Speaker 1: The biggest moment had a legendary career, Fell defeats Father Time.
Speaker 1: Put another log fi, nobody here is getting time. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the fire pit with Matt Channella. What a blur,
Speaker 1: a dream, a Hollywood script, complete with the hero and
Speaker 1: the villain. It was golf's Roman Colosseum. But the one
Speaker 1: with the thumbs wasn't the assembled masses. It was Phil Nicholson.
Speaker 1: Phil Nicholson arriving till Land Golf Resort and gets in
Speaker 1: his coach thinks what I read about to take a
Speaker 1: close to be? Were those these twenty seven teams would
Speaker 1: be such a special for those two. Nicholson hadn't had
Speaker 1: a top twenty since August, and yet started the day
Speaker 1: in the final pairing. My gracious, that was his fifty
Speaker 1: ft bunker shot at the fifth for birdie and he's
Speaker 1: gonna like this smoked. And that was his sixty six
Speaker 1: yard t shot in the par five, which all but
Speaker 1: sealed the wind. Biggest moment of the legendary career. Fell
Speaker 1: defeats Father Time his sixth major championship, and we're all
Speaker 1: left in disbelief, looking fit, walking slowly, wearing sunglasses, chewing gum, smirking,
Speaker 1: smiling and engaging throughout the Hall of Famer, made history
Speaker 1: as the oldest on the longest hoist. Now want to
Speaker 1: make a trophy for the second time in your career,
Speaker 1: Phil Mickelson. You have earned it. Jim. It's gonna take
Speaker 1: some time for a lot of people to have this
Speaker 1: one sink in. Well, it has sunk in by now.
Speaker 1: Phil's career and legacy gets a turbo boost into the
Speaker 1: top ten of all time. Meanwhile, golf, in the midst
Speaker 1: of a heater of its own, was dealt yet another
Speaker 1: straight flush. What was the biggest bomb in the most
Speaker 1: hellacious seed? You hit that way? Um, well, this is
Speaker 1: the longest golf course ever played in major championship. The
Speaker 1: only way you can play well, here's if you hit
Speaker 1: bombs and brandle. Before we get to the podcast, I
Speaker 1: just want to thank our sponsor, Link Soul for leading
Speaker 1: a lifestyle brand by example. Here's Jeff Cunningham, who founded
Speaker 1: Links Soul with his uncle John Ashworth. I always look
Speaker 1: at it like Minksol existed, you know, throughout time, a
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Speaker 1: club smiths and golf rounds and everything, and the soul
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Speaker 1: next purchase. So it was Sunday night, and like the
Speaker 1: rest of you, the fire Pit Collective was trying to
Speaker 1: process the situation social media, ESPN and Golf Channel. We're
Speaker 1: all having a victory lap while we were chasing down
Speaker 1: Alan Schipnuk our man on the ground who had just
Speaker 1: filed his game story for golf Digest dot com. Las Verscias,
Speaker 1: the newest member of the collective whose backstory was just
Speaker 1: published on our website, joined us at this pit for
Speaker 1: a recap of what took place at Keya was ocean
Speaker 1: course plane of the p g A Championship. What was
Speaker 1: it like to be there? It was electric, you know,
Speaker 1: it was just a phenomenal atmosphere. I think, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: these are the best crowds of the covid Era at
Speaker 1: a golf tournament, and there was a feeling in the
Speaker 1: air like everyone was just almost a giddy just to
Speaker 1: beat a sporting event around people, a big time events.
Speaker 1: I mean, golf missed this atmosphere. The last four majors
Speaker 1: either had no or limited fans and it was just flat.
Speaker 1: And the crowds brought so much energy, even starting on Thursday,
Speaker 1: and then it just built and built. With Phil as
Speaker 1: we all know, he's the people's favorite, he has been
Speaker 1: for a long time. And then he had you know,
Speaker 1: the Brooks pairing was perfect because Brooks wants to be
Speaker 1: this anti hero and he wants to be the bad guy.
Speaker 1: And he struts up to the first he like a
Speaker 1: big swinging dick and he's just he's you could feel
Speaker 1: that that energy, whereas Phil he looked jumpy, he looked tense.
Speaker 1: You know, he's working that gum and he's hiding buying
Speaker 1: the sunglasses and uh. And of course the first hole,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the worst case scenario. Film makes a
Speaker 1: soft bogey. Brooks berries the birdie put two shot, swing
Speaker 1: fills out of the lead. It's like here we go.
Speaker 1: And then I mean the first the first five holes
Speaker 1: were an opera, you know, with the filmmaking mistakes. Looked
Speaker 1: like he's gonna play himself out of it. Jars that
Speaker 1: incredible sandshot in the fifth hole to get back in
Speaker 1: the fight, Brooks looks rattled. It just there was no
Speaker 1: easing into this as a spectator. He just these guys
Speaker 1: hit the ground and going a thousand miles an hour
Speaker 1: and it was just relentless action and everyone sort of
Speaker 1: fell away and it looked like it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: coronation for Phil. Then it got tense again and he
Speaker 1: started making bogies and just as you said it was
Speaker 1: there was there was never a sense you could really exhale.
Speaker 1: You know, he kind of had the bag on eighteen
Speaker 1: until all of a sudden he got you know, in
Speaker 1: the middle of a you know, it was like the
Speaker 1: running of the bulls at Pamplona, and it was you know,
Speaker 1: getting jostled around and that dude comes in for selfie.
