WEBVTT - John Fields on NCAAs, the La Costa Redesign, and Coaching Spieth and Scheffler 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:04.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:05.880 And when I find my. 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.280 Ball in a bride egg, Frida egg, the dread and 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.520 Frida egg, Frida egg, Frida egg, Brian Egg, fridagg. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.239 Bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:37.440 the hump. Welcome to the Friday Egg Golf Podcast. I'm 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.639 Garrett Morrison and my guest today is Coach John Fields. 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.919 Coach Fields is a legend in college golf. He's been 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.519 the head men's golf coach at the University of Texas 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.760 since nineteen ninety seven, and he's coached players like Cody Gribble, 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.120 Dylan for Telly, Jordan Speith, Scottie Scheffler, Cole Hammer, the 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.760 Cootie Brothers, and many more. He was also involved in 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:05.920 relocating the Division one NCAA Championships to a gil Hant's 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.880 redesigned course at Omni LaCosta. The University of Texas is 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.720 actually the host of that championship this year, and the 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.000 women's tournament is wrapping up as I record this with 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.800 a match between Stanford and UCLA. The men's event will 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.400 be played from May twenty fourth through the twenty ninth, 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.440 in other words, coming right up. So Coach Fields was 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:30.720 very busy on the day that I talked to him, 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.720 and I was really grateful that he spent about forty 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.920 five minutes of his day just talking to me. A 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.000 lot to talk about with Coach Fields, He's got a 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.240 ton of great stories, So I'm really excited about this conversation. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:47.760 But first a word about USGA memberships. Are you a 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.600 USGA member, Well, when you become one, you join a 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.480 like minded community of golfers advocating for the good of 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:00.560 the game. USGA memberships keep golf thriving today and support 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:05.120 the USGA's mission to make the game more accessible, sustainable, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.560 and ensure that it continues to grow for years to come. 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:13.240 As thanks for their support, USGA members receive great benefits 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.320 like the personalized USGA bag tag, a subscription to the 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:23.720 USGA's Golf Journal, discounts at USGA shop, exclusive offers, and more. 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.839 Give back to golf and get back great benefits by 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.840 visiting USGA dot org, slash Frida Egg and becoming a 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.680 USGA member today. All right, let's get to my conversation 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:44.040 with John Fields. Coach Fields Thank you so much for 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:44.480 joining me. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.840 How are you doing today, I'm doing wonderful. Thank you 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:47.600 for having me on. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:52.400 You guys have done a great job for golf in general, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.519 so I'm excited to be on with you today. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.480 Well, thank you so much, and of course I very 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.359 much appreciate you taking some time out of what is 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.120 a very busy day for you because the NCAA D 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:08.480 one Men's Golf Championships are coming up very very quickly here, 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.840 So let's get right into it. What has the story 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.040 of the Longhorns men's golf season been so far? How 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:18.000 would you summarize that? 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.880 Well, it started off fairly solid in September. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.600 We had a couple of finishes that were okay, and 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.519 then we won a couple match play tournaments, the Big 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:36.360 Twelve match Play in October, and then we actually tied 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.440 Arizona State for points at Cypress Point, which is a 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.600 phenomenal golf course. By the way, our kids get to 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.560 play great golf courses so throughout the year, whether it's 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:53.760 Olympia Field, Cypress Point and others, exceptional golf courses, so 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.720 we try to do that. And college golf is kind 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.360 of generally at least at a high level in that regard, 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.120 but we finished off with a runner up finish to 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:09.200 Arizona State just by points. Actually we tied, but the 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.080 way they did it, we finished runner up. 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.760 We didn't get the trophy. And then we started in 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:16.000 January and had. 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.839 A bump in the road at Hawaii and that right 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.360 that was really a turning point for us. We kind 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.640 of started doing things a little bit differently. Like all 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.080 coaches do, you make adjustments and you try to do 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:32.560 some things that would be protective for your team. Fortunately, 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.320 some of those things kicked in and did a kind 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:38.960 of did a one eight for our team. We have town, 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.520 we have five guys that can really play, but everybody 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:44.479 needs to be on the same page and everybody needs 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:46.880 to be doing the same things, and so made a 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:47.800 few adjustments. 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.320 We finished third in UH. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:59.880 Late February at Las Vegas at at the Southern high 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.279 Collegiate Masters, Southern Highlands being another great course that we play. 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.120 And that third place was done without Christian Moss, who 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:14.039 was simultaneously playing in the African Amateur. 