Golf With Jay Delsing -

Jay Delsing spent 25 years on the PGA Tour and is a lifetime member of the PGA Tour and PGA of America. Now he provides his unique perspective as a golfer and network broadcaster. It's time to go On The Range with Jay Delsing.

On The Range is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA. Hey, good morning. This is golf with Jay Delsing.

I'm your host, Jay. I got Perley with me. Perley, you're in Minneapolis somewhere. Yes, just south of Minneapolis.

On my way to go hunt down some Mullensky this week. Little fishing trip for Perley May after, well, Pearl, we got the Ascension Charity Classic in the books. We formulated the show like a round of golf. And the first segment is the On The Range segment. And the On The Range segment is brought to you by the Gateway PGA. Please help me to congratulate the 300 plus men and women in our section helping to make our golf experiences better.

Man, being out at the golf course, Pearl, there are so many PGA of America members out there. The entire Norwood was just a buzz for what, five, almost six days. It was a buzz. They had polished it up. The clubhouse looked great. The golf course looked great. All the folks backing it up looked fantastic. The staff, it was just phenomenal. I've been having the fortune of being up there a fair amount of times. It never looked so good. It was just so much fun. Yeah, they did a great job. Ascension did miss a trick.

I pull out a couple tees in my pocket and there's Ascension golf tees. I mean, these guys did everything they could do. Pearl, we're not going to have a, I know this is really going to bum me out, but we're not going to have a social media update this week because I know you didn't get to talk to Zuckerberg about why we've been waylaid a little bit because you were caddying all weekend. I know he was probably pissed that he kept calling you missing. We're going to skip your little social media update, but we are going to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing. 314-805-2132. If you need anything on the inside or outside of your home, these guys do great work. They're terrific people. I got so many nice calls from them this week wishing me well. Call Bob or Kathy and they will help you out.

314-805-2132. All right, so folks, there is no interviews this week or next. We are going to break down how we saw the Ascension Charity Classic. We're going to take you inside the locker room. We're going to take you inside the head of a broken down and retired tour player.

We're going to have some fun stories to talk about. And you know, John, one of the things but not playing tournament golf to play in a couple in the last month is the golf course changed so much from Tuesday to Sunday and it's really fun because our weather was so perfect. So we started out with three pro-ams this week.

It's a little unusual. Typically there's two pro-ams in the Champions Tour. We started out with three and on Tuesday's pro-am we played on the East Course, the other golf course in Northern. I got to play with some women executives from Emerson who was the presenting sponsor. They were just terrific.

Kathy Button-Bell and her staff was over there. We just had a blast. We played on the East Course. I think we shot 51.

It just had a ball. And I got to tell you, Pearl, one of the things I'd be remiss if I didn't bring this up, there's got to be a way to get more gals playing golf. There's got to be a way.

I mean it's just got to happen. We got to figure it out. Well I think the other thing maybe people don't know, some people might not know about Norwood, there's actually 36 holes there and they're all good. Obviously they had the tournament on the longer of the 18, but there's 36 holes of great golf around that place. And as far as getting more ladies out, there's a lot of ladies out at the tournament seeming to be enjoying the heck out of it. So hopefully that helps a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely. And gosh, I just think about the crowds. I think about just the crowds on, so there were no spectators allowed on the golf course on Wednesday. So we had a pro-am on Wednesday. We played in the afternoon.

It's kind of a weird thing. One of our guys wasn't able to make it, so we wound up playing with three guys. But Jimmy Williams, my buddy Jimmy Williams, he just lit it up and the team had a great front nine. I think we shot 11 under the first nine holes, Pearl. I'll tell you what, it was fun to see, you know, anytime you see the amateurs come and they get super nervous, some of them come out of their shell and play great. My father was one of those and you had one in your team, Jimmy Williams. He was giddy with how good he was hitting the ball and man, did he drive it well. It was awesome to watch. Oh man, he did. I mean, he basically single-handedly had the team, probably seven of those 11 pops on the front nine.

Then we kind of we kind of slowed down on the back and I think we wound up getting to 15 or 16 under. But it's still a lot of fun. You know, John, how do you explain to people the value of those pro-ams? And in my opinion, it's the absolute differentiator from what the PGA Tour has on over all the other sports. And again, this is champions to our stuff, but you got to get paired with Hall of Famers, Ernie Els or Jim Furyk or Mike Weir was in there. He's not in the Hall of Fame, but he's one of the top players.

