Back to Reality

Christina is grinding at home, gearing up for the final tournament(s) of the season, while Alan struggles to reacclimate to real life after a week at Bandon Dunes. They also touch on the culture clash of Korean-Americans playing in Korea as well as the two books Alan has coming out next year, including his juicy biography of Phil Mickelson.

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Christina Kim

Alan Shipnuck

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of fulls End with
Christina Kan and Alan Chipnuk. We are back at it,
c K coming in hot from Bandon Dunes from Carmel
High girls basketball practice. Still in my sweaty, you know,
practice stuff like you gotta want it and we want it.

(00:25):
We're here, let's go, we want it. Because we have
not been on air for two weeks. Alright, I guess
we skipped last week. It's probably the best way to
put it. Yeah, it was a bit of a hectic
time for both of us, probably more so for you
than it was for me. So why don't you tell
all the listeners what have you been up to? Well,

(00:46):
it was the annual Uncle Tony Invitational, which of course
is put together by Matt Janello, my UM co partner
at the fire Pit Collective. And I don't know how
many years in a row this is. UM actually missed
some in the early years because for whatever reason, Matt
was scheduling an opposite the British Open, and I just
I was I was busy with my day job. But

(01:07):
maybe six years in a row, maybe seven, I don't know,
and it's a great time. Obviously, it was all our
social media, but it's twenty eight dudes, and it's just
a ridiculous amount of fun. There's nowhere on planet Earth
like Bandon for a trip like that. You know, SU's
not only the great regulation course to be of all
that fun stuff with the preserve and the punch bowl

(01:29):
and short ease and um, just the intimacy of everyone's
staying together and writing shuttles together and never having to
leave the property. It's really it's just such a special place.
And so yeah, that that was a great week of golf.
I mean, I actually tried to w D twice because trum,
I'm trying to finish this Michelson book which is due

(01:50):
you know, like twenty eight days, but who's counting and
I know, but Matt wasn't having it, and so it
was kind of like a nice I took my laptop,
I did some typing, but I just didn't try and
fight it. And so it was like it was a
great kind of mental refresh after it's been a really
crazy few months and workwise, so it was awesome. And

(02:11):
now plunging back into real life started basketball season and
kids and all that stuff. So what's going on in
your world? Not a damn thing, to be honest, it's
let's see the LPGA just we had a week off.
I did not go to Korea, which took place the

(02:32):
week before last. Jin Yunko reclaimed world number one, having
won her third event in five stars event, fourth win
of the season. Yeah. I actually played with her at
the KPMG Women's p G a UM you know, back
in June. I guess it was. And it was just

(02:52):
one of those things where it's like, how are you
not winning every single week? You know, like her just
so pure and just so simplistic, and so it was
really really awesome to see her, especially winning with um
you know in a playoff that was that was pretty awesome,
and I know it was, you know, talking to a

(03:12):
couple of girls, it was, you know a little bit
intense because everyone usually when we fly overseas and go
to Asia, we're probably all coming in on I don't know,
half a dozen flights or something like that. At most,
it's a it's a shorter field. I think this time
there were maybe forty five or fifty girls that went,
and there were I think thirty or thirty five k

(03:35):
L p G a UM players that were also in
the field and this time everybody players and caddies and staff.
They did everything they could to have everybody fly in
on one aircraft. And I forget if they flew out
of Seattle or SFO and it wasn't chartered. It was
just like, no, everyone is taking this aircraft. And I mean,

(03:56):
if I had gone, I would have I I you know,
I wouldn't have. But like a part of me is
like I would have thrown a stink because I'm like,
I'm sorry. I fly one world and that is sky
Team and Homey. Don't play that ship. Your girl wants
her mild um. And then after that it was like
a maybe a six hour bus ride because let's see,

(04:18):
like let's say if you were flying into London, you
for the most part, let's just pretend that all international
flights would fly into Heathrow, and then if you wanted
to fly throughout the UK, you would only be able
to fly out of Luton, which is another airport in London.

(04:38):
That's how it is. In in Soul. You fly into Incheon,
which is one of the best airports in the world
hands down, and then you take a forty five minute
bus ride to go domestically. And so it would have
been like, I mean, I guess, well, it's such there's
so many international flights, is the thing. And it's like

(04:58):
it's a ginormous airport, and every single gate goes internationally. Um. Gimpo,
which is the domestic airport, is like you know, like
half an hour away. But they have you know, free
shuttles all the time, and you know, so you'd basically
be flying from I don't know, like like San Francisco
to l A. Um, so it's just a quick little

(05:21):
puddle jumper basically, you know. And everyone was piled into
a bus and so you had to go on this
like you know, minimum thirteen hour flight to get to
a bus that's going to take you an additional six hours.
And so I I heard it was, um, you know,
these are these are beyond first world problems. These are
first class problems where you're just like, oh my god.
It was it's like a forty five minute fly and

(05:42):
it took us six hours. And it's like, yeah, that
was the only way that they were willing to host
the tournament because they wanted to keep everybody everybody in
a bubble, and so it was pretty grueling. Then everyone
had to go to the hotel take a COVID test
regardless of vaccination status, and then they had to be

(06:03):
quarantined in their hotel room until they received their negative
test results. And then they were allowed to go to
the golf course and the hotel and that was it.
It seems like kind of a good week to skip
given all of that. But um, I'm sorry, you're getting
free money. There's no cut you and and they're they're
always world class events. Um. I amg which which runs

(06:26):
all of our Asia events. They always put on a
world class event. And I mean I would have loved
to have gotten to be honest, that was one of
the alternates and they end up dissolving the alternate list
at a certain point. And yeah, I it's it's always
a great event. And obviously Korean food, It's where my
family hails from. I love Korean food, and I I

(06:49):
just I love your I love going to Asia in
the autumn. Yeah, it does seem to have kind of
a super um it's just special like vibe and atmosphere.
And I've always you know, for sure, I haven't actually
traveled extensively in Asian I've never been to Korea and

