Mike Shannon - 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. Welcome to another show.

Loving it. What an exciting show today. I was particularly looking forward to this interview and it's going to be a lot of fun. We have a little special tribute to Shannon throughout the whole show. Yeah, Mike Shannon.

So we got to sit down with Mike. The show was formulated and it's formatted. Which word do you like better? Formatted or formulated? I would say formatted. I don't think formulated.

That sounds like we're a scientist or something. That's above my big. Yeah, that's right. So let's go with formatted. So the show is formatted like around the golf.

The first segment is called the On the Range segment. It's brought to you by Pro-Am Golf. Dan Kirchhoffer is now the new president of Pro-Am Golf. He is a great guy who had a long, prosperous career with Enterprise. And so now he's at the helm. If you guys need anything, gear, lessons, Tom DeGrand is the best.

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Call them right away. Alright, so Pro, we got a fun interview with Mike Shannon. We have a fun tribute, the whole show, to Mike Shannon. And we're also doing this, you know, we're tape shows, so we don't have the perfect way to kind of set up a preview for Augusta.

But this is going to be our preview show, even though it's going to be the Sunday morning of the tournament. So here we go. The first thing, well let's just jump into our first tribute to Mike Shannon. Yes, let's do that. Alright, so there's a quiz online.

You can find it anywhere. It's called Shannonisms. Okay, so we're going to read in each segment, we are going to read three questions for you guys, or multiple choice. I'm going to read this first one here, and Burleigh and I will alternate back and forth. Here's what Mike said, and you have to fill in the blank. It's Mother's Day today, so to all the mothers out there, fill in this blank, happy birthday, bottoms up, happy Valentine's Day, or have a nice frosty bush. Happy Valentine's Day. Is that my choices? So Mike said it's Mother's Day today, so to all the mothers out there, happy Valentine's Day.

We got to mimic some of the woo-wees and all that kind of stuff he does. Great laugh, too. Okay, can I do the second one?

Yes. Okay, and a blank is out on the, er, it's a kitty cat. Wow, I'm sorry to even read that one. Here's your choices. And a blank is out there, er, it's a kitty cat. Squirrel, raccoon, bird, or possum? I'm going with possum. Possum. Nope, raccoon. Here's our last one.

Great laugh. Mike said, to whom was Mike referring when he said, and we quote, he's the biggest thing to hit Japan since they dropped the bomb on Nakashima. Sessom Fielder, Sota Gucci, Hideki, Hideki Nomo, Mark McGuire. I'm going to say McGuire. Nomo.

Anyway, those are great. So we're going to, we had an interview with Mike and, er, it's really going to be fun. So, alright, so, Pearl, the Masters. Who's your pick? You got a gun to your head, you only get one pick, who are you thinking? I would love it if it's Bryson. I want Bryson to win too, isn't that crazy? Now, one of the things we need to bring up for all of us out there that like to maybe throw a dollar or two on this, Brando Chamblee, one of the sharpest knives in the golf drawer, which is, I don't want to say that much. It's something. Did get this fact right, that 80% of the champions at Augusta come from the top 16th ranked players in the world. So you want to pick from the top 16?

Yep, if you want to try to, yep. Okay, now he says that, and that's based on that time of year. So I think the interesting thing is there's been a lot of talk about the weather and all that kind of stuff is, and again, this is tape, so we don't know this stuff, but I wonder how this turns out. What are you thinking, Jay? What's your prediction on what it's going to be like?

Oh my gosh, well first of all, it's not going to be nearly as warm. So that's a big thing, and that's a huge thing for Tiger Woods. That's a huge thing for Tiger Woods. I've counted Tiger out as many times as possible.

And he's turned around and said, yeah, you don't know what you're talking about. But this is really going to be difficult. If it dips down in the 50s and they're playing in the 50 degree temps, Pearl, it's just going to be hard. The only reason I say that is I've had one back surgery before. Obviously I'm much older than he is, but it was just so difficult to try to compete when it's not hot and warm and you don't have to worry about your body and your muscles staying loose.