Speaker 1: He throws them off. Like it was just up until
Speaker 1: Phil stroked out birdie on the pl you never knew
Speaker 1: what was gonna happen. Like I was, I was waiting
Speaker 1: for a you know, TV Tower to fall over jungle
Speaker 1: Bird from Olympic to show up like it was just
Speaker 1: a sense of anarchy out there was delicious and it
Speaker 1: was fun and it was emotional, and it was just
Speaker 1: just an unforgettable tournament. The crowds, in fact breached security,
Speaker 1: leaving Kepta claiming his bad knee got quote dinged. It
Speaker 1: was bad enough for Seth Wat, the p G as CEO,
Speaker 1: to issue an apology to the players, and it had
Speaker 1: to be Phil, Like who better too, Who better to
Speaker 1: bring back the masses to golf than, as you put it,
Speaker 1: at the people's champion. You know, if Dustin Johnson was
Speaker 1: the perfect champion for a patron less Augusta. Frankly, Phil
Speaker 1: Nicholson kind of had to be the guy to bring
Speaker 1: back the masses of fans and like almost this ticker
Speaker 1: tape like scene kind of coming behind him up on
Speaker 1: eighteen you included Alan, but like very symbolic that he
Speaker 1: was carrying that crowd with him. A million thumbs up
Speaker 1: after a million more thumbs thumbs up, and it felt
Speaker 1: like watching from home, Um, every heart in South Carolina
Speaker 1: was beating for him, pulling for him to pull this off,
Speaker 1: to the point where if he did hit something into
Speaker 1: a crowd, you kind of half expected it to get
Speaker 1: thrown out into a good position, which I'm not so
Speaker 1: shure didn't happen at one point. But it was incredible
Speaker 1: and also so poetic that it was Phil Nicholson kind
Speaker 1: of playing unlike Phil Nicholson that we know, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean that was yeah, that was that was part
Speaker 1: of the emotion that was baked into it. It's just
Speaker 1: it's the most stressful golf course imaginable. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just visually intimidating. There there are trap doors and bananappeals everywhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, with that that swing that film made on
Speaker 1: Saturday kind of just flipped the tournament. You know, he
Speaker 1: was cruising and all of a sudden that was the
Speaker 1: dreaded big miss that he brought everyone back into it.
Speaker 1: And you know he fought hard coming home to to
Speaker 1: hang in there and avoid any bogies, but you know,
Speaker 1: made of some loose swings after that. You could see
Speaker 1: that zapped his confidence and it just let it just
Speaker 1: there was this dread that was inside of a golf
Speaker 1: fan because, as he alluded to math, just you know,
Speaker 1: Phil has always been a high wire act. Even the
Speaker 1: best of times, and uh, you know he did. He
Speaker 1: was definitely performing without a net out there on the
Speaker 1: Ocean Course because every every bad swing, you know, trouble
Speaker 1: just lurked. And that just added to the to the
Speaker 1: tension of the whole thing. You know, Harding Park, you
Speaker 1: can hit foul balls and you're still in play. Augusta National,
Speaker 1: you can, you can, you can play your misses wingfoot say,
Speaker 1: and you go, You're gonna get down the list of
Speaker 1: championship courses that there's a penalty for missing the ferry,
Speaker 1: but it's not you know, near death experience like at
Speaker 1: the Ocean Course. So that Phil pulled it out on
Speaker 1: this venue of all venues, just added to the drama
Speaker 1: and the sense of disbelief. Crazy to think that. On
Speaker 1: May eleven, Phil tweeted, quote, I've failed many times in
Speaker 1: my life and career, and because of this, I've learned
Speaker 1: a lot. Instead of feeling defeated, countless times, I've used
Speaker 1: it as fuel to drive me to work harder. So today,
Speaker 1: join me in accepting our failures. Let's use them to
Speaker 1: motivate us to work even harder. End quote. That tweet
Speaker 1: was less than two weeks before this win and three
Speaker 1: weeks before his next birthday. Yeah, to do it at
Speaker 1: age fifty, Like, I can't think of another analogy in
Speaker 1: sports where somebody's pulled something like this off. And I've
Speaker 1: been trying to come up with something, and this is
Speaker 1: pretty surreal. I mean, it's it's hard to imagine that
Speaker 1: Phil Nicholson has been at the front ranks of the
Speaker 1: sport for thirty years straight, if not longer. I mean
Speaker 1: even when you go back to his Amazur career's thirty
Speaker 1: five years. He's win USG events, he's winning in c
Speaker 1: l as, he's winning on the PGA Tours and undergraduate
Speaker 1: and everything that's followed. I mean, for sure there was
Speaker 1: a little dip in form two thousand seventeen and two
Speaker 1: thousand and twenty, but he was, you know, if he
Speaker 1: had a couple of top three finishes in the lot
Speaker 1: a year and a half, you know, w g C
Speaker 1: in Memphis and at Pebble Beach, and in some ways
Speaker 1: he's bigger than ever with this how he's embraced social
Speaker 1: media and become kind of this goofball, like the corny
Speaker 1: dad jokes, and he's just he's never gone away. And
Speaker 1: you know it's I think The only thing that's comfortable
Speaker 1: is maybe Tom Brady, who's he's not gonna be doing
Speaker 1: it at fifty, but as long as he's lasted um
Speaker 1: in obviously a sport that's more physically demanding than golf.
