Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion and lead golf analyst for CBS, joins Smylie for a discussion ranging from shared cynicism about the state of their respective golf games to the love they’ve both found for broadcasting after the conclusion of their playing careers. Trevor heaps praise on two international players – Min Woo Lee and Tom Kim – who will likely play in the 2024 Presidents Cup, and makes some predictions about several PGA Tour pros who could be primed for breakout seasons.
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All right we have Trevor imman joining the Smiley Show Trevor is a quite a great friend you know somebody that I’ve really gotten to know over the last couple years uh really through broadcasting we haven’t gotten to get on the golf course yet which is something that I’m really excited about doing at
Some point because Trev I mean I I I told Charlie this before I was like hey you know CH Charlie Trevor and I are a little bit on the pessimistic side with our golf games like 95% of the time but when we have that optimism that 5% we can’t be
Beat 5% huh I don’t know maybe mine’s about 1% but uh yeah look it’s uh it’s such an awesome sport every every single time I have some sort of um interaction with it it just um keeps showing me how great it is you know even yesterday watching the end of that uh tournament
At the American Express and seeing the young kid get it done and um add his name to um a pretty short list of amateurs to win on the PGA tour like you’re just sitting there going man how cool is this this sport is just so amazing and um yeah thankful throughout
My career on the course and now off the course that I’ve had so many cool opportunities to be able to to take advantage of so yeah I’m not complaining I I love this game I love this game how is the game right now where are we on
Our scale of of of freaking out on what we’re working on or are we about to turn pro again you know I’m pretty good when no one’s watching Smiley that’s sort of the extent of of where I am right now uh you know I’ve had some time to to put some
Work into it over the last few months you know our last event at CBS was the Tour Championship so I’ve had about four months off at home just hanging out um practicing with my son when when I can and getting out there and playing with some buddies at our course here in
Winter Park and so my game is okay I mean you know I’m I’m a scratch handicap I can I can break power around my home course but um you know as you know it’s such a different Beast like when you get a score card in your hand or when you
Have to enter a tournament and play it’s like uh you know your your mind just starts kicking into overdrive and then the challenge becomes you know can can you take any that stuff out that you know from the practice you know all the stuff you’ve learned so that’s that’s
The tricky part but I still enjoy getting out there and hitting some balls and and playing some rounds with my buddies well and you mentioned your son Jacob he just recently uh committed to Clemson which I know you were excited about being a very big Clemson fan and
Good friends with dbo I mean just talk about how cool it is to see your son not only uh get to play this great game of golf but also recently commit to to Clemson uh a school of that I know you love yeah it’s been an awesome Journey for us
Uh you know in two departments the first one is him falling in love with the game at a young age and growing up on the PGA tour he was born in 2006 I was still out there playing and uh so he fell in love with the game getting to know all of the
Guys that I was competing against and traveling week after week out on the tour and then seeing his game develop uh also falling in love with Clemson University having met many friends there and going to a ton of football games and hanging out on campus so a dream come
True for him to be able to go there and play the sport that he loves at the school that he’s loved since he was a kid I think we took him to his first football game before he was two years old so he was indoctrinated early uh and
Got to know Deo as a young kid and and deo’s boys as well so it’s been such a fun ride and now for us to get to this next level where he’s finishing his senior year in high school and and going to be able to go there and play a bit of
Golf it’s um it’s very exciting it’s uh it’s kind of pinch yourself stuff really and um you know you’ll see as your daughter grows up like when when your kids start to realize their goals yeah uh it’s um it’s extremely special for the parents I’m looking forward to
Seeing Anna Carter on the golf course but Jacob so his golf game just what are yall what’s he working on what’s his strengths you know what does he need to continue to develop in his game um I I saw that he’s a lefty is that uh was
That just right off the bat he was grabbing things left-handed or what was the deal there yeah both of us are pretty confused with the sport I’m actually I’m actually right-handed and uh or excuse me left-handed and play right-handed oh really so I was switched around because when I started in South
Africa uh we only had a right-handed set of clubs and so when my brother and I decided to take up the game my dad was like okay well there’s a set of clubs in the garage and we were saying to him but they’re right-handed and he was like
Well do you want to play golf or not I mean if you want to play golf we’ve got a right-handed set of Club so both of us took the sport up playing right-handed and then you know when I was practicing a lot and I would take Jacob out to the
Range when he was just you know a kid um and a toddler I would sit him down next to the pile of balls and then he would watch me swing and eventually we could when he could get up and start moving around uh he would just stand on the
Other side of the balls and hit him in the same direction so even though he’s right-handed he plays left-handed so both of us have got it got it mixed up but um you know he he has a lot of room to improve in all facets of the game uh
He’s he’s working on um some significant swing changes right now he started working with Chris KO a couple months yeah which is which is pretty exciting and I have um a ton of respect for Chris and the knowledge that he has not just of the Swing but uh of the body and how
The you know body needs to move in different golf swings and uh so that’s been fun because Chris and I are close friends and now to be able to share this experience with the two of them as as I watch him working with Jake it’s uh it’s
