Speaker 1: We all know Roy respects Tiger, and Roy's at the
Speaker 1: peak of his life. Physically, Tiger's broken down. It's not
Speaker 1: a fair fight, but you know Rory loved playing well
Speaker 1: in front of Tiger. Put another log on the fire.
Speaker 1: Nobody hears. Give the time. Hello, This is Alan schipknuck
Speaker 1: back for another Fire Drill podcast. I am joined by
Speaker 1: my my wingman for life, Michael Bamberger, And here we
Speaker 1: are in front of a fire. It's a little outside.
Speaker 1: It's a word on brand, as they say, I think
Speaker 1: we all know that phrase. Possibly two on brand, Like
Speaker 1: we've got some flops wet going already. I think you're
Speaker 1: fit sing. Yes, that's a question for you. When was
Speaker 1: it hot or oh seven for a PGA championship in
Speaker 1: August or today? Oh it was way hotter in oh
Speaker 1: seven to today was uncomfortably warm. That was like being
Speaker 1: in literal hell. It was. I mean, I did think
Speaker 1: human beings could could survive temperatures like that. So this
Speaker 1: day was warm out there and it was a little
Speaker 1: kind of there's no it wasn't the breeze, the anticipated
Speaker 1: and there's no cloud cover. I mean, it was a
Speaker 1: hot day, but it was survivable. It was it was
Speaker 1: like a hot summer day. How did the course play?
Speaker 1: How is it different from the from August to May.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a big thing, big bet that
Speaker 1: the PHA made. Let's take an August or to make
Speaker 1: it a mad tournament, and one of the things they
Speaker 1: were looking for was course conditions. How is that different today? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean in August it had to be a little
Speaker 1: softer to keep them keep it alive and those temperatures,
Speaker 1: so they just had to put a lot of water
Speaker 1: on the greens. And I think you know, the p
Speaker 1: g A is always conscious not to be the U.
Speaker 1: S g A, and they're always going to air on
Speaker 1: the side of making the course a little playable and
Speaker 1: maybe a little softer. So the green means they put
Speaker 1: They definitely put some water on the course last night,
Speaker 1: and the greens were a little soft in the morning,
Speaker 1: and you saw some some really good scores. Obviously Rory
Speaker 1: went crazy there for a while. But as the day
Speaker 1: went on, it pleasingly it began to firm up and
Speaker 1: there was more bounced on the greens. It was more rollout.
Speaker 1: Some balls were getting ejected, and so I think that
Speaker 1: they'll they'll continue to dial up that difficulty and that's
Speaker 1: what we want. I mean, this course could be a monster.
Speaker 1: It's it's not that long and there's a little with
Speaker 1: out there, so I think it's okay to really put
Speaker 1: the you want them all the way on the edge,
Speaker 1: but they can tiptoe in that direction and really make
Speaker 1: this a firmer, more fiery tests. To the point, was
Speaker 1: it a big advantage to play early today rather than
Speaker 1: it helps? For sure? Um today, We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Speaker 1: But um, and definitely the and it was not unlike
Speaker 1: you know sometimes it happens at the Open Championship like that.
Speaker 1: You go out in the morning and then the ball
Speaker 1: will hold a little bit, but as the day goes
Speaker 1: on it just releases. And so we saw that today
Speaker 1: for sure. Well the opening is crazy that way because
Speaker 1: to some agree, the winner gets decided about the Thursday,
Speaker 1: or often can't be decided by the Thursday Friday joke,
Speaker 1: because these days there so long, you have so many
Speaker 1: different weather systems coming through. You don't have that here's
Speaker 1: here here nearly as much. Yeah, I mean it can
Speaker 1: be volatile. There's been some wind forecast for the coming days,
Speaker 1: and I mean if if it's breezy, and it's hot
Speaker 1: and it's dry. It's gonna be really fun to watch.
Speaker 1: It seems like one of the joys about a true
Speaker 1: classic course like this is Southern Hillsberg Mexical course, is
Speaker 1: that there's so many different ways to play. What'd you
Speaker 1: say in that regard today? Well, I mean you saw
Speaker 1: it really in the Marquee group and Tiger was playing
Speaker 1: old man golf. I mean he was dinking it off
Speaker 1: the tea. He finished I think a hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: six in driving distance. And there's twenty club pros in
Speaker 1: this in this field, and and some old guys too,
Speaker 1: like John Daly and whomever. And it was a very
Speaker 1: conservative game plan and he left himself a lot of
Speaker 1: club coming into the greens. Maybe the greatest long iron
Speaker 1: player of all time, he can handle it. And he
Speaker 1: did that at Away Lake and some other tests just
Speaker 1: and he did was fine, but he didn't. He wasn't
Speaker 1: on his game that today, and clearly his body was
Speaker 1: bothering him. But the same group, Rory was just swinging
Speaker 1: with the band and he was hitting driver everywhere, he
Speaker 1: was cutting dog legs and he was seventy five hundred
Speaker 1: yards in front of Tiger at times. I mean Rory
Speaker 1: average three thirty off the tea. He had two drives
Speaker 1: that went almost three eighty. And I mean in the
Speaker 1: it's hot and there's some elevated tease, but he was
Speaker 1: just in full attack mode and Tiger was playing more defensive,
Speaker 1: kind of quintessential Major championship golf. But I don't think
Speaker 1: I don't think Tiger anticipated was gonna be a little soft.
Speaker 1: They had the eight eleven tea time is nice and early,
Speaker 1: and Rory he just he felt it early and he
Speaker 1: just kept going. What was the intra round conversation like
Speaker 1: with the players and the caddies today, Yeah, there was.
Speaker 1: It was you know, Tiger was really struggling. He got
Speaker 1: off to a nice little start, but it looked a
Speaker 1: little bit quickly. It started to look like Sunday Augusta,
Speaker 1: where the limb was getting more pronounced and he was
Speaker 1: walking very gingerly on the down slopes, and it was
Speaker 1: just he just you could just tell he was struggling.
Speaker 1: And I mean he hit some foul balls, like on
Speaker 1: on fifteen that was Hazzle adjacent. I mean, it wasn't
Speaker 1: a cold shank, but it was not that far away.
Speaker 1: And he he had a couple of other irons off
Speaker 1: the tea, you know, the balls on a t perfect stance,
Speaker 1: and he had a way right like he just he
Speaker 1: couldn't push off on that leg. He couldn't get through
Speaker 1: the ball. And it was a bummer. You know. I
Speaker 1: think there's still some magic in Tiger's hands, and he
Speaker 1: still has that brain and that heart, but there's the
Speaker 1: body just want't work. You could see that, and by
Speaker 1: the end of the round, I mean, it was a
Speaker 1: it was a substantial limp, and it's just a bummer.
Speaker 1: I think it's hard to imagine he's ever gonna have
Speaker 1: four days in a row where he feels great, where
Speaker 1: even feels good. Maybe he'll get better, but you know,
Speaker 1: he talked about it's had a months in Sugusta and
Speaker 1: he's been working hard, he's gotten stronger, but it really
Speaker 1: didn't show. So it was a reality check, you know,
Speaker 1: I think because as Jeff Ogilvy was talking about so
Speaker 1: beautifully a few days ago with us, you know, this
Speaker 1: is the kind of test that that peak Tiger would
Speaker 1: have loved, where you have to really shape the ball
Speaker 1: coming into the greens, and you have to be easy
Speaker 1: imagination and play those real high talent shots, but his
Speaker 1: body just let him do it. Today, I don't think
Speaker 1: this is really quote an important tournament for a Tiger
Speaker 1: in the sense that there really are no important tournaments
Speaker 1: left for him. He has climbed the mountaintop. He has
Speaker 1: said he's climbing the mountaintop. He said he's not really
Speaker 1: ready to do what he did once to get where
Speaker 1: he was for the nineteen Masters. But with that preamble,
Speaker 1: it will be very interesting to see what he does
Speaker 1: tomorrow because a trademark of Tiger and we sow it
Speaker 1: after he made that twelve that augusta, um, what was that?
