What It Takes to Win a Major-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Tues Feb 27

Matt Adams and Producer Dom break down what it takes to win a major champions and are joined by a Major Champion in the form of PGA Tour legend and 1989 Open Champ Mark Calcavecchia. Who will be the next 1st time major champion?

Welcome to the most listened to golf in the world the fairways of Life show on air online and around the world with the most candid interviews Unforgettable stories taking you beyond the ropes here’s your host New York Times best-selling author Matt Adams welcome into the fairways of Life show folks

Absolute Delight to have your company on this Tuesday so we’ve got a lot to go through with you today we have a major Champion coming up on the program today we want to talk about a number of different things not the least of which is what’s the mindset of a major

Champion we’re on the verge of the major season of 2024 what does it take who could it be here’s a look at the majors and the men’s side of the game of course the Masters the 8th through the 14th the PGA Championship will be at Valhalla the

US Open back at Pinehurst number two in June and then the open at Royal TR so really looking forward to getting into that so yesterday we had a huge response from all of you about the question of who will be the next firsttime major champion and after

We got done I’ll give you just an example of some of the things that came through this is a a note that came through to me this was from Norm he said just a note to pass along to Dom Sam Burns has played in 14 majors made the

Cut in just eight and his best finish is a tie for 20th not a promising look for his pick for the next guy to break through and he did a little emoji with the wink so with that Dominic with with the response that we’ve had and I don’t

Actually think Sam Burns was all that bad a pick because he’s what eighth and putting if I remember correctly where do you stand right now how Restless a night was it when you heard back from all the people uh it was brutal it was absolutely brutal and it got me thinking

About how exciting this topic is and so I got a bunch of graphics and I got a lot of thoughts and I want your thoughts and we’re going to discuss this I know we got a really an amazing guest coming up who can probably help answer some of

Our questions but for now let’s speculate Andrew put the first graphic up so I what I did is I put together a a pretty heavy duty list all right this is the first graphic we’re gonna have a second graphic with an additional eight Matt when you look at this list what do you

Think well based on what you said yesterday right the the question was yesterday if I remember correctly it was who do you think’s going to be the next firsttime winner of a major and you had Xander you had Patrick Klay and you had Max Hol then you had an other if I

Remember correctly and then then you had a write in and everyone was writing in for Victor havin at a at a high percentage it is my recollection cor correct on all of that yes it is that’s correct and so and then you and I made

Picks our own picks we we threw out some I I had not done I had not done my typical full-blown producer research so I selected Sam Burns and we put this up on the screen that Andrew and I had collected yesterday before the show and here are my thoughts about why and I

Really think he’s he’s the next guy and here here’s here’s why I think that and then I went through it all I spent some time we collected some data and today’s question of the day is Dom has changed his pick would you like to change yours so I have changed

My pick Matt and this is my new pick kidding me I’ve changed my pick here here’s here’s the new pick all right let me read just let me read what you see on the screen okay it’s bananas Tom Kim is still only 21 years old he already has 12 professional wins

Already three of those are on the PGA tour big boy stuff he won when he was on the Asian tour at only 17 he’s still inside the top 20 in the world also also last year 20123 was his first full season on the PGA tour 27 starts in his

First full season essentially at 20 years old he made 22 of 27 cuts and was 19th on tour in Strokes game total and you can see there at the bottom he’s got a little bit of Team experience additionally he had two top 10 and Majors last year tied for eighth at the

US Open tied for second at the Open Championship I changed my pick would you put Dominic back up on that split screen so I so we can go through the the reality what take place so not only are you telling us that you changed your pick I take a sip of this

When I’m not on camera and now you put me on camera right but not only are you telling us that you changed your pick but you’ve cast yourself as a victim of circumstance in terms of how you chose Sam Burns to begin with and now with a much more sober mind you’re saying

You’ve decided that it’s going to be Tom Kim yeah well that’s just my pick a but Andrew put the put the second page Sam burn is online too could you put Sam burns on with d please put the yeah there you go so here’s another collection of eight guys

We we’ve given you their age also interesting and important to note when we write professional wins that is not PGA Tour wins because a lot of these guys have won on the corn fairy tour in the case of Walkin nean he’s won on the live tour some of these guys have won on

On tours all over the world so I think a professional win is a professional win and there’s tremendous value in that and so that’s why I just listed it as professional wins and then we have obviously of course the top 10 that they’ve had in major championships and

