EP86 - Viktor Hovland interview & who’s going to win The Open?

Even though i'm not betting on him john rahm i think is going to win the open okay [Music] all right guys welcome down to a very exciting episode 86 of the rickshaws golf show podcast we're here on location today.

We can say where we are we can we're at broome park which is 28 minutes away from royal saint george's which today.

In fact one hour five minutes ago the very first tee shot was hit by richard bland from england. And uh andy sullivan and mark simonsen in the first group very good group english trio for the 149th open championship it's been missing for two years it's back baby and i'm really excited we're going today.

First championship day we've been to the last couple of practice days which have been epic which we're going to talk about um. And also we really want to thank our good friends at mastercard who have set this whole trip up yes uh the sponsor the podcast thank you very much we've got a really cool interview later on today.

With one of mastercard's ambassadors victor hofland who is obviously playing in the uh open championship from norway. And we also in the middle of this podcast we have a little bit of a kind of we're bouncing around everywhere yeah today's podcast as you said it's very kindly been sponsored by mastercard. And it's a bit of a like um a sandwich of a podcast oh nice guy very much on brand there with the open bean sandwich this year we've got a bit of rick and guy at the start we've got rick and victor hovland towards the back end of the podcast and sandwiched in between is a very interesting kind of 10-minute discussion you had with um from mastercard. And phil from the rna that was something that we don't talk about very often it's something that i don't think about often enough. But it was something about sustainability that actually was really interesting. And if you're watching this on youtube you'll see our water bottle is here um because at the open this year you cannot buy a plastic bottle of water i believe well two years ago at raw pork rush did phil say they saved something like 135 000 bottles of water being used at the open championship which is obviously great. For the world great for the environment you have to depo dispose of them it saves so much money and it's great for the environment so listen to that chat in the middle also you have a chance which i think is really important. For as little as one pound 50 donation you get to do two really good things you get to one plant a tree which is great it's cool like that's really cool thing to do obviously with everything going on in the world at the moment we need to look after our planet. And number two if you donate as little as one pound 50 you get entered into a draw to win a once in a lifetime trip to the 150th open championship next.

Year at the home of golf saint andrews my favorite place in the world bar none so find out in a little bit how you entered that right royal saint george's we've been there a couple of days so far what have you thought about the venue and who what's your hot take so far well so this this podcast comes out friday so everyone listening will have known what happens thursday obviously we don't know. Yet it's thursday morning so it's now 7 30 in the morning yeah we went yes we went wednesday. And we went tuesday to the open and it was the first opening i've been to since 2018 it was 2019 when it was at um royal portrait i went with you a couple weeks earlier when you did some filming there. But not the actual open so i've missed it that's the first thing to say i've missed the open it's my favorite major i've said that a few times i have to wear my open cap even when it's an open week i love the major. For me it sits a little bit above the masters and but this week i have just liked seeing people walking around the golf course enjoying watching golf i've also enjoyed seeing the superstars up in the flesh we've seen john ram phil mick brooks kepker dustin johnson rory tommy fleetwood minwoo lee your friend of mine certainly your friend um and one thing i did notice actually just briefly we saw bryson. And he was on the range smacking it we know he hits it far. But the distance and the height to watch him from just literally ten foot away or ever was unbelievable yeah he is uh yeah we didn't see him out in the golf course yesterday because he was supposed to playing with uh mickelson ram. And dj which would have been a killer group but it looks like dj and brook and bryson kind of jumped away as a practice round a lot of the times there's no real structure to it some players will play 10 holes some alone play a handful some will play more than 18. And they just jump around sometimes the players on their own like we saw bruce kept could just out there on his own yeah you know what i really liked brooks. So that was going sorry it was just a little walkway between i can't remember the holes now was it something like 10 12. And 30 yeah something like that. And uh naturally there's a lot of people waiting for brooks kepca watching him and he's just chilling there on his own with his caddy ricky elliot and he's walking through his little pathway where the roped off areas are where all the marshals are. And this year it's quite strict like players have to stay in their kind of bubble there's no autographs it's quite hard. For for fans to really really get up close and personalized this year that's just covered it's one of those things but brooks kepker through that little walkway i mean there must have been 30 40 people in that little walkway. And he's he really spent time certainly with the young fans yeah. So like i won't say kids but the younger fans teenagers teenagers taking selfies and respectfully he was socially distanced. But you know a group of lads and they were taking the selfie had brooks in the background. And he walked through this line and probably took ten pictures and i just thought fair dudes i know it doesn't sound like a lot but that was this year it's an easy excuse. For these players just go i can't you know what i mean yeah they can just they can just hide behind the regulations the government settings whatever it may be what the rna have set out. But you didn't he spent the time to go through and he was laughing he was joking. And i heard someone say something about bryce and he kind of laughed it off and stuff like that so yeah big credit to that i really enjoyed seeing that that will make literally make people's year like getting a picture one of the best golf in the world a full-time major winner you can put on instagram. Or send to your family that was a nice touch. But then.

He did something that the most swag i've ever seen on a golf course we saw him on holes at like 15. Or whatever it was when he hit the pitch sick let's let's pick the picture he's on his own at this point oh no was it with somebody else. And he was about 120 yards away yeah just like that yeah you can't it might not be a bit less bit more whatever 120. he hit this approach pitch him it landed maybe 15 foot short took a massive hop forward spammed backwards like proper checked up to like a foot foot. And a half it just when it landed in the green you could hear the brakes were coming out i could hear it screw into the surf i might say it just stopped on a dime. And just it was a foot away max. So that's the first part they did that was obviously impressive yeah he then.

