Speaker 1: I've been lucky. I've done not just in Gulf. I've
Speaker 1: been a seven Olympic Games and soccer World Cups and
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff in my career, all the Ryder Cups,
Speaker 1: all the Open Championships, all the Masters that I was
Speaker 1: lucky enough to attend, great memories. I've been the luckiest
Speaker 1: guy in the world. But I'll tell you what. Up there,
Speaker 1: we're watching Tiger's first winner Augusta and my fellow Scott
Speaker 1: Polori winning the Open at Canoosi and all the others.
Speaker 1: The Amateur Championship Final twenty one is absolutely up there
Speaker 1: as all a date. Never to forget. Put another log
Speaker 1: on the fire are here? Give the time? Welcome to
Speaker 1: the fire pit with Matt Janella. Wow again. All of this,
Speaker 1: all of these parts that we put together, goes back
Speaker 1: to a features meeting the week of the U S Open.
Speaker 1: Colt Nedler chimes in with did you guys hear what
Speaker 1: happened at the British Amateur Championship wild? A few days later?
Speaker 1: Colt had a day and time in which we'd get
Speaker 1: to zoom with Laird Shepherd from St. Andrew's. Shepherd gave
Speaker 1: us two and a half hours and we were down
Speaker 1: the rabbit hole of one of the most compelling stories
Speaker 1: I've ever tried to tell. Nine interviews included both competitors,
Speaker 1: their dad's a girlfriend, We heard from two announcers, and
Speaker 1: Tom Bailey, who, over a chance encounter in December, set
Speaker 1: Shepherd on a path to a life altering adventure. If
Speaker 1: you're here, I can assume you've listened to all three
Speaker 1: parts of this podcast. Part one is the backstory to
Speaker 1: Laird Shepherd's life engulf which included years of back pain
Speaker 1: and some knee surgeries. Chloe Goadby, Laird's girlfriend of three years,
Speaker 1: has been there through the tough times. There's some long
Speaker 1: winters over in Scotland here, so you know, dark nights,
Speaker 1: cold winters, and I think you know, spending days on
Speaker 1: and just we lived together one winter at university and
Speaker 1: just spending days in the flat where he can't go
Speaker 1: and play golf because of because of his knee. I
Speaker 1: think was probably some of the toughest times for him.
Speaker 1: In Part two, Shepherd gets in the Amateur Championship at
Speaker 1: Nairn as thirtieth alternate. We take you through the stroke
Speaker 1: play and the five matches that get Shepherd into the finals.
Speaker 1: I mean, I asked the best probably golf shot I've
Speaker 1: ever hit under that that's of pressure. That was pretty cool,
Speaker 1: and I was sort of walking after it and maccady
Speaker 1: was having the gird at me because he's like, you
Speaker 1: need to calm down, so you need to come back
Speaker 1: to the bag and take a cup of water. And
Speaker 1: he didn't let me take my part out until we
Speaker 1: got to the green. And in part three, it's the
Speaker 1: last eighteen holes of the final, Shepherd starts around seven
Speaker 1: down to Montes Scousel, a friend and worthy competitor who
Speaker 1: was playing an extended stretch of the best golf of
Speaker 1: his life. That's exactly right, like all those hours you
Speaker 1: put in and Um, as you know, golf is a
Speaker 1: strange game. You can put in all the hours in
Speaker 1: the world and you can shoot eight and sometimes you
Speaker 1: don't play for a week and you shoot sixty five.
Speaker 1: It's a strange game. But you just hope that all
Speaker 1: the work you put in willcome good at some point.
Speaker 1: And for me, that's what that week was about. UM
Speaker 1: haven't been too many torments in the past where I
Speaker 1: really gone through the whole week feeling like I had
Speaker 1: basically my a game or or somewhere near my a game.
