No recap pod this weekend as we’re all on the road after our Nest Invitational Tournament in Frisco, Texas. Instead, we bring you another calendar year majors deep dive with Soly and KVV as we turn the clock back to 1996. We start, of course, with the dramatic Sunday in Augusta as Greg Norman falters and Nick Faldo claims his third Masters.
Then it’s on to Oakland Hills (49:00) for Steve Jones’s unlikely triumph at the U.S.st Open, Tom Lehman’s lone major win in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes (1:27:25), and we wrap with the PGA Championship at Valhalla (1:29:55) where Mark Brooks beats local favorite Kenny Perry in a playoff.
Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the no laying up Podcast Su here I of course joined by our guy Mr Kevin Van volberg here to what what are we here to do today Kevin I mean it’s people have already clicked on the podcast episode they see the title but tell us what
We’re about to do 1996 the year I graduated from high school we are ready to throw it back would you consider yourself to be a you know were you a golf fan in 1996 uh I would say only Mar I certainly was aware of it uh my
Parents were watching it but it was not like appointment television for me I have some recollection of uh certainly of the Masters this year is hard to culturally Escape but I was trying to think about my other uh one with the Open Championship which I’ve drawn here
And I have very vague recollection of it maybe one shot that I could sort of when I I watched a little bit of the replay today I thought oh I think I remember watching that live so that’s one more than I remember from the 1996 Open Championship if you’re uh if you’re new
To these episodes we’ve done a few of these years in the past I don’t remember all the ones we’ve done I know we skipped 1994 I think it was but most recently did 1995 uh try to get to one one of these a quarter I think just to
Kind of they’re always fun to go look back and uh watch old film watch old tape read old storylines big fun I had in this go around was reading some of the writing and just like the the tropes that were used in the 1990s to describe Sports made me laugh really really hard
We um we didn’t arm wrestle for this one but 1996 has a very clear winner for which one was the most interesting major and uh being the benevolent person that I am I I decided to I decided to gift you with the 1996 Masters I think but
Before we get there I want to play a little game with you if you will oh love you’re gonna go to the world rankings to start 1996 and uh I am going to we’re going to go one by one I’m going to ask you whether or not you think this person
Would have gone to live if it existed in 1996 yes love this game already do the top 20 okay first one okay could not be easier absolute alleyoop 360 windmill dunk do I even need to say the name and do you have your answer Gregory Norman
Uh would would 1 million per have gone to live pretty hard to argue any other uh scenario in which he would have uh was in fact essentially trying to create a live was looking around passing his corn cob hat for hopefully for money to
Go start a new tour at this point but uh I was you know what I’ll say this before we move on to him number one player in the world was a little bit surprised to read that he was 41 years old maybe just feels like a way that the game has
Evolved a little bit that like he was still seen as like the dominant force and was 41 like can you imagine right now the number one player by far away being 41 years old not unless it was Tiger like and he’s a way past that
Already now so well that’s a one of the most fun I don’t know things I’ve I’ve learned throughout this process or enjoyed throughout going back through these old Majors is just like hey we remember who won and if you had like a choke job we remember probably the choke
Job but seeing the constants right the ones that were there for like a lot of them that we have no memories of blah blah blah at this major but of course Norman was there no memories of Norman at this major but of course he was there
He was there at this he was just there so much in this period that we’ve dove into and I I a lot of a lot of different names pop up in a lot of these that we’re going to get to that uh it’s a constant theme throughout the 90s that
You know you don’t really remember 25 years later almost but uh the rest of the list is actually kind of hard I I I don’t think I know these personalities enough to get there but uh Nick price is he going to live or not um I think yes uh Norman’s closest
Buddy on tour at the time uh obviously showed some you know willingness to sort of I mean he’s from South Africa or from Zimbabwe but like played in South Africa during the whole apartheid stuff so I would say yes uh not he would probably one of the live dudes who was basically
Like yeah mate like I’m playing but I’m not gonna like talk I’m not gonna like you know Screw over the you know uh European tour or the the PJ tour or badmouth and whatever I’m just gonna go and make my money and I’m good so uh Ernie
Els um it’s hard to do this because uh obviously these dudes have aged since 1996 and yeah so many dudes that did end up in the first wave with Liv were the guys in their 40s and I picture these guys as being in their 40s but we’re talking when you’re number two number
Three in the world Ernie El’s is three years off winning the US Open two years off winning the US Open uh in 94 um I’m gonna say no like I just don’t I think he’s I’m gonna say no I think I agree with that I think I agree with that I
Think it’s interesting though it’s also because what’s hard to parse is Ernie’s probably at this point is not playing on the PGA tour a lot right like he’s probably playing mostly in Europe still uh coming over for the majors but it’s not like he’s you know he may come over
For Dural or may come over for the memorial or something like that but his life isn’t entirely on the PJ tour so maybe he could be sort of seen as like it doesn’t make that much difference to me uh yeah I would say that’s a 50-50
Tossup for me and I don’t I I’d say this in mostly don’t want to like if I say yes doesn’t necessarily mean I’m like [ __ ] on that person and like saying something about their character but uh with the vells I’ll just say uh you know
Up in the air okay we gotta move a little quicker through these Bernard longer staying or going uh going I think he’s staying I think he’s playing European tour he was so he was so Ridder cup Centric again and and there’s a lot stronger European Tor ties
With a lot of these Europeans at this time that I I think he’s staying uh Cory if you had to if you lose the chance to play in the rider cup at this point you’d probably leaning whatever Cory paven I think he’s I think he’s staying
Monty I think he’s staying I think he’s staying too I think he’s so oh I don’t understand what this live thing is absolutely abominable wonderful idea I I’ve known a lot of Saudis of lovely people uh Nick falo I think he’s staying I think he probably stays yeah
He wants to be involved in the rider cup stuff and he’s he’s got his girlfriend in Arizona at this point he doesn’t want to you know drag her around to the Middle East moving on Fred Couples uh he does not go he stay he’s jumbo Ozaki sure I mean he’s just
Manipulating from Japanese tour but uh Steve elington see you yeah he’s gone he’s in fact he’s probably one of the people talking a bunch of [ __ ] like he’s like you know why why don’t you go M it’s all it’s all gold cat Perez of this
Era I think with a much better resume of course but yes uh Tom Layman Lauren Roberts uh I don’t think either one are I don’t think so either Jose Maria um I think so I did make an argument in the mailbag recently that sevie would have gone to live uh which I
Didn’t think about the Ryder Cup when I made that argument but I just sort of felt like sevie was constantly pissed off at the European tour so I think if sevie goes then Jose Maria goes and they’re it depends on sevie then and which in ’96 that might have been when when did
Sevie die 2011 he uh so 96 his game was kind of gone by then do I remember right that could be a little early in that timeline but he’s not he’s not been a and all these Majors we’ve dove in on he’s not been a part of but if that’s
The case he definitely would have gone and I don’t know if SE if if Jose Maria would have gone with him but yeah um Sam Torrance I’m saying no um Ryder Cup captain C was ping short I mean same with Stenson but uh anyways let’s let’s
Get into let’s get into the majors now at this point but it’s a fun it’s a fun experiment I don’t know again I I don’t know these guys well enough to uh to to guess but it’s fun to guess on but we should play this game again in like five years
We those guys did end up going but all right take us to the 1996 Masters what happened there the 1996 Masters so as we um talked about Greg Norman the number one player in the world uh has been the number one player in the world for a
Long long ass time at this point uh still like the straw that stir the drink in a lot of uh major conversations uh everybody sort of thinks like he’s destined to win a masters uh which as we’ve learned over history like no one is destined to win a masters that uh I
Always think of when like when tiger said this year oh Rory’s gonna win a bunch of these like ah I don’t I don’t know that that works like that you know just because your game uh suits the Masters does not necessarily mean that uh it’s GNA work out for you it haunts
Certain players over time uh but he’s still the big-time favorite everybody sort of assumes weirdly though as I found uh Greg Norman coming into this Masters misses two cuts in a row for the first time do you know how many other times that happened in his PJ tour
Career prior to that point uh one it had never happened you just I think you just said for the first time actually okay sorry you didn’t notice you said it neither did I but yes all right so Norman had never missed two cuts in a row prior to I thought it
Was a trick question I was like wait a second yeah that’s definitely me pulling some tricks on you there uh so you know that’s kind of an interesting maybe a hint that uh his game was not actually like uh in the best of shape um in that
In fact the Wednesday of the Masters that year uh Norman woke up and his back hurt so much that he could not even really swing a club and he didn’t know what to do like wasn’t sure really and Fred Couples heard kind of like from a
Friend on the Range or whatever hey man I heard your back is hurting a little bit I’m gonna send my back specialist over there and I’m gonna get you fixed up just right and so that was a big sort of uh you know I guess gift in some ways
That that uh you know Freddy for years had trouble with his back yeah honestly tell you hear a lot of guys having back trouble in this era not sure like they were restrict in that hip turn what’s going on they needed to lift the left
Heel a little bit but a lot of back injuries in this air probably because they weren’t doing any they weren’t athletes back then yeah they were just kind of mosing through so when uh Norman harder to rotate through when you had those metal spikes that were stuck in the ground who
Knows so when Norman uh famously opens with a ties the course record uh with a 63 Fred couple’s fiance uh says to him and to the Press well you sure picked a great time to you know help out Greg Norman man because uh you know Freddy
Was also like the the second favorite in this one which is interesting right to like run over to like help a competitor that much on the day before the Masters like it’s uh I’m not say we’ll get to we had an incident like that in Oakland
Hills as well which we’ll get to but that’s it’s just interesting I’m not saying it’s right or wrong it’s just kind of speaks to how Golf Works it’s a traveling kind of friendship Circus Circle whatever but that just very interesting yeah so I’m actually a little bit sad
That we can’t play our usual game here of I name the person uh and you have to come up with their last name because it’s only big hitters really on the the leaderboard the first day there’s literally no one except for one person who I can name that I don’t think that
You could get their name and I’m gonna I’m throw it out there english golfer I think you might even know it anyways David is that ring that’s right you may have remember him from your Ridder cup pod about the war on the shore who uh he played play
