Andrew Novak and Henni Zuel joined the program this morning. Novak, who is having a career year, talked about how he has had to grow into every level of golf to get comfortable and feel like he can belong. He also talked about how motivating it is to know he is part of the Ryder Cup conversation. Zuel, part of the Sky Sports broadcast team, joined to talk about the recent qualifiers for The Open including Lee Westwood. The show ended with dogs of the week and team picks for the John Deere Classic.
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[Music] Welcome into five clubs. Good to have you with us on this Wednesday Golf Channel and also you can listen. It is PJ Tour Radio. It is channel 92 on SiriusXM. As you can tell, not in the friendly confines of our studios in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ve made my way uh to southern Indiana to the French Lick Resort. Behind me is the Pete Dye Golf Course, which is as grand as scale. Now, I was at Land Man last week, and it’s it’s hard to beat uh the grandiosity and the size and scale of that place, but this place kind of rivals it here for an underrated event. Of course, Steph Curry’s great vision for Junior Goff to give these young people, boys and girls, this great platform. Uh so, made our way out here, going to be here for July 4th, but we are with you for the next hour. Looking forward to it. looking forward very much to a conversation with Andrew Novak who’s going to be joining me and Henny Zuul who is actually part of the underrated family. She from Sky Sports as well. But this program is always brought to you by Century Insurance right by you. all the great things that they do, not only with respect to their own core businesses, uh, representing so many corporate companies, uh, as it pertains to their insurance needs, but when it comes to investing in golf and what they do with the United States Golf Association and the first TE Golf Pride grips, when it comes to grips, the options, the versatility, the durability, the materials that they used, it’s why they are trusted by more players from the championship level down to the recreational level. It is golf pride. Peter Mar, this Pine Performance hoodie that I am wearing, you can have it. I noticed yesterday that 200 new items were added to the Petermalar website at petermalar.com. And that is not even the fall line. That’s just items uh to get throughout the summertime. Again, it is petermalar.com. And of course, the cradle of American golf, Pinehurst and the Piners Resort with all of the things that they have for you, including that new clubhouse. It’s going to open very soon at Piner’s number 10. That golf course that was voted the best new public golf course in America in 2024. This right here is public golf, the Pete die golf course. This, before we get into kind of what we’re going to dive into here on the program, is one of the rare places in America. I’ve never been here before, uh, that you can play not only a Pete Dye golf course, but a Donald Ross golf course. The only one. and Pete Dye. This uh this property is the kind of place where Pete and Alice Dy showed up and they went, “Yeah, we can do this. Sure, we’ll move 2.5 million cubic yards of material and build you a golf course. We built a golf course in a swamp in Panabidra Beach. We built a golf course what looked like at the end of civilization at the edge of Kiwi Island. We can do this. So, it’s nice to be here. You know what else is nice? It’s nice to know that you’re going to play in the final major championship of the season. Yesterday, we kind of teed up. It was midday for open championship qualifying uh that they had at four different sites uh throughout the UK. And they had 20 spots available for roughly 300 players, five budgeted per site. So, it wasn’t based necessarily on world ranking uh based on the player and the profile of the players at each site. It was five per site. So, let’s take a look at who made it through. And it’s interesting. Liv live golf had a good day, and I’ll get to that in a moment. But you look at that the players from each side. Justin Walters was the medalist, a young man from South Africa. Uh Denmark, I tell you what, Jacob Scav Olison, another player from Denmark. And if you consider the modesty of not only their population, but really their history in the game of golf, they are uh trending in a very, very good way. Harry Hall who plays on the PGA Tour is going to play in his first open championship. He was the highest ranked player in the world among all of these sites that was competing yesterday. You see the name Luke Donald. More on him in a moment. He was the medalist at the Dund Donald link site. Uh so you see him Connor Gran. That was a great story. An amer from Scotland. Uh wonderful little video of him uh hugging his father after he made it through in a two for one playoff. As we roll it on to the next page in the other two sites, uh, Royal St. Ports was the site that you had a lot of the high-profile players, including the Pters, Ian and his son Luke. Neither one of them, as you can see, made it through. Uh, Luke was in good position after 18 holes, but struggled in the afternoon 18 holes. Dean Burmeister from South Africa, another LIB player. He was the medalist there. And then over at West Lancashire, Lucas Herbert, another LIB player. So three of the four sites you have lived players who were the medalist at those respective sites. And you see England number of players from England made it