WEBVTT - Richard Bland 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:08.079 It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. We come to 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:13.000 you every Wednesday. This week's guest Richard Bland, playing on 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.800 the Live Tour. Richard longtime European DP World Tour player 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.400 and I can never get used to calling it DP World. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.800 It's the European Tour. But that's where Richard Blyin spent 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.440 the majority of his career and in his late forties. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.560 He's now in his fifties. He made the decision to 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.640 go to Live and he talks about outgoing DP World 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.559 Chairman Commissioner Keith Pelly. Keith Pelly told him, listen, if 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.800 I'm you at your age, I take the deal. He 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.519 talks about it, and listen, Richard's not one of those 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:48.120 guys that got a ton of money. It was just 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:49.920 a decision to where it was like, Okay, this is 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.239 an opportunity, I'm going to take it. He's on the 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:58.920 Cliques Martin Kimer's team, and listen, he's playing really, really, 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.880 really good golf at this stage of his career. And 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.160 I can tell you he kind of used my used 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.760 the Floridian where I teach to kind of spend the 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:14.720 last three weeks. He's coach Tim Barter, who commentates for Sky. 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.039 They came over and I watched this guy grind for 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.640 the last month, and even in his fifties, he's probably 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:23.760 working harder now than he ever has and he wants 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.400 to continue to play well. And I think he's got 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.440 a very very interesting story. And like I said, he's 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.920 not a superstar. He's not someone that got the live bag, 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.759 got all the money. It was a choice that he made. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.440 He talks about it. I've known Richard for a long time. 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.920 I've watched his career and this is a really really 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.959 good podcast, some really candid things that he talks about, 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.720 and something I think you all will listen and enjoy. 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.360 So Richard Bland this week on Son of a Butch. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.440 My guest is a I mean, Richard, you are a 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:05.000 veteran of professional golf. You turn pro in nineteen ninety six, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.640 got onto the European Tour. I think in twenty in 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.359 two thousand and two, if I'd have told you in 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.680 twenty twenty four you'd still be playing competitive golf at 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.040 the highest level, would you have believed me? 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.880 Probably not No. But you know, I think it's it's 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.520 every kids stream you know that's growing up playing golf 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:30.160 that they want to play at the highest level for 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.079 for as long as they can, So you know, it's 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.440 something that I'm proud of that I'm still going at 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.880 nearly fifty one, so I must be doing something right. 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.959 And yeah, it's been uh yeah, it's been a journey. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.000 There's been some ups and downs, but I wouldn't change 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:46.560 it for anything. 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.280 I mean, obviously it's easy to always look at the 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.920 icons and the superstars of competitive golf, but there are 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.120 certainly more people like yourself than there are of these 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.920 guys that the public see. He's flying around on private 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.079 jets and you know, having this amazing kind of superstar lifestyle, 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.480 both on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, the Challenge Tour, 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.520 the corn Ferry Ladies all over the world. The tours 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.000 are really made up of a lot of people that 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.440 are somewhat the fabric of what those tours are because 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.600 the John Rahm's, the Rory's, the Scotti Scheffler's, they're outliers. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.560 They are very unique, unique people. But there are a 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.840 lot of people that get into golf, and I think 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:39.080 it's easy when we look at careers. Blandy, you haven't 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.040 won a major, you haven't won multiple times all over 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.160 the world. It's easy to look at that and go, oh, okay, 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:49.200 well that isn't a great career. But as Pat Perez said, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.440 he said this to me many times. People always say, well, 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.680 you only won three or four times, and he always says, 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:57.120 we'll try and win in once. I don't think the 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.520 great ones, the Ernies, the Tigers, the Greg Normans, the 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.480 Nick Faldos, that of the past generation, and then the 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:10.600 guy's doing it today, Rory Scotty, Scheffler Brooks. They make 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.360 it look so easy and they make winning look very, 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:20.320 very difficult. You won your first tournament in twenty what 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.000 was it, twenty twenty one? I mean how many starts? 