Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Claude Harmon. We always come to you every Wednesday. Huge
Speaker 1: week last week in professional golf, the President's Cup, and
Speaker 1: so so happy to get an opportunity to talk to
Speaker 1: the international team captain Trevor Immelman. We had him on
Speaker 1: the podcast last year, very very early at the beginning. Um,
Speaker 1: he's a friend, Um, and I think he did an
Speaker 1: unbelievable job. And I was really really excited that he
Speaker 1: had the time to take to talk to us about
Speaker 1: last week and all things President's Cup. So really excited
Speaker 1: for everybody to get Trevor's ideas and takes on last week.
Speaker 1: But before we jumped to the interview, let's talk about
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Speaker 1: let's get to the interview with the International President's Cup
Speaker 1: captain Trevor Immelman. All right, my guest is the cat
Speaker 1: of the International President's Cup Team, Trevor. I went to
Speaker 1: the first President's Cup, believe it or not. That's how
Speaker 1: old I am. I think I remember it because one
Speaker 1: it was at R t J. My dad was working
Speaker 1: with Greg Norman at the time. But I remember I
Speaker 1: went to the movie theater and saw Forest Gump in
Speaker 1: the movie theater. It's how old I am, trev Even
Speaker 1: though you guys didn't get the victory again, it seems
Speaker 1: to me that there's finally some momentum for this international team.
Speaker 1: Um with the way you know they performed down in
Speaker 1: Australia a couple of years ago and then it seems
Speaker 1: like there's a there's a team. UM. Do you feel that? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1: First of all, great to join you man. Always always
Speaker 1: enjoy chatting with you, bro. But we do feel that.
Speaker 1: I think all of our squad members feel that Australia
Speaker 1: was huge for us. Captain Else was the perfect captain
Speaker 1: at the perfect time to really jump in there with
Speaker 1: some power and some backbone and make some changes that
Speaker 1: we desperately needed and had needed for a number of years.
Speaker 1: And he built this foundation for us, and we knew
Speaker 1: what the plans were, the blueprints are, and carm Nita
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to try and pick up that
Speaker 1: ball and run with it and add a few bricks
Speaker 1: to that foundation so that for cups to come, you know,
Speaker 1: eventually this house is going to be built. Eventually, we're
Speaker 1: gonna win this thing. We feel like we we have
Speaker 1: the plans in place, we have the people and the
Speaker 1: support staff in place. And then also on top of
Speaker 1: that and probably more importantly, quite honestly, because it's the
Speaker 1: players who win this thing. We're started to see so
Speaker 1: much talent come through from around the world. So if
Speaker 1: we can find a way to harness that talent get
Speaker 1: them comfortable playing in these team events, then you know,
Speaker 1: we think we're gonna get this done eventually. I it
Speaker 1: seems really really trivial. It I think the changing of
Speaker 1: the logo in the shield was a huge, huge part
Speaker 1: of this shift because it was the international team. The
Speaker 1: colors were always weird. It never really kind of you
Speaker 1: played in oh five and oh seven, it it kind
Speaker 1: of made sense, it kind of didn't make sense. But this,
Speaker 1: this logo, the way that you guys dressed all in black,
Speaker 1: it to me there seems to be an identity building
Speaker 1: for for an international team, which, as you know, Trevor
Speaker 1: having played and now having captain the US, it's easy
Speaker 1: for the guys to come together, right. They play for
Speaker 1: the United States, they play for America, the US a chance.
Speaker 1: I mean, all that stuff is real, um, the fanatics
Speaker 1: which are fun, um, But I really feel like and
Speaker 1: and watching that there is an identity that guys coming
Speaker 1: into this every couple of years can touch and feel.
Speaker 1: And I think the logo, the clothing, the way it's
Speaker 1: being don now is giving the team something that I
Speaker 1: didn't see it having. Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: It was always a tricky thing for US. You know,
Speaker 1: we would be blending people from seven eight nine different
Speaker 1: countries and in a lot of ways they would come
Speaker 1: there representing their country rather than coming there to represent
Speaker 1: our team. And so I thought it really was a
Speaker 1: pretty genius move from Ernie two. Want to step away
Speaker 1: from that and create something to where Okay, I don't
Speaker 1: care if you come from Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, Canada, wherever.
Speaker 1: When you come to the President's camp, you are not
Speaker 1: representing those countries. You're representing the Shield. And the way
Speaker 1: he went about that process told that story. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: leaned on friends of his that are in Special forces
Speaker 1: and stuff like that to design this logo that actually
Speaker 1: means something for us. We had a picture up in
Speaker 1: our team cabinet the golf course that explained exactly exactly
Speaker 1: what goes into the formation of this logo. And the players,
Speaker 1: you know, organically and from a grassroots level, are starting
Speaker 1: to see that and buy into that, and that's that
Speaker 1: really is the big difference. So you know, this this one.
Speaker 1: What we did for the first time that was quite
Speaker 1: interesting was, uh, it was the first time we actually
Speaker 1: wore team colors. We had the shield down in Australia
Speaker 1: last time, but we still had some green and a
Speaker 1: few different colors that we would wear in our uniforms.
Speaker 1: And one of the changes I wanted to make was
Speaker 1: we were going to come to Charlotte and we were
Speaker 1: actually going to wear team colors, so Wednesday for the
Speaker 1: official photo that was That was the first time we
Speaker 1: wore black and gold for our official photo. Um, I
Speaker 1: didn't quite have the guts in the planning to throw
Speaker 1: the black and gold in on a tournament day because
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure how it was going to look. But
Speaker 1: I think it turned out pretty good. Maybe we'll throw
Speaker 1: that in there on tournament days next time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're all black was for a number of reasons. Um.
Speaker 1: Number one, you know it's our it's our main color.
Speaker 1: The black and number two was a little bit of
Speaker 1: a nod to the greatest international player ever, Gary Player.
Speaker 1: He used to wear all black on Sundays when he
Speaker 1: was coming down the stretch. He's been kept in a
Speaker 1: number of times at this event, somebody that means something
Speaker 1: to us, So it had a bit of a duel
Speaker 1: meaning there. Um. But yeah, it's been an incredible process.
Speaker 1: It really has to be able to see guys buy
Speaker 1: into the Shield, buy into what this team stands for,
Speaker 1: and most importantly want to represent the Shield and and
Speaker 1: protect it at all costs. That for me has probably
Speaker 1: been the most rewarding thing through this process you played,
Speaker 1: you've been a captain. Um, how different? I mean very
Speaker 1: few people, Um get to do that, get to play
Speaker 1: on a tider cop on, a president's cop on, a
Speaker 1: walker cop on, you know, and play as a player
Speaker 1: and then do it as a captain. Talk us through tever.
Speaker 1: How different the experiences as a captain versus a player.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the planning you had, you know, with
Speaker 1: COVID you had more time to plan. There's the planning
Speaker 1: side of it. But the feeling as as as a
Speaker 1: human being as a person, the difference between being a
Speaker 1: player in this event and captain ng the team in
Speaker 1: this event. What are the emotions and the feelings that
Speaker 1: you felt last week that were different than when you played. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the planning is the huge part. Like you said, we
Speaker 1: had the extra year and this kind of bleeds into
Speaker 1: the previous question as well. Um, you know, the American
Speaker 1: team is such a jargonaut and America as a country
Speaker 1: is such a powerful force and every athlete that has
Speaker 1: ever represented the U S and WA on the red, white,
Speaker 1: and blue h you know, the brand is so huge,
Speaker 1: and so that was that was one of the things
Speaker 1: that we wanted to add into this was how could
Speaker 1: we find a way through the use of the shield
Speaker 1: now to be able to have some merchandise out there
Speaker 1: to where people can, uh, you know, jump on our team,
Speaker 1: support us. One of the things that always struck me was,
Speaker 1: you know, for me, one of the beauties of the
Speaker 1: U S is you can go to any quarters. So
Speaker 1: you can go to seven eleven right now and you
Speaker 1: can buy a piece of merchandise with with the stars
Speaker 1: and stripes on it, with an eagle on its something
Speaker 1: that that donates America. Yeah, it's so cool. And I
Speaker 1: was like, shocks, we don't have anywhere where even if
Speaker 1: we found a fan and by the way, we represent
Speaker 1: billions of people all over the world. Even if people
Speaker 1: wanted to support us, there was nowhere they could go
Speaker 1: to buy some merch with the shield on. So, you know,
Speaker 1: that was part of the planning, That was part of
Speaker 1: building the brand and creating this franchise. That added, uh
Speaker 1: a lot of work in the planning stages trying to
Speaker 1: find a way to get get all of that done
Speaker 1: and then you know you really move on to Okay,
Speaker 1: how can I make this experience the greatest golfing experience?
Speaker 1: For each and every one of these players and team members,
Speaker 1: whether it be support staff, caddies, wives, everybody. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: you've spent a lot of time with communitor, you know
Speaker 1: how talented she is from that aspect, how dedicated she is.
