Mark Calcavecchia - Part 3 (The Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup)

Intro Music 0:07

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

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

But pretty good finish. Who'd have thought there'd be a playoff? But the way Norman played was sensational and and uh shot a course record 64 that day. But uh to prevail over that kind of a player probably felt a bit like Larry Myers was telling us yesterday, you know, and he's he's he's beating uh uh at the time two of the greatest players in the world, Sevi Biasteros and Greg Norman in a playoff. You beat some good players to win that championship.

Mark Calcavecchia 0:46

Right, right. Yeah, it uh it definitely means something. Uh, you know, uh Greg was certainly one of the one of the greatest players uh uh at the time uh and and still ever. I mean, he was amazing. Probably nobody drove the golf ball as good as he did for uh during his career. And uh yeah, he he was awesome. And uh, you know, Wayne Wayne was solid too. I mean, he couldn't miss a fairway if he tried. And I was glad to see him win the PGA the next year or the year after that, whenever it was at Shoal Creek. But uh yeah, it's and it's like when you play in a tournament and and or if Tiger was playing and I won in you know and beat Tiger. It's it's like in 01. I remember he was first off number 10 uh on Sunday. So he's right behind me the whole front nine. So it's kind of weird that I'm I'm looking back at Tiger Woods behind me, but yet he's nine holes in front of me. So he's watching me, you know, making putts and waving to the crowd. And uh, you know, I thought that was kind of cool for whatever reason. I don't know. But yeah, well, you know, when you when you when you beat these guys, especially with a great field, it means a little more.

Mike Gonzalez 1:53

Yeah. Tell us about your return visit then to Trun uh in 1997. I think that was the next open championship there of the year Justin Leonard won. You had a good tournament. Well, what did it feel like coming back as the as the champion from there?

Mark Calcavecchia 2:07

It felt it felt great. Uh the thing I remember about that was I played at Loch Lawman in the Scottish Open the week before and could not hit the hole with a putt from outside of two feet. Um I uh I couldn't read the greens, I was putting terrible. I made the cut because I was hitting it okay, but it was just completely freaked out about my putting. So the courtesy car drives us down to Royal Trun, and as soon as we got there in the parking lot and I got out, all of a sudden it was like this this wave of pressure just left me because I was at a place that I love and a comfort zone. Uh so all of a sudden I was just back in my comfort zone and and felt good about everything. Uh I I do believe I I birded 18 again to make the cut on the nose and then shot a couple of pretty good rounds on the weekend to finish 10th or something. So it was it was close, but uh I I put it a lot better. And uh every time every time I've been there, and I should have made the cut last time we played there as well. I I kind of choked on the back nine a little bit, but I I do love that place, and uh I hope we play uh a British senior open there soon.

Mike Gonzalez 3:12

And you know, at age 52, you played pretty well at Litham, didn't you?

Mark Calcavecchia 3:17

Yeah, I had a top ten, I think I tied for ninth. And uh made a bad decision on 16. They moved the T up. And of course this is my nature, but uh it was drivable, so of course I wind up and tried to drive it. And I knew I was in the top five or six, or you know, having a you know a legitimate chance, actually. And uh hit a bad drive and made a bogey there and somehow parred the last two holes and uh still had a good tournament. But yeah, I kind of wish I would have laid up on 16 now and and maybe could have hit a wedge in there close and made Birdie, and it might have been a different story. But uh yeah, played well. Uh uh Litham's probably my second favorite open venue uh after Trone, of course. Uh you know, they've got a lot of bunkers out there, but uh I really like the holes. I uh you know, I think it's a cool place. Uh and I I enjoyed it.

Mike Gonzalez 4:07

Yeah, I was gonna say you must like bunkers. Man.

Mark Calcavecchia 4:11

You get a lot of them.

Bruce Devlin 4:13

Is it 130? Something like that. 134 bunkers?

Mike Gonzalez 4:19

I think I think they've gotten rid of three or four lately, but you don't notice.

Mark Calcavecchia 4:24

I think they took 20 out or something. The ladies played there a few years ago, and I think they said they took took 20 or some odd bonkers out, but uh yeah, there's still a lot.

Mike Gonzalez 4:32

Yeah, it's like uh some of the golf courses where you hear they've taken 400 trees out, you don't even notice.

