Episode Transcript
It's the Son of a Butcher podcast.
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So Dad, your Boys, Tommy Fleetwood finally gets a win on the PGA Tour.
I think it's been a wild ride, and I think it's it's been tough to watch this kind of when's he going to get it done?
When's he going to get it done?
Because he's such a good player and he's won everywhere.
Do you think that you could be a great player not being from the US and not win on the PGA Tour.
Do you think it if you went your career and never won on the PGA Tour, if you're Tommy Fleetwood from the UK, do you think that's a mark against him?
And why is winning the on the PGA Tour is so important to him?
Speaker 2Well?
At look at Colin Montgomery won seven money titles in a row in the European Tour.
He never won a tournament on the US soil.
I think in Tommy's case, you know, he's such a steady player.
He's a top five loss tracker.
Noiel, if he looked at his stats this year, Strokes gained totally, he was second, Stokes gaining Peter Green in fourth.
Strokes gained putting fifteenth, which is the best he's ever done.
So he had a hell of a year and he's been a good player for a long time.
He's got a phenomenal Ryder Cup record.
I think he's seven three and two or something like that.
It just shows you how hard it is to win.
But the way he closed out the FedEx got going third, fourth, first, and literally gave away the first one he could have won two or of three, and he has been trending towards the end of the year, playing better and better.
I like the fact that on Sunday, during the middle of the round, he kind of lost his rhythm and stuff, and as he said in one of his interviews, he went back to all the things we had worked on when he because I try and teach my guys like you to be they can be self corrected during a round if they know there's swing really well.
And he said after his drive on the first hole, he realized that he had gotten away from his tempo and if he noticed, he started doing his two piece practice swing drill that I taught him how to do to get his rhythm from the top and not rush it and started on the eleventh when you were missed shot, just strapped everything.
Speaker 1That was the thing.
I mean, he missed the green at nine and missed agree at ten.
You know we saw this.
I mean, you played right.
I never played, so you know what it's like in a golf tournament.
But I think we saw this with Rory over the last ten years, and I think Tommy was Do you think Tommy was a little bit in the same boat in that you can want something so much right, and you can There's a big difference I think with people like Tommy and Rory in wanting to win.
Like, listen, everybody that plays professional golf wants to win a tournament, right, everybody that plays professional golf.
You make it to the PGA Tour, everybody wants to win a major.
Everybody wants to be number one in the world.
But for the majority of the people, you're never going to win a major.
You're never going to be number one in the world, and you might not win a tournament.
So my question is, do you think you can want it so much and know that you have the talent level to win.
Like Rory winning the Masters, everybody knew it was just a matter of time, but until he got it done, it was still just a matter of time.
Everyone.
You look at Tommy Fleetwood's Ryder Cup record, the way he played in Rome, the way he played in Paris, the big tournaments that he's won, the game that he has, the golf swing that he has, the consistency.
Obviously he should be winning on the PGA Tour because he's one of the best players in the world.
But do you think as a player that you can want it so much that you can't get out of your own way and you're trying too hard.
Speaker 2I agree with that one hundred percent, and I think that was the difference for me with Rory this year.
He had finally learned how to relax and just let it happen.
As you know, I've done some work with Rory and QT on the side.
I know Rory's game very well, and I thought this year, and I had predicted before the Ryder Cup on the Sky that I thought he would win.
I said it all the way long.
I think he's going to win because I saw a different Rory McElroy at the Masters this year.
He had wanted it so bad, Like you said before, he put too much pressure on himself.
He didn't do that this year.
He came in and knew he was playing well.
It's of course he should dominate.
We know that as good as he drives it.
I think the beauty of Tommy fleet Wood it was the way he handled the defeats.
He never got down on himself.
He stayed positive the whole time.
I think that's why he won over so many fans.
I love seeing how the American fans took to him at each lake.
It was wonderful to see and I think Tommy has a demeanor that he knew it was going to happen and once he just relaxed.
This year is he did so much good work this year.
I mean, he plays so beautifully from TD Green and he's one of the most popular guys with American players of all the Europeans because as you know, he's a great guy.
It just shows you that Tiger Scottie, they made it look easy to win.
It's not easy to win.
There are so many good players out there.
If you look at how many first time winners we had this year, you look at the guys that puts them themself there every week.
I mean you look at the one of Tommy played nineteen events this week.
I think ten of them were top fifteens.
So he was always there.
He was in the hunt, and he has tremendous self confidence in himself.
He comes across as kind of a real nice, quiet guy.
He's good out there in the heat of battle.
He's proved that in the Ryder Cup.
He really proved that this week.
Speaker 1In a lot of ways that I think I said this yesterday we were talking on the Phony reminds me personality wise and how much the fans have embraced him.
Very much like Adam Scott, Like Scotty was, there isn't anybody that you talk to that doesn't say, now, what a great guy Scotty is.
Like every caddy on tour loves Scotty.
All the players love him, all the agents love them, all the manufacturers love him, all the fans love him.
Tommy's the same.
All the players like him, all the caddies like him.
I mean he and his caddy.
You know, they're one of the best teams out there.
But very much like Adam Scott, Scotty's career will always be looked at with the golf swing that he had and Tommy's in that same vein the golf swing is so good that do you feel like because technically they look so good doing it.
Their swings are so good.
You know, Bubba Watson's golf swing, Matt Wolfe's golf swing, you know some of the other weird golf swings out there technically aesthetically, But when you look at Tommy, you watch his ball striking and just from a sheer technique standpoint, you stand behind him and you're like, where's the weakness?
Right?
So do you think sometimes the lens that we look at him through because of the person he is and the golf swing is he Like you said, winning is hard, but he's one of those players that we expect to win tournaments every year.
And then when you say that as someone that has played and one tournament's before, in your opinion, what is the hard part?
Everybody says this, it's hard to win, right?
I say that, but I've never done it.
You have you one tournament.
We're just at the cycle now to where you could see the players getting righter cup itis.
They're trying to make the righter cup team.
It happens every two years.
Guy that should make it choke because they're trying.
So when you're trying to win a golf tournament, you say, is someone that's won a tournament that it's hard?
What is horrid about winning a golf tournament?
Speaker 2Well, first of all, your comparison with Adam Scott is spot on.
There are two very similar individuals.
They've both figured out their life what's important to them in their life.
Adam had a schedule that was lower than most people did.
He had his life that he and his family time that he wanted.
Tommy's the same way.
He's got a great family.
He's a great family man.
He talked about it in his interview.
The most important thing to him is his family and stuff.
You hear Scotti Scheffer say that.
Then the golf side of it, that's the business side of it.
It's some people can make that everything in their lives like Tiger did, or some people just when it's time to play, they go play when they don't.
Now the winning part.
The reason it's difficult, especially today, is because of the abundance of really good young talent that's out there.
Said maybe people that watch TV on the weekend don't recognize the leaderboard.
He's got a fifteen twenty under.
Partly they have no idea who they are.
Well, these are the superstars of the future.
And I think Tommy's only what thirty four years old, He's not that old.
He's got a huge career ahead of him.
And I think this, and I said this to him yesterday when I was talking to him on the tone, I think this win right here, this is the start of your next career, and I think you're going to see the confidence level has really gone up now I'll tell you interesting.