Speaker 1: But but the Amateur was one of those weeks and
Speaker 1: I think like that's given me such confidence. But I
Speaker 1: can do that over such a long spell of golf
Speaker 1: and you know, on the fitest side of things as well,
Speaker 1: it's thirty six hours a day, um, and that sort
Speaker 1: of under that mental pressure as well. UM, A lot
Speaker 1: of elements that got in got into being able to
Speaker 1: do something like that, you know, during that week. And
Speaker 1: before we get to what we consider Part four, which
Speaker 1: will include further reflections on back pain, bad yardge, clutch putts,
Speaker 1: the incredible comeback and an inspiring display of sportsmanship, we
Speaker 1: just need to thank our friends at link soul for
Speaker 1: their support. As you probably know by now, it's all
Speaker 1: I wear on and off the course. If John Ashworth
Speaker 1: makes it, I'm in it. And if you want to
Speaker 1: wear some of it as well, go to link soul
Speaker 1: dot com, use promo code fire Pit and enjoy a
Speaker 1: discount on your next purchase. In this podcast, I'll be
Speaker 1: circling back with the cast of characters as they all
Speaker 1: reflect on what transpired at the Amateur Championship at Nairn
Speaker 1: Golf Club. We start with Stewart Shepherd, Laird's father who
Speaker 1: made the trip up and walked all thirty eight holes
Speaker 1: to watch his son become the Amateur champion and one
Speaker 1: of the biggest things. Also winning the Amateur's huge. But
Speaker 1: the fact you meant to play nine competitive rounds of
Speaker 1: golf and still be okay um and he's still touchwood
Speaker 1: okay uh was you know, almost as much as winning
Speaker 1: the thing. So we're hopeful, But there were some very
Speaker 1: dark days. To be fair, just don't think he had
Speaker 1: the structure to play in the game. Again, I keep
Speaker 1: going back to the fact that if Laird Shepherd doesn't
Speaker 1: go home to his grandfather's funeral in December, if he
Speaker 1: doesn't bump into his buddy Tom Bailey, what becomes of
Speaker 1: Laird Shepherd the golfer. Here's Tom Bailey. I think, let's
Speaker 1: be honest, like that's unbelievable coming back from night down.
Speaker 1: But I think the biggest comeback is him him being
Speaker 1: able to play, yes, get and get into the final.
Speaker 1: But I think that would we would have worked out
Speaker 1: about eleven rounds of both. I think he played that week,
Speaker 1: improving the practice and all the holes he played, and
Speaker 1: to play all of that without paying. Unbelievable to win
Speaker 1: mid Virus, to hit your Masters and Open in the US.
Speaker 1: I've been even bigger moments one more time from Shepherd's father,
Speaker 1: who has seen his son play a lot of great golf,
Speaker 1: but nothing quite like the home stretch on Saturday in Scotland.
Speaker 1: There was like a man possessed for the last nine
Speaker 1: nine holes. I mean he holds everything. They had. Look
Speaker 1: on his face, he never thought he was gonna miss
Speaker 1: when he needed a shot. A chip he hit at
Speaker 1: the half four year to win the fifteenth that was
Speaker 1: down slope up to the green. Um just incredibly good shot.
Speaker 1: I thought, wow, I mean he's he's definitely on it.
Speaker 1: And the shot into seventeen three or four ft whatever
Speaker 1: it was, that that was phenomenal. He just was on rails,
Speaker 1: so he just yeah, it was just incredible to see.
Speaker 1: Andrew Davidson is Laird's friend from University of Sterling who
Speaker 1: lost in the first round of match play and then
Speaker 1: stayed to caddy for Shephard. I asked Davidson what he
Speaker 1: takes away from such a special week and ochre golf.
Speaker 1: He's achieved quite a lot, but he never really wanted
Speaker 1: anything and he's seen a few like me and another
Speaker 1: friend of ours pretty close to them when something like
Speaker 1: a few years ago, and that probably gave hun belief
Speaker 1: as well that it was possible. But winning the Amateur
Speaker 1: Championship compared to winning any of these other tournaments, which
Speaker 1: realistically aren't much different and in strength, but the winning
Speaker 1: the Amateur Championships so much bigger than winning anything else.