Walks up to it takes his time with his putter in his hand gets the ball doesn't give it himself doesn't just knock it in one-handed pulled it back probably triple the distance it well. So now he pulls it back to about six and a half foot knocks it in then.

Did it again. And knocked it in did he even possibly three times. And then.

Just walked off it was just ridiculous that's when golf's too easy isn't it when you put the ball further away from the hole because you just know it'll go in yeah no that like say. For me if there was all those people watching. And there was about eight thousand people there yesterday it was just due to that busy didn't it though she used to be thirty. Or thousand today.

Ridiculous she's gonna feel much much busier um also thanks. For everyone who came up and spotted us yeah well that's why do you we got i got i must admit yesterday there was a lot of pictures being taken. So i appreciate everyone that came up and you might have heard it on the podcast we did the other night uh not many people asked. For a treat no it might have been a bit put off they might not know what they were getting out of my pocket. But i gave out a few little treats yesterday and i'll try and do that again today.

As if well actually this will be too late it's gonna say if you do see me. But i've already gone by this point what about the orcam we had here when we came out the hotel when then.

That guy said oh rick golden guy obviously it's the podcast can i get a picture. So i was obviously quite pleasantly surprised oh yeah okay. So you're obviously dead used to it and we got a picture of this guy and announced his mate do you want one oh yeah. But i think he obviously didn't i don't even knew where i was. Or not i just think you did it i kind of like moved out the way it's like oh oh dead awkward i can't say dancing with me as well who the hell are you mate rick's bank carrier get out the way. So yeah no it's really good um what else did we see that was interesting um just the whole imagine if you've not been to how would you explain what the opens like somebody because matt. And harry with us off camera hadn't been to a tour event before i they were obviously loving it. But how do you explain there's. So much going on there's. So much going on. But weirdly you don't and people will probably disagree with here who are really hardcore like major fans certainly open fans i don't really feel like you see that much actual golf no that sounds really strange because you you're more in the environment like if you wanted just actually to watch golf watch on tv is probably the better way of doing it. But what you miss on the tv is the atmosphere what the conditions feel like it was windy yesterday that was one thing that i really noticed. And a lot of people on the range the range was packed yesterday. And i think that was down to the fact that because it was. So windy a lot of players had their launch monitors out the gt quads the man's and they were trying to figure out in this wind how much is the ball being affected by the conditions. And i think that was something that i really you can only feel that when you're obviously at the venue. And also the things like the rough how green everywhere is because we've had a lot of rain here in england over the last few weeks. And typically when an open championship is at a lynx course. And there's been a dry spell sometimes the fairways are as hard as this table. And the colour of this table which by the way if you're listening we're just on a brown wooden table um not on a green lush table uh so we're like say this time it probably looks more like a snooker table because it is it's much more green it's very i feel like green keeping. For links golf courses and opens have changed enormously over like we were watching the big screens yesterday while having some lunch by the way how good were those chicken dippers chicken dippers. And chips were expensive. But phenomenal unbelievable food at the open is very good actually. And the drink was good um. But the um they were showing highlights of 10 years ago at royal saint george's when darren clark won. And phil mickelson was in contention. And dustin johnson how different does dustin look then.

By the way. So different it's like a young rick shields pre-beard i forgot to tell you as well i think you were chatting someone he had joe um tigers caddy on the back joey the carver yeah did he he had he joey the carver was caddying. For dustin johnson at the um ross and george 2011 11 it was. So 11 10 years 10 years ago um but when you see the golf course then.

And you see it just looked more manicured there was like rings on the green of life well the greens now certainly open championships like perfect. And the fairways are much more perfect i think there's been obviously an evolution of of green keeping in those ten years naturally. But also i think more inspiration from golf course in the amer in america because they're much more like that where there's nothing out of place is there the one thing i noticed massively i said this to your the condition of the bunkers like the kind of face the wall if you like on those pop bunkers it's just like pristine there's no weeds there's nothing out of place just absolutely pure greens are pure fairways are pure rough is disgusting did you see the cliff. And i think you told it me. But i hadn't seen it but i saw it last night where they they are um the big flame yeah like flame throwing the faces of the bunkers. So there's no like weeds. Or it's madness really it's crazy it's unreal but the whole atmosphere i mean the range is one of my favorite bits to watch you watch these guys that said like okay bryce. And smacking it but even just guys who you might even know the name of because again i follow tall golf but not where i know every single players play in the open what they look like and how good they are. And stuff so you see some guys who obviously oh there's rory there's dustin whatever and you might see a guy you've never heard of but you watch them all strike it with irons even wedges drivers and it's just abs it's just different you don't see that at normal golf clubs ever it sounds different yeah quick hot tape before we get into the mastercard. And rna chat and then.

