John Swantek visits with 2017 Presidents Cup captains Steve Stricker and Nick Price, along with PGATOUR.COM equipment insider Jonathan Wall.
Talk of the TOUR Golf Podcast
2017 Presidents Cup Captains Steve Stricker and Nick Price
the two of the two of the two of the past for Friday April 15th, John's want to come taxes would be due normally right but not this year this is different I don't know why there's an extra three days there if you're postmarked by the 18th. You're good for some reason. So there's a grace period there for procrastinators. But I digress. Here's who's coming up on the show. The captain's announced for the 2017 President's Cup at Liberty National. I will chat with the Bolt Steve Stricker and Nick Price. Maybe the two nicest guys in the history of the PGA tour. Also, John up from WallPGA tour.com's equipment editor. Maybe the nicest guy in the equipment industry. He's in for his regular Friday visit. Remember, you can catch the talk that your pod does so many different ways. Go to PGA tour.com/podcasts for the show and lots of our other audio content as well. You can also access via iTunes, Tune in and Stitcher. So go to PGA tour.com/podcasts and subscribe today. Our guest is a 12-time PGA tour champion, a five-time participant in the President's Cup as a competitor and for the first time will be the captain. It has just been announced this week that Steve Stricker will be at the helm of the U.S. team at Liberty National in 2017. Steve, congratulations. This is a well-deserved honor for a well-respected ambassador of the game. Nice going. Thank you so much. I'm extremely excited, humbled and grateful for this opportunity and I'm really looking forward to the challenge and being a part of another President's Cup team, especially as a captain. I'm really looking forward to the event here at Liberty National. What was the call like from Commissioner Fincham? Have this been in the works for a bit? It couldn't have come as a complete surprise, I wouldn't think. Well, you know, we had talked or he had approached me right after the President's Cup ended in South Korea and, you know, it kind of made mention to the fact that that's what he was thinking. And I was surprised at that time for sure. I didn't know if that was something that was in my future or not. But I think I got the call sometime after the first of the year and formally asking me to do this. And I couldn't have been happier and extremely excited. And like I said, really grateful for the opportunity. It's something like I said I didn't see happening, but very much looking forward to it. What did the President's Cup mean to you as a player, Steve, in the five times that you competed? Oh, it's meant a great deal. I've developed a lot of friendships along the way during those five President's Cup teams, got to know my teammates, spend time with them and their wives, and along with getting to know some of the international players and competing against them. And it's always been a great competition. It's always been very close, even though it seems that the U.S. has dominated it, it still has been very close every year. It usually comes down to a match or two that could flip either way, which would determine the outcome. And we just happen to be on the winning side of things. But it's always been, in my opinion, very close and very competitive. Those of us who watched your career closely for the last two and a half decades know the type of personality you have as a competitor, the way you carry yourself on the golf course. What will your style be as captain? Have you given it much thought? Not really. I haven't really thought about any style or anything. You know, I'm a pretty quiet guy, kind of lead by example, I guess. You know, I've been a part of, you know, eight teams total well, and then an assistant captain in the last couple of years for a Ryder Cup and Jay Ha's last year on the President's Cup team. I've gotten to learn a little bit about what some of these captains have done and not done, and so I've been mentally going back and kind of taking some notes mentally. But as far as what I'm going to do, I don't know, it's about listening to your players, I think, and they tell you what they want and who they want to play with. And that's what I think is important, is trying to keep those guys happy and you want them playing their best. So it's just kind of working, you know, with each other and not fighting with each other and then just making sure everybody's on the same page going forward. And I think that's the biggest thing, is making sure that everybody's got that one common goal and are on the same page. Yeah, was there anything in particular that you learned from the Ryder Cup or President's Cup captains that you served under as vice captain that will kind of resonate with you, if you will? Well, like last year with Jay, it was really, he got everybody involved, you know, all the assistant captains involved, and I think that's important. I think it's important to listen, keep an open mind and open ears and listen to what your assistants are saying and because they're usually getting the information from the players. And I think, you know, letting everybody be a part of it and contribute, I think, can only help because usually those assistants are some pretty good players and have had some competitions under their belt and then learned a lot themselves over the years. So I think it's just important to get the advice of everybody and see which way everybody's leaning and go from there. There or not, it seems like the captains probably get too much credit, maybe too much blame in these situations