Andy North - Part 3 (1985 U.S. Open and Beyond)

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

In nineteen eighty-five, you joined uh guys like uh David Graham and and Ben Hogan, who slayed the beast at Oakland Hills with a one-shot win over Dave Barr, Dennis Watson, and TC Chen.

Andy North 0:31

Yeah, that's that was a uh, you know, people that will compare your two opens. Well, they were totally different. This the 78 open was just my next step in where I was going. Um and and you know, if if I could have stayed healthier, you know, who knows what would have happened after that. But I I really struggled between the two opens, I struggled physically, had a couple operations, um, lost my way a little bit. Um, you know, my my goal when I was a little kid, you know, you made putts on the putting green as a 15-year-old. This is to beat Arnold and Jack to win the US Open. And you know, that was what it was. And the uh I had I had it uh the USJ events were always to me the most important. I got beat in the finals of the junior one year, uh played okay in the amateur, but that was you know, that was the defining event in your career at whatever level you were. So the open was always really important to me. And I I you know, I struggled physically, and um, you know, so all of a sudden you you reach your goal that you'd set in 78, and it's like, where do I go? And I struggled a little bit with that. Um, you know, that that little extra just wasn't there. And then I had operations, I had an operation in 80, end of the 83 season on an elbow, and um 84 was just basically a rehab year, and I came and I worked really hard rehabbing, and I came back in 85 and really felt good. I had a couple of good events on the West Coast that really kind of you know got your confidence going again, um, and played some really good golf that year. I had a lot of weird things happen to me where I'd make, you know, I made an 11 on the 71st hole at Honda after being like seven or eight under that day, making a big run on Sunday. I I I had a uh a double or triple on the 72nd hole at Bay Hill after being five or six under on Sunday, going from you know 20th place to tie for third or something, and then give it all back in one hole, kind of stuff. So I had, but I'd really played some good golf and I'd shot some really good scores on really hard golf courses. So I went to Westchester's the week before, which I always thought was the perfect week before the US Open because they always had the rough, deep, and it was uh the greens were always firm and the little teeny greens. You had to really hit good shots. I ended up missing the cut there. And instead of going home, I I flew to I was staying with some friends, we hung around on Saturday, and then Saturday afternoon I decided I'm going to Detroit. So I flew into Detroit that night and got out there Sunday morning and had a nice little practice session in the morning. And then I sat down and figured out how I can best prepare for this week. And because I think so often at majors, you just lose uh energy, you lose uh focus because you end up spending so much time on the golf course that's not productive. It takes so long to play practice rounds. You know, it's five, six hours to play a practice round. I said, I'm not gonna do that. So Sunday night, I came back out and played nine holes at like five o'clock in the evening. And doing this, I could chip and putt and really spend a lot of time in the important parts of trying to figure out a way to win an open. And I did the same thing Monday. I went out Monday morning early, played the back nine, left the golf course probably by 9:30 or 10 o'clock, went and walked, you know, went to a movie, took a nap, came back at five o'clock and did the same thing. I did that Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. I never was at the golf course from five from 10 o'clock until probably 5 o'clock, any of those days. I went to movies, I took net, it rested, I just you know, read, did stuff to get away from it. And I felt like teeing it up Thursday morning there. I was the most prepared I've ever been for a tournament. I was felt good about my golf swing. I had great confidence that I had a good plan. Um, I never, when I played there at Oakland Hills in the PGA that David won, I had no idea how to play the golf course. And and I had a horrible, I didn't have a good week, and I didn't like the place. And I came back in '85, and all of a sudden, it's you sort of figured it out. Uh the way I practiced and prepared, I figured out how I wanted to play it. And I played a nice round on Thursday. Um had a and then on Friday I shot I shot 65 on Friday and played. I was playing with Johnny Miller and David Graham the first two rounds. And sitting in the getting done on Friday, Johnny had my card. And he, you know, we're the last two guys that he said, God, you're playing great. You know, you got a great chance to win this week. You know, just hold it together and do your thing, and you got a great chance to win. And on Saturday, it was