Amy Alcott - Part 3 (1988 and 1991 Dinah Shore Wins and Olympic Golf Course Design)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Well you had a couple more wins in you that year, uh uh including winning another one at Almaden. And then uh and then uh uh three wins, I guess, in 85. So 85, yeah. You were still on the top of your game.

Amy Alcott 0:31

Right? I was. I can't, you'll have to tell me what I won in 85 because I can't remember.

Bruce Devlin 0:38

Tucson open, Circle K, Tucson.

Amy Alcott 0:41

Oh, Tucson, yeah. Now there's another one. I I eagled the last hole to beat Betsy King by one. We were both putting for Eagle, and she on the 18th green, we went for it in two. Randolph Park, and she lipped out for Eagle, and then I made it from 28 feet to win. That was that was an exciting, very exciting win.

Mike Gonzalez 1:06

For a final round 67, and then uh uh close to us here at Moss Creek, you won by uh four over Ms. Lopez, Ms. Sheehan, Ms. Inkster, and Ms. Postalweight.

Amy Alcott 1:19

Wow. I can't even remember that.

Bruce Devlin 1:23

I do one by four.

Amy Alcott 1:24

I do remember that. Yeah, we had uh that was uh a great win there. I do remember whole holding it together on that back nine of Moss Creek and and winning winning there. That's like a this is a trip down memory lane, guys. You know, these remembering that truth. Yeah, I think that they had had an active shooter at the golf course they that week. They put everyone in the clubhouse. There's a story to everything. Some guy had a list of pros that he wanted to knock off. And they put us down on the downstairs for like four hours and delayed around and everything. I and the it thing ended up not being um a gun. It it was like somebody said they saw a guy with a gun. It ended up being like a thing of sunscreen, you know, a big tube of I don't know. Uh some other player might remember that story more, but well, was Sally Little, would she have been part of that story?

Mike Gonzalez 2:26

I uh just something in the back of my mind, Bruce, when we visited with Sally Moss Creek, because that's that's one where she holed out from a greenside bunker to win it one year, didn't it?

Amy Alcott 2:35

Yeah, she won there, I think, in uh one year. Absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez 2:40

Yeah, yeah, she did. Yeah, I remember her saying that. Yeah. Well, uh Nestle World Championship of Women's Golf in 1985.

Amy Alcott 2:49

That was wonderful. That was at Pine Isle, Pine Isle in uh Georgia. That was the end of the year, cut kind of top 20 players, top 15 players, special event at the end of the year. And um, yeah, I I I went in a playoff against Patty Sheehan.

Mike Gonzalez 3:10

Exactly. That's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Anything memorable about that playoff?

Amy Alcott 3:16

I remember the 18th, let's see, 17. And then 18 was a par four dog leg, and you played over the water into the green, and the boats from Lake Lanier would come in. So we were actually hitting our second shots over people having cocktails. Um remember the um remember the uh guy giving me the check from Nestle's, developed a relationship, a friendship with him. He was a nice guy. Uh his name skirts me right now, but um he was the head of um ran the uh Behringer wine division and uh God, what was his name? Uh I'll remember it. But anyway, it was a great win. I mean, anytime you win, like it was kind of like the um the end of the year season win in ending event of all the best players who've all won. That was a great, great win.

Bruce Devlin 4:22

Yeah. And 86 you won twice. Mazda Hall of Fame and the LPGA National Pro Am.

Amy Alcott 4:32

LPGA National Pro Am was uh in uh Denver. Yeah, and um yeah, uh let's see what year was that?

Mike Gonzalez 4:45

86. 86? Yeah.

Amy Alcott 4:47

86, uh yeah, I won in uh Denver at um Meridian Valley that I won there.

Mike Gonzalez 4:55

Lone Tree. Lone Tree.

Amy Alcott 4:57

Lone Tree. God.