Bruce Devlin 4:37

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:39

So well, let's move on to the PGA championship, then where you had 21 starts, 14 cuts made, uh best finishes. Uh well, let's talk about 1980 or uh 1995 at Riviera.

Mark Calcavecchia 4:54

Okay. Uh yeah, I shot 70-75, I believe. Uh I was eighth and I was ninth on the Ryder Cup list. And the greens that year, uh back then everybody still wore spikes. Uh their spike marks were literally an inch high. Uh but somehow the scoring was pretty good because the greens were so soft that the spike marks weren't crunchy. The ball just kind of went right over the top of them. But yeah, I didn't put very well or play very well, and uh uh there's some few other things that happened that didn't work out too well that I won't mention, but uh got back to at the time we had a condo in Colorado Springs, got back on Sunday, and when I turned on the TV, Brad Faxen had shot 28 on the front nine. And Maggart was solid the whole week. He he was gonna pass me. Uh he kept shooting 67 or 8 every day. Uh so I knew he was gonna pass me, but the only one other guy that could pass me was Faxen. And what did he do? He shot 28 on the front nine, ended up shooting 63 for the day. Made a 30-footer for parr in 18, and passed me for number 10. Uh back then, the top 10 qualified for the uh Ryder Cup by a half a point. And Lanny was captain. Of course, Lanny didn't pick me, uh, and his excuse was well, I never thought of you as a pick because I always thought you were gonna be on the team, so I kind of forgot about you. I'm like, okay.

Mike Gonzalez 6:23

Okay, bad excuse.

Mark Calcavecchia 6:26

No, Lanny and I still kind of give each other crap all the time. Uh but yeah, so that was that was uh that was kind of a bummer. Uh I kind of gave fax grief about that for quite a while too.

Mike Gonzalez 6:38

Yeah, I bet you did. And you had it, you had a couple good finishes too, uh, 2001, the year David Toms won. Uh you were you had a T4 at uh Atlanta Athletic Club, and then uh the next year when uh Beam won, you were seventh at Hazeltine.

Mark Calcavecchia 6:51

Yeah, yeah, I I enjoyed the PGA. Uh played played well. Actually, Curtis uh in uh in 01 when I was looking like I might make the team kind of gave me a little pep talk and he says, you know, come on, step it up here this week so I don't, you know, don't have to feel you know pressured to pick you if you get passed or something. And and that kind of motivated me to not that it needed any more motivation to make a Ryder Cup team, but uh you know, uh yeah, we had a nice little chat, and I said, Okay, you got it. I'm gonna play well this week. And I did, and it was it was great. And then of course 9-11 happened uh shortly thereafter, and uh that that Ryder Cup got pushed back to 0-2. But uh yeah, it was uh really liked it at Lanth Athletic Club, and then uh the next year Hazeltine also liked Hazletine. Uh it's just good solid course, it's all right in front of you. You know, nothing nothing goofy. You just gotta uh just gotta play good.

Mike Gonzalez 7:46

Yeah, you you might have thought different of Hazletine back in 1970.

Bruce Devlin 7:50

Bruce, what do you think? Yeah, well, Dave Hill thought it was uh cow pasture, I believe.

Mark Calcavecchia 8:00

Oh dear. I for I first said that about Southern Hills too. When I first played Southern Hills in Tulsa, the first thing that crossed my mind was man, they ruined a beautiful park. This would have been just a great place or a big giant park. Uh but since then, every time I played it since then, I've liked it more and more and more and more. And now it's actually one of my favorite courses. So it's it's uh weird.

Bruce Devlin 8:21

It's a pretty good golf course, Southern Hills.

Mark Calcavecchia 8:23

It really is. I know they they kind of changed it uh before uh last year when uh when our our guys played there, uh I had the back surgery, so I couldn't play, and it looked a little bit different. And they said it wasn't in very good shape, but they uh I think they definitely made it harder for uh for the PGA next year for the for the guys. So we'll we'll see how it plays next year.

Mike Gonzalez 8:45

Yeah, it's uh as we were speaking about Hazel teen, uh Mark, one of the things that Bruce and I do is we will take uh little short excerpts out of these interviews, uh just little highlights, you know, maybe three or four minutes. And the the last two we published uh were about Dave Hill. Uh one was Tony Jacqueline and Bruce recollecting that 1970 deal. We had some laughs with Tony, and then the next one we published was with Dean Beaman. And and Dean, Dean, uh uh Bruce, correct me if I'm wrong, but he sort of uh claimed that he fed Dave Hill his line.