one of the most miserable days you'd ever want to play. TC Chan had the lead. Um, it was absolutely miserable. It was about 50 degrees, it was rainy and drizzly, and just, you know, the kind of day the last thing you want to do is be out there. And it was one of those days you're just going to get soaked, and that's how it was going to be. And I ended up shooting 70 that day. TC shot 69, I think. And I think we're the only guys that were anywhere near power. Everybody, everybody else near the lead was 73, 74, 75, whatever. And it really sort of separated us from the rest of the field. So I mean, I really felt good that, you know, I was doing what I wanted to do, and there's no reason you couldn't go out and play, you know, play well on Sunday and win the win the open. I think, I think through the first three rounds, I was number one in Fairway's hit, I was number one in Green's hit. I mean, I really was in complete control, and I can honestly tell you that didn't happen very often. Uh, you know, that you had one of those weeks where you just felt like you were in complete control of what you're doing. And then got out there on Sunday, and it was a cold, damp day again, and I I bogeied the first hole. TC made a birdie some point. All of a sudden, he's got a four-shot lead, and we're playing the fifth hole, and that's where he made his his infamous double hit, ended up making an eight, and going to the six T, I'm back tied for the lead of the open. And and he, you know, he basically let about six of us back in to have a chance to win. Um, and then he made ended up I had a one-shot lead going to nine, and then I bowed you nine, ten, eleven. Um and literally through the first 11 holes, I had not laid the club on it. I mean, I'd you know nothing solid. You're driving it in the rough every hole, you've got no rhythm in your game because you're driving in the rough and you're just slashing it out every hole. And so I've made four bogies in the first 11 holes on Sunday, and I think I made two bogeys, the first 54 holes. Uh, so you know, I wasn't, and then I drove in the fairway bunker at 12 that's no longer even there, and made a swing with a five-iron come out of this fairway bunker that all of a sudden it felt great, and it hit a really good nine-iron third shot to about eight feet, ended up missing the putt, but it was back-to-back, really good swings, really solid shots, and like, oh, okay, maybe we are gonna be okay. And at the time, I may have been one back at that time, maybe tied, but I don't know. Uh, but the next hole was a par three, and it was a five-iron shot, the 13th. I ended up it was a back left pin. I hit a really, really nice five-iron, about 10 or 12 feet, uh, to an area that you know it was really hard to get to, ended up making that putt, and that got me either tied or lead the lead again. And from that point on, I hit I've just I hit some nice shots at 14, too good, made parse, 15, you know, two good shots par, 16, a couple of good shots par. So now I've I've got a one-shot lead going to 17, and the pin is in the back right of the 17th green. And if you remember the 17th green there, Bruce was. It was a huge ridge that ran through the middle of the green from back to front. That if you were left of that ridge, there was no way you could two putt. It was impossible. Uh, and during one of these practice rounds I played, I'd spent an hour on that green one night putting from over there. And I knew I could hit it 50 yards to the right of the green and make a par, but I couldn't make a par if you're 30 feet left of the hole. So I I ended up literally putting it in the right-hand bunker on purpose. Um, it was either going on the green on the right corner of the green, or it was going in the bunker. And I ended up hitting a great bunker shot, hit it up to a tap-in distance, and you know that's bunker player. Well, that's you got me. Got me some got me some votes. I mean, you know, there are times, you know, and that's what people at home don't understand. There are times at a U.S. Open where the rougher on the greens is so much you play for bunkers. Easier out of the bunker. It's so much easier, and there's certain spots where the angles and stuff that you've got a better chance getting it up in and out of a bunker than maybe having a 30-footer from the wrong side of the hole. So that was one of my strengths. I was able to figure out the best way to play the golf course for me at that time. And and that was a, I mean, I hit the shot exactly like I wanted to. Then it I teed off an 18 with a one-shot lead and just absolutely mauled a drive down the middle of the ferrow. We hit just one of the better drives you'd ever want to hit under pressure to put it in play on the last toll and had uh uh a four four five iron into the green. And I all I can remember is that when David Graham at the PGA there, you you couldn't hit it over the 18th green. You could not do it, and you couldn't get it up and in. And David, I think, may double the let Crenshaw get in the playoff, if I'm not if I'm correct.

