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Shane Wowery, thank you for joining The Smiley Show, I mean I will say I think you're probably one of my favorite players on the PGA Tour to play with. Always just such a joy to play with. Shane, you're joining us down from Jupyter the Week of Honda and I'm being told right as you walked into this conversation that you were full dad mode this entire week. I was, well, I actually, I was quite busy. My wife's been away the last couple of days so I've been holding the fort here at home and she's actually arriving home tonight so I've been running around for the last hour trying to get the house clean to make the presentable for her and yeah but it's been nice. But it's been busy. I'm like, oh, stay home dad. Yeah, it's great now but I'm not sure it's for me. It's a grind man, it's an absolute grind and makes us appreciate our wives on how incredible they are with the children especially my wife who's currently giving my daughter a bottle as we speak so it sure is nice to have that type of teammates and Shane you have two daughters, am I right? I do, you have two girls, six and two so yeah it's, we've had a great time the last few days. But yeah, I mean just the early mornings and the constant going and yeah, it certainly got a good appreciation for what my wife goes through day to day. Is your oldest fancy golfer now? She gets a lesson once a week. She goes with her, one of her best friends, yeah, so they go and they go to the diaper store about here down at Jupiter and yeah, they love it to go Tuesday after school and I went for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I didn't really like, I kind of set on and looked from afar but I like what they were doing, you know, he seemed to be disciplining them me out or doing what they're called and she actually could hit us which I was pretty impressed by. Amazing. But she can kind of, she's so busy doing everything, I mean kids, you'll see it in a few years when they grow up, I mean they're just every day after school, there's an activity arm and golf is one of those so yeah, she actually hasn't asked me to go out and play yet. She hasn't really said to me, Dad, can I go play golf or GF? I brought her out a couple of times and she prefers like the halfway house and all the facts, that's kind of, that's her favorite part of the day. Why wouldn't it be? You know, that's for all the... Well it's probably my favorite part of the day as well, to be honest. That's incredible and that's the cool thing about, you know, kids in general, especially when they have a famous dad and a famous athlete like yourself who is as good in the world at what they do in their craft and, you know, she's not ready to play with Dad yet. She just, you know, she'll get there one day. You know, one of her friends, she will hopefully one day but I wouldn't push her into it, she can do whatever she likes. That's amazing and you know, we were just at this ricks on shoot in LA and I was talking with Michael Jolly while you were doing something with one of the shoots and he was like, "Did you know that Shane's dad is a famous rugby player?" And I was like, "Is that right? Because I googled..." No, it's like football. It was like Irish football. Okay, so what is that? It looks like rugby when I looked at it on YouTube. Just give me the 411 on all this. It's kind of a cross between soccer and rugby. Okay. This is all new to me. So you're going to have to explain this. It's not, so it's a field, so the field is basically, the field is a 150 yards long, say. Okay. And it's pretty, the same width as like a football field, NFL field. Yeah. And it's got soccer goals but with an NFL post. I was so confused like on YouTube, I was like, this looks like rugby. They just kicked it up in the air through the field goal thing, so I figured that was it. The players on 15, it's a fully amateur sport. They don't get paid. And I think that's what's the amazing thing about it is you play for the team where every you're born. So like, wherever you're born, that's the team you play for. Okay. So it's kind of, you know, that's what's great about it as well. And yeah, like the finals are on every, used to be September, it's in like early August. Now you get 82,000 people there at the finals. It's a pretty big deal. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. They don't get paid. And you know, some might say they should. I think it's like, honestly, it's a full-time job. You should see what they like, I know a few of the players that play and I keep a close on it. Like only for this past weekend, I was watching some games and watching my team playing. Yeah. I don't know how to do it, to be honest, because they work a full-time job on the train five nights a week. And then the play game. Oh my God. It's incredible what they do. And you know, at the end of the day, like not many of them, obviously the team that wins the championship at the end of the year, it's huge for them, but the other guys are just struggling along at the lower levels. They're still trying as hard as the guys at the top. So yeah. So my dad, yeah, sorry, does a long-winded way of putting up up. My dad won in all Ireland, which is a national championship in 1982. Yeah. He was on the All-Star team in '81. So yeah. And not only his two brothers were on the team, but them as well, they won that game. And it's also like one of the most famous games that's ever been played, because it's like my team is awfully, that's where I'm from, and we were playing against Kerry, which is placed down in the south-west of Ireland, and they're the best team of all time. And they were on their way to winning five in a row, and that same beat them for five in a row. So yeah. That was very kind of a game. Oh, man. So are they, are there like positions in this? Because I need to go watch. Yeah. So I need to go watch and tape. I need to go watch and tape. A goalkeeper. There's 15 players on 15. So there's a goalkeeper. Then there's six backs, two midfielders are called, and there's six forwards. Okay. And I mean, the games changed a lot over the years. The players are a lot fitter now, they're run a lot more. The positions are kind of gone over a little bit. It used to be that you got your position, you know, like say a corner forward is where my dad used to play, and he would have to stay it out in the corner when the ball came into him. That's when he got it. But now they kind of roam around the place, and they just kind of, it's a bit of a, it's gone. It's very tactical now, yeah. And Shane, there's no way that, like, I imagine that you had to have grown up playing this game. Oh, I did. I did. I loved it, to be honest. I played, I played, I played all sports, really, but I played up on play was about 17 or 18. So I played quite long and, yeah, I loved it. I played corner forward like my dad. Of course. So corner forward. You don't have to move that. I was about to say, right? It seemed like that was the guy that doesn't have to go quite as much. The midfielders are the guys you do not want to be. The ones are the backs where you have to, like, track around and run after people and that wasn't me. I was pretty good when I got the ball. I could score. I was well able to score. So I was like telling it that way, but, yeah, thankfully I found golf. Yeah. How do you score? So what is the scoring system for