Jane Geddes - Part 2 (Winning Majors)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to find out.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

So uh let's get you out on tour, as Bruce said, at the top 15 professional wins, including 11 on the LPGA tour, which uh ties you it it's in the top 50, which is kind of cool. Uh really I think all the women have played the game from 1950 on, and to count yourself amongst those that are in the top 50 and wins on the tour is pretty cool.

Jane Geddes 0:37

Thank you.

Mike Gonzalez 0:38

You got a couple of majors which will talk about the 1986 Women's U.S. Open and the 1987 LPG Championship. Uh Bruce, uh you know, some people uh take a few years to get their wins, like Betsy King took a while for her to learn how to win on the tour. It didn't take Jane all that long, considering she turned pro in 83. And and what does she do? She comes out of the box and wins her first tournament.

Bruce Devlin 1:03

Where? Well, that was pretty amazing at the U.S. uh women's open championship. And you know, Jane, it's it's quite remarkable, really, when you think of it. And I'm just gonna use myself as an example here. You know, you play on the tour for 20 odd years like I did, and you bust your buns trying to win a major championship, and you walk out there, first victory, major. Perfect.

Jane Geddes 1:28

I know, I know. You know, at the time I took it for granted, and I have no idea why, because I didn't know any better. And honestly, it w like I I agree. It was pretty amazing. I, you know, I mean, I felt like I felt like I was a good player and I and I had the right game for uh difficult golf courses, Bruce. You know what I mean? Like I always played well at top golf courses, I drove the ball well, I hit my I was a very good iron player, good driver of the ball, streaky with my short game, but on challenging golf courses, that suited me because pars, you know, if you make a lot of pars, those kind of courses really um I generally played well on those kind of golf courses. And so um if you look at it that way and you look at the style of my game, it made sense. Now, was I, you know, was I one of those people that came in with all this experience? No. But what was interesting about it, and very kind of, I think when I look back even, I I kept going, you know, after I won the US Open, I won the week after, and then I won seven tournaments within the next 12 months or so. And so, you know, it was I I it was this unbelievable momentum role that I got on, really bel again, believing in myself, you know, and believing you win the US Open, I mean that you that helps you believe in yourself, you know, and and win it convincingly and not just it wasn't handed to me and I won in a playoff and I had to win it, you know, and so tremendous boost of confidence in my game. And I'll go back to this again the simplicity of my golf game and my and my my thoughts and how I how I went through, you know, how I played the game, I think really helped. I I I didn't get in my own way a lot, which really made a difference, I think.

Mike Gonzalez 3:32

Yeah, and that's probably happened with others. I mean, we've talked to people who have come out strong. Some of them deal with that pressure well, others don't, right? Because winning a major is your first win, uh, that could have created a lot of pressure for you. Yeah. That it sounds like you just had the right mindset to deal with.

Jane Geddes 3:51

I you know, I don't know. I don't I don't know if I could do it again. I mean, I I look back and I'm like, wow, that was pretty amazing. I was either oblivious or I just really, really believed that I could do it. I I had to have, you know, I had to, I it was interesting because I I kept a journal through that through about a year and a half. Yeah, I'd never kept a journal in my life, still have it. And um, I just started writing things down. And um recently my house got flooded in the last hurricane, and I had to go through a whole bunch of boxes and everything. And I found my little journal and um I went through reading it, and it was pretty amazing. Like I, you know, I I was just in so I just kept thinking, wow, this is what I'm thinking. And I wonder if anyone else is thinking. I would write, like I wonder if anyone I wonder if Betsy's thinking this because Betsy was like right behind me and all that. I wonder if Betsy's feeling this or it's like, you know, so it was it was I don't know.

Mike Gonzalez 4:43

I just any any common common themes that emerged as you kind of look back on that journal through that stretch.

