Jane Geddes - Part 3 (Final Wins, World Travel and the Solheim Cup)

Lee Trevino 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to just now you got two majors under your belt.

Jane Geddes 0:19

Yes. No, I was really rolling. Yeah. It was um it was interesting. No, yeah. Well, that was except for I won the British, which when it wasn't a major. Um, but it was interesting. So the next week after, or not the next week, but the next win in Toledo was really interesting because um, and I wrote this in my diary too, that I won that tournament. Well, first of all, I I played um what I remember about that week is playing in the pro-am and hitting the ball so badly, so badly that I had to apologize to my pro-am team that I was I was like, I am so sorry. And then I went on to win, and I got done with the tournament, I came off the golf course, and all my friends had gone, they left to go to the next spot, and um I went back to my hotel room, I got done, did my press, went back to my hotel room, and I was there all by myself. And I thought, wow, this is this is not how I thought it was gonna be. And it was really one of those moments like I should be celebrating, and none of my friends are here, and I'm just here. And I had room service in my hotel room, or went and got some food and ate it in my hotel room, and that was that. Got up the next day and drove to the next bay place. So I'll never forget that was the one thing about that I I remember like that. Was like that moment that you're like, wow, okay. This is uh as my mom used to always say, you know, people used to think, Oh my god, it's so great. Your daughter does what she does. And and by the way, greatest job in the world ever. But it's um it's not always, you know, it's not always what it's you know, what it's people think it is, right? And so that was one of those moments in my life that I was like, wow, you know, don't take it take this all for granted and it's so easy and it's it's not, you know, always we we've heard that so often, haven't we, Bruce?

Mike Gonzalez 2:30

About and you experience it too, Bruce, where you know, we talk about not spelling the roses often enough because you're just marching from city to city, getting in the car or getting on a plane, and yeah, and it's here it's time to tee it up again, and and you know, when do you ever take time to look back and say, wait a minute?

Jane Geddes 2:47

And yeah, well, and people see, you know, you see you watch on TV or you whatever, and you see the people that are playing well, and you know, you have to remember there's you know 70 people that didn't make the cut and are not making any money that week and are going on to the next spot and struggling, and you know, so it's all it's a lot, you know. So tough job. Great job. Yeah, a tough job.

Mike Gonzalez 3:06

Well, so that Jamie Farr win uh came in July of 87, and then two weeks later you go to the Boston 5 Classic for your second victory at Ferncroft Country Club. This one was by one over Jodie Rosenthal and Don White. So back-to-back wins there.

Jane Geddes 3:24

Yeah, that was it was just I love that golf course. I love the tournament. You know, I got there and I felt like it I was at home, which was cool. You know, just when you go to a place where you played well at, you know, and you just, you know, I I liked all the people that ran the tournament and it was comfortable and you know, and I was playing well.

Mike Gonzalez 3:42

So I think you won also a tournament called the Treasure Invitational. Uh do you remember that in Japan?

Jane Geddes 3:52

I do.

Mike Gonzalez 3:53

Over a Yako Akamoto. I couldn't tell from the research just where that fell in the schedule. I assume it was in the fall, but uh Um, it was in the fall.

Jane Geddes 4:01

So I used to leave after our season would end in San Jose in like September-ish or so, the end of September then. Um, and then I would go over to Japan for a month or so, uh, myself and usually two or three others, um, and uh play golf over there and played on the tour, played on the uh the Japanese tour, which is really fun. And it was it was one of those. I was with IMG then and it was all IMG clients, and they had a big presence over there, and they would invite us over, and it was you know, it was one of those where they'd pay us to come play and you know, play in the tournaments, and and we lived in Tokyo in an apartment. It was super fun, and that was during that time that I that I won that.

Bruce Devlin 4:44

You know, we've heard some great stories about Japan.

Jane Geddes 4:48

Oh my gosh. Well, we would go over, we would go over in September. I would go with my little group, and then in like October, the tour would come over for their for our two. We'd have uh the team event, I forget the name of it now, and then the tournament. So they were coming out for two weeks, and we would stay in Tokyo always up or whatever the big city was, and then we'd have to bus out like you know, over an hour always to get to the golf tournaments. And I know that other people have told you there are fabulous stories of our bus rides and our singing and our karaoke and our toga parties, and it was like basically in Japan, all hell broke loose. And it was like everybody that you didn't even expect, Kathy Whitworth and Jan Stevenson, or nobody really ever, you know, Jan was like untouchable, you know. Jan would come over there and she'd be so fun, and you know, um Amy Alco, I'm sure Amy's told you the story about Amy and Kathy Whitworth singing on the bus, karaoke. And we had that's when we all had the not we all, but there are some people that had the video cameras and they would take videos, and we have like the you know, the V8 tapes, you know, and people would video the whole thing that was going on. It was so much fun. I mean, it was the you know the highlight of the year.