Speaker 1: And I suppose what I take from it's just that
Speaker 1: you just got to keep believing in and literally just
Speaker 1: just keep going because you never know what can happen,
Speaker 1: and walks around the corner. Gold is crazy game you
Speaker 1: can't win often take golf, but you just gotta keep
Speaker 1: believing that as possible and and just keep trying. Like
Speaker 1: that's literally what me and Lard kept saying is just
Speaker 1: keep giving it your own and if you as long
Speaker 1: as you do that, then what does that matter what
Speaker 1: happens at the end, Just like you might as well,
Speaker 1: you just gotta keep trying to trying to try, and
Speaker 1: and it's nice was it's just belief. This main thing
Speaker 1: I te tape from it. I think did you hear
Speaker 1: about Andrew giving Laird the wrong yardage on the first playoff?
Speaker 1: Hold purposely because he thought he didn't want Laird to
Speaker 1: gas it over the green. I didn't heard that one. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's so, he's definitely earned his non fee. I
Speaker 1: asked Chloe Goby, Laird's girlfriend in recent winner of the
Speaker 1: Women's Scottish Amateur, about Andrew purposely giving Laird bad yardage
Speaker 1: on the first playoff hole. Andrew told me this, I
Speaker 1: can't remember whether it was on our way back to
Speaker 1: the clubhouse after lairded one or whether Yeah, I can't
Speaker 1: remember when it was, but it was definitely before I
Speaker 1: lared kW about it, and and he says today, yeah,
Speaker 1: I told him that it was only seven to one
Speaker 1: when it was actually sev And I'm like what, And
Speaker 1: he said, well, I just knew he'd been a adrenaline
Speaker 1: going and you just can't go along with that pen.
Speaker 1: And I thought, yeah, that's a smart, smart Caddy move,
Speaker 1: but potentially I could get you in trouble that one.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's hilarious. I couldn't believe you did that.
Speaker 1: And I just found it so funny. And when did
Speaker 1: you tell him? You told him to run after I
Speaker 1: told him. I would never have told him ever if
Speaker 1: he if he had lost. He would never have known.
Speaker 1: But I could have taken that to your grave. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I would have felt so bad. But at the time
Speaker 1: it was definitely the right thing to do, because you're
Speaker 1: just piling the pressure another guy because you know that
Speaker 1: he lays probably not going to make boggy from there.
Speaker 1: So it's crazy. You couldn't think of a better man
Speaker 1: to have on your bag, um, and some of like that,
Speaker 1: because he's so down to earth. He's a fantastic lad
Speaker 1: and yeah he's Um. He did a great job. And
Speaker 1: I mean he did a great job a week because
Speaker 1: obviously he lost in the sixt Us round and then
Speaker 1: took over the bag and every every time I spoke
Speaker 1: to lead and it's still there, isn't me. He's going
Speaker 1: to be there on Saturday, isn't me. You won't be
Speaker 1: doing this on your own. So yeah, now he's brilliant.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately I can't carry it the open I'm getting married
Speaker 1: the day after got it, so he so I can't
Speaker 1: carry it though, devastated because in the way COVID is
Speaker 1: up here, we can't. I can't rest going down and
Speaker 1: getting tracked and traced or whatever. Ka, So I've had
Speaker 1: to pass the boots over to someone else for that,
Speaker 1: but I'll be back in the game at the Masters. Really,
Speaker 1: is that what's gonna happen? Yeah, I told him that
Speaker 1: I was in the small print the night before, but
Speaker 1: the night before the finals, like you went back, will
Speaker 1: be cardying there. It's However, Laird Shepherd's caddy at the
Speaker 1: Open Championship is James Wilson, another college teammate from the
Speaker 1: University of Sterling. The plan is on Sunday, assuming Shepherd
Speaker 1: makes the cut, Laird Chloe and James Wilson, we'll all
Speaker 1: pile in a car and race off to Andrew's wedding.
Speaker 1: As for Mr Shepherd, he's still processing the benefits of
Speaker 1: Laird winning the Amateur Championship. It's a gift that keeps
Speaker 1: giving giving. And I've always wanted to go to Augusta.