Speaker 1: But the longevity of Phil is truly incredible. I mean
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholas obviously had the greatest career of all time,
Speaker 1: but you know, he was basically had a quarter century
Speaker 1: and then he faded away. I mean, Phil's outlasted Jack
Speaker 1: from just the standpoint of start to finish. When when
Speaker 1: you're a relevant contender, it's mind boggling. And he's not
Speaker 1: done yet. I mean, now he's probably played his way
Speaker 1: under the Ryder Cup. He's uh, you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: going to Torrey Pines for the US so Open to
Speaker 1: try and get that a loosive national championship on the
Speaker 1: course he grew up on in his hometown. He's always
Speaker 1: gonna be dangerous at Augusta. Like it just keeps going,
Speaker 1: Like just when you thought that we were done with Phil,
Speaker 1: Like you've got five more years of fill in front
Speaker 1: of us, and I don't thin anybody's could play. And
Speaker 1: he brings so much energy and star power to the
Speaker 1: whole thing. To me, he's and he's become the top
Speaker 1: you know, top ten greatest golfers of all time. And
Speaker 1: it came out of it was out of nowhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that that's the amazing thing is he hadn't
Speaker 1: even contended the Major since two thousand and sixteen when
Speaker 1: he lost the duel in the in the fog. Then
Speaker 1: your extensive. But you know this this felt a lot
Speaker 1: like the two thousand and nineteen Masters, where everything fell
Speaker 1: into place, you know, and the right guy won. After
Speaker 1: after Tom Watson had his you know, had his heart
Speaker 1: crushed at Turnberry, you had to question how benevolent the
Speaker 1: golf guard gods really are. But just as Tiger in
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, Phil, today, all the contenders retreated. I mean,
Speaker 1: no one ever made a run. It feel it just
Speaker 1: like Noer made run a Tiger and gave him space
Speaker 1: to kind of treadwater and to go backwards and forwards.
Speaker 1: And I mean, really, the last twenty seven holes of
Speaker 1: this golf tournament fills just hanging on and in some ways,
Speaker 1: you know, you need an element of luck to win
Speaker 1: these things, and you got lucky that Brooks didn't have
Speaker 1: his best stuff that Louis, you know, shrink from the
Speaker 1: moment that you know, nobody, nobody on the leaderboard did
Speaker 1: anything of note. I mean son m was at four
Speaker 1: under and he disappeared. Uh Patrick Cantlahannah run, He fell
Speaker 1: back like all these guys who could have spoiled the
Speaker 1: party just went away and it was just really as
Speaker 1: the sense that it was meant to be. And I
Speaker 1: mean apart from Watson, which was heartbreaking. Like we'll remember,
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand and eight that Greg
Speaker 1: Norman almost won the British Up but also though had
Speaker 1: the fifty four the lead and then couldn't really control
Speaker 1: of this golf ball and I think Harrington came snuck
Speaker 1: up and winted on him, which you know, Harrington played
Speaker 1: great this week too, which was great to see. But
Speaker 1: um man, he was in control of that golf ball
Speaker 1: all throughout the day and it was it was something
Speaker 1: to watch. Tom Watson tweeted at Nicholson quote, congrats Phil
Speaker 1: you old man, well done. The fact is that old
Speaker 1: dog had new tricks. In two thousand six he panicked
Speaker 1: and rushed his way to a collapse at Wingfoot. The
Speaker 1: film we saw on this past Sunday slow, and he
Speaker 1: savored every step. Don't you feel like just his whole
Speaker 1: gate and the whole flow of how the day on
Speaker 1: unraveled was so unfeeled, Like, yeah, I was. I was
Speaker 1: standing out in the eighth fairway at Wingfoot, and I
Speaker 1: never forget the way Phil and Bones marched up to
Speaker 1: find that errand drive and how quickly they played the
Speaker 1: second shot, and they felt like this momentum and just
Speaker 1: things were happening and they were powerless to stop it.
Speaker 1: And it's really vivid in my in my in my
Speaker 1: mind's eye. And as you said, you know Phil doing
Speaker 1: his visualization. You know, we talked so much about he
Speaker 1: had to see the shot, and that was part of
Speaker 1: his problem Saturday. You know, late afternoons he lost that
Speaker 1: that clarity and he would just stand there and there
Speaker 1: was a stillness about him and meditative quality. And I
Speaker 1: think that helped his his breathing, it helped us bio rhythms,
Speaker 1: and it certainly helped him execute the shots. And you know,
Speaker 1: they were playing slower, They were a hole behind a
Speaker 1: lot of the time. But I think Phil's crafty enough
Speaker 1: to know there was no chance in hell they were
Speaker 1: gonna get the slow slow play penalty. It just was
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. There could have been three holes mine PJ.
Speaker 1: America is not going to ruin the storybook ending by
Speaker 1: giving it Phil Nicholson a slow play penalty, like and
Speaker 1: that that's a crafty move, you know, like Brooks. Brooks
Speaker 1: is a fast player and he's Auntie out there and
Speaker 1: Phil just took a sweet time. I mean, we all
Speaker 1: can agree that that slow play in general is kind
Speaker 1: of a scourge of the game. But in this scenario,
Speaker 1: Phil was going to do his thing and nothing was
Speaker 1: gonna stop him. And it was kind of like a
Speaker 1: picture out there controlling the pace of the game, walking
Speaker 1: around the mound and um, you know, working the red
Speaker 1: of the rosin bag and all that. And I Phil
Speaker 1: have that that sense of like I'm going to control
Speaker 1: this whole thing. I'm gonna slow it down until I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. And I'm sure Joe Brooks a little crazy,
Speaker 1: but Phil don't care. I mean, he did what he
Speaker 1: had to do. It could be the evolution of Phil, right,
Speaker 1: like we we see people and we see the great evolved.
