John Swantek is joined by Tucson Conquistadores Classic winner Woody Austin, along with Sean Martin and Rob Bolton from PGATOUR.COM, the week of the WGC-Dell Match Play.
Talk of the TOUR Golf Podcast
Rob Bolton previews Match Play, Woody Austin guests
and welcome to the talk of the tour podcast for the week of the World Golf Championships Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas. I'm John Swanson. Great to have you along here. Florida Swing concluded with the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Man, we had some serious star power winning those four events. Think about it. Adam Scott took the first two. Charles Schwartzle, the Valspar Championship, both former master's champions. The Arnold Palmer Invitational goes to Jason Day, who very well could be wearing the green jacket in a few weeks' time. All of them in the field this week, by the way, at the Match Play. Our guests on the podcast, Sean Martin, PGA Tour.com. Woody Austin, winner and two saw his first ever PGA Tour Champions victory and he got the super cool Conquistador helmet to go with it. And Rob Bolton with rankings in insight for the Dell Match Play and the Puerto Rico Open, which is also being contested this week. Our first guest is in Austin, Texas, as we chat, getting set for the World Golf Championships Dell Match Play, coming off the Arnold Palmer Invitational one by Jason Day, who is in group number two this week and clearly wanted to watch having risen to second in the world. Sean Martin from PGA Tour.com is with us. This is kind of in a bracket, crazy sort of run here, aren't we? In the midst of March Madness, so I'm sure you've got those brackets filled out and then the Dell Match Play this week. No shortage of brackets-ology, Mr. Martin. Yeah, definitely a good time of year for the brackets. I think, though, if anything that we've learned over the past few years, that really you can't predict anything and it's just a whole bunch of luck and you just kind of kind of throw those darts and then let them fall where they may and not get too hung up on it, because otherwise it's going to be a hair pulling time of year for you and you've just got to take each lump, as you will, because no one's going to have a perfect bracket and you're going to struggle no matter what I think. So just have some fun with it and don't take it too seriously. Yeah, who'd you have in the big dance, by the way, who'd you have on top? This is actually, unfortunately, the second consecutive year that I haven't done a bracket. I just haven't had time to, you know, really in college we had a big pool and I really put in the research and would do okay and I just have not been able to follow college basketball as closely as I once did and so I just, if I, I'm not going to go in there and, you know, gas based on school names and team colors and mascots and so if I can't really do the research I'm not going to put the time into it and do it. Well, you would just be like millions of other people who fill out their brackets based on team colors and mascots. What's the difference? Yeah, I know but I've got, I've got standards. If I'm going to, I'm not going to participate unless I can really just give it my all. Well, I had Michigan State. So that's bad news for Danny Willett. I think there's got to be my pick this week. We'll, we'll get to yours a little bit later on but let's, let's sort of back up to the weekend Sean and talk about Bay Hill and Jason Day who didn't necessarily have his best stuff but that's really what differentiates these top players. The ability, as Jack Nicholas used to say, playing badly well. I think Day was able to certainly win without his fastball and that's an indication of where his games at these days, don't you think? Yeah, I think that that's why this win is going to be really important for him because it's one thing, you know, the way he was playing, you know, last fall during the Fettest Cup playoffs and it's easy to win when you're doing that when you're just annihilating a golf course and, you know, especially with how far and how high it hits it and you can just take advantage of the par-5s. But to win on a, on a weekend really when his, his strokes gained approach for the weekend was like negative three shots which is horrible. It's one of the worst in the field for the last two rounds and yet he still, and yet he still was able to win and I think that, he'll take a lot from that. Because like you said, winning uglies is a whole different thing. To be able to win when you've got your, you know, B or C game even is, is really a skill and like you said, what separates the best players. You know, he, he referenced a text exchange you had with Tiger when he was chatting with Steve Sands off the 18th Green on Sunday. That's not the first time that those two have sort of corresponded that way. This is a unique relationship and Day certainly is trying to tap into the, the mental greatness of Woods. It seems that way, Sean, it seems to be serving him well, do you think? Yeah, you know, it's kind of funny. It's an interesting transition for Tiger because, you know, he's the ultimate competitor when he was playing and in the heart of his career and now he's willing to help out a guy who, you know, if he were to return is one of the best players in the world. And so I think it does, it's an interesting transition and kind of shows where he's at in his career that maybe he views his role but differently than when he was in, in the heart of things and, and just kind of the dominant player who didn't want to share his secret to everyone. And I was willing to kind of, you know, pass that along if he's a little bit older and not able to compete, obviously. Yeah, let's overreact to Rory's performance, which everybody does every week. He had what six double bogeys over the weekend. I don't know, it means it's a streaky player, right? Is there any other definition that we would sort of come to? It's a little bit streaky and then too, you got the Florida courses where there's water everywhere. I think Bay Hill was sixth last year, involved in the water. Honda, the PGA National is very similar, D'Rau is very similar. So you have courses in the Florida swing that are a little bit different than what you're going to see most of the year. You got water everywhere. And so it's very easy to rack up numbers like that at those three courses. So you do, you know, you're a little bit off your game and you're going to rack up big numbers at the Florida courses just because there's so many penalty strokes to be had. So I think it's a combination of those two things. He's a little bit off, he's a little bit inconsistent. He's also playing courses that are very penal for those mistakes. And so kind of, you know, those two things I think really contribute to what we've seen the past few weeks from him. Yeah, and he doesn't seem to be an early season performer at a top level. That track record is sort of beginning to establish itself as he gets set to defend this week in Austin. Yeah, and I think part of that too is just his schedule. You've got a guy who's competing both in the FedEx Cup playoffs and the race to Dubai. And so his season goes a little bit longer than the rest of his competitors. And so I think early in the season he does need to take some time off because he's ending his season later than