Speaker 1: I just just I mean, we were there a few
Speaker 1: years ago at a King because he went to look
Speaker 1: at a couple of universities again the States, and we
Speaker 1: went to a King was only half a half an
Speaker 1: hour from Augusta, and I thought just looked the gates
Speaker 1: that we didn't in the end thought was a bit
Speaker 1: pointless and frustrating. But you know, I've always I'd love
Speaker 1: to just go and see it. I'd love to have
Speaker 1: gone to go to the Masters. But the thought of
Speaker 1: going to the Masters and watching your son play God
Speaker 1: winning it happens is just if that's that's probably the
Speaker 1: most the most thing to come to terms. But I mean,
Speaker 1: next week playing the Open is pretty special because Saint
Speaker 1: George's is the nearest open venue to where we live,
Speaker 1: and we both played there quite a lot. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that the thought of going to the Masters is just extraordinary.
Speaker 1: If you've listened to all three parts of this podcast,
Speaker 1: I'm guessing you can't help but root for money scoutle
Speaker 1: to continue doing great things in life. Hang off. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know obviously, um, you know, I really wanted my
Speaker 1: name on that trophy, and um, it's yeah, it's hard.
Speaker 1: It's harder the last the last couple of weeks, certainly
Speaker 1: the two days after it was really really tough. You know, um,
Speaker 1: quite a few tears and it's just a bit of
Speaker 1: a bit of gentle sobbing. But but actually I woke
Speaker 1: up on the Tuesday morning and I thought, hey, if
Speaker 1: someone had offered me second place on the Monday morning,
Speaker 1: is I was stepping on that first team heading into
Speaker 1: an absolute hurricane, I probably would have taken it. And
Speaker 1: and certainly for for my career going forward, you know,
Speaker 1: this will hopefully open a few doors for me, but
Speaker 1: also just the confidence it's given me that I can, um,
Speaker 1: I can really push forward in is this. This's been
Speaker 1: my career and it's something I've always sort of battled
Speaker 1: with myself. You know, are you good enough? Um? Do
Speaker 1: you want it hard enough? And and this is this
Speaker 1: is a firm all of those sort of doubts to
Speaker 1: me that yeah I do. Um, and this is gonna
Speaker 1: this is gonna make me and not break me. Um.
Speaker 1: And like you said, you know, the runners up list
Speaker 1: of guys who have gone on has been pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: So if I can you know, following their footsteps in
Speaker 1: any any sense, then I'll hopefully have a great career.
Speaker 1: So um, overall, I mean, it was such a brilliant
Speaker 1: week and you know, I'm delighted for Lead. It couldn't
Speaker 1: have happened to a better guy, really couldn't. And all
Speaker 1: the opportunities coming his way. UM, Yeah, I just hope
Speaker 1: he brings me something back from AUGUSTA, maybe maybe like
Speaker 1: a flag or something. I don't know. I saw that
Speaker 1: with him. I'm sure you will. They see, apples don't
Speaker 1: fall very far from the tree. Well, when money Scousle
Speaker 1: told me his father is his favorite person to play
Speaker 1: golf with, I lost it. I guess that's because I'm
Speaker 1: a fairly new dad and that's every golfing father's dream.
Speaker 1: Are you more proud of how he played in terms
Speaker 1: of his golf or are you more proud and how
Speaker 1: he conducted himself as a sportsman and a class act
Speaker 1: when it was all said and done. Um, I think
Speaker 1: probably the latter. I think probably because that that was
Speaker 1: the biggest test of all. I think he golf is
Speaker 1: something that he'll he'll go back and he'll he'll play
Speaker 1: lots more golf and he'll hopefully get better and better.
Speaker 1: But I think on on the biggest day of his
Speaker 1: golfing life, I think it was he showed a lot
Speaker 1: of He made a lot of friends that day in
Speaker 1: terms of everyone who was there watched it. Um, I
Speaker 1: think amongst it was difficult amongst all all the friends
Speaker 1: back home we were watching it. U You know, so
Speaker 1: several have written to us, and indeed, you know we've
Speaker 1: had He's had some lovely notes from very senior people
Speaker 1: within the R and A have written to to say
Speaker 1: how impressed they were the way he handled himself, both
Speaker 1: on and offer and off the course. And I'm not
Speaker 1: sure he probably won't have told you because we just
Speaker 1: received an email today from men who have asked him
Speaker 1: to become an honorary member, which is which is a
Speaker 1: very very special thing to have happened. Um, And so
Speaker 1: I think I think of anything, I think, I can't
Speaker 1: help but think that there's nothing you could be more
Speaker 1: proud about than have something as fabulous as that. Needless
Speaker 1: to say, being impressed by young Scoutle's sportsmanship was unanimous.