On a couple Rider Cup teams and actually went two and0 in that war on the shore Rider cup uh six-time Euro tour winner he opens uh with a 66 but uh so Greg Norman obviously is the our first round leader uh just tears up the course
Everybody’s like oh my God this this is the the year Greg’s gonna do it he’s he’s amazing uh Phil Mickelson opens with a 65 as well really Phils like first like uh I’m G to sort of storm into contention and one these Masters moment he’s got to be close to winning a
Major at this point right he’s got to be so got be man there’s yeah it’ll be it’ll be any day now uh couple notes before we just sort of get into the main event here uh Tom Watson five putts the 16th green on on Thursday not sure how
That’s possible yeah just a tough one uh Ray Ray Floyd uh makes a hole in one at the Masters on 16 with a five iron love that uh kind of why we’re covering this era as well a little different ball game roll back the ball uh our man Tiger
Woods just about to turn professional later this year shoots an opening round 75 and follows it up with another 75 uh he insists he is not going to turn professional uh in fact he points out that he has an economics paper due uh on Wednesday that he needs to get working
On at Stanford so he’s not all that bummed he says my plans have not changed I went to college to get an education that’s the most important uh Earl says that if tiger does ever turn pro that people can blame the NCAA for their prying ways because uh earlier in the
Week Arnold Palmer had bought tiger dinner and tiger had to mail Arie a $25 check because otherwise it would be deemed an improper benefit and he might lose his eligibility at Standford sounds like tiger could have written an economics class about one about that in the nil and two about the effect he’s
About to have a professional golf yes uh tiger here says uh I love this quote uh I got this from the Chicago Tribune uh everybody sees the millions of dollars out there that I’m supposed to be turning my back on but what happens if I
Go pro and I don’t do well I’ll have no place to play what am I gon to do go to Asia this is the problem this is not the Tiger Wood’s voice of 96 he’s like a lot higher pitched at this time I know know we’re we’re kind of one trick ponies
With the tiger voice though I don’t have the tiger 96 voice handy he was a lot more loquacious back then just a lot more like curious a lot more like excited to talk he’s not beaten down by talking to Media yet this is true and very much like a a soft
We’ve talked about this before sort of a soft L kind of more of the Michael Jackson molds uh so uh I I’ve done that tiger in the past on our pods uh it’s you know a little bit nervous about bringing it out again without practicing um anyway Norman so Norman follows it up
Uh on the next day shoots 69 uh feels like oh my gosh things are going great uh four shot lead uh the next day uh hanging around Nick Faldo uh in second Nick Faldo s went 6967 uh some other names sort of of relevance to this era David
Frost and Phil Mickelson then follows up his first round 65 of the 73 also kind of hovering on the leaderboard Lee Jansen Bob TW Scott hul Scott McCarron VJ making an appearance he’ll show up later in the Open Championship and then Cory paven and Ian wam so pretty much
Like a a memorable cast mive hitters like nothing right there yeah so nothing too great uh just one another note I forgot to mention on tiger uh once again led the field in driving distance it’s remarkable how long tiger was back then like honestly longer than he was in his
Prime uh averaging 342 off the te Jes was hitting it people were giving Don John Daly [ __ ] because tiger was hitting at 340 yards past John A B too this is yes yes could not control it uh was hitting it all over and especially had distance problems with his irons and
Stuff but like if you watch those clips of him like the way that he his hips move so [ __ ] fast like it’s unbelievable how quickly he can sort of get through to the ball uh so weirdly just another couple like goofy notes uh I don’t know if you remember this but
Ray Creek used to be like a river like it used to be like raised all the way up so basically like any ball that landed short was was getting sunk into the river and like carried away this was the first year that they drained it down to
Be like a creek uh and guys were actually playing like out of uh the creek and making uh you know getting up and down making birdies Michael Campbell was sort of the first guy to sort of do this that year uh hit at 600 in the hazard and was able to basically was
Like half submerged and he blasted to 10 feet and made a putt which I just thought was kind of an interesting historical thing of like you know the Masters is constantly changing uh and um I always thought that was just the rain like I remember going back and watching
Highlights based you know I I never really thought about when they actually uh drained it and turned it into that yeah nothing apparently August is based on the elements they control all of it so that tree falling down did they test the trees in 1996 oh they hav’t planted them yet that
Came shortly after this that’s true uh hopefully they’ll get to testing the trees because we know how important that is uh so all right round three Norman kind of starts to show some signs of like he’s kind of hitting it all over the place like cannot really find the
Fairway uh just kind of missing all but his short game that sort of Saturday was unbelievable scrapes it together shoots a 71 puts him at 13 under looks like you know he’s gonna sort of be paired with Phil Mickelson but Nick FDO birdies the 18th hole of that day sneaks into the
Final pairing uh and you know it’s starting to wonder like everybody’s still thinking Greg’s got this no big deal uh but falo gives a really good sort of ominous quote which I will find in just a second where he essentially says uh having trouble find but he says
Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow uh he’s you know I could someone could go out I could go out and shoot 67 it’s a lot of pressure oh here it is if I put some heat on him who knows what will happen the 65 on Sunday
Hey who knows this is a pressure field Golf Course course it is far from over uh the Press at the time doesn’t really uh take this heed they think man like this is over like we’re good apparently all the Australian writers were like writing their Norman wind stories uh in
Fact I pulled a fun sort of headline from I think the uh I think it was the Atlanta Journal Constitution although it’s the were using a story from the Charlotte Observer it says today’s round is just a formality Norman’s got it and the and the the head the lead of the
Story by Ron green Great Golf writer this is not a shot at Ron probably would have written the same thing in fact did write the same thing about Justin Thomas once uh Greg Norman won the Masters on Saturday and then this backup the second line was now if he can only keep from
Losing it uh don’t worry he won’t lose it not this time surely not this time I think that’s kind of like I think that’s kind of tongue and cheek a little bit of he’s won it he could lose it but like surely it won’t happen this time I I
Don’t read that as a as a historically bad call there that’s kind of like a I mean come on he has to win it this time right right I don’t know who was the writer that that hit um hit maybe you’re about to get to this
That hit Norman with the uh the quote and the I don’t want to ruin it if you’ve got it yeah so is Norman is leaving the course Saturday night he does a press his press thing he’s walking through the bar at Augusta and there’s a British writer who he’s known
For many years Peter der bringer I believe it’s the name uh he says uh well Greg old boy not even you can [ __ ] this up Norman says at this point like years later he says now why did he say that like why did you know why did you have
To sort of put that thought in my mind and starts to actually like let it perhaps like affect him a little bit uh I mean look there’s a reason that Greg Norman didn’t win like Ted majors and these are sort of you know those kind of things in fact another sort of person
Norman was sitting in the locker room uh Saturday night he was the last guy in there one of his friends came by and said oh you’re last night in here right and Norman sort of chuckled and said oh I hope so and the locker room attendant thought that everyone had gone and like
Shut the lights off and Norman was sitting there all alone in the dark uh with his thoughts I never heard that one so yeah uh there’s a couple things in here that I had not uh remembered or heard previously that were are very quite interesting um we’ll get to them
In just SEC uh just for some context like what this kind of meant culturally like Dan Patrick sort of famously said on Sports Center if if Norman blows this it’ll be the biggest collapse of golf it’ll be the biggest collapse in modern golf history so it’s like the sort of
Even though like everyone kind of thought that Norman was gonna get this done it was sort of hovering in the air uh so our friend our dear friend Peter costus uh actually uh has an interesting tidbit here is Peter said throughout that week that he was watching Norman on
The Range and he saw that Norman had been sort of experimenting with a stronger grip uh all week sort of in earlier in the week and that’s part of the reason why he played so great in the uh first round is that he was just like
Taking the sort of you know right side out of the course like everything was you know hitting hitting it TR or hitting a fade or whatever and slowly over the course of the week uh his grip got a little bit weaker a little bit weaker each day and he started playing
Progressively worse and kasus was like walking uh like around Saturday night sort of the this all this kind of stuff’s going on and he sees Brian Hammond from the Golf Channel and they’re sort of chatting or whatever and and BR sensor says oh it’s you know this
Thing’s over right and Kasa says well you know I don’t know like I think actually like you know this grip thing could sort of rear its head like he didn’t play very well today could be an issue tomorrow who knows whatever so Hammond goes on the Golf Channel that
Night and just basically is like OHA Peter pet is not over I just to Peter cus and this could be like a big disaster tomorrow funnier though is that Norman calls Frank chanian they played it on the local Augusta affiliate that uh next morning I think that that clip
They they played it on local TV in Augusta that morning and so Norman is watching this on local TV whatever and and the day of the Sunday of the masters with a six shot lead calls up Frank Chen and the CBS famous CBS producer and just Reams into him and basically says like
You know you’re guys is it’s [ __ ] like how dare you blah blah blah so not exactly like a great heads space uh that Norman is in this morning this is an interesting tidbit that I had never read uh but as I sort of doing research this
Sam Wyman of the Golf Digest um I think he’s one of the sort of top editors over there now uh he talked to Norman years later for a book about like how do people deal with losing adversity and the 96 Masters is a big part of it and Norman admitted to
That he was dealing with a personal issue that morning uh that was sort of consuming his head and he was has never admitted what it was Wyman sort of alluded to you know the fact that he’d been married three times it’s hard to know like if I I was unclear if that was
Sort of Illusion like maybe D’s wife had some sort of argument or whatever but Norman talked about this later uh and and Butch Harmon was like what the [ __ ] is wrong with you on the Range he was just like all out of sorts uh uh and
Harmon said years later to to Wyman I’ve always said one night he and I were going to get drunk somewhere and I was going to say okay what the [ __ ] happened on Sunday he’s never told anybody he’s never told Tommy Navaro his caddy what it was uh we knew something was wrong we
Were both standing by or saying standing thereby saying who is this guy this is not the guy that we left last night uh and Norman said he told Wyman this the day could have been salvaged if he’d been honest with Harmon and Navaro about what was really going on but he never