Speaker 1: Just you know? And then came back when on that
Speaker 1: what do he played the last six sols? And I
Speaker 1: think not mistaken. It will be very interesting to see
Speaker 1: what he does tomorrow because part of what he part
Speaker 1: of what he's done all his life, has got it out.
Speaker 1: And I think part of the example he's trying to
Speaker 1: show his son in the world and himself. But I
Speaker 1: think maybe particularly his son, is that there is no
Speaker 1: quit in him and he has every reason too if
Speaker 1: he wants to. I don't think he will, but what
Speaker 1: do you expect we'll do do you find that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's planning to make the cut, but so so more
Speaker 1: than that, isn't it. Yeah, at this point, it's more
Speaker 1: about persistence than performance. It's just showing up and it's
Speaker 1: just going to work. And that's that's part of who
Speaker 1: Tiger has been. But we were it was obscured by
Speaker 1: how dazzling his golf was, and now you take away
Speaker 1: some of that that that that beauty in his game
Speaker 1: and it's more about just the grit and the grind.
Speaker 1: And I guess the issue is maybe he can't make
Speaker 1: it worse. It's just metal on metal and he's it's okay,
Speaker 1: But I do worry, like you know, when I've sprained
Speaker 1: an ankle and then you're limping and then the other
Speaker 1: ankle gets hurt because you're putting so much weight on it, Like,
Speaker 1: can he do any damage? I guess the assessment is not, really,
Speaker 1: it's just metal on metal and he's gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: But I know in my own life, and I've been
Speaker 1: dinged up on a knee or an ankle and then
Speaker 1: I'm kind of limping around the other near ankle starts hurting,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, Tiger is a big there's a
Speaker 1: lot of weight on his joints as part of how
Speaker 1: we got here in the first place. And so I
Speaker 1: guess he's not worried about that. But you would think
Speaker 1: that the Old Course is where he's most dangerous in
Speaker 1: this whole run of majors, because not only has he
Speaker 1: won there and and it's that kind of ballpark, but
Speaker 1: it's the easiest walk by far, and brook Line is
Speaker 1: a tough walk too. So you know, I just hope
Speaker 1: he doesn't push himself so hard out of his sheer
Speaker 1: stubbornness that he developed some other issue and his his
Speaker 1: very fragile body. It's hard to mention that he wouldn't
Speaker 1: for all the reasons you said. If if it's not
Speaker 1: one thing, it's another, and the body has a weird
Speaker 1: way of overcome sitting and then it's just like your
Speaker 1: golf game. You know, work so hard and you're putting
Speaker 1: and then you're chipping goes, something's gonna go. This sounds
Speaker 1: self referential. And what about Rory uh free a free swing?
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy is a joy to watch. You've got a
Speaker 1: lot of dog leg holes here. He can look at
Speaker 1: those holes in ways the ordinary person cannot. What was
Speaker 1: that like to watch today. Yeah, it was neat. I
Speaker 1: would submit that when Rory McElroy is just letting the
Speaker 1: club go and he's having fun, He's got that bouncy
Speaker 1: little strut. No one makes a game not only look easier,
Speaker 1: but like more fun. It's just like there's an off
Speaker 1: factor watching the lines he takes that are so hyper aggressive,
Speaker 1: and it's just that it's there's a shot we all
Speaker 1: dream of, that high draw that just stays in the
Speaker 1: air forever. And he was having a great time, and
Speaker 1: we all know Roy respects Tiger, and Roy's in the
Speaker 1: peak of his life. Physically, Tiger's broken down. It's not
Speaker 1: a fair fight. But you know, Rory loved playing well
Speaker 1: in front of Tiger, and because it's gone the other
Speaker 1: way plenty of times, and so there was a little
Speaker 1: something extra there where I think Rory, it's not there
Speaker 1: has anything to prove. Tiger knows he's a great player.
Speaker 1: But when when Roy's played his best golf, Tiger hasn't
Speaker 1: really been in the mix, like he's never really beat
Speaker 1: him at these majors when it mattered. Yes, do you
Speaker 1: know that when Rory mcil when when Tiger won the
Speaker 1: Masters in two thousand nineteen, and it was his what
Speaker 1: fifteen major championship. It was the first major when Tiger
Speaker 1: one that Rory had even attended. I mean, that's how
Speaker 1: really they don't that's how much they don't overlap. I
Speaker 1: found that. That's interesting. Yeah, And that's funny because in
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, as as that round was unfolding and
Speaker 1: it was clear like Tiger was going to be there
Speaker 1: until the bitter end, I just camped out in the
Speaker 1: Augusta National locker room because I wanted to tell the
Speaker 1: story through the eyes of all the other players, and
Speaker 1: guys were coming and going, this is unbelievable and what
Speaker 1: did I missed? And like fill me in? And they were.
Speaker 1: They were into it, and you know, Rory, we all
Speaker 1: know it's very accommodating, gracious guy. When Up was like Rory,
Speaker 1: what do you about this, He's like, I don't want
Speaker 1: to talk about He like stomped off. It was almost
Speaker 1: like like he's like, God, damn it, like this should
Speaker 1: be my time. And now now Tiger's back and getting
Speaker 1: all his love and I still can't win the Masters.
Speaker 1: I can't win a major like it was. It revealed
Speaker 1: something in that moment to me, and that's why I
Speaker 1: think he brought a little extra to this pairing AND's
Speaker 1: theed that you saw that extra bounce in his step,
Speaker 1: because golf will beat you down, and it has sort
Speaker 1: of beaten him down. Even though he's one picked off
Speaker 1: tournaments here and there, it's not the same as contending
Speaker 1: late on Sundays at majors and winning occasionally. Now it's
Speaker 1: been years for Rory McIlroy, so if we just see that,
Speaker 1: it says something very positive about his his inner life
Speaker 1: really especially gives just you know, that breakdown when we
Speaker 1: saw at the Ryder Cup just last year. I know,
Speaker 1: I mean since his last major, I think Rory's won
Speaker 1: eleven tour events, including a Players Champions He's won a
Speaker 1: FedEx Cup, He's won the Race to Dubai twice. Like
Speaker 1: he's done. He's had an incredible career in those eight years.
Speaker 1: But we know the majors are the are the measuring stick,
Speaker 1: and it's really been such a mystery, or maybe it's not.
Speaker 1: It's just been like it's trying too hard, He's getting
Speaker 1: his own way. There's an element of stage fright when
Speaker 1: you look at his Thursday numbers versus Friday through Saturday
Speaker 1: and he kind of blows himself out and then he
Speaker 1: just he freewheels it. But he's now the last two
Speaker 1: rounds in the Majors at Augusta National and at Southern
Speaker 1: Hills has taking a hundred twenty nine strokes. I think
Speaker 1: that's incredible golf. But you know, it's interesting when you say,
Speaker 1: you know, parroed with Tiger and Tigers thinking about the
Speaker 1: tea and you know, and Rory and full but Tiger
Speaker 1: was always sort of moving towards Sunday through these majors,
Speaker 1: and it was exciting to see. And he got more
Speaker 1: aggressive as he got more confident about where he was
Speaker 1: on the leaderboard, and he never spent it on Thursday.
