Golf With Jay Delsing - Gary Woodland

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 Vehicle Assurance. Good morning, St. Louis. This is golf with Jay Delsing.

I'm your host, Jay. And we've got Pearly and beautiful, sunny Arizona. Pearly, what's going on down there? Well, it hailed three days ago. It snowed yesterday and it's freezing cold, rainy sleep today.

So it's still beautiful, but it's not sunny and it's not warm. So I'm looking forward to doing the show because I just kind of cooped up here. So Meat was getting ready to put a little care package together for you because he was a little concerned. He had some sunscreen for you and some aloe vera, extra water. You guys are concerned about me. Some of those exotic cocktails, you know, how to mix. Yeah, right on.

Well, we formatted the show like a round of golf. The first segment is called the On The Range segment and it's brought to you by Vehicle Assurance. If you need any sort of car, if you need any sort of coverage for your car, Vehicle Assurance is for you.

Any sort of car, they have any sort of coverage. You can reach us on our social media outlets. Twitter is at Jay Delsing. Facebook is Golf with Jay Delsing and Jay Delsing Golf Hospitality.

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If you need anything, if your home needs a little bit of refreshing, Bob and Kathy's painting and refinishing business is for you. 314-805-2132. All right, Pearly, we got such a fun interview today with 2019 U.S. Open Champion Gary Woodland. It was really fun to sit down and talk to Gary. He's such a solid guy. I think it's a wonderful interview and just a solid Midwest multi-sports athlete. A lot of good stuff.

Yeah, soft-spoken. Man, we've got a great Tip of the Cap segment that gets tied in with Gary. But, John, one of the things we wanted to talk to folks a little bit about is, well, let's start off with, we've kind of had a theme the last couple weeks of what these guys can do for their game with this lousy weather. Even the guys in Arizona with what you're experiencing, Pearl, is not like, hey, let's go spend 10 hours outside hitting golf balls and working on our game a little bit. So Andrew, who we had on Whack and Chase a couple weeks back, said that he bought a hitting mat and put it in the garage. And that's a cool little inexpensive way to get some swings in. But, John, I wanted to give these guys a little putting lesson that they can do right in their home.

And do you remember when you were caddying for me and we were playing, how many PGA Tour players walked out of the locker room carrying their putters? Absolutely. Something to do in the room in the evening for sure. Find some tiles. Find some square pattern in your carpet or something.

But, yeah, that's one of the things, right, Jay? In between rounds. I don't know if you got as anxious as I did between rounds.

But it's nice to have a club and you can stand up while you're watching a show or after you've worked out and that kind of stuff. And just kind of square up your putter blade, get a little strokes in that you know are within the realm of what you're looking to do the next day. Yeah, I don't think I got quite as nervous as you did, Pearl. I got anxious. I got anxious. I got nervous. Yeah, okay. Let's define that.

Anyway, so here's what I want them to do. Folks, I want you to take your putter. And I know your wife, if you guys have been married for more than, well, let's say what, a year, Pearl? Your wife probably knows you're crazy already.

So this isn't going to freak her out too much. But take your putter and go into the bathroom where 99% of all bathrooms have tile in there. And find those right angles, right? And get the center of that putter face lined up with one of the lines in that tile. And John, this is one of the things that I see that people screw up in their strokes more than any part is their backswing. I usually see way too much face rotation and way too much curve or arc in their stroke.

And so there's two different things, guys. And I'm an expert at this because I had way too much face rotation in my stroke and too much arc. And try to play on tour with it. It's really difficult to have your stroke be repeatable.

But get on that tile. And on your backstroke, we want the center of that blade staying as close to the center of that line on your backstroke as you can. You can let it go ever so slightly inside so you can have a little bit of path movement on the inside. But that face, you want to keep that face as square as you possibly can, similar to the way you had it set up. Burley, how much time did we spend on this over the years?

Well, a ton. And I like what you said about the blade just coming slightly inside the target line as square to the path. It's a tough concept to get.

It really is. And that's why I think if you do this drill, you can start understanding it. Jay, you're not suggesting straight back, straight through, are you?

No. It's going to be slightly, just like you said, slightly in on the backswing. But I don't want the face of the putter opening and closing too much. That's where the timing of their stroke gets so intensive and makes it so hard to be repeatable and hit good putts. Yeah, it's the same backhand too, right? So you come just slightly inside your target line back, slightly coming through.

Very little rotation relative to your target line, which is actually square to your path. Again, it's kind of a tough concept, but this drill on the tiles will absolutely give you some of that feel. I just thought of something kind of funny, Jay, which you said about opening your face and closing your face. I can just see a comedy routine with this in the bathroom, looking into the mirror while you're doing this. And some guy's opening his mouth, closing his mouth, and trying to wonder what Jay Delcey is talking about. At the same time, his wife is calling anybody she can to go, what's happened now?

We've taken another crazy turn in my marriage. Wait a second, you're making an assumption that it's the guy doing this. There's plenty of ladies that need to do this drill as well, don't you think? Oh yeah, oh no, I'm sorry. I'm an equal opportunity guy.

I wasn't trying to assume that at all. Girls, grab that putter and keep it handy in your hand. And if your husband starts giving you some flack, you can threaten him with it a little bit too. He'll back off there nicely. Now we're back on track. Now we've got the show right where we want it. So John, I think it's really safe to say that the majority of the folks out here will feel like the face of their putter is closed compared to where it has been. Wouldn't you say?

