Max Homa Interview: Why he’s embraced social media, what it meant to win Tiger’s tournament and navigating early success on Tour

Thanks to three PGA Tour victories, and his legendary social media style, Max Homa has become one of the most successful and beloved players in the game. He shares why winning the 2021 Genesis Invitational as a California kid was so important to him personally, what led to him leaning into social media and the biggest lessons he learned transitioning from college to the Tour.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
It's episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon. You know
the drill comes to you every Wednesday. This week's guest
one of the most popular guys on the PGA Tour,
three time winner, Max Homer. I'm a huge fan, I
know a lot of you are, and I'm really excited
to get to talk to him. So before we get
to the full interview, wanted to take a moment to

(00:30):
talk about a partner that Max and I actually share,
Elijah Craig. We're excited to have them supporting the pod.
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is what they love about the game and about bourbon.
Every bottle of their award winning small batch carries a
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taste when you mix an old fashion. So whether you're

(00:53):
watching golf, whether you're at home, whether you're playing a
few holes, make Elijah Craig your signature sip. Learn more
at Elijah Craig dot com. Backslash Golf Mac of Course
with Claude Harmon is brought to you by Elijah Craig,
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bardstown Kentucky Alcohol by Volume. Elijah

(01:14):
Craig reminds you to think wisely, drink wisely. And now
let's get to Max Homa. My guest is Max Homa,
three time winner on the PGA Tour. Max just coming
off the Players Championship six on Sunday. I mean, what

(01:36):
a week, man, are crazy, crazy week. That's gotta be
one of the longest weeks that I can remember on tour.
And I'm not even playing. I can't imagine what it
must have been like for you guys that were trying
to tee it up and play that. You're right, that
was the craziest week. I was talking to Joe my Caddy.
We did a little like tipping game in the back
of that beautiful driving range. They have their TVC sawgrass

(01:57):
on Monday and it was like maybe Saturday, and I
was like, that feels like it was last season. But
it's been so long. Days where you didn't even go
to the golf course and then days where you were
out of the entire day. It was a very, very
bizarre week. I'm very glad it's over. It's stuck with
the weather because that's one of them I think everyone's
favorite times of the year. The golf course is awesome,

(02:17):
facilities awesome, the fans are awesome. It's a very fun event.
Uh And that week was I was ready for it
to be over. If I'm being honest. You know, I'm
here in Tampa this week and so many of the
players are talking about how tired they are from last week.
I mean they feel like, you know, because a lot
of a lot of guys that are here this week
played on Monday. When you have that type of you know,
stop start. I think you know, the fans that watch

(02:39):
golf on TV, there's no golf playing, they're upset and
they're showing replays and they're like, I mean, but for you,
I mean, there's a great picture of you and your caddy,
Joe Grinder, and then you guys were talking about going
to see Batman. I mean that stops start. You know,
which wave were you in? Were you and were you
late earlier? Were you early? Late? Late? Early? I was
in the windy the windy wave. Yeah, So, I mean,

(03:00):
you know, I've worked with Pat Perez. Pat finished in
the dark. He was in the Poulter group where Poulter's
running the tet off. Pat finished late Thursday he didn't
have to hit another shot until Sunday morning? Is it
I mean, is it hard to keep any sense of
kind of rhythm and tempo because you know, it's amazing.

(03:21):
It's it's almost like a major, the Players Championship. You
put so much prep in Thursday, Thursday comes Wednesday, you know,
Monday through Wednesday, you get all your prepped done and
then you have that massive, massive delay. And does it
feel like you've got to find your tempo and you've
got to find your rhythm and your swing again or
was it easy for you to just kind of get
back into the swing of things now? It was super difficult. Um, Like,

(03:45):
to your point, we had a day where we didn't
I think we didn't touch a club or maybe we
did it like six but only had to hit a
few shots. I struggled with um. Every warm up was
just like I had no schedule. Like we all talked
about how everybody has a process. Everyone's is different, but
it's all very you know, unique and pretty much like
organized week and week out. I do the exact same thing,

(04:06):
but it was impossible to do so, you know, one
day it might have been the second to last day.
I mean, it's impossible for me to remember what days
and rounds you were. But one of the days, you know,
I go see my physio every morning before I see him,
but I hadn't got my tea time yet. All of
a sudden, I get a text from Joe. He's like, oh,
we're playing at X amount of time, which is now
only like forty minutes from the from when I was

(04:29):
planning on teeing off, uh or twenty minutes earlier than
I planned on teaing off. So now I like had
to kind of get out of there form ups a
lot quicker, a lot shorter putting, a lot shorter chipping,
a lot shorter hitting, and then you go to the tea.
But it felt like one of those weeks where with
with these types of weather weeks, if you could just
kind of get out of your own head and just
like kind of act like you're at home almost with

(04:50):
the warmups and not because we do, like you said,
we put a lot of pressure on these big events. Obviously,
the Players is one of the five biggest events we play,
and you put a lot of pressure on it. You're
trying to make sure you're controlling every little detail, and
then all of a sudden you couldn't control a damn thing.
And it was like, man, this is tough. But if
you if you dwelled on that too much, I think
it would probably it could be a bit detrimental. But

(05:11):
for us, I kind of almost looked at it like,
you know, if I was back home here in Scottsdale,
We're gonna go play golf, you know, at Whisper Rock
or whatever, like Ali hit balls for maybe twenty minutes
and and just kind of get going. And you know,
we play well when we're at home anyway. So it's
kind of one of those weeks where I felt you
got to get out of your own head. But it
was very it was just awkward, like we just we

(05:32):
never had a schedule, and I think, you know, for us,
we're all like creatures a habit and we're all weird,
and it's just like it was hard to be us.
It's funny you mentioned that. It's I mean, as a coach, right,
I watch, you know, all the players I work with.
I watch all of you guys. It's funny because I
see I see the guys that I work with when
they're at home in Jupiter where I live. You know,
you're in. You're in Scottsdale. A bunch of the players

(05:53):
live out there. So you guys are always playing. You
guys are you know, shirts are on talk. There's not
a tun of warm ups. You guys are playing in
wherever you're playing. And it's not like the golf courses
that you're playing at home are pitch and put kind
of municipal golf courses. You still got to play good,
but the music's going, you're talking. Everybody's kind of you know,
there's a bunch of banter going on. And you guys

(06:14):
sometimes at home, you know, I've seen DJ and Brooks
when I worked with Brooks and something Ricky. You guys
will go out and shoot. You know, you guys will
have legit chances to shoot fifty nine at home right
with not a lot of like super high focus to
where you're zoned in. You don't have you know, your
caddie Joe. You're not getting every yardage. You're just kind
of doing it. You don't have pin positions. It's it's

(06:37):
a it's a weird thing to where there's that form
that you have at home. And then I also I
often think sometimes I want to say to the players
when they're struggling. Listen, you played last week and you
lit it up this week. Really shouldn't be any different, right,
And I always say that to players that have never
played on tour before when they get that first opportunity.

