So welcome back to the rick shields goal show podcast everybody episode 136 i'm your host rick shields nearly forgot my name uh here with co-host guy yes um you might have to bring the energy today.
Pal i'm a little a little tiny bit fatigued luckily. For you i've got arguably too much energy today.
Because i missed you oh thank you. And i'm looking forward to having you back and i'm looking forward to doing a podcast and hearing some more tales about your insane um ridiculous outlandish obscene incredible uh walk 150 and i'm sure everybody listening knows what you did. And wants to congratulate you on an incredible feat of physical and mental resilience firstly um but you've raised a hundred and twelve thousand pounds hundred and twenty oh wait wow it's good nearly 121 there you go 121 000 which is absolutely incredible. So hats off to yourself [Laughter] and you know the people have donated as well it's so um i know you've said this before. And i'm sure you're gonna reiterate again but it's so incredibly kind of people in this current kind of tough economic climate to donate their hard end cash to such a worthy course but answered you kind of off record not only the money is one thing that's incredible. And that'll go so far but it's the awareness as well yeah. And just a quick note you know obviously this has all been done for prostate cancer and uh my dad was telling me a story at the weekend actually it's. So crazy that that you know about prostate cancer he'd seen an old friend at the weekend and he'd said oh my wife saved my life he's like what he said my wife has just saved my life what do you mean. And apparently his wife said to him he's this guy's in his 60s late 60s whatever his wife did he needs to have a blood test you know i had one. For a few years you know let's just go and check everything's all right and he kind of put it off put it off anyway he went and he found out he had prostate cancer and it was like a nine out of ten in terms of seriousness. And luckily it was treated at the right time. And he's thankfully believe clear and you know stuff like the research that goes into helping these people and stuff that's what your money is funding. So again really really well done um i think everybody listening can say you've killed it well done it was uh it was a task it wasn't a bit on the um i must admit i don't i didn't know the magnitude of when i first set off when i first took that very first step i didn't quite fathom the fact i'd be walking. For 10 plus hours every single day for six days across scotland and the toll it's had on my body i've got to say it right now my bloody body's amazing thank you it is really good like what it can do it surprises me like. And everybody's probably the same like what you can actually put yourself through is ridiculous like i don't think we've really ever pushed our kind of boundaries certainly i've not in that capacity before to walk over a marathon every single day. For six days with my golf clubs on my back when quite simply at some point i was in. So much agonizing pain i couldn't even get to the bathroom from my bed in a hotel room so they'll then.
Be able to go on and walk 20 odd miles a day it's ridiculous so it's incredible no it was really good it's definitely one of those things that i am going to look back on in in many years time ago that was pretty awesome. And um like the support from all the fans the donations the messages um like i said the comments that i've had have just been absolutely amazing all the well-wishers i had on root throughout a live tracker loads of people came out when went beyond uh they needed to do to come. And say hello to beat the horn as they drove past we got offered lifts by taxi drivers buying van drivers whoever didn't take any lifts um the support from the golf clubs at prestwick which we are going to come up to in a minute absolutely such an amazing place we did a great 75 there played with guy. And the head pro dave um the the support we got cod a golf club at glen eagles and then.
Finally at st andrews the old course it just made it so magical um the fact that like i say we managed to raise 120 grand it is mad that i know it's insane because i didn't really know at the start of it how much was possible i didn't have an idea we had a kind of rough goal in mind trying to break 26 grand i kind of thought we might do that just from previous um fundraisers i've done. So far but to get over that 100 000 mark has been pretty incredible so um yeah it was it was awesome i i thoroughly loved it like from start to finish obviously it was hard. But the end weirdly i didn't want it to finish yeah i can't wait it's weird. But because of the pain you've been through and i'm guessing sometimes the boredom and and the challenge but yeah that was your life. For six days i think you said before kind of off kind of the camera that it was quite a simple life you get up you put your golf clubs on your back you put your shoes on you just walk. And you eat and you drink and that repeat six days in a row something quite like simplistic although it was horrible at getting parts something quite simple. And i don't know nice about it it was it was it was stick loads of vaseline on yes it all in all the places the sun doesn't shine eat as much food as i can possibly eat it was literally like being on an all-inclusive holiday possibly the worst all-inclusive holiday ever. But the fact i could eat as much i wanted the support team an amazing support team by the way so alec ben and katie who who basically were there to fully fully guide me they're almost professional walkers they've done they do um all sorts of uh exhibition expeditions exhibitions across all different places this was the first time they'd ever done this particular sort of fundraising um. But they supported me amazingly we had the lads there obviously you were there. For a few days four miles um matt who's behind the podcast now uh harry and ed who literally filmed pretty much every bit of it we are gonna make a video about it it's gonna be like a mini documentary you'll see a lot more behind the scenes the things that i didn't put on social media um there was tears there was there was blood can imagine there was um you know beautiful views there was some rougher parts. And that was just a break 75. um. But yeah another say when it when i got into saint andrews yesterday sorry sunday afternoon there was probably about 200 people around pretty much yeah probably even closer to maybe 300 loads of people there they gave me a good kind of minute applause which i must admit all i was doing was fighting back the tears going don't cry don't cry don't cry my family had only just met me 10 minutes earlier i've not seen all week my three kids. And my wife and we walked onto the most iconic golf course in the whole of the world yes like in one of i always say. But one of yours and my favorite places in the whole of the world the sun was out it was at the end the final leg the final i didn't even have to walk the full golf course because i already we'd already done the mileage pretty much. And to be able to say hello to everyone take loads of selfies sign golf balls i signed golf balls phone covers golf bags a guy's t-shirt phone covers the back of a phone cover um loads of other bits and then.
