Speaker 1: Welcome back for another Friday Egg podcast. This time I'm
Speaker 1: joined by two stars of the Illinois golf team, Nick
Speaker 1: Hardy and Dylan Meyer. Both Nick and Dylan are juniors
Speaker 1: and among the top amateur players in the world. The
Speaker 1: first half of the podcast we speak with Nick and
Speaker 1: the second half we speak with Dylan. As always, please
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast and iTunes and leave us a review.
Speaker 2: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 1: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my ball in a.
Speaker 3: Brid egg Frida Egg, the dreaded Friday Friday Friday Bride Egg, Lie.
Speaker 1: I'm about ready to run off the golf course. We
Speaker 1: are back for another podcast, and today we welcome a
Speaker 1: couple of college golf stars from the University of Illinois.
Speaker 1: Up first, we have junior Nick Hardy, who has qualified
Speaker 1: for the last two US Opens, was recently named to
Speaker 1: the Palmer Cup team, and was the runaway Illinois State
Speaker 1: am champ. Nick, how are you doing today? Yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: I'm hanging in there. It's a good weekend with March
Speaker 1: madness and got the API on in the background. You've
Speaker 1: been watching any of the golf this season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've watched pretty much as much as I can.
Speaker 2: As much I can. I love to watch, you know,
Speaker 2: the tournaments every weekend. Starting to see a lot of
Speaker 2: names that I've played with too, so it's it's really
Speaker 2: cool to see and yeah, I love watching the golf.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine you probably have play with a lot
Speaker 1: of the guys, especially now. I mean you you qualified
Speaker 1: for a lot of USGA events young, so you know
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys that are twenty five were
Speaker 1: probably some of the guys that you looked up to.
Speaker 2: Huh, Yeah, no doubt. I mean I seeing like guys
Speaker 2: like John Rahm and Bryce and Djebo having success right now,
Speaker 2: so so early. And then like you know, obviously my
Speaker 2: teammates Brian Campbell, Charlie Danielson and Thomas Teacher either having success.
Speaker 2: So it's really cool and fun to follow them for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's cool. I'm in Illinois grad and it's cool
Speaker 1: to see all the Illinois guys out there. You got
Speaker 1: like you know, Langley and Guthrie two that are a
Speaker 1: little bit older, and then obviously you know kind of
Speaker 1: Stricker and Thomas Peters. Yeah, he's he's been on fire.
Speaker 1: So I'd love to give the listeners a little bit
Speaker 1: a bit of background on you. So how did you
Speaker 1: How did you get into golf?
Speaker 2: I mean, I've gotten in the game ever since I
Speaker 2: was started walking. My dad got me into it, I
Speaker 2: don't know, I followed him in the backyard with plastic clubs,
Speaker 2: and ever since then, I was just falling in love
Speaker 2: with the game. And it's been that way ever since.
Speaker 2: I grew up, playing at a Part three course in
Speaker 2: north Brook, Cold anas Berger pretty much every day and
Speaker 2: Sportsman's too, and so yeah, I've loved the game ever since.
Speaker 2: I had a passion for it and I just love
Speaker 2: love practicing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So how did you get to pick Illinois? You
Speaker 1: know what other schools were you looking at? And what
Speaker 1: what got you there to Illinois?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So I visited Illinois twice before I committed. The
Speaker 2: first time I really loved it. The second time, I
Speaker 2: just I couldn't, you know, get enough of it. I
Speaker 2: loved it so much that, you know, I committed right
Speaker 2: away and I couldn't really see myself going anywhere else.
Speaker 2: I looked at a lot of Big ten and I
Speaker 2: just started to look at a lot of schools in
Speaker 2: the South. But I knew right away after I was
Speaker 2: Illinois the second time, I was like, I was dead
Speaker 2: set on it, and there's no way I was going
Speaker 2: anywhere else. So yeah, I looked at a lot of
Speaker 2: other Big ten schools and a lot of a lot
Speaker 2: of schools in the South that I planned on visiting,
Speaker 2: but I just knew so quickly where I wanted to
Speaker 2: go that it didn't even matter. But yeah, I'm you know,
Speaker 2: that's the best decision I've ever made.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's quite the program. It's it's amazing what
Speaker 1: coach Small has been able to do with the Northern
Speaker 1: School kind of becoming the first you know, year in
Speaker 1: perennial national championship contender as a Northern School. Tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about what a day in the life
Speaker 1: is as an Illinois golfer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean, you know, weekly we have workouts
Speaker 2: either two or three times a week at six in
Speaker 2: the morning. Like this week we had Monday, Wednesday Friday,
Speaker 2: so left in the morning and then I you know,
Speaker 2: normally have classes in the morning. This semester is a
Speaker 2: little weird with my schedule. I I don't have a
Speaker 2: class Monday, Wednesday and Friday technically, and I have a
Speaker 2: lot of class Tuesday Thursday, and I have a couple
Speaker 2: of online classes, so I have a great schedule. I
Speaker 2: practice pretty much all day Monday, Wednesday, Friday, which is
Speaker 2: nice but and it's and it definitely helps for for
Speaker 2: when I travel to because when I we miss a
Speaker 2: lot of Monday and Friday, so that's helpful. But I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: like normally you have class in the morning, and then
Speaker 2: I'll head to the practicability after I eat a quick lunch,
Speaker 2: if I can even have time for lunch, and then
Speaker 2: uh practice at two. Pretty much every day. Coach normally
Speaker 2: has a practice as a team, and usually he's either like, Okay,
Speaker 2: you guys can do stuff on your own and I'll
Speaker 2: check in with you individually, or we're doing team stuff
Speaker 2: like competitions, drills, anything that coach them get it better.
Speaker 2: But after that it's I don't know, I'm here. I'll
Speaker 2: after I'm in conversion all afternoon pretty much and then
Speaker 2: dinner and whatever I gotta study that night. So it's
Speaker 2: pretty much just the same routine every day, which I love.
Speaker 2: I'm just like, I'm a person who loves to be
Speaker 2: in a routine and and and doing the same things.
Speaker 2: I think that's the way it worked best. So I
Speaker 2: love when I get back to that routine, you know
Speaker 2: every day.
Speaker 1: So with uh, with practice do you do you work
Speaker 1: on you know kind of like the same drills every day?
Speaker 1: And like what what how would you say you break
Speaker 1: up your your practice time between putting short game, iron play, driving.
Speaker 2: Well, I always I'm a you know, I've turned into
Speaker 2: a guy that like, I really like to look at
Speaker 2: my stats from the last tournament to know like where
Speaker 2: I'm at with my game. How you know, I really
Speaker 2: like evaluating myself and from tournament to tournament, and so
Speaker 2: based off that, I'll basically based on practice off that
Speaker 2: and use coach as a guidance school and obviously he's
Speaker 2: always there to help, but I I kind of just
Speaker 2: you know, feel it out. I there's so many aspects
Speaker 2: of the game you can work on. And that's the
Speaker 2: thing that's why I practice like so much, because I
Speaker 2: love it one and two because there's just so many
Speaker 2: different things you can do in practice, in your in
Speaker 2: your practice, and I just break it up and and
Speaker 2: and see where I'm at, just evaluate my whole game,
Speaker 2: and if one part of my game is I feel
Speaker 2: like it's my weakness. I'll attack that that week and
Speaker 2: then you know, make sure the others are are still
Speaker 2: you know, in a good form. But I like to
Speaker 2: play a lot too, so whenever I can play it,
Speaker 2: like this winter, I've never played so much in one winter.