Mike Gonzalez 10:59

Yeah, he drove it right on 18 and knocked it over the green.

Andy North 11:03

Yeah, so I from the middle of the fairway, I not that you laid up laid up, but I was making sure um I'm gonna be I hit a club that possibly hit over the green. I miss hit it a little bit and it came up just short of the green, but in a position. Uh and then the guy's in front of me, bogey, so I had now a two-shot lead, so I knew I could make five on the last hole to win. So I was being ultra conservative on the second shot, and from there all I did was just pitch it on the green and two-putt, which managed to do, and uh, you know, he got another open.

unknown 11:39

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 11:40

Only only player under par that week.

Andy North 11:43

I that was the f I was the first guy ever to be under par at Oakland Hills in a major championship. That's changed since then, but you know, that there's a little pride there that that was a hard golf course, and you know, I ended up shooting 74 the last day, but I think I made what did I make? I made I made five bogeys that day and and one birdie and and just got it around. And uh, you know, I won the open making nine birdies for the week. That's and finished under par. So, you know, to me it was all about figuring out a way to make pars, and you make a few birdies here and there and don't make any doubles, you got a chance to win.

Mike Gonzalez 12:23

Yeah, yeah. You know, probably one of the more iconic golf shots is of that shot of uh of T C Chen there uh uh on the fifth when he makes his two-chip quad. What a lot of people probably aren't aware is that TC Chen actually made an albatross in the first round. It was the first albatross in U.S. Open history. You guys remember Ralph Landrum?

Andy North 12:47

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 12:48

Ralph Landrum was playing with TC Chen in the first round when he made that deuce, and Ralph was quoted as saying there were only a couple of fans standing there, and they didn't even clap because they were holding beers.

Andy North 13:03

Well, it's you know, he went on to win the LA Open and ended up playing some nice golf back in uh his home country. Um we're the senior open was uh up in the northern part of the Detroit area. This is probably 10, 12 years ago, uh, that he had turned 50 and he was playing there, and one of his sons was catting, and they went down and actually played Oakland Hills that week, and they wrote, you know, wrote some nice articles about how cool that was for him to get back there and that sort of thing.

Mike Gonzalez 13:37

Well, uh a great second U.S. Open victory in 1985. Um let's move on, talk a little bit about Ryder Cup, because you had a chance as a player to play on the 1985 team at the Belfry with uh Jacqueline and Trevino as the captains. And uh, you know, that was at an interesting time in Ryder Cup history, wasn't it? The the Euros had just been brought in, you know, players from the continent, so you started seeing the the Sevies and the Faldos and some of the other sort of changed the the fortune of uh of those teams. 83 was probably the the first time that really showed itself down at PJ National with with Jack as captain, where the U.S. just snuck out a victory with Lanny kind of stiffened one at the last. But but from then on it was a different game, wasn't it?

Andy North 14:23

Yeah, they uh you know, one is uh it's always an honor to represent your country, and uh when they play the national anthem and they announce you represent the United States, that first T-shot's not a very easy one. Um But I think at that point in time, the Euro team had Sevy, had Langer, had Woozy, Faldo, and Lyle.

Bruce Devlin 14:49

How about that?

Andy North 14:49

They are all were five were ranked, all five of those guys were in the top ten of the rankings then. I mean, these guys were five of the best ten players in the world. And what Jacqueline did a masterful job of doing, he played every one of those guys every match. They all played five matches, and he would have some guys that back in that era uh where our team was much deeper, their top five were probably better than our top five, or at least equal. And and they would hide their their guys at the lower end. Uh, some of them might not play until the singles match on Sunday, uh, which the U.S. never felt. I mean, if you played on a Ryder Cup team, we always felt like you deserved to play each day. You know, you'd play at least three matches, and and that's how it's been pretty much through the the whole the whole course of it. But that was the start, that was the event. That wasn't even on TV back in the America. Um, that was the the Ryder Cup that really changed the Ryder Cup. And uh we didn't play very well. We had a really good team. I mean, I think 10 of our 12 players ended up being major champions. Um it was a team that Nicholas and Watson didn't make, uh, you know, which that tells you a little bit about you know how good this team was. It was a team that I think that was a year that it was right off the point list. The top 12 guys off the point list were the guys that made the team. I don't think they were the captain's picks. Um so it was it was really, really a good team. Um we didn't play very well. I know I played poorly. Um I got beat. I lost three matches, every one of them close, you know, all of them going down to the end. Um lost the 18th hole to lose to Sam Torrance, one up uh in the singles, and that was the point that won the Ryder Cup for the Euros. So to stand on that last green with them celebrating is not a really good feeling. And it it still makes me mad as can be that you know, wish you could have played a little bit better.

Mike Gonzalez 16:55

You had to be happy for Steve's tricker this year, then.