Obviously victor hovland that's really interesting you've got you've definitely stay tuned for that um we spent a little five ten minute chat with our good friend minwoo lee yes. So we watched we tried to watch him on the golf course but he had jumped ship he'd gone on to the driving range um i managed to get a message to him and say where are you seeing him on the range we wandered over to the range. And we're watching him for a bit and uh he was just striping it i honestly think genuinely he was up there with one of my favorite golf swings on the driving range. And even compared to like your best players the sound that he hits it is epic yeah i'm honestly i know we've banged on about him loads. And he obviously won the scottish open he is a ridiculous talent he is going to go a long way he's a very nice guy as well he's. So nice that he came over when you're not supposed to come over to the riff raff which were us yeah. And he spent five minutes with us chatting about how you know amazing it was thanking us. For the support that we've given him on the podcast thanking you guys listening and watching and supporting him his social media following has gone through the roof he's feeling love everywhere like he's getting a lot of people out on the golf course saying oh well done we heard you from the rick shields golf show or we heard you we saw you on the break 75 so he's loving it please please please everyone watching everyone listening mimwooly is our man yes like let's support him let's get really behind him. And hopefully he has an amazing week this week if he cracks into he's currently 61st in the world i think he's head yeah 62nd if he cracks into the world's top 50 doors really start to open he gets in every wgc every major like that is. For these guys these elite level top 50 is absolutely worth signing it. So he's so close now decent well if he makes the cut and has a decent finish this week i imagine that will pump him up to top 50. maybe one thing i regret about yesterday well just in life at the moment we've talked about mimouli um that two months ago i didn't put an offer on the table. And say will you wear rickshield's hat rickshaw's head cover rickshaw's apparel. For this fee i think hugo boss might have just outfit you though. For two years imagine i actually get not better i'm everywhere i've been on them now for this weekend just because i feel like i have to yeah we spoke to the guy from callaway owen who said after that video we filmed he thought i'm gonna better manually every week now i've seen him in the flesh. So many times it's an awesome golf he's gonna win again soon so i think the first three weeks he was betting on him. And then.

He just kind of forgot and now he obviously won the scottish opening would have won a fortune so um mim rooley i think is going to have a great chance after winning the scottish open full of confidence he's playing with sam horsfield today.

Which is another friend of the channel which hopefully we're gonna do some videos with soon um. For me we're gonna have one pick each and then.

We're gonna get into the into the chit chat did you say sandwich last episode who you're gonna win who do you think's gonna win i genuinely think rob is gonna win i think i did say that in last week's episode. So even though weirdly i've not put a bet on him because i think his odds are too short i just think ram if i was to put my money where my mouth is even though i'm not betting on him john rahm i think is going to win the open okay i'm going to i know go dustin johnson it's a bit safe then.

I'd love minerally who obviously wants to win i've backed him as well. But i do think dustin now you guys have watched round one. So you might know we're miles off the mark where both players might miss the cup but either way that's our picks right now right let's talk something really important here on the rickshaw's golf show podcast which we should be responsible out and everybody in the world should be responsible for we've got to look after our planet it's the only one we've got so we sit down with christina and phil from the rna and really insightful and again a chance to win tickets to the 150th open championship so down here at the open which i'm really excited about royal saint george's. And i'm joined here by christina and phil in 30 seconds christina explain who you are. And what you do i'm christina cloverdance. And i'm the chief sustainability officer for mastercard that's nice and simple phil so philip russell assistant director of sustainability at the rna and focus primarily on the impact and legacy of staging the open perfect so i've been now here at the open today.

And i've noticed around everywhere these water stations which a fantastic you know use of space great for spectators you know it's free to use you can use the you can buy a water bottle um. And you can donate as well. But i want to find out a little bit more about where that came from where it started and the impact that's going to have in the future as well who wants to pick that up. So yeah. So if i give a bit of background so as the organizer of the event ourselves at rna we're very committed to sustainability and looking at in particular the the environmental impact of staging the championship and we knew of course in the last years single-use plastic has been one of the big areas of focus globally and historically we were using we were reliant on single-use plastic water bottles on site. And we were getting through quite a lot of them as you can imagine from this size. So we said okay we need to change that we need to get rid of those. And we need to do something different. And we wanted to move to a refill solution so we worked with a swedish company called bluewater world leader in water purification technologies and stainless steel drinking bottles and we bought in for the first time in port rush so 148th open back in 2019 yeah water stations across the venue giving free chilled purified drinking water ask people to bring their own bottles to site free drinking water all day. Or if you wanted to stainless steel one commemorative edition on site have you got a start to hand how many litres of water were drank in those stations. So i'll tell you i'll tell you a good one we've got so in 2019 we enabled the removal of a hundred and twenty three thousand single-use plastic water bottles by the project that's crazy so a big change a big challenge and then.

For us we're delighted this year to step that project up a level yeah. And to collaborate with one of our official patrons for the open mastercard and this is where you come inside this is. And this is where i came into play. And so if you think about mastercard um we're a payments company a technology company. And um we for a long time since the beginning and in our dna has been how we can use our business um. And we've been focused on financial inclusion and bringing 500 million people into the formal economy we did that last year we doubled down. And committed to 500 more so a billion people um as you do that we also know that um growth cannot come at the expense of the planet. And so mastercard has a reach of nearly three billion and so therefore. a partnership that we have like the rna and mastercard we can bring together our two brands um the network that we have um. And for mastercard it um it fits so well with last year we announced a priceless planet coalition and a commitment to playing 100 million trees around the world in five years and if you think about the game of golf. And you think about the open as you've been here um. And you're here and it's so critical and it's so evident all around you of nature um you've got water and you've got trees and what we'll tell you about today.

