FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Southern Fairways Sports Radio Show 7.27.2024
[music] Hello, and friends, and welcome to another edition of Southern Fairways Radio Show presented by our friends at Maconnalotta Motik, the number one GMC dealer in the state of Alabama. They're located just east of I-65 on Dolphin Street in Mobile, where you could check them out online at maconnalottamotif.com. We are broadcasting from our Shrickson Studios right here in Lower Alabama, and happy to have you on board with us. I am your host Randy Bergen, joined by Sweet Swing and Bobby Hall. He's the Director of Golf at Quirkery Golf Club in Fairhope, Alabama, and a PGA teaching professional, as well as a rules official for many celebrity golf tournaments. Bobby, always good to have you on board. How you doing, my man? Hey, doing great, Randy. Thanks for having me on. It's always good to be on the show, and I appreciate any time I can give some tips out there or help some folks out on the rules or anything we can do. I had a great time in Tahoe a few weeks ago, and just anything I can do to help Southern Fairways Golf, I'm here for you. Well, you're a part of ours, so we expect a lot out of you for a little pay. That's our motto. Expect a lot with a little pay. No, hey, look, we've got a great show lined up for you. Bobby's got some tips coming up in just a few moments. We've got Mitch McConnell. He's going to be on the with us. We're going to talk some golf with him. We'll talk some football, Alabama football, a little SEC football and automobiles as well. At the bottom of the hour, last week we had the opportunity to talk with a good friend of yours, Peter Jacobson. You hear him all the time on NBC Golf and the Golf Channel. We had a great interview with him last week, and I had so many people come up and ask, "Hey, will you replay that?" So we'll have that for you at the bottom of the hour, and I promise you won't want to miss it. It was a ton of fun talking with Peter last week. Well, Peter is a great Samaritan of golf, and he always has been. He's had a lot of wins on the regular tour and the champion tour. He has a lot of insight to golf and where we're headed in the future, and always respect his opinion. He's a great player and a good friend, and yeah, I would like to hear that interview again. He just has so much insight to the things that we want to hear about, so glad to have Peter on. I meet him each year out at Lake Tahoe, and he's always a privilege to be around in Roger Maltby and all the guys out there with NBC are very, very kind, and want to give up their time and speak about golf. So it's always good to listen to Peter. Thank you for having him on, and thank you for doing the interview with him. Yeah, I know it was a lot of fun, and yeah, he's been on with us several times and Alex said very good. I want to mention real quick, you mentioned Roger Maltby. PGA Tour Radio lost one of theirs this week, Mark Carnival, who was Rook of the Year many years ago, and did an outstanding job. I got to be honest with you, one of the reasons that I listened to PGA Tour on XM Radio is because of Mark Carnival, and 64 years old passed away earlier this week, and he will certainly be missed, not only by all of the fans and listeners, but certainly by the PGA and the PGA Tour, for sure. So I want to send out- Yeah, absolutely. Anytime you get some insight from somebody that's been on the tour, and is inside the ropes, and a great player like Mark was, yeah, it's sad to hear that, and I'm very sorry, but you're right. When you listened to XM Radio, he was always there, so yeah, great loss to our broadcast team, for sure. Yeah, no doubt. By the way, we will wrap up the show. We'll have Doug Holton, Wargle TV's Doug Holton will be on in the last segment. For you, Auburn fans, he's going to be talking a little Auburn football, so you want to stick around for that, for sure. But Bobby, as we continue on the last major, we mentioned Zander Shoffley as one, his second major this year, the last two out of three, won by this young man, and for the last couple of years, he's been right there. I mean, he has been right on the edge of winning, but just couldn't get that monkey off his back, and he does earlier this season or the PGA championship. Well, when you talk about statistics, and we all know it, and those who play golf, it's fairways and greens, fairways and greens, the more fairways you hit, the better, and when you hit those greens, and, you know, they're at that golf course in the wind and the bad weather that they had, you know, hitting greens was just remarkable. And so he set the pace and just mechanically just, I don't know, it was just perfect how he played. So, all of us need to take part in listening what he had to do, and his mindset was great. Mentally, you know, he's been, like you said, Randy, he's been in the past runner up here, runner up there in the top five here, top five there, and just kept persevering, and he kept, he stuck to his plan, his caddy, or what a great story. He's caddy and him were teammates in college, and his caddy just kept pumping him up, and he's been there for him, and that's a great story too, when they came down the fairway at 18, but just the dynamics of him just staying in the game, sticking with his plan, shooting 65 in the final round, and on that golf course and that win, I actually, to be honest, was pulling for Rose. I just thought here he is 44 years old, you know, and getting in the limelight of his career to win it, and he has to be very happy with the way he played, but Xander Schopley just took the sales and just steamed down the middle of the day, and what a great win for him, and I think mentally, he just stuck with it, stuck with