Craig Stadler - Part 2 (The 1982 Masters and Early PGA Tour Wins)

Bruce Devlin 0:17

It took you four years after turning pro to win at uh the Bophoe Desert Classic in 1980. And uh that really that really started you off on a chair for a couple of years, didn't it?

Craig Stadler 0:29

Yeah, I had uh early 80s. I had obviously majority of my success was early, and then uh the latter part was late. So it was a there was a big void in between. Uh Bob Hope was great. We the final round was La Quinta, and I remember I had uh had Joe Brennan caddying for me and and uh hit a one iron down there or something on on 18 and had like one 56 to the hole, little skinny green into a little breeze. And I pulled out a six iron, he goes, What are you doing? That's way too much club. I said, No, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna knock it down and chip it up there. He's like, No, you're not. I said, Yeah. That's that's the shot I need to hit right here. Just got a little wind off the left, and start right at the edge of the bunker and just leave it short of the hole. And he looked at me these eyes like you've lost your mind, dude. I said, Well, you know, just go, go away. Just hit this little, you know, just hung on to it and cupped it a little bit, and a little just 12-yard slice or fade in there, and I had a one-shot lead and and uh no, I had a two-shot lead. Hit it like ended up like 12 feet right of the hole. And uh he looked at me like, how did you do that? I did that's just the way my game is shaped. I don't I don't just hit shots. I mean I work everything left to right, and they're just easy for me. And uh missed the putt, and then Mike's all or Pertzer, I guess. Pertzer was behind me, the group behind, two behind. He drove it on the 18th hole, and I would have bet a billion dollars he was gonna hold it. Because this just wasn't gonna happen. And you know, you're supposed to be clean shaven and clean cut, and I came out that year with a full beard, and tour didn't have any clue what to do about that. So that kind of P.O.'d them off a little bit, but uh you know, they they didn't have any choice in the matter. But uh it was just and he perched a nice looking iron, but ended up going a little left, ended up the bunker, and it was over. So but that was uh that was that was a wonderful week. Uh loved playing the Bob Hope, and and then uh you know that just kind of led to a pretty good three years, 80 through 84, um, which you know I think I again I I adopted, I'm still adopting the the uh words of Jack Bell on Sundays now. Like I know all these guys I'm playing with them, but I'm just gonna my only goal is to be like and uh the other quote that really held my attention, and it still does, is probably in 80 or 81, I was watching an interview somewhere. They were interviewing Jack, and uh he said, you know, what why do you what do you owe to your success in all the you know 60, 70 tournaments you've won or whatever? And he just very stoically said, Well, you know, I was I was was wondering when my first win would come. And when I finally won, it was just the greatest feeling in the world. And I just developed the attitude, once you get back in the hunt, he said, right there, I said, I just decided I would I would have one saying in my mind every time I was in the hunt, and and I believed it, and I always believe, and I still do this day that winning breeds winning. And I just like you know he's right. And you know, once you learn how to win, you you know. And there's so many guys out there great players, but just they don't figure it out. And one reason I was so happy to see Scotty Sheffield win at Phoenix. He's been so close and so good. But um, you know, so that's that's one saying I have adopt I've adopted forever. And I think it's it's probably the one one of the better things I've I've kind of leaned on at times. You get a little trouble on Sunday, you're like, no, dude, you've you've done this before, you know how to do this, just suck it up and let's get her done. But uh that that always stuck in my mind.

Bruce Devlin 4:52

So, Craig, after winning at the Hope, uh you doubled up that year too at the Greater Greensboro Open, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Be the former roommate of yours, too, Georgie Burns.

Craig Stadler 5:05

He wasn't well, he I don't know if he was my roommate. I knew which room he was I knew which room he was staying in. Yeah, that was uh old Force Oaks. Uh fun, fun golf course. But uh I don't remember much about it. I think I won by two and and uh yeah, I was there, and then uh 82 obviously in 83, and then I won Dallas in 84, and then I went a long spell after that without it.

