Speaker 1: If I do win Augusta this year, you know, I
Speaker 1: think that I need to make sure it happens that
Speaker 1: you and I go on a trip to Augusta together.
Speaker 1: I'll find a member to host this and and I
Speaker 1: think we should do that. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2: I'm in No, you don't say you are no, I
Speaker 2: am in how noble of you?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: My name is Justin Thomas, and I am Brian's biggest fan.
Speaker 4: Hello once again, and welcome once again to Off the
Speaker 4: Beat once again. I am your host, Brian Bombgartner. Should
Speaker 4: I say that once again?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: My guest today is PGA Tour professional and my friend
Speaker 4: Justin Thomas. Justin, if you don't know, is a legend.
Speaker 4: He's set more records than I can count. He's won
Speaker 4: two PGA championships, and he has been world number one
Speaker 4: in the official World Golf rankings twice. So when you
Speaker 4: run numbers on this that is one and one, which
Speaker 4: is two? No, that can't be right, because he's number one.
Speaker 4: One plus one is ultimate one supreme. Pretty sure it's
Speaker 4: something like that. Anyway, Justin dominates the sport of golf
Speaker 4: and he's only thirty. Honestly, he might be the only
Speaker 4: person on the planet that I would not bet with
Speaker 4: on the golf course. I am aware that all of
Speaker 4: my worldly wisdom and mind games means absolute but gus
Speaker 4: against him. I know it's hard to believe, but I
Speaker 4: would take a pass. Justin and I had this conversation
Speaker 4: as he was preparing to play in the Arnold Palmer
Speaker 4: Invitational this last weekend. He played very well, finished T
Speaker 4: twelve in difficult conditions on a very very difficult golf course,
Speaker 4: which he discusses with us today. Not too shabby. Let's
Speaker 4: ask him how he does it, shall we? And along
Speaker 4: the way, I want to get some insight into his past,
Speaker 4: his future, and well the future of professional golf. There's
Speaker 4: a lot going on in the world of golf these days.
Speaker 4: And we will also ask him how it feels to
Speaker 4: fulfill your three life goals, all while under the age
Speaker 4: of thirty. Here he is the talented, the prodigious Justin
Speaker 4: Thomas Burble and Squeak. I love it, Burble and Squeakna
Speaker 4: Burble and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I could get every mon lift over from the ninety four.
Speaker 4: What's happening?
Speaker 1: How are we doing?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, it's so good to see you. What's
Speaker 4: going on?
Speaker 1: Like that you were that Georgia sweater.
Speaker 3: I need you do that.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I woke up this morning. I'm actually
Speaker 4: too tiered here.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: I woke up this morning and I put this on
Speaker 4: because I knew I was gonna be talking to you today. Well,
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess we can just we can just
Speaker 4: start with my first question. How are you feeling about Saban?
Speaker 4: I saw you saw him over the weekend. How are
Speaker 4: you feeling with mister Saban going bye bye?
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a little unsure. Maybe at the moment I
Speaker 1: joked with people, I felt like like a family member
Speaker 1: of mine had like passed away with the amount of
Speaker 1: people reaching out or like hey, condolences to you and
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. It's like, guy, it's just he just retired,
Speaker 1: like it's gonna be okay, but it is wild. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't go on those kind of runs forever.
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, I got I got faith in
Speaker 1: a new coach. But yeah, there's only one Sabing.
Speaker 4: I mean he was there when you were in school, right, yeah,
Speaker 4: So I mean he's been everything that you know about Alabama.
Speaker 1: Right, It's exactly right, yeah, some of Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: I only went to college two years and I was
Speaker 1: two for two on football national championships and undefeated season.
Speaker 1: Although I will say I was, I wasn't still am
Speaker 1: except for a couple of times a year a Kirby
Speaker 1: Smart fan, although every year that goes by, he's really
Speaker 1: making me want to hate him a little bit.
Speaker 4: So we'll see. Well, I was speaking to somebody last week.
Speaker 4: It's actually it was it was Chris Long. It's a
Speaker 4: tough road here with that they have to go to
Speaker 4: Tuscaloosa Georgia does and to Austin Late Texas new new
Speaker 4: SEC team. This is it's gonna well, at least there's
Speaker 4: two teams getting the playoffs because of course, you know
Speaker 4: that Georgia should have been last year, right you know that?
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what she what you're talking.
Speaker 4: About, but interesting, funny, weird.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I'm having a very
Speaker 1: difficult time with Texas being relevant in football. Like I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm not enjoying.
Speaker 3: It at all.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like the Southwest is is back, I guess,
Speaker 4: and we've been so comfortable down there in the Southeast
Speaker 4: for so long. It's uh, it's it's tough. I don't
Speaker 4: know they're going to be good, right, I.
Speaker 3: Know, I know.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because I'm around Jordan Speed as much as
Speaker 1: I am, but uh, I you know, some of us
Speaker 1: were joking. It's like if if Texas somehow would have
Speaker 1: won the national championship without having to go through Alabama
Speaker 1: or Georgia, I don't know. If I could have shown
Speaker 1: my face, I would have been so mad.
Speaker 4: Well, it'll certainly be interesting now that they joined the
Speaker 4: Big Boy League down there in the South. I do
Speaker 4: want to talk about why you ended up choosing Alabama,
Speaker 4: but first I should say good luck. Did you have
Speaker 4: practice today? You're there for the Arnold Palmer this weekend?
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, just practice today. You know, Behill is
Speaker 1: one of those places that never really changes. It's just
Speaker 1: hard and it's right in front of you. So yeah,
Speaker 1: just just got a little work in and you're in
Speaker 1: lovely Orlando.
Speaker 4: Well, I also have to mention you made a lot
Speaker 4: of news over the weekend in addition to being there
Speaker 4: at the Big Alabama Tennessee basketball game with coach Saban
Speaker 4: my dad, the member pro list at Seminole Country Club.
Speaker 4: This got a lot of press, weirdly and social media input.
Speaker 4: How did that did you win?
Speaker 3: We did not.
Speaker 1: My partner Mike Wallrath and I. We won last year
Speaker 1: the gross division. It's unbelievable. Like, I mean, you saw
Speaker 1: that list of that field, Liss Like every year it's
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 4: I mean, it is, It's insane.
Speaker 1: I was joking and luckily as you saw it. You know,
Speaker 1: we played with Tiger, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: But he was like, I can't believe how good the
Speaker 1: field is, and I was like, dude. The first year
Speaker 1: I played in this, I was on the corn Ferry that,
Speaker 1: you know, the web dot Com Tour, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: I just grinded out like a T thirty three and
Speaker 1: made like twenty seven hundred dollars and like, I go
Speaker 1: to this tournament and this is far and away the
Speaker 1: best players I've played with and against. And it was
Speaker 1: a pro am, so it was kind of funny.
Speaker 4: Okay, I you know, I hadn't thought about this. Let
Speaker 4: me ask you a question. What would it take to
Speaker 4: get you to come back to the corn Ferry Tour
Speaker 4: and be my partner at the BMW Championship in Greenville,
Speaker 4: Like what would it take to get I mean, are
Speaker 4: you allowed to go down a division? Is that allowed?
Speaker 1: I honestly, I actually do not think it is allowed.
Speaker 4: It's not allowed. Why wouldn't it be allowed. You want
Speaker 4: to pick up another pro win, you come play with
Speaker 4: me at the BMW. Everyone will be intimidated by both
Speaker 4: of us, by the way, Yeah, yeah, I mean that's
Speaker 4: an idea. I hadn't considered that.
Speaker 1: You know, we have a lot of things going on
Speaker 1: in the golfing world, and I'm sure if I went
Speaker 1: to our commissioner with in the board but this, they
Speaker 1: would be like, really, justin this is this is what
Speaker 1: you're hitting us with, Like all these multi billion dollar
Speaker 1: deals are trying to negotiate, and you want to know
Speaker 1: if you can play in a corn fairy program?
