Speaker 1: I miss the green.
Speaker 2: For example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball
Speaker 2: in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball in a fried.
Speaker 2: Egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg, Frida Egg, Frida Egg,
Speaker 2: fried Egg, Frida Egg, bride egg Lie, I'm about ready
Speaker 2: to run off the golf course.
Speaker 1: Arnold Palmer is the Masters of Night.
Speaker 2: He has buddy the last two holes, two cats.
Speaker 1: I got bog ahead of cat that Jory?
Speaker 2: What is the say that lay a ways? God? Have
Speaker 2: anybody hasn't ever seen that? A play up the hill.
Speaker 1: Like that? And I think that's one of the greatest
Speaker 1: buddies I've ever seen in Friday Night.
Speaker 2: Maybe yes, sir there, can you believe it?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: No? There?
Speaker 3: It is a win for the ages?
Speaker 2: Is it his time.
Speaker 1: Here? It comes?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, oh wow? In your life? Have you
Speaker 3: seen anything like that?
Speaker 2: Hello? Friends, I'm Jim nantsis my great pleasure to welcome
Speaker 2: you to the Master's Tournament. I've heard it said before.
Speaker 2: It's a tradition.
Speaker 1: Unlike any other Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another
Speaker 1: Master's podcast on the Frida Egg Podcast Today. I am
Speaker 1: joined by nineteen ninety six us AM runner up in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven Master's contestants Steve Scott, Steve, welcome on.
Speaker 2: Thanks Sandy, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, we get to talk to the man
Speaker 1: that you know, had the most probably famous loss in
Speaker 1: US Amateur history.
Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, thanks for reminding me of that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: you know, you know, it's one of those things that, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, I really wear it. That's bad your honor,
Speaker 2: you know, but it's you know, I played great under
Speaker 2: great pressure, and you know, the Tiger guy just played
Speaker 2: a little bit better. And and you know, he said,
Speaker 2: he said, if I can beat Steve Scott in his
Speaker 2: final US Amateur, I am ready to turn pro. And
Speaker 2: he went on and he nipped me in thirty eight holes,
Speaker 2: and he went.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the tough thing with match play. We saw
Speaker 1: it at that you see it every year at the
Speaker 1: match play on the tour. Is like, you can you
Speaker 1: can play as good a golf as you can play
Speaker 1: and just get beat. And to have that happen in
Speaker 1: a final of the US AM I mean it had
Speaker 1: to be one of the greatest us AM matches of
Speaker 1: all time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty historical. I mean, you know, Jack Nicholas,
Speaker 2: Bobby Jones, nobody had ever won three US Amateurs in
Speaker 2: a row. And you know, for me to be the
Speaker 2: guy to be in the way of history per se,
Speaker 2: you know, it was a pretty unique situation to be in.
Speaker 2: I mean, you think of the odds of just making it,
Speaker 2: just making it to the US Amateur in general is
Speaker 2: is highly difficult. And then you have a field of
Speaker 2: three hundred and twelve players that pairs down to two
Speaker 2: at the end of the week, and it was me
Speaker 2: and that guy, and you know, you think of the
Speaker 2: odds of that, it's pretty astronomical. And you know, I
Speaker 2: played my heart out. I you know, I didn't blow it.
Speaker 2: I didn't choke I I you know, if it was
Speaker 2: stroke play, I would have beat him. But it wasn't
Speaker 2: stroke play, and you know, it was just one of
Speaker 2: those things that you know, golf always comes down to
Speaker 2: one shot, and you know, it just happened to be
Speaker 2: that last hole. I made a bogie and he made
Speaker 2: a par and that was it. That was it was
Speaker 2: just it was just a monumental day in golf history
Speaker 2: and probably something that will never be repeated ever again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't foresee anybody winning three straight because after
Speaker 1: two they'll turn pro.
Speaker 2: I imagine, Yeah, they turn pro after one and they
Speaker 2: want to think, I think they can go dominate the world.
Speaker 2: It's it's very difficult. It's very difficult out there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The thing think about golf is there's there's just there's
Speaker 2: just no guarantees. It's not like playing, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: being a top prospect in baseball or football and signing
Speaker 2: multimillion dollar contracts. I mean golf, you have to prove
Speaker 2: yourself every single day. If you're out there on the
Speaker 2: on the MLB field and you you know, if you
Speaker 2: don't get a hit, you don't get paid. I don't
Speaker 2: think those guys would like that very much. And golf
Speaker 2: that's that's the case. If you you don't play well,
Speaker 2: you don't get paid that week.
