And the only two people on the range was myself. And tiger woods and i was like oh my god oh my god this is real you're on the way to canoe you're logo dope you've got a bit of money in your back pocket brand new bm uh you got a new scotty cameron potter you've got a knife wilson tour bag like life is is good at this point yeah it's good again tell us about the week well the day after i actually qualified i went back to work. And i had a 10-hour day teaching so it was really bizarre like obviously got in the open. And everyone was like how did you get on well i won what are you doing here like you should be practicing. So i actually went back to full-time work after that and then.
With the bit of notice i could cancel a few lessons and i actually went up to the open on the was it the saturday i think i drove up on the saturday. And then.
Went for first practice round on the sunday because is that the first day you can go. And do a practice round yeah well i just thought like i'll give myself a good chance of getting in here like doing well. So i went straight back to my playing days like i need to prep i need to practice i need to do this i need to do that. And i actually went up and went to the golf course on the sunday and the only two people on the range was myself. And tiger woods and i was like oh my god oh my word this is real hot yeah. And there's a picture of me and like face on can we get that we're gonna get that picture. And put it in the podcast yeah group. And on the on the second channel and in the background tigers hitting balls and i was just like this is surreal now that is ridiculous. And were you like not only at that. But i mean were you nervous then.
On the range hitting balls with tiger yes that well yes. And no nervousness i was just i was just trying to take it all in. And i just thought i'm gonna enjoy every moment here of like being here it might it might only ever happen once so just just trying to take every moment in just making sure i looked around and actually looked at things around me just so sorry james i'm getting excited just two quick questions firstly realistica now what were your expectations. Or did you have any at all um i felt like i could easily easily like make the cut yeah that was my goal basically try. And make the court try and earn some good money play a chunk of my mortgage off and then.
See see what happens get back to coaching and then.
Go back go back to go and then.
Second question and this is what i thought of until you just said tag woods obviously there's you on the range in tiger woods yep like you've got the most famous golfer of all time. And a guy that you know being honest most wouldn't have known of in yourself but how did you get treated then.
In the whole were you treated as if you were with that bad you know the open badge. And everything and obviously being a player do you still get treated as if you almost were tagged woods by the staff. And by everybody at the golf club course did you feel like you you know you really were somebody. And stuff yeah i mean the staff obviously don't treat you as well as tiger woods because he's got six people walking around with him um. But yeah the staff were really good. And it was just surreal really like walking into that clubhouse. And i had to sign a flag and sign a few like um bits of art when when we checked in and it was just surreal really did you always get the tiger's signature. And try and put your name put it next.
To it like tiger signatures here and everyone else's names around yeah nothing's up here arrows pointing at his um i can't remember searching. For it also like things like how did you know what to do when you got on site like was it was it clear enough as a player did you ever get stopped as well as a not like someone yeah security is only yeah does that ever happen no no um i suppose because actually really i mean you get sent like documentation. So you can get into the car park i want you in there it's just a case of going into the clubhouse you get your clip. And you couldn't get anywhere without badges and clips so that was it was surreal really turning up that day. But i suppose because you you look the part oh yeah form the one driver all brand new galvan green clothing all brand new clothing tour bag caddy you just walk how do you know how to get like to the driving range. And to get the ball like did when you go to the driving range do they say what balls would you like mr robinson what balls would you like what exact balls do you like yeah i mean caddy does a lot of that. And you just got directed everywhere it was just buggies from the clubhouse to the range from the clubhouse to the shipping green things like that because again this is a world i feel like i know. But i also don't know at all i feel like i obviously know how it all operates i've been to many many tour events as i get i worked that week at kanushti so i was more behind the scenes i've ever been before. But i still don't understand how things happen from a player's perspective well that's something james has conveniently not mentioned yet he's mentioned the x5 his men should be on the range of tiger woods and having the signing and stuff he's not mentioned the interview with rick shields that he got done on the golf course well that was quite a big moment actually i realized tiger didn't get that no tiger didn't get no no no not any old bully golfer there got an interview oh do you remember who i was playing with ian poulter. And uh rafa cabrera bella yeah because i i we i chased you down yeah you're on the uh sixth hole the path i know three eighths total did you play with. So i thought i played how does that work how do you put like basically in the clubhouse um it's just a t-shirt there's a computer yeah there's a computer with a tee sheet. And you see who's on there and then.
You just pop your name down with them what so i just thought i might only ever be here once so i want to play with sergio played with polter africa bearabeo jorge camp hilo danny willett and did you know danny yeah i knew danny yeah well he's he stuffed me in two thousand seven didn't he don't think he'll ever forget revenge that was the highlight when we ever get him on the podcast we'll ask him about that as a highlight see if he remembers that um. So like i mean. But like tiger's name's not on there is it. Or like does it no does some players like almost shy away from everybody i think if tiger was putting his name down it would go from four like no names to four names. So nobody else could put the name down but when i played with polter and um rapha rafa i remember being stood on the first tee because you i i got to like the first tee 10 minutes before the tea time i remember saying to sam mccaddy at the time do you reckon look home because like yeah i'm a nobody. And he was like i don't know we'll see in a minute. And then.
