Noah Kent

Fresh off a runner up finish at the U.S. Amateur this summer, Noah joins CH3 to discuss his impressive run at Hazeltine National Golf Club, college golf in Iowa and what's next for the teen.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the Son of a Bush podcast. Your host Claude
ha Rman. My guest this week is a nineteen year
old sophomore at the University of Iowa. You just lost
in the finals of the us AM. It would have
been much cooler to say, no, you won in the
finals of the us AM. But I mean it was
a hell of a summer for you. I mean what happened.
You know, obviously, you played great at Iowa last year

(00:22):
as a freshman, led the team in scoring average, played
in every tournament as a freshman, which I think is
a Division one college golfer is very very rare. Your
stroke average was great, you had a bunch of top tens.
But you went into the us AM I think ranked
five hundred and sixty and in the Wagger rankings and

(00:42):
you got to the finals. So it's been about just
a little bit under a month. Have you had time
to decompress and have any kind of reflection on what
you actually kind of did. I'm second at the Porter
Cup this summer, so that was a huge stepping stone.
I think the year in the development. But I mean
the USM is you know, it's close to being a
major for you know, you look at the names on

(01:03):
that trophy of everybody who's wanted. But if you had
a chance to kind of take stock of what.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Happened, Yeah, I just want to say thank you so
much for having me on. This is awesome. It means
a lot. I don't know. I really haven't reflected yet,
to be quite honest. I mean, I mean, yeah, my
dad sent me a thing, and so my parents, my
mom and Dana. It's just like you get to eat,
like you see the stuff on Gulf Diye. Just it's

(01:28):
like here's the Masters field, like going into twenty twenty five.
It's just like you see your name and it's just like, huh,
that's pretty interesting. But it's like, yeah, I mean it
was a ton of fun. I feel like talking to
you and talking to Brett, like everybody around me, I
have like a really awesome team, which means the world
who all believe in me, probably more than I believe
in myself at times. So I feel like for me,

(01:51):
I finally believed in myself the way I should and
it kind of reflected as as belief. But I guess
in the US.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, I mean for everyone listening that doesn't know if
you make it to the finals of the US Amateur,
you get into the Masters, and the following year you
get into the US Open. I want to go back
to the beginning. Your dad was a golfer. He played
in the US Junior. Your stepdad, Data Fryes, a golf
course architect, designed Aaron Hills where Brooks won his first

(02:21):
major championship. I was there your stepdad, Dana. He took
you to that tournament. You met Rory McElroy. You were
playing hockey at that point. How old were you back then?
I mean, I'm bad at math, so.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
I think it was nine in twenty seventeen ten.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
I wasn't even going to guess because I would have failed.
So you're nine years old, you meet Rory McElroy out
of major championship. What was that like? I mean, he
obviously you knew who he was, but how did that
come about? And what was that experience like for you?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, so he missed the cut, which is kind of
funny because somebody still gave me time. And Dana met
Sean earlier in the week.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Seawn his agent, Sean Flerty. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, And you know the thing, it kind of stuck out.
It's like Rory is not that tall Orray's not that big,
and I'm kind of like, how do you hit the
ball so far? And he told me how it's all
in your legs, And I feel like whenever I met him,
I'm like, this would be kind of cool to do it.
He just did, like playing a major championship. Like I'm
a little kid, like not really thinking much of it.
I'm like, okay, like I want to quit hockey and

(03:15):
play golf.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
So yeah, I mean, not many kids like get that
opportunity to meet, you know, someone from another sport who
is a you know, I mean Rory at that point,
is it's incredible that he's still sitting on the same
amount of majors in twenty four that he was sitting
on in seventeen. He's been the number one player in
the world. I mean, you can make an argument that
when he's on I mean, I think he's one of
the best players in the world day in and day out.

(03:37):
I think he'll go down as one of the best
of this generation. But you made the decision to change,
and you played a lot of golf up until that point.
I mean, what was your by the time you were
nine ten years old, when you decided to choose the
pathway of saying, Okay, I'm going to just play competitive
junior golf. How much golf had you really played?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
My dad got me starting it, but I feel like
Dana played probably the biggest role in like really getting
me into it. So he did a course called Colucive Pines,
which is right by where I live in Naples, Florida.
And I did a chipping competition no longer after that
with Rocko Media eight and I hold a couple chip
shots in front of him, and you know, it's kind
of like you got like a little I didn't even

(04:17):
know what my ego was at the time that young,
when he kind of like boosted me up like oh yeah,
like you're a really good chipper. And it's like kind
of after that, like you get told you're good at
something when you're a little kid, and you're kind of like, oh,
maybe I start doing this more, and yeah, I just
started taking it serious. From there.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
I read a story that Tommy Morrison, who's you know,
Tommy's a stud right playing at the University of Texas.
He came and played in a tournament. Was it at
Calusa or Naples? When you were how old Naples National.
I was the Terra Cotta, right, the Terracotta Amateur, which
is a which is a big junior golf tournament. A
bunch of players have won that before. Tommy is you know,
I mean he's a larger than what's he like, six
seven six eight?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, I met him when that year as we were
both fourteen. He was six eight and I was five
six six eight.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Is a prech as a fourteen year old. You're six '
four now, so you don't have to look up to
him as much. But again, you meet a young, you know,
player who was getting a lot of buzz at that time,
and he spends time with you. I think it's it's
huge for kids, Noah, to have these kind of data
points in your life. Right, everybody wants to be you know,

(05:19):
when you're a junior golfer, I think everybody wants to
be their heroes, right, you want to be Scotty Scheffler,
Ory McElroy, genre whoever it is. But when you meet
someone who's kind of a similar age that you're at,
it's a junior golfer like you are, I think it
can be a really big boost to help kind of
plant that seed to where Okay, I could do this

(05:40):
as well. So you meet him, did you play with him?
Did you watch him practice? What was that story?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
So I was a standard Bear that year. So I
was taking scores and I told Dana, I'm like, go
watch this kid play. Like I know he's fourteen. I
think he's pretty good. I didn't know how Tolly was actually,
So then after a round I met him. We got
a photo and I'm like, I want to go play
nine holes, like you want to come play with and
he was hitting the two iron pass my driver. And
after the round, I go to Dana, I'm like, yeah,

(06:07):
I got a long way to go if he's fourteen,
and I'm fourteen, Like so yeah, I mean we actually
played a practice round together before the USM at Chaska
Town Course, and the funny thing was was on the
seventh hole, I went up to him like it's not
like we're fourteen anymore, and I'm like twenty by him now.
So it's funny the kid.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
I think he's got a bright future. And when you
see him, you just don't see golfers that big. But
I think you now, as a sophomore, you are kind
of the prototype of what we see the modern and
a junior golfer and modern college golfer six foot four.
Just to piss everybody off, that's that's not a superstar