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.920 It was like almost five hundred to four hundred and 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.920 seventy eight starts. You played some great golf throughout your 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.919 career and didn't win. When you did finally get that 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.560 breakthrough at the British Masters in twenty one at the Belfrey, 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.120 which is an iconic kind of old school kind of 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.640 UK old European tour golf course. They had a bunch 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.240 of tournaments there, They had Ryder Cups there. What do 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.200 you remember about that week and what surprised you about 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.080 that week to get your first win, because I'm always 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.960 fascinated when you do finally break through. And I asked 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.000 this question all the time. Is it different than you 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.040 thought it was going to be? Did you play the 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.440 best you've ever played that week? What was it about 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.600 that week that in the almost four hundred and seventy 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.960 something other weeks tournaments, it wasn't your week? 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:19.080 Yeah, I think I think one of the things that 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.560 really helped me. That week we were still playing in 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:26.039 Covid and we'd just come off a five week stretch, 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.799 so there was a there was a six week stretch. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.599 The last tournament was was the Belfry, So I just 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.440 I'd been away from home for five weeks, not allowed 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:35.080 out the hotel. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.120 Because you guys were much more on the European Tour 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.320 the DP World Tour. Now, you guys were much more 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.920 draconian and streaming because we were on tree to country, right, 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:49.920 you were just going from state to state. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.919 You know, every country had a different regulation, different testing 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.840 process or whatever. You know, we were getting tested two 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:02.080 three times a week every week, and we were we 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.960 were coming back on a on a charted playing that 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.760 the tour had charted and it was arriving into Birmingham 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:12.440 at about two o'clock in the morning, and this and 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.960 the and I remember the Belfry was a Wednesday to 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.599 Saturday start, and the and the flight landed at like 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:22.120 two o'clock on Monday or say Tuesday morning. And I'd 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.040 played the Belfry before plenty of time, so I kind 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:26.400 of felt like, you know what, I didn't really need 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.120 a practice round. And I and I'd played okay over 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.080 the five weeks. I hadn't played great, but I think 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.839 I had one top ten and maybe another top twenty 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.280 in the five weeks, so you know, the game was okay. 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.680 And I just I said to my girlfriend at the time, 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.080 who's now my wife, I said, can you come and 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.440 pick me up? I want to go home. I just 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:47.080 you know, loads of guys were just going straight to 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.240 the hotel and straight into the bubble again. I said, 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.520 I just need I need like twelve to fifteen hours 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.160 out of it. I need a night in my own bed. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.200 I just need to get back home. And I then 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.200 just traveled up on the Tuesday night and started Wednesday. 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.039 And then I never do that in a tournament, I 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.640 mean you even though I didn't feel I needed the 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.120 preparation because I just played for five weeks. But I 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.320 just needed to be at home for a little bit. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.280 So I drove up in the afternoon and uh and 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.920 just started Wednesday. But then there was another funny thing 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.000 that happened that week. I was walking down the range 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.880 on the Wednesday and I passed a good friend of 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.040 mine played amateur golf with him, a guy called David 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.000 Howell had Aliev and he said, you can't, he said, blandy, 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.360 he says, I need to stop, he said, He said, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:33.720 You're never going to believe this. He said, I had 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.440 a dream last night. He said, you win your first 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.920 golf tournament. He said, don't know when, I don't know 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.160 what tournament was, but you're going to win. 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:43.720 You're like i'd had that. I've had a dream a 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:44.120 lot too. 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.119 At some point I've dreamt he said. It was so vivid. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.120 You win your first golf and four days later there 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.080 I am holding the trophy. So but I just, I 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.560 honestly believe that, just that twelve fifteen hours at home, 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.680 just to unpack the suitcase, sleep in your own bed 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.480 for seven eight hours and just have a cup of 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.520 tea and just beay at home, reset and just reset it. 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.200 Just I don't think the fans and people listening to 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.080 this podcast, if you don't travel as much as that 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:20.600 we all do, the travel, it wears you down. And 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.960 if you can. I mean one of the things that, yes, 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.400 the private jet travel is on the PGA tour that 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.080 a lot of the superstars are lucky enough to do 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:37.000 is the ultimate luxury. But it was Greg Norman who 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.880 learned that from Jack Nicholas. Nicholas had his own jet, 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.280 Palmer had his own jet. Greg got his own jet. 