Bernard Langer is in the Hall of Fame. You just don't get that experience with any of the other sports. Well, we talk about that a lot. I heard you talking with your pro-am partners about it because it is one of the unique parts of the game and we experienced it and it was awesome. And then when the other things come together like the weather, the great golf course, just the kind of the culture that the Ascension folks were able to establish for the whole event, it's just kind of made everybody just have an awesome time.

Yeah, it really did. And what's neat, John, is when you get to play a couple of pro-ams in a row on the same golf course, you get to see how the course is kind of evolving for the week. You know, so we had had a bunch of rain the week before, but the golf course was in perfect shape. Have you ever seen better fairways? Well, I commented to you quite a few times it was almost like astroturf, like fake turf. It was so perfect and I guess just about everywhere.

That just made an awful lot of fun too. But you know, the greens are always really good out there, but I think they were exceptional. Maybe just because there's a little bit less play previous to the tournament, so they're even smoother.

I absolutely love them. I know some of the players were a little sketchy because of some of the slopes, but I had to laugh at that because I don't think it was as fast as it is sometimes just for the membership personally. Oh no, you're 100% right. I mean, Mike Noll is a rock star superintendent.

He's been over at Norwood for 15 plus years, and man, he could get those things down about as fast as he wants. Well, absolutely. That was just so much fun.

You could see the pride. I like when you're always complimenting the greens guys when they're out there working, raking the bunkers, doing their work, and I think that's the way to go because they're the unsung heroes of the events that come off really well. Because at the end of the day, if the course is in good or not in great shape, a lot of guys just aren't going to enjoy it. It's not going to be that much fun, but that's not what we had there.

No, it really isn't. Pearl, we just got to wrap up the on the range segment here with our Tip of the Cap, and the Tip of the Cap segment is brought to you by my friends over at the Volkswagen of Kirkwood, Dean team, Volkswagen of Kirkwood, 314-966-0303. The Tip of the Cap this week goes to the Ascension Group. Now, we have tipped our cap to some of these folks earlier, but this golf tournament was knocked out of the park. It was knocked out of the park with Jack Nicklaus's presence. It was knocked out of the park with three Pro-Am's. It was knocked out of the park with 64 Skyboxes and Cabanas sold.

It was knocked out of the park with, I believe, I've heard over 50,000 spectators for the week. This thing was, I don't know how an inaugural event could have gone better, and so I just want to thank those guys, and I also want to thank Colin and Brandy at the Dean team of Kirkwood for presenting you the Tip of the Cap. If you need a car, you need any sort of vehicle, Colin's your guy.

314-966-0303. Come back for the front nine on more Golf with Jay Delsing. This is Paul Leisinger, and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. I want to thank the Gateway section of the PGA of America for supporting the Golf with Jay Delsing show. There are over 300 men and women PGA professionals in over 100 golf facilities in the greater St. Louis area supporting us. They're experts in the game. They know the business of golf, and at this point in time, this pandemic, the golf courses are jammed.

These folks are working 10, 12-hour days and just doing great stuff and really appreciate them. Every time you pull up to a public course or a private course, the driving range, there's a really good chance that that facility is run by a member of our section. Some of the examples of the programs that are run by these PGA professionals and the Gateway PGA section include PGA Reach, Drive, Chip & Putt, PGA Hope, and the PGA Junior League. To learn more about the Gateway PGA, go to GatewayPGA.org.

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This is Marie Davila. Come be our guest. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson a record-breaking success. The golf was incredible. Your enthusiasm unmatched and the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities. To our sponsors, volunteers and fans, thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

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Visit their website at PowersInsurance.com. Grab your clubs. We're heading to the front nine on Golf with Jay Delsing.

The front nine is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. Hey, welcome back. I'm Jay Delsing, the host of Golf with Jay Delsing. I've got Burley with me. He's holed up at a hotel up in Minneapolis. We've got Brad Barnes here in the ESPN studio.

He's taking good care of us. This is the front nine brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. We just played the inaugural event last week and it was a blast. Man, that was fun. All right, so Pearl, let's just jump right into round one.

Round one. Okay, so folks, here's another thing under the heading of Ascension not missing a beat. I am told on Wednesday night, no, Wednesday afternoon, I'm going to be hitting the first shot off the first tee in the first inaugural event, the Ascension Charity Classic. And first of all, what an honor.