(06:46):
like yourself as an amateur. What's your ball speed? What's
your clubhead speed? Right now? Who's like not trying to
go after once? What do you kind of cruise clubheadspeed
and ball speed at.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I'd probably say it's like probably somewhere between like twenty
three and twenty six, and it's probably like eighty four
to like eighty eight somewhere in there.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay, So for everybody listening, that's one hundred and twenty
two to one hundred and twenty three miles per hour
cluppet speed and kind of mid one eighties ball speed,
which is on a pore with some of the longest
hitters in the game. I mean, we'll just keep going
with this to piss everybody off. How far are you
here in five iron carry, no wind, flat carry, not
trying to kill one to twenty five twenty five? Okay, Yeah,

(07:25):
that's great. Everybody's gonna love that seven iron.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
One ninety five two hundred.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
One ninety five, two hundred. You know you can step
on it and get it to two fifteen. Okay, this
will be the one that treats everybody out nine iron?
How far are you here?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Nine?

Speaker 1 (07:36):
I just stock nine iron, no wind, flat line.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
One hundred and sixty, one hundred and sixty five.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
When I first saw you, I mean, what's it been
like four years ago? I think four years ago. I
mean obviously when someone like you as a young kid
gets brought, you know, by their parents. To me, I'm
lucky enough to work with some really good players that
have a tremendous amount of speed, and I've got to
be honest with you. See you hit a golf ball
and watching you kind of ramp up through that first

(08:03):
lesson we got looking at the size you were looking
at kind of the raw speed that you had, it
reminded me a lot of the first time that I
saw Brooks. I met Brooks after he graduated from Florida State.
He was Peter u Line's roommate. They were playing on
the Challenge Store. I was working with DJ at the time,
but I was working with Ernie Els he just won
his fourth major, and I saw Brooks and I'm just

(08:25):
watching the speed, and I think it was a very
similar situation and watching you, I mean I went away
from that first golf lesson even though you were still
really really young and still really really raw. You have
a lot of the attributes in golf that you can't teach. Right.
It's a little bit like being a running back or
a wide receiver, either faster or not right. You can
either teach that maybe, but either have that. So you

(08:48):
have all this speed, you have all this power, and
correct me if I'm wrong. I think it's taken you
a while to kind of grow into that, to kind
of understand the speed and the power or you have,
but also how to use that. Have you noticed, Noah,
the jump from being a high school junior golfer to

(09:08):
now going into your second year as a college golfer.
How have you learned and tried to deal with the
fact that you have this kind of formula one kind
of race car, right? I mean you can go as
fast as you want if we tell you to hit
it further. I mean, if you really want to jump
on one with your driver, I mean, how far do
you feel like you can carry it in the air?

(09:31):
You really want to step on one?

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I got one last winter time in the simulator was
called here. I got one three sixty at sea level.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
So the obvious question is you just played your first
tournament of the year for the University of Iiowa. You
guys went up to Minnesota. Back to Minnesota where the
USAMA was not at hazel team, but good vibes up there.
Took me through the eight that you make on a
part five with all the damn speed you have. Talk
me through that.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, great great hole to ask about. I really appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
So I feel like whenever I hit a cut, now
that's something we've worked on together, and you know, I
decided to try and not hit a cut, which was
a dumb, nineteen year old decision that I decided to make.
And yeah, that golf ball's gone living in the woods
somewhere in Minnesota and.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Going to have a cold winter.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, and then I hit another one with my mini
driver and I had to take an unplayable after that drive,
and yeah, made Nate. That's how that.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, when you juniors and college players, you know,
talk about these big numbers you make, there's always this
story about, you know, I did this and I did that.
Then it hit into you know, I mean the two iron.
You've got your back how far you carry that?

Speaker 2 (10:47):
I took that out. I have a five wood now.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Okay, so how far you carry the five one comfortable.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Is probably to sixty five?

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Okay. How long was the par five you just made
Nate on. I mean it wasn't seven hundred yards tixo
five okay, so you still could have hit five wood
in the middle of the fairway. Lay up, Yeah, make
a birdie. The jump from junior golf to college golf.
What have you noticed is the difference for you as
a player, right, because there is a big step right

(11:15):
every developmental stage that you go at as an athlete,
but specifically as a golfer, there is a jump from
junior golf from you know, AJGA golf to high level
junior golf and then the level that you're trying to
go out now. When you got to Iowa as a freshman,
the mac McLear story fifth your senior two time Big

(11:38):
Big ten champ, tell everybody what you decided to tell
your coach that you wanted to do as soon as
you got to Iowa as a freshman.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, I just wanted them as much as I can
and beat them as much as I can, And I
kind of I kind of did that, So that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
So you said to your coach, Hey, he's the best
player on the team, he's kind of a stud. I'm
a freshman coming in. I want to play him and
see what I can do. You won, right, Yeah, three
and two, three and two. What did you notice about
your game going up against someone who's obviously in the
college ranks, a fifty year senior, two time Big ten champ.

(12:14):
I mean, he's the stud of the team, right. Every
college golf team kind of has that guy that is
the stud. Most of the time they're either you know,
juniors or seniors. But there are guys that are studs
as a freshman, as a sophomore, but very rarely. But
when you got to iowan you kind of I mean,
let's be honest. You called out Mac and Sid listen,
I want to see what my game can do against

(12:34):
the team's best player. Were you surprised at the way
you played? Were you surprised at the way he played?
What did you notice about that day?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Uh? I figured out that he doesn't make as many
big numbers as I do. I feel like, you know,
everybody who's the best in college golf. What I've realized
I've learned a lot from my freshman a sophomore, you're
like freshman year, I'm kind of looking in like wow,
like everybody's like really good. And you get to your

(13:02):
sophomore and now I kind of feel like I'm kind
of one of the bigger dogs, like people are kind
of looking up to me now. But like as a freshman,
like you see Mac and it's like you don't make
a big number, Like he doesn't make a double bogie,
Like he makes a bogie at worst. And that's something
like you talk about how I'm like a race car driver, like, yeah,
I can make seven birdies around, but I can make
two triples and a bogie or something.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
You can crash the car, right, you can have the
fastest lap in the race, be leading the race, and
then just through. But I think a lot of that
no is you don't know what you don't know, right,
And so the learning curve, like you said your freshman year,
I think saying every tournament, qualifying for every tournament you've
got how many you're what four or five tournaments in

(13:42):
the fall, four or five tournaments in the spring, You've
got to go qualify for those? What's it for everybody
listening your college freshman, what's the qualifying process like for
people that don't know, is a Division one college golfer?

