September 8, 2021 • 60 mins
Christina and Alan drill down on the Solheim Cup, trying to understand the U.S.‘s struggles…and what that might mean for the Americans at the Ryder Cup. They also have a lively debate as to whom should be the PGA Tour player of the year. Christina’s recent sojourn to scout out upcoming LPGA venues amidst a hurricane is relived in harrowing detail.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello and welcome to Full Send with Christina Kim and
Alan Chipnuk. We are back at it. The Solheim Cup
just ended, so that's the obvious place to start. It
was super fun three days. Unfortunately, it wasn't that much
drama on Sunday when Europe won the first three matches.
It was pretty much mathematically impossible at that point for
(00:27):
for the U S to to claw back. But I
still think it was a great showcase for the game.
Obviously a terrific venue and a lot of awesome golf plays,
especially the first two days. Um hats off to Europe.
I know the US have disappointed. Christina. You've played in
some Solheim Cups. I know you are your patriotic girl,
(00:48):
but what's your take on what we just saw? Dang? Okay, uh,
full disclosure. It is Monday, it is Labor Day. So
the final put or excuse me, the aiding putt for
Europe to retain the Cup dropped about half an hour ago.
I thought we were gonna go on a little bit
of Patty Ice in his last couple of weeks. But yeah,
(01:11):
you can just go ahead and just bury the dagger
if you will. I mean, like it just happened. There
was some unbelievable golf that was played. There is no question. Um,
I think it's been very interesting paying attention to social
(01:33):
media where you get, yeah, I would never call anybody
a rando, because just because I don't know them does
not necessarily mean that they're a random person. But all
of these fucking randos that were like, who is this
Leona McGuire and I'm like, girl, like do you you
(01:53):
your your lack of knowledge of women's golf is highly apparent.
She has been absolute rock star since she was twelve
years old, um, as well as her twin sister Lisa,
And yeah, I mean I remember I played Leona McGuire
in the match play over at Shadow Creek for the
Bank of Hope UM match play and that was that was.
(02:19):
It was an impressive thing to watch watching her play,
and it was extra suite being able to beat her
because I knew she was going to be on the
team and chances were slim to none that I would
be on the team. So I was like, okay, well
I got some match play against the European under my
belt this year. It was if someone doesn't know Leona
(02:42):
McGuire at this point, they're not really a golf fan.
It's the same with all the women playing in the
Solheim Cup, Like, there's never been so much attention and
exposure around women's golf. Now. It's true that you guys
do get hosed on the broadcast windows at sometimes, but
on social media and any platform you can think of,
people are in love with women's golf. Like my feed,
(03:04):
which is obviously not representive of the real world, but
I would say it was ten to one the amount
of tweets and interest Solheim Cup versus the Tour Championship.
Like so if someone comes at you and they're like, uh,
you know, blah blah blah, it's it's really revealing that
they're just not an actual golf fan at this point,
because uh, you know, I'm not saying you have to
(03:25):
watch only women's golf, but it's just part of being
a fan these days, the big events, you guys are
playing awesome major championship venues. I've got all these these
really charismatic stars, like, uh so I have no tolerance
for It's to me, it's not even women's golf, it's
just golf. Are you a golf fan? And then you're
gonna follow some of these events and it's just that simple.
So anyway, sorry, that's my that's my little die tribe.
(03:47):
Oh no, you can go off, are you? I trust me.
I am right up there with you. It's just it's
something that I find so comical because um, there's just
there's so much amazing golf being played on both the
men's and women's side. And I had actually spoken to
a handful of friends yesterday and I said that the
(04:09):
Cup will be determined with the Matilda Castro and Lizette
Sala's match, because yeah, I mean I still have chills
right now. I mean I've got goose bumps on my legs,
just um, just knowing you've got to putting geniuses going
up against one another. And it was that was where
(04:30):
the match was going. That was where the Cup was
going to be determined right there, to be honest um,
because that's it's you know, right in that at that
point in the match where it's you know, it's a
tipping point one way or another. But that was that
was it. And and the fact that um, you know
Mikey Patterson who caddied for Kari reb for gosh, was
(04:50):
it wasn't twenty years eighteen years they worked together. He
was on the bag um for Sudann Petterson when she
won the winning putt in the last Solheim Cup, right
immediately before her announcement of of stepping away from playing UM.
Like yeah, I mean, there's just something so electric though,
(05:12):
because you had Lazette with John Colleen, who has been
I don't know if he's ever missed the Solheim Cup,
to be honest. He was on my bag in Ireland
when we played at Colleen Castle going up against Um,
you know again a putting genius and an absolute star
in Matilda Castro and from Finland and Mikey Patterson on
the bag. It's just that was that was the most
(05:34):
intriguing match for me of I mean quite frankly all
three days. You know, it's so funny I've been hearing this.
I mean my first Ryder Cup was a ninety seven
over in Spain, and I swear I've heard it every
biennial competition, Like whichever team wins, they always it always
just says, oh, they just made more putts than us,
and and that's what the losing team says. And to
(05:56):
me it's a little bit of a cop out because
it's not like they got lucky made the but you
gotta actually put a good joke on it and make
the putts. But it did seem like you're made a
lot more putts and it wasn't me. It was the us,
like not getting the ball to the whole at some
crucial moments. I'm pretty sure I screened that out about
eight or nine times in the singles matches alone. Um,
(06:17):
And obviously, I mean, I feel like I'm very conflicted
because I feel like such a backseat driver at this
point because clearly, if I had gotten more balls to
go in the hole, I would be on that team. Um.
I just remember, like one of the few things that
I um learned early on when it came to match
(06:38):
play when I was a kid, one of the many
things that my dad sort of drilled into me was
you're not gonna you gotta get it to the whole,
you know. And And one thing that my boyfriend Duncan
had told me years ago when Hendrik Stinson won at
East Lake was he was like, one thing I've noticed
because he's you know, he's carried on the LPGA tour
(06:59):
for god going on, you know, over ten years now,
he's like the reason why the scores are lower for
the men in all honesty is is because they get
the ball to the hole like they very rarely leave
it short, and when you do, it's something that sticks
in your mind because you're like, oh my god, that
dude left it short. And then this year Todd had
(07:20):
been playing and he's I think he still will, um,
you know, is playing a little game whenever we're you know,
out on the course, because there's only so much that
you can do if you're not the one actually striking
the ball yourself. And the last few tournaments he'd been
keeping track of, um, all of the plots left short
in my group. And I think the last couple of rounds, yes,
(07:41):
I did miss the cut. However, the last couple of
rounds I didn't leave a single plot short, which was
something that I'd been really wanting to work on. And um, yeah,
I I again. I mean, the thing is, you know,
it's easy to sit here and say that when you
know in your shoes, because yes, it is true of
being said. You know, because I have the experience of
(08:02):
having competed in in three Solheim Cups, three I know
and singles. Thank you, Um, you know you realize how
sometimes paralyzing it can be. Two even set up to
a golf ball, and I relish in that kind of
an atmosphere. I love having, you know it. It's not
(08:26):
us versus them necessarily, but it is head to head
and it really truly gets you and forces you to
truly be in the moment. So it's one of those
things where I'm just like man like that. It's you know,
and the eve before the first match, like the the
LPGA and the l ET they come together and have
a group meeting with all twenty four competitors and all
(08:46):
twenty four caddies. You know, it's the same thing of like, okay,
these are the rules of match play. You can't do this. Um.
They did fail to mention the whole sack drum thing
prior to the matches, and that they had never said
that to us before. I've r um, but you know,
it's one of those things that I want to like
go back to the team room afterwards and be like,
also get it to the whole because yeah, let's say,
(09:08):
if you miss it, you know what the bit cha
zoo went on the way back, you know, and you
gave it a chance. Yogi berra you know. The great
philosopher of that is Yogi Berra's putts loft short, don't
go in. My clinical data does prove it to be
a little bit higher of a percentage um, But that's
one of those that's one of the things. And and
when you make putts and you don't dribble puts in,
(09:31):
not that not that a lot of the puts that
were made were dribbled in, but when you make putts
with authority, that's that's like, um, you know, being on
serve in tennis, because it's this subconscious thing that both
you and your competitor are aware of. It was like,
oh ship, She's not thinking like, oh please go and go.
(09:51):
She's like, this is going in. You have to work
your ass off to even have a chance at beating me.
And similarly, I mean, the US seems like they were
just never winning the eighteenth hole when it mattered, and
how many matches went to eighteen That is so much golf,
I know, And it's it's kind of like, it's hard
(10:16):
to say exactly why. It just becomes a momentum thing
becomes metaphysical. I don't know, but that was really different.
It just felt like the US was leaving a lot
of important but short and they couldn't get done on
eighteen and in in a closely contested match against two
really good teams, Like it doesn't take much, you know. So, um,
you know, I don't have a strong rooting interest, like
(10:38):
when it comes to these international events. I'm a neutral observer.
I'm not traveling on any passport. And so George spe
once said to me, you're American, aren't you? I said
not this week. I mean, I'm just there to write
about what happens, and you know I was at a writer, Yeah, exactly,
So I'm really really what I'm rooting for is a
(10:59):
very you just want to come down to the last match,
be supertense, emotional, and we didn't get you what. No,
you wanted to be swept. Are you kidding me? I know,
one way or the other, Like you want to sweep
or just chop the limb off. I mean yeah, if
you're playing on the team, sure, But so it's I'm
(11:21):
always a little you know, heavy hearted when you get
these because let's face it, these are precious. I mean
we've been we've had some of these Cups postponed because
of nine eleven, because of COVID. You know, things are
like we only get them every two years at best.
All of course we'll get an LPGA one next year
or Women's Solheim Cup, so just to get reshuffled the schedule.
(11:43):
But um, it's like you just want them to be
incredibly memorable and um and come down to the very
last match. We didn't get that this time around. But
it was, you know, especially the first two days. I
mean the action was pretty fast and furious and um,
you know, all credits Team Europe. It's just one of
(12:03):
those things like this has been talked about so many times.
Of course, now we turn our attention to the Ryder
Cup at Whistling Straits and it's in two weeks I'll
be there, which I'm excited about. And what is it
about the cultural differences or whatever where it just feels like,
especially on the men's side, but even felt like this
this time around, there just seemed a little more cohesion
(12:24):
with the European players and um, you know, no disrespect
to to the U s of A, but um, I
feel like that you know that that ruling kind of
took someone Nelly's fire away. Um, just the vidual kind
of emotional backlash of it. Um, I don't know. I
just felt like like Europe had just more fire in
(12:45):
them this time around. And it's probably a preview of
organcy whistling straits, where the US has all these weird
team dynamics and in Europe is just gonna come in
and do what they always do, which is have great,
great chemistry and great cheer, and they're gonna they're probably
steal another one, like it's like Days Off all over
again to uh it's that Yogi Berra But anyway, so
(13:07):
I don't know, I just feel like I've seen this
movie so many times and um, it's hard to exactly
make sense of it. What is your take on on
all of that? You know, the chemistry issue which always
hangs over these cups. Well, I think there's a myriad
variables involved in this. You get the continent of Europe,
(13:29):
which in it, you know, is is comparable inside, let's say,
to the whole of the United States, and you have
all of these national teams. You've got the Swedish national
team obviously, the British national team, Germany, Italy, all of
these countries have their own national team. So these kids,
(13:50):
which are now fully grown adults, have had years of
being on a team, more so than we generally do
as Americans. I remember we had it was like the USA,
it was like the America's Cup or something like that.
And we had four, maybe as many as six girls
(14:11):
representing California UM. And that was the first real team
thing that I had ever done. But there was no
like home base like, there was no national um like
League of Coaches, if you will, there's no national team trainers.
There's nothing, you know, none of this, none of that.
(14:31):
And and obviously it's hard to do that when you've
got fifty states in comparison to all of the countries
that are going to be represented in the Solheim Writer
President's Cup. And on top of that, America's so obsessed
with stroke play. We don't play a match play enough.
