Soly and Randy review the week highlighted by some quotes from Rory on captaining the European Ryder Cup team and what he views as successfully growing the game. We also discuss the amateur reinstatement debate and the reported shakeups at PGA Tour HQ before breaking down Tommy’s win in India on the DP World Tour and Sei Young Kim’s win at the BMW Ladies Championship.
In part two (52:00), Randy is joined by Cody and Jordan for a look at the career and legacy of Se Ri Pak. We begin with the origins of golf in her native South Korea and her upbringing and introduction to the game. From there, we learn about the journey to the United States and the LPGA Tour, the pressures she felt from sponsors to compete against the best women in golf, and her major wins – highlighted by the 1998 US Women’s Open. We close with a look at Se Ri’s legacy in the game, particularly the generation of Asian women who have followed her road to success in major championships and the LPGA Tour.
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No
Lang Up podcast. Sie here joined by my guy, Mr. Big Randy. Hello, Big. How are you? I’m great,
Sie. Good to be here. Uh, I got my my Bengal orange. You could say my Bronco orange on on this
Sunday. Uh, yeah, but we got some good golf stuff to talk about. I We’re recording this prior to any
result, right? So, you know, I guess well, the Big Bengals played Thursday. Yeah, you’re in. We know
the Bengals have won, guys. We we do like that the Broncos are playing later this afternoon. But this
is a rare occurrence when the the real golf was played uh over in Asia, so we can go early on
Sunday. I got daylight outside my window right now. It’s a beautiful, beautiful day. Although
my Jags are not looking so pretty this morning. Randy and I are going to chat about a few items,
including some Rory Captainc comments news. Amter reinstatement is hot again in these streets. A
PGA Tour staff shakeup. Pretty dramatic. uh if you will, a little DP World India Championships, the
great man Tommy Fleetwood wins there. Uh a little bit on the BMW Ladies Championship. Then the back
half of today’s show is going to be a chat you guys did earlier in the week on Savory Pac, a deep
dive if you will, something we’ve always wanted to do, a deep dive into Sri Pac. So stick around for
that on the back end. Want to give a shout out to our friends at Titus Randy. If you saw last week’s
episode, you saw uh this big medal over here to my left of Roose Club Champions. This could not have
been possible without the GT2. If you also saw, we posted a video. Ben and I played a USGA fourball
qualifier this past week. I put it on film. Big, we’ve eradicated the lefts with the GT2 driver.
Okay. The importance of getting fit. It’s hard to emphasize how, you know, important it is to
get fit. After, you know, the twins came and the bad back and all that. Dude, the GT3 was
not working for me anymore. I went through a pretty dramatic body change and uh I got refit,
put into an all-new driver, new shaft, and man, they can I thought it was all me making all the
errors and listen, it’s not been perfect, but they built a golf club that’s fit around my golf swing
and I’m having a lot more fun playing golf. So, if that’s not a great endorsement for getting fit
and the Titus GT series, I don’t know what is. You can go to titus.com to find a fitter near you
and it’s going to help you undoubtedly. Just talk to them. talk to them about what’s going on, what
your misses are, and they can help it. Cuz it was a trap goal of mine to eradicate the lefts this
year, Randy, for the first time. I’m starting to see a world where that might come to fruition.
So, checking off a goal would be massive. Sie, you know what else is hot in the streets right
now? Uh, you can I’m going to start it by saying you can go to the stacksystem.com code no langup
for 10% off the stack bundle. You’ve heard me talk about the speed training. Like that’s enough right
there to go ahead and and subscribe to the stack, get the bundle, get going on all that. But also
the fact that there’s stacked wedges and if you haven’t listened to the episode from this past
week, stack putting straight up, it’s the best way to practice the putts that matter and to
gather information around different putting methods you might be trying how to putt. You know,
if you want to try cross-handed, if you want to try the saw or the lobster as Neil calls it,
or if you want to putt with a mallet, or Randy, if I may, I’d like to introduce you to the first
topic of today’s episode, heads up putting. Sasha McKenzie was on the episode this past week and was
adamant, uh, has done studies on this to say heads up. Looking at the hole or looking at a target, a
far away target while you’re putting is decidedly the best way to do it. It is hot in the streets. I
have gotten more messages about this in this past week than anything uh anything else we’ve covered
in recent months of people that have tried this and have been have gotten shockingly positive
results including our own DJ Pie. Are you up on all this? I am. I am. I can tell you yesterday,
Saturday, I played in the final Roost event out here in Denver, the Rocky Mountain Rollers. That’s
the name of our Roost. Great format. It was a twoman four club best ball for 18 holes where you
have to use four distinct clubs on the front nine, four distinct clubs on the back nine and then
the final nine is a is an alt shot where you have to each guy has to use four different clubs.
So essentially you’re using just about every club in your bag. But I say all that, Tally, because
the amount of people I heard asking whether they should try heads up putting uh was it it was
amazing. I don’t know, there was nobody in our group who was actually brave enough to try it uh
to to just give it a go in competition right from the bat, but a lot of people are interested, and
you can count me among those that are at least interested. I am not a good putter. I’ve never
been a good putter. I’ve never tried Heads Up putting. And honestly, listening to Dr. Sasho and
hearing DJ’s early rave reviews, like I at least want to try it. Count me in. I I I there’s nothing
for me to lose. So, I look forward to trying it. You and I, we’re all going down to uh to to the
Dallas area this coming week to Frisco. I’m not sure. Again, I’m not sure if that’s the time to
like bust it out, but uh we who knows. We we may give it a go. It’s to be determined on that. It
would be bold to put it in play immediately at the club championship on camera. But it the his whole
here’s why it was so convincing to me was one, it was an immediate effect, right? It’s not
like, hey, people spent months practicing heads up putting better doing it. It was like, no, no,
just rolling off, you know, whatever into a study. People were better at heads up putting than they
were their their own preferred method. I’ve messed with it at times, but I needed it explained to
me exactly why because I did not understand the effects of all right. Basically, Sasha was saying
your face at impact is matters way more than your path, which I’ve ne that’s not how I thought of
putting and speed being a lot more important than you know where you strike it on the putter or your
path. So, if you don’t need to look at the ball, uh, you know, to give yourself an idea of what the
path is, or it doesn’t matter where you hit it on terms of where on the face, then it’s like,
well, why wouldn’t you look up at the target, right? And so, it I’m curious to try it. I’m
going to do stack putting and I’m going to do a bunch of sessions like to actually monitor the
difference and I’ll come back with an answer uh sometime before the end of this year hopefully
on what the actual effect of it is. But, man, I mean, I’m getting Instagram messages all over
the place. I mean truly a radicalization is going, you know, it feels overwhelming when you get
all the incoming messages, but I’m I’m really surprised at all the comments from it. Let me ask
you this. Does any part of I I I think where I uh naturally reside is I can certainly see it
being helpful and beneficial on longer putts. It’s It makes me a little bit more nervous. I I
guess I’m a little bit more apprehensive thinking about shorter putts, but I don’t know if I should
be. Does that does that make sense at all to you? Or is there one part where you’re like I don’t
know about it in that situation? I can see myself adopting a bit of a hybrid mode of I’m picturing
like a 10footer. I feel like I might look like halfway. You know what I mean? It might be like
cuz I think my eyes pick out something that you want the ball to roll over, you know? And I kind
of pick something six inches in front of the ball anyways. So I’m kind of like, all right, maybe
I can, you know, look a little bit further down the way. And I don’t know. I’m going to mess with
it, man. I it it it’s something honestly the only reason not to is I’m feeling like I look stupid
like none of the top players in the world do this so like why is it decidedly better I don’t
know let’s go find out I trust that man though he is well researched there’s there’s no he did
not reach this conclusion just off a whim I can tell you that yeah like I said I want to try it
I truly think I’ll hit some absolutely horrendous putts but I guess that’s just part of the process
so I and usually I’m joking when I say this let us know in the comments know if you’ve tried it.
I I really want all of the feedback cuz I’ I haven’t gotten one single person that’s that’s
tried it and been like, “That was a horrible idea.” It’s all been like, “Man, I had no three
putts yesterday. That was really interesting.” Cuz I got to think if you’re a really good putter
traditionally, you’re probably not feeling a need to change things. So, it’s it’s probably a lot of
folks that are searching for something. And so, yeah, if if the overwhelming feedback is like,
“Yeah, it’s not going to hurt anymore and it can only help,” then I’d be crazy not to try it.
So yeah, that’s why I want to start right there, Randy, because I think searching for something
is something, you know, you’ve been on a journey uh walk about uh tried to find something with
putter. So I want to hear I want to hear a report from that. You want to take us to our next uh
topic of the day? Yeah. Yeah. I think uh listen, Rory Mroy was over in India playing in the the DP
World Tour event. We’re going to get into that in just a little bit. But um at press conferences
earlier this week, he was asked naturally about the RDER Cup and specifically about if he has
hopes to be the captain one day. I don’t think it is breaking any news to say Rory is interested.
But Sully, let me read you the quote and then I want to ask you a question. Rory, in response
to being asked about the Ryder Cup captaincy and and whether he’d won it, quote, “Absolutely. I
would love to be a captain one day and I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a few front row that
I’ve had a front row seat playing under some of the best captains in history in the Ryder Cup.
Goes on to name them. Rory then again, but I’d say not until mid2030s hopefully if I can keep playing
well. And so Sie, my question is Rory right now is 36 years old. If we kind of take him at his word
here and let’s say 10 years from now, uh, at 46, does that feel right to you as far as potential
timing for Rory and the Ryder Cup captaincy? I was thinking about this, Big It, that honestly
still feels a little early to me. Uh, Justin Rose played him, he’s 45 years old in three months, uh,
and just played in another Ryder Cup and I don’t think he thinks he’s done playing in them. I think
he very much wants to be a part of that team uh in Ireland. I How long does Rory’s career last? I
mean, we’re talking about one of the great talents of our generation. I don’t think he’ll be done in
10 years. I don’t think he’ll be not one of the 12 best Europeans in 10 years and how integral
he is to the glue of that team and how he has, you know, without patting himself on the back for
it, he’s been like the sevy of the generation of like I’m the best player and I’m going to put my
heart and soul into this. You know what I mean? There’s not like a like Tiger Woods aging out of
it. It was kind of like a okay man, I know there’s some injury stuff. Maybe that’s a bad example
of like, yeah, it’s kind of time for you to go, man. like you weren’t really that effective in in
the player and I’m going to say I’m I’m using air quotes around player captain role like being the
player leader. He was not effective in it. Rory is very effective at that and I don’t know if he
needs to be a captain anytime soon. I don’t think he has said out loud I don’t want to be a player
captain. So honestly if you told just you know off the c if you just asked that question does that
make sense 10 years from now for him to be a rider cup captain? Be like yeah that probably is right.
