The Augusta Golf Show/Peter Kessler & Beth Ann Nichols

This weekend, Peter Kessler puts his perspective on the 2025 MASTERS
&
Ben Ann Nichols from GOLFWEEK wraps up the first major on the ladies calendar, The CHEVRON Championship

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick here
on News Talk WGAC.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
He is a friend to this program. It is a
pleasure to welcome Michael Bred back to the Augusta Golf Show.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
I believe in four different balls. There's a ball position
that's on your nose, there's one that's on your left eye,
there's one that's on your left ear, and then there's
one that's on your on your arm.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Fin That's where I think the ball positions are, and
there's four of them.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
We're talking with Heimi di As here on the Augusta
Golf Show.

Speaker 5 (00:28):
Didn't have a happy childhood, child of divorce, didn't have
a lot of effection from her parents, kind of lived
between divided family and teammates. Sure Tiger had all her
love all the time, and and Tigers that way with
his kid.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
We're talking with David Faridy here on the Augusta Golf Show.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's been an incredible life, you know, and live was
the only thing that I hadn't done, you know. I've
never had a chance to be a lead analyst.

Speaker 6 (00:56):
And do something new like this, you know, So it's
just I've been right.

Speaker 7 (01:00):
Irishman in the right bar at the right time.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hey morning, Welcome to this week's Augusta Golf Show. I'm
John Patrick. Thank you for being here this morning. Thank
you for listening on GAC. I hope you listen on
the radio each week, but these days a lot of
different ways to listen to this program. We're on the radio.
We're also on the iHeartRadio app. We're on the iHeartRadio

(01:25):
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however you stream at home. So whatever the method, however
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right now, John at Augustagolfshow dot com. Follow me on

(01:50):
x at Augustagolf Show. I'll mention the website Augustagolfshow dot
com so I can let you know. If you can't
stick around for the entire show this morning, you can
catch up on the conversations at Augustagolfshow dot com. Slash
listen all right, tell you about the show this morning.
Usually following a major championship. Peter Kessler joins us to

(02:13):
recap the festivities.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
Well.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
A couple of weeks ago, I had a couple of
members of Rory's team on the show, Brent Baxxon, doctor
Bob Rotella. Last week was a rerun, so we had
not had the chance to catch up with Peter to
find out what he thought about this year's first major.
We're fixing that this morning. Peter Kessler will join us
for an extended conversation about this year's Masters. Then, they

(02:39):
played the first major on the women's calendar last week,
the Chevron in Houston. The winner was not a household
name and there were a few issues with the event.
Golf Week's beth Anne Nichols was there this morning. She'll
be here to talk about what took place. As always,
I will let you know where to find the golf
on TV this weekend, and if we have time this

(03:01):
morning and our Why I Love the Game segment. Golf
Channel's Tom Abbott, who was on the call for the
Chevron last week. He's at the Byron Nelson this weekend.
We'll tell us why he loves the game of golf. Okay,
coming up Bethan Nichols from Golf Week, but first, Peter
Kessler on his thoughts on the Masters. Stay right there.

(03:23):
Thank you for being here this morning. You're listening to
the Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick here on News
Talk and Information WGAC.

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Inside these ropes. Extraordinary seems ordinary.

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You've got so many legendsary players, take a chance to
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My tour that's not only fun, but it's competitive and
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Speaker 1 (06:51):
If you'd like to comment about anything you've heard on
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Speaker 2 (07:04):
Good morning, and welcome back to the Augusta Golf Show.
I'm John Patrick. Okay, buckle up here he comes. Peter
Kessler is a golf historian, award winning broadcaster, and I
turned to Peter after each major championship to get his
perspective on the results. It's a pleasure to welcome my
friend Peter Kessler back to the Augusta Golf Show. How

(07:26):
are you, Peter?

Speaker 3 (07:28):
It would be better if you told me that we
were playing Augusta Country Club later today.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Okay, well, I'm sorry we're not okay, all right, let
me start with this. I need to apologize to you
and to the listener. Here's something you don't know. I've
got seven or eight emails in the last couple of
weeks wondering where you were after the Masters. It took

(07:56):
a couple of extra weeks, my fault. But here we are.
Do I need to remind you that Rory won the Masters.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
It's sort of old news, but I remember most of it.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Okay, all right, good good. We did speak in between
the masters and now, and you did confess to me
that you you thought it was kind of messy.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
It was messy. It was. It was the worst final
round played by a winner that I can remember pretty
much ever me. He shot over paw and he was
all over the place. And I'll bet the best player
at augusta National member from one hundred yards and the end,