Sorry.
My wife asked me after Tommy won, Honey, where would you put this in the frame of all the guys you've had success within they won?
I said, well, the top two for me have always been Tiger winning his first Masters and Phil winning the British Open because it took me a long time to convince him how to play link Stoff and he never thought he could win it.
And then this one for Tommy.
So these are the top three that really ready stand out to me of guys that I helped had got it done.
It took a wh for timing to get it done.
But I love this stretch of three weeks.
He kept saying.
After the first one, yeah, I know, I gave it away and stuff, he said, that's okay, we got two more to play.
And second, when he played pretty good, he says, all right, how about we go just win the last one.
He says, I'm there, I'm ready to do it, and he just led wire to wire and just was unbelievable.
So, yeah, it is hard to win.
And you look at guys with so much talent, why don't they win every week?
Because it's not easy.
Tiger and Scotti Chefa have made it look easy, but I'm telling you it is not easy.
And by the way, klok, make sure you leave at skateboll on the on the wall behind you on it, because if you get on it, you're going to break something.
So just be about.
Speaker 1So why do you think now?
I mean, is it that thing?
Have it?
I mean you've gone through this datus a player and stuff.
Is it when you win and everybody expects you to win, or you know, you get your card or something like that.
Is the relief something that when you get back into that situation you've got kind of the weight off your shoulders.
Is it?
Oh, I've done this, I've proven myself.
I can just because listen, Tommy has hit a lot of great golf shots when he needed to wright.
But it's in the moment being able to kind of withstand that little kind of blit because I think it's easy to look at.
We saw this with Rory as well, trying to win the Masters and win a major for the first time in ten years.
He hit some horrendous shots on the back nine on Sunday.
It seems like there's always going to be this kind of crisis moment when you're trying to win, maybe for the first time, or for Tommy just trying to win in America, something he really wants.
But you mentioned going through that crisis moment in the round where you say, Okay, I've made some mistakes.
I've got to kind of reset and see.
But the next time he gets into that situation has a chance to win.
How does what he's gone through over the last three weeks help him mentally?
Speaker 2Oh, it helps him tremendously.
He knows he can do it.
I mean, he's always known he can do it.
He is a great record, and you're a great rydercon record.
We know he's a good player.
I think for me, you celebrate this win and then it's gone because you've got to play again.
He's only going to play one time, I believe, before the Ryder Cups as they went worth in their PGA Championship.
He's going to play in that.
The rest of the time, he's just going to relax and work on his game and stuff and get ready for a best page.
But this win, the way he did it, the way he's self corrected in the middle of the round when he kind of went south, is a huge vote of confidence.
For all the work that he's done.
And he said that to me when he talked.
He said, I just pulled everything we've talked about in practice sessions, everything you've had me do.
You've taught me how when I lose my rhythm what I need to do, And he said, I'm just going to do what we do.
You saw the practice swings, you saw the rhythm come back on the swing.
Had a different demeanor this week.
My wife Christy said it when she watched him on Saturday.
I was playing an event down and so in California, the cub I belonged to and a four ball member member event on Saturday, and I didn't get back to the condo tail after he had played a few holes.
But we did win the tournament, by the way I'm saying.
But anyway, even Christy said he's a different person this week.
I can just see him.
He's relaxed.
I can see his demeanor.
He feels so good about what he's doing.
And I think that was the build up, the build up to get there, the loss, then the next one, and then all of a sudden bloom, he's right here.
He opens up strong, he's gone the balls to the wall, he feels good about everything he's doing.
You know, good ball strikers have to put Just because you're a great ball striker, it doesn't mean you're going to win tournaments.
And I have to give it to tom because phill Kenyan his punning coach, and I have been on him to be more aggressive with his putty because Tommy was a top five ball striker in the world, an average petter until this year, and he got more aggressive with it.
His balls used to limp up to the hole all the time.
He saw balls going all year long into the hole at more speed.
I said, so what if you're knock him two feet by, I've already seen it roll by.
And Phil was really working on him out of the speed control.
And that was the other thing.
He pett it better than anybody.
Last week that golf course, which he had never done before.
Speaker 1Well to day, he shot sixty four in the first round.
I think he made almost one hundred and ten feet of putt right, So he's making And I went back in and I looked at you know, that first round where he shot sixty four, and I mean he made I think he made seven birdies, one bogie shot sixty four and yeah, he hit a couple of iron shots like he always does because he's such a great ball striker to four feet on a part three to seven feet.
But what I noticed at that he did was very similar to what Scotti Scheffler does and what Tiger does.
He hit the ball twenty to twenty five feet a lot, not necessarily lighten it up.
Not necessarily.
He's going to hit his good chots that are kind of the highlights to where he knocks it stiff on a par three, hits one to four feet and has a kind of tap in birdie.
You know he birdied.
I think he birdied one.
Speaker 2Two.
Speaker 1I know he birdied one and two and the first Yeah, he's not hitting it to tap in range.
So when you have a player like him and a player who is already a pretty good ball striker, I mean Tommy before you started working with him, he was always somebody that people liked his golf swing.
You know, for the golf nerds, they liked it.
So for the people that want to know, why, give me a deep dive into what you saw when he first came to see you, what you liked, and then what you felt he could do better.
Speaker 2Well, first, we'll go back to what you talked about, and he's like, he had a great game plan Eastake.
Our game plan for east Lade because it's a long, hard golf course, was driving the fairway so he didn't always hit driver.
He hit the mini driver, a lout off the tee, his fireword off the tee.
His game plan was beautiful dump in the middle of the green on the hard holes a lot like Jack did.
Scottie Shaffer does take advantage of the holes.
I can be aggressive with with short irons because he's His short iron play is beautiful, and he did that.
The tip off was the control was most of the shots were pinned high all the time.
They may have been twenty twenty five feet, but they were always on the propper side of the green, always where he needed to be to give himself a chance.
And he made some of those, which you have to do if you're gonna win, you've got to make puns.
The difference in him now than when he first came to me, Temmy to me was always what I call flusher.
I love his ball iron playing with his contact was so good.
It was just such a good sound it made, and everything he was a little erratic off the tea.
With the longer shots, he draws the ball predominantly.
We worked on showing him how to hit fades, and he hit some great ones to write pins in the last few events that I've really been proud of him for.
Because his natural eye sees a draw we worked on the control of the change of direction a lot.
He would get extremely aggressive in his change of direction.
The club would lay down behind him, and being a drawer, his spine would have to back up to get to the ball and he could miss it mostly to the left, could miss both ways.
So once I got the club at the top of the swing where I wanted, the width at the top of the swing and the change of direction a little smoother.
As he started down, he didn't narrow that gap coming down like he used to because his spine wasn't backing up all of a sudden.
He kept us with and he used to say, for the last couple of years, it's so nice to have so much room through impact.
I don't feel crowded anymore.
I don't feel like I'm trying to catch up with my hands.
And you know, that was a lot of hard work.
That sounds an easy thing.
To fix.
But this we've been working together for about three years now and this is the year that he really started feeling comfortable with everything we wanted to do and to believe it and it's paid off.