with these international teams. Steve, that seems to be the way it goes with the Ryder Cup or the President's Cup, doesn't it? Yeah, and I've kind of always believed that myself is that it's kind of an overrated position. It's definitely fun to be a part of it and be a captain, I'm sure I haven't experienced that yet, but from what I can tell the captains have a great time with it. But it comes down to your players and how they're playing. But on the flip side of things, you've got to make sure that you pair them up with who they want to play with and who they feel comfortable with. You don't want to throw them out there with somebody that they've never seen before or have played any practice rounds with before, stuff like that. So there's a few things here and there, but for the most part, I think it all comes down to the players and playing some good golf. You've seen this thing from all sides now, President's Cup, Ryder Cup as well. In your opinion, how do you reconcile the difference in the way the results have shaken out in the Ryder Cup and the President's Cup through the years? Yeah, I mean that's the million dollar question. Hopefully the steps that we've taken with the Ryder Cup, I was part of the task force there to get some steps going so the outcome can hopefully be different there the next time around. You know, I'm not really sure. I don't know if it's because of the players are just a little bit more comfortable during the President's Cup or the Europeans are just making a few more pots on the Ryder Cup side of things than we have been. I can tell you this, though, that there's nobody that wants to win more than the Americans when it comes down to it and maybe that's gotten in the way of some of our past performances that we wanted too badly, which is always a possibility. But hopefully going forward on that side, the Ryder Cup side of things, that we can turn that tight and get that cup back and start winning like I know we can. Steve Stricher is our guest. He will captain the U.S. President's Cup team at Liberty National in 2017. Was it tough to watch the Masters and not play it this year? It was. Yeah, last year, I kind of had a feeling, you know, it might have been my last one last year. You know, obviously I try and to get back in there as much as I can, but I'm not playing a full-time schedule. We had a house full last year and we had a real good time with things last year, but it still hurt this year not to be a part of it. But after watching some of the carnage going on there, it almost made me feel like, you know what, I was in the right spot at home watching all that because it looked brutally hard and pretty tough conditions all the way around. No one has been a two-time come-back player of the year award winner in successive years as you were. When you watch what happened to Jordan Speed, Steve, and you used the word carnage and it was tough to watch. Knowing how resilient he is, how much resolve he has inside of him, how do you think he'll bounce back from this and how soon do you think that bounce back will happen? I think it'll happen. I think there's no doubt that he'll bounce back from it and I think it'll happen rather quickly. I think this is going to sting, obviously, for a little while, but I think he's young, he's still got to realize that he played some great golf there. And the thing I keep thinking about is that he led that for seven days in a row, seven tournament rounds in a row, which nobody else has ever done. It's just hard playing with a lead there and I think, you know, I don't know about the majority of players that have won there, but obviously a fair share of players that have won there have always, you know, kind of snuck up and been in that charging mode and snuck up and won the golf tournament. And it seems like that's the mentality that, you know, works well there. When you're playing defensive there at Augusta, I think it can jump up and get you. We've seen that over the years and it's very hard to, I think, play with a lead there and then obviously to play with a sizable lead like he had. I think we saw that with Greg Norman and it just becomes very difficult to try to, you know, make pars and not make mistakes there. You've got some cool things happening in your life. The American Family Insurance Championship is a new event in Madison, Wisconsin. Later on this spring, it'll be in June on the PGA Tour Champions Circuit. Does this feel a little like a transition in your career, Steve, a little less competition in a little more statesmanship with roles like this? It does. Yeah, and I don't know if I'm quite ready to, you know, go down this road, but I guess it's here. But yeah, I'm very excited about the event that we have come into Madison on the Champions Tour. A sponsor of mine, American Family Insurance is the sponsor of the event and they've been great and we're very excited. Sales have exceeded our expectations already in this first year, so the community is really rallied behind it already and everywhere I go, people are excited about this event coming and it's good to get, you know, professional golf back in Wisconsin again and on the Champions Tour side of things where myself and Jerry Kelly turn 50 next year will be able to play in it, so it's a good event and it's for a good cause. And, you know, charity is the biggest winner there as we all know, and so we're very excited to be having that event and so is the community the way it sounds like. Yeah, most athletes when they come to terms with the end of their career streak, they have to just hang them up for good, but you've got the PGA Tour Champions there when you