Fairway to Heaven: Pressure Is On Anirban Lahiri

Anirban Lahiri joins Jerry Foltz and Su-Ann Heng on Fairway to Heaven to discuss his life in Dubai and the short trip over to Jeddah for this week’s LIV Golf Event. Lahiri talks about the pressures of being India’s most decorated golfer and choosing golf over cricket or the medical field at a young age. He also speaks about the discourse around winning on LIV Golf and the realities of how hard of a feat that is to accomplish. Su-Ann uncovers the secret formula behind much of Anirban’s excellent play, 10-day meditation retreats where he doesn’t speak to anyone, with his voice or on his phone.

0:00 – Intro
6:30 – Anirban Lahiri Joins the Podcast
8:32 – Life in Dubai
14:42 – Pressure from Parents
20:15 – Growing Golf in India
31:24 – How Hard is it to Win on LIV Golf
36:47 – Crushers GC Team Dynamics
42:16 – Presidents Cup Experience
48:07 – Plan for Next 20 Years
54:28 – Meditation Retreats
1:02:07 – Outro

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I remember you told me about your dad and he was he was a physician doctor he’s aor he’s a geologist yeah so you guys even though you didn’t go in the medical profession you have something in common you work where other men [Laughter] Play Welcome to fair to Heaven a live golf podcast this week we are live here in jeda in Club 54 my name is suan hang and with me of course is my co-host uh we’re Dumb and Dumber really uh Jerry fultz it’s like it’s like the the the

Fine one and the fossil I believe is how my friends call it oh okay well you have nice friends then yeah I know the fossil part I don’t like I think it my first one without a hat no no you’ve had a few without your hat really yeah my luggage

Is in Heathrow right now and it looks like which means you’ll never see it again it looks like it’s staying there it’s been there for a while and it looks like it might just be residing there and dying there well thankfully we have a nice Mor merchandise guy and he’s

Offered you some clothing yes um I think you’re going to get some socks from our producer socks from Arlo has offered me underwear could you imagine how wrong that would feel wearing aros’s underwear it’ll be a Hugo Boss it be comfortable that’ be small go

Boss um anyways we’re here in jeda as I mentioned um different time of the year um bit of a different golf course I guess with the overseed yeah it’s not as freaking hot that’s for sure so for me that’s the time you want to be here to

Play golf would be this time of this time of year because it’s not so forbid and hot but you know you say that about any climate in pretty much every place you can possibly live it’s going to have four months of a year you don’t really

Want to live there you don’t want to be there yeah same here but this is the time of year you do want to be here yeah it is nice it’s beautiful the the wind just has that little chill it’s not as humid it’s not as hot chill chill it

Does have kind of chill yeah it’s got that little like light Breeze anyways um speaking of chill speaking we got a pretty chill guy coming up we do have a really chill guy coming up yeah uh we have a special guest uh from Crushers GC uh we’ll introduce him a little later uh

But yeah so we’ve played here two years now out of those two years we’ve had two playoffs do you think that’s going to happen this year I think it was what 12 and 14 under were the two different ones uh no we’re team play you predict and do

You predict Brooks winning again Brooks going for the three p course going play similar but different because of the overse because of the thickness of the grass and the rough um yeah you can’t bet against Brooks you can’t this week uh ROM ROM ROM te uh ROM and uh Crush no

Crushers or smash I went Crushers oh no I went Legion Legion oh so I didn’t go I went Brooks and Legion Brooks and Legion oh you went Brooks and Legion okay I did I did DJ and torque yeah t look tqu played in Oman last week they’re all in

This time zone they’ve been playing competitive golf wac was playing great Carlos juon last week which was fantastic he double bogey is like his first hole and no bogeys since then yeah and um yeah and obviously meito played great shot 29 on one of the nines um and Sebastian so yeah they’re

My picks this week they’re no bad picks no well no there Pi T you pick smash you pick Crushers you pick Legion and you pick four aces there’s no bad picks no there isn’t and the goats can’t forget about the goats yeah the goats you and Wolfie playing some great golf how about

That shot how about that you like making par did you see that yeah yeah hit it into onto the beach yep hit it back on The Fairway back on The Fairway yep pitched it yeah pitched it off the green right or whatever and then makes that ginormous

Putt yeah that was a great part and speaking of Uline brought back memories just walking you know on the 18th green when they he had to play off with Brooks yeah and the $5 million Pebble and yeah for those who don’t remember he hit it in in the in

The playoff the final hole of the playoff he was in the bunker for what the third straight time third or fourth straight time the right bunker on 18 and he hit it and he hit it up Stone dead every time and this one went Ricochet

And over the green and he caught a pedal between the club face and the ball and the difference was winning the event H for $4 million and finishing second in the individual in the individual which was $8 million to not winning the event which is a loss of about $2 million and

Going down to third place in the individual pool for 4 million so was like a56 million Pebble that’s right yeah I let’s not talk to him about that one no I’ve seen him twice the last last three weeks on the first day I was on

Site it was on the 11th T myoba first time I saw him during a practice round which is where he had the the show the 12th yeah the 12th the 12th ho excuse me 12th hole the year before and then I see him today for the first time

First day on the course first player I see walking off the 18th Gren I’m like I just see what the you know the point of the scene of the crime did he laugh no I didn’t say I didn’t say I didn’t say it to him did

Not say it to although Uline would have the best sense of humor to to have that banter you know he’s awesome um another great news coming out of the LPGA patty patty T back on top Patty T back on top W in her Hometown not Hometown but Home Country

Uh Honda LPGA right after she won the aranco yeah very emotional win the very emotional win well it was very emotional at Honda it was very emotional at Honda winning at home but not knowing whether she was ever going to win again so talented I hits the ball so far such a

Pier swing such a great young lady I got to cover her when she won her first major at the Ana and uh you mean the world the seems like the golf landscape is full of incredibly talented players whether they’re at any level it’s just the ones who believe in

Themselves that succeed the most but um her Talent seems to be Limitless and just such a great golf swing she is an incredible ball Striker yeah she’s fun to watch and and quite a fun human being actually Petty tea yeah um anyways we teased a guest moments ago we do have