it? So there's a, the goals, which is like a soccer goals, and then there's like a post, like a football post, and you get three, three for putting it in the net, three points, and you get one point for kicking it over between the posts. Yeah, because there's no big guarding the post, but there's a keeper guarding the, like, a normal soccer goal. And can you, can you just throw it on the ground? Can you write like? No, so you catch it and you kick it and you're only allowed to take four steps, four steps with it in your hands. And then you've got to, it's called you play it so you can either, you can kind of kick it. It's called a solo. You kick it to yourself. Oh, which is like, yeah. So you throw it on the ground, kick it up and, and keep running, just throw it on your foot and kick it up. Yeah. And that resets the clock. And then you can go do that. That's four seconds again, yeah, but it's, it's probably, it's like a 70 minute game, 35 each half. Okay. And it's, it's full on. Yeah. Is there any other like Ireland golfers that are that I would know of that grew up playing this game? So like Paul McGinley played on a decent level. Okay. Herrington played on a good level, Porte Herrington's father won an all out of metal too. Really? Yeah. And for Cork, yeah, third or two, I can think of off the top of my head. Like a lake football, I wrote it down thinking, because I watched the videos like this dude just kicked it through the uprights. It's got to be rugby. And I wrote that down and thinking like I said Irish football, you're going on a golf trip. Aren't you? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's we're about to get into that. And so I might as well get into that right now. What's up? You should try and go. You should try and go to a game when you're there. Oh, man. You think I'm ready for that? Oh, yeah. You're Guinness, Guinness code of the game. Oh, boy, man. I would love to. I'm a big, big sports fan. Doesn't matter where it is. I'm a guy that if you just get me to a game, just let me bet on the home team and let me bet on the over and maybe just find me a couple of beers and I'm going to have a great time. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. That sounds like a great day. And you grow up in, all right, so is it count off Lee? County off Lee. County off Lee. Okay. Yeah. And that's kind of right in the middle of Ireland, correct? Yeah, right in the middle. It's about an hour. It's about sort of 60 miles west of Dublin. And when did you get started in the game then? Because it sounded like you were playing. You mentioned all sports, but it sounded like galaic football seemed to be a little bit of your focus for quite a while, huh? Yeah. Like my family didn't really play a few of my uncles played, but I started playing golf. Like I got a club in my hand maybe when I was 9 or 10, but I didn't really play 10 until I was about 12. The builder, a golf course that I grew up on, the built out of five miles from my house in 1997. Oh, wow. So I was 10 and 97. So like. Well, of course. It's a place called Oscar Hills, right in the middle, yeah, just outside the place called Tola Moore. So yeah, they built that and then I just said to my dad on that I want to go up like golf and he was looking at me weirdly like, why would you want to go up like golf to play golf? So I think he's pretty happy with that decision. Yeah. You'd say. Yeah. I just went down. And to be honest, I just fell in love with the game straight away, like from the age of 12 or 13, like it's all I did all day, every day, any, any minute. Like, I remember even when I would go like later in my teenage years and when my friends were going out to party and stuff, like I just wouldn't go with them on a Friday or Saturday night and I just stay in. So I could go play 36 holes, follow that. I just loved it. Yeah. That was it. And you mainly just played it. Oscar Hills going up. I did. Yeah. And then as I got older, obviously I played and served in tournaments and meeting around the country a little bit. Right. We were very fortunate in Ireland. We got some very big tournaments on some great golf courses and yeah, I played all those growing up. So like learned my golf really on parkland golf, but obviously I played a lot of league golf in tournaments as I got older. So Parkland golf, explain to me what that is. I'm. Parkland is like, like you as golf, like, like, you know, treeline courses. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Gotcha. Because I had forgotten that you had won the Irish Open as an amateur, correct? And that was in like 2009 against Robert Rock who had the best head of lettuce on his hair. Still knows. Still knows. Yeah. I mean, take me back to 2009 in that moment because I mean, we just recently watched Nick Dunlap win at the American Express. You had to kind of think to yourself that that kind of brings back a little bit of memories. I know it's not a different, different setting and it's your home's home state, but so pretty cool. Yeah. It did bring back some memories and like I remember in so in 2009, I was quite fortunate at the time I came around. I remember. So I was around the time of Rory, like Rory's a couple of years younger than me, but he was always a couple of years ahead of me, fear the enemy when it came to like the tournaments and stuff back home. But Rory is obviously the best player, best amateur in Ireland at the time. And I was kind of in behind them, in the pack behind them. And I remember amateur golf just became so big back home and we'd go out and play tournaments and there'd be like, you know, a thousand people that walk in the fairways watching the golf and then when Rory turned pro, I kind of, there's a few of us just took it over from there. And I suppose early 2009, I was one of the best amateurs in Ireland. I was after winning a lot of tournaments and I asked the golf union for an invite to the Irish Open. They used to give them out and then they stopped giving them out for a year or two and I just had never played. So I just wanted to play. So I called them up one day in about, I'd say February or March and I was like, is there any chance I can play the Irish Open and they were like, you're up back to me and they're like, yeah, no problem. And I went to a place called Baltray, which is where I was that week. I remember I was just happy to be there. And my first ever professional event playing on the European tour, I was just like, oh my God, like what's this and I opened up a shot, 500 the first round and 10 under the second round. I played by two going into the weekend and I was like, this is just, I couldn't believe it to be honest. And then obviously I went on to win and like incredible how much that kick started my career. I obviously got my card in Europe. I turned pro straight away. So remember when Nick, when Nick Dunlap, a couple of weeks ago, when he, when people were talking about him, whether he's going to turn pro or not, I was like, if he was thinking about not turning pro, I just like to talk to him for five minutes. But yeah, he did. So, you know, and even like, you know, I've watched a little bit of him as he started off and it's not going to be all playing sailing. I think I was kind of maybe at the time I thought, yeah, this is going to be pretty straightforward. But you realize when you go on tour, it's not as easy as you thought it was going