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeap. So for our first event on a fall, we'll
do we did five rounds of qualifying, so play five rounds,
eighteen holes. Top three guys make it and it's two
coaches picks. So yeah, won the qualifying this year by ten,
So that was quite nice.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
What you do last year in the first qualifier.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
They shot on a shoot. Last year I came second.
I shot fourteen hunder and lost by eleven. Yeah to
mac so that was pretty good.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Was there a learning curve in playing the golf courses
your freshman year, because obviously you're going to be playing
on maybe something You're lucky that you grew up kind
of in Naples. You grew up on good golf courses,
but still you're going to be going from that jump
from high school golf to and junior golf to college golf.
The golf courses are going to be longer, they're going
to be more difficult, They're going to tuck the pins.

(14:44):
What do you feel like your freshman year at the
University of Iowa that you learned from yourself, that you
learned from your teammates, but more importantly, what you learn
from your coaches at Iowa.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, I mean I feel like everybody in junior golf,
and I mean I can attest to it because I
know how I was. I mean, you think your prime
Tiger Woods in nineteen ninety nine and you see a pen,
you fire at the pin and you hope it's really close.
And you get to college and the pins are three off,
the corners above ridges, the greens are firm. Every course
you play in college golf is good at the Division

(15:18):
one level. Every single golf course you're gonna play is
gonna be good, and it's gonna they're gonna make it
as hard as you can. I feel like the thing
that I've taken in for my coaches, especially from you,
is like you have to pick and choose your points
and when to use my speed and when to use
my talent that I'm lucky enough to have, and I
work really hard to keep it and get it better
and better and better to where I want to go.

(15:39):
And it's like if the pick and choose your spots,
I feel like you told me one time. We're talking
about Brooks like asking how many flagsticks and a major
championship he aims at and I think you said for
four rounds. It was something like four and four rounds.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
He just doesn't do it that all state. And I
think you know, certainly, but that's something that no one
can tell you, right. I mean I can sit here,
no matter how many good players that I've worked with,
no matter how much information I can give you, it's
still you as the player, having to go out and
make those mistakes yourself. Do you feel like you've learned

(16:15):
from the experiences that you had that freshman year of
college that you feel like are starting to become kind
of I don't want to say non negotiables for you,
but I think you have a better understanding of how
to play the game. But like you said, when you're
a junior, you can get by I think on being long, right,

(16:35):
I mean when you were in high school. I mean,
how much further past everybody on your high school team?
Are you hitting it? One hundred?

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, that's pretty it's a long way.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah. So you get to Iowa. What's a typical week
for you at Iowa? Like in season? Right, So obviously
you're going to class Monday, through Friday, but from a
from a golf standpoint, because I think it's a good
insight for a lot of people listening, maybe that are
thinking about trying to play competitively, maybe their junior or
they have you know, we've got parents listening. So what's

(17:05):
a typical week like for you? Talk me through last week?
You get to Iowa Monday, Talk me through Monday through
Friday of last week.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, so leading the tournament will lift three days a week,
concluding another day before we leave, like kind of like
a primer getting ready. So last week Monday, we don't
have LYFT, but we have practice structured practice from two
to five. You can do whatever you want. So I'm
pretty much out there at a like eleven thirty eleven,
getting my work in before practice and doing a structure.

(17:34):
Tuesday we have LYFT six thirty to seven thirty, which
also happens on Thursday and Friday in the morning in
the morning, and then you'll have class and then structured
practice again pretty much every day. Structured practice will be
at two o'clock, two to five o'clock. Just that's the
best for us. But I'm always out there early trying
to get in work before everybody. I'm lucky enough to
where I don't have class Thursday and Friday. I'd take

(17:57):
some online classes so I can allow myself to practice
little more. So I mean Thursday and Friday for me,
if I'm done with the left and I got my
homework done, I'll be at the golf course for eight hours.
Just you gotta take advantage of the good weather. I
got it, so you know.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
I talked to Chris Venturo, who's a member at the Floridian.
He and Victor Hovelin are both They both just kept
on playing the Olympics Fornary, but they were part of
that national championship team with Matt Wolfe at Oklahoma State.
And when I talked to Chris about what he did
in college, he said that Wolfie, Bobby and Chris, he
said they just played way more than they practiced. How

(18:31):
are you finding that balance between how much you play
versus how much you're practicing your technique and that kind
of blending of the two, because that's again, that is
that is hard to do, right because you think the
way you're going to get better is just practice, practice, practice, practice.
Are you finding that playing and seeing what happens on

(18:52):
the golf course is becoming more of a priority or
you locked into kind of what you're doing technique wise.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
No, I don't really spend that like, to be completely honest,
I kind of limit myself, Like I'll give myself like
a thirty minute time period on the range where it's
like okay, like I'm gonna do like technique stuff and
check my stuff to make sure everything's good. But it's
like I've had this talk with my teammates. I'm a
captain this year, and I tell them it's like, yeah,
it's like cool. You can make a five footer on
a putting green or a fifteen footer, or you can

(19:21):
get a draw in a range. I'm a big believer
in you gotta do it on the golf course too,
Like can you hit a driver down a twenty yard
wide fairway? Can you to seven iron from however far
to this pin? I feel like the only way you're
gonna learn is by getting a ball in the actual hole,
not getting in a putting green. Cup. So I play
every single day that I can.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
With your teammates, do you guys play matches? Are you
always playing for something or do you guys just kind
of go out and kind of freewheel it.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
No, So like today, me and two other guys on
the team went up and played banker. So that was fun.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Okay, So what is I don't even know what banker is.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
So there's three guys. Uh, one guy's banker. It's individual matches.
So it's me, Ryan and Josh to my teammates. So
banker hits last. You play like a five dollar match
versus everybody on that hole, and yes, it's me versus Ryan,
then Josh rous May and banker. He can press the banker,
but if the banker presses, you have to press both people. So, yeah,

(20:15):
you win today, I actually lost. That was kind of embarrassing.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Let's get to I alluded to. It was a hell
of a summer for you. Cup, which is one of
the big kind of amateur golf tournaments. Everybody Brooks has
played in it. Everybody's played in it. Again, that's a
trophy that when you look at the names on that
and you look at the entry list of players that
have played in I think everybody that's played Division one
college golf. There are a lot of people playing all