But at age 46, I I don’t think he’s going to be done by then. I know he’s intimated that maybe
he is not going to take golf as serious past 45, but um I think maybe age 48 might be the
first time it starts to get a little bit real for him. I What do you think? Yeah, there’s
nothing I really disagree with there. I was like you where when I first read that and you know the
mid 2030s sounds so far away, but it’s like yeah, it’s only just 10 years. Um, I I thought Rory
could certainly be playing world class golf at that age. And as you said though, it’s going to be
up to him whether he really wants to keep up with the full-time grind of professional golf. And so
I I I do think it’s it’s probably up to Rory how how much past age 40 even we see him playing a
full full like global schedule. And I know like some of that’s going to depend on what changes we
see with with professional golf here over the next uh several years. So yeah, I I think though like
that 48 years old that makes a lot of sense to me. Um, but I do think Rory’s the type of guy like
if he’s committed and motivated to be playing, like there’s no reason he’s not going to be one of
the the 12 best Europeans and and truly, you know, could could have shots at major championships. I
mean, guy like Phil Mickelson won the PGA at age what, 50 51. Not saying Rory will necessarily win
majors, but I I don’t see his game aging poorly and he’s been able to avoid injuries. So, yeah, I
think it’s just up to him. So, if anything, maybe he’s telling us like, hey, I got about 10 years
left of like really playing and then I I’d like to start transitioning to to other things. So,
just thought it was interesting. Yeah. Well, you know what I was thinking about through the lens of
this question was like what is what is Rory this entire generation this younger group of guys that
we’ve followed very closely for the decade that we’ve been doing this what’s it going to be like
when they are 50 and there’s kind of two routes I mean Phil won a major at age 51 and then I think
of like imagine if we you and I were covering Ernie L’s during the prime of his career and you
know he was one of the greatest players you know we have ever seen in in our generation won four
majors like was a a you know trans a globe globe trotder played all over the world won all over the
world was just truly a a very very very very good golfer was a challenger to Tiger and then like you
know he’s playing in his 50s and he’s just playing champions Tour events and no one ever thinks or
talks about it you know what I mean like I can’t imagine I mean Rory has said he doesn’t want to
play the champions tour but imagine him just kind of like out there uh on the Champions Tour playing
relatively insignificant golf right for for the for the world’s sake, you know, and it’s just a
funny a funny thought in that, you know, is and Phil and Grant and Phil showed up in the Champions
Tour and just started dominating the darn thing. So, uh before before moving on to Sable Offshore,
but uh I don’t know. It’s just very funny to think about like what like JT is he going to go like
dominate the senior tour or are they going to are all these people going to call it? I feel like
we’re going to see more guys call. I mean, I guess it’s going to be the true sickos that just have
to play and have to have that competitive juice because like the money these guys are earning.
I as when we talk about JT and Rory and like the best of the best, right? That they certainly
aren’t going to have to go play Champions Tour to like keep earning money, you wouldn’t think. And
so, but neither would Ernie, too. Like, that’s what I’m saying. Like that guy had to have made I
mean he made I think 50 million on the PJ tour. It says career AI is estimating 685 career million
in career earnings business and endorsement income. Like he’s not out there for the money but
this guy’s I don’t know Ernie’s a guy that does not want to hang it up or does not it seems very
interested in the grind. Yeah. I mean I don’t know why Ernie came to mind. It was just Yeah. Like
they just they’re still out there doing it man. We know we never talk about it but they are out there
doing it. Yeah. I know. I And like truthfully, is the Champions Tour as we know it even gonna
be a thing in 10 years? Like I could see it being either going away completely or being something
totally totally different. So good point. I guess that’s another consideration. Well, let me let
me follow up with Rory real quick. Sie, the same new news conference this week. Uh James Kan wrote
about this on.com. Want to give him a shout out. Royer was asked about growing the game of golf.
Again, this comes on the heels of a contentious writer cup to say the least, especially as it was
directed to Roy Rory Mroy. and just talking about what pro golf should be, what it can be, and also
like through the lens of Brian Rolap who has come over from the National Football League and in his
introductory press conference has alluded to and signaled like some real significant change coming
to the tour. So, let me quote Rory here about the game of golf and growing it. Rory said, quote, “I
say it in America all the time. Golf doesn’t need to be the NFL. It doesn’t need to be these other
sports. Golf is golf, and that’s fine.” He goes on to say about growing it. I think there has to be
a balance. I certainly think that golf can grow, but it can grow in a way where the people that are
coming into the game still respect and acknowledge that this is a little bit different than other
sports. So, I think this is an interesting thought exercise. It’s an interesting
question and we’re not gonna, you know, we can kind of just scratch the surface here, but
how do what’s the growth potential in your mind of pro golf? and and is is there a way to like make
professional golf, let’s say here in America, a lot bigger while still keeping some of those
unique traditional characteristics of, you know, fans being very quiet and polite and not
cheering against guys necessarily. Like, can can those two ideas coexist in your opinion?
I think they can. Um, I think this ventures into a little bit where I feel uh more I would say quite
unqualified. There’s a lot of things I talk about that I’m quite unqualified to speak on, but like
the getting very much into the unqualified stuff of like how to build that and how to how to do
things and even like where the PGA Tour is going, right? I was reading an interview uh Gary McCord
did this past week. I’m I apologize. I forget who it was with, but just talking about making
these tournaments in themselves into individual franchises. And without having the time to sit
down and like think about it myself, I I’m like, I don’t know if I can fully explain what he’s
explaining here. I it makes sense to me what he’s saying, but like it’s kind of more of the, you
know, the future of golf. There’s just so many complications that come into this with 501c6 and
now we’re a for-profit entity and blah blah blah that like I I usually try to tackle this problem
just specifically from the fan standpoint of like how do you make the product interesting to for
us to watch, right? How do you make the that has always started with blowing up the current
media deal, getting rid of the commercialization structure that you currently have around the
event? Can’t have it looking like the Ryder Cup look. I know it’s a PJ of America event, but you
know how Bay Beill tends to look up against the players the very next week. They needs golf
needs to look a lot more like the players, right? People the players rates better on
television. The players has a much better brand than a lot of these other events does. It
has, you know, it’s not a major championship, but it has some um panache in the golf world. It
has some buzz and it reaches some casuals that are not the biggest golf fans. I would compare it to
let’s say F I hate we’ve always used F1 over the years, but like people know Monaco, right? like
and they might tune in that’s ironically that’s the most boring race to watch but they might tune
in to watch Monaco right so how can you elevate a certain level of other events to to reach somewhat
of that level is where I think the tour is on the right path that’s why I’ve been such a fan of the
signature event model I think there is still so much watering down of like when you tune in on
a Sunday is this a signature event is it not a signature event what is a signature what does that
actually mean what is the championship anyways I think people just like to flip on golf and watch
it is the core of it. So, how do you make people more engaged in the championship is the challenge
that’s ahead of of them aside from all of the actual like money and franchise and like actual
growth of the business challenges that I honestly don’t think a million like the listeners of
the show need to care that much about. You know what I mean? Because it all distills down
into what the product ends up looking like. So, I think there’s growth potential in pro golf. I
really do. I mean, there are people that tune in, myself included, to tune in to watch idiots like
you and me play golf on YouTube. Like, clearly the the appetite for golf is out there. There’s more
and more people playing the game. Golf is still hot in these streets, Randy. And I I wish I could
give you a step by step on exactly how to do it, but I see I trust Rolap and his vision. I a couple
it’s gonna be a couple of the quotes and again came in said, “I’m looking to make significant
change.” I think we all cheered that. couple of them kind of like, “All right, man. I don’t know
about all this. Like, I’m not positive about all of this direction. I’m not gonna I don’t know
if I I I can’t tell you whether you’re right or wrong about any of these things, but I’m not like
positive that we’re going to love it all by the end, but I know that we needed to move on from how
it’s currently set up.” Does that make sense? Yes, that makes sense. And I think where I net out on
the change specifically is like we all agree there needs to be significant change. Now, when you
break down that change into a series of individual decisions, are we going to agree or think every
single one is a great idea? Probably not. But I I do think in totality I I trust that ROA app at
least has a good idea of where he wants to go and and a vision. And I I I just note that like the
NFL more so really than any other professional sport. I’m trying to think of of others. Maybe
there are some, but like what is part of the secret sauce of the NFL? It’s like it’s a bit of
the scarcity and there only being now 17 regular season games across, you know, September through
the end of December. And so when you talk about the signature event model, like I do think that’s
where the upper crust of the PGA Tour is headed is to fewer events, but hopefully they all like you
said, the players, they they they have to make a way whatever that that number of events is in the
end. How can you make them feel big and important, right? because the majors do and the players
does to to a certain extent, but if you’re really trying to bring in casuals and you’re trying to
grow this thing, you got to tell stories about why this event is important. I think that’s that’s
where their work’s going to be really in front of them. Uh venues go handinhand with that. You know,
golf on interesting courses, seeing guys tested, right? Like that all plays a part of it. So, I’m
I’m like you. I I do think there is some growth potential certainly, but it’s going to require
major major change and it’s tear down what it looks like. Yeah, that’s and that’s the thing is
like there’s the the reason behind why some of this stuff hasn’t happened for so long is because
it’s they’re held back by the current structure, right, of like and we’ve talked about this a lot
over the years where you know their goal is to put on as many golf tournaments as possible for
as much money as possible. Like that’s the 501c6 trade organization essential. I’m I’m paraphrasing
of course that’s the mission statement, right? So changing the mission statement allows you to
change that structure and unwinding all of that is a job that was not going to be possible with
the people that were currently there. And we can we can transition that into uh another topic we
were going to discuss here to say and we’ll get to that here in a second. But I say all that to
say blowing up again the signature event is a tackon. It’s a it’s a it’s a a product of the old
system, but it still involves blowing up a media deal. Brian Rolap knows media deals, right? And
that’s I I don’t know if they’re going to be able to blow it up before 2030, if that’s a possibility
at all, but like at minimum get me to 2030 where the sport is going to look very very different
in terms of how it’s structured, where it’s where you’re watching it, and uh you know, kind of the
system that we’ve known it all to be can be torn down and built back up. At least that’s like what
they are trying to do. So, do you do you think the in-person experience can change that much? I you
know, maybe it’s like more hospital. Well, people like going to golf tournaments, I think, you
know, and they do, but I think the dirty little secret is unless you’re in a nice hospitality
area where you can watch the tournament on TV, like don’t go to a golf tournament if you actually
care about what’s going on broadly with the golf tournament. I I think it’s like a great day just
to be outside and if you’re there with friends and you’re kind of walking around having some drinks,
but it’s tough to actually watch golf when you’re at a golf tournament. And I just wonder how much
that consideration is is kind of looming for for anything going forward. This is going to be a
very backhanded compliment. Uh, but I’ll say look, live live golf has not figured out how to capture
the attention of of people, but they have seemed I’ve never been to one, but they’ve seem to have
captured the in-person experience, right? You’re outside, you’re watching golfers come by. Like, I
think 75 plus% of people that go to a tournament, that’s not they don’t think beyond that, right?
And uh I get that’s very different than like uh a Broncos fan being intimately obsessed
with every every move, every you know, every transaction that their team makes. It
just that’s something where I’m like, you know, Brian has said some stuff about par and about, you
know, how the NFL has parody and how that plays to its strength and I’m like, that’s not that’s
not it for golf. That’s not that’s not the golf with golf. You need your stars guys to dominate.
