Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 2: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 3: And when I find my ball in a brid Egg
Speaker 3: Friday Egg, the dreaded Friday Friday, Fridagg Fridagg Bride Egg Lie,
Speaker 3: I'm about ready to run off of the hump course.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to another edition of the FRIDAYGG Podcast. Today
Speaker 3: I am joined by Denny McCarthy, PGA Tour player. Denny
Speaker 3: is fresh off a career year on the PGA Tour.
Speaker 3: I think he finished thirty seventh in the FedEx Cup.
Speaker 3: He had a top ten and a major, a slew
Speaker 3: of other top tens on the PGA Tour in the
Speaker 3: calendar year. Denny played golf at Virginia and just someone
Speaker 3: I've gotten to know through the years on tour and
Speaker 3: really enjoyed the conversation about improving at the PGA Tour level,
Speaker 3: his putting, which is truly world class, league of his
Speaker 3: own putter, and then a little bit on live and
Speaker 3: the future of the PGA Tour. Before we get to Denny.
Speaker 3: Real quick, we have a Labor Day sale going on
Speaker 3: in the Fridagg Pro Shop. It is fifteen percent off everything.
Speaker 3: It is automatically applied at checkout, so go in there
Speaker 3: if you're looking for some new gear, new hat, t shirts, hoodies,
Speaker 3: layers for the fall, as well as print photography, so
Speaker 3: you know, if you're looking to dress up your office
Speaker 3: or room in the house, or wherever it may be,
Speaker 3: check out our print photography. And without further ado, here
Speaker 3: is Denny McCarthy. What's up with you?
Speaker 1: How have you been?
Speaker 2: I've been good.
Speaker 4: I'm just back down in Florida.
Speaker 2: I live in Jupiter. After BMW took like five or
Speaker 2: six days off and then really got back into it
Speaker 2: the last four or five days.
Speaker 1: Are you playing Napa?
Speaker 2: I am playing Napa. Yeah.
Speaker 4: It's a place, uh place I haven't played well, but
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm just due there for a lot
Speaker 4: of good things to happen. I've I think I've played
Speaker 4: there four times and I haven't made the cut there before,
Speaker 4: and theoretically it should be a good place for me.
Speaker 4: My coach took a job at a place called Shooting
Speaker 4: Star and Jackson Hole this summer.
Speaker 2: Have you have you heard of that place? Uh?
Speaker 1: Huh?
Speaker 4: It looks unbelievable. So he works seven or eight months
Speaker 4: down in Boca at Pine Tree here and then he
Speaker 4: took this job this summer. So I'm actually going out
Speaker 4: next week to play in a their pro member called
Speaker 4: the Dusty Boot, and I'm gonna get some work in
Speaker 4: with him. Uh, and then I'm gonna go straight from
Speaker 4: there to Napa. So aw, I'm looking I'm looking forward.
Speaker 4: Probably I'm looking forward to Jackson Hole more than I am.
Speaker 2: Going to Nappa.
Speaker 4: But it'll be a nice be nice to see him
Speaker 4: and get dialed in before I go out there.
Speaker 1: Uh, coming like, so we'll just get into it. Since
Speaker 1: Ferrari going.
Speaker 3: But coming into this year, obviously, you had the best
Speaker 3: year of your career, do you does it do you
Speaker 3: feel different going into the season, Like are you more
Speaker 3: excited or is there is there a different mentality you
Speaker 3: feel like after you know, falling just short of Eastlake
Speaker 3: this year and having the best year of your career,
Speaker 3: do you do you go into this week a little
Speaker 3: bit different?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was a little disappointed and deflated with how I
Speaker 4: kind of ended my year, but that didn't last very long.
Speaker 2: Like, honestly, a day or two after, I'm like, I'm
Speaker 2: ready to like get back into it.
Speaker 4: I'm excited where my game is at. I keep getting
Speaker 4: better every year, and I'm seeing some some really nice improvements,
Speaker 4: you know, like I'm able to I'm able to compete
Speaker 4: on big hard golf courses and and and I can
Speaker 4: hit it well enough to where I can put myself
Speaker 4: in contention at these big places, which I can't necessarily
Speaker 4: say about my game two or three years ago. So
Speaker 4: I love that aspect. I love that I can, you know,
Speaker 4: more weeks than not. I feel like my game is
Speaker 4: ready to compete and win tournaments.
Speaker 2: What's crazy.
Speaker 4: I have such an appreciation for the top guys because
Speaker 4: so many of those guys do that every time they play,
Speaker 4: which is just like people don't understand how hard that
Speaker 4: is to do. Like some of these guys are just machines,
Speaker 4: Like they're just NonStop always they're always playing good golf,
Speaker 4: which is incredible.
Speaker 2: It's really hard to do. And I I, you know,
Speaker 2: that's kind of the next step is kind of just.
Speaker 4: Even when my even when I'm not on, like even
Speaker 4: when my you know, these guys bad, like when they
Speaker 4: don't play a great round, they still manage to somehow
Speaker 4: shoot a couple under them the come out and shoot
Speaker 4: seven under the next day, they when they have their stuff.
Speaker 4: So I think I'm excited because my game is that
Speaker 4: it just I feel like I keep getting better. I've
Speaker 4: been knocking at the door a few times, and I'm
Speaker 4: just excited to put myself in contention and just keep
Speaker 4: trying to win golf tournaments. And once I once I
Speaker 4: get that first win, I think that'll be a nice
Speaker 4: relief where I can just kind of just freewheel it
Speaker 4: and keep going.
Speaker 3: It seems like putting together a tournament. And at every
Speaker 3: level you see it, like at the corn Ferry Tour level,
Speaker 3: you see it at the tour levels, there are certain
Speaker 3: guys that it's like there's almost like always nine holes
Speaker 3: where there's going to be like you're going to struggle
Speaker 3: for a period of your four rounds when you're playing well,
Speaker 3: and it's like the guys that turn seventy one seventy one.
Speaker 1: Into sixty nine. That's the big difference, right.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 4: And usually that happens, you know early in the week,
Speaker 4: like there there could be a stretch where you make
Speaker 4: the cut, but like, man, you you really could have
Speaker 4: put some put some you know, put yourself in a
Speaker 4: really good position by shooting three or four under, a
Speaker 4: couple under on that nine holes. Instead you shoot a
Speaker 4: couple over when guys were you know, say you make
Speaker 4: a bogie a bogie on an easier hole, when guys
Speaker 4: are just birdy in that hole, like you feel like
Speaker 4: you lose something for sure.
Speaker 2: I had that happen a couple of times.
Speaker 4: This year where I didn't really feel like I played
Speaker 4: all that bad, like I've there are a couple of
Speaker 4: times where I played a really good front nine, really clean,
Speaker 4: and then either like a three putt or just a
Speaker 4: slight change in the momentum, and I tried not to
Speaker 4: let it affect me.
Speaker 2: I feel like I did a pretty good job of it.
Speaker 4: But but but things like there are a couple different
Speaker 4: times where it just it I couldn't get myself back
Speaker 4: in that rhythm that I had on the front nine. Uh,
Speaker 4: and I can't quite get the putts to fall and
Speaker 4: maybe shoot a couple over on that back nine. And
Speaker 4: it's just like now so close to getting just like
Speaker 4: just totally out of my own way today and totally
Speaker 4: just being locked in. And some I mean that happens.
Speaker 4: It's and it's when you play consecutive weeks in a
Speaker 4: row and you're making the cuts and you're playing four
Speaker 4: rounds a week, like it's it can be easy to
Speaker 4: slip up for that for that little.
Speaker 2: Bit of time, you know.
Speaker 4: That's what I think. That's what the top, Like I mentioned,
Speaker 4: the top guys are just machines. Like you look at
Speaker 4: like Patrick Cantley, like when he's playing well, like he
Speaker 4: doesn't really have that many slip ups.
Speaker 2: He's literally just like laser focus. You know.
Speaker 4: He didn't even I feel like he didn't even really
Speaker 4: play that great at East like he from what I saw,
Speaker 4: it seemed like he was just missing a lot of
Speaker 4: really good looks. But he was still like right there
Speaker 4: like Okay, it's fine, I'm gonna miss I miss that look,
Speaker 4: but I'm just gonna I'm just gonna give myself that's
Speaker 4: like a similar look on the next hole. And like
Speaker 4: he just keeps doing that and doing that and do
Speaker 4: and doing that and like overcoming how deflating it could be.
