Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And he's got a ton of stories about Vijay and about all of the things that he used to try around the greens.
00:06I mean, was it ridiculous?
00:07Yeah, it was pretty silly what he did.
00:10So I was a rookie in 2004, which was the year Vijay won 10 events.
00:16Yeah.
00:18And before that season started, I was down in Jacksonville in the winter of 2003.
00:24And I had always followed Vijay when I was in college.
00:27I went to the event in Firestone.
00:30And for whatever reason, I just saw this guy.
00:32And I was like, oh, I'm going to check him out.
00:33And then I'd watch him play.
00:35And he was kind of my guy when I was in high school, in college.
00:40We used to have the event out here at Callaway Gardens in college.
00:43We'd go out there.
00:43I'd go watch Vijay.
00:45So I got my card, 2003.
00:48Yeah.
00:49I was in Jacksonville.
00:50He's on the range.
00:51And, you know, Vijay's supposed to be like, don't poke the bear type of guy.
00:55He's a tough cookie.
00:56He's a tough cookie.
00:57I just went up to him.
00:58I was like, hey, you know, I'm Jason Duffner.
01:00I'm going to be on tour next year.
01:02I said, I used to, you know, watch you in Firestone and the Honda Classic and the Buick event.
01:08And like, you know, you're pretty much like my guy.
01:11You know, if I could ever play a practice round with you or whatever, that'd be great.
01:15And, you know, he's kind of like, oh, you know, he's like, oh, that's nice.
01:19And then he's like, all right, I'm going to practice.
01:20I'm like, okay, I guess we're not playing a practice round ever.
01:24Cool.
01:25So I was down there for like a month.
01:28And every time I would beat Vijay to the practice facility in the morning and I would stay until he left.
01:35So then like after about two or three weeks of that, he finally comes over to me and he's like, hey, bro, here's my number.
01:43Everybody was bro.
01:44So he's like, here's my number.
01:46If you want to play, you know, whenever you start, you know, just text me and we'll play.
01:50So I played every Tuesday with Vijay for that whole season when we're in the same event.
01:57Wow.
01:57And I took a beating financially.
02:00We would always play the same.
02:03We would play a thousand dollar match play event and you could press for half once you lost.
02:09And I beat him one time.
02:10I beat him one time.
02:12No, I just take the beat.
02:14I beat him for a thousand.
02:15I was about to say, that would be good sound financial advice.
02:18I beat him one time.
02:19I braided the last hole of the shoot, like 62 or three at Nemecolin, which was an old event that's no longer on the schedule.
02:27And I beat him one up.
02:28So he was winning 10 times a year and then he was literally shooting like 66 or better every time on Tuesday, just beating me into the ground.
02:37But that was another invaluable experience for me to be around a guy who's playing that well, who at the time was the top 10 player in the world.
02:45I think he was number one, won the PGA that year, just to see how he practiced and what he did.
02:51And, um, you get a real quick appreciation for where they're at and what he's doing and then kind of like what you're doing.
02:59So, um, you know, look in the mirror situation.
03:03So I knew I needed to step it up.
03:05I needed to get better.
03:06And he gave me, he wouldn't really, he didn't really know what he was doing, but he was just doing it.
03:12You know what I mean?
03:13Which is another great quality of tour players.
03:16Like if you ask a lot of guys on tour, like, Hey, how'd that happen?
03:21They have no idea.
03:22They just do it.
03:22Right.
03:23So I was able to take video and just kind of look and figure out and piece together, like what's happening.
03:30How is this happening?
03:32And, you know, that was when they had the square grooves were still allowed and balls a little bit softer, but like he would do stuff around the greens that would just, you'd be like, Oh my God.