Speaker 1: It's a big deal when the Women's Open goes to
Speaker 1: the citadels of the game, whether it's oakmant Or or
Speaker 1: pebble Beach, it elevates the entire events and of course
Speaker 1: they these players deserve that they should play on the
Speaker 1: best playing fields, and to finally get a Women's Open
Speaker 1: here is just really cool.
Speaker 2: I got thoughts in my head. Can't get him, John
Speaker 2: not to think what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: Count thoughts.
Speaker 2: Can't get them out, John not to think what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: About all right, Hello, Welcome back to the Fire Drill Podcast,
Speaker 1: joined by Matt Janella and a very special guest, a
Speaker 1: gent named Kevin Price. KP and I go back basically
Speaker 1: to birth our errands for friends. We were born three
Speaker 1: weeks apart. There are photos of us swaddled next to
Speaker 1: each other in a bassinett, lifelong best friends. At my
Speaker 1: wedding in nineteen ninety nine, Kevin met Matt Janella for
Speaker 1: the first time. They became great friends. The three of
Speaker 1: us and Sundry others have had many golf adventures from
Speaker 1: Australia to Ireland, to Scotland to Pinehurst, Abandon and Kevin
Speaker 1: is a generational ball striker claims should be scratched is
Speaker 1: probably a plus two. That's a sore subject we'll save
Speaker 1: for another podcast. He owns his own financial services firm,
Speaker 1: but Caddie's out at Pebble Beach mostly because he's the
Speaker 1: biggest golf nerd around and he just wants to touch
Speaker 1: the grass and sniff the towels and do whatever else
Speaker 1: he does to satisfy those urges. So Kevin has a
Speaker 1: bag at this week's United States Women's Open Championship, and
Speaker 1: we thought we'd preview the course, the tournament, the players. keV,
Speaker 1: thanks for doing this my pleasure.
Speaker 3: Guys happy to be here as I am happy to
Speaker 3: be out at the Pebble Beach Golf Links for this
Speaker 3: Women's Open.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a really special week
Speaker 4: out there.
Speaker 1: It's Monday evening of tournament week. You're you're coming in
Speaker 1: hot from a practice round with Mackenzie Han, young player
Speaker 1: at University Wisconsin, or you have some roots and tell
Speaker 1: us about Mackenzie and the golf course. I know you
Speaker 1: had a special guest in your practice round pairing today,
Speaker 1: Like you just set the scene for the listeners, right
Speaker 1: hold on.
Speaker 5: Can we please can we take a second like, first
Speaker 5: of all, like I haven't said a word yet, okay,
Speaker 5: jomp In Matt, Sorry, Like, can I at least address
Speaker 5: Ken Well, like you'll have your part of hogging the microphone?
Speaker 5: Are you? Like, oh my, I'm trying to throw it
Speaker 5: to the guests, But I mean you're not doing him
Speaker 5: at like even close to justice. Kevin Price. Yes, one
Speaker 5: of the greatest gifts you've ever get me is my
Speaker 5: friendship to Kevin Price with Kevin Price, which is and
Speaker 5: we've been all over the world together. We're we're like
Speaker 5: better friends than you and I now like we like
Speaker 5: we like leap frog friendships.
Speaker 3: Like it was like child, it's a tie, it's a tie.
Speaker 5: It's a tie. But I lean that way after you're
Speaker 5: so very rude intro And by the way, Kevin is
Speaker 5: one of those scratch golfers that are actually sandbagging scratch golfers.
Speaker 5: When guy rocks up, he's like, oh, I'm scratch, you
Speaker 5: know whatever. To your point, he's literally a plus two
Speaker 5: plus three. He's two time club champion at Bayonet and
Speaker 5: black Horse.
Speaker 1: I mean, but also he won the gross and the
Speaker 1: net in the same year.
Speaker 5: That was but see that, that's what I'm talking about
Speaker 5: like you didn't even you just like YadA YadA, you
Speaker 5: blurred right through. You've got some sort of date or
Speaker 5: something like, can we just have a conversation now?
Speaker 3: You guys are too kind. I appreciate that. Let's be honest.
Speaker 3: Those Bayonet Club Champs, we're not exactly the deepest fields
Speaker 3: in golf. But I've played I've played pretty well those
Speaker 3: two times. So I'll take how many Kevin?
Speaker 5: How many? How many? How many times have you caddied
Speaker 5: at AT and T?
Speaker 4: I've done six at and T prorams.
Speaker 5: And then you've grown up obviously, how many? How many times?
Speaker 5: How many? You know? How many years have you been
Speaker 5: caddying at Pebble?
Speaker 3: I started in twenty fifteen in the spring of twenty fifteen,
Speaker 3: have probably averaged about ninety five loops a year in
Speaker 3: those eight and a half seasons.
Speaker 5: And what's your low round at Pebble.
Speaker 4: Seventy one from the blue season.
Speaker 5: So and US Opens. Obviously, you've spent a lot of
Speaker 5: time assessing setup, walking yardages, being the caddy you are
Speaker 5: and the player you are, and the analytics sort of
Speaker 5: sort of approach you take to golf in life. You've
Speaker 5: you're well aware you're well versed on sort of what
Speaker 5: is the setup of amends you open for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so, I mean I think the two key
Speaker 3: differences are the primary or first cut of rough would
Speaker 3: be a little bit shorter this time compared to twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: Although I'll tell you guys, after the winter we had
Speaker 3: and all the rain that visited its glory upon the
Speaker 3: central coast of California this winter, that grass is doing
Speaker 3: just fine, thank you very much. It is healthy, it
Speaker 3: is dense, it is grabby, it varies a little bit.
Speaker 3: So reading the lies will be a key part of
Speaker 3: the sort of the full swings and the short shots
Speaker 3: around the greens out of what I call the regular rough.
Speaker 3: That's you know, sort of the two to three and
Speaker 3: a half inch rough, that's what we think of as rough.
Speaker 4: It's just it's dense and it's gravy.
Speaker 3: Every now and then you might catch it jumper out
Speaker 3: of it and the ball just goes sailing with no spin.
Speaker 3: I mean, so reading the lies is going to be key.
Speaker 3: And then on the margins of the golf course, on
Speaker 3: some of the holes, the pebble and the usga have
Speaker 3: grown up some rather long more fescue type sort of
Speaker 3: long blades that lay down, and if they're if you're
Speaker 3: across the grain of that grass as it lays, or
Speaker 3: certainly into it, I mean you're probably coming out essentially sideways.
Speaker 3: So it's graduated in the sense that you've got a
Speaker 3: little bit of a sort of fringy cut on the
Speaker 3: edge of the fairways. Then you've got the primary rough
Speaker 3: that's playable but really challenging, and then the long stuff
Speaker 3: that's just flat out penal.
Speaker 5: And compared to AT and T, no night.