That's a huge component of it, because you know a
(14:54):
lot of times in you know, as an American, your
your thoughts are oftentimes not always obviously. And of course
we have the USDA Championships and the Junior Ands, the Amateurs,
the Senior as mid Ams, things like that, Curtis Cup,
Walker Cup, UM. But one reason why they're so precious
to us is because they are so far and few between,
(15:16):
and so I think that there's a lot to be
said about practicing more match play, there's a lot to
be said about practicing foursomes more often. I think that
there's more and and obviously I mean there are certain
comparisons between the European Tour and the p G a
UM along with the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA
(15:40):
because like the European Tour, they they occasionally play for
stupid money, but because they're not always playing for stupid
money in the same way that the l E t
does not play for the money that we play for
on the LPGA Tour, Like you, you have to find
ways to get along. You have to have that sense
of camaraderie. You have to be able to say, Okay,
(16:01):
well I'm gonna you know. Obviously we don't do it
nearly as much on the LPGA tour, but it's like,
you know, oh, you know, I found a flight for
this amount um, and so you'll text, you know, a
bunch of your buddies and then you guys can sort
of caravan together, as opposed to being like, oh um, yeah,
like i I've got room on my private jet and yeah,
actually you and your entire family and your nanny can
(16:23):
hop on with me. You know, this is more the
men's tour than than the ladies tour. Um, you know,
so it's it's a lot, it's a lot more. There's
a lot more just togetherness as well. And you know,
on on the on the on the men's side, at least,
you know, you look at the state in the States
and you got the whole You have the whole dang
family coming out like you know, like kids and all,
(16:44):
you know, in some of these weeks, not all of
them obviously, um, but you've got it's it's it's a
lot more of a solitary journey in a lot of
ways than it is in Europe. And on top of that,
go we'll just talking about the national the national teams.
I mean, if we can agree that Paul Azinger was
(17:05):
probably the most innovative and successful US captain when you're
talking about the Ryder Cup this century, I mean his
whole thing, you know, the pod system. I mean, he
said to me, I was just trying to replicate what
Europe has naturally, you know, they are broken into these
these small intense groups. The Spaniards, they came up together,
(17:26):
they played practice rounds together, they eat together like they're
a little unit, say with the English blokes, same with
the the Swedes, and they have these natural this natural
affinity because these guys have all come up together, like
you're saying, playing for the national teams, and they're bonded
in a lot of different ways by language, by cuisine,
by style of play, by shared coaches, and you know,
(17:47):
the US is the land of the rugged individual, right
you know, And so it plays it plays out in
the Ryder Cup and um, you know we're and maybe
a little bit in the Solheim Cup as well, where
it's like we the US team kind of shows up
and they're trying to build that chemistry and that camaraderie
and European side. It's it's just it's almost like they
they've had it since birth as far as golfers go,
(18:10):
you know they And so there's a structural issue there,
and as you say, you know, there's there's very little
match play in this country. I guess the n C
double a change maybe helped in some regards interested in
a competitive environment at a at a younger age, but um, yeah,
it's just slightly younger. I mean, you've got kids, in
(18:32):
Europe that are playing match play at nine years old,
you know, eight years old, like they they they learn
they learned the nuances of match play and and things
like that. And on top of that, like you know,
it's it's for the most part, like there is probably
at least half of the team on the European side
that you know are givens. And I feel like there's
(18:56):
it's a little like it's a bit more cutthroat, especially
when it comes to those last you know, four spots
on the team on on both in America and the US.
And and because like you said, where the rugged individuals
you know, you you you sometimes don't necessarily feel like
wanting to share or wanting to open up or want it,
you know. And then it's like, okay, well well well
(19:18):
we both made the team, so yeah, now we can
Now we can do this, and now we can do that.
As like no, dude, like we just got to celebrate.
If someone beats you outright, like you know, you gotta
you gotta tip your hat to them, you gotta say congratulations,
and and I want to, um, you know, do everything
you can to to help the other side, which a
full disclosure, the girls are all great at doing uh there,
(19:39):
it's nowhere near as as seemingly anyway contentious as the
men's team can be. I'm hoping that and you know,
no offensive book kept Cup. I'm hoping that his wrist
injury knocks him out of the Ryder Cup. I think that,
even though he's a great player obviously, um, I think
that would help the U. S team because it takes
(20:00):
away that whole weirdness to Bryson and that's just gonna
be a huge subtext of that week. And beyond that,
it's hard to come together as a team and one
guy thinks he's like too cool for school, and that
was part of tigers thing early in his career, is
he wants he'd you know, he spent fifty one or
I guess a hundred and three weeks in between cups
(20:22):
like being different and setting himself apart and building this
aura and this, and then he didn't want to give
that up for that one week and that's why he struggled,
you know, so much in the Ryder Cup comparatively to
stroke play. And I think Kepka has unconsciously kind of
absorbed some of that vibe, and so I just think
he's a buzz kill to have around the team, and
(20:44):
it would actually be helpful. I was hoping one of
them would would would somehow fall out of the Ryder
Cup situation. You know, Kepta hitting a tree route may
have may have done that because it actually I think
gives the US a chance even though you're you know,
you're gonna miss his firepower as a golfer. But um,
they can bring on another guy who can make birdies.
But I think it looms large from a chemistry standpoint
(21:08):
and just reduces a lot of the weirdness. I mean,
there's just so much weirdness around this US team with
and Brooks and then Patrick Reid and his you know,
his pneumonia and all that, and his feuds with the
speed and with JT and just like God, think the
(21:29):
entire generation of US Ryder Cup teams is like going
to get poisoned. You know, Brooks and Dustin Mary I've
got in a fist fight at the last Ryder Cup.
I guess just the whole thing is such an I roll.
Like you're supposed to be representing the flag. You can't
even bother to show up to the Olympics. The one
thing you could do is like come strong at the
Ryder Cup. They can't even do that. I mean, and
(21:50):
you know, these are the guys who love too to
waive the flag and have they have the wounded warriors
on their bags and stuff. But when you actually ask
them to make a sacrifice for their country, by not
being a dick and by having some team spirit and
going a little above and beyond, it helped you as
a win, like, they can't do it. So I find
the irony rich on that one. I mean, that falls
(22:12):
down into one word, and it's ego. You know, it's
it's it's ego. And again I'm gonna sit there and
say they obviously there's a huge disparity in in the
pay between the men and the women, and I think
it does need to um you know that that gap
(22:32):
doesn't need to be so wide. Guys get paid way
too much money. I get paid way too much money
if you ask me. And it's just there's just so
much ego. And again going with the you know the
low yeah, I mean, they and truth be told, is
as we as we all should in our own way.
(22:53):
We all love the country we were born, and we
we all love the nations that we call home. But
the I mean, they they're like the lone ball legal,
you know what I mean is is kind of how
they look about look upon it, and it's just like, not, dude,
we're just the best thing that you could do is
just be a fistful of cash with different denominations, like
(23:16):
just don't don't go on your own like everybody needs.
And then that's something that I feel like I've noticed
over the years just in general with the progression of
professional golf, is people sometimes forget everybody needs help at
some point, and everybody has received help at some point
in their career. And and that's one reason why people
(23:36):
always say when someone makes it big, it's like, hey,
don't forget the little guys. It's like, you know, don't
forget like I I you know, like Billy Madison, did
I pissed my pants after you pissed your pants in
in the third grade or whatever it was. You know, like,
like everybody, everybody has been vulnerable and needed help, and
it's so important to remember that. And and it's money
(23:58):
can contain things in that way, I think, Yeah, for sure, Well,
all right, this is a perfect segue. If we're talking
about the gross excess of of the PGA tour. Um. Yeah,
Patty Eyes. I actually have a buddy of mine who
is good friends with Can't Lay, and we were talking about, like,
(24:22):
holy we're on text and I said, by the way,
if you ever utter the words Patty Ice, our friendship
is over. You didn't know that, Christina. So we're going
to grandfather that one in. But just tread lightly is
all I'm saying. But yeah, but he seems like the
kind of guy that he seems like the kind of
guy that would drink Natty Light. So I'm like Natty Light,
Patty Eyes. I like that. I can, I can, I
can kind of I can go with that. Yeah, So yeah,
(24:46):
I'll praise of Patrick Can't Late. I mean, four winds.
What what he's done the last couple of weeks has
been spectacular stuff, and you love to see it for
a guy who was no more amateur in the world.
And I think most folks know his story now whore
a back injury sidelined him for a year plus and
tragedy of losing his best friend, you know, basically died
in his arms kind of thing like it. It has
(25:08):
not been an easy road and everyone loves those those
comeback stories, and it's it's been awesome too to see
him mature as a player, but also let people into
his personality because he's a very smart guy. I mean,
obviously you went to c l A said and um,
but you know, he was always so introverted or maybe
(25:32):
just gun shy. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it,
but he just like a lot of players, you know,
I think they feel like they have to follow this
script and they can't be themselves because that's it's dangerous.
You might say the wrong thing, and you know, it's like,
give me a break. I mean, all all sports fans
and you know, reporters want is authenticity and so uh
(25:53):
for you can't lay to let people into into his
into his brain a little bit. I mean some of
his his answers have been so thoughtful and interesting and
he's a pretty fun loving guy and so anyways, it's
it's been neat to see his emergence. I was interested in.
You know, everyone hates the Tour Championship. Um, as far
as the staggered start on this on the leaderboard, I
(26:14):
actually like it. I have to say. By this the
second day, it's just a regular golf tournament. It makes
sense and you don't have to think about points and projections,
and it's just it's just right there. One guy's eleven under,
another nine under, and that's just how it goes. And
all this talk about oh, you know John rom tied
for low growth, it's like John rom knew exactly what
we had to do coming down the last round, in
(26:37):
the last nine holes, and he just didn't quite get
it done. And he, you know, no shame in that.
The guy pretty much played great, but it was his
mandate was clear. He had to beat Patrick Cantle and
he couldn't do it. Um. And so, UM, I don't know.
I I don't think it's a perfect system by any means.
I mean the obvious flaw as if uh, the guy's
(26:58):
top of leaderboard gets off to start, then he knocks
out guys were just too far back. And that's kind
of what cant Leigh did I mean by by the
third round it was it was obviously gonna be a
two horse race. Um. So it's not a perfect scenario,
but it's way better than points and projections. And one
guy went to turnament but lose the FedEx Cup and
(27:19):
we went down that road. A bunch of times. So UM,
the traditional less to me thinks it's ridiculous. But from
from just simplicity, UM, it makes not in the lead
up to it, it's like gross and on day one
when they start, it's is weird. By the time they
get the second round, I just accept it. I just
go with it because it is what it is. It's
(27:39):
like it's it's uh, but what what's what's your take
on it? C K. Well, So going back to the
beginning of this segment, I I don't know. I think
part of it is because of knowing Patrick's um, you know,
(28:01):
his his life story and his trajectory and everything. I
just always kind of looked at him. He's got this
mysterious aura about him. He's you know, dark hair, dark eye,
like just this this stoic like he's just there's just
this bad asstery about it, which I love. And knowing
(28:24):
everything not everything, God, I don't know a damn thing,
but knowing what little I do know of his um,
like you know, golfing careers from when he was an
amateur two now, I was always like I was just
amazed that he had been able to come back one
from an injury and then two from the tragic death
of his best friend, Um, whom, like you had said,
(28:45):
had died in his arms basically, And so for me,
I was always like, I don't know if I was
given him a past necessarily, but I was like, dude,
if I went through that same kind of ship, Lord
only knows what I would be like. You know, whether
it's emotionally, whether it is um. You know how I
I speak to others. You know, obviously, someone that close
(29:08):
to you passing away is going to have such a
major impact on you, and I feel like maybe you
are going to be guarded. I never personally. He's the
kind of guy that I I look at him and
I say, you're authentic, you are who you are. There
is no bullshit or anything like that where you know,
(29:29):
I look at a number of these guys and it's
all about branding an image and all of this bullshit.
I'm like, No, dude like Patrick, he do what he
wants and I am so down for that. I respect
that so much because he's just true to himself. And
you know, I don't know if now he's at a
point where you know, I mean obviously he's like, you know,
(29:50):
seventeen million dollars richer in the last two weeks and
you're not even talking about bonuses from sponsors. But he's
at a point now where he's like, you know, okay,
like maybe maybe it is going to be okay for
me to open up to to the general public a
little bit. Who knows, you know, And and maybe he
was I wouldn't say the word scared, but you know,
when you've gone through a tragedy like the way he did,
(30:11):
like completely understandable, um as an outsider looking in of
being like you don't have to share ship, you're here.