Oh yeah, absolutely. So folks, I want that backswing. I don't want the toe swinging wildly on here.

I want it staying pretty true to that line that's on the tile. And then as you go through, as John said, you want to hit the ball, hit the putt from the inside a little bit, and then mirror what you did on the front end after impact. And your putter blade is going to travel a little bit left of that center line we've been on, and the toe on this side of the putt is going to come over the heel ever so slightly. You know, you hear when you watch the tour and when Tiger plays, almost every time when they're putting, they'll talk about how he wants to release that toe a little bit and kind of get that sense because you don't want to hang on, you don't want to cut.

And I think Tiger even exaggerates. Doesn't he a little bit, Jay, just when he kind of lines things up, it's almost a little bit of a release and a little bit of a draw, if you will, feel for it type of a thing. And I think that's way more complex, but it just gets the point across that we're not looking to hang on to that blade and, in essence, holding it open to the path and cutting it.

So, yes, mirror the backstroke and the follow-through. Yeah, absolutely, and I know this sounds complex and it's not easy to give a lesson over the radio, but this is really what we're trying to do here, and it's really, really pretty damn simple. Well, Jon, I want to start with our tip of the cap segment tonight because we've got some great tip of the cap segments this year, but this is one of our favorites. I know it's one of your favorites. And this goes out, so we've got an interview with Gary Woodland, who's just a terrific guy. And if you've not seen this, pull up Gary Woodland and a young lady named Amy Bacherstedt. This young lady is a rock star. She has Down syndrome. She played the 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2019 with Gary in the program, and it's just unbelievable what happened.

She made the most incredible par, spoiler alert. There's over 63 million people have viewed this thing, and after Gary won the U.S. Open in 2019, he FaceTimed Amy at Pebble Beach, and it was just such a really cool, cool thing. The tip of the cap, I should have mentioned this earlier, but the tip of the cap is brought to you by the Dean Teem Volkswagen of Kirkwood. If you need any sort of car, call Colin. He is a fantastic dude.

314-966-0303. That's the tip of the cap segment this week. Don't go anywhere, because we're going to come back on the front nine, and we've got Topeka, Kansas' own Gary Woodland 2019 U.S. Open champ. This is golf with Jay Delsing. This is Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, and you're talking to Jay Delsing? And wait, sorry, what's the name of the show? Golf with Jay Delsing.

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Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay. I got Burley with me.

Brad Barnes is taking great care of us here at the ESPN Studios. And we're headed to the front nine that's brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. I was on a conference call earlier with the guys from Ascension, and all the cabanas are being sold out. We're getting plenty of interest. This is going to be a great show.

Ascension is just, oh man, what a great community-based, gosh, entity to have driving this show. And I just can't wait for September. And I know you're pumped up about it. And I think the way everything else is going in the crazy world right now, it's going to be time for that. And hopefully enough things have happened where they can open the gates and let the people flood in. That's going to be a blast. Yeah, we can't wait. Well, let's go right to this interview we had with 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland.

Got it! A major champion, Gary Woodland, has won the U.S. Open. Gary Woodland is brought to you by Golden Tee. Yeah, I know that you're in Florida and we're back here in the Midwest. We just talked a little bit off air. I know you're from Topeka and your folks are still up here, aren't they?

They are. My whole family is there. And I get back, I spent four or five months there in Lawrence, Kansas. My whole family is in Topeka. I've got a bunch of friends in Kansas City. You know, home is always going to be Kansas for me. My residence is down in South Florida, but I can't get Kansas out of me. I love being back.

The people, you know, obviously the weather is a little tough during the winter. But when it warms up, I get back home and love being back with my family and friends back in Kansas. You know, Gary, it's not bad playing the tour from the Midwest, is it? When I was, you know, younger, we moved back here and it beats the hell out of the coast when it comes to traveling.

It does, especially, you know, especially once we get to May. You know, it's easy to travel. I mean, really from Kansas, I'm two and a half hours to get to anywhere.

So it's a shorter flight. I can always get home Sunday night, which is nice. I'm spending more time with my family. And, you know, for me, it's just a comfort zone. I just like being home. You know, I always say that's my people. I just love being back, which puts me in a better mood. So, you know, there's no place like home, no place like the Midwest. It's great people. I always get my barbecue kick when I'm back, you know, get my red meat in me. I don't eat fish. So I grew up there in Kansas.

I'm a true steak and potato boy. So I love being back for multiple reasons. It's funny, bud, because I've had so many people say St. Louis. You know, obviously, we're not living here because of the weather. It's got to be the people. And I think the weather just made us more hearty than most.

I understand. You know, St. Louis is a great town. Obviously, Bell Reed there. I'll tell you what, I played, I've been on tour now since 2009. That was the best crowd I've seen on the PGA Tour. The fans that week, obviously, the Midwest. Chicago gets some tournaments every once in a while.

But the Midwest needs a tournament. And, you know, they turned out there in St. Louis. It was awesome to see. I played well. I was in contention, which was great.