Speaker 1: So I mean, he had some really good Thursday in
Speaker 1: majors and he won. You know, he won some of
Speaker 1: his majors by by being the Thursday leader, but more
Speaker 1: often he was sort of getting himself in gear. I
Speaker 1: think that's right, although of course he did shoot sixty
Speaker 1: three at Southern Hills and oh seven, that's probably the
Speaker 1: great round he ever played in the Majors. And as
Speaker 1: Jeff Ogilvy was saying, and as Steve Williams has said
Speaker 1: that maybe Tiger and full even though two thousand morning
Speaker 1: by fifteen and blah blah blah, but that was seven
Speaker 1: Perry was external but finished that thought. Sorry, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it would be no. I like when you interrupt me, Michael,
Speaker 1: You're always so deferential and these things like you need
Speaker 1: to interrupt. The more people want to hear you more
Speaker 1: than anybody else. I want you to you know, feel that.
Speaker 1: But um no, just the similar Hawkins to Night. We
Speaker 1: haven't heard squad from him. Hawk man, you got anything
Speaker 1: where you at? Where you at? I know, I know
Speaker 1: it's just the two of us as so intimate, but
Speaker 1: um yeah, the symmetry if Rory could win this one,
Speaker 1: you know, Tiger is essentially the defending champ at Southern Hills,
Speaker 1: and it would be pretty cool because Rory Mockael Roy
Speaker 1: could retire tomorrow. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: And not only that, he's been a great ambassador. And
Speaker 1: Rory has become the conscience of the sport. And we
Speaker 1: saw it most evidently, and and how he refuses to
Speaker 1: even entertain the idea of taking the blood money from
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia, and if that whole thing goes away, his
Speaker 1: very strong advocacy in the very beginning for the PGA Tour,
Speaker 1: and his loyalty to the tour is going to be
Speaker 1: an important factor. So he's he's elevated himself in so
Speaker 1: many ways, and he's so gracious, he's so well spoken,
Speaker 1: Like I've never met anyone in the world who doesn't
Speaker 1: like Roy McElroy. You know, I think you know, in
Speaker 1: many ways, he represents the immigrant spirit in the United States,
Speaker 1: which is he's a first generation American. Uh, he moved here,
Speaker 1: and uh, of course he's extremely wealthy and he's extremely American.
Speaker 1: He's got the big cars and all the rest. But
Speaker 1: there is still among first generation Americans often a sense
Speaker 1: of gratitude. Look what this country has given me. Look
Speaker 1: with this PGA tour has given me in Rory's case,
Speaker 1: and uh, you don't see that universally. That's well said,
Speaker 1: and it's it's one of my favorite things in the
Speaker 1: whole golf world is that Rory's dad, who's this very
Speaker 1: blue collar bartender, is now a member at Seminole, you know,
Speaker 1: one of these citadels of American private golf. And it's
Speaker 1: because he's just a fun dude to year round. He's
Speaker 1: a keen golfer, and it's almost like it's the it's
Speaker 1: the immigrant story in reverse where the child has a
Speaker 1: success and he shares it with the the parents and
Speaker 1: he Now Jerry's hanging on at seven all with all
Speaker 1: these captains of industry, Like how cool is that? You know?
Speaker 1: Do you think Tiger has any of that first generation
Speaker 1: American attitude with his mother being born in Thailand? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's interesting. I mean to me, he's kind of the
Speaker 1: quintessential Orange County kid, you know, he's I mean, Tiger
Speaker 1: could have had any band in the world play his wedding,
Speaker 1: and he choose. He chose Hooting the Blowfish. It does
Speaker 1: not get any more white bread than that. Like I
Speaker 1: would have brought in Bob Dylan, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what I would It would have been hooting in
Speaker 1: the Blowfish. I mean, I would have brought in like
Speaker 1: hip hop supergroup whatever it is, and like that. That
Speaker 1: to me, so I don't know. I think he doesn't
Speaker 1: get any more blandly Americana than that. So um, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Gratitude and in concepts and it's it's in
Speaker 1: northern California. It's a huge where I live. It's a
Speaker 1: huge buzzword. You know, it's all about gratitude. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's appropriate. Yeah, I don't know where that's
Speaker 1: really more important for Rory. I I fully agree. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I feel that with Tiger. I mean,
Speaker 1: he wears his fame and his wealth as such a
Speaker 1: burden that it doesn't exude gratitude. He does, he does,
Speaker 1: And yet since two thousands seventeen or what you're did
Speaker 1: he have the roadside rust two thousand and seventeen. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's used the word a lot in his in his interviews,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it's such a cliche, but it is.
Speaker 1: It is a path towards, you know, figuring out who
Speaker 1: you are in this world. But it's it's interesting to
Speaker 1: see those two of them together because I think they're
Speaker 1: both I think they're both serious, intelligent people, and I
Speaker 1: could I could see them, haven't. You know? Tiger seems
Speaker 1: have a nice friendship with Justin Thomas, but it's it's
Speaker 1: always with the needle out. Rory isn't. He's not built
Speaker 1: for that, and I'm sure Tiger knows that he's not.
Speaker 1: And uh, I could see those two actually being having
Speaker 1: a meaningful friendship. Really Yeah, that's interesting, I know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: justin Thomas seems like a little more shallow personality compared
Speaker 1: to Rory. And also the third guy in that group,
Speaker 1: George Speith, who didn't you know he was he was
Speaker 1: plus two. He didn't really have it today. But that's
Speaker 1: another quality human being who has some depth and some
Speaker 1: soul and so it you know, maybe on the concept
Speaker 1: of grat you, maybe that's why Tiger is here. This
Speaker 1: is his way of saying thank you to the fans,
Speaker 1: like he you know, he he stayed on script in
Speaker 1: the pre tournament press, Carment said, yeah, I'm here to win,
Speaker 1: you know I It's like, well, realistically it's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna happen, but if you can just give four rounds
Speaker 1: and people can come out and cheer for him, and
Speaker 1: obviously Tiger gets to feel that love too. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's symbiotic. But maybe this is a low key way
Speaker 1: of showing that gratitude. Like, you guys have given me
Speaker 1: so much through the years. All I can pay you
Speaker 1: back is my effort in my presence, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's not big time golf in this part of the
Speaker 1: world that often. You know, this is unless you will
Speaker 1: get an airplane. This might be the last time these
Speaker 1: fans ever see Tiger Woods play golf. And so to
Speaker 1: your to your earlier point, he's gonna try and play
Speaker 1: four rounds, like even if it if it means potentially,
Speaker 1: you know, grinding his gears a little bit. I think
Speaker 1: that he wants to give something to the fans, and
Speaker 1: that's kind of a cool turn about where I think
Speaker 1: Tiger most of his career he felt like all I
Speaker 1: all I can do is give my golf. That's all
Speaker 1: I owe you. I'm gonna go out there and play
Speaker 1: my best golf, and I don't have to look you
Speaker 1: in the eye. I don't have to acknowledge it years,
Speaker 1: I don't have to sign any autographs. Like my performances
Speaker 1: enough and in a lot of ways it was. It
Speaker 1: was so transcendent and we were lucky to see that.