Speaker 1I think when you're working with a player that's got, you know, a pretty good golf swing as well.
Like you said, I think one of the things that at times under the gun could hurt Tommy.
He he needed to drive the golf ball better.
Right, So when you have someone like Tommy who you know, if you look at Tommy pre working with you, or even now, if you look at Tommy's impact position with an iron, I mean it's he's gonna have a really good chaffleene, he's gonna have a lot of compression, he's going to have a lot of weight kind of going to that forward foot.
So iron wise, he's always been kind of, you know, kind of one of the calling cards of his game.
Tad is a coaching as an instructor.
When you're trying to get someone who's a really good iron player and then try and improve their driving, your thought process in trying to go about that, how did you try and say, Okay, listen, he's a pretty decent iron player.
Yeah, he can maybe every now and again fight the you know, the hook, but he's got to drive it better to give him more chances to take advantage of his irons.
So, as a coach, how do you take that jump from working with someone on their iron game and then have that lead Because I hear that all the time.
You hear that from students as well.
Listen, I'm a really good driver of the golf ball.
My iron game's not great at the elite level.
Listen, I'm a really good iron player, but I don't drive it that good.
So when you go about the task of saying, Okay, I've got to try and help this player become a better driver of the golf ball, what did you do with the driver to help him?
Speaker 2Well, you know, my philosophy is to never take away with someone does naturally his swing is going to be his swing.
I've taught you to do that when you teach, and we're very good at doing that.
We're not trying to create a brand new swing.
Tommy swing was Tommy swing.
The problem with Tommy swing with the reason the iron are so good card because the swing is shorter, the motion is shorter, and a width at the top he could get the club down in front of him, or the swing with the driver gets much longer.
And when it got longer, he collapsed a little at the top.
His hands got close to the head, and when he started down he was very narrow.
And when you're narrow, you've got a back to spine up to hit it.
And if you're a drawer of the golf ball, that's going to bring in the flip on the exit and stuff.
So we worked very hard on a drill that I did with Tiger for all those years, right.
I made him go to the top and stop, and I would tell him to go, and he would go and hit balls.
And we've done that for hours at a time, you know.
And that old Golf Channel thing with Peter Kesseler when Tiger was on, he says, I hated this fill, but which made me do it because I needed it.
Well, Tommy has done that bill a lot, and that's how I got him the feeling of where I wanted him to be there.
Then when I had to quiet down to change the direction by sequencing back into the ball better versus the arms passed in the body too soon and get him to move forward on top of it, get his chest on top and then drive through the ball with extension and the release is more out and around versus backing up and narrow to the left.
And it took a while for him to feel comfortable with it, but that stop at the top drill is the key for him to feel it.
Speaker 1You also feel because I went through this when I was working with Brooks, Brooks being a fader of the golf ball, Tommy liking to draw the golf ball.
But I always felt that the weeks that Brooks could draw it and hit the draw, it made it much easier for him to fade it.
So the weeks he struggled to draw it and could just hit the fade.
I mean meeting from a technique standpoint, because Tommy can hit beautiful, little high soft little draws with his irons.
But do you think the fact that you were able to add in hitting a fade made the understanding of how to hit or draw the proper way, not hang back, flip it and release it.
Because I watched you do that a lot when you were working with Tiger.
It was a lot about trying to have the body speed match the arm speed or the arm speed match what the body does.
So for everyone listening to that, you know that isn't an instructor like you.
That marriage between what the body's doing and what the arms and the golf club are doing, that relationship, because I think in a nutshell, that's the thing that we see week in week out from tour players or from the regular golfer.
It's trying to get what the body is doing to match what the arms are doing, or try to get what the arms and golf club are doing to match what the body's doing.
Speaker 2Well, you're exactly one hundred percent corrective.
For that to have to do, your body has to be in good shape.
Timmy works out a lot.
You've got a very strong core and that helps to do all the things we're trying to get him to do.
The key is when you do this, and I do this a lot with the average players and with good players, I make them hit balls in slow motion, a complete slow motion golf swing, meaning if you go in slow motion, you can create every position you want to create in the swing.
You can match it up with your body and your arms, and we hit balls maybe for ten or fifteen minutes just slow motion, and I say, okay, let's go at sixty five percent, and then we speed that up a little, and the arms and the body of rotation sequence perfect.
And then we go to a normal swing and then get to feel in the sequencing.
But with the slow motion swings, you can feel it.
You can actually feel what your arms and your body are doing, and you can control it better with a slow motion actually, and then you speed it up a little, and speed it up, and through hours an hour of the practice using these type of drills and things like this is how you create a swing that works under pressure.
And you've heard me say this all the time.
I don't care what it looks like in a practice round or on the practice seed, it's got to be on Sunday on the back and nine when a light on that cam is burning a hole in your head because you know you're on TV and you know you've got a chance to win.
The difference between the great ones and the really good ones is probably the mental ability to handle that pressure.
Medic Tommy's getting good at doing that.
He proved that this Sunday.
Speaker 1What miss did Tommy have and what miss did you want to become?
Less damaging in his in his game?
Speaker 2Well, the left ball was the mix, especially with the longer comes, because.
Speaker 1He's starting right and go left, or would it started on the.
Speaker 2Line and go it would start fairly straight and go left.
I told him I wanted his miss to be a push.
I wanted him to feel like you're actually moving past the ball a little, you're not staying behind it, and I want your miss to be a ball.
It just hangs right just a little, maybe falls out of the air two or three yards to the left.
But I don't like that ball when he's drawing it.
It's starting more straight when his line is more to those eye lines to the right, and then it goes to the left because we can't aim at we can't play it, and under pressure, that's to get you if that's in your swing.
The shot that I thought he did the best was on fifteen on Sunday, because he had hit in the water on fifteen on Saturday, and now he's right there with the lead, and that is you've been to Eastlake, that that's a tough shot.
It was interesting that he said this in one of his interviews because we've always said that when we're there, the tea actually aims you to the right and the greens over here because the tea it's not a straight tea, it's a sideways tea like that.
That is you're right.
Speaker 1I never thought that, but you're right.
Speaker 2I have a hard time aiming on his soul because the way the tea sets up, and he just committed one hundred percent.
Yes, he flushed the five iron over the green, but the whole idea was just never hit it in the water.
Even if you make boat, you're still in the lead, so that's no problem.
And that was to me the shot that really showed me that he was he was zoned in, and then once he got that ball over all the water, I felt like, this is going to be pretty good.
I don't know you.
I don't know if you probably weren't watching the telecast because you were at the live event.
But Bones was doing the call on fifteen and when that ball cleared the water and landed up there, Bone said, which Harmon and Henderson, no matter, just wipe the sweat.
Speaker 1Off his yead.
Obviously, Tommy's been trying to win a PGA Tour event.
There are a lot of them you could win.
I think there are tournaments that you can win on the on the PGA Tour that are to the other players somewhat statement wins.
If you win it Riviera, if you win it Pebble, if you win it Memorial, you know, golf courses like that, the players stuff like that, the non majors.
But what type of statement do you think it sends to his peers when you win the FedEx cop at As, like against the thirty best players of that calendar year, do you think that is a pretty big statement win for the rest of the tour.