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.120 And he lost it a playoff there. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.960 So you would think, as one of our best players 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.200 is not there, we wouldn't have had that third place finished, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.880 but for some reason we did, and really that kind 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.960 of kick started our entire season from there. We had 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.680 one bump in the road at Sea Island, or actually 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:37.080 at the Floridian, another great golf course, but we've been 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.880 gaining momentum ever since. And we won our conference championship 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.159 by eighteen shots over Oklahoma and twenty three shots over 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.840 Oklahoma State, and those were the three teams that were 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.960 under part for the week. And then we finally felt 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:56.120 finished the year getting to the national Championship by winning 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.600 the regional at the University of Texas Golf Club, won 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.920 by sixteen of a really good Tennessee team. Had no 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.680 idea that we would be hosting the national championship at 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.760 this moment, but here we are, and I guess the 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.400 Good Lord smiled on us because we had an opportunity 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.960 to play at home in a regional and obviously that 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.320 gives you a little bit of a foothold and a 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.640 little bit of home course advantage, and we utilize that 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.599 and to a great extent and played really good golf. 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:28.720 Who are going to be some of your key players 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.000 this coming week in the tournament. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:31.880 I would say they all are. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:36.480 Whether it's Kristin Moss who won the NCAA regional. You 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.880 have Brian Stark, who is a graduate transfer from Oklahoma 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.560 State that has really started to play super solid. Another 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:48.880 graduate transfer from SMU, Nathan Petronzio, has closed out the 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:53.320 season in great fashion. And then you've got six foot 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.599 nine Tommy Morrison from Dallas. Kind of an anomaly in 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.880 golf still, but the athletes that are coming out, we 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.039 may have more like him that size, strength and ability, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.600 great hands around the greens. But Tommy's an exceptional golfer 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.720 and has had a really nice spring. And then Keaton 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.320 Vote is from Austin, Texas. Pound for pound, maybe one 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.760 of the longest guys in golf. If he turns sideways, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.160 you might miss him, but he's pretty thin, weighs a. 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:24.960 Little under one hundred and forty pounds. 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:27.800 I would love to be able to eat like he 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.040 does and not put on any weight, but that's not 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.120 possible for me. But Keaton's done a great job and 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.480 he's a young person that's a great player. And right 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.840 there from Austin, Texas. And then our substitute is a 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.960 freshman named Jack Gilbert, just a wonderful guy that knows 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:45.880 what his role is right now, and that's to help 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:46.800 us anyway. 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:46.960 That he can. 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.840 He's doing that and couldn't be more appreciative of Jack Gilbert. 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:57.160 He's a wonderful kid and just won our Inner Squad tournament, 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.440 so he can play as well. 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.960 If you put Keaton and Tommy side by side with 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:04.640 each other, there would be a little bit of a difference. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.640 Well, Keaton could probably fit in one leg of his pants. 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.360 That's how Stan Keaton. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:16.440 Is so beyond your own players. For the viewers at home, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.280 who are some players at this tournament that you think 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:21.480 people should keep an eye on. 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.960 Oh gosh, You've got Gordon's Sargeant from Vanderbilt. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:25.720 You've got. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.280 Christo Lampprig from Georgia Tech. You've got Austin Greezer from 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.480 North Carolina. You've got multiple players in this field that 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.719 played in the Masters, and they'll be recognizable. One thing 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.079 that we're doing this evening, we're having a Fred Haskins 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.520 Award evening with Ben Crenshaw. Ben won the Fred Haskins 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.040 Award nineteen seventy one, seventy two and seventy three. That's 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.400 when it started that award. That's our Heisman Trophy of Golf. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.680 We'll have ten individuals and their coaches in that room 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:02.280 this evening. Steve Wils sponsors it, and we're all looking 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.439 forward to that because you have kind of the beginning 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:11.920 of college golf at that seventy one, seventy two, seventy three, 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.880 and now you're going to get these ten individuals that 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.600 are going to get a chance to meet Ben. And 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.000 he's met some of them just simply because they've played 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.400 in the Masters, and he has the presence there as 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:22.719 you know. 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.600 Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, and of course the Longhorns 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.480 team with Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kaide. What has been 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.560 the presence of those players in your program. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.640 Well, Texas Golf, just so you know, is ninety eight 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.600 years old. It has one hundred and two victories on 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:45.520 the PGA Tour by sixteen individuals. It has ten major championships, 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:51.640 with six major champions we have four national championships and 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.520 a multitude of regionals and conference championships over time. So 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.439 there's been a lot of great players play at Texas. 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:00.800 It certainly is not John Field. I can tell you 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.680 that right now. I'm one of five coaches that have 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:11.040 coached at Texas. Tom Penick nineteen twenty seven through nineteen thirty, 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.199 Harvey Penick, who wrote the Little Red Book. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.120 And was the world renowned. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:21.800 World Golf Hall of Famer that wrote the Little Red Book, 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:27.600 and he was our coach from nineteen thirty to nineteen 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.560 sixty one, and then George Hannen took over an unbelievable 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:39.520 coach from sixty one to just about nineteen eighty, and 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.360 he was Ben and Tom's coach in college and they 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.240 won the nineteen seventy one and seventy two national championship. 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.200 Ben won the nineteen seventy one, seventy two, seventy three 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.760 individual National Championship and then turned pro and then won 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.320 the Texas Open right after that, his first professional event. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.280 And then as we've gone along, we've acquired a lot 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.000 of great players. And so now you've got two number 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.600 ones in the world that have played in a recent 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.560 time frame in Jeordia Speed and Scottie Scheffler, and we've 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.559 got more than ten individuals on the PGA Tour right now. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.280 We're really proud of our program. And I'm going to 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.520 tell you again, I don't have anything hardly to do 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.720 with me. It's Central Texas it's our ud golf club 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:25.880 that was built in two thousand and three. 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:31.719 In two thousand and three, our golf course was unveiled. 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.920 Since then, we've had twenty seven victories on the PGA 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:41.480 Tour and players that have played there and five major championships. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.160 So you can tell golf has changed. In college golf, 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.800 there's a lot of great facilities. But Austin, Texas, there 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.720 must be something in the water, because something's happening right here. 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:57.959 So coach Fields, this will be the first men's NCAA 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:04.360 Championship hosted at the refreshed Omni La Costa. You were 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.680 involved in making this switch away from the former venue 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:13.600 for this tournament, which was Greyhawk in Arizona. So could 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.800 you tell me that story. Why did that all happen? 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.360 Well, there's a lot to it, not just do the 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:25.559 short version. But in twenty sixteen, we played the National 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:31.240 Championship in Eugene, Oregon at Eugene Country Club, Oregon's home 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.520 golf course, and we lost to them in the final. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.800 Part of the reason we lost and who knows how 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.559 it would come out anyway, but Bohostler, who's now on 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.160 the PGA Tour, tore up his shoulder on the fifteenth 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.800 toll in the semifinals and was not able to compete. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.000 He was able to finish out. 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.360 His round and win. We beat usc that particular. 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.720 Round and he was able to finish, but he was 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.600 not able to go the next day, so we had 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.880 to give a point to Oregon. And you only got 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.480 to win three matches to win the national championships, so 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.280 given a point, it's pretty difficult. But we lost to 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.600 him in a playoff, but Bo won the Fred Haskins Award. 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.360 What we're going to do this evening and they had 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.439 us down to the Golf Channel in Orlando and they 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.160 told me that viewership had been up one hundred and 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.160 twenty percent over the year before because we had the 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.560 East Coast time slot. So I just kind of tucked 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:34.760 that away and never forgot about that. But then fast 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.040 forward to twenty eighteen, we went to the Walker Cup 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.600 that gil Hents had just redone the La Country Club 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:43.679 golf course La North where they played the. 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.400 US Open this last year. So I was out there 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:47.160 to watch the. 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.000 I was out there to watch Scotti, Scheffler and Dug 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.520 Kgim playing the Walker Cup on this really refined golf 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:55.640 course by Gil. 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:57.679 And I was enamored by that. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.800 And I was talking with Jeff Shackelford, who is kind 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:05.520 of a golf dignitary here in California and did some 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.720 work for the Golf Channel. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.080 Anyway, I told him, wouldn't it be. 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:15.240 Great to have a national championship in southern California where 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.880 the weather's perfect and you got the East Coast time slot? 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.040 And he said, yeah, but where would you do it? 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.800 Because most of the golf courses are dated. There's not 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.840 really a great place to host a championship like that. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.880 And the courses like a Riviera or La North, they're 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.560 not going to give you their golf course for three 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.400 weeks because it's not just the men, it's the women. 