Did and by the time he missed his first Fairway and route to an opening bogey there was no turning back I should have told them both and just purged Norman said it would have taken like 10 minutes it would have been over with but I
Didn’t do it so the lesson here is don’t Harbor things internally don’t push the elephant under the rug anxiety and happiness both come from within so you have to ask which one do you prefer wow which yeah like I I mean I I the only thing I can remember or think of and
This might be totally separate from what he’s talking about was there was some something happened between Saturday and Sunday of someone or friends or whatnot coming in town like taking his his plane got sent back home to bring people up to celebrate on Sunday or something like
That against his will um I his his wife at the time I guess had had organized that something along those lines is the only thing I’m thinking of but I I’m that doesn’t sound right if it’s if it’s really still a secret to this day yeah it’s weird I mean I just you
Know who knows I mean obviously like Norman’s had a lot of you know drama in his personal life uh and uh it’s hard to you know speculate like too much uh about what it was but I honestly like I know we’ve we’ve kind of made our jokes
About Norman and he has treated people you know poorly I think in a lot of things life but you just like you read this kind of stuff and you can’t help but feel a little bit you know sympathy for him because I mean he honestly he handles what happens with such a remarkable
Amount of class like he he doesn’t complain or [ __ ] or make excuses or whatever and he just even though he had like a super contentious relationship with the press all those years like he faces the music and kind of laughs it off it’s like hey it’s not a funeral
Guys like I didn’t you know and he’s for years has been willing to talk about it and basically admit like yeah I just you know I didn’t have it that day and he did the whole documentary with the same guy who did the um the Bulls documentary
Yeah and so J and they sit down and like rewatch the whole like you know 18 holes of what happened it’s really great and in fact like you know Rory watched that and felt so much sympathy for Greg that he texted him this was one of the first
Times that like they had like a personal interaction I was like hey man like I really you know felt for you during all that so I think it’s probably the last time they had any kind of warm Norman shortly said VY was brainwashed right after that like [ __ ] this guy man [Laughter]
I mean this was this like the I think this is the fourth podcast we’ve covered this tournament in some way like I I I still can’t get enough of it it is so I honestly don’t know if I I probably would have been here but because tiger
Had a huge effect on me but like this was one of my first golf memories this was I was extremely impressionable at this time I’ve said this many times I was close to 10 years old at this time and man it was just like like the fact
That that could happen in golf at to somebody that was fallen out for 54 holes and could just melt down in front of the entire country entire Sports World it like was so appealing to me it was so uh just ingrained in uh again I
Say this every time we do a 90s pod it’s like I chokes happened way more often back then with that equipment it was way way harder to get it in the house uh than it is currently I don’t know how you even possibly debate that at this
Point yeah and I mean it’s I every time I think I feel like it clouds maybe I don’t know clouds is the right word but like uh Seasons like every feeling that we have when someone has a big lead it’s like oh well this could totally happen
You know this is I mean I I don’t know the Masters it I feel like it just used to sort of maybe torment some people a little bit more than it did I don’t know what uh maybe that’s equipment s who knows um anyway like there’s some some
Really good writing on this era like obviously Rick Riley has been our sort of uh dude uh in a lot of ways for looking back at all these Majors I just want to read like this is sort of a famous story that he wrote about Norman’s collapse and it begins on the
Drive to the golf course she saw a graveyard and secretly held her breath closed her eyes and made a wish when your dad is Greg Norman you stop trusting Sundays and you start working all the angles you can six shot lead or no but by the end of the day Morgan Lee
Norman 13 was just another mourner in a green carpeted funeral procession a red-eyed witness to the blackest golfing day of her father’s life the day he somehow spent all six of those shots and five more besides stilled 50,000 people and turned a glorious spring afternoon
At the Masters into a four and a half hour cringe uh pretty good like Scene center right there it uh you know Riley was a dude so I don’t know like how worth it is like going step by step through um some of you know what happened essentially like Norman feels like the
Lead that that he didn’t really feel like he was in trouble until the ninth hole when he hit a shot that came up probably six feet short and spun all the way back down and cut the lead two and he was like oh crap like I’m in trouble
Now so that was sort of like there’s a great moment in that documentary too where again he’s he’s watching it back on the iPad and and I think Jason asked him like Hey was when was there a time where you knew like like something was
Up and he points at the iPad he’s like that right there that was it right there I was like [ __ ] man that was that powerful storytelling of of to relive it that way way and and that’s again that’s kudos to Greg in a recent kudos to Greg
Of like being willing to put I mean GRE he’s one of the most vain purses ever to walk the face of the Earth like even in defeat he’s willing to get in front of a camera and uh and and talk about it again but it was interesting
Perspective it’s it’s I kind of always wondered like what is it that drives that about him like why was he willing to sort of relive that failure over and over again uh it’s I don’t know I mean I I don’t know that I would do I don’t
Know any other golf I mean like it’s not like Rory has ever gone in and you know literally one of the most friendly media people ever and like relived shot by shot what happened in you know 2011 right so I mean you know if he wants to
Do it I’m happy to sit Norman won Rory zero Norman wins the fight uh so things started to get a little more tense you know it makes aogi on nine uh Mak aogi on 10 after sort of a you know a bad second shot uh and and
A sort of shitty chip uh makes another on 11 uh at this point he and F are tied going into the 12th uh and this is where Riley kind of has another sort of I think for the it’s it’s a very when you talk about like the writing of the times
Of like what it is so it says now there was an uneasiness among the dogwoods a sickening feeling as Norman came to the one hole you do not want to come after blowing a six shot lead it is the 12 the Drew Barrymore of par 3s small gorgeous and sheer [Laughter] trouble
Oh my God that’s a perfect 1996 quote like that’s perfect so good Drew Barrymore was probably like I don’t know up there in Celebrity rankings at that point what a what a what a time capsule that quote is y uh so on Saturday uh Norman actually had left a ball like
That sort of sailed wide on 12 but it actually kind of got the couple’s cling it just held up on the bank and everyone’s like oh maybe that’s the break that Norman needed to uh to win The Masters well he does the same thing like on 12 on Sunday shot tumbles down
Into the water it’s like you know you only get one one cling your entire life and he already sort of used his up uh David Leb actually sort of was quoted here in this story says Greg’s routine was so different he’s standing over the ball for an incredible amount of time I
Say if he’s spending six seven seconds longer per shot fidgeting moving around in ways I’ve never seen him do uh is you know this is where it’s like the humanity of it his his daughter was like praying to try to calm uh Norman’s wife it’s going to be all right Mom uh and
This is right before and Riley said it might be all right in time but the shot definitely wasn’t he pushed it right to F’s ball which sat happily on the green then watched it slide back into the pond sorry only one Coupes cling per Masters double bogy fifth straight five the
First time all week he did not lead unfathomably falo led by two shots in five holes Norman had handed falo six shots Jesus uh so he actually makes a birdie on 13 can I can I pause one second to say we we’re recording this the week after the US Women’s Open uh
And I think I said on the on the Pod last Sunday I said Allison corpo if you’re a coach of any kind like get a replay of that of that final round watch the demeanor watch the routine on repeat and like learn from that like that’s how you handle major championship pressure
On a Sunday if you want the opposite of how to do all that watch the 1996 Masters on YouTube because it it stands out I don’t I’ve never timed Norman’s routine I don’t know the time and I can tell you like just from watching it he
Stands over the ball way too long way too many regrips it is hor it’s horrible to watch in that in that regard and yeah all of the mindset stuff you’re talking about leading up to this everything is just the total opposite way you would go
About it yeah uh so on 13 he actually hits it up in the pine straw and he wants to go for it and Navaro was like yeah man like we can’t do this like let’s please lay up Riley wrote argued that hitting a ball 2133 off yards off of pine needles
Was too much to ask for a man who’d hit only five greens all day such a sweet dig uh so they both par 14 but we come to 15 which is sort of gives us the most uh memorable image of the day uh Norman falling to his knees as he tries to chip
In back to 13 real quick just because I’ve referenced this moment a lot of times but uh F takes about 3 minutes to hit his shot into 18 but uh it’s back and forth between like two iron and four wood if I I remember right and it was a
Some real suspense real drama and uh he steps up and just hits a laser four two iron to the middle of the green and two putts for birdie and it was just a really memorable shot of those those times uh I always reference to for people to go watch that moment on
YouTube well it’s a great it’s a great window into like the caddy conversation right he and Fanny are sort of debating forever going back and forth he goes back to the bag what like three times whatever like I suppose maybe like you know it’s a little bit slow playay
Situation but it’s worth it and there the CBS did a great job of sort of letting that hang in the air right there’s nobody trying to talk over this clip you’re just letting the drama of that moment build whole day the whole day that whole rewatch is just letting
Drama seep through in the most natural ways it’s just not they’re not handing it to you I feel like announcers these days will just kind of force it they’re not letting silence happen and that I remember I remember because I’ve rewatched it but it is uh it’s it’s it’s
Tense uh years later and Norman referen this on like in this moment when he was feeling pressure that he used to stick his thumb into his rib cage so hard that he was in so much pain that he couldn’t take it almost couldn’t take it just to
Try to block out all the other stuff so like imagine him like walking up 14 15 Fairway like jamming his thumb into his Norman left four ribs shorter than when he started this day uh so Chip the chip on 15 is what sort of is brings us the most memorable
Image uh really in one of them of all time it ends up being on the cover SP so trated I think is Norman he he has a chip on 15 for Eagle falo’s probably like sitting like you know 10 feet away Norman feels like if he makes this chip
And fower doesn’t make his birdie he might still be in it he might have a chance uh he his chip like runs up it misses by you know an inch or two and Norman just falls to the ground like he’s been shot like everything in his
Body just sort of like goes out of him he told grah Binger years later that he knew in that moment that it was over that like he was not going to win falo makes his birdie anyway the coldhearted blood cold cold blooded [ __ ] and so Norman goes up to 16t and he said
