hello and welcome back to another episode of the cookie jargov podcast I am Tom Mills and today I’m joined by
Sam Williams and we sat down with Matt McLean who is the recent winner of the US mid-am among many things the things
the mid-am gets you is an invitation to the Masters in 2023 and the US Open at
LACC in 2023 so Matt played an all- island final and coming down the stretch
at the U.S mid-amer over there at Aaron Hills and we managed to catch up with Matt and have a chat through the
tournament the final itself his amateur golf and his Ambitions with his career
going forward and what he’s going to do in the next few years so we had a really interesting chat with Matt and I hope you enjoy
watch this [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah well I mean anyway look I mean just sort of kicking off with a massive congratulations I think uh not just us
mid amateur Champion but does that make you the fourth fourth Irishman in history to win a USGA title is that
right I think so as far as I’m not overly good with the sort of history of tournaments and all that sort of those
stats set of things but I think yeah I think uh Rory macro and Grand MacDonald two years opens and then Harrington just
earlier this year with the US seniors the four years yeah events yeah that’s
the Irish and Irish players won and then I think it’s the first usj Armature
event that an Irish players want yeah uh if I’m correct so yeah it was pretty
good I think it was actually the first year his first usj final even that uh really Irish man let’s go to in the
Armature yeah uh I mean obviously we both we both got there uh this year um so yeah it was all sort of pretty
good I think there’s been a huge amount of success in America over the years from the from Irish players but it feels
like this obviously this big um you know not just yourself you’ve had a great
season as well but Hugh Foley’s had a brilliant season as well as Neil NE amateur scene you know going into the final knowing that it’s going to be an
Irishman that wins in Aaron Hills you know that that must have been pretty special because you guys were traveling
rooming eating practicing doing everything together right for the whole lead up to that to that final
yeah I said yeah we we sort of just decided between ourselves initially to sort of think you know Aaron Hills the
sort of the pretty famous golf course but never I don’t think I’d really heard of the event probably this time last
year and one of the guys sort of brought it up and we sort of thought you know it’s probably as good as chance as any
tournament to get the sort of you know the sort of the prize at the end of it so we we just sort of took it apart
ourselves to go on ahead and go for it uh as I said we we traveled we flew over
together you know Sunday the fourth and then we were staying in Chicago for a few days playing golf before stayed in
the same Airbnb shared a car so yeah pretty much two weeks we were over there we were you know we were pretty much
everything we did was was together for the for the full two weeks so it was yeah it was pretty odd sort of making it
to the final obviously and having to play against each other but the only sort of bonus was that we sort of knew at least one of us was going to win at
that stage so when did you find when did you start to think talk to him about how
the final could be could be on the cards because obviously you’re opposite sides of the draw when the draw came out were you immediately
thinking you know oh yeah this would be laughing we’ll both get to the final or when when’s it when was it first
mentioned do you think yeah I think it was sort of it was mentioned before we even started playing as a joke like a
sort of a 100 a joke at the start even before we before the tournament started we sort of said you know we’ll both
qualify other sides of the draw meet the final that would be ID uh but that was that was obviously a joke at the start
uh the the point work probably really become a like a proper you know scenario
that could happen was probably last 16 years when I sort of thought uh that it that it was an option because
we were sort of getting through our matches relatively okay we were you know we were sort of you know decent winning
margins and then the last 16 is when we sort of we were obviously the batches
were a bit more condensed so we were he was only maybe two holes ahead of me so you could see him play and he could see
me playing he was waiting up by the green after he’d finished his match and then I just finished my match so
yeah it was it was probably probably that stage when we sort of thought there’s probably a good chance now that
we can that we can actually who was the first to say it out loud uh as yeah I can’t remember I think
we’ve probably looked at each other and both sort of said you know keep it going we’ll see you yeah yeah see you in the
final um sort of thing but yeah as I said even with those sort of you know that sort of turn or that format of the tournament
you know you’re right so quickly yeah stretch of a stretch of three or four battles
yeah and you know and you’re you’re right so it can turn very quickly to the Civic Center so we didn’t want to sort of you know
jinx it yeah yeah a couple guys said yes we’re like oh well you know it’s a good chance there’s gonna be an all out of
idol here we’re like but we really want to look at that just yet but it’s weird isn’t it 18 holes
match play you know anyone can kind of come in there can’t they I think Bobby Jones was even quoted as saying the
hardest event to win is an amateur Championship because anyone can get hot with a putter for 18 holes so I don’t
