WEBVTT - Five Things About the 2021 Open Championship with Jaime Diaz 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.720 Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Podcast. Today's 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.520 episode is brought to you by our friends over at 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.400 b Dratty. It is the middle of summer. I mean 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.560 it's hot almost everywhere. I was in Philly a couple 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.279 of weeks ago, it was like ninety eight and humid 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.560 every day. It was just like being in, you know, 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.160 a furnace. Anyways, what got me through it was by 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.240 Bee Dratty Sports. It is a new product. It launched 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.800 about a year ago and you know, you can go 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.000 buy this on their website bedratty dot com and it 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.240 is a it's an awesome shirt. 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So go to Bdradty dot com. 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:17.440 Today's episode is with Hi Mayds, the legendary golf writer 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.000 and now TV personality, Hi may I mean, I can't. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.000 I've been reading Hi Mayds for my entire life, and 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.959 it was just really awesome to have him on. One 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.160 of the greatest golf writers in the history of the game, 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:35.040 and obviously years at Sports Illustrated, New York Times, Golf Digest. 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.760 Later now he's at the Golf Channel. He will be 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.800 on live from all week. Hi may was great. We 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:46.000 did our typical five Things episode leading into this Open Championship, 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.520 so we talk about Royal Saint George's, the opens he's 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.200 covered there the opens throughout time he's covered, shared some stories, 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.680 memories that he's had over the years. It was really 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.360 really fun talking to Hi may If you've missed study 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.240 of our content, be sure to go to the Frida 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.880 Egg dot com. We've had a lot of articles. We 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.760 have daily newsletters to sign up there. But we had 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.440 to put together a Q and A with Tom Doak 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:15.799 on Royal Saint George's. We had Garrett posted a podcast 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:20.280 and a article accompanied article about the history of Royal 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.440 Saint George's, So check that out. At the fridagg dot 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:28.280 com And now, without further ado, here is him ds. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:28.679 I miss a green. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.400 For example, I'm already upset when I find my ball 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.680 in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.280 my ball in a brid egg Friday egg, the dreaded 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.079 Frida egg Frida, egg Frida, egg Brian egg Frida, egg 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.200 Bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of 0:02:41.280 --> 0:03:06.400 the home course. They just like they turn the camera 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:08.799 on and they go like say, it's just like. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.520 Literally go yeah, producer, go okay, Rich, go and that's it. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.560 Not even tell them what the topic is. Necessarily okay, koepka, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.600 go Rich, that's it. And he'll and he'll nail it. 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.160 And and then if he screws up or in his 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.360 mind screws up, he'll go, let me do it again, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.800 and then you know, he'll do something completely different. Yeah, 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:27.560 it's amazing. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.920 That leads perfectly into you know what, what's the difference 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.360 between how you cover a week on TV TV wise 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.880 versus the days of s I New York Times, You 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.200 know when the Golden Age really I think of golf writing. 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.400 Yeah, I was very fortunate, but I was always a 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.880 grinder and a toiler. So you know, I liked just 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:57.360 hanging around and immersing in whatever player I was watching, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.000 and waiting around for an hour to ask one question 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.040 or hoping I could, you know, maybe catch a guy 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.640 after he finished. And this is what I'm talking about, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.840 the writing experience, and then you know, maybe have an 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.280 idea and have to have a conversation. And you know, 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.120 not only is television different, but golf writing and journalism 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.880 in general has has become different in that regard too. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.560 I mean there's not as much the players don't have 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.000 as much free time, they don't have as much inclination 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:28.640 to talk to writers, and so these kind of philosophical 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.080 and deep discussions that you would sometimes be able to 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.200 have with a player just because maybe they were looking 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.680 for somebody to talk to after a long practice round, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.320 they might be interested. I love talking to the people 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.880 and writing and even going over my notes and stuff, 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.880 but then having to put it into a cogent form 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:50.560 was always hard. And so writing I think there's more. 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:55.039 There's more chip away at the marvel until it starts 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:59.279 looking like something kind of process, where TV is more instantaneous. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.159 And that's why I admire the people I work with 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.560 so much how how adroit they are just coming up 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.320 with with something, yeah, a nice idea, but delivering it 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.440 so smoothly, seamlessly, so that even if there's not a 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.560 lot of substance, because maybe there wasn't enough time to 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.719 really report something in depth, it still sounds really good 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.120 and it still makes the point. And so I think 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.680 television is more of a you know, you move on. 