WEBVTT - Jack Nicklaus 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:04.080 Jack Nicholas is a golf legend and the winner of 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:09.240 a record six Masters tournaments among his eighteen career major championships. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.360 He sat down with Carlisle Group co founder David Rubinstein 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.080 for his Bloomberg television show Peer to Peer Conversations. In 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.640 the conversation, Nicholas reminiscence about his favorite golfers, explains why 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.200 he and President Trump have a similar playing style, and 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.640 analyzes Tiger Woods chances of breaking his major's tally. So 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.720 let me go back to the beginning of golf and 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:33.440 so forth. I am not a golfer. I have to 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.320 be honest with you. I took it up when I 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.839 was nine. I quit when I was ten. I'm not. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.080 I'm not one anymore either. Okay, but now, well you're 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.240 pretty famous in golf. But um, it was too frustrating. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.760 And here's what I couldn't understand. Why is it that 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.000 so many people are addicted to something that is so 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.640 humiliating and frustrating for so many people all the time. 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.280 If wald ever goes where it's supposed to go, why 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.960 why are people so addicted to it? Well, that's a 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.560 pretty good question. I kept trying to think about that 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.920 that's it's a it's a It's a never ending pursuit 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.160 of an unattainable goal, is what it really is. Right, 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.160 You could try all you want, and nobody has ever 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.480 mastered the game. Well, most all athletes and all other 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.280 sports love to play golf because it's difficult. It's it's 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.280 challenging for him, and it challenges them at whatever level 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.000 they play. And I think that's why I enjoyed it. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.400 That's why I enjoyed it. I enjoyed playing it because 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.319 no matter how good I got, I could always be better. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.039 So when you were growing up, you played many different sports, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.240 is that right? And actually you were recruited to play 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.280 football at Ohio State basketball basketball, but you were a 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.520 good football player as well, So at the time, golf 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.920 was not your most important sport, or was it one 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.040 of the three most important? Golf was another sport at 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.320 the time. But once I, once I started into college, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:54.040 I want a national lesser than national travel. But it 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.160 got me on the Walker Cup team, and all of 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.080 a sudden, I was now one of the twelve best 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.960 amateurs in the country. And then later that year I 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:02.720 went the national Landor and I was ranked number one, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.560 and I said, hmm, maybe I'm better at this than 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.840 I thought I was. And then I almost won the 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:09.440 US Open the next year that I did when the 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.920 U s Aminor again the next year, and then I said, well, 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:13.600 maybe I need to go play against the best if 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.200 I want to be the best. So it was, it was, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.240 it was, you know, a process. But your father was 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.720 the one who got you in the golf. Initially was 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.079 a golfer himself. He was a decent golfer as a kid. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.680 And then he quit for fifteen years and was a 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.079 pharmacist and he broke his ankle playing volleyball. He ended 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.920 up having three operations and had it fused, and the 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.440 doctor said, Charlie says, if you don't want to end 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.240 up the wheelchair, you better walking again. So he took 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.640 he went. We moved out to the suburb to Upper 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.160 Arlington to Soyota Country Club. He joined there, took me 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.880 along to carry the bag and because he couldn't make 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.600 a game, because a good walk very far. And that 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.400 particular year that fellow name Jack Grout came to Siota 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.040 and the PGA Championship came to SIoT of that year. 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.080 So I got all that in my first year of 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.440 playing golf, and it just sort of got me charged 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.799 up to learn a sport. Now, Jack Grout became your 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.400 coach for most of your career. He was my coach 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:11.240 until he passed. So your father and Jack Rout were 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.560 the people who mostly got you on the way in golf. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.239 You would say, yep, my dad was. My dad was 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:18.960 sort of my best friend and my and uh and 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.680 my idol. I love my dad because and he just 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.760 he just did everything with me, just just he just 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.480 gave up everything for me. In those days, Um, it 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.560 wasn't clear that you could make a big career financially 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:31.560 and as a professional golfer. So you were thinking of 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.119 getting a degree as an accountant or to be a pharmacist. Well, 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.200 I started college. I mean, most kids want to be 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.200 what their dad was. So my dad was a pharmacist. 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.680 So I went through pre pharmacy. I hated afternoon labs 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.520 all right, and so my dad taught me out of 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.640 go before we went to pharmacy school and talked talked 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.360 me into doing something else. So I started selling insurance 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.760 and I just love selling life insurance to my fraternity brothers. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.040 They really needed it, and so I did that for 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.400 a while, and I did pretty well at it, and 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.960 I was making good money, and uh, I got married 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.640 and had a first child, and but I really wanted 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.880 to play golf, you gonta, That's what I did. You 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.480 got married to Barbara and you've been married how many years? 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:21.400 Next month? Years? Okay? And the result is five children 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.440 and twenty two grandchildren's right now. You never forget a 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:27.120 name of a grand job when they come along. You 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:28.880 know their names. I know their name, and I know 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.880 I know their birthdays. Really, okay, it's pretty impressive. So 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:36.839 in those days you were thinking of maybe becoming professional, 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.400 you weren't sure, and you met with Bob Jones, did 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:44.200 you Robert Jones, famous most famous amateur golfer of them all? 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.080 And how did you actually come to meet him? Well, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:52.680 he was he was a speaker at at the banquet 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.320 in my first U s Aminar when I was fifteen 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.440 years old and at that time, and he was he 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.080 got he got paralyzed as he would on and but 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.279 he was he still walking with canes at that time. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.240 And he saw me play having in the last practice round. 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:09.920 They said, young man, I'm gonna come out and watch 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.799 you play a little bit tomorrow. Here have my fifteen 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:13.440 year old kid playing in my first yuice Ebert and 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.840 the greatest player who had ever lives, Bob Joe's, is 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.920 gonna come out and watch me play. And he came 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.520 out and I immediately went bogey bogie double bogie. Lost 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.839 my match, but it was a great experience and I 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.760 became a good friend. Uh. And he was he was 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.599 great counsel. He was, he was, he was he was 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.880 really a really a good man. So you decided ultimated 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.760 turn professional in the year after you won the second 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.280 Amateur and won the US Amateur twice. After you had 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.320 done that, you decided you'd make a career out of it. Well, 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.880 I didn't have any more goals to or anything. We 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.760 have more to do in amateur golf. And I wanted 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.040 to be the best I could be at at playing golf, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:51.680 so I said the only way I could do that 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.080 is to play against the best. The only way to 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.480 do that's play against the pros. So that's why, all right, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.400 In those days the compensation was good, but not compared 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.800 to today. So now I was making as much money 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.080 selling insurance as I would have played one playing golf. 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.080 But you did I I surpassed it, though, So as 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:13.039 you went on, you had the rivalry with Arnold Palmer 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:14.880 a bit. He was the leading golfer when you came 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.719 in the pros and then you surpassed him in many ways. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.240 But what was it like in the early days when 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.880 you were rising and he was sort of at the top. Well, 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.400 you know, I'm I wasn't real popular because I started 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.480 beating Arnold, and uh, you know, I wasn't popular with 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.200 myself because I was an Arnold Palmer fan. And in 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.400 Arnold was a good guy. He we got to be 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.920 very close friends, our wives got to be very close friends. 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.839 But he was and he never really seemed to mind 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.400 that I beat him more than he beat me. And 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.920 I'm sure he probably did inside, but he never let 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.520 me know it. He took me under his wing, and 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.120 uh he's ten years older than I was, and uh 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.200 he he was. He was great to me. So I 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.360 have no I have nothing but love for Arnold Palmer. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.200 So in your career, you won eighteen majors, which is 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.520 the most of anybody, and Tiger Woods is now one 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.919 with the most recent masters win fifteen. But many people 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.720 think that trying to beat your records almost impossible. I 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.920 don't know. Tigers. Tigers pretty good. So let's see, you 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.520 won the Masters six times, and is that your favorite tournament? 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.040 The Masters? Probably so in your course of your career, eyes, 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.560 I remember you've won more than a hundred uh tournaments, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.440 that right, and the eighteen Majors, And you were the 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.840 leading money winner seven times, leading shot lowest shot for 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.200 a tournament for a year seven times. And there's no 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.200 record in golf you haven't achieved, is that right? Was 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.120 there anything left for you to achieve? I don't know 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.680 that it is any record that I haven't achieved. But 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.560 you know my record is is good. But you know 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.160 you could always be better. That's that's the neat thing 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.000 about the game of golf. No matter how how good 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.760 you get us up, you could be better. So um, 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:58.280 in terms of being better, it's hard to know how 0:07:58.280 --> 0:07:59.920 you can do much better than you've done. But that's 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:01.680 you asked you about a couple of things. What is 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.640 it the key that makes somebody a great golf or 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.160 is it concentration? Is it physical ability? Is it just 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:09.640 I think the combination of those things. I think I 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.280 think your mind is a big part about it. I 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.040 think you've got to believe in what you can do. 