Speaker 1: I miss the green. For example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball in a fried egg
Speaker 1: Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg, Frida egg, Frida egg
Speaker 1: fried Egg, Frida egg, bride egg Lie, I'm about ready
Speaker 1: to run off the golf course.
Speaker 2: Arnold Palmer is the master of Night.
Speaker 3: He has buddy the last two holes, two cats. I
Speaker 3: got bog ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh cat that Jory? What is the sayst lay a
Speaker 4: way his gold?
Speaker 1: I have anybody he hasn't ever seen that at play
Speaker 1: up the hill.
Speaker 2: Like that?
Speaker 3: And I think that's one of the greatest buddies I've
Speaker 3: ever seen him Friday Night. Maybe yes, sir, there can
Speaker 3: you believe it? Now?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: There?
Speaker 2: It is a wins for the ages?
Speaker 3: Is it his time?
Speaker 2: Here?
Speaker 3: It comes?
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, oh wow? In your life have you
Speaker 4: seen anything like that?
Speaker 1: Hello, friends, I'm Jim nantsis my great pleasure to welcome
Speaker 1: you to the Master's Tournament. I've heard it said before.
Speaker 2: It's a tradition unlike any other. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
Speaker 2: back to another edition of the Masters Podcast on the
Speaker 2: fried Egg Podcast. Today we are joined by last year's
Speaker 2: low Amateur and the twenty sixteen US mid am champ
Speaker 2: Stuart Hagastad Stuart, Welcome on.
Speaker 1: Hey man, Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be.
Speaker 2: Here, second time on the pod Rare air there.
Speaker 1: It's it's what it really comes down to, is just
Speaker 1: this facade that I've put on of you know, just
Speaker 1: writing the coattails of plast success and it's it's it's great.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you fell for it.
Speaker 2: What's it? What's it like one year late or after
Speaker 2: what I imagine was a just a whirlwind week last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, it's it's crazy. You know a year
Speaker 1: ago today I was, I was down there and Yingy
Speaker 1: was definitely a little bit higher this time last year.
Speaker 1: But no, I'm I'm fired up, you know, for Matt
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm really excited for him, and
Speaker 1: we've we've we've talked a little bit about the week
Speaker 1: and it's just such a special place and special event
Speaker 1: and you know, we're we're obviously looking forward to what
Speaker 1: I guess they're calling like the highly most highly anticipated
Speaker 1: masters of all time or you know, in recent history.
Speaker 1: So it'll be cool I can't wait to see it
Speaker 1: from a different perspective and you know, but definitely definitely
Speaker 1: different than last year.
Speaker 2: I imagine watching it this year, you're going to have
Speaker 2: you'll see it through a completely different lens having played there.
Speaker 2: What was, you know, the biggest thing that maybe miss
Speaker 2: perception that you had going into competing at Augusta that
Speaker 2: was either wrong or the biggest thing that kind of
Speaker 2: shocked you about competing at Augusta that you didn't ever
Speaker 2: realize from watching the telecasts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's funny you say that, because it's
Speaker 1: so true. I was down there with with my dad
Speaker 1: and we were playing together, and there was this point
Speaker 1: where it kind of struck out or stuck out to me,
Speaker 1: where I approached him and I kind of said, you
Speaker 1: know what, there's a huge part of me that's almost
Speaker 1: really jealous of you. And he's like, well, what do
Speaker 1: you mean, And I was like, well, when I look
Speaker 1: at the golf course really from from now on, because
Speaker 1: after the first couple of times you play it, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's it feels like you you walk around
Speaker 1: and you look at shots that you know guys have
Speaker 1: hit through the years, and you kind of marvel at
Speaker 1: you know how special those moments were, like you know
Speaker 1: Phil and laying my eyes and you know Tiger's chip
Speaker 1: and you know Bubba and so on so forth. And
Speaker 1: when you I guess, I don't want to say get
Speaker 1: over because that gives the wrong connotation. But when you
Speaker 1: kind of move past that initial awestruck feeling, you then
Speaker 1: kind of try and get into Okay, how can I
Speaker 1: play the golf course, and how can I try and
Speaker 1: set myself up for the best angles and leave myself
Speaker 1: the best positions to go to certain pins. You start
Speaker 1: playing it, you know, as a traditional practice round. And
Speaker 1: I love my dad, and what I was kind of
Speaker 1: trying to impress upon him was I don't know that
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life, if I'll ever have
Speaker 1: that same experience of, oh my gosh, this is where
Speaker 1: you know Jordan was or Tiger was or you know whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, I will probably now look at it more
Speaker 1: from a competitor standpoint, in the sense that like, you know,
Speaker 1: to this pin, this is where you want to be,
Speaker 1: or you know, to you know, off this tee off,
Speaker 1: you know, this is the angle you want to have,
Speaker 1: so on, so forth. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: you definitely, I would say, don't really, I guess understand
Speaker 1: until you've been there, been through that week is just
Speaker 1: and everyone says the same thing, but it's really just
Speaker 1: how much the golf course changes. It speeds up so
Speaker 1: so significantly. And last year, I guess wasn't a great
Speaker 1: example from Tuesday and or sorry from Thursday and Friday,
Speaker 1: just because of the weather. It was blown like twenty
Speaker 1: five and it you know, it had rained and it
Speaker 1: was it was playing for their standards, I guess on
Speaker 1: the softer side. But the difference between the golf course
Speaker 1: on say like Friday morning to like Sunday mid afternoon
Speaker 1: was it was crazy, like it was almost like the
Speaker 1: greens were getting purple. They were just so quick, and
Speaker 1: you know, just it's easy to see how guys would
Speaker 1: you know, they'll they'll play the par three contests and
Speaker 1: they'll come back the next day and almost have this
Speaker 1: this crazy you know, look when they've got a twenty
Speaker 1: footer on the first hole that rolls five five and
Speaker 1: you're just like, wait, how did the greens get so quick?