Jane Geddes 4:53

It was I had um an unbelievable uh feel for my swing. So I um actually Judy Rankett interviewed me during this stretch, and I had gone through a period of time where I didn't hit a ball on the driving range either warming up or after for 11 weeks. And I would just I had like a little weighted donut in the end of my club and I would stand and I'd drive everybody crazy because I would just stand on the putting green and swing it and chat with everybody and then hit butts and go and play well. And everybody's like, I hate you. I hate, I literally hate you. Um, but I went through this period of time and Judy said, you know, Judy was like, I don't, you're like, how? And I said, I don't know. I just feel I can feel my golf swing. And and so I didn't want to mess it up. I didn't, I didn't want to have, I didn't want to do anything that got in the way of the that feel. And I was putting well. I was it was just everything was working besides the fact that I was hitting the ball really well during this long stretch of time.

Mike Gonzalez 6:05

Well, when you say you had feel, did you ever have the experience that it almost felt like it was in slow motion? You were you were in such control of every muscle through the swing, even though it wasn't slow motion, it just felt like it was just just that right perfect pace.

Jane Geddes 6:21

Everything. I I I said I felt like I wrote, I felt like I was in a bubble swinging. So I I just felt like when I would hit a shot, I knew exactly what that shot was gonna do. I knew how far it was gonna go, I knew how it was gonna fly, what the shape of the shot was gonna be, everything. And I was literally inside a bubble. Like that, and that's so catch- you know, that's so cliche, right? Like, you know, get in your bubble and get in. I was I I was I was in it. I had my own little bubble, you know. Didn't last forever, but it lasted for a nice period of time.

Mike Gonzalez 6:56

So that was that was I think a lot of great players. Uh and we had Podrick Harrington kind of describe this to us, Bruce, in terms of uh how how typical careers evolve, you know, and and players might have those peak four or five years, but they may also have that six to twelve month sort of zone that they're in where you have that feeling you just described.

Jane Geddes 7:16

Yeah, it was it was the zone, absolutely, absolutely, and I never got that again and for an extended period of time, which is really interesting. And so I I I ended up searching for it for you know, like forever, but I had it. So, you know, so I was like, well, it I got it, you know, and periodically I'd play well, and you know, you then you win, you know, whatever. But I you know, so anyway, it was interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 7:40

So you kind of sachet into Ohio that week to the NCR uh South Course.

Jane Geddes 7:47

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 7:48

Did you have a clue what was about to happen?

Jane Geddes 7:51

Unbelievable, right? What a week. What a week. It was it was just, I mean, it's probably in the end, it it ends up, you know, it was there were so many distractions that week that you know, we were moving. My parents were in town for a little while. We had to, we had to like, you know, got go to go to a restaurant, all of a sudden you're in the middle of your meal, and they're saying, everybody has to evacuate. You get up, you get and then you know, we had to move hotels, and it was there were so many other things going on that you got to the golf course, and you know, like what's gonna happen today? And every day it was like a new day, you know?

Bruce Devlin 8:25

Trail derivements and everything.

Jane Geddes 8:27

Also, it just yeah, so there's a lot of tornadoes. I mean, we had it, we had it all plane crashes, you know, and then the the the cloud of the train crash, you know, the cloud of the whatever blew up was floating all around Dayton, and it was crazy.

Mike Gonzalez 8:44

Yeah, that was in a neighboring town. They had to evacuate that week 30,000 people. This was on the Tuesday, but uh what a way to start.

Jane Geddes 8:52

But it stayed that cloud just kind of hovered, you know, around the area, and it was like, yeah, the clouds to the west and the clouds to the and maybe today with all the OSHA stuff, maybe they wouldn't even play it.

Mike Gonzalez 9:03

I don't know who knows. You you know what?

Jane Geddes 9:05

You're probably exactly right.

Mike Gonzalez 9:07

Yeah, yeah. There would have been air quality checks and alerts.

Jane Geddes 9:10

Yeah, no, we would have been leaving town for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 9:12

You know, yeah. So uh yeah, there was there was an earthquake on Saturday. Uh there was all kinds of crazy stuff. So uh you shot rounds of 74, 74, 70, 69. So you weren't necessarily on the leaderboard with 74-74, but what were you feeling uh about your uh your game and your position at that time?