Speaker 2: I mean it was it was I was outside every
Speaker 2: day down here kind of the same. But we got
Speaker 2: a lot of days where we can play too. So
Speaker 2: I'm a big player, but I'm also I love to
Speaker 2: practice the game too.
Speaker 1: Sounds like you're just a golf knot, which is which
Speaker 1: is a good thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that whole life you guys.
Speaker 1: So do you guys keep strokes gain stats or how
Speaker 1: what what type of stats do you guys have? And
Speaker 1: I know it's a little bit tougher to do without shot.
Speaker 2: Link, but yeah, well we use we use the golf
Speaker 2: stat websites the way they do the stats, and so basically,
Speaker 2: I mean we don't do strokes gain, but there's like
Speaker 2: there's like there's like way there's a I mean every
Speaker 2: other stat basically you could think of to evalue what
Speaker 2: you're putting, you know, up and downs, driving accuracy, anything.
Speaker 2: We we we're pretty we're pretty in depth too. It's
Speaker 2: not like like the general stuff. It gets pretty in depth.
Speaker 2: But that's that's I evaluate myself based off of that
Speaker 2: and just an overall feel for my mind on the
Speaker 2: course and stuff. But that's definitely a huge key to
Speaker 2: getting better and improving. So, I mean, I love, I
Speaker 2: love looking at my stats and preparing myself, you know,
Speaker 2: my junior year to my freshman year and see where
Speaker 2: I'm at compared to there, and like, you know, see
Speaker 2: how I've changed as a golfer. But yeah, the big
Speaker 2: thing is just learning how to evaluate yourself. I think
Speaker 2: that was definitely a huge key coming here too, and
Speaker 2: then using coach mall for that. But yeah, I just
Speaker 2: our stats are pretty in depth, which helps.
Speaker 1: Where you know, where would you say over the time
Speaker 1: there you've improved the most looking at your stats, I don't.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think I've improved the most outside of my sets.
Speaker 2: I think I've improved the most the way I handle
Speaker 2: myself on the course, my overall body language, my attitude,
Speaker 2: my mind. I think I've just you know, I've learned
Speaker 2: a lot based off of coach for that purposes. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can look at your stats and be like Okay,
Speaker 2: that's my punting is a lot better now than it
Speaker 2: was freshman year or blah blah blah anything. But the
Speaker 2: biggest key in golf is your mind. And I feel
Speaker 2: like the way I think is so much better than
Speaker 2: it was when I came into the freshman and that's
Speaker 2: all due credit to Coach Small pretty much, and probably
Speaker 2: just maturing a lot too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think the way you think only
Speaker 1: gets better and better. Like you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: I get better at golf every year because I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit smarter and I play play a little bit
Speaker 1: less because that's the that's the toughest part of the game.
Speaker 1: So you've qualified for two straight US Opens, and you
Speaker 1: made the cut at Chambers Bay in twenty fifteen and
Speaker 1: shot a final round sixty eight, and then you got
Speaker 1: to play Oaklant this year. Tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about the experiences of each and what you took away
Speaker 1: from it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was, I mean obviously Chambers was getting there
Speaker 2: was It's just an out of body experience, like arriving
Speaker 2: to the range the first day and the first day
Speaker 2: I was there, I was on a putty green alone
Speaker 2: with Tiger. That was just crazy and I met Jack
Speaker 2: Nicholas that same day, So I met Tiger and Nick
Speaker 2: Jack in the same day, which was incredible. And then
Speaker 2: that whole week leading up to it, like the four
Speaker 2: days I was there before the tournament felt like forever.
Speaker 2: I mean, it felt like I was already there forever.
Speaker 2: And then the first round came, and I mean, honestly,
Speaker 2: my coach, Brett Packy was with me, and I was
Speaker 2: My game was in such good form. I just I was,
Speaker 2: I was playing, I was hitting the ball great, and
Speaker 2: I just you know, I had confidence and pretty much
Speaker 2: everything in my game was great except my putting, and
Speaker 2: I put it really really poorly there, and I think
Speaker 2: I lost all my strokes of Jordan' Speed, the winner
Speaker 2: that week because of my putting. I mean it was
Speaker 2: it was pretty brutal, but I took away a lot.
Speaker 2: After that week, I felt like I felt like, I could,
Speaker 2: you know, belong there someday potentially. I mean, I just
Speaker 2: I felt like, you know, that gave me a lot
Speaker 2: of confidence. And and then Oakmont last year was a
Speaker 2: totally different venue and course for US Open. I mean,
Speaker 2: Chambers was amazing and like the way you had to
Speaker 2: be creative around the course, and you know, there's so
Speaker 2: many ways to get the ball close to the hole.
Speaker 2: And then Oakmont was just like, Okay, you better hit
Speaker 2: in the fair way and then you better just hope
Speaker 2: you hit in the right spot on the green or
Speaker 2: else you know, you're looking at a three put. So,
Speaker 2: I mean it was it was really cool because both
Speaker 2: US Opens were completely different. But I felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: my my game at Oakmont was not in great form,
Speaker 2: and I wish, you know, to look back and say,
Speaker 2: I wish I did some things differently, But hopefully I'll
Speaker 2: be a many more US Opens so in the future.
Speaker 2: So I can, you know, prepare differently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's so. Then because he qualified, you get
Speaker 1: through to Section all of this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in Section this year.
Speaker 1: Do you did you get out at the same course
Speaker 1: both years?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. So that's that's your Is it the Springsfield site? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And you know I'm trying to go back there
Speaker 2: this year too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's cool. So who was you know, who
Speaker 1: did you get to, you know, play practice rounds with
Speaker 1: anybody that you really looked up to growing up while
Speaker 1: you're out at either of them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the first one I played with Zach Johnson. He's
Speaker 2: just an unreal guy. Uh. That was the first practice
Speaker 2: one I played with him, and it was it was
Speaker 2: incredible because he had so much knowledge, obviously, and he
Speaker 2: helped me a lot. And then I played with Brooks Kopka.
Speaker 2: He just he destroyed the ball. It's hilarious. But he's
Speaker 2: he's a really cool guy too. He's nice. He was
Speaker 2: really nice to me. But I played with I played
Speaker 2: with Brian Campbell and everyone too, because he was at
Speaker 2: the US Opening with me that year. He was a litlamb.
Speaker 2: And then this past one I played with Charlie and
Speaker 2: everyone because he qualified too. And then I played with
Speaker 2: h let's see, Martin Kimer, Brocki, carreer Bo. Those guys
Speaker 2: didn't know much about college golf, so basically I had
Speaker 2: to teach him because they, you know, they didn't come
Speaker 2: over to the States to play college golf. But it
Speaker 2: was funny like talking to them. They were cool guys too,
Speaker 2: they were really nice. Tried to set up another practice
Speaker 2: on Zach and Jimmie Walker, but that didn't work out.
Speaker 2: And then I played with Jason Kokrak. He was a
Speaker 2: great guy too. He hits it really good.