Speaker 3: And day, much gnarlier in terms of the rough, no question,
Speaker 3: much much gnarlier, I mean, honestly because of the amateurs
Speaker 3: in the field, and I think the AT and T
Speaker 3: has done a nice job of improving the level of
Speaker 3: play among the emitters and the AT and T over
Speaker 3: the last several years credit SJ. But yeah, it's the
Speaker 3: AT and T is sort of like resort conditions plus
Speaker 3: a little bit of speed on the greens. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's really not that different, to be honest with you.
Speaker 3: For the Open, we've got a number of fairways that
Speaker 3: are now meaningfully narrower.
Speaker 4: So I would point to numbers.
Speaker 3: Four, six, eight, eleven, fifteen and sixteen are all pinched
Speaker 3: in from one side or both so that the extent
Speaker 3: of the short grass is smaller. And then of course
Speaker 3: the rough, if you do find it, is gnarlier than
Speaker 3: an AT and T.
Speaker 1: Without doubt, Matt, can I ask a question? Or do
Speaker 1: you want to keep hogging the mic? What's your comfort
Speaker 1: level here?
Speaker 4: For?
Speaker 5: I have one to follow up to that, like green speeds,
Speaker 5: Thank you allan, But we'll get to you to say
Speaker 5: the green speeds versus AT and T, Like what what
Speaker 5: is the buzz? What's the talk?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 5: What's the anticipation of how how quick they'll be?
Speaker 3: Honestly, here on Monday night, I think it's a little
Speaker 3: too early to say they're not they're not crazy fast
Speaker 3: right now, but we still have, you know, two full
Speaker 3: days to go, and we've been you know, we've had
Speaker 3: this sort of interior California heat wave the last few
Speaker 3: days and that tends to suck the marine layer the
Speaker 3: fog in right just in the first you know, half
Speaker 3: mile or mile of the California coastline, I mean, from
Speaker 3: Pebble today, I'm looking sort of toward where I live,
Speaker 3: which is just maybe two miles from the from the
Speaker 3: beach and it's bright sunshine, and yesterday we had visibility
Speaker 3: problems at Pebble during the practice round. I mean there
Speaker 3: were some shots where I was lining McKenzie up for
Speaker 3: a tea shot and we were working off the mow
Speaker 3: lines on the tea box because we simply could not
Speaker 3: see targets out there. The upshot of that, for the
Speaker 3: for the softness and the speed of the golf course
Speaker 3: is that it's still still a little bit soft and slow.
Speaker 3: But I mean that is by us open standards. I
Speaker 3: will say today this afternoon, with the fog being a
Speaker 3: little bit higher in the sky, I did sense the
Speaker 3: greens starting to firm up a little bit. So you're
Speaker 3: starting to get some ballance on the greens.
Speaker 1: Alan take it away, Yeah, pour some out for the
Speaker 1: golf fans home. Have to listen to the marine Layer
Speaker 1: conversation for four more days after La Country Club.
Speaker 5: But don't if I don't my loo mall Natty's koozy.
Speaker 1: By the way, Oh nice, I like that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's so funny. I mean, July here is in in Carmel,
Speaker 1: Pebble Beach is so cold and just I'm walking around
Speaker 1: town with my dog and all the tursts and shorts
Speaker 1: and T shirts are freezing, their teeth are chattering, and
Speaker 1: that one's complaining. And it's supposed to be summer. I mean,
Speaker 1: our summer is in the falls, as some people know,
Speaker 1: that's when the sunshine really comes. So but I like
Speaker 1: the uncertainty of the weather. You know, you may get
Speaker 1: a bright sunny day, the usually the winds will follow
Speaker 1: and that can change the green speeds quickly. But people,
Speaker 1: I don't know if people remember how low the scoring
Speaker 1: was for the US Open twenty nineteen. I mean, the
Speaker 1: men really kind of tore up Pebble Beach. It's just
Speaker 1: such a petite golf course for those kind of players.
Speaker 1: And the t's that the women are using this week
Speaker 1: are around sixty five hundred yards. I mean, it's very
Speaker 1: similar to kind of the Golds or maybe one of
Speaker 1: the Combo tests. I mean from Kevin, you see a
Speaker 1: lot of golf out there. How satisfying is it for
Speaker 1: you to see the course play sort of the way
Speaker 1: it's supposed to, where you have some longer clubs in
Speaker 1: and the players have to navigate with a little bit
Speaker 1: of finesse And thought.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in two practice rounds now, I've seen some headcover.
Speaker 3: Headcovers come off for second shots into these part fours,
Speaker 3: and you know, not for McKenzie, to be perfectly honest,
Speaker 3: she hits it. She hits it pretty hard. But i
Speaker 3: the people we played with in the first couple of
Speaker 3: days here, it's there are some approach shots that that
Speaker 3: play long for sure. I mean, it's it's a test.
Speaker 3: One of the truisms of the Pebble Beach golf Links
Speaker 3: is the is the greens are very small, right, and
Speaker 3: so if you if you get gnarly rough and small
Speaker 3: greens and some firmness and some wind and a golf
Speaker 3: course that's going to play long ish at least for
Speaker 3: at least a big chunk of this field.
Speaker 4: That's a test.
Speaker 3: I mean, that is a real challenge, and you've got
Speaker 3: to golf your ball from beginning. You Matt major premium
Speaker 3: on playing from the short grass on on, you know,
Speaker 3: both in terms of approach shots into greens and also
Speaker 3: if you do happen to miss the green you want
Speaker 3: to miss where there's a little apron and you can
Speaker 3: you can putter chip it off of short grass. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's it's it's the variability and the outcomes from the
Speaker 3: green side rough is extremely high. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: enough in spots to make very very good players look
Speaker 3: silly from time to time. So it's yeah, you want
Speaker 3: to you want to keep it on the short stuff
Speaker 3: without a doubt.
Speaker 5: Go back for a second, and how whose bag are
Speaker 5: you on? And how did this come about? And give
Speaker 5: us a little you know, give us a bio of
Speaker 5: who you're catting for this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mackenzie On is an absolutely delightful twenty four year
Speaker 3: old graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where in
Speaker 3: a in a golf god's work in Mysterious ways twist,
Speaker 3: I went to graduate school, as Alan hinted at earlier,
Speaker 3: and I have fully and comprehensively indoctrinated our seven year
Speaker 3: old daughter into the ways of Badger fandom with her miscellaneous.
Speaker 4: Clothing doc stuffed stuffed Bucky.