Speaker 1: So I would say that just the change that has
Speaker 1: made for.
Speaker 2: Sure, you know, you don't get to think about where
Speaker 2: Jordan or Phil you might not have that anymore, but
Speaker 2: now you have, well this is where I hit this
Speaker 2: one year, so you kind of have something on everybody else.
Speaker 1: I I I as, I was kind of trying to
Speaker 1: explain that that ran through my head and I was like, no, dude,
Speaker 1: just just shut your mouth. So you but yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's weird.
Speaker 2: So anyways, you had an unbelievable week out there, and uh,
Speaker 2: I think you're the first mid Am from the US
Speaker 2: mid Am Exemption winner to make the cut and then
Speaker 2: you know the the low am. Was that about the
Speaker 2: best golf that you've put together for a week ever?
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say it's the best I've
Speaker 1: ever played. I played pretty well in the twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: when I shot one twenty five in one day six
Speaker 1: one sixty four. But it's not bad relative Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a pretty good day. I uh, a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot of perfect numbers and it was fun. But
Speaker 1: I think relative to total humble brack by the way,
Speaker 1: but relative to you know, the golf course and the
Speaker 1: conditions and the crowds and the atmosphere and just the
Speaker 1: overall experience, I would absolutely say, it's the best that
Speaker 1: I've ever managed my game and managed my my emotions
Speaker 1: seventy four, Like, you know, without any context seventy four,
Speaker 1: seventy three, seventy four, seventy three. You know, to from
Speaker 1: a competitive standpoint isn't super impressive, but you know, under
Speaker 1: the conditions and how difficult the course played. And I
Speaker 1: mean if you were to like I played a practice
Speaker 1: round with Jordan and Couture on on Wednesday, and if
Speaker 1: you asked either one of them, you know, if they
Speaker 1: thought I was going to play that well that week,
Speaker 1: they probably would have laughed at you. Because I feel
Speaker 1: like I hit it all over the city of Augusta.
Speaker 1: So it was it was definitely the best I've I've
Speaker 1: ever managed kind of everything that was going on. So
Speaker 1: I'm really I'm really proud of that from that week
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 2: So to go back, you get the invitation in early
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, and then how did you prep for the week?
Speaker 2: Did you how many times did you go down to
Speaker 2: Augusta to play a few times? Who did you play
Speaker 2: your practice round with leading into the week?
Speaker 1: Sure? Yeah, I you know, I went down there. I
Speaker 1: made some trips by myself. I made a couple of
Speaker 1: trips with some family friends that from from from La
Speaker 1: that you know, I know that belong down there. So
Speaker 1: I had the chance to play it. I don't know,
Speaker 1: probably mid to high teens, i'd say. And like I said,
Speaker 1: you know earlier, the first time, you know, you either
Speaker 1: go to the Masters or you play the golf course.
Speaker 1: You're just you're kind of an awe and everything that's
Speaker 1: going on. But I really tried to make a conscious
Speaker 1: effort to make this switch. And I mean, look, I
Speaker 1: certainly don't have all the answers. I know that that
Speaker 1: Harve has talked to Scott. Harvey's talked to Matt as
Speaker 1: well about the course. But I think if I remember
Speaker 1: what I told him was like, look, the first time,
Speaker 1: maybe even the first two times, go down there and
Speaker 1: just enjoy it and see it and take it all
Speaker 1: in because it's just such a special place and it's
Speaker 1: got so much history. But like I, you know, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a point where you notice, like to make
Speaker 1: a switch, you know, and to make a change and
Speaker 1: like okay, like how can we best play this? And
Speaker 1: you know, play it a practice roud because you know
Speaker 1: where all the pins are to an extent, more or
Speaker 1: less and you don't, but you know, more or less,
Speaker 1: it's probably five maybe six pins that they traditionally use
Speaker 1: each year. So yeah, it's like I said, mid to
Speaker 1: high teens. I got down there like the Thursday before
Speaker 1: and I played practice rounds on Tuesday with Thomas Peters
Speaker 1: and Adam Scott and then on Wednesday with with Jordan
Speaker 1: and Matt. Last year there was some weather, so I
Speaker 1: maybe would have played eighteen one of the days. A
Speaker 1: lot of people have said, you know, try and not
Speaker 1: play as much because you don't want to get tired out.
