Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, it's eight thirty three. It's the golf show
on the ticket. Johnny Keefer from San Antonio and Johnson
High School five over after two rounds of sixty nine
yesterday and certainly in contention at the US Open because
parr is still going to be a great score over
the weekend. He works with Brian Gathwright a lot out
at River Crossing. Brian's joining us from Pennsylvania and Oakmont
(00:22):
in the US Open. And congrats Brian on Johnny sixty
nine yesterday. I texted you yesterday and you said that's
a lot of fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It was a lot of fun to watch, Andy, and
certainly I put an asterisk even with it. He was
two over after three and I ate over for the
championship and then played the last fifteen holes just incredibly,
and not to mention, on the fourth hole he the
hit a three iron his second shot into the green
(00:52):
and missed it just short right of the green. Took
it about two minutes and twenty seconds to find the
ball just off the edge of the green, about kidding,
and then he advanced it about a foot from there,
then got it up and down and then played some
amazing golf from there in and certainly proud of him.
And he actually was playing well the first day and
(01:14):
just missed an eight iron left of the green and
the absolute worst possible spot you could on number nine
as last hole on Thursday and made a triple or
or we'd really be having some fun, but playing great golf.
And to see him, you know that kind of around.
I actually told Johnny before the round, I said, you know,
(01:34):
I watched Noda at two thousand US Open seventy seven
the first day at Pebble, which was six over, and
I said, he came back and shot one under the
second day and then finished twenty second and then went
on to win the next two weeks. And I was
talking with Noda yesterday after the round. He gave me
a call. He's up here doing the commentator and commentating,
(01:56):
and we kind of reminisced about that as well. So
the two of them remind me a lot of each other.
Both of them incredible players, and certainly I'm excited to
see Johnny get this chance to play a weekend in
his second major championship in his first year on tour.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Joe is talking earlier in the show about how mentally
tough Johnny is and that no matter how difficult the
conditions are, no matter how he's feeling, no matter if
he's hurt or not hurt, he's ready to go when
the lights come on and he walks that first tea.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Oh no question. I'm so fortunate to have the opportunity
to work with him. We've worked together for about eight
years now, and he's just People ask me all the time,
what's the strength this game? And you know, for a
guy that's got one hundred and eighty four hundred and
eighty five mile an hour ball speed, when he wants it,
he puts it better than anybody I have ever seen
that hits it that far, has witnessed on seventeen and
(02:51):
eighteen yesterday making two huge clutch putts coming in. But
most importantly, I would tell you his mental approach the
game is suck to none. And I can't tell you
how funn he used to work with and just a
great attitude, a great player and got a gigantic future
ahead for him.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
All right, so what's the game plan for today? I
know you could probably be dodging thunderstorms for the next
two days as well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, it's awfully wet. We're already at the golf course.
We're going to start warm ups here in about twenty
twenty five minutes, and you know, it's drizzling right now.
The rough is going to be I was just talking
to a couple of caddies inside earlier and we were
talking about it, and I don't think it's going to
play easier because the rough is so thick and you
(03:35):
add the wetness to it. Yes, the greens are going
to be somewhat softer than they probably want them to be.
But I just watched on the coverage a second ago
Johnson Wagoner dropped the ball on the second green about
eight or ten feet from the hole and it ended up,
you know, ten yards off the front of the green
and it was a back left pen location. So they're
(03:55):
still going to be fast. It's going to be you know,
typical US Open, only it's going to be with extremely
wet rough and the rough. The one thing about it
is it's you know, it was five and a half
inches I think on or five and a quarter inches
on Tuesday. They haven't you know, seen a more since
so with all the rain we've had in the just
(04:17):
the way the conditions are. It's going to be pretty
tough as always, but that's that's what you want and
that's what you expected Oakmont.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
One last thing on that.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Johnny Miller was on today and he said the key
to his seventy sixty three back in nineteen seventy three
was he only had one put all day long that
was above the hole. How important is finding the right
spot on the green to not only hit it but
also to miss it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, that's in and open, and especially at this venu,
it's it's imperative that you're in the right spot because
if you get it out of position. You know, yesterday
Johnny didn't quite get it deep enough onto the first green.