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.640 There's always another chance. You're going to be on for 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.520 a long time. It's not necessarily the definitive piece, and 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.960 then you'll get it. You'll get another opportunity to polish 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.440 perhaps the same subject, or at least use an idea 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:38.919 you didn't use because you couldn't think of it in 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:43.080 the moment. But I think the main thing is do 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.359 you have television chops? That's what you know? Are you 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.359 able to to say things in a way that is 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:54.200 pleasing to the ear, makes the point and it's concise, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.400 and that that is you know. The thing about writing 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.520 is you have drafts. I mean, yeah, yeah, you might, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.280 you might aim for that final goal. Uh, but you're 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.080 gonna have a lot of chances as you self edit. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.880 With television, it's generally one shot. You can't you really 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.160 can say to the producer and let's just a complete 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.800 with hey can I do that again? It just there's 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.800 too many demands, there's too many people involved, and you 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.960 have to live with that imperfection, uh, even more than 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:21.599 you do in writing. 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.480 It's the thing you said about time with players. It's 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.920 an interesting one because I think they you know, they 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.520 still have a lot of time. But you know, it's 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.120 probably this whole thing that's plagues all society, that technology 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.239 has made everybody feel like they have less time because 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.839 they're always connected. And then I imagine with the money, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.760 you know, there're a lot more families that are traveling 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.200 with players more so than ever before, which you know 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.600 obviously cuts into time. But and then also like the Netflix, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.800 like I gotta get back and pinch the show that 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.839 I'm really into is another thing. But but that's a 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.680 you know, I never thought about just the sheer time 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.599 because you know, without a cell phone, once your once 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.440 your subwhere I lived, I broke my phone on a 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.480 trip recently and I just realized, like, how wonderful was 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.720 so I just go just to wander about with nothing 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.040 to do. But like I've actined, that's you know, players 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.720 wouldn't they didn't have anything going on. It's like I 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.840 play in a tournament, I don't have anything going on, 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:22.280 and they could just sit and talk. 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:27.200 Yeah, there was more gathering in the caddy yard because 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.080 players would hang out in there. A lot of players 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:30.520 to eat in the caddy yard just to have the 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.960 conversations and uh. And the caddy culture has always been 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:36.760 the most verbal anyway, because those guys do have a 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.960 lot of time to hang around waiting for players, at 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:41.960 least in the old days. Yeah, now everything is more 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:46.160 streamlined Nowity, the priority for a player now is you know, 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:50.320 the priorities the media has gone down in priority, and 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.200 not because the preenie is not important to them. It's 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.520 just that I think before they were there were you know, 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.000 kind of business reasons to be engaged with media becase 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.840 because your sponsors and your endorsers would want you to 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.720 be in the public eye and and and so you know, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.720 talking to media was there was self interested in that 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.800 and motivation. Now I think they still want good relationship 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.160 with the media, but there's a lot of other ways 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.480 for players to to make money and and and certainly 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.640 you know, to create their own brand. And then there's 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:25.480 also with with the Internet and uh and social media. 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.200 There's distrust of media because a lot of things get 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:33.720 out there that they can't control that perhaps cause them 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.840 problems that they don't need. It's like, uh, you know, 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.720 if I and and and then with other demands on 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.800 them like family, like like what the phone does, the 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.320 practice time becomes more regimented too. So it's like they 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.040 go to the golf course and they're efficient. They're more 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.520 efficient about every where they move. They go to the physio, 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.240 you know, they go to the range. You know, maybe 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.320 they do an interview, but it's it's all very compartmentalized. 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.800 There's just and I'm not they were all all wandering aimlessly. 