Mike Gonzalez 5:00

That was by one over Pat Bradley and Pat Bradley and Krista Johnson.

Amy Alcott 5:05

Yeah, I won there. And then what was the other one? Did you say I won in '86?

Mike Gonzalez 5:09

That was down at Sweetwater Country Club in Moscow Homeland.

Amy Alcott 5:12

There's another one, a playoff whole playoff there. Uh LPGA's home was in Sweetwater, Texas during a short period of time. It was a new development, and they had an event called the Hall of Fame Classic. And I got into a playoff there at Sweetwater with a player named Lauren Howell. And I eagled the last uh eagled the playoff hole, made a long putt there to beat her. So that was very memorable.

Mike Gonzalez 5:43

Yeah, I bet it was. I bet it was. Well, let's uh let's go on to win number two at the dinosaur. This was in 1988 by two strokes over Colleen Walker, uh 14 under, which was a tournament record at the time, wasn't it?

Amy Alcott 6:00

Yeah, it was. Um, I'm trying to, I think I was wearing all blue there. No, that was 83. I'm trying to remember it, but um yeah, it was I always liked playing that event. The cough course suited my eye. I grew up in Southern California. I had a lot of people and support from people who would come out and watch me play at that tournament. You know, I kind of believe, like Trevino says, there's course horse courses for horses. And ones that the greens have a certain feel, and the shape of the holes have a certain feel, and that's the way it was for me at always at Mission Hills. You know, it just kind of there were a lot of lot of boxes checked on that golf course, and that was like the always the first major of the year, and um you know it was always something really important. I don't remember any specific shots from that week, but you know, like anything, it was just kind of just played great. Played great, yeah, played really well.

Mike Gonzalez 7:10

Well, you shot 66 on Friday with a double. You must have been playing pretty well.

Amy Alcott 7:14

Now, where are you getting all this information?

Mike Gonzalez 7:19

Bruce and I do deep research. Oh deep research.

Amy Alcott 7:23

Well, I must have done something right, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 7:30

The uh the news reports uh talk about it being a fairly windy week that week as well. You must have been playing well because you you were leading the week before after 36 holes at Phoenix. So you you're coming in feeling pretty good about your game, I guess.

Amy Alcott 7:42

Yeah, I I I'm a big believer in momentum, like what I was saying earlier about winning the open. You know, uh if um you know the zone and momentum is a precarious thing. You know, you can't recreate as when when you're in it and it's all happening for you, you can better not take it for granted. You better not overthink it. But when it's happening, you know, you can uh because when when you kind of lose it and your swing goes awry, or your putting stroke is not working for you, or you're not getting it up and down, and all the stuff that happens in golf, and you go into a slump, you crave absolutely crave to be able to recreate to mentally and physically that feeling, that vibe, that specialness of being in that pla winning place. And you better not take it for granted when you're in it, but you better not like overthink it. It's kind of a spiritual place, and um it's like uh it's like you're in your own little world, you're in your own, yeah.

Bruce Devlin 8:53

So so yeah, I've got a good question for you. In in uh 89 you won the uh Boston V Classic. Do you remember the scores you shot that year?

Amy Alcott 9:05

No, I don't, but the final round I got stuck in an elevator and almost didn't make my tea time. I don't know why there's some drama tied into some of these wins, but well, this is a I I gotta tell you, you your scores that year were 68, 68, 68, 68. Really? Wow, wow, wow, that was unbelievable. Why went down to go make my tea time? I'm staying right there at the course. And I get in the elevator with a man, he's got like an earphone in his, and uh all of a sudden we get in there, I'm on like the fifth floor, go into the lobby, and the the thing locks.

Bruce Devlin 10:01

Stops.