I mean, Pearl, just absolutely crazy. What an honor. I loved it for you.

I loved it. I was wondering how nervous you're going to be. I mean, I think a lot of people might not know how tough it is when you haven't been competing for a while and you really haven't for about six years. You played Calgary a week or two ago, which I think was helpful. But then the next level will feel a little pressure from the local fans, the radio, the TV, etc. They are out there. So it was interesting to see how you're going to feel and how you're going to handle it.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. And man, I got to tell you, so that first tee, there was so much commotion. I've never had so many pictures taken. I've never known so many people on the first tee. And man, announcing your name, my name, and it took the first tee jitters to just a totally different height. But the good part too was you're playing with a couple of old teammates.

So talk about them for a second. Yeah, so after I was told I'm hitting the first shot, then I was told that I'm paired with Corey Pavan and Steve Pate, our UCLA teammates. And people might not know, but we had a couple other teammates, Brandt Job, it was in the field, and Tom Pernice was in the field. And Duffy Waldorf.

Sorry, and Duffy Waldorf. So it was quite a few choices. I was hoping we could have gone out and played a six on them, but they weren't going to let that happen. No, no, but it was funny because, so folks, they announced me on the first tee, and I prepped for this for a night and a half because I knew on Wednesday night this was happening.

But man, was I nervous. I keep my ball on the tee. I do my standard pre-shot routine, but I'm looking down at this ball and I'm thinking, please God, just make contact with this thing. Hit it out there, hit it forward somewhere. Hey Jay, that was the, I prayed very, very hard for two shots in particular in the tournament.

The first one off the first tee and the opponent got the last shot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll get to that later. Oh man, it's brutal.

Just absolutely brutal. Anyway, but that thing went off, I mean, impressively well. I hit a really good tee shot. Yeah, so that was kind of fun. And then getting to play with Steve and Corey again was just a throwback, John, wasn't it? I mean, how many times did you and I just burst out laughing because, especially Peter, his mannerisms haven't changed at all. His habits, his mannerisms, you know, and nor did Corey. Corey's always just kind of been, you know, kind of low-key guy, goes about his thing very, very much just kind of goes with the flow type of stuff. I thought his swing looked very, very similar.

His putting stroke looked exactly the same as grip, everything exactly the same. I mean, everybody's maybe got a few more pounds carrying around or that kind of stuff and a few more gray hairs, but it was remarkable how similar, I guess I have to say, we all are. I don't know if that's good or bad, but you look back, it was 41 years ago, for crying out loud.

And I don't know if it's good or bad, but there wasn't a whole lot of change. The swings were pretty dang similar and so were the attitudes. Yeah, I mean, how many times do we have little personal and private references to something that happened in college and some really fond memories about what everybody was doing?

For sure, absolutely. All right, so the first round gets off and I hit a good drive and hit a crappy second shot and made a long two-putt par and I screwed up the second hole from a good drive and made a bogey out of nowhere with a three-putt and screwed up the third hole from a perfect drive and made a want of making a good par, hit some really lousy kind of short wedges. But man, John, the nerves, usually after the first tee or maybe walking off the second tee box, the nerves go away, but these stayed around a little bit. We were talking about all sorts of things about how to relax, how to focus on what we're doing, how to get into the processes, all sorts of things like that. Well, I think people can relate to that, Jay.

You do it in a tournament, but somebody's out with a corporate outing or out with some friends and they're trying to play well or playing for a couple bucks and they can't calm down. I loved what you said on the first tee. You had your pre-shot routine. We talked about that. We've got to have a good routine through this whole process, but I think also the other things that we've mentioned in the past, you want to walk at a certain pace, kind of more of the pace that echoes how you're going to swing, even echoes how you think, how fast is your brain going, how fast are you talking, all those things.

So talk a little bit more about how you did eventually calm down a little bit, because I think people could benefit from that. Well, so in terms of, let's say, the first 10, even 11 holes, the hitting was suspect. I'd say I was okay, but not very good with my irons at all. Pretty damn good off the tee, actually. And just kind of so-so with my putter. And after 11 holes, we were three over par and made three bogeys. Two of them were three putts.

And just kind of really, really blase golf. And all I kept telling myself was to just keep going and try and be patient, you know, try and really stay patient and not force this thing. And so what happened, Pearl? We got to... Wait a second. Wait a second.