Speaker 3: Badger's signage, et cetera. So the fact that when I
Speaker 3: first got Mackenzie's email after being connected by some Pebble
Speaker 3: Beach by the Pebble Beach team. So to back up
Speaker 3: a little bit, A few weeks ago, a smallish number
Speaker 3: of caddies here received a text message asking if we
Speaker 3: would be interested in working the open in case the
Speaker 3: opportunity presented itself, and expecting something like seven to twelve
Speaker 3: local caddie requests to come to pass. So the only
Speaker 3: challenge there for me was to not be the first
Speaker 3: guy to respond over enthusiastically. So I waited to be
Speaker 3: the second and said, yes, that would be great. I
Speaker 3: would be happy to do that. So I got an
Speaker 3: email from Mackenzie saying that she had gotten my name
Speaker 3: from Pebble. And of course the first thing you do
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three is google Mackenzie on and the
Speaker 3: headline that popped up was the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper
Speaker 3: article about her qualifying in thirty six holes sectional qualifying,
Speaker 3: making it through a playoff with a birdie to on
Speaker 3: the deciding hole in the playoff to to punch her
Speaker 3: ticket to Pebble Beach. And I mean, it's just like
Speaker 3: it's too good to be true, right, I mean, I
Speaker 3: would have taken any bag and would have been absolutely
Speaker 3: delighted to be a part of this and would have
Speaker 3: done my very best for any player.
Speaker 4: But this is truly a match she made in golf heaven.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we certainly, yeah, Oh, I mean yeah, I hope
Speaker 3: she thinks the same thing. But I mean, i'll tell
Speaker 3: you what, I'm pretty stoked about it. We actually had
Speaker 3: her parents and and swing coach over for dinner here
Speaker 3: last night, and Claire had a little handmade card that said,
Speaker 3: good luck Mackenzie, I can't wait to watch you play golf.
Speaker 3: And it's like, you know, don't make me cry, boys,
Speaker 3: this is some sweet stuff. I absolutely love it. We're
Speaker 3: having a blast. And she's a good young player. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, she's one of these people. You watch her
Speaker 3: play and you watch her alongside some of these other
Speaker 3: pros were were paired with in the practice rounds. You
Speaker 3: see what's happening on the practice tee before the rounds,
Speaker 3: and there's no reason she can't play at this level.
Speaker 3: She's long, she's strong, she's young. She rolls it beautifully
Speaker 3: on the greens, and you know, it's just I think
Speaker 3: this week is just a little mental fortitude, a little
Speaker 3: emotional resilience, and probably a little rub of the green
Speaker 3: from time to time.
Speaker 4: But she can do it. She can play here. There's
Speaker 4: no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: You know, I loved that the last US Open, Tiger said,
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing like Pebble Beach for a US Open,
Speaker 1: you know, just there's just something special and kind of
Speaker 1: magical about it. And for you, Kevin, to be inside
Speaker 1: the ropes at a national championship, have you had any
Speaker 1: any kind of g whiz moments where you've really felt
Speaker 1: the grandeur of this event.
Speaker 4: Yeah, when you see.
Speaker 3: All the banners and the signage and the grandstands and
Speaker 3: the player hospitality is not bad. We're in there this week,
Speaker 3: so that's nice. That's a nice little perk. Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: definitely special. And I will say as the father of
Speaker 3: a young girl who likes golf and is just kind
Speaker 3: of getting started in the game, and we've ushered her
Speaker 3: in very gently and gradually, I would say, slowly.
Speaker 4: But it's ever since this.
Speaker 3: Event was announced, I thought, what a joy it's going
Speaker 3: to be to take Claire out there to see the
Speaker 3: best female players on the planet play what we lovingly
Speaker 3: refer to around here as Mama's golf course because her mother, Roslyn,
Speaker 3: worked for the Pebble Beach Company for a dozen years
Speaker 3: and so the family has a real connection to that
Speaker 3: piece of land. And now not only does Claire get
Speaker 3: to go out and see the best females players on
Speaker 3: the planet and now Mackenzie Haun, someone she has spent
Speaker 3: some time with last night, but she gets to see
Speaker 3: her dad, you know, work in the event, and that
Speaker 3: is really cool to me. I mean, that's a real
Speaker 3: special treat for this family. And of course I hope
Speaker 3: it inspires her to sort of want more of golf.
Speaker 3: But whether it does or doesn't, it's a pretty remarkable
Speaker 3: opportunity to have to have all these women here. And
Speaker 3: I mean, look, it's one of the world's greatest places
Speaker 3: for golf. I mean, I just don't want to hear
Speaker 3: any counter arguments to that claim. It's the best walk
Speaker 3: in golf. The three of us and Sundry others have
Speaker 3: seen a lot of spots, and a lot of really remarkable, wonderful,
Speaker 3: delightful spots that we would all go back to.
Speaker 4: In a second.
Speaker 3: But there's no walk in golf like Pebble Beach. There
Speaker 3: simply isn't. It is absolute purity, and the golf course
Speaker 3: has never looked better. I've never seen it look better.
Speaker 3: This winter helped.
Speaker 4: You know. The guys and gals.
Speaker 3: Who grow the grass around here are exceptionally good at
Speaker 3: what they do. But I think Mother Nature has given
Speaker 3: us a really special tread this year with with a
Speaker 3: golf course that's just absolutely ready for prime time. And
Speaker 3: I think from assuming that the fog stays high enough
Speaker 3: from from the blimp or from whatever aerial camera had me,
Speaker 3: sea musters up this weekend, this place is going to
Speaker 3: look really, really good.
Speaker 1: And it is such a company town. It's such a
Speaker 1: such a small geographic area. So just driving around, seeing
Speaker 1: the courtesy cars, seeing the players. Last night, I took
Speaker 1: my kiddos to see the new Indiana Jones movie. We're
Speaker 1: driving into the mall del Monte Mall and Monterey, which
Speaker 1: some people know, and I saw a Curtisy cars like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, that was j y Co And I
Speaker 1: got all excited, you know, and they're like, who is
Speaker 1: that said she's the best player in the world.
Speaker 5: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Like, you know, it was just kind of just it
Speaker 1: was just funny. So yeah, there's there is. You can
Speaker 1: feel it around town. I mean, the street are packed
Speaker 1: and uh and there there's just an energy that that's
Speaker 1: really fun. It's kind of like I mean, you guys
Speaker 1: have both been over to some of these events that
Speaker 1: opens in Scotland where there's just one little town that's
Speaker 1: like the host whether it you know, I think like
Speaker 1: bumping into people on the street all the time those
Speaker 1: weeks and this week it's kind of similar. So that
Speaker 1: just adds a whole other kind of fun layer to it.
Speaker 1: Just just the feeling in the air. It's definitely people
Speaker 1: here excited. This is we should mention. You know, this
Speaker 1: has been talked about for a long time. You know,
Speaker 1: the Pebble Beach Company it kind of slow played it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was talking about bringing the Women's Open
Speaker 1: here I think in twenty seventeen originally, and it kept
Speaker 1: getting bumped back and there was a certain amount of
Speaker 1: negotiating involved, and so there's been a long run up
Speaker 1: and a lot of anticipation and you know, there's a
Speaker 1: record number of qualifiers. Everyone wanted to be part of this.
