Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Egg Podcast.
Speaker 1: Today we are joined by PGA tour star Luke Donald.
Speaker 1: Like to thank Luke for his gracious time. He stayed
Speaker 1: with us for about an hour and hope you guys
Speaker 1: enjoy this podcast with the former number one ranked player
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 2: The fried egg requires a different technique. What you need
Speaker 2: to do is actually square the face so they'll dig
Speaker 2: down underneath that bad lie and propel that ball right
Speaker 2: out onto the green.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Playing out of a buried lion of
Speaker 1: bunker is completely different than playing out of a nice
Speaker 1: and clean lion of green side bunker.
Speaker 3: You need to be aggressive on any show, weather it's
Speaker 3: sitting cleanly or it's Frida egg.
Speaker 1: Well, we've all faced it, the dreaded Frida egg.
Speaker 2: Not to be cleared though.
Speaker 3: It's actually a pretty easy shot to hit.
Speaker 1: You played a lot of golf in in Chicago. What
Speaker 1: are what are your favorite courses?
Speaker 3: Wow, lots of lots of good ones in Chicago. I
Speaker 3: think it's a little bit of a hidden gem of
Speaker 3: a place for for golf courses. Some of my favorites
Speaker 3: Chicago Golf Club obviously very fortunate to have played there
Speaker 3: shore acres. You know, I practice and play when I'm
Speaker 3: up there in the summers at Conway Farms. I got
Speaker 3: a north Shore country club. I love Skokie. It's a
Speaker 3: great course. Well, I'm trying to think of some other ones.
Speaker 3: But we were very fortunate when I was at college,
Speaker 3: you know, to play a rotation of golf courses and
Speaker 3: you know, some really good ones to some of those
Speaker 3: on that list. Nolwood's another good one. Yeah, a lot
Speaker 3: of good ones.
Speaker 1: What was the Northwestern is an interesting school because it's
Speaker 1: you're very urban. I mean, you're pretty much like essentially
Speaker 1: like in a extension of Chicago. What was it like
Speaker 1: when you know, coming to America and going to school
Speaker 1: in Chicago and just like that transition?
Speaker 3: Was it?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 3: I actually think I was very fortunate to kind of
Speaker 3: land my feet in at Northwestern. I'd never heard of
Speaker 3: Northwestern growing up in England. You know, I think America
Speaker 3: is like a very different country to England in terms
Speaker 3: of you know, you're just not that aware of all
Speaker 3: the different colleges and college golf and college sports is
Speaker 3: just totally different to what it is in the UK.
Speaker 3: You know, I'd heard of Harvard and Stamford and Yale
Speaker 3: and kind of those big kind of places you hear
Speaker 3: through TV and stuff. But I was recruited by Stamford.
Speaker 3: Tiger at the time was still on the team, and
Speaker 3: I thought, well, Tiger's great player. You know, I've heard
Speaker 3: of Stamford. This seems like a perfect fit. But ended
Speaker 3: up not getting there. And the coach there, Wally good
Speaker 3: when was a former Northwestern coach, so he said, you know,
Speaker 3: I feel bad you didn't get in the school. I
Speaker 3: think you should go visit Northwestern. You know, a good
Speaker 3: friend of mine, Pat Gas, has just become coach, and
Speaker 3: I think you'd really like it. So I didn't have
Speaker 3: many options at this point, so so I went for
Speaker 3: a visit. I had some options, but place I'd never
Speaker 3: really heard of. But you know, having got the recommendation,
Speaker 3: I thought, yeah, let's go have us have a look.
Speaker 3: And I just absolutely loved the place. I fell in
Speaker 3: love with it straight away, you know, the golf courses.
Speaker 3: Pat took me around just for my official visit. But
Speaker 3: I think I was very fortunate that I ended up
Speaker 3: in a big northern city like that, you know, instead
Speaker 3: of possibly ending up in a southern place like Clemson.
Speaker 3: Or Georgia Tech or Oklahoma State, you know, somewhere that
Speaker 3: where the culture very different to where I grew up
Speaker 3: in England. You know, I think Northwestern being right close
Speaker 3: to Chicago, you know, the city didn't seem very different
Speaker 3: to where I grew up just outside of London. So
Speaker 3: I think in that way, for me, culturally, it wasn't
Speaker 3: too much of a big of a shock. I didn't
Speaker 3: really feel homesick. I just got straight into the the
Speaker 3: way of life over a Northwestern straight away. I really
Speaker 3: enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: How was it? And you've spent a lot of, you know,
Speaker 1: time in Chicago after playing, Like, do you do you
Speaker 1: think there's benefit with time away from the game, like
Speaker 1: with the winter?
Speaker 3: I think so. I think even you know, even just
Speaker 3: seeing in college, you know a lot of people say, well,
Speaker 3: how did you practice? How did you get better? You know,
Speaker 3: it's the courses of shut five months of the year
Speaker 3: pretty much up there in Chicago. Like, how were you
Speaker 3: still able to compete? And we were? It was compete.
Speaker 3: We were top twenty team in the nation when I
Speaker 3: was in college. We finished third at NC double A's
Speaker 3: one year, seventh another year. So we we were very
Speaker 3: competitive and strong. I think actually having that time where
Speaker 3: you're literally I mean we would practice in the indoor
Speaker 3: the American football like indoor astra to area, you know,
Speaker 3: their practice area, so we could we could see shots
Speaker 3: go for about sixty yards, but then they're hit the net.
Speaker 3: So again I think just sometimes having that practice in
Speaker 3: that time where you're just thinking about fundamentals and you
Speaker 3: don't care where the ball's going, that has value, you know.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes, you know, when you're practicing, it's important
Speaker 3: to do both of those. You know, if you have
Speaker 3: the ability to practice outside, at times when you're working
Speaker 3: on things, you shouldn't really worry about what the ball is,
Speaker 3: how the strike is. You're just trying to feel new
Speaker 3: movements and correct some fundamentals, and that's what you should
Speaker 3: be constrained on. Then you should switch your focus and
Speaker 3: obviously switch it, you know, shot making and not thinking
Speaker 3: about fundamentals. But I think the time we had in Chicago,
Speaker 3: especially when I was in college, was important because I
Speaker 3: could really spend some time on some fundamentals that I
Speaker 3: wanted to work on, and I also forced you to
Speaker 3: kind of rest a little bit more, you know. I
Speaker 3: think even in my best years on tour in twenty eleven,
Speaker 3: twenty twelve. Leading up to those years, I would have
Speaker 3: not touched a club for six weeks, seven, eight weeks
Speaker 3: possibly and then had a month to practice with more
Speaker 3: of an offseason then, and having that time off was
Speaker 3: really valuable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it kind of recharged mentally.
Speaker 3: I mean, more other sport plays all year round. I mean,
Speaker 3: I can't even think of one another than golf.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating too, because what you see with teams that
Speaker 1: often go deep in the playoffs as they struggle the
Speaker 1: next year because of all those added games, like, there's
Speaker 1: a definitely a compiling effect.