everyone else and plays so well, especially at the end of the European Tour season that, you know, he's winning tournaments when a lot of guys are taking breaks. And so he needs to ease back into things because you need to take some time off at some point. And so I think that's a little bit of what we see as well. Yeah, I thought Adam Scott had a good week, Sean, save for a few bad holes, really. He had a good chance to go back to back to back on the Florida swing in successive starts. And the transformation of Scott really might be the best story we have going this season. Yeah, I think it's great to see. It's just, I think the putter almost became too much and took a life of it of its own. His title almost changed to like Adam Scott, Adam Scott, an anchor, like that was all he was. And so it was nice to see that now we can appreciate Adam Scott for who he is. Obviously one of the elite players in the game, a gentleman, a great ball striker, a master's champion. And so it's nice to be able to just kind of not be focused on that one single aspect of his game like we were for the past couple years. And so definitely it's gonna make for an interesting master's and it'll be good to see a good Adam Scott in form as he returns to a guess national. Yeah, who's your master's favorite by the way? Is there a clear cut favor? Do we have a small group that you're looking at? I think you have to have a small group. You know, I think George has been a little bit inconsistent, but he's only lost a one-player in his two years at Augusta National. Bubba obviously is playing well out of Scott. I mean, Charles Schwartz will have three wins since December, I think worldwide. And so you've got your past five master's champions really having some good season to fill his resurgence. He's excited about his game. So there's a plethora of storylines as Augusta National approaches. You know, it's interesting with Scott, we forget what a really good putter he was, Sean, before he began to anchor. And you wonder if maybe he overreacted and went to it because it was an option. And I wonder if the USDA didn't do Adam Scott a favor by sort of forcing his hand here. Well, I think when he was rolling it to rally, I tweeted something as a joke. And I said, just imagine how many tournaments Adam Scott would have won if he wouldn't have used that long putter all those years. You know, who knows how that would have turned out? That's 2020, but it's good to see that, you know, I think this helps that now it won't be like, oh, well, he only won because he's anchoring. And, you know, people won't look at him that way. And so I think it's good for his legacy, good for his career that, that he'd had the season he's had thus far. Let me ask you about Bryson DeChambeau because you had the college beat for a long time with golf week before you came and joined us at PGAJour.com. I know you still have your pulse on the college scene right now. This kid shot 66 on Sunday playing with Rory. He was tied for 27th at Bay Hill, Sean, was the low amateur in fact. We'll see him at the Masters as the reigning U.S. amateur champion as well. How good is his kid? You know, he's good. We'll put it down. I mean, he's very good. Only five guys won the U.S. amateur in NCAA's in the same year. He's the latest to do it. The other ones were Nicholas, Tiger, Phil, and Ryan Moore. So it's a pretty hefty list to be a part of. It's going to be turning pro right after the Masters, so we'll get to see how, you know, get to see him thrown into the fire, I guess you will, right after Augustine. It'll be cool to see because he's got that, you know, scientist's mind. He was a physics major at SMU. He's got that strange club set up that so much has been made of and he's a big advocate of the golfing machine. And he's had months to prepare for Augustine. He's talked to players. Mr. Crenshaw has given him some advice. He's read some of Alice from McKenzie's books. I mean, he's really breaking this thing down and kind of treating it like a science fair project, if you will. So the only, you know, potential issue could be, you know, if there's just too much pressure when he does get there, because there are a lot of eyes on him. If you have the traditional US amateur champion and defending champion pairing, he'll be playing with Jordan Speed, who he does know from the Dallas area because he went to SMU. So that'll help a little bit. He's familiar with Jordan, but still it's a whole different ballgame when he gets to Augustine National with so much anticipation on him. You know, there was a great picture of Maverick McNeely, the kid from Stanford, who played at Bay Hill, shaking Arnold Palmer's hand in a golf cart. And I thought, you know, how cool is that? This is probably the youngest player in the field. Yeah, he understands, he recognizes the impact that Arnold Palmer has made, how important he was to to the development of the game and how much money these guys are playing for. And I thought that was a really cool gesture for a young kid who seems to get it, Sean. Yeah, it just shows too how big Arnold's legacy is that a teenager in college, you know, you think all kids these days, they don't know about the past or they don't pay attention to the people that came before them. But, you know, they know about Arnold Palmer and they respect Arnold Palmer and they just, they know that where the game is today is because of him and that still resonates with them. So just, it's really a testament to how big his legacy is that these youngsters are still fully aware of the great impact he's had on professional golf. Yeah, that's why the field that was assembled always comes into question and I thought it was a pretty decent field. Consider you had McElroy, you had Day, you had Adam Scott, you didn't have speed, you didn't have Fowler, you didn't have Mickelson. So, I don't know, Sean, these guys, they schedule their events so far in advance. You don't want to get the impression that they don't have the proper respect for the tournament by not showing up because it's a tough one, but should the game's headliners feel a little more obligated to play in this event? I don't know, I think it is tough and it's easy to obviously, the knee-jerk reaction is they should be there, but you know, you look at the schedule and, you know, you have the match play this week and next week is Houston, which a lot of guys like to play the week for a major and so if you're eligible for match play and you're playing in that and then you play in Houston either because you're a Texan, which then you are going to feel pressure to play in Houston or because you feel that you need to play the week before to best prepare for the Masters, that makes the Masters your third straight start and to have Augusta as your fourth straight start, I think that's just too much for anyone and I think, I think Mr. Palmer would understand that. I think that, I mean, he knows the importance of Augusta and he knows how important it is to prepare in the way that you think best for that tournament and so I think that if asked, I think he would say that he understands that guys aren't there. I mean, I know a couple years ago he gave Rory a hard time for not coming but Rory did come and I'm sure that there are guys that may not have been there this year but maybe their next year and change their schedule