Mike Gonzalez 5:35

Yeah, Greensboro was actually a very handy win. You actually won by six, and that was over Burns, Kratzert, Newton, and Pate. Yeah, yeah, you uh you kicked some serious butt in that tournament.

Craig Stadler 5:48

I didn't tell you, it's a long time ago.

Mike Gonzalez 5:51

It is it is, and then uh the next one was at Kemper. That was your first win there at Congressional by uh again by six shots over Tom Watson and Tom Weisskoff. So you were taking that kick butt thing pretty seriously back then.

Craig Stadler 6:06

Yeah, that was uh the Kemper once when they moved to uh Congressional um 79 or 80, I guess. Uh I finished second to Mahaffey.

Mike Gonzalez 6:20

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 6:21

And in 81 I won uh I think I was playing with Jack on Sunday. And we got up on the 18th T and I'd driven down the pretty good drive on the old 17th, which is kind of downhill into the valley, and you go up to the green, and and I hit a pretty good drive there, and and uh got down there, and he was like he was like 35, 40 yards in front of me. And I was hitting probably eight or seven iron in there, and all of a sudden I got a five-iron. Like, what in the world happened to this thing? Anyway, up on the green and two-pudd walked the 18th tee, took out the driver and down and teed the ball up, get over, just looking, kind of read. I looked down, and the head is just hanging off the thread, the strings on my driver. So I'd broken it on T and off on 17, didn't know it.

Mike Gonzalez 7:14

Oh.

Craig Stadler 7:16

Unfortunately, it was a six-shot lead, it made it pretty easy to hit a three-wheel off the T. But but that year, and then the next year, uh next year I repeated one again.

Mike Gonzalez 7:26

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 7:26

In '82. Uh, then 83, I think I finished fifth. So yeah, it was like a five-year annuity.

Bruce Devlin 7:35

You like congressional, huh?

Craig Stadler 7:36

Yep. That's uh again, that's I said one of those that uh, you know, you played well there before and you look forward to going back to some place that you played well. And you don't look forward to going back to some place you've never had any success on, especially. But that was the one I'd I'd love playing there. I didn't necessarily like the golf course that much, but it was longer than most of the ones we played, and and uh just everything fit my eye really well for a left-to-right game. And you know, you just as I say, you go you know as well as anybody, Bruce. When you you play well somewhere, you go back the next year, you pretty much have a good idea that you're gonna play well again. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 8:15

Well, that that victory that you mentioned at the Kemper, your second one, that's uh that was by seven over Sevy, and and uh I believe uh you were the only back-to-back winner of that event.

Craig Stadler 8:28

I don't know that, but it was back-to-back for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 8:32

Yeah, I think let's let's go back uh a little bit ahead of that. You won the Joe Garaggiola Tucson Open at uh Randolph Park Golf Course by three over Vance Hefner and John Mahaffey. So you got into Mahaffey's knickers again. What did you what did you remember about that one?

Craig Stadler 8:49

It's funny, all these have stories. Every one of them have different stories, which you don't think of, and then all of a sudden they get brought up by you. But uh so that was the first event of the year in '82. And uh I had taken the whole month off. We were up in Beaver Creek, up in Vale skiing all month, and got back about five days before the tournament, and I practiced on Saturday and Sunday and Monday at home, and then flew over to Tucson on Tuesday. So I'd hit balls for three days in the last probably 45 days. So kind of Bruce Litsky-ish. But uh San Diego to Tucson, fairly simple flight on the old PSA, I think it was, even airlines. We got there Tuesday afternoon, no golf clubs. So Wednesday came around, still hadn't found them. Borrowed a set from the club because we didn't have trailers out there really back then. Borrowed a set from the club and played the Pro Am and they finally got there like Wednesday night at 10 p.m. And so I practiced three days, spent a day with clubs I've never seen before, and then went out and played. And and as you said, I I just was stunning. I I won the tournament by three, and I shouldn't have been around on Saturday. But you know, so just stupid little stuff like that happens once in a while.