Speaker 3: It's Tom Brady, right, Yeah, I agree with you though. Yes,
Speaker 3: I think rest recovery is really really important and it's
Speaker 3: hard to do that on the PGA tour now. I
Speaker 3: think you're seeing probably more injuries because of it.
Speaker 1: That's Brady was talking. I heard somebody talking about how
Speaker 1: Brady's like arm strength, he focuses so much on technique
Speaker 1: that his arm strength is still you know, the same
Speaker 1: at forty two as it was when he was thirty,
Speaker 1: And it's because he's focused so much on the technique
Speaker 1: of throwing a football, which.
Speaker 3: Is Yeah, it's this interesting. You know, he obviously has
Speaker 3: his methods. Everyone's quite aware of them. You know, tries
Speaker 3: to be pliable or something, you know, the TB twelve method.
Speaker 3: But I don't know. Whatever he's doing, it's working.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's scary think about how many might end up with.
Speaker 1: So at Northwestern you were an art and theory major, and.
Speaker 3: Your theory and practice art theory of practice.
Speaker 1: So you also in your downtime like to like to,
Speaker 1: you know, paint and different art stuff.
Speaker 3: I haven't done it for quite a few years now,
Speaker 3: I think, since since kids came on the scene, it's
Speaker 3: kind of taken a back burner. But I certainly, you know,
Speaker 3: I practiced it. The last time I did anything art
Speaker 3: wise really was twenty twelve for the Ryder Cup when
Speaker 3: it was at Medina here in Chicago. Obviously they were
Speaker 3: they were remember at one point they did the painted
Speaker 3: cows and they put them all around the city. So
Speaker 3: for the Ryder Cup, they decided to do these big
Speaker 3: painted golf balls, and I did one for the Ryder
Speaker 3: Cup and auctioned it off. I think. So that was
Speaker 3: the last time I did any kind of form of art.
Speaker 3: Now I just kind of watched my daughter's scribble and
Speaker 3: color and paint things. So yeah, I don't do too
Speaker 3: much of that now.
Speaker 1: So an age long debate with golf is like is
Speaker 1: it art or is it science? And I know you're
Speaker 1: you're also very pretty analytical with with the game. Where
Speaker 1: do where do you kind of fall with with the
Speaker 1: art artistry?
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's it's a good question. I think there
Speaker 3: has to be a mix of both. Really. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, sometimes I hear you know, commentators or I
Speaker 3: see someone hit a great shot and they'll say, well,
Speaker 3: that that guy, what great feel he has, you know,
Speaker 3: that's he just you just can't teach that. And I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't agree with that, you know, I don't agree
Speaker 3: at all with that. You know. I feel like having
Speaker 3: the understanding of, you know, what makes me a great
Speaker 3: short game players. I understand the fundamentals very well, and
Speaker 3: I practice them and I and I've got them very
Speaker 3: very well. So I'm able to control my strike, my spin,
Speaker 3: I'm able to control my trajectory, you know, and through that,
Speaker 3: I'm able to create great feel. I'm able to hit
Speaker 3: great shots. And some people might call that, you know,
Speaker 3: oh he has great feel, But that's a lot of work.
Speaker 3: Over time. So that's a mixture of you know, that's
Speaker 3: a lot of science in a way. You know, we
Speaker 3: we've we hear Bryson talking about this pro pro pro
Speaker 3: creation or no pro. I can't remember the word now,
Speaker 3: but you know it's it's understanding where everything is in
Speaker 3: space pretty much pro.
Speaker 1: And I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3: I can't run during the word. But you know that
Speaker 3: that has worked over through lots and lots of work
Speaker 3: and practice. For someone who doesn't have the right fundamentals
Speaker 3: and has you know, hits one off the toe on,
Speaker 3: one off the heel, thins one one fat one, you know,
Speaker 3: obviously it's very hard for them to create consistency and
Speaker 3: get that feel. But once you have those great fundamentals,
Speaker 3: then you can work on a little bit more of
Speaker 3: the the art side, the visualizing, the not thinking about
Speaker 3: the technique so much, you know, I think that's when
Speaker 3: it becomes more artistic. But you have to build that
Speaker 3: that that feel and base of fundamentals before you can
Speaker 3: kind of do that.
Speaker 1: So being one of the you know, best players around
Speaker 1: the greens and on the greens for decades, how do
Speaker 1: you go about building the way you practice?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think first and foremost is you know, perfecting
Speaker 3: those fundamentals. You know, really understanding them, what what you
Speaker 3: think is correct fundamentals and really working hard on them
Speaker 3: and getting them to a point where you don't have
Speaker 3: to think about them. And once you can do that,
Speaker 3: then you can come up with great ways to practice,
Speaker 3: you know, great drills. You know, occasionally I'm I'm I'm
Speaker 3: hitting balls from the same spot and I'm repeating, you know,
Speaker 3: doing lots of reps, and that's the time I'm kind
Speaker 3: of working on my fundamentals. I'm just trying to groove
Speaker 3: something in. But that has to be only a small
Speaker 3: part of your practice, I think, especially with a short game.
Speaker 3: Then you have to start incorporating what golf looks like
Speaker 3: on the golf course, and that's you know, every show
Speaker 3: is different. So creating variability in your practice, creating a
Speaker 3: little bit of pressure in your practice, coming up with
Speaker 3: cool kind of drills to you know, bring about variability
Speaker 3: and pressure, I think is really important. And once you
Speaker 3: put that together with solid fundamentals, and that's that's only
Speaker 3: going to pay off and lead to good results.
Speaker 1: A lot of Americans have, you know, some disdain for
Speaker 1: your exemplary match play record, you know, in terms of
Speaker 1: match play and stroke play, and you've had great success
Speaker 1: and both getting a number one in the world, and
Speaker 1: you know, in a stroke play heavy schedule, you obviously
Speaker 1: can play both both stroke play and match play. But
Speaker 1: what would you say, you know, why you have had
Speaker 1: such success in match play? Is there something about the
Speaker 1: format that.
Speaker 3: Well? I think we as as someone who grew up
Speaker 3: in England, we we kind of grow up around match play.
Speaker 3: You know, played a lot of it as a junior,
Speaker 3: as a kid county golf, you know, playing for my
Speaker 3: country England, playing in Walker Cups, you know, playing Eisenhower's
Speaker 3: I mean Eisenhower's more stroke play. But you know, we're
Speaker 3: we're we're very yeah, exposed to it at a pretty
Speaker 3: early age, so we get used to kind of the
Speaker 3: the feel of match play because it is quite different.
Speaker 3: And I think I've always loved the team aspect as well.
Speaker 3: You know, I think golf is tough sometimes when it
Speaker 3: comes to just being an individual sport. You and your
Speaker 3: caddy pretty much most of the time, and you're kind
Speaker 3: of out there on your own, very much like tennis.