Later that like he felt like he was honestly like blacking out like his body and his arms didn’t feel connected at all and he just didn’t even like he usually picked like a spot on the TV tower where he sort of tried to hit like
A you know a a draw off of and he was all week he’d sort of hit that spot and he’s like I don’t even remember like that swing and it ended up like right in the middle of the P it was it was hit and you watch him he’s looking he’s like
Looking at it the whole he doesn’t show disgust while it’s in the air and you’re like oh is this and it it is a horrific shot it does not come close to anything like dude what were you looking at like what were you hoping for out of that and
Then I remember the image of him like walking dragging his Club along the ground like trying to clean the club and that’s when it was like dude this is we got to get the [ __ ] out of here guys this is dark I mean this that was when
It was truly like a funeral procession like it’s just like misery uh so uh afterwards you know essentially they play it out but it doesn’t matter f makes a weird Birdie on 18 and like hugs Norman and basically is like you know I don’t know what what to say like I feel
You know sort of terrible uh and and but I I feel so bad for you like in the in the moment where like Nick falo won his uh his third Green Jacket he’s like feeling more sympathy for uh for Greg and even like in the um you know kensaw
Had to put the jacket on uh falo because he had won the previous year and he says like our s before he started like he talks I don’t know I don’t remember guys who won the previous year talks but he talked on the microphone according to this rally story and and cruncha shed
Our sincere’s feelings go out to Greg uh before he did it and falo in his victory speech said I really do feel sorry for Greg so like Norman was the story like what you know there was no like that’s a good uh lesson in like sometimes the
Losers are way more compelling than the winners uh so Norman meets the press and you know this is a person who’s had a contentious relationship with the press and he just basically goes right in he says I screwed up it’s all on me I know that uh but losing this Masters is not
The end of the world I’ll let this one get away and I’m still but I’ve still have a pretty good life I’ll wake up tomorrow still breathing I hope uh and then he pauses and he says all these hiccups I have they must be there for a
Reason all of this is just a test I just don’t know what the test is uh so thousands and thousands of people wrote him a fan mail uh years for years to come about how appreciative they were of how he sort of dealt with it Norman said
He was at a soccer game the next day and someone came up to him and said I want to tell you you taught me the greatest lesson in life and now I can teach to my son how to handle uh defeat how to handle disappointment and I and how I
Should conduct myself going forward uh so I told him you did win you won in life and Norman sort of felt like that was almost more important in some ways than uh you know he said I could have I could have not gone into that press conference and walked away and said hey
I’m going to go home and cry he said no that’s the responsibility you have if you want to be in the arena if you’re going to go out there and accept the accolades you’ve got to accept the punch in the stomach just as much you’ve got
To be man enough to do it and if you don’t shame on you I can name quite a few professional golfers today who have run away from that responsibility which really pisses me off because their responsibility is to the game and to that tournament because when you pass
Through and you want people to say he or she really did a good job of playing golf but really they did a good job of instilling certain values for us to study I don’t know if I would say that Greg has like great values but I think
That that comes to sportsmanship what a what a top of 96 I was trying to I just quickly Googled I was I was like wait doesn’t he go home that night and and cry on the beach but I just Googled it quickly that Sam Wyman article I think you’re
Referring to he did that was 87 after the chip head so a different Master heart say hurt him a lot more he says because he thought like that was his in that moment like I’ve I’ve got it in control there’s no way what that Larry m
Is gonna be able to get this up and down like all I essentially have to do is T put this and I won the Masters and all of a sudden he chips it in it’s like holy [ __ ] uh Jim Nance actually had a great interview with Norman like a
Couple weeks later on his boat uh it’s funny I wanted I would love to I took a screenshot of the pictures I think I’m going to Tweet them out because they’re both like so youngl looking and so like it’s it’s remarkable like Time Capsule uh and so Nance says to him do you
Believe you’re destined to be a tragic figure or do you believe that you’re destined to one day win it Norman says I think there’s things that have written in the wind you know in people’s life I see it happen to people and I can see it
Happen to me sometimes the good and bad that happens maybe it’s Destiny I don’t know now there are some things that where there’s a reason why it happens I will win it I just know it when my game is on and it was there I just it just
Didn’t happen but I’m going to go in there and I’m going to kick serious butt in that tournament and I’m gonna put a green jacket on uh did not happen yeah uh but he did say uh you know he and FDO has had sort of a contentious relationship for many years
Said that a lot of that hug on the green sort of resonated with a lot of people so people have this idea that Nick and I have been unfriendly since 1977 which has never been the case like what happened Sunday Saturday we played we had a great day we had a great day
Sunday we chatted in the initial part of the round and showed people that we aren’t unfriendly Ral we’re friends we do have emotions for him to do and to say the things that he did when we were in that hug those are the things that
Will stay with me for the rest of my life yeah it would been great to put the green jacket on but if I had put that green jacket on what would that moment have been as would would that moment have been succinct as it was who knows
The most endearing thing for me was the emotion that I felt from everybody people care and I care and then he said and I want to get out there and win the MCI Heritage Classic this week now watch this drive so that’s about all I have from uh
The Masters that year I mean just uh there’s there’s really some good writing in general if you had some stuff to add well quick add there was just you know I was looking at does he have any more Masters close calls I don’t remember this and we’ll get to it eventually but
1999 it sounds like he has a he Eagles the 13th hole to get to minus 7 which looks like I don’t have the time timeline in front of me but that was probably tied for the lead Bogie’s 14 and 15 after that and finished uh three
Shots back of Jose Maria but if he plays those I mean if he birdies the par five 15th and doesn’t bogey 14 uh he finishes at eight under and is in a playoff with Jose Maria so um another choke painful painful that back nine just [ __ ]
Haunted him I mean just I might watch the kid [Laughter] tonight um it’s I mean that ESPN documentary that they did is worth watching he actually goes like austa let him come uh and play uh you know I think it’s only nine holes there but like play
A little bit more so as like use for the walkand talk stuff about you know and he and he sort of says you it shows that I had a I made an impact if you know if gust even though I’m not a champion gust will let me come back here and play a
Little bit more just to sort of s of talk about this stuff so I agree with that he said I think he said something like the impact on the history of the club like oh my god did you ever yes you did yes you did Sir um well I mentioned
This earlier and I don’t know if it even it’s so unmemorable that I I’m if I asked you where is the 1996 US Open do you remember where it was God I have no recollection is it at I mean I would guess like Oakland correct we are going to
Hills wow what a north of the South course which one oh God uh no idea South course you’re exactly right look at this I’m gonna buy a lottery ticket ton city in Michigan can you get there it’s outside Detroit uh something Bluff oh close no no oh people the Michigan people are
Screaming so loud in their cars right now Bloomfield heals Michigan so the purse of the 96 US Open is $2.4 million the winner gets 425k and today’s money that is 4.67 million and 826 to the winner uh for reference cam Smith finished fourth at the US Open this year
And made more uh inflation adjusted uh than the winner would have gotten for the 1996 US Open thank you uh Mr Woods um our eventual winner do you remember who wins do I like I’m trying to figure out if I want to tell the story of do I
Want to not spoil who wins I’m gonna I I think no don’t spoil it just because he’s not exactly I I know because the he the person who lost is involved in a later uh okay in one of my okay so I I’ll skip past that to say this the
Eighth time Oakland Hills has hosted the US Open the first since 1985 it also hosted the PGA in 72 and in 79 and would also go on to host the PGA uh in 20 2008 cour has measured 6,974 yards par 70 uh it actually measured shorter than it did during the
1937 US Open uh it was a par 72 at the 37 US Open but uh it was only 50 yards longer than the 51 US Open which was also played to a par 70 so uh 4 five years in between and of course had only
Been link than 50 yards at the same par um so golf equipment was not uh moving as quickly as as it is now um I think we would have had some takes about this golf course back in the day uh Donald Ross Golf Course redone by can you guess
Don’t say the fs uh the the open Doctor Robert Trent Jones uh redid it uh want to give another shout out for sponsoring hourlong segments of United States open content with no commercials Rolex in 1996 uh has another US Open film that is on YouTube we thank the USGA for
Uploading all this stuff to YouTube there’s a there’s there’s a reason why they were on the top of the live call list after you know the mger thing was announced they’ve been they’ve been ogs all along Rolex needs to know um the uh host of the video is of course Johnny
Miller and uh I’ll give you can you guess what he references within the first minute of his intro of this video oh I’m gonna say his own 63 final round 63 at Oakmont to win the US Open uh it’s a great video you should see how young
Dan Dan Hicks looks which you can forget pretty quickly how how long Dan Hicks has been doing this but uh Nick falo and Greg Norman coming off the 1996 uh masters of course are the favorites they’re followed by Ernie paven Monty Davis Love and Phil Mickelson the winner
Of the 96 US Open was listed as part of the field uh was not listed uh at you know again this one site that sports odds history I think I used to look these up it was not listed uh in the odds so this was the same day as game
Six of the NBA finals which the Bulls would win um also Brady Anderson hit two home runs on his way to a jawdropping 50 on the season more than double of any other season in his career I have no idea how that happened not not even errly
Suspicious at all no must have been I figured as a baltim baltimorean uh that you would B would appreciate that so the course gets absolutely soaked by rain on Wednesday washing out a bunker I mean I’m talking like get the hoses and pumps out absolute Deluge on Wednesday was
Like a borderline Miracle they could get the course ready by Thursday but they were there they were playing a lot of Dockers a lot of Cotton shirts absolutely zero swag there’s not one ounce of Swag to be had by anyone even Norman doesn’t look sharp on this US
Open I mean Norman you know had some tough looking shirts the the the hats that he wore were fresh and he had the he was the Kitman of the 90s and even this week he just did not bring this stuff um the uh one of the guy I don’t
Want to spoil the winner yet but he’s wearing a king cobra hat with the uh he has a titanium element like the the the periodic table of elements the titanium logo on the back of the hat like TI in the little box which is a sick
Activation on the Cobra hat it is a sick6 I mean the titanium thing was still relatively new so let’s let’s bring back periodic tables un when we talk about seu Kim being an unstable element that could be a hug un Min excuse me unstable compound um how many