Bruce Devlin 6:04

So So the question is, Jane, were you on bus number one or were you in bus number two?

Jane Geddes 6:13

Oh, I was in the whatever the most fun bus was, I was on that one because there was bus one and bus two. Yeah, absolutely, yes. Yeah. I I'm gonna tell a story. I'll tell it because what the heck? But it's a funny story now. It wasn't so funny then. So we get on the bus, and when the tournament was usually when it's tournament over, they would put like these, you know, the big beer bottles, they're like the big ones, the Sapporo ones that are like really tall, right?

Mike Gonzalez 6:40

Yeah, it'd be like a quart bottle, maybe or something. Yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 6:44

So we would from the tournament officials, we'd tell tournament officials, get some beer to put on the bus. So the tournament officials, they would get like get these cases of this big Semporo bottle. So we'd always have them up the front, and they were long bus rides, like two or three hours sometimes to get home, especially during you know, rush hour or whatever. So anyway, so we get on the bus, and the bus has not taken off yet, and we've all got beer, right? And we're sitting in our seats and every you know, whatever, in the bus. And I go to take, I go like this, and I go to take a drink of the beer, like this, and then I I'm talking, I think it was Julie Angster over there, and I'm talking to her about something, and then I turn back here and the bus takes off. And I have it here, and it goes, I and I have a I still have it chipped my tooth, like cut it almost in half. Pat Bradley was way, way up in the front of the bus. She turns around and she goes, and in Boston, you know, I was like, bro, what was that? And I was like, oh my god, and I look and I look at Julie, and Julian just goes hysterical laughing, and I'm like, and I and I I'm like, oh my god, my tooth. And so to this day, I have like I have like a tooth situation because of the bottle of beer in Japan on the bus.

Mike Gonzalez 8:10

Oh my. Yes. Yeah, we hadn't, I don't think we'd heard that one.

Jane Geddes 8:14

No, that was well, that was my own private little. I mean, the people that were there knew it, but I mean, and it was just terrible timing, right?

Mike Gonzalez 8:20

When the bus took off and the seats are right there, you know, and it so Whitworth and Alcott were doing Tina Turner, what's love got to do with it.

Jane Geddes 8:30

They were. They were full on.

Mike Gonzalez 8:33

Who was best singer, worst singer?

Jane Geddes 8:36

Amy Alcott's horrible. Worst singer, worst dancer. But guess who is leading leading the pack always was Amy. Always.

Mike Gonzalez 8:48

I mean, no, no surprise.

Jane Geddes 8:50

But I don't even know who was a good singer. Nobody, but everybody sang. I mean, we we didn't matter. It didn't matter. You know, we had that microphone, you know, up in the front of the bus that the tour people would talk into when you're on tours. No, we used it for karaoke. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 9:05

So did did would she do her impersonations on the bus?

Jane Geddes 9:09

Mm-hmm. Listen, Amy basically in Japan was the star of the show. All of it. I mean, I I can think, you know, we'd we would have these somehow we got going on doing toga parties in Japan. So in the hotel. So we would come home to the hotel and we'd say, okay, everybody gather together at X time, you know, after by the way, being on the bus and drinking for those hours. We'd come back and we'd have a toga party, like whatever. So everybody would go in their room, they'd un they'd take all the sheets off the beds, take somebody, I think it might have been Amy, take or Patty Sheehan had the um lampshade on their head coming out. We had we had it all happening, right? With all the toga, would tear our rooms apart to do it, and then we'd all go out in the hall and you know, and have a party out in the hall or wherever. It didn't even matter. We would go up and down the elevators in all these togas, and and you know, Japan is so proper and so buttoned up and yeah. The people in the hotel, they would see us and they'd be like, they would they'd smile and they wouldn't even know what to do with us. Yeah. It's so fun though. And Amy, by the way, was one always one of the leaders of that. With she's probably in every picture that I've seen of any any toga picture of anything. And if she were here, I'd say the same thing and she would agree, definitely.

Mike Gonzalez 10:35

Yeah, and once again, thank goodness, way before social media.

Jane Geddes 10:40

Listen, it I'm I'm glad there was no social media throughout my entire career. I'm I'm perfectly fine with all of my memories that I have and the pictures that I have, and that it's fine because we had it was great. We had I mean, I was like my family, right? I traveled with my family out there, and so we had a lot of fun throughout the years.

Mike Gonzalez 11:00

And it sounds like this fun kind of came at the right time of the year, too.