How they’ve done in Majors now there’s a couple things I want to note Matt that I just want to point out to you that surprised me when I was going through them the first is on the page you’re looking at of the 16 guys that that I went through because the previous

Graphic and this graphic Ricky Fowler is the oldest of the group that surprised the hell out of me I thought I thought it would be Tommy Fleet I thought Tommy fleet was old I knew Maxa was in his mid-30s you know I know Terrell Hatton was old not old it’s all

Relative obviously but I did not think Ricky Fowler was the oldest also interesting to note you can see see there next to Ricky Fowler’s name he has the most top 10 in major championships out of the entire group also something that I didn’t expect that surprised me

And now Andrew go to the other one uh switch back to the other graphic on this graphic Matt first of all you can see why I picked Tom Kim right he’s got the most wins most professional wins of of every Everybody in the group he’s also the youngest of the entire group I

Thought it might be ludvig or I you know I was like yeah I feel like Victor how’s still pretty young but these guys are mostly in their mid 20s Tom Kim is 21 years old additionally with ludvig look at this zero starts in Majors yeah he’s goingon to be playing in the Masters

Coming up that will actually be his first major start it’s interesting that he’s on this list only 24 he’s number 11 on the world he’s never even played in a major but somehow we have him on this list and I think he belongs on this list as a potential major champion this year

And then so Andrew go to camera two with Matt and bring in the other graphic that I was telling you about with the uh yeah that’s the one I put this list together Matt and I’m curious what you think about this list and I think our next

Guest is going to be a great guy to answer this list there’re your qualities that’s what’s required to win a major read those off and tell me if you agree if for those on the radio side mental strength clutch Factor putting prus I know those two are very closely aligned ball

Striking Distance and recent form now the only thing the the one change that I would make would be total distance versus just distance just raw distance there are Majors like what we saw at Bryson do at wink fooot there are times that you can overcome a golf course with

Distance but it’s rare particularly in a major by the way is this conversation goes my one of my brothers my brother Bob just wrote in he said Cameron young for him than Victor so the conversation is going on in in all quarters everywhere the only thing I could say to

Cameron young was I was with Cameron young I was doing the encourse play-by-play for the world radio last year at the open and I was with him for his final 36 holes and with all due respect to to Brian Harmon who won because he did what he had to do Cameron

Young should have won that event by multiple Strokes you could make an argument it’s as high as like 10 Strokes he had so many birdie opportunities he couldn’t get the ball in the hole he was just snake bit that week so for Cameron Young for me personally I just need to

See more performance on The Greens in these crucial situations such as major championships all right but let’s go back to to Dom’s recasting of reality here and let’s talk let’s talk about Tom Kim for a second right go ahead throw that graphic you have up there Andrew

About Tom Kim and and where he stands we we heard all the pr that that Dom’s throwing in 21 years old 12 Pro wins yeah I mean I like Tom Kim I’m just what I’m saying is is this and this is what you did yesterday when when you were promoting Sam Burns

And I don’t know who you’re going to promote tomorrow because when you tell us that Tom Kim was 19th in Strokes gain putting in 2023 that’s great that was a great performance in 2023 but then you just showed us a chart you put together on current form Tom Kim current form Strokes gain

Total is 99th man there’s been like three tournaments no disrespect the tournaments all right let’s go down that road Tom Kim Century tied for 45th American Express Cut 18t Pebble Beach proam tied for 31st waste manager WM not waste management W Phoenix Open put a quarter in the jar tied for 17th Genesis

Invitational tied for 24th trending maybe Strokes gain total 99 Strokes gain off the T 96 Strokes gain putting critic IAL at Augusta National he’s 155th Dom driving distance he’s 106th driving accuracy he’s 86 so not not only is he right now short by comparison to his peers but he’s crooked

And when he gets it on the green he’s not even close to average in making a putt I Club speed he ranked your job just to trash my pick no no no what I’m waiting for is this not what this is about no no what I’m waiting for is when

Are you going to cast yourself as a victim now and go you know what I made a mistake I looked at last year’s numbers oh come on SO Resolute Tom uh Sam bur should be high on this list yes uh Ted says Kim is possible Tom Kim is possible John says

Havin needs to get his game going quick if he’s gonna grab a major this year all right SE straa is a sleeper they write Andrew is sep on this list is he on the second page yeah he’s on a second page lower left yeah put it up there Andrew

He’s 30 he’s got three wins and two major top 10 for whatever that’s worth I also have I have some honorable mentions Andrew put the honorable mentions up there um Kurt kyama the these guys didn’t make the list but they’re like just barely off the list okay Kurt kyama Amano Grio sahit

