Speaker 1: I mean it's going to have to be a run
Speaker 1: of golf from Led Shepherd, and it's an amazing what
Speaker 1: pressure can do. It's amazing how momentum can work. And
Speaker 1: if he can just start chipping away at that lead
Speaker 1: MSTI eighteen holes to go, it's not impossible, but it's
Speaker 1: virtually impossible. I think we all know that. But we
Speaker 1: wish lead well, we wish both player as well. Of course,
Speaker 1: put another log on the fire and nobody here is
Speaker 1: given time. Welcome to the fire pit with Matt Janella.
Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, we're about to tee off
Speaker 1: on the first tea at Narn Golf Club in Scotland.
Speaker 1: It's a Saturday afternoon in mid June. It's the finals
Speaker 1: of the playing of the British Amateur Championship, in which
Speaker 1: two underdogs who have both overcome adversity and physical issues
Speaker 1: getting here, are about to finish things off. Monty Scousel,
Speaker 1: who made six birdies in the morning, is seven up
Speaker 1: on Laired Shepherd, who didn't make any birdies and didn't
Speaker 1: win his first hole of the day until the last
Speaker 1: hole of the morning round, which made for a somber sandwich.
Speaker 1: In Part one of this podcast, you get the backstory
Speaker 1: and why it's so remarkable. They're both playing golf at
Speaker 1: a competitive level. I had about five six shots. It
Speaker 1: was very very cold, obviously January and St Andrew's but
Speaker 1: five six shots and just chopped my club about fifty
Speaker 1: yards and some rough and walked back to my car
Speaker 1: um And I was pretty upset. You know. I just
Speaker 1: said to my girlfriend, I'm not very good at anything else.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of scary thinking he spent five years,
Speaker 1: five six years your life pursuing something ultimately turns out
Speaker 1: essentially not to be. In part two of this podcast,
Speaker 1: it's the first eighteen holes of this match, in which
Speaker 1: Money and Laird, who have been friends for years, are
Speaker 1: embarking on a journey that win or lose, it could
Speaker 1: alter the course of their lives forever. So I was
Speaker 1: so nurus. I actually I went to my went to
Speaker 1: my bag about one o'clock in the morning, flicked on
Speaker 1: the light, started chipping around around my bedroom just to
Speaker 1: make sure I could still chip. You know. It was
Speaker 1: just it was bizarre and I couldn't believe it. Eighteen
Speaker 1: holes in it was Monty Scouse seven up as they
Speaker 1: took a break for lunch. Low on sleep and both
Speaker 1: barely able to eat, they try to reset for the
Speaker 1: war of attrition that is the Amateur Championship. They're about
Speaker 1: to play their ninth competitive round in five days. We
Speaker 1: start with Monty's dad, Jeremy Scousel, who has carried his
Speaker 1: son's bag all week. He seemed to have a good
Speaker 1: strategy for how Monty again seven up, could get the
Speaker 1: victory and all that goes with that title. Well, mine
Speaker 1: set actually start again and actually say we want to
Speaker 1: win this. We want to win this match again. So
Speaker 1: we looked to forget about everything that happened in the morning. Um,
Speaker 1: start afresh. You know, we're level par uh and And
Speaker 1: I suppose the thinking was that if we did that
Speaker 1: and we played good Girl for again in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: and then the chances are that at some stage we
Speaker 1: would we get over the line. Meanwhile, Laird Shepherd is
Speaker 1: finding some motivation in what he was hearing from the gallery. Yeah,
Speaker 1: first hole, I hit my drive a little bit right,
Speaker 1: and someone behind the tea decided to start screaming forward
Speaker 1: despite the fact it's not heading towards anyone. That annoyed
Speaker 1: me a little bit. And I tend to play a
Speaker 1: bit better if I'm a bit annoyage. So I've actually
Speaker 1: asked my caddy as well to get me a big
Speaker 1: black coffee. Um, but we usually would drink if I'm
Speaker 1: playing golf, because you get a bit jittery. And then
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, do you want a coffee? And
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, why not because he was so relaxed,
Speaker 1: like because it's over. And so he had a coffee
Speaker 1: and we're walking, we're playing. The first time, I'm carrying
Speaker 1: his coffee when he set his shots, and that I
Speaker 1: played solide the first few holes. I knew I needed
Speaker 1: to go off to a hot start, didn't get it,
Speaker 1: and thought, well, oh well, let's just keep grinding away,
Speaker 1: maybe within a few holes and reduced to death sit
Speaker 1: or whatever. And he pointed the first few holes pretty good,
Speaker 1: just didn't get any I had a couple of chances,
Speaker 1: just didn't manage to get it. And we got to
Speaker 1: the fifth hole and that's when I changed in the morning.
Speaker 1: So actually quite strange that because that's when it went
Speaker 1: downhill in the morning, and then in the afternoon decided
Speaker 1: to driver there and he hit bomb drive just in
Speaker 1: the greenside bunker and that's just when I all changed.
Speaker 1: He hit the bunker shot close, managed to wow his
Speaker 1: first part really over around or the day ended up
Speaker 1: having a bit of change of strategy. On the fifth hole,
Speaker 1: I ended up nearly knocking on the green making a birdie, um,
Speaker 1: and you know, it just ends up picking up holes
Speaker 1: here and there after that. I think on the eighth
Speaker 1: I made birdie to win a hole to get back
Speaker 1: to five down um, and then hold a nice twor
Speaker 1: nine to get back to four. And I said to
Speaker 1: my Caddy after, I was like, I wish I hadn't
Speaker 1: had that coffee now because I starting to feel a
Speaker 1: bit the nerves again. I needed the bit of nerves,
Speaker 1: but it's a bit of jittery as well because I
Speaker 1: had all the caffeine and I hadn't been able to
Speaker 1: eat that much just because I was so nervous that
Speaker 1: it just you know, gone straight to me. So I
Speaker 1: was a bit shaky, and what have I done? This
Speaker 1: is when the coffee comes in. He's like, I've got
Speaker 1: the jitters, like coffee jays. I was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: And then he hold apart and I was like, well
Speaker 1: maybe that's fair. Then that's like maybe it works. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: maybe it was Monty who might have needed a coffee.