But I've never seen anything like that. I played with Tiger Woods there on Sunday. The roars, the energy in that place was really like nothing I'd seen on the PGA Tour. So hopefully, you know, we can get something Midwest, kind of get a staple there because the people there deserve it. And I would obviously love being close to home as well.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's go back just a little bit, Gary. You're one of the few guys, obviously great athletes. And we are getting such better athletes playing the tour now than when I played. But you went to Washburn University in Topeka on a basketball scholarship for your freshman year.

I did. You know, when I was growing up, my mom would drop me off at the golf course during the summer on the way to work. And she'd pick me up on the way home. And then I'd go play team sports at night. So I actually grew up on the golf course, you know, pretty much raised by the head pros and the members there at the course I grew up on.

But it was something that, you know, all my friends didn't do it. My friends were playing other sports. And so I love to play baseball.

I love to play basketball. And I wasn't heavily recruited to play golf. I was kind of an unknown because I didn't really travel the country or playing any big events. I was always playing other sports.

I only played local stuff. So the only school that recruited me was Kansas at the Division I level. And I'm like, this guy must be crazy to recruit me. Everybody's recruited me to play basketball. Only this guy's doing it. He was close to home.

I'm like, he must not know what he's talking about. So I made the choice to play basketball. But I signed as a junior in high school.

So I signed early. I kind of matured a little bit after that. And I ended up playing some pretty good golf my senior year in high school.

And I'm like, shoot, maybe I did have a future in this game. And one of those deals where I played one year of basketball, I loved every second of it. It definitely helped me become who I am today. But I knew my future wasn't in that pretty quickly and made the choice to transfer. Kansas still had a scholarship open for me and I was able to go there and play four great years. That really allowed me to mature and grow up, especially in my golf game. It was the first time in my life I focused on one sport. I was a sophomore in college and was able to kind of transform and allowed me to grow and become really who I am today. Yeah, it's amazing the college programs and how developed and how far they've come. Even here in the Midwest with the crappy weather. You know, you listen to Tom Watson.

I know he went to Stanford. But you listen to him talk about growing up and going out when it was so blistering cold and, you know, how tough that makes you. Life's not always easy.

Life is. And golf's definitely not always easy. So to learn how to play in different conditions, I think it's a benefit to me. You know, I've done it my whole life, whether it was basketball or whatever, shoveling the driveway, you know, the ice off so I could go out and get some shots up or go hitting balls when it's blistering cold and win because you don't know when you're going to be able to do it again. I think it makes you tougher if you find ways to grind it out.

You know, it's not always sometimes about trying to shoot 60 out there trying to shoot. If you can shoot even par when it's that cold and miserable out, I think that benefits you just as much as trying to shoot 10 under par. So you learn a lot. I think it makes you tougher mentally growing up there. And even now with the colleges, you know, all these colleges have practice facilities that can compete with anybody.

So you're not missing too much, you know, as far as the sun when it comes to these great indoor, outdoor facilities and everything these programs have now. Yeah, it's so true. And it's really nice to see the playing fields in the NCAA kind of leveled because when I was a kid, Gary, if you didn't go to Wake Forest or Houston or something like that, you know, you just kind of weren't on the radar. Now you're seeing kids from Oregon and just all over the place play great golf, play on tour and win tournaments. There's no doubt.

And it's great to see. And, you know, I think a big deal is these programs are set up and people are realizing, you know, if you can help these kids produce and help these kids get better and continue to improve, it doesn't matter where you go to school. Golf's an individual sport at the end of it and you have to go out and shoot a score and you don't have to go to, you know, a top school to learn how to play good golf. And, you know, like I said, Tiger Woods has changed, I think, of people that are interested in the game. I think you've got a lot more athletic people, like you said, playing. So guys are coming out more advanced, more athletic, hitting the ball farther and they're ready to play.

And I, I, I credit the corn fairy tour to a little bit of that as well. These guys, when they get on the PGA tour, they don't really take a couple of years to get their feet wet anymore. Like I did. I came straight out of school. I got through Q school. So I, I had just started playing golf four years priorly, you know, as my focal sport and I get to Q school, I was not ready to be on the PGA tour. I admit that fully.

I took me some time to get my feet wet. These guys now are coming out ready to win, calling Morikawa, coming out winning major championships. I mean, it's impressive what these kids are doing. And I credit that to the people that are teaching them, the people they're surrounding themselves with.

They're coming out ready to go. It's so true, Gary. I mean, these kids aren't afraid. They're absolutely fearless and they know what they can do. And, well, Morikawa, Matthew Wolf, Victor Hovland, I mean, these guys have just, you know, hit the ground running, man.

There's no doubt. It pushes, it pushes the rest of us. You know, I mean, like I said, I've been out since 2009. I'm 36 years old. You know, I know I can't, I can't be taking time off and doing too many things because there's somebody out there trying to buy in for your spot.

And I often have my own goals and things I want to accomplish. So it's a great balance. I think the game of golf is in a great spot. Obviously, the game as a whole, you know, with the pandemic and everything we're in, the rounds of golf are up, which I think is great. You know, hopefully we can maintain that momentum that the game has to continue to grow and continue to improve because it only makes us all better. It pushes the younger kids to continue to grow, to try to out there and be the best they can be.

And it keeps the older guys, you know, the Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, these guys that are getting towards the end of their career to continue to improve and continue to play and get out here and want to beat these young kids and show them what they've done, you know, over the last 25 years. So I think the game's in a great spot. And I'm glad to be in the middle of it.