To to walk down first with all these amazing people who are supported with my family there like i say just incredible like really really etched into my mind i know it's only just happened. But that will be etched into my mind forever we walk down one two seventeen. And eighteen and coming over the swilken bridge where uh the guys at prostate cancer and my team had um put like a lovely archway to finish and we popped open the champagne loads of amazing pictures and uh yeah i i must admit that far i was like i could i could keep going at this point you should have carried on let's go back let's do it again one guy on route actually said uh i think we were walking through glasgow a guy came up on his bike. And he nipped out from work and he came down the hill oh rick just wanted to get a quick picture and say that well done that's all great he said my mate jordan over in america says you're doing the easy way. So what do you mean he said you should do it press work to say andrews. And saint andrews back i was like don't even start mate because this this is 150 is pretty good um. So yeah no it's epic um. And like i say it's one of those things i'm going to treasure forever. And i'm already planning next.
Year's challenge wow which is gonna be bigger bolder harder than this years i've not heard about this. Yet i'm intrigued it's gonna be pretty awesome so yeah no it honestly it was it was awesome um. And yeah i don't i don't really know what else to say i mean the the only other thing i had one big big hiccup. So after day three they rachel mcqueen joined me the holiday three which is lovely ever. And we were going through sterling. And the last two miles of that day getting up to 26 miles i was honestly crawling the speed i was going like my feet felt like they were almost doing like little tiny baby steps like because my legs were just knackered like i was absolutely exhausted. And i got into my room that night and i've done a little piece to the vlog camera and i'm thinking to myself i don't understand how i'm going to get through tomorrow like today.
Was the hardest day without question i woke up that next.
Day. And honestly as i mentioned earlier i could not get from my bed to my bathroom which was yards away mad. And i'm like hanging on the wall and even like i got to toilet i had to like hold myself up and i'm thinking i can't walk today.
This is not possible. But i thought to myself i am going to do it. But i don't understand how like my mind can't comprehend i've not got a solution to my problem um katie who's the medic with us um examined me luckily it was a slightly stat later start that day. And she examined my left foot which is where the pain was. And we discovered i had a stress fracture in the top of my foot and she gave me two options she said we can go to option one we can go to the hospital amputate it get a knife. For all you can eat breakfast at premiere in we can go to hospital get x-rayed it's gonna take ages you're gonna have to stop the walk. And they're going to tell you to rest. Or we can ice it take painkillers. And carry on walking i was like well let's do option two because i'm not doing option one. And um even then.
Like putting the ice on it was killing me i was in like agonizing pain to to describe it she said to me every time you step like take pressure on your foot what's the what's the pain between zero. And ten at the time i was like eight wow complete like compared to the worst pain i've ever felt. So i had some painkillers i i stayed i managed to to walk to the support van which dropped me off on my location that day and i got out the support van i'm still like this is killing me really killing me they gave me the walking poles which really helped. And i thought right just walk just walk forget the pain just walk and i did the first 10 steps i'm like oh my god the pain is. So bad i did the next.
100 steps i'm thinking the pain's still really bad next.
Thing i'm three miles into the day going this is really hurting. But i'm getting it done that's mad i don't understand how my legs are working. But they are just going. And going. And going. And once i finished that day i finished at glen eagles this was the friday i finished at glen eagles amazing place we've got to do break 75 there by the way have you ever been to glendale yes i've not played it though. But i was uh i stayed from brother's 30th birthday it was incredible. And we went to go and play golf and started snowing and no way yeah. So we couldn't play so we walked around the king's course which is i didn't know was the hilliest golf course there. And with loads again loads of fans came out kind of 40 odd fans came out and i finished that day and glen eagles were very nice to put me up in the hotel that night. For a night of luxury and i got into my hotel room that night and i got the little vlogging camera and i almost celebrated i was like i don't understand how i've got through today.
Like it's a mile walk 26 miles after you've fractured your foot yeah i i looked in the camera a lot i don't understand how i've got through today.
But i knew once i'd got through that i could get through day five and six i just knew i could and to be honest i i actually got over the pain and actually fully immersed myself and loved i didn't see even what i saw on the videos and when i spoke to you i think on a facetime you looked like after that you like a new new person i was just like buzzing i was just like the the energy because i thought to myself if i can get through that day when i thought it was impossible as long as i don't feel worse than that i can get through tomorrow. And i woke up the day after um glenn eagles on a saturday morning and i was like well i don't feel as bad i can easily get through twice my feet loads i had to put my feet in ice. And really cold baths and this stuff the other but yeah it was pretty epic um. But yeah that's hopefully the mini documentary will kind of show a little bit more of the the trials. And tribulations and you can find out what i cried about. And and uh and potentially a hint for what's next.