I think it's a huge deal. I think also just, first of all, the cold weather, we talk about this normally in our spring radio shows, the ball doesn't go as far. And I don't know if that's because of the equipment or the golf ball itself or our bodies because it's not moving and normally have extra clothes on. But my point is, what if the course, because if it is cooler out, which the odds are it will be cooler, and it's not going as far, that course is going to play very different, Jay. It could play an extra 1000, 1500 yards or longer.

There's no question about that. And first of all, it's been proven that this ball, this modern day ball doesn't perform with these cooler temps. It does not perform as well, which is going to fly directly in the face of Bryson DeChambeau hitting 400 yard drive. So we'll see how that all plays out.

Maybe, but I'm saying the other guys, there's so many carry shots out there that they're so used to, hey, I'm here last 25 times I've played, this is a six iron or seven iron, and now it's a four iron. It's going to be different. What's the grass going to be like? You know, you go from the south where they overseed all the time and you know, what's the grass going to be like? Is the oversee going to be mixed in with Bermuda as it starts getting colder? Is Bermuda going to go south because it is getting colder?

I don't know. I have no idea what to expect because Augusta is such a one off. They can do so much of their own thing. They have unlimited resources.

They can make it warm if they want to make it warm. That's exactly right. And someone said to me, remember Augusta is not in Georgia. It's in Augusta. You know, it's like this is its own empire down there.

It really is. Just the thing they do to the greens. I think the whole infrastructure they have underneath the greens, the way they can dry things out, control that. There's just so many pieces that, as you said, other properties aren't equipped to do. Right. There's no doubt about that. So there is so much at play here, really. And we don't know much about that. I will tell you this, the par three contest was canceled.

That's a bummer. I wonder what the thought process was there. You know, Fred Ridley, who is the chairman of the tournament down there, said, you know, that tournament was meant to get the spectators closer to the players and have this more family sort of feel.

And he said it just is not going to seem right, you know. They don't get it wrong too often down there. No, they don't. One thing that's really cool that they're doing, Pearl, on Saturday, they're going to host college football game day on the ninth green area of the par three. So from 9 to 12 on Saturday morning before the tee times, they're going to host game day, college game day. You mean the announcers, those guys? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. All those guys, yeah.

It's going to go down there and it'll be interesting. Good for them. Good for them.

Because football is not very big down there. Nah. Nah. And you know.

It's a tip of the half to kind of what season it's supposed to be. Yeah, that's right. And it's, you know, let's try to work. Let's try to coexist here. Sure. That's awesome. Very cool stuff. All right, so that's going to wrap up the On the Range segment. But don't go away. We've got Mike's interview on the front nine.

And some more quiz questions. That's right. This is Dan McLaughlin and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing.

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Hey, welcome back. It's Golf with Jay Delsing. Pearly is with me and we're headed to the front nine. And the front nine is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. So, how cool is it to have PGA Tour Champions Golf here for at least the next four years? Very, very happy about it.

I can't wait to just hang out with you for those weeks. By the way, I get that room, right? That's right. Pearl, what about the people that are playing? What about Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Jim Fury? Absolutely.

And something was said, I don't remember what interview it was. The kind of who's who, the class of players that have kind of come out and turned 50. It's pretty dynamic the last year. It's really going to add a boost to the tour. It really is. Alright, so I want to thank the folks at Woodmore Country Club for sponsoring the show again. Bill Brungart is the membership director. 636-926-9622 is Bill's number. They're just getting it right out there.

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I think he got drafted in 1959. All right, so let's toss a couple of these great Shannonisms in before this interview. Here's what Mike said. Well, folks, this game began as a tiny worm and is blossoming into a blank. A bouquet of roses? A large cobra? A humongous worm? Or the Loch Ness cookie monster? The Loch Ness cookie monster. A large cobra.

Get ready now. All right, so here's a good one here. A hit up the middle right now would be like blank and a cold, frosty one. A nice ham sandwich, soaking in a hot tub, kissing Miss America, a Babe Ruth candy bar. Babe Ruth candy bar. A nice hand sandwich. I knew he would have said that. I knew he was hungry. I knew it had something to do with food.

I could tell by the way he said that. Okay, one more and then we've got to get to the interview. Okay, fill in the blank. It's raining like blank.