I want you to back up for a second, because one of the first funny things that happened in the tournament, and they start happening a little bit faster and more energy types of things. But on the 10th hole, I don't know if you know this, but when you hit it well short of the green and your sister, Moochie, is walking on the side of the tee and some guy after you hit his shorts says, that's embarrassing. And she lit into the guy, which is not a surprise with Moochie.

And she says, that might be embarrassing to you, but you have no idea or something like that. And she just let the guy have it, which is, if you know her, she's beautiful. And there was no hold back.

So I'm sure that guy was trying to hide behind that little crab apple tree that's right off the tee or something like that. So that's one of the first little stories that we have on number 10. And I did see a friend of yours on number 10 that I don't think you figured out until the second or third day.

We'll come back to that. And then you did have another good friend on there, your buddy, Denny, who was all pumped up to see you and root me on. So, John, one of the things we can interject right now is how much I have never, ever played an event with that kind of support, with that kind of love, with the encouragement, how many people.

It must be what some of the top players feel like every week when they go out because they have so many fans, but I don't. Playing at Norwood, one of the things we talked about that was going to be such a challenge was going to be trying to do it all in front of people that we knew and loved. And my second daughter, Gemma, flew in from Los Angeles. And then my brother and his wife, Jamie, Bart and Jamie flew in from South Florida. Your wife, Sally, came in from Effingham. And we had a girlfriend, Karen, was there with her daughter, Lexi.

And we just had a really nice little mini gallery there. Hey, I want to remember another story, too, because we've already passed it. But you remember the guy that approached you on the 18th hole? And I'm pretty sure it was pro-am day. And he wanted to talk to you about being a bat boy when your dad was left for the Browns. Oh my gosh, you're right.

For the Browns. You remember that? I mean, that absolutely... That's why I just headed down after talking to him. That choked me up. I was tearing up listening to that story.

It was awesome to hear his passion. Tell a little bit about that story. Yeah, so folks, I hit my drive off the 18th tee and I go up with my amateurs and I'm just kind of coaching them and helping them try not to screw them up too much. And a guy comes up to me and says, AJ, I'd like to meet you. And I said, sure.

I took over. I shook his hand. He tells me his name. And he said, I was a bat boy for the St. Louis Browns. And I met your dad when I was a little boy and he was really a good guy. And I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. You were a bat boy for the Browns?

What do you... You know what years we started talking about? He was a bat boy for the visiting side. So he had won a contest and for two years, he was a bat boy for the visiting side. And so what's interesting, he said he knew dad when dad played for the Browns for the home team side. But then when dad got traded to Detroit from St. Louis, the Tigers came in and played the Browns. So he got to see dad again when the Tigers came in. And oh my gosh, it was hard not to tear up. That was such a cool story.

Oh, it was just fantastic. You know what? That's going to wrap up the front nine. Don't go anywhere. John and I will be back with more... How are we going to call this, Pearl? Special Ascension Charity Classic notebook stuff on Golf with Jay Delsing.

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Get the protection and the peace of mind you deserve. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson a record breaking success. The golf was incredible, your enthusiasm unmatched, and the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities. To our sponsors, volunteers and fans, thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

See you next year at the Ascension Charity Classic. I want to tell you about a family owned and operated golf business that has been right here in St. Louis for over 40 years. I am talking about Pro-Am Golf Centers. That's right, Pro-Am Golf Centers. I know you know the name, but I'm not sure you know what they have to offer. Really, they have everything a golfer from a seasoned professional to a beginner could ever want or need. Pro-Am Golf Centers has the lowest price in the area of custom club fitting.

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He is the general manager at St. Clair Country Club. Hey, Tom. How are you doing this morning? I'm doing great, Jay. Thanks for asking. Well, thanks so much for jumping on. Tom, there's been a really cool memorial scholarship program that you guys have been doing for the better part of three years. Tell us a little bit about this program.

Well, I'd be happy to. You know, Clarence Voigt was a golf professional here for years back in the 70s and 80s. His family is strongly connected to the country club here.

His wife, Earlene, and his daughter, Cece, I've known for 11 years that I've been here at St. Clair. And a few years back, our president of the Gateway section mentioned, you know, maybe some professionals could step up and help support a scholarship that was up and running. You know, they were looking for additional funds. And I thought, what better way for, you know, a pre-PJ professional to step in but from Clarence's home club here at St. Clair Country Club.