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.960 And we love that now that we're combined with the 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.520 women and the men, but it's really a kind of 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.040 a three week commitment for the for the golf course, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.520 and this time of year, pretty much in any place 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:50.800 in the USA, it's going to be hard to get 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.880 a golf course for three years and give up three 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.640 weeks annually. So I knew Bob Rowling and I told Jeff, 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.120 I said, well, what about LaCosta? And he said, you 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:06.280 know what, coach, great great hotel, great venue, but the 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.280 golf course is dated. And I said, well, how about 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.800 if we had gil Hants do it? And he said, well, 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.360 if you did that, that could be a going concern. 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:19.800 And so I one of our philanthropists, great donors alumni 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.119 is Bob Rowling. He owns all the omnis in America 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.200 along with his son Blake Rolling, and they have fifty 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.480 two properties in their portfolio and twenty nine golf courses, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.240 and so they loved the idea. I brought Mike Holder 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.080 from Oklahoma State, kind of the tzar of collegiate golf, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.400 and Chris del Conte to meet them and to sell 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:43.440 them on this idea. 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:44.680 They loved it. 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.720 They loved the idea, and we convinced them that this 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.120 could be the permanent site and the home collegiate golf 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.400 going forward. So they invested thirty million dollars in the 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.880 golf course with Gil Hants, with this refined new golf 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.240 course that's now seven five hundred yards for men. The 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.040 women played it right at sixty three hundred yards and 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.880 they finished over par. So it's obviously a really good 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:12.040 golf course as a team twelve under one individually, but 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.080 They liked the idea. The Golf channel loved the idea. 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.720 The only problem was is that we're going to have 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.120 San Diego State hosted. And the only problem there was 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:28.000 is that the golf committee, the NCAA Golf Committee, came 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:32.600 back and said, you have to make this a neutral site, 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.280 meaning nobody can play it, including the host team. So 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.680 that ain't no sense to San Diego State. So they 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:44.920 pulled out and we asked UCLA, USC Pepperdine, UCSD. Nobody 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.240 wanted to do it because there is a financial commitment, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.360 time commitment, staff commitment, and energy commitment to do this. 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.840 So bottom line, nobody wanted to do it. But because 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.880 the neutral site and the permanent site might be great, 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.320 college golf our athletic director Chris del Conte decided that 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.959 we would host it. So I had no idea we 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:08.760 were going to do this, but here we are. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.280 So that's how the University of Texas came to host 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:18.000 a tournament taking place in southern California. That kind of 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.760 kind of makes sense now. So when it comes to 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.800 the course and the redesign that was done there, I'm 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:30.200 not sure how much you were privy to that process, 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.000 but could you give me a basic idea of how 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.919 Gil went about renovating this course, what he did well. 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:40.600 When Gill signed up that he was going to do it, 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.160 because that was a higher level meeting than coach fields, 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.879 that was with the rollings. But he decided that he 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.360 wanted to do it and he came up with an 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.720 initial design and then we had about twenty coaches from 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.080 around the nation, both men and women, walk around the 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.840 golf course with him, and he kind of gave his vision, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.760 but he listened to feedback from the women's and the 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.400 men's coaches. We knew full well that he had done 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.960 the real course for the Olympics with both men and 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.800 women in mind and match play, and so we were 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.560 all very comfortable with him. But he listened to us 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.240 and we went around it and he designed it and 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:23.240 it's the same routing initially, but it has so much 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:30.040 more today. Multiple bunkers that were added, cross bunkers that 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.560 are illusionary out there on the golf course, green structures 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.800 that are full on gil Hans green structures, new tea boxes, 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:47.320 new opportunities to walk the golf course, added barankas, added 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:53.359 fescue and native areas on the golf course, It truly 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.800 is spectacular and everybody out here who has seen it 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.280 because women have already played their championship although the women 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:05.960 play the championship round today Stanford against UCLA, and of 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.879 course everybody's saying, well, that's because it's a West coasting 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:10.680 and has nothing to do with that. 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.080 It has everything to do with that. Those are the 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.520 two best teams playing right now. That's all there is 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:15.840 to it. 