Speaker 1: But like, when you go down there, you're adrenaline. It's
Speaker 1: just so I You're just you're kind of trying to
Speaker 1: soak it all in. So, like I said, I talked
Speaker 1: to you know, guys in the past that played the tournament,
Speaker 1: Sammy Schmidt's, and he's like, yeah, everyone told me, you know,
Speaker 1: try not, you know, and play eighteen each day, But
Speaker 1: you're adrenaline so high. All you want to do is
Speaker 1: go out there and play in front of crowds and
Speaker 1: friends and family. And thankfully, I guess in retrospect for me,
Speaker 1: the weather kind of limited how much I could play,
Speaker 1: so I was able to can still you know, you know,
Speaker 1: store energy and kind of contain myself during Monday through Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Who gave you the best advice and what was it?
Speaker 2: If you can share?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say two things. I had the chance
Speaker 1: to play with Ben Crenshaw and Carl Jackson, or with
Speaker 1: Ben the Sunday before, and Carl was out there with us,
Speaker 1: and basically Carl went into my book and he made
Speaker 1: a bunch of notes, maybe not the same ones that
Speaker 1: Jordan had, but very similar just kind of the pull
Speaker 1: of the golf course and what everything you know would
Speaker 1: traditionally kind of you know, go towards so you know,
Speaker 1: everything kind of goes towards that area and Amen corner
Speaker 1: and just like different parts of the greens. I mean,
Speaker 1: to have a guy like that such invaluable experience, it
Speaker 1: can only be kind of gained, you know, through going
Speaker 1: out there, like as I think knowing up, I love
Speaker 1: their podcast now. I think they sum up the way
Speaker 1: that you know, they talk about the Greens and the
Speaker 1: reads that Augusta pretty well, like you don't like listen,
Speaker 1: I obviously played the first round and you know of
Speaker 1: my life and the tournament on Thursday, but you don't really,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, read the greens, you learn them
Speaker 1: and like to have a guy like Carl out there,
Speaker 1: you know, to kind of impress upon you like this
Speaker 1: is where the pole of the golf course goes. This
Speaker 1: is what this ball does. This is what it does,
Speaker 1: is it loses speed. It just really confirms a lot
Speaker 1: of that homework that you put in kind of leading
Speaker 1: into the week. So it just that you know a
Speaker 1: little bit makes you, you know a little bit more confident,
Speaker 1: I guess you could say, and you know the decisions
Speaker 1: that you're making. And then as far as as playing,
Speaker 1: Adam Scott made a comment that was really really cool.
Speaker 1: So I tell everyone, like I was by far the
Speaker 1: most nervous on Tuesday. I didn't, you know, play say
Speaker 1: high school football or you know, high school basketball at
Speaker 1: a super high level, you know, in front of thousands
Speaker 1: of people. I always kind of tried to tell myself,
Speaker 1: you know, going into the tournament that playing in front
Speaker 1: of one hundred people is not so different than playing
Speaker 1: in front of a thousand. That's not true at all,
Speaker 1: Like people is way way more intimidating. So I was
Speaker 1: super nervous on Tuesday and Wednesday and kind of every
Speaker 1: day thereafter, I became a little bit more comfortable. So
Speaker 1: I preface that because when I went to Adam, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I felt like I was kind of like a
Speaker 1: deer in the headlights on Tuesday. I was so terrified,
Speaker 1: I guess at the moment, and I'm kind of trying
Speaker 1: to think about this, like okay to this pen, what's
Speaker 1: the best place to miss? And you know, to for
Speaker 1: this side of the fairway, like would you prefer to
Speaker 1: be on this side or that side? And I'm sure
Speaker 1: by like seven, so we played in the back nine
Speaker 1: together and by seventeen, I'm sure he just kind of
Speaker 1: got annoyed with me, and or maybe he was just
Speaker 1: being super patient, was just giving me honest advice, but
Speaker 1: either way, I took it to heart. And he was like, listen, Stu,
Speaker 1: it's a major championship. Like I've I'm a Master's champion
Speaker 1: and you know I've won here before, but I you know,
Speaker 1: I'm the most nervous I am over any t shot
Speaker 1: all years. On the first hole, like there's just a
Speaker 1: couple pins and a couple spots out here where you
Speaker 1: just got to step up and hit a really good one,
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's not really a place to miss.
Speaker 1: If you do miss, then you just got to do
Speaker 1: the best you can. But you know, you you hit
Speaker 1: great shots, you know under the conditions to get here,
Speaker 1: and you know you can you can execute under the
Speaker 1: gun again. But there's just a couple of spots out here,
Speaker 1: like there are any PGA Tour venues in any major
Speaker 1: championships where you really just got to go commit and
Speaker 1: and try and hit a good one. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I like, how blunt that is. That totally makes sense
Speaker 1: and I just kind of went from there. So that
Speaker 1: was that was huge. It just it gives you, you know,
Speaker 1: he gave me the confidence to to just kind of
Speaker 1: be like, hey, these guys go through the same thing
Speaker 1: that you know everyone else goes through. You just gotta
Speaker 1: I don't know, you just got to deal with the
Speaker 1: consequences and you know, like I said, try and hit
Speaker 1: a good one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, at the end of the day, that's that's real.
Speaker 1: That's really blunt. But like, I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: it was it was cool.