Andy North 16:58

Oh, it was this year was great. It's I mean, if you look back at the last probably 10 or 12 Ryder Cups, it's it's the first time our team has really played well. Um, and I think a lot of it was scheduling, a lot of it was uh, you know, obviously Steve did a wonderful job, but we had a really good team. I mean, when the worst player on your team is the 20th ranked player in the world, you've got a pretty good team. Um, and they all were playing well. Um, it was a beautiful situation where they all were playing well, and this was the first Ryder Cup in a few years that our guys had time off before it. Uh in the past, you'd finish up playing like when Tiger won the tour championship a couple years ago, they got on a plane that night and went to Paris. So you're playing, you're you're coming out of our whole team is coming out of playing those four or five weeks in a row of of the FedEx Cup, it's 90 degrees in in Atlanta. You get on a plane and you go to Paris, everybody's completely worn out, they're completely tired, and now you go out and you get out there and it's 50 degrees. There is no you you got no chance. And this is the first time in a lot of years that our guys actually had time off beforehand. They came in rested, they came in prepared, and they really played great.

Mike Gonzalez 18:20

And Bruce, these young guys can be around for a while. They can be together as a team for a few years, can't they?

Bruce Devlin 18:25

Yeah, they got a uh they gotta, as we mentioned earlier today, we got some really uh really great young players that are out on the tour now.

Andy North 18:35

Yeah, that was you know, it wasn't easy. There were two or three guys, Steve left off the team that were playing well, that, you know, under normal circumstances probably would have made it. But we had so many of those guys playing great. It was nice to see.

Mike Gonzalez 18:48

Uh, speaking of representing your country, you had the opportunity also to represent the U.S. in the 1978 World Cup. Uh, that was in Hawaii. You teamed with John Mahaffey and uh and uh not only won the team event, but uh uh John and you were one two in the individual competition as well.

Andy North 19:07

Yeah, we we really played well um the whole week. That'd be nasty, you know.

Bruce Devlin 19:12

That'd be nasty and say who you beat.

Andy North 19:16

Well, you know, there you know, I think I think big basically the the way the that team was picked, it was the U.S. Open and the PGA champion uh during that time. And it was you know it was fun to go over there to have it at Princeville in the in you know, obviously Hawaii, you weren't going to Sri Lanka or you know, someplace that you had no control over what you're doing. And John and I were both playing well, and um one by ten the last hole well it was not close. Yeah, I mean it wasn't very close. We we played great, and the last hole was a par five that I tried to knock it on the green and two to to be able to tie John, and I ended up making a bogey, and he ended up beating me by either one or two. It doesn't it doesn't matter, but we played great all week, and um you know it's you know when they start arguing about uh golf in the Olympics, well, we've had that with the World Cup for years and years and years, and um, you know, it's a great honor for these guys to play in the Olympics now, but you know, we've we've had this World Cup. It it'd be nice to get the World Cup back to the level that it was back then. Uh it's it's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle.

Bruce Devlin 20:37

It was a big tournament, really, wasn't it?

Andy North 20:39

It was a big deal. That matter of fact, that year uh met Greg Norman for the first time. Um if Dev, if if you remember, um we stayed in condos and you took a bus back and forth to the golf course like a like a little shuttle bus. And Susan came back. So I met this really nice guy today. I don't know what he is, you know, those blonde guys from Australia. I think he's caddying for somebody. I don't I don't know who he's oh it was Norman. You know, he was he was on this bus in a t-shirt and jean, cut-off jeans and barefoot coming from the beach or something. She did she thought he was some caddy. Yeah, he did okay for himself.

Mike Gonzalez 21:22

Bruce had an opportunity to play in this event back in 1970 with uh Mr. David Graham.

Bruce Devlin 21:28

That's right. We did, yeah. Well we that was our that was our sort of uh I think that's why the the Americans won so big back in 78 was because David and I beat the Americans and the Argentinians in in uh in South America. So that was that was a lot of fun. Like like Andy said, you know, the World Cup in those days was was really a big tournament. I mean we never got paid we never got paid any money, but uh it was uh quite an honor. To represent you who you think.

Andy North 22:02

Well, and and the neatest thing is that that really helped, you know, you talk about growing the game. That really did help um grow the game. There's there were some a big family of brothers that represented Yugoslavia or something there. They're the only guys in the country. They had a like a six-hole golf course that they mowed and took care of, and they played. And uh one of the days John and I came out and you know, went to the range, and there was a spot in between us. And this one of the one of these brothers was hitting balls, and we start hitting balls, and the next thing you know, he's on his hands and knees picking up his balls. And he said, What's what's the deal? He says, Oh no, I'm not good enough to hit balls here. Well, these guys, one of them broke a hundred. One of the rounds at Princeville, as the first time any of them had broken a hundred in this tournament, uh in the in the World Cup. And they had the biggest celebration, they had the greatest parties all week. It was incredible just because of what they'd accomplished. And, you know, when you look at that kind of joy for just getting to a point where you can break a hundred, really shows how the game has come over the and that that exposed a lot of these countries to golf for the first time.