Speaker 2Well, it's a huge statement win for the American players because they all know he was good and he just really proved it to him because he just came there and kicked their butts.
The Euros know how good he was because they played with him on the European Tour.
They played with him the Ryder Cups.
It was nice to see Rosie there, and Shane Dane was there, Harry Hall was there.
You know some of the Euros that they were there that went around and were happy for him.
I think in all honesty, Tommy's probably the most popular European player with the American players on the tour because because you can't even like you said, like Adam Scott, you can't not like him.
He's just a good guy.
And I had some really nice texas from my American players that I worked with through the past and then talking about how happy they were for him to see him finally get that monkey off his back because now he doesn't have to answer that question.
He's still going to have to answer the question best player to never win a Major.
That'll be the next one they get on with.
But don't worry.
He can handle that question now and I think you'll see him win a major next year for sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's funny.
The tour, they were in the middle of the FedEx, so it was three in a row.
The LID guys were in the middle of their last three tournaments in a row, so everybody was watching.
I mean, he, like you said, he's the type of player that all the other players are watching, right so when he has chances to win, everybody is on Sunday is going.
You know, in the mornings the tournaments that he had chances to win and didn't get done.
But in the morning at breakfast, all of the live guys were going, dude, he's got to get it done.
He's got to get it done.
It's got they wanted him to get it done.
So, like you said, I think he is that type of player that is somewhat just universally liked, regardless of the fact that you know he plays and he's from the US or from He's not.
The obvious question now is do you think this helps him in the four majors that we are going to have every year for the next five years?
In that I mean Tommy's had some chance.
Speaker 2I mean that was the other thing.
Speaker 1It was Ricey who keddies for Harold Varner said, Listen, everybody keeps saying when is Tommy going to win?
But what is the last time?
How many real fifty four hole leads has he had?
And if you look at like from a major standpoint, yes, Shinnacock the year Brooks one finished second, but he teed off at eight o'clock in the morning and shot sixty two on perfect greens.
Not what is going to happen at three o'clock in the afternoon at Shinnecock, right the golf course he played that day.
So do you think this can springboard him getting into contention to win majors?
Now, there's a big difference between getting into contention and winning majors, and then there's being in contention kind of around the back nine turn on Sunday.
Right, it's a big difference between being in one of the last three or four groups, but not really.
But do you think now we are going to hopefully, I think the fans want to believe he is going to have a chance next year deep into the back nine of a Major at four to six o'clock in the afternoon, be in one of the last groups and be one of these guys that chills and out of the four majors.
Dad, which major do you see sets up really good for his game and his style?
Speaker 2Well, I would say US Open would set up good for him because he has the ability to drive the ball so much better.
A British Open sets up good for him.
He's not one of the longest hitters terry average is about three hundred yard, but he's long enough.
I think the difference card is his boss striking is always going to put him in the frame of conversation of majors.
The way he puts now and the confidence that he has with his putting has changed his whole demeanor on how he feels he plays with the best players in the world.
He told me when we talked yesterday.
Look, I really feel like I belonged now.
I wasn't always sure I belong with the best players in the world.
I know I belonged there now.
I proved to myself, not to anyone else, I've proved to myself that I belonged there, and now that he puts so much better, will be a factor in majors.
There's no doubt about that.
In his popularity.
As he was saying, you didn't see the broadcast, but you seit of seeing all the lebron James texting out.
Speaker 1I saw.
Speaker 2I saw all between the great w NBA player texting out about his time.
Larry Fitzgerald, the great NFL player, texted me he's going to get it done today.
It's really funny how this guy has captivated some of the unprofessional athletes that don't even know it.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, I think it is a hugely, hugely popular win.
Talk about what he's like off the golf course, because obviously, I mean, he's got a great family, both his step son's Oscar and Mo.
They've been in our junior academy in Dubai for a long time, in a lot of ways that he reminds me a little bit of Jimmy Walker in the fact that he feels like once Jimmy started winning and the work that you guys did, you could see Jimmy's confidence, feeling like he felt like he belonged, that feeling that you can be one of the best players in the world ranked inside.
But you know, Tommy, he's been inside top twenty in the world for a long time, as he should, right, But when you get a big win like this, you win the FedEx stuff.
You said, he feels like he belongs.
How does that change the way you think about yourself?
But how also that on the fraternity of the kind of traveling circus of the PGA tour, how does that also affect the way other people look at it?
Speaker 2Well, he ed up the top six in the world now in the world rankings.
I still don't understand how the hell of world ranks work.
But that's where he is.
Speaker 1Hey, we got to ask our boy, Trevor Immleman if he can explain that, because he's in charge of that ship now.
Speaker 2Yeah, he's in charge now and he's going to hear pharm pupils.
So I think the deal with Tommy, and you know how he is with his kids.
He loves playing golf with his kids.
His son got in unlesser a tour event.
Oh that he caddied for him in the event, seeing it when he's been at the Flow, he loves to come to the Flow upsbacks and the boys just go over in the Harmon course and play all day long.
They love everything about it.
So he's got a family that's involved in golf.
Claire his wife, who's just wonderful.
Speaker 1I love her.
Speaker 2She was an originally his agent when it started out.
She understands golf, so the whole family understands what it takes to be good on the PGA Tour.
The other thing that we talked about yesterday was now that you've got this monkey off your back, now you got to work harder because I told him, I said, look, when I took Greg the number one in the world for a long time and tired to number one in the world, they outworked everybody because they wanted to stay at number one.
And Tommy said that to me.
He said, but we need to go.
We're going to go to work now, we're going to get better.
I got to work harder to stay where I am because I want to get better and better, and the way I'm going to get there we got to work harder.
That's a mindset that the great ones have.
Speaker 1Do you think, given the fact that he's now six in the world and you look at the guys that are in front of him, do you think that he or anyone else in the next two to three years, do you think anybody can make a legitimate run at Scotty Scheffler at number one in the world.
Speaker 2Right now, you'd want to say, no, is Scotty going to continue on this level?
You know, they're starting to compare him to Tiger, which I think is a little early for that.
I mean, he didn't do it for twenty years the Tiger, but he is Tiger ass.
Speaker 1The other thing that's hard about the Tiger comparison to Scutdy is if you look at the signature events now and you look at the cuts made street the Tiger had.
I mean, Scudy and the elite players on the PGA Tour now they're playing in what eight tournaments a year where there.
Speaker 2Is no cut.
Speaker 1There is no cut, right right, So they're playing in tournaments where you know, so, I mean, I think that But do you think that Tommy has the type of game that could maybe if he can't get to number one in the world right now, because it seems like Scotty is in a preser.
I never thought that I would say that Scotty Scheffler, given the fact that Rory's won a major this year, I didn't think I would say at the end of this year, with Rory winning his first major in ten years, winning at Augusta, winning a Green Jacket, that I would still think that he's nowhere close to his good as Scotty Scheffler is right now.
I think when Rory McElroy is playing his best, you can make an argument that he is the best player in the world.
But right now it looks like everybody else is in that There's Scotty and then there's everybody else.
So if you look at the top four guys in front of him, do you think Tommy has the type of game that could challenge right now to be the best of the rest because Scotty is so far ahead.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's going to be a hard to catch Guty Scheffer.
