For 25 years, University of Oklahoma graduate Doug Ferguson has walked the fairways with golf’s greatest players, chronicling the sport’s most memorable moments as the lead golf writer for the Associated Press.
On this episode of the Scott Verplank Show, Verplank and Ferguson discuss the changing landscape of golf journalism, the influence of legendary sports writers on his career, the importance of storytelling and what it was like covering Tiger Woods at his best.
Verplank will be talking to top pro golfers from the past and present on his Sellout Crowd show, sponsored by EMAQ (https://emaqgroup.com/)
Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social Media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman
All right welcome to this episode of the Scott verplank show I got one of my favorite people in the world Doug Ferguson he’s the lead writer sports writer covering golf for the Associated Press so he has been around he’s seen it all um fantastic guy you actually went to
OU um for journalism school which is relevant around here so when when were you at ouu I was at OU from 84 to 87 so so journalism school was a whole four-year commitment was it the Gaylord School of Journalism back then it wasn’t and it was really I mean if I was being
Honest which you’d probably prefer me to be um I was buying time I mean I was I was young and stupid and trying to figure out what you should be doing with life I had a I had a uh B B’s degree from Spanish please don’t ask any more
Questions uh from aelyn christien went to OU to do to do graduate school and in journalism and became one of those statistics where you do everything but the thesis because by that point I’d gotten a job with the AP I’d gotten married oh I’ll finish it later and you
Know how the rest of it turns out but well yeah so they had to put somebody to do golf so there you are but I was going to ask you how in the world did you end up at abing Christian University studying Spanish I mean could you could you do this interview in
Spanish no that’s Spanish for no by the way okay see yeah um a long time ago I just look I was I was uh you know growing up in California I uh I was in a program I didn’t know about until years later in which I skipped the first grade they were trying
To see what would happen if you took a first grader and just put him into the second grade which nothing because you don’t learn anything at that age anyway but um long story short I was very very young and I went to ABY and my brother
And two sisters were there we grew up in the Church of Christ and um Spanish was what I was good at so I figured you’re supposed to do you know you’re supposed to study what you’re good at and then I realized later that the only thing you
Do with the Spanish degree is teach and I hated school in the first place so we got a problem well decided to do a double in PR and the first thing is news writing and that came natur and then off we go well that you know i’ I’ve known you a
Long time but I did not know that you uh studied Spanish in college you know and being yep that’s surprising that’s kind of muchos graus senior and Uno sesa the only things I really know um poor favore um yeah because I thought that was kind of strange that you grew up in
SoCal San Diego area I think and and ended up in abene Texas that had to be a little bit of a a culture shop to you jarring to be able to see California from abene because it’s so flat right well yeah you can see it from there that uh interesting but then you
Went to OU so I you still Doug has been uh when you’re not wearing a Hawaiian shirt and for people that are watching this and if you’ve ever watched golf you’ve seen they’re sh in the last group Tiger Woods Phil Mickelson whoever and there’s some guy in shorts and a
Hawaiian shirt in the background that is my man Doug Ferguson cuz he has he has watched more golf than probably anybody and he’s walked with the best players in the world more than anybody um and consequently because of that Doug you’re one of the few guys left really who kind
Of has the trust in the in the um the ability to talk to um kind of like you said with the media you know guys are W wanting their little quick hit and their you know and their first one to say Tiger Wood said this and you’ve been out
There and and walked so many miles and have been there and asked great questions and don’t you know from what I can tell you you don’t really ever throw anybody under the bus you just kind of tell the story as it happens um so you’ve earned you’re one of the last
Guys that I know of that is that earns the trust and respect from the guys that play So to me that might be your greatest accomplishment cuz there hasn’t there’s not hardly any of those guys left but there really haven’t been that many along the way either so um
Obviously you did that on purpose but was it just being there and and and not not interjecting yourself into it and taking in all you can or what’s the secret to do that you know um I think you hit on something earlier in terms of being able you know they give us these
Little badges that let us walk inside the ropes and I’ve never understood why you’d want to sit in a press Center and watch it on on TV when you could be out there watching you know I always remember the story you told about igth Memorial hitting a a three iron straight