Jane Geddes 9:32

I mean, I I played really solid. That's what I was saying about the um NCR Club is a very challenging golf course, and um not a lot of birdie holes, and so uh and the weather was funny a couple couple of days, and so you know, you know, in the at the open, I mean you want you want to come be you want to be in it coming down the stretch, right? You want to be in it on the weekends and and be in contention. And so um the fact is though, is I was hitting it well. That's what I was talking about. When Derek came in town and I, you know, I'm hitting the ball and practicing and and um I was hitting it really well. I just didn't make a lot of putts the first couple days, but hung in there. Um and then, you know, then I started making some putts on the weekend. And, you know, and then made a couple down the stretch at the right time.

Mike Gonzalez 10:21

Yeah, well, uh your weekend of 70, 69. I I look at the final leaderboard, I don't see anybody else touching that.

Jane Geddes 10:29

Yeah, I I I I played really well, especially that last round. It was interesting on the last round, my little story. Um, so I there weren't that many leaderboards, and I'm a leaderboard follower. I always have been. I see what I like to see what's going on. And so um, I can't remember. I I remember looking at the turn and it was tight. Like there were, I don't know exactly how it stood the turn, but it was tight, and I was third or somewhere near the top. So I got to the 16th hole, I think it was 15th or 16th, but and there was a leaderboard, a little one to the side of the fairway, and I'm walking down there with my caddy, and I look and I'm leading or tied foot leader something, and I went. I looked at my caddy and we looked at it and we kept walking, and he's doing the yardage, and he comes up, you know. I'm standing by my by my ball and he's doing his thing, he comes up, he says, Okay, uh 158, blah blah blah, 168, you know, pins here, he was giving me all the stuff. And I look at him and he says to me, I gotcha, I gotcha. He pulled, and he never, I mean, I pulled all my clubs, right? He never pulled clubs for me. He pulls out my forearm, gives me my forearm. He's like, I gotcha, I gotcha. And so I hit you, hit a good shot, then I think a birdie 17 and then got on the 18th and got to hit, I got to hit the drive. I tell my son this because he's now playing golf. I got to hit the drive that I practiced forever, hitting the drive on the 18th hole of the US Open, right, Bruce? Where you have the lead and you have right? I got to hit that drive and hit it right down the middle. Um, but um, yeah, and literally Jesse, my my cast, my caddy then was Jesse Harris. And Jesse, he he just he got me in the hot, you know, he got me in the rest of the way. Um, and then I got into the playoff. So then I had to come the next day.

Mike Gonzalez 12:34

Yeah, I mean, coming from five back after the opening rounds, uh you're four under probably after the first two rounds, five back. Uh but uh a bogey free three under final round. What a way to sort of close it out and get into the playoff. And so now you're faced with what, an 18-hole playoff on a Monday, I guess, against Sally Little from South Africa. Sally Little.

Jane Geddes 12:54

Yes. Sally Little, great player. And you know, Sally was at the point in her career, too, where this it ended up to be like her really last chance at winning a major, right? So, and then there was me, you know, this person nobody knew. The USGA was like, who is this person? You know, because the USG likes having their people, you know. I was never one of their people. I didn't play junior golf, I didn't play amateur golf, I didn't, I wasn't one of their people, you know? And so they were like, who is this? Now I well now, yeah, different story. So it was funny because of course I did not, I even at that point I wasn't a big warmer-upper, right? So I hit a couple balls and I was ready. I mean, it was like 15, 20 minutes, I'm ready. And I was sitting, I was sitting on my bag on the first tee, on the ground, and there weren't very many people there at all. It was a Monday, right? And sitting in my bag, and PJ Boatright comes up, you know, the head of the USGA. PJ was a little intimidating anyway, you know, and he smoked his pipe and comes up and he's setting the tee on the first hole. And he's like, What are you doing? I said, I'm ready.

Bruce Devlin 14:11

I'm ready to go. He looked at me like Are you nuts?