(06:57):
You did that in two thousand thirteen, You get into
the US Open. It's a huge stage, but at the
end of the day, it's still just golf, And it
seems like sometimes there's that disconnect between what you do
when you're just playing for fun and you light it
up and then you shoot one or two over and
you're like, what the hell just happened? That's exactly right,
you know. I've actually, uh I thought a lot about that,

(07:19):
maybe two years ago, uh when I started playing a
bit better at home, and I was just thinking to myself, like,
when I go out on tour, like one under all
of a sudden feels like this like a great round,
and the golf courses are set up more difficult, like
the pin positions at the very least are more difficult.
But I'm like, man, like, when I'm home, like you
just said, like eight under feels like just like I'm
just a whole home day, you know, with the boys.

(07:42):
So I've tried a bit in the last few years
to feel that a bit more. It's tough everybody when
you're at home. The guys I play with, you know,
like you said, music is playing, we're talking. Some people
are drinking sometimes, like the members, and it's a lot
more casual. We're all chatting the whole time, talking trash whatever.
And when we get out and toward like a pre
example was the day we came back when it was

(08:02):
blowing like forty whatever that morning was. You know, I'm
playing with two guys who are you know, easy to
play with, Horsel and Rows. They talk, you know, a
decent amount. Everyone's you know, very friendly, but it's such
grind mode, like no one's talking, like it's just put
your head down and get to work because it's so
hard and I'm trying to figure out how because I
think in the past I would have kind of veered

(08:25):
towards that, like all right, you know, major tournament, head down, intense,
and I have noticed I play a lot better when
you know I play and I'm talking a little bit.
And if you like, look at the tournament at the
Genesis I won last year. I'm playing with my closest
buddy on tour, Taylor Gooch, and we're walking up the
eighteen hole. He was telling me a story from seventeen
to eighteen and I've credited him a lot for that win,

(08:48):
just because he kept me loose, whether he meant to
or not. I felt like I was at home, So
trying to put yourself in that mode when you're at
a tournament to like the home vibes a little bit more, um,
you know, I think that's important. I've heard stories about
you know, Tiger and Feenale our buddies, and when Tiger
won the Masters in nineteen, female said they didn't talk
for six holes type, you know, try to say something

(09:08):
doing walking down seven and Tiger just said yep and
like kept walking and Tonys like this is a lot different.
So people have their ways of doing it. And like
for me, I tried that day. I was, I was,
you know, getting kind of frustrated and whatever, and I tried,
and I noticed Joe was like really trying to talk
a little bit more to me and like get me
out of my own head. But it's that's the weirdest
part about the tour stuff, is like you can be

(09:30):
friendly and people are friendly, but when they get in
their world, it's like, all right, well, I'm not gonna
talk to you anymore because I don't want to mess
up your flow. But at the same time, like I'm
trying to bring the best out of myself, and I
think that's ah, it's a it's a weird nuance of
the tour stuff. It's why I love playing with Dustin.
It's because he's always I mean, he has the best
attitude I've ever seen in my life, and it will

(09:50):
talk the entire day. And we're not close friends by
any means, but you know, we have a decent relationship
when we play, where it's like he'll just talk and
I'll talk a bit, and like it's one and it
feels very relaxed. I think that's why a lot of
people like to play with him. But there's guys who
won't say a word, and those are the tough ones
for me, especially if I start playing not great because
you want to. It's weird. When your group's playing good,

(10:12):
it seems like you play well too. When it's not,
it's very easy to get going the wrong way. And
some of that is I just you know the chemistry
of the group and it's a. It's a weird it's
a weird part that you know. I'm glad you brought
it up because it's not talked about very much, but
that grouping matters at times depending upon how the round
kind of goes. But it matters a bit and it

(10:32):
it uh it. Like I said at Riviere, I swear
when I saw my pairing, um, I was stoked. I'm like,
all right, I'm playing with him. I play with him
A Taylor Gucha, Matt Jones, and I'm good friends with
both of them, and I'm like, this is gonna be
a good day just with the group, and it could
bring out some good golf. It's it's interesting because I
see it as well. You watch watch somebody, you know

(10:53):
double bogi the first hole and the bog the second hole,
and it's like it's like there's a sing in the
group up to where like every then somebody else in
the group's got a good look for birdie and they
run it past and the three parts, so they're making
the turn and you're out there. If it's a Thursday
and a Friday, you know, there's not a huge amount
of crowds, it's not a major You can just feel

(11:15):
the the atmosphere is just dead right, and everybody in
the group plays well, and then somebody hoops one from
thirty ft on the first hole, and then somebody chips
in and then all of a sudden, everybody just starts
firing and all the flags and that mojo in the
group's a big, big thing. How do you catch that energy?
Do you? I mean, do you just start to watch

(11:35):
the other guys and go, man, he's hitting good shots.
Let me try and get this going. And do you
feel that? And do you guys out there talk about
the fact that there is that kind of positive energy?
And then when things are going bad, do you guys
ever say that to each other? Dude, we gotta do something, man,
because this is really bad. So I I I'm very fortunate.
My first ever professional golf tournament was at the fries

(11:57):
dot Com which is now the Ortnet, and it was
up in northern California. Um. I was obviously a rookie
and I'm playing with guys I've never met in my
life and I got to play with in the On Sunday,
I played with Will mackenzie and I had no status
and I just needed a top ten to get into
the next event, So all I cared about was tenth place,
and I had this put on eighteen to get to

(12:18):
like seventh. I was in tenth at the time, wearing
like the second or third or less group, and I missed,
and Will has a good twelve footer to but me out,
and at the time it would have bought me out.
End of the day, it ended up not mattering, but
at the time it would have bought me out. And
he misses it and we go into the scoring after
and Johnny Andrews when the old rules officials goes, hey, Max, here,
you got top ten. Uh you know, I need you
to commit to next week. I'm like sure. And Will

(12:39):
who anybody who hasn't met Will Will is the nicest
cool like he's the surfer. He's just the coolest dude
you'll ever meet in the game of golf. He is
Willie maxim Man. So he was like, um, he was
like dude, you know. He goes like, bro, if I
made that put, would that have bumped you out? And
I'm like yeah. He goes nice, He's like all right,
and he was like happy. And when I I really

(13:00):
realized about playing on the PGA Tour, a big difference
of the PGA Tour to the at the time, the
Web dot Com Tour. And I understand why this difference,
you know, kind of occurs. But I felt like the
guys on tour I wanted their best golf to be
better than your best golf, and no one was rooting
against each other very much. Um. It was a lot
more like, uh, you know, I'm gonna build you up

(13:21):
if you had a good shot, but I hope my
good shots better than you're a good shot. And I
try to take that. So I root for the guys
in my group for the most part, Like you know, obviously,
in the end of the day, if he's makes a
twelve foot to beat me, I'm not gonna be I'm
not rooting for it to go in, but I I
try to take basically Willie Mack told me and showed me. Uh,
and so I don't am I allowed to swear on
this thing, of course. Okay. So I played with Jim Renner, like,

(13:45):
who was another amazing dude. Uh year or so later,
and we're playing pebble Beach and it's a two you know,
it's a pro am. So it's just us two pros
and Jim and I are hidding it unbelievable. And I
did not see a pug going outside of two feet
for like probably two and a half day. We have
like nine holes left and Monterey Peninzla. I had not
seen a pug going so long for either of us.