He drove it beautifully right down the middle of the fairway,
hit a wedge in a sand wedge in that spaun,
(05:03):
and he didn't get it quite back there. And then
you know, now you're you're looking at a twelve foot
or for par because you can't stop the plot if
depends in the back of the green. If you don't
get it all the way back there, you're you're actually
better off to miss the green long into the high
rough and you are to leave it. You know, thirty
five to forty feet short of a hole. So I
couldn't agree more. And it's you know, the hard part
(05:25):
is is bech is not only knowing where you have
to hit it, but being able to be in a
position to actually get it there. So but that's again
we're talking about Oakmont. There's three guys under par for
the entire one hundred and fifty six men field, so
and I doubt very seriously after the day there'll be three.
It probably won't be that many, all.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Right, Brian, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Tell Johnny hello from San Antonio, and we wish him
to have a great last two days and maybe he
can have some the Johnny Miller magic over the next
two days.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Absolutely, and thanks so much as always, guys, have a
great day and appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That's Brian Gathwright teaching with Johnny Kiefer. And there's no
golf course on the planet that most people would say
is harder than Oakmont.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And the rough is what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
The greens are diabolical and fast, and they were I
saw I heard a preview on US Open radio where
some players said there's no way a ten handicapper would
break a hundred on this golf course. I don't think
a ten handicap would break one hundred and twenty on
that gulf.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
I don't think so either. I mean, they get into
the rough, they're not getting out, That's the thing. And
that even if they got out and then they hit
a second or third or four shot into the green,
it hits the green, bounces into the back crap, or
it doesn't get there, or you get up on there
and you have like Brin saying he came up short
on that first hole, didn't give it deep enough, and
(06:55):
all of a sudden he got a monster putt. You
know how many ten handicaps are gonna not three putt
eight or nine times.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
How many ten handicaps are going to make all their
two footers on greens that are that fast and have
that much break.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Not many? Because you saw Justin Thomas, supposedly our number
three player in the world, you know, four putt a
hole from ten feet.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So, I mean, I love fast greens, but there's a
limit to the ridiculousness of fast and I don't I
know that. I think the fastest greens I ever played
were probably thirteen And you're putting tentatively, especially on downhill
or sidehill putts.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Oh, you will just tap the putt and then just
just hope you next to the all and tap the
next one in all right.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The founders of Oakmont are Henry Founds and his son W. C. Founds,
And if you read the history of Oatmont, they well,
Henry had some time in Scotland where the bunkers are
actually penal, because there's not a lot of water hazards
or water penalty areas now in Scotland. Usually it's just
the burns that run through to water the fields or
(07:59):
for rivers to flow into the ocean. And so he
wanted his bunkers at Oakmont to be incredibly penal. And
the first thing he suggested, but the USGA and even
the members went away from this, is that he actually
wanted to take horses and run them through the bunkers
and then have no rakes. Every morning, the horses would
(08:23):
just trample up the bunkers, and however the horses left them.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That's what the bunkers were, and you wouldn't rake it.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Ever, and the next day he'd bring the horses back
out and do it again. Well, they said no to that,
so he developed this bunker like this rake like you
talked about it memorial while he was worse. Instead of
the every other tooth of the rake being taken out,
he basically took every he gapped him to where instead
of a half inch apart, they were one and a
(08:49):
half or two inches apart, and created these really deep
heroes in the bunkers. So you never had a good
lie in the bunker to get a clean shot out of.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Well, that's how you make it harder.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
I mean you, if you really want to make the
golf course harder, you can. The bunkers aren't supposed to
be easy to get out of, and we've made it easy.
Because it goes back to what you said earlier. You know,
every sport now is entertainment, all right, Football, you can't
touch the wide receiver. Score points, right, you got to
(09:19):
score points, you know, the wide receiver was running free everywhere.