Jane Geddes 11:04

Yeah, it did. It was it was everybody blowing off steam. It was a long year, and we always had the end of the year tournament, it was the one that really always ended up being who would the player of the year, and blah, blah, blah. So it was like that. But then we had that that the team event the week before that I forgot, I can't remember the name of that thing. Um, where we'd have a a smaller group and then the bigger group would come, and the smaller group was actually that's when we had so much fun with this, you know, it was like 18 of us, and it was all the top players. It was everybody went. So it was like, you know, basically the entire Hall of Fame of that era was doing that at that time, which is really funny.

Mike Gonzalez 11:42

It really was. You think back to who we've heard about. Uh yeah, it was talked about it, and Patty talked about it, and Amy and Betsy, and you know, they all they're all went there.

Jane Geddes 11:50

Everybody, everybody was there. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 11:52

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's jump ahead to your third major then, shall we?

Jane Geddes 11:57

Okay. Um my third major, you mean my the British?

Mike Gonzalez 12:02

This particular tournament became a major 12 years after you won it, but we're talking about the 1989 Wheatabicks Women's British Open at Ferndown, where you won by two.

Jane Geddes 12:13

Yeah, so you know, back then, even though it wasn't a major, it was at the time of the year where players from the LPJ would go over and play in it. It was usually at, you know, it was kind of fun to go. We'd go and go to the British Open and then maybe do something in Scotland, or you know, we'd usually combine it with a couple of the tournaments that were on the LET. And so that year it was at Ferndown. Um, Ferndown was in the middle of England and at that point did not have an irrigation system. And I think, I don't know, I think it was July or August, can't remember the exact dates, something like that, or maybe September, but it was hard and dry and fast. And um, I remember I I think I mentioned this last time that I I hit um driver, I think, pitching ledger nine-on into a it was pitching ledger into a par five. So it was kind of one of those, it was one of those weeks. Um, and I was fortunate enough to win. And thank you for saying that it's you know, it's sort of my third major. It was, you know, you win a tournament like that, and it was the British Open and it was a good field, and you know, you want to think, okay, you know, maybe one day I get grandfathered in on that. But you know, I count it as an important win, certainly in my sort of array of wins around the world, and um still proud to have it on my sort of, you know, on tick another box, right?

Mike Gonzalez 13:30

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you you you know, the the point about uh when is it is it a major, when isn't it a major? A bit arbitrary when you look at some of the history, right, of the dinosaur and when that cutoff date was determined, the the De Maurier sort of uh started and then ended. Um so you got and and of course the Women's British Open, which uh you know started becoming a major, as I said, twenty after you want it.

Jane Geddes 13:56

The Evian you know, same thing. Like what what are you know what are they gonna do with that? Right, same field, basically. So it's gonna be interesting as time goes on. And um a lot of this applies to the Hall of Fame for the LPGA because you know, it's a we have a very strict criteria around the Hall of Fame, and you win a major, and that's a significant amount of points versus just another tournament, which for me it wasn't even an LPGA tournament. So I don't even know how it all plays out. But for if you if you think of the you know the the players that are in these buckets like I am, you know, it it affects different things than just you know talking about it.

Mike Gonzalez 14:31

Yeah, yeah. So well, getting back to that tournament and the conditions you faced, uh and we we touched on this uh last time a little bit, but you know, just for our listeners who perhaps have never experienced firm and fast, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Jane Geddes 14:46

No, it's not. In fact, it can, as as you guys know, it can really get away from you, right? And so you know, uh if you hit it a little, you know, you have to always keep everything relative to hitting it in play, right? So if I hit it in play and I hit a good drive down the middle of the fairway, I'll have a pitching wedge into that hole. If I hit it a little offline and it continues to go 300 and something yards down the fairway into a lake, then you're in trouble, right? So it's like there's all the sides to that, right? And I'm quite honestly, um, I was I drove the ball fairly long back then. I was always a good ball striker. I wasn't necessarily a fan of hard and fast a lot because I always felt like that really didn't, it wasn't really my advantage. Just so having that week worked out well for me. I was hitting the ball really well. And so I, you know, I was able to keep it in play, but it's it's a completely different ball game when it's like that.

Bruce Devlin 15:45

So it's but it's ball on the ground and not in the air. That's the problem. You gotta you can't carry it all the way.

Jane Geddes 15:53

Exactly. Exactly.

Mike Gonzalez 15:54

Today's American game is kind of like playing lawn jarts. Well, you don't play lawn jarts over there.

Jane Geddes 16:00

No, no, you don't. Anywhere really over there, which is the fun of it. I mean, whenever wherever you're playing, you have to play that bump and run and you have to play all the undulations and whatnot. So it's the fun of it.

Mike Gonzalez 16:09

Yeah. Well, let's go on to 1990. You had a win at the Dyke Dykeo? Is that the Dykeo? Dykeo Australian Ladies Masters at Palm Meadows. This was in a playoff over Crystal Parker.