(07:10):
it's near the top of my my bucket list because
everyone I know who goes there has a great experience.
But I'm curious. I mean, we've talked about in the past,
not on this podcast, to light as a Korean American
and a very americanized young lady, what is the reception
like for you when you go over to Korea. It's

(07:31):
you know, generally pretty awesome. Um. You know, I I've
been on tour, you know, I'm finishing my nineteenth season
on tour, and I've been to Korea, you know, so
many times over the years and have played in events
in Korea, have played in you know, I think maybe
two k LPGA events over there. And if you're a

(07:52):
golf nut, especially in Korea, you know who all of
the Korean and Korean American players are. UM, you know,
going kind of along the lines of all this sort
of um you know, this Internet trolling and all this
crap that you know everyone's talking about, you know, like
cyber bulling this at I'm like, sweetheart, I've been getting
death threats on um, you know, like through some Korean

(08:15):
chat forums for well over a decade, like and on
occasion you'll meet the people that are writing all these
things about you and to you and what they want
to do to you. You meet them in real life
and they're just like, how do you like they wait? Wait,
hold on, they say, hey, I'm the you know, anonymous

(08:37):
troll user, Like, how do you know? Those are the people?
They will say, Christina, It's what that's the thing there, like, Christina,
it's so nice to meet you. Can you sign this?
Can you sign that? I'm such a huge fan of yours,
I follow you on this and that whatever whatever. And
I'm just like, oh, okay, And they're like, yeah, I've
i I'm I'm a net to zin. It's just what
they say. And they say I've written I've written about
you a bunch, and I'm like, oh, really, like what

(08:59):
And then they would say, oh, well, you know I've
written on this website or that website, and I'm you know,
I I've been notified over the years on some of
the things I've been written about me. And I'm just like, oh,
you're the one that wrote that. I should be like basically, um,
it's hard and feather and quartered okay cool. But they're

(09:20):
super you know if that's so for me. I'm just like,
you know, I don't give a ship what anyone's online
persona is like, hurt people, hurt people, So I don't
really care. So when people complain about like, you know,
these bullies and like cyber this and that, I'm just like, sweetheart,
get over. That's not what they're going to say. If
they really meet you. It's maybe maybe one out of
a hundred and and well, I mean there's a certain

(09:43):
out oftrolling which just comes with public life, but this
seems more personal. And is it just because you're so Americanized?
Is that what? Is that what their beef is For
the most part, Yeah, sometimes it's because simply because I
was born in the US, and I'm just like what
you are aware that I had no say in that.
There there might be someone else that you want to

(10:04):
take up that issue with, but I don't know, you know.
And and yeah, people are like, oh my god, you're
so loud and you're so brash, you're you know, you're ugly,
you're fat, you're old, you're this, you're that, And I'm
just like, dude, I don't care what you think. Like
I've said some horrible ship to myself over the years,
so there's truly nothing you can say that would really

(10:25):
affect me unless you could come across some like super dark,
deep personal ship that I've never told anyone. Um, so yeah,
I mean it's just again, I mean, hurt people. Hurt people,
and if they're just like, wow, she's really loud, I
don't like that, that means I don't like her, and
I'm like, okay, well, yeah, you're basically you know, I've
been living in uh, you know, to an extent, the

(10:49):
the in a different way, but the polarization of the
US just based on politics, like I've been living that,
I've been I'm I'm old to that game, you know,
like that ain't nothing new. And the loud, the critique
that you're too loud, I mean, is that a cultural
thing where um they you know in the Korea, they

(11:13):
want they want their women to be just a little
more traditional and that sort of thing, or is it
is it something something beyond that? I mean, some do
and some don't, and some don't care. I I don't know.
I mean, it's I you can't sit here in generalize
an entire population of people based off of something you
know that one other person does. You know, there are

(11:33):
some people that are like I love how exuberant you are.
I love all the colors that you wear. I love
the fact that you voice your opinion. And then there
are other people that are like, you need a commuo titties.
You know. It's it's just like how it is everywhere
in the world, and times are changing as well. Society
is changing. The culture class stuff does interest me because

(11:55):
I remember, you know, you know, I talked in years
ago and there was some some kind of low rumblings
on tour that the players coming on from the k
LPGA maybe had a more liberal view of the rule book,
shall we say, and that UM and k or just

(12:15):
that had grown up, you know in basically born and
raised in Korea and then came to the US to
play when they were probably you know, late teens. I
can't I can't speak to their um where they had
play their tournament golf, but just just players of cream background.
And I mean this, I think in the Asian Tour
on the men's side, there's always been a little more

(12:35):
of a liberal interpretation, and it's like, wow, it's a
little more like an in traditional sports where if you
can fudge it a little bit and the opponent doesn't
know it's probably okay, which of course is not that
the general attitude of golf. But you know that it
was Asian tour v VJ. Seing got in trouble and
got suspended for a year for his rules and fractions,

(12:56):
and uh, it just seems like maybe there's a you know,
it's not an old golfing nation, and there's a possibly
a little difference in how they they look at the
sanctity of the rule book. I am am I onto
something there not. From my perspective, I can think of

(13:19):
a handful of players over the years that have come
from I can think of one player, two players from Korea,
one player from China, one maybe from Chinese Taipei, a
couple of Europeans. Uh. Over the years, there have been,

(13:40):
you know, talks about a handful of Americans. So I
don't really know where you're coming from. Uh. You may
want to change that too, players from the Asian continent
and not necessarily from Korea, because I can I can
only think of two instances and my entire career that

(14:01):
I've heard rumblings about involving Korean players. Haven't ever heard
anything about any players from Japan. Um. Yeah, and I
could be wrong. I mean I don't. I don't necessarily
pay that much attention to that kind of stuff, UM.
But yeah, I mean, and this is going back years

(14:23):
when I used to give a shit about that kind
of stuff, UM, where I would actually talk about other people.
But no, I mean I I've heard a handful of
things from like, you know, in the last forty years
about you know, a couple of those quote unquote crazy
old American broads UM. But yeah, I mean these days
and and generally in terms of you know, the culture,

