Speaker 1: Matt, I think that was one of the wonderful things
Speaker 1: about it. That, to be fair, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to be unkind, that nobody had really had of either
Speaker 1: of the guys. Um it's because of COVID obvious of
Speaker 1: the world has changed and that the field for this
Speaker 1: year's Amateur was was maybe not as international as it's
Speaker 1: been in the past. It certainly was still a strong field,
Speaker 1: but these two young guys had had not really come
Speaker 1: up on the radar. They happened to be absolutely honest,
Speaker 1: done a whole lot, but they gave us just one
Speaker 1: of the great finals, thirty six sols, thirty eight hols
Speaker 1: of of stunning drama. Another log on the fire here
Speaker 1: give the time. Welcome to the fire pit with Matt Janella.
Speaker 1: So we're back to the start and the ex playing
Speaker 1: of the Amateur Championship at Nairn Golf Club on a
Speaker 1: northern coast of Scotland. In part one you get the
Speaker 1: backstory as to why this is such a special story
Speaker 1: at least one aspect of why it's special, which has
Speaker 1: a little to do with the fact that Laird Shepherd,
Speaker 1: a twenty three year old amateur who got a scholarship
Speaker 1: to play at the University of Sterling in St Andrew's
Speaker 1: nearly quit the game in January of this year after
Speaker 1: several seasons of back pain and knee surgeries. He got
Speaker 1: a timely tip from a childhood friend, which ultimately led
Speaker 1: to a life and legacy changing moment in time. And
Speaker 1: we're getting to all that right after. We thank Link
Speaker 1: Soul for their support. This is Jeff Cunningham, the co
Speaker 1: creator on the essence of the lifestyle brand. I wear
Speaker 1: everywhere every day. We're all here because this thing wants
Speaker 1: to grow and wants to be something, and it goes
Speaker 1: well beyond clothes. It goes into the goat. It goes
Speaker 1: into everything about the game and just in life in general.
Speaker 1: But you know I was I was an artist an artist,
Speaker 1: and John was engulfed and and uh Amber family and
Speaker 1: and those three things are what makes this company go.
Speaker 1: Go to Links sold dot com. Use promo code fire
Speaker 1: Pit discount on your next purchase. Before we get started
Speaker 1: on what some simply referred to as the Amateur Championship,
Speaker 1: I should tell you something about Narron Golf Club, the
Speaker 1: venue for this story. The Scottish Links was founded in
Speaker 1: seven and has members at Nairn Gorse is a hazard
Speaker 1: and according to their website, the Great James brad once said,
Speaker 1: the texture of the turf and the character of the
Speaker 1: greens is unrivaled. One of the characters in today's story
Speaker 1: is George Harper Jr. Hey George Matchan Nola hey Man,
Speaker 1: how are you? An announcer for the RNA, who was
Speaker 1: covering his third Amateur Championship. We visited about three weeks
Speaker 1: praw to the Amateur and wait got some behind the
Speaker 1: scenes interviews and we chatted to one of the historians
Speaker 1: there who took us behind the scenes and they've got
Speaker 1: this really cool archive room and it was amazing to
Speaker 1: see his emotion alone when he was telling the story
Speaker 1: about where the club came from. You know, it was
Speaker 1: always a golfing community, um, if you were from there
Speaker 1: and you played golf, And it was obviously the history
Speaker 1: of Tom Morris, who who recently turned two hundred approximately,
Speaker 1: and the fact that he had a little part to
Speaker 1: do with it was so cool. And and then back
Speaker 1: in the day it was a mass of Fisherman's town
Speaker 1: as well. So they've got the boffy and the ice
Speaker 1: house down the end of the course, which is like
Speaker 1: now turned into it at the ninth where you can
Speaker 1: get your snacks, your drinks and have a little break
Speaker 1: and it's it's just got all that amazing history. And
Speaker 1: I played near and once a long time ago. I
Speaker 1: don't remember a lot of detail other than the only
Speaker 1: holes on the water are the first seven and they
Speaker 1: all go out in the same direction. Yes, So they
Speaker 1: hosted it back in the in the nineties is they
Speaker 1: had a good amateur there, but they've also got the
Speaker 1: Walker Cup behind them and the Curtis Cups, so they
Speaker 1: had so many big names come there and they make
Speaker 1: sure they all sign the book on arrival. So on
Speaker 1: the first tea at the amateur Gordon was there the
Speaker 1: starter and making sure everyone signed to sign the big book.
Speaker 1: And looking back, you know you've got all those cool
Speaker 1: names from from the Walker Cup sides and the US
Speaker 1: sides as well, so there's no Shortager Club history and
Speaker 1: and they are really really proud of the tournaments that
Speaker 1: have been there in the past. So this was their
Speaker 1: second time hosting the championship, uh and it will no
Speaker 1: doubt go down in history. And we were just so
Speaker 1: happy to be able to open it up to fans
Speaker 1: because literally only the week before we've finally got the
Speaker 1: a OK to allow members to come and then from
Speaker 1: there it went from I think four odd members to
Speaker 1: a thousand members and fans. So it was just really
Speaker 1: helped help lift the morale and the energy at then
Speaker 1: golf club. So we're very lucky to be able to
Speaker 1: get everyone and there to watch what was an amazing final.
Speaker 1: Well we had them. I asked Harper to give us
Speaker 1: the details of the format. Yes, So the Amateur Championship
Speaker 1: is I like to call it a marathon. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a true test of golfing fitness. It's it's something
Speaker 1: that I certainly couldn't do even if I had the
Speaker 1: down and it's a long long road. So traditionally it
Speaker 1: starts with two hundred and forty four two I think,
Speaker 1: and it's like two different They used two different courses
Speaker 1: and where you get one round one round of stroke
Speaker 1: play at each course, so you swap over. So there's
Speaker 1: without COVID, there's normally a huge field, but with with
Speaker 1: COVID and not much not much travel, the field was
Speaker 1: was tightened, but it was still a really really strong
Speaker 1: and impressive field which were which everyone was really happy
Speaker 1: with and then so you do two rounds of stroke
Speaker 1: play and then from there your top sixty four players
Speaker 1: advanced to the match play rounds. So if there's ties,
Speaker 1: it's all on cout back um. But normally with the
Speaker 1: bigger field did be an extra round to get your
Speaker 1: sixty four and ties into. But your top sixty four
Speaker 1: and tires go through. And then next when you get
Speaker 1: seeded into your the top of the table, so your
Speaker 1: top qualified plays the person and sixty four and then
Speaker 1: let's how you get your seeds and you go into
Speaker 1: match play knockout. From there we were into a lot
Speaker 1: of win the day we played, which is exactly how
Speaker 1: they had it for the first round of stroke play. Again,
Speaker 1: our main character, Laird Shepherd, was coming into the amateur
Speaker 1: just happy to be playing pain free, and as the
Speaker 1: thirtieth alternate, he was also just grateful to be in
Speaker 1: the field, after all, he had card in hand. I
Speaker 1: was not not a bad seventy seven I am. It
Speaker 1: was burned out forty five min and I tied off
Speaker 1: in the afternoon and then lay literally lay on the
Speaker 1: first lay for half an hour waiting for the group
Speaker 1: in front because the ball was basically blowing off the green,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking, but we're going to walk in
Speaker 1: here because you know they're not gonna not gonna fished
Speaker 1: the round because it was only supposed to get stronger,
Speaker 1: And so we waiting for half an hour. Then suddenly
Speaker 1: they just get playing. So I got up and played,
Speaker 1: and I came in after that round of golf and
Speaker 1: said to my my friends, I was like, I played
Speaker 1: really well when I shot sixth set over there. So
Speaker 1: after day one, Shephard was somewhere in the middle of
Speaker 1: the pack. You went to play the second second round,
Speaker 1: it was much much calmer and probably left about five
Speaker 1: or six shots out where, but did did enough. That's
Speaker 1: all you have to do. After a seventy one under,
Speaker 1: he was in as the fifty four seed. He had
Speaker 1: been here before and had lost in the first round
Speaker 1: of match play. The mindset for match player is huge,
Speaker 1: ships so different. I think that's the toughest thing is
Speaker 1: is um to get through those first few matches because
Speaker 1: you've got to have you got a snap from stroke
Speaker 1: playing too. Match playing you gotta have a different mindset,
Speaker 1: and I think I was able to learn from my
Speaker 1: previous failures to win my first round match to really go.
