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hey Runners only with dime Harvey
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Runners only with dom Harvey and Ryan
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Fox New Zealand's best golfer g'day mate
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hey mate well you can say that Lydia
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Cole's a little better than me at the
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moment to be fair female female yeah you
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say male golf okay male golfer we got
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that we got that hey welcome thanks for
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coming over yeah it's great to be here
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uh first things first I guess we have to
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tick off um I actually know first thing
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um this podcast was set up by Eric
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Murray who's been on the podcast I saw
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he was playing a charity thing with you
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last week um so I flipped him a message
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saying I'll hit Ryan up see if we'll go
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on my podcast and then next thing you
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know he he sent me your number and here
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you are now I just want to know what is
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Eric Murray's sales patch what does he
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say how does this um
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he's like hey Don wants to get in touch
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with you as all right if I pass on your
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number and Eric's done plenty of stuff
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for me and that you know I host a couple
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of charity events pretty much if you
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have if you host a golf day in New
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Zealand
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you could get Eric there basically I
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mean more than you he's obsessed and yes
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so you know he's done done me plenty of
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favors in that regard and claimed my
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couple of my golf days here and there so
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yeah it's not hard to repay the favor a
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little bit in that regard well amazing
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well I appreciate you being here um now
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the podcast is called Runner Zone
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because I'm I'm passionate about running
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I love running and I know that
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everyone's got some relationship to
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running so what's yours forced to do the
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cross country at school yep that's
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that's about the extent of it I've had
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um I've had ankle issues through golf
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for years
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um I've got flat feet and bowed legs
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which is unfortunately genetics
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um and I always hated running at school
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but after you know sort of hurting my
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ankle early on in my golf career I've
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stayed away from any of the impact stuff
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so
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um so you've got no relationship to
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running at all none you know maybe
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running between the wickets and Cricket
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back at school was the last time I
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probably ran ran anything properly and
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it's been a long time since I've been at
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school right well I've seen you I've
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seen you playing golf as most of us have
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and uh you're a big hitter so I'm
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guessing it was much the same with
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Cricket you did what you could to avoid
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the cheeky single uh yes yes yes fours
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and sixes were much easier than uh than
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the quick singles yeah okay fair enough
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um I mean you don't need running in your
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life like you've got a fantastic other
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side hustle going on don't you yeah yeah
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yeah golf goes all right at the moment
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to be fair and I mean I still walk 10K a
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day on a golf course you know like that
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that's pretty much what it is so it's
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not running you look at some I mean this
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there is speed golf now yeah a motorman
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had the world record for a while and gee
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with your drive you're a very long
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hitter you if you could just get a bit
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of speed in those ankles you'd be okay
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well we've got the World Champ at the
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moment don't we Jamie Reese yeah and
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he's he's trying to break a hundred
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which is shoot under 17 under 30 minutes
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which seems
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absurd yeah
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but I full respect to that I couldn't
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shoot I couldn't do that trying to run
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one golf hole let alone the whole course
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so
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um yeah it's there's always there is a
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little bit of relationship between Golf
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and running just just not with me yeah
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now let's um talk about some of your
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stats so end of 2021 you're 213 from the
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world uh end of 2022 29th in the world
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uh which is just it's Bonkers to me it's
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amazing that's such a substantial jump
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but I want to know like what's the
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difference between those two numbers is
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it just like a a couple of lucky putts
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or are you just a way different and way
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better golfer now than what you were 12
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months ago um
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I don't think I'm a way better golfer
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per se
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um it's
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you get a lot out of the out of good
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results so like winning makes a massive
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difference in the world rankings that's
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what yo it's all a world ranking point
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it's a front loaded and I had a lot of
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you know top finishes including a couple
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of wins this year so that helps
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massively with the world rankings but I
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think overall if you look at say scoring
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average which is what you know
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anything's kind of based on yeah it's
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only about half a shot difference around
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like it's not when you think about that
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over the scheme of things it's not
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it's not a lot yeah but obviously you
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know the the lower that is the
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the harder it is you know to improve to
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improve so incremental gains yeah and
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and obviously it's a bit Golf Course
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dependent too right you go yeah a harder
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Golf Course is obviously harder to shoot
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a low score on so your scoring average
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suffers if you play tougher golf courses
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yeah for sure so um goals for 2023 um so
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you've claimed 174 places in the past
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year if you go up just 28 places this
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year you're going to be the best in the
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world like is it as easy as that or no
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no so let I think if you look at
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it's it's based on a points breakdown
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um and my average points is somewhere
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close enough to three per event where
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what does that mean so so the world
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ranking you get given up a set amount of
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points per event that you're playing and
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it's all based on the field strength
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it's quite a complicated equation but
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basically you earn points at the end of
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a week depending on how you've done
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obviously the better you do the more
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points you earn yeah and then they
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basically take a divisor of how many
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tournaments you play and it's a minimum
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of 40 and a maximum of 52 so you've got
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a and it's a two-year two-year rolling
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ranking so my my points average for the
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last two years are somewhere around
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three probably just under and you look
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at
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um I think Rory at number one is
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somewhere around nine so I was I was
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sitting
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you know probably at 200 in the world I
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was sitting at somewhere around one you
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know just under one one point per
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averaging one point per event and I've
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taken that up to three then obviously
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the jump up to go to world number one is
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pretty pretty significant and if you go
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back you know a long time ago when tiger
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was dominating
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um world golf he was averaging 20. Jesus
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so at one stage he was more points ahead
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of second than what second have had
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average if that makes sense but that's
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because he's still I mean everyone knows
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Tiger Woods and even now if he lines up
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um this was a story on the sports news
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here in New Zealand about how he's how
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he's going how was backers and whatever
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um but he what was his win percentage
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like 20 15 so at his Peak it was
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something around 30 33 which
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you know if you compare it to other
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sports Chicago balls or even even you
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know tennis is probably a nice direct
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comparison right because it's an
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individual sport you know Djokovic and
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doll Federer those guys are up in the
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high 80s early 90s something like that
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over a whole career but you're only
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trying to beat one person at a time
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where you're trying to beat
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you start the week 100 there's 155 other
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guys in the field you're trying to beat
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so it's yeah like it's it's a little bit
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different in that respect so when you
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when you think about it 33 doesn't sound
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like a lot but then when you compare it
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to pretty much everyone else especially
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in the modern era of golf it is
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absolutely absurd when you can a Hall of
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Fame golf career is sort of eight or
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nine PGA Tour events and two and two
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majors and Tiger's got 15 majors and 80
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something PGA Tour events like it's it's
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absurd what he did and and it was over
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we still lost a lot yeah he did and he
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finished second a lot there's lots of
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other top tens
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um but he also had lots of wins lots of
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Seasons where he won nine times I mean
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that's
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unheard of yeah it's Bonkers but so he's
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um is he still behind Jack Nicholas the
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golden beer in terms of Majors yep so I
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don't think I don't think he is three
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behind Jackson was 18. and I don't think
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anyone's going to get close to Jack's
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number I think you know golfers you know
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it's become a bit harder as a sport both
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on your body I think you know there's a
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lot more power involved now and that you
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know the career what the longevity isn't