Tagala Adrien morun minwu Lee which I like that by the way I like like too and then Taylor gu and you can see there NE this is a totally separate discussion but you can see next to Taylor gu it says 449 that is his current world ranking yeah which means you got to

Straight I gotta be honest that makes no sense clearly not correct but yeah that’s got to get that’s got to get worked out too all right so let’s because the the Masters obviously is our next major and everybody’s going crazy about havin let me see where havin is I I with

Victor it’s a really small sample but I’m going to say right now currently because because the fact that the PJ tour season starts in January again Strokes gain TD green victor havin is 132nd ranked on tour Strokes gain approached the green 144 Strokes gain around the green we’re talking about the

First major to Gustin Nation I’ll note he’s 167th total driving 91st driving distance is good 47th driving accuracy is’s 140th so you know Victor I do believe that Victor havin has what it takes but right now his form is not the best so Dom kept asking me before we

Went on the air he asked me a 100 times are you going to change your pick and I said Dom here’s the way I did it yesterday you told us that you had essentially four guys cuz I went to him and said what’s your question of the day

And he said who’s going to be the next first- time winner of major right and again Xander Klay hom telling me the right in was Victor havin so I stayed away from those four because I thought that was the rules yeah but I’m the producer I make

The rules I also change the rules yes yes on the fly so I picked I picked walki Neiman and I did it because of current form his last six starts either the thirdd 30th a win fourth wins at the Australian Open fifth at the Australian PGA he’s got current

Form he’s only 25 years old right so I I I was I’m G to stay with Wen because he was my pick if if if I thought depending on Dom’s moving Target of rules that I could pick anybody I would have pck Xander Schley as to pick all to the first

One go ahead Matt yeah he’s he’s putting up this the uh the chart I mean it’s yeah it’s all good all right so here’s the thing did given this conversation given the reaction and given the public scorn that you were subject to what is today’s question of

The day where did you go uh today’s question is Dom has changed his pick for the next firsttime major winner would you like to change yours you’ve got to be kidding me and right now it’s 90% no and if you recall yesterday a majority of the people said the next major winner

Would the next first time major winner would be vikor havland right now Andrew put that list of of the qualities of what it takes to win your first major uh back up on the screen because Matt our our our next guest coming up is going to

Be able to answer this question for you all these questions will be answered for you by our next guest and I I just love I love the idea of going down the road of what does it take to get over that hump and is there value in showing up

Big time at a Ridder cup like Max hom right so max hom maybe doesn’t have 10 years of playing a major championship experience but showing up big time at a major under that at a Ryder Cup under under that Crucible is that is that what

Is that is that what it takes is that what you need to cross over all right we’ll go down that list with with our very next guest now I will say this if we’re going to talk about current form and we’re going to talk about attributes for Augusta National I’ll throw a couple

Names at you that I don’t think’s on any of the list so far recently a winner on the PGA tour Matthew pone is number three in Strokes game putting other highly ranked players in Strokes game puttying that are showing good form flashes Justin Su and Eric Cole a couple more names just to

Throw into the to the mix I’m sure this is a conversation that we can continue for some time as we March closer and closer to the first major of the year on the men’s side of the game and our next guest knows exactly what that’s all about a major Champion will be joining

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With the boy Golf Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to boing golf.com Welcome back to the fairways of live show folks pleasure to have your company Mark Calia a major Champion 29 professional wins amongst his efforts over the years 13 PGA Tour titles to his credit for PGA Tour Champions wins along the way he won the 1989 open at Royal trun four times he

Represented the United States at the Ryder Cup in 87 89 91 in 2002 he was on the 1998 United States President’s Cup team he had 762 starts on the PGA tour resulting in 27 runner-up finishes and 142 top 10s 250 PGA tor Champion starts with 51 top 10 to his credit there total

1,2 total starts in 193 top 10 for Mark calave and Cal I can see on my preview screen that’s making a smile but something tells me somewhere in your body you’re feeling every one of those starts yeah I can definitely feel it that’s for sure uh great being with you

Guys and uh uh yeah I’ve been around a while but I’m not I’m not done yet getting ready to to go out and play some more in the champions tour and uh been playing pretty good at home so let’s just see if I can bring it to bring it

To the tournaments I love it all right so in the last segment because I again I could see in in our studio here that you were hooking up and getting ready to come on with us we were talking about attributes of a major Champion so Andrew