Is um how we're actually marrying together the two of those um to drive the benefit yeah i mean that's something i'm really intrigued of i mean you're building more trees. For golfers to hit right because i i've hit a lot of trees in my mouth we're not planting them on golf courses exactly exactly so let me tell you where yeah. So if you think about it um the priceless planet coalition. And we now have 60 partners um that are with us in this effort because this is bigger than any one of us we're looking to plant where it can have the greatest impact to the environment. And initially we're starting with projects in in brazil and in kenya and in australia and so um the contributions are going towards the planting there um. But to get to 100 million trees that's going to grow. And there are going to be many more projects that are going to um benefit from it as well. And you are you simply aiming. For 20 million each year or because it's a five-year plan right it's a five-year plan and um so i would love to um to outdo that 20 million uh each year because it's there's no limit at 100 million um. But what we want to do is we want to engage consumers. And um so i'll let phil talk for a second about how um you cannot buy a plastic water bottle here um and so if you'll talk a bit about how the kind of the one for one um transaction works yeah yeah. So we in essence we said we achieved something fantastic in 2019 we took away all those single-use plastic water bottles. And people loved it because it's a it's a big uh systemic change for a major event to do that big change. And we thought okay well how can we now build it further how can we make it better we were very aware around the world now we're all focused on tackling climate change we need to restore our forests they play an integral part in our climate system. So when mastercard came and said well we have this priceless planet coalition program which is restoring tree cover in earth's most vulnerable geographies we thought there's a great connection to making us. So we said well water's going to stay. For free on site at the open you no one pays. For drinking water that's free purified chilled drinking water but what if we give people the opportunity every time they take a drink from those refill stations to plant a tree so on the stations around the venue you'll see we've got tap and donate each one's set up for one pound 50 that's all it costs to plant a tree in one of the ppc projects brilliant and it's at the it's at the user's discretion if you'd like to plant a tree every time you take a drink one tap of contactless card and it's done that's amazing and link with that we said okay well we're going to be selling these bottles on site. So for every refillable bottle sold on site we'll make a contribution to priceless planet coalition so in coming to the open in enjoying water and helping end the reliance on single-use plastic water bottles you're also helping to restore global tree cover it's win-win right it's a win-win and this is this is the beginning um it becomes shifting this norm. And once you do this you know here that becomes just a normal expectation. And we then.

Can build off of that. And as we as consumers become more aware um as they become more educated then.

They even start to demand more um and that's the cycle of this journey that we feel we are um you know beginning amazing now people who aren't here at the open this week obviously want to get involved listeners who are listening to the show from around the world we have a massive huge following everywhere in every four corners of the world how can they get involved in such a fantastic project. So we set this up and we knew that you know on-site is going to be at the face of this you know using the water stations enjoying that free purified drinking water buying a refill bottle to take home. But we also said look we want this to be um this one to reach to everyone. So online you only need to go to the open.com forward slash mastercard which i'll put a link in the description of this podcast and for the video as well fantastic and on there you can make a donation directly into this program. So this is something everyone can get involved with we've got the campaign on set uh on site everyone plays a part yeah. And we think this is a great thing. For everyone to support help do their bit. And together we can work to improve uh forests around the world. And there's a huge initiative right if you donate online because uh isn't there tickets for the most possibly one of the most famous open championships ever next.

Year the 150th opening is always it's always good right yeah it is. So there is there is indeed a competition up to win some tickets 150th open um maybe as a little added uh added boost. For people to come and get involved in this so you have to donate as you can donate obviously as much as you want. But you can donate donate as little as one pound fifty to be entered into the draw to potentially be at next.

Year's open at saint andrews correct that's a pretty good initiative. And i might say massive had a match in every donation as well that's correct that's correct because it's um the more we can plant um the greater the impact we know that trees um are a an incredible way to address climate change. And the one thing i'll say is that um by contributing. And donating as part of priceless planet coalition what we're focused on is more than just planting a tree yeah to put a seed in the ground. And to walk away um is not what we're after we're actually what phil said is regrowing trees. And so it is really about doing it the right way it's about science um in doing it in a way that's going to have the greatest impact. And so by participating and being a part of process planet coalition we encourage you to to join us and be part of the movement in making a real difference we know that um events like this um and especially when you're here it's touching the passions of um of uh spectators that are here. And around the world and when you can connect that that passion with also caring in a way to um contribute we feel like it's a real win win well i think what you're doing is amazing i will definitely be donating christina amazing feel superb have a great tournament it's great to see that that you're doing things that are. For the for the world and start it here at the open championship with mastercard and the rna i think it's fantastic thanks. For your time thanks for educating and teach everyone listening and hopefully you all donate and get involved and uh have a great open championship everybody enjoy it thank you thank you that was good that was interesting i was set off camera. For that bit and i must admit i got a lot more engrosses that conversation and possibly i thought i would do them telling the truth yeah i think it's one of those topics that i know me growing up. And probably all the same like i didn't massively overthink plastic use um but now it's so much more prevalent like we have to be conscious about it i teach my kids that they've got to recycle i recycle a lot more i feel guilty if i didn't recycle and i think things like this the little initiatives that can be done here like these water bottles that you can buy at the open. And use the filling stations where it's free to use the water is ridiculously purified. And it's weird because normally i can't massively tell the difference in tasting water between tap water bottle water whatever this water is clean if you're here at the open this week definitely take advantage of that. But if not just in life just be more conscious about what you do with plastic use um. And the big thing again out of that story is that you can also we can plant trees we can look work with mastercard. And the rna to to help plant more trees around the world for as little as one pound fifty donation they're gonna match the um contribution as well you've got a few teaspoons you should just cover that you've covered most of it there and most of it was in the little clip just just to cover cover our backs of mastercard just. For this competition bit um you have a chance to win um a trip to the 150th open next.