So we jumped in three years ago. We now host a little two-man scramble in the middle of the summer. Just a fun, real low-key event and just try to send some dollars the way of the Voigt family and try to help some kids out in the St. Louis area.

Well, Tom, that is so impressive. And I know this is one of the reasons we like this spotlight is to try to shine a light on some of these things that you guys are doing. You're not asking for a bunch of attention, but these are the little things that can really make a difference for families and for individuals that are struggling.

No question. You know, and Cece Strands, Clarence's daughter, will tell you that they select, you know, I think usually a handful of kids each year to benefit from these scholarships. And again, these are golfers. They're kids that are interested in the game, but it's not just based on their ability to play the game.

It's their character. There are other factors that are involved, and Cece did report to me that four young ladies this year was the first time all four of the candidates were female to benefit from the program this year. Oh my gosh, that is so incredible. And you know, golf is such an equal opportunity provider. It doesn't matter the color of your skin.

It doesn't matter, you know, whether you're male or female. There's so many people that are needed. Golf can fill that void.

No question. And we're big, you know, big supporters of families. We're a family club. We're big supporters of junior golf. We host, you know, Gateway Section, Patrick Fiore Memorial Tournament every spring here at the club and have a strong junior program. I would easily say that our junior program, which is typically 60 to 70 kids, half of those kids are girls. It's not a boy's game. It's a game for everyone.

Yeah, that is really special. Well, there's other fundraising things that have been around for a long time, like the Evans Scholar and things like that that are doing well. But this Clarence Voigt Memorial Scholarship Program, it's not, you're not going to stop at any time soon. It doesn't seem like.

No question about it. We're trying to build it up. We want the community here in the St. Louis area and Southern Illinois to know that they're welcome to join us. Yes, we are a private club, but this event is open to all golfers in the St. Louis community that would like to come over.

They simply would just have to contact myself or our head professional, Logan Murphy, and we would get them entered into the event next year. Again, our goal is to get 100 plus players on the golf course. We haven't quite gotten to that level, but we've got a great group here that's played three years in a row. And hopefully we'll continue to build on that. And again, every single entry that comes in a portion of that entry goes straight to the scholarship fund in addition to having an opportunity to play golf here at St. Croix Country Club. We like to think with the history of the club and Bob Goldie and Jay Haas and all of the district champions and so forth and so on that it's really an experience that if you haven't had that you really should take this opportunity and come out and play with us one day. This is Tom Cipula.

He is the general manager at St. Croix Country Club just on the east side and we are talking about the Clarence Ford Memorial Scholarship Program. Tom, congratulations. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep growing the game and thanks so much. Jay, thanks for all you do.

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We're halfway there. It's time for the Back Nine on Golf with Jay Delsey. The Back Nine is brought to you by Fogelbach Agency with Farmers Insurance. Hey welcome back.

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All right Pearly we're jumping right back in. We're at the Pro-Am. I just met a guy who grew up as a bat boy for the visiting for the visiting side at Old Sportsman's Park. That was a lot of fun and I'll tell you something about that and you handled him so well but it also made his day Jay.

He so wanted to tell you it was just kind of funny because when I caddy sometimes they'll try to get my attention too. You know they'll say hey well Jay signed my daughters or my son's flag or or the hatch or whatever and I could just see this old gentleman uh just trying to kind of you know wave me down because he couldn't quite get to you and I'm so glad that I caught that because I've done that through the years and almost every time it's somebody that knew your dad or wanted to say hi or show you an old, old card. So that brings me up to another one is how many times did you sign? Do you figure golf balls or flags or some something for the little kids? Uh, uh, I don't know. First round Pro-Am, that kind of stuff. How many times do you figure you did that?

Oh hell I don't know John. I'd say probably what do you think 15 to 25 a day? So at least I would say yeah.