Speaker 1: She thinks about every little details, very detail orientated. And
Speaker 1: so we just systematically went through, Okay, this is what
Speaker 1: the wives are going to have during the week, this
Speaker 1: is the process they're going to go through. These are
Speaker 1: the ways we're going to support them, the things we're
Speaker 1: going to give them. And we just went down the
Speaker 1: line with caddies, support staff, and then most importantly players. Um, So,
Speaker 1: the planning aspect was huge. I was spending I'm wanting
Speaker 1: to say for the better part of two years. We
Speaker 1: will probably invest sing four to five hours a day
Speaker 1: in the planning phase. But then once all of that's done,
Speaker 1: the golf balls in the air, you know, we get
Speaker 1: to Charlotte guys, guys are doing their work, and then
Speaker 1: really you're just trying to shepherd these guys, keep them
Speaker 1: in the right frame of mind, keep them happy, keep
Speaker 1: them loose and comfortable. And then really the job gets
Speaker 1: a lot easier outside of the pics and trying to
Speaker 1: create the matchups that you think could give you the
Speaker 1: best possible chance when the tournament kicks off. But once
Speaker 1: we got to the tournament, the work was pretty much over.
Speaker 1: It was just um, you know, more a standpoint of
Speaker 1: keeping these guys in the zone. Playing is totally different,
Speaker 1: because playing you come there very single minded. You come
Speaker 1: there a little anxious about, Okay, how many times am
Speaker 1: I going to play? So one of the things I
Speaker 1: did was I let guys know before the week that
Speaker 1: you know, this is how many times it looks like
Speaker 1: you're gonna play. These are your partners. Um, we always
Speaker 1: have to be ready for adjustments. If somebody gets sick,
Speaker 1: somebody gets injured, somebody starts making fifty foters on every hole,
Speaker 1: we've got to be ready to be numble. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, this is the format you're looking like,
Speaker 1: you're plan These are the guys that you're gonna be
Speaker 1: playing with. So we tried to prepare them as much
Speaker 1: as we could for that. But as a player, yeah,
Speaker 1: you come there single minded. You're trying to learn the
Speaker 1: golf course. You're trying to deal with the pressure, deal
Speaker 1: with the crowds, deal with people rooting against you and so, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, you come in there with a real narrow focus,
Speaker 1: whereas as a captain, you come in there more looking
Speaker 1: at it from thirty thou feet being observants, saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to make a little tweak here. This seems
Speaker 1: to be moving in the right direction. I like what
Speaker 1: this is doing, so let's keep doing that. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is a complete disaster. We're gonna have to fix this
Speaker 1: here in the next thirty minutes. So, UM, it's much
Speaker 1: more of an overall observational view. UM, just pulling a
Speaker 1: few strings here or there. You've become very very close
Speaker 1: with Dabo Sweeney, the head football coach at Clemson. UM.
Speaker 1: He is, without a doubt, one of the best football
Speaker 1: coaches in the country. UM. How much as a captain
Speaker 1: and as a leader did you take from your relationship
Speaker 1: with Dabo in the way that he does things? Because
Speaker 1: we we talked about it before we started. UM, your
Speaker 1: press conference on Saturday night, the way you gave your answers,
Speaker 1: the answers you were giving, the things that you were
Speaker 1: talking about reminded me a lot of a head football
Speaker 1: coach of a head basketball coach, the way that they're
Speaker 1: leading a program. Um, did you talk to Dabo in
Speaker 1: In in the time coming up to this? Did you
Speaker 1: have conversations with him last week during the event. I
Speaker 1: speak to him all the time. He's become a really
Speaker 1: really close friend of mine. I did not speak to
Speaker 1: him last week because the Tigers have got a couple
Speaker 1: of big weeks ahead of him, plan wake for us
Speaker 1: UM away last week and then playing a top tennis
Speaker 1: team North Carolina State, so he's had his head down
Speaker 1: in the weeds, really graft in making sure that these
Speaker 1: guys already. I will say that I spent the two
Speaker 1: previous weekends in Clemson, went to the first two home games,
Speaker 1: spent a ton of time with him and with the team.
Speaker 1: Actually spoke to the team on the Thursday before UH
Speaker 1: their game a couple of weeks ago. And yeah, I've
Speaker 1: learned a lot from him, a lot a lot from
Speaker 1: observing the way he does things um and then spending
Speaker 1: you know, one on one quality time with him. We
Speaker 1: we we spent four days together down in the Bahamas
Speaker 1: before the PGA Championship, So I do get a lot
Speaker 1: of time where we have the ability to go back
Speaker 1: and forth and pick each other's brain and start to
Speaker 1: understand the little things that work. And he asked me
Speaker 1: a much as much about golf and things that I've
Speaker 1: learned from people I've been able to hang around, like
Speaker 1: you know, Tiger and all the best players, stuff that
Speaker 1: I've observed that those athletes do. And so the two
Speaker 1: of us are constantly learning from each other. But you know,
Speaker 1: one of the things about him that has always struck
Speaker 1: me is, uh, you know, winning is important. When his
Speaker 1: winning is extremely important, It's it's why we compete. But
Speaker 1: for Dabbo, it's not the most important. The most important
Speaker 1: thing is raising good men, helping raise good men. And
Speaker 1: you know where his role in my role was a
Speaker 1: little different was, Um, you know, I'm dealing with professional athletes.
Speaker 1: I'm dealing guys with guys in their twenties, thirties and forties,
Speaker 1: whereas he's dealing with kids right out of high school,
Speaker 1: so they're still in their formulative years. And his number
Speaker 1: one priority is raising good citizens and raising good men. Um.
Speaker 1: And that's something that really always has struck me. That's
Speaker 1: that's the thing that he focuses on most and from
Speaker 1: there he believes that they will be able to make
Speaker 1: the right decisions and once they have those things in place,
Speaker 1: then it's easier for you to fulfill your potential out
Speaker 1: on the field of play because there's much less conflict
Speaker 1: in your heart and in your brain. So so you know,
Speaker 1: that's something that really he has impressed on me a
Speaker 1: lot over the last decade or so. It's it's one
Speaker 1: of the things that that I really focused on, was
Speaker 1: how can you manage your personnel. You know, I can't
Speaker 1: treat some Jim the way I treat Adam Scott, the
Speaker 1: way I treat Taylor Pendrous, the way I treat Seawoo Kim.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got to understand your players. You've got
Speaker 1: to understand what makes them tick. You've got to understand
Speaker 1: how to put them in their sweet spot so they
Speaker 1: can go out there and play free without anything holding
Speaker 1: them down. And uh, and that was what I tried
Speaker 1: to do. That was really the thing that I focused
Speaker 1: on most. We I remember sitting in your apartment um
Speaker 1: in London, what was it, oh two, and we were
Speaker 1: watching the Ryder Cup at the Belfry, the one that
Speaker 1: Paul McGinley hold that pot, and we were I mean,
Speaker 1: I think when I look back at the US Ryder
Speaker 1: Cup team and talking about the captain c thing. There
Speaker 1: seemed to be a time with the US to where
Speaker 1: the captain wanted to come in and kind of stamp
Speaker 1: his authority on the players and kind of say, listen,
Speaker 1: this is this is the way we do things. UM
Speaker 1: and the players, I think in talking to them and
Speaker 1: being around some of these Ryder Cup teams that I've
Speaker 1: been lucky enough to be around, the players were kind
Speaker 1: of like, hey man, just can we just do what
Speaker 1: we do? Just let us do what we do. And
Speaker 1: I think the Europeans always did that. I think Paul
Speaker 1: McGinley was the best example of that um at at
Speaker 1: Glenn Eagles when Victor Dubisson, who's who is a very
Speaker 1: interesting character. Victor kind of wanted to be on his
Speaker 1: own program, and Tom Watson that year was very much
Speaker 1: kind of doing the Tom Watson old school role, which
Speaker 1: we all know how that kind of turned out. But
Speaker 1: in talking to Paul, Paul said that he went to
Speaker 1: all of the players and said, listen, you tell me
Speaker 1: what you need from us so that you can perform
Speaker 1: your best. And you know when I look at you know.
Speaker 1: And in talking about Dabbo trev Um, if Dabo came
Speaker 1: in and said to the program, Okay, no tattoos, no earrings,
Speaker 1: no dreadlocks. This is the way we did things in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy. There's no music. This is which they lose
Speaker 1: the players now. And I think that the US Ryder
Speaker 1: Cup team has done a fantastic job in the last
Speaker 1: couple of years as to letting the players be the players. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought it whistling straits. The players basically did what
Speaker 1: they what they normally do, and this is gonna sound
Speaker 1: not from an area. They did what they wanted to
Speaker 1: do because they know what they do best to perform.