Bruce Devlin 10:22

That makes the story great, though.

Mike Gonzalez 10:24

Yeah, it wasn't too long after that then. Uh we get to April of 1982. Let's talk Masters. Uh, you won that one in a playoff with Dan Pohl, so we'll we'll talk about that with rounds of 75, 69, 67, 73. Uh before we get into the tournament, let me ask you this. When you went and played the Masters the first time back in 74 and 75, I mean, you're a big strong guy, strong legs, but how did your legs feel coming off those hills those first few days at the Gusta?

Craig Stadler 10:54

Oh, I had no problem walking around there. You got so much adrenaline going at that tournament, it doesn't matter how hilly or flat it is. The only one I didn't like was off the fifth T when you go down and then up to the up to the fairway. That was that was the hardest hill for me because it's it's fairly short, it's fairly steep, but it's it's angled, it's not flat. So you're walking kind of like this all the way up. But that was that was the one one hike I didn't like. Uh yeah, there's there's only you know eights pretty straight up on the second shot, eighteen's uphill, and that's really about it. Of the only three holes that are really uphill, nine a little bit to the green. But it's pretty undulated. I mean, you know, everybody knows they watch it on TV, they've never been there. It looks like a pretty flat golf course on TV. You can you can obviously see that the second shot on eight is uphill, but uh everybody thinks once just a straightaway par four dead flat. Or down a hundred yards and back up a hundred yards because you don't see that big old swale on TV. But uh no, I I I had no problem getting around there at all.

Mike Gonzalez 11:58

So talk a little bit about uh the state of your game coming into that week that year.

Craig Stadler 12:04

Uh it was good. I was looking forward to it. You know, I I say I I still have the memories of the horrendous two years in as an amateur, but uh I still had the good memories of Saturday and 79 being two shots back, and then I made eight on twelve, so I kind of did away with that with that week. But I still finished, I don't know, eighth or tenth or twelfth or something, so that was uh my first one as a pro and fuzzy one that year. But uh you know, I played okay, felt like I played pretty well, and and I'm learning the greens. I mean, the Gus is just a constant learning process. I mean when I was still playing at age 60, I was still learning stuff about the golf course, you know. And the only way you can do that is you hit it in spots, but until you put it there, you don't know that's a bad spot to be in. And once you hit it there, and like, oh, you can't even play from here, and that's when it gets set in the brain waves, like, all right, we're not doing that again. And one of one of the best one of those is it's hard to do for one, because it's downhill and the green kind of slopes up. There's a second shot in 10. And uh you hit it over that green on the back, you're just done. You cannot play from back there. But it's just a little thing I said, you until you do it, you don't realize all these spots you can't be in. But uh yeah, I was I was I felt pretty confident. I was playing pretty well. I just had a pretty good week, I think the week before Greensboro or wherever it was. But uh came in and and uh Thursday was just horrendous weather. Uh I shot 75, 40 on the front nine, and then it was uh rainy and whatever, and then it was windy on on Friday and uh came back in 67, which uh was was low round of the day and just uh really really solid round of golf I played. I was really happy with that. And again, you know, the 75 was was not that big of a deal because again, you know, the cut that year was probably 154 or something.

Mike Gonzalez 14:17

Yeah, it was it was plus it was plus ten. That's right, highest ever, plus ten.

Craig Stadler 14:22

Yeah, so 154, yeah. And uh, you know, you only cut out 15 players, but uh, you know, pretty solid again on Saturday. Just kind of I was just kind of hanging even par. Uh and then I made a 30-footer on 16 to the front right pin. I made it just the opposite direction on 17 from where Jack made his from about the same distance. And the pin was bottom middle on 18. I was just up on top of the crust. It went like two inches too far, didn't come back down, about 30 feet behind the hole, and I made that one. So bang, bang, bang to end the end the end Saturday and take uh four or five of us that were then two shots, take that out of the play, and now you got a three-shot lead.