Speaker 1: Ye, that's that's awesome. I mean unbelievable experience, I imagine,
Speaker 1: and especially playing with those guys, making the cut had
Speaker 1: to give you just all types of confidence. So I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk a little bit about the team and
Speaker 1: how you know, kind of last year you were one
Speaker 1: of the younger guys on the team and now you're
Speaker 1: one of the leaders. Tell us about your the young
Speaker 1: players on the team, you know, Brian Baumgardner, Giovanni I'll
Speaker 1: probably batch this, Tatsi out and and Michael Fiegels.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's obviously it was a quick transition being one
Speaker 2: of the younger guys. I mean, I had it so
Speaker 2: easy with the older guys here, Brian Campbell, Alex Burge,
Speaker 2: Comments and Charlie. Obviously I had so easy because those
Speaker 2: guys are such great leaders, and I just looked up
Speaker 2: to them all the time and just basically followed their
Speaker 2: steps all the time and practice, and you know, they
Speaker 2: taught me a lot too. But it was quick. It
Speaker 2: was like, Wow, I come to campus this time, and
Speaker 2: I'm like I'm the oldest guy here with Dylan, and
Speaker 2: we're a really young team and and there's half our
Speaker 2: team as freshmen. So I was like, wow, that was
Speaker 2: a quick jump, but I was excited for it, and
Speaker 2: I knew under the leadership of coach Smaller, I mean,
Speaker 2: and Barlow there, I mean, we're gonna be, you know,
Speaker 2: in good hands. But it's definitely important for me to,
Speaker 2: you know, take what I learned from the older guys
Speaker 2: and try to help these freshmen out and be like,
Speaker 2: be there, Charlie Danielson or something like that. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's definitely a new way for me. But
Speaker 2: it's been fun and I feel like these freshmen are
Speaker 2: are kind of similar to the way I was in
Speaker 2: just a lot of ways. And I've already seen all
Speaker 2: of them grow up so much and just make so
Speaker 2: many strides since the first day they came here, which
Speaker 2: is so cool to see because I was probably the
Speaker 2: same way, but I didn't see it. So but they're
Speaker 2: getting better and hopefully their games start to really trend upwards,
Speaker 2: and I know they will towards the end of the
Speaker 2: spring here.
Speaker 1: What do you think the toughest adjustment going from high
Speaker 1: school golf and junior golf to college golf.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think it's the courses we play. The courses
Speaker 2: we play in college are so much different. It's so
Speaker 2: much harder than what we played in high school. And
Speaker 2: obviously you've got to learn the game because when you're
Speaker 2: in high school, you're playing to all these pins in
Speaker 2: the middle of the green, soft greens, short courses you
Speaker 2: can basically find at every pin. So when you're in college,
Speaker 2: you're playing firm greens, pins tucked on the sides of
Speaker 2: the greens and corners and on ledges and like, and
Speaker 2: you like, as a freshman, you don't really like you
Speaker 2: technically understand the concepts, but you don't really like apply
Speaker 2: them when you play the game. So that's kind of
Speaker 2: the big thing about what coach that helps you out
Speaker 2: with mean, he makes you go through the practice. The
Speaker 2: practice rounds are so important to him and to the
Speaker 2: whole team here. I mean, we go through a practice
Speaker 2: rounde and make sure we get everything right, like, I
Speaker 2: mean the littlest details too, just where north is, where
Speaker 2: these pins will be, you know, where you want to
Speaker 2: hit it obviously, where you don't want to hit it strong.
Speaker 2: And then we work on this a lot and practices
Speaker 2: and strong setting the ball and not hitting the short sides.
Speaker 2: I mean, we practice that all the time, so it
Speaker 2: tends to come natural to you now, I mean after
Speaker 2: you're a freshman. But that's the big thing about Coach
Speaker 2: Small and helping you out your freshman year learning how
Speaker 2: to play the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's said so much of a misconception,
Speaker 1: and something you learn with experience is that, like you know,
Speaker 1: when you're two hundred yards out, thirty feet is like
Speaker 1: a really good shot. You don't have to go at
Speaker 1: that flag. And I imagine that's that's something you know
Speaker 1: with how much how good of potters you guys are,
Speaker 1: that's something you know, thirty feet you can make one
Speaker 1: of those every once in a while, and then you know,
Speaker 1: wait till you get into a spot where you can
Speaker 1: really attack the flag, right.
Speaker 2: I mean, we we've had the you know, in the
Speaker 2: past couple of years, we've had the opportunity to down
Speaker 2: with some of the game's greatest minds like bob raa Tella,
Speaker 2: and he says, like, any anytime you have an eight
Speaker 2: iron or less, you should be looking at the pin
Speaker 2: or inside ten feet, And anytime you have seven iron
Speaker 2: or more, he should be, you know, thinking more more conservatively,
Speaker 2: taking your medicine. So when you have the opportunities where
Speaker 2: you have wedges in that's where you take advantage of.
Speaker 2: But when you like you said, when you have two
Speaker 2: hundred yards and I mean it's okay to hit the
Speaker 2: middle of greens and tupat so obviously like and in
Speaker 2: practice we practice our lag. Putting a bunch I mean
Speaker 2: three put a boyants is huge in college golfs, tame
Speaker 2: with penalty shots and and all that too. So really,
Speaker 2: I mean which Coach Small really helps us out with
Speaker 2: is just learning the game and saving shots that other
Speaker 2: teams will make mistakes on because they're just being you know,
Speaker 2: either you know, careless or or just not thinking. So
Speaker 2: that's really where coach kind of really helps you out
Speaker 2: as a freshmen and learning the game and and where
Speaker 2: to where to be aggressive and where to just picking
Speaker 2: your spots.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, it's uh, it's patience is a is a
Speaker 1: virtue and a lot of aspects of life. So as
Speaker 1: you know, you you touched on this and just the
Speaker 1: golf course change. But as an amateur and college player,
Speaker 1: you guys get to play some incredible golf courses. What
Speaker 1: uh what are what have been some of your favorite
Speaker 1: courses that you've got to see in your life and
Speaker 1: at tournaments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do play an incredible places and we're so
Speaker 2: lucky for that obviously. But my favorites are definitely Southern
Speaker 2: Highlands where we just were in Lats of I guess
Speaker 2: that's that place is unbelievable. And then Olympia Fields. I
Speaker 2: love going there. That's obviously a great course. And then
Speaker 2: going back all the way though, you know my junior days.
Speaker 2: I love the two US Junior courses I played at
Speaker 2: Martis Camp was was unbelievable out in the trucky California.
Speaker 2: And then I mean, really we we get to play
Speaker 2: at all, I mean incredible us M courses, But yeah,
Speaker 2: that those are the ones that stick out to me
Speaker 2: that were really cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those U s GA events are different type of
Speaker 1: experience than than your regular event. It's uh, it makes
Speaker 1: you never want to miss one once you get into one, exactly.
Speaker 1: So a big one that you're you're being considered for
Speaker 1: is the Walker Cup. And you got to go out
Speaker 1: to l A c C a couple of months ago
Speaker 1: and uh and and be a part of the practice sessions.
Speaker 1: What uh what did you kind of take away from
Speaker 1: those practice sessions and tell us a little bit about
Speaker 1: like the vibe and and and what you guys were
Speaker 1: doing out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the practice session was really, I mean pretty much
Speaker 2: the most fun I've ever had in that golf course.
Speaker 2: We uh, just sixteen guys. We just played a bunch
Speaker 2: of golf and it was competitive and it was fun.
Speaker 2: Lacc is unbelievable. It's a rich When I got there,
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe. You know, we didn't get much role
Speaker 2: out there, but it was. It was really long. It's
Speaker 2: a really long course. And they're gonna have us open
Speaker 2: there soon or obviously the Walker Cup coming up at
Speaker 2: the US opened. I think it's in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: and that's gonna be really cool. But yeah, we just
Speaker 2: we played a lot of matches and kept it competitive
Speaker 2: and fun though. So that was really cool. And yeah,
Speaker 2: hopefully to be a part of that team will be unbelievable.
Speaker 1: If if you say you make the team, uh, what
Speaker 1: what guy would you most want to be partnered up
Speaker 1: with for uh? For matches?
Speaker 2: How could I not say Dylan?
