Speaker 1: For those people who believe in jinxing other players, people
Speaker 1: and whatever it may be. Thursday morning, when I was
Speaker 1: on my golf getting on the golf cart to get
Speaker 1: to this putting green ten minutes before my tea time,
Speaker 1: I saw a text from a good friend of mine,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to nameMan because he is a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl winning champion, Zach ertz Um. He said the text,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna paraphrase here, but he said that
Speaker 1: first green looking like a walk in the park or
Speaker 1: something like that right now, ten minutes before I four
Speaker 1: potted to study the tournament. So thank you, Zach. Don't
Speaker 1: ever do that again, please. I got thoughts in my head.
Speaker 1: Can't get him John nothing. What I'm thinking about in
Speaker 1: my head, can't get him out. I'm thinking about, Hello,
Speaker 1: this is alan ship, look back for another fire drill.
Speaker 1: The Masters just ended seconds ago. Michael Bamberger and I
Speaker 1: are in the Augusta National Press Building. Jeff Ogilvie, Guys,
Speaker 1: what a day. I mean, people flying up and down
Speaker 1: the leaderboard. But in the end it was all about
Speaker 1: John Ram's just relentless excellence. What a champ, what a performance? Jeff,
Speaker 1: what did you see that particularly impressed you at a
Speaker 1: rom today, I don't know. I mean that back nine
Speaker 1: he played, it was pretty flawless. I mean that was
Speaker 1: a Jack Nicholas Taggerwoods level back nine on a major
Speaker 1: Bury the pap fives. Everybody hit, he had tap insapa.
Speaker 1: Most of the time. It was just class. He just
Speaker 1: looked at and as sort of Brooks looked a bit
Speaker 1: shaky there at the end of the front nine. He
Speaker 1: just looked like he got his second winds, like, right,
Speaker 1: we're on here, let's go. I'm gonna win. The masters
Speaker 1: catch me. You know, that was incredible. I mean Phil's
Speaker 1: finish was pretty zing, and they got it. It's scary
Speaker 1: there for a minute, because I mean those two guys
Speaker 1: were so far in front. To imagine that that sort
Speaker 1: of thing would happened, you wouldn't have ever imagined it.
Speaker 1: But now it was fun to watch, and Ram looked
Speaker 1: every bit the best player in the world today. Jeff, Jeff,
Speaker 1: how does the guy do that? Really? You know, they
Speaker 1: played thirty holes together. They were with each other the
Speaker 1: entire day. Really neither played a great third round. Of course,
Speaker 1: very trying conditions for the first six sols, But how
Speaker 1: do you think ram was sort of able to turn
Speaker 1: it around and go from what he did early on
Speaker 1: Saturday early on Sunday to what he did late on Sunday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. I've never done that, so
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. But I mean, look, clearly, he's been
Speaker 1: pretty He's been playing really well for a lot of
Speaker 1: months here. I mean, he hasn't had played very well
Speaker 1: for the last month, but it's never that far away.
Speaker 1: If you're playing the level he was, It's not like
Speaker 1: it disappears very much. And sometimes it takes maybe the
Speaker 1: last sort of eight in holes of the masters to
Speaker 1: see that, um, hey, look I can win this too.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brooks's maybe the most intimidating golfer out there,
Speaker 1: and he looked intimidating, and he probably looked really hard
Speaker 1: to beat playing with him for the first little bit.
Speaker 1: But as soon as Brooks looked a little bit vulnerable,
Speaker 1: of a sudden, He's like, hang on a minute, I'm
Speaker 1: John Rahm, Like, what do you mean he's looking he's
Speaker 1: scared of me. You know, it doesn't take very much sometimes,
Speaker 1: especially if your game is really good. One swing, Oh
Speaker 1: that felt oh I remember that. That's what it was.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I was doing, and let's go. You know,
Speaker 1: so I don't know, just his best player in the
Speaker 1: world finds a way, you know. I mean we've seen
Speaker 1: it with all the best players in the world. When
Speaker 1: they're struggling a little bit, they find a way to
Speaker 1: turn it around. I like what you said about the
Speaker 1: Nicholas Woods bit. It wasn't spectacular. It was workman Lake.
Speaker 1: He just did what he had to do if he
Speaker 1: never really felt like he was out of position, and
Speaker 1: he put a lot of pressure on Brooks. You know,
Speaker 1: as good as Brooks played the first two rounds, he
Speaker 1: hasn't been in the situation a long time. He has
Speaker 1: a new knee, he's been through a lot of strife.