Speaker 2: Austin's are known for their bluntness, so it's, uh, it's fitting. Yeah,
Speaker 2: do you think there's a shot out there that that
Speaker 2: gets oken of a lot that might be a little
Speaker 2: bit overrated in terms of how difficult it it is
Speaker 2: versus you know what they talk it up to be.
Speaker 1: Well, let's let's be really clear about this. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say it's overrated. I would just say I know what
Speaker 1: the answer is, and I'm sure you do too. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say it's overrated. I would just say I think
Speaker 1: it's over it's over complicated. Twelve is a really amazing hole.
Speaker 1: You know, with the crowd and the it feels like
Speaker 1: you're in a stadium. You know, you have eleven, you
Speaker 1: have twelve, you have thirteen, and it feels like a
Speaker 1: little bowl. And obviously, you know, over the years there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of you know, speculation of the wind
Speaker 1: and you know certain pins and what to do, and
Speaker 1: two years ago, you know, you're sitting there on your
Speaker 1: couch can of you know, as a everyone is, you know,
Speaker 1: so excited for the Masters every year, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's just certain shots that you really look forward to seeing.
Speaker 1: And I would say that that shot on twelve is
Speaker 1: definitely one of them. Because you know, whether it's the
Speaker 1: media or you know, producers or whoever, you know, they
Speaker 1: they just kind of impress upon how how I guess
Speaker 1: influential the wind is. Well, I don't know if if
Speaker 1: I heard this before, if I just am a total
Speaker 1: bonehead and like invented my own theory. But I kind
Speaker 1: of tried to ask, you know, guys down there, you know, caddies,
Speaker 1: players whoever, like, how do you play twelve right? And
Speaker 1: everyone pretty much had the same answer. It was like, well,
Speaker 1: if you hit it a one hundred and fifty five
Speaker 1: yard shot before, yes, they go, great, it's one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty five yards over the middle of the bunker.
Speaker 1: Every single time. I'm like even to like a left
Speaker 1: pin or right pin Stewart every single time if there's
Speaker 1: a little like if it's like you know, if there's
Speaker 1: if it feels like there's a little bit of wind,
Speaker 1: maybe three or four yards more. But if you if
Speaker 1: you hit it or over one fifty, like if you
Speaker 1: put it in the bunker, you know, it's it's not great,
Speaker 1: but you're it's it's better than putting putting it in
Speaker 1: race creek and and longs really tough. And I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm putting my foot in my mouth with this one,
Speaker 1: but I I really tried to just be like steal
Speaker 1: you've hit you know, you've you've hit a solid eight
Speaker 1: iron a thousand times and more, you've hit solidate irons
Speaker 1: a thousand times in your life. It's an eight iron
Speaker 1: over the middle of the bunker. Just step up and
Speaker 1: hit a good one, commit to it and go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a lot of what Adam Scott said. It's
Speaker 2: just one of those places where you have to hit
Speaker 2: a good golf shot. It's pretty simple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I mean, like, yeah, it's it's so true though,
Speaker 1: like you me, so eleven is twelve and thirteen is
Speaker 1: really cool because you know it obviously has you know,
Speaker 1: the allure and just everything that goes with it because
Speaker 1: it is amen corner. But what I guess the what
Speaker 1: I didn't understand, you know, as a as an avid watcher,
Speaker 1: is you don't quite understand just how many people are there.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's like four or five feels like thousand
Speaker 1: people because there's a concession stand behind and there's just
Speaker 1: there's there's groups all around. There's typically one on eleven
Speaker 1: and then one on twelve, and then one on thirteen,
Speaker 1: and it's just a really populated area. And after even
Speaker 1: when you hit your second shot on eleven, Like as
Speaker 1: you begin to walk down the hill and you become
Speaker 1: you know, like one hundred, one hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 1: out of the green, it feels different. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's it feels like you almost gonna enter this mini arena.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I don't know. I'm sure you know
Speaker 1: a lot of listeners to the pod, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've been in a situation where they have you know,
Speaker 1: like an eighty yard say web shot like in a
Speaker 1: number or something to agree, you know what i mean,
Speaker 1: like something to that extent. Well, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: like that, but it's not at all like that. It's
Speaker 1: like you're you're overthinking a lot of things and you
Speaker 1: just you need to you know.
Speaker 3: It's.
Speaker 1: Uh, it's wild. It's it's it's really it's it's crazy.
Speaker 1: But you know, luckily I I didn't have too much
Speaker 1: carnage on that hole. I think I was like two
Speaker 1: over on the week. I think I three putted like twice.
Speaker 1: But it's, uh, it's it's a really gosh, it's such
Speaker 1: a great Part three.
Speaker 2: I feel I feel like if you gave people two
Speaker 2: over on the week, people they probably take it they said,
Speaker 2: you're gonna play this whole too over, you know, with
Speaker 2: the bogey on Thursday and Saturday. Do you think the
Speaker 2: majority of the field would take it?
