Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Claude Harmon. This week's guest Ashley boo High, the two
Speaker 1: Women's British Open champion. It's her first major and UM,
Speaker 1: what a cool story. Um, just I watched she she
Speaker 1: wins in a playoff. The playoff goes, you know, four holes.
Speaker 1: She's going up against a major champion, one of the
Speaker 1: best players in the world, and UM, just what a story.
Speaker 1: What a what a life changing event, UM, life change
Speaker 1: event from winning a major, which she talks about too,
Speaker 1: the prize of of winning a million dollars which is
Speaker 1: life changing for her. Um. And it was just it
Speaker 1: was a really really fun tournament to watch on a
Speaker 1: great golf course. Um, your field, And UM, I think
Speaker 1: it was a really really good performance. And UM, if
Speaker 1: you don't know about Ashley, that's why I wanted to
Speaker 1: get her on the podcast, because, UM, I'm a fan
Speaker 1: and I watched that playoff and and afterwards I was
Speaker 1: really really impressed. UM. I want to thank everybody for
Speaker 1: listening to the first episode Son of a Buch last
Speaker 1: week with my dad butch Arm and if you haven't
Speaker 1: checked it out, check it out. Lots of stuff to
Speaker 1: talk about from that, But I'm really excited for everybody
Speaker 1: to hear Ashley Blue High and for everyone to hear
Speaker 1: her story and her journey to becoming a major champion.
Speaker 1: So my guest is the twenty twenty two Women's British
Speaker 1: Open champion, Ashley you High. I hope I got that right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all good. Um, I mean your week out from winning,
Speaker 1: I'm sure the last week has been somewhat of a
Speaker 1: world wind. Um. I've been lucky enough to be worked
Speaker 1: with players that have one major championships. I don't think
Speaker 1: the fans realize that. Um, not only how much winning
Speaker 1: one of those from aly takes so much out of you,
Speaker 1: but also all of the stuff that goes along with
Speaker 1: winning one. Obviously great problems to have, but um, it
Speaker 1: still takes a lot of hard a lot of work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it does. Um, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: time management. I think that's going to be something I'm
Speaker 1: going to have to learn to do a little bit better. Um.
Speaker 1: There might be a few more things asked to me
Speaker 1: when I get to tournaments. But you know, it's been
Speaker 1: a very busy week or so. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: press out of South Africa and with the six hour
Speaker 1: time change, I was waking up early to do those
Speaker 1: interviews and then had interviews locally here in the US.
Speaker 1: So but like you said, it's all good problems to have.
Speaker 1: I mean, are you still kind of pinsion yourself that
Speaker 1: for the rest of your life you will be called
Speaker 1: a major champion? Yeah, definitely. Um, you know when I
Speaker 1: think about that, and you know I said to mys
Speaker 1: when the cool thing is, nobody can ever take that
Speaker 1: away from you. So to be called a major champion,
Speaker 1: it's it's a dream come true. I mean's and there
Speaker 1: are there are golf courses that you win majors on,
Speaker 1: and then there are golf courses that you win majors on.
Speaker 1: Gary Player in nine, Ernie Els in two thousand, soil
Speaker 1: I was there in two thousand and two and Ernie one.
Speaker 1: The weather was Atrocis on the on the Saturday. But
Speaker 1: it's almost like those two kind of trailblazers for South
Speaker 1: African golf. For you to win another major chance or
Speaker 1: win a major championship your first at a venue where
Speaker 1: two of the icons of South African golf have one
Speaker 1: before that, I mean, it's almost like there are times
Speaker 1: where things line up and it's like lined up for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they definitely odd times like that, you know, Like I said,
Speaker 1: they were my idols growing up, and you know, it
Speaker 1: was huge for us for the first time to be
Speaker 1: able to go to Murfield the women's game, and for
Speaker 1: me to be the first female winner it and again
Speaker 1: alongside Gary and Ernie. There were a lot of things
Speaker 1: when I look back now that you know, sometimes it's
Speaker 1: a little aerie or however you want to look at.
Speaker 1: That's may be. It was just meant to be my week,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's it's important to to say
Speaker 1: that was it. Two thousand seventeen was the first time
Speaker 1: that they allowed I think it was two thousand seven
Speaker 1: and the first time they started to allow women to
Speaker 1: be members at Merefield. It was it was a staunchly,
Speaker 1: staunchly men only club, um where all of you um
Speaker 1: that we're playing their conscious to the fact that this
Speaker 1: was obviously a major championship venue for the guys, but
Speaker 1: for the for the ladies to be there for the
Speaker 1: first time and to be the one that won the
Speaker 1: first one as a woman there that that that's also
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's you said in one of your interviews.
Speaker 1: The times are changing, and um, listen, I was there
Speaker 1: in two thousand two, and then when Phil one in
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. Um, that place can be kind of stuffy. Um,
Speaker 1: it was kind of the one in the road of that.
Speaker 1: Everybody kind of knew that you know your field. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, at times they can be not the most
Speaker 1: user friendly, especially um um if you're a female. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know where. Like you said, times are changing, and UM,
Speaker 1: I think they've obviously realized that, and in order to
Speaker 1: get back on the Open roster, they knew what they
Speaker 1: had to do and provide us with an opportunity to
Speaker 1: play there. And I'll tell you what then, we didn't
Speaker 1: feel unwelcomed the whole week. They were fantastic. Um. That
Speaker 1: opened us. They welcomed us with open arms. Um. And
Speaker 1: obviously you know, being there, what a fantastic golf course.
Speaker 1: And I think so it's even it's one of the
Speaker 1: fairest links golf courses I've played. But obviously it's the
Speaker 1: history and how old it is, and you know, it
Speaker 1: just creates us all around it. And for me to
Speaker 1: be able to call myself the first female Women's Open
Speaker 1: champion there, Um, I know I'll go down in history forever.
Speaker 1: It is a very very difficult golf course. You said
Speaker 1: that it is very very fair when you got there. Um,
Speaker 1: had you played there before you? Had you ever seen
Speaker 1: the golf course before? Had you only seen it on
Speaker 1: maybe television? And yeah, I only see it on television.
Speaker 1: My husband, he carries out an LPGA to He managed
Speaker 1: to play it a few weeks before that, and he
Speaker 1: told me it's going to be firm and face, which
Speaker 1: is what I was excited about. Um. And then once
Speaker 1: I got there, I just love the look of it,
Speaker 1: the layout and how it was playing from the first day.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things links golf is almost
Speaker 1: it seems like, at times an equalizer, because there are
Speaker 1: golf courses. If you have a tremendous amount of length
Speaker 1: off the t it gives you a huge advantage. If
Speaker 1: you know short game, if the roughest thick similar to
Speaker 1: a US Open style, Um, you're not nearly short, but
Speaker 1: you're certainly not one of the bombers at the LPG game.
Speaker 1: So I think one of the things I like about
Speaker 1: the Open Championship is that it does test every single
Speaker 1: part of your game that you have to be able
Speaker 1: to have all of the shots. So when you got
Speaker 1: there and you kind of saw that it wasn't going
Speaker 1: to be a bomber's paradise, that length was necessarily going
Speaker 1: to be a huge advantage all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: so like the playing field is is leveled when that happens. Actually,
Speaker 1: as a player, when you say, okay, listen, I don't
Speaker 1: feel like I have to do things I can't this week.
Speaker 1: I feel like everybody is kind of pushed towards the
Speaker 1: middle as opposed to pushed kind of short hitters, long hitters.
Speaker 1: Does that give you a lot of Does that take
Speaker 1: the pressure off? Does that give you more confidence? What's
Speaker 1: the kind of mindset when you get to a golf
Speaker 1: course where you say, listen, everybody's got a chance this week,
Speaker 1: not just these kind of players. The office starts. I've
Speaker 1: always loved links golf, and like I said, I think
Speaker 1: it does even the playing field. I'm not obomber, and
Speaker 1: for me, links courses about plotting your way around and
Speaker 1: you have to be smart, and that's kind of golf
Speaker 1: at once tournaments on on links courses. So we worked
Speaker 1: my coach and I dug where we work very hard
Speaker 1: on having an arsenal a lot of shots in my bag,
Speaker 1: and I feel that Open Championship has always catered towards
Speaker 1: that favors me. Um, and also I love to be
Speaker 1: creative and have to have that imagination and when the
Speaker 1: wound blows and you're able to run it up and
Speaker 1: you don't have to fly it at the pin, I
Speaker 1: think it definitely does favor me. And that's why I
Speaker 1: always love every time I stand up at a Woman's
Speaker 1: British Open, I just get a really good feeling about it.
