To The Linksland

Christina calls in from Northern Ireland amidst a tour of great links courses as she enjoys a week off between the Irish and Scottish Women’s Opens. Inspired, Alan waxes about his favorite linksland. They also relive the Evian 

Championship and men’s Olympic competition. 

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Christina Kim

Alan Shipnuck

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to yet another episode of Full Send
with Christina Kim and Alan Schipnuk. We are back at it. Christina,
Where in the world are you right now? I am
currently in Northern Ireland. I'm in the Greater Antrim County,
having just competed, if you want to call what I

(00:26):
did compete at the UM the I SPS World I
SPS Handle World Invitational UM and I gosh, let's see,
since having missed the cut fun fun UM, I was
able to finally get to play some amazing Irish Northern

(00:47):
Irish Links golf courses because while gal Gorm was was
it was actually a very fun golf course and I
did quite enjoy it, and there was a decent amount
of UM links Ish golf holes along with you know,
very very park landy, you know, through the trees and
all of that. UM. We also played because it was

(01:09):
the European Tour, the Men's European Tour, the Ladies European
Tour and the LPGA tri sanctioned, so we had I
don't know, two hundred eighty eight players, two hundred eighty
eight caddies dispersed between two separate golf courses and so
My week was cut short after having to play at Mazzarine,
which I would like to call Massacreine. Uh. It's the

(01:34):
best thing about the golf course was that it is
a hundred and twenty five years old, um from one
if I'm not mistaken. Um oh yeah, um yeah, math
I forget. It doesn't matter. It was because it was

(01:56):
a hundred twenty six years um, but it was, yeah,
it was. It was. It was a time. That's about
all I can say. Um. The flags at Massacrene were
like five ft tall, so you're you'd stand on that,
you'd have the yardage book and you'd be looking at
the flag and you're like, okay, I'm at eighty three
front and it's claiming that the flag is one oh six,

(02:19):
But that flag looks about two seventeen yards away because
it's so fucking small. So it was. It presented its
own challenges. The week of the PGA Championship, I played
the Charleston Muni, which is wonderful. It's been redone and
it's an absolute delight. But it has the short flags too,
and it's amazing what two or three feet off the
flag stick will do to your depth perception. Like I

(02:41):
was I couldn't commit to any shot because You're right,
it's just it just visually is so strange. I mean, honestly,
what is the difference. It's only a few feet, but
our brains are so trained, um to take in that
that data. It was, it was, it was. I mean,
it was kind of a fun part of the challenge,
Like could you talk yourself into committing to an eight
yard wedge hot when it looks a hundred and forty

(03:01):
like for sure? Yeah? So I well, I want to
go deep on your journey to the links land, and
I will say, if you're gonna miss a cut, you
mus will do it when you're an island, because at
least you have some some fun ways to fill your time.
But I want to revisit the men and the women
playing together and alongside each other. It's not the first
time obviously the VIC opened down in Australia has done that.

(03:24):
But what was that like for you just as a
fan and as a student of the game. Did you
learn anything? Did you have any fun conversations, any new crushes?
Like what what was the experience like for you? I mean,
it's always awesome. I I remember the very first time
that we played the VIC Open a few years ago.

(03:44):
I was walking, you know, you're you're playing a practice round.
I played with Brett Rumford. I'd played with Aaron Pike,
and you know I I played with these guys and
we'd sit there and and I remember I had a
conversation with um James Morrison and I was like, God,
you guys hit the ball so far. And he would
look at me and be like, in amazement, you guys

(04:04):
hit it so straight. And it was just like that
melding of just, you know, mutual respect and admiration of
something that the other person just cannot possibly do whatsoever. Um.
So I did play a practice round with a couple
of guys over at Massacarine. I had a travel excursion

(04:26):
from Hell. Got to Northern Ireland from France a day late.
Um was it was, it was all there was, all
kinds of fun are you going on? At the end
of the day, had to stay the night in Barcelona.
The manifest had someone I'm still waiting to hear back
from the airline to figure out which side decided to

(04:47):
cancel and remove both my name, Todd, my caddy's name,
as well as another player and three other caddies from
the manifest of the aircraft. It was just all kinds
of fucury. Um made it though, and so only got
a practice round since I got in on Tuesday and
had to first go to this like basically like this,

(05:08):
it would look like standing at a kissing booth and
a county fair with again two full fields of players, caddies,
officials other people associated with the tournament and having to
navigate that. Then go to the golf course and luckily
I was in the program at gal Gorm, so I

(05:29):
knew I was going to get a practice round there
and so went played massacreine only ended up getting in.
Let's see, we were on the fourth tea. I was
playing with a young kid who it was his professional debut.
His name is Robin, last named Williams, no relation, and um,
it was just so much fun. It was. It was

(05:50):
a lot of fun. No new crushes. I mean at
this point I did see you know, Marcus Armitage, and
I was like, you're so much fun. I appreciate you
so much. Um, but you know, it was just it
was a whirlwind, to be honest, because you're trying to
Oh and then god Dion Stevens, who does the yard
books for the um European Tour. I guess doesn't. He's

(06:16):
he's all about numbers, you know. He maps the golf course,
he does the greens books, he does this, he does that.
Apparently he didn't realize. I don't know if he just
assumed that there were so many players named Kim and
Lee and Park that we all play in meters. So
he was short on the number of women's yardage books
in yards for gal Gorm. Um. I had ordered to

(06:40):
one for myself one for Todd. Found out on Wednesday
when I got to the golf course they didn't have
any extra. I had one men's yard yards book so
that I could at least get the distances into the greens,
and one woman's meters book just so that I can
figure out, you know, roughly what the um uh the
t shots were going to be. And got my yard