I mean, he didn't even have his good stuff last week and finished what fourth?
Well, Yeah, but how hard does he get to number one.
Phil Nicholson never got there.
Guys won forty five tournaments and six majors tevil As he did it the Tiger liz Era, but still that's a phenomenal record.
So you can't say, do I think Tommy Fleet will will be the number one player in the world.
I think he has the talent to be there, But the guy that's number one right now is so far out there it would take a monumental year to catch him.
I think you're going to see Tommy Fleet would be in the top five in the world from here on for a long time.
I think it's ball striking proves that.
I think now that he cuts so much better.
His confidence proves that.
And I can tell you right now because I know this man very well and he's one of my best friends too, as far as a student of mine is.
He now believes he's one of the best players in the world, that he belongs at the top of that list.
And that's a huge thing when you get that in your heart right here, and you know that we know he can compete, we know he has that, and I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens it's going to be a fun to watch the progress from here on.
I know he's going to work his tail off if that's what he does, and he's so popular, I think it's going to be interesting.
In what are we thirty days away from the Ryder Cup.
It's a bes page what I saw with the fans on Sunday.
They weren't rooting for Cantley.
They were all rooted for Tommy Fleetwood and something that's going to carry over into the Ryder cupany which is going to be interesting.
Speaker 1I got to ask you, I mean, listen, I think he's I mean, Patrick Cantlay is a great player, but what the hell is going on?
I mean I watched him down on the eighth pole.
He made seven looks at the hole.
I blame the tour.
I one hundred percent blame the tour and all the tours because if they wanted to stump out slow play, they could remember when JB.
Holmes won at Riviera and he was a human reign delay on the back nine.
Instead of saying go get the trophy, they could go, by the way, you're in a playoff because we're giving you two shots because you've been a glacier for the last Well, how could be does the players you know this right?
Bryson paired Honor bon Lahiri on Sunday and the match play at Live against Brooks because he knew Bond would be slow.
He knew that Brooks likes to play fast.
Brooks almost took five minutes on the first green to hit a fifteen foot put and by the third hole they were on the clock.
And he told one of the announcements, we're gonna play at my pace now.
Books played so slow right to get them on the clock, so they had to play faster.
Do you think if the tours wanted to fix slow play they could.
Speaker 2They got to grow a pair.
Just finding people is ridiculous.
These guys don't care about money.
They're all multi millionaires.
You're not going to get them to speed up.
You put two shots on them.
It could cost them making a cut, It could cost them winning a tournament.
If you cost them keeping.
Speaker 1Their card, could cost them getting in a Ryder Cup.
Speaker 2The old story years ago, Ben Hogan was very slow and he's played in the US Open.
I think it was maybe even have been the first or second round.
And Joe die was the head of the USGA and they went out and told mister Hogan, if you don't speed up, we're gonna have to penalize you two shots.
He says, give me two shots now.
So I got more holes.
I know how many more birdies I gotta make because I'm not speeding up.
But if you put two shots on these guys, first of all, they would go.
But can't believe you're gonna penalize me two shots, well, then hurry the hell up.
Damn it.
I mean, look at Oldberg.
Isn't a joy to watch Olberg played golf At the speed he plays.
I mean, it's phenomenal.
DJ.
Speaker 1I mean, you don't get it with Ludwig and DJ.
The camera guys say Ludwig is the new DJ because if DJ's last to hit or Ludwig's last to hit, they're scrambling to try and get behind him.
They're saying they can't get behind him fast enough.
Speaker 2I said to Tommy, doesn't bother you house, So I said, I know you were on the clock on the eleventh toe.
I saw him coming to get you.
But you guys struggle on an eighth hole forever because they were both had rulings.
And that's how I got behind.
He goes, you know, the guy is slow, but I wouldn't know how to bother me.
He said, I was just in my world and he could get in his world to be as slow as he wanted, because I was still going to whip his butt.
Speaker 1That you know him well.
I think he's one of the icons in the game.
And Rory McElroy, I think everybody was just it wasn't a question of when he was going to win another major.
It was I mean if it was a question of when, in my opinion, I know you think this as well.
It wasn't a question of if he was going to win it Augusta.
It was only a question when there isn't a golf course on the planet Earth more designed for a golfer than Augusta National Is for Rory McElroy.
But that was the same with Greg Norman and he never won there there have been Arnold Palmer never won tournament.
He wanted to where does Rory go now, Dad, for inspiration and motivation, because that was a pretty high mountain that he climbed.
You could see the emotion that led out of him, and you could see the emotion that all of us as fans had so you can imagine what that's.
Speaker 2Like for him.
Speaker 1But there have been some articles written about the fact that and he has mentioned that he's trying to figure out where the reset is.
So if you're Rory McElroy, now you've got five Majors, You've won the Grand Slam, You've got a seventy five million dollar airplane where you can leave the Tour Championship and go straight to the US Open on your private jet and be watching Novak Koku.
Rory can do whatever the hell he wants, right, He's an icon of the game.
He is one of He's one of the best players I've ever seen.
I know you think he's one of the best players you've ever seen.
But where does the motivation come now for him?
And do you think there has been after Postmasters with him, a little bit of not a lack of motivation, but just taking in something that is he's always wanted that he knew he should do, and we all thought he should win the Grand Slam.
He thought he should win the Grand Slam.
I mean I thought when he wanted Valhalla Dad at the PGA.
By twenty twenty five, I thought he'd have double digit major.
Speaker 2Didn't you no, I did you know here?
Here's going to be the interesting thing.
I think.
I think Rory's got to recharge himself in this offseason.
I know he's going to play a lot of where he gets paid to play a lot of that.
I think when next season starts, I think if he looks at yes, he won the Masters, he got the Grand Slam, He's still not the number one player in the world.
Gyfer's got a huge lead on scar Sefferd's playing great.
I think seeing Tommy just win the FedEx Cup, of which Rory was playing in, I think that gives him a motivation.
I think saying, hey, wait a minute, I'm you know, I'm Roy McLaury, I'm this, and that these guys are really playing good.
I got to go back to work.
I got to work harder.
I've got to rededicate myself.
And then he has to look himself in the mirror and say, Rory, what what do you want for the rest of your life?
What is it that will motivate you for the rest of his life.
The thing that made Tiger Woods so good, and you know this because we know him so well, is he was motivated his whole career.
It never entered his mind and he was going to let you be there.
And I'm not sure that a lot of players have that in him.
That's that's just a god given talent that he has in him.
And I think Rory has to look at himself and a lot like we talk about Adam.
You know, Adam only won one major.
He would have thought he would have won one, But Adam want a lot of time.
It's around the world.
He's won over thirty tournaments or something.
But he had his life the way he likes it.
And I think Rory has to look at his life.
But here I am now at this point in life, I've got more money than I could ever spend it.
I think he's close to being billionaires because he's made really good investments and so he's got no financial words.
He's got a daughter that I know that he loves, and he's got a family life that he has to live.
But he's got to look at himself in the there and says, what do I want out of the rest of my life?
Because I can now I've got this monkey off my back.
Now where am I going to go from here?
Am I going to work harder?
And I'm just I don't think he'll ever just dial it in and show up.