Speaker 4: Did you ever play in that event? I did have
Speaker 4: been before my time, Okay I.
Speaker 1: Did, yeah, yeah, twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4: Okay, wow, yeah, I think we just barely missed each other.
Speaker 4: I played, not partners with I'm not gonna mention my
Speaker 4: partners because we haven't won with Homa. One year was
Speaker 4: in the Forsome Harry Higgs.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: One year was in the forsome. I keep I keep
Speaker 4: getting without any disrespecting my partners. Most of the time
Speaker 4: it's been my fault. Let's be clear.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask, you know, you said we
Speaker 1: haven't won yet, and I, you know, is that a
Speaker 1: is that a you problem? Or is that a them problem?
Speaker 1: Or you know, team cabaraderie or you know what would
Speaker 1: you put the blame on.
Speaker 4: Let me just say this, at least twice my partner
Speaker 4: has finished dfl mm hmm. That's dead fucking last. No,
Speaker 4: I know, yeah, we're not. We're not clear on that.
Speaker 4: So let me just say it's hard to win. It's
Speaker 4: hard to win when your partner does you.
Speaker 1: Need to play really well.
Speaker 4: Or yeah, or it was exactly I was going to
Speaker 4: say that I have to. Although I will say without
Speaker 4: mentioning again anybody by name, the winners of Pebble Beach
Speaker 4: is always amazing to me, the pro am winners, because
Speaker 4: many times times there are people that I have played with.
Speaker 4: Let's just I'm just gonna leave it a handicaps well thirteen, Yeah,
Speaker 4: exactly exactly, talking to you, Gretzky.
Speaker 1: Names, but no, not to It starts with twist Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4: I didn't listen. I'm not called you. That was that
Speaker 4: was justin Thomas JT said, He shmarrined it for sure.
Speaker 4: All right, you grew up actually near I don't think
Speaker 4: we've ever talked about this near my family's heritage. That's
Speaker 4: not the way you say it. Uh. Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Speaker 4: is where my dad hails from, in the great area
Speaker 4: of Sinskentucky. Now, I mean, if you weren't good at golf,
Speaker 4: there would be a problem. Because your grandfather played and
Speaker 4: compete competed nationally a couple of PGA's right, he played
Speaker 4: in a couple of your dad a PGA head pro
Speaker 4: for about forty years. There wasn't a question early on
Speaker 4: about whether you would play right. You were just this
Speaker 4: is what you do as a Thomas I'd say.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, I you know, I like sports. I
Speaker 1: played not well, but you know, I played kind of
Speaker 1: the all the sports that little little kids play growing up.
Speaker 1: You know, your baseball, your soccer and whatnot, basketball, but
Speaker 1: I kind of sucked at all of the other ones.
Speaker 1: So I knew that if I wanted to continue my
Speaker 1: life and potentially become a professional athlete, if you want
Speaker 1: to call us golfers. Golf was my only chance. But
Speaker 1: I loved it. I just I.
Speaker 3: Couldn't get enough of it.
Speaker 1: And you know, I grew up in that era of
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods and watching him just dominate and do things
Speaker 1: nobody else could do. So I was pretty inspiring to
Speaker 1: a you know, seven eight.
Speaker 3: Nine year old.
Speaker 4: Well, I was going to ask you about Tiger now.
Speaker 4: It seems as though, because I know how this works, right,
Speaker 4: I mean, I've played in a bunch of big events
Speaker 4: and oftentimes there are a few people who get to
Speaker 4: decide who their partners are and who they play with
Speaker 4: and what time they go off, it seems like it
Speaker 4: is a contractual obligation for Tiger to show up that
Speaker 4: he has to play with you. Now, I don't know
Speaker 4: if anyone else has mentioned this, or if this is
Speaker 4: just like this is just random that every time, you know,
Speaker 4: you just mentioned on Monday you guys are playing together.
Speaker 4: First off, I read and of course rewatched the video
Speaker 4: at Valhalla in two thousand. Your dad had access and
Speaker 4: you were actually there when he made his famous stalking
Speaker 4: pointing putt there. What kind of an influence did that
Speaker 4: moment have on you?
Speaker 1: That week was massive?
Speaker 3: And I've he knows that.
Speaker 1: I've told him that many many times. You know, I
Speaker 1: think when you're you know, I was seven years old
Speaker 1: at the time, and it's like when you're able to watch,
Speaker 1: you know, if you play a sport.
Speaker 3: Like I did golf, and you're you're able.
Speaker 1: To watch that sport at the highest level, and not
Speaker 1: only that, but your favorite player. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: an unbelievable tournament. It was a crazy shootout between him
Speaker 1: and Bob Ay.
Speaker 3: Somebody that a lot of people hadn't.
Speaker 1: Heard of, and he was kind of being, you know,
Speaker 1: the David versus Goliath kind of thing, and it was
Speaker 1: just just the roars and the energy. And the Midwest
Speaker 1: can be very passionate in terms of sports fans, so
Speaker 1: I think that Louisville was very into it.
Speaker 3: We don't get a.
Speaker 1: Lot of golf other than at Valhalla for.
Speaker 3: The most part.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're seven years old, right, like you might
Speaker 1: want to be like a race car when you wake
Speaker 1: up the next day, you don't know. But when I
Speaker 1: left there, I remember that week being like, you know,
Speaker 1: this is that was awesome kind of thing, Like I
Speaker 1: want I want one of the I want one of
Speaker 1: those trophies, like he has you.
Speaker 4: Want one of them? Yeah, well, I mean you have
Speaker 4: a couple of them now, So that's that was a
Speaker 4: good That was a good goal. What why do you
Speaker 4: guys get along so well? Now?
Speaker 1: I mean, first, I just think we were very similar
Speaker 1: in the sense of our personalities and competitive. We're both
Speaker 1: very very competitive. We're both smart asses, so I think
Speaker 1: we both we get along in that sense. But I
Speaker 1: think I think he sees and respects how much I
Speaker 1: and I don't know this, how much I love golf
Speaker 1: and how much like I want to be the best
Speaker 1: sometimes probably too bad. And you know, I think there's
Speaker 1: a part of him that respects that. But he, you know,
Speaker 1: he's been used to probably his entire life of people
Speaker 1: kind of kissing up to him or telling him what
Speaker 1: he wants to hear or Yeah, there's plenty of times
Speaker 1: when I, you know, I remind him of things he's
Speaker 1: done and great, but I definitely don't let his head
Speaker 1: get too big, and I definitely not keep him in
Speaker 1: his place, because it's not really arguments or battles that
Speaker 1: I can ever win, But I like to keep him humble.
Speaker 1: From time to time.
Speaker 4: You play in and you win your first junior event,
Speaker 4: at eight years old playing twelve and under. There's a
Speaker 4: big difference between twelve and eight. By the way, when
Speaker 4: you're a kid, how many tournaments are you playing? Like
Speaker 4: are you treating golf as a job or is it
Speaker 4: still fun for you?
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, it was very, very fun.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I was so young, it's
Speaker 1: hard to say. I mean, I you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I wasn't old enough to understand or realize the amount
Speaker 1: of time and money that my parents were spending. And
Speaker 1: I mean, my dad's working and my mom is driving
Speaker 1: me at all these tournaments in Indiana and around you know,
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Ohio, Pennsylvania, like, you know, all these places.
Speaker 1: And you know, I would like to think I'm old
Speaker 1: and mature enough now to appreciate that and understand. And
Speaker 1: you know, they made a lot of sacrifices for it.
Speaker 1: But maybe they were like me, and they saw that
Speaker 1: I wasn't good at anything else, so that maybe they
Speaker 1: just need to put all these eggs in this golf
Speaker 1: basket and uh open open doubts. So I'm glad I
Speaker 1: was able to do.