Speaker 1: It leads into a good Twitter question we got from
Speaker 1: Brett from the I J G. A is he wants
Speaker 1: to know if you guys, if you could compare yourselves
Speaker 1: to any w w E tag team. Who would it be?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't know, but Dylan Dan called me a
Speaker 2: hulk because I don't know I'm bigger, and I don't
Speaker 2: know what you called Dylan, but I'm sure Dylan will
Speaker 2: be Gon answer that one.
Speaker 1: I'll save it for Dylan. And then one of the
Speaker 1: potential teammate on that Walker Cup team, Stuart Hagastad the
Speaker 1: Vedam Chant, wants to know which would you rather wear
Speaker 1: for every round? A floral sun but bonnet and white
Speaker 1: sunglasses or sacks.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with the gronics for sure.
Speaker 1: You know he thought you were gonna go with the bonnet.
Speaker 2: I think I think Sue is more of the bonding guy. Honestly,
Speaker 2: he's a he's a Southern California kid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's He's an interesting character.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah. I first met to at the Walker Cup practice.
Speaker 2: He He's unbelievable. I love him so much. He's a
Speaker 2: such a great guy.
Speaker 1: What what do you think? What do you think his
Speaker 1: chances are at the at the Masters?
Speaker 2: I love his chance. He's a great player, you know,
Speaker 2: I think uh, I think he I think it's you know,
Speaker 2: obviously he's there to compete hopefully to win, but I
Speaker 2: think he definitely has a good time to make in
Speaker 2: the cut, and that would be really cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I was looking at some odds the
Speaker 1: other day and like they've got him like paired up
Speaker 1: the same as like you know these like old champions
Speaker 1: and it's like this kid's twenty five and he played
Speaker 1: at USC like you know, he.
Speaker 2: Hit to really trade off the team. That's the key
Speaker 2: to Gusta too. So I mean, you know, if he
Speaker 2: you know, he's in a good form, I could. I
Speaker 2: could totally as he's a gamer. You saw it with
Speaker 2: the last six holes on the mid m that was
Speaker 2: really cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was those those six holes were so
Speaker 1: hard and he made all those birdies. I mean that
Speaker 1: was insane.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1: Like those were like some of the hardest holes I've
Speaker 1: ever played. And so if you could pick one core
Speaker 1: or so you had to play one of the two
Speaker 1: courses for the rest of your life Orange or blue
Speaker 1: and quitting is not an option, which would be and
Speaker 1: this is from a former an.
Speaker 2: I would play Orange. I mean Orange is I think
Speaker 2: a little bit better, but I would definitely not quit.
Speaker 1: It. Neither is a great option, but golf is better
Speaker 1: than no golf.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So then I j g A. Matt wanted to know
Speaker 1: if there be any animosity with your future team teammate
Speaker 1: Brendan O'Reilly because he beat you when he was thirteen.
Speaker 2: Oh, none at all. I mean I hope we have
Speaker 2: more matches like that, because if we do, then our
Speaker 2: team is in good shape. I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh. He seems he likes to post pictures
Speaker 1: of his his swing on Instagram. He seems like he's
Speaker 1: a great player.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I don't know if there's anyone who
Speaker 2: loves the game more than him. So that's what it is,
Speaker 2: a good thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so curious if you could take one aspect of
Speaker 1: a former ALIGNI players game, you know, whether it be
Speaker 1: like Stricker's wedge game or Peters is driving, what would
Speaker 1: you what would you want to take from another player?
Speaker 2: Honestly, there'd be so many, so many, I mean I
Speaker 2: think about it. I mean, all these players that come through,
Speaker 2: I mean there's one thing that comes to mind. It's
Speaker 2: it's their minds, and that's their their short games. I mean,
Speaker 2: Coach Small, Stricker and all the guys you know above me,
Speaker 2: there their short games are incredible. But one thing I
Speaker 2: will say is Brian Campbell's mind was incredible, you know,
Speaker 2: like I think Charlie and I talked about it a lot.
Speaker 2: I mean, Brian just always had that that incredible mindset.
Speaker 2: And Coach Mall says a lot like you've got to
Speaker 2: pretend every day is a qualifier and you're just it's
Speaker 2: do or die every day. And that's exactly what Brian
Speaker 2: was like, Like, I mean, it didn't matter what round
Speaker 2: it was, that he could go out there and shoot
Speaker 2: a scrappy sixty three any day. It was incredible Brian.
Speaker 2: Brian had an incredible mindset. I love his mindset. But
Speaker 2: I mean when you look at everyone's short games, like
Speaker 2: Coach Even, I mean Coach Small, he's a great short game.
Speaker 2: But Petre Danielson, Campbell, Peters, got three, everyone, every one
Speaker 2: of them had a great short game obviously stricer. So
Speaker 2: that's something I look at too for sure that I
Speaker 2: want to emulate.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's a mind and short game go go
Speaker 1: very far. So we were short on time here and
Speaker 1: I'm going to get you out of here on a
Speaker 1: couple quick overrated, underrated, underrated questions. So just you know
Speaker 1: whether you think it's overrated underrated? One answer you know quick,
Speaker 1: So Papa Dell's pizza.
Speaker 2: Overrated, I'm a I'm a Papa John's guy, Papa.
Speaker 1: John's Either way, Papa is in the house.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: Phil Mickelson underrated, underrated, So you think he's one of
Speaker 1: the best ten players of.
Speaker 2: All time for sure? Guaranteed.
Speaker 1: All Right, White Belts.
Speaker 2: Way overrated, that's.
Speaker 1: The answer I like to hear. All right, single shaft irons.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't know. I don't know for that one.
Speaker 2: I've never tried it, so I can't really say anything.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think it makes sense if somebody starting, but
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine like switching to it in the middle.
Speaker 2: Of I couldn't imagine that either. But if I tried it,
Speaker 2: I would I would have an opinion for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, hey, Nick, thanks so much for your time
Speaker 1: and best of luck with the spring season, and we'll
Speaker 1: we'll see you up ed hopefully at rich Harvest Farms.
Speaker 2: For sure. Sounds good. Thank you for having me on Andy,
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you all right, all.
Speaker 1: Right, all right, now we welcome Dylan Meyron, the reigning
Speaker 1: Western am Champ, another one of Illinois's star players, and
Speaker 1: uh made a long quarterfinal run at the US AM.
Speaker 2: How you doing, Dylan good yourself?
Speaker 1: Hey, you know, I'm I'm hanging in there. It's it's Friday.
Speaker 1: N c A tournaments on, you know, Uh, life is good.
Speaker 2: So I agree.
Speaker 3: I agree there NCAA tournament's always a good time.
Speaker 1: Who you uh? With Illinois not in it? Who are
Speaker 1: you rooting for?
Speaker 2: Uh? You know, I'm not really rooting for anyone.
Speaker 3: I'm kind of just enjoying the all the high seeds
Speaker 3: beating the good, the good team. So it's kind of
Speaker 3: where I'm following mostly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sometimes when you don't have a horse in
Speaker 1: the race, it's actually more fun because you just can
Speaker 1: root for all utter chaos.
Speaker 2: Right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 1: So I'd love to hear a little bit about your background.
Speaker 1: Give the listeners an idea of who you are and
Speaker 1: how you got into golf.
Speaker 4: So I'm from Evansville, Indiana.
Speaker 3: I tried to throw on the border at Kentucky, southwest
Speaker 3: part of the state, and.
Speaker 2: I grew up.
Speaker 4: My family is a bunch of farmers.
Speaker 3: All my uncles are my great uncles. But I didn't
Speaker 3: grow up being on the farm or anything like that,
Speaker 3: but I grew up definitely that.