Let’s find that graphic put that up on the screen so we can we can let Cal discuss are there particular attributes for a major Champion whether we’re talking about a particular Ma individually or whether we’re talking about attributes of a major champion at large you can see him on there take it

As you please I think it’s a combination of both uh depending on which major you’re talking about uh you know right off the bat at the Masters Brandon and I are going this year and the last name you mentioned I was waiting for it uh is

Eric Cole I I play a lot with him at Testa Country Club and we’re going to go up and watch them this year along with several other members from taquesta uh so it’ll be a lot of fun but uh he’s going to be licking his chops he hasn’t

Played it yet but when he sees that course uh he hits a high draw uh and he can sling it uh you know on holes like 10 and 13 a lot of holes you don’t need to really hook it much but two uh but uh

And His short game is is world class uh chipping Bonker game and uh he’s a fantastic putter as well so I I think he’ll do really well there but then you look at a tournament like the open uh where could be a big factor so there you

Have guys that need to play well in cold weather and rain and whatnot US Open uh you better have your driver going in the right direction so I think each major kind of uh PGA sometimes they get a lot of rough there as well uh each major you

Know I think uh brings out different parts of uh all these great players games all right uh So Cal let me let me reel back to years here for a second I want to go back to Masters final round 1988 back Sandy ly fails to birdie 13 and 15 you

Birdie 13 and you take the individual lead on the back nine in the final round at that Masters at that point do you recall what your emotions were what was going through your mind um it it was uh the conditions were pretty tough that year you know we

Weren’t shooting very low I think I was only 600 at the time and I think Sandy finished seven under when he birdied the last hole to win so it was it was a tough week uh pars were good and uh you know I was trying to get another birdie

But I figured as long as I kept making pars I’d be in pretty good shape and uh it’s kind of what happened the last four or five holes I made a couple of nice par putts on uh 16 to 17 and a from 5et and a good chip from shore of to the

Green on 18 so uh yeah you know I don’t I don’t think about Sandy L too often but every April I do uh I can tell you that uh it would have been nice to have a green jacket hanging in my closet but you know he hit one of the greatest

Shots out of that Fairway bunker on 18 and uh and major well he Masters or any major uh history really uh to to make the putt on top of it was H was something else yeah to to hit the seven iron out of that bunker and have it come

Back to the hole the way it did is is mind-blowing but but I’m interested what your mind was like at that time you were clearly one of the top players in the world you were knocking on the door everywhere all the time constantly I remember you and you and Kenny green

Kind of owned the the PGA Tour back in the in those days uh but at that point did you believe or did were you even conscious of the fact of going through the process and thinking ahead of saying my gosh I might be on the verge of winning the Masters or were you

Such a hone competitor by that time that your mind was only on what you needed to do next and thinking about like you said I need to make a birdie somewhere yeah and in 88 uh because it was only my uh my second Masters um you

Know I was like you know this will be cool to win this tournament but if I don’t and and I thought this way afterwards uh you know I’m going to have another 20 opportunities so I’ll get a Green Jacket one of these days and of course it didn’t didn’t work out that

Time but what when I did start thinking about it was I birdied the first hole in 2001 to tie for the lead on Sunday and then I started thinking about if they had a a green jacket big enough to fit me uh and and that kind of unraveled me

The rest of that day and I it was I was playing well too I was really confident and uh was sure I was going to you know have a good chance to win it coming down the stretch but uh didn’t didn’t work out uh I still had a good tournament I

Think I tied for fourth but yeah that that that year is when I really thought about uh uh slipping that green jacket on on my uh on myself it’s an age-old question isn’t it this this idea of do you want is the best player in the world seemingly of like a Jack Nicholas

Mindset that has complete and total cognitive control of the situation where he is what he needs to do or are you better to be a person that has it completely and totally turned off in your mind and everything is on autopilot where would you

Fall you know I I think when it comes to events like that it’s the guys like Jack necklace and Tiger Woods uh uh their greatness you know when you believe you can do it and you know you’re you’re better than everybody else I I think

That has a lot to do with winning Majors um you know it’s hard to it’s hard to be a first-time major winner uh in ‘ 89 when I won the open I was just uh playing well and super confident and and even then I I got a couple Super Lucky

Breaks obviously flying the chip in the hole on 12 and then uh having Wayne Grady make a few bogeys for me on on the par thres and the back nines so uh and then I was able to get it done in the playoff but a lot has to go right to to