through. Nathan Kimsey uh as well and there at the bottom the last name that you see there is Richard Tedar. He is from Estonia. Now he made it through in a 42 playoff. And we’re going to show you a little video of how he made it through. And and consider that that Richard Tedar was in good position going into the final hole, his 36th hole of the day. He made a double bogey, which put him all of a sudden he’s trying to get reoriented after just having it in his grasp and he loses it. So, he’s got to go into a 4 for two playoff. And on the first playoff hole with three other guys, we’re going to roll this video. He’s got a 90 hit a hit a bomb t-shot. Had it 90 yards. You see this ball check struck expertly. He rolls it in for a two and makes his way on through. This is a nation that has roughly 10 golf clubs. They have two players in the top 2,000 in the official World Golf rankings. This is a population Estonia of less than 1.8 million people. But this young man actually made it through to the quarterfinals of the amateur championship uh the British amateur. So So he’s got he’s got legitimate golf chops. Obviously he’s got chops. he had made it through and and here he is on the doorstep of making it without having to go to a playoff. The one other thing that I would note about that is that in that video you could see, you know, one other player repairing a ball mark because they were not eliminated. There was another spot available. So those other three players had to go on. He because he made the two made it on through. That is the embodiment of qualifying. an amateur who is from a I wouldn’t even call it necessarily developing nation when it comes to the game of golf. The the modesty of the profile of Estonia in terms of golf, it’s as modest as it could be almost. And and here is this young man uh making his way through you, you can count on the fact that Richard Tedar’s story is going to be told early in the week. And one note about Open Championship Week as it relates to to our programming. We’re going to be with you on Monday, July 14th. We’re going to actually start an hour earlier at 7 Eastern. We’re going to have a two-hour show for you that day. uh scheduled to join us uh in including Rich Lerner who is obviously the the anchor uh of the prime time window for for Live from and oh by the way his colleague on that program one of them uh along with Paul McInley is Brandle Shambbley. Happy birthday to Brandle Shambbley the junior senator from the great state of Arizona celebrating his birthday and they could put 150 candles on that cake. He’s in his early 60s, I believe. Uh, but he could blow them all out because he is a professional gas bag. And I couldn’t mean that in the more complimentary, loving way. Good friend. Happy birthday uh to Brandle Shambbley. But anyway, Brandle and Rich going to join me on that day. We’re also going to have a number of other guests who are going to be with uh me as well. So, seven and nine on July 14th. And so, Richard Tedar’s story is going to be told. And and the other the other story I think that’s interesting out of yesterday in addition to the fact that Liv Golf and I will say this, Liv Golf should have had a good day because if you look at generally speaking the profile of the players who were in final qualifying for the Open Championship in addition to Lee Westwood who made it through who was the medalist at his site, Lucas Herbert is is a is a worldass player and Dean Burmeister is a world class player. and so are some of the other guys from Liv. But but to their credit, those guys were playing in Texas over the weekend, made it there. I know one guy, I think it was Lucas Herbert, who by the time he got to his qualifying site, it was so late in the evening that he was trying to just hit any balls that he could. The range was closed. He apparently went down to the beach with an eight iron just to hit some shots and got up the next morning and went out and was the medalist at his site. But I just want to say a few things about Lee Westwood because you start thinking about and I think this is one of one of the the the great discussions, debates, conversations you can have. Who is the the best player? Whether it be modern era all time in terms of what they accomplished in the game, but yet they didn’t win a major championship. And there’s no doubt among the short list of players in the modern era, if you want to go back and if you want to look at all time, McDonald Smith who won 25 times, uh Bill Melhorn, Harry Lighor Cooper, uh Harry Lighor Cooper had four seconds in majors and and didn’t win one and he had 30 wins on the PJ tour. Bill Mel Horn, same thing. Doug Sanders won 25. Now we’re getting into the modern era and then you get to guys like Bruce Crampton. Bruce Crarampton had four seconds in majors. He won 14 times on the PJ tour. His four seconds in those majors. You know who won all four? You know who? Nicholas. Of course he did. Bruce Litzky. He would certainly be on on that short list. Colin Montgomery is in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Never won on the PGA Tour, but obviously he’s got eight orders of mer. He won the Order of merit eight times, won 31 times on the DP World Tour. But but Lee Westwood and oh by the way, Lee Westwood finished tied for fourth at the Open Championship in 2019 at Royal Port Rush, 52 years of age. His last start in the Open Championship was 2022 at the Old Course. So that will be a story of which there are 156 of them. You know, one