Speaker 1: You've got you know, you've got to put your foot
Speaker 1: on people's next and get get the job done as
Speaker 1: quickly as possible. So um, but that sort of was
Speaker 1: what my mindset was. Yeah. First round, Shepherd played Aaron
Speaker 1: Snare Julie Son if Shephard was ranked six in the
Speaker 1: World Amateur Golf rankings. Julia Son of Iceland was ranked
Speaker 1: two third. He he actually he was. He was a
Speaker 1: good player, um, you know, really solid player. He shot
Speaker 1: six d of the day before, so you know, you
Speaker 1: know this guy can play. Um. Usually people don't don't
Speaker 1: link up to six unders in the road. But you know,
Speaker 1: I knew I was in for a match as soon
Speaker 1: as we teed off. You know, hit this perfect you know,
Speaker 1: rifle stinger driver and I'm like, okay, this guy's got
Speaker 1: some game. Um, and got off to a fly and
Speaker 1: it won the first two holes and it was in
Speaker 1: any control all the way early. But my ashes, I
Speaker 1: think eagle hold to go free up with three to
Speaker 1: play and then down down down that next hole. And
Speaker 1: you know I played played really well and they gave
Speaker 1: me a lot of confidence. Now my confidence grew was
Speaker 1: leap went on. Um. But it's always good to get
Speaker 1: off to a good start and not burn too much energy,
Speaker 1: because the further you go, the nearer you get to eighteen,
Speaker 1: the more of that sort of mental energy you're you're burning,
Speaker 1: and you want to try and save that up for
Speaker 1: when you need it. So Shepherd had made the trip
Speaker 1: with Andrew Davidson, a good friend and his former teammate
Speaker 1: at Sterling University. Your first impressions of Laird Shepherd classic
Speaker 1: English guy, I would put them down as that the
Speaker 1: bracket was set up to be a buddy buster. Chloe Godby,
Speaker 1: Laird's girlfriend and recent winner of the Women's Scottish Amateur explains,
Speaker 1: I knew when the match played draw came out that
Speaker 1: if m of himself and Andrew both won their first
Speaker 1: round match, they would have met each other, which already
Speaker 1: you're thinking, oh, that's unfortunate because you really don't want
Speaker 1: them to meet. I'm great friends with Andrew as well,
Speaker 1: so um, we saw that would happen, and obviously unfortunately
Speaker 1: Andrew lost his first round match, but it was great
Speaker 1: that he could then, I mean for him to offer
Speaker 1: to stay in Caddy for Laard. I'm not sure he
Speaker 1: knew quite how long he was getting in getting in
Speaker 1: for but he um, yeah, that was so so nice
Speaker 1: of him to offer to stay stay up there and
Speaker 1: Caddy and um, I think it was nicer for me
Speaker 1: knowing that they had Andrew there on the bag meet
Speaker 1: Andrew Davidson, winner of the Welsh Opening. We were staying
Speaker 1: with each other, so the night before we knew that
Speaker 1: if we both wanted, we'd play each other, which was
Speaker 1: actually weird because we played the British Amateur last year
Speaker 1: and if the same thing happened, we would have played
Speaker 1: each other again, I think the last year. But we
Speaker 1: both got beat last year in the first round. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I ended up getting beat on the in the
Speaker 1: first round, so and I was still we had the
Speaker 1: place for the next night, so I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: I'll just stay up tomorrow and if you want to
Speaker 1: make Cardie then I'll Cardy tomorrow and see, just see
Speaker 1: what happens, not really thinking anything all but at the
Speaker 1: time just I was like, well, I'm gonna be here,
Speaker 1: so I might as well. I would usually come home,
Speaker 1: and the anger actually so quite surprised I've stayed Andrew
Speaker 1: Nie of Scotland is ranked in the world. Andrew McCardy said,
Speaker 1: you know when we turn up tomorrow. In the first
Speaker 1: two year, this guy's can be thinking, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: I got ready yesterday I said that to Lardy back,
Speaker 1: what's going on here? I got rid of him yesterday.
Speaker 1: He's back again. But I knew, well, I don't know
Speaker 1: what if you're going to commute the sense, but I
Speaker 1: just knew that Lard was probably going to beat the
Speaker 1: guy because the guy played well against me. But I
Speaker 1: just had a feeling that Lard would would be beating him.
Speaker 1: So I was like, well, if he gets to hand,
Speaker 1: then there's another guy dispatched. Let's see what happens in
Speaker 1: the next It was good, and you know, I know
Speaker 1: that Andrew need had played well to be be my
Speaker 1: my friend day before, so you know, you know, I
Speaker 1: knew what was what was coming, and just yeah, find
Speaker 1: ful to got that that jopped on again relatively stress free.
Speaker 1: So Shepherd beat me two and one, which, for those
Speaker 1: of you don't understand match play scoring, that basically means
Speaker 1: Shepherd was up two holes. There was only one hole
Speaker 1: to play game over, which brings us to the round
Speaker 1: of sixteen. His opponent was Aaron Edwards Hill in the
Speaker 1: World Amateur rankings. Edwards Hill has three wins in the
Speaker 1: last two years. I knew he plays for He's in
Speaker 1: an England golf squad, so he's a national squad, so
Speaker 1: he's a good player. Um I hadn't know. It's a
Speaker 1: guy that I've seen his name around behind I haven't
Speaker 1: met before. But yeah, great player, um I I probably,
Speaker 1: but that was probably the best match I played all week.
Speaker 1: I did not miss a shot. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: saying to my Caddy it was like it was like
Speaker 1: playing a computer game, you know. I would say, I'm
Speaker 1: going to hit this shot on this target and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna bend it five yards this projection, and I do
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, I just played really solid and really
Speaker 1: ever give Aaron a chance to get back in the match,
Speaker 1: so ends up winning on and just like Teter Green,
Speaker 1: it was just like an absolute strike show. The guy
Speaker 1: he was playing must have felt like a little kid.