(14:45):
I mean, dignity and honor and respect are are huge
in UM, in Korea and all throughout Asia and many
parts of the world in general. So I I don't
necessarily know there could be a difference betwe in uh
like a little bit of liberation with interpreting the rules
versus just a lack of awareness and lack of knowledge

(15:08):
I think, UM in that sense, because like you said it,
golf is still a very young sport in UM. You know,
over in Asia in comparison to America, comparison to Australia,
and then obviously in comparison to UM, Scotland, the UK,
Europe in general. So you know, it's it's sometimes you
try and work on the physicality of everything first and

(15:29):
then you start to learn, you know, like don't do that.
It's it's similar to like the first time you bowl,
the first few times you bowl, or however many times
you bowl, and there you're just like, oh, you know,
your toe is not supposed to cross that line, you
know when you when you bowl your ball or whatever
it is, you know, or when you're serving in tennis,
and it's like, no, you're not supposed to when you're serving,

(15:50):
you're not supposed to cross that that you know, that
back line whatever that line is called. Yeah, interesting, I
was just curious. Um, So let's when we talked to
you were embarking on some swing changes. I've I've seen
some of your posts on on social you're getting into
nitty gritty about your your trail, heel and and some

(16:10):
of some of the finer points. But where where do
you feel in that process and how much long do
you think it will take to sort of bake in well,
seeing how I've had that, like I call it sort
of like an Elvis shimmy with my right hip thrusting out,
and I think it's so it's actually my hip that
kicks forward. It's early extension as opposed to my me

(16:35):
just coming up on my toes on my trail foot.
So it's something that I've done probably since I was twelve.
So it's taking me twenty five years to get to
this point. So lawd only knows how long it's going
to take to take to get it out. Um. But
it has reduced a significant amount um. And it was
just like a number of things, Like even in the

(16:56):
last couple of days, it was that like that realization
of like, holy it. Like I've been you know, off
and on throughout the year. I've been using the George
Genkis g box, which I you know, I think it's
actually a it's a very useful um gadget, but I
was using it. It sounds kind of naughty, carry on gebox, silly,

(17:17):
the gyankas box. Um. I've been using it not in
the most correct way, and as a result of that,
I have ended up over rotating on my way back
in the backswing. And so as opposed to having like,
you know, forty five ish degrees of hip turn, I
was like closer to seventy, and my shoulders were like

(17:38):
well past a hundred and I'm like, and you know,
I mean, I'm I'm a woman. It's like I've gotten
a lot stronger, but I don't think there's any amount
of strength that would be able to get me to
whip everything back to square um from such a large
and huge turn back, and so that kind of like

(18:01):
sort of domino effect into everything. So I'm sort of
feeling like I'm just hitting little half shots with just
my arms, and like I'll take a look at my
videos and I'm like, god, damn, Like you're still getting
like forty five degrees of hip turn um. So it's
just sort of relearning where the parameters and the boundaries
of my swing are. But you know, I'm I'm getting
the ability to get better on plane, turn my hands

(18:24):
over a little bit every now and again. I'm not
the ball, which is awesome, and uh, you know, sort
of like unexpected um. But no, I mean, everything's feeling
really good and I'm in a good place mentally, so
I'm really excited and I'm like, oh, Plus, you know,
it's like, you know, we're nearing the end of the season.
As opposed to last year we played up until almost Christmas.

(18:46):
We're back to our you know, quote unquote regularly scheduled
programming where the season ends right before Thanksgiving, and so
I'm like, that gives me months to be able to
really hone this down. And I was having a conversation
with my Todd, and um, he was like, you know,
one thing I kind of noticed because when I'm going
on these like four week stretches and things like that,

(19:07):
like you try and like minimize the amount of time
you're on the range and the minimizing the amount of
time you're on the golf course so you can sort
of you know, you don't want to be you don't
want to spread yourself too thin. He's like, when you
have time off and you get a good amount of
time to actually just practice, you come out swinging so like,
and I've always loved to practice. So I'm like, why
am I doing something that you know, quote unquote people

(19:31):
say you should do as opposed to just doing the
things that I enjoy, doing the things that I want
to do. I'm like, I if I want to spend
three hours on the range, I'm going to spend three
hours on the range. Like if if anybody else has
got a problem with that, that's fine, because this is
not your life to live. So I'm I'm well, you know,
it's like people are just like, oh my god, don't
you think you're you're you know, don't you want to

(19:53):
save your body or don't you think you're practicing too much?
Or you know you're gonna have enough energy, um, you
know for the actual tournament. And I like, dude, I'm
like sixty plus pounds less of me with every movement
that I'm taking. I have plenty of energy, you know,
and and um, so it's yeah, it's just as you know,
it's just a constant. It's a moving target, as Todd says,
when it comes to the swing, when it comes to

(20:15):
the realization of what works for me, when it comes
to the realization of just like life. So if you remember, um,
I had found religion with a big, towering butter cut
after getting one bucket of balls for having abandoned and

(20:37):
not well, it lasts about nine holes, like we played
Sheep ranch first, and did you play sheep when you're there?
I can't remember. No, I only played I only played
dunes and um uh and and Pacific trails Pacific dun
sorry started standing using the Pacific Excuse me, well, sheep
Ranches is pretty wide open off the tea for the

(20:59):
most part, and somehow I hit it into like every
course of bush and the van on the front nine.
It was uncanny. It was just so sad, and so
that was like, you know what, not a single bunker though,
Yeah wow, yeah, thank you and um always on the
bright side, c K. And so anyway, I went back

(21:20):
to play in a draw and I played better every
single day. In the last round at um Abandoned, I
really played well. And yeah, me and my partner Allas
Salas we um you know, we we have there's there's
the running total and then there's there's the daily total
and so both at pack Dunes, which is obviously challenging

(21:41):
golf course, and at Bandon we got the so called
day cheddar for finishing in the top four that day.
That was that was needed. It was a good morale
boost that I think our our last two rounds, our
team score was like second among everybody. But we just
we got off to a bad start. You know. It
was the lasts first time on the trip and it
banded and I was, I was he was playing naked

(22:04):
a few times too many and because of my crappy
driving of the golf ball. But anyway, it was it
was a lesson there. You just you got it. You
are who you are and if you're going to try
and make a significant change, like you need to get
yourself time. And I didn't absolutely I didn't really do that,
but you know it's yeah, it was. It was funny.