Speaker 1: And I think the one thing that everybody doesn't realize
Speaker 1: about the international team for the President's Cup is you're
Speaker 1: bringing all of these players in from different countries, but
Speaker 1: also you have a massive language barrier. Um, You've got
Speaker 1: to get k J. Choi, who can speak to all
Speaker 1: the Koreans. You've got to bring in a guy like
Speaker 1: Camillo to make um the guys that speak Spanish make
Speaker 1: them feel more comfortable, mitoum to make them feel that. Um.
Speaker 1: You have to let the players in individual sports be
Speaker 1: themselves in the team format. And I think that's a
Speaker 1: really interesting balance because, as you said, Listen, you're dealing
Speaker 1: with professionals who are in an individual sport and every
Speaker 1: two years you're going, Okay, now you're part of a team.
Speaker 1: That's that's tough. And that's why think you know, I
Speaker 1: saw a lot of the stuff that I that I
Speaker 1: hear from Dabbo and stuff in in this this team concept, um,
Speaker 1: and I know that's hugely important to you. Yeah. Yeah, Look,
Speaker 1: I learned a long time ago that forcing people to
Speaker 1: do something is not the best way to get their
Speaker 1: best out of them. You know, it just doesn't. You
Speaker 1: have to find a way to get people to buy
Speaker 1: in to what the common goal is and and then
Speaker 1: they'll give their best and then they'll be in a
Speaker 1: position to be able to reach their full potential. But
Speaker 1: trying to force people, whether it be through mandates or
Speaker 1: rules or anything like that, it just doesn't work. It
Speaker 1: just doesn't work. And you know that was probably cemented
Speaker 1: in my mind, um, just with my kids growing and
Speaker 1: the way I decided eventually to to start parenting them is,
Speaker 1: you know, you you can't just enforce the law all
Speaker 1: the time. You have to be able to have an
Speaker 1: open and honest conversation and allow them to realize why
Speaker 1: what you're saying is correct. And once they realized that,
Speaker 1: and that logic starts to kick in, and that belief
Speaker 1: starts to kick in, then they just want to do
Speaker 1: the right thing anyway. And you know, that's really the
Speaker 1: model we've gone with and why I said, you know,
Speaker 1: you you have to be able to understand your personnel.
Speaker 1: It's priority number one. And that's why I decided a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago that we would have we would
Speaker 1: create a squad mentality. We would we would have twenty
Speaker 1: five guys that would be constantly coming to dinners, playing
Speaker 1: practice rounds, hanging out, flying together, um, just becoming more
Speaker 1: and more comfortable in each other's presence. And then you
Speaker 1: start to add the little things like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: having a South American mentor they're like Camillo having a
Speaker 1: Korean mentor they're like kJ Mike, Jeff. These are all
Speaker 1: people that have been there and done that. They've all
Speaker 1: been to the top of the game in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, and they're well respected not just because
Speaker 1: of their games, but because of the men that they are.
Speaker 1: And so it's very easily then for the golfers to
Speaker 1: fall in line and start to understand how those guys
Speaker 1: do things and why they do things, and it's it's
Speaker 1: an extremely important part. And really, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: as important when you're on a run and you're playing well,
Speaker 1: but it was extremely important on Thursday night and particularly
Speaker 1: Friday night, when we're eight two down and really at
Speaker 1: this point now we're facing getting shut out in this
Speaker 1: tournament being over on Saturday night. That's when that stuff
Speaker 1: really starts to kick in, because now these players are
Speaker 1: willing and able and interested and motivated in digging deeper
Speaker 1: than what they've ever gone before and finding out something
Speaker 1: new about themselves and about their teammates and about their
Speaker 1: captains and about their partners in the whole locker room.
Speaker 1: That to me is something that's extremely special. And you
Speaker 1: look at you know, you don't have to go that
Speaker 1: far back. You just go to Whistling Straits and you
Speaker 1: consider that US team and you take a look at
Speaker 1: somebody like Scotty Scheffler, who at that point really was
Speaker 1: on the verge of making the US team. He wasn't
Speaker 1: a lock, he wasn't a luck by any means. There
Speaker 1: could have been four or five other players that Steve
Speaker 1: Stricker picked instead of Scotty Scheffler. But Scottie Scheffler went there,
Speaker 1: he learned something about himself, if he learned something about
Speaker 1: his game, and man, within six months, he was the
Speaker 1: world's number one golfer, the Master's champion, he rilled off
Speaker 1: four wins in a season, was the player of the year.
Speaker 1: And the guy is just an absolute stud now. And
Speaker 1: I really do put that down to the experience that
Speaker 1: he had with those great players in great corps at
Speaker 1: Whistling Straits. And I'm hoping that that somebody on our team,
Speaker 1: whether it's a song JM or a Sea woo uh.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of these players, but Saden, how
Speaker 1: it goes out there and earns one and a half
Speaker 1: out at two points, you know, hopefully one of them
Speaker 1: found something inside themselves that you know, not necessarily that
Speaker 1: they didn't think was there, but um, they now know
Speaker 1: how to access it. They now know how to access it.
Speaker 1: And I look forward to seeing what the next twelve
Speaker 1: months holds for those guys. So let's take a short
Speaker 1: break and we will be back right after this. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get back to the interview. He didn't get the
Speaker 1: wind that that I know that you and everybody in
Speaker 1: the international side wanted. Um, I think you were up
Speaker 1: against some difficult cumstances. Obviously in the current state of
Speaker 1: world golf affairs, with with all of the stuff going on,
Speaker 1: it would be easy to talk about for you as
Speaker 1: an international captain travel the players that you didn't have
Speaker 1: at your disposal that could have helped. But the team
Speaker 1: that you had, man, I mean you there was some
Speaker 1: good performances. I mean we joked last year when I
Speaker 1: was working with Sea Who Kim before he fired me.
Speaker 1: You were like, hey, you gotta get see where going
Speaker 1: because you and I both know and if everybody listening
Speaker 1: doesn't know, Seawood tries and about half the tournaments, half
Speaker 1: the tournaments on the PGA Tour, right, I mean he
Speaker 1: gives up, he bones it in. He's one of the worst.
Speaker 1: He will admit that too. You and I have talked
Speaker 1: about this. You were saying, you know all last year,
Speaker 1: come on, man, get and find some heart. I mean
Speaker 1: when Sea Who gave the Patrick read shushed the crowd
Speaker 1: thing people and I think this was really good as well.
Speaker 1: We saw the video that came out yesterday as Sung
Speaker 1: Jay doing the dance, which is one of the coolest things. Um,
Speaker 1: see who Tom Kim kge Lee. The Koreans genuinely outwardly
Speaker 1: to the fans are very very introverted, introspective that don't
Speaker 1: kind of show any emotions. But you and I know,
Speaker 1: see who off the golf course is really funny. He's mischievous,
Speaker 1: he likes to talk smack. To see that out of him,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's That's one of the things I love
Speaker 1: about these team competitions. It brings out a part of
Speaker 1: a player's personality that you've never really seen before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Look as you said, he when I became captain,
Speaker 1: he was one of the guys that I hear marked
Speaker 1: that I thought, Okay, I have to have this to
Speaker 1: I have an incredible amount of respect for his golf
Speaker 1: game and his talent level I think he has. Ah.
Speaker 1: I want to say this in the right way, but
Speaker 1: there are very few golfers on the PGA Tour that
Speaker 1: have as high have a ceiling as Seawood Kimp. His
Speaker 1: best golf is can be put on a level with anybody.
Speaker 1: He just needs to find a way to be motivated
Speaker 1: to allow that to happen. And so even though his
Speaker 1: results were a little lack cluster when I was making
Speaker 1: the picks. I saw enough out of him and the
Speaker 1: days when I called him and texted him and I
Speaker 1: was like, I need a good round today, always sixty five,
Speaker 1: sixty six. The guy is just he's able to turn
Speaker 1: it on when he's interested. So I knew that within
Speaker 1: our team struck show, we would be able to keep
Speaker 1: him engaged and keep him locked in. And I had
Speaker 1: belief that if we could do that, he could really
Speaker 1: go out there and beat anybody. Um so, and I
Speaker 1: texted him. He called me on Monday to thank me
Speaker 1: for the week and thank me for picking him, and
Speaker 1: he told me that it was the best golfing week
Speaker 1: of his life. And I challenged him. I said to him, dude,
Speaker 1: you can play like that every time you play. You
Speaker 1: just gotta want to do it. And so that's going
Speaker 1: to be the thing for him. And he's one of
Speaker 1: those players that really could step up. But we've seen
Speaker 1: him when the players are ready. But he could win
Speaker 1: a major, no problem. Just got to find a way
Speaker 1: to be engaged for four or five days. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the Koreans, let me tell you, they really became the
Speaker 1: heartbeat of our team. Like you say, amazing personalities, try
Speaker 1: their best to speak English at every single opportunity. D
Speaker 1: they throw themselves out there, which in a team environment,
Speaker 1: that's really what you need. You need the players to
Speaker 1: be vulnerable as soon as possible in the team room,
Speaker 1: because once everybody sees that these big names are able
Speaker 1: to to be vulnerable, everybody buys in immediately. That's another
Speaker 1: thing that I learned from Dabbo and the Korean guys
Speaker 1: rarely did that by trying to speak English, by people
Speaker 1: having a laugh every now and then when they got
Speaker 1: the order of words mixed up, and then them having
Speaker 1: a laugh and um to a man, all four of
Speaker 1: those guys and kJ amazing humor, incredible humor and willing
Speaker 1: to make fun of everybody and themselves. Uh, just the best.