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.480 You've got to learn to play within yourself. I think, 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.440 I think anybody in all walks of life, I don't 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.320 care what business you're in, you need to work within yourself. Uh. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.080 And then and you need to do what you can do, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.640 not what somebody else can do. And he's out and 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.080 you start believing in that. And then I think winning 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.880 breeds winning. So I was lucky my first year I 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:36.680 won the US Open and won the biggest tournament in 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.960 golf my first first, first year out. Uh that I 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.839 believed that I could play. So so all of a 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.080 sudden they started coming in a little easier for me. 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.360 So in the first year you won the US Open, 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.680 was that in a playoff with Arnold Palmer had to 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.000 fight Arnold's gallery a lot. But I never had to 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:58.280 fight Arnold. He always treated me with respect. It treated 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:02.200 me like a uh fellow competitor and we so I 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.199 didn't have those issues. So one of the most enjoyable 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.480 tournaments people would say to ever have watched, anybody could 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.680 have watched, was the Six Masters. When you were an 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:18.360 old old man of um those days that seemed like 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.320 an old man. But today to me it's very young today, right, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.320 so people had never no one had ever one I major. 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:28.800 I guess over the age of maybe forty forty two 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.760 at that time. Tiger won the Masters now at forty three, 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.920 but forty six was considered ready for you know, a 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:39.120 golf cart or a wheelchair or something. So you were 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.320 you were not leading that tournament until really near the end. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.480 You were but four shots behind with the final nine 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:47.400 holes to go, Is that right? I was, I was 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.440 still the first time I led the tournament was after 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.840 seventy one holes going to the last. But you were 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.480 four shots behind at the final nine. So did you 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.920 actually think you could win? Well? I, uh, well, I 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.800 burnie nine, I buried ten, I buried eleven, I messed 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.160 up twelve a little bit, but then I buried thirteen. 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.280 And then when I eagled fift and burnie sixteen and 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.920 burned seventeen. Yeah, I thought I could win because I 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.840 was late. But it's not the most emotional win you've 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.080 ever had. Well, you know, it's kind of funny because 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.840 I I really I really finished playing golf by then. 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.760 I played by had won two majors when I was 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.440 forty years old, and I really just enjoyed playing golf 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.360 and I wanted to be part of the game. And 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.400 I just sort of struck lightning to the bottle a 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.120 little bit that week, and all of a sudden, I 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.959 got around to uh, the last nine holes of last 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.160 ten holes, and I remembered how to play. I mean, 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.480 you you get yourself in contention and all of a sudden, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.000 much like what Tiger happened to Tiger at the Bastards 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.600 this year, when when when I saw the fellow start 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.959 to fill up the creek on at Raised Creek, which 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.520 is a twelfth hole, and he took us pretty little 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:57.199 shot out kind of down the middle of greened, I said, 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.839 tournaments over, because he will remember how to play. And 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.080 that's what I did. I learned, I remembered how to play, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.160 and I remembered how to finish it. It was, it was, 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.880 It was really fun being able to do that. You 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.240 earlier in your career decided that you wanted to be 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.680 involved in golf course design, and as I now understand 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:19.480 that you have personally designed by three courses and your 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.640 company has designed over I guess it's four hundred or so, 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.079 and uh, about a thousand tournaments have been held on 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.000 these courses so, and they're in forty six different countries 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.439 in forty different states, so it's pretty impressive. Well, I 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.520 got into it by following Pete Die. Pete Die has 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.280 been sort of the premier golf course designer over the 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:42.679 last thirty years or so. And Pete one day called me, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.920 and this is in the mid sixties. He said, Jack, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.120 I'd like to have you come out and see I'm 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.280 doing a new course for following Fred Jones, and I 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:50.319 want you to come out and see what it is. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.240 I said, what anybody see? Pete? He says, I want 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:54.959 you to critique it for me. I said, Pete, I 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.400 don't know anything about design. He saw, you know more 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.360 than you think you know. I said, okay. So I 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.959 went out, looked through the golfers, we did things, and 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:03.439 then he asked me a couple of things. I said, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.280 I don't know anything about that. He says, yeah, you do. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.120 Just tell me what you what you would like to see, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.160 and he did it. Well, I got piqued my interests 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.040 and I got a call from Charles Fraser's Spines plantation 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.559 down in Harbor Town and and in Hilda Island, and 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.960 he said, Jack, I'd like to have you to your 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:22.920 golf course. First, I said, well, I don't know anything 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:24.679 about it, but I got a young guy who I'm 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.000 working with, Phillim Pete Die, who I think i'd like 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.040 to work with. So I did that. I made I 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.199 made twenty three visits into that trip with with with 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.960 with Pete. Uh. About six months before the Turban, they 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:38.559 came and told so, we're gonna have the Heritage Golf 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.160 Classic there, which they've had there ever since since nineteen 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:45.480 sixte Arnold won the first tournament. Um, I loved it. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.600 I had a ball. I was just tremendous. So I'm 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.160 talking about golf course. Is your favorite course to play 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.240 of any other than the ones who might have designed. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.320 I assume that there's the ones who liked the most. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.800 Absolutely know who's your favorite child? You know what, the 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.240 same thing. But let's suppose take the ones you didn't sign. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.319 Which ones would you say were your favorites to play? Well, 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.120 if I had one round of golf player, I'd probably 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.640 got to Pebble Beach, which we just left the US 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.400 Open last week. I love Pebble Beaches, the scene out there. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.560 I won the U s Amitar there, won the US Open. 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.480 There went three three Crosbie's out there, and I just 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.160 I just love the place. And then and then, but 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.840 my two favorite places in the game are probably Augusta 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.600 National and St. Andrews. When you finished your professional career, 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.400 I think it was two thousand five, your last tournament 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.079 was the British Open. So was that pretty pretty emotional? 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.800 Oh yeah, yeah, I had you had your family there 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.959 and had the family there, They're all there. My son 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.199 Steve keddy for me during that week, and uh, we 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:44.520 stopped on what's called the Silkin Bridge, which is the 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:49.320 bridget trosses An eighteenth fairway, and we we didn't get 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:51.440 a decent picture of Steve. Steve was crying too much 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.640 and Tom Watson was he's crying. I mean all they're 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.679 all emotional. I'm trying to figure out how to finish 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.400 the golf tournament. They're they're crying on me. And so 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.679 we a great time though, and it was fun. I 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.800 loved it. I would not I didn't want to finish 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.520 on Friday, but I did finish on Friday, So you 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.840 your last shot was a birdie. You know, It's kind 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:11.400 of funny because yeah, I wanted to make the cut 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.719 that day. And after I threw put it from the 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.360 front edge of thirteen or seventeen trying to make bertie, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.679 I got to the eighteen pole and I hit the 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.000 ball at about fourteen feet behind the hole. Now, the 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.000 poll had not gotten anywhere near the whole all day, 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.120 and I knew that that put because the tournament was over. 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:27.800 I did no matter where I hit it, the hole 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:29.480 was going to move in front of it. And that's 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.680 what it did. That made my last put. I started 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.880 my my professional or my career in major championships in 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.040 nineteen seven with a birdie on the first hole I played, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.800 and I finished it on St. Andrews with a fourteen 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.000 foot put with the bertie. So after you got a birdie, 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.440 you said, well, maybe I should stay a little bit 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.960 longer and play at I stayed long enough, David. So, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.520 you've played with many prominent individuals over the years, and 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.840 prominent golfers. If you could pick any golfer to be 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.600 your partner in a twosome, who would you want to 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.880 have as your partner? Um, well, I think I'll have 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.400 to pick Tiger today. But through the years, you know, 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.200 I never got to play with Bobby Jones, even though 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.840 I know him and new him and really really really 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:12.960 loved the band. I would have loved to have played 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.200 with Jones, and I would have loved I played quite 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.920 a bit of golf with Hogan. Hogan was fantastic. You've 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.200 also played a lot of presidents of the United States. 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.160 I've played with a few, and um, which one is 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.160 the best? And playing golf? Well, the ones I've played with, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.360 actually Trump is probably the best player. Trump plays pretty well, 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.880 you know, he he plays a little bit like I do. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.400 He doesn't really ever finish many holes, but he can 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.560 hit the ball and he just he goes out and 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.240 plays and it just enjoys it. And but he's won 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.480 several club championships and uh, he could play. Uh Gerald 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.520 Ford I played, I mus played fifty rounds with Ford. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:50.880 I used to play with him at the A T 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.080 and T every year. And Ford was about a thirteen handicap, 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:58.600 but he played to a thirteen handicap. Uh. Clinton, I 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.720 never knew what Clinton might do. Clinton would he might 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.640 play to a play with ten or he might play 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.120 to a thirty. But but he had a nice sculfs 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.000 way and he enjoyed. All these guys enjoyed playing golf. 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.240 And I don't think any one of them really were 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.040 very serious about the game, but they all enjoyed playing. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.760 And I think that it's good for the game of 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.680 golf to have the President of the United States say, 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.000 you know, this is my game. So when you're playing 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.720 in those kind of matches, let's say, are fun with 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.600 the president, and let's say the ball is ten feet 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.920 away from the whole, Why do people just not say 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.000 put it out as opposed to, oh, you can have it. 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.080 Why is that done so much? You just say, I 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.800 think that's a little bit of courtesy or well, that's 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.160 a little bit of politics. Took think you give me 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:42.640 mine if I give you, I'll give you. I give 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.720 you yours if you give me mine. That kind of routine, 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.040 which is not golf. Now you have a grandson who 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.280 recently had a Master's Part three tournament got a hold 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.320 on one. Was that a fairly emotional thing to see 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.680 your grandson get a hold on one? Pretty good? You know, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.560 it's kind of a funny story because it's his name 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.480 is g. T which is Gary Thomas after his father. 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.919 He's a junior and we're playing, Uh we went out 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.080 and playing nine holes and uh, I said I always 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.119 asked the kids because they have a different one caddy 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.359 for me every year. The Master's turn says, do you 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.600 want to uh, do you want to hit the ball? 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.240 And he says, well, none of my cousins have ever 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.120 gotten it on the green. I said, well okay, I said, yeah. 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.000 He said, I'd love to hit a balls. Okay, so fine. 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:23.879 So he I said, well, if you're not knocking on 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.359 greeny Mays will make a home one. He said okay. 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:28.879 So he saw with his dad was the masters did 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.560 it on Tuesday? United said, he says people, people, He 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.520 says people thinks I'm gonna make a hole in one. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.240 He says, really, yeah, he I'm knocking to greyways. Don't 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.399 make a hole. Darner for next day knocks it right 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.600 in the hole. And you know Gary Players who is 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.480 actually named after Gary, my son Gary, because Gary was 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:47.639 such a great friend and such a great role model. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.480 And uh, Gary was jumping all over the place. Tom 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.080 Watson was jumping all over the place. So when players 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.000 are playing golf and they're in a tournament, you're so 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.160 you're paired with somebody act the talk during when you're 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.680 walking down the fair way, they talk her. I thought something. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:05.359 They didn't even talk to each other. Oh no, no, 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.879 the guys are good friends. Arnold and I had had 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.920 a fierce rivalry and we wanted I mean we we 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.800 blew more tournaments for ourselves, trying to beat each other 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.080 and worrying about the feeling. But we get off the 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.199 golf course and we look at it. We said, hey, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.280 we did it again. We both shot seventy five. Well, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.440 everybody else shot sixty five, but just the two of 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.440 us trying to beat each other. But they would shake 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.119 hands and say, Okay, were you going to dinner tonight? 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.159 You know? So you know that's that's. I love the 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.520 golf kids today. I mean I love watching Uh. When 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.840 Gary Woodland finished, and I don't see on television, but 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.000 he saw four or five of the other players or 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:43.520 six were out congratulating. But Justin Thomas won the PGA 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.080 two years ago, Ricky Fowler and Jordan's Speed were waiting 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.480 for him as he finished on the eighteen screen. The 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.680 guys really support each other, and and there and and 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.600 they've got enough money. They're not worried about the money. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.720 They know it's a game and those guys are their 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.680 friends and they enjoy it. So UH. In recent years, 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.000 Tiger Woods has struggled a bit, for he went ten 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:09.200 years between winning UH a major tournament. UM. Do you 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.280 think today that your record of eighteen UM majors can 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.560