A lot of fun but you know you walk that that fine line of you know being a being a parent with somebody who’s getting into the sport or or trying to really get to a good level at the sport of you know when you show some toughness and
When you show some love and when to be encouraging and and um and when to just be br honest and so uh I think the addition of Chris working with Jacob really kind of has helped buffer some of that so I can go back just to being the
Supportive dad rather than trying to teach him about the game as well yeah so we’ll see how that pans out but yeah he’s got a lot of room to improve he loves competing he loves the sport he’s obviously been able to pick up a lot of different things hanging around uh the
Tour a lot and getting to know a lot of the players so um we’ll see what happens yeah I look forward to watching his journey U at Clemson and and uh at Clemson in 2025 I don’t know if you knew this or not but the Clemson football team is
Going to be hosting the Bayou Bengals of LSU uh second week of the year and then the following year in 26 LSU is gonna be hosting Clemson so we got a little home and Home Series to figure out who really has the true Death Valley yeah that’s
Right that’s right we should uh you know we talk we should talk we should talk offline about that about that series but uh yeah it’s going to be a big couple years obviously college football has been turned on its head here in the last couple one’s just
Trying to figure it out and uh you know Clemson hasn’t quite lived up to what the fans had become accustomed to over a decade over the last two seasons struggled just a little bit so it’s going to be fun to see how dbo and you know the new coaching staff and all of
These recruits respond to that and we got we got uh tough schedule the next few years because we got LSU we got Georgia and um you know that’s uh that’s going to be some big games to follow well I I hope that we’ll both be at
Clemson for the game we get to hang out blah blah blah oh yeah but also bat and Rouge happy to host as well that’s a that’s a kind of a place if you haven’t been it’s a it’s kind of a bucket list type typ of experience uh it for the
Away team it can be a little little sketchy at times depending on where you sit but if you sit in the right area you know it could be a great experience I just call it the world’s largest bar in Death Valley in uh in Baton Rouge well
I’m sure if I go with you I’ll be well taken care of and that is a place I’ve always been interested in going to hopefully it’s a night game I’ve heard the atmosphere in Baton Rouge for night games off the charts uh so yeah that uh that does
Sound like a lot of fun looking forward to it uh yeah it’s like golf college football which one’s got its head a little bit more on the upside down I don’t know you could pick one but uh we were just talking right when you came on that uh you know you’re you’re
Heading to the farmers this week uh currently Monday for a normal week for a CBS week what day you typically heading out to the tournament uh normally what I try to do is um catch the first flight on Friday morning and you’re living in Orlando I’m kind of fortunate with a
Good airport that I can get most places direct and you know if I can catch that first flight 6:00 a.m. 7: a.m. somewhere in there generally I’m at the golf course by about 11: yeah and so I can get to the golf course I can get down
Into the TV compound I can sit down with our producer seller shy for 20 or 30 minutes before he then uh goes and does that Golf Channel show M on the Friday and so him and I can get on the same page uh you know talk about what I’m
Thinking about for the week what plans he has for the week um and uh and then I’ll head out onto the golf course onto the driving range for the rest of that um Friday try and pick up whatever nuggets I can pick up make sure that
There’s been no changes at the course if there have been try and understand what they are and how they could affect the play mhm uh then I’ll try and get back to the the hotel to watch some of the coverage and just start to understand uh
You know what these holes look like on TV so that’s a good point when I’m in the booth calling it as soon as the screen changes I know exactly where I am and I can already get uh like a little um early idea of what I’m wanting to say
Mhm and then um Friday evening is generally a room service evening for me uh I will go through all of my notes make all of my notes uh ordinarily for the last 10 groups on Saturday I’ll have uh some nuggets on each player in the last 10
Groups and then uh get a good night’s sleep Saturday morning we always have our team zoom call we go through how the weekend is going to look uh and and that has been a great addition from our producer s Shai uh and for me it has because you
Know we have such a short turnover between the golf 12 Channel show and the CBS show it’s just 15 minutes MH so all of the announcers switch out in that 15 minute period as you well know and so we don’t have any chance for any rehearsal or anything like that we
Pretty much uh get our jackets on get into position and we’re within five minutes of the show starting so those Zoom calls and Saturday mornings are extremely important for us to understand exactly uh what we’re going to try and Achieve on that Saturday and then we get
Right into it man yeah that’s the fun part right so much fun it’s so much fun I’ve been having such a blast and 2023 was uh such an amazing experience for me to uh be in this new role as lead analyst for CBS and you know the amount
Of times like probably you know once or twice a weekend of the 20 or so events I did last year you know you look over during the three-hour show and you’re like man I’m sitting next to Jim N right now calling the sport that I love it doesn’t doesn’t get much better than
That so we’re pumped to get uh get this season going what were some of your favorite moments from last year just that stuck out that was just like man this is this is too cool there there were a few obviously the first week a year ago at Farmers just being nervous and anxious
Taking over from a legend in in cernik falo um only the fifth guy to have that role for CBS so I was a little bit nervous about that wanting to make sure I got off to a good start uh and you know for us at CBS there’s always a
Little extra wrinkle at Farmers cuz Jim calls the action from the AFC Championship location oh that’s right so he sits in a truck I guess he’ll be in Baltimore uh calling it this weekend and so that can throw the timing out a little bit uh you know I want to make
Sure that I’m not stepping on him I’m not starting to talk while he’s talking and so the fact that he’s not sitting right next to me because ordinarily I’ll sort of locate my body so I can see him out the corner of my eye and see the