of the stories, Andrew Novak, cuz he will be playing in his first open championship. He’s going to be joining me when we continue here because it’s a breakout season for somebody who when you look at where he played college golf in terms of his development and his progress and now he has not only found his footing on the PGA Tour, he has a chance legit to be on the United States Rder Cup team. A lengthy discussion with him about his year about winning for the first time in a team competition and about the National Football League because he can talk it. So, he’s going to join me next, Henny Zulu, a little bit later on to talk about some of those qualifying stories. I am live from French Lick, Indiana, the Pete Dy Golf Course here at the French Lick Resort behind me. It’s a Wednesday edition and oh, by the way, we got our picks for the John Deere and we got dogs always on a Wednesday. Nice to have you with us. Five Clubs on Golf Channel and on PJ Tour Radio’s channel 92 on SiriusXM. Back with you right after this. [Music] Welcome back in on this Wednesday edition of Five Clubs. I am in French Lick, Indiana at the French Lick Resort at the Pete Die Golf Course right behind me here for an underrated event. Uh the great vision of Steph Curry to elevate junior golf in a way that really hasn’t been seen before. Annie Zul, who’s part of the underrated family, also from Sky Sports. We’ll talk some open championship qualifying with her a little bit later on, but joining me now, he’s 12th in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s having a a tremendous year. He’s 13th in the RDER Cup standings as well. Uh he leaves Sunday. He’ll play the Scottish, then his first Open Championship start. I’m speaking of Andrew Novak joining me from his home in Sea Island. Andrew, good morning. Thank you for joining me. How you feeling? Good morning. Uh thanks for having me on. um feeling much better having, you know, a couple weeks off to rest to recover.
You know, I was I was thinking about you thinking, yeah, there’s no he’s got to got to take some time. Um you were mentioned to me in the break, you love the John Deere, you hate to miss it. Of course, your partner Ben Griffin, he would play in a one-day member guest between starts. The guy the guy plays, it seems like every week. I I will get to that win in a moment, but let me start with you by going back to last fall because Bermuda, you shoot 62 on Saturday and even though it’s the end of the year and so it’s not like you teed off at 3 in the afternoon, it’s still it’s still a position that was newer to you, meaning teen off at the end of the field uh late in the day. What was the the the most memorable and and thing that stands up in your mind about having that experience really for the first time uh in Bermuda last fall? Yeah, that was a goal of mine for that entire fall stretch was to basically put myself in contention to win a golf tournament. I hadn’t really done that much. Um, I had a decent year last year, uh, statistically, like was very strong, very consistent through the year, but I really didn’t have like chances to win tournaments. I had a lot of, um, I don’t know, top 15, top 20 finishes, but I never really was in contention. So, that was kind of one of the focal points of the fall. And uh yeah, I Saturday at Bermuda, I finally kind of broke through and had a good proper Saturday performance to put myself in position. And then uh Sunday kind of fought through, you know, it was really windy on Sunday, fought through some tough conditions, kind of kept kept myself right around the lead and um gave myself a chance there at the end. Just Rafa played really, really well down the stretch. So you you take that experience into the new year and you put yourself right back in that position at the farmers and then subsequently you did it again. You mentioned tough conditions. Valero uh the final round that I mean that that was it was ripping uh that particular day.
Those types of days in terms of building like an inventory of experiences where like mind and body are are cooperating in an environment that is getting maybe more comfortable for you. Um, do all those things help in cataloging growth and progression? Yeah, absolutely. Um, at each level I’ve played like junior golf, college golf. I never was like quick to just jump on the scene and dominate or win or do anything crazy. It’s kind of been the same in professional golf. It took me a little bit at cornfair. It’s taken me a little bit on the PJ tour. But as I get experience, as I have, you know, improvements, I can always look back on that. And I think that’s what kind of helps me build um at every stage I get to, like that’s where that improvement comes from. And so I I kind of felt like the next step I needed to take on the PJ tour was to put myself in position to win. Um I didn’t necessarily expect to win first time around or, you know, if I did, great. But I just wanted to start maximizing opportunities up there just so I could get myself comfortable with being there just I guess for you know future reference down the road like it’s going to make it easier the more times I put myself in that position. Um you know it’s not always going to work out perfect. I thought I played better at Bermuda and Farmers on Sunday than Valera. Valera I just I flat out didn’t play well on Sunday. Um, but it was still I I think I was more comfortable like in the final round Valero versus, you know, maybe the other two. I just wasn’t playing well.