Speaker 1: For a Monted be able to in the moment put
Speaker 1: everything else aside and act like that, I mean that
Speaker 1: just shows so much more about his character than anython
Speaker 1: will And I mean it couldn't have been better handled
Speaker 1: in that situation. Do you think you can't even imagine
Speaker 1: how you deal with that and you know the raw motion,
Speaker 1: how do you, you know, put that aside and actually
Speaker 1: be a sportsman and show respectful loud. I mean it
Speaker 1: was pretty incredible. And you know, Monty is a great guy,
Speaker 1: and you know he's come through a lot as well,
Speaker 1: and he's really progressed in the last few years. Having
Speaker 1: seen him play years ago, and you know, I think
Speaker 1: obviously you know what it would have meant to him
Speaker 1: as well. It would have been life changing for either
Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, I think for him to be that
Speaker 1: way was really special too, Loud and I think it
Speaker 1: meant a lot to him as well. So thanks again
Speaker 1: to George Harper Jr. Dog Danally and the entire broadcast
Speaker 1: team who called the live stream for the RNA. And
Speaker 1: wasn't the reaction of the two guys, Matt absolutely wonderful
Speaker 1: As you said that that they know each other, the buddies,
Speaker 1: the room together, all of that, but still there is
Speaker 1: one who feels like the bottom has dropped out of
Speaker 1: his world. The other gay just can't believe he have
Speaker 1: won the British Sanita Championship. But there was a genuinely
Speaker 1: warm hug between them, wasn't there, And that they all
Speaker 1: stayed buddies. Of course they will um, but I just
Speaker 1: thought of it summed up this this wonderful game, that
Speaker 1: there is always that that empathy between the contestants, isn't there.
Speaker 1: I asked both dads to talk about the other son.
Speaker 1: This is Stewart Shepherd on Monty Scousel. I think the
Speaker 1: pressure was having an effect, but you're right he didn't
Speaker 1: give it away. I mean the parts the hold at
Speaker 1: sixteen and seventeen to make leadhole, his parts at sixteen
Speaker 1: and seventeen were just heroic in the circumstances. He definitely
Speaker 1: didn't give it away. I mean, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what his score was, three or four over the afternoon,
Speaker 1: so you know it's not like he shot eighty something. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've seen people in that sort of position
Speaker 1: actually melt I'm not going to name names, but you
Speaker 1: know there's been people and that's the tuation who just
Speaker 1: cannot being able to cope with a pressure. But no, Monty,
Speaker 1: I don't think it was Monty. I'm sure it had
Speaker 1: had a little bit of an effect, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: a meltdown by anything. Here was Jeremy Scousel on Laird Shepherd.
Speaker 1: It was it was tough because he had to hold
Speaker 1: a couple of good eight ten foot cuts the hold,
Speaker 1: which had he missed one of them would have would
Speaker 1: have ended up in a him losing. So it was
Speaker 1: it was tremendous and I dropped the note afterwards and
Speaker 1: said that was you know, that was really courageous and fantastic,
Speaker 1: fantastic comeback, and it was I mean he was really
Speaker 1: he was playing. They're probably both playing good golf, but
Speaker 1: Laird was playing exceptional golf under that sort of pressure,
Speaker 1: because there must have been a stage, and I know
Speaker 1: he went out after lunch thinking, well, I've got no
Speaker 1: need to lose here. Um, I just wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that I'm not embarrassed. But there would have come
Speaker 1: a stage in his own mind, and I'm sure he's
Speaker 1: explained that to you. Probably that he would have thought,
Speaker 1: actually I remember the chance here, um, and in the
Speaker 1: once he hit that frame frame mind to continue playing.