Speaker 4: That, all right. So here's the difference between you and I.
Speaker 4: When I was a kid, these other sports that you're
Speaker 4: referring to. I was I was all right, it was
Speaker 4: I mean, you know you've seen me shoot the rock.
Speaker 4: I mean you know, I was all right. Here was
Speaker 4: the thing. I didn't play golf. Do you think if
Speaker 4: I had started that early that I could be as
Speaker 4: good as you?
Speaker 3: Now, how do you want me to answer this?
Speaker 4: I didn't start. I didn't start. I didn't start until
Speaker 4: after college. I mean you were playing before I was,
Speaker 4: and I'm a couple of years older than you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean this is I missed those very formative years, right.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll say, I'll give you a chance that
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, you know, you could have been you
Speaker 1: could have been something special. But you know, whatever I
Speaker 1: end up in my career, it's just it's going to
Speaker 1: be one less for the sake of my own well being.
Speaker 1: I can't sit here comfortably or go to sleep at
Speaker 1: night knowing that I said, yeah, you would have been
Speaker 1: as good as me, for sure. You know.
Speaker 4: I no, I don't obviously think I would be as
Speaker 4: good as you. But I do, like I regret not
Speaker 4: having started early, like I really, I really do. And
Speaker 4: I found golf, you know, I mean I had all
Speaker 4: the other sports for reasons that we don't need to
Speaker 4: go into. I had moved on and I was doing theater,
Speaker 4: and for me, golf was about trying to get outside
Speaker 4: and compete because I was competitive as well, and find
Speaker 4: something that would get me outside, and that's where I
Speaker 4: found golf. But I really do wish. It's such a great,
Speaker 4: even for not professionals, just such a great lifetime game
Speaker 4: to be able to do. And I I it's funny
Speaker 4: when I play with people now and I see their swings,
Speaker 4: I can almost always know, yeah, who's been doing it longer?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It's such a unique and interesting game.
Speaker 1: And it is because it's you and I. You know,
Speaker 1: we we okay, we we love basketball or we love
Speaker 1: college football, but we we can't do anything that emulates
Speaker 1: what they're doing like you can if you go play
Speaker 1: Augusta National. Like that's one thing. Okay, it's not set
Speaker 1: up the same as a tournament whatever. I understand that.
Speaker 1: But you're still hitting. You can still hit the shots.
Speaker 1: You can stand in the back of the eighteenth green
Speaker 1: at Torrey Pines and you can hit that plot to
Speaker 1: the front left pen that Tiger made on Saturday at
Speaker 1: the US Open, like you can physically do that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like I can't catch a pass from you know, Jalen
Speaker 1: Milroe with the best cornerback covered, Like that's just it's
Speaker 1: not a real thing.
Speaker 4: So yeah, but not everyone can hit a three wood
Speaker 4: two hundred and ninety nine yards in a professional tournament
Speaker 4: and shoot sixty three. So I hear the point that
Speaker 4: you're making. You can all you could hit the same shot.
Speaker 4: There is there is still there's still there's still a
Speaker 4: layup versus dunking like there is still like there is still.
Speaker 1: You're playing it on like an eight foot rim, how
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 4: That's right? You know it's funny though, I know you
Speaker 4: know you know this. I mean you you've probably done
Speaker 4: it when you were a kid all the time. But
Speaker 4: you just brought up Tory Pines and I remember the
Speaker 4: kind of Tiger's first tournament back after a long layoff
Speaker 4: of Tory Pines and the crowds were crazy, and it's
Speaker 4: near my house. So I went down. I watched and gosh,
Speaker 4: I can't remember what I'm gonna totally screw up the hole,
Speaker 4: but par three down the hill. It's before you go
Speaker 4: into the big horseshoe with the the par five coming up.
Speaker 4: I don't know what it is. Anyway, I watched him
Speaker 4: play it and make four. I had the opportunity to
Speaker 4: play it on Monday a couple of days later, same tease,
Speaker 4: hit it to two feet, make the putt, make two.
Speaker 4: I mean so in my brain, I go and one
Speaker 4: up on Tiger. After this, we start on this whole
Speaker 4: one up, right, I mean, like that speaks to what
Speaker 4: you're talking about, Like, but it's the length, the longevity,
Speaker 4: whatever that that becomes much more of a of a problem.
Speaker 4: I think it was Phil Nicholson, and I don't remember
Speaker 4: what he was talking about, but he was talking about
Speaker 4: the concentration thing and how difficult it is. I think
Speaker 4: about this all the time, which is probably not helpful,
Speaker 4: Like how difficult it is to focus on every shot
Speaker 4: for four hours. And he was talking about, you know,
Speaker 4: if he can maximize this or that, you know, and
Speaker 4: can focus for ninety two or ninety six percent of
Speaker 4: the time, like that's like amazingly optimal. I think about
Speaker 4: that all the time and how many shots that I
Speaker 4: lose just because I'm not really focused in that moment.
Speaker 4: How much of a challenge is that even for you
Speaker 4: playing professionally now or is that just you've got that
Speaker 4: dialed now?
Speaker 1: No, I definitely, I definitely don't. I think that there
Speaker 1: is something to be said about that. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Tiger was the best at it. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: his skill was to another level. But I mean I
Speaker 1: think brooks Kepka is a perfect example and major championships
Speaker 1: like he he finds a way to not make any
Speaker 1: stupid mistakes and not take any you know, he's not
Speaker 1: focused to the point where he's trying too hard, but
Speaker 1: he's giving every shot his attention, if that makes sense,
Speaker 1: And I totally know because I mean a place like
Speaker 1: Riviera to me is a place where if you do
Speaker 1: not give every single shot your full attention, I mean
Speaker 1: you can do what.
Speaker 3: I did, where you just you miss like eight.
Speaker 1: Or ten greens with like a nine iron or less,
Speaker 1: Like you don't burdy the par fives because you didn't
Speaker 1: put it in the right spot. You just you make
Speaker 1: these dumb mistakes. And it's all because like harder courses
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 3: Can expose that.
Speaker 1: Kind of mental weakness. It's something I mean, I would
Speaker 1: I'd be hard pressed to say that anybody is on
Speaker 1: fully on all the time you know, there's days where
Speaker 1: it's easier than others, but there's plenty of days where
Speaker 1: it's harder to stay or be focused, and those are
Speaker 1: the ones you really just have to be patient and
Speaker 1: almost like let it come to you kind of thing.
Speaker 4: What is that? It's so it's so insane. Now when
Speaker 4: you play a course, are you playing with your and
Speaker 4: how you're swinging it on that day or are you
Speaker 4: sticking with the plan that you have with bones, with
Speaker 4: your coaches before you start.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of both. I think it's most
Speaker 1: important to play, in my opinion, how the course is playing.
Speaker 1: You know, like I look at a place like an
Speaker 1: Open Championship. I've made this mistake many times. You know,
Speaker 1: I'd go play practice on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, and you know, you'd have nice weather, you'd
Speaker 1: have this wind, and it was like, okay, yeah, I
Speaker 1: got it on this whole. I'm gonna keep it short
Speaker 1: of these bunkers. You know, I'm not going to bring
Speaker 1: any of these in play, and boom, next thing, you know, Thursday,
Speaker 1: it's raining and the windows blowed in the opposite direction
Speaker 1: and you're like, holy shit, my game plan is ripped
Speaker 1: up in the row, it in the trash, and but
Speaker 1: you try to force that and you're like, well, this
Speaker 1: is what I'm gonna do, so this is what I
Speaker 1: and it's like, no, you have to you have to
Speaker 1: take just all the outside influences into account. And I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: a great example for me is the uh the BMW
Speaker 1: in two thoy nineteen uh Madinah. I was hitting it
Speaker 1: so bad, just I couldn't find anything all week on
Speaker 1: the range, Like my dad, we just we couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1: And I literally was going to the first tea on
Speaker 1: Thursday of the tournament like I got nothing, Like I
Speaker 1: got no, I don't know what to think, what to
Speaker 1: do whatever. And my caddy Jimmy at the time, I
Speaker 1: was like I do, Like we just have to just
Speaker 1: play really smart and just kind of literally pick our
Speaker 1: way around here to the point where if I have
Speaker 1: an iron, like just hit the green, like I can't
Speaker 1: be trying to hit it close whatever.