Mike Gonzalez 15:07

Yeah, yeah.

Craig Stadler 15:08

And then uh Sunday was Sunday was Sunday. Sunday was trying. I I shot three out of the front nine. I do not remember a single hole I played. I shot 40 the back nine. I remember every single shot I hit. But uh, you know, three putt at 18, which I left the first one about five feet short, and and then uh it was just a it was just a right edge putt, and I just I just split it right on the right edge with with hardly any speed, and it just stayed there and melted over the hole, and I just what in the hell have you just done? But you know, sucked it up. We went right over to ten, and which I alluded to earlier. I you gotta hit a draw off that tee to get it down the hill, and that's that was not my forte with the driver, and and uh pole got up and just hit this nice solid draw down the left side round the corner, and I got up and hit the exact same shot he shot. He hit. We were about five feet apart. Pin was back left, and and uh I hit first, I hit a six iron about twenty-five feet below the hole, right at it.

Mike Gonzalez 16:23

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 16:24

And he he uh he kind of fanned his out to the right, pin high on the right fringe, so about thirty feet or so, just diabolically fast coming down there.

Mike Gonzalez 16:34

Tough, tough putt.

Craig Stadler 16:37

Yeah, and especially because this was the second year they'd gone back to bent grass, and the greens were really, really spiked up, which is probably the reason 300 par one it was just really hard to make putts, and uh yeah, he left his about five feet short, going down there, and I rolled it up about six, eight inches past the hole and just kind of jiggled that one in. And then he tried to take out some of the brake and he pulled it a little bit and and uh just kind of went shooting by the left side of the hole. And and uh Bruce, you'll remember back then the scoreboard was just left in the green there down by that pine tree. Right. And his putt ended up on the other side of the scoreboard.

Bruce Devlin 17:27

He was trying to take the break out, wasn't he?

Craig Stadler 17:30

Yeah, absolutely. But you know, I was I was standing on the back screen with my caddy, and and he missed that putt, and I just was sitting there, I was wow. And uh I will admit I I I almost felt as bad for him as I felt good for me. Yeah, because you know, there's just two of you there, and and uh, you know, you want everybody to win, but uh I at the end of the day I was very glad it was me. Of course you were. And especially the way I just you know, I hit a lot of it was probably, and you probably said this in your career as well, it it was by far the best 40 I've ever shot in my life on the back nine. Yeah. I mean, I just hit quality shots one after another, but I kept missing a couple of them by a foot or foot and a half and sixteenth backright pin. I it stopped and just trickled into the top of that bunker, right? Just 10 feet right of the hole, and you're dead. Yeah, yeah, no chance. Uh I I aimed it, left the pin on 12 and the wind died, and I buried it in the back bunker. You're dead. Yeah. Uh and the rest of them, I just I hit really good shots. Good shots on 10 and 11, two putts. Uh 13, I ran it right along the right edge of the green with one iron, it dropped down into not into the water, but down there in the gunk and made par there. But yeah, I hit a really nice shot about 25 feet behind the hole and 14 on the right pin and three putted. 15 pin was back right. I hit three wood, just trickled into the right bunker, came out about five feet and 360 that. 17, which, if you watch the replay, I had perfect drive, went into this divot that's about eight inches long. It's right in the middle of it. The pin was front right over the bunker, and took a nine iron, just chopped the daylights out of it, carried just over the bunker, bounced up, almost went in. About four inches short of the hole, and it spun down off the green and chipped out a foot and made power, and then I hit driver five iron about 30 feet on 18. So, you know, it didn't look like a 40, but you know, 40 on the front nine Thursday and the back nine Sunday weren't great bookends by any means. But uh I got it done in the middle.