(07:00):
book for Galgorm somewhere on like the fourth or fifth
hole of the tournament round and on the course. Yeah,
because he decided he was only going to print out
eighteen more and I was like, bitch, I paid for two,
so I better get two of those eighteen. I don't
know what in the hell happened. I I you know,
I I do my best to try to avoid complaining,

(07:22):
but this is this is business. Do your numbers, do
your math. Like, if you're going to have something like
this happen and you're going to be taking care of
the yard books, send out a quick blast email. Just
be like, yo, send a survey survey monkey. It's quick,
it's it's free. It's so easy. Just say do you
play yards or meters? Simple as that. And so he's
got this huge stack of meters books that you know,
players were not wanting to use, but some you know,

(07:44):
like I still took one. I've got I've got like
six books. Now I have six books. I'm getting a
headache just thinking about holding a yard book that's in
meters and in yards and plus the wind and the
elevation and the adrenaline and you're using Yeah, I mean
you you're looking. You switch books. You look at the
meter's book just for the runouts off the tea, and

(08:05):
then you switch over to the other book, which has
the men's yardages. So you don't worry about what the
t shot says because I'm like, oh that's a three fifty.
Oh wait, that's the wrong book, and you just look
at what the number is to the front of the
green like, oh, it's just I was just oh god
it was And yet that was the course that I
shot under par on. So can you imagine if of
Dustin Johnson and his brother had to do that, like bro,

(08:29):
they would have hit zero greens and regulation Dustin would
be flying every every dune by fifty yards. But anyway,
we digress. Uh, well, I'm sorry you didn't play your best,
but it's it's still probably a cool experience to be
part of that tournament. When you miss a cut like that,
can you can you take a deep breath and say, well,
at least I got to be part of the show.

(08:50):
Or is the disappointment so crushing you're like, just get
me out of here. Well, I don't. I don't really
look upon it as crushing. Like I I knew, you know,
coming down the last the last you know, five or
six holes. I you know, I mean, I did three
wiggle my last pipe, but I was like, hell, you
know what, I'm not gonna lie. I'm pretty sure that
caused me to miss a cup by two and not one.
So you feel slightly less shitty about yourself. Um, but

(09:13):
I gave myself a ton of chances coming in, so
I was like, you know what, I never gave up,
because that's just not in my d n A. I um. Which.
There was one girl that I've had issues with before
who was on the other side of the golf course
that she played one hole she played, She played the
first round, then she played one hole at mass at Massacreine,
excuse me, Mazarine played one hole. It was raining on us,

(09:36):
and she was just like, I am finished, and she
walked off the golf course. I was like, dude, didn't
go fuck yourself. I I have had a run in
with her in the past, um, and I don't know
how her brain works, so I can't speak on her behalf.
She was in she was in decent spirits before she played.

(09:59):
She was like kind of bitching and moaning. It was
sort of like, you know, I hope they I hope
they pull us off the golf course because it's raining.
I'm like, where in the British isles are you high?
The course is drained pretty well over there that you're
not gonna get puddles after a thirty minute shower. Give
me a break. Yeah, it's just I I don't know. Um,

(10:22):
but again I digress and and and I'm also complaining
and bitching. So that's that's not really where I like
to stand. Um. But again, I mean I had a
ton of really good shots, gave myself a ton of opportunities,
and um, you know, there were a lot of positives
to take. And I sat there and said, hey, you
know what, you have to reach your quota of shitty shots,
and you've done did it this week for hopefully the

(10:44):
rest of the season, so it's all good. And um,
it allowed me to have a you know, a day
or two to you know, I was, honest to god,
really frazzled after my my travel excursion, um coming over
and know, um, I talked to Todd after after we
had missed a kind of like, I am so sorry

(11:05):
you had to endure that because he was slugging out
in the rain as well. And you know, it was
one of those things where it's like every day I'm like,
are your are your feet dry? Have they dried from yesterday?
You know, like um, and so he was like, no,
it's all good. Like He's like, we saw a lot
of really good shots. There's nothing to you know, we
can't we can't be too upset about it, and you know,
it's it's it's all good. And so in the pro

(11:28):
am on Wednesday, I had played with the general manager
of castle Rock Golf Club and we had exchanged numbers.
We only ended up playing nine because those thunderstorms. I mean,
it's been strange Irish weather because it was weeks of dry,
dry weather and then it just it was explosive diarrhea
all over us during the tournament, like most of the week. Yeah,

(11:49):
like it was, well, there was well, it was explosive
diarrhea because it was it was raining down on us
and there was there were boom booms. There was thunder
and lightning, which is not normal for the area. Um,
you know, so it would just be one thing if
I said it just it piste down on us. But
it's like or we could say it piste down on
us and someone was very gassy, but it was there

(12:10):
was there was a there was some cracking thunderstorm, was thundering,
lightning and rain. I mean, come on, yeah, Beyonce poos
everybody poose, um. And so there were a lot there
was a lot of thunder and lightning in the region
as well early in the in the week, and so
the pro im only got cut to nine holes, which

(12:31):
was very unfortunate. But Bert Mackie and I had exchanged
phone numbers and he was just like, oh, so much fun.
So I was like, I'm sorry, we only got nine
holes in. He was like, well, you know, if you
wanted to come and play, you know, like I said,
you're more You and Todd are more than welcome my
Castle Rock. I've got you know, a bunch of extra
sets of clubs if Todd needs them. Um, you know,

(12:51):
we can go fishing if he wants this that. And
I was like, hey, I'm like yeah, but well let's
go play some golf and so low and Behold. He
comes back with a text message and he was like,
well what are you thinking. I'm like, I mean, I mean,
if you're open to having us there for a few days, like, yeah,
we'd love to play. And he's like, how about this
Monday you'll go to Royal Port Rush. Tuesday you'll come

(13:14):
play Castle Rock Wednesday. I was supposed to. It was
the plan was originally for me to play art Glass
and Thursday is a round of golf at Royal County
downmo right now. I mean, I can't tell you that's
just that is such a sick itinerary. I know well,

(13:36):
And I ended up saying and I was talking what's
hot about it? Because I was like, bro, like, you
haven't played like a ton of golf and we are
still here to work, Like do you want to take
Wednesday off? Like I hate the idea of not playing
art Glass, but one we gotta play port Rush and

(13:58):
two I'm not going to bail on the guy who's
setting up our tea times for his golf course, for
the teatime at his golf course. I'm like, I we
can always go back to art Glass And Todd was like,
I'm not gonna lie the only golf course on the
planet I am dying to play because he you know,
he's spent the last eighteen years over looping at Bandon Dunes.

