Curtis Strange - Part 4 (1989 U.S. Open and the Majors)

Outro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to hook just a week.

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

So the following year, how much harder was it for you, Curtis, uh coming in as the defending champion?

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Oh, it wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. I wasn't playing great. Uh it was a lot of white noise around going in, you know, about defending. Um it was uh it was a really, really hard golf course in Oakill, uh, long. Uh if we didn't have all those rains uh Wednesday morning, I think we'd still be up there trying to finish that golf course. It was so hard and fast and deep rough. And but um uh nobody said anything about winning back to back. Uh I didn't know who the last guy was because nobody had done it in 40 some years. Uh Jack, Lee, Watson, Arnie, um uh the greats of the game hadn't done it. And so, you know, I just wanted to play well, you know, uh do my best, um, give myself a chance. But uh do you think about winning again? No, I never was good enough to stand on the first T Thursday morning and say, I'm gonna win this week, or I think I can win this week. You gotta let the tournament come to you and let momentum build as the tournament progresses. And and uh it progressed in a hurry. I shot 64 on on Friday and um at on a on a golf course that I didn't think anybody would shoot 64 on. And so uh I was thrust into the lead. And so all of a sudden, Saturday morning in the papers, I'm reading, so Ben Hogan is the last guy that went back to back. And I didn't know who the hell was. So I said, Well, what the hell? And I thought to myself, you know, reading the paper, and uh that's one thing I really dearly missed sitting here with you guys right now. I was reading the paper every morning, but anyway, I uh I said, Well, Ben Hogan, or what Jack, how can Jack not have done it, or Trevino or Arnie, or all the greats of the game? And so anyway, I didn't I went out there playing with Kite on Saturday, and I didn't play very well at all. I was really kind of oh, I was off, you know, and it it's I wasn't off a great deal, but I was just just off a little bit, and I shot a couple over, and that's all it takes on a US Open gosh, it just it's such a tough layout and such a tough golf course and such tough rough, and you don't have to be far off to shoot two over. And I was three back going into Sunday, and uh so now the pressure was off. In fact, Sunday morning's paper didn't mention Strange going back to back against Ben Hogan. The last since Ben Hogan, it wasn't mentioned, but I thought to myself, Sunday morning, you know, it's such a hard golf course. Tom Cott is not invincible. It'd be nothing for him to shoot, ask him to shoot one or two over par, and for me to shoot one or two under. And so therefore, I could get part of a playoff. And that was my mentality. There was there was very little pressure, and I think I birdied the second hole and uh uh you know I got going pretty well, and then he made a triple on five and the game was on. Now he's playing back to my my strengths, and he's playing back, I'm in the lead, or or I wasn't in the lead, but I was closer. And I'll never forget uh you talk about emotional times in the golf course. I played well the front side, I think I shot one under or something, and I was with one of the lead, or maybe even after nine. And um uh I birdied nine or birdie somewhere, I don't remember, but I'm walking down the 10th fairway, and a dear friend of mine who's passed, who was the Richmond Time Dispatch sports editor, Bill Milsap. He followed me every step of the way. He looked at my up at me and gave me a thumbs up, which meant I had to leave. And the game changed. Um the whole the whole mentality of of the game on changed. Um it was mine now, um, if I could do my job. And and I did. I really played well after that. I hard every hole, I buried 16, and um uh I won. And uh you know, you have to be lucky, you have to play well, you have to be lucky. I was lucky that Tom Kite didn't play his best, but um, you know, I gave myself a chance, and that's all you can do at a major championship, and uh uh I wouldn't be I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you guys if it wasn't for uh um the ability to hit fairways, the the asshole in me enough to think I could do this again uh on the backside Sunday afternoon. Uh, because it's not easy uh uh to just have the intestine, I don't know, just to kind of enjoy enjoy it enough to where you think you're the arrogance that you have to have within to think you can do something like that. I don't know if everybody else you've ever talked to thinks like that, but you know, I just I just I had to believe in myself enough to be able to do something like this. And uh I always felt like uh when I played basketball in high school, I wanted to take the last shot for some reason. And I think that resonates when you come down the stretch of a golf tournament. You've got to want the ball. You kind of you can't go hide in the corner somewhere. You've got to want the ball to take the last shot, uh, to put yourself on the line to uh to uh to fail. You've got to be willing to fail.