Jane Geddes 14:15

Like he was like, so killed by this person, it's like not even gonna be funny. Like that was the look he gave me, and I was oblivious. I was just completely oblivious. And um, you know, I went out and I think I was down, I think I was down a couple shots at the turn, actually. Sally was playing really well. And um I remember making the turn. I remember Jesse saying to me, You played great on the backside every day this week, so let's bring it. And I did, I played really well on the backside coming in.

Mike Gonzalez 14:46

So probably fair to say that she had a bit uh of a stronger CV coming into that playoff than James Gilbert.

Jane Geddes 14:55

Slightly, slightly, like a full page, and I had none, no page and zero page.

Mike Gonzalez 15:01

Yeah. She she came in there with a 4-0 record in playoffs, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 15:06

Yeah, Sally was listen, when that, you know, to get into the playoff with Sally, I felt like almost fortunate just to get in the playoff, you know, and then when it kind of all, you know, you're out there competing, then you start competing, right? But yeah, yeah um, no, that was pretty amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 15:21

Yeah, well, you you birdied 14 in the playoff to go three under. Sally was a two under at the time, and then uh you both gave one back on fifteen. Um, and then uh Sally Sally backed up a couple more times, 17-18. Yeah. Um uh so you end up winning prevailing by by two.

Jane Geddes 15:43

Two by two, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 15:44

Yeah, you shooting uh, I guess one under seventy-one. Pretty good against Sally's uh one over seventy-three, which again is a U.S. Open. So uh you sound a little bit like Hale Irwin sounds when we talked to him because he too enjoyed uh competing on tougher golf courses. Yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 16:01

Yeah, I always did. I always played, I just did. It's just suited my game. It just I wasn't uh I wasn't, you know, I I I was not gonna win a tournament by outputting anyone. I wasn't. But I but I but I could outplay them with my irons and and yeah, my my longer game. So that that was my you know, that was my strength.

Mike Gonzalez 16:22

Well, ten women, ten women before you had done the same thing, which was to make the US Women's Open their first victory. Uh does Pat Bradley still keep you on your Christmas card list?

Jane Geddes 16:36

Because I I I ruined her grand slam, didn't I? I know. I know. Oh well. Talk about how she beat me in that, she actually beat me in the in the Canadian de Maurier that year. She made a putt on me to win that tournament. So I was I was like kind of chasing her all year that yeah. But really, not really, because Pat was so far ahead of everything at that point. I know.

Mike Gonzalez 16:58

So speaking of DeMaurier, uh Sally did get her major a couple years later at the Beaconsfield. So that was that was good on her. Uh Raymond Floyd won the PJ Championship at that golf course in 1969. So they've had a fine record of uh championships over the years. Uh at the NCR Club?

Jane Geddes 17:17

At the NCR. Yeah. Yeah. We played the senior women's open there a couple of years ago. It was so cool to go back, and I was sort of like defending champion, not really, but it was I it reminded me of what a tough golf course it was. I was wow. I mean, it was really, really challenging.

Mike Gonzalez 17:35

So yeah, yeah. So you use the O word a couple of times, oblivious, which we've heard before, by the way. Uh typically of talking about youngsters coming off that off that that last green of their first victory thinking, oh yeah, I'm just gonna do this all the time. Yep. Yeah, right.

Jane Geddes 17:52

I did. Uh and then you're gonna be like, I thought I was gonna play like this for my whole life. Yeah, you I think most people do. I don't know, Bruce. Don't you think, don't you think when you're out there and you're playing and you start getting on a stretch, like you think, I got it. I don't know. Like you don't want to think you're not going to. I don't know.

Bruce Devlin 18:08

I No, that's true.

Jane Geddes 18:09

But you know. But then reality hits. Yeah, and then you don't know.

Mike Gonzalez 18:16

Yeah, but you know what? You set the world record on speed validation of that first one, isn't that the truth? Huh?

Jane Geddes 18:24

I know, I know, it's nice.

