Fitzpatrick didn't even react. He just
Speaker 1: looked at Billy and you know, Billy's crying and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a rare moment where almost the
Speaker 1: caddy was more refocused than the player, and it was
Speaker 1: it was kind of cute. I think it suits Fitzpatrick out.
Speaker 1: It's very generous of him. It was not like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm the guy, this is all about me. He was
Speaker 1: like he was, he was happy to kind of almost
Speaker 1: felt like to share the moment with his caddy, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought that's something rut bit about him. Can we
Speaker 1: go back that one moment about tapping. I'm so glad
Speaker 1: you concluded with match play mentality, because that's really what
Speaker 1: it is, you know, for those two guys coming down eighteen,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be one either gonna playoff. Basically, not necessarily,
Speaker 1: it's either gonna playoff. Matt Fitzpatrick's gonna win this thing.
Speaker 1: Once he's got the putt to guarantee a playoff. I
Speaker 1: think he's got to make it because then all the
Speaker 1: pressures on Will's allot towards It's like there's no other
Speaker 1: wiggle room except where must make the putt. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: if they don't make it, there's some freak a chance
Speaker 1: you might miss from twenty inches. Yeah. So I think
Speaker 1: I just think in the matchplay sense of it, with
Speaker 1: all due respected through line, he absolutely did the right thing.
Speaker 1: And I'm one, like you were saying, I'm one for
Speaker 1: like on the moment, but the moment is make sure
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning I got the trophy in the ribbon that
Speaker 1: goes with it in the tournament. Yeah, the metal I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean guys have mis sort putts, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it's Scott Son of the Hills, yeah, chief and Mark Brooks,
Speaker 1: like it does happen, You're right. So he tapped it
Speaker 1: in off. He tapped it in off one leg. It
Speaker 1: was a tapped in. Come on, I'm a yepper. I'm
Speaker 1: always nervous. I'm literally nervous watching guys make short puts
Speaker 1: because that's how bad my yipping is. Yeah, we're never
Speaker 1: playing golf together, Jeff, it won't be well. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to it. Yeah. Well, let's how it was the commentating.
Speaker 1: Did you did you have the sound on today? Sound off?
Speaker 1: I had to sound on. We've got the world fade
Speaker 1: here in Australia, so we kind of bounced back and
Speaker 1: forward from the NBA secrew to some frustrating stuff. But
Speaker 1: it was really good. Zingers fantastic. I think in the
Speaker 1: box he's sort of that perfect sort of blend. He's
Speaker 1: not quite Johnny, but he says it how he sees it,
Speaker 1: and he's a very intelligent golfer. Zinger, and you can
Speaker 1: tell he just gets excited because that's his moment, right.
Speaker 1: He loves that he's the closer he got to the
Speaker 1: last hole, the more he loved it. And he's just
Speaker 1: he's such a competitive guy. I think he's fantastic. I
Speaker 1: think john Woods are great. He's become great at the job,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's such a smart thing. They
Speaker 1: did get Bones and John down on the side of
Speaker 1: the fairways because it's really arguably they know more from
Speaker 1: the side of the fairway than the player does because
Speaker 1: they've spent their career watching golf from the side of
Speaker 1: the player, you know, and assessing lies and watching other players.
Speaker 1: And he's he puts together a really good thing, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it was It's very enjoyable. I mean I miss the
Speaker 1: old Johnny days, to be honest. I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 1: thought Johnny I think sometimes got a bit bored of
Speaker 1: the job towards the into the normal weeks, but he
Speaker 1: was always just fantastic on US Open Sunday, like that
Speaker 1: was his day of the year. Um, So I missed
Speaker 1: that a little bit, but I think Zing is the
Speaker 1: perfect guy to replace him. Um I'm glad we're back
Speaker 1: on NBC. No offense to Fox. Um, but I feel
Speaker 1: at the US Open, at least in my lifetime. I
Speaker 1: mean I remember ABC and the rossy sort of gid
Speaker 1: ranking days and stuff too, But um, at least in
Speaker 1: my sort of career in lifetime, that the US Opens
Speaker 1: feels like it belongs on NBC. And Johnny was a star,
Speaker 1: you know, he elevated by his presence, you know. And
Speaker 1: Johnny elevated that oh six US open that wing foot
Speaker 1: big time. He was so perplexed by what Phil was doing.