And then basketball, the guys running down the court with
the ball tucked in their arm.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
You know, no traveling.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You saw your last night, he took five steps to
the basket.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Now we have something I've never heard of in basketball,
to gather. If you gather the basketball, it's an automatic
two shots.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
If you're fast, they grab the ball, they jump back
and then jump again. You know, so baseball, I don't baseball.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Still the same judges hit twenty six home runs and
he is not even halfway through the season yet.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
He is six'. Nine he's just kind of. Big but
the the sports are in a, tainment and it's like
the golf's no. Different so the bunkers are gonna be,
perfect the greens are going to be, perfect and stuff
that you AND i don't get a chance to butt
on or ever play.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
On SO i would if somebody wants to invite me To,
Oakmont i'm all. In i'd love to play the golf
course once to SAY i played, it to see WHAT
i could do on. IT i would try to play
it as conservative AS i can so That i'm not
in that eight inch. Rough if you're not playing with
a spot, ER i don't know how you find your
golf ball most of the time if they don't mow
the rough down a little.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Bit but being a member there no thank.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
YOU i don't want to play a golf course where
my average score is ninety AND i played well AND
i played, well so it's.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
No it's a great. Place it's a great.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Venue you, know sometimes maybe THE Us open should stay
at a couple of different.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Courses, well they pretty much. ARE i think they've got
all this. Rotation next, year they're going To shinnecock twenty, Seven.
PEBBLE i Think riviera is on the. List they're going
back To oakmont in the early. THIRTIES i Think congressional
may be a part of that at some, point.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Oak, Kill.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
WINGFOOT i think they're gonna pick about seven or eight
or nine venues around the country on both. COASTS i
think they're going back To detroit at one point Where
Oakland hills. Is they would have gone, sooner but they
are in the process of rebuilding the clubhouse after the.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Fire so.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You're gonna go back to these iconic. Venues BUT i
think that's even more reason why the ball doesn't need
to be rolled.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Back the golf.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Courses the golf courses are going to be tough enough
with the way that they set them. Up all, Right
one more segment to go on The Golf, show and
it's coming up next eight forty five on the ticket
All right, it's eight thirty three. It's the golf show
on the ticket. Johnny Keefer from San Antonio and Johnson
High School five over after two rounds of sixty nine
yesterday and certainly in contention at the US Open because
parr is still going to be a great score over
the weekend. He works with Brian Gathwright a lot out
at River Crossing. Brian's joining us from Pennsylvania and Oakmont
(00:22):
in the US Open. And congrats Brian on Johnny sixty
nine yesterday. I texted you yesterday and you said that's
a lot of fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It was a lot of fun to watch, Andy, and
certainly I put an asterisk even with it. He was
two over after three and I ate over for the
championship and then played the last fifteen holes just incredibly,
and not to mention, on the fourth hole he the
hit a three iron his second shot into the green
(00:52):
and missed it just short right of the green. Took
it about two minutes and twenty seconds to find the
ball just off the edge of the green, about kidding,
and then he advanced it about a foot from there,
then got it up and down and then played some
amazing golf from there in and certainly proud of him.
And he actually was playing well the first day and
(01:14):
just missed an eight iron left of the green and
the absolute worst possible spot you could on number nine
as last hole on Thursday and made a triple or
or we'd really be having some fun, but playing great golf.
And to see him, you know that kind of around.
I actually told Johnny before the round, I said, you know,
(01:34):
I watched Noda at two thousand US Open seventy seven
the first day at Pebble, which was six over, and
I said, he came back and shot one under the
second day and then finished twenty second and then went
on to win the next two weeks. And I was
talking with Noda yesterday after the round. He gave me
a call. He's up here doing the commentator and commentating,
(01:56):
and we kind of reminisced about that as well. So
the two of them remind me a lot of each other.