Like for me, that was more than enough. And to
anyone that thought maybe he wasn't very smart or or
would be thoughtful, like you know, I'm just like dude,
(30:31):
Like look at the guy, like obviously, the way he
carries himself, the way he um you know, plots his
way on the golf course, like the you can see
the intelligence in his eyes. And yes, I do have
a slight crush on him, and I have for for
quite a while. But you know, it's like again, he's authentic,
like he never tries to imagine, if you know, Like
like like take Ricky Fowler, like he's he he loves orange,
(30:54):
He wears orange, and he's got the personality to get
away with wearing some almost stuff he's worn, you know,
like it's one of those things if it's like you know,
you it's not what you wear, is how you wear it,
and he wears it, you know mostly. Well, some of
the cuts, I'm a little you know, I feel like
they could, you know, work on being a little bit
more little accentuating of body. Yeah, a little tailoring, I think, Um,
(31:16):
but no, I mean like Patrick, he always seems like
he's been very comfortable in his skin. And that's something
that you don't see um ad percent of the time
when you're watching golf. Like you sit there and you're
just like, man like okay, like yeah, that guy he
gives a ship like about what people think of him.
He gives a ship about what you know, some schmuck
(31:40):
in his basement is going to say on his cheeto
dusted keyboard or whatever. And and and that's okay too,
Like that is okay, Like I'm not here to judge
those people. It's just like I'm like, okay, well, you know,
hopefully they get to a point in their journey where
they no longer care. And I think that would be
amazing and if they if it takes him a long time,
take as much time as you need. Girl, Like, I
just understand that there's there's going to be times where
(32:03):
that's not going to necessarily be at your benefit. Does
can't even have a social media presence, I can't think
of I mean I can. Oh, I follow him on
Instagram for sure. Yeah yeah, and I like he does
have a Twitter prolific No, not prolific at all. And um,
you know he said himself though he's not like he's
(32:24):
not about that life, which again I'm just like, oh
my god, like that's so like old school and like,
oh swoon, appreciate that. Well even you know, he's got
like the classic Jupiter looking girlfriend running out onto the
last greeney give him hugs and kisses or whatever. She's
a pharmacist. I mean, like she's got some she's like solid,
she's got like a real nine to five. I mean
(32:44):
that's cool too. Yeah, she's not a rope hoper. Yeah exactly.
I I was chatting up at the Master's like she's
very bright person. So um, yeah, it's interesting that. Yeah,
I'll praise a Patrick Cany and I love the way,
you know, he's not monster long, he just hits it flush.
Like I remember seeing a stat a couple of years ago. Um,
(33:05):
he was like I don't in um clubhead speed, butte
or something in distance, like basically because he hits it
dead center every time, like you know, there was it
was almost a statistical anomaly because he's just catching the
sweet spot every single time. And yeah, which adds to
(33:27):
my crush, right yeah obviously. Um sorry, And then secondly,
real quick about the FedEx Kind Format World Championship. Um,
I I find it, and I'm not trying to bash
by any means. There's so many No it's not, it's
not me being a bit or anything, but it's just
(33:49):
like I say, here and I'm just like, well, you know, yeah,
it's a drive chip and put tour like ha ha ha.
Because of where we have gotten, um, you know, the
point by way of our equipment of you know, I
mean the ball, the golf ball ends up so far
away from people now. So a lot of these courses,
a lot of these classic amazing golf courses become obsolete
(34:10):
so to to a small extent, I'm like, I mean
it's you know, you look at most you know, golf
clubs and their their their biggest event is the club championship,
and you know it's aside from like say the open flight. Yeah,
it's handicapped, so that that's kind of like falling along
in the same lines in that regard. You know, it's
it's it's not again, this truly isn't bashing. I'm just like,
(34:33):
it's it's different. It gets people to talk and like
you said, you don't care about that by the you know,
coming down the stretch of the final twenty seven holes,
especially when you come to the realization of, holy fuck,
there's a ten million dollar difference between first and second.
Like that, it's exciting period, you know, so um and yeah,
(34:58):
I mean it's a culminating shan like the the I
can't call it a handicap, but the the cushion that
you get is you know, going to be indicative of
the hard work that you put in throughout the entire year.
It's there's all kinds of stuff like it's it's it's um,
you know, and and it does prove to an extent
(35:20):
that you know, you work your ass off, you do
all the right things, and you know, as long as
you know, things come your way. And you get the
ball to the whole Christ alive, like, yeah, there there
there will be a reward at the end of the tunnel.
So give it your all, do your best and do
good and get it to the whole. I mean all right.
So now added a little spice to the shootout on
(35:43):
Sunday is there was a feeling that the cat Let
and John Rom were possibly you know, we're playing for
Player of the Year award as well, and it's it's interesting,
you have to there's all these caveats, so you know,
I get a vote in the Golf Rider's Association. We
do our own Player of the Year that's separate from
the tours, and it's just a calendar year, so it's
(36:07):
for it's for now the tour. They're counting the wraparounds,
so you know there when currently won in Japan, you know,
or one that what would have been Japan. He won
the Zozo in UM the fall of two thousand twenty,
but they counted for this season, so that gives him
a fourth win UM, so he's got four wins and
(36:28):
the FedEx Cup. You know, Rom has one win. Now,
obviously it was monumental going Birdie Birdie to steal the
U s open like that. We all know that counts
for a lot. Still, um, it's his only win. Now
people want to give him credit for Memorial. You know
he would have won that he was leading by six Well,
plenty of guys have coughed up a six shot lead
for starters. Secondly, if you just gotten vaccinated sooner, he wouldn't.
(36:52):
He would not have gotten bounced out with the COVID
protocols quite possibly. So um, you know there is that
like it's sort of a self it's an own goal, right, Like, um,
he possibly would not have gotten COVID if you've gotten
the vaccine sooner. You know, he said he he just
was busy and had a baby and he just hadn't
gotten around to it. It's like, well, okay, so he
(37:13):
didn't win the Memorial. Patrick Cantley did. And then you
know there's there's all these revisions historians who want to
give him credit for winning the Torch Championship because he
was you know, the raw score is not not counting
the staggered start. You would have tied for the lowest score.
But you know what he tied Kevin nas So do
a back nine scorecard count? Yeah? So some some folks
(37:35):
like oh, ram Gets had three wins, you know, Memorial
Tour Championship and the US Open was like, I think
he has one win. I think history will show he
only won the US Open and so, um, clearly he
played at an exceptionally high level all year long. I
mean the stats show that, whether it's strokes gain or
scoring average. Uh you know, yeah, but isn't Patrick Cantley
(37:58):
leading in scoring average and scramble? I think he in scrambling. Yes,
I'm pretty sure Rom won the scoring title. But um, nevertheless,
when it came down to it, the back ninety East
Lake was an absolute shootout and and carent lye he
got it done and Rom didn't. And that that's compelling
(38:18):
to me. And you know, for all of Rom's consistency,
and he was on the leaderboard constantly all along, he
only did get the one w And that that's a
big stat Like, you know, winds is more important to
me than strokes gained, right, like win, winds are wins.
That's ultimately how we measure these things when we're talking
about a place in history. You know, who doesn't even
(38:41):
know how many like scoring titles. Jack Nicholas had I'm
sure was a bunch, but no one can quote that figure. Um.
You know, it's the winds. The winds what we remember,
and so I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to
cast a vote. Um, And we could even bring in
obviously we're not even talking about Colin Morikawa, who won
a major and w g C. I mean, he's got
(39:01):
more wins in rom and he petered out in the playoffs.
So it's it takes a little starch out of is it.
You know again, the playoffs by themselves don't mean that much,
but in a super tight Player of the Year race,
like you want to run through the tape and Morikawa,
I know he's had you know, some nagging injuries things,
but he just kind of disappears. So I don't know.
(39:22):
You also failed to mention John Rombing number one in
the world at the moment as well. Yeah, and that
that is another thing that would go, you know, tip
it into his bucket. In that regard, I would say,
that's its own reward. Your reward is your number one,
and that's the same you know, the strokes gained and
that stuff. Yeah, but so would you want the FedEx
Tord Championship I mean, you can sit here and say
(39:46):
all these things you want the US Open, Okay, well
he won three other tournaments, like okay, well you know
that I the way that I see it, um I
and so I I've been saying, I'm not even saying
that for sure I'm gonna vote for Canty. I might
in the end vote for Rom, but I think it's
it's a very interesting debate that's worth having. And folks
(40:08):
who just want to give it to Rom because you
know he got screwed it memorial and it's like, yeah,
that was self inflicted. I'm sorry. No, Well I just
sit here though, and I'm just like you, not that
you guys don't deserve a vote. I just find it
comical being a member of the LPGA Tour that when
(40:30):
it comes to the Hall of Fame and Player of
the Year, that it's even on a vote system like
ours are just like, no, it's just simple metrics, like
but look at the oh it's definitely I'm not saying
it's not flawed. It's just one of those things that
is like so far removed from what I've I've always
known that. I'm just like you know, so for me
(40:52):
to wrap my head around it is is a little
bit I need a hot second to wrap my head
around this is what I'm getting at for sure. But
like you know, the players have their own agenda, and
part of it is a popularity contest. Part of it is,
you know, a loyalty to the tour where they put
more weight on the players Championship and the FedEx Cup
(41:12):
and even less on the majors because it's like some
the rank and file are trying to support the tour
enriching them and so in some ways the writers are
more pure because we don't get sucked into that. We
can look at the facts objectively. But of course, I'm
just saying anyone getting a vote in and of itself
period just just mind boggling to me. You're just in general,
(41:32):
I'm not saying I'm not saying you guys don't deserve to, because,
like you said, you get to look at it from
a different lens and oftentimes you're not necessarily going Hopefully
you're not going to be going based off of your
feelings and things like that. It's just you know, there's
always gonna be a little bit of that when it
comes to casting a vote, as opposed to being like,
oh ship, we just go based off of like what
your numbers say, like if we don't care, if nobody
(41:55):
likes you, you're going to get it or you know,
so that's that's the only thing, or or you know,
like like for me, one of my big things is
how in the hell Laura Davies is not in the
LPGA Hall of Fame is beyond me. It's simply because
the metric, that's all it is. Um. But I I
do the players cast their vote before or after the
(42:17):
Ryder Cup? Um? That's another I mean, it's basically like
an electronic thing. I think they email them the ballots.
I'm sure they went out now because they want to
announce it. I don't think the Ryder Cups directly is
not a factor in it. Um. Just like if it's
a vote, You're fucking right it is. It's not for
(42:39):
them ends up winning the hitting the winning put on
the European side, I ain't gonna get any votes from
the American players, you know, but you would get more
votes from the writers because that would be the totality
of his year. So that's that's reasically is it? What
is it? Split? And that says you really think that
they're going to play at the same like you know,
(43:00):
I because again I'm just sitting here and thinking, you
know what, deep in the you know, in the deep
in the building, like how they you know, do this
and that whatever. I again, I don't know. That being said,
I will also say everyone always says, and it is
true because obviously he's number one in the world that yes,
John ram is always up on the leaderboard, but he's
always he's always one of the featured groups. Patrick is
(43:22):
not necessarily always one of the featured groups. But you
look at his season and he obviously has had a
phenomenal season as well. It's like just because you're not
you know, seeing his name or seeing his face with
every single swing that he takes, doesn't mean that he
hasn't had a phenomenal year in in his own right.
He was it like seventeen top twenty five and twenty
three starts or something like that. And you know, and
(43:44):
and again because he had not the the spotlight wasn't
thrust on him, you know, because he's Patrick Cantley. He's
an amazing player. He obviously has an amazing story. He's
Patrick Cantley, like he and he had said as much
when he and Xander Shaffle were partners at the Zuri Classic.
(44:05):
You know, they're like, we're not going to win the
p I P like, you know, and it's one of
those things where it's like now, all of a sudden,
it's like, I wonder where he sits on those rankings now,
and that's through no fault of his own, whether he
was or wasn't ever in contention for the p I P.
He was. You know, it's sort of like a Cinderella
story to me, or maybe not Cinderella, but kind of
(44:27):
like a you know, like the uh never not never
been kissed, but you know, I don't know she's all
that or some ship. She's so stupid bullship like that. Like,
but you know, it's like he was. He was. You know,
those of us that are allowed to be selective with
the people that we continuously follow are aware of how
(44:49):
amazing his season is without having to um, you know,
I don't even know how to say it, Like, you know,
I was. I was free to you know, go on
the PGA Tour app and star the people that I
wanted to follow, and I don't necessarily have to sit
there and say I'm going to start the dude that
gained forty pounds of water weight, or I don't have
(45:11):
to start the dude that you know is beef in
with four other Americans or whatever. I'm just like, Oh,
I like him because I like the way he plays.