Speaker 1: Like it. Just as you said, Jeff, it just looked
Speaker 1: like Brooks didn't quite have the belief that that you
Speaker 1: need and that crucible. So all credit to rom and
Speaker 1: you know, he has been a prolific winner around the
Speaker 1: world for years now, but only um it was felt
Speaker 1: like he needed to add another major if he was
Speaker 1: going to put a stranglehold on on number one. And
Speaker 1: it's been this ongoing debate. Is it is it Scheffler,
Speaker 1: is it rom is it is it cam Smith, you know,
Speaker 1: but I think this definitely solifies rom standing as the
Speaker 1: best player in the world, subject to change. We saw
Speaker 1: have a lot of golf this season in front of us,
Speaker 1: but that this was a statement and at exactly the
Speaker 1: right moment. I think, can you imagine that on some
Speaker 1: level for both Jeff and Allen that they're thinking at
Speaker 1: all about pha to ur versus slip Tour or do
Speaker 1: you think the Masters is so big that maybe they
Speaker 1: could just put that aside for a day. I don't
Speaker 1: think Brooks is thinking about that at all, or I
Speaker 1: mean I think Phil maybe. I mean, he looked incredibly
Speaker 1: satisfied when you hold that put in the last, like
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of like there you Guss,
Speaker 1: I'll show you guys, you know. I mean, I did
Speaker 1: the right thing, you know, which is fair enough because
Speaker 1: it's kind of the consolation prize, I mean, because he
Speaker 1: probably knew he realistically he wasn't going to win. But
Speaker 1: I mean, what a round to play. And you've heard
Speaker 1: of the last two holes, got on top of Jordan,
Speaker 1: who was playing an unbelievable round. I don't think many
Speaker 1: of them Patrick, I don't think thinks that way. Either
Speaker 1: of the guys who are up there. I don't think
Speaker 1: Patrick read or Brooks of the sort of guy who
Speaker 1: care about that sort of thing. They're just trying to
Speaker 1: win the golf toun and they're playing in and Phil
Speaker 1: traditionally was that guy too, but I think I don't know,
Speaker 1: he looked a little bit that way. Maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: to fill in a minute, but I will say this,
Speaker 1: you know, three live guys basically in the top four
Speaker 1: plus ties, and maybe we can retire. What I've felt
Speaker 1: all along was kind of a silly talking point that
Speaker 1: going to live they were something and become bad golfers.
Speaker 1: They weren't going to care, their skills were going to
Speaker 1: deteriorate because there wasn't any tournament pressure or any meaning.
Speaker 1: I mean, in every professional sport except for golf, basically
Speaker 1: the athletes have guaranteed money, and the best players have
Speaker 1: the most money, whether it's Steph Curry or Lebron or
Speaker 1: Mike Trout or Tom Brady gone down the list. But
Speaker 1: those guys continually push themselves to get better and their
Speaker 1: life is organized around winning like the money doesn't corrupt them.
Speaker 1: And so to think that all of a sudden, everyone
Speaker 1: who want to live is gonna stop caring because they
Speaker 1: have some guaranteed money. I always thought that was ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And the fact that so many live guys played really
Speaker 1: well this week, including Nieman. He was up there for
Speaker 1: a while and he fell back slightly. But maybe maybe
Speaker 1: the fact that Brooks didn't win will still give people
Speaker 1: some amo like oh, he ran out of gas because
Speaker 1: he's only used to play in three rounds instead of four.
Speaker 1: But I think it was a statement that argument because
Speaker 1: Phil shot sixty five and last round so exactly exactly
Speaker 1: and read played great today as well. So I just
Speaker 1: think this was an important development so we can take
Speaker 1: we can we can speak about this stuff a little
Speaker 1: more seriously and and you know, it's been an open question,
Speaker 1: like what does it mean to win a live golf tournament?
Speaker 1: You know, Brooks prepared for this event by winning two
Speaker 1: of them, and that's what sort of catapulted into Augusta
Speaker 1: with this momentum. So, um, you know, how we assess
Speaker 1: Live going forward, Maybe you can be done with a
Speaker 1: little more sobriety and just a little less smirk, because
Speaker 1: clearly these guys can still play and they're still dangerous.
Speaker 1: Well said, but I would still say that for the
Speaker 1: casual fan that's just turning in tuning into the Masters
Speaker 1: and doesn't watch a lot of other golf that they
Speaker 1: would never watch on this level. But for the three
Speaker 1: of us and many of our listeners, you can't help
Speaker 1: but think I couldn't have lived versus the PHA tour
Speaker 1: when you're watching that leaderboard unfold and knowing especially what
Speaker 1: it would be to film, it just adds another level
Speaker 1: of complexity. We saw it. We saw it at the
Speaker 1: British Open last year at the Old Course Kim Smith
Speaker 1: and uh, well, excuse me, no, I misspoke because we
Speaker 1: did not know Kim Smith. This is really the first
Speaker 1: time it would have really seen it in a major
Speaker 1: a level of complexity of my tour versus your tour.
Speaker 1: Just think it adds a little bit of combativeness to
Speaker 1: the tournament. I think it's it's a fascinating subplot in
Speaker 1: all of this, And I'm not diminishing that. I'm just
Speaker 1: talking about the idea that these live guys are not
Speaker 1: going to be forces in the game. I mean, healthy
Speaker 1: Brooks cap is still obviously dangerous. So yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a It was a great subplot
Speaker 1: and added a lot of juice to this whole thing.
Speaker 1: And if one of them guys hadn't been able to
Speaker 1: you know, if books and pulled through, it would have
Speaker 1: turned up the volume on all this. It would have
Speaker 1: been fantastic. So of course I was rooting for that
Speaker 1: to happen, just because I always root for chaos. But um,
Speaker 1: that would have ensued. But all right, let's talk about film,
Speaker 1: because as you said, Jeff, he shot sixty five. It
Speaker 1: was a late start round. He had his old giantiness,
Speaker 1: his old swagger. Jeff, what did you see from Phil's
Speaker 1: round today that it makes you think that maybe he's
Speaker 1: going to remain a factor in these big tournaments? Well?
Speaker 1: Did they didn't show that much? I mean, because I
Speaker 1: was watching the broadcast. I mean we saw the last
Speaker 1: four holes, probably once they both sort of got on
Speaker 1: there in the last four I mean four holes. Maybe
Speaker 1: those last two holes were pretty impressive. I mean, if
Speaker 1: I've learned anything about Phil one, he's an unbelievable iron player,
Speaker 1: and those two iron shots in the last two holes
Speaker 1: are pretty stellar shots. But he is the most he
Speaker 1: has some of the most highest level of self belief
Speaker 1: in that situation of anyone you've ever met, and he's
Speaker 1: the most incredible competitor. He just doesn't like losing, and
Speaker 1: he has that that sort of attitude of conviction. He
Speaker 1: just knows he's making the right decision, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it is or not, he knows he's doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how you have to beat Augusta.