Bruce Devlin 16:24

So um does Bruce know anything about this venue? I do not never played there. I do know where it is, but I've never played there. Uh you better tell us about it.

Jane Geddes 16:36

So it was that was a really cool stretch for me um as it relates to Australia. So I had never been. I got invited to go down. Uh there were there, I don't know how many Americans went down, maybe 15 or 20. And um, it was a good time of the year where we could travel. So I went down. By the way, Bruce, love Australia. I always say that when I get kicked out of the United States, just send me. Just send me straight to Australia. I'll be perfectly happy. Um, but I had this like an amazing experience that week. I won the tournament, and as you know, Bruce, that that it was on ABC there and with no commercials for multiple hours. And I remember Jane Crafter's dad was a commentator, and it was on the Gold Coast. It just a fab, we had a fabulous time, stayed in a great hotel, you know, really fun golf course to play, just had an amazing week. Then went down to Sydney for a couple days just to be you know, before flying out. Everybody on the street knew me. It was the funniest, you know. I'm walking down the street, people like, hey, there's Shangeties, blah, blah, blah. Because we were on TV for you know multiple hours, hours with no commercials, right? So it was just a really unique experience. And then I went down and I believe I defended the next year, and I and I went down and I had a really nice stretch in Australia. And um, again, just loved going down there to play golf and loved the people, and just you know, just one of those places that just clicked with me.

Mike Gonzalez 18:03

Yeah.

Jane Geddes 18:04

Fun, great memories.

Mike Gonzalez 18:06

Uh, Bruce and I were both there this year. It was my first trip over to play golf, and of course, Bruce was quite helpful in pointing pointing out where I should be playing, right? Yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 18:18

Yeah, I I went back for the first time a couple of years ago, took my kids back. We went as a on a family trip a couple summers ago to the Women's World Cup soccer and got to go, you know, just got to kind of relive some of the places that we've been. I I hadn't been back since I was there playing golf. So it was so fun to go back and kind of relive it all.

Mike Gonzalez 18:36

So did you have a chance to play a little bit down the sand belt to Melbourne?

Jane Geddes 18:40

No, not that trip. I've been down there. I have played a couple, you know, we played a tournament down there, and um I I have played down there. It was beautiful. Yeah, some great tracks down there.

Mike Gonzalez 18:49

Yeah. Well, let's uh let's go to Jamaica, Bruce, in 1991.

Bruce Devlin 18:54

That's right. You split the uh Daiko Australian Ladies Masters with uh a winning Jamaica Classic at uh trial by three over Patty Sheehan.

Jane Geddes 19:06

Yes, Pat, and so fun week, first tournament of the year. Um I was staying with Patty. We when when you at trial, they had these like houses where we'd all stay in, right? So they were these sort of corporate sort of houses, right? Where you'd have all these bedrooms and then a common area. And every year that we had played trial, all the way back to when we played a team event with this with the uh with the C with the champions tour, some I forget, well, like in those few times we were down there. I always ended up staying with Patty Sheen. It was just like, you know, you end up and you're like, let's do that again, let's do it again. So that year, um, I was playing staying with Patty. So um, and you know, as the thing you gotta love about golf, right, is that you can be in competition, you know, close competition with one of your best friends, you know, and then go home and celebrate, you know, that night we all celebrated. So um, but love trial. Trials what a what a beautiful spot. Um, and it was a great way to start the year. And I got I got off to obviously a good start of that year winning the first tournament.

Bruce Devlin 20:06

Might also say that uh you finished in fabulous fashion there, shooting 71, 72, and then last round 64. Thank you very much.

Jane Geddes 20:16

Yes, yes. I was playing really well, and I'll tell you a little aside to that week, and this was sort of my story. I I think I might have talked about it a little bit before. You know, I I'm not a range rat by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not a a ball hitter. I've never been. I'm just I'm very much a feel. If it feels good, I go with it. Well, the guy that was catting for me that week, Dan Sella, was also the Tor Masseuse, right? So instead of warming up every morning, Dan would come over, he'd give me a massage. That was my warm-up, right? And I'd go straight to hit a couple pots and go straight to the tea. So it was just a little, you know, it was kind of one of those weeks. I was just feeling it, you know, I was feeling good, I was loose, I was, you know, I was playing well, I was obviously putting well. And so, um, yeah. So that's kind of one of my memories of that week as well.

Mike Gonzalez 21:07

Yeah. I guess. Uh so remind us of what time of the year the Australian Ladies Masters was played. Was that uh early or late in the year?

Jane Geddes 21:14

It was late in the year. So it was generally, it was, you know, summer there. I I don't even know if it was over sometimes. I was there over Christmas quite a few times. Yeah. So it was kind of during that time of the year where I we'd go down, usually December-ish. So I kind of went into that and went straight into you know trial and kind of backed it up.