Speaker 1: Shephard beats Edwards Hill four and three and now they
Speaker 1: need to scramble to find another place to stay. Shepherd
Speaker 1: and Davidson stayed in four different places that week. On
Speaker 1: Thursday night, they stayed with Dean Robertson, their coach from Sterling,
Speaker 1: who had been in town for the first few days
Speaker 1: of the amateur Robertson not only knew Shepherd's game, he
Speaker 1: knows the game winner of Italian Open. He has brought
Speaker 1: sterling to another level of excellence. His pet talk space
Speaker 1: key include telling you how good you are, and that
Speaker 1: usually works coming from someone who knows what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: And I knew when he was watching me play he
Speaker 1: was thinking, this is what I remember this guy being like,
Speaker 1: you know, I did just play so well that that
Speaker 1: match on Thursday afternoon, and that filmed me a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence. It's quite nice to sort of take a
Speaker 1: trip down memory lane and tend like I'm still at
Speaker 1: university and helped me out with the place to stay
Speaker 1: and some some very wise words and how I was
Speaker 1: going to go and best tackle the next few days. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Chloe was in St. Andrew's trying to figure out when
Speaker 1: she makes the trip up north on the Thursday evening.
Speaker 1: I think it must have been or or early on
Speaker 1: the Friday morning, and he was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want you to come up and not see a
Speaker 1: lot of golf. If you only get up there, you know,
Speaker 1: halfway through the morning match, and if I lose them
Speaker 1: you might only see light nine holes of gold for whatever.
Speaker 1: And I was like, obviously I want to be there
Speaker 1: if he's in the Sammy's And it was kind of
Speaker 1: a difficult one because it's like a three hour drives
Speaker 1: from here here in St. Andrew's. So so he said,
Speaker 1: I'd just leave it until tomorrow if I make the final,
Speaker 1: come and come and watch. And I thought, okay, he
Speaker 1: said that, so I'll just leave him to it. She
Speaker 1: left him to Sam Barstow, another Englishman who won twice
Speaker 1: since and has ranked a hundred and in the World
Speaker 1: of Amateurs. Okay, I mean, Sam Um is a really
Speaker 1: nice guy. I think the match play it's it's usually
Speaker 1: it's usually helpful if you're playing someone that isn't nice guy,
Speaker 1: because just so fire you up a little bit or
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, it's there's less sort of
Speaker 1: there's less emotion there. You just want to beat them badly.
Speaker 1: But also I wanted to beat Sammie. He's nice guy,
Speaker 1: great player, you know. He actually he yesterday I think
Speaker 1: it was qualified for the open through final squalify and
Speaker 1: he shot nine under five under or something. You know.
Speaker 1: It's a great player. So yeah, I mean I was
Speaker 1: straight down early in that match and was maybe looking
Speaker 1: at going four down through six and that that would
Speaker 1: have been a tough battle, but ended up coming coming
Speaker 1: back and being all square after I think it was
Speaker 1: ten of eleven holes and it was very tight from
Speaker 1: now and in and then just managed to make you
Speaker 1: squeezed the last hole with a with a par and
Speaker 1: get through. And you know, the more stuff that happened
Speaker 1: like that that week, the more I thought that maybe
Speaker 1: this is sort of like meant to be. So I
Speaker 1: was thinking, really, I was like, oh, it looks like
Speaker 1: the games back now. I didn't really shame the head
Speaker 1: to him, but I was thinking in my head, I
Speaker 1: was like, if he keeps playing like that, then there's
Speaker 1: no reason as to why this can happen. Like I
Speaker 1: was thinking that, Like I'm not just saying that, Like
Speaker 1: I was thinking, you've got a great chance with the
Speaker 1: way you're setting that. And by that time, you know
Speaker 1: you are fatiguing as well. You've played a lot of golf,
Speaker 1: and um, you know it's it's something you always talk about,
Speaker 1: but obviously only people that get that far really know
Speaker 1: what it's like to have got seven eight rounds already
Speaker 1: done that week, and you're still battling and every match
Speaker 1: is more important and every match it's got more so
Speaker 1: wait to it, so um, just to slip through on
Speaker 1: a team, there was this huge Yeah. Shepherd was starting
Speaker 1: to believe again, not just in his play, but in
Speaker 1: the idea that he could win. I think just the
Speaker 1: way I was playing was the most fulfilling a bit,
Speaker 1: because I was playing under a bit of pressure and
Speaker 1: I was playing well, and I was proven to myself
Speaker 1: that you know, these skills haven't left me. I've still
Speaker 1: got the ability to do what I need to do.
Speaker 1: And every time I cool my my parents after one
Speaker 1: and talking about about, you know, the match, I'd say,
Speaker 1: you know, they begin happy because they know how much
Speaker 1: I've been through. My mom's getting sort of emotional, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm like, I've still got a match to
Speaker 1: play this afternoon, so we can't get too excited. We
Speaker 1: just gotta go and play that match. And I think
Speaker 1: that that helped me sort of keep feet on the ground,
Speaker 1: and you know, it was it was a blessing. So so,
Speaker 1: Shepherd has played practice rounds two stroke play qualifiers. He
Speaker 1: has won four matches and he's down to the semifinal
Speaker 1: match on Friday afternoon. The man between Shepherd and the
Speaker 1: final is Jack Dyer. I mean Jackie. Obviously he played
Speaker 1: Walker up in May. You know, I think he wanted
Speaker 1: singles match as well, so don't hold me to that,
Speaker 1: but I think you did a great player. Um you
Speaker 1: know Racil player he played in in the events and
Speaker 1: George's I've played last Yearny won by six seven shops,
Speaker 1: so um, you know, I knew this guy was serious.
Speaker 1: So you know it was fun to go and play
Speaker 1: against someone who's obviously playing very well. And he I
Speaker 1: think he was second qualifier as well, so he was
Speaker 1: he was creatly playing great. Dire of England did in
Speaker 1: fact win a singles match at the Walker Cup at
Speaker 1: Seminole earlier this year. He beat Tyler Strafacci, who won
Speaker 1: the U S Amateur Abandoned Dunes and the North and
Speaker 1: South at Pinehurst. Needless to say, Dire was a favorite
Speaker 1: and it was again a tight match for um. I
Speaker 1: saw catched up down eighteen and and did something that
Speaker 1: I've probably never really done before. Um And and for me,
Speaker 1: I was proved to myself that I was I was clutched.
Speaker 1: I had to know how you put that into better terminology,
Speaker 1: but proven to myself that you know when I when
Speaker 1: you need to just to stand up there and had
Speaker 1: a great golf shot, but I could accept the repercussions.
Speaker 1: Have just sort of putting on the line. And yeah,
Speaker 1: Layers played well that round. Heat again, he could have
Speaker 1: he could have easily won. I don't know, four and three,
Speaker 1: five and four, But I think that's just the pressure
Speaker 1: of the situation got to him a wee bit, and
Speaker 1: he was making some silly mistakes and got they were
Speaker 1: all scared going down eyteen again. And there's a bit
Speaker 1: of a story here. A jacket hit two on tea
Speaker 1: um because says Bankers this perfectly driver distance. So he
Speaker 1: did too, and I knew that he had to then
Speaker 1: lay up from where he was, so he then laid up.
Speaker 1: I'd hit driver, and I perhapsly tried to hit it
Speaker 1: left of the left bunkers, so basically into the into
Speaker 1: the rough. I mean, it wasn't that thick. It was.