Here's your choices. A Chinese fire drill? There's no yesterday? Cats and mice? That movie Rain Man? I'm going to go with cats and mice. Cats and mice. You are incorrect. It's the Chinese fire drill. It's raining like a Chinese fire drill.

Exactly. All right, let's go jump on this Mike Shannon interview right now. Mike Shannon is brought to you by Golden Tee. Mike, I can remember as a little guy watching you play and man, I had no idea about your senior year in high school. You won the Missouri athlete of the year in both football and basketball at CBC. Yeah, you know, that's an amazing story because it's never been broken, okay? And records are made to be broken but, you know, the way that people, they isolate nowadays and they, I don't think that it will ever be broken now, you know, because people, they specialize now, you know. They're either football or baseball or basketball and so I was kind of, I just went from one sport to the other and I was honored to have that record, okay, and it still stands.

It's amazing. Mike, who the hell was a better baseball player than you? I mean, you turned out to be a big leader and that's amazing to me.

You know, they just didn't, you know, there was more football and there was more basketball, there was more time and, you know, it rained and all kinds of problems with baseball, okay, in the spring so they just washed it out. Yeah, that's amazing and, you know, it's interesting, you went down to the University of Missouri and stayed there for just about a year or so and got drafted by or got signed by Being Divine with the Cardinals. That's correct and, you know, I went down there and I went down there with the understanding that I wouldn't go to play baseball the year following because Musial had told me that they were going to get rid of the bonus rule and, pardon me, you know, Musial, I played high school football with his son so I used to go over to his house and he filled me in on a lot of stuff, you know. I was really privileged to get a lot of that information. Oh my gosh, Mike, when I look back at the people that you've crossed paths with, I mean, I know how fortunate I've been just as growing up as a caddy and getting to shoot even talk to you today, but, man, you have been up and down the who's who of Major League Baseball and sport, you know, great your entire life. Well, I've been real fortunate and I've taken the good people, you know, and the good situations and I've analyzed them and they worked out really well for me, Jay. But, you know, like the golfers that I've met, Bob Golby, you know, okay, I mean, the list goes on and on. Some really great people, okay, and to have Bob Golby call you and ask you for a favor, I mean, that's, you know, you get down on your knees and you thank God for the great, great man that he is and all the people that I've been associated with and it's been fortunate, really has. Yeah, well, I mean, you're a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. You won an Emmy in 1985.

You've been Missouri broadcaster a year a couple of times and the Cardinal Hall of Fame. Mike, the thing that goes back to me, I remember as a caddy at Norwood, your event that you brought over to Norwood was the biggest charity fundraiser we had of the year. So when it comes to golf, when it comes to family, when it comes to community, Matt, you are, those things are tremendously important to you. Well, not only that, but, you know, the people that help you, that's what's really important, okay. I mean, when you play, Jay Dowson comes and plays in your tournament and then Bob Golby comes and plays in your tournament. Things like that, I mean, that's big, okay.

You just can't put a money value on that. It's invaluable, period. It's plain and simple. Yeah, it really is. When the legacy, you know, I knew that you supported CBC. I didn't know that you had such an incredible sports record there at CBC.

And your coach Frank Broyles said that if you'd have stayed in football down at Mizzou, and probably because the football players weren't making any money, if you'd have stayed in football, you might have won the Heisman Trophy. Well, you know, guys like that have been kind to me, okay, and have watched over me and have contributed to my success, there's no doubt about it. I mean, when you consider the people that I've been connected with over the years, Frank Broyles and the list goes on and on. I think back about some of the broadcast partners that you had.

I mean, you started with a great Jack Buck that takes a backseat to no one. And then Joe Graziola and Kubek, all the guys that you've done, just broadcasts that you work with. And, of course, Jay Randolph, Jr., one of our all-time favorite people in the world. Well, you know, I've been fortunate to work with those people and just to take a little bit from each one of them, okay.

And when you have those kind of people on your side, you have a lot going for you, Jay. Yeah, that's terrific. Mike, when you played, did you guys, how much golf did you guys play on the road? Well, we didn't play anything on the road, okay. I didn't start playing golf until I quit playing. You know, the pitchers played, but the hitters didn't play. And now it's about the same, basically. But the real good golfers and the real good baseball players, they're the pitchers.