Up in the air and Landing it softly that’s the stuff you get to see so it’s really just a matter of of having an opportunity to go watch them up hand um and you just you just see stuff that you don’t always see on TV oddly enough you
See stuff on TV you could never see in in person you know in terms of how quick the camera can get and I and I get that um probably my biggest regret it’s not a regret it’s just the way life is is because of the AP and because of our
Deadlines I never get to see the finish I mean I have to we have to file probably within 5 minutes so physically cannot get from you know 18th green back into the Press you know I have to have to watch on on TV the last probably hour
Or so and it breaks my heart to hear some of the some of the boys today come in and and I’m hearing them talk about what they saw and how loud it was and what this was going on and I’m sitting in front of a TV and that is a that is a
Big regret but that’s just the way it is yeah well you know I never really thought about about that I I never uh thought that you weren’t there to the very end um one time it seems well it seems like you’re everywhere so one time
I would tell you that Scott we were in in balderama I think it was the second is the first aex uh that they had back in in 99 tiger gets into a playoff with jimenz and because of a six-h hour time difference I thought finally I can I can
Go ahead and and be out there and and watch to the end and I’ll never forget the entire armed Spanish Civil guard lining the Fairway and one of them bumped my buddy Lyn Shapiro from The Washington Post Lynn doesn’t like to be touched and as soon as someone bumped
Him he started getting into him and I’m like Lynn their arms just let it go let it go yeah well it’s a damn good thing you know how to speak Spanish though so you probably you probably talked your way out of the situation correct yeah well that see that degree
Came in handy you saved Lynn’s life there was another one too I don’t mind telling you is at Bay Hill when tiger and Phil were going at it great theater and I was with Phil tiger was about two holes behind and I’m with Mark roling
And this is a this is a lesson in in the AP and all the stuff we have to do I thought you know what I can stay out here the entire back nine I can hear the cheers for Tiger roling can fill me in I’m watching Phil and about the 10th
Hole roling says H Paul ran died what a shame and I’m thinking do we have an oit ready on Paul ran probably not and so as Phil is on the 16th and I don’t know if you remember that tournament he’s trying to hit this shot out of the rough under
A tree over the water onto the green failed miserably uh and I’m on the phone with Paul Ran’s son with him saying Not only was he a great player and a great teacher he was a good dad and that’s where I spent the rest of Bay Hill was
Riding Paul Ran’s obituary same guy Lyn Shapiro comes up to me at the end of the day Taps me on the shoulder he said do a good job with that we’re using threee paragraphs there you go life at the AP well there you go um hey been doing it a
Long time so I know you’ve seen all kinds of stuff all right so a little bit different not away from the media but you live in Jacksonville which is where the PJ tour is a home base so obviously you’re kind of at the epicenter of
What’s going on at least as far as the tour goes so how’s your relationship with the tour or how would you describe it since you’re right there do you have a good relationship getting the stuff you need to report or do they try to filter good stuff to you and keep bad
Stuff away or what’s the story on that probably a little of both I like to think I have a good relationship with with everybody I mean we’re all people and and we butt heads from time to time we get irritated um I feel like I get more irritated with them than they do
With me but they probably think differently um but yeah it’s been it’s been fine I think they’ve been every now and then you’ll you’ll you can just tell when they’re trying to work an angle and the great thing about being in the Press is that you have the capacity to ignore
That and just try and figure it out yourself but um this one’s a this one’s a hard one hard one to figure um it it really is when you even when you go back to June 6 I could even go back you know probably a few weeks before that um I
Was actually playing golf with with Monahan and and Jason Gore Chris Toon from Titleist and uh Andy pder when he was still employed and played around golf had a few beers when it was over and I think Jay was probably a week away from signing the deal and
You would have had no idea whatsoever what was going on and neither did the other boys that were playing that was weird and then you try and figure out what they could have done differently and I I just honestly don’t have the answers yeah that whole situation well
It’s been weird from the get-go um I mean the the whole thing um I don’t even know how to describe it you’re the you’re the news journalist here um I I don’t other than I think that that both sides have have kind of made some tactical errors um you know I know the