Speaker 1: The quality of golf golf that he did was was
Speaker 1: pretty exceptional. They were both very impressive. Yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 1: the sportsmanship, the speed they played, um great, great that
Speaker 1: I thought. And obviously they produced a bit of excitement
Speaker 1: as well. So a good stress, stressful ift you closely involved,
Speaker 1: but happy, happy ending. And of course some reflections from
Speaker 1: the reigning amateur champion Laird Shepherd. Have you watched it all, um?
Speaker 1: I watched almost all that. I actually haven't watched the
Speaker 1: last the last six or seven holes. But I watched
Speaker 1: the first the first eight team, and that wasn't great
Speaker 1: watching still still thinking how fine, but winning an um, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be nice to be able to going and
Speaker 1: look back and anytime you're struggling with the game or
Speaker 1: feeling a bit low, you can go back and and
Speaker 1: see yourself performing under the greatest pressure. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what sports all about in the end, as those
Speaker 1: pressure moments, they pressure builds, builds diamonds. It molds, molds
Speaker 1: you into who you are. And yeah, just just thankful
Speaker 1: that I end up going going my way that day's lard.
Speaker 1: If you had reconnected with money since the amateur, I
Speaker 1: said to him, you know, I'm looking forward to hopefully
Speaker 1: playing with you and some some England teams if if
Speaker 1: we both get picked, which hopefully we do, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'd love to play four sums with you. And yeah,
Speaker 1: just I mean, I'm a person who doesn't I don't
Speaker 1: have a big, sort of wide group of friends or
Speaker 1: a white of social social group. I'm relatively introverted and
Speaker 1: I find a lot of people annoying. I have no
Speaker 1: problems to him that, especially in golf, and there's there's
Speaker 1: you know, I don't. I don't find a lot of
Speaker 1: people I can spend a lot of time with them
Speaker 1: and not get annoyed by them. But Monty is certainly
Speaker 1: one of the good guys. For me, that's more important
Speaker 1: than anything. So we had a phone call, um must
Speaker 1: have been last week at some point end of last week,
Speaker 1: and just just sharing our stories on how weeks have been.
Speaker 1: And I think the thing we both said to each
Speaker 1: other's dude, you as knackid as I am. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think either of us got out of bed
Speaker 1: for four or five days. We were just shattered the
Speaker 1: emotional like how draining it was emotionally and obviously physically
Speaker 1: on our bodies. So yeah, it was really nice to
Speaker 1: chat to him, and you know, he was doing well
Speaker 1: and he's sort of obviously getting prepped now for the
Speaker 1: open and and those opportunities coming his way. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was really nice to chat. And actually too, we
Speaker 1: kind of said to each other, you know, regardless of
Speaker 1: the result, to share that day together, Um, it's certainly
Speaker 1: something that will be in mine and and his memory
Speaker 1: bank for the rest of our lives. And actually the
Speaker 1: fact both our families were there as well was super
Speaker 1: special and um, it's not something that actually many people
Speaker 1: get to experience something of that magnitude, and we were
Speaker 1: just very grateful to have shared it together and certainly
Speaker 1: it will it will bond us for life. I guess
Speaker 1: it's as good friends. Yes, it's pretty crazy, man, I've
Speaker 1: said obviously to my dad. Actually the evening after one
Speaker 1: I said, if I never do anything else in golf,
Speaker 1: that was that will do. That's pretty cool, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And I say that probably less of that mindset now,
Speaker 1: because you know, it's always I'm I am who I am,
Speaker 1: and it's the next challenge and looking forward to the
Speaker 1: next thing. But you have got also just think, you know,
Speaker 1: that was pretty special and having you know the amount
Speaker 1: of people that have come up to me the last
Speaker 1: two weeks and just said well done, because if you
Speaker 1: caught it on live stream, and that's been pretty weird
Speaker 1: as well. You know, you feel like a celebrity almost.