Now that's awesome and i'm sure a lot of the people listening and watching will want to go. And watch that because i do it'll be interesting obviously i wasn't there. For a lot of it for most of it really so to see behind the scenes i think that will be um very exciting it's been a big week i know that's the only thing i did miss it was the us open. So yeah we've got i mean obviously this is out on wednesday now. So we're a couple of days delayed obviously for obvious reasons but the us open was absolutely incredible. And i watched a lot of it and certainly on the sunday i watched almost every single shot apart from 9 till 10 watch love island so i hold my hands up to that but to be fair the us open app this year was almost on par with the masters app you could watch most of shots. So any bits that you did miss you could watch on there which is really good obviously as everybody knows matt fitzpatrick went on to win he won by a single shot at the golf course he won the u.s amateur in 2013. he is i was always i'll be honest now wasn't against matt fitzpatrick at all. But i didn't like him i was just somewhere very much in between very kind of neutral the way he played the way he celebrated. And his press conference afterwards i must admit i am now a fan i think he was. So incredibly humble i don't know if you saw her on uh when he won on 18 his brother alex who's obviously just turned pro as well walked on and actually buy past his brother for a minute to go and commiserate will alex um because their pals i think from union played a lot of golf together as well i thought a nice touch obviously really nice family kind of very down-to-earth family. And to see what it meant to him and it was his first win obviously in america. And i don't know if you heard that kind of nice flex that um he's a member of the burst club jack nicholas's place and he won the member member tournament of the week apparently i'll do the month. And jack apparently said to her. And jack nicholas um oh it's nice to see you finally winning america so he's giving him a stick did i see a clip of jack ringing matt as well i think he did yeah i think um which obviously is quite a cool thing yeah nicholas is your friend. And facetimes you and stuff but yeah the way you played obviously everybody's seen that shot on 18 at the bunker it was absolutely incredible the way i had to fade it around the kind of hill within a bunker in the shape with a nine iron that he did. And it landed to like 20 foot he was absolutely phenomenal. And the way he's gained distance and speed he was always known as being kind of quite a short hitter very straight his ball speeds up like 181 which that's like yeah rory mcelroy justin johnson territory. And he's not he's not visibly looks like he's he's not he's not going to bryson. And bulked up and got this speed it seems to be slowly but surely kind of increa you know incremental changes to get into the position well apparently he's been using the swing trainer thing so like the speed sticks out those orange whips or whatever and he has mentioned the brand i can't think what it's called now. But it was in one of his press conferences. And apparently he was using that after locked down. For a bit and saw some gains and saw his driving increase and i think he then.
Kind of went off it. For a while and actually lost distance naturally but also lost accuracy believe it or not she's got back on to that kind of um speed journey but not excessively from what it looks like and he's just killing it he's driving incredible he's accurate with his iron is incredible he's chipping it looks a bit funky with the croc handed what's the word well it's i'm not sure if that's more like of a i think cross-handed yeah. Or left below right yeah it's probably a slightly more commonly used phrase these days. And he's chipping he's good he's cutting he's obviously incredible well he's obviously coached by phil kenyon yes friend of the channel who's been on the podcast before um he's always been renowned as an incredible putter he really has he puts with the flag in um it does look good. For somebody i quite like it i'm a fan of it and when you speak to all the pros they seem to really really rate matt fitzpatrick's putting like they almost see him but he's never he doesn't ever seem to put himself in that much contentious positions to to show off his his pressure putting really always obviously just plays really nicely um so yeah it was incredible to see. And like say english english lad winning again um he when i've seen him hit golf balls he it was always notably a lot lower than a lot of other players um flight wise that looks like it's changed as well he looks like his speed potentially i think that's a speed he goes super super strong with the left hand grip which would really favor a low left. But he kind of holds it really strong and holds it off crazy and he started to get this kind of high flighted fade now cool um i'd like to say he's he's his um ball speed gains are ridiculous there's always this tail. And i actually met up with alex fit patrick his brother at last year's open qualifying which we'll come onto in a little bit um there's always these rumors that like alex is even better than that you always get that yeah massively. But there could be a bit of a formidable force because like say alex has just turned pro and it would be great to see the pair of them out there and battling away um you've got a few kind of brothers and stuff now and sisters in the in the in the quarter sisters so it'd be quite interesting to see but yeah it's incredible win um the golf course looked really really hard it looked it looked hard. But kind of like fur as well if you missed the green there was a thick juicy rough that obviously looks like terrible. But don't miss the green then.
I mean it was it was great matt did he hit 17 out of 18 greens on the final saying. And i think what i loved as well i've said this load times the podcast i don't watch loads of tour golf which i want to start watching more i should be watching more um. But i was glued to this. And i think. For me it was a win-win because i wanted matt to win he's an english guy he's a good golfer he deserves a win i feel like he's just a very he's like say he's just a very humble kind of genuine boy next.
Door well that you kind of want to win yeah. And it must have been easy to root for yeah. But i wish that we could see and i don't maybe this netflix documentary is going to be coming out in a year. Or so that's like the drive to survive thing maybe that will give us more people to route four because from watching drive to survive. And learn about the f1 drivers you see a lot of the personality you wouldn't normally see obviously when they're racing or even in giving interviews so i think hopefully that will shine more light on guys like matt because when i watched his interview. And it was like a 20-minute long press conference he could see he was beaming he was obviously in such a great mood. But he could tell like he was down to earth. And a real nice guy um so maybe we'll start to see more of these guys in that light but obviously he was playing well. And obviously went on to win you had zelotoris who is incredibly majors who again he's going to win one soon. And deserves to win one he played so well and then.
Scotty sheffler i love golfers like tiger in the day that are just dominant just go out. And just either win everything or come top five he's just he's unbelievable so good so i wanted him i was happy if any of them won i thought whichever one wins is a great story. For golf the kind of cool guys the young guys is going to shine more eyeballs on the world of golf. And yeah what our tournament i absolutely loved it i think probably the pga tour. And a lot of these tours that are trying their best to show that they're the best events like the mages. And the pga tour have had a couple of phenomenal weeks with rory winning in canada which we covered a couple last week with obviously matt fitzpatrick winning over here sorry win over here winning the us open with a really strong field um over the last few weeks it has been a good advert for golf like good you know good good good golf regardless of where you're watching it what tours um kind of may long may it continue really well the other big news that was announced today.