Yeah, they get to spend. And, Mike, was it fear that you guys would screw up your baseball swing, or was it just a matter of time because you guys were playing every day and the pitchers were every fourth or fifth? Well, you know, it was more conducive for the pitchers to be playing than it was for the every day players to be playing.

You know, you got tired and you're stressed and so forth and so on. But, you know, the world of golf is such a pleasant when you're playing for fun, okay. You know, when you're playing for money and for a living, it's a lot different than when you're playing for fun. Yeah, the camaraderie, oh my gosh, I think of some of the ballplayers that I've had the pleasure to play with, even you. I mean, it's so much fun and I love the stories.

Oh my gosh. Well, you know, that's the fun part of it. That's what's great about golf, you know, you can play. And I can go, I can play against you, you know, with the handicap system. It's fun, okay. And another great thing about it is it's a game that you say, hey, when I say I got a six, I can only say, can you recon for me? You know, it's a system, okay. And I love it, okay.

Yeah, it's absolutely fantastic. Mike, and I really appreciate the time. I'm with Missouri Hall of Fame, voice of the Cardinals, Cardinal Hall of Famer Mike Shannon. Mike, who was the best all-around ballplayer that you ever played with?

I was doing some prep for this and I know you started off in right field and a little guy named Roger Maris came over to the Cardinals and moved you over to third base. You have seen the greats, man. Well, I've been fortunate all through the years, Jake, to be connected with some really great people, whether it's as a player, as a coach, as a manager, as a broadcaster. You know, when you consider the broadcasters that I've worked with, man, oh, man, it's been wonderful. Yeah, it's really the who's who of Major League Baseball announcers, isn't it? Yeah, and I've had some fun with it too, you know. It's a lot of fun. You consider the golf courses I've played and, I mean, very few people have been able to play the golf courses that I've been able to play all through the years.

And that in itself is magic. Mike, I think the same thing when, as you know, I can call and people say, sure, come on by, and I'm thinking, how the hell did I get this lucky man? This wasn't always like this. Well, there's some wonderful people in this business, and they really help each other, and that's what it's all about.

You know, when I come across a guy that won't help, I jump all over him. Yeah, oh, I'm sure. Well, Mike, I really appreciate the time this morning.

I hope you're doing well. I know this was one crazy, crazy year with baseball and starting and stopping. I honestly at one point didn't think the Cardinals would ever get it in.

They had more double headers, I think, than they hit home runs this year. But it was a crazy year. Well, I'll tell you what, you know, out of adversity comes greatness, and I think we saw a lot of that this year.

Yeah, we sure did. Well, Mike, thank you so much for your time. I hope you're keeping well, and I look forward to hearing you next year at the broadcasts. Jay, I'd love to tee it up with you. Anytime, just let me know. That sounds great, Mike.

Keep well. I don't hit it as far, but I hit it straight now. Yeah, and I know you mentioned the handicap system several times.

That could put me in a lot of trouble. Well, that's the great thing about golf, you know. The pros can play with the amateurs, and the amateurs can play with the pros. And I know you know how to work that handicap system. That's for sure. God bless. Well, that's going to wrap up the front nine and the Mike Shannon interview.

But come back to the back nine. John and I will have some more Shannonisms, and we will talk more about the Masters. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. This is Paul Leisinger, and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. Are your workouts more fun than this? Well, if they are, then I want to assign you to an endorsement deal with Michelob Vulture. I'm looking for anyone and everyone who makes working out a blast.

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Visit AscensionCharityClassic.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.

Hey, and welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. Pearly's with me, and we are headed to the Back 9 that is brought to you by the Fogelbach Agency with Farmers. Ed Fogelbach, a good friend. Thank you, Ed, for supporting the show. He's got three of his kids working at this agency, and they will handle all of your insurance needs. And Farmers is a great supporter of the game of golf. I mean, some of the Fowler commercials and stuff on the national side are just terrific.

So call the Fogelbach Agency at 314-398-0101. All right, so Pearly, what do you got for us for the next Shannonism? Shannonisms. Okay, here we go. And these are even hard to read.

They're so awkward, but I'll give it a shot. Well, he did everything right to get ready for the throw. But if you ain't got the hose, fill in the blank. You can't water the lawn. The water just won't come out. Then you better use the sprinkler.