Speaker 1: But now there's he's warm member the fans. He's there's
Speaker 1: more of a connection, and it does feel like he
Speaker 1: needs them a little bit more. You know, he's such
Speaker 1: a he's such a golf neer, and he knows what
Speaker 1: he's done where he's done it. I wonder what it's
Speaker 1: like for him. You know, when you think about what
Speaker 1: does Steve Williams and Jeff Vogilvy and others have said about,
Speaker 1: you know, Tiger in that oh, seven oh six period,
Speaker 1: I wonder what it's actually like for him to walk
Speaker 1: this golf course. He knows where he is right now,
Speaker 1: but do you think his mind wanders to to where
Speaker 1: he was the last time he was here. He seems
Speaker 1: like such an unsentimental person. It's hard to know. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: And I mean I remember that one of his children
Speaker 1: had just been born and there was this scene on.
Speaker 1: I mean, it must have been Sam. It must have
Speaker 1: been Sam, because well Oakmont. She was born right after
Speaker 1: Huncle Brera won the US Open at Oakmont, so that's
Speaker 1: a little later. Yeah, right, Remember he went home and
Speaker 1: she she was born a few days after that. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm misremembering. I have to look this up. I just
Speaker 1: remember at the trophy ceremony, he was he was kind
Speaker 1: of choked up because it was in a family way.
Speaker 1: And let's see that the dad had died and it
Speaker 1: was fifty it was fifteen. It's fifteen years ago that
Speaker 1: that he won here. And yeah, one of his kids
Speaker 1: was it, Charlie held Charlie Maybe Charlie was Charlie, okay,
Speaker 1: we figured that out, or maybe there was something involving
Speaker 1: the family. I'm possible. And because at the trophy ceremony
Speaker 1: Tiger talked about coming off and the and seeing seeing
Speaker 1: the family that he actually got chills even those add
Speaker 1: ten degrees and it was a very sentimental moment for him,
Speaker 1: and of course Ellen was there and all of it.
Speaker 1: And um, this unpositive is that your wingfoot Hoylake here?
Speaker 1: Is that the no? That was six? Yeah? Wow? I
Speaker 1: don't can't think because the dad of course died in
Speaker 1: six Yeah. Yeah, know, there was a very sweet family
Speaker 1: moment in the trophy present takes. But to your point,
Speaker 1: like Tiger has been through a hell of a lot
Speaker 1: since then, it must have been Sam And then maybe Charlie,
Speaker 1: we should we should know this. Bakudos were not going
Speaker 1: to rub Google immediately and getting the answer, just trying
Speaker 1: to piece it out. You're probably right that that sounds
Speaker 1: right that Sam would have been born then. I'm sure
Speaker 1: the listeners have enjoyed us struggling here for five minutes.
Speaker 1: But the point is there was you know, there's these
Speaker 1: certain ghosts right where you go back to these venues
Speaker 1: and how much his body's changed, his life is changed,
Speaker 1: and his golf game has changed. And you know, you
Speaker 1: think about the old course where he'll go this summer,
Speaker 1: like two thousand, that was an incredible performance. He wins
Speaker 1: there again. When Tiger goes there in you know, two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten, the scandals still sort of smoldering. He
Speaker 1: goes there in two thousand and fifteen, his body's breaking down.
Speaker 1: He takes that horrendous gouge off the t on number
Speaker 1: one that people were looking at like was a like
Speaker 1: was a burnt out car after an accident. And um,
Speaker 1: and now there's certain there's certain markers when you go
Speaker 1: back to these things. So it would be curious to
Speaker 1: know his inner life as he walks these fairways and
Speaker 1: how much things have changed for him. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're right on the math because at the
Speaker 1: at the Hall of Fame induction, she seemed to be
Speaker 1: about fourtune turning fifteen, so that that would I would
Speaker 1: check out without even getting on the internet. She was
Speaker 1: a spectacular at the at the Hall of Fame induction.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and now it's she's a bright young woman. Yeah,
Speaker 1: great presence. I mean it's and I must be neat
Speaker 1: for I'm starting your up. Go ahead, No, No, you
Speaker 1: could continue as well. I was just gonna say it
Speaker 1: must be neat for Tiger any Lynn. Uh. And we
Speaker 1: don't know the kids, and we're not pretending that we do,
Speaker 1: but uh, but they are public kids, and it's not
Speaker 1: easy to be the child of Tiger Woods and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to the green they make public appearances. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're still just kids. But when they do make public appearances,
Speaker 1: like like at the Rose Garden ceremony, in the father
Speaker 1: son event, just um to see poised, intelligent, respectful uh kids. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and Sam especially because she's really been sort of
Speaker 1: under wraps to Ali, he's been out a little bit
Speaker 1: because he's so like Tiger and so interested in sports
Speaker 1: and other things. She seems like a shy girl. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just a little window into completely different
Speaker 1: side of Tiger's life. Just it just comes brings to mind.
Speaker 1: You know. Once I was interviewing Mark Steinberg by phone,
Speaker 1: and I could tell that he was at a as
Speaker 1: he was one of these interminable summer country club swim
Speaker 1: meets and I've been there and they go on forever.
Speaker 1: And he said you're at a swimming arch, he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: like they will never end. But you know what, it's
Speaker 1: also like the greatest moments of your life too, you're
Speaker 1: watching your kids grow up. Yeah, yeah, no, it's true.
Speaker 1: And I think I think Sam is part of and
Speaker 1: I think especially Charlie is what keeps Tiger going because
Speaker 1: that idea that, I mean, how many years are we
Speaker 1: away from from Charlie getting his first sponsors exemption on
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour three four or five tops? I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's got to get a lot better. He's gotta get
Speaker 1: bigger and stronger. But I mean, like Lebron James has said,
Speaker 1: you know, whoever drafts his son Brawnie, he's gonna go
Speaker 1: play for them. And there's there's funny. He's dead serious.
Speaker 1: You know, he's gonna try and last another three or
Speaker 1: four years to get there. And I could see that
Speaker 1: factoring into Tigers like thinking and what was Jordan's comfort
Speaker 1: level like today? From what you could see, he just
Speaker 1: he was just doing his rehearsals and it just looked
Speaker 1: like he was in his head, you know, and he
Speaker 1: a couple of times he was in the fairway and
Speaker 1: he flushed his shot like twenty yards over the green,
Speaker 1: like you don't see, you don't see prose missed that much,
Speaker 1: and especially in relatively benign conditions if the wind's blowing,
Speaker 1: you do or do not get a gust maybe, But
Speaker 1: and he looked totally befuddled. So I don't know what's
Speaker 1: going on with Jordan. I mean, he's playing with two
Speaker 1: superstars like that, Uh Tiger Rory. Do you think he
Speaker 1: can do his whole Growler Groller excuse me, Growler was
Speaker 1: a caddy from yester year. Do you think you do
Speaker 1: his whole Michael Griller thing to the same level? Do
Speaker 1: you think he do you think he feels a little
Speaker 1: self conscious, because I would be a little self conscious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for I mean, you don't want any side I from
Speaker 1: from Tiger hit the ball, dude, it's not that complicated,
Speaker 1: I know, it's I don't know. I mean, I mean
Speaker 1: we haven't even really. I mean, here's Jordans trying trying
Speaker 1: to win, you know, the last piece of the Grand Slam,
Speaker 1: like he's uh the p g A. But this and
Speaker 1: this one particularly, this just seem like a good fit
Speaker 1: for him. I know. Yeah, the texts and pitched like
Speaker 1: a madman. Uh, he's not. He didn't blow himself out
Speaker 1: of it. I mean, if they let this course get
Speaker 1: firmer and faster and scarier, I mean, five under could
Speaker 1: win this thing. He's now he's gotta play perfect golf
Speaker 1: from here on. But he's you know, he's plus two.