Mike Gonzalez 18:26

I mean, pretty cool. So, so here you are, you're a major champion. Uh, of course, one week is not enough time to know whether your life is going to change or not, but you you go over to the to the Boston Five Classic at Ferncroft Country Club, yep, and you win a week later by one over Du Brechard.

Jane Geddes 18:43

Yep. I was on a roll. I was just so hot. I was I was just so on my game, and I mean, and so crazy busy too, you know. You win, and I didn't even know what to expect. I'd never won a tournament before, you know. And um, yeah, I was just so on my game. And that course also, I played that course really well. I won it two times that tournament. Um, so it was again, I was fortunate. I went to a golf course that I really liked playing. It was narrow, which was interesting. Again, challenging. Uh, you know, I drove the ball along, and people would always assume, oh, you you you're gonna you play well in this golf course, it's wide open. And I'd be like, no, no, no, that doesn't suit my eye as well as a more narrow course where I really have to focus and really focus on my my my ball striking and whatnot. And Boston uh Frencroft was that. And so I really liked playing that golf course anyway, and so it was kind of perfect timing that that was the course that I went to as well. I think winning winning is also part of the course you're playing, right? So I I mean I think there's courses I could have got how well I was playing. I wasn't gonna win on that golf course. You know, there are certain places.

Mike Gonzalez 19:51

So there's not much more stress or grind than you experience in a U.S. Women's Open, maybe the LPG qualifying school, but uh yeah. Uh so you come off that week of winning and grinding, and you know, some would have just uh either mailed it in the next week or withdrawn.

Jane Geddes 20:08

Yeah. I yeah, I you know what? I was playing so well. I'm sure I don't remember exactly like my thought process going into the tournament rounds, but I'm sure I got, I don't remember what I shot, but I'm sure I got out there and realized I'm still I'm playing so well, you know, that it's like just keep winning at this point, you know. I mean, I don't know any different, you know, you're just going out and playing, and then all of a sudden you get in the get near the lead or in the lead, and you know, and I was putting well. I remember I putted really well that week, too. So I'm still putting well, which for me, you know, if I'm hitting the ball well and I and I'm putting well, I'm on a good putting streak, you know, that's I I have my chances are much greater at that point.

Mike Gonzalez 20:48

Yeah, well, you shut seven under, you finished with a 68 closing round, so you closed it off pretty strong. Yeah. Um when did you finally stop to sort of smell the roses and take that major championship victory in? Because I know you you leave Sunday night and off you go, and you're doing it again the next week.

Jane Geddes 21:04

You want to hear something? I've and I kind of regret this, but I was it's like I said, I went on such a roll, like at that point, and such a streak of playing well, and then into the next year. I I had my I had the US Open Trophy. I was where was I living then? I was living in Dallas. I sent the US troops open trophy to my parents' house. And it lived at my parents' house for a year because I was so focused on it was like, mom and dad, you just take the trophy, you enjoy it. They had it like on a card table, like right in the middle of the room, like you know, in the middle of the living room. Um I didn't even it was I was just so focused on playing at that point and you know, taking advantage of how well I was hitting and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Everything that went along with that, that I didn't I Honestly, I didn't smell the roses. I mean, I didn't even get to enjoy looking at the trophy. I never saw it until I went home to my parents' house every now and then, you know? So it's um, I don't know, it's really interesting. I mean, you know, it's one of those, would I do it again like that? I don't know. Maybe I would have. I I'm not sure. But so so much of it was based on me just playing so well, and I was on such a roll. And like I said, that's when I was writing that diary, and I was there was it was just there, it was I was just rolling, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 22:29

So well, speaking of rolling, Bruce, we get to 1987 six wins, including a second major. Uh uh that's that's quite a year. That is a heck of a year, isn't it?

Jane Geddes 22:42

It was crazy. I was, yeah, it was it was something.

Bruce Devlin 22:46

Stats off in uh women's Kempa Open and Princeville in 50 mile an hour wins. Yeah.

Jane Geddes 22:53

Yep, in Kwai. Yep. It was uh it was crazy. 50 mile an hour wins. We were walking down the fairways like bent over, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 23:00

But again, I just on the north side of the island.