From the crushes GC anaban leiri B thank you so much for joining us uh here in the beautiful Club 54 in Jetta not far from where you live in Dubai yeah this is uh probably going to be the shortest trip out for me well you’re well for a live event for a live

Event but this probably shorter 2 and a half off at 2 245 so it’s easy pleas like home we’ve been here so much recently yeah we have we have a bit of a different course this year uh with the time of the year that we’re playing it

It’s over seated um it’s not hot as it’s not hot no the weather is brilliant obviously this is the time of the year you want to play in the Middle East uh but they’ve had two and a half months of of growing um The Rise is beautiful overseed nice faires are are probably

The tightest we’ve seen the last few times it reminds me of the first time we came here uh beautiful I mean I’m looking forward to it will it play tougher because of that or easier I don’t know it’s hard to say we’ve had the greens role a little bit better in

The past I think it all comes down to how many putts you make yeah you know it’s always going to be windy the fairways are the same the strategies are the same you kind of we’ve played all the pins there are to be played in the you know three four five times we’ve

Been here so it all comes down to you know how easy or difficult it is going to be to get the ball in the hole so if it dries out yes it could play tougher because the roughs are thicker with the overseed Fairway are tighter so they’re

Faster right so you might see some balls you know scooting around rolling around more than the pass so yeah maybe but we’ll see I mean I me at the end of the day if you’re rolling it good and you make a bunch of putts you can still make

Birdies now how long you’ve been in Dubai now uh coming up on a year almost a year and a half now we love it yeah we love it uh it’s not ideal for about four five months in a year but the rest of the time the other 78 months is is

Amazing we have a lot of friends uh outside of golf daughters loving school now uh so yeah it’s great I can short trip back to see my coach or my parents or you I just go back home when I want to so it’s it’s great we love it what

The lifestyle like I mean we hear so many for people who haven’t been to Dubai have basically just flown through it and uh when we went to Abu Dhabi but what’s what’s lifestyle like there because we hear all these these almost mythical stories cops driving Lamborghinis and and money just is it’s

Like the most expensive place in the world but yet still not crazy expensive well that’s the thing like I I get asked this question all the time and I think there’s three or four dubis to experience you know you could be on the palm living you know Lifestyles of the

Rich and Famous and you could do pretty much any house you pick could be a show on Cribs uh but then you go to the old the buy side which is you know bir The Bu and daa which is where Dubai started maybe 30 years ago there’s almost no

Highrises you go to the old sus it’s different you can have a phenomenal meal for for two people for $8 in a in one part and that won’t even buy you still water in another part you know so there’s so many different device that you can

Experience um it just and that’s why I think it’s great because you have to make a choice on what you would like and how you would like to live there because living there is a completely different deal from visiting right cuz when you visit you want to experience different

Things you want to experience the desert you want to experience the beach you want to experience skydiving well skydiving or whatever you want I mean they’ve got everything right like you could go to the water parks Adventure par like Global marketplace where it’s like you outdoor thing where you can you

Visit different like yep countries basically yeah it’s amazing the amount of people that are now making that their residents a lot of lot of English a lot of American exp it’s it’s getting very popular and I think um you know the The Bu government’s done they’ve been very proactive in understanding what they

Need to Doh to make it exciting and and to make it livable for people from all over the world so it doesn’t exactly feel like the Middle East when you’re in Dubai that’s for sure but there’s also amazing schooling is it’s a great place for family is very

Safe U you know low crime U so things like that are you know big attractions is that why is that why you move there like why Dubai why Dubai so basically I’m I don’t have any siblings I’m the only I’m I’m the only child and you know

I’m not getting younger neither are my parents I wanted to get closer to home careful Jerry is very very sensitive you can just right off well I wanted to get back closer to home I mean we thought about moving back to India but with my travel schedule it

Would have been harder to you know go back and forth Dubai with the airlines with amires Airlines being as good as it is uh was a big attraction for me while I’m playing for as long as I’m playing I think Dubai would make a lot of sense schooling options again another thing

I’ve got two young kids five and two so that’s super important you know most of the decisions I’m making in my life are for my kids really more than than me I’ve already played professionally I get it you know coming on 20 years so uh yeah exactly you get it right so so

Dubai was was an obvious choice and we have a lot of friends outside of golf I see when I was when we were in the US my wife and I we we were in you know the capital of professional golf we were in Jupiter Florida but there was not much

Outside of the golf Circle we wanted to have a life away from the golf course outside of you know Golf and we get that in Dubai and and it’s close to home you know my parents can fly in her parents can fly in U you know there a lot to do

There yeah it’s like it’s like going from Palm Beach to New York yeah 3our flight so it was the next best thing honestly uh to moving back home and it kind of fit everything that I would have needed in terms of golf infrastructure in terms of travel golfes exactly so and

Yeah they welcome me with open arms and you know I felt at home right from the GetGo so it was great are your kids learning a bunch of you grew up speaking basically studying three language from birth and then maybe and then occasionally a fourth are they how

Multilingual are they they well my daughter’s five so my son’s two so he’s not yet you know in the system so to speak but it’s it’s actually fantastic cuz my daughter speaks Hindi with us at home even though I’m I also speak Bengali but we just trying to make sure

She gets one language down first so she speaks Hindi at home she spent the first three three and a half years of her life in the US so English is probably her first language she’s more comfortable with that uh but in school she has to learn Arabic you know at of some degree

If you’re uh from a non-arab or a non uh you know Muslim background then you do a lower grade otherwise you do a higher grade like with religious study so she doesn’t have to do that but she still learns Arabic and you have to do one other language so right now she’s

Learning French oh and um I think the school that she’s quite likely to go to she’s got the option of learning Mandarin or Spanish as well so she’ll probably learn one of those three Arabic English and Hindi so wow wow you know it’s amazing because like even in her

Class she’s got 21 kids maybe and there’s like nine nationalities yeah yeah I mean Dubai’s very inter mean it’s melting part right and and I and that’s the other thing that attracted us because you know the world we live in is is becoming a smaller and smaller place you know you

Want to be uh exposed and aware of of other cultures and and you have to learn to be you know appreciative and tolerant and all of those things which are in short supply right now globally she grow up both your kids will grow up with no cultural bias no there there isn’t one