Speaker 1: He's not totally out of it. But it was disappointed
Speaker 1: considering how well he played last week and you know,
Speaker 1: him winning X number of weeks ago, like it seemed
Speaker 1: like he was really ascended. So it's a setback. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tough. I mean, Jordan and Rory, you know, they've
Speaker 1: always had a little dance, even though Rory's older by
Speaker 1: a few years, but they you know, they're they're probably
Speaker 1: I guess kept because he came up so fast and
Speaker 1: kind of change that. But for a while looked like
Speaker 1: Jordan Roy were going to own the sport for a
Speaker 1: good long time. And um, between the two of them,
Speaker 1: who do you think has a better chance of winning
Speaker 1: the career Grand Slam? And there is a correct answer
Speaker 1: to this question, Jordan, because it's easier to win a
Speaker 1: PJ than the Masters, is I would think, so, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the small fields of the Masters would tell
Speaker 1: you otherwise. But in this particular case, for Rory twin
Speaker 1: Masters versus Jordan to win a pH championship, I would say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it'll be tough, very very tough for either
Speaker 1: of them to do it. But of the two, I
Speaker 1: would say Jordan's probably. Yeah. It's interesting though, because different
Speaker 1: PG venues are they can They're so wildly different from
Speaker 1: year to year, So it's a different challenge for Jordan's
Speaker 1: whereas Rory knows what he has to do. It's just
Speaker 1: the mandate is clear um at Augusta. But also there's
Speaker 1: all those ghosts that now live within him from all
Speaker 1: the squandered chances and all the setbacks. So that's a
Speaker 1: good question. Actually, do you think, uh, do you think
Speaker 1: that that's standing cliche about Rory is that you know
Speaker 1: he's gonna win when the course is long and wet.
Speaker 1: Do you think that is really a true thing? Because
Speaker 1: if if so, then that it wouldn't bode very well
Speaker 1: for for this week and it's gonna get cool or
Speaker 1: on the weekend. But it's good, of course, is gonna
Speaker 1: get fast. It's not gonna get long and wet, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, I mean I think those are advantageous conditions,
Speaker 1: no question for Rory. But like he hit a couple
Speaker 1: of sawed off wedges today that were beautiful, Like it
Speaker 1: was really you know, the power off the tea and
Speaker 1: then the finesse with the short irons was was That's
Speaker 1: such a deadly combination. That's what Dustin did during that
Speaker 1: great like five year run which appears to have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know Roy's always kind of struggled with with
Speaker 1: that and putting too much spit on the ball and
Speaker 1: hoisting it too high and just these a little controlled
Speaker 1: half swing wedges. If he gets that dialed in and
Speaker 1: he's feeling that touch and then um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think he can win anywhere, any time. And so uh
Speaker 1: there's such a psychological hurdle. You know, his his scoring
Speaker 1: average on Thursdays the Major so abysmal, and he just
Speaker 1: shattered that. So now the question is can he keep going,
Speaker 1: Can he maintain that aggressiveness and keep the pedal down
Speaker 1: or do you getting that that mode of trying to
Speaker 1: protect And he talked about that after his round. He said,
Speaker 1: when you off to such a hot start, it just
Speaker 1: it is tempting to kind of change a game plan
Speaker 1: and just try and hold on. But he said, I
Speaker 1: was proud of myself because I stuck to the game plan.
Speaker 1: I kept hitting driver, I kept cutting dog legs, And
Speaker 1: so he was a little mental test that he passed.
Speaker 1: And I think that's sad. That really is big. You
Speaker 1: catch any of Shuffler today, Uh No, I didn't get
Speaker 1: to see him live. I saw him on TV a
Speaker 1: little bit, I mean, missing like a two and a
Speaker 1: half foot put that they showed. But um, he's the
Speaker 1: law of averages suggests he just can't keep winning these things,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that's he is going to be. You know,
Speaker 1: he's going to going to go on a monster run.
Speaker 1: But um, he's super impressive and he's not out of it.
Speaker 1: But um, you know he didn't. He didn't play his
Speaker 1: best today. He does seem like someone who could sneakily,
Speaker 1: sneakly get in there and my Sunday an afternoon be there,
Speaker 1: you know for this N nine, this nine wonder for
Speaker 1: this sign nixt thing you know right there? Yeah, he
Speaker 1: what I like, I mean, ever, seems to panic, which
Speaker 1: is an underrated thing in major championships. Like that's what's
Speaker 1: affected Roy, Like there was an element of panic on
Speaker 1: those Thursdays he make a few bogies, and then you'd
Speaker 1: like try and start stuffing shots to get him back,
Speaker 1: and then he'd make more bogies and then we would
Speaker 1: just slip away. But Scheffler just seems so at ease.
Speaker 1: It's really impressed. Secret to his success would seemingly have
Speaker 1: been the secret to lose house Tuivesen's success, which is
Speaker 1: doesn't really care that much, I know, even though he
Speaker 1: cried like a baby Sunday morning. And I guess we
Speaker 1: all heard the charming story. Cute story more than cute. Really, actually,
Speaker 1: I don't mean it to me in any way. It's
Speaker 1: a meaning story, meaningful story. But let me word another way.
Speaker 1: Golf is not the highest thing. This party list just isn't.
Speaker 1: And that's a great way to go into major championship golf, unless,
Speaker 1: as Jeff Ogilvy and others have told us, uh, those
Speaker 1: external factors are getting so deep in your head that
Speaker 1: even though you don't want golf important, it becomes that important,
Speaker 1: and that it's hard to do if you've been playing
Speaker 1: the kind of golf he's from plane, I know, but
Speaker 1: it's Marco might be finding the same thing. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: I know, it's that's gotta be the biggest challenge for
Speaker 1: all these guys. It's just golf. And yes, the crowds
Speaker 1: are triple, and the energy is huge, and the press tense, gigantic,
Speaker 1: and is this ridiculously big trophy sitting there on the
Speaker 1: first tea And ultimately none of that matters. You just
Speaker 1: have to hit golf shots. And but to get in
Speaker 1: that that frame of mind, like you know, it's hard.
Speaker 1: Everyone says it's hard, So uh yeah, I think it's
Speaker 1: better to care a little too uh, not as much
Speaker 1: as trying first is trying too hard, because seems like
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys are trying too hard. And
Speaker 1: Scheffer's like, yeah, whatever, you know, what's the uh the
Speaker 1: the carring year thing been like for you for this week?
Speaker 1: In other words, um and Ogilvy was talking about this
Speaker 1: the other day. There's so much preamble before the major
Speaker 1: goes on and on and on, and we are this
Speaker 1: year this week. In our careers, we haven't been, but
Speaker 1: but this week we have. Um, what's it like for
Speaker 1: you to be here? You got here early and now
Speaker 1: finally you're here and they're playing some live golf and
Speaker 1: you're seeing some live golf and it matters hallelujah. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've never enjoyed the Monday, Tuesday Wednesdays because you have
Speaker 1: to manufacture stories and it's like, eventually there will be
Speaker 1: a story. Let it come to you. So it's great
Speaker 1: and you couldn't ask for anything more. I mean, you
Speaker 1: had this supergroup. Rarely do you do you send out
Speaker 1: that kind of group and one of them turns out
Speaker 1: to be the leader. Like that's just very fortuitous. And
Speaker 1: so that was that was too easy as a Thursday story.