Mike Gonzalez 6:21

I think the the point you made, Curtis, uh Bruce, we've heard this a number of times from our guests. The guys that have been able to close in major championships, they all share that same closer closer mentality, don't they?

Bruce Devlin 6:35

Yeah, and it takes a lot of uh intestinal fortitude to to do it because uh as Curtis has mentioned quite often during this conversation, you you know you you've got that pressure and you you can feel it, but you just gotta get it done, that's all. And it's and it's not easy.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah, there's no secrets to it, there's no shortcuts. And I and I think I learned a lot from players that I played with, great players that I played with, and the way they went about it. Um Tom Watson was a tough guy coming down the stretch because I remember when he was winning all his tournaments, and uh he became a better ball striker late in later life, but uh he kind of drove all over the lot, but he made these four and five footers and got it up and down from everywhere to win big tournaments and made the weighed one that made one of the greatest shots in the history of the game at 17 at Pebble Beach to win the U.S. Open. And you don't do that happenstance. It doesn't, you're not lucky. When you do it time and time again, it's not luck. And Jack Nicholas never missed a putt uh when it counted. Jack Nicholas never missing. Have you ever seen Jack Nicholas stand on Sunday afternoon in the middle of the 15th Fairway at Augusta? One of the toughest second shots on any par five in the world. Have you ever seen him miss the green? I don't think I ever have. And and and hitting two and three irons and things like that. Trevino, you know, hit some incredible shots, and Arnold with his aggressiveness. I mean, Arnold was never scared to fail. And Arnold and I talked about that. Um it was uh you learn from these guys, and uh, I just uh it's it's not just me, but it's uh it's the I guess competitiveness of being um and I think early playing athlet athletics uh in other sports helps along the way. Uh and uh it's uh it's a great thrill to win. It's a bigger thrill to to beat the best. Um they didn't have to give me a check for money at that point in time, just gave me the trophy. That's all I wanted. And uh with all those great names on it, um is is is something that uh uh that I that when I look back on means more to me than anything else.

Bruce Devlin 9:02

You deserve it, friend. You've had a fabulous career and uh tough competitor, which is what you gotta be. You gotta be that way. Well, people say that.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Yeah, you do. I I think you know, you what's the full package of of the great uh of the guys in any sport? Any sport. You gotta have hand-to-eye coordination, yes, you gotta be athleticy. I think you have to be in today's time a certain size for your particular sport, but you also have have to have this ability inside to to want it more than anybody else. I don't know if that's the right word uh to uh want to be on that stage. Uh I don't know, I don't know the right way to describe it. But when you look at and and I when I think of the greats, you know, we throw around great and superstar way too often in sports. The superstar to me is guys like Pele and Gretzky and Michael Jordan and Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods and you know uh you know, the true, true superstar. And the stars are those underneath them, and then the rest of us are just nice players. And in our game, we've had, you know, we've had superstars and we've had stars, but uh uh it's to be able to play and learn from them is thrill enough. And it's you know, you gotta remember that it wasn't, but yesterday, Bruce, you and I were traveling to the world amateur team. Yeah, that's you know, gosh, you know, and and that was the greatest thrill of our life. And uh, and uh we were very fortunate to do what we did for a living.

Bruce Devlin 10:42

I might also say, relative to your last statement, there are a lot of people that have played golf with you that have learned a hell of a lot about how to play this game and and and how to win. So uh I wouldn't I wouldn't talk you yourself down as much as you have today. You've uh a lot of folks love they l they love love watching you, man.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Well, that's very nice, and you know, you don't know that uh playing, uh, but you know, you learn the little things that when you get on tour, you you you figure out, you hopefully figure out the best way for you to play the game and you know to put it in the fairway is priority number one for me and sets up the rest of the hole or the rest of the golf course. But then you learn to get on tour, you you learn how to hit the little bunker shots, the ones that really do take some guts to hit. Uh uh you learn to hit the chip. Uh you learn to use percentages on certain chips, on certain shots, on certain these, and certain that. And there's times where you have to throw the percentage out the window and take a chance. But I tried to always remember it was a long year. What was the best percentage over the long haul and the real long haul over a 30-year career? And when you look at it like that and you and you work the percentages out, which they do more today than we ever did, with the because they have the stats and they have the numbers, but uh, and some of them are quite astonishing. But it's just kind of figuring out how do you play the game. Um I don't know. I you know, there's no there's no answer, there's no rhyme or reason. But I think if you love what you do, uh, and I was in love with my whole life, it was uh it was I was very fortunate.