Speaker 1: That's what I always say to people when they talk
Speaker 1: about like, you know, life many tour golfers or my
Speaker 1: buddy who's playing on the Web tour, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, this guy does not have a glamorous life
Speaker 1: right now. It's you know, if he makes it to
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour and stays up there for a while, yes,
Speaker 1: that's it, you know, and then you're living the life.
Speaker 1: But there's so few spots and the road to it
Speaker 1: is so difficult, especially if you're playing on Latin America
Speaker 1: or Canadian tour, like the money is is so small,
Speaker 1: and if you play bad for eight weeks in a row,
Speaker 1: you're not bringing bringing home any cash.
Speaker 2: Exactly. You'll finish in the top five. Yeah, you're you're done.
Speaker 2: You're not going to make expenses for the week. So
Speaker 2: it's a you know, it coming up the ladder is
Speaker 2: certainly a you have to be super dedicated and you've
Speaker 2: got to have a little bank roll behind you, and
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's a it is an extreme challenge
Speaker 2: that you know, some people do it for a few
Speaker 2: years and then you know they go get a job
Speaker 2: in the real world because it's it's it's just that tough.
Speaker 2: But you know, at the end of the day, you
Speaker 2: know it's it is is a pretty cool profession, you know,
Speaker 2: getting to play golf and making money at it, so
Speaker 2: you know, it is a it is kind of a
Speaker 2: cool thing too.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's I mean, I think that's why so
Speaker 1: many people try and do it. It's one of the
Speaker 1: best jobs you could have knowing Augusta is on the
Speaker 1: line in that US am, how is the pressure in
Speaker 1: the semi final match compared to like the finals obviously
Speaker 1: that that adds a wrinkle to you know, your regular match,
Speaker 1: I imagine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Andy, I had the luxury of making
Speaker 2: it to the semifinals in ninety five at Newport Country Club,
Speaker 2: and I was really really nervous that match. The year
Speaker 2: before I played and you know, against Tiger in that match.
Speaker 2: But yeah, the year before in ninety five, I played
Speaker 2: against Buddy Marucci who ended up beating me nineteen holes,
Speaker 2: and I can just remember how how fast everything was
Speaker 2: moving in my mind and and how nervous that I was.
Speaker 2: And the next year when I got to the semifinals again,
Speaker 2: I mean to have that experience under my belt. It
Speaker 2: was really funny how the perception of time slowed down
Speaker 2: and I was able to kind of control of things,
Speaker 2: and I was ready. I was ready to make that
Speaker 2: step because I had the success that I did the
Speaker 2: year before and had that opportunity the year before, So
Speaker 2: you know, I certainly didn't want to let it go
Speaker 2: two times in a row.
Speaker 1: After a couple of months go by, you get you
Speaker 1: know the invite. How many times did you go out
Speaker 1: and practice at Augusta before the week of the tournament.
Speaker 2: You know, I was still a sophomore at University of Florida,
Speaker 2: and so I had, you know, had schooling to do
Speaker 2: and whatnot.
Speaker 1: I did go.
Speaker 2: In March of ninety seven. I made a trip over
Speaker 2: a weekend, and I think I played a couple of rounds.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I didn't go a ton like some people do,
Speaker 2: but but I was able to, you know, go out
Speaker 2: there for a couple of practice rounds before. And I
Speaker 2: got to tell you, the golf course plays plays zero
Speaker 2: like it plays during the tournament. Even a month before
Speaker 2: they really ramped the golf course up, and even from
Speaker 2: Monday to Thursday of Masters tournament week, the golf course
Speaker 2: changes dramatically. The balls don't roll back into the bank,
Speaker 2: you know, from the band on number fifteen, let's say,
Speaker 2: or number twelve on Monday. But Thursday, like Wednesday afternoon,
Speaker 2: it's like it's like Disney World. To go out there
Speaker 2: and there's this you know, they they roll and cut
Speaker 2: and roll until they just can't do it anymore. And
Speaker 2: you know, it's one of those things that the golf
Speaker 2: course now the balls are all trickling in Thursday morning,
Speaker 2: you know, first round and it's just a it's a
Speaker 2: it's a different golf course. They just totally ramp it
Speaker 2: up in a very short amount of time.