Speaker 4: Kind of atmosphere and that kind of background.
Speaker 3: I went to a high school where golf really wasn't
Speaker 3: a priority as in Indiana.
Speaker 2: Basketball was always the priority.
Speaker 3: So we were kind of that second class sport, didn't
Speaker 3: really have much recognition.
Speaker 2: But you know, you get up closer.
Speaker 3: And you started playing in tournaments closer to Indianapolis where
Speaker 3: golf actually mattered.
Speaker 4: That's when I started getting.
Speaker 3: Noticed by by schools and things like that, which led
Speaker 3: me here to Coach Small. There's a couple of alumni
Speaker 3: from back at home that one one played here.
Speaker 2: His name is Keith Bratton.
Speaker 4: He got in touch with.
Speaker 3: Coach Small, let him know about me, and then things
Speaker 3: kind of went off from there.
Speaker 4: How I started to.
Speaker 3: Play golf was with my grandpa. He had a group
Speaker 3: of guys, or my grandpa and my father. They had
Speaker 3: a group of guys that played on every Thursday night
Speaker 3: at a local golf course. And I'd always tag along
Speaker 3: ever since I was a little kid, about five years old,
Speaker 3: and I just kept going with them, and I just
Speaker 3: developed a love for the game and just carried.
Speaker 4: Me to where I am.
Speaker 1: Now, that's great. So did you still tee it up
Speaker 1: with the with the old golf group every once in
Speaker 1: a while.
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, I don't.
Speaker 3: They don't really play all that much anymore, but they
Speaker 3: do sit around and casually go to the nineteenth Tee
Speaker 3: Nineteenth Green, you know, a nice little bar area, always
Speaker 3: kind of hooping and.
Speaker 2: Hollering around about whatever's going on.
Speaker 3: So I kind of go up there and see them
Speaker 3: a little bit every now and again with my grandpa
Speaker 3: because I know he likes that, and I know those
Speaker 3: guys like seeing me as well. So I definitely get
Speaker 3: around him some, but just don't really play much golf
Speaker 3: with him anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, you're kind of busy too. You got
Speaker 1: got a lot of tournaments you're playing in. So how
Speaker 1: do you, you know, narrow down and pick Illinois? What
Speaker 1: was kind of like the deciding factor?
Speaker 3: You know, it really came down to coach Small and
Speaker 3: what he does to produce pros. Really, it's what I
Speaker 3: wanted to do. It's kind of the path I wanted
Speaker 3: to follow my dreams. I mean, yeah, Indiana, they had
Speaker 3: Jeff Overton who was from Evansville. I mean that was
Speaker 3: kind of they wanted me to follow him, that's in
Speaker 3: those steps. But you know, I wanted to create my
Speaker 3: own path, and so I came here and I wanted
Speaker 3: to be something different. I didn't want to go into
Speaker 3: a culture where I thought that I would be the
Speaker 3: top dog or that I would be looked upon differently.
Speaker 3: I wanted to come somewhere where I had to start
Speaker 3: from the bottom and work my way to the top,
Speaker 3: which I'm still not to that top point yet.
Speaker 2: So it's still a work in progress.
Speaker 3: Because coach just makes you not only a better golfer,
Speaker 3: what a better person individually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean you you had a huge kind
Speaker 1: of coming out this past year where you went from
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, people were wondering if you know,
Speaker 1: the bottom of Illinois's roster would hold up, and especially
Speaker 1: you know, I remember watching that match against Oregon with
Speaker 1: with Aaron Wise, and you know, the announcers didn't know
Speaker 1: much about you, but you know, you kept making putts
Speaker 1: and you ended up taking down kind of the college's
Speaker 1: top dog at the time. How much did that match
Speaker 1: help give you confidence going into the summer.
Speaker 3: You know, it gave me a lot of confidence to
Speaker 3: show that I can play at the top level and
Speaker 3: compete with the best guys in the country, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to step up to the t box thinking I
Speaker 3: can live a tournament, rather than thinking I'm going to
Speaker 3: get in top ten and just kind of sneak my
Speaker 3: leg in there and just have my name float around,
Speaker 3: you know, I'd get in there, and I'd battle on
Speaker 3: and compete and.
Speaker 4: Just kept leading me.
Speaker 3: To play in better and better over the summer, and
Speaker 3: just had a different edge about it, you know. And
Speaker 3: that's kind of the one thing I've kind of lacked
Speaker 3: the spring thus far, is this little edge, and you know,
Speaker 3: and now I'm kind of getting back into it and
Speaker 3: starting to get that fire into my stomach again. Where
Speaker 3: and you get on that high horse and I need
Speaker 3: to just keep riding it.
Speaker 1: How how much different is the kind of atmosphere of
Speaker 1: of that NCAA tournament match play setting compared to like
Speaker 1: your your you know, amateur tournaments and kind of the individuals.
Speaker 1: How much how much different is it is?
Speaker 2: It?
Speaker 1: Is it ratchet up pressure?
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say it was a lot of pressure. I
Speaker 3: feel like there's more weight to it. Especially you're playing
Speaker 3: for the university, so you're playing for something bigger than yourself,
Speaker 3: which is always something great to do. I mean, you're
Speaker 3: on national tell vision, representing a university and playing against
Speaker 3: the best guys in the country, So I mean it's
Speaker 3: kind of like our March madness where anything can happen.
Speaker 3: The best shots typically get hit during these times, you know,
Speaker 3: and just nerve, I mean just positive nerves come out
Speaker 3: and you just feel really really appreciative and really great
Speaker 3: about the opportunity that you get to play in that
Speaker 3: kind of situation.
Speaker 1: So, you know, in today's era of like you know, Bombers,
Speaker 1: the Bombing Gouge, you're kind of a throwback guy who
Speaker 1: you know is steady, hits it, you know, straight, a
Speaker 1: little bit shorter, and you've had a ton of match
Speaker 1: play success. Do you think it's you have a huge
Speaker 1: advantage because a lot of times you're playing behind guys
Speaker 1: and you're hitting first into greens.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's definitely an advantage of mine that I have,
Speaker 3: because I mean, I can I'm confident with any kind
Speaker 3: of club I have from the fairway, whether it be
Speaker 3: a nine iron or.
Speaker 4: A three hybrid two hybrid, I'm gonna feel like I'm.
Speaker 3: Gonna put it within ten fifteen feet every time. So
Speaker 3: I mean usually whenever I get on the streak and
Speaker 3: I get on a roll with my ball striking, that's
Speaker 3: typically what happens, and then I'm able to make some putts.
Speaker 3: And I mean, it's just one of those things. It's
Speaker 3: just it's a pressure throughout the entire day. I mean,
Speaker 3: you can do it for three four holes in a row,
Speaker 3: but you do it for twelve, thirteen, fourteen holes in
Speaker 3: a row, it starts really wearing down on your opponent
Speaker 3: mentally as the day goes on.
Speaker 1: Do you do you approach how do you approach match
Speaker 1: play compared to stroke? Do you have a little bit
Speaker 1: different mindset?
Speaker 3: Not really, I mean there's I mean there's some things
Speaker 3: that are different in strategy. You kind of see you
Speaker 3: after what the other players doing. But you know where
Speaker 3: I'm finding most of my successes is if I just
Speaker 3: play my game one shot at a time, Because I know,
Speaker 3: if I'm gonna hit it down the center of the
Speaker 3: fairway and I'm gonna hit it into the green, either
Speaker 3: make my putt or two butt and I'm gonna get
Speaker 3: moving on.
Speaker 2: So if I if I.