Bruce Devlin 9:18

That's right. Yeah, that's exactly what it felt like. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 9:23

Yeah, he made some comment in the locker room uh to Hill, and Hill must have picked up on it. Of course, Hill's the guy that got fined by Joe Dye then back in the day. Right. But maybe they should have fine Commissioner Beaman. But uh anyway, uh let's move along to the Ryder Cup, then if we can. And uh uh you had uh uh you had the opportunity to play on four teams, I believe. And uh the first one was I know a tough one because uh you know Bruce and I have talked to many of these players that have played in the Ryder Cup. And and for for the listeners that maybe weren't as familiar with the history, you know, if you go back to sort of uh oh, I guess it was 1983, uh I think the Europeans had just been able to join, maybe uh the one before or so. And and anyway, 83 was a close one. That's the one Lanny almost dunked that wedge on the last hole. Uh, but the Europeans came close, and I think uh I think that was a wake-up call for the Americans because uh it hasn't been easy since then, has it?

Mark Calcavecchia 10:24

No, it hasn't. And uh uh uh moving down to North Palm Beach in 1973, uh I was I went out to watch that Ryder Cup on uh on Sunday, and it was blazingly hot. Uh you know, the course was tough, the rough was thick, and uh I remember that shot land he hit. I was standing right there behind the green watching it. So uh that was my first real touch with the Ryder Cup, and I thought, man, this is cool. I'd love to be a part of this someday. And then I kind of you know didn't think much about it after that. But getting back to my first Ryder Cup in 87, again, all of 1986 I had no status. So I basically went from the the fall of 86 to the to the Ryder Cup in 87, going from no status to being on a Ryder Cup team. Uh so that's I don't know if that's been done either. That's that's uh a couple guys probably done it, but that's that's a pretty tough uh thing to accomplish. And the first thing I really remember about it was uh because I just kept rattling off a bunch of top tens and getting points, was sitting with uh uh Jack and Barbara in their kitchen, and uh she made spaghetti and I had a white golf shirt on, and of course I got spaghetti all down my shirt, and I was like, oh Jesus. That's so embarrassed. I was like, you know, I tried to clean it up with a wet paper and towel and made it work. Jack's just laughing at me. Uh and but anyway, the the other thing I remember about that is uh Andy Bean and I bogeied 17 and 18 to lose one down. Uh I hit a bad drive on 17 and just hit my iron on 18 in the wrong part uh of over the green. I couldn't get up and down. And Andy hit two beautiful iron shots, but he hit them both over the green and didn't get up and down, and and Jack was, needless to say, not happy with us. Uh and I was supposed to play with Andy again the next day, and he he he sat me and said, I'm gonna because I was a rookie and whatnot, and because I messed up the day before. So he put Dan Pole with him, I think. And uh so I was I was bummed because I wanted to get back out and get back at it. Uh but then I I ended up beating Nick Faldo one up uh on the last hole in singles. Yeah. We tried to make a rally. You know, that's when Ben broke his putter accidentally when he just kind of flicked it at the bag and it landed exactly the wrong area and had to putt with his two-iron against uh Eamon Darcy, I think. And almost almost beat him putting with his two-iron, got the got him to the last hole. So, I mean, we we we tried to make a big rally, but fell just short. So that was the first time we lost on American soil. So it was kind of nauseating watching uh Olaf do his little dance across the 18 green and losing didn't have a shirt on and carrying around. I don't know. Yeah, it was it was sickening.

Mike Gonzalez 13:04

Yeah, well, just with you know, with with Jack as the captain at his club and his place. Uh I remember Laney Watkins, he was one of the first interviews we did back in April. Bruce, you'll remember this, and uh and you could tell as he talked about that, that was a tough loss for you guys.

Bruce Devlin 13:19

Yeah, it was. Yeah. Well, you know, for the to lose for the first time uh on on your own soil is not very nice, I know. The guys couldn't have felt very good about it.

Mark Calcavecchia 13:32

Yeah, no, we certainly didn't.

Mike Gonzalez 13:34

And then 89 wasn't any better, I guess, was it? Because uh they retained by tying at the Belfry with uh Raymond Floyd and Tony Jacquel as captains.