There isn’t because I mean God what a place of I mean but think about it like if you’re from there you’re basically amirati yeah and that’s less than 5% of the total population MH yeah so 40 years ago it was a it was a fishing Village

Like Abu Dhabi was nothing exactly so so from all those perspectives it’s a great place I would rather she grow up there than you know a lot of other places in the world yeah speaking of growing up you your dad was you will someday yeah yeah says Dad cheap shot um

Yes says old man here speaking of of growing up you know you’re you grew up up your dad was a physician in in the military you have a big medical um influence in your family did you ever grow up with that pressure of of falling into that same I had I had

No pressure cultural bias would say from my understanding there would be pressure on you coming from a long line you’re right about that uh if you were to generalize yes absolutely uh I think growing up I mean when I was growing up late ‘ 90s i’ I’d say would be my

Formative years late ‘ 90s early 2000 um it was all about are you going to be a doctor or engineer right I mean to a large extent it still is but India’s slowly moving away from that it’s been very slow but they are but when I was

Growing up it was almost frowned upon to not be in either of those two Fields And if you weren’t it was understood that you struggled at school like you know if if you had a hard time uh academically that’s the only reason why you’re not

Doing it uh which is why you know it was even hard cuz I was pretty good at school uh good genes I guess you know like my mom’s my mom’s a full bride scholar she’s a professor in English literature my dad’s a doctor obviously come from a you know family of very

Educated people which is also part of the Bengali culture like we’re known to be the audite and you know like all of that uh multiple Nobel laats and things like that so when I started getting into golf there was there was definitely a lot of pressure on my parents from other

People from extended family what are you doing this is you know this have you thought about this United advice basically I mean yeah I mean pure pressure it’s also it’s also a culture that doesn’t understand not a culture a country that doesn’t understand sport as a profession yeah Cricket’s not a sport

Cricket’s a religion yeah crickets crickets is is exempt from sport category everything else is a sport and quite honestly I don’t blame them because cuz outside of golf there’s not a lot of other sports maybe tennis where you know individual prize money or individual sport you can make a living

And you can make a decent living at that everything else you’re kind of you know at the mercy of the associations or the government or you know employment at some level and then by the time you’re 30 pretty much your career is over pretty pretty much every other sport so

I think that way golf separates itself as you know something where you can have a career over multiple decades yeah right so I guess I got lucky that it was golf and not something else and I got even more lucky that my parents uh kind of stood behind me and shut that noise

Out uh like you know even after I won my first pro event I won’t say who it was but a family member’s like great you can put that on your CV when you go to business school I’m like dude I just won my first like asent Tour event like how

Hard is it for you to Fathom that I’m not not going to you know be a management you know whatever like guy I’m not I’m not looking to be the CEO of some company because that’s what everyone aspires to be unless you’re a doctor or an engineer right your parents

They’re I mean parents are proud they love you unconditionally that’s one of the Just One of the beauties of it and I’m sure they were would have been proud of you no matter what you did but having faced that societal and cultural and family pressure about their sons their only child’s chosen profession

Is there maybe a greater sense of pride in the fact that you’re essentially the most decorated Indian golfer ever I don’t know I think that’s a question that’s better answered by them to be honest but what do you sense um I mean I I know that they’re proud of me there’s

No doubt about that um but really it’s it’s me who’s who’s grateful cuz I still remember like my dad having to face a lot of questions of people and I still remember him having a conversation ation with someone else and I overheard this conversation saying that what if he

Doesn’t make it and he said well he’s going to learn life skills he’s going to learn to be independent he’s going to have to manage time effort money failure by himself yeah dealing with failure success and he’s like at worst case scenario he doesn’t make it but

Everything he learns from the process of not making it is going to make him much more prepared for life than if he was you know taking tuition classes for 4 hours a day 6 days a week which is what every other teenager was doing is doing

Same in Singapore by the way in India right so so he’s like that’s actually what’s going to differentiate him and make him more prepared for real life as opposed to what every parents not every parent a lot of parents subject subject their kids to in their developmental

Years you know they don’t have that um so you know I’m I’m I’m glad that he had the vision for that because it’s very difficult to be to be able able to see that because you’re the one making decisions and you know it’s it’s on you

If I fail it’s on them right if I succeed it’s on me I mean that’s that’s and that’s the burden of being a parent I’m a parent now and I see it it’s not easy man so I’m I’m very lucky yeah very very lucky very blessed well you talked

About sport being I guess young in India with the exception of of cricket yeah you play a key role in growing the game of golf in India and I know you’re very very passionate about that um where do you see golf in India now and where do you see it

Going um I think golf has uh definitely progressed it’s definitely gotten better the quality of golf has gotten better it’s been very slow it hasn’t been um at the speed I’d like it to be uh understandably so uh but in terms of where I’d like it to go I’d like to see

More kids getting exposed to the game I recently started my Foundation like last month in fact um and that’s one of our goals is to go to tier 2 tier 3 cities expose expose kids to golf who don’t have exposure the biggest issues in India are two fold one is you know

Access and the other is you know how expensive it is yeah so you um we are trying to remove those two barriers of Entry um and expose more kids uh in the big cities the Delhi the Bangalore and and you know not not in Mumbai Mumbai is

Not a big golf golf City but no ch Kolkata these are the older golf kind of uh powerhouses if you were to call it that if that word is apt but they’re already producing a lot of golfers there’s a lot of kids who are playing it’s gone up Junior programs in some of

These cities each Club has over 100 kids which is great which was not the case when I turned you know when I was a junior my first uh National level event that I played as a 11-year-old there were 16 kids in my category it’s a national event now you have to qualify

From your zonal region to get to the Nationals and you have 60 kids in each category in the zonal region and then you you know so has it changed it has um but we need more courses we don’t have enough public courses uh so you know

Right now we’re trying to work with the infrastructure we have and and try and grow from there and and yeah I think it’s a process the potential is huge though I was covering the the Olympics in Rio when a DT a shook was introduced to the world amazing first round that

Night in India alone I don’t remember the exact numbers but there’s a metric you can find out from Google the amount of searches done for golf golf equipment girls golf equipment this and that was something numbers that there were mindboggling from India toy well Tokyo for years five years later I mean was