Speaker 1: And we had these conduits there with Tom and with
Speaker 1: our Korean translator Jim Park, to where you know, they
Speaker 1: could aid us with some of the translation and and
Speaker 1: really bring the point across. So gosh, I told him
Speaker 1: all I was on a text chain with him and
Speaker 1: with with the Korean guys, and I told him, you know,
Speaker 1: they were the heartbeat of our team. And I'm so
Speaker 1: thankful that they stepped up in such a big way
Speaker 1: and contributed in such a big way to our team.
Speaker 1: So um, my hats off to the man. Look, I know,
Speaker 1: as an international player coming from South Africa, I didn't
Speaker 1: have the language barrier that some of these players have.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you want to compete against the best,
Speaker 1: you realize that that happens on the PGA too. At
Speaker 1: an early age, I realized that happens on the PGA tour.
Speaker 1: And at that point, you know that you're going to
Speaker 1: have to leave everything behind that you know and that
Speaker 1: you're comfortable with, whether you're from Korea, Australia, South Africa,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to ship yourself and your life
Speaker 1: and in some cases your family to the US and
Speaker 1: make that set to see if you can fulfill your
Speaker 1: dreams and uh and those guys do that. And you
Speaker 1: look at the Korean representation on the PGD turn, I'm
Speaker 1: one to say there's nine of ten players they're out
Speaker 1: there on tour, so they're doing an incredible job. My
Speaker 1: hats off to kJ being being the godfather of it
Speaker 1: all and the job they're doing there at the KPg A,
Speaker 1: it's brilliant stuff. They're churning out some incredible talent and
Speaker 1: we're not even talking about the woman that dominate the
Speaker 1: game on the LPGA, So my hats off to them.
Speaker 1: You mentioned see Who Kim um and the intensity. If
Speaker 1: he could bring that all the time, you put him
Speaker 1: out in the singles match against Justin Thomas. I mean
Speaker 1: the way that See Who played on Sunday, that fire,
Speaker 1: that fight, that intensity, That's what Justin Thomas brings on
Speaker 1: Thursday at the beginning of the year. I mean, Justin
Speaker 1: Thomas is that guy all the time? I thought that
Speaker 1: was a huge, huge win for See Who Um. We
Speaker 1: couldn't talk about last week without talking about one of
Speaker 1: the superstars to come out of this, Tom Kim. I'm
Speaker 1: glad that I that I that I called you and
Speaker 1: told you in January after watching Tom played two rounds
Speaker 1: with DJ in Saudi Arabia, I said, he needs to
Speaker 1: be on your radar, and You're like, really, I was
Speaker 1: like this guy, Trevi, I was messaging U Joe Scabrin,
Speaker 1: who caddied for Ricky Fowler for you know, his whole career.
Speaker 1: He's on the back for Tom Kim. Now we were
Speaker 1: talking on Friday Saturday night. When you meet Tom, he
Speaker 1: has something and you feel it in his personality. It's
Speaker 1: it's his smile, it's you sit and talk to him
Speaker 1: for five minutes. I don't know what it is, but
Speaker 1: the kid has it and we saw that last week. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I just want to back up real quick to see
Speaker 1: the respect we have for him and the belief we
Speaker 1: have in his gang. He was actually supposed to hit
Speaker 1: the first T shot on third day. I had prepared
Speaker 1: him for that. We were gonna send him and Cameron
Speaker 1: Davis out first and an alternate shot. See where was
Speaker 1: going to hit the first T shot? But um, when
Speaker 1: Davis Um had deferred and made the change in the
Speaker 1: selection process and threw it on us, then we had
Speaker 1: to go to a different plan and strategy. But so
Speaker 1: we had prepared him all week actually to hit that
Speaker 1: first T shot on Thursday, So I knew he was
Speaker 1: going to be ready for it on Sunday when we
Speaker 1: threw him out there against Justin Thomas, and I knew
Speaker 1: he was going to have the guts to be able
Speaker 1: to handle that situation and stand up um to Justin.
Speaker 1: You know, we know how how JT acts in these
Speaker 1: team events. We've got a pretty large sample size. He
Speaker 1: gets really pumped up. H He he is one of
Speaker 1: the guys that brings the energy on their team. He
Speaker 1: gets the crowd pumped up, and I knew, see who
Speaker 1: you had the guts to stand up to. Now did
Speaker 1: I think he was possibly going to take Justin Thomas down?
Speaker 1: There was there was. There was hope there for sure,
Speaker 1: because we needed it if we were going to win
Speaker 1: the thing. But I knew that he wouldn't. I knew
Speaker 1: that Justin wouldn't be able to get into see Who's head,
Speaker 1: and that's why we sent him out first. Now going
Speaker 1: to Tom, Hey, I spent three years trying to get
Speaker 1: into see what head. It's impossible. It's impossible to get
Speaker 1: into that kid's head. You can't do it exactly. Now
Speaker 1: I go into Tom. Yeah, you know I I thanked
Speaker 1: you a few times in the media already. When I
Speaker 1: got that text for you, You're like, man, DJ's just
Speaker 1: played a practice chunder with this kid, Tom Kim. He's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: You've got to check him out. And I started paying
Speaker 1: attention from that moment. And he had a win and
Speaker 1: a couple of seconds and a third on the Asian
Speaker 1: Tour and at that time he's nineteen exactly right, but
Speaker 1: he's been a pro since he was like sixteen or seventeen,
Speaker 1: so he had a few years under his belt and
Speaker 1: then he started getting some starts in some bigger events,
Speaker 1: some real events, and immediately made an impact. Um and
Speaker 1: you know the way he performed at the Scottish Open
Speaker 1: against you know, one of their biggest fields of the
Speaker 1: year and had an amazing shot to win all the
Speaker 1: way through that Sunday in the final group, made his
Speaker 1: way into the Open and that was when the first
Speaker 1: time I met him in person. I went out on
Speaker 1: the Wednesday and he and see who were playing a
Speaker 1: practice shound together, so texted with you. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, let me know when you guys tee of
Speaker 1: from come out there and walk some holes. And I
Speaker 1: met them on the fourth fairway and he's in the
Speaker 1: fairway Tom. The whole location is back right, wind is
Speaker 1: whipping and he just pures this high cut four iron
Speaker 1: into the middle of the green and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, first shot I ever seen from this kid,
Speaker 1: and it's just pure right right where he's looking. And
Speaker 1: walked with them for a few holes and immediately you
Speaker 1: can feel there's something a little different about him. He
Speaker 1: has a present, he has self belief whilst still being humble. Um,
Speaker 1: and he has he has this mentality where he doesn't
Speaker 1: shy away from the limelight. You know, he wants the
Speaker 1: ball when it matters most. And you know, you don't
Speaker 1: see that all that often. You see a lot of
Speaker 1: great athletes that make an incredible living, but they're just
Speaker 1: like to be able to cruise just under the frame
Speaker 1: and do well and have top tens and you know,
Speaker 1: finish on podium and uh and never rarely put themselves
Speaker 1: out there. And it's not really a knock on them.
Speaker 1: It's more about putting itself out there is damned difficult
Speaker 1: and it's demanding, and there's a lot that comes with it,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a strain mentally, and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of an anxiety that comes with that, and so it's
Speaker 1: not necessarily a knock on that athlete. But I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: when you find the ones that that asked for that
Speaker 1: and want that and demand that, those ones are special.
Speaker 1: Those ones are really special. And when you match that
Speaker 1: with supreme talent is you know, when you find the
Speaker 1: magic and this kid has that. This kid has that.
Speaker 1: And all week we were we were saying to him,
Speaker 1: you want that part to win the Cup. And I'll
Speaker 1: be like, I want that part, I want that part.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make that putt and then lo and behold.
Speaker 1: He didn't have the putt to win the Cup, but
Speaker 1: he had a part that was vital to us on
Speaker 1: Saturday evening. Did you think he was gonna make it?
Speaker 1: I had no doubt he was gonna make it. You know.