And hopefully I can continue to improve and continue to push that needle a little bit myself. Oh, man, you certainly are. I mean, first of all, major champion, we're going to talk about that a little bit. You're currently ranked 36th in the world. I mean, the stuff that you've done is so impressive. Gary, you know, everybody's journey is different in life and golf, their career, et cetera.

You kicked it around a couple of years. You got your card, like you said, in 08, and you had to go back in 2010. You had some sort of affinity for finishing tight for 11th in the qualifying school tournament, which is one hell of an accomplishment, Gary. I've been through that qualifying school way too many times, and I've got a hell of a lot of gray hair and wrinkles to show for it. But 2011, bud, you came out your second event, you lost in a playoff, 27 under. Folks want to know how hard the PGA Tour is?

Twenty-seven under doesn't cash you a winning ticket. You lost in a playoff to Johnny Vegas, but then won just quickly after that in Tampa. You know, I think a big deal for me was I got my rookie card, my tour card. I got through Q school in 08, and 09, like I said, I was not ready to be there.

I played 18 events. I got hurt. I ended up getting a medical, but I was out for a year. I had shoulder surgery. I was out for a year. But that year allowed me to sit down with my coach.

I was working with Randy Smith at the time in Dallas, Texas. It allowed us to sit down and say, okay, this is what I need to do. This is what I need to improve on to be successful. I had a year to do that, and not everybody gets that opportunity.

You know, confidence is obviously a major thing. I had a horrible start to my PGA Tour career and those 18 events I played. But I had a year off to work on my short game to improve on some things, to get a shot, which, you know, now it's a stinger, a shot that I could get in the fairway at the time when I needed to. It really allowed me to improve. And then all of a sudden, you know, I come out at the end of 2010.

I played some tournaments on the web.com at that time. Kind of got some confidence, kind of got rolling, went back to Q schools, played well there, finished 11th, got my tour card. All of a sudden now, you know, I'm coming out on the PGA Tour with confidence, where in 2009 I was probably a little wide-eyed and starstruck. I came out with a boatload of confidence in 2011 and right away, lost in the playoffs there in Palm Springs, took that confidence, went over and finished 5th in Phoenix, came down and finished 6th at the Honda, and then I won my next start in Tampa.

So I got off to such a hard start. But I credit that a lot. If I wouldn't have got hurt my rookie year on the PGA Tour and had that year to sit back and say, okay, this is what I need to do to improve.

This is what I need to do to compete. I don't know if I would have been able to do that. So I think it was a blessing in the disguise. I was able to sit down with Randy Smith and really attack a bunch of weaknesses in my game. And I was able to go out and really compete and show my best and show what I could do there in 2011. It's funny, isn't it, bud?

We just never know what's going to be that thing that gets, kind of helps pull our head out of our butts a little bit or turns a light bulb on for us. And that helped you. Hey, bud, tell us what it was like when you got that invitation to your first Masters. You know, it was funny because I won Tampa. And that was three weeks before the Masters. So obviously I was not planning on being there.

Personally, my agent at the time, I was with Hamburg Sports. I ended up staying with him in the house because it was so late. I'm trying to find somewhere to stay. I ended up sneaking up there with my caddy two weeks before. So I'd never been to a PJ. I'd never been to a Masters, excuse me. Never been on site. Never been around Augusta National and was able to go and walk the grounds, play a couple times with my caddy, which was great to kind of get my feet wet.

But I was in awe. You know, I didn't realize the undulation that place had, you know, the undulation in the greens, the elevation changes walking up and down the fairways. It's just heaven, to be honest with you. You know, everybody says how good it is.

You really can't do it justice until you're there. I had a great rookie year. I think I finished 23rd-ish, 25th.

I'm around there. It was a great experience. And, one, I'll remember, you know, my family being able to come there, having the part three tournament. Just all the things that come with, you know, being able to play in the Masters, it was so special and something I'll never forget and something I look forward to. The one tournament each year you get chills about when you step on property and you look forward to going to, you start preparing a month before the tournament, months before the tournament, getting ready to start hitting some different shots, getting the ball up in the air.

There's really nothing like it. So that first win in Tampa obviously did a lot for me, but allowing me to play in my first Masters was definitely top of that list. All right, and that's going to wrap up the front nine, but don't go anywhere. John and I will have the remainder of the Gary Woodland interview on the back nine. This is golf with Jay Delsing. Don't miss the hottest rookie class in PGA Tour Champions history. Stars like Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and more compete at Norwood Hills Country Club September 6th through the 12th. Join legends Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Hale Irwin to celebrate the PGA Tour Champions newest event. Professional golf returning to St. Louis in 2021. The Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson. Tickets, Clubhouse Passes, Hospitality Suites, Pro-Am 4 Sims on sale now.

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You can also check them out on the web at wilsonpoolsplus.com. We're halfway there. It's time for the Back 9 on Golf with Jay Delsing. The Back 9 is brought to you by Fogelbach Agency with Farmers Insurance. And welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host Jay.

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So give them a call at 314-398-0101. Let's just go right back to the remainder of the Gary Woodland interview. What a good touch.

Yeah, that's a great touch, Curtis. Through three rounds, there's no player out here in this field that's made more feet of putts than Gary Woodland over 350 feet. Gary Woodland is brought to you by Golden Tee. When I first got to Augusta, I never got to play, but I went there with my company and I literally knelt down and kissed the ground. I'm like, I cannot believe I'm actually here. It doesn't even look real. This place is like heaven. I had so much running through me.