Mike Gonzalez 12:31

Well let's let's wrap up the 1989 win, which was your second in a row in the U.S. Open at Oakiel in 1989. Um I was there on Friday. I I mentioned that uh when we opened up the first episode. Uh that was the that was the day you shot 64. I I was there to witness it. I don't know how many of the your shots I saw, to be quite honest, but I do remember the four hole in ones that day on number six. Yes. Such an unusual day. Was it down in like a little bowl, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 13:01

Yeah, it was in a little bowl, it wasn't a good hole location. You know, it was something you'd expect one or two holes, you know, hole in ones to be had. It it kind of surprised everybody it was in this location, but hey, you go play golf. Um but uh it was uh it was something a little different, something to talk about. Yeah. Nick Price, Peter Jacobson, Mark Weeby. How about this poll? And I don't remember the fourth.

Mike Gonzalez 13:25

Well, it it it wasn't Jacobson, it was Price and Weeby. Uh Jerry Pate. Jerry Pate, yes. And Doug Weaver.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

There we go. There we go. There we go.

Mike Gonzalez 13:39

That was the four, hole and one on that Friday. Uh that was your final win on tour, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Yeah, it uh it was uh it was. I played some really good golf after that. Um the next year at the US Open. Uh I had a chance to win. Um and and didn't. And the the win kind of went out of my sails a little bit. For whatever reason it did. And uh it just never quite the the the anticipation, the the anxiety, the the uh uh being on edge kind of left me to some degree, which which as I said I needed. So uh but I I was unf unlucky to not win a couple of times, but I didn't. And uh uh but you know what? Some tournament somewhere has to be your last. I'm kind of like I'd kind of like it to be the U.S. Open. Yeah. How about that?

Mike Gonzalez 14:32

Yeah, so it was also Gary Plair's last U.S. Open that year in at Oak Hill. Um you did, you you've alluded to uh you've had a few other good finishes, uh, and touch on the ones you want, but third and eighty-four at Wingfoot when when uh Fuzzy won that playoff with Norman, 87 uh when Scott Simpson won at Olympic Club, uh, and also uh uh 94 fourth at Oakmont uh uh by one, missing a three-way playoff that year. Uh you had some other close calls, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 15:04

I did, and it was all and all those the two before uh the country club, uh I really felt like I had an outside chance. And it doesn't matter if I did or not, if I felt like I did, then then the then the nerves were there. Um and it was all learning uh on that stage again, as I as I mentioned earlier. But uh I think the one that that hurt more than anything else was uh in 94. I missed the playoff by one, and I had the lead on the back side um after um 14, and I had a one-shot lead. And and of course, Ernie Ells had the lead going into that day and didn't play great that last day, but that doesn't make any difference. I had the lead and I let it get away, and and and I'll never forget the the feeling in the locker room that day. Um uh it just um you know this it's it hurts. I mean it hurts, but it you know, you just don't move on. Um the losses really, really hurt sometimes. And and uh I knew that it might be my last chance. Um so and I didn't take advantage. Uh but it's um it wasn't that I played well and came close, it was that I should have won and felt like I should have won, and it uh it hurt for a while.

Mike Gonzalez 16:21

I I didn't summarize at the top your U.S. open performance, but quite strong. 22 starts in the U.S. Open for Curtis Strange, 15 cuts made. He had five top fives and ten top twenty-fives. Bruce, uh, I think most guys would take that record.

Bruce Devlin 16:35

Wouldn't they, Dish? Wouldn't they, Jess? Especially the especially the two wins. I mean, that's that's still a great feat. And uh as I've said before, back to back is something pretty special. And there's only uh there's only seven people in the history of golf that's ever done that, so that's Curtis Strange is one of them.