Liv deal has all been all about the money bringing money buying their way in and then the tour is I’m not sure what the tour strategy ultimately has been I know starting out it was political which I thought was a huge mistake but that’s just me I don’t know any I’m just a
Golfer I don’t know anything I’m not an expert business person like they like they are um but what’s going on now I still don’t fully understand I get the gist of it um but I mean I would I would kind of think Doug to be honest with you you know the
Players better than better than the tour staff does really maybe other than the handful of the top guys I mean I would think that you would have as good of a kind of a a pulse you know the the beat of the pulse of the players and have
They ever asked you what the majority of the players are thinking or do they just think that they you know I know we have the Pack and the board and all that and I was on all the I was on the pack for a long time um the system of communication’s
Okay but it’s obious it’s been exposed that it’s not great so have never asked you for any kind of like what you’re thinking no I think they um I think they think they have it figured out and I don’t think they they ever will in terms of what the players are think thinking
And it that goes back probably 50 years Scott you you start looking at at what the tour is and you and it’s always been your top heavy Stars your your middle of the road and and then kind of your guys hanging on for dear life and they all
Have different needs and interest and thoughts and and putting all those together into one is is n impossible it it really is and I think we’re we’re seeing that now people you know at the lower end worried that the bigger guys are just looking out for themselves and
I you know I don’t necessarily blame the tour for having a poor communication system because you cannot please everybody you have too many different walks of life and and levels of play um it’s not going to happen I think even in that I wasn’t in where the heck was that
I guess it was Canada right after the deal was announced but you know you had some of the lower-end guys that were complaining about one thing and and Rory speaks up to play better and that wasn’t the right answer they wanted to hear and and you know that speaks to the to the
Whole issue frankly I think the tour there you’re 100% right I mean there you’re right there’s there’s so many different levels of guys and and everybody is I mean that’s the one thing about golf is you know you’ve been around it enough and and watched enough and presumably played enough with
Guys that are in the business um if if you play golf you’re basically it’s all about me you know and if it’s not all about me all the time then you’re not going to be as good as you could be that’s right so yeah I could I could see
See how that I mean I know I was like I said I spent eight or 10 years on the pack and I get it that uh how hard it is to you can’t ever make everybody happy because everybody has a different angle um the other side do it too though Scott
And I don’t know if you ever felt this way I hate to throw everybody under the bus on this but but I always I always think that most of these guys only care about playing good golf um what I find interesting about this is this is the first time they’ve really gotten you
Know we need to know more you know I want to get involved I never felt that way before most guys will get upset for about you know 30 minutes and then they’re back to the range trying to hit balls and figure out how to hit a good
Fate I always think back to Carl Peterson who’s one of my absolute favorites when VJ was suing the tour over the deer antler spray and I asked I asked Carl I said what’s what’s it like with you know vj’s in the locker room you know this a guy who’s basically
Suing you he’s suing the tour is that awkward and Carl said most of us just care about when our proam time is and if our Courtesy car has got a full tank of gas and I thought yeah that’s about right not and that is about right and
You know what doug that as a player at a tournament that particular day that particular week that’s what you better be thinking about yeah because if you’re not you’re going to get run over and you’re going to go turn your Courtesy car in with just a little bit of gas
Gone because you’re leaving on Friday so I’ve gotten you know I think we all get a lot of things wrong on this U when you’re trying to figure out what happened and where it’s going but the one thing I wrote early that I still stand by is Jay I don’t think ever
Underestimated um the threat of the Saudis I think he overestimated the Loyalty of his players because I think what we’re seeing by and large is that everybody just wants more and more and more sometimes that means jumping ship and going to live and getting money they
Don’t deserve um but what I’m seeing now that’s I think’s really troubling is that these guys are getting more and more and more perks stupid perks perks that they don’t need to be having ice baths wild caught sand for player dining it is oh excuse me the flushable toilets
On each nine for their spouses you know Vivian Vivian player Barbara necklace how did they ever get by all those years without having a flushable toilet while they out there watching their guy play it’s crazy I know it is crazy I listen Doug it’s like um happy for you by the