Speaker 1: Whether you're talking about Jordan's developing the step followay jumper
Speaker 1: late in his career to kind of extend, you know,
Speaker 1: to to take some burden off of his body and
Speaker 1: the beatings he would get. He develops the follow way jumper. Right.
Speaker 1: So now Phil employees um meditation, right, and you see
Speaker 1: him using some of these principles and the breathing before
Speaker 1: he hits putts and the pace with which he walks
Speaker 1: like he's not gonna go into He's too smart to
Speaker 1: go into this and be like, all right, Brooks Kepca,
Speaker 1: let's go Hagler Herns meet in the middle of the
Speaker 1: ring and slug it out. Why would he do that
Speaker 1: with the maybe the biggest puncher in the game. How
Speaker 1: about I'm gonna play my game here, control the golf ball.
Speaker 1: I'm going to play a very cerebral round around this
Speaker 1: golf course and at a certain cadence and not make
Speaker 1: it into some kind of you know, slug best with Brooks.
Speaker 1: And he did what he had to do, and it
Speaker 1: was beautiful to watch. And he's probably fitter than he's
Speaker 1: been in five years. He's mentally fitter than maybe he's
Speaker 1: ever been in his life. He's probably at a place
Speaker 1: of peace internally where like to your point, Matt earlier,
Speaker 1: are we looking at one of the top ten players
Speaker 1: of all time. I mean, he's not done writing this story.
Speaker 1: I think there's more to come and and I think
Speaker 1: he's also going to inspire other people to do things
Speaker 1: differently in their careers and in their lives. Like I
Speaker 1: loved that moment when you know Herring he's walking to
Speaker 1: the scores tent and players are walking up to congratulate him,
Speaker 1: and John Ron Bram says, I'm so proud of you
Speaker 1: and you know, a way to go, Phil, And it's
Speaker 1: it's the younger players, And all of a sudden he
Speaker 1: has this moment with Patrick Harrington, two guys that have
Speaker 1: been through a lot, you know, and and and won
Speaker 1: a lot of titles, a lot of majors, And I
Speaker 1: would have loved to have heard the words they shared
Speaker 1: right there. Um. I think this is a really important
Speaker 1: win in the history of the game, not just for
Speaker 1: Phil but for our generation of players that you know,
Speaker 1: I mean Streelman out there trying to get things done
Speaker 1: and it was great to watch and I'm excited for him. Well,
Speaker 1: to go back to your analogy of the Jordan the
Speaker 1: fadeaway jumper, the differences, like Phil is now ding the
Speaker 1: Gulf equivalent of a three sixty dunk in traffic. The
Speaker 1: way he's added length and explosiveness to his game, I mean,
Speaker 1: it seemed a little silly his obsession with the long
Speaker 1: ball the last few years, but all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he comes to the Ocean Course, which is the longest
Speaker 1: Major Championship venue ever, and he overpowered it in a
Speaker 1: lot of place. Is I mean, look at the sixteenth
Speaker 1: hole today, which was really do or diet for Phil.
Speaker 1: You know, its leads down to two. He's coming off
Speaker 1: some bogies and he matches a three D sixty six
Speaker 1: yard drive which is the longest of the day on
Speaker 1: that whole sets him up for the birdie that really
Speaker 1: slammed the door. And so uh, he's as you know,
Speaker 1: as you point out lads, that he does have this
Speaker 1: this mental game that seems like like a new bag
Speaker 1: of tricks for him. And he talked about how swing
Speaker 1: is more solid and repeatable than it's ever been. Work
Speaker 1: with Andrew gets in. But this explosiveness that Phil has
Speaker 1: added after turning fifty, I mean it's aspirational, like you
Speaker 1: know the I mean Matt Janelle has turned fifty this year,
Speaker 1: Like it's you know, it's not too far behind for
Speaker 1: the rest of us. Like, how cool is it to
Speaker 1: think that you know, your best could be in front
Speaker 1: of you at anything. Feels always been long, feels always
Speaker 1: been long. Yeah, no doubt, I mean that was for sure.
Speaker 1: But he he was starting to lose that. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was becoming the middle of the pack three or
Speaker 1: four years ago and now he's back to being long
Speaker 1: fifty years old. I mean, it's it's an it's an
Speaker 1: incredible achievement. And you know, he had a funny line
Speaker 1: and talking about you know what great physical shape he's
Speaker 1: in is like someone asked, you know, what did you
Speaker 1: have to do? What do you have to sacrifice? He said, food.
Speaker 1: The guy is a prolific eater. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: stories out there, and you know, Tiger used to love
Speaker 1: to make fun of Phil's body, and I've heard some
Speaker 1: some classic tales of how much the guy could eat,
Speaker 1: you know, ten in and out burgers at the time
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And it's a real sacrifice that
Speaker 1: that he's made mind, body and soul to put him
Speaker 1: in position to win this golf tournament. You have to
Speaker 1: tip your cap to a guy who he's got all
Speaker 1: the money he's ever gonna need. Presumably he's already the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. But to pay that price and to
Speaker 1: sacrifice and give up so much, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: damn impressive. Justin Thomas tweeted, quote, Golf's insane. It's just
Speaker 1: hitting me. The golf ball has no recollection of how
Speaker 1: old you are, and players can compete at any age.