Amy Alcott 10:03

Totally stops. It turns the bells are going off, the whistles are going off, and you can't get the thing open. This goes on for three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, whatever. So I get in a conversation with him, and his name is Chuck Hogan. And Chuck Hogan was one of the very first sports psychiatrists. Um, I don't know if Chuck is still alive, but he was working, psychologist, he was working with a bunch of the players on the LPGA tour, and um, you know, he knew I was like trying to get make my tea time. So I'm making conversation like, what do you talk about? What do you do? He says, Well, you're leading the tournament, you don't need my services, he says, but this is kind of what I do, you know, and I'm listening to his voice, and there were periods in my career where I actually did talk to people. Um, I can't say they were sport psychiatrists, but people that helped me just kind of like um understand the importance of kind of a stable viewpoint about where you are with your golf and your life and career. So I had been to some by some different people and talked to him just not formally, but I'm listening to him, and his his voice is kind of like putting me under. You know, I'm going into a trance. And he started to talk about, well, you know, you started playing when you were a kid, and you had it's all about playing and learning how to play golf is learning how to play just like you were a kid, and playing is what's important, and the freedom, feeling the feel freedom as a kid of playing, and playing is about doing what you love and playing, everything, every other word was playing, playing, playing.

Bruce Devlin 11:57

Playing, playing, playing, playing.

Amy Alcott 11:59

And we eventually got out of that elevator, and I had eight minutes to my tea time. And the golf course at the Radisson Ferncroft was at the bottom of the hill. And I raced down there into the parking lot, got the car, my caddy's like totally panicked. I don't know where how. And um he's got the bag, I throw my shoes on. I'm kind of had gone into some trance, and I'm thinking, all I'm gonna do is just play, throw fate to the wind, just play. I take this doughnut, I put it on the end of the golf club, and make about four, four or five practice swings, and I'm not even on the T. And they're saying, and now on the T, you know, people were like saying, get on the T, get on the T, you're on the T. Amy Alcott, and I come running through, I hit like one practice button, I get up there, and I shoot 68 with and I must have just been in a zone.

Bruce Devlin 13:01

Tranch. You were in the trance.

Amy Alcott 13:04

And so I win there. And I remember that. So thank you for reminding me of that, Bruce. It was a pretty amazing thing.

Bruce Devlin 13:13

So if you wanted to finish a career playing golf, it would be a nice way to do it by winning a major, wouldn't it?

Amy Alcott 13:21

Absolutely.

Bruce Devlin 13:23

And that's what you did in 1991.

Amy Alcott 13:25

Yeah, you know, I didn't think I didn't know that that was kind of the last major and on the LPGA I would win. I had really no idea about kind of phasing out a golf. I've really never ever used the word retired. I still kind of don't use that word. I think evolving is a good thing. Um, I continued to play after 91. Um, but my mother had just died, and that's a just another kind of more spiritual side that I leaned into that Dinah Shore and I had met in Los Angeles, and she had found out that my mom had died a few minutes earlier, and I became friends with her and went out and played golf with her at the Hillcrest Country Club. And she says, I know you can win one more tournament. You've got to go, you've got to go win one for your mom. You've got to, you've got to win, and I'll jump into the water with you. She says, because you know, you never asked me the other times, and you just went with your caddy, and I'm I was kind of jealous. I said, Well, I didn't know that, Dinah. And I always tell people when I speak, I don't know how stars align in life. But my mom had died six months earlier, and here I am at this tournament, and it's just like everything happened. You know, I'd miss a fairway, I'd get the ball up and down, I'd save par. Early in the week, things were happening, and I just didn't give it a whole lot of emotion, like, huh, that's a good thing. You know, like I'd hit a tree, then I'd hit a pitching wedge to 15 feet, and I'd make the putt. And I didn't get overly emotional, and things were just kind of happening that kind of like it was like a novel being written, and the chapters were going by kind of slowly, and and good things were happening, and it was gonna evolve into something, but I couldn't predict it. And I looked up on that mountain, and I could feel my mom, I could see my mom, I can remember going to Palm Springs as a kid with my parents. Um, and the this should it it was like all the stars were right, you know, being written.