Speaker 1: It's just it's a big deal. When the Women's Open
Speaker 1: goes to the citadels of the game, whether it's oakmant
Speaker 1: or Pebble Beach, it elevates the entire events, and of
Speaker 1: course these players deserve that they should play on the
Speaker 1: best playing fields. To finally get a Women's Open here
Speaker 1: is just really cool. And I saw a picture on
Speaker 1: social media, a bunch of past champs, how playing golf
Speaker 1: at Moniti. Penin's a country club today. You know, this
Speaker 1: has turned into a gathering and it's sort of a
Speaker 1: celebration that transcends even just this one tournament. So it's
Speaker 1: special and it's cool that we get to experience it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, it's interesting. You mentioned the energy around town.
Speaker 3: It's probably greater than the energy on the golf course
Speaker 3: right now, just the first couple of days because there
Speaker 3: are no fans on site until Wednesday, so the practice
Speaker 3: rounds are very quiet. You know, there are a few
Speaker 3: people out there that sort of player guests, essentially very few,
Speaker 3: but that allows us to kind of, i think, build
Speaker 3: toward Thursday, especially for a young player McKenzie.
Speaker 4: She's not played on this stage before. There's no getting
Speaker 4: around that. She knows that.
Speaker 3: I'm not telling you all anything. She doesn't know, right,
Speaker 3: but to sort of build into it, and I'm sensing
Speaker 3: sort of every team we get to she's getting more
Speaker 3: and more comfortable.
Speaker 4: And then on Wednesday, we'll.
Speaker 3: Get some fans on the grounds and and we'll start
Speaker 3: to feel the gallery a little bit and what what
Speaker 3: it'll be like to play with the people and uh,
Speaker 3: and then you know, the light turns green on on
Speaker 3: Thursday and I think I think she's going to be ready.
Speaker 4: But it's kind of a.
Speaker 3: Slow build out of Pebble early in the week until
Speaker 3: we get more more bodies on on the golf For.
Speaker 5: Us, I'm I'm sort of just commenting on a lot
Speaker 5: of things that you guys we're just talking about. I
Speaker 5: you know, Pebble, I'm a I'm a NorCal guy. You
Speaker 5: guys are you guys are locals right, Like I mean,
Speaker 5: you guys, this is you know, Alan, we know your
Speaker 5: story and working at Pebble to get your job at
Speaker 5: Sports Illustration. The whole We've been out there with some
Speaker 5: really uh in some incredible situations and had some incredible
Speaker 5: experiences with friends and family or friends that feel like family,
Speaker 5: and I mean we've had it's just been this, you know.
Speaker 5: Just so I'm so grateful for like being able to
Speaker 5: have such an intimate relationship with a place like Pebble Beach,
Speaker 5: even if it's throwing balls for dogs at the beach
Speaker 5: below the golf course itself. So there's just this reverence
Speaker 5: and appreciation that we get to actually play on that
Speaker 5: land or walk that land, while people are playing, and
Speaker 5: I think it's really nice. You know, over the years,
Speaker 5: AT and T played in February sometimes has bad weather
Speaker 5: the Cross. You know, some players don't like Poe or
Speaker 5: I don't like the weather, it doesn't fall, like, doesn't
Speaker 5: fit in my schedule. I just think it's and that's
Speaker 5: why I've always gravitated to the Pure Insurance where they're
Speaker 5: in the September and the Champions the Champions Tour, and
Speaker 5: the players that play on that tour seem to just
Speaker 5: really appreciate and respect it more. They have this reverence
Speaker 5: about that experience that I don't always necessarily feel from
Speaker 5: like the PGA Tour players who are like so locked
Speaker 5: in on just like winning and numbers and you know,
Speaker 5: checks and you know, and and I think the reason
Speaker 5: why I'm so excited about a week like this is
Speaker 5: it's such a great fit for you know, like you
Speaker 5: talk about citadels An Open, you know US Open, Mike
Speaker 5: wand for all that he did for the LPGA and
Speaker 5: the women's game in general, now you know, in charge
Speaker 5: of the USGA and the timing of this event and
Speaker 5: where he falls in the schedule, and like you said, Kevin,
Speaker 5: like the condition of the golf course. It's just going
Speaker 5: to be this convergence of like a lot of really
Speaker 5: cool stuff and gratitude and appreciation and reverence and respect
Speaker 5: for quite honestly, you know what I would consider very
Speaker 5: clearly the number one public golf course in the country,
Speaker 5: and one could argue with you know, it's in the
Speaker 5: conversation for best best in the world for the amount
Speaker 5: of court and I just I'm just looking forward to
Speaker 5: like a week of that, you know, the imagery, the appreciation,
Speaker 5: the respect, the reverence, the gratitude that you know, this
Speaker 5: is a place we can get access to. It's not
Speaker 5: for everybody, certainly gone way up in price, but they're
Speaker 5: on occasion people save up and get to get to
Speaker 5: walk this land and have this experience. And I'm really
Speaker 5: looking forward to what transpires.
Speaker 4: Guys.
Speaker 3: In eight and a half years of countying and Pebble,
Speaker 3: I have yet to hear anybody come off eighteen Green
Speaker 3: and say, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: It just has happened.
Speaker 3: Incredible, It has not happened, right, And that's whether someone
Speaker 3: shoots five shots better than their handicap or fifteen shots worse, like,
Speaker 3: it's not in the end, it's not about that. It's
Speaker 3: it's just unmistakably special to everyone who's fortunate enough to
Speaker 3: walk through it. And you know, I've walked it a bunch.
Speaker 3: It hasn't gotten old yet for me, so you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's it's still it's still just good, solid fun
Speaker 3: to be out there.
Speaker 4: It just is well.
Speaker 1: It's a nice kind of palette cleanser coming out of
Speaker 1: La Country Club where it was. We don't have to
Speaker 1: rehash it in great detail, but people know it. It
Speaker 1: felt more like an Augusta national host where it was
Speaker 1: very exclusive and a lot of things happened behind the
Speaker 1: scenes that kind of dampened the enthusiasm. If you're on
Speaker 1: the ground, it was more about it. There's like a
Speaker 1: club event as opposed to a national championship and pebble beat.
Speaker 1: It is expensive, I know all three of us have
Speaker 1: talked to us. We'd love to see the price go down.
Speaker 1: But the fact is anybody can play it. You can
Speaker 1: if you're a teenager. You can get a paper you know,
Speaker 1: paper route and they still deliver newspapers. I don't know.
Speaker 1: You can cut lawns like you know. You can give
Speaker 1: you a graduation president can be an anniversary president. I
Speaker 1: mean people do it all the time. Because my summer's
Speaker 1: working out there. I used to as a car boy,
Speaker 1: I used to see it and it is expensive, but
Speaker 1: it's worth it, you know, the amount of money you're
Speaker 1: going to pay to play TPC Sawgrass or some crappy
Speaker 1: course out in the desert. You know, at least Pebble
Speaker 1: is a lifetime experience.