Bruce Devlin 19:45

So for those who are listening to what Craig just said about the the back nine the last day at Augusta, how many times have we heard people say, oh, you know, the golf tournament really, it only starts the back nine on Sunday at Augusta. But it it just shows to everybody that you can shoot 32 on the backside if you strike the ball and put it in the right place and puck will. But it's easy, it's easy to go from 32 to 40, just like you said. So it's a great example.

Craig Stadler 20:19

Yeah, you've got you've got to put the ball in the right place off the T to gain access to certain pimpositions. And the fairways, you know, fairways at August are white as anywhere.

Bruce Devlin 20:30

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 20:30

Whiter than anywhere. But uh, you know, 12 you can do. You have a you have any group of 30 nightmares that could happen on 12.

Bruce Devlin 20:40

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 20:41

But uh, you know, 10 and 11 are are probably two of the hardest holes in the back nine, and then I had a shot in there about 20 feet on 10 and about 15 feet on 11. So I walked off the 10th green with a six-shot lead.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 20:56

I walked off the 18th green going to the 10th T.

Mike Gonzalez 20:59

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 21:01

Wasn't real wasn't real happy about it either.

Mike Gonzalez 21:04

Well, I'm I'm I'm glad you took the time to take our listeners through that back nine because uh I would agree, having just watched the back nine again this morning to sort of refresh my memory, uh, I certainly agree with uh pretty good ball striking nine, but didn't get a lot out of it because of where your balls ended up on some of the holes with very, very difficult up and downs. One example, I think you understated it, but at least the camera angle I saw as your ball rolled into that divot on the 17th fairway. I don't believe I've ever in my golfing life, I don't believe I've ever seen a ball that deep in a divot.

Craig Stadler 21:44

Oh, I know. It was it was nasty. It was about a foot long and probably an inch deep. But uh you watched the second shot, the second shot came fairly close to going in.

Mike Gonzalez 21:54

It was a hell of a shot.

Craig Stadler 21:59

But you know. Know and six sixteen sixteen granted was a mistake. I mean, you got a two-shot lead going into sixteen, just you know, aim it a little left of the hole, try to cut it to the pin, but if you miss it down on the bottom, just two putt and get out of dodge. But get out, yeah. And I just I let it slide about three feet too far, and and I mean you saw that bunker shot. The bunker shot kind of caught the right edge of the hole, just barely got it out.

Mike Gonzalez 22:27

And almost stayed on the top shelf.

Craig Stadler 22:29

If it didn't catch the hole, it might have stayed on the top shelf.

unknown 22:32

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 22:32

But just caught that right edge and spun it a little bit and down the hill it went. But you know, then again, it was it was a damn good two-putt from there. And then uh so I did a lot of things right, but uh just and the putt on the bunker shot I hit on 15 was good. The putt, I thought it made it.

Mike Gonzalez 22:49

As I remember, Craig, you were playing with Jerry Pate that Sunday.

Craig Stadler 22:54

Yeah. Yep. He had uh you know, and what made me feel a little better, he and I both hit at the same place on 18. And he was two shots back. We were about we were probably 40, uh, 35, 40 feet. And I putted first and I I left it like six feet short. So he's got a chance to make it and maybe sneak into it, and and uh he watched my putt the whole way. We were only about six, eight inches apart. And he's he was a pretty good putter back then too. But uh he got up and and only got it maybe six inches inside mine. He left his about five feet short. So I think we we both got fooled about something there, because the greens were just lightning, but uh you know I thoroughly expect him to make a better run out, and he thought he had a good putt. He told me he says, Man, that was really slow. I thought I had a good putt. I just thought you missed hit yours a little bit. But uh would have been nice to make that one and and you know do the do the foul do in front of the world or whatever, but uh that's okay. I got over that part of it.