I like him because of the way that he carries himself.
I like him because I like the way that he
puts you know. And so I'm in a different realm
in that sense altogether as well. Um So, I think
it's very compelling for both sides. I need to do
(45:36):
a little bit more research, and I would, you know,
in a couple of weeks time, I could probably give you,
you know, a more thoughtful idea of who I would
um vote for Player of the Year. And right now
it's Patrick in my eyes. Well and and your point
is well taken. I mean, what if they're in the
anchor match again, rom and cantly at the Ryder Cup,
(45:56):
and which would be amazing like that, that would that
would factor into my vote to like, you know, they
both got to go number seven. They got to go
number seven. That is going to make or break the Cups.
It's funny because ever since Brookline, the conventional wisdom is
you got a frontload and you put all your best
(46:16):
players at the top, but um, they sort of cancel
each other out, and so you're right. You get to
like and then everyone saves a couple a couple of
killers for like eleven and twelve just in case, but
like seven through ten often decide the whole thing. Because
I decide the whole thing, there's no doubt. And you've
got to also, you can't sit there and just automatically
(46:38):
assume you have to frontload. You have to sit there
and you have to really analyze who the opposing team's
captain is, and you have to think what you have
to try and envision how they would think about things.
So it's all fucked up because you got to think, like,
there are so many layers to this, and it is
it's just amazing, Like I I you know. I that
(47:03):
being said, it's hard. It's kind of hard to read
Patty in my eyes because he has such a he
has like a resting happy face. It's not that happy,
I mean, but we have such a resting happy face.
So you sit there and you're just like, the man
is an enigma in and of itself. Yeah, no, he's blank,
but that those guys are hard. Like it's funny. Um
(47:27):
my daughter Abby us basketball player. She's like our best
defensive player and we always put her on the other
team's top score and she's just a relentless defender. Then
her expression never changes the whole game, and me and
the other coaches laugh about it, like it's so frustrating
to play against someone like that who gives you nothing.
You can't tell they're frustrated. You can't tell if they're tired,
you can't tell they're excited. And like Kelly, it's like
(47:50):
it's like that, like he's just he's just just it's
sort of unshakable. I would I would put him out first.
I put him out twelve, I put him out seventh,
Like I think he's he's good anywhere, and he gotta
go seven. He's got he gotta go seven. It's gonna
be fun to watch him. Next time, we'll delve into
the Ryder Cup teams because we'll have all the captain's
picks and we can we can look ahead. But um,
(48:11):
it's in a strange way, even you know this this
all Lime Cup. As as we're talking about earlier, it
wasn't a thrilling finish, but it got me. It got
me pretty jacked for the Ryder Cup because you know,
the crowds are into it and the all the emotion
from the players and just you know, the uniforms like
all of it. It's just a clean look and it's
(48:33):
it was a great week and it's it's kind of
a preview of what's to come. I think so absolutely,
I will say, and again, this is not it's going
to sound like a dig. I'm doing my best not
to make it a dig in my eve before the
first match as well, or even in some of the
team practices. I would. I would one. I would have
(48:58):
every player hit a ship ton of four and five
foot puts after hitting a pot four or five ft
by just to build their confidence of knowing you gotta
get it to the whole because you know what it's
going to do on the way back. And I would them.
I would. I would love to see maybe some um
(49:22):
um I don't know if they could be done by
way of t P I or uh you know, like
through uh swing analysis, uh uh technology or something. Maybe
maybe some of the fish pumps can get a little
bit of um work down on them, like like they
(49:44):
need to workshop, the fifth pumps. I just I never
understand when people in general and it's trust me, it's
for it's for guys, it's for girls, it's for tennis players,
soccer players, football players, um, golfers whomever. I never understood
the idea of punching into the ground. I don't think
(50:06):
that has as much as when you throw your fist
upward to the sky. I just don't get it. Well,
my my biggest pet peeve in life and the Ryder
Cup golfers are the worst offenders on the whole planet
is when you're going for the high five and they
clasp hands like no, it's like a slap, like the
(50:28):
hands are not supposed to interlock. It's it's not an embrace.
It's like like you smash hands and you're done, and
they grab and they hold and it gets At least
they don't do the gearshift where one person goes for
a fist pump, the other person goes for a high
five the fist and you just kind of going to
shift into third. That's gonna happen. I can't happen at
(50:49):
least once at the Ryder Cup. I mean, it's act.
It's the point we'll taken. They obsessed for two years
about the heamlines of the trousers and the gifts for
the wives and all thoughts. You're absolutely right. There should
be a whole day devoted to practicing celebrations. And I mean,
I might tell the authenticity of it, though, I will
(51:09):
admit that I do love seeing the raw, true, real
dork emotions. But it's like anything, Christina. You got embed
the fundamentals, all right. You practiced and practice to get
the fundamentals down, and then in the heat of competition
you just kind of let it go. But at least
they're coming from a base of practice and they've mastered exactly.
(51:29):
It's like working drills to to get you to get
to a certain spot in your swing. I can, I
can appreciate that. And then when it's golf, when it's
time on the call, of course, you just go. But it, yeah,
I just that's actually I might I might text team
strick or that that's actually the best idea for Please
give me credit, obviously, please give me credit. That being said,
(51:50):
before we go this morning, I would I had gone out.
I played a round to golf with my with my
lovely mother and father. Um over at Orangetree Golf of
and I'm proud to say in the last three days
are shot sixty seven, sixty nine, and I shot sixty
four today with a silly bogey on the seventeenth pole.
So I am very excuse me, very excited to get
(52:13):
into this little stretch of tournaments that were coming up
on very soon. Oh my god, I didn't even tell you, um,
and this will only take you know, probably thirty minutes
knowing me. So the reason why I had asked you
for us to film on Saturday of last week was
because on Sunday, my father and I drove up to
(52:36):
New Jersey, kind of reminiscent of my pre rookie year
where we drove around the entire United States and we
hit up like I don't know if it was like
eighteen or twenty eight tour stops or something like that.
In a month, Um, after rookie orientation in Florida, made
our made our way you know across uh, you know,
across the South, made our way, played golf in the
(52:58):
snow over at why could you country club prepper prepping
for the Side Base Classic. Made our way all the
way west back to California. So my Dad and I
went on a little trip where we were going to
go up to Mountain Ridge, which is going to host
the Cognizant Founders Cup at the in October. And since
we were there, I was like, screw it, like let's
go to Let's go to see View. I fucking love
that place. It's one of my favorite tournaments of the year,
(53:21):
full stop. And uh we get we drive up. It
was like it was it took us like eighteen hours
to get up there. I drove to twelve hours, my
dad drove about six. Um and we did it in
one in one shot and we play or I excuse me.
I played over at Sea View, got annihilated by mosquitoes.
(53:44):
Then went over to mountain Ridge and had an amazing
time accompanied I was accompanying the golf course. Um president,
UM Bob Brenner, delightful guy. We talked all about all
kinds of things. It was just just an awesome, awesome dude.
It was. It wasn't it wasn't quite shifting down on us,
(54:06):
but it was. It was a you know, it was
a wet day. And then we were supposed to spend
a couple more days up in Jersey to play and
then Ida hit and so we ended up driving down.
It was a four day trip for two rounds of golf,
and I drove. It took us obviously because of all
the horrific flooding that had taken place, and we were,
(54:28):
you know, a little bit We're like probably thirty forty
minutes from New Work and a little bit farther away
from the city of New York in and of itself,
but you know, there were tornadoes that I touched down
in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey that was flooding the
golf course at Mountain Ridge, I believe got I think
it was like five point six inches of rain. There
was as much as ten inches of rain and other
(54:49):
parts of the state. So the drive took us nineteen hours.
And I told my dad when we arrived in Jersey,
I said, Dad, we're going to on the way home,
we're going to stop at a hotel. We're gonna spend
the night. We're gonna do it in two trips. And
he was like, okay, yeah, sounds good. Whatever, and um
so when we left, we were going to try and
originally leave around like three o'clock in the morning, but
(55:11):
that was I mean, no chance um, you know, and
even at eight o'clock there was tons tons of roads
were still closed. Uh. So we leave around you know,
a little after ten thirty, close to eleven. We go
to this Korean market and my dad had purchased for
my mother, um in case, in this large container of
(55:32):
salt water live abalone because we don't get Abylonian down
in Florida and growing up in the Bay Area, like
my dad would would dive for abalone on his own
and and things like that. And so we're on our
way down and it was like boom. As soon as
we hit Baltimore started rush hour traffic, and I was
like I. I was like, Dad, I'll drive through you know,
(55:52):
the Tri state area. I'll drive us down through, um,
you know, up until we get to Virginia or something
like that. Maybe we'll switch over. Maybe not it. And
so Baltimore boom started rush hour traffic. Then we go
and end up in Washington, d C. Boom, still in
rush hour traffic. And I was like, Dad, I don't,
I don't. I'm I'm a very aggressive California driver, but
I I look like the most timid driver in comparison
(56:15):
to my dad. And I was like we don't need
to worry about. Yeah, I'll just I'm just gonna keep going,
as I was like, from New Jersey. And then we
I think we went through Delaware, Maryland, hit the Virginia Boarder,
you know, Quanticoes a ship show. I'm like, I don't
I don't understand how there's so many people on the road.
And then we hit North Carolina and I was like,
(56:35):
all right, well maybe maybe we'll maybe we'll switch and
you know, I pull in to get gas somewhere and
right right when we get back on the highway, there's
a massive accident. I'm like, the sun's already down. I
was like, I don't really want my dad having to
like break and gas and break and you know stop
and start. Um. You know, just I don't need that.
(56:56):
So I was like, I'll stick around. And I was like,
you know, we get to North Carolina, we go through
rough North Carolina and I'm like South Carolina. I was like,
it's only a hundred and it's it's like less than
two hundred miles to the border. I was like, all right,
we'll just keep going. And then there were a couple
of like bits of I feel like we're doing this
drive in real time here, like we're like we're like
a ninth hour nineteen here on this story. It's just
(57:16):
so you know, it's been a little over four minutes.
I'm looking at the tiler and a long story short,
it took us nineteen hours to get home. I drove
all nineteen hours, and my dad, he offered to drive,
and I was like, Dad, it's okay, I got this.
I get it. The I mean, I've done that plenty
of times. You're just in the zone and you just
it just seems dis eruptive to change everything up, so
(57:38):
you just keep going. And he slept for probably eleven
of those nineteen hours. And you know, it's like when
you're awake and you want to switch, it's easy to
to just switch when someone's like sleeping at there they
reached the end of the rem cycle. Then it's like
you see them as they wake up, like okay, yeah,
they're they're alert, let's go and switch. It's like he
was like just just he just dipped his toe into
(58:00):
and sleep. Every time I pulled over to get gas
or hit a rest area and take a lap around,
walk around for five ten minutes. Every single time, I
was like you're I was like, you're, it's he's I.
Let's just get some more rest. It's okay, Dad, Like
I got Plus he was like this is really good
for you too, And I'm like, yeah, it's great. That's pretty.
(58:21):
You better play well in New Jersey. Man like after that,
that is that's some serious dedication. I'm impressed. Well, I
only got one round in either place it and truth
be told, I mean Atlantic City over at the Cview Resort,
Bay Horse. Love it there over a hundred times. I
love that you hit every shot you can have, you know,
(58:43):
a three depending it's all wind dependent. It's an old
Donald Ross design you could have, you know, you try
and smash the three you to try and get on
the green into some days if the wind is down
you have a nine iron to the par fives or
these old tiny little greens. Like it's just it's just
it's so much fun and it's super pure. That's Donald Ross.
(59:05):
It's it was. It's another Donald Ross. Donald Ross and
it's spectacular. It was excellent. Yeah, it was phenomenal. Well,
hopefully some of our listeners out there have a very
long drive and we were carrying them across halfway across
South Carolina, Carolina right now or something similar. But I
(59:25):
think we should release them, Christina, I think it's time. Yes, yes,
let's turn on the light and have them scatter like
the cockroaches. You seemingly treat them like they are every
time you say release them. I know you say that
with love, though um and gratitude that they've stuck around
at the bitter end. Oh my god, this is shorter
(59:46):
than one of our longer podcasts. Anyway. That being said,
somebody apparently needs to be put down for a nap.
So on behalf of everyone at the fire Pit Collective.