(22:24):
I mean people are like, how's the cut going? Like
it's gone, it's history, it's been retired. Well that's the thing,
because I um like truth be told. Like right before
you left, I was like, and I do this like
at least once a week anyway, ever since having been
to abandoned. I checked the weather abandoned, and I checked
the extended forecast, and you came in right Let's see,

(22:49):
do you came in on Sunday? So you came in
right at the tail end of that um northwestern bomb
psyche clone? Is that that? And you you dealt with
rain and you dealt with like some serious wind. Because
Todd was telling me like he's like, yeah, like my
windows are rattling, and he lives like a nine iron

(23:12):
away from the sheep ranch, right I remember, yeah, I've
seen his house. Um, yeah, it was we actually came
in on Monday and are Um and that was a
crazy travel day. We were so drove to SFO, which
is two hours away, and then flew into North Bend,
which is the closest airport to band and it's only

(23:32):
about forty minutes away. And we were on our descent.
It was like couldn't I had a window seat, couldn't
see anything. It was so soupy. And then all of
a sudden, like just a little glimpse of the waters, like,
oh man, we're close to landing. I don't know, four
or ft up if that, and going down fast, and
then you know, the pilot hits the gas. We start climbing.

(23:53):
It's like, oh that's not good, and he's like a
visibilities deteriorated. You can't make a safe landing. We're going
to assess our options. But all of a sudden, we
started pointing south like there was no circling. I guess
we didn't really have enough gas to circle and go
back to San Francisco, so we just we just high
tailed it all the way back to San Francisco and
so and then we had to sit around and catch

(24:14):
a fight to Eugene and then, as you know, two
and a half hour party bus like door to doors
fifteen hours, which can happen. We've banded, But I mean
I could have flown to Melbourne, Australia in the same
amount of time. It's like, you know it this I've
gotten hung up at North Bend Airport a few times
and this is this is kind of the last time.
I'm just gonna go in to Eugene for now on

(24:34):
because not only is North Bend right on the water,
like right on the water, it's apparently it's a fairly
short runway and so there's there's just no room for
error for farting around and so um they have to
take extra precautions when it comes to wind invisibility. So uh,
that was such a drag. But I was traveling with

(24:56):
basically five other guys were part of the trip, and
it just it just became an extension of the trip.
Went back to SFO, I think had three bottles of
wine or wait for the flight to Eugene. Get on
the party bus. It's well stocked, you know. I was like,
all right, here we go, and um, it would have
been really sad to do it on your own, but
if you have, it just became the beginning of the
trip essentially, and it was a wild year. I mean

(25:17):
people because of COVID, because of the American airline stuff,
because of the Southwest, like all these issues. Um we
had we had a bunch of problems getting in and
getting out. But you know, that's just all part of
the band and experience. I mean, there's no easy way
to do it. And unless you have a PGA, you're
gonna have to be prepared for a little bit of

(25:38):
a battle. And it's honestly part of the whole vibe
because the people are high maintenance and who can only
write in a cart and who you know, need this
that or the other. Like it's a self selecting audience.
They don't wind up a band and you know, they
wind up at Myrtle Beach or somewhere else and and
so like the people at Bandon dudes are pretty hardcore

(25:58):
and they're sort of your fellow travelers, right, And so
I don't know, it's just it is. It's almost like
a badge of water. How long did it take you
to get there? Two hours? It took me fifty you know,
want want Walt and uh but anyway, so yeah, we
did our first so we played we played the Preserve
in the afternoon on Tuesday to kind of kick things off,
which is such a nice way to ease into the week.

(26:18):
And it we got pelted for about fifteen minutes, like
just drench, but after that it was was pretty mild.
I mean, the forecasters got better and better. I played
in short sleeves a couple of times and or rain
gear once didn't really need it, and so it was.
It turns out that actually, you know, we used to
go in July and it was always really windy, like

(26:38):
steady twenty miles an hour, and we just never let
up from eight am until you know, eight pm. And
as it turns out in this this you know late
October when we've gone the last three years, much less
wind and it certainly makes it more playable, and it's
helped some of the higher handicappers, like the guy he

(27:00):
wanted this year, Uncle Bill. He's an eighteen, he's eighty
years old, and he shot his age twice, you know,
because he hits it straight and he plays on the
uptease and if there's no wind, he's like he's got
he's got great hands and he gets it around very
very adroitly. So um it's been interesting to see the difference.
I mean, even though you can get just kicked in
the teeth in the wind, it's it's I actually prefer

(27:22):
it that way because you have to play all these
different shots and all these knockdowns, and there's so many
do or die swings, and without the wind, there's not
that same sense of drama. But it's certainly more forgiving
and a little more playable, so, um, which in my
own life I need. But as as a as a purist,
you know, I kind of missed the wind. So anyway,

(27:44):
it was there was a hell of a trip. I mean,
I don't board the listeners with too much play by player,
but it's just imagine like getting twenty eight guys together
who are all good, too, great, too amazing at golf,
and then just an awesome collection of personalities and walking
that fine line between like being really competitive and trying

(28:07):
really hard but not not taking it so seriously that
like you forget the point of the whole thing, which
is the camaraderie and the hang. I mean, it's it's
it's incredible, you know, a group that size, but we
just we have so much fun, and uh, it was
really it was it was a fantastic week. So like
the the Abandoned Blues are a real thing, like our

(28:27):
our group that are still popping off because everyone's like
missing it, and and the just the fellowship, but also
the you know, when you're there, it's like you can
turn your brain off. Everything's laid out. Every tea time
has been booked a year in advance, all the meals
are there's nothing to decide for going to this restaurant
this night, you know, and it's like you just sort
of you're on a conveyor belt. It takes to the