Mike Gonzalez 21:32

In terms of sequencing, then you you went in Jamaica early. You probably then the next win probably would have been the Atlantic City win.

Jane Geddes 21:39

Yep.

Mike Gonzalez 21:40

Uh where you won the Atlantic City Classic at Great Bay Country Club in New Jersey by one over Ms. Alcott and C Trier.

Jane Geddes 21:49

Yes. You know, I again it's one of those courses. I I just I enjoyed playing that golf course. I I typically played it pretty well. Um it was fun. Because you know, Amy is Amy's a competitor, and I don't normally remember like I are. I mean, if I look back and I had very unique finishes where there were people that I remember, but I do remember Amy like playing really well. And um I don't know if we were playing together or not, but I remember seeing her on a hole and she made a putt and she gave a little pump and kind of looked at me. I think we might have been crossing, you know. So and that's Amy, right? That's that's that's just her. She's a competitor, right? And I and I, you know, it kind of gave me that little like, all right, I'm gonna beat her, you know, coming down the stretch. And so for that tournament, I won. So I won the tournament's great. And um I all I in addition to the trophy and the money, I also won this unbelievably beautiful fur coat that I still have. Full-length, beautiful fur, like mink coat that is I literally still have it hanging in my closet. And when I go to snowy places every now and then contemplate wearing it, but yeah, and had no idea I was gonna win that. It was one of those, you know, you go around the green, you're getting your things, and they bring out this ta-da, you know, mink coat.

Mike Gonzalez 23:10

So kind of like kind of like winning in Japan, you know. We hear from some of the folks that have won tournaments in Japan, it's like Christmas. You get all this stuff, huh?

Jane Geddes 23:18

Yes. Yes, yes. I've I've done that a few times.

Mike Gonzalez 23:23

Well, uh at some point, I mean, you let let's just uh look at 91 in sequence and a couple of wins under your belt with the Australian Ladies Masters uh late, but you you picked up the the Jamaica win early in 91, then you went at Atlantic City. At some point you uh you had a close call, you were in the farm in a playoff with Deborah Richard.

Jane Geddes 23:42

Uh-huh.

Mike Gonzalez 23:42

And uh I don't know if that came before or after the Atlantic City event, but uh there was a stretch where you must have been playing some pretty good golf because you still had one more win in at in yet to repeat in Australia later in the year.

Jane Geddes 23:54

You know what? I uh if if you ask me about my career, with the exception of sort of when it, I don't know, the end of my career when I just I just mentally had it, right? Uh you know, I would say there probably three or four years that I was just like, oh um, but I would say, you know, up to 199 or so, I I generally played pretty good golf. I I was a very good ball striker, uh consistent, right? I drove the ball well, I I struck my irons really well, always high in greens and regulation, which always gave me opportunities, right? I just struggled with my putting. So if I could get on a good putting streak, I had a good chance of winning. If I didn't and I was struggling, I would, I was more middle of the pack. You know, I wasn't missing a lot of cuts or anything. I was just, you know, I just couldn't get it going, right? I played better in tournaments and on courses where pars were good scores, where I didn't have to make a lot of birdies, maybe courses that were a little longer, right? You know, courses like Corning New York or or um some of the other courses that I loved. I went every year. I could I just I couldn't finish it there. I finished second there in Corning one year, but it was more during my stretch that I was playing pretty well. But those were the kind of courses that I struggled on, right? Where I felt like the whole field had a chance. If I could separate myself, right, then and I could it whether it was length or even more narrow courses, I always drove the ball pretty long and pretty straight. I'd always felt like I had a chance.

Mike Gonzalez 25:26

Yeah. So how how would you characterize your putting style? Were you an aggressive putter?

Jane Geddes 25:31

No, I was not. I was very much a die putter. Um, and and it was just it it just was one of those things. I mean, I was streaky, you know. I don't think I ever I worked with Dave Peltz for years. I tried everything, you know. I just did not, it wasn't like I was a horrible putter. It was more I hit a lot of greens, so I had a lot of chances, you know, versus and you know, and you're you know, you're like, golly, I I how can I how can I get 16 greens and make you know one birdie or two birdies? You know what I mean? It was that, yeah. And so, you know, and so then it just it cycles like that, right? You're not shooting bad scores, you're just not shooting five under as opposed to one under, right? And so you can't finish it. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 26:15

But but as a as a die putter, then three putts were probably pretty rare for you.