I want to say thank you for coming a on
this journey and until next week, thank you for listening
to Full Stand with Christina Kim and Alan Schipnuk. That
(01:00:07):
was very skillfully dubbed. I like how you brought all together.
All right, that was funz K. That's all right,
Hello and welcome to Full Send with Christina Kim and
Alan Chipnuk. We are back at it. The Solheim Cup
just ended, so that's the obvious place to start. It
was super fun three days. Unfortunately, it wasn't that much
drama on Sunday when Europe won the first three matches.
It was pretty much mathematically impossible at that point for
(00:27):
for the U S to to claw back. But I
still think it was a great showcase for the game.
Obviously a terrific venue and a lot of awesome golf plays,
especially the first two days. Um hats off to Europe.
I know the US have disappointed. Christina. You've played in
some Solheim Cups. I know you are your patriotic girl,
(00:48):
but what's your take on what we just saw? Dang? Okay, uh,
full disclosure. It is Monday, it is Labor Day. So
the final put or excuse me, the aiding putt for
Europe to retain the Cup dropped about half an hour ago.
I thought we were gonna go on a little bit
of Patty Ice in his last couple of weeks. But yeah,
(01:11):
you can just go ahead and just bury the dagger
if you will. I mean, like it just happened. There
was some unbelievable golf that was played. There is no question. Um,
I think it's been very interesting paying attention to social
(01:33):
media where you get, yeah, I would never call anybody
a rando, because just because I don't know them does
not necessarily mean that they're a random person. But all
of these fucking randos that were like, who is this
Leona McGuire and I'm like, girl, like do you you
(01:53):
your your lack of knowledge of women's golf is highly apparent.
She has been absolute rock star since she was twelve
years old, um, as well as her twin sister Lisa,
And yeah, I mean I remember I played Leona McGuire
in the match play over at Shadow Creek for the
Bank of Hope UM match play and that was that was.
(02:19):
It was an impressive thing to watch watching her play,
and it was extra suite being able to beat her
because I knew she was going to be on the
team and chances were slim to none that I would
be on the team. So I was like, okay, well
I got some match play against the European under my
belt this year. It was if someone doesn't know Leona
(02:42):
McGuire at this point, they're not really a golf fan.
It's the same with all the women playing in the
Solheim Cup, Like, there's never been so much attention and
exposure around women's golf. Now. It's true that you guys
do get hosed on the broadcast windows at sometimes, but
on social media and any platform you can think of,
people are in love with women's golf. Like my feed,
(03:04):
which is obviously not representive of the real world, but
I would say it was ten to one the amount
of tweets and interest Solheim Cup versus the Tour Championship.
Like so if someone comes at you and they're like, uh,
you know, blah blah blah, it's it's really revealing that
they're just not an actual golf fan at this point,
because uh, you know, I'm not saying you have to
(03:25):
watch only women's golf, but it's just part of being
a fan these days, the big events, you guys are
playing awesome major championship venues. I've got all these these
really charismatic stars, like, uh so I have no tolerance
for It's to me, it's not even women's golf, it's
just golf. Are you a golf fan? And then you're
gonna follow some of these events and it's just that simple.
So anyway, sorry, that's my that's my little die tribe.
(03:47):
Oh no, you can go off, are you? I trust me.
I am right up there with you. It's just it's
something that I find so comical because um, there's just
there's so much amazing golf being played on both the
men's and women's side. And I had actually spoken to
a handful of friends yesterday and I said that the
(04:09):
Cup will be determined with the Matilda Castro and Lizette
Sala's match, because yeah, I mean I still have chills
right now. I mean I've got goose bumps on my legs,
just um, just knowing you've got to putting geniuses going
up against one another. And it was that was where
(04:30):
the match was going. That was where the Cup was
going to be determined right there, to be honest um,
because that's it's you know, right in that at that
point in the match where it's you know, it's a
tipping point one way or another. But that was that
was it. And and the fact that um, you know
Mikey Patterson who caddied for Kari reb for gosh, was
(04:50):
it wasn't twenty years eighteen years they worked together. He
was on the bag um for Sudann Petterson when she
won the winning putt in the last Solheim Cup, right
immediately before her announcement of of stepping away from playing UM.
Like yeah, I mean, there's just something so electric though,
(05:12):
because you had Lazette with John Colleen, who has been
I don't know if he's ever missed the Solheim Cup,
to be honest. He was on my bag in Ireland
when we played at Colleen Castle going up against Um,
you know again a putting genius and an absolute star
in Matilda Castro and from Finland and Mikey Patterson on
the bag. It's just that was that was the most
(05:34):
intriguing match for me of I mean quite frankly all
three days. You know, it's so funny I've been hearing this.
I mean my first Ryder Cup was a ninety seven
over in Spain, and I swear I've heard it every
biennial competition, Like whichever team wins, they always it always
just says, oh, they just made more putts than us,
and and that's what the losing team says. And to
(05:56):
me it's a little bit of a cop out because
it's not like they got lucky made the but you
gotta actually put a good joke on it and make
the putts. But it did seem like you're made a
lot more putts and it wasn't me. It was the us,
like not getting the ball to the whole at some
crucial moments. I'm pretty sure I screened that out about
eight or nine times in the singles matches alone. Um,
(06:17):
And obviously, I mean, I feel like I'm very conflicted
because I feel like such a backseat driver at this
point because clearly, if I had gotten more balls to
go in the hole, I would be on that team. Um.
I just remember, like one of the few things that
I um learned early on when it came to match
(06:38):
play when I was a kid, one of the many
things that my dad sort of drilled into me was
you're not gonna you gotta get it to the whole,
you know. And And one thing that my boyfriend Duncan
had told me years ago when Hendrik Stinson won at
East Lake was he was like, one thing I've noticed
because he's you know, he's carried on the LPGA tour
(06:59):
for god going on, you know, over ten years now,
he's like the reason why the scores are lower for
the men in all honesty is is because they get
the ball to the hole like they very rarely leave
it short, and when you do, it's something that sticks
in your mind because you're like, oh my god, that
dude left it short. And then this year Todd had
(07:20):
been playing and he's I think he still will, um,
you know, is playing a little game whenever we're you know,
out on the course, because there's only so much that
you can do if you're not the one actually striking
the ball yourself. And the last few tournaments he'd been
keeping track of, um, all of the plots left short
in my group. And I think the last couple of rounds, yes,
(07:41):
I did miss the cut. However, the last couple of
rounds I didn't leave a single plot short, which was
something that I'd been really wanting to work on. And um, yeah,
I I again. I mean, the thing is, you know,
it's easy to sit here and say that when you
know in your shoes, because yes, it is true of
being said. You know, because I have the experience of
(08:02):
having competed in in three Solheim Cups, three I know
and singles. Thank you, Um, you know you realize how
sometimes paralyzing it can be. Two even set up to
a golf ball, and I relish in that kind of
an atmosphere. I love having, you know it. It's not
(08:26):
us versus them necessarily, but it is head to head
and it really truly gets you and forces you to
truly be in the moment. So it's one of those
things where I'm just like man like that. It's you know,
and the eve before the first match, like the the
LPGA and the l ET they come together and have
a group meeting with all twenty four competitors and all
(08:46):
twenty four caddies. You know, it's the same thing of like, okay,
these are the rules of match play. You can't do this. Um.
They did fail to mention the whole sack drum thing
prior to the matches, and that they had never said
that to us before. I've r um, but you know,
it's one of those things that I want to like
go back to the team room afterwards and be like,
also get it to the whole because yeah, let's say,
(09:08):
if you miss it, you know what the bit cha
zoo went on the way back, you know, and you
gave it a chance. Yogi berra you know. The great
philosopher of that is Yogi Berra's putts loft short, don't
go in. My clinical data does prove it to be
a little bit higher of a percentage um, But that's
one of those that's one of the things. And and
when you make putts and you don't dribble puts in,
(09:31):
not that not that a lot of the puts that
were made were dribbled in, but when you make putts
with authority, that's that's like, um, you know, being on
serve in tennis, because it's this subconscious thing that both
you and your competitor are aware of. It was like,
oh ship, She's not thinking like, oh please go and go.
(09:51):
She's like, this is going in. You have to work
your ass off to even have a chance at beating me.
And similarly, I mean, the US seems like they were
just never winning the eighteenth hole when it mattered, and
how many matches went to eighteen That is so much golf,
I know, And it's it's kind of like, it's hard
(10:16):
to say exactly why. It just becomes a momentum thing
becomes metaphysical. I don't know, but that was really different.
It just felt like the US was leaving a lot
of important but short and they couldn't get done on
eighteen and in in a closely contested match against two
really good teams, Like it doesn't take much, you know. So, um,
you know, I don't have a strong rooting interest, like
(10:38):
when it comes to these international events. I'm a neutral observer.
I'm not traveling on any passport. And so George spe
once said to me, you're American, aren't you? I said
not this week. I mean, I'm just there to write
about what happens, and you know I was at a writer, Yeah, exactly,
So I'm really really what I'm rooting for is a
(10:59):
very you just want to come down to the last match,
be supertense, emotional, and we didn't get you what. No,
you wanted to be swept. Are you kidding me? I know,
one way or the other, Like you want to sweep
or just chop the limb off. I mean yeah, if
you're playing on the team, sure, But so it's I'm
(11:21):
always a little you know, heavy hearted when you get
these because let's face it, these are precious. I mean
we've been we've had some of these Cups postponed because
of nine eleven, because of COVID. You know, things are
like we only get them every two years at best.
All of course we'll get an LPGA one next year
or Women's Solheim Cup, so just to get reshuffled the schedule.
(11:43):
But um, it's like you just want them to be
incredibly memorable and um and come down to the very
last match. We didn't get that this time around. But
it was, you know, especially the first two days. I
mean the action was pretty fast and furious and um,
you know, all credits Team Europe. It's just one of
(12:03):
those things like this has been talked about so many times.
Of course, now we turn our attention to the Ryder
Cup at Whistling Straits and it's in two weeks I'll
be there, which I'm excited about. And what is it
about the cultural differences or whatever where it just feels like,
especially on the men's side, but even felt like this
this time around, there just seemed a little more cohesion
(12:24):
with the European players and um, you know, no disrespect
to to the U s of A, but um, I
feel like that you know that that ruling kind of
took someone Nelly's fire away. Um, just the vidual kind
of emotional backlash of it. Um, I don't know. I
just felt like like Europe had just more fire in
(12:45):
them this time around. And it's probably a preview of
organcy whistling straits, where the US has all these weird
team dynamics and in Europe is just gonna come in
and do what they always do, which is have great,
great chemistry and great cheer, and they're gonna they're probably
steal another one, like it's like Days Off all over
again to uh it's that Yogi Berra But anyway, so
(13:07):
I don't know, I just feel like I've seen this
movie so many times and um, it's hard to exactly
make sense of it. What is your take on on
all of that? You know, the chemistry issue which always
hangs over these cups. Well, I think there's a myriad
variables involved in this. You get the continent of Europe,
(13:29):
which in it, you know, is is comparable inside, let's say,
to the whole of the United States, and you have
all of these national teams. You've got the Swedish national
team obviously, the British national team, Germany, Italy, all of
these countries have their own national team. So these kids,
(13:50):
which are now fully grown adults, have had years of
being on a team, more so than we generally do
as Americans. I remember we had it was like the USA,
it was like the America's Cup or something like that.
And we had four, maybe as many as six girls
(14:11):
representing California UM. And that was the first real team
thing that I had ever done. But there was no
like home base like, there was no national um like
League of Coaches, if you will, there's no national team trainers.
There's nothing, you know, none of this, none of that.
(14:31):
And and obviously it's hard to do that when you've
got fifty states in comparison to all of the countries
that are going to be represented in the Solheim Writer
President's Cup. And on top of that, America's so obsessed
with stroke play. We don't play a match play enough.