As we're doing this. But yesterday when you're listening and watching and we've done a little clip on is that brooks kepca has signed to the live golf tour. So as i said yesterday tuesday we released a short video clip on the rick shields golf show youtube channel. So if you want to watch that go over it shortly and watch this seven minute long clip where we gave kind of our thoughts a bit more information but for those of you that haven't seen that we'll just touch on that briefly so brooks kepker former world number one he's currently world number 19 i believe he has signed to live golf at the time of recording this we're not sure on the fee that he got paid we may never hear it officially there's rumors between 100 million dollars and 150 which is i think he's on course on earnings to date are around 40 million dollars. So if that's true it's roughly three times what he's ever earned on course paid more than bryson potentially ready to fly well imagine but i mean i feel like there's definitely that conversation he's just gone in. And gone how much did you pay bryson okay i just want more yeah i will just make it like that we touched on this again that clip. But like his brother chase is obviously signed to live. And he's like world number one thousand six hundred and something you know was that part of the deal early on you know get my brother a gig. And i'll come as well potentially i don't know um i hope now but i don't think it's gonna be a quick thing liv doesn't seem like it's going anywhere it seems like it's here it's happening it's it's it's. So the field is only going to get stronger we're seeing that day on day sure like who knows we're releasing this on wednesday they might have announced another two players again as we record this now the rumor is that maracao is going to sign i'm looking on twitter as we speak. And it's getting so again by the time this podcast is released that could have happened that's if they get marakawa that's another monster of a name the only thing i want to kind of disappear is is these outlandish ridiculous amounts of money because i'm not even though we've just talked about it i'm not that bothered. And as a golf fan i just want to see good quality golf the best players wherever they're going to play i i don't know where it's going to be just. Yet and and it can't it doesn't have to be just one place obviously the pga tour have come out jay monahan has come out and said they're suspended a lot of these guys are quitting the pga tour that's madness that is that is that gonna change like is jay monahan's hand gonna be forced he has to go you know what we need these guys because if we lose if we lose another 10 of these guys our product is not as desirable like we're not going to be able to bring in as much money i think it. Or do you think you'll have to resign. And somebody else comes newcomer yeah i have no idea it feels at the moment again we've touched on this. And and i'm conscious of some people listening to kind of a little bit sick of the live conversation but we're going to have to keep talking about it. For the short term but it's such such big news and it is massively changing the face of golf as we know of the tournament professional golf. But yeah the pj tour are kind of stuck in between a rock. And a hard place out they suddenly say actually yeah you can play then.
They've kind of admitted defeat. And ultimately how many of the guys are gonna wanna play on the pga tour if they're playing in the future 12 13 14 weeks on live four majors that's 16 events a year they need to play the pj tour. But then.
If they want to dip the toe in maybe they won't play one or two events but then.
The guys who've been loyal to pj tour surely they're gonna say well i'll go and do live then.
If that's the case. So i really have no idea i can see i don't know what's going to happen. But i can see the dp world tour thriving i can see that being where the guys go. And play the odd event but also is that is that going to fracture their relationship with the pga tour i think it will. But i don't think dp world will really care they can't they can't be picky. And it's um it's very interesting i don't know i think. For golfers for golf fans you know we want to see the best players playing the best events and you know watching that u.s open i touched on this last week in the podcast looking at matt fitzpatrick going on to that golf course being a legitimate you know european tour winner. And walking off now a major champion yeah you see him in a different light you know what you were already an amazing amazing golfer. But now you're in that class of the elite world class there's not many guys in the grand scheme of things you can say they won a major in golf i don't think the dp sorry i don't think. For certainly for the next.
Number of years you will have that with live because it just feels too new. But do you have to have that more than four times a year is four times a year to have these real prestige events do you open the masters the u.s open the uspga is that enough of those real that means something can the rest of the year be almost exhibitions could be yeah i don't know i also want to spend time to give another shout out to um matt's caddy yes. So this is an incredible story. So billy foster is matt fitzpatrick's caddy he's carried. For 40 years in professional golf he's carried for some of the biggest names in the world of golf including sevi yes darren clark sergio garcia lee westwood. For a long time tiger woods see i didn't know that one yeah i'll set it up let me show you this picture it's proof well did you say this was when oh yeah wow at the president's cup i think he was stepping. For stephen steve williams was about to have a baby that's right um by all accounts a lovely lovely man people speak very highly of him. And i must admit bar steve williams possibly one of the most famous caddies i would say so yeah you've got you've got bones yeah you've gotta be top handful hasn't it yeah well i can't name that many cat. And he he'd be one that he does loads of after dinner speaking it's apparently stories like we need to get on the podcast we do need to get one out of ourselves it would be amazing um i think he's carried. For thomas bjorn all sorts anyway you'd imagine and i didn't know this you'd imagine for the the quality golfers he's caddy for he'd never won a major yeah none of his players at the time won a major that doesn't make him a bad caddy by the way just means that he he just wasn't there at the right time matt was his first major victory on the 18th green i don't know who was more emotional genuinely it was almost like matt was consoling billy yeah no it was. And that's i think that's the beautiful thing with like this relationship with caddies you have different guys have different relationships with the caddies. And some see it purely as a business thing they'll meet each other an hour and a half before the tee off whatever they'll do the 18 holes. And then.
The caddy will go off. And they'll go off you get some guys like rory who've gotten to employ the best friend who they you know he's also harry diamond's an amazing golfer as well he knows his stuff but that's more of a relationship i want someone on the golf course that i feel comfortable with i can go. For a drink with afterwards that was a slightly weird one though with him wanted as well the week that. And harry was off. And having a baby also yeah rory went. And won um which is crazy you've then.
Got guys that we lee westwood now who was obviously having his wife on the back. And his son he's been there and done it he doesn't really need advice on what to do he just wants someone to talk to. And probably talk about non-golf things in between shots but you know the caddy is something that it's a strange though there's many other relationships in sport like it from what i can think of where you're with the athlete at all times you really are not even like a football manager because during the 90 minutes they can shout things they're not with them are they um. And it must be you know they get paid very well if you're a good caddie obviously that the money they can make is incredible certainly live tour from what i've heard obviously um. But to actually spend every day you know carrying that bag around giving advice you know you probably do feel like. And rightly so a massive part of the win it must be sort of quite frustrating as well though sometimes like they say hit a shot and then.