Speaker 4: You're playing like me, Dan, You're just like PA, hit
Speaker 4: the green.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, except I went on to shoot twenty six
Speaker 1: under and win that week, and you know, no offense
Speaker 1: to you. But I don't know if that would have happened,
Speaker 1: you know. But that's but to my point, I just
Speaker 1: remember literally just going about and I'm like, okay here,
Speaker 1: and then I was like okay, yeah, like I found
Speaker 1: a little something here and then kind of get that
Speaker 1: through the first day and then maybe do a little
Speaker 1: work afterwards. Friday, it's kind of the same kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and that all of a sudden Saturday, everything just clicked
Speaker 1: and then it was like, see a pin hit at
Speaker 1: the pin.
Speaker 3: See a pin hit at the pin.
Speaker 1: Now it's not always that easy, but that's at least
Speaker 1: what I found over my career is the game plan
Speaker 1: has to change sometimes based off of what's happening.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's true. I'm not going to relate
Speaker 4: everything back to me, but you know, for me on
Speaker 4: a base level, it's about the driving range before. Yeah, right,
Speaker 4: and this is this is a tournament. These are scores
Speaker 4: that are going to be recorded for all of history.
Speaker 4: And I go and I hit a few balls and
Speaker 4: play really well day one. So the next day, what
Speaker 4: am I going to do. I'm going to get up early.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna yeah, I mean, I just make a couple
Speaker 4: of little tweaks here and there, and this can get
Speaker 4: to be a real number. My day after that disaster,
Speaker 4: you know what coming there. So then the third day,
Speaker 4: I'm like, screw it, Let's have a couple of cocktails
Speaker 4: and keep things loose. Let's just let's just rip it
Speaker 4: off of one. It's it's so fascinating to me. If
Speaker 4: I could figure it out, I'd be better than I am.
Speaker 4: I don't know that I would be good, but I
Speaker 4: mean that part for me is really tough, that you know,
Speaker 4: what is the best way how can I adjust to
Speaker 4: what my swing is? And then suddenly I'm out there
Speaker 4: on the course and it totally changes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think to a different level. But I mean,
Speaker 1: we've all gone through what you just said, and I
Speaker 1: to me, it's it's something I'm honestly been working on
Speaker 1: right now. It's it's all expectations. You know, how many
Speaker 1: times you go out and you haven't touched a club
Speaker 1: and however long, and you go play around the golf
Speaker 1: and you're like, wow, like I actually played kind of
Speaker 1: nice today, and then yeah, you go next day you're
Speaker 1: like yeah, like telling your buddies like I played great.
Speaker 1: And then it's like you have this expectation in your
Speaker 1: head of like I'm playing.
Speaker 3: Good, everything's going to get and then you start thinking.
Speaker 1: About what could happen, what you could choose, all these things,
Speaker 1: and then you just don't play well. And that's yeah,
Speaker 1: that is one thing I think is very unique about
Speaker 1: golf in comparison to other sports, because so many other
Speaker 1: sports are you're reacting and like real time fast time
Speaker 1: of like the pitcher through this pitch, I have to
Speaker 1: hit it. You know that. In basketball, I'm this defender
Speaker 1: when over here, so I'm going to go this way?
Speaker 3: And you know you don't.
Speaker 1: You obviously have the time between games or timeouts when
Speaker 1: you're out, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 3: But just how often in golf.
Speaker 1: You have te long walk you have you have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to think about so many things that you just
Speaker 1: shouldn't think about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know what just reminded me of this.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you hear this, and again it goes to
Speaker 4: your point like where it's actually not this, It is
Speaker 4: can you hit a two hundred and nine or nine
Speaker 4: yard three wood in a major to make eagle? But
Speaker 4: in a program, I'm sure you hear this every single
Speaker 4: program from a guy the like casual you know, walking
Speaker 4: off of the T box, Like, man, I don't know
Speaker 4: what's up with me today. I shot seventy four. Shot
Speaker 4: seventy four a couple of days ago. I mean, you
Speaker 4: must hear that all the time, and you gotta think like, well,
Speaker 4: of course, of course, well one, maybe you didn't, but
Speaker 4: of course you're like, well, you're out here, you're playing
Speaker 4: with me, dumb ass, you're playing there's some people around.
Speaker 4: You're not supposed to shoot seventy four, right, You hear
Speaker 4: that at least once a pro am round, right, yeah?
Speaker 1: Like, oh, I usually hit my eat in one sixty.
Speaker 1: I don't understand, Like it's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, why did I come up short of the bunker?
Speaker 4: It's so weird, it is.
Speaker 1: And I I've said this so many times in so
Speaker 1: many whether it's like a a podcast or a pro
Speaker 1: am dinner the night before or something, or I tell
Speaker 1: it to their face, you know, they what's your biggest
Speaker 1: piece of advice? I'm like, honestly, I'm sorry to say this,
Speaker 1: but you're not supposed to be good, Like I expect
Speaker 1: you to suck. So don't like, stop thinking that you're
Speaker 1: good because you're not. Number one and two, I don't
Speaker 1: expect you to be so.
Speaker 4: You hit a couple of good shots, I'm gonna be impressed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like any shot that you think is the worst
Speaker 1: that you've ever hit, it's not, or that I've seen
Speaker 1: it's not. I promise you I've seen worse, and just
Speaker 1: the bigger deal you make about it the worst. Just
Speaker 1: let's let's move on.
Speaker 4: I was in uh, well, not a pro am because
Speaker 4: I'm not a pro, but a celeb am here a
Speaker 4: couple of months ago, and I did it. I will
Speaker 4: admit this, and if anyone's listening, you guys were delightful
Speaker 4: and I really had a great time that day, but
Speaker 4: I did sort of do it to be a smart
Speaker 4: ass for the tournament director. I was playing with four
Speaker 4: other people. Double bogie was the max, and I wrote
Speaker 4: down every single score for every hole starting at the
Speaker 4: first one, not including me, that there were three fifty
Speaker 4: fours and one fifty three in nine holes, that one
Speaker 4: guy made a bogie on a par three and that
Speaker 4: was it. That was it, And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I got to write this down. This has to be
Speaker 4: written down so that everyone sees, like when we come
Speaker 4: in last or whatever his pro am day, this is
Speaker 4: this is what we were dealing with today.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had again not to name names. I had
Speaker 1: a friend at at and T this year where we were,
Speaker 1: you know, talking, Oh yeah, it's a good time housing
Speaker 1: your partner. My partner's good. It's like, how was yours?
Speaker 1: It's like not green. It's like, how uh how did
Speaker 1: he play? I was like, I mean yeah, like it
Speaker 1: was hard. It was very soft, so he didn't get
Speaker 1: a roll, like it was a long golf course. He's like,
Speaker 1: how many bogie putts did he have? I was like,
Speaker 1: I mean I had a lot.
Speaker 3: It's like, I want to know.
Speaker 1: How many mine had one two days? He had one
Speaker 1: bogey punt or.
Speaker 3: Better in two days.
Speaker 1: It's like, I am sorry.
Speaker 4: Have you ever done this at Pebble or at any
Speaker 4: other multi day pro am? Have you ever missed a
Speaker 4: putt on purpose that mattered when you were not going
Speaker 4: to make the cut but you were going to have
Speaker 4: to come back and play if you made the putt
Speaker 4: and your team was going to have you ever? Have
Speaker 4: you ever missed on purpose? Man?