That's a huge component of it, because you know a
(14:54):
lot of times in you know, as an American, your
your thoughts are oftentimes not always obviously. And of course
we have the USDA Championships and the Junior Ands, the Amateurs,
the Senior as mid Ams, things like that, Curtis Cup,
Walker Cup, UM. But one reason why they're so precious
to us is because they are so far and few between,
(15:16):
and so I think that there's a lot to be
said about practicing more match play, there's a lot to
be said about practicing foursomes more often. I think that
there's more and and obviously I mean there are certain
comparisons between the European Tour and the p G a
UM along with the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA
(15:40):
because like the European Tour, they they occasionally play for
stupid money, but because they're not always playing for stupid
money in the same way that the l E t
does not play for the money that we play for
on the LPGA Tour, Like you, you have to find
ways to get along. You have to have that sense
of camaraderie. You have to be able to say, Okay,
(16:01):
well I'm gonna you know. Obviously we don't do it
nearly as much on the LPGA tour, but it's like,
you know, oh, you know, I found a flight for
this amount um, and so you'll text, you know, a
bunch of your buddies and then you guys can sort
of caravan together, as opposed to being like, oh um, yeah,
like i I've got room on my private jet and yeah,
actually you and your entire family and your nanny can
(16:23):
hop on with me. You know, this is more the
men's tour than than the ladies tour. Um, you know,
so it's it's a lot, it's a lot more. There's
a lot more just togetherness as well. And you know,
on on the on the on the men's side, at least,
you know, you look at the state in the States
and you got the whole You have the whole dang
family coming out like you know, like kids and all,
(16:44):
you know, in some of these weeks, not all of
them obviously, um, but you've got it's it's it's a
lot more of a solitary journey in a lot of
ways than it is in Europe. And on top of that,
go we'll just talking about the national the national teams.
I mean, if we can agree that Paul Azinger was
(17:05):
probably the most innovative and successful US captain when you're
talking about the Ryder Cup this century, I mean his
whole thing, you know, the pod system. I mean, he
said to me, I was just trying to replicate what
Europe has naturally, you know, they are broken into these
these small intense groups. The Spaniards, they came up together,
(17:26):
they played practice rounds together, they eat together like they're
a little unit, say with the English blokes, same with
the the Swedes, and they have these natural this natural
affinity because these guys have all come up together, like
you're saying, playing for the national teams, and they're bonded
in a lot of different ways by language, by cuisine,
by style of play, by shared coaches, and you know,
(17:47):
the US is the land of the rugged individual, right
you know, And so it plays it plays out in
the Ryder Cup and um, you know we're and maybe
a little bit in the Solheim Cup as well, where
it's like we the US team kind of shows up
and they're trying to build that chemistry and that camaraderie
and European side. It's it's just it's almost like they
they've had it since birth as far as golfers go,
(18:10):
you know they And so there's a structural issue there,
and as you say, you know, there's there's very little
match play in this country. I guess the n C
double a change maybe helped in some regards interested in
a competitive environment at a at a younger age, but um, yeah,
it's just slightly younger. I mean, you've got kids, in
(18:32):
Europe that are playing match play at nine years old,
you know, eight years old, like they they they learn
they learned the nuances of match play and and things
like that. And on top of that, like you know,
it's it's for the most part, like there is probably
at least half of the team on the European side
that you know are givens. And I feel like there's
(18:56):
it's a little like it's a bit more cutthroat, especially
when it comes to those last you know, four spots
on the team on on both in America and the US.
And and because like you said, where the rugged individuals
you know, you you you sometimes don't necessarily feel like
wanting to share or wanting to open up or want it,
you know. And then it's like, okay, well well well
(19:18):
we both made the team, so yeah, now we can
Now we can do this, and now we can do that.
As like no, dude, like we just got to celebrate.
If someone beats you outright, like you know, you gotta
you gotta tip your hat to them, you gotta say congratulations,
and and I want to, um, you know, do everything
you can to to help the other side, which a
full disclosure, the girls are all great at doing uh there,
(19:39):
it's nowhere near as as seemingly anyway contentious as the
men's team can be. I'm hoping that and you know,
no offensive book kept Cup. I'm hoping that his wrist
injury knocks him out of the Ryder Cup. I think that,
even though he's a great player obviously, um, I think
that would help the U. S team because it takes
(20:00):
away that whole weirdness to Bryson and that's just gonna
be a huge subtext of that week. And beyond that,
it's hard to come together as a team and one
guy thinks he's like too cool for school, and that
was part of tigers thing early in his career, is
he wants he'd you know, he spent fifty one or
I guess a hundred and three weeks in between cups
(20:22):
like being different and setting himself apart and building this
aura and this, and then he didn't want to give
that up for that one week and that's why he struggled,
you know, so much in the Ryder Cup comparatively to
stroke play. And I think Kepka has unconsciously kind of
absorbed some of that vibe, and so I just think
he's a buzz kill to have around the team, and
(20:44):
it would actually be helpful. I was hoping one of
them would would would somehow fall out of the Ryder
Cup situation. You know, Kepta hitting a tree route may
have may have done that because it actually I think
gives the US a chance even though you're you know,
you're gonna miss his firepower as a golfer. But um,
they can bring on another guy who can make birdies.
But I think it looms large from a chemistry standpoint
(21:08):
and just reduces a lot of the weirdness. I mean,
there's just so much weirdness around this US team with
and Brooks and then Patrick Reid and his you know,
his pneumonia and all that, and his feuds with the
speed and with JT and just like God, think the
(21:29):
entire generation of US Ryder Cup teams is like going
to get poisoned. You know, Brooks and Dustin Mary I've
got in a fist fight at the last Ryder Cup.
I guess just the whole thing is such an I roll.
Like you're supposed to be representing the flag. You can't
even bother to show up to the Olympics. The one
thing you could do is like come strong at the
Ryder Cup. They can't even do that. I mean, and
(21:50):
you know, these are the guys who love too to
waive the flag and have they have the wounded warriors
on their bags and stuff. But when you actually ask
them to make a sacrifice for their country, by not
being a dick and by having some team spirit and
going a little above and beyond, it helped you as
a win, like, they can't do it. So I find
the irony rich on that one. I mean, that falls
(22:12):
down into one word, and it's ego. You know, it's
it's it's ego. And again I'm gonna sit there and
say they obviously there's a huge disparity in in the
pay between the men and the women, and I think
it does need to um you know that that gap
(22:32):
doesn't need to be so wide. Guys get paid way
too much money. I get paid way too much money
if you ask me. And it's just there's just so
much ego. And again going with the you know the
low yeah, I mean, they and truth be told, is
as we as we all should in our own way.
(22:53):
We all love the country we were born, and we
we all love the nations that we call home. But
the I mean, they they're like the lone ball legal,
you know what I mean is is kind of how
they look about look upon it, and it's just like, not, dude,
we're just the best thing that you could do is
just be a fistful of cash with different denominations, like
(23:16):
just don't don't go on your own like everybody needs.
And then that's something that I feel like I've noticed
over the years just in general with the progression of
professional golf, is people sometimes forget everybody needs help at
some point, and everybody has received help at some point
in their career. And and that's one reason why people
(23:36):
always say when someone makes it big, it's like, hey,
don't forget the little guys. It's like, you know, don't
forget like I I you know, like Billy Madison, did
I pissed my pants after you pissed your pants in
in the third grade or whatever it was. You know, like,
like everybody, everybody has been vulnerable and needed help, and
it's so important to remember that. And and it's money
(23:58):
can contain things in that way, I think, Yeah, for sure, Well,
all right, this is a perfect segue. If we're talking
about the gross excess of of the PGA tour. Um. Yeah,
Patty Eyes. I actually have a buddy of mine who
is good friends with Can't Lay, and we were talking about, like,
(24:22):
holy we're on text and I said, by the way,
if you ever utter the words Patty Ice, our friendship
is over. You didn't know that, Christina. So we're going
to grandfather that one in. But just tread lightly is
all I'm saying. But yeah, but he seems like the
kind of guy that he seems like the kind of
guy that would drink Natty Light. So I'm like Natty Light,
Patty Eyes. I like that. I can, I can, I
can kind of I can go with that. Yeah, So yeah,
(24:46):
I'll praise of Patrick Can't Late. I mean, four winds.
What what he's done the last couple of weeks has
been spectacular stuff, and you love to see it for
a guy who was no more amateur in the world.
And I think most folks know his story now whore
a back injury sidelined him for a year plus and
tragedy of losing his best friend, you know, basically died
in his arms kind of thing like it. It has
(25:08):
not been an easy road and everyone loves those those
comeback stories, and it's it's been awesome too to see
him mature as a player, but also let people into
his personality because he's a very smart guy. I mean,
obviously you went to c l A said and um,
but you know, he was always so introverted or maybe
(25:32):
just gun shy. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it,
but he just like a lot of players, you know,
I think they feel like they have to follow this
script and they can't be themselves because that's it's dangerous.
You might say the wrong thing, and you know, it's like,
give me a break. I mean, all all sports fans
and you know, reporters want is authenticity and so uh
(25:53):
for you can't lay to let people into into his
into his brain a little bit. I mean some of
his his answers have been so thoughtful and interesting and
he's a pretty fun loving guy and so anyways, it's
it's been neat to see his emergence. I was interested in.
You know, everyone hates the Tour Championship. Um, as far
as the staggered start on this on the leaderboard, I
(26:14):
actually like it. I have to say. By this the
second day, it's just a regular golf tournament. It makes
sense and you don't have to think about points and projections,
and it's just it's just right there. One guy's eleven under,
another nine under, and that's just how it goes. And
all this talk about oh, you know John rom tied
for low growth, it's like John rom knew exactly what
we had to do coming down the last round, in
(26:37):
the last nine holes, and he just didn't quite get
it done. And he, you know, no shame in that.
The guy pretty much played great, but it was his
mandate was clear. He had to beat Patrick Cantle and
he couldn't do it. Um. And so, UM, I don't know.
I I don't think it's a perfect system by any means.
I mean the obvious flaw as if uh, the guy's
(26:58):
top of leaderboard gets off to start, then he knocks
out guys were just too far back. And that's kind
of what cant Leigh did I mean by by the
third round it was it was obviously gonna be a
two horse race. Um. So it's not a perfect scenario,
but it's way better than points and projections. And one
guy went to turnament but lose the FedEx Cup and
(27:19):
we went down that road. A bunch of times. So UM,
the traditional less to me thinks it's ridiculous. But from
from just simplicity, UM, it makes not in the lead
up to it, it's like gross and on day one
when they start, it's is weird. By the time they
get the second round, I just accept it. I just
go with it because it is what it is. It's
(27:39):
like it's it's uh, but what what's what's your take
on it? C K. Well, So going back to the
beginning of this segment, I I don't know. I think
part of it is because of knowing Patrick's um, you know,
(28:01):
his his life story and his trajectory and everything. I
just always kind of looked at him. He's got this
mysterious aura about him. He's you know, dark hair, dark eye,
like just this this stoic like he's just there's just
this bad asstery about it, which I love. And knowing
(28:24):
everything not everything, God, I don't know a damn thing,
but knowing what little I do know of his um,
like you know, golfing careers from when he was an
amateur two now, I was always like I was just
amazed that he had been able to come back one
from an injury and then two from the tragic death
of his best friend, Um, whom, like you had said,
(28:45):
had died in his arms basically, And so for me,
I was always like, I don't know if I was
given him a past necessarily, but I was like, dude,
if I went through that same kind of ship, Lord
only knows what I would be like. You know, whether
it's emotionally, whether it is um. You know how I
I speak to others. You know, obviously, someone that close
(29:08):
to you passing away is going to have such a
major impact on you, and I feel like maybe you
are going to be guarded. I never personally. He's the
kind of guy that I I look at him and
I say, you're authentic, you are who you are. There
is no bullshit or anything like that where you know,
(29:29):
I look at a number of these guys and it's
all about branding an image and all of this bullshit.
I'm like, No, dude like Patrick, he do what he
wants and I am so down for that. I respect
that so much because he's just true to himself. And
you know, I don't know if now he's at a
point where you know, I mean obviously he's like, you know,
(29:50):
seventeen million dollars richer in the last two weeks and
you're not even talking about bonuses from sponsors. But he's
at a point now where he's like, you know, okay,
like maybe maybe it is going to be okay for
me to open up to to the general public a
little bit. Who knows, you know, And and maybe he
was I wouldn't say the word scared, but you know,
when you've gone through a tragedy like the way he did,
(30:11):
like completely understandable, um as an outsider looking in of
being like you don't have to share ship, you're here.