Speaker 4: So like watching somebody like that, you can learn something,
Speaker 4: you know, like, man, this guy just doesn't let that
Speaker 4: affect him. He's totally unflappable, Like he just keeps going
Speaker 4: and going.
Speaker 3: How much do you think of that is consistently getting
Speaker 3: yourself into those moments like getting yourself in the mix.
Speaker 3: Where do you think it's so so much of it
Speaker 3: is a confidence thing.
Speaker 4: I do, Yeah, I do think that's part of it experience.
Speaker 4: There's a learning curve to it, for for sure. I
Speaker 4: also think just.
Speaker 2: I really like where my game and swing is.
Speaker 4: I think, at times, yeah, I can I tend to
Speaker 4: get a little fast, which causes a few bad tendencies
Speaker 4: to maybe creep into my swing a little bit.
Speaker 2: And it seems like some of those.
Speaker 4: Guys keep it really even keel or even the guys
Speaker 4: that let it out, like say like Rom for instance,
Speaker 4: like he's emotionally like he likes to like get it
Speaker 4: out and then he and then he uses it to
Speaker 4: almost fuel him. So it's like you just got to
Speaker 4: find what works for you and those situations. For me,
Speaker 4: I think it's I'm pretty upbeat walker. I like I
Speaker 4: walk fast, like I don't even notice it, but then
Speaker 4: like how I like will watch myself on like some
Speaker 4: a video somebody took, or if I see like a
Speaker 4: replay and I see like the clip of man, I'm like, man,
Speaker 4: I'm walking so fast, and I know I'm like probably
Speaker 4: breathing fast too. So for me, I think it's just
Speaker 4: just staying staying a feel like I'm maybe moving just
Speaker 4: half a second slower here or there, try and calm
Speaker 4: it down. It's I think everybody else. Everybody has their
Speaker 4: own kind of you know what, what's the best thing
Speaker 4: to kind of keep me in this round or keep
Speaker 4: me in the moment. Everyone has their own thing.
Speaker 3: It's you what you brought up earlier about, like how
Speaker 3: sometimes it's just like a three putt takes you out
Speaker 3: of that. Like I've noticed so much with my own
Speaker 3: personal game, it's like bad t shots almost always follow
Speaker 3: three putts, and it's just like that little unsettling and
Speaker 3: what you're saying, like it could be just you speeding
Speaker 3: up like a half click because you're a little you know,
Speaker 3: hot after a mistake, and that's the little thing that
Speaker 3: just gets you out of that really nice flow that
Speaker 3: you had going through the whole round, right for for sure.
Speaker 4: And I can think of two different examples where I
Speaker 4: didn't feel like my thought process was that different, but
Speaker 4: the rounds went totally different ways. And one was the
Speaker 4: US Open.
Speaker 2: The final round.
Speaker 4: I got off to a great start, made some pars
Speaker 4: on like I bro was three hundred through five and
Speaker 4: then parted like six seven, eight, and I hit two
Speaker 4: really good shots on nine and three putted, and I
Speaker 4: was I was livid because I felt like I should
Speaker 4: have shot four or five under on that nine, and
Speaker 4: I just turned in two under after getting off to
Speaker 4: a hot start, Like I went from like putting a
Speaker 4: lot of pressure on those guys and seeing my name
Speaker 4: into just kind of like drifting back a little, and
Speaker 4: I totally let it go, like I got back in
Speaker 4: my mindset like ten's a really hard hole. It broke line,
Speaker 4: and I got up and I piped a drive hit
Speaker 4: just smashed a seven iron right at it and almost
Speaker 4: made the putt, and then I just continued to like
Speaker 4: string along good holes after that. I didn't like I
Speaker 4: shot even on the back, but like I played the
Speaker 4: quality of golf that I played on the front nine
Speaker 4: to shoot you know a couple under uh and put myself,
Speaker 4: you know, right there in the mix. And unfortunately I
Speaker 4: didn't do that, but I was giving myself the looks
Speaker 4: and at least chances to do that by kind of
Speaker 4: just and then Memphis a couple of weeks ago, like
Speaker 4: same thing, final round played great three putted on nine.
Speaker 4: I was like four under through seven or eight. Three
Speaker 4: putted on nine, hit a good three whoot off ten,
Speaker 4: which I thought was staying short of this bunker, gets
Speaker 4: a terrible eye, scull it out and almost make birdie,
Speaker 4: and then the next toll eleven can be dicey. The
Speaker 4: win was switching all over. Maybe it didn't make a
Speaker 4: fully committed swing. I was just trying to hit a
Speaker 4: nine iron in the middle of the green, pulled it
Speaker 4: a little, hit a sprinkler head and goes like over
Speaker 4: the over the water like in Pine Straw. It was
Speaker 4: just like I didn't feel like things changed that much.
Speaker 4: But when you go like then I had like a
Speaker 4: really stressful shot to try and save a bogie or double,
Speaker 4: and then it's just like like my I tried to
Speaker 4: calm myself down, but it's hard to do in that time.
Speaker 4: Like you played a very stress free front nine and
Speaker 4: then you hit like all these like just didn't feel
Speaker 4: like I hit that bad of shots. But then I'm
Speaker 4: like going through like a stressful tenth and eleventh hole,
Speaker 4: and it's just like it just kind of just takes
Speaker 4: you out of the nice rhythm. It's hard to like
Speaker 4: get back into okay, fairway green, make a putter or
Speaker 4: hit a good putt like it it's hard to get
Speaker 4: back into that rhythm.
Speaker 3: Uh. The US opened great event for you, obviously, shooting
Speaker 3: sixty eight sixty eight on the weekend, you moved up
Speaker 3: a ton, but it was kind of part of a
Speaker 3: really good stretch of golf for you. You had that,
Speaker 3: you had the Memorial you finished fifth in, and then
Speaker 3: you had John Deera a couple of weeks later that
Speaker 3: you finished sixth. And was there was there a moment
Speaker 3: leading into that stretch of golf that something clicked Like
Speaker 3: what it explained?
Speaker 1: You know, like did you just get you know what
Speaker 1: happened in those weeks.
Speaker 2: That's a good questions, good question. I mean, I feel
Speaker 2: like I was putting a lot of work in.
Speaker 4: I believe the stretch before that was like, uh, it
Speaker 4: was like Wells Fargo where I played well the weather
Speaker 4: was disgusting, like that was my hometown event, and I
Speaker 4: put in a lot of prep and.
Speaker 2: Work that went into that week. Like I mean, I
Speaker 2: I got to Maryland.
Speaker 4: On like Saturday, I played nine holes like nine Sunday,
Speaker 4: nine Monday, nine Tuesday, nine Wednesday, and I was like,
Speaker 4: even though I played that course a bunch, like I
Speaker 4: just wanted to get really good prep in the weather
Speaker 4: was awful on the weekend, and me being a average
Speaker 4: length hitter, it just played really super long for me.
Speaker 4: And I got Rory behind me flying it forty bind
Speaker 4: me and he's hitting a nine iron in and I'm
Speaker 4: hitting a like a I'm like deciding between a chippy
Speaker 4: cut four or like a hard draw five, and he's
Speaker 4: deciding between a full boar wedge or nine iron. It
Speaker 4: just became a little difficult on the weekend. But that
Speaker 4: that preparation and that week that that place has a
Speaker 4: lot of hard golf shots and I was able to
Speaker 4: hit a lot of them under tournament tournament conditions. And
Speaker 4: then it went to like I got into the PGA
Speaker 4: as an alternate and got some good prep in there,
Speaker 4: even though I like wasn't in until Bryson pulled out
Speaker 4: on Wednesday night. And then Colonial the next week. Both
Speaker 4: like Southern Hills and Colonial, both windy conditions, ball strikers
Speaker 4: golf course. I like playing in the wind. I like
Speaker 4: I like I feel like I have good control. Just
Speaker 4: living down in South flo you have to be able
Speaker 4: to control your ball and those twenty mile an hour winds,
Speaker 4: and so I feel like I was playing some good
Speaker 4: golf controlling my ball, just wasn't really getting that, you know,
Speaker 4: that many great scores out of it. And then we
Speaker 4: went to Memorial where it wasn't that windy. The first
Speaker 4: few days were firm, but not that firm. It was
Speaker 4: just like, finally, like I just felt like at peace.
Speaker 4: I feel like like I wasn't playing in these brutal
Speaker 4: conditions where I'm hitting you know, stingers, keeping it low.