Yeah. And I think if you think you can elevate JJ Spawn to that star level where someone’s going to
passionately care about his results, that would be the most remarkable achievement of your uh of
your of your tenure, I think. But people feel that way about four or five guys, I think, is is kind
of the point. But um anyways, complicated way, but I I’ll bridge this into uh some news. This was
from Golf Week. Hope I’m saying this right. Drew Prasad has been hired as the new chief commercial
officer. Paul Hicks has been hired as executive vice president of strategic communications and
public policy. Uh, the tour also announced that longtime tour executives Rick Anderson, who is
the current CCO, and Allison Keller, the chief administration officer, are retiring at the end of
the year. Additionally, Len Brown is transitioning from his current role as chief global business
ventures to a new role as special adviser to the tour. Uh, reporting to Brian Rolap. Some details
on Prasad. He was most recently served as the SVP of business development and strategic investments
at the NFL, a role in which he oversaw media and content partnerships as well as the NFL’s
investment platform, 32 Equity. Uh he I couldn’t quite figure out the time. He left the NFL about
a month ago. Uh so I don’t I don’t know if it was a I I’m I’m resigning and then going to take the
tour job after a certain time or if he was hired away or exactly what happened here. So Randy,
these are some big massive changes. Rick Anderson, Allison Keller. Uh I I my question here is
is who’s going to be left when this is all said and is it going to be a complete turnover
here? And I don’t say this in such a celebratory tone from a human perspective, right? We’re not
we’re not necessarily we’ve gotten to know a lot of these people. I live just down the street
from tour headquarters. Like I’m not rooting for everyone to get to get the boot, you know,
necessarily. They’re given quite nice retirement packages on the way out. And there is some major
turnover that we won’t want to see. Uh but again, I’m kind of I’m getting a little little uh I
don’t know, little bit of trepidation about how much this is all and are we positive we’re
going to like the final product of this? I’m playing devil’s advocate here because I I we’ve
been calling for this for a long time, but like am I you know am I is this a be careful what you
wish for situation? I don’t think so. I I change is much needed. So, I’m going to continue to have
trust uh in in rollup and and the process. I think especially with somebody coming in totally outside
of golf, outside of the PGA Tour, it is natural to see and we will continue seeing changeover in
leadership positions. I I don’t begrudge Brian Rolat for wanting people around him that he is
most comfortable with some people he’s familiar with already from prior jobs. Like nothing about
this I don’t think should be surprising. And like you said, it’s it stinks for the people that maybe
are leaving that aren’t choosing to leave. like we’re I’m I’m not here to to to dance on their
grave necessarily, but we’ve been wanting big change with PGA Tour Golf. And I think the
only way to get there is to get new people, new thoughts, new ideas inside that building
and to start working. Yeah. And so, yeah, I I think we’re going to see a ton of t turnover at at
kind of these these higher levels. And ultimately, we’ll see what the final product kind of turns
out to be in in a few years. But I I think it’s natural and I I do think it’s a good thing for
professional golf, the PGA Tour. Yeah. And I I I think it the interesting thing here is major major
major positions of the tour are changing over and the fact that Prasad’s coming from the NFL as
well and that he worked on the equity side. I don’t know enough about 32 equity. It’s the first
I’ve heard of it to be honest. I don’t follow the NFL that closely, but again, under an equity
model uh at the PJ tour. And I guess my only, you know, I I think it a very good case could be,
hey, we should hire people from the NFL. It’s the most successful sports league in American history.
Like, bring them on over. Is there any concern of like, hey, too much NFL here, uh, and you know,
not enough golf expertise? I’m I’m searching for things to challenge this on, but do you have
any of that concern? I Yeah, like hypothetically, sure. I I think if you get too far away from folks
that have a good understanding of the game of golf and because listen, as going back to what Rory
said, like golf is never going to be the NFL, right? And golf doesn’t have to be the NFL.
And so you you do want to make sure there’s a bit of balance inside the building between people
that have big big dreams and and want to see big projects and ideas undertaken along with folks
that are like, “Hey, let me give you some real world kind of info and opinion on maybe what’s
possible with golf.” So I I I think like anything it’s going to take a balance. I don’t know. I I
kind of default until Rolap gives us evidence that like he’s not a good decision maker. I’m going
to trust him with with personnel stuff. And yeah, I I’m not going to be worrying about that right
now. But I I do think it’s like hypothetically, yes, it’s possible. That was the only I I just
feel like we’ve done nothing but but heap praise upon the Yeah. Blow it up, blow it up, blow it
up. Just wanted to at least have a little little little chatter in there about it might not end
up exactly how we want it, but uh it’s still I’m seeing 99% of like Yeah, this is this is this
has got me really juiced up and excited. So, yeah, real quick. Yeah, last topic. Do you want
to or sorry, you go ahead. I’ll I’ll go ahead and bring it in here. The uh am reinstatement topic is
back. Colner Colton O stirred up controversy this week by declaring he is seeking to be reinstated
as an amer with hopes to compete in the US Midam. Then his story kind of changed a little bit about
now he wants maybe he wants to be eventual Walker Cup captain. Uh Colts spent eight years on the
PGA tour, played in 199 events, made over 4.3 million. I believe it I I I think it was intimated
to him that it would be a sevenyear weight period, but he’s already he’s I don’t know if on good
behavior if that becomes less or what not, but he’s he’s already served five years. Uh in
theory could be competing in the mid soon. Is this a canary in the coal mine situation, Randy?
Uh is this the uh to me this is a little bit like I’m kind of rooting for the Dodgers to win the
World Series so baseball gets blown up. I’m kind of rooting for like more dominoes like this to
fall for the USGA to finally say like, “Hey, we got a problem here.” I think it sucks. Yeah. I
And this is nothing to do with Colt No. He’s just the latest example. I think Colt is honestly might
be doing something heroic here. I was mad when I first read it. Then I’m like, you know what, dude?
I think this might be like I might be thanking you for this. And I will say this, I this is never
going to affect me personally. this theoretically Sie like you’ve played in some big amateur events
and and you could play in more amateur senior or amateur events like this could this could affect
you in a much more tangible way than it will ever affect me but I think just philosophically I don’t
think this will surprise people that have listened to the show and and know me and my opinions at all
I think the decision that everybody is faced with at one time to turn pro or not to turn pro should
be a much bigger decision. And I think with that it should be much harder at a minimum uh damn near
impossible even to go from playing a significant amount of pro golf. I I’d even say like any pro
golf uh to then going back and just becoming an amateur. Like I I think it’s truly like you
either cross the Rubicon or you don’t. I call me old-fashioned, call me whatever, but like that’s
part of the lore and uniqueness of golf that I kind of have always dug. Like I I think that’s
cool how you can choose to stay an amateur and you have these events through the through the USGA
that you can compete in throughout your life as an amateur. And if you’re coming out of college as a
young kid and you want to turn pro and you want to go play in Latin America or Canada and it doesn’t
work out, like guess what? You’re a professional. And if you want to stay in the game and if
you want to keep competing, maybe think about becoming a a teaching professional and playing in
your local PGA of America tournaments. You know, there there’s quite a few tournaments you can get
involved in that way and scratch that competitive edge. I just think they should be very different
things. And I know in reality those lines can get blurred. I’m I’m not naive to that. But with a
guy like Colt Nost who’s played in almost 200 tour events, uh I forget the guy he was just in
like the semis of the senior AM earlier this year that have played in hundreds and hundreds of Mike
Sposa between the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. like those guys just shouldn’t. There has to be
a point where you play enough professional golf. Becoming an amateur again is off the table. And I
feel very strongly about that to the point where like I think this is one of the more righteous
arguments and causes in golf right now. So I Yeah, I I I think I think it’s very clear, but
I’m curious if you feel differently at all. I I’m going to start by saying let me I’m like
a I’m trending towards a two handicap right now. This does not affect me anymore. Okay. It doesn’t
the previous version of me that was good for like six months. Sure. I was good for like six months,
but that that that that time has passed. One, how did you might know the answer to this. How would
it work if like a former NBA player wanted to play like a men’s over 40 league? Like do like ba
pickup basketball or like somewhat organized men’s leagues have a no pro rule in involved in it? Like
I imagine the line’s got to be blurred in other sports as well. Baseball probably not as much is
what I’m thinking, but basketball seems has to be in some way like or adult flag football. Do they
just let like D’Angelo Williams come play on that team or something like that? I don’t know why he
came into my mind first. I’m thinking like Clayton Kershaw is going to go play in like an over 40
woodbat league here in a few years, you know? like it just I to your to your point about basketball,
I know there are some like pro leagues, right, where like former pros are playing, you know,
they’re more like summer leagues. Um there nothing rises to the level though of of the like a USGA
championship is so special, right? And that’s kind of the reason why I think an easy application
here, US Midam, if you’ve played professional, you’re not no longer eligible. And I get that
like your local city tournaments are a lot more, you know, your local club championships or
whatever are a lot more nuanced and you don’t want to eliminate these people being able to not
play competitive golf ever again. But like a a national championship should not be dominated
by all former pros. And this aging period does nothing for me. Like Colt is, you know, you could
make Colt’s aging period 10 years and he’s not going to be worse in in 10 years than he is, you
know, and he still played 200 PJ Tour events. Like that that doesn’t doesn’t go away. Like he’s
not going to be like ready to go, you know, consistently make cuts on the PGA tour. But the
whole point is like he has done that before and like his C game is so much better than the best
midms are ever could dream of being the true mids. It’s I I just think like I was getting ready
to say like the USGA should create like a new division where you know you can be a former
pro and you’ve waited so long without competing professionally and that but I’m like they have
an open that’s the US Open like go qualify for the US Open right I I I think there should be a
specialness about the amateur events and I just don’t buy that oh just wait five years and yeah,
we we’ll just make you an amateur again and you come compete. Like I think that’s [ __ ] Honestly,
I I I really do. God, I love getting you seeing you passionate. And sorry, last thing. And if the
USGA does like at least make all of this public, at least have like one cohesive overarching
this is how you get your amateur status back so everybody knows exactly what has to happen.
Everybody’s on the same page. like put it all out in the open if if we’re going to go this route.
Randy, on the professional golf front this past week, the DP World India Championship was all of
the buzz. Kea Nakajima, he took a twoshot lead into the final round over young Tommy Fleetwood.
Shane Lowry was three shots back. Tommy Lad got it done. Shot a final round 65 to hunt him down.
He birdied the first hole, actually made a bogey on the second hole, uh, but responded with
four straight birdies on hole 7 through 10 to get to minus 20 and tied Daniel Hillier who
went out in 30 uh, and birdied the 10th hole, but made double bogey on the par five, 14th when
it looks like I I didn’t see the clip. It looks like via the shot tracker he lost a ball on his
second shot. Unbelievably narrow golf course uh, in India. Rory played this event with no driver,
at least one of the rounds I saw. I don’t know if he had his driver in play at all this past
weekend, but uh quite a unique golf course. Tommy then later birdied both the back nine par fives
to get it to 2200 par. Man, the highlights are worth watching. The dude was just draining putts
from everywhere. It was triumphant. The dude that we’ve been waiting to be the closer uh and make
putts on a Sunday. Go hunt somebody down. Go do it. Poured it in from everywhere. I thought when
I was turned the highlights on to watch today that we were going to see a ball striking exhibition.
It was fine, but it was a putting exhibition. They don’t have strokes gain numbers for the round, but
it was really, really, really freaking good. So, uh, Nakajima played bogey free on Sunday,
but did not birdie any of the par fives on Sunday. This was Tommy’s first win, uh, with
the great man Frankie in attendance as well, trying his hardest out there. Uh, putting a cap
and Tommy’s season’s not done, but his second win of the season, eighth top five. Uh, his best
strokes gain year ever with over two strokes gain per round. It’s his best putting season, been his
best iron season, top five in the OGR, and in data golf. Are you convinced yet, Randy? What’s the
What’s the guy got to do? What’s he got to do? No, listen. I was getting ready to say like, oh my
god, am I going to have to start just getting used to living in a world where Tommy Fleetwood
is an absolute killer? I I may have to, you know, I coming off that RDER Cup performance, I listen,
I know he’s played well in previous Rder Cups, too, but you combine it with finally getting
the monkey off his back with a PGA Tour win. Oh, man. Are are, you know, kind of what we were
talking about with Rory after winning the Masters, like this sense of just feeling freed up, right?
and and playing with confidence and knowing that you can go close a win and and chase it down. Like
maybe that’s what Tommy is going to be displaying these next couple years. Like I wouldn’t rule it
out. I I’m I’m not I I I kind of felt like with the Ryder Cup and anointing him a great man, like
I’m gonna shut my mouth on Tommy and I’m gonna say that he he very well could be a killer. like
it could be a huge 2026 for him. I don’t know. I love it. Uh I’m I’m very happy for him. It’s it’s
just impressive to see somebody make such a huge leap without being one of the longer players.