So if you multiply that times four or five days I don't know a hundred and a half something like that? Yeah it was cool. So it was fun. So anyway you were kind of talking and we were sitting there somewhere around the first first day uh uh through the 10th hole and I remember when you were you were three weren't you three over going into 10? Yeah three over going into 10 yeah. And then you left you've left it short and I'm thinking this is such a crucial up and down here because then we're coming into real part tough parts of the of the golf course and you part 10 and uh I thought I thought that was absolutely awesome. I think uh Moochie's energy uh brought us to the next level after that. Yeah I would not have wanted to be that dude that guy that said anything to it because I think I think she probably said something well what is it embarrassing as a sister of his or something like that and you know got herself a little puffy and in the guy's face I love it. Well that's the same sister that uh when she finds out somebody that's done something wrong to the family she finds that person's name puts it in a bottle with water and puts it in the freezer so I try to stay on Moochie's uh better side. Yeah oh yeah yeah yeah that's a that's a must we got to do that for sure um Pearl so we've you know what we got to talk about this is super cool so we we did a special on an earlier show I think it was in year two on my friend gosh I love this kid this family they are so good they are so gosh then they're just great people the Williams family from Jackson Missouri which is just outside of Cape Girardeau Jimmy senior and his wife Shana and their young son Jimmy Williams okay Jimmy's going almost 13 years old this is a young man that a year and a half ago or so had a heart transplant because his heart he was down playing in a golf tournament down in Orlando and it was super hot he was kind of throwing up and sick and everybody thought he just was nerves or had the flu he had 14 percent of his heart working at the time and one of the coolest experiences of my life John was I went to my buddy Bernie Federko who's such a he's a Hall of Fame hockey player but he's a better human being and he he gave me the use of his Stanley Cup ring so I was meeting Jimmy and Jim and Jimmy Williams junior and senior for lunch because I because I wanted to show Jim Jimmy junior this ring and we are showing him this ring at P.F. Chang's we're having a little lunch and the phone rings and Jimmy and dad gets the phone Jimmy and I are still marveling at the ring looking at the diamonds all the blue note all that stuff on there it's just super cool and it's the call it's the call they've been waiting for they have the perfect match and I sat there and I mean I just got the chills it was such an unbelievable experience I turn around on day one after about four holes and who's standing behind the tee junior and senior Williams the Williams boys just drove up from Jackson this young man's grown at least a foot since I saw him he couldn't be doing better he had the transplant done at uh Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital just spectacular well he was having so much fun you know I just met him for the first time uh so much fun watching you and he was so intent he caught my eye at least uh I don't know a dozen times I think they may have even been there for two rounds or a round and a half or something but just kind of catching catching my eye watching him how intently he was watching you and the other pros you know you can really see he's into the game he was kind of identifying the the the the finer points I guess of it but he was just kind of completely caught by it which I thought was really cool and so I got to talk to him a little bit about it about being there and at one point you were struggling and I said hey man you know how that how that world works and sometimes that's just the way the game goes but I said one thing you won't see Jay do and that's give up give up no matter what he'll absolutely be paying attention to each and every shot so and he agreed to that he'd notice that about you and and really most the players because that's what a professional does yeah there were times later on as we get through this description of giving up was definitely uh came to mind anyway all right so pearl the entire complexity and the entire momentum of round one changes with the swing and the putt on number 12 221 yard par three I hit a four iron right with the best shot I hit of the day by a long shot and I hit it down there how close pearl six feet six six eight feet uh it was it was a great shot but here's the irony where you you're we're three over going into the hardest holes in the golf course and I'm thinking yikes and then here you are birdie and arguably maybe not the hardest but certainly the top three hardest of the holes for the day yeah and then turn around go right to the next hole and hit an unbelievable shot out of the light rough on the left side of the fairway from about what pearl is about 210 yards and I hit it about three no four feet I don't know how far it was wasn't very far that was awesome and we needed that one too but for the first time in the round I don't know how the nerves were but I'm guessing they would calm down and first time that we felt any momentum which was at least any momentum I felt and it was a great feeling yeah and so we're playing with pater and paving and everybody's everybody's round is just a little off I'd say Cory started out the steadiest but then he had a couple of three putts pater was a little all over the place and then he chips one in on number nine from out of nowhere you know and and then paving makes a birdie here on I think on number I think on number 11 and so everybody was just kind of struggling to find their pace well and that's the kind of day it is and sometimes at the beginning of the rounds or the beginning of the tournaments you know you're just trying to find a way to kind of get something started you know especially if you don't get off to that that fast start but you've got definitely got your feet under you at that point and then we're going into another hard hole after that and I hit a perfect drive and just a