I think he wants to win.
Is he going to be like a lot of the great players where now it's all about just majors.
All I care about is how I play majors.
I don't really care about all this stuff.
Maybe the Players Championship and Tory Championship.
I think we're going to have to see how Rory comes out at the start of the year.
Is he rejuvenated, is he motivated to get better or is he just going to say I've got a great life and I'm going to enjoy my life.
And either way that's his decision.
And I'm not saying one way is better than the other because people are different.
Twenty six the start of the year is going to be interested to see how Roy McRoy comes out.
You know, I just want him to be happy with his life.
He's happy with what he's doing.
I'm happy for him.
I mean, what else can a guy do?
And what else can he do and win more?
Speaker 1Which of the two strategies that if you were advising Rory to take, Okay, the strategy is okay, I'm Rory McElroy.
I've got a great career, and I know that.
I mean other than maybe Scotty Shepherd.
Rory believes and the proof is that he's better than the majority of people playing.
So does he just keep doing what he's always done, which is just try and get better, keep trying winning, keep trying winning as many tournaments as possible, or at this stage in his life, does he just do what you say?
Say listen my focus now, Because if Rory's career ends with the career Grand Slam but only five Majors, and he continues to keep winning the tournaments like he he will do.
I mean he's gonna win.
He's gonna win at least one or two, maybe three tournaments a year just by your talent, right, I mean, it's just that good.
But if his career ended with only five and another Players and another Memorial and another Riviera or another Honda or whatever, would that be enough?
Speaker 2Well?
I think what he has to do he has to look at himself in two ways.
First way would be what are my weaknesses?
What do I still have to work on?
And I'm not really good at I know I drive the ball grade and he's done great work when I work with him in his wedge game.
He's getting much better.
It's proxim me the whole of that.
Look at what your weaknesses are, and this is what I'm gonna work on in the offseason.
Number two, let's set a schedule where I'm gonna play courses that suit my game.
Speaker 1I'm gonna played.
Speaker 2Really suit my game.
I'm with the ability of my life.
I can play whatever I want to play.
I can play as shoe events as I want to play.
I can play at many events as I want to play.
But I want to look at this other than majors, because you don't go to play majors.
Let's see the courses that I really like to play on and they suit my game, and let's shoot for that.
But I think in the offseason he's got to sit down and look at his stats.
Look at the stat that I look at with all my players, and proximity of the whole from every yardage, and that will tell you what you need to work on.
I've had players that their stats from one hundred and seventy five yards they're closer to the hole than they are from one hundred and thirty five yards.
That shows you got to work on the short term game that your full swing is better.
I think Rory if he would take that approach now, if he would ask me, I would have that conversation with him, But he'd have to ask me.
I'm not going to tell him what to do.
He's roaring that coin.
But I said, if he will do those two things, I think this guy's will limit.
He'll just take off now.
Penny Text Gotty Scheffer.
Scotty Scheffer is going to have a downtime.
Jack Nicholas had a down year.
Tiger Woods had one down year in ninety eight where he he only won one time.
Nicholas had a point in his career.
We had it down yere.
Scotty hasn't had that down year.
It's out there.
I don't know when it's going to come.
Because it's human nature.
It's going to happen.
And let's put it this way.
Injuries they have a lot to do with that too.
Is your body going to hold up?
Are you in good enough shape to hold up?
So there's a lot of things that goes into it as well as playing.
It's just going to be interested to see how it happened.
Is there far away the two best players in the world.
Speaker 1I was at the Open championship down, and you know, it was almost like a foregone conclusion back you know very much.
I mean, everybody was saying, unless a typhoon rolls through, there's nobody that's going to beat him.
And there is this kind of narrative right now with Scotti Scheffler that he's boring, that it's not exciting.
But as someone that loves golf, loves competitive professional golf, that loves golf, swings the golf he's playing, sure as hell isn't boring.
And I've asked you this before and You've given me an answer, and I'm going to keep asking you this as long as he keeps playing in this year.
I asked you this at the end of last year.
You gave me an answer.
I asked you the year before, you gave an answer this year.
What has impressed you the most about Scotty Scheffer on the way he's played in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2Well, he didn't win as many times as he won last year, so everybody would say, well, that's not good, But I think the chasing pack got better and they got closer to him.
For me, Scottish Sheffer has complete control of his life.
I love when When he does an interview, he says, you know, the most important thing to me is not winning golf tournaments.
Yeah, that's my job.
But once I win one, that week's over with.
I got to go on to the next week.
He has figured out a life in the way he does it that works for him when he teas it up.
He's one hundred percent invested.
When he's in old practicing, he likes to play with his buddies and hang out and have a normal life.
He flies under the radar a little bit compared to other superstars because he doesn't have the most gregarious personality.
He's a wonderful god.
Scottis Shepherd was very nice, funny, competitive, but you know he's not as charismatic as I say Rory is, or I say it Tiger was.
You know, that's just him right now, he is far and away the best player in the world.
I think he's far and away the smartest player in the world for sure.
That's why he reminds me so much of Jack Nicholas, not yet Tiger Woods, even though the comparison was getting closer, because Jack didn't make any mental mistakes.
He doesn't make mental mistakes.
Yeah, you can hit bad shots.
Bad shots are part of golf.
But he dumps in the middle of green, dumps in the middle of green, dumps in the middle of green, shoots at pens.
He had due Tommy took.
His game plan this week was the scottis Cheffer game plan.
That's how he and I talked about how he was going to play a course.
It's that hard were getting into the fairways?
Is that important on a long holes?
Just dumping the middle of green.
You may make one or two long cuts and just just don't make mental mistakes.
And Chef was the best in the world doing that.
Speaker 1Right now, I think from inside of one hundred and fifty yards, I think Scotty's hitting it almost two steps closer than PJ two raverats.
So when you look at Scotty's game right now, do you see that he has a weakness.
Speaker 2Uh No, I don't think he does have a weakness.
Everybody talks about us follow through and everything, but if you look at his footwork and impact, it's perfect.
Let's forget all that.
That's just Arnold Palmer was all this jack swalling all over Radino, walking after and talking.
Impact is the most important part.
And I got to get Randy Smith a lot of Kodo boy.
He has been with his kid ever since he was a young kid.
He never changed that footwork.
He just tried to get the impact position better and better and better.
And I don't think Randy.
I think a lot of times we get too much credit when a guy plays good, and we get too much criticism when a guy plays poorly.
Because all we can do is get our guys ready to play.
They have to go playing.
Randy Smith is done a phenomenal job.
Who's Scott and Scheffler.
He is the perfect coach for him, that had been together ever since he was a young kid.
He understands him personally and better than anybody, and he knows the things he needs to work on.
Ours gotta be a little frustrated this week on TV, which I very seldom seen, because he had hit a few more wayward chefs, especially with the driver when he was trying to hit the phase.
He hit some double crosses to the left, which he's not accustomed to doing.
Still finished fourth, Still was right there on Sunday with a chance to win.
That shows you how good he is.
Speaker 1Lastly, Dad Ryder cup picks just came out your team.
Surprised that Kegan chose not to choose himself.
Speaker 2No, not at all.
I think if he had made the team on points he should have played.