(08:48):
if they went to one hundred yards from all eighteen
holes or played the front tees for the part the
closest ties to the on the par threes, that Rory
would lose to the best amateur recreational player these national
five and four. He's the best driver of the golf
ball perhaps ever in terms of the advantage that it

(09:12):
gives him on an absolute basis, and if they would
ever do something about the ball ball, it would be
the same on a relative basis. And he doesn't choke
with that club very often. He sometimes chooses it when
it's ill advised, like it last year's US Open when
he hit three wood on the eighteenth coal for the

(09:33):
first three days, because that's the right club, and he
pulls out the driver on the fourth day. He's just
trying to make a par and get out of town
with the trophy, and he couldn't figure out how to
do it. I just think that, I think from the
neck up, he is the dumbest golfer of all of
the really terrific players. I can't believe the decisions that

(09:58):
he makes. I can't believe how busy his brain is
during a round of golf. You can see it in
his eyes. You can see it in the way that
the tension that he feels. You can see his skin
looks stretched on his face to me, not having fun,
not as you're worried about everything. And so I mean,

(10:23):
look at the way he finished. I mean, you know,
the double on thirteen, the sloppy bogie on fourteen, and
maybe the worst wedge anybody's ever hit into eighteen and
augusta national well maybe from that spot, like in the
history of the game, I'm just so bad, such a choker.
And I think what happened was because it completes the career.

(10:46):
Grand Slam people have seemed to elevate that into so
now he's the best player of his time. So now
he's one of the sixth greatest players that ever lived,
and neither of those things are true. I saw that.
I see it today I didn't at the time. I
see it today as almost the finale of his career,

(11:11):
not the beginning of a resurgence where he's going to
win five more majors and get to ten. He's not
the best player in the world. He hasn't been the
best player in the world in more than ten years.
I mean, his career was largely formed between twenty ten
and twenty fifteen, when he won four Majors, when he
was Player of the Year, when you know, he was

(11:32):
winning things in Europe. That was overuse. That ended ten
years ago. It ended ten years ago. Scotty Scheffer's the
best player in the world. Scotty Sheffer's been number one
in the world for more weeks in a row now
since twenty twenty two, and Rory McElroy's been number one
over his entire career added up all of them together.

(11:55):
So and Scotti Sheffer's won more majors in the last
ten years than Rory back roy has, even though it's two.
So he's certainly not the best player of his time.
I mean, if he had for five years super and
then in my view, sort of a flame out. But
he's so talented with the longer clubs and he has

(12:19):
so little into the greens relative basis that his putting
stats couldn't help but improve in the last few years
as he was hitting shorter and shorter clubs into the
greens as the ball went farther and farther, And so
he doesn't miss a lot of greens because he only
has to hit him with the wedge most of the time. Now,

(12:40):
that's not a criticism of him, that's a criticism of
the equipment. I mean, the mid iron recovery shot, the
mid iron second shot. This is really the most interesting
shot in the game because that's the one that recreational
players can't hit. Recreation players can chip, they can put,
they can hit good bunkers, they can put the ball

(13:01):
in playoff. But he's just not hit as far as
he does. But what's missing now and golf is you
don't have five irons anymore, you know. And if you
didn't have five irons from you know, from the wrong
angle at the edge of the rough or the edge
of the woods to a green where it's the wrong bunker,
you have to hit over and the thing slopes away.

(13:23):
That shot is gone from golf. Now without that shot,
there wouldn't have been Walter Kegan, there wouldn't have been
Ronald Palmer, Mickelson, or you know, under Hank Haney a
Tiger Woods. When Hank changed his swing, that was one
of the most selfish things I've ever seen happen in
the history of the game. When Tiger and Butch just
had personal squabbles completely unrelated to the quality of his

(13:47):
play or the perfection of his swing, and they decided
to break up their professional relationship, and he went to
Hank Haney because Hank was working with Marcomer, so he
became friendly with Hank and started to buy into some
of Hank's theories, which was Tiger's fault. But Hank shouldn't
have been selling. And what Hank should have said to

(14:08):
Tiger is Okay, I'll work with you, but I think
the relationship should be let me just be your eyes.
Your swing is perfect. Let me just tell you when
I feel like I see something that isn't what you
had with Butch, because that's the best swing maybe anybody's
ever had. But instead Hank made it about him and

(14:30):
his theories that were all unproven. He worked with Marco Mirror,
who had a round swing, a flat swing of saying God,
and Tigers was in a more neutral position Jack Nicholas upright, okay,
Marco Mihr around, Torevino, around Palmer around, So he changed