(14:05):
And I know you know Jim at the time pretty well,
and I remember he had fifteen feet. I'd like twelve ft.
And I to your point, we like the vibes were bad,
the atmosphere stucked. Nobody was watching us like it was
just dead. And I walked over him before his putt
and I was a little bit nervous when I did it.
I walked over to him before he was put I said, hey, Jim,
why don't you make a fucking putt? And he like

(14:25):
looked at me kind of like smirked. I was like,
I don't know if he's gonna take that. Well, he
hooped it. I hooped it, and like we went on
and like started playing some golf. So like at some
points and sometimes depending upon who you're playing with, there
is like a little strategy in my opinion, to like
get the vibes going to see the ball go in
the hole, because when people are playing well in your group,
especially if the course is hard, it makes the it
makes it feel like it's doable. It's almost like if

(14:47):
you watch somebody at the US Open on TV before
you go play, and you see them go shoot four
or five under, You're like, oh, I can get this.
Because if you're the first one out and everyone in
your group's making par bogey double, it feels really hard.
Some is gonna go out and do it, but it
feels hard. You don't see anything good. So like that's
when it's easy. When it's when people are in your
group are struggling, and then you start to struggle because

(15:08):
of it. It's almost like you have to do the
opposite and like come either build up the group or
you gotta like completely shut off what you're watching and
just be like, I'm just gonna do my thing and
they can go do their thing. Because you know, it's
just it can make golf. Golf's hard. It can make
these courses feel impossible. And sometimes, like I said, I'm
playing with the right people will get each other going
a little bit. But when you're playing with somebody is

(15:29):
a stranger, uh for lack of a better word, like
it's just it's tough, man. You're just you're just hoping
somebody can get some kind of momentum to, you know,
draft off of that. DJ shot sixty three on on
Monday at the Players the kind of backdoor top ten
and tie the course record. He played with Peter Monaldy.
So we're on the range. Peter's Peter hitting balls like

(15:50):
two stalls down from us UM yesterday and he says, um,
and I said to DJ, I said, you played good
last week? Was bro I played awful a minute everything
you looked at and everything like that. Peter Peter goes,
you played awful. He's like, tell me which shots were bad?
And and and he's like he's like and and DJ
is kind of going through all the shots that he
hit are that are bad? And Peter's looked at me,

(16:11):
He's going, dude, he hit it great. So this morning, DJs,
you know, in the in the morning wave and Peter,
Peter's on the putty grade. It's like six o'clock this
morning and he comes up to me and he goes, hey,
if last week, if sixty for DJ is playing bad,
can you coach me and teach me how to do that?
And Peter is the nicest guy ever to like. He's

(16:31):
a perfect guy to play with. He'll bring you, He'll
bring you back to being positive for sure. So let's
take a quick break to talk about Cobra Golf. I
want to thank everybody who entered the giveaway last week.
Hopefully we'll be doing more of that soon. You guys
have heard me talk about the new ltd X driver
for some time now. If you haven't tried it, you should.
The technology brings together the best of both speed and

(16:54):
distance with low spin and faster ball speeds for extreme
forgiveness and distance. Go to Cobra golf dot com backslash
l t d X to learn more and find out
where you can test it. That's Cobra golf dot com
backslash l t d X. And now let's get back
to Max Homa. You mentioned um the Fries dot com

(17:19):
the ninth. You your first PGA Tour event. I mean
obviously you had, you know, an amazing amateur career Walker Cup.
I mean that team you guys were on it at
at Cal I mean, I mean do you guys win
every tournament your senior year? I mean it was I
mean you come out, you qualified for the US Open
in thirteen. I mean, your first PGA Tour win, you

(17:42):
top tenant. I mean, that's I mean, that's so hard
to do. When when you did it, did it seem
normal and or did you just kind of go okay?
Because I remember I remember, and I've talked about this
before on the podcast Adam Scott. The summer that Matt
Wolfe turned pro, we were at Memorial at dinner with
Scotty and um Matt Wolfe was there for the Nicholas

(18:05):
Award and stuff, and he was going pro and we
were talking about him. You know, they just won the
national championship. He was a stud and we were talking
about him turning pro, and I remember Adam saying, you
know what his chances were? And Scotty said, well, how
many tournaments are you gonna get into? And we looked
at the kind of tournaments he was going to get into,
and I know he kept saying, yeah, I mean, well,

(18:26):
I mean that's a limited field. He could maybe play
well and he but I remember him saying if he
plays well in wins early like I did, he said,
it'll kind of just seem normal. Because he was a
stud in college and he was winning tournaments and we're
doing everything. So when you have that first top ten,
did it feel normal or did you kind of go, oh,

(18:47):
hang on a minute, I could really do this or
did you just go, well, yeah, I mean I should
do this. I'm a good player. Yeah. It was a bit. Um,
it was a bit of both as actually, uh you know,
it's it's any Brooks said something in the media like
two years ago. He said, when he was focusing on
making cuts, he was always around the cut line, and
we started focusing on winning, he was always around the lead.

(19:09):
And I remember that week my now wife was with
me and obviously Joe was with me, and all we
were talking about was tenth place. Like it's like almost
like we're manifesting. It's all we cared about. So come Sunday,
I'm right around tenth place and it felt very normal.
The golf felt, you know, easy, and to be I mean,
to be fair. It wasn't like, uh, you know, back
in the day, especially, they all, you know, all the

(19:30):
pros would say that the season doesn't start until San Diego,
when Tiger shows up, when all the big dogs show up.
It was a good field. Brooks ended up winning, and
it was Jimmy at Walker. Jimmy Walker end up winning.
Brooks and Jimmy were like battle But it helped that
Brooks was up there because Brooks and I played a
little like at the same time in college. So it
didn't seem crazy at the time. And I didn't know

(19:51):
he was gonna win four majors like very soon after that.
But right the field felt like people I kind of knew,
Like it wasn't like, uh, there's a difference when Tiger
and you know, Rory or whatever at the event, so um,
it felt normal. I just went out and played golf
and I got hot and all that stuff. But I
also was I wish I was ignorant enough at the

(20:12):
time to be like, oh, that's just how it's gonna be.
Like that was easy, but I knew it was hard.
My golf felt easy. All that felt easy, but I
I couldn't put myself past that mental block of yeah,
but you know, you gotta do it at a you know,
a huge event. Now it's like it's everything to me.
Kept feeling like a new challenge, and I wish I
would have been a little bit more. I think how
the kids are these days with just the blind faith

(20:36):
like I think if you talk to a call In
Victor or a Matt Wolf, like I know them pretty well,
or I know two of them pretty well, if you
would have sat them down and said, hey, you know,
if Adam Scot's how many tournaments you win? And then
you know, Matt, let's just say he said, I'm only
gonna get into one. I bet you Adam Scott is
a very smart, established player. He's seen every bit of

(20:56):
it to him now, he knows how hard it is.
But at that point, I bet you Matt would be like,
screw it, I'll win that one, Like why not? I
win everything? Like that's how easy it is. And the
harder it is, the longer it takes you to win,
all of a sudden you realize how difficult it all is,
and then every little piece of professional golf feels brutal.
It's the part I'm really happy to see what ax
shabtilla uh winning and playing well, because the only thing

(21:19):
I was nervous about that was when you're that young,
it's obviously gonna be harder to play great. And the
more you get beat up, the scar tissue builds up
real fast, and all of a sudden littlest things that
seused to be so second nature and easy are like hard. Um.
So I'm glad to see him playing well people like
Matt Victor and Colin making it look easy. But I