Speaker 4: Even though I liked playing that sala of golf, it
Speaker 4: was just like like, I don't know. It was of
Speaker 4: course that I felt like I could play well at
Speaker 4: if I just hit the ball on the fairway, especially
Speaker 4: since especially the way my iron game has been trending,
Speaker 4: and I was able to put together a handful of
Speaker 4: really good rounds. I putted really well the first few
Speaker 4: rounds that week, and so it's hard to say like
Speaker 4: exactly when it's gonna come, but like I had been
Speaker 4: putting in some really good, like threat and hard work
Speaker 4: at the tournaments leading up to that, and I don't know,
Speaker 4: I just felt kind of at ease, and it's like
Speaker 4: I feel like once I have one of those kind
Speaker 4: of events, like I'm like.
Speaker 2: Okay, my game is good.
Speaker 4: I can compete on like a big hard golf course
Speaker 4: with the top guys and like that. That was a
Speaker 4: big confidence boost for me, especially going into the US
Speaker 4: Open and obviously played well there too. I mean, it
Speaker 4: was a it was a fun stretch of golf. It's
Speaker 4: something that I would like, I said about the top guys,
Speaker 4: like I'd like to do that more often than just
Speaker 4: popping up, you know, for you know, a month's stretch
Speaker 4: at a.
Speaker 2: Time and then kind of fading away. I'd like to
Speaker 2: be there. I like to be there more often.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's obviously looking at your career, in
Speaker 3: your your game and and you know, with the with
Speaker 3: the stats, like contending at the Memorial, that's like a
Speaker 3: traditionally placed where it's it's the best ball strikers, and
Speaker 3: I think, you know, obviously i'd love to hear about
Speaker 3: the incremental improvement you're you're I mean, I don't I
Speaker 3: don't want this to sound hyperbolic, but you know when
Speaker 3: you look at your statistical profile, like you're you're the
Speaker 3: best putter in the world, which is it is a
Speaker 3: crazy you know, like you you look at it and it's.
Speaker 1: Like that, it's nuts.
Speaker 3: How have you gone about incrementally improving your other aspects
Speaker 3: of your game without you know, with you know, one
Speaker 3: of the things I think across life, whether any profession,
Speaker 3: if you go and try and improve something that maybe
Speaker 3: is a little bit of a weakness, sometimes your strength diminished.
Speaker 3: How have you gone about incrementally improving your your ball
Speaker 3: striking without losing your you know, your your talent.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I've always had really good hand eye, so,
Speaker 4: you know, shooting a basketball, darts, cornhole, like ring toss,
Speaker 4: ping pong, putting, Like I put all that like in
Speaker 4: the same category. Like I don't lose I don't. I
Speaker 4: feel like I don't lose my hand eye ability, Like
Speaker 4: I feel like I can even though I still put
Speaker 4: in a little work on my putting, but I feel
Speaker 4: like I can leave it untouched for you know, a
Speaker 4: little bit at a time and kind of just I
Speaker 4: come back and I have a fifteen twenty minute session
Speaker 4: and I'm like, oh, yeah, this is like I say,
Speaker 4: I haven't putt it in four or five days.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I just got got my.
Speaker 4: Feel back, and it's just like riding a bike, So like,
Speaker 4: it's nice that I don't need to like spend hours
Speaker 4: and hours in a bent over posture putting, especially since
Speaker 4: once I get on the course of my process is
Speaker 4: actually pretty simple, Like I just I picked spots and
Speaker 4: I line my ball up at this.
Speaker 1: So can I ask you a question, Yeah, do you
Speaker 1: think about speed at all?
Speaker 4: Yes, it's factored into kind of what I'm seeing with
Speaker 4: the spot, and yes it's factored in.
Speaker 2: I'm not like.
Speaker 4: I'm not people ask me that, Yes, Like why am
Speaker 4: I such a good putter? Because I have a really
Speaker 4: good feel, My speed is really good, and I read
Speaker 4: the greens very well. That is why I put very
Speaker 4: well most times, because I've played golf for almost thirty years.
Speaker 4: Well I've probably played for twenty five or six years,
Speaker 4: and a lot of trial and error and reading greens
Speaker 4: and seeing things and kind of just I've got just
Speaker 4: so much data on all the putts I've ever hit
Speaker 4: and what they look like to my eyes.
Speaker 2: So I feel like I've formulated.
Speaker 4: A good system for reading greens, and then I have
Speaker 4: good touch and feel where I'm kind of taking that
Speaker 4: into account when I'm picking my spots. It sounds all
Speaker 4: like very complicated, but like it's very simple. When I
Speaker 4: get out on the course, like I'm just like I
Speaker 4: just I try and find spots or things that stick
Speaker 4: stick out to my eye that I can use in
Speaker 4: reading the putt.
Speaker 1: Are they spots close or are they far? Like what
Speaker 1: is a mixture?
Speaker 2: It's a it's a mixture.
Speaker 4: I'd say more times than not, it's kind of halfway
Speaker 4: halfway through the putt. It could be maybe, you know,
Speaker 4: fifteen feet away, but more times than not, it's somewhere
Speaker 4: in the middle of the putt, whether it's a ball mark,
Speaker 4: a piece of sand to blade it like like a
Speaker 4: shade of grass, like you know, like a there could
Speaker 4: be like a dark shade and like a light shade,
Speaker 4: Like I'm gonna go like a ball or two into
Speaker 4: that light shade of grass. Like it's just anything that
Speaker 4: kind of sticks out where I see it could potentially
Speaker 4: be going.
Speaker 2: So it's yes, it's it.
Speaker 4: Sounds complicated, but if I were here showing you what
Speaker 4: I was what I was doing, and like you'd be like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean I get that, Like I see that spot
Speaker 4: and I kind of see like what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: That's that's generally how I think about putting.
Speaker 3: But one of my biggest issues is like when I
Speaker 3: look down at the ball, sometimes I lose my spot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's why I I I draw the line
Speaker 4: on my ball, but I don't use the full line
Speaker 4: when I'm like have a bigger breaking like, I'll use
Speaker 4: more of the full line closer in on less breaking puts.
Speaker 4: But once the farther I get away, and the more
Speaker 4: it breaks, I actually tilt my line down. I wish
Speaker 4: I had, I wish I had a ball here to
Speaker 4: show you, but I tilt.
Speaker 2: I do have a ball. Actually give me one second.
Speaker 2: It's one of my hole and one balls.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, how about a hole? What's you have?
Speaker 4: This was one I made in the second round of
Speaker 4: the players. It was on a shelf over here in
Speaker 4: my in my family room. Uh, so you can see
Speaker 4: it's not like a huge doesn't go. It goes less
Speaker 4: than halfway around the ball. So farther away I get it,
Speaker 4: I'll tilt my line down. So what I'm seeing, what
Speaker 4: I'm seeing when I look over top is barely just
Speaker 4: like the end of this. So if I were putting
Speaker 4: this way, I would base just be looking at like
Speaker 4: the top of the line like that, so I've kind
Speaker 4: of pointed it down towards my at my spot. But
Speaker 4: when I get over the ball, I'm not so like
Speaker 4: line obsessed, Like I'm not seeing the whole line, so
Speaker 4: I'm not like the very end of the line is
Speaker 4: kind of pointing so like i'd be lining it up.
Speaker 4: That's what you would see if you were like on
Speaker 4: the whole side. But I see I look over it
Speaker 4: and I see that basically, so I see a little
Speaker 4: bit of the line. It's pointed at my spot, and
Speaker 4: then that way, I'm not like super obsessed with the line.
Speaker 4: I know it's pointed right like right near the spot,
Speaker 4: and then I can kind of play with it over top,
Speaker 4: like okay, maybe that that feels maybe a touch low.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'll mark it real quick and just like move
Speaker 4: it a little higher or like it's pretty good, and
Speaker 4: then from there it's all like okay, like now just
Speaker 4: now I'm looking at the hole and just kind of
Speaker 4: dialing in the speed that goes.
Speaker 1: With that line's got to help you with your body,
Speaker 1: get your body set right correct, And I.
Speaker 2: This is what I do the tiger gate drill.
Speaker 4: Before I find like a five foot putt, I put
Speaker 4: my putter down, the t's in between, and I'm lining
Speaker 4: up my ball and everything.
Speaker 2: I put an alignment stick down to.
