John Swantek visits with PGA TOUR player/graffiti street artist Jon Curran, and digital development editor Jeff Ritter from Sports Illustrated/Golf.com
Talk of the TOUR Golf Podcast
Jeff Ritter from Sports Illustrated and PGA TOUR player Jon Curran
They're going to be on the weekend. Welcome to the talk of the tour podcast for Monday, April 25th. John Swan sect, this is the first of two. Count them. Two podcasts this week. Monday and Wednesday. Only people not going to be able to crank one out on Friday. Be hosting PGA tour live coverage of the Zurich Classic Thursday and Friday. And that's pretty much a whole day and evening kind of great. The Sports Illustrated golf group is coming up today as is PGA tour player John Curran. You can listen, download the show anytime by visiting PGA tour.com/podcasts. You can also access the show via iTunes, tune in and Stitcher, just head to PGA tour.com/podcasts and subscribe today. And our first cast joins us from the very impressive and posh, golf.com sports offices from lower Manhattan, Jeff Ritter, the digital development editor for the Sports Illustrated Golf Group. What's the view there on the seventh floor? Paint the picture for us. It's not bad, John. It's, you know, if you look out, the west wing of the office, you can stare straight out over the Hudson River. It's very nice. Today, it's sparkling spring morning. And then if you go out the east, the east view into the city itself, you look at the new World Trade Tower and the city buzzing beyond. So, yeah, it's a pretty nice spot down here downtown. There's a lot of development, there's a lot of things happening and it's pretty fun to be down here. I like to be in town, but I like it. I'm, downtown is growing on me by the week. It is a beautiful place to be in New York in the springtime. I'm very jealous. Is it golf season yet, by the way? Can you play or have you played? It's here, it's here. I have not played yet. Some of my colleagues have worked out at various points. We're going to have a team outing, I would say, in a couple of weeks. So, we'd like to fire those up here at the office, go out once a month to different spots in Jersey or Long Island or Connecticut and have a good time. So, I'm going to dust off the club very, very soon. It is definitely golfable here in New York. As I was watching the end of the Valero, Texas Open, yesterday, I actually saw your Twitter timeline that said the tournament has a someone that the TV broadcast is completely overlooking is going to win field to it. And I felt the same way. But in the end, Jeff, it was Charlie Hoffman, who has had his issues closing on Sunday. And his final round scoring average was abysmal. And you can tell from his reaction when he made that birdie putt, his emotion, when he spoke with Dottie Pepper, this was very meaningful to him. I don't care how good you are when you continually fail to lock down tournaments on Sunday, it gets inside your head and rattles around a little bit. So, that was a big moment for Charlie, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Not the first time I've been wrong on Twitter, by the way. But it was good to see. You know, his weekend scoring averages were so much higher and there was such a disconnect with the way he had played weekends and especially Sundays compared to the other days that you, you wonder, you know, if we're talking about it, it's certainly something he's thinking about. And, you know, it was starting to reach the point where you wonder, well, is he one of the guys that maybe just doesn't want it as bad as other players and the way he won yesterday, the emotion that came along with it, it was very clear that this victory meant a lot to him that he certainly, you know, he wanted that win just as much as anybody. So, you can kind of put that to rest as well as the idea that he said he can't close. I mean, closing with a birdie to win, that is big-time stuff and so good to see Hoffman do it. And, you know, with all the other high finishes he's had over the past couple of years, you start to watch it with those Ryder Cup points a little bit. Now, if he can string a couple of more together here, he's going to be right in the mix. I think it's another illustration of how hard it is to win out there. And I know that's a simple explanation, but the talent is so deep and these guys are so competitive and the pressure is so great on Sunday. I think Patrick Reed is maybe experiencing a little bit of that right now as well, Jeff. It's been a little bit of a drought for Reed about a year and change, maybe 15 months. And I was surprised to see he's never finished in the top 10 in the major when I was reading the tour confidential round up that you were a part of. And I saw that that was a head scratcher because he seems to be an impactful, loves the moment kind of player, but not much to show for in the majors. And he seems to be a guy who's right on the cusp of taking it to the next level and being a really special player. You think so? I felt like we were on the cusp a year ago, you know. He strung together a few victories. He brashially declared himself a top five player in the world after winning a drought. His trajectory was really, he was on the rise about a year, year and