They fat at something and you're like you just cost me 20 grand but also like you you're right on you know you can control it. But you've not got full control must be worse in some ways you know you've probably i mean you can't put a percentage on it. But you've probably got five percent of control over what the player is going to do. And and you know sometimes that works in your favor there'll be times where caddies have made bad decisions and they've give wrong yardages and they give wrong clubs or the you know the wind directions it's a i think it's quite a stressful job i feel like there's a lot of pressure on you you've got to be out there every single day carrying a massive golf bag you've got to have everything in ship you know perfect condition. And everything else you gotta look after yourself fend for yourself as well often the times um but yeah massive shout out to billy foster is it i'm sure this is it's a bit of a silly question i think you know the answer. But obviously within professional golf becoming a major champion is is the biggest thing you can do is that how it's seen within the caddy kind of world as well that he'll now be seen by his peers as a major champion caddy yeah yeah i reckon. So yeah that's people's name. And they keep the flag off 18 and yeah because scheffler's kind of now ted scott isn't it um he's kind of like if you've ever seen him on social media he's brilliant he's really happy in the flag yeah he's really kind of almost like bringing out his own personality. And you know they are obviously the people as well they've got they've got their own lives. And their own backgrounds and yeah if if anyone knows billy. And we can get him on the podcast that'll be absolutely incredible because i think he would be superb um speaking of mages though i've got a nice little i was going to say speaking about caddying are we going to about talk about the same stop it though. But yes we are. So i'm going to come on to that in a second. So speaking of majors um the open is fast approaching. And as you i'm sure know if you listen to this podcast and you watch it week in week out we are champions of the open we love the open open. So much so i've heard you recently started saying it's your favorite major over the masters but i've also heard you say it depends on the time of year it really does april. And masters i get that april aware green um july i play i wear blue and yellow play links golf yeah. But for me it is always the open however. i must admit masters week i do get really into the masters um it's a toss of a coin yeah either one is is the best i can see both sides. But the open is coming around soon. And um the open qualifying happened yesterday or two days ago when you listen to this which we're going to come on to very shortly. But the first ever open and i think the next.
20. Or 12 whatever it was after that um good. For you anyway we're played at presswick golf club which is where my hat right now the first open 1860. um the story i mean since we first went well since we went to andrews last year i've become a little bit of a golf history kind of fan certainly with this in andrews old tom morris uh alex allen robertson who was thomas's boss i've become kind of obsessed with how golf as we know it kind of started yeah. And golf was going on. For hundreds of years before this kind of here but all tom morris in particular and alan robertson were the kind of real pioneers of golf as we know it today.
And old tom morris is working at the old course it's an andrews he's working. For alan robertson they had a disagreement about golf balls and then.
Old tom went to prestwick and that golf course was formed. And the openers we know it was formed in 1860. And you started your walk there but as we said earlier on before your walk the day before we played it. For break 75 what a golf course it it's gone right up there very very quickly into one of my favorite golf courses i've played 100 um and it's it's more it's more the venue the golf course is very very interesting yeah if we didn't play it with the head pro dave we would have really really struggled because it's one of those courses you need to know your way around you need you need advice don't you really yes. And so we played it on the monday last literally a week ago just before we did i did the walk across. And i did the walk from presswick because it is the first ever open venue. And i walked 150 miles to the 150th open at st andrews this year so it all kind of fits in quite nicely um the the history of the place it's kind of quite magical it is it's kind of as in a different way as magical as saint andrews i would say. So it's got its own kind of history and the fact that the golf course used to be 12 holes used to be played a different way which there might be an opportunity to play it in its original form later on this year which i think we should make a video about um since that's expanded over to 18 holes it's still is as original as it is now when it was first kind of made into this 18 holes um. So many interesting green complexes yeah like the greens were. So phenomenally interesting there's a blind par three yes which you never get now do you really that is the most one of the most interesting holes. And unique holes that i've ever seen yeah there was um a blind a really really blind second shot into the 17th the the 15th which is called the narrows i'd not play we'd not play that golf course before i hit an unbelievable three iron exactly where dave told me to hit yeah if i would have known how tight it was in that alleyway i wouldn't hit it that straight 100 that's the kind of golf course i would say to get the best score on it it'll be your probably first time. But you need someone with you so someone like dave who was the pro who's amazing he says like you said hit that marker. Or hit over that bunker and you do. And then.
You get down and you go oh my word if i've gone 10 foot further left as that old as this i think if you played it again once you know that troubles third that would get in your head really would there's a bunker called the sahara yes because it's obvious it's. So big on the 17th um just phenomenal just really really really interesting pro shop the pro shop was amazing it's got merch. For days um dave i didn't get the assistant's name actually ah scott i feel like i want to say nathan but i'm not sure so the assistant in there as well was. So helpful um and ken the club secretary came and come saw us like it's got it's traditional but it doesn't feel stuffy no does it it feels like it feels quite modern. But traditional they have over obviously outside of scotland well on both sides they have a lot of american tourists a lot of just general tourists it's right near troon it's near dunbar i was going down the links. So i think these kind of golf clubs you have to kind of naturally embrace their traditions which is why people are going. But also be very welcoming and very good hospitality because they're getting so much income in from these camp tourists but waffle i said the pro shop had all this merch with the first opener i've got the hat on now um what a golf course. And i think anyone that plays there. And knows a little bit about the story you're just in all over the place it's magical how would you describe the the way i played on the bat nine the way you played on the back nine um i forgot so memorable yeah i was trying to beat around the bush then.