around but I think just we're in a stretch right here, you can't play them all and I think a lot of people understand that and so I think there are events that get left off the schedule. It's great to see that some of the guys that weren't able to make it drove up to Bay Hill and told him in person. Yeah. Showing the respect they have for Mr. Palmer but I think that I think he would, as a you know, as a player himself, I think he would understand where they're coming from. During the of Alspar championship, there was a fan who who boasted on Twitter that he had heckled Ian Poulter. I'm sure you saw this. It's this was the guy that Poulter had him had removed from the property on the Copperhead course. Poulter later tweeted at the man's employer which is Florida Southern University. A few days later, this guy apparently lost his job as a school's assistant athletic director for development. There's a lesson here I guess, Sean, and that is, you know, if you if you act like an ass on social media, there's got to be consequences. But losing your job seems a little harsh, doesn't it? Can you say that word on air? Do we have to use the sensor button? I don't know that consequences. Yeah, sure. That's fine. Okay. No, I think my number one rule of social media is I wouldn't tweet anything I'm not going to say to someone's face. I think that's always a good one to live by. I think that's the golden rule as well. But it's easy to get behind your computer screen and become a tough guy. But there are consequences. So and obviously this guy felt the brunt of them, unfortunately. Yeah. Twitter is like 140 character resignation letter just waiting to be submitted as as I've always said. Poulter, it cannot seem to disengage at times. I don't know what the deal is. Some people, I think, you know, it just it fuels them. I think he's got that hundred dog story of, you know, assistant pro and term pro being a forehandy cab and some people just need to feel that a chip on their shoulder for inspiration. And so that might be what's behind that. Chatting with Sean Martin, T.J. Jordan.com. He's in Austin for the WGC gel, Dell match play. Golf channel had a selection show complete with ping pong balls and everything on Monday night. Sure enough, group one, Jordan speed, Justin Thomas, Victor Dubuisson and Jamie Donaldson. I'll pass this along, Sean. You may not have known Jordan speed and Justin Thomas. They're good buddies. You know, it's almost getting to the point. It's almost too far. It's almost like we need to change the storyline. Like it's, you know, you have your guys who get known for something. That's, you know, it's like poor Justin Thomas, you know, Adam Scott was the anchor, Justin Thomas, always Jordan's best friend. Obviously a tour winner himself this year, but cool to see. I mean, they squared off at the final of the NCAA Championship back in 2012. They'll have some fun with it. Hopefully they'll bring up, bring back up the shaving your head bet they had when they played together a Cadillac and maybe actually follow through on it. So it's good to see that they have some fun on social media and let fans into kind of their world a little bit. But at the same time, it's a big shadow, I think that Justin's trying as hard as possible to get out from under. Yeah. And it gave you the opportunity on Twitter to send out the picture of both of them with their spiny arms and legs and JT with the hamburger in his mouth one more time. Yeah, it's a classic. I think, you know, I feel bad for anyone really from their age on that goes into professional golf and play elite junior and amateur golf before then because there's all kinds of photos that you now will never be able to escape. And it's definitely a tough road to be on. That same photo from when you were 12 is going to be recycled in perpetuity, probably for the rest of your career. So do you like the group format we went to last year as sort of a way to ensure that the top players, the top seeds, the number one, you know, tier of guys off the World Cup rankings are going to see more than one match. Yeah, I think it's good. I think my only pet peeve is the group of death. I think, I don't know if you can quite, they're pretty evenly balanced here. I don't know if you can quite call just one group of death. I feel like they all kind of are equal, but I think I can just do without that term. I feel like, you know, someone can get old yellowed if they don't win the group or something. But I do, I think that, you know, it's nice to see you guys take around for three days. It's obviously great for TV and for people in attendance. And it, you know, you look at guys, I mean, like an honor bond here, he played in the Indian Open on Sunday and finished second, flew here to Austin. Imagine coming here one and done, okay, you know, your week's over. Thanks for coming. Thanks for playing. We have some nice parting gifts for you. It's, it's just one, one and done, I think, which is, it's too harsh. Patrick Reid, Phil Mickelson, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Daniel Burger, group nine. That one's pretty, pretty saucy, isn't it? Yeah, that Reid Mickelson group is going to be, it's going to be pretty fun to watch. You got two guys there who really lack and confidence. And so, yeah, hopefully, hopefully they can muster enough to for one of them to get through. I told you, I like Danny Willett, number one race to Dubai, 11th in the world. I mean, if I had, if we give average golf fans 10 guesses at who the 11th ranked player in the world is, how long do you think it would take before they got to Danny Willett? I'd probably have to sit down and grab a chair and grab a meal. It'd take a while to get to that one. Yeah. He's a good player though, Sean. And third last year at the match play, a couple of third-place finishes in World Golf Championships this year. I think he's going to go deep through the brackets again. He finished third in three of the past four WGCs. He finished third in match play last year and then he's finished third in the last two WGCs. The guy eats World Golf Championships alive, I guess. But a great player, a very accomplished player, is on the Walker Cup with the Worry Macaroni back in 2007. I think last year's match play was kind of that breakout form on the U.S. for U.S. audiences and then played really well at the Open Championship, too. I want to talk the lead halfway through finish six. And actually spent a little bit of time in the States. He went to Jacksonville State in Alabama, not Florida, but just a class player and, you know, won and Dubai this year and just continues to establish, establish himself on the world stage and definitely probably a guy that's going to give the Americans trouble in the Ryder Cup this year. Oh, yeah. I don't want to face him in Sunday singles in the Ryder Cup if I'm on the European's or from on the American side. Your boy, Matsuyama's in Group 12. Is that your pick to win it all this week? He's actually my runner up. I took Paul Casey this week, but Monteama will go far. I can guarantee that. All right. Casey does well in this format. He's runner up twice back in the single elimination in Arizona. Last year went to Harding Park and switched the format and he still made the quarter final. So I just feel like a guy who seems to do well in this tournament no matter where or