Speaker 1: One of the things I've heard, Um, you know, some
Speaker 1: of the guys uh you know, when they go to
Speaker 1: the Open Championship, they always say that it kind of
Speaker 1: makes him feel like because the challenge is so different,
Speaker 1: because it does test all the different aspects of your game.
Speaker 1: It almost I mean, DJ was saying this year he
Speaker 1: had a chance to win at St. Andrews. This year
Speaker 1: at the Open Championship said he kind of likes links
Speaker 1: off because it makes him focus more because he feels
Speaker 1: like he can't take any holes off because every t
Speaker 1: shot kind of demands that you say, Okay, where do
Speaker 1: I want to be on the green? What do you
Speaker 1: feel like that as well that it kind of makes
Speaker 1: you focus maybe a little bit more that you can't
Speaker 1: take some holes off. Yeah, I definitely. Um. A field
Speaker 1: in particular was like that every T shot you're going
Speaker 1: to stand up, You've got to commit and hit the shot.
Speaker 1: Lucky for us, the one was the same direction every day,
Speaker 1: So I just try to emulate and hit the same
Speaker 1: shot every day or every T shot um that I
Speaker 1: had so um, you know. And I also think you
Speaker 1: have to have that concentration um like you said. And
Speaker 1: there's just something about links golf that I just love it.
Speaker 1: And I think it's also the history about it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's where and especially playing in Scotland, it's where the
Speaker 1: game started and I'm a golf nerd, so I just
Speaker 1: love it. What kind of golf course did you grow
Speaker 1: up on? Did you grow up on a golf course
Speaker 1: that had some links characteristic to it, which which is
Speaker 1: why you like links golf? No, not at all. I
Speaker 1: grew up in Johannesburg. I mean where at altitude the
Speaker 1: ball goes forever, park Land, Kakoi Fairways and Bank Green.
Speaker 1: So nothing like links courses at all. Um. Let's go
Speaker 1: back to the beginning. What dot you what got you
Speaker 1: into off for you into other sports? When did you
Speaker 1: start playing? What was kind of the catalyst that that
Speaker 1: got you towards this path of being a professional golfer. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: from a young age, I always had very good handbar coordination.
Speaker 1: My parents picked that up and I loved all sports.
Speaker 1: Um could hit. You know, South Africa, we played crickets.
Speaker 1: That was so it's like picked up a cricket bat
Speaker 1: or a baseball bat. I could catch a ball my dada,
Speaker 1: so let me see if she can hit a golf ball,
Speaker 1: because he plays and I could. And then you know,
Speaker 1: at the age of three, I was hitting balls, and
Speaker 1: about the age of six, I was saying to my dad,
Speaker 1: let's go play golf. Let's take me to the driving range.
Speaker 1: So it always came from me. But I played um
Speaker 1: tennis and field hockey at school until the age of sixteen.
Speaker 1: But I knew from a young age that golf was
Speaker 1: going to be it and I wanted to be a
Speaker 1: professional golfer. Did I read this correctly? When you were
Speaker 1: fourteen years old, you won the In two thousand four,
Speaker 1: you won the Women's South African Open at fourteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: at my home course. It was I mean, nobody expected
Speaker 1: that I should sixty three on the last day on
Speaker 1: my home course, to come from behind and win it. Um.
Speaker 1: And at the time, there was a bunch of ladies
Speaker 1: European to a place. They come down that we played
Speaker 1: the four events in South Africa at that time of
Speaker 1: year because the weather were still bad in Europe. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of the start of it for me.
Speaker 1: And then went on to win some professional tournament in
Speaker 1: South Africa as an amateur every year until her termper
Speaker 1: at eighteen. Do you even remember as a fourteen year
Speaker 1: old what you were thinking going into you know, the
Speaker 1: national championship of your country. Um, your fourteen I'm sure nobody.
Speaker 1: I mean even if if, even if you're a really
Speaker 1: good junior, I'm sure nobody expects a fourteen year old
Speaker 1: to win their national Open at such a young age.
Speaker 1: It's definitely not. I was just the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: playing at my home course. This is so cool. I
Speaker 1: remember obviously signing my car and shooting sixty three and
Speaker 1: I was hanging out with my buddies and we were
Speaker 1: having a coke afterwards. The next but somebody and told
Speaker 1: me you won, and I was like, excuse me, and
Speaker 1: it's a kind of giving for the prize giving. So
Speaker 1: it was all a little sereal, you know. It was
Speaker 1: part when back in the day I used to work
Speaker 1: with Trevor and the woman who is still one of
Speaker 1: my very good friends, and Trevor one back to back
Speaker 1: essay opens at his home course, Aaron Vale. So I've
Speaker 1: never really been to South Africa. I went down and
Speaker 1: stayed with Trevor. We rented a house in Somerset West
Speaker 1: that week and um, you know he was going to
Speaker 1: that golf course and it's like he was like, listen,
Speaker 1: I know every single shot on this golf course. I
Speaker 1: know we're all the putts break. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: play a big tournament at your home course, regardless of
Speaker 1: what age you're at, do you feel like it kind
Speaker 1: of takes a little bit of the pressure off to
Speaker 1: where you say, listen, I'm I've played here a million times.
Speaker 1: I kind of know what this golf course it does.
Speaker 1: Thank yes, I know, because obviously there's an expectation from
Speaker 1: everybody around you to do well with it being your
Speaker 1: home of course. But I think also you play the
Speaker 1: course as it is, like you would on a Saturday
Speaker 1: or Sunday. Um, Whereas I think where we played tournaments
Speaker 1: ready to go into the details and you know, try
Speaker 1: to figure out where the exactly hit it. But when
Speaker 1: you played so much, it just naturally stands out and
Speaker 1: jumps out at you, and that's what you try to do.
Speaker 1: So you're fourteen years old, you win, you know, the
Speaker 1: South African Women's Open. Did that make you think, okay, um,
Speaker 1: I can go on and do this, this is where
Speaker 1: my pathway is. I can be a pro, I can
Speaker 1: have a career. Was that the thought or did you
Speaker 1: just say listen, I'm just gonna see what happens and
Speaker 1: and see where things take me. Well, I mean from
Speaker 1: a young age, like before that, I was telling my
Speaker 1: parents I wanted to be a professional golfer. Um. So
Speaker 1: the thought was always there. And then I think when
Speaker 1: in that tournament again some really good players from Europe
Speaker 1: at the time, obviously made me think, well, I really
Speaker 1: can do this, um. And then I went on to
Speaker 1: when many tournaments in South Africa represents South Africa in
Speaker 1: the world and we won the world them in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six, and you know, it was like a
Speaker 1: cross roads. Do I go to college dot im professional?
Speaker 1: But I knew that I just wanted to play golf.
Speaker 1: So at eighteen, I made the decision to turn professional.
Speaker 1: And I started off saying, you're about to that. Did
Speaker 1: you have any offers to go to college in the States.
Speaker 1: I don't. I had a few, but my grades were
Speaker 1: never going to be good enough, unfortunately. And like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I was just wanting to play golf, and
Speaker 1: I felt I was really I've proven that I could win,
Speaker 1: proven I could win against you know, players playing in Europe,
Speaker 1: and that's where I wanted to start off. So I
Speaker 1: kind of felt that it was the right progression for me.
Speaker 1: Two thousand seven, in your third start on the Ladies
Speaker 1: European Tour, you win the Catalonia Masters. So I mean,
Speaker 1: what a what a progression, right? I mean, most people
Speaker 1: it takes them a while to get out on tour
Speaker 1: find their feet. But you win in your third tournament.
Speaker 1: Did did it feel like, Okay, I wanted an early age,
Speaker 1: I want a big tournament. Now I've turned pro. I
Speaker 1: one in my third event, did it just seem like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the natural progression. Where you surprised? Were you shocked?