his plan, which we all need to do. Just don't get upset about this and that, just keep moving forward, and he did, what a great win. You mentioned his caddy, that's Austin Kaiser, childhood friend, been together for a long time, and it was really neat as the crowd kind of started giving all the applause, and Xander, if you missed it, Xander held back and waited for Austin to show up, and they walked up to the 18th green together, and as Xander said, "Hey, he's been a part of this, I wanted him to enjoy it as well," and I just thought that was just really, really cool to do that, because a lot of times these guys, I don't want to say they're selfish, but they get caught up, and they sometimes forget about the guys that really helped them get there. So, good job, Xander. Look, Xander has won, I think that he has won 12 professional wins, of course, in 2019, remember at the Masters, he came in at T2, so two majors now, he is certainly off and running, and this is a guy, when you watch him go out and play, he's methodical all the way down the course, and wow, just congratulations to him, he's a good dude, and I couldn't be more happier for him. Me too, and when you talk about Caddies, I mean, look at the long history, Caddie, Fluff Cowan, and all the Caddies that they carried for Tiger Woods, and Fluff started his career with Peter Jacobson, and then with Tiger, and then with Jim Furek, I mean, the Caddie is so much of the game, keeping you composed, giving you, you know, not only cleaning your clubs and giving you the right yardage, but just being there for you mentally, he's the cheerleader for you all the way around the golf course, so you can't thank them enough. Tech Christian-wise, I really like the way Billy Horshel played the last three holes, but it was birdy, birdy, birdy, and if you look at Billy Horshel's swing, very mechanical, I think he gets caught up in that, I think that's kind of his Achilles tendon, and he tries to be too mechanical, but right at the end, he had nothing to lose, and he let it go, but if you watch his swing, very good, watch Vander Shopley, Scheffler, you know, he struggled a little bit as far as, you know, we're used to seeing Scheffler in the hunt, but you know, he's still right there battling it out, he's still number one in the world to me, and he had a not-so-good round, but he makes the cut, he's right there, he had a chance, so he's still number one as far as I'm concerned, but Dander Shopley and Scheffler are going to have that, you know, relationship for the next four, five, six years to come. I don't want to say it is a tiger-fuel type deal because both of these guys are real, they're both good with each other, okay, but you're right, I think this is going to be something you're going to see a little while, for a little while, because in the official World Golf rankings right now, Scottie Scheffler does remain number one, and Zander Shopley moves to number two, Roy McElroy is number three, and it is, it's going to be kind of neat to watch how they continue their professional relationship, but you mentioned Billy Horshel, I got to ask you, when you watch him step into a putt, I'm not sure, that drives me a little nuts, I don't know how you do that. Well, you know, there's a pre-shot routine for everybody, he goes to the same routine, and evidently he's found something for him, so we just have to acknowledge the fact that he's got a pre-shot routine, and playing very well that he did, you just have to admire it, and it is a little different, we don't see many players doing such a pre-shot putt routine that he does, but he's, you know, he's making putts, he's playing very well, so you know, a tip for the day would be when you get into your pre-shot routine, make it consistent, and if you have to back away, back away, and then reset yourself, just don't take more than 40 seconds to do the shot, you know, when he puts, and he scoots up to it like he does, good after foot, and putt after foot, he's ready to play, he doesn't take any time, so that's his pre-shot routine, I encourage everybody out there to emulate some type of routine that will help you in your game. Bobby is always, you give us some great tips, and I'm excited about getting out playing tomorrow at Tiger Point with you, and a couple of our buddies, so it should be a lot of fun, and thank you for taking time to be with us today. Absolutely, always good to be on the show, thank you Randy, and all the golfers out there, get your local rules together before you go out and play, and get that bet right over it. All right, there you go, Bobby Hall, sweet-winging, Bobby Hall, we'll take a quick time out when we come back, we visit with Mitch McConvall right here on Southern Fairways. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] And welcome back to Southern Fairways Sports Radio, we are glad that you are with us, I am Randy Bergen, joined by the whole gang, and happy to have this fellow on our Shrickson guest line. There's one of our great partners, Mitch McConvall with McConvall. Mitch is always, it is a pleasure to have you on board with us, and look dude, we're going to talk a little golf, we're going to talk a little football, and we're going to talk some automobiles, and we got a short time to do all that, but man, I'm glad you're here with us. Man, it's great to be here Randy, it's always fun, and you know, you're talking about my favorite subject. We can leave cars to the very end because I love football, and I love golf, and I think it's an exciting time of the year because we got a lot of that happening around us. Well, let's talk golf. Last week we saw Xander Shuffley get his second major as he goes in to Royal Troon, Scotland, and he picks up the Clariot jug his second of this