turn 50 next February if you want it. Yeah, I'll be playing, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to the next chapter playing some out there and I'll continue to play some on the regular tour as much as I can. So it'll be fun, it'll be fun to see what that tour is all about and the competition out there looks just as strong and you're going to have to play just good to win, but I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for the time, Steve, congratulations on a well deserved honor, the culmination I think of the way you've carried yourself and represented the game for a long time, where to go? I appreciate that, thanks for having me. You know, I really could have made Steve Stricker cry if I wanted to. I really could have, wouldn't have taken much, but I let him off the hook and he will be, I'm certain, a tremendous captain for the U.S. President's Cup team next fall. Something our next guest has also demonstrated in President's Cup competition. So we heard from Steve Stricker, he will be the captain of the U.S. President's Cup team at Liberty National in 2017. Let's speak with the opposing captain at the helm for the internationals for the third time. Nick Price, congratulations yet again on a very well deserved honor. Well, thank you John, that's very kind. I was obviously very, very excited when the Commissioner signed me and asked me if I'd be it again. You know, I'm obviously going to thank the team that I represented last year because we had such a wonderful time and obviously being as close as it was. The guys wanted me to do it again, so I'm very happy to be in Austin again. I'm sure there was no hesitation at all when you got that call, was there? No, you know, with my wife and I had spoken about it and we've made the decision that if it committed us, or the players that asked me to do it, then I would definitely do it again. And it's nice for me because, you know, I'm in sort of like the tail end of my career and I've got a lot more time to dedicate to the event and to the players. So as we get closer and closer to the event next year, I'll be spending more time out on tour with the guys. Yeah, went to your page today, as a matter of fact, to see how much plan you've done, and I realize you have yet to tee it up and beat you to our champions at all this year. You know, now I've had a few injuries and just, you know, I'm waiting for the summer. I'll probably get out and play a little bit in the summer, but hopefully the sale of mine will be fine. What did you learn, Nick, from your last two captaincies, that will help you and your squad get across the line next year? You know, every team, each of the two teams that I captain would differ. They were obviously guys who were in both teams. Adam, Jason, Louis and Trel and a couple other guys who had played on both teams. But we had a lot of rookies last year as we did the first year. So I'm hoping that we may not have as many rookies in the next team as we had the last time. Just from an experience point of view, obviously, you want the guys who have been in there and have felt that they've enjoyed the camaraderie and also the competition of the President's Cup, you know, to give them another chance. And so that's going to be something, you know, that I'm sort of hoping for. However, having said that, we've got a lot of rookies, guys who haven't played, but more, who are playing very well right now, been on curdetch, everybody on it. You know, these are two guys who have really sort of skyrocketed and moved up considerably in the world, ranking over the last year and a half. So I think those two guys to keep an eye out will be keeping an eye out for. You are such a fierce competitor as a three-time major champion and one of the stalwarts as a competitor in the President's Cup through the years. It must be tough as a captain to feel like your hands are tied. You can only do so much Nick in preparing your guys to go out and play, especially as it all went down with such a tight battle in Korea last fall. It is hard, you know, and I obviously understand how my wife felt watching me play all the years because it's very difficult to anybody who has, you know, close family who go out and watch them play. You know, that's a tough thing, but you do your best, you know, you do your best with making, communicating with the players, making the picks as to who you feel could play with each other and so on. And then once you've done that, it's really up, you know, up to the guys as to how well they play. So, you know, we can always look back and have hindsight and say, "Oh, well, maybe I should have done, maybe I should have done this and that." But, you know, in the end, you make the decision based on your feel and also your experience that you've gleaned in the past. And I was just really lucky because last year and the first year, you know, 15 and last year, sorry, 13 and 15, we had such wonderful teams. And, you know, it's hard when we get together, the only time that all 12 of us, or 14, if you include the captains in the same room at any one time is the Monday of the President's Cup. So it's very difficult from that standpoint to get a lot of camaraderie and a lot of, you know, excitement in there. But I figured out a few ways that I'm going to try and improve on that this next time round. And I think you've identified what might be the biggest challenge for any international team captain. And that is getting the group to coalesce because you have different players, different countries, different cultures, different languages. And you've got to pull all these guys together in one cohesive unit, Nick. And