Speaker 1: That's uh, that's funny. That was going to be my
Speaker 1: next question. So the difference, you know, from from Wednesday
Speaker 1: to Thursday is just you know, monumental.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember. I remember when I so, I play
Speaker 2: a practice round on Wednesday morning and I went and
Speaker 2: played the par three course and then I came back
Speaker 2: out to the main cutting green to roll some putts,
Speaker 2: and they had done all their work on the main
Speaker 2: cutting green and I drop a couple of balls and
Speaker 2: I'm just you know, I want to you know how
Speaker 2: you just drop a couple and you're ready to go
Speaker 2: putt and the balls wouldn't stay on the green, Like
Speaker 2: the balls are rolling off the off the practice putting green.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh boy, I'm really in for it this week.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was like it was totally like linoleum
Speaker 2: that you just dropped it on and the balls just
Speaker 2: wouldn't stop. It was it was out of this world.
Speaker 1: You heard the stories of Tiger practicing on Stanford's basketball court. Putting.
Speaker 1: Did you do anything beforehand special to work on putting
Speaker 1: on extraordinarily fast greens?
Speaker 2: No, I didn't go to those limits. You know, I
Speaker 2: don't think anything really prepares you for I mean, look,
Speaker 2: unless you're super lucky enough to you know, know a
Speaker 2: superintendent who will totally scalp a green at your home course.
Speaker 2: You know, there's nothing that really prepares you for hitting
Speaker 2: a fifty or sixty footer at Augusta National during Masters
Speaker 2: tournament week. You just don't have any frame of reference.
Speaker 2: And I've really remember struggling on those type of putts
Speaker 2: because I mean it was just the greens are just
Speaker 2: so fast, and you just you're trying to go on
Speaker 2: your memory bank of Okay, what do I do here?
Speaker 2: How hard do I really need to hit this fifty
Speaker 2: foot or down? I remember I had a ninety footer
Speaker 2: all the way across the green on the fifteenth hole.
Speaker 2: I think I had. It was for eagle or something,
Speaker 2: and the pin was was front left and I was
Speaker 2: all the way on the right and it was downhill
Speaker 2: the whole way, and I hit this putt from ninety
Speaker 2: feet and I probably you know, I could have hit
Speaker 2: it like a ten footer and it just it never stopped.
Speaker 2: It went all the way across the green and off
Speaker 2: the other side, and you just have no frame of reference.
Speaker 2: It's just that unique.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the thing that gets lost is that
Speaker 1: with the speed is that the greens are also some
Speaker 1: of the most vicious and undulating greens around. You know.
Speaker 1: They they have these these slopes that are just you know, incredible.
Speaker 1: They're you know, especially the Mackenzie greens are just out
Speaker 1: of this world with you know, Alis for McKenzie and
Speaker 1: Perry Maxwell doing most of the greens there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you combine, you combine severe you know, three or
Speaker 2: four degree slopes with the speed of the greens that
Speaker 2: they that they make them at and they can suck
Speaker 2: the moisture and make them you know, as firm and
Speaker 2: as fast as you could ever imagine. It's just it's
Speaker 2: one of those things if you have like when I
Speaker 2: saw the greens and after all they did all the
Speaker 2: work on the Wednesday, it's almost like the greens they're
Speaker 2: not even green anymore. They're like a purply blue looking
Speaker 2: they're just like it's just a different it's a totally
Speaker 2: different arena. And you get out there and you know
Speaker 2: you have and you know, I guess that's why typically
Speaker 2: it takes a few years, around a few Masters tournaments
Speaker 2: to really get a good perspective of of how you
Speaker 2: need to play the golf course.
Speaker 1: Who'd you play your practice rounds with?