Mike Gonzalez 24:05

I bet you did. It it all worked out, uh, but if you had it all to do over again, uh would you have gone on to that 10th T with a little different mindset or not?

Craig Stadler 24:17

No, probably not. And they he Dan Paul had been done for an hour. And uh I don't know if that was Sunday when he he eagled 13 and 14, or that was Saturday, maybe. Saturday. I think it was Saturday, but uh anyway, uh got signed the card and they asked me if I wanted to go practice hit balls. You go let's go. No reason to no reason to take a break of this. Yeah, exactly.

Mike Gonzalez 24:46

When I asked the question, I was referring to the first time you played the tenth hole that day, not the second time.

Craig Stadler 24:52

Oh, the first time on 10.

Mike Gonzalez 24:54

Yeah, in in terms of your mindset, in terms of your mindset going into the back nine.

Craig Stadler 24:59

Oh, okay, okay, gotcha. No, no, no change at all. No, just play the hole with the way it's supposed to be played, and and uh, you know, I honestly don't remember where I drove it on Sunday, the first time around. Uh pretty sure it was down on the bottom again. Maybe a little bit on the right side, because I I got stuck on the side of that right hill a lot on that hole. But uh no, it was just, you know, let's go. And you gotta get around that corner. I just hit just a perfect little draw, like I've been able to do it my whole life, except I never had been able to do it my whole life. It was very well timed, though.

Bruce Devlin 25:42

So, Craig, most most people would have thought that uh after winning at the uh Tucson Open and then the Masters in '82, that that would be a good year, but boy, you had only just started, hadn't you? Yeah, I I win the camper for the second time. Yep, right? And and then the World Series right after that, and leading money winner in 1982. What a year. It was it was a good one.

Craig Stadler 26:06

It really was. Uh I don't know how many events I played, but yeah, four wins, and I think I had 18 top 15s or 20s or something. And it was just it was non-stop. The World Series is just kind of the coupe de Gras. I ended up uh in a playoff with Raymond Floyd. And he was we started on 17, he was kind enough to make a bogey for me there. So uh that was that was nice, and and uh you know the Masters gave me a 10-year exemption, but so would have the World Series.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Yeah.

Craig Stadler 26:44

And to fast forward real quick, but in 92 I went back and I beat Corey Papen in the last hole. Uh made a good putt, made about a 12-foot right-to-left downhill putt to win the World Series again, got me another 10 years exemption, which took me to 03 when I turned 50 in June of 03. So basically, that though made my career at the World Series. That was pretty spectacular to get 20 years exemption and take me to 50 to the champions tour.

Mike Gonzalez 27:15

So, Craig, we'll go back to 1984, the Byron Nelson Golf Classic at Las Calinas Sports Club, where you won by one over David Edwards.

Craig Stadler 27:24

Yeah, that was uh I'm not sure if that was the first year we were back there or second year coming from Preston Trail. But uh interesting golf course. They had uh they had two golf courses, and we played nine holes on each of them. One on the other side of the road, and then one where the clubhouse was. But uh I to be honest with you guys, I got there and played practice around, played the Pro Am, and I did not like the place at all. Uh nothing fit my eye, nothing was easy, and just kind of this is not gonna be a fun week. And uh somehow I just kind of started putting pretty well and and uh you know I I don't remember much about it other than uh I had a one-shot league going 18. I did a really nice drive one, really hard driving hole, and hit some kind of iron in there about 12 feet past the hole and then just trickled it down there a couple inches away and tapped in. But uh interesting win, which is which I say doesn't happen that often when you don't like a place. But uh the the amazing thing was that it was Byron's event, and just uh I have I have been a Byron Nelson fan since the day I ever met him. And you know, walked off the green and he and Peggy were standing there, and Peggy gave me a big old hug, and Byron's like, you know, well done, well done. And and uh after that it became one of my favorite events. I I didn't really play that well in it anymore, but uh you know, we had a we had a past champions dinner on Tuesday night with everybody's there, Ben, and January and X, and you know who's Who's that's won the Byron Nelson Classic, and that was that was always a really special night for me, as is Tuesday at Augusta. But uh you know, it was uh it was it was nice to win. I I I don't even remember what I s what I shot. I mean I'd I don't think the scores were that low that year. But um, you know, it's just one of those I just stumbled around and didn't beat myself up and got it done. And uh just I was I was very it was it was an honor for me to win this event. Absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez 29:55

Bruce, did you get a hug from Byron Nelson when you won there in '69?