Speaker 1: I think I could sit here and say, you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking about how many holes are left. I
Speaker 1: was doing all the calculations on every hole, you know.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I'm six up, twelve to play
Speaker 1: or whatever, thirteen to play, you know, keep halfing holes,
Speaker 1: keep trying to win the alcohole. But that that was
Speaker 1: difficult to do because LEDs started playing a lot better,
Speaker 1: and my game I didn't hit them ma any fairways.
Speaker 1: In the afternoon, I got out of position a bit,
Speaker 1: and suddenly, rather than being on the front foot in
Speaker 1: the morning making birdies, I was sort of, you know,
Speaker 1: scrambling for parts a bit more. And that's that's a
Speaker 1: difficult when you're out there and things aren't quite going
Speaker 1: your way. As every golfer knows that feeling, it's sometimes
Speaker 1: very difficult to turn it around. Coffee wasn't the only
Speaker 1: thing Shepard was inadvertently experimenting with. You know, when you
Speaker 1: look back, and it is crazy that you do some
Speaker 1: things when when you're completely you think you completely out
Speaker 1: of it, and you know you end up doing things
Speaker 1: you'd never usually do. In the biggest day of your life.
Speaker 1: I mean, my my girlfriends have a go at me
Speaker 1: because I've put on brand new gold shoes for the
Speaker 1: final and she was like, what are you doing. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be hearing your beast squeaking about your brand
Speaker 1: new shoes. I was like, oh, sure, you imagine you
Speaker 1: get blusters as well. I was like, as I, we
Speaker 1: need to put a pair of shoes in the back.
Speaker 1: I didn't do it, but like a gase, they were
Speaker 1: given up blusters on the way right, all right, back
Speaker 1: to the action. Stuart Shepherd, Laird's dad reflects on the
Speaker 1: front nine we needed to win one or two of
Speaker 1: the first few holes. Didn't didn't happen. Um, So at
Speaker 1: that point I'm thinking it's really just damaged limitation exercise.
Speaker 1: But as you said, he wins five and then he
Speaker 1: wins can remember eight and nine to get it to four.
Speaker 1: I think, okay, he's now got the momentum, the big
Speaker 1: game word and didn't you know fourward nine, that's that's
Speaker 1: certainly kind of more realistic than doable. Yeah, at that point,
Speaker 1: four down after after nine in the afternoon, it is
Speaker 1: it is looking challenging, but you know, at least we've
Speaker 1: got some back, and like Lyard said, he just wanted
Speaker 1: it to be respectable, not you know, he was more
Speaker 1: thinking he just didn't want to be beaten by the
Speaker 1: biggest margin and history. So m and the end up
Speaker 1: having a good part to then win another hole and
Speaker 1: ten and just missed out and then a bad teasht
Speaker 1: on eleven and plugged it in the front Banker and
Speaker 1: I just thought, well, this really isn't what I need
Speaker 1: to be doing right now. So I lost that hole
Speaker 1: and then you're back five down with with six seven
Speaker 1: to play. I think it was, which is not a
Speaker 1: really a great position to be in. There. He made
Speaker 1: bogie there and Money won the whole back. She's no.
Speaker 1: Five down was showing and I mean, that's just again,
Speaker 1: that's almost back to being seven down on the first
Speaker 1: tyear like well, although I wasn't even thinking that it
Speaker 1: wasn't possible. And then when when he lost, I think
Speaker 1: he left the past through eleventh. I think it was
Speaker 1: to go back to five. Well, that that is the
Speaker 1: hope has gone. It's back to damage limitation. And in
Speaker 1: terms of a point where you start thinking it's not
Speaker 1: looking possible anymore. For me, that was he could I
Speaker 1: thought he couldn't afford to lose that one. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he worked so hard to get it back to four
Speaker 1: and then to just lose one straightway back to to
Speaker 1: go back to five down, and like you say, with
Speaker 1: the sun running out of the timer. That's remember saying
Speaker 1: to my sister and she's she's not a golfer, and
Speaker 1: she said something like, oh, you can still do it,
Speaker 1: and I just, I think I literally said, he's just
Speaker 1: running out of holes. So it led one the ninth
Speaker 1: to take it to four four down with with nine
Speaker 1: to play, and I you know, obviously knew it was
Speaker 1: far from over at that point, but I I'm we
Speaker 1: half the tenth and I won the eleventh to go
Speaker 1: to five up with seven to play, and that really
Speaker 1: calmed me down. That was time when I felt because
Speaker 1: clearly things a little bit on the slide, but I
Speaker 1: thought if we could get when we got that one back,
Speaker 1: I felt that was that was really quite important. You know,
Speaker 1: you managed to get that one back because at then
Speaker 1: Advance sort of took the momentum was with Laird at
Speaker 1: that time, and as you know, match play can be
Speaker 1: very easily a game of momentum. Laird Shepherd had lost
Speaker 1: the eleventh all, but he came right back and won
Speaker 1: the twelve. We're back to Monty for his commentary and
Speaker 1: the very tough twelve hold I think probably the toughest
Speaker 1: on the course. He won that one with a great
Speaker 1: part put um to go back to four um. So
Speaker 1: even though four down six to play, he's probably still thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not gonna be my day. But those
Speaker 1: those those that stretching um, that sort of closing stretch,
Speaker 1: and then it is brilliant for match play because you know,
Speaker 1: there's a drivable path four, there's a really long path three,
Speaker 1: there's a part five in there. There's a couple of
Speaker 1: birdie chances if you get your drive away. So it's
Speaker 1: a brilliant stretch for for what you know, proved to
Speaker 1: be a good, good end to the final if you're
Speaker 1: if you're a needtral viewer, the twelve was probably the
Speaker 1: way it was playing, probably the hardest sol on the course.