year, if you remember he won the PGA as well. So, what is going on with him, I mean, this is a kid that for a long time he couldn't get that monkey on his back, and all of a sudden he's got two in one year. Randy, I'm not much of a gambler, but I'll tell every listener that the last three majors, I did this thing with a bunch of guys in the mobile country club, my brother. I picked Xander Shuffley as my winner, so I think I'm either lucky or brilliant, but I think what it is about him, Randy, if you look at what Bryson did, we've got an American sweep, by the way, between Scotty winning the Masters, Bryson winning the U.S. Open, and now you've got Xander winning two, I mean, the last time we had two majors, one guy and one year, it's been a minute, right, so this kid special, and I know we get excited by the flamboyant of a Scotty, I'm not a Scotty, but a Bryson, we love what he's doing, even though he's a live golf, but just because you don't have a guy with a lot of flamboyant personality, I don't know that there's many more likeable dudes out there than Xander, he's just the chillest guy, but his game is solid everywhere, and I pick him because he's untwappable mentally, people said he couldn't win the big one, but I think he just had that breakthrough, we talk a lot with Bobby on the show about the mentality of a golfer, 12 handicap, all the way up to Xander Shuffley, and I just think once he had that first breakthrough, I knew he won the Olympic gold medal, which is interesting with the Olympics coming up, but I just, he had that mental breakthrough, man, and listen, win in all links, and winning at the PGA, the golf courses and the conditions could not have been any different, so golf is in a good place, dude, because if you look at these guys at the top, Scotty Sheffler, as Bryson DeChambeau has get as Scotty as what they were saying before, who's the real number one golfer if he took the lip golf aspect of World Ranking points out? Well, now you got to ask, is Xander Shuffley the best golfer in the world when he went to majors in the same season, and Randy, for your money, who is the player of the year as of today? Well, I'll tell you, it's a toss-up between Xander and Scotty. Yeah, and you got a players' championship and a master's in seven total victories in the most dominant ball striking since Tiger Woods in his heyday versus a guy that's just won two out of the four majors, and by the way, was contending for the other two, and I just, I love Xander's personality. Obviously, when it comes to the Ryder Cup President's Cup, it's nice to see another American stepping up, and ultimately, I got to go with two majors, and I'm a huge Scotty Sheffler fan from a personal and professional golf standpoint, but two majors in one season to me, even though seven victories is hard to turn your head against, I'm picking Xander Shuffley, and I think, you know, he's 185 ball feed with the driver, Randy, he was 178 years ago. Like, what doesn't he have, short game, his iron play, I don't know, man, but just his countenance and confidence, and I think he is now going to be dangerous moving forward since he cracked the seal and finally won a major. Now it's two out of the last three. It's exciting to watch, and I think it overall puts professional golf in a great place. You got Roy McElroy in this mix, John Romb with the top ten after dropping out of the U.S. Open and blanking the other two majors, there's a whole lot of guys we thought could be the number one golfer, and even though it's a clear-cut Scotty Sheffler's number one, I almost wonder if Xander doesn't win one more, maybe I'll let the gold medal, maybe he's the golfer of the year, man, it's such a cool concept and cool subject. Well, there is no doubt about it, and I got to tell you, you're right, and I've said that on many occasions, watch Xander, the X-man, he's always there, he's lingering, and he's trying to get that Monk Elvis back to get that first major, and whenever he did, it clicked, the light switch came on, and it's kind of like he did with Scotty Sheffler in the fact that he goes and gets a second win now, can he get a third one, does he win the Masters? Of course, we'll start talking about that, that's quite a ways off, but he's got to be one of your top contenders to now win the Masters. Well, he's got the perfect game for it. He's got the perfect ball flight to win Augusta, he's got the perfect temperament, so I love where we are in professional golf, I hate what's happened in the last two years with the divide, but as much as I'm a fan of Bryce, and especially where he's come, and if anybody hadn't watched he and Donald Trump tried to break 50 together, you need to go to YouTube like five minutes ago, because the entertainment, even if you don't like Trump, you're going to be entertained by seeing the golf shots that former President Trump pulled off, and that round of golf where they shot 50 is something to behold, so anybody that would like to be entertained, especially if you're a supporter of Trump, go check that out because you'll love it, but really what I'm saying is, you know, maybe all this chaos of dividing golf, I think Shoffley is adding to the non-lived golf side of things, and it's really cool to see, man. Yeah, you're absolutely right. We're visiting with Mitch McConnell right here on Southern Fairways. Mitch, let's turn, we've got a few minutes to talk to a little football, of course we're right around the corner from toe meeting leather, that happens on August 31st for the Alabama Crimson Tide as they'll start out with Western Kentucky. I know you have got your finger on the pulse of Alabama football as well as SEC football, and of course, all year long, we're excited that you're going to be a major