Speaker 1: What was the feeling, you know, winning so soon on
Speaker 1: a big stage after you turned prom Um. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it definitely was my thought of all, this is
Speaker 1: the progression, and this is how it's going to be,
Speaker 1: and if this is how it's going to be life,
Speaker 1: it's going to be great. Um. Things happenuntil the in camera.
Speaker 1: It's so easy, but as we all know, in this
Speaker 1: game doesn't always work out like we want too and
Speaker 1: there's ups and downs and we've got to ride them. Um.
Speaker 1: And then you know, that year it was great because
Speaker 1: I had the expectation of my shoulders. I had secured
Speaker 1: a Europeans to a card for two years, so I
Speaker 1: knew I could go to lpg Q school and play
Speaker 1: free um, knowing that I had a fallback plank kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Um. And then I went to lpg Q
Speaker 1: school and was in it all the way until the
Speaker 1: last two holes and finished BERGI bergie and missed out
Speaker 1: by one. And you know that that was eyebreak. That
Speaker 1: year there was also only I think sixteen cards nowaday well,
Speaker 1: then years after that there was always guaranteed twenty. So
Speaker 1: I was like the first real heartbreak and lodge ship
Speaker 1: that that I felt in Professional Goal. Did you feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to reset, kind of re kind of evaluate
Speaker 1: my goals or did you say, listen, go back to Europe.
Speaker 1: I'll keep playing. Um I know my game is good
Speaker 1: enough because I've always won. Because a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, they they do that, they went early, they
Speaker 1: get that. So the next stage, Okay, you're secure in Europe,
Speaker 1: but obviously everybody wants to play on the LPGA in
Speaker 1: the States. Did you feel like, okay, do I just
Speaker 1: keep doing what I'm doing? Did that force you to
Speaker 1: maybe say, okay, maybe I need to make some changes. Um? No,
Speaker 1: I kept doing what I was doing That next year wards,
Speaker 1: so it was two thousand and eight conditional status, but
Speaker 1: I still managed to play fourteen events. But it was difficult.
Speaker 1: I was living in South Africa. You only need two
Speaker 1: weeks before if you're in the event, You hop on
Speaker 1: a plane, you flower over eighteen years old, conran a car.
Speaker 1: You know. It was a lot um, but hey, it
Speaker 1: made me who I am today a short add resilience.
Speaker 1: I went back the next year. I got my card
Speaker 1: for full card and played what twenty ten, four, two
Speaker 1: dozen and nine full season, but I still wasn't quite
Speaker 1: quite ready to compete on the LPG. I lost my
Speaker 1: card and then I decided I'm gonna take a step back.
Speaker 1: I switched coaches, and I went back to Europe and
Speaker 1: played there for three years. And did the switching coaches
Speaker 1: payoff immediately? Did you? Did you see immediate results or
Speaker 1: was there kind of that kind of period where you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe switching coaches big decision. You know I
Speaker 1: had successful early because I always think that's interesting actually
Speaker 1: as as as someone that that is a as a coach,
Speaker 1: you know, the thought process from a player's standpoint. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been fired by guys that you have been number
Speaker 1: one in the world, and um, that process is the
Speaker 1: player to say, Okay, I feel like I've got to
Speaker 1: make a change. I feel like I've got to get
Speaker 1: to the next one. Talk me through what that process
Speaker 1: this is like. I actually don't think I've ever asked
Speaker 1: any of the guys that have fired me what what
Speaker 1: the process is like, because you know, after what you
Speaker 1: don't really talk to him that much after they fired. Um.
Speaker 1: For me, it was a very difficult decision because my
Speaker 1: coach at the time is it was a very good
Speaker 1: family friend of ours, was very good friends of my dad,
Speaker 1: and but I knew in order for me to progress
Speaker 1: in my career that I needed to make a change.
Speaker 1: And you know, at the time it wasn't easy and
Speaker 1: we were both hurt, but you know, later down the line,
Speaker 1: he knew that it was the best thing for me. Um.
Speaker 1: And then in terms of when I switched coaches, that
Speaker 1: took some time. We had to do a few changes,
Speaker 1: and then I took about a year and then I
Speaker 1: want in two thousand and eleven again on the Ladies
Speaker 1: European Tour. UM. So it showed well, what I was
Speaker 1: doing was working. And I've been with you, my coach
Speaker 1: that I'm currently with since then, since two dozen and ten.
Speaker 1: And Doug, I mean he works with some very very
Speaker 1: good players. I've seen them, you know, on European Tour.
Speaker 1: I used to see Doug a lot when he used
Speaker 1: to go over to Abu Dhabi or Dubai with the guys. UM.
Speaker 1: I think he's done a fantastic job with Eric van
Speaker 1: Roy And I mean I love Eric's golf swing, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean it's pretty. I will sit and
Speaker 1: watch Eric at golf balls, you know, if I'm sitting
Speaker 1: on the range and stuff, and Eric's hitting balls and
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for somebody. I'll go stand, you know, twenty
Speaker 1: thirty yards away and watch Eric hid golf balls. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think his his golf swing is is really really good.
Speaker 1: So you you make the change, you go from the
Speaker 1: coaching change, Um, you win again. So again more validation
Speaker 1: that you're on the right path. And you know, from
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven until two were there more winds and
Speaker 1: where they're more near missus? Or did you just feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of plodding along and just seeing what
Speaker 1: I can kind of get out of this. Yeah, there
Speaker 1: was plotting. I mean I was pretty consistent, and I
Speaker 1: mean I finished top fifteen I think every year on
Speaker 1: the on the money lost day, so I was competitive.
Speaker 1: There was a setback in I had to have hip
Speaker 1: surge reef, so that put me out a good six
Speaker 1: months left left labor and shave of the bones. So
Speaker 1: I kind of played half of injured and when knew
Speaker 1: I needed to get it done, so I did it
Speaker 1: in the off season and then yeah, we went back
Speaker 1: to Q school at the end often and got my
Speaker 1: card back. Um, and that was the validation and I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, now I felt Then I felt like
Speaker 1: I was ready ready to come back and finally plan
Speaker 1: on LP chair four time. When did you make the
Speaker 1: move from s A over to the States full time?
Speaker 1: Only during COVID. COVID forced us to do it. Um
Speaker 1: so with my husband Caddy and told me he caddy
Speaker 1: for me for eight years and then when we decided
Speaker 1: to get married, we thought we'd separate the responsibilities and
Speaker 1: rather stay married. Smart move, so you know, it took
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure off me um with us deciding
Speaker 1: to do that. And then we still had our place
Speaker 1: in South Africa and we would come over for three
Speaker 1: months and then go back for two weeks because our
Speaker 1: families there and we it's just in our blood. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's not conducive if you want to compete
Speaker 1: at you and if you want to set on. So
Speaker 1: his brother lived in Illinois, lives in Illinois, so we
Speaker 1: used that as a base um in the summer, which
Speaker 1: was great. But then when the tour got shut down
Speaker 1: so that FOGA was completely shut down, we couldn't get
Speaker 1: enough out. Eventually it was July twenty. We've got a
Speaker 1: repatriation flat. I packed our apartment up in ten days,
Speaker 1: put everything in storage and came over and then when
Speaker 1: we couldn't get back in the December of twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: we landed up in Palm Beach Gardens with a host
Speaker 1: family that we stayed without a tournament up in New
Speaker 1: York at a second home down here. They said coming
Speaker 1: up with us, and we're like, okay. So we stayed
Speaker 1: with them for I think six weeks, and we thought, well,
Speaker 1: this is a pretty good spot for golfers. Let's let's
Speaker 1: see what we can do. And it's it's been great
Speaker 1: for us. It's been great for my game, and obviously
Speaker 1: you know, being done in this era a so many
Speaker 1: good golfers and golf courses around here. The move I
Speaker 1: mean the Aussies and the South Africans have played professional golfer,
Speaker 1: either on the men's side of the of the women's side.
Speaker 1: I mean the amount of miles and travel that you
Speaker 1: all are used to doing now that you don't have
Speaker 1: to make those big trips back home because it's not
Speaker 1: like you can. You know, if you miss the cut,
Speaker 1: you just hop I mean hop on a plane and
Speaker 1: go to you miss the cut, go to Essay for
Speaker 1: a couple of days, see the family, get recharged, and
Speaker 1: then get back on another plane and go back to
Speaker 1: where it is. I mean, it's just it doesn't work
Speaker 1: like that. I mean, you've got a plan ten to
Speaker 1: ten day two week trips and stuff has being settled
Speaker 1: in the US and kind of being able to travel
Speaker 1: out of one place without all of the long haul.