Speaker 1: And it's sort of it's why It's partly why, like
Speaker 1: Patrick read, Phil Freddie always plays well there. There's there's
Speaker 1: that type of golfer and mentality that's just always going
Speaker 1: to work at the Master's and Phil just epitomize that today.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just loves that environment and he loves
Speaker 1: that golf course. But he looked anything but fifty two
Speaker 1: coming out of those last two holes. I mean that
Speaker 1: was that was actually that's almost better than he would
Speaker 1: have ever finished a major, like, I mean, he never looked.
Speaker 1: That looked really impressive what he did those last few holes. So, um,
Speaker 1: never never not surprised by Phil. You know how much
Speaker 1: fun is it to have Phil nikeas on the leaderboard again, Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing and it shows you the powers of drive,
Speaker 1: among other things, because he has a lot to prove
Speaker 1: and Allan, You and I have talked about this a
Speaker 1: little bit, and anybody who follows golf knows this to
Speaker 1: be true. Phil is absolutely world class issue things playing
Speaker 1: golf and talking about golf and talking about Golf's kind
Speaker 1: of got taken away from him because Gussie went down
Speaker 1: this road and got himself in trouble. So that kind
Speaker 1: of left playing golf and he had n't been playing
Speaker 1: golf well. Now he played golf well again and that
Speaker 1: allows him to talk about golf again in a public forum.
Speaker 1: We just saw him doing it with his high flyer's
Speaker 1: hat on indoors at Augustin National, which you almost never see.
Speaker 1: So I think there's so much going on here were Phil.
Speaker 1: But one of the things that's going on is the will,
Speaker 1: the will of the man to stay relevant, and I
Speaker 1: think Nicholas had it. He was pissed off an annoyed
Speaker 1: at age forty six when people were writing him off.
Speaker 1: Fred is Fred, you know. But it's astonishing, just you know,
Speaker 1: if you have physical gifts like Phil has, and then
Speaker 1: you have a mind that is so driven to do
Speaker 1: one narrow thing at an expert level, it's just an
Speaker 1: amazing what a person can achieve. You know whether you
Speaker 1: like Phil or don't like Phil. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you could possibly say that that is not true. And
Speaker 1: then just one of the quick note about about Phil
Speaker 1: is that I think because he's left handed, there's never
Speaker 1: really been enough respect for the quality of his golf swing.
Speaker 1: But anybody who can't really see it left he is
Speaker 1: a right handed person for whatever reason. Just watch it
Speaker 1: in a mirror. You're seeing one of the great swings.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, Jeff could tell us much more about
Speaker 1: on technical level than I ever could one of the
Speaker 1: great swings of all time. For rhythm, for it's almost
Speaker 1: sevy like, and how it builds strength through a long,
Speaker 1: powerful swing with a big, high finish. And at fifty
Speaker 1: two he basically swings better than he did at thirty two,
Speaker 1: So it's textbook, really, Jeff, is that off on close
Speaker 1: you tell me? I mean it's he has an outrighteous
Speaker 1: talent level. I think he's swing is coming and out
Speaker 1: of He's had to work for it a lot. There's
Speaker 1: there was periods of middle of his career he had
Speaker 1: to work to try to strike the ball, hit the
Speaker 1: ball straight, you know, But he's so gifted and he's
Speaker 1: got he's much bigger than most people thing. I mean
Speaker 1: when you get up near he's got very big, strong arms.
Speaker 1: Remember he was trying to he was warming up his
Speaker 1: pitching arm and the parking lot there for a while
Speaker 1: there on tour, trying when he was throwing it like
Speaker 1: ninety miles an hour in the parking lot. He's a
Speaker 1: strong guy, and he's so talented, and like you said,
Speaker 1: I think it's the drive. It's just that will to
Speaker 1: he's just competing. He's a he's like a dog chasing
Speaker 1: a ball, you know. He just he only got eyes
Speaker 1: for what he's going to do, you know, and he
Speaker 1: has such a belief in what he's doing. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that is surrounded. You're right if you do he is.
Speaker 1: We all look at left handed swings and we just think,
Speaker 1: I can't I don't know really what I'm looking at,
Speaker 1: so we don't really try to even sort of judge it.
Speaker 1: But it's when you play with him, especially as I said,
Speaker 1: his iron play that sort of between one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty and two hundred, he's just unbelievable. The amount of
Speaker 1: shots when you're just being loose and you're playing a
Speaker 1: lot on tour that he nearly holds from one hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty yards is incredible. I mean I've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of those sort of shots that he hit on seventeen.
Speaker 1: I mean, he know call it. He's so sort of
Speaker 1: cocky when he's out there plying that he's as soon
Speaker 1: as he makes contact, he's calling the bolder guck class
Speaker 1: to the hall, or he's calling at the end, or
Speaker 1: I hey, god, did you say that I lost it
Speaker 1: in the sun? You know, And as guys are next
Speaker 1: to the hall, he's fantastic to play with like that.
Speaker 1: But the man of shot iron shots he it's close
Speaker 1: to the hall is incredible, and his short game is
Speaker 1: clearly what it is. I think the driver and the
Speaker 1: pot of the two ends of the bag of being
Speaker 1: the bits that have come and gone. But I think
Speaker 1: that middle area of the bag he's always been incredible.