Year uh if you visit the open.com forward slash mastercard you can make a donation to conservation international. And further the mission of the priceless planets coalition but i don't know don't note it i can't even say the word donating by donating just one pound 50 you can plant one tree. And enter to win the trip to the 150th at st andrews this is the big one the prize includes a three-night stay. For you and a guest and hospitality ticket a total of 15 000 pounds wow flights as well was that yeah. And as you said in addition mastercard will match your donation. So i'll put a link in the description of the video i'll put a link in the description of the podcast come on rick shields golf show let's get behind this well i want one of our listeners to win that trip imagine that so don't know as much as you can whatever you've comfortable with. But as little as one pound fifty you get entered into a draw and let's have somebody listen to this podcast or watching the video win a trip to the best major in golf at the home of golf next.

Year feels quite fitting talking about planting trees when outside this window there's loads of nice trees very nice in the chalet right so then.

I got an opportunity to sit down with one of the best players in the world currently 14th in the world he's only been on tour for two years victor hovland from norway we spoke about him recently because he won the bmw in germany um really cool kid really cool kid i'm just going to put it out there on this clip it was over zoom it wasn't done in person unfortunately i'd love to have done it in person. But because again the player bubble is. So strict this year couldn't do that unfortunately. So he's on zoom there's a couple of times throughout the video where like the internet slightly drop it drops off through the audio she'll say where the video just slightly drops off but listen it's not you can still listen to it. So sit back relax and i get sit down with one of the best players in the world well victor hovland thanks so much for joining us on the rick shields golf show podcast thanks rick good to be with you um i'm excited because i get to chat to you ahead of the 149th open championship which is at real saint george's this year you mentioned you're down there currently. And you had a couple of practice rounds kind of give us a bit of an insight inside the ropes to what it's like to prepare for one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world yeah. So this is uh interestingly enough this is going to be my first time playing uh the british open um i've had a few good chances in the past playing amateur amateur tournaments um i lost in a seven hole playoff uh at the european amateur a few years back. And the next.

Year i missed out on the final open qualifier uh by shot and uh i was supposed to play last year. Or after when the us amateur i was qualified. But then.

I turned pro and uh wasn't able to play that year then.

Last year obviously it got cancelled so uh this would be a long time coming i feel like um but i've played royal st george's before i played the british amber here uh i believe that was in 2017.. So i know the course already but since i haven't played the last couple of weeks i was back home in norway just having a holiday basically uh playing here. And there um so i decided to come saturday morning and i was able to play 18 holes then..

And i played probably 13 holes yesterday um and just been practicing a little bit i'm just going to take it kind of um maybe a little easier the next.

Couple of days just to kind of get ready. For thursday nice and obviously with you playing the majority of your golf on the pga tour which is very very different golf to what what we see over here certainly. For the open how are you getting your game fine-tuned. For links golf particularly and listen i've actually never been to norway so i apologize what are the are any golf courses in norway similar to what you get at raw st george's yeah not really that i can think of we don't have anything that um you know looks the same. Or plays the same um we have some coastal golf courses but they're never as firm as the as the lynx course um we do have wind. So that's that's one factor and obviously living in oklahoma in the states it's it gets really windy so i don't think the wind is is going to be the uh the tough part. But as of right now the the course has had a lot of rain the last you know a few days few weeks so it's it's not soft but it's pretty lush uh the ball still rolls out uh but everything is green. So it doesn't play as maybe as linksy as as it normally does which i think makes the adjustments a lot easier because it you know the balls are still stopping where it's kind of landing. Or it does it's not rolling out as much. But i think it's once it dries out um i think you're gonna see a lot more of the golf course that you weren't that you didn't know was in play if that makes sense you know the the the ball is just gonna end up in places you you weren't expecting it to. So um that's just one thing to to watch out for as the as the course kind of dries up and gets firmer does that make the rough much more lush as well you mentioned everywhere is greener does that mean that the rough is thicker. And juicier this year it's looking pretty good in spots um i would say it's pretty consistent though for the most part it's not like you have one side that's kind of bare and the other side is just super thick they're usually the same kind of thickness on each sides um. And especially with kind of the the wet layer around uh the grass just makes it even tougher to get out of the grass so it's uh it's it's going to be essential to be in the fairway. So obviously you have had an incredible start to your professional journey because you are 23 years old currently right yeah you've had three professional wins your 14th in the world ranking right now i mean is this everything you envisioned them more. Or like just just trying to set the scene because am i right saying you turned pro two years ago yep so in that time you've absolutely crushed it it's been uh it's been quite a journey so far uh pretty crazy and i think about it sometimes how you know let's say i stayed another year in school. And then.