Like for me, that was more than enough. And to
anyone that thought maybe he wasn't very smart or or
would be thoughtful, like you know, I'm just like dude,
(30:31):
Like look at the guy, like obviously, the way he
carries himself, the way he um you know, plots his
way on the golf course, like the you can see
the intelligence in his eyes. And yes, I do have
a slight crush on him, and I have for for
quite a while. But you know, it's like again, he's authentic,
like he never tries to imagine, if you know, Like
like like take Ricky Fowler, like he's he he loves orange,
(30:54):
He wears orange, and he's got the personality to get
away with wearing some almost stuff he's worn, you know,
like it's one of those things if it's like you know,
you it's not what you wear, is how you wear it,
and he wears it, you know mostly. Well, some of
the cuts, I'm a little you know, I feel like
they could, you know, work on being a little bit
more little accentuating of body. Yeah, a little tailoring, I think, Um,
(31:16):
but no, I mean like Patrick, he always seems like
he's been very comfortable in his skin. And that's something
that you don't see um ad percent of the time
when you're watching golf. Like you sit there and you're
just like, man like okay, like yeah, that guy he
gives a ship like about what people think of him.
He gives a ship about what you know, some schmuck
(31:40):
in his basement is going to say on his cheeto
dusted keyboard or whatever. And and and that's okay too,
Like that is okay, Like I'm not here to judge
those people. It's just like I'm like, okay, well, you know,
hopefully they get to a point in their journey where
they no longer care. And I think that would be
amazing and if they if it takes him a long time,
take as much time as you need. Girl, Like, I
just understand that there's there's going to be times where
(32:03):
that's not going to necessarily be at your benefit. Does
can't even have a social media presence, I can't think
of I mean I can. Oh, I follow him on
Instagram for sure. Yeah yeah, and I like he does
have a Twitter prolific No, not prolific at all. And um,
you know he said himself though he's not like he's
(32:24):
not about that life, which again I'm just like, oh
my god, like that's so like old school and like,
oh swoon, appreciate that. Well even you know, he's got
like the classic Jupiter looking girlfriend running out onto the
last greeney give him hugs and kisses or whatever. She's
a pharmacist. I mean, like she's got some she's like solid,
she's got like a real nine to five. I mean
(32:44):
that's cool too. Yeah, she's not a rope hoper. Yeah exactly.
I I was chatting up at the Master's like she's
very bright person. So um, yeah, it's interesting that. Yeah,
I'll praise a Patrick Cany and I love the way,
you know, he's not monster long, he just hits it flush.
Like I remember seeing a stat a couple of years ago. Um,
(33:05):
he was like I don't in um clubhead speed, butte
or something in distance, like basically because he hits it
dead center every time, like you know, there was it
was almost a statistical anomaly because he's just catching the
sweet spot every single time. And yeah, which adds to
(33:27):
my crush, right yeah obviously. Um sorry, And then secondly,
real quick about the FedEx Kind Format World Championship. Um,
I I find it, and I'm not trying to bash
by any means. There's so many No it's not, it's
not me being a bit or anything, but it's just
(33:49):
like I say, here and I'm just like, well, you know, yeah,
it's a drive chip and put tour like ha ha ha.
Because of where we have gotten, um, you know, the
point by way of our equipment of you know, I
mean the ball, the golf ball ends up so far
away from people now. So a lot of these courses,
a lot of these classic amazing golf courses become obsolete
(34:10):
so to to a small extent, I'm like, I mean
it's you know, you look at most you know, golf
clubs and their their their biggest event is the club championship,
and you know it's aside from like say the open flight. Yeah,
it's handicapped, so that that's kind of like falling along
in the same lines in that regard. You know, it's
it's it's not again, this truly isn't bashing. I'm just like,
(34:33):
it's it's different. It gets people to talk and like
you said, you don't care about that by the you know,
coming down the stretch of the final twenty seven holes,
especially when you come to the realization of, holy fuck,
there's a ten million dollar difference between first and second.
Like that, it's exciting period, you know, so um and yeah,
(34:58):
I mean it's a culminating shan like the the I
can't call it a handicap, but the the cushion that
you get is you know, going to be indicative of
the hard work that you put in throughout the entire year.
It's there's all kinds of stuff like it's it's it's um,
you know, and and it does prove to an extent
(35:20):
that you know, you work your ass off, you do
all the right things, and you know, as long as
you know, things come your way. And you get the
ball to the whole Christ alive, like, yeah, there there
there will be a reward at the end of the tunnel.
So give it your all, do your best and do
good and get it to the whole. I mean all right.
So now added a little spice to the shootout on
(35:43):
Sunday is there was a feeling that the cat Let
and John Rom were possibly you know, we're playing for
Player of the Year award as well, and it's it's interesting,
you have to there's all these caveats, so you know,
I get a vote in the Golf Rider's Association. We
do our own Player of the Year that's separate from
the tours, and it's just a calendar year, so it's
(36:07):
for it's for now the tour. They're counting the wraparounds,
so you know there when currently won in Japan, you know,
or one that what would have been Japan. He won
the Zozo in UM the fall of two thousand twenty,
but they counted for this season, so that gives him
a fourth win UM, so he's got four wins and
(36:28):
the FedEx Cup. You know, Rom has one win. Now,
obviously it was monumental going Birdie Birdie to steal the
U s open like that. We all know that counts
for a lot. Still, um, it's his only win. Now
people want to give him credit for Memorial. You know
he would have won that he was leading by six Well,
plenty of guys have coughed up a six shot lead
for starters. Secondly, if you just gotten vaccinated sooner, he wouldn't.
(36:52):
He would not have gotten bounced out with the COVID
protocols quite possibly. So um, you know there is that
like it's sort of a self it's an own goal, right, Like, um,
he possibly would not have gotten COVID if you've gotten
the vaccine sooner. You know, he said he he just
was busy and had a baby and he just hadn't
gotten around to it. It's like, well, okay, so he
(37:13):
didn't win the Memorial. Patrick Cantley did. And then you
know there's there's all these revisions historians who want to
give him credit for winning the Torch Championship because he
was you know, the raw score is not not counting
the staggered start. You would have tied for the lowest score.
But you know what he tied Kevin nas So do
a back nine scorecard count? Yeah? So some some folks
(37:35):
like oh, ram Gets had three wins, you know, Memorial
Tour Championship and the US Open was like, I think
he has one win. I think history will show he
only won the US Open and so, um, clearly he
played at an exceptionally high level all year long. I
mean the stats show that, whether it's strokes gain or
scoring average. Uh you know, yeah, but isn't Patrick Cantley
(37:58):
leading in scoring average and scramble? I think he in scrambling. Yes,
I'm pretty sure Rom won the scoring title. But um, nevertheless,
when it came down to it, the back ninety East
Lake was an absolute shootout and and carent lye he
got it done and Rom didn't. And that that's compelling
(38:18):
to me. And you know, for all of Rom's consistency,
and he was on the leaderboard constantly all along, he
only did get the one w And that that's a
big stat Like, you know, winds is more important to
me than strokes gained, right, like win, winds are wins.
That's ultimately how we measure these things when we're talking
about a place in history. You know, who doesn't even
(38:41):
know how many like scoring titles. Jack Nicholas had I'm
sure was a bunch, but no one can quote that figure. Um.
You know, it's the winds. The winds what we remember,
and so I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to
cast a vote. Um, And we could even bring in
obviously we're not even talking about Colin Morikawa, who won
a major and w g C. I mean, he's got
(39:01):
more wins in rom and he petered out in the playoffs.
So it's it takes a little starch out of is it.
You know again, the playoffs by themselves don't mean that much,
but in a super tight Player of the Year race,
like you want to run through the tape and Morikawa,
I know he's had you know, some nagging injuries things,
but he just kind of disappears. So I don't know.
(39:22):
You also failed to mention John Rombing number one in
the world at the moment as well. Yeah, and that
that is another thing that would go, you know, tip
it into his bucket. In that regard, I would say,
that's its own reward. Your reward is your number one,
and that's the same you know, the strokes gained and
that stuff. Yeah, but so would you want the FedEx
Tord Championship I mean, you can sit here and say
(39:46):
all these things you want the US Open, Okay, well
he won three other tournaments, like okay, well you know
that I the way that I see it, um I
and so I I've been saying, I'm not even saying
that for sure I'm gonna vote for Canty. I might
in the end vote for Rom, but I think it's
it's a very interesting debate that's worth having. And folks
(40:08):
who just want to give it to Rom because you
know he got screwed it memorial and it's like, yeah,
that was self inflicted. I'm sorry. No, Well I just
sit here though, and I'm just like you, not that
you guys don't deserve a vote. I just find it
comical being a member of the LPGA Tour that when
(40:30):
it comes to the Hall of Fame and Player of
the Year, that it's even on a vote system like
ours are just like, no, it's just simple metrics, like
but look at the oh it's definitely I'm not saying
it's not flawed. It's just one of those things that
is like so far removed from what I've I've always
known that. I'm just like you know, so for me
(40:52):
to wrap my head around it is is a little
bit I need a hot second to wrap my head
around this is what I'm getting at for sure. But
like you know, the players have their own agenda, and
part of it is a popularity contest. Part of it is,
you know, a loyalty to the tour where they put
more weight on the players Championship and the FedEx Cup
(41:12):
and even less on the majors because it's like some
the rank and file are trying to support the tour
enriching them and so in some ways the writers are
more pure because we don't get sucked into that. We
can look at the facts objectively. But of course, I'm
just saying anyone getting a vote in and of itself
period just just mind boggling to me. You're just in general,
(41:32):
I'm not saying I'm not saying you guys don't deserve to, because,
like you said, you get to look at it from
a different lens and oftentimes you're not necessarily going Hopefully
you're not going to be going based off of your
feelings and things like that. It's just you know, there's
always gonna be a little bit of that when it
comes to casting a vote, as opposed to being like,
oh ship, we just go based off of like what
your numbers say, like if we don't care, if nobody
(41:55):
likes you, you're going to get it or you know,
so that's that's the only thing, or or you know,
like like for me, one of my big things is
how in the hell Laura Davies is not in the
LPGA Hall of Fame is beyond me. It's simply because
the metric, that's all it is. Um. But I I
do the players cast their vote before or after the
(42:17):
Ryder Cup? Um? That's another I mean, it's basically like
an electronic thing. I think they email them the ballots.
I'm sure they went out now because they want to
announce it. I don't think the Ryder Cups directly is
not a factor in it. Um. Just like if it's
a vote, You're fucking right it is. It's not for
(42:39):
them ends up winning the hitting the winning put on
the European side, I ain't gonna get any votes from
the American players, you know, but you would get more
votes from the writers because that would be the totality
of his year. So that's that's reasically is it? What
is it? Split? And that says you really think that
they're going to play at the same like you know,
(43:00):
I because again I'm just sitting here and thinking, you
know what, deep in the you know, in the deep
in the building, like how they you know, do this
and that whatever. I again, I don't know. That being said,
I will also say everyone always says, and it is
true because obviously he's number one in the world that yes,
John ram is always up on the leaderboard, but he's
always he's always one of the featured groups. Patrick is
(43:22):
not necessarily always one of the featured groups. But you
look at his season and he obviously has had a
phenomenal season as well. It's like just because you're not
you know, seeing his name or seeing his face with
every single swing that he takes, doesn't mean that he
hasn't had a phenomenal year in in his own right.
He was it like seventeen top twenty five and twenty
three starts or something like that. And you know, and
(43:44):
and again because he had not the the spotlight wasn't
thrust on him, you know, because he's Patrick Cantley. He's
an amazing player. He obviously has an amazing story. He's
Patrick Cantley, like he and he had said as much
when he and Xander Shaffle were partners at the Zuri Classic.
(44:05):
You know, they're like, we're not going to win the
p I P like, you know, and it's one of
those things where it's like now, all of a sudden,
it's like, I wonder where he sits on those rankings now,
and that's through no fault of his own, whether he
was or wasn't ever in contention for the p I P.
He was. You know, it's sort of like a Cinderella
story to me, or maybe not Cinderella, but kind of
(44:27):
like a you know, like the uh never not never
been kissed, but you know, I don't know she's all
that or some ship. She's so stupid bullship like that. Like,
but you know, it's like he was. He was. You know,
those of us that are allowed to be selective with
the people that we continuously follow are aware of how
(44:49):
amazing his season is without having to um, you know,
I don't even know how to say it, Like, you know,
I was. I was free to you know, go on
the PGA Tour app and star the people that I
wanted to follow, and I don't necessarily have to sit
there and say I'm going to start the dude that
gained forty pounds of water weight, or I don't have
(45:11):
to start the dude that you know is beef in
with four other Americans or whatever. I'm just like, Oh,
I like him because I like the way he plays.
I like him because of the way that he carries himself.