Mark Calcavecchia 13:43

This was probably even sadder, actually. Uh I I was number one on the Ryder Cup list, so you know I played every match. I went two and three, uh, which I mean how we tied that was a just a total miracle. Five of us, including me, uh Ken Green, Payne, Mark McCumber, and somebody else, all well, Fred Couples when Christy O'Connor Jr. hit that amazing two-airon into the green. We all lost the last hole. Uh if one of us just ties the last hole, we we we win the cup. And anyway, they they they uh they got us uh to a 14-14 tie and they retained the cup because uh they won it in 87. And that was probably the saddest uh one of the saddest moments of being involved in the game of golf that I can remember. Everybody was bawling. I mean, everybody, including Raymond and Maria, and and the wives were bawling. It was it was pathetic. And then of course we had to regroup and go to the closing ceremonies, and then you know, went over and had to have some beers with the with the other team and whatnot. But we were all, I remember the next morning, everybody was just so in a state of shock. Just like, can you believe this? Uh so that that was a tough one.

Mike Gonzalez 14:58

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's go back to uh uh maybe happier times, which was the win at Kiowa. So we'll go back to the what was called the War by the Shore. Some people don't like that name, but Dave Stockton was the captain, Bernard Gallagher was the captain for the Europeans. And uh uh great team. Bruce and I have had a chance to talk to uh six of the players, and of course, Dave Stockton as the captain during our uh during our podcast so far. I'm sure we'll get to some of the others, but uh uh a lot of stories from that week, wasn't there, from the from sort of the car crash on the way to dinner before the match started, right?

Mark Calcavecchia 15:35

Yeah. Yeah, I mean I didn't know how bad it was because I was in a different limo, and then I looked at his ribs the next day, and his entire rib cage was a combination of purple and yellow. I mean, there was no way he could make a swing. It was terrible. But yeah, that that Ryder Cup was something else uh uh as far as my game went. Two weeks before that I shot 7777 uh in Milwaukee, which is like shooting 82, 82 anywhere else. I could not have been playing worse. Now I'm in a full state of panic. The Ryder Cup's in a week and a half, and I'm at my all-time worst. So I managed to uh to practice as hard as I probably ever have in my life uh over the next week and a half and and actually played played some really good golf that week. Uh Payne and I won both our alternate shot matches. Uh and I lost with uh with Corey Paven. Uh we only made one birdie between the two of us in our best ball match. Uh and then uh you know and then the thing with Monty. Uh uh don't want to get into the all the hole by hole of that, but uh it was brutal. It was windy in left to right, the last five holes, my least favorite wind. Uh and I hit terrible shots. Well, we both bugged 14. I mean the green was basically unhittable, so that wasn't bad. Uh but 15 I hit my drive. I it might have even got to the water, it was so far right, across the beach. It was a hundred yards right. Uh so I lost that hole. I actually played 16 really well. I was still three up. Hit a little punch six iron right at it, just over the green. And back then it was just footprints, and of course I'm in a footprint. I'm only 25 feet in the hole. I hit a good shot.

Mike Gonzalez 17:23

Yeah.

Mark Calcavecchia 17:24

Bogey, lose that hole. And then 17 is is was the the shot that everybody remembers. You know, everybody thought I shanked it, but Monty hit it in the water, and I tried to hit a two-iron as low and as hard and as left as I could, and I got so far ahead of it, I just basically de-ofted it and smothered it into the ground, and it just never got it never got off the ground. Uh and then I didn't know where the drop area was. So we go over to this T way right, and there's no I had no idea how far it was. Uh so I watched Colin hit it on the green with what looked like a seven iron. So I said, okay, I'll hit a seven iron and hit it on the green, and uh putted it up there about two feet, and he putted it up to a gimme. And of course he's gonna make me putt it for the win, and I didn't even touch the hole. Uh and then now Raymond's in my ear cheering me on. I think he was first off. Uh so we're on 18, I hit a beautiful drive, and I hit a three-iron, and uh the pin was back left, and uh there's a uh an instance where I was just trying to hit it the perfect shot. You know, I just I psyched myself up. You can hit this this shot perfect, and I did. Only problem was I went over the green. I mean, why didn't I and I hit a four-iron 30 feet short rider somewhere anywhere on the green where you can play? So now I'm over the green in a swale, and I've got a tough chip, and I chip a 10 feet by and hit a horrible putt. So we tie the match, and uh I just I lost it. Uh crying, went down to the beach, wanted to drown myself. Uh regroup. Uh actually Peter Costus did a good job with uh keeping Roger Maltby out of my ear uh for an interview and uh you know went back out and watched. And I just I just knew the whole time that I was watching. I think I was the third match off. So now we've got over two hours of golf still left, and I'm out there watching this, and the whole time I'm thinking this half a point that I just gave away is gonna cost us the Ryder Cup. I just knew it. I couldn't get it out of my mind. And sure enough, it came down to a six-foot putt by Bernhardt, and uh I would have been right. And uh he hit a good putt and it just it broke. You just didn't see that much break, and uh we won. I was in front of the green with pain. He had his arm around me because he knew I was still all tore up. And I wasn't watching, I was just still on the ground just waiting for a moan or a a roar. And when he missed it, uh, you know, pain grabbed me and he we got jumped up in the air and started hugging me. We won, we won, we won, we won. That's all he kept saying is we won, we won, we won.