Speaker 1: Ben Hogan is rolling over in his grave. It's one
Speaker 1: of the all time great calls. He's like, this better
Speaker 1: be the forward when Phil guests a lass. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was not the foreward. Um, oh, it's such great stuff.
Speaker 1: Um well, I mean you mentioned this earlier. John. There's
Speaker 1: some players who are gonna really be kicking themselves because
Speaker 1: in the end, Uh, the course played a little softer today.
Speaker 1: There was there was birdies to be made. And by
Speaker 1: the way that when I woke up this morning, I
Speaker 1: opened my windows and I could see puddles out on
Speaker 1: the street. I mean it was a pretty good rain
Speaker 1: here in Brooklyn. So you know, I think if in
Speaker 1: the absence of that, of course, would have been tougher,
Speaker 1: and I think the USGA would have probably pushed it
Speaker 1: a little bit more, but there's nothing you can do
Speaker 1: when it rain. Sunday morning. It was weirdly perfect scoring conditions.
Speaker 1: It was not what we thought it would be, and
Speaker 1: that is one of the great beauties of an outdoor sport,
Speaker 1: you know, to be windy and culled and it was
Speaker 1: pleasant and still and overcast and you could see the shots. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I think I think a war of attrition is fun,
Speaker 1: but it was really felt like a shootout. I mean,
Speaker 1: guys were hitting some incredible shots, like um that I
Speaker 1: don't know what iron As Altorius hit on that long
Speaker 1: part three? What is sixteen? Like? That was? That was pure?
Speaker 1: That was I mean he had just made bogie two shots, swing,
Speaker 1: looks like he's out of it, and he flagged it
Speaker 1: from to twenty, got back in the fight. I mean
Speaker 1: that was That was a big time golf shot. And
Speaker 1: you know, if the green was brick hard, that thing
Speaker 1: probably rolls over to the rough and it's different stories. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's not. It is nice when when great shots are received. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we can all agree with that. Yeah, some
Speaker 1: guys who went backwards today, John Rom, Rory McIlroy. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's just put a little bow on their weeks. As
Speaker 1: particularly surprised with Rom. I mean he started three under
Speaker 1: um and he was never a factor today. And you know,
Speaker 1: Rory made a bunch of birdies, a bunch of bogies.
Speaker 1: He was there, he wasn't there. It was just quintessential
Speaker 1: Rory performance. But watching the watching those guys play played out,
Speaker 1: what what did you see? Yeah, yeah, I mean Rory's
Speaker 1: gonna look back again. I mean he didn't really lose
Speaker 1: it today. I think he probably lost it yesterday. Um. Um,
Speaker 1: he just he's just top five in majors every time.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter how. He plays the same sort
Speaker 1: of manager gazeway in the top five, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to figure on the leader board as much as
Speaker 1: he probably should. But again, these things are hard. These
Speaker 1: tournaments are hard. He carries a fair weight of expectation, um,
Speaker 1: self expectation and everyone else's expectation. Um, it's been a
Speaker 1: long time since he's won one, so it's hard. I
Speaker 1: mean sort of, he's trying his hardest. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be surprised if he wins four or five more,
Speaker 1: but the way it goes it looks like but he
Speaker 1: could not win anymore, right, So, I mean he really
Speaker 1: knows he's so good, and you look at last week,
Speaker 1: and you watch last week, it's like, Wow, this guy
Speaker 1: should win two of the easy year. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean he's going to ruin a little bit. John's going
Speaker 1: to be a little bit annoyed. I think. I mean
Speaker 1: the last nineteen holes, he looked, he looked for all
Speaker 1: accounts at the winner. Didn't he have with a hold
Speaker 1: of play yesterday? John on Sunday doesn't normally go that way,
Speaker 1: but just wasn't his week. I mean, these things are tough.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can play well and ship two or
Speaker 1: three over like you just get off to a rough
Speaker 1: start and it's they're really tough. I mean her deck,
Speaker 1: he played unbelievable. What around He had a little frustrated
Speaker 1: at him when he didn't hit the seventeenth grain. It
Speaker 1: would have been fun to see him get in the
Speaker 1: house at four, which might have put a little bit
Speaker 1: more pressure on the guys coming in. Colin sort of
Speaker 1: a backdoor top five. He sort of had a good
Speaker 1: start of the week and was gone yesterday and had
Speaker 1: a great day to day. I mean, he was never
Speaker 1: really in it, but he's ended up. He's gonna History's
Speaker 1: gonna show a top five, which is pretty cool. Um
Speaker 1: Adam had one. Keeps showing up in big tournaments too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's a man for this occasion. He's
Speaker 1: just got that really tidy. It's Fitzpatrick like right, he's
Speaker 1: sort of methodical and goes about his business, hits the
Speaker 1: ball really tired. He doesn't do anything that's gonna blow.