(14:21):
He know, was like is r C D? And so
I was like, well, we're going there on Thursday and
He's like, I'm not going to believe it until I
walk off the eighteenth green. I'm not going to believe.
I'm not going to get my hopes up. And um.
So it's been a phenomenal trip so far. I'd love it.
It's this makes my heart happy. Let's talk about really

(14:42):
a Port Rush. I think it's one of the five
or ten best most epic golf courses on the planet.
It's just to me, the I mean, the setting is phenomenal,
the views, but every hole is like is like an opera.
It's just so fantastic. And the towering dunes and I

(15:03):
think you know a lot of links courses to me,
when you get to the green it gets less interesting.
They can they can be kind of flat and they
don't engage the senses like but I thought there was
some fantastic greens and green complexes at Port Rush. I
just I love that golf course so much. And it's
so cool that you made the trip because it's definitely
a pilgrimage. I mean, you know what, if you're talking

(15:26):
about the great pilgrimages in golf, it's on the list.
So it's so cool you made the effort. Yeah, I
I gotta I gotta admit I loved every second that
I was at Royal Port Rush. I I remember I
was talking with Todd and the entire time it was
just like I can't find a single flaw with this place,

(15:46):
you know, both in terms of the architecture as well
as the esthetics. It was so beautifully maintained. I mean
it could have hosted the club Championship at any golf
course on the planet and everyone would have been raving

(16:06):
about it. Um, which I guess that would be the
only thing that I would consider a flaw, because you know,
it's like someone that kind of it was. It was,
It was perfect, and I was like, man like, um,
someone had kind of told me that bally Castle, which
is the not bally Castle, that we drove by bally

(16:27):
Castle because there were a couple of lakes that rivers
that intersect right by the golf course clubhouse that Todd
loves fly fishing, and so we went. We're just like, oh,
that looks really fishy over there, and I'm like, yeah,
that's fish Um, excuse me. Castle Rock when we went
and played Castle Rock, because before our round at Port Rush,
we went and played the little nine hole course it's

(16:47):
a part thirty four. The banded course at Castle Rock
sort of like as a warm up, and the contrast
between the two was just incredible because one thing I
love about Castle Rock is that it's it's rugged it
is wild, it's natural. It is just one of those
things where you're just like man. Um. Someone had told

(17:09):
me that Castle Rock was sort of like the Ugly
Sister when it came to Royal Port, Rush to Port
Stewart and all of that. And and when I was playing,
I told Bert Mackie, the general manager, Um, you know
we were paired. We we we played together. It was him, myself,
Todd and a member of the council, which would be

(17:30):
like the board of the the golf club over at
Castle Rock. And uh it was a little USA verse Europe.
And I told him that, you know, somebody said it
was like the ugly Little Sister and I'm like, no, dude,
this is the chick like port Rash. Don't get me wrong.
She is gorgeous. You can set her up at a
table with thirteen different utensils. She will know which one

(17:50):
is the sore bass spoon, which is going to be
cleansing your palette and all of this, and that, like
the Castle Rock is, she is a girl that like
sneaks out of the house when she's fifteen years old,
wearing these old scuffy Doc Martins and fishnet stockings with
holes everywhere. And and her hair wild and unkempt and

(18:13):
you know just sit there and has you know, appierced
septum and is still from the same great family. It's
it's just she's like, yeah, I just wasn't really into dressage,
Like I just love the sound of of really grungy,
real music, and um it was just it's so it
was the contrast was really really remarkable, and it was

(18:35):
so much fun. I mean again, both courses were incredible,
incredible in their own way, and you can't you can't
really compare the two, but I I had um you know,
I had so much fun at at Castle Rock obviously
because um Bert and and Willie the member of the council,
we're just so much fun as well. And we were
all just talking ship we had this you know, it's

(18:57):
like it's one of those things where you know every
great club is going to have where you've got. We
had Harry who is a member at Castle Rock, who
had been a member for over forty years. He played um,
you know, proper football a k A. Soccer in America.
He is into musical theater and everything like that. He
loves the game of goffees. Stories upon stories upon stories,

(19:19):
and he just he just drove around the buggy um
while we were there with our push cards are trolleys
as as they call him here, and he was just
telling us stories and watching our lines. He was kind
of forecatting a little bit. He was just having the
best time ever. And it was just such a beautiful, relaxed,

(19:39):
chilled out, amazing, amazing day. Yeah, there's those clubs have
so many characters. That's always, um just one of the
joys of going over there, whether they're in the bar
or on the first team, wherever you encounter the lads,
they're they're so colorful. And I remember when we were

(20:00):
playing over in Ireland. Um there was these four guys
that you know, they generally unfortunate goes out. They'll play
they'll play alternate shot, right like that. That's part of
the UM the ethos over there. And we're in the
dune foursomes excuse me right, my bad, And it was
this long hard part three and we're in the dunes
searching for our balls, so we kind of waved them up,

(20:22):
you know, and one guy stiffs it's like two ft.
The next dude is a great shot. It's like twenty
five ft short he walks up his partner brushes and
the birdie. They took him like three minutes of play
of the whole and they were going to so much
grief and they were gone. We never saw him again,
and we're like all surging for our balls and just
completely rattled by the whole thing. The banter. It was