Speaker 1: This is kind of nothing to say, but when you
Speaker 1: think about a US Open in La there's some US
Speaker 1: Open courses that would not be suited to Phil Michelson,
Speaker 1: but that La Country Cup course, I think it's very
Speaker 1: similar in ways. Sue Augusta National and then this might
Speaker 1: not be the last time we hear from Phil. Phil
Speaker 1: this year. I mean last year, they took in my
Speaker 1: opinion from what I've heard, they took the Masters away
Speaker 1: from him. Phil's handlers took his US Open press conference
Speaker 1: away from him, something that he would normally enjoy. He
Speaker 1: obviously did. And this year to see Phil both on
Speaker 1: the golf course and in the president being Phil, it's
Speaker 1: sort of like welcome back to golf. Phil. He was
Speaker 1: very emotional in his you know, they brought him too
Speaker 1: the big room, as you said, but he did a
Speaker 1: flash interview kind of right off the golf course, right
Speaker 1: out of the scoring area, and there was some emotion
Speaker 1: in his voice, and his eyes looked a little watery.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, you know, Phil's been through a lot,
Speaker 1: we know that in the last year plus, and I
Speaker 1: think he feels like he's Phil Mickelson. And you could
Speaker 1: even see it earlier in the week. He obviously Augusta
Speaker 1: lights him up. You know, Amy Michelson this year, his wife,
Speaker 1: and I don't think he's been in a tournament since
Speaker 1: the two thousand and twenty one US Open. She had
Speaker 1: just sort of stepped back from a lot of the
Speaker 1: the energy around Phil and the controversy, and he cleared,
Speaker 1: you know, they were holding hands that I caught in
Speaker 1: this little, very intimate moment upstairs in the clubhouse. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to need to go up there on that
Speaker 1: balcony and watch the last the players come up the
Speaker 1: last hole. And they were sitting at this table right
Speaker 1: outside the champions locker room, holding hands, and their faces
Speaker 1: were maybe a foot apart from each other, talking and
Speaker 1: whispering and giggling, and they did look like college sweethearts.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, there's been Phil's missed, that
Speaker 1: he's been on the road by himself a lot, and
Speaker 1: I think being Augusta, having Amy's support, just the whole
Speaker 1: energy of the crowd, and I think it was it
Speaker 1: was a little muted, you know. I watched I watched
Speaker 1: Phil on Thursday a little bit, and I think people
Speaker 1: were not sure do we cheer for him? Do we not?
Speaker 1: You know, he missed last year, There's all this stuff.
Speaker 1: But as the week went on, I think the cheers
Speaker 1: got louder, and today they were quite lusty. And I
Speaker 1: think people just are happy to have Phill back between
Speaker 1: the ropes. And I think this week meant more to
Speaker 1: him than we could possibly know. And it was just
Speaker 1: reflected a little bit in those remarks after. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even what he said, it was how he was he was.
Speaker 1: You could see him his fighting back, the emotion. So
Speaker 1: that was that was cool. I mean golf was a
Speaker 1: lot more fun, a lot more interesting when Phil Nicholson
Speaker 1: is on the leaderboard. Whether you love him or hate him,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone would disagree with that. If you
Speaker 1: know my name. I was just about John. Um do
Speaker 1: you see John Ram in Greater Phoenix? Have you have
Speaker 1: you played casual golf with them? And what made you
Speaker 1: know about him that the public doesn't? Oh, I think
Speaker 1: not that much. I mean he lives I had. Look,
Speaker 1: I haven't been here for the sort of for a while, um,
Speaker 1: so I haven't been around that much. I mean I've
Speaker 1: seen him a little bit. Um. He's remember at Wisprock,
Speaker 1: but he tends to practice at silver Leaf mostly because
Speaker 1: he lives there, um and he can drive his own
Speaker 1: cars to the golf course and stuff. So I don't
Speaker 1: go there as much. I mean I don't see him
Speaker 1: at much. But I've said played with him a little
Speaker 1: bit here. I mean he's um like all of these guys,
Speaker 1: I mean, like everyone on two. If you go when
Speaker 1: you go see him play at home, everyone gets a
Speaker 1: little bit better because they're a looser, you know, um,
Speaker 1: and the level is quite high and makest too players
Speaker 1: when they get home. And when it's guys like John
Speaker 1: rams it's incredible the stuff that they do when they're
Speaker 1: showing off, hard worker, wants it, passionate, he's he's everything
Speaker 1: you say. Yeah, I't thin. John ramahadds very much from anybody.
Speaker 1: I think if you watch enough golf on TV, you've
Speaker 1: got a pretty good sense of if John romy is.
Speaker 1: I finally have the definitive answer, by the way to
Speaker 1: a question in which I know we get a lot.
Speaker 1: If someone is new to the game, men, women or
Speaker 1: children and they want to look into buying a set
Speaker 1: of clubs, the answer now is Robin Golf Robin Goolf
Speaker 1: dot com. These people, it's a family owned business. They
Speaker 1: make these really sleek, cool looking sets of clubs for
Speaker 1: kids and beginners, men and women. This is a bit
Speaker 1: of a gateway solution from like no, you know clubs
Speaker 1: to an actual set of clubs before you maybe get
Speaker 1: fit for a set of clubs. Go now to Robin
Speaker 1: Goolf dot com. We got Mother's Day coming up, but
Speaker 1: Father's Day coming up, kids are getting out of school soon.
Speaker 1: Fire Pit fifteen gets you fifteen percent off promo code
Speaker 1: fire Pit fifteen Robin Golf guys excaded to have him
Speaker 1: be a part of what we're doing, and their sets
Speaker 1: are on the way from my son and daughter and wife,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to breaking him in. So it's funny,
Speaker 1: it's we've gone this Deepness podcast. We haven't mentioned Tiger Woods.