Like to be just like almost dead average in in distance and to do it kind of kind of the
Moraua way, but with way better skills around the green than Morawa is uh just where I’m really
intrigued. He’s an excellent excellent excellent iron player. He was not he’s not the best iron
player in the world like Morawa was at at his peak. But it’s it’s a really interesting formula
of being accurate off the tea, average in length, really good with your irons from wherever you’re
driving it, and now being one of the best putters in the world. I mean, he’s averaging almost a
half shot gained per round on the greens. He’s also excellent around the greens. It’s a really,
really solid formula, man. It’s It’s And then just sprinkling confidence, right? And like Yeah. Sky’s
is the limit, man. Like, when you guys inevitably pick him to win multiple majors next year, I’m not
going to just start laughing out of hand. I won’t. Like, I I’m not saying he will, but it’s not as
silly as it was this time last year. It’s going to be up to us to pick him. Tron’s not allowed
to pick him to win any majors next year. So, maybe I’ll pick him. It might be the Tommy
slam next year. Yeah, I’m sure he’s going to abide by that. Also, you can’t let TC and and and
Sturm roll over me like that on the balln knowers pot about the Brewers before it ever happens, you
know. Oh, S’s in shambles. Analytics boy analytics boy was right about the Brewers. All right, you
got to stand up. You got to stick up for your boy every now and then, Randy. That was some [ __ ]
I’m looking at you, Bob, more than anything. But, uh, yeah. Sorry the exit vo wasn’t so great for
the for the Brewers against the Dodgers. I’m sorry to DJ. This is not directed. I like to straddle
those fences whenever I can. Uh and also Otani probably had the best game in the history of like
like considering it was a playoff game. Like the the guy’s the best baseball player in the history
of the world. I don’t know why we’re talking about him all of a sudden, but it’s incredible. I’m
dying to get on another Seamsters. Uh we we’ll be we’ll be we’ll be back with that one soon.
Randy Sey on Kim fourshot win at the BMW ladies championship. This one also happened in the middle
of the night. I didn’t get to catch much of this, but I want to shout out the L LPJ condensed rounds
on YouTube. They make it super easy to catch up on things you’ve missed. They’re doing some numbers
on there, too. I mean, just watching the third round highlights overnight, like 50,000 views on
that. I imagine uh that’s a decent size Korean uh impact on that, especially with the event in
Korea. But a lot of the I mean, the DP World has they have those condensed rounds, too. I know the
tour does too, but uh it’s a lot of putts and and the LPJ shows a lot of golf shots in there. You
get an idea of how the golf course was playing and uh so wanted to shout that out. Didn’t look like
it was the most exciting golf tournament as to say on Kim took a four-shot lead in the final round.
Shot 67 and won by four as well over Nasa Hatoka. Yeah, credit to Seang. Uh this was like you said
the BMW championship in Korea. So, uh I’m sure the the home fans were very excited to see one of
theirs win. Se Young, uh I believe 13th career LPGA victory. You know, last week we had snapped
that parody that that was occurring where it was like 26 different winners in the first 25 events
of the year. Gino Titum won last year. So that unfortunately has ended. Not much to add here. She
it was pretty clinical performance from Seyoung. Uh she was in control all weekend. Wins by four.
She’s one of those players like she she can’t get to that top gear as maybe as often as she used to.
She’s 32 years old now. She is a major winner. Um but certainly can get there on any individual
week and I think that this was one of those. So just really proper form. The ladies are staying
in Korea. So, the International Crown, which is the team competition, essentially made up of eight
countries. One of those countries is a world team. So, it’s going to feature Lydia Co and Charlie
Hall, Brook Henderson. I forget who the fourth player is on the on team world, but essentially
eight four women teams competing uh in kind of mini RDER Cup, Soulheim Cup competition, if you
will. this next week. So, back-to-back weeks in Korea. Uh, women’s golf is huge in Korea to kind
of tease what our our big segment here at the end is is going to be. Um, but yeah, for for the LPGA
in general, they have a few more tournaments after the International Crown. uh they’ll go to Malaysia
and then they’ll finish this Asian swing in Japan before returning to Florida for the final two
regular season events of the year. So, a lot more kind of overnight prime time golf, if you will,
these next few weeks on the LPGA tour. Few more items here to get to before we turn it over to
this savory pock discussion. I do have to report and maybe this isn’t news, but I just saw it sent
to me on Instagram today. The wing wingfoot has fallen. uh these these big letter hats. Uh if you
were watching on YouTube, uh the foot uh this was uh this was sent over the least. Honestly, I’m
shocked that the the foot hasn’t hadn’t fallen yet. Maybe it had. Maybe it had, but this is the I
believe the first I’ve seen of this. Uh so wanted to update the people. We promised that we would
update you on those. Josh Carpenter reported this week that Cadillac likely to be the sponsor of
the new signature event at Trump Deral. And Randy, I sent a note to DJ last night for our heads up
putting um discussion here and I asked him for a statement on it to be read on the air and I did
not get one before we hit record, but I got one that I’m ready to run now. Oh, hell yeah. Hell
yeah. Okay, for this is from the DJ Pie himself again on the topic of heads of putting the desk
of Mr. Powki for immediate release on Thursday, October 16th. DJ Pyowski doing business as quote
DJ Pie heavily influenced by episode 1082 of the No Laying It Up podcast experimented with quote
heads up putting over the course of nine holes at his home course. At this time he’s not willing to
commit to anything longterm but felt duty bound to explore the technique in the interest of constant
improvement. Like Bryson Dashambo, he loves he quote loves hearing about and understanding
the growing of human potential end quote. Early returns were shocking but positive. After a
threeinut practice session, DJ Pie had zero three putts and made everything inside of six feet.
He looked and felt particularly confident over the three and four-footers that typically produce
tightness and anxiety. He struggled with getting long uphill putts to the hole, but left confident
that adjustment could be made with some simple practice. He felt like a quote jackass over the
first few putts, but that feeling was quickly subsided, particularly as putts continued to fall.
It was reported that more than one playing partner was convinced to try the technique mid round
after seeing the success. While the first run was great, DJ Pie couldn’t help but feel a deep
disappointment and borderline betrayal from NLU host Chris quote Sally Solomon for releasing such
a quote mind [ __ ] episode the week before the no laying up club championship set to take place in
Fris, Texas. Pausy has now has uh no idea whether he will put heads up or heads down during his
most prestigious championship of the year. A fact that solidifies his status as quote a laughing a
laughable long shot to win the title. His putting strategy remains dayto-day. Signed off 30. That
was great. I really appreciated that. Uh thank you for getting that in under the gun. Before we get
to Sepac, um sorry, did you have something? No, I just hate seeing my guy DJ just, you know, even
deeper in his own head. That’s that’s going to be a storyline to watch this coming week. I would
laugh if I wasn’t right there along with him. Just haven’t tried it yet. I got one round in
before we start that club championship. So, I might We’ll see. Uh before we do, fall golf is
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favorite golf pants I’ve ever worn. I’ve got them in every single color. Uh second, a new one
for us. We haven’t talked much about the Fulton vest from Rowback. The vest is awesome. It’s
got a nice light insulation to keep you warm, but it’s not bulky. It’s got interior and exterior
pockets. It’s a great layering piece as we still hit the course despite the temperature dropping.
I know DJ’s a big fan of this one. Finally, just cuz it would not feel right if we didn’t
mention the best hoodie in the game, the Rowback Hezi hoodie. Uh, it’s so dang soft. There’s just
no better feeling than wearing a Rowback hoodie fresh out of the package. As we get into fall, go
to robback.com, rhac.com. Use code NLU at checkout for 20% off your first order through the end of
this week. Pants, hoodies, vest, whatever it is, has you covered. Randy, let’s get to your deep
dive uh on say reap hawk on the LPGA schedule this year. We have the international crown which
is a team event that’s played every two years and it rotates between not only between sites but
between countries. This coming week it returns to South Korea. It’s the first time the event has
been played in South Korea since 2018. Of course, we just completed and chatted about the BMW Ladies
Championship in Korea. So, with this women’s golf back-to-back event in Korea, it feels like as good
a time as any to do a bit of a dive into how and why women’s golf specifically has become such a
big thing in Korea. And to lead us on that dive, I want to bring in Jordan Perez. My good friend
Cody is here as well. Jordan, we tasked you with with kind of doing some research and walking us
through how we have arrived at the point today where women’s golf is big in South Korea. Women’s
golf is massive in South Korea and once upon a time it was not. And I think the way that it came
into such popularity and prominence is this is one of the more interesting uh research papers if
you will that you guys have assigned me. I’m so excited to get into this. I’m excited as well. JP
when you brought this idea up I was jumping up and down. I think Sullie TC and myself learned so much
when we went over to Korea a couple years ago and checked out the the you know BMW International.
It was such a fun event. But I quickly realized that it’s one of the few places, if not the only
place that I’ve ever visited in my life where golf culture has taken over culture. And it’s very
hard for people to understand how big golf is in everyday Korean’s life. When you are in downtown
in Soul, the billboards that are there are PXG and Titalist and Voki and Nelly Corda and Danielle
Kang and Lydia Co. It just encapsulates everything about them. And even though people might not be
able to afford to go to a private club and play, you have screen golf, you have driving ranges,
just everywhere you look, golf has taken over. And I’ve always had this question of how this
happened. I I think we all know we’re gonna get to the queen of Korean golf in through
this story, but JP, man, I was, like I said, just super excited for you to take this one on
because I know it’s a lot. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. There is so much. Lauren, I you know, I we should
just say her name already. Say Repac. I mean, she, you know, admittedly, I feel like I had a pretty
surface level understanding of Sri Pac and who she was and what she meant to golf. I knew she was
a legend. I knew she was kind of considered the formal pioneer of Korean women’s golf and why that
nationality is so represented and so dominant on the LPGA. But I never really understood the full
extent of her journey and what it took for her to be as successful as she was and kind of what her
legacy means cuz I think it’s so much more than athletic greatness. It’s a lot of national pride.
It’s kind of a cautionary tale in a way too. Um there’s a lot of uh emotional complexities and
well-being and just interesting dynamics that surrounded her. We want to jump right into it,
guys. I I’m excited to take it from the top. We We do. And just real quick to echo Cody’s point, I
I think I well I speak for myself and and probably others when my basic understanding of Sri Pac
begins with the US Open here in the United States, but I don’t know anything about Sri Pac and
her journey up to that United States. Right. And so JP, that’s to to echo Cody, like I’m
I’m excited to learn more about it. So yeah, let’s let’s dig into it. Where are you taking us?