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.160 I mean the number one players always were very kind 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.439 of regimented. I mean Jack Nicholas was very organized, and 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.160 Tiger became very organized. But it's always it was the 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.400 fun guys were sort of the journeyman pros that you 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.480 sort of see and you know, and you might even say, 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.400 how's it going, you know, and half an hour later 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.000 you you've had a nice conversation, but you've also learned 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.120 a lot about golf. And I thought that was really 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.240 instructive for me and very rich experience as a golf writer, 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.720 just conversations with players. 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.080 You know, I was at Q for the first major, 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.440 first time I've been out covering an event in a while, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.400 and you know, it's the PGL stuff swirling around at 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.640 that point of the year, and I go, I go 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:41.880 up to you know, a guy that I've gotten to know, 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:46.079 and he's not an a list player, not really probably 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:48.280 a blest flair and I asked him like about the 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.040 PGL stuff, and he gave me just the most candid 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.280 aster because I can't wait. I can't wait for there 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.680 to be an A tour and a B Tour. I 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.400 can't wait to play on the B Tour. You know, 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.280 it's like something you'd never expect a pro golferspective. 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.559 From his perspective, it makes sense, but that's the kind 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.720 of thing. Yeah, you'd never see someone like that get 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.559 pulled into the media room. And that's that's where a 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:15.200 lot of the interviews take place now, because again sort 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.360 of programmed that the players, this is my media time, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.600 and I'll do the car wash, as they say, I'll 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.840 talk to all the guys you know with the outlets 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.880 with microphones and I'll do the separate interviews and then 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.520 I'll do the mass interview in the media room, and 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.160 you know, once they're done with that, they don't generally 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.600 stop and talk to writers very much before. It would 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:35.840 be a little bit like a free for all. And 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:37.480 you can you can even read it in some of 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.160 the old stories. Uh, you can sort of the set 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.280 the scene in your head as Jan Jenkins, you know, 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:48.600 shares a cigarette with you know, with whoever, Don January 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:53.760 or somebody and starts talking about things that you know, 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.079 give him material that he then would use. Maybe you 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.520 wouldn't quote Don January, but it was because he had 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.760 those those times and moments and leisure to kind of 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.960 develop an idea and have a nice relaxed conversation that 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.320 he got a lot of the great stuff that he got. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.000 Do you have a favorite's open Championship Week? Do you 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.000 have a favorite open? Uh from you know, either back 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.839 the day or more more recent memory that was your 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.280 favorite one to cover? Maybe your favorite Sunday game story 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.480 that you you cranked out or got got done under 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.679 the wire that like you didn't know where it was 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:29.760 going when you started. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.600 I never Yeah, well that was always the issue. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:39.600 just narrowing down the you know, scattershot ideas and finally 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.240 and that you know, was kind of a curse actually 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.840 sports illustrated in a way to it doesn't It didn't 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:45.720 seem like any a lot of time at all before 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.800 now he would write overnight and so you got, I 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:51.439 got all night. I'll just pull them all night and 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.320 I'll think of something good and that could end up 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:59.400 being you know, horrible uh cycle of indecision and panic. 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:04.440 But no, in general, you know, when when the bell rings, 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.160 something happens to you. I mean, you can choke, but 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.480 it can also your your your senses get more attuned. 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.000 You you start thinking clearly under the gun a little more, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.800 and sometimes you wait for the deadline on purpose in 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.000 a way, and that's that's a terrible procrastination habit. But 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.160 sometimes I just read a story about this, I don't 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:27.000 know where it was Atlantic or something about how procrastinators 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.000 have a have a method to their madness, because there's 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.920 a certain level of stress that produces your best thinking 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:40.400 and your best performance. But as far as favorite, gosh, 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.839 you know, it's also individual and random in this. But 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.560 I remember eighty nine at Troon just being magical, and 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.000 it was kind of tragic because because Greg Norman should 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.760 have won that tournament probably, and it was a three 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.920 way playoff with he and Wayne Grady and Calc. And 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.080 I always like Calc. He's a great talk and very funny. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.920 And he was a young gun at that time. You know, 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.360 he had won already three years before, but he was 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.600 in his prime. He probably could have won the Masters 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.480 in eighty eight when when Lyle hit that great shot 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.720 out of the bunker that BERTI the last hole to 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.880 beat him by one. So he was formidable. But it 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.400 was also the if I'm not mistaken, the first four 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.600 whole playoffs, you know, late at night, and it was 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:31.040 just so, you know, in the gloaming there on a 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.280 links it was just very and I'd watched a lot 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.240 of the golf that day during the Sunday and seem 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:40.520 Greg and and of course by this time Norman's been 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.240 nipped at the end, sometimes by his own, you know, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.840 his own mistakes, but sometimes by miracles like like Larry 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.480 miiu's chip and stuff. So he was kind of snake 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.840 bit there too. He knocked in the bunker on eighteen 0:13:54.880 --> 0:14:00.400 on on on the last hole, his last play off hole, 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.000 a bunker. He didn't think you could reach, but it 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:08.480 rolled in because he smoked it. But anyway, I'm not 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.880 giving you a great answer except to say that because 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.600 it was just kind of I felt like I was 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.280 really connected to it as it was happening and all 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.360 the players involved, and because of the access and because 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.000 of the playoff, it just it created this really nice 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:30.280 drama to watch. But you know, the settings are often incredible. 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.640 Ninety two and when excuse me, nineteen ninety when when 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.040 Faldo won that was a tour de force at St. Andrews. 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.520 And Valdo was not an overpowering player, but he was, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:44.720 as you know, just so incredibly precise, and he as 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.800 he had wanted the Masters without great length. He also 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:52.120 sort of really charted and played chess at St Andrews 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.760 at the old Course, and I think it was nineteen 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.120 eighteen under and he set a record and it was 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.720 just wallless golf and being at St andrew magical in 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.680 its own right. So to see a great tournament there 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.320 in a great performance was really special. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.920 With Calc he was like at that point dubbed like 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.880 the next big thing, right, and then it kind of 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.680 set up but became, you know, labeled as a disappointment. 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.400 Well, yeah, it might be overstated in the next big thing, 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.360 but there he certainly went up in stature tremendously because 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.720 he hit two really clutch shots. He buried eighteen with 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.640 a five iron. I remember that shot because I was 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.680 walking right next to him. And then and then in 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.960 the playoff he striped it on there too, So there 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.160 was a sense that this guy's a great closer. But 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.280 if you talk to Calc he'll say, I'm the worst 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.720 closer whoever lived. And I believe he has twenty nine 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.800 second places. I mean, I think he has the biggest 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.360 ratio of second places the first places of anybody who's 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.640 ever won ten tournaments in history. That's a hard thing 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.320 to chart completely because the records aren't perfect in that regard. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:01.560 But that's it's like the next these days, right, you know, 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.600 And when reality, like I think the reality is we 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.120 should be saying, like, hey, maybe next pill or Ernie. 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.760 And that would be a really lofty claim, right you know. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.640 I guess when once someone set the standard, you know, 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.840 that becomes what everybody's is going to measure by and 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.600 aspire to. And the funny thing is, when you know, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.360 I remember a lot of stories in the nineties about how, oh, 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.840 there's so much parody, they'll never be another dominant player, 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.280 and it made perfect sense. I mean, there was one 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.000 run I think in the eighties where nineteen different guys 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.280 won a major, so there was very little kind of 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:40.080 you know, especially in the majors domination. I mean, we've 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.840 had Nicholas of course and his his era kind of 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.320 in the eighties, but Watson was was really a prominent 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.960 early eighties, and then it started to look like, gosh, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.840 maybe though that that time where there's an incredibly uh 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.240 you know, dominant number one is over. It's just there's 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.440 too much depth, there's too many young players that are 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.439 coming up, powers become more important, the same arguments you 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.120 hear now. But then Tiger shows up in the mid 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.280 nineties and nobody's ever been more dominant. So I'm not 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:15.440 I'm gonna say I learned my lesson on that, But I. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.480 Mean history tends to repeat itself, too, right, it. 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.399 Could repeat I mean, you know, there could be another 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.960 Tiger in our midst It was six years old right now. 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.520 You know, with it be a Royal Saint George's. You 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.560 covered Royal State George's opens in the past. Any any 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.399 favorite beatories are ones that stand out from opens at 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.600 Royal Saint George's on the ground. 