Speaker 1: You're gonna walk straight past him on the range. But
Speaker 1: like then at the end of the week, he's right
Speaker 1: up there again. You know. Um just keeps coming up
Speaker 1: with a good sad one. So yeah, I mean Guido
Speaker 1: had a top fifteen Guidos the US Open. Incredible, Yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned Guedo because when I was I
Speaker 1: was walking in today, he was going down the seventeenth fairway.
Speaker 1: He was hitting the vaighte pen and I tweeted about
Speaker 1: this and I said, I don't care, it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1: But is in the context of a very stressful tournament round,
Speaker 1: is nicotina performance enhancing drug? And is it something that
Speaker 1: you know, should be regulated in some way, and it
Speaker 1: led to all kinds of people calling me your prude stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm not an offended by, but you know it's someone's like, well,
Speaker 1: what about aspirin or what about gate read? But you know,
Speaker 1: in the United States there's a minimum aids. It's a
Speaker 1: regularly an industry. It's acknowledged by the government to be,
Speaker 1: you know, essentially a harmful and or addictive substance. And
Speaker 1: what I mean obviously guys chew some Arnie and Palmer
Speaker 1: Arnie and Hogan and plenty of others smoked. But you know,
Speaker 1: it is a funny thing. I mean, we all recognize
Speaker 1: it affects your your body in some way. Like do
Speaker 1: you think it has a place in big time competitive golf? Joke?
Speaker 1: I think people should be able to do whatever they want,
Speaker 1: to be honest with inside the rules, it probably is
Speaker 1: performance enhancing. But then what are you going to do
Speaker 1: to stop drug guys drinking coffee in the morning? I mean, like,
Speaker 1: where do you where do you draw the line? I
Speaker 1: mean Bobby Jones, I mean he used to say, why
Speaker 1: would you play golf without cigarettes? You know, yeah, like
Speaker 1: how could you? I mean Hogan didn't hit a shot
Speaker 1: without having a smoke in his hand before he hit it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's obviously a different world now. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean there's a lot of chew out there, as
Speaker 1: you say, and um CBD two in garm and like
Speaker 1: all sorts of difference that. I mean, guys are going
Speaker 1: to do their thing right. So I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think that's really that performance enhancing. If it keeps him
Speaker 1: happy and peaceful, I don't think anybody really minds. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think everyone's glad that we don't smell cigarettes and
Speaker 1: stuff out there like we used to, like back in
Speaker 1: the good old days everywhere. But I don't know. If
Speaker 1: you banned nicotaine, what are you gonna do bank cat caffeine?
Speaker 1: And then you're gonna what are you gonna ban practice
Speaker 1: practice this performance enhancing too? That I'm definitely stealing that lane.
Speaker 1: What about we like, say you're in California where it's legal, Like,
Speaker 1: are you okay with the guys like, you know, actually
Speaker 1: having real marijuana DHC during their competitive rounds? Well, T
Speaker 1: actually is a banned substance for us. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I don't know enough about the levels and
Speaker 1: the rules and stuff, but I think you probably you would.
Speaker 1: If you would, you would we in the cup and
Speaker 1: you would fail the test. I think, so we're not
Speaker 1: allowed to do that. I don't think why. Alcohol is
Speaker 1: an interesting one. Yeah, sure, alcohol would absolutely be a
Speaker 1: performance answer for most people. I would have thought, if
Speaker 1: you could get yourself to the right level, And nobody
Speaker 1: really does it except some of the older guys every
Speaker 1: now and then, and John's done it, and there's a
Speaker 1: few other guys that I won't mention that used to
Speaker 1: sneak run in towards the end of their career, and
Speaker 1: that's clearly a performance. We all played better after a
Speaker 1: couple of years, I think, especially if you're a little
Speaker 1: bit stressed. If you were really looking for performance enhancing
Speaker 1: legal things to do, you wouldn't you just have a
Speaker 1: little hip flask and your hip flask in your golf
Speaker 1: bag and have a little sip every six holes or
Speaker 1: something like that. I mean, I don't know, is that
Speaker 1: against PGA tour bilaws? Is it spelled out you can't
Speaker 1: do that. It's not against the drug enforcement policy or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I think it's against the bilows. Yeah, it's conduct unbecoming.