Both of them incredible players, and certainly I'm excited to
see Johnny get this chance to play a weekend in
his second major championship in his first year on tour.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Joe is talking earlier in the show about how mentally
tough Johnny is and that no matter how difficult the
conditions are, no matter how he's feeling, no matter if
he's hurt or not hurt, he's ready to go when
the lights come on and he walks that first tea.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Oh no question. I'm so fortunate to have the opportunity
to work with him. We've worked together for about eight
years now, and he's just People ask me all the time,
what's the strength this game? And you know, for a
guy that's got one hundred and eighty four hundred and
eighty five mile an hour ball speed, when he wants it,
he puts it better than anybody I have ever seen
that hits it that far, has witnessed on seventeen and
(02:51):
eighteen yesterday making two huge clutch putts coming in. But
most importantly, I would tell you his mental approach the
game is suck to none. And I can't tell you
how funn he used to work with and just a
great attitude, a great player and got a gigantic future
ahead for him.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
All right, so what's the game plan for today? I
know you could probably be dodging thunderstorms for the next
two days as well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, it's awfully wet. We're already at the golf course.
We're going to start warm ups here in about twenty
twenty five minutes, and you know, it's drizzling right now.
The rough is going to be I was just talking
to a couple of caddies inside earlier and we were
talking about it, and I don't think it's going to
play easier because the rough is so thick and you
(03:35):
add the wetness to it. Yes, the greens are going
to be somewhat softer than they probably want them to be.
But I just watched on the coverage a second ago
Johnson Wagoner dropped the ball on the second green about
eight or ten feet from the hole and it ended up,
you know, ten yards off the front of the green
and it was a back left pen location. So they're
(03:55):
still going to be fast. It's going to be you know,
typical US Open, only it's going to be with extremely
wet rough and the rough. The one thing about it
is it's you know, it was five and a half
inches I think on or five and a quarter inches
on Tuesday. They haven't you know, seen a more since
so with all the rain we've had in the just
(04:17):
the way the conditions are. It's going to be pretty
tough as always, but that's that's what you want and
that's what you expected Oakmont.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
One last thing on that.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Johnny Miller was on today and he said the key
to his seventy sixty three back in nineteen seventy three
was he only had one put all day long that
was above the hole. How important is finding the right
spot on the green to not only hit it but
also to miss it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, that's in and open, and especially at this venu,
it's it's imperative that you're in the right spot because
if you get it out of position. You know, yesterday
Johnny didn't quite get it deep enough onto the first green.
He drove it beautifully right down the middle of the fairway,
hit a wedge in a sand wedge in that spaun,
(05:03):
and he didn't get it quite back there. And then
you know, now you're you're looking at a twelve foot
or for par because you can't stop the plot if
depends in the back of the green. If you don't
get it all the way back there, you're you're actually
better off to miss the green long into the high
rough and you are to leave it. You know, thirty
five to forty feet short of a hole. So I
couldn't agree more. And it's you know, the hard part
(05:25):
is is bech is not only knowing where you have
to hit it, but being able to be in a
position to actually get it there. So but that's again
we're talking about Oakmont. There's three guys under par for
the entire one hundred and fifty six men field, so
and I doubt very seriously after the day there'll be three.