(20:42):
over the world on various tours. They've all played in
the Porter Cup, you finished second. Did that kind of
give you a little bit of boosting confidence coming off
of a really solid freshman year at Iowa to where
you went, Okay, I've got some big tournaments to play in,
you know, the USAMBI and one of them. Did you
feel after finishing second at the Porter Cup that it
could be a springboard and give you that kind of

(21:05):
confidence in your game and take it to a big, big,
the biggest tournament you've ever played in, which is the USAM. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
So I feel like the thing I learned without myself
that week is I didn't think a bogie on the
back nine the whole entire tournament.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
That helps.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
So, I mean I closed really well, sixty seven sixty seven,
sixty seven sixty nine. I mean, I lost my a shot,
but you know, it stinks to lose. But I learned
for myself that I can fire four rounds in our
own a sixties. And granted didn't close the tournament the
way I wanted to, but I learned that I can
put it together in a big tournament. Is actually funny.
So I wasn't qualified for the USAM before that tournament.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
You had to go qualify.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
I drove down five hours that night to another place
in New York, play a practice round, and qualify the
next day, which you shooting the qualifier sixty seven medalists.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
I actually think that that actually helps. Right. You come
off of a big finish for you, probably the biggest
finish you've had in a big amateur tournament, and you
still have to go qualify for the US. And let's
tell everybody the story about you qualified for the US
Junior last year, which was the kind of the biggest
tournament that you played in. Tell everybody what your prep

(22:12):
was for the US Junior and why you didn't play
in the US Junior last summer.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeap qualified for the s Junior, which was.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
A huge goal of yours, right, I mean that's.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Oh yeah, qualified for it, qumongous conference booster, like a
big sy relief. Go to the Southern Junior, come third,
go to the Western Junior, finished runner up, and then
four days later I fell off an ATV and broke
my wrist.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
You thought it would be a good idea after coming
off two of your best finishes as a junior. You've
got your biggest junior tournament you've ever played, and you
thought it'd be good to get on some sort of
motorcycle out in the middle of the trees and gost
around and mess shit up and fracture your wrist.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
How many How many weeks out were you?

Speaker 2 (22:54):
They told me four? So I was kind of hopeful
I was gonna be able to play and it took eleven.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Eleven that injury. What I tell you, I told you no.
No athlete comes back from an injury too late, right,
everybody tries to come back too early. Yeah, we're joking
about it because I know you were devastated by that.
What in missing out on that US Junior do mentally
for you? Did you get down on yourself or did
you use it as on a fuel and say, Okay,

(23:22):
I had an opportunity here to play in the US Junior.
Whatever happened happened.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I feel like in the moment, you're kind of like,
oh God, Like what did you do? Like this is
the biggest moment your junior career and you're playing super
good and you messed it up? Like and talking to
all my friends. One of my best friends from back home,
he qualified for the one out at Bandon and I
really wanted to do it. I didn't qualify. So I
feel like after it happened, like I'm in a like
a brace and I can't do anything and I have
to learn how to do everything left handed. It made

(23:49):
me like more hungry and put more of an emphasis
on qualifying for the us AM. So I feel like
it was almost a blessing in disguise because I really
loved golf. But I feel like after that happened, I
feel like it made me want it more and realize
what I can do with qualify.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Sixty seven, the US Amateur Hazel Team US won a
Ryder Cup there. I mean Tiger Waite Yang, I mean
they went down the stretch. I mean. It is a
big time golf course. It has a major championship pedigree.
Three hundred and twelve players. Did you know that three
hundred and twelve players start? Yeah, there's two rounds in qualifying.

(24:27):
You got off to a fantastic start in the qualifier
through a little opening round seventy seven at them in
the qualifier, and there's two courses. You shot seventy seven
on the Big Course, yep. And then there's always two
courses for the USAM there's one they do one round
on the Big Course. And then you do one on
kind of a satellite course. So you know, going to
the second qualifying round, you basically got to shoot zero. Yeah,

(24:50):
you know, the only way you're going to have a
chance to qualify for the USAM is to shoot something
in the sixties. What was your goal? You figured you'd
probably you need to go out shoot sixty six.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
No, I knew I needed sixty four or sixty three.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
So you knew you needed sixty four. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
It was great too, because I haven't made a birdie
in eighteen holes, and I need to make birdies, so
that was a little helpful. That was helpful.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
So yeah, how many birdies did you make in the
second round? Six six? Yeah, big confidence booster I think
for you to get through that, because I think you
would have been just destroyed to get to USAM after everything. Yeah,
you know, after qualifying, after coming off the Porter Cup.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
That was probably the best round of golf I have
played in a circumstantial condition. Like I opened the around
thirty on the front nine, just hot, just hot, and
I go in, I get to the front nine, I'm like,
I'm gonna shoot fifty nine and I make I think
part of the first five holes in a row in

(25:50):
the back nine, and this is actually really funny. So
I asked my caddy, like, pulled the leaderboard, like where
are we standing? He checked in on the back nine
which I started, which was my front nine, and it
didn't update, so it showed me two back of where
I needed to be going in the sixth hole, and
I chipped in from across the green on a par
three and I hit it to eight feet on my

(26:11):
sixteenth hole and missed it. Hit it to five feet
on my seventeenth hole and missed it in three, putted
apar five, which is my last hole on nine, and
I'm like, oh my god, like I just choked. I
just choked.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
And you're knocking the flag down with the last three
holes and you're getting uping out of it. No.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
And then I update my phone and my my mom's
going nuts and I look at my phone, like what's
going on? Like I missed it by one. I look
at my phone. It shows him in forty first only
Oh my god, like I did it, Like holy crap.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
So now you get to the round of sixty four,
so it's match play. You win your first match and
not to play four and two go to the round
to thirty two, two and one, get to the quarters.
Are the round of sixteen four and two quarters, three
and two. Let's go to the semifinals. So you get
paired up against Jackson Buchanan. He's stud He's at the

(27:01):
University of Illinois, which is in the Big ten, so
he's a rival. He beat Preston Summer Hayes won the
US Junior I mean, that kid's stud. He's at Arizona State.
He beats the number one ranked amateur in the world,
Luke Clanton, who's basically kicking the shit out of people
on the PGA Tour, and you beat him two up.