Speaker 5: And the Shadow Creek Shadow Creek versus.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's not quite the people's golf course like
Speaker 1: Beth Page you know, that's a special relationship, is essentially
Speaker 1: a muni and but it is one of the few
Speaker 1: courses that's in the conversation for the best in the
Speaker 1: world that anyone can play, and that that is special
Speaker 1: and that's meaningful, and it does create that that connection
Speaker 1: as a viewer because a lot of people who be
Speaker 1: watching on TV will have will have played it once
Speaker 1: or twice in their life, or their dad will or
Speaker 1: there or someone they there intimate with U has a
Speaker 1: great Pebble Beach story and and that that does create
Speaker 1: an important connection at these events that I think is
Speaker 1: really you know, having been at us Opens, at Tory
Speaker 1: Pines and at Beth Page's, it's just fun to hear
Speaker 1: the crowd because they've had that same shot, they've been
Speaker 1: in that same bunker. They know that green better than
Speaker 1: some of the players because they've been playing there every
Speaker 1: weekend for you know, twenty years. And there is a
Speaker 1: little bit of that around Pebble Beach, where there's a
Speaker 1: sense of ownership, and I just I just think that
Speaker 1: adds a whole other element to the to a big
Speaker 1: tournament like this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, put, I fully agree, Kevin. What's the what
Speaker 5: was the situation in terms of practice round? What what
Speaker 5: you texted that Aniko was involved today?
Speaker 4: Right? We just we had Anica Sornstam on the t
Speaker 4: sheet with us, and at one o seven. At one
Speaker 4: o seven, there was.
Speaker 3: A you know, and and an amateur girl from Taiwan
Speaker 3: who's going to play at the University of Oregon. Her
Speaker 3: her ball was first in the air and right behind
Speaker 3: her was was the goat. I mean there just with
Speaker 3: high I'monica, right introducing yourself to me. Well, I know
Speaker 3: who you are, and thank you for introducing yourself. Very
Speaker 3: nice to meet you. And so she played nine holes
Speaker 3: and then had had another commitment in the early evening,
Speaker 3: but she had she had her husband and son with
Speaker 3: her for those nine holes, and it was fun to
Speaker 3: watch them kind of interact with each other.
Speaker 4: Little Will was carrying his mom around.
Speaker 3: Just as much as Mike was, so he definitely had
Speaker 3: some some thoughts on how to play pebble, which is
Speaker 3: he's a good little player, so it's it was kind of.
Speaker 4: Fun to watch that family dynamic.
Speaker 3: And I mean Onica's hands around the greens, it's it's
Speaker 3: it's like, you know, Da Vinci on a canvas.
Speaker 4: It's just it's just genius. It's just straight up genius.
Speaker 4: It's for a for.
Speaker 3: A golf nerd like me, it was you know, my
Speaker 3: focus is McKenzie obviously, but you know, here and there
Speaker 3: you kind of catch on because little shots and practice
Speaker 3: round set up where you know, we're dropping multiple balls
Speaker 3: and playing different angles to different potential whole locations and
Speaker 3: all that and just a real joy to watch her.
Speaker 4: Watch her practice or craft out there.
Speaker 1: Had she hit it TD green, I mean.
Speaker 3: Super solid right iron iron byron basically not not you know,
Speaker 3: let's let's be honest, father time is what it is.
Speaker 3: Not as far as she used to and not as
Speaker 3: far as the younger players generally out there, but I
Speaker 3: mean she hit it right where she was looking. She
Speaker 3: hit it right where she was looking, time.
Speaker 5: After time after time.
Speaker 3: And you know, you know when we're when we play
Speaker 3: with each other, it's like you catch one every now
Speaker 3: and then. That's got that to her caliber, compression sound
Speaker 3: to it. And one of the reasons we love the
Speaker 3: game is when you when you get that audio feedback.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's like every single shot for
Speaker 3: all I guess, just right on the button. So fun
Speaker 3: to watch. I mean, you know, she's she's just good
Speaker 3: at golf. She's really really good at golf.
Speaker 5: And what was the interaction between Anka and Mackenzie and
Speaker 5: was what were you were you trying to you know,
Speaker 5: like how did all that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know you try not to sort of
Speaker 3: overfan it. You want to let Honica go about her business.
Speaker 3: And we and we did. We took we snapped a
Speaker 3: couple of pictures with the younger players and Onnica, and
Speaker 3: she was very gracious in doing so seventh te a
Speaker 3: couple other spots when they parted ways on the tenth tee,
Speaker 3: but the highlight for me was when Mackenzie absolutely bombed
Speaker 3: one down into the perfect spot on the ninth fairway.
Speaker 3: You know, it's that sort of blind finish for her,
Speaker 3: it's going all the way down the hill.
Speaker 4: But we knew it was we knew it was perfect.
Speaker 3: And Anica chimes in from the back of the tea box,
Speaker 3: good drive. And so I leaned over to Mackenzie. I said, hey,
Speaker 3: that does that feel good to hear Anica sorenstamp.
Speaker 4: So they good job. She goes confidence builder.
Speaker 3: So you know, I think when when we're playing for
Speaker 3: something on Sunday afternoon, we might look back on that
Speaker 3: as a moment that kind of like almost freed McKenzie
Speaker 3: up to feel like, hey, I belong here right Anka
Speaker 3: saw it, she said it, I can hit it. I
Speaker 3: can hit it with them. Now we just have to
Speaker 3: get it in the hole. So it was cool to
Speaker 3: have her out there for sure.
Speaker 1: Do you have any sense, Kevin, in the tournament rounds,
Speaker 1: how much you'll read putts for Mackenzie And what is
Speaker 1: that dynamic like because she's the player, she has her
Speaker 1: way of doing things, but you know the course so
Speaker 1: intimately and you have so much you can share. Have
Speaker 1: you talked about what she wants or are you still
Speaker 1: feeling that out?
Speaker 4: I have, yes, and yes, a little bit of both.
Speaker 3: I asked right up front before we even went out
Speaker 3: yesterday morning, because you always want to defer right to
Speaker 3: her process, and this isn't about me, this is about her.
Speaker 3: I don't need to try to be a hero out here.
Speaker 3: I mean, my job is to get her from me
Speaker 3: to B two C and where she wants and needs
Speaker 3: my items or my thoughts. I'm certainly happy to offer them,
Speaker 3: and I will do so to the best of my abilities.
Speaker 3: But I think I think I'm going to be reading
Speaker 3: some putts. I think what we've kind of worked out
Speaker 3: is I sort of want to know what she sees first,
Speaker 3: and because so often you don't know how hard a
Speaker 3: player kind of wants.
Speaker 4: To hit a putt right, and especially at.
Speaker 3: Us open green speeds even today, but certainly expecting more
Speaker 3: so Thursday through Sunday. Is you know you can make
Speaker 3: it on four or five different lines, it's just how
Speaker 3: aggressive do you want to be with the pace? So
Speaker 3: I kind of want to see what she hear, what
Speaker 3: she sees first, and then all essentially sort of overruled
Speaker 3: out or different with that if I if I find
Speaker 3: a compelling reason to do so, and maybe we'll talk
Speaker 3: through the pace at which we want to hit the putt.