Screens CU I just want to make sure that we having good chemistry and I’m not stepping on him so there’s that little extra wrinkle for Farmers which made me more nervous cuz it was my first week last year so that one was uh was interesting and fun because it was the
First one uh and then you go through the year La is always a blast always a blast um because it was one of my favorite events when I played Just L the golf course love Santa Monica the field is always so strong uh Masters once again was um like a heightened moment
Because now all of a sudden I’m sitting down in Butler cabin and you know calling uh calling the Masters which was a thrill and uh you always feel a little extra nervousness anytime you step onto Augusta National whether you’re playing or announcing or you know whatever you’re doing there uh Memorial was
Amazing sitting up there with Jack on the weekend just picking his brain during the broadcast getting his opinion um of the sport and of the golf course Canadian open was one of my favorites just cuz of the Finish insane right oh man you know the the atmosphere around
The Canadian open year after year is it’s one of the best on tour there’s just no way around that it is one of the best on tour the Canadian fans really get out and uh and support the tour and support their players and then for Nick Taylor to have this chance to
Win first time in like more than 50 years Canadian uh trying to win the the national open he commits to doing the walk and talk with us on the 15th hole I’m just thinking I’m thinking to myself like there’s so many different ways I can screw this moment up with my
Line of questions you know do you know you’re winning yeah I’m not wanting to like let him know where he is on the leaderboard I’m not wanting to give him any advice I’m not wanting to say something that gets in his head and it was like gosh I was nervous you know
Going through those questions and we had such a great camera angle on his face uh our crew does such an amazing job but you could see the look in his eye how intense and focused he was and um it was pretty intimidating I was just thinking
To myself you know got to really be careful and tiptoe your way through this uh to not throw him out because I I knew that if this guy doesn’t win this tournament we are absolutely going to get blamed for this no way around it so you know when
We get into the playoff with fleetw who’s another fan favorite and you know I I haven’t seen crowds like that in quite some time you know they are 10 15 20 deep all the way around this uh this final hole which was a bad hole God that hat hole is terrible
Was an interesting hole I would say that don’t often see a power five where guys are hitting three and four RS off the te but uh man when he made that putt the place went nuts and we’re sitting in pretty much a soundproof booth and you could
Hear the reaction from the fans and uh it was pandemonium out there and it was a that was a fun moment so that’s something absolutely that jumps out to me when people ask me about just you know like do you miss playing golf and I said well you know yes I miss competing
There’s nothing better than playing good golf but there is something so unique and and so cool about being a part of TV and live golf when you experience moments like that because there’s it’s it’s hard to describe being a part of the action and and like you said how you
Have 10 nuggets on on the last 10 groups you know some days you got to use all those notes but then there’s other days where you don’t need a single note because the golf is so good and I think that’s what makes TV so fun you know
What I mean yeah 100% like I like I said earlier I love my job I have such a Bloss doing it I love every uh little tiny thing about it and what I like to to tell people is absolutely uh on on the list of what’s the best you know
Let’s do like a Podium so to speak as you say playing Great Golf is number one and it’ll never be surpassed you know when you know that you’ve put the work in and then you you enter whatever tournament it is and you you take that practice range stuff to the tournament
And you play well and you compete well or you win there’s nothing will ever surpass that but for me uh doing TV is second on the podium me too it’s so much better than than playing average or playing bad and so uh you know I’ll I’ll just
I’ll I’ll I’ll take that I love it I absolutely love it and uh you know I hope to be able to do it for a long time and and you mentioned Sellers and just talking about how uh the the Friday before you kind of get figured out hey
This is what I’m thinking and then sellers kind of comes back to you well this week at the farmers there’s a whole lot to talk about and that’s I think one of the main reasons is is Nick Dunlap we mentioned right off the top you said that I mean just what he accomplished
Winning as an Amer I mean I imagine that’s going to be a a huge part of y’all’s discussions when you get over to San Diego yeah there’s no doubt about that look we got got to get through the first two days where the coverage is on
On Golf Channel it’s one of the um advantages I have is you know I watch the third Thursday broadcast at home yep and I get a feel for okay how’s this tournament starting to to set up and then Friday I’m on site and I get a feel
For what’s going on site and then you see uh now what are the story lines going into the weekend and as you say with Nick uh you know how is he going to back this up as I’m sitting here I got the note last night that he had entered
Farmers so that’s going to be amazing uh I actually haven’t found out yet maybe you can tell me like is he playing as a pro or is he we do not know yet but did you see what he jumped to in the world ranking he that’s I saw him jump up like
600 spots into what some somewhere in the 60s or something he’s 68 it’s the most in it’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen I thought he was we I asked Charlie last night when we did our topical recap I was like Hey what if I
Had to said an over under on what you thought Nick dunlap’s official World Golf Ranking would be after that win what would you said that he’s like ah somewhere like around like 200 something like that I was like I think I’m like around 150 he’s like well he’s
68 yeah crazy exctly right it is it is crazy and uh you know we’ probably need another show to debate about the Merit of the world rankings and how all of that is panning out but you one of my closest Adam Scott uh has been playing
Some really good golf at late of late he’s had four top 10 in his last four tournaments three of them on the DP World Tour and one on the PGA tour in Bermuda and he’s sitting at number 49 so you got him at 49th in the world