Speaker 1: It was sort of you know, you could catch a
Speaker 1: decent line and gamble on that, and fortunately did get
Speaker 1: decently so and Jack layed up in two and layered.
Speaker 1: We had like two seven seven he head. I think
Speaker 1: he lays at it and it was like two twenty
Speaker 1: over a bunker into the wind out of rough. My
Speaker 1: carrier was still telling me to lay up. He didn't
Speaker 1: like he didn't like three without the rof. But it
Speaker 1: was sitting okay, and I just I just saw a
Speaker 1: shot that I knew I could pull off and and
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, do you want to just lay
Speaker 1: up here short of a bunker and take your chance
Speaker 1: with the wedge And he's like no, He's like no,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go for it. I've just got to
Speaker 1: stand up, he said. I just got to stand up
Speaker 1: and just had a good shot. You've got to take
Speaker 1: this chance spendence here. And I was like, well, fair enough,
Speaker 1: and I was like right, just make sure you had
Speaker 1: a good one. I couldn't even watch the shot because
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, I'm going to be so
Speaker 1: annoyed if he if he makes a mess of this.
Speaker 1: Now it's like if he just gets the whole because
Speaker 1: the way it was a line in the off, like
Speaker 1: it wasn't a given. There was just going to come
Speaker 1: out like the way it did. And it was probably
Speaker 1: shot at the tournament. I would say, I mean that
Speaker 1: asked the best golf shot. I've ever hit under that
Speaker 1: that sort of pressure. That was pretty cool. And I
Speaker 1: was sort of walking after it and my cardy was
Speaker 1: having the girl at me because he's like, you need
Speaker 1: to calm down, so you need to come back to
Speaker 1: the bag and take a sip of water. And he
Speaker 1: didn't let me take my partner out until we got
Speaker 1: to the green. Oh yeah, he was like running down
Speaker 1: the ferry. I was like, where are you going. It's like,
Speaker 1: where are you off to hear he's like giving the party.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, just take your water and just calm down.
Speaker 1: Because I don't know if he told you, but he
Speaker 1: was extremely, extremely nervous and all the way around. I
Speaker 1: was like, just you just need to calm and just
Speaker 1: take breaths, like deep breaths like he was. He was
Speaker 1: struggling to to like he was. I thought he was
Speaker 1: going to be sick with nerves. And I think after
Speaker 1: they heard that, it was almost like the pinnacle of
Speaker 1: the nerves just exploded and it was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: He was like spreading and down interfering. It was like
Speaker 1: at least I was like get back here. It's like
Speaker 1: calm down. Yeah, So that's quite funny that was. That
Speaker 1: was very fulfilling and that almost was enough for me
Speaker 1: that week. Hitting that three word onto the last screen
Speaker 1: and winning the last hole. Um, that was, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was sort of enough for me. Like if I lost
Speaker 1: the final, at least i'd I've done sounding pretty cool
Speaker 1: because that was an amazing shot and when I needed
Speaker 1: to and proved to myself that, hey, you know, um,
Speaker 1: something that you worried about is not not thinking that
Speaker 1: maybe you had in you to do it when you
Speaker 1: needed to. And I certainly sort of proved that to
Speaker 1: myself on on that golf shot. So that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So now he's in the final match and his opponent
Speaker 1: Money Scousel, who's also English, is someone who he's very
Speaker 1: familiar with. It was. It was difficult mainly because I
Speaker 1: knew I knew Monty. You know, he is a friend
Speaker 1: of mine, and I don't just say that because we
Speaker 1: ended up playing each other. He you know, we shared
Speaker 1: a hotel room in Bahrain, but we went and played
Speaker 1: a golf tournament there and the end of two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: and we played a lot of university golf together because
Speaker 1: he went to Exeter and um, so we ended up
Speaker 1: playing a lot of tourmance together and money Scousle of Suffolk,
Speaker 1: as Laird said, attended University of Exeter, where he was
Speaker 1: the captain of his team. Hello Monty, Hi, Matt, Matt
Speaker 1: Janella here, how are you good? Thank you? How are
Speaker 1: you pleasure meeting you? Thank you so much for taking
Speaker 1: some time and sharing your side of a story here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no worries. Thank thanks for having me on. He's about
Speaker 1: a year older than Laird, came in ranked even higher
Speaker 1: than Shepherd, and has had his own set of health
Speaker 1: challenges and circumstances that have provided perspective for such a
Speaker 1: young life. What I was about five years old, I
Speaker 1: had a nasty illness called Sidion's career, which was a
Speaker 1: bacterial infection that attacked my brain um and actually lost
Speaker 1: control the left side of my body for quite a while.
Speaker 1: They couldn't really work out what it was the doctors
Speaker 1: here in the UK, and they thought it might have
Speaker 1: been a stroke or maybe a brain hemorrhage or something
Speaker 1: along those lines, which was pretty scary for my parents
Speaker 1: at the time, obviously, And it wasn't till an Indian
Speaker 1: doctor came along and um and identified what it was,
Speaker 1: which was Sydnon's career as they have a lot of
Speaker 1: cases over in India, but it's not very common here
Speaker 1: in UK or or you know, in more developed countries.
Speaker 1: So um that that that basically meant I had to
Speaker 1: be on penicillin for about until I was eighteen. Actually,
Speaker 1: um is it's a childhood illness. Um. So you know,
Speaker 1: even to this day if I'm ill, I tend to
Speaker 1: have quite a sort of shaky or sore left side
Speaker 1: of the body. Um. But fortunately it hasn't hasn't affected
Speaker 1: any of my sort of I guess sort of sequencing
Speaker 1: or you know, neurological pathways to my body. So I
Speaker 1: spoke to Jeremy scoutle Monte's father, who's a lawyer in England.
Speaker 1: You know, he turned out to be fine. His heart
Speaker 1: was fine, but clearly as you can imagine as a
Speaker 1: as a father yourself, how how distressing it was at
Speaker 1: the time, but he was amazing as a as a
Speaker 1: as a patient actually matter at the time he was
Speaker 1: he was we could have been proud of her. Then
Speaker 1: you know, all sorts of medical things that had to
Speaker 1: be done to him, and I used to cringe and
Speaker 1: sort of you know, needing to turn away sometimes, but
Speaker 1: he was just he just went through it all with
Speaker 1: you know, his smiling sort of in a smiling way
Speaker 1: and said, I'll be all right there and I'll be
Speaker 1: all right mom. Like Shepherd Money, Scousel is an ambitious
Speaker 1: self starter with the determined work ethic. It's absolutely him
Speaker 1: and I never have to tell him to do anything.
Speaker 1: He's he goes to the range. We're fortunate enough we
Speaker 1: haven't swing studio up in our in our roof at
Speaker 1: home here, um, and he's up there pretty much every day.
Speaker 1: He's in the gym pretty much every day. And he's
Speaker 1: out on the golf course. Um. You know, during during
Speaker 1: the lockdown with the COVID and what I have You
Speaker 1: was on, he was having lessons by video with his coach. Um.
Speaker 1: I've never I've never actually had to push him do anything.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's very much in him. You know. He
Speaker 1: just wants to do it and he wants to get better.