that's a more unique challenge than I think by comparison to European captain in the Ryder Cup has to deal with. Hey, you know, we know the one thing they all have in common, John, is they love to play golf and they love to compete. So that's the one thing that I try and work on the hardest is just, you know, the guys who may not have been involved in the President's Cup in the past. You know, they suddenly thrust into this, you know, pressure filled, pressure packed four days of golf. And, you know, suddenly they realized, well, this is a little different to what I thought it was going to be. And then at the end, you know, they realized how much of an emotional rollercoaster they went through. And they want to get back and play again for the next one. So that's the great thing about it, is that the more we have, you know, guys from India, like Anavan Lahiri, and guys from Thailand playing, the more the words are going to spread around the world. Hey, guys, President's Cup is a great event to play, and it's something you'll never forget. You played on that Victoria's team in 1998. Everyone knows the numbers, tell the tale through the years, one, nine, and one. How badly do you want this thing? Oh, no, you know, I want it for the team. It's not so much for me. I just want to make sure that, and for the President's Cup, because I think last year we proved the point that by reducing the points, which, you know, really made a huge difference in the excitement factor. Yes. And I think it's going to happen again next year. I think it'll be extremely close next year. But from the players' point of view, you know, from Adam Scott and Jason Day and Schall and Louis and all the other guys, honestly, they really need to win one. It needs to sort of come our way a little, but just so that these guys can get a taste of what it's like. And I think they all could taste it last year. That's for sure. One of your horses is Hideki Matsuyama. I know you're very high on his game. And I recall a moment in 2013 where you were speaking with some of his people and you said he's destined for greatness. He's a major champion in the making. What did you make of Hideki showing at Augusta? And what do you feel the next step is for him for that major breakthrough? Well, we got to remember, you know, he's still a young man. I think he's only 25, but 24, 25. So he's got another 10, you know, 12, 13 years ahead of him in his prime. And I saw, you know, a different Hideki this week, or last week at Augusta. I think more confident and certainly more sure of his ability. And then when he played himself into really some real contention, I think on Saturday afternoon, we saw him back off a little bit. I saw him hit a few poor putts and was having, I think, a few issues coming to deal with, dealing with the position he played himself into. But that happens to everyone when they get in that situation. So the next time he plays in, he gets into that situation. I think he's going to find it easier. Just as Jordan Steep, you know, had, you know, a tragic finish to the tournament. He's going to learn from that. And, you know, next time he gets in that situation, he won't make the same mistake. I'll guarantee you that. You've mentioned that the aches and pains are piling up. You're playing a little bit less. That happens when you're 59 certainly. You must have marveled, Nick, at Hal Bernhard Langer at the age of 58 played last week. Oh, my goodness. Second to last group on Sunday. That's amazing. You know, I mean, that goes right up there with the, you know, with Tom Watson, but it turned very few years back. You know, the golf course, it's just, it's very, very hard for someone who hits the ball. You know, our length, burn it, you know, maybe a little bit longer than I am, but it's super human effort. And I think that the conditions being a lot harder if we had the same sort of conditions up there on Sunday, I think he probably would have, would have come closer. We'll come close to winning. How about the golf course there at Liberty National? What do you make of it as a president? Well, I'm telling you what, the setting is just, it's incredible. I mean, I'm looking at the city here and looking at the Statue of Liberty, which is, you know, not half a mile away from me. And unfortunately, I haven't got out to play the golf course yet, but this is going to be a fantastic president's cup. There's no doubt. It's going to be tough for the international team because we're going to have so many vocal fans out here from New York, which all of us have, you know, experienced over the years and grown to love, to be honest. But it's going to be a wonderful president's cup. And I just, I think you think there's already atmosphere here, and there's a pose going on for Fit Camera next year. The only downside of this that I see is that you and Steve maybe are too nice. You might be the two nicest gentlemen in the history of the PGA Tour. We need some friction, Nick. Can you get something to go and talk some junk with Strict today? I think that's going to come from our players. You know, they're the ones that are going to go out there and, you know, duel with golf clubs. That's what we all love. And I think Steve and I are both of the same feeling that, you know, let the Cubs do the work and not the mouths. You know, we're going to go out there and use our best experiences that we've, and, you know, try and beat each other. That's what we're both trying to do. 18 PGA Tour wins, a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and now three times in international President's Cup team captain, just the latest honor for Nick Price, one