Speaker 1: But um alright, we we gotta we we didn't even
Speaker 1: we didn't even tip our cap to this at the
Speaker 1: top of the show. But speaking of stories, like, let's
Speaker 1: just let's just talk about what you dropped on fire
Speaker 1: Pick collective dot com today, um as as most of
Speaker 1: you should know by now, but maybe don't, Michael, is
Speaker 1: a reason who you're looking at. I was looking at
Speaker 1: the camera. That was interesting. Okay, there's a camera here
Speaker 1: that's weird. Don't that weird you out? And most people
Speaker 1: are just gonna listen to this, Michael, But most most
Speaker 1: folks who are going on this journey with us know
Speaker 1: that that your recent addition to the collective, which you know,
Speaker 1: I was like signing Babe Ruth in his prime. But
Speaker 1: UM dropped the story your first big one whatever week ago.
Speaker 1: That got into all the Trump and Saudi and Phil
Speaker 1: and Jack and Gregg and a lot of star power.
Speaker 1: In that story. You want to hear a shocker. That
Speaker 1: was Monday, That was this week. That's what I thought
Speaker 1: I would seem like forever ago. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, it was money. It was just four days ago,
Speaker 1: three and a half days ago. And so now yesterday
Speaker 1: you're driving, You're on your way to Tulsa and your
Speaker 1: phone rings, and what happened? The phone rings and it
Speaker 1: says no caller ID. I've been trying to reach Trump,
Speaker 1: uh for the story that ran on Monday. The story
Speaker 1: that ran on Monday is about how how the PA
Speaker 1: Championship was supposed to be held of Trump Beadminster, selected
Speaker 1: by the PHA of American two thousand and fourteen to
Speaker 1: go there, and then after the January six riots, the
Speaker 1: p j CEO South Walk conjunction with the board moved
Speaker 1: it and they didn't know where they're going to move,
Speaker 1: and they finally decided to move it here. So for
Speaker 1: that story, I've been trying to reach UH President Trump
Speaker 1: and UH. And I heard from his people that he
Speaker 1: might call you, but you know, he's got other things
Speaker 1: going on, especially with the primaries going on. I didn't
Speaker 1: hear from him. I wasn't really expect him to. UH.
Speaker 1: And then I do pick up the phone when it
Speaker 1: says no caller, I d because sometimes your friends or
Speaker 1: your family members will put it on that notch. I
Speaker 1: would of course have no idea how to do it myself,
Speaker 1: but I I just literally had had had had filled
Speaker 1: up of the car at a Philip sixty six on
Speaker 1: Root sixty six and uh, and the phone rang. And
Speaker 1: I think the man's first words were, but I'm not
Speaker 1: sure about this good it's your friend Donald Trump. And Uh.
Speaker 1: I think that's what he said. And he's being funny.
Speaker 1: But Trump and I have spent a lot of time together.
Speaker 1: We've played a lot of golf together, and and I
Speaker 1: have spent hours and hours interviewing him long before he
Speaker 1: uh sought the nomination for the presidency. Uh. But he
Speaker 1: is a very enjoyable person. This part of what I'm
Speaker 1: saying here is not political in any way, and I
Speaker 1: really mean it. I'm just separating Donald Trump. It's golf
Speaker 1: life from the rest of his life. He's knowledgeable golf,
Speaker 1: he loves golf, He owns a bunch of golf courses,
Speaker 1: he knows a bunch of golfers. And if you're not
Speaker 1: going to enjoy talking golf with Donald Trump, there's actually
Speaker 1: something wrong with you. Unless you're so clouded by everything
Speaker 1: else you can't let that happen. And believe me, I
Speaker 1: do understand that. But you know, our responsibility is just
Speaker 1: to get the news. And uh, and I'm not saying
Speaker 1: anything here about my own person politics, but away, So
Speaker 1: I did talk to uh, Donald Trump for about forty
Speaker 1: five minutes, and it was exactly what he was like,
Speaker 1: you know in two thousand, two thousand five, two two
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, when I talked to him quite regularly, which
Speaker 1: is to say, he's a very easy person to have
Speaker 1: a golf conversation with. And if we know, at one
Speaker 1: point he was talking about Tom Watson and the suggestions
Speaker 1: that Watson what was making to the Turnbury course, or
Speaker 1: Trump would say, you know, but fabulous Trump Turnber of course,
Speaker 1: you know, because he's always got to be so referential
Speaker 1: and in personal but anyway, but at one point he said, uh, uh,
Speaker 1: I he said you know what a great links player
Speaker 1: is And I said, and I was looking for her name,
Speaker 1: and the name that came out of my mouth was
Speaker 1: Bob Charles, you know, the great New Zealand golfer wonder
Speaker 1: British Open, three Senior Open championships. And Trump said, uh,
Speaker 1: pub Rolls And I said, oh no, no, excuse me,
Speaker 1: I mean Peter Thompson. But in other words, who's going
Speaker 1: to catch something like that? You know? So he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's knowledge able. My friend, our friend, Jimie Diaz makes
Speaker 1: this point from time to time. It's so hilarious and
Speaker 1: it's so insightful, and it comes from Trump, but Heimie
Speaker 1: is the one who picked up on him. Trump says,
Speaker 1: a difference between match play and stroke play is the
Speaker 1: difference between the electoral college and the popular vote. And
Speaker 1: if you get that, and Trump obviously gets that, it
Speaker 1: shows you actually really understood understand something about match play
Speaker 1: versus stroke play. Electoral college versus the popular vote was
Speaker 1: the most insightful thing he said about the in two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen election by far, because I heard him
Speaker 1: say that and it was like, it makes perfect sense,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. So and Trump was great when that kid
Speaker 1: came to mow the White House along if you remember that,
Speaker 1: he was great. He likes grass, he likes he said
Speaker 1: some years ago, So Michael, for yours, I never understood gardening.
Speaker 1: People took me about gardon, what's gardening, but then sorted
Speaker 1: by golf, Trump golf courses, and then Trump started to
Speaker 1: understand gardening, the appeal of gardening. Yeah. Well but his
Speaker 1: thing now just that I'm started. But just just because people,
Speaker 1: you may not want to read another what four thousand
Speaker 1: words in Donald Trump? So here it is a nutshell.
Speaker 1: He's down in the PGA, down in the PGA of
Speaker 1: America for moving his tournament. He's down in the U
Speaker 1: SJ because they haven't gone to the US Open. He's
Speaker 1: down on the R and A because they haven't shown
Speaker 1: any signs of having a British Open. Trump Turnberry or
Speaker 1: or as we like to call it, Turnberry. Uh, but
Speaker 1: he's up on Alan. Can you fill in the blank? Uh?