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in the career anymore just look at Tiger
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You Know Jack won his last Masters at
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46. and Tiger's been broken since he was
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before he was 40 you know he's had a
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he's obviously won a masters and a
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couple other events since then but it's
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nowhere near the same level
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um and also I think because there's so
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much money involved in the game now
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there's much more com you know it's a
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much more viable career path as an
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athlete yeah right so there's more more
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people doing it so I don't think you'll
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see anyone beat
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Jack I don't think you'll see anyone get
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near to Tiger to be honest yeah so
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speaking of the money it was exactly
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happy anniversary it was exactly a month
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ago today that you finished second at a
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tournament in South Africa and won 1.1
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million yeah which is from like from
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where I'm sitting for me and I suppose
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anyone listening to this podcast the
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only way you'd get a Payday that big
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would be if you won LOTTO maybe got an
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inheritance or sold a house that you've
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had for many many many years so my
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celebration with 1.1 million would
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probably involve
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um maybe some strippers cocaine a
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helicopter somewhere I don't know what
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was what do you do what do you do you
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finish second um you win 1.1 million
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what what does that night look like
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um to be honest I went to bed relatively
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early and jumped on a flight the next
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day with a two-year-old on the way to
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Dubai so
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um I did it I did actually go to the bar
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at business class on the A380 and have a
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couple of drinks while my little one was
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technically trying to sleep in my seat I
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didn't complain too much when I got sent
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back to the bar but I mean it's
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we've got a very funny way of life in
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that regard like you know your bears and
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your family Oh no just just golfers I
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mean our family's got a weird way of
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life as well but
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um
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we make
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because everything's in bunches right
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like generally and this probably wasn't
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the case this year but generally you
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make 80 percent of it 80 of your money
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in a year and 20 of your tournaments
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right so it's well just in terms of
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results yeah so and you know it's it's
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you know in professional sport in
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general you're never at the top your
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game every week and you get found out a
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bit more in individual sports
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potentially but
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you know there's only 20 of the time
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you're actually really on form the rest
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of it you're going okay and then there's
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a bit at the bottom where you're really
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struggling and
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you know you make a lot of money real
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quick in golf but I think what a lot of
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people don't realize is you know unlike
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sporting teams and stuff like that where
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everything's kind of covered it's not
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for us we put we cover everything yeah I
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wanted to want to ask you about that so
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you win you win 1.1 million I'm guessing
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there's taxes and stuff involved and
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plus some who like who's on who's on
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team Fox you've got a key I've got caddy
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I've got two coaches manager I've got a
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physio I've got a physio on tour I've
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got physio trainer back here I mean
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there's a decent amount of people so
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what are you really regardless of how
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well you do like at the start of the
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year like what are your fees for the
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year
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um so I I mean it's hard to work out but
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basically every event you've got flights
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accommodation food for a week and other
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sort of random expenses and then you
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know you're adding physio on top of that
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and all of that so I would say before
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you before I kick off for a year it's a
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minimum of a quarter of a mil New
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Zealand maybe maybe maybe more and then
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it then basically it's the
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the more you earn you get you pay out
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and percentage for caddies and coaches
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and stuff like that so
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um you know if I look
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just going off the top of my head this
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year my expenses per se because I've had
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a really good year are going to be well
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into seven figures
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which is fine it's fine because it's
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you've already made it and you're paying
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out from that but you know at the start
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of the year you are
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you know you're probably it probably
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costs you between five and ten Grand a
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week depending on where you're traveling
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to yeah that's when when you're in a
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slump like and I'm thinking um Michael
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Campbell for a time and also I'm from
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Palmerston North so I know ground weight
00:11:56
yeah um him for a time after he won the
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the was it the camper challenge yeah
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camper open yeah you've got to be like
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I'm a hemorrhaging money
00:12:03
seven cups in a row in 2019. so if you
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miss a cat that means that means the
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first two rounds you get asked you don't
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make any money no and you're I mean your
00:12:12
experiences are exactly the same you've
00:12:14
still got your caddy fee you've still
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got your flights you've still got your
00:12:17
accommodation you've still got all your
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food for a week so that's
00:12:21
you know
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four or five plus Grand minimum for the
00:12:24
week and I kind of I think to an extent
00:12:28
it's almost gambling you know it's it's
00:12:30
controlled it's control gambling right
00:12:33
you go well I'm back yeah I'm backing my
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own ability but you've got to spend
00:12:37
money to make money in that sense so
00:12:39
yeah yeah it gets if you'd have told me
00:12:43
you know in my first couple of years as
00:12:44
a pro where I just traveled around
00:12:46
Aussie the expenses weren't too bad you
00:12:48
know it was still 40 or 50 60 Grand a
00:12:50
year but you know I could I made a
00:12:52
little bit and was like oh yeah I've had
00:12:54
a good year all of a sudden when you're
00:12:56
traveling around the world doing it and
00:12:59
um you know do a lot of long-haul stuff
00:13:00
and I'm lucky enough to be able to do
00:13:02
some of that business class and all of
00:13:03
that now but it it gets steep pretty
00:13:06
quickly so absolutely yeah when it when
00:13:08
you're up in there you know five six
00:13:10
seven hundred thousand a year and
00:13:11
expenses it's it's it gets quite scary
00:13:13
quite quickly so is you're carry on like
00:13:16
a flat fee each week and then it gets a
00:13:18
percentage Yeah so okay so when you won
00:13:20
that 1.1 million dollars a month ago
00:13:21
today
00:13:22
um
00:13:24
I'm guessing Paddy was like yeah the
00:13:25
points that I get for the world rankings
00:13:27
and this and yeah but the caddy must be
00:13:30
thinking oh [ __ ] this is a good Payday
00:13:32
for me yes yeah I mean uh he gets eight
00:13:34
eight of that so it's like 88 000. yeah
00:13:38
yeah I paid him 45 000 pounds or
00:13:40
something oh my God so what did he do
00:13:41
that night strippers cocaine no he was
00:13:44
the same as me I mean he uh I think he
00:13:46
had a he had a couple of beers with his
00:13:48
mates and that was it but it's
00:13:50
I can't it's it's kind of weird like
00:13:52
it's you get you actually get numb to
00:13:55
really they just become figures those
00:13:57
become figures like yeah okay it's a lot
00:13:59
of money and you know um certainly not
00:14:02
downplaying it at all but you get so
00:14:05
used to so much coming in and so much
00:14:06
coming out and chunks like I don't even
00:14:08
I wouldn't know what a weekly paycheck
00:14:10
looks like you know and and you go
00:14:13
through yeah I've got I cut I'll have a
00:14:15
month or six weeks without getting paid
00:14:17
anything at the moment and that's kind
00:14:19
of normal and you know when you go all
00:14:20
right you know you can cover yourself
00:14:22
for a while that kind of thing so it's
00:14:24
yeah it's kind of a as I said it's
00:14:26
probably a very strange way to make a
00:14:28
living it is it's nuts it's Bonkers and
00:14:31
you're cater you fly home business class
00:14:32
eh why no so he covers he covers his own
00:14:35
expenses so that's how it works the flat
00:14:37
fee Connor covers most of his expenses
00:14:39
for the week so he can choose to fly
00:14:41
business if he wants uh or not
00:14:43
um most of them generally don't they're
00:14:45
just quite happy having a couple of
00:14:46
beers in the lounge and try to pass out
00:14:48
on the plane
00:14:49
um yeah and then you know he he gets a
00:14:53
he basically they're essentially
00:14:55
gambling on me right yeah or gambling on
00:14:57
your player if your players you don't
00:14:59
really make anything out of the fee for
00:15:01
the week you just make sure you don't
00:15:02
lose money and then you know if your
00:15:04
player does well
00:15:06
then you you make a good wage like you
00:15:08
know my cat has got eight percent of
00:15:11
whatever of well I eight and tens for a
00:15:14
win so he's he's had a couple of pretty
00:15:16
pretty decent paydays this year from me
00:15:18
and it's you know it's pretty cool he's
00:15:20
yeah like this year's changed his life
00:15:22
quite significantly I bet I bet so when
00:15:26
when you're lining up like those final
00:15:27
putts and there's 1.1 million dollars on
00:15:29
the line
00:15:30
um he may be able to play it cool but
00:15:32
his his partner back at home whatever
00:15:34
she must be thinking [ __ ] if Ryan gets
00:15:36
this we can renovate the kitchen or I I
00:15:38
don't I don't know I just stay away we
00:15:40
don't need that I stay away from it and
00:15:42
to be honest like I don't think about it
00:15:43
either I know early on I kinda I kind of
00:15:47
did you kind of think all this putt's
00:15:49
for 10 grand or 20 grand or whatever I
00:15:52
mean if you start thinking of it that
00:15:53
way you just lose it it's all about just
00:15:56
okay well this is it's it's as weird as
00:15:59
it sounds it's better to have a part to
00:16:01
win a tournament than it is to have a
00:16:02
putt for a million bucks yeah but I'm
00:16:04
guessing guessing you've got enough um
00:16:05
you know we talk about expenses and the
00:16:07
in-goings and the outgoings I suppose
00:16:09
you've got enough of a buff an hour or a
00:16:10
base that you can just focus on the golf
00:16:12
and focus on the rankings involved so
00:16:13
it's not about the money it's about no
00:16:15
no and to be fair it's not about the
00:16:17
money at the start either but
00:16:19
um when you're first starting out you
00:16:21
know you go to Q School which is a way
00:16:23
to get on a tour and that costs you a
00:16:24
bunch of money and you're almost in a
00:16:25
hole to start with so it almost
00:16:27
automatically becomes about the money
00:16:29
because you need to play well to
00:16:30
actually be able to keep doing what
00:16:31
you're doing right and then you know
00:16:33
once you at least know you cover
00:16:35
yourself then it's about
00:16:37
the results that's not you know there's
00:16:39
definitely guys that play for money out
00:16:41
there I'm not I'm not one of them
00:16:42
obviously it's a it's a really nice
00:16:44
benefit of it but it's you know it's
00:16:46
like hey you know the
00:16:49
um I want to win tournaments I want to
00:16:51
do well and I get more reward out of you
00:16:54
know I won Dunhill length so you know a
00:16:56
couple of months ago and I got much more
00:16:58
out of that than looking at what the
00:17:00
paycheck was at the end of it just what
00:17:02
what do you mean much about that like
00:17:03
getting your name on a trophy well yeah
00:17:04
it just you know that's what it's
00:17:06
itching your name yeah yeah that's what
00:17:08
you know it was a tournament around the
00:17:09
old course at St Andrews it's the home
00:17:11
of golf I got to win the tournament
00:17:13
round there and that means a a whole lot
00:17:15
more in terms of Legacy in terms of
00:17:18
your career than you know whatever that
00:17:20
paycheck was yeah and I suppose in a way
00:17:23
does that mean you're exempt from going
00:17:25
back to qualifying school for many many
00:17:26
years not many many but again what the
00:17:29
one thing we don't have in golf is job
00:17:31
security right so yeah you know imagine
00:17:33
for you on a podcast right that you have
00:17:36
to have a certain amount of subscribers
00:17:38
or certain amount of listeners every
00:17:40
year if you don't reach that then it
00:17:42
disappears so I would have been given
00:17:44
given the ask from the platform ages ago
00:17:46
so and that's kind of what it is for us
00:17:48
right you start out from scratch at the
00:17:50
beginning of the year and if you don't
00:17:52
earn enough money you start you go back
00:17:55
and you I had a mate this year who's
00:17:57
been on tour for quite a few years and
00:18:00
he played terrible made a couple of cuts
00:18:02
and he's right you know right back from
00:18:05
scratch and burn to a lot of money this
00:18:07
year and it does happen so winning is
00:18:09
the one that gives you the exemption so
00:18:11
I've got exemption until the end of 24
00:18:13
so it's kind of nice having you know I
00:18:15
know I've got I've got job security for
00:18:17
two years that's a big part of this game
00:18:19
which you don't get otherwise oh how
00:18:21
good so the Q School thing and all of
00:18:23
that I want to get back into that but I