Speaker 2: Andy? I had some amazing practice rounds. Somebody gave me
Speaker 2: the idea of writing letters to people wanted to play with,
Speaker 2: and I want to say it was my college coach buddy,
Speaker 2: Alexander and and and so I wrote letters to Justin Leonard,
Speaker 2: I wrote letters to Jack Nicholas, and I wrote letter
Speaker 2: to Greg Norman and I they they all three of
Speaker 2: them obliged with a practice round for me. So I
Speaker 2: played with I played with Justin Leonard on Monday, and
Speaker 2: that was soon after he won the British Open the
Speaker 2: year before. And then and then I played with mister
Speaker 2: Nicholas on Tuesday, and then I played with Greg Norman
Speaker 2: and Steve Elkington on Wednesday, and it was just it
Speaker 2: was it was super It was just so good. I mean,
Speaker 2: I couldn't I can't even put it into words how
Speaker 2: what the experience was like. And to to go around
Speaker 2: with with Nick, with Nicholas in particular, because he'd won
Speaker 2: all the Green Jackets and and you know, he was
Speaker 2: like a grandpa there to me. You know, he's fifty
Speaker 2: seven year all at the time, and and you know,
Speaker 2: he was just showing me the ropes and showing me.
Speaker 2: He showed me this one putt above the pin on
Speaker 2: number nine, and I could have sworn this putt was
Speaker 2: going to break left or right half a foot at least,
Speaker 2: and he said, play it half a foot right to left.
Speaker 2: And it was totally, you know, opposite of what I thought.
Speaker 2: And so you know, I did, and I played it
Speaker 2: the way he told me to do it, and from
Speaker 2: about thirty forty feet and I buried the putt and
Speaker 2: I just kind of looked over and I shook my
Speaker 2: head and I said, man, I guess this is why
Speaker 2: you've won six Green jackets.
Speaker 1: That's uh, that's got to be so cool to get
Speaker 1: a player with jack out there on during the week.
Speaker 1: Which who gave you the best, you know, single piece
Speaker 1: of advice?
Speaker 2: No, I mean, Justin Leonard was really good. He just
Speaker 2: you know, he said, just you know, get there early,
Speaker 2: play some practice rounds. You know, I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 2: there was just a lot a lot of people gave
Speaker 2: great advice. I can't pinpoint it to one, but you know,
Speaker 2: it's just one of those things you have to get
Speaker 2: out there and experience the course. And you know, for me,
Speaker 2: I think I think I just tried to soak it
Speaker 2: all in. I mean, I didn't play very well that week.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately I missed the cut, and the cut was abnormally
Speaker 2: high that year. It was like six over par was
Speaker 2: the cut. It was abnormally firm and fast. And this
Speaker 2: was before all the Tiger proofing and the lengthening of
Speaker 2: the course and the rough and all that stuff, and
Speaker 2: and you know, it was just it played extremely difficult.
Speaker 2: Remember you know, Tiger wins by twelve shots over Tom
Speaker 2: Kite shoots shoots six under par and finished second. So
Speaker 2: you know, it was a it was a It was
Speaker 2: a very difficult golf course that year. And I barely
Speaker 2: broke eighty both rounds. And you know, but I've never
Speaker 2: had as much fun playing crummy as I did there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the first t is that the how are
Speaker 1: the nerves there? And was there a spot on the
Speaker 1: golf course other than that that you were, you know,
Speaker 1: a normally nervous to a regular round.
Speaker 2: What I remember and maybe you know the first team,
Speaker 2: you're always amped up and and uh, especially there and
Speaker 2: and I remember during the practice round, h my Wednesday
Speaker 2: practice round with Elkington and Norman. Elkington hit his drive
Speaker 2: out there on first and and Norman hit and I
Speaker 2: hit last and and and I think I outdrove Norman
Speaker 2: by you know, five or ten yards and and uh,
Speaker 2: you know I was pretty amped up, and and you know,
Speaker 2: it's just it was just really cool, you know, listening
Speaker 2: all the you know, the fans, you know kind of
Speaker 2: maybe heckel Norman for getting out driven by a you know,
Speaker 2: a kid. And you know, I know I was never
Speaker 2: really known for being a long hitter at that point,
Speaker 2: and I'm still not, so you know, it was it
Speaker 2: was It's pretty cool how far you can hit a
Speaker 2: golf ball with adrenaline. Uh. And and you know, first
Speaker 2: teeth the Masters is kind of the uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the epitome of of you know, trying to control that,
Speaker 2: you know, that adrenaline in the emotions. MM.