Media members do you think were credential at the 96 US Open oh oh gosh um number 100 1,600 that’s 1600 to me it really did yeah what on Earth uh yeah I don’t know if I just came from the women’s US Open and I bet there were 53 people credential there in
The in the Press I mean I suppose that doesn’t include like the people who work the cameras and all that stuff that is they might have been pumping these numbers a little bit but anyway anyways Woody Austin and Payne Stewart jump out to the first round lead at minus three
Uh lee Jansen and uh Michigan native John Morse are sitting at two underpar then there is a slew of guys including Paul ainger David Bano Jr who I believe is still playing off he’s the dude that uh has the major medical that he makes one start a year and just keeps
Extending his major medical and getting paid by the PGA Tour uh Stu sink Bob Ford uh the head pro at Oakmont um Frank Nao jumbo oaki Philip and Gary taso are round out the crew at minus one uh Tiger Woods a uh got it to two underpar at one
Point but doubled the 15th and made quad on 16 after going in the water twice he hit a uh a mid iron into the water right and then spun spun a wedge back into the water from the drop area was not controlling a spin in this era just just
Made a couple mistakes just didn’t have you know but that’s beautiful thing is I get to go out and play golf again tomorrow that’s what he actually says in the in the film great got a I got an architecture paper that’s due next month
And I just gotta get home work on it uh Greg Norman absolutely undresses a cameraman who who got him twice in his back swing and uh it’s sounds pretty Justified but uh gets mad at him and then tells him and don’t you go shaking
Your head at me yelling at him as he uh is mad after a par three shot after round two Payne Stewart leads alone at two underpar Woody Austin Ernie El’s and a fellow by the name of Greg Norman are one shot back at one under Norman shot
66 on Friday to tie for low round of the day uh also shooting 66 was Steve Jones after opening with a 74 he is T5 with Steve Jones green Davis Love the third Frank neolo or no Frank nobilo or what is Dan hick says it wrong in the video it’s
It’s navalo but he says uh noo that’s what he says he keeps calling him Frank noelo the Whole so I don’t know if this is Frank’s first entrance onto the scene but Sam torren is also sitting T5 uh the other names in the top 10 Billy Andre
John Cook John Daly Jim furick Tom Watson and Neil Lancaster uh Lancaster Lancaster or Lancaster I don’t know I know the country club is Lancaster and they get mad when you say Lancaster but uh Lancaster shot a 29 on Friday on his second n tying the US Rec open record
Can you tell me who he tied uh the US Open record would that be Jack I will give you a hint we covered this on our 1994 Us open podcast oh is this uh oh yeah it’s Brad Faxon right uh Neil Lancaster shot a 29 on Friday tying the US Open record who
Did he tie he tied Neil Lancaster the same guy shot a 29 and [ __ ] ack Hills the year before in the final round yes Neil So Neil Lancaster’s like best ball US Open a 58 probably even better than that but yes he shot a 29 at both us
Opens backto back years both times tied his own record wow um that was from the US Open at uh uh sorry rier the one we just did and we went over this on there I don’t blame you for not remembering because I double checked I’m like wait a
Second didn’t he just do this and it is a fact that he did didn’t okay so the PJ was at Rivier didn’t Faxon shoot summer he went out in 28 on the front night on Sunday you’re not you’re not far off there so I’m not far I’m not that wrong
I mean I’m wrong but I’m not that wrong uh can you guess how many players made the cut uh 108 players made the cut this is back during the 10 shot rule of course 108 players played the weekend uh one of them includes Mr Jack Nicholas which
We’ll get to that uh as well so 108 players playing the weekend round three can you imagine how hard it is to get like 108 guys around on the weekend at a US oh my God I don’t know what they did if they went both T’s or or what they
Did but um I think they’re in twoim so Tom Layman takes the 54 hole lead at two under par after a sizzling 65 on Saturday Steve Jones is one behind at minus one they’ll be in the final pairing Two Shots back are Davis Love John Morris hanging around Frank
Noelo uh the rest of the top 10 is Woody Austin Ernie ell Jim furick Monty and Sam Torrance so kind of a hitters only thing up here aside from a couple aside from Steve Jones and John moris Norman unfortunately faded to a 74 on Saturday
And kbv he missed a putt that I am like struggling to describe to you so I know people listening this is not going to really help you but I’m going to show it to you I’m going to upload a photo of uh Norman’s putt that he missed on the 17th
Green because it will shock I have never seen a professional miss a putt that has hit with two hands like stood over it in a normal stance like here his the the distance of putt that he missed on the 17th hole on Saturday while in contention at the US Open I mean it’s
You tell me is that over a foot uh it’s not over a foot it’s it’s got to be 10 inches maybe it’s uh I mean it was a tough scene it misses low on the left side and uh it it it may come back to haunt him a little bit but that
Was really really tough but uh Payne Stewart uh wilted after having the 36hole lead he said afterward that he felt like he was naked out there uh he shot a 76 to fall uh well out of uh contention uh at that point it was a tough scene he was double crossing it
Everywhere it was not good so heading into round four Greg Norman makes a charge some early birdies gets back to even par uh through seven but he did falter from there uh Layman bog is the bogy the opening hole to drop drop back into a tie for the lead with Steve Jones
Uh Nao Bird’s the first and is also at one under par Layman Bird’s the second birdie six and seven to open up a three-shot lead with 10 holes to go in the US Open three holes later that lead is gone uh Steve Jones birdies the ninth
Hole and makes a 40-footer on the 10th as Layman Bogies it uh it’s also worth noting Layman led the US Open at shinok just a year ago with nine holes to go also so uh bit of a developing story Steve Jones birdies the par five1 12th
And Layman Bogies it kind of got a raw deal hit a great looks like a three-wood into the green that goes into the back bunker in a tough spot uh and his and he hits on the green then three putts from there um so Steve Jones actually has a
Two-shot lead with six holes to go at four under but he Bogies the 13th hole uh another name emerges on this back nine after birdies on the 11th and 12th holes uh that is Davis Love and he pours in a birdie on the 15th to get to minus
Three a key number keep that one in mind um so Jones and love are tied at the top at three underpar and Layman is one back as they are uh as as Layman and Jones are getting to 15 uh John Morris is still around he birdies 15 to get to 200
Underpar but made two Bogies coming in um Michigan’s own John Michigan’s own they were trying to will him over the Ed home game models first C he ever made in a major and he actually has a putt on 18 to tie the lead uh on the 72 green he
Actually ends up three putting it it’s not great uh but Johnny’s just having a field day with the pressure line I mean it’s it’s it’s everywhere it’s absolutely everywhere um so they get to to 16 Tom Layman hit a really really really good birdie putt on 16 that lipped out on the
High side it really looked like he made it um that was a a big moment did Par 3 17th was playing difficult all day long and Davis Love gets up he was three under par but Bogie’s the 17th hole um and he uh
Ste um so at this and then he gets up to 18 and hits it to about 30 feet on 18 and has a putt to get in the house at minus three and they’re really building the drama up on this putt like Davis love has made a great run at this and uh
Johnny says before he hits it he’s like I got a feeling this might be going in uh narrator it did not go in uh he left it short he left well good for Johnny for not doing the tape delayed shots I mean obvious maybe that wasn’t acceptable back then they didn’t use you
Know tape shots but I think now like you know the thing I’ve always heard about that famous Louis usas and shot is that when uh David fary says I’ll come to Papa that it was on delay that he knew that it was going already say that’s
Said that line Sorry to ruin it for I don’t know if that’s true but that’s what I’ve heard uh so the good for Johnny for calling it live like a man so yeah he lags it up there to two feet of course on 18 uh surely that means that
He uh you know TAPS in that par Putt and uh we’ll sit and wait for the leaders to come in and again I’m going to pull this up on the screen so you can see it this is Davis loves putt on the 72nd green at Oakland Hills and he gets over it and
It’s Nery stands over it and then backs off uh waves a bug away from the ball St gets back over it and uh misses the putt on the low side missed a three- putted from 30 feet um to fall all the way back to minus one as this is happening Steve
Jones bogey the 17th hole um so the so really he’s one shot out of it and Layman or Jones are tied playing the last hole playing together the winner one of them makes par or both you know that’s gonna eliminate bit of a match play situation close to a match play
Situation here but Layman steps up is cadd wanted him to take three-wood off the 18th but Layman went with driver and he striped it he drove it really well but a bit left and the Fairway cancel a little right to left it takes a tough kick and gets into the top right corner
Of the Fairway bunker like pretty tough break honestly um it didn’t look like a wayward t-shot he was anxious the whole time but maybe a poor decision to take a club that could reach that bunker but it was it was really tough Jones splits the Fairway uh Layman gets up there looks at
The LI surveys it like gets bends down to the ground looks at it says it’s a big lip gets in there and has seven iron and he’s what he’s waggling and he just like backs off he’s like I can’t get this there like I yeah this won’t even
Get there so he’s not GNA take a club that could hit the lip that he also can’t reach the green with goes back for a different Club blasts it out and lays up about 60 yards short of the green Steve Jones steps up 168 eight yards uh worth noting the sportsmanship note at
Some point I don’t know if this was on 18 or if this was earlier in the round but Steve Jones referred to this afterwards he said uh that Layman came up to him at one point and said I’ve got a Bible verse for you uh be courageous
And be strong was included in that Bible verse I don’t know exactly what it was but uh it I don’t it seem like these guys are pretty good buddies but there is a uh a a a channeling of the Lord’s Spirit between the two of them in the uh
In the fin this final round um I’m a of the Lord could take some time to decide the US Open winner you know we’re not going there we’re not going there we’ll save that but uh it does speak to me a little bit like the class that Layman
Shows throughout all this is pretty remarkable to me and we’ll get to some of that as well um so uh Jones steps up and he gets over he’s like it’s one Roger Maly says 159 front 168 flag it’s seven iron and hit it hard it it was a
Great call and Jones lashes at it draws it in uh it’s the air and Johnny’s like where is this one Roger it’s going to the right side of the green it’s drawing in it looks pretty good takes one hop and almost jars in the hole I mean it
Missed by two inches rolls 12 feet above the hole and uh and I I guess they’re walking up to 18 green and he asks uh Steve Jones asks his brother and his caddy how’s it stand and uh he says Layman and love are tied with you at at
Plus two or at minus two and that was wrong um so I don’t remember when the I guess he he does his Brother Scott corrects him before they get up there and says love is actually at one um and while Layman struggling to make part so
Layman pitches up from 60 yards but goes past Jones’s Mark has a 15 18f footer down the hill to save par does not make it Jones has the 12-footer it’s fast Putt and he like kind of tries to like walk it in and will it in and it misses