Win a major and to be a first-time major winner especially yeah well hold that thought on the the 89 open because I want to get into it with you some detail uh when we’re talking about Jack Nicholas if if memory serves me growing up you were playing against in South

Florida you were playing against Jackie a lot am I correct on that correct uh he was one of the first kids I met when I got down to uh to North Palm Beach in the summer of 1973 we played a lot of uh junior golf together and then of course

Years of high school together uh different high schools but yeah we we played matches against each other all the time so how much was the occasions that you had to be around his father the legend Jack Nicholas important in your career what what imprint did that put on Mark

Covia oh he was you know he’s he’s my golfing Idol always has been always will be uh the way that he treated me back in the uh you know 73 all through High School uh he came to watch a lot of our match matches if he was home and uh you

Know to have Jack Nicholas uh watching you play golf and then you know when it’s done uh say super nice things to you you know I really like your game Mark blah blah blah I think you’ve got a bright future you know all these things you know he was just always always so

Nice and complimentary to me and and that you know that build by confidence a lot uh I was able to uh win quite a few junior tournaments and uh and you know have a have a a good Junior career and and uh Jack Nicholas is uh niceness and

And confidence and may had a lot to do with that very cool stuff Mark alovi is our guest we will continue our conversation on the other side of this as the fairways of Life show continues on this Tuesday relax easy now find your happy place it’s all in the

Hips just tap it in yes find the latest clubs in apparel at golf’s happy plays the PGA tour Superstore in Ireland golf is more than just a game come and experience our world famous Lynx courses and our world famous Parkland courses all set alongside world famous scenery and visit our world famous historic

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Iron that I have hit to date and they’re so easy to hit super excited for the consumer to try these they’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think I’m going to go after the PGA Tour Bo you’re going to

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Cart the decision is yours thanks to zerof friction head to zerof fr.com today Welcome back to the fairways of Life show Matt Adams here with you Andrew and Dom are behind the glass Our Guest is 1989 open Champion Mark calava Cal I got to ask you something and our our discussion board is going crazy if you

Guys want to be a part of it go to the fairways of Life YouTube channel you’re a gator aren’t you didn’t you graduate from the University of Florida well I was a little short at graduating I was on at least a fiveyear plan somewhere between five and 8 and uh

Made it made it three so uh uh I did I am a gator uh I assume you see this uh Buckeye sweatshirt I got on hey in my closet well Brenda is a buckeye I’m I’m guilty by association but luckily for me I never liked Michigan so it was wasn’t

Hard to jump on the Buckeye bandwagon oh dude you are making so many friends right now I can assure you about that hey I want to ask you about something when you see Scotty Sheffer swing and you know where I’m going with this right how much

Do you see Mark Calia in that talk to us about his golf swing and yours yep uh pretty similar really uh a lot of a lot of people forgot I had the right foot slide uh you know not as as I was never as fast you know obviously or

Hit it as far as Scotty does or swung that hard so that’s why his foot kind of keeps going you know uh and it’s it’s a lot of it’s got to do with clearing your left side really hard and then then your right foot just kind of goes back and

That’s what Scotty does so well uh but I mean I’ve literally seen him nearly fall over where his right foot ends up on the other side of his left foot you know which which mine never did or or Greg Norman for that matter he he also had

The sliding right foot but you know I don’t think anybody hits it as good as Scotty shuffler so whatever he’s doing uh is is pretty dang good do you feel like in your personal game Cal that you were fortunate in that not only did you have the solid ball striking and

Accuracy and all I have to do is look at what you did in Phoenix over the years look at look at what you did uh for example in the final round we’re going to talk about it at the open what shot 64 uh eight under that final day to to

Put you in a position to win which you did in that playoff but you possessed both the Brawn that you needed to do what you did in in your ER at the height of your prowers but you also had touch with that putter right and and you know my short

Game uh and my ability to hit flop shots and uh you know uh shortsighted chip shots bunker shots whatever I think that had a lot to do with me being so aggressive and being able to fire up flags that a lot of guys didn’t because I wasn’t afraid to to shorts side myself

Whether be just left of the green or just right of the green or whatever uh and I I I was confident I could get it up and down so that really enabled me to mentally just say what the heck I’m going right at this flag when when a lot

Of guys wouldn’t have so uh yeah I think my short game in my Prime was uh in a times is still really good it’s it’s streaky now it’s it’s always been a little streaky it’s it’s more streaky now but uh when I was playing my best

