On this episode of The Mediocrity Podcast, I talk to Ripper GC member of the Liv golf tour Matt Jones about growing up in Australia, moving to the states for college and some of his best moments in golf. This episode was filmed the week after The Players championship in late March.
welcome to episode two of the mediocrity podcast I’m your host Mike Forest we have a special guest today anybody on my pod’s going to be a special guest but he’s a two-time winner on the PGA tour otherwise known as the feeder tour now he’s a two-time Australian Open champion and he’s a current member of the Ripper GC of the live golf tour everybody Matt Jones welcome to the show thanks for having me I’ve been looking forward to this for a while I know you don’t do what ton of a ton of these things so I I appreciate you taking the time out and and and doing this for me I do anything you’ve cleaned my balls well over the years so I can more than happy to help you out that’s about the only thing I’ve done well is cleaning your balls um for those that don’t know Matt has also been my boss um for three times yep he’s had a first you’ve had a win a second and whatever we had last time at this train open we can’t remember that we can’t even we discuss that later yeah we we’ll bring up the Australian open stuff uh later in the podcast I wanted to start off just we’re filming this podcast on a Tuesday and so yesterday Yasir uh the head man of the PF met with the PGA J Monahan I think John Henry and the PJ players kley tiger Scott whoever is on that board know they don’t tell you a lot but did you hear anything on how that meeting went what exactly you know were what was discussed where where are we at with this merger what what do you think’s going to happen uh no we don’t hear anything on our side from pif um it’s actually it’s an all it’s a PF deal it’s got nothing to do with live right now um the PF lawyers um yasa doesn’t give us any information when we speak to him um and rightly so there’s been nda’s been signed so they’re really not supposed to disclose any any information um for the on the PGA suicide uh I don’t hear anything you can see it on social media those guys like to talk a lot more than the guys DJ Tu do and I think everyone on live is very happy about where everything is they’re not uh they’re not the ones making problems it does seem not that there’s issues and I think we’re it’s been Liv’s been going on for two and a half years now so I think the the overall shock and the anger from players is is really for the most part died down a little bit so uh but you do still it is coming from one side really and they’re still talking um so I want to get your perspective they’re still and it’s I know the reporters are asking these questions but it’s always you know what what should happen to the live guys when they come back on the PJ tour and um what kind of punishments and I know the players you know sheffler and JT and I think even Jordan they’ve been talking I know Sheffer when he was here for the Phoenix Open said they need to do some kind of compensation or contribution to the tour or um you know I just what what do you guys think on when you hear that I laugh because for me I’m like contribution to the tour I think they’ve already achieved that for you guys let’s see you’re playing for 20 $25 million purses the PIP money is you know gone up astronomical heck you got people you guys aren’t getting any world ranking points which we’ll discuss in a minute too but so the world rankings all screwed up so you got guys ranked in the top 50 that have no business being in the top 50 which is again fattening their pocket and same with guys from the top 100 that don’t belong in the top 100 so what are your guys’ thoughts when you kind of hear that I think it kind of alluded I mean you I don’t see anybody on your side even saying you want to play the PGA tour again now if a merger happens and you come together fine but I don’t see anybody clamoring from from speaking with all the boys there’s they’d play select events right I mean you’d probably have Ram would probably play the Phoenix Open I I’d probably probably play I’d love playing Pebble to add many more than that no I’m not I’m not interested but the PJ tour guys they need the live guys back if they want their Equity shares to be worth anything they need Bryson they need Brooks they need K they need John to help grow the equity of that for-profit side of things um so they should be doing everything they can to get those class back and I think the John Henry’s of the world realize that you they’ve invested they’ve invested a lot of money in their tour and even this week the the players which it was you I watched a decent amount of it um great event yeah EXC it was I watched that’s the most golf I’ve watched for a long time and it was it was great but still the product was down on past Year’s TV coverage well that’s what I’m saying the coverage was was down which is surprising um so well the PJ tour they don’t have the characters that the live does right when you have the likes of Brooks Bryson DJ Ram cam Smith tal Hatt a draw I mean he’s he’s animated people love watching him blow up on a golf course um oh yeah yeah so like no all the characters are on the problem they have is all the characters I don’t want to say all but most of the characters are on live you know which is you know again hurting their ratings and well they are yeah their characters but they’re phenomenally good golfers too oh yeah oh of course so of course I mean they’re definitely there’s a lot of golfers that un live that are still top 50 in the world top 20 top 10 in the world yeah and I don’t know I don’t how that’s still possible speaking of the world rankings stuff I I watched the podcast with Carlos Ortiz on it um he was on Colt show sub subpar and he had mentioned so I was curious if you were ever told this but he had mentioned that he was told that uh from I think Norman he said that he was told that they would get world ranking points were you ever told that like straight up or or I’m sure Norman’s going listen they got to give us world ranking points cuz they wouldn’t want to do that much damage to their own no Norman never said that to Carlos either it was we were in a player meeting and we just signed the deal with the meanor T okay and through all the criterias and things you had to go through to fulfill your requirements to become owgr to be to uh acquire world ranking points right joining them fulfilled some of the requirements that we needed and they said this should provide us with the ability to get ows no one ever said you’re going to get them before we signed I was never told we’re getting world ranking points ever but once we signed the deal with the Mina tour they thought that would cover a lot of the bases that were required to get ow and again you would think the powers that run the world rankings who also are in charge of the majors and they would give the points because the there’s going to come a time where they’re the majors aren’t the majors anymore if they don’t figure something now the world ranking thing’s done now I know you guys withdrew it it was too late at this point anyway because you weren’t going to get enough points even if they put you in the system so the majors really you know you would think they’d be close to at least doing something for live to where top 10 you know the winners of an event go top 10 in the season Point totals you would you would think that’s where they headed um because if even if we did not pull the application to get owgr points and they come June or July they may have given us but we would no one would have been able to make any points anyway to get into the W rankings because how skewed it is towards the p PJ tour PJ tour needs their world ranking points for their TV contracts I think it was a smart thing for Liv to do to take out the request for owgr um and then it’s going to put pressure on the majors to come up with their own criteria to get the likes of walking nean in events which every major should want him in there yeah it’s crazy that he’s that I don’t is he is he in everyone this no he’s not in the US Open right he’s in no he’s in the Masters and the PGA as of right now oh and the British because of his win through the Australian so it’s really the US Open that hopefully I mean he’ll if he wanted to qualify he’ll Pro the way he’s playing he’ll probably you got someone like Taylor Taylor he should be every major and quite frankly lot of them well a lot of it Louis should still be getting into the majors the way he’s playing so there’s a there’s a lot of guys but anyway okay what’s good little insight there on from the Liv side The Season’s four tournaments in yes how would you say uh the season’s going for you um I know you’ve had a couple decent finishes here the last the last two weeks or last two tournaments in Saudi and then you know you let it for a little bit in Hong Kong before the wheels kind of yeah Hong Kong was disappointing I let a good one slip there um one of the holes in the second round um it’s a you have to hit a big slice off the teen and I double crossed it made double then I doubled the last hole um so it could have been a it could have been a really good week but um overall it’s it’s getting a lot better the team’s doing good good having Lucas Herbert on the team that addition Quality quality golfer world class golfer um he brings a lot of lot lot of good golf to our team um and you guys got your first Podium we did it was nice uh would have should have should have would have could have been better I think we were it was tough to keep track cuz I think we were leading with one or two holes to go but I never saw it but then I think Lee Bogi his last two holes I bogied my second last hole and I think Herbert bogied one of his last two as well so I think we were one or two ahead with two to go and then we ended up losing by three first Podium though still not bad now how was the event I watched it on TV it looked especially the Saturday Sunday looked like it was an incredible crowd looked like awesome it was an awesome Vibe yeah the crowd was amazing the uh golf course was phenomenal my first time playing that Golf Course the crowd was unbelievable they love golf I mean the whole Asian side they loved their golf over there Korea Japan Hong Kong China uh yeah it was it’s a good region it was a it’s a good region and it was a uh it was well received over there and I think I think there’ll be many more events over there good good now I was watching as I mentioned I was watching uh the coverage um and a couple of your mates back home were wondering how much you might have paid farity and Jerry folz off because during the coverage and we got a a good kick out of this during the coverage um I think it was the whole you double crossed and you ended up in the bush is and I will say you um I was ready to see the Meltdown as this CAD I’ve seen it a couple times we’ve usually been doing well enough where I haven’t seen is that typically when I’m eating a sandwich you give me mystery number and yeah you know yeah maybe you know maybe I’m on the wrong yardage the wrong the wrong hole the wrong hole y uh but anyway so you double cry and you’re playing out of the woods and and to your credit you know and far’s like yeah you know Matty Jones is one of the nicest guys on tour and you never know when he hits a bad shot he never loses his anle out there on the golf course and you I’m sure you are one of the nice guys listen we love we love him to death but uh farity to say this guy never loses his cool the golf course would be uh in he did good on that hole but I heard next day I have a five in my bag that’s uh Missing the grip from the from the next day so and there’s a two wi that I left with a locker room attendant after on the after the third round so I uh I went through two clubs it was good though leash went through a putter he snapped his putter over his knee on the last hole so and there and there’s a putter in the water at be there is there’s a putter in yeah there’s a putter in the lake at uh myoba oh and and wow didn’t know about this one yeah that was years ago just flew it straight over my head and just kept walking classic classic anyway we got a big kick out of that I was I was watching wasn’t as good as wasn’t what wasn’t as good as Adam hadwin’s throw there uh last week at no that that was that was well done and B’s had a couple of uh nice club everybody does it we just I got a we got a chuckle out of it you know no we are we got a good chuckle out of it I don’t know if Adam Scott’s ever thrown a club or broken a club in Anger he seems he’s way too C I would be shocked what about cam like cam doesn’t seem like somebody Maybe I’m Wrong there but he doesn’t seem played the US Open with Cam at Tory and there is a A9 behind the eth T in two pieces somewhere so yes cam cam can let it go I stand corrected I stand corrected now Liv’s big uh big signing obviously in before the season was John ROM what has he brought to live has he have you seen a difference maybe in energy around the golf course as far as more larger crowds is it the same you know is is there a noticeable difference having who I think is the best player in the world on your tour it’s uh yes I mean when you add someone like John Ram who’s two time major winner uh arguably top one two three players in the world right now um I played golf with him today at Silver Leaf and it was just another ball striking Clinic of Fairways greens and wedges to a foot and tapping in but um he he’s going to bring a lot um fanwise but he brings a lot more commercial commercially wise too for sponsors to come in when you see someone of his caliber come in and join live it’s only going to open up the the doors for sponsors to come in and want to be involved now did you see I saw he uh announced his master’s dinner did you see that look like a look like a tasty menu I did I asked him about it actually on the range today and uh yeah he uh it’s very um it’s a family kind of me everything everything relates back to him and the family in some way so do the wine that he’s serving so it’s uh it’s going to be good I’m happy for him so it’s for for those that haven’t seen the menu I think it’s starters of uh Beering ham Spanish omelette with potatoes and and something else it’s chicken croquettes um it’s it’s a it’s a tasty menu actually yes I’m sure it will be we I actually looked I went to Valor armor in Spain for the first time last year and the food was amazing so I’m sure it help provide everything nicely in the Master’s dinner for him now what would be your master I talk to Master’s dinner off but what would be your Master’s dinner if you wanted if somehow you get back into the Masters and win the tourament oh geez that’d be tough um I’d have to start with some Kil Patrick oysters okay love those mom homemade Kil Patrick oysters from Mom with some bacon and some Wier shees sauce on top baked um there’d have to be some meat pies in there of I was going to say I’m Wai for the meat pie yeah that has that’s just a standard um and then no veggie M on the menu though you can’t do that to the to the boys we wouldn’t do that um then what else would I do I don’t know there’ be some type of steak I’d have to have a steak or some some type of spaghetti I love I love pasta so yeah beautiful doesn’t sound as you I’d invite you yeah I would love to to crash that uh to crash that dinner all right well that sounds good I’m hopefully there’s the next tournament in Liv is Miami which you’ve I know it’s been team event the last two times but you played pretty well there so I’m sure you have pretty high expectation because you played well on the Sundays of individual I think you’ve shot the lowest or second lowest score both both year so I did I played well there last year was I think probably after Friday night our team was a bit banged up to say the least you guys have a nice little session it was very large after we got knocked out so uh there was I was at a commission all day Saturday and got me dialed in ready for Sunday ready Sunday yeah and now now you know what you need to do yes I know I know how to prep that’s all you did now this just do it on Wednesday night yeah dalal’s great uh tough it’s a very it’s a big boy golf course so it’s going to be a it’s a battle um and you have to grind and play well there and it’s uh it’s going to be different playing it as a individ well not an individual but not the team aspect yeah uh we still have the team aspect but playing it as the not as a an a match play and Alternate shot um so it’ll be some stress out there some some some Scar Tissue holes out there for sure I’m curious how the crowd because usually it’s a end of year tournament so the it’s usually September or October right so this year in April so see it’s always been nice Vibe nice energy a good crowd there hopefully I’d imagine it’s going to be the same so as long as we have DJ and Billy and her outfit we’re going to be gold yeah that was an epic uh that was an epic outfit to try to walk around the golf course in um let’s go back to little Matt Jones Okay grew up in Sydney Australia I did how did you get in what was like Lake in Sydney I grew up in a suburb called Oyster Bay uh 30 minutes south of Sydney used to follow dad and my brother and Uncle down to the golf course and just all started from there when I was probably I think it was six or four I can’t remember I think four okay um and then uh just always played golf on the weekends we were a very sporting athletic family so Saturdays was soccer Sundays was dad’s soccer so we’re always playing soccer on Saturday and Sundays running around and then when I got a little older probably I’d say 12 13 14 that’s when golf really started to kick in for me I heard you were a pretty decent soccer player yeah played plenty of soccer I love playing soccer um but yeah when I I started to take golf more seriously and it it kind of I started playing for the state teams so it took away time from soccer so I had to make a choice and ended up playing golf and you came up with uh Adam Scott and Aaron badley I did yeah the Adam was the number number one Junior in Queensland Aaron would have been the number one Junior in Melbourne or Victoria and then another guy Wade armsby who was on live he was the number one guy for South Australia so oh really we all grew up playing against each other um Adam was as much as I hate to say it he was always just that little bit better than everyone he was um he just had the it fact that he was just an amazing golfer from very young age um but yeah it was uh it’s funny to see us all Now 44 Momom 44 Adam’s going to be 44 soon and uh we’re still going and still battling away he’s on the feeder tour I’m on the live tour you make choices you got to live with them I I guess you know sorry Adam um so you had you brought him up earlier in the podcast but Gaz Gary barter he started coaching you at 15 right yep and he’s been your coach uh the entire time which is very rare in professional golf it is my mom used to cater food and she was catering for a law firm um in the city and Nicole who’s Gary’s wife was the uh I don’t know if she was paralal or if she was a receptionist um and they got to talking and Mom said my son plays golf and G Nicole said well my husband teaches Golf and that’s where it all started from and here we are and then yeah I was 15 he was teaching at the Australian Golf Course um and then I joined the there at the Australian Golf Course probably I think when I was 15 as well probably 6 months after first working with him that’s incredible like I said so we’re 29 years I think aren’t we yeah it’s a long time especially because you’ve gone through a bit of cat a lot of caddies in your time but only to have wood coach is uh is remarkable is there something about working with gas I mean I love the guy obviously he’s you know obviously he just gets your swing he’s I think it’s probably more so we have the same philosophies and belief in the golf swing um that’s probably been imparted his influence and his philosophies have been imparted on me so um but then I I like I watch other golf coaches and I watch how they teach and I just don’t agree with some of the stuff they get teach um so I’m very comfortable with what Gary and I do it’s worked well um maybe not as well as I would have liked over the years but um it’s uh you had I think you’ve had a pretty good partnership oh we’ve had a great part been a great team you’re still a young buck I know Phil want a major at 50 that’s right that’s right let’s hope you get into another major so from Sydney Australia obviously how did you choose Arizona State to go play uh college golf I was playing a Interstate Series in Australia which is all the states New South Wales Victoria Queensland South Australia they all play against each other the top I think five players from each state were playing and um it was a junior one I think and there was a there was a golf coach by the name of Jim Kelson from the University of Tennessee overwatching and recruiting and he watched me play and saw me play and started up a conversation and um he uh recruited me to come to University of Tennessee oh really okay um and then I knew a guy called name of Matt Batman who went to a community college here in Scotsdale Christian Hills who was who went to ASU uh he was a member at the same golf of course I was and he they all spoke to coach or Randy lion who um ended up recruiting me and uh got me to come here came on a recruiting trip here in the University of Tennessee okay so you did take one to Tennessee I did I got to go on the field for a Tim Couch painton Manning football game wow I was on the field uh before they kicked off and did you know my my good buddy from high school was Tim Couch’s starting center actually so you you saw my buddy uh snapping to it was uh it was cool it was a very good game uh it was a it was a cool place but uh once I went there pretty crazy so you actually went to and it’s supposed to be a beautiful campus Y and you took in a sec game time environment yep and we somehow still got you to go to Arizona State well once you went there and you looked at the golf courses and then I came here to Tempe and saw the golf courses and the weather um it was a pretty easy decision when you have when you take into account the weather proximity to getting home Australia from east coast to West Coast um oh yeah it was it was a good decision um I would have enjoyed living over there and seeing what it was like but uh for golf and for my lifestyle I think I chose a good and Asu at the time too was still a Powerhouse in golf I would say more so than University of Tennessee too oh 100% when you have the likes of Jason howy on the team and DJ Len I mean that’s the PowerHouse you need to to know that a team brought DJ Leen up to be the golfer that he became in the person it’s hard not to try to follow in those footsteps but it is and then again Jason with Jason howy you’re looking at one of the greatest ball Strikers he was one of the best three click fade guys I’ve ever seen with his pink one on it was amazing I got to learn a lot from Jason he was my college roommate um he and another guy called Brad Cannon they’ve taught me a lot about drinking oh yeah Brad can Brad Canyon was a uh I love the guy to death I’ve been I went to a party or two with him where he’d get us into some sticky situations but uh hell of a guy no one can fall asleep in a weird place better than him no correct I’m sure howy has a couple of those stories as well but who uh who else was on that team it was pretty it was was a very stacked team actually Paul Casey okay uh Jeff Quinny who played on tour for a while and won the US am Jin Park who played on the US uh played on PJ tour for a while um another guy called Shane mcmanamy who won the US Jr Brady Stockton um so it was a deep team yeah we had a lot of we had a very deep te Chris o Conor yes I mean was he on that team he was he walked on he always walk so he wasn’t really part of the walk on he we called him ATM we referred to him as ATM for the money he donated oh I’m sure no I think everybody knew yeah well back then it might have been for two reasons but uh okay yeah interesting uh how was uh qu in in college I think he was kind of uh my understanding he was a little more lowkey in in college right it took him a while to he was Quinny was very different he was uh he was kind of a good boy yeah yeah he was kind of a good boy he uh did his school work went played and practice golf didn’t drink yeah um which is probably why he’s a great assistant coach for the University of Oregon actually yeah setting a good example he was great though um we had a great time he lived with us I lived with him sorry probably my junior year my last year it was him and it was four of us actually at Jefferson Commons Jen I think mcmanamy myself and Jeff so lot of kegs lot of kegs a lot of fun yes a lot of fun he loosened up a little I think then and uh started to let go now where would your I know most of the stuff was probably House parties or whatever else but did you have a go-to where was your ASU goto out on the town spot I would if it was in Tempe I’d say it was Malone’s okay sure uh r on University there I don’t know I wouldn’t know if it’s still there anymore no it’s not there anymore that was mine too it’s probably everybody’s right but back in my day it was Maloney’s and then in Oldtown it was I don’t know if it was called Sanctuary yes Sanctuary sure God that was a great place for a couple years it was a really good place budy Phil was a bartender or bouncer there or something and he hooked us up a lot of the time and we had underage parties there when we had our fake IDs beautiful yeah I I frequented the uh Thirsty Beaver quite a bit too U that was kind of a I think that was there was Martini Ranch that was definitely another one that we used to go town that was probably the number one number one downstairs or the nightclub upstairs that was definitely one we’ve visited a lot yeah yeah yeah lot of good times that’s why you go to ASU you know a lot of a lot of good times um so from from ASU you uh turned Pro were you a junior when did you turn pro I left after my junior year Paul Jeff Jin Shane I think were all graduating and I just didn’t want to I didn’t yeah I wasn’t I wasn’t going to graduate anyway I’d just come off a a year where I had a uh I was a first team All American so I was like it’s probably a good time to go I got a little bit of financial help from tidalist so and it was a financial burden on my parents to have have to try to help me be in college as well um because it’s not like you have a full getting a scholarship is great but you still have to live there still a lot of things you have to take care of get full scholarships for golf yes yeah I got I was on a 50% scholarship for the first year and a half maybe I can’t remember and then it went to a 75 or 100 I can’t remember um cuz I said look can’t my parents can’t afford to keep doing this especially with the exchange rate of 50 cents on the dollar yeah right so um yeah turned Pro in 01 and then I don’t know how long it took me to get onto the I don’t know what it was called back then the Nationwide tour whatever called it probably took me three or four years I can’t remember how long it took so what did you do just mini you were tour there used to be a phenomenal tour here called the gateway tour and they had purses of the winner could 3040 $50,000 um and I went did a lot of Monday qualifiers for uh the Nationwide tour and plus played State opens and did whatever I could to survive it was uh it was good though because it teaches you to travel and be on your own yeah I was going to say and you probably had a good time as far as the the Nationwide and the mini tours right I’m sure you you room up you kind of get a bunch of buddies you travel around together very different than the PJ tour yeah yeah you uh you’re always rooming with a mate you’re always going out to dinner you miss a cut you guys go and have a lot of fun get drunk and uh I was out I was out on the I was on there with uh Quinny as well we’re out there together before he got on tour and before I got on tour so we had a lot of good times we had a lot of fun together yeah and then in the corn fairy it took a couple years to for you to kind of get your footing it did yep um I I finished I don’t know I got I got through Q School one year and I finished last at Q School in Florida um and had a really shitty category and then I think the next year or the year after that I finished the next year after that I probably finish 99th and does that keep your on the corn Fury well the Nationwide money list it gives you a really crappy um conditional category the only reason I finished 99th is because we were playing in Miami and there was a hurricane they canceled the tournament so if I played that tournament and missed the cut I probably would have had to go back to first or second stage of Q School oh wow so I finished I had some type of conditional I think then that would have been 06 then 07 I finished six on the m leag and then that launched your PGA Tour career and you kind of been there yeah I’ve been ever since yeah I went up and down a little bit missed my card I finished 126 on the money list one year I was going to say you’ve had an interesting kind of uh PJ tour career in a sense that you know you I think I’ve read where you you’ve spent over 250 weeks inside the top 100 okay which is which is pretty incredible right know that at all and uh well that’s what I’m here for research I’m in I’m you I thought that was the producers job you know well my producer still working just like me my producer still working out the Kinks You know what I mean but uh but yeah so I saw that you’ve been ranked inside the top 100 but you’ve also had some years it has to just be painful where you came in like 126 127th 126 127th three out of the first four years on tour you yeah it was it was tough um I mean it was that’s a learning experience you go out there and you play all new golf courses you up against the best players in the world at the time um I did go through a stage where I really struggled with my putting and that’s what probably held me held me back from doing better but um I mean yeah I mean to be on the PJ tour for I think what 15 years um it was great it was I had a great time a lot of great great friends out there and uh I mean it’s it’s a really good tour I mean and I loved it and it was a a lot of fun I’ve always kind of wondered what’s the different stress level that you feel it’s say trying to win a golf tournament as opposed to trying to get inside the top 125 is there what’s harder for you do you think stress wise I I would say trying to keep your job the next year is much harder than win a golf tournament yeah I mean if if you don’t win a golf tournament you got next week or you’ve got if you’re trying to keep your job you got a family you’re trying to provide for them trying to make a cut finish top 20 it’s not cheap out there traveling right A lot of people don’t understand that what would you say I’ve always wondered the I I know I talked to badly about this years ago cuz he always travels with his full family almost all the time but what what would you say kind of cost let’s say you’re playing 30 events out on the PGA tour couple hundred thousand for 30 events 30 events you’re on with the caty involved just on wage hotels I mean the hotel TOS are never that cheap right even with the discount right that the tour gets it’s it’s a fake it’s actually a markup they they mark it up and then but you can go online or go on something else and you can find it cheaper the saying it no they mark it up for us um yeah it’s I couldn’t put a number on it I’m sure I could if I broke it down but literally you’re probably looking at five to 10,000 a week before you make a dollar yeah I would say so I mean you can try you do them you the math yourself you can try and do it as cheap as you want to but You’ got to yeah you’ve got you’ve got to be ready to play and perform so you can’t be pinching pennies when you’re trying to perform and play well right so yeah I I guess that’s a pretty stressful then trying to keep your car like you said the two added a great little thing there two years ago when they added the $500,000 um minimum for guys which that’s huge I think it’s phen it’s a great one one of best things they’ve done and another thing that was done because of live yeah and it should have been done a long time ago because they come out with no money and you’re supposed to go to Hawaii you’re supposed to go to all these places and look guys don’t have that much money stay at the rits yeah you play you play the Corin fairy you make $300,000 but that’s going in taxes expenses you don’t have a lot of money to come out and pay $3,000 for a hotel room for the next yeah next few events stressful stressful yeah I was always curious what kind of tightens the ass a little more well I’ve I’ve had both sides and W winning the golf tournament is much easier than trying to get you C and you’ve always done pretty good though pressure-wise when you didn’t end up keeping your card and you had to go back to Q School which again is another stressful now they don’t have q score anymore but that was you always oh do they have it again just came back in this year where you top five get their tour card but anyway they did stop it for a while but you always had pretty good success going to Q school or you know when they changed it to where you have to go to the corn fairy playoffs you always I think every time I went back I got my card 3 Q schol all the cor final straight back which is an impressive enough feet you know yeah it was yeah I always I actually just always went back believing that I was better than everyone there I mean I probably should have that attitude when I’m playing yeah a regular event well now you know now just figured it out just figured it out D yeah um let’s talk about your first your real breakout which was the shell Houston open okay how was it now you came from what like seven back on on Sunday no no idea I can’t remember what I was behind um but yeah I think I would have been back I think I buged my first hole too in the last round so I would have been plenty back of whoever was leading I can’t remember I think coer was end up beating and that’s who who you beat uh but a pretty couple are pretty impressive a lot of people remember your chip in which was unbelievable but your actual birdie putt on 18 to give yourself a chance to get in a playoff yeah that was a good that might have been tougher than the chip I don’t it was a good 45 foot I think um and then I still with some Bend right oh yeah and then I still needed help from cooch too right right we appreciate cooch hitting it in the water it was very nice of him to do that and then what was going through your head when you saw that chip go in for your first win oh was actually really headless after the t- shot because I went to the Fairway bunker but the way they Rake The Bunker I was in a rut so I couldn’t go and I think coochi was in the Fairway so I couldn’t try I couldn’t get it on the green I had no chance to hit a shot and make contact to get on the green so the my only option was to hit it up there somewhere and try and get it up and down and um yeah I hit it up probably just 10 yards short um it was a a chip that I think I’ve grown up hitting you got a little Bank land in the bank kill it and let it trickle up over and then trickle down and lucky enough it went in and then 14 years or whatever amount of stress was yeah was shown that that chair was and uh the best part was my brother and his friends were driving to Augusta to go to the Masters the next week um and they had a bottle of regardless they were were going going to no matter what yeah they were going no matter what cuz it wasn’t live at the time either so they had to listen to it on the radio and um needless to say they got really drunk on that car ride with a bottle of tequila and a bottle of vodka I’m going to go out on a lamb knowing your brother and and the boys they probably would have got really drunk on on that tequila regardless they would have if you made it but makes it sweeter yes makes it taste a little sweeter how was your first experience you didn’t really you know obviously you win the tournament before Augusta so it’s all kind of a blur I imagine so I imagine your first experience obviously incredible but you didn’t really get to no you know prep the way you’d want to heading into there but how was like did the Masters live up to everything you expected it was it was great um the weather was crappy um I think Monday was washed out so I didn’t even get to go to the course and practice a play on Monday Tuesday I got to play with stads and he’s dad uh which was pretty cool great to go and do that maybe Cal as well I can’t remember if it was Cal or not but um I think stads was the him and his dad the only fatherson to play in the Masters at the same the same year I believe it yeah anyway um but the best part was the um par three tournament I got uh had my wife Mel and I had saber who she would have been two at the time and we just had our second one probably four weeks earlier Savannah so she was at home with the nanny and Mel and saber out in their white outfits and on the second hole I had a hole in one and I made Sabre go up and get the ball and I can just I can still see her going up and getting the ball out of the hole I have it framed at home awesome that’s probably my favorite one of my if not the my best uh um memory of go playing golf actually I happen to uh also have been there to watch that ho on one at the practice round but you probably forgot about that I thought that would also make which one the two I was there for the hole in one at the at the part three tournament well you really yeah a see that’s how much of it a blur it is for me unbelievable un I thought that’s what really made it special I mean your daughter pulling out a whole cool but you know having your buddy there to watch it’s like I thought you guys came in on later than Tuesday they did I came in with Mel oh actually I do remember that now yeah you did jump on the private jet I jumped on I jumped on the PJ with the wife I do remember now remember came in late I said you know what I’ll actually I forgot they flew in private but now yes they did too I prob I probably would have come in a little later but when you’re offered a seat you know on the PJ to Augusta you take it yeah that was great and again that was a awesome moment watching that that hole in one and just being there the whole week I will say for me the the Masters lives up to never been there never see you know besides TV and you see how beautiful it is on TV and you go there’s no way it’s like that live and it’s actually better yeah 100% you don’t you don’t realize how good it is like there from the first T when you’re looking down nine down that big vast spaces over there it’s uh it’s beautiful but what you guys did to me Friday night after I missed the cup that was that was not nice Saturday Saturday was one of the most pain most pain I’ve ever had yeah we had a nice session of course we had also a nice session Saturday night which I don’t think you you were no chance I could have been part of that and then so the drive from Augusta to Atlanta for me on that Sunday morning with O and OK Conor was was driving home and we both were hung over I had the shits I think we had to stop at two or three different you know McDonald’s throughout the we finally made it to the airport but it was a it was a rough uh you guys didn’t need new it was a rough oh we did we did have an Uber situation and that’s what he’s talking about uh we we don’t need to discuss it we won’t go into detail let’s just say some somehow the cops were called on the Uber driver called the cops on us we called the cops on the Uber driver I won’t even say who was in the car what happened uh but it was it was an epic it was an epic weekend and we had it all you know we had you to thank for it actually i’ be more than happy to do it again we appreciate it your next big moment on tour obviously uh the Honda Classic where it was seven years between what did that win mean to you as far as I imagine validation just to be able to get the second one on tour to win a second time probably it does give you little bit of validation I mean there’s a lot of One onetime winners but to do it multiple times um was good um I’m pretty happy uh it was a it was during Co I think so there weren’t as many fans as you would think but to do to win on that Golf Course you’ve really got to be and set the course record on the the first day yes I tied it or set it but um yeah to win on that Golf Course is you’ve got to really be able to golf your golf ball it’s a very stressful Golf Course um from I mean I think there’s 14 or 15 of the holes have water on them um so you got to be able to control your ball but uh yeah that was a that was another win that um was very very nice another win that you got to come out and celebrate got the sum we uh surprised you yes I didn’t see you guys until the uh I didn’t see you until I made the part on 18 to officially win yeah I didn’t see anyone which was awesome cuz we flew down last minute and uh said let’s let’s not tell Jones so we had Chapel uh we had chappie leave us the tickets and we’re like just whatever you do try to stay out of his eyesight let’s just watch this and you know you surprise him on 18 when he wins and uh that was an awesome that was an awesome moment seeing you you know um yeah it was it it was pretty cool and then we put in a nice we put in a nice session there in in West Palm uh that night as well yeah but you know they say what happens in West Palm stays in West pal so and thank God we had a private home too private hurt but it hurt a lot less so we we appreciate that as well now let’s talk um about what I think is probably your favorite Victory yes and I’m not talking about the one one I’ve been waiting for I’m not and I’m not even talking about mine I it’s obviously my favorite victory of your but what did it mean to you to win the 2015 Australian Open it was the 100 year anniversary of the Australian Open obviously all the greats have won it from player to Nicholas to I think tiger um everybody’s won it and I imagine out of any golf tournament besides maybe the Masters in the British Open that would be the tournament you’d want to pick off yeah I mean if I could choose one it probably be the Open Championship but uh I mean the Australian Open winning the 100th Australian Open at at your home Golf Course too in front of a lot of friends and family and members of the golf course um and especially also having play with SP on the Sunday when he was number one in the world yeah um yeah it was was it was a very stressful day I had some really horrific holes the front line but um I battled back and uh how nervous were you that day home home course lead up the you know your lead in the open what were you nervous I wasn’t nervous at all um Sunday at one bit um I was very confident my golf game it had been phenomenal the whole week um it was just windy it was just tough um and I had uh I think I doubled my second hole the par three and then I had a double on the ninth hole actually I think it was a triple triple yes I can’t remember but uh yeah it was I’ve always played the back nine pretty well there so I I’d probably imagine nobody’s played the back nine better at that Golf Course than you actually so yeah I mean I don’t know what nean did this year but uh yeah I have played well there over the years on the back nine which is the front nines are very tough nine for me I mean I think it is for anyone but um yeah to go toe-to-toe with Jordan was great um and to beat him was uh I think he was defending too at the time so it was uh it was fun it was a it’s probably one tournament that I would uh have always wanted to win and be able to do it twice it’s pretty impressive and the second one the second one I think is what most people remember I mean there’s a fero over here that I can see right now that uh walking up the Fairway y after you gave after we got told the wrong uh wrong scenario coming down the last hole Yeah that’s a crazy story so for those that don’t know we for once I can actually say we usually I say we when Miami’s playing or you’re on whatever and it’s not we but this is one instance it is we so you make an incredible putt on 17 to give us what at the time a three shot cushion yes so we get to 18 which is a par five and on the green Louie we can see him make a putt but the crowd the crowd didn’t go nuts to where we would have thought it was an eagle no right so we’re thinking okay maybe he made birdie let’s ask so we asked the we ask the TV guy what Louie just made up there and he holds up five fingers so we’re like okay the guy made a part we even I think you even asked him again like are you sure it was a five and he shakes his head yes so we play the hole like we have a three shot lead so you know no stress at all you hit the ball in the left bunker on purpose really let’s not even flirt right uh you SE hit your second shot think it hit a tree it hits the tree and kind of goes straight down but again yeah we’re not worried we’re not worried at all we’re in so we’re in the pine we’re in pine needles I think I think we had five on in though so it was a yeah still had a long way but long way but again we got a three- shot lead so you hit your five on iron and it was a good shot but just out in front of the green cuz again let’s let’s not put the water in play We’re coasting here we’re walking up and the big scoreboard shows the leaderboard and I didn’t see it at the time you saw it and you go did you see that and I go now what he goes Louie made eagle and I’m like [ __ ] you Lou didn’t make Eagle he goes no no Lou made Eagle I thought you were [ __ ] with me like I’m like all right I’m not falling for your [ __ ] he goes you go I’m not kidding Louie made Eagle I look at the scoreboard and sure [ __ ] we’re up one and now we have to get up and down from kind of a tight L not an easy chck tight Li p and now I’m you seemed all right with it now I’m shaking like a leaf and my ass was puckered um and you hit an incredible chip to four feet yeah I’m still that one in and I’m still disoriented at that point too like I remember putting my bag in a spot where you’re like what are you doing and I don’t know so I had to go back move my bag cuz I think it was in it was in someone’s line were playing with yeah somebody’s line um but sure [ __ ] you somehow that putt went in that’s probably the that’s probably the biggest win of my career especially with you on the bag I mean well cuz what also we didn’t fail to what we failed to tell was I had caddy for you uh a couple years before that and we came in second place we did and we I think we lost to Cam Davis by a he shot I think seven under 64 on Sund suay to beat us by a stroke off very early so we kind of got uh you know we got sucker punched and so I said you know I said you know what I’ve got to come back for one one more rodeo and and get us across the finish line and you got you got us across you know that was and and now I feel like the history of the Australian Open can’t be told without me you know no you are part of it and that means a lot y you know that means a lot to me I mean I wish I wish we could put in this podcast the video that they had with the music playing that we all watched of the first ho oh on TV yeah yeah the Buddies had a good kick out of that yeah that was funny it was like an Montage t cing for you because they knew what sold tickets and what Drew memberships you know what Drew free viewership well that’s great why appreciate it we’re we’re down to our last segment I call I call it the shooting the [ __ ] segment I’m ready for it so we got some questions there could be some friends that have brought some questions along too that they wanted me to ask okay I can’t wait so if you could take one shot back in your career one shot in a tournament is there one shot that sticks out to you that you think maybe cost you another tournament or you just wish you had back H um maybe some maybe a shot at the 2015 PJ championship sh where you were leading by three shots the no through 50 holes there was probably one that really annoyed me actually the Phoenix Open on 17 I was in the I was on the Saturday actually or the Sunday was the back pin and the greens it was just dirt and mud back there and I chipped it over the Green from short right into the water okay and I made triple that one’s always annoyed me okay yeah all right what about a shot that uh a great shot that you maybe pulled off that you that your is there a shot that maybe stands out uh to you that you hit uh I’m probably the chip in Houston but then again I don’t really think about shots that I’ve hit or shots that I didn’t that I’ve messed up um I’d have to say Houston Houston chip yeah that one makes sense what’s your favorite golf tournament the Open Championship it’s not even close at St Andrews St Andrews it was I think it was the year Tom Watson did his last walk over the bridge um the town of s Andrews is unbelievable and to play the Open Championship at San Andrews is is even better um I’ll definitely take that as my number one I know you love the open and you love St Andrews would that be if you could only if you were told you could only play golf one more time would it be at St Andrews or what golf course would you choose it would probably be at St Andrews St Andrews y okay there Pebble I love playing Pebble as well but it’d be tough to go to go past and Andrews okay this was fun again I appreciate I’ve got one last question this kind of a question uh that’s the reason the title is called shooting the [ __ ] where is the worst place or like the biggest emergency you’ve ever had to go to go to the bathroom and take as you know I I run into these situation a lot so I like and [ __ ] is a big part of who I am believe it or not as you know so I like to ask everybody else what their scary moments have been do you have one off the top I do I was playing The Travelers in uh Connecticut with David Toms and someone else um and on the second round I had to oh I had to get an IV after nine holes got an iv in the arm finished the round off and I was after the round I took six more bags six more IVs and they wanted to sending me to the emergency room cuz I wouldn’t go to the toilet they thought I had kidney failure um didn’t I couldn’t withdraw from the tournament because I was probably I’m going to say 120th 130th in FedEx Cup so I had to play need points yeah so I played Saturday and then teed off on number 10 and I’m very hydrated at the time and I’ve got something there’s something wrong with me I have I have the uh the per the I have the doctor is following me on bikes the whole day um get to T t- shot on 10 second shot hit my second shot something happens have a little accident something slips out oh boy and David Toms is behind me and he sees me putting my hand down my pants and he’s like what’s going on there I get down to the green and down left of the green there’s this big hill I got to go down to the hill I go down there take my towel take my undies off take the towel down there clean myself up put my pants back on and I have to keep going oh that’s beautiful and then they brought me some tablets to kind of help help with something help Harden the stool wow uh yeah so that’s and you made it the rest of the round I did but I lost I think I lost uh yeah I was very sick I lost about 12 lbs that week it was I had a big I don’t know what what got me but it and where did you end up where did you end up finishing I did but and you ended up keeping your card that year then I I can’t remember I had to turn down the Olympics CU I had to go I had to keep playing PJ tour events I could skip an event that probably sucks huh yeah but that’s a good one squir taking a squirt on the course and then having to clean left of Tang green at Travelers hey well that’s a that’s a great way to uh that’s a great way to end it thanks for doing this man appreciate it buddy thank you