a half ago. And we've sort of stalled here. And I don't know. I almost wonder if maybe we need this Ryder Cup. It's something to get him going. Such a great match player. His college record in match play was as good as it gets. Ryder, he was really, if you're looking for bright spots on the US Ryder Cup team a year and a half ago, he would probably start with the Reed as really a star of it. Otherwise, lack less than a week for the US. So, you know, the stats bared out that it's putting. It was something I mentioned in the confidential round up is that just statistically he drives the ball fine, iron defined, putting it. He's outside the top 150 in strokes gained. And, you know, when a match play just feels like he pours it in on you. It feels like he's not a guy. If it was a one-on-one situation, I wouldn't want to play him in match play. I think he's very tough. So, there's a little bit of something else happening here in stroke play event. And, you know, that intensity, that fire that can work for you in match play. With the little, it does, you know, it's a little different in stroke play. Having to pace yourself over four rounds and try to keep your, keep your width about you, keep your head in it. I was surprised, as well, that he didn't have to have a top 10 finish in a major championship. I didn't realize that until the disembodied confidential questioner asked that last night. That's shocking to me. That's something that you feel like a player with his talent can't last that much longer. But it's surprising that we're here. And if you're going to cite one thing, this year, it's putting. And for him, it's going to start on the screen. If he's going to reverse that trend this summer. You know, I don't know how the general golfing public feels about Patrick Reed is a little bit of an outsider, I guess. At least that's the image that he projects. Jeff, a little, a little rough around the edges. Certainly he's got a chip on his shoulder. He's got some, some attitude. I kind of like it as, as long as it's hardest and it doesn't get out of control or inappropriate and so. And there have been a couple of indiscretions where, you know, poor language has been picked up by microphones. And that's inexcusable. And that's not cool. But generally speaking, I don't mind a guy who wears the Black hat out there. Me either. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I love it. I loved it at the Ryder Cup. The US, especially that week, gosh, it was such a, the team just had no spark really, except for Reed, shushing the crowd and you're right. The profanity is, you know, you could do without that. And maybe there's always that fine line you can cross with antics. But I love a guy who's not afraid to be himself, even if that self is going to be potentially unpopular with a lot of guys. I'm OK with it. So, yeah, I think Reed has a different kind of personality. Someone who's willing and willing to embrace the Black hat, as you say, and play the villain. That's good stuff. That's not the media. There's not a lot of those on tour right now. So I'm all for Patrick Reed, you know, making a run this summer and sort of pulling himself back up into the conversation as being one of the elite players today. I think it's I think it's spot on the Ryder Cup. I didn't check the points list before before we jumped on the call. I think he's still on the team if I'm not mistaken. And if he if he does just slide out the ranks, I would still assume he's a captain's pick unless his form just really falls off the rails as well. I would I would expect to see him on the team. But but you're right. Anybody who anybody who's anybody who's willing to beat themselves and let their personality shine through. I'm for that in professional role. I used to follow tennis closely when I was younger and I loved John McEnroe. I liked Connors. I liked Vida Scaralitis, Ilya Nastasi, those guys. And I would always cringe a little bit when they took it too far yet because inevitably they would take it too far and and it happened often. But I felt like they were must watch guys for that that volatile unpredictability, I guess. And I view Reed in the same light. Yeah. And Reed hasn't rated any officials yet. Like Johnny Mackey used to do. So yeah, no, but but he's one guy. Yeah, he is one guy that I feel the same way. When he's in it, when he's in it, you know, I hung it. I was going to watch the Valero anyway. But I did find it more fun having Reed around yesterday. I just there's just he's one of those guys that when he's around, he just kind of want to watch. I feel that way about him, whether you love him or Hayden. He's interesting. And I think that's good for the game. Yeah, polarizing, I think would be the word that that fits. Yeah. Let's talk Tiger. Things have been buzzing for a week or so on Twitter, some news accounts, some video of Tiger taking full swings. He was at a a junior clinic in South Carolina and he was ripping some drives out there and speculation began surfacing and running wild that he's going to come back competitively to eat up. Maybe as soon as the Wells Fargo in a couple of weeks, the players championship. What do you think? What should take on all this? We knew this moment. Right. You want me to