(14:53):
him from neutral to around, and that's when Tiger started
hitting the ball sideways off the tee. And Hank would
make the claim that, well, look at Tiger's record, Well,
if you and I had coached Tiger, he would have
had an even better record because we'd have left him alone.
Who just said it was good.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
To me, and.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
You know, and in terms of like working with him
on his putting. On the Saturday night of the two
thousand US Open that Tiger won by eight million shots,
and he had a ten shot lead. On the Saturday night,
I was hanging out with butchering Tiger on the practice
punting grain and we were just talking and at one
point Tiger looked at Butch and said, and don't like
the way I'm putting, And Butch and I resisted the

(15:37):
temptation to say anything about the ten shot lead until
later when I said I could win tomorrow with a
ten shot lead if I get to play to my
handicap for the regular teas. So Tiger says, Tom, I
don't like the way I'm putting. So but said, go
over to that far corner of the putting green and
go putt for ten minutes and then just come back.
And that's what we might have said, don't get to

(15:58):
go putt for a few minutes, because that was the
right thing you do, which knew the right thing to say,
but you understood, Tiger, and so yeah, I digress. But
that's bothered me for a really long time. And it's
Tiger's fault that they let these guys sell them. And
then he had that crazy looking guy with the glasses
of the strange haircut, the goofy clothes, which was just

(16:20):
you know, just you know, a way to bring like
pee wee Hermitt bringing attention to him so unnecessarily.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, all right, I think it's a good time to
take a break. I got to get Peter back focused
on Rory. We will pick up the conversation with Peter
Kessler in just a couple of minutes, but while I
have you, take a look at a couple of the
golf headlines from earlier This week headlines are brought to
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(16:49):
the finest in men's clothing. More caddy changes on the
PGA Tour. According to our Buddy Coult, most Colin Morikawa
has parted ways with his lawn time caddy, the only
one he's had in his six years on tour. JJ
Jakovic His new caddie, Joe Griner, recently let go from

(17:10):
Max Homer's bag, and Griner had spent the last couple
of weeks on Justin Thomas's bag while JT's regular caddy,
Matt Minister was out with a back injury. By the way,
JT and Griner won the RBC Heritage, starting to need
a scorecard for all of this. Angela Stanford is adding

(17:31):
to her twenty twenty six Solheim Cup staff last week
naming Christy McPherson as an assistant captain. This week she
added Paula Creamer. Paula's a major champion, ten time winner
on the LPGA Tour, played on six Solheim Cup teams.
Paula's nineteen and a half overall Solheim Cup points are

(17:53):
second only to Christy Kerr. Now Stanford and Creamer were
teammates on five of those Solheim Cup teams, but they
were never paired together. Hey, don't forget when you're logged
into your Facebook page, come on over become a fan
of our Facebook page. The Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick.
We talked golf during the week and if you want

(18:14):
to join in on the conversation you can if you're
following me on x at Augusta Golf Show. All right,
still to come this morning that Dan Nichols will discuss
the first major on the women's calendar. But when we
come back, more about Rory with Peter Kessler. Don't go away.
You're listening to The Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick

(18:34):
here on News Talk and Information WGAC.

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Speaker 2 (21:54):
Welcome back to the Augusta Golf Show. I'm John Patrick.
We're going to continue our conversation with golf historian award
winning broadcaster Peter Kessler. Okay, Peter, focus, focus, Let's get
let's get back to talking about Rory So.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Rory So, he is not the best player in the
world and, as Nick Faldo called him, the fifth greatest
player who ever lived, because he never saw Gene Saracen's swing.
That was one of the dumbest things I ever heard
him say. And he didn't say a lot of dumb stuff.
And he said that Rory was a better player than
he was. Well he wasn't. Nick was like Curtis Strange.

(22:33):
Like when they played each other in the playoff for
the US Open, they both said playing against him was
like playing against myself. The exact same game, right down
the middle, hit the green, take two putts. Sometimes one
will fall in for birdie. And so their games were
super duper similar. And so there's no way in which
Nick can relate to Rory's game because he was such

(22:56):
a better player, a better golfer the ball. But Rory's
advantage off the tee is so immense. I mean, he's
any guys, three sixty three sixty five. Look at Zack
Johnson finished a shot in a half around behind Rory mclorry.
Haven't heard Zach's name since he screwed up the Ryder Cup.