Speaker 3: You know, I think once you get into that team
Speaker 3: atmosphere that becomes kind of fun. You're playing for something
Speaker 3: a little bit more than yourself. You know. Obviously there's
Speaker 3: a sort of intricacies to match play, you know, when
Speaker 3: to give parts when not to, know when to attack
Speaker 3: when not to you know, but ultimately I still felt
Speaker 3: like my success in match play came from just being
Speaker 3: not forcing issues in a way, you know, making my
Speaker 3: opponent win holes, you know, not giving away holes. You know,
Speaker 3: that consistency kind of I had in my game. I'd
Speaker 3: hit a lot of fair ways, I hit a lot
Speaker 3: of greens, you know, just kind of be there or
Speaker 3: thereabouts the whole time, and I'd just kind of wear
Speaker 3: my opponents down through consistency, just not letting them up mentally,
Speaker 3: almost like thinking, oh, hey, I got him on this hole,
Speaker 3: you know, coupled with some good short game, you know,
Speaker 3: making pots when you need to, I think is important
Speaker 3: in match play too. You know, I'm guessing all of
Speaker 3: those led to, Yeah, a pretty decent record in match play.
Speaker 1: It's it's fascinating match play. I think about like the
Speaker 1: different player styles where you have guys that you know,
Speaker 1: are artists around the greens, or you have your guys
Speaker 1: that are kind of good at everything. And then you
Speaker 1: have the power guys that you know, if you're a
Speaker 1: middle of the road, shorter hitter, you're looking at the
Speaker 1: far up the fairway sixty yards at them, and you're
Speaker 1: hitting your second shot and they're Everybody puts pressure on
Speaker 1: each other in different ways and different points of the match.
Speaker 1: You know, on holes, was there specific or type of
Speaker 1: player that you you know, in a singles style that
Speaker 1: you disliked playing against more than another.
Speaker 3: I never really thought about it that way, you know.
Speaker 3: I suppose players that matched up well to me, you know,
Speaker 3: that were similar to me. You know, I never really
Speaker 3: was too concerned with players that bombed it past me,
Speaker 3: although I did lose a couple singles matches to Hank
Speaker 3: Keeney in the Palmer Cup when I was younger, and
Speaker 3: that guy would hit at seventy yards past me at
Speaker 3: that point, I mean, it was just the matches were close.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think when you hit it that
Speaker 3: far by someone, it's that the it does favor in
Speaker 3: the longer hited player hands. But I suppose just playing,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, I remember twenty ten Ryder Cup.
Speaker 3: I was at Celtic Manor. I got paired up against
Speaker 3: Jim Furick in the singles, and you know, that's that
Speaker 3: I thought was going to be a tricky one, just
Speaker 3: because we're such similar games. You know, we're always in
Speaker 3: the hole, we're grinders, We're going to get up and down.
Speaker 3: You never really think, oh, he's not going to get
Speaker 3: this one up and down, or he's not going to
Speaker 3: make this pop. You know, those are the kind of
Speaker 3: matches that I probably step up and thought that this
Speaker 3: was going to be a top match.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's I think that's one of the fascinating
Speaker 1: things about match plays. It makes it more like the NBA,
Speaker 1: where you have like Michael Jordan, you know, a shooting guard,
Speaker 1: and you know, then you have like your power player.
Speaker 1: It might be like a a Karl Malone. You know.
Speaker 1: It brings to forefront more of the guy's skills and
Speaker 1: shows the contrasts of how they get it done. It's
Speaker 1: like you know, watching something I always think about is
Speaker 1: like Kevin nah has actually a really good record in
Speaker 1: like the WGC match play, and I think it's because
Speaker 1: he just plays a little different than everybody gets, you know,
Speaker 1: and the way he gets around the golf courses, and.
Speaker 3: I think mentally, especially in today's you know power game
Speaker 3: that it is that we that we have, you know,
Speaker 3: over eighteen holes, you just feel like anybody's got a chance,
Speaker 3: you know, against anybody. So it's not it's not really
Speaker 3: like some of the other sports where just the favorites
Speaker 3: have a chance. You know, in tennis, the top four
Speaker 3: seeds usually meet in the in the semi finals. In golf,
Speaker 3: you know, our eighteen holes, anyone can beat anyone. I mean,
Speaker 3: and I think mentally for someone like a Kevin Nah
Speaker 3: or someone that that's that's encouraging. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you've you've been playing professional golf over the last
Speaker 1: you know, two decades now, how do you think the
Speaker 1: game on tours has changed in that time?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's changed a lot. I think we
Speaker 3: can look at all kinds of different aspects of the game, fitness,
Speaker 3: golf equipment, golf course is you know, it really has
Speaker 3: changed a lot. I think we're obviously seeing golf has
Speaker 3: hit the ball a lot further now than when I
Speaker 3: started in two thousand and two. You know, it feels
Speaker 3: like when I started, course management was somewhat important. It's
Speaker 3: a little bit thrown out the window these days. You know.
Speaker 3: I think that the aim on most holes is to
Speaker 3: get it as close as to the hole as you
Speaker 3: can off the tee and go from there. You know,
Speaker 3: with people using sixty four degree wedges, it doesn't. We
Speaker 3: have so much loft now and the knowledge as well
Speaker 3: of how to hit the ball. Further that, the game
Speaker 3: has really changed a lot, and it's become a little
Speaker 3: bit tougher for guys like me, but there's still ways.
Speaker 1: Being a shorter hitter. What courses on tour do you
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, and you tee it up at
Speaker 1: this course, I've got like a great chance this week.
Speaker 1: And are there courses where you're like, I got to
Speaker 1: play absolutely perfect to have a chance.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, there are definitely courses that I like to
Speaker 3: pick and choose, you know. I mean, Hilton Head would
Speaker 3: probably be a great example, which was Hilton Edge Actually
Speaker 3: is a funny one because I when I first played
Speaker 3: there on tour, I didn't play very well there, I
Speaker 3: don't know, for whatever reason, missed a bunch of cuts,
Speaker 3: maybe finished top fifty once or twice, And after about
Speaker 3: four or five years, I thought I'm gonna not bother
Speaker 3: going back here for a few years at least, so
Speaker 3: I gave it a break and then suddenly I came
Speaker 3: back and you know, for a course that should have
Speaker 3: sued me, I'd done terribly around it. So I came
Speaker 3: back and then started to perform form better because you know,
Speaker 3: it's the kuype of course which takes driver out of
Speaker 3: a lot of the longer hitters' hands. It's so narrow,
Speaker 3: a lot of dog legs, you know, very small greens.
Speaker 3: You know, reasonably flat surfaces, but you know tiny greens
Speaker 3: that you know, if you're reasonably proficient around the greens,
Speaker 3: I think you have a good opportunity to get the
Speaker 3: ball up and down and you're going to be left
Speaker 3: with a lot of those tricky six seven footers for
Speaker 3: pars at times. And it's a frustrating course too. You
Speaker 3: can hit great shots and be blocked out and you know,
Speaker 3: I think you have a good shot into a green.