Speaker 1: But I don't really know how to how to sort
Speaker 1: of go about dealing with that because I'm certainly not
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not bothered about anything else that comes
Speaker 1: with being good at golf apart from being good at golf. Um,
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's fun. You know, you've got doing
Speaker 1: stuff like this is all new as well, and being
Speaker 1: able to tell a little bit of my story is
Speaker 1: it's been fun. You know, if if just one person
Speaker 1: finds it interesting, then that's great for me. So but
Speaker 1: it's all been really cool, different experiences, learning different skills,
Speaker 1: and if if my future is not playing professional golf,
Speaker 1: then winning this tournament has probably taught me a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff that will helped me away from from that
Speaker 1: environment as well. So to see him lifted amateur trove
Speaker 1: was was surreal. As the word you used earlier, you know,
Speaker 1: it didn't see it coming. I mean, I was hopeful
Speaker 1: he would progress on the last two tournaments and I
Speaker 1: felt it really had the talent if his body would
Speaker 1: allow him to express it as it were, um, but
Speaker 1: to go and win it and in the circumstances, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was absolutely surreal and it's been It's obviously it's
Speaker 1: changed his life in the last few weeks. You know
Speaker 1: that the program that you know, we sort of had
Speaker 1: set out for the year has gone through kind of
Speaker 1: out the windows. It were as as somebody said, you know,
Speaker 1: once you win the amateur you stop. We stopped playing
Speaker 1: professional events rather than amateur events, So yeah, it's changed
Speaker 1: changed out. But no, it's extremely extremely proud of him.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to put it. Like he kind
Speaker 1: of said something along the lines of, you know, I
Speaker 1: think if he never achieves anything else, he no one
Speaker 1: can take that away from him. And that's something that
Speaker 1: he'll hold voice obviously for a very long time. And
Speaker 1: obviously he hopes to do more in the game and
Speaker 1: hopefully it will taken to new levels and with all
Speaker 1: these opportunities. But you know, too, I think it's he
Speaker 1: kind of thinks like it was me that, Like he
Speaker 1: has to think like it was like Shepherd that did that,
Speaker 1: Like that was me. Um. I think he made me
Speaker 1: feels like it was a different person, but it was
Speaker 1: it was all him. So yeah, to be a part
Speaker 1: of be a part of that experience was just amazing
Speaker 1: and hopefully be a part of all the experiences that
Speaker 1: that will come with it for him. And you know,
Speaker 1: as we both looked to term professional in the coming years,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure he'll gain experience and in those
Speaker 1: majors that will put him in great stead. My next
Speaker 1: event is the Open Championship, which sounds pretty crazy, and
Speaker 1: but it's a golf course I know very well, and
Speaker 1: I know that I have a big advantage and a
Speaker 1: lot of guys come out to play because now to
Speaker 1: golf in the UK, you play a lot of links
Speaker 1: golf and that's the one week year a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys will be playing links golf. And so there's
Speaker 1: no reason that I can't have a have a decent showing.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to say achieve any anything
Speaker 1: in particular, but just compete. There's no reason why I
Speaker 1: can't compete with those guys. So I don't want to
Speaker 1: go in with this mindset of of simply being happy
Speaker 1: to be there, because I'm I'm very competitive and I
Speaker 1: will make a pact to enjoy it wherever happens. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, it's a gold performent and and
Speaker 1: you want to win and you know, want to play well,
Speaker 1: and that's what I'll be trying to do is just
Speaker 1: to play my best. So that's helped me sort of
Speaker 1: bring me back down to earth, I think, because you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like I'm just continuing to play the same events.
Speaker 1: It's I'm now playing the best events in the world.