Speaker 4: This is the only really putting drill I use, but
Speaker 4: I try and get everything pretty square. The more square
Speaker 4: everything is, the more my body is just gonna want
Speaker 4: to swing on that line. I have a tendency to
Speaker 4: sometimes open my feet. I think most right handers or
Speaker 4: most golfers tend to get open stance, but they're putting,
Speaker 4: which is fine. Uh, for me, that just tends sometimes
Speaker 4: I get a little swipey. The more open I actually get,
Speaker 4: the more I wanna, the more I actually want to leak,
Speaker 4: leak left to writers. So actually, like sometimes I practice
Speaker 4: a drill where it's more so for my left to
Speaker 4: writers because I have a tendency to open up and
Speaker 4: kind of leak them a.
Speaker 2: Little bit so.
Speaker 4: That I know it's I mean, it's it's just a
Speaker 4: it's a hard but sometimes, I mean, so it's one
Speaker 4: that you want. You have to feel like you pick
Speaker 4: a high line. You got to commit to it. Sometimes
Speaker 4: you feel like it can be too high and then
Speaker 4: you can just like push it down and then that's
Speaker 4: when it leaks. It's everyone can relate to it obviously.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I feel like in practice, I like close my
Speaker 4: stance a little bit and almost feel like I'm just
Speaker 4: like covering the putt. Basically, it's not. It's that's kind
Speaker 4: of the term I use. But when I get more
Speaker 4: square those left rights, I feel like I can cover
Speaker 4: it more and make a make a better stroke on it,
Speaker 4: where I'm kind of compressing the ball more instead of
Speaker 4: kind of letting it just like come off my face,
Speaker 4: I'm actually giving it a nice compression to it. It's
Speaker 4: kind of just a couple of the terms I use.
Speaker 1: Putting to be is fascinating.
Speaker 3: I was curious about the speed thing because I always like,
Speaker 3: I I feel like I've I've caddied enough of my life.
Speaker 3: I've played enough in my life that I never I
Speaker 3: if I walk around the hole and I look at
Speaker 3: the putt intrinsically, I know how hard to hit the
Speaker 3: putt right, I don't need to you know, it's not
Speaker 3: something I need to think about. Somebody doesn't need to
Speaker 3: tell me it's uphill or downhill, or it's fast like intrinsing.
Speaker 1: And I I always use this term.
Speaker 3: I always use this analogy is like do you think
Speaker 3: Steph Curry comes across half court and is thinking about like, hey,
Speaker 3: I'm thirty seven feet away from the hole or thirty
Speaker 3: seven away feet away from the hoop.
Speaker 1: I need to throw it this hard. Like No, he
Speaker 1: just knows.
Speaker 4: He just shot the ball right exactly exactly. And that's that's,
Speaker 4: you know what's crazy, Like he probably knows. And this
Speaker 4: is what like analogy that I would like tag along that,
Speaker 4: Like he knows. If he's probably running faster and stops
Speaker 4: on a dime, he probably doesn't need to like shoot
Speaker 4: it as hard. But if you're but if you're if
Speaker 4: you're walking and you're kind of just like and you're
Speaker 4: walking into that shot, you probably need to use more power.
Speaker 4: But if you're going into it with like a jaw
Speaker 4: like a jog, you know how, like guys will pull
Speaker 4: like we'll be on fast break and they'll pull up
Speaker 4: from like the three point line. Like I think that's
Speaker 4: a hard shot because then you're like jumping up forward
Speaker 4: and like you need to shoot it SOFTI but as
Speaker 4: opposed to like if you just were just there for
Speaker 4: like a set three, somebody pass you the ball, you
Speaker 4: need a little more effort and energy. It's like the same,
Speaker 4: the same kind of thing. I mean, that's that was
Speaker 4: a good analogy you brought up. Like I don't know,
Speaker 4: he does not He's not like this is thirty eight feet,
Speaker 4: I need to shoot this this hard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: That's why I always think about and like the you know,
Speaker 3: I stopped thinking about speed, and all of a sudden
Speaker 3: I got way better at putting because like I didn't
Speaker 3: freak myself out about like uphill downhill.
Speaker 1: Did you play a lot of sports growing up?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I played, I've used I played basketball through high school.
Speaker 4: I actually have a like a half court score court
Speaker 4: in my backyard that I that I go jay it
Speaker 4: up on every now and then. It's a nice way
Speaker 4: to kind of it's a nice way to stay active
Speaker 4: and still like get a sweat in without like maybe
Speaker 4: going to the golf course and if you have like
Speaker 4: a couple off weeks, like I like to just go
Speaker 4: like run around and be a crazy person out there
Speaker 4: and and cheot hoops like something I always loved and
Speaker 4: honestly it was probably my first love before golf. Like
Speaker 4: I I would just wish I'm me being five eight
Speaker 4: that basketball was never really gonna happen I mean maybe
Speaker 4: if I was like six or five, it would have
Speaker 4: been a more realistic discussion. But yeah, I loved, loved basketball.
Speaker 4: I played all the way through high school. I loved
Speaker 4: baseball too.
Speaker 2: I played.
Speaker 4: I played pitcher and and like short and third. I
Speaker 4: can throw a ball really hard. And sometimes actually, when
Speaker 4: when I do something stupid on the golf course, instead
Speaker 4: of instead of now yelling a cussword or something, I
Speaker 4: will just like crow hop off the side of the
Speaker 4: green and throw a ball into the woods really hard,
Speaker 4: which which, uh.
Speaker 2: It's me.
Speaker 4: It's just like I got I got that off. My
Speaker 4: I got that I got that out. Now now I
Speaker 4: can just go play off again.
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Speaker 3: Denny McCarthy. See you didn't specialize into golf until like college, probably.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I knew like early in high school
Speaker 4: that you know, I was early on in high school
Speaker 4: that I was probably gonna be going to college to
Speaker 4: play golf. And I got a lot better at golf
Speaker 4: my like junior year of high school going into senior year.
Speaker 4: That's kind of when I was getting into all those
Speaker 4: A jagas, the invitationals. I want a lot of stuff
Speaker 4: in Maryland locally. And then I took it to the
Speaker 4: A j G a stage, if you will, and was
Speaker 4: competing right away with you know, Speef and JT, and
Speaker 4: you know, I want a big I won the Junior
Speaker 4: PGA that summer, which was my biggest tournament I'd ever
Speaker 4: want to bench against all those guys. So and those
Speaker 4: guys were ranked I think I touched touched number one
Speaker 4: in the world ranking junior wise for for a week
Speaker 4: or two there. I was playing some really good golf
Speaker 4: that summer. So that's kind of the time where I knew, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm definitely I'm obviously doing this college. And
Speaker 4: you know, that's kind of when I started thinking about
Speaker 4: that's probably what I'm gonna do as a As a career.
Speaker 4: It's turned out pretty good so far. I haven't haven't
Speaker 4: quite kept pace with with JT and speak those guys
Speaker 4: are our twenty eleven class.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of a lot of talent in that class.
Speaker 2: I'm sure.
Speaker 4: I mean, guys talk about it all the time about
Speaker 4: the twenty eleven class. I was kind of like on
Speaker 4: the underrated side of it. I guess, if you will.
Speaker 4: My process has taken a little bit longer than some
Speaker 4: of those other guys, but I'm still I'm still there.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think that one of the things
Speaker 3: I find the most fascinating about golf versus, like to say, basketball,
Speaker 3: is like, you know, you knew Lebron was going to be,
Speaker 3: you know, one of the best players of the NBA
Speaker 3: when he was sixteen years old.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the neat things about golf
Speaker 1: is that improvement.
Speaker 3: And who's the best at thirteen isn't necessarily going to
Speaker 3: be the best at sixteen? And who's the best at
Speaker 3: eighteen isn't going to be the best at twenty three.
Speaker 3: Who's the best at twenty three might not be the
Speaker 3: best who's at thirty. Like there's this non linear improvement.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a sport that's incredibly hard to get
Speaker 3: better at.
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, it is.
Speaker 4: And that's like that's why it's like this game is
Speaker 4: totally perfect for me, because if you knew me, like
Speaker 4: I'm super competitive, Like I'm always trying to find ways
Speaker 4: to get better at all the games I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 4: like darts, cornhole, like coming up with I came up
Speaker 4: with the new cornhole method like a couple months to
Speaker 4: go that I absolutely love. Like you know, the pros
Speaker 4: they like flick it in the bag, you know, spin sideways.
Speaker 4: I actually like hold it by the corner and back
Speaker 4: spin it that way. And I like I feel more
Speaker 4: in more control than my cornhole shot than ever before.