know what’s the secret Matt you know what’s the secret to kind of seeing out these endurance match play events and
getting through is it is it just being clinical with a putter or just being really kind of gritty and
not giving holes away because you know your luck can I sense change quite quickly where someone could just get on
a heater for nine holes with a Putter and before you know it the tournament’s over yeah absolutely I think that’s the big
thing with obviously professional golfer even Alex or stroke play golf is that you have 72 holes so it’s
you know it’s up to yourself to win it or lose it and whoever has the lowest score is going to win
the tough thing with max players that yeah as you said if you come up against someone who not even just has a good day with
the Potter but just plays well I know it’s capable of shooting five or six under on the day and then no one’s
capable of shooting level par so you know it is it’s you need a bit of locker thing along the way but there probably
is that match play let’s play tactic or instinct to sort of be able to win that hole and maybe you
shouldn’t have won it and there’s that sort of you know that up and down that you should maybe shouldn’t have thought just sort of you know it puts a bit of a
bit of a sort of a dagger in the in the chest of your opponent to sort of dishearten them a bit so yeah there’s
definitely a match play ability that some people have better than others but yeah it’s just really
consistency as much as possible and again you just need luck along the way I’ve had plenty of tournaments where
I’ve played perfectly well all the way through and you get to any stage and
someone shoots five under yeah and then it’s zero so if you feel like you’re playing the guy or do you feel like
you’re playing the course you know that makes sense when you sort of when you stand there and it’s whether it’s like I
don’t know semi-finals quarter fines whatever you stood there you’ve got 18 holes are you thinking well actually
these are the holes I’m going to attack these are the pins that I think I’m going to go after these are going to play safe and I’m just going to play my
own game or are you feeling like you’re playing the guy uh yeah it’s definitely a bit of both because you can’t just play the course
because if you play the course you might have a tactic to play a certain hole and if you know when it’s
a power hole just say you’re going to hit a 30th away from the pin but if your opponent hits it hits it to two foot
then there’s no point to hit the 30 foot because you’re you know you’re only going to hold that one at 100 maybe so
there’s a fact there’s definitely a bit of both and that’s where the balance comes in as to when the attack went off the
attack but I think a lot of the times with Max play if you play the opponent the big thing I
think you can play the opponent when you’re trying to play attacking it helps yeah for sure but if you play the
opponent when you’re playing defensive then you can certainly you can sort of make a bit of a a bit of an idiot
yourself at times yeah like if they if they miss the green and you go for the heart of the green they chip in you’re like oh my goodness well yes it just
happened yeah well the big ones yeah off the tee you just say someone hits it under the water up the right and then you play
defensively hit it up the left missed the green make Boogie he’s probably still going to make bully if he hits it
in the water off the tape yeah take one drop at it on the green so yeah it does things like that where you just have to
play your own ball I think when it’s it’s one side when it’s there in trouble
you’ve got to still be aggressive and not play too far back as you said anyone
can you know chip in or make it make a birdie or sort of make a you know really tough part at any point as well so yeah
you’ve got to keep the pressure going I sense haven’t you that’s the thing and obviously particularly an elite amateur level but you know even the club golfer
can identify to that I think even in you know playing knockout matches you know like you say someone goes in the water
you start playing with the steering wheel and before you know it you’ve walked off with a you know a scrapey half or you’ve lost the hole the the
other thing with the event because I think you played you play a two round medal right that then Gets You Through the qualifying stages and then I think
you played six rounds of knockout goal plus practice round so it’s like a massive endurance anyway but the event
finished later as well didn’t it Matt so am I right in thinking there was some weather that came in in the middle of the week which meant your final year was
played over like a staggered two days like an afternoon in the morning is that right yeah so as I said normally any of
these events are tough this is this is the first I think I think it’s the first match play final
of these events that I’ve that I’ve got until you actually I’ve got the sort of semis quite quite a few times in quarters but it’s the first first photo
sort of endurance event I’ve had to do so the way it worked out the Saturday went sort of the plan Sunday was
completely called off due to rain so we didn’t no one played at all on Sunday and that was the second round of the
medal right that was the second Road of the medal on the Sunday yeah and it was funny because I
I was actually five over 36 on the first round as well around the if you like easier of course
most of these tournaments are set up in one sort of slightly more scorable course and one harder course so the
harder course being Aaron Hills the scorable if you like course being the blueborn course so it’s five over 36.