Speaker 3: I mean, I do think that local knowledge helps at pebbles.
Speaker 3: There's no getting around the fact that there's some mysterious
Speaker 3: spots on some of the greens where what you see
Speaker 3: in the micro environment of that green complex itself is
Speaker 3: one thing. But the way it sits on the big
Speaker 3: hill that runs from the ridgeline in the forest up
Speaker 3: top down to the ocean, it means that there's some
Speaker 3: there's some subtle but meaningful, kind of counterintuitive breaks, I think,
Speaker 3: And we've had a few of those already, where you know,
Speaker 3: her first read was it goes right, and I said, no,
Speaker 3: I think this one. You know, it's a little outside
Speaker 3: outside the right, it's going left. And so but I'll
Speaker 3: only I'll only differ if I if I have very
Speaker 3: high conviction in that, because she's good at what she does,
Speaker 3: and and but there are some spots out there that
Speaker 3: simply are not obvious unless you've seen it or done
Speaker 3: it dozens of times. It just that's the way pebble works.
Speaker 5: And isn't that why she Isn't that why she's having
Speaker 5: you as a caddy, Like I mean, I think it
Speaker 5: would fly in the face of the concept if why
Speaker 5: take a local caddy who's in this system, who's obviously
Speaker 5: been put forward as somebody who knows what they're doing,
Speaker 5: and then not utilize at least get an opinion.
Speaker 4: Yeah No, and she and she will and we're working
Speaker 4: really well together.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm saying that just kind of who it's kind
Speaker 5: of like. I think that's probably why she put in
Speaker 5: to have a look like I would imagine that would be.
Speaker 5: That's a huge advantage to a not only know you
Speaker 5: know the course, but also that you know what I
Speaker 5: played golf.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know I've I've had those putts,
Speaker 3: not in rounds that meant anywhere near near what what
Speaker 3: these rounds will mean to say the very least.
Speaker 4: But it a read as a read a read.
Speaker 3: You know, I've played it probably in the high twenties
Speaker 3: rounds at Pebblo career and and caddy to you know,
Speaker 3: close to four hundred times.
Speaker 4: Now, I would say.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I mean they're there there. Look, I mean,
Speaker 3: let's be honest, nobody gets every read right every time.
Speaker 3: And there are some spots out there that that where
Speaker 3: there's subtle little ridges and if it's just a touch
Speaker 3: on this side, it will go that way and just
Speaker 3: to touch it.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's tough and nobody's gonna make every put.
Speaker 3: But but I think we've got a chance to We've
Speaker 3: got a chance to do some damage. I think I
Speaker 3: think we've got a pretty good thing working right now.
Speaker 5: Hey, first of all, you're in the field, so you're
Speaker 5: you've got to you've got a chance to win it.
Speaker 5: And second of all, like our buddy could be on
Speaker 5: the bag, like you could win a women's Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, one shot at a time, Matt. We were just fun.
Speaker 4: We're gonna process. Yeah, the process. Yeah, no, anyway, it's yeah.
Speaker 5: We should just take a second or just to just
Speaker 5: to thank our sponsor. By the way, we haven't even
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Speaker 5: red white and blue, Happy Fourth, but we had to
Speaker 5: get that taken care of. But KP, this is I
Speaker 5: just think it's so cool that you that you're having
Speaker 5: this opportunity given you who you are, what you are,
Speaker 5: your knowledge of this golf course. Mackenzie's tied to wiscon like,
Speaker 5: this is just this is just stars aligned.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it feels good. I think we've got we've
Speaker 3: got a little something going here and we're just going
Speaker 3: to golf's hard, right and this golf course, this setup
Speaker 3: is going to be challenging, but we are going to
Speaker 3: do our absolute best. And this kid can play. I
Speaker 3: mean she really can't play. I've seen enough golf at
Speaker 3: high levels to know it when I see.
Speaker 4: It, and she's a striker and a half.
Speaker 3: And you know, as I said, it's probably just going
Speaker 3: to sort of come down to, you know, can we
Speaker 3: keep it in the short grass often enough? And when
Speaker 3: we don't, because at some point it's going to happen
Speaker 3: for everybody in the field, You're going to play some
Speaker 3: shots out of the rough.
Speaker 4: There is a little bit of there's a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of the luck of the draw and the rub of
Speaker 3: the green in terms of the lie you draw a
Speaker 3: relative to the shot that you need to play in
Speaker 3: that circumstance.
Speaker 4: So well, we'll hope for the best and do our best,
Speaker 4: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I mean some people may recall at the PG Championship
Speaker 1: the Michael Block story. One of the subplots was his
Speaker 1: caddy was this guy John Jackson, who is a spyglass
Speaker 1: Hill caddy and was kind of living his own dream.
Speaker 1: Have you had any interactions with John and is there
Speaker 1: something in the water there in the caddy shack, like
Speaker 1: what's on?
Speaker 3: I've had some past interactions, but John, we've played golf together.
Speaker 4: Great player, really good guy.
Speaker 3: I like him a lot and not surprised to see
Speaker 3: him just you know, caddy has butt.
Speaker 4: Off for Block at o'kill.
Speaker 3: I have not been in touch with him since that event,
Speaker 3: so I I wish I could say I had been,
Speaker 3: but just busy, busy days.
Speaker 1: So here's the thought exercise. Let's say that mackenzie wins
Speaker 1: this thing and asks you to become a full time
Speaker 1: caddy on LPG Tour. What's the answer. And let's say
Speaker 1: your wife Roz not listening to this podcast, so you
Speaker 1: can be candid.
Speaker 4: This is a question for Rosalind. I mean you know that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, let's get the boss.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's get her down the load.
Speaker 5: Caddies, what are you in that relationship?
Speaker 3: That's you know, I'm the I'm the endlisty. She's the
Speaker 3: admiral of the fleet, so she's in she's in charge
Speaker 3: of that. I mean, well, that's wild. I can't even
Speaker 3: one shot at a time.
Speaker 1: Man, come on, fine, yeah, table that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got a question, KP. So eight toll is
Speaker 5: a great example where yeah, right, So from the back
Speaker 5: te's you know, what are you what are you telling her?
Speaker 5: I mean there is there's only far back, as far
Speaker 5: back as you can go. So what was the yardage
Speaker 5: to the landing area that you would have suggested? And
Speaker 5: then what did she have in and what did she
Speaker 5: hit in from.
Speaker 4: That particular yard?
Speaker 3: Right, So we're we're one tea box up from the
Speaker 3: back box. We're not at the box where the blue
Speaker 3: te's or US open marker would be. We're essentially at
Speaker 3: the back of the next box up. So depending on
Speaker 3: the wind, whether it's down wind to cross wind.