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:42.120 Well, two thousand and four was very tough loss for 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.359 Thomas Bjorn, but it was also a tough loss, as 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:46.960 you know, he left it in the bunker twice on 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.040 sixteen with a with a two stroke lead, and then 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:55.080 bogie seventeen and lost, and Ben Curtis had played ahead 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.000 and made a he made a ten footer for a 0:17:58.040 --> 0:17:59.960 par on eighteen that turned out to be the winning put. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.760 But but VJ was right there, and Tiger was right there, 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.119 and even Phil was was lurking, and Phil at that 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.600 time was not contending in many Open championships. So that was, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.880 you know, a good one. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.399 It seemed like with Phil. With Phil, twenty eleven seemed 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.080 like a real turning point in his open career. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.320 Yeah, he talked about it even then, he's going, I 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.199 think I made a breakthrough. But ninety two I think 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.119 was probably my favorite at Saint George's just because it 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.399 was it was a real virtuoso performance by by Greg 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.480 and it was you know, you love to see him capitalize. 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.480 I did, anyway, capitalize on some really great golf that 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.800 he had not capitalized in the past, and he had 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.520 he'd gone through a big rebuild of his golf swing 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.520 with with with Charmon for about a year and a half, 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.959 and that was the validation that it was that it worked. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:52.760 And you know, we've we used to hear about rebuilds 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.399 all the time with Faldo and and even you know, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.960 Hank Haney with Omira, and then you know when Tiger started. 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:00.920 When Tiger did it, it was like he was following 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.200 that model. You know that, Hey, it worked for Butch, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.719 with with fou with Norman, and led better with Faldo 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.040 and Hani with o'meira. This is what guys do when 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.159 they get better. So I want to I want to 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.439 do it too, uh. And he's always been, you know, 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.600 he always loved the idea of constant improvement. But I 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:22.000 think it's debatable whether Tiger really had the kind of 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:26.320 success with his rebuild that the others had had. And 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.480 there's many who argue that his best golf swing was 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.200 the one he brought out on tour, or at least 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.440 the one maybe he refined one time with Butch by 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.080 two thousand and who knows what happens to a golfer. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:40.119 The body changes, the fields change, habits get ingrained, and 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.160 suddenly the swings doesn't look quite as effortless. So maybe 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.240 Tiger fought that off with his swing changes. But I 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:51.160 don't think anybody considers the swings that he had later 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:52.520 in his career to be better than the ones he 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:53.480 had early in his career. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.160 But you know, the the rap on Royal St. George's 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.040 is these not big winners. And then you look down 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.840 the list and you see Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.640 and it's like, you know, those you know, they might 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.840 not have won the most majors, they might be you know, 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:15.879 I think those two guys, when you look back on history, 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.680 are two of the guys that maybe didn't win nearly 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.680 as much as they should have or their talent dictated 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.880 they would win. You know, with Sandy Lyle, he was 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:28.200 obviously like an overwhelmingly powerful player. You know, there were 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.240 tails of his one iron going past most guys drivers. 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.560 And then Greg Norman obviously gave more majors away than 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.360 he won. But you know, you look down the list 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.800 and then you got Bobby Locke and Walter Hagen and 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.560 Harry Harden. It's like, you know, Ben Curtis, Darren Clark, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.119 and Bill Rogers. Bill Rogers at the time was like, 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.879 it seems like it just doesn't really that's not a 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.200 good argument against Royal State George's. 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.720 It's a good rebuttal. You make a good rebuttal, and 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.399 you're right, certainly, it's just been too long since the 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:02.040 Barden and Hagen each won twice St George's, So that's validation, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.560 you think. And Henry Cotton was a special player. Then 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.600 you look at you know, Reg Whitcombe, Well nobody remembers him, 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:09.159 but that supposed it was the worst weather ever in 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.159 a major. Bobby Locke was perhaps the most underrated player 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:16.560 of that first half century, if not even the whole century. 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.200 I think one thing that causes that narrative to arise 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:27.800 is Bill Rogers. Sandy Lyle completely lost it, which mysteriously, 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.280 I mean, Bill Rogers was done by nineteen eighty three, 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.800 after being really number one in the world. They didn't 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:33.879 have the world ranking. Event. 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:35.760 Well, he won Player of the Year that year. 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:38.240 He won Player of the Year and he won seven times. 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.240 You know, he was really a special talent. And it 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.199 was coming at a time of course Watson was in 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.399