(23:18):
And Zach wanted what almost twenty years ago, and that's
in that year he laid up on all sixteen par
fives over the four days and made fifteen birdies. Can
you imagine if Zack Johnson during the Masters got to
play tigers t ball got to play tight one hundred

(23:39):
yards difference, one hundred one hundred yards difference, he would
have won by fifteen shots. I mean, Rory is just
the worst approach player for a guy who's got an
amazing golf sway, great rhythm, great tempo. It doesn't vary
much until he starts to get closer to a cutting

(24:00):
surface and he decelerates. He hit that shot he hit
in the thirteen of the water has a real duffer
shot and it was a stupid shot. He doesn't think, well,
he didn't need a birdie. He didn't need There's a
really big difference between needing a birdie and accepting two
cuts from twenty five feet and if it goes in great,

(24:23):
If you don't need it, and that pin is in
a place that's as large as a bathtub, and the
last guy you'd want hitting it from a down hill
line a with a sand wedge, I'm guessing he may
have been silly enough to hit a lob with because
of course that would definitely be the wrong club because
the sand wedge has a bigger flange on the bottom

(24:44):
and that's why it slides through the grass, and why
recreational players should never play a sixty degree lob wedge
because it ends up going short and high, and you
should never use it in the bunker because it won't
glide under the golf ball. And you know, so I
don't even know if Rory picks the right club. And
this relationship with with Brad Faxon, it's time for to

(25:07):
be over. Let it be like the average marriage of
seven years and get out. He was he was one
of the best feel hutters of his time, and he
wasn't one of the best players of his time, but
he had wonderful feel like Creenshaw had wonderful feel. But
Ben was a better player than Brad was. Rory doesn't

(25:31):
have feel and touch like a really great player does.
He can think of the chip Tiger hit on sixteen
against Kristen Marco. I mean, you know, Rory would have
taken seven from there the first one gets bladed into
the crowd. I mean it would have been, you know,
a disaster. So I think we're overstating what this masters

(25:54):
mean to me. It's almost like he finally did it,
and that's going to be the last one reminds me
a little bit of Tiger nineteen Masters. When he won that,
you kind of didn't think he was going to win
another one after that. I mean, it was just the
most unbelievable thing from the most unbelievable golfer who does
unbelievable things, had incredible unexpected ties by winning that golf tournament,

(26:19):
Rory's meeting potatoes years were ten to twenty and fifteen.
And then if you look at it, like take the
next Stratch show to say till you know twenty twenty two,
maybe well he'd got to give it to Brooks Kepka
where he won five majors and Rory didn't win any
and Rory wasn't the player to hear or anything like that.

(26:41):
And he's not number one in the world now, he's
not one of the greatest players who ever lived. Maybe
he's in the top twenty five, maybe he's in the
top twenty, but what is he seventeenth or so in
the all time you know wins on the pgch R
seventeenth is great. Bill's got twenty almost twenty more wins
that than Rory does. And you know, and Phil is

(27:03):
still capable if he hadn't completely lost his mind and
gone to the do the whole live thing and then
turned in to the meanest looking gangster from the goofiest
most fun college player that splayed walk He used to
have coming over the hills. It was really attractive and

(27:25):
fun to watch because you knew he was having fun.
Rory never appears to be having fun to me, and
so I thought it was an exciting round of goll
because it was so insane and nothing comes to mind
ever of any player who played a final round like

(27:47):
that with so many miscues. He did hit the best
shot of the day on fifteen. He had two hundred
and five yards on fifteen to the Park which everybody
remember where Nicholas was also two fifteen and hit four
iron there in nineteen eighty six and ten people left

(28:07):
to the hole and baby eagle button and buried the
next two goals to finish, you know, by by going
seven under on the last ten holes to win. That's
winning a golf tournament. You know what he did, you know,
slapping that wadge into the bunker. Was he lucky to
fall into a playoff where he got a mulligan on
the exact same shot. He had just fluffed into the

(28:30):
right bunker, which he didn't get up in town. What
player doesn't get up and down out of a bunker,
out of a clean lie pretty much anywhere, or leave
himself like basically nothing. But he left himself something, and
he left it from the wrong angle.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
All right, let me ask you this. In a couple
of minutes we have left.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Okay, that was quick. I'm just getting warmed up.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
I know Rory the career grand Slam. How long before
we see someone else do that?