Low and goes 18 inches by like a little far by um luckily no one’s missed a short putt all day he’s on a different side of the hole than love was on like Love’s putt did not actually look very simple but Jones’s putt should be uh he
Said that was the longest foot of his life NBC like misses the contact he makes with the putt because they cut away to look at his wife but but he like he does a couple practice strokes and hits it so quickly when he gets over it that they basically Miss impact and it
Goes right in the heart it’s no big deal his kids come out on the Steve Jones has won the 1996 US Open his kids run out on the green he picks them up his daughter’s waving at the people I got pregnancy hormones going on over here it
Hit me in the fields pretty good yeah I was I was feeling that moment but a little bit uh Layman pretty quickly in an interview says he you know afterward he’s like I I couldn’t have picked a better guy to win uh Steve Jones a great
Guy and um zooming back to what I was gonna set up with Steve Jones but didn’t want to spoil the ending uh Jones a four-time PGA Tour winner as of 1989 but suffered a dirt bike accident in 1991 that threatened to end his career he separated shoulder sprained an ankle as
Well as he suffered from ligament damage in his left ring finger and because of that almost every writer wrote about this he developed a reverse overlap grip he had a very funky grip way of gripping the club hit these big sling and draws everywhere kind of a funky swing didn’t
Play for three years and didn’t make it back on tour until 1994 the 96 US Open was the first US Open he’ played since 91 and he had to go through sectional qualifying including a playoff at sectionals and was the first winner to do that since Jerry Pate in
1976 um so that’s lot of the writing afterwards was about um about all of this but uh our friend uh the Eugene Register Guard of course our friends there their headline was Stellar field humbled by a man named Jones which is just I Googled a man named Jones is that
Like a a book or is it a movie or something like that it’s not it’s just a straight up shot at Steve Jones which is such a sick way to honor the US Open Champion um Rick Riley his his post uh game his gamer was a letter to Ben Hogan
Um which Ben Hogan did win at Oakland Hills um he says I’m writing to you about this about this Steve Jones a nice guy who uh is about as Square as a pan of cornbread uh which is sweet is said what has happened to golf when the Open
Champ grips the club completely wrong seriously he grips it like Marilyn Monroe used to grip a microphone which is by putting the index finger of his left hand on top of his right hand which is the opposite of what it says you should do in all the books you ever
Wrote he calls it his reverse overlap vardan Jones grip and laughs about it he grips it the way this way because he blew out his left hand in a dirt bike accident in 91 and couldn’t play golf for almost three years and the doctors weren’t sure he was ever going to play
In fact he wasn’t too sure either maybe that’s why he kind of gave up a few years ago and started selling some waterless Car Wash Gizmo um he said that’s not all this Jones was battling this Layman fella down the stretch and it’s real warping wolf with Jones mostly one shot ahead of
Layman and about the 16th hole Jones is just about as nervous as a priest on a Sunday with a Sunday tea time and guess who talks him off the ledge it’s Layman yes sir Layman lays a little Joshua 1 19 on him they’re walking on The Fairway supposedly trying to beat each other’s
Brains in Layman says to Jones God wants us to be strong and courageous that’s God’s law and Jones looks at him and says right amen this calms Jones down enough to that he’s able to beat layman in Love by one shot now my next question is you ever you never said anything like
That to sne or Demar or Nelson did you I mean I can’t see you saying anything at all remember you won in 51 and Clayton Hefner who was second by Two Shots shook your hand afterward and said congratulations Ben and you replied thank you how’d you do
H you know what’s hilarious to me S is that Ben Ben Hogan is alive at this point yes I just looked it up and so like can you imagine Ben Hogan like getting his Sports Illustrated he’s pretty old at this point he’s gonna die within a year but it’s like what if
You’re like Ben Hogan you’re like what the [ __ ] young man like I why are you writing a letter to me about this nobody uh listen as a writer as a writer sometimes you got to take risks sometimes you got to do a little bit of quirky stuff if you know somebody who
You’re you’re hoping to write like David Davis Love wins the US Open and turns out to be Steve Jones sometimes you gotta get creative sometimes like uh you know with Wham Clark you got to write a scene piece he also writes that Jones would later credit Hogan’s book for
Helping win the US Open as he realized he wasn’t practicing nearly hard enough after reading uh Hogan’s book so he also wrote about um some USGA stuff going on he said but if you were here I’m not sure you would have recognized the place speaking of Oakland Hills the usgaa has
This funny habit of taking classic Donald Ross courses like this courses with roller coaster greens that were meant to be putted on at nothing more than say five on the stim meter turning them into 10 and 11 which makes things kind of preposterous Oakland Hills
Became home of the 15 foot putt with 20 foot break to make things even gorier the USGA took holes the two holes the eth and 18th that may that look like par fives are built like par fivs and are par fives and made them par fours so the
Landing are made no sense and guys were hitting three Woods into greens that were built to handle wedge shots I mean if you’re going to admire the Mona Lisa admire it don’t redo the eyes and change the shadowing and try a new frame right so yes that is the Mona Lisa being
Compared to uh Oakland Hills which is a tough stretch but seems like uh the media has been complaining about USGA setups for oh I don’t know 30 40 50 years this is uh from Larry Dornan at the New York Times he said there were just two players left with a Chance uh
To lead by then they were both in the same group Greg Norman’s early charge had long since dissipated John Morse of Michigan native Bogi the 16th and 18th Frank naalo the New Zealander whose ancestors were Italian Pirates walked the plank what all right there’s a lot going on in that
Sentence first of all Frank noo ancestors were Italian Pirates how does one even find out such thing Frank please come on the podcast and talk about your piracy and your family CU I want to know all about these Pirates is there pirate lore in your family of the noas talked about like
Your family like just sailed around like you know the Mediterranean like robbing people and then they went to New Zealand after they like got a bunch of bounty also walk the plank so sick my jaw when I read that was like oh that’s why we do these pods this literal
Lied is why we do these podcasts oh the walk the plag got me good I’m never going to be able to see Frank Noble on TV again without thinking about this Italian pirate family it’s kiwi Italian pirate family oh oh I don’t know how to bring this back
Around H Steve Jones was the fifth consecutive US Open champion who had never won a major before including Tom kit Ley jads and ERD L’s and Cory paven uh Steve Jones was this uh this the Colorado sand greens Champion two years running per Rick Riley as well oh wow he
Would go on to win three more times on tour this was the third call for Layman after the 94 Masters to Jose Maria and the prior years US Open to Cory paven um Jack Nicholas played his 40th consecutive US Open and hinted once again that there won’t be a 41st uh he
Said he would be back if he wins the US Senior Open but did uh he did not do that again uh he would of course play four more and play his last Us open at Pebble in 2000 chck how can we ever miss you if
You just don’t leave so I need you to help me with this part I I forget which which newspaper I saw this but there’s a little note section that’s in there and man I I have no idea the relevance of this or why but it just starts it’s a
It’s a it’s four little grass here very short it says Dr Jack kavorkian who has made his reputation by bucking The Establishment thinks golf could benefit with some changes for example he’d like to see names on the back of golf shirts similar to baseball uh there here I go again said Koran who
Was a spectator at the US Open on Saturday I always want to change things and here I am surrounded by traditionalist um I want to it says kavorkian who has been present 29 times at suicide at a suicide said he wanted to meet Jack Nicholas who was playing
The 40th and perhaps last open uh I’m going to walk up to Jack Nicholas and tell him if you don’t wi I’m here said kavorkian who took up golf 10 years ago what what no no no no that is like a I swear to God that’s like a Jay Leno bit it
Comes out of nowhere out after like oh yeah Lauren Roberts tough week whatever boom Jack kavorkian has entered himself in the 1996 uh us if you’re not familiar with who this is uh this is reading from his Wikipedia page he publicly championed a terminal uh patients’s right to die by physician assisted
Suicide uh saying dying is not a crime he said he assisted at least 130 patients uh to that end he was convicted of murder in 99 was often portrayed in the media by the name of Dr Death Dr Death what I like okay first first of
All let’s say you’re a media person and you recognize Jack kavorkian like hanging out in the grand stands at the US Open right so you go up into the grand stance you’re like Dr Jack Dr Death do you have a few minutes to talk about Jack you have any takes
And like is is Koran saying I’m here to euthanize Jack’s open career or just euthanize Jack Nicholas euthanize Jack Nicholas if he’s having trouble I will help you yes I mean the pretty funny bit by Dr Jack of workin to like say like oh you know if it’s if it’s over I’m here
To you know to Snuff it out to get you know some hydrochlor of home and like you know or hold your head underwater wow 96 US Open delivered more than I thought it would uh that is it that is all I have for 96 I think we’ll
Hopefully be a little quicker than the uh I know I will be with the PGA cuz of course they don’t give you anything to work with but Italian piracy God I don’t think I can ever follow Italian piracy please God I want Please assign me a story about Frank Nao and his
Family at this point we’re g Loop DJ we got to get to the bottom of this oh my God all right so for the Open Championship the 125th playing of the Open Championship uh we go to lithum St an’s uh which is the first uh golfing
Club in England that had ever held a golf tournament uh way back in the 1800s not the first uh Open Championship they wouldn’t host that for another 20 some years but uh first place that they ever held a a golf sort of tournament uh where I think it was like eight guys got
Together and uh you know old Tom Mars being one of them so Liam has a lot of history hasn’t hosted the open uh since tal won uh so it’s been a long time but actually Ernie Scott Ernie’s one yeah Scott it’s funny it’s like like with Norman we
Still think of Adam Scott more than we think of Ernie else winning that one but hasn’t hosted since uh Els won it in 2012 I believe uh so open other reason lithum is sort of well known as the first um place that Bobby Jones one to
The first of his three opens was it Liam uh it’s where sevy won two of his opens uh 79 in 1988 uh sevie also competes in this one and um misses the cut uh this is kind of what we talked about the end of sev’s kind of relevance and this was
Sort of another reminder of that because this place where he had won uh two of the opens uh he kind of just you know hits it wild all over the place which he did back then but doesn’t quite have the recovery magic that he did uh back then
So uh you know not I’m not going to dig deep in this I think uh for the most part we kind of understand you know who is uh is going to end up winning this if you remember historically but uh it’s a it’s a person we’ve already talked a
Little bit about uh in this so I’m gonna start off and just ask you s what great golfer is uh is a shot back after 36 holes in this Open Championship Jack Nicholas Jack [ __ ] Nicholas at 58 years old I feel like just doing these pod been 56 I believe 56 okay that’s