Speaker 1: It's funny one because my dad, you know, he still
Speaker 1: works full time and he tries to take off a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks to come and support me at big
Speaker 1: championships like like the Amateur or you know the English
Speaker 1: Amateur or those sorts of tournaments. Um. And he's candied
Speaker 1: for me before, but quite unsuccessfully at times. We haven't
Speaker 1: necessarily seen idam eye out there various occasions where things
Speaker 1: have happened, you know, he's passing me the putter head
Speaker 1: cover rather than the actual putter and all sorts of
Speaker 1: stuff like that. You know what I said to him
Speaker 1: about three weeks ago, I said, I will carry for
Speaker 1: you at the bridge am uh, and I will um
Speaker 1: get rid of all distractions. Are literally left work and
Speaker 1: said I'm not contacting anybody. And so for the whole
Speaker 1: week I was actually there and I think that's what
Speaker 1: he needed, and that's what that I think, with the
Speaker 1: distractions taken out of my life and enabled them to
Speaker 1: really concentrate on being a good caddy for him. And
Speaker 1: he was. He was brilliant out there. You know, it
Speaker 1: was um. It was great having his support, especially in
Speaker 1: the early rounds where the guys are playing didn't have
Speaker 1: a caddy or they necessarily because of COVID restrictions, they
Speaker 1: didn't have anyone watching. UM, So having that presence of
Speaker 1: him there I think actually really helped. And and he
Speaker 1: was great at you know, talking through different shots and um,
Speaker 1: and ultimately match played. It's all about just keeping the
Speaker 1: pressure on your opponent, and with him there, I felt
Speaker 1: that I was able to do that, you know pretty well.
Speaker 1: I asked Monty for some memories of Laird Shepherd. So
Speaker 1: the first time I met lad he was at Stirling University.
Speaker 1: I was Exeter. We had a knockout match, so it
Speaker 1: was match place six of their best against six of ours.
Speaker 1: And at the time they had a very you know,
Speaker 1: they were they were by far the best team in
Speaker 1: in the UK. Um they had a number of players
Speaker 1: on their team who who have not since played Walker
Speaker 1: Cup and there on the challenge in European tour Um
Speaker 1: And actually I got drawn against lad Um to to
Speaker 1: play against him, and he was I was in my
Speaker 1: second year at the time at Exetern he was in
Speaker 1: his first year and I knew nothing about him. But
Speaker 1: all I know is that he was brilliant golf. I
Speaker 1: think he was six up with six to play and
Speaker 1: I think I lost two in one of the end.
Speaker 1: But it was he was very, very talented. I could
Speaker 1: tell he was a good player but also a really
Speaker 1: nice guy. And that was actually the first time I
Speaker 1: met him, so that must have been twenty fifteen. I
Speaker 1: guess so about six years ago. Worth noting Laird once
Speaker 1: had a six whole lead over Monty and almost lasted.
Speaker 1: He really did dominate university golf over here for quite
Speaker 1: a basically his all four years that he was at
Speaker 1: sterling Um. And I was just you know, you know,
Speaker 1: looked up to him and thought, okay, what does he
Speaker 1: do well? Um and uh, and kind of learned from him.
Speaker 1: Actually he could. He was he was such a good player,
Speaker 1: and to play with him it was great to watch.
Speaker 1: So he was someone I really looked up to. Actually,
Speaker 1: Monty also reflected on their time together in Bahrain. It
Speaker 1: was just funny just going back there. We we he
Speaker 1: may have told you, but we we shared a hotel
Speaker 1: room in Bahrain for a tournament at the end of
Speaker 1: and I remember he was, you know, we we spoke
Speaker 1: about his injuries, and you know, we chapped a lot,
Speaker 1: and he'd be up in the morning just with the
Speaker 1: massage gun, just an hour hour in the morning before
Speaker 1: he played, just drilling the side of his hip and
Speaker 1: his knee, and I was like, man, this guy he's
Speaker 1: dedicated to, you know, get back on and make get
Speaker 1: through these injuries. So now these two guys are on
Speaker 1: the beaches of doing media on the eve of the
Speaker 1: Amateur Championship Finals back in back when we was showing
Speaker 1: that hotel room, would you ever thought this was going
Speaker 1: to happen? And you know, obviously none of us really
Speaker 1: expect what was happening, and um, just surreal. It was surreal.
Speaker 1: So that was it was that made it more difficult
Speaker 1: because you allow yourself to sort of share the emotion
Speaker 1: of being surprised where there was suddenly didn't know as well,
Speaker 1: you try and play it a bit more cool, but
Speaker 1: we we both know how each other were feeling, so
Speaker 1: so to be in that position. We sat on the
Speaker 1: beach with the R and A doing some media for us,
Speaker 1: and we just looked at each other and thought, this
Speaker 1: is just crazy. I could tell in his face and mind.
Speaker 1: We were just we couldn't get over it. Um And
Speaker 1: it was yeah, it was almost a sense of wow,
Speaker 1: we've we've achieved something great this week. Regardless of what
Speaker 1: happens tomorrow, We've both done incredible thing this week. And
Speaker 1: there was this sort of overriding sense of kind of
Speaker 1: pride that we got there, you know, and all the
Speaker 1: hard work to get to that position was had paid off?
Speaker 1: I guess. So both have talent, determination and a work
Speaker 1: ethic and they're both undefeated. So is the naring beaches
Speaker 1: cleared of the editors, cameras and questions? Do? He Donnally,
Speaker 1: he's Scottish broadcaster who called the live stream for the RNA,
Speaker 1: reflects on the night before the final. We know the
Speaker 1: good players, of course they have. I think for me
Speaker 1: it was how are they going to cope with us
Speaker 1: because they have not been at this this level before
Speaker 1: and there's so much at stake, not just to win
Speaker 1: this wonderful trophy which Bobby Jones one for goodness sake,
Speaker 1: in any number of some of the greats of the
Speaker 1: game who went under great professional careers both in the
Speaker 1: States and and in Europe. So it was a sense
Speaker 1: of they could win this wonderful trophy, put their name up.
Speaker 1: There was saon as you're going to see and JSI,
Speaker 1: Maria Arthabal and all of the others, and then get
Speaker 1: to play in the Open Championship, get to play in
Speaker 1: the US Open, and get to play in the Masters.
Speaker 1: I mean for our twenty three year old kids, you
Speaker 1: know who's just making his way in the game. I
Speaker 1: don't know how you sleep at night. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: everybody says, you've got to put that out of your
Speaker 1: mind and just play the shot. Hey, easy to say,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Checking in with Team Mighty Scows after the
Speaker 1: semi final, actually we didn't have anywhere to stay, so
Speaker 1: we had to go and find somebody go and stay.