I didn't know what to do with it. It's so true. And you know, there's just nothing like it.

The roars that echo through those trees and the energy at that place is just absolutely amazing. And this year without patrons there, it was really the first tournament. You know, this year we started when we came back from COBA, we had the big break. We came back with no fans. The first couple of weeks, it was different. It was almost like playing practice rounds.

You're out there with your buddies hanging out. It was quiet. You didn't have to deal with media. You didn't have to deal with a lot of stuff. It was actually, it was okay. You know, people weren't complaining about it. But as it dragged on, you started missing the energy and you started missing the atmosphere. And I think a lot of, especially the top players that are used to being around big crowds, it really affected them.

But the Masters for me was the first tournament that were like, okay, this is different. I mean, this is really, really different. You don't have that energy.

You don't have that yelling and that noise echoing through those trees. And, you know, we missed that. So hopefully we can all come together and get through this pandemic together and get our sports back to the way we had it before and get some energy out there. Because that tournament, more than any, deserves and needs it.

You know, Gary, it's interesting because I've had so many people ask me about that. And I'm not playing anymore. But when I played, I loved that energy.

I loved feeling, you know, I wanted to give something, give people something to appreciate. And I wanted to play well and I wanted to compete. And I read where Justin Thomas said, you know, there are certain times where you pull off a shot and there's people around you. And the energy from that one thing that you did is carried on from the last green over to the next tee.

And you're hyped. And he said, you know, he's felt some of these kind of almost let downs for lack of a better way to say it. And that's a big deal, isn't it? There's no doubt about it. I know Rory came out and talked about it, that he really was affected by it. You know, Tiger would never say it, but I would imagine he was probably affected by it. I mean, that guy, you know, played in front of crowds since he was three years old.

I mean, for him to come out and play in front of nobody. The energy, you know, at that 7 a.m. tee time that this crowd brings for you, it definitely helps you. We're definitely affected by it. You know, I think our sport needs that energy.

A lot of sports, I think every sport needs it, to be honest with you, I guess. But we need that energy out there. We love to play for the fans. We're entertainers, I would say. We're out there trying to put on a good time. But we need that crowd.

We need that energy out there for ourselves. I can't wait to get to the U.S. Open, and then Amy Bockert said, but you mentioned Bell Reef in 2018. It was the 100th anniversary. It was the biggest sporting event that's ever come to St. Louis, even though it'll never register that way because we're such a baseball town. But, Gary, I was there on Sunday. I watched you play with Tiger.

And I had never seen anything like that before. Like you mentioned, the crowds were so great, the roars. And it was really, to me, kind of like a signal, even though Tiger didn't win, and I know you had a great tournament, you wound up finishing sixth. It was almost like Tiger reclaiming a part of the tour again to me.

There was, when he made that, first of all, two things stick out. When he made birdie on nine, I'd had about ten feet for birdie. I'd never heard a roar that loud in my life. The ground, I backed off my putt three times, and the ground was shaking. So I think he shot 32 on the front. I don't know if he hit a fairway. No, I don't think he hit a fairway, bro. It was so impressive, and it was so loud.

So I remember that, and then the last hole. You know, he wasn't going to win. You know, Burks had kind of secured it by that point. But Tiger made birdie, and he fist-pumped there on 18. And it was his lowest round in a major championship on Sunday. It was kind of his deal of like, he kind of proved to himself, hey, I'm back.

You know, I can overcome this, and I can do this. And I think he comes out and shows up at Augusta, you know, the following April, and wins. I think that confidence there at Belle Reve gave him that and allowed him to do that.

So that was pretty special. So, Gary, I look at your resume, and I'm like, damn, man. You know, you've won six tournaments around the world. You won four times on the PGA Tour.

You've won about 28 million bucks, and you're 36 years old and all that. But you're also U.S. Open champion. I don't know, man, it's a pair of sixes for me if I could win Augusta or the U.S. Open. But I can remember as a kid, bud, standing over this crappy old putter and some balls that weren't even round, and, you know, having that putt to win the U.S. Open. It was always to win the U.S. Open, you know, and you did that, man. I just, I can't believe it, and I'm talking too much.

I want to hear your thoughts. But I was at Pebble. I watched you hit two shots stick out of my mind on Sunday. You closed with 200 par and won by three, but it was much tighter than that throughout. The second shot you hit at 14 was just unbelievable to me. I've gone for that green plenty of times and put it in places where I couldn't make par. You know, there's so much danger around that second shot, and you hitting that shot in there and making birdie was just unbelievable to me.

It was the best thing I've ever made in my life, and I'm a very aggressive player. My caddy, I would say, Brennan Little, he's been out there for 20-some years. He's a very conservative. He's a great guy, too, man.

And that's one of the first times in my life I actually thought about being conservative. Justin Rose, I had a one-shot lead. I knew that. Justin Rose had hit it right next to me, and he laid up. When you talk about having a veteran caddy that knows what he's doing on the bag, he had done his research. He had seen shots earlier that day, and he said, Gino, this wedge shot's too tough to get close to. The greens are firming up too much. He said, take three wood, hit it in the Cameron Tower over the green. We can get up and down from over.