Speaker 1: We hold a good part for par there so I
Speaker 1: might actually get the whole bat straight away, which was
Speaker 1: massive to get that back, do you know what. I
Speaker 1: think probably one of the keys for me was the
Speaker 1: twelve in the afternoon, because by that stage he'd got
Speaker 1: down to I think it was at five down. Shepherd
Speaker 1: had a really good part at twelve, and I got
Speaker 1: it back to four down with six to play. Now
Speaker 1: that's still heavy odds against. He's not going to do it,
Speaker 1: is he. But suddenly you've got a little sniff of
Speaker 1: a chance. So I think at twelve we all kind
Speaker 1: of looked at each other and said, hey, four down,
Speaker 1: six to play. You can feel the momentum just changing
Speaker 1: a little bit and it becomes possible. Still unlikely, but possible.
Speaker 1: I think the crowd of I mean, just because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to see someone get beaten really badly, and
Speaker 1: I had a little Scottish fag on my my bag
Speaker 1: from an event I played in the States. Actually I
Speaker 1: think that maybe got me some there some some fans
Speaker 1: as well. But I think I managed to recruit all
Speaker 1: the Narrow Lady members as large Shepherd supporters on my
Speaker 1: way around because they all they all asked, so who
Speaker 1: are you and I said, oh, they're Shepherd's girlfriend, and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, come on loud. And I think the
Speaker 1: thing is everyone just loves a story, don't they. And everyone,
Speaker 1: although obviously you know I feel from onto immensely. But
Speaker 1: everyone I think loved the story of Lard coming back
Speaker 1: because it was just so unbelievable. And you know, we
Speaker 1: had people who I met and Suspectattion, just locals, you know,
Speaker 1: saying well, it's practically Scottish with that name because he's
Speaker 1: like Lard Shepherd, you know. And I shaved that to
Speaker 1: LOI was like, everybody here wants you to win a
Speaker 1: home and every how you're playing just to try and
Speaker 1: get a game of it. Like they didn't want to
Speaker 1: just go home and just be like, oh, well done
Speaker 1: to to money, which they've probably were being happy with,
Speaker 1: but everybody would want Layer too to fight back and
Speaker 1: put up a good fight what he was doing to
Speaker 1: even beat to get that score back to being if
Speaker 1: he'd lost four and three, you've been like, well, well
Speaker 1: done in the afternoon, like you played, you played well,
Speaker 1: you managed to make a game with it. You know,
Speaker 1: It's it's literally never over until it's over. I never
Speaker 1: really thought after that that I was going to lose.
Speaker 1: I never really thought about losing. I just thought I've
Speaker 1: got to use the fact that I am so far
Speaker 1: down to my advantage and just try and pile the
Speaker 1: pressure on and you know, even at four down before
Speaker 1: to play, I never thought, well, hey it's over. It
Speaker 1: wasn't over, but it still wasn't looking good four forward
Speaker 1: to play at that point. Yeah, you know it when
Speaker 1: four holes on the truck is unusual. I guess you
Speaker 1: could say, you know, how often do you see that
Speaker 1: in match playing? Ryder Cups and things like? I don't
Speaker 1: think you see that often people winning four holes on
Speaker 1: the truck. And he was standing on the fifteenth tea
Speaker 1: with his head against the team marker, like deflated, like thinking,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is over an hour. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a picture that tells a story. And I was
Speaker 1: like Layer, I was like, you're you're still on the
Speaker 1: tea here. It's had a good drive. You smashed one
Speaker 1: right down the pen over the back of the green.
Speaker 1: Monty didn't have a great drive. I can't imagine the
Speaker 1: neres that we're going through Monty's body at that point really,
Speaker 1: to be honest, I had a good drive on fifteen,
Speaker 1: just over the back of the green. He y an
Speaker 1: average drop drive and chipped up to about fifteen ft
Speaker 1: and missed the part and I ended up getting up
Speaker 1: and down. So when you're three down, the three to
Speaker 1: play hit quality tea shot on sixteen and put the
Speaker 1: pressure on and and Monty ends up pin in a
Speaker 1: little bit right into some some bushes and having to
Speaker 1: take a drop and end up. You know, Monty still
Speaker 1: hold like for five there, so he made me work
Speaker 1: to make my mask or four and a half five
Speaker 1: for for for par and sixteen and sixteen it's kind
Speaker 1: of a tough tea shot because the wind really picked
Speaker 1: up and it was into off the left and for
Speaker 1: me hitting a fade that's not a wind I like,
Speaker 1: um and lead you know, stood up and in a
Speaker 1: brilliant drive and I put a really good swing on
Speaker 1: it as well. But as soon as I hit the ball,
Speaker 1: the wind really gusted and just kept knocking it right.
Speaker 1: Took a heavy bounce off the edge of the fail
Speaker 1: into a gorse bush and um again, it didn't feel
Speaker 1: like I gave that hole to him and made a
Speaker 1: really good bogie from a pretty impossible position and he's
Speaker 1: still had work to do for par and in fairness
Speaker 1: to him, he made a good part. So that's that's
Speaker 1: really when it all started to all the nerves. That's
Speaker 1: when Lairds started to get really nervous. Again. It was
Speaker 1: like yeah, because it's it's on again. I think you're
Speaker 1: only two don't now two to go? And it's like
Speaker 1: Jesus got a chance again. So seventeen is a pretty
Speaker 1: short part. Four there there's a so a hazard the
Speaker 1: runs before the green, so you can't take it on
Speaker 1: the driver, but you just hit sort of three iron
Speaker 1: down the fairway trying to keep it short, some some
Speaker 1: fairway bunkers, and we both hit decent tea shots and
Speaker 1: at that point probably it started to pick up the
Speaker 1: windiest have been all day, and it was into the wind,
Speaker 1: had hundred fifty seven yards to pen um and the
Speaker 1: green all slopes right to left, so um, you know,
Speaker 1: I actually ended up chipping a six iron in from
Speaker 1: that distance, which is a lot of club and that
Speaker 1: kind of shot can be quite difficult when you are
Speaker 1: quite nervous, because you automatically want to go and hit
Speaker 1: something hard just it's just easier to do under pressure.