Speaker 4: And like you said, this, this game is really hard
Speaker 4: to keep improving on, but like that's like that's what
Speaker 4: drives me, is like finding little ways to like get
Speaker 4: better at things, like whether it's cornhole or darts, or
Speaker 4: shooting a basketball or or like in my golf game,
Speaker 4: in my golf swing. Like I'm always like to me,
Speaker 4: that's what drives me, is like trying to get better
Speaker 4: like all the results and stuff. And and yes, we
Speaker 4: get to do it for a living and we're playing
Speaker 4: for a ton of money, which is like amazing, But
Speaker 4: that's not like I'm not playing for the money. Like
Speaker 4: I'm I'm, I really truly love the game and I
Speaker 4: really want to try and get better at it, and
Speaker 4: like and then everything else just comes along with It's
Speaker 4: just a byproduct of just getting better.
Speaker 2: And like that's kind of how I have always looked
Speaker 2: at it.
Speaker 1: So, what have been the.
Speaker 3: Little hacks that you've figured out to improve your ball striking?
Speaker 3: Because I think that's been the biggest thing that's that's
Speaker 3: taken you from you know, you know kind of like
Speaker 3: middle tier tour player. This year you were in the
Speaker 3: upper upper probably six of tour players. You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so we were.
Speaker 4: That was the original question I think you were getting
Speaker 4: at before we went on this like twenty minute sidetrack.
Speaker 4: But now we're back to the point. So I started
Speaker 4: working with my coach, Brian Kregan like a year and
Speaker 4: a half ago. I had known him. He's a he's
Speaker 4: at Shooting Star this summer. I told you about Shooting
Speaker 4: Star this summer. He works at Pine Tree down here,
Speaker 4: and I'd known him for probably five years before I
Speaker 4: started working with him. And I had had a couple
Speaker 4: buddies that were you know, minor league players or many
Speaker 4: tour guys seeing him down here and he worked with
Speaker 4: you know some for guys like Ben Polland and Jared
Speaker 4: Hack and so I went to him just like super lost.
Speaker 4: After I just played the West Coast just got eaten
Speaker 4: up by like Tory and and Riv and all these
Speaker 4: hard ball striker places where like I just didn't feel
Speaker 4: like I had much of a Like I just wasn't
Speaker 4: hitting it good. I didn't have like a clear thought.
Speaker 4: I was kind of lost, and I went to after
Speaker 4: the West Coast, I went to him. I'm like, We've
Speaker 4: known I've known you for a while. I've heard like
Speaker 4: I've heard you help you know these guys, Like I'd
Speaker 4: like to just come like see you and like talk
Speaker 4: about things, and like our first lesson went great.
Speaker 2: His kind of philosophy is.
Speaker 4: He's very smart with like the anatomy of the body
Speaker 4: and how the body is supposed to like move and load,
Speaker 4: and so literally everything we've talked about is is is
Speaker 4: like nothing about like what the club is doing, which
Speaker 4: is crazy because I've never really thought of golf swing
Speaker 4: like that. Like I'm literally only focusing on how my
Speaker 4: body is moving, how I'm engaging my core, and how
Speaker 4: I'm using my foot pressure in the back swing, and
Speaker 4: how I want my might have pressure in my feet,
Speaker 4: but mobility and my ankle to turn and like things
Speaker 4: that i'd like never thought about, but it was a
Speaker 4: way that was really helpful to me because I'd never
Speaker 4: thought about it before.
Speaker 2: It just it felt simple. He's like very smart, but
Speaker 2: he dumbs it down to keep it simple for me.
Speaker 4: And so if I'm able to kind of load the
Speaker 4: backswing how I want to, I'm then able to kind
Speaker 4: of get push off, get pressure into the left and
Speaker 4: kind of turn and swivel. Like when I do this
Speaker 4: stuff right, I feel powerful and I'm much more efficient
Speaker 4: with how I'm using my body and I can get
Speaker 4: more speed with it.
Speaker 3: I feel like that's how coaching into the most most right,
Speaker 3: Like when yeah, when we we were kids, it was
Speaker 3: like video and here's you know, your club needs to
Speaker 3: be out here, and it's like it's not like now,
Speaker 3: it's more how does the body and how does the
Speaker 3: body move to get the club to those positions? Like
Speaker 3: if the body moves right, the club's gonna move the
Speaker 3: way you want it to move right exactly.
Speaker 4: And I think and right after we did this, you know,
Speaker 4: I played at like I finished like twenty fourth at
Speaker 4: bay Hill, and like that was with shooting four I
Speaker 4: shot like four over on Sunday and and didn't move
Speaker 4: like I entered the day twenty third and shot four
Speaker 4: over and finished twenty fourth, like it played that hard,
Speaker 4: but like I played, I played well, Like this was
Speaker 4: the first tournament after seeing him, and then the week
Speaker 4: the week later, I was like second to last group
Speaker 4: of the players going into the weekend, Like I played great,
Speaker 4: this was there, here's the whole one ball showed. This
Speaker 4: was like two or three weeks after working with him,
Speaker 4: Like I was like striping it, like everything felt really good.
Speaker 4: And then I finished like third at Honda after that,
Speaker 4: Like I've went on like a really good stretch of
Speaker 4: golf just with in working with him in just a
Speaker 4: short time, like I had a much clear picture. And
Speaker 4: I think I kind of the stuff that I'm doing
Speaker 4: like requires like it's forced me to get in the
Speaker 4: gym more honestly to get my to get my body stronger, bigger,
Speaker 4: to to be able to do like the stuff that
Speaker 4: we're trying to work on more efficiently.
Speaker 2: And I've done.
Speaker 4: I think I found a good program, routine, good exercises
Speaker 4: to help enforce this this year, which kind of you know,
Speaker 4: I've played all these places, I'm more comfortable, I'm more
Speaker 4: comfortable with my swing, I'm getting stronger. Like all these
Speaker 4: things kind of just kind of like came together to
Speaker 4: like start playing some like really good golf. And I
Speaker 4: think I have a good process of where you know,
Speaker 4: I think I can be doing this for a long
Speaker 4: time and really successfully. So I'm excited about, you know,
Speaker 4: how these things worked this year, and I'm excited and
Speaker 4: like continuing to evolve my process, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: How how have you changed your scheduling with with where
Speaker 3: you play over over the years. Has that has have
Speaker 3: you added? Do you are there places you avoid, places
Speaker 3: that you know you should go to? Like is that
Speaker 3: is that something that has evolved as you've been on tour.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like Sanderson Farms. I love Sanderson Farms. Like that's
Speaker 4: a great golf course for me. I will always play
Speaker 4: that tournament there. There's a there's a bunch of tournaments like,
Speaker 4: for instance, Tory Pines. I as much as I love
Speaker 4: Toy like the I think the property is amazing. I
Speaker 4: think San Diego is awesome. Uh, It's probably not the
Speaker 4: best place for me one because it's you do need
Speaker 4: to hit a great and it doesn't really favor a
Speaker 4: great putter, like I struggled actually the last time I
Speaker 4: played there a year and a half ago, I struggled
Speaker 4: with with my putting, like more so than I have
Speaker 4: it any other place, maybe maybe Monterey Peninsula, when before
Speaker 4: you could tap down spike marks. That's the the Moneray
Speaker 4: Peninsula is like my like, I'm never coming back to
Speaker 4: this place. And then they change the spike markle. I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I guess I'll go back and play and play pebble
Speaker 4: because if you play money on the third day and
Speaker 4: your last off or something like I was. The year
Speaker 4: I played it, I'm like it was like one of
Speaker 4: the most confident, shattering like putting experience I've ever had.
Speaker 4: Like I didn't feel like I could hit the hole
Speaker 4: from five feet at Monterey uh. And that's kind of
Speaker 4: what it was like a little mini version of that
Speaker 4: at Tori a couple of years ago. So I'm out
Speaker 4: on toy for now. Maybe I'll go back there for
Speaker 4: the US opener later in my career. I think it
Speaker 4: just like kind of depends on like most like there's
Speaker 4: a definitely a handful of places I have in my
Speaker 4: mind that I love, like I'm gonna go to every year,
Speaker 4: and then there's like a handful of places like give
Speaker 4: or take, Like uh, I mean, everything can change. Like
Speaker 4: you you win a tournament and you have like two
Speaker 4: really great weeks, and then you spend a lot of energy,
Speaker 4: like you might need a couple of weeks off, and
Speaker 4: you might not play that place that you played the
Speaker 4: year before because you just need like a little top,
Speaker 4: like you just need some time off from the weeks
Speaker 4: you just played.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think.