Speaker 1: You just have to work and be willing to sacrifice
Speaker 1: things others aren't. One day it's great, the next day
Speaker 1: it's awful. What a sport I decided to play. I'm
Speaker 1: just as inspired by his drive to stay relevant as
Speaker 1: I am his you know, his success, I mean his
Speaker 1: I just think that he is so accustomed to be
Speaker 1: This is, you know, decades now of being in the spotlight.
Speaker 1: And Phil is you know not some guys are not
Speaker 1: good at being in the spotlight, Like Tiger Woods is
Speaker 1: not good at being in spotlight. Uh, Phil is very
Speaker 1: good at being you know, Jack wasn't great at being
Speaker 1: in spotlight, certainly not early on. Um and Phil, Arnie,
Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali, these guys they they they they they live
Speaker 1: for it, and I think that's a big that's a
Speaker 1: big motivating factor to fill to do what he needs
Speaker 1: to do so that he's not just another name you
Speaker 1: know that starts a tournament. He's a guy who's you know,
Speaker 1: in contention at the end of the tournament. And uh.
Speaker 1: He lives for the you know, the camaraderie, the banter,
Speaker 1: the competition, you know, the fight, and it most often
Speaker 1: brings out the best in him. And he got he
Speaker 1: got close, has gotten close a couple of times. And
Speaker 1: he said, you know that some good golf was coming.
Speaker 1: And as we know, if for four days on any
Speaker 1: given week, a guy can you know, a guy can
Speaker 1: win a golf tournament. It's just that he's done it
Speaker 1: a lot more than most. And uh, and he did
Speaker 1: it again this week at one of the longest, at
Speaker 1: the longest, at one of the toughest, in bad conditions
Speaker 1: against one of the you know, one of the true
Speaker 1: villains of the modern game. At a crowd coming out
Speaker 1: of COVID, it was, I mean, this is this is insanity. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you get you've got on something math that's important about
Speaker 1: Phil and behind the seventy second agree. I'm stand next
Speaker 1: to John rom and it feels looking over this putt
Speaker 1: for Birdie, he really doesn't need. Obviously he's got a
Speaker 1: two stroke lead, and Rob says, if I know one
Speaker 1: thing about Phil, he really wants to make this putt.
Speaker 1: And it was just a cute little moment that that
Speaker 1: was also instructive. I mean, Phil is a showman and
Speaker 1: he thrives off the energy of the crowd and he
Speaker 1: loves the bright lights. And that's part of what's kept
Speaker 1: in going. You know, as you said, for Tiger, all
Speaker 1: that was a burden. You know, Tiger would have loved
Speaker 1: to have played in a vacuum, whereas it feels the opposite.
Speaker 1: He he's energized and he he really is a ham
Speaker 1: and obviously it's hurt him a few times. He's taken
Speaker 1: on some crazy shots and and they've they've blown up.
Speaker 1: But I think that's what keeps him engaged is and
Speaker 1: he just wants to show off. He wants to do
Speaker 1: things to make people go wow. And that's part of
Speaker 1: it gets about of Bed, that's what keeps coming back
Speaker 1: year after year, and all these guys who burn out
Speaker 1: and fade away, and I like, take take King Louis right,
Speaker 1: who's we all know is it has this incredible golf game,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't want that smoke. I think the last
Speaker 1: thing he wants to do is win a major championship
Speaker 1: with all the hassle and all the attention, and you know, saying,
Speaker 1: like Freddie Couples, there's a million guys who have his
Speaker 1: as much physical talent as Phil, but they don't live
Speaker 1: for it like he does, and that that's really a
Speaker 1: defining factor in in a sport where you have no
Speaker 1: teammates and you cannot hide and you're all alone between
Speaker 1: the ropes and uh, you know Phil, just the way
Speaker 1: I mean, I was out there four days falling and
Speaker 1: you know I would falling Tiger for a million majors
Speaker 1: when the crowd was in such a frenzy, but Tiger
Speaker 1: diminished it because he had that thousand yards stare. He
Speaker 1: didn't interact with the fans and he didn't engage with them,
Speaker 1: and that that kind of mellowed things out. But Phil smiling,
Speaker 1: he's laughing, he's the thumbs up. People are making comments,
Speaker 1: and he's kind of given a little a little nod,
Speaker 1: you know, the bro nod and um, and that just
Speaker 1: winds him up more because they feel seen and heard
Speaker 1: and validated. But that's a choice that Phil makes, like
Speaker 1: he wants to keep it going. He needs that connection.
Speaker 1: It's almost a visceral for him, and almost every other
Speaker 1: player you can think of is the opposite. They don't
Speaker 1: want their space invaded. They'd rather play in a bubble.
Speaker 1: And it gives Phil a huge advantage coming down the
Speaker 1: stretch of these tournaments when uh, you know, everyone's overserved
Speaker 1: and sun baked and and the energy is getting a
Speaker 1: little frenetic. But he can handle it and he can
Speaker 1: channel it, and I think other guys it puts him
Speaker 1: out of the comfort zone. But Watson tweeted, Yep, you're
Speaker 1: still the best lefty in the game. Congrats. You two
Speaker 1: grew up here. Do you remember him from his kids.