Speaker 1: You know what was so impressive to me, Claude. So
Speaker 1: I was kind of running around. Um, it's very difficult
Speaker 1: as captain to know where you need to be, and
Speaker 1: you just going by instinct and you're going by guts,
Speaker 1: and you're listening to the radio and you're starting to
Speaker 1: try and understand. And they got to seventeen, all square,
Speaker 1: and I joined uh him and see we're in the
Speaker 1: fairway on seventeen and I went up and I you know,
Speaker 1: gave him a pat on the shoulder and I was like,
Speaker 1: come on, we need you know, we need this point.
Speaker 1: And he's like, I got it, I got it, I
Speaker 1: got it. They tie seventeen. Um, they hit their t
Speaker 1: shots down eighteen. He hits the straight one. But as
Speaker 1: we're walking off the tees, like I whipped that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be so far back. So we're walking over the
Speaker 1: hill and now you know, both teams are starting to
Speaker 1: follow because everybody realizes this is this is a pivotal moment.
Speaker 1: It was one of the most intense moments I've ever
Speaker 1: felt on a golf course. The energy was like you
Speaker 1: could it was hitting you hard. We get to his
Speaker 1: ball and the guy's got like two thirties seven or
Speaker 1: something like that. I mean, he's got two. I'm wanting
Speaker 1: to say to twenty two to cover that front left
Speaker 1: bunker and see who's out in the right trees. And
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out who should play first in
Speaker 1: the better ball format. You know, does Tom want pressure
Speaker 1: on him knowing where see who's ball is or does
Speaker 1: he want sea whoo as a little bit of insurance.
Speaker 1: And we get word from sea Where that he's got
Speaker 1: a shot. He thinks he could get it up near
Speaker 1: the green. It's taking a little while and Tom's just
Speaker 1: says to me, tell him, I'm gonna go, Like he
Speaker 1: couldn't wait anymore. He said, tell him, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: So Camillo's down our radio. Camilla, I said, Tom's going,
Speaker 1: So see who um stands back for a little while,
Speaker 1: and the kid pulls the two iron now and Joe
Speaker 1: says to him, perfect club, normal two iron. And he
Speaker 1: gets over the ball and I look back and I
Speaker 1: see three cuts of Americans fifteen yards from him, like
Speaker 1: just off of the line, like they're right there, right there,
Speaker 1: you can feel them. It's the who's who have American golf.
Speaker 1: It's Thomas, it's Speed, it's Homer, it's for Now, it's
Speaker 1: all their wives, it's the caddies. I mean, You've got
Speaker 1: three golf carts packed with the best players in the
Speaker 1: world and they are like steps from this kid. And
Speaker 1: then you've got all the American vice captains who are
Speaker 1: all made, you know, who have all one major championships
Speaker 1: and all that. And he slocked this two iron, Dude,
Speaker 1: as it took off, that ball was never going to
Speaker 1: be outside of fifteen feet. And and that goes back
Speaker 1: to what I was saying earlier. Some people really want
Speaker 1: that moment and others, you know, are looking for ways
Speaker 1: to shy away from it. And after he hits the shot,
Speaker 1: I walk up to him, I put my up on him,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that was incredible, that was incredible. But
Speaker 1: I wanted him to stay focused, because the energy all
Speaker 1: of a sudden was like, man, We've got a shot
Speaker 1: at this now. And I just said to him, make
Speaker 1: that put stay focused and make that putt and uh.
Speaker 1: And then afterwards we obviously got to him during the
Speaker 1: week the amount of times we said to him do
Speaker 1: you want to do you want that putt to win
Speaker 1: the Cup? Because afterwards with the media asked him about it,
Speaker 1: he said, he said, I wanted to make that put
Speaker 1: more than anything in the world. And it just goes
Speaker 1: to show Um somehow we got to him with with
Speaker 1: all of that during the week. But the kid is
Speaker 1: an absolute stud. I'm extremely excited to see what his
Speaker 1: future halls. He reminds me, trev Um. If you think
Speaker 1: about the coming out party that Sergio Garcia had um
Speaker 1: early on in his career at Madina, and then the
Speaker 1: way he played in the in the Wryter Cups, he
Speaker 1: was you know, you were part of the young guns
Speaker 1: with him and Scotty back in the day, and it
Speaker 1: was that youthful kind of innocence mixed with confidence and
Speaker 1: arrogance and all of that. And I looked all last
Speaker 1: week reminded me so much of what happened to Sergio
Speaker 1: at a very young age in his career to where
Speaker 1: he came out. He was running around, he was jumping around.
Speaker 1: Everybody liked him. Um, he his energy was infectious. Um.
Speaker 1: Do you think that an opportunity like this for Tom
Speaker 1: can give him that springboard now to say, okay, I
Speaker 1: can use this to help me get to the next level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. There's no doubt. We used to Scottish
Speaker 1: Cheffler analogy earlier, comparison earlier, and um, I throw that
Speaker 1: in there. The one caveat is, uh, if you look
Speaker 1: at the difference between those two players as we're using
Speaker 1: them as examples, you know, Scottish Cheffler is a very
Speaker 1: very powerful player. Still hits it a long way, hits
Speaker 1: it extremely high, can fire at any pin wherever it is,
Speaker 1: and has the short game to match. Then has the intangibles.
Speaker 1: Tom has the intangibles, He has the desire, he has
Speaker 1: the heart and the guts. He has the skill level
Speaker 1: from a standpoint of accuracy, owning one shot that he
Speaker 1: knows he can rely on that baby fade, the thing
Speaker 1: that's going to be interesting for me to to see,
Speaker 1: and the one hurdle that I believe he still has
Speaker 1: to overcome is um. He doesn't quite have the power.
Speaker 1: So he was the second shortest hitter on our team,
Speaker 1: him and Bosadon with the two shortest hitters, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was a good sign that he acquitted himself
Speaker 1: so well on a big ballpark like Quail holler Um.
Speaker 1: He has a bit more of a knuckley ball flight
Speaker 1: um and needs conditions to be firm and will be
Speaker 1: extremely dangerous when you look at golf courses like sedge
Speaker 1: Field where he won the Windom or Colonial or Sony
Speaker 1: places like that. But it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 1: see if over the next few years he can continue
Speaker 1: to generate a little speed to match everything else to
Speaker 1: where he can bridge the gap. I mean, you look
Speaker 1: at Ah just that match and who they were playing against.
Speaker 1: You know he's going in with two iron. And then
Speaker 1: the next match that came through there, the Burns Scott
Speaker 1: h Davis Horsal match. Burns had a hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: yards into that whole on eight team and Tom had
Speaker 1: two seven. So it just goes to show, you know,
Speaker 1: it really is tough to keep up because Sam Burns
Speaker 1: and and Homer and Thomas and Scheffler, like, those guys
Speaker 1: have all the skills and they have the power to
Speaker 1: match that. So that to me is the final hurdle
Speaker 1: for Tom. You know he's only twenty, but it'll be
Speaker 1: very interesting to see if he can start to harness
Speaker 1: a little more power to where he can bridge that
Speaker 1: gap and instead of having I know he whipped that
Speaker 1: T shirt. He told me so in his own words,
Speaker 1: but instead of seven, can he be inside of two
Speaker 1: hundred to where he still has some kind of medium
Speaker 1: iron in there because of a very difficult for him
Speaker 1: over the course of four days. We would be at
Speaker 1: a major US Open and a Master's when it's not
Speaker 1: firm and fast for him to keep up with with
Speaker 1: the big guns. Two other players, young players tribe that
Speaker 1: I thought were standouts, Cam Davis and Sebastian Mono. So
Speaker 1: the way those two guys played, um, they are legit stunts.
Speaker 1: I mean when I watch I mean Cam Davis obviously,
Speaker 1: and talking about Tom, um, Tom isn't you know he's
Speaker 1: by no means big, He's by no means long. When
Speaker 1: you look at Cam Davis, Cam Davis is the prototypical
Speaker 1: two p G A tour player. He's six to the
Speaker 1: six four hits it. Miles hits it to the sky.
Speaker 1: Can you know can hit seven iron from to fifteen
Speaker 1: if he needs to. And then you've got a kid
Speaker 1: like Sebastian Munos who was a great ball striker. Talk
Speaker 1: to me about the contributions that those two guys were
Speaker 1: because I thought the match that that that Cam Davis
Speaker 1: down the stretch with Scotty on the team, Scotty you know,
Speaker 1: as his partner, and I thought some of the shots
Speaker 1: Sebastian Manials pulled off. Um, we're really really fantastic for
Speaker 1: those two players. Yeah. Look, a lot of people, a
Speaker 1: lot of people outed me, a lot of people laughed
Speaker 1: at me. I got a lot of hate on Twitter
Speaker 1: when I made those picks. I went a long way
Speaker 1: down the line. Cam Davis was twenty in our qualification criteria,
Speaker 1: Monos was thirteen or fourteen? See who was eighteen? But
Speaker 1: I knew, just in getting to know those players over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, all the time that I
Speaker 1: had spent with them, getting a look under the hood,
Speaker 1: understanding what makes them tick, knowing what their strengths and
Speaker 1: weaknesses are in their games, I knew they were going
Speaker 1: they had the potential to be eight fits with Quail
Speaker 1: Hollow and with the canvas that we were going to
Speaker 1: have to work with uh Cam Davis, particularly the way
Speaker 1: he handled himself at the end of our qualification period
Speaker 1: when we had a lot of question marks, we didn't
Speaker 1: know exactly who was going to be on our team.