Speaker 1: But hey, again, just a quality, quality go off shot
Speaker 1: at the right time. Can you put the pressure on
Speaker 1: it upon it? Yes, he can into about five ft
Speaker 1: and then you just stay he's thinking, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what's going on? The shot he hit into seventeen was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite shots he hit that day because
Speaker 1: it was just so good, um, you know, to hit
Speaker 1: that shot at that time, and I mean Monty made
Speaker 1: a great up and down to put the pressure on
Speaker 1: Laird as well, so equally, there were so many points
Speaker 1: where mont who had a part to win or it
Speaker 1: could have been over for a load, but he just
Speaker 1: managed to keep it going somehow. I was still pretty
Speaker 1: calm at this point, you know. Obviously I hoped I
Speaker 1: would have closed is a match up by this point,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, I just kept saying to myself,
Speaker 1: just keep playing golf. Forget what's on the line, forget
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Just keep playing golf. Stick to your
Speaker 1: game plan which has worked all week and it's going
Speaker 1: to work again. Um. And I made a super part
Speaker 1: down the hill and seventeen, well, Monty hold a great
Speaker 1: part actually going down the hill and had a double
Speaker 1: break in it, which we had a long time looking
Speaker 1: at it, but he hold it and it did feel
Speaker 1: like that was that that was a clutch punt he
Speaker 1: had to make that. Really. He ended up making a
Speaker 1: great up and down the end for his part and
Speaker 1: left me with a slipperest of six ft to keep
Speaker 1: it going, and um, I think I said, there's someone else,
Speaker 1: But I think as humans, you work, you know you
Speaker 1: we work best when we know exactly what we need
Speaker 1: to do. Um, And on those last holes and knew
Speaker 1: those that that part for example, I had on seventeen
Speaker 1: keep the match going. You know, it's this needs to
Speaker 1: go in the hole. It's not like a stroke player
Speaker 1: where like it's nice that this goes and the whole
Speaker 1: it needs to go in. And that sort of made
Speaker 1: it easy for me just sort of had to know,
Speaker 1: like you know, black out and just sort of go
Speaker 1: through the routine and just go, you know, I've got
Speaker 1: to hit a quarter part and this has got to
Speaker 1: go in the hole and and end up hole on it.
Speaker 1: And you know, becauld you think if that was someone
Speaker 1: else and I was watching, I feel like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you know, your hands must be shaken, And I think,
Speaker 1: then send back to me that where your hands shaken
Speaker 1: and you know where you struggling to sort of keep composure.
Speaker 1: But I was very very calm on the outside. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, on the inside offs is very excited. But
Speaker 1: you know, I just had this sort of knowledge of
Speaker 1: this needs to go in and that helped lot and
Speaker 1: was lost. So the last song six holes that we
Speaker 1: played that day, so still had to hold his body part.
Speaker 1: And again it was a massive cheer, and you're walking
Speaker 1: to the eighteenth t going like wow, how you managed
Speaker 1: to get to st and still have a chance. It's
Speaker 1: like crazy. I have to say that I probably think
Speaker 1: walking to I was I was going to win the match,
Speaker 1: just because you know that the sort of situation with
Speaker 1: having a big lead and then being paid back to
Speaker 1: going down the last hole and that T shirt is
Speaker 1: a very difficult T shirt, especially if you're fighting a
Speaker 1: bit of a right miss. And I managed to get
Speaker 1: up and play. It was just in the rights of semi.
Speaker 1: But it was fine. Once again we hear from Laird's
Speaker 1: dead even going up to eighteen, I wasn't thinking about
Speaker 1: and winning it. Um maybe I wasn't allowing myself to
Speaker 1: think you could win it. I thought just that the
Speaker 1: chance of the prospect. We've already produced the semi miracle
Speaker 1: having got to the eighteen. So and then that was
Speaker 1: weird because the Laird actually drove first and he hit
Speaker 1: it and slightly right in the semi. It was fine.
Speaker 1: His girlfriend Chloe came up always just hit it a tree.
Speaker 1: I said, no, that's lead ball there, and she suddenly
Speaker 1: goes and we all go because we didn't see it.
Speaker 1: It's so far back, so well it must be Montes
Speaker 1: hit the tree. So we suddenly thought, oh my god,
Speaker 1: well you know, maybe just maybe we will get down
Speaker 1: the gap down the thirty seventh. So yeah, she she
Speaker 1: had looked complete terror look on her face and she
Speaker 1: thought it lead hit the tree. And I panicked because
Speaker 1: I thought that was lead hitting and I thought he
Speaker 1: topped it off the tea like just one of those
Speaker 1: crazy things. I thought, oh no, that's it, and like
Speaker 1: it was panic it was. It was definitely bandics drive
Speaker 1: up the right and it was nearly into the bushes.
Speaker 1: Couldn't really tell how to ask the rest stilling and
Speaker 1: playing rested. Yeah, and then Monty was taking a practice
Speaker 1: rain and I don't know how he mused to do,
Speaker 1: but he smashed his driver off the tea marker one
Speaker 1: more time today. Well that's not going to do him
Speaker 1: many favors. He's just just hit the sign. Hope that's
Speaker 1: not done any damage. So he was kind of like laughing,
Speaker 1: but you knew there wasn't like relapsed laugh if you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. No, it's another poor drive. I
Speaker 1: think he's looking very anxiously after this one. What unexpected
Speaker 1: drama and the final of the Don's Amateur Championship again
Speaker 1: Jeremy Scout le Monties Dad and Caddy, and then we
Speaker 1: have a slight incident on the t t which I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're probably here saw. He was actually looking to
Speaker 1: hit driver into the rough down the left hand side,
Speaker 1: because I mean, having played the course or a a week,
Speaker 1: it was the rough down that side was actually not
Speaker 1: bad and you also got the extra benefit of coming
Speaker 1: out quite hot out of the rough and consequently you
Speaker 1: could get more distance very often. So he was actually
Speaker 1: looking to try and get up up to the green
Speaker 1: and two by deliberately going for the roff it took
Speaker 1: took me out of bounds, out of play um and
Speaker 1: he obviously didn't want to end up in the fairway bunkers.