how we play it. And he's also in good form coming off the Florida swing. First time to Austin. What do you think of a place? It's been a quick so far. I've gotten into too much. We had some good Mexican food. There's lots of that. It reminds me a lot of Portland, minus the being on the West Coast. Okay. But no, it's a great, it's a fun town. It's definitely a change of scenery from the Florida swing. So we're getting used to that and it's just kind of a cool, it's different than what we usually see on tour. And so it's definitely a pretty good change of pace here, variety of the spice of life. And I feel like we're getting that this week. Austin, it's the Portland of Texas. That was one of the rejected chamber of commerce, by the way. Yeah, that probably wouldn't go. Maybe Portland is the Austin of Oregon. I don't know. So construction is continuing down here. We can't wait till you guys come down the road and join us. We're a little stalled right now. We got the big space cleaned out for all your fancy little standing desks. But you and the rest of the gang, we can't wait to come down and join us here. PG-200 statement. You know they say sitting is the new smoking. I just believe you with that, I guess. Thanks, Sean. Have a good week, man. Thanks, Sean. And you can follow Sean on Twitter at PG-2 or S. Martin. We talked about the golf channel selection show Monday night. Many group of death references and it occurred to me how much fun a group of death drinking game would have been during that production on Monday night. Where was I on that? I no longer instinctively think of such golden opportunities in life as I once did. Now that I am, of course, eligible for the PGA Tour champions. Our next guest is a four-time PGA Tour champion. He was the rookie of the year on the tour back in 1995. And now for the very first time, a winner on the PGA Tour champion circuit. Having just taken the title at the Tucson Conquistadors Classic last weekend in his 28th start. Welcome and congratulations to Woody Austin. Winning never gets old, does it, Woody? Absolutely not. It's too hard, too hard of a game to win at for it to get old. What was the difference? Because you had come close a bunch of times. I mean, you were loading up top 10s over the last couple of years. Yeah. You know, the way the game of golf has been changed with technology and the fact that the golf ball and everything does so much work for the players now. You really can't separate yourself based on your, you know, ability to play golf. So now the only way you can really make a dent is whether or not you can put worth it on. And that's always been my weakest point. So that just makes it even harder to win. And so I've played well enough to win. I just haven't putted well enough to win. So, fortunately for me, you know, I did a little of both on Sunday. So when I got fortunate with Jim having his struggles on the backside. Mm-hmm. Jim Carter, that was, whose lone PGA Tour victory came in Tucson. What was the environment like, by the way, Woody? You must have played the Tucson PGA Tour event a bunch of times back in the day, right? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I told the people that was my very first top 10 in my career to do the second. It was the second tournament of the season back in the day. And I played, I had such a great rookie year. That was the second tournament on the schedule. And I'm pretty sure I finished five for six that week in my second event. And so it was my very first top 10 as well. You hold out for Eagle at 15. The reaction was large. I mean, you could tell what it meant to you. You called it afterwards the greatest bunker week you've ever had. How did it all come together for you? I really couldn't tell you as far as how it came together. You know, I'm a pretty, again, I'm a pretty good bunker player to begin with. But for some reason, I like it when the sand is firm, I guess. You know, I don't like a lot of sand and they had the perfect combination for me. You know, there wasn't a whole lot of sand and the sand was really pretty firm and so I didn't have to worry about, you know, the club's digging and doing a lot of crazy stuff that you get in a really thick powdery sand. And I pretty much just, the only time that I did not hit one close was on Sunday. I had a difficult one on seven, but I was able to make the eight footer for par. And like I said, that's the key is being able to make some pot. You've got two teenage boys. Your son Parker was supposed to caddy. He got sick and couldn't do it. You had to go to the bullpen for your younger son, Peyton, and he steps into a winning family moment. How about that? Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things you can't draw up. You know, you can't even write a script for, you know, he didn't want any part of caddy and for the week to begin with, Parker wanted to do it the whole week and that was part of the reason we did the golf trip that we did because Parker wanted to send his spring break caddy in for me. And unfortunately for him, he just, you know, he got sick at the wrong time and Peyton kind of got forced into the duties. And then once he got started, he didn't mind it, but you know, it was never on his radar to do it. How did he do out there? He did just great. He did just fine. You know, he's a he's a young little player himself. And so I think the thing that really, you know, helped both of us out was, you know, he just was inquisitive, you know, wanted to ask a lot of questions. So he just basically asked me a bunch of questions, you know, can I hit this shot? What am I going to do with this one? You know, which kind of kept me off kilter and not worrying about too many things, you know, and then it also informed him of, you know, how to think around the golf course, whether or not you can hit shots that, you know, or try to hit shots that you shouldn't hit. So, like I said, I think it really worked out well for both of us. I know. Go ahead. Yeah, no, that's fine. I know they're basketball players, your boys. Do they play golf? Well, they're players. I know you guys were coming off a family trip out of the pebble, right? Right. Yeah, the young one's more the golfer as far as putting time into it. The old one is the basketball player and soccer player. He's the athlete as far as all the multiple sports. The young one plays all the sports. He's just more equipped to play golf. But the older one is probably a better golf swing than I do. He just doesn't play enough. He only plays this time of year when golf season comes. But if he put a little bit of time into it with his golf swing, he'd be pretty good as well. So, they both have the potential to be pretty decent. Like I said, the oldest has a really good golf swing. The youngest doesn't have as good a golf swing, but the youngest knows how to get it around the golf course way better than the older one does. Interesting. So, I know you play pebble. You played spy glass. You played Spanish Bay. I mean, that's some quality time with the boys, would he? Yeah. Well, that was his birthday wish. He's always wanted to play pebble. But I didn't want them to be playing the golf course when they couldn't play it. You know, I didn't want them to go out there and get absolutely run over by you know, those golf courses when they were too young to enjoy them and play