I like him because I like the way that he
puts you know. And so I'm in a different realm
in that sense altogether as well. Um So, I think
it's very compelling for both sides. I need to do
(45:36):
a little bit more research, and I would, you know,
in a couple of weeks time, I could probably give you,
you know, a more thoughtful idea of who I would
um vote for Player of the Year. And right now
it's Patrick in my eyes. Well and and your point
is well taken. I mean, what if they're in the
anchor match again, rom and cantly at the Ryder Cup,
(45:56):
and which would be amazing like that, that would that
would factor into my vote to like, you know, they
both got to go number seven. They got to go
number seven. That is going to make or break the Cups.
It's funny because ever since Brookline, the conventional wisdom is
you got a frontload and you put all your best
(46:16):
players at the top, but um, they sort of cancel
each other out, and so you're right. You get to
like and then everyone saves a couple a couple of
killers for like eleven and twelve just in case, but
like seven through ten often decide the whole thing. Because
I decide the whole thing, there's no doubt. And you've
got to also, you can't sit there and just automatically
(46:38):
assume you have to frontload. You have to sit there
and you have to really analyze who the opposing team's
captain is, and you have to think what you have
to try and envision how they would think about things.
So it's all fucked up because you got to think, like,
there are so many layers to this, and it is
it's just amazing, Like I I you know. I that
(47:03):
being said, it's hard. It's kind of hard to read
Patty in my eyes because he has such a he
has like a resting happy face. It's not that happy,
I mean, but we have such a resting happy face.
So you sit there and you're just like, the man
is an enigma in and of itself. Yeah, no, he's blank,
but that those guys are hard. Like it's funny. Um
(47:27):
my daughter Abby us basketball player. She's like our best
defensive player and we always put her on the other
team's top score and she's just a relentless defender. Then
her expression never changes the whole game, and me and
the other coaches laugh about it, like it's so frustrating
to play against someone like that who gives you nothing.
You can't tell they're frustrated. You can't tell if they're tired,
you can't tell they're excited. And like Kelly, it's like
(47:50):
it's like that, like he's just he's just just it's
sort of unshakable. I would I would put him out first.
I put him out twelve, I put him out seventh,
Like I think he's he's good anywhere, and he gotta
go seven. He's got he gotta go seven. It's gonna
be fun to watch him. Next time, we'll delve into
the Ryder Cup teams because we'll have all the captain's
picks and we can we can look ahead. But um,
(48:11):
it's in a strange way, even you know this this
all Lime Cup. As as we're talking about earlier, it
wasn't a thrilling finish, but it got me. It got
me pretty jacked for the Ryder Cup because you know,
the crowds are into it and the all the emotion
from the players and just you know, the uniforms like
all of it. It's just a clean look and it's
(48:33):
it was a great week and it's it's kind of
a preview of what's to come. I think so absolutely,
I will say, and again, this is not it's going
to sound like a dig. I'm doing my best not
to make it a dig in my eve before the
first match as well, or even in some of the
team practices. I would. I would one. I would have
(48:58):
every player hit a ship ton of four and five
foot puts after hitting a pot four or five ft
by just to build their confidence of knowing you gotta
get it to the whole because you know what it's
going to do on the way back. And I would them.
I would. I would love to see maybe some um
(49:22):
um I don't know if they could be done by
way of t P I or uh you know, like
through uh swing analysis, uh uh technology or something. Maybe
maybe some of the fish pumps can get a little
bit of um work down on them, like like they
(49:44):
need to workshop, the fifth pumps. I just I never
understand when people in general and it's trust me, it's
for it's for guys, it's for girls, it's for tennis players,
soccer players, football players, um, golfers whomever. I never understood
the idea of punching into the ground. I don't think
(50:06):
that has as much as when you throw your fist
upward to the sky. I just don't get it. Well,
my my biggest pet peeve in life and the Ryder
Cup golfers are the worst offenders on the whole planet
is when you're going for the high five and they
clasp hands like no, it's like a slap, like the
(50:28):
hands are not supposed to interlock. It's it's not an embrace.
It's like like you smash hands and you're done, and
they grab and they hold and it gets At least
they don't do the gearshift where one person goes for
a fist pump, the other person goes for a high
five the fist and you just kind of going to
shift into third. That's gonna happen. I can't happen at
(50:49):
least once at the Ryder Cup. I mean, it's act.
It's the point we'll taken. They obsessed for two years
about the heamlines of the trousers and the gifts for
the wives and all thoughts. You're absolutely right. There should
be a whole day devoted to practicing celebrations. And I mean,
I might tell the authenticity of it, though, I will
(51:09):
admit that I do love seeing the raw, true, real
dork emotions. But it's like anything, Christina. You got embed
the fundamentals, all right. You practiced and practice to get
the fundamentals down, and then in the heat of competition
you just kind of let it go. But at least
they're coming from a base of practice and they've mastered exactly.
(51:29):
It's like working drills to to get you to get
to a certain spot in your swing. I can, I
can appreciate that. And then when it's golf, when it's
time on the call, of course, you just go. But it, yeah,
I just that's actually I might I might text team
strick or that that's actually the best idea for Please
give me credit, obviously, please give me credit. That being said,
(51:50):
before we go this morning, I would I had gone out.
I played a round to golf with my with my
lovely mother and father. Um over at Orangetree Golf of
and I'm proud to say in the last three days
are shot sixty seven, sixty nine, and I shot sixty
four today with a silly bogey on the seventeenth pole.
So I am very excuse me, very excited to get
(52:13):
into this little stretch of tournaments that were coming up
on very soon. Oh my god, I didn't even tell you, um,
and this will only take you know, probably thirty minutes
knowing me. So the reason why I had asked you
for us to film on Saturday of last week was
because on Sunday, my father and I drove up to
(52:36):
New Jersey, kind of reminiscent of my pre rookie year
where we drove around the entire United States and we
hit up like I don't know if it was like
eighteen or twenty eight tour stops or something like that.
In a month, Um, after rookie orientation in Florida, made
our made our way you know across uh, you know,
across the South, made our way, played golf in the
(52:58):
snow over at why could you country club prepper prepping
for the Side Base Classic. Made our way all the
way west back to California. So my Dad and I
went on a little trip where we were going to
go up to Mountain Ridge, which is going to host
the Cognizant Founders Cup at the in October. And since
we were there, I was like, screw it, like let's
go to Let's go to see View. I fucking love
that place. It's one of my favorite tournaments of the year,
(53:21):
full stop. And uh we get we drive up. It
was like it was it took us like eighteen hours
to get up there. I drove to twelve hours, my
dad drove about six. Um and we did it in
one in one shot and we play or I excuse me.
I played over at Sea View, got annihilated by mosquitoes.
(53:44):
Then went over to mountain Ridge and had an amazing
time accompanied I was accompanying the golf course. Um president,
UM Bob Brenner, delightful guy. We talked all about all
kinds of things. It was just just an awesome, awesome dude.
It was. It wasn't it wasn't quite shifting down on us,
(54:06):
but it was. It was a you know, it was
a wet day. And then we were supposed to spend
a couple more days up in Jersey to play and
then Ida hit and so we ended up driving down.
It was a four day trip for two rounds of golf,
and I drove. It took us obviously because of all
the horrific flooding that had taken place, and we were,
(54:28):
you know, a little bit We're like probably thirty forty
minutes from New Work and a little bit farther away
from the city of New York in and of itself,
but you know, there were tornadoes that I touched down
in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey that was flooding the
golf course at Mountain Ridge, I believe got I think
it was like five point six inches of rain. There
was as much as ten inches of rain and other
(54:49):
parts of the state. So the drive took us nineteen hours.
And I told my dad when we arrived in Jersey,
I said, Dad, we're going to on the way home,
we're going to stop at a hotel. We're gonna spend
the night. We're gonna do it in two trips. And
he was like, okay, yeah, sounds good. Whatever, and um
so when we left, we were going to try and
originally leave around like three o'clock in the morning, but
(55:11):
that was I mean, no chance um, you know, and
even at eight o'clock there was tons tons of roads
were still closed. Uh. So we leave around you know,
a little after ten thirty, close to eleven. We go
to this Korean market and my dad had purchased for
my mother, um in case, in this large container of
(55:32):
salt water live abalone because we don't get Abylonian down
in Florida and growing up in the Bay Area, like
my dad would would dive for abalone on his own
and and things like that. And so we're on our
way down and it was like boom. As soon as
we hit Baltimore started rush hour traffic, and I was
like I. I was like, Dad, I'll drive through you know,
(55:52):
the Tri state area. I'll drive us down through, um,
you know, up until we get to Virginia or something
like that. Maybe we'll switch over. Maybe not it. And
so Baltimore boom started rush hour traffic. Then we go
and end up in Washington, d C. Boom, still in
rush hour traffic. And I was like, Dad, I don't,
I don't. I'm I'm a very aggressive California driver, but
I I look like the most timid driver in comparison
(56:15):
to my dad. And I was like we don't need
to worry about. Yeah, I'll just I'm just gonna keep going,
as I was like, from New Jersey. And then we
I think we went through Delaware, Maryland, hit the Virginia Boarder,
you know, Quanticoes a ship show. I'm like, I don't
I don't understand how there's so many people on the road.
And then we hit North Carolina and I was like,
(56:35):
all right, well maybe maybe we'll maybe we'll switch and
you know, I pull in to get gas somewhere and
right right when we get back on the highway, there's
a massive accident. I'm like, the sun's already down. I
was like, I don't really want my dad having to
like break and gas and break and you know stop
and start. Um. You know, just I don't need that.
(56:56):
So I was like, I'll stick around. And I was like,
you know, we get to North Carolina, we go through
rough North Carolina and I'm like South Carolina. I was like,
it's only a hundred and it's it's like less than
two hundred miles to the border. I was like, all right,
we'll just keep going. And then there were a couple
of like bits of I feel like we're doing this
drive in real time here, like we're like we're like
a ninth hour nineteen here on this story. It's just
(57:16):
so you know, it's been a little over four minutes.
I'm looking at the tiler and a long story short,
it took us nineteen hours to get home. I drove
all nineteen hours, and my dad, he offered to drive,
and I was like, Dad, it's okay, I got this.
I get it. The I mean, I've done that plenty
of times. You're just in the zone and you just
it just seems dis eruptive to change everything up, so
(57:38):
you just keep going. And he slept for probably eleven
of those nineteen hours. And you know, it's like when
you're awake and you want to switch, it's easy to
to just switch when someone's like sleeping at there they
reached the end of the rem cycle. Then it's like
you see them as they wake up, like okay, yeah,
they're they're alert, let's go and switch. It's like he
was like just just he just dipped his toe into
(58:00):
and sleep. Every time I pulled over to get gas
or hit a rest area and take a lap around,
walk around for five ten minutes. Every single time, I
was like you're I was like, you're, it's he's I.
Let's just get some more rest. It's okay, Dad, Like
I got Plus he was like this is really good
for you too, And I'm like, yeah, it's great. That's pretty.
(58:21):
You better play well in New Jersey. Man like after that,
that is that's some serious dedication. I'm impressed. Well, I
only got one round in either place it and truth
be told, I mean Atlantic City over at the Cview Resort,
Bay Horse. Love it there over a hundred times. I
love that you hit every shot you can have, you know,
(58:43):
a three depending it's all wind dependent. It's an old
Donald Ross design you could have, you know, you try
and smash the three you to try and get on
the green into some days if the wind is down
you have a nine iron to the par fives or
these old tiny little greens. Like it's just it's just
it's so much fun and it's super pure. That's Donald Ross.
(59:05):
It's it was. It's another Donald Ross. Donald Ross and
it's spectacular. It was excellent. Yeah, it was phenomenal. Well,
hopefully some of our listeners out there have a very
long drive and we were carrying them across halfway across
South Carolina, Carolina right now or something similar. But I
(59:25):
think we should release them, Christina, I think it's time. Yes, yes,
let's turn on the light and have them scatter like
the cockroaches. You seemingly treat them like they are every
time you say release them. I know you say that
with love, though um and gratitude that they've stuck around
at the bitter end. Oh my god, this is shorter
(59:46):
than one of our longer podcasts. Anyway. That being said,
somebody apparently needs to be put down for a nap.
So on behalf of everyone at the fire Pit Collective.
I want to say thank you for coming a on
this journey and until next week, thank you for listening
to Full Stand with Christina Kim and Alan Schipnuk. That
(01:00:07):
was very skillfully dubbed. I like how you brought all together.
All right, that was funz K. That's all right,
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