Speaker 1: I mean, you still have the long haul flights when
Speaker 1: you want to go home and see family and friends,
Speaker 1: but the travel if you're going to base yourself in
Speaker 1: the US and travel on on the LPG, you still
Speaker 1: have to go to Asia and and and somewhat to Europe.
Speaker 1: But have you noticed that it's been easier for you
Speaker 1: to just try and focus on some of the other
Speaker 1: things that you couldn't focus on when you were traveling
Speaker 1: so much. Most definitely, um, you know, those long haul
Speaker 1: facts take it out of you and the jet lag.
Speaker 1: And also for me, I played so much because I
Speaker 1: didn't have somewhere to go, so I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to play seven nights in a row. I'll
Speaker 1: just take like Monday and half Tuesday off and that's
Speaker 1: not conduced too good tournaments either. So having a base here,
Speaker 1: having somewhere for me to come in off weeks, recharge
Speaker 1: it's been huge, and this year I've taken a few
Speaker 1: weeks off more than I would usually, but it's proven
Speaker 1: proven to be the best then because when I have
Speaker 1: come back, I'm refreshed and I've played better. How how
Speaker 1: cool is it going to be moving forward as a
Speaker 1: major champion where you can just sit look at the
Speaker 1: LPJ tour schedule and go yes, no, no, yes. I
Speaker 1: don't think people realize that when you're trying to play
Speaker 1: that many tournaments in a row with no break, with
Speaker 1: no time off, I mean, you're when you don't have
Speaker 1: that kind of security, full status, you know that you
Speaker 1: can kind of set your schedule. I don't think the
Speaker 1: fans realize how not only mentally exhausting that is, but
Speaker 1: physically exhausting, because as an athlete and as a goal
Speaker 1: for you need time off. It's it's hugely important to
Speaker 1: be able to go, Okay, I'm gonna shut it down
Speaker 1: for three weeks, go take a vacation, or just do nothing.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah. I don't think people do realize, and
Speaker 1: I've started to realize it as I've got an older um.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm thirty three and on LPG that's
Speaker 1: old now. I don't feel very older. Um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's definitely it's conducive to go play. And that's what
Speaker 1: I've started to realize. But before I just used to
Speaker 1: play play play and it wasn't great. Um, And I think,
Speaker 1: what's going to be so helpful to be able to choose?
Speaker 1: You know, there's certain courses that suit us and don't
Speaker 1: suit us, and I'm going to be able to go, well,
Speaker 1: I've never really performed that. I'm not going to go
Speaker 1: there instead of forcing myself to go because I need
Speaker 1: a plan and I need to try play well to
Speaker 1: get up on the CME or keep my card. So
Speaker 1: you know, it's huge short of my shawls failed to
Speaker 1: pick and choose my schedule going forward. So let's go
Speaker 1: back to your field lead another kind of you know,
Speaker 1: World's Colliding. In two thousand two early Els, he held
Speaker 1: the fifty four whole lead. Um, I read it was
Speaker 1: his fifty first major. It was your forty or forty one,
Speaker 1: it was your forte. You guys both have the list.
Speaker 1: You've got a five shot lead. What was what was
Speaker 1: your sleep like on Saturday night? Because one of the
Speaker 1: things that I don't meet people if they've never been
Speaker 1: to Scotland in the summertime. It's midnight and the sun's
Speaker 1: not down. Yeah. Um the Saturday evening, I was actually
Speaker 1: pretty good at call and we stayed in our house
Speaker 1: so I went back and it helps having people around you.
Speaker 1: We just chilled, we played something, you know, try to
Speaker 1: go to sleep later so I would wake up later. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you're not seeing off until I was off ten
Speaker 1: to four, which is the latest I ever tead off
Speaker 1: in my life. Um So yeah, like, try to go
Speaker 1: to sleep later, which I did, but I didn't wake
Speaker 1: up later. I wake up at like quarter plus six.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, well, this is going to be a
Speaker 1: long day. So what did you do? You wake up
Speaker 1: at six six am, not teeing off until four. Even
Speaker 1: if you say okay, I'm gonna get the golf course
Speaker 1: three hours before, you're still getting the golf course, I
Speaker 1: mean six hours later early, Yeah, exactly. Um So I
Speaker 1: try to just procrastinate, to be honest. Um, I did
Speaker 1: laundry the charges past the time, and you know, I
Speaker 1: did my parents, went through my ottage book and then
Speaker 1: I finally I got to the course like two and
Speaker 1: a half hours earlier. It's much earlier than I would normally,
Speaker 1: but at least that way, i'd be surrounded by people,
Speaker 1: talk to people, you know, just to keep my mind
Speaker 1: occupied when you've got a big lead like that five shots.
Speaker 1: And also you're saying yourself, okay, I've got a five
Speaker 1: shot lead in a major championship. Is it is it
Speaker 1: hard to stay you know, everybody says stay in the present,
Speaker 1: don't get ahead of yourself. But with that much time
Speaker 1: and a big lead like that, it's got to it's
Speaker 1: got to be very difficult to not start thinking ahead
Speaker 1: as to Okay, I got a chance to win a
Speaker 1: major championship, all of the things that go without with
Speaker 1: all of the exemptions, I've got a chance to win
Speaker 1: over a million dollars, which is life changing on the
Speaker 1: LPGA tour, to have the opportunity to win that. Um,
Speaker 1: were you thinking ahead or you just staying in the present. Look,
Speaker 1: it's hard not to think ahead. Um that wagon you're
Speaker 1: gonna buy. My husband's thinking about all the new parts
Speaker 1: as you go by. Um No, it's hard not to
Speaker 1: not to think ahead and get last in it. But
Speaker 1: you know, people would have heard me talk about in
Speaker 1: reference the mental coach I've worked with and and He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm never going to stop you from thinking and ahead
Speaker 1: and go in there. But as long as you can
Speaker 1: quickly come back to the presence, that's what we're going
Speaker 1: to work on doing. Um is it's impossible to make
Speaker 1: you stop that. So you know, I let myself go
Speaker 1: there and then as long as I pulled myself back.
Speaker 1: The good thing is once I got to the course,
Speaker 1: I didn't think about that once. I only thought about
Speaker 1: doing my job and doing it the best I could
Speaker 1: do that day, So you should seventy five. How was
Speaker 1: the warm up? Was the warm up good? I mean,
Speaker 1: was the warm up normal? Did you feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm in control, I got everything going even though I
Speaker 1: got this big lead and stuff. It's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: an open championship, it's a major. What was the warm up? Like?
Speaker 1: The warp was maybe not as good as the previous
Speaker 1: days because the nerves were there. It's you know, you
Speaker 1: can't get away from them. But you know, I just
Speaker 1: try to focus on doing the one thing while and
Speaker 1: that was keeping my rhythm because that's all I tried
Speaker 1: to do the whole week, and that would take me
Speaker 1: away from thinking about the outcome and gave me my
Speaker 1: one swing thought for the week that I could control um.
Speaker 1: But you know, once I got out there, I finally
Speaker 1: settled around the fifth hole, and it played tough. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: the pins were attacked. Um, nobody was ready making too
Speaker 1: many bodies, So I felt I was playing very steady
Speaker 1: obviously until that one must have on fifteen. All right,
Speaker 1: to talk us through, you stand on the fifteenth tee,
Speaker 1: you end up making a triple bogey, which brings in
Speaker 1: Chung right back in the tournament. But I think the
Speaker 1: Open more, wouldn't you agree that the Open Championship more
Speaker 1: than any other venue. You can make one bad swing
Speaker 1: and you get out there and you're like, okay, I
Speaker 1: know that was a bad swing, but I sure as
Speaker 1: hell didn't deserve this line. I mean, I know I
Speaker 1: made a bad swing, but you walk up and you're like, dude,
Speaker 1: you can't get any worse than this. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: not there. So when when you make that shot you
Speaker 1: get up to the ball, does your mind start racing
Speaker 1: or you going or do you just say to yourself, okay,
Speaker 1: damage control? Yeah. I mean, first of all, when I
Speaker 1: hit it, said, obviously the worst thing I made a week,
Speaker 1: but I didn't even know there were bunkers there. That's
Speaker 1: you know, and played that whole hit it up the
Speaker 1: ride every day and I hit it and I said
Speaker 1: to Marcady, what's then looked in the ok I don't
Speaker 1: know there's bunkers, But I thought, oh, well, it's in
Speaker 1: a bunk. I'll just pop it out and back in
Speaker 1: the fairway and we'll be okay. When I get up
Speaker 1: there and it's like half plugged off the bounce up
Speaker 1: against the face, I cannot go anywhere but left towards
Speaker 1: the longer rough um. And then it just all happened
Speaker 1: so quickly, to be honest, like I don't even know how.