I remember thinking they're not coming it's like we're off in a minute and they're not here and i'm thinking i'm gonna look like a here playing on my own so because you can't really miss your practice time either can you no no. And then.
Before you know it they walk through and i'm thinking oh wow and what do you do introduce i met him many many years ago at the uh the belfry in the british masters. And he won't remember but i remember it but i met him on the putting green there and when he walked up he was like ian i was like yeah of course i know your name like james. And it was surreal really playing with these people wasn't much of a chat did you rather drive like a money match no like they they did practice rounds in like a very unusual way they would hit like three. Or four balls off the tee and then.
They'd just drop a ball in the rough and they just did their role playing without. And to get up to the green and they wouldn't even put the hit like seven eight nine ten shots round the green right and then.
Just walk onto the next.
Tee and what were you doing were you learning from that yeah i was i was like hitting a few shots. And basically playing a ball and then.
Playing other balls around the green like doing a lot of chipping and putting like did you ever feel like there was times where you wanted to hit another ball. But you were conscious about keeping them waiting. Or they just own it no only i've even got a video on instagram of like me in slow motion i'm hitting a shot well i've hit a shot into the green. And then.
Sam said oh we'll hit one to a back right flank imagine it's there. And i've thrown a ball down and i'm hitting it and polter's like up the fairway like 50 hours and i've actually pinged one over his head and obviously practice rounds certainly open packed like the the attendance really really big yeah is that nerve-wracking is that the biggest crowd you've ever played in front of even in the practice rounds um it's up there yeah definitely i mean places like denmark on european tour like got quite a big uh himberland yeah with the the par three yeah they got really big like crowds. So that was probably the biggest. But at the open it was just with the grandstands around you. And like you speak on the first tee and it echoes around yeah well i've got a great video of like all my friends in the in the stand. And i hit like a four iron like like i did the final stage like a really low four iron off the first tee. And i remember being like filmed by a few people like friends and family and i've stood there and just remembered thinking just keep breathing just keep breathing like don't shallow breathe and hold your breath it's just something you learned over the years and i hit a really good t-shirt off the first and all my friends are wow this isn't the first day yeah going bonkers on the first feel like an amazing feeling yeah i want to i want to i want to rewind just a tiny bit i feel like we've got. So much fun actually going through all the practice rounds you're really soaking it all in you're looking at everything you're probably your phone's going mental you're checking things all the time. So i think i'd be a nightmare with that it was really quite bad. For me social media so only because i was getting. So many messages it was making me nervous not like hate messages no no no it's a good look awesome i've put some money on you oh god that's not what you want to see it's all support. But you think i don't really want to be reading this my phone was always going off. So i actually signed out of social media and colin and mark like looked after it and took a few pictures of me and did the promotion whilst i was playing. But i logged out of it because it was going crazy i really want to thank my sponsors again. For the fifth time today.
Another selfie of us um. So you logged out of it you'd box that off and then.
You go back to the house you know every night and was it was it a really chilled vibe were you drinking like what was that like at the home my mindset changed i would say like going back now. And like like reviewing the situation i suppose i started to try again back in the playing days nothing was relaxed i was eating the right foods i wasn't having any beer i wasn't having any wine no cheese i was drinking water all the boring stuff in life. And i started practicing so much every day and i'm not gonna lie i practice my way out of form really i went into that final stage dominating yeah yeah came out of it i thought my game is in perfect position i don't need to do anything here just just trickle a bit of practicing. But i hit hundreds of balls and by the end of the practice session i thought to actually just become worse there like did you have any coaching did adrian come back out. And give you any lessons like and in hindsight i know it's really hard would you have would you have literally like how can you manage that though because let's say after final qualifying you go to the open. And you do the bare minimum yeah. And i mean the absolute bare minimum bit exactly what's got you through regional qualifying. And final qualifying and let's say you performed exactly the same in the open as you did when you when your practice is hard yep would you have looked back on it. And gone i wish i tried harder could potentially maybe but i mean the way it panned out. For me is i went to the open playing well. And hitting it well and came away from the open practiced out of our form basically i think the thing is with that though i think everybody would do the same thing because the first one you went to is that look what's the first one called behaving what's that question regional qualifying you went to that almost day out in the sun gave a golf no expectations you happened to play a movie try to break eight two yeah beat rick yeah exactly well done. For that the next.
Round again bit of fun of course you know really well kind of with your dad on the bag chilled out happens to play amazing again with no expectations you then.
Go to the open knowing part of the magic of the open if you play the four best rounds of your life which we alluded to earlier. And you won it or you come top 10 you come top 20 or whatever you might do you get put a tiger. Or whatever anything that could be your life changed forever and that's so starting to think like. But that you can't blame you you naturally then.
On it's like you've got this one shot you're going to practice your heart out i just thought like after this i'm going back to tour like yeah you never know you know what i mean like if i won a hundred grand. And got into the open the year after i can't remember where you have to finish is it top 14. Or something like that 12 to get into the open the next.
Year and i was i was starting to think like that like positive thoughts. But putting pressure on myself again rather than thinking.