Speaker 1: I mean, he Withdrew Sunday morning, which wasn't a shock.
Speaker 1: I mean, everone could see how much he was struggling
Speaker 1: on the golf course in the cold, wet conditions Saturday afternoon,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, he cited that the plantar fasciitis,
Speaker 1: which would make sense because his limp was so pronounced
Speaker 1: late in the day. I mean, more than we've seen.
Speaker 1: It looked not somewhat like fatigue, like actual pain. And
Speaker 1: of course if you've had plantar, which I have, it
Speaker 1: does feel like a stab at the bottom of your foot.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's the good news that that that is
Speaker 1: that can go away. It's not a debilitating thing. But
Speaker 1: bigger picture, you know, seeing Tiger struggled, he was basically
Speaker 1: at last when he Withdrew and seeing the physical toil
Speaker 1: and just how much it takes out of him. I mean,
Speaker 1: are we going to look back on this is the
Speaker 1: week when Tiger kind of realized that maybe it's just
Speaker 1: not worth it, you know, and he accepts that to
Speaker 1: put himself through this much pain and this much strife,
Speaker 1: to have to scratch and clode even make the cut
Speaker 1: and not be a factor on the leaderboard, I mean,
Speaker 1: it is just the beginning of the end of Tiger
Speaker 1: as far as showing him these majors and trying to compete.
Speaker 1: We don't know how. I don't. We can't. I don't
Speaker 1: know how bad his leg actually is. It doesn't look
Speaker 1: like it's going to improve. I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like when you get older. I mean I'm rambling. All
Speaker 1: I know is if I'm healthy and I don't have
Speaker 1: any soreness. But if I walk seventy two holes in
Speaker 1: a gust, everybody's a little bit sore at the end.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a tough walk. It was wet, so
Speaker 1: there'd be some slippery up and downhills. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to be careful and it's a long way to walk.
Speaker 1: I mean, at forty seven I'm forty five, he's forty seven,
Speaker 1: So I mean it's a long way around there for healthy.
Speaker 1: So I mean, if he's got all this stuff sort
Speaker 1: of holding his right leg together and it's not a
Speaker 1: surprise that he gets sore, I mean, who knows. I mean, hope,
Speaker 1: maybe it improves, Maybe it's on the way he's certainly
Speaker 1: it's not going to be a three lack of effort,
Speaker 1: and I think he's going to try to play golf
Speaker 1: until he just can't because he loves it so much
Speaker 1: and he loves that situation. So I don't think it's
Speaker 1: I don't think it's done, but it might becoming less
Speaker 1: and less every year. I mean, maybe there's only one
Speaker 1: or two every year, but hopefully he keeps coming back.
Speaker 1: Two of the wisest things insights into Tiger whomber who
Speaker 1: both came from Nicholas, and I fully believe both. You know,
Speaker 1: One was when he ran over the Hydra and everyone
Speaker 1: was exploring Tiger's private life, and Nicholas had the common
Speaker 1: decency to say, it's as private life, it's some of
Speaker 1: our business. I haven't agree with that. The other thing
Speaker 1: Nicholas has said for wherever about Tiger is never under
Speaker 1: a submit the Tiger Woods. And I have found in
Speaker 1: my own life trying to write about Tiger Woods, since
Speaker 1: he's a teenager, every time I do underestimate him now
Speaker 1: that he's trying to prove me wrong, but he does
Speaker 1: prove me wrong. I would say right now, the way
Speaker 1: he looks, the way he's looked the last few times
Speaker 1: out forget about him contending in a tournament. It is
Speaker 1: almost hard to imagine walking seventy two holes of any
Speaker 1: golf course, the force who days of competition and then
Speaker 1: whatever he would do, you know, in the practice rounds.
Speaker 1: But having said that, like Big Jack says, you can
Speaker 1: never understimate the Tiger Woods. And as we've seen with Phil,
Speaker 1: you can never underestimate the role of will in a
Speaker 1: person's life. And we saw we just had an illustration,
Speaker 1: actual and that's part of the beauty of the game.
Speaker 1: We saw an actual illustration of the application of will
Speaker 1: in what Phil did. But Tiger is at a completely
Speaker 1: different level. So you can't say no, even though it
Speaker 1: looks like none the differences. Phil has never had any injuries.
Speaker 1: I mean, he still has that long flowing swing, He's
Speaker 1: still limber and supple, He's probably the best shape of
Speaker 1: his life, even go back to college, you know, and
Speaker 1: you know Tiger's got the fuse spine. Of course, we
Speaker 1: know all the litany of injuries and the back surgeries
Speaker 1: and the metal and his leg. With Tiger, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think it's about will. I don't think he
Speaker 1: can go in the gym and make his foot and
Speaker 1: his leg that much stronger. He can't give himself more
Speaker 1: movement in his spine like those those things are those
Speaker 1: things are fixed and they can only probably get worse
Speaker 1: and not better. And so the question becomes if you know,
Speaker 1: if for Tiger and Freddie couple said, I come here
Speaker 1: to compete against myself. I know I can't beat the
Speaker 1: best players, but I come to compete against myself and
Speaker 1: try and make the cut, and if I do, that's
Speaker 1: my victory. I think that's cool. That's great for Freddy,
Speaker 1: and it's a thrill to see him out there and
Speaker 1: everyone loves to watch him play. Oh would Tiger be
Speaker 1: able to accept that? You know, He's always defined things
Speaker 1: so differently, And if you can't, if you can't win,
Speaker 1: you know, second place sucks all you know, it was
Speaker 1: a zero sum game for Tiger. Either you win or
Speaker 1: you fail, And so I guess that's really the question.