(27:23):
Talk us through that match, I mean at that point
was your confidence through the roof? Where you trying to
stay in the moment because obviously you come in with
nobody even picking you, right, They're picking Luke Clanton to
win missing right. He's making cut some PGA Tour events.
He's in second to last group of PJ Tour events.
I mean, you're not one of the favorites, right, You're

(27:45):
beating some of the favorites to get to the final.
How did you ride that wave of kind of good
play and kind of get out of your own way
because sometimes you know I've told you this in the past.
I think you always have to be ready for the wave,
because the wave will come right. Things will come in waves,
and when you get the right wave, you gotta have

(28:07):
the guts to get up and ride it. You qualify,
you shoot a really low round. Did you just feel
like from then, Okay, I got nothing to lose. Now,
I'm just gonna go see how good I can be
here and see how far I can get.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yeah, I feel like once I made match play, I
feel like it just plays into my hands more. I
mean you say, I'm like an F one car, I'm fast.
I make a ton of birdies. You can kind of
forget about the double you make. And I mean I
played awesome golf. I mean, you can win a match
a match play. So it's like I got through the
round of sixty four and it's kind of like, oh, like, yeah,
I want to match thirty two one again, which is
actually a hard match that's a great fight, and round

(28:43):
of sixteen. I feel like in my quarterfinal match, I
showed like a lot of guts and like a lot
of like what you're saying, like ride the wave. I
think I was eight under through twelve in my quarter
final match or something like that, and I got against Jackson.
You like, look at who's being beat press and you
beat Luke that week, I'm like, okay, like you gotta
get ready for like a dog fight, like who's gonna
wan on it more? And you know, I feel like
going into the round, he kind of handed me a

(29:04):
couple shots early and I got up late. But you know,
I just I feel like I wanted it more than
everybody else there that league. Once I finally got what
it tastes, the success felt like and talked to my caddy.
I mean, I think I hit one of the most
clutch shots in my life on the eighteenth hole in
that match, like to step up.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I mean that's the hero shot. The clutch shot
that you hit was to stand up on the eighteenth
pole at Hazel Team, where if you missed that fair
away you hit it in either of the bunkers, you're
probably not making berdie. You know, I was messaging with
your sports psychologist, doctor Brett mckable I've had on the
podcast before. We were messaging when you were on the
eighteenth going to the att and I was messaging some

(29:44):
other people that were watching, and I was like, there
are times in every round of golf, but in every
tournament to where there is no other option other than
you just have to stand up and hit a great shot.
It's a little bit like playing football, basketball, whatever other sports.
Sometimes you just have to stand up and make a play.
So what were your nerves going like? Because I thought,
you know, you guys had a really good fight. Ear

(30:04):
Jackson in that semifinal match. You could have closed it
out on seventeen. He pulled it on seventeen, pinned was
back left almost wet in the water. Another big part
of that match, that semifinal match, was it on fifteen
to where.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Oh I was literally going to talk about that.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, so yeah, talk us through the fifteenth hole part five?

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Right, Yeah, So I think he hits first and he
just like quick sniped it off the tee, but he
got firing like left's find another hole. And you know
that's a hard t ball for me. When does in
and off the left and there's obi right, I'm like,
oh god, so I hit the fairway and I'm like okay,
like he's in trouble. He laid it up in the rough.

(30:45):
I'm pretty sure, maybe it was in the fair. I
can't remember. I had three hundred yards. I'm like, if
I had a good Mini driver, like, it's gonna get
up there and I can put this then away, chun
cook it in the left rough and yeah. Then he
hits a ledge up there to like twenty feet and
he's probably thinking, and he's fine, I have the worst
lie I've ever seen in my life from like seventy
five yards and I hit this like high, like soft,

(31:07):
like saw it come on. I'm like, oh my god,
like it's so good. It lands like perfectly in the
slope and I hit it inside of him, and then
he stepped up there and made it.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
You've hit it to like fifteen feet right, yeah, which
based off of the lie you had when you hit
that shot, I'm like, wow, that is a hell of
a shot, right. And in match play, there's always parts
in the match like this, right, there are these kind
of opportunities where it looks like your gown looks like
you don't have the advantage. And then so he hoops

(31:37):
it from twenty feet right for birdie.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
So he hoops it and I'm only one up at
the time, so I'm like thinking to myself. This is
when it like started like really running through my head,
like okay, like shit, like it's gonna be like all square,
like going to sixteen and I like look at this
putt and I'm like I had like a weird like
sudden like calmness like over I'm like, oh, it's gonna
go in. And I get up and it's like like
seven of the like fifteen feet there. I'm like, oh,

(32:00):
I made it, and like as soon as it went
over the edge, I like gave it like a big
fist pump and I like kind of like, yeah, they
hit it in the water. On sixteen, I was two
up with two to play. That was the most nervous
I've ever been. Is actually on seven, I wasn't nervous.
On eighteen it was really weird.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
I mean seventeen, you know, there's water left, and for
people listening, the seventeen Hazel team is where Rory and
Patrick Reed and the ryder cop. Rory makes this massive
long pot at the par three there's more huge grand
stands there and does the kind of I can't hear
you thing, I can't hear you, and then pet Reed
kind of makes one from twenty feet right on top

(32:34):
of him and does the finger and the whole thing.
How did you deal with the pressure on seventeen? Knowing
where that pin was, which was back left when it
was in the air, do you think you hit it
in the water.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
I didn't think I hit it in the water. I
thought maybe there's a chance I was going to catch
the left edge. I was just happy I made contact
with the golf ball. To be completely honest, I mean
I am legit like on the T box, like I've
never thought about it in my life. It is the
first time, like the Masters, like cross like the top
of my head, and I think I like I wasn't
ready to go, Like my hands are like shaking, like
I'm drinking like a bottle of gatorade. I'm like talking

(33:07):
to my caddy. I'm like, dude, like I can't swing
right now. And I do it and it stayed up
and he had a dart like what I was thinking.
I'm like, okay, like he's not getting at a bad shot,
and you know I flubbed my chip, didn't chip it in.
I'm like okay, like I'm gonna make four. Like he's
got like a twelve foot or dead down the hill.
I'm not going to give it to him. He can
still hit it by he made it. I'm like, okay,

(33:28):
like great, like he just made burry Like he feels good.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
So how far it's the eighteen pole?

Speaker 2 (33:33):
I think it's is it for eighty or is it
it's four seventy or four eighty something like.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
That, But it's the shot. It's uphill, yeah, all the
way up home. Mean you can't even I mean you're
standing on the tea box there. You can't even. I'm
close to seeing the green.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
You can see like where everybody's standing, but you can
just see the top of the landing area. That's about it.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
So what's that mental self too? Because it's actually a
pretty good walk from seventeen all the way over to
the eighteenth pole. I mean it's it's not close. I mean,
I mean you've got time to think. It's not like
the t boxes right off the seventeenth grade. What were
you saying to yourself? What'd your caddies say to you?
And what was the thought process standing up there?