Speaker 1: So that shot on twelve is uh, you know, you
Speaker 1: hear about the wind so much could tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, Is it as tough as everybody
Speaker 1: says with the wind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly is. I kept it out of the
Speaker 2: water both days, which was which was nice. I remember
Speaker 2: in the practice round the month before, I remember being
Speaker 2: so nervous because you know, you've watched The Masters on
Speaker 2: TV for you know, a ton of years, and I
Speaker 2: don't remember being nervous in a practice round. And I
Speaker 2: was nervous in a practice round. You know, I get
Speaker 2: up there and and I think I dumped one or
Speaker 2: two in the water, you know, a month before. But yeah,
Speaker 2: the winds do swirl. You get you know, you get
Speaker 2: the flag on eleven that that looks like a downwind,
Speaker 2: and you know the wind kind of turns back in
Speaker 2: that corner and comes back into you, and and yeah,
Speaker 2: you have to kind of you got to get a
Speaker 2: little lucky. Let's put it that way. I mean, the
Speaker 2: green on the left side might be thirteen to fifteen
Speaker 2: paces deep, and then and then in the middle it's
Speaker 2: like seven paces deep, and in the right side it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, nine or ten. So you know, it's one club.
Speaker 2: If you miss club by one right or one little,
Speaker 2: you take a little too much speed off of a shot,
Speaker 2: or you get a little adrenaline, then you know, that's
Speaker 2: why you see guys go in the back bunker and
Speaker 2: go it is. It is the most challenging one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty five yard shot that you could imagine because
Speaker 2: the green is just it's so shallow from front to back.
Speaker 1: So you alluded to watching a ton of Augusta coverage
Speaker 1: as a kid. What was the thing playing the course
Speaker 1: that was the most different from what you you know,
Speaker 1: thought it was from watching it.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the terrain at Augusta National is
Speaker 2: I mean, the drop from the tee to the green
Speaker 2: at tenthole, for example, is just unbelievable. You know, you
Speaker 2: certainly can't get a sense of that on you know,
Speaker 2: on television at all. It's it's it's such an amazing
Speaker 2: climb and you know, you and down to the twelfth
Speaker 2: green in the thirteenth t area that's kind of the
Speaker 2: low point of the golf course and everything works back
Speaker 2: up to the clubhouse from there, and it's I think
Speaker 2: the terrain probably is the most significant thing. And then
Speaker 2: you know, then it's just the speed of the greens.
Speaker 2: You don't have any appreciation for how great of putters,
Speaker 2: you know, guys like Ben Crenshaw were and the putt
Speaker 2: that Nicholas made in eighty six on seventeen and you know,
Speaker 2: and even on even on eighteen in eighty six, when
Speaker 2: Nicholas hit that putt from the bottom tier all the
Speaker 2: way up to the top and almost hold it. I mean,
Speaker 2: like that is a really tough putt. And you know,
Speaker 2: the appreciation for those shots you just don't get unless
Speaker 2: you're unless you're there in person and see how much
Speaker 2: how much slopes that there are out there.
Speaker 1: In terms of the tournaments over the years, do you
Speaker 1: still watch a lot of the Masters or most of it?
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it still a ritual for you?
Speaker 2: I watch every minute that I can't I get, you know,
Speaker 2: whether it's streaming online or on television. I mean the Masters,
Speaker 2: you know, as a I mean I'm not only you know,
Speaker 2: a professional golfer, I'm a I'm a golf fan. I'm
Speaker 2: a golf nut, and I love I love everything. I mean,
Speaker 2: this this time of year is like I'm like a
Speaker 2: kid in a candy store. Really, I mean, I'm forty
Speaker 2: years old and I still feel you know, those those
Speaker 2: it's that excitement of spring and and you know the
Speaker 2: Masters just really really, you know, gets that out of you.
Speaker 2: Every time, and it's that that, you know, the lead
Speaker 2: up to the Masters is great, and I don't know,
Speaker 2: I personally can't get enough.
Speaker 1: What tournaments and shots do you think don't get spoken
Speaker 1: about enough or forgot? I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean I think I think they kind of all do.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you go back. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I guess I think of the the you know, the
Speaker 2: eighties into the nineties and and you know, from Sandy
Speaker 2: Lyle hitting a fairway bunker shot and hitting it to
Speaker 2: five feet above the hole on the seventy second hole
Speaker 2: and making it, or you know, like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I think they all get their due really, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know. That's that's a that's a tough one
Speaker 2: because there's so there's so many that you get their due.
Speaker 2: Probably it's hard to have to say that one.