Speaker 1: He he He stepped up as an alternate and knew
Speaker 1: that if certain players leave, he was going to get
Speaker 1: the call. And it didn't disappoint him. It fired him
Speaker 1: up even more and it showed me how much he
Speaker 1: loved our team, how much he wanted to play for
Speaker 1: the Shield, and how much he wanted to be at
Speaker 1: the President's Cup. I learned a lot about him in
Speaker 1: that um time period, and he just kept telling me
Speaker 1: in the weeks leading up to the President's Cup, like
Speaker 1: I love match play. I played so much match play
Speaker 1: when I was a kid down in Australia. It brings
Speaker 1: something special out of me. I love knowing, you know,
Speaker 1: looking at my opponent, feeling that one on one dynamic.
Speaker 1: And he really was jazzed about it, and he was
Speaker 1: coming out of his shell more and more. He's quite
Speaker 1: a He's the most introverted aussy I've ever met in
Speaker 1: my life. Okay, No, normally auzzies are you know, they're
Speaker 1: out there. They're confident. Um they they'll let you know
Speaker 1: exactly how they think. He's not that way. He's much
Speaker 1: more reserved and and and introverted. But he was starting
Speaker 1: to come out of his shell. And it was amazing
Speaker 1: to see his confidence build and him and see, we're
Speaker 1: really pulled off a beautiful upset on the first day
Speaker 1: of the tournament to get us our point. And yeah
Speaker 1: for for him and Scotty the team up. I knew
Speaker 1: that that had had the potential to be a pretty
Speaker 1: good pairing because Cam you know, idolizes Scotty and and
Speaker 1: and watched him when he was a kid growing up.
Speaker 1: And the opportunity for him to be able to show
Speaker 1: wolf for one of his mentors, I knew that could
Speaker 1: could bring something special out of him. And the way
Speaker 1: he played those last three holes with the high cut
Speaker 1: three wood into sixteen buries, the ten foot for eagle,
Speaker 1: seventeen hits it in there eight feet buries that part,
Speaker 1: uh for them to be one up and then to
Speaker 1: make the part on eighteen to win that point. You know,
Speaker 1: So the eagle Birdie Birdie finish was just it was fantastic.
Speaker 1: I think one of the coolest moments that our team
Speaker 1: has ever had. Moonos, I love that guy, man, I
Speaker 1: love that guy he is. He's like a peaceful warrior.
Speaker 1: He he's very calm and quiet. He was he was
Speaker 1: a calming influence in the locker room. Ah. But he
Speaker 1: has like this underlying toughness. And I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: our team came a long way last week if you
Speaker 1: look at him in some Jay's partnership from a data perspective,
Speaker 1: they matched up beautifully with this golf course. And the
Speaker 1: fact that they went out there and and one that
Speaker 1: point together shows how far our team has come. We've
Speaker 1: got a Colombian guy and a Korean guy teaming up
Speaker 1: and and taking down a strong American pair. Uh. And
Speaker 1: then we just had a feeling about him in the singles. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we had an idea of who we wanted
Speaker 1: to play who in an ideal world, and we had
Speaker 1: different options with each player. He's played a ton of
Speaker 1: golf in Dallas with Scottie Scheffler, so we knew he
Speaker 1: would be comfortable with that matchup. Uh. And man, did
Speaker 1: he step up to the player take down the world
Speaker 1: number one. What a moment for him, so so so
Speaker 1: proud of him. And to see that moment where him
Speaker 1: and his dad were hugging afterwards and his dad just
Speaker 1: in tears, so proud of his kid taking down the
Speaker 1: world number one man. Money can't buy that. That is
Speaker 1: stuff that the dreams are made of. Yeah, and we
Speaker 1: you know, I was at the Wryder Cup at Whistling
Speaker 1: Straits and the same thing you you referenced at Scottie
Speaker 1: Scheffler and the Singles takes down John Ram. Everybody on
Speaker 1: that US team was going up to him afterwards, going
Speaker 1: you just beat the best player in the world. And
Speaker 1: like you said, you could see this being a springboard
Speaker 1: for a guy like Sebastian Munis to take that confidence
Speaker 1: for beating a guy like Scottie Scheffler, who is you know,
Speaker 1: one of, if not the best players in the game
Speaker 1: right now. You mentioned Adam Scott Hadeki, Montzi Yama. They
Speaker 1: are kind of the superstars of your international team. Scotty
Speaker 1: is one of your your closest friends. He's been a
Speaker 1: part of the the international team for pretty much forever.
Speaker 1: It seems like. Talk to me about the role that
Speaker 1: Scotty and her Deckie played last week. They didn't have
Speaker 1: they didn't go undefeated, they didn't have the superstar rules.
Speaker 1: Um I think, I mean, I can't. I can't think
Speaker 1: of how many times I saw her Deckie miss potts by.
Speaker 1: I mean, he hit so many good pots that didn't
Speaker 1: go in. But the role that those guys played from
Speaker 1: a team aspect and from a mentor aspect to these
Speaker 1: younger generation of international players, yeah, I was huge. It's huge.
Speaker 1: Those were out too playing captains if you wish. They
Speaker 1: were extremely involved in our decision making process from before
Speaker 1: the tournament. They were clued in on exactly what our
Speaker 1: different plans were and the ways that we were gonna
Speaker 1: try and run our team, and they gave their input constantly.
Speaker 1: It was extremely important for me for them to be
Speaker 1: very involved from the outset number one, because of my
Speaker 1: respect for them and what they've achieved in the game.
Speaker 1: Number two, understanding their personalities and how high of a
Speaker 1: golf i Q they have. But number three also these
Speaker 1: guys are future captains, so I wanted to bring him
Speaker 1: into the fray as much as I could so they
Speaker 1: could start to understand exactly how this team operates. For
Speaker 1: when they get the opportunity. Um, there was a tough
Speaker 1: one for a decade. He didn't come in with his
Speaker 1: game firing on all cylinders. He felt a little uncomfortable
Speaker 1: with his putter, and the green complexes at Coil Hollow
Speaker 1: are some of the toughest that we see all year
Speaker 1: on tour, extremely undulating and lightning quick. I mean, these
Speaker 1: things were running thirteen on a flat put every morning.
Speaker 1: So you start to add some slope to that, a
Speaker 1: one to slope to thirteen. It rarely exposes you if
Speaker 1: you're not feeling comfortable with your stroke and the role
Speaker 1: and the ball. So he was fighting that a little bit.
Speaker 1: He was also fighting a right hip injury. UM. We
Speaker 1: were managing that constantly, trying to stay on top of
Speaker 1: how much he was going to be able to play.
Speaker 1: He was a question mark in a number of sessions.
Speaker 1: But he showed a lot of guts and kept coming
Speaker 1: to me saying, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go. And so I have a lot
Speaker 1: of respect for him and I'm thankful to him for
Speaker 1: doing that. Uh. And we put him out early on Sunday.
Speaker 1: We knew that the Americans after us. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: shall I say we pumped the brakes a little bit
Speaker 1: on Saturday. I mean it still wasn't that close with
Speaker 1: four points behind going into Sunday, but we pumped the
Speaker 1: brakes a little bit on them, and they they had
Speaker 1: to be smart with where they were going with their
Speaker 1: lineup on Sunday, and we knew they would trying to
Speaker 1: come out early and uh and get some points, so
Speaker 1: we threw her decide out there. He played extremely well,
Speaker 1: got totally screwed on the eighteen tole. You know, for
Speaker 1: people who didn't see that, he hits a quite a
Speaker 1: nice t shut down the left hand side on the
Speaker 1: dog leg left. What's up doing doing standing there? You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say this first, I really hope the gentleman's
Speaker 1: knee is okay, because for a driver to land without
Speaker 1: bouncing on your kneecap has to be excruciating. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the fact that he's standing, you know, lands on your knee,
Speaker 1: you know you're staying in the wrong damn place. What
Speaker 1: is he doing? I mean that t shot Claude would
Speaker 1: have landed there and probably bounded another twenty yards down
Speaker 1: the fairway. He's got an eight nine wedge in his
Speaker 1: hand to a very easy accessible whole location on eighteen.