Speaker 3: It catches a tree limb and kicks thirty yards right,
Speaker 3: So it demands a lot of patients. It doesn't need
Speaker 3: too much length, and you need to be pretty good
Speaker 3: around the greens. It's kind of one of those frustrating courses.
Speaker 3: So you know, that's a kind of course I tend
Speaker 3: to be drawn towards there's less and less of them
Speaker 3: on tour these days. But yeah, I think I certainly
Speaker 3: have to be wise with the courses I choose.
Speaker 1: What do you think changed from when you took a
Speaker 1: break and came back and all of a sudden, I've
Speaker 1: had unbelievable success. I think you got was it four
Speaker 1: or five runner ups?
Speaker 3: There? I've had five runners up and three thirds, eight
Speaker 3: top threes without a win. Unfortunately, I seemed to get
Speaker 3: picked by someone charging through the field on Sunday a
Speaker 3: few times. But what has changed? I just think, yeah,
Speaker 3: I needed that break away from it for a while.
Speaker 3: You know, for some reason it wasn't it wasn't working.
Speaker 3: I couldn't visually see the shots, and some reason something
Speaker 3: switched and I was able to manage my way around
Speaker 3: That course is a little bit better. I think my
Speaker 3: short game putting did improve, which helps because it is
Speaker 3: of course you're not going to hit as many greens
Speaker 3: as usual. So you know, I was a good short
Speaker 3: game player and a good putter through two thousand and six,
Speaker 3: but I got a lot better from two thousand and
Speaker 3: nine onwards. You know, after I had that, I had
Speaker 3: a wrist surgery in two thousand and eight. I really
Speaker 3: spent a lot of time practicing one hundred yards in
Speaker 3: and that was you know, that was a lot of
Speaker 3: the key to me getting to number one in the world.
Speaker 3: So I think that that improved too.
Speaker 1: So so the injury and the time not being able
Speaker 1: to safe go full boor at it was like a
Speaker 1: huge had a huge impact on your career. The time away.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's funny how sometimes you know, what you think
Speaker 3: at the time is going to be one of the
Speaker 3: biggest negatives turns out to be one of the biggest positives.
Speaker 3: You know, when obviously you have an injury like that,
Speaker 3: an injury that had to be surgically repaired. You know,
Speaker 3: there's all kinds of things that go through your mind.
Speaker 3: You know, is this the end? Am I going to
Speaker 3: be able to hit pause again? Am I ever going
Speaker 3: to be the same? But it kind of allowed me,
Speaker 3: you know, the way the rehabir was, I had to
Speaker 3: really start with putting for a couple of weeks. Then
Speaker 3: I could hit some very light chips, but at the
Speaker 3: same time I was still putting, you know, I was
Speaker 3: putting two three hours a day, and then I went
Speaker 3: and now did some small pitches, small chips to you know,
Speaker 3: getting up to wedges. It was a very slow process,
Speaker 3: but it gave me about a two month window where
Speaker 3: I was really focused on putting, especially and short game,
Speaker 3: and I think it allowed me, like going back to
Speaker 3: that time, it allowed me some time to really work
Speaker 3: on fundamentals, to get in the great reps and build
Speaker 3: up confidence in that area. And yeah, I mean for
Speaker 3: four or five years, I don't think anyone was better
Speaker 3: than me from one hundred and twenty yards and in Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a good spot.
Speaker 1: That's a good spot to be really good at.
Speaker 3: You know, you've got to pick your battles, you know.
Speaker 3: And I think the Risks breakdown was you know, me
Speaker 3: trying to keep up with some of the guys, you know,
Speaker 3: trying to find some extra lanes, trying to hit it harder.
Speaker 3: I've already always had a little bit of a risty swing.
Speaker 3: I never really use my body to turn, so you know,
Speaker 3: when that happened, it was just a good reminder, like,
Speaker 3: let's just play what you're good at. You know, you're
Speaker 3: not gonna it's pointless trying to chase too much distance.
Speaker 3: You're just going to injure yourself again, So concentrate on
Speaker 3: what you can control and and be good at that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a thing that a lot of players
Speaker 1: went through with with you know, kind of the rise
Speaker 1: of Tiger, the lengthening of the courses. You know, Martin
Speaker 1: Kaimer famously was trying to learn to draw the ball
Speaker 1: for Augusta and then you know when he went back
Speaker 1: to hitting the fade, he all of a sudden won
Speaker 1: a bunch more again. And it's it's a fascinating thing
Speaker 1: with you coming back from a back. You know, you're
Speaker 1: dealing with a back injury. Now, is it different because
Speaker 1: of the back? Is it harder to do like long
Speaker 1: sessions putting and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I'm obviously a little bit older than I
Speaker 3: was when I when I injured my wrist, which is
Speaker 3: two thousand and eight. But so I've got time is
Speaker 3: going against me a little bit. But we're fortunate in
Speaker 3: this game. You know, I can play too on sixty
Speaker 3: really on the Champions Store if I want to. What's
Speaker 3: been Langer? He might be sixty now already and still
Speaker 3: crushing out there. But you know, I'm trying to see
Speaker 3: this back injury as you know, something similar to the
Speaker 3: wrist injury. You know, it doesn't feel very good at
Speaker 3: the time, you know, and you're being out and it's frustrating,
Speaker 3: but hopefully it's a positive. Again. It's given me some
Speaker 3: time to look at you know, why did this happen?
Speaker 3: You know, there's obviously some things going on in my
Speaker 3: swing that we're causing a little bit of this inflammation
Speaker 3: in my back, and so, you know, I think I'm
Speaker 3: improving not only my setup, my fundamentals in my golf swing,
Speaker 3: but hopefully this will lead to more consistency in my
Speaker 3: long game. And I mean I've got to be a
Speaker 3: little bit careful in terms of reps and smashing balls,
Speaker 3: but I've been that way for quite a few years
Speaker 3: now since having kids. I'm more efficient with my practice.
Speaker 3: Still practice hard, but I practice smart and I'm not
Speaker 3: out there, you know, eight hours a day every day.
Speaker 3: You know, I can do a good session in four
Speaker 3: hours and feel like I have done enough work to
Speaker 3: be to be one of the best players out there.
Speaker 3: So it's again trying to turn a positive into a
Speaker 3: negative into a positive.
Speaker 1: No, that's I think that I think it gives you.
Speaker 1: I feel like when you're in the hole and you're
Speaker 1: you're looking at the same problem day in, day out,
Speaker 1: every day and you're going and you know, grinding. Like
Speaker 1: for me, I'm always like you know, in there thinking
Speaker 1: about golf and writing and thinking about other stuff. Is
Speaker 1: like when you take days off or like even just
Speaker 1: a day off is so valuable because you come back
Speaker 1: with a completely refreshed perspective. But then you know, I remember,
Speaker 1: I went on our honeymoon and I came back after
Speaker 1: like a you know, ten day break, and like, I
Speaker 1: was so refreshed, and I had a whole new perspective
Speaker 1: on so many of the same problems I was looking
Speaker 1: at every day and day out. Like you, it allows
Speaker 1: you time away to to really think and wash away
Speaker 1: like the conclusions you have in your head from looking
Speaker 1: at it through the same lens.