Intro Music 19:56

Yeah.

Mark Calcavecchia 19:56

Anyway, after that, I don't remember going in the ocean with our blue jackets on. I don't remember dinner. I don't remember even flying to San Antonio the next day.

Intro Music 20:06

Wow.

Mark Calcavecchia 20:06

Don't remember a thing. Complete mental blackout. Don't even remember celebrating or anything. Uh all I remember do is getting to San Antonio in my locker. There were about 500 letters there already from uh fans, and every I read every one of them, and every one of them was nothing but positive. You're one of the reasons why we won this Ryder Cup. You got two and a half points, blah, blah, blah. Uh so that was that.

Mike Gonzalez 20:31

Well, I'll tell you what, uh speaking of positive, I want you guys to listen to your captain's take on that Ryder Cup. Let's see if uh you'll be able to hear this.

Dave Stockton 20:42

And then all of a sudden, both both Hale, both uh uh Raymond Floyd and Payne get get beat, but as they're doing that, Calcoveki comes into eight because I watched everybody go off one and I went to eight, which is really hard. And you're trying to watch as it turned out 11 matches, not 12. But I'm on eight, and the guys all ignored the first two guys getting beat and said, look at Calc, because Calc won eight to go three up, he won nine to go four up, he won ten to go five up, and now he's gonna lose, you know, he's gonna lose all five advantages by the end. But in the end, and I I told him truthfully so, I thanked him because I said, You're the one that carried this team. And you did it if you'd have made 18 pars and you never were up or never down, we'd have lost. Uh you would have still tied your match, but we would have lost. And it's true because he gave us the momentum. And the and the hindsight for me was looking back, and nobody can say which player won the deal for us. Nobody won every single point or anything like that. But it was a team effort, and uh it was certainly the greatest experience of my life. Um and it just it it it was it was it was really special.

Bruce Devlin 21:55

So what do you think about that, Calc? See, you had a positive effect.

Mark Calcavecchia 22:00

on the thing. I did. I I did. And I remember uh David telling me that. Uh and yeah actually he was one hole off. I was five up at the turn and then hit it on the tenth green and Monty buried it in the bunker and hold the bunker shot and then birdied eleven. So I thought I could possibly go six up after ten and two holes later I'm only three up. But then I won I think thirteen to go four up or fourteen to go four up with four to go.

Mike Gonzalez 22:29

But anyway, yeah he uh getting back to you know seeing my name up there in red numbers uh you know five up at the turn or four up after eight or whatever uh he he he did say that other guys said that that that really fired him up and you know they're like look at Calp go uh so I I think it was a positive effect on the whole team and and I I like he just said I don't even know who won the most points for the week I I don't know who won the least uh you know it doesn't matter you you it's a it's a team thing it's not about right uh your your individual self in that event yep yep um and you know other things happened that week as you know with the uh Sevy aloft the ball with uh with Zenger and with uh with Beck and then even Floyd got into it a little bit with him which I I loved uh some of the lines that are attributed to Raymond Floyd that week towards Sevy but uh just a lot going on and then and then you know uh we visited with Hale and we'll we'll get back with him because we didn't talk Ryder Cup and we want to talk about what happened to his drive on 18 uh because there's a mystery around how that one found its way into the fairway and then you know uh who would want the kind of pressure Bernhard Longer must have felt on that last putt?