Speaker 4: And then there's other places where maybe you're not playing
Speaker 4: great leading up to it and you need a good event,
Speaker 4: and maybe you play a place that you haven't played it.
Speaker 4: To me, it's totally dependent on how you feel, how
Speaker 4: you've played leading.
Speaker 3: Up to it.
Speaker 4: What kind of decision goes into Like Okay, I do
Speaker 4: like I played well here last year, but I just
Speaker 4: played well the last two weeks, had two really good weeks.
Speaker 4: I could maybe use I could either I could go
Speaker 4: win that tournament or I could use an off week.
Speaker 4: Like it's it's it kind of just depends.
Speaker 3: How's how's this year You've you've had your career on
Speaker 3: the PGA tour has had some interesting periods between COVID
Speaker 3: and now uh now this year with the live live
Speaker 3: drama How's This year, they're a bit different on tour
Speaker 3: with with the like kind of live speculation.
Speaker 4: It's definitely that's seems like that controls like eighty percent
Speaker 4: of the conversation, like anywhere you are, like if you're
Speaker 4: not talking about it, you see somebody else at a
Speaker 4: table that you don't know what they're talking about, but
Speaker 4: you're like ninety percent sure those three guys are talking
Speaker 4: about something related to live.
Speaker 2: Like it's like I I've kind of like.
Speaker 4: Gotten sick of talking about it the last few months,
Speaker 4: Like I don't care if these guys go like go
Speaker 4: like if you're gonna go like like okay, good, Like
Speaker 4: I get it. You're making you you got offered a
Speaker 4: ton of money that was probably hard to turn down.
Speaker 4: You have a kid or two, and like you're looking
Speaker 4: to support your family. Like I totally understand that.
Speaker 2: I totally get it.
Speaker 4: They want the financial stability of it, at least, like
Speaker 4: some of them have come out and said that, where
Speaker 4: like other people have been like they've like.
Speaker 2: Kind of like danced around like what they what they
Speaker 2: actually went there for. They Yeah, I'm us, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: use the money to like grow the game.
Speaker 4: Like now you're like, get you got a massive offer
Speaker 4: and you just you you wanted all that money, Like
Speaker 4: just come out and say that, like Harold, Like I
Speaker 4: liked reading Harold.
Speaker 2: It's like I love Harold.
Speaker 4: Uh, it's unfortunate that he's leaving because he's he's a
Speaker 4: good buddy of mine. And but like I at least
Speaker 4: like his letter is like I'm gonna be real with you,
Speaker 4: like it's I I did it to support my family
Speaker 4: and future generations of my family. And I totally get that.
Speaker 4: I totally understand it. And I like how he said,
Speaker 4: like it's still gonna be me. I'm this, I'm the
Speaker 4: same me. I still like want to be friends with
Speaker 4: all you guys, but I don't. I don't like as
Speaker 4: long as these guys, like, I think it's kind of
Speaker 4: annoying that some of these guys are like they say
Speaker 4: these things that would they they want to play less
Speaker 4: and they want to play less and they want to
Speaker 4: be with their families more. And then they they go
Speaker 4: to the Lift Tour and then they want to come
Speaker 4: play the PGA Tour too, Like I'm like you said
Speaker 4: you wanted to play less. Why why do you want
Speaker 4: to play the Lift Tour and the PGA Tour be
Speaker 4: playing way more? Actually if you were doing that, So
Speaker 4: I got those like some people have been kind of
Speaker 4: talking out both sides of their mouths, which can happen.
Speaker 4: I guess I'm staying on the PGA Tour and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna continue to get better and win tournaments, and I
Speaker 4: want to play in majors and I want to play
Speaker 4: against the best players in the world, and right now
Speaker 4: it's still a PGA Tour.
Speaker 3: Is there anything appealing? Do you find anything appealing about
Speaker 3: Liv's system or setup? Is there anything about it that
Speaker 3: you you think is appealing.
Speaker 4: I think the team aspect is appealing, but maybe not
Speaker 4: every week. Like golf, golf is very much an individualized sport.
Speaker 4: Outside of a couple events. There's you got the Ryder
Speaker 4: Cup and the President's Cup, and you know, those events
Speaker 4: are very very appealing to me. I don't know if
Speaker 4: I'd want to be part of a team event every week.
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess it sounds cool. I mean, I
Speaker 4: don't know the reason I like golf so much is
Speaker 4: because it's all like you can you can control everything yourself.
Speaker 4: I guess you can still do that in the team aspect.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean.
Speaker 4: The team part is cool, but everything else about it
Speaker 4: just doesn't even see Like I don't think i'd be
Speaker 4: able to to get up like I would go into
Speaker 4: a PGA Tour event, Like I don't think i'd my
Speaker 4: the juices would be flown as much if I were
Speaker 4: playing a live event, because I know I have a
Speaker 4: ton of guaranteed money even and even if I don't
Speaker 4: play that well, I'm still making a ton of money.
Speaker 4: Like I don't think the incentive uh is that high,
Speaker 4: Like I have a very high competitive drive and and
Speaker 4: I don't think I think I would lose some of
Speaker 4: that if if that were the case, if I were
Speaker 4: to go play on the Lift Tour for a team
Speaker 4: event relying on my teammates, like I don't I'd like
Speaker 4: to take more accountability myself.
Speaker 1: What what do you think of as as a player?
Speaker 3: I you know that is not in you know right now,
Speaker 3: not in the top like you know that that PIP
Speaker 3: type player, But is you know a player that would
Speaker 3: be kind of in the mix for these elevators, like,
Speaker 3: how do you feel about the tour's new response with
Speaker 3: these elevated events, and then you know, kind of the
Speaker 3: it's almost like, I I don't want to use this term, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, too lightly, but the PGA Tour A and
Speaker 3: the PGA Tour B typed set up that they're moving towards.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, I know one thing, it's a it's a
Speaker 4: good time for me to be playing good golf. You know,
Speaker 4: I want to be, like I said, I'm very competitive.
Speaker 4: I want to be playing with the best players of
Speaker 4: the world, and those guys getting better it has only
Speaker 4: driven me to keep getting better, so you know, it's
Speaker 4: it's it's definitely interesting. I think if I didn't have
Speaker 4: as good of a year, i'd be like, I'd be like, man,
Speaker 4: they're playing for They're going to play for all that
Speaker 4: money this year, and I'm not going to get into
Speaker 4: I'm not going to get into any of those events.
Speaker 4: I think it's a good thing that I'm on the
Speaker 4: other side of that where I think I don't know
Speaker 4: the criteria exactly, but it seems like I'm going to
Speaker 4: be in a handful of those bigger, elevated perse events
Speaker 4: and like I said, I don't necessarily play this game
Speaker 4: for the money. I mean, I do do it for
Speaker 4: a living, and I'm very grateful for that. But at
Speaker 4: the same time, like I told you earlier, I'm just
Speaker 4: trying to I'm really just trying to get better. Like
Speaker 4: I just want to see how good I can get
Speaker 4: at golf, and it's a good time to do that
Speaker 4: with the money that we're playing for, with these these
Speaker 4: elevated purses.
Speaker 2: It's very interesting.
Speaker 4: I'm sure there's going to be a handful of tour
Speaker 4: members that don't get into those events are going to
Speaker 4: be kind of pissed off, but it might motivate them
Speaker 4: the same way it's motivated me to kind of get
Speaker 4: their ass into gear so that you do play for
Speaker 4: those twenty million dollars versus.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it provides a little bit clearer definition
Speaker 3: and and and I think like something that I've I've
Speaker 3: kind of been on a kick with is like when
Speaker 3: I look at the top of the of the corn
Speaker 3: Ferry Tour and you know, the the bottom half of
Speaker 3: the PGA Tour, It's like, what's really the difference? And
Speaker 3: could there be you know, like an event you alluded to,
Speaker 3: like the Sanderson, could we could it morph into more
Speaker 3: of like a a mix between the top corn fairy
Speaker 3: guys in the bottom part of the PGA tour where
Speaker 3: all of a sudden we're starting to blur the lines
Speaker 3: and it becomes a little bit more like the way
Speaker 3: other sports operate, like n b A you have two
Speaker 3: way contracts with with players that you know, if if
Speaker 3: you're not playing a lot on the on on on
Speaker 3: your on your team and your younger guy, you go.