Speaker 3: I totally agree. I think that's why weekends are so
Speaker 3: important for the guy that works, you know, Monday to Friday.
Speaker 3: You know, they need that break, that break, that refresh
Speaker 3: feeling so they can tackle the week in front of them.
Speaker 3: But I've even actually, in some of my off off
Speaker 3: time been doing some puzzles, and again I think it's
Speaker 3: good for the brain, and you know, a thousand piece
Speaker 3: puzzles and I'll work on them but if I'm over
Speaker 3: it for like an hour looking at it something you
Speaker 3: just can't see anything. You step away for an hour,
Speaker 3: come back and you're like, oh, that was why didn't
Speaker 3: I see that piece of that piece of that piece,
Speaker 3: that piece goes there. It's amazing how you can become
Speaker 3: stale by you know, just being in doing something over
Speaker 3: and over again without that that kind of break.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you're just you're doing the same thing. It's
Speaker 1: like you're becoming more of a robot instead of a
Speaker 1: you know, what makes humans so special. It's like the
Speaker 1: ability to you know, think and adapt and you know
Speaker 1: that's it's a fascinating.
Speaker 3: Remember you only got to get a little bit better
Speaker 3: every day, so you know, you're not trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: take major steps. I think some people, you know again,
Speaker 3: if you can just get tiny little bit better every day,
Speaker 3: then that over time, that's going to lead to something great.
Speaker 1: It's somebody said to me once I was when I
Speaker 1: was a high school golfer, like, you know, they're these
Speaker 1: great players in the area. It's like, yeah, they said
Speaker 1: to me, And it didn't make any sense then, but
Speaker 1: it's like, well, like the hard thing for him is
Speaker 1: going to be how does he get better you know
Speaker 1: now that he's here, because like once you're really great,
Speaker 1: a really great golfer. I think this is what the
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of you know, fifteen handicaps. Going
Speaker 1: from fifteen to ten is tough, but going from you know,
Speaker 1: I imagine seventieth in the world to twenty fifth is
Speaker 1: even harder. You know, like trying to pick up those small,
Speaker 1: little percentage points that make the biggest difference.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think you have to think about it
Speaker 3: that way if you if you start, you know, you
Speaker 3: you've got to break break things down into little goals
Speaker 3: that you feel like can be accomplished. You know, if
Speaker 3: something seems too big, then just break it down into
Speaker 3: little things. And I think of a time you accomplish
Speaker 3: those little things and that will lead to that bigger thing.
Speaker 3: It's just it's all about you know, we hear the
Speaker 3: word process and stuff like that. I think it's easy
Speaker 3: to get ahead of ourselves, but if you do it
Speaker 3: that way, I think it becomes a lot easier.
Speaker 1: So with you know, you have regular events the weekend
Speaker 1: week out, PGA tour, grind, and then everybody does a
Speaker 1: little bit different. For majors, how would you say your
Speaker 1: preparation over your career for majors has been different. Does
Speaker 1: it differ for different venues, Does it differ for different
Speaker 1: majors or is it just the same.
Speaker 3: I think at times it differed. You know, I tried
Speaker 3: lots of different scenarios. Obviously it was never successful up
Speaker 3: until this point to get the right scenario. Been up
Speaker 3: there quite a few times and had some good chances.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think Augusta was always the one
Speaker 3: that you tried, could prepare a little bit easier, you know,
Speaker 3: I'd go up there quite a bit before and practice
Speaker 3: and play, and even though that course wasn't specific, sued
Speaker 3: towards my game, you know, since some of the changes
Speaker 3: in two thousand and four or five, that was the
Speaker 3: course I probably spent the most time playing before the
Speaker 3: actual tournament. I think one because it was special and
Speaker 3: it's very cool, and you never know how many times
Speaker 3: you're going to have that opportunity to go practice if
Speaker 3: you're eligible to be in that field. But the other majors, yeah,
Speaker 3: I tried playing before the week before, I tried taking
Speaker 3: weeks off before. I just think sometimes it's you're going
Speaker 3: to be your time, and you just find that grooving
Speaker 3: golf and sometimes it's it's not going to work out.
Speaker 3: But I never found like the quine of kind of
Speaker 3: the right, yeah, the right what I needed to do
Speaker 3: to be peaking at that major those majors. I came
Speaker 3: close a few times, but that was tough. Yeah, what
Speaker 3: was it?
Speaker 1: What was your favorite major venue that you've played in
Speaker 1: to date?
Speaker 3: I would probably go back to There's a few of them. Obviously,
Speaker 3: I had a pretty good chance at Marion at the
Speaker 3: US Open, played with Justin Rose in the final group
Speaker 3: there when he went on to win. You I enjoyed
Speaker 3: that kind of cool, quirky course. I love the Open Championship, obviously,
Speaker 3: being being from England. Again, I go back to ones
Speaker 3: I've had chances. I suppose Turnbree had a good chance
Speaker 3: for years. Stuart sinq One absolutely love that golf course.
Speaker 3: I always loved playing at Saint Andrews, you know, just
Speaker 3: because of the feel, the history and what St Andrews is.
Speaker 3: That was That was the course I never really enjoyed
Speaker 3: the first few times I played, I just didn't quite
Speaker 3: understand it. I can open open field with bumps and humps,
Speaker 3: and then the more I played it, the more, the
Speaker 3: conditions changed minutely and it just changed the course completely.
Speaker 3: And you know how important angles were to some of
Speaker 3: the pins, and you know all all those kind of
Speaker 3: cool architectural features that Saint Andrew's you know, just kind
Speaker 3: of had that that was always a special place for
Speaker 3: me to play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, you hear it with so many
Speaker 1: people as like the first time around, they just don't
Speaker 1: even have a clue what's going on.
Speaker 3: And then do you do you.
Speaker 1: Have like a light bulb moment of like when you
Speaker 1: were like, oh, oh this is this is it?
Speaker 3: Well, just certain holes, you know, even you think of
Speaker 3: for me, especially like that that fourth hole. You know,
Speaker 3: I wasn't if the wind was anywhere in my face,
Speaker 3: I couldn't carry that mound, you know, which was that's
Speaker 3: the easy way to go, just go down the left
Speaker 3: hand side. But you know, if that pin is tucked
Speaker 3: over on the left hand side, you've got no angle
Speaker 3: to hit it towards those pins. So you have to
Speaker 3: take it down that right hand side, that narrow little place.
Speaker 3: It's a couple of bunkers waiting for you to give
Speaker 3: yourself the great angle. And you know, I think it's
Speaker 3: easy to kind of just blow it to the wide
Speaker 3: part of the hair fair way. But you know, having
Speaker 3: creating that perfect angle to to some of those left
Speaker 3: pins is it's pretty cool, you know, And you have
Speaker 3: that's that's when you have to step up and hit
Speaker 3: great shots around s and Andrews.