Speaker 1: I didn't hear about feel until he got to college,
Speaker 1: and I remember John Garretty wrote him up in Sports Illustrated,
Speaker 1: and that was way before I was part of the magazine,
Speaker 1: and in fact I was. I was talking to Aaron
Speaker 1: Oberholzer about Phil and he said, yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: heard this little buzz about this guy, and I drove
Speaker 1: to to Stanford to watch him play a tournament and
Speaker 1: because I was just curious, and you know you it
Speaker 1: was just driving range talk like that's all that existed
Speaker 1: back then. You know, it's hard to imagine a life
Speaker 1: before the Internet, but you know, it feels old enough
Speaker 1: that he bringed that gap. And so he whereas you know, Tiger,
Speaker 1: he won his first US Amateur the same year the
Speaker 1: Golf Channel launched, and so Tiger has been exhaustively covered
Speaker 1: his entire life. But Phil got to ease into it
Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, all through junior golf and
Speaker 1: even the start of his college career. And so there's
Speaker 1: a little fundamental difference. And h and how they the
Speaker 1: relationship they had with the Spotlight. But yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: know about Phil until you got the Arizona State. But
Speaker 1: had you heard any rumblings, Matt, No, I mean I'm
Speaker 1: much the same I you know, I covered my sports
Speaker 1: through Sports Illustrated and ESPN, you know, uh and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in college I definitely knew. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I was Fred Couple's guy. I was Ashworth guy. I
Speaker 1: was you know, and I remember, you know, I remember
Speaker 1: Phil with the collars up, and I remember him, you know,
Speaker 1: being a you know, a notable sports figure before I
Speaker 1: got to Sports Illustrated, which was and then once I
Speaker 1: got to Sports Illustrated, it was. You know, I got
Speaker 1: really hyper focused on the game of golf and started
Speaker 1: as the photo editor the same week that Tiger started
Speaker 1: as a pro. And so I mean that ninety six
Speaker 1: I started, you know, learning a lot, you know, very
Speaker 1: quickly about Phil and all that was happening. But I
Speaker 1: just I just think that, um, I just think this
Speaker 1: is crazy. This has been such a gift. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Beach, I said, what did we possibly you know,
Speaker 1: do to deserve Tiger in a at Augusta and Phil
Speaker 1: now winning another major? And you know, for me and
Speaker 1: my generation to think that we got to witness uh,
Speaker 1: not only Tiger but Phil and this this idea of
Speaker 1: Tiger and Phil. I mean Phil early on became the
Speaker 1: anti Tiger. Tiger was cheap, Phil over tipped. Tiger wouldn't
Speaker 1: talk to the press. Phil would give give him an
Speaker 1: hour and a half. You know, uh this, you know,
Speaker 1: Tiger shot away from the media. Phil embraced it. Tiger
Speaker 1: was right, he Phil was lefty. I mean, the whole
Speaker 1: thing was has been genius. This has been a it
Speaker 1: just seemingly master plan by a guy who, uh is
Speaker 1: is so aware of everything was you know, He's become
Speaker 1: a cartoon character quite frankly, so today it really felt
Speaker 1: like we were watching like a Marvel comics come to life.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was like, oh my god, it's like
Speaker 1: Iron Man. I mean, he's he's flying around and doing things,
Speaker 1: you know, in a suit. It was I was like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I still right now, I can't believe that
Speaker 1: this actually happened. Tiger Woods tweeted, truly inspirational to see
Speaker 1: Phil do it again at fifty years of age. Congrats
Speaker 1: six exclamation points. My little guys too young to really
Speaker 1: process what took place because he's for But how many
Speaker 1: kids talk about grow the game and we can talk
Speaker 1: blue in our face about first Tea and p G,
Speaker 1: junior leagues and youth on course and you know, drive
Speaker 1: Chip and Pott. But you know, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, now, the two greatest growth game initiatives in
Speaker 1: my generation are Tiger Woods and Phil Nicholson. And Phil
Speaker 1: just put another supercharge into a game that's already flying
Speaker 1: on high. Yeah. Well, when you when you talk about
Speaker 1: the Tiger Phil duo, an important distinction is, you know,
Speaker 1: Tiger's introvert and fills an extrovert and a lot of
Speaker 1: flows from that, and Tiger felt like all he had
Speaker 1: to give the fans was his best and that's all
Speaker 1: he owed them. And and Phil has always taken it.
Speaker 1: You know. Arnold Palmer was his role model that you
Speaker 1: have to give something back and you have to um,
Speaker 1: you know that you are working for the fans, and
Speaker 1: so what when there's there's a story from early in
Speaker 1: his career where Phil sign autographs and his his PR
Speaker 1: guy Um t r Hinman, who was then just a reporter,
Speaker 1: is like, um, He's like, Phil, what are you doing? Man,
Speaker 1: Like get out of the rain. You know. I was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm working here. You know that. That's how he looked
Speaker 1: at it, like he was going to give his hour
Speaker 1: a day to sign autographs. And there's some people may
Speaker 1: think it's phony or calculated, but the bob line is,
Speaker 1: you know he was giving people what they crave that
Speaker 1: you could never get from Tiger, that just that little
Speaker 1: bit of of something and um, so yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you could really feel it today like Tiger will always
Speaker 1: be revered, but Phil is beloved, and it's just different.