Speaker 2 (34:09):
I feel like he gave me a little bit of
space once I got off the hole. He's like, okay,
like let him calm down. He was actually the guy
that caddy for me in the Porter Cup, so I
brought him with me to Minnesota and he's kind of
had this saying with me, it's like it's a one
hole match, one whole match, Like forget about it, dude,
Like it doesn't matter, like it's in the past. So
got up to the eighteenth t you know, kind of
was just like it's time to just hit a shot.

(34:30):
Like how He's like, how bad do you like really
want it? Like do you want it bad?

Speaker 1 (34:34):
No?

Speaker 2 (34:34):
And I'm like, yeah, I really really want it. And
Jackson hit first, which I feel like is like you're
gonna know that there's pressure. But he hit a bat
He didn't hit his best drive in the left trap,
and I got up there and for me, I loven't
and too off the right wind and it was perfectly
you get hold it up. Yeah, I'm just like, get

(34:54):
it airborne with a cut and it's perfect.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
What was the yardage?

Speaker 2 (34:58):
I had one hundred and eighty yards in from my
second shot and then hit a chip seven after he
hit the lip of the bunker actually on a second.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Shot, which made it easier.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, I'm like, okay, like just hit it on the
Green please, and then yeah, hit it up there like
four feet and I'm like, oh, yeah, like you've probably
seen I like pimp Step that I knew what I did, like.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
I did it, Like, oh, that's so good, and yeah,
is that kind of the first time that you really
kind of felt like a player? Yeah, like the people
you watch on television, right, I mean you've spent so
much time as everybody does watching players on TV. You
watch all these guys down the stretch hit all these
great shots. You know Rory, you know, Scottie Scheffler, maximum,
all these superstars that you watch that play all these

(35:37):
big tournaments and stuff. Was that really kind of the
first moment where you're like, dude, wow, I just did that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I feel like the first one I did was in
the quarterfinal match, the flopshot a hole. It was just stupid.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Oh that was a joke.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
That was a joke. But yeah, I mean I look
back at it because I'm like on like the reels
or whatever with the USGN and Instagram, and I like,
I watch it back, I'm kind of like, damn, dude,
I'm like, you were like buck. Then then they're like
that was Yeah, it was kind of crazy.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
So now, obviously, you know when you get to the
final of the US m you know you've got a
Birth of the Masters. You're going to the US Open,
which will be at Oakmont next year, which is an iconic, iconic,
one of the hardest. Dude, if you're a played Oakmont, Yeah,
why do you play that in the US Open? Because
as hard as you think that golf course is, the
time you played it, I mean you're talking like pie

(36:29):
are squared harder than what you've got Now, I sent
you a message and said, the job isn't done. Still
gonna go win the tournament because only buy a scare
that kid's baller the kid's ball Yeah, yeah, great. I
was in Greenbrier and I was talking to John ram
about him, obviously because that would being from from Spain.
I was talking to Sergio, he works, Sergio's dad helps

(36:51):
him as well. They were like, I mean, John Robinson, dude,
he beats me. I mean, he's he's going he hits
it miles. You're you're not used to really playing with
people that he as far as you do, or hit
it further than you, and that kid can smoke it
off the tea. So what was the night before the
USAM Like, I mean, how did you prepare? What were

(37:14):
you thinking? Did you get a lot of sleep?

Speaker 2 (37:17):
I slipped recently. I turned my phone on do not disturb.
It was way too many text messages. I mean, me
and Mike Caddie played college football like we've been doing
every night. So just kind of like you treat it
like a little bit like a normal night, like you
kind of just like sit back and have fun. And
we knew the job wasn't done, Like we never even
talked about it really like what it would be like
to like host that trophy or whatever. And you know,

(37:38):
I got there in the morning, and you know, the
morning eighteen was a struggle for me. I mean I
didn't hit it good at all. I had a pounding
headache the whole entire round. Probably it was adrenaline. I
mean it was the first time in a tournament, even
in these big amateur tournaments, Like you get nervous in
a final round with a chance to win. But like
you see the trophy on the first tee. You have
Larry Fitzgerald who's standing right next to the first team,

(38:00):
who's there to just watch.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
You NFL legend.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Yeah, and it's just like it kind of like really
hits you. It's like, oh my God, Like you know,
like everything leading up to it means so much, but
it's like, now you have thirty six holes to fight
for your life and voice one of the biggest amateur
trophies in the world. And you know, I'm very proud
of myself for the way that I thought.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, you're three so for people don't know, I mean
you were three down through four holes. Yeah, you're four
down after the eighteen holes. Yeah, there were big crowds
out there, obviously the Iowa connection being in the Midwest,
were those some of the biggest crowds and some of
the biggest roars you've ever played in front of.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, I think ninety nine percent of the crowd wanted
me to win, so yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
And as an athlete and as a golfer, you can
feed off of that. And I'm sure that's probably the
first time that you've really kind of felt what you know,
they feel in the right cop what Rory and DJ
and Brooks feel like when they take the lead with
three holes left and there's a big crowd. That must
have been so cool to kind of hear those roles,

(39:07):
to know that you had a big following.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Yeah. I mean I chipped in on my nineteenth hole
to start the match, which was electric, and I got
it gone. I'm like, okay, like I can come back.
And I feel like it was either you or Brett
who told me is like get it two down at
the turn.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
I told I think we were all telling you that, right. Yeah.
I kind of felt like if you could get close
through nine. Obviously Oselli he's never been in that situation
before either. Right, he's trying to win the biggest tournament
of his life. You're going to have that moment of
confidence crisis right where you're like, okay, I'm four up.
And I kept everybody that I was talking to. I

(39:44):
was at Greenbrier for lib but all the guys that
were playing, you know that knew you were in it.
They all just were like, DJ was gone, dude, if
you could get it somehow around two, But if it's
at four and it goes to five, you're going to
to run out of holes. Yeah, and you're you're gonna
run out of holes because mentally you're like, okay, I'm

(40:06):
five down now with X amount of holes to play,
it doesn't matter, you know, you go five down in
that match early. Yeah, you start thinking, okay, I don't
have enough holes time. Yeah, what was the time between
the morning round and second round? What were you thinking?

(40:26):
How did you kind of flip that switch and kind
of make it a run in the second eighteen?