The pandemic hit i technically could have been in school until right up to this point wow uh so i basically would have turned pro right now um which which i would have been in a in a very different spot uh if that were the case. So um i'm lucky that you know i played the golf that i did at the right time. And and it kind of ended up being the way that it is now. But at the same time i've worked really hard and i believed that i could do it um. But as well we all know we're we're capable of things but for it to actually happen is this another one. So um it's uh yeah it's cool too it feels like it's gone by really fast um. But i look forward to keep pushing and uh winning some more golf terms exactly exactly i mean life on tour is it how you expected it to be does it is it give give the listeners a bit of an insight to your kind of your rookie season. And this obvious season that you're in now like what is life on tour like yeah it's uh it's pretty lonely at times uh especially as a rookie when i first came out um i played on a couple of sisters exemptions um you know i'm 21 years old. And i don't know anyone in the field uh i just hired a new caddy so i don't really know who the caddy is either you know you're just kind of learning the ropes. And and trying um and obviously it's challenging on the golf course but then.

As well off the golf course you're used to just going with your college teammates. And and you have dinner you have a team meeting with the coaches and and uh you know i would share a room with a teammate and you're just constantly around people all the time and then.

Suddenly you finish around and and um yeah there's no one there to tell you what to do um. So that's that was a big learning process. For me because i kind of had to take ownership of everything that i do uh not that that was really problem because you do do that in college you know you figure out what. And all that stuff but it's it's different when you're when there's when you don't even have the option to to kind of listen to other people as well so it's uh that was a learning process. But i think i my personality works really well uh when i'm by myself decent amount. But at the same time i'm out out on the golf course and i'm around people a lot too and and talking and being social but i i really like the kind of i've gotten used to the the balance of that of you know having a couple hours to myself at night and then.

When i'm out of the golf course or go to dinner with other people it's uh you know being social so i i'm used to used to that life at this point we had um we had ming woo lee on the podcast a few months ago who just won scottish show yeah he's a young lad like you loving life out on tour. And he's he says when he goes back to his room at night he's constantly on his like his xbox or whatever it was a playstation are you into gaming as well i used to. But this is like back in back in high school um i i don't really play any video games anymore um honestly like i'm. So tired at night uh after a long day that it it almost like feels like work to turn on the xbox or or you know start playing video games so uh i put a lot of time and i just sit there on my phone or my computer watching youtube or a show or or facetiming a couple buddies it's uh it's pretty simple but i have my kind of unique interest that i uh that i like to waste time on uh at i'm in the world of youtube give me some youtubers you you watch i'm getting outside of golf who do you kind of watch yeah uh. So there's this guy uh he talks about um essentially like it's fitness but he talks a lot about like pharmacology as well and just physiology so it's just like you know he talks about drugs essentially uh i don't i don't i do not take them just to clarify that. But i think it's really interesting just how you know you can. And obviously in a non uh uh in a in a natural way too just kind of optimize your body um his name is. Or his uh youtube name is like uh more plates. For more dates which is uh it's a it's like a funny name. And but he's pretty smart uh you should check him out um other than that i i've really gotten into watches so i watch a couple of uh watch channels um there's one guy named roman scharf that i like to watch um and what else we got yeah. And then.

I will watch a lot of um. So i listen to music a lot and i listen to some pretty hard uh metal stuff and there's some people kind of you know they just like talk about new uh new songs that are coming out. And i like to try to keep up to date and listen to the new songs and and even watch people react to the new song so it's uh yeah you can just tell that i like to waste a lot of time online i feel like we've just learned a lot about you in that one question yeah heavy metal wow after a nice relaxing golf day on a golf course you listen to heavy metal that's crazy you got you got to get that uh you got to get that energy out at the end of the day you know that's true i wouldn't want to be one of your neighbors in the hotel then.

You'd you'd be rocking all night i got my headphones on uh okay um obviously coming from norway you you have kind of really shone a beacon on on norwegian golf. And i'm guessing when you go back home that you must be held in such high regard i mean you must be they must be build a statue of your very soon victor like what's it like when you do go home uh well i i thought it was not going to be crazy at all uh that was kind of what i was hoping. For to be honest with you but uh i went back home the last couple weeks and i was going to play a round of golf with a couple of my mates. And there's this online booking system that you basically book rounds uh through which i don't know how common is in the rest of europe. But in the united states you i mean you basically just go out. And play or you call the pro shop whatever um but some of my buddies they just put my name in the system and i didn't really think any people would would check it um. And i played a car of course that was an hour. And a half away from where i live which to the first tee there's like 200 people there so we ended up playing in front of a couple hundred people yeah just uh you know just a fun little uh round turned out to be almost like an exhibition game. So we learned quickly after that day we should probably just kind of block a tea time or uh you know just show up to the golf course and and uh and play so we were able to just sneak out other places the next.