(28:48):
whole week without having to think, and then you get
back to your real life and it's like a bit
more complicated. We all know. So, um, yeah, it's it's
an adjustment for sure. M Well, at least you're now
coming into working on your book with a clean slate,

(29:09):
you know, you able to go and have some fun,
go and be able to just you know, let some
steam off. And now surely I'm sure that you're just
rocking to go to finish that last of the book.
I'm going to guess not even so. Actually today I finished,
um finished a huge chapter I've been working on for
three weeks and even that I was. I did peck

(29:32):
away a little bit, especially on the travel day. Um,
but even I would get in bed and I was like,
I'll just write a few paragraphs and then an hour
and a half later. But um, so yeah, that was huge.
I mean, I'm basically I'm up to the point of
the two thousand, twenty one PG Championship that you know,
obviously is a huge week. I'm right here and I'm

(29:52):
either on the last chapter or there it will be,
you know, kind of the whole chapter about that victory
and then maybe um kind of afterward it will cover
the right Cup and some other miscellaneous things. But I mean,
I'm right there. It's old. That was only a few
months ago. So like I'm probably on mile of marathon
at this point, and I got I got metaphorical blisters
and cramps and tightness limbs, you know, I'm bleeding, but

(30:19):
I'm still I'm still moving forward. So um yeah, no,
you're right. It was a great just mental reset and um,
not really physical, because I mean we were going hard.
Between the golf and the dice games and all the
substances you and vibe and the late night BS sessions.

(30:40):
I mean, I think I didn't go to bed before
one o'clock any night, and last night it was we
went to the Labyrinth at one o'clock in the forest,
you know, using little flashlights, and so I'm still down
a little sleep, but definitely mentally and emotionally refreshed. So uh, yeah,
it's um And that's part of it. You know, you
want you can go on these golf trips if even

(31:00):
if it's not banded, you know, you have to kind
of push yourself to to do it all because it's like, really,
I mean, it's my it's my one vacation all year
because if I take my kids somewhere, it's fun and
it's a vacation for them. But it's like I'm doing
all the work and on the pack mule and I'm
the on the chaperone and the concierge and the tour
bust driver and so it's fun, but it's not a

(31:24):
vacation either. So it's like I definitely treasure at the
time and abandon Yeah, plus you need alan time. Don't
even know what that means. I know I'm bad at that.
That that's I keep saying. I finished this book. That's
sign of a good dad. I guess. But when I
keep that's my fantasy life is I'm gonna finish this

(31:44):
book and then I can actually make time for some
other things, including you know, self care. But we'll see
something else is always around the bed, so whatever. But um,
it's gonna it's gonna feel great. I mean, book is
due December one, and I'm just gonna sleep all I'm
gonna I'm gonna turn it in, you know, at I'm
gonna sleep all day on the first and the second

(32:06):
and probably the third, and then I'll resume life. But
it's definitely I'm also gonna miss it, like it's you know,
there's gonna be a void because it's all I think about.
It's all I even Like on one of one of
my flights home, we were on this little puddle jumper,
as it turned out, and I didn't get a great seat,
and so I couldn't physically type, you know, it just

(32:27):
wasn't enough space, and so I didn't even try. But
I just sat there for an hour thinking about the
last few chapters and working on them in my brain
and how I want to structure them, and I came
up with the last sentence of the book. Like so
even when I'm not physically typing, I'm thinking about it
and it's on my mind and it haunts my dreams.
And I've had so many freaking dreams about Phil Nicholson

(32:48):
and Jim McKay and assorted other characters, like in the
most random things, we're bumping into the mid Trader Joe's
and like, you know, in my dreams, not in reality,
and just the most mundane things. I should actually keep
a journal because it's so funny. But it's like, you know,
I probably know more about Phil at this point than

(33:08):
even Phil knows, Like I'm sure he's forgotten a lot
of this stuff, and um, you know, it's just it's
a weird. It's not voyeuristic. I don't know what the
word is, but it's like, to really write a biography
of one human, like you have to have an almost
obsessive desire to know everything and an ability to recall,
Like because I'm I'm going through interview notes and something

(33:32):
like catches mind, like, oh, that's perfect for chapter six,
you know, I know, like, oh, yeah, nineteen, that little
thing that happened, I can just drop it in right there.
Like it's like almost a sickness. How well you know
this person's life and career. So I can't wait to
just turn my brain off in that regard. That's gonna
be a delay. I'm so excited for you that it's

(33:53):
going to be. It's it's gonna be so liberating and
so fulfilling because you've been this has been your baby
for the last what's six that I mean off and
on for years really and you know you're you're you're
shipping it off to college. You're gonna be and you're

(34:16):
going to be a literary empty nester, and that is awesome. Yeah,
it's true. But in that, in that metaphor, I can
always adopt another baby and and raise it. So it's like,
I don't I don't think I'm done done, but I'm
definitely gonna take a break. But then that's crazy because
you know, get a dog or a cat metaphorically. And

(34:39):
I think we've talked about this, but it's been a while.
So I actually have a book coming out in April
and a book coming out in May, so that the
Nicholson bio will drop in May, and then in April
there's this this book I've been working on for five years.
I mean, it's done now, we're we're finalizing the cover
and stuff. But um, it's a friend I made through
golf here kind of Jack gran Colis and just absolute sweetheart,

(35:02):
good player, just a fun guy to be around. And
as I got to know him, you know, I learned
his story, which is his pregnant college sweetheart was on United,
and um, I know it's it's a crazy story. Her
name was Lauren, and they've been trying for ten years
to get pregnant and finally did and it was a

(35:24):
secret and her beloved grandmother had died. She went back
East for the funeral. At the end, you know, she
told all her family about the preddings. He did kind
of lift everyone's spirits. And she was the kind of
person who was always late to the airport, but happened
to get there early to Newark and walked on to
a flight that wasn't hers. She was booked on a