them. Unfortunately for them, they got the true pebble experience on Sunday. They got the rain to win the whole nine yards on Sunday. Now, Monday and Tuesday were five, but Sunday was a typical rainy cold pebble. And we even hit seven iron on number seven. That's how bad it was. Oh man. How many a side are you giving them? Do you guys have a friendly little game out there? Yeah, like I said, they both still can't get it to me yet. They have their moments where they have their, you know, great nine holes where they can hang right there with me for nine holes. But they both can't put it together for 18 to shoot a low enough number. You know, they can get it to, you know, even far one over on great days. But predominantly they're, you know, they're the upper 70s, which isn't bad for guys that don't play, you know, regularly. They don't play nonstop. You know, it's not like that's all they do. But, you know, they, they can play. They just don't play enough to keep it consistent. Yeah. By the way, I was glad to see the folks in Tucson maintaining the tradition of giving the victor that super cool conquistador helmet. How did that thing fit at the trophy ceremony? It's fun. The only problem, the only problem they got is they got a nice little bit of padding in the top of the hat. But in the, you know, on the seams of the hat, they have the rivets in there and then rivets can hurt. Metal rivets don't feel good on them, on ahead. Yeah. So how has life been the last couple of years on the, on the PGA tour, the champions circuit? I've been okay. You know, this is, this is the first year where I'm playing the full schedule. I've been exempt on the regular tour for the first two years. And so that's why I've only played 28 events. I played, I played the full schedule of the PGA tour when I was 50. I didn't play but seven events at the end of the year when I missed out on the FedEx that year. But in those seven events, I finished top 10-5 out of those seven tournaments. And even though I played seven events, I still qualified for the Schwab Cup. And then last year, I didn't start playing until the major started. So I played the entire west coast swing and the Florida swing on the regular tour. And I started at the, at the first major. Right. So I only played, I think I played 15 tournaments maybe last year. Something like that, maybe 16. And then this year, you know, obviously I don't have any, I don't have the status on the regular tour. So now I've started. So these tournaments, like the two tournaments in Florida were the first time I saw the courses. Obviously Tucson I've seen before but it was the first time I played there. Yep. A couple weeks when we go to Atlanta, obviously I've played the tour event when we played Sugarloaf but I haven't played there as a senior event. So it'll be interesting to see a couple of the new, you know, a couple of the courses I haven't seen yet. You know, when you played a full schedule on the PGA tour, as you mentioned at the age of 50, that's because in 2013, you were 49 and changed the eighth-oldest winner in PGA Tour history at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Do you look back at that week still and think, how in the world did I sort of pull it all together that week in Mississippi? Yeah, yeah, to a point. I do, you know, that was a defining moment. I, that was where, I had two really defining moments, I guess you'd say, as far as victories, you know, winning my rookie year after being heard out of college and being a 31-year-old rookie that nobody knew about because, you know, I wasn't playing golf. I was working in a bank like a normal human being and then to come out and win my, you know, first year everybody was like, "Who's this guy?" So that was, you know, a nice defining moment and then to win, you know, late in my career when everybody had given up on me, wasn't getting any sponsors, you know, help or any exemptions or anything. Even though I'd played tournaments for 20 years, I couldn't even get a sponsor exemption and so when I won that tournament, you know, that was another validation that I still could play and that I, you know, like I said, the game has changed so much with this technology. It's so easy to be good at 20 years of age now, compared to when we played, it took you till you were 30 to understand how to control the golf ball. Now you don't have to worry about controlling the golf ball, so now you can be good at 20 because all you have to do is swing hard enough to hit it far enough and so it's made the game so much more difficult to perform as we get older because you now have to play so many more guys that you didn't have to worry about back in the day. So instead of playing, you know, let's say, you know, back in the day when Tiger was, you know, everybody say, well, Tiger wiped out 90 percent of the field, he only has to be, you know, 20 guys on a given week. Well now even as good as he could still be or even let's say as good as he is or as good as Rory is, they have to play 144 players now because anybody can win because now it's just a putting contest. If a guy, if a guy is not that great, puts out of his butt, which has already happened in the last two years, that's why you have so many first time winners, you got guys that are making, you know, they're breaking records for the most putts made on a Sunday or the longest distance is made on this day and that's what it's become. It's become a putting contest and so therefore it becomes a lot harder to win on a consistent basis. You are famously tough on yourself. Anybody who's watched you play for the last 20 years understands that they've seen that. Where does that come from? I think it comes from my upbringing, I think it comes from the fact that, you know, I was never given anything. I come from a background where, you know, my parents were divorced when I was really young. My mom had to work two jobs just to allow us to go to school. I didn't have money to play tournaments. My first set of golf clubs were a Chi Chi Rodriguez starter chef and I would buy the missing pieces. I worked at the golf course picking flags at night and I would go to Walmart and I would buy the missing golf clubs to fill in my set. So my first set of golf clubs had a Nancy Lopez wedge of Johnny Miller eight iron, you know, that was my set of clubs. So I know what it's like to bust my butt to get there and then to get sidetracked after college and get hurt and then not be able to perform, you know, not be able to play and work on my game in my supposed crime or when I could really work on my game. If I wasn't hard on myself, if I did not push myself, I would have never made it. So when you look at the fact that I made it at 31, if I did not have that drive in myself, if I did not have that passion to push myself to the extreme to know how good I really was, then I never would have made it. And I also explain it to anybody. Yes, this is a game that we supposedly play as our livelihood, but if you're getting 50% out of your job, that's your job, are you happy? You know, if you go to work and you don't like your boss or you go to work and you're not getting paid what you feel as though you're putting in or or anything, you feel like you're getting not the maximum out of yourself or your job. Are you supposed to be happy? Well, that's the way I look at it. I know I was better