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Yeah. I took a shower actually in between rounds, and
then I called you talk to you. I talked to
Brett McCabe, who's my sports psychologist, and then I talked
to John Harris actually too.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, who's a former USAM Champion's a member of AUGUSTA. I
mean he's he's an amateur legend. I know his health
hasn't been great. You talked about it in the broadcast.
What advice did he give you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (40:56):
He knew I was struggling a bit. He's like, you
deserve to be there, Like you're better than this kid.
And he's just like, whenever you're warming up for you around,
get creative, hit a bunch of hooks, hit a bunch
of slices, and he said, bring high energy. I'm like, okay,
So I'm out there in the range and I'm sure
everybody's thinking, like what the heck is this kid doing?
Like I'm hitting eight iron hooks and slicing eight irons

(41:16):
and great advice. I'm like, okay, like I feel much
better than I did in the morning. Like I'm like,
I feel like now like I'm playing around with my buddies,
which is kind of funny, but I'm not like it
was more serious than that. But I'm warming up like
it's a nine am on a Sunday, and yeah, I mean,
as soon as I hold that chip on one, I'm like, okay,
I'm gonna win this golf tournament. Like that was in

(41:37):
the morning. I did not think that the morning. I
struggled a lot, but then whenever I got it back
after that, I'm like, the crowd is so on my
side right now, like it is not with Josele. And
then he made a big pot on two and I
kind of like got put back in my place. I'm like, damn,
like okay, and then.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
I was three down. Now I'm back to four down.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yeah, I kind of get up on the second team.
It's a bit deflating. And he pounded a dry he smoked,
So I made a funny joke to the later in
the round, to the people who were watching. So he
smokes when like dead straight and I look at a
j and I'm like, okay, like it's time to like ball.
And I hit it by him on that tea box

(42:17):
and he hits it right. I hit the par five
and two made birdie and I think on seven, I
made like a thirty five footer for eagle and I
got it back to two down and then I stuffed
it on eight and he had like a chip shot.
He almost shipped it in. I made my putt. I
go to ag I'm like, if we make this like
this is huge and I ended up barely missing and

(42:39):
I but I made the turn it two down. I'm
looking at him and I'm like, dude, like when one
more hole and this kid's gonna be like crapping himself.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
It's gonna be nervous because I mean, again, neither one
of you have ever been in that situation. And I
think you know match play can turn on these moments
to where you think you're fine by the time you
you get it back to one up. He's got to
be thinking, Okay, I was cruising in the morning. This
kid had nothing, I mean, and all of a sudden,

(43:09):
with not that long ago.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
I one down, but I gave him two holes back.
Actually I gave him a tenth hole, which is bad.
So he was back to three up on eleven and
he made a great birdie. So I'm four down with
seven to play, and I look at aj again and
like he's like, how bad do you want it? And
we tied twelve and thirteen was the first time. I

(43:32):
don't know how many holes that is. That was the
first time, Like he handed me a hole was thirteen
because he hit it in the water, and I still
made it hard for me to win, like I staw
to make like a five footer for par and then
I made a huge pot on fourteen. We both birdied fifteen.
I mean, yeah, one, sixteen, tied seven. Yeah, I got

(43:52):
it to the eighteenth. I guarantee you. I can't imagine
how many people thought after the morning eighteen there was
no way that match was getting me the eighteenth hole.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
I'll be honest. I I mean, obviously you didn't have
your best stuff going into you know that. After that
morning round, I thought it was going to be a
struggle for you because you've just never been in that
situation before, right, I Mean it's not like you've been
down the stretch in major championships. You know, you know
what that feels like. It's also probably your first real

(44:18):
real test of managing your adrenaline on some of the holes.
How much further were you hitting it with your irons
than you normally do, just because you're so jacked up
on all the adrenaline. Because I think the first hole
in the second round, that's what got you right. You
piped it in the start of the second eighteen. You're

(44:40):
right in the middle of the fair way and you
one bounced it over the green. And I guarantee you
you thought you had the white club and the right
number and you didn't think you could hit it over it.
But you just go to all this adrenaline going and
you're like, man, how far did that go? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (44:55):
I feel like there there's a couple of shots that
like stand out. I think the third hole, I think
it five would from three hundred and then seven was
four iron from like two forty five, And I think
I on twelve, I think I had eight iron from
two hundred. That's just fifteen. That was probably one of
the best pressure shots I've hit. Hit nine iron from

(45:15):
like one hundred and thirty yards on fifteen and took
spin off of it and stuffed it.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
So yeah, so you didn't get the job done, you
end up losing two up. Yeah, you're going to the Masters,
You're in the US Open. What's the one thing coming
out of that experience at the USM nor that you
learned about yourself that you didn't know at the start
of the week.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
That I belong with the the Leuke Clantons of the world,
the jose Lee by Stairs of the world, the Gordon
Sergeants of the world. I belong with as much as
their name is up there, I know that I can
fight for my right to be up there with them too.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I think there will be a lot of people that
will hear that no one and think, Okay, that's that's
being cocky, that's being arrogant. But you have to believe
in yourself and your ability to get to the next
level if you don't. I mean, I had a lot
of players at the tournament when Brooks won the PGA

(46:10):
Beth Page when he made that comment in the press conference,
and you know everybody knows it. He was like, I
think major's the easiest ones to win. Nicholas thought this way,
and he went through that, and I had players, a
couple of players that I was working with, though, I mean,
who the hell does this kid think he is? And
I remember texting someone back going, don't you want to
think like that? And there's that borderline between being arrogant,

(46:32):
but also you have to believe in yourself as a
goal forer and you have to believe in yourself as
an athlete. And I think you need experiences like you
went through to believe, because I'll be honest with you,
and Brett and I have talked about this. You stepped out,
Dana and I've talked Abouss. I don't think you believed
you were good before this past summer. I think you

(46:54):
knew you had talent, but I don't think you believed
that you could go out and win big tournaments. What
do you do now going into your sophomore year with
that belief? How do you not get ahead of yourself?
How do you not fall into some of the traps
that you can fall into where you get sidetracked, you
start thinking you're a baller. Everybody starts because now everybody's

(47:15):
going to tell you you're good, right, Everybody kind of
knew you were good before this, So how do you
deal with the weight of expectation, but also how do
you deal with, like I said, not getting ahead of yourself,
staying humble, continuing to work hard so that you can
still achieve the goals and the dreams that you've got.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah, I mean I feel like I was. I talked
to Brett before this, before the USAM, I was always
one of the kids who would kind of be like,
oh wow, like that's Gordon Sergeant on the range, like
it's cool to be like competing against him. And you know,
my first college front back, I felt like I was
a kid that kind of everybody was looking at, which
is a new thing for me because I feel like
I'm a very humble kid, like I kinda very like
relaxed and you know, now I know which is really