Rankings and then like you say you got Nick at 68 and uh yeah it’s going to be interesting to see but so impressive the maturity he showed uh not just with his game look we’ve we’ve known about him we’ve heard about him everybody got a
Glimpse of how good he is at the US Amer and in in uh his couple years at Alabama but uh the maturity he showed in his interviews with burko and throughout the week and things he said and the way he conducted himself you know even the back and forth he had
With JT on the 18th hole when he blew it out into the crowds on the right hand side like you know he was he was he was so acting like a veteran out there and you know is it is it impressive absolutely is it that surprising no not
Really because we’ve seen it from a number of youngsters you know you look at what ludvig has been able to do in the last six or eight months and what minwu Lee has done in the last couple years and really you go back to your generation of the JT and the spe and
Then you got the Maraca and the shefflers like we’ve seen youngsters come through and be ready and be mature and and really be smart with how they go about their business so Nick looks like he’s just following in those footsteps it’s awesome yeah and it’s kind of
Similar age to what Jordan spe was when he won at the John Deere I mean you were the President’s Cup captain at Quail Hollow I mean hey Tom Kim was a young guy you just mentioned minw we are we going to see Tom Kim and minwu Le playing a match against Gordon sergeant
And Nick Dunlap like as soon as this year at the presidency cup like do you think it’s that fast for some of these guys to make it on some of these teams yeah I really do smiley it’s h it’s a great point you make the president’s Cup’s going to be in Canada Royal
Montreal International fans are gonna be insane yeah the international team is really pumped about that we’ got we’ got the Canadian Legend Mike wear as our captain and he’s been working really hard uh in in prep for this but yeah it it it could well happen you know you
Throw Sun JM in there he’s still in his early 20s uh we got a bunch of youngsters coming through for the international team but that absolutely Could Happen uh there’s there’s this changing of the god uh it’s fun to see it’s great to see the new Talent come through these pipelines
And credit to the the college football uh college golf system uh amateur golf system that uh this Talent is being identified and that they giving these guys opportunities to really get good early I mean that it wasn’t that way when I came through I was you know about 10 years before you but
Uh when I came through with Adam Sergio Luke Donald Justin Rose Paul Casey that kind of group Henrik Stenson it was more still look you got to get out here you got to pay your dues for a couple years learn the ropes and then you can think
About playing well whereas you know now it’s it’s a little different these guys come out ready to go yeah I mean just think about how many PJ tour players used to hold cards from 35 to 45 years old now if you have a card past 35 and
Before 45 it’s it’s it’s like you’re like a hero it’s so hard to do now because the Young Generation that’s come up made it so difficult to keep up because of the distance that these players hit it now I I play with college kids all the time back home I’m like
Gosh I am glad I’m not playing cuz this kid doesn’t know how good he is first and foremost I still beat you but still it’s like oh man these kids can absolutely hammer it and and one of those kids is is min we we we just
Mention him a little bit and I’m trying to take myself back to a year and a half ago when you were picking your president Cup team was Min Lee on the radar at the time I’m trying to remember where he was in the game of golf yeah absolutely he was um
You know I want to be careful how I handle and forgive me because I I I’m trying to remember it’s a it’s a great question uh he absolutely was and the the way that we like to do it on our team is um in the year off and then you
Know early on in the year of which where we are now leading into the September president cup is we generally have a squad of about 25 players that we involve in all Communications in team dinners and team get togethers and he was a part of those he was a part of
Those he’s somebody that I really really like uh I like his Charisma I like his attitude I like his style on the golf course I like how he doesn’t take himself too seriously uh and he plays with such amazing uh enthusiasm and freedom that
Uh he was he was 100% on on my radar and uh you know we had a turbulent time in the last couple months uh of of getting our team arranged because of players that were no longer eligible to make our team and so we lost pretty much a
Handful of players right at the end uh and I would say that you know there’s a few players minwoo being one of them Ryan Fox being another McKenzie Hughes Adam hadwin those were players that were so so so so close to getting onto team and um you know I look forward to
Those guys being on many teams in the future he he’s somebody that I honestly believe minwu I you know this and I would put him in the same category as Tom Kim uh could be a global Superstar you know they have all the pieces all the pieces they they have the experience of
Playing around the world they have an understanding of traveling around the world and understanding The Game’s impact uh in places other than just America uh and so they’ve had to uh really learn the ropes in a in a different way to the American kids who go through the college
System and uh very quickly have become fan favorites so they have that that extra that extra something the it factor that the media loves the fans love and they back it up with their game so these guys for sure have potential to be Global Superstars how could you not love
Tom Kim after the presents cup I mean how could you not right you know it’s incredible it’s incredible I uh he was he was put on my radar by a buddy of mine Claude Harmon really and yeah at the end of I need to think carefully now
I was Captain in 22 at the end of 21 uh Claude was with Dustin Johnson somewhere in Asia I believe oh okay at a golf tournament that Tom was at and they played a practice round together and Claude immediately sent me a message and
Was like you got to keep an eye on this kid he’s unbelievable what and I had never really seen much about him but all of a sudden I was like following his results every week and you know just really solid he had been a pro for a number of years