speculate on the speculation? I just want to make sure that's where it is over here. Yeah, go for it. I don't, you know, I have no scoop. I wish I did. I do think it's, I don't know that it's a coincidence that the big two, the two big Tiger stories that have hit this year, you know, a couple of months ago, it was, there were the report surfacing that he was basically bedridden or could barely walk. And then the next day, he's posted a video of himself hitting a ball in a simulator and then the ESPN story breaks last week. And there he is at a clinic, you know, that afternoon. I don't, I'm not sure that's a coincidence. And I, the simulator was certainly a response. And I almost wonder if this clinic in some ways may have been choreographed. Again, I'm speculating. Okay. But, but I do think it's clear, you know, the, the message that Tiger's sending is clear, which is that he's on the men and he intends to come back. Whether it's this month, next month, fall, I, you know, we still don't know. We have no official word from that, but he's clearly taking steps to return to the game. And, you know, some, the rumblings are that it could be in a week or two. We'll see. You know, I would, I would assume knowing, knowing Tiger's tendency to make, to drop the Friday afternoon announcement. And that fits the deadline for entering the Wells Fargo. I would say you can't write them out of the Wells Fargo until 501 on Friday afternoon. I talked to Bob Harrigge from ESPN.com last week and he offered a great analogy about the athlete comeback and how different it is for golfers, Jeff, because if you're making a comparison to a baseball player, for instance, a picture, specifically, they get a Monter League start or two under the belt. They can throw 50 pitches in a simulated game and they can go to Pawtucket and throw five, six innings and it's in relative anonymity. Nobody sees, you know, how rusty they look or how poor the performance is. It's different for golfers and it's more different for Tiger who is so closely scrutinized and the expectations are going to be through the roof when he does come back. It'll be, well, expectations are one thing. I just think it's going to be a circuit. I mean, I think expectations will be mixed. Tiger, you know, every time he's always said whenever he plays, his expectation for himself is to win. I don't expect him to win when he comes back, but I do expect him to be a circuit. And I do expect, you know, the old grind of every shot he hit is on TV and followed and tweeted and, you know, everything is going to be, he's going to be in the center, you know, the media is of the spotlight for a while, whenever that return happens, whether it's as well far as other players or if he waits until Osman or beyond. You know, whenever he steps back in, he's going right back into the spotlight. And it's much more, you know, cutting dry in professional golf and say baseball where you can have a rehab start and still play well and feel good about yourself and maybe even help your team get a win. But in golf, it's just what you know, your score is your score. So this is a tough stretch of golf coming up to. I mean, the players, tigers, one at a couple of times. But it really hasn't been one of his what you would call a tiger track. I kind of like the memorial for him, you know, if you could get back, whether it's weld or players, I think the memorial would be a good sort of heat check for him to see where he is. That's the place he's won five times and it's two weeks before Oakland. If you can't play anywhere before the memorial, I almost think he's better off. Just wait till after Osman. I don't see why you would subject yourself to that off of this kind of layoff. That's just, you're just setting yourself up for failure, I think, to come back at Osman. That's a tough, tall order, tough as golf course in the United States, set up for US football. I don't know what he would stand to gain by making that his debut, so that's how it worked out. I would just point to Trudin in the British Open. But we'll see. You're speculating and it's certainly a plot line or something we're all kind of now following this month is we're all back on Tiger Watch. Did you read the right Thompson exposé on ESPN? Yeah, I did, yeah, yeah. The quote from Michael Jordan, Jeff, when he said, the thing is I love Tiger so much that I can't tell him he's not going to be great again. Yet, in offering that quote, he had to know it was going to get to Tiger. Wasn't that a little bit cagey on MJ's behalf? I think so. I think Michael Jordan has done enough interviews to know how these things work. He knew he was talking to an ESPN reporter. And, you know, he'd tiger our buddies and this is the way MJ chose to deliver his message to Tiger. It was probably, I really enjoyed reading right Thompson's piece. It didn't have, for me, a lot of necessarily bombshell. It confirmed a lot of things. I love the anecdotes and the way, you know, the way the story was done. But that, for me, probably was the biggest bombshell with the way Michael Jordan felt about Tiger, that people love them so much and just can't, you know, can't face him, can't tell him face to face that it's okay, you know, that you're not going to be great