sort of thinking you know this is six holes you wanted to make it happen
right yeah so there were six there weren’t overly hard holes either to be fair and uh so I got it back I finished
two I’ll work for the round but I was actually sitting in 70 seconds after the first round
completely called it off so in my head I was thinking this could be a one-growing cut as well yeah I’ve
seen that happen before so so that well that’s you play one round and you’re sort of you’re right that’s the God so
uh then the Monday morning it was raining again on Monday morning so it was delayed by the gods of five
hours on Monday morning so again I was just thinking this is you know there’s no chance this is going
ahead no and then I think I’ve met the T author at 12 o’clock on the on the
Sunday on the Sunday or push forward to the Monday push back to five o’clock so Sunset was
about seven o’clock quarter to seven so played ear holes
uh paid those in 300 I think which is good called in set the alarm for five o’clock the next
morning tee it off at seven the next morning finish the round shot five under the second one yeah
that’s incredible which was sort of that was that was a big ride really it was I somewhat was comfortable in the cut
after the first eight holes yeah yeah but you could still still obviously you know make a mess of it so uh yeah but
then we so they made the cuts they needed two or three hours to sort of make the cut there was a 17 man playoff
for 12 places so that took two hours I think I teed off at six o’clock ten past six then for
my first match that evening played Four holes this is really odd this is called back
out the next morning at seven again seven a.m again to finish off that much uh and then from then on I think it went
as normal if you like the part from the last day as you said whereas the final was on the ear team in the Friday
afternoon and then went to bed got back up the next morning finished off the final end on the Saturday morning yeah
so you have noticed your bad start yes you know five over through six
um like you say pretty I imagine you’re pretty demoralized at that point and the rain comes in
um what do you do on Sunday to keep yourself motivated to try and you know convince
yourself that things can can change what what did you do I don’t think we did anything really to be honest um
there’s not much I think there’s we went maybe we’d do a shopping mall for walked about foreign
stat and sort of missed a couple yards on the wrong side and they were just sort of impossible to get up and down
sort of so it was more probably just changing the tactic or sort of being a
bit less aggressive it wasn’t as if I was sort of hit and particularly about shot so it was you know it wasn’t that
concerned about it at the time and but yeah we didn’t really do much we maybe went into the city for a couple hours as
well and just sort of chilled out but yeah there wasn’t there when there’s sort of a monster of rain probably there
isn’t much much to do anyway so uh yeah it was a pretty relaxed day I thought you’re going to give us some
golden nuggets like oh yeah basically I just rolled the rock for six hours and just did nothing with six footage for
six hours and
for a few days like you don’t I mean particularly when you know there’s a lot behind it you’ve given up a lot of time
you’ve come away from work to commit to that to them be in that situation where you’re playing four holes and six holes
and twelve holes and just trying to kind of stay fresh so that you when you pick up the bats again you’re kind of good to
go out and attack the course that’s mental that the final then obviously was played on the Friday afternoon Saturday
morning so you see you were sleeping on a lead going out for dinner with you as
well I’m guessing in the evenings you’re hanging out together um what’s that like because then you’ve kind of eyeballing each other over
dinner that’s just that must be quite a cool thing actually like a nice quite a nice experience yeah as I said it was it
was odd like it obviously doesn’t happen very often the the 18 staggered final
and then obviously probably next never happens that was sort of the two guys
were standing together as well so yeah no it was it was all it was never sort of awkward or sort of a problem at any
point at all so I mean you’re sort of are pretty good friends and sort of we’ve played a lot of golf this year anyway so
I think we were both sort of pretty relaxed because we were playing each other so it just it may have found maybe
it felt a bit more just like a match where you’d play in it at home sort of and then you know as we were sort of you
know really tired anyway so we played the semi-final you know played the first 18 holes of the final there was only two
units so it would have been a bit if someone was seven operating up after 18
holes yeah it would have been a pretty sort of tough atmosphere because you sort of feel as if it’s over by them but
you both ended at that point aren’t you it’s just that’s just the nature of match play you know it’s like two holes it’s like there’s nothing in this really
yeah well I was held myself it was too there was two unit but two over 18 isn’t
anything really it’s you know yeah exactly so uh yeah so it’s it was
one of those things we sort of you know got home from the golf and then we were probably in bed within sort of three
hours anyway so we sort of chilled out for an hour had dinner you know we were just sort of the same sort of atmosphere