Speaker 1: I know, I know you have some interest in golf
Speaker 1: course architecture. Is that something that you're looking to get
Speaker 1: into more as as you you know, as.
Speaker 3: You Yeah, I would, I would, I would love to.
Speaker 3: I've done well. I've done a little bit of work
Speaker 3: with Dave's Incolan who worked, you know a long time
Speaker 3: with Corn Crane Ure. He was their lead shaper for
Speaker 3: I think fourteen years, and he's doing some work on
Speaker 3: his own and we're we're looking at some projects to
Speaker 3: do down the road. Even you know, you know, we've
Speaker 3: even talked to Canal Shaws, the little place in Chicago
Speaker 3: about maybe doing something there. So that would be fun.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I love I love I love architecture. I've
Speaker 3: you know, I've read some of the books. I love
Speaker 3: Corn Crenchaw, I love the dope stuff. Yeah, golf course
Speaker 3: for me is you know, isn't necessarily about score two,
Speaker 3: which I think some architects kind of they're very score related,
Speaker 3: which you know, obviously is great if you're designing a
Speaker 3: tour course, I guess. But you know what about their
Speaker 3: the ninety eight percent of the golfers that are playing,
Speaker 3: you know, it's just going to be a tough challenge
Speaker 3: for them. But yeah, for me, you know, using the land,
Speaker 3: you know, good aesthetics, good good fun, interest in greens,
Speaker 3: you know, those kind of things, kind of the types
Speaker 3: of architecture that I enjoy.
Speaker 1: It's it's fascinating. I think about the core Crunch Shaw stuff,
Speaker 1: and obviously, like Trinity Forrest was the first time outside
Speaker 1: of Capellua where like core Crunch Shaw Dope have really
Speaker 1: had a course that the world's best have played on.
Speaker 1: The modern best architects, you know, golf courses, I guess
Speaker 1: Gil Hansen Rio was another example. But from your perspective,
Speaker 1: when you go play one of these types of golf courses, yeah,
Speaker 1: is it is it necessarily easier?
Speaker 3: It might be?
Speaker 1: Is it easier to score or is it you know
Speaker 1: it does it present different challenges than your standard TPC course.
Speaker 3: I haven't played Trinity Forest, but certainly played some good
Speaker 3: core Crunch or course is one of my favorite would
Speaker 3: be you know, Friar's heead Long Island. You know, when
Speaker 3: I played that, I was just blown away how how
Speaker 3: much fun it was to play. You know, a lot
Speaker 3: a lot of people I always get the question, what courses?
Speaker 3: What's your favorite course to play? And a lot of
Speaker 3: them really aren't tour courses. You know. Tour courses are
Speaker 3: courses you might play well and shoot sixty six round.
Speaker 3: If you struggle, you're going to shoot seventy six. You know,
Speaker 3: it's a little bit more score related, whereas you know
Speaker 3: courses I love to play. Yeah, it's quite easy to
Speaker 3: shoot sixty two now and again I think score isn't
Speaker 3: really important though, But I could also walk off shooting
Speaker 3: seventy two and not played well and thought I love
Speaker 3: this course. Yeah you know this. I just had so
Speaker 3: much fun playing it, you know, fun green complexes, you
Speaker 3: know again, strategy off the team making you think, you know,
Speaker 3: even most of these places now I have quite wie fairlies,
Speaker 3: but there's an art to it. You know, you really
Speaker 3: have to step up on the tea and where's the pin?
Speaker 3: Where am I going to hit this? You know, whereas
Speaker 3: tour courses have a little bit less of that these days.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious is if you took par like the
Speaker 1: concept of you know, seventy two being par and he
Speaker 1: went somewhere like you know where you describe where it's
Speaker 1: say it was, just if you threw par out the window,
Speaker 1: how do you think the you know, if you played
Speaker 1: a professional tournament at one of these courses, would there
Speaker 1: be would it be much different in terms of like
Speaker 1: you know, the leaderboard, like would you see more varied
Speaker 1: styles and such?
Speaker 3: Well, I think that the type of course still has
Speaker 3: that overriding fact of you know, who's who's going to
Speaker 3: do well, who's not going to do well? But certainly, mentally,
Speaker 3: if you take par out the equation, I think it
Speaker 3: just does change it. We talked about this a little
Speaker 3: bit earlier about how Pebble Beach that one year they
Speaker 3: turned the second hole from a part five to a
Speaker 3: part four, and when it was a part four, the
Speaker 3: scoring averages was higher. So mentally, I think without any
Speaker 3: relevance to par, yeah, would that be easier probably?
Speaker 1: I guess yeah. And if they just weren't concerned with
Speaker 1: guys shooting sixty two's or fifty eight or and they
Speaker 1: just went to courses that were different, you know, because
Speaker 1: that's I guess from me being I watched a ton
Speaker 1: of tour golf, but I also have interest in architecture.
Speaker 1: Is like, I think there's like there isn't a ton
Speaker 1: of stylistic difference between a lot of the golf courses
Speaker 1: on tour, and I think like Harbortown's a perfect example
Speaker 1: that is stylistically very different than almost every other course.
Speaker 1: I think Trinity four would be another one that's stylistically different,
Speaker 1: But then you know it's sandwiched and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of courses that are very similar. Do you think
Speaker 1: like if you scored apart, is you know it restrains
Speaker 1: the options of tournament venues?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I haven't really thought
Speaker 3: about this and the best way to answer that, but
Speaker 3: certainly have a variability is nice.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I think even Riviera would probably be on that list too.
Speaker 3: It's like it's of course you play and you think
Speaker 3: this is a little different to most weeks we play,
Speaker 3: just has some classic features, some quirkiness, and you know
Speaker 3: it certainly if people asking me what one of my
Speaker 3: favorite courses on tour, that would be one of them.
Speaker 3: At the top of them.
Speaker 1: What's fascinating about Riviera is that I think Charles Howell
Speaker 1: is the only player and I have this written down somewhere,
Speaker 1: I looked it up, but he was the only player
Speaker 1: younger than twenty eight to win there. In the like
Speaker 1: the last like sixteen years, all the winners have been
Speaker 1: twenty eight or over, which is to me utterly fascinating.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think again it's one of those classic courses
Speaker 3: that's gonna wear on you. I think with some patience,
Speaker 3: real understanding of where to miss it, where not to again,
Speaker 3: it brings in a little bit more strategy and thought.