I literally cut um let me think well at least on the last like six. Or seven yeah you were solid you were very very solid wow you were hitting it very straight thank you you were hitting it wherever dave said to you putting it correct i don't want to give any scores away you hit some what was that hole where you you messed up on the green though was that was it maybe four fourteen second message what the really hard hole yes i hit two of the great shots in my life exactly it hit the green that green was there. And then.
Messed it up my putting wasn't great which has frustrated me but yeah that breaks seventy five minutes this friday is number one um. But i hit a lot of very very very good shots the gas is getting good yeah. And we finished at 10 o'clock at night yes i must admit though now i've had a week off because i've been walking over scotland as you do. And uh i don't know what my game's gonna be like so hopefully if my foot repairs by then.
This week we're gonna film another break 75 and we'll we'll soon find out i'll be really fit at least and if not i've got an excuse yeah um. But obviously the unique thing with the open and the us open um so the open over here is it's open it's what it says in the tip it's open from the very day of 1860 yeah that's the whole idea if you're uh in the current standards anyway i'm not fully sure when it very first died. But if you're a professional golfer you're either you've just turned professional or you've done your pga you can enter open qualifying. Or if you're an amateur with a scratch handicap or better you can attend um qualifying. And what's the feed 150 quid or so yeah i've not ever obviously not done it. For a few years but it was in it was yeah it's probably 150 i can see why. So many people and amateurs who are off scratch do it because you might go in as an amateur. And go you know what i'm a scratch golfer i've just gotten to scratch three months ago in reality there's not much chance of me getting through the first stage but i want to enter that experience i'll play with some good players and i'll play a great golf course and it'll be an experience that i'm you know i'm technically in the sense playing in the open you're playing the first stage of the open and your friend john beasley who i played recently as well he is an absolute baller i'll let you explain obviously more about him he did okay he did all right he did all right. So yeah there's 15 open venues um. So this year locally to us fair haven is one. And um koldick golf club over in the world and there's loads of other golf courses that you know again they're pretty normally spectacular nice golf courses um loads of really good names did well in it. But yeah. So i got a message yesterday afternoon while i was sat on the beach at st andrews from my really good friend john beasley who i've played loads of golf with who um a member of mia um who we played golf would like to say jcb recently with his dad as well plays off six. Or something like that you have about plus five or six that's right he's pretty handy right he didn't tell any of us he's doing open qualifying and i must admit before the start of day i looked at fair haven i thought i bet he's gonna do it then.
I searched his name i couldn't find him i was like he's not doing it then.
Yeah got text message about 12 o'clock yesterday hey lads i've done pretty well. And he he sends his scorecard over and he shot five under par a 67. so he played to his handicap 36 points 67 at colder golf club go called the golf club he had no bogeys on the scorecard he had an eagle on the front nine. And three birdies on the back nine and he won regional qualifying to go on to final qualifying next.
Week that's incredible the more exciting news i got a phone call this morning okay of mine my new best best friend basically it was yeah he was your friend before i'll give you that. But now all of a sudden he's become best friend that's the weird thing he's like i'm actually getting married again and maybe i haven't been the best man um funny so we actually got married on the same day but a year apart so we share our anniversaries as well basically we basically just brothers brothers so um his brother who just moved to australia probably already could be like brothers someone said actually on the message girl shared it someone said he looks like you. But he's like shaved a bit of an old version he does look a bit like you i can get that he looks like sergio garcia i think yeah a bit of that really does. So um john rang me this morning and uh said to me i'm doing an open qualified next.
Tuesday at sent amazon links would you like to cut it. For me i'm right yes i bloody wood i said i'm really good at carrying a bag yes. And i'm really good at walking two rounds easy so yeah next.
Tuesday i'm gonna be caddying. And final qualifying is insane. For john beasley um at cent hanzo links i'll distribute information i said am i allowed to talk about it do you want people coming down he said i'd love people yeah he said i'd love people to coming down um. And uh if he qualifies for the open i might be able to carry him in the open that'd be incredible so for the regional qualifying was it top nine doesn't get through from each one i feel like there isn't nine. Or ten okay. So that will be if there's there's the nine of nine venues as well as you can see 150 people. And then.
Other people get straight into finals only who might be like a certain level of tour pro or whatever it might be but it's over like three different golf courses yes like six yards maybe each venue. And then.
Is it like three get through each one i think it's still almost 100 at each venue oh right okay still a lot of people. And it's like the top three get through yeah. So it's obviously very very tough but that's i think that is the magic of the open someone like john who can clearly play very good golf he does that again two days in a row which is possible of course it is he'll be in the open it's madness it's three don't get me wrong there are incredible rounds of golf against incredible talented golfers the best amateurs they're probably going to play in anything. And the best pros it's three rounds of golf away from playing in the open like he could legitimately in july be teen it up at st andrews for the 150th open like what other sport you get that chance that that's that's what is. So unique about it i can't go to the local go-cart track and try and qualify for next.
Next.
Week's f1 can i like i can't go to local five. Or six five-sided football pitch and suddenly be playing in next.
Year's give me a trail mate okay you know i you don't get it in any other sports maybe tennis maybe snooker yeah well some sports does it some sports you can. But we don't go does it golf does it really really really good really good. So yeah i'm really excited about that um. And i think it's going to be pretty epic um what kind of caddy will you be are you going to be a carrying show up. Or you're going to try. And give advice or just say like if you want advice ask me or well the good news is we actually played um the last time we played at saint andrew links that was your band today.
Wasn't it when you went in there that smashed yeah. And you went in the cab i think you talked about the podcast you were in a minute yeah. So me and john i think we did we win the day because it was the time where there was two groups three groups three players in each group. And the end of it we had exactly the same score but i think i'm sure me. And john shot like i mean it was in the winter it's a bit tiny bit easy. But we shot like three or four on the par each um so i do know the golf course then.
Android links like the greens aren't too challenging what you see is what you get really don't you four par fives two on the front nine two on the back seventeen eighteen seventeen. And eighteen um john is incredible at potting he's very very straight off the tee um it's a course that can suit him obviously i've only played with him the once at jcb. And he kind of like he hits it not like necessarily better than you would hit it but it's like every time was like you've got a great draw. And i have as well you've got a great drive in the camp than it could hit a snap up that's like horrendous i feel like from what i've seen this short but i've seen from it's like you tease it up you know what's coming you know what's coming and that kind of golf i guess under pressure is obviously a very good thing yeah is misses. And never bad right he never i've never seen him miss badly um i'd like to say he got through oh the best in the world imagine i'm there doing work for the opening master card mean i'm sorry guys i'm just going to quickly go. And caddy for my mate he's teeing off at three i'm there running down at five to three sorry john but who knows who knows i'm not thinking too far ahead but um i'm also thinking very far ahead but very very very very very exciting do you think we'll win the open john beasley i think. So um well it'd be like if it's however. like about two o'clock on the friday there's amateurs walking down the um 70's at the 36th hell everyone's like why did caddy stop on the stopped on the swilken bridge taking selfies oh it's that guy does youtube video i'll be filming every bit i'll have a hat come on i'll be having two cameras i'll be filming every single loads of sponsored logo at all i'll be sponsoring from head to toe yeah um. But to be fair he does have his own fantastic blinds company south cheshire blind. So make sure you check him out a little free plug for him there um the um who's gonna win i think fitzy could do well now after that performance well obviously we played it a couple of weeks ago yeah i don't like to say it. But it isn't that hard no is it really the only thing that makes it harder the weather. And the rough after seeing it just just gone this weekend it's definitely thicker than when we played it even i think it's it's not. So much that it's hard but i still think it's some element of being fairly accurate because you can bomb it round that. And you'll find your ball that's a given but you might not have the best lined into the pins and with those pins so those greens having so many mad undulations like let's just say bryson bombs it round i know he's not playing great but if he's got a wedge in then.
That's fine i'll hit the green but you might then.
Bounce around and have a hard i don't know i think it's still some level of accuracy definitely um the one thing i did want to mention earlier um. And we might even pop this in earlier to keep it here let's keep it in once i'd finished the um walk i also went to had some food my wife and met with our good friend the drone pilot yeah looked after us we stayed at the old course hotel i wanted to give them a massive shout out because they looked after us as well which was amazing i've not really talked about the day i had insane andrew's with the family oh no i'm alright to talk about it i do mind you of course i want to hear about it um because my family's never been to saint andrews oh wow like my wife's never been there my kitchen what do you think what did claire think first of all she thinks it's one of the most beautiful places really i'm glad you said that's i didn't know if you'd weirdly say because she didn't get that vibe of the gulf she might go she thought it was absolutely incredible. So you're moving up there yeah i bet you'd better 100 you had a weird discussion about it on the way home at some point no not moving up there. But buying something of course you did um it is you know what as well i fell in love with it more showing her yes like did you show what the bit we went to the front that's where i met her. So i met her there so basically she drove up on the sunday with the kids yeah parts of the old course hotel yeah the support van picked the kids up. And her they got changed whatever drove down to east beach that's our beach yeah our beach [Laughter] we found that it was just. For context we found this cool little beach on a run we didn't know existed so now it's mine and rick's beach not his and claire's anybody else well that's where i touched the sea on the other side of the i thought i touched it and i was like i wrote in the sun guy. And rick with the guy wasn't yeah. And um so yeah they met me there. And then.
We walked through the town there was quite a lot of us at that point we walked through the town past the um cathedral um through up onto market street down market street was amazing like the atmosphere the sun was shining it was amazing um. And then.
Afterwards went up to russo hotel had a drink up on the balcony the kids were playing on the putting green. And like looking over it's it's unbelievable it's so good the massive grand slam i had 18. now it's not quite there but it's getting there guys it's massive i like the way it's a guy it's massive it's massive like honestly the crowd this year is going to be outrageous um we then.
Went to in stumbled to in. But like they're gone at this point guinness i saw another pint before finished so we walked past the in this was a brilliant moment on the 17th we walked past the in. And uh some guys in the ring outside shouted over rick well done and we're obviously this massive like crowd and he kind of like lifted his paint up and i said is that. For me and he went yeah. So matt who's doing the podcast with his camera went running over there bless him he'd walk the whole last day as well he went running over there grabbed the pipe and it was a full pipe i believe when he grabbed it. But the the excitement yeah the wobbling under undulations it came back as like half a pint i'm joking there was a little bit missing off the top. And i glugged it in a few glugs and then.
Go over the go over the swilken bridge and pop prosecco drank that someone somehow handed me a guinness i drank that went up to the russo had a few drinks up there down to the in but what i'm trying to say here is obviously sunday is a really magical day at saint clothing of course. But the course is closed now anyway ah. So even the monday the course was still closed right. And it's it's just it's just incredible so anyway we stayed at the old course hotel got in unbelievable rooms like two rooms matching and the kids just thought it was the best place in the world as well. So we got up that day had brett first walked down and we stumbled down shall say kind of hobbled down to the high street we picked up some bits from like a local shops and buckets and spade and stuff again walking through uh the old course over the golf course and she's like this town's more than golfing i was like it is. But it's also so much into golf but who is a non-golf fan she loved it there like she was like it's. So picturesque and so pretty the beach was amazing however. story unfortunately ends badly. So i don't hear a bad word said about. And but thanks rob by the way of doing that was incredible. So we walked down and and first off me jude and ivy went down first because claire and um pearl are gonna get some food. For lunch so we went down and they were playing in the sand booking spades they covered my legs with sand it was beautiful i was sunbathing it was it was absolutely incredible right. But then.