Speaker 1: Will he will keep winting to go through this if
Speaker 1: if victory is realistically not an option, and only Tiger
Speaker 1: knows that. But I'm kind of dubious. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just I don't think he wants to be in a
Speaker 1: ceremonial role, and I don't think he wants to drag
Speaker 1: it out for years trying to figure that out. If
Speaker 1: you know, I think maybe he'll la country clubs. Those
Speaker 1: are the grasses he grew up on. He's a southern
Speaker 1: California guy. It's not a traditional tight penal US open
Speaker 1: course just gonna be much more about short game and imagination,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a great canvas for him. And
Speaker 1: if he goes there and he struggles, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not sure how much more Tigers are
Speaker 1: gonna want to put himself through that. But maybe I'm
Speaker 1: just a pessimist. I don't know. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he'd be able to not play, I mean, it would
Speaker 1: take a lot. He'd have to be a long way
Speaker 1: away from He'd have to be playing really really poorly
Speaker 1: to not want to play. You know, I think he'd
Speaker 1: always try, because I mean that's he's been always trying.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's that's his might. He just tries really
Speaker 1: really hard. And the probably the frustrating thing for him
Speaker 1: with his injuries, it seems, is that the golf is fine.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the getting between shot to shot for
Speaker 1: four days that's the harder part. He said. He hits
Speaker 1: the ball great, he's in the past most of the guys,
Speaker 1: he said, he looks like the old school Tiger Woods.
Speaker 1: I mean, he looks great over a putter, and you know,
Speaker 1: if he could get himself in the mix, it would
Speaker 1: be the golf wouldn't be the problem. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: him stopping trying, you know, while he's still playing well
Speaker 1: at home. But again I don't know how he feels.
Speaker 1: It does look it's hard to watch. It's like, why
Speaker 1: don't you just just go rest? You know, it just
Speaker 1: looks painful, But it's what he's done his whole life.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, Jack obviously didn't love like sort
Speaker 1: of not being able to win towards the end there,
Speaker 1: but he kept playing. He loved it again. And I assume,
Speaker 1: just like Freddie, you come along with your own little goals,
Speaker 1: you know, each week, and can Tiger get to that
Speaker 1: point and still be healthy. I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: it's his game looks like it will be good first.
Speaker 1: His game looks like it'll be great for ten more years.
Speaker 1: It's just whether he can walk, you know, seventy two holes.
Speaker 1: So I don't I can't speculate what he thinks, but
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna while he still hits the ball
Speaker 1: grade and he thinks his game is good enough, I
Speaker 1: think he'd always want to try to win. Jeff, You've traveled,
Speaker 1: You've traveled the world as a golfer. You come from
Speaker 1: a relatively small country that has produced so many great golfers.
Speaker 1: How do you explain the fact that a country with
Speaker 1: a relatively small golf population like Spain has produced now
Speaker 1: what one, two, three, four Masters winners? I mean, I
Speaker 1: can't really without saying that Sevy must have been that inspirational.
Speaker 1: You know, Sevey was a once in a lifetime sort
Speaker 1: of talent. The way he played golf and how he
Speaker 1: sort of inspired people. I mean, he inspired a hole
Speaker 1: to the right a couple bunch of times, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can draw a direct line to Seve
Speaker 1: coming into the team to Europe starting to win, and
Speaker 1: they mentioned him to the to the day at Ryder Cups,
Speaker 1: they all walk out and say, oh, well, Sevey started
Speaker 1: all this, and I mean, like so to have that
Speaker 1: effect on his country in the Masters couldn't be understated,
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think that was pretty important. And
Speaker 1: him and Jose, it's been this this timeline for them
Speaker 1: where their mentorship with the Spanish seems to be really strong,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean Sevey was there, and then he
Speaker 1: took Jose under his wing, and then they both they
Speaker 1: all took Surgio under their wing, and then they that's
Speaker 1: a very sort of close knit sort of community, the
Speaker 1: golf community in Spain, you know, and they that and
Speaker 1: they play with a lot of flair. I mean, they
Speaker 1: seem to have a game that's built for a place,
Speaker 1: that sort of allows room for expression if you like.
Speaker 1: You know, Um never had to be the straightest hitter,
Speaker 1: but it helped to be long, and most of them
Speaker 1: seemed to be long. And they all moved the ball
Speaker 1: both way. They always moved the ball both ways, and
Speaker 1: they all have great short games and they all have
Speaker 1: sort of that Mattador sort of like stand up to
Speaker 1: the big, big moment, sort of the flair for the
Speaker 1: dramatic in the big moment. You know. It just seems
Speaker 1: to be cultures have personalities in their golf games, you know,
Speaker 1: and it seems like the personality that comes out of
Speaker 1: the Spanish golf game seems really really well suited for
Speaker 1: the sort of the stage and the drama of the masters. Really,
Speaker 1: but without Sevy, I'm not sure you would have seen
Speaker 1: this many Because he was that you just wanted to
Speaker 1: be him, you know, Yeah, yeah, I mean even and Sevy.