Bruce Devlin 30:00

I did. Yeah.

Craig Stadler 30:02

You were there, you were at the dinner.

Bruce Devlin 30:04

What a what a s what a sweet man. I mean, and what what a record he had too as a player. Boy, what a what a joy it was to meet him. Like you said, Craig, you know, once you once you meet the man, shake his hand and get a chance to talk with him, he was a really sweet man.

Craig Stadler 30:20

Absolutely. And he didn't mind having a discussion with you either. He'd sit there and talk with you for an hour.

Bruce Devlin 30:25

Yeah, about anything, too.

Craig Stadler 30:26

Yep, absolutely. Yeah. And Peggy was just Peggy was a sweetheart as well. I really liked her.

Mike Gonzalez 30:35

So we we got to fast forward about seven years to your next PG8 tour victory in 1991. So uh uh, although I I see you had second uh six second place finishes on the PG8 Tour during that stretch and a few international wins, so it wasn't like you weren't playing that well, but uh just didn't get it home for the victory. Anything else going on during those seven years?

Craig Stadler 30:59

No, not really. Uh you know, I I guess a little bit might have been early on. Uh the whole family came out pretty much 80% of the time before the kids started school, and they started school in 85 and 87. So, you know, I pretty much out on my own, which was fine. I mean, you get used to it. I mean, you know, as well as I do, you know, we spend our life living out a suitcase anyway. Yeah. But uh no, not really. Uh, you know, I had a really nice win at at uh Cron Cercier in '87 in the Swiss Open. And then uh in '90 at uh at uh Scandinavian Enterprise or 91, I don't remember which one it was. I think it was 90. But uh that was that was a fun one. That was in Sweden at uh Drottningholm, which is a little golf course, uh, been there a million years. And uh I started off, I think, seven shots behind Craig Perry. And they only had like two scoreboards. That scoreboard on four, one on nine, and one on sixteen. That was it. And somehow I just I just got going and ended up shooting 61. And uh when he got to when I got to the scoreboard on nine, uh I think I turned it five under. And I was I think I was three back. And there was really nobody else around. There were a couple guys right with me, but they were playing later on, and and I'll never forget at the end of the day. Craig Perry came walking over and he goes, What in the hell was that? I said, Well was what? He says, Well, I've I've you know came across one number 10, and I had a five-shot lead, and I played next five holes two under. And look at the board and I'm three shots behind. So, well, it happens, dude, somehow. I don't know how. But, you know, just rolled in bomb after bomb after bomb coming in, uh 20-footer on 16, a 40-footer on 17, a 50-footer for Eagle on 18. And it was just had a good, good friend of mine from from uh Bay Area Caddy informing. It was just it was just magical. I mean, I didn't play very well the first three days, good enough to kind of be, I think I was tied for 30th or something going into Sunday. But uh everything clicked and and it was just fun. It was just it was one of those times where you play really well, but you're you're in the moment, but you're just having fun too. You get up like, you know, 50 footer, yeah, I'd probably make this boom and it goes. And just thoroughly enjoyable day. It really was.

Mike Gonzalez 33:50

Well you you didn't mind traveling to play your golf, did you, around the world?