Bruce Devlin 15:49

And that's eight-shots.

Amy Alcott 15:51

Eight-shot win. Now, what made it interesting is coming up 18, my caddy, Bill Curry, sadly, who was with me with those wins, and uh, well, two of them, passed away this year of COVID. Uh, one of my closest relationships obviously is with me when I won the US Open, Bill was, and two dinosaurs and some other events. But um coming up the 18th hole, I hit the green out of the bunker, and he's called over to the side by the gallery, and somebody hands him my mother's business card from an art gallery that my mother worked in in the end of her life in Carmel and up in near Pebble Beach. And as we're just about ready to take that walk, Dinah's walk across that bridge for the third time, um he hands me the card and I look down at it, and it was just everything was just all in line. I make the winning putt to set a tournament record, I think it was 16 under, made it this great putt, and there's Dinah. Dinah always used to wear this red jacket and be very stylish with white pants, and she I could I I was noticed she had black pants on because maybe she was going into the water. And uh I made this putt, and I said, Bill, you've got to talk her out of it, you know, because she's gonna do something, you know. Uh she's gonna hurt herself or whatever. No, she wanted to go in, and we all went into the water. And uh yeah, it was that was kind of a way, really the way to end a career, Bruce. I gotta tell you.

Bruce Devlin 17:44

Yeah, wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

Amy Alcott 17:47

I don't know if you guys want all this detail, you can edit it all out, but a lot of detail.

Mike Gonzalez 17:54

We love it, but I think our listeners would not forgive us if we didn't come back to the 88 Dinosaur win because that's when you started the tradition. So tell us a little bit about how that came about.

Amy Alcott 18:06

Well, I I think early in the week during a practice round, I mentioned a bill. I wonder if anybody's like won a tournament. I don't think I don't think Jerry Pate had gone in the water. Maybe he did with the commissioner with Dean Beam yet, but I made a comment to him. I don't know if has anyone ever jumped in the water at with their excitement because they won, because I was always fascinated by all the water around 18 at Mission Hills. I always thought it was a great finishing hole. And he says, I don't know, kid. I'm not really sure of it. It was just like a passing thought. And then I made this winning putt, and I it was just a moment of excitement. It was totally spontaneous. And I said, Bill, we're going in the water. Let's go. We didn't know I didn't know how deep it was. It was filled with duck dew. There were rocks in there. And we just we went into the water, and I guess that that moment became pretty pretty iconic in women's golf. So I I didn't I didn't know anything that what I was creating, but it was very exciting.

Mike Gonzalez 19:22

Yeah, kind of a cool tradition, and you you can't help but read a uh a recap of any tournament win any year in the last paragraph, always about the winner and how they went in the water, or who went in the water with them.

Amy Alcott 19:34

Right, and who's gonna do a cartwheel or uh there's been were some pretty funny moves that different people and uh all the things that they did, but um I don't know, it's kind of I've always told young players that you gotta you don't win often. You might as well embrace your stardom, you know, show off a little bit or create something that's uniquely you, and you know, you don't win very often, so feel good about it, you know. Yeah, so bring the gallery in and create excitement.

Mike Gonzalez 20:07

This body of water was known as Poppy's Pond, which was named after long-term time uh tournament director there, uh Terry Wilcox. And uh Amy, I think that pond is a little different than the one you jumped into.

Amy Alcott 20:19

It's been can I just say something there?

Mike Gonzalez 20:21

Sure, yeah.