Right cu he was 58 when he made the run so we still have another even after this we still have another like major championship where Jack Nicholas Jack Nicholas legitimately contends I think you could make the case that we still kind of underrate how freaking good Jack
Was like the fact I mean who at 58 other than Tom Watson one time was still competing in major 56 was competing in Majors just it’s totally like he shoots 66 it will be Phil yeah will be V he shoots 66 in the second round to get to Seven under it’s
The best round since the 65 that he shot at the 86 Masters and he did all this with a gimpy back I wasn’t even sure that his back was gonna hold up in fact saying was like you know if it’s if it’s firm and fast uh great uh if it’s gets a
Little bit cold out there I don’t think my back can hold up uh and sort of but does say you know uh who knows what happen over the weekend I might play great or I might go out the next days uh two days and shoot 150 he shot 150 the
Next two days uh just still completely insane uh and we’ll come back to uh Jack again in a couple you know in in due time when we get to uh the uh the Masters which is still to me one of the most amazing things ever is that Jack Nicholas legitimately contends in the
1998 masters year after and beats Tiger Woods a year after Tiger Woods won by greatest facts ever yeah uh all right so the first round leader of this tournament is Tom Layman uh Tom Layman rebounds from his US Open disappointment and just is out here striping shots and
Making everything uh shoots a 64 in the first round it really could have been a 62 like Bogie’s the last to break the course record uh in the first round uh this of course everyone’s like oh my gosh is it Tom Layman’s Redemption story like uh you know is he is he finally
Going to win a major I was sort of struck watching the video of this like if if you were trying to make the case that golf was 1996 Tom Layman was a really bad person to sort of to do it I mean very kind of dumpy looking you know balding literally
The face of Dockers like he was Docker hat Docker logo yes yeah I mean wearing like $30 Dockers at this moment like if Greg Norman was like the the cool epitome of you know like Cutting Edge golfing fashion and Tom Layman was like the dude who you still see at like your
Local mun uh in like the New Balance sneakers I mean he would we New Balance but like that kind of look of like you know a dad uh and look I’m a dad I’ll hopefully you know I I I’ve learned to dress a little bit better but it was
It’s the pleaded khakis look we can recognize not cool as two not cool guys we can recognize not cool yeah for sure uh and and Tom Layman’s swing you know even it’s like I don’t I mean you could not swing like that in today’s professional game and win Majors because
It’s like it’s made for like hitting it straight you know it’s getting the club three quarters back it’s you know bumping your hips and it’s uh it’s flushing it but it is not a kind of Swing I think that you know it’s like a very unathletic John ROM in the sense of
The club never really gets above his shoulder uh anyway um remarkable I’m gonna sort of just skip ahead because I think like this is we we kind of knows you know who ends up winning here it’s Layman but but uh what’s remarkable I think about this is that we the ghost of
The Masters is 96 Masters is still haunting us in a lot of ways because uh Nick FDO ends up he’s a six shots back uh going into Sunday and everyone thinks like oh it’s deja vu all over again like Nick is going to absolutely like walk
This dude down Layman had a sort of made a habit of of uh you know losing Masters and stuff and so excuse Layman l habit of losing majors and so everyone thinks like the absolute killer Nick Faldo is going to go out and just run him down
And it’s going to be you know the same old same old uh and I did you notice that lithum starts with a par three I can’t remember that many majors that like have a par three that forgive my ignorance in that but I’ve played it a couple times so yeah I I do
Remember famously Ian wam at the 200 whatever the one Duval won I forget what year that is 2002 he um was trying multiple drivers out on the Range and uh when get to the opening hole the caddy would have noticed that there were two drivers in the bag but it’s a par three
So he stuffs it hits it to like two feet and makes birdie and then get to 2T and realize he has two drivers in the bag wow uh what a good tidbit thank you for uh refreshing us on that um just going to read as we get into uh some of
The writing back to stuff uh you know I’ll read a little bit from Riley gamer uh here uh excuse me uh Tom Layman is about as far from Norman as a man can get Layman never expected to be playing in a major much less leading one this is a man who
Has a deep working knowledge of the Dakota’s tour the Carolina’s tour and all the worn out fan belts and hoses in between this is a man who was once so smelly and broke he couldn’t afford a motel to take a shower in so he pulled over his old vvo behind a building
Stripped to his shorts and showered in a driving rainstorm pretty good love to imagine Tom Wayman in the middle of Minnesota just uh you know getting half naked showering in the rain uh so Layman is is sort of uh you know he he feels like I’m gonna I can only
Control what I can control going into the final day he he realizes you know Nick FDO is Nick falo he’s obviously gonna make a run at me uh I’m not gonna you know um think about him I’m not going to watch him all day I’m basically
Just going to watch my own shots and it doesn’t actually work that great because Layman comes out and is like not very good the first thing doesn’t make a birdie until the 12th Hole uh falo makes a couple birdies early starts to kind of walk him down but really one of the most
Interesting things is Fred Couples comes just screaming uh shoots a 30 on the front uh and just kind of blazes past Faldo and cuts the six-stroke lead to two by the time that Layman uh gets to the sixth hole and then right after that Ernie El’s comes sort of screaming in uh
You know getting to do within two of the lead and actually he gets to 13 under which is what eventually will sort of uh be the the winning score uh but Layman finally when he gets to 12 he hits what’s he describes as his best shot of
The week uh he hits it to about 12 feet in the long par three there makes it third makes it for birdie uh gives him a two- shot lead and sort of puts some what it puts some air into his lungs Freddy comes completely apart on the
Back shoots a 41 on the back uh and then what crazy if you sort of remember is lithum as as you’ve played it many times just enormous amount of bunkers what I think 89 or something am something truly 250 Bonkers okay uh so ‘s is like has a
Chance like late in the round falo actually his his putter completely betrays him uh and he’s sort of slowly kind of fading can’t make anything and one of the other things I sort of point out is in this we always talk about how you know the oh the English fans
Sometimes like or the European fans kind of are are always knocking Americans for not being very classy for the fans in the rewatch of this are so proo like it is just deafening it is like completely like people are are shouting there’s someone shouts something in layman’s
Back swing at some point basically says like nice putt Greg uh knock it in Greg and you know says they’re sort of you know wanting this to come come apart again so and and a lot of people saying remember Augusta you know what H time lame steps over so not exactly the best
Look for the uh the English fans here uh as they uh sometimes like to lecture us about Behavior sometimes warranted but anyway uh you know it’s it’s a probably a pretty kind of boring final round nothing really uh the theatrics don’t really happen it’s just kind of like a a
Battle of attrition Layman plays you know well enough to win Els has a chance if he makes Birdie on 18 to sort of um to to get into a tie drives it into a pot bunker and basically has to go for it hits it into the lip and it goes six
Feet forward like nothing uh sort of you know isn’t gonna happen so then Layman’s able to Bogey 16 or bogey 17 and and basically make a you know par on 18 to sort of um to win it uh you know I wish I had sort of you know something all
That much more interesting I thought it was really funny in the press conference afterwards Tom Layman said that he feared that it would be written on his gravestone Tom Layman he couldn’t win the big one which I was like man your family has to really hate you if they
Put on your gravestone Tom L couldn’t win the big one what a what a well you know Dad we really ought to honor the truth here is that you sucked and you couldn’t win the big one what I remember most about Dad and we’ll never forget is
How he never brought us home a major championship trophy but Layman’s first and only major uh famously he becomes the number one player in the world takes it away from Greg Norman and holds it for one week the shortest uh onewe run as the uh I believe he won the T Championship later
That year but the shortest one week run as the number one player in the world in history wow good for him I was I was happy after reading the 96 one uh that knowing what comes next for him um it seems like it probably would have been a pretty popular win amongst American
Media at the time I would think so yeah it is remarkable how many um like little digs Riley gets in at Nick falo because is like love life it’s like uh it’s like the the lead to the story is like to to stand up to Nick Faldo uh you know you
Don’t need a guy with seven Ferraris five boats two helicopters and you need a guy with a perfect with not a guy with a perfect swing or or uh clothes or a perfect chin what you need is the kind of guy who looks like a rump roast on
The outside but it’s tougher than a wool wor steak on the inside somebody who spent a lifetime trying to make a check at the duth open a guy wearing $35 Dockers a guy with a bald spot and a Happy Gilmore kind of lurch at the ball
And a funny hitch in his neck that makes him look like he’s in a limbo contest what you need is a big boned Midwestern boy like 37y old Tom Layman who was never going to be in the centerfold and Golf Digest but would be just was just stubborn enough to hold off the
Unkillable falo Jesus yeah there’s like three references to falo’s marriage falling apart in his relationship with with Brianna the Arizona State Arizona golfer in this story I got those another joke coming up here shortly as we go to the 1996 PGA Championship do you know where we’re
Going I have no idea I pulled the Vulcan Hills out of my ass but I I clue clueless on Valhalla for the first time Valhalla atalla at you uh again of course there’s a six minute like throwback highlight video on this that’s it PJ of America get it together you
Know the drill here there’s a 24 minute no Lang up video on Valhalla if you want it like four we have 4X as much Valhalla content uh up there as the PJ of America does come on guys um 7100 yards 2.4 million prize fund 430 to the winner
First major played in Kentucky in 44 years and then as announced that week Valhalla is scheduled to return just four years later um deservingly so who could say four yeah then we have the 2000 U uh PGA with Bob May and Tiger Woods one of the greatest Majors um see
It’s great Golf Course look at the leaderboard um I love this little note Jack Nicholas who designed the course uh also played and missed the cut by a stroke at age 56 I just love the playing a major on a course you designed like blows my mind um the thing where he was
Making changes to Augusta while he was playing it is like just like in his prime kind of like in the early 80s is remarkable to me uh he also missed the cut by a stroke in uh at in 2000 at age 60 in his final PGA so missed the cut by
A stroke twice at Valhalla but a story quickly emerges in round one Kentucky native Kenny Perry opens with a 66 to take a One-Shot lead over Steve elkington and Phil Mickelson we have Mark Brooks Russ Cochran Joel Edwards Lee Jansen Greg Norman Nick price and
Ian wam at four under par uh jumping out to the a thre shot lead after 36 holes is one young Phil Mickelson after another 67 uh Justin Leonard is in second alone at minus s then Mark Brooks Kenny Perry and VJ sing I didn’t know that I didn’t know