Speaker 1: I didn't even feel like I read. I feel like
Speaker 1: I made one bad swing on that all they made
Speaker 1: a triple um. You stand on the fifty, make one
Speaker 1: bad swing and Allston you're saying, and you're like, what
Speaker 1: the hell just happened? So it's almost like it happened
Speaker 1: so quickly that I actually didn't have time to really,
Speaker 1: I don't know, rethink it and relive it and just
Speaker 1: try more to get on with it. So you go
Speaker 1: to sixteen um um your Cadetonia who caddied for one
Speaker 1: of the great golfers of all time, Laura Davies. Um.
Speaker 1: I've been lucky enough to meet Laura and and do
Speaker 1: some stuff for for Sky Sports in the UK. I mean,
Speaker 1: Laura is one of my favorite people. I will sit
Speaker 1: and listen to her talk. Um, your caddy she caddied
Speaker 1: for for Laura for long time. Did she say anything
Speaker 1: to you on that walk from fifteen to sixteen that
Speaker 1: that that that you remember? Yeah, she just said to me, Okay,
Speaker 1: all we gotta do is get back on it. Now,
Speaker 1: go do our job. And that was it. We didn't
Speaker 1: discuss what happened, didn't discuss the heart break. Looked at
Speaker 1: the leader board and I saw that all right, I'm
Speaker 1: not tired with the energy, and I said to myself, well,
Speaker 1: I haven't lost it. I haven't lost the lead, Um,
Speaker 1: And we just stood on six sixteen. I had to
Speaker 1: I think it's six or seven on in my hand
Speaker 1: and just try to make a good swing. It's It's
Speaker 1: interesting when I worked for brooks Kepta Um when he
Speaker 1: won the p g A at Bethpage back nine, he
Speaker 1: had a big lead. He was in dominant control the
Speaker 1: whole day. DJ makes irn, he made a bunch of both.
Speaker 1: I think he bog did like three or four or
Speaker 1: in a row. His caddy, Ricky Elliott, they were going
Speaker 1: to sixteen, which is one of the hardest driving holes
Speaker 1: on the golf course, and Brooks said that Ricky said
Speaker 1: to him, walk into sixteen. We are still leading the
Speaker 1: golf tournament. And he said. Brooks said that Ricky sang
Speaker 1: that to him, He's just made a bunch of bogies.
Speaker 1: It seems like everything spiring out. And there was a
Speaker 1: long walk from fifteen Green all the way down a
Speaker 1: hill across the road sixteen and Brooks said, one of
Speaker 1: the great things that Ricky said was, hey, we're still
Speaker 1: leading the golf tournament. We make good swings coming down
Speaker 1: the stretch, and we're still going to have a chance
Speaker 1: to win this golf tournament. I always think that caddy's
Speaker 1: the great ones say the right thing at the right
Speaker 1: time and don't say anything at the right time as well,
Speaker 1: because my dad's always told me listen, he said. One
Speaker 1: of the things that he told me as an instructor,
Speaker 1: he said, if you're gonna work with professionals tour players,
Speaker 1: he said, I think one of the most important things
Speaker 1: you need to realize is sometimes it's what you don't
Speaker 1: say that makes all the difference. Right, And so you're
Speaker 1: Caddie saying to you, listen, we're still in you know,
Speaker 1: we're still in the lead. That's to make you kind
Speaker 1: of go, Okay, I can put what just happened behind
Speaker 1: me because I still have a chance to win the
Speaker 1: Gulf Room. I got three holes left. Yeah, definitely. Um.
Speaker 1: And that's where she's so good for me. She's so
Speaker 1: good at keeping me calm in the pressure moments, keeping
Speaker 1: it last heart and making me laugh when I need
Speaker 1: a laugh, and you know, kicking me in the but
Speaker 1: doesn't happen very often when I do need a little
Speaker 1: click every now and then we all do. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got a great relationship. And what she said to
Speaker 1: me walking off fifteen, like I said, we're still in it,
Speaker 1: she just said, get back on it. And and then
Speaker 1: when we stood on what we stood on seventeen and
Speaker 1: obviously reachable part five, and she said, Okay, I want
Speaker 1: four good swings going in. You know, if I had
Speaker 1: two good swings there and two good swings on eighteen,
Speaker 1: I still had a chance to win it. So she
Speaker 1: was very good at saying the right thing at the
Speaker 1: right time. That way. All right, So you finished tied,
Speaker 1: go to a playoff Inji Chong, I mean major champion. Um,
Speaker 1: you know there's a long drive. You've got to go
Speaker 1: sign your car or you've got then you've got to
Speaker 1: getting the gotta getting the carts and drive all the
Speaker 1: way back to the eight and again it's very similar
Speaker 1: early Els one in a playoff on the eighteenth hole. Um,
Speaker 1: so talk us through the mindset. Okay, you get to eighteen, Um,
Speaker 1: you just played it. Um. I mean you hit beautiful
Speaker 1: shots in the playoff. Um, off the tea, so you
Speaker 1: put yourself right in the position that you want to
Speaker 1: put in. Let's go on the first hole. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think obviously what was huge as for starters, I hold
Speaker 1: at like six ft to make sure I got into
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So you know that was like all right,
Speaker 1: we're in this, let's go. Um. And then I think
Speaker 1: the T shirt favored me. I mean it's one of
Speaker 1: the most the morning tea shots I've ever stood up
Speaker 1: and had to hit to my career. You know, Bunker right,
Speaker 1: we can't carry it on the flower. Bunker's left it
Speaker 1: where we have to land at a rolls left and
Speaker 1: the ones off the right. But because I hit a
Speaker 1: little fade, it favored me and I knew I could
Speaker 1: just hold it on that one, and I tried, like
Speaker 1: I said, I try to stand up and hit the
Speaker 1: same shot as I did every day on that whole um.
Speaker 1: And once I got through that, then it was a
Speaker 1: case of try hit the second shot, which was a
Speaker 1: little bit more demanding, obviously having the bunkers on both
Speaker 1: sides wounding off the right, and you know, I got cold,
Speaker 1: like I had six on your regulation and then I
Speaker 1: was hitting in seven woods, so they got cold in
Speaker 1: the wind picked up a lot in those playoffalls. You're
Speaker 1: in a match place situation at that point, Um, how
Speaker 1: much are you just based? Are you trying to stay
Speaker 1: in my own world. I'm just going to kind of
Speaker 1: stay locked in do my own thing and not really
Speaker 1: try and be affected by what Inji is doing. Are
Speaker 1: you in your category? Are even telling you? You looking
Speaker 1: and kind of going, Okay, she's just done this. Maybe
Speaker 1: I kind of change my strategy and maybe I'm going
Speaker 1: to do this. No, I stayed in my own world,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what I did so well. And
Speaker 1: while stayed so colm in that playoff. I mean I
Speaker 1: remember even on the first playful, I didn't even know
Speaker 1: Inji had hit it in the bunker because I was
Speaker 1: so focused on she had to it first and doing
Speaker 1: what I had to do. Um. So yeah, even though
Speaker 1: she was playing first every time, it didn't alter my
Speaker 1: decision in the shot I had to hit into the
Speaker 1: green ye. Um. Cliches I think are cliches because they're true. Um.