Jane Geddes 26:20

Yeah, it wasn't a big three putter. It was more making them. It was more, you know, it was more making them. Fifteen footers, you know, uh, you know, and not making a fifteen footer, and then hitting a twelve feet, not making that, and then hitting an eight feet feet and not making that, and then you know, maybe missing a six-footer, and you know, then you're like, ah, you know, you know, then it then becomes you know, that you try to hit it closer. You can't try to hit it closer, right? You can't. You just have to keep playing, you know. So I'd have to have that that chat with myself constantly.

Mike Gonzalez 26:49

Yeah, it just kind of wears on you after a while. Yeah, it does. It does. Yeah. So well, you you you double up then the the following year. This is the end of 91. Now we're talking about the Australian Ladies Masters again. This was at Palm Meadows, and it was by three over Corinne Dibno.

Jane Geddes 27:04

Yep. Yep. Aussie.

Mike Gonzalez 27:07

Now you like that tournament. You finished second in 92, second in 93, second in 95, so amazing stretch.

Jane Geddes 27:16

Amazing stretch there. Amazing. I had an amazing stretch. I just loved being there. That's what I was saying. Like, it was one of those places. Love the golf course. Golf course suited me. Uh, Palmeadows just suited me. Um, and I just loved being there. I loved it. I brought my parents down one year, spent Christmas and New Year's with them, traveled up and down the coast. I mean, I used to make it like a trip, you know. Um, you know, I'd I'd go play for a week and then go up and you know, go to the reef or go somewhere, you know. So it was just one of those things that I I really I loved being there. So and it showed, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 27:51

Yeah, it sure did. It sure did. Well, let's go on and pick up the next one, Bruce in 1993.

Bruce Devlin 27:57

And the uh Oldsmobile Classic and uh Walnut Hills. Uh one of Tammy Green, Trish Johnson, and Alice Richman.

Jane Geddes 28:06

Yeah. That was um that was one of those where um I I remember that I don't want to say as a comeback win, but it sort of felt like it. I don't know. I just felt like I was not in a great stretch, and then I won. And it kind of key you know, kind of kept me going. It kind of kept me like, okay, good. Again, one of those courses. Uh, you know, I was Ohio, Michigan, that that sort of style golf course, you know, the grass, the whole I I played well up there. I won quite a few tournaments in Ohio. And um, you know, I again I just, you know, you you get to a golf course, it suits your eye, it suits your game, hitting it well, made some putts, and you know, I mean contention coming down the stretch, and there you go.

Mike Gonzalez 28:50

Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll jump to the next one, 1994. Uh uh this was uh down the street from where I used to live. Uh it was the Chicago Challenge at White Eagle Golf Club, right on Route 59, win it by three over Dale Egling and Robin Walton. And uh, you know, you mentioned earlier, Jane, about uh playing well, good ball strike and uh a good iron play up at least through 99. Walking off that green, did you ever imagine that was the last time you were going to do it?

Jane Geddes 29:20

No, because you never think it's gonna be the last time, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 29:23

That's right.

Jane Geddes 29:24

Um I it was interesting. So that week I flew in from um, I was in Europe. I don't know what I was doing the year the I don't know what I was doing, playing over there, I'm sure. And flew in, kind of got there late. Um, ended up, I think I had a caddy, I don't even think the caddy the caddy for me played the practice round, he caddied for me in the practice round, had like a funny lead up to the week. And then, you know, just got in contention, you know, started hitting it well. Again, you know, I was just one of those people. It just if I if I, you know, if I could just hit it well and then connect it with the putting, I'm I'm golden, right? But but to answer your question on that, yeah, you know, you win, listen, I went through that stretch, I went through that amazing stretch in 86 and 97 thinking, oh, I'm gonna do this every year. I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life, right? And then you then you don't. And then you're like, what happened? So that's what I was saying. Like, and then you know, after after that, you know, that that happens. And at some point, listen, the tour is a grind. It is a grind. It's the most awesome job in the world. I got paid to play travel around the world and play golf. I mean, crazy. But it's a hard life, and it's hard when you're playing well and you're hanging in there, but when you're not playing well, it's really hard, right? And you know, and missing cuts, and when it starts getting to that point where, you know, now you're just mentally not there, so you're missing, you know, oh, that was I missed that. I forgot that was stupid. I made a couple stupid mistakes, you know, or whatever. You know, and then it starts spiraling, and you you get to the point where this is no fun. You know, this is this is just not fun anymore.

Mike Gonzalez 31:02

So well, you you almost got back in the winner's circle. You had a a playoff uh at the Health South in '96 with Kari Webb and uh Martha Nowsey.

Jane Geddes 31:13

And uh I let Kari win her first tournament, which was nice of me, right?

Mike Gonzalez 31:17

Uh-huh.

Jane Geddes 31:18

We had about a hundred-hole playoff. It was get I don't know how many holes it was. We went round and round, ended up being Webby and I in the end. I forget. It was Martha, right? Martha Nousey.