Right there to medal I mean she ended up just missing the medal by one position but that was huge getting access and all those obstacles that are in the way that’s obviously the most important thing but you also have to create the Curiosity from the kids but that’s the

Thing like that’s where that’s where you come in but exactly which is why you know the Olympics the Asian Games events which are not really mainstream um shall I say you know bucket list items for for most professional golfers for golfers right are exactly that in India everywhere

Because that’s what’s going to move the needle mhm you know yes you win a major sure but you know if I win a couple of times this year is it going to make a difference huge but if I even get a bronze at say Paris makes a it’ll be

Like winning 10 times out here yeah and you can’t really equate the two yeah you know as a golfer it’s it’s hard to say that oh you know if I win a gold and I win at and I win a green jacket you can’t you know honestly put it in the

Same balance but if you were to put it on a scale of the effect it would have on a country and the population an Olympic medal would outweigh two major wins or three major wins just in terms of what people understand CU people don’t understand golf they don’t understand major championships right so

To that extent yes you know I think it’s really important people like Aditi myself Shanker uh gagan a good friend of mine U you know whoever’s playing at the highest level you know we keep uh doing our bit keep winning keep making golf relevant keep bringing it to the eyes of

Uh the people at large to make it attractive to make parents think oh wow you know maybe I should put my kid in golf whatever it is you know yeah uh speaking of gagan jid uh he obviously played in the promotions event uh L in Abu Dhabi where you came out right on

The Sunday uh this is a quote from him I’ve played so much golf with anabar uh from Junior and amateur to progolf he’s been inspiring all of us young players playing the domestic pgti events to players on the Asian tour like myself what he has done for Indian golf in the

Last seven or eight years is just remarkable it’s not that easy to step up your game and move to a level and compete with the big boys I think Bon has shown us time and time again that it is very much possible what are your thoughts on that

It’s really nice of him to say that you know Gan and I go back to like I mentioned you know my first event as a 11 year old he was there so we’ve been playing together for 25 years now uh and he’s someone one who was exceptional as

A junior as well like it’s hard to beat when he was 16 17 and we’ve had a few players like that like super talented uh and we will continue to have players like that to go back to what Jerry was saying the potential is there uh the

Hand ey coordination is there from so many different sports that uh you know we get exposed to and for me personally you know I’ve just tried to do my best for myself I have um the privilege uh of of basically being able to associate everything I do with India

There’s not unlike a lot of other countries we don’t have 30 40 of us in the top you know 100 200 in the world so when I got to that space I was kind of the only guy since jeev yeah you know and and jeev was there I think in 2008

2009 that’s you know so it goes back a while and since since je got there I think I broke into that kind of space in 14 so 14 all the way through like since I would say you know I’ve kind of carried the torch Shanker made a splash

And he’s another like amazing talent great too yeah he’s great guy gagan super talent but there’s a lot of young kids too who who have it it’s about um like belief when I was growing up when I was I won’t say growing up when I was

Like 19 20 turning pro I I I honestly didn’t believe I was good enough to play on the PG at all right I was just trying to get better and then I still remember Arjun atwall yeah Danny Chopra half Indian I know technically he’s sweet they came out and play had like four

Nationalities Danny’s Danny anyone who knows him loves him uh and you know they came out and played a little bit on the Asian tour I’d say around 13 14 and that’s when I actually really got to know them and meet them and I played some rounds with them and they both like

Looked at me and said damn you’re really good I’m like what do you mean like what are you doing here I’m like what do you mean like what are you talking about like you should be you’re good enough to play on the PG I’m like stop stop you

Know messing with me this you just don’t say stuff you don’t mean and like it’s like no we’re not we’re not with you we’ve played with those guys the last 10 years yeah you need to get your act together and and get there and it wasn’t until I actually played with

Them and and they said those things I started scratching my head saying okay shoot maybe maybe I am good enough maybe I can you know get to a level where uh I could play at you know at at a World level I I honestly didn’t believe

That till I was 22 23 at maybe 24 at the time interesting you said that because someone someone told me just today that it was a shot that you played at um EUR Asia EUR Asia event EUR Asia cup yeah and you hit a three-wood and you played a a nice high

Fade yeah uh which you normally like to work the ball right to left and apparently that was a shot when you realized damn yeah I can play some world class golf was that the moment for you I’ll give you I’ll give you more perspective so the Eurasia cup was a

Europe Europe versus Asia event it it happened for about three or four editions this was the first edition if I’m not mistaken probably 2015 I think um and we were playing I think tongchai was our captain Miguel was himz was European Captain we playing in Malaysia Sunday

Was singles day and I was taking on Victor dubis who had just gone Toe totoe with Jason day in match play wjc WGC like a month and a half ago and he was like top 30 in the world at the time and uh Victor and I I have a lot of respect

For him uh really good really good golf and we went Toe to Toe I think he was four under I was five under and we came down to the 16th which is a power five and I had this kind of impossible shot and I hit this high fade to like 4T for

Ego and Victor like turned around and looked at me like where did that come from Three Wood uh five wood five wood harder to fade a iWood so yeah it was uh it was one of those shots that you know will always be with me and then I ended

Up beating him uh 3 and two I think on that hole or whatever something like that and he was very compliment ment of me as well cuz uh he never played with me and he was hot at the time you know so it was like yeah man you’re

Really good like best luck with everything one of those moments that you prove something to yourself mean you kind of get that validation you don’t when you’re playing smaller tours you don’t get exposed to playing with the best in the world so the few times that

You do like you are always trying to learn you’re always trying to you know set you know reset the bar like I played a couple of times the th Thailand Golf Championship was like one of the big events in December last events and I think two years in a row uh I finished

Third or fourth and I played the final round one year with Henrik and Sergio and the next year with uh I think Sergio and and Lee and you know they were like top top 10 players top five players in the world at the time and I was able to

Go Toe to Toe with them uh and this is a while ago right so but just hearing the sound of henrik’s you know six Ires 15 stories high 210 yards in the air rolling six inches on rock hard greens they’re like how does he do that you

Know like you we didn’t get exposed to that on the smaller tours where I actually horned my trade so just watching learning understanding where I need to take my game you know those things happened and I was just fortunate that I was able to do that and uh you

