- 2 years ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00In game live all access. We are back talking open championship on a Sunday. I'm Charlie
00:09Hume the co-host of the smiley show alongside Smiley Kaufman who is out on the course right
00:13now at Royal Troon. I'm here hanging out with a guy who I'm just thrilled to see once again
00:18because Gary Williams. He's a partner and in the lead, you know, sort of face or host
00:23of five clubs golf. He's a guy. I absolutely loved producing for and working with at Sirius
00:28XM PGA Tour radio and he joins us live now from South Bend, Indiana where he's doing
00:34some work this week in support of the underrated golf tour, which is a sort of a Steph Curry
00:39vehicle to create more opportunity in the game of golf and they have the event a little
00:44bit later today at the Warren course, which Gary tells me is about a mile from campus
00:48sounds fantastic and early core Crenshaw project. Here's what I love the most about that Gary
00:53How many of the shows we worked on at PGA Tour radio began with off-air and break conversations
00:59where we're just nerding out on golf that architecture and we didn't even miss a beat.
01:02Here we are right back doing it all over again.
01:04Charlie first of all, it's great seeing you great being with you. Always. You're right.
01:11You're right. I had never seen this golf course. I came out for a site visit right before Masters
01:16week and we were out on the golf course in snow showers. It was a classic like early
01:23spring day in South Bend, Indiana, but this is this is 250 acres protected by the Audubon
01:31Society. This is classic Parkland style golf a very different from what you and I are getting
01:37ready to talk about as far as where they're playing the Open Championship, but it's really
01:42neat to be here. And like you said Steph has poured his heart and soul into the creation
01:47of this tour and in creating opportunities for kids who have the aspiration at minimum
01:52to play college golf and to know that these kids are going to be, you know, not only playing
01:57here but but staying literally on campus for the next three to four nights as well as getting
02:04a tour of Notre Dame Stadium under the lights tonight. I mean, how good is that? I'm here
02:08at 12 to 18 year old kid. I does not get any better. I mean, it's funny growing up
02:14in California and having parents that went to USC. I was on the other side of that rivalry,
02:19you know pulling for the Trojans, but always had this deep respect for Notre Dame and watching
02:23the Rudy movie and just the emotions that it feels and it brings out. So very cool that
02:28you're there doing that and also, you know, supporting this very, you know, this we talk
02:33about growing the game of golf. This is a tour. It's actually doing that creating those
02:36opportunities. So that is fantastic. And just to continue on the theme Gary, you know,
02:41we love doing the whole architecture the golf romanticism thing. I just came back from Scotland
02:45for the first time truly blown away had an amazing trip with my dad. I want to know your
02:51sort of Scotland top five course list and it can be no no sort of set criteria here
02:57of like a top 100 list. I just want to know the five places in Scotland that you love
03:00the most to play golf.
03:02Oh gosh, whittling it down to five not easy there, you know, you first of all, it makes
03:10me makes me smile to think that you just had that experience with your dad. The first time
03:16I went to Scotland was with my father and you know, we went I played the old course
03:22for the first time with my dad. I played near field for the first time with my dad Prestwick
03:27Turnberry Troon these great historic places rear field to me for a couple reasons one.
03:34I think it is I think it is absolutely the best when it comes to a championship venue.