Speaker 1: Do want to be totally honest? Yeah, no, okay, if
Speaker 1: you want to, if you want to, if you want
Speaker 1: to win, you got I mean, it's I think it
Speaker 1: kind of goes back to, you know, guys that are
Speaker 1: are really playing to win, competing, and I think I
Speaker 1: think to make the cut, a lot of guys might,
Speaker 1: especially in a year like last year, where it was,
Speaker 1: you know, playing a little tougher with the conditions. But
Speaker 1: it's it's look, it's it's a tough hole. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, for a lot of guys, it's a
Speaker 1: nine iron, Like for Phil, I bet it's a nine iron.
Speaker 1: For some guys it's an eight iron, and those guys
Speaker 1: are so good with their scoring clubs, and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of within twenty feet and I think just it's
Speaker 1: one of the less severe greens on the course. Granted,
Speaker 1: there are you know, a ton of subtleties to it,
Speaker 1: but you know, relative to a green like say five
Speaker 1: or four, you know a lot of them. But if
Speaker 1: you give it, like if you can hit a good
Speaker 1: one there, and you can give yourself fifteen or twenty feet.
Speaker 1: Like it's kind of like saying, if if you could
Speaker 1: give yourself eighteen twenty footers you know throughout the round,
Speaker 1: do you think you shoot under part? And it's like, well, shoot,
Speaker 1: you certainly hope. So, well, if those guys can hit
Speaker 1: an eight iron four times to twenty feet, you know
Speaker 1: a lot of I'm going to say, shoot, I hope
Speaker 1: I make one of those.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a I mean that's about what their proximity
Speaker 2: is at. That is probably thirty feet from that yardage
Speaker 2: or so I think. So I'm not positive. I look
Speaker 2: at those numbers, but they get jumbled in my brain.
Speaker 1: What uh do you kind of you got to get
Speaker 1: what I'm saying with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, I completely get. I think that's like
Speaker 2: the whole psychology of design and why it's a great
Speaker 2: hole is that if you put a world class player
Speaker 2: on that hole, it's like what you said, it's just
Speaker 2: a eight iron or a nine iron, and those players
Speaker 2: know they can hit that shot, and that's why you see,
Speaker 2: you know, there's nowhere to bail out, and they have
Speaker 2: to execute the shot. And if they execute the shot,
Speaker 2: you know, they probably'll do it eighteen out of twenty
Speaker 2: times on the range. But when you throw in the pressure,
Speaker 2: the people, the wind, you know, there's stuff that happens,
Speaker 2: and there's just outliers to everything.
Speaker 1: So hundred percent, yeah, that would be my only I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's certainly not overrated at all. It's it's an
Speaker 1: amazing part three and there's you know, it has a
Speaker 1: ton of history. But I would would say that a
Speaker 1: lot of it is. And again I don't mean this
Speaker 1: in a derogatory way at all, but as far as
Speaker 1: being maybe over hyped, which is, you know, a bad
Speaker 1: way to put it. But like if you have to,
Speaker 1: you know, if you hit you know, a crisp you
Speaker 1: know sound of the club face that doesn't believe if
Speaker 1: you had if you had a quality golf shot that
Speaker 1: goes we'll call it more or less. We'll say one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five yards again over the middle of
Speaker 1: the bunker, could or take two or three yards, which
Speaker 1: most of those guys can do on a pretty regular basis.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have, you know, you're going to have a
Speaker 1: look at birdie, whether it's a small chip or a
Speaker 1: pitch or you know, a putt, or you know, you
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position to potentially make two and
Speaker 1: hopefully make three.
Speaker 2: Mm hm, it's a I agree. I mean it's a
Speaker 2: it's a case of the media over hyping it and
Speaker 2: beating something to death. Is a lot of time for sure.
Speaker 2: With with out there, what's the hole that doesn't get
Speaker 2: talked about enough?
Speaker 1: We can start with three. Three is an amazing, amazing,
Speaker 1: amazing part four. There's so many ways to play it.
Speaker 1: Whether you hit iron off the tee and you know,
Speaker 1: try and stand on one side, you know, the fairway
Speaker 1: for different angles, or you know to hit driver kind
Speaker 1: of down in the flat, whether you try and drive
Speaker 1: it or you put it down in that area just
Speaker 1: over the bunkers on the left. You know, to certain pins.
Speaker 1: Some guys you know love to have like forty fifty
Speaker 1: yards in or they can put some spin on it,
Speaker 1: or you know they go to a you know, front
Speaker 1: right or back right pin. It's just it's a really
Speaker 1: really neat part four that I don't think it's the
Speaker 1: credit that it deserves. I mean, shoot, you could you
Speaker 1: could go through every hole. I've always kind of said
Speaker 1: that after you hit your drive and you can around
Speaker 1: the corner on two and the golf course kind of
Speaker 1: opens up in front of you. That's like my vision
Speaker 1: of what having looks like is like, you know, just
Speaker 1: the whole golf course is right in front of you,
Speaker 1: and the sun is always shining so so so peacefully
Speaker 1: and perfectly, and the greens all have this special kind
Speaker 1: of tint to them. It's just it's really really it's
Speaker 1: it's unlike anything I've ever seen before on a golf course.
Speaker 1: So let's see three mm six is tough, but let's
Speaker 1: see here, let me think about this.