to be and you just need to trust yourself and believe in what you're doing is right and keep going. Yeah, and I think that's going to be great advice. Nick's a hell of a player and it's going to, he's going to figure it out. I mean, he's obviously has already won on the PGA tour at a young age, but still, like he said, it's, there's so much that goes into learning all these new golf courses and playing against the best in the world, which he's, he's got the talent for it. So I'll be looking out for see what Nick can do and, and Shane, from watching you over the years, I still think that you probably have some of the best set of hands I've ever seen around the green, just, he's just lethal chipping and, you know, what is, do you credit that to where you grew up? Is that something about the golf course you played growing up and ask your hills? Is there something about that place or did you just come kind of naturally to you? Yeah. So like growing up, I never really got many lessons, if any lessons at all really, I met my coach when I was 17 and he was probably the first coach I've ever had. So before that, I, like we didn't have a driving range or a putting rain or a short game area at the golf course I grew up at, it was just a golf course and that was, it's a useless golf play. And I remember when I spent the evenings and the days I spent on my own at the golf course, I would go out and just chip around the greens. And when I, when I think back in, and I've talked about this, like over the years, there's a lot of like raised greens were run offs around the course that I grew up at. You needed to be able to kind of hit the ball high, flop shots, you know, have some decent hands, be able to hit the shots and, and I think I do credit that somewhat for, you know, the hands that, that I got because, like, I can't actually emphasize or stress how many hours I spent out there just doing it. And I was only, I wasn't doing it to practice. I was just doing it because I love doing it and then I didn't want to do anything else. And yeah, I just, that's what I did every day, I, I play and I go out and I, I, if the course was quiet, I'd find a green that was, you know, nobody around and the green keepers couldn't find me because if they see me, they wouldn't be happy, but yeah, just spend, spend hours out there and trying to hit different shots and spend it back and do all that type of stuff. It was, yeah, it was pretty cool. Oh man. Yeah. I did the same. I grew up and I fell in love with the wedge, you know, it just was my, always my favorite club in the bag. I would love go late in the evenings and do exactly what you're just talking about and just hit all the fun shots, the trick shots, the ones that, you know, personally, I, I, I was, I became a good ball striker, but it kind of took a while. So I actually found myself in all these funny, different places, which I'm sure you did as well over the years, especially, especially going up in those windy conditions in Ireland. Yeah. Yeah. And like I still do it now, like I still, it's something that I love doing is I'm very fortunate where I live here. I'm a member of two amazing golf courses and like I go to the short-term area at the Barris Club, you won't find a better place in the world. I spend all day around there, it's, it's, it's the best and yeah, just hitting different shots and fun shots and yeah, like look, I, I, and I've got good hands. My stats are not as good as I would like, well, they can always get better, but I do feel like I've turned, I had a bad year last year kind of around the greens. And I think that that held me back a little bit, but I think this year I found something that I'm pretty happy with and I'm very excited for a few months I have ahead. And it's funny. I already know what that is though, because we've done like three tricks on things on this. So I might as well just say what it is you've, you've changed your wedge setup. You've gone to, I believe it's a, is it a 59 degree that you have, then a 55 and a 51. One. Yeah. I see it. Yeah. But it's, yeah. So that's given me a lot of options and, and also I've, I just figured something out with my chip and yeah, it's, it's very simple and it's just all for me, and when my rhythm gets off, my technique gets bad, not my technique, my shots get bad and I just, and I just need to give myself time to hit the ball. So if you look at me when I chip, I look like I've got a long swing and I all, I look like I'm de-selling on it. But that's what I need to feel to strike the ball correctly and I mean, my short game has been pretty good. The share is felt really good. Yeah. And, and do you know what I came from? That didn't come from a lesson off my coach. It didn't come from anything other than me spending some time on my own around the chip and getting at the best club and figuring it out for myself. Yeah. That'll do it. Especially around those grainy lies that you're going to have out there. If this is the time of the year where my chipping is just, you know, we're just going to hit the omit button till, till about April or May comes around and that, that dormant Bermuda gets away. Yeah. I actually, you know what, it's funny when I moved down here first, I hated playing Florida golf, like the grainy lies and all that but living here now, I actually know it's my favorite stretch of the year. Really? Okay. Yeah. Like I think, I think the next three weeks of tournaments are some of the toughest golf that we play all year. But it's probably my favorite stretch of golf. I love playing Florida golf now. It's definitely difficult, especially Bay Hill just continues to get more difficult every single year I show up there. The rough gets longer. The greens get firmer. There's no friction on the greens and you're just like, okay, there's nowhere to miss it. Yeah, you get there on Tuesday and you play the practice and then you can't stop the ball in the park. So you're like, oh, this is going to be a great week. But yeah, it's Bay Hill is brutal and I keep trying to figure out how to play. I haven't learned how to play that play yet so hopefully this year is sort of a... Yeah, no. It's not easy. I know that. And... 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KeyBank opens doors. KeyBank member FDIC. So Shane, before we get out of the Ireland talk, I just wanted to... For you, I mean, you're a guy that's been, I'm sure, everywhere in Ireland. I want you to build me the perfect Ireland golf trip. And we have a map here that just popped up on our little screen that I just want you to just... If it's a region or if it's something that's like, "All right, if I had five golf courses to play, this is how I would plan out the trip." And we can kind of zoom in on whatever area you want to go to. No, I know exactly what I do if I was speaking the perfect old trip. I obviously land in Dublin. And I play at Port Marna. Yep. That's like right next to the airport, right? Right next to the airport. That's like... You could probably play that in the day you landed because you'd be fine if you'd fly overnight and you'd sleep. Yeah, that's... And then I would stay the night in Dublin because Dublin's one of the greatest cities in the world. Love that. Try sample a few Guinness and I'd get in the car the next morning and I'd drive southwest towards the Dermanner. Yep, I see a Dermanner right there. I'd play a Dermanner