It probably won't be that many, all.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Right, Brian, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Tell Johnny hello from San Antonio, and we wish him
to have a great last two days and maybe he
can have some the Johnny Miller magic over the next
two days.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Absolutely, and thanks so much as always, guys, have a
great day and appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That's Brian Gathwright teaching with Johnny Kiefer. And there's no
golf course on the planet that most people would say
is harder than Oakmont.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And the rough is what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
The greens are diabolical and fast, and they were I
saw I heard a preview on US Open radio where
some players said there's no way a ten handicapper would
break a hundred on this golf course. I don't think
a ten handicap would break one hundred and twenty on
that gulf.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
I don't think so either. I mean, they get into
the rough, they're not getting out, That's the thing. And
that even if they got out and then they hit
a second or third or four shot into the green,
it hits the green, bounces into the back crap, or
it doesn't get there, or you get up on there
and you have like Brin saying he came up short
on that first hole, didn't give it deep enough, and
(06:55):
all of a sudden he got a monster putt. You
know how many ten handicaps are gonna not three putt
eight or nine times.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
How many ten handicaps are going to make all their
two footers on greens that are that fast and have
that much break.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Not many? Because you saw Justin Thomas, supposedly our number
three player in the world, you know, four putt a
hole from ten feet.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So, I mean, I love fast greens, but there's a
limit to the ridiculousness of fast and I don't I
know that. I think the fastest greens I ever played
were probably thirteen And you're putting tentatively, especially on downhill
or sidehill putts.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Oh, you will just tap the putt and then just
just hope you next to the all and tap the
next one in all right.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The founders of Oakmont are Henry Founds and his son W. C. Founds,
And if you read the history of Oatmont, they well,
Henry had some time in Scotland where the bunkers are
actually penal, because there's not a lot of water hazards
or water penalty areas now in Scotland. Usually it's just
the burns that run through to water the fields or
(07:59):
for rivers to flow into the ocean. And so he
wanted his bunkers at Oakmont to be incredibly penal. And
the first thing he suggested, but the USGA and even
the members went away from this, is that he actually
wanted to take horses and run them through the bunkers
and then have no rakes. Every morning, the horses would
(08:23):
just trample up the bunkers, and however the horses left them.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That's what the bunkers were, and you wouldn't rake it.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Ever, and the next day he'd bring the horses back
out and do it again. Well, they said no to that,
so he developed this bunker like this rake like you
talked about it memorial while he was worse. Instead of
the every other tooth of the rake being taken out,
he basically took every he gapped him to where instead
of a half inch apart, they were one and a
(08:49):
half or two inches apart, and created these really deep
heroes in the bunkers. So you never had a good
lie in the bunker to get a clean shot out of.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Well, that's how you make it harder.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
I mean you, if you really want to make the
golf course harder, you can. The bunkers aren't supposed to
be easy to get out of, and we've made it easy.
Because it goes back to what you said earlier. You know,
every sport now is entertainment, all right, Football, you can't
touch the wide receiver. Score points, right, you got to
(09:19):
score points, you know, the wide receiver was running free everywhere.
And then basketball, the guys running down the court with
the ball tucked in their arm.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
You know, no traveling.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You saw your last night, he took five steps to
the basket.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Now we have something I've never heard of in basketball,
to gather. If you gather the basketball, it's an automatic
two shots.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
If you're fast, they grab the ball, they jump back
and then jump again. You know, so baseball, I don't baseball.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Still the same judges hit twenty six home runs and
he is not even halfway through the season yet.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
He is six'. Nine he's just kind of. Big but
the the sports are in a, tainment and it's like
the golf's no. Different so the bunkers are gonna be,
perfect the greens are going to be, perfect and stuff
that you AND i don't get a chance to butt
on or ever play.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
On SO i would if somebody wants to invite me To,
Oakmont i'm all. In i'd love to play the golf
course once to SAY i played, it to see WHAT
i could do on. IT i would try to play
it as conservative AS i can so That i'm not
in that eight inch. Rough if you're not playing with
a spot, ER i don't know how you find your
golf ball most of the time if they don't mow
the rough down a little.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Bit but being a member there no thank.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
YOU i don't want to play a golf course where
my average score is ninety AND i played well AND
i played, well so it's.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
No it's a great. Place it's a great.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Venue you, know sometimes maybe THE Us open should stay
at a couple of different.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Courses, well they pretty much. ARE i think they've got
all this. Rotation next, year they're going To shinnecock twenty, Seven.
PEBBLE i Think riviera is on the. List they're going
back To oakmont in the early. THIRTIES i Think congressional
may be a part of that at some, point.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Oak, Kill.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
WINGFOOT i think they're gonna pick about seven or eight
or nine venues around the country on both. COASTS i
think they're going back To detroit at one point Where
Oakland hills. Is they would have gone, sooner but they
are in the process of rebuilding the clubhouse after the.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Fire so.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You're gonna go back to these iconic. Venues BUT i
think that's even more reason why the ball doesn't need
to be rolled.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Back the golf.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Courses the golf courses are going to be tough enough
with the way that they set them. Up all, Right
one more segment to go on The Golf, show and
it's coming up next eight forty five on the ticket
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