Know just go from there and and keep building let’s turn the clock a little to live now I mean you mentioned so many of the guys who are in that conversation that last answer that are current Live members yeah um there’s a lot of great

Players out here a lot of them some of them no question about some have seen their probably their best days uh many still think they have a lot of great days ahead of them and I think the majority of the great players still have their best golf ahead of them yes day in

And day out we only have 13 chances a year for for an individual title you know I was talking to one of our guys early he goes yeah that that kid’s going to win out here I go it’s easy to say that cuz he’s talented but we only get

13 chances a year we’re 20% of our schedule down already after two events um nearly that so um you had two really good chances so far take us back to Chicago when it felt like maybe that was the one that got away for you yeah Chicago definitely was One That Got Away

Most definitely I think um you know I kind of LED from the front there going into Sunday so was the one who was closest to me yeah were you aware of where Bryson was at that point not the early part of the round I think the

First nine or 10 holes it was it was like a match play situation with you know Sebastian got off to a hot start me not so much so then I came back and he had a bit R rough like middle part of the round and then I was like two ahead

I think after like with eight holes to go or whatever many holes to go and then that’s when Bryson started making everything he looked at yeah um so I only got aware of you know uh what else was happening because Lee also made a

Run l in the round um but I mean the equation for me was simple I just needed to make one or two birdies coming in I had four holes in front of me and also I was doing the math that oh Bryson’s got two to play whereas he that’s that’s the

Other thing that people don’t understand with Liv is you also have to do the math on where people are finishing up I was not only how many holes they have but which holes which Hol because and and that’s something we guys as a team have

Always done the four of us we go out on a Sunday and we trying to catch someone we’re like hey I’ve got a hot hot I’ve got an easy stretch to start I’m going to watch out for me I’m going to start hot and you know another one says well

I’m finishing on the easy stretch so I’m going to give you some birdies coming in so even as a team we know exactly where we are starting where we’re finishing and which is probably one of the reasons why we’ve we’ve been really good on most

Sundays m u so I knew he was finishing on the front line and I knew I was finishing on 16 17 18 I think 16 18 were probably two of the hardest holes uh even 15 was just tough part three yeah 14 is not an easy part and last year was a bit

Wet too wasn’t it I mean Golf Course was a challenge for everyone so I I kind of knew that I had to get through 16 and potentially uh 15 the part three and I had great opportunities on 13 14 17 potentially 18 um so in my head I was

Like just trying to be in the moment and do the same thing that I’m doing and yeah I mean I three-putted 15 yeah Miss just the speed on that actually hit a really good 6on that was maybe a yard too far right M and a lot of us have been victim to that

16th or 15th green that part three is brutal um so I think made a mistake there and just couldn’t make the birdie when I needed to so um I learned I learned a lot from that maybe played uh less aggressively than I needed to mhm

Uh but again I mean it was it was fantastic because I think what I learned learned that Sunday I applied Sunday of Miami yeah cuz I said okay you know I’ve had a Sunday where it was tough it a very hard pill for me to swallow to be

Honest not to be in a playoff especially was it looked like it wor you could see it you didn’t hide your emotions yeah no it was it was not not something that I was happy about but you know those are the ones you learn the most from MH um

So yeah I think uh the idea is the same to put myself in position on a Sunday like you said the few opportunities you get in a season but if I do I’ll be much much better prepared to take the challenge on and finish the job that

That pot on 18 um from below the hole off the green would you play that differently I don’t know I don’t know if I would no I would not chip I think any anyone who’s who’s played those greens in Chicago uh would would not chip okay because those are

Some difficult greens to judge mhm um you know especially Sundays since it was a wet week it dried out yeah so you didn’t know if it was going to land and kind of explode or since it’s going uphill hit a wet spot and stop yeah last

Thing you want to do is you’re trying to hold a chip and you run it you know 15 ft by which is easily done on those greens specifically I think if it was a different golf course with different surfaces I would always chip rather than putt I

Mean I I I prefer to I feel like I can ho out with a wedge uh more often and then a poter and I’ve H out enough times from around the greens to have the confidence to do it just not those greens yeah um but yeah I I miss Josh

The first part the second part I completely misre it wasn’t a mish hit so I was like I can’t believe that went that much left I think I played it right Edge to inside ride and it broke like a ball and a half um but yeah that’s golf

You you know we spoke to Bryson last week your captain and and he talked a lot about how he’s learning a lot from you guys guys being the youngest on the team and you guys have been through life and and all that do you feel that same

Dynamic with your team with brys being the youngest absolutely I mean i’ take less credit because you know Paul and Chucky are just they are just phenomenal I just played nine holes with them and you know half the time I was like just going wow wow I mean they’re phenomenal

Golfers phenomenal at applying their trade but they’re also really really solid individuals off the course MH uh I think uh they’re both fantastic family men um you know they they have their priorities I would say in the right orders same as myself off the course um

And there’s a lot for pricon to learn from them more than even me I think he leans on them for a lot of advice I think he went through a tough patch early part of last year where you know I was um trying to communicate with him

And keep talking to him and kind of be a shoulder for him to lean on uh and then obviously we saw what he did once he got out of that phase that funk that he was in but no I think the whole team is I

Mean I’m very lucky very lucky to be on this team very happy to be on this team and I learn a lot both on and off the course from them too uh but yeah Bryson’s Bryson’s got a heavy burden to bear you know he’s he’s very unique at

What he does and how he does it he’s very different as a person as an individual he’s easily misunderstood of course now we all know him very personally uh you know from maybe the most misunderstood guy out here 100% 100% agree with you on that part there’s

A lot of people that love to hate him and they just because they don’t know him well but it’s easy to hate him right he’s you know what I’m saying because no but you got you got to remember it’s easier to hate someone you’re jealous of

Right right absolutely and a lot of it is from that because he’s so good at what he does yeah that a lot of what he does belies is you know possibility like how is it possible to conven you know what I mean so it’s easier to to you

Know to say that ah instead of like okay what is he doing yeah how is he like so and I and I think um he’s got a burden to bear because he’s a captain he’s one of the leaders on live among the players he’s trying to do the best by his team