The uh and then the Heritage, which again, it’s just it’s just a couple weeks after literally uh the Valero. I I gotta believe that you left there even though look you you you’re you’re you’re gutted that you didn’t break through and win, but I thought you were you were as sturdy as you had been in that environment. Is that fair? Yeah, I I felt mentally pretty good at Valero. I especially like in like committing shots, I think I was really good. I struggled at Valero a lot with like pace of play. Um
it was really I mean obviously it was like super windy but it was brutal on Sunday and I did not handle like the slow play very well at all. Um this was one of the things that like I kind of touched on. So like I felt like the best I played on a Sunday was probably Heritage and also like I mean we we won at Zurich and if you look at those Heritage was the first time I played in a tusome at the end because Valero Farmers and Bermuda were all played in threes. So pace was slower in those. And I felt like I was able to get much better rhythm at Heritage because just pace of play was better. And then same thing kind of Zurich. You’re playing an alternate shot. That’s as fast as you can play. Basically, it’s a two ball and you can walk ahead. So, like the pace was much faster for that as well. And I feel I think, you know, for me that’s probably more advantageous just being a faster player.
The um the winning about being in contention with a partner and and format, which is really wonky. You’re trying to win a golf tournament and you’re hitting every other shot. Uh, how discomforting was that? Or were you comfortable? Well, I had Ben with me, so that made it pretty comfortable. Um, just in the sense that he’s a really good golfer, but also we’ve known each other for so long. We’re good friends. Like, I don’t know. There’s a lot of trust there. I feel like, um, I had a lot of confidence in him. I think he had a lot of confidence in me. And so the fact that we were hitting every other shot, I don’t think necessarily concerned us. I think we kind of understood like good shots were going to be hit when we weren’t hitting them. So, um, I don’t know, for us it seemed to work pretty well.
You, um, you mentioned junior golf and college, the PGA tour. How were you with with like your level of belief and then kind of coupling that with doubt as you as you were ascending in golf? I mean, did when did you feel like like this sense of belonging? I I think that’s kind of part of what is I don’t know takes me time at each level. Uh I don’t know if I’m like I kind of need to see it a little bit which I I can do eventually like as as I get more comfortable at a level I am eventually you know going to compete and play well and then I can be like okay I’ve done this before and it kind of steamrolls from there. But I do think like one of the things especially when I went like just made the jump to professional golf um that was kind of one of the bigger things for me just playing at a smaller school. I hadn’t played very good competition and um just getting reps against some of these better players and you know eventually having some success to help show that okay I can play with these guys. I do belong here. Like I think that has been like part of the process for that, you know, taken me the longest to um really kind of break through
and and now it’s, you know, you’ve you’ve contended so much that, you know, people want to talk to you, get your thoughts, and then they find out like, wow, he he is he’s candid. Uh he’s thoughtful. He’s got he’s got range to talk about other things, which I I want to talk some NFL with you. Um, how is that like because I find to me Andrew, I thought Scotty Shuffler said something that was so interesting after you won the PGA. He said, “Look, I I dreamed about doing this my whole life.” This part, like sitting in this room, I didn’t dream about. That’s not part of the dream. The dream is not doing media. The dream is is is, you know, trying to be competitive and and win golf tournaments. How about finding that balance and and finding comfort with that? like doing things and responding well to the idea that people want your opinion on things. Yeah, I do think Scotty’s right. When you when you, you know, think of winning the Masters or think of winning those tournaments, yeah, you it’s the final putt going in and then it kind of just ends or like putting the green jacket on or whatever, you know, it’s you don’t really think about that part, but like realistically that is what comes with it. Um, if you play good golf, if you win tournaments, people want to talk to you. We want to hear your opinions on things. Um, if you know that’s the price for playing good golf, I’ll happily pay. Uh, I don’t mind talking to the media. So far, they’ve been pretty good to me for the most part. I haven’t haven’t ran run into some of these issues maybe that that some guys have, but I haven’t had as much experience yet with the media uh like that. So, um, I don’t know. I I don’t mind speaking my mind really if people want to talk to me. Um, I don’t know. I’m just a dude. I happen to be good at golf, but I’m just a dude. I like sports. I like other things and I’m happy to talk about it.
Um, have you been have you seen the Rder Cup tailor? Have you been fitted for clothing? Uh, I think they brought a lot of guys in for that. Yeah.