Mike Gonzalez 16:57

Let's go back to the Masters, uh, Curtis, a little bit. Uh uh you had 20 starts there at Augusta with 14 cuts made, uh one top five, which was uh uh a T2 uh in 1985. That's the year that uh Long Longer won. Uh you had tied with Sevi and and uh and Raymond that year. Four top 20, uh sorry, four top tens, ten top twenty-fives. Uh that that second finish in 85, uh unexpected given the way you opened that tournament.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

I shot 80 the first round. Um I was playing really well going into it, and I uh made a bogey or two on the front side. I was actually playing with Jay Haas, and uh I got impatient, I got mad, I got frustrated, I started going after pins, I started doing crazy stuff, and I shot 80. And um it happens. It happens. Um and that's a golf course you can't, as Bruce knows so well, you can't get overly aggressive. And so um it happens. I mean, what it I'm and I went home that night, I made a I just had my second boy. I Sarah just had her second boy uh 10 days uh the week before. So I said, you know what the hell, I'll go home and be with Sarah for a week and a half or so, two weeks, uh, be with the two boys, and uh I'll get over it in a hurry. And so uh made a plane flight home uh Friday afternoon and went out the next day and started up par birdie eagle birdie. Now I'm on the cut line. And uh and I played well. I shot 60 65, it should have been 63. I shot 65 and I was pissed off.

Mike Gonzalez 18:47

Um so uh you do that a lot.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

Uh so I really was. I I let a couple really get away from me at the end, and so um I was uh thrust back in the in the in the in the heat of the competition because it was playing hard that year. And I shot 68 on on Saturday, and uh now I'm one or two back of Raymond Floyd in the last group, and I'm thinking, and of course, it is a pretty good story when you think about it. 80 in the first round, and now you're in the last group on Sunday. And so I didn't care how I got there, but looking back on it, it it would have been a hell of a story. And then I shot 32 Sunday on the front side, and I had a friggin' four-shot lead. And the only thing I remember about that week is that I didn't win, and it was uh it it's the hardest loss I've ever had to take by far. Uh by far. Sarah and I came home uh Monday morning, saw Sarah in the front door, we both hit the floor and cried. It was it would took it took a long time to get over that one. But I saw Jack Nicholas a couple weeks later at the Tournament Champions. He took me aside and he said, you know what, this can either make or break you, and I think it's gonna really make you hang in there. And words like that, a wink of the eye, a pat on the back from guys that came before me that I respected so much means means so much. And they don't realize how much something like that means. And it meant a great deal. And I went and and and played pretty reasonably well the rest of the year. But uh losing the masters, you know the history, you know the tradition, you know the place, uh, you know everything about it. The green jacket, butler cabin, uh you know everything about it. And to not to leave there and not win when you thought you should have uh is is a is a big blow. I gotta ask you, Bruce, how did you do there?

Bruce Devlin 21:02

Oh, I I can I have my memory of the one that I let go there. I had a three-shot lead going to eleven on uh in in 68 when that uh when the scoring problem happened between Golby and on Sunday? No, Saturday. I got a three-shot lead three-shot lead Saturday going to eleven, and uh I hit what I thought was a pretty good second shot, come up a little bit short, hit the bank in front of the grin, and kicked left into the water. And then I made a I made about a fifteen-footer for eight. So that wasn't too good, but and I I really played great the rest of the the way that day. I I think I birdied uh I birdied twelve and three putted thirteen for a par and birdied fifteen, so you know I sort of got over the eight, but uh I ended up ended up didn't play all that good on Sunday, but I think I think that uh that that eight on eleven Saturday. They really I I guess it's hard to really forget about it, but it is.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

It's uh you know, and and I didn't know that, but we all have our stories, and the casual viewer or maybe the the big golf fanatic doesn't know that, but I understand it by you saying that one shot changed the entire complexion of the way you were playing of the entire tournament for you. And uh if if the ball doesn't go left in the water, it's a it's right next to the hole.

Bruce Devlin 22:34

Who knows what happens? Yeah, it's right next to the hole.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

Yeah, who knows what happened, and and I completely understand. And it's happened to to many players there because it is such a chaotic backside with Eagles, Birdies, you know, and bogeys all into play. Yeah. Because of you know, a couple of water hazards, the par fives, uh, tricky greens. Uh it's uh that's why we love it. We love to hate it, don't we? Yeah, that's true.