By you know the organization as a representative of of you know what the players would like to so he’s got a lot and he’s trying to build golf clubs he’s trying to win golf tournaments he’s trying to build his social media platform I mean he’s doing house oh

Let’s not even go there oh no let’s oh my God yeah that’s that’s an episode that is a whole episode I I know cuz I’ve been there and it’s uh yeah I mean when it’s done whenever that is it’ll be awesome we we I kept I I teased him I

Said when we go to Dallas for the team championship you’re gonna stay in the dambo palace he’s like yeah I hope it’s ready you can stay there and he wouldn’t even know it well last we we spoke to him and he’s like I’m in the second quarter secondary quarter secondary

Quarter he’s like oh no that sounds really that sounds really bad doesn’t it wow I just hope his go-kart track is ready by the time we get exactly don’t even get me started go-kart track and they won’t be slow go-karts anyway so so you know he’s got he’s got a lot on his

Plate um and and I think he works really hard it’s almost like he works too hard m half the time we’re telling him to just chill out I think that’s the that’s the biggest thing we can do for a captain is just tell him to relax but

It’s hard to do that as a young guy you know you I had no problem zero no he he doesn’t have that nature I knew his dad was dad was a motivated guy but his dad we used to chill quite a bit they went they went you guys play golf together we

Did we were miss being teammates by a year but we hung out together for a year or two no so it’s it’s it’s fun it’s fun it’s uh it’s an Eclectic very different bunch of people on this this team we’re not I mean all four of us are very very

Different from each other and I think that helps yeah I’m going to see if I can uh get something out of you here so Chucky said that he’s got more swing coaches than girlfriends I don’t know if you watched that podcast he’s had yes

He’s had yes I heard that b um what what about uh what about Bryson does he have more oh look at you going for the TMZ dirt here ask ask ask the question like the full question I don’t want to have to fish this question out I want this

Question and her face like on the question with subtitles before I answer uh does he have is it the same for him or is it does he have more girlfriends and swing coaches why didn’t you ask him that well look I it’s Bryon I just just

Like look I’m not going to go there all right answer time yes I it’s actually she’s not even putting me on the spot she’s putting herself on the spot I just let her drag it out drag herself out just one word oh well do indulge yeah answer is yes

Yeah okay all right good I don’t have a followup for that okay no I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna dig yes I’m going to dig myself out of this hole that I’ve just created for myself um you were the first Indian player uh to play on the

President’s Cup team uh talk us to that experience only yeah the only yeah the only which you played 15 17 where were that’s right 15 17 Korea and uh Liberty National Liberty National yeah I covered you in Korea yeah what was that first experience like it was sural yeah it’s I

Mean any team event really is is um you know I I keep telling people you got to have markers in your life events that create a timeline and I think every team event is is such marker it’s it’s that kind of a event uh it was phenomenal uh

Again5 15 I was still not fully exempt on the PJ tour um that’s the year I kind of was that before you won the may Bank no that’s the year I won both mayback and Indian open I had a that was probably my one of my better one of my

Best years in terms ofour yeah and finished fifth at the PGA in Whistling Straits um that was a good good year and you know just that was my first time that I’ve shared personal space with you know guys like Scotty you know Jason was number one in the

World at the time uh you know Louie Shaw Gracie um I mean I made friends for life yeah for sure uh regardless of everything that’s happened you know even in the recent past uh if I meet anybody from that team half of them are here anyways right we could just sit and and

Chill but you make some really deep relationships um fighting for a common cause fighting against a common enemy so to speak is there’s nothing that brings people closer than that yeah uh and obviously we’ve always been underdogs you know we’ve always been written off and we’ve always played with a chip on

Our shoulder um and it brings out the best um in us and and I think there’s nothing there’s no event that I think you play with more passion than a rider cup or a President’s Cup do you do you think that that always playing as an underdog um do you think that you’re

Still facing that as now a representative of Liv do you feel that way uh I don’t know maybe maybe a lot of people like to paint live that way it’s reduced Jerry if you asked me this question 18 months ago it would be an overwhelming yes yeah um it has reduced

But it’s but it’s always there you know you could you could achieve I think winning a live event is super hard because you just look at all the guys you got to beat right right it’s it’s not a joke and I’m not saying it’s

Easier to win or it’s a joke to win on other tours don’t get me wrong a win’s a win but winning against all these guys all these major winners is not a joke but if you do win the people who don’t understand what it takes to win will

Think it’s a joke yeah and that is what is really disappointing because you know it’s it’s that’s not the case we’re in our third year we don’t have a hundred years of of history books that’s a big part of it it’s going to take time obviously but

You know we’ve been we’ve been talking about it too long and and it’s been it’s almost like you squeeze a lemon too much it gets bitter it’s got to that point where we just you know I I like to keep my head down focus on my golf I’m still

Working as hard if not harder than I did MH on my game I still want to go out and win tournaments I want to beat these guys I want to prove to myself that I can beat all of these guys I came close um last year that gives me a lot of

Confidence that I can do it you lost in your you lost in the playoff in your very first live event in Boston yeah I’ve had a couple of tight calls but exactly you know so the way I I look at it is I just put my blinkers on and I do

What I need to do mhm um but yeah to answer your question yes I think to some extent it’s it’s sad um and I think we all live and die with each other to some extent like you know late last a common Bond frity you know like late last year

Burm won two weeks in a row Walkin won Louie won you know all these guys and it was like you know you show them you show them because it’s like everybody say ah H this is not like really 54 exhibition they can’t play they’ve done nothing but

Win it’s fine you know you get to the point where haters are going to hate and you just got to keep doing what you’re doing and you know down the road there’s been a lot of guys who’ve done 180s yeah yeah and and there’s going to be I think

Over the next few years that number of people who do 180s is just going to increase there’s no question right and a lot of people who have taken this moral High Ground which has been you know fed to them yeah are going to start realizing oh shoot you know they just

Made a monkey out of me yeah because that’s what’s happened yeah but hey I’m not going to like individually react or respond to that I’m just going to do what I need to do I want to be a part of the change I want to be a part of the

Story I want to be a part of the future I want to be a part of uh you know what what could potentially you know be a D20 of of of golf you know a lot there’s so much positive i’ I’d rather focus on that I’d rather focus on what I can