(35:46):
flight that was an hour after United, but she was
there at the flight was mostly empty, and so they
put her on the on the plane and there's a
lot of people like that, as I've you know, there
there was only forty four people aboard United, including the
the pilots and and and the flight attendants. I don't
include the hijackers in that count, but a good percentage

(36:07):
of them weren't booked on that fight. They either walked
on early like she did, or they've been up They
were supposed to go the day before and had issues
and got rebooked. And it's just like them the Vagaries
of of Fate and so anyway, so that this book is,
you know, it's Jack's whole experience, and it's in his voice,
and you know, we talked for years. I just recorded

(36:28):
and just kind of organized it and into a whole narrative.
And I mean it's a beautiful book. You know, his
his love story with Lauren is really sweet. There's, um,
you know, some self help elements and he just kind
of digs himself out of this incredibly deep dark hole
and and how he got through it, and um, there's

(36:49):
some really some really beautiful things that happened to him
along the way. And it has a happy ending because
he got remarried recently, and you know, um, his his bride,
Sarah's awesome and just how they kind of fought through everything,
not only all jack stuff, but Sarah's too, and and
you know, she has a line about like I always
thought I was looking for a perfect man, but well,

(37:11):
what I realized is that you know, we're all imperfect,
and you know the beauty is getting you know, getting
through it together and help each other being the best
we can be. And UM, so it's really an emotional,
moving UM book. It's called UM like a River to
the Sea. They're they're Jack and Lawrence. First UM day
in college was a YouTube concert and that's you know,

(37:34):
one of the lyrics from from One Tree Hill, that song.
And I won't spoil too much because but but bono
and YouTube, they kind of weave through the book in
different ways. UM. And there's kind of a whole magical
thing that happens to Jack and so that that's what
kind of inspired the name. But UM and it was

(37:55):
it was that the book was actually gonna come out
in September. But UM, Jack started feeling easy because there
was so much attention around the twentieth anniversary of nine eleven,
and UM, he just felt like, I didn't want to
have anyone think he was trying to you know, cash
in or capitalize or whatever on on on this momentous anniversary.
So we bumped it to April, which would have been

(38:16):
the birth month of their child, and he felt he
just felt like that was, you know, kind of a
nice tribute. And so anyway, so yeah, it's gonna be
it's gonna be a very intense spring with these two
very different books coming out and all that that entails.
But it's it's been. It's been quite a ride of

(38:37):
working on both of them. Holy sh it, I mean
it is, but it. The thing that's amazing about Jack
is he has such a zest for life, and um,
he's really an inspiring guy. This is the this won't
spoil anything. This is the afterwards, the book's done. Jack

(39:00):
and Sarah married, it's like, okay, you know, everything smooth sailing.
And during COVID he had some friends over for dinner.
They sat in the backyard to be outdoors and uh,
foggy night and pebble beach. He got this big fire
going and they sat around the fire and all that.
There's three other guys and they were They offered to
bring all their stuff into the house, all their dishes

(39:21):
and whatever, and Jack says, no, no, I'll take care
of you know, and didn't really want them to go
into the house and whatever, and um, so they take off,
and he gathers up all the plates and the dishes
and the glasses and one big armful and as he's
willing to go into the house, like bangs his shin
on one of the chairs and it hurts like heck.
So he goes to sit down on kind of this

(39:42):
wide lip of the fire pit and he misjudges it
and he falls straight back into this roaring fire and
he's his arms like pinned at his side. He's like
a turtle on its back and he can't get out.
His clothes go up and fill aims then his skins
on fire and he just he thought that was the end.

(40:05):
I mean, he actually said, like you know, Lauren, you know,
showing me the white light like that was that was
his his bride who died one and um, some some
force propelled him out of the out of the out
of the fire, like he felt like someone grabbed him
by the back of his neck and m he had
burns on his body. He was in the he had

(40:27):
three surgeries and the ICU for thirty three days, I believe,
I mean, just incredible near death experience and um and
you know this is this is all in the book.
But he's like, you know, some people probably think I'm
the unluckiest guy in the world. He's like, but I've
been through two horrific tragedies and I still love life
and I still see the best in people. And um,

(40:47):
and he's back playing golf. You know, he got all
the skin graphs and he's doing great, and it's just
he's a really inspiring person. And um. Yeah, there's there's
so many touches to this, this book that that seemed
like unreal or just cinematic, and um, I'm looking forward
to people reading it because it's quite an emotional story

(41:09):
in every way. Yeah, okay, I'll send Yeah, I'll send
you the bound galleys. This will be out, you know,
relatively soon. But so yeah, it's there's there's been a
lot going on. Also, you know, in all of this,
we launched the fire Pick Collective and it's just like
I'm juggling, juggling, juggling. But it's fun. It's all great stuff,

(41:30):
and it's all exciting and uh, it's meaningful and satisfying
and all that. But that's beautiful. Man. Yeah. No, I
haven't even another as we when we get closer, I'll
tell you there's a story that even when I tell it,
the hairs go up on my arm, Like even though
I've told it ten twenty times now, it's just absolutely phenomenal.

(41:54):
It's kind of the heart. It's sort of the centerpiece
of the book in some ways. And um, but it's
it's a long story to do it justice, but it's yeah,
there's there's a lot there. So anyway, Um yeah, so
March April Bay is going to be going to be
action packed around here. Well, I next next time you

(42:22):
come this way, like, we'll go and play. I mean,
Jack loves take he's a member at Monterey Peninsula and uh,
you know, he's a great host, he's super fun to
play with, and he's a good player. I mean he
met he met Lauren at University of Texas because he
he was a very very good junior golfer and had
a spot on the freshman team. Back then there was
a freshman team and you could you work a way

(42:43):
up to varsity and he was there when you know
the Brandon Shamblie, Mark Brooks, Lens, Ted Brock, you're Texas. Yeah,
But after a year Jack realized as the guys were
kind of a different level and you just want to
have a fun college experience and he stopped chasing it.
But he can play and that's awesome. I know, even
despite you know, all the happened to his body in