That's all I needed to hear. In the practice round, we'd hit some chip shots around that green. Left is just dead to that pin. That front left pin there is so brutal. Right's obviously out of bounds. I lose the golf tournament if I hit it there.

So there was just so much that could happen. For him to have the confidence in me to step up and hit in the Cameron Tower over the green gave me all I needed to do. It was the best swing I made. I was actually, when I hit it, telling it to sit. It had cooled down quite a bit, so the ball didn't fly as far. I didn't realize until I watched it later where the ball landed just over the bunker.

But it ended up in a perfect spot. It allowed me to chip it up there close and make birdie and really give me the cushion that I needed with 16, 17, 18. I could hit irons off the tee coming in.

15, 16, 17, 18, sorry. And really allowed me to not coast, but give me a lot more comfortable coming in. So I credit him to that.

It's obviously nice to have a veteran caddie on the bag that gives you the confidence when you need it. You played on the victorious President's Cup team down in Australia. That was fantastic. I don't want to jam you up too much longer, but we've got to talk about probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in the game. And I've had the pleasure of playing with some greats, and I've been fortunate to just be old enough to be around a lot. What you did in number 16 with Amy Bockerset in 2019 was one of the coolest things. When it happened, we played it on the show.

I've watched this thing that's gone viral, over 43 million viewers. Can you just take us back a little bit to how this whole thing happened and what a cool human being she is? There's no doubt. In this game we get to meet a lot of cool people and do a lot of cool things, but we're there when we meet people like that to have a positive impact on their lives and try to make their day better and enjoy the moment. I don't think anybody I've met has had an impact on me like she did.

I won the tournament in 2018. They asked me as a defending champ if I'd play a hole with her. I saw her bio. I saw everything about her, and I obviously was very excited to do it. But you never knew what was going to happen and the impact she not had on me, but millions of people.

I think over 60 million people have seen that video. Her attitude, her energy, her love for life is contagious. It's something I preach to myself and my kids. She wasn't dealt the best deck of cards, obviously born with Down syndrome. She's turned it into a positive. She lives life to the fullest. Obviously, you've got great people around her. I'm happy to call her a friend to this day. I still talk to her on a regular basis. And that's not always the case when you get to meet cool people like that. So I was fortunate enough in my life to be able to meet and spend time with her and for her to have the positive impact on me and millions of people around the world.

That's something that I'll cherish forever. And Gary, she got a scholarship to Paradise Valley Community College, right, to play golf? She did. First down syndrome to play college golf. Her golf swing is impressive. Her love, her attitude, it's just so contagious. The world needs a lot more of that in it.

You don't see many people, Gary, that you want to just go up to and hug. And she is just, I mean, that smile. And she's like, you were talking to her in the bunker on the green. She's like, I got this. I got this.

I got this. And when that putt went in, man, I didn't know what to do. It was the coolest thing ever.

I've never willed a putt in my life for that much to not want to go in. I still get chills thinking about it. It was so special. Well, Gary, I really appreciate you joining me this morning. I wish you all the best in 2021. You and your family will be pulling for you.

And, you know, play great and go win some more so we can jump back on sometime. I look forward to it, brother. Be safe. All the best.

Good talking to you. You know, John, I said to Gary, the two shots that you hit coming in, the shot, the second shot that you hit on 14 was just the most unbelievable shot I've ever seen. That, you know how difficult that is. And then, Pearly, that wedge shot that he hit off the 17th green, he hit his wedge off the green to a foot. Pearl, he could have put that thing in the Pacific Ocean. That could have been a, what was that guy in the British Open at the Carnoustie when he just completely collapsed? Constantino Rocca?

No. Oh, John Von Devel. Yeah, that could have been a John Von Devel American style for sure. For sure. And he pulled it off like nothing.

I love what he's talking about. He appreciated getting that shot over with, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. You know, John, what does it say as a player to you to win on such an iconic place like Pebble Beach?

Well, it's epic. It's got to be fun for him, but I think also, you know, we know he was a great athlete. And between pulling off that shot on 17, but just winning in a place like that, it takes, he's a special golfer, not so many people are going to fake their way around Pebble Beach.

No, absolutely. And man, it's, this guy has had just a special career so far, and he kind of flies under everybody's radar, John, and just a super guy. What was your main takeaway from that interview?

Man, that's my problem. I had several takeaways, but one of my favorites, because it goes along with the Whitmore commercials that you do every show. I love when he said that he just got dropped off the golf course and spent his day at the golf course almost every day and was almost raised by some of the guys at the golf course. I thought that was a huge, for me, a takeaway.

And my, one of my favorites was when he got injured and how he turned it into a positive to really review what he needed to do to accomplish and be ready to truly be on the tour and how he turned that negative of being hurt into a positive to change his career. I thought that was huge. Okay, so I got to tell you, I played nine holes with Gary when I was 49 years old, just getting ready to turn 50 and play with the old geezers. And we got on the first hole, it was just he and I early in the morning, I could tell what with a couple of practice swings, I'm like, I'm going to hold onto my hat because he could suck the hat right off of my head with the power of that driver swing. And he slammed one down the left side of this long hole in Valdosta, Georgia. And I looked at my cat, I'm like, I can't even see that far.