00:18:24
feel like we need to go back to the
00:18:26
beginning and unpack the life of Ryan
00:18:27
Fox so so
00:18:30
um when you're born
00:18:33
how far is your dad into his career your
00:18:35
dad's the great grandfox so I was born
00:18:36
in 87. 87 when did when did when did
00:18:38
your dad retire 93 87 okay so 87 was
00:18:42
obviously a pretty important year
00:18:44
the very first Rugby World Cup yeah yeah
00:18:47
yeah yeah yeah so so that's actually
00:18:48
it's actually quite funny my wife was
00:18:51
born on the day of the World Cup final
00:18:54
actually yep yep that's amazing yeah I
00:18:57
only found out about that because they
00:18:59
did some
00:19:00
um newspaper thing quite a few years ago
00:19:02
and rang all the uh parents of the kids
00:19:05
that were born actually she was born
00:19:06
during the during the final they rang
00:19:10
all the parents and well they rang their
00:19:12
mum and mum's going well you never
00:19:13
believe it but she's actually going out
00:19:15
with uh one of the you know one of the
00:19:18
guys one of the players Sons so that's
00:19:21
how I that's how she didn't know what an
00:19:23
amazing full circle thing so do you know
00:19:25
much about the birth like was the was
00:19:26
her dad
00:19:28
I'm pretty sure her dad and the doctor
00:19:30
were watching it
00:19:33
that's that's about as far as I got with
00:19:35
that yeah so I mean for you
00:19:38
you must look back and think if that was
00:19:40
an unusual childhood I suppose at the
00:19:41
time you don't think anything of it
00:19:42
because it's just your life
00:19:44
um but your dad was like a New Zealand
00:19:46
[ __ ] rock star yeah I mean I was one
00:19:49
of the greatest goalkeepers ever so you
00:19:51
must have been you know I don't know
00:19:53
sitting on [ __ ] Martin Crow's lap as
00:19:55
a kid
00:19:57
yeah when you you actually at the nail
00:20:00
on the head when you're a kid it's just
00:20:01
normal right that's what I grew up in it
00:20:03
doesn't matter but yeah like Martin Crow
00:20:05
was dad's best mate you know going into
00:20:07
the changing room and being able to call
00:20:09
all these all blacks and you know
00:20:11
Auckland players by name and know them
00:20:13
and you know still you know Dad's still
00:20:15
friends with them to this day kind of
00:20:16
thing and obviously I know you know guys
00:20:18
like John Kohler and Sean Fitzpatrick
00:20:19
those guys
00:20:20
yeah it's
00:20:22
kind of weird to think about it now that
00:20:24
I've got some perspective on it but as a
00:20:26
kid it was just okay that's JK or that's
00:20:28
your normal it's just normal yeah yeah
00:20:30
and that's you know I was lucky enough
00:20:31
you know Dad coached all my Rugby teams
00:20:34
growing up so we you know felt like we
00:20:35
kind of had an advantage there I got
00:20:38
coached by Martin Crowe for batting and
00:20:39
Cricket when I was a teenager I mean you
00:20:41
know it's pretty hard to have access to
00:20:43
that any other way so yeah and got to
00:20:46
play golf with I think one of my first
00:20:48
memories on the golf course one of the
00:20:50
first rounds of golf I ever played was
00:20:51
at Royal Auckland where Dad was a member
00:20:54
um which I'm a member at now and I think
00:20:57
I was about 10 years old and it was Mark
00:20:58
Nicholas Ian Botham Martin crime old man
00:21:01
and I sort of tagged along and hit a few
00:21:03
shots and yeah
00:21:04
so you didn't even realize I didn't even
00:21:07
know yeah I mean I I I I knew cricket
00:21:09
and I probably knew who in both of them
00:21:11
Mark Nicholas and Marty were but I
00:21:13
didn't have any appreciation they were
00:21:14
just yeah yeah
00:21:16
dudes that Dad and Marty knew and that
00:21:18
was that was it and you look at it now
00:21:20
and you know people pay literally
00:21:27
walking around just hacking balls around
00:21:30
it's nice that you can look back at it
00:21:31
now and realize what a huge huge thing
00:21:33
it was um what was what was your what do
00:21:36
you know if your dad was even at your
00:21:37
birth because it was a different era
00:21:38
back there layoff and all that gets
00:21:39
pregnant they'll get excused from tour
00:21:41
and stuff but back then it was rugby
00:21:42
first he was around for mine he wasn't
00:21:44
around for my sisters a couple of years
00:21:46
later I think she was by all accounts
00:21:48
she was a little bit late and he delayed
00:21:51
going to was it Japan I actually I don't
00:21:54
know I mean I was I was three years old
00:21:56
or something but he delayed going
00:21:58
somewhere and then she still wasn't born
00:22:00
and then he disappeared and she was he
00:22:02
met her six weeks later or whatever it
00:22:04
was and what was he what was he like as
00:22:06
a dad Growing Up So if it's a mum
00:22:07
podcast and radio interviews he's done
00:22:09
recently and he seems like um like yeah
00:22:11
he seems quite quite gentle and quite
00:22:13
kind and quite his view on the current
00:22:15
players and what they have to go through
00:22:17
in terms of like social media and cancer
00:22:18
culture and stuff he's um he's quite
00:22:20
empathetic empathetic wasn't was he
00:22:22
always like that it was he he was quite
00:22:25
tough to be fair I mean he was always
00:22:28
it always came from the right place yeah
00:22:30
he was super competitive so I mean yeah
00:22:34
I mean that's that's I mean he stopped
00:22:37
playing tennis before I could beat him
00:22:40
oh I was like 13 or 14. really yeah I
00:22:43
mean he cited a bad restaurant he still
00:22:45
has a bad wrist but I think he gave it
00:22:47
up a little bit earlier than he probably
00:22:48
could have otherwise really we started
00:22:50
to snatch a few games off him here and
00:22:52
then yeah he didn't talk to me when I
00:22:54
first beat him off the stick at golf is
00:22:55
that right yeah how old I was about 15
00:22:57
then dad's played off single figures
00:22:59
he's played off sort of four or five
00:23:01
since I can remember so it was always
00:23:03
pretty good what do you mean he didn't
00:23:04
speak to you for two days I was angry at
00:23:06
how he played right you know there was
00:23:08
and you know there was I was a sitting
00:23:10
coach media rugby growing up I didn't
00:23:13
help myself I played first five eight
00:23:15
and kicked goals as well so I was [ __ ]
00:23:17
yeah
00:23:18
um
00:23:19
when you bit him in golf for the first
00:23:21
time as a teenager where you were you
00:23:23
like like bragging or gloating in the
00:23:25
car ride home were you no no no no no no
00:23:27
no that's that you weren't poking the
00:23:29
beer oh no the beer was
00:23:31
the bear was in the bed it didn't need
00:23:33
to be poked I mean and that was yeah Dad
00:23:36
Dad was dead was great always supportive
00:23:38
of everything I wanted to do and
00:23:40
whatever it didn't matter what sport but
00:23:41
there was there was a pure hatred of
00:23:44
losing and whether it was snow coat
00:23:46
There Was You know I I don't I don't
00:23:48
remember
00:23:49
snooker table tennis tennis golf
00:23:52
whatever it was I don't
00:23:54
I don't ever remember
00:23:57
dad being
00:23:58
I um it might have happened when I was
00:24:00
really young and I don't remember it but
00:24:02
I don't ever remember dad being nice
00:24:04
enough to let me win when I was good
00:24:06
enough at something to give them a go
00:24:07
you know it was always like well if
00:24:09
you're going to beat me you've got to
00:24:10
beat me properly I'm not giving you it
00:24:12
amazing so so I'm fixated on this golf
00:24:16
thing so so you get home and it's it's
00:24:18
just everyone's sort of walking around
00:24:19
on eggshells for a couple of days or
00:24:21
yeah I mean you're exaggerating about
00:24:24
two days probably a day probably yeah
00:24:25
that's what I remember but it was
00:24:27
probably more like two hours and it was
00:24:28
just yeah he just grumpy I mean you know
00:24:32
he's
00:24:33
the amount he's still the same now I
00:24:35
mean there's there's
00:24:37
he hates playing bad in golf I think
00:24:39
most golfers hate playing bad but dad's
00:24:41
you know Dad loves a few a bit of
00:24:43
swearing and I mean I've got a couple of
00:24:45
great stories of him on the golf course
00:24:46
he's I've played in New Zealand I open
00:24:48
with him as and he was my amateur
00:24:50
partner and I you know he's he doesn't
00:24:53
mind a club throw doesn't mind swearing
00:24:55
on the golf course I said dad there's
00:24:56
going to be quite a lot of people
00:24:57
watching us out there he's like you know
00:24:59
you probably can't you know throw throw
00:25:01
your toys and throw clubs and swear and
00:25:03
he goes he goes I can get away with not
00:25:05
throwing a club but there's no way I'm
00:25:06
not [ __ ] smearing and that's exactly
00:25:09
what happened about three holes then and
00:25:11
there was another one um it's a man of
00:25:13
my old man's and we used to play golf
00:25:15
every summer down at the mount at the
00:25:17
mount and I just got a new set of clubs
00:25:18
I was probably like 16 17 or something
00:25:20
like that and I had a bad shot and about
00:25:23
four holes in I Chuck I it falls and I
00:25:26
Chuck my club
00:25:27
and MOB man looks at his mate and he
00:25:30
goes look I know this is hypocritical
00:25:32
but I'm gonna have to go at him for this
00:25:35
so he scolded me for throwing his clubs
00:25:38
I've learned it off Dad so yeah Dad was
00:25:43
yeah there was yeah
00:25:45
it was competitive I mean even eating in
00:25:47
our household was competitive you know I
00:25:49
he went to boarding school growing up if
00:25:52
you didn't eat fast you didn't get
00:25:53
seconds so he always ate fast and I
00:25:55
always wanted to eat as fast as he did
00:25:56
or faster
00:25:57
that's amazing so it's just we just grew
00:26:00
up in it wow just one of those people
00:26:02
that's competitive with it so you think
00:26:04
if you were if you were that good at
00:26:06
something like he was at goal kicking
00:26:07
and playing rugby there you could let
00:26:09
everything else slide in your life well
00:26:11
are you the same or are you
00:26:13
um
00:26:14
I'm a bit more relaxed in a lot of ways
00:26:18
than he is
00:26:19
um I'm a lot less analytical I think
00:26:21
that's that was where him and I differ a
00:26:23
lot you know he was always and playing
00:26:25
golf he's the same he's if something
00:26:28
goes wrong he wants to know what it was
00:26:29
whereas I've kind of been like if it's a
00:26:32
trend I'll figure out what's going on
00:26:34
but if it's one bad shot or one bad
00:26:36
thing it's just easier to escape stuff
00:26:39
it doesn't matter you know I was
00:26:41
listening to a podcast a few weeks ago
00:26:42
this one called the high performance
00:26:43
podcast and they had Johnny Wilkinson on
00:26:45
same position as you did
00:26:46
um probably almost as brilliant as you
00:26:48
did as well at goal kicking and he he
00:26:50
was the same sort of thing he's finally
00:26:51
got to a point in life now where he can
00:26:52
do things like
00:26:54
um go to the Christmas show with his
00:26:55
kids put the ping pong balls in the
00:26:57
clown mouth and not be too upset if he
00:26:58
doesn't if he doesn't win yeah dad dad
00:27:01
hasn't got to that part I don't I don't
00:27:03
think he'll ever get to that point yeah
00:27:05
you'd hope not so um
00:27:08
so I mean I don't know if you even
00:27:11
thought about it at the time because
00:27:12
maybe maybe when you're a kid it's not
00:27:13
one of those things you even think about
00:27:14
but there must have been a massive
00:27:16
amount of pressure like growing up with
00:27:17
the fox name especially being a rugby
00:27:19
player and playing in the same position
00:27:21
yeah I mean I definitely didn't help
00:27:23
myself with with there was always going
00:27:25
to be yeah if I'd have gone and played
00:27:27
flanker or something like that it
00:27:28
wouldn't have mattered as much you know
00:27:29
I was like okay it's Fox's kid but yeah
00:27:32
when you when you play the same position
00:27:33
and kick goals as well yeah there's
00:27:35
always going to be that direct
00:27:36
comparison and you you know I got
00:27:39
I definitely wasn't as good I was okay
00:27:41
at rugby in that sense like I wasn't
00:27:42
there was a no shame in not being as
00:27:44
good yeah oh yeah I mean yeah it's
00:27:45
pretty hard to live up to that so but
00:27:47
was it was it your call to like were you
00:27:50
like I want to play that position
00:27:51
someone just like my dad or do you think
00:27:53
coaches are like oh I think it was a
00:27:55
little bit Yeah I think a little bit
00:27:57
early on it was like okay well your dad
00:28:00
was good at this you should know what to
00:28:01
do so you go in there and it just ended
00:28:02
up being being me and that's about the
00:28:06
only thing I had over dad as I was a bit
00:28:07
better at tackling I was a little bit
00:28:08
bigger than him so that's the only thing
00:28:10
I had people thought they could run over
00:28:12
me and I wasn't so bad at making them
00:28:14
fall down but he always said he had
00:28:16
Michael Jones inside him which was a
00:28:18
pretty pretty fair answer he didn't have
00:28:20
to tackle with Michael yeah yeah no
00:28:22
that's fair enough
00:28:24
um so were you good at Naturally good at
00:28:25
sport growing up were you just one of
00:28:26
those annoying kids that you're good at
00:28:27
pretty good at rugby pretty good
00:28:29
unfortunately yes I mean my mum's dad
00:28:31
played Cricket for New Zealand as well
00:28:32
so move Wallace isn't
00:28:35
um played for New Zealand from mid 30s
00:28:37
to early 50s so obviously World War II
00:28:39
in between and yeah I've read about this
00:28:41
he was you didn't have too much of a he
00:28:43
was quite old
00:28:44
pretty old when I was born I had a fair
00:28:46
bit to do you know he had a fair bit to
00:28:48
do with my Cricket when I was younger
00:28:49
but he was quite ill sort of in my early
00:28:52
teenage years lost the sights and stuff
00:28:54
like that so
00:28:55
um didn't yeah I think he passed away
00:28:58
when I was sort of 20 or 21 but so he
00:29:00
kind of didn't see any of my golf career
00:29:02
yeah to an extent but there was
00:29:04
definitely sporting chains there my mum
00:29:06
was decent at tennis so we grew up
00:29:08
playing oh we'll see yeah
00:29:11
not not to any International League or
00:29:15
something like that but she was a good
00:29:16
inter Club player and she played a lot
00:29:17
of tennis when we were kids
00:29:20
um and you know we played
00:29:22
everything growing up I mean rugby and
00:29:24
Cricket were my two Bay months cricket
00:29:26
was uh tennis was probably number three
00:29:28
and then you know dad always played golf
00:29:30
as well so I kind of I always had golf
00:29:32
clubs as a kid and then
00:29:33
sort of played joined the club at 13 and
00:29:36
started actually playing properly then
00:29:38
and got down to a pretty low handicap
00:29:40
for at about 15 and that you know it
00:29:43
just I was just one of those annoying
00:29:44
people that you know seen if you ever
00:29:46
had a ball I was relatively competent at
00:29:49
it if it was right if it was running
00:29:51
like running I'm I'm useless I could run
00:29:54
for something I could run after a ball
00:29:57
fine in rugby or run between the rickets
00:29:59
and Cricket to an extent but running for
00:30:01
the sake of running didn't get me yeah
00:30:03
well maybe you just sounded a bit boring
00:30:05
why I don't I I don't know I just
00:30:08
I don't I think it was also one of those
00:30:10
things I was never good at yeah so it
00:30:12
was kind of yeah as a you know some of
00:30:15
the ball Sports came a little bit easier
00:30:16
so I obviously gravitated towards them a
00:30:19
lot more than something I wasn't very
00:30:21
good yeah so okay so so you see you go
00:30:24
through school
00:30:25
um you're playing you're playing golf
00:30:26
you're playing a bit of tennis you're
00:30:27
playing rugby you're playing Cricket
00:30:29
um when when do you drop the other
00:30:30
sports when do you reach that sort of
00:30:32
like fork in the road well that actually
00:30:34
was at University so I started
00:30:37
um I started a law degree at Auckland
00:30:38
University I gave up rugby after I left
00:30:41
school I played a year in men's Cricket
00:30:42
after I left school and didn't enjoy
00:30:44
that as much as as playing with my mates
00:30:46
at school and
00:30:48
then I decided that I still needed
00:30:51
something competitive I need I wanted to
00:30:52
do something and I played off a two
00:30:53
handicap at that point so I was like
00:30:55
okay well let's give golf a crack and
00:30:58
see what happens and got some coaching
00:30:59
played my first tournament and
00:31:01
I said well in the June or July of my
00:31:04
first year university I absolutely loved
00:31:06
it and that was me done so I've finished
00:31:09
I didn't finish the law degree I ended
00:31:10
up with an arts degree in Psychology and
00:31:12
Mum and that was the one thing if mum
00:31:14
and dad were going to support my golf
00:31:15
fight to stay at Uni even though I
00:31:16
didn't really go to UNI very much
00:31:18
towards the end of it
00:31:20
um I passed I got my degree it was all
00:31:22
good um but you know sort of I guess
00:31:24
when I was 21 20 or 21 when I first made
00:31:27
the New Zealand Squad and that was when
00:31:28
I kind of figured that I had a chance
00:31:30
with golf is that quite late yeah yeah
00:31:33
is it yeah I mean you've got you know
00:31:35
we've got there's a couple of twins on
00:31:36
tour at the moment the hoi guard twins
00:31:38
on the on the European tour and they
00:31:41
that one five times between them before
00:31:43
21. yeah and Lydia koshy was world
00:31:46
number one when she was like eight or
00:31:47
something yeah something like that I
00:31:48
mean but I think she I think she won on
00:31:50
on the LPGA at 15 yeah what to be fair
00:31:54
women's golf has always been
00:31:56
younger than men's golf in that respect
00:31:59
I don't was that a strength thing or
00:32:01
yeah I think obviously you're a bit more
00:32:04
fully developed as a woman okay at sort
00:32:06
of 15 16 and what you are as a man yeah
00:32:10
yeah it's you don't put on that bulk you
00:32:13
know so a lot and a lot of guys go to
00:32:15
college as well in the states and sort
00:32:17
of turn probably 21 22. there's still
00:32:19
you know you know Rory McIlroy a few
00:32:22
others turned Pro a lot earlier than
00:32:23
that but it's it's definitely getting
00:32:25
earlier now than what it was you know
00:32:27
it's it's
00:32:28
golf used to be especially in the men's
00:32:31
game a relatively old man's game you
00:32:34
know mid-30s and Sport mid 30s is
00:32:37
relatively old right yeah yeah actually
00:32:40
I was thinking about this this morning
00:32:42
um like golfing probably distance
00:32:43
running like marathons it's one where if
00:32:45
you're in your 30s it's probably your
00:32:47
Peak yeah and golf is still I think I
00:32:50
read something the other day like the
00:32:51
average age on the PJ tour of 15 or 20
00:32:53
years ago was like 37 36 or something
00:32:56
and now it's 28.