Couple days. But it was uh it was pretty wild i did not think it was uh it was going to be anything like that. And i bet for you i mean a couple of hundred people is nothing right. But i bet i bet to the guys you were playing with that they were they were terrified weren't they yeah now there were the guys that i played with they're they're good players two of them were pros. So i guess they're they moved to playing in that in front of that many people but you know they're they're good golfers uh but i almost felt worse for the group in front that teed off uh in front of us they were uh they were pretty nervous. But they actually strike their their two tee shots and and uh they got a standing ovation so they were pretty pumped. So that is. So funny that's crazy um so with with a you've had this full season now on tour and you've had fans back and obviously the i bet the atmosphere now when you play in front of big crowds when you're on the pga tour like you've almost seen that in a really weird way because obviously kind of 2019 you would have seen it a little bit 2020 you wouldn't have seen it at all pretty much and 2021 it's coming back again that's been is that been has that been a nice learning curve. For you where you've been able to get used to playing in front of crowds or were you happy to do it straight away from off the bat yeah it's a little bit different um because in 19 i was able to to play as an amateur in the masters. And the us open and obviously those crowds are are huge um i wasn't in contention. But i i did get to you know experience the the sunday crowds. And you know if you make a pub make a birdie you know uh here here in the roars and and all that so that was that was pretty cool um. And obviously being in college you don't get to get to play in front of that many people um but so when kind of the pandemic happened and we weren't able to play in front of people for quite a while it wasn't it was weird. But it wasn't the biggest shock to me you just felt like you were just out there playing a college tournament you know. So for me that was that was not that is that unusual compared to um you know the bigger names um. But then.

When we started to have people back again it just you kind of realize how much you you missed playing in front of people and um you know just how much that can help you when you're making a couple putts make it a couple birdies early. And just kind of carry that momentum so it'll be pretty cool playing in front of i think it's going to be 32 35 000 people out there this week. And i mean those are going to be the biggest crowds we've we've played in front of uh since the pandemic happened. So um it'll be pretty exciting all right it's gonna be and i think certainly here in the uk we've not had that pleasure of going to golf tournaments. For so long i honestly think the crowd this week is gonna be unbelievable atmosphere i really do i think even though it's not capacity to what we've had because over here in the uk we've been. So deprived of of any real sporting occasions a bar the euros that's just been on where we were lucky enough to go to the wembley you know the capacity was 60 000 i think they're letting in the end. But like yeah i think at the at the open this week golf fans have not had a chance to see it they've got a chance to see the best players in the world play golf in front of them we love the open. So much i think because we missed it last year i really do think there's going to be a massive buzz around the place this year which i think a lot of players will really feed off yeah i hope. So it's uh it's such a cool event and um you know just playing lynx golf is. So cool and and the crowds are usually. So respectful and courteous and knowledgeable over here it's it's uh it's going to be a cool week. So hopefully we can uh provide plenty birdies yeah i hate i've heard other players say that before. And it's quite interesting you say it i believe it or not oh no sorry i've been i actually went to the masters 2019 the final day. And for me that was more like a sporting event with a with a few people really interested in the golf if that makes sense yeah yeah where it felt in the uk it feels like everyone's there. For the golf and all the added extras are just kind of the the by factors. For it really so it is quite a different atmosphere. And it's it's interesting how the players react to that and buzz off that as well i've got a question for you victor who would you say right now with your time on tour who's the best player you've played with is there anyone that's really kind of you've gone wow yeah it's it's it's. So hard to you know say because you only get to to play with guys here and there you know rounds here and there and you don't know if that's you know if they're playing good that day or bad that day so it's it's a lot of things that can skew that perception. But um obviously i i put i played with john rom a couple times and i think it one thing is like you look at uh at other places it's not. So much the score but how they're playing and you can just tell with a couple guys like he kind of specifically he looked like he was not playing very good like he was not happy with how he's playing. And then.

You just look up at the end of the day and he's like oh you shot two under uh or he wasn't that bad but he was you know um not very happy with his game. And lift up a bun lift out a bunch of putts and then.

He added up it's not that bad and then.

He goes out the next.

Thing and shoots a good round and then.

Suddenly he's in contention you know so it's it's like there there's a few of those guys where you're just like you expect them to be in contention even though they're not playing very good um and i feel like i have i'm close to that but i still have some work to do i need to be become a little bit more consistent. And and work on a couple of things here and there but uh there's a handful of guys that are like that that you're just looking man that looks pretty easy you know even even if they hit a bad shot it's like they'll hit a good shot the next.

Shot. And they end up with a birdie or an easy par and then.

You know it's it's the game is pretty easy when you can hit bad shots. And and recover pretty easily without you know any stress it just doesn't look very stressful um if that makes any sense it's almost the players that can fight a good score when they're not playing that well they can scramble around they can pull off the odd amazing shot even they might not have their a game. And like you said you you jot it up at the end of the day. And they're under power and you think how has how has that happened um where a lot of other players would would have had to have their better days to match that same score. So that's a really interesting way of you you put in it and everything you have you played with tiger yet i have not um got pretty close at uh i can't remember what the other i got pretty close at the uh at the us open when i played as an am we were like right next.

To the leaderboard um i think both friday. Or after two down two days and three days but the draw went the other way so i was able to play in front of him on on um on sunday there um. But did not get the chance to play with him. So that's unfortunate but uh that's how it is it is hopefully you'll you'll make a recovery. And get back out there and you might be able to play with him one day um so last question what does the future hold. For victor what are your goals what are your ambitions what are you looking to achieve in the next.

Year. And what are you looking to achieve in your career yeah uh good questions um to be honest with you i'm not a big goal setter in terms of that stuff i have goals. But it's more process goals it's more okay i i need to get better here. And i need to get better here but to be honest with you i obviously winning golf tournaments and playing well in tournaments is a lot of fun. But i i play golf because of i have a love for the game and i want to see how good i can become uh. So for me it's like you know i want to get my club at speed up a little bit i uh i want to get better around the greens i want to be able to to get better at flop shots or you know my putting um my putting stats need to get a little bit better and you know just kind of dissecting my game like that and seeing how i can improve. And then.