of the good men in this game. Congratulations, Nick. Thank you for the time today. John, thanks. It's been my pleasure. Nick did not take the bait there. Tale of the tape staredown between Nick and Steve Fowler. How good would that have been? That would have been epic, even just for fun. Well, but alas, these guys are too damn nice to even manufacture some frictions. They're too very well deserving captains of this honor. Steve for the first time, Nick, for the third time. I wish them both the best of luck. So I give myself a one-week window after a big event, a major championship. The players, President's Cup, Ryder Cup, what have you to invite any of my guests to jump in with commentary on analysis, and even if it's outside their perceived realm of expertise and our equipment out of their Jonathan Wall certainly falls into that category. What did you make of what happened last Sunday to Gustin? Yeah, you know, it has to go down as one of the all-time great finishes. You know, and I used to work great in that, you know, Denny Willett played some fantastic golf. You know, I think everybody's going to remember for, you know, Jordan Speed's collapse, you know, what happened there on 12, but your Denny Willett shot 67. Yeah. During the final round of the Masters, and I hope people still remember that years from now. Unfortunately, I don't think they are because, you know, the highlights are going to show the quadruple on 12. You know, I never expected that to happen, Swanee. I never did, you know, Speed has a five-shot lead going to the back nine. You figure that it's just a walk in the park for him, you know, even after he makes a couple of bokeys. Even after that first one in the wind in the water, I thought, okay, damage control, still up two par-fives left. You can still get in the clubhouse at worst in a playoff. And, man, I just, you could just go back and forth there. And I know Reller wrote a great post on his Facebook page about, you know, kind of growing up with Speed's sense, the U.S. Junior, and just kind of watching him develop and grow. And, you know, these moments where he expected him, you know, after a loss is to be, you know, frustrated or mad. And he was gracious, and he was the same way after the Masters. And I think he's going to rebound, you know, a lot of people wonder if he is or if he isn't. He's 22 years old. I think he's got a long time to kind of push this one. It's going to hurt. Definitely. I think it's going to hurt in the interim, but he's going to be able to get past it in when it gets no doubt. So, I'm going to keep you on your toes for this interview, because there's something funky going on with the phone lines, and we might hear some chatter for the PGA2 or live control run during the show. So, you may get a taste of what it's like to be on a live broadcast, but we'll just kind of hope that doesn't happen, but it might. And we'll alert the listeners to that as well. You heard Hilton head earlier this week, speaking of the Masters, the low-am Bryson DeChambeau turned professional at the RBC Heritage. You guys had a chance to chat? We did, and, you know, I think everybody by now has listened to Bryson. He has listened to Bryson. He is unlike any other interview in professional golf. You know, he was a physics major at SMU. He just, you know, he writes his name backwards. You know, he's got the same length golf clubs, you know, in the irons and the wedges. You know, again, just a very interesting guy and a lot of fun to talk to. You know, I asked him, you know, because I'm always curious, because he, you know, coming out, having won the NCAA individual and the U.S. amateur, you know, he was always going to be a hot name. And when, when SMU got those NCAA sanctions and he decided to go pro early, I said, you know, what was it about Cobra that, that want, you know, made you want to sign with them? And he just said, you know, it wasn't, you know, yes, the equipment was good. And he really loved talking to R&D folks there because Cobra's doing a lot of things. We've talked about this before, we have a driver that they came out with where they talk to the folks over at cases who works with the International Space Station. You know, so they're doing a lot of different things in the golf space right now. So I kind of figured that probably had to, you know, kind of peek his interest a little bit, but he said, you know, the relationship he had with Bob Filion, who's Cobra's CEO and president, he said that he just really didn't feel that kind of that close relationship with anybody else that he met with, where he could go to Bob and throw a bunch of ideas at him. And you know, Bob's going to listen to him and they're going to try and, you know, work with Bryce and to kind of make his game as good as it can be, but also maybe try and bring some stuff with golf space for other people that can kind of make the game fun is what he said. So I'm really looking forward to kind of seeing what that partnership's like, but yeah, he was a great interview and a lot of fun to chat with. I would imagine that was an important part of the conversations that the Shambo was having with the folks at Cobra, Puma, because all players are influential in the design and the specifications of their own equipment. I mean, you've certainly taught us that in all of our conversations, but this kid, because his approach is so unusual to the equipment that he uses, John, he's going to be heavily involved going forward here, isn't he? They're very much so. You hit it right on the head, Swani. I mean, one of the big things that I had to talk to Ben Showman, who is Cobra's tour rep. So he's