Speaker 1: They say in in in a matchplace situation like that,
Speaker 1: you've got to expect your opponent to make shots right,
Speaker 1: expect expected the unexpected. So she hits it in the bunker, um,
Speaker 1: and then and gets it up and down. Let's go
Speaker 1: to the second plan. So now we go back to
Speaker 1: Now we go back to eighteen. Mm hmm. So we
Speaker 1: go back to eighteen and again I just stand up
Speaker 1: there like, okay, same shot, same shot. I just said
Speaker 1: to myself, you know, um, like my swing thought for
Speaker 1: the week was the type in terms of rhythm and pace,
Speaker 1: because that kept me at rhythm. So that was my
Speaker 1: only thought on every shot for the week. So that's
Speaker 1: what I tried to do. Hit another great drive, and
Speaker 1: you hit another one down the middle. Um. But then
Speaker 1: we're both hit poor seconds halved with fives and then um,
Speaker 1: yeah we went back. By this point, um I was
Speaker 1: getting dark. Um I had good drive, she had a
Speaker 1: good drive, and then she went long I think all
Speaker 1: long left, and I was sun highwall. I still can't
Speaker 1: even remember some of her to be honest, did you
Speaker 1: get so lost in the moment? And then I remember
Speaker 1: reading the pats and thinking, man, it's getting dark. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much longer we have. And I had
Speaker 1: a pattern, to be honest, like two ft out I
Speaker 1: thought I had it and just started off at the
Speaker 1: whole and then a jie made U made four and
Speaker 1: we went back and I said to Tania, what some
Speaker 1: does it get dark? And Scott She's like mate and
Speaker 1: stark for Evan. I mean it's light for ev in Scotland,
Speaker 1: like you were saying. And I'm like, it doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like it right now. Look, I don't think people realize
Speaker 1: that when they're watching golf on TV, it looks brighter,
Speaker 1: but they on the cameras they turned the iris is up,
Speaker 1: it's actually a lot darker. And you could tell actually that,
Speaker 1: you know, I lived in Scotland for five years. I'm thinking, okay,
Speaker 1: it's getting colder, the winds picking up the ball isn't
Speaker 1: going to fly. You mentioned it, I mean six iron
Speaker 1: in regulation, and then seven would in the playoffs. Alright,
Speaker 1: so fourth playoff hall. So now you've played the eighteenth
Speaker 1: hole for the fifth time in the last hour and
Speaker 1: a half. And I didn't even realize that we had
Speaker 1: played four holes once it was all done. So that
Speaker 1: just showed how in the moment I was, which was
Speaker 1: good obviously. Inji hit first and hit it in the bunk,
Speaker 1: and then I was like, all right, well this is
Speaker 1: my shot. Hopefully stand up, stand up. They hit the
Speaker 1: two shot great, obviously had to play out. She had
Speaker 1: a really good third shot in I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: you just gotta hit the green. I don't hit the green,
Speaker 1: you know, And I was like, oh my gosh. And
Speaker 1: if you've never been there, um, I don't think people
Speaker 1: realize how narrow that little sliver of bunker to the
Speaker 1: right of their I mean it's probably not even three
Speaker 1: or four steps across. Yeah, it's a yard and a
Speaker 1: half maybe, you know if two yards max. But you
Speaker 1: got like you had a good were you on the
Speaker 1: flat where you're on a little down slope. There wasn't
Speaker 1: a little down slope, which I know. I got in
Speaker 1: there and I was like, okay, this is this is
Speaker 1: perfect little down slope downward. You know, if I commit
Speaker 1: to the shot, I only have to landed on one
Speaker 1: or two ms and it's going to roll out to
Speaker 1: the whole. So obviously on TV it looked really difficult
Speaker 1: obvious see the moment and what you can accomplish if
Speaker 1: this pulls off is huge. But for I think most
Speaker 1: professional golfers, we would have stood there and most of
Speaker 1: us would have been comfortable trying to hit that shot.
Speaker 1: So that was your mindset. You're standing over it, you're
Speaker 1: in the fourth hole of a playoff to have a
Speaker 1: chance to win your first major championship. You just basically
Speaker 1: got up and they say, all the sports psychologists play
Speaker 1: the shot. You're playing one shot at a time. So
Speaker 1: you just got into that bunker and said, okay, this
Speaker 1: is a pretty easy bunker shot. Um, stand up and
Speaker 1: hit it. If I said easy. But yeah, well, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, you know, Tania pool off a great
Speaker 1: line exactly what you've said, you know, saying there are
Speaker 1: things at the right time, Um, and she said show
Speaker 1: them why your number one in bunkers this season? So
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, let's do it. I've talked to
Speaker 1: a couple of girls on the lpga UM about um interviewing,
Speaker 1: and I said, if you could take something from her game,
Speaker 1: what would you take? Everybody said your tempo, but almost
Speaker 1: everybody said your bunker game as well. Ernie Els is
Speaker 1: a great bunker player. Blue Yu Stays is a great
Speaker 1: bunker player. Gary player. I mean it's the short game
Speaker 1: with the Spanish. They talked about the Spanish hands. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's all bullshit. I just think there's some
Speaker 1: great shops. But I've seen it up close. What is
Speaker 1: about people in essay? And I mean Trevor Immelman was
Speaker 1: a pretty good bunker player too. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is. Something in the water down there.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's nothing in the sand, you know.
Speaker 1: Maybe I just say, you know, when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: that's all we did. He just used to chip in
Speaker 1: pats and got dark. Um. So I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's just comes from us when we're kids. That's it
Speaker 1: dropped off at the golf course and you chip impertin
Speaker 1: that's what you do. So you're standing over how how
Speaker 1: long was the pot? Three? Four ft longer? Um? No,
Speaker 1: I was just under three feet, all right? And so
Speaker 1: talk me through the thought process. Are you thinking all
Speaker 1: the cliches? I've had this pot to win a big
Speaker 1: tournament since I was a kid. Are you focused or
Speaker 1: you trying to turn your brain off? Um? One of
Speaker 1: the things I love about what I get to do is, um,
Speaker 1: I'll never I'll never have that opportunity, right, I have
Speaker 1: to watch other people do that. So I'm always fascinated
Speaker 1: as to what is the mindset because I've watched players
Speaker 1: that I've been lucky enough to work with that have
Speaker 1: one major championships and I'm standing over going four ft
Speaker 1: and I can't even breathe. And I honestly I say
Speaker 1: that I've said this before on the podcast off. I
Speaker 1: don't have any idea how you how you guys do?
Speaker 1: I don't because I know how hard it is to watch, right.
Speaker 1: I know how ford it is outside the ropes, not
Speaker 1: hitting any shots. I know how nervous I am trying
Speaker 1: to watch a player win a tournament, let alone win
Speaker 1: a major championship. I don't understand how you can even
Speaker 1: get your body I mean I've spilled drinks. I've missed
Speaker 1: my mouth before trying to drink while watching one of
Speaker 1: the guys trying when I've missed my mouth with the
Speaker 1: water and it's gone all over it. Yeah, what I
Speaker 1: think of most people that were watching would have seen that.
Speaker 1: Everybody watching, and Dave, my husband particularly was more was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I thought that was I thought that was I thought
Speaker 1: that was amazing. Um yeah, but I didn't. I think
Speaker 1: that's what's been so good is since I've started working
Speaker 1: from the mental aspect. If I had was in that
Speaker 1: same situation four months ago, I don't think I would
Speaker 1: have been able to pull off any of it. Um
Speaker 1: let alone stand over that pat and not think about
Speaker 1: this is what you've dreamt of as a kid. This
Speaker 1: is for the one. All I said to myself was
Speaker 1: what I said the whole week. All right, do your process,
Speaker 1: do your steps, and that is and we've got me
Speaker 1: to have this routine whereas I close the door, and
Speaker 1: every step so it goes from lining it up. You know,
Speaker 1: I plumb, that's another step, blind the ball up. Okay,
Speaker 1: step back, close the door, close the door, and everyone,
Speaker 1: so you've completed every step and then once once everything
Speaker 1: is completed, all you gotta do is hit the path.
Speaker 1: So that's all I said to myself. And another thing
Speaker 1: I said is I do this draw every week. It's
Speaker 1: six ft draw I started six ft and every time
Speaker 1: I make it, I go in, so I go around
Speaker 1: the hole. I was like, all right, you do this
Speaker 1: draw every week and do you know miss it? So
Speaker 1: just think of your drawer and get up a shogo.