(21:40):
think a lot of that is their mentality is so amazing.
A lot like when Tiger came out, it was like, yeah,
I don't play to get second. I played a win.
Curtis Strange has that you know, famous line where he
said you'll learn, you know, and it's like yes, but
also like you keep that mentality, as Brooks mentioned, it's
like that's gonna happen more often. And so I think
for me it was like I knew, I knew I

(22:02):
could just go out and play golf, and I was
gonna play well after that week. But at the same
time I was I overthought it a bit more and
kept kind of building up other tournaments in my head
because at that time the Fall was more of like
the Fall Series. It wasn't quite as it wasn't quite
as competitive as it is now. Uh And I wish
I didn't know that, but I did, and I you know,

(22:23):
it kind of got me off course, but I always
be keeping the back of my head. Hey man, you
were like twenty two and completely stupid and not that
great at golf, and you figured out how to get
ninth place, Like, you can do this again. What was
the big jump from college and amateur golf two playing
professional golf because you finished tied for ninth and then

(22:43):
you play the Web and you get your card and
you lose your card. You go back to the web
and you get your car and your lose card. What
was that big jump? Was it a mental jump? Was
it a technical jump? Was it a kind of a
you felt like you were on a big stage. What
was the difference that you felt when you made that
change from being you know, you were one of the
best college players, you know, in the country. You're on

(23:06):
the Walker Cup team. You know, you guys crushed the
Walker Cup. You know, Justin Thomas is on the team,
Patrick Rodgers. So you're coming out your stud you win
the n C Double A Championship sixty one at l
A c C. I mean, you know, it's not like
you're kind of just maybe hoping to get your card, right,
I mean, you're one of the guys that everybody's looking at.
It's going to be one of the fifteen guys coming
out that everyone expects to do things. What did you

(23:28):
feel it was different about being a pro versus when
you were an amateur. The benefit that I look back
to now that I'm thirty one, that I think it
was kind of a telltale sign that I would figure
it out was the stage never felt big, which is cool.
I didn't notice that at the time, but like as
I look back, the stage never felt any bigger than
it does now. The hardest part from me, and it

(23:50):
was it was a good and bad thing, was my
college team. We were so close, like all of us
were really good friends and really close, and as much
as we wanted to beat each other's brains, and it
was like the brotherly thing, like I also wanted them
to all play well, and we're all helping each other
and rooting each other on. And then when he turned pro,
it's just you. It is just you. You are very alone,
um here in hotel rooms alone. No one gives a

(24:12):
ship if you play well or don't accept you and
your caddie and you're like, you know, family, little team.
And that was hard for me because I was so
used to having chipping games with people and in contest
with people all the time, and that was how I
felt like I was getting better. And now all of
a sudden, it's almost like I had to relearn how
to practice, like by myself, makeup games, do things that
were competitive, but again it's very it's like a lonely

(24:34):
type thing. And that one really got me. And then
the second biggest thing that got me was the prep
for each week. It was obviously the exact same thing
I would do in college. I went through all the
same motions, but the people I was now playing against
where people I've looked up to my whole life, and
I did a really poor job. I looked around at everybody.
I wanted to chip like so and so, and hit

(24:55):
it like so and so, and drive it like so
and so, And all of a sudden I'm like hey,
like you know, four years later, I'm like, hey, Bud,
like you got out here somehow, like you, someone must
be looking at something you do that's great. And that's
been the biggest evolution from my mind has been like
the golf has been the same. I'm obviously I've gotten
better in the last eight nine years, but at the
same time, as like I had to learn that like

(25:17):
everybody out there does something well and they don't really
worry so much what the other person does well on
their end, Like you go make sure that you're just
maximizing your own talent. And that was the biggest leap
I I just I remember I watching kJ Toy hit
bunker shots and I was just like, man, that guy
can hit him. I need to learn how to do that.
And you have watched Charles Howell the Third hit seven irons.

(25:37):
I'm like, I gotta do that better. And it's like,
you don't like you you're doing something well, Like just
get a little better at everything, slowly but surely, and
do it on your own time. But that was hard
for me. I did a very poor job with that.
But now what's fun is in the last three, yeah,
three or four years is I don't look around the range.
I admire what people do, but I couldn't care less

(25:58):
how how you hit a driver. Like it's just I've
gotten past that and that's been nice because that was
that was tough for me. Man, I did a really
poor job. I was like kind of a kid in
the candy store, obsessed with what I got. I got
to play golf against the best players in the world.
I'm years old. It was rad But you look at
these kids now, Like I mentioned before, they don't care.

(26:19):
They just go out there and do their thing and
they know they're really good like that. And honestly, I
came up with two guys, uh who who? Daniel Berger
and Justin Thomas. Justin Thomas like the best player I've
ever played with, like for an sustained amount of time,
and I watched him and Bug just go through their
own thing and just progressed so much like they should.
And it was I was so apparent that they knew

(26:41):
what they were good at, and I was sitting there
wondering what I should be better at. And it was
just that that was the hardest part for sure, turning
pro It was it went from being a big fish
in a small pond to being a tadpool in a
freaking ocean. That's how I felt. At least, you know,
Brooks was was such a fit. I mean, Adam Scott
obviously Tiger was his hero, but Scotty was Brooks's hero, right,

(27:03):
I mean, he just loved Scottie and and you know
they got I've set up a practice when I was
working with Ernie Els at the British open didn't tell him,
so you know, he's gonna play with Ernie, who he
knew he played practically, And all of a sudden, Scotty
walks on the team and Brooks goes, man, Scotty's gonna
play with us. I was like, I get excited, man,
I mean, li just and and so and so it was.

(27:24):
It was it was Ernie and I can't remember who
the other player was, and they're going to play a match,
and so Scotty says, I'll take you and and I'm like,
I'm saying in Brooks just calmed down, man, and he
just and it was Holland the win was Hallen and
he absolutely flushed it for like four or five holes
in the weather came in and everybody. But but that's

(27:44):
when Steve Williams eventually made the comment that he'd watched
Brooks play instead of never seen anybody hit it like that,
because he was he was caddying for Scotty. And then
when they got paired together at Bell Reeve and the
p g A on Sunday, you know, out in the
last group, you know, we're on the putting green, you're
you know, you're trying to keep him loose you're trying
to say, and I said, hey, don't don't try and

(28:04):
get an autograph from Scotty today. It's gonna really awkward
on national TV if you try and get autograph from um.
I read what you said. Your earliest childhood golf memory
was watching Tiger Woods play the nineties seven Masters and
then you win last year Genesis and Tiger gives you
the trophy. I mean that's like people don't realize that

(28:25):
you just that ship just doesn't happen, right, I mean,
you don't. You don't rarely view get an opportunity for
that whole kind of thing. Not only you play with
Tiger on tour, you get to meet him and stuff
like that, and then he just becomes somewhat normal. But
then to actually win a tournament where he's the host
in l a where you grew up, and you're thinking,

(28:46):
and I remember him watching the nineties seven Masters, what
was that? It was weird? Man. You know, I had
spoken with Tiger prior. He was very nice. After I
won the Wells Fargo, he actually came up to me
a memorial, walked across the range, took my hands on
the congrats. Was amazing, Like he's a great dude, and really,
I think respects how hard golf is and and appreciates