You'll get caught with your pants down. Who comes up with these options? They're all good. Which one are you going with, Jay? Uh, number two.

The water just won't come out. You got it. Exactly right.

Good for you. What do you mean the hose? You talking about the arm? The arm strength to whip that thing over?

Yep, definitely. That is too funny. That is too funny.

What do they come up with? These are like yogi-isms, but with a different twist. I mean, he put a laser on him, man. He went down like a sack of onions. You gotta love a sack of onions. All right, the crowd is on their feet. Fill in the blanks. For the seventh-inning scratch, the sacramonial first pitch, the Canadian Star-Spangled Banner, or America the Bountiful? I have to say the Canadian Star-Spangled Banner. I want it to be that one. Yes! We're on a roll. We've got two in a row. I gotta copy that.

Okay, got one more. It's raining so hard that... Fill in the blank. It's filling up Ballpark Village. Noah started building his ark. I thought it was going to stop.

The fans are putting up parasails. Oh, man. I got no guess on that one.

I'm thinking it's gotta be Noah. Here we go. Nope. I thought... These dang questions switch so fast. I thought it was going to stop.

I thought it was going to stop. That's better. All right, so we've had some fun with these Shannonisms. They are terrific.

I'm sure you've heard them before. Okay, so John, your takeaway from the interview. My biggest thing, let me just jump in. How much fun he's had.

That's my takeaway, but where are we going? So here's a guy, I think it was 1957. He is a senior in high school. He's Missouri high school athlete of the year in football. Missouri high school athlete of the year in basketball. Goes to the University of Missouri and plays baseball. That's funny. And I said to him on the interview, I'm like, Mike, who the hell could have been a better baseball player than you? And he was just like, yeah, we had a lot of bad weather and we didn't play that much ball that year.

But he also said, which is so true, no one's going to touch that record. Nobody lets their kids do any of that stuff anymore. They don't let our kids do that. And we mentioned that in an earlier show where Jack Nicklaus said, let your kids play other sports, man. Let them play something else. Yeah, you can learn from the other sports a whole bunch of things across the board, whether it's physical or the mental side or perspectives or dealing and working with different people and different pressures. Yeah, you and I both feel the same way. Maybe we're just getting old, but so much of the younger generation just seems to double down.

And by the way, when they do play the sports, I swear they have twice as many practices as we ever had and twice as many games as we ever had. There's no question. One of the other things that I've got to say, Pearl, so I'm a young guy. I'm caddying over at Norwood and working in the back room. And Mike comes up always kind to me.

It's interesting. His son, Tim, is our age. And Tim went to CBC and I went to SLU, which was kind of rival high schools. But he played baseball and football. And I played basketball and golf. You know what school he went to in college?

USC. Oh, did he really? He played football at USC, yeah. Did he really?

And so we got to become friends and still are friends to this day. But the point that I'm making is Mike was up there and ran, was kind of the headliner for many, many golf fundraising events. He raised a lot of money for CBC.

He raised a lot of money for a lot of different causes. Well, I loved what he talked about, giving back, working with each other, making things happen. I like the part because he was such a kind of fun-loving and talked about how much fun he was. And the one time he got kind of serious in the interview was he said, those guys, I'd really give it to them if they weren't giving back, if they weren't kind of the sharing and the give back, the pay forward, that kind of stuff. I thought that was awesome. And you could tell how serious he was about it.

Yeah. You know, John, the other thing that we've got to talk a little bit about is what about the who's who of, A, who he competed with, B, who he announced with, and C, some of the interviews. I mean, go up and down the history of MLB in this timeframe of 60-some-odd years. I mean, it is Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer. Well, when he can carry forward the culture, the stories of that time, that's what's so much fun now, is just bringing that history forward.

And again, how much fun. He just always sounds like the guys. He's just always having a good time up there. Yeah, could you imagine they talked to the former football coach at the University of Missouri, Frank Broyles. And Frank said that if Mike would have stayed in college, he'd probably have won the Heisman. I mean, maybe the best athlete ever to come out of our state.