(43:05):
in the fire, he's he could still hit it. So yeah, yeah,
we'll have to we'll have to run it back at
Monterey and absolutely, yeah, for sure. How I know. So
what's what's next for you? You're not in Korea, So
what can we look forward to? Uh? Well, the l

(43:25):
p g A is off this week, and then it's
the Pelican Women's Championship. And because of the fact that
we are still going off of the twenty nineteen priority
list and it's there's there's some stuff happening, like I

(43:47):
think that at it right now, bottom full stop. I'm
first alternate for the Pelican Women's Championship, and there's a
chance that I'll get in the field, and there's a
chance I might have to do a Monday qualifier. So
I'll see you guys in two weeks because I I
if I ain't talking next week, I gotta I gotta
hunker down and get my ship sorted um. And I'm

(44:09):
also in points for c any top one hundred keep
their card, so there's a lot writing on this next
week because I'm ninety eight. Annie Park is nine, she's
in the tournament. Nicole brock Larson is one hundred, she's
in the tournament. One o one is Stephanie Meadow, she

(44:30):
was one of the last in the tournament. And one
oh two is Pranilla Lindbergh. So if I don't end
up in the field, then I have to do the
Monday qualifier, And if I don't do the Monday qualifier,
my entire two is out of my hands until the
possibility of me having to go back to Q Series. Fun.

(44:55):
It's just incredible how an entire year, year or years
of professional golf can come down to one tournament, one round,
one put. I mean, that's the drama of it. And
for sure, I will I will admit there is some
bullshit terry about it because it's a field of one
oh eight and they are still going off of the

(45:16):
priority that top eighty from get into the field. And
there are girls and I love them all, and you know,
this is the way that the LPG has done it.
And I'm not here to like complain, but this was
just something that I was like, wow, like, especially after
witnessing it. There's you know, I don't know half a
dozen at least half a dozen girls that are oh god, no,

(45:38):
there's more than half a dozen girls that are behind
me in the CME points that are in based on
how they played in and a handful of them played
like do do if they played at all in twenty
whereas I played my way into CIMME last year, and
again it's a field of one oh eight and it's
not just going off of current years points list. I

(46:00):
think that would have been amazing because then it would
give it more of a playoff style kind of ending
to the season. But we're not there right now. Yeah,
some kind of formula that that not you know, tips
it's capped nineteen and twenty, but waits it heavier to
twenty one, like but just it doesn't seem like the

(46:20):
most creative way to fill out of field to go
off results that are that moldy correct. And I will
say in the defense of the LPGA, we I mean,
you know, everything for for the last several years, you know,
prior to the pandemic, was you played Asia and then
you know, maybe we'd play in Mexico when we had
the lord an Ocho Invitational presented by bonam X, and

(46:42):
then we would go into the CME Championships. So the
last five, last six events of the season we're limited field.
So this is the first time that we've really had
to deal with this UM with Q Series having come back.
And yeah, there are a few girls that had to
go to second stage, whether it was last week or

(47:05):
the week before, but they're in the tournament this week
and they could and and I know of at least
one girl who went to Q Series did not pass
Q Series, but she's in this week and if she
makes the cut, gets into the top one fifty, that
gets her straight into UM Q Series Finals. Which is

(47:28):
there's it's it's yeah, it's a brain hurts, Yeah, it's
it's uh. I mean it's again, this isn't something that
we've really had to deal with before. And then you know,
this was a date that the tournament wanted, so you know,
it's again like these are all things that are you know,
out of my control. So all I can do is
just sit there see if I get in. If I
don't get in, come Monday morning, I'm going to go

(47:51):
and do the Monday qualifier and do my absolute damnedest
to get into the field that way, and then once
the season's over, I'll be able to, you know, give
Molly a call and be like, you're new, so we
haven't really had a chance to talk, but let me
run something by real quick. Yeah, have you had Have

(48:12):
you had much conversation with her? I've I've had two
talks with her, but they were both very very brief. Um.
I had a chat with her in Portland and then
I had to chat with her in at the Cognitant
Founders Cup. But you know, she's she's being pulled in
every direction. I was being pulled in every direction. So
it was just, you know, I just kind of came

(48:33):
in and was like, you know, I'll be your cheerleader,
like please don't quit. We'll get through this together. And
expect to get a lot of text messages from me.
Oh like during the beginning of the pandemic the first
few months, the Mike Juan Vicky gets Ackerman, which is
the LPGA player body president, Um, Heather Daily, Donna Frio,

(48:53):
who was like our senior of like topics active community
or she's I forget she's something. She's like she's our
c something. Oh and ROBERTA. Bowman who is our CEE,
m O or c CEO. I would send them video
messages I would record on my phone to be like,
you're doing great, thank you so much. I know we're
not seeing each other right now, and I don't know

(49:15):
when we'll see each other, but please don't give up,
and please, for the love of God, don't quit. I'm
so sorry, thank you, and I'm sorry, thank you for
everything you guys have done for us. And I'm sorry
you guys are having to deal with it. Wow. Wow, yeah,
I mean it's it's just amazing. Now we're I guess

(49:36):
we're a year and a half deep, going on, going
to come up. Yeah, the pandemic and it still as
a factor. I mean, so we started we started basketball
practice for for Carmel High girls hoop and you know,
the girls have to wear masks in practice like basketballs.
There's a lot of exertion. Supposedly, it's gonna get revisited

(49:57):
in the next few weeks in our you know, we're
hearing from our principle that that's we're gonna be able
to practice and play without masks. But can you imagine
playing basketball in a mask? Like I want to I
want to. I want to do full court press, like
it's um, this is I remember thinking when this all started, well,
this isn't going to be you know, a couple of

(50:18):
months of inconvenience, like and it's just so fundamentally altered
everything and we're still still still dealing with it. But
that's a different podcast. But anyway, Yeah, the CDC did
just announced that they are going to allow authorization for
children five to eleven to get the vaccines. So wow,

(50:40):
I think it's only a quarter of parents say that
they are willing and able to vaccinate their kids, their
young kids right away. Even if we just get those,
I think that's going to be huge, because we we
still I mean, you know, these these little these little
guys are just vectors for viruses and germs in general,