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Oh, he's a really good question. I actually have been
thinking about that. I think that before Rory hangs him
up and Scotty Scheffler will have done it. Scotty's a
better player than Rory. I mean, he's long enough, he's
he's you know, he's nearly as long. And the distance

(29:21):
between them is is little enough. And Sheffler is such
a great approach player. It's a great wedge player, and
so relaxed, and such a good putter. And he's a
field putter too, and you know, and and he was injured,
his right farm was injured, Sanders Shoples was injured, and

(29:44):
then four guys. You would expect it to be in
contention had they not gone to the live member guest thing.
You know, cam Smith, you know, just ripped Rory apart
in the final round at the Old Course a couple
of years ago. I think he took almost half his
men putts as Rory did. I mean Rory against somebody
like that, where John Rahm inform, they're not in form

(30:07):
where Bryson informed. If Bryson had been playing competitive golf,
he'd hung in that last round. But he hasn't been,
so he's not sharp. Sending with Brooks keep cut. Would
he make a seven on the eighteenth poll on the
Friday and to miss the cut? So there was no
basically no competition. I mean that leaderboard ridiculous, and so

(30:28):
it was. It was the opportunity that he needed to
have no competition and he had none. And congratulations to
Justin Rose for hanging as long as he did. He's
almost fifty. Rory is going to be is now closer,
he's going to be in May. He's going to be
thirty six, closer to forty. Scheffler is going to be

(30:49):
twenty nine. Scheffler will get to the Grand Slam. Okay
to pick somebody who's playing golf right.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Now, okay, all right, since I'm going to roll with questions,
one more for you. Since Scotti will be the next
person to win the Grand Slam, and he's got he's
got to to two Masters, he will he will clinch
the Grand Slam at which of the four majors? Which
will be the hardest for him to win?

Speaker 3 (31:15):
In other words, well, it depends. It depends on the venue,
I think in some respects. I mean there's some places like,
for example, the Players Championship that Rory won this year again,
which was which was really good because it's a horrible
golf course and it forces you to play angles that

(31:36):
are so narrow that you can't really play your game,
which is why a lot of the time you see
players on the leaderboard players, who's that guy? It's somebody
who hits a medium short and can handle the angles
that is okay about hitting a longer club in the
Perhaps you'd say the Open if they continue to be

(32:03):
if they if there's a string of them that turned
out to be really windy and weather driven. I mean,
that's what we think when we think of the Open
Championship is tell me what the weather is gonna be
that's the most important thing. And also the US Open
tell me what the weather's gonna be, even though nobody
ever asked, But I want to know. I want to
know where the green's gonna play a little bit soft.

(32:24):
They're gonna play like Donald Ross. Nowlistir Mackenzie and Tilling
has one and two where you play long irons into
well guarded greens. Rory's good at that. That's what he's
really good at. The longer the shot, the better he is.
To the five, the seven iron that he hit from
two oh five, and the fifteen to six feet which

(32:46):
landed like five or six feet onto the green. I
mean it was just perfect, but it was close. I mean,
that was that was that was the shot of the day.
And of course he misses the eagle, but I mean,
come on, you just double thirteen, you bogie fourteen. Yeah,
you hit the best iron you ever hit when it mattered,
and then you can't, you know, nudge the putt into

(33:08):
the bull. So I would say the Open Championship, But
he's not based on anything I'll do than assuming that
we're going to have weather, which can mitigate advantages of
that certain players have. But Scotty can hit the ball
any heights, So I would say he's gonna do him
soon too, Okay, I think it would. I think it

(33:28):
would have major this year for sure, and I don't
think groriyo win another one.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
I have to go on to another guest now. He is, uh,
Peter Kessler, calf historian, Allward winning broadcaster. I always appreciate it.
Thank you, Thank you, Peter.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
Great to be with you. I love you.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Johnny. There you go, it's Peter Kessler. We will have
him back on to recap the PGA Championship a little
bit later on this month. But while I have you,
take a look at the golf on TV. This weekend.
Golf on Television, brought to you by the Forest Hills
Golf Club, the area's premiere public facility. Golf Channel will

(34:09):
get the coverage started PGA Tour the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Golf Channel's coverage begins at one this afternoon, same time tomorrow. Now,
don't forget about the early coverage PGA Tour Live that
is on ESPN Plus, CBS and Paramount Plus will then
pick up the coverage of the Byron Nelson coverage beginning
today at three same time tomorrow. Golf Channel has coverage

(34:33):
of the PGA Tour champions Tour the Inspirity Invitational. Their
coverage will begin at three this afternoon, same time tomorrow,
and finally, Golf Channel has coverage of the LPGA Tour
new event on the calendar, The Black Desert Championship. Coverage
begins at six tonight and six tomorrow night. When we

(34:55):
come back, Bethann Nichols, speaking of the ladies, we'll talk
about last week's Chevron Championship First Major. Don't go away.
You're listening to the Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick
here on News Talk and Information WGAC.