Speaker 1: But when we found that, uh that we largely went
Speaker 1: there and had a takeaway piece and we went to bed. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think none of us slept particularly well. I
Speaker 1: think I think the nerves would begin to to kick
Speaker 1: in at that stage, or you know what the next
Speaker 1: day was going to to produce. And I'm sure Led
Speaker 1: went through exactly saying I know he did. I don't
Speaker 1: think he slept very well, and Monty didn't sleep very well,
Speaker 1: but I think that's probably quite normal. I got to
Speaker 1: sleep pretty early around ten o'clock and woke up or
Speaker 1: must have been about one o'clock in the morning, and
Speaker 1: I was just heart was beating out of the chest,
Speaker 1: and I was really really nervous for the next morning
Speaker 1: because it was a moment in my career. I didn't
Speaker 1: quite expect to get to this quickly. Um. But it
Speaker 1: was also one that you know, I hope, I hope
Speaker 1: I get too quickly. But when you actually find yourself
Speaker 1: in that position, you're not prepared for it. You never
Speaker 1: never prepared for it. So I was so nervous. I
Speaker 1: actually I went to my went to my bag about
Speaker 1: one o'clock in the morning, flicked on the light, started
Speaker 1: chipping around around my bedroom just to make sure I
Speaker 1: could still chip. You know. It was just it was
Speaker 1: bizarre and I couldn't believe it. As for Team Laird,
Speaker 1: Shepherd family and friends were mobilizing, most notably his father
Speaker 1: Stewart Shepherd. So I booked a flight and Friday comes
Speaker 1: and he wins in the morning, said right, we've got
Speaker 1: to leave for the airport, the Looting airport, because I
Speaker 1: can't wait to find out with the winds or not,
Speaker 1: because I missed the flight. So he set up on
Speaker 1: the car leaving. We thought plenty of time to get
Speaker 1: to Luton airport, watching the schools on the phone, actually
Speaker 1: getting inside information from Andy the caddy via Laird's girlfriend.
Speaker 1: So and then the good news came through whatever time
Speaker 1: it was that he's won. So we had just made
Speaker 1: the flight and got up there for the final and
Speaker 1: his Dad came up and then we just we went
Speaker 1: for a drink or two of Dad. But Laird was
Speaker 1: like just in a different planet. It was he can
Speaker 1: keep still like he was just you could just tell
Speaker 1: that everything was going through his head at that point,
Speaker 1: just like what could happen tomorrow? Yeah. I arrived at
Speaker 1: the bed and Breakfast, which I booked for us all,
Speaker 1: and they were watching the England Scotland soccer game. It's halftime,
Speaker 1: and I basically said, I need a drink. The stress
Speaker 1: of today and traveling I need and and again, yeah,
Speaker 1: come on, let let's just go down the pub. It's
Speaker 1: just just down their own, which we did. They they
Speaker 1: had already eaten um, and they had had two points
Speaker 1: of water and and and I had two points of
Speaker 1: beer um. So I thought Lair was okay um with
Speaker 1: with him. There's a lot, always a lot going on
Speaker 1: under the water, you know. I was trying my best
Speaker 1: that night to to get some sleep and not think about,
Speaker 1: you know, all the things that might come. And I've
Speaker 1: done a lot of meditation and out of the year
Speaker 1: to try and deal with some sort of anxiety and
Speaker 1: stuff with my injuries, and I think that that's sort
Speaker 1: of help maybe in that way, because you've got to
Speaker 1: realize that these thoughts going through your head, you can't
Speaker 1: stop them. There's no way of stopping them getting in there.
Speaker 1: But you just don't want to put weight on them.
Speaker 1: And but I haven't said that. I probably slept for
Speaker 1: about two hours. I was. I was very, very nervous.
Speaker 1: In the morning, I woke up and we'll welcome back
Speaker 1: to in the morning, you can get back to sleep.
Speaker 1: That morning, he got up early as well and he
Speaker 1: headed to the course. I didn't even know he was away,
Speaker 1: and I was like, what is he doing. It's like,
Speaker 1: why is he awaiting the course already? I was like,
Speaker 1: you must be because it was fairly early tea time.
Speaker 1: There's no way you should have been. Of course he
Speaker 1: was the course like probably close to three hours before
Speaker 1: the tea time. Nice, Like, that's just silly. If we
Speaker 1: could have teed off straight from after the semifinals, that
Speaker 1: would have been great. But UM woke up the morning
Speaker 1: and and went to the golf course really early because
Speaker 1: I just couldn't speak to anyone. I just was like,
Speaker 1: I need to just go and hit some balls and
Speaker 1: maybe that'll make me feel better sort of thing. Chloe
Speaker 1: had made the trip early that morning. She was joined
Speaker 1: by her mom and her sister. The alarm was definitely
Speaker 1: for something. UM left and went straight up the road
Speaker 1: and got there before before I teed off in the morning.
Speaker 1: So arrived in the car park and I could spot
Speaker 1: spotted him on the range warming out things and shots.
Speaker 1: So I went and said holo to him on the
Speaker 1: parting green before he heard it out and stood there
Speaker 1: behind the first tea not being able to breathe. I think, well,
Speaker 1: while we hit that first t shot, welcome to the
Speaker 1: golf club. But I've been trying to six average of
Speaker 1: Trampion final between Montesco and we're I'm sure I was struck. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: on the first tea there was a Behind the first
Speaker 1: tea there was a guy. He turned to the guy
Speaker 1: who was with and and said all that I've been
Speaker 1: watching this lad Shepherd. He's a real street fighter. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a pretty presdent thing to say in
Speaker 1: the circumstances needed to be. I asked Mr Scows for
Speaker 1: the mindset going into the final. In essence, I said, look,
Speaker 1: there's just you and me out here. We're going to
Speaker 1: play good golf, and if we play good golf. We've
Speaker 1: got to you know, we've got a chance of being lead. Um,
Speaker 1: And that's that was the mentality we went in there with.
Speaker 1: There wasn't we didn't decide to be particularly aggressive, but
Speaker 1: we felt that good golf was going to be who
Speaker 1: was going to win out in the day. My dad
Speaker 1: is my favorite person in the world to play golf with.
Speaker 1: If I could play one person first in my life,
Speaker 1: that my dad. We play a lot of golf together
Speaker 1: and um, and he just sent me and you out
Speaker 1: there today and he kept me really calm, and UM.
Speaker 1: We picked our lines a week really well, and we
Speaker 1: just did the same thing on the first team and
Speaker 1: you know, managed to strike that one down the middle
Speaker 1: and from there on it just it was just we're
Speaker 1: just out there playing golf. So yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: first round, I got off to a pretty nice start.
Speaker 1: You know. Um, it's a real having cameras for you,
Speaker 1: and there was quite a few of them because they
Speaker 1: were live streaming the final. And you know, on the
Speaker 1: first two You've got this camera in my face and
Speaker 1: don't really know what to do, you know, whether to
Speaker 1: like smile into it and laugh or try and be serious. Um.
Speaker 1: On the first team, I kind of forgot that the
Speaker 1: TV cameras were and that we learn were speaking away
Speaker 1: and we weren't sure if the cameras could hear what
Speaker 1: we were saying. So we're just talking to we and
Speaker 1: then next thing, the guy, the camera guy is like
Speaker 1: literally in our face. We're like what and we just
Speaker 1: both just stopped speaking. It's like we're like, all right,
Speaker 1: so we don't know what to say tea chats, so
Speaker 1: we just stopped speaking. Then so we're off and running
Speaker 1: the opening t shots and there's thirty six whole final.