as it was all week and we sort of went to bed pretty early so uh yeah not the jeans to be honest with
you uh compared to the rest of the week really and what was the final up in terms of the atmosphere do you get many people
coming out and watching it at Aaron Hills because it’s I’ve never been there my limited understandings I can imagine
it’s kind of tucked away and quite remote out from the city itself so yeah you know many people come out and
watched you get a lot of a lot of crowds or by then a lot of people got their flights back yeah so I think that’s sort
of the slave problem with the the March play format is that to a certain extent you probably rely on some of the field
and the players to create the crowd in the in the Armature events so obviously everyone’s gone home all the competitors
have gone home and the fact that it was meant to finish on the Thursday as well and then delayed to the Saturday so I I
I’m not too sure how many people were they’re actually I didn’t really pay a huge amount of attention but it wasn’t a
massive crowd well it was it was big enough to sort of create a bit of an atmosphere yeah around the players but
there was plenty of old deers so they had they must have had 50 or 60
volunteers over the two courses oh wow so a lot of those right retrograde they sort of followed your ride for the week
so you sort of got to know them a little bit better as well and all the officials and you know a couple guys we we sort of
met along the way over there as well right and what’s the take on the course obviously you get into you’re playing it
on repeat by that point what’s the what’s the take on on Aaron Hills yeah it’s brilliant and it’s one of
those ones where I think when you play a golf and tournaments competitions you don’t really get to sort of appreciate
some of the some of the aspects of it whether or not it’s the views in certain halls or certain green complexes where
you may not you may never be down that area of the green but yeah when you get to play at that many times or as you
said on repeat if you generally get to see different areas of the course and different conditions different wind
directions that sort of stuff so it’s yeah it’s it’s really really one of the best courses I’ve played the condition
of it is I think probably better that I’ve ever played you know definitely anywhere this the side of the water
anyway and the great like the fairways are just Immaculate uh grains are grades
were tough they had a lot of read as well so taking into consideration they had sort of three two or three days of
pretty tarantulian and it was probably by the two days after that you couldn’t you couldn’t tell that it was rain which
makes it a little bit more scorable I guess but to a certain extent you know it softens the greens up all of a sudden you know obviously a heavy us field
there which maybe it’s a over generalization here but it’s a different brand of golf in America isn’t it I
think there’s more you know it’s more aerial attack on the pin versus kind of maybe what we’re a little bit more used
to where you know weather conditions on the ground needing to be a little bit more creative I don’t know if there’s
any any truth in that yeah I think there’s definitely I think maybe when you get to the mid Armature category it
might not be as much of a factor when you’re you know if you’re planned Daffy college golf and sort of the top guys in
the Overture saying the Americans are deaf yes all in the air carry as hard as you can hit it I think there was maybe
an aspect maybe in the middle but it wasn’t quite as reliant on distance because of because of the sort of the
age category yeah yeah yeah but yeah the real stock because the rain made the
Fairway soft obviously as well so then you’re you’re taking away sort of 30 yards of yeah a sort of coming off the
fairways but I think yeah saw Fairways and soft greens is definitely definitely easier or more scorable than yeah
Fairways and fair greens because if you had the green sperm I think at times they were probably
running 13 well the all the steps so it was and the slopes are serious and there’s green yeah so that sort of stuff
so if you had them firm as well it yeah it definitely would have been definitely would have considerably harder was it
hard to adjust to Grain on on the putts just just on that you mentioned grain like that that is something we never
have to deal with over here do you find that hard adjustment when you’ve got something starting to read grain into a
putt um yeah so I’ve only really played green probably the last couple years I wouldn’t have been familiar with it at
all um it’s it’s sort of one of those ones you can’t think about it too much you just got to sort of look at it pick
the best ways that you pick a line and sort of if it’s a right Edge pot and you see the really good right you just go
right I’ll just give it an extra half inch yeah or you hit a little bit harder or you gotta account for it I think when
you think about it too much that’s when you sort of have issues with it you’ve got to just close your brain yeah yeah
it starts becoming too complicated so it’s I don’t think there’s any quick fix that I’m aware of and you just got to
play The Greens get used to it and sort of get a feel for it and hit it but I I parted I put it pretty well no photos
from Darren Hill so it’s there’s times you just get it there’s times you don’t I think if you don’t get it you know