(29:08):
when people do great stuff that he's made look so
monotonous and easy. Um. But yeah, that that was. It
was weird. And I went to that tournament that you know,
as we call the growing up the l A Open,
as the Nissan Open, then all these other things now
the Genesis Invitational and every year. You know, as a kid,
of course, your goal is just to get an autograph
from Tiger Woods, a high five. I remember climbing under

(29:29):
the sign on seventeen to watch them t off on
seventeen one day because I was a little kid and
can maneuver my way through people's legs, and that's all
you wanted, was like these little moments. I could remember
him all as a kid. I think as many anybody's
ever been to a tournament as a kid could would
remember those little, you know, glimpses of the dude. Uh.
And then I remember Saturday, we got a big window
lay and I was playing with DJ and Xander. I

(29:50):
was eating lunch with Xander and we're just all kind
of messing around, talking, and I remember Tiger comes out
of nowhere, and I don't think it'll ever really stop,
at least until we like play and hang out. But
like he's always you know, he's got a big presence obviously,
is that, you know, my opinion, best player that's ever lived.
And he he walks by, and DJ kind of gets
up and Zander gets up, and they talked to him,

(30:12):
and I mean they're talking and like they're right here,
right behind me, And all I wanted to do was
talk to turn around. Like I said, at that time,
I knew Tiger like enough to say hi, but I
was like, I'm not gonna bug him. But I remember
it was sitting with me funny because I'm like, just
be you, like be who you are and like talk
like a person. But I just sat there and I
just remember the next day, you know, getting off that

(30:33):
off the playoff and getting out of the cart and
Tiger and I are doing all this media stuff kind
of together taking pictures, and I was just thinking, you know,
how weird that is that all this like build up
or whatever. Uh Now now we're obviously not on the
same level, but for a moment we are doing the
exact same stuff, and it was it was done. The

(30:53):
whole thing. The whole week for me was crazy. It's
my favorite golf tournament in the world. Uh, it means
more to me than anything with the dude who bayed
so made me want to play golf and keep going
because it was a cool sports to play growing up
where you know, golf, golf, especially when I was coming up,
it was it still was like an older man's game,
and it wasn't. It wasn't wouldn't be necessarily cool to
say you play golf, except you know, Tiger Woods was around.

(31:16):
It was cool as hell to play golf because that
guy made it seem like that. So being able to
be around him after winning his golf tournam it was
very special. Dude, I grew up, I mean, I'm I'm
fifty two. I grew up when golf really wasn't cool anything.
I didn't tell anybody what my dad did. And if
you if you think the clothes that were bad, I
mean when I was growing up, the clothes that guys
were wearing, we're really really bad. Um. The game in

(31:40):
one has changed, but I think the game and the
stuff around sports in general and life in general change you.
I mean, you're your social game is is got to
be it's top five in the world. Um, some people
lean they just lean in to social and it can

(32:01):
kind of come across is they're trying really hard. You've
got other people like DJ who does no social it
doesn't do anything right. And so unless Pauline is making
them do TikTok dances or something like that. And then
I think for you, one of the reasons why you're
so popular it seems really really natural. Your sense of humor,

(32:22):
I think is unbelievable. The golf swing stuff, how did
you come up with that idea to have people start
sending you their golf swings for you to just trash them.
It wasn't even my idea. This dude, Brian randomly tweeted
me one night I was in a hotel room and said,
roast my golf swing like you're Gordon Ramsey. And I
did it. And I woke up the next morning and
had you know, dozens more, did a couple more, uh,

(32:45):
and and next you knew it exploded. So on't my idea.
But the social media thing is interesting. I think it
goes a lot to what I was kind of saying
about playing golf, Like if you're a quiet person, be
quiet if you're a fast player, be fast. If you're slow,
you know, you just playing here. I mean I would
rep you play a little bit faster, but you know,
do your thing. And with social media, in my opinion,

(33:05):
like DJ isn't about that, so he doesn't do social media.
I have never disliked it, and I've enjoyed the banter
with you know, people back and forth. So I do it.
But it's just it feels genuine to me, and I
think that's kind of the goal of life is just
to be you and do what you want to do.
You know. People will always tell me, like, you know,
get off Twitter and go practice. It's like, well, I'm

(33:26):
not doing this instead of instead of practicing, it's like
something I'm doing like when I'm sitting on my couch. Uh.
So it's just but it's just genuine to me. It's
just I don't I try my best just to be
me and um, I've enjoyed the interactions with people. I've
enjoyed having like a way too big of a fan
base for the level of golf I had played just

(33:48):
because people felt a connection to me, Like I like
that stuff. But I never did it for that. I
did it because I think it dumb stuff Ill was
eating breakfast tweet it. A bunch of people would connect
with it, or people you know in this world, like
with the golf swing stuff that roasting, Like golf is
really freaking hard, man, and like everybody's got a unique
golf swing. Not everybody can swing the golf club like

(34:09):
Adam Scott like you just most people, even on tour,
gotta funky move in some part of their golf swing.
And it's because it's a hard game. We can't just
like do whatever we want with the golf club. So
it's like just having people, you know, get to have
some fun with it. And like it's not like I'm
like making fun of them, like I get how hard
it is, but it just was. It was organic and
people enjoyed it, and um, you know, I I enjoyed

(34:32):
playing along with it because I like seeing how many
people are playing golf. It's cool, especially you know, COVID
obviously has been awful, but uh, watching golf boom during
that time has been really fun as as an avid
golfer has been fun seeing how much growth this game
has has had during that time and how much people
are now getting attracted to go into golf courses. Uh
to you know, whether it's get exercised, uh, drink beers,

(34:55):
whatever it may be. It's cool to see people getting
into that. I was going to say you, I remember
once I had this idea that I was going to
send you a picture a video of Brooks's golf swing
and say, hey, I've got this player I work with.
He's really good majors, but he can't win a lot
of regular PGA tour It's can you help? But I
got fired before I could UM send that to you
kicked my ass. You mentioned your caddy, Joe Grinder. I

(35:20):
mean I remember watching the tournament that you wanted Wells Fargo,
and it was almost like Joe was willing you to
win that golf. It reminded me. You're probably a little
too old to remember, but when rich Beam won, Um,
I think he won a tournament. I can't remember his
heart for something. UM Scott, I think it was Scott,
his caddy Scott to do Plants was the name. It

(35:42):
was the same thing. I mean, it was literally like
Joe was standing in front of you getting ready for
you to hitch upson, saying do this, do this, do this?
How um you know he's been around for a while.
I mean, everybody knows him. When he shaved the beard
threw me right, I mean I was like, what are
you doing shaving the beard? I even recognize you? How
important has he been to your career? Because I just

(36:06):
we spend so much time with caddies. There's such a
huge part of your guys life, and I just don't
think they get nearly the credit that they deserve. Yeah,
you guys are great players and you can play without them,
but the job that they do is not easy, and
they do pay play a very pivotal role in your career.