Mike Gonzalez 23:02

So, Curtis, I'll I'll answer your question. Uh Bruce Devil and the Masters, three top fives, five top tens, ten top twenties. He made 15 consecutive cuts, which is tied for ninth on the all-time list. And uh for many years he was uh the answer to the trivia question. Who was the only guy to ever make an albatross besides Gene Sarazen?

SPEAKER_03 23:33

What hole? Eight uh you were always so long, anyway. You can get it on the race. You know the damn, you know the guys are hitting five irons in there? No, it's unbelievable. I laid up, I laid up with a four.

Bruce Devlin 23:51

Not only that, two irons they're playing it th they're playing it 35, 40 yards longer than the way we played it, and they're hitting five irons in there. It's a joke.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

I know. I didn't that's one of those holes I kind of didn't want to hit a good one because I didn't want to have to hit a three-wood by those on the left. I'd just soon go. I just want to hit a four wood out to the right. Pitch it. Figured I could pitch it well enough to make 30. But uh, it's like at 13. 13 was an interesting hole because if you and I hit a good one, we'd have a four-wood or two iron into that hole. Right. Well, I'd much rather have a four wood.

Bruce Devlin 24:28

Me too.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

But uh, but I'd much rather hit a neck off the T and have to lay up so I didn't bring both into the equation. That's true. So it's uh it's what makes the golf course so so great in the day. Uh it still is great, yeah, but some of the clubs they hit in there are so much shorter than what we did. You know, I I said to um I said to somebody I was walking this year in a practice round, uh, it was Tommy Fleetwood or somebody, and he hit it on five and he hit like an eight-iron in there from the back tee. And I said, You son of a gun, if you'd be playing, we'll see, we'll see how good you really are if you were playing back there where I was playing from.

Bruce Devlin 25:12

Hitting a three and a four iron in there.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

Yeah, three, four, or five. If I ever had a six iron into five, I felt like I was drooling for making Bernie. Six iron. You know, it was, it was, it was, it was into it, it was, and then it was so much harder and faster than anything we'd ever played. It was it was a shock to the system when you went to play Augusta National. It was I never felt comfortable until the weekend there because of the speed of the greens.

Mike Gonzalez 25:41

They were they were unbelievable. And some guys never felt comfortable there, period. I remember talking to Hal Sutton, and you probably know this, Curtis, but Hal admitted to us, he said, I just had a bad, bad attitude uh coming onto that property. I just never was in the proper frame of mind at Augusta National.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Well, I can see that, and I can understand that. And it's it I don't think anybody boy, it takes it takes three days to get comfortable. If I had to do it all over again, I'd hit half as many balls there, and I'd spend half a day every day on that putting green putting 30 and 40 footers, yeah, and downhill putts. I'd do it differently because that's that's the beast there at Augusta National is putting those 30 and 40 footers up there, you know, three and four or five feet and having those all day long. Augusta National, you are exhausted after every round because of those putts.

Mike Gonzalez 26:43

Let's uh let's let's if you want, let's jump ahead to the open championship. And uh I I guess my first question, Curtis, as I look and and I I sort of uh chart your entire uh major championship history here, and so I look and I say, okay, 1976, Burkdale, check, and then skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, and then 82 at Trune, 83 at Burkdale, skip, skip, and so on. Uh what was it with you in the Open Championship? Uh, because it seems like uh you obviously could have had a lot more starts, and uh uh and yet you didn't.

SPEAKER_03 27:26

Got to be uh stubborn, uh got to be um uh it's a short story. You know, I went I didn't play, I played in 76, I just turned pro. I went over and qualified because I wasn't exempt on the US tour. And then after that, it was not official money, and I was not exempt, so I didn't play those years after that because I wasn't exempt and I was trying to make a living on the US tour. So that's what happened there. Uh the skip, skip, skip in the middle of the low 80s or the uh early 80s was stubbornness. I uh it became official money sometime that time, but uh I just didn't go. I felt like I was needed more on the U.S. tour for my personal record and my personal play. Uh so there was one or two years I wasn't exempt, but then I did skip one year in 1985 when I was exempt and I was playing reasonably well. So that was my mistake. I take full credit. I've said it on national TV, I've said it on World TV, doing the British Open is the biggest regret I have in golf, not going over there when I was playing my best. But then after that, I learned to embrace it and I learned to enjoy it. And I went every year after that uh that I was exempt and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never played very well there. Uh, I don't know why. Uh I never was able to go early because I had to play the week before, but that's no excuse. I just never got real comfortable over there, but I did learn to enjoy it, and uh it was uh just hey, just one of those things in your life that uh it just you make mistakes.