Speaker 1: So I've got keep getting better golf for Awise isn't
Speaker 1: gonna get left fine. So Laird Shepherd is one of
Speaker 1: eight amateurs in the Open and is off on Thursday
Speaker 1: morning at two am Eastern with Danny Willett and Dean Burmester.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's going to it's kind of massively help when
Speaker 1: the time comes at a term pro and I think
Speaker 1: that will probably be, you know after at some point
Speaker 1: at the end of next year, after the US Open,
Speaker 1: and then you know, I'd love to go over and
Speaker 1: play the U s Antar this year. It doesn't look
Speaker 1: like it's going to happen because of travel restrictions, but
Speaker 1: unfortunately when in the British gives you a five year
Speaker 1: exemption into the U s Amatos. So I think that
Speaker 1: would probably probably be my last amateur event. I think
Speaker 1: because I think going to play in the U s
Speaker 1: Amateur it's the biggest amateur event in the world with
Speaker 1: the Amateur Championship, but having that as a double would
Speaker 1: be pretty special in it. And I can't help but thinking,
Speaker 1: I just wonder if there's something to this. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but your your grandfather's passing brought you back home in
Speaker 1: which you then meet Tom, Like, have you ever processed
Speaker 1: that at all? Um? Yeah, you know, I honestly, Um,
Speaker 1: I thought about him when I was sort of given
Speaker 1: um my sort of winners speech at the end, and
Speaker 1: I didn't I couldn't really let myself think about it
Speaker 1: for too long because I had to continue speaking and
Speaker 1: making sense. So I would have loved him just to
Speaker 1: see see me play, and he didn't really get seen
Speaker 1: me play a lot, and I loved him to hear
Speaker 1: hear about the news. But I know that he's probably
Speaker 1: was watching that day. And you know, he's always been
Speaker 1: such a special man in my life. And to make
Speaker 1: people proud is probably the best thing about succeeding its
Speaker 1: stuff and and sort of paying them back for help
Speaker 1: way given given me. And maybe maybe it was it
Speaker 1: was it was sort of fate that that's how things work.
Speaker 1: So that was why I was down at the time
Speaker 1: to see Tom. You know, you just you just never
Speaker 1: know how this world works. And they even known my
Speaker 1: girlfriend she won the Scottish im to two weeks before. Um,
Speaker 1: And maybe if you hadn't done that, maybe I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have believed that I could win. But you know, things,
Speaker 1: I think things do happen for a reason. My injuries.
Speaker 1: I think that's mentally toughened me up a lot and
Speaker 1: probably helped me through the last final. You know, not
Speaker 1: get too down on myself. And you know, all all
Speaker 1: of these things come together to create a perfect moment.
Speaker 1: So you know, just dis glad that that was. That
Speaker 1: was it? All right, that's it for now anyway, Like
Speaker 1: I said, here at the Firepit Collective, we'll be tracking
Speaker 1: the careers of Laird Shepherd and Monty Scoutle, not to
Speaker 1: mention Chloe Goodby and Andrew Davidson. Here's to getting more
Speaker 1: card in hand of avoiding the semi, working on being
Speaker 1: brand new and winning four on the trot if and
Speaker 1: win need be. Thanks again to all the guests who
Speaker 1: made this four partner possible and to Colton Nedler for
Speaker 1: the tireless and thoughtful technical support. We also appreciate the
Speaker 1: partnership with par Points, the app that allows you to
Speaker 1: change the way you score this game played from a
Speaker 1: hundred yards, a part is worth a hundred points, Bertie
Speaker 1: double it. Download the up now and go make par
Speaker 1: And lastly, here's the full version of the story the
Speaker 1: anthem for this podcast, written and recorded by Joe Horowitz
Speaker 1: and available wherever you get your music. It was produced
Speaker 1: by Jack Here King Fire. Nobody hears getting tired, Settle
Speaker 1: down and settle in the story hears about to begin,
Speaker 1: the circles starting to take its shape, seats the field,
Speaker 1: and the tired sun plans and his skill, and everybody's
Speaker 1: got some glory, just wait unto unfold. Everybody's got some story,
Speaker 1: just wait unto be told. The place for that is here.
Speaker 1: All those smiles and all those tears, let them go.
Speaker 1: Put another log on the figh. Nobody hears getting tired,
Speaker 1: Settle down and settle in. The story hears about to begin,
Speaker 1: And tales were told of war and gold. Lover is
Speaker 1: lost in a lifetime's dreams ours soul. Maybe you should
Speaker 1: stop in listen at the wisdom in the air. Maybe
Speaker 1: you should pour your heart out. We angle handy way.
Speaker 1: I'd your mercy in the sound as the smoke gets
Speaker 1: pushed around and your soul. Put another log on the fire.
Speaker 1: Nobody hears getting tired, Settle down and settle the story
Speaker 1: hears about to begin. The story he hears about to begin.
Speaker 1: The story Here's about to begin.