(20:42):
this classic and I just remember that moment, not only
the skill they displayed, but just the the good cheer.
But yeah, you know the stuffy when you there's always
not always, but a lot of these places there's like
there's an old guy as the starter. He's been there
for a million years, and he has a whole stick
that he gives you. And even if you you heard
it ten years earlier, you just love it because it's

(21:03):
just part of the experience. And I mean Ireland, Northern
Ireland that the people are as just much fun as
they come. Everybody knows that. But even even when you
know that, you get over there and you're immersed in it,
you're like, god, I uh, it just adds so much
to the whole experience. So it's really cool. You got
you got to play with some of some of the
blokes and uh, and and really just be around it

(21:23):
for you know, in the native form. I love that
for sure, for sure, it was it was awesome. Well,
we had a god when we went to Castle Rock.
We had the club president was there. He watched us
for a few holes, and I'm like, bro, I'm not
gonna like wait till I come around near the turn.

(21:43):
Then my ass is going to wake up. I'm just
sort of enjoying myself. Like Todd and I we basically like,
you know, um like did one of those like rally
car sort of like a doughnut into a parking spot
kind of a thing, making our way over in our
sewing machine of a vehicle, and I tex super earlier
and I was like, I I'm so sorry, just curious
if if there's anywhere, um on the way that you

(22:06):
would recommend we can grab a you know, like a
breakfast bap, which is what they would call a breakfast sandwich,
because we like, you know, we were on our way
over and and it's you know, it's over an hour's
drive and um, you know, we have our coffee rituals
and things like that, and I was just like, we
gotta go. We gotta go, like we're not gonna the
last thing we're gonna do is be late to a
daytime with the general manager and and um, so I

(22:28):
was like, I'm so sorry, we gotta go. And so
he was like you're some girl, you know that. And
I was like, yeah, I'm aware, I'm sorry, but I'll
show up. And um no, it was just it's such great,
such great panter. It was a great crack. I love
that word. Do you feel pressure to play well in
that scenario? I mean, you are a professional golfer who's
one around the world and you know it's a casual game.

(22:50):
Do you feel the eyes of on you and there's
like a certain amount of judgment is when you when
you're you're out there playing with the locals. Well, let's see,
I am an Asian female living in America. My life
has been filled with judgment. I have been very fortunate

(23:11):
in that I'm able to not give a ship and
I you know, I texted Burt before and I was like, well,
I'm just gonna let you know if it's not a
tournament round, like I played about a six and I
don't care, you know, And and um he was just like, oh, bullshit,
you know you're three and oh in singles at sold
in Solheim Cup and this today, like you can't you

(23:32):
can't be a six when you get out when you're
when you do that, I'm like, all right, like you
don't want to believe me. That's like on you, Like
that's that's that's more your fault than mine. And and
you know, after about you know, like five holes or
something like that, I started kind of warming up a
little bit, and um, you know, and then we I,
let's see, I Taddy had two birdies on the day,

(23:56):
so we we had nine birdies and we ended up
loose saying one down because Bert who has quite honestly
the most beautiful putting stroke that I've ever seen, to
the point where once I started, once I made the
turn and started feeling like I was like getting it.
I think Todd and I were like, okay, dude, just
p l p l b p l b p l
b put like Bert like and I, you know, rattled

(24:19):
off a ship ton of birdie's and and he just
hit this amazing birdie from like twenty ft on the
last hole on like the one green that is not
dead straight from every single direction, you know, like because
that's the thing like between the the fescue grass as
well as you know, these old old like you were
talking about the green complexes, you know, like the surroundings

(24:39):
around the greens are are generally going to have a
lot of like movement to them, and and and the ground,
which again, the ground it was. It was beautiful. I
love obviously when you're playing links golf. I love brown period,
not just because you know, you get to play along
the ground it almost demands it of you, but you
also get to have a firsthand account of the whether

(25:00):
that the region has been dealing with, you know, so
you get to experience, um, you know, you get to
you get to relish in the result of what had
been taking place in the several weeks month prior. And um, yeah,
he he hit this pot that had probably you know,
from twenty you know, especially on these fescuw greens, you're
only going to get you know, two cups of break,

(25:22):
let's say. And this thing girled like it was almost
a photo break. And I was like, bitch, what I
was inside of him and just a little to the left,
and I tried playing a little bit more than I thought,
but you know, and then mine just lit lipped out
on the low side or just brush the edge on
the low side and I'm like you ship bag. Uh.
It was. It was so much fun. It was so

(25:44):
much fun. That's awesome. I have I have such fond
memories of Port Rush from from the Open because to
me as a sporting event, it's one of the best
golf tourunts I've ever covered with. Um. You know, we
all grew up listening to YouTube and people will know
that they didn't have the open up Port Rush for
you know, six decades or whatever because of the troubles,

(26:04):
and um there's still even though there's an invisible border.
You when you drive Ireland to Northern Ireland, it's you're
just looking at beautiful countryside you don't even know you
passed over. But um that that invisible border looms large
and the way the whole you know, island of Ireland
came together was was just kind of magical. And you know,

(26:26):
there's there's people out there waving the Tricolor flags, which
in a different context would have been provocative in in
Northern Ireland, but it was just people were so wrapped
up in that tournament and Shane Lowry was just the
right guy at the right time and he um, such
a great character. And you know that that sixty three
he shot on Saturdays one of the greatest rounds I
think in history of major championships. And the way they

(26:48):
brought him home with all the singing and it was
just so incredibly memorable. And I love the town of
Port Rush. I mean, it's just got that cute little
winding streets and then there's the restaurants in the bars
right there on the water, and the beautiful Crescent Sheep Beach.
I do there's a few places in the golf where
life fantasize about, like taking a typewriter and living for

(27:10):
a year, and I played golf every day, and i'd
work on the great American novel. I mean, Cruton Bay
is one, Port Rush is another. Obviously Saint Andrew's uh there.
There's a few spots that are very special to me,
and and the town and the golf course. Report rushes
near the top of the list. So I'm happy whenever
anybody gets there, because it's it's it's definitely a journey.