Speaker 3: Just keep playing consistent golf for eighteen holes, it's gonna
Speaker 3: really wear down an opponent and then if they can
Speaker 3: beat me by shooting a sixty five sixty six, then
Speaker 3: you know they deserve to win.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna make them win.
Speaker 3: That's the that's really the goal of playing at match play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's in all of golf. Is one shed
Speaker 1: at a time is always a good way to approach it. So,
Speaker 1: you know, with the Western Am, you have this great run,
Speaker 1: you end up, you know, running through and you make
Speaker 1: it into match play and then you win, You take
Speaker 1: out take down Sam Horsfeld, who is playing incredible golf
Speaker 1: that week. But you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: most people don't think about with the Western Am is
Speaker 1: like how much golf you have to play? Like how
Speaker 1: exhausted were you at the end of the week after
Speaker 1: playing like three or four straight days of thirty six holes?
Speaker 3: You know, honestly I was. After that event, I was.
Speaker 3: I was still in turn that mode because I had
Speaker 3: to go straight to the Usam and my body and
Speaker 3: my mind were still thinking compete, compete, compete during that
Speaker 3: entire time.
Speaker 4: I mean for the three or.
Speaker 3: Four days I had in between to go home and
Speaker 3: travel back up to.
Speaker 4: Michigan for the USAM.
Speaker 3: It really hit me the exhausting point in time, because,
Speaker 3: I mean, even playing in the USAM, I was still
Speaker 3: a bunch of days in a row if I had
Speaker 3: to play golf. So there was a there was about
Speaker 3: a I would say, a fourteen day period where my
Speaker 3: mind and my body was just focused on competing and
Speaker 3: it just didn't feel tired.
Speaker 2: I just felt great.
Speaker 3: But whenever I got beat and I was in the
Speaker 3: car heading home and I finally got to sit down
Speaker 3: and I got home from traveling, that's when it really
Speaker 3: hit me. I was like, Wow, I'm super exhausted, and
Speaker 3: I don't know how my body was able to keep
Speaker 3: it locked in in that mode and keep playing solid
Speaker 3: golf through that entire time. But yeah, it definitely head
Speaker 3: after the USAM.
Speaker 1: So that stretch, I mean, you played, you know, a
Speaker 1: ton of just spectacular players, and you know some of
Speaker 1: the you know, big names of the future of pro golf,
Speaker 1: and you know who would would you say is the
Speaker 1: toughest competitor that you faced off against and the you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that impressed you the most.
Speaker 2: It's kind of hard to say.
Speaker 3: I mean, everyone brought something different to the table that
Speaker 3: I competed with being.
Speaker 2: A force field.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can make countless Breds in a row,
Speaker 3: you know. And then Nick Carlson I played in the
Speaker 3: USAM and got beat too. I mean he's a gritty kid.
Speaker 3: I mean he gets after him. I mean he doesn't.
Speaker 3: He just stays on the grind, stays on it, stays
Speaker 3: on it.
Speaker 2: You know. I was really impressed the way he did that.
Speaker 3: I mean, some kids give up if they get three down,
Speaker 3: four down, but you know, everyone just brought something different
Speaker 3: to the table than I was impressed with, whether it
Speaker 3: was a short game, whether there's the way they struck
Speaker 3: the golf ball. But I mean, and you can't really
Speaker 3: say that I had a fun competitor that I enjoyed
Speaker 3: playing with because I enjoyed playing with all of them
Speaker 3: because they all brought something different, unique to the table.
Speaker 1: That's cool. So, you know, kind of continuing on the
Speaker 1: match play theme here, like you got and you and
Speaker 1: Nick got to go out to the Walker Cup practice
Speaker 1: at La c C. Tell us a little bit about
Speaker 1: that experience, and you know kind of what you took
Speaker 1: away from it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I mean there's definitely a good experience
Speaker 3: getting around some of the other guys in college. It
Speaker 3: definitely helped going down there with Nick and being with
Speaker 3: a teammate, definitely loosing things up.
Speaker 2: A little bit.
Speaker 3: But no, it's just like I said, it's just good
Speaker 3: to get around those guys and start kind of building
Speaker 3: a team bond, whether they're going to be there or not,
Speaker 3: whether I'm gonna be there or not, it's definitely good
Speaker 3: to have that part of the process. You know, I'd
Speaker 3: never really talked to Maverick McNeely that much, but you know,
Speaker 3: me and him had some good conversations over the course
Speaker 3: of the week. The mid Am champion Stu Haggis Dan
Speaker 3: I was able to meet him, and then Scott Harvey,
Speaker 3: who is a runner up, I got to meet him and.
Speaker 2: Talk to him. So, you know, there was just a
Speaker 2: bunch of knowledge.
Speaker 3: That was tossed around about golf and and some some
Speaker 3: of it about life from Spider and some of the
Speaker 3: USGA guys. You know, it's definitely one of those things
Speaker 3: that I'm never gonna forget, regardless of I'm on Walker
Speaker 3: Cup team and not. There's just a lot of a
Speaker 3: lot of cool things and good ideas tossed around at
Speaker 3: that at that practice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine you can pick up so much from
Speaker 1: all those guys. You know, everybody just different things that
Speaker 1: other guys do a little differently or think about ways differently,
Speaker 1: and you know, and kind of and take a little
Speaker 1: bit from everybody that's out there, since everybody's got so
Speaker 1: much talent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean yeah, Like I said, Mattick McNeely, I
Speaker 3: mean he's being the number one amateur in the world.
Speaker 2: I mean he has.
Speaker 3: I just love picking his brain because I mean he's
Speaker 3: number one for a reason. And now I see him
Speaker 3: at some of these tournaments and I'm just watching what
Speaker 3: he does, and I mean it's the same thing every time.
Speaker 3: Even at that practice, he was still dedicated to his
Speaker 3: routine and did everything. So it was it was good
Speaker 3: to pick up on little things like that to make
Speaker 3: yourself a little bit better than just someone else behind you.
Speaker 1: Do you watch a lot of PGA Tour golf?
Speaker 2: Not as much.
Speaker 3: I mean I watched the majors a little bit, but
Speaker 3: I mean I'm not really the type to sit down
Speaker 3: and watch watch around of golf on television. I'm more
Speaker 3: of kind of like watching basketball and things like that.
Speaker 1: I gotcha. So in your free time, you like kind
Speaker 1: of getting away from the game.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, That's always been one of my
Speaker 3: things is in my free time, I just completely get
Speaker 3: away from golf and I do something different or my
Speaker 3: mind's down on it. Because for me, I can't stay
Speaker 3: on a constant grind each and every day twenty four
Speaker 3: to seven of golf, golf, golf, golf. I gotta give
Speaker 3: myself a mental break and then come back to it,
Speaker 3: whether it be an hour break, a couple hour break,
Speaker 3: but I need something in there that breaks up the
Speaker 3: time of me and concentrations. That way, I don't wear
Speaker 3: myself out.
Speaker 1: So what are you What are some of your favorite
Speaker 1: things to do down in Champagne during your free time?
Speaker 2: Favorite thing I mean, you know, I mean we like
Speaker 2: to watch a lot of basketball.
Speaker 3: I mean, especially myself, play some video games. I mean
Speaker 3: we I mean typically we had to do a bunch
Speaker 3: of studying, so I mean studying is one of those
Speaker 3: things as well. You know, I'm interested in politics, so
Speaker 3: I watch a lot of Fox News, got to catch
Speaker 3: up on everything, and I read up on some of
Speaker 3: the policies and everything going through Congress, and you know,
Speaker 3: I feel like not a lot of kids my age
Speaker 3: do that, but you know, it's definitely one of those
Speaker 3: interests that I have that I feel that my hobby
Speaker 3: is it gets me off of golf and onto something
Speaker 3: completely different.