(36:27):
Or you know, having Joe on the bag, how you
met him when you're six years old and Valencia, that's
it's amazing. Yeah, it's cool. We have a cool story.
And he's a tremendous golfer himself, and I grew up
looking up to his golf game. Uh and yeah, he's
so The thing about I'm with you, the caddies don't
get a lot of enough credit, and especially for me,

(36:48):
it's Joe. You know, we talk about the best caddies
ever and the best caddies in the game right now,
and it's typically tailored to Uh, that answers Taylor to
who's playing the best in the world, Um, but from me, like,
Joe is a top three caddy in the world, and
I guarantee he's the best caddy for me by a mile.
He's a tremendous He's he's a tremendous asset. I think

(37:09):
if you look at it, you know, we had success
when I first turned pro, and then he ended up
working for Kevin Chapel and Kevin Chappo had a bunch
of success, won the Valero, made the President's Cup team,
and then Joe ends up coming back to me, and
then we have success right away. And you know you
you spoke on the Wells Fargoing. The more I look
back on that that was Joe's that was Joe's win,
I'd say, at the three we've had, you know, I

(37:32):
obviously you know I had some part to play in it,
but that that that one especially, I felt like, like
you said, he was just telling me what to do.
And I had never been in that position before. And
n a PGA tour, I never had the lead, had
never been in the last couple of groups. And on
on Saturday, we're playing with Rory uh and I'm driving
the courts. I mean, I'm so nervous, and I'm driving

(37:54):
the course and I get to the range. I'm doing
my normal stuff. Everything feels fine, you know, other than
like the jelly eggs or whatever. And Joe stops me
before I go to the tea and goes. He goes,
do not go to the tea before Rory. You're gonna
go after him. I'm like, all right, so I could
put for like five extra minutes and I'm almost getting antsy,
and Rory walks the tea goes, all right, we're going
to the tease. We go to the tea and um,

(38:15):
you know, they announced me. I hit my drive down
the fairway and then they announced Rory. And Rory hits
his drive and it's just it's beautiful. It's high and smashed,
but it is way right of our line. And I
didn't know what to say, so I don't say anything.
And we got up there to in the middle of
the fairway. He's got like a wedge in and then
you got something. The next tea, I hit down the fairway.
He hits one way left in my line again, but
it looked good. And I looked at Joe and we

(38:37):
hadn't spoken to Rory yet, and then I was like, Joe,
I don't know, I don't know if I should like
say good shot to him or whatever yet, like whatever,
and Joe just walked straight up to Rory goes, hey, Rory,
we don't know if we should be saying good shot
to that? Is that it was that like a good
Is that a good drive? Because that a good line?
He goes, oh, you know, like yeah, you know worked
out yesterday. Of course we get up there. It's in
the middle of the fairway, like seven yards from the green.

(38:58):
But it was little things like that that Joe would
do that would just like calm me down and like
get me into my like world of like okay, like
I'm not I don't need to build this man up
like he's you know, on a pedestal. I could go
beat me and go play golf. We could just keep
doing the city normal banter we would do with other people.
And throughout the rest of that that day and then
through Sunday, just I felt like I was just listening

(39:20):
to what advice he had for me, and I was
just swinging the golf club and even honestly Saturday Sunday
eighteenth hold Quahola is a brutal t shot and I
don't draw the ball gray off the tea um with
the driver, I play a cut. So every day from
on Saturday, every time we had a delay for the weather,
every day we warmed up, he had me hit like
five to seven extra three woods and hit little draws

(39:42):
and we had kept hitting driver on eighteen and finally
on Sunday, Uh, he's like, all right, it's three wood.
We had a lead, but he's like, it's three wood.
And I hit the best three would in my life,
just a little draw down the middle of the fairway,
and I just remember thinking, I was like, man, this
guy's been like he was like ready for this all
to happen before it happened. And it was just really cool.
But more so than anything, it's really special to share

(40:03):
like cool, cool moments of your life with one of
your best friends. Uh. And we get to share a
bunch of them now, but that one in particular, that
was the coolest. That was the coolest day I think
we have had. I know when in l A was
a bigger deal for us. He's from my hometown, we're
both l A kids. I was the coolest thing we've done.
But for me and his relationship, I can't speak higher

(40:24):
of Joe. It's it's I think he is um. You know.
I know a lot of people look at player caddy
stuff is employee, employeer, but I do not believe in that.
I believe it's a team thing and that man is um.
He's a hell of a caddy man and he's a great,
great person as well. You've won three times on the
PGA Tour. What let's go through the winds. You win Wells, Fargo, Genesis, Riviera.

(40:47):
I mean those are two golf courses. Can't fake it.
Your Your coach, Mark Blackborn was just recently on the
podcast with me and we were talking about it and
he and I asked him how high the ceiling was
for you, and he said he didn't think there really
was a ceiling for you. And he said that he
felt like the more success you have, the more confidence

(41:07):
you're going to get. You said, at times you've struggled
with confidence. But with the winds that you've had. I
mean you've had three wins in a d eight starts.
I mean that's a pretty good rate. Um each time
that you've won. Is there anything that you remember about
those weeks that were different than other weeks. Yeah, so well,

(41:28):
I I well, Spargo was like like the blackout week,
Like it just worked. When I missed it, it went
the right spot. I put it the best I put it.
For four days, it was just the blackout, Like everything aligned,
and I learned that my really good golf is really
really good. That's what I learned that week. But it
wasn't as sustainable at the time. I just wasn't whether

(41:50):
it's mentally ready or whatever, or physically ready. I but
I knew at least in the back of my mind
that the rest of my life, my good golf is
good enough to be damn near anybody. But you gotta
do that a lot if you want to be a
LAE player out here. You look at people um like
you know, Rory is the best example ever, Like he
could play average for him and win a golf tournament.
I knew I couldn't do that. L A was the

(42:12):
biggest difference in the biggest lead. When I won that week,
I realized that, like that, my confidence shot through the roof.
I knew that I went out there and I just
played golf for four days. I didn't feel like I
did anything crazy special. I didn't feel like there was
a part of my game that was like clicking, like
it's never clicked before. I just played golf and that
was big because ever since that event, I've walked onto

(42:33):
every other driving rage since then with just an immense
amount of uh, ease and confidence. And I feel like
I have a I have kind of my like little
swagger from college back, like I said, when I felt
like a bigger fish in a smaller pond. And then
the fortnet obviously the fields not stacked by any means uh,
And that one was fun in its own way because

(42:54):
I felt like I was supposed to do that. Um.
I got fortunate that John Raw missed the cut because
he's that dude. He's the best player in the world.
So I got fortunately missed the cut. I played with
him Thursday Friday, and he just had one of those
weeks where the ball did not want to go in
the hole. He played great, just the ball just didn't
want to go in. But once he missed that cut,
all of a sudden, you know, I felt like, all right,
you know, if I keep doing what I'm doing, like

(43:15):
I like not should, but I I'm very capable of
doing this, And it was fun to watch the progression
for me, just like selfishly, because like I said that first,
that first one felt like all right, stars aligned, everything
was great. The second one felt like, all right, buddy,
like you need to start thinking like this a lot
more often. And the third one felt like a product
of thinking like that more often. And now, I mean,

(43:36):
I just feel like getting to play in groups with
the best guys in the world almost every week, it
starts to breathe that confidence because you start looking around
and being like, all right, well, yeah, he's really good
at that, but like I'm really good at this, and
now I'm just gonna go play golf. So that's been
the that's been the fun part about seeing all those
kind of those those three wins in their own like
little light, uh and trying to like almost bookmark what

(44:00):
I felt from each one, because it's getting less and less,
uh crazy when I play these events. When you look
at players, your peers right now on the on the
PGA tour, I mean, who are the players that you
look at and you go, man, I'd love to be
able to do that. I'd love, like from a putting
stamp on Who's when you look at great putters on

(44:21):
the PGA Tour right now that you play with in
two who do you look at and just go, dude,
that guy can roll it. Cam Smith has the prettiest
putting stroke I've probably ever seen. I didn't saying you
could get prettier than like a tiger, but Cam smith
putting stroke it looks it looks like it's just a gift.
Like he just wakes up and can just do anything
with the putter. Um. You know, I I put people

(44:44):
in categories in that way to like John Rom To me,
he's the most complete player I've seen day in and
day out, and he's been like that since college. Like
he makes golf look remarkably easy, and he drives the
absolute hell out of the ball. He hits it miles
and miles, but it's he hits it really straight. Um,
And he's the most complete. He's just uh, he's like
a freaking nature. Like I said, it looks so easy.