00:32:58
so I think just because there's there's
00:33:01
more power everyone's
00:33:03
a bit more athletic I think it's going
00:33:05
it's not going to quite go down the road
00:33:08
of all the other sports we're at sort of
00:33:09
35 it's pretty hard to compete but it's
00:33:12
getting harder now and you your shelf
00:33:14
life isn't quite as long as what it used
00:33:16
to be in this game yeah just because of
00:33:17
the strains on the body yeah yeah yeah
00:33:19
um so you mentioned you um yeah you
00:33:21
start doing a law degree then you
00:33:23
switched over to psychology does the
00:33:25
does that because I feel like off such a
00:33:27
mental game does the psychology degree
00:33:28
help you at all these days on not really
00:33:31
I mean the biggest thing I had growing
00:33:33
up was I had a I had a sports
00:33:35
psychologist anyway right and my old man
00:33:36
you know that's it's not
00:33:39
doesn't use the technical terms or
00:33:41
anything like that but just the
00:33:43
advisable yeah yeah I mean the idea of
00:33:45
routines and the idea of you know
00:33:47
dealing how to deal with pressure and
00:33:49
stuff like that while
00:33:50
he didn't specifically try to drill it
00:33:53
into me at any stage you know he cared
00:33:55
for me a lot when I was playing amateur
00:33:56
golf it just kind of
00:33:58
it happened yeah yeah actually that's
00:34:00
true there are a lot of parallels
00:34:01
between the two aren't there especially
00:34:03
goal kicking you know if you think the
00:34:04
ball doesn't move you know it's all
00:34:05
you've got to start everything yourself
00:34:07
it's all target oriented it's all kind
00:34:09
of a repetitive movement so yes there's
00:34:12
a fair bit in that I think top level
00:34:15
sport in general at the highest level is
00:34:18
more mental than anything else which is
00:34:19
why you know you'll see lots of teams or
00:34:22
whatever get people from other sports
00:34:24
and to to kind of offer advice maybe not
00:34:27
the technical side of it but the mental
00:34:28
side of it is very similar across across
00:34:30
the board yes but you know we're talking
00:34:31
about Eric Murray earlier you know he
00:34:33
talked to Eric in the you know about
00:34:35
high performance and Eric said Jack the
00:34:37
lady you know he loves the bear he loves
00:34:39
it he loves having a bit of fun but you
00:34:42
get them on the high performance stuff
00:34:43
and you can see why he was you know as
00:34:45
good as he was because he was he was
00:34:47
really driven and he that he had a
00:34:49
really good perspective on how high
00:34:51
performance worked yeah right and am I
00:34:54
um did I read somewhere that you your
00:34:56
dad put you in touch with Steve Hansen
00:34:58
as well and you just some decisions with
00:34:59
him yeah I've been lucky and again I
00:35:01
mean it's not many not many people
00:35:03
probably had that opportunity what could
00:35:05
Steve Hanson one of the one of the
00:35:06
greatest all black coaches ever but what
00:35:08
what sort of advice could he offer you
00:35:09
that your dad couldn't
00:35:11
um it was just a lot of it was going
00:35:13
through how they deal with adversity and
00:35:15
I think you know were you were you going
00:35:17
through a patch at the time I was
00:35:19
struggling a little bit at the time and
00:35:20
I think it's it was one of those
00:35:23
where Steve was really really good as
00:35:25
how we articulated it right he was my
00:35:28
man understood it all but
00:35:30
the message was a little bit blurry to
00:35:32
an extent at for what the All Blacks
00:35:34
were doing whereas obviously Steve Steve
00:35:36
had a much more inside grasp of what was
00:35:38
going on but he actually what made him a
00:35:40
great coach from from what I could see
00:35:43
from the outside as as man management
00:35:45
how we articulated it to his players and
00:35:48
I think how we you know he made it
00:35:50
really simple for me but you got the
00:35:52
feeling that he could sort of tailor the
00:35:54
message to kind of fit the person
00:35:57
because everyone's obviously different
00:35:58
in that regard right sure yeah it's it's
00:36:01
that's why you've got so many different
00:36:03
sports psychologists around and stuff
00:36:04
like that because people needed sort of
00:36:06
it's all kind of the same stuff but it's
00:36:09
it's how the how the message is
00:36:11
portrayed that you know resonates with
00:36:13
with each individual person yeah well
00:36:15
did it give anything that you could pass
00:36:16
on that could be useful to anyone that's
00:36:18
listening to this or is it very very
00:36:19
specific
00:36:21
it was quite specific to be fair
00:36:24
um I've got it I could probably find it
00:36:26
I'm I've got it all written down and it
00:36:28
was
00:36:29
um like is this something that you read
00:36:30
and refer to like the morning yeah I've
00:36:32
not necessarily
00:36:34
um but I've gone like I've gone back and
00:36:36
looked at it um
00:36:39
I think the one the one I remember off
00:36:40
the top of my head was they had sort of
00:36:43
the idea of you were a redhead or a blue
00:36:45
head and not really oh yeah blue is
00:36:48
called when you're losing your call yeah
00:36:50
and yeah it was basically like you know
00:36:52
when you're under pressure you've got it
00:36:53
you've pretty much got a choice to be
00:36:55
one or the other right you're a redhead
00:36:57
and you lose your call and you you know
00:36:59
everything's kind of emotive and you
00:37:02
know happens really quickly or you can
00:37:03
be a blue head and
00:37:05
um you know be cool calm collected make
00:37:08
the right decisions kind of thing and
00:37:12
you can make it a choice so that you
00:37:14
know that's kind of what I remember
00:37:16
specifically there was a lot about
00:37:18
enjoyment in it as well and finding ways
00:37:21
to enjoy the hard stuff that the you
00:37:24
know the going through the hard work
00:37:26
even though sometimes it sucks when
00:37:28
you're doing it
00:37:30
that's where you get the enjoyment from
00:37:32
at the end you know once once you've
00:37:34
gone through it and you get the success
00:37:35
all of a sudden the hard work becomes
00:37:37
enjoy you know doing that hard work
00:37:39
actually has some enjoyment to it yeah
00:37:42
wow that's good so what do you do to
00:37:44
reset like a if the red hits say you've
00:37:48
had like a like an absolute [ __ ] of a
00:37:49
shot or a hole is this something you do
00:37:51
like I know some of the All Blacks like
00:37:53
looked at a person in the crowd or
00:37:55
touched the grass or
00:37:57
um is there anything particular you do
00:37:59
not not really
00:38:01
um just throw your clubs
00:38:03
I mean I'm I'll be one to call myself a
00:38:07
few names under my breath yeah I think
00:38:08
everyone that's played golf has called
00:38:10
themselves several things that you
00:38:12
probably don't want to do otherwise
00:38:14
um it's good that you don't under your
00:38:15
breath I've heard tiger do it out loud
00:38:17
yeah well he's done a lot worse than
00:38:19
that to be fair I think I think I think
00:38:21
we all have on the on the golf course it
00:38:24
gets you big time but
00:38:26
um for me it's it's the whole one shot
00:38:29
at a time I actually don't for me I
00:38:31
don't it doesn't really matter how you
00:38:33
react to a shot it's the it's the
00:38:36
ability to get over it I mean you know
00:38:37
there's some guys that are really cool
00:38:39
come and collected you know you think of
00:38:41
someone like Fred Couples
00:38:42
um that look like nothing ever bothered
00:38:45
him that he could hit the best shot in
00:38:46
the world or the worst shot in the world
00:38:47
and their action was kind of the same or
00:38:50
you had tiger probably the opposite
00:38:51
endure of the spectrum where you know he
00:38:53
was he wore us hard on his sleeve to an
00:38:55
extent and he knew exactly what he
00:38:57
thought about every golf shot so it's
00:38:58
better that you think like it's on the
00:39:00
back of my mind I'm thinking John Daly a
00:39:03
guy that's capable of having 15 and a
00:39:05
hole and I would say daily daily let it
00:39:08
get to him what I was going to more go
00:39:10
down as they tiger and Fred reacted very
00:39:12
differently but what they could do is
00:39:14
once they got to a shot
00:39:16
is forget about what had happened and
00:39:19
that's kind of the thing you just got to
00:39:20
go and regardless of what's happened
00:39:22
you know every your next shot's a new
00:39:25
opportunity kind of thing like there's
00:39:27
no point reliving what you've just done
00:39:29
or getting angry or whatever so yeah if
00:39:32
you've you can get angry when you hit it
00:39:33
but once you get to the next one it's
00:39:36
you've got to be able to reset and
00:39:37
that's kind of what you've yeah right
00:39:40
what you've got to do and that's kind of
00:39:42
just the process going forward it's just
00:39:44
go it's try to be as simple as possible
00:39:46
pick a shot hit a shot
00:39:47
and trust it yeah yeah so um did you
00:39:51
start sort of getting into I know you're
00:39:53
going to go off before because of your
00:39:54
dad but did you sort of um fall in love
00:39:56
with it because of the tiger effect or
00:39:58
were you was he set up before your time
00:40:00
a little bit no he was he was definitely
00:40:02
um
00:40:03
I was about 10 right when he won the
00:40:06
Masters so that was kind of yeah that a
00:40:09
professional age yeah yep so yeah we're
00:40:12
getting into golf at the yeah except
00:40:13
literally was like tiger
00:40:15
Ernie else yeah tiger Phil Mickelson
00:40:17
yeah the Golden Era of golf
00:40:19
yeah it's
00:40:21
that was a pretty good ERA I mean you
00:40:23
look you almost feel sorry to an extent
00:40:25
for guys like Phil and Ernie I mean they
00:40:28
would
00:40:29
if they were in any other era they
00:40:32
legitimately would have been yeah
00:40:33
potentially the best golfers yeah
00:40:35
they've ever been or in in that
00:40:37
conversation and all of a sudden you've
00:40:38
got someone come in and
00:40:41
when tiger was on he made them look
00:40:43
second ranked which is when they made
00:40:45
everyone else look second rate I mean it
00:40:47
was you talk to some of the guys that
00:40:49
played with tiger in that era and it was
00:40:51
scary how good he was have you you ever
00:40:53
played with him you must have been in
00:40:54
the same tournament I've played I've
00:40:56
played a few tournaments with them I've
00:40:58
played behind him a couple of times in
00:41:00
tournaments I've played a a hole with
00:41:02
them in practice which was quite cool I
00:41:04
mean it was at the time where he was
00:41:06
really struggling with the back and I
00:41:08
think you know he was dosing up on
00:41:10
painkillers pretty pretty hard at the
00:41:12
time so I think he was a little bit on a
00:41:15
different planet sure but um yeah just
00:41:17
to say that I've
00:41:18
I've done it was cool I'd love to play
00:41:20
with them in a tournament I mean I know
00:41:22
it's an absolute circus a complete
00:41:24
circus but yeah in terms of the crowds
00:41:26
that follow yeah yeah but apparently he
00:41:28
was really good at controlling that like
00:41:30
he was always regardless of him wanting
00:41:33
to win he was always really respectful
00:41:34
of his opponents and he quite often Mark
00:41:36
really short putts because he knew if he
00:41:39
if he tapped in the crowd will just
00:41:41
disappear to the next hole and leave
00:41:43
whoever poor bastard that was putting
00:41:44
with you know this crowd that was
00:41:47
uncontrollable so he was he said years
00:41:49
to think about it I guess yeah yeah I
00:41:50
mean it's impressive to be under that
00:41:52
much scrutiny
00:41:54
your whole time and perform the way you
00:41:58
did
00:41:59
yeah and I think what makes it even more
00:42:00
remarkable like the um the personal life
00:42:02
stuff like when he was when he was when
00:42:03
he was banging cocktail waitresses and
00:42:05
it was flying girls over to Australia
00:42:07
and had all the stuff going on he was
00:42:09
playing phenomenal golf then it was
00:42:11
almost like he was invincible at that
00:42:13
point I think yeah I yeah I mean I he
00:42:16
seemed to him and the other guy who I
00:42:18
spent a lot of time with it seemed to me
00:42:20
that was Shane Ward no matter what was
00:42:22
going on off
00:42:25
you know the cricket pitch or the golf
00:42:26
course as soon as they got on their
00:42:29
respective grounds
00:42:30
they managed to block it they could
00:42:32
block everything out and turn it on and
00:42:34
no warning would play ashes series
00:42:36
you know with whatever going on off the
00:42:39
back and all of a sudden take 40 odd
00:42:40
wickets and you know hold up hold the
00:42:44
Australian team together kind of thing
00:42:46
you guys you guys um you went close
00:42:48
close but you were friends right yeah I
00:42:50
knew worn it pretty well played quite a
00:42:51
bit of golf with them and well sorry for
00:42:53
your loss earlier this year yeah that
00:42:54
must be one of your low points of um
00:42:56
2022 I guess I think it's still a bit of
00:42:58
a shot yeah
00:43:00
um yeah so what was your relationship
00:43:01
like you text each other yeah yeah
00:43:04
um I played a lot when I played a lot of
00:43:06
golf with them in the UK played the
00:43:07
dunel links which is a Pro-Am tournament
00:43:09
with them every year so you know he was
00:43:12
I I felt like you know if I could
00:43:15
I could text him and I knew I'd get a
00:43:17
reply so right what that means is a
00:43:19
friendship I don't know but yeah he was
00:43:20
an idol of mine growing up I used to
00:43:22
roll a little bit of leg spin
00:43:24
um and probably up until about a Saudi
00:43:26
we haven't we haven't had a leg spinner
00:43:27
in New Zealand that I can remember for a
00:43:29
while so
00:43:30
um yeah to be able to call him a mate
00:43:33
and yeah he was he was great fun when we
00:43:36
gravitated towards him not one of the
00:43:37
Aussie guys
00:43:39
I don't know I mean he he played the
00:43:41
Donald links he'd played a bunch of
00:43:43
times and he played with some Aussies
00:43:44
and I literally got a text from him one
00:43:46
year I think it was 2016 or 2017. he
00:43:49
goes foxy I don't know
00:43:51
um
00:43:51
if you're Keen but I'd love to pair up
00:43:54
with you at Dunhill links this year and
00:43:55
I'm going hey why is morning texting me
00:43:57
and B why does he want to play with me
00:43:58
but I'm certainly not going to say no
00:44:00
and we got along great
00:44:01
and I mean like a couple of years ago
00:44:04
when my daughter was born
00:44:05
I said I'm looking forward to to
00:44:07
watching she was born just before