Speaker 1: The first few holes, the way they both they both
Speaker 1: like hit played great for the first kind of four
Speaker 1: or five holes. Like obviously Load missed an opportunity, a
Speaker 1: couple of opportunities early on, but you know, to start
Speaker 1: off with that type of ball striking, you know, head
Speaker 1: it straight down the middle. On the first both of
Speaker 1: them hit, Load hit a great shot in and looks
Speaker 1: word of the club normally a suggestion the player likes
Speaker 1: it and so he should, you know, slightly messed the opportunity,
Speaker 1: but I think it definitely certain my nerves anyway, to
Speaker 1: see the way they were he was hitting the ball
Speaker 1: that morning. You know, a dream of starting off like
Speaker 1: that if I was in a British Cemetary finals. So
Speaker 1: one thing that I probably am is a bit of
Speaker 1: a UM I love to show off, but I love
Speaker 1: to show my skills sort of thing. And I love
Speaker 1: playing in front of people. Um, so you know, I
Speaker 1: like the idea of people watching, um we play golf
Speaker 1: and trying to put on a bit of a show
Speaker 1: and play some really nice stuff to start with. And
Speaker 1: this was happy enough, just just sort of was missing
Speaker 1: parts here and there and it wasn't really again the
Speaker 1: flats flatstick working m and then Monty made a bomb
Speaker 1: on on the fifth. I think it was to take
Speaker 1: the first hole, and what a part Monty scousel from downtown.
Speaker 1: He has a chip in on six from you know,
Speaker 1: No Man's Land. Mcaddy said to me, Monty gets up
Speaker 1: and down, I'm going in and shot scored towards the
Speaker 1: hall and I'm like, oh my god, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Me and I went in the home. He hold the shot.
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, just trying to later and went, well,
Speaker 1: at least I don't need to go in because he
Speaker 1: hold it. So so he lost that hole. You know,
Speaker 1: you start to think, well things are going his way
Speaker 1: a little bit today, So that's kind of magic. You
Speaker 1: need them and that kind of final. So I suppose
Speaker 1: you've got to expect stuff like that to happen when
Speaker 1: you're playing um, great players and stuff like that, because
Speaker 1: you can't afford to have that sort of a few
Speaker 1: minutes of shock and then effect your performance. But you know,
Speaker 1: I just the way things went, I lost lost three
Speaker 1: holes in a row, and you know, I wasn't putninged
Speaker 1: very well. You know, I probably could have been just
Speaker 1: three three down if I probably parted any decently, but
Speaker 1: I didn't, and before you know it, you know, making
Speaker 1: mistakes here and there, and Monty's getting some good shots
Speaker 1: here and there. And obviously if that's an eighteen whole match,
Speaker 1: it's finished by thirteen or something. So for the next
Speaker 1: whatever many holes layered, was just trying to force the
Speaker 1: issue so much that he was just just giving away
Speaker 1: holes for for nothing, really money made a copy a
Speaker 1: pretty good part. Monty's partner in the morning was we
Speaker 1: don't have a three part. Of course, what you do
Speaker 1: find in in the the amateur match plays that the
Speaker 1: pin positions are horrendous um and it's difficult to tell
Speaker 1: that from from the television very often you can't quite
Speaker 1: see how difficult they are, and they put them in
Speaker 1: situations where if if you you set up a stroke
Speaker 1: play competition with those pin positions, should have all the
Speaker 1: all the top pros and walk off because it said,
Speaker 1: I'm not playing at a golf course like this. So
Speaker 1: it's to score as he did and to get as
Speaker 1: many birds as he did, he would have to how
Speaker 1: he was playing exceptional golf, and yes he probably played
Speaker 1: the best stay team he played all week out, saying
Speaker 1: Laird Shepherd didn't make a birdie in the morning round,
Speaker 1: Monty Scousel made six. The weird thing is, and I've
Speaker 1: said this for a lot of people since the final,
Speaker 1: is that when do you ever play a thirty six
Speaker 1: sold match, you know, against someone Me and Lead had
Speaker 1: never done it unless you reach the final in one
Speaker 1: of these prestigious tournaments. You never at thirty six match.
Speaker 1: So obviously in the morning, if we played eighteen, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have got six up. We would have been it
Speaker 1: would have been five and four or whatever the score was.
Speaker 1: So it was it was weird. Um, I knew that
Speaker 1: I was playing well, and obviously Lead, you know, it
Speaker 1: was making some uncharacteristic mistakes. You know, he wasn't cutting well,
Speaker 1: he missed a few short puts, um, and that's that's golf.
Speaker 1: So I kind of I just kept focusing on on
Speaker 1: my routines, kept focusing on on the golf. And actually
Speaker 1: one of my key focuses where I said, well, I
Speaker 1: know that I'm playing well right now and lead isn't
Speaker 1: and it's very important that I do try and make
Speaker 1: the most of this, this this run that I'm on
Speaker 1: because at some point he's going to come back at me.
Speaker 1: The third six old match was different. I mean, you
Speaker 1: just got there's so many holes and so much time
Speaker 1: for momentum to sway that um, you don't really know
Speaker 1: what to think. So um, I didn't. I didn't like
Speaker 1: I played that badly. I just I was just got
Speaker 1: to stage when I was four or five down where
Speaker 1: I just started chasing and trying too hard to make
Speaker 1: up ground, and that's when you end up making mistakes.
Speaker 1: And you know, it was pretty deflated. I didn't have
Speaker 1: any adrenaline. I wasn't nervous because you know, I was
Speaker 1: so far behind, and that's what sort of keeps you
Speaker 1: going when you've been playing that much golf is the adrenaline,
Speaker 1: and I was I was sort of struggling to to
Speaker 1: really know, concentrate and get and get some momentum. It
Speaker 1: was like Monty played well, but we had also gifted
Speaker 1: on hold, so it's just like a pile up of
Speaker 1: all was given away and punishment continues. Oh you know,
Speaker 1: it just kept kind of mounting as it wasn't it.
Speaker 1: It was five, six seven, and you know when he
Speaker 1: went eight down, you just it was just watching him
Speaker 1: be kind of more and more aflated every time he apart,
Speaker 1: just slid by. And I know he's a great potter. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he is a great potter. And one of
Speaker 1: the members said to me, are you know his laird
Speaker 1: is this kind of typical layered great ball striking just
Speaker 1: miss misses the parts. And I'm like, no, he's a
Speaker 1: great potter, like um, you know, I we part like
Speaker 1: a practice together all the time. He beats me far
Speaker 1: too often and parttings the strength of my game, so
Speaker 1: um so yeah, I think it was frustrating knowing that
Speaker 1: what he could have done had he kind of potted
Speaker 1: the way he usually does. I had a part of
Speaker 1: sixteen actually to not go eight down for sixteen and
Speaker 1: I managed to hold it. But that was when the
Speaker 1: first came into my head, like, we don't want this
Speaker 1: to be embarrassing, lad you need to try and win
Speaker 1: some holes. And you know, no one wants to get
Speaker 1: beaten by a record breaking score. And the largest margin
Speaker 1: of victory in the rich history of the Amateur Championship
Speaker 1: was nine thirty four at Presswick were lost and Little
Speaker 1: of America beat James Wallace of Scotland fourteen and thirteen.