Okay. So, the answer is yes. You they they have your measurements. Um, what is that what is that like in terms of whether it’s reading something, hearing people say that, you know, Andrew is now on on, you know, Keegan Bradley’s radar, or knowing where you are quantitatively in in the rankings, as I just alluded to when I brought you on, you’re 13th in the standings. That’s new. Um, is that is that something that is distracting or something that is confidence building? I’d say more than anything it’s motivating for me. Um, it’s something when they had announced Beth Paige a while back, I don’t know how many years ago
I saw that and I remember specifically just to play in that atmosphere with the New York fans. Uh, would be awesome. Um, it’s been a long time building since then. like I I might have still been in college when I saw that, but uh definitely like coming into this year that was a huge motivating factor for me. Um just to try and play well. Obviously with how the last RDER Cup went like this is, you know, this is a big RDER Cup for the US. We we have to defend our home turf. Uh you you can’t let Europeans come in um in the New York area specifically and take one from us. So uh this is this is a big year. uh we have to defend and I do want to be a part of that.
Um you mentioned the New York fans, you mentioned, you know, the Carolina Panther jersey. Not not a lot of guys uh on the PJ tour who are who are Panther fans. Web Simpson certainly is all the the Carolina guys are. What I was struck by was the number uh the jersey that you were wearing. Um, I covered the team for for 10 years. Did their their preseason TV package playbyplay for three seasons, and I’m thinking to myself, okay, that’s got to be Jeremy Chin. Is that a Jeremy Chin jersey? That that was a Jeremy Chin jersey. Uh, there have been a few 21s. Was Was Bianca Batuka 21 when he got drafted? Okay, now I Okay, Andrew, now you got me. All right.
Because I’m saying I’m saying to the folks that I’m with here, I said there’s no way Andrew was probably 5 years old
when Tuma Bianca Betuk was running the football for the Carolina Panthers. That That’s impressive. Yeah. Yeah. He was, you know, that would have been a while ago. I would have been very young. He was probably around 2000.
I had a the first Panthers jersey I had for for you, I had a Lamar Leon jersey.
So that that’s how far back we’re going. Yeah. Uh, all right. So, let me get your thoughts. Uh, let let’s start with let’s start with the draft. Uh, I heard you the Travelers going through uh some teams. You were mentioning that the Patriots and I think you’re kind of bullish on them maybe making a jump this year. How about how about Carolina’s draft and kind of where you see them this year in a in a division that historically, as you know, every year somebody else wins the division? Yeah. Yeah. It’s a pretty open division in my eyes. I don’t think, you know, I would imagine the Buccaneers are still kind of the favorite. The Falcons are a bit of a question mark. I think generally people think the Saints are going to be quite bad. So, I don’t know. It’s there for the taking if the progression continues from the end of last year. Yeah. The Panthers could be very, very good. Um,
they drafted that you think
wide receiver defense. Yeah. Yeah. Give me give me Andrew your three teams in the league that you think are going to make a jump this year. Maybe because historically there’s usually between four and five teams that were not playoff teams the previous year that are you know this that get into the playoffs the following year. Give me give me three teams that were non-playoff teams last year who are getting in this year. Let’s go Patriots. Um, on the NFC side, I will go Bears. Feel not super confident about that. And then I don’t know if they make the playoffs or not, but I’m calling the Titans to make a pretty good jump this year as well.
Okay. I have here are the four teams I have written down. I have I have the Pats, I have the Bears, I have Seattle. Um, and then I think again that the AFC South reminds me a lot of the NFC South. Um, it’s just, you know, a lot of teams that hover around 500. I think Jacksonville, I I think they just bottomed out. Um, they would be my other one. All right, let me let me get you out of here with five quick questions uh to go here with Andrew Novak. Uh, being a guy who resides at Sea Island, you got a million guys to play with. Who is the best gambler on Sea Island? Doesn’t have to be a professional. Best gambler.
Yes.
Uh I don’t know. I don’t know about best gambler, but the guy’s money that feels the best taking is Patton. Really? Oh, yeah. He he does not like to give up money, so taking money off Patton feels real good. All
right. Who is the most knowledgeable sports fan on the PGA Tour? Uh, besides me, um, I don’t know. I think I think Jordan’s got it in there. I, you know, I haven’t spent a ton of time with him, but it seems like he knows what he’s talking about.
I’m with you. I’m with you. He is not It’s not surface talk with him. if you talk to him specifically, if you talk Cowboys, um, or Mavericks or Rangers, now I haven’t talked Texas Rangers with him much. Uh, I’m with you. And I think he knows Texas football. Uh, I think that’s a that’s a reasonable pick. All right. Give me the movie that it’s either 30 minutes in or 30 minutes to go that you’ll watch it. Oh, man. Kind of depends on the mood, I guess. But like, I don’t know. If I see step brothers on, I’m probably not leaving the couch. Okay. Um, the best player dining on tour, non- majors. Well, maybe this is cheating, but probably players. Uh, they do so good with that tournament.