Mike Gonzalez 23:17

Yeah. I remember uh Bruce David Graham telling us uh when you guys flew down to uh Buenos Aires uh for the 1970 World Cup. He said, I flew down in coach and I flew back in the front row, as Bob Euchre would say. Yeah. So let's uh let's move away from golf now and and talk about life after the tour. Of course, uh we mentioned earlier you played uh played a little bit on the senior tour. Um and I don't know uh uh if uh health-wise you were strong enough to have a real long, uh real successful uh career on the senior tour.

Andy North 24:02

Well, I really I never played the senior tour like you're supposed to. Um I was doing a lot of TV when I turned 50, and I wasn't gonna give the television part up. Um so there were some of those years where I'd do 20, 25 television events and still try to play 20 events playing golf, and probably didn't do do either one of them very well. And but um, you know, I got to the point where I wasn't exempt um for the senior tour, so I had to get sponsor exemptions so that uh great the sponsors took nice care of me, but once you got there, you you worked really hard that week. You'd do extra proams and extra events, and uh it just finally I just finally wore down. I I didn't play very well. So uh, you know, had some some lot of fun uh playing with guys, uh, particularly the Legends. Had a nice run at the Legends, won that six times with two with with Colbert and four times with Watson. And uh that was always a lot of fun. And you know, it's it's it's fun being out there trying to compete. But when you you're you're so busy doing other things that you know you don't it you're not prepared well enough. If if golf is your fourth or fifth priority out there, you're gonna get your butt kicked because there are a lot of those guys, it's their number one priority and they're really going after it.

Mike Gonzalez 25:25

Yeah. You did, however, win$1,032 in this year's American Family Insurance Championship.

Andy North 25:32

Oh, yeah. That was the dumbest thing I ever did, without doubt. I had I have not I had not played in a golf tournament in 10 years and got talked into by the American family people here in town that it'd be a great idea if you played. Um, we usually do at that event one of those Saturday afternoon celebrity deals where Brett Favre would come and and Derek Jeter and guys like that, and we'd play uh an exhibition kind of thing afterwards. Uh, and we didn't do that because of COVID this year, so we decided, well, why don't you go ahead and play? Well, it ended up that I tried to practice for it and it hurt my back and I was terrible and it was a mess. And um, but it was you know, it was fun to try to play, and uh Steve appreciated the fact that it tried at least.

Mike Gonzalez 26:21

So did Sadie come out on the 18th green again and greet you.

Andy North 26:25

She she she uh my granddaughter did actually was waiting there. She fouled around every day, so that was nice.

Mike Gonzalez 26:33

So you're 51, 52 years old, you're looking for something to do with the rest of your life, and uh next thing you know, you're you're joining ESPN as an on-course reporter.

Andy North 26:45

Yeah, I was lucky enough that you know guys like Devlin quit and went to went to NBC and you know, bigger places that opened up some spots. I started. Um I guess I guess they asked me if if I'd be interested a couple of years before I accepted. I turned down a 90 and turned it down at the end of the 91 season. I had a some I had was going through a period of time where I had an operation every year and I I wanted to rehab and try to come back and see if I could play. And I finally decided, why don't I just do it one of these years? And I decided at the end of the 92 season I'd I would work full-time with them 93 and just take a year off of playing golf and see if my body could heal up a little bit. And if I didn't like TV, I could go back and play. I still had three or four years left on my exemption. And I liked it. Um, you know, I worked with some great people, um, learned an awful lot and and enjoyed it. And um, you know, it's been 30 years still not knowing what I'm doing. But it's been great. It's been great people, and um believe it or not, they just inked me for another two years, so I've got another two years I can go out there and stumble around and bother people. So that's good. Tell us about your uh tell us about your white placards that uh that you're so well known for when you do Oh, that well we used to we used to have some fun um at the open, particularly Van Pelt and I. We'd we'd uh you know, trying to pick the winner. And uh, you know, basically we'd go back through uh you know, no amateur has won since you know 1913 or whatever, 1927 or whatever year it was. So any amateur in the field wouldn't have a chance. So we'd heave that card away. Then the next one was uh we'd go through a series of six or seven different things from no one over the age of 46, no one uh who had won the week before, no, you know, you'd come uh and you'd end up with about 20 guys. And then the kind of the the number, the thing that we would use would be if you had to be in the top 10 in green sit, or no, the top, the top, what was it, the top, maybe the top 50 in green sit and the top 50 in putting, because that was a combination that was really important at the open. And we'd end up getting down to like three or four guys and we'd make a pick. And every once in a while that guy would win, you know, which would be really cool. So we we had a lot of fun with it. We made complete fools of ourselves. It was a Dr. North. I'd show up in a white lab coat, and you know, we'd we'd do some really dumb things, but it it uh it was fun, and working with Van Pelt always makes it really very interesting.