Speaker 1: Really what was the what hole did you find to
Speaker 1: be kind of the most under the radar great hole
Speaker 1: that you know outside of Amen Corner that you loved.
Speaker 2: There's just there's so many. I mean, the greens, like
Speaker 2: getting your approaches into the greens have to be so presite.
Speaker 2: The fairways they mowed them back of the tee and
Speaker 2: to have a sand wedge, you know, up to the
Speaker 2: green on number seven for example, off of the super
Speaker 2: tight lie that the grain is mowed right into you.
Speaker 2: It's so hard. I totally can see why why Jordan
Speaker 2: Spieth a couple of years ago dumped a couple into
Speaker 2: Raysed Creek. You know when he hit when he had
Speaker 2: that layup on number on number twelve, when he hit
Speaker 2: in the water and then he dropped and for uh,
Speaker 2: I guess pretty famous, but for bad reasons. But you know,
Speaker 2: the precision needed to hit a wedge shot off of
Speaker 2: off of that tight lie, it's just it's so tough.
Speaker 2: I mean, you you hit it a tenth of an
Speaker 2: inch heavy and you're gonna you're gonna look like Jordan Speed.
Speaker 2: I mean it's that it's it doesn't take much at all.
Speaker 2: And you know, any wet you know, just those simple
Speaker 2: web shots or the shots that look simple, like the
Speaker 2: shot on fifteen, you got a downhill lie if you
Speaker 2: lay it up too much down the right side of
Speaker 2: the fairway. So that's why you see a lot of
Speaker 2: guys lay up left. It's a little bit flatter, flatter
Speaker 2: lie into the green, and you know you just have
Speaker 2: to position the ball properly and give yourself the flattest
Speaker 2: lies possible.
Speaker 1: And if you could have one like world class skill
Speaker 1: and you're going to the Masters and you're the best
Speaker 1: in the world, have one aspect of golf, which one
Speaker 1: would you want it to be? To have success at Augusta.
Speaker 2: You've got to be a precision iron player. You have
Speaker 2: to you have to be able to dial in your
Speaker 2: distance so well there because every you know, the difference
Speaker 2: between you know, one or two yards off is dramatic.
Speaker 2: You know, like I mentioned about the twelfth fall being
Speaker 2: you know, less than ten yards deep of the green
Speaker 2: on the green in some parts of that green, and
Speaker 2: you know, to get it on the little tiers like
Speaker 2: on the thirteenth hole, the pens all the way in
Speaker 2: the back, and you know, you've got an area the
Speaker 2: size of a dining room table, it seems like to
Speaker 2: really place your golf ball or else you know it's
Speaker 2: going to go off in the lower areas and the
Speaker 2: low parts of the green. And the precision iron game
Speaker 2: and getting and dialing in your distance I think is crucial.
Speaker 1: Yeah, also with all the uneven lies and makes hitting
Speaker 1: it the right distance even tougher.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get the uneven lies, and like back in
Speaker 2: oh I can't remember late eighties, early nineties, Nick Faldo
Speaker 2: beat Ray Floyd in a playoff and Floyd tugged it
Speaker 2: into water on the eleventh hole to lose. To lose,
Speaker 2: Defaldo hit the ball was above his feet and he
Speaker 2: didn't quite calculate that into a shot as much as
Speaker 2: he needed to, and that's why he tugged the ball
Speaker 2: a little bit left. And yeah, you don't get a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of even lies, Like the thirteenth
Speaker 2: hole is a short par five. But I remember, you
Speaker 2: know you have like a I mean for me, I
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not Bubba Watson. I don't have wedge
Speaker 2: to the green, but you know I had like a
Speaker 2: four iron, let's say, and you're hitting it off a
Speaker 2: downhill with the ball above your feet, but you're trying
Speaker 2: to hit a high cut with a ball with a
Speaker 2: lie that's telling you you're going to hit a low hook.
Speaker 2: And like, I think that's that's something that you don't
Speaker 2: quite see on TV. I mean, the lies just don't
Speaker 2: always fit the type of shot that you need to play.
Speaker 2: Same thing on ten, the tenth hole, the ball kind
Speaker 2: of sits a little above your feet and you really
Speaker 2: need to hit a high cut into that green to
Speaker 2: hold it better. If you hit a draw, it will
Speaker 2: kind of fall off the left. And you know, those
Speaker 2: those sorts of little nuances, they totally affect the shot
Speaker 2: and can really make the pros look dumb if they
Speaker 2: don't quite you know, calculate all those little nuances into
Speaker 2: the into their equation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's one of those subtle design tricks.