Speaker 3: There's so many cool features. The bunker in the middle
Speaker 3: of the green on the sick, the split fairway on
Speaker 3: a you know, obviously not very long path. He's the
Speaker 3: tenth or it's obviously talked about as one of the
Speaker 3: greatest risk of all path fours in the world. So yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a lot strategy that course. And I think when
Speaker 3: you when you add a little bit of strategy, guys
Speaker 3: who've had experience, guys who understand that sometimes backing off
Speaker 3: is more valuable than just going full tilt, and I
Speaker 3: think over four rounds, you're going to give them the advantage,
Speaker 3: and that's probably why older guys, uh more experienced guys
Speaker 3: tend to do well Riviera.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because Riviera, that seems that's a course we're positioning
Speaker 1: in being you know, with the with the way the
Speaker 1: greens are and the deep bunkers being fifty yards away,
Speaker 1: Is it always advantageous versus you know, being one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty in the right spot?
Speaker 3: Right? I think so a little bit to do with
Speaker 3: the grass. The cuku is not a grass you can
Speaker 3: really run up, you know, you know, a fifty yard shot,
Speaker 3: those that the Polana greens you know, have quite a
Speaker 3: firm first bounce usually unless it's rained a lot. So
Speaker 3: that fifty yard shot with a like four or five
Speaker 3: yard you know, on the green with not much green
Speaker 3: to work, but it's impossible to run it through that cocuya.
Speaker 3: So you have to be very precise. So you know,
Speaker 3: those kind of things. Yeah, Like you know, just getting
Speaker 3: it close to a part five and too, it's maybe
Speaker 3: not always advantageous. Maybe laying back having that one hundred
Speaker 3: yard shot, the fuller shot creates some spin. Maybe that's
Speaker 3: a little bit of an easier and a better way
Speaker 3: to play that place.
Speaker 1: With growing up in in England, you obviously were exposed
Speaker 1: to a lot of great golf early at a young age. Like, what,
Speaker 1: what were your favorite places over there?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I grew up near London, so got to play
Speaker 3: quite a few of the Heathland courses, you know, Sunningdale,
Speaker 3: the Parkshire. I've never played the Swindley far but you know,
Speaker 3: we've obviously played some also some golf up kind of
Speaker 3: you know, the we would play. I've played Hillside, I've
Speaker 3: played more Town, I've played I'm trying to think of
Speaker 3: some of the other great ones. Obviously I played a
Speaker 3: lot in Scotland and Ireland, but I'm trying to think
Speaker 3: of good ones in England. You know, obviously live them
Speaker 3: and there was a bunch of those great ones around
Speaker 3: that Liverpool area that that I got to play, but
Speaker 3: a lot of really good ones in in London too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What what players growing up did you kind of idolize
Speaker 1: the most? From like a you know, professional standpoint.
Speaker 3: You grew up loving Fouder and Sevy were my two idols,
Speaker 3: probably for very different reasons. You know, I think I
Speaker 3: was in awe Fouder and his work ethic and how
Speaker 3: meticulous he was and just the small details he'd went to.
Speaker 3: You just felt like the guy was on the range,
Speaker 3: you know, from morning till dusk. You know Sev obviously
Speaker 3: for his short game, his his flare, his ability to
Speaker 3: get the ball up and down from anywhere. I think
Speaker 3: that influenced me certainly. Very two different, very different personalities,
Speaker 3: but those were the two guys that for very different reasons.
Speaker 3: What kind of idols in my eyes?
Speaker 1: Your your bunker player. Could you know you could go
Speaker 1: toe to toe with Seva? That would be would be
Speaker 1: a fun like I always wonder why golf doesn't have
Speaker 1: like a skills challenge.
Speaker 3: I'd still give it to Sev. I mean, he never
Speaker 3: even had a sixty degree where he didn't even know
Speaker 3: what that was, so he could work magic with I
Speaker 3: think his highest wage was probably fifty six maybe degrees.
Speaker 1: So what do you think would happen if they took
Speaker 1: away wedges above fifty six degrees? This just popped into
Speaker 1: my head.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you would have to understand fundamentals a
Speaker 3: little bit better. You know, the huge amount of bounce
Speaker 3: sometimes now we have on wedges that help us, you know,
Speaker 3: around the greens try to minimize some of it, and
Speaker 3: they were the grooves and on the like. But they
Speaker 3: certainly haven't ever thought about minimizing loft. But that might
Speaker 3: be an interesting one, I mean learning, you know, suddenly
Speaker 3: it feels like nowadays you can pretty much get to
Speaker 3: any pin unless the greens are quite undulating. But most
Speaker 3: greens we still play on tour, you know, modest and
Speaker 3: somewhat flat. Green speeds are faster take it. But you
Speaker 3: know that that again, the amount of people who have
Speaker 3: sixty degree and sixty four degree with wedges, you know,
Speaker 3: pretty much you short side yourself, you can still give
Speaker 3: yourself a good chance of getting the ball up and down.
Speaker 3: Imagine if you only had a fifty six, that's becomes
Speaker 3: a little bit more difficult. You have to really learn
Speaker 3: how to use that wedge well to create the correct
Speaker 3: spin to get one of those short side shots close.
Speaker 1: It'd be interesting. I always, you know, I know that'll
Speaker 1: never probably happen. I've always wanted to see, like, you know,
Speaker 1: like a seven or four or five club event. You know,
Speaker 1: you know, if you be so fascinating to see the
Speaker 1: shot making, I think that's that's one of the things
Speaker 1: I wish, is like seeing all the creativity and all
Speaker 1: the shots that you know, you guys can hit would
Speaker 1: be the most fascinating aspect of it. But with the
Speaker 1: modern equipment, it doesn't seem you don't have to hit
Speaker 1: all the shots all the time.
Speaker 3: No again, strategy, I believe you know, it is so
Speaker 3: much less than it was when I first came out
Speaker 3: and tour. You know, course managements, it's not really there's
Speaker 3: not too much of it these days. But yeah, five
Speaker 3: club Challenge tournament, that could be interesting. I think people
Speaker 3: would still put the driver in. I think, yeah, I
Speaker 3: got it.
Speaker 1: So let's kind of wrap some stuff up here and
Speaker 1: a few quick quick hits, you know. So, like, what's
Speaker 1: been the most memorable moment, Like, what's the moment you
Speaker 1: think about most going back to your career at this point.
Speaker 3: It probably have to be my my playoff win over
Speaker 3: Lee West when it went worth, just because it got
Speaker 3: me to number one. It was at the place just
Speaker 3: down the road from where I grew up. I had
Speaker 3: lots of family and friends there. I think it was
Speaker 3: a fun night of celebrations. That was That was quite
Speaker 3: I've knocked on the door for a couple of months
Speaker 3: leading up to that, having good chances to get to
Speaker 3: number one, and couldn't quite quite do it, and so
Speaker 3: it was obviously meant to be to to wait to
Speaker 3: wait my time until a place like Wentworth where very
Speaker 3: close to where I grew up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw it like Harvardtown. You lost in the
Speaker 1: playoff to snedd o certain number one. Then if you'd
Speaker 1: got it's it's a yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: I remember.
Speaker 1: I actually remember that you hit a wedge real close on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, playoff Hall hitting pretty close and west west he
Speaker 3: hit one and got a lot of spin and just
Speaker 3: just crept into the water there. But yeah, thankful for
Speaker 3: that victory.