again. That was, that was quite a bombshell out of that story. Jeff Ritter, our guest, Digital Development Editor for the Sports Illustrated Group. Adam Scott, Louis Eustach, two of the top 15 ranked players in the world on the heels of Vijay Singh saying they will not compete in the Olympics. I know you're working on a story. We want to ask you to divulge the full nature of it. I know it's coming out probably sometime next week. But, I don't know, people are overreacting to this. It seems like there's still a lot of interest and enthusiasm from some really high-profile players, Jeff, like Jordan Spieth and like Lydia Ko. You know, arguably the most visible players representing the men's in women's games. So, I don't know what to make of all this at this point right now. It's sort of a hot button issue and it sort of changes from week to week depending on the player reaction to it. Yeah, there's a lot going out with Olympic golf right now. And we are working on a piece probably in two weeks it'll hit and we'll come on and do this again, John. But I do think, I do think the Olympics is at a sort of a pivot point now where there's still a lot of negativity building around this event. Now, if players dropping out, that doesn't add, you know, that doesn't add buzz. That adds, you know, concern. And you even had the RNA as the International Golf Federation release of statements. They were disappointed that Scott and Ustizan have dropped out. So, you know, all these things, all these things don't help. There's still plenty of room, there's plenty of stars still in the field. There's plenty of reasons to think that Olympic golf golf could be great. I still think it could be great. You know, you have a great, a good number of stars and you said beat in through the Lydia codes into it. You can get a great champion. The golf course looks great. More on that coming soon. But the negative buzz is unavoidable. And you still, you also have Zika, you know, this horrible virus that comes from mosquitoes and isn't under control. And there's logistical problems happening in Rio. There's a lot of things, there's a lot of things to question beyond just, you know, the place on the schedule and guys having a busy summer and deciding not to go. So, I'm up, I'm still in the corner where I'm optimistic on the Olympics, but there is a lot, there's a lot of negativity still swirling around that event as we get closer to the game. How about the vacation for your boys, Speed Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smilercom? It reminded me a lot of my spring break, Jeff, yours as well, just sort of gallivancing around the Bahamas, shirtless. No, that's not what I, that's not exactly what I did. I didn't play, well, I didn't play that much golf when I took college spring breaks. But no, hey, I'm fine with it. You know, good for them for feeling comfortable enough with themselves to just have a good time and let the fans have a look at it. I'd be interested to know what, you know, the director of marketing for Under Armour has to say about it or for Cobra, those guys weren't wearing their company brand at that time. But for me, as in golf media, I love it. I don't know any fans in golf who had a problem with it. So, I was fun, it was fun for them to show some of their character to us and hey, when it's SB2K17, that's what I want to know. Yeah, I mean, this is, no one's better at building a brand than Ricky Fowler and certainly the other guys are following suit. And this is how you do it in this day and age. This is how you do it in the 21st century. And I think these guys have so much currency that there's never going to be much pushback, it seems, because they know just how far to take it. It seems. Yeah, I mean, it was fun and it was, you know, it was rambunctious, I guess might be the word, but it wasn't, it wasn't over any line. I mean, they certainly had a blast, you know, they jumped up a balcony in a river and, you know, had some shenanigans on a golf course, but there was nothing, you know, it didn't cross any lines where it wouldn't be family-friendly fun, I guess you could say, for people watching at home. So, I agree. That's how you build a brand and show, you know, show your personality that people can connect with and enjoy. And I give all four of those guys credit, it was, it was fun to watch and fun to follow last week. Is Smiley on one name status now? Can we just call him Smiley? He was a breakout star. Yeah. Smiley, you know, he had a good master's and, but now that was it. That was a transformative week, Smiley, Chris Jarrett. How's the golf live studio show going? You're still a regular contributor? We are. Yeah, it's going well. We're doing it every Tuesday at noon. I've mixed into the group of panelists. We have Brett Quigley, PGA tour veteran. He mixes in along with other writers and editors. And yeah, it's going well. We've got our guest this week is going to be Justin Rose talking Zurich. Cool. He's a defending champion at the Zurich and also some Ryder Cup nuggets that I think people will be into. So, yeah, we'll run that live every Tuesday at noon at Rose's future guest this week and more to come. But yeah, we've had a lot of fun with it and, uh, you know, live live web