That's awesome. Which is saying a lot. It's saying a lot. But one of the things that when you think about the people that he's played with. So, Mike's a Cardinal Hall of Famer, but played with Gibson, played with Steve Carlton, played with Tim McCarver, and on and on. Roger Maris.

All of these. Red Shandings. I mean, there's pictures on the internet of these guys that are almost kind of throwback. They remind me a little bit of like the Rat Pack Dave's Pearl.

You know, some of them are black and white. And we had Michael Bamberger on a while back, and he's done just some terrific books. And one of his books has a black and white photo of Jack and Arnold over there shaking hands.

It looks like at a cocktail party or, you know, back in the 18th Green or something. And that's kind of the era when I think of Mike and think of the Cardinals. And back in, man, I don't, you know, the Cardinals Gas House Gang is a terrific time in Cardinal history. But back when Mike played, I mean, in that nine-year period, they went to the World Series three different times. He won twice. I mean, there's just some, he just goes down as one of those legendary figures. And continues to carry on. Well, he's, yeah.

I mean, not only has he created this completely new career in a field that he's very unique in. You know, there's a, you know, you, how do you get, let me ask you this. How do you get a character like Mike Shannon? We're reading these Shannonisms because they're fun.

I can relate a story to you when I was probably 14 years old or so. And I'm walking into this fundraiser, you know, cocktail party with my dad. And he sees Whitey Herzog standing at the bar. And the Whitey, they call them the rat or white rat. And they said, my dad said, hey, Whitey. And as we're walking up, Whitey said to the bartender, hey, bartender, buy this guy a drink.

He's a good lowball hitter. And I listened to my dad. You're referring to your dad. To my dad, yeah.

Not me. And I listened to them for 15 minutes, carry on this baseball-centric conversation that no English was spoken. It was a lot of grunts and a lot of shoosh, this ball pop. And he had that extra little boom on the end of his fastball.

And I'm over there going, what are they talking about? And that's what Mike does. Mike does it right on the air. He does it with a lot of stuff. He does it with a lot of stuff.

So what happens in an era like we're in today? That doesn't even play. Does that ever get started? Well, that's why, to me, that type of announcer doesn't get old to me. It's just the flavor of the whole thing. Sometimes I'm sitting listening to every word. Other times it's just in the background. And I absolutely love it.

It just gives me the feeling I want when I have the radio on. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, another one of these guys where you look at his resume and go, wow. Well, who's some of the guys that he announced with, Jay? Oh, with Kurt Gowdy, with Joe Morgan.

He did Tony Kubek, just kind of the icons of the color game that Mike was involved in. There's something, though, John, to me, and you know how much I love the game, but there's something to me that when you know that much about the game, this, for lack of knowing what to call it, this twist of extra color that he throws in there, it's wonderful. It's incredibly unique. You could certainly understand why a certain generation would go, huh? But to me, it just seems like he'll always go down with such fondness in my heart just because that is so authentic. That's what you and I are trying to do every day, just trying to be true to ourselves. Could you imagine somebody going, what do we do with this guy?

The English isn't there, the stories are kind of out there. What do we do with this guy? Turn him loose is what you do with him and let him keep going. To the credit of the area and who's ever in charge of that, they've let the guy go for a long time, and it's absolutely awesome. Oh, and it's benefited all of us. The community, the game, the whole thing. My point is not that he shouldn't have been.

My point is thank God there was room for that kind of color. Absolutely. It's good stuff.

Yeah. Well, that's going to wrap up the Back Nine, but don't go anywhere. We're going to have a cold Frosty. And a couple more Shannonisms.

Cold Frosty Ultra on the Michelob Ultra 19th hole. This is Golf with Jay Delson. The management team at Marcon would like to give a shout-out to our 500-plus employees and their families. Their diligence and commitment to each other, our process, and our company are so good that we are obligated to state it publicly. We are so grateful for each and every one of you. You have all contributed to our success, and your dedication is imperative to the continued growth of our company.

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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.

And welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. John is with me and we are headed to the Michelob Ultra 19th hole. Man, we couldn't have it better. This is the most perfect 19th hole sponsor you could ever, ever, ever get.

For sure it is. I've said before, I'm excited for you. I know how important this relationship has been to your whole career. Yeah, and we're honoring Mike Shannon who mentioned cold, frosty ones.