Speaker 3: That's deep. I haven't played.
Speaker 1: I haven't played in the answer is no, okay, but
Speaker 1: I haven't played probably in enough pro ams to have that.
Speaker 4: Opportunity, right, I'm not talking about the you know what
Speaker 4: I'm talking about. I'm not talking about a Tuesday pro am.
Speaker 4: I'm talking about like at and T and you're going
Speaker 4: to have to stay on Saturday to play around.
Speaker 1: You're talking about like the BMW charity program with you
Speaker 1: as my partner.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, yeah, yeah, would you have you? Yeah?
Speaker 4: And You're like, Okay, I could go prepare for the
Speaker 4: US Open that I've qualified for next week, or I
Speaker 4: could make this cut and play another round with Brian.
Speaker 4: Would you do that?
Speaker 1: It would have to be so situational of the person,
Speaker 1: But I think I would look at you dead in
Speaker 1: the eyes and just hit upon as hard as I
Speaker 1: could right over the other side of the.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean I'm at least a nice guy.
Speaker 4: I have heard that that has happened, but it was
Speaker 4: with someone who was not Yeah, it was not overly nice.
Speaker 1: I could see it.
Speaker 4: Jordan Spieth, you guys started competing well when you were
Speaker 4: thirteen years of age. Did you become friends right away
Speaker 4: or was this a gradual process?
Speaker 1: It was gradual, Okay, Yeah, I would say we were
Speaker 1: both very competitive and.
Speaker 4: You wanted to beat the other one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4: You lost to him, by the way, when Texas won
Speaker 4: the national championship, were you at that point were you
Speaker 4: friends friendly?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, you were friends by then, Yeah, we were.
Speaker 1: I would say that we were always friends, but I
Speaker 1: just don't think we were like old enough or mature
Speaker 1: enough at thirteen fourteen, fifteen years old to like, you know,
Speaker 1: at that point, it was nothing but like jealousy and competitiveness.
Speaker 1: And then once we got to college, not that we
Speaker 1: were much more mature as freshmen in college, but we
Speaker 1: both I mean we were kind of we were one
Speaker 1: and two in the running both for Player of the
Speaker 1: Year and Freshman of the Year. And I mean it's
Speaker 1: easy to say looking now that it's done, but I
Speaker 1: mean I knew that I had had a better year
Speaker 1: than him, and I felt like I was going to
Speaker 1: win Player of the Year and.
Speaker 3: Freshman of the Year.
Speaker 1: And I think you did.
Speaker 4: It was a part by the way.
Speaker 1: I know, there's a part of him I felt. I
Speaker 1: think that also knew that but didn't want to maybe
Speaker 1: believe it or wanted to make me prove his point
Speaker 1: to kind of show that it should be me. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and I lost, but I don't. And they won the
Speaker 1: national championship, but at least I had consolation prize of
Speaker 1: winning both of those over them.
Speaker 4: I don't know, would you have given away that.
Speaker 3: You know, I was just thinking that.
Speaker 1: I think I would have to win that match against
Speaker 1: him and for us to win the national championship.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think i'd give him both back.
Speaker 4: Even though you won the next year. Yeah, you would
Speaker 4: have had back to back, just like the football team.
Speaker 4: Is that what you're thinking?
Speaker 1: Put it this way now that I'm like actually thinking
Speaker 1: about it, I've heard a lot more about the match
Speaker 1: that I lost to Jordan than I have the Player
Speaker 1: of the Year that I won.
Speaker 4: That same year. Okay, that's fair enough. When you win
Speaker 4: the national championship, you decide you're going to go pro.
Speaker 4: If you hadn't have won, would you have come back?
Speaker 4: Do you think? Or was it just time for you?
Speaker 3: It was time.
Speaker 1: I knew my second semester of that sophomore year. At
Speaker 1: the end of the fall of my sophomore year, it
Speaker 1: just it felt different.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I was having a hard.
Speaker 1: Time getting as motivated, like going to tournaments, and we
Speaker 1: had a great team, and I wanted to, you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted us to win a national championship. But I
Speaker 1: just I felt like I wasn't I wasn't getting as
Speaker 1: better as I could have or improving as much as
Speaker 1: maybe I did my freshman year. And and that was just,
Speaker 1: to be honest, it was a little bit of a
Speaker 1: worry or concern. It was the first time that, you know,
Speaker 1: going to these tournaments, and like there were times when
Speaker 1: I didn't really want to go that bad. I just
Speaker 1: I couldn't get as motivated. And then I felt like
Speaker 1: after kind of Christmas break and I kind of come
Speaker 1: to the reality that like, you know, this is this
Speaker 1: is going to be my last semester, and like We're
Speaker 1: going to go kick some ass and I'm going to,
Speaker 1: you know, do everything I can for us in this team,
Speaker 1: for us to try to go in a national championship
Speaker 1: and play through the summer as en amateur, play the
Speaker 1: US am Walker Cup, and then turn pro after that
Speaker 1: and it all all worked out.
Speaker 4: You know, that's really interesting and I'm thinking about it
Speaker 4: just hearing you talk. Also, it's something that we don't
Speaker 4: talk about or consider so much. You know, obviously there's
Speaker 4: a lot of the want and done in bast ketball,
Speaker 4: but also football players, there's a you know, there's a
Speaker 4: time a number of years they have to stay in
Speaker 4: college obviously, but I never thought about it in terms
Speaker 4: of that. You know, you hear like, oh, are we
Speaker 4: going to turn pro? Are we going to stay here
Speaker 4: in school? And there's pluses and minuses on both sides
Speaker 4: of that that we hear, we hear all the time.
Speaker 4: But actually stopping your growth or having your growth not continuing,
Speaker 4: almost like you have grown out of what this experience
Speaker 4: can give you. That's actually super interesting to me. If
Speaker 4: you think about a quarterback or whatever who chooses to
Speaker 4: stay or chooses to go, Like at a certain point
Speaker 4: you may feel like within this system within you know,
Speaker 4: not to denigrate your coaches or the school or anything
Speaker 4: like that, but just like, Okay, playing these tournaments against
Speaker 4: these people with this much preparation, I'm not getting any better.
Speaker 4: I'm not getting toward where I want to be. That's
Speaker 4: really interesting to me. I never thought about it like
Speaker 4: that before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it just I specifically remember our last event of
Speaker 1: the fall my sophomore year. It was our home, our
Speaker 1: event that we host in Birmingham, the Jerry Pate. I'd
Speaker 1: just gotten back from Turkey, believe it or not. For
Speaker 1: the World Amateur and like I missed a week of
Speaker 1: school for that, and it was like I got back
Speaker 1: a Sunday or Monday, and then like we left Wednesday
Speaker 1: or Thursday for that tournament, and I was like I
Speaker 1: was missed so much class and I was going to
Speaker 1: be so far behind. And I was like I was
Speaker 1: so jet lagged. And I got back and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of coaches asking what I want to do, and
Speaker 1: I remember like talking to my mom and it was
Speaker 1: you're gonna play what you're gonna do? And I was like, honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't want to play. I'm like I'm tired, I'm
Speaker 1: like not motivated. I am so far behind in all
Speaker 1: of my school, Like it's just and I just I
Speaker 1: just don't want to go. And I mean my mom
Speaker 1: has not said things like to me very often, but
Speaker 1: it's something long lines of like well it wasn't like
Speaker 1: this isn't your job, because it obviously wasn't that point,
Speaker 1: but like, you play golf, this is what you do.
Speaker 1: You kind of need to go. And I was like, no,
Speaker 1: actually I don't need to you don't you know. My
Speaker 1: stubborn ass was like no, it don't tell me. It's
Speaker 1: a new mom. But but I ended up going to
Speaker 1: play and I won by like four and I was
Speaker 1: like I and I it just was wild. It was like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember that like it was yesterday, that
Speaker 1: whole week, just the mindset, and that's it's scary, you know,
Speaker 1: Like I just didn't want to go through. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what if I do this another year and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden I start declining because, like you said,
Speaker 1: I want to keep getting better and improving, and if
Speaker 1: you know, this stage or level, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, I'm not going to get better than this
Speaker 1: is not what I need to be doing.