Speaker 1: I think I mean, now we're getting into some subtle things.
Speaker 1: But that's why is THHC a band substance about caffeine
Speaker 1: or and tobacco is nut? I mean about the gum.
Speaker 1: What's loud in the gum? Only the CBD gum. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying to me that there's this is a
Speaker 1: slight bit of hypocrisy and or the live of big tobacco.
Speaker 1: Like there's other things that play earlier. Um, some things
Speaker 1: are okay and some things are not. I just think
Speaker 1: it's funny debate. I'm not that fired up about it,
Speaker 1: but it came up today. One of the most intense things.
Speaker 1: It's hard to ask somebody to It's hard to ask
Speaker 1: somebody to quit nicotine, you know. I imagine to play
Speaker 1: golf though. I mean, it's a pretty hard thing to stop, right.
Speaker 1: Some guys just probably want to stop and can't. Gito
Speaker 1: probably doesn't want to do it, you know, but it's
Speaker 1: just his thing, you know, like play golf. Stop this
Speaker 1: so you can't play golf, I don't know. Yeah. One
Speaker 1: of the most intense things I've ever seen in golf
Speaker 1: is Ben Crenshaw at ninety five at the Master's trying
Speaker 1: to win and you know, not wanting the little children
Speaker 1: to see him, you know, cup I saw the cop
Speaker 1: out of Niki, you know. And he won't play golf
Speaker 1: courses where you can't smoke. And that's the number of cigarettes.
Speaker 1: That's a number of golf courses these days, Um, Joe.
Speaker 1: Part of me if I've ever mentioned the sea before,
Speaker 1: and I know Alan's herby Safer before, but it was
Speaker 1: something I heard years ago and it made such an
Speaker 1: impression on me, and it was it came from Lucas
Speaker 1: Glover and he said, you know, the most the moment
Speaker 1: he really realized that he was the US Open winner
Speaker 1: was not when he hoisted the trophy, not when he
Speaker 1: went in David Letterman, but when he went when he
Speaker 1: went to Hartford and he stood up and he walked
Speaker 1: on the practice team and guys were looking at him different.
Speaker 1: So two part question, Jeff, because unlike Phil Mickelson, I
Speaker 1: believe you are taking two part questions. That's one of
Speaker 1: his new things, Jeff. He's not taking two part questions,
Speaker 1: two part questions. What was that Lucas clever moment for you?
Speaker 1: And here with Fitzpatrick taking a Fortnite off, what do
Speaker 1: you think it might be for him to the best
Speaker 1: you can guess what it might be like for him.
Speaker 1: There was a couple of moments I guess for me.
Speaker 1: I mean, let himans are pretty that day the day
Speaker 1: after the Monday, because I was in New York and
Speaker 1: we went we didn't have to fly into New York.
Speaker 1: I mean, we went really deep on Sunday night and Monday.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit of a blur. But then
Speaker 1: you get on Letterman and Adam Sandlers in the green
Speaker 1: room and he's chatting to me about how much he
Speaker 1: watched it and how we had to finish it was
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: that was the moment. But the real moment, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: probably the next tournament. And my next tournament was Hoylake. Actually,
Speaker 1: oh wow, I had three or four weeks off. I'd
Speaker 1: always I'd always planned it to be honest, and it
Speaker 1: just happened. So I was back in Australia and that
Speaker 1: was kind of pretty cool, and there was a bit
Speaker 1: of fan fair back here. But when I turned up
Speaker 1: at Hoylake, all of a sudden, you're actually everybody asks
Speaker 1: and everybody's looking, and you're signing everywhere, and like the
Speaker 1: next time in the arena up to Definitely that really
Speaker 1: hits home. It's like, Wow, I actually won something that
Speaker 1: people care about. Did you feel it from deal? Did
Speaker 1: you feel it from your fellow players as well? I imagine, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: yeah you do. Um, people walk all the way to
Speaker 1: across two fairways to congratulate you. You walk on the
Speaker 1: range and everyone sort of looking and yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: different from winning a normal tournament via long stretch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was pretty cool. So the next time I played
Speaker 1: was definitely hit Home. And then the next time I
Speaker 1: played in the US was Flint, Michigan. Remember the old
Speaker 1: Buick Flint Michigan. It's a fantastic, fantastic tournament and I'm
Speaker 1: out there in the pro am and I'm signing ten
Speaker 1: magazines off the back of every single because it was
Speaker 1: the Golf Week and Golf World era when we had
Speaker 1: the weekly magazines and stuff signing. I must have signed
Speaker 1: five hundred of those magazines um that week. That was
Speaker 1: my first weekend back in the US, and all the
Speaker 1: collectors and the ebayers and stuff. We're walking around with
Speaker 1: the magazines and all the kids with the hats and stuff.