So grab a cold, frosty Ultra here and let's do this. Before we do this, before we talk a little more about Shannonisms, I've got to remind people, any of our old shows that you want to go see, go to jdelsinggolf.com and they're all archived there. So if you want to listen to Dan Deardorff or Jim Nance or David Farity or whomever, we've got them all over there. Who's who.

Yeah, so please do that. All right, so Pearl, I've got to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue one more time for their painting and refinishing company. It's just fantastic. They do great jobs inside and out with highly professional, very safe workers.

Call them at 314-805-2132. All right, so here's our next Shannonism. During the game in Montreal, Mike said, this game is moving along pretty quick. It must have something to do with the exchange rate, attitude up here, time zone change in Canada or the metric system, Pearl. Attitude up here.

Nope, exchange rate. OK, here's mine. Well, no one's perfect. Only one guy was ever perfect, Jack, and boy, this is a beauty. They nailed him to a tree. He was deducted into Cooperstown.

Even he wasn't perfect. They called him Stan the Man. Which one, Jay? Stan the Man.

Nope, they nailed him to a tree. The Cardinals up by Cinco, Cinco de Mayo. That's coming up pretty soon too, isn't it? Cinco de Mayo, when is that? Is it over already? That happens on the fifth month, the fifth day, right? Cinco de Mayo. So it's coming up the next May. Get ready now.

I love a guy that can make nothing fun and funny in the highlight of a given inning. OK, and this is going to be our last hiddenism for the show. He knew he was out when blank. The clock struck, you're out. He heard that right hand go up. The sun snuck past the rooster. Ernie Hayes started playing his organ. He heard the right hand go up.

And then he got up early, all right. All right, let's shift gears a little bit here. Meet and let's talk about the Masters. All right, so you and I both would love to see Bryson DeChambeau win.

Yes. I'm really excited about checking out what the golf course is going to play like. You made a point earlier, and I think you're spot on. This golf course could play super long, just depending on the conditions. I don't know how fast it's going to be. We don't know yet about what the weather for the entire week is. We've seen it, but it's still dodgy, so we're not really sure. Jay, they've got all the control, I believe, underneath their greens, where they can control the moisture. Is that throughout the golf course, or is that just greens?

Do you happen to know? I'm sure they've got great drainage. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about that next level of specialty. Yeah, and you know what, Pearl? I don't think they have the entire surface subair, but they may have. I'm just saying, if it's cold and it's wet, it's a very different deal.

Now, you mentioned the overseed. Is that something that they might do for this time of year as well? Yeah, the whole, yes. From the player standpoint, it could be just wildly different. I'm going to change. I want Bryson to do well, but I'll tell you what. When you talk about him swinging to where he can do.212 and he's hitting at 400 yards, man, I do not know how a guy then is going to be able to stand up and hit those very technical, touchy, over-the-creek shots and be able to do that when he's done everything else and still have his touch. I'm going to say it could be a really, really, really tough week for him, even though he's bombing it and there's room out there. I understand your point. There's room out there. But you still have to hit those down hilly, side hilly shots over Ray's Creek. Do you think he's not practicing that as well? No, I'm sure he's practicing it, but it sounds to me, go lift weights hard for two months and then grab your wedge and see if your touch is there. Well, what they're doing though nowadays, John, is that they're stretching out so much, and he's also... I'm making my prediction.

I understand. So he's the betting favorite, plus.700. I'm putting some money against him.

So who's your pick to win? I'm telling you, I think given the weather and the things we've talked about, I think it's a complete crapshoot. I think it's going to really mess with guys' heads when all of a sudden they can't quite reach the par fives or they can't reach it with a low enough club to be able to hold the greens, etc., etc. I think it's a very, very different tournament. Again, maybe there's a week where it's 65, 68 degrees, certain things like that. Then there's not a huge difference. But if it's stepping down into the 50s and there's some moisture and they leave the length and let the guys get beat up a little bit, I think you're going to be... I think it's still going to be fantastic.

I will be glued to the tube no matter what the results and what the weather is. But I think you could see a very different story. There's a guy who I love. Never gets talked about very much, hence under the radar. Xander Schauffele.