part of the contributions of Alabama football for the show, and we're going to kind of kick it off today, basically. Start on August 31st as I mentioned with Western Kentucky, talk a little bit about Dabor and kind of the mentality right now, going around the campus, going around that football field with these players. Well, I think, you know, I know there's a lot of people that are Alabama fans listening to those people who aren't Auburn fans, who, some of my best buddies, A, I think it's one of the most interesting years in college football history. We got Texas and Oklahoma joining the fold, the SEC, Hugh Freeze at Auburn, who has done well in the portal and recruiting, but Alabama, I don't know if it's luck or God's blessing, but Caitlin Dabor is so different than Nick Saban, and he's come in and done his thing, and what everybody said was he couldn't recruit because he didn't have relationships to understand the SEC, and I guess they're going to have to pick on him in some other way, Randy, because the recruiting, and not just the recruiting, but the team chemistry of how he's taking what Coach Saban's done and kind of built on it with a different approach and personality, some of the same core concepts of discipline and hard work and people working together. I think the big question fundamentally from an X's and O's standpoint is going to be on defense, and, but what has been happening with all three of the main quarterbacks, Austin Mack, obviously you got Ty Simpson up there, and everybody knows about Jalen Milro. I think there's three quarterbacks who could win anywhere, and ultimately, Coach Shep is for my money, the best wide receiver coach, Nick Sheridan is brilliant. I think what's going to happen on offense is going to be really hard for people to believe. It's going to be that good, so can people outscore Alabama is going to be the question, so Kane Womack's got a challenge on his hand with all the youth, but the energy of the team, former players are coming in, and they're just calling me saying, man, I didn't realize that this coach, the board, is not saying he's the same guy. When I was with him at the Senior Bowl golf tournament, he was asking me which shoes and belt he should pick out, and I'm thinking Coach Saban would have never asked me that question. He's just a regular guy. You wouldn't know him from Adam Pauscat if you ran into him. The humbleness is real, Randy, so people that didn't like Alabama because they didn't like Saban, they're going to have to find a new reason because there's not probably a more likable dude as a head coach that's more humble, but I think the chemistry is coming together and nobody knows it'll come out and wins and losses. If they lose four games, he's going to be considered a failure, but at the end of the day, I just think Alabama is going in a better direction than anybody could have hoped for with Coach Saban stepping down with. The board, Courtney Morgan as his GM is the people person extraordinaire and the network they've built with recruiting and retaining players. If he did a survey of how happy are the players, they were devastated when Coach Saban made the announcement now. If Coach Saban announced he's coming back, I think he'd see them. They love what's going on and it's not that they don't miss Coach Saban. This is just a different vibe and people feel empowered to be a part of something special that's not about one guy. It's about everybody together. Coach Saban always preached that, but it was hard when you had the goat there to not focus on Coach Saban, but it's going to be fun to see what Georgia can do Texas. Auburn could sneak up and make it to the playoffs. Old myth. It's a pretty picture of excitement in my mind. Well, there's no question about it. Mitch, we've only got about 40 seconds left here and I wanted to talk automobiles real quick, but hey, it's going to be an exciting year. Of course, we don't have divisions now in Eastern West and there's so much to talk about. And of course, as we continue getting prepped for this year, the first kickoff of the season, we're going to be talking with you a lot and breaking it down and talking about the offensive line defense, the line back. We're going to be doing all of that with you as we get ready for this first ball game. But look real quick, 30 seconds. What's going on over my kind of automotive? Well, Randy, one of the things we talk about a lot in people that watch golf might have seen a few commercials where we're kind of making fun of ourselves, which is how a lot of car dealers like to try to trick people into coming to buy a car and they advertise price or what they said they don't get it. And what I want to tell everybody is if you've been through that at another dealership, including high pressure, been disappointed in anything, give us a chance because we've been around Randy. As you know, for nearly 70, 69 years to be exact, we have a new thing that's a warranty for life. People have seen that everywhere, but they don't realize there's shenanigans to most people's eyes actually sticks with your car, wherever you go, wherever you service it. So, great GMP inventory. We have a couple hummers in stock, Randy. We just want people to shop the beautiful GMP and the GMP inventory. Our prices are great. And they're real, man. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Mitch has always, dude. Our time goes by way too fast. So we're going to have you back on that is Mitch McConnell. Check them out at mechanicalautomotive.com. If we take a quick time out when we come back, we will hear from Peter Jacobson. We recorded him last week. You will not want to miss this next segment. The Southern Fairways rolls off. And welcome back to Southern Fairways. Listen, we had an opportunity last week to talk with Peter Jacobson from NBC Golf and the Golf Channel. Here's the interview. It was great. It was fantastic. Check it out. That is the voice of Peter Jacobson as we welcome you back to Southern Fairways, Randy Bergen, Doug Holton, sweet-winging, Bobby Hawgs. Glad to have you on board with us. Glad to have this guy on with us as well. We know that you're traveling. Peter Jacobson, but may welcome back to Southern Fairways. Hey, great to hear a song that I'm very familiar with. Thanks for playing. Exactly. Jake Trout and the flounders, that's cheers and booze. I wanted to ask you that you did quite a few of these songs. Was there one particular song that stood out more than another? Oh, I would say now since we lost Glenn Fry, the great Glenn Fry member of the Eagles, we did a song called, it was his song called Smuggler's Blues, if you remember the Miami Buy show. I rewrote it to be Struggler's Blues. I did a duet with Glenn. I sang a couple of verses and he sang a verse. It was pretty funny when we recorded it. It's his music, but my words, all golf lyrics. He kept laughing while we were doing the recording. Glenn, can you just buck up and get it done? I bet that was great. Glenn Fry was absolutely one of the very best. No doubt about it. We're visiting with Peter Jacobson right here in Southern Fairways. Peter, 18 professional wins. You won the 1995 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, the 2013 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, and we're going to talk a little bit about it. We watched you at the Hall of Fame this year, the Golf Hall of Fame. How big was that with the move and how special was that? Well, it's funny you say that about the Hall of Fame. I'm up here in Portland, Oregon and we were with, we were at the Hootie and the Blowfish concert last night and went backstage and saw Darius. If you remember, Darius Rucker hosted that Hall of Fame presentation at Pinehurst this year and he did a magnificent job. Darius Rucker is obviously an extremely talented young man, but it was really a wonderful evening. Anytime I have a chance to go to Pinehurst, that is such a special place. And 25 years ago when Kate Stewart won the US Open, made that spectacular putter on 18, and then he lost his life four months later. So it was bittersweet. Every time I get back to Pinehurst and I see Payne's statue on 18, it reminds me of the good old days, the fun we had, and Jake Krout and the flounders, the music that we did together, because that was such a departure from what we do day to day, trying to make putts and beat each other's brains out. And we go into the studio and the sports music and we laugh at each other. So yeah, it was a special night. Bobbi, I know you got a question for Peter here and just say, but you mentioned Darius Rucker. Watch, I go back and watch some of these old shows. I was watching last night, Hawaii 5-0, and Darius was one of the villains on the particular show I was watching last night. I didn't end well for him for sure, but with Peter Jackson right here on Southern Fairways, Bobbi. Peter, you're always gracious at American Century. You do such a great job, and you're one of the people who keeps it cohesive during the event and talking to players, and you're just such a gentleman to be around. Kind of interject, we had a short conversation on the practice tee at Edgewood. You were talking about the tour and things coming up, and I just want to know kind of your opinion on where we stand and where we're headed and what can the fans out there look for in the future and some of your projections into the tour and where we headed, what are we doing, champions tour, LPGA, just your input, what's going on behind the scenes as you're a commentator. Well, Bobbi, it's very confusing for everybody in the game. I remember back in 1994, I was playing with Arnold Palmer in Greg Norman's Shark Shootout in LA, and Greg called all of us to a special meeting, and that was where he first proposed the a world tour, which is now the Live Tour. It was a limited field, 48 to 54 players, big money, and just a few chosen players, and we would we would rescind our cards, leave the PGA tour, and create our own world tour, which is exactly what Greg's done with the Live Tour, and Arnold stood up in the meeting, and he said, I don't want any part of this, because I had the chance to do this back when he and Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were the big three. He said we were approached numerous times to leave the tour and do their own thing, and the reason they didn't do it was because it would have confused the golf fans, it would have confused the sponsors, it would have confused the other players, and it would hurt the game of golf around the world, and he got up and walked out of the room, soon to be followed by the rest of us, because if it wasn't good enough for Arnold Palmer, it wouldn't be good for any of us, because Arnold, as you all know, had his finger on the pulse of the game of golf from day one, and I think the PGA tour Bobby has always been the strength of the PGA tour, lies in the communities where we play, and the charities we support. Full stop, it's not the players, it's the people that support the game, and players come and go, I don't care which tour players come and go, and the players sometimes get stuck on who they are and what they're doing right now, but Scotty Sheppler today, somebody else tomorrow, and that's what the players have to understand, and I think right now the game of golf is stuck in a very odd situation, PGA tour doesn't know which way to turn, and I think right now we need to sit with the players and try to talk and appeal to their sensible side that look guys, it's