I have no idea where that thing finished. But I think I I said only about 10 or 12 words to him because I was hitting these little popcorn shrimps that would float out to the right and go about 280 and he was hitting at about 380 down the left when he didn't see each other so we got on the greens. You know, he's he's he's as you said before, he's a quiet guy, carry the big sticks. Midwestern kid. Pretty pretty solid guys certainly turned him one of my favorite guys to watch. Yeah, how many guys on the PGA Tour in any sport got a scholarship in college to play a different sport than their chosen profession?

Not too many. Yeah, that was another great story. Just kind of an awareness thing. You know, you don't know when you're going to kind of peak with this stuff or when it's going to really catch and make sense to you. It was just interesting in those early years, you could at the time, you could have been critical of a guy like that and say, boy, you can't make up your mind, you got to commit to something. You know, he kind of went went with the flow and he sure ended up, it appears in the right place.

Who knows if he was stuck with it. Maybe he's playing NBA. But I think if I had my my druthers, I'd rather be playing on the PGA Tour than the NBA. Yeah, well, either one sound pretty good, but really fun and really appreciate Gary's time. You know, that's going to wrap up the back nine. What a great interview with Gary Woodland.

So don't go anywhere. When John and I come back, we'll have an episode of whack and chase. This is golf with Jay Delson. Are you looking for a great career? Do you like meeting nice people working with your hands and fixing things inside the home? Marcon Appliance Parts Company would like to encourage you to consider a high paying career in major appliances repair and service. Major appliance service technicians are in very high demand. Major appliance techs work regular hours and make excellent money. They work local and their own communities and are home every night.

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Grab your friends, a cold one and pull up a chair. We're on to the 19th hole on golf with Jay Delsing. The 19th hole is brought to you by Michelob Ultra.

Welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay. I got John Perlis with me and we are headed to the 19th hole brought to you by Michelob Ultra.

An ultra sounds pretty damn good right now. Alright, so Perl, we've got this episode of Whackin' Chase. Let's go right to that.

When it comes to your golf game, do you need help from the experts? So do we. But until then, John and Jay will have to do. It's time for Whackin' Chase on Golf with Jay Delsing. Whackin' Chase, it's back yet again. Your favorite time of the show, John.

I know you've been waiting for this. It's Whackin' Chase, Adam, and he's live now. Hey, Adam, how you doing? Good, good. Yourself?

Good. Thanks a lot for calling. Where are you calling us from? Effingham, Illinois.

Effingham, Illinois. We know somebody in Effingham, Illinois. We know a few people. We know a few people.

We know a few people. Thanks for calling us tonight, Adam. Yes, sir. Hey, what's the question you've got for Jay tonight, Adam?

So I was thinking, tell me about your best round that you have played. Oh, he's turning it on us here. I love it.

I love it. Nobody ever asks me that. No. But, boy, Pearl, is it the one in Memphis or the one that you caddied for me down in Dallas? Well, I hope the hell it's the one I caddied for you, but Memphis was a big deal.

Yes, I had two. I shot 61 one time on a Sunday down in Memphis on a Sunday round. I think I started the day off tied for 50th and I wound up fourth that day.

Wow. But one day down in Alabama, Pearlie was caddying for me. We had just horrendous weather, wind, and rain, and cold. And was it 63 or 62? Whatever it was. It was on a golf course. It was brutal. What I remember was it was literally low by seven shots to the field. It was one of those days. That doesn't happen. I would challenge that that's not happened a handful of times in the history. Seriously, how many times does a single guy beat the field and that was going through tour school, some version of end of the year to get your tour card or something? Yeah, that was the tour championship for the nationwide.

Yeah, that was fun. Well, he threw us off a little bit here by asking that question of you. But I'm going to... So let's just... We'll stick with this though. So what about where does that round up in Vancouver stand? We're teeing off the backside, Adam. Oh boy.

Barely had made the cut. We get up in the morning. It's dark out when we're practicing, of course. I've got all my rain gear on, a stocking cap, gloves on. It's raining. It's blowing sideways. The rough seems like it's about two and a half feet long.

It's probably four, five, six inches long. Turned off on the backside and this guy ends up shooting 62. And we go from tied for last to ninth, I believe, you finished. Yeah, this is the top 10. Yeah. It was... You know, one of those... Gosh, I like these kind of vibes, thinking about those kind of rounds because you just don't get that many rounds, Adam, where things go your way. You know, the... A little bit of pressure, yeah.

Yeah. And when they do, it's almost like everything slows down a little bit. Your mind is much quieter.

There's this overall sense of relaxation in your body that just, oh gosh, if I could bottle it, it would be invaluable. Well, I'm going to turn the tables here for a second. Adam, tell us about your best round or front nine or series of holes. Tell us a little bit about your game, first of all. How much have you played?

What do you shoot? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I'm a little bit more of a beginner. I'm in my beginner stages. I've been playing for probably three years now. I'm 32. Good for you. I've now gotten the golf game. Good for you.

I'm still learning. So I'm not anywhere where I can brag about myself or say that I've played outstanding. What about just... But I guarantee you've had a couple holes in a row where a couple things go right. Tell us about that. You know, just getting the birdie every now and then is what I'm happy with. It's just nothing to cry home about, for sure. It's just... Okay, Jay. So first of all, he's enjoying the game.