Jane Geddes 23:03

Yeah, but you know, good ball striking and being able to hit shots, and you know, that was I love to play in the wind. I loved it. It was like let the wind blow always, you know. I felt like that eliminated, you know, half of the field, and then I, you know, I could do my thing.

Mike Gonzalez 23:19

Yeah, I mean, it's not like you hear people from South Carolina uh suddenly emerge as great win players. It's not like I know.

Jane Geddes 23:28

It just worked. It worked in my golf swing, you know. My little A B, you know, I could shorten that, I could take it a little bit lower on the shelf, you know. So I was always able to flight the ball and and hit those kind of shots.

Mike Gonzalez 23:40

So that helped always you are you're always gonna be able to play better in adverse conditions when you welcome adverse conditions.

Jane Geddes 23:48

Major, amazing how that happens, right?

Mike Gonzalez 23:50

Yeah, and I'm sure Rotella told you that more than once.

Jane Geddes 23:53

Yeah, yeah, exactly, right?

Mike Gonzalez 23:55

Whining about the wind, you're probably gonna be able to do that.

Jane Geddes 23:57

Yeah, like congratulations, that's what he'd say. Congratulations.

Bruce Devlin 24:00

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, sorry. One thing that comes to my mind here quickly is you win the uh you win the open championship in the playoff. And then you start out in 87, you win the first tournament in the playoff. You win the second tournament in 87 in a playoff. I mean, yep, three in a row, that's pretty fancy.

Jane Geddes 24:24

Yeah, yeah. I was well, you know, you know how that goes, right? I was uh in and you don't know in a playoff, anything can happen. But I think too, I was playing so well, and you know, it's at some point when and golf doesn't always go head to head, but the times that you go head to head and you're going up against a player that's playing well, you have that advantage, right? And so I felt like I was that player at that time, and um you know, and then you hope you're gonna do the right things in the playoff, and you hope it works out. Um, but I was definitely I was confident at that point when I would get into playoffs. It's like, come on, bring it on, you know, because I know I know how I'm hitting it. I just, you know, again, if I can make some putts, I'll be okay.

Mike Gonzalez 25:09

Yeah. So well, that's that second playoff win in in 1987 came at the GNA Glendale Federal Classic. That was at Oakmont Country Club in California, not in Pennsylvania. Yes. Um, in a playoff with Robin Walton, where you won with the birdie on the first extra hole.

Jane Geddes 25:25

Yep, I did. And I I'll I know that so I I remember that week fairly vividly because Derek was there that week, and um I remember getting there, um, him getting there on Tuesday, and and then he was living in LA, so he was coming back and forth, and um I remember him watching me hit balls on Saturday, warming up, and he said, I have never seen you s hit the ball as well as you're hitting it right now. And so I that was like I knew I was hitting ball, but then to have that validation on top of it, and I was going, I lived at Mission Hills then, and that's where the dinosaur was. And so I was going home to that. I think it was the next week, and so I was like so psyched because that was one of the tournaments that if I could have cherry-picked one that I wanted to win, it was there because it was my own course. Yeah, you know, it's like the masters for us, you know.

Bruce Devlin 26:20

It's the masters, um, absolutely.

Jane Geddes 26:22

Um, and I live there, so it was just so I was I just remember that because that's why I wanted Derek there. I wanted to be there because I'm going into Dinah, and you know, I wanted to be on so anyway.

Mike Gonzalez 26:31

Yeah, yeah. Well, so that's win four. You've gone back to back, back to back, right? Because your first two wins in uh in 1987 just came a week after each other. Yes. So that must have been a nice stretch, nice start to the year.

Jane Geddes 26:50

It was awesome.

Mike Gonzalez 26:51

I mean, we're only talking about the second week of March.

Jane Geddes 26:54

We're early on. We're early on, yes.

Mike Gonzalez 26:57

Yeah, might as well go win a major.