Speaker 2: You know, three I think has the most variance of
Speaker 2: any hole out there, does it? So where you get
Speaker 2: the most amount of birdies and bogies, Like you know,
Speaker 2: like two obviously gets birdied a ton, but it's very
Speaker 2: rarely bogied, but four or three you see tons of
Speaker 2: birdies and tons of bogies in double even I think
Speaker 2: it has It's crazy that a three hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: yard par four played as the third and the fourth
Speaker 2: toughest hole on the course in two rounds, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, so it's not like.
Speaker 1: I think, I think that's just kind of a really
Speaker 1: good indicator of a great you know, maybe from an
Speaker 1: architectural standpoint, I don't go quite as deep as you do,
Speaker 1: but I think that's just an indication of you know,
Speaker 1: guys make certain decisions on how to play the hole,
Speaker 1: and if they execute, then you know, maybe they're they're
Speaker 1: paid off. And if they don't, then you know they're
Speaker 1: they're you know, they're penalized for it. I just it's
Speaker 1: a really, really, really cool hole, and it's it's one
Speaker 1: that definitely kind of kept me awake at night as
Speaker 1: I as I got ready for the event.
Speaker 2: So most people probably won't know this, but you are arguably,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the biggest Masters fans as well.
Speaker 2: You know you are, You're deep in the weeds when
Speaker 2: it comes to Master's Week. So what what I am,
Speaker 2: What are your plans this week? What do you do?
Speaker 2: You have the schedule set aside? How are you balancing
Speaker 2: the work in the in the coverage.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So luckily for me, my my boss is a
Speaker 1: matt or both bosses are just massive golf fans as well.
Speaker 1: So typically CNBC is on, you know, on all the TVs,
Speaker 1: but you know, upon going into the office, you know,
Speaker 1: months in advance, I kind of I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: so during Masters week is it's still on and he's
Speaker 1: like no, no, no, no no. I'm like, okay, cool, just
Speaker 1: making sure so you know, I'll be following and I'll
Speaker 1: be watching. But what I'll probably do So my birthday
Speaker 1: is on the tenth, and this year or sorry, you know,
Speaker 1: this time of year has always been very special to me.
Speaker 1: There's there's a story in our family that I guess
Speaker 1: at like my sixth you know, birthday party, as everyone's
Speaker 1: you know, kind of going around doing whatever six year
Speaker 1: olds do. Apparently I had snuck into the other room
Speaker 1: to watch the Masters with my dad and left all
Speaker 1: my friends out. I don't know if that's an indication
Speaker 1: of me being an awful team player or or just
Speaker 1: really caring about the Masters, but I guess my mom
Speaker 1: was a pall to My dad was just super happy
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Your dad was probably like that boy.
Speaker 1: My dad was like so into it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They both tell the story pretty in pretty different lights.
Speaker 1: But yeah, So you know, my guess is is I'll
Speaker 1: I'll probably watch it with with two buddies, two or
Speaker 1: three buddies. I probably won't go to a big Master's
Speaker 1: watching party. I probably set up like a laptop or
Speaker 1: two in front of me and you know, turn on
Speaker 1: the TV. But you know, I had an amazing experience
Speaker 1: last year and you know, a very life changing one.
Speaker 1: It was so special for friends and family and obviously myself,
Speaker 1: and it's I'm probably just gonna try and watch it
Speaker 1: and peace and quiet and enjoy the theater that kind
Speaker 1: of goes on. And then as far as like friends,
Speaker 1: Doc Doug. I've gotten to know Jauque in just a
Speaker 1: little bit obviously, Matt. You know, I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: how he plays this year. Harry Ellis was on the
Speaker 1: other side for the Walker Cup, you know, to watch
Speaker 1: the ams and to kind of watch, you know, the
Speaker 1: experience that that they're going to have, and then to
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully be able to share that, you know
Speaker 1: with them and kind of bond over just how special
Speaker 1: of a week it is. You know, it'll I'll be
Speaker 1: I'll be definitely tuned in. So I'm really looking forward
Speaker 1: to a great week.
Speaker 2: You know, what they need to add to the early
Speaker 2: round coverage as an AM cam?
Speaker 1: Is it what an AM cam?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, just foul a coverage exclusively on the ams.
Speaker 1: So I think I was listening to a maybe a
Speaker 1: podcast last year where someone said something similar like they
Speaker 1: need to have like an am miked up or something,
Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, they definitely don't need to
Speaker 1: mic me up on the golf course.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's it's probably for the best if
Speaker 1: they don't. If they don't do that.
Speaker 2: Who you got this week?
Speaker 1: Pros?
Speaker 2: Pros?
Speaker 1: Like we're talking talking, Uh, if you had to make a.
Speaker 2: Pick, let's say, take your take your pick, and then
Speaker 2: give us a sleeper, your sleeper.
Speaker 1: Okay, uh my horse, my my chalk pick would be
Speaker 1: JT because I mean stats, I mean, there's very few
Speaker 1: people playing better in the world than he is right now.
Speaker 1: And then my other pick, and I'm not even gonna
Speaker 1: call him a sleeper, but I've been calling this for months.
Speaker 1: I got Patrick Can'tley winning the Masters this year.
Speaker 2: Oh man, he's a stud. Yeah, it's uh, he's got
Speaker 2: He's got experience too.