Amy Alcott 20:22

Okay, one of the big pills that I've had in my life, because I've gotten so many letters, and it would sound probably very small of me to bring this up. But most people in golf feel like I was really slighted by not having that pond named after me, and having it named after a tournament director who was a great tournament director, taking nothing away from Terry Wilcox. But I still get letters saying who is who is Poppy? And um it's very rarely I will bring it up, but now I'm well into my 60s and I can I can let things go, but this time I'm not because I'm being interviewed. But I think that was one of the more hurtful things that happened in my golf career, and I can tell you, if another player particular player had done that at the time, uh the pond would not have been named Poppy's Pond, it would have been named after her. So I'm just gonna leave that thought there and let it let it go on in history. I think it's great. I will miss doing that. And the the champions tour is going there, and I hope that I hope that somebody will jump into the water and uh and kind of live out that thing, if not do something else.

Mike Gonzalez 21:55

Yeah, kind of an end of an era, right? Because the twenty twenty two event was the last one to. be contested there.

Amy Alcott 22:01

Yes, the very last the very last one. Uh-huh. And it's moving on, moving on to Houston to uh the sh it's the Chevron Championship. And um I think that they've done a lot of pre-planning, a lot of hard work to try to create something special. So you know things change and you have to accept them.

Mike Gonzalez 22:23

Yeah. And in the meantime that that pond has sort of evolved more into a almost like a swimming pool.

Amy Alcott 22:29

Oh yeah they fixed that up and made it really really nice like when you walk by it because I have a place at Mission Hills. I want to like go go take a dive in there. You know it's very it's very nice.

Bruce Devlin 22:43

No duck poo?

Amy Alcott 22:44

Yeah no duck poo. Yeah it's very nice. I don't know in the summer how how it is but if they take care of it but it's got a major amount of chlorine in it. Yeah uh you were the tournament presenter at a at a tournament uh hosted by Amy Alcott the Office Depot Championship over uh early early this century I guess we'd say yeah um so City of Hope is an amazing uh research hospital and I've had had a relationship with them for a long time I was I was an ambassador for them and still remain connected and they got involved in sponsoring an LPGA event and um so we had several of them and some amazing champions like Annika and Sayri Pack and I was really honored to put my name for several years on that tournament the Office Depot event and we had it at a course out a couple courses out here Wilshire Country Club and El Caballero so it was it was we had some great winners and that was a real honor to do that.

Mike Gonzalez 23:52

Yeah you know if you look back on your major career of course we've talked about just about every one of them uh winning three different majors five winners uh uh altogether but uh I'm sure uh looking back uh it would have nice to have been able to convert one of those second places into a win at the LPGA championship you had a nice run there at the JWN Sports Center you had three very very close finishes there didn't you at King's Island yeah is that yeah very in fact I was just back in Cincinnati where all this happened and I have a wonderful story to tell um I had some great finishes there but one of them was three saddest one was three putting the last green and Nancy Lopez won and um our commissioner at the time Charlie Meekham was behind the green he was from Cincinnati and he could see how upset I was and I he says he says you're you're gonna win one of these I know you will and what are you doing you know uh now he was just we were making comments and I said well I'm gonna go back to this dive called Bill Knapp's local local restaurant I'm gonna go back to the roadway in and I'm gonna drive to Harrisburg to the next tournament the next morning and he says well why don't you come out tomorrow I'm gonna play golf at my home club which is a classic course here in Cincinnati called Camargo golf club would you like to have a home cooked meal and stay with a family and whatever and he says I'll he says I'll set it all up and you you can come play golf with us and go to Harrisburg the next day and I said Charlie that sounds like a really nice thing I would love to do that.

Amy Alcott 25:50

So I went and packed my bags and went drove down into further down into Cincinnati and stayed with this uh wonderful family uh Joyce and Dick Farmer uh met them at the front door they've become lifelong friends along with their son Scott it's a great family and Mrs. Farmer says to me you know we're having dinner there at the house we have a special treat for you tomorrow one of our neighbors is going to join us for golf it'll we'll play a fisum you and I and Dick and Neil Armstrong is going to join us. So you know you might lose a golf tournament but I got to ride in the golf cart with Neil Armstrong and have lunch with him and talk about his exploits into space. I was so nervous I don't even remember what we talked about. But um I remember it made the trip to Harrisburg the next day a lot nicer after after that and I made some great friends along the way so I will always remember that and be thankful for to Charlie Meekham for setting that up so very nice of you.

