Mark O'Meara - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. Our guest this morning moved to Florida, presumably in search of the fountain of youth, and found it at age 41.

Bruce Devlin 0:29

Isn't that the truth? Yeah, it's a very interesting career. Two major championships after the age of 40. Uh 33 victories on uh tours around the world. It was a globetrotter, really. And it is indeed a great pleasure to have Mark O'Meara with us this morning. Mark, thanks for joining Mike and I. Thank you, Bruce.

Mark O'Meara 0:49

It's great to be on with you and Mike. Thanks for having me.

Mike Gonzalez 0:52

Yeah, thanks for joining us, Mark. And uh, as we've talked about before, we're here to tell your story. And uh there are so many great accomplishments to talk about, but as we always do with our guests, we we like to start at the beginning. So uh you, while you were born in North Carolina, before getting settled into uh to California, you lived in a lot of different places, didn't you?

Mark O'Meara 1:16

I did. You know, my dad and mom were both New Yorkers, and uh my dad was in the furniture industry his entire life. And so obviously, being North Carolina, being born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, it's close to high point. You know, that was at the time one of the biggest furniture market places in our country. Um, and but like you said, Mike, by the time I was 13 years of age, I was born in Goldsboro. I went from there to Marriott, Ohio, next to Birmingham, Michigan, next to Long Island, New York, next to Dallas, Texas, next to Tuston, California, off to Wheaton, Illinois, and then back to Michigan Viejo, California in 1969 when I was 13. So that's yeah, that's moving along a lot of places. Wow.

Mike Gonzalez 1:57

So you you live close to Bruce and I at one point, I guess.

Mark O'Meara 2:01

At one point, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:02

Yep. Yeah, I was in uh a little town called Warrenville, uh, you know, right after we got married, which is right next to Wheaton, the home of Chicago golf.

Bruce Devlin 2:11

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:12

Yeah. So uh tell us a little bit about growing up in Mission Viejo.

Mark O'Meara 2:17

Well, I think what happened was was interesting. Uh like even when we lived in Dallas, we lived on a golf course, and and I remember going hunt for golf balls and things like that um on Northwood. And, you know, but I didn't I I never really played. I just kind of saw golfers playing and this and that, and I was intrigued by the game, and my father played, but you know, I never really got into it until we came back to California in 69 when I was 13, and we moved above Micha Viejo Country Club. And as you know, when you bounce around that much as a young individual, it's very difficult to make friends because as soon as you make friends, you're on to the next, you know, state and city that you're living in. And I went in the garage and I took my mom's clubs out of the garage. I don't know why. And I hiked down the hill and and basically just started hitting golf balls on my own and fell in love with the game. I mean, I really did, and it was interesting because a lot of times everybody's always like, you know, did your father or your mother, you know, sign you up for lessons or this or that? And to be truthful, Mike and Bruce, they didn't. Um, you know, I just kind of fell into it. It kind of came into my lap. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 3:21

Now, was that part of the the the moving around that you just sort of gravitated toward the game to sort of be by yourself and and and just get focused on something?

Mark O'Meara 3:31

I believe so. I mean, it like I I said um when I was fortunate to go into the Hall of Fame in 15, this is obviously years down the road, but you know, I realized looking back at all this stuff that that you know golf became my friend. And, you know, what a great friend you could have. And my parents, you know, they knew where I was always at. They knew that that I was never gonna get in any trouble. And and being on a golf course, I mean, it teaches you just so much about life, not knowing whether I was ever gonna be good enough to be a professional golfer, but just the the fact that I could go down there and be in a space and a place where I could go hit golf balls and play the game and try to stay out of the way and not get the pro mad at me and I'd pick up the baskets, I'd do whatever it it it it really took to to be welcome there at the club, because as we know way back then, not many juniors, you know, it was hard to to to spend time at a at a at a golf club. So, you know, for me it it it really worked out in the aspect that being around the golf course and being around the club was so beneficial to me at that stage.

Bruce Devlin 4:34

Yeah, that's very interesting because you you know we all we all have stories about our kids in golf, and and I can I can back your story up very easily, Mark. My two boys got to go to the champions golf club when they were growing up. And you know who was taking care of them right there, Mr. Burke. Yeah, Jackie wouldn't put up with anything that was a little bit off center. So yeah, I appreciate how how how your mom and dad felt it was uh it's a great place for kids.

Mike Gonzalez 5:07

So, what did you do to to develop your game? How did you learn? Were you like me, kind of reading it out of the golf magazines back in the 60s, or how did you tend to learn the game?

Mark O'Meara 5:18

Well, to be fair, I watched. You know, I'm I watched every tournament on TV, and you know, I I think that that had a big impact. Um, uh watching the players, watching the tournaments, the courses they were playing, that drew a tremendous amount of interest to myself. And I never really, you know, I was friends with the assistant pro there, uh, a guy named Bob Harrod, obviously no longer alive, but I never really had any formal instruction or any lessons, so I didn't have anybody to really bounce you know ideas off, and I just was a natural, just kind of swinging, trying to emulate players back then uh of that era, and certainly, you know, Jack Nicholas at the time was the greatest player, and you know, I idolized Mr. Nicholas um as a young man, and I don't know, I just I you know I I I wasn't didn't have the best mechanics, uh, but I had good rhythm and tempo. And I think a lot of it I look back at the fact that I used to, when I was old enough, I started obviously working in the cart room and then picking up the driving range. So I hit I I wasn't a big uh or strong like some of these young players that bomb the ball today that have a lot of speed, but I hit a lot of wedges and a lot of short irons where I was picking balls off the side of the hills and this and that. So I think I developed when I look back, you know, good tempo in my swing, if that makes sense.

Bruce Devlin 6:37

Yeah, it does make sense.

Mark O'Meara 6:39

Very good.

Mike Gonzalez 6:40

Were there some really good top light amateur players at all in the club that you were able to learn things from as well?

Mark O'Meara 6:47

Kind of. I mean, I caddied for some of the players that were good, and then luckily my next door neighbor, who was a a year older than I was at the time, a guy named Tom Martin, Tommy Martin, he was playing and he was a better player than I was. And so, you know, he was a freshman in high school at Michigan Vale High School. I was a