At the end of the day if you get better in those areas you know it's i shouldn't say it's up to luck but there you know there's some some things that need to go your way for you to win a golf tournament you know you you can you can be as skilled as anyone else um. But when it comes down to it you need a you need to make a putt at the right time and you need to close it off and and uh sure you can say some of that is mental. But at the same time it's it's variance and and and luck to certain degrees so um i don't like to put a lot of emphasis on oh i need to win 20 times in my career or i want to win 10 majors like that's all great but uh i i'm not gonna say that i've failed as a golfer if i don't achieve those things but if i can look at every single year that i've improved. Or over five years and just look back and and say man i'm so much better than i was five years ago i think that's just in itself is uh is a success if even if i haven't won as much as i would have liked um. So that's just kind of how i go about it you are you're controlling the controllables you're controlling things that you can control after that after that is out of your hands you can't you can't you know if somebody comes. And shoots at 59 in the final round and and clears up the field you can't control that you just want to be the guy who can shoot that 59. And can shoot those low scores to put you in contention. And exactly you just mentioned that how you tried to up your club at speed just the last last thing obviously you're quite famous for this kind of have you got a name for it when you get to top and light pause and then.

Smash it yeah i haven't i haven't done that in a little while um. So i did that when i was kind of struggling with uh my driver at that point actually because i was uh i was kind of over cutting uh things that was coming my hands were going too far out in the downswing. And i kind of had to tilt back and swipe across it so for me that was a way of kind of re-centering a little better. And i can get my hands a little bit more inside on the way down. And basically i would hit straighter shots and funny enough i was actually uh my club at speed probably went up by two miles an hour uh doing that even though i i paused on a way back just because my swing was more efficient um. But right now i feel like my swing is in a better place where i don't need to do that um. And i've already gained some speed since that time i probably just this year i've probably gained i'd say four to five miles an hour club at speed wow um so and that's been that's been very very significant for me and hoping to keep building on that of course but it's it's not something i'm gonna do overnight um just if i can consistently maybe get one. Or two miles an hour club at speed a year you know you you take four years that adds up to be you know a lot of speed and then.

It gets to a point where it's kind of diminished in return um but i think certainly. For from where i'm at right now if i can get from you know 117 up to 120 um you know that would that would really benefit me um if obviously you got to keep the keep the ball somewhere close to the fairway. But uh if i can kind of just do what i'm doing now. And just add a little bit of speed that's i mean that's enormous um advantage yeah i think from the way that you've progressed. So far i think you'll achieve everything that you set out to achieve victor you have been awesome um good luck this week hopefully you can have an incredible uh first open championship uh we'll be all rooting. For you here at the rickshaws golf show and um enjoy your heavy metal and your mad youtube channels that you watch [Laughter] and honestly thanks so much for spending time with us you've been a pleasure and uh again good luck pal yeah thanks rick thanks. For having me on and uh maybe i'll see you out there i'll uh make sure to give you some music to listen to on some some youtube videos your way that's awesome thanks buddy yes you did that was sick you know what i think i've actually mentioned on the podcast before he's one of my favorite players i like i like his persona his style the fact that he's talking about listening to heavy metal music the fact that he's talking about watching these mad youtube channels he's 22 he's very mature. And it's mad with all these or maybe he might be 23 actually it might be a year older minwoo all these new talent just seemed so switched on like me at that age you see i was. So irresponsible like i was ridiculous i tried i was headstone burberry i probably had my hair dyed i had a citroen c2 which i had lowered i had these like 17-inch alloys on them which were way too big i used to have this radio kind of cd player which used to flip out. And take with you so no one stole it. And on that little digital display i used to have these little fish these digital fish swimming across like did you see mcdonald's car park with music on quite 100 yeah i mean that was me at 22. these kids are out there winning millions of pounds. And dollars around the world playing in the biggest golf tournaments in the world i mean the only thing i regret not asking victors about the ryder cup explaining the buddy ryder cup in september i wish i had more time with him. But i didn't and these kids are unbelievable. So they have no fear as well when it comes to winning tournaments they're just just like like minwoo last week when holding that port yeah just aren't scared love it. So we've got lots of friends of the show right now let's massive praise shout out to mimwoo this week and to victor and to everyone else that's been on the show i am a lucky charm so lumpy money on those players yes i should just say like anyone that wins they'll say oh yeah i saw them on the putting green that's why they won well what do you want to what you want to try. And do i'll somehow i'll somehow make sure it's it's my lucky charm in the next.

Two years get every tall bro on the podcast. And then.

Whenever anyone wins go oh look rick's looking you know who else i forgot to mention in the last episode we talked about lucky charms lee westwood went on a mega run after him anyway can't take credit for everyone's win a little bit thanks for listening to the podcast hopefully you enjoyed the sandwich of the podcast it's a different vibe today.

But i think there's a lot to take in. For people and it was a good one um tonight she said this was on the friday yeah we're back to noble on tuesday that'll be a proper like rundown of the open. And what happened and we won all that stuff um don't forget link in the description enter the draw to win a trip to the 150th open championship by donating one pound 50. thanks to mastercard for sponsoring the podcast guy let's go to the open it's now we're running not late but we need to get there quick run of the day breakfast now then.

Drive 25 minutes to the open watch the goal good day at work thanks for list everyone we'll see you soon the open's back.