Mike Gonzalez 31:28

Martha Nousey.

Jane Geddes 31:29

I think Martha might have hold. I don't know if she hold out in the last hole to get in the playoffs. I can't remember how all that went, but Martha fell off. Then it was Webby and I going round and round and round. And I don't know how many playoff holes it felt like a lot. And um, and then I let her win. I let her take her.

Mike Gonzalez 31:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 31:44

Who knew, right? Who knew?

Mike Gonzalez 31:47

Actually, we we talked about we talked about this with Kari.

Jane Geddes 31:50

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 31:51

I'm sure we talked about it with Martha as well. Um, and uh I should have I should have gone back and found the clip of Kari talking about that. You would have probably enjoyed it. I don't know if she quite saw it that way. Yeah, right?

Jane Geddes 32:03

No, I'm joking. She beat me. But it was I like to think that just she's my buddy, so that's okay. It's okay. I'd kid her about it now.

Mike Gonzalez 32:10

You know, you still had game because uh later that year in 1996, uh you represented the USA on the Solheim Cup team. Yeah. Uh this was a competition in Wales at the St. Pierre Hotel and Country Club. Judy Rankin and Mickey Walker as the captains.

Jane Geddes 32:28

Yeah, that was a great, that was a great honor. I mean, at that point in my career, that's what I'm playing for, right? I wanted to at least get one appearance on that Solheim Cup team. I felt like, okay, I've had this great career. Like I I had like at some point, I, you know, I've got, I've gotta, I've gotta make this happen. And so qualified and um had a great, it was just an amazing experience. And we were the first team to win on foreign soil. So that was cool. Um, big comeback on the singles on the last day, and um, it was it was an amazing experience, but the one thing that I remember the most is I have never ever been so nervous in my life for an extended period of time. Every single hole for every day, and from the time they announced my name until was really interesting, you know, like that. You know, playing for your country, playing for your teammates. It's not what we do. You know, it's not what you're you know, what's in your mind, and then when you have to do it, it's a totally different, you know, ball game.

Mike Gonzalez 33:34

I think one person described it to us as my body did things I didn't know it did.

Jane Geddes 33:40

Correct. Correct, exactly. That is exactly how I felt all week. And I didn't play great. I I played okay, yeah. Um, but but you know, good enough that we won, and that was uh that was a very cool thing to be a part of.

Mike Gonzalez 33:57

So what I'm trying to figure out is why weren't you on the team 10 years before when you were on your hot streak?

Jane Geddes 34:04

Yeah, I I for whatever however it was. Well, we didn't when did when did it start? It started in 1990, right? I believe. I I think it started, I want to say. So it was, and it was every couple years. So I was on about the third or fourth team, and I was close. I mean, it was you know, it was points and it was finishes and this and that. Yeah. Um, and so I remember being close, and it was one of those where this was coming up, and it's a it was a two-year points kind of situation, you know, and and it worked, and I made the team. So um it's it's not, you know, it's it's a coveted thing, and but but not definitely not easy to do. You know, there are plenty of people that get left out, unfortunately.

Mike Gonzalez 34:45

You're right. Your your hot streak, I think, predated the soul. I'm gonna do it. Yes, it did. It did. Judy Whitworth was the was the uh captain in that first captain, right? Uh can you believe that Judy Rankin turned 80 yesterday?

Jane Geddes 34:57

No, amazing, and she looks fantastic, by the way. Yeah, she's amazing. She is just one of those people that if Judy was right here, she'd be exactly the same as she was 40 years ago. I've probably known her that long.

Mike Gonzalez 35:12

So yeah. So before you had a chance to hang it up professionally, you did have a chance to be an assistant captain as well at the Solheim Cup a couple times. One with a win at Interlochen, where Patty Sheehan was the captain for your side, and then uh a loss in Sweden when uh Patty Sheehan was uh going up against Katrin Nilsmark as captain.

Jane Geddes 35:33

Yes, we had we had that double situation because of 9-11. So um we were in what? We were in two two it was 2002, our first one, right? And then 2003. So they they canceled it in 2000 and I guess around the sub however that happened. And then it was just too quick a turnaround, so they asked us to do it again, which was fantastic. But yeah, that was I was so I was so honored that Patty, and again, Patty, my you know, very dear friend, that we talked about, and when she asked me to be her um vice captain, I was just I was so honored, and it was very it was very cool to be on the other side of it and be a part of that. And one win and one loss, unfortunately, in Sweden, but interlocking was was a great week.

Mike Gonzalez 36:15

Yeah, a lot easier when you don't have to hit a shot.

Jane Geddes 36:18

Yeah, much easier.

Mike Gonzalez 36:22

So take our listeners through sort of what's going on in your life, thought process your game as you approach your decision to retire from competitive golf in 2003.