Mike Gonzalez 27:08

Well as we as we wind down I do want to ask you about the Solheim Cup because that sort of came uh about a little late for you didn't it that didn't start until 1990 right yeah um so I was never captain of it I'm asked that all the time why wasn't I captain and it's probably one thing in golf I would have loved to really have done um but it was at a period in time where um I'd had some great years was slowing down a little bit but I was still winning uh and then my mother got very ill and passed away uh in 1991 so the first couple of years I didn't play on a team and the year I was eligible to play um my mother passed away and then I kind of took a hiatus for a couple years and really didn't play as much wasn't quite as visible through 92, 93 94 and it was something I really wanted to do.

Amy Alcott 28:12

I still was out on the tour and still playing but um was never chosen to be a captain um and I uh was ups uh then they made it the rules change for that and I don't know there's an unspoken kind of rule about the Solheim Cup is that you would have had to have played on a team uh obviously early on when Corner and Rankin were captains there was no team so that was kind of mute. But um it's kind of one of the things I've kind of put aside and I watch with joy and think well you know all of a lot of my compatriots you know Beth Daniel and Inkster and a lot of these people became captains and I didn't get that chance so anyway can't can't uh but uh it's always a wonderful thing and to watch and I I love to see the rise in so many great European players and Suzanne Peterson I think it's one of the most exciting things in golf.

Mike Gonzalez 29:16

Yep yeah you know when Bruce and I prepare for these uh uh talks with you there's a a final category we have called other and as you look at the the other category Bruce for Amy Alcott in addition to all the accolades over her career 1999 inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame 1999 inductee into the LPGA Hall of Fame and so on and so forth there are a lot of other just neat stuff that uh um maybe over a cocktail we could talk about sometime. I mean golf course designer I I want you to touch on that a little bit because uh Bruce and you have that in common but satellite radio program host she owns Katherine Hepburn's golf cart she made a cameo appearance in Tin Cup she's an author on and on and she's a she was a golf coach on and on and on I mean just a lot of cool stuff.

Bruce Devlin 30:09

Did you know that about yourself?

Amy Alcott 30:11

Well yeah you're really this is the beauty of this great idea for this show is that I can't remember I mean I do know I was on Arlis and I was on in the in Tim Cup and with a scene with Kevin Cosner and Cheech Marin it it got scrapped and got I went to the woodlands down there and shot one scene and uh Braun Shelton was the producer director of that and I saw him at Riviera and he says I got a perfect how about coming to Houston we're putting a few celebrities in this movie and anyway I got cut and put on the uh a floor of the uh the cutting room floor so my scene wasn't in there uh but it was a pretty funny scene and that that was that was a lot of a lot of fun yeah yeah a lot of these things I hosted a show with my friend uh uh Susan Hunt who's a TV uh kind of um aficionado she's a TV hostess producer and longtime friend Linda uh Giocelli a show called Golf Chicks which was a little bit of a we never went really live but it was an irreverent we were on for a little while kind of an irreverent look at golf and uh you know comments about John Daly's pants and you know we were a little we were a little like off the cuff kind of kind of and that was a lot of fun and we we I think we've even talked about bringing it back because it'd probably be more timely now to be kind of right now kind of irreverence is kind of a good thing.

Mike Gonzalez 31:49

Yeah the format uh maybe is uh instead of a radio show maybe it's a podcast.

Amy Alcott 31:53

Yeah maybe so I'll be talking to you about that.

Mike Gonzalez 31:57

Yeah so uh tell us about being on part of the design team for that first uh oh well the return of I guess for golf to the Olympics uh down in Argentina well that's quite a story you know I have always had the privilege of playing some of the great golf courses in the world some famous some you wouldn't even know about and I've always loved design you know love you know being able to play a course like Riviera sneaking under the fence as a kid and going on these courses and playing number 10 at Riviera which is to me is the greatest short par four and appreciating a design.