This is where it turned. For the worst one okay. So claire came down with pearl with some food okay yeah. So we're all getting some cream on everything else it's all good and um the kids were having like lunchables. Or whatever and claire decided to make me and her some sandwiches okay. So she bought some bread brought some ham bought some coleslaw and she was making these sandwiches right i know this is going. So she gave me the first one okay i was like brilliant i'm tucking in i'm starving right my legs are covered in sand it's quite refreshing the kids are playing the sun's shining you know everything's rosy yep until a bird put on you it's about a bird i took your sandwich. So then.
Claire makes her sandwich right so i've pretty much finished mine i'm on the last little nibble right she's just about to tuck into hers i'm not being i'm not exaggerating this guy we got assaulted by seagulls by the nastiest most horrible seagulls ever the kids were screaming crying claire like screamed this seagull massive massive the size of a plane right this this bloody light aircraft. And there was loads of them. For whatever reason claire got a sandwich and maybe schoolboy arrow we might not have known this she's there took it into a sandwich and obviously i probably should have known because i got my sandwich nicked last year on the golf course she's there just about to tuck into a lovely sandwich she just made bang honestly massive right the seagull comes and tries to grab it misses swings round again it's bloody massive and there's like five of them rounders and crows black crows and everything the kids are screaming like my legs are like jelly legs my legs are knackered anyway. And and like i didn't show it to the kids if i was a bit scared of these pretty big birds as well. So i'm like stood up i'm like acting the big man claire chucks a sandwich and they go and they go and get the sandwich and then.
They kind of come back but there's nothing else so i'm like they're clapping i'm clapping my hands i'm pretending to be a bird oh my god there's loads of people around there's loads of people around i hope everyone knew it was you as well why is it just happening to us like why are we just being attacked here right i'm being attacked. And i'm not i'm not joking right so i'm there clapping the kids are screaming i was thinking what happened two minutes ago this is the best day ever um then.
Um anyway i managed to shoo them off i managed to fend them off. And they look at you right in the eye and they aren't scared those seagulls are not scared like they were looking background what are you gonna do you do mate. So what you want 150 miles i don't care honestly they were nasty nasty nasty that probably damn to andrews then..
For you just top tips don't take food to the beach i don't understand people must just not do it yeah. Or take like snacks and if you go into the open keep your eyes to the sky i'm quite glad there was that little bit of negativity towards the end because if you'd have come back saying that they all love set andrews it would have been a bit like it's my place it's mine your place is not third place. So maybe i might have planted them seagulls there so the kids weren't playing and we claire risked it again for some reason risked it again happened again right and claire like stood up and she's like and she's like went storming after the kids and my fairy tale my life this is my world she's like we're leaving. And i'm like i hate this place i was like no no don't dude why did you do this to me. So that might be the tears in the uh in the documentary also i've got to mention that before just one last last last thing obviously the money we've raised so far has been absolutely incredible again 128 000 which is incredible i'm gonna put a link in the podcast audio. And the youtube channel if you can't and if you're not yet if you can if you've listened to this story. And you think bloody hell you did he did he did a good deed then.
You'd love to support prostate cancer uk you can donate as little as two pounds if we can get a few extra people a few extra thousand people to donate two pounds i would love love to reach a hundred. And fifty thousand pounds raised like 150 000 for 150 miles for the 150 open if you can spare it. And i know things are hard at the moment with living costs. But if you can spare two pounds i would massively appreciate it i'll put a link everywhere as well um that's great other things to cover no i think that's it. For today.
If you've enjoyed the podcast. And you've been listening please rate us an apple and ask for a while but rate us five stars thank you on spotify as well now so feel free to rate us if you've been watching on youtube thank you um like the video what you're laughing at i'm laughing so on the on the drive home we're still talking about st andrews aren't we we're still talking about the seagulls and my daughter pearl kept saying i loved it i loved it there but i didn't like the eagles ah i call them eagles she knows what you're doing 18. you know another thing as well did you know why glen eagles is called glen eagles was the glen of the eagles i didn't know that i discovered it. And that's right i saw an eagle in the glen yeah. So yeah anyway. So that's another fact you've learned today.
Listening no. But yeah. So if you've watched you liked it hit the like button why not maybe leave a comment um we will be back on tuesday back to normal tuesdays we've got a little guest lined up that might slide into the episode. So we're gonna do that now. So we're in the same clothes in the next.
One you're watching we do get changed rich in some weird moves what are you doing this rick does stuff at the end now. So people are listening. And go what was he actually doing did he have his top off really you go yeah do you know by the way i've still got the shoes are what every violin wow because they're the only shoes currently you've got a leg on the table as well now the tan dolly quite tan you've got denim shorts on. So if you if you've not watched this you're really missing out i'm only wearing shorts now yeah because my legs are just about brown enough to. And i'm not gonna i'm not gonna now make them go white again nice i need to commit to shorts for the whole of summer i get that and i've got i've got a little bit of calf structure now only a tiny bit but it's there anyway thanks for listening um thanks for your support um next.
Tuesday go on caddying my best mate we're gonna go and qualify for the open best me last week well i did this is a funny story though i did i quote tweeted called his tweet yesterday yeah. And i put like oh one of my like one of my really good friends was qualified. For the open this night the other shared it right tagged him in and everything shared it i was like oh yeah you know obviously friends on facebook follow each other on insta i didn't even follow him on twitter i do now though i do know. So he's basically my best mate all right yeah peace out.