Control I think when we’re all in our Grandpa’s chairs or basically by the time you guys get my age um I thought you wait your chair when I as we I think in you know a generation from now I think every person who has been a part of it at this stage and

Before is going to have a huge sense of pride in what they accomplished because by then all of the bias all of the agendas will be a thing of the past um yeah but I’m curious put yourself 20 years from now other than Parenthood and and and family related things what what

Can you accomplish in your future that will make you sit back and go man I’m proud I’d like to I’d like to do more and more and more for golf in IND MH that’s something that I am very very passionate about um I want to I want to

Be able to achieve in my career enough to allow me to do that that’s one of my big motivations of of coming out and and trying to play better and win is because the more I do the more of that I can achieve the easier or more it’ll enable me to make a

Difference in the future back home that’s definitely one thing that’s very very close to my heart but you know like in terms of man I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you what’s going to happen it’s been you know surprise after surprise to some extent in the last few

Years so it’s very hard to predict the future but you want you know in a utopian World 20 years from now you want to have all the best players playing together right you want to have um you know a product that people love players love broadcasters love

It’s exciting to watch it’s uh you know it it is based around what the audience wants yeah I think that’s what you know with this whole Rift we’ve lost a lot of people who loved golf yeah MH we’ve lost uh a lot of um fans I’m not saying we as

In live it’s sport the sport no you there’s a lot of there’s a lot of uh golf consumers that are turned off disillusioned yes yeah you know that’s that’s the word they’re like yeah so what so what if so and so won a PJ to

Event so what if so and so want a live event right you want to have you want all these events to have more meaning than they do right now and that’s not going to happen till there’s a resolution yeah you know you want like again this is a dead horse has been

Beaten and beaten and beaten but you want the o wgr to have some sense yeah there’s so many aspects of pro golf that are broken yeah completely broken that need to be put back and hopefully not even 20 hopefully 5 years from now um and that’s not a stretch yeah you know

You can put these pieces back where you bring back the the fan base globally not just for live for golf just for golf you know everybody who says oh you’re you’re you’re playing 50 I’m I’m playing golf yeah I’m not playing Crick it on a golf

Course I’m not kicking a football on a golf course I’m still playing golf I play by the rules of golf I’m not breaking any rules this is golf right and I’m competing and I’m doing stroke play I don’t get any Mulligans this is not this is not you know this is so this

Whole thing that you’ve made up in your head it’s just that it’s you’ve made it up in your head but you probably don’t remember it but in your lifetime it happened with the sport that is a religion in your country it happened and it it faced the exact same backlash for

A long long time from the powers that be from the institutions from the the cherished institutions of the sport and now it’s more popular than it’s ever been exactly no but that was one of the big reasons why I could again like I said I don’t have a

Crystal ball but if I was to predict I said yes this this could be and I mentioned it the T20 of golf which is basically the format that has already taken over Cricket T20 is taken over the one days well in the sense that there’s more people that watch D20 than Cricket

Because it’s a lot faster it is faster three hours as opposed to a day exact and then it’s packaged differently you almost always play it under lights so people are done with school or offices or whatever right so it’s it’s like I said it’s about a product that is

Designed and tailored for the consumer yeah and that’s kind of what live golf is that’s kind of why I was attracted to it as well everybody say oh you’re just you know saying what you’re supposed to say I’m like no dude you haven’t like I love test Cricket like all of last week

I mean we’re playing England right now I’ve been watching a lot of test Cricket I love it I’m not saying I don’t like 4 day golf I love 4day golf yeah that’s always going to be I think you know the the the the the majors will always

Enough room for everybody but that’s the thing but that’s the thing it’s like why would you limit yourself yeah why would you limit yourself you can have a more entertaining product and that’s what T20 did there’s a world cup of T20 there’s a world cup of one day and there is a

World cup of tests and they’re vastly different form but if you look at the world of cricket there are kids who are growing up only to be T20 players so just batsman just s there kids yeah you’re just trying to smash everything out the park and then there’s another

Set of kids who are who want to play test tricket who want to play the longer formance of the game so there’s why why can’t we have that in golf by the way we also had not quite the same perhaps um level but rugby is the same there’s a

Rugby sevens you know um and that’s been very popular exactly it’s huge and people love it and it’s it’s fast it’s fun it’s different but the Rugby Union still exists you know people still fans of of that watch that that’s just enough product everybody is it is big enough

For everyone to exist even I mean the America’s pastime baseball it hasn’t changed its format at all um but pictures on a clock now yeah they’re doing everything they can to make it more fan friendly which is exactly one of the elements that is is unique to

Live golf to be more fan friendly so the the dead horse is just got beat one more time I’m just saying I know it’s I try and steer clear of it but it does come up you know to put things in perspective so for me it was it was actually an

Easier decision than a lot of people thought because I’ve already seen what happened with one of my favorite sports yeah I’ve seen that transform I don’t see why this can’t be the same watching you play and we’ve had I’ve had the privilege of of watching you play you

Are a very calm collected at least on the outside it seems that way type of player and I know you’re into you do Retreats don’t you um where you you go and you go for two weeks right 10 days 10 days yeah where you don’t speak what

You don’t speak for 10 days can you take her can you take him actually month um well you don’t speak and you don’t take your phones you don’t where did that come from and and sort of are you still doing that uh I haven’t done

One to begin with I haven’t done one in in a while or but you’re in Austria in the offseason right that was a different thing okay that was that was a different thing uh that was more of a detox I had some gut issues and I had some issues um

That I wanted to sort out which was also fantastic but that was more from a Health standpoint this was more from you know just a being standpoint I know that sounds meditation meditative type thing yeah yeah I so I got into it let me go back like I was probably 16 or

17 and uh my mom decided to go and do it and so she she disappeared for 10 days she said look I’m going to do this so Dad and I were home and then she did that she came back I was like whoa like she was like completely different person

When I say that it’s like she was super chill she wasn’t anxious she wasn’t you know she was a really I mean she’s amazing but she was an even more amazing version of herself and she herself was like I feel great I feel light I feel energetic I feel clear I’m like not