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.080 I remember when Tiger was turning pro he my dad 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.320 was still working with Greg and Greg said to Tiger, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:54.240 invest in private jet travel, especially in America, because he said, 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.400 will you can get home and if you can get 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.560 a night at home, he said, you'll have a family 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.400 one day. But it's that one night. So I'm lucky 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.360 enough to travel an enormous amount with Brooks and DJ 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.440 and I'm lucky enough we do a lot of it privately. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:11.520 But what it does it gets us to and from 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.160 work faster. But there are times to where we're playing 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.720 the following week, but we get home and if you 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.120 can get a night with the family, with your dogs, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.679 with your kids, with your wife, girlfriend, sleep in your 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.160 own bed, get up, make a cup of coffee in 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.960 your own home. The reset that that can give you 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.920 is enormous, It really is. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:40.080 Yeah, it's huge. Yeah. I've always especially with Europe where yeah, unfortunate, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:45.000 I've always sort I live in the south of England, 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.480 so we've always got Heathrow and Gatwick which are fairly 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:52.120 close to me, so you can pretty much certainly in Europe. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.640 You know, Heathrow is a huge hub, so you can 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.880 get to pretty much anywhere most times a day. So 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:00.960 even if we were playing in the even if we 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.040 were playing in the same country, if we had to 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.520 say two tournaments in Italy, I would travel home on 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:09.040 the Sunday night if I got if I hated being 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.959 at a tournament in Europe on a Monday, I'd hate it. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.520 I'd be Wednesday, I'd be right, let's go, come on, 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.480 I need to go. You know, Wednesday was just a 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.160 brain dead day. And so many times, you know, if 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.679 I if I okay. During COVID, we kind of had 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:26.839 to do it and you okay, so mentally you kind 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:28.360 of got your head around it. That's what you're going 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.280 to have to do. But if you didn't have to 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.720 do it. I hated doing two weeks on the road 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.719 in uh in Europe where I didn't go home. You know, 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.120 it's just that get home, unpack, repack, have that day 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.640 at home, whether you go work on your game or 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.040 you sent your clubs on to the next event. It 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.000 just like you say, you just you draw a line 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.480 under the sand of the last event, press the reset button, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.000 and then go again. Okay. Mean you're getting up at 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.240 four o'clock on a Tuesday morning, okay, to go and 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.760 get an early flight so then you can go play 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:02.120 the practice round on the afternoon. You know. And some 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.280 people might say, well, you know, why not just stay 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:05.719 out and then do it, But for me, it just 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.000 kind of messed the whole week up. You know, I 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.079 was just Wednesday, I was ready to go, and then 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.120 I'd come Thursday. I don't know, I was just kind 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:13.920 of I just felt like I was out of sync, 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.000 and so many and a few times that I did 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.440 do it. You know, the second week, I've missed a cut. 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:20.840 I've been playing, maybe played quite well. In the first week, 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.200 I missed a cut just because I was I was 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.280 just out of sync. The whole week so it was 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.560 just right. If I can get home, I'm going home, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.160 doesn't matter. You know, I've been I did it from 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.079 an Emirates flight once we came back from Morocco, and 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.280 the Emirates flight was like four hours later, and I 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:39.840 just went, I'm going to go home for an hour. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.120 I just went home for an hour and then just 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:43.880 went back to the airport just to go. I don't 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.400 want to go from one term or to the other. 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:48.840 I just went, I'm going to go home for an 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:50.000 hour and then I'm going to come back. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.400 So that week at the Belfrey, I mean, you'd played 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.040 so many tournaments, you'd kind of you'd been one of 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.600 those players that, you know, it wasn't necessarily a stigma, 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:00.800 but you'd had a good career, lost your card a 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:05.120 couple times, but you'd always made a living playing for PETISCL. 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.960 You've got this idea in your mind, what winning your 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.839 first tournament is going to be like that Sunday? What 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.120 was the Sunday like? Did were you? Were you in 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:16.560 the lead? 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:17.079 No? 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.840 I was. I think I was tied or one behind 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.760 on Saturday and I shot I think I shot level 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.120 par on Saturday and hold nothing. I played te Degreen. 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:32.319 Probably the week I played best Tea Degreen I've ever played. Yeah, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.120 I made one bogie a week and that was I 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:35.480 Like I say, I missed from about two and a 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.560 half feet for par on one hole. I think on 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.600 the about the eighth, seventh or eighth hole on Saturday, 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:48.559 and I just missed everything, and and and another thing 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.120 that happened before. Yeah, I've been you know, Tim my coach. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.840 I've been with him for my whole career on tour 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.280 for twenty two twenty three years now, and he's never 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.000 He's never done this in the whole time I've been 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.400 with him. He texted me on this. So the Friday 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.360 nights we were sady for he said, if you want 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.439 to win this, you got to go and shoot sixty 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.120 six tomorrow. He said, So you have to be better 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.160 on the greens. He said, if you want to win, 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.520 that's the number you've got to go shoot. And I 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.960 shot sixty six on Saturday. Okay, that got me into 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.360 the playoff. But it just just just a couple of 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.559 things that week that the Dave Howe thing and then 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.120 Tim doing that he's never done it. Since he's never 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:26.120 done it, you know, it went a couple of times. 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.320 I've had a you know, I've had chances since and 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.320 what have you Like, I lost in the playoffs at 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.800 at Dubai the next year. Yeah, you know Victor Hoblin, 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.199 Yeah he never He never texted me the night before saying, look, 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.320 this is what you've got to do tomorrow, Tim. Yeah, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.360 so I think, yeah, I think he's just going to 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:46.120 leave it at that one. That it was just a 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.600 one hit wonder there. But yeah, you know, I knew, 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:51.480 you know, I played pretty good on the front nine. 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.000 I think I went out in about three under. I 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.080 made a really good pass save on nine, I hold 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.360 from about fifteen foot for power of nine, which really 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.160 then kind of kept my mementor and I birdied and 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:04.800 the short hole around the corner and then yeah, you know, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.080 and and then I kind of I stole on at 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.400 twelve the long pat three. You know we're playing. It's 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:14.000 it's pretty damp and sort of typical English day, you know, 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.559 sort of drizzle ball, not going very far. I remember 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.280 I hit busted a three iron to about thirty feet 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:24.040 short of the flag and hold it and uh and 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.280 then yeah, you know I hold you know, I hold 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.040 a beauty on eighteen, Yeah, which I probably thought at 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.000 the time, you know, I hit my te shot which 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.240 only just cleared the waters, but maybe a few people 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.640 just see. And as I was walking around. 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:37.360 That's a tough finish. 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:39.280 It was horrible. 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.880 It's a tough finish kind of dog lay, yeah, kind 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.200 of from right to left. There's water off the tee. 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.200 There's water on the second shot, the landing area when 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.000 you're back in that little hollow there. I remember the 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.160 Ryder Cups that the US both lost there. There was 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.080 one year that they lost and it seemed like every 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.080 US play or rinsted in the water going. All the 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.680 matches went down to the last and then in I 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.720 think in the early nineties that's the that's the first 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.000 Ryder Cup over went to Davis love Hold the winning 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:12.880 pot on the eighteenth l But that eighteenth at the 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:14.200 belt bring tough driving. 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.600 Well, they've actually put a new tea further even further 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.320 back for that. And I remember when when I teed 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.240 off there, we it was it wasn't very nice, you know, 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:23.440 it was a bit of like I said, there was 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.840 drizzling yet and I back off the T shirt and 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:27.240 people had said to me, or what was it your 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.160 nervous and no, I said, the face of the driver. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:30.800 I could see the face of the driver was a 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.760 little wet, and we all know that you get a 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:35.720 little bit of moisture on the face, the book can 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.920 literally go anywhere. I mean absolutely anyway, So it was 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.280 I actually kind of try to dry the face and 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.480 then yeah, you know, so I was walking around the water. 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.040 It's quite a sort of longish walk around the water 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.040 to get to your tee shirt. Thought, fucking just if 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.440 I can, how some make three? I think that's good 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.120 because I was. I think I was leading by one, 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.400 and I thought, if the weather stays like this, it's 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.480 going to be pretty tough to beat. I thought, I 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.000 can't see myself losing. And I hit I think I 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.080 hit a four iron about twenty five feet right of 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.960 the flag on the middle tier. And then yeah, I 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.880 just probably hit the sweetest part of my career. And 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.480 of course, then you know, sometimes the golf and God's 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:21.800 go against it. It literally probably from doing my interviews 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.080 in my iView. Then the sun comes out and it's 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:26.200 absolutely you know, I was hitting some balls on the 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.240 range and it's perfect. I've taken everything off, you know, 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:33.320 I'm practicing in a short sleeved shirt and you know, really, 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.680 you know, no, it's perfect. Yeah, you know, am I 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.040 ever going to you know, come on, give me a break. 