Speaker 4: It's very let's say no win.
Speaker 5: Let's say like no wind, what do you what do
Speaker 5: you suggest?
Speaker 4: No win? To twenty five to thirty max?
Speaker 5: Okay? And then when she got up onto the clearing,
Speaker 5: you know how far did she have in?
Speaker 3: We had high both days, hit shots essentially to the
Speaker 3: same spot and had in the mid to upper one
Speaker 3: nineties and hit six em yesterday she hit it to
Speaker 3: four feet above the hole.
Speaker 4: And wow, made it, made it in the heart. Wow, yeah,
Speaker 4: made three on.
Speaker 5: Some she's hitting six iron from one ninety little downhill
Speaker 5: if you're saying no wind, four or.
Speaker 3: Five yards downhill and probably a club of help in
Speaker 3: the wind. So for McKenzie, her six iron is one
Speaker 3: eighty plus or minus. So it was it was probably
Speaker 3: a one, you know, one eighty two shot and she
Speaker 3: flushed it and it was right, it was all over.
Speaker 3: I was yelling at it to go in when it
Speaker 3: was in the air.
Speaker 5: So get you do you feel comfortable in sort of
Speaker 5: her yardage breakdowns of normal flight right now from from
Speaker 5: you know, all the clubs in her bag.
Speaker 4: It doesn't take a caddy long. Mattie.
Speaker 3: I mean we were I've got my hand on the clubhead.
Speaker 3: She's thinking about in the wedge.
Speaker 5: What's her wedge?
Speaker 4: Stock wedge pitching wedge mid one twenties.
Speaker 5: And stock seven iron.
Speaker 4: Seven iron high one sixties close to seventy.
Speaker 1: I think I think Mackenzie might be longer than me.
Speaker 1: How far is hit her driver.
Speaker 3: The little I've gone out to eighty five to ninety.
Speaker 3: I mean it's not it's not in the air quite
Speaker 3: that long. No, guys, she can hit it. She can
Speaker 3: hit it.
Speaker 4: She's she's Midwest strong is what she is. She's bad
Speaker 4: or strong.
Speaker 5: And and and when you're when you are being asked
Speaker 5: for a read or when she says a spot, it's
Speaker 5: you know, she's a good enough putter where you feel
Speaker 5: like she's hitting spots and it's just a matter of
Speaker 5: speed and trust.
Speaker 3: Maddie, You're you're tapping into my stress level a little
Speaker 3: bit because one of them one of the most stressful
Speaker 3: things to do is to read putts for people who
Speaker 3: hit their lines every single time, because if it misses,
Speaker 3: it's on you. And and she hits her lines, she
Speaker 3: hits her lines well, I mean, you know again, it's
Speaker 3: like she's.
Speaker 4: Not a rope and nobody's perfect.
Speaker 3: But I would say, on balance, she hits her lines
Speaker 3: really really well on the greens, and we've made a
Speaker 3: bunch the last couple of days, so we'll keep trying
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 5: How's her composure level in terms of dealing with the
Speaker 5: prestige of Pebble Beach and the idea that Anika was
Speaker 5: in her group? And is she feeling or looking or
Speaker 5: sounding overwhelmed or is she in the moment and and
Speaker 5: sort of capable.
Speaker 3: She's not even close to overwhelmed, at least not outwardly.
Speaker 3: I see no signs of that whatsoever. I've thought of myself.
Speaker 3: You know, I was nowhere near that kind of player
Speaker 3: at that age, and it was never happening for me.
Speaker 3: But like you just envisioned yourself as a twenty four
Speaker 3: year old kid a year out of college who's played
Speaker 3: you know, a few many tour events and Illinois State Open,
Speaker 3: that sort of thing, and it is obviously a very
Speaker 3: very good golfer.
Speaker 4: But how's it been on this stage before?
Speaker 3: I don't know I would be you know, It's like
Speaker 3: my second high school golf match was at Pebble Beach
Speaker 3: back when it was Carmel High's home course, and in
Speaker 3: my prayer to the golf gods was to get the
Speaker 3: thing airborne off the first tea and that was, you.
Speaker 4: Know, come on, like non league, high school golf, non event.
Speaker 3: Right, this is the US Open. She seems cool as
Speaker 3: a cucumber. She's just like, you know, tell me where
Speaker 3: to hit it, man, what do you what's the number?
Speaker 3: And boom there it goes. So she's she's I don't know, pro,
Speaker 3: she's a pro.
Speaker 4: She's a pro.
Speaker 3: So a little bit about the Hawnen family while we're
Speaker 3: talking about her, Her brother Jordan, named after Michael Jordan,
Speaker 3: number twenty three by her Illinois parents' dad, big time
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan fan. I wanted to name the kid Jordan
Speaker 3: Michael Han, but mom overruled the middle name as just
Speaker 3: a wee bit too much. Jordan is sixth at nine
Speaker 3: and mondayed into the Valspar Championship and when he hit
Speaker 3: his first t shot, my understanding is he became the
Speaker 3: tallest player to play in a PGA Tour event ever.
Speaker 3: So that's Mackenzie's two years older brother who also played
Speaker 3: at Wisconsin.
Speaker 4: Might I add, wow, Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's impressive. So the sick goes out there always have
Speaker 1: one question, what's the winning score going to.
Speaker 3: Be, Oh, my gosh, you know, great question. I think
Speaker 3: so much depends on mother nature over the next few days.
Speaker 3: And I think, to your point earlier about this being
Speaker 3: a kind of almost spiritually important event for the game,
Speaker 3: and for the women's game in particular, nothing's going to
Speaker 3: change that it already is because it's happening. The only
Speaker 3: thing that could put a damper on it at this point,
Speaker 3: I think, is if we get real visibility issues, fog
Speaker 3: delays and that sort of a bit of wonkiness in
Speaker 3: that sense where the golf course simply doesn't present itself
Speaker 3: in front of them, in front of the golfers the
Speaker 3: right way. But let's say that we don't get that
Speaker 3: much moisture in the air, and the thing dries out
Speaker 3: a little bit and firms up six six under. There
Speaker 3: are birdies out there, right, I mean, Pebble has holes
Speaker 3: that are gettable. It's it has a few holes that
Speaker 3: are going to play long for some of these ladies,
Speaker 3: and it has some holes that are going to play
Speaker 3: short for the entire field. And if you hit it
Speaker 3: in the short grass, you can make birdies out there.
Speaker 4: But the bogies and doubles.
Speaker 3: Are that far away from the short grass, and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, you obviously have the cliffs in play on
Speaker 3: a number of holes.
Speaker 4: But even even if you always keep.
Speaker 3: It on on one form or another of green grass,
Speaker 3: it's if you're in the wrong green grass, it's going
Speaker 3: to play really, really tough. I think somebody's you know,
Speaker 3: more than one player is going to finish in red numbers.
Speaker 3: There are just too many birdies out there for people
Speaker 3: who are playing really good golf and hitting it, hitting
Speaker 3: it in.