Golf in the late 80s and early 90s uh I could get it up and down from anywhere but you were continuing to be a part of the mix you talk about it yourself in the early 2000s uh at the Masters just as one example and being able to win

Events what was it about do you think your game that that allowed you to have such longevity you know I never got that far off I I was lucky enough to in the early well 1984 start working with Peter cus uh and back then before metal woods you

Know everybody hit a hook uh and I I could hit it plenty of far plenty far so that’s when we decided to kind of get me to hit a fade and and get a a metal wood with 7 degrees Loft and a really stiff shaft that was virtually impossible to

Hook you could pull it but you couldn’t really hook it and keep it in the air so I think from that point on uh you know 10 years working with Peter and uh and also working with Butch Haron for for 10 or 12 years you know it was just easy to

Uh not not get that far off with their help uh and I think that’s you know TD green uh I was never lost so to speak and I I think that’s kind of what really uh enabled me to keep playing fairly consistently well uh for several years

In a row what about putter loyalty did you stick with the same blade or did you switch around I used the Ping answer most of my most of my career uh you know or an answer to was what I used in Phoenix when I shot 28 under uh you know and

Then from that point on I kind of started switching around a lot uh and I was telling uh Eric Cole this the other day in Pro AMS on Wednesdays I never used my gamer uh I used another putter because I didn’t want to waste making a

Bunch of putts in the proam if that makes any sense so or if I if I got like five or six or seven under in the proam I’d tell my cad I’m going to hit one on the water here I’m going to I’m going to make you know below this first putt 20

Feet by or something and uh make a few Bogies so I didn’t shoot too low in the prams but uh uh all us golfers are crazy you know we get to thinking like that we uh uh you don’t want you don’t want to go too low in the pram or make too many

Putts on Wednesday and save them up for the tournament all right so it’s got to be a shrine somewhere where do you have the putter Oh Yeah from Royal trune what wall is that up on well here’s a tragic story for you uh I do not have that putter uh I have

Every other putter that i w a tournament with uh on a club rack uh and back uh in the early 90s I guess it was uh my first wife I had two bags of clubs my my or Putters my good ones and my kind of donated ones or giveaway for uh uh you

Know for auctions or Charities or whatever and she says uh somebody wants a putter whatever I said okay fine you you know go to the the bag with the crappy Putters in it and she went to the wrong bag and the one that she picked

Out had a weld mark on the bottom of it and that’s the putter I won the open with it was a a ping an uh but it had a weld mark on the bottom so anybody’s listening to this and they got an old ping answer with a weld mark on the

Bottom of it can I have it back please oh my gosh yeah yeah so off it went and ien somebody wanted like a charity charity event like uh we got this used put you guys exactly yeah yeah no idea that it’s it won the open at at Royal

Train in ‘ 89 and I did note just not to be cruel but I noted that you said it was my first wife so now we understand what happened right yeah things weren’t so good after that the 1989 open at Royal trune before we get into the details I

Just want to ask you about Royal trun itself the character of the golf course the philosophy that one had has to have when you’re playing it what are your thoughts about Royal trun well when I first got there uh the weather was beautiful all week it was

70° uh probably not more than a 15 mph wind and uh my first practice round was uh marera and I took on Curtis Strange and Arnold Palmer so my first look at Royal trun was playing with those three guys and AR you know the king Arie so

And I made a pot in the last hole in the practice round take like 50 pounds off of them and he was uh Ernie didn’t like to lose no matter what it was so uh but that was my first look at Royal TR and I

Knew I loved it I think I played nine Tuesday nine Wednesday and I was ready to go and uh again it was it was a perfect week of weather so it wasn’t like uh you know we we all had to battle super tough conditions but still the

Scores you know we only the playoff was at 13 under uh it wasn’t super duper low so uh you know the golf course held up and uh just I just it’s rare you find a course where you you really like like every single hole in the course and I do at Royal TR

You went crazy in that final round uh an 8 under 64 which was I believe it was the course record if memory serves me no that sorry that was Norman that went crazy he buried the first six holes correct uh I shot 71 68 68 68

So yeah and then in the playoff Norman bird the first two holes again and I was like man you know this guy’s making uh he’s 10 under through 20 holes than for correcting me did you know though problem Cal did you know that it was going to be a Four Hole

Aggregate playoff at that point or where was your mind because this was the first one did you were you aware at that time I had no idea because you know at the start of the week you’re not worried about what what the playoff hole is