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.600 We won the national championship at Riviera and we're certainly 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.800 not from California, So how do we do that? 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.360 If you've got home field advantage just because. 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.800 Of the fact that the you're in Sullner, California, makes 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:27.400 no difference. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:28.040 You got to play. 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.280 Yeah, I think Stanford probably would have gotten there even 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.840 if they were I don't know, playing as far away 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.200 from California as possible. That's that kind of team. 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:40.920 Yeah. 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.560 Ann Walker has done a great job. She's the women's 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.120 golf coach there. Alison Brown has done a great job. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:52.119 She's the head rules official for women set up golf course. 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.480 Flying blind and two over wins the medal for the team, 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.119 twelve under wins the medal for the women individual and 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.200 twenty over made the match play the elite eight teams. 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.560 We didn't embarrass anybody, but you had to come to play. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:12.679 So with all of this happening, obviously there has to 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:17.080 be some amount of money involved. A lot of this 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.879 takes funding. So tell me about the role that the 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:25.120 College World Golf Championships Foundation plays in all this. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.080 Well, thank you for asking that. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.639 So I knew once we secured the event that most 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:37.080 likely Omni La Costa and the University of Texas would 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:43.840 not want to be the benevolent godparents or grandparents of 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.520 college golf going forward. And so what we did was 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.359 we connected with the College World Series to kind of 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.119 figure out how they had done things because they're a 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.800 permanent site, and really College World Series, the men's College 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.560 World Series is the goal standard for a standalone permanent 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:06.080 side and that's simply because they've been in existence for 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:10.199 seventy four years and the College World Series Foundation was 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:15.720 founded in nineteen fifty, so they have funded and operated 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.960 the championship for men's baseball for seventy four years, including 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:24.119 this year. So we connected with Amy Hornicker, who is 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.560 the executive director of the College World Series Foundation, and 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.200 she shared with us along with their twenty board members 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.199 all of their financials, how they do their business, the 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:41.640 things that they're able to compete with and do, and 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:46.000 how their infrastructure works. So what myself, my wife, and 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.240 my daughter, April Workman, who's now the executive director of 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:53.399 the College World Golf Championships Foundation, we all developed this 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:58.080 idea that we could possibly be the funding arm going 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:02.320 forward for collegiate golf. We want to start with Division 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:06.440 one golf, obviously because I'm still coaching, I'm at Texas, 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:10.760 and this is the vehicle to do it. But what 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.080 we're going to do is eventually we're going to help 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.439 division two, division three, both men and women. We're going 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.520 to help a NEI, and we're going to help junior college. 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.080 And we've partnered with the Folds of Honor and the 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:25.840 First Tea, and we're working hard to get the United 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.760 States Golf Association to help us and work with us. 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.879 They're already doing that from an agronomic point of view, 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:33.920 so we're. 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:34.760 Really thrilled about that. 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:39.400 The PGA Tour, the PGA of America, and the LPGA, 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.800 So there's a lot of entities that really focus around 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:47.320 collegiate golf. And if you will, I would tell you 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.320 that I believe that we've never been able to market 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:54.240 ourselves just simply because the NCAA will not allow you 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:57.920 to compete with their eighteen partners, So even on site, 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.960 you can't sell sponsorship and give people the kind of 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.359 value for their dollars, so they don't do it. But 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:07.840 we're going to be able to work around that a 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:10.919 little bit here at Omni La Costa, and we're going 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:13.160 to be able to do things a little bit offsite 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:15.840 that have never been done for college golf, including the 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.479 Fred Haskins Award by Stevel this evening. 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:20.400 So we're going to do all those. 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.479 Things, and essentially what we're going to try to do 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.440 is put rocket fuel in college golf and then give 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.800 the twelve thousand kids who annually play college golf at 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:34.159 those different levels Division one, two, three men and women, 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:37.800 NEI men and women, Junior college men and women, Division 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:39.120 one and two an. 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:41.000 Unbelievable opportunity to grow. 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.399 So I believe that college golf is kind of the 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.560 center of the sun, and nobody even knows it because we've. 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:49.800 Never marketed ourselves. 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:52.600 But if you think about it, the junior golfers and 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:59.040