not about you, it's not about money, it's about the sponsors, the communities, the fans and the charities. Very well said. Absolutely, absolutely. If it's with Peter Jacobson right here on Southern Fairways Doug, I know you have a question. Yeah, Peter, along those lines, and what Bobby was kind of getting at, I think with people wondering what the direction of the PGA tour is in golf in general right now, are you satisfied with the leadership or do you see a change in leadership coming in golf in the future? It's hard to say because I've been on the policy board many times when I was playing on tour and on the Champions Tour, but I'm not there anymore, basically as Bobby said, I will sit and do commentary at tournaments across the tour schedules. Right now, I don't know if anybody knows where we're going. I've always thought that Jay Mahan was a wonderful guy, he loves the game of golf, and he's got a very formidable foe in the live backers, the Saudis, that PIF investment fund over there. I think there's factions working behind the scenes that are not working together, and I think it's a difficult thing. And I don't know, I wish I had more of a definitive answer, but I really don't know where we're going. But like I said a little bit earlier, we have to get the players to understand that it's not about each of them, it's not about their money. They make plenty of money, plenty of money. We're not like football, we're not like basketball or baseball, we're a niche sport. People that love golf die for golf, as you guys know, we love it. But we're not Aaron Rodgers, we're not Roger Clements, we're not, we're not these huge athletes in these major sports, we play golf, and we have to always remember that. Good point. There's no doubt, visiting with Peter Jackson right here on Southern Fairways. Peter, we got you for about another three minutes here. I wanted to, I wanted to turn real quick, we found out that Tyre kind of turned down the captain ship for the Ryder Cup, the 2025 Ryder Cup. Keegan Bradley has been announced. What's your thoughts with Keegan being the captain? Well, I love the fact that Keegan is the captain. I don't think there have been many players in the history of the Ryder Cup on the United States side that exhibit as much enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup like Keegan. Players that I've played with on Ryder Cups and I've observed over the years, players like Asinger and Corey Paven and Lanny Watkins and Raymond Floyd, these are the kind of guys that look at Payne Stewart. They love to gut it out and grit it out, and in watching Keegan, I covered some Ryder Cups for NBC along the way and watching Keegan live and die with each putt, each shot. I think he's going to bring that energy to the team and speak in with Tyger about Tyger passing it up. I think Tyger will eventually be a Ryder Cup captain. He certainly deserves it and he brings that same passion, but I know Tyger is right now working on what we just discussed. The live situation, the PGA Tour's situation, he's trying to level the playing field with what's going on in the world, and I know he's got his hands full there, but I do really love the fact that Keegan is now the new Ryder Cup captain. Yeah, Peter, on a lighter subject, we're sitting here watching the third round of the open championship over at Royal Troon, which certainly has a lot of history and tradition. I wonder if you had a Scottish accent that you've developed over the years. Well, it's great. I love to watch the open from Troon, Royal Troon. It's wonderful to watch the wind and the rain and all the intangibles that these players face every day, every hole, and it just draws too many problems at these players all the way down the line. That's pretty good. That's a whole lot better than what you had done. Yeah, much better. He's had more practice. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. Hey, Peter, we got about a minute left here. I want to ask you real quick. I mentioned that you won the 1995 AT&T Pebble Beach program, but you also, when you went on to the Champions Tour, you won two majors there in 2004, the U.S. Senior Open and of course 2005, the Ford Senior Players Championship, but was there one that stood out more than the other? I think being a UFGA champion is so special because I've been a big UFGA fan my whole life, so the senior open was great. But I think from an overall fun aspect, winning the AT&T at Pebble, playing with Jack Lemmon, I believe that that week I played with Jack Lemmon, Greg Gorman and Clint Eastwood, the first three rounds. Having a chance to be able to interact with those guys, but keep my mind on my game because without a doubt, the AT&T is the most important tournament in golf because it brings everybody into Pebble Beach surrounding the game of golf that we love. The game of golf right now, as you guys know, is it the intersection of all aspects of our society, from legal to finance to entertainment, athletics, whatever it is, everybody loves to play golf and that Pebble Beach AT&T is one of the most special events and so that stands out in my mind. I got to tell you Peter, it's always a blast to have you on, look forward to having you on again and maybe if you're down in the SEC part of the world, I know you're a big Oregon duck fan but maybe get down here where Alabama and Auburn and the SEC is, come down maybe we can get to play some golf with you. Well, a buddy of mine that I knew he grew up at Oregon, Greg Byrne, he's the director of the United States there in Alabama. So I'm always in touch with Greg and I keep saying that we're going to get the ducks in Alabama in some games this year hopefully soon. That would be fun. Well, thank you for taking time to be with