Amy Alcott 32:42

So I've drawn pictures out and whatever and always wanted to kind of go into it and but you know I I realized very soon I'm not an architect. I'm a designer I know what makes a great golf course I know what the flow is but I'm not an architect which is jack of all trades and master of all and uh but I've really enjoyed it and I saw that golf was coming back to the Olympics and I I said to myself you know this golf course if it's not playing at an existing course in Rio de Janeiro I said to myself it should be designed by a male female team you got both playing in the Olympics and I don't know what they're going to be doing about it and whatever. So I had this idea in my mind and I uh I took it forward and I just happened to be out at LA Country Club here while they were redesigning their golf course and I met Gil Hance and walked a few holes with him and as I was walking away to actually go play um I said Gil have you ever thought about you know bidding for the Olympic Games you know it's you know um because I've I had kind of put this forward to a few people in the media and within four days I swear to God Jack Nicholas was on uh saying he was going to design the course with Annika and I'm thinking well that's a fine how do you do I just mentioned it to somebody on the QT and now everybody on so I realized I needed to get on board with this and so I said to Gil you know would you want to do the course with me? Would you consider you know I'd love to work with you on it. He says well let me think about it and I'll let you know so about a week later he called me up and he said he has decided to bid on it and he wants to bid on it though in his own name with his own brand and how would I feel about that he was very honest about it. And he says you know you wouldn't be in the actual proposal like some of these other teams are how would you feel about that and I said well why don't we just do it and see what happens I just kind of bit my tongue. I thought it was nice that he was considering it and he says but if we get into the final group you know we'll definitely talk about this well there's 20 teams bid on it you had Norman and Lorraine Ochoa and you had all Robert Trent Jones you had everybody trying to do it. And we got into the final nine and that's when we had to get serious and actually kind of I was talking to him about tease and was working with his associate there I think his name is Jim and put together that and he says now we're gonna have to go down there and make a proposal so we went down there to bid on the whole thing and we had exactly 40 minutes and my part of it was to talk about the legacy kind of like how I started and how this what golf would do if a golf course if we design the golf course and um uh you know what would you know our our story you know so Gil gave gave a great presentation and um we're there with the mayor of Rio and you know all the top mucky mucks with the Olympic committee and then I was on and I talked about how I grew up chipping and putting into soup cans. My parents didn't play I was like a you know I you know I was a grassroots kid. I know what golf can do for young people that these kids that live up and that are soccer fiends that and up in the favelas playing soccer how this could really help them get jobs on learning how to maintain a golf course there's all kinds of jobs that would come from this they could learn how to caddy I talked about different programs in the United States and then we were done and then one of the committee guys said uh so Mr Hans um uh I think the question was uh what do you think about why we would choose your team over a more high profile team he says well I'm willing to live down here and move down here and do all the things it takes to be here and I thought and versus another more high profile team and I felt it wasn't really my place but I said Gil may I say something and I got up and Gil to this day thanks me because he he thinks it was important in getting the work when we were chosen I said you know Mr whoever um you know you could choose any of these teams and they're gonna all do a great job but what differentiates us is our passion and the Gil's willing to live down here and make this thing happen and I quote made a quote from Steve Jobs at Apple you know basically saying it's about it's about your passion is what separates you and um you know you can have a love for something but if you're not passionate about it or it's just a moment in time or whatever the quote was you're it's not going to be happening for you. We have that and we're gonna be your winning team you're gonna want us on this job. And that I sat down and um it was just kind of a closing thought and I guess we found out like I I got a phone call the week of the Dural tournament they kept postponing the design of this who was going to be the team and back it took them until February and uh they announced that we were going to be the winning team so it was uh it was a wonderful experience and to work with Gil and his team and to bring in my insight you know where how far women hit it and you got to have a short parfum and coming in and risk and reward and how you know it was just a great experience that expanded my my love for wanting to do more of this.