TV. Yeah, you would have thought I thought we were a magazine company, John. Everything. It really is. So, we've had a lot of fun with that show and we have some more big things planned for it as we go along this summer. How's Michigan's recruiting class shaping up? Coach Arbabrian, studs. Strong to very strong. All right. Very, very optimistic, very bullish, uh, very, very biased, uh, in my opinion. The Michigan football, but, uh, yeah, I'm excited. I've got to actually, I've got to get my season ticket renewal form in the mail here today. Oh, yeah. I think I feel Friday. I procrastinated that one way too long. But yeah, I am a season ticket holder. I only make it back to a gamer too myself. That's not bad. But, uh, yeah, got to get that in the mail. I'm all in. I'm all in every year, but I'm once again, all in again this time. Yeah. I think this, this is a big step forward for Michigan this year, John. I know we'll talk about it many times to come, but I am, uh, I am cautiously very optimistic on the season ahead. Yeah, cautiously irrational as usual. Yeah, that's it. Uh, you've got to be a players championship. Got some travel coming up. I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to go to the players. I am going to try to go to the memorial for a bit to do a few things there and then, uh, onto Oakmont. The player players is TBD. You going to be at that one? Your back yard, right? Yeah. So, yeah, this is our Super Bowl. You know that. And I'll be at the memorial as well for DirecTV. So we'll, uh, we'll hook up. We'll have a cold beverage that week. Sounds good. Let's do it. Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate it. Have a good one. All right. No problem. And once again, thanks to, uh, Jeff Ritter. Good chap there. He's digging into an Olympic story, which sounds like it's going to run in a couple weeks. So, uh, might be revisiting that the PGA tour schedule continues this week as they roll from San Antonio to New Orleans for the Zurich Classic. And, uh, I will tell you that PGA tour live has your exclusive featured group coverage scheduled to begin Thursday and Friday morning at 8 30 a.m. Eastern time. Go to PGA tour live.com to sign up and subscribe. Our next guest coming off, uh, pretty good showing. It's time for ninth at the Valero Texas Open. His second top 10 of the season and also coming off a stellar performance as the host of Inside the PGA tour demonstrating his skills as a graffiti street artist. That's right. You heard me right. We'll get into that with, uh, John Kern who joins us here on the talk of the tour podcast. Nice season. You got going. Everything good? Feeling comfortable out there? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's been a pretty good start for the season. I, uh, had like last year, I've had like a lot of really good finishes. Uh, a bunch of top 10s and some, some high finishes. Um, but I think I'll maybe just struggle a little bit with consistency. If I could sprinkle in, um, you know, decent finishes and, you know, a couple made cuts in couple 30 at the 40th place finishes that amissants got. I think if you know, a lot better position, but, uh, like we were talking about earlier, it's the second year out here. So it's, there's a lot of learn, a lot of learning to be done and, and, um, uh, you know, I think I still got a lot to, a lot to figure out out here. Yeah. What's, what's the biggest change, John? And this, your second full season out there in terms of, um, sort of figuring things out, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, not only your, your performance inside the ropes, but, uh, you know, your, your confidence, your game plan, strategy from week to week. Um, what's the transition like from year one to year two? Um, I think it's just a lot easier to play in the schedule. Like last year as a rookie and a lot of these rookies this year, um, you know, you can struggle to get into events and so you basically just play any event that you get into. Um, and you can't really make your schedule flow like I, I'll be able to this year. Like, I instead of playing Wells Fargo next week, let's say I can, I can take Wells Fargo off and then play, um, the four events in a row that I want to play instead of kind of stretching myself out to fan and, and, and, and going on five and six weeks runs. I can kind of, they can choose where I want to play a little bit more. Um, that's, that's one thing that's different. Um, and it's also very nice to come back to tournaments and, and, and, um, golf courses that you have been to before. You know, so like, I don't have to ask where the driving range is. They're, or the locker room is when I show up to the course, which I was doing all, all year last year. Yeah. Uh, you are, as you described yourself, ferociously short off the tee. Uh, that was an odd self assessment. Uh, Brendan Steel calls you Johnny the wedge, which I thought was great, but you know what? That's where, that's where you can, you can butter your bread from 150 yards an end, right? Oh, for sure. For sure. Oh, roundly greens and like 150 yards an end. Um, and you know, being pretty consistent, hitting fairways and, and with my long irons, I think, and hybrid and stuff. Uh, that's, that's kind of where