(27:32):
So good on you. And now you have, you know,
r c D to look forward to tomorrow, which it's
it's interesting. I don't I don't want to well, you'll, you'll,
you'll make your own conclusions. It's a different experience. There's
a lot of blind tea shots. It's kind of it's
kind of like St. Andrew's where you're you're you're stand

(27:52):
on the tea, you don't really know where you're going,
and then the whole kind of reveals itself as you
get closer to the green. But um, the terrain is spectacular,
the greens are phenomenal, and there's there's I think that
Port Rushes is probably a more straightforward test, but real
counting down is so freaking hard, like especially in the
win and you if you if you take six or

(28:14):
seven holes to warm up there, you're it's your teeth
kicked in. I mean, it's really a great championship test.
But also it's so full of charms. So yeah, I mean,
actually i played him in the same day. That was
I've done a few epic thirty six whole days of
my life, obviously Pebble and Cyprus, and I've done Shinny

(28:35):
and National. But we we played we played real kind
of down the morning and blew up into and did
Port rush in the afternoon, and I mean, that's it.
Doesn't get any better than that. And so um, I
look forward to next week's pod. We we can we
can kick around your your thoughts because I mean, those
are those are two of the all time greatest courses.
And to play him, you know, almost back to back

(28:56):
days like you are that, it just doesn't get any better.
So I cannot wait. And and truth be told, when
we played at Royal Port Rush and then at Castle Rock,
it was the weather was it was quite benign, to
be perfectly honest, and we had, you know, um a
little bit of of a breeze and they were the

(29:20):
traditional winds because like when we were at the Women's
Open last year at Royal Troon, it broke my heart
because we played with the opposite wind to how you know,
like three hundred and back in fifty eight days of
the year, the wind blows in one direction and we're
there for seven and can't get a single puff of

(29:43):
the way the wind is supposed to blow, and it
just broke my heart. Um. And so we dealt with
some very benign weather, not even to drop a rain
at royal Port Rush, and I did peak the weather
over in in the Newcastle region, uh for tomorrows around
and it's like, you know, nearly four tenths of an

(30:03):
inch of rain in the day, southwest winds between nineteen
and thirty miles and hours, and I'm like this is
and and like you were saying, you know, because Castle
Rock has a few blind tea shots and the band
course definitely has some blind tea shots. That is a
ship that I live for. So I am so stoked
and I'm definitely going to give myself, you know, like

(30:25):
a forty minute warm up before teeing it up there,
because you know, it's just it's one of those you know,
we got to do a little dress rehearsal before, you know,
going on this little punk rock show. Do you find
that playing links golf unlocks something in your your golfing
soul and you get more in touch with the artist
within and less worried about playing to certain numbers and

(30:48):
just seeing shots and visualizing shots. And can that carry
over to tournament golf in general? For sure the way
that I see it because at Castle rocking, and I
think that's part of the reason why it's not that
I thought Castle Rock was a better golf course, it
was just more appropriate for the way that the region

(31:11):
had been dealing with these you know, ninety plus degree
weather days in the weeks prior to the LPGA coming
in and and just providing them with you know, a
solid three months of rain in in one week kind
of a thing because that's what we do. Um. But
when we played at Castle Rock, it reminded me of
the year that you and I wrote our book Swinging

(31:31):
from my Heels, when I went to the Women's Open
at royalithm st Anne's, which for me as a woman
to this point, it's still my favorite course in the
entire Rota for what it provides for us, you know,
because we just we we played a different game from

(31:52):
the men, so it is one of the most perfect
golf courses for the women, I think. Um. And plus,
I mean, you know between the whole was Bunkers and
the part three start like that that ship like that
just gets me going. And I remember in the practice round,
I had Andy Dirden, a great friend of mine who's
from Manchester, catting for me, and he was just like,

(32:13):
you know, we we actually did a couple of loops.
It was like the Monday and we were just all
was like, dude, I was like, does is this one
of the courses that goes out and then back in
or does it come back at the turn. This was
you know, I hadn't really I had been there once
before and I played so poorly that I wanted to
delete it from my memory that he was like, it
does not come back after nine, but we can get
in a loop. And so we did, like you know,

(32:34):
one through three, jumped over to seven and then like
eleven to thirteen or something like that. It was just
it was, it was awesome. And I remember we were
just you know, digging around doing that whatever, and and
we were on God, I can't remember if it was
if it was maybe whole number seven or um, I
forget what it was, but it was one of those
shots where it was like a d ninety seven yards

(32:56):
to the flag. Um. And I took my five and
I hit this punch draw that Andy like looked at
me and he said, all right, you're ready. I was.
I was a little worried about how far off we
were going to miss a cut by, but okay, like
he was like, it was the sound of that shot
that that got my attention. And then I watched it
and yeah, okay, you you you ran it. Up yards

(33:19):
like that's perfect and lo and behold. We ended up
in the final pairing in the final round, and so
I had a shot like that at Castle Rock that
just and it kept coming. It just kind of kept coming.
So to have that artistry come back to it where um,
like for me, it actually is super important to know numbers.