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Speaker 8 (38:09):
Men Douglas. It helps the first amateur to win a
tour in more than three decades.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Scottie Shuffler has one his seventh winner of the year,
and with that he captures the PGA Tour's ultimate fries,
the Fedetch Cup.

Speaker 13 (38:26):
A season of moments like this only happens on the
PGA Tour. Follow the action of the FedEx Cup season
at pgatour dot com.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
You can listen to The Augusta Golf Show on the
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devices used to stream at home.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Welcome back to the Augusta Golf Show. I'm John Patrick.
Bethan Nichols covers the game for Golfweek and golfweek dot com.
She was in Houston last week for the first major
on the women's schedule, the Chevron Championship. It is a
pleasure to welcome beth Anne Nichols. Back to the Augusta
Golf Show, how are you.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Ba doing well?

Speaker 6 (39:12):
Doing well?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Help the listener out, tell them a little bit more
about the winner mouse I goo, well, I think.

Speaker 6 (39:24):
I think the We'll talk about her inability to swim
here in a minute, but mouth Igo is a really
talented player before she even came to the LPGA six
time winner on the j LPGA Rookie of the Year
last year without having won no rookie one on tour
last year. But just an incredibly consistent player. Uh you

(39:48):
know she actually is. Has been mentored by Jumbo Zaki.
She was one of the first juniors in his academy
when she was a teenager. She a they're a meticulous player.
Her caddy was telling me that when they first started
working together late last year, he's never seen a player
paste off everything that she was pasting off. You know,

(40:11):
you're doing the job that normally at caddy does and
so he said it, you know, there was it took
a while for him to you know, convince her to said, hey,
that's my job. He's taking up so much of your time.
She wasn't able to chip and put as much as
you know, she would have had she you know, let
him let her other caddy do that as well. So
I think maybe having you know, he does takes all

(40:32):
the notes now and then she copies everything into her
her book on like a Tuesday night, and that that's
probably enabled her to you know, be more prepared than
than she was to be able to you know, entrust
him with with some of the normal caddy duties. So
but I just think that just shows you know, how
detail oriented she is and what her mentality is, to

(40:55):
the point that when somebody said, ask the question, what's
next for you after she won, and she said, well,
you know, there are four more majors and I and
I want to be the number one player in the world.
So I love that she didn't hold back.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
So it sounds like this did not come as a
huge surprise to those of you who are out there
on a regular basis.

Speaker 6 (41:17):
No, I think I definitely think, you know, for for now,
everybody thought it was just a matter of time before
she'd win. That she made a major her first title,
maybe comes with the hints of surprise, just given uh,
you know, the players that you know had such great
experience that she was up against. But but certainly no
she she definitely as part of a wonderful contingent of

(41:40):
Japanese players right now that are deeply talented.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Uh, there there had to be uh, there had to
be feelings for Aria and and and how she finished
and what she did.

Speaker 6 (41:53):
Oh one hundred percent. I mean that that flub, that
that looked like a whiff is certainly, you know, a
shot that doesn't leave you. I mean, I mean, I
think about the fact that you and I won't forget
that shot, and so imagine you know, what it feels
like for her. But but I also know that you know,

(42:13):
Aria is as a player who's been through a lot,
both inside the ropes and outside the ropes of the
course of her career. She's endured a lot of adversity
and and continues to put herself back there. So you know,
I think she'll have you know, some good perspective on
this and time and I expect to see her, you know,
continuing at majors again. She just has, you know, so

(42:35):
much talent it's it's it's pretty mind blowing what she's
able to do without a driver.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yea, yeah, Okay, let's talk about the bank that Mal
doesn't swim.

Speaker 6 (42:48):
Right, which which her Caddie told me that he just
you know, he said, I just randomly asked her about
it at some point in the back nine and and
she said she kind of laughed, and she said, no,
you know, I don't and uh and just I guess
we'll just stay. From the start, none of them really
realized how deep it was. I mean, it looks it's
different than you know, Poppy's pond. That's clear and you

(43:10):
can tell what you're what you're jumping into, and uh
and and it's about five feet deep around the docks,
but then it gets close to ten feet as you
move further out where they were. And I have to say,
as a standing a little bit further away, you know,
I was. I was videoing it at first, and then
and then I stopped videoing and took a couple of pictures,
and I was thinking, like, what are they doing? Like