that day. Okay. And then... Which are thoughts on a Dermanner? Because it's not anything like... It's not a Lynx course, but it's like for Ireland, it's like you can't believe how well manicured it is. It's only like... It's got similar grasses to Augusta, similar condition, it's one of my favorites. It's my favorite place. It's like Alton Ireland, to be honest. Yeah. One of like... I've probably got... It's in my top three anyway. That's where the big man is. J.P. Being Manis Paramas. Yeah, Manis Parama is there. J.P. Ball of the few years going and refurbished the whole place and the hotel is incredible as well. So, I don't know if you want to spend the night in the hotel there, but yeah, if we're just talking about golf, so from there I would actually go to Tralee. J.P. Oh, there it is. J.P. West. That's still not cautious. Yeah, that course is incredible. J.P. What's cool about it? I mean, it's got to be just Lynx then. J.P. It's Lynx. I think Ireland and Parama designed it and the back nine is one of the best nine holes in golf you'll ever play. It's just incredible. It's like it's just Ireland and Parama arrived there and it was already there and he just kind of had to put his name to it. It's just like... It's just perfect. Yeah. And then I would go, that's three courses. You want two more? Yeah. I want two more. Clarnie's a great town if you want to stay in Clarnie. It's... Where's Ireland? It's in Ireland. It's kind of inland further south. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see it. Yeah. That's a great town and that's about an hour from a place called Waterville, which is one of the best golf courses in the world. That's right in your hog set, right? Yeah. Hog set. I'm just joining Hog set. I think so. Yeah, I go to spend the bit of time there over the years. I went with my friends on a golf trip last year and it's the most incredible place. I've been to the hospitality, the hotel, the way we got looked after. It's right beside Waterville, so I'd finished my trip there and I'd spend as much time as you wanted there. But Waterville, the lovely little town has got a couple of lovely restaurants and pubs and... Wow. Great. Yeah. I'll hopefully be spending a bit of time there this summer before the open stuff. I guess I was a little surprised we didn't go up towards Port Rush. I know. I know. I was kind of... Yeah. You're thinking like, how am I going to get there? I'm sure that's in a perfect world. The boys in Hog's head, I'm helicopter. They're my fly in there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would... Yeah, I would always go southwest, but the next time we come back, I'll send you north. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Okay. And there's... Port Rush, Royal County down. Yeah. And even the course, Baltray is there on the way north of Dublin. That's where I want the Irish open. Oh, wow. Okay. That's a very, very underrated golf course, it's a great golf course. So that's your most underrated course in the rural county down just north of that it looks like. And man, I mean, I could do this all day with you because I've been researching... It's so funny. Like, I'm looking at course and now I'm like, oh, yeah, that's great as well. You could go everywhere. You wouldn't... You want to be there for a month because like there's a course over there in the west coast called Enes Crone. Oh, yeah. Which somebody was asking me recently, what's the like course that, you know, not a lot of people would talk about really, because people obviously talk about the south west down in your waterville and these places and they talk about the north open Port Rush and stuff. But, you know, that's stretching off there, Enes Crone and Ross's point and that place called Carne, where on the west coast? This is not Carne. It's not Carne. It's not Carne. It's Carne. A place called Belmont, I've grown with a great little town as well. I've seen like fliers of Carne and Enes Crone and Ross's point, Ross's or Ross's. Ross's. I'm telling you, dude, that little stretch on the northwest corner is absurd. But it's just like it's not really that... It didn't look easy to get to, like, to me. But, like, it's, yeah, the roads, yeah, might not be the best and there might be a tough trip. But, yeah, it would be worth it if you did it, like, a golf will be amazing. Like, we play, we used to play an amateur tournament that still play called the west of Ireland in Ross's point. Oh, really? Yeah, like Rory won the west of Ireland. I won the west of Ireland, Paul, like, won it, everyone won it, so it's a huge tournament and... Man. Harry Diamond, actually, a cadice for Rory won it as well, so it's, yeah. How old is Harry in comparison to you and Rory? I think he's a little bit older. Okay. Boy, he played around similar time as us as well. Man, this just gets me excited. I mean, I'm very blessed to grow up where I grew up and I feel like I had access to, you know, be able to chase my dreams for the PGA Tour, but I tell you what, nothing gets me more excited in this game of golf than playing in Scotland or playing in Ireland. And playing in these just incredible places in the world and you grew up there. I'm sure when you return home, you just love being and playing at all these fun golf courses that you grew up playing. Yeah, and it's funny, like, last year was the first year in, like, forever that I played the Scottish Open, that I didn't stay in Ireland the week before the Open, and I regretted it. Like, I actually went to miss the court of the Open for the first time in a few years, so I was like, you know, there's no way I'm doing that this year. I'm gonna, I'm gonna hang out in Ireland, go and play some great golf. And it's something that I just love doing, it's kind of, it's practice and it's playing links golf. But you also, you know, you get to play with your friends and it's kind of like to put you in the great frame of mind and it's just, yeah, it's a great thing to be able to do. And you kind of get into just shot making mode, right? You know, so often we're just technique mode here in the States. And when you, when you kind of get over there, you just kind of get lost into playing golf shots. That's it. And you know, you always get a bit of a win and you have different shots every day. And yeah, it's, there's definitely an arc to it. It's not just about swinging the club, but there's an arc to playing links golf. Right. And, and Shane, when did you, when did you, and, and you can go ahead and take, uh, take that map off just so I can get full box on Shane. There we go. Get the full Shane, uh, in my box now, I'm actually got my, I got my hug. Yeah. I was thinking that was how I said I should have pointed out earlier. So when did you move, uh, from Ireland? Did you move immediately to the States or was there another stop or two, uh, before you got to the United States? Yeah. So I, um, yeah, we got married in 2016 and we had our first daughter in 2017. So like, I got my card in the States 2015 and we, we spent a bit of time in America, like early 2016 early sort of, we didn't spend early 2017 because she was born early 2017. So I lived in Ireland for a few years while trying to play the PJ, which that was one of the most difficult. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. It's like, I used to do a schedule where I do two weeks on, one week off and I mean, I was just, yeah, like for the whole thing and I was, yeah, I struggled. And then, um, we start coming here a little bit more frequent. We spend, we used to spend sort of, you know, January to May here every year, play all, you know, all, all that time we'd always go home after like, um, around the U.S. Open. Yeah. I don't know. Went for it used to be early. So I used to go around the U.S. Open. It was around that time. Um, and then we, we actually moved her full time like two years ago, but we spent like the whole of COVID here, we spent, you know, we spend a lot of time here, um, like full time, our daughter started school. She started kindergarten a year and a half ago. So we moved her full time for that. Um, and yet certainly spending more time here makes it easier on my career. Yeah. And it's better like for practice for everything like living in Ireland was great and all but just the weather, the practice, which is not as good. And then you're coming out and you feel like you're playing catch up every week, but, um, yeah, it's been great, you know, so I've been really kind of base partly here since about 20, 70 and 20, 18 and that's working out. I didn't realize you and I got on tour at the same time or at least the PGA to work because I got my card and 15. So, um, yeah, I won. I was getting my card, remember I was getting my card through the, basically I didn't have my status, but true, like the majors in the world, I was getting it in 2015. But the last WGC was in Akron, I went to Munda and that got me a clear example. Oh, that's right. Okay. Yeah. That's familiar. It's a shame. We don't play that golf course anymore either. That was a fun track. Yeah. You want to tell, you want to talk about, um, if I would have placed my golf balls where I was in the first round of that tournament when I played it and I hit one fairway that day. Yeah. I mean, it's the most stressful punch out golf course in the world. Yeah. Yeah. One rough and these small trees. I remember when I won the Irish Open in 2009, I got that got you into the Akron and I went there like I just turned pro and I went there and I shot 20 over par for four rounds. And I was like, Oh my God. That was one of my lower days. I remember sitting in the hotel room on the Friday night after shooting two 78s. It's supposed to be gone, how am I like, how am I going to do this? And then like five years there, I come back and one. So that was pretty unbelievable. Right. That's just that golf course is fun. I mean, I hit like one or two fairways and shot three or four over. And then the next day shot a bunch under hitting like 10 fairways. The difference in being in the fairway, not in the fairway on that golf course is like night and day. Yeah. Yeah. I remember. Yeah. And it's a hard course to hit fairways. Oh gosh. It's a good one and man Jupiter is an incredible place to practice. You kind of referred to, let's see, was it was a medalist and grove? Is that replay? Was it? Or those two? Very slow, man. Very slow and grove. I mean, so grove is like, I mean, bearish cause you got an amazing short game facility, but the grove is, I mean, that practice facility is you just can't beat it. So like when you talk about being, you know, on top of your game, being able to work on your game, but also does it, does it help you at all to know, or at least just to be able to keep your game sharp playing against the best in the world that are out there as well? It's just kind of seeing how hard other guys are working. Yeah. I was actually just thinking that before you said it, I remember, but I remember when I started coming here in like 2016, I thought I was working hard and I thought I was practicing, but then you go to the golf club every day and Rory's there before you or JT's over there or, you know, there's somebody that the best players in the world are always there and they're always working hard and they don't take a day off. So it's, yeah, it's kind of off my eyes to, you know, what I needed to do to get better. And I think that definitely helped me along the way. One of the days I was recently at the grove, actually you and you and I had once together, I was with Justin and we went out and played that day, but you were doing some ball testing with tricks on that day. And I found it really interesting because it wasn't just the normal ball testing. This was like ball rollback testing to see exactly what we're working with. And I think it's actually kind of cool that I'm talking with somebody that can give you a little bit of insight into what this golf ball actually looks, feels like flies like comparison to what you're playing right now. Yeah, and like, I don't think many people have actually tested it. So obviously I was doing some ball testing for the 2024 ball for Shrickson and they brought along five kind of prototypes of what the rollback ball is going to look like. And it was a pretty windy day. It was like, yes, you know, it was probably a, it was probably a 15 miles an hour wind, which was like, I played, it was, it was my balls were, they were going. And then so, yeah, they had a few, like they had one ball basically that had a different temple pattern that basically had the ball, same ball speed, the same spin rates, but it just went 20 yards shorter. Okay. So that's fine. That's our driver, but it went 20 yards shorter with orange as well. It just went like, yeah, so we are shorter with that. Like, is that, is that normalized? Like is there a way to like, because it's a windy day, I just don't like, was it? This is all on just, these are numbers on trackman. So no, maybe it wasn't 20 yard shorter. It was maybe, sorry, it was maybe, so 20 yards was dry where it was about, it's about eight percent. Yeah. Seven eight percent. What they've kind of, they've said it's like five to seven yards with the irons and only. No. Yeah. That's what the USDA and RNA have been saying, but that's not the ball I tested. It was definitely shorter than that. And that's the, that's the thing. I mean, even like, you know, we play courses at the start of the year, you know, Torrey Pines, that even in our course, the Torrey Pines, and I was a driver mid-iron every hole. Get your head curbs out. Yeah. The weather was cold and Phoenix, you know, all of a sudden every hole is, that's supposed to be a wedge hole is a driver seven iron. It's, uh, so I think you add in 20 yards off the tee and another 10 or 15 yards with an iron. All of a sudden the hole becomes very, very long and, um, I, I, I'm not sure how it's all going to play out. I think there will be some sort of a rollback, but I don't think it'd be that quite that severe. Um, but yeah, it certainly was very interesting. Like when, you know, I'd hit and obviously you look up and you're expecting your ball to come out on a certain window and it just doesn't, and you're just like, Oh my God, this is, uh, this is going to be very interesting when it does happen. So Shane, as it stands now, you know, where this golf ball is, is set by the USDA and RNA, kind of where they are setting the initial guidelines for these golf ball, uh, manufacturers, you know, to, to make these golf balls. I mean, for as we kind of grow in this game, you know, the game of golf is growing so much, but would this not just be a shot in the heart for like all golfers, if they're have to go to this type of golf ball, because it seems like distance is a good thing. Yeah. I mean, I, I just think the only thing I think is that's wrong, uh, that's not wrong because I think golf was great and I think the game is great that we play, um, like I think if they wanted to change it, I don't understand why they just wouldn't make a smaller driver. Like I think the driver is too easy hit at the minute. I'm probably going to jinx myself rest of season and try to chip my, um, like I think like if I need to hit a fairway hit driver, yeah, in fact, I took me three without because I don't hit it anymore, because I'm like, I just hit my driver and you know, if I really need to hit a fairway, the 300 or my five would because I like my five, you know, it's kind of like, um, so I just think if you look at guys, if you make the driver head smaller, uh, guys are going to have to use more loft like the guys that use eight degrees loft, we're going to have to use a bit little bit more because on a smaller head, it's going to be too little off and then we're going to have to swing it a little bit easier because, you know, they're going to the center strikes are going to have to be more, you know, careful with center strikes because if you hit it off, off the heater, the toe on a smaller face is not going to go as good. So I just think that's a why you think I don't understand why they just, you know, do you see the tailor made mini driver like why you don't just make the driver that that's why it's yeah, and it seems like my fix a lot of problems for who knows and you're not the only person to kind of echo that those same comments we had Adam Scott on, he said the exact same thing he he kind of just said, you know what the ball is the ball we we don't think that's he didn't really think that's a big of an issue. It's just make that think smart because when you get nervous, that's the one club you grab it right now. Exactly, yeah, if I needed a fair way to give me that driver all day, like, you know, a first seat at a rider called first seat or the 80 and T of a major with a part to win, you just want to be able to hit your driver and that's it, you don't want to be hitting anything else. Well, let's talk rider cup and at KeyBank, we know a small moment like, whoa, my kids got a serious backhand can lead to an even bigger question like tennis campus, how much? And that's the type of moment where we'll meet you to help you build a savings plan for expenses big and small so your money can make money. My cows, that sound sounds like match point sounds like love. We could serve up tennis puns all day for every financial need. We'll meet you in the moment. KeyBank opens doors. KeyBank member FDIC. At bed 365, we don't do ordinary. We believe that every sport should be epic. Every touchdown, every game, every point, every play from the moments that are legendary to the ones that fly under the radar. See for yourself when you sign up today and you'll get $365 and bonus bets when you bet just $1. Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at bed 365. 21 plus only must be present in Colorado. If you were someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 gambler terms and conditions apply. Were you did you tee off in the alternate session? Were you on? You say you're the one. I was on the evens. So, Seth, Seth was your partner and Seth Strong is a good friend of mine. Birmingham, Alabama lives 10 minutes down the road for me right now. So I can go knock ding dong, ditch him right now if you really wanted to. I was on the range on, I was at a Wednesday at Thursday. I think it was Thursday and Eduardo Montlaria was our stats guy and I went over to him. I think this was on Wednesday and I said Eduardo had a column over and he came over and I said what? What way do you see Seth and I plan the course and he goes the way I see it is you should play the evens and I just get them the biggest ones ever. I was like thank you so much. So, Seth had to hit the first tee on his pony ride. So, Seth is like you know, Seth very well. He's like very laid back, you know, quiet, kind of walks quite slowly. Maybe get too flustered with anything and Luke said to me on Thursday, you know, we're playing a practice on Luke said to me, you know, Shane, Seth's a little bit, you know, different to you. He's kind of, you know, not as kind of fiery or not as, you know, a little bit different. So, because it's his first one, just be wary of that and kind of stay with him and, you know, don't go marching ahead and just kind of, you know, be with him and look after him for this. I was like, okay, yeah, cool. Yeah, no problem. Cheers, Captain, yeah, whatever. And then we get to the first tee on Friday morning and we're on the tee and Seb's obviously just about to tee off and Victor Hobland is, his shot comes up on the big screen live on the first tee and he chips in and I'm like running around the first tee and Seb's running around the tee after me and he's got to hit his tee shot. It was quite funny and he hit it left into the roof, but like it was, it was fine. Like, you know, it's one of those tee shots. It's a very golden place to be. So we just laughed at it and kept going. Man, I mean, just, I mean, Rome was incredible, but talk about the build up before Rome because, you know, you did have to rely on a pick from with Donald and I tell you what, golf Twitter was in a weird place at that time because everybody, whether it was JT, it's like, how are you going to pick this guy's like, wow, I mean, JT's got a pretty dang good record. I can see why wouldn't JT was one of the Americans best players that week as well. I know. And so for you, Shane, like, was it difficult during that time, you know, feeling like, you know, I just, I deserve a pick, but also other people feeling like, you know, they can go in another direction. Like, was that hard for you at that time? Yeah. Yeah. It was. So I remember the day I got the picks were announced. I obviously got the phone call before. And look, I'd be the first to admit I didn't have the best season last year. But I felt like I was playing at a very high level. Yeah. And that I was finishing sort of 20 to 25th, 15 to 25th every week. And I felt at the level I was playing a PGA tour majors consistently. I felt like it wasn't bad. I wasn't missing cuts. I wasn't, you know, I know I didn't make the playoffs. I missed out on those. I finished like 76 in the FedEx. But I still felt that I was playing good enough golf. My stats, you know, if I look at it, my stats sort of started a year. I hit the ball great. I put it horrifically from May onwards. I put it pretty well. And I was pretty happy where that was at. So yeah, going back to like the day that he was announced was the Monday. And I remember. Yeah, my phone was just blowing up with. Yeah, negativity, which is wild because it was a weird place for me to be in. I just had this great feeling of Ken and Anderson, the Ryder Cup team. And then, you know, I had to kind of fend off a few a lot of tough questions, especially, you know, the Irish Open and Wentworth to two weeks after that. So I don't remember thinking, like, you know, the way it was last year, let's be honest, it wasn't like, you know, European players were winning everything that was gone. We, you know, we did end up having a great team, but it kind of came together quite late. And, you know, six months before the Ryder Cup people were saying, where are they going to get 12 players from? You know, and that's the way it was. And, you know, obviously, we had load fake coming along and Nikolai met a charge. I can't even remember who else got the pick sport. Yeah, it was, yeah, I was sort of saying, yeah, I felt like I was single. That was the one that got the 12 pick, which I was kind of a little bit pissed off about as well. But I said to myself, I'm a big boy, I'm able to handle this. If this takes the heat off one of the rupees gone into the into the Ryder Cup, I don't really mind like I'll answer the hard questions. And I got the Irish open. I remember, you know, the journalists were on me a little bit about Moronk not getting picked and, you know, yeah. So yeah, I answered them as well as I could have. I thought, I thought what it is in the last Ryder Cup in a few years leading up to the top. Yeah, I deserve to be picked. And I think I showed, and I certainly show behind closed doors while I was picked. And I think I showed someone on the course, I thought I had a pretty good Ryder Cup the way I played. You know, Sunday, I felt like I showed a lot of grit and determination been treated down against Jordan after five holes and coming back, you know, I'm the one who planned the last. I was very proud of myself for that. And yeah, I don't think even since I've seen certain things written in the media about certain players, I don't think anybody should be having any arguments with any of Luke's picks to consider and the way we played. And you just have to look at the first day. We all made at least half a point on the first day. And that's I don't know if that's ever been done before. Everyone's contributed to the team on the first day. And that's that was incredible. And yeah, very grateful that Luke picked me though. Like it's it's it's a big, big kind of honor. And I said it to him under Sunday. And you know, he showed his faith to me. And you know, it's a big deal for him being captain. He obviously wants to win really badly. So he is going to pick the 12 players that he thinks is right. And I was one at all. So yeah, it's pretty happy. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping, you know, to be honest, what's driving me on the next, what's driving me on now is the next four years. It's not even the next two years, you know, we got that page and, uh, bet page next year and 25. And then we've got their manner in 27. So I guess that'll get you my, uh, that's the reason I get open the morning now for those, for, for that kind of caratine under that, that could be, that could be really kind of cool thing to be able to do those two. So, um, yeah. So when you, when you walked off the green, um, on that Friday morning match, when you accept got the win, was that just kind of the moment you're like, you know, I, I deserve to be here. Was that kind of just proving everybody wrong to yourself? Yeah, I mean, I, I remember the, the week the team was picked in Ireland. I remember I had the chance to win the tournament that finished third. So I kind of, you know, and then when we're, when we're, when we were the following week, I kind of had a bit of a chance going into the weekend as well. So it was, you know, it felt, it felt like answered a lot of critics in those two weeks. And yeah, to go out on the first morning and get a point on the board with SEP. And, uh, I remember we had, I had like a 25 footer on 17 and we had two puts for the win. And I left a four feet short. So I was like, uh, not sure seps to me. But yeah, remember is like, there's a lot of relief there, but there's a lot of joy obviously as well. And yeah, you feel like you've contributed to the team and, uh, yeah, you definitely feel your work there after, after something like that. Can you talk just a little bit about SEP and what you kind of see in his game and what, what makes him such a good player? Um, you don't mean doing much wrong, does he? So SEP is like, you kind of, he stands up, he hits a pretty straight, he hits his iron solid little draw and he chips pretty good and he holds a few puts. He's kind of, he's one of these players that you're very, very happy to be his horse and his partner and all he wants. You know what I mean? He's like, yes, he hits a lot of fairways. He hits a lot of greens when he misses greens. He's well able to chip and yeah, he rolls the ball well and he's, uh, he's a very laid back character. He's very, he's obviously very driven as well, but he's, uh, you know, he's a great person to be around. Myself and him enjoy the same things we enjoy. We won't enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, he's, uh, all over a little bit different. I feel like we're quite similar as well. So he's, uh, he's just a great person here. And we got to get a Coca-Cola to give you to a sponsorship with Diet Coke. I mean, just whether it's getting y'all's coffee, me a lot of money. And I've actually got, I've got poor accountant instead of my house this week and he's worse than the bold of us put together. So there'll be a lot of Diet Coke in my house this week. Perfect. And it correct me if I'm wrong on this, but at the Honda Classic, which is where we're going to be playing this week, actually the cognizant classic. I need to start getting that on my TV brain, but didn't you and Sep have a battle, uh, the year that Sep wanted that you got down, right? Yeah, this is all before, but still it's kind of like, you had a battle, uh, when Sep won his first BJ Tour event. Yeah, it was 2022. Yeah. I had a two-shot lead with five to play. And, and Sep was the group ahead of me. And Sep already traded last five to beat me by the show, but it was like, you know, that course. Yeah. I mean, it's just that what happened. I got the 18th and Sep are already tee off and the big rainstorm came in and Sep had his drive 340 down the middle of the fairway and I hit my drive to 47. I mean, it's just a rock and so it's kind of, yeah, but and everybody thinks about that, but I'm like, I keep saying everybody, the worst thing for me was I was too ahead with five to play around that course and I've had the last five holes and even power and I didn't even get into a playoff. That's insane. So that's where I fell hard on my, yeah, Sep just birdie trade last five and beat me and this is before I even knew him. And, um, yeah, I didn't like him after that. I got to like come last year. Yeah. It was, it was a tough one for me, but, um, yeah. Well, Jane, you and I have played the Honda Classic together and it's still probably, you know, I have a couple incidents on tour. I mean, I have an alligator incident, but I think probably one of the ones I laugh about the most is you and I play in the Honda Classic together and we have footage that we have got to watch together and I got to get your reaction to what all you remembered. So this won't be the first time or the last time that this is played this week. Oh gosh. No. All right. You can play. Here we go. Hall today is 37 yards shorter than yesterday. So the tour officials, given the players a break. Yeah, I remember if you snapped your seven hour and over your name. All in the water. So far today. No, not happy. See the went back. Oh, look. There you go. That was a clean break. You know how hard it is to snap a cobra greenie, by the way, if you're not frustrated, and then I I stood up and probably give it a walk around here 15 yesterday hit it about eight feet trying to try to coat a little seven iron in as well. I caught it all right. Oh, wow. I apologize for that. At least yours is closer to the green. Were these my that our golf balls land on the mics because they were so loud. Do you know what? Do you know the mad thing about that, Smiley? You know, you obviously noticed that that would that was I think CBS were doing. No, NBC NBC NBC. And it was that was their first shot for the show on the broadcast on Sunday. It was like me and Smiley cruising around trying to try to finish 30th. And yeah, I remember I actually remember about that. I remember getting called into the office for a long week. We both did. Wait, yeah. I don't need to happen anymore. I don't think he getting trouble for us of anymore. Yeah, because there's a dump button, you know? Yeah, we don't remember. I remember I was like and called into a principal's office. I'm like getting in trouble and a slap on the wrist. And I remember saying, yeah, like I got fined or whatever. And I remember saying, yeah, I'm sorry, but like I can't promise you that's not going to happen again. See, I was the opposite. I was like the like the goody or the guy that doesn't want to do wrong is a as a new guy. And I'm like, apologize. And then they still gave me a fine. I was like, OK, I'm not apologizing anymore if I snap a club over my knee. Yeah, I remember it was just the funny thing about that. I remember saying to them, because we were obviously I think we were lying at best. I was lying like 25th 30th. I think you were doing a little better. Yeah, I think so. And we were both like, you know, you're thinking around that course, if you finish, I sort of think you can finish one or two under the last four holes from there. Yeah, you might call from 25th to 15th or 12th and it ends up in a half days a week. And yeah, you do that. And then all of a sudden you finish 45th. And it's not a very good week. So I remember trying to explain this to the tour of the prime and I was like, yeah, whatever. It's funny. It's funny. You look back at it. What year was that? Oh, that was 2016 Honda classic. Wow. Yeah. That was a long time ago. Yeah, you know, I remember hitting the shot and I hadn't hit it in the water all week. And it wasn't, I wasn't necessarily hitting in my best that week. I was kind of getting up and down, not hitting in the water. And it was, you know, the 15th hole on that Sunday had finally hit in the water and I just totally snapped. But then I was so mad and so angry. And I'm not even watching you hit because I know you're not going to hit in the water. Because like, why would you do that after watching me hitting in the water? And so I'm not even watching. And then I hear you say, Oh, you'll be an idiot. And then you hit. And then I didn't know you hit in the water. And so I get up there and your, your caddy puts his bag on the drop zone. I was like, Oh, we did it too. I thought you hooked it. I thought you had left. I had no idea. Well, it's not, it wasn't the first ball I hit in the water and won't be the last. No, it won't. That's the funny thing. And yeah, I'm not trying to give you a visual for that. And you did mention the TV side of it too. And it's somebody that works in the TV business now. It is insane to me that that those two shots were live because most of the time these are, these are tape shots. Typically when we have guys that are way out in front, like you and I were, which are, you know, we're 30 of someplace. Those are the only things that are cut. And then shown later, it's very rare to go live to 15 for just two random guys that are in the middle of the pack. And even I would, I would have argued if I was you because they didn't actually see your club break onto the TV shoulder replay over. I know I'm gonna have to talk to him about producer about that because he's, it's the same producer, Tommy Roy that I work for. I guarantee you, he's like, roll that we're going to roll that one because we're going to show up from every angle, which is whatever it makes for good TV. I was the idiot that did it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's why when you see yourself on on PGA tour live, you're like, Oh, I better, better watch myself today. Good times, man. Good times. And I'll be down there this week. And hopefully I get to watch you on 15. I'm not and I'm, I'm hopefully going to be calling for you. Hopefully I won't see it. Cause anything I'll think about is like slicing a seminar in the water. I'll be over in the grandstand. Oh, man. Well, Shane, this has been a fun combo, man. I know it's been a busy weekend for you with being on dad duty. So I know that you're ready to get to get to some, some much needed rest and recovery as you get ready for a, again, another cognizant open that you've won before. And I'm sure you're excited to get going this week. Yeah. I'm very looking forward to this. This is one of my, uh, this is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Actually, the golf course, a little to golf course, and I seem to play pretty well. I get to stay at home. I, I have poor accountant. And I just had your own and staying with me for the week. So it's good fun. And yeah, we'll have a good time. And hopefully that's on good golf. And I'll mention this just as we, as we get out, you know, we just had Jake nap on the, on the podcast. And of course he went in Mexico. So I'm just saying there's something in the water, Shane, something in the water. I will send you a good few points again as an Ireland. That's the case. You won't have to pay for a drink in Ireland when you're there. Well, we'll call it, we'll call it a wash. We'll call it a wash on the Guinnesses. So that sounds good to me. Shane, play well this week. I look forward to seeing out there. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, Molly. The Smiley Show is part of the SiriusXM sports podcast network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcast. Join us for two giant screen experiences at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, adventure into the world's most hidden realms in ancient games 3D and find out what it takes to solve Earth's greenest mysteries. Dive deep into a wilderness few have dared to explore an Antarctica 3D and discover how what happens here affects us all. Visit dmns.org to schedule your visit today. At bed 365, we don't do ordinary. We believe that every sport should be epic. Every touchdown, every game, every point, every play from the moments that are legendary to the ones that fly under the radar. See for yourself when you sign up today and you'll get $365 in bonus bets when you bet just $1. Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at bed 365. 21 plus only must be present in Colorado. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-Gambler Terms and Conditions Apply. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Shane Lowry and Smylie Kaufman reunite during "Honda" (now Cognizant) week to relive their opening of the 2016 tournament broadcast by promptly hitting two balls in the water and getting fined for their reactions. Shane explains why he would solve golf's distance debate without rolling back the golf ball, and proposes an alternate solution. Shane also relives the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, and why he bristled at the suggestion that he was the "last" pick on Team Europe.