working directly with Bryce on a week to week based when he's out there. He told me that it took them nearly seven days, so a full week to build one set of irons for Bryce. Wow. Now, that is absolutely unheard of in the industry. I mean, you might get a guy, you know, let's say Ricky Fowler, where they might do a little bit tweaking to his irons. It might take you a day or two to build them a set, but a full seven days, and I had a chance to look at these irons. He hasn't yet put them in play. He put them in play for one week during an amateur event right before the Masters, because he wanted to try them out. But I think he's going to stick with his Dell irons, at least, as he's trying to, you know, make enough money to retain his car so that he can play next year on tour. But these Cobra irons that they've been working on, because his irons are, you know, the same length, they have to be the same head weight, so 280 grams. Now, the long irons are not going to be as heavy as the heads on the short irons, because you're going to be using less material on most of them. So what they had to do is they had to add tungsten to these long irons, and Ben talked about the process where they had to drill holes into the heel and the toe of these irons, and then bang in the tungsten with a hammer to try and get it to go down through the hole. And I took photos, actually posted a few this week up on the equipment report, and you can see the holes that they had to drill out to put in this tungsten. I mean, it is a painstaking process to build them a set of clubs, and they built them too. So it took them two weeks to build them to that. It was crazy to see, and you know, you're right. They're going to have to work really closely with Bryson. I'm not sure if you're ever going to see any of his stuff ever come out of retail or because it would just be so expensive. But, you know, for him, they're going to great lengths to get him the clubs that work for him. This is an intriguing moment in time in the equipment business, I feel, because someone with an approach like this, which is so non-traditional, John, and so outside the box could have quite an impression on young kids. Boys and girls who are just getting into the game, just getting serious about the game on a junior level, they may look at this cat Bryson DeChambeau and say, "You know what? "It's a little weird, but it works for him. I might be willing to give it a shot." What do you think? Exactly. And, you know, I think Cobra is actually banking on that right now, that being the thing, you know, look, they have Ricky who draws in the young kids because they want to be like Ricky and play golf. I think they do Bryson in a similar way, but with the equipment being the big thing for him. I think they're looking and saying, "Look, this kid is already having success at a high amateur level, the highest level in amateur golf, and he's played well in pro events with these clubs." You know, at some point, I think you're right, I think young kids are going to start to pick up on this, and they want a guy like Bryson who, you know, wears the flat cap, like hoping to wear, and it is a little bit different. I think they're really looking to try and capitalize on this, and, you know, Cobra has hinted a little bit at trying to maybe do single-length, you know, same length irons. You know, I don't know how they're going to do it from a cost perspective, but, you know, if they can find a way, I think it could be a game changer for them and for the industry, and especially having Bryson, he plays well. Yeah. I think the sky is the limit for not only him, but also Cobra in the future of the game. Yeah, no question. He's got that new car smell right now, that's for sure, so we'll see if the results bear an app chatting with Jonathan Wall, our equipment editor from pjtour.com. Also, during your time in Hilton Head earlier this week, you had a chance to chat with Bob Vokey, the master wedge craftsman. Dude, this is like talking with Les Paul about making guitars. What was that experience like? I love that comparison because it is. You know, Voke is one of a kind, and you know, of all the people that I talk to, you make golf clubs, I would say he's probably my favorite because he's so old school that you just don't see that anymore. You know, he's worked with guys. He's worked with everybody from Sevi, Trevino, Tiger, Mickelson. I mean, he is a legend. You know, when the players see him out on the range, they all come up to him and they say hi. You know, it's always fun to talk about equipment, and you know, the big thing for him, you know, him being such a classic wedge guy, you know, these new wedges, the SM6 that they came out with, I just wanted to chat with him a little bit about the design because it's unlike anything he's really done in the past, he kind of worked a little bit with the center of gravity movement on the back of the head, but they really, it's visible this time. He really wasn't as visible in the past. You know, he was honest with me. He said, look, you know, I was a little bit nervous about it because I'm a classic wedge guy. But, you know, he works with some really great people over there at Titleist, and they kind of talked to him a little bit about it. He said, look, it works. You know, I can get past the fact that it's visible and, you know, quite honestly, maybe people like that. Maybe people like that they can kind of see the technology on the outside. So it was a really fun chat. It's always great to see Vogue out there, and he is still going strong. He's 75, and that guy acts like he's about 50. I mean, he's still spry in going