Reacting to stuff I mean it’s hard being a parent you know it I know it we all know it right so so then my dad saw her in that St she’s like man I got to do it too so then he went and did it and then

When he came back he was I was like what is this place like what do they do there like who are these you know people like I mean I love what’s happened and then I was 17 and a half and I’m like H this might be really good for my golf so you

Know cuz that’s how you think as a 17y old who wants to be a better version of yourself you just want to play better right at least I did so I’m like yeah I think I’m going to do this just I’m G to go there I’m going to come out I’m going

To just win everything and I’m G to have laser focus so I I went it’s called vipasana mhm so you do it’s in India it’s everywhere there centers in the US globally okay so I went in there and it’s 10 days uh you have two meals a day

You wake up at 4:30 you meditate almost 12 hours a day few yeah few breaks in the middle you don’t speak for 9 10 days you don’t even make eye contact you’re not supposed to communicate with anybody you’re only supposed to communicate with yourself essentially that’s the whole

Idea so when you do the retreat you’re asked to do it as if you’re alone that’s the whole idea now you can’t do that in reality but that’s how you have to approach that time and that space but again I’m thinking of I’m just going to come out and just make birdies

Everywhere so I go in like with this mindset and like three days in I’m like oh my God how am I going to survive this um and then by the ninth Eighth Day it’s like I don’t want to leave I don’t want to talk to anyone I mean just this is

Amazing what a phenomenal you know um yeah I mean I could feel my vibration change I could feel everything change my energy level so I went in with one mindset and I came out a better person you know just in general like it was it was

Transformative for me and to do that at that age I think I was very lucky MH because you’re not carrying the you know the the the weight of the world on your shoulders you’re a kid you know you have no responsibilities except for you know get good grades essentially and playing

Good golf like that’s all I car about yeah but you know so it was it was uh definitely life-altering for me at the stage what did you learn about yourself I want to know did it work did you make more birdies I did oh I did there you go I

Think you should go though I did no you know what I was so desperate golfers are golfers want the Elixir they want any little Edge I went I don’t have a religious bone in my body I went to a Scientology Place thinking that would make me a better golfer really just for

A day yeah for a day and learned about it a little bit I’m like and then I I walked out of there I was kind of like walking out of a retreat I guess it’s like what kind of person have I become I’m looking for answers outside

Of where you where you find the answers which are kind of what the retreat sounds like it teaches you yeah answers always come from within so yeah what I mean I just I just I mean it’s hard to put into words um but yeah I mean it was it was a lot I

Got much I mean my reactivity went down my judgment went down of others of myself of you know responding to a situation instead of reacting to a situation M the biggest thing was okay this is the situation what do I want to do so the biggest difference was taking action instead of

Reacting that’s essentially what golf is yeah yeah you know so so but that’s for life it golf was just just a part of my life my entire you know everything got affected positively along with my golf yeah you know I went in there only to do

This but all this in front of me got got was hugely hugely um altered for me and how I saw it how I interacted with people how I interacted with myself um and that translates on your golf course I mean every time you’ve played your best golf you’ve always been

In a good state of mind right yeah so those two things kind of go hand in hand so I went for one I got another and like you said Jerry when I came back out I started playing really well and there’s at least 25 30 Pros who went and did the

Who went and did the course how many and every time someone came and said hey should I go I’m like go for it not most most of them didn’t come out and win much at least you got better how many days could Bryson make how many days

Could he make how how many how many till he just walk my God I I hate the fact that my captain gets thrown under the boat I got I got over under it less than a day until he’s out of there I’d say two days he he he and I think the reason

Would be he wouldn’t get his vacuum back food um all right we’re not going to hold you back for any longer but I’m going to finish with one final question sure what would you tell your 20-year-old self oh I love that question just enjoy every moment enjoy every

Failure and uh don’t be so hard on yourself cuz I think that’s something that I’ve been guilty of my whole career I think most golfers are I think we’re all wired that way uh we all believe that we are the problem uh I would I would probably tell

Myself that just keep your head down and keep looking for that solution keep working your way through whatever comes your way fantastic perfect thanks for your time thank you so much pleas appreciate it good luck this week look forward to watching you as always thank you

Guys well that was cool I love Bon you know I I’ve I met Bon a long time ago and I will say throughout his career even till today and what he’s achieved you know as an Indian golfer but also being here on Liv and being one of the

Top golfers in the world he is not changed one bit no not I’ve known him well maybe a dozen years now close to a dozen years and uh if that and he obviously he’s a well- grounded guy he’s a very nice guy and golf is has a lot of

Guys that you qualify in that category but uh he he he’s just he’s just one of those guys you just you can’t get enough of being around him yeah yeah yeah and super intelligent oh God if you if you really spend more time talking to him

You got an hour with him but you know he is so intelligent and so informed and very very diplomatic too yes I think it takes an intelligent person to judge somebody’s intelligent so I’ll just say he seems intelligent to me must be the retreat I think you

Should sign up for that you know what if I went on a retreat I like him I might never leave I love I’m a very social but you won’t be able to drink though I’m a very that’s okay I’m not drinking now anyway um I’m a very social person but

My God my time away from people I enjoy so much more like I just want just want to check out yeah and that’d be if I checked out I’m not sure I’d really check back in 10 days is a lot of time 10 days without without your phone so

You can’t you don’t have the Twitter you don’t have the Google yeah you don’t have the Karen you don’t have yeah that would suck um yeah no I I couldn’t imagine not having human interaction for 10 days I mean you don’t even get the Amazon guy come to the house which is

Sometimes my only human interaction action you can’t even have your your your little dog with you yeah that’d be wild yeah Zoe yeah yeah that’ll be sad anyway uh if you enjoy that podcast do subscribe to Fairway to Heaven uh if you’re Keen to watch this on video you

Can catch it on our YouTube live golf channel as well as our live Golf Plus app and you can find us wherever you get your podcast um we’re on the caffeine now we’re on the caffeine CA is it called the caffeine or caffeine it’s now called the caffeine okay well Thea the

Caffeine when you’re old um different places make sure you do catch the coverage as well this week um it’s going to be great it’s going to be fantastic we’ll see you throughout the coverage this week but we’ll see you on the podcast next Week