Speaker 1: So it was a deliberate ploy actually to hit the
Speaker 1: ball down the left hand side into the rough h
Speaker 1: and he he then just had a bad swing. Monty
Speaker 1: Scousel had been up in this match since the fifth
Speaker 1: hole in the morning. He was eight up with nineteen
Speaker 1: to play, five up with seven to play four up
Speaker 1: with four to play, and now with one hole left,
Speaker 1: his lead is one. Made a poor swing. It clipped
Speaker 1: the edge of the tree, fell down and went onto
Speaker 1: the path and the drive on we went like maybe
Speaker 1: twenty ars. I'm standing there going all right, let's just
Speaker 1: got an extra hols because you couldn't really see how
Speaker 1: a lad of meet washing apart from where it was,
Speaker 1: and then you're thinking Monty is going to be struggled
Speaker 1: now four bar so well you can see his ball
Speaker 1: there on the path. That's the front te box to
Speaker 1: the left of him, so that's in the penalty area,
Speaker 1: and only justin bones made the same decision to hit
Speaker 1: the ball to the rough again because he felt that
Speaker 1: was the best way to get to the green in
Speaker 1: two and so in fact that the people who watching
Speaker 1: the crowd had to be moved back because we said
Speaker 1: that we're aiming to where they were all standing. And
Speaker 1: he had a very good two hour and actually into
Speaker 1: the into that roff m and as you said, he
Speaker 1: had a pup for pat for a five, which after
Speaker 1: the drive was probably didn't seem very likely. How has
Speaker 1: Monty got this part for five? Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: people could maybe realize how good like it was from
Speaker 1: wanting to fair enough he's done that, but also to
Speaker 1: compose himself and then hit those shots to give himself
Speaker 1: a reasonable chance for five. You know, it was pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: I was standing by that partner. I would say from
Speaker 1: a foot out, I would have I'd laid pretty heavy
Speaker 1: older that was in the whole. It's only oh the
Speaker 1: whole the stays out. If that had gone in, It's
Speaker 1: amazing how differently my you know what would be but
Speaker 1: ends up just slipping out and then you're you're back
Speaker 1: down extra holes. And obviously I was the much happier
Speaker 1: person to be doing that. So oh what I'll find
Speaker 1: all those and after thirty six holes worth, at one
Speaker 1: stage they had shoveled big eight down finishes all square
Speaker 1: or into extra holes. You went from having no chance
Speaker 1: and like no chance too, you're all square and you're
Speaker 1: probably at that point in the favorite to went again
Speaker 1: like because all the pressure is back on like you Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just like wow, to honest man, I could have
Speaker 1: had a better part. It was. It was ahead of
Speaker 1: exactly what I wanted to with the right speed, and
Speaker 1: it it just lipped out. So yeah, it was a
Speaker 1: pretty pretty stressful walk back to the first year after
Speaker 1: those fourth holes. Looking back into that, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I think that Monty would probably agree to have the
Speaker 1: chance to play a Sun Death playoff. For everything that
Speaker 1: you get for winning the Amateur Championship is you know,
Speaker 1: I think you've struggle to find a situation in Gulf
Speaker 1: apart from maybe trying to win a major championship that
Speaker 1: is more pressure than that because you are It's very cliche,
Speaker 1: but it's sort of you know, it definitely does, when
Speaker 1: you like it or not, change your life a little
Speaker 1: bit for that year that you are champion. And to
Speaker 1: play a Sun Death playoff, to get to go and
Speaker 1: play in the Open and playing the Masters and and
Speaker 1: play in the US Open and off is is a
Speaker 1: high pressure environment, and you know, it was pretty cool
Speaker 1: to just be a part of that. For me, my
Speaker 1: dad were walking to the tea and there were loads
Speaker 1: of people at this point and trying to get the
Speaker 1: trolley through and onto the tea. It was a night there,
Speaker 1: but I managed to calm myself down. And even though
Speaker 1: I'd obviously let my lead slip, like Lead said, I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like I handed it to him. It's not
Speaker 1: like I finished, you know, with four double bogies in
Speaker 1: a row. He played brilliantly and I can't emphasize that enough.
Speaker 1: You know, as I said earlier, earlier in our conversation,
Speaker 1: in a thirty six whole match, both of you are
Speaker 1: going to have your run at some point, and he
Speaker 1: left his right till the end to have his. And
Speaker 1: he played beautifully under under the pressure that he must
Speaker 1: have been under, especially on seventeen when I when I
Speaker 1: hold that part and hit me, probably thought, you know,
Speaker 1: his eight nine ft looked a lot longer then. And
Speaker 1: I remember the referee who was walking around with them
Speaker 1: announcing the scores after you know, monton us is the
Speaker 1: part on eighteen, well on the third six and he
Speaker 1: announces the score goes to actual holes And I just said,
Speaker 1: but you didn't think you'd been needing to say that,
Speaker 1: and he said no. In my my dad just you know,
Speaker 1: he just said, right, let's just win, let's win this
Speaker 1: next hole. Um, and my coaches in my ears saying
Speaker 1: you've got this. My coaching flown up to watch, which
Speaker 1: is really nice, and he said, you know you've got this,
Speaker 1: come on, keep going, um. And the strange thing that
Speaker 1: I remember that walking to the first he was feelings
Speaker 1: of like, oh, wow, you've you've really let this go,
Speaker 1: but also feelings of I was here in the in
Speaker 1: the round of sixteen where I messed up on a
Speaker 1: team to win the match and Mr four ft partum
Speaker 1: and I said, you won that game, So I said,
Speaker 1: you're going to do the same again. I was so
Speaker 1: nervous I could barely speak to my caddy. I was
Speaker 1: trying to walk as slowly as possible and just trying
Speaker 1: to deep take some deep breaths and get the sort
Speaker 1: of get the nervous energy out before each shot. But um,
Speaker 1: as soon as I got over the ball, I had
Speaker 1: this um. That sort of was my calm place for
Speaker 1: the week, which is useful, you know, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, looking at it as a thirty six
Speaker 1: hole match. We were even after thirty six holes against
Speaker 1: each other. So I thought to myself, just win the playoffs,
Speaker 1: you know, And that was my mindset. I cut forgot
Speaker 1: everything that had happened in the last four holes. I
Speaker 1: knew I've been playing some good golf. I just need
Speaker 1: to make some good swings. Um and uh and yeah.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we went down the first and you just cannot
Speaker 1: bring yourself to think that this is he's going to
Speaker 1: win this. It's just I mean, yeah, what the chances
Speaker 1: of that? But you had the momentum at the going
Speaker 1: down the thirty seventh, and despite trying to stop thinking
Speaker 1: about it, you're also thinking, well, it would be extraordinary
Speaker 1: now if you didn't win. Keep down on too breathe.