Speaker 3: But you could kind of play back and forth between
Speaker 3: the G League and the NBA. If it's baseball, you're
Speaker 3: playing Triple A and and in the major leagues, like you,
Speaker 3: you're bouncing back and forth. Your status isn't necessarily locked
Speaker 3: in for an annual basis.
Speaker 1: I mean, I here, what were what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on that?
Speaker 3: Thought?
Speaker 4: It was really cool when so I think, what was
Speaker 4: that the COVID year, whatever year the corner played two years,
Speaker 4: the top ten guys were able to play like the
Speaker 4: opposite field events.
Speaker 2: Is that what it was?
Speaker 1: I think?
Speaker 4: So? Yeah, yeah, so the top ten I thought that
Speaker 4: was really cool, and I think I think they could
Speaker 4: do more of that where say you finish, say you finish,
Speaker 4: you play four or five events on the corn Ferry
Speaker 4: and you've earned like you're the top five guys in
Speaker 4: that top five or that would just be the maybe
Speaker 4: the top five ways maybe like the top ten guys
Speaker 4: in that like five week stretch. Say, do you then
Speaker 4: have the option if you want to to go play
Speaker 4: like you get you qualify for a tour event or two,
Speaker 4: like where you're able to play in a couple of
Speaker 4: tour events.
Speaker 2: I think that would be really cool.
Speaker 4: Like those guys on the corn Ferry that are winning
Speaker 4: those tournaments and finishing towards the top were obviously playing well,
Speaker 4: why not throw them into the mix for a tour
Speaker 4: event or two and see what see what they can do?
Speaker 4: What if they just jump right on the right on
Speaker 4: tour and they and they have and they win like
Speaker 4: right away on tour Like I think that would be
Speaker 4: a way to kind of like there could almost be
Speaker 4: like not graduate, but you play, you play a couple
Speaker 4: of tour events for those ten guys and if they
Speaker 4: don't earn x amount of points, then they go back
Speaker 4: to the cornferry. If not, like you're able to play
Speaker 4: a couple more tour events. I don't know how that works.
Speaker 4: But I think I think that's I think that's very interesting.
Speaker 4: I also don't know, like these top elevated persons with
Speaker 4: these top players, Like I don't know how much, say
Speaker 4: these fields are only like forty say some of these
Speaker 4: fields they make like forty or fifty people and there's
Speaker 4: no cut, Like.
Speaker 2: Do guys really want to watch? Like what if Rory.
Speaker 4: Shoots like seventy five seventy three the first two days
Speaker 4: and then he's like in last place and he's forced
Speaker 4: to play like the weekend, Like do guys really want
Speaker 4: to watch that? Or the ratings higher? Like wouldn't it
Speaker 4: be high, ratings be higher if you let more people
Speaker 4: in and somebody somebody you wouldn't think of, because because
Speaker 4: the PGA tour is so deep, I mean, obviously you
Speaker 4: have the top players, but you know the fifty through
Speaker 4: the one, twenty five and even the one.
Speaker 2: These guys are no they're no slouches.
Speaker 4: They have the ability to win tournaments too, Like, wouldn't
Speaker 4: it be more interesting to throw in like more guys
Speaker 4: into those fields so you can maybe have somebody that
Speaker 4: is mixed in with the top players that somebody wouldn't expect,
Speaker 4: Like I feel like ratings are almost higher when that happens.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know. Well.
Speaker 3: I think one of the big things that with the
Speaker 3: OWGR change is that bigger fields are very are advantageous
Speaker 3: for world ranking points. So with I think one of
Speaker 3: the things that you know, obviously a lot of the
Speaker 3: details on those elevated events are going to come out
Speaker 3: in the coming weeks, but it's very advantageous for the
Speaker 3: PGA Tour to make the elevated event fields big because
Speaker 3: they will get significantly more world ranking points, which is
Speaker 3: you know what you want. You want the best players
Speaker 3: on your tour. You know, when they win an elevated
Speaker 3: point event to get cashed in, you know. So I
Speaker 3: think that's I think that will be it. I do.
Speaker 1: I love you know.
Speaker 3: The thing that I always think about is like Sung
Speaker 3: JM and Scottie Scheffler. These were guys that spent an
Speaker 3: entire year on the on the corn Ferry Tour. I
Speaker 3: mean him went wired wire, Scheffler almost went wired to
Speaker 3: wires number one, and then they come on tour and
Speaker 3: I think Scheffler's first year he finished fifth in the
Speaker 3: FedEx Cup, and I think uh Sung Jay he made
Speaker 3: it to Eastlake, and it's like, you know, if I
Speaker 3: had spent some time at a couple of corn Fairy
Speaker 3: events the year Sung day, I think you were playing
Speaker 3: corn Ferry or no, maybe not.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The year he.
Speaker 4: The year he won that money list is the year
Speaker 4: was my first year on tour, but I finished one
Speaker 4: twenty six to one fifty. I went back to corn
Speaker 4: Ferry Finals and I won the corn Ferry Finals. Me
Speaker 4: and him were basically in the same category for my
Speaker 4: second year on tour. It was his first year on tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and he you know, you go down, it's
Speaker 3: like everybody's like this, this kid's a machine. He's unbelievable.
Speaker 3: And it's like everybody knew it's five weeks into the
Speaker 3: corn Ferry Tour season that this guy was a bona
Speaker 3: fide tour player.
Speaker 4: Right, just like give him some events out there to
Speaker 4: see what he can do and maybe he can just
Speaker 4: like earn like he gets to play for more money
Speaker 4: that year and he can prove that, like he's gonna
Speaker 4: earn his his tour card this year as well.
Speaker 2: Like I think they're there.
Speaker 4: There's an interesting way, like I think that could work,
Speaker 4: Like there's I feel like there could be a system
Speaker 4: where like because like it's really hard to win three.
Speaker 1: Times on that like exactly anywhere that.
Speaker 4: Promotion is like the promotion is ridiculous, Like but by
Speaker 4: the time somebody wins three times, it's most likely the
Speaker 4: very end of the year where they don't get any
Speaker 4: tour starts, like they might get one or two. Like
Speaker 4: it should be like it should be a two it
Speaker 4: should maybe make you should make you make that like
Speaker 4: a two win promotion or if you hit a certain
Speaker 4: point threshold by like a certain point in the year
Speaker 4: or something like, that person should be able to go
Speaker 4: to the tour. Like if you hit like a a
Speaker 4: thousand point threshold where you definitely would have your card
Speaker 4: locked up.
Speaker 2: Like you should be able to go to the tour
Speaker 2: or something. I don't know, there's.
Speaker 1: Gotta be, yeah, I was.
Speaker 3: I just did the math the other day because Pearson Coodie,
Speaker 3: young kid from Texas, he he was number one in
Speaker 3: the PGA Tour U system and so he took the
Speaker 3: cord Fairy starts and he and his he did eight
Speaker 3: starts in the regular season. He finished like thirty second
Speaker 3: or something. But like if if you if you made
Speaker 3: his starts a full season. He would have been first
Speaker 3: or second on the Corn Fairy based off his points
Speaker 3: per start. And it's like and now he's on the
Speaker 3: outside looking in at Cord Fairy Finals because he's had
Speaker 3: like a few average weeks and it's like this is silly.
Speaker 3: This is you know, like no, no, nobody can look
Speaker 3: at this kid and not be like, hey, he's a
Speaker 3: PGA tour but he might end up on Corferry Tour
Speaker 3: for an entire year. And it's just like we you
Speaker 3: know this, it's twenty twenty two. We don't need to
Speaker 3: have like an archaic year by year. You know, there
Speaker 3: can be some movement throughout the year. Right, it is
Speaker 3: almost like the reshuffle is the same thing on the
Speaker 3: PGA Tour, Like why are there specific reshuffle dates? Like
Speaker 3: why can't this just be a continuous reshuffle?
Speaker 4: Right, I'm I'm with you, I'm with you, And like
Speaker 4: he could you know, he's probably gonna get his seven
Speaker 4: sponsor events, and like he's he's gonna have a good
Speaker 4: chance to do something about it because he's probably gonna
Speaker 4: he's gonna get some sponsor invites into the fall.
Speaker 2: If he doesn't, if this is if he doesn't, if
Speaker 2: he doesn't get it.
Speaker 4: He's gonna get enough sponsor invites where like he's probably
Speaker 4: good enough to top ten where he can, you know,
Speaker 4: top ten and one or two of the starts he
Speaker 4: gets and and snowballing that into another start.
Speaker 2: And like it's probably good enough to do that.