Speaker 1: Who's who's the player that like, best player to hang
Speaker 1: out have like a pint worth.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm key one that. Yeah, lots of funny guys.
Speaker 3: Obviously made lots of good friends during Ryder Cups. You know,
Speaker 3: we had a we had a group group WhatsApp chat
Speaker 3: going for the Ryder Cup, which was kind of fun.
Speaker 3: And you get to even just through that experience, you know,
Speaker 3: different personalities. Tommy Fleetwood has a great sense of humor. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I've obviously been good friends with Sergio. He's not much
Speaker 3: of a drinker, so I wouldn't choose him. I don't
Speaker 3: know it's a good one. I don't know. I had
Speaker 3: a few good times over the years though, but I
Speaker 3: don't think of anyone specific.
Speaker 1: What was the best Ryder Cup memory.
Speaker 3: Best shot I ever hit? Probably the Rider Cup was
Speaker 3: my seven aa madina against Tiger and Stricker in the
Speaker 3: four Walls. You know, just at the time we were
Speaker 3: we were we were getting beaten pretty handily. I mean
Speaker 3: we were down ten to four, I think at the time,
Speaker 3: and you know, obviously I think what what it meant
Speaker 3: in the grand scheme of things, and obviously we had
Speaker 3: the big comeback on Sunday, but winning that point and
Speaker 3: then Poulter and Macroori winning their point to get to
Speaker 3: ten six to even give us a sniff I think,
Speaker 3: And obviously against one of the greatest players of all time,
Speaker 3: he just stuffed it into five feet and seventeen. He
Speaker 3: just burdied the hole before sixteen. And the pressure was
Speaker 3: all on us. We were only worn up, having been
Speaker 3: four up at the turn. You know, it was all
Speaker 3: going away. It looked like here goes, We're gonna maybe
Speaker 3: lose his point and maybe get it half. And then
Speaker 3: suddenly I was able to come up with with the
Speaker 3: goods hit it inside him. We matched birdies and then
Speaker 3: half the last hole to win the points. So that
Speaker 3: would probably be my best shot.
Speaker 1: What's the one where the tournament that you didn't get
Speaker 1: it done or you know, that sticks with you the most?
Speaker 3: Mm Probably that US Open with justin you know, I
Speaker 3: think it's funny that was that was a positive time
Speaker 3: that probably turned into a negative. And I'll explain it
Speaker 3: because you know, obviously positive because I had a great
Speaker 3: chance to win that US Open. I walked off Sunday
Speaker 3: having watched Rose do his thing, you know, pure it
Speaker 3: the whole way around. I mean we saw that four
Speaker 3: iron on the last and nearly went in the hole.
Speaker 3: I mean every shot was just down the middle. And
Speaker 3: I walked away thinking, man, my game doesn't feel like that,
Speaker 3: especially off the tee, and I tried to I tried
Speaker 3: to change a few things. I actually went away from
Speaker 3: Pat Oss. I went to a different coach for a year,
Speaker 3: went to Chuck Cook, and you know, obviously I haven't
Speaker 3: really been as good since that time. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: obviously went back to Pat. But it took some unraveling
Speaker 3: to you know, the swing that I tried to go
Speaker 3: to wasn't really working. I'm not taking anything from Chuck
Speaker 3: and what he does, but it wasn't right for me,
Speaker 3: And you know, looking back, I wish I'd just stuck
Speaker 3: to what I knew I was good at. It was funny.
Speaker 3: It was a time where I had a great chance
Speaker 3: to win a major and I walked away thinking I
Speaker 3: needed to change things. And it's just it's a crazy
Speaker 3: the way we think. Yeah, but you know, obviously led
Speaker 3: to some kind of poor golf, and yeah, I wish
Speaker 3: I'd had that back. You know, I wish I'd either
Speaker 3: played a bit better or even played really worse. I
Speaker 3: don't know, but yeah, maybe even not having been paired
Speaker 3: with with Rosie would have changed, you know, the next
Speaker 3: few years of my life. Who knows. But it's hard
Speaker 3: to have hindsight with that because it's, well, it was fascinating.
Speaker 1: Is that if you flipped the situation and you win,
Speaker 1: Rose probably would have gone God, I got.
Speaker 3: It, and I would have been playing like he has lost.
Speaker 1: Years in the crazy. The crazy stuff about it is
Speaker 1: like as a golfer, I feel like you're always envious
Speaker 1: of what someone else has, and they're always looking at
Speaker 1: you and are enviously.
Speaker 3: You never realize that part though, do you.
Speaker 1: And that's the hardest thing to think about, and I
Speaker 1: never really thought about it until what you just said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you always want something that somebody else has
Speaker 3: and when really you should be just concentrating. I think
Speaker 3: that when I got to number one, that was what
Speaker 3: my biggest skill was. I knew what I was good at,
Speaker 3: and I just concentrate on that. I didn't care that
Speaker 3: I didn't hit it as far as everyone or whatever.
Speaker 3: I knew that if I could do this as well
Speaker 3: as I needed to be, then I could be as
Speaker 3: good as I wanted to be, really, you know. And yeah,
Speaker 3: even though there was strokes gained. I think that year
Speaker 3: twenty eleven, I was around even strokes gained off the tea.
Speaker 3: But I knew that I needed to gain practically two
Speaker 3: strokes around on average to be number one in the world,
Speaker 3: and I had to do it through my strengths.
Speaker 1: So that that time you were just all, you know,
Speaker 1: focused on how do I control?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, not worrying what other people were good at,
Speaker 3: worrying what I was good at my skill set.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a yeah, that's a good point. It's like
Speaker 1: you get wrapped up you're always looking at what other
Speaker 1: people are doing in any industry. You know, if you're
Speaker 1: if you're a sales guy, you know you're looking at
Speaker 1: what the guy down the down the road is doing.
Speaker 1: That's you know, maybe beat you two months in a
Speaker 1: row is and you're like, oh, maybe I'll try and
Speaker 1: do that. But I think with like sales, for example,
Speaker 1: like what makes you unique as you? You know, and
Speaker 1: you can't try and be somebody else?
Speaker 3: Why be ever anyone else? Everyone else is taken. Someone
Speaker 3: told me just be you. It's a good quote.
Speaker 1: So uh, that's it. That's what I got. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on, I think sure and taking the
Speaker 1: time and given more than well.
Speaker 3: Enjoyed your podcasts and everything you're doing. So good luck
Speaker 3: with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when are the fans going to see your next.
Speaker 3: I'll be out soon either Honda or Tampa hopefully. So
Speaker 3: making some good progress, building some great resiliency in my back,
Speaker 3: you know, just being taking it quite easy. I want
Speaker 3: to make sure I get it right. But looking forward
Speaker 3: to a busy summer hopefully. Yeah, Harbortown, there we go.
Speaker 3: Let's get that win.
Speaker 1: I know
Speaker 3: Exactly