Craig Stadler 33:55

No, I I really didn't. You know, I I later in the 90s and I represented Dunlop Phoenix no earlier in that. So I won Dunlop Phoenix in '87, I think, or something in Japan. And uh uh I played that probably 10 years in a row, 12 years in a row. I played the Archine Open 10 years in a row or 11 years in a row. Played Scandinavian Open probably 10 years in a row. Uh just some places I went and I loved. I loved going to and just kind of made it an annual thing. And a couple times got a little dicey with Beeman trying to get releases to go play somewhere. But uh yeah, I I enjoyed traveling internationally. I went to Japan a lot. I I got kind of worn out about that. That was and it was probably easier than Europe, honestly. Europe was always a hard place to travel in, I thought. But uh, you know, uh Japan every year or twice a year. I went to Chinese Crowns quite a bit in in Nagoya in uh April, and I always went for Bellam Phoenix and and uh Teho Masters and sometimes Casio in November. So it was normally two trips over there a year. I went to the British Open every year. Uh later in life I went to Argentina every year. Uh played the Swiss Open probably five or six times. I went to Seo every year for ten years, so a lot of a lot of traveling.

Bruce Devlin 35:20

Yeah, a lot of traveling.

Craig Stadler 35:21

Yep, yep. Played in down your way. I played in Oz probably played probably five or six different trips down there. I always played the international and the PGA and played in the Vine one year over in Perth and never played Roll Sydney, never never played the open.

Bruce Devlin 35:39

Never played, huh?

Craig Stadler 35:40

No, but played the bicentenary that one year and played the match play the one year. When Ernie Ells did what I used to do, he he made two 40-footers the last two holes in the quarterfinals to beat me, one up, which I was like, I was I think I was 93rd in the pecking order that year, and it was it started right after Christmas. So nobody wanted to play in it. And I actually, as 93rd, a field 64, I got in. I was the last guy in. Like, hell yeah, I'll go over there. And uh, nobody expected me by the first round, and yeah, I won three or four matches. Beat Craig Perry again, and he was he was four up at the turn, and he gave it up on the backside, so I kind of got his number.

Mike Gonzalez 36:24

But a lot of our guests talk about travel, domestic travel in the U.S., very difficult, but the global travel that you guys both participated in uh wasn't that typical. There were a lot of guys from both of your eras that just chose not to make the trip, particularly to the British Open.

Craig Stadler 36:44

Yeah, a lot of guys didn't go to the open just, as you said, just because of the travel to the open championship, which I mean back in the back in the 80s and 90s, before they started started adding all these courses to the rotation, they just had incredible rotation of six courses they were playing the open championship on. And my mindset was why wouldn't you go over there and have a chance to win the open? I mean, next to that's probably my second most favorite member major over the Masters. Uh US Open's third, and PJ, unfortunately, the the ugly stepchild was always kind of the one at the end when you had, you know, back then half the field was club pros, and half the field were touring pros. But uh no, I never I never even remotely thought of not going over to the British Open. I mean, it was always top of my list with Augusta and Riviera and Mirfield and uh Memorial and you know Harbortown and whatever else. But uh there were a lot of guys that didn't want to go to Japan, they just had no interest in doing that, and I kind of had to when I when I started uh representing Dunlop, especially Japanese Dunlop. But uh and I loved it, you know, did a couple lot of a lot of corporate events, teaching stuffs in uh in on the department stores and you know, whatever else we did when we went over there, but uh it was a long trip for sure. The the the jet lag to Japan was the worst. But uh you know, I I did it didn't bother me. I I didn't mind going to Europe. I mean I a couple times I went to Europe for a week, came back, and then went back the next week, played somewhere. So uh never never had an issue with that. I I don't mind traveling. I'm uh right now I'm 13,000 miles short of two million miles, actual miles on United. So isn't that amazing? It it it's it gets old, yes. Obviously, it gets old. Living at a hotel, the suitcase gets old. But you know, we're it's a way we were pretty nomadic.

Mike Gonzalez 38:56

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, tell your friends until we teat up again for the good of the game.