Speaker 4: But that's like a lot just said, it's kind of ridiculous,
Speaker 4: Like he he he might need he might potentially need
Speaker 4: to spend a whole nother year on corn carry when
Speaker 4: like he's clearly good enough to be on the PGA Tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think like the discussion goes back to
Speaker 3: like live where if you want to build loyalty with
Speaker 3: young Like I loved Rory's comment, and I think it
Speaker 3: fits with the way you think about professional golf where
Speaker 3: he's like, we want to build the tour that if
Speaker 3: you want to be the best player in the world,
Speaker 3: this is where you want to play.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like, hey, let's get the best players
Speaker 3: up as quick as possible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm totally in for that.
Speaker 4: That only makes that only that only makes the the
Speaker 4: PGA Tour product bigger and better and stronger. Like that
Speaker 4: that only you know, because the game is just I
Speaker 4: don't know what the average ages on the PGA Tour,
Speaker 4: but it's crazy how many guys, how good some of
Speaker 4: these college players are. Like literally they could just jump
Speaker 4: into like a tour of Enter two and just be
Speaker 4: like like content, like contending, like they're they're right there
Speaker 4: with some of the top guys like immediately, which is
Speaker 4: just crazy. It's just the game of golf is only
Speaker 4: getting better. It's crazy how deep it really is because
Speaker 4: there's so many guys that are trying to play professional
Speaker 4: golf on so many different platforms. But it was just like,
Speaker 4: it's crazy how many college kids are just coming out
Speaker 4: and they're just like ridiculously good and they can be
Speaker 4: on tour like that.
Speaker 3: It's I mean, it's like anything, and it's only going
Speaker 3: to get, you know, more and more competitive with live
Speaker 3: in the in. The additional money of the tour is
Speaker 3: is when there's an influx of cash. Thatt like Tiger
Speaker 3: Woods brought an influx of cash to the sport. And
Speaker 3: whenever whenever cash gets infused into a sport and money
Speaker 3: there's a lot of money, the talent pool gets significantly
Speaker 3: deeper because more people want to play it to you know,
Speaker 3: as a as an avenue and you know you're you're lucky,
Speaker 3: you're the you're in there, and you're probably gonna be
Speaker 3: in a lot of these elevated events. You're I think,
Speaker 3: like in terms of PGA Tour, like, there's been never
Speaker 3: been a better time to be like a top fifty
Speaker 3: PGA Tour player than right now, because you know you
Speaker 3: have there are a few of some a handful of
Speaker 3: the best players in the world have have vacated and
Speaker 3: the persons are going up.
Speaker 2: I know, yeah, I'm I totally agree with you.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's like it's nice that all these persons
Speaker 4: are going up, and like to me, it doesn't really
Speaker 4: I know, I'm gonna be playing for more money, but
Speaker 4: that's that that really doesn't change my mindset of how
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go about it, because I believe, at least
Speaker 4: I don't know what my world ranking is, but I
Speaker 4: believe that I I'm right there at that top fifty
Speaker 4: player in the world type player, like where I'm close
Speaker 4: to kind of getting up to that next notch of
Speaker 4: guys that were at the Tour Championship, like that top
Speaker 4: thirty ish. Like to me, if you make it to
Speaker 4: if you make it to a Tour championship. You're you're
Speaker 4: a top thirty player in the world. Like you're you're
Speaker 4: you're that caliber type of player where you could be
Speaker 4: regarded as a top thirty player in the world. It's
Speaker 4: also like you talked about Rory like I've I've I
Speaker 4: got to play with him with the players this year,
Speaker 4: and I mean, with everything he dealt with this year,
Speaker 4: how much he took it upon himself to be like
Speaker 4: like a just take that role on of being the
Speaker 4: PGA Tours spokesperson basically and play the golf that he
Speaker 4: plays like incredibly impressive, Like I'm always, I'm always. You know,
Speaker 4: he's been a big fan of I've been a big
Speaker 4: fan of his for forever and he's in my locker
Speaker 4: space area most weeks with McCrory McCarthy side.
Speaker 1: I did think about that.
Speaker 2: He's such a he's such a cool dude. Uh So,
Speaker 2: I want to congratulate him on winning the FECs Cup.
Speaker 1: Is he gonna be your Player of the Year vote?
Speaker 2: I don't know, don't I don't know. That's a good question. Scotty.
Speaker 2: Scotty obviously had an unbelievable year.
Speaker 4: Scotty won four times big tournaments, and there was right there,
Speaker 4: and several other big tournaments, including another major.
Speaker 2: Two. I think Scotti is probably the player of the year.
Speaker 2: But I looked at something the.
Speaker 4: Other day like Rory Rory strokes games were slightly better
Speaker 4: this year than the year.
Speaker 2: In twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, when he won that, he went on like that
Speaker 4: ridiculous square he won, He won Valhalla, WGC Bridge Stone
Speaker 4: and then won the British Open, like just rattled off
Speaker 4: like three monster tournaments that year, which just shows how
Speaker 4: like deep professional golf is and how good it is.
Speaker 4: Like his strokes game, he still won a couple of
Speaker 4: times this year, but he didn't win. He didn't win
Speaker 4: a major, and and and like' just like you said,
Speaker 4: this is the this is the best time to be
Speaker 4: on tour, Like this is I mean arguably, like arguably
Speaker 4: the best the game has ever been in terms of
Speaker 4: how many guys are at the top of the world,
Speaker 4: like at their game right now.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you look at it like a guy
Speaker 3: like Adam Scott, who's who I think, like you know,
Speaker 3: in terms of Adam Scott, He's he's played a lot
Speaker 3: of he's been a great player for a long time.
Speaker 3: And he you know, I think he even admitted maybe
Speaker 3: on the No Laying Up podcast, like he played he
Speaker 3: was playing some of his best golf right before the
Speaker 3: pandemic and it's like he played, he had a really
Speaker 3: good back half of his year and he's just like
Speaker 3: he's like a guy. He's not like one of the
Speaker 3: guys anymore, but he's playing golf at a level that's
Speaker 3: probably pretty similar to when he was one of the guys.
Speaker 1: And now, you know, and I think that's like the game.
Speaker 3: It's what you talked about with the instruction, Like the
Speaker 3: instruction's changed so much. And I think with I did
Speaker 3: an interview with Jeff Ogilvie and he said, you know,
Speaker 3: he he lived through that track Man era change right
Speaker 3: where and I think he had this great quote that
Speaker 3: was like, you know, it used to be everybody would
Speaker 3: walk around the range and say, I think I figure
Speaker 3: it out. And now it's everybody walks around the range
Speaker 3: and knows exactly what to do, like there's no you know,
Speaker 3: and I think like that's led And then with all
Speaker 3: the youth, I mean, the speed and the youth talent,
Speaker 3: it's just insane levels, right now it really is.
Speaker 4: It's just growing, Like every aspect you just mentioning just
Speaker 4: keeps growing. And the younger kids understanding of like how
Speaker 4: to use the technology, like they they know what they're dialed,
Speaker 4: like their numbers are dialed like I can't. Like I
Speaker 4: started to use track Man in college a little bit,
Speaker 4: and I use it now too. I use it a
Speaker 4: lot for looking at you know, wedge numbers, short irons,
Speaker 4: like really dialing in those distances, and then like i
Speaker 4: still look at.
Speaker 2: Numbers for driver and stuff.
Speaker 4: But I'm not like not not no, I'm not a
Speaker 4: tech guru and I'm not like obsessed with the numbers,
Speaker 4: which it's like what I for, what I am using
Speaker 4: it for, It's perfect for me, Like I like to
Speaker 4: try and keep it as simple as possible. There's some
Speaker 4: people that are like they look at all the numbers
Speaker 4: like spin loft, dynamic loft, spin out, like all this stuff.
Speaker 4: I mean, they're they're like they're studying this stuff to
Speaker 4: a science, which is they're trying to figure you know,
Speaker 4: trying to use it to make them better.
Speaker 2: But sometimes that can be too much for some people.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, daddy, thank you so much. I don't want
Speaker 3: to take up all your time. We're we'll be looking
Speaker 3: forward to seeing you next year at more and more
Speaker 3: big events and uh hopefully hopefully another career year and
Speaker 3: uh and uh, thanks so much and we'll talk again soon,
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Andy, thank you for listening to another edition of the
Speaker 3: Frida Egg Podcast. Today's episode was edited by the always
Speaker 3: meg Atkins.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Meg.
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