03:43I also you know, when you play there and you play your own ball in the morning go in you
03:47have this decadent gluttonous lunch. Yes, I want him and you go back out in the afternoon
03:52and and play alternate shot and zip around and you sit in that great grand room looking
03:58out over a Gullen Bay in the fourth of fourth. There's nothing like it. I put that one. I
04:05put the old course a very close second. I think Turnberry is majestic. I mean, I would
04:13put that third Prestwick just because of its quirkiness. I would probably put that fourth
04:22and then five my gosh, there's a lot that would that I would put kind of in a collage
04:27of golf courses. Turn is very very good. I'm going to give I'm going to give an ode to
04:34something that's new and because it's so good and new. I just have amazing appreciation
04:42for what Kyle Phillips did in creating Kings Barnes. I just I just you know, Charlie, it's
04:47not easy to take up residence in that neighborhood and build something that good and I'm I'm
04:53leaving out places like North Berwick, which is in Gullen and I can go on and on. I just
04:59I think Kings Barnes is a testament to if you got the guts to build something right
05:05in that neighborhood and you pull it off. You should be rewarded with the accolades
05:10and he deserves it Gary quick on air production meeting. I realize we just brought you on
05:14a segment earlier than we were supposed to so we're going to chat in the break. See if
05:17you have a few extra minutes to hang and let's let's hopefully hopefully we'll all see Gary
05:21Williams on the other side of this break. Stay tuned. We're back with in-game live all
05:25access here today continuing discuss the Open Championship and all things golf. I'm Charlie
05:30Hume. I'm the co-host of the smiley show alongside Smiley Kaufman and I am happy to report that
05:37the in-break production meeting worked. We have Gary Williams. He's still here. He's
05:41graciously decided to stick on with us and Gary. Let's pick up right where we left off
05:45because I was thrilled by Kings Barnes. We were talking a little bit of Scottish course
05:50gosh architecture Kings Barnes was the last course we played on this trip and the weather
05:55report looks so bad that day. It's our 13th round in eight days and I'm just thinking
06:00I'm just going to go to the golf course and just sort of slap it around and enjoy the
06:03scenery with my dad and then we'll just hop on a plane and head on home ended up shooting
06:08the round of my career at a little 270 and now Kings Barnes will forever have a special
06:14place in my heart. In fact, I think let's see if I turn the proper direction got the
06:18little flag up here too. So shout out to Kings Barnes that place is amazing, but I love the
06:24list you kind of put together there. I wasn't able to play all of those on this trip, but
06:28was delighted by Prestwick. I thought it was so fun. So quirky and this is truly I mean
06:33on the topic of links golf. It is something that if you love the game, you know me for
06:38the first time going over and experiencing that I encourage anyone who loves the game
06:42to do the same because it's such a different style of golf. It is so there's so many different
06:46things you're factoring in this. There was something about showing up on a range and
06:51instead of doing the customary. Let me get my lob wedge or my sand wedge out pulling
06:54out a pitching wedge or a seven iron or seeing how the bumper run, you know, kind of calibrating
06:59that a little bit every single day. I just was thrilled by the whole experience and cool
07:03to have your inside of someone who's played over there much more extensively than I have.
07:08It's like you said the ground is your friend over there where in the United States. It's
07:14such an aerial game and it really kind of gets disinteresting over here when the ball
07:21gets in the air because you know, essentially when the ball lands, that's the result not
07:27there over there. The result is just beginning because the curiosity of where the ball is
07:34going to bound and trundle to and all these crevices and all these knolls and they're
07:40the great writer and designer Robert Hunter said that contour is the essence of golf and
07:47I know Ben Crenshaw feels the same way and I think the best time to see contour is late
07:52in the day with the light being softer and there's nothing like it. And of course, you
07:57know, when you go over to Scotland and spring summertime, the days are so long and you can
08:03be out there at 9 o'clock at night. You still have 90 minutes of daylight in 13 and 8 Charlie.
08:09I'm very proud of you that you and your old man when when you know, heavy 36 whole day,
08:15which was what you know, early 90s. I was doing with my old man as well. It's there.
08:20The best memories you could ever make it really and truly trip of a lifetime and by
08:26far the most special part was sharing that with my dad, but I am not proud to report
08:31that he was doing a lot better at the end of the trip than I was. I was the one who
08:34was hurting a little bit. It was I wish I had another pair of shoes. I need like some
08:38Norma Tech boots or a deep tissue massage. He was just popping up early in the morning
08:43every day having this cup of coffee ready to go at it again. So truly stuff of a lifetime
08:47and that's the other part I'd add to that is if you're going to go and you're going
08:50to do a trip like this do it with someone you love and you can share these memories
08:53with forever and the father-son thing as a newly minted dad, you know a couple years
08:58ago. It has a different sort of weight to it understanding what it means to be a son
09:03to a dad for the first time not only just being a dad it gives you that extra perspective.