Speaker 1: I was like, just keep breathing. Like he was extremely nervous,
Speaker 1: like basically having hard competitions. Monty ended up not had
Speaker 1: a great drive and he had his second shot short
Speaker 1: of the green. So you mean he maybe had like
Speaker 1: forty yards chip or a pitch or whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call it. I had a pretty decent drive. Mont
Speaker 1: sit little the left and uh and then has to
Speaker 1: chop out of the raft just shot the green, and
Speaker 1: then he's sort of thinking, Okay, here we go. Um
Speaker 1: My caddie actually told me after we finished that he
Speaker 1: gave me a number to the pin that was five
Speaker 1: yards shorter than what it actually was, but he didn't
Speaker 1: want me to go over the back with the adrenaline
Speaker 1: and stuff, and there was a little short shot. Had
Speaker 1: actually had certainly six yards to the flag, and that
Speaker 1: at this point, well I leased the flag, so I
Speaker 1: knew the guardage, but you don't want to go along
Speaker 1: with that green. So I purposely told layer of the the
Speaker 1: yards that was short of the pin so that he
Speaker 1: wouldn't go long, and he left it like almost exactly
Speaker 1: on the yardage I told him, but it was like
Speaker 1: six yards short of the whole. That's perfect at the
Speaker 1: time undercooked. And then Monty had a world class pet
Speaker 1: shot up to about a fruit. So now I'm thinking
Speaker 1: flirte three process. I'm going to be human because I've
Speaker 1: told him the whole yard. But he managed to managed
Speaker 1: to put it up close. So even in spite of
Speaker 1: five yards, Shepard made an easy part in the first
Speaker 1: playoff hole. Well, Scousel successfully scrambled to extend the match
Speaker 1: and left myself at a fifty yard pitch and he
Speaker 1: knocked on a knocked onto the green to about twenty
Speaker 1: So I thought, Jesus, this this is going to be it.
Speaker 1: But again, one short at a time and probably you know,
Speaker 1: whatever happens in my career wherever I go on to
Speaker 1: do with golf, one of the best shots I've ever
Speaker 1: hit in my life, that's with the pitch into the
Speaker 1: first playoffole under the pressure I was under, and coming
Speaker 1: back to my point, really, Matt that I've always the
Speaker 1: short game generally. He did a lot of that during
Speaker 1: the week, and of course, you know it became apparent,
Speaker 1: particularly on the in the final, but he was doing
Speaker 1: that that sort of shot quite a lot all week,
Speaker 1: and also his long putting was pretty good. Scout's lag
Speaker 1: putting was in fact very good. At that point. He
Speaker 1: hadn't had a three point all day, and standing on
Speaker 1: the tea of the second playoff for Laird still had
Speaker 1: honors a poor T shirt of the second extra Month
Speaker 1: had a great t shot, but even still then I
Speaker 1: just thought, you know, I don't know if something told
Speaker 1: me that you haven't come all this way to lose.
Speaker 1: Checking back in with Laird's dad and girlfriend, basically, like
Speaker 1: probably most people my age, I tried difficulty actually picking
Speaker 1: up the ball in the air. Time well, I watched
Speaker 1: the swing and the reactions and then then guys, beware
Speaker 1: to look, and I just remembered, my god, Laird was
Speaker 1: over trying to overhit that. It was so pumped. I mean,
Speaker 1: it hits it all pretty hard, but he just study
Speaker 1: over too much effort into it, and definitely that's not good.
Speaker 1: All I saw was the hand come off the club
Speaker 1: and signal left and I just thought, oh no, like
Speaker 1: but I again felt like that was it. You know,
Speaker 1: he had hit a poor T shot out of possession.
Speaker 1: Monty then hit a good T shot and in um
Speaker 1: lowd punch out recovery. And again even the recovery shot
Speaker 1: couldn't have been one of the key shots for Lord
Speaker 1: because he had to get it far enough up the
Speaker 1: right side that he had an angle to that pin,
Speaker 1: because again it wasn't an easy pen. Meanwhile, Scousel thinks
Speaker 1: he hit one of his best T shirts of the day.
Speaker 1: I must have pumped it three eight down there went
Speaker 1: straight for the tea peg. I saw a bounce in
Speaker 1: the middle of the fairway. It was quite a tight
Speaker 1: T shirt that second hole, and I thought, sweet, I
Speaker 1: have a little wedge in my hand, I can get
Speaker 1: that close. And obviously we lead him trouble. I don't
Speaker 1: know his life was like. I actually haven't seen it
Speaker 1: on any of the footage, but apparently he was. It
Speaker 1: was okay because there was a lot of head that
Speaker 1: from where I was standing on the fairway with a
Speaker 1: lot of heather around him, and heather obviously is is
Speaker 1: not friendly for goold for golfers, so he he actually
Speaker 1: had a very good shot, got in about fifty yards
Speaker 1: short right. But from there I still thought, you know,
Speaker 1: that's a tough up and down and if I can
Speaker 1: just knock this on the green two parts, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to lose the whole um. But when I got
Speaker 1: to my ball, it was in the left semi and
Speaker 1: to this to this day, I mean, I still don't
Speaker 1: know how it finished in the left semi. I haven't
Speaker 1: again haven't seen the footage, but that ball bounced in
Speaker 1: the middle of the fairway and it must have kicked
Speaker 1: hard left and to finish in the left semi. And
Speaker 1: it was just sitting down a fraction um and down
Speaker 1: wind with a with a short wedge, very difficult to agree,
Speaker 1: which was sloping away from me, very difficult to control,
Speaker 1: and I was kind of in between shots. And the
Speaker 1: ball came out just so hot, so hot, landed probably
Speaker 1: third a foot beyond the pen, to ft beyond the pen,
Speaker 1: and just you know, no spin on it released onto
Speaker 1: the back edge of the green on the fringe. So
Speaker 1: they probably weren't that far in distance, but Monty was
Speaker 1: like on the green where's load was sure of the
Speaker 1: pen and lead a cracking pet sharp and maybe five
Speaker 1: foot something like that. Nice touch to sit there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: then he played under the pressure. Yeah. Then to do
Speaker 1: that when he needed to, I think just shows great,
Speaker 1: great character. And again, like say, after being out of position,
Speaker 1: he needed to put it somewhere close to get himself
Speaker 1: a chance. So Marty hadn't looked like three part an
Speaker 1: all day, no chance, And because his pace and the
Speaker 1: Greenes were brilliant, and he was holding out well and
Speaker 1: he potted up to maybe they were fairly equal distance,
Speaker 1: Monty was just slightly Yeah, Monty much me slightly closer
Speaker 1: than Laird. And I was like, just try and just
Speaker 1: put a good stroke on it and trust, just trust
Speaker 1: what you've been doing. It probably was a case of
Speaker 1: whoever hold that, who ever got to go first, and
Speaker 1: if they hold that, that was going to be the
Speaker 1: winning part. I'll done. Laird Shepherd when he holds the
Speaker 1: pressure was obviously straight on me and all of them.