Mark Calcavecchia 23:43

Yeah not only Bernhard but Hale as well. I mean Hale's a three time U.S. Open champion so I'm thinking and the best fairway wood player maybe in history and I was like that was it what was saving me. I'm like we got Hale Erwin back here. He's gonna blister this forward right on the green and we're gonna win this thing. And then when he fanned it short right of the green and chunked his chip I was like oh God that I do remember. And uh you know also Bernhardt didn't have to give him that two and a half footer that he left short either. Yeah. Uh that's true. And then uh you know of course I've seen the replays on TV the putt many times. I I I didn't see it live but uh I I was down there short right and I I I watched Hale and you know Hale Hale said he couldn't even swallow he he couldn't even muster up enough saliva to swallow or or talk or anything. His tongue was so dry he was so nervous and uh in the crowds I mean i the the crowds were another big part of that week when I was out there watching uh towards the end I was standing next to David Fardy and he's like it's not supposed to be like this is it you know like the way the crowds were and the you know the heckling and every you know the whole I I said I don't know man I'm in a state of shock. I just I don't remember what I said to him but I just went uh I don't know you know but I do remember him saying that to me and uh but yeah the crowds were something and boy what a venue I I drove there three month two months before the Ryder Cup and there were nothing but dirt roads and piles of sand 50 feet high. It wasn't even a clubhouse they started to build it but I'm like are you serious we're gonna have a Ryder Cup at this place in eight weeks that that's impossible I thought it was an impossibility. And uh sure enough they they pulled it off somehow. Yeah yeah grass grass grows quick down here as Bruce knows I just couldn't believe all the sand and all the piles of dirt dirt roads I mean I thought I was driving into a construction area uh again all of a sudden you know there's a couple carts sitting there and off I went.

Mike Gonzalez 25:51

Yeah we we remember Dave Stockton talking about uh a visit to the venue and it was a little earlier than that but uh they hadn't grasped the golf course yet right amazing I know it was amazing yeah well one other writer cup to talk about we won't spend a lot of time on it but uh uh you had to fast forward eleven years this was the one you mentioned that was postponed because of 9-11 uh and that was uh at the Belfry Curtis was the captain for us Sam Torrance for the Europeans yep uh a couple things happened that week uh Tiger Woods missed three straight four footers for the first time in his life and he's my partner uh I convinced Curtis into uh sending me out with him in alternate shot and he said Calc you you you make a bunch of birdies you're better in best ball I said Curtis I'm four and oh an alternate shot in the Ryder Cup 2-0 with Ken Green and two and oh with Payne Stewart I said I I I I can play with Tiger I'm not nervous playing with him and Tiger was fine with it and of course the other thing that happened is we had to use his ball and his ball went probably ten yards shorter than my ball and I hit some iron shots I thought I just stiffed and they came up thirty feet short.

Mark Calcavecchia 27:00

But anyway getting back to eleven twelve and thirteen and fourteen uh I chip it up there to four feet on eleven he misses it uh he hits it on the green on twelve par three I put it by four feet he misses it uh he hits it on the green on thirteen I put it by three feet four feet he misses that and then on the next hole he half shanks an eight iron and buries it in the corner of a bunker and we lost four holes in a row and end up losing the match two and one so as mad as I was about that I'm like what are the odds that Tiger miss misses three straight four footers when he goes an entire year and doesn't miss one. Anyway, and then uh I go out the next day with David Duvall and uh we won our match which felt great. And also and then Sunday I got Pat Drake Harrington and the f in the singles and I promise you they did not cut the greens since Friday morning. They were running at about an eight on the stint meter which is a captain's choice. If you don't want the greens cut uh they were so slow and then when I went back and watched all the matches and the replay of that we couldn't get one of the whole and of course they're better at slow greens anyway uh the Europeans at that time they didn't play near the fastest greens we do and uh uh they made a bunch of putts including Padrig and when he made another bomb he goes eh you must think I'm the greatest putter in the world I'm like Pedrig yeah uh yeah but anyway well yeah they they smoked us uh it was tired going into Sunday and they just waxed us and I I lost five and four to Pedrig. He made everything he looked at like none of us could get a putt to the hole. So that was that.

Mike Gonzalez 28:42

Yeah we had a chance to play in the in the President's Cup back in 1998 at Royal Melbourne with uh Jack Nicholas and Peter Thompson as the captains.