it’s just try not to worry about it so you started the final day two up um you sort of uh you build a big lead
into the back nine and you’re coming down the stretch we think you were five up but coming down or five yeah five or
six yeah yeah yeah and um does it end to your mind the the
things that you can win does that come into your mind when you play or do you just have to box that off and just think
no it’s just keep going yeah you try not to yeah same with any sort of you’re trying not to think about
any seeds what you’re going to win but it’s yeah like you can’t well think about it really but I think the sort of
way to look at it was that like it was it’s such sort of an odd sort of prize to win that you’re almost you
probably don’t realize that actually you are going to win that prize even when you’re in some situation yeah it didn’t really sort of feel 100 real at the same
time so the how far affects the plan or the prize was probably helped as well because yeah it
didn’t really seem real at times as well so it was it was a bit easier to play that way but it’s funny with any match
but obviously because I’ve played so much with you there wasn’t any stage
before that that I sort of thought this you know I have a chance here that I’m sort of went into such the only time was
on the the 12th screen and I think I think you said the same thing as well I barely 12 to go five up
um and then that’s probably the first time that I sort of thought you know it’s one hole here now you know if I
remember you know if he makes one bogey that’s that’s it over so I did come into my head there that sort of you know I’m
pretty much on the edge no does that make you more nervous nervous something
we haven’t really discussed were you nerves at all during the tournament and did it get worse coming down the stretch
yeah that’s at any tournament there’s there’s nerves in any tournament that you play at any sort of stage they
generally obviously get a bit more noticeable towards the end but I think it was never nerves to the extent that
it caused a problem with any sort of golf shots which it can’t so but again I
just put that down to sort of the amount of times you put yourself in the position I think that’s ridiculous because I get
nervous teeing off on the monthly medal yeah you say you don’t get nervous it’s
ridiculous yeah no it’s it’s not nervous it’s not like don’t get there it’s more the fact that this week or last week
whatever it was that it didn’t affect my game negatively yeah but you still get
nervous it’s it’s more of a factor that you’re dealing with the nerves that you can still sort of play your normal game
through it but yeah like don’t get me wrong there’s been there’s been tournaments this year that have I’ve had nerves and it’s affected my game and
I’ve had a couple bad shots and it’s probably cost me a winter too so yeah it’s it’s not that I don’t get them it
just happened to be last week that it didn’t sort of negative isn’t it I suppose to an extent you know
you know that this isn’t a monthly medal or you know it’s not just like a social nine-hole game so it’s almost like how
you channel that you know that kind of maybe it says like expectation and there’s more thought and there’s more
excitement around the shots but it’s like well actually I want to almost want to try and channel this into you know a
positive outcome rather than it becoming a fear of failure and I think there’s so much you know you see you see the you
know most elite players when they sit about their under the gun they almost feel like but that’s exactly how I want
to feel because when I feel like that that’s that’s why I put myself in these positions because if it didn’t feel like
that it wouldn’t matter and and that’s kind of how they see it so I mean I suppose it’s
you know yes does it almost allows you to bring out the best in your game to a certain extent when there’s a lot on the
line yeah as I said the thing was sort of nerves the thing is it’s yeah you don’t get nervous and it depends
obviously if it’s monthly battle first day yeah but everyone’s a different everyone’s a different sort of reason to
be nervous so but if if you’re a bit if you’re nervous generally there’s a reason why it’s not you’re not sort of
30th in the tournament on you know in the ninth hole that’s not when you’ll get the nerves it’s if you’re in the
position that you’re doing something right so yeah you sort of hear a pro who’s talking about it all the time that’s sort of if you’re nervous it’s a
sign that you’re doing something right so you just got to keep on doing what you’re doing I think the sort of the
idea is that if you’ve got the nerves you’ve got to go into sort of autopilots and then that’s when if you you know
some people practice more than others but there’s sort of like hours of practice that you’ve done you’ve just got to sort of forget about everything
and sort of just you know right set it up hit it and you know where as you say wherever it goes It goes because
99 times out of 100 when you hit a bar chart it’s when you’re trying to sort of steer it down there or you’re trying
something that when you just come back hit it hard as you want generally speaking it’s probably a good shot so
and if it goes offline and it goes in the water then it goes in the water yeah it takes I think time just to sort
of try to feel comfortable with that mindset well there’s one thing I think that you’re definitely going to get
nervous at is obviously the prize the US Open and hopefully the Masters the third