Already even though he’s so young he turned Pro when he was like 15 or crazy and uh and then lo and behold the uh at the Scottish open he jumped out and really should have won the tournament ended up finishing I’m wanted to say uh third second or third yeah and then he
Got into the open and uh I was at the open at St Andrews so I I went out and walked some holes with him in the practice round got to know him and uh he just keep playing better and better eventually gets his tour card wins it
Windom now he’s he’s played his way straight onto the Pi him anymore you the first few months I was like okay we’re going have to pick this young kid now he’s like you know one of the best players on the team Y and it was so much fun to watch
Because he came into the President’s Cup with so much confidence that he wasn’t just one of the best players wasn’t just the youngest player on the team but he also became one of the leaders in the locker room because of this uh and it and it’s you know I want to explain it
In the right way it’s not it’s not through arrogance through like you know I’m the man I just wanted Windom or what have you anything like that he became one of the leaders because he’s so much fun to be around and he is so enthusiastic everything was just so much
Fun for him that he draws people toward him you know people just want to be around this guy because he’s so positive and so upbeat and so happy that uh he was kind of like the the pi Piper on our team you know wherever he was people
Were following him and and he was getting the crowd riled up and you know he’s one of those that gets excited when the crowd was rooting against him he found that funny he found that he found that to be like man this is this is what I’ve always wanted I’ve wanted people to
Like you know be in such a big tournament that people are rooting for me and against me yeah he just loved every single little thing about it he is uh he’s somebody that I hope will be on you know following Adam Scott’s shoes and playing like 10 or 11 or 12
President cups for us yeah me and you both I mean I think you and Luke Donald both kind of got I I wouldn’t say lucky but the fact that these guys played their way on the team speaking of Tom Kim and lud V goar you know these guys
Were probably players that you were G to take a you know jump out and say you know what I’m gonna take a chance on this guy like this just I just believe in them and they just end up playing their way on the team but I have a
Nugget for you on Tom Kim he came on to our show and because we asked him I was like Hey when did like the presents cup ever like enter your mind he’s like oh man so Trevor came out and watched me at the open and I was so
Nervous I don’t know if you got that sense from him but he said when you watched him for those couple holes he said he just was like barely keeping it together oh yeah well I tell you what he didn’t show it I caught them I caught
Them on the fourth hole which as you know at the old C that’s probably one of the tougher par fours MH uh particularly on the front side and he had a beautiful t- shot down there the wind was into so he couldn’t quite get it over that big
Grassy null there but he drove it down into that tight narrow little piece of Fairway uh just left of the bunkers and so I was like oh that was pretty good and he was playing with sewu Kim who is another one of my favorites they’re good
Buddies and uh and then Tom stands up into the Breeze out of the left it was early in the morning kind of chilly and he just laces this forine onto the middle of the green and I was like oh yeah this is this is guy like this is
Everything that I was told about him and uh like I said that that personality of his is just uh it’s infectious he he’s a beauty he really is and uh just like uh being a captain of the president cup there’s just kind of one topic that I
Want to ask you about just being something that’s very involved with the format and just seeing kind of how it you know has shaped up over the years and Ernie Els was pretty adamant about just how he wanted the format changed to make it a more I wouldn’t say
Competitive because it it was a competitive president scop at Quail Hollow but what would be the the one thing that you would change to the format if there was anything at all you know I I don’t really think we need to do much tweaking at this point
Uh Nick price did a great job you know initially when I played the President’s Cup everybody played in every match uh in my first one everybody played in every match meaning like every day you had every person had to play yeah I’m I’m thinking the first one uh
We’ll have to double check this but I’m thinking that’s how it was in the first one in the second one that I played uh maybe one team set out um has it always been days the double day yeah it’s always been four days okay but only one team set out on
The double day for sure when you’ve got the morning and the afternoon uh which is the Saturday yeah and then Nick price uh did a good job of taking it to that Saturday where it was just four and then four like the Ryder Cup yeah so we got rid of a couple
Points there uh you know I and I think we’re getting close the the the events have been closely contested really since 2015 there was one point in it in Korea then um okay New York was a blowout and it was almost done on the Saturday those boys played really well too though that
Was that was maybe maybe the best American team that’s been put together they were pretty sharp that week um and uh and then the last couple have been a little closer again mhm so you know I think we’ve just got to step up to the plate and and and be better and
Get better and that’s something that Ernie and I have worked really hard on like how can we actually you know take ownership of this team and really turn this into like a legitimate sporting franchise okay Team USA is known all over the world and that name runs
Through the Olympics and all these um gold medal winning teams whether it be women’s soccer whether it in the World Cup whether it be gymnastics swimming you think of Michael Phelps you think of track and field like Team USA is a massive massive brand yeah uh you know
We are still in our infancy as the international team you could even argue that ride a cup Europe is a massive brand like people know exactly what it is they know what tournament they’re playing in they know how well they’ve played in the last 15 or 20 rder cups
And and we’re nowhere near that so we have to build this brand and we have to take advantage of the uh areas around the world that we represent I mean we represent more than a billion people around the world when you start to take into account or you know many billions