Speaker 4: That's really interesting. You turned pro after that year, but
Speaker 4: of course you had started playing in PGA events before,
Speaker 4: all the way back four years earlier. In two thousand
Speaker 4: and nine, you were the third youngest player to ever
Speaker 4: make a cut at sixteen years old, with your dad
Speaker 4: on the bag. So I want to talk about your
Speaker 4: dad just a little bit, who is a delightful gentleman.
Speaker 4: By the way, I like your dad. Was it tough
Speaker 4: for you or is it tough for you navigating the
Speaker 4: relationship between someone who helps you on the golf course
Speaker 4: in this case that I'm referring to as your caddie
Speaker 4: out there and being your dad, you know, is that
Speaker 4: is that tough for you guys, both of you, either
Speaker 4: of you.
Speaker 1: I would say it isn't as much now, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, when I was in high school and probably
Speaker 1: more in high school, I mean college, obviously I was,
Speaker 1: I wasn't home, so it was a little different, and
Speaker 1: it was just kind of through communication of phone or
Speaker 1: you know, if he came to tournaments. But even you know,
Speaker 1: my first couple of years as a pro, like he was,
Speaker 1: you know, he was busy, he was working, he's a pro.
Speaker 1: He came to you know, handful of tournaments a year
Speaker 1: if he could. And but yeah, I mean I was
Speaker 1: still twenty twenty one, twenty two years old.
Speaker 3: Like I'd be the first to admit I.
Speaker 1: Wasn't mature enough to to realize that, you know, my
Speaker 1: dad actually does have my best interest in thought, Like
Speaker 1: what a wild concept, right, So I mean it's it's sixteen.
Speaker 1: When he was caddying for me, like it was. It
Speaker 1: was a cool experience and he was very much there
Speaker 1: to help, as he still is now. But there's there's
Speaker 1: definitely times and you know, whether we sit down have
Speaker 1: conversations or throughout the year of just say we know
Speaker 1: that when our kind of father son hat is on
Speaker 1: and our student coach hats on. And that's something I've
Speaker 1: really consciously tried to do the last five six years,
Speaker 1: is like there are two different things. And you know,
Speaker 1: when I'm out here with you and you're with me
Speaker 1: on the range, like you are my coach, you're not
Speaker 1: my dad and I'm not your son, Like don't hold
Speaker 1: my hand out here, and don't like you know, you're
Speaker 1: not I don't want a yes man, Like if something's wrong,
Speaker 1: you need to tell me it's wrong. And if I
Speaker 1: don't think you're doing a good job, like I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you I don't think you're doing a good job,
Speaker 1: and it's right. You know, we've definitely had our moments
Speaker 1: that have probably been a little chippy or uncomfortable, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, I think it's it's healthy. I mean,
Speaker 1: we need, we need to have those kind of conversations
Speaker 1: than we have, and it's been you know, we thought
Speaker 1: that's pretty pretty good success.
Speaker 4: I'd say that's awesome. You know. One of the toughest
Speaker 4: parts for me leading up to this conversation with you
Speaker 4: was trying to decide a few moments from your professional
Speaker 4: career that I wanted to talk about. One that was
Speaker 4: which is not really a question, which was super cool
Speaker 4: while one of your old land lord's Ben Silverman, and
Speaker 4: I and a group of twelve guys. I think I
Speaker 4: texted you when you won the PGA the second time.
Speaker 4: We were all together up in the Hampton playing Shinnecock
Speaker 4: in National. By the way, National is one of my
Speaker 4: favorite courses on the planet. Shout out to National. My
Speaker 4: invitation for membership, I'm sure is in the mail, but anyway,
Speaker 4: I will never forget all of us together watching you
Speaker 4: from the pro shop at Shinnacock. I think that day
Speaker 4: I did want to ask you about this, And you
Speaker 4: know I've mentioned a couple of times. For those of
Speaker 4: you who don't remember. Aaron Hills US Open third round,
Speaker 4: Justin shoots sixty three, first to shoot nine under in
Speaker 4: a US Open. There's a plaque. Apparently Justin's never invited
Speaker 4: me to play Aaron Hills, but apparently there's a plaque
Speaker 4: two hundred and ninety nine yards away where he hit
Speaker 4: this three wood. My question is a little bit, a
Speaker 4: little bit different, though. I just saw the clip again
Speaker 4: and you know you were wearing pink pants. So my
Speaker 4: question is do you anticipate great rounds and wanting to
Speaker 4: make a bold fashion statement during those rounds? I mean,
Speaker 4: can you see it in advance of this happening or
Speaker 4: is this just is this just good luck? Do you
Speaker 4: consider yourself pain Stewart basically is what I'm saying to you.
Speaker 1: Definitely not. If I if I could see that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff coming, my my success would definitely not be golf.
Speaker 1: I would. I would, I would be much wealthier and
Speaker 1: I would although I still believe I'd be playing golf
Speaker 1: for a living. I something tells me I'd be better
Speaker 1: at some other things. But yeah, I made.
Speaker 4: Not really a question. It was just it was just
Speaker 4: it was just now, I mean, not making fun of you,
Speaker 4: but I you know, you you do have I'm very
Speaker 4: boring typically on the golf court. You you do have
Speaker 4: some panache. Shout out to your to your closing sponsor.
Speaker 4: You do. And I and I saw the pink pants
Speaker 4: and I thought, you know what that was. I mean,
Speaker 4: that's that's it's not like a tiger red shirt. But
Speaker 4: it's a you know, it's a statement, it's a it's
Speaker 4: a I'm a I'm here today to dominate you. Is
Speaker 4: that the best shot you've ever hit?
Speaker 1: It's definitely the It's the most unrepeatable shot I've hit
Speaker 1: in my career. It's it's why I've hit you know,
Speaker 1: other shots in my career under the circumstances that are,
Speaker 1: uh maybe better in terms of the nerves I had
Speaker 1: and where I was in the tournament or whatnot, but
Speaker 1: something like, you know, give me a thousand balls. Do
Speaker 1: I think I could do it again in that situation?
Speaker 1: I every time I see the video, I truly don't
Speaker 1: understand how it happened. It just doesn't It doesn't make sense,
Speaker 1: and but I'm I'm glad that it did.
Speaker 4: Do you feel nerves? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure you do. Yeah. I think it'd be
Speaker 1: concerning if I didn't, because it wouldn't mean anything to
Speaker 1: me if I didn't have any nerves.
Speaker 4: Again, if you're playing around, if you're playing a major,
Speaker 4: where do you feel it the most? It'll be a
Speaker 4: multiple choice question, or you can answer fill in the blank,
Speaker 4: first t shot, short putt, long putt down the hill
Speaker 4: that you have to keep close or fill in the blank.
Speaker 1: I'd say fill in the blank, and really anything in
Speaker 1: the back Yeah, the back nine of a major, when
Speaker 1: you you know, the last three or four holes, when
Speaker 1: you know that you know that you need something. You
Speaker 1: know you need to make a putt, you know that
Speaker 1: you need to hit that fairway or you know, like
Speaker 1: seventeen at the Players in twenty twenty one, the year
Speaker 1: I want. It's like, that's it's not like you miss
Speaker 1: a fairway and you're like, oh okay, Like I can just
Speaker 1: get this next one by the green, And it's if
Speaker 1: you hit in the water, that's an automatic two strokes
Speaker 1: whorst you're looking to probably make. And when you have
Speaker 1: a one shot lead on that that tee, it's it's
Speaker 1: basically you're winning it or losing it on that shot.