advantation comes through which I’m sure it will um have you given that much thought yet
um probably not a huge my accomplish here we’ve sort of a better thought about it just in the last sort of wake up like you know organization and sort
of what to say but what what to do but yeah I don’t know L.A Country Club already where I just I don’t think I
know any of the golf holes or anything like that so it’s hard to picture you’re sort of self there as such but uh but
yeah obviously if it costs several of those Augustine sort of you know over the years you’ve lost it quite this time so yeah there’s probably point to give
them as yourself walking down certain areas and things like that and yeah I don’t know the aspect of nerves Covenant
did is going to be is going to hit you no matter what you’re doing something cool who’s on the bag have you giving
someone the call up yeah I don’t know what we’re going to do yeah yeah there’s I’ve got a sort of couple guys who would do but then there’s no other sort of
conversation other idea that like you know it’s it’s obviously it’s just one of the sort of toughest courses in the
world and you can make it affiliate yourself pretty quickly I think around the greens and different things like that so even the other aspect of how
like a local carrier like a professional carrier bear you know ideally you’d want to sort of
walk down the Fairway with like your dad or one of your best friends and things like that because it’d be a pretty cool moment but
if you’re six feet overpower walking up the last it’s not going to fail overly great either so
you’ve got to take that aspect and and the sort of consideration so yeah I don’t know I’d have to decide what I’m
going to do yet but the likes of like yeah a local Curry who carries their you know every day
knows where to hit it where not to hit it is is pretty invaluable sort of you
know information that you just can’t really get from from anyone else so yeah I don’t know I need to think about it
but that’s the key thing is so you’re going to be able to get the time off work I mean is April a busy a busy month
I mean that’s the key thing you’ve got to get the holiday request in now Matt right yeah so I I work as a local
optician so I’m self-employed so I’ll just no problem
so I’m unemployed for a month yeah yeah but I kind of mention it a little bit in
jest but you know playing in the US midam and winning that event you’re coming up obviously the mid arm is meant
to be more that sort of senior amateur sort of you know over 25s I think it is right yeah um you know people who are maybe not you
know turning professional or in that kind of post-collegiate state but I think you’re still coming up a little
against a lot of full-time amateur players right you’ll want you know are you in the are you in the minority of
people that are still people that are working but also playing Elite amateur golf or did you kind of sense that most
the people there had businesses or jobs and stuff that they were keeping down as well
yeah yeah so I think medal was definitely it was definitely a very different sort of golf tournament felt a
bit different because of the sort of the age aspect and where people were what were people who were doing so I think
there was a few there was probably I don’t know how many there’s probably maybe 10 of us or that I came across
anyway that were me and you were obviously pretty much for the time golfers in the season so we we were
definitely the minority like most people were yeah qualified for it we’re working full-time we’re doing something like
that so you had a you had a small group of us that were probably silly in that age group were still playing sort of
full-time competitive golf so yeah that was that was obviously a bit different the most Alternatives you
play all year where it’s 90 90 of the guys are full-time play the the sort of
the top publisher tournaments and of course I mean it could be another huge one that we’ve not talked about I mean
obviously it’s hard not to talk about Augusta and it’s really hard to talk about us open and LACC but the Walker
cup next year obviously pending selection and and all that sort of stuff but I’m guessing you and Hugh a really
Prime picks there’s a lot of great talent in the you know the GB and I am
at a scene players like Barclay Brown as well feels like there could be actually a really strong team playing at Saint
Andrews next year is that in your thought process as well yeah I think it was pretty much you know
everyone has the sort of the start of the year what they want to do in anyone that’s sort of within touching distance
of that sort of Cup Table is obviously that’s going to be the number one goal especially the other Technologies as
well so yeah no that’s definitely the goal the way to look at it is that if it’s you know you’ve got to just take
every tournament sort of individually and play those as good as you can to make that team so I played I made the
sort of the Nine Mile team this year for the survivors trophy which is which is which was good
again there was two Markiplier and Rob Moore and both me and the team as well
and she was sort of probably you know I know he was unfortunate to make that not to make that team but his form just came
in just after the selection date so I would say if you look at the if you look at the sort of 10 months even though
he’s right up there at the moment obviously so yeah that’s that’s sort of the big goal for next year but as I said