09:07So very cool stuff and Gary talking a little bit there about the contours of the difference
09:12of this test and just parlaying that right into a discussion about this week at the open,
09:17you know, I think a lot of us were astonished to see who got left at home who did not make
09:21the weekend. And so just talking about those big-name cut missers and there were obvious
09:25sort of surprises where Rory had the shortest odds entering the tournament. We all felt
09:29like this test was pretty perfect for Ludwig's, you know style of game, but who surprised
09:34you the most from a grit standpoint maybe where you know this Thursday and Friday took
09:40a lot of grit to make it through those conditions and you know, seeing the guys that missed
09:44the cut who to you was like, wow, I can't believe that guy couldn't kind of battle through
09:48it and make the weekend Charlie. It's a great question. I would look at it two ways. I would
09:55look at the player. I'm most surprised didn't lean in and fight to the end and he audibly
10:03expressed that he checked out and that is Rory and I was very bullish on him. I picked
10:09him to win the golf tournament as did I. We're a support group here. And so the fact
10:15that he said after 22 holes, he knew where he said, look, I get it. It's the human condition
10:20and we know that, you know, we all are susceptible to kind of checking out on things. And then
10:28on the flip side of that is a guy who has a chance to win today who has virtually no
10:34record in major championships and his major championship career is just beginning. It's
10:38third full season that Sam Burns has played in all four majors in succession in a year
10:45and he's coming off, you know, his first top 10. The guy was seven over par through 11
10:51holes. I mean, if you would ever find yourself prey to being ready to check out and go, I'm
10:58out of this championship, forget winning it. I'm out of it. And for him to go from being
11:05essentially just inside the top 100 to being into the second to last group on a championship
11:11Sunday, that that's the embodiment of grit. I mean, it's, I could not say that any better.
11:18I mean, just a guy that shoots 76 on Thursday, you know, a guy that could just easily mail
11:23it in like Rory, where, where am I going on vacation next and sticks around and is here
11:27with a chance to win it. And by the way, a guy that is one of the best putters in the
11:31world. And on this sort of surfaces, Red Fescue, that is not a common feature for,
11:36as we just talked about PGA tour golf, or, you know, we just, we went through a stretch
11:39where we were played, you know, some really quick and firm and fast Bermuda Pinehurst.
11:43And we went to the rocket mortgage and the John Deere classic on sort of a bank grass
11:47or a bank grass, Poe makes, you know, you get a week last week at the Scottish on Red
11:51Fescue. And then again, here, it's not something that you can immediately sort of adjust to
11:55though. So to see Sam rolling the ball, the way he is and in contention on a Sunday, that's
11:59the group Smiley has today. So tuning in here shortly to kind of see how that goes.
12:03Now, just on a, maybe on a big picture note here, how do you evaluate the test this week
12:10and just the course set up? And, you know, I know there's been some form of critique
12:15about, you know, should we have moved T's up? And I, you know, to be, to be honest,
12:19I don't know how you do that because it's just bizarre to see, you know, Sibu, Kim ace
12:24the 17th and perfect weather with the long iron in his hand. And then Shane Lowry hitting
12:28driver there to close out the day, you know, are there, you know, the parts of this that
12:33maybe feel unfair. Are you okay with that being unfair this week? Because it is open
12:39championship golf. Yeah, I'm more than okay with it. And I think that fair unfair are
12:45two words that really don't even apply to the game of golf. I think they get kicked
12:49around and I think that they're used in a kind of a weird kind of almost reckless way.
12:56Like, well, what's fair, what's fair about hitting a round ball with an oblong fair about
13:03it. I mean, it's the, the, the game is just a kaleidoscope of vagary. I mean, that's what
13:09it is. And you get over there in these conditions that are constantly changing. I have no problem
13:15with this setup at all. They're all playing the same golf course. There's not one pin
13:19that you and I looked at and went, look at that ball was getting to within two feet of
13:23the hole and then was retreating back off into, you know, a green side bunker. The yardages
13:27of the holes were the same for everybody. The par is just a number and, and knowing
13:33that things can change as quickly as they do there. The challenge of setting up an open
13:37championship is difficult and I have absolutely zero problem at all. As a matter of fact,
13:46this open champion to me, Charlie has represented why it's such a beautiful championship because
13:53you just showed that full screen graphic of all of the big names that missed the cut.
13:58And then we have the likes of, of Tristan Lawrence and Dan Brown who find themselves
14:02in this position. And then you have, you know, the likes of a Russell Henley, Sam Burns and
14:07Bully Horschel who don't have much of a record at all in major championships. And then you
14:11have the specter of the number one player in the world. And the guy who's right there
14:15in Xander Schauffele, whose shadows cast very long. This is, this is a beautiful representation
14:23of the open championship.
14:25A kaleidoscope of vagary. The man is a wordsmith, Gary Williams. Thank you so much for taking
14:31the time today, Gary. Listen to him at five clubs golf. They do a phenomenal job there
14:36on PGA tour radio on Sirius XM. Gary joyed out there today in South Bend. Thanks so much
14:41buddy.
14:42Thanks Charlie. Great seeing you.
Comments