00:44:08
Christmas and um you know the ashes
00:44:10
series was on
00:44:12
and not Aussie at the time I said I'm
00:44:13
looking forward to to watching some
00:44:15
cricket and hopefully the little one get
00:44:17
some sleeps on me or something on the
00:44:19
couch so I can you know watch watch the
00:44:21
cricket and I send him a photo one of
00:44:22
the days of my daughter sleeping on me
00:44:24
with the Cricket on in the background
00:44:26
and he's like oh perfect just keep
00:44:28
listening and he gives us a shout out an
00:44:30
hour later on air and you know my wife
00:44:33
and daughter's name and everything like
00:44:34
that and that was just the kind of dude
00:44:35
he was but he yeah he was he was fun
00:44:38
like that like you could I got onto you
00:44:41
know I had a couple of drinks with him
00:44:42
one night I was coughing some stick from
00:44:44
some mates I go hey warney can you uh
00:44:46
can we do a video for my mates he's like
00:44:48
yep no problem he goes he just goes you
00:44:50
guys are [ __ ] ball bags he pulls the
00:44:52
fingers at them and and yeah I seen that
00:44:55
video on straight away and you're like
00:44:58
okay that's you know he was he was
00:45:01
awesome fun like that he loved
00:45:02
absolutely love golf as well but he was
00:45:05
again one of those guys I like Eric in a
00:45:08
way like he was a Jack the Lad but if
00:45:10
you got him talking about high
00:45:12
performance or something like that you
00:45:13
could see why he was so good but he
00:45:15
could all he was also just as happy
00:45:17
sitting down talking [ __ ] and having a
00:45:19
couple of beers and just talking about
00:45:21
completely random stuff he's a
00:45:23
phenomenal guy like you you don't meet
00:45:25
actually you know apart from his ex-wife
00:45:27
there's probably no one that's got a bad
00:45:28
word to say about him everyone talks
00:45:30
about how he had time for everyone
00:45:32
um you must have had some good nights on
00:45:34
the piss yeah I kind of tried to stay
00:45:36
away from him a little bit in that
00:45:38
respect I think yeah
00:45:40
he wasn't as bad he wasn't as bad as
00:45:43
what
00:45:44
it was made out to be like but when he
00:45:47
went he went half and it was generally
00:45:49
on
00:45:51
like vodka red balls or something weird
00:45:53
like that like like he wasn't there was
00:45:56
as far as I know there was never he
00:45:58
hated drugs yeah
00:46:00
um he wasn't he didn't really have too
00:46:03
many beers or anything like that you
00:46:04
know he'd have a social beer here and
00:46:05
there but when he wanted to push it hard
00:46:07
he was on yeah
00:46:10
vodka red balls also like it was
00:46:13
something and he would just he would
00:46:15
wreck himself and it was pretty it was
00:46:17
pretty funny I did get on the piss with
00:46:18
him a couple of times it was he's good
00:46:20
value and some of the stories that would
00:46:22
come out would be gold yeah because I I
00:46:24
suppose yeah that's the thing about your
00:46:25
sport like you it's one of the few not
00:46:28
that you would but it's one of those
00:46:30
sports that you could do
00:46:31
um with a hangover yeah I mean it's not
00:46:34
it happens every now and again I
00:46:36
probably don't do it very much but this
00:46:38
is you know it's probably one guy
00:46:39
tournament that's got a little he's
00:46:41
played bad one day and turns up the next
00:46:43
day with a little bit of a hangover it
00:46:44
certainly used to happen a lot lot more
00:46:46
than it does now yeah
00:46:49
um but yeah I mean it's not
00:46:51
you're still out outside for five hours
00:46:53
in the sunshine like it's not you still
00:46:55
get whacked pretty hard if you're
00:46:56
hungover but you know it's not like
00:46:58
trying to run a marathon or or play a
00:47:00
regular game or something something like
00:47:02
that so back to warning so we're uh I
00:47:06
just remember being in complete shock
00:47:07
when I you know picked up picked up a
00:47:08
phone one morning and he was dead in
00:47:10
Bali um do you remember that moment
00:47:12
where were you what were you yeah I was
00:47:14
hosting a charity event in waihi Beach
00:47:16
it was a fishing and golf thing and I'd
00:47:18
woken up early
00:47:20
to um to go fishing that morning and I
00:47:24
turned on I think I checked Twitter to
00:47:26
start with and if literally the first
00:47:28
thing that showed up was warning saying
00:47:31
condolences to Rod Marsh had passed away
00:47:34
literally the day earlier and then I'd
00:47:37
got a couple of random texts during the
00:47:39
night and I was so so sorry to hear
00:47:40
about warning so sorry to hear about
00:47:42
warning I'm like what because all I've
00:47:44
seen is that tweet and obviously go go
00:47:46
through I think I tried to find on
00:47:48
social media or the news or whatever and
00:47:49
found out that he died in Bali and it
00:47:51
was like wall this was surreal it was
00:47:53
surreal I mean
00:47:55
yeah and you know I didn't go to a
00:47:57
funeral or anything like that I couldn't
00:47:59
quite get over for it but uh
00:48:01
you know to watch it and hear all the
00:48:03
tributes and you know I kind of felt
00:48:07
I'd had a similar experience to a lot of
00:48:08
people with warning like you know you
00:48:10
said earlier that he had so much time
00:48:12
for people and that's what I kind of
00:48:13
felt like like he'd you know if I ever
00:48:16
did well on anything he'd send me a
00:48:17
message you know if I ever sent him a
00:48:19
message for anything I just sent him a
00:48:21
few messages regarding cricket every now
00:48:23
and again and then back and forth they'd
00:48:24
always have time to reply yeah and and
00:48:26
with this funeral it's like [ __ ] he's
00:48:28
got a relationship with Ed Sheeran he's
00:48:30
got a relationship with Elson John it's
00:48:31
like how does he he was
00:48:33
if you if you go on famous people he was
00:48:37
easily
00:48:38
other than maybe tiger potentially the
00:48:41
most famous tiger Michael Jordan
00:48:43
potentially the you know one of the most
00:48:45
famous sports people going around as you
00:48:46
said he can't he everyone knew him and
00:48:49
even outside of cricket like they knew
00:48:50
who he was in the states which is pretty
00:48:52
impressive for
00:48:53
like a non-american sport yeah I mean he
00:48:56
was he just
00:48:59
I think it was his personality it was
00:49:01
just Larger than Life and he could give
00:49:03
everyone a bit of stick and he could
00:49:04
have just likability a likable Rogue
00:49:06
yeah he was yeah definitely a rogue but
00:49:08
a likable Rogue and um you got any
00:49:11
photos with any of these people or
00:49:13
like
00:49:14
um I'm thinking Tiger Woods and Shane
00:49:15
Warne uh they must be they must be
00:49:17
videos I've got plenty with warning
00:49:19
right um you know I've got a photo last
00:49:22
year at Donald links when we played
00:49:24
together and it's uh me and my wife our
00:49:26
little one who was oh that's eight
00:49:28
months old at the time with with um Ian
00:49:31
Botham and and Shane Warne oh yeah
00:49:34
that's yeah she's gonna have no idea who
00:49:36
either of them are growing up probably
00:49:38
but I shall learn well she'll learn but
00:49:40
yeah it's you know kind of cool and I've
00:49:42
been lucky in golf in that respect to be
00:49:44
able to play with
00:49:46
so many you know so many sports stars
00:49:48
that I've you know grew up idolizing you
00:49:50
know Stephen Fleming Brandon McCullum
00:49:53
um you know I had you know where Eric
00:49:55
got in Eric obviously
00:49:57
um but you know we had this little
00:49:59
Charity day in Auckland last week
00:50:00
chasing the fox and you know we had a
00:50:03
bunch of All Blacks bunch of cricketers
00:50:04
some Warriors guys you know John John
00:50:07
Key yeah got a hole in one and you go
00:50:10
through all of that and you know I'm
00:50:12
kind of
00:50:13
I'm not the host of that event you kind
00:50:16
of look at it and go how how am I how
00:50:18
these guys come out to support me that
00:50:20
doesn't make any sense
00:50:22
your fan going over there but that fan
00:50:24
killing over you as well yeah yeah I
00:50:26
mean and and think that's the cool thing
00:50:28
with golf that
00:50:29
it's one of those sports that
00:50:32
everyone can play and it seems to be a
00:50:34
pretty popular sport as a downtime for
00:50:37
other sports people I think because it's
00:50:39
you know you can play in the golf cart
00:50:41
you can you know if you're a rugby
00:50:43
player you can just
00:50:45
there's no stress on your body and it's
00:50:47
a bit of it's just a bit of fun and it's
00:50:49
nice down Thomas Outdoors it's better
00:50:50
than sitting in the hotel room watching
00:50:52
TV or whatever so I think it just seems
00:50:54
to be one of those sports that resonates
00:50:56
with other sports people and you know
00:50:59
you you play some of those Pro-Am
00:51:01
tournaments and you'll be sitting down
00:51:02
with billionaires and you know movie
00:51:04
stars and sports people and stuff like
00:51:07
that and they look at you for a little
00:51:09
while I just wish I could do that like
00:51:11
you do and you're like well I wish I
00:51:13
could do a fair bit of stuff like you do
00:51:14
too yeah yeah the feeling's mutual I
00:51:17
think that's that's the funny thing
00:51:18
about golf like um to watch it on TV
00:51:20
if you've never played golf yourself to
00:51:22
watch it on TV it's the most boring
00:51:24
[ __ ] thing ever once you've gone out
00:51:26
there and how to go yourself and you
00:51:27
realize just how phenomenal it is what
00:51:29
you guys at the top level do you have
00:51:31
like a new appreciation for it yeah it's
00:51:33
incredible yeah I mean it's definitely
00:51:34
not
00:51:36
it's like test Cricket to an extent if
00:51:38
you don't really understand what's going
00:51:40
on it's kind of hard to get the drama of
00:51:42
it yeah but if you understand and again
00:51:45
that comes from playing golf that
00:51:47
understand how hard some of the shots
00:51:48
can be what it's like doing stuff under
00:51:50
pressure I mean anyone that's played
00:51:52
golf that's had a five foot putt to beat
00:51:54
their mate for 10 bucks on on a Sunday
00:51:57
Morning has felt a little bit of
00:51:59
pressure right and all of a sudden you
00:52:01
know you've got that to win a tournament
00:52:02
or win a major or you know to beat you
00:52:06
know someone good or whatever that's
00:52:07
that's multiplied by a hundred at the
00:52:10
highest level so everyone's kind of got
00:52:12
appreciation for it it's kind of I think
00:52:14
once you get that it's it's quite a it's
00:52:17
quite a good sport to watch and you can
00:52:18
get
00:52:19
especially with the coverage going
00:52:21
forward you're going to get a lot more
00:52:23
golf to watch I think than you know
00:52:24
they're pushing for you know literally
00:52:26
you can follow your favorite player I
00:52:28
think that's what it's going to get to
00:52:29
at some point where you can go oh
00:52:30
there's a camera like just on you for
00:52:32
the entire so you can go I want to watch
00:52:34
tiger or I want to watch Rory or when
00:52:36
someone wants to watch me for some
00:52:38
reason that they
00:52:40
you could watch every shot that everyone
00:52:42
anyone hits for the tournament and it's
00:52:43
gonna at some stage it's gonna go go
00:52:46
that way which is quite cool
00:52:48
well of course they're quite alarming as
00:52:50
well are you a nose picker yeah so
00:52:53
sometimes do you like put the golf tee
00:52:55
in your ear because it feels nice yeah I
00:52:56
mean thinking you have to stop that yeah
00:52:59
yeah you just kind of a guess I got what
00:53:02
whatever yeah I get caught doing
00:53:03
something like that it's not the worst
00:53:04
thing yeah that's true
00:53:06
um okay so let's talk about like the
00:53:08
week of a tournament
00:53:09
um like like what does that look like so
00:53:11
it goes over four days so usually a
00:53:13
Thursday Friday Saturday it's basically
00:53:15
a week when you go okay the whole thing
00:53:17
so so you're arriving us but who does
00:53:19
all your planning like do you cleaned
00:53:21
management and my wife does a fair bit
00:53:23
and I do a little bit so it's kind of
00:53:24
right so you're all planned up for for
00:53:27
the 2023 no no I'm I've I'm only got the
00:53:31
first four weeks out of the way right so
00:53:33
it's kind of just an ongoing process
00:53:34
because it's quite the schedule's quite
00:53:36
flexible in that sense like you know you
00:53:39
you might go well this is what I plan to
00:53:41
play in but when it actually gets down
00:53:43
to I actually I'm going to play this one
00:53:44
instead of this one and kind of thing so
00:53:46
yeah you don't want to you don't want it
00:53:48
too far ahead of you so okay so you'll
00:53:50
arrive at a city on Tuesday uh Wednesday
00:53:53
it depends a little bit um travel day is
00:53:56
normally a Monday if it's a golf course
00:53:58
I've played before and it's so Europe
00:54:00
and we're based in London most of the
00:54:01
time I might travel on a Tuesday morning
00:54:04
and then it's probably play nine holes
00:54:07
on a Tuesday do some work with my coach
00:54:09
um you know do do some practice as well
00:54:12
pro-ams on a Wednesday so you know
00:54:14
playing with the with the sponsors of
00:54:16
the tournament or whatever you know
00:54:17
there's probably 50 guys that play the
00:54:18
Pro-Am on a on a um on a Wednesday and
00:54:22
then you start on so is that by the way
00:54:25
is that a pain in the ass or is it just
00:54:26
a news no it's it's normally pretty good
00:54:28
like I I enjoy talking as you can
00:54:30
probably tell now
00:54:32
um so you know playing a lot of guys who
00:54:34
are introverted would find that and it
00:54:36
can be nice it can be really hard
00:54:37
especially you know you get to play some
00:54:40
in different countries where while it's
00:54:43
great you might have a whole group I've
00:54:45
played a couple in China where you get
00:54:47
someone that does a whole group that
00:54:49
doesn't speak a word of English so
00:54:50
you're just like okay I'm just gonna
00:54:51
play my ball and talk to my caddy and
00:54:53
that's it and that's all all part of it
00:54:55
and you get to meet some great people
00:54:57
doing it as well so it's yeah you you
00:54:59
get the get both sides of the coin in
00:55:01
that respect but yeah I don't mind it I
00:55:05
do know there's some guys that do do
00:55:06
struggle with it and then obviously you
00:55:08
start up on a Thursday
00:55:10
Friday cut Friday Night play Saturday
00:55:13
Sunday and then either disappear Sunday
00:55:15
night on all Monday and it kind of
00:55:17
depends on if there's a tournament the