You start to take into account uh that we represent China and India and all you know all over Australia New Zealand and up into Japan and then across to South Africa and then South America and Canada we need to start getting our fans rarely involved in this and making sure that we
Still have those pipelines of all the talent from around the world that love the game of golf to funnel into this and grow up wanting to play for the international team and when you start from the Grassroots level like that you can build something that’s sustainable and really that’s the journey that we’ve
Been on since 2019 uh with Ernie carrying it on through my captaincy and now Mike and then the captains we have lined up after that so really that’s what we’re interested in uh and we’re starting to see this young Talent come through there’s a a few really great youngsters
In Japan as well right now and you know if we can keep them coming to the PGA Tour and continue to qualify for our team then um you know we we feel like we’re going to get over the hump and win one eventually yeah I think it’s kind of
Shaping up to be a very good international team this year year that you mentioned some young Japan players but I think it’s been the young Koreans that have been so good especially how well they played at the last President’s Cup and then the Aussies you got Min mu
Lee as well as a guy that’s an upand Comer Cameron Davis who I I think the world of from a talent standpoint that’s gonna continue to get better and better but man you got some you got some wildly veterans on the Aussie side and the Canadian side that are just kind of hold
The fort together because I I think of every one of those Canadian players whether it be Cory Connors Adam hadwin Nick Taylor McKenzie Hughes all those guys have been there done that you know um and whether they’re on the team or not um you expect to see a Canadian
Player or two be there to be kind of the the anchor if you will in Montreal this year yeah for sure look in all our leadership meetings and get togethers you know we we’re secretly hoping the number of these guys qualified because that that fan report will be
Second to none it really will and and that’s one of the things that that we have to work on Smiley quite honestly is we need to be able to take more control of our home matches I mean you’ll be able to speak to it better than anybody
Having been at the Ridder cup and how much of a home match it felt like for the European and when you’re okay whistling straights was weird because it was co uh and so the fan numbers were a little different but you go back to the Hazel teens and what ever Val Howers if
You go back further um the home team has such a distinct Advantage just like in any other Sport and I would say one of the things that’s been lacking in the President’s Cup during its uh couple de history is you know when we have home matches we need to be able to take
Control of that and uh really create a bit of an uncomfortable feeling for the Americans for a change you know I don’t think they’ve ever had that at a President’s Cup and uh you know we’ll be working hard to to see if we can get him to feel it a
Little bit in Canada yeah you you want to see Patrick KY and Xander schafle kind of similar to like a quarterback in the NFL throwing an interception walking off the field and they just W they just lost a hole on the 14th hole to go two down and they can’t even hear themselves
Talk that’s what you’re talking about just that that level of like it’s so loud it’s this is uncomfortable and something we haven’t felt and and it’s a challenge you know that us team it’s a it’s a like you mentioned but the Partnerships that they’ve developed over
The years is what I think makes them so tough to beat is because they’ve they’ve played together so much but also they’ve been in situations as well together where they’ve been up they’ve been down they just kind of know how to get it done in the end and that’s the challenge
That you go up against with with this American Squad yeah no doubt about that they have such a great amount of talent and yesterday we got more proof that there’s more in the pipeline and so you know that that just is what it is but we have to go ahead
And uh and take care of our business as well and like you say uh at the very least through our fan support and that goes back to uh building this franchise and starting to really get some enthusiasm and excitement from go International Golf fans around the world that want to
Travel to Montreal they want to travel to to our matches where we’re hosting and really get vocal and loud and support their players um you know we we got to be able to step up and build that brand so that the American team at the very least has to pay attention to when
They come and you developed the logo right the new one that was Ernie it was Ernie it was Ernie as as you you know the way I kind of look at it he’s he’s sort of if if you had to equate it to the European Ridder Cup team he’s kind
Of like alevi to be honest uh you know he played in a number of these was an assistant captain in number and then took over with the captaincy in Australia in 2019 and he noticed very quickly that we had no identity uh we had we had
Nothing um that were we felt like was ours that we owned that we could play for we had no logo we had no flag it was just you know some uh random drawing that didn’t mean anything to us and so he came up with The Shield logo and we
Educated international players over a two-year process of what that logo means what it stands for uh and you know that that process has has really been fun for us and you start to see by the time we rolled around to uh 22 when I was Captain you players really starting to understand understand
That having our own team colors for our uniforms things like that that might sound like kind of Airy fairy up in the air sort of stuff but when you’re in the trenches in mega intense competition like that you know those are little things that you can draw on y that can
Give you confidence and you’re seeing your buddies and you’re understanding uh what that Shield means and you understand the players that came before you that represented this team you know those are little things that uh edges if you will that really can help when you’re you’re in in tough spots facing
Adversity out there in the tournament man that’s really neat it’s getting me really excited for the President’s Cup to be honest so I kind of wish it was tomorrow but here we’re we’ll finish on some just some topical stuff here uh for this PJ tour season that I just want to
Kind of get your predictions on I mean this is the easy part because you even if you’re wrong it doesn’t matter you know and why don’t we start with just you know last year we saw the West co- swing being stars and John Ron being one of the stars that that basically said