Bruce Devlin 29:35

Everybody loved you doing that too. So you better bring it back again, Andy.

Andy North 29:41

Well, you know, it if you don't I don't know, we I don't think that doing that at Augusta would be really a good idea.

Bruce Devlin 29:49

Uh no, probably not a good idea at Augusta.

Andy North 29:51

No, no, but uh but anyway, that was fun, and we did it for a bunch of years. And uh you know, having the chance to do TV at the U.S. Open was special, and that meant it that always meant a lot to me. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 30:06

Well, both of you have a have had a chance to do a lot of this uh television coverage of of golf. What would you two say are some of the bigger changes? What what what's different today covering golf than it would have been back uh when you first got started?

Andy North 30:20

Well, at Dev, I definitely when we first started doing golf, we do two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday. It was like a vacation. Now you show up and you do instead of being there all day.

Bruce Devlin 30:30

Yeah.

Andy North 30:31

Now it's now it's 12 hours or 13 hours or 14 hours on air. This year at the this last year at the PGA, we were on air from first shot to last shot. So, I mean, that's 6 45 in the morning till eight o'clock at night or whatever, you know, and that's that's the difference, is that it's it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy hours. But uh, you know, it's still fun to go do.

Bruce Devlin 30:58

Yeah, technology-wise, uh, it's changed dramatically too from the early days from my standpoint, anyhow. You know, with uh with all of the uh the the replays and the following the golf ball in flight and that sort of stuff, it's uh it's I think it's much more interesting to watch.

Andy North 31:17

Well, I think I think you could almost watch somebody told me a really good uh way to judge a television program, if you could turn the sound off and you still understood what was going on, you know, with great graphics, uh, you know, replays, slow-moes, that kind of stuff, uh, if you didn't have someone telling you what was going on, then it's probably a pretty good broadcast. Um and then if you can add some announcers that actually might add something to it, yeah, that might be good.

Bruce Devlin 31:50

So so did you uh did you get uh counseled before you started this by your director or your well, you know, I think that's interesting.

Andy North 32:00

There's no training at all. The last thing I thought I would ever do was would do TV. Um and you know that uh you learn by making mistakes. There's no book, no one tells you, you know, here's your stuff, go out there and talk when we ask you to talk. Well, you don't have any idea, you know, from doing interviews to uh trophy presentations to uh walking up and climbing up on TV towers, you've got a good view to see. They don't like that at all. I mean, I used to get one either my producer or or director who you knew very well, um, one of them would be waiting for me as I came back to the compound off almost every single day to chew me out for something I did. You know, Ben? Oh, I never I didn't know that. Oh, okay, don't do it again. That was how you learned, you know. So you know, I think there's a real knack. Uh once you uh a real talent to do TVs, to be able to concentrate on what you're doing and still hear all this stuff in your ear, uh, where they're talking to you, and and you still can be in the middle of a thought and get that thought out while they're yelling and screaming at you in your ear. Uh that that is probably the most difficult thing to learn.

Bruce Devlin 33:13

Absolutely. The hardest part of it is that.

Andy North 33:16

And not answering yourself or answering the producer for you. Yes.

Bruce Devlin 33:21

No, I told I told Paul Lazinger the other day when we talked with him about it. Uh he's, you know, we got talking about you know producers and directors, and uh, you'll remember a guy by the name of Don Ollmeyer, who who came over from uh from uh ABC and worked with NBC when I was there, and he pulled me aside and he said, I'm gonna give you one piece of advice. Just remember that what you see on your monitor, the people see in their living room. So talk about something different.