Speaker 1: So it was the next couple of times I played really,
Speaker 1: So it's just it's a gradual little thing. And for
Speaker 1: Matt it'll be as soon as he walks on the
Speaker 1: he gets to the golf tournament for sure, Um wherever
Speaker 1: he's playing in two weeks, where is he playing in
Speaker 1: two weeks, three weeks, I don't know. Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: we're going to Scottish. Yeah, it'll be there, I imagine,
Speaker 1: because especially when a European, there's such a brotherhood on
Speaker 1: the European Tour. I don't know if it's still the
Speaker 1: same but as it was, but I'm sure it's still there.
Speaker 1: And he's a pretty regular He's been over here a lot, well,
Speaker 1: in the US a lot, but he's he's a pretty
Speaker 1: regular member or the European Tour and they all know
Speaker 1: him and he's sort of grown up on that tour though.
Speaker 1: They will they will be very very excited for him,
Speaker 1: and he'll be really really he'll have a sort of
Speaker 1: a lot of handshacks and a lot of hugs and
Speaker 1: a lot of happiness in the first couple of days
Speaker 1: when he turns up in Scotland. Yeah. Well, and we
Speaker 1: saw that with Rory sticking around to congratulate him. That
Speaker 1: was cool. He came down the last and and as
Speaker 1: you and Alan was asking him in his press conference
Speaker 1: about being from Sheffield, Egland, he's a pretty regular guy too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think that will serve him well as the
Speaker 1: open chaman. I mean, Sheffield is a working class town.
Speaker 1: He's a working golfer. He's a very sereber one, but
Speaker 1: he's working man's golfer for sure, and that will serve him. Well.
Speaker 1: That's great. Well, Michael, I have a lot of typing
Speaker 1: to do, so let let's wrap this up with where
Speaker 1: do we think? And this is an impossible question answer,
Speaker 1: but that's the funny podcast, as we can just spout
Speaker 1: things off. Where do we think Fitzpatrick goes from here?
Speaker 1: I mean, what is what is his future? Like? Oh wow?
Speaker 1: I mean he probably goes on and wins a few
Speaker 1: more tournaments, I would think. I mean, he's obviously a
Speaker 1: great player. It doesn't look like he's going to get
Speaker 1: overalled and carried away with the whole thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: expectation is a tough thing after you win. I mean
Speaker 1: I think almost every sort of winner like me or
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick or Lucas or the normal ones, you know, not
Speaker 1: not the Tigers and the Ernies and the guys who
Speaker 1: expect to be up there the whole time, but the
Speaker 1: expectation for the next six to twelve months is tough.
Speaker 1: He's obviously in a rich rain of form, playing really well.
Speaker 1: He's going to be excited at s Andrew's. I'm sure
Speaker 1: he's going to stick around. He's the sort of guy
Speaker 1: pretty level headed, as you say, pretty cerebral and pretty smart,
Speaker 1: pretty normal. Doesn't seem like he's going to get carried
Speaker 1: away on social media or sort of become too big
Speaker 1: for his boots. He'll just keep jotting down his notes
Speaker 1: in his book and just keep playing golf. He's got
Speaker 1: a great caddy on his back. He'll keep his He'll
Speaker 1: keep him level and remind him that he's just got
Speaker 1: a job to doing it. When he turns up for
Speaker 1: the Scottish Open, I think he's he looks built, like
Speaker 1: he said, he's like Faldo, like he looks built to
Speaker 1: win these big tournaments, especially when they're like this one.