Mark Calcavecchia 28:51

Yep yep that that wasn't a whole lot of fun either uh they just they played great uh only presence cup they've won uh so far uh they really did have a a good course advantage there even though we've played a couple Presidents Cup there since but they've been close but uh yeah we we didn't play very well and and didn't make any putts and and then Steve Elkington I don't know if he was kidding me or not but he says uh from the morning to the afternoon uh depending on the sun and the green and whatnot are the greens the greens break a different direction in the afternoon because the grass changes direction I looked at him like you gotta be kidding me right and he he just started laughing and I don't know but we didn't make anything and uh we got we got wax. Jack wasn't too happy about that one either. I'm 0-2 with Jack as my captain. Sorry Mr.

Mike Gonzalez 29:41

Nicholas well we can talk briefly about your Dunhill Cup experience you had uh a couple of opportunities to pair with Tom Kite and Curtis Strange the first one was a win in 1989 at the old course that was fun yeah uh I believe that was the first time I played the old course uh and I loved it uh it was green that had had a lot of rain leading up to that uh the weather was pretty good it was chilly but it never rained uh you know in it the sun came out and at night and with it green and the sun hits all those humps and bumps it just looks so cool yeah and uh I played great every every match it was like a stroke play match play type thing so you you you play 18 holes and you know I kept shooting 66s and 67s and uh uh we end up playing uh the Japanese guys and I played Haji Haji Hajimi Meshi and uh I beat him badly and then two days later uh the Japanese are in the final again with us so we could be in the top seed we could pick who we wanted to play so of course I picked Hajimi again and uh he was like oh Mark why you pick me we knew I was gonna kick his butt again and I did I think I shot 67 to his 74 or something and we won that so that was a lot of fun and then went back the next year and defended and uh I don't remember too much about what happened there but we didn't win.

Mark Calcavecchia 31:04

Well you got a couple chances to go to the old course because that would have been your first open at the old course the next year probably then right 90 right so yeah we were there in 89 uh there again in 90 for the uh for the open I was defending champion missed a cut by a couple uh birdie two and three right off the hop I thought oh I'm gonna win this thing again I never made another birdie the rest of the the rest of the week went the next 33 holes without making a birdie shot 71 74 and uh missed the cut so I was kind of bummed out well let's let's fast forward a little bit then because you're you're uh you're still playing a little bit on the champions tour.

Mike Gonzalez 31:38

I understand that uh uh you uh I'll I'll say recovered from back surgery a year or so ago so tell us a little bit what what you're up to these days.

Mark Calcavecchia 31:48

Yep uh my back really started bothering me about seven years ago and I just kind of did epidurals and pain management all through it Advil you know leave whatever and then finally uh three years ago I kind of wanted to do surgery but my doctor talked me out of it because I wasn't having shooting pain going down my legs. I have a bulging disc and arthritis and assist all pinching nerves blah blah blah so finally I couldn't take it anymore. At the end of last year I had uh spasms uh that knocked me right to the ground and my back was just just a mess. So I had surgery January 4th of last year and uh to fuse my L4 L5 and you know started playing in September and uh played the last three events on the on the champions tour. Not very well I might add but I was still kind of just only going at it half speed. And now I feel uh my back feels great. So uh matter of fact I just found out yesterday uh Steve Stricker unfortunately has been very ill the last uh couple weeks and he's obviously can't go to Kapalua and I was first alternate or Hawaii sorry uh Mitsubishi Electric Championship right uh and I just made my plane reservations today so I I got in uh unfortunately because Steve's sick but uh you know I'm looking forward to going but uh you know you you don't want anybody to be that sick uh so hopefully he feels better.

Mike Gonzalez 33:15

Yeah Bruce uh Bruce I think uh you heard from Steve because we were supposed to have him on the show recently and uh I guess he was a lot sicker than he let on.

Mark Calcavecchia 33:24

Yeah I I gather uh I hope uh like Max says I hope he gets better because uh apparently he's been very very sick actually uh Brenda my wife googled him this morning and uh kind of read me everything he went through he lost 25 pounds you know which he didn't have 25 pounds to lose uh he he's out of the hospital now but I guess he still can't eat solid food uh he had all all kinds of different issues and and nobody could figure out what the heck was going on so uh hopefully hopefully he's on the mend. Uh yeah I mean he's Strix a great guy obviously everybody loves him and uh good guy want him to get healthy. Uh yeah great captain uh speaking of writer cups that was that was fun to watch last year at Whistling Straits and uh uh but yeah I I plan on uh playing pretty much a full schedule this year uh at least through uh my last open at St. Andrews this year uh be my last one. Uh 2020 was supposed to be the last one but of course it got canceled. Yeah and then last year I had back surgery so I couldn't play so I wrote them a nice big old sappy letter and and they uh they're the RNA is fantastic about taking care of their past champions so uh they're gonna let me uh play my last one at St. Andrews this year and then anyway after that then I'll just kind of uh pick and choose what I play in the rest of the year.