(43:32):
where did where did that person go? Like somebody like
a head just went underwater. For a while, I couldn't
figure out what was going on. The guy beside me,
I told somebody, say, you know, what are they trying
to drown each other out there? Like it was so confusing,
And I'm thinking to myself, surely they're not like like
joking around out there. It's kind of a weird, weird
thing to do. And so then later on I was

(43:54):
interviewing the caddy and I said, well, how was the
jump and instead it was scary, and he was dead serious,
and I said, well, what was going Why was it scary?
And then he explained that, you know, he was part
of a second wave that went in. Three women went
in first, Mau with her, her manager and a member
of the media, and then three men followed a few
seconds later, her two trainers and her caddy. And her

(44:19):
caddy said that every time he tried to come up
break water, he just kept getting pushed down because and
I watched the video of it later on in LIW motion,
and none those three women, none of them were good swimmers.
All of them were struggling and bobbing up and down,
and they were just grabbing on the men to stay afloat.
And I couldn't hear it, but apparently mal was screaming out,

(44:42):
you know, yelling out, you know, help, I can't swim.
And so it was the trainers who helped get the
three women back to the dock. You can see them
helping when I watched it slowly.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
And so the.

Speaker 6 (44:55):
Expressions on their face went from joy to distress. And
it's kind of hard to tell the different sometimes when
you're far away and you just see mouths open. But
when I watched it in slow emotion, you could, you
could definitely tell it was it was a stressful time.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
We're talking with beth Ann Nichols here on the AUGUSTA
Golf Show. Did did she did she tell anybody she
didn't want to jump or do you know if she
expressed concern about going in the water.

Speaker 6 (45:21):
I I don't. I did not hear that she expressed concern.
I genuinely think she didn't think it was going to
be that deep, and and and once she got out there,
realized she couldn't just like bounce up off the ground,
you know, and keep bouncing up. But there, you know,
and you I guess you can, you know, doggy paddle
for a while, but you can just see their heads

(45:41):
just go submerge completely underwater, and then then they get
back up. And and so I I think going forward,
the LPGA definitely needs to, you know, have some you know,
very clear conversations with players about about what it's like
in there because on the flip side, you know, I remember,

(46:04):
we all remember Stacy Lewis's mom getting injured because it
wasn't deep enough. She didn't go out far enough and
she ended up in the hospital with a leg injury.
So you know, it's it's uh goodness. You almost wonder
if there needs to be a lifeguard out there. I
just you have so many people looking at the water right,

(46:24):
everybody staring and watching and videoing and clapping and and
and but but yet you you really didn't have it.
It didn't look right, but you weren't quite sure exactly
what was happening, you know, And it's just a scary thing.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
And that was an issue. They had a few issues
last week. First major on the schedule. Talk a little
bit about the attendance and scheduling.

Speaker 6 (46:49):
Well, you know, this is this you know, obviously this
event used to be in the run up to the Masters.
It was Golf's first major, it was in March, and
you know, with with this move, you know after the Masters,
obviously this is an exceptional Masters. So but I still
think that it didn't matter if it was the exceptional

(47:11):
Masters or not. Every Masters that you know, has a
hangover after it right where everybody's just kind of been
a Master's fog, and I think the LTGA is suffering
a bit from a lack of run up to this event,
where you know, people in the past, you know there
there there was a ramp, you know, up to the
to the year's first major, and now that ramp goes

(47:33):
to the Masters, and then there's kind of a cliff
after that. So I think that's from a national perspective,
you know, certainly from a local perspective, You've got a
number of tournaments, three within the span of of six
weeks at in the Houston area. Uh, there there are
more banners driving in for the champions event the next

(47:55):
week than there are for for the the women's event.
You know, up around the Lightful in the Woodlands, there's
an iron Man race going on on Saturday that that
really reaks havoc on traffic and I think, you know,
keep some fans away who are aren't sure what that's going.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
To be like.

Speaker 6 (48:12):
Going in, it was incredibly hot. It's a really big
golf course. It's hard to get around. There are no shortcuts,
you know. I think there are just a lot of
factors at play here that that that led to attendance
being being small and I and I think, you know,
obviously it's only the third year. It takes time to

(48:35):
establish some things. But there's just a lot of competition
in that market this time of year. And I think
the LPGA needs to do a much better job of
marketing the event, boots on the ground sort of thing.
And I think they need to lower ticket prices too.
I think we're just an economy right now where you know,

(48:56):
paying fifty plus for a ticket plus parking plus concessis
it adds up quickly for a family. And and when
when it's a difficult you know, you have objects for
parking and and and you know, heat and other things,
you want to try to to make it, as you know,
as easy as possible for fans to come out. So

(49:18):
I think they really need to lower their price pay
because even if you're just watching on TV and you
notice MC grand stands or you don't see very many spectators,
it just doesn't feel like it's a big deal, right,
I mean that that shines through.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
We've got to run should they should they move it?
Should they move it on the calendar?