Andy North 33:54

Yeah. Yep, absolutely. He was the he was the godfather of so many Monday night football, so many things. Um he he came out and uh did the skins game a couple of times with us uh when somebody couldn't do it, or you know, he'd he'd come in for the bullpen because his his company produced that for years and years and years. We opened up, he hadn't done this for a bunch of years, and he came in. We opened up with a 23-minute highlight package one at one of these events. He got he got all fired up about wanting to show all these shots. Normally, your a highlight package at the beginning of the show is maybe two minutes or three minutes. Yeah, 23 minutes. We're we're an eighth of the way done with the show, we haven't shown a real shot yet. Or he was a famous chain smoker, and there'd be you know be nine no smoking signs in the truck, and he just it didn't matter. He'd you know, he'd he'd go through two packs during a show inside the truck. So he was something else.

Mike Gonzalez 34:56

Yeah, what were some of the greatest moments you remember witnessing as a broadcaster on the golf course?

Andy North 35:02

I think I think to me, I was so fortunate that I was in my early years of doing TV when Tiger came along. And um you know, I was with him and did the interview after he won his first tournament at at Las Vegas in '96. Um I I probably have had the the honor of walking down the 72nd hole with him at maybe 20 of his wins over the years, a couple of British opens, uh, you know, stuff that's really been cool. And some of the shots that he's hit. Um one of the most famous shots with the 72nd hole, the Canadian Open, where he hit it to a back right hole location over water out of a fairway bunker to like four feet to win the Canadian Open. Um, a shot that no one else in their right mind would ever have tried.

Bruce Devlin 35:58

Correct.

Andy North 35:59

You know, I mean, just uh he's done so many amazing things. It's been fun to be around him and and to uh gain his trust as a broadcaster. I think that was something that I'm proud of that he he trusted me and I think respected me because he knew that I worked hard at what I was trying to do.

Bruce Devlin 36:18

Question for you. How good is your memory? That shotty hit at uh Glen Abbey on the 18th hole was with what club?

Andy North 36:28

It was 201 yard six iron, I believe.

Bruce Devlin 36:31

There you go. You're absolutely right.

Andy North 36:35

Yeah. It was an and the ball, the ball never looked like it was going to be on the green. It started out to the right of the green and he drew it in to literally eight feet left of the water's edge.

Bruce Devlin 36:49

Yeah.

Andy North 36:50

It was an amazing shot. Absolutely amazing shot. No, it's been, you know, I think that's the coolest thing that Bruce and I have both been able to do, being involved in TV. You're still involved in your the game you love, you're involved with a lot of your friends. Um you know, you're you've you've been able to uh work into another generation or even two now, that you know you you see these guys that are wonderful players that uh you've been involved with them and and and gotten to see as some of the best golf ever played.

Mike Gonzalez 37:25

Of course, you got in this game early enough at a professional level to see the likes of Lee Trevino, Jack Nicholas. But if you think about the greatest players you've seen, uh who who stands out in your mind as the greatest ball striker?

Andy North 37:39

Well, I've guys that I've I've been able to I've been really lucky that um I actually played golf with Gene Sarazen, I actually played golf with Bobby Locke, I actually played some golf with Bayern Nelson. Um the only one of those great, great players that I didn't get a chance to play golf with was Ben Hogan. Uh but you start thinking about Gene Sarazen, who was born in 1900 or whatever he was, through Tiger and Phil and Ricky and you know Jordan Smith and this group of guys now. The the depth and the the length of people that you've seen play this game is absolutely amazing.

Bruce Devlin 38:20

It's been a good trip, Andy. Been a good trip.

Andy North 38:24

Oh, we've kept we've kept fooling them, Double. We kept fooling them. Look at you.

Bruce Devlin 38:32

Now you're you're doing this, right? You know, the one thing um Mike Mike talked me into doing this, uh, and uh the the whole idea, and I think I mentioned it to you before, you know, a while back when we first spoke. One of the golf organizations has to archive all of this stuff that we're doing with you guys. Because uh, you know the history is amazing. Yeah, there's so the and you guys have been so wonderful to us. You you know, you talk about all the intricate details of you know when you were kids and growing up and all the problems, you know, this and that. It's been a it's been a uh it's been a great ride doing this. And uh I know I'd like to thank you for being with us.

Andy North 39:15

It's fun, it's it's fun doing it with friends, you know, that's the key.

Mike Gonzalez 39:20

Yeah, just uh we'll touch on a couple of other things if we can, only because of uh your your love of Wisconsin as Wisconsin native. Um I know you were honored as the Vince Lombardi Award of Excellence honoree in in 2013. That's an event when I lived in Milwaukee. I used to go to that banquet every year and see all the greats. Uh of course, Bart Starr was one of the honorees, Roger Staubach, Don Schula, quite a few guys over the years, uh, which was a great honor for you. You were uh inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998, along with uh many, many other honors. One of the things that strikes me, Andy, that you must be proud of, because I'm sure uh you've had a hand in this over the years, and that's just how Wisconsin is emerging as sort of the next golf mecca.