Mike Gonzalez 34:46

I'm gonna let you uh ask the the other question that we typically ask our guests although I think I know the answer to it now.

Bruce Devlin 34:53

I don't remember what it was well something this is this is another one of these senior moment clips that we'll post as a as a highlight well uh how about a mulligan yeah so if you you you actually mentioned it uh earlier cal yeah and uh you might want to repeat you know if you if you could have one shot back where would it be it would definitely be the uh the shot uh in the 88 masters uh uh I can't really think of another one uh maybe the two footer I missed against Monty to avoid a lot of stress on me in the Ryder Cup but uh for one full shot uh I I wish I would have hit a nine iron uh on 18 at Augusta and given myself a chance to to make a putt.

Mark Calcavecchia 35:41

You know I'm pretty sure I would have hit the green. The wedge I hit was a good shot. It was right where I was aiming just a little right of the hole but it just landed you know right on top of the ridge and spun back down the hill and I just needed one more club and and that that would be my uh my one career mulligan uh green jacket uh hanging in my closet would uh would really look nice uh plus uh you know I don't think about Sandy Lyle very often except uh that one week a year it would have been nice uh playing in another you know I probably wouldn't be playing these days but uh would have been nice to play it in about another eight or ten masters uh if I had one uh yeah your explanation though of uh of of why you hit that wedge made a lot of sense to me having played the Masters many many times yeah you know you've you didn't realize that you had a backstop there for your 9-9 either right right I I it just never crossed my mind uh you know I was just really thinking that if I hit a a really good solid hard wedge it it could end up right next to the hole or just to the right of it. I thought it was a perfect hard wedge and you know I don't know if a who knows maybe a mile an hour of wind came up into me and it just it just was simply wasn't enough. And uh but I never never once thought about uh making sure I got it up there and and and using the backstop and it was would have ended up in the same place as what I was planning on anyway. So yeah never thought of it.

Mike Gonzalez 37:07

So Mark Mark uh Bruce and I have talked about uh doing this podcast and we kind of put it together in April and what we've done and we've talked about this a little bit what we've done is uh or we're creating this repository of these life stories of of you and the other guys as we say that played back when woods were wood. And so we envision that this will find a home somewhere with one of the golf organizations and and we're hoping that in 50 years or l or longer uh somebody sitting down looking at the golf records from this time in history and seeing that uh there was a guy named Kalkovecchia that won the open championship at uh at Troon and and uh they're they asked the question well who was this Mark Calcovecchia well we're hoping they're gonna listen to this and and maybe be listening to it in 50 years as we speak there you go that'd be very cool. So as we think about that how how would you want to be remembered as a golfer uh that's a good question.

Mark Calcavecchia 38:07

Uh I think I'd like to be remembered as as a guy who really liked to play aggressive and attack the course and and try to get the the best he could out of out of every single round. You know I just really and as a a a fairly nice guy I mean I don't think I have too many enemies and uh and obviously uh as I've aged uh I've mellowed uh but yeah I I I'd like to think that people uh will remember me as being having a really good short game and uh being a good aggressive player and somebody who loves the game.

Mike Gonzalez 38:42

Well Bruce Devlin probably a good place to leave it right there.

Bruce Devlin 38:45

Well we uh we certainly appreciate your time today mark and uh I'll I'll I'll reiterate what I said at the start of the show uh your your record uh certainly has been a wonderful record and in my opinion one of the greatest swingers of the golf club that's ever played the game and we thank you again for all your time it's been an absolute pleasure for Mike and I.

Mike Gonzalez 39:10

Bruce thank you very much uh any time and I enjoyed being on the show and uh Mike thank you it was great enjoyed it then it started to put it thank you for listening to another episode of 4 The Good of the Game and please wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify if you like what you hear please subscribe spread the word and tell your friends until we tee it up again the good of the game talk everybody