Speaker 1: There's just there's just a fundamental difference between the two
Speaker 1: of them, and um, there was just a sense of
Speaker 1: joy out there, you know, what the Masters with the
Speaker 1: Tiger one of nineteen was was Catharsis like kind of
Speaker 1: people needed it. We needed to put a bow on
Speaker 1: everything that Tiger had been through, from the sex scandal
Speaker 1: to the d U I UM and they just there
Speaker 1: needed to be complete that ark and I think there
Speaker 1: was a sense of relief that he did it. And
Speaker 1: with Phil it was it was just it was giddiness
Speaker 1: and they just they just inspired different emotions and that's okay.
Speaker 1: I mean there are different characters and that they give
Speaker 1: us different things, but you could feel a love that
Speaker 1: that surrounds Phil and it was palpable. Ian Poulter tweeted
Speaker 1: major respect age is just a number. I remember being
Speaker 1: about fourteen the first time I heard his name. There
Speaker 1: was a playoff to go to what was then called
Speaker 1: the Optimist Junior World Tournament, and it was that Rich
Speaker 1: Acres golf course right by it's literally under like one
Speaker 1: of the runways at Minneapolis Airport now. But the kid
Speaker 1: that one said to a kid that lost, like, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's this kid there named Phil Nicholson. He's really good.
Speaker 1: And then there's the South African kid that's built like
Speaker 1: a dad. Like those two guys kind of kick everybody's ass.
Speaker 1: And of course it was Phil and Ernie else and
Speaker 1: so I remember kind of this, you know, and you
Speaker 1: would see, you know, things in the newspaper about the
Speaker 1: junior world. And then I remember him in college and
Speaker 1: I remember him winning, you know, and and it was
Speaker 1: just amazing to me. And he then kind of became
Speaker 1: the showman like loved himself, loved being Phil, loved the
Speaker 1: pop collar, the frat boy hair, the Jick Janis bag
Speaker 1: was sweet, I will say that. Um, then he kind
Speaker 1: of fulfilled, you know. Then you had heartbreak Phil Right,
Speaker 1: Payne Stewart makes the ft or at Pinehurst, David Tom's Jars,
Speaker 1: a hole in one at Atlanta Athletic Club, denying Phil
Speaker 1: of these titles that everyone wanted him to win even
Speaker 1: back then. You know. Then we get to that run
Speaker 1: of Winds kind of in the early two thousands, and Matt,
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I think he knew he
Speaker 1: was gonna win when he woke up today. I think
Speaker 1: he knew he was gonna win. I sensed that he
Speaker 1: had to fight that battle to keep down the hero
Speaker 1: Phil and let the thinking Phil, the breathing fill the
Speaker 1: meditative Phil step forward today in those conditions and get
Speaker 1: it done. I think he knew he could do that,
Speaker 1: and I think he knew he was gonna win. Well,
Speaker 1: it's possible, I think. I think the other thing is
Speaker 1: is I think these tools he worked on to his credit,
Speaker 1: physical shape, mental shape, you know, going through a routine,
Speaker 1: because it was very different than than what we've seen
Speaker 1: of his past. This was a different This is a
Speaker 1: different guy today and and you've got to give him
Speaker 1: a lot of credit for you know, the self evolution
Speaker 1: and to get him to a place where he could
Speaker 1: do what he did today. Even those sunglasses he's wearing,
Speaker 1: and I use this line in my story, but it's
Speaker 1: a little bit like you know, hiding behind the tinted
Speaker 1: windows of a limbousine, like there's it just creates a
Speaker 1: barrier between him and the fans. And even though as
Speaker 1: we're talking about earlier, there's that connection, I think it
Speaker 1: just gave him a little shield where it helped them focus.
Speaker 1: And you know, the tools that you're talking about run
Speaker 1: really deep. I mean, people don't know this about Phil
Speaker 1: but he's really into numerology and astrology. And I think,
Speaker 1: as you saying, like he he felt it was in
Speaker 1: the stars for him to do this at some point,
Speaker 1: I think that that was sort of his guiding light
Speaker 1: and in some ways like he felt it had to happen,
Speaker 1: that there was an element of destiny and and he
Speaker 1: fulfilled it. Here. Fantastic golf this week in Tiua. It's
Speaker 1: played great. He didn't make any dumb mistakes, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, the whole key of winning a major championship.
Speaker 1: You played the golf person dangerous as it is, he
Speaker 1: played it very very well. My congratulations to you. And
Speaker 1: you know, there's something something, sir, strikes me that fifty
Speaker 1: years old was older than forty six. Well done, my friend.
Speaker 1: Let's go many more. Good luck. You know, Jack Nicholas
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods, Walter Hagen has eleven majors. Hogan has nine majors,
Speaker 1: Gary Player has nine majors, Watson has eight, Palmer has seven,
Speaker 1: Snead has seven, sarahsn has seven, Bobby Jones has seven,
Speaker 1: Harry Vardon has seven, followed Ope, Michelson and Trevino have six.
Speaker 1: I mean, so top ten players of all time for me.
Speaker 1: You know, God love Harry. Harry Vardon awesome, but feels
Speaker 1: above that. I think feels above Follodo now feels above
Speaker 1: Lee Trevino. So I mean, now you're Sarazan, Sneed, Palmer, Watson, Player, Ogan, Hagen, Woods, Nicholas.
Speaker 1: I mean now for me that he's in the top ten,
Speaker 1: Now that's where he that's where he is, that's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that's where he belonged. Yeah, and tollas his point,
Speaker 1: I mean, Walter Hagen can't taking anything away from that guy.