Jane Geddes 26:59

Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, you know, that was uh that was interesting too. So a little story around that. So we played at um uh King's Island and not a super challenging golf course. Um in past years, they had not set it up very difficult. It wasn't very difficult, a lot of birdie holes. So, of course, um, you know, when you're playing well and I'm going to the press room every week talking about things, all of a sudden, you know, top players or top athletes become all-knowing, or people think they are. They think they're like know about everything, right? So they ask you all kind of all kinds of questions because you're supposed to know, right? So I get into the pre, you know, the tournament, whatever, uh Tuesday, they pull me in and they're asking me about or Wednesday, you know, asking me about the course, you played Prax Round, and I very long story short, I basically said, This is not really a championship golf course, in so many words. And I backed it up in my brain at that moment because Kathy Whitworth did not play that week. Pretty sure this was the one she didn't play or she didn't play the year before, but Kathy Whit was a part of the story because she didn't want to play because the golf course she didn't think was quality for a major. But she was Kathy Whitworth, not Jane Geddy's. I mean, it's like Kathy Wood was saying it. That was like God's golf god saying it, right? For me, saying it was like, who do you think you are? So I go total, I mean, basically at that point, I get ripped by the press saying this. Of course, the tournament sponsor was not happy, every nobody was happy with me. Then I made another comment saying, Well, if you're gonna, you know, if you're gonna how did I say it? I basically compared the tournament to if you're gonna have a Mercedes or Kmart, you know, and I course to Kmart. I made every stupid comment at that point that you could make after thinking I'm so smart, right? And of course, Kmart was a sponsor of PGA tournament at that point. So it's like, am I like anyway? So, so I go and I win. I'm like, I better win at that point. At that point, it's like, you big mouth, smarty pants, you better go win. So I win. I come out of the scoring tent, and the press people are there, they're gonna take me to the press tent. And John Loppymer, the commissioner, is there and he says to the press person whoever's he's like, Jane and I are gonna walk to the press tent. So he puts his and I love John. He's like his dad, right? Puts his arm around me, my little, you know, 27-year-old self. And he's like, We are going to go to the press room, and we are going to say all the right things about this tournament. And I'm going to sit in the back of the press room to make sure that you do.

Bruce Devlin 30:06

And you see me.

Jane Geddes 30:08

I was like, I got it, John. I got it, I got it, I got it. So that was that's my that's my memory literally beside and that I skipped my one iron over the lake on the par five on the last hole to get it onto the green. That was another, that was another memory from that one. But the John Lombheimer memory was my wow, like I really, and then the next year we played it there, they grew the rough up like this, you know, they grew the rough up like a foot, they put the green, the greens were fast, they were like, Yeah, go ahead now, go ahead, girls, you know. So anyway, I learned, I learned my lesson on that.

Mike Gonzalez 30:46

Uh so safe to say that the leading up to this tournament, you hadn't availed yourself of any media consultancy.

Jane Geddes 30:52

No, no, you learn on the fly, you know, and you make mistakes as you're going, and the LPJ wasn't nearly as sophisticated as it might be now, you know, and but yeah, the Cincinnati press they they heard me loud and clear and wrote it all.

Mike Gonzalez 31:09

So you you you caught this golf course and its run of LPJ championships a little too early in your career because for a period of 12 years they contested the LPG Championship on that golf course.

Jane Geddes 31:26

Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 31:27

And this was at the tail end because it was going to be the the tough year the next year with the high ref and then one more and they were done.

Jane Geddes 31:33

Right, and they were done, right.

Mike Gonzalez 31:34

It it it's too bad that you know you weren't uh I know, I wasn't ahead of that.

Jane Geddes 31:39

And Kathy was saying all that, but she was saying it in the locker room, and of course I'm Smarty Pants, taking it outside the locker room, saying it where you shouldn't be saying it, right? It was that.

Mike Gonzalez 31:48

Yeah. So luckily you lucky there wasn't any social media.

Jane Geddes 31:52

I survived. And Birch River, I don't know if you if you know Birch. Did you ever know Birch, Bruce? Yeah, Birch is a great guy, and he was he was always so nice to me, and he was like, I don't worry about it. It's all right. And he ran the tournament, so I mean he forgave me, and so ended up.