us, Bobby. I know it's closing. Hey Peter, thank you very much. I always enjoy our friendship at American Century and safe travels. You're headed to New York and hope to see you down the road soon and we'll be in touch. Thank you so much for being on Southern Fairways. Thank you guys. All right, there you go. Peter Jackson, always a great interview. The guy's good. I'd love listening to him on TV and if you have an opportunity, go check out Jake Trout, the ball washers or Jake Trout, trout, the flounders. All right, hey, we'll take a quick time out when we come back. We'll talk, maybe we'll talk a little football. Don't go anywhere. And welcome back to Southern Fairways. Glad to have you on board with us. I am Randy Bergen joined by War Eagle TVs, Doug Holton. Doug, glad to have you on board with us this morning. Hey, we're going to talk some more when football in just a few moments. But before we do, let's talk a little golf. We saw Xander Shuffler get the win in Scotland. Your thoughts, I think we both kind of said, hey, keep your eye on him. And you certainly, you certainly call that one. Yeah, Randy. Good morning. It's great to be with you as always on Southern Fairways. And that was exciting to watch last weekend. The British Open at Royal Trune, some nasty weather at times. And Xander Shuffler certainly inks his name up there at the top with Scotty Shuffler. I don't know who I would pick as player of the year right now because the X-Man has a couple of majors and Scotty has six wins. So that's an interesting battle. We'll see how the rest of the year plays out. Well, there's no question about it. Both of them could certainly be, be player of the year. We'll see how they do that. Did you by chance, before we get into football, did you see the clip where Bryce and DeChambeau and former President Trump went out and played and did pretty darn good? I was a little surprised at Trump's swing and he contributed for that team. I did. I saw a couple of different clips there. I saw the clip where they were on the range and and Bryson was hitting his driver over the net and Trump was sitting there watching him. And then I saw the clip also where they were driving in the golf guard and Bryson asked him what his top five songs of all form were and Trump breaks out his playlist and his golf guard there. That was pretty funny. Good stuff, good stuff. All right, visiting with Doug Halton right now, Doug. Now you're you're in Auburn. I know you're kind of getting some media stuff done for Auburn football and your show that'll be coming up. First off, before we get into talking Auburn football, when does your show air? Our show, I believe, starts the 22nd of August a couple of weeks before the season starts. And you can catch it right here on one of our stations, FM Talk 106-5 Tiger Talk Overtime. Thursday nights at 7 o'clock, we'll follow Tiger Talk from the Auburn network where we're here, coach freeze and a couple of players and and all the the talk from the Auburn network. And then we'll follow that with another hour and and have some great guests. And of course, we invite people to join us all through the week during the fall and leading up to football season on War Eagle TV.com and go to our Twitter page at TV underscore War Eagle. And that's where we'll lead you to all the information you need about Auburn football. You mentioned coach Hugh Freeze. Let's talk a little bit about him. Last year, his first year and they're six and seven the record. What's the anticipation this year for the Auburn Tigers? Well, I think coming out of media days, Randy, a lot of people are thinking that at least I've heard several people mention that they think Auburn is a little bit underrated. I think they were picked 10th in the SEC by the media, which to me seems a little bit low. But then again, you have so many good teams in the SEC. It's kind of understandable that with what Auburn did last year, that they would be ranked around around that spot. But a lot of excitement on the planes. I think Auburn fans are anticipating, you know, maybe a nine-win season. It all depends. We talked about it last week. It kind of all depends on what Auburn does. And I think coming out of the gate, they have five games to start this season at Jordan hair stadium, culminating with that battle with Oklahoma. But a lot of optimism about recruiting, a lot of optimism about the young players that you freeze has brought to the planes, including Cam Coleman is one of those guys. And last week at media days, Coach Freeze was asked about his players in the past and the characteristics that they have that enables them to play at a young age like a Cam Coleman coming in as a true freshman this year. He talked about Cam a little bit and what characteristics he has to play this year and to really help this Auburn football team. I've had some really, really great receivers. I think of the quantreadwell. He came in and, I mean, just fit naturally called 75 balls as a freshman and obviously still in the NFL. And we've signed some others that, you know, are in the NFL now. But we redshirted or they didn't, they weren't quite ready. And so it's very hard for me to predict, you know, exactly how these young kids will perform against, you know, obviously the DBs in this league are probably the best athletes, you know, on the field when it comes to quick twitch and change of direction and all those things. So how are they going to perform, you know, really pleased with Cam Spring? I think Perry Thompson has the physical tools. You start there for the traits. I mean, do they have the physical size and strength and speed to do that? Both of those kids do. So does Malcolm. So does Bryce. You know, Perry's just not getting with us, but it's really hard