Oh yeah. I love his golf game. I love his demeanor. It just looks like this cat is ready to leap onto one of these big stages. He doesn't seem to have any sort of problem with these bigger stages. It's almost the opposite. It's like he's kind of primed at that time.

He's ready to go. Yeah, I agree with you. And again, just a smaller guy.

Oh yeah, smaller guy. What an efficient way to move your body. And it just looks... he's got that easy power. You know what I mean? You could see that Bryson swings and his hair is on fire. But it's kind of like when Fred swung and when Ernie swung and they bombed it. But it will look like they were just... But this guy's even simpler, less complicated than theirs.

And I'm with you. There's something about his backswing, and I guess you would say the width, that's exceptional for that size of a player. And that thing pops off. And you hear the announcers say on par fives, well, these other guys are bombers. And they're like, listen, Xander's not short.

He might not be not going to buy them, but he is not short. He's right on their heels all the time, and he's just wearing out the irons. Yeah, so it's going to be interesting to see if the way the golf course is set up is going to fit into anyone's game better than another.

That's why I'm predicting it could be a crapshoot out there. And, you know, Bubba Watson has not played well, but there's a guy that's won around there twice, and if there's ever a place that fits his eye, you know, he's one of those players that kind of, he goes in dribs and drabs. You see him, you don't see him. He's doing some kind of crazy stuff, and then all of a sudden, boom, he starts, you know, popping up. And he's popped up a little bit lately where he's had some good terms. It's not great necessarily, but some nice finishes where you can tell he's obviously getting some of the game back.

Yeah, there's some past champions that no one's expecting to do well at all. I've got a good one for you. I read just something about, there was a cool interview with Brooks Koepka just recently, and Brooks had a torn labrum in his hip and has got a cortisone shot and been working out like crazy and said he couldn't believe how much he was favoring between that and the surgically repaired knee. He couldn't believe how much he was favoring these things and feels just terrific.

That's fantastic. We want him back in the mix. It'd be nice to have his, he's got such a stir-it-up kind of, I'm a hard-ass, I'm kind of like Clint Eastwood of golf over here when most of these young guys would go, who the hell is Clint Eastwood? But he does, he's looking for anything that he can use to put that chip on his shoulder. He does a good job of it.

I've commented more than once, I wish he just played a lot more and spoke a lot less because he's so good and I just love the way he just plays with confidence. There's not a whole lot of mechanical thinking out there. He looks at it, sees it, and goes and does it. So I've got another name for you. Matthew Wolf.

It's either penthouse or somewhere lower. Yeah, he's that guy. And any way you look at it, it's an advantage, and especially if it's cold, if you can bomb it, because, granted, it'll play a lot longer, but if you're bombing it, you're still bombing it against the guys that are cold and hitting it shorter. Yeah, he's an interesting character, and I'll tell you what, he's had a lot of exposure, he's had some success, and his confidence is only growing. Yeah, so, all right, so I'm going to say Bryce and Deesha, and I want Bryce and Deesha and Bo to win. Okay, my sleeper pick, which is not a sleeper at all, but I'm going to go with Shafley. I love it. I love it. I'm taking the field. Okay, you got everybody else.

Good luck to me. Pearl, that's another show in the books, man. Love it.

Yeah, thanks for being here. What a great show. Do you know what our next show is? No. Number 100. A 100 show celebration. Wow. That doesn't speak well to how you and I set goals, because we never sat down and said, we hope we do 100 shows.

No. We were too busy trying to get through the first one. Right, we were hoping that after the first one, me would unlock that door and let us back in. Yeah, so that'll be fun. Well, congratulations on that, Jay. Yeah, we've got some great guests. We've got Dillard Pruitt in the line, who's a PGA Tour player and a good friend and a PGA Tour official, and also Valentino Dixon. And so maybe Valentino's the perfect guy for our next show, because he's got a special story.

Well, thanks again. That'll do it for Golf with Jay Delsing. Hit them straight, St. Louis. That was Golf with Jay Delsing, brought to you by Whitmore Country Club. Tune in next Sunday for more from Jay, John, and the other pros and experts from the golf world. In the meantime, you can find all of Jay's shows at 101espn.com, as well as at jaydelsinggolf.com. Music