Speaker 6 (49:38):
I think they can move it on the calendar. Unfortunately,
with Chevron headquarters being right there in Houston. I don't
think they're going to move courses that that's really important
with what their large employee based there. Chevron wants to
be there, so they've got to make best with what
they what they have, and I think they need to
move it ahead of the masters.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
She is Bethan Nichols covers the game for it Off
week golfweek dot com. BA, thank you for doing this.
I deeply appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (50:05):
Oh anytime there you go.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
That's Bethan Nichols. You can read ba's work Golfweek and
online at golfweek dot com. Don't go away, We're coming
right back. You're listening to the Augusta Golf Show with
John Patrick here on News Talk and Information w g AC.

Speaker 12 (50:23):
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Speaker 1 (50:27):
Chris Gunningham, President, wife's every restaurants.

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(50:53):
in fundraisers, golf tournaments, Lauderdale's, those kind of things, I
meet a lot of people that I end up doing
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the golf course, you really getn't to know them.

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Speaker 4 (51:52):
Get there, Hi, It's Stacy Lewis and you're listening to
the Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick.

Speaker 15 (51:57):
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Speaker 1 (53:29):
All of the conversations from the Augusta Goolf Show are
available on our website Augusta Goolfshow dot com slash listen.
That's Augustagolfshow dot com slash listen.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Welcome back to the Augusta Goolf Show. I'm John Patrick.
It's time for our Why I Love the Game segment.
It's the portion of the show where somebody tells us
why the game of golf is so important and so
meaningful in their life. This morning Golf channels Tom Abbott
primarily out on the LPGA Tour. He was at the

(54:03):
Chevron last week, but this weekend he's called on the
CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Tom Abbott tells us why he
loves the game of golf.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
There's so many things about the game of golf that
makes me love it. And it's a game that it's
a great honor, great tradition. It takes you to so
many places around the world. And I always think that
a scratch handicap in golf is more useful than a passport.
If you could have a scratch handicap and golf, you
can go anywhere in the world and people will accept

(54:36):
you and take you in and let you play on
their golf course and open their doors to you. Is
an incredible game. And being good at the game of golf,
just having some sort of level of skill, not necessarily
being a professional, but being a decent golfer a really
valuable tool. It's a fantastic game.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Is Tom Abbott from Golf Channel and why he loves
the game of golf. If you would like to comment
about anything you heard on the show this morning, good
or bad, I would love to hear from you. I
love the feedback. I would love to know what you think. Again,
good or bad? Send me an email. John at Augustagolfshow
dot com. Okay, John at Augustagolfshow dot com, don't forget

(55:25):
become a fan of our Facebook page The Augustagolf Show
with John Patrick. We talk golf during the week. Want
to join in on that conversation, you can if you
follow me on x at Augustagolf Show. And then, finally,
if you missed either of the conversations this morning, either
with Peter or with beth Ann, all of the conversations

(55:46):
from the program are up on the website Augustagolfshow dot
com slash listen Augustagolfshow dot com slash listen. All right,
that's the show for this morning. I do want to
thank my guests, Peter Kessler, beth Ann Nichols. Thank you
for taking the time to listen. You know what I'm
going to say to you. Please make sure the other

(56:07):
members of your foursome know about this program. Tell them
when it's on the radio, Tell them if they can
tune in and listen. Remind them though that these days
shows available on demand twenty four to seven. It's on
the iHeartRadio app. It's on iTunes, Apple podcast, the Odyssey app.
It's available on most of the devices that you use

(56:28):
to stream at home. Wallace AND's Son Lawn and Garden
Show is coming up next See and See Automotive show
after that this morning, Mary, Liz, ab Jenna and I
will be back Monday morning at five point thirty. Have
a great weekend to get the chance get out and
play a little golf. Have a great week. Thank you

(56:48):
for listening to The Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick.
Please stay well and please stay safe and I will
see you next time next week, So long, bye bye.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
The Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick is a production
of the Murto Group, which is solely responsible for its content.
Copyright twenty twenty five. The theme for The Augusta Golf
Show was written and performed by Jim Brickman. I'm Jeff
Lawrence and we'll see you next time.