Speaker 1: It's such a flu because I went to Padrenia, this
Speaker 1: little village that he's from. There was no golfing tradition
Speaker 1: there whatsoever. And then but across the bay is this
Speaker 1: lovely city called Santander. And I can't remember which king,
Speaker 1: it was, one of the kings, and like maybe the
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties decided that he was going to start going
Speaker 1: up to Santander as a getaway, as a vacation, and
Speaker 1: he wanted a golf course built. And so they sent
Speaker 1: people out to find some land that was suitable, and
Speaker 1: the role farmland of Padrinia was deemed perfect, and they
Speaker 1: bought up all the farms, and they built Royal Padrinia
Speaker 1: and that became the king's hangout, and that was the
Speaker 1: little house. This little stone house at Savee grew up
Speaker 1: on was just on this hill looking over the golf course.
Speaker 1: There was an absolute fluke. I mean, he slept in
Speaker 1: this room above the horses were they were just kind
Speaker 1: of subsistence farmers, and and all of a sudden this
Speaker 1: great golf course was there. And so that's where save
Speaker 1: started caddying and hit his uncle turned h Manuel was
Speaker 1: it was a really good golfer, actually finished sing fourth
Speaker 1: in the and the Master's way back when, and so
Speaker 1: it just got kind of handed down. And it's funny
Speaker 1: to think if the king had chosen a different vacation
Speaker 1: home never heard of sev by Astarios to maybe no
Speaker 1: Jose Amrio Othable, how that would affect Sergio and John
Speaker 1: rom I mean, a hundred years ago, kind of a
Speaker 1: random happenstance helped get gen Ron this green jacket. And
Speaker 1: it's amazing how the world works. So I think broadly
Speaker 1: the boss athletes have always been famous for for flair
Speaker 1: doing things suits, no matter whether they're playing football or
Speaker 1: cycling or golf or tennis, they play, they conduct themselves
Speaker 1: with flair and alan you and I haven't made this observation.
Speaker 1: Augusta National is a kind of cozy club in its
Speaker 1: own way. It's not nearly as cozy now as it
Speaker 1: used to be. But we've seen many times Savvy of
Speaker 1: course when he was still in good health, and a
Speaker 1: lot of the ball to enlisted degree Szergio when ill.
Speaker 1: We'll see with with John Rum, John Rodriguez. But they
Speaker 1: really enjoy the club, you know, we see him drinking
Speaker 1: red wine, or their families maybe more accurately, the agents
Speaker 1: are part of it, The wives and the parents are
Speaker 1: part of it, and they sort of take over. I
Speaker 1: mean they've kind of almost take over the club in ways.
Speaker 1: They're very relaxing, very at home, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if that has anything to do with their success here,
Speaker 1: but Augusta National can be a really uptight environment for
Speaker 1: a lot of people. But thinking about the time, so
Speaker 1: I was looking enough to see it savey and unlauthable here,
Speaker 1: they didn't seem up tight at all. They seemed like
Speaker 1: this is arc it up for the week, we enjoy
Speaker 1: and it was great. Yeah, that's the real thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: like what Lee Travino would would change his shoes in
Speaker 1: the parking lot because he didn't want to go into
Speaker 1: the clubhouse. He didn't feel welcome there. He didn't like
Speaker 1: the energy. And for a guy of that talent level
Speaker 1: to never win the Masters, I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: that's part of it. And you know, Tiger came here
Speaker 1: and he had that chip on his shoulder, and you
Speaker 1: know that he was that he turned pro on that
Speaker 1: ad campaign about there's there's places I can't play because
Speaker 1: the color of my skin, and you know that fueled him.
Speaker 1: And so the energy around August the Nashville definitely can
Speaker 1: affect different players in different ways. And I think Ram
Speaker 1: is gonna be a great champion. To me, there's something,
Speaker 1: there's something just kind of regal about him. He just
Speaker 1: carries himself with such class. We met Mike and I
Speaker 1: have talked about he has a beautiful command of the
Speaker 1: English language for a non native speaker. He's so eloquent,
Speaker 1: and he seems to always say the right thing and
Speaker 1: be on the right side of every issue. And he
Speaker 1: will he will wear he will look good and green,
Speaker 1: and I think he'll he'll he'll wear that jacket in
Speaker 1: a really cool special way. So it was. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a wonky week with weather delays and and
Speaker 1: Master's Saturday was it was was total washout. Only a
Speaker 1: few shots got showing on TV and not a lot
Speaker 1: of holes got played. And but I think this was
Speaker 1: a Sunday to remember, and I think the right gay won.
Speaker 1: So before before we release our listeners in any final
Speaker 1: thoughts on the pretty memorable Masters. As I said, I
Speaker 1: thought it was fun to watch, and like you said,
Speaker 1: I mean I was there until yesterday. If you'd been
Speaker 1: there most of the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you would never
Speaker 1: have imagined that it would finish with the sun setting
Speaker 1: on at the right time and two balls on the eighteenth.
Speaker 1: But there's just no chance that was ever happening all
Speaker 1: week and and and again. Um nine percent at the time,
Speaker 1: the Masters finishes the right way, you know. Um, it's
Speaker 1: incredible achievement from the It's every time I go there,
Speaker 1: it blows me away at how I pres of an operation.
Speaker 1: It isn't. It's the most impeccably run event in the world. Surely,
Speaker 1: I don't think anything could be run any better than that.
Speaker 1: And it's they deserve all the sort of credit they
Speaker 1: get because it's an amazing thing. And John ram I
Speaker 1: don't think we've seen him not winning majors, and I
Speaker 1: think brooks Kepka, I think is back. He looked he
Speaker 1: looked like the old school brooks Kepka for about five
Speaker 1: or sixtelfth really, and he looked at when he finished,
Speaker 1: which I think was nice. You know, he finished pretty strong.
Speaker 1: He looked at really good player in the last few holes.