Speaker 1: What a character or what a player. But you know,
Speaker 1: did you do it for thirty years against stock competition,
Speaker 1: against athletes that were fully optimized from Bobby Jones? Is awesome? Great?
Speaker 1: You know, uh retired at a young age. You know,
Speaker 1: could have done more. But this is the this is
Speaker 1: the modern era of sports golf. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: first Tiger Woods and over the way Bernie Els and
Speaker 1: Fred Couples and Davis Love and Colin you know, I
Speaker 1: mean multiple tours global, you know Seene, I mean, to
Speaker 1: give me a break, he's in. It might be in
Speaker 1: the top five, but like and then you know, then
Speaker 1: like the heartbreak, right like Payne Stewart at Pinehurst, David Toms,
Speaker 1: like the close six second places in US Open, six
Speaker 1: second place, you know that's That's one thing that we
Speaker 1: don't give Nicholas enough credit for that, the number of
Speaker 1: second place finishes he has. But Phil man, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think maybe that is what has endeared him
Speaker 1: so much to people. He's the beautiful loser, right and
Speaker 1: and but he's also the winner. He's the loser and
Speaker 1: the winner does both rights. He's everything we love in
Speaker 1: this country, right. He's the guy that comes so close
Speaker 1: and then finally makes it. And he's a showman, right.
Speaker 1: He's not a robot. He's not the soulless assassin that
Speaker 1: is coming to take you out. He is a sportsman.
Speaker 1: He is a showman. He is the people's champion. He
Speaker 1: is the most gregarious athlete that this sport has seen
Speaker 1: since Arnold Palmer. I would say, oh, by the way
Speaker 1: he's played, He's played on every team event going back
Speaker 1: to how far out, and he might he might be
Speaker 1: a part of this Ryder Cup at Whistling Straights. I
Speaker 1: asked you Stricker that on Friday, you know, is Phil
Speaker 1: you know in under consideration Now he's like, oh jeez,
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I mean, how much weight can
Speaker 1: you put on one week out of five years? But
Speaker 1: as the point Sterricker made is that the Ocean course
Speaker 1: has plays very similar to Whistling Straits and that this
Speaker 1: one week carries a lot of weight and if you
Speaker 1: want guys who can you can handle the heat. I mean,
Speaker 1: of course, the contradiction with Philly. He doesn't have a
Speaker 1: great Ryder Cup record, but he's the heart and soul
Speaker 1: of the American side in a lot of ways. I
Speaker 1: think I don't think Sez Trick has the stones and
Speaker 1: not to pick um. Hopefully he'll use him judiciously, and
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, it's I mean, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know how we wrapped this up other than to say
Speaker 1: that what a great champion and we are lucky to
Speaker 1: be golf fans and chroniclers during the mix sneer because
Speaker 1: he made it fun. He just made it fun with
Speaker 1: more than anything. You brought a certain levity to it.
Speaker 1: And you you know, as Lass was saying, the rarest
Speaker 1: commodity in sports as class, and Phil in victory defeat
Speaker 1: as exuded class. And he's just been He's livens up
Speaker 1: every room he's in and I'm grateful to have had
Speaker 1: him through the thick and the theme of the Tiger,
Speaker 1: and he's still going. I mean, he's just a live wire.
Speaker 1: He's just fun. Uh. That's that's how I think about Phil.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady tweeted, that's my quarterback. LF. Gee, let's fucking
Speaker 1: go to which Phil tweeted, we have some unfinished business.
Speaker 1: Let's get another match and find a pair to give
Speaker 1: a beat down before we get to final thoughts on
Speaker 1: the impact a win like this could have on something
Speaker 1: like the Premier Golf League and or the Super Golf League.
Speaker 1: I just want to say thank you for listening and
Speaker 1: show some appreciation for our partners at part points who
Speaker 1: have developed an app that changes the way we score
Speaker 1: the game. Here's Alan Schipluck on why this app has
Speaker 1: piqued our interest. I mean, when you think about the
Speaker 1: game as long as it's been around, the best thing
Speaker 1: you could come up with as an alternate scoring system
Speaker 1: with a stable for and that's it. I just you know,
Speaker 1: when basketball you can play horse, you can yeah, you
Speaker 1: have three pointers, you have two pointers, you have one pointers,
Speaker 1: like yeah. Like the golf is so static. There's just
Speaker 1: not a lot of different ways to compete. So I
Speaker 1: love the idea of just introducing a new format because
Speaker 1: they're so rare in this sport, download part points and
Speaker 1: go make par It's a good time to be getting old.
Speaker 1: Is it a good time for the Is this? Is
Speaker 1: this a good thing for the PGLZ Now? I think
Speaker 1: this drives a stake through its heart because, like Lee
Speaker 1: Westwood said, yeah, I would do it. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: forty years old and they're gonna offer me this money.
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't make the money anymore realistic. Phil
Speaker 1: just earn himself another quarter billion dollars, you know, with
Speaker 1: all the endorsements and all the ancillary income, like he
Speaker 1: needs Saudi Arabia and and that whole scene less than
Speaker 1: he did two days ago. Like he's gonna make so
Speaker 1: much money off this win, endorsements and everything else. It's like,
Speaker 1: does he want to have to spend twelve or fourteen
Speaker 1: weeks a year in the Middle East? Nah? He's good.
Speaker 1: I mean, um, I think his you know, his, he
Speaker 1: just cemented his place in the marketplace for you know,
Speaker 1: until he until he takes his last breath. So I
Speaker 1: think feels good.