Speaker 1: Everybody always talks about how you how do you make
Speaker 1: a course extremely playable for a fifty a handicap of
Speaker 1: fifteen handicaps never going to recognize like, oh I have
Speaker 1: a hook lie and I need to hit a fade
Speaker 1: into the screen. But for the elite, world class players,
Speaker 1: it's it drives them crazy.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Who do you have for going into this week? Who
Speaker 1: who's your pick?
Speaker 2: I don't know, I've got I think I think it's
Speaker 2: very open. I think for for you know, for a
Speaker 2: golf fan out there, I think this has got to
Speaker 2: be one of the most exciting masters. You know, you
Speaker 2: got Field playing great, You've got Tiger coming back up
Speaker 2: and knowing knowing the golf course so well. You got
Speaker 2: McElroy winning recently, at bay Hill. You know, you have
Speaker 2: Bubba Watson winning at the Dell Technologies match play a
Speaker 2: week ago. You have a lot of you just have
Speaker 2: a lot of great players that are that are really
Speaker 2: playing well right now. Justin Thomas is playing really well,
Speaker 2: you know. So I don't know. I think it's I
Speaker 2: think it's wide open. I think for the if I'm
Speaker 2: a betting man out there, it's hard to pick somebody.
Speaker 2: If I had to pick somebody, I don't know. Left handers,
Speaker 2: they're seeming to do very well at Augusta. You know,
Speaker 2: Bubba Watson, even though he might not be a player
Speaker 2: favorite inside the ropes, I think Bubba is playing extremely
Speaker 2: well and I would put him pretty high on my
Speaker 2: list for sure. And Michelson's playing great too. So I
Speaker 2: don't know a left handers kind of I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think they have a little bit of an advantage there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Bubba. One of the things he can
Speaker 1: do is he can almost like manufacture angles because of
Speaker 1: the way he can shape the ball. So you know,
Speaker 1: he might not be in the ideal angle, you know,
Speaker 1: the ideal spot to attack a flag, but he can
Speaker 1: move it so much he can make the angle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's as creative of a players as there's been
Speaker 2: in the last you know, twenty or thirty years out
Speaker 2: there and moving the ball around like he does. Yeah, look,
Speaker 2: wouldn't put it past him to be in a hunt.
Speaker 2: Come back ninth Sunday.
Speaker 1: All right, we've got a tradition of overrated underrated. It's
Speaker 1: not it's not a tradition unlike any other, but it's
Speaker 1: it's our tradition. So uh, I'm going to just throw
Speaker 1: out a couple masters things here and you say, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's overrated or underrated, you can add explanation, but
Speaker 1: it's got to be one of the two.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right?
Speaker 1: Pimento cheese sandwiches.
Speaker 2: Hmmm. For had one? So I don't know, Can I
Speaker 2: can I talk on that one? Can we come back around?
Speaker 1: Have you never had one? You didn't try one, didn't
Speaker 1: have curate?
Speaker 2: No, I don't think I did. No, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think I I don't know if I I don't
Speaker 2: know if I had one at all. But you know
Speaker 2: what I would say, I would say, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'd say I'd say overrated.
Speaker 1: Hey, there's a reason you haven't had one.
Speaker 2: I've got to pick one I would say overrated.
Speaker 1: Driving down Magnolia Lane.
Speaker 2: Underrated it's it's it's you just gotta do it. It's amazing,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 1: The fourteenth hole, that green is difficult.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't think it's so, I don't
Speaker 2: know where it's rated, but I would say, I would
Speaker 2: say it's really tough. So let's go underrated there, all right.
Speaker 1: And then the Crow's Nest.
Speaker 2: The Crow's Nest not overrated. I don't know if it's underrated.
Speaker 2: It's just amazing. It's uh, it's like a religious experience
Speaker 2: to stay on the grounds of Augusta National So I
Speaker 2: don't know. It's certainly not overrated. So if I have
Speaker 2: to pick one to be underrated.
Speaker 1: All right, Steve, thanks so much for your time, and
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to a great Masters week and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Yes, I will, thank you Andy for having me on.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate this