Mike Lorenzo-Vera: Closing the Pro Golf Chapter

Mike Lorenzo-Vera joins George Harper Jr. in the latest episode of Life on Tour, presented by Buffalo Trace, to reflect on 17 unforgettable years competing on the DP World Tour. With 285 starts to his name, Mike looks back on the defining moments of his career and the lessons learned along the way.

In this episode, he opens up about the battles he’s faced off the tee, offering rare insight into the unseen struggles of life at the top level of golf. Mike also speaks candidly about his mental health, sharing the proactive steps he’s taking to feel better and to approach life beyond the fairways. From career highlights to personal challenges, this conversation is a raw and honest look at the career of one of the Tour’s most popular personalities.

Chapters:
0:50 Introduction
4:06 Growing up in Biarritz
6:00 Turning pro
8:09 Highlights from two decades on Tour
9:30 The tough side of pro golf
14:07 Fun stories
16:22 The difference between the good and the great
19:20 Advice
25:03 Troubles off the tee
29:17 Life off the course on Tour
35:09 Major Championship experiences
39:23 Final event in Crans and decision to retire
45:44 Overcoming mental challenges
51:45 Closing thoughts

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[Music] How are you, man? Nice to see you. All good. Yeah, really good. Thank you. What a pleasure. Oh, pleasure is for me. Yeah. Ah, well, you’re retired now. Yeah, this is why I do. Ah, you know, I’m getting old. A genuine weight off the shoulders, right? Yeah, definitely. Are you a Are you a whiskey drinker? Uh, not much, but I heard this one’s great. You don’t have to. I need to learn. Yeah. Apparently you are a whiskey drinker. Well, look, there’s not much left, is there? Cheers, my brother. Cheers, man. Hey, nice to see you. Nice to see you, too. Naughty. Well, apparently I’m a whiskey drinker. [Music] When I look at the pictures, I see that we are in 2025. Just a little bit of salt and pepper. That’s nice. A lot of salt. No. Wind went. Okay. Firstly, I can only see the OB on the left. Under pressure, I had high pools. Dead straight. Very left. You want a little story? I took the music down. I said, “Shut up. Pinch me, please.” Yeah. Brilliant. Take it. It’s happening. I think I played Tommy, Rory, and Yon Ram. I lost 10 years of age in one week. He said, “We had some fun with Sergio and underwear, so nothing sexual.” But Mike Loren’s over here. What a pleasure it is to have you in the hot seat live on tour podcast. We’ve had a few great interviews this year, but I’ve really been looking forward to this one because it’s not often we get to chat to someone who’s recently called time on their career. It’s such a I guess challenging time and an interesting time, an exciting time. Um, but either way, it’s an interesting one. So, we’re we’re very lucky to have you here on what’s been an amazing big long journey. Um, how the hell are you? I’m fine. I’m fine. You know, as I said the other day, it feels like the there’s less weight on the shoulder. So, which is fine because I’m overweight anyways. So, so yeah. No, it it feels good. No, it feels more relaxed and exciting to for the next chapter and a bit stressful still, but it’s because I don’t know the new jobs exactly. Yeah, I kind of like to control my things, so I’m still on the learning part. So, for sure. Well, it’s the same with so many different sports, right? Like a lot of rugby players that I know, it’s like life after rugby and it’s the same with life after golf. You’ve been in a routine, you’ve had everything sort of planned out for every year, right? So, how like what are those challenges like so far and and how do you make sure you I guess get on to that next chapter? Well, first of all, it starts with uh where I’m going to live because uh went through separation in May. So, now I decided to go back to Beritz to my hometown. So, which is very exciting as well to uh to be able to go back to the roots. And um uh so far, how do you say um I have plenty of opportunities to to for for the for my jobs. So it’s I need to do something that I never really did. That’s why I had an agent. So organization. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a balance between how to learn how to organize and uh and handle the little death, you know, of a of a sportsman. And cuz um my psychologist who who works for like 30 years with great athletes told me when it’s going to come it’s going to feel like a little death and I was like come on come on and basically when I looked back at all the videos from the DP world tour after cr and I was like and you look at the comments and the comment the commentators oh you they’re speaking about you like past and you’re like ah yeah I I feel dead now. Yeah. So, it’s a new It’s a little psychology psychological challenge, but yeah, it’s fine. It’s fine. Those images of the kids running onto the green. Pretty cool stuff, eh? It was good. Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood? Like, what what got you into this great game of golf? How did it all start for you? You know, when you when you grow up in Beritz, uh life is very easy. Uh way too easy. And um there’s golf courses everywhere. Uh, golf is accepted as a normal sport down there. Um, so yeah, we all tried golf together as a family and I absolutely loved it and uh yeah, I just kept on going and just, you know, Wednesdays and Saturdays and then I met when I was nine, my Jean Amazon, the the mentor, the wizard, the wedge wizard. Yeah. because he was a fantastic uh he is he’s still a fantastic uh sandwich player. Yeah. And he gave me the gave me the virus. So I kept on practicing more and more and then one day my parents told me you might want to quit school because you are bad at school and you’re good at golf. Wow. But John is normally normally it’s the parents trying to keep you in school because I couldn’t believe that moment. Yeah. I was like pinch me please. Pinch me. Yeah. Brilliant. Take happening. Yeah. Fantastic. Love you mom. did. Yeah, definitely. And yeah, and Jean Amazon was not happy about that. He was like, “No chance you’re quitting school, right?” But we still I still quited school. And then he kept on teaching me and Yeah. Well, you know, as I said, Berit is a very different place in the world. It’s it’s very quiet. People are like super open mind and there’s this roots of like the Basque country as well. a lot of respect and a lot of sport as well because surfing cesapa uh rugby golf so you can meet plenty of other sportsmen and you can discuss about everything which is nice spot on and what was it like can you run us through that moment when you turned pro and you finally felt like right I’m on the right journey here this is where I’m meant to be do you remember any moments of or is it I I never really felt like I was on the right journey Right. I was just scared of doing things the wrong way. So, I went I kept on practicing, right? And I’m sure there is plenty of guys in the same situation. Um there’s one moment when I win the challenge and I’m finally back on tour. No, not even back like for the first time. For the first time on tour and I was like, “Okay, maybe you can do something.” But before that, I was just had no idea. Wow. Just keep on practicing. I won the challenge to where I was very happy on the moment, but it’s years after that. I’m like, uh, that was really good. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I was very anxious about what I’m doing, what I was doing. So, yeah, I know I don’t have the image of the guy that practices a lot, but I did. Wow. You It’s You kind of have to, right? Yeah. And so, you turned pro in 2005. How crazy is it to think that we’re in 2025 now, looking back? Yeah. When I look at the pictures, I see that we are in 2025. Ah, mate, you’re still looking young. Come on. Yeah. Well, just a little bit of salt and pepper now. That’s nice. A lot of salt. No. So, yeah, it’s crazy. It went fast. Yeah, it went fast. It’s just the the energy is not there anymore. And uh but as I said as well, like I’m not regretting anything except one or two shots, but yeah. Yeah. Well, I was going to ask before um what what was the deciding moment or the deciding factor when you’re like the energy is not there, my time’s done. When when did that click in? Um it’s been two two years and a half maybe that I was like, okay, past 40. I’m not sure I got the the energy for that. And uh well it looks like well a I turned 40 in January and in April I said bye-bye. So when we look back on those 20 years as a pro what first comes to mind as your biggest highlight. The final of the DP 2019 that was a proper pressure week. Yeah, that’s a good because I started with I think eight or nine under on the on the first round and I got directly directed to the big guns because you change you know the tea time the groups after the second round and I think I played Tommy on the Friday, Rory and Yon Ram. Wow. Okay. I lost 10 years of age in one week. That’s a good Those guys are tiring man. Yeah. And this is where you see the the level of of game of those guys through the year. I mean, it’s crazy the quality of game week in week out, year after years. I don’t know how they do that. Yeah. I have no idea. No idea. It’s a tough sport, eh? Like what? Yeah. I I believe every sport is tough when you go to the high level. Yeah, true. Because I guess playing against Ronaldo must be a little bit tiring as well. But no, the the quality of game of the of the top 50 on the world ranking is insane. Insane. What do you think is the toughest part about golf? Because I’ve chatted to a lot of the the golfers now and there’s all sorts of hardships, but for you, like what has been the toughest part about being a professional golfer? Because it’s not all prize checks and private jets, is it? No, no. I The life itself is fantastic. You you cannot complain. you there is a lot of money to to make. You are mostly in great hotels. You have the chance to discover different cultures. Uh the tour itself is a mix of different cultures when you think about it. Yeah, for sure. You got Indians, you got French, you got English. Even if we’re neighbors, it’s very different. I mean, you you got Japanese and Chinese. I mean, Australians, it’s it’s a mix of the world together. So if you take it the good way, the life itself is good. For me, the toughest part was to to keep one direction, one direction in my in my golf game, right? Not looking too many too many times at what the guy that won this week is doing and trying to recreate it. This is where I got lost many times. Many times. you got distracted by other golfers or by by other golfers because let’s say I finished 23rd and I was expecting better then I’m going to look at what the guy is doing that one and maybe it’s a little tweak in the swing and stuff and then bye for six weeks. Wow. And then six weeks out and then you want to instead of playing for top 50 of the race but now you are fighting for the card. Yeah. So yeah, I haven’t been good enough on that. I’ve been looking too much. Maybe because I’m way too passionate about this game and yeah, and uh I want to learn from everybody and just learn about the game and not the technique. Right. This is where I got lost. You’re almost so fidious, so like almost a perfectionist that you’re trying to build, which I guess a lot of golfers are, right? But it’s the great game. There’s never a end point. No, but they keep their technique. Yeah. Yeah, they learn from others on on shot making and reading greens and strategic and everything, but me, I was trying to learn way too much about the golf swing, right? So, mistake, but you you haven’t had all mistakes. Um, what can I say about my career? I don’t know. I’m proud of my comebacks and I’m proud of uh putting myself into contentions on big events. and having made the the RDER Cup closing testing which was very stressful. I was with Sergio. So yeah, you’re like what am I doing now? Yeah. Well, tell us more about that experience. Uh am I wrong? Uh that was for 2020 Ride the Cup. So that was 2019 actually. And I think Thomas Bjorn was vice captain. uh vice captain because he was was he was captain in France. Yeah. He was in the team of Padre or Yeah. So he must have been what was before? I can’t remember if it was Padre or or Padre was after Padre was after Thomas. Yeah. But it was not I don’t know why Thomas McN someone came to me at the clubhouse in Dubai and told me go and do the closing for the team. I was like what? He was like, “Yeah, you in the short list, right?” I was like, “All right, I’m in.” So, I go, I open the door and Sergio is there and I’m like, “Okay, this is getting real.” I was still pretty far from the team, but I must have been into the 20 interesting players under the big guys, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I did that and uh we had some fun with Sergio underwear, you know, like nothing sexual, just No, because I said we had some fun with Sergio in underwear. So nothing sexual, but no. So we had basically took me a while to click. We were trying closes and and being next to that legend for such an important event cuz that was basically my biggest dream. Yeah. Yeah. To play the RD cup and uh yeah, that was intense and maybe might be the best moment of my career. Wow. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. What was sort of some of those behindthescenes moments with those sorts of players that you that you can fondly remember? I’m sure there are some funny moments, some star struck moments. Anything that comes to mind with with that sort of uh caliber of crowd? I I remember uh we had a big party for my ex-wife uh birthday in 2020 in June and I’m home and music is loud and I’m I’m drunk. Okay, I’m properly drunk and I see my phone ringing and it’s a plus 44. Okay. I’m like, who’s calling? So I’m like, hello. And Mike, yeah, this is Patrick Harrington. And so I took the music down. I said, “Shut up.” Uh, yeah. Just to let you know that the Ryder Cup is going to be postponed. I was like, “Oh, that’s right.” Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Pre. Thanks for the call. Okay. Take. Are you okay? I was like, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay. Thank you.” Boom. It’s the first time that the alcohol level went down like that. Just so just so much pressure when Patrick called me. So, that was the just a little funny story with a with a big guy. Yeah. But we had a few parties with a Darren Clark and Lee Westwood and he doesn’t mind the Guinness. Yeah, actually he chubby Chandler told me to stop trying to beat him on drinking it straight for the ISM Christmas party in Manchester. Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah. Darren must have been angry that day and he looked at me like taking one down. I was like, “Okay, one down, two down, two down, three down, three down.” And third one was really struggling and Chubby told me like Mike stop that now you got no chance. I was like you’re my manager I’m going to listen to you. Yeah that was a really good advice. Yeah he was he was at um at Port Rush this year obviously having fun too from what I saw. But this is what I don’t have many many stories about all those big guys. But the only thing I’ve seen is I shared a lot of moments and a lot of rounds with with them and what you can see on TV or interviews can be very different as reality. Yeah. Because those guys are generous. Yeah. But like you can ask any question about golf. Very approachable. Very approachable. and you can have dinner with them if you have a lot of questions. What’s the difference between good and bloody good? I think it’s consistency. Yeah. The way Tommy hits the golf ball for the last 10 years, it’s just the same. And then when he puts, boom, he’s been very unfortunate in US the last two years. But now, now it pays off and he’s one of the again one of the top man in the world. Sorry. I stopped smoking 10 days ago. So now I cough. Congrats. Yeah. Good job. Golf and smoking. Yeah. Uh so no consistency I think is insane. Yeah. Rory, the guy was born hitting the golf ball great. Yeah. And he keeps on going week in week out. What’s incredible as well is that it looks like they don’t lose confidence after two to three weeks. A bit off. Yeah. A bit off because they’re never really a tied 25th. Yeah. Yeah. And boom, they restart a month after like if nothing happened. The quality of consistency and and confidence and this is for me insane. Insane. Yeah. And it’s like are you kind of like I guess you’re so invested in what you’re doing and your own game. You mentioned you probably tweak a little bit with other people, but how interesting will it be over the next while to look back and and watch these guys and and kind of analyze it maybe even more or do you think you’ll pull back from the game a little bit or I’m going to pull back from the from golf big time. Um, but strangely I’ve been looking at tournaments on TV now. Yeah. And once again at the Irish Open. I mean, I could have bet my kids that Rory was going to make that put, but he I don’t know. You can see as well new talents coming in like which is fantastic for the tour to have a player like that. Yeah. Awesome. Uh you see Lagen doing this and that and boom almost makes it Irish Open that this game has no rules. Has no rules. Yeah. Except work and wait for your time and then there is those big guns. How nice was it? Make the job done. How nice was it watching on TV and just being like Yeah. I’m just like hope you boys are stressing out cuz I’m not I’m not I was actually stressing a bit for Lagan cuz I was like oh that would be a great story to see him uh to see him win. Yeah beat against Rory in Ireland. Yeah and but you same you still want Rory to win in Ireland so I don’t know I was still a bit stressed but that was exciting. Yeah it’s pretty cool. Yeah. Oh mate it was so cool. When you go from your peaks and trough, your peaks and troughs, what would some advice be to players out there to when you get to a low point, how do you lift and launch into, I guess, finding form again, finding the passion and almost your heartbeat again? Because golf can be such a stressful sport. You said that it comes from the heartbeat. Do you want to come back? Yes or no? Brilliant. Yes or no? Yes or no? You accept the situation. Either you keep on playing [ __ ] or you do something else. But if you want, there’s one one way. You go hit a lot of balls. A lot a lot of balls. You find one way to keep the ball on the middle and you recreate that all day long until you manage to score again. Same for putting, same for chipping. There’s no miracle solutions in golf. M it’s not there’s no shortcut, no chance when you’re done. It’s thousands of golf balls on the range and on the putting green and a lot of holes to play and try to make birdies. Just trust your coach and he knows you and go and work. That’s all. Easy as that. Sorry for the guys that are trying to sell things. Yeah. Yeah. Get down to the range. It’s all you got to do is bash the balls. You see a lot of them out there just hours and hours and hours and hours on end. The best are doing it. So if you’re bad, you better do it a lot. Makes sense for everyone at home. Just get on the range. Go and work. Ah, that’s very fair. That’s very fair. And patience as well. Patience. Sorry. Patience. Yeah. It’s a lot of work and a lot of patience. Oh, massively. For sure. Let’s look ahead. We got the RDER Cup around the corner. How excited are you to watch that and once again relax and just and enjoy it from afar? Do you know actually I have a little story. I went to the rider cup in uh in Italy. It’s the only one I’ve been to. Marco Simony. Marco Simony. Fantastic. And I’ve seen the first and I was like that was that’s my biggest dream. Okay. And I’m a competitor and when I’ve seen the first I’m I will never be able to hit that shot. Never. No chance. So, I will really be enjoying it in front of the TV. Yeah. Yeah, I was there as well. It was obviously like a coliseum. It was amazing. Eh, electric. Yeah. I’m not kidding. When I arrived uh on the Friday morning, we arrived around 6:00 or 6:30, got out of the of the parking lot and I was walking towards the stadium and all the the the songs and I started to cry. And I had a a friend with me. He was like, “What’s going on?” I said, “What’s going on?” Near stadium, huge, huge crowd, a lot of of noise. There was goosebumps and tears. And I was like, “Ah, that’s that’s for me the best event.” Yeah. In golf. Yeah, that is pretty incredible. And like if you think think all the effort and all the work you get put into it and then to have a team’s event like that, it’s so easy to see the passion, right? That must have felt really good for you to like still know you’ve got the love of the game right there. Yeah. Like I I love the game. I just don’t have, you know, I don’t want to work for it anymore. What are you going to miss most about the game? Chipping. Just chipping. Yeah. Just Yeah, you can still do. Bunker bunker game. You can still do that. Yeah, but under pressure. Yeah. Yeah. Under pressure bunker shots. Yeah, that’s Wow, that’s niche. I like that. Yeah, that’s that was where I had the most fun. Bunkers for you guys are easy, aren’t they, nowadays? You know, you’re just like, as well, if I’m going to miss, I’ll miss to that bunker. And as long as I’m not shortsiding myself, job’s a good one. Yeah. The the the coaches have made finally the technique of bunker. True. Yeah. Yeah. Balsteros was talking about it then Sabal but you know when it’s players you can only think it’s Phil but then people like Pete Cohen basically has put the the real technique of bunker into the hands of everybody ra this is why the I think the level of chipping and bunker game raised so much the last five to six years for the field for the full field of course the big guys of great short game. Yeah. But I’ve seen the quality the last Yeah. three, four years of chipping of everybody. Wow. No more cutting, no more weight too much on the left or no much ball too much to the right. Everything is much more clear. And maybe Trackman as well. Yeah. A lot direction, angle of attack. So everybody, this is why as well the general level is so high because everybody knows what to do now. Not only feel and it’s hard to keep up with, isn’t it? If you’re like, if your game’s not quite there, it’s near impossible. You got 18 years old guy coming, they’re like 192, skinny like this and electric. They send the golf ball miles. They know how to chip. They’re going to make some putts. They’re going to make the odd putt. Yeah. can’t compete anymore cuz I’m not short. No, but they’re way they’re very long. Yeah. Yeah. So, they’re basically hammering the golf courses now. So, you’re going to miss chipping and bunker play. What are you not going to miss at all? What are what are some parts of the game you like? Wash your hands. Thank god. Done and dusted. Uh t-shirts. I’m so bad, man. Really? Is that the kryptonite? Like, I’ve been fighting that 20 years. What? Like what exactly you been fighting? Is it mental or is it like just the But under pressure? I had high pulls. Really? High pulls. High pulls. Dead straight. Very left. No curve. And I’ll tell you what, when you go left, it goes. It goes. Yeah. Because the problem is that it was high. Yeah. So basically the ball was like bye-bye. So no. Uh I never really understood how to drive the golf ball. Wow. And I was very straight when I was young. But around 2010 somewhere there I don’t know I started to lose it and and I totally lost when went worse. Okay. Firsty since 2010 I can only see the OB on the left and I’m a fader which is fine normally you know just punch it down the left edge and low peg and stuff but no I’m going to manage to tow it high and put it in the house left. I can only see that. Wow. I don’t know why. It’s just Well, I built something in my mind for sure. Wow. Which is wrong. Fake uh fake visualation. So, I’m over the golf ball and I see the ball going left. Well, I don’t think you’re the only one, but it’s that’s Yeah. Like, how do you how do you defeat that? Did you do mental skills training? Did you do anything like that or just just hit balls and try to trust yourself? Do you want a little story? Since 20 2008 to my last tournament 15 in CR. Okay. Par five up the hill. Yeah. You got those trees left. Okay. Okay. God this is scaring me. Yeah. Since the first year I’m like those treesh chop those. Sometimes I even hit two aron of the tea like a stinger draw to avoid those trees but they’re not really in play. I don’t know. I’ve put myself into it. My last round this year I hit it middle of the trees 50 yards from the Wow from the ridiculous 25 handicapper. That’s so I was like okay finally I did it. I was right. Those trees are in play. Those trees are finally in play. Finally in play. So you see what you put in your mind, you know, like and you can destroy yourself. Yeah. And yeah, definitely mentally I’m not good enough. Terrible. Terrible. But strong enough to talk about it though that like you know a lot of people hold that stuff in, right? Like scary like I’ve hit one of my best shot of my life on 18 with Yon Ram at the final on the Sunday. I hit that. I was between two iron, but pin was short left and there’s water on the left. And my two iron, I I could have the tendency to overdraw it. And I was like, okay, you know what? I’m going to hit that baby threewood, you know, fade over the water and floated in there. And I’m over the ball and you see there’s a creek on the middle of the hole. So I got the creek maybe, I don’t know, 30 yards from me and I’m over the ball. Sunday of the final, I’m playing fantastic and I’m over the ball. So I look at the shot and I look at the creek. I’m like, “Okay, don’t top it in.” And I hit that perfect Stenson’s shot. Oh, same shot. Just it didn’t take the break and released just behind the brake like that at the pin. And my last thought was don’t top it in the water. That’s not That’s not a great last thought for you. It’s not, but it worked. So, so yeah, people need to understand that we are not perfect mentally for golf shots. And I’m sure I would love to know some players what they think before hitting a golf shot cuz I cannot be the only one to think such bad things. No, surely not. Oh, I would have done really well then. What’s it like off the course? How much fun do they have now versus what they You’re asking the question and your smile is coming because you know my answer. died. You know my answer. Of course. I just have a gut feeling. It became very different. Very different than when uh when I arrived. Uh when I arrived, I remember with Greg A, Rav, Jac, Jeff Luker, JB Gon. Uh sorry if I’m uh forgetting others. I remember the first two years almost every night we had to meet each other at six for a beer. Brilliant. And then find good restaurant. Yeah. No chicken and rice and and vegetables with no sauce. No, that was Let’s find the best restaurant around and enjoy. And but the the general level let you do that. Yeah. Now very different. You can still have a few beers but after the tournament which is fine. It at six everybody’s at the gym almost. Yeah. Yeah. True. which I managed to do for a while. Uh but it’s different. Time changes, you know, like and I preferred before. What are some of your great memories from before? Any missed tea times? Any uh any close? No, I didn’t miss tea times, but yeah, I remember. Yeah. Okay. Koala Lumpo. Koala Lumpur. Uh it’s Wednesday night and we go have a good restaurant with some French players and like okay let’s just go have a drink you know we’re playing afternoon ah no problem it became out of control 2008 I remember and uh I remember drinking vodka and Red Bull in Koala Lumpo oh wow on the hot season that’s a punchy drink choice before a round of golf that is very stupid when It’s 40° outside and and 190% humidity. Yeah, true. And I remember on 14 saying to my caddy, Richard logs, walk, I’m dying. I might stay on the tea forever. So, I’ve put um you know, there was bottle water into ice and I’ve put directly my head in it into the ice. I was like, “Okay, I’m not going to be able to play the rest of the round.” But I did. And so, we went out again cuz I finished the round. I was happy celebrate and of course I didn’t play four rounds that week but but yeah there is uh it happened many times uh when you arrive you know you’re excited and and the level of game the level of general golf let you do that so and I’m a big customer for enjoying my moments so yeah that’s what I had good teachers as well you know like Rav Jac and Greg were like uh like dads you know like welcome on for we going to work. We’re going to work a lot. But you’re going to you’re not going to do only golf course, hotel, airport. Yeah. We’re going to enjoy as well. Yeah. Because it’s a big chunk of life the grind of golf. All of a sudden you’ll turn around and three years have gone and you haven’t enjoyed it, right? You know, I’m the stu I was the kind of stupid person that goes to Egypt and haven’t seen the pyramids, goes to Beijing and haven’t seen the Great Wall of China. uh you know like when I speak to people I don’t know I must have done 50 countries and they’re like you must have seen so many things so yeah hall number four in Verama is great uh the lounge in Shanghai yeah fantastic buffet the hotel was great so no yeah uh I’ve traveled a lot but I need to see a lot of things as well I haven’t uh seen enough things but I can tell you what’s the best restaurant of the city. Ah, well, the best bars. I would trust you with that. I would trust you with restaurants. I need to probably hit you up about that now that I’m going to Paris next. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You’d be the man of the moment. Yeah. Right now, how many major championships have I got you down for? Six. Six. Six major championships. How fun was major championship golf? How awesome was it compared to tour golf? What are some of your best memories from playing majors? Uh it’s a huge machine you know we here in Worth which is normally after crown spontana my favorite event because uh it’s a classy golf course a classy organization and it’s big crowd is big and fun and then I went to my first major in Burgdale for the open. Ah cool and I was like whoa what where am I? Yeah. Crazy. Where am I? And you This is where you see the quality of mental skills of the big guys. Yeah. I don’t know if they care or not. This is why the when Shane won at Port Rush in front of his crowd the Open Championship. No, what a week. How can you keep like he how can you keep focus like he can just sit back and go I don’t care what happens he’s not the best thing in his life that is I was there and it was the most electric atmosphere I’ve ever seen in the sport I think he he might find the rider cup easy after that which must be one of the biggest mental challenge in golf but what he’s done is insane plus the course because it’s beautiful because all the history because it was the first time it was back in Ireland as well yeah They hadn’t like first time in 53 50 odd years that it hadn’t been in Ireland. It was just Shane wins here and he just smashes the field. It was Oh, ma major is our big What were you What was some some great little snippets for you? What do you What will you take back and when you tell tell stories in 20 years time at a bar? What what do you take from major championships? Best page. Best page for me has been a crazy week because on Thursday I think I shot one or two under and I was up the leaderboard at noon. Let’s say that. And I have an interview and they’re like, “So, what are you going to do?” Because you almost have 24 hours now uh between rounds. And I’m like, “I’ve seen there is a Ferrari uh garage half a mile from the hotel, so I’m just going to go there and visit.” It was Ferrari Long Island. And they’re like, “Okay, so enjoy your afternoon.” I said, “Thank you guys.” And I have an email from my best friend who was my agent uh at the time on the morning after saying, “What have you done? You have to go to Ferrari again.” I was like, “What did I do? They’re giving you a car for the week.” What? Like h So I go I’m like, “Sorry.” So with some tickets, you know, free tickets to thank them. And they’re like, “Man, you have no idea the advert that you’ve done for us.” Oh, cuz you said it on the interview. Yeah, because they said, “This is pretty expensive normally on US TV.” Ah, brilliant. So, pick a car. So, I do No, they say Yeah. So, I took a Lusso because I had an FF home and I wanted to see the next generation. So, they gave me that for the week and they said, “Anytime you come to New York, you come and take a car.” So, few years later, you just keep going back to New York. I’m I live here now. Hello. No. So I won only once for the US Open that Bryson won at Wingfoot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s why I sent a text. I was like, “Sorry, but you said that.” Yeah. Come to the So I went to pick up a car. Wait. I uh I put it on Instagram. So when I come back to my lockers, they changed my plate. Instead of putting Mike Lorenzo over US Open, they only put a Ferrari. They changed the plate on the locker room. They’ve put a Ferrari on it. It’s like No, but details, you know, details. Very cool. Details in majors. So good. Yeah. So good. So fun. So I’m not even talking about golf. That’s scary. Ah. Well, that’s that’s brilliant. And I finished 16 in best page. And I was actually 54th on the Sunday morning. Wow. And the wind was here. Brilliant. And we played with Brand Snderker and we shot one under each other. So, I don’t know. Just the time that you signed the card, you’re like 48. So, I go have some food and Billy Foster comes to me and say, “Well, you might want to stay for the playoff.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, it was a I’m kidding, but look at the look at the lead award.” Yeah. And I finished 16th. Wow, that’s awesome. I remember that happened actually at Port Rush when Shane won. I was with like Ryan Fox and then Bob McIntyre as well. like Foxy finished I don’t know way down like maybe 30th or something by the time you had a couple of red wines it’s like oh I’m tied 10th or something something wacky like that oh yeah too cuz it was howling it’s great it’s great when you’re in the heart for that yeah but major championships on Sunday is the hardest test you can find plus if the weather comes in brilliant if you beat the course by one you’re going up for sure it’s so good so often to New York. Well, you should be going to the Ryder Cup just to get the Ferrari. No, no, we still have contact a bit. Yeah. Brilliant. But no, I don’t want to exaggerate, but maybe when I when I go there, I’ll pop up. That’s a cool story. That’s cool. That’s like that’s the amazing power of like when you do do interviews, especially like on the broadcast, it’s like if you show personality, if you show, you know, tell people what like that, it’s like can end you up in pretty cool scenarios, right? I should maybe have said like uh in this afternoon I’m going to look at the you know the Apple um yeah yeah Apple store Apple store or something and then maybe Steve Job at the time would have given me shares of Apple but that was a bad move with Ferrari. Yeah, it worked out pretty well. Yes, that was fun. Ah what what happened after crayons when you finished up everyone there to celebrate with you? I kind of celebrated a little bit all week. Yeah. Yeah. to be honest, not nothing too crazy before I missed the cut, but we really enjoyed some restaurants with the family and friends and the quality of welcome in every place I’ve been. That was in very touching. Yeah. And uh quite emotional. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and uh, the Friday night uh, I was exhausted because 36 holes and I wanted to spend some time with the kids. So, we had a pizza at the chalet. So, I put the kids to bed and I was very tired and I just had a shower and it felt like the energy came back. So, okay, I’m out. So, yeah, my mother kept the kids in the in the chalet. So, we had a nice party with some friends. Alex Levy was here, of course. Cool. Uh, unluckily Marcel was with his family in another spot, so we we didn’t see each other. And then I was like, am I going home? And I was like, no, I’m going to spend the weekend there. And the quality of people into the shops, you know, the of the of the city. Like I was walking in front of toys stores, people coming out like, okay, take some toys for the kids. That’s a present. Oh, and sometime I haven’t I have been into restaurants that they just people stood up and clapped. I was like my kids were like but who are you? I was like I don’t I think I picked up the good place that’s all. Don’t worry kids it’s not going to be and they they wouldn’t realize the magnitude or are they How old are the kids now? They’re nine and six. So yeah. So basically they grew up uh when I was playing well they were still babies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um how can I say that golf has been so present in our family that when I was coming home I was trying you know to keep them a little bit away. Yeah. And uh they never really I think my my daughter came five or six times into tournaments and my son once so that was his second time. So they knew I was a good golfer. Yeah, but they never really understood uh well, I’m not a champion, but they never really understood that I was a good golfer until uh we walked the last hole. Wow. Because there was cameras and stuff and my son was like, “Why is there cameras walking in front of you?” And I was like, “Okay.” Were they walking that whole the last hole? Yeah. Okay. The last hole. And and I told them like, you know, people that are looking at the tournament right now in the world are looking at you now. And they’re like, what? I said, yeah, you’re on TV, guys. So, no no picking the nose now. Okay, you wait 15 minutes, please. And uh no, they they they absolutely loved it. And yeah, the Grants Montana is is it’s a very very special place for me. Very special. Mike, yeah, like obviously we’ve talked a lot about your retirement, but is there any sort of advice you’d potentially give others out there that are sort of knocking on the door wondering whether it’s a good or bad decision when to when to hang up the boots? I do everything with my feelings. So I felt uh it’s been a few years that I feel like I’m going to the end of the road. Um you can still keep on pushing as long as it’s not stupid. Sometime you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say is it worth it? Where am I mentally? because this game is exhausting and um if I keep on pushing am I going to put myself in danger mentally because this is what I’ve done last year. Yeah, it’s only my experience. Okay. So, it’s advice based on my experience. Make sure you have opportunities to keep your brain busy because I think that I wasn’t expecting the impact of that little death that my psychologist told me and and it exist. And if you decide, make sure to not stop when you lose your card because honestly the the way that the DP World Tour treats you as a player uh and the way they’ve been treating me during CRS. It’s an opportunity to have a special week that you will remember until your deathbed. Nice. So if you think about it and you plan to stop, it doesn’t matter. I mean, four or five events more in your life are not going to change your life, right? If they change your life, it means you still have energy. Yeah. It means a bad decision. Means you’ve done something good and you’re probably not going to retire. Yeah. So if you feel that you’re at the end of the road, pick a a tournament that you really enjoy and trust me the organization will take care of it and you’re going to spend one of the best moment of your life. I’m happy to hear that. Yeah, it did look special on the broadcast. It looked great and No, but that was insane. Yeah. a and the commentators uh I know I sent a message to Andrew Coltard because the way he spoke was uh nice great and I’m sorry I don’t know who was the the guy next to him because I would have sent him a message but it’s moments like you give everything for a certain amount of time and when you choose um the guys on TV the guys on tour knows the whatever ever the career you had, everybody respects the results and because they know that you gave everything. So, you’re going to have a a perfect Yeah, that’s great. You you mentioned last year you said something about your mental challenges. What can you dive into that a little bit more? What what happened there last year that was triggering? uh I had I I tried to do uh different things than golf at the same time. So I madeies. Um my daughter last January was uh not January 2025, 2024 was not in the best shape. Uh it’s been, you know, things adding layers. Yeah. uh stressing layers that went into my mind and I started to develop anxiety but proper ones. So, and it started very little like you know I was going to sleep and then I had this feeling of like when I was falling asleep like a bit of electricity shot in the in the brain but very tiny you know like who wa yeah yeah and then it became to boom and bigger and bigger and bigger until I started to scream my ex-wife was like poor thing she was like what’s going on because I was screaming and in the bed and and I was like okay there is something wrong there So, I was getting scared to go to sleep because I thought I was dying when I was falling asleep, you know, like, wow. And it’s just your brain tricking you. There’s nothing wrong. Blood test perfect, heart rate, perfect. Yeah. Like, okay, you might want to dig into the brain now. So, yeah, it was just strange moments that uh you feel like you’re losing everything. Yeah, that’s scary, man. Uh scary, but nothing uh dangerous. And um the thing is that when it starts to to happen and you feel like you’re losing every pieces of your life personally, professionally, friendship, sleep, scared of dying every night. Yeah. Not easy. And um I encourage people that have strange feelings sometimes to go straight away blood test, straight away heart test. If everything’s fine, psychologist. Cool. Direct because it’s scary because I went far down and quite far down. Yeah. Alcohol. Uh, of course. Thank god no drugs. But like uh you’re losing everything. Yeah. Basically. And you’re becoming uh someone that people don’t want to spend time with you and you don’t want that and you’re be becoming bitter. you be becoming a player that is getting even more angry on the golf course and players don’t want to spend time with you and which is normal. I mean, I’m not uh throwing stone to every to anybody, but yeah, it’s challenging times. Plenty of players have been through and uh and plenty of people that have kind of normal jobs are going through because it’s life and stress comes to you and anxiety comes to you. So yeah, you I I have a reference. If you have a garden or a balcony, you’re not keeping your uh your garbage, okay, on the balcony or in the garden because if you put one bag or two bags, this is fine. But if you keep on going 3 days after 3 days, your garden is going to look like it’s going to be terrible. Yeah. So you need the garbage man to come. The garbage man is the psychologist or the or the doctor. He’s going to help you take bag out after bag out. I like that. And there’s no shame as well. There’s no shame that there is a big problem there which is when your brain is hurted uh you’re weak. No, you become weak. You’re not weak. When you break your arm or your knee, it’s fine. I’m not I’m not a professor in biology, but I think the brain is still part of the human body for sure, which is the same part of arm or whatever. So if if your brain is hurted, just take a rest and go and work on it. It’s fine. It’s scary. People that will judge you on that, take them out. See you out. No problem. Maybe one day they come apologize because I I believe everybody everybody has those moments. Golfer, rugby player, postman, barman, everybody has those challenges in in their life 100%. And ego sometime can block you and uh yeah sometimes sportsmen have bigger ego as well. So sometime we go a bit bit deeper because we don’t want to work. But yeah, it’s it’s scary. It’s scary. Like recently uh I know I have a little bit of a I’m back into the downhill and uh well yeah and I wake up again. Uh like that like I don’t know how to breathe anymore. No, you’re fine, man. But you’re you’re aware of it now. You’ve you’ve done now that you’re aware. You’ve done some training for it almost. Now you know the next steps. need to speak more with my psychologist. I need to do more breathing. I need to look back on my life as well because sometime you need to look back. Everything’s fine. Relax. Relax and work. Relax and keep going. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s a really good message for for anyone out there. As you say, it doesn’t matter if you’re in sport or business or anything like it’s you just got to you you got to treat yourself nicely and you’ve got it’s not cowardly or anything to and it’s okay if you feel bad. Yeah, it’s okay. It’s okay. No shame in feeling bad. Yeah, mate. You’ve got me thinking. It’s great stuff. Just my one final question, mate. Like as you sit back and we have a beautiful whiskey and we can finally don’t have anymore. Well, you don’t have any more. You’ve been It’s just a little information. Just a little. Yeah. Yeah. It’s gone. We’ve had to edit out the six other ones he’s No, but as we sit back and we go, “What a career it’s been.” What What are you most proud of? As we sit here and relax and go, you know what? Job’s been great. There’s obviously plenty more to come. I’ve got this funny feeling you’ve got plenty more to come off the golf course as well. You seem seriously charismatic and and fun to be around. So, I I I don’t think this this journey’s over for you, but in terms of a golfing sense, what are you most proud of when you look back? It’s funny because um it’s a mixed feeling because I never won on the P world tour and um you can you can take it as it’s easy to say because he never won. But Miam, my psychologist, she’s when I’m telling you she’s one of the best in the world. Maybe the best in the world. It’s just me that didn’t work well enough. Not her fault. That one’s on me. Yeah. Um, she always told me, it’s been 10 years now that we work together. She always told me, “A sportsman is still a human. Results are results, but what are you going to leave outside the results?” And because I was still playing and still chasing a trophy, um, I got a bit lost into what I brought to people. And when I announced my retirement, I received hundreds of messages and I was like, “Wow.” Okay. So, I brought things to people. Yeah. Yeah. Happiness, uh, advices. I I’m going to say it very, it’s respectfully, but to some people, I help them, uh, humanly into their lives. And apparently as a golf player, I brought a lot of things to a lot of people. Nice. And at the end of the day, it’s not too bad. And this is what I’m the most proud of to be cuz I could have been very bitter. Yeah. But winning and but you know what? You don’t win but you I want something else which is I gave a lot. Yeah. For sure. And and in the golfing world, it’s a lot of those top finishes are pretty damn good. So, it’s a hard game, eh? It’s a seriously tough game. That’s why most of us are not bloody playing it, Mike. It’s been a pleasure, mate. You’re a legend. Well done, Messi. That was cool, then. [Music] To watch another DP World Tour video, click here. And to subscribe, click here.