He could have given the captain sty to say Jim Furrick and say look you take over this.
I'm going to play because I made the team.
Having not made the team, I think it would have been a selfish thing to pick yourself.
I think he picked the right guys.
I felt sorry for Maverick because Maverick's a great putter and would have been one of my players, but would have been a great Ryder Cup player.
But he's young, he's a rookie.
He was tenth on the list, but it was eleventh.
Harmon and Novak were twelve and thirteen.
You could have picked by an Harmond.
He's a gutsy little player.
You knew Campley was always going to get picked.
You knew that Burns is a great putter.
Cam Young is a good player.
So I think the sixth that he picked, the one that might be the most I wouldn't say wrong with him, would be kyl Omar Coward.
He hasn't had that dirty year, you know, but he's a great player.
He's one two majors, and so I think he was gonna JT was always going to get picked.
Ben Griffin, I think was one you were thinking is he going to pick him or not because he's a rookie, but he's a good putter.
And match play, it's all about putting.
You have to putt good enoughs play how you play a lot of times as im material because you scored on count.
It's the putts you make under pressure that are important.
And I think that he's got a team that has it.
You got Russell Henley, who a lot of people don't know about this guy.
He may not be very long, but man, he could play gofline, he could put Harrison is a great guy.
Speaker 1Harris Harris English, I mean his golf swing's great.
Speaker 2Super guy, very competitive.
And you got Bryson from liv and Bryson's Bryson.
You had to have Bryson on the team.
I guarantee you John Robb is going to be on the European team even though you've done Haven Ryder cup points.
I don't think their picks.
I think Donald Looke.
Donald has a pretty simple thing.
I said, there's probably only one controversial pick in his six and that's going to be it does He picked mattress Patrick because he has played well lately, but he didn't play well at the start of the year.
And I think his record is like one in seven in the Ryder Cups, so it doesn't have a great I think that's the controversial one.
I think all the others are pretty obvious down the list.
Speaker 1So you said that the Ryder Cup's sold about putting your boy Harry Hall.
He's statistically one of the best, if not the best putter on the PGA Tour, and he ain't even getting any phone calls or even getting a look.
Speaker 2Oh he's getting a look Tommy told me about yesterday.
Tommy said that Tommy wants them on the team.
Tommy says, as good as this guy's thought, I'd love to play with him.
Now.
He's down the list a little.
When he's because he plays over here all the time.
I think he's in consideration.
I think he's been talking to Harry yesterday.
I was talking to him.
He said, I think I've got a chance that maybe the twelfth pick.
He says, I may be thirteenth, I may be the advan out, but I think I Fitzpatrick pick is what it is going to come down to who they pick.
If they leave Fitzpatrick, who they go.
Harry holl would be a great rider cupier.
He's a good driver of the ball.
He's another drawer of the ball.
He hits it far and man, he could really put he is he Tommy was talking about it yesterday, might have talked to him, He said, I talked talked to Harry Lot this week, told him how much I want him on the Rader Cup team.
And I said, well, why don't you tell Luke Donald that.
Speaker 1I know it's early, and I know the Europeans haven't picked their team, but when you look at kind of what we think this is going to end up looking like right now for the Euros, it would be on paper, we know what the US team is going to look like.
But when you look at what you pretty much think the European team is going to look like.
Maybe there might be one or two, but the bull ninety percent of the European ninety five percent of the European team, everybody pretty much knows what that's going to be.
So I know we're almost a month out, but do you see any advantage going America's way?
Do you see any advantage going the Euro's way.
I mean, do you think it's going to be even what do you think?
What are you looking at?
Speaker 2I think for the first time, I haven't looked at what the betting is.
I haven't seen interested to see whether the better is here in Vegas.
Think I think for the first time, a European team might be favored on US soil, and I think that hasn't happened maybe ever, but I think they have a chance to be favored.
I think it's very close.
To me.
I look at it very close.
I give the advantage slightly to the European team because it's going to be pretty much the same team that was in Rome.
So you've got a lot of guys with a lot of history that have won.
Yeah, we've got fort rookies on the team, JJ's or rookie Russell Henley's or a rookie, Van Griffins, the rookie Camions, a rookie, and then we have some of the stalwarts that are on there.
So I think it's going to be very close.
I do think that the Euros may be favored for the first time on our soil, which is very unusual.
I think what it's going to come down to, is it's going to be a very very hostile crowd, one that I'm not going to be very proud of for a golf event, because you get the London Hudliums and like to come over to sporting events and get drunk and argue, and then you get to New Yorkers, they get drunk.
They got no I think we're going to see fights in the gallery, which I don't like.
I was gonna I've done thirteen Ryder Cups for Skuys.
You know, that's twenty six years of doing Ryder Cups.
I was going to do this year and I pulled myself out of it.
I didn't really like what I thought the environment might be there.
As an American on the European broadcast team, I felt that, you know, maybe this one I might want to sit out and just watch it on TV because I think I'd even feel very comfortable.
Speaker 1Well, I hope you're wrong, but I don't think you are.
And listen, I was in Rome.
Well, we were getting our asses kicked.
There were a lot of intoxicated people there, and some of the things that these people were saying to the American players to the American wives listen every time the Ryder Cup comes.
I think one of the things that and you know this because you've been going to him forever.
If you go to someone else's field, if you go to someone else's stadium, if you go to someone else's gym, you're going to get it right.
And yeah, I mean listen, Euros are passionate about but do they sing their songs?
When they're winning, there is vocal and when they're giving it to the Americans, there is vocal.
I do think there is this best page kind of New York thing.
But it's going to be interesting and I'm excited to see it.
I mean, I think Keikan was in a the win situation.
Right.
If he picks himself and they lose, they crushed him for picking himself.
If he picks himself and they win, they say selfish and stuff like that.
He just played good.
That was the problem, right, They picked him to be the captain, and then he had an unbelievable year to where he's just he's just playing a you can't And I do think we are going to continue to have that issue because I think there is a trend at don't you think that the Ryder Cup captains are going to be younger.
I think that it seems like they're going to go to guys that are still playing, still part of the sport, not on the chance tour, not out of the game and stuff.
So and I think that's healthy.
I think you want to have Ryder Cup captains in the modern ero know the players.
I mean, I think that was one of the issues at Glenn Eagles.
I think Tom Watson really struggled to relate to the modern game, to the modern players, to what the modern players' teams look like, from coaching to physios to trainers.
And I just don't know if that old school stuff sells anymore with the modern players.
So the Ryder Cup captains are going to get younger, and you're going to pick guys that are still playing if they have an unbelievable year like Keith does, then are we going to continue to have this problem of guys going, well, listen, do I need to pick myself?
Speaker 2Well?
I think here's the deal.
I think you've seen now they've gotten away from the old guard.
They've moved away from the old guard.
Just because you've been good in the past, doesn't me we're going to keep putting you on these teams and you're not.
Look at the record of all the American players, it's not good.
Their records and Ryder Cup aren't great, every one of them.
You can go down the list.
They don't have great records in the Ryder Cup.
And I think this is the new way the Americans are trying to do it.
They're trying to get younger blood in there, which I like.
They've got a captain that you wouldn't think was going to be picked captain.