Okay. All right. Last thing, because you you you play a lot of fantasy football, uh, and it allows you to be really educated on the league. Keeper League, the player you will draft that you will own for the next three seasons who you would pick number one overall, who would it be? Oh, well, for taking number one overall this year, I think it’s Jamar Chase for sure.
But if you want if you want me, you got to have him for three seasons. If if you want me to grab a guy right now that I think’s going to have some staying power, I’m not taking him first overall, but grab Amarian Hampton from the Chargers. Uh that’s an offense that’s only going to progress. Uh they’ve got a lot of good young players. Justin Herbert’s a real deal. There’s nothing like that offense should be good every year for the next three years. They have a good quarterback. They have a good offensive line. Harbaugh is going to build that team around a physical run game. Like you’re pretty much guaranteed to have like a solid like probably top 12 to 15 running back for the next like three years. And that first potential be a top five. Love that. Uh because you just picked a a Carolina running back who again they rely on the run. Um he was tremendous uh in an offense, especially last year. No, he does. Let me ask you this before I let you go. Did you left Raleigh when you were seven? Do you have an affinity or a did you like North Carolina athletics? Did you like Duke or did you did you dislike Duke? Yeah. So, my mom went to grad school at Duke, so we did have a Duke connection, but I am actually a Miami Hurricanes fan. Die hard. Big time.
Wow. Where did that start and why? I I think because we didn’t have any like my parents went to smaller schools initially and they had no like team that I had to really root for for college and I had nobody to like choose and it was 2000 and they were the best team and they were always on TV. You know, back then there were only a few channels and there were only a few games on TV each week. So the team that was number one in the country got put on TV. So I got to watch Miami most weeks.
And let me tell you something. If you think there were only a couple of channels in 2000, you should have been watching sports in the mid 80s when I was your age at that when you were when you were 10 years old. Uh you had a lot more offerings than I did. Listen, I appreciate you doing this. Uh safe travels over uh the Scottish at the Renaissance Club next week and then your first open championship at Royal Port Rush. I know you’re excited about that. You got a lot of things uh to to to play for throughout the playoffs. I mentioned you’re standing in the FedEx Cup. You’re so deeply embedded. Your world ranking as it relates to end of the year, Mast’s invitation, all that stuff. You’re having a hell of a year. Thanks so much. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.
You bet. There is Andrew Novak. I mentioned, you know, his standing he is legitimately if if you and it’s it’s amazing to think that and he was there’s no doubt when Beth Page was announced. It’s most certain that he was in college cuz he’s 30 now and that was announced. I’m certain it was 10 years ago that they made that announcement. All right, we’re going to take a break. We continue with you here on this Wednesday edition. We got dogs. We got our picks. More to do here. I am in French Lick, Indiana, the French Lick Resort at the Pete Dai Golf Course. I’m here for an underrated event. It is Five Clubs on Golf Channel and on PJ Tour Radio’s channel 92 on SiriusXM. Back with you right after this. [Music] Welcome back in. It is a Wednesday edition here of Five Clubs. This segment brought to you by Peter Malar. They have been refining performance, luxury, and style. They’ve got you covered at Peter Malar. Joining me now is somebody who could be here literally with me right now. I was with her last week. She of course with Sky Sports but also a big part of of Steph Curry’s underrated tour as an ambassador advancing the the the name and the mission particularly around the world. She has been very very uh central to cultivating the talent from the European community uh for these events that we’ve had. We had one in London a little bit over a month ago. We’ll be back in Scotland in the month of August. I’m speaking of Henny Zuul. I was with her last week in Colorado Springs. We’re going to talk some open championship qualifying. But Henny, let me start because last week you and I as as golfers do, we’re sitting there. We’re not on the range. We’re just sitting there talking. We start talking about swing tips. And I mentioned to you a swing tip that I got from Justin Rose many years ago in New Orleans about feeling pressure on the inside of your right hip flexor when you take the club back. And you’re like, you started doing it and you’re like, I like that the way that feels. Have you tried to employ that in any way since you’ve gotten home? I have, Gary. Firstly, it’s an absolute pleasure to be joining you here on the show. I’m delighted. I’m very sad that I’m not there with you in person. Um, but that first question that you asked me is borderline going to have me standing up here in my kitchen doing rehearsal swings. After you gave me that tip, myself and Rob Roxbury, who we also work with underage tour, went straight to the driving range with a borrowed seven iron. It worked beautifully. My divot pattern was great. It creates this wonderful downward force. I’m really going to nerd out here, but I typically sway off the golf ball. So, if you’re watching this and you too struggle with swaying off the golf ball, feeling the pressure on the inner right hand side of your right thigh is an absolute gold nugget of a swing tip. It lasted three years for Gary and I believe it’s going to be the same for me because I took it out yesterday, Gary, at Woking Golf Club, which is a really old but stunning tight with Heather Golf Club and I hit it dead straight. And this is someone who had a really, really repugnant double miss going on and now thanks to you, uh, I’ve hit it straight. So, not only are you my colleague and esteemed friend, but also my swing coach now, too. Well, and again, one degree of separation from Justin Rose, uh, one of the great English players in the modern era. Another one, Lee Westwood. So, let’s get, uh, with you to some some of the stories from yesterday’s, uh, final qualifying for the Open Champion. Let’s start with Lee, 52 years of age. What is the the kind of the affection for him in in the European community, specifically in the UK as somebody who has was so agonizingly close for so long, 10 times on the RDER Cup? Uh is he as beloved as I would assume he is?