(33:40):
But it's one of those things where it's like, Okay,
it's one looking at the overall topography of the golf
course and what the what the area looks like coming
into the green, like you need to know, Okay, it's
gotta it's gotta hit about twenty four paces short and
then it's going to jump forward and then with the
you know, based on the jump and based on the
spine you're gonna put it, it's going to pitch into

(34:01):
that front you know, that that front part of the
green that has that little rise there, and then it
will slowly go and trickle up and and and so
it provides a little bit of that artistry as opposed
to just thinking hip ball in air makes spin backwards fast,
you know, like it The game of golf was originally
meant to be played along the ground, so to come

(34:21):
across these golf courses where it not only allows for that,
but demands you to do that in order to to
get the most fulfillment out of it. Is is something
that I just love about golf in the British Isles.
It is so satisfying when you're playing into the wind
and you have a hundred fifty yards and at home,
you know, it's just a mindless eight iron, and over

(34:42):
there there's like seventeen different shots you could play different
different trajectory, different clubs, and when you actually pull it
off and you get the you get it pin high,
it's just so satisfying. Absolutely I relate to that. Um well,
certain only you know you're you've got the Irish Open

(35:03):
Um and the Scottish Open and all these things in
your future. So we got more links land talk, but
I want to look back at a couple of things
that just happened and get your take on the first
on the Olympics and then the US UH Senior Women's Open,
which which was memorable in it's own way. So um
you know, I've been a big fan of the Olympics
since its inception. My time in Rio was like two

(35:26):
of the best weeks of my life. And obviously the
women have embraced the Olympics and they bring a lot,
a lot of great cheer and a lot of star power.
The men, it's been more of a mixed bag. But
I'm not sure how much you got to watch live
and on highlights. But I thought the men's confetition was
just fantastic, and I was I was delighted for for Shoffly.

(35:48):
I think that he's, you know, the history of his dad,
with his own Olympic dreams and the fact that I
hasn't been able to break through and win as much
as he wants like it was such a meaningful victory
for him on so many levels. And seeing him wearing
around you know, the gold medal in memphisis week at
w GC makes me happy like uh. And of course

(36:10):
Roy Sabatini, all the bullshitter re surrounding him for the
last few years and all the jokes and all the
eye rolling, and the guy brought it dropped the sixty
one to almost steal the gold medal and and to
to nab the silver was incredible. And then the playoff
of the bronze was you know, with a butt, you
know you had future Hall of Famers had major championship
winners like I'm not sure of what more you could

(36:32):
want from a tournament, honestly, other than tiger Woods dueling,
you know, the ghost of Ben Hogan down the stretch
like it was. It was a great fun. I like
the golf course that reminds me of Augusta National in spots.
So you know, I'd give the Olympics and A and
the reasons to get in A plus is because you know,
some my opic point missers decided not to come and
that sort of devalued it a little bit. But in

(36:54):
the end I thought, I thought it was a great show.
But what was your take on all that? I was
not able to watch much of it live. To be fair,
I was, um, you know, immerged in my own golf tournament,
and you know the times were a little bit wonky
as well for me, But I you know, I caught,
I caught the highlights, I caught the um, um caught

(37:16):
the playoff that was. I mean, just you know the
fact that Rory, you know, because he skipped out on
n Rio and and there will always be a part
of me that will always understand, you know, he was
in his um you know, not necessarily like child like
child like you know, child birthing years per se, but
you know his child, you're spreading his seeds. What you're trying? Yeah, well,

(37:40):
I mean he was at that age where you know,
you want to think about kids and and with all
of the unknowns by way of the zeke of virus
like it it the bottom line, it sucked, but you know,
everybody has the choices that they want to make. And
the fact of the matter is when he made that
quote of saying I have never in my life tried
so hard to finish in third plays like that showed how,

(38:03):
you know, because he was I feel like I remember
on occasion him being, you know, like, does golf really
belong in the Olympics, you know, while at the same
time being so focused on trying to make sure people
understood the athleticism required of an elite golfer. And I'm like, well,

(38:24):
which camp are you in? In that sense? You know,
I I I wonder. And so the fact that he
was able to say that this was one of the
greatest experiences ever and how much he wanted that bronze
was just amazing, and the fact that there is no
obvious purse this was playing for the pride of your country,

(38:45):
for the love of the game, and truth be told.
Probably you know, just seeing how many zeros you can
add to your bank account as a result of a medal.
Um that's neither here nor there though, So I thought
it was amazing And did you did you hear Steve
Sands called out Rory Sabbatini and was like, you know,
because I'm not gonna lie, like you hear about ship

(39:07):
like this all the time and pretty much every other
Olympic sport of so and so, like you've got Justin
Brown representing Guyana, let's say, or something, you know, like
like you're just like, well, where did you? How are you? What?
Where is you from? What is you? Like? Are you? Yeah? Exactly?
And so it was still Rory, you know, to an extent,

(39:30):
fair use to him for um, you know, showing that
he cared enough and he wanted to be in the Olympics.
I love that. I don't know the guy. I don't
think I want to know the guy based off of
some of the stories I've heard secondhand. I will always
have an open mind and an open heart, but I've

(39:51):
heard some stuff. But when Steve Sands was like he
mentioned you know, like, you know, you've taken um, you know,
up the nationality of Slovakia, like basically by way of
your second wife. I was like, bitch you too. You
didn't just spill some to you. You threw that mug
in his face like that was that Well, it's Jermaine

(40:14):
if if you followed the first Sabbatini marriage, which wound
up in the tabloids of the Golf Press and was
super messy and his wife was going off on Twitter
about him, and so yeah, we all remember Amy, the
former Amy Sabbatini was quite a personality, and so I

(40:36):
think that that may have been a nod to people
like we're like, oh god, Rory Sabbatini wife, and then
the Google search comes up and there's like a lot
of messiness. So it's possible that that Sanzy, as Tiger
likes to calm, was actually trying to help out Rory
and let the viewership at home know that whatever you