Mike Gonzalez 29:13

Well, to be fair, and Bruce, uh you'll back me up on this because uh we've had the same discussion with several of our guests, right, who have had the same sort of regret. Uh Charlie Cootie said, Hey, I did have a game that was suited for for uh Scottish English golf because of the wins I I grew up in, the hard, firm, and fast conditions. I actually uh did fine there, won a tournament, I think, at Burktail. Uh uh, but uh for much the same reason, uh he was there to put bread on the table of his family. And uh uh of course the the deal was different back then, wasn't it, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 29:46

Yeah, the and I think the key to it, uh Curtis just mentioned the key to it in my mind is uh in those days the open championship prize money was non-official. So uh it it it didn't help you with any of your exemptions unless you were fortunate enough to win. And I think back in those days it was I think a 10-year exemption. I think it's only five now, but I believe it was a 10-year exemption then. So that was I think that was the reason why a lot of players didn't do it, and then of course, uh, you know, it's uh it's an expensive deal, too. You know, pick up and buy. You normally like to take your wife with you, uh, you know, a couple airline tickets, hotels for you know, 10 days or so. That's uh it's expensive.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Yeah, it's expensive uh in the day. Um and the purse was actually even smaller than what we were used to, and it wasn't uh official money, and it wasn't official win either. If you won the British Open, it did nothing for your U.S. tour. So that in itself was you know, it took basically at least two weeks out of your U.S. tour schedule, sometimes three, the week before, the week during, and the week after because of travel. Uh it was a real, real commitment, Bruce. And the great players did it. The ones who thought they could win could do it. But there was no really, really reason to do it if you didn't think you could win.

SPEAKER_04 31:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

And uh it might not make sense now, but it made a whole lot of sense back then for uh for everybody that didn't go. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 31:23

And Curtis, uh, I'll give our listeners an example uh of this. Uh I'll take you back to 1968. Um Lee Trevino actually, instead of playing the Open Championship at Carnousti that year, he elected to play in the GMO. Uh the GMO in 1968 offered first prize money of$40,000. It was the second highest purse at$200K on the PGA tour, and it was going right directly up against the Open Championship that week. So the the winner who that week was was Dave Stockton in 1968. He wins$40,000. Uh do you know what they they paid the winner for the open championship that we're 18 or 20. 3,000 pounds. It was 77,000 back in those days. So uh and and which something I don't think you had to deal with, Curtis, the following week was the PGA. So some guys going across couldn't even make it back for the PGA. Okay. So you know they're giving up a lot. So uh and that happened from time to time, at least back in those days. But the open championship wasn't counted in official PGA dollars or stats until 1995. So it was just different.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was different. And so you can understand And it's it's one of the it's one of the uh real ways the game has changed uh in tournaments have changed. Um because you wouldn't you wouldn't not dare not go now. No. Um yeah, it would mean such so much to you if you did win, or just play well.

Bruce Devlin 33:03

Yeah, yeah, well on the world stage. And the game itself has has become a world uh professional game now, not like it was back you know 40 years ago. So uh today's today's guys are very thankful, I think, that they get an opportunity to go to play the open, you know. Absolutely, yes.

Mike Gonzalez 33:24

Yeah, let's finish up in the majors with the PGA championship. Uh 23 starts for Curtis Strings, 12 cuts made. He had two top fives, three top tens, and six top twenty-fives. Uh a couple good finishes, although uh, I mean, I know you like O'Kill and you finish fifth and eighty, but uh Nicholas kind of won that one in a runaway, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03 33:44

Yeah, that was uh my was from my first introduction to Oakill, and it was a hard golf course. I I really, really played well uh and and still finished fifth. Uh it uh it's uh you know, all those old golf courses, they they had so much more slope in the greens than we were used to. They they were they were hard in the day. My gosh, they were I can't imagine playing them in the forties or fifties. Um but uh yeah, that you know the PGA came at a time of the year, and this is no excuse at all, but I was kind of getting worn out um a little bit. I'd always played a lot in the first half of the season. No excuse whatsoever. I had a real good chance to win the PGA when uh uh Payne Stewart won over Mike Reed uh in uh at uh in Chicago. But uh other than that, I didn't it wasn't my best tournament and and I don't know why, but uh uh it just doesn't didn't work out for me.