Speaker 3: So like if you sit.
Speaker 1: There and you really think about it, you're like, holy shit,
Speaker 1: this is a pretty important shot right here, but right
Speaker 1: at the same time, it's really no more important than
Speaker 1: the rest of the ones you hit before that.
Speaker 4: So that's the craziest thing. I know, that's the craziest thing.
Speaker 4: Something you said just made me think about this and
Speaker 4: I never thought about this before, either when I'm watching
Speaker 4: or or whatever. You're back nine of a major Sunday,
Speaker 4: you're not going to win. Okay, I mean this is
Speaker 4: this is is math. Right, you're not going to win?
Speaker 4: How much do you I'm not going to say check out?
Speaker 4: But do you relax? Do you something else? Or is
Speaker 4: there the same kind of intensity the to finish because
Speaker 4: of some other reason that I don't know of, or
Speaker 4: quite frankly, money like that I want to beat this guy.
Speaker 4: Maybe you're playing with them, or you are looking at
Speaker 4: the leader board going well, I want to be top
Speaker 4: ten or I want to be top twenty, or you know,
Speaker 4: or does that sort of go away a little bit?
Speaker 1: I'd say it just depends where you are. I think,
Speaker 1: I mean finishing you know, top ten, top five and
Speaker 1: even sometimes whatever, top fifteen, top ten in a major.
Speaker 1: It is it's a big deal. We're all out there
Speaker 1: to obviously try to win them, but right, I mean
Speaker 1: the hardest tournaments to win all year, and because of
Speaker 1: the pedestal that they're put on, it makes them even
Speaker 1: more difficult at times. But you know, it's also you
Speaker 1: get more accolades or potentially feel better about a top ten.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's one thing if you're in forty
Speaker 1: fifth and you're playing in the back nine, you're like,
Speaker 1: all right, what you know, what am I trying to
Speaker 1: do here? But I think it really is a situational
Speaker 1: of something like, Okay, maybe there's something in my swing
Speaker 1: I'm working on, and this is a chance for me
Speaker 1: in competition to maybe exaggerate it and kind of try
Speaker 1: this to see how it performs. Or h yeah, there's
Speaker 1: I mean, there's plenty of times when I'm playing with someone,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I really don't want to lose to the
Speaker 1: schmuck in this tournament, so I'd like to beat him
Speaker 1: on this nine or whatever it might be. So I guess.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've got a few of those. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: I do. Of course, by look at the leaderboard and
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, okay. Twenty seventeen, Sony opened Hawaii, you
Speaker 4: get your fourth victory, you win by seven. You at
Speaker 4: the time become just the seventh player in PGA Tour
Speaker 4: history to break sixty the magical number of fifty nine.
Speaker 4: Now it's been done eleven times with mister FURICKX incredible
Speaker 4: two timer. Is that the best round for professionally you've
Speaker 4: ever played?
Speaker 1: I No, I.
Speaker 3: Don't think so.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: What is the sixty three at Aaron Hills was up
Speaker 1: there sixty not I shot sixty nine the players two
Speaker 1: years ago. It was blown about forty miles an hour
Speaker 1: and I went bogie free and that was that was
Speaker 1: one of the best rounds of golf I've I've ever played.
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, given the circumstances, the stakes and and what
Speaker 4: the conditions were.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean obviously fifty nine fifty nine. I mean,
Speaker 1: but like you know, I shot sixty one at Madina,
Speaker 1: Like that's that was unbelievable. Like it it's it's something
Speaker 1: it's hard because you know, you see it and it's like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's you know, I've made a terrible bogee on my
Speaker 1: second home, like I only played I didn't thirty five, six,
Speaker 1: seven or eight. Like there's you know, there's plenty of
Speaker 1: right and spoken like a golfer. So it's good.
Speaker 4: That's that when people ask me about golf. Actually, what
Speaker 4: you just were referencing, right there is exactly what I
Speaker 4: always say. I mean, there's literally something in baseball called
Speaker 4: the perfect game. You can have a perfect passer rating
Speaker 4: in football. There is no such thing as a perfect
Speaker 4: round of golf. There is always something that you can
Speaker 4: do differently or better on a shot, on a hole
Speaker 4: in a moment, and that, to me is what makes
Speaker 4: golf the greatest game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well when Yorick shot fifty eight, he
Speaker 1: didn't thirty thirteen or fifteen maybe, Like I mean, a
Speaker 1: driveable hole and a par like two of the easiest holes.
Speaker 1: Like it's it's crazy, it really, it's it is. It's
Speaker 1: very very true. I never thought of it that way.
Speaker 4: What's your favorite course on the PGA Tour that you
Speaker 4: play a non major?
Speaker 1: I assume no, Yeah, I love I love Augusta, okay,
Speaker 1: the player. I love TPC sawgrass. If it's firm, if
Speaker 1: it if it gets a little bit of fire, like
Speaker 1: in May when we used to have it in May
Speaker 1: versus March. I loved it because it would get it
Speaker 1: could get dicey, and it could get you know, firm
Speaker 1: and fast and you had to be very very precise.
Speaker 1: And for that same reason I love Riviera. I think
Speaker 1: Riviera is one of the best golf courses you know,
Speaker 1: really in the world and especially have to play on tour.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Riviera is great. I mean it has everything m hm,
Speaker 4: which to me is is the signal of a great
Speaker 4: golf course. And there's challenges, but also it challenges you
Speaker 4: differently and such variety. Yeah, yeah, Riviera's great. What is
Speaker 4: your favorite course to play as just a person? Is
Speaker 4: it the same?
Speaker 1: It probably depends on I play because I love playing Augusta.
Speaker 1: But if I'm struggling at seventy three or four in
Speaker 1: the Masters, that's not very fun. It would definitely be
Speaker 1: probably like you know, like a Baker's bay or something
Speaker 1: where I have some drinks and music going. That sounds
Speaker 1: like a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: To me, right, Yeah, but it's got to be something tough, right.
Speaker 1: Well, to not necessarily, I mean, to be my favorite.
Speaker 1: It's I don't know. I mean, I'm looking at this
Speaker 1: as like a this is my last round before I croak.
Speaker 1: I'm not really trying to grind out a seventy four, right,
Speaker 1: although it would be fitting a last memory of golf
Speaker 1: if I hate.
Speaker 4: This game seventy four. Because I have a story for you,
Speaker 4: I think you'll appreciate. What do you what do you?
Speaker 4: Pine Valley versus Augusta.
Speaker 1: Believe it or not, never played Pine Valley?
Speaker 4: Oh I'm going I've played somewhere you haven't played? Kidding?
Speaker 1: You got to remember this. If there's not a golf
Speaker 1: tournament there. I probably haven't played it right, but yeah,
Speaker 1: man is hosting a little crew of us at Pine Valley.
Speaker 4: At the end of I didn't get the invite us.
Speaker 1: It's probably on the way. It's right, it's right next
Speaker 1: to your the What was that other invite you're talking
Speaker 1: about the the tournament, was it?
Speaker 4: Or uh No, it's your it's your invite for the
Speaker 4: for the corn faery deal. Well, i'll be interesting. Let
Speaker 4: me know once you play in your little fun little gathering.
Speaker 4: I'm really telling you this. You can make fun of me.
Speaker 4: I when I played it, very gracious invitation that I had,
Speaker 4: I went and played, did the whole deal, which I
Speaker 4: hope you're doing. You stay in the in the cabins,
Speaker 4: so you play afternoon, then you stay and then you
Speaker 4: play in the morning the next day, and then they
Speaker 4: kick you out of there. Great experience. I was worse
Speaker 4: than I am now when I got this limitation. Okay,
Speaker 4: this is not an easy golfer. I've heard it had
Speaker 4: and it rained afternoon and morning. And I'm not a mutter. Okay,
Speaker 4: I don't. I live in California. If it rains, I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'll play the next ten days in a row. I'm
Speaker 4: not going to play it. Yeah, which I think I
Speaker 4: need to change that a little bit because some of
Speaker 4: these tournaments back East that I have to play in
Speaker 4: it and I look at the weather and I'm like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm you know, there we go. I'm screwed. Have you
Speaker 4: heard about the Devil's Asshole?