(45:06):
But as somebody who you know I mentioned before, I
grew up kind of playing with through college and then
now justin Thomas is um he's for whatever reason, to me,
the most impressive and I think it's because his short
game is really really underrated. He hits a lot of
really great short game shots that that are very hard.
It makes them look ridiculously easy. He came out to

(45:28):
um Scottsdale a bit early before the waste management. We
played two days in a row, and he's playing on
my home golf course. He'd never played before, and he's
hitting these chips that I know are not easy, like
I've had them, and he's making them look like child's play.
So some of those guys, you know, like Patrick Reid,
store games dumb um. There's a lot of guys out there.
Jordan's speech is remarkable, but some about justin the way

(45:50):
he goes about his business, the way he attacks golf tournaments,
his mentality towards winning. Obviously, he's good friends with Tiger
and they seem to share a very similar mentality towards
the game. Uh he is Uh, he is the most
I think, the one I kind of look up to
the most and try to learn from the most. And
again it helps that I, you know, I'm friendly with him,
so I can kind of pick his brain and watch.

(46:12):
But everybody out there is pretty special. But something about
the way J. T. Does it. I think people got
to see it on that Saturday when he worked the
ball however he wanted to through the golf course. And
like I said, he gets a lot of credit for
that ball striking. It's a thing of beauty. But the
stuff he does outside of that is very special. His
off speed game, from you know, from a hundred and

(46:33):
thirty yards into the breeze, he hits the most beautiful
flighted one bounce just stopped, controls the trajectory, controls the spin.
I mean, he's so much fun to watch. I remember,
I think I was this had been six years ago,
seven years ago, was playing golf with Phil Mickelson and

(46:54):
we uh after the round, we're either watching golf or
talking about golf or something like that, and he said
something about Justin was our you know, a world beater,
and he said something along the lines of, yeah, when
he learns how to control his speed and spin, he's
gonna be uh like something else. And I remember like thinking,
like again, I played more golf with him than he had,
and I remember thinking, man, he does that. I'm just

(47:15):
gonna let you know, like maybe he hasn't done an
in tournaments under the gun yet, but he does that, like,
that's one of my favorite things he does. And now
obviously that's like his thing. I mean, he's hitting, he's
hitting shots. We play a practice round at um At
Kiowa this year and Justin asked me. We were both
next to each other on a layup on a par five, uh,
and he asked me what I hit? And I asked

(47:36):
him what he hit? And he hit pitching ledge and
I hit sand wedge. And it was interesting because he
told me, He's like, oh, you kind of hit your
wedges like Jordan's Speed does. Like I we shaft lying
a lot. He's like, I don't like to do that.
So I killed Speed a lot, and I just don't.
I don't. I couldn't hit a hitting a pitching w
from whatever number we had, was like that was the
most far fetched thing I could have done, and he
made it look so easy. So he's just so good.

(47:58):
He's got such great hand and he's got such a
great touch, and um, yeah, he's a he's special man.
I I obviously he's been one of the best players
in the world for a while, but he's a special,
special human. Now. He's I mean, he's My dad said
the same thing I remember his old chaddy, Jimmy Johnson,
my dad when he came out on tour and he
was having some success. I said, my dad said to
Jimmy Johnson listened, same thing that filled it. He said,

(48:21):
if if, if this kid learns how to control trajectory
flight his wedges, he's gonna be one his players in
the world. UM rest of two, UM one are the
goals for the rest of this year. I mean, you've
already won once. I mean, you know, your top fifty
in the world. I mean, you're playing in everything that matters.

(48:41):
UM President's Cup team on the horizon. I mean that
that'd be a great thing obviously when you get on
if you've never been on those teams, I know everybody.
I mean I go back to the when Brooks was
never you know, he had never been on one, and
I told him, I said, he missed the President's Cup
in Korea. I said, you're gonna have your chance, and
when you get on one, you're never gonna not want

(49:02):
to be a part of it. Is that a big
goal for you? With two at the present and Wells Fargo,
I mean golf course you want them. Yeah, that's that's
my only goal. Man. Last year, I got to be
in u like the meetings for the Ryder Cup, like
the pre team meetings, um filling the questionnaire, got to
que I got to try on the you know, the

(49:22):
team uniforms, in the suits and everything, and I remember, uh,
you know, I remember looking at myself in that in
that outfit, and I'm like, this is what I want.
I I didn't make the team. Uh and not for
lack of uh or not, not because anybody didn't pick me.
I didn't deserve it. I didn't play well the back
end of the year at all, and um, it hurt
because I just I felt like I tasted it. And

(49:45):
I've had the benefit of playing that Walker Cup team
and I know how much fun that was, and I
I I kind of have that goal. I've had that
goal since then to play on the other you know,
team events, and I remember that just stung, and I
just immediately set got my you know, I said on
the President's Cut, this team and then every team thereafter,
but this, this President's Cup team is this is definitely

(50:07):
the driving force I've got written in my phone. Remember
last week David's love the thirties captain and the team
gave a bunch of US, you know, USA shirts and
a little note and I just told I remember I
left locker room. I told Joe, I said, got a
little extra fuel to the fire this week. We know
we got this. I just got a you know, a
nice friendly reminder that you know, but go play some golfs.
You can make this team because I think that's the pinnacle. Uh,

(50:30):
you know of our support for US is making those
team events. And that's that's damn near all I want
at this point. Last question, uh came out this week
the rival, the saudio whatever you're calling it. Eight events
they say they're having them. You can see where the
events are now, you see what the prize money is
for all of these things. You said, someone asked you

(50:52):
about it. You said, listen, it's not you don't play
golf for money. But the thing that you remember when
you win golf tournaments is not how much money you win.
It's the field. But obviously, now that it's real and
you can see where the events are on the schedule
and stuff like that, does the fact that they're now

(51:12):
you can see it, Does it change kind of your perspective?
Do you think it will change other players perspective to
where now it's it's it's a viable thing. Um. I
think it will change other people's perspective, has not changed
mine yet. Obviously I can't tell the future. Maybe when
they start playing golf touramants, all of a sudden, it
will look like more of a real thing to me.