Speaker 1: And I think Jordan Space is going to win more Magic,
Speaker 1: more Masters because he just looks so good around there
Speaker 1: and it was fun to watch. Oh yeah, Jordan Speed,
Speaker 1: let's just I mean just very quickly, like this was
Speaker 1: the full speed experience. And if you're watching on Thursday,
Speaker 1: you know he's in the pine straw on thirteen, he's
Speaker 1: pretty far from the green. He you would think it's
Speaker 1: an automatically if it's the first round of the Masters,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be a hero. He goes for
Speaker 1: the green. He knocks in the water. He just hit
Speaker 1: in the water on eleven, and it's like face palm
Speaker 1: because sometimes he just does the most inexplicable things. But
Speaker 1: then when he gets a going like like he did today,
Speaker 1: there's no one who's more fun to watch. But if
Speaker 1: you look, if you look though, that's why he's good
Speaker 1: at the Masters. I mean, if you think about the
Speaker 1: people who are always good there, they're the ones should
Speaker 1: do that. Phil has never not taken a shot on target,
Speaker 1: took every shot on, Sevy, took every shot on I mean,
Speaker 1: they're the guys who win there, you know, and he
Speaker 1: plays like that. You know, he plays to win the tournament.
Speaker 1: And that's the only way you can win the tournaments
Speaker 1: if you play to win it, you know, and he
Speaker 1: plays to win it. It's fun to watch. Oh, I agree,
Speaker 1: it's fun. Yeah, for sure, on you know, Saturday or
Speaker 1: Sunday if you think that's what you need to do.
Speaker 1: But I just think, man, Thursday, even if it's an
Speaker 1: incredible shot from there, it's probably going to be a
Speaker 1: long eagle putt. He's gonna be putting for four. If
Speaker 1: he lays up, he's'll be putting for four. Like sometimes
Speaker 1: I wish you would just play the percentages. But I
Speaker 1: guess you're right, Jeff. I mean, that is who he
Speaker 1: is and that's what's made him great. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: having this fun to have some some old school speed
Speaker 1: that racing up the league board. As well, Michael, any
Speaker 1: our thoughts. When I watch him, he always looks like
Speaker 1: he might be shooting forty one, and then you look
Speaker 1: at the card and it's thirty three, and it's like,
Speaker 1: how did he actually do that? But then, just one
Speaker 1: quick note about ram All and tell me if this
Speaker 1: is not correct. I think he and Phil share the
Speaker 1: same agent or manager and Steve Bloyd? Is that correct? So? Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: And and he's been a voice for moderation about live
Speaker 1: that the live players should get world ranking points. I
Speaker 1: think all three of us agree with that. And now
Speaker 1: he's got He's always had a platform in the game.
Speaker 1: Now he has even more of one. And it's not
Speaker 1: good for golfers to be there's enough real war. It's
Speaker 1: not good for golfers to be at war with each other.
Speaker 1: So maybe with his win and with the prominence that
Speaker 1: it brings, maybe he can be even more of a
Speaker 1: voice of reason and be some sort of mediator. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what all said. I saw a tweet was I
Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to really dig into but that
Speaker 1: you know, Brooks Capital will get his full Ryder Cup
Speaker 1: points from the in That was from a PG of
Speaker 1: America's spokesman in their standings, and you know, it's a
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup year. It's hard. He will get his full points. Yes,
Speaker 1: in the way that the PGA of America calculates it.
Speaker 1: He will. Now, the question is you have to be
Speaker 1: as as the PJA has said, you have to be
Speaker 1: a member of the PGA of America to play on
Speaker 1: the Ryder Cup team. And if you're a member of
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour, you automatically become a member of the
Speaker 1: PGA of America. That's how you get onto the team. Now,
Speaker 1: of course there's many other ways that they could grant
Speaker 1: somebody membership. But you know, all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about this Ryder Cup team, you figured
Speaker 1: out Dustin is not in it, Brooks is not in it,
Speaker 1: feels not in it. But if if as you say, Michael,
Speaker 1: there's just there's larger reapproachment and some of these things
Speaker 1: get finassed somehow. Uh, you know, they all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: those are those are three heavyweight personalities and players who
Speaker 1: might somehow be in the mix where they weren't a
Speaker 1: week ago. So it's um, well, we'll have to investigate
Speaker 1: a little further how the PGA is going to handle
Speaker 1: all this because it's now the points start getting real
Speaker 1: when you get to the major championship season. So, as always,
Speaker 1: there are a million subplots in professional golf right now.
Speaker 1: But the big story today John wrong incredible victory, commanding
Speaker 1: victory really one by four shots, and some ways it
Speaker 1: felt like more than that. He was in total control
Speaker 1: of this tournament pretty much all of Sundays, So all
Speaker 1: credits the new Master's Champion, Jeff is great. Team you
Speaker 1: under the tree here Augusta. That we've got to podcast again, Michael.
Speaker 1: As always, it's a pleasure. We will keep doing these
Speaker 1: fire drills. Thanks for listening, and now it's on to
Speaker 1: the PJ Championship. That flip the calendar pretty quick. We
Speaker 1: get it. We get another major here in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: So that's it for this podcast. We'll be back at
Speaker 1: it again soon. Thanks. That's the end. Big played the win,
Speaker 1: made a fortune, whip game. I ran the table, never
Speaker 1: thought I could fall, then win and hit me like
Speaker 1: a cannon the ball And now I can't shake this
Speaker 1: losing the stream. Every road I take is a dead
Speaker 1: end stream. I got thoughts in my head, can't get
Speaker 1: them out, Trying not to think what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: I got thoughts in my head, I can't get them out.
Speaker 1: Trying not to think what I'm thinking about,