stinky really crappy second shot that wound up getting up against the the sky boxes to the right of 14 didn't have a an easy up and down but I drew a really kind of a weird lie and so I didn't hit a very good pitch and wound up making a bogey there but went right back to the the next hole was a par five that I played extremely well and almost made birdie and then 16 I made I I hit a great driver but I hooped a bomb from about I don't know how far was that pearl 40 feet it was it had to be 35 40 feet yeah absolutely that putt was going down like a seeing eye putt it was rolling down there was breaking left it was breaking right it gets about a hole high from my vantage point it looked like it just took a left turn and fell in the side door well it went in that's what we cared about for sure and I could tell you started getting pumped yeah I know it was really really fun gosh you know john one of the other things we got to say we'll talk about this later too but man didn't norwood feel like a major championship I mean just the the energy just the the level of the quality of the golf course and the quality of the on the back nine the sky boxes and things like that it's just it just had us just a superlative feeling it had a wonderful feel that that there's as you said with the ascension people and everybody that got together they uh they really made it special that's for sure that's going to wrap up the back nine so uh perley and I are going to wrap up this show with the uh 19th hole the more golf with j delson come back soon marcona playing sports company needs to recognize their entire local branch sales team as the best in the industry in fact any industry all industries located in nearly 50 cities and towns across the united states marcona plans parts branches set the standard for customer service and inventory our sales team have the expertise and knowledge to make your major appliance repair a snap we stock thousands of parts locally or ship from our nationwide network of distribution centers to keep major appliances working properly using only genuine manufacturers parts it is our privilege to be the professionals behind the professionals 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would love to help you with your game and love to show you around um the uh facility he and his staff uh run golf league skins games members tournaments couples events there's live music there's um uh great dining opportunities out there outside inside anything you and your family need golf wise fun wise visit whitmoregolf.com or call them at six three six nine two six nine six two two one thing i've learned over the years is that many people don't realize that standard insurance policies aren't robust enough to handle their accomplished lifestyles ensuring your personal success adequately that's serious business at powers insurance they don't believe in treating clients like policy holders they treat them like friends and family tim davis at powers insurance can offer more than a policy he has the knowledge and experience to properly protect your busy lifestyle call tim davis at powers insurance today three one four three three three four nine one three or find them online visit their website at powers insurance.com thank you st louis for making the first annual ascension charity classic presented by emerson a record-breaking success the golf was incredible your enthusiasm unmatched and the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on north st louis county charities to our sponsors volunteers and fans thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to st louis with record attendance see you next year at the ascension charity classic hey j delson here for ssm health physical therapy do you want to have a more consistent golf swing hell i know i sure do ssm health physical therapy's golf program has titleist performance institute certified physical therapist trained to assess your movement patterns your mobility and your stability to help make your golf swing more efficient and repeatable they can help your golf game there's 80 locations in the st louis area 800-518-1626 or visit them on the web at ssm physical therapy dot com tell them j sent you for special pricing your therapy our passion let your local farmers insurance agent ed fogelebach put his experience to work for you ed fogelebach proudly serves st louis area families and businesses and is ready to review your existing policies or provide a no obligation quote today call the fogelebach agency at 314-398-0101 to get smarter about your insurance again that's the fogelebach agency at 314-398-0101 we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two we are farmers and with my buddy joe sheezer from usa mortgage hi j how are you doing great joe thanks so much for the support of the show i really appreciate the opportunity uh congratulations this is uh your third year and we're really proud to be a sponsor all three years since the very beginning it's a great show and we look forward to it every sunday morning well thanks a bunch tell us just a little bit about usa mortgage and what you can do for people well usa mortgage is a esop it's an employee-owned company so over a thousand families here in st louis worked for the company so if you want an opportunity to patronize a local company please call usa mortgage 314-628-2015 and i'll be more than happy to sit down with you go over your options discuss all the different programs that are available and give you an opportunity to support a local company that's awesome joe thanks so much appreciate it j thank you grab your friends a cold one and pull up a chair we're on to the 19th hole on golf with j delsing the 19th hole is brought to you by pro am golf hey welcome back this is golf with j delsing i'm your host j pro is with me and we are headed to the 19th hole brought to you by pro am golf centers man the grands have been friends of mind supporters of the game great people um everything you need from a beginner to an advanced player go to pro am golf usa 314-647-8054 all right pearl we've got we've totally forgot to talk about on our second hole on the pro am thursday i hit a drive that stayed in the air and went about 80 yards or so didn't it