Hey heading into Augusta you’re gonna have to come and beat me and nobody did um do you do you see that a similar uh player you know whether whether it’s dominating the West Coast or just putting a stamp on like hey I’m playing this good you’re gonna have to come find
Me at Augusta if you’re gonna come beat me yeah well look it should be Scotty Sheffer um he’s just got a he’s got to find a solution on the greens yeah he’s just got to find a solution on the greens you know you look at uh his
Putting last season he’s outside the top 160 in Strokes gained on the greens so um you know he’s statistically he’s one of the worst puts on the PGA tour yet he still won a couple times in the regular season he then won uh Tigers tournament and you just think to yourself the
Amount of times that this guy had a chance to win the tournament with nine holes to play on Sunday and he’s damn near last in ping like the ball striking is Tiger esque yeah okay it’s night and day Above the Rest M and now when you look at the
2024 season he doesn’t have to worry about ROM as a problem yeah so if he could uh just figure out a solution on the greens he’s he’s going to win handful of times in my opinion and it’s going to be interesting to watch I have faith in Phil Kenyon I think he’s a
Great instructor I’ve worked with him before I really like what he does he doesn’t try and overhaul people’s putting Strokes he tries to understand what they do what they do well what their weaknesses are and then he works with that to help you build something
That you can ear he doesn’t try and fit everybody into the same mold so I think Phil Kenyon is a great choice for Scott to work with and uh we’ll just have to see but this guy is it’s unreal so ridiculously good smiley on those Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays when
I’m out on the Range and on the golf course like I I purposefully look for okay when is this guy playing when do I think he’s going to be on the Range and I make sure that I go and watch it is it’s uh it’s an experience to watch him
Hit the ball so he’s he’s the guy that really should get it done but there’s there’s two or three uh guys that I’m really looking to to step up this year one is Xander shaffle I think it’s time I think it’s time for him you know this he’s he’s
Sort of unheralded and not spoken about a lot but when you look at his record he’s been on he’s completed Seven Seasons he’s won seven times he’s made it to the Tour Championship every single season he’s been on tour I mean look you and I I played out on
Tour that is hard to do very hard to be in the top 30 year after year after year he’s done it seven seasons in a row um he’s been close at Majors you know he doesn’t really have glaring weaknesses in his game maybe every now and then he’s a little bit
Wild off the tea but the iron game is strong the putting is top 10 yes and so like for me it’s time it’s time for him to really take that next step uh sjm I kind of put in the same category he’s completed five seasons made the Tour
Championship all five he’s only won twice this guy our nickname for him in our team is the machine the machine this guy he’s like he’s like iron Byron out there you know he’s never seen a flag he doesn’t like to shoot at he’s Mega aggressive uh same thing you know I want
To see him start to win more often I think the key for him is going to be putting he can be a little a little bit um streaky with the putting and uh at times with his iron play but he has everything that you need to you know
Also win multiple times in a season and then and then the last guy that I just have a hunch on is is is Adam Scott who I mentioned earlier uh my opinion he’s had a Hall of Fame career yeah he’s he’s one the Masters been world number one he’s
Played 10 president cups for the international team he’s won 14 times on the PGA tour he’s won 11 times on the European tour I this guy’s The Players Championship he’s done everything there is to do in the game uh he’s 43 years old and whenever I talk to him he just seems really
Motivated yeah to have another another run at the top and uh you know a lot of people when they talk about him they they talk about his putting beat or weakness but RAR you’re not paying attention if you think that he’s been uh you know absolutely in the top half of
The field in putting for about five years now I think he was in the top 20 last season so putting is is not a problem for him he still hits at a mile one of the longer hitters out there and uh if he can get something going with the iron
Play that was sort of a a bit of a surprise last season he was 143rd in Strokes gained approach and somebody with with that pretty of a swing that all of us you know are ooing over his swing all the time that that really is um it’s hard to figure out he was
Changing irons a little bit last year like he was changing equipment lles I I don’t know if there was just something that wasn’t quite right I don’t know very odd yeah you’re exactly right at times he was testing two and three different sets in the days warming up
For the event uh and and when I ask him about that he’s really just uh still not quite found something that goes through the turf the way he wants it to you know I think he’s at a point now in his career where he’s always been one of those players that has played
Blades and you know he’s maybe looking for a little bit of help in the longer stuff but uh you know he needs the soul to react properly through the turf because he’s just been a guy that’s played a tiny little blade for the most
Part in his career but if he can find a little something with on approach you know he like I say mentally he seems so motivated working hard and determined to get things going so those are like my three kind of I don’t know if they’re like dark no but those are the three
Guys that I’m really looking for something special from I had breakout uh star kind of written down that’s Su JM I said who’s going to be entering the Scotty ROM Victor Rory conversation Xander shway and uh and then player of the year I mean you kind of said it I
Mean probably Scotty that’s so all the questions that I had I mean you you just pretty much covered them all and I I’ll add to Adam Scott as a guy that’s you know a breakout candidate as well um if he if he needs help getting the club
Through the turf he can come hang out with me you know I’m pretty I’m pretty steep you know we know how to fight through it you know that’s right if you ever if you’ve ever been so Steep and and so stuck on the way down Adam and