around, going to events. Again, it's always a great time when Vogue's out there, and he always drops some great knowledge. Yeah, that's the key, isn't it? I mean, he's old school. The fact that he worked with Sevi and Trevino back in the day, but can still relate to the modern day player, tells you that he is very much in step with every technological advancement that's at his disposal. What's the percentage of players on tour if you had to sort of take a guess at it that used the Vokey Wedges? You know, I'd probably say it's at least 35 or 40 percent. I mean, there are a large amount of guys, and we're not just talking, you know, the guys that are staffed with other manufacturers who also play Vokey Wedges, which, if you were to be out there like I am on a regular basis and look in their bags, there are a lot of players who are, you know, staffed up with other manufacturers who play Vokey Wedges just because their contract allows them a little bit of flexibility with the clubs they have in their bag. And the fact that they play Vokey Wedges, and they maybe don't get paid to play a Vokey, I think tells you a lot about the technology and the trust that they have in those Wedges. So it is a large number. I mean, Vokey is the number one Wedge model out on the PGA Tour, and you see guys playing everything from SM6 all the way down to the 200 series, which is a long time ago in Vokey terms. So, you know, everybody seems to have their favorite Vokey Wedge out there, and, you know, Aaron Dale, their Vokey Tour rep, he is always busy every single week working on Wedges, so it's always fun to kind of see what he's working up. He does different designs on the backs of the head, and he's almost worked to me. He's almost more of an artist than he is at Oak Wedge with those designs, but yeah, they have a large falling out. Jason Day is in the field this week at Harvard time. Number one player in the world, he's in our PGA Tour live coverage. I got a bunch of tweets this morning from folks who were sort of intrigued, interested, uncertain about what was going on with the Potter that he was using. It's that Itsy Bitsy Spider and Limited Edition Potter that he's been using all year. It's just a new color. Everybody was kind of gripping about that, but it's the same Potter, right? The one that we saw at the Northern Trust open? Yeah, it's exactly right. It's the exact same Potter he's been using going back to even even beyond 2014, but he went back to it in 2014, and we actually broke this story on the website on Wednesday. I was kind of milling around on the practice screen and opened up the putter head cover, and it's like, "Whoa, this is different." But again, it's not something that was a huge shock to me because going back to Riviera, I had a chance to talk to the tailor-made folks, and they had a couple of new putters, same head design that Jason uses, but with a different color red on those little weight ports on the back. They had mentioned that they had worked directly with Jason on adding this red color. I kind of had a chuckle. It's the same red streak that's going to be found on the abdomen of the redback spider that's found in Australia. Yeah, I know. Anything to get a story out of it, I guess, but Jason liked the color enough, where he completely changed, went from a really dark charcoal gray head color to this red that really sticks out. Again, just the color changed, nothing as far as the putter design goes, but he kind of told him, "Look, I want a pop of color," and they went with this red. I guess he went with the whole red. I thought he might go with the one that I saw at Riviera, but this one is definitely sticking out. Also, through in the M2-3 wood, it's a high launch version. It's going to give you a little bit of a higher launch, and he's a big bomber. He needed a free wood, and I had heard that he was kind of working his way into the M2. He's been using an aeroburner, so for him, it was trying to find something that he felt comfortable hitting around at Harbortown because that is not a place where you want to be wild off the front. So, through that one in the bag as well. A couple of changes, and look, I'm not surprised. We heard the Week After the Masters. This is a great opportunity for him to try out some new equipment, and obviously it's a competition, and he wants to win, but as far as no pressure situations go, the Week After the Masters for him, he's going to be a little bit farther down as far as the stress goes. So, a great chance to put in that putter in a free wood this week. This is David Fora. He's the producer of PGA Tour Live. Counting him down to break. So, this was a two-minute break, so this would be a good time to say goodbye. John, thanks. It was fun at Jonathan R. Wall. This is how you follow our man on Twitter and read his fine work. Every day, every week, throughout the year on PGA Tour.com. Thanks, man. We'll do it next week. Hey, thanks, Ronnie. And that'll do it through this edition of the Talk of the Tour podcast. Hope you dug it. And our conversations with the 2017 President's Cup captains, Steve Stricker, and Nick Price, and our equipment editor/insider, Jonathan Wall. Remember, you can catch the Talk of the Tour pod. A lot of different ways, kids. Go to pGA Tour.com/podcasts for the show, and lots of our other audio content programming as well. You can access via iTunes, tune in, and stitcher. So, head to pGA Tour.com/podcasts and subscribe today. I'm John Swanson. Thanks for listening. As always, being part of the show. And remember, sometimes it's best to open your mind before you open your mouth. Think about it, people. Talk to you on Monday.