Going to be uh you know once uh right up until Wayne Grady didn’t birdie 18 he had a little chip from the back of the green and made par uh and then I asked the RNA official I said I assume we’re going back to 18 I had no idea he says

No we’re going to one and one’s the easiest hole in the course it’s a it’s a driver and a 60- yard little lwed shot with just a couple little bunkers out there and I said well that’s a strange hole for a sudden death playoff he says

No we’re playing 1 2 17 18 so I said oh thank God uh and it just it was a relief uh because anything can happen in sudden death on on one hole so I thought oh this is great I got four holes to you know do something and hopefully come out

On top and that’s kind of the way it worked out all right so you correct me that that Greg Norman goes crazy in that final round and then you noted that in the first two holes of the playoff he went birdie birdie there’s only four

Holes so if I may take us through what happened with you and with with Wayne and with Greg and those four holes all right well uh Greg birdied the first hole from about 10 feet Wayne and I par the second hole I kind of thin to nine iron because you know the fairways

Were were dead uh it was really hard to hit it super solid to the back Edge about 30 feet past the hole I don’t remember what Wayne did but I know he made par and then Greg hit it in there about 12 feet again uh but I puted first

And made my 30-footer and then uh and then Greg poured his 12-footer in so he was you know that’s what I’m thinking is he going to birdie every hole on me out here or what uh so he was two under I was one under and Wayne Grady was even

So then we go over to 17 long par three and Greg steps up and just roasts this three iron uh beautiful shot uh right in the middle of the green but it went just over I hit a three iron on the green and when Grady hit it in the bunker now

Here’s where uh what I couldn’t believe my eyes at uh Greg was literally 5et over the green but it was there was no grass there but there was one weed in front of about a foot in front of him dead dead in his line but it was a tall skinny weed and and

You know I I think he pulled out a seven iron and I whacked my caddy on the shoulders I Saidi can you believe he’s chipping this you know I would have putted it every single day of my life I would have putted it from there and he

Chipped it about 10 feet by Wayne had a super hard bunker shot hit it 20 feet by I hit my 30-footer tap in uh Wayne missed and and Greg missed so now we’re both one under and Wayne’s won over and uh so on 18 in regulation I I hit a

Really good drive not my all-time best and I was only about four yards short of that bunker called the coffin bunker and uh uh and then Greg got up and just blistered one and I I was watching I was on the left side of the tea and I was

Watching it and I thought to myself if this kicks a little right it was a solid fade right down the middle if this kicks a little right it might catch the corner of that bunker and it kick right and he was already 20 yards off the te and it

Kept rolling and rolling and rolling and back then my eyes were good and I saw it catch the corner of that little bunker and I’m like oh that’s dead he’s going to have to chip out uh and then uh you know I I hit a bad drive

Because I was afraid to hit it that bunker so I kind of hit this fan drive out to the right 2011 yards from the hole but it had a good line in the rough and and just hit the five iron of my life uh it looked like it was about 3

Feet from back there but it was about 7 feet short and that’s when Greg decided he needed to try to do something heroic and uh get it out of that bunker as far up there as he could and then he hit it in the cross bunker and then he hit that

One in the clubhouse and uh that that was essentially it so at that point uh I knew I could three poot from seven feet and win the open but my only thought and I’ve never had this thought before that or since uh don’t double hit it if if

You watch the replay I kind of short stroked it and recoiled a little bit it barely got to the front edge and fell in and uh again my wacky brain comes up with these things but uh yeah that was it and then uh you know the next thing I

Don’t even remember what I said in the speech uh no recollection of that the next thing I really remember was uh riding back to the the the hotel in air uh it was called the British Caledonian with the with the cleric jug in my lap

And my caddy sitting next to me and we just started laughing and said what what the heck what the heck just happened and uh that was it amazing when did the re re realization of what just happed happen settle in how how did winning a major championship or did it change Mark alovia

Um well the next morning I of course I was in coach back there holding The claric Jug and the and the captain came came back to me and congratulated me says we can’t have our open Champion sitting back here and Coach so so that was the first perk he brought me up to

First class uh so that that was fun but uh you know just uh it was a great couple weeks uh in my life went went back to Phoenix which is where I was living at the time and uh uh uh my wife was due with the uh we

Didn’t know she was a girl we didn’t know but she was a girl and uh and she was born two weeks late so she was born Tuesday at the PGA that was at camper Lakes so uh we uh we named her Britney Brett for short and uh you know that’s