Speaker 1: So so if if the golf doesn't work out, are
Speaker 1: you looking to get into possibly politics?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: That's definitely the career path I'm looking at. That's that's
Speaker 3: my majors political science. So I'm definitely interested in that
Speaker 3: field and holding the public office and doing things like that.
Speaker 4: Nature.
Speaker 1: Well, you could be like Bubba you know, I read
Speaker 1: that he's thinking about running for the for mayor of Pensacola.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I heard all that too, but it's
Speaker 3: awfully hard. You got to dedicate what you got to
Speaker 3: dedicate your life to it if you really want to make.
Speaker 2: A good change and whatnot.
Speaker 4: So we'll see what he does.
Speaker 1: If you were a pro and in Volvic offered you,
Speaker 1: you know, say, a million dollars to play their ball,
Speaker 1: and Titleists offered you five hundred thousand to play their ball,
Speaker 1: which would you choose.
Speaker 2: It?
Speaker 3: Just I mean, it really depends on the page of
Speaker 3: where I'm at. I mean, if I'm Bubba Watson, I've
Speaker 3: won a couple of Masters probably gonna take the Vulvic deal,
Speaker 3: you know, just because I can. But I mean, if
Speaker 3: I'm just a new guy on tour, I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: go take a chance with the Pulvic golf ball. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna go ahead and play my titleist that I know
Speaker 3: how I'm gonna play with, and hopefully I'm gonna end
Speaker 3: up making more money that way by playing than just
Speaker 3: on endorsements.
Speaker 1: It's so so I'm curious. Uh say, say the PGA
Speaker 1: Tour calls you up and they say, Dylan, we want
Speaker 1: to give you a sponsors exemption into the Zurich and
Speaker 1: you can pick your teammate for the for the for
Speaker 1: the tournament. Who are you rolling with?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: I'm honestly I would I would say I'd be rolling.
Speaker 4: With Rickey Faller.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'd roll with him because I feel
Speaker 3: like there would be a lot of positive vibes going on,
Speaker 3: and I feel like he knows that team atmosphere fairly
Speaker 3: well with being from Oklahoma State.
Speaker 4: So I mean, that's the guy I roll with.
Speaker 1: Have you gotten to meet Ricky or play with Ricky yet?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: I haven't, actually, So.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's on the bucket list, that's on.
Speaker 2: The bugle list. I feel like that would be a
Speaker 2: good little duo.
Speaker 1: Uh huh, it's a you guys would compliment. I feel
Speaker 1: like you feel like you guys are complimenting. He's nice
Speaker 1: and long. But it is how much how much? How
Speaker 1: important is the positive mojo for you?
Speaker 2: Oh? Positive mojo is all nearly everything. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you can get some.
Speaker 3: Positive mojo between you and a partner, then you can
Speaker 3: see it in college golf. I mean you can see
Speaker 3: it and the March Madains going this week. I mean,
Speaker 3: the teams that bring a positive mindset to an event
Speaker 3: are gonna be the teams are gonna be very, very
Speaker 3: hard to be just because regardless if there's adversity that
Speaker 3: hits them, they're gonna bounce right back, whether it's.
Speaker 4: The next shot, the next hole, or anything like that.
Speaker 4: I mean, they're not going.
Speaker 3: To be completely destroyed if they end up making a
Speaker 3: double bowie. They're gonna come back the next hole, make
Speaker 3: birdie and just keep bouncing back and keep fighting for
Speaker 3: a team. So that's positivity is something we talk about
Speaker 3: on this team. That's a part of our culture that
Speaker 3: we try to promote because.
Speaker 2: You get it going, you get a.
Speaker 3: Couple of birdies rolling, you send the positive vibes backwards
Speaker 3: to the guys behind you. It really starts to roll
Speaker 3: and they start making Bertie. So there's definitely that positive
Speaker 3: energy that's out there.
Speaker 1: So do you prefer kind of the college golf season
Speaker 1: over the amateur golf season because of that, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of team atmosphere and you know the the you know,
Speaker 1: idea of playing for something bigger than yourself.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, for sure, because I mean this makes you,
Speaker 3: This makes you become not only a better player, but
Speaker 3: a better person.
Speaker 2: You'll learn more.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can be out there by yourself on
Speaker 3: the road and just playing golf and becoming a robot
Speaker 3: and not really learn anything about yourself or others, really.
Speaker 4: Know how to interact with others.
Speaker 3: And I mean it's definitely something say that college golf
Speaker 3: is able to do on.
Speaker 2: The other side off the course, I mean, because you can't.
Speaker 3: Replicate positive, positive vibes or a team atmosphere on the
Speaker 3: amateur circuit during the summer, because I mean, me and
Speaker 3: Nick will run across each other during tournaments during the summer,
Speaker 3: but there's that I mean, we want each other to
Speaker 3: do well, but it's not the same as when you're
Speaker 3: here and you're playing for your team.
Speaker 4: So it's definitely something special to be a part of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's it's cool. It's a I love teams stuff.
Speaker 1: It's uh, you know, I grew up playing a ton
Speaker 1: of other sports, and uh, if you were running college golf,
Speaker 1: you know what is was one thing that you would
Speaker 1: either change or you know, add whether it be a
Speaker 1: new format or a new tournament or a change in
Speaker 1: the rules. What what would what change would you make?
Speaker 2: Man, I don't even know.
Speaker 3: That's a tough one. So like in the NCAA tournament,
Speaker 3: I feel like all five guys should count. I feel
Speaker 3: like it's, uh, that's an added factor in there, because
Speaker 3: if your team's actually going to be the best team,
Speaker 3: you need to feel the best five out there for
Speaker 3: the week. I feel like that's important. I mean, I
Speaker 3: feel like that holds everyone accountable rather than just giving
Speaker 3: that fit guy the way out saying no, if you
Speaker 3: play good today, then you can.
Speaker 4: Count, but if you don't, then all right.
Speaker 3: But I feel like if you have the fifth guy
Speaker 3: into the mix, the best teams are really going to
Speaker 3: show whether I mean, it could be I mean, it
Speaker 3: could be anyone, any five guys could show up rather
Speaker 3: than just four guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it adds like almost the weight. They have that
Speaker 1: element in the match play, but the stroke play, it
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense because you got to have
Speaker 1: the most depth and the most you know, everybody's show
Speaker 1: up every round.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean it's kind of like basketball.
Speaker 3: You don't when you have your starting five out there,
Speaker 3: you don't just let one guy come out, come out.
Speaker 2: And he's just dull.
Speaker 3: You're gonna have a guy come in that's gonna try
Speaker 3: to change the mojo and bring something to the table.
Speaker 4: Is the fifth spot.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of something that goes along the lines
Speaker 3: with with RNs double A tournament.
Speaker 1: So so Illinois's got a little bit of a coaching search.
Speaker 1: You got anybody that you want to see Illinois higher?
Speaker 3: Oh man, you know, sat here and I've thought about it,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, obviously my dream guy that i'd want,
Speaker 3: and I just know he's not even come.
Speaker 2: Here at Brad Stevens because.
Speaker 3: I feel like he knows Midwest basketball more than anyone.
Speaker 3: He's he did such a great job with Butler. But
Speaker 3: you know, I honestly think I feel like Tony Bennett
Speaker 3: would be a good one. Definitely a good one from Virginia.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean I don't really.