Speaker 1: I know he does. He made like six birdies in
Speaker 1: an eagle to beat Hideki for low Am. I think
Speaker 1: it was Hideki, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah? It was twenty eleven, right.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah. So Chris was on the bag for him,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about it with him before and it
Speaker 1: was a special week. I love Pat's game. I've known Pat,
Speaker 1: you know, a long time, and he's got sneaky length.
Speaker 1: He hits a draw. He's a really really good iron
Speaker 1: player in the sense that he's very good at being
Speaker 1: patient and putting it to eighteen twenty feet and he's
Speaker 1: he's a really really good putter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I just I just I just.
Speaker 1: Have a feeling that he, you know, with with a
Speaker 1: lot of the you know things he's been through, Augusta
Speaker 1: is a huge goal for him to get to. And
Speaker 1: I think he's putting a lot of emphasis on playing
Speaker 1: well this week, and I it wouldn't surprise me to
Speaker 1: see him, you know, play well. But I I have
Speaker 1: a feeling he's gonna, you know, he's gonna he's gonna
Speaker 1: make some noise this week. For sure.
Speaker 2: I think he is the It's like the he winning
Speaker 2: was really big for him too beforehand, you know, because
Speaker 2: he got that brand in the fall. So he's won
Speaker 2: in the last you know, six months when he hasn't
Speaker 2: played and you know, he's only played for essentially twelve
Speaker 2: months in the last you know, three four years.
Speaker 1: His official World Golf Ranking page is really impressive.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's it's very consistent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you won't find too many you won't find the
Speaker 1: letters MC too many times on it.
Speaker 2: You know what's amazing is his his like a testament
Speaker 2: to how good he hits the ball, is that he's
Speaker 2: like in the top ten or fifteen of driving distance,
Speaker 2: but his club head speeds like middle of the road.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's crazy. And he's like sneaky long too.
Speaker 1: I guess when he, you know, had his his back
Speaker 1: and you know, he was kind of going through some
Speaker 1: of you know, his injury stuff, he really spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time and this is from guys up in
Speaker 1: Virginia and we're close with I guess he spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time getting in the gym and strengthening himself,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that's kind of now beginning to
Speaker 1: pay off. And I think it's you can see it
Speaker 1: in the way that he's played and the way that
Speaker 1: you know he's you know, his finishes and it's I
Speaker 1: gotta I got a good feel about Pat this week.
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's gonna make some noise.
Speaker 2: I think he is one hundred to one right now
Speaker 2: for any any gamblers out there, so pretty pretty good
Speaker 2: odds at least I think that's usually like a tenth
Speaker 2: of it, so it would probably be like ten to
Speaker 2: one for a top ten.
Speaker 1: So all right, you have who do you have?
Speaker 2: I got j T. I'm JT same boat. I think
Speaker 2: I personally think he's the best player in the world
Speaker 2: right now. He's got. The thing that impresses me about
Speaker 2: JT is like he's a a plus driver of the
Speaker 2: golf ball. He's one of the best iron players in
Speaker 2: the world. He's got an incredible short game, and he's
Speaker 2: an incredible putter, and the progression of that game over
Speaker 2: the last four years has been just fascinating to watch
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 1: I mean it's you know, look, I don't the storylines
Speaker 1: you know that are going into this year. Obviously Tiger,
Speaker 1: you know Bubba recently, you know, Fills and playing great
Speaker 1: I mean John Rahm, such as Stud Jordan, obviously, the
Speaker 1: history he's had. I mean, if Rory Putts, well, you
Speaker 1: know he could he could you know, run away with
Speaker 1: it like you did at bay Hill. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: Dustin could can kind of dominate with his length the
Speaker 1: way he did, you know, with the tournament chance shoot,
Speaker 1: there's so many good players, and it would just it
Speaker 1: would be so cool to watch Jason Day, you know,
Speaker 1: when I even talked about Sergio that, you know, the
Speaker 1: champion from last year, obviously like it's it's it's crazy.
Speaker 1: It would be so much fun to see you know,
Speaker 1: four or five of those guys just really you know,
Speaker 1: start making putts and just it would be it would
Speaker 1: be cool.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I think we're I think we're in for a good year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's just so many names that a couple of
Speaker 2: them are bound to be in it, so it should
Speaker 2: be should be an awesome year, all right, overrated, underrated,
Speaker 2: and then you're out of here. You ready, what do
Speaker 2: we got, Let's do it? Pimento cheese sandwiches.
Speaker 1: I'm not a cheese guy, so I can't offer an opinion.
Speaker 1: But all all my buddies that went down last year
Speaker 1: that were kind of around, they loved them. I know
Speaker 1: that that's it's kind of a you know, a hot topic,
Speaker 1: but like they've been around for an awfully long time,
Speaker 1: and there's a reason they've been around it off of
Speaker 1: the long time, they thought they were great.
Speaker 2: So driving down Magnolia Lane, like.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the most underrated thing. So I went
Speaker 1: as slowly as possible. I bet I had a line
Speaker 1: of cars behind me as I drove down Magnolia Lane
Speaker 1: because it's just the coolest drive in in sports. And
Speaker 1: if it's I mean, if it's not, tell me what
Speaker 1: it is. It's I went out of my way to
Speaker 1: like go at a snail's pace every single day, Like
Speaker 1: I I factored in time getting ready for the for
Speaker 1: you know, my my my rounds to really drive down.