Speaker 1: Sudden the shorter one becomes that much longer. It was.
Speaker 1: It was also a little tricky, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a tricky little left or writer. And consequently it was
Speaker 1: always going to be a tough pat, but I think
Speaker 1: it would been much easier fled and these things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then it's down to Monty, isn't it. Monty Scalcel
Speaker 1: has a put to keep it alive. He's been solid
Speaker 1: over those puts all day. Oh not this time though,
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to learn when oh my god, you know,
Speaker 1: and it up finishing on that green and yeah, I
Speaker 1: couldn't really believe what had happened, but it was very well.
Speaker 1: He'd had to be over. I just just misread the
Speaker 1: part of it. I sort of hit it left edge
Speaker 1: and it didn't move and it lipped out, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it really sad. It was a sad ending, and I
Speaker 1: think for everyone watching it was probably one of those
Speaker 1: endings you wanted someone to hold a part to win
Speaker 1: it because it had been such a great final. Um
Speaker 1: so sort of a shame that had to be had
Speaker 1: to be ended by a miss putt. But you know,
Speaker 1: that's golf. That is one of the greatest comebacks you
Speaker 1: could ever asked to see. It's what makes the game
Speaker 1: of golf and in match play so great, though, I
Speaker 1: think is you get those little situations and you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes they're working your favor and sometimes they don't, but
Speaker 1: there was nothing to be scraced about. And I think
Speaker 1: it was just, you know, the golf and girls weren't
Speaker 1: weren't there for him on that, you know, that particular moment,
Speaker 1: but they were for lead and great for him, absolutely
Speaker 1: great fam lad shattered it down after seventeen olds, four
Speaker 1: down with four to play, and in the end that's
Speaker 1: the man from Sussex who comes through to become an
Speaker 1: amateur champion at the thirty eight pold and these two
Speaker 1: good friends and how they believe what they have gone
Speaker 1: through today. It's the kind of final wall. You don't
Speaker 1: jump around, you don't punch there, you're just so relieved
Speaker 1: and unbelieving. It was like shock when it lipped out.
Speaker 1: Just mentally, I wasn't expecting that and it was like, I,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, moment he's only gone and want it
Speaker 1: um Yeah, I just wasn't expecting to see that happen.
Speaker 1: All the injuries, all the years of toil, all the
Speaker 1: emotions spill over as you would understand at such a moment.
Speaker 1: It's actually funny have reduced a few grown mental tears
Speaker 1: at that moment, and it was, you know, I can't
Speaker 1: say it was just one of those situations where, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I know lad Well and knowing what he'd
Speaker 1: been through. If there was one other player in that
Speaker 1: field that I would have wanted to win that final
Speaker 1: other than myself, you know, it would have been Lead,
Speaker 1: And it was. I was obviously distraught, you know, there's
Speaker 1: no there's no buttering it up. I was absolutely gutted,
Speaker 1: as competitive as they come, and I wanted to win
Speaker 1: that final so badly. Um. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I think, you know, my parents always taught
Speaker 1: me that, Um, you know, you try as hard as
Speaker 1: you can, but once it's over, whether you've won or
Speaker 1: you've lost, you you lose and win with with with grace,
Speaker 1: and you respect your opposition. And and there was the
Speaker 1: great thing about the whole day was that we there
Speaker 1: was such a great respect between the both of us,
Speaker 1: and I think everyone picked up on that. There wasn't
Speaker 1: you know, too many fist pumps and getting in each
Speaker 1: other's face, and and the game was played in great spirit.
Speaker 1: And and that's that's the beauty of golf, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's that's how I believe it should be played.
Speaker 1: I think Lead thinks the same after be be finished
Speaker 1: and was just gonna shake his hand. You know, I
Speaker 1: I honestly didn't have any words for him, and you know,
Speaker 1: I just said, you know, you played great, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I wish I could have maybe been a
Speaker 1: bit more, been able to say a bit more that
Speaker 1: made any sense to that point, but I just I
Speaker 1: was speaking. I was, I just didn't know what to say.
Speaker 1: But obviously, you know, I think that's as well reason
Speaker 1: why I wasn't maybe outwardly, you know, fist pumping and
Speaker 1: really happy that I had won, because it just didn't
Speaker 1: seem appropriate. You know, it was a real battle all day,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, it was one of those situations
Speaker 1: where I think just like mutual respect for each other
Speaker 1: took over, and then the whole day it was played
Speaker 1: in such good spirits and there's a lot of good
Speaker 1: goods in the morning and stuff, you know, because you know,
Speaker 1: you know, going out of that second eighteen as well,
Speaker 1: you know, um, someone said to me, I kinder if
Speaker 1: it was, but saying no, you're going to make him
Speaker 1: put everything now, And because I needed to, and I
Speaker 1: think on the third hole, we did good good and
Speaker 1: you know, he was we were basically same distance, like
Speaker 1: three or fourf you think it was. And I said,
Speaker 1: I'll just pick up and go to the next hole.