It’s a really interesting segue that you make from Justin Rose to Lee West because of course Justin Rose qualified for the Open Championship last year and very nearly got the W. So, in terms of what that would mean qualify, if you know nothing about open qualifying, there’s four different spots for final qualifying, four different field sizes. So, there’s a lot of it’s pretty much like a DP World Tour event when you’re looking at the entries. Um, there’s a lot of guys that come over from Liv as well. And yeah, I think for the British fans, when you think about the Open Championship and going to watch it, you are going to watch. Yes, you want to see some of the up andcoming young players, but this is such a core golf fan base and a lot of them have been watching players like Sir Nick Faldo, like Justin Rose from when he first played in the Open, and of course Lee Westwood. They’ve pretty much watched him for his whole career. Um, as you know, the UK and Ireland is quite small, so there’s lots of opportunities and chances for people, fans to go and watch their favorite golfers. Um, whether that’s the British Masters or the Open Championship, there is an abundance of opportunities. And so, a lot of the fans that are there, it feels like, you know, you’ll see so many players that go, I’ve watched you when you were 15 years old. I watched you in amateur tournaments. I watched you when you were 25. I watched you win this. I watched you at this RDER Cup. Um, so yes, in answer to your question, uh, Lee is a beloved British golfer that the fans will relish being able to see him compete in an open championship. It means a lot to the fans, but it also means the absolute world to Lee Westward because for a British player, it doesn’t matter what you’ve achieved uh, or what tour you play on or how old you are, playing in the Open Championship is what you have the five foot putts for growing up. This is to play in the open. to win the open. It really does mean that much. And again, to my point about that British fan base, for someone like Lee to be able to play in front of his home fans and uh family and friends that will travel from England to Northern Ireland to go and watch him, they don’t get an opportunity really to watch him that often because on Liv especially, the travel is quite far ranging. It’s pretty much longhaul destinations for the most part. Um, so yes, it will mean an awful lot to both the fans and to Lee as well. And there was a some pretty fun storylines coming out of final qualifying yesterday as well. I don’t know if you saw the first Estonian golfer to ever compete in the open, hold out from about 25 yards of the chip shot, and had the most phenomenal celebration. If you haven’t seen it, please go to YouTube or social media. It’s all over social media this morning. Uh, and check it out because that is a very heartwarming story. But there’s a lot of stories of players from uh different tours from live tour who need to be able to play in majors to keep their world rankings up. Um especially as we look into next year as well and major qualifications. Um and yeah, I I really enjoy I really enjoy final qualifying and seeing some of the little story lines that pop through. Yeah, you mentioned Richard Tedar and and we actually showed the video of the young man from Estonia who who was a quarterfinalist in in the amateur championship for people don’t British amateur championship. Uh tremendous story, Henny, I wish we had more time. Um you and I will we’ll spend more time together uh soon enough. And as I mentioned, I wish you were here in French Lick, Indiana for the second underrated event here in the United States. But I will see you soon enough. Thank you for taking a few minutes. Thanks so much, Gary. Have a wonderful week. I’ll see you soon.