Mike Gonzalez 34:45

I I remember that tournament at Kemper Lakes in '89 because I lived in Chicago at the time. I remember that like it was yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Boy, so it was a good golf course uh for a modern golf course. Um I had a I had a real chance on the last hole when I and and and I didn't didn't hit a good shot, and it and that one hung with me for a while. Um just um I had a chance to, if I birdie the last, I was gonna get part of a playoff, or I thought I would get part of a playoff. But whatever the case is, I you know, you have your you have your chances, and sometimes you take advantage of them, and sometimes you don't. And as I said have said many times, you seem to remember those you don't more than those you do. But uh it was uh it's a great championship, and I think moving it to early in the year has been a home run for them. I agree.

Mike Gonzalez 35:34

So that sort of finishes up the uh the major championship career for Curtis Strange. Of course, there's a lot of other things that uh we'll hold all for a future time to talk about because we want to talk about Ryder Cup, we want to talk about your broadcasting career. But uh early on, uh Curtis, I've got to mention this because this week happens to be the 25th anniversary of Tiger's debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And uh you must have been there in some capacity because there is a fairly, I will call it infamous interview uh you with Tiger, uh, probably on the Wednesday before his debut that year in 1996. And uh that interview is getting a lot of play this week because of the anniversary, but for other reasons. So why don't you take kind of take us back to that time and and your sit-down with at the time a kid I think who was four days removed from just winning his third straight U.S. amateur.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

Yeah. Uh I uh was with ABC Sports at the time doing their golf, and I asked my producer if I could do the interview, if I could get the interview with a tiger. Uh this was his first professional tournament in Milwaukee. He says, Okay, deal. So I went to him uh that Tuesday or so and he says, sure, I'd love to sit down. So I got to do the interview, I got nervous. I was there twofold. I was playing, I was still playing uh uh a lot of the ABC events that uh I I I televised, and uh they allowed me to do that, and then I was doing the T uh TV. So uh Wednesday afternoon, um we had a sit-down, I did a lot of homework, a lot of work, was nervous. I was nervous because I was out of my element now. It's my first sit-down interview, and uh he was a young kid, he had a great record. But Bruce, as you and I all know, uh there's a big transition from amateur golf to professional golf. Yeah. And uh he was very honest. I knew him a little bit, I knew him to speak to him and talk and chat, and so it wasn't just meeting on the spot. And I knew enough to let him talk, set him up, and let him go. Um I asked the question what would be a good result for you this week. He said, Well, I go to every tournament to win. Um and he said, Winning is what I come here to do, and second sucks, and third is worse. And uh it kind of caught me off guard, uh, which is my mistake number one, it caught me off guard. And then I thought for a second, I said, Well, you do you realize how that comes off uh as arrogant or cocky to some of these old veterans who have been out here all year, their whole life, that understand how tough this game really is and how it'll beat you up. He says, I understand that, but that's the way I was brought up. That's the way I take my attitude every week, and that's what I think about this week. And I thought for a second, I said, Well, you'll learn. Mistake number two is that I didn't shut up. I said, Well, you know what I mean. I kind of giggled. I said, You know what I mean? It's a tough game, blah, blah, blah. I should have shut up and let him fill the blanks, and I didn't. Uh, I said that you'll learn for you know, it was on the spot quickly. Uh some of it to be a smart ass, some of it that you will learn because this is a tough game. Yeah. We've had a lot of great Amherst come before you that didn't come out to be Jack Nicholas or the future Tiger Woods, and knowing, first of all, how tough I worked at it and how tough the game was for a lot of people. So um it went on. And it was a good interview. It came off great. He was terrific in the interview. Not another word was said for the next 15 years, 12 years until social media hit the hit the airwaves.

Mike Gonzalez 39:35

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.

Outro Music 39:56

It went smack down to fairway, and it started to slice just smitch off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddies, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.