You’re trying to figure out how to say it come on hang out with me I got you man because what we do throw that lead DFT and beat down on that thing we just we just throw those arms at it we stall and then we just we just hang on for
Your dear life my man yeah yeah for sure that’s exactly right you got you got to throw this out obviously you know we haven’t spoken about um Rory and he just got the big win in Dubai right look he’s always he’s always the guy that I I
Still to this day say that um when Rory plays his best like when he’s really you know in full flight and he gets that little bounce in his step you know that’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Tiger uh we just don’t see it as often
With Rory as we did with tiger yeah but he is uh he’s a talent of a generation and he’s he’s still playing Great Golf and you look at big story lines going into 2024 you know uh the biggest are always like um who’s going to Care complete the
Career Grand Slam next you know is it going to be Rory at austa is it going to be SP at the PGA is it going to be Mickelson at the US so and like uh you know those are cool story lines for those big weeks where uh can these guys
Get it done and join the most elite list in in our Sport and and lastly just quick question on Rory if if it were you and you had an opportunity to give some Rory some advice on like hey you know Rory comes up and says to you you know
Like I keep putting myself in position to win major championships and I’m just not getting it done is there anything that you see is there any advice that you would give him to help him get over the this hump of of not being able to really win a major championship even
Though he continues to put himself there time after time yeah it’s a it’s a great question you know if you had asked me that question four or five years ago I would have said yeah I would have told him to stop playing so aggressively uh at times when I was uh
When I watched him play major championships I just felt like he took on some shots that he didn’t really need to and it kind of reminds me of when I used to speak to Jack Nicholas about playing major championships and winning major championships uh you know a big part of
His strategy was making sure that he didn’t make unnecessary mistakes that come through bad strategy and playing too aggressively at the wrong times because he had so much confidence in his game that he knew he was at the very least as good as the rest or better than the rest and so that
Meant that he didn’t have to take unnecessary risk right you know it’s same as tiger and I felt like you know Rory’s had these great opportunities over the last DEC decade and at time just played a little too aggressively when he didn’t need to but in the last year or so particularly
In 23 I thought he he started to dial that back in fact at the US Open at Lac I thought his strategy and his choices were perfect yeah now it’s just a matter of gosh he’s got to run into a hot putter on a Sunday got to have a hot
Putter on Sunday you know you think back to the Le C up at the 150th open at St Andrews um y you know didn’t didn’t get anything going there at the old course Lac same thing had all these opportunities on Sunday couldn’t buy a putt and then add to that a poor wedge
Shot at the par five4 I think it was yep you know now it’s just a matter of okay hold that same patience and you know let’s run into a hot putter on Sunday and uh he should be able to get it done and and it’s almost
Like you get the feeling like if he can win one more he’s probably gonna win four or five more right I just think it’s just the monkey on his back right now yeah but everybody talks about it all the time and in a way he’s a little
Bit unlucky because you know we have such a long break now between the open and the Masters you know what are we going from July to April and it’s everything you know all he hears for all that time and then the month leading up to uh the Masters when he’s busy playing
Massive events in the Florida swing you know Arnold Palmer the players people are still asking him if he’s going to be able to get it done at the Masters and by the time he gets there it’s just like the whole world is on fire with whether
This guy is going to win the Green Jacket because we’ve all believed for so long that this course is built for him yeah and so it’s kind of unlucky that from the end of July till early April that’s all he’s got to hear about it must be must be quite taxing mentally
Really if you for a second had to try and put yourself into his shoes I mean Trev I think you and I could have beat him best ball last year at Augusta that’s right he didn’t he didn’t make the weekend which uh us at CBS weren’t that happy about because he’s
Such a huge draw card and you know can you imagine how there’s very few people that can move the people and move the needle like tiger uh in fact there’s nobody let’s just be quite honest yeah but uh it would be be pretty close I think if Rory
Came down the final nine at austa and have a real shot because because people all over the world they love him man they love him he is so popular well man Trev this was this was fun you know we we we covered it all we talked Clemson we talked president cu we
Talked breakout uh PGA Tour stars and we talked about the Stars so as you get ready for the farmers I’m excited to watch you guys on CBS uh I remember last year I just had Anna Carter and got to watch the entire swing on CBS and y’all
Do such a great job over there and very much looking forward to uh watching youall get the call and uh safe travels out there to the farmers but as always I appreciate I appreciate you and everything that all the advice you’ve given me over the last year in broadcasting it’s definitely really
Helped uh kind of helped my growth from a very from from point zero you know there was there was nowhere to go but up but you and Kurt were were there for me definitely to try to uh improve in broadcasting so I thank you for that and
And safe travels to you and hope we can do this again sometime yeah I appreciate that smile Kurt Byam he’s the best he uh he’s taken a lot of people under his wing including me yeah and yeah you’ve done an amazing job you’re crushing out there and uh it’s awesome toang hang out
With you guys and and talk about this awesome sport that we love so much so thanks for having me on anytime man see every buddy all right brother I’ve actually watched a couple of episodes of of of y’all earlier and uh you guys have some good takes so
Thanks for uh thanks for what you guys do it’s cool to see what you guys are doing and uh I I know golf fans appreciate it but we we do too so please keep it up I think you’re doing a tremendous job and and you know I listen
To this podcast it’s really cool and