Speaker 1: And my Caddy was sort of looking at me, like,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you should have done that, and I
Speaker 1: said to him, you know, I don't want to win.
Speaker 1: I don't want to win like that and if I
Speaker 1: want to earn it, and you know, Monty to serve
Speaker 1: so much credit for how well he played and he
Speaker 1: made he made it into a real, real battle, and
Speaker 1: so I think that was just what came out at
Speaker 1: the end. It was just you know, giving him a
Speaker 1: hug and just go And maybe that was that was something,
Speaker 1: wasn't it. And you know, it is difficult. You don't
Speaker 1: know what to say to someone when they've they've had
Speaker 1: that disappointment and you've obviously had this success and it's
Speaker 1: just it was it was difficult for both of us,
Speaker 1: who were both very emotional. If that was me in
Speaker 1: that situation, I would have been probably broken down, like
Speaker 1: m tears and stuff. And Monty was like it was
Speaker 1: just I couldn't believe that he managed to hold himself together.
Speaker 1: Like true, he's an absolute gent like the game was
Speaker 1: played and unbelievable spirits there was no Both of them
Speaker 1: wanted a charge to do well. And quite often you
Speaker 1: get games and you're playing some day in and you
Speaker 1: had a good shot and they're like, they don't say anything,
Speaker 1: But all day everyone was like you had a good shot.
Speaker 1: Like there was no regardlessly one. It was just a
Speaker 1: great day, like you would have You would have been
Speaker 1: happy if Monty one. Obviously me and LAYERD wanted Layer
Speaker 1: to win, and Monty and his dad wanted Monty to win.
Speaker 1: But if if he if he'd got to beat or
Speaker 1: whoever got beat, like you're still going to be happy
Speaker 1: for the other person winning because the way the game
Speaker 1: was played, just just the way they are off the course,
Speaker 1: like they're both nice people, Like Monty starts brand new
Speaker 1: and is just yeah, it's a good guy. But he
Speaker 1: held himself together. Unbelievable. What did What did he say
Speaker 1: to you when you hugged him. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I just said to him, you're a British amateur champion,
Speaker 1: and I think you just there was too many tears
Speaker 1: from us both to really get any words out. But
Speaker 1: and I remember saying to him, you can smile now,
Speaker 1: because I think there was just so much shock and
Speaker 1: an emotion. I think once I gave him a Huggy
Speaker 1: just collapsed. Um. But yeah, it makes me emotional thinking
Speaker 1: about it, just because, like you know, it was. It
Speaker 1: was kind of a powerful moment, I guess. And yeah,
Speaker 1: something that you dream of being there, you know when
Speaker 1: when he does something like that, so hopefully be there
Speaker 1: from anymore to come. But but yeah, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't think he had many words anyway. At that point
Speaker 1: I began to cry. To be honest, what emotional pair
Speaker 1: we are? Chloe got in there first, Well I think
Speaker 1: Andy got in there first, then Chloe. Yeah. Then I
Speaker 1: marched on the green and gave him, gave him my
Speaker 1: hug basically, you know, just I've just seen something just incredible. Really,
Speaker 1: I just I said to him out just I will
Speaker 1: never see anything like that in my life again that,
Speaker 1: you know, not the winning of it, but the way
Speaker 1: you want it not. Honestly, I feel sorry for Monty
Speaker 1: because he doesn't read My sympathy is great players right,
Speaker 1: But to anyone watching, you'll know that he didn't just
Speaker 1: give it away. He holds some quality parts. In sixteen
Speaker 1: and seventeen, when the pressure was truly on, even his
Speaker 1: up and down. The first extra hole was just top drawer,
Speaker 1: So I think he should be very very proud of that,
Speaker 1: despite obviously what happened. Monty played so great all day
Speaker 1: and such a great bow. I mean, ah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just can't believe here. And one of my good
Speaker 1: friends after we finished this was phone in me and
Speaker 1: he kept phoning me, so I thought, I answer this
Speaker 1: and picked up and yeah, like what like down the
Speaker 1: phone is just sanking what And I said, I don't know,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, what just happened? Yeah, because he
Speaker 1: only checked the scores at halftime. And I saw some
Speaker 1: comments on the on the when they put the picture
Speaker 1: up of champion Large Shepherd on there. There are no
Speaker 1: social media, and some comments were like wait what like
Speaker 1: how and then they're like someone's like I'm going to
Speaker 1: have to go back and watch live stream because I
Speaker 1: want to know what happened and and yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: just it's just sport, isn't it. I Mean, sport creates
Speaker 1: so many moments like those, and I think that's why
Speaker 1: we love it so much. That's a match story. He
Speaker 1: told of the dark days of January, standing and the range,
Speaker 1: thinking that was it. His game had gone the future
Speaker 1: plans had gone, he wouldn't be playing golf. To come
Speaker 1: back from there, and to come back from eight down
Speaker 1: after seventeen to before down before to play, and to
Speaker 1: win the amateur championship. With all that that entails, you
Speaker 1: just can't ask for a better story. Well done, commiserations
Speaker 1: montese Ca so but Laird Shepherd as the amateur champion,
Speaker 1: what a fantastic victory from all of us here, Pat Now,
Speaker 1: thanks for your company by for that. Both Court Neddler
Speaker 1: and I agree as we've been doing these interviews and
Speaker 1: editing this podcast, there are so many lessons within this story.
Speaker 1: Overcoming adversity, obviously, determination, family, friendships, relationships, and sportsmanship still matter.
Speaker 1: These two young men, in both winning and losing, not
Speaker 1: only made us better play years, but by getting to
Speaker 1: know them, we feel like we're better people. So we
Speaker 1: thank them for that. And before we get to Part four,
Speaker 1: where you'll get further reflections from the entire cast of characters,
Speaker 1: plus we have more about Laird Shepherd's future as an
Speaker 1: amateur and a pro bad yardages and who might be
Speaker 1: on the bag of Augusta. We'd like to thank Part
Speaker 1: Points for their support. The innovative app has given you
Speaker 1: an option as to how to score the game of golf.
Speaker 1: Download it now and go make part