Speaker 3: Have a big wish list. I mean, whoever we get,
Speaker 3: they're gonna hopefully turn the program around. And you know,
Speaker 3: I trust Whitman on what he's doing. I mean, he
Speaker 3: did higher Levey, so we'll see. And the donors are
Speaker 3: willing to pay in the university is willing to pay
Speaker 3: this new coach, so well, we'll see what what we get.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we I'm a I'm an Illinois grad, so
Speaker 1: I've been watching that. I'm hoping for a big higher
Speaker 1: I think Brad Stevens is doing pretty good in that
Speaker 1: NB in the NBA unfortunately.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know that definitely would it. You almost
Speaker 2: hope that he was having a bad.
Speaker 3: Year this year that he would think about coming back,
Speaker 3: but that's definitely not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, So we've got some we got some Twitter questions.
Speaker 1: I want to get to here and uh and Nick
Speaker 1: deferred to you on on Brett's question of if you
Speaker 1: could compare you and Nick to any w w E
Speaker 1: tag team, who would it be?
Speaker 2: Oh Man.
Speaker 3: Man old Man w w E tag team. Trying to
Speaker 3: think of a good one here. You know, honestly, I
Speaker 3: think we'd be around the D generation X to be
Speaker 3: completely honest, I.
Speaker 2: Think we bring we bring some spice to the table.
Speaker 2: We're a little bit something different.
Speaker 3: You know, we're kind of in your face of a
Speaker 3: tag team. So I feel like that's kind.
Speaker 4: Of what we'd be related to.
Speaker 1: That's a little a little spicy. You know, you got
Speaker 1: you got two different styles of play. I think you
Speaker 1: could be, you know, one of the great pairings of
Speaker 1: like a little like a two different style wrestlers too.
Speaker 3: You know that's exactly try well, Shawn Michael's a little
Speaker 3: triple h you know.
Speaker 1: So uh Stewart uh Hagastad's got got a question here
Speaker 1: is which would you rather wear for every round of golf?
Speaker 1: A floral sunby and white sunglasses or socks and crocs.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I'm telling you I'd be I would be
Speaker 3: the floral hat with white sunglasses because it just just
Speaker 3: screams class I feel like, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But then again, you have the socks and the crocs
Speaker 3: that scream I'm a grinder, don't really have it all.
Speaker 3: When I'm gonna go out there and give it everything
Speaker 3: I got. And this is what I got and this
Speaker 3: is what I'm gonna do with it. But I'm definitely
Speaker 3: more of the floral hat and white sunglasses, you know.
Speaker 1: Stu. Stu texted me and he he guessed the opposite
Speaker 1: of what happened. He thought you were going to be
Speaker 1: the socks and crocs guy and Nick was going to
Speaker 1: be the sunbonnet and white sunglasses. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he texted me and told me that too. But
Speaker 3: you know, my honest opinion was I figure that Hardy
Speaker 3: would go with socks and crocs.
Speaker 1: I go socks and crocs. You know, I think it
Speaker 1: just says that, you know, you don't really give a shit.
Speaker 1: I ex right, So Brian Atkinson, former online I golfer
Speaker 1: wants to know one course for the rest of your life,
Speaker 1: and you can't quit orange or blue.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with orange. You know. They they've actually
Speaker 2: had some really good.
Speaker 3: Greens over the past seven eight months. I mean they've
Speaker 3: been so they've been rolling so good. So I take
Speaker 3: play at Orange, man.
Speaker 1: I stayed down one summer for summer school, and I'd
Speaker 1: play it out of the orange and and like you'd
Speaker 1: have love wedges in and you'd have to land I'm
Speaker 1: sure to the green because we're so rock hard. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's something else. I hope one day they get
Speaker 1: like a really great university golf course, like you know,
Speaker 1: you see a lot of universities have some good tracks
Speaker 1: and and that'd be a cool thing for Illinois to get.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, that would be That's definitely one of those
Speaker 3: wishless items.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we just uh, we gotta get we gotta
Speaker 1: talk to the right donors.
Speaker 2: Right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: So Todd Mitchell wants to know why do you like
Speaker 1: salad so much?
Speaker 3: Why I like salad so much? Yeah, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: not really the.
Speaker 2: Healthiest kid out there, so I think.
Speaker 4: That's kind of why you wanted to know that question.
Speaker 2: But can I always.
Speaker 3: Drink coke and I'm always eating kind of like snack
Speaker 3: foods and things like that and never really get the
Speaker 3: salad before the meals and the buffet lines. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's probably where that stims from.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm I'm more of the.
Speaker 2: Burger king fast food guy, you know.
Speaker 1: To Todd's becoming an old man, so he's he's got
Speaker 1: to take care of himself a little bit more than you.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's gotta eat his greens.
Speaker 2: You know, he's gotta stay a little bit healthier.
Speaker 4: And all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah he's Uh, he's a heck of a player, though,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: Yes he is. Yes, he is a good guy too,
Speaker 2: good guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very good guy. So I get you out of
Speaker 1: here with one last question, then we'll do a little
Speaker 1: overrated underrated. But of all the former and current aligne, I,
Speaker 1: if you could take one aspect of their golf game,
Speaker 1: whose would you take? And uh, why.
Speaker 3: I would take Charlie's short game, to be honest. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's he's got one of the best short games that
Speaker 3: I've ever I've ever seen, and it's always it always
Speaker 3: keeps him alive. So that's definitely one of the things
Speaker 3: I didn't want to take. And no, I try to
Speaker 3: learn from him over the course of time, and you
Speaker 3: know he learned from coach, so.
Speaker 2: Taking in what coach has said.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that's kind of who I'd go with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was happy to see him Monday
Speaker 1: into the Valsparre and make a tut. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's only a matter of time. Before he gets out
Speaker 1: there full time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sooner or later you'll get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's too much talent not to get there. So
Speaker 1: let's let's go to overrated, underrated all right? Uh, lifting weights.
Speaker 3: Lifting weights, underrated.
Speaker 1: Underrated all right? Silver mine subs.
Speaker 2: Silver mine subs. Yeah, they still have no idea, no
Speaker 2: idea what that is.
Speaker 1: It doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 2: I have no idea what that is?
Speaker 1: Man. That shows how old I am.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with It's underrated, theted.
Speaker 1: You know, we're gonna switch it to Papa Dell's. I
Speaker 1: you know, I thought I thought there was no way
Speaker 1: silver Mine wouldever be gone.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Papa. That's definitely definitely underrated.
Speaker 1: All right, alright? Uh Tom de Tree's.
Speaker 3: Hair, Oh Tom Tree's hair. Man, that's neither underrated or overrated.
Speaker 2: It's just perfect. It's perfect. Man. You can't you can't
Speaker 2: pit that one on me, all right, hutting cutting, Oh man,
Speaker 2: that's underrated. Too many people don't really focus on it.
Speaker 3: They always think I've hit the long ball and everything
Speaker 3: like that. But trust me, I put it terrible in Vegas,
Speaker 3: and I hit the ball the best I ever did,
Speaker 3: and I came in twenty five, So it's definitely underrated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, putting bad is just the worst.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's awful.
Speaker 1: Track man, track.
Speaker 3: Man, there's aspects of it that can be overrated. You
Speaker 3: can start looking at way too many things and you
Speaker 3: can get so wrapped up and swing and that's definitely not.
Speaker 2: Who I am.
Speaker 3: I'm more of a field guy, so that's I would
Speaker 3: go overrated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm on the overrated train there too. So Hey,
Speaker 1: thank Dylan, thanks for the time, and I want to
Speaker 1: wish you the best of luck here in the spring,
Speaker 1: restless spring, and hopefully we'll get to see you up
Speaker 1: at rich Harvest.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Ye, have a good one, all right, you too,