Speaker 1: This ball hits the guy's knee, kicks back and into
Speaker 1: the trees. So now he's got a brutal shot. He
Speaker 1: gets this flyer over these trees, over the back, then
Speaker 1: hits a miraculous chip shot that how that ball hits
Speaker 1: the middle of the flagstick and doesn't go in, rattles
Speaker 1: around it stays out, eventually gets the half. But man,
Speaker 1: he got pretty screwed there on eighteen. I felt bad
Speaker 1: for him because he was he knew how important that
Speaker 1: point was for us if we really wanted to to
Speaker 1: put a little pressure on him, and he acquitted himself
Speaker 1: really well. Scotty. Yeah, you know, like you said, he's
Speaker 1: one of my best mates. We met each other when
Speaker 1: when we were fourteen or fifteen years old, have competed
Speaker 1: with each other since that moment, and you know, we
Speaker 1: know a lot about each other. We've shared a lot
Speaker 1: of different things about our lives, what we've been through.
Speaker 1: We've become extremely close and he really has been a
Speaker 1: rock for me through my captaincy. Um. You know, it
Speaker 1: was tricky at times when everybody was saying that he
Speaker 1: was he was not going to be on the team.
Speaker 1: He was going to be leaving, he was gonna be
Speaker 1: going somewhere else, and I was getting all this stuff
Speaker 1: thrown at me all the time, and I knew he
Speaker 1: wouldn't go. And anyway, the guy committed to me way
Speaker 1: back in the process, and he was all in and invested.
Speaker 1: We would have weekly calls about our team, about the
Speaker 1: decisions we were making, about the way things wanted to go,
Speaker 1: we wanted things to go. And what I thought was
Speaker 1: so special about him and showed his true heart and character,
Speaker 1: was about six weeks before the end of our qualification,
Speaker 1: he said to me, you're not going to pick me
Speaker 1: for this. I'm going to qualify on my own. And
Speaker 1: he added PGA Tour events to his schedule. He traveled more,
Speaker 1: which you and I both know Scotty. Scotty's on the
Speaker 1: old Tigers schedule. You know, he likes to play fifteen
Speaker 1: events a year max. He's Howard. He he's the Howard
Speaker 1: Hughes of gone. So you know, he adds Rocket Mortgage,
Speaker 1: he adds Windham just to get into the playoffs. Now
Speaker 1: he knows he's given himself a shot um to earn
Speaker 1: some more points. He finished, he played good he did.
Speaker 1: He finished top five in those both two playoff events,
Speaker 1: qualifies himself for the Tour Championship, coming from nowhere before
Speaker 1: before that and earned his way onto the team. And
Speaker 1: that you know, it didn't just show me so much.
Speaker 1: It showed everybody else on our team, everybody in our squad.
Speaker 1: It showed if that guy, if this guy, like a
Speaker 1: future Hall of Famer, wants to make this team that badly,
Speaker 1: then we got to bring it to and so man,
Speaker 1: he he was a huge part of it. I'm extremely
Speaker 1: thankful to everything he did for me while while I
Speaker 1: was keptain. So the obvious question, trev Um, I know
Speaker 1: how your brain works. Do you want to do it again?
Speaker 1: Would you be the captain again? Or is it a
Speaker 1: one and dawn Um, is that what you think is
Speaker 1: best for the international team moving forward to get a
Speaker 1: guy like Adam Scott in to get these guys or
Speaker 1: I mean I think you are you are the perfect
Speaker 1: person for this role, Um, just with the not only
Speaker 1: with the way that your brain works, but as a
Speaker 1: former Master's champion, a guy that's beaten Tiger Woods down
Speaker 1: the stretch, a guy that's played all over the world,
Speaker 1: a guy that's now you know, going to be in
Speaker 1: the chair next to Jim Nance you know at CBS. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, I messaged you earlier in the week and
Speaker 1: I and I meant it. I look at your career
Speaker 1: and I look at you know when you and I
Speaker 1: met each other, and it was a two thousand and
Speaker 1: two the things that you've done. But I know how
Speaker 1: your brain works, and I know that you will have
Speaker 1: loved doing this job. If they wanted you to do
Speaker 1: it again, would you do it? I would, I would,
Speaker 1: But I don't know if it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we have a process with the
Speaker 1: international team now. We UM for the most part, for
Speaker 1: ninety five, are in control of every decision that gets
Speaker 1: made on this team. And so you know, we'll take
Speaker 1: a little time and let the dust settle, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: figure out what went right, what went wrong, and start
Speaker 1: to two to put the right plan in place for
Speaker 1: what the future is. Uh. You know, I think you'd
Speaker 1: probably be a little silly not to have Mike Where's
Speaker 1: captain in his home country. He's a legend of the game.
Speaker 1: He's a legend on our team. He's represented US a
Speaker 1: million times, He's been an assistant captain a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: He has been UM an integral part of of of
Speaker 1: my back room UM squad and has been fully invested
Speaker 1: throughout my captaincy. So I would say it's looking pretty
Speaker 1: good that he he will be the next captain. Uh
Speaker 1: And you know, we're looking at future venues now and
Speaker 1: we're trying to match the right guy for the right place. UM.
Speaker 1: But I absolutely see myself being involved in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. You know, I love this team, I
Speaker 1: love these players. I have a very uh strong feel
Speaker 1: and passion for international golf and for building the game
Speaker 1: all over the world and for getting youngsters at a
Speaker 1: very young age to fall in love with the shield
Speaker 1: and fall in love with the international team and fall
Speaker 1: in love with the opportunity to compete against the best
Speaker 1: in the American team. That's something that I'm extremely focused on.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'll be involved as long as they
Speaker 1: want me to be involved. Off, But as far as
Speaker 1: the next captain goes, UM, you know, we're just gonna
Speaker 1: have to let the dust settle and decide what the
Speaker 1: best thing to do is. You mentioned the future. We
Speaker 1: talked about the fact that it does feel like the
Speaker 1: team has momentum. Um. I turned on Live from and
Speaker 1: you know, on Golf Channel, and you've got Brandol and
Speaker 1: Paul McGinley for fifteen minutes talking about how they're going
Speaker 1: to change the entire um. You know, presidents cup bring
Speaker 1: in um, you know some of the people from the
Speaker 1: LPGA around the world which listen. I think they're all
Speaker 1: great ideas, but doesn't it kind of pisces me off
Speaker 1: that we're thinking, Okay, we got to change this thing now,
Speaker 1: because I really do feel like it's going in the
Speaker 1: right direction for the international team. The U S team
Speaker 1: is always going to be the U S team, Right,
Speaker 1: They're always going to be you know, they're always gonna
Speaker 1: be Alabama, Right, They're always going to be the All Blacks, Right.
Speaker 1: You know what you get with the U S side,
Speaker 1: And it's an embarrassment of riches. Whoever is the captain
Speaker 1: of the American side? Um, the fact that when you
Speaker 1: look back and look at all the writer cups that
Speaker 1: the US didn't win with the talent and the teams
Speaker 1: that they had, But it is an embarrassment of riches
Speaker 1: from an American standpoint. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: the people that Davis and the Vice captains can sit
Speaker 1: in the president's cup or sit in the writer cup.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're like, man, you're gonna sit maximum Are
Speaker 1: you gonna take him out? Okay? Great? Um. It kind
Speaker 1: of pisces me off that now we're talking about we
Speaker 1: gotta change everything, all right? Man, Me too, Me too.
Speaker 1: I've had to listen to that crap for two years now, Claude,
Speaker 1: people hitting me up on social media all the time,
Speaker 1: telling me that they got to blow this thing up.
Speaker 1: They got to change the format, they gotta cut the points. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got to bring the woman golfers in.
Speaker 1: I find it disrespectful on all accounts. To be extremely
Speaker 1: honest with you, I find it disrespectful to us as
Speaker 1: international golfers, that are professional athletes that compete at the
Speaker 1: highest level, week in a week out. We're not scrubs.
Speaker 1: Are we as strong as the Americans? Doesn't quite look
Speaker 1: like it right now. Have they kicked out butts in
Speaker 1: this event? They sure have, but there's been some close calls, um,
Speaker 1: and so I find it disrespectful to us. I find
Speaker 1: it equally disrespectful to the woman golfers. And here's why
Speaker 1: I don't think women golfers need men to make them
Speaker 1: and their competitions relevant. Their competitions are already relevant. I
Speaker 1: sit down and watch every single shot of the Solheim Cup,
Speaker 1: every single shot. It's one of my favorite times of
Speaker 1: the year when that event goes on. I watched the
Speaker 1: US Woman's Open. I watched the Woman's British Open a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago when South African actually brew High came
Speaker 1: down the stretch almost cofted up, and then one in
Speaker 1: the playoffs at Muirfield, matching Ernie Else's win at the
Speaker 1: Open at Muirfield. Women don't need men to make them
Speaker 1: relevant in sport. My family and I were glued to
Speaker 1: the TV when Serena Williams played her last match at
Speaker 1: the U S Open. She's one of the greatest athletes
Speaker 1: to ever walk on the planet. So I find it
Speaker 1: disrespectful on all accounts when people come with that opinion.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the fact that they may be trying to
Speaker 1: think outside of the box, but they needs to come
Speaker 1: up with something else. And I hope Paul doesn't um
Speaker 1: get offended by me saying this, but he texted me
Speaker 1: on Monday and he apologized for saying that on Live
Speaker 1: from because he realized what playing for the Shield means
Speaker 1: to us, what having the opportunity to compete in the
Speaker 1: President's Cup against the Americans means to us. And he
Speaker 1: realized that, and he realized that his take was incorrect,
Speaker 1: and he texted me to apologize, And I thanked him
Speaker 1: for having the guts to text me and to apologize,
Speaker 1: and I thanked him for realizing how much that event
Speaker 1: means to us. So I really do hope that we
Speaker 1: can find a way to create a woman's President's Cup.