(47:58):
hard for me to say, but I will admitted in
this last college urm, I got too comfortable, and I'll
fully admit that, like that's how I messed up, and
I learned from it. I was in the lead and
I ended up finishing thirteenth, and you know, I learned
a lot from this week, which is something I think
I needed for the future, to be completely honest. So yeah,
I mean I got too comfortable.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
I'm like, wow, I think two of the best things
that I think when you look back, I think this
past week are two really really important things. Post getting
to the finals of the USM. One, you go out
your sophomore year at Iowa and your first college tournament.
After the USM you're leading after the first round, and
I think in the long run, finishing thirteen thinking that Okay, yeah,

(48:40):
I'm just gonna keep playing good.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
I think that's that's huge for your learning, and I
think it's it's massive that you understand that you still
have a long way to go.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Yeah, Like, I mean, I was mad for about an
hour after the golf tournament, but like I really like
got into it. I did all my stat work that
we do. I looked into and I'm like, I think
I'm like man, Like, as much as like it sucks,
it's like over with, Like I can't change it. It's
like I can use this to my advantage so much
better in the future. Like we have Purdue in two
weeks and it's like, speak, I'm hungry than I ever was.

(49:14):
Like I want to win so bad. I can't force it.
I kind of gotta let it. I mean, like let
it happen, but like I now know, I feel like
the last two turns the USA am and that like
I've learned so much to what it means to close
out a golf throat now that I just I feel
like I have so much of an advantage and I
know how to use it. More like I feel like
what you said, like it was great to be like
in the lead, I got comfortable, but now I feel

(49:36):
like I know what I need to do to stay
within myself to close it out for the final eight team.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
You know, I've told you the story before, but Tiger
Woods in two thousand and one, when my dad was
working with Tiger, my dad and I never work with
Adam Scott. We were at the PGA the Atlanta Athletic
Club that David Toms won, and we got Scotty to
play practun with Tiger. I mean, it's two thousand and
one Tiger, so it's it's as good as it gets, right,
I mean, it's it's Tiger Mania that stretch from two

(50:02):
thousand to two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine,
I mean, you couldn't beat him. And Adam was still
playing on the European Tour and Tiger said, Hey, you
just got to learn how to hang around and get
in position more often, put yourself in position all the time.
Do you feel like maybe that's something that you haven't
felt before that it's as much about getting yourself into

(50:24):
position to win tournaments as opposed to trying to shoot
sixty four on the first day and birdie every hole,
because it's hard to do that, right, It's hard to
play good all the time. What are your goals now, Noah?
Moving forward? Obviously you're going to play in two majors

(50:44):
next year. Yeah, but what are your goals for this
year and this season at IOWA?

Speaker 2 (50:50):
I feel like I'm very good at like breaking it
down into parts of the year, so I'm kind of
letting that end of the year kind of be its
own thing. I'm really focused on what's going on now
on the fall, so we have three more events that
were playing in the fall. I want my scoring average
to be below seventy and a half, so that's one
of my goals.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Yeah. Yeah, So last year you played every tournament, it's
seventy two point eight. Do you find a way to
shave off two strokes?

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (51:18):
How you do that? I'm really interested to hear this.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
So right now my scoring average is seventy one point six,
which is pretty decent. But now we switched over our
stats to clipt YEP, so it's really in depth. So
I've been I've never been more on top of it
in my life. So for me, I'm a really good
iron player and a really good putter. So for me,

(51:43):
I was getting better off the tee. So I want
to limit my penalty shots I have per tournament. If
I limit my penalty shots, I think that's easily a
stroke for me off my scoring average over the whole year.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Thinking about it, the biggest weapon you have is the driver.
But with a big weapon like a driver, we see
some of the best players in the world. I mean,
Rory drives the shit out of it, right, But when
you hit it as far as you guys hit it
with the speed that you've got, when it goes offline,
it goes a long way offline.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
I feel like a big proponent to me get it.
My score is lower as a Tiger five, so it's
no bad up and it's no three putts I think.
I think it's no bogies with a scoring club in
your hand.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
So Tiger's mantra was no bogies on par fives, no
big numbers, so no doubles triples, no bogies inside of
one hundred yards, no three potts, and no blown easy
up and downs. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
So I think if I do that mixed with my
hazard balls and not losing any balls, I think there's
a pretty good shot I can do what I have
that goal for. I don't wanta for three more. I
don't want to finish outside of the top twenty, on
inside the top twenty all that tournaments, and a big
one for me is getting in the gym. War So

(52:57):
I would say those are my three big ones for
me right now that I'm focusing on. Obviously I have
smart goals, but those are my three kind of like
big goals. I don't want to knock out.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Well, I'm just gonna go out ahead and say this.
If you're not getting your ass into the gym, the
hell is wrong with you because someone else playing college golf,
playing amateur golf, and all the people that you're going
to be playing with, and the masters in the US Open,
they're in the gym. They're not taking any days off. Now,

(53:26):
it's been a hell of a summer man, it was
fun to watch you play. It was fun to I
sent you a picture after your semifinal round. I was
out to dinner and I'm sitting at a restaurant at
the Greenbrier, and I look at the bar and the
TV at the bar, and you're getting interviewed. Definitely something
that I thought would happen at some point. I didn't
think it would happen this early, or you as a

(53:48):
nineteen year old. But listen, it's been fun. I think
you've had of proven to yourself that you belong, you know,
on the competitive amateur circuit, you know, in big competitive ones.
And I think everybody listening will follow you. It'll be
a fun story at the Masters. And you got to
go get some w's this all and this spring at Iowa,

(54:11):
you got to go get some wins. So you better
bring home some trophies all the Hawkeyes. Noah, great talking
to you, pal. We're proud of you. And go to school,
go to class, get your ass.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
In the gen Oh well, well, thank you so much
for having me.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Great talking to you. So that was no a kent,
And listen, I think the kid's got a bright future.
He's got a lot of tools. In the toolbox. But
it'll be very interesting to see if he can take,
you know, a really good run at the USM and
and turn that into an amateur career that is filled
with a lot of promise because, like I said, he
hits at miles. He's kind of got the prototype of

(54:47):
what the modern game is. But that's no guarantee for success.
But I think he's got a bright future and I
think he is someone that we will hear from again.
I want to thank everyone for listening, rate, review, subscribe
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