it’s trying to sort of play all the tournaments of making yourself you know available
or does Wagga come into it at all do they is it like the right I should know this but is it solely Captain’s picks or
do they lean a little bit on Wagga I don’t know I think there’s actually talks about that about whether or not
there will be or their change and there are things like that as far as I’m aware I think the top two automatically get it
okay it could be wrong but I think it’s top two and then it’s selections after that
so uh give me top three I don’t really know anything else but at mainly selections I think you’re rely on is and
then I think if you win the winner of the amateur uh gets in automatically
um so it’s yeah there’s a couple automatic ways in but it’s mainly selection based yeah and how does how
does your you know the kind of closing the season when that sort of end of the Twilight of the Year golfing year now how does that
now change the next six months preparation what it looks like do you you know are there going to be you know
a few exemptions to play in some pro events just to kind of cut your teeth in that environment a bit more or is it
going to be about really putting in the hours and the range or what you know how do you approach that
yeah as I said obviously Byron the obvious ones where there’s there’s a couple weeks that’ll be playing it’s not
I don’t think there’s gonna be a huge amount of difference in change so they are still sort of back sort of working
until for the next three months anyway so that we have a South Africa trip with
golf Ireland okay uh at the end of January start of February time for sort of two three week period
where there’s sort of couple good arbitrary events out there that you’ll go to I’ll generally go out
and do a better sort of warm weather sort of practice for that anyway so you’ll have that and then you’ll have
those few tournaments to sort of warm up and get back into sort of the get you know get the game a bit sharper and then
I think in March you’ve maybe got Spanish amateur dad and then there’s normally a few weeks
off so it’s I I’ve there’s a lot of sort of organizers that do you haven’t really had a chance to look at it just yet but and then I was talking to a friend who’s
you know talking about looking about the options of whether or not you get a couple invites for uh maybe a PGA event
the week before a couple weeks before the events or maybe European tour start
I I don’t really know so um it’s relied on what’s available or what’s what can’t be sort of what I
can’t get as well so I’ll fight that actually if the opportunities arose but is that something you jump back do you
relish the opportunity to tear up with those guys yeah I think it’s it’s sort of one of
those ones where it’s it’s a tough one with Walker copier as well because you can’t mess too many of the amateur
events yeah instead of a crew Event so it just say brothers and trophy was on
one week and then you got an invite to go play a PGA Tour event yeah it’s quite
tough to sort of turn down either but yeah you know if you look at if you if you’re looking for a reality point of
view is that if you go to your PGA Tour event if you play really well you might make a cut in your makeup top 50. but
the chances are if you go on looking at the averages you’re probably going to miss a couple of PGA Tour event at that
sort of stage and then if you miss the cut and then you’ve missed for Amazon and then you know you’re you’re sort of one back from the from the selection as
well so El half eldependent what overlaps and sort of how the season pans out next year but yeah like if there’s a
couple of opportunities to play PGA Tour events or European tour events then yeah you’re you’re sort of foreign
do you find like that Walker Cup selection specifically this year coming
up with the beta Sanders and stuff does that is that kind of the guide in factor
to how you lay out your golfing you go for calendar yeah I think it’s it’s similar to pretty
much every year other the fact other than the fact that there is the Walker copper all at the end of the year every two years you’ll still play the same
events so you know all the ones that we all sort of play normally every year we’ll still play the same stuff it’s
just with the fact that that’s that’s there at the end of the year so yeah it’ll be I think as I said borrowed
the obvious two weeks and maybe an invite here and there uh we’ll see how that goes it will be pretty rough to see
him as see him as last year or the year just passed there just just on we’ve
sort of talked a little bit about obviously you and Hugh and Irish Golf and first USGA you know remember to
Champion Madam it’s a champion but the amateur game in Ireland seems to be
essentially the elite amateur golf is much more visible in Ireland than what we would see over here in England or
whatever I don’t know why that is but I just and maybe I’m slightly tainted by people that we know that play golf in
Ireland that just seem to buzz off you know walk up and amateur golf but I get the sense that the whole amateur scene
in Ireland is just really really cool is that is that just a it’s not just a bad
take by me or is it is it actually a case of there’s a really really competitive amateur scene Now in Ireland
that’s that’s kind of kicking off because I was I mean there’s Twitter accounts that publish those things blow
by blow I’m pretty sure I was following it was at the south of Ireland that I