Speaker 3: I have?
Speaker 4: Okay, Well just know this. There are videos that exist
Speaker 4: of me in the Devil's Asshole, which is this little
Speaker 4: t so people don't think there is teeny pot bunker.
Speaker 4: My memory of it is it's fifty feet tall. No,
Speaker 4: it's not fifty, but it's I don't know, twenty straight up.
Speaker 4: Couldn't get out of it. Everybody's videotaping it having a
Speaker 4: great laugh.
Speaker 1: It's messed up. I would do that to you.
Speaker 4: No, thank you. I appreciate that you had three goals
Speaker 4: in golf. I've been told win a major, be ranked
Speaker 4: number one, make the Writer Cup team. You have accomplished
Speaker 4: those three goals. Which that's that's why I don't make
Speaker 4: goals in golf, because I don't want to accomplish them
Speaker 4: too quickly. Then then what the hell am I going
Speaker 4: to do? What do you still have that you want
Speaker 4: to accomplish in the game of golf.
Speaker 1: I want to win a lot more majors, that is
Speaker 1: for sure. I want to win a lot more tournaments,
Speaker 1: a lot more majors. You know. I think that there's
Speaker 1: plenty of other things that come with both of those,
Speaker 1: and you know, being number one in the world for
Speaker 1: certain amount of time, and yeah, winning more team events,
Speaker 1: especially winning a Ryder Cup in Europe. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: there's a lot, a lot of things, But the end
Speaker 1: of the day, winning ample amount of golf tournaments is
Speaker 1: is it?
Speaker 4: Is there going to be a resolution.
Speaker 1: With live I don't know. There's a part of me that,
Speaker 1: you know, wants to wants to be involved in and
Speaker 1: and know more in terms of, you know, where everything stands.
Speaker 1: But there's also a part of me that feels like
Speaker 1: that I'm just simply not smart enough to be in
Speaker 1: those conversations. I I I applaud the PGA Tour, the policy.
Speaker 3: Board, and and I mean the amount of.
Speaker 1: Hours and time those guys have spent talking about every
Speaker 1: little detail and everything and getting the PGA.
Speaker 3: Tour to where it is now.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's it's it's unbelievable because this is
Speaker 1: determine the future of our tour and and the future
Speaker 1: of golf, and we want it to be the best
Speaker 1: product for you know, for you, for me, for the fan,
Speaker 1: everybody that's either watching it or partaking in it. And
Speaker 1: we're definitely making the steps in the right direction. And
Speaker 1: and now that that's done, I think now the next
Speaker 1: step is figuring out what what happens with that, right.
Speaker 4: I don't think I'm speaking out of turn, but you know,
Speaker 4: in terms of what you're talking about about the work
Speaker 4: that it takes. And I mentioned Charlie Hoffman obviously on
Speaker 4: the on the board. They're working very hard over the
Speaker 4: last year or so. And we're sitting around after a
Speaker 4: round of golf at clubhouse, having some laughs whatever, and
Speaker 4: Charlie stands up. He's like, oh, all right, it's a
Speaker 4: commissioner on the phone. And we all start laughing. We're like,
Speaker 4: that is the greatest nickname for a wife in the
Speaker 4: history of the world. Got the commissioner, Got the commissioner
Speaker 4: on the phone? Got to answer that one. We laugh
Speaker 4: and then suddenly I go, oh, I think that's really
Speaker 4: the commissioner. That's actually that's actually the commissioner of the PGA.
Speaker 4: Tour was referring to his wife and we had we
Speaker 4: had a good laugh about that one. I know how
Speaker 4: much work that he's put into it, that all of
Speaker 4: you guys have put into a you know, a difficult situation,
Speaker 4: and hopefully there's resolution that makes you guys happy, that's
Speaker 4: all I'll say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it's the same thing
Speaker 1: as decisions whatever ten years ago on the PGA Tour,
Speaker 1: whatever the big decision is, there's always somebody that isn't
Speaker 1: going to be happy. You know, if guys are rewarded
Speaker 1: on the top end and the guys in the bottom
Speaker 1: end are going to be pissed off, and if there's
Speaker 1: you know, then you feel like it's you do something
Speaker 1: for the bottom end and the guys in the top end,
Speaker 1: Like you're just never going to please everybody. But I
Speaker 1: think it's it's tough to swallow and hard to think
Speaker 1: sometimes that in reality, the best thing to have happen
Speaker 1: is for golf to be competitive and all the best
Speaker 1: players in the world to be playing against each other.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the decisions that those guys made something is
Speaker 1: going to have to happen for that to happen again.
Speaker 1: Together on the PGA tour.
Speaker 4: In my opinion, Yeah, well, good luck, good luck finding
Speaker 4: someone to figure that out. I appreciate your time so much.
Speaker 4: I want you to know I'm always rooting for you,
Speaker 4: and I know how much it means to you. I
Speaker 4: want you to win Augusta this year, all right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's no, absolutely not. And uh, you know if I
Speaker 1: think we should, we should just go ahead and get this,
Speaker 1: go ahead and get this, you know, set in stone,
Speaker 1: you know, and not even in writing it in words
Speaker 1: audio that if I do win Augusta this year, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that I need to make sure it happens
Speaker 1: that you and I go on a trip to Augusta together.
Speaker 1: I'll find a member to host this and and I
Speaker 1: think we should do that. What do you think about that?
Speaker 4: I'm in.
Speaker 2: No, I don't you are, No, I am in.
Speaker 4: Here's the thing. I'll even I'll even buy your drinks.
Speaker 4: I this is I should not be telling this story.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to mention any names. But a few
Speaker 4: years ago I got a phone call and it was
Speaker 4: in around April May, end of April May, and I
Speaker 4: was told, you're going to be getting a phone call
Speaker 4: in the next couple of weeks. Just when you get
Speaker 4: this phone call, answer the phone and just say yes.
Speaker 4: And I was like, well what are you and they
Speaker 4: were like no, no, no, You're going to be getting a
Speaker 4: phone call when the phone rings, answer it and just
Speaker 4: say yes. I'm picking out outfits. I'm like, what shoes
Speaker 4: am I going to wear? Like I'm doing the phone
Speaker 4: never rang, phone, never rank justin and I'm from Georgia.
Speaker 4: At this point, it's borderline embarrassing that I haven't played it,
Speaker 4: because when I'm around golf and people, they always are like, oh,
Speaker 4: you played, Augusta, how is the gun? And I'm like, no,
Speaker 4: one's invited me. Oh, that's what we're talking about. That
Speaker 4: invitation got lost in the mail too. It's weird. It's
Speaker 4: weird National hasn't called me Augusta. Yeah, all right, well
Speaker 4: that's done. When you win this year, should I put
Speaker 4: some money on you? No, when you win this year,
Speaker 4: that's going to happen. All right, I like it. Good
Speaker 4: luck at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend. I will
Speaker 4: be watching and have a great season.
Speaker 3: Thank you, dude. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 4: JT. It's great to catch up with you. Thank you
Speaker 4: so much for coming on and yeah, my phone is on.
Speaker 4: The ringer will be on for the next year, maybe
Speaker 4: waiting on your call to go play Augusta. Listeners, thank
Speaker 4: you for listening. You do it very well. Come back
Speaker 4: and listen again next week, will you. Until then, everybody,
Speaker 4: have a great week. Off. The Beat is hosted and
Speaker 4: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer
Speaker 4: Ling Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers
Speaker 4: are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris and Emily Carr. Our talent
Speaker 4: producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali
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