Speaker 1: Live golf, Live golf, dinks, live golf. They've got eight
Speaker 1: events this year, as many of our listeners will know,
Speaker 1: two of them. Two of those tournaments are going to
Speaker 1: be at at Trump courses. Is it's amazing. I mean
Speaker 1: strange bedfellows and uh and he but there's a piece
Speaker 1: of news room meeting like that that he told you
Speaker 1: he's not gonna watch this PG Championship because you know
Speaker 1: this should have been in his course, and he's actually
Speaker 1: boycotting the p G A maybe what were that with
Speaker 1: one slight change he says he's not watching it. The
Speaker 1: chances of Trump not watching this tournament or zero in
Speaker 1: my opinion. Yeah, he played the other day with Scottie
Speaker 1: Shuffler and he says, I understand show very well. You know,
Speaker 1: they told me he'll watch. Yeah. I mean in those
Speaker 1: moments when you're you're talking about golf, like, do you
Speaker 1: forget that he was an exceptionally polarizing president and does
Speaker 1: it just take you back too when you could just
Speaker 1: talk golf innocently with him? Yes, yes, I I did
Speaker 1: find myself doing that. I found myself very much enjoying
Speaker 1: talking golf with Donald Trump. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Well, and
Speaker 1: like you said, like, there's there's an important news in
Speaker 1: this story. You know, his embrace of the Sudies is
Speaker 1: a big thing, and it's helped legitimize the whole, uh,
Speaker 1: the whole circuit. And I'm I'm sure that that's a
Speaker 1: bit of propaganda they love to use back there, like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's working. We're on these Trump courses and there there's
Speaker 1: a box office there and um, so you know that's
Speaker 1: a really interesting view because of course, what he's also
Speaker 1: doing by endorsing live golf, he's dissing the PGA Tour.
Speaker 1: He used to have a Pug Tour event, of course,
Speaker 1: at at Trump Dray and he doesn't now. And no
Speaker 1: matter what you want to say about the man, he
Speaker 1: does represent a very solisible portion of the average show
Speaker 1: golf fan who watches golf on TV. And um, that
Speaker 1: group be sweede. Uh you know, Jay monahans trying to
Speaker 1: sway him, and uh understandably so, but put Trump will too.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a housekeeper at Trump National, and uh,
Speaker 1: he calls the Trump I think he calls the Trump
Speaker 1: National Philadelphia, but it's actually it's down the road from
Speaker 1: from Pine Valley. But I was interviewing a housekeeper who
Speaker 1: worked there, or she maybe she worked in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: And forgive me for not remembering right now, but you
Speaker 1: know she said in Spanish, no, he's crazy like a fox,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's about right. He knows what he's doing,
Speaker 1: and he's signing up with Live Golf here. Uh, and
Speaker 1: you know one of the things he said in the
Speaker 1: stories is just you know, the super rich, you know,
Speaker 1: don't want to lose a hundred million year after hear
Speaker 1: the Saudias don't care. They don't care. There in for
Speaker 1: the long haul here, Yeah, they're playing the long game.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is wild. Are our golf loving Republicans
Speaker 1: gonna become pro Russia and pro Saudi Arabia? Like can
Speaker 1: you imagine like they did Supply fifteen with the nine
Speaker 1: eleven hijackers or like, but you know, you hear certain
Speaker 1: politicians talk about the the pro Putin wing of the
Speaker 1: Republican Party like because of Trump are folks and become
Speaker 1: pro Saudi Arabia. It's a wild turn of events. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really is. It's it's depressing when you're work it
Speaker 1: that way that you know, NI golf should be falling
Speaker 1: down this rabbit hole. It's actually it's depressing. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's just another wild twist and turn in this whole story.
Speaker 1: And there is a Phil Nicholson villa at Trump Darral
Speaker 1: and now they're both bedfellows with the saudiast I mean,
Speaker 1: could Trump is very effectively turned as a relationship with
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholas around uh Trump years ago, Trump told me
Speaker 1: the story Trump's first golf course. I believe this is correct.
Speaker 1: If it's not his first, it was one of his first.
Speaker 1: But I think his first golf course is the Trump
Speaker 1: West Pond Beach Course. And at the time that he
Speaker 1: built it, uh a long time ago now I'm probably
Speaker 1: getting on thirty years. I would think uh, Um, Nicholas
Speaker 1: owned a construction and golf course construction company. I believe
Speaker 1: it was called Octagon. I'm not sorting to have that
Speaker 1: correct either, but anyway, he did definitely owned a company,
Speaker 1: and uh and Trump put up bids for the job.
Speaker 1: Nicholas got the job, and then I can remember to
Speaker 1: this day Trump making Trump making this motion with his hand.
Speaker 1: He said, Nicholas came in with these little Tonku trucks,
Speaker 1: you know, mocking the fact that Trump had that Nicholas
Speaker 1: had not bid the project properly and wasn't really ready
Speaker 1: in Trump's to do the project. Anyway, it didn't go well.
Speaker 1: There was there were problems all the way around. Eventually
Speaker 1: they got worked out, but in that period, I know,
Speaker 1: it's really from Trump's perspective, he was very dismissive of Nicholas. Uh.
Speaker 1: In the years since then they become very close friends.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh Trump has hired Nicholas to build uh,
Speaker 1: definitely the Ferris Point Corps soon. I think he's probably
Speaker 1: done other work for for Trump, although I can't think
Speaker 1: of what that would be immediately. And Uh and Nicholas's
Speaker 1: uh just being with Trump on numerous occasions, and uh
Speaker 1: of course endorsed him and endorsed him. It was a
Speaker 1: polarizing moment for Jack Nicholas. You know, nobody made him
Speaker 1: do that, like he he just he just decided to
Speaker 1: do it. And I mean Mike Pence's staff wrote the statement, right,
Speaker 1: and it's uh, it's um. I will say this to Nicholas,
Speaker 1: he has the courage of his convictions. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: he he seems to be a real believer. I mean
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say seems, I say he is. He is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And of course all roads lead through Saudi Arabia, so
Speaker 1: Nicholas has gotten mixed up in this. They offered him
Speaker 1: the job that Greg Norman now has and that was
Speaker 1: another bit of news in your first story, and that
Speaker 1: that that that Jack turned it down. And um, although
Speaker 1: even that in dispute because this this lawsuit has been
Speaker 1: filed by our old friend Howard Milstein against against Jack Nicholas,
Speaker 1: and part of that contention is that they sort of
Speaker 1: made him turn it down to protect the brand and
Speaker 1: his image. And it's like, this story has so many layers.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating, yeah, you know, and it's it's these stories
Speaker 1: are all rooted in one thing, which I mean, it's
Speaker 1: easier for us to say as middle class writers, but
Speaker 1: there really are rooted in greed. You know, everybody wants
Speaker 1: more and more and more. Whatever they have, it's not enough.
Speaker 1: And uh, those stories never end. Well. I agree with that.
Speaker 1: I had this radio guy say to me, hey, if
Speaker 1: someone offered me a hundred million dollars, I would take
Speaker 1: the matter. What I said, well, sure, you know, you're
Speaker 1: just a humble radio guy, like I'm a humble reporter,
Speaker 1: and a hundred million dollars IS's fantastical money. But if
Speaker 1: you've if you're Jack Nicholas and you're an icon and
Speaker 1: you've been you've been making huge money for sixty years,
Speaker 1: it should have less allure. I mean, if you've done
Speaker 1: if you've done it, right, and you're eight two years old.
Speaker 1: You should be worried about money at this point. So
Speaker 1: the chance of that a hundred million dollars improving Jack
Speaker 1: Nicholas's life or his children's life, I would say his zero,
Speaker 1: no chance. Yeah, exactly make a life worse. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: of all the blowback, like who needs it? You know? Amazing? Well,
Speaker 1: what cheerful thing can we conclude on here, Alan? Or
Speaker 1: is that not our obligation? It's our obligation. It would
Speaker 1: be nice. I mean, well, how about the unusual genery
Speaker 1: had tonight? Unusual in what regard? Well, I never know
Speaker 1: what nationality was being music, it's this is a regular thing.