think he went on and won that didn’t he and that was uh Richard Knightley as well I don’t know maybe you played with
Richard in the semis or something like that but um I just got the sense there’s a lot more visibility around amateur golf
particularly at an elite level over there yeah I think it’s sort of a tough one to judge when you’re sort of you you’re
only sort of I already really know Irish Armature golf well enough compared to sort of the ignorant
Scotland wins but yeah I think the tradition in Ireland with Armature golf was massive I think it’s it’s the same
as anywhere that it probably is getting less sort of of an importance over the
past sort of 10 15 years just with professional golf really being sort of so big so but no there’s definitely a
massive sort of buzzer at the tournaments they’re sort of you got the four provincial tournaments the north south east and west which are sort of
big points in the calendar every year for any all the golfers so you know everyone sort of really wants
one of those tournaments on their CV they say you want you want two of them this year one back to back and north and
south so it’s things like that are sort of pretty cool when you’re playing the events
the I think if you looked at US 20 years ago they’ve seen certainly you see photos in the 90s or the early 2000s of
like the likes of Darren Clark and Paul McGinley McElroy Laurie playing the events and there’s maybe hundreds of
people maybe even thousands of people walking around some of the matches that has sort of I think died down a bit
whether that’s because of the sort of the increase in professional golf possibly but you know people people
maybe couldn’t have access sort of high-level golf 20 years ago 30 years ago we had to go and watch the local
amateurs play so there’s maybe an aspect that’s just the amount of you know access to golf these days is reduce that
but the the sort of the balls within the players to win the tournaments is yeah is exactly the same as as it always has
been I would have thought and are there going to be any uh any of the you know great art professionals that you’re
going to be able to draw on for a little bit of experience I suspect there might be some interesting practice rounds ahead of you before some of these Majors
there seems to be you know kind of some little Traditions that go on around certain players kind of getting the call
up for a practice round do you think you know I don’t know you probably with people like Shane or Rory or anyone’s going to be able to kind of give you a
few hints and tips when it comes to the majors next year do you think yeah as I said obviously that’s tradition I I
haven’t looked into anything just yet as it says that’s a bit early to sort of be organized just yet but if you look in
the distribution of what’s normally happened like hello I know James pretty well James sugary won the amateur in
2019 so obviously played played those events yeah I think it’s they’re generally sort of look after sort of any
sort of Irish amateur he’s coming into play he’s obviously pretty daunting experience so yeah I think I think I
might be wrong but I think there’s three Irish playing the Masters this year I think it’s Laurie Parr and McElroy there
might be someone I’m missing or I’m not sure Seamus power maybe yeah sorry
Laurie and Marco so I think the same three uh those three guys here are playing so obviously you know if there’s
a free spot in there but uh you know I don’t know we’ll see what happens I know our um our national coach named manship
is she and Laurie’s coach as well okay so generally speaking he’s very good with you know with helping us out as
well so um they’re very yeah there will be you know playing the practice right with any other guys is going to be pretty good so
um yeah it’s it’s I’m sure I’m sure I’ll get a couple good practice showings out of it anyway yeah well you got an amazing six eight
nine months ahead of you and um honestly I know you’re gonna be really busy now with all the meat equipments you’re
going to have over the next few weeks talking about the mid-am and stuff and we really appreciate you coming on to take some of the time to
speak with us but um I suppose it’s just for me and Sam and Bruce to to wish you all the best in the in your upcoming
endeavors and in the US Open and the Masters and they’re always so chuffy but it must have been a really exciting time
for you to win that that mid-am and and now you’ve got The Spoils of War to look forward to yeah exactly thanks very much
but yeah I think yeah it’s when in the tournament was sort of my God as I came
close a few times this year a couple seconds a third and things like that so just to actually win the tournament was
sort of probably the biggest relief uh as opposed to anything else and then sort of you know bit by bit sort of the
prize at the end definitely sort of comes a bit more like reality but again it still sort of feels so far away and
not overly sort of real just yet so we’ll uh we’ll see how it goes but yeah as I said there’s the uh six mobs from
sort of January well January hopefully if I can play well sort of you know the idea to be at San Andreas in September
and then you know you’ve got that sort of genre to sort of September time is is going to be pretty pretty cool with a
few sort of yeah it seems like the best best approach well uh yeah let’s do that with Matt and
a big thank you yeah perfect all right guys see you guys later