I, where I do my business. Um, and, you know, it's important to know that that's my, that's my lane, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to be a long guy. I'm not going to be, um, you know, smashing off the teeing, going for part five and two. And I just kind of stick with that game plan and, and, and hang out right there. And that's kind of where I, where I make my money. So if that's the case, I got to believe there's events on the schedule that you really circle on the calendar. Yeah, I think, I mean, there definitely are. I mean, players this year, I'll be playing there for the first time. Um, you know, I, I thought, uh, Hilton Head was going to be a big event for me, you know, kind of a short plot or kind of golf course. Um, and I missed the cut there and then I go and come in ninth last week on a course of seventy five hundred yards. I know. You know, you just never know. I mean, you kind of take it with a grain of salt, like with, with, with that sort of stuff. I, I tend to play really good on long courses. I don't, I'm not really sure why, but, um, maybe there's a little bit less expectation. Um, when you show up to these shorter courses, like, like Hilton Head, I mean, people last year, I didn't actually get into the event last year. Mm hmm. And they were all like, oh, you got to, can't wait for Hilton Head. That's going to be, you're going to kill it there. And I shot like eight over for two rounds. I don't know. I mean, I don't really know how to explain it. Well, you made it to the Barclays last year, one playoff event. Um, we've got to get you to Boston. You're a Boston kid. We've got to get you to that match championship this year. How close were you last year? I was very close. I, I was like, I think like around one on one. Top 100 get into Boston. I was one on one going into Barclays and I missed the cut. Cool. So that was kind of tough to take. I really, you know, middle three quarters of the year, I thought I was going to be good for Boston. And then, you know, I missed the cut at, um, at Windham and then this kind of Barclays. And there's so much improvement in the FedEx Cup, like towards the end of the year, especially. And I just dropped out of that, which is which is disappointing. But this year, I got my high set for Boston for sure. How'd you end up advancing? Um, actually, I had a couple of them, which is actually Luke Lisk right now, who played well last week, who's having a really good year this year as well. Um, I, you know, I went and visited and he was there already. He was, do you think he was a sophomore? Um, and, you know, I just had a really good visit when, when I went and got recruited and went in for my, um, just tour of the school. And I really enjoyed it. And there was another kid there that I was friends with playing junior doll. Um, and if anybody's in the national, it's an unbelievable city. So, the coach is great and had a really good facility. The great school. You played some A2ers too, John, before the web for a few years? Oh, yeah. Yeah, played in, uh, played in the Hooters tour. So, I played, uh, about four years in the Hooters tour. I played with Keith in for, uh, we travel around together for a year, a year and a half and, and, um, you know, it was a lot of fun. I mean, I think, I think it's a really important place to be, uh, for young players. Mm-hmm. I think, um, I think it's good to kind of pay you dues and earn your stripes a little bit out on the Hooters tour and really figure or mini, any mini tour for that matter. Really figure it out and there's really, from Nana, there's really nowhere to go, but, uh, you know what I mean? A lot of these kids come out in a straight out of college and they go straight to the exemptions on the PGA tour. Mm-hmm. And they either perform well or they don't and it's kind of a let, it's pretty serious let down. Mm-hmm. If, if you don't really punch your ticket to the, to the tour right away. And so for me, I was just kind of playing on the, on the mini tours and I loved it and we had a great time playing and, and, and traveling around and we learned a lot of things. So it was very important to me. I think if you ask a lot of guys that play on the mini tours, they'd say the same thing. Yeah, it's sort of a, uh, we're all in this together kind of mentality when you're banging around on those tours, isn't there? Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I think nowadays, I feel like kids out of college, uh, kids out of college, they sound like them old, but they, they feel like they should get out there and they need to be on a PGA tour immediately because then she's guys like Scree, you see guys just in Thomas and, um, smiley Kaufman and guys like that and they just kind of, you know, they're not quite a station. I think it's important to stay out in the mini tour in a while. How about the vacation that those three around, by the way, the guys you just mentioned? Was that yeah, we were talking about that earlier. I mean, that was pretty crazy. That made me jealous. I was laughing in my hotel room by myself last week watching their Snapchat and I was like, yeah, crazy little vicariously through them. Yeah. How's Keegan doing? Are you guys are still tight? He's he's not been at