(51:00):
you know, so and they're you know, they're they're technically
the most resilient I think, in general against the virus.
But they're the ones that you know, I mean they
touch everything, so it's not that hard to pass things along,
so their teachers and their grandparents and stuff. But um,
protecting the entire community, yeah, without a doubt. But yeah, yeah,

(51:23):
it's just interesting. So anyway, we digress. But yeah, I mean,
it's affecting your status on tour, all of it. It's like,
it's just it's maybe maybe, I don't know. And the
last thing I ever want to do is have four girls,
several of which are good friends of mine, and want
them to miss the cut. Like that sucks in so

(51:45):
many ways. I know. Yeah, it's an awkward position. I mean,
you can't play defense. Whatever happens happens, you'll roll with it.
But I have no doubt you'll pull a round out
of your hat if you need to. Christina, Like it's
if if the Gulf gods cist, if the universe makes
any sense, like you'll you'll getting a Pelican, You'll play great,
and all that stuff will fade away. So that's my

(52:09):
most sinsure. Whatever happens happens. Thank you. I feel that
all right. Well, we should probably release our listeners, but
as all, it's fun to catch you up. I respect
you being on your grind. Next week, I think it's
okay if we go every other week at this time
of the season when things are slowing down and we'll
kind of slide into the season. But um, I'm not

(52:31):
going anywhere neither of you, we've got left to talk about.
So yeah, for sure, and this works out well because
this way, we've got this coming week. You know, if
we go bi weekly, we've got this coming week. But
I'm just going to be focused on my own ship
and then we'll be able to do, you know something
during the week of CMEME and then we're gonna have Thanksgiving.
We go and chat during the week of Thanksgiving. Come on,

(52:52):
it's family time, you know. So I think going bi
weekly during the off season will be good because we're
gonna have a lot of stuff going. But I'm going
to give you an extra hour where every you know,
thirteen days to be able to get you to go
just a little bit farther along with the books that
you definitely make that deadline. And yeah, I mean literally
every hour matters to me. In fact, I was having

(53:14):
every minute matters. Yeah. I was having a little texting
with my my eldest daughter. I was like, well, you
need to go pick up your your brother and sisters,
Like I don't want to. I got plans and listen,
I am wonder a crushing deadline. This gives me an
hour to type go pick them up, And that's what's
paying for you know, the food on the table and
the gas in the car, so get your butt over there.

(53:36):
And I mean slightly more in the car and the
car and the insurance and the new tires. So yeah,
I mean and your life for very existence. So and
I got it. I got a ton done in that
one hour. Actually, I think I was like hyper focused,
like I gotta make this our account, you know. So absolutely,
You're right. It's incredible what you can get done in
an hour if you if you really are if you

(53:57):
really grind and so anyway, all right, well it's always fun, Christina,
appreciate your time, and uh, I'm looking forward to uh
full reports out of Florida. Sounds good. Last minute, huge
shout out to Lucas Herbert for winning the tournament in Bermuda.

(54:17):
What a performance. That was awesome. I mean, oh my god,
he's he's such a lad. He's a great kid. He lives,
he lives here in Orlando. When he's in the States.
He's awesome. I want like a future length documentary about
the Bermudia Championship, Like so much craziness happened with you know,
defending champ getting bumped off his flight practice rounds washed

(54:38):
out rain sideways, you guys putting the ball off the
green regularity. I mean, in some ways it was the
best tournament of the year because it was so nutty
and then looked like Patrick read was sneaking and steal it,
which would have just been like so perfect, so shout out.
It would have been so fitting. And it was it.
It was, it was it. John knows Cano, you wes

(55:00):
who was able to retain I think he was in
his last last tournament on his medical medical exemption, and
then he had to finish like solo sixty seventh or better.
And then he finished what like in the thirties or
something like that, he regained full status on corn Ferry
and then maintained some status conditionally on the PGA Tour.

(55:20):
Like that's huge. It was a huge story. And he
got off to a horrible start, like he made like
some crazy number of bogies on his front nine to
start the tournament, and he just kept fighting. I mean,
it was yeah, his interview, you know, you could barely
speak like that's really of course, we love the stars
and we love the action at the top of the
world ranking. He loved the majors and that kind of
defines the season. But and you know, my colleague Ryan

(55:44):
French Monday cuinfo Is has helped shine a humongous spotlight
on all of this that the real human drama and
the real tension, and the real triumphs and tragedies are
the guys on the margins. And it's always been that way,
but I think finally, you know, fans, reporters and the
golf world at large is a little more focused on

(56:04):
that those struggles and it's quite dramatic and satisfying. And
and now I mean when someone is in position like
Jimmy hard K, like the whole golf world pays attention
and it's super cool. And so yeah, what's happening to
the top of leader board and what's happen on the
bott on the leader board, and it makes it a
lot more compelling, uh, in a in a lot of

(56:24):
different ways. So it's it's been a welcome development and
the kind of just the way the way people consume
professional golf. So for sure, for sure, and hopefully I'll
be able to add my own little chapter that I
just think of that I'm gonna, I'm gonna get I'm
gonna I'm just send a note to Ryan you know,
we'll we'll get a little Monday Q accent on on
your your quest because um, I mean, he's told me

(56:45):
in the past like he's he's never been ultra focused
on the LPJ and the Symetric touring all that stuff.
But you see starting to really, you know, pay closer
attention so that this will be a good, good avenue
in So I ain't answer ship until after the last
put drops on something. I know, I know, I'm just
I'm just saying he'll be watching, no pressure, but the

(57:07):
Maestro Mondays will be watching Christina. So yeah, I'm hoping.
I'm not going to say a word to anybody until
the same points are tallied up. That's absolutely the best,
which is very unlikely or unlikely both. Actually, all right,
go do your thing. Awesome sounds good, Alan, Yes for sure,

(57:34):
And thank you to everyone for listening to yet another
scintillating episode of Full Send with Christina Kim and Alan Schifnuk.
That's a wrap. Bye,