00:55:18
next week or you're going back home or
00:55:20
whatever yeah and then what about the
00:55:22
evening tournament like do you do you
00:55:23
meet up with your caddy after the round
00:55:25
for a debrief or anything or it must be
00:55:27
[ __ ] lonely you go for dinner with
00:55:28
your caddy or you just eat in your room
00:55:30
what do you do not
00:55:32
occasionally
00:55:34
um but it's kind of it's a hard one I
00:55:36
almost spend more time with my kitty
00:55:38
than I do my wife during the year so if
00:55:40
you start throwing dinners on top like
00:55:42
it's it's a it's a stressful yeah
00:55:44
environment in that respect so I think
00:55:47
if you start doing the off the golf
00:55:49
course stuff it kind of bleeds in both
00:55:51
ways like if you if it becomes a less
00:55:53
professional relationship yeah harder to
00:55:55
yeah and it also becomes he might do
00:55:58
something that pisses you off off the
00:55:59
golf course that you take on on the golf
00:56:01
course and vice versa so I'm really good
00:56:03
friends with my caddy and I'll hang out
00:56:04
with them but we also try to you know
00:56:07
during the week
00:56:08
we spend enough time together as it is
00:56:10
on the golf course on the practice range
00:56:11
I don't need to have dinner with them
00:56:12
too but like I have generally mates that
00:56:15
I have dinner with during the week
00:56:17
um and try to do a few of those and you
00:56:20
might get one where you've got a really
00:56:21
early start so you'll just sit you know
00:56:23
watch TV in a room and have room service
00:56:25
and go to bed early it's I travel with
00:56:27
my family most of the time yeah um you
00:56:29
know they probably did from July last
00:56:32
year or this year till till I got home
00:56:35
they probably did 75 of my tournament so
00:56:37
it's quite cool it's also quite tough
00:56:40
for the toddler yeah so your daughter
00:56:42
turns two later this week yeah on on
00:56:45
Sunday yeah this week yeah yeah so um
00:56:47
yeah that would be yeah that would be
00:56:49
hard because you just want to sleep and
00:56:50
you know you've got to keep you've got
00:56:52
to focus but it must also be nice and
00:56:53
other ways to have them around because
00:56:54
otherwise you'll be lonely yeah it's
00:56:56
it's definitely Lonely by yourself
00:56:59
um but it's kind of a nice distraction's
00:57:02
probably the wrong word but it it kind
00:57:04
of is
00:57:05
it is the right word as well like it's
00:57:07
gotcha when I get back
00:57:09
to the golf course or from the golf
00:57:11
course it's a it's a really good switch
00:57:13
off right I can go I can hang out with
00:57:15
my daughter and you know we can go for a
00:57:17
swim or just go out to dinner and I can
00:57:20
leave golf at the golf course like when
00:57:22
you're by yourself sometimes
00:57:24
you know everyone everyone brings their
00:57:27
work home with them if you do that too
00:57:28
much it gets pretty frustrating and
00:57:30
especially at the high level of sport
00:57:31
you know if if you're having a bad run
00:57:34
and you keep bringing it home there's
00:57:35
just no escape from it so to have to
00:57:38
have them travel you know and have some
00:57:40
normality there is great I mean I will
00:57:42
say it's nice every now and again having
00:57:44
a hotel room by yourself where you can
00:57:46
just go okay I'm just I take my Xbox
00:57:48
every now and again
00:57:50
well golf not really no I don't play
00:57:54
golf I just play the long I play as you
00:57:56
know the long single player games but
00:57:58
it's just the it's a nice escape again
00:58:00
for it's a way to go well
00:58:03
I can do that like especially if you've
00:58:05
got jet lag I can do if I watch TV on an
00:58:08
iPad or whatever I'm just
00:58:10
in 10 minutes whereas I can kind of keep
00:58:12
myself awake with that if I need to to
00:58:14
for a couple hours and it's again
00:58:17
something I can do that I don't really
00:58:18
think about anything else and that's
00:58:21
as bad as that sounds where lots lots of
00:58:23
people use golfers and escape from
00:58:25
everyday life that's true I've got to
00:58:27
find other ways to do it when I'm back
00:58:28
home it's fishing when it's overseas
00:58:31
it's you know having the family around
00:58:32
the easy the normal way but if I don't
00:58:35
have them it's you know get the Xbox out
00:58:38
and
00:58:39
go kill something on Xbox for a while
00:58:41
how did you and your wife meet
00:58:44
um we actually met at a sports
00:58:46
psychology class at University oh [ __ ]
00:58:48
what's your name
00:58:50
so she we
00:58:53
was in a mutual friend of mine's
00:58:54
birthday party 21st birthday party and
00:58:58
um
00:58:59
one of her friends had bought my wife
00:59:02
along and
00:59:03
um then we found out where in the same
00:59:07
we're in the same class at Uni I hadn't
00:59:10
been here
00:59:13
Jen's seen me because yeah no one has
00:59:15
seen me I hadn't been there and then
00:59:17
this friend that brought her along had
00:59:20
done the class the semester before us so
00:59:23
she kind of she basically set us up she
00:59:25
said okay well I've got my notes from
00:59:26
the previous semester do you guys want
00:59:27
to use them I'm like [ __ ] yes I haven't
00:59:30
been to class yet and annika's like oh
00:59:32
yeah okay and then so we met up for
00:59:34
coffee so I could basically steal some
00:59:36
University notes off her and happen from
00:59:39
there amazing amazing so you that was
00:59:42
when you were you were just sort of
00:59:44
getting into your golf yes I think I was
00:59:48
playing for New Zealand at the time so I
00:59:51
mean my mom my wife hasn't known we've
00:59:53
been together for almost 15 years now
00:59:55
yeah so she hasn't known anything
00:59:57
different like in terms of amateur
01:00:00
professional golf I seriously go away a
01:00:02
shitload I'll be away most weekends I'd
01:00:04
go I did a couple of long trips to the
01:00:05
states for like three months so it was
01:00:07
normal for us to be apart right from the
01:00:10
outset so it's quite good in that regard
01:00:12
she kind of understands though
01:00:14
the life of the life of it right you
01:00:16
know and she's been really good and
01:00:18
really supportive and has enjoyed the
01:00:19
travel as well it's yeah it's been
01:00:23
it's a weird lifestyle in that sense but
01:00:25
it's it's kind of been normal for us
01:00:28
from the start so it's a little bit a
01:00:30
little bit easier I think it would have
01:00:31
been harder you know if you're high
01:00:33
school sweethearts or something and
01:00:34
together and then all of a sudden I'm
01:00:35
you're welcome away I think that would
01:00:37
be a hard Dynamic to deal with but once
01:00:39
you kind of if you start that way it
01:00:42
kind of doesn't really yeah it's that
01:00:44
way yeah it makes it easier so she's a
01:00:45
psychologist
01:00:46
uh no she did
01:00:48
um she ended up doing a finance degree
01:00:50
right so she was a banker for a while
01:00:52
and
01:00:54
um in 2015 I started playing in Europe
01:00:58
um and I did most of that travel just
01:00:59
from here and then was like it's just
01:01:01
too brutal
01:01:03
um so I wanted to get a base in London
01:01:06
the next year she was pretty Keen to
01:01:07
come up anyway my sister lived in London
01:01:09
we had a lot of friends up in London so
01:01:11
she's like oh you know I'll get a job up
01:01:13
in London and in the bank somewhere
01:01:15
and we arrived six weeks before the
01:01:17
brexit vote and told she tried to get a
01:01:20
job got told look we're not hiring just
01:01:22
wait till the brexit votes goes away
01:01:23
because no one in London thought that
01:01:24
brexit would actually happen yeah yeah
01:01:26
and then brexit happened and all of the
01:01:28
contracting jobs that was her kind of
01:01:30
specialty in London disappeared so she
01:01:32
actually ended up traveling with me for
01:01:34
for that year she carried for me in a
01:01:36
few events and
01:01:37
she traveled she's pretty much traveled
01:01:39
around ever since and um you know I've
01:01:41
been lucky enough I've done a ride out
01:01:43
of it that we kind of haven't needed two
01:01:45
salaries or anything like that and
01:01:47
there's been a couple of dicey periods
01:01:49
where it was you know my golf was a bit
01:01:51
but average and we're burning some money
01:01:53
but thankfully it had a couple of good
01:01:55
years previous so it kind of it evens
01:01:57
itself out in the end God it's a
01:01:59
stressful existence isn't it yep yep it
01:02:01
really is yeah you must be yeah you must
01:02:03
feel you seem super relaxed at the
01:02:05
moment and uh you know that must be a
01:02:08
good place to be I'm getting there it
01:02:10
takes me a good like week to 10 days
01:02:12
after the end of a season to kind of
01:02:15
get down I've probably got two two weeks
01:02:18
of being down and then I've got to try
01:02:19
to get up again to yeah to start the
01:02:21
season off but yeah it's I think in in
01:02:25
general I mean
01:02:27
in all walks of life there's you know if
01:02:30
you're at the top level it's pretty
01:02:31
stressful whether it's in business or
01:02:33
sport or or Media or whatever you know
01:02:35
you've got there might be slightly
01:02:37
different stresses but they still do the
01:02:39
yeah still have the same effects so you
01:02:41
get used to it and I'm certainly not
01:02:43
complaining I love it but yeah you you
01:02:47
do enjoy the down time yeah I mean after
01:02:49
a good good year like 2020 it has been
01:02:51
for you it must be nice it's like I
01:02:53
think [ __ ] I've got a bit of a buffer
01:02:54
here
01:02:55
um I can just spend the next week while
01:02:56
concentrating on the golf not worrying
01:02:58
about the [ __ ] that's going on in the
01:02:59
background yeah I've I have noticed that
01:03:01
I mean you know I'm sitting here with
01:03:03
you right now like this I think as you
01:03:05
do better there's a lot more stress on
01:03:08
your time so it's you've got to be a bit
01:03:09
better at time management and
01:03:12
um I'm still kind of learning that to an
01:03:13
extent like say last year I came home
01:03:15
after an okay year and did a couple of
01:03:18
little radio interviews and I could sit
01:03:19
on my ass for for two months kind of
01:03:22
thing and that's certainly not happened
01:03:24
this year but it's it's also good it's a
01:03:27
part you know a victim of your own
01:03:28
success and you know it's just I've just
01:03:31
got an I gotta know that I've gotta you
01:03:33
know still
01:03:34
get time with the family I still want to
01:03:37
go out fishing when I'm allowed to
01:03:40
and so you know just kind of schedule
01:03:42
those in and that's a bit more weather
01:03:43
dependent than anything else you know
01:03:45
catch up with mates I love getting on
01:03:47
the barbecue so do a fair bit of that so
01:03:49
you know it's just I don't think I quite
01:03:51
get to switch off as much as I used to
01:03:53
but it's still nice to be home and yeah
01:03:55
absolutely and you know the Kiwi
01:03:57
lifestyle is a little bit less stressful
01:03:59
than some of the other places around the
01:04:01
world absolutely now um one one thing
01:04:03
that's a reasonably big focus on this
01:04:05
podcast that I like to bring up with all
01:04:06
the guesses um is their their mental
01:04:08
health how's yours been for the most
01:04:10
part over the years
01:04:11
a um for the most part pretty good I
01:04:14
mean yeah I think it's it's especially
01:04:16
important with you because it's such a
01:04:17
mental [ __ ] game yeah I mean I've had
01:04:19
I've gone through bad runs and you know
01:04:21
you've pointed out you know I've had
01:04:23
chats to Steve Hanson I've had a couple
01:04:24
of chats to John kirwan about it when I
01:04:26
was really down in the dumps and to your
01:04:29
your low points or your Rock Bottom it's
01:04:30
been sort of golf related it's all golf
01:04:32
related really yeah I mean it's yeah I
01:04:35
talked about taking taking it home I
01:04:37
think I got to a point a couple of times
01:04:39
where I was once early on in my career
01:04:42
second year out where I really I didn't
01:04:44
have any fun in what was going on I I
01:04:46
kind of hated the game and I was ready
01:04:48
to give it up and Dad carried for me for
01:04:51
a week and tried to just make it fun
01:04:53
again I had a good result
01:04:54
kept my kept my card for the following
01:04:57
year and then had sort of a six or eight
01:04:58
week break and kind of reassess things I
01:05:00
thought well I actually still want to
01:05:01
keep doing this I don't really want to
01:05:03
get a normal job and thankfully you know
01:05:06
I got through that period and had a
01:05:08
another period in 2019
01:05:11
um which is when you when I think looked
01:05:14
back on it it was kind of weird I I came
01:05:16
off
01:05:17
um I'd won early in 2019 and then we got
01:05:21
married about a month after that went on
01:05:24
a great honeymoon in South Africa and
01:05:26
then came back and I missed seven Cuts
01:05:27
in a row
01:05:28
and
01:05:30
there was a lot of
01:05:31
you must start to see your self-doubt
01:05:33
must creep in a big way that got me I
01:05:36
was really really hating life at that
01:05:38
point which you know at that point I
01:05:40
shouldn't be but I just I couldn't get
01:05:42
out I was playing bad
01:05:44
and there was a little there was other
01:05:46
stuff that was causing it to be fair it
01:05:48
wasn't I changed Orthotics and the
01:05:51
Orthotics had upset my balance and that
01:05:53
was having a massive effect I thought it
01:05:55
says like little pads in your shoes yeah
01:05:56
because I've got really flat feet that
01:05:58
you can't see on here but they're not
01:05:59
real uh then not they're not oh
01:06:04
it slides off and hold them up Dougie
01:06:06
can you get a close-up on um
01:06:08
the left one the left one shot so it's
01:06:10
pretty bad right I don't I literally
01:06:12
don't have an arch on my left foot
01:06:16
that's kind of weird but right
01:06:18
um
01:06:19
yeah okay we're gonna put that on only
01:06:22
fans yeah so
01:06:24
yeah I'd like I went and then you know
01:06:27
in hindsight that was the thing that
01:06:28
affected my golf game it you know
01:06:30
balance is pretty important I think in
01:06:32
All Sport but golf it's really important
01:06:34
and you know I've done I'd have the same
01:06:36
set of orthotics for like 10 years
01:06:38
previous and I changed them and all of a
01:06:40
sudden that upset everything and my golf
01:06:41
swing went South and then that affected
01:06:43
how I played but then that sort of went
01:06:46
into the mental state and that was a
01:06:48
nice little downward spiral that I was
01:06:50