Where are we starting? All right. So let’s just start from the very beginning. We’ll go before the
1998 US Women’s Open, even though that is kind of the turning point. We’ll definitely get into that.
But Sri Pac, I mean, just to introduce her, she’s a five-time major champion. She’s won she won 39
times in her career. She would inspire, like we said, generations of women who would follow in her
footsteps and inspire a nation that really needed it at the time, which I’ll get into a little bit
more. But let’s get into Siri’s like personal journey in golf. She was born in Dejon, South
Korea in 1977. Uh grew up in a pretty athletic family. Her father was a professional baseball
player and he was also a golfer himself. But she gets into track, becomes like a multi-sport
athlete, and ultimately becomes her school’s best golfer. And then at some point, she’s so good that
her family decides that they need to move to Seoul to elevate her training and take her to the next
level. So, I’m just doing some math today. Say re if she was born in 77, what would that make
her? About 48, 49, depending on her birthday. So, we’re moving to soul. We’re moving to soul.
We’re getting into some really interesting and I I I guess some would consider intense training
methods, if you will. Uh she told a story, a few stories actually, of uh various training methods
that she had engaged in as a teenager. One day, her father drops her off at the range in the
morning. He goes off to a business meeting. She’s there after midnight. He allegedly forgets her,
but she’s still practicing. And this kind of sets the precedent for like her career and her future.
Like these like long days of just practice, right? There was this sort of this standard that she set
very early on that the family really set that she would be practicing for 10 hours a day and that
was totally normal. Her dad would also make her run up and down 15 flights of stairs to train. uh
when she was 16, there’s a story that uh Michael Bamberger wrote about that her dad pitched a tent
in a cemetery near their house and over the course of three months as many times as like five times
a week. Sometimes they’d even spend the night, she would practice her chip shots and bunker shots
by a reservoir boarding the cemetery, which is some foreshadowing by the way before we get into
the US Women’s Open. Keep that in mind. I just want to say practicing 10 hours a day. I can’t
imagine like I hate to practice at all. And so the idea of like going out for an hour a week, 10
hours a day, I’m just trying to imagine just the wear and tear. Uh that’s that is so impressive.
I know. I Yeah, there some of these reading some of these I’m like I can’t even fathom. But this
was normalized. This is this was Savory’s life. This is what she was working for. this was what
she loved more than anything else and everything that her family had invested in. So, they’re going
to the cemetery for a couple months, going through these really intense training methods. And besides
her practicing her chips at night, her dad starts to tell these really scary stories, scary stories
he can think of. Uh, and the reason behind that is he wants to develop her mental fortitude. So,
she’s out here getting not only like a little bit mentally traumatized, but also like physically
just going through the ringer in a cemetery, which already gives me the heebie-jebies, but I I I
can’t think of I think that’s the first time I’ve heard anyone doing something like that. I have not
heard of anything like that. I mean, how appropo too with with Halloween right around the corner.
Yeah, that that’s a new level of mental toughness, I guess. Just the ability to keep composure under
like the creepiest of conditions. That’s that’s an interesting one. Maybe there’s a cultural aspect
to this that we’re not picking up on. And I say that because cemeteries for us are viewed a lot
different than cemeteries for others. Cemeteries for others are viewed as like, you know, a place
where you actually go and visit shrines and it’s a a comforting feeling. So maybe we’re just, you
know, the American side of us are looking at it incorrectly, but it’s a true who knows. Very
well put, Cody. Yes, indeed. By that point, she was 16. She’d kind of been proven already.
She had a really good track record in amateur events. She had won her first event when she
was 14. And keep in mind, she’s a kind of a late bloomer. That that’s around the time that she had
started. So very quickly, she’s playing golf and she’s already winning. She would actually go on to
win more than 30 amateur events and she’s gaining some notoriety. People know who Sepac is in South
Korea. There is a level of investment and there is a level of care. So before I get into what SI
Pac’s professional career, the origins of that and where that begins, I kind of want to illustrate
what golf in South Korea was like before Si comes around. Golf was perceived as kind of a luxury.
There was a belief that only wealthy people could participate in golf. And for a long time, Koreans
kind of associated golf with corruption and greed. There was an interesting study I found that said
government officials with meager salaries could never afford to pay the fairway fees. However,
they could play golf by receiving bribes. So, just little little bit insidious vibe going
on with golf. The first golf course is built in Korea in 1931. So, they’re a little slow
to adopt it. And throughout the 20th century, it takes a little bit for more golf courses to be
developed throughout the country. The KPGA, which becomes important here in a second, was founded
in 1978. And kind of at that time, there was only an average of about one golf course being built
every year. There’s no boom until the late 80s. And then the ‘9s, there’s a little bit more. And
so more and more people are picking up the game, but again, there’s it it’s not it doesn’t touch
baseball, right? doesn’t touch other sports that had really grabbed South Korean culture. Okay.
So, two things interesting. The Korean LPGA essentially began right around the time Sepac is
born. That’s I guess just noting that somewhat coincidence there. Did you come across any reason
why they experienced that boom in the late 80s, early 90s, that kind of initial flourishing of
of more golf courses being built by chance? Not really. Maybe the only things I can attribute it
to or maybe just a the economy and b there was one like the true pioneer of Korean women’s golf was
Oku who was the first star in the KPGA. She would actually be the first Korean to win on the LPGA
in 1988, but she never really did too much after that. uh didn’t really touch what Siri’s legacy
would ultimately become, but she’d kind of set the table for people like Kyrie or Si in her country.
So, those are probably the only two things I could really attribute it. I honestly don’t have the
best answer for that, but it there there was, you know, there was rumblings. It it was starting
to become of interest, but it did not take off until Syri comes around. So, a quick search here
just to answer my own question, it looks like um at least according to this source, golf really
through the 80s and 90s was still mostly the the very wealthy and you know something that business
businessmen did. And then it seems like the golf boom was tied to South Korea’s overall economy, a
growing middle class with more disposable income and leisure time. And the the two kind of grew
together uh in that way starting in the mid 90s. So looks to be uh pretty economically driven. I’d
also yeah want to point out that Seoul hosted the summer Olympics in the late 80s. I know following
that I think they they noticed uh like what tourism could be and they they very they used to
be very restrictive on foreign investment in South Korea and I know post the Olympic games they
relaxed a lot of of foreign investment dollars that would come in because at the time such a
having a small economy at the time this is prior to tech boom and everything else like that that
obviously has completely transformed their economy They wanted to make sure that Korea stayed Korea
and Japan was already experiencing their own tourism boom primarily and a big golf boom as
well. But they wanted to make sure that Korean roots still stayed the same where you started to
have foreign invest you know foreign investment coming but also a lot of US golf course designers
starting to shop their way around late 80s and 90s as well. And there’s nothing that means more
and you notice this if for people who do do a lot of world travel is that like the gem of
the golf course in Korea for the longest time was the Jack Nicholas Golf Club because name
recognition goes a a long long ways. So I think it’s interesting to look at golf boom relaxing of
tourism restrictions and investments and just kind of seeing how everything slowly starts to pick up
steam really until s starts doing savory stuff. And I sorry Jordan if you’re gonna get here, but
just noting that the popularity of screen golf I feel like was so much further ahead in South
Korea than what it is here in the States. Like they there was screen golf it sounds like in the
late 90s, right? And just having that additional availability um and and getting people interested
in the game certainly played played some part as well. So yeah, sorry George. Keep keep going here.
Yeah, let’s keep the economy in mind for a second because that has a massive tiein into why an
entire nation really grasps on to si. I also found it like somewhat progressive and interesting that
a female athlete kind of took a entire country by storm in the 90s and it was it it kind of comes
down to culture or at least what I read that they didn’t want women in roles of business but they
wanted them to be athletes. And I I found that so beyond fascinating. It’s almost like in some
ways it’s almost the reverse over here. You know, I I was that was probably one of the more
fascinating things that I learned and that why si was just so embraced. But let’s get into
si and how she starts her professional career. She plays on the KPGA. She wins six out of 14
events in 1996. So she’s a professional winning rookie of the year. She’s she’s suck in South
Korea. She is that girl. She signs a $10 million endorsement deal with Samsung, which has some
interesting caveats that I’ll touch on. But by the way, that’s $20 million today. But she signs a $10
million endorsement deal with Samsung to basically go embark on a career on the LPGA. Like they
they’ve told her, “Hey, you are international. Get out of here and go play with the big
dogs.” That’s where things kind of take off. She moves to the United States. She starts working
with David Leadd better. She her goal basically in 1997 is to I guess develop her game and go play
Q school and get her LPGA tour card. So massive reason Samsung invests in Siri is because of
the financial problems that the that South Korea starts to go through in 1997. So there is a 1997
financial crisis all across Asia and South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand are the most affected. Uh
this starts in July 1997. This is around the time that SRI is in the United States. But South Korea
to quote saw slumping currencies, devalued stock markets, and a precipitous rise in private debt.
Uh their foreign debt to GDP ratios rose from 13% to as high as 40%. So they were going through
it. I mean they they that it’s a country that is just struggling and they are trying to find any
sort of national pride or hope or optimism and uh they see it in Sri and they saw it in Chanho
Park as well the pitcher for the Dodgers. Uh he’s the first South Korean uh born uh MLB player and
they see it in him but Siri’s popularity and her legacy just ends up eclipsing him. So it ends
up being just si at a certain point. You know, they’re looking that they’re seeking some kind
of hope. They’re seeking some kind of optimism. And the way that Sri was representing them on an
international stage was overwhelmingly positive. You know, she just kept getting better and better.
And so in 1997, she does earn her tour card. She joins the tour as a rookie in 1998. She was the
only Korean player when she joins the LPJ tour in 1998. Shocker. I’m gonna quote an article here
uh where she talks about adjusting to tour life, loneliness, you know, just it’s it’s
massively intimidating. So, she says, “The first two or three months, I didn’t go into
the locker room. I tried to make some friends, but I didn’t know how. I was by myself in a
different country with a different language, food, culture. It really wasn’t easy at all.
Samsung also sends these managers to kind of like their role is sort of quasi babysitting
slashmicromanaging. There’s it’s weird. This is kind of this is the caveat that I was referring
to earlier in SE signing this deal. they they are just watching her like a hawk and managing all
of her time and making sure that Siri is doing what she needs to do to be effectively the best
player in the world. And so one of these managers uh he goes by Steven, he’s a translator for uh
her family. He quoted he’s quoted as charting every shot she takes, wiping down chairs for her
before she sits in them, assembling the family for group pictures that he takes, and he also answers
questions about Sri’s personal life. So, Sri is not talking about herself. I mean, everything is
being filtered through these managers. I mean, and it’s you’ve got to think too in the context of
being on the LPJ tour. I mean, how many people are surrounded by like clusters of managers? You you
just don’t see that. That’s not normal, especially for a rookie. And so they even ask about Sabri,
her personal life that media will ask, you know, does she have a boyfriend? He goes, she doesn’t
have a boyfriend. She doesn’t have time. It’s interesting. She was kind of this vessel for
national pride, but also just like this benchmark of success. There was so much stock and so much
that she represented that they wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. It feels there there’s a
lot of like overlap with what people do with like child stars and all that. Like I I’m seeing so
much so many threads here. She is also having to contend with learning an entirely new language.