Speaker 1: A man of your sophistication has never had a bond
Speaker 1: me sandwich, I have possibly having a call from Riley
Speaker 1: in the middle of dinner. Yeah, yeah, that was our
Speaker 1: friend Rick Riley just calling to like check in and
Speaker 1: say out of boys like that was that was cute. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: let's just let's end it like this. What what is
Speaker 1: our dream winner at this point? Now we've we've got
Speaker 1: some data. There's there's some long shots on the leaderboard.
Speaker 1: There's a Matt Coucher. Justin Thomas made a nice run
Speaker 1: you've got. It's so obvious. It's Roy Smullinari. I respect
Speaker 1: your dedication to the bit. You've you've been in a
Speaker 1: Maulinari stand for for years. The ultimate dedication to the
Speaker 1: bit was definitely John Garrity, Robert Carlson, Robert. If any
Speaker 1: listeners that we're talking about, then you you get a
Speaker 1: goal prize. Yet we'll take the Vietnamese restaurant of your
Speaker 1: choice wherever it may be, because no one will know,
Speaker 1: no one will get the rest. There's some sickos out there. Michael,
Speaker 1: and we love you. Thank you for listening. Uh. I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna conclude this Fire Drill podcast. As always
Speaker 1: we have to think part points golf our favorite golf
Speaker 1: app which, as you know, God and the guys are great.
Speaker 1: Met the guys last night. Yeah, the guy and the
Speaker 1: other guy, Kevin Quinley and Brandon. One of them was
Speaker 1: very good, or maybe both are. They're both good. Kevin Scratch.
Speaker 1: They took me to Prairie Dunes, which is wow. Was
Speaker 1: that where you you played Prairie Yeah, thirty six in
Speaker 1: a day. It was yea and it was cold. Those
Speaker 1: guys get on Prairie Dunes. Their members are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: I think they were great. They're wonderful human beings and
Speaker 1: we love the par points app you've heard us talk about.
Speaker 1: It's a cool new way to think about golf. Now
Speaker 1: they live there, Why do you? How did they just
Speaker 1: nice Kansas boys who have done well fare Wow? I know,
Speaker 1: but they get around there with the US Open. I
Speaker 1: never played. I heard you rave about it the other day.
Speaker 1: It will blow your It's like Royal Dornick. It just
Speaker 1: set down in the plains. It is absolutely spectacular. I mean, well,
Speaker 1: Perry Maxwell, right, Yeah, we'll do a little Perry Maxwell
Speaker 1: swing not we can come back and play this place,
Speaker 1: which obviously looks like a hell of a lot of
Speaker 1: fun old do p D. Maybe we'll go to sand
Speaker 1: Hills would be nice. Never been there? Have you played
Speaker 1: the never been? Have you played the Crystal Downs? Course,
Speaker 1: of course I have, Michael, How good is it? Crystal
Speaker 1: Town is unbelievable Crystal Downy Maxwell had a hand in
Speaker 1: that too, So I did not know that. But that's terrific. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like I think it's a little Alsair kind of
Speaker 1: drew it up, but I believe Perry oversaw the construction,
Speaker 1: so do you still have that lovely phrase on your
Speaker 1: your Twitter page. Halfway between You Tampa. That is one
Speaker 1: of the best sentences ever. I think that was the
Speaker 1: last round of golf. I play as a pasta. It's
Speaker 1: so good, it's so pure. And you know they're gonna
Speaker 1: actually redo the greens and and take them back to
Speaker 1: how they were, because the greens are wonderful, but there's
Speaker 1: a few that there's almost no place you can put
Speaker 1: a pin. They've they've gotten so extreme over time. And
Speaker 1: you know, there's a scrappy upstart media company called the
Speaker 1: Firepit Collective that's gonna chronicle this whole evolution of these greens,
Speaker 1: like we're gonna be there, very very cool. Super who's
Speaker 1: gonna write that up? Probably me? I mean I live
Speaker 1: in five minutes away. How do you feel about the
Speaker 1: use of the word pinnable pinnable? It's kind of golf snobby,
Speaker 1: which makes me like it. You know, I'm not a
Speaker 1: golf snob, but I want to pretend to be. I
Speaker 1: can tell you have some disdain. I think it's bad.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about Mr Hogan? Oh bar, what
Speaker 1: did Mr hogans? You're here in fifty eight anyhow? Not
Speaker 1: check that out. I don't know, I don't know. We'll
Speaker 1: see what Ben Hogan shot. Yeah, do you know who
Speaker 1: finished second here in fifty eight? I believe in his
Speaker 1: first US Open, Gary player. That's impressive. Who could a
Speaker 1: Gary player? Probably was very tall, and then tells the
Speaker 1: hot mom, those were the hot Yeah. The whole Mr. Thing.
Speaker 1: It's like he's dead. Yeah, he doesn't care what you
Speaker 1: call him. And even like would would would Mr Palmer
Speaker 1: wanted to be called Mr Palmer the way he was Arnie.
Speaker 1: And when Curtis won the second time, he said, move
Speaker 1: over Ben, And that was what made the coke cool
Speaker 1: cool when Curtis won, Uh, what do you do? One
Speaker 1: eight and at the country club? And eight nine? That
Speaker 1: kills a good golf course. I know this is a
Speaker 1: good golf course. There's some damn good golf courses in
Speaker 1: this country. Play them all. You gotta try harder. You
Speaker 1: haven't haven't played p D. I mean, I thought we
Speaker 1: were ending this podcast. Save some material. It's only Thursday.
Speaker 1: Pace yourself. We gotta run through the tape, all right, Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for indulging. Michael and I were a little punch
Speaker 1: drunk in case you couldn't tell, and um, it's late here,
Speaker 1: but as always, it was a pleasure. We'll do this again,
Speaker 1: I think tomorrow on Friday, for on the second round.
Speaker 1: We're gonna try and get Jeff Oogill be back, which
Speaker 1: was always a razure. Alan, you have a stray sock
Speaker 1: that I have placed at the top of the dryer. Okay,
Speaker 1: I was looking for that sock. Yeah, it's there. This
Speaker 1: is the intimacy we bring to major championship. We we're
Speaker 1: doing laundry together, I mean together dining, that's the real thing.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be so tired of each other by Sunday,
Speaker 1: but hopefully you the listener will not be so thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. I don't think it really happens, because
Speaker 1: at this point in our friendship, like we'll just go
Speaker 1: off and do our own thing. Yeah, and there's no whatever. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. But I mean, actually we haven't
Speaker 1: well we didn't. Did we do a little cheers at dinner?
Speaker 1: We did? We did we click our paper cups? I
Speaker 1: think I think I feel like we did. This is
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal, Like it was weird to
Speaker 1: be separated for a year, and it was actually it
Speaker 1: was on the same masthead and uh one of meals
Speaker 1: and episode type together. Do you know what's amazing is
Speaker 1: all these incredible meals we've had. No, we didn't pay
Speaker 1: for them ourselves. It was a company money. And boggles
Speaker 1: the money there is. The politicians in Philadelphia say, well,
Speaker 1: a jail now, so al right, what a life? Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: so the people can go right, yeah, all right, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. This is the end of this fire drill,
Speaker 1: and we'll do it again tomorrow. Good night, put another
Speaker 1: log on the fire. Nobody here is get the time.