Andy North 40:09

Well, I think you know it's something you're really proud of that we've had um a lot of really, really wonderful players come through here. We've we've got some terrific golf courses, and we've had great golf courses even before the Kohlers and the uh some of these uh Sand Valley and some of the new newer places that have been built. Uh it's always been a great place to come play golf, great condition golf courses, very, very reasonably priced. And and it's sort of that way through Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin. It's there's some really amazing golf up here. Uh but I think the neatest thing is to see you know the junior clinics and the things that we all did, you know, million years ago. Uh that's where I met Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly for the first time. There were a couple of 12-year-olds at some clinic I was doing. And they both talk about, you know, to be able to see somebody that has success, and then, you know, that they knew as kids that they could do this. You know, they could go play golf and be good at it and and have a chance to win. Uh, I think that probably means as much to me as anything, is that there's a really a great group of younger players that have come through here that, you know, hopefully you've had some uh some effect on.

Mike Gonzalez 41:24

You've also been involved with uh philanthropic work uh through Andy North and Friends. Your efforts include a golf classic, which raises funds for the Carboni Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

Andy North 41:38

Well, I think you know, all of us are affected by cancer. Um Suze and I both lost parents to cancer. We both had our own our own issues with cancer. Um, it was a way for us to do something that we really felt was important, and uh we've done it now for about 13, 14 years. We've had multiple kinds of events. We had a big golf event for years, and uh we've branched out to do some smaller events around the country, uh, and we've been lucky to raise uh a ton of money. We've probably raised about$15 million over that period of time. And the thing that I think is we're most proud of is that we're we're coming up with some things here that are unbelievable from a cancer cure standpoint and and moving forward. And uh some of the one of the key things when you raise this money is that every bit that we raise goes right to research, um, that every single researcher needs 50 grand, 75 grand, 100 grand to start a pilot project of some kind. And to see the money you've given them turn into grants of$5 million,$10 million down the road is pretty amazing. If uh for every dollar that we're able to raise here at Carbone, between$12 and$15 end up being uh equated for every dollar you've raised. So if you know, if you can raise$10 million, that might equate to$100 million down the road or$120 million around with all the grant money that comes with this stuff. So uh we're really proud. We feel like we're making a difference in the community, and that's that you know, that's what it's all about.

Mike Gonzalez 43:18

Yeah, good stuff. I know there's a just a couple other items that Bruce and I always like to finish up with. One is a question that uh Bruce has heard before, but uh, if you're 20 years old and you know what you know now, what would you have done differently?

Andy North 43:35

Well, um we we'd have made a whole bunch more cash than we did in our time, I can tell you that, right, Bruce? No, I think I I think that you know we all are lucky to do what we do. Every every generation's a little bit different. Um, but if the the the good ones, the great ones probably could equate from one generation to Oh, I don't know. Um there's a lot of people that don't know I even play golf. You know, they they see the philanthropy, they see the ESPN stuff. You walk through an airport and they don't yell out, you know, there's the two-time USO, there's down on that, down on that, there's the ESPN guy, you know. So um you know, I I you know I I I would have loved to have had a better career. Uh would have loved to been healthier, but at the same time, you know, you did what you could do and you played hard and you you gave it your best, and that's all you can do.

Mike Gonzalez 44:49

We'll leave it right there. Bruce Devlin, uh what a pleasure to have this guy with us today.

Bruce Devlin 44:54

Yeah, we appreciate it, Andy.

Andy North 44:56

Uh anytime, guys. Uh you've been grunk cutting this up into something that's usable.

Bruce Devlin 45:03

We're gonna cut it up into probably three pieces that are gonna be used.

Mike Gonzalez 45:07

Yeah, you really made it a challenge to edit this into a nice, beautiful ending.

Andy North 45:13

Well, we really appreciate it, guys. Thanks. Good luck.

Mike Gonzalez 45:17

Hey, great having you. Thanks.

Andy North 45:19

You got it. See you guys later.

Mike Gonzalez 45:22

Thank you for listening to another episode of 4 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, tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 45:43

Smack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice just smit your line. It headed for two, but it bounced off now. My caddy says as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.