I think he's going to be a great captain because he has great passion for it.
My hope for the Runner Cup bed the story is about the golf and not about the gallery.
That's my hope.
It's not going to be easy because it's a tough crowd, and my hope is that the golf is so good and so competitive, and that's what we're talking about every day after the rounds are over with, and I'm talking about the gallery.
The jerks on both sides of the teams.
The euro team and I'm going close to a lot of the euro players that are on this team.
They're ready for it.
They know it's gonna happen.
They just said, you know, we're just gonna block it out.
It's not easy to do, but we can do it because we want this.
I wish our guys and hopefully our guys said after Rome, let's never get beat like this again.
This is ridiculous because I know it.
Whistley Straights, Tommy told me that when the Euro's got killed at Whistley Straits, the whole team got together and said, we will never ever lose like this again.
We may get beat, but we're never going to get our bunch beat like this again.
I hope our guys feel that way and they show up at beath Page saying we are going to win this thing.
No matter what it takes, We're going to figure out how to do it.
I hope that's what happened to being an American, and I always look for America.
I just think it's going to be a very competitive, brighter coup on and.
Speaker 1Off the course, Dot.
On a personal note, you're about to turn eighty two years old, now eighty two years on this planet.
When you look back at your career, Dad, what are you most proud of?
Speaker 2I think I'm most proud of from a professional career that everyone who came to me.
Even though they left, they were better when they left than they showed up.
And I think my career proves that nobody stays with you forever.
You and I am talking about that.
They move on for a different reason.
That's fine, but as you know, because you lived it with me when you were younger, I gave my whole life to this job my amount of time have been the best father I could be because of it that my whole life was trying to get better what I did and better what I did to this day, soon the eighty two of tomorrow.
Actually, I'm still trying to learn.
I'm not packing it in.
I am semi retired, but I still got my hand in.
I still love to teach.
I'm just proud of the fact that so many players sought me out and put their game in my hands because they had confidence in my ability to help them.
And I feel that I've done a great job in helping a lot of people.
I've learned as much from all the players that I've taught as they've learned from me.
I've had a great career.
I can't imagine where I sit right today if you'd asked me fifty years ago you think you'd be in the position you're right now.
I would have said, you got to be crazy.
There's no way you know my personality and how I am and blah blah blah blah blah.
I'm not the smartest guy in the world.
I'm good at hooks and slices.
I'm not a good businessman.
I've got a great wife.
I got three of you that are wonderful kids that I love.
Financially, I've done very well with my life.
I've made so many friends.
I really love the game of golf.
I love to still play.
I love to get out there and play.
Yeah, I don't play as good as I used to.
Hack my handicaps up to about ten now, but I'm pretty strong from those front teas.
Speaker 1So yeah, I mean, you're eighty two years old.
You say, you know you still working with guys that are playing, you know, professionally, and what still motivates you at this stage your life.
Listen, you don't have to do this right, no, you know, in my opinion, you're the greatest golf constructor of all time.
I think you've got the record to prove that.
Financially, I mean, you can't spend all the money you've got.
You can't drink all the wine you've got.
I mean, have any car you want, you buy anything you want, but to do this job, right, you know, I'm fifty six years old.
You know I've just spent nine of the last eleven weeks on the road.
It takes a lot out of you.
So at the stage of your life, why do you still do it?
Do you do it because you just don't know anything else?
Or what about it?
Helping players fix their golf swings, both at the elite level and at the regular golf lesson?
I mean, you teach whoever you want to now, but not everybody you teach is a tour player.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1You have friends that you teach, You have business people you teach.
You have people you've created relationships with that are fifteen and cuppers that come and take golf schools from you.
So, with this shit to your life, after everything you've been through, in every success you had, why still teach?
Why still do it?
You know?
Speaker 2I just love I love to teach.
Give the analogy when I play with my friends here at home and if I'm not working, I was trying and play in a Friday game.
Whether this is stuff.
Then I would say, Okay, guys, this isn't about you, this is about me.
I'm working on my game.
I don't give a damn where you hit it.
In about four holes in I'll be okay.
I can't stand it anymore.
Why don't you kind of do this?
You got to do that.
I love working with the best players in the world.
I've had the opportunity to do it my whole life.
Someone asked me the other day, they said, do you miss traveling?
A tourist said, absolutely not.
Did I go to one turn of the year, the Masters, It's the only one I go through.
I don't miss it at all.
I tell you what I do miss.
I miss major championships because for thirty years I always had one or two players that had a chance to win a major championship, and I missed the rush of them.
I missed I miss the anxiety of I missed the getting in the heat of the battle and being there and being on the grounds and being there at a major.
Because I've had been very fortunate and got a lot of major victories that I don't have them, but my players have had them.
And for a long time I always had one or two guys could win every major they played it, and I actually I still have the feeling of that with the top of them that I teach, but I really miss that part of it.
Travel Oh hell no, I could care less about an airplane, in a restaurant, in a hotel.
I don't want any part of it.
Speaker 1You've done it way more times than I have.
But I've been lucky enough to be on that range in a major championship.
And one of the coolest things that is so hard to describe that feeling of is that range gets vacated and vacated and vacated, and there is nothing better than being on a team where there were the last two people on the driving on a Sunday and you start to see the range dwindle.
By the time you get to the weekend.
At a major, of the range is way less crowded.
But yeah, I was lucky enough to do it with DJ even during COVID, but at Augusta, when there's nobody on the range and there's not really that many people in the stands and you're hearing all the roars coming from the crowd.
Being a part of that is something that is us pretty damn cool.
I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 2I've done it for thirty five forty years, and I would say I miss that.
I don't miss the travel we travel now from when we want to travel where we want to go.
I've got a nice little trip coming up here in a few days, going to New York.
The girls are going into the city to watch some shows and shop and doctor brag and I are going to wing Foot for on the sixth and seventh and play twenty seven a day and stay out there.
We'll go back in the city and come home.
And so I like doing stuff like that.
We've got to go to France for a wedding this year, so we're gonna make a lot of time to France and doing some good red wine and had some fun.
So I'm actually starting to enjoy my life a lot more.
And we spent a lot of time.
I'm here in my house right now in Vegas, but we spent a lot of time on our condo down in San Clemente in southern California.
We were just down there for two weeks to trang go down for two and back for one, and spent a lot more time doing that.
So I'm starting to enjoy life a lot more than I ever have.
Speaker 1And still my guys are playing good.
So yeah, that's who it is.
It's always great talking to your happy birthday.
And Marina Alex, the girl that I teached that was on the LPGA, just retired.
She was at wingfoot, she played wingfoot.
I told you your dad shot sixty one on both courses, and she said, I have absolutely no idea how we shot sixty one on both those courses.
Speaker 2Well, i'll tell you what.
I'll be there on the sixth and seventh of September playing twenty seven a day.
My goal is great.
Ninety bought some pizza, shit, and you're coming back there.
In twenty eight the US opened back at the foot.
Speaker 1I love you.
Great to talk to your happy early birthday.
Speaker 2Thanks.
I love you too.
Found I'm really proud.
Speaker 1Thank you, some of which comes to you almost every week.
Thanks everyone for listening.