Speaker 1: They started raining on thee in the morning. They hadn't
Speaker 1: rained all day and I'm not sure if Monty just
Speaker 1: got like a wet cloth face or something like that,
Speaker 1: and anyway, he just he just spread in what's short
Speaker 1: of the day. You just put one out of bounds,
Speaker 1: which isn't really unplayed, but it probably is if you've
Speaker 1: got away cloth face. And then unfortunately he wins a team.
Speaker 1: But still, you know, seven down at at lunch, Monty
Speaker 1: doesn't want lunch. He just wants to keep on playing.
Speaker 1: We're all thinking, hey, early finished today, guys, that will
Speaker 1: this will be over by you know, early afternoon. To
Speaker 1: be honest, the break came at a terrible time for me. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I was playing really well, um, and had
Speaker 1: such a big lead. I just wanted to keep playing
Speaker 1: and and that that that break was strange because obviously
Speaker 1: all the other breaks that I've had previous days, I
Speaker 1: was going into the afternoon all square, new match against
Speaker 1: a new opponent. So it was a complete reset where
Speaker 1: it's going into that afternoon session with a with a
Speaker 1: seven up lead. Was it was. I found it really difficult, actually, Um,
Speaker 1: you know I did. I did my normal warm up
Speaker 1: and went to the range, just clipped a few wedges away,
Speaker 1: hit some parts and then and then we teed off.
Speaker 1: But I did find it difficult to try and reset.
Speaker 1: It was also, you know, fatigue was kicking at this point, um,
Speaker 1: and I also realized, you know, seven up, like god,
Speaker 1: this is this is mine to lose now. Because pressure
Speaker 1: it does crazy things. And Martin must have been eating
Speaker 1: over his lunch thinking, oh my god, I'm going all
Speaker 1: sorts of places here. I can't imagine what was going
Speaker 1: through his head at lunch time. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he said or what, but it must have been a
Speaker 1: pretty surreal lunch. Back to Lard's dad for his thoughts
Speaker 1: at the lunch break with his son seven down, well,
Speaker 1: they're saying soccer, if you can score just before halftime,
Speaker 1: it's quite a quite a boost to you when you
Speaker 1: start the second half. And obviously just numerically seven is
Speaker 1: better than eight. But absolutely you go in E's one
Speaker 1: a whole. I won a whole. I can win a hole.
Speaker 1: I don't. I haven't made it Burdi yet, but I've
Speaker 1: won the whole. So U yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it was a big filip for it room. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, nonetheless, you know, I have to confess a
Speaker 1: bit of dooming bloom over the sandwich at lunch time. Um,
Speaker 1: seven is a big ask, but better than eight. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I can see that that was a pivotal well, a
Speaker 1: pivotal moment. Me and Monty eight a either ends of
Speaker 1: the room. We didn't really choose to just that's where
Speaker 1: I happened, sat down and I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have I wouldn't have had lunch with them because
Speaker 1: I was I was not in a good mood, so
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be on my own. And and
Speaker 1: then Monty ends up going to hit some hit some
Speaker 1: balls as well, um to warm up to we warm
Speaker 1: up and by that stage I was over. I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't be bothered to go to the ranger. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna sit here and you know, maybe and then
Speaker 1: sort of like, okay, I'll go net some parts because
Speaker 1: I was having trouble with some part of them. Um
Speaker 1: and yeah, I just sort of didn't really didn't really
Speaker 1: talk about a whole lot of mccardi, just just just
Speaker 1: chatting about anything really, And he was obviously still telling
Speaker 1: me that, you know, it was still to play for
Speaker 1: and Layer was prety down at lunch. But I just said, like,
Speaker 1: it's got a bit pressure on see seeing Monty handles
Speaker 1: for pressure and just see what happens. Just again, you've
Speaker 1: got none to lose now. I was like, everyone that's
Speaker 1: coming out to watch is going to be behind you.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to see you get and thrashed. So if
Speaker 1: you start wearing a few holes, then the whole crowd
Speaker 1: is going to be behind you. Which asked the pressure
Speaker 1: for a month the lunch time break, what what to say?
Speaker 1: It was a tricky thing, you know, I mean I
Speaker 1: basically just said I think that the lad said. I said,
Speaker 1: you know it's not over yet. You know, he's won
Speaker 1: seven goals on in the morning, you can easily win
Speaker 1: seven holes in the afternoon on him. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: was a tougher tougher coach coaching, not father, rather roll.
Speaker 1: Did you believe what you were saying? Uh? The odds
Speaker 1: obviously massively against it. Um, but I did believe it
Speaker 1: was possible. What did you say? Um? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I obviously went over to him, and I was trying
Speaker 1: to be the positive, motivational girlfriend and I was like, right,
Speaker 1: come on, biggest come back ever. And he's like, he's
Speaker 1: just he was so deflated. And I think obviously the
Speaker 1: week was taking it as tall on the both of them,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, just all that kind of every
Speaker 1: time he went another one down. I guess it just
Speaker 1: adds to that kind of way on your shoulders. And
Speaker 1: I said, right, come on, they just come back ever
Speaker 1: ago and read that or something, and just like and
Speaker 1: I did believe he could do it, but you know,
Speaker 1: you're struggling to believe he can do it. I know
Speaker 1: she's traveled all the way up from Saint Andrews, just
Speaker 1: like a four hour drive, and one of my my
Speaker 1: dad's good friends who I'm friends with as well, he'd
Speaker 1: taken a flight up from from London to come and
Speaker 1: watch me, and he only got there for in the
Speaker 1: morning and actually walked past him on the second hold
Speaker 1: in the afternoon and tatted on the shoulder and just said,
Speaker 1: justin I'm trying. I'm going to try and give you
Speaker 1: some more entertainment for the day. I can try and
Speaker 1: extend it as long as possible, because you know, you've
Speaker 1: come a long way, and hopefully I'll try and give
Speaker 1: you some good golf to watch. That was that was
Speaker 1: you know, they you know clearly, you know said you
Speaker 1: know it's never over, and she definitely believed in me.
Speaker 1: But my mindset was just trying to give the people
Speaker 1: that are about to come and see play and give
Speaker 1: them some good golf to watch and you know, get
Speaker 1: some good highlights to watch on YouTube. Even if I lost, Like,
Speaker 1: regardless of what anyone says them at lunch, the still
Speaker 1: seventh down, it doesn't like, I'm like seen comebacks better
Speaker 1: than this. Ah and and I was like, well, you
Speaker 1: never know, but realistically it's not going to happen. I
Speaker 1: didn't say that to him, but I mean anyone would
Speaker 1: think that. All right, it's halftime at their and Scusel
Speaker 1: is hitting balls Shepherd is hitting some puts and the
Speaker 1: broadcast crew is making plans for the evening. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: everyone was planning, Hey, we're gonna get home lay, We're
Speaker 1: going to be out and Saturday night because this is
Speaker 1: this is going to be older. Early afternoon, we were
Speaker 1: all just in cruise control. It was like, what holl
Speaker 1: is this going to finish? Someone once said that you
Speaker 1: have to be your strongest when you're feeling at your weakest. Remember,
Speaker 1: the Patriots were down three at halftime of the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: Bills were down thirty five to three to the Oilers,
Speaker 1: Red Sox were down three games to nothing to the Yankees,
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Speaker 1: Woods was five down with sixteen to play against Steve
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