WEBVTT - Fire Drill 023: Boston Tee Party with Geoff Ogilvy 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:06.160 It's usually sort of hang on for deal life, and 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.639 there's twenty or thirty guys in after Thursday and fifth 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.600 day and after Friday, and then gradually get down in 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:12.640 the last night hols and there's only two or three left, 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:14.600 you know, and it's just got that real feel of 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.040 the hoho can hang on. And I just think there's 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.680 something uniquely special about that. I mean, as I said, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.720 it's probably not that much fun to play, but incredibly 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:33.160 rewarding to play. Well. Another log on the fire Nobody 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:42.800 here is give the Time. Hello. This is Alan Shipknuck 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.480 back for another Fire Drill podcast, sitting on the couch 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:51.760 next to me. Uh. Michael Bamberger, Ryan French beamed in 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.840 from the other side of the world. Jeff Ogilvie shout 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.480 out to the Arcadian Hotel here in Brookline that it's 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.800 our host this week and they've taken care of us, 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:04.039 and uh, we're very grateful for the hospitality. I also 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.600 like to thank our corporate sponsors who get us here 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.759 and help us keep the lights on. That would part 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.399 points our favorite scoring app. It's quite ingenious. We encourage 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:15.560 you guys to check it out. A fun way to 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.320 to mix things up. When you're playing with your buddies, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.319 your family or whomever. And of course I'd like to 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.880 mention our long time corporate partners, Link Soul. Uh. There 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.240 was actually I got swept into this debate on Twitter. 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.040 Someone just randomly tweeted anybody anybody out there still wear 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.200 like cotton clothing on the golf course. I was like, hell, 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:34.960 yeah to me, it's so much more comfortable. I don't 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.960 want all that synthetic stuff scratching at my skin like 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.080 uh one of my John Travolta wearing polyester now and 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:43.440 Links Soul, as we know, makes by far the most 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.200 comfortable soft is stuff out there. They do have some 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.200 a few synthetic things if that's your jam, But um, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.280 you know, we love Link Soul and we all wear 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:54.080 it and we're grateful. So let's get to this podcast. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.920 So let's start with the country Club as a venue. Um, 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.440 who joke is it? They couldn't find a better name, No, 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.320 nothing good, Peter Jacobson, they couldn't come up with a 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:12.680 name that's so great. But it really it's a special place. 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:14.480 I mean, I hadn't been back on the ground since 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.720 the ninety nine Ryder Cup, and I love just the 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.160 rock outcroppings and the land forms, and it feels like 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.200 this place is as old as time and it has 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.200 a real stateliness. Ryan, I know this was your first 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:28.840 day at the US Open. You've got to go out 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.280 there and walk a practice round. What were you impressions 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.320 of the course and just just being at the US Open. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.760 Let's start there. Yeah, I mean, it's it's surreal on 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:42.240 a personal level. But also I've been to a lot 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.160 of tour events and been lucky enough to caddy and 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.560 see these guys in corn ferre events from Monday qualifiers 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.520 or tour events, and like chipping and putting around the 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.399 green in a practice round is just so common and 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.240 just you don't even pay attention. But today to watch 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:03.840 players like hit little you know, dribbling shanks and literally 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:08.799 with and just stumble kind of all over themselves, it's 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.520 just I mean, it's it's what makes the US Open 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.840 the u s Open, and you the few groups I follow, like, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.360 they all talk about it as they leave the green like, whoa, 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.360 this place is really hard and uh And obviously I 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.919 filed a qualifier, so I was like, Luke, how hard 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:26.919 is this on a scale of one to tend? He said, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.560 probably a thirteen. For the listeners who haven't had chance 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.400 to read your story, just briefly talk about the person 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.320 you're following this week and why you chose him. Yeah, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.920 Luke Annon, And I mean just kind of what makes 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.960 the U s open my favorite uh major obviously or 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.600 my favorite event is you know you can be Luke Annon, 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.320 who's a mini tour player. Um, you know, he told 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.360 me in the interview for the story he hasn't won 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:58.240 since he was a sophomore. An amateur event in Kansas 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.560 is sophomore year in college. And uh, his dad's a preacher, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.680 and he worked as a janitor from age thirteen to 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:09.920 four years old and when he turned pro that's how 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:11.840 he made it for a while before he got some 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.320 financial help. Is he worked two weeks on as the 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.120 janitor at his dad's church and then two weeks playing, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.680 and then two weeks back as the janitor. And it 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.279 just kind of like what the US Opened to me entails. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.080 It just is for the dreamers. You're you're gonna look 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.480 up and down the leader board and for the casual 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.479 golf and it's going to be a bunch of no 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:32.640 names mixed in with a bunch of the big names, 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:37.400 and it's what makes the U s Open great that, Um, 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.680 you know, does he have a chance? Probably not no, 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.599 but does he think he has a chance, of course. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.000 And you know I made even as simple as a 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.080 made cut Alan is so huge for this guy. It's 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.640 gonna guarantee whatever last places thirty five th dollars or 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.360 forty thou dollars, and that can keep his dream going. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.880 I mean, he was out of money at Sectional Space. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.919 Really he considered. He told me I probably wouldn't have 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:06.840 gone if I had got money back if I were 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:08.920 able to get money back from my flight, but I 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.880 can only get flight credit, so I decided to go anyway, 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.520 and he got through. So it's just, uh, what what 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.839 makes this championship special? From the guys I follow? I 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.919 love that Jeff, your name is on the trophy. I 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.159 know this is a special week for you in your words? 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:31.160 What makes the US Open the US Open? Ryan touched 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.640 on it there a little bit. Um those practice rounds, 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.040 when I mean we start hearing about a month before, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:38.760 it's like, oh my god, you've been a Brooklyn yet, 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:40.480 You've been a Wingfoot, yet you've been This is the 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.560 hardest one we've ever had gone over the top. This 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.560 is gonna be the hardest thing we've ever seen. And 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.440 sure enough, on Monday, the whole field is chipping fifty 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.159 bowls around every grain and walking around and like shaking 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:51.839 their head and rolling their eyes of their caddies saying 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.480 that done it again. This is really hard. This is 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.760 really hard. But they're fun times. I mean, it's it's 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:03.120 I think for those who play, if for that for 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.640 golf is their thing, I mean, competitive golf is their thing. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.480 It's sort of the ultimate test. Sometimes it's a little 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.920 over the top, but that's kind of part of the fun, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:12.720 I think. I mean, it's easier to say now that 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:14.480 I'm sitting here talking about it rather than doing it. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.240 It's part of the fun. But um, they're big weeks, 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.400 and it's just on a scale that I mean, the 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.520 Open Championship gets to a little sort of similar sort 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:25.520 of scale and a different feeling. I mean, the Masters 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.720 is quite intimate in a way. I mean, it's quite 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.559 obviously a massive event. It's not very intimate outside the gates, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:33.760 but once you're inside Augusta, it's quite an intimate field. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.120 The US Open is anything but intimate feeling. It's just 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:41.119 absolutely massive, big structures, big stands, massive tense tons of people. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:46.719 From Monday morning, everybody's there. It's loud, um, and it's 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.560 just it's a loud course. Like it's just it's just hard. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.400 From the first hole every path forwards like a part five. 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.280 Greens are tough, pins are tough, and it's just it's 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.159 one of those really really really low grinding weeks in 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.560 pro golf that when you actually play well, it's right. 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.760 It's not really I wouldn't say playing well in the 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:13.200 US Open is fun, but it's infinitely satisfying, probably the 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.720 most rewarding round you can play as anything near bar 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.000 or under. Part of it was open because you've just 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.280 you've come up with some some special stuff eighteen times 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.320 in a row. Like, it's just it's just a great challenge. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.760 And coming down the stretch, coming on the weekends, they're 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.200 fantastic tournaments. Um, it's sort of battle of attrition, survival 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.000 of the fittest rather than then no one's really running 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.960 away and he was opening very rarely. It's usually sort 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.280 of hang on for dear life. And there's twenty or 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.640 thirty guys in after Thursday and fifth day and after 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.680 Friday and then gradually get down to the last nine 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.800 holes and there's only two or three left, you know, 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:48.360 and it's just got that real feel of the who 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.360 can hang on? And I just think there's something uniquely 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.600 special about that. I mean, as I said, it's probably 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.680 not that much fun to play, but incredibly rewarding to 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.560 play well. Jeff, this is just a question that I like, obviously, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.280 outside of winning on that Sunday, did you ever walk 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:06.360 off of around after around at the US Open and 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.160 field good or do you just like, you know, whether 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.040 where it fits in the field. Obviously you can get 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:13.960 a feel of like that part is going to be 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.880 great or whatever. But I assume it's just such a 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.160 grind that you're just kind of relief, don't matter like 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.640 that that round us over. You're never obviously you don't 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.560 have that feeling of like sixty three or sixty four 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.000 that you know it was great, you hit it great. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.280 Did you ever remember walking off and thinking like, wow, 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.520 that was a really great round or does it just 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.800 such a grind? I think first round at Tori, I 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:39.520 think Fergie actually reminded me M Doug Ferguson. For everyone else, 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.480 um great Apai Roda used to follow us around and 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.360 actually walk around on the golf course, unlike a lot 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.240 of his peers. UM used to enjoy dug out there 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.160 in the Hawaiian Ship. But anyway, I came off. I 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:51.920 shot under par on the first round at Tory in 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.400 two thousand night, and he came up to me and 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.280 typical fergu fashion, says, you know, you're the only champion 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.360 whoever won the US Open and never shut around under 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.640 par in the US Open, and now you have so 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:06.360 well done. Um. But I remember really enjoying Tory all 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.160 of it, um, and that first round especially, you will 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:10.600 have to check the thing. I sat one or two 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.640 under in the first round, and yeah, that was a 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:15.880 really nice feeling. I mean I've walked off. Yeah, it 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.440 doesn't matter. Chambers. I shot a few under in the 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:24.319 last round, enjoyed Chambers Bay Towards the end of that tournament. 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:26.400 I actually enjoyed Chaine Chambers by a lot more than 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:28.640 most guys did. I thought that was a real opportunity week. 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.120 But yeah, it's not fun. But as I said, it's 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:37.120 just it's the ultimate test in a way, that grindy test. 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.520 I mean, some golfers love to just play and hit 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.800 beautiful shots of great grass, and it's all about hitting 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:45.880 the great shots for them. And there's other golfers who 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.800 just love that really hard grind. You know, there's no 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.080 right or wrong, but there's some golfers who just gravitate 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.120 towards that really really hard sort of grinding thing. And 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.600 you guys can relate to these guys, you know, the 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.840 guys when they walk in the media tet, the ones 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.839 who really love the grind. I mean, I was probably guy. 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.920 But there's something really when you're playing well and you're 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:06.640 having a fight for power on every hole and you 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.160 get it up and down on one hole and it's like, well, 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:09.480 that's the best up and down I've had a year. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:10.600 And then you've got to do it again on the 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.679 next hole, and then you get to a five part four, 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.920 you've got to do it again. And when you keep 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.200 coming up with the goods, um incredibly rewarding. Yeah. So 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:25.599 I've enjoyed a few rounds at the US Open. I've 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.240 been annoyed, well more than I haven't been, but ultimately 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.280 frustrated usually, But um, it doesn't take sixty three and 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.400 then you should even power or better. And the Open 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.520 generally you're very very happy, and yes you're kind of 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.680 shuffed if you like, you're just you feel a warm inside. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.880 It's like I did it one more day down. It's 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:45.800 a good feeling. I mean in some ways is that 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.280 the easiest majors are weird because so many guys are 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.160 beaten mentally and emotionally and they just don't have that 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.559 grind or that that that mental makeup to do that 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.840 four days in a row does how much is there's 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.960 the field thinned out before they've even hit a Yeah, 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:04.960 I wouldn't easiest major to win is the wrong way 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.480 to say it. Certainly the least people to beat. Um. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.840 I would say there is certainly half the field has 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:16.320 written themselves off by Monday night, um, and then there's 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.600 probably another half of that the next the last half 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.560 another quarter of it goes after Thursday, UM, and then 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.880 you sort of fighting it out. Chambers was very obviously 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.720 like that most guys had completely written that tournament off 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:31.079 as a real tournament by Tuesday. Um. It was clearly 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.840 to me going to suit a really really good player 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:35.520 and look, the best player in the world one at 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:36.960 the time and the best pattern in the world one 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.120 at the time you put bad you get bad greens, 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.600 and they were atrocious greens really at Chambers. But you 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.280 get bad grains on a setup like that, and the 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.959 best part is going to win, and he did. So 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.400 I don't think you could argue with the champion that 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.520 that tournament got and that was that was the most 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:55.640 obvious one I ever played. That most people just wrote 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.920 themselves off before the tournament even started. But it happens 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.040 that most use opens um. So yeah, you're right, and 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.079 that there's an element of there's Look, there's other guys 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.600 who just don't think they can, just don't think they can. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.559 I mean, it's and to be honest, I've played a 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.400 few years opens Earlier's just like I just I don't 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.240 know how they shoot under path or seven to holes 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.480 around there's just no chance um. But then you sort 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:17.840 of get used to when you get better at it. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.160 There's a lot of guys who just don't really just 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.760 getting hit over the head seventy two times in a row, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.360 five and a half hours set, four rounds in a row, 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.840 it just wears people out eventually, And like the strongest survival, 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.680 the most peak headed, stubborn survive, really, I think sometimes 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.000 too I wouldn't say easy to win, but I would 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.880 say you've got the least people to beat out of 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.160 probably any tournament in the world, because most guys, yeah, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.760 they've written themselves off before it starts. Jeff, do you 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.400 think you have an insight into what John ram might 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.920 be thinking right now as the defending champion? Can you 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.520 call your mindset when you went to Oak martin two 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:57.360 thousand seven as the defending champion. Yeah, I mean he's 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.439 probably feeling up and about. I would have thought I 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:01.400 felt pretty good about that. I don't think my game 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.440 was quite as good in OH seven as it was 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.080 those six. Um. I played with Tiger and Richie Ramsey 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.080 the first two rounds. That was a pretty memorable at 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.520 Oak Monto. So it was a memorable open, such a 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:16.880 cool place. Um played quite well. I played well enough, 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.800 sort of midfield after two rounds or something like that, 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:23.920 and then just sort of didn't really get it going 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.680 on the weekend. Um, But I think you'll be feeling 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.440 all right. I mean it's his sort of goal off, right. 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.520 I mean it's going to be pretty long, as they 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.679 always are. They've seen some pretty long path forwards out 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.439 there on the scorecard. Um, so it's gonna be tough. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:39.880 And he's a real grinder too, you know, if he 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:41.480 gets the short game going, and he's sort of he's 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.040 one of those emotional sort of guys that seems to 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.400 turn those sort of situations in the positive side. I 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.200 think he's better when it gets really really hard and 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.280 really really important. He seems to focus all this that 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.720 emotional energy the right direction. Um. But he's probably just 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.000 excited a little bit. There's a little bit of a 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.640 melancholy feel too that like it's over. Uh, you know, 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.160 like I got a better win again. Otherwise they're not 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.760 going to say we're won the US Open this year. Um. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.200 But yeah, I would have said, you're always buying every 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.120 time you go back to somewhere that you've won. The 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:16.240 next year as a defending champion, it's a good feeling. Um, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.280 you feel good, you feel confident, and you're the last 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:23.400 person to have done it. Um, you know sort of yeah, 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.040 And there's a little the first day a little bit 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.480 sort of more nervous than a normal one, probably just 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:30.520 because I don't know, there's just added stuff to it. 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:32.680 But he'll be feeling it, right. I would think he'll 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.400 be out. You'll be. It's better to be defending champion 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.440 than not be, well, said Michael. For for both of 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:39.560 you and I, this is our first time on the 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:44.320 ground since Ryder Cup, which of course it was Epicum. 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.000 What did it feel like to be back? What are 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.120 your first impressions of the country club as a seeing 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.080 with new eyes? You know, I was thinking about what 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.640 Jeff said, and it's it's so correct. The scale of 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:01.160 US Opens is so overwhelming, and even Open Champions there 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.480 was a big pieces of property, often in big car 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.760 parks and all the rest, but it's nothing like the 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.560 sprawl of US Open. But the first thing that struck 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.720 me when we got here today, Alan was that yellow clubhouse. Jeff, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.320 have you been here before? Part of me if this 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.920 was asked earlier, have you have you been? I have not. 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.320 I haven't. I'm sure you've seen it on TV and Brian, 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.720 you saw it today for the first time probably, But 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.680 they have this chart. They've got lots and lots of 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:24.800 buildings here and that looks like high school gyms all 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.080 over the place. But then they had this charming yellow 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.840 clubhouse and as the starting point, like, who would ever 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.760 choose yellow for a clubhouse? But it works so well. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.840 So you know, I think my first thought was, uh, 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.160 they got a short golf season here, but they got 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.160 a beautiful place to do it. And uh, I was 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.120 with Crenshaw the other week at Memorial and Crenshaw played 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.680 and I believe the nineteen sixty eight U S Junior 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.960 here and he was written up, Ryan, tell me if 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:52.560 you know this name, I know Jeff and I will 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:53.880 know this name. Well, would you know the name of 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.120 Herbert Warren Wind? Is that meaningful to you? No, it's okay, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.760 so it's right or long before your time him and 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.680 but but uh, he really venerated master the Master's tournam 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.800 in the British open the in the US and particularly Benny. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.000 He's writing about Crenshaw being here in sixty eight for 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.080 the U S. G A Juniors, and Crenshaw said to 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.240 her and her put it in a story about Crenshaw 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.280 many years later. I like the early morning cool and 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.120 how you had to wear a sweater and so like 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.360 you don't think of Oakmont is charming, but like I 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.240 think of that when I saw the Yellow Clubhouse, and 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.760 I thought of that exchange of of her be Ben 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.000 Ben Crenshaw. There's a quality of charm to this place. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.920 And also all those year round sports curling and kind 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.480 of racket sport. There's a maginabal squash and park tennis, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.240 every kind of tennis. I'm sure. Yeah. Well, and you're 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.000 right that the scale of the Open is the grand 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.400 stands and and and the build out of the media 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.520 center and the tents and all that. But the golf 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.520 course feels very intimate to me. And you know, these 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.040 really are the smallest greens and championship golf along with 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.520 pebble beat and like you're and the ferries are pretty 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.200 tight and twisty, and you look out there, it's like, man, 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.080 they have to go from here all the way to there, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.760 and the green is that small, Like how can anybody 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.640 hit that green and regulate it? And just just walking 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.439 around a little bit and seeing that visually, to me, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.639 it's very intimidating. There's you know that I've got that 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.320 beautiful heather that's not right off the ferry, but it 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.640 frames it and and in your eye, it's like, man, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.000 it's a To me, it feels a little claustrophobic this 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.320 golf course, and I'm sure some of the players will 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.080 be feeling that on the tea boxes. Jeff is a 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.960 golf course architecture buff. And you in the US Open winner, 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:36.520 and you look at the list of all the venues, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:38.879 do you sometimes think, oh, I'd like to get myself 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.960 to Myopia Hunt or Philadelphia Cricket or or the country 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.639 Club and check it out, or uh that does your 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:46.840 mind run that way at all? The old venues were 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.640 always the most interesting in the best. I mean, look, 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.199 I say, I've talked about Tori before at two and 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.680 Tori was my favorite US Open to play outside of Wingfoot, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.280 the one that I won, because I don't know, there's 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.200 something about the West Coast and that perfect press seen 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.679 weather and um, I don't know that's because the Opens 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.359 are so often brought with storms and hot, humid weather 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:09.680 and stuff. And the rest of the country and the 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:14.680 California was just so nice. But Wingfoot Oakmont. Um, as 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:16.560 you say up that New England, New England is such 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.080 a beautiful place to play golf. I mean it's where 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.280 it's still got that very English feel about it. Um. 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.000 It was the first place. It was the first place 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:25.680 golf was played in America. I think brook Line was 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.600 one of the very first clubs I wasn't the first club, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.520 but it was in the first few painful I think 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.280 um of clubs in the US. And it's just this, 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:39.919 and it hasn't really been infected with what's infected the 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:41.840 rest of golf and the rest of the US at least, 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.879 like just the sort of just the blanket perfect green 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.840 and striping fairways and bright white sand and stuff. It's 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:49.960 still sort of feels like it's probably a bit like 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.040 this a hundred years ago at book Line, you know, 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.280 I mean, it still feels like that. And there's old places. 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.200 Um Marian was a fantastic open even though that comes 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.000 with a lot of logistical issues, it was a beautiful 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.320 places to play the open um. Yeah, the old ones 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.640 are certainly better, and the courses have quirk, you know, 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.359 and quirk and nuance is really what makes golf special. 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.240 Most of my peers would disagree, but because it seems 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.440 to take the fairness out of it. But it's just 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.919 part of what makes golf great is just every single 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:20.840 place you ever play is different, every whole you play 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.240 is different. And when you go to places like Brookline 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.600 and in regions like New England, is just full of 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.600 quirk and different stuff. It's old. They're unashamedly not going 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.320 to change it from how it's always been. I mean, 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.439 I know, girls been there and sort of made it, 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.119 sort of re established a lot of the stuff they 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:38.560 used to do, but it's got a lot of length 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:40.159 that it didn't have before. But it's still going to 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:41.959 feel like it did a hundred years ago. And I 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.439