than what I was. I never got to show it completely, but if I did not perform to the level that I knew I was at or should have been, I got mad at myself. I didn't get mad at anybody else. You never saw me yell at my caddy. You never saw me yell at a cameraman. You never saw me yell at the volunteers. I didn't blame it on anybody. I blamed it on myself because it is my, it is ultimately my mistake. And so I felt as though, obviously, I went a little overboard with the flapping of the leg and what have you back in my prime, but you know, I kept it in the purnal in that I kept it on myself, you know, and I feel as though as long as I kept it to myself and and kept pushing myself, then, you know, I guess at the time I felt it was okay. Obviously, you know, you look back when you're really older and wiser and say I might have gone too far, but I still don't feel as though I did anything wrong because I never made excuses. I don't like excuses. I hate excuses. And we live in an excuse-oriented society. And I hate that. You know, I will always blame myself for any of my problems. We talked about your boys earlier. Have you been able to instill this message in them? I mean, this idea of being accountable for your own actions in life and in sports. It's been very hard. I've got teenagers, I know, man. Yeah, it's been very hard. I've got one who kind of gets it now, the older one, the young one still. The young one drives me crazy because he thinks he thinks everything's against him and I can't get him on the right page. He thinks if a putt doesn't go in, it wasn't his fault. It was the green fault. And also, he thinks if something happens, he's unlucky. He's got a bad balance. So I haven't figured out how to get to him yet. But the older one, the only problem I have with the older one is since he is such a good athlete and he plays the other sports and whatever, he thinks that he can just pick this game up after six months off and play good. And so then he gets really frustrated when he doesn't. And I haven't figured out how to explain to him that this is a game that it will not let you take six months off and then just pick it right up. But that's the only problems I got with them so far. You know, I've talked to champions tour players who have a, you know, sort of a long lens view of their PGA tour career Woody. And they will say that it's work, man. You're grinding. You struggle. You're frustrated. You go to some dark places. You've got family. You're trying to balance it all. You're trying to keep your card for years and years. And then when you finally make it, you get to the PGA tour champion circuit. It's almost like you can decompress and you can exhale and you can breathe a little bit. It's a different vibe out there if that's been described to me. Do you kind of see it that same way? Oh, there's no question. There's no question. I told people I said that I said the weird thing for me, especially those first couple years when I was only popping over for those couples and whatever, I said I didn't want to make it sound bad or whatever. I said, but me it almost felt bored. Because you went from all this hype. You went from all the media. You went from all the fans. You went from all the hype of a PGA tour event to the nice, easy-going, laid-back, just pro-am oriented, three days guaranteed paycheck. And so you basically let your guard down. So you almost feel like you know, it's almost like I said, for someone like myself who kept playing through their, you know, through into their fifties, you know, it was almost like, like I said, it was almost like boring. I didn't know any other way to describe it. You know, like I said, you know, decompress, yeah, that's fine. But I mean, in the long run, we all want to play well, but I think we all realize at this point in time in our lives and our careers it's not the, you know, end all be all. But for me to be coming from playing the 22-year-olds and then coming down, it was, you know, like I said, it was such a big drop there for a little while that it was almost like going out and playing golf at the club and just kind of being, going through the motions, so to speak. So you almost feel as though you have to, you have to build yourself up as the week gets going. You know, obviously when you get in the hunt, everybody, you know, motivated, everybody's feeling it. But at the beginning of the week of a senior event, it's so laid back and it's so easy that you have to build yourself up. Whereas at a regular PGA event, it's all hype from the word go. But that makes sense. It does. And certainly winning is winning. You experienced it four times on the PGA Tour and now for the first time. The first with more to come, I suspect for Woody Austin on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. Congratulations. The victory in Tucson. The cool helmet. Where is that being displayed in your house, by the way? Well, I'm not sure yet. You know, obviously they're going to send it to me. But I would assume it'll probably go in the office where all my other stuff is. Well done. It was fun to watch Woody and I appreciate some time today. It was good chatting with you. Thanks so much. Thank you. No, thank you. Boy, what a good candid conversation with Woody Austin. That's a tough customer right there, kids. I can think of a lot of guys who have been gifted with far more raw talent than Woody Austin, who did not win four times on the PGA Tour and now once on PGA Tour Champions. I can tell you that. He has wronged every ounce of ability out of his game for more than two decades now with pure guts. It ain't always pretty with Woody Austin, but he is a very tough guy to knock out when he gets his nose in the fight. That's a really good quality, by the way, to have this week in Austin, Texas. Our next guest pulling double duty this week. We've got the Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas. We've got the Puerto Rico Open, a full field event gathered as well. So his week, his workflow, his schedule is already condensed, but of course, Rob Bolton goes and gets himself the flu. But no days off, no days off for the Cal Ripken of fantasy writers. So we got you right back in the game, my man. I mean, Cal's kids were born on off days, so certainly you could appreciate that. Yeah, I think you misheard me in our in our in our in our green room conversation. I was referring to Cal Ripken Senior. So why not? Well, I'll deference to junior and everything he's done. I feel it more like senior today. It's good to be with you though. It's an exciting week and it's a short one, isn't it? Yes, this is uh this is really cool. I enjoyed the the golf channel's selection show on Monday evening from the Paramount Theater there in Austin as they broke down all the groups and we'll come at it maybe a little differently as far as our segment goes here this week. But as for the course, let's definitely start there because this is a venue that folks probably don't know too much about. Yeah, Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. It's in the hill country as Rod Whitman, who collaborated with a course designer, Pete Dye said. It was a dead end road at the end of a dead end ranch. The the bridge I am not from the area, but the bridge over the river wasn't even completed when they scouted this course over 30 years ago. And here we are today