Way if you get it the flushable toilets absolutely yeah I get it um they’re starting to call him um U JN Rams I think the uh for the portable toilets because he wanted more of them before he left John RS there you go and then he left I wonder if they
Have those on the live tour I sure hope bet they do well so they I mean it’s just it’s like every we’ll just keep it in sports but like every professional sports League once the money starts getting big enough I mean there’s more and more people that
Want their you know a piece of the pie um and golf is not that it’s lacked in money cuz I mean you you know I I was fortunate enough to make a great living playing golf um which sounds kind of stupid in the real world but but that’s
What it you know that’s what the sport is but yeah we’re kind of moving into you know like the baseball or football when they have a strike because the players and I’m not taking either side because the players and the owners can’t agree on how much money they should be
Splitting up and how many perks they get and and golf’s never had that now the massive influx of money you know the agents want a piece of it the the networks want a piece of it the players want a piece of it and it’s it’s new
Territory um and it’s been in my opinion it’s been kind of Rocky but I don’t have any idea where it’s going to end up although I think golf Will Survive is just going to be different um and are you going to be able to cover the new
Golf have you been to live event yes yes I was uh between Pebble and La I I spent a week with my with my mom in the Central Valley of of California and it’d be my best chance to go so I went over to Vegas for a day and a half uh ended
Up hanging out with Tommy Fleetwood which I didn’t really expect Tommy looked like a a guy from Star Wars yeah had a hoodie on with a beard and was just like Yoda it was great walked around with him people are taking his picture and and Tommy said uh
Well at least you’re in the picture I said ‘y yeah you don’t understand this is bad for me because people are going to see this picture and say where’s your story about Tommy going to live and it’s not there he was just he was just and
Just wanted to go see for himself like I did just to see what it was like you know what it was fine it was a I guess it was a Thursday because it ended on Saturday and I was out watching like I would be at at Riviera but I think both
Of us that day I don’t want to put words in Tommy’s mouth but kind of came to the same conclusion that you asked yourself what’s the significance of this and there is none to me it’s not a it’s not a real watchable product I struggle with it a little bit even though there’s
Great players out there there’s just no meaning to winning a Canadian open to winning Memorial it’s those are kind of big deals well there’s no no you’re right I mean because golf is is like some like say baseball is so much about the history and the guys that have come before us
Um you know the Arns the Jacks the trinos The Watsons you know guys that kind of set the standard and is I’m not totally I’m not I’m I’m Pro PGA Tour obviously but and I’m not totally against Liv but but some it’s not right yet somehow there needs to be a
Compromise in the middle it would be my opinion um and the fans the fans is who you who you that’s who you speak to um and the fans are are kind of losing out on this deal but they but the fans have lost out on all pro sports you know when when
Salaries go up prices go up you know the prices of tickets go way up if you put a good enough product out there people still pay and go see it so part of the problem is the the products diluted on both sides so how can you not get
Together I mean that to me that’s the ultimate they’ve got to get together to keep the game palatable for the fans and they will will do that as soon as they they figure out peace in the Middle East I mean this is this is not going to be
An easy process I I I don’t you know I think Rory took things a complete opposite direction when he when he kind of suggested there should be no penalty if a guy is eligible and that got the hackles up of a lot of players I a lot
Of them um you know spe had to speak that that week at uh where where it was Pebble and he was kind of halting in his speech and it it um you figure it out later the reason that was is that he was biting his lip I mean he he is very
Strong against these guys just being able to to just come back without penalty they did a lot of damage to the tour they took a lot of money should they be able to just come back because that’s what the fans want I get that part of it and I think to your point
Everyone wants to see that how do you do it I have no idea it’s not going to be easy no I I agree and and and Jordan is is um you know there’s a lot of moving Parts in it but he’s but he’s right to a certain extent that um I mean they
Injured the product in certain you know in different ways but man there’s got to be a solution that that is better um than what’s going on now and there there will be I think where it’s going to get worse is is the major so your first
Thought is this is only going to take the majors and Elevate them even greater because the majors are going to be the only time that you get everybody together and their importance already strong is going to go through the roof however what’s going to happen in a year
Or two when when guys like DJ are no longer exempt for the for the British or the PGA or D Shambo is not in the Masters um when these little fiveyear exemptions run out and and now they’re not there now you’ve really got a deluded product um you know I don’t know
I don’t know how they’re going to sort this out I think you know one of the one of the possibilities is to and this is the part that I haven’t figured out yet either because the the live team concept may have some potential the 54 hole
Stuff to me is is boring um that little team thing at the end was actually kind of cool a different format could you have a live type League at the end of the year in which everybody gets together and and yeah maybe that works but all of a sudden you’re asking guys
To play 25 26 times a year they don’t do that no you’re right but you know that was you know that’s 100% right but if you offer enough money guys might change their mind that’s kind of been the whole that’s been the whole thing but listen
That Doug that reminds me of a when the FedEx Cup playoffs came out the very first year you know we’re at a player meeting at the Tour Championship and finchum announces this Tim finchum the commissioner at the time announces this whole new scheme of we’re having playoffs and money’s going up blah blah
Blah blah blah and of course I raised my hand and said uh Tim I since these are playoffs there’s no Pro AMS in the playoffs right and boy did you see him CAD oh no no no there’s Pro AMS and I go there’s no Pro AMS in
The playoffs come on um but anyway yes needed it for the money to make the money bigger in the playoffs but the very first year I know you’ll remember this the first year maybe two years they scheduled four tournaments in a row you know the three playoff events and then
The Tour Championship and after the meeting I I walked up to Tim and I go Tim that’s not going to work and he goes well what do you mean and he go and I said guys aren’t going to play Four tournaments in a row you know I said I
Can’t play that many in a row well why not and I go well I just I just can’t I go but when is Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played Four tournaments in a row um and it was never well everybody tried it for one year and then immediately started falling apart and
Then guys started winning the FedEx Cup playoffs without playing all the playoff events so there you know there’s some live and learn on on both sides um and I know what you’re saying uh if there’s 25 events if they pay enough money some guys are going to give it a shot but it
Probably won’t last no that’s a good point I always the funniest thing to me was 2009 and and tiger showed up at the Barkley’s the first one because it skipped the first year and he didn’t realize that he could win all three of the first events and get to the Tour
Championship and and still not win the fedx cup and when it dawned on him that he could play all three and still not be guaranteed winning he was so pissed off that day what am I doing here well yeah no I get it and then guys
Figured out hey if I just win I can win the first two and not play anymore and still win the thing so uh there’s all obviously there’s a lot of EV and flow and and even in you know with the tour stuff and now they’re going to have to
Make it work with the live stuff somehow and I always felt the majors were kind of the kind of the to me they were the answer to this deal if they would figure out how to get the best players whether it’s monkey in with the world world golf
Rankings using a different criteria to get in um like you said it’s hard to keep John ROM and Brooks Kea and DJ and those guys out if they continue to play like they play now um it hurts the product so I kind of felt like the
Masters in the in the US Open and the RNA in particular could could probably come up with some solutions that would really help everybody but that remains to be seen um and I have no idea what they’re going to do you would know better than me because you talked to all those
People they they would I mean they would always argue should take the top 10 or the top eight or I think someone said 12 from lib which I think is a little bit High uh for all I know that could motivate a guy uh and that’s the one
Thing I still have a question about is is how motivated you are when you’re fat and Rich um I think they’re all professionals but like right now um cam Smith has basically disappeared for two or three weeks U doesn’t mean he won’t win the next three for all I know I’m
Just saying if you throw that car out of these top guys are getting into the majors next year I think I think you might see a little bit more um I don’t say motivation maybe inspiration to play well that’s exactly what’s gone on with with Neiman not what he’s done on live
But just what he did in terms of getting his game sharp and and winning in Australia and having a couple other good good tournaments and that got Augusta’s attention not his live win but the fact that he’s willing to go out box and play well yeah no there I agree 100% he he
Went outside the box and went and won the Australian Open I think it was the open or the PGA the open it was the open yeah field by the way everyone’s making a big deal out of the Australian Open I know it’s got great heritage back in the
Day with Nicholas and Jack and Arie and and a bunch of other guys but if you were to look at who was playing in the Australian Open you’d be looking at the rocket mortgage right yeah actually yeah the field The Field’s not as good as the live event so yeah that’s the problem
And that’s for people that apparently are smarter than than me for sure and maybe you to try to figure out so good luck to them I’m curious to see how this goes through Bay Hill because one of the things I don’t like about these Signature Events which are kind of of
Mirroring live is hang on Doug hang on one second can you hear my dogs barking absolutely I can that might help a little bit sorry this is this is the real real life podcast I mean dogs cats yeah there’s animals going everywhere waiting for
Kids to come in one of the one of the issues I have with with getting excited about Liv is I’m seeing the same guys week after week after week it’s a close shop of of I don’t want to say 54 guys because it’s actually only about 20 who
Look like they’re they’re worth anything we’re doing the same thing now Rebel RI whether it’s Bay Hill next week we’re just seeing the same cast of characters and I I don’t know how that’s going uh this needs time obviously but but it’s got my it’s got my attention um to me
The great thing about golf is when you get when you get the guy there are a lot of good players out there we just don’t know who they are yet um you know I I like having a full field I think it brings out way more opportunity we’ve
Already seen this kid Jake nap who’s who’s got my attention right I think what was fascinating you know some of Tiger’s best duels back in the day were guys most people hadn’t heard of you know whether it was a yeah no you’re yeah Bob May Bob may put himself on the map
By um but I remember having a great yeah yeah four guys and all them are outside the top 100 on the money list and it was a pretty good go yeah you know you’re right because um you know like here actually recently Austin eek wrote
Um you know a guy that not everybody had heard of but he’s an Oklahoma guy he actually was on my he was my second guest on my podcast because I’ve known him since he was a 17-year-old um you know he just won the he just won the old Honda Classic
Cognizant or whatever and he was you know first in the world or whatever and so not a lot of people have heard of him but like a guy like that he can play and it seems like you said the Signature Events are kind of cutting some of those
People out and I don’t know I it’s all about the money which is what every Pro Sport ultimately gets down to is it’s all about the money and golf’s in a weird spot that money you know how you play has been more important than the
Money and and it’s just so it’s just so mangled up right now I just you at least you have a you got a ringside seat true to see what’s going to happen in this deal mangled you know of Austin um and this is where I think we we we’re
Losing out right now we we are so driven because of because of live and because of frankly society and social media and everything else everything is so star heavy that we just kind of poo poo anyone who’s not a star who’s winning and one of the issues I think going on
On tour right now are who are these guys winning well they kind of I think they’re kind of interesting they may not have great star power now um you say no one knows Austin eot you’re you’re probably right you do I do um and a lot
Of golf people do and this guy is not he didn’t he didn’t just come out of the woods this guy’s a proper good player who just needs time they starting to show it yeah yeah yeah like so the Jake naap kid you said you know I didn’t know that
Much about him and it took him a while obviously to find his footing but yeah so a young kid like Austin who’s 24 years old I mean I played with him when he was 17 years old and I was like holy crap this is what’s coming um and sure
Enough there are there’s more like him I think Austin’s got a chance to be you know a top 10 player in the world you know potential Superstar he’s got that kind of mentality and that kind of game but but there’s more of those guys and there’s more of those guys coming which
Actually kind of led me up to one thing I wanted to ask you about since you’re there there are so many young guys now is it like a different uh is it a different feeli to you versus you know kind of the old guys versus all these
Young guys coming as far as um the dynamic of is it that much harder to separate yourself now yeah I think so because there’s there’s so many of them and I think back in the day and I I cannot believe I’m G to bring this name
Up Scotty but I’m gonna do it like when a guy like Anthony Kim when he showed up well I was gonna ask you about him he’s he’s a sooner just like you dude you’ve got to be all over this guy he’s a sooner well I I would you know I first
Met him at the Sony Open he was with is caddy and um he looked at my sister had got me a watch that had an OU face on it and Bambi introduces me to this young kid Anthony Kim he looks at my watch and he
Said what’ you think of the coach at OU and I thought man I don’t I don’t know what he’s talking about and I don’t want to go there Anthony was a different breed but talent wise I mean he he really he really stood out and I think