Mike Gonzalez 32:07

We ended up being friends after that, but so well it was a little the getting back to the golf that week, yeah, was a little uh 13 under performance, including another strong weekend uh 135 uh weekend with 6867. Um you snuck in by one over Betsy King, and of course, what can you say about the great Betsy King?

Jane Geddes 32:31

Yeah, yeah. Well, that was, you know, Betsy, Betsy and I were going back and forth, back and forth that whole year. Betsy, Ayako Okamoto, and myself, we the three of us all year were going through this, you know, we were really uh close all year. Ended up coming down the last tournament of the year that to determine who was first, second, and third on the money list. Um, so uh it was just one of those years, you know. It was and Nancy was playing, I think Nancy Lopez played well that week. And it was, you know, it was I I was fortunate. I played, you know, I played during that time where there were a lot of great players. Not that there's not great players all the time, but really like Hall of Fame, Patty Sheen, and Pat Brad. Five of them in the field that we have. Nancy Lopez. Yeah. I mean, it was we had some serious, you know, serious great players during the time that I played, which was really cool. You know, it's yeah, cool to play during that time and be able to play against and with you know all of them.

Mike Gonzalez 33:26

Yeah, it was uh uh victory by one over Betsy with a Sunday duel, which we'll have you talk about, but uh uh Ayako Acomoto, a Hall of Famer on that list, Patty Sheehan on that list, Amy Alcott on that list, Julie Ingster on that list of top ten. And and uh and then you had like Rosie Jones, who won a ton of tournaments, just never won a major, but she was she was always in there too, wasn't she?

Jane Geddes 33:46

Right, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Rosie, you know, listen, Rosie, Rosie had Rosie and I had the absolute, we would have the best like best ball situation because Rosie did not hit the ball long at all, but she was like the most amazing short game and putter ever. You know, so she was the one that was, you know, on those on those courses that I'm talking about that's just not gonna suit me, that where I'm not can't make a lot of birdies, and that was Rosie. You know, Rosie's hanging in there on all those. Always, always, always.

Mike Gonzalez 34:15

So I assume you played with Betsy that final round.

Jane Geddes 34:18

I think I did. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did.

Mike Gonzalez 34:21

Yeah, uh almost positive. Um tell us a little bit about that four and you hit on 16.

Jane Geddes 34:27

Oh, you just from when you said it, I I think I almost didn't I almost make it, I'm pretty sure.

Mike Gonzalez 34:33

Well, you you you hit it, you you ended up hitting it to 20 feet, but you made the pot.

Jane Geddes 34:38

I made the pot. Yes. Yes, yes. I you know what? I'm thinking that because earlier in the week, uh I played that hole, I'm pretty sure I played that hole really well. And um I do I remember making that putt now that you said it.

Mike Gonzalez 34:53

Yes, and then and then birding 17.

Jane Geddes 34:56

Yes, birding 17. 18 is where I'm I'm pretty sure it was 18 on on Sunday that I skipped that one iron over the over it because I think Lopez was on the hole in front of me and I skipped it over there, and she was like, She just skipped that ball over. Like, how lucky is that? I don't know what I did, I don't know how, I don't even remember the shot, but I just remember that one iron going straight across that water and jumping up.

Mike Gonzalez 35:20

I thought you were gonna tell us you did that on purpose.

Jane Geddes 35:23

No, God, I don't know what I did. I don't know if I was hitting it on the rough or what. I would hit that one arm, it didn't even matter from where. If it was the yardage, I was hitting it. So um, anyway, I can't remember the circumstances around it, but I do remember skipping it.

Mike Gonzalez 35:36

So oh well. Uh second major one in the state of Ohio. You probably thought I want to keep coming back here.

Jane Geddes 35:43

I played really well in that and one in uh Toledo, a couple channels.

Mike Gonzalez 35:51

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

Intro Music 36:12

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairwell. And it started to slice, just smit 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. It went straight down the middle.