Speaker 1: I think it would be incredible. The national team would
Speaker 1: be as strong as all heck, and they would probably dominate.
Speaker 1: I look forward to to to seeing that. I look
Speaker 1: forward to being of use and of service in any
Speaker 1: way possible with that. In fact, I've already had three
Speaker 1: or four conversations with my colleague Dottie Pepper about that idea.
Speaker 1: But let's leave the President's Cup and the international team
Speaker 1: alone for now, and let us compete and allow youngsters
Speaker 1: from Thailand and China and Japan and Korea and Australia
Speaker 1: and South Africa and Canada and all over South America
Speaker 1: allow them to grow up with this as their goal,
Speaker 1: to be able to compete on this level because we
Speaker 1: are eventually going to win this event. I promise you, Trevor,
Speaker 1: when you are a captain for these things, when you
Speaker 1: play in them, there's always these moments that that kind
Speaker 1: of stick out in your mind. I know you probably
Speaker 1: have a lot of them, but what are well, give
Speaker 1: me a lasting image or memory that that you kind
Speaker 1: of we're able during the moment to kind of look
Speaker 1: around and kind of go, man, this is this is
Speaker 1: something that will be a part of my life and
Speaker 1: be special for me moving forward. There were a few things, um.
Speaker 1: First of all, our first team dinner on Monday night,
Speaker 1: UH Company ton. I invested a lot of time with
Speaker 1: the help of of UM, you know, many people to
Speaker 1: build summarily kick ass team rooms at the golf course
Speaker 1: and at the hotel, and that first team don't know
Speaker 1: when those guys walked into our team room and and
Speaker 1: felt that and started reading the quotes on the wall,
Speaker 1: and when I spoke to them about how I saw
Speaker 1: the week panning out and playing out, UM and gave
Speaker 1: them my ideas on the week and my story for
Speaker 1: the week are revolved at all around the right Brothers
Speaker 1: and first Flight in North Carolina, and I gave them
Speaker 1: each a gift that was extremely impact and meaningful. That
Speaker 1: was something I'll never forget. That that feeling in the room,
Speaker 1: the love in that room was it was awesome to behold.
Speaker 1: The first tea on Thursday was another one. That opening
Speaker 1: ceremony with Davis and I got to speak the US
Speaker 1: anthem being some was something special to fly over. The
Speaker 1: energy from the crowd, the patriotism from the American fans,
Speaker 1: that was something I'll never forget. That was great to
Speaker 1: be a part of. And then Saturday afternoon when those
Speaker 1: when those two two matches came down eighteen and that
Speaker 1: that whole four hundred and eighty yard five hundred yard
Speaker 1: part four was lined ten deep. That was for me.
Speaker 1: The coolest atmosphere I've ever experienced on a golf course
Speaker 1: was in Tiger were the Masters. I was out on
Speaker 1: the golf course, excuse me, playing that final round, but
Speaker 1: I could feel that. And then I finished before him,
Speaker 1: and I was um near eighteen at the scoring area
Speaker 1: when he came through. You and I were standing right
Speaker 1: next to each other. That was the coolest moment I've
Speaker 1: ever experienced on a golf course. But I screwed you
Speaker 1: this that that moment on Saturday afternoon on the eighteenth
Speaker 1: was right there with it. The the atmosphere, the electricity,
Speaker 1: the passion from both teams, the will to win, the fight,
Speaker 1: the respect amongst the competitors. If you could bottle that,
Speaker 1: that's what this game is all about. Lastly, Trev, when
Speaker 1: you won the Masters, Um, your son Jacob was young then,
Speaker 1: he had red hair. Um, he had no clue what
Speaker 1: was going on. Um. What's the sixteen seventeen now the
Speaker 1: j man um for you as a father to get
Speaker 1: to spend a President's Cup captaincy with your son who's
Speaker 1: now playing competitive golf. He's sixteen. He knows what's going on.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're right around in the cart with him.
Speaker 1: He was there when Tom Kim made that part. It
Speaker 1: must have been pretty special for you and and and
Speaker 1: Jacob to to share that experience. He loves sports as
Speaker 1: much as you do. Um, that's got to be pretty cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was awesome. It was awesome. My daughter Maya was
Speaker 1: there as well. She was kempt out on the first
Speaker 1: tea every day, starting a lot of those I T
Speaker 1: chants and loving and she had the face paint on
Speaker 1: the flags and all the stuff. So it was an
Speaker 1: awesome week for our family. Uh. And the support that
Speaker 1: Carnita gave me through this and the time she had
Speaker 1: dedicated was I'll owe her for a long time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: my son, great moments to have him there with us.
Speaker 1: He was with the team at all times, in the
Speaker 1: team rooms, um, there for all of our videos, there
Speaker 1: for all of our pet talks, UM and team gatherings.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm so appreciative of the caddies and
Speaker 1: of the players and how they accepted him and and
Speaker 1: brought him in and really treated him with a lot
Speaker 1: of respect, just like he was one of their teammates.
Speaker 1: It was pretty special to see. And you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're all following him on social media on Instagram now
Speaker 1: and they're commenting on his posts and and the high
Speaker 1: five in him when they walk in from greens to
Speaker 1: tease and uh, you know, we brought him in and
Speaker 1: actually gave him a job. He was part of the
Speaker 1: support stuff. So he was out there, you know, Karen
Speaker 1: sandwiches and drinks and putting electrolytes into water bottles and
Speaker 1: you know, carrying umbrellas and stuff for the caddy. He
Speaker 1: was he was he was working as part of the
Speaker 1: had he had the Yarmo role from the cup. Hey, Yarmo,
Speaker 1: give me a sandwich, Yarmo, give me give me a
Speaker 1: bottle of It was great. It was great. And you know,
Speaker 1: like you said, he loved his golf. He competes. He's
Speaker 1: sixteen years old. You'd love to play collegiate golf and
Speaker 1: for him to be there and watch the best in
Speaker 1: the world, like from steps away and feel j t
Speaker 1: s energy and and feel uh Tom's heart and guts
Speaker 1: and be there to be able to watch how the
Speaker 1: best go about their business. Yeah, he's gonna have learned
Speaker 1: a lot from that week. I'm I'm very blessed to
Speaker 1: have been able to to spend it with him in
Speaker 1: such a close, plugged in manner. Well, I think you
Speaker 1: did a hell of a job. I know you guys
Speaker 1: didn't get the win, but um, I really do feel
Speaker 1: like there is a tremendous amount of positive momentum and
Speaker 1: energy for this international team moving forward. And I'm proud
Speaker 1: of you that you got to put your stamp and
Speaker 1: like you said, helped you put your brick in this
Speaker 1: foundation and hopefully in ten years time you as the
Speaker 1: international team. You guys are able to look at this
Speaker 1: and say, hey, we all built this together and we've
Speaker 1: finally got the win. And um, congratulations on um. I
Speaker 1: mean it's a hell of a year for you. I
Speaker 1: mean your presidents, cup captain, I mean CBS going into
Speaker 1: the chair next to Jim Nance. I mean, it's got it.
Speaker 1: I mean it's pretty good being Trevor Immerman right now.
Speaker 1: I think I need to sleep for a week before
Speaker 1: I think about it anything else. But thank you, thanks
Speaker 1: for talking to us, Trevin, and congrats on a great week,
Speaker 1: Ali brother. Thanks. So that was Trevor Immelman and um,
Speaker 1: you know what a week for trev What a week
Speaker 1: for the internationals. I think if you listen to that,
Speaker 1: anybody that thinks, um, that this doesn't mean something to
Speaker 1: the international team, Um, I think Trevor really did a
Speaker 1: fantastic job. You can hear it in his voice, you
Speaker 1: can hear it the way they played. Sure they didn't
Speaker 1: get a win, they've continually got beat but I mean
Speaker 1: it when I said it, and I think Trevor feels
Speaker 1: it as well. I think there's some momentum for the
Speaker 1: international side and um, I'm a being interesting to see
Speaker 1: if they can carry some of that to Canada for
Speaker 1: the next installment. Um. Thanks everybody for listening. We're going
Speaker 1: to continue to bring great guests. Son of a which
Speaker 1: comes to you every Wednesday. We'll see everybody next week.