Speaker 1: I mean, he might struggle around Bethpage Black or something,
Speaker 1: Tory Saalff or something, because it's probably just a little
Speaker 1: big for him. But again, he's hitting the ball a
Speaker 1: lot further and U, as I said, putting Struke just
Speaker 1: looks like full proof under pressure. UM, yeah, brilliant. I
Speaker 1: think he's I think he's I wouldn't say the sky's
Speaker 1: the limit, but I think he's got a lot of
Speaker 1: wins in front of him. Yeah. Well, it's very well
Speaker 1: said because in this very frought moment for golf, I mean,
Speaker 1: the European Tour is in a precarious position with um,
Speaker 1: I mean they could very quickly become the number four
Speaker 1: tour in golf if liv has the money and in
Speaker 1: affiliation with the Asian Tour, like the European Tour is
Speaker 1: fighting for its survival. So as you said, he's always
Speaker 1: been a supporter of that tour. He's English to the bone.
Speaker 1: He could be a backbone of Ryder Cup teams which
Speaker 1: they really need an infusion of talent. So I think,
Speaker 1: I think, very very quickly, Matthew Fitzpatrick becomes an important
Speaker 1: part of the professional golf tournament. That's what happens when
Speaker 1: you win this tournament. So it's fun to think about
Speaker 1: what what role he could take. Because I agree with
Speaker 1: what you said, Jeff, I mean, he looks like he's
Speaker 1: built for the long haul. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: Debbie Downer here, but when Patrick kent Lay putted at
Speaker 1: that Baltimore tournament, in the FedEx event, I never saw
Speaker 1: a better putting stroke in all my life, including everybody.
Speaker 1: But it comes and goes for all of them now,
Speaker 1: he said. Matt Fitzpatrick said the smartest thing you can
Speaker 1: say on a Sunday night, and I think he really
Speaker 1: meant it. I'm not changing anything. I know what works.
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep that going what works. But even
Speaker 1: with that mindset, it is hard to keep it going
Speaker 1: no matter what. He now is in the same conversation
Speaker 1: as Tony Japlin for the rest of his life. He's
Speaker 1: an Englishman who won the US Open, and not only that,
Speaker 1: he won it the same place he won a US
Speaker 1: Amateur that couts from the same company as Jack Nicholas.
Speaker 1: So he has had He's a young man, he's had
Speaker 1: a great golfing life already, and he'll either keep it
Speaker 1: going or he won't keep it going. He's going to
Speaker 1: be around for years. But whether he'll every one another
Speaker 1: major or not, I would say the odds are against.
Speaker 1: But I'm rooting for him because he's likable and it's
Speaker 1: great for golf when you have a guy win more
Speaker 1: than one major, just like guy would root for Jeff
Speaker 1: Ogilvie in a minute. But it is hard, and I
Speaker 1: don't think in this age it's harder than it's ever been.
Speaker 1: And it's heasenter Sunday night and our euphoria just say nothing.
Speaker 1: It his euphoria to get carried away. But Patrick Kenley
Speaker 1: will tell you that it's hard to keep it going.
Speaker 1: It's true. I mean, there's so much life in front
Speaker 1: of Fitzpatrick. I was talking to Jordan speech actually about Fitzpatrick,
Speaker 1: and as soon as we were done, he got down
Speaker 1: on the grass and he's rolling around with his new baby,
Speaker 1: and he looked like he didn't even care whatever He
Speaker 1: finished with the USA, which wasn't great, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: your priorities very quickly changed. Fitzpatrick's a bachelor. You know
Speaker 1: that can be a distraction. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: But it was a big time performance on a big
Speaker 1: time golf course, and we'll see that. That's the great
Speaker 1: thing about support, and nothing's guaranteed. We have no idea
Speaker 1: what's in store for him, but we got will you
Speaker 1: see his just attention here? Probably not I mean, Jeff
Speaker 1: mentioned like it's incredible. The guys never want to be
Speaker 1: take to our event. Ben He's you know, he's just
Speaker 1: he's a top five machine in the majors and uh.
Speaker 1: And I talked to a few players as actually asking
Speaker 1: Colin Moore, a cow who you know he's had his
Speaker 1: putting struggles as well. I said, you know when you're
Speaker 1: when you're playing with Willie and you watch him put
Speaker 1: you know, what does that feel like? He was like,
Speaker 1: I pray for him, but he was serious, like he's
Speaker 1: like he said, he's it's squirrely. I mean it's he said,
Speaker 1: but you know the ball doesn't go in the whole
Speaker 1: a good amount and um, uh so yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 1: funny like um. And Gary Woodland's the same. I caught
Speaker 1: him in the parking lot. He's like, it looks weird,
Speaker 1: but the ball goes in. So um. He's a fun
Speaker 1: character to have. I mean, he addled himself beautifully out there.