Okay, there is Henny Zul Sky Sports and again, as I mentioned, an ambassador for the underrated tour where I am. We come back. We got dogs, we got picks before we are done for our week here. Five clubs on Golf Channel and also channel 92 on SiriusXM’s PJ Tour Radio. Back with you right after this. [Music] It should make you smile. They all do. That’s why we celebrate them every Wednesday here on the program. Dogs of the week this segment brought to you by Golf Pride. When it comes to grips and options and durability and quality, there is nothing better than the line of grips that Golf Ride provides. That’s why they’re trusted by more players, not even close, than any other grip company in the world. Dogs, we want your dog. If you have a dog that has some type of relationship with the game of golf, send it to us. Dogs5ivegolf.com. Let’s get to our dogs and we’re going to celebrate Fourth of July week and we start with Hugo. Hugo is a cocker spananiel. That is Archer Field in North Burick, Scotland. Derek Cleland is the owner. Very few places better than that spot right there. That is Howie. Jennifer Shadaman is the owner. Howie is a Scottish terrier. That is the putting green at Walaw Wala Country Club in Walaw Wallala, Washington. That is Tank. Tank is a French bulldog riding on the cart there on a rainy day at Charbanel Golf Club in Wilsonville, Oregon. Terry Raz, the owner, that is Lucy, a 5-year-old Aussie doodle. Her owner, Chris Mullhop. Chris is in the industry of golf. He represents the number one player in the world on the women’s side. And finally, that is Piglet. Doesn’t look like one. Piglet is a 2-year-old blackmouth cer helping out around the golf course. Mike Bird is the owner, the assistant superintendent at Green Harbor Golf Club in Marshfield, Massachusetts. That is one sturdy animal. Send in your dogs. We got a lot of dogs that we’ve got an inventory, but believe me, we’ll get to every single dog that gets sent to us. The email is dogsivegolf.com. I can’t think of anything better than being out on this property uh with the dog late in the day. That’s why they’re God’s creatures. All right, let’s get to our picks because the John Deere, which it’s perfect that the John Deere is around the 4th of July, right in the heartland of America in Molen, Illinois. And our standings, Taylor Zarzer is leading. Uh he got a little bit of a bump last week. I think he was the only player who had somebody in the top 10. He had Kora. Uh so he’s got about a $2 million just right at 2 million over Johnson Wagner. than Emma, myself. Gil Hance is in a rut since he couldn’t pick Scotty Sheffller anymore. I believe he’s missed five of eight cuts. Uh he’s got a day job. And there’s Jay. And then and Brendan Young continuing one of the most dreadful seasons we’ve ever seen. And we’ve only been doing this show for six months. But whether we’ve been doing this show for six months or 60 years, he has been downright awful. All right, let’s get to our picks for this week. for the John Deere. I’m taking Denny McCarthy in and Gil, I don’t know if he saw my pick, but Denny McCarthy, three straight top 10s at this event, sixth, sixth, and seventh. And he falls right in line with guys the profile of players breaking through and winning for the first time. By the way, he was also 12th at the Travelers. His last start, Jason Day for Emma. Lucas Glover, a pass champion for Taylor. Michael Torbjornson for Johnson. And Brendan, I I swear Brendan puts his pick in right after Johnson and he always picks the same guy. At least he has since Johnson hasn’t been picking particularly well. And then Jay Bill is picking the Tarheel, Ben Griffin, who is playing for the 23rd time this season, right at the top of the list for for the most of anybody in terms of starts on the PJ tour. and Ben Griffin, like Andrew Novak, who was on this program a little bit earlier, uh Ben Griffin higher up in the RDER Cup standings, it would be no surprise on my part if both those guys were on the United States team. And and why wouldn’t they be paired together? And the truth is is that rookies have fared exceptionally well. One last thing I I want to say about the John Deere, the John Deere, we were talking yesterday with Brennan Porrath about scheduling on the PJ tour. The John Deere has has carved out a great space and for a lot of players, the elite players, they don’t necessarily show up there. But but consider the fact that the likes of Septro, it was his second win on the PGA Tour. But Bryson Dshambo, his first win on the PJ tour was the John Deere in 2017. Jordan Spe, his first win on the PJ tour was 2013. He went back and and won the event again uh in 2015. Denny McCarthy kind of fits that profile. Of course, we know that the likes of Zach Johnson of Stre Stricker have had great success. Let me just say this on behalf of all of us here at Five Club Signature Sports Group. We hope everybody out there has a fantastic Fourth of July weekend. We’re back with you next Monday. Have a wonderful, great American holiday. See you.