The hard thing now is that there’s so many I mean we could talk about Jake naap has got a just a beautiful little swing going U Austin enough said about him we could talk about Nick Dunlap the kid from Alabama who just won won in Palm Springs and we forgotten already y
About ludvig Oar the Swedish kid who is he looks like the guy that Rocky fought and Rocky for this guy is a machine he is so good yeah but that’s just four right there right about that kid Tom Kim who’s already won twice the 20y old
That’s five and I probably left five out that I’ve that I haven’t mentioned and that’s what makes it hard to distinguish who’s going to be your next stud is that bad yeah I don’t know you know what I mean go I guess you know Tiger Woods obviously changed the games in in a
Multitude ways you know um yeah he was really good well and he’s kind of responsible for how these young kids look now you know they he got everybody into the working out looking you know there’s no more kind of big big I won’t say fat but large soft guys coming out
Dude they are all these guys are all chiseled so um I’m sure you’ve noticed that yourself that you used to be eye to eye with some of these guys and now it’s like oops this guy like you said this guy looks like he could fight in the
Rocky movies so that’s changed a ton as well yeah but along with that have the person are the personalities still there from your opinion or in your opinion no it’s it’s not quite as good and it it’s to be expected I think I mean this is a
247 business I think part of too have been trained to watch out for the gotcha moments I think they’re they’re probably a little bit more guarded we we latch on to the ones who um free speaking and and um you know a little bit more Carefree you know
I that’s true in a lot of not just gol yeah no I I agree I hadn’t really thought of it in those terms of the gotcha moment but yeah that’s become such a such a thing and in a lot of ways a bad thing that it kind of forces some PE
Or or it makes people uncomfortable with everything tell story do now is all about what somebody said and at the end of the day who cares what they say it used to be about how they how they played I always think back to when like when Rory about 10 years ago when he
Made a full switch over to Nike and falo did this big interviews saying he thought it was a mistake and now they got to run back and talk to Rory about what he thought about falo’s comments then you got to go back to falo and talk about what he thought about Rory’s
Comments about his comments and then when do you ever get the paper out if there is a paper of course you’ve covered that area yeah if there was yeah back was yeah there’s not many papers left all right so what what this is a really tough question here Doug what’s
The best question you think you ever asked a player can you even narrow it down because you’ve had Doug is actually brilliant for people may not know they’re going to start paying attention to the newspapers now Doug but I’d have to Doug is the best I was actually
Thinking about Patrick cley of all people when when they be shot 68 one day uh I think we were at Liberty National and he’s like tied for 4th in the morning and then they brought him over and I mean I had nothing for him and I
Finally said to him I said what would you ask you and he said I think I wouldn’t be very good at your job and I said well it’s pretty clear I’m not either and we just sent him on his way going talk to Scott 30 minutes and I’m probably going
To ask him the same thing I remember you know I’ll say this and it’s it’s recent so it’s kind of fresh in my mind but we usually know 80% of the time what the answer is going to be we just need you to say it and I was really shocked at at
Rory at at Pebble when he was talking about the need to have everyone together and it just doesn’t feel as important without everyone there and so I asked him I said if you’re standing on the 18th at Pebble come Sunday uh didn’t know it was going to rain that week um
And you’re staying there with the trophy would this would it with the Windfield cheapened because not everyone was there and he said yes and that was shocking to me um the the idea that that a victory at Pebble Beach and a at a signature event isn’t as good because DJ and Rah
Were playing because the fact is when Rory had won at Quail Hollow Dustin wasn’t there that way I mean not everybody’s there except in the majors obviously right that was kind of a that was kind of a surprise yeah like like it’s Uncharted Territory for for damn near everybody in
Golf um and it’s a learning experience I mean I’m I’m actually I I’ve always liked Rory and I thought he was you know he’s he was doing too much the last year or two I’m glad he kind of you know took himself out of the equation the best he could
Now obviously can’t stay out of it because like you said the talking at Pebble but I was happy to see him kind of pull himself away from the Limelight a little bit because that’s not he’s not going to be able to play his best golf if he’s stuck in the middle of this
Controversy so well I’m glad he did that I I don’t know if you like that being on the reporting side because you may not get as much Rory and he’s generally a good quote but careerwise it was a good move in my opinion no I I I agree with