Speaker 1: I love watching him hit the ball. He showed a
Speaker 1: ton of heart. I mean, it's clear he's gonna keep
Speaker 1: contending and it's it's part of the fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: the exception maybe Tiger Woods, you know, very few players
Speaker 1: get everything. No player gets everything, and so from you know,
Speaker 1: Tita Green is all towards absolutely incredible, and the tension
Speaker 1: is can he get the ball in the fast enough?
Speaker 1: And I think asking an ongoing conversation. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: to be three strokes away from three playoffs in three
Speaker 1: majors and three very different golf courses at this young
Speaker 1: age for a rich kid. And I don't mean that
Speaker 1: in a demeaning way, but rich kids usually aren't gonna
Speaker 1: work hard enough at golf to get that good. I
Speaker 1: think it's actually astounding. Yeah, is that too Harshtiff, No,
Speaker 1: it's generally historically accurate. I mean there's outlies and now,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the outlies, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: rich kids unfortunately have the all the opportunity though you know,
Speaker 1: they get all the AGGA and they get all the
Speaker 1: junior stuff and they stuff. But yeah, there's I think
Speaker 1: there's a case for both. There's a case for our
Speaker 1: opportunity when you grow up, but there's also a case
Speaker 1: for the Cabrera sort of fighting for your dinner sort
Speaker 1: of upbringing. You know. I mean too, that you just
Speaker 1: desperately got to You've got to get out of where
Speaker 1: you've grow up and you've got to succeed. You've got
Speaker 1: no choice. I think there's a case for both. Yep,
Speaker 1: I love it. And Matthew Fitzpatrick. I mean he called
Speaker 1: Sheffield a steel town. I love that. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know what Sheffield does, but I know what Pittsburgh is.
Speaker 1: They're both steel talents. Like it gives you very quickly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well they make the razors in Sheffield's Yeah. Okay, there
Speaker 1: you go. See. I mean, we're this is such an
Speaker 1: edifying podcast for our listeners. They learned so many different things. Um, well,
Speaker 1: this has been a heck of a week. Jeff. We
Speaker 1: thank you for getting up early, shooting the kids off
Speaker 1: to school. I mean, there's been a lot of podcasting.
Speaker 1: You've been indispensable voice. I'm getting a lot of love
Speaker 1: on Twitter for I don't know, I think you're smart
Speaker 1: enough to stay above the fray. But people have definitely
Speaker 1: been appreciating your your commentary. And it's a little weird
Speaker 1: to hear Jeff praise Aisinger so much, whom I like
Speaker 1: a lot. But Jeff could do Asinger's job better than
Speaker 1: a singer, significantly better. But don't tell anyone because we
Speaker 1: don't lose exactly, so edit this out, Jake, but we
Speaker 1: will include our testimony to the fellows from Wiscott. Where
Speaker 1: are they from the Dormy Workshop. They're from Nova Scotia, actual,
Speaker 1: Nova Scotia. Yeah great, yeah, yeah yeah, Dormy Workshop. One
Speaker 1: of our sponsors will give me a shout out. They
Speaker 1: make beautiful handmade leather goods that you like, you know
Speaker 1: if you're into super cool head covers and O R
Speaker 1: M I dormy like you're dormy in a match. So
Speaker 1: I e from the French. Yes, to sleep, to sleep? Yes,
Speaker 1: Like I'm so in control of this match. I could
Speaker 1: go to sleep here and you cannot beat me. That's
Speaker 1: it and isn't it? Isn't Caddy has driven by French.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. I wanted high school French. Believe I'm unqualified
Speaker 1: to be having this conversation. You did well, Michael, You
Speaker 1: did well, so all right. For Michael Bamberger, who is
Speaker 1: good cheer and enthusiasm has been a big part of
Speaker 1: these podcasts. I'm Alan Schipnuk, Jeff Ogilvie across the Ocean.
Speaker 1: We will be back at it Um the week of
Speaker 1: the Open Championship for more Fire Drill Podcast. Thanks all
Speaker 1: the listeners. We appreciate you and we know you're out there,
Speaker 1: and uh, thanks for going on this journey with us
Speaker 1: for now. That's it from the Country Club. One hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty second US opens in the books and Fire
Speaker 1: Drill Podcast has done so. Thanks. Put another log on
Speaker 1: the fire nobody hears. Get the time,