Speaker 1: I've never heard anyone talk say that before. But so
Speaker 1: the idea behind the process that you and um your
Speaker 1: mental culture doing. So you've got the process, and the
Speaker 1: idea is to go through and basically tick the boxes
Speaker 1: off and once they're ticked off, you leave them behind.
Speaker 1: You don't second guess the read you make. Whatever the
Speaker 1: read you make it mhm, precisely so that you're not
Speaker 1: in between. Because I found, like, you know, so I
Speaker 1: was plumbing and then reading and then second guessing well
Speaker 1: over punder right ever read it right? Well? No, you
Speaker 1: have to do everyone individually and close the door on
Speaker 1: every step. And then once you've linded up right, you've
Speaker 1: you've done what you had to do. Now you just
Speaker 1: hit the part if it misses well, was it a
Speaker 1: battery was a bad but okay, then go and hit
Speaker 1: the next one. To have the opportunity to share that
Speaker 1: with your husband, who basically is in the same world
Speaker 1: as you are, right, I mean, I mean, if you're
Speaker 1: not in professional golf, if you're not a player a
Speaker 1: caddy involved in that, I don't think you understand the
Speaker 1: significance how hard you have to work to to have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to win one of these for you too,
Speaker 1: to be able to share that moment. The fact that
Speaker 1: he caddies on the same tour as you do, I
Speaker 1: mean that that is just and that's one of the
Speaker 1: things that I that UM. Since I've started working more, UM,
Speaker 1: I've spent a lot of time with Marine Alex, who's
Speaker 1: a good friend of yours. UM, I saw all the
Speaker 1: pictures you. She she messaged me after the party you
Speaker 1: guys she had and she's like, I'm still I'm still
Speaker 1: I'm hungover. But it's been cool to watch the the
Speaker 1: relationships of the boyfriend girlfriend's husbands and wives that there's
Speaker 1: players and their caddying for other people. UM. To get
Speaker 1: to share that with your husband, The fact that he
Speaker 1: does basically the same stuff that you do, that's got
Speaker 1: to be just an amazing experience for the two of you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was huge, And you know it's also a case
Speaker 1: of you know, he gave up so much to come
Speaker 1: out here. Um. You know, well when we started dating
Speaker 1: with a life long distance for three years and it
Speaker 1: became too difficult, he said, well, let me come caddy
Speaker 1: for you and I was like, no, that's not gonna work.
Speaker 1: And I said, ok, well take some leave from your job,
Speaker 1: will go to Australia for three weeks and let's see
Speaker 1: how it goes. And yeah, you see, he still hasn't
Speaker 1: gone back to that job. Three weeks turned into eight
Speaker 1: years on the bag. Yeah, eight years on the bag
Speaker 1: and obviously many and he was there for it all
Speaker 1: has in loads of We one together twice on the
Speaker 1: Ladies European Tour, which to wins together is so special. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for him to he's part of the journey and part
Speaker 1: of the hard work that's gone into it. So it's
Speaker 1: also affirmation for him and what he gave up to
Speaker 1: be our chair with me and for it to all
Speaker 1: pay off. What is the feeling when the part goes in?
Speaker 1: Is it relief? Is it? Is it just are you
Speaker 1: just I mean, at that point you've got to probably
Speaker 1: just say I'm just glad this thing's over. I don't know,
Speaker 1: you don't really know, because it's just so many emotions
Speaker 1: go through you. At first it was like I think relief,
Speaker 1: and then it was like, oh my gosh, I've actually
Speaker 1: done this. Um, and then it starts to hit you
Speaker 1: with luck. Wow, you're a major champion. This is what
Speaker 1: you used to stand on the putting green in the
Speaker 1: dark to hold parts um you on that third play
Speaker 1: or for I was reading the part and one of
Speaker 1: my good friends that I used to play junior golf,
Speaker 1: but he obviously takes me saying congrats, And I thought
Speaker 1: of the moment when we were kids and we used
Speaker 1: to put on the dark on Friday evenings. Four cooks
Speaker 1: you know, um, and I used to say, and I
Speaker 1: said to myself, well that didn't bother you in. Don't
Speaker 1: let a body now, because as professionals we start to
Speaker 1: let those things get to us. Are it's too dark,
Speaker 1: we shouldn't be out chair. You know. You didn't let
Speaker 1: a body in, So just carry on. And there was
Speaker 1: everybody just ran on, which was so cool to have
Speaker 1: so many friends that had family there from South Africa,
Speaker 1: and then the emotions just obviously overtook. Okay, Marina told
Speaker 1: me you're not a big drinker. Cam Smith who won
Speaker 1: the Open championship. The first thing, Cam if anybody knows,
Speaker 1: he's gonna try and figure out how many how many
Speaker 1: beers he can get in that thing. Have you had
Speaker 1: alcohol out of the trophy? Thanks to Marina? Yes, Marina
Speaker 1: made sure that was going to happen, you know, so
Speaker 1: we had I had obviously a few steps on the Sunday,
Speaker 1: but we got done so late. And then on Thursday
Speaker 1: this past week we went around to Marina had all celebration.
Speaker 1: Cary was there too, so it was it was very
Speaker 1: cool and sorry Dave's Dave knows that two pints go
Speaker 1: into the trophy. There you go, what is I mean? So?
Speaker 1: Now what I mean? You you've proven to yourself that
Speaker 1: you can win a major championship. Um, you're going to
Speaker 1: be a major champion regardless. So now that puts you
Speaker 1: in the conversation that when the next batch of majors
Speaker 1: come around, you're going to be in that conversation of
Speaker 1: someone that has one a major that wanted in style,
Speaker 1: wanted against one of the best players on the lp
Speaker 1: did do you now reset your focus? Reset your goals? Um,
Speaker 1: and you know what is what is the goals for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. I think I still need
Speaker 1: to kind of sit back and really look at it.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I've had enough time to process
Speaker 1: goals for the rest of the year. Um. But I
Speaker 1: know that when I get to a tournament there's going
Speaker 1: to be a few more eyes on me, but more expectation.
Speaker 1: But and yeah, I will be in the conversation obviously.
Speaker 1: It gives me the belief to know I can win
Speaker 1: on the LPGA, and I think in the fashion that
Speaker 1: I wanted with the grits and the determination to come
Speaker 1: back after that triple uh makes me believe even more so.
Speaker 1: So I think next time I am in contention, UM,
Speaker 1: I just know that that I'll be able to. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're going to pull it off, but
Speaker 1: I can handle it. And I think next year will
Speaker 1: be definitely reassessing goals and choosing the right tournaments to
Speaker 1: play in order to to play well. You also have,
Speaker 1: I think now a very unique and amazing opportunity to
Speaker 1: inspire the next generation of female golfers from SA I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously you said you mentioned your golfing heroes Ernie Gary Player,
Speaker 1: I mean Retief, all of the great great men that
Speaker 1: have come before you. Um. But I think it is
Speaker 1: so important for junior golfers to have someone to look
Speaker 1: up to to say, listen, she's from Johannesburg. I'm from Johannesburg.
Speaker 1: She she I'm a member at the same club that
Speaker 1: she's a member at. And and and are you aware
Speaker 1: that you have the opportunity now to inspire this next
Speaker 1: generation of young um female golfers in South Africa. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean for me to be able to put on
Speaker 1: that so called pedestal is it's a huge honor and
Speaker 1: I'm hoping it will inspire many many young girls in
Speaker 1: South Africa to take up the game. And I think
Speaker 1: it was so great is in South Afria we don't
Speaker 1: get all the coverage of the LPGA events. Only in
Speaker 1: the last few maybe three or four years, as it
Speaker 1: started to get the coverage. And obviously it's also most
Speaker 1: of the time tape the late at strange hours. And
Speaker 1: I think the great thing about the Women's Open, it's
Speaker 1: one hour time change and so many people were tuned
Speaker 1: in from South Africa, so they actually got to witness
Speaker 1: it and live it with me. Um, which I think
Speaker 1: is why the love and the support I've had from
Speaker 1: SOD Africa has been even more than than usual. Lastly,
Speaker 1: did any of the golfing heroes you've got, Ernie Garrett,
Speaker 1: did any of them reach out to you and say
Speaker 1: congrats and and that I mean hopefully they did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know they did. Gary actually sent me a voice
Speaker 1: note after the Friday to say you'd seen I was leading. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, gave me a few little good tips to
Speaker 1: stay patient everybody's going to hit bad shots, to keep
Speaker 1: my head still in on Patty. Um, this is very one.