Uh that’s that’s how she got her name uh from from me went in the open that was pretty Co cool it is so cool Cal it is great catching up with you thank you very very much for giving us as much time as you did today and and sharing

Some of these memories and talking about major Champions uh you mentioned at the start that you’re going to get out there and play some when can we expect to see you next next week in Tucson I’m going to play the next uh our next three tournaments are out west uh we play at

Lalom a new course in Tucson which I played and I like uh then a week off uh so we go out to Phoenix and we’re going to we’re going to drive our bus out there actually so we’re we’re kind of packing up this week and uh getting

Ready to hit the road uh out west we’ll take four days to get out to Tucson and then hang uh with my daughter and son-in-law and my new grandbaby out in Phoenix for a week congrats uh and then the next tournament’s in uh Newport Beach California and the one after

That’s in Palm Springs uh so great looking forward it’ll be a nice little West Coast Swing and uh then we’ll we we’ll drive on back East that’s awesome man we’re very much looking forward to seeing you out there again again thank you for your time we wish you the best

You got it Matt anytime thanks for having me pleasure all right folks more the fairways of Life show coming up right after this and before we wrap up today I definitely want to check back in with dom and see what the thoughts of all of you are in terms of the question

Of the day and more stay with us I guess hello world huh and with one subtle hello tiger began an amazing and Unthinkable career [Applause] I’ve done it for 20 years now with with bridgstone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens and it’s allowed me to win a Lot

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Club it won a major and he said it had a weld mark on the soul so if you won a putter a ping answer putter back in the day I don’t know when but sometime in the last what 35 years and it has a weld mark on the Soul

At least send a photo of it off to Cal or send it to us and we’ll send it to him if you want we’ll figure out if we can make this mystery come back together again is that amazing he gave away his putter incredible all right Dom so what

Are you hearing right now tell remind everybody what the question of the day was how we got to it where we stand I I just can’t stop thinking about some hacker who’s got no appreciation just wielding that Putter and the local part three just smashing into the green getting all upset how bad

He is using C that’s terrible he probably isn’t even using it anymore it’s probably in a bin someplace he’s like yeah that thing’s no good can’t do anything with it broken can’t do anything with it that’s right uh Dom has changed his pick for the next firsttime

Major winner would you like to change yours no 90% say the people oh so state 90% right Andrew put some of the graphics up put up group of eight how did you like that the first thing that Mark Calia says is yeah Eric Cole is a

Really good pick he didn’t even call it a sleeper pick he was just like yeah that’s a really good pick right there so some of the stuff coming in I forgot about Aber auberg I always say it wrong how do you say it you you seem to

Know how to say it auberg Auber well that’s because Daniel Chopra who’s Swedish I can’t say it the way he says it but but ludig told everybody because the pronunciations were just brutal he just said just call at me o Berg but but Daniel told me that it the the correct

ER way there’s a word for you correct ER corrector the correct ER way is to say alberg so it’s like almost like an au allberg so alberg I forgot alberg Michael says he’ll win one before too long after watching burns on day one at the Ridder cup I’m not so sure about that

Havland isn’t playing strong right now these are folks commenting on on the our topic which you can see right there that we’ve been talking about we only have about two minutes left uh I would love to zalatoris has best Majors form over the last few years but he has been

Struggling with that injury and remember he sort of changed his putting style although he has he’s kind of playing again which is great must be du they say uh Neiman someone writes in Neiman there’s a lot of people talking about havland here so with about 90 seconds

Left Matt I Andrew can you put up the uh what it takes to win a major graphic um the little floater that we had so what I took away from Cal and I know we only have about a minute left but what I took away from Cal when I looked at that is

It seemed to me that he was he was kind of intimating that that first thing on that list mental strength is the just full stop separator in major championships so with only a minute left Matt I would ask of you of the names that we went through yeah do you think

You could identify who you believe has the the best mental strength of the group all right so pull up the first graphic if you would Andrew we’ll go we’ll go graphic one graphic two in the seconds we have left and Dom and my earpiece you keep me honest on the time

I I on on this page in terms of mental strength I like Victor havin I like Max hom I’d like lude big but he’s young uh Terell Hatton can can come from behind page two again I like Sam Burns because he’s he’s doing great in putting outside of

That I’m going to go zalot Taurus but if I’m going to go dark horses I’m going to say seiw Kim and Eric Cole going into the first major plenty of time to keep this conversation going folks again thank you for your company today it was awesome we’ll be back again tomorrow

Till then bye for now wa