yeah after all this good stuff that had
01:06:52
happened I was
01:06:54
you know through the middle of 2019 I
01:06:56
was hating
01:06:57
what I was doing and ready to give it up
01:06:58
and some did it sort of seep into other
01:07:00
areas of your life as well yeah unless
01:07:02
we're a grumpy [ __ ] basically yeah and
01:07:04
which you know I I've been lucky I
01:07:07
haven't had any depression in that sense
01:07:10
yes but it's
01:07:12
you know when that gets
01:07:16
I mean I started having studied
01:07:18
psychology you know the the science for
01:07:21
depression and the science for you know
01:07:24
grief
01:07:25
you know say a family member dying are
01:07:27
very very similar yeah it's pretty you
01:07:29
know it's probably changed since I was
01:07:31
at University but it's like you know
01:07:34
where there used to be some textbook
01:07:36
that used to give all the stuff for
01:07:38
depression and then there was all these
01:07:40
exemptions if you'd had a family member
01:07:42
die and this and that and that and I was
01:07:44
probably in that that I probably had
01:07:45
some of the symptoms of it but it was
01:07:47
more work related than you know straight
01:07:51
depression in that sense so it was yeah
01:07:54
it was it was tough but it was you know
01:07:56
I kind of figured out a few things later
01:07:58
in the year started playing a bit better
01:07:59
Golf and got a bit better at
01:08:01
compartmentalizing it you know I had a
01:08:04
few chats to JK at that time and you
01:08:06
know he's he said some and he said it
01:08:09
and the media as well that he always
01:08:11
used to equate how he was as a rugby
01:08:13
player as how he was as a person and
01:08:15
that's kind of not the case and I
01:08:17
probably did that and probably still do
01:08:19
it to an extent with golf but it's hard
01:08:21
yeah it's hard to avoid though isn't it
01:08:23
when you when you're that good at what
01:08:24
you do well and I think you know if if
01:08:27
you look at
01:08:28
you know how
01:08:30
you know out my family lives everything
01:08:32
has revolved around my golf
01:08:35
in that sense like you know we travel
01:08:37
because of my golf we do this I do
01:08:40
everything around golf so it's it's kind
01:08:43
of hard regardless to to separate away
01:08:48
from that so I and especially when
01:08:50
you're playing bad it's even it's even
01:08:52
harder to do that and I I really
01:08:54
struggled with at that point and
01:08:55
definitely had some some tough times
01:08:58
during
01:08:59
covert as well
01:09:01
um you know all the travel restrictions
01:09:02
coming out of here in 2021 oh yeah we
01:09:05
were normal on tour
01:09:07
um
01:09:08
you know whereas you know we were still
01:09:11
not letting anyone in and I think I was
01:09:13
pretty vocal in the media a couple of
01:09:15
times yeah well I remember you had a
01:09:16
spray about that an uncharacteristic
01:09:18
spray I just I just lost the plot to be
01:09:20
honest I got to apply into your tether
01:09:23
yeah where it was just I'm
01:09:25
you know I'd seen what it was like
01:09:27
overseas and I think a lot more kiwis
01:09:28
have seen that this year and that you
01:09:31
know the middle of last year covert
01:09:33
really wasn't a thing anywhere in the
01:09:35
world by New Zealand and Australia and
01:09:36
China kind of thing and we're still
01:09:38
doing quarantine and we've still got
01:09:40
that stupid Lottery system which I don't
01:09:42
think anything I don't think anyone
01:09:44
thought that was a good idea to be
01:09:46
honest absolutely not and I I ended up
01:09:48
being a benefactor of it I ended up
01:09:49
getting a spot and going overseas and uh
01:09:51
I I I know that's that's I mean you
01:09:54
don't hate the player I hate the game
01:09:56
yeah um but it's unfair that I was um
01:09:59
fighting for spots the same as people
01:10:00
that would you know hoping to see family
01:10:03
members that were dying you know we you
01:10:05
know there was people in way worse
01:10:07
positions of what I was but I'm sorry I
01:10:09
sort of looked at it in the fact that
01:10:11
you know
01:10:13
my job was completely normal I had to
01:10:15
keep a job it's not like I could say hey
01:10:17
look I'm a bit stuffed here you know can
01:10:20
you
01:10:21
I I can't make it overseas you know can
01:10:24
we just keep going next year that's not
01:10:25
how it works on tour so I had to I had
01:10:28
to keep a job last year and I'm going
01:10:29
well
01:10:30
I don't know if I leave the country if I
01:10:32
can get back in I've got a one-year-old
01:10:34
you know I don't know if I can get
01:10:37
uh to start with they couldn't come to
01:10:39
tournaments so they weren't going to
01:10:40
come to the states and then I'd come to
01:10:42
the UK sorry and then
01:10:44
when they could come to tournaments they
01:10:45
all came over and then we go well how do
01:10:47
we get back home and I'm still trying to
01:10:49
fight for my job at that point to make
01:10:51
sure I had a job for this year and all
01:10:53
of that just kind of
01:10:55
got to I I wouldn't never got to the
01:10:58
point of what I was probably not 2019
01:11:01
but I was really struggling with that
01:11:03
whole concept and I think that's why I
01:11:05
probably lashed out
01:11:07
all right it was frustration it was and
01:11:10
you know there was as I said there was
01:11:12
lots of people worse off than me but I
01:11:13
kind of felt like at that point I had a
01:11:16
little bit of a platform to say
01:11:17
something and you know that regardless
01:11:20
of whether people agree with me or not
01:11:22
you know everyone's got an opinion and
01:11:24
that was my opinion on it that we you
01:11:26
know after seeing the rest of the world
01:11:28
that you know shutting shutting everyone
01:11:30
out in New Zealand and not having other
01:11:32
options like home isolation or something
01:11:34
like that was was pretty frustrating and
01:11:37
you know when you see I was at the
01:11:39
Olympics last year and saw you know
01:11:41
there was plenty other New Zealand
01:11:42
athletes who couldn't go to world Champs
01:11:45
because they couldn't get quarantine
01:11:47
spots and stuff like that and I you know
01:11:49
I'd been one of the people that had just
01:11:50
gone and gone overseas and just gone
01:11:51
well I'll try my life I'm gonna try my
01:11:54
luck and you know I was like you
01:11:57
maybe not quite this I I got a spot
01:11:59
eventually I mean I think I'd at one
01:12:01
stage I'd been in every single Lottery
01:12:03
they'd been and not been below 20 000
01:12:06
places or something like that and we
01:12:08
eventually got a spot
01:12:10
um in late October last year and that
01:12:11
was purely because we were quite
01:12:13
flexible at that point we're like if we
01:12:15
get if we can get in the room
01:12:17
whatever even if it's tomorrow I'll go
01:12:20
kind of thing and that's pretty much
01:12:22
what it what it boiled down to so yeah
01:12:25
the last couple of years in that respect
01:12:27
were were
01:12:28
were challenging but I I think it was
01:12:31
easier to
01:12:32
to deal with that because it was factors
01:12:34
outside of my control yeah yeah and
01:12:36
that's probably why it was also so
01:12:38
frustrating because it was factors
01:12:39
outside of my control and then you know
01:12:41
that's probably made what's happened
01:12:42
this year even a bit sweeter in that
01:12:44
regard to deal with all the crap that's
01:12:46
gone down and then you know Nick this
01:12:49
year you know to sort of ride the wave
01:12:51
the other way and and
01:12:53
have a great year on you know and and
01:12:55
all of those other stresses go away has
01:12:57
been quite nice yeah so you should just
01:12:59
focus on the the task in hand what's
01:13:01
your um what's your inner voice an inner
01:13:03
critic you like for the most part you
01:13:05
mentioned before when you have a bad
01:13:06
shot you can be hard on yourself but for
01:13:07
the most part Ryan Fox is he pretty are
01:13:10
you quite nice to yourself or are you
01:13:11
quite tough on yourself I would say I'm
01:13:13
generally quite nice to myself apart
01:13:15
from golf
01:13:17
which
01:13:19
I think as long as you can do that and
01:13:21
compartmentalize it I guess yeah like
01:13:23
I'm I'd say I'm generally quite
01:13:25
optimistic and quite positive about
01:13:26
things but yeah if I had a bad shot in
01:13:30
golf
01:13:30
I'll know about it but as long as then
01:13:33
as we talked about before you can get to
01:13:35
the get to the move up and go to the
01:13:36
ball for your next shot and put it
01:13:38
behind you yeah and it's not necessarily
01:13:41
it's not
01:13:43
it's like I don't take it too hard in
01:13:47
that respect like I can it's in
01:13:49
perspective it's you know had a bad shot
01:13:51
get angry forget about it and you know
01:13:53
sort of don't
01:13:54
let it get to me anymore but I just
01:13:56
can't help it I mean I as I said I think
01:13:58
everyone playing golf no matter how
01:14:01
calm you are everyone playing golf has
01:14:03
lost the plot at themselves and I think
01:14:05
the the better you are at it it just
01:14:07
gets to you more and more the longer you
01:14:08
do it it gets to you more and more kind
01:14:10
of thing yeah because there's a guy I
01:14:12
remember like growing up when uh that I
01:14:13
used to watch on TV um
01:14:15
I can't remember the exact story but Ian
01:14:17
Baker Finch the Australian guy so one of
01:14:20
the best in the world right yeah and
01:14:22
then um and then he just he he woke up
01:14:24
one day and couldn't play anymore yep
01:14:26
just and that's tournament golf so right
01:14:27
I know um is that pretty much the story
01:14:29
like um I I think I read about him in
01:14:31
one of his last games he shot something
01:14:33
like close to 100 which is was if
01:14:36
probably what I'd shoot on a very good
01:14:37
day and then he went to the locker room
01:14:39
and cried and that was the last time he
01:14:40
played yeah so he can play socially now
01:14:42
I know I know Ian well enough so what
01:14:44
was this what was this world ranking
01:14:46
like I mean he won he won the British
01:14:47
Open at Saint Andrews in 1991. okay so
01:14:51
he was good and then when did he
01:14:54
a couple years later yeah so he went
01:14:56
back no he didn't win the British Open
01:14:58
sorry he won the British Open
01:15:00
I don't I don't know where it was and he
01:15:02
went back the following he might have
01:15:04
won a 90 and went back the following
01:15:07
year and 91 at St Andrews and headed out
01:15:09
of bounds off the First Tee which is one
01:15:11
of kind of the
01:15:13
it's known as the widest hole in golf
01:15:14
like no one can do that and he did it
01:15:17
yeah and but that's kind of the doubt
01:15:19
like he can do it but it's sort of it's
01:15:22
sort of one of those things that at that
01:15:24
level it's kind of unheard of and that
01:15:27
was kind of the start of his downfall
01:15:28
when I heard stories from from guys
01:15:31
you know just before he gave the game up
01:15:34
that he would he'd play a practice round
01:15:36
with them on a hard golf course and you
01:15:39
know they'd play for money and it'd
01:15:40
absolutely tell them up you know he'd
01:15:42
shoot 66 like it was nothing take their
01:15:45
money and turn up on a Thursday and he
01:15:47
just couldn't play tournament golf he
01:15:49
struggled and that's that's all mental
01:15:51
it's all mental and that's
01:15:53
there's lots of I mean The Yips is a
01:15:55
thing in golf you know right is that
01:15:57
what it's called The Yips yeah I don't
01:16:00
know if he had The Yips per se but
01:16:01
there's you know yeah there's you know
01:16:03
guys that get over and can't hit apart
01:16:05
it's literally it becomes physiological
01:16:07
in the end they get over a three foot
01:16:08
part and go and it's it's quick and
01:16:11
jabby and you you know you kind of
01:16:13
shudder when you look at it and people
01:16:15
have it chipping people have it with
01:16:16
driver it's
01:16:18
it seems I don't know if it's as common
01:16:21
in other sports
01:16:22
yeah I could imagine Maybe
01:16:25
I could imagine you know something like
01:16:27
big wave surfing or or
01:16:30
like car racing where you've had a close
01:16:33
call and all of a sudden you can't quite
01:16:35
push yourself or maybe in cricket if you
01:16:38
get yeah yeah
01:16:40
whereas you know when you think of
01:16:42
golfers
01:16:43
kind of nothing dangerous per se right
01:16:46
like
01:16:48
getting hit with someone else's ball
01:16:50
yeah and like when you think about it it
01:16:52
kind of doesn't make sense but I think
01:16:54
because golf is so mental and I think
01:16:57
it's one of those games that it's not
01:16:59
reactionary
01:17:00
so you know if I throw your ball right
01:17:02
now you just catch it right that's what
01:17:04
happens you don't think about where you
01:17:06
have to put your hands or what you do
01:17:07
you just catch it
01:17:08
in golf because that ball doesn't move
01:17:10
you've gotta
01:17:12
you've got time to think about what you
01:17:14
actually do and I think that's why you
01:17:17
it's more prone to stuff like that that
01:17:19
you know you've got all those thoughts
01:17:22
have a chance to get in you and then you
01:17:24
know in sport anything that you do
01:17:26
that's
01:17:27
conscious is harder to do you know you
01:17:29
want everything to be almost unconscious
01:17:32
right like just a pure reaction to
01:17:34
whatever's in front of you when when you
01:17:36
you know
01:17:37
you talk about people that have done
01:17:40
exceptional things in sports all about
01:17:41
being calm and being in the moments and
01:17:44
stuff like that and you try to get in
01:17:46
that PL in that place in golf but it's
01:17:49
also primed the other way because you've
01:17:51
got so much time to think about what's
01:17:52
going on it's and I think that's where
01:17:54
it comes from like yeah is that do you
01:17:57
think in hindsight that's what happened
01:17:58
to you when you had that run of missing
01:17:59
seven Cuts in a row not necessarily
01:18:03
um
01:18:03
I was just oh like there was definitely
01:18:06
some of it like you put more external
01:18:08
pressure on yourself and you're like
01:18:09
well this you know this is to make a cut
01:18:11
I missed a bunch of cuts by one you know
01:18:13
bogey the last hole must have cut by one
01:18:15
kind of [ __ ] and yeah that's that's
01:18:18
mental I didn't get to a point where I
01:18:20
couldn't find the golf course I couldn't
01:18:21
hit it on the golf course so it wasn't
01:18:23
you were there or thereabouts I could
01:18:24
still hit it but it just that all that
01:18:27
little stuff was just
01:18:29
there's just too much noise right when
01:18:31