Speaker 5: Play talk talk me through eighteen. You know, in terms
Speaker 5: of how you know you're teen off middle of the
Speaker 5: tee box pro.
Speaker 4: Pretty far back, pretty far back.
Speaker 3: Actually the practice team markers have been not quite in
Speaker 3: the back back, but maybe a dozen steps short of that,
Speaker 3: and and off on the left slightly so okay, kind
Speaker 3: of on that little baby peninsula in the tea box.
Speaker 5: And how how far is she hitting in? What what
Speaker 5: does she have in and where does she play to
Speaker 5: or what does she even consider it?
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, we've we've we've laid up both days second shots.
Speaker 3: We've been right around the tree. There's been a headwind
Speaker 3: and moist, heavy air. So anytime you get that plus
Speaker 3: a little wind into you it's just not going to
Speaker 3: fly as far.
Speaker 4: But we've I think we hit well.
Speaker 3: We hit in the right ferry bunker today, so we
Speaker 3: had four and out of that really good, good low
Speaker 3: flo four iron and then and then uh fifty degree
Speaker 3: wedge onto the green. I don't so I think two
Speaker 3: and six will be reachable for a for a substantial
Speaker 3: chunk of the field.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Fourteen just flat out isn't and eighteen I don't think
Speaker 3: will be for very many. I just don't see that happening.
Speaker 3: I'm by no means am I saying nobody's going for it.
Speaker 3: Some will have a chance and we'll go for it
Speaker 3: and we'll probably reach it. But I think that's a
Speaker 3: it's a small minority of the field.
Speaker 1: And two is a part five. Is interesting because that's
Speaker 1: how everyday players face it for the US Open, that
Speaker 1: they've converted into a part four.
Speaker 3: So yeah, and the and the guys play it as
Speaker 3: a part five for the AT and T. But we're
Speaker 3: we're we're all the way at the back of that
Speaker 3: tea box. So it's you got to you gotta put
Speaker 3: a pretty good strike on that T shot to go
Speaker 3: for that one. But but that will happen, and some
Speaker 3: in the field will certainly be able to get there,
Speaker 3: but uh, for a non trivial part of the field,
Speaker 3: it's going to be kind of auto lay up.
Speaker 5: I'm so happy for you, keV. I'm so happy for
Speaker 5: Mackenzie that the serendipitous situation in which she was looking
Speaker 5: for someone like you and got you as a guy
Speaker 5: who has had you on my bag on countless occasions
Speaker 5: and a lot of rounds at Pebble. She's she's very
Speaker 5: lucky to have you. But you're also really I'm just
Speaker 5: really happy that you got this opportunity and that you're
Speaker 5: inside the ropes and all of the all of your
Speaker 5: hard work and the walks and all the Jabbroni amateurs
Speaker 5: you've had to caddy for over the years, has has
Speaker 5: lent itself to this opportunity to play, to carry a
Speaker 5: bag of real a real professional and watcher, navigate this,
Speaker 5: this golf course, this this cathedral, the citadel, as you said, Alan,
Speaker 5: and then under these circumstances just really cool. I'm I'm
Speaker 5: I'm going to be captivating. I was already going to
Speaker 5: be really excited about what was going to transpire, and
Speaker 5: then to have you as a subplot to all of
Speaker 5: this is really cool.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you, Maddie, thank you for that. I will say,
Speaker 3: you know, this is the first time I've carried a
Speaker 3: real tour bag, a legit tailor made staff bag, and
Speaker 3: I just want to say, for the listeners at home,
Speaker 3: those things are heavy. Okay, they are heavy, Like I'm
Speaker 3: in reasonably good shade. I pack a couple of bags
Speaker 3: around those golf courses a few dozen times a year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm a little creaky.
Speaker 3: Tonight after two days of that bag, and it's it's
Speaker 3: like the diameter and the bulk and and yet and
Speaker 3: yet I am light on my feet because there's so
Speaker 3: much energy behind this and we're having a great time together.
Speaker 3: And I love the fact that our mom and dad
Speaker 3: are here and super supportive of her. They've walked every
Speaker 3: step of the way with us both days. And brother
Speaker 3: flew in today, so he's going to be here. And
Speaker 3: it's it's a it's a joy to be a part
Speaker 3: of it, and a great event for Pebble, the community,
Speaker 3: the game of golf and the and the women's game
Speaker 3: in particular.
Speaker 4: So I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Guys shedding some extra light on what's happened at Pebble
Speaker 3: Beach this week and can't wait to see how it
Speaker 3: plays out.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's well said. That that's a great ending point.
Speaker 1: I will say we we thought about having Mackenzie on
Speaker 1: this podcast. We want to put any extra pressure on her.
Speaker 1: We'll see how the week goes. If if she has
Speaker 1: a nice week, we're going to try and get her
Speaker 1: on Sunday. You need to talk about it, so that
Speaker 1: would be that would be fun as well. But I
Speaker 1: second everything that that Matt said, and it is a
Speaker 1: special thing that we all get to share in. And
Speaker 1: I think the listeners will pick up on your passion
Speaker 1: for this, Kevin, and also your knowledge, and so we'll
Speaker 1: check in with you as the week goes on. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be I'll be out there because of kids'
Speaker 1: schedules and everything else. The one time I could take
Speaker 1: all my kidds on a little family adventures early part
Speaker 1: of this week, but I'll be I'll be out at
Speaker 1: the I'll be out there and write a big game
Speaker 1: story Sunday night and be there on for the third
Speaker 1: round as well. And it's going to be I think
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be a great celebration like you said,
Speaker 1: and I actually don't mind the fog. I think I
Speaker 1: think the courses are more beautiful, dear when it's foggy,
Speaker 1: you know, with the cypress trees, and.
Speaker 3: It's great, exactly great, great playing conditions with a little overcast.
Speaker 3: It really is kind of less exposure that everything looks
Speaker 3: really clear with a with a high gray sky. The
Speaker 3: problem yesterday was we couldn't see where we were hitting it.
Speaker 3: So as long as we stopped short of that, we're
Speaker 3: going to be absolutely good to go all week long.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. All right, Well, this is another fire
Speaker 1: Drill podcast. That was Matt Janella, Kevin Price is Alan Shipnik.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. We'll be back in your ear
Speaker 1: soon and from Pebble Beach signing off. That's the end
Speaker 1: of this podcast.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm bed big lad the wind nay fortune with my
Speaker 2: ship game.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I ran the table, never thought I could fall, Then.
Speaker 2: The wind and hit me. Lack of can in the ball.
Speaker 5: And now catch agelists losing the street. Every road I
Speaker 5: take is a dead end street.
Speaker 2: I got thoughts in my head, can't get them out,
Speaker 2: trying not to think what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: I got thoughts in.
Speaker 2: My head can't get them out. Trying not to think
Speaker 2: what I'm thinking about,