Mike Gonzalez 39:32

Yeah.

Amy Alcott 39:33

That's kind of the long story about it. And I'm pleased because I have I'm gonna be working on a project out here in Palm Springs a remodel of an old Desmond Muirhead course called Desert Island um which was recently bought it's uh Palm Springs across from the Eisenhower hospital and uh it'll start in about a year but it's not a complete remodel but I'll be able to kind of put a few touches on it and there you go you know try try to have a fingernail in what Bruce Devlin has in golf golf design he's got a I mean it's it's a whole I would love to talk to you about it sometime Bruce we will let's stay in touch we'll talk a lot about it.

Mike Gonzalez 40:24

So Bruce you want to you want to wind down with our usual questions now for the first one which I'll let you ask she's had some time to think about this one.

Amy Alcott 40:33

Yeah so we asked three questions the first one is if you had a mulligan if you had a mulligan where would you take it I would take it I think it was 1984 or 86 at Salem Country Club at the U final hole of the US women's open which was the worst excuse me the absolute worst kind of loss moment defeat to win my second US Open I hit a three wood off the T it hit a sprinkler head and went under a tree almost out of bounds and I ended up being tied for the US Open on the T, making the smart play with a three wood to put it in play and ended up making a double bogey and finished fourth and it was to my mind it was the only time I ever truly cried in the parking lot because that was Paula's one she shot a great back nine I think Rosie Jones finished second or something like that or maybe I tied with her. But that that that would be that would be uh I'd take a driver down there and rip the hell out of it.

Mike Gonzalez 42:05

That sounds like a good one okay second question you're 20 years old again but you know what you know now what would you have done differently I don't know that I would have done that much differently other than say to myself because I don't really have a lot of regrets um but I would say to my say to myself more fully don't don't stress it you know you're you know I went through an awful I don't talk about it an awful time with the Yps in my career.

Amy Alcott 43:00

Lee Trevino once said to me he says if uh Amy Alcar could have put you know you it was a joke you would have never heard of Kathy Whitworth. But I think a lot of players I think a lot of a lot of players knew that I must have given up another 20 wins because I couldn't make a two foot putt for and I had went through a terrible time with the Yips in my career that a fellow players knew about. I mean I couldn't make a six inch putt I was frozen. I froze I did everything I possibly could to get through that and putting with my eyes closed and looking at the hole and cross handed and everything else. And eventually I guess they just kind of slowed down or went away I have remnants from time to time but um I wouldn't would wouldn't have stressed it that much I guess I don't know if that's a completed Answer but that's a when I was twenty years old twenty years old it was it was life defining.

Bruce Devlin 44:09

So the last question You ready for the last question? How do you want Amy Alcott to be remembered?

Amy Alcott 44:38

Kind of uh somebody who uh took on the game and played with Gusto and um had fun out there, you know. Before it was a business, had fun. More most importantly, loved the game and had fun with it. I think that was it, and kinda left it a better place for people to kind of talk about, I guess.

Bruce Devlin 45:09

So you know do you know somebody who had some fun today? Mike and myself having you as a guest. It's been a wonderful pleasure, Amy. Thank you for your time. It's been it's been terrific to hear all your stories, and uh there'll be a lot of people who will thank us for having you on the show.

Amy Alcott 45:28

Thank you guys for reaching out, and um you know, as you get older, you think more and more people kind of forget about you. You know what I'm saying? That you're not as relevant or whatever. Um you may be relevant to yourself, but um your career is something that's just sitting in history books. So it's wonderful to sit with you guys and kind of bring some of that back to life. And I I really appreciate it.

Mike Gonzalez 45:56

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 46:20

It went smack down the fairway. And it started just like just smacked offline. It went straight down the middle file away.