Remember this as a one of the majors that Phil kind of I wondered the exact same thing um because he goes out and shoots 74 in round three uh G wild I think we’re seven and a half years away from Phil winning his first major at
This point and 25 years away from him winning the PGA Championship in 2021 which I was gonna say his last major but may not be like Phil could definitely who knows maybe Phil win at hoake maybe that by the time you’re listening to this podcast won another major uh another Kentucky native enters
The sway here uh Russ Cochran Lefty another Lefty shoots a course record 65 to take a twoot lead over Brooks and VJ uh Mark Brooks eagled the par for 15th holding out from the Fairway on this day uh Phil goes into the final round three shots back final round Russ Cochran ring
Him up ejected hard uh arguing balls and Strikes shoots 77 it just wasn’t working for uh too much pressure in the final round Tom Watson birdied six of the first 10 to get within two shots again he famously never won the PGA Championship this was one last final
Charge but he played the final eight holes in three over to finish 17th so uh did not win uh but Kenny Perry reemerges he is draining birdies fist pumping getting the local crowd all riled up he chips in for Birdie on the 11th he birdies 13 He birdies 14 it was his
Fifth birdie and seven holes and do it absolutely [ __ ] jacked when he gets to 18t with a twoos shot lead on the par five just about to waltz into the clubhouse and strut up there and uh sit in the clubhouse for a while after a victory uh probably Birdie the 18th
Right he drives it into the left rough um he like hit tries to advance it out the left goes in the rough again he’s short of the green a in three chips it past the hole has like a eight uh you know an 8ot par putt maybe a 10ft par
Putt does doesn’t come close and he misses he makes bogy on the final hole so has a One-Shot lead uh but as bogie 18 shot 68 and waited as the clubhouse uh leader and what’s about to happen uh is is quite funny um I never knew this
This next part but um and as an aside there’s I have no evidence of this but again I had to read a couple newspapers to find out that Steve mington missed a 15 foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have put him uh in what’s
About to happen which is a playoff also tied with Tommy tols I have no idea how Tommy tols got there at all but uh some very close calls while you’re away Tommy tols very close calls for elk and Tommy tolls but um Mark Brooks um drives
Drives in the Fairway on 18 he’s one back goes for it in two comes up short in the bunker but pitches out nicely to about five feet drains the putt uh to send it into a playoff to a very muted Applause the local fans not thrilled
With the fact that Kenny Perry um will not have uh won but Kenny Perry you know finished this round the 30 about 40 minutes ago at this point Shirley’s gotten uh like a lot of you know he’s probably you know yeah he’s hitting some balls right getting do you know
This I did not remember this Kenny Perry spends over 30 minutes in the booth after his round doing commentary instead of hitting balls um this is from haime Diaz who does the gamer for Sports Illustrated he said when Network officials told him to feel free to leave the booth to practice shots and
Preparation for a probable playoff Perry chose to stay offering his comments as the last two groups finished it was a a neighborly choice but not a move from the Nicholas School of how to win a major championship uh Perry said I was caught probably caught up in the moment
And I probably should have gotten my butt down there on the practice screen but that television time was good for me good publicity I’ve been I’ve been around 10 years out here and shoot nobody knows who I am you know what also would have been good winning the PGA
Championship uh again having been in the television booth for nearly 40 minutes he goes full Jack Nicholas on us Perry asked for a chance to hit some practice balls but after initially granting the request PJ of America officials changed their minds and told Perry to go
Directly to the 18th te for the start of the playoff um oh that’s kind of shitty like you could have let have a few swings out there although Perry was within his rights to insist on being allowed to warm up he deferred to the officials who were being pressured by
CBS and the threat of lightning [ __ ] CBS um he pulls his drive again in the thick Kentucky Blue Grass tries to chop it out U finds more rough down the left and uh would go on to birdie somehow we don’t have the video I don’t know how it
Happens but he makes birdie and beats beats the hometown kid in the playoff uh Brooks was absolutely electric afterwards saying I don’t think things will change a lot for me uh I don’t know what you want me to say I was taught a long time ago that if you drop your
Guard the other guy knows what’s going on so I try not to drop my guard uh just like refusing to give the media basically anything afterward so oh cool very nice I’m sure that worked out well for Brooks maybe he should have gone into the uh like booth and done a little
Commentary we certainly remember keny Perry better than Mark um Mark BRS was actually in the mix at a lot of those yeah he lost in a playoff the US Open at Southern Hills a few years later as well but um haime Diaz writes Brooks’s lack of emotion was fitting because the PJ of
Aala didn’t deliver on any of the several fairy tales that it had promised uh the sweetest might have been Tom Watson who at 46 was making a last itch effort to win his first PGA um Nick price had his own inspir inspirational tale spurred on as he was by his
Longtime caddy Jeff squeaky Medlin who earlier this year learned that he had the IA for a long time look at Valhalla would be the sight of Phil’s first major victory uh but that did not happen the cruelest dream dashed however belong to Perry who lives three hours from Louisville in Franklin a three-time
Winner in his 11 years on tour he bolted out of a large pack of final day contenders with five birdies on the first 14 holes Perry is considered a superior driver but when it came time to plant a serviceable t-shot in the wide Fairway of the 540 yard power 58th he
Was overwhelmed by the magnitude of this possible Victory his back swing put his driver in a familiar slot at the top but Perry rushed his forward swing and hit a horrible duck hook his ball dived down a steep embankment overgrown with Bluegrass the crowd Perry would say the
Crowd was going ballistic and my heart was racing uh he couldn’t get over the fact that so many people were rooting for him he said I was so excited so nervous I just overs swung the club uh his eight iron recovery stayed in the rough third shot missed the green and
Then he missed the putt um then after the playoff Perry walked past the gallery behind the 18th Green in shock the first time all week he didn’t stop to sign autographs uh kind of sounds like blocky a little bit after the after this round uh he his caddy said he played so
Well he just found himself in a whole new place mentally on that 18th T which is a bad time to do that but oh man Kenny Barry kind of blew two going to warm up to that um it was probably a place Perry never thought he would be
When he uh when he said after winning the 95 Bob Hope classic that he planned to stop playing the tour soon so he could devote time to his wife and three children and to operating Country Creek a public that he owns in Franklin if he didn’t know it then Perry knows now that
He has the game to win a major he said this was good for my career I’ll be remembered for this unfortunately unforunately true uh Perry would go on to lose the 2009 Masters in a playoff after making bogey on both the 71st and 72nd holes and the
Second playoff hole um Dave Hackenberg I believe for an Ohio paper wrote uh you got to hand it to Mark Brooks Kenny Perry did uh under the headline Perry’s not ready for Prime Time Bob verie of the Chicago Tribune said you’ve got to hand it to
Mark Brooks and Kenny Perry did uh so a popular line uh also said that Brooks was tougher than a $2 steak and said that Perry uh showed the Killer Instinct of a ladybug which was sick um he finished it by saying this year’s field was the best of any major and Kenny
Perry had it whipped but he wasn’t ready for prime time though he went on television anyways um so it’s so funny to think about like I would love to sit and watch the YouTube clip of Kenny Perry like talking and talking and talking for 340 minutes in
The booth there uh and like Johnny suggesting or whatever like you know you might want to go down whoever CBS color at that point but yeah but like hey like do you want to go down and you know hit some uh I feel like it was um it was
Kentu I feel like the reading I remember years that K Ken was like hey you know maybe do you want to go hit some shots like you want to go warm up whatever because I mean he had obviously played really high level Golf and uh that’s
Hilarious cuz I’d always I mean I I don’t remember seeing it I don’t remember that all but I remember jokes for years about Kenny Perry sitting in the TV tower when he should have been uh Out imagine that happening I remember like when walking Neeman didn’t do it at
The um at the Sentry at the tournament champions a couple years ago but it was he was just like out sitting on a picnic table and they were like crushing him for that but it wasn’t like nearly this time frame and it wasn’t a major championship and
You had to go take a cart down to the it was a different scenario but yeah I imagine that happening uh these days is is pretty tough but so I remember when uh Tommy when Tommy Fleet would shut that 63 at shinok my job that day was to
Follow him around like whatever he did and he was the only guy on the Range just sort of standing there and remember a USGA guy came like running across and put the little like place card for his name you know just says who’s hitting or whatever I thought that was such a funny
Detail we got to make sure we put it up Mr Fleetwood up here I I regret to inform you Kevin it kind of dawn it didn’t really dawn on me until we got and I when I wrap this one up this marks the end of where we initially set out
With this series of kind of pre- tiger 90s era um I think we started with 2009 to 2012 when we started doing these um and back when we tried to do four in one four years in one episode we learned we talk way too much for that but uh I
Think we do keep going I think we can the tiger ones will be will still obviously be interesting but um of course we we’ve covered them in in we’ve you know covered a lot of tigers Majors over the years in in formats like this but worth redoing because over time it
It wears and uh gosh these are really fun well think about yeah they are think about now like somebody who’s 30 years old you know they were seven when Tiger Woods won the you know or excuse me they were no no it’s less than that there
What what does it make them if they’re 30 now they’re yeah I’m I’m messing up the math here young been out in the all day with yeah super young like that’s I think it was worth revisiting uh and like just reading all of the newspaper stuff leading up to it watching some of
The footage stuff I mean like to remember like what an phenomenon Tiger Woods was I think it would be fun for a lot of people uh who weren’t didn’t really get to witness it uh firsthand because I was you know a freshman in college and you were in grade school
Whatever so like which listen I I gave you 96 Masters I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna call for the ball take 97 I wanton 97 I want that one uh I’m gonna take that one you’re gonna get Congressional uh for for uh US Open which I think was
There’s some I think there’s some Layman stuff in that one too if I remember right so I look forward to that one it’ll be F you I’m gonna We you get to do 97 Masters but I’ll I’m gonna come in and offer a few uh addendums afterwards
Because it’s such a big cultural event I love it so uh Kevin thank you so much for this a lot of work and research goes into these I know it’s big time commitment we greatly appreciate we thank everyone for listening and encouraging us to do these because they
Are a lot of fun to do so be back next time with 1997 love this love you uh let’s uh let’s do this again soon
1 Comment
1:20:33 fun to see this behind-the-scenes view of making the podcast didn’t get edited out😂