Uh English as a second language to her. She was starting to practice early on, even before she
was a rookie on the LPGA. She’s quoted as learning twice a week, two hours per day, but then after
she got her card, she learned three times a day, 3 hours per day. There’s so much going on in
terms of adjusting to a brand new life in an entirely new country where you are kind of the
sole hope right now for national pride. not not only national pride but for your family. There
there there’s a lot of pressure on Sri to be as perfect as she can be. And it it it’s it’s not
crushing yet, but it it’s eventually it starts to weigh on her a lot. And I think someone on the
tour noticed I found this a little bit surprising. I had no idea she was so close to this person. Uh,
there’s a veteran who takes her under her wing, Nancy Lopez. And I think a lot of that based on
what I read had to do with how Nancy kind of saw herself in Sri and how they both dealt with fame
and representing an entire country and introducing a sport to a country, if you will, and what
success looks like and what representation looks like in an entirely different culture. I want
to quote a couple things of what Nancy says. I think they’re really interesting. Nancy says, this
was in uh 1988 when Sri is a rookie. Uh she says, “After three daughters, I have this motherly
instinct. I feel almost like protecting her, although I don’t feel I have a right to do
that.” Uh this was quoted by Steve Jacobson. He says she can tell Pac how it was how it was
when she won nine tournaments her first year of her Mexican-American heritage and of essentially
bringing golf to people who had no golf. Yeah. God, that that makes total sense. I had no idea
that that that close link between the two of them. That’s really interesting. She eventually inducts
her into the Hall of Fame. They are like thickest thieves. Like they they could not be closer. I
mean, good on Nancy. That’s that’s really cool. And something that the LPGA Tour continues to
do, they they have a a mentor program where for rookies that are coming over and everything,
you you’re actually assigned uh somebody to help look after you. But it’s it’s phenomenal. And and
JP, I’m happy that you mentioned this side of it because I think it’s it’s easy for somebody like
Nancy to pick somebody up at the very beginning, but that relationship literally continues to
this day. They’re still like very very close and they support each other’s events and support
each other’s charities and everything else uh that they’re doing. You mentioned the the managers or
handlers or whatever that is. So I always found it interesting that you know everybody I think jumps
to Siri coming over for Q school and uh a lot of people miss out on the fact that she came over in
95 and played in the women’s AM and she ended up getting beat in the women’s AM in the semi-final
round beat by Kelly Keany and Kelly and her end up going to Q school the same year together you know
a year and a half later Now, Si after being beat, she goes back to Korea, continues to play as an
amateur for a little bit, then turns professional and wins just buckets of KPGA events. But it
created this interesting rivalry that we that we’ve seen continue like to this day. And that’s
not necessar necessarily between Kelly and Sri, but Kelly was mentored by Hank Haney. And Si
coming from the Lead Better Academy and it you start to see early on these two instruction facets
start to grow and percolate. And then you see generationally as they continue with with Michelle
Wii coming on next on the Lead Better side and Haney, you know, kind of not looking away from
LPJ tour players, but focusing primarily more on the PGA Tour side and just kind of the interesting
path that both instructors and kind of their, you know, all the junior instructors and everything
underneath them. But it it’s just fascinating to go back and look at it. I would say I think a
lot of people in Korea expected Sri to win that uh women’s am and when she went home it was viewed as
a disappointment and a lot of things that she said was I just I was prepared for my golf but there
was a lot of other things that went along with it that I wasn’t prepared for and that’s where all
the translators and people doing laundry and like they basically filled in all these little tiny
gaps to ensure that she was going to be successful without realizing just how crazy pressure-filled
this situation that they were actually making for her. You know, Cody, that stuff about Hank Haney
also uh would put his subsequent infamous comments that he made years and years later uh into a bit
of a different didn’t want to say it, but yes. So, let’s set up for the 1998 US Women’s Open. Once
again, not her first rodeo in a USJ event. She plays the 1997 US Women’s Open and finishes tied
for 21st at Pumpkin Ridge. And it’s a tremendous deal. People cared a lot, especially in Korea. So,
this investment and this care is only increasing. And the pressure is only mounting for Sri to be
successful. But before that comes another major, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. May she rest
in peace. It’s uh she wins that major. That is Sri’s first official major championship victory.
She wins wire towire. This is in May of 1998, two months before she would play the 1998 US Women’s
Open. Uh she wins the event by three shots. kind of takes the tour by storm. Everybody knows
who Sepac is now. She is the rookie of the year favorite going into this event. So, going into US
Women’s Open, like I said, folks are very aware of Siri Pac now. And Haime Diaz wrote something
really interesting about Si and her fame. Quote, “Pac is sometimes referred to as the Tiger Woods
of Asia. She made herself clear, though asked about the comparisons to Woods, she said that she
admires Woods and knows that in addition to their golfing ability, photogenic smiles, and high
public profiles, they share an affinity for the video game Mortal Kombat, but that she seeks her
own identity.” Quote, “I don’t want to copy him in everything because I do my best.” Fox said, “Every
time I hear Tiger Woods and me second, I want it me first then later Tiger.” I dig it. I also
enjoy, you know, that the cat was into the video games way back. The cat was very into the video
games, but I had no clue Syri herself was either. So, Sri Pac is front page news in Korea. Shocker.
Korean journalists are following her every move in the United States. I mean, they are going to her
events. They are covering her extensively to the point she kind of ends up getting annoyed with
them. Haime spoke to some Korean journalists for that piece and she had at this point had grown
more popular than Shanho Park and just she’d taken over. She was their girl at this point and
even before the 1998 US Women’s Open. She is the pride of South Korea and at this point she’s being
considered of someone of pedigree internationally. I mean people around everywhere are starting
to respect her. They’re starting to kind of predict that she could be in the conversation with
Anukica and Kari. And it it’s not just South Korea now. Everybody is interested to see what S repo
is going to do. And just to kind of give you an idea of the amount of like respect and interest
that she was commanding just amongst her peers, Laura Davies in January of 1998 saw that Siri had
66 to1 odds uh to win an event and she’s like she apparently like booked it to get a bet in to
the British book makers which is crazy. Could not happen today but shout out Laura. I was going
to say a different time. Laura Laura’s got a good eye. Yeah, she she knows what’s up. She knows
what’s up. Holla Stacy uh who had won three US women’s opens uh called Sabo Superb Baby and Nancy
also just continuing to advocate for her mentee uh was just she’d played actually in uh the
McDonald’s LPJ championship with Si when she won. she was um playing the her first two rounds
with Siri. But she goes and she tells journalists that Si has it all and that it would be great for
women’s golf uh if she had won the McDonald’s LPJ, which she would ultimately do. Let’s get into 1998
US Women’s Open, the actual event. Siri hanging around the entire championship, shoots a 69 in
the first round to tie for third. Uh and then afterwards she just kind of takes over. Shoots 69
to lead after the first two rounds. Goes into the weekend 7075. Um big I think this event would have
passed the uh PTI uh the proper test index because the scores were very high. Um this is probably a
tough ass weekend. We started a little, you know, I won’t say easy on Thursday, Friday, but once it
got to the weekend, it was diabolical. Probably I think this could easily go down as probably one of
the greatest US women’s opens to ever be played. Uh, if I didn’t stamp that in our US women’s open
deep dive, I’m doing so now. Um, especially given the additional research I’ve conducted. Siri, like
I said, was the rookie of the year favorite. So, it’s no surprise that she has taken over this
event in the way she does. But there’s an amateur from Duke UN University, Jenny Shashiraorn. She’s
a standout golfer. She ends up winning a national championship with Duke during her college career.
She’s she’s great. She has she there’s merit to this girl, but she’s still a 20-year-old amateur.
And folks, Siri Pac is also 20 years old, but they are just two completely different places. There
these are two different games being played. But that and that was a very dominant headline at the
time. Like this. This was a story so many people were writing was that oh my gosh, two 20 year olds
are could could one of two 20-year-olds could win a US Women’s Open this weekend. I mean, people
were all over it, which doesn’t seem crazy now, but at the time, I mean, not to spoil, but whoever
won was going to be the youngest to ever win a US Women’s Open. So, this was uncharted territory
for one person, let alone having two battling it out. So, a little bit of a playbyplay is
kind of important here. It’s super dramatic, but basically, Si is leading through the final
round. Jenny’s a little bit behind. Then, Sri bogeies the 17th and hears the roars from
Jenny up ahead. And at the 18th, Jenny makes a 45footer for birdie and it ties her for the lead.
And so the pressure is on Sri to close this out and to get this done. And she’s kind of struggling
with her putter a lot throughout this week. She’s and just generally not generally kind of the
Achilles heel heel of the week is her putter. So, she ends up missing her 10-footer on the
18th, and they’re both tied at plus six, which was the highest quote unquote winning
score at the US Women’s Open since 1984. So, at the time, as we covered in our US Women’s Open
deep dive, they were playing 18-hole playoffs. That was the thing. That’s what we were doing.
We used to be a proper country. We used to be a proper country. And I also found this really
interesting. You had to pay I think it was $10 or $11 to go to the 18hole playoff that Monday.
So they were trying to to also like, you know, make a little bit of money off the off the drama,
if you will. There’s no there was no free golf in playoff golf. It was no, your ticket is not
good. We’re going to read you with a price. But you wonder what they were charging the volunteers
to come back Monday. True. That’s a great point, Big. Probably nickel and dimeming everything.
So, playoff starts. It is also fairly dramatic. Spoiler alert. Jenny chips in for Brody from 30
ft on the first hole and leads by four going into the sixth hole until she pulls her nine iron into
the water. Another spoiler alert, water is very uh relevant to the way that the events of this
playoff unfold, but Jenny pulls her nine iron on the sixth into the water and she triples. Siri’s
only two back by the time they reach the 11th and then she birdies the next three out of her four
holes to lead and then bogeies the 15th to fall back into a tie. Once again, kind of coming down
to the wire. They’re tied through 18 and then Si almost gives it away completely. Jenny hits her
T-shot. She’s in the fairway and then Si pulls her T-shot into the water right on the bank. And this
is the famous moment that everybody knows from this event. There’s literally a statue in South
Korea of Sepac hitting this shot. She and her caddy walk over to her ball. They’re having this
debate for like a good gosh, they take a while. They take probably like two to three minutes to
talk it over whether she’s going to hit it or take a drop. Her caddy is very insistent that she hits
it. He gives her the option to do what she wants, but he seems to be really partial to her just
doing it. There’s no guarantee of what Jenny will do. Who knows if she’ll par this? Who knows?
like just you th this is it. There’s no time to be conservative. We’re not giving up shots. You just
got to do this. So Siri starts to take her shoes and socks off and the crowd is getting louder.
They are amped up. They are cheering her on, which it’s awesome that there, by the way, there
was such a significant showing for this Monday playoff. Like think of how many people had to
like change their plans or do whatever to like come watch this happen. Like that was that was
fascinating to see. So, this crowd is getting amped up. They’re so excited. And she goes ankle
deep, hacks her ball across the fairway into the right rough. She’s still about 140 out. Hits
her eight iron to 20 ft. But Jenny then bogeies because her chip her hands are shaking too much
before she chips. And they are tied once again. They’ve got to take it to sudden death. There are
real shades between, sorry to interrupt, there are real similarities between this playoff and what
I feel like we would see with Tiger Woods and and Rockco a decade later at Tori. Just obviously
Siri wasn’t the Hall of Famer yet, but she would become one. And yeah, anyway, I I’m just thinking
of that JP. Keep keep going. No, I appreciate you pointing that out. So, sudden death, it ends
relatively quickly after that. They both par the first hole. Si birdies the second. Uh, holes an
18-footer. Finally, she’s putting well, but holds an 18footer. It’s her longest putt of the day and
she’s done. She wins the 1998 US Women’s Open. It This is the biggest victory in her career so far,
which already feels like a very storied history, but she does it. Uh, she admits after she wins
that it’s the first time she’s ever cried. I was so shocked by that. How did you not cry when your
dad was making you uh sleep in the cemetery? But cries for the first time after she wins the 1998
US Women’s Open. Not a bad choice. The first time I practiced 10 hours a day, I would be I would
be sobbing. Apparently, this is when she chose to cry. But like I said, not a bad choice. just just
a curious uh admission. But Nancy is so overjoyed, just so happy for her mentee. And I think what
she says here is really important. She says, “What’s happening now definitely reminds me of
what was happening to me 20 years ago when she won the US Open. I was crying with her. The little
amateur played great, but I was rooting for Siri, my fellow professional.” So love that.