Speaker 1: It's just it's so cool and I get chills just
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure you can hear my voice. I
Speaker 1: get chills just thinking about it. It's it is just
Speaker 1: so so special. And you know, you have in my
Speaker 1: head every time I would go down, I would have,
Speaker 1: you know, the piano the Master's theme song kind of
Speaker 1: in the back of my head, and oh, it's it's
Speaker 1: just it's so cool.
Speaker 2: So no music when you're driving down.
Speaker 1: There was no there was there. I think I actually
Speaker 1: intentionally turned whatever I was listening to down on the radio,
Speaker 1: just to enjoy the serenity and the silence. Like I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm making this like artistic, but I mean
Speaker 1: maybe maybe I went to YouTube and stuff I could
Speaker 1: got if I could get the video to play in
Speaker 1: the car. That was a very sacred time during that
Speaker 1: week and any time I've I've played it other than
Speaker 1: that Magnolia lay is is. I mean, it's it's what
Speaker 1: you dream about driving down. So I wanted complete focus
Speaker 1: on that drive.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, all right. Last one the fourteenth hole.
Speaker 1: Fourteenth hole, yeah, Augusta, Yeah, I think it's underrated. There's
Speaker 1: no bunkers on the I mean, you know everything about it.
Speaker 1: There's no bunkers on the whole. People don't understand people
Speaker 1: being you know, if you've never been down there or
Speaker 1: played it, you know you're just watching it on TV,
Speaker 1: you don't understand just how severe that green is. I
Speaker 1: mean if you go if you go right of the
Speaker 1: pan or too far left of the pin, where you
Speaker 1: have you know, like a really you know, a twenty footer,
Speaker 1: that green is so tough. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it kind of goes back to the experience and that
Speaker 1: you know, historical you know, shots that have been hit
Speaker 1: over the years, like you know, you can use the
Speaker 1: backslopes and you can use different parts of the undulations
Speaker 1: to kind of maneuver, you know, different shots towards the pin.
Speaker 1: It's a hole that requires, I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of experience, but at the same time, it's kind of
Speaker 1: that ultimate you know, not to totally harp on what
Speaker 1: Adam said, but if you step up and you had
Speaker 1: a good shot there, like you can have a really
Speaker 1: close look at party versus if you're just a little
Speaker 1: bit off. You know, you're looking at a twenty five
Speaker 1: foot that breaks twelve feet that you can't put within
Speaker 1: ten feet if you tried. So I love fourteen. I
Speaker 1: think it's a really really neat hole, and it's it's
Speaker 1: kind of like when you, you know, look back through
Speaker 1: the years right where you can start making noise, maybe Birtie,
Speaker 1: you pirty twelve and then you egle eleven and you know,
Speaker 1: you whatever. Like but that Sunday pin position, you know,
Speaker 1: where it's kind of almost in that little bowl where
Speaker 1: you see a lot of guys hit it close. Or
Speaker 1: if you're just even a fraction off, then it's just
Speaker 1: such a tough pin. I just I think it's a
Speaker 1: really really cool hole.
Speaker 2: That is the correct answer, you know, But I agree,
Speaker 2: Well that's why we get along. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 2: you see so many times people make a run and
Speaker 2: then something happens, like you'll just see a bogie pop
Speaker 2: on fourteen, or somebody doesn't birdy thirteen and they birthy
Speaker 2: fourteen and then they get to fifteen and make a
Speaker 2: birdie er eagle. It's just such an important hole, and
Speaker 2: it's it's so different than the rest of the holes
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: And it's so fair, you know, if you if you
Speaker 1: hit a good drive, get one out there. That whole
Speaker 1: I feel like kind of, you know, during the week,
Speaker 1: maybe cause it's playing a little bit firmer and faster,
Speaker 1: I think is a little shorter than maybe the way
Speaker 1: that it played in practice rounds. Just adrenaline and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's it's it's hot that day or whatever, and
Speaker 1: I just I just it's it's a really really it's
Speaker 1: either I feel like a momentum provider or a momentum stunner.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously like if you make par then
Speaker 1: it's neither. But it's I I've always loved thirteen or fourteen,
Speaker 1: and I think it's, you know, kind of maybe the
Speaker 1: back nine version of three where it doesn't necessarily get
Speaker 1: the credit that it deserves, and I just it's it's
Speaker 1: just it's a cool hole. It's a really cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's awesome. But hey, Stu, enjoy the week.
Speaker 2: Thanks for the time, it was awesome and excited to
Speaker 2: watch this year's Masters. Disappointed we going to get to
Speaker 2: see you play again.
Speaker 1: That's okay, man, I'm looking forward to to seeing it
Speaker 1: from a different light. And thank you for having me
Speaker 1: on the podcast. It's always fun to talk to you
Speaker 1: and I always enjoy listening. So thank you for everything
Speaker 1: you do. And I'm sure we'll be texting next week.
Speaker 2: All right, man, be well,