The you know the trouble is and this goes back to to a media that can can lean on the lazy side if you don’t mind me saying is that every time he shows up you’re going to get asked the same thing why do you keep talking about it well
Because you keep asking about it I mean that’s just part of the part of the business I mean I think he’d love to have weeks where he doesn’t say anything unfortunately he’s actually had a few weeks where he wouldn’t talk at all because he just got tired of the
Questions yeah no I I I get it um but it’s you’ve never asked a question that people got tired of I can tell you that and I say that in a in a proper great way because you do do your homework um and I I no I admire you I mean I you
Know I I was going to bring it up you won the Lifetime Achievement Award in for journalism from the PGA of America which is really that’s that’s got to be the Pinnacle for being a sports writer at least in golf correct yeah that was that was a that was a surprise it made
Me feel old but yeah it’s because you are old how old are you now are you older than me 60 how oh yeah you got me by just barely all right I knew we were pretty close and knew we were pretty close in age maybe that’s why we could talk because
We’re similar era even though you went to you have Spanish which really is amazing to me I can’t wait to talk see you next time and try to talk to you in Spanish I’m going to order a beer from you but that’ll go well and then you’ll say thank you and we’ll be
Done yeah muchas graia Senor all right so you got any other Hobbies Doug anything you’d like to do when you’re not writing or obviously you’re not watching golf all the time in your off weeks well sometimes I sometimes I kind of have to to pay attention but uh no I
I uh I don’t play enough golf anymore played with you and your son that time at caloa they won’t let us on the course anymore that’s part of the new they won’t no no they got to keep that only for the players they’re doing a lot for
The players right now I am I am speaking to you here’s a here’s a scoop for you I am speaking to you from the media center at sass uh got to go with Chef ler in a few minutes and they they have taken away a room that used to be for the digital
Crowd and have turned that into a special workout place for the players for one week I mean they’ve got a full like gym only for the players for this one week of the year and kicked out some of their you know social media digital camera people and kicked them
Out down the street it’s just another example of just how much they’re giving to the players I guess the trailer was so as we speak you’re actually in a workout facility right now is that what you’re trying to tell me I’m down the hallway from it and know I’m not gonna go work
Out okay I mean this would be like the player’s dream to ask a media guy have you ever worked out before yeah how could you stand in my shoes if you’ve never been in the gym like I have exactly that’s the old saw me running old
School and uh he said was that you running this morning and said was I going really slow and he goes yeah that’s why we don’t exercise yeah that that was me perfect well dog um I think we could talk for hours and hours but I don’t
Want to keep you I know you got more important things to do um I really appreciate you coming on because I you’re one of the people that I know has the pulse on Golf and you’ve had it for a long time and right now it’s really
Hard to get a pulse on golf so um I would encourage people to look up yeah I know us included but if anybody’s going to do it it’s going to be Doug Ferguson if his names on the by line then at least you know he’s done his research
And he has talked to the right people so um I give you I give Doug a ton of credit I give you a ton of credit Doug for being the guy that you are um and handling yourself in the media world the way you do because as a from the other
Side of the aisle you’re easy to talk to and a lot of guys aren’t a lot of guys are looking to throw you under the BS or you know get a quick hit and uh I think that’s why you are where you are Doug I
Know it is from the player side you have respect and admiration and um to me that says as much about you as a reporter as anything so thank you so much for coming on being a friend if you ever if you come back and go to any OU games or OSU
Games or anything uh let me know and we’ll hook up or if you just want to come back and play golf at Oak Tree it’s so hard now that you’ll you’ll love it it’s so hard hard now it’s been hard for 40 years it has and now it’s really hard
So that was a enjoy it I signed up as a caddy for the 84 ameter my guy didn’t take perfect no apparently he didn’t no he did not all right Doug thanks thank you so much uh I appreciate you coming on I hope to have you on again sometime when
When there’s more breaking news on what’s going to happen to the World of Golf oh great we’ll talk tomorrow then just kidding all right Perfect all right thanks buddy words take care Scott all right thanks for tuning in if you liked what you hearing about the game of golf
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1 Comment
Another guy carrying the water for Jay