hosting a World Golf Championships event. The more I dug into this course, the more and just the dynamic surrounding the tournament, the more I felt like how come the tour it's 2016, how come the tour waited this long to get there? I hope that's the vibe locally. I've been to Austin Swanney. That's such a fun city. I spent a week you know, spent a week there one night, you know, on one of those deals. And how much fun is it for the for the tour in the world? Best golfers to descend there this week. You know, Pete Dye, you know, he designed so many different courses we know that he's in the Hall of Fame, and he always gets to eat the golfers skin, and that's what he loves about what he does. And this is one of those courses that's going to do that as well. You know, there's railroad ties all over the place. There's water on about half the course. And so there's so much risk rewarded. Perfect that Dye, you know, is involved in one of these events. He had hosted the Kiwa Island, hosted the '03 World Cup, a team competition, and that's the only other time a Dye course has been used in this series. So it's good to have him involved as well. Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Harvey Panic, of course, all, you know, just basically the lifeblood of Austin Country Club since it's been in existence. The public itself has been around since 1899. This is the third site. There's so much history, but there's such a new world and progressive vibe this week. I'm so excited about it. It was good to see Ben Crenshaw with a guest appearance during the selection show on Monday. He's got great hair. I'm jealous of his hair at age 60 or whatever he is. Come on now. Yeah, that's good. Some of the shoot for it, isn't it? Remember, when I hit 30 and I still had hair, I put it out, but now I'm good, because that's the demarcation line. So now it's just a matter of keeping it thick enough. I don't have the thick hair, so he wins that one. Let's come at this a little differently. Usually we just go five through one in the power rankings, but this is a whole different deal this week and a unique format. So let's take your final four and you can sort of dissect each guy that you have in your final four, maybe some victims along the way. Ricky Fowler, you have making it to your final four, and you know, there's no reason why Fowler, with the season he's having, and a good amateur match play record, frankly, Rob, that he's not going to make a deep run here this week. Yeah, he listened. He played well last year at Harding Park and you know, he's been playing so well all year. We know he basically flipped a switch about a year ago and has maintained that level. Top five in world ranking now and so on and on. Yeah, I just want to sort of alert everybody listening that. This is a fun week. This isn't a week where you grind over your bracket like you would a college basketball event where there are predictable results. Of my, of the 16 pools, I have 10 top-seeds advancing and only six, and six from the second tier, and none from the bottom two. That's going to be wrong. I know it's going to be wrong. That's not the point. The point is just to have some fun. Last night during that selection show, we had a live blog at PGA Tour.com and I was one of several writers contributing. So what I did, I sort of went with my first instinct about how the group shook out and then I stuck with those those winners for each of the pools. And Fowler was one of them. He, you know, in my opinion, Ben Hahn, who is the second tier pick in that group, is a real sleeper in this event. He's a former US amateur champion. He's been playing exceptionally well. It's a ball strikers course, and he won by six, by the way. So Fowler has to get by him, but oh, Scott Pearson, Jason Duffner, also the same group. You know, throw up in the air and have fun with it. Just enjoy it, but Fowler's overall form. You know, there's going to be a number of guys of Fowler's ilk who are going to advance into the sweet 16, to the round of eight, four, and so on. And he stands the best chance. I have him getting by Matsuyama in the round of 16. And then Mark Leesman in the quarter finals. Leesman, look out for this guy. The wind's going to be howling Wednesday and Thursday. He's one of the best in the world in the wind. And so that could be Fowler's best match, even though Fowler's also familiar with that sort of challenge. Fowler then goes down in the semi-final swanney. All right. Danny Willett, you've got in your final four as well. I'm with you on this guy. Like everything about the way this sets up for him this week. How well he's played this season. How deep he went last year losing in the final four. And the fact that he's a Brit, and if it does get a little blustery as it's supposed to, he might be quite comfortable. Yeah, you know, entering this event, it didn't almost, it didn't really matter from a fantasy perspective, where will it land, or, you know, which pool, or, you know, which, you know, quarter bracket or side of the bracket, because he's a non-member. He's going to play just the big events in the U.S. and then he's going to focus on, you know, getting to the Ryder Cup via the European Tour, and should decline membership this year. So his focus is sharp. And finished third in this event last year as a, you know, as a, as a first timer, tied for third in the last two World Golf Championships. Those are both this season. So he is, as they say, firing on all cylinders. He has an interesting opening group with Kepka Horshel and Jocko Van Zill. Kepka could be a buzz saw. That's what I wrote in the power rankings in Horshel, you know. Horshel was the guy that, that McElroy beat in the round robin lasher to advance in extra time and McElroy went all the way. Yeah. Horshel arguably gave McElroy the best match of the week and he loves this format. So it's not like, you know, Will it or any of these guys are easy pickings all the way to the final four, but I'm going to hang my, I hung my hat on Will it weeks ago. There's no reason to deviate from that. You know, then he gets by Kuchar and Jason Day just to get to the final four. So it's a tough, tough bracket. They all are. But that's, you know, you got to go with somebody and I just loved the Englishman and everything. He sets up from a fancy, fantasy perspective this week. How about, uh, Lou Eustace, and you like him this week. Um, he is a player of, of real class and, and pedigree, obviously, but, uh, lots of nagging injuries through the years, Rob. And we saw earlier in the Florida swing that kind of flared up. I think it was in Miami. You never, you never quite know with Eustace. But, you know, to your point, you're rolling the dice a little bit with a match play format like this. Anyway, yeah, it was taken, but, but he sets up as a guy. By the way, I've always been taken down Fowler to get to the championship match. Okay. I mentioned Fowler going down earlier. I hit the South African advancing over Fowler. Eustace and like Jason Day from Australia, like Kentucky Matsuyama from Japan and kind of like Branson Ettaker from the U.S. When these guys are healthy, you got to look out. They're, they're, they're, they're streaky. They're, uh, they can all putt extremely well, but they also, uh, they also hit lots of greens and regulation. And when they combine those two, they're, they're, they're