Speaker 1: And then to think when you know so and then
Speaker 1: you Ernie reached out, you know, Eric obviously reached out
Speaker 1: a lot of the South African players, Brandon Gray. So no,
Speaker 1: it's it's all been very cool. And do you feel
Speaker 1: like now you've arrived and you belong? I do. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna probably only really hit me when I
Speaker 1: rock out to Canada and actually not havn't seen a
Speaker 1: lot of players, and then I do feel that, you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully when I get to the tournament, they will I
Speaker 1: will have a little bit of a different feeling and
Speaker 1: belief in myself when when I rock a bit of
Speaker 1: tournament weekend and week out. Now, well, I watched you know,
Speaker 1: the entire back nine. Um, you know, I thought the
Speaker 1: way that you handled what happened on fifteen. Um, I
Speaker 1: always think that, you know, when you're watching golfers, how
Speaker 1: they handle adversity, what happens. I mean, anybody when when
Speaker 1: you're playing good, when you're hitting good shots, it's ez right,
Speaker 1: I mean everybody, everybody's good at that. But I really
Speaker 1: thought the way that you handled that, the way you
Speaker 1: played the last three holes, and then the focus that
Speaker 1: you had um down the stretch in in in the playoff,
Speaker 1: you win majors. Are a lot of people win majors,
Speaker 1: but winning there in the fashion that you did, Um,
Speaker 1: that's a hell of an accomplishment. You must be really
Speaker 1: really proud, And uh, I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: really really cool because you've got to think the next
Speaker 1: time you get a chance to win a golf tournament,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go, I can get this done. Hopefully, That's
Speaker 1: how I feel. But yeah, somebody asked me another podcast, actually, well,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, if you thought back would it
Speaker 1: have been better or nice? And to obviously have walked
Speaker 1: up easy and with a few shortly and I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would have been better for everybody's nerves. But I
Speaker 1: think the way it went down, it's going to be
Speaker 1: far more memorable. And like you say, when you stand
Speaker 1: up at another tournament, hope it will feel like you've
Speaker 1: got this. You're you're now a millionaire in US dollars.
Speaker 1: But give us the rand on how much one? How
Speaker 1: many millions of rand South African rand did you win?
Speaker 1: It's gotta be I'm thinking it's got to be close
Speaker 1: to twenty million. Uh, I think it's like fifteen to
Speaker 1: one at the moment, so probably just over fifteen million.
Speaker 1: But we don't get all that money and some Texas
Speaker 1: and we've got there you post that they obviously, I
Speaker 1: mean that's a huge pressure off my back to have that,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's life changing. Like I said, we
Speaker 1: don't get to play for that bunny on the whole
Speaker 1: PG and for me to win that as my first
Speaker 1: tournament is huge. Well, congrats it's um it was a
Speaker 1: hell of an accomplishment. UM, thanks for talking to me,
Speaker 1: and uh, we'll look forward to UM. How teach Marina
Speaker 1: how to get out of a bunker. Okay, thanks for
Speaker 1: having one, appreciate it. Great to talk to you. Actually, yes,
Speaker 1: So that was actually Buhai major champion for the rest
Speaker 1: of her life, and I think that's just such a
Speaker 1: cool thing, you know, to be able to work your
Speaker 1: entire life towards a goal and to to be able
Speaker 1: to come away. UM the way she won. UM, you
Speaker 1: could hear her talking about it, all the crazy things
Speaker 1: that goes into winning a major champion, major championship, and
Speaker 1: she got it done. So hats off to her and
Speaker 1: really looking forward to seeing UM if this is a
Speaker 1: springboard for her to UM, you know, continue to win
Speaker 1: tournaments and to win more major championships. UM. I didn't
Speaker 1: put questions up uh for the pod this week because
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be inundated with live questions. Hell
Speaker 1: of a week last week, Rory McElroy, what a performance, UM,
Speaker 1: Scottie Scheffler, those two battling it out down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I mean, Rory has been front and center UM as
Speaker 1: kind of the spokesperson for the PGA Tour, and Scottie
Speaker 1: Scheffler had a breakout year and just played fantastic golf.
Speaker 1: UM disappointed. UM for him, I'm still not too sure
Speaker 1: about that format. UM. I wasn't sure about it when
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson won a couple of years ago. UM I
Speaker 1: was working with Brooks CapCo and when Brooks had a
Speaker 1: chance to win the FedEx Cup, I still can't figure
Speaker 1: it out. UM. I know they they've got to try
Speaker 1: and do something. You know, they're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to wait it so that you know the
Speaker 1: play that you've had UM at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 1: throughout the year. UM, you go in there with you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a cushion, but you can miss
Speaker 1: the first He missed the cut in the first FedEx
Speaker 1: Cup playoff event and still win the FedEx So UM,
Speaker 1: I think they still need to tweak that. But Rory McElroy,
Speaker 1: I mean, he plays unbelievable golf. UM. I love his
Speaker 1: golf swing. I love the way he plays golf. UM.
Speaker 1: I'll sit on a driving range and watch Roy McRoy
Speaker 1: hit golf balls all day long. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Scotti Scheffler opened the door for him and Rory. He's
Speaker 1: done that before. UM. That's his third UM FedEx Cup championship.
Speaker 1: UM where he's If I'm not mistaken, I think he's
Speaker 1: come from behind in all of them. I know he
Speaker 1: came from behind in this one. I know he came
Speaker 1: from behind when when he beat Brooks in nineteen and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just a dominant performance and just a hell
Speaker 1: of a hell of a player. And to have three
Speaker 1: FedEx Cups, to do something that even the great Tiger
Speaker 1: Woods hasn't done. Um, I take my hat off, hats
Speaker 1: off to him because you know I said it in
Speaker 1: the first episode UM of the Son of a Which
Speaker 1: podcast with my dad. When Rory's firing on all cylinders,
Speaker 1: you can make it a case that that he's the
Speaker 1: best player in the game because he can make golf
Speaker 1: look easy. He can do things that other players can't.
Speaker 1: You can drive the golf ball in places other players can't.
Speaker 1: And what a performance. And I think Rory played with
Speaker 1: the weight of the entire p g A Tour and
Speaker 1: all the boys in Ponto Vidro. He played with them
Speaker 1: on his shoulders. He put the PGA Tour on his
Speaker 1: back this year and went out and got it done.
Speaker 1: So hell of a performance and great to see Rory
Speaker 1: winning golf tournaments. UM. Six new guys coming to live
Speaker 1: this week, and the biggest one is cam Smith. If
Speaker 1: you're following the live PGA Tour battle, I think when
Speaker 1: you lose the players champion and the Open champion and
Speaker 1: the number two player in the world, UM, it's hard
Speaker 1: to continue to say that. You know, live is a
Speaker 1: flash in the pan, and it's it's going away. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: and I keep saying this, Hopefully everybody can just get
Speaker 1: back to playing golf. You want to stay on the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour, stay on the PGA Tour. If you want
Speaker 1: to go play live, go play live. UM. But I
Speaker 1: saw a tweet today which I thought was pretty interesting,
Speaker 1: UM from Kyle Porter. He said, with the addition of
Speaker 1: camp smith lives collection of golfers have one twelve of
Speaker 1: the last twenty four majors. So this narrative that it's
Speaker 1: a old folks home, it's a bunch of husbands and
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of people that can't play golf, I
Speaker 1: think if that's your stance, then, UM, you're not looking
Speaker 1: at it through an objective lens. UM. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to see and how can plays this week. UM. I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to another live event this week. UM PG
Speaker 1: Tours on UM their seasons ended and we'll be starting
Speaker 1: back up. But UM should be really really interesting to
Speaker 1: see UM the fourth live event UM and see how
Speaker 1: it plays out. Son of a Buch comes to you
Speaker 1: every Wednesday. I want to thank everybody for listening, and
Speaker 1: again if you haven't gone back and listened to the
Speaker 1: episode with my dad butch arm and check it out
Speaker 1: because it is a good one. We will see you
Speaker 1: next week.