that's about all it went and you thought you cold cocked it yeah and i was like man and you said this is that that didn't sound good so we went to and i thought it was something i did wrong we um went to the next tee and the ball flew funny and realized i had two cracks in my old tailor-made m2 driver you know you say your old driver it was funny because there's uh there's a lady that checks all the equipment for each of the players before you tee off each tournament literally what golf bag what glove you're playing the golf ball you're playing each of the clubs you're playing and that kind of stuff and uh she marveled at your set by the way uh j uh she said this is clearly the most antique set in the whole group she was chuckling at your putter she figured that was about 25 30 years old at least and this day and age with everybody going with uh the new equipment high tech whatever she was just uh getting a kick out of you she knows you uh but she was getting a kick out of uh what clubs you had and i have to tell you at least a half a dozen times during the tournament different guys would come up and kind of look at the clubs and look at me like what's he what's he doing with that i you know i just got a smile that i didn't really really know what to say i'm just just thinking you're hitting it great i guess why would you why would you change the equipment but uh did any of that uh needling um give you a sense that you uh you might change coming up before too long no i probably should have i did i picked up meet i picked up 10 or 12 years of um technology and one hole so we call so what happens is and this is the cool thing about the tech walking off the 13th t i'm like i call one of the guys i know and say my driver just cracked he goes what do you need i go i'll take anything that tailor-made has i need a nine degree something and what was it pearl a hole and a half later i had a brand new driver yeah that fast and and picked up 10 years of tech on it too i was one of those guys perley was talking about after your first round i was walking up you guys were finished i said i had no idea you were playing with clubs that old yeah it's amazing i figured i had an old caddy i should have oh man i i don't know i i should i should get some new irons um but anyway anyway we don't have we don't we don't need to go there but the driver i'd say all and all pro between the driver and my putter uh this best club in my back for the week hey listen there's a lot of times we rely on the driver the putter the last two rounds as we're going to talk about uh uh next show uh but that's the only uh peace and quiet we had because everything else was a little scary in between yeah that's right well and uh so just to wrap up what happened with round one i just birdie made about a 40-foot putt on 16 to hit a uh uh a long drive at 17 got over the right-hand bunkers but kind of hung up in the right rough and hit a uh i don't know it was a hard shot with the ball way above my feet the pins in the back right and it kind of jumped out to the right but took a really nice kick down to the left and i made about a 20-foot putt there for birdie pearl that was funny because i think that was the loudest cheer for you for the uh for the week uh both the uh the approach shot and the and the putter that uh that got us a little jacked up and uh and back to even par at that point too which was kind of a quite the milestone after being three over after 10 holes isn't it something how much better even par sounds in one over john when you're playing it's unbelievable it's it's you know somebody asked me a couple times about the uh the golf bag uh how heavy it is and i said you know when jay's uh even par the the bag weighs about 30 or 40 pounds uh when he's over par it weighs about 150 pounds and when he's under par it i don't really know that i've got it on my back so uh that's that's pretty much the way it feels uh carrying well unfortunately and we can let the cat out of the bag but unfortunately i never got their red figures this week and that's why i got pretty tired the last couple days but anyway that's that's another story for another day it is another story for another day but meet at one point in time i said to burley in round two i said is that bag getting a little heavy because we had some problems is that bag getting a little heavy he goes nope and i said are you lying to me and he goes yep it's a good caddy though yeah no absolutely john did a great job so round two and round one ends and um even par pearl was what 35th place something like that somewhere towards the middle of the pack it was it was a little better than that it was a little better than that actually i'm pretty sure it was 28th place so you were very much i think four or five hundred was leading you were you were very much within you know reach if you will and when we were coming off the back nine with which is certainly uh more difficult coming off the back nine uh having shot three under you know there's kind of like uh hey man there's a little uh there's a little uh hope here uh for the future well and and you know what pearl i was only five strokes off of the lead i mean that's a front nine if i get hot i mean it's that is absolutely the way i see it and saw it and thought about it and so going to bed we had a great evening with my family and we just hung out we had dinner and and uh it was just terrific and going to bed all i was prepping for was a really fast start tomorrow the weather looked perfect and uh to just get out there and get under par early and see you know what we can make happen and uh and you and i had agreed no matter what happened you know you kind of had a game plan we're going to keep with the same pace you're going to keep with the same free shot routine and we're just going to let nothing bother us yeah absolutely well you know what after right now nothing is bothering us pearl because this show is over all right all right perfect well um me thanks so much for taking care of us here in the espn studios pearly uh stay tuned because next week we're jumping on what happened in round two and round three and folks if you're morning drinkers get ready next week on golf with jay delsi in a straight st louis