almost unbeatable. Eustace and is healthy right now. Jason Day, obviously, is healthy right now Matsuyama. Yeah. But he played pretty well last week. Eustace is probably the biggest, eh, out of that for some. Eustace and has a relatively easy pool. I mean, you know, all things considered, you know, the variances are minute. I like him coming out of his group and then actually taking down the local favorite Jordan speed in the next round, just because Eustace and is like a machine. Eustace will then get bi-patric read on my bracket. Uh, again, not an easy win, but I like, uh, how, you know, Eustace just doesn't make any mistakes. And when he's healthy, he's just so reliable. Uh, and, uh, it just takes one home. And that's what it could come down to for both of those matches for Eustace and get to the final four. Uh, Eustace, this is my one and done, Swani. He came down between him and Danny Willett. Both are guys that are playing really well and I probably wouldn't miss. Uh, and so those are huge, uh, in my one and done feature today, by the way, it's more of a how-to guide on, on how to make this selection without regretting his tater. And I think that's going to be really important. That applies to life in general too, how to make selections without regretting it later. If only, but only we knew some of the things that we've learned along the way. All right. Tenacious, gritty, feisty, dogged. These are all terms that describe Zach Johnson and, uh, the type of player he is, the way he plays the game, Rob. Those are pretty good trades to possess in this format, aren't they? Yeah, he's really the kind of guy to beat when you, when you just look at that and on paper. Uh, I know Speed, local, and all that. But, but Zach Johnson, and these are Bermuda Greens. They're brand new, but he played really well in Bermuda Greens. They took a brand new last week at Bay Hill and finished a, a low and fifth place. Bay Hill is a place where, where ZJ has played well before. So that makes sense. He's, uh, obviously an open champion. He knows how to play in the wind and, uh, uh, and Tom Kite, Hall Famer. Remember it, uh, Austin, uh, Country Club plays their daily, reportedly picked Zach Johnson to win this week as I noted that and then went into, look into why, even before the bracket was released, it, it made all the sense in the world. There's no reason why we shouldn't think that Zach Johnson couldn't win. So it's going to come down to who would be, who would beat him. Uh, and I think he, he, he drew a really nice, a really nice pool with Shane Lawry, Martin Kymer, Marcus Frazier, Frazier. Uh, none of those guys scare me. Lawry, obviously, you know, he's, WGC champion last year, Firestone, totally different course. This is a place where ZJ can pick apart. Then I have, uh, Johnson beating Roy McElroy, defending champion in the second round. Again, it comes down to the course fifth. This is a much better fit for a guy who stripes his irons and can navigate a course, maybe better than McElroy, who, by the way, is not having as much trouble with this putting his, some may say or in the statistics actually support the fact that he's putting pretty well with a new grip, but it's just a consistency. And the irons haven't been a sharp either. So that's going to matter this week. And then I have Johnson beating Adam Scott in the round of eight to advance. Uh, Johnson beat Willett to get to the championship match. Why? So I have a final of the ZJ and who's tied? And ZJ on top at the Dell match play for, uh, Rob Bolton, uh, the plaintiff Puerto Rico too. We got a full field gathered there and you think we're going to have a first time winner on the PGA two or the bearded one. Graham DeLlett is this finally, finally Rob the week for the Canadian. Yeah, it is. You know, I could be an sports fan and, and, and hearing the rhetoric that, uh, DeLlett threw out there after the third round, uh, a copperhead. He ended up tied him for fifth. I don't know why there was any controversy over what he said. I mean, he was right. He's an athlete. He's going to go out. He's going to go ahead and win the alternative would be just not to speak to the media. And then, of course, you'd get railed for that. I know we have to have our angles. I get that, but man, we, I love the fact that he's that confident and for a guy that's never won and well over a hundred starts on the PGA tour. Uh, hey, all the more reason, um, this isn't the guy that, uh, um, you know, he's not looking at it, uh, through rose-colored glasses necessarily. He's a realist and he knows that he has the capability to get out there and do it. Back injury has, uh, has afforded him in the past. Uh, a really busy schedule for whatever reason has led to a, an achy body. Um, so that he's sort of getting over that from a mental standpoint is why I love him this week. A great fit also on this course. You know, uh, Cocoa Beach, uh, can stretch over 7,500 yards, but it is not a bomber's paradise. This is a place where veteran ball strikers who know how to play in the wind have a experience. Uh, tend to ride on this leaderboard by the time the final round rolls around to let checks, all of those boxes except for the victory. The last three winners of this tournament were first timers, five of the eight were first timers. It's time for Delet to, uh, to raise a trophy. I hope you're feeling better, but I also know that you scoff at medical attention and have it has a physical since you were 30, which was like, I don't know, 50 years ago. So you have brought this on yourself, I have to say. Yeah, I saw a comment. I do look at the schedule. Um, but you know, when you get, when you get excited about something, you know, how it is, you, uh, you tend to forget about the other things that matter and you just want to get down to work and, uh, because when it went, sometimes the best feeling is when it's over and you look at it and you see, yeah, okay, it's not bad. And then you have the fun and then you let it all play out. Then you kind of deal with it later, but then I'll wait a minute. There's another tournament next week. So, uh, I wouldn't be surprised if I all give me about 30 hours. I'll start scouting the shell used in open 20 still never stint on the disabled list. Follow him on Twitter at Rob Bolton golf. Uh, thanks for all the extra work this week. Big fella. All right, man. Great talking to you. Talk to you next week. And that will do it for the talk of the tour podcast this week. Hope you were just simply enthralled with the knowledge of my guests dropped on you from Sean Martin. We learned that sitting is the new smoking. I didn't know that. Yet I sit on an exercise ball all day. People, surely that would not qualify as the new smoking. I'm going to circle back with Sean on that from Woody Austin. We learned that, uh, the buck stops with him. You make a mistake on the golf course. It's on you and no one else. We also learned from Woody that the Tucson Conquistero helmet could use just a little bit more padding. And we learned that Rob Bolton is way overdue for a physical and that maybe I'm sensing there's a medical phobia there. He's not telling us about we all want our guests here in peak condition. I'm John Swan tick. I leave you with this. We do not remember days. We only remember moments. Think about it, people. I'll talk to you next week.