(51:34):
But it hasn't changed one opinion I have of it. Um.
Like I said, So I keep, like my my phone,
I keep in my notes app Like I mentioned, I
keep little goals like the President's companants sitting there. And
every time I open my phone to change apps like
I see my goals and and no, in no goal
I've ever written in my entire life, does it have

(51:56):
a a dollar amount associated with anything. It's never to
make a million dollars. It's never been to make ten
million dollars. It's never to make fifty this week. It's
too when the Masters, it's to win the Genesis Invitation.
Let's to make the President's Cup and Writer Cup team,
And those are those are the things that get me going,
that kind of get me excited, that motivate me to

(52:18):
uh do what I do, to wake up and go
practice and work. So at this point For me, none
of none of the flashy uh number signs, dollar signs
really affect me. Uh. I live a nice life. I'm good.
I I I will be considerably happier if I make
this President's Cup team this year then if you handed

(52:39):
me fifty million dollars. So that's how I look at it.
I know it's going to change other people's perfective again,
like it's cool if that's what you play golf, or
if you play golf to make money, then it's an
awesome way to go do it. The PGA Tour also
presents a pretty awesome opportunity to make money. Um, you know,
I think money is important. Uh And and some people
like I said, that's how they view success. Uh, I'm

(53:01):
viewing success. This here is uh stacking trophies on the
PGA Tour wearing red, white and blue uh at Quail Hollow.
So uh yeah, for me, it's just it's very at
this point, it's very black and white of what I
want versus what um, you know would be cool, but
it's not really my It's not my thing at the moment. Um.

(53:21):
I said it was the last question, but I just
thought of another one. Are you a little jealous right
now of Eric van Royan's mustache game because it's legit
and it is it is he's coming with it. He's
coming with it. That man. That man. I didn't realize
he had it like that, but he does. Uh it's
pretty cool, man. His whole style is pretty it's interesting,

(53:42):
it's different. He's got the joggers, he's got a mustache
that would make any man jealous. Uh so, yeah, it's
it's impressive. I I like, you know, I I shaved
mine a week or so ago because I had to
shoot for Tylus. But part of me, in the back
of my mind, was like, I don't want to compete
with this guy anymore. It's when you're lifting at the
gym and you pull out fifties and somebody pulls out eighties.

(54:03):
It's like, I'm just gonna put these away and go home.
That's what it felt like. So that guy's got it
going on. It's it's it's pretty legit. Um listen, man.
I think one of the reasons why you've you've become
so popular on tour is because you're just one. You
can tell that your persona is authentic, and you know,

(54:23):
it's been fun to kind of watch you. I mean
when you come out and say that you struggle with confidence.
I see you walking onto the range and I see
this kind of quiet, kind of swag that you've got,
and I'm thinking, man, that guy just doesn't mean obviously,
Daniel Berger. Nobody thinks Dan Nobody thinks books struggles with confidence, right.
I mean, it's it's it's pretty out there. But you know,

(54:45):
you're doing a great job. It's gonna be really really
fun to to see, um, how you play. And I'd
be shocked if you're not on the President's come to
thank you made me too, man, That's that's that's what
I'm about my head to thank you for having me on. Man,
enjoy Tampa. I hope you guys getting a great stuff.
Thanks for talking to us. Take care. So that was

(55:10):
Max Homa and listen. I mean, it doesn't take long
to figure out why he's one of the most popular
guys on tour. He's doing it both on the golf
course and off the golf course with his social and uh,
I definitely want to thank him for taking the time
to talk to me. Um, love his golf swing, love
everything he's doing, and um, it's gonna be cool to
see if he can make a run in the majors.

(55:31):
So I wanted to talk about Scottie Scheffler getting to
number one in the world. And it's a really cool
thing to see a young player do that every year,
and it's currently going on right now. At my club
here the Floridian, we have a tournament called the Valve
Spar Collegian Invitational, and Scottie Scheffler played in this tournament
in I think two thousands, seventeen, two eighteen. I watched

(55:51):
him play as as a University of Texas golfer. It's
funny on my time hop um it came up from
four or five years ago maybe at Wolf Victor Hovelin.
They were all here playing in this tournament. And when
you see these young kids, you know, carrying their own
bag walking around in a college tournament, I mean four
years later, five years later, there's some of the best

(56:13):
players in the world and a guy like Scottie Scheffler,
you know, I'm watching him play a college golf tournament
four or five years ago, and now the kids the
number one player in the world. And it just goes
to show that the journey that these kids are on,
it can look really really short and and really really
Oh he's an overnight sensation. But you know, Scottie Scheffler
has been a great player for ten years now. I

(56:35):
mean he's been playing junior golf, he's been playing amateur golf,
college golf. He goes to the corn Ferry, gets out
on tour, win street out of the I think the
last six tournaments he plays in, and goes to number
one in the world. And I mean, it's such a
cool thing to watch young golfers. I think that's the
thing I love most about what I do is is
you get to watch kids that you helped teach at

(56:57):
a young age, and then you get to watch them
play junior golf and then hopefully they go on and
play college golf and if they make it to the
PGA Tour. I mean, it's an amazing thing to watch
a young you know, guy or girl, just watch them
play and watch the way that their games progress. So um,
Scotty Shuffler, he's going to be around. I mean, this

(57:19):
isn't a fluke. I mean, the kid hits it a
long way. I continue to be impressed with how far
and how high he hits the golf ball and It
reminds me a lot of Tiger back in the day
to be able to stand up on a on a
really difficult part three where the greens are baked out,
or a really tough part four long one in a
major championship and be able to hit, you know, a

(57:41):
four or five iron to the moon and have it
lands off. Scotty has those type of shots. I think
he has a very very unique golf swing. I think
one of the best things that could have ever happened
to Scotty Scheffler was to meet Randy Smith, who, at
a very young age his swing instructor just let him
kind of be an athlete, let him play a bunch
of sports, didn't really mess around with kind of the footwork. Um,

(58:04):
it's kind of idiosyncratic about what Scotty does. It doesn't
look necessarily, I guess, aesthetically pleasing to a lot of people.
But from a biomechanics standpoint and from a golf standpoint,
what he does, believe it or not, with his feet
and his lower body is one unbelievably functional. And the
way his right foot moves. Greg Norman used to do that,

(58:25):
and Greg Norman was one of the greatest drivers of
the golf ball that I've ever seen. So Um, congrats
to Scotty Scheffler and and his entire team. It's been
fun to watch kind of that journey. His agent, Blake Smith,
is also um brooks Kepta's agent. I got to spend
a lot of time with Blake and Blake's father, Randy,
is coaching him. So I think it's a really cool story. Um.

(58:46):
You know, there is a lot of really good golfers
out there on the PGA Tour right now, and for
Scotty at this stage of his life and his career
to get to number one in the world, UM, I'm
a fan. I think it's a cool story and I'm
really excited to see where Scotty goes from here because, um,
you talk about a high ceiling, this kid's got one.
So next week I'll be in Augusta, And if you're

(59:08):
going to be there for the Masters, check out the
Golf Clubhouse Experience to day event for golf fans at
the Savannah River Brewing Company. I'm going to be there
Wednesday night doing a live recording of a Master's preview
bonus episode, So be sure to follow me on Instagram
and I'll be sharing all those details should be a

(59:28):
fun week. Masters Week. I think it's everybody's favorite week
on the PGA tour um during the season, and um
so many storylines. I'm excited. I can't wait to get there,
and I know everybody else is excited as well. Of course,
with Claude Harmon comes to you every Wednesday. We will
see you next week.