Jane Geddes 36:33

Yeah, so um during those years, I was um I was sorting to starting to wind down a little bit. And um even as Patty had asked me to be vice captain, I wasn't playing a super full, I always played a pretty full schedule. Plus, I traveled internationally, so I was one of those players that did, I did 32 weeks a year. You know, I was like, I didn't have a problem with that. You spent a lot of time in Japan and in Europe and did a lot of stuff. And I just started winding down. I started doing less of that travel. Um, I and spent more time really even with Patty out on tour. I'd come out on tour and we'd just watch players play instead of me necessarily, you know, kind of playing all the time. And it was, it got to the point, especially after 9-11, it was interesting because you know, travel became, you know, the days of me being late for a flight and and walking up to the gate with my clubs in my bag and then being okay with that were over, right? You know, you it was security and it was this and it was that, and it was it got it got like we know it now, but back then we didn't know it that we didn't know about any of that, right? We just traveled, it was easy. Um so it just it just got to be a lot for me. I was coming up on 20 years, 2003 was 20 years on tour, and I had always had in my mind that I didn't want to be a player that just like kind of you know played 20 events, 15 events, five events gone. Like, where is she? Is she gonna play this year or not? I wanted to just say, I'm done. I'm done. And I didn't know when that was gonna be. I honestly did not. And I the week before the tournament in Portland, that was I think still the safe way back then, um I decided Portland was gonna be my last week. Only the week before. So told my friends to and they were like, no, no, no, no, no. I said, no, you guys, this is it. I love this. I I've never won this tournament, but I love the golf course. Um, I and I just I love the big trees in Portland, and I it was always that time of year that I loved, and I said, you know, I'm gonna, this is gonna be my last week, and it was my last week. So it was, it was um, I missed the cut, unfortunately. But um I told Ty Botar was the was the commissioner then, and I finished on the ninth hole, and Ty was there, and a bunch of my friends were there, and we went out to dinner that night and had a little farewell dinner, and I never played again. And it was just I just I said that's it. I'm I'm I'm I'm good with the decision. And quite honestly, I never really looked back. I never did. It it it took me a while to get there because I'd been contemplating it, but once I made that decision, I was like, okay, onward. Yeah, onward to do something else.

Mike Gonzalez 39:25

Well, we've got a lot of a lot of interesting things to talk about uh post-golf. Uh before though, uh Bruce always likes to kind of get into your playoff record. Uh you were three and two. Yeah, which is quite good, right, Bruce? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Jane Geddes 39:43

I always felt good in playoffs though. I felt like if I was playing well enough to get there, you know, Bruce, uh I was putting well, usually, right? Yeah. I I'm I'm hitting it well, I'm usually putting it well, which in a playoff usually helps, right? So I always, you know, I I I I never remember getting into a playoff thinking, oh, you know, like I I I don't have a chance. I always felt like I had a good chance. And obviously at the open, that was a whole different story with having to play 18 holes. But um, you know, but the others, I I always felt like I had a a really good chance.

Bruce Devlin 40:17

So we always uh we always uh ask our great players, what what do you think the winning record is of all of you great players that we've talked to, a hundred different great champions. What do you think their winning percentage is in playoffs?

Jane Geddes 40:34

Wow.

Bruce Devlin 40:35

All those great players.

Jane Geddes 40:37

I I bet it's not as high as I would think. I I'm gonna say like the you mean the best the best percentage?

Bruce Devlin 40:45

No, the average percentage. The average percentage.

Jane Geddes 40:48

I'll bet it I'll bet it's close to 50 percent.

Bruce Devlin 40:51

Well is it higher? I bet they wish it was fifty percent because it's only forty-three percent.

Jane Geddes 40:57

Really?

Bruce Devlin 40:58

Yeah. Now you've you've just ticked that up a little bit with your three wins and two losses.

Mike Gonzalez 41:04

So I wasn't in that many though, but yeah, but three and three and two on the LPGA tour, but uh uh yeah, 43 percent. And and you s so you think about it, we're talking of Hall of Famers and major winners, right? Yeah, yeah. All the best players in the world. And I think you could I'm glad I've surpassed that. If we went back and adjusted for multiplayer playoffs, yeah. I bet it is a 50-50 proposition.

Jane Geddes 41:28

Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 41:29

Yeah, it could be. Yeah.

Jane Geddes 41:32

That's that's pretty cool. Yeah, just I'm in the higher end of the inspector.

Mike Gonzalez 41:36

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 41:37

Yeah, you are.

Mike Gonzalez 41:38

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.

Lee Trevino 41:59

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started just like just smitched off line. It had it for two, but it bounced off nine. My cadets, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. It went straight down the middle.