his best for the last 18 months or so, John. How's he doing? He's actually doing really good. I mean, his ball strike, I mean, if you look at his number, ball striking is on point. I mean, he's, he's striping it like always. He's getting it long. Um, still hits shots that like we play practice rounds together every Tuesday and hits shots that are just like crazy and same old Keegan. Um, and I think, I think it's just, I mean, from the outside perspective, I think it, yeah, it might not look like he's performing well, but he's still the same guy. I mean, he's still playing really well and I think he and he works really hard at it and he's got a great, great head on his shoulder. So he's just a week away, I think, to be honest with you. That's fascinating and I've heard so many of you players say that and it might not be something that a fan is aware of or someone who follows the game even closely is aware of. You guys know when you're a shot away or a swing away. You guys will say I'm close. I'm close. The results don't, don't seem to be there to people following it, but you guys understand you have that sense. No, absolutely. I mean, there's weeks where you miss the cut and you literally, you're sitting in your hotel room afterwards and you're like, I played good. Yeah, there's not really anything. I can really pinpoint and that's what's going to be frustrating about the tour a little bit, especially if you're young. You can play well in the cut. I mean, you could play well and have a bad stretch of tournament. It's just the way it is and it's the margin for air is so thin. I mean, it's just kind of sometimes you just got to just keep moving and just keep going forward and things will change. John Curran is our guest coming off a top 10 at the Valero Texas Open 76th in the FedEx Cup point standings and the host of Inside the PGA Tour on Golf Channel last Tuesday produced by the fine folks right here at PGA Tour Entertainment. Did they treat you well? Did you and Val have a good time? We had a great time. Yeah, I know it was a lot of fun doing that shoot. The the guys are a lot of fun. We had a great place to visit here. We went down on that windwood windwood wall in Miami. It was really cool. Interestingly, all right, we'll get people a little background on this. So what windwood walls was like and where your sort of interest and passion and graffiti street art was born. Yeah, well, windwood is a place in Miami. It's kind of like a it's like an old if you could picture like an old run down like industrial neighborhood with a bunch of buildings with not very many windows. And this guy Tony Goldman came in and just absolutely rejuvenated the whole area by inviting all these street artists and muralists into paying all the walls around the around the area and really rejuvenated revitalize the area. And now it's like a pretty awesome hip spot to be like a kind of restaurant shop, bars and it's really cool to walk around and all outside. So we go and walk around and see all the artwork and go have lunch and hang out and it's really cool place. You know, you used to ride the train cars in Boston as a kid, I think, from my understanding, that's when you sort of caught the bug, got a little bit of a spark for this and you've really self educated yourself in street art over the last few years, right? Yeah, absolutely. So I was in like a seventh or eighth grade and I remember just all of a sudden my friend was like, "Hey, check this out." I just kept looking at the street art and on the riding to Boston, you could see in the subways, there's all this sort of artwork. I mean, that's just one aspect of what I really enjoy. I mean, that's kind of like the subway underground artwork. But then if you look at it a little bit further, there's a ton of guys that come from that background that really done positive, really cool stuff in the art world and that's where I really kind of hang out now. It's checking out the guys all around the world who do really cool murals and unbelievable, like, larger than life scale artwork that's really, really interesting. Wow. So any sort of motif that you would describe as your specialty or just sort of whatever inspiration moves you? Whatever kind of movement, this is artists in Brazil, who I really like. His name's Arlene and he does like a lot of straight edge geometrical artwork and he kind of makes a lot of animals and stuff with, like, really straight lines and stuff. So it's kind of tough to explain. But he's really cool and, you know, some other, other, like, American, I mean, American guys that I really like that's from New York and everything like that. So, I mean, I really like it all. Anything with the spray can is fascinating to me. You know, you guys are kind of artists on the golf course as athletes. Has that been of value? Has that been helpful? Has your artistry, your street artistry sort of manifested itself in making you a better player in any department of your game? Yeah, I mean, I think it may have. I mean, if I think it did, then it probably did kind of what I like about. I mean, there's really no proof that it has. But I mean, if it's something that I enjoy, I mean, a lot of times out here on the road, we get so sucked into playing golf. And