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:43.600 But you know, unfortunately, you know, it worked out. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:48.680 You got it done, and was the sense relief? Was 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:53.160 the sense what was it? Because you've played so long 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.720 and you'd had such a long career at that stage 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.840 and really twenty twenty one after being on the European 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.880 Tour DP world for I still can't get used to 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.800 the damn no mean, but you've been there for almost 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:13.600 two decades. Was it finally or this is what I was? 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:18.719 I wonder what that feeling was. I think, you know, validation. 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.200 Yeah, I think more, you know, as as everything kind 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.560 of sunk in, it was more I think just the satisfaction. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.360 The satisfaction you know, we all you know, we kind 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.239 of you know, we all know we can do it, 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.560 you know, and yeah, you know, I will be the 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:34.480 first to admit, you know, there was there was occasions. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.200 You know, you get in your own way, and when 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.200 you do that and you don't when the next time 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.040 you want it, it's almost like you put too much 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.000 pressure on yourself that even the next time because you 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.439 want it that much more and you know, and and 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.840 it's and it's I think it's a very very hard 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:53.720 thing to do. It's almost like, yeah, the more you 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:54.760 care about it, you can try. 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:55.440 You've got it. 0:17:55.480 --> 0:18:00.440 You've got to care less in that respect. And uh so, yeah, 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.680 I think it was just that satisfaction that you finally 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:09.159 did do it, and and just it's not like a 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.800 cockiness or a brash or all that, but then you 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.720 just have that in a I think it just takes 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.080 your inner confidence to just to another level. 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.840 If you've won a tournament on tour, people look at 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.240 you different. Yeah, I don't care what tour you're playing 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.920 on now. If you were a winner and you have won, 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.480 people look at you differently, You get treated differently, you 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.520 get different pairings, but there is a knowing look for somebody. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.440 And I'm sure having been on tour for so long 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:47.280 in Europe, the acceptance and the so many people were 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.160 happy for you for that win. I mean because you'd 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.520 been a part of the tour for so long, so 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:54.960 the old guard were happy for you, and then the 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:56.600 young guard were happy for you as well. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.280 Yeah. No, it was u Yeah, you know, the the 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.240 amount of messages that I got, you know, the next 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:06.360 sort of week just completely blew me away. I mean, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.000 and Legends of the Game, you know, Freddie Couples, you know, 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.399 putting it on social media. I think VJ. Singh did it. 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.240 Even Phil, guys I've never even met before. I never 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.640 even met Phil at that point. Of course I'd played 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:22.879 in majors and seen him, but not someone that I 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.359 would go up to and say hi, you know, he 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:33.040 would know who I was. So that that was, you know, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.159 that was that was really nice. But I think I 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.160 think the thing that really got me was the messages 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.040 that I got from people that not not necessarily golfers, 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.840 but whatever walk of life they were in, and they 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.879 were kind of like, I'm going to keep going. You know, 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:49.879 there's times when I've gone, you know what, am I 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.639 doing the right thing? Am I on the right path? 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.080 And You've now proved to me that I'm going to 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.000 keep going down the path that I'm on? And that 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.679 was that blew me away. Those messag are still on 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.240 my phone now and will remain on there forever. And 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.320 that and it, honestly it took There were thousands, I 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.159 mean literally thousands. 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:11.919 People you don't know. 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.439 Yeah, my wife. My wife was so understanding because I 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:19.960 was literally for Yeah, I had a week off straight 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.040 after and probably you know, obviously there was a lot 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.160 of media to do and sky and that kind of stuff, 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:27.919 and I was just these just hundreds of messages were 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.040 coming through every day and I was reading and I 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:33.960 read every single one. I didn't reply to all of them. 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:35.760 You know, I kind of put a message out there 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:40.320 basically saying thank you to everybody that I couldn't reply 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.399 to every single one. I'd probably still replying now, and 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.400 that that that kind of really meant a lot that, 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.080