00:00James, I want to kind of just document your journey. It's a bit unique when I look at where you
00:05played your collegiate golf course, playing at Yale, playing multi sports in high school growing up, being very successful in
00:12football, hockey and golf, actually winning 11 letters, which I didn't even know was possible in high school, combined with
00:20all the three different sports you played.
00:22So why don't you just talk a little bit about your upbringing and how really just sports, whether it be
00:28football, hockey and golf and how you ultimately ended up sticking to golf and making it a professional career?
00:35Yeah, it's a it's a very, very long story, but I'll kind of give you the highlights.
00:40Well, guess what? It's a podcast. We're here for it.
00:42Yeah. So growing up, I always played everything. I was on the swim and dive team as a kid. I
00:47played football, basketball, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, soccer.
00:51My parents loved sports and they introduced us to everything. I'm one of five kids and all four of my
00:57siblings are incredible athletes and people in their own rights, and I am extremely proud of them.
01:03So that also helped pushing each other, playing in the backyard together and being on the same teams as my
01:09brothers and even my sisters. We played on the same hockey team. My sister played high school hockey.
01:13So where were you in the age with all this and sisters? OK, so the oldest. So everybody you're going
01:19to definitely try to win all the games that you're you're setting forth for all.
01:23Yeah, exactly. Blood, sweat and tears. And there's a lot of there's a lot of blood, blood, bloodshed for sure.
01:29We would get gritty with it.
01:31But yeah, I mean, growing up, I was playing everything. And then I got to high school and I my
01:36plan was to play football in the fall, hockey in the winter and then lacrosse in the spring.
01:40I ended up breaking my collarbone in football and then I broke it again in hockey. And then I went
01:45to get cleared for lacrosse.
01:48And essentially, my dad's an orthopedic surgeon and the nurse at the school who clears you for the sport, she
01:54was like, I don't think it's a great idea for you to play lacrosse.
01:57Why don't you play golf? I know you're good at it. Why don't you just, you know, have a nice
02:00leisurely springtime sport? And I was like, OK, is this?
02:04It's 14. So 14. OK, so you haven't played a ton of golf to this point.
02:09No, but in the summertime, I grew up in New York and I was fortunate enough to be a member,
02:14like, you know, my football coach called me country club kid or country club boy.
02:18And, you know, my parents were members at a club and I had the opportunity to play at a great
02:23club growing up.
02:24And he would always make fun of me, country club kid or whatever. So I ended up playing golf.
02:29I ended up qualifying for the state championship, which was the first time a freshman had qualified in a lot
02:34of years.
02:34And I think I shot like 87, 88 at states. So it wasn't like this, you know, heroic story, but
02:41it gave me this drive to wow, like golf is a lot of fun.
02:45I like competing. And from then on out, I played football, hockey and golf. Those are my my three sports.
02:51And then when it came time to apply to colleges, I applied to 40 something, I think 47 colleges for
02:58some for hockey, some for football and none for just golf.
03:02I was not good enough to play golf in college, but I got the opportunity to play football and golf
03:08at Yale and I took it right when I got it.
03:11I was like, you know what? I can set my future up. I can go to a great university. I
03:14can learn a lot.
03:15I can grow as a person and I get to play on the number one college golf course in the
03:20country or in the world, whatever it is.
03:23It's number one. And so I took that opportunity.
03:26I went to play football at Yale, hated football after a year, committed to golf.
03:31And that long story, I guess, includes we did a spring break trip to Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, MPCC, Spyglass,
03:38SFGC.
03:41Using the connections of the Yale alumni very well.
03:45And I told my coach, sold like, I'm in whatever.
03:49And then I got much better when I was there, went to Q school and, you know, fast forward six
03:53years and now we're here.
03:55Okay. What about that freshman year playing for the Yale football team made you not like it as much?
04:01Was it just golf? Was this kind of waving at you over there in the corner and just that golf
04:06itch?
04:06Or was it more about, man, playing collegiately is a lot different than high school football.
04:11And it was way more maybe than you anticipated.
04:14I think maybe a little bit all of the above. I was a big fish in a small pond in
04:18high school.
04:19I felt like I was the guy. I played every position, didn't get off the field.
04:23And then you get to college.
04:25Well, yeah, at high school, right? Yeah, high school version.
04:28And then in New York, too.
04:30And then you get to college where it's the best players from each high school.
04:35And I was so the death chart went Foye Luakon, who is the captain and the starting.
04:40I think he's playing linebacker now for the Jaguars.
04:43And then me. I was never going to surpass Foye.
04:46Foye was an absolute beast.
04:49Was this DB? Did you play DB? Where did you play?
04:51Yeah, he was strong safety. So we were both strong safeties.
04:54And it was also like this love for the game.
04:56I kind of was dwindling.
04:59I didn't love as much hockey was my pure love.
05:02Like that was the sport where once I quit football,
05:04I was going to walk onto the hockey team at Yale and then just continue to play hockey
05:08and probably pursue hockey after school.
05:11That was my best sport by far.
05:13But then we went on that spring break trip and I was like, I am I am in.
05:18Wow.
05:19This is this is it.