(40:57):
find on Google, that's a that's a different wife. But
it did sound funny. I agree in the moment, it's like, oh,
you don't just it's not usual the usual phrasing, but
uh yeah, I mean, hey, listen, as you said this
is common in uh In, in Olympic sports, and how
cool is it Ferrory Sabatinia, you know, in his mid forties,

(41:20):
like this is probably the greatest moment of his golfing life.
He's won on the PGA Tour, and he's contented in
a few majors, but can anyone even name the tournament
he's one, Probably not, but to drop an Olympic record
sixty one to nab the silver. I don't know if
there's gonna take er tape parade in in you know,
Slovakia for him, but for sure his stated goal was

(41:41):
to grow the game and get people over there excited
about it. And what more can he do? I mean,
it was it was pretty pretty epic performance. So um
yeah it was. I have to I have to tell him,
I have to tell a story just because we're talking
about the number of wives. This is slight digression, but
it's really one of the flames things that ever happen

(42:02):
to be in my journalism career. I'm an Internet sports illustrated.
This is before the internet, this is before cell phones,
and I'm a fact I'm fact checking this story. It's
about how Sutton's renaissance and it's Pegg too. He's you know,
he's just gotten remarried to this like basically smu co ed.
I think they might have met when she was an undergraduate. Whatever,

(42:23):
no judgment, good for you. How and all of a
sudden he's playing great and he's found himself again. And
and so in the story it says it's his fourth wife,
and I'm I'm looking through some old s eye and
there's a reference to him being known as Halimony on
tour because of all his previous marriages. It's harsh, but

(42:44):
funny and m but I also saw some newspaper clippings
that said this was his third wife. And so I'm like, dang,
you know, you can't get this wrong. It's not the
kind of thing to have on the tour media guide.
And so through like Sutton's agent, I somehow got word
to how I need to talk to him and do
in fact check this story. And that was like at
noon on Sunday. And Sunday was a really long day

(43:04):
always of the magazine in those days, because it would
go to print on Monday afternoon and everything had to
get buttoned up basically Sunday night before he went home.
So I'm like literally dozing at my desk. It's like
one in the morning, and the phone rings and um,
it's like it is how Sutton. And I was so rattled,
and I had all my materials that I was you know,
I had other questions besides the marriage things, and I

(43:25):
couldn't find the paper and you know, it's late, and
I can tell he's a little he was a little
grumpy you even have to make the phone call, but
respect for him for actually calling into the fact checker
and so I just I just blurted out, um, Mr Sutton, yeah,
what number marriage is this? And it was there was
like this long pause, and I could actually hear him inhale,

(43:47):
like and he went off on me, like I mean,
yelling at the top of his lungs and calling me
an asshole, and he fucking sick and tired of people
making jokes about I was married, and he just opened
a vein and after like thirty seconds he was done.

(44:08):
And then he kind of calmed down. He said, you know,
sorry about that. I kind of lost my cool there.
You know, I've been dealing with this for a long time,
and I was like, I'm terribly sorry, Like I just
I didn't mean it the way it came out. I
wasn't trying to be flipped or anything. It just it
was just the words tumbled out, and but I was
it's really funny. As he was going off on me,

(44:29):
a guy named Rick Lipsy was another fact checker, was
walking down the hall. I held the phone out at
full arm's length so Lipsey could hear, and it was unbelievable.
It's the greatest ask chewing I've ever gotten in my
life about anything. And by the way, it was marriage
number four and it didn't last, so I know. But anyway,

(44:51):
so we digressed, all right, this one before we go,
we have to talk about the us UH Senior Women's Open,
because it was you know, Joe and Corner's out there
puffing away on her Virginia Slims and shooting her age
and you know at AG A D two and all
these great old characters that we got to celebrate again.
And then Anica comes in and just destroys the field

(45:11):
and typical terminator like fashion, and um, I have to say,
I feel like I need to go there just since
the January six and then Anka, you know, as the
capital still smoldering, winging in too to pick up her
presdential Medal of Freedom. It just did my feelings have

(45:34):
kind of change towards Anka a little bit, and it
was hard for me to celebrate what was undeniably an
incredible achievement. And she played lights out golf and blue
Way to the field, and so am I alone in this?
Or what is your what is your take right now?
On Anaka? Wow, It's not easy for me to separate

(46:01):
my personal feelings about was it was? It was? It
was on the eighth wasn't it that she went up
and and and received her her medal? I would have
loved it, and I'm sure everybody would have loved it
if she had pulled a Belichick and just been like,
you know, homie, I'm good, Like what do you We're

(46:22):
on a good strange dam like, what what do you
need another medal for? And in all honesty, and you know,
I don't know read the fucking room, bro um. But
at the same time, you you cannot take away from
the achievement. You know she had stepped away from the game,
hadn't been competitive in in over twelve years, because you know,

(46:44):
I did see her at the um uh the the
game Bridge l p G a when it was held
at like Nona at the beginning of the year, and
was hitting balls right in front of her, and I
was just like, oh, I'm like on it, like where
have you haven't gone anywhere? Like this is amazing and
it's so good to see you. And this was very
soon after you know, the post insurrection boo boo that

(47:06):
was that was was hell. I didn't think about it
at the time though, because I was just like Anica,
like it's great to see you, Like I know this
is your home course, but it's great to see you
in competitive mode period, you know. And t Mac had
come to the range and they hugged and chatted and
things like that. I thought that was beautiful, but it
sucked um, you know when you think about it, um.

(47:30):
But you can't take that away from the fact that
she has added to her her her major um count.
And you know, I'd like to think that it was
you know, maybe a lapse in judgment or something like that.
It's it's not like you know, we've got any photographs
of her, you know, storming the capital or anything alongside
those people like it was. You know, there's sometimes you
know you're gonna have people and say, hey, you know what,

(47:51):
you gotta respect the presidency as in the office, And
I'm like, but shouldn't the person occupying it do that first? Um?
So it's it's hard for me. It's it is hard
for me, but I'll never I would never. I I
try to do my very best to separate the you know,
like one mistake is not going to define you. Is

(48:11):
a way that I see it, um, And there's always
you know, it's I think it would be great if she,
if she like talked about it, because if if we
all found out like she was like, dude, like I'm
not gonna lie. I've been up to my tits in
like Baby Einstein and Blues Clues or whatever they help
how patrol whatever it is that kids are watching, Like

(48:33):
I legit had no idea that kind of ship was
going down on the six like you know that I had.
I had to have more questions. But if she was
honest and and and if that honestly did happen, which
is possible, then you know, like then after she could
have been like, oh, son of a bitch, I didn't
realize it was like this or whatever. You know, I
I don't know. I want to give her the benefit
of the doubt. I don't there was no malice in it.

(48:54):
It was just maybe a little bit um like a
lapse in in in judgment and lapse and thought. But again,
I haven't been offered that metal, so who am I
to judge anyway. I mean, even even in her little
apology to her after the fact that all she said
is I don't look back. I just look forward, like
she wouldn't even talk about it, And that was also

(49:14):
kind of like shirking a certain responsibility, like you know
what either yeah, I mean, if she said, listen, I
love Donald Trump. I think he's the best president I've
ever had, and I was. I was thrilled to get
the metal from him, and you know, I would have
more respect for just like just go with you know,
be blunt. That's how you feel. I would. I would,

(49:37):
I would, I would, I would. I would respect the ownership.
But to to try and just sweep it under the
rug is like that was weak sauce um. But okay,
real quick, unbelievable. I mean, as you say, you can't,
you gotta give her do. She is an absolute machine
and that was an incredible performance. So honest on some

(50:00):
of the golfer, one of a kind, no doubt, no doubt,
real quick, I gotta, I gotta hop into our full
sense segment. Ryceon d Shambo and his bullshit explanation about

(50:21):
why he's not vaccinated. I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't. I don't,
I don't like like that's the problem for those who
missed it. Bryson said that he was he didn't feel
comfortable taking from the vaccine from somebody who needed it
more because he's young and healthy and he can survive
COVID And that might have made sense six months ago

(50:45):
when we were just rolling out the vaccines and it
was hard to get an appointment, but like, again, don't
piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Like
come on, man, you can walk into any CBS or
any drug store in the country right now, anybody you
can get poked at any time. Like that's again, like,
don't try and bullshit your way out of situation. Just

(51:07):
say I don't believe in vaccines. I'm not going to
get it because I don't want to. I don't believe
in this particular vaccine, or say whatever, or say that's
only for communes, Like just tell us how you really feel.
But to make up something that that anyone who has
a brain knows it doesn't make sense. It's like, come on, yeah,

(51:28):
I'm happy I read his full statement though, Yeah, for
for the people that for the people in the back quote.
The thing is the vaccine doesn't necessarily prevent it from happening.
That's where for me, I'm young enough, I'd rather give
it to people that need it. I don't need it.
I'm healthy. I'm a young individual that will continue to

(51:49):
be healthy and continue to work on my health. But
I don't think that taking a vaccine away from someone
that could need it is a good thing. As time
goes on, if it's mainstream, like really really mains dream
and everything is vetted out, Yeah, I don't have an
issue getting vaccinated. Yeah, I don't. Maybe he's been living
I mean, he's had a really shitty couple of months,

(52:11):
like truth be told. Maybe he's woken up and thought
that we're back in March, and so he's thinking that
he's not eligible because there we have hundreds of millions
of doses, and the fact that he's sitting there and
saying I'm not going to take this away from somebody else.

(52:34):
I'm like we are. We are. There are vaccine doses
that are getting um thrown away because they're expiring. We've
got doses that are going away because people are missing
their appointments. We've got doses that are going away because
people are missing their second doses. Um. You know, although
truth be told, you can go you know, depending on
which vaccine it is that you're getting. If it's a

(52:55):
two dose, you can go up to its four days
prior to your whether it's for the fives or twenty
eight for the maderna, prior up to whatever that day
is up to. I think it's as many as six
weeks beyond. So just catch, just just just do it.
And and you know he's he's trying to bullshit himself

(53:15):
around and say that he's doing this for other people,
like he wants to make sure everyone else gets vaccinated.
I'm like, provide me with one instance in your entire
existence where you've seemingly done something for anybody else, and
then maybe I'll believe it. Well, how about the back
nine at Tory Pines. He provided John Ron with the

(53:35):
US open by shooting forty five. That was very selfless.
Guess what I literally what what was it baby shot
his diaper? Is that what happened? He didn't? No, no, no,
I'm just kidding. I literally have outside my window, I
have an exterminator in a hat. He's tapping his finger
on this clipboard. I have to go like sign the

(53:57):
documents in FAM. Can you end this podcast without me? Christie? Yes,
I can end this podcast without you. Just say Bryson, bullshit,
please bullshit. The people listening at home, thank you. I
appreciate you. Thanks for sticking with me through these troubling
times of the exterminator messing up our podcast. But this
has been fun we talked about Okay, okay, all right,

(54:19):
take us home, Okay, okay, see you Alan. Well, like
Alan said, um, you know, thank you all for listening.
Thank you all for taking part in this incredible journey
that we're on. Me here in Northern Ireland, Alan over
in um Carmel and so on, behalf of Alan. I

(54:43):
just want to say thank you for listening to the
latest episode of Full Send with Christina Kim and Alan Schipnuk.
Be sure to rate this episode. Maybe not this particular
episode because it's been a little bit of a ship show,
but make sure that you subscribe give us a rate again.
Don't base it off of this single episode, please. A

(55:04):
lot of stuff was happening, um, but we appreciate you
and we cannot wait to come back with another episode,
So everybody take care. Bye,