to judge, you know, exactly how they'll handle everything, but it starts with a work ethic and a maturity about your approach and don't think you have it all figured out. Be coachable. And Cam was absolutely that in spring. He wants to be coached. So he's going to play, you know, I just, I'm very careful not to put unreal expectations on them just yet. All right, Randy. So there is a coach you freeze talking at media days about this season and all the young guys that the Auburn Tigers have, Cam Coleman, everybody knows about. He talked a little bit about Perry Thompson as well, who is from the pole. And those guys that receiver, I think have to make a big impact on the Tigers if they're going to do what Auburn fans want to do in 2024. You know, we're going to hear from Peyton Thorne here in just a moment as well. But I want to take a, you mentioned the schedule, you start out five games at home in Jordan here. That's, you know, that's really, I think a big positive as well, because you're going to start out with that A&M on August the 31st. Then you got California, New Mexico, Arkansas, and you round out that starting five with Oklahoma on September the 28th. You got it. Yeah, I think you have to have, I think you have to have at least three wins out of that before you meet Oklahoma, if not four. I think you have to have four, Randy. I think you have to. The first three games shouldn't be really a competition in my opinion. And the fourth game is Arkansas, an SEC game, and Auburn has to look good in that game and build some momentum going into Oklahoma. And I think what they need, they really need to win those first five games and have a big game against Oklahoma, get a W there. And then they go on the road for the first road game of the season at Georgia. It's kind of an odd schedule, Randy, because they play the first five, like you mentioned at Jordan hair stadium this year. And then they go on the road. They don't even have a home game in the month of October. And then they come back to round out the season in November. But it's an odd schedule. I think there's no question about it that Auburn has to get off to a fast start with their five home games at the beginning of the season. Oh, visit with the Wurgle TV's Doug Holton at Doug. You talk about the quarterback situation right now. Obviously, Peyton Thorne is going to be quarterback according to he frees your thoughts. Well, Peyton is under the gun. Coach Freeze has put him front and center at media days, taking him to Dallas, Texas. And it's going to be a focal point of how far Auburn goes again this season. And I think we'll find out a lot about Peyton, as I mentioned, the first three games shouldn't be that competitive. But when you get to that fourth game, Randy, Arkansas, Peyton is going to have to be sharp and Auburn is going to have to look good. Like I mentioned, to build that momentum and we'll see what kind of relationship and you know, how the throwing and catching in the summer, how much is that paid off with these younger receivers? So it's a new season. It's a new offensive staff for the Auburn Tigers. I think Coach Freeze is comfortable with that. And I think as he mentioned in Dallas, Peyton Thorne is also more comfortable knowing the guys that he has on the offensive staff and the guys that he has in the receiving core, young guys that can get some separation and make a play when they have to. But Peyton talked about the difference in year one and year two. A lot of differences, a lot of changes in the coaching staff, changes in the personnel. Here's what he had to say last week in Dallas. Yeah, you know, it's a new offense this year. So first off, obviously, you have to get the playbook down. You have to get the terminology down. The terminology is different. And once you get those things down, then you yourself scout yourself. And so I spent a good chunk of time watching my own film going back and watching my previous years, you know, not just last year, but my years before too, and picking up on some things. I've changed a couple of things with my feet. You know, always trying to be as good as you can mechanically and efficient as you can in the pocket. And then accurate, you know, you throw the ball, the best quarterbacks are accurate. And, you know, it's not the guy who can throw the farthest. It's not the guy who can run the fastest is the guy who gets the ball out on time and accurately that is a successful quarterback in college and the NFL. And so for me, it's just focusing on mastering our offense. But also, and when you play quarterback, you can't just know what everybody's doing on your side of the ball. You need to know what the defense is doing to and what they're trying to accomplish. And so learning this is where my eyes need to be on this guy. And he is going to affect if I throw it to this guy or this guy, and pre snap, you want to narrow it down to two coverages at most. And you want to ideally narrow it down to, you know, three receivers that you're going to throw the ball to. And that's how you play quickly, efficiently, and get the ball at your hand. All right, Randy, Peyton, Thorne there. Again, our show starts in August. Tiger Talk over time on at the Talk 106 5 and War Eagle TV dot com all week long, all year long for all the Auburn sports you need and and join us on Twitter at TV, underscore War Eagle. Doug is always great to hang out with you. It's that time of the year. It's what we love. We love talking college football and we're about a month away now before toe meets leather. So thanks for being on with us. We'll look forward to talking with you again next week. That'll do it for us. Remember hit an ace, say a prayer. God bless America. We'll see you next week. Bye, everybody. [Music]