you play your best there's no there's no
01:18:34
noise it's all very quiet and all very
01:18:36
kind of
01:18:37
easy and
01:18:39
you know even when you're under pressure
01:18:40
you can kind of trick yourself to not
01:18:43
worry about it too much but when you
01:18:45
know if you're in a bad State mentally
01:18:47
then all that little stuff builds up and
01:18:49
it just becomes a bit too hard and
01:18:50
obviously
01:18:51
you know there's been instances you know
01:18:53
Ian Baker Finch is what there's been
01:18:55
plenty of other guys in the same boat as
01:18:57
him that you know literally
01:19:00
got to a point where they they couldn't
01:19:01
cope with the pressure playing
01:19:03
tournament golf yeah so so it used it as
01:19:05
I don't want to put words in your mouth
01:19:06
but are you sort of saying like when you
01:19:07
had that bad run
01:19:09
um maybe you know you'd go up to the
01:19:10
ball and you're thinking about a lot of
01:19:12
different things but when you're in that
01:19:13
flow State like you have been for the
01:19:14
past year
01:19:15
um you just go up to the ball and it's
01:19:16
just Instinct yeah and that's what
01:19:18
you're trying like it's I think it's
01:19:20
hard to be interesting fully instinctual
01:19:22
anyway because you know you've just got
01:19:24
so much time I mean you've played
01:19:25
golfers you stand there and you go I
01:19:27
don't want to hit it here and I don't
01:19:28
want to hit it here so it's quite it's
01:19:30
quite hard to get to that point
01:19:34
but that's what you kind of aim for and
01:19:36
you just get the better you are at it
01:19:38
the better you get it tricking yourself
01:19:40
to be in that mindset or to find a way
01:19:43
to to not think about the bad stuff you
01:19:47
know for me this year it was pretty much
01:19:48
go out and try to beat the golf course
01:19:49
don't think about anything else and it's
01:19:51
inherently simple but it's inherently
01:19:53
complex as well when you if you break it
01:19:55
down you know you you're getting rid of
01:19:57
all that noise you just
01:19:59
trying to be comfortable and it you know
01:20:02
it doesn't have to be perfect it just
01:20:03
has to be
01:20:04
you just have to get it done kind of
01:20:07
thing and it's
01:20:08
that's the idea of you know
01:20:11
getting rid of the noise yeah okay wow
01:20:14
that's fascinating isn't it that's uh
01:20:16
yeah I mean what the the top level of
01:20:19
sport like it well there's probably a
01:20:22
few but I I think yeah just the
01:20:25
difference is that
01:20:26
the ball not moving really it's it's
01:20:29
probably a bit more mental than a lot of
01:20:31
other sports in that regard and I think
01:20:33
we've also got
01:20:34
you know a lot of different skills to
01:20:36
master you know putting is so different
01:20:37
than chipping is so different than
01:20:39
bunkers are so different with driver you
01:20:41
know there's there's a lot of different
01:20:43
little aspects to it and that's I think
01:20:45
that it's a game you never conquer I
01:20:47
think that's what I I yeah what you hate
01:20:51
and what you love about the game and the
01:20:52
same in the same instance right like you
01:20:55
can hit a perfect golf shot right I can
01:20:57
go I want to hit
01:20:59
thus and literally pull it off perfectly
01:21:02
but you can't you can't ever be perfect
01:21:05
you know we talk about Eric right
01:21:08
Eric and Hamish Bond were perfect
01:21:10
right not what was it oh never yeah
01:21:13
67 for 67 or something like that yeah
01:21:16
yeah over many years yeah you know you
01:21:18
can't do it that golf's just not that
01:21:20
you know you can't
01:21:22
you know a golfer lives for a perfect
01:21:24
shot and you know we still don't hit
01:21:26
perfect shots all the time we might have
01:21:27
a few more than most average amateurs
01:21:29
but our Bears just not
01:21:32
as bad but we still live for that one
01:21:34
that you're like oh why can't I do that
01:21:36
every time
01:21:37
yeah well mate as someone that's played
01:21:40
a lot of golf in their 20s usually
01:21:41
shooting between like 100 and 110. I
01:21:44
found it the most frustrating thing in
01:21:45
the world and there there'd be holes
01:21:47
where I shoot like eight nine ten but
01:21:49
then you have one shot where it feels
01:21:52
like you're hitting it like Ernie else
01:21:53
and it just flies off the club and it
01:21:54
goes where it's supposed to and that was
01:21:56
all it took to keep me coming back the
01:21:58
next time that is that's the golf bug
01:22:00
right there you know it's but you have
01:22:03
you have at least one of those shots
01:22:04
every hole no not necessarily every hole
01:22:06
you just get
01:22:08
you
01:22:10
the parameters of it get a bit different
01:22:12
right like you know you
01:22:15
I had a lot of good shots when I play a
01:22:18
lot but I don't hit a lot of
01:22:21
I mean
01:22:23
my definition of Perfect's probably
01:22:25
slightly different than what your
01:22:27
average golfers definition of perfect
01:22:29
green and regulation is perfect yeah so
01:22:31
so like
01:22:33
in a sense I probably only hit the same
01:22:35
amount of perfect shots in that sense
01:22:37
for what I see in my head but obviously
01:22:40
I had a lot of shots that I'm not
01:22:42
disappointed with in that sense as well
01:22:45
so it's yeah it's just I mean there's
01:22:48
lots of quotes about golf's not about
01:22:49
you know how good your good shots are
01:22:52
it's how good your bad shots are and
01:22:53
that's kind of what
01:22:55
what we do well as professionals you
01:22:57
just have a lot you still have bad shots
01:22:59
but your bad shots just aren't anywhere
01:23:01
near as bad as what they are otherwise
01:23:02
yeah okay so 2023
01:23:05
um obviously you want to the the I
01:23:07
suppose the goal or the dream or the
01:23:09
Hope or the West whatever you want to
01:23:10
call it is to build on what you've done
01:23:11
in 2022
01:23:13
um so the end of 2023 if everything goes
01:23:16
to plan what would have happened
01:23:19
um probably have a PJ tour card for next
01:23:21
year so
01:23:22
um that means you plan the states yes
01:23:24
I'll get a chance to play a bunch of the
01:23:26
bigger events in the states with being
01:23:28
in the top 50 in the world rankings and
01:23:30
basically that's the you know the goal
01:23:32
next year it's going to be tough it'll
01:23:34
be like playing a major championship
01:23:36
every week you know they'll be on the
01:23:38
best golf courses there on the strongest
01:23:40
fields and everything's new as well
01:23:42
right you know I had this I'll be
01:23:43
playing a lot of events I've never
01:23:45
played a lot of golf courses I've never
01:23:46
played before so what do you mean
01:23:49
exactly is it can you give it like a
01:23:50
simple answer to that because most
01:23:51
people listen to this and be like you
01:23:53
know there's the flag there's the green
01:23:55
there's the the bunker it's
01:23:58
it's kind of like it's it's kind of like
01:24:00
going to a new house right you know if
01:24:03
you you said you moved in here not long
01:24:05
ago yeah you put stuff in a drawer when
01:24:08
you when you're setting it up
01:24:11
and then it takes you a few weeks to
01:24:15
kind of remember where everything is
01:24:16
right you know and then you've been in
01:24:19
you know you do it enough times you
01:24:21
could do it drunk in the dark you can do
01:24:23
it drunk and blindfold if it's easy
01:24:24
right it's kind of the same on a golf
01:24:26
course you know I could play
01:24:28
my home course in my head right now tell
01:24:31
you what everything does and I don't
01:24:33
even have to look at it I know where
01:24:34
everything is I don't have to
01:24:36
but you know we've got to go to a golf
01:24:39
course arrive on a Monday play it
01:24:41
Tuesday or Wednesday or both and then
01:24:44
Tee It Up and play it in competition on
01:24:46
a Thursday you're still fiddling around
01:24:48
with those drawers trying to figure out
01:24:50
where everything is right you know again
01:24:52
you you you're good at it like it's our
01:24:55
job we're supposed to be good at it but
01:24:57
you know you're playing against guys
01:24:58
still an unfamiliar environment yeah
01:25:00
yeah so you know say go to go to the
01:25:03
Masters next year right it'll be my
01:25:05
first time there
01:25:06
Tigers played what 20 of them one at
01:25:10
however many times
01:25:12
you've probably played more than 20 to
01:25:14
be honest you probably play 30 close to
01:25:15
30 of them now you know he's obviously
01:25:17
going to have a much better knowledge of
01:25:19
that Golf Course over the years than
01:25:21
what I do yeah so it's
01:25:24
it's not that it's not a fair playing
01:25:26
field it's just you know experience
01:25:28
matters that's you know it's the same
01:25:29
for a rugby player you know
01:25:32
in your first test
01:25:34
yeah or your first season playing test
01:25:36
rugby everything's going to be new all
01:25:39
the grounds are going to be new they've
01:25:40
all got little intricacies and you know
01:25:42
you're still trying to figure out ways
01:25:44
to deal with the atmosphere and whatever
01:25:46
and then you know you go 10 years down
01:25:48
the line and you've just got all your
01:25:50
processes down packed how you deal with
01:25:52
it and you know it's not you may not
01:25:54
necessarily be a better player or
01:25:56
whatever but you you can get yourself to
01:25:58
the same
01:25:59
point a lot easier than what you used to
01:26:02
be able to you know you can get this
01:26:03
that same level it's kind of it's the
01:26:05
same for us for golf you know I can go
01:26:07
play a bunch of events in Europe that
01:26:09
I've played five six seven times I've
01:26:12
got a really good memory for golf
01:26:13
courses and you know it just makes the
01:26:15
practice and everything a lot easier
01:26:17
knowing the golf course so you know next
01:26:20
year is going to be a bit more
01:26:21
challenging in that regard where you
01:26:23
know especially for the first half of
01:26:25
the Year all the golf courses I'm going
01:26:26
to are going to be brand new and you'll
01:26:29
be trying to take a little bit to to
01:26:31
figure out how to play them [ __ ] how
01:26:33
exciting though oh yeah can you win a
01:26:35
major
01:26:36
yeah definitely yeah I mean it's it's
01:26:38
hard obviously but if it was easy
01:26:40
everyone would be doing it yeah but I
01:26:42
feel like I've felt for a while now but
01:26:44
especially after this year that if I
01:26:46
play my best golf
01:26:47
I can compete with anyone in the world
01:26:49
it's just you know in that situation
01:26:51
it's trying to not let the situation get
01:26:54
the better of you which is much easier
01:26:56
said than done but you know just get out
01:26:59
of your own way get rid of all the noise
01:27:00
and try to beat the golf course and I'd
01:27:02
you know hopefully can get myself in
01:27:04
that position you know this year next
01:27:06
year whenever it is and you know if you
01:27:08
give yourself a chance anything can
01:27:09
happen oh man how good how good I don't
01:27:11
know if this is something that um plays
01:27:13
on on on on your mind at all but uh
01:27:16
after growing up being Grant Fox's son
01:27:19
it must be nice that he's now your dad
01:27:21
awesome
01:27:24
dad I still don't know about that I mean
01:27:26
you know we're a rugby mad country in
01:27:29
that sense but
01:27:30
um I mean it's I think it's pretty cool
01:27:32
to say that I've got three generations
01:27:34
in my family that's representing New
01:27:36
Zealand in three different sports I
01:27:37
don't think there'd be too many other
01:27:38
families worldwide that could say could
01:27:41
say that that you know and and the
01:27:43
Saints and the same sport potentially
01:27:45
but when you've got qriket rugby and
01:27:47
golf you know that they don't get a
01:27:49
whole lot different than the three of
01:27:50
those so it's you know that's that's
01:27:52
pretty cool so there'll be no pressure
01:27:54
on my kids at all
01:27:58
a daughter who uh mentioned before tends
01:28:00
to in a couple of days are you planning
01:28:01
to have more yeah we've got another one
01:28:03
on the way actually oh congratulations
01:28:05
yes so just make next year a bit more
01:28:07
hectic so I got one during my
01:28:09
oh amazing do you know what the sex is
01:28:11
you know keeping that a surprise so yeah
01:28:13
that's gonna gonna be nice and busy
01:28:15
um so I don't know what next year looks
01:28:18
like travel wise for the family
01:28:20
um you know one's hard enough I can
01:28:21
imagine traveling with two is going to
01:28:23
be chaos so we'll see where that goes
01:28:25
well you're gonna need to start getting
01:28:26
the hotels with the adjoining room oh we
01:28:28
already do that
01:28:29
there's nothing worse than putting it
01:28:31
putting a kid down to bed at eight
01:28:33
o'clock and sitting in a dark room
01:28:37
just watching Netflix on your phone yeah
01:28:40
pretty much all right hey Ryan Fox thank
01:28:42
you so much for taking the time to come
01:28:43
over today I've thoroughly enjoyed it
01:28:45
it's been amazing it's been great thanks
01:28:46
Tom oh one final thing can you um would
01:28:48
you better sell my balls I got two just
01:28:51
I got two just for that reason I like
01:28:53
the fact that one's a one well one's
01:28:56
definitely been eaten by the dog yeah
01:28:58
one's that one's a little bit rougher
01:28:59
than the other
01:29:01
oh dear
01:29:04
oh you're actually silent yeah I just
01:29:07
wanted to say that line for a joke but
01:29:08
you've done this before I have yeah
01:29:10
they're not that hard to sign and I
01:29:12
haven't signed a Top Flight for a while
01:29:13
I haven't used one of those since I was
01:29:14
about 10 years old oh is that right yeah
01:29:16
it's on the bottom of my golf bag so
01:29:19
that was yeah when you attend that's
01:29:20
probably the last time they were the old
01:29:22
uh we used to call them rocks right yeah
01:29:25
but they're great as a 10 year old
01:29:27
because you could they didn't cost very
01:29:28
much and you can find them anywhere
01:29:30
maybe that was my issue I had the wrong
01:29:32
balls yeah
01:29:33
they do they do make a difference I'll
01:29:36
tell you that all right hey you're an
01:29:38
absolute Legend man um 2020 has been a
01:29:40
phenomenal year and um hopefully this is
01:29:42
just the beginning of a
01:29:43
um you know a very big rise into
01:29:45
reaching your Peak I hope so I mean
01:29:48
we're lucky in golf that it's you know
01:29:50
still got a career in your mid-30s so
01:29:52
hopefully it continues that way yeah how
01:29:54
good all right cheers mate thanks Tom
01:29:55
cheers
01:29:56
[Music]