That's number one. You like to promote the game so much. This guy started late in his life relative to most golfers. So somewhere in his late 20s, raising a family, doing the whole thing, and kind of falling in love with the game. And you can tell, hear some passion in his voice right here. What do you suggest for him to go from that beginner where it's a little tough, it's not maybe stringing holes together or nines together?

Give him a little advice on where he should go here. Especially just hang with it. You know, there's gonna be a lot of frustration involved, Adam. It's a difficult time. The game is hard for all of us. When we first begin, it's nearly impossible. I mean, you can be really athletic, pick up a tennis racket, and go, yeah, no problem. I can whack this thing. I can't serve like Djokovic, but I can get the thing over and get it in play. And golf isn't necessarily like that, but a couple of things, Adam.

You're outside. You know, there's a lot of that. It's relaxation, and it's something we know that you have three daughters. It's something that you and your wife and your daughters can all do together.

It's healthy. No, wait a second. Maybe.

Maybe they'll do it together. Or maybe it's a time he can get away from his lovely wife and lovely three daughters. Without question.

That's always, that's certainly available too. So that gives me my next little entree for the question, relative to playing with your buddies, practicing, playing golf, having a few beers, what part of golf are you enjoying the most that makes you want to come back? You know, I like the pressure, the learning, the aggravation.

I like being pushed, and I like to be able to learn and correct it and better myself. Love this guy. Love this guy. Love this guy.

Love this guy. What a great answer. That is, I have, do you know how many times, I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say that. Well, that's because it's such a great answer. That is a great answer.

And I believe it's heartfelt. That's what's crazy. Exactly. That tells me, this guy is like clay, so you have your opportunity, Jay. Don't screw him up. What are you suggesting that he kind of thinks about and kind of that next step on how he can, the guy wants to improve, he's making that pretty clear. Where should he focus? I would focus, I would start on the green and work backwards, Adam. Start figuring out how to putt, start figuring out some real basic fundamentals, okay?

Things that you can hang your hat on. With that answer that you said where you like being able to fix it, the fix will lie in fundamentals to get you fundamentally sound, so with your putter, you know, you don't move anything from your waist down when you putt and things like that. And there's a touch and feel associated with this game that there's no way to learn except through doing. And you'll see this with your daughters, you'll take them out to the green and you'll drop a ball in front of them and they all have putters and one of them will hit it off the green and the other one will hit it one foot from where she's standing and there's no way to explain that feel other than do it, you know, and just do it and then start working on some of your shorter shots around the green.

Okay, so let's talk about it for a second. That is absolutely fantastic advice. That's why he has his own show, Golf with Jay Delsy.

That's what that's all about. But Jay, tell Adam about a couple stories. So here's Adam with this unbelievable attitude about golf and moving forward with golf.

Talk to him about one or two players on tour that had the opposite, maybe the worst attitude of any tour players relative to improving, sticking with the game, having a good attitude. Who had the worst attitude of anyone on tour? Oh my gosh. There's a bucket of chairs. Oh, there's a pile of players we can toss under the bus right here.

I just can't wait to see which one we choose. Boy, Fulton Allum comes to mind is just a, just a, I mean, he would be, he would set him up a little bit. Adam, Adam, have you ever heard of Fulton Allum by any chance?

No, I have not. Okay. Set him up Jay. He's a South African guy. Strong as a bear. Good player. Great player. Great player.

Won tournaments on the PGA Tour, but would get in these moods where nothing, nothing, and I mean, zero was going to go right. You know, your brand new glove didn't fit right. Your ball, your brand new ball didn't fit right. It was never Hensley's fault. He's fault, by the way. Never.

Of course not. It was always his caddy's fault. I remember one time he told his caddy that he was stealing all of his oxygen. He called him an oxygen thief, so we don't need to go into a whole lot more descriptive things about, about him, but to, to keep that attitude good is focus on the fact that you've, you've earned this time outside, you've, you know, with your family, without your family, with your, with your buddies, you know, away from work cause you're, I know you're a hard working guy and this is relaxation and this is a cool way to be able to hang out. Most definitely. Good advice. That's awesome. That's awesome. So work on that short game, continue to enjoy the game and then Jay has a final farewell message.

He leaves with the whacking chaser. So Adam, this is how this works. If your game takes off and you start playing great, you've got to tell everyone you know about us. You've got to tell everybody about Pearly, you got to tell them about our show and you got to tell them that we are truly great.

We are great. And if, if you, if you keep playing like crap and this doesn't get any better, you got to tell them we never met so much for joining us. Really appreciate the call. Thanks Adam. Enjoy the game. Take care.

Bye bye. You know, John, I love the fact that Adam kind of turned the tables on us and, and kind of threw it in our court. It's really fun. That's one of the best things about whacking chase.

You really don't know what, what exactly you're going to get. Absolutely. He sure did it to us and it was a lot of fun. We, we love reminiscing, especially about good things and, and you set us up for that. It was, it was a lot of fun. Well, Pearl, that's going to wrap up another show.

Thanks for being with us. We can't close the show the same way we did last week because me and I feel really bad and partially responsible for the snow in Arizona. Do you feel bad though? Do you really? No. Okay.

It's you? No, not at all. No. Okay.

So Pearl, a little bit. Keep your rain jacket handy. You can get some colored golf balls and find them in that snow. I'll think of you when I'm playing with the colored balls, just to let you know me. Come back next week. We're going to have another episode of Golf with Jay Delsing. Hit them straight, St. Louis.