we travel into so many weeks out of the year and such a confined, you know, time. So there's really nothing going on. So if I have something that, like, takes my mind off of the game or off the traveling or whatever, I think it helps. And that's definitely what it does. I mean, I draw a lot when I'm on the road and I have this, like, little art studio in my house that I paint at. And I always think about stuff that I can, new stuff that I can do and new ideas that I have while I'm on the course. So it definitely helps me take my mind off of what I'm doing a week to week. The guys told me to make sure you told me the story about how you and Val met at the New Year's Eve party. Go. Well, Luke List, Jamie Lovemark, Keegan, and a bunch of other guys, we had a New Year's Eve party. And she was in town visiting with her family on vacation. So I got her on Facebook and I asked her if she wanted to come. And then the rest of history. Wow, I'll say. And there's a wedding being planned. Is it later this fall? Yeah, at the end of October. Awesome. Where's the wedding at? Newport River Island. Oh, she's from Rhode Island. And I'm from, obviously, a little pretty much right around there. And yeah, it's going to be fun. We're planning it right now. And she's freaking out about all the planning preparations. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to keep her calm. Shocking. Yeah, what's the extent of your involvement in the wedding plans? I'm not my head yet. No, that's basically all I give. I went to school in Rhode Island for a couple of years. Newport is stunning. Is this going to be an outdoor wedding? Any chance weather permitting? Yeah, I know. It's a great count. The end of October is kind of on the outside part of the season. But I mean, you know, being from being in Rhode Island, you can see, I mean, you know, that the fall out there is pretty special. So we're open for a good day and it's going to be hopefully outside. Your Boston Bruins, dude, limped. So the finish line of the regular season three and nine. Yeah, I know. That usually gets a coach whacked. But I guess since Claude Julianne won the Stanley Cup back in 2011, he had a little currency. What did you make of that finish? It's really disappointing. I mean, honestly, you ever since those guys let go of Sean Thornton and Floyd Chopped and a couple of the other guys, Lou Chitch and I don't know. I think Sean Thornton was an unbelievable part of that team, especially the locker room. And ever since that kind of they let them go. I mean, you see what Florida Panthers are doing right now with Sean in their locker room and they really revitalize their team and they've had a lot. I mean, obviously they're lost last night. But they it's important to just kind of I like how they kept squad and everything like that and didn't change. So I think if they just stick with it and keep going forward, they might have a great next couple years. I knew you'd go down the Sean Thornton road. I know that's your guy. So Brady's four game suspension got upheld by U.S. appeals court today. Do you see that guy? We were talking about that today. I don't know how and we're on this website. Barstool Sports, which is a Boston kind of blog website, which is like a crazy Boston fan website basically. And the guy came on and did this interview and said, he doesn't understand. So what happens now, like in Brady appeal, the appeal? He could, I guess. I don't know. It's kind of confusing as to what's going on. But yeah, it's not good. New Orleans this week, you're in the field, you're playing well. I got to believe New Orleans is a pretty good street art city, right? Yeah, they actually you're right on. I mean, they have a street artist from London named Banksy who does like a lot of really cool stencil work. And the cool thing about Banksy is nobody really knows who he is. And he does like these really famous pieces. And he's got one here in New Orleans. I checked it out last year. I might go by and give it a peek again this year. Cool, JohnKarenGolf.com is the website at JohnKarenGolf. You can follow him on Twitter. It was fun, man. I'm glad we had some time here. John, play well this week. Keep going. Thank you, John. I really appreciate it. And that will do it for today's talk of the tour podcast. Thanks again to my guests, PGA Tour player, JohnKaren, talking some graffiti street art coming off the top 10 in San Antonio. And competing in this week's Sarah Classic in New Orleans. And also thanks to Jeff Ritter from the Sports Illustrated Golf Group. You can listen, download a talk of the tour anytime by visiting PGA Tour.com/podcasts. You can also access the show via iTunes, Tune in and Stitcher. Just head to PGA Tour.com/podcasts and subscribe today. A reminder of the next pod schedule for this Wednesday, April 27th. And none this Friday. I'm John Swanson, thanks for listening and being part of the show as always. And remember, if you use your mind to study reality, you won't understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you'll understand both. That one makes my head hurt a little bit, I'm going to be honest with you. But think about it, people, and I'll talk to you on Wednesday. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]