A true girls girl here. I I think that’s that was awesome. She was quoted as celebrating,
which was something that was pretty unusual. Um, quoted as a foreign concept to Pac, but she’s in
America now. So, she has Chinese takeout from the same place that she’s been eating from all week.
Orders a fruit platter for room service and for several hours is dealing with many, many visitors
to her hotel room. uh her parents, uh the Samsung executives, surprise surprise, and uh the Korean
journalists who are covering every single move. And uh she spends her evening in between all
this watching TV, experimenting with putters, like the grind does not stop. And uh playing with
her dog, Happy. She has a beagle named uh Happy, which is an interesting uh name as we’ll uh
we’ll see later. Well, good for her. Yeah, sounds like a sounds like a nice week. A nice
week indeed. But then things kind of take uh they take a really interesting turn later
in that year. But uh in that July, she would end up winning two more events. Uh but then she
kind of starts to drop off a little bit. Doesn’t start to play as well. She kind of falls off her
practice routine. isn’t as devoted to her exercise routine. She sneaks off and takes a lesson with
Butch Harmon before uh David Bled better quits on her. Just what’s happening right now? We don’t
know what’s going on with Siri. Her demeanor’s changing. She’s not as bubbly. Um she’s a little
more withdrawn. uh she once the cameras are off and once like the spotlight’s gone, she’s just
she she’s not who we she’s not who we thought Siri say was. Um and in December of uh 1998, uh David
Lebet was quoting, “See’s being pulled in so many directions and is so unhappy that she’s doing some
irrational things. He says, “I worry about her. When we spoke on the phone, the last thing I told
her was, “Get some rest, clear your head, and get your life in order, dear girl.” Some context into
her possible burnout, being micromanaged, etc. Her managers were they they they were also spies. They
would travel with her and report her activities to their corporate superiors and her family, which
would make her really really upset. allegedly she goes home actually that October of 1998 and
uh comes down with a viral infection and uh was actually hospitalized and an LPGA official was
told that the biggest concern uh among the quote unquote Samsung minions who filled her hospital
room was whether she would be able to play the next day. that was reported by Haime Diaz which is
just you know and let me lend you some additional insight into once again how these managers
viewed her if you don’t think it’s already uh inhumane enough of them was quoted saying she’s
the best export item of Korea in the last 50 years Hyundai has the big name but doesn’t make money
what you call her bottom line is bigger yeah I mean it’s it’s gross just I I don’t not really
sure what other word I mean a lot of other words I guess you could use but for for her to suffer
burnout and everything that she gets into like the most human reaction in the world to all this
yeah it was pretty disgusting and you know once again those are the voices surrounding you have uh
really a life outside of this career. She doesn’t have friends. She doesn’t, you know, she wasn’t
dating. Actually, in this period of time, she ends up starting to date because she’s just kind of had
enough, which I found was interesting. And I I you would you would think normally when you hear these
stories of people being hothoused and kind of just burning out through such intense athletic careers
or any similar careers that behavior like tends to come after like a pretty long stretch of their
career. This actually happened pretty quickly for Si which is I think was the most surprising part
to me. Yeah. But I guess knowing you know the time and for years and years it it wasn’t just this
handler situation but just the time the dedication the singular focus with the game of golf you know
it it must have been compounding this whole time during very formative years. Yeah. like time
that you are really growing into your own and forming some kind of identity and really si’s only
identity was golf and not just for herself and her family. I mean there were so many there were there
greater stakes involved. So we get into 99. She doesn’t win another event until midway through the
year June 1999. Uh she gives her dad the trophy for Father’s Day. She would end up winning four
times in total that season. She’s still a pretty dominant force on the LPGA. She goes on to win
three more majors and hangs around among the best of them. But by the time that we get into the mid
2000s, she kind of slows down a little bit and the wins aren’t coming as often as they were once
before. She almost won a Grand Slam though. uh in 2007 uh she almost won what’s now what was the
craft Nabiscoco what’s now the chevron uh she came close leading the final round but uh ultimately
collapsed but not all was lost she was able to qualify for the Hall of Fame during her career and
was still inducted as an active player uh and at the time was the youngest to ever be inducted into
the Hall of Fame. The youngest at the time was Ki Webb. Very interesting link there as well. Yeah, I
mean the the the US Women’s Open would remain kind of the highlight of her golfing career, though.
I think it’s safe to say, right? I’d agree with that. Yeah. Nothing that she would go on to win
would would match just what that moment was. I mean, five majors in total is is crazy, but I
think just the significance of that and the the boom and that aftershock that we still feel today,
it it’s crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t I don’t mean to diminish what she would go on to do. I’m
I’m just kind of thinking like that US Women’s Open was that’s still the first thing you think
of at least I do when Sri Pac’s name is mentioned. So as I had mentioned thing the winds kind of drop
off slowly through the early 2000s ends up getting a finger injury in 2005. She misses uh her first
cut in a major in 29 starts. This was actually at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. She’s just
really down on herself and really vulnerable about it, which I thought was interesting. So,
no longer is it really in observation or is it, you know, gleaned from secondhand sources like
Siri herself is admitting that she is struggling. And she’s quoted saying, “I’ve been a little bit
unhappy about everything. my game. I’m not really enjoying it at all and I’m not doing anything with
my ability. I know what I need, which is a much better balance, but I’m always putting a lot of
pressure on myself. And even though after 2005, she’d still win another major at that point.
You know, she was no longer this sac we had come to know and be, you know, intimidated by
and just revere and in awe of. She talks more about this in 2016 when which was when she had
officially retired. She once again is vulnerable with reporters. She says, “I don’t think I’ve been
a happy person ever. After winning a tournament, the moment that I’m holding the trophy, I’m
so happy because that’s just the way I want it. And then back at the hotel I feel lonely
again lots of themes of loneliness throughout this. I mean it it you know it just say obviously
really loved community and relying on it which is an interesting ju position because she has an
entire world of support in South Korea and the respect of an entire country and they hold her to
this you know incredible standard. It’s different than true community that she feels. You know,
those people look at her as something else other than the real S repo. So, she ends up doubling
down on this sentiment a little bit a few years later after she in 2018. She says, “People think I
was such a great success at such a young age. Uh, I don’t think I’ve ever been a happy person ever
again.” She says, “I’m always thinking about golf. A week from this week, I’ve lost it all of a
sudden. At that point, I know I’m going to panic. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m really
fighting myself to get back to being a top player, but I can’t do that anymore. The answer is I’m
not happy. So, she’s not happy. The only people that are really happy around her are the ones
that are benefiting clearly off of her success. Mhm. But I know that there is a flip side of this
and that the people that were extremely motivated by her success did learn from her struggles. And I
wonder like the influence that she had on the next generation of Korean professionals coming up, what
they thought or or you know, kind of what they did with that. It was pretty profound. the influence
that she would ultimately have and we talk about it all the time. You know, Sri obviously being
the pioneer of South Korean women’s golf and who came from that. Those people were referred to as
the the Syri kids. Uh and they are kind of grouped into the like these like interesting generations
of players. And there’s a couple notable examples here that I’ll go through. Inbby Park being
the biggest of all of them of people being just directly influenced by Sri Park watching her
in real time. You know, in says after SI won it was on TV every day. They made advertisements
of her hitting it out of the water. I watched it a lot of times and I said to my parents, I can do
that. How much more could you ask for for a direct inspiration? Inbie Bark would be considered the
most successful of all of Siri’s direct kids. She would win seven majors in total three consecutive
times in 2013 if you remember that generational stretch. So, and and it’s not just in B, but in
B is like the top dog of all of the direct savory kids. It’s kind of interesting if you look at
all of the people um especially generationally. Some of them say I watched Si right when that
happened like in be and then some of them kind of hear her through legacy. It’s it’s it echoes how
people view Tiger Woods and his legacy, you know, it like for example someone my age I did I was
you know a kid and there’s players my age and then younger so I’m 28 and there’s people you know in
their early 20s we don’t there with no real memory or profound memory at least of watching Tiger
Woods. I mean, and there’s people who were born, gosh, I mean, in the mid-200s who are playing
profound, significant professional golf right now. They have no clue, right? And so, this is kind of
the same. This is analogous to Si and her legacy. They’re really only hearing it through the legends
and how revered she was. And, you know, the 1998 US Women’s Open. Oh wow. Oh wow. You know, it it’s
she’s kind of larger than life in in South Korea. She’s become that in a in some ways to people now
to young people now a mythical figure. If you look at the direct descent of MBI literally living the
tour life with Si and being able to talk to her, it’s not, you know, MBI is is is never going to be
as wellknown as Sri is, even though that she has more major championships than her. It’s because
Sri did it first. But MB picked up, I think, one of the most important things that Sri could
never do, and that’s have a balance in her life. and MB was able to go out and have great success
and turn it off on her terms and have a balance and be able to go be uber competitive but have
relationships, have friendships and then at the end of the day h be a mother when she wanted to
be a mother and she learned that from Sri because she was never able to have it on her terms. Siri
says at the end of her career she was saying she wanted to help people. She wanted to help people
not just be good golfers, but they she wanted to help people be complete people because like
you said that identity was totally robbed from her. She just didn’t have that opportunity. the
people Savory influenced. We we mentioned MB Park obviously ended up with more majors, but Savory
Park still among South Koreans specifically and and really anybody from Asia still has the most
LPGA tour victories with 25. NB has 21 total and then uh the next closest South Korean is Ginyong
Cove currently at 15. You know, it’s also crazy to think about Siri comes over, obviously had a
a good mentor that played in the LP or LPJ tour before her in the 80s and 90s, but really it was
her and like, you know, one or two other Korean women playing full-time on the LPGA tour. If you
just think about it now, since her first major championship, there’s been 12 other Korean women
that have won majors. They have amassed 22 major championships. And it’s just incredible. And a
lot of those are historical names that still, you know, because of past major championships or
anything still hold status. But the explosion that is happening and then we see the trickle down of
other Asian countries as well when you know with this explosion this year uh from Japan, from
Thailand, you know, all over the place and it really you can almost go back to every single one
of them. look at this little girl from Korea and say, “Wait a second, we can do that exact same
thing.” And like I said, you did not have to be um of South Korean descent to be inspired by
uh Sri Pac or recognize what she had done. Uh Stacy Lewis said something pretty interesting uh
years back uh when Sri believe was still playing. She said without the Korean and Asian TV rights,
this tour four or five years ago might not be here anymore. We were at a point where we had 23
events and I think half of those were in Asia. So the Asia market basically supported us there for a
couple of years and allowed us to get to where we are now. Siri’s a huge part of that, you know, and
and why Stacy says that is that I hopefully people understand that at any point in time during
that phase of the LPGA tour, Si could have just picked up her ball and went home. And it’s
interesting that throughout that same exact time, you had an LPGA tour that was making ridiculous
threats of I remember the phase of speak English or you’re not you’re no longer playing. And I
don’t know Jordan if you found any of that because that was like directly pointed at Sri Mi and the
the next generation of Korean women coming up. It’s interesting that you mentioned that
because uh there were people that were genuinely intimidated and not happy with how many South
Koreans were beginning to find success on the LPGA tour. They had referred to it as, and not
my words, these are other word people’s words, quote unquote, the Asian invasion. I’m going
to start with this quote from Jan Stevenson to kind of highlight where what the sentiment was
at the time. Uh she said to Bob Herig in 2003, “This is probably going to get me in trouble,
but the Asians are killing our tour. Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when
they can speak English. They rarely speak. We have two-day programs where people are paying a lot
of money to play with us and they say hello and goodbye.” Our tour is predominantly international
and the majority of them are Asian. They’ve taken it over. End quote. Few years later in 2009,
they are told by the LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivvens that all players who have been on the
tour for one for for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills or face a
membership suspension. This was a proposed rule. this never uh went into effect. Uh there was
a lot of backlash that uh emerged when this news broke out. Uh people were obviously, you
know, it was very xenophobic and it was Yes. Like you said, Cody, a directly aimed at
Si MBI and their peers. And interestingly, Siri, she didn’t entirely disagree with it.
She actually said she she thought, you know, instead of suspending players who don’t pass
the um the oral evaluation, she said maybe fines would be better. She said, “We agree we should
speak some English. We play so good overall, but when you win, you should give your speech in
English.” So, I found that pretty interesting. I mean obviously you you do want to encourage them
to learn the language just because of the benefits to the audience, the fans, the prom partners. Like
I I get it, but also the imposing of penalties if they Yeah, that’s that Jan Stevenson quote
is wild. I mean, I I can’t imagine, you know, caught me off guard saying that today. Yeah.
Well, it also I think it’s one of those things where if you if you giving somebody all benefits
of the doubt that you can see what they’re trying to get to. Now, what an asinine way to get there
and almost impossible to look at that and be like, “Yeah, man. like maybe you should play better.
Really? Okay. It’s it’s it’s hard not to look past that side of it. But the LPJ tour does, you know,
I don’t know where they’re at with the with the fines or anything else, but they inact they made
tutors available. They created an entire program uh around it that they’ve seen incredible benefits
from. I mean, I think of all the players that we’ve had the opportunity to be around big and
you would be like, it always surprises me how well their English is when it’s something that
you would you never expect. Well, and I think too, you know, kind of bringing things to the present
a little bit, the influx of all this talent from Korea and Asia more broadly, like the LPGA tour
is is a global tour, right? We’ve we’ve heard the the commissioners of the LPGA speak to that. And
I think the new commissioner, Craig Kesler, one of his big goals is we need to identify our star
players and market them in the markets around the globe where we can really make them superstars,
right? And so I think the LPGA tour some what 15 years on from this policy is is finally hopefully
in a place where you know the better able to embrace the global nature of the tour and to
recognize hey we have Korean players let’s market the [ __ ] out of them in Korea and Asia right and
well looking at it as truly a a an asset a benefit Yes, this is a POS, right? Shifting their
mindset from being like, oh no, you know, we we’re we’re too international to like Exactly.
This is an asset that our tour has. Nothing describes the the issues that golf as a whole
than like that without realizing the benefit that is sitting directly underneath your nose and
viewing it as a negative. Mhm. And you can take almost anything that happens in golf at any level
and you can flip it on its head and you can you can find the positive in anything. All right? But
it takes people that are not narrow-minded, that are not looking out for their own benefit and to
do that. And that takes time, that takes growth, it takes a lot of painful lessons learned that,
you know, the LPJ tour still sees to this day. We still see it to responses to our own podcast
that we put out about it. We see it on every single social media clip or anything else of
asking who is this and immediately turning it off because of somebody’s name without giving a
second to try to understand and go an ounce deeper on that person. And and I would say, you know,
we’ve talked about many times too over the last couple years with Nelly Cortis specifically is
because of the way the LPJ tour has gone and how international it is, it’s like as an American,
we’re searching for that American superstar, right? Like I we we want somebody that we can put
up on on these pedestals next to the MB parks in the in the Syri, right? And I I think that’s
it’s somewhat frustrating maybe that we don’t have that and and that we haven’t necessarily had
that, but it it also is something that’s kind of fun with with following the LPGA tour, right? Is
okay, who who could that be? Who’s next? So yeah, it’s I think it’s when you say just shift a
perspective and and turning what might be viewed as a problem and recognizing it as actually, you
know, it gives you a competitive advantage here, here, and here. Uh that’s that’s a good thing. So
yeah, JP, awesome information. Anything else that you need to empty the chamber of before uh before
we wrap here? No, I think I’ll just uh piggyback a little bit off what you guys were saying. I think
with how global this game is and it feels just so, you know, narrowing to think that like
someone’s source of inspiration could not exist in a country outside their own, right? And
I think Siri on a global scale, like I was saying, she’s earned her flowers from her peers and earned
her flowers from, you know, South Koreans who would come after come or come after her. But who’s
to say that you could not be inspired by Sri and the things that she’s done but learned as well as
a golfer and as a human being. and she is just so impressive top down. I was really inspired and I
I think it it was a fun way to really embrace uh South Korean culture and just how devoted they are
to hard work and family and how much those things truly mean to them and what national pride means
and what representing your country in a place that you are vastly under represented means and how
difficult that is and the pressures of corporation interest and the pressures of, you know, trying
to sustain the happiness of not only you but tens of millions of people watching you thousands of
miles away. I think Siri now, you know, with time she’s a little underappreciated on a grand scale
because what she did was just so remarkable in so many nuanced ways. And it wasn’t just golf. It
was so much bigger than that. And yeah, I hope everybody can take a little bit of inspiration
from Syri because I know I can. Like I said, I just have such a new appreciation for her as
a person and her career and I once again come away very thrilled to have been assigned uh such
an interesting topic. Well, thank you for doing the work. Thank you for sharing. Uh these these
continue to be great lessons for myself. I I know I speak for Cody as well. And we thank you JP. We
thank everybody listening, watching. And that will do it for this week’s No Laying Up podcast. We
will see everybody uh next week. Cheers. Cheers.
22 Comments
Soo the first 10‘ were only a roll over from the last infotainment 🥺
Soo Randy was always right by countering GTG by advocating to shrink it?
How awesome was it to see some of the worlds best playing in India?
Wouldn’t be great if there was a world tour that took some of the best players in the world outside of the USA 6-8 times a year?
I have been doing heads up putting for about six years now. It’s the most intuitive thing in the world once you get going. I found it great for short putts but also amazing for distance control. I used to always miss long putt short but heads up seem to fix that fairly quickly.
I've been practicing heads up putting and although it felt horrible at first, I feel like it's been great for distance control. I tried to use it for the first three holes of my club competition last week though and it was a disaster. I felt myself leaving my face open too much. Maybe it's a set up issue I need to fix. I feel like I will probably settle on looking at the target until the very last second to make sure my face angle is correct when I make contact.
I was listening to the podcast on putting while practicing. Start putting heads up and started draining putts. Felt I left more putts short but anything I missed was still inside leather. Freaked a few guys out putting around me.
HANDS UP IF YOU'RE HEADS UP PUTTING!
Rave reviews from my personal experience with heads up putting. One thing that surprised me is that it is crucial that I still use the line on the ball to set myself up with a square putter face. Even my playing partner was amazed by how well I was putting and even how good my stroke looked. The most important thing I think I’d say is how much more enjoyable it is to actually putt and practice putting. Staring at the ground while you putt and while the ball travels to the hole makes putting boring AF. Watching a basketball or puck fly through the air and go into the goal is what makes those activities exhilarating to play and practice. I’m not even a bad putter, but I went from dreading to enjoying putting overnight.
Show starts at 8:42. Soly can’t shut up till then with commercials!
Soly is trending to a 2.0 handicap? 😅😅 🤡 🤡 sure dude
Been using heads up putting for a couple years now. I struggled so much with speed control and was 3 and 4 putting so many times each round. I started messing with it on the practice green and instantly my speed control got 1000% better. Once I got comfortable with my stroke when not looking at the ball I took it to the course and almost over night minimized 3 putts. Soly, I am now trying a “hybrid heads up method”: heads up for long putts 15’ and longer and looking at the ball for short puts 5-10’.
Home course opened this weekend. I played 3 rounds all heads up. I had one 3-putt. I’m an above average putter. 3.0 index currently. Biggest benefit was inside 6 feet. I’ll occasionally get yippy on 3-6’ putts. Looking at the hole removed that tendency and I was more consistently rolling short putts directly over the center of the cup. On longer putts >30’ I left majority inside 4’. One down side – putting from off the green I made more mistakes via contact due to inconsistent lie and turf interaction. I’m converted
The whole “amateur” status does have an analogue in men’s amateur baseball. Randy mentioned Clayton Kershaw playing in an over-40 wood bat league. And this is an actual possibility. I played in league and tournaments in the MSBL (Men’s Senior Baseball League) for nearly 2 decades from 2000 – 2017. I only played HS Varsity and am fully “an amateur”. In league play I played with several former A, AA and even AAA players and I even played 1 season with a former MLBer; Brad Brink. Brink played only 3 seasons in the MLB and pitched for the Phillies and SF Giants from 1992 – 1994 and pitched in only 14 games. He was 40 years old with a pretty torched elbow. But he could still bring his fast ball mid to upper 80s mph and my god his breaking balls were absolutely filthy and would just make true amateurs look silly at the plate. Was Brad an amateur when I played with him? I guess but even with a bad elbow at 40 years old there was gulf between him and what I deem “real amateurs”. I say this all to say that MSBL has rules relating to former professional players and how long they have to be out of professional baseball before they can play in these leagues and tournament. So former professional golfers like Colt Nost regaining amateur status isn’t without precedence in other sports like baseball
As a self proclaimed sicko I am worried about tournament “scarcity” selfishly. I am going to watch golf literally every week and I strongly prefer some of those weeks to have things like Valspar, and Sony, even Honda, black desert. I will be disappointed and my engagement will only get worse if there is nothing to watch on those “off weeks”. Selfish problem though I assume.
How about Lebron going to college? He still has 4 years of eligibility, right?
I played in a YMCA league with Ryan Robertson. Obviously, he was amazing, and destroyed most of us, but we had ex college football players on our team, so it wasn't as imbalanced as one would think.
I have been heads up putting on lag putting for about 3 or 4 years. Used it as a drill and then I heard Sosho talk about it on a pod and started using it in live rounds. I use it up until I can see the ball and the hole in my vision. I’ve never got comfortable on those short ones. Got a little flack to start with from my group but I will eventually convert one of them
I played in a local town bball league and a brother of one of the guys played on a few nba teams, not even a starting player. He was unsigned and played on their team the rest of the season. It was very unfair and not that fun but interesting to see the level up close
I have been putting heads up for years. Yes, my friends do give me a hard time for it but I am certainly among the best in my group. I do not practice putting at all for what it is worth. I’m at 14 handicapper for reference.
The midam is not a mens over 40 league. The people are + handicaps. This is a non issue.
I swear by heads up. I told my brother to give it a try to practice. He cussed me out cause now he putts that way. He has shot numerous rounds in the sixties since changing
Re: pros vs ams discussion… I played in an uber competitive men’s basketball league in Scottsdale. Some of the guys were former pro athletes and loved stacking the team. Names you may recognize… Mike Bibby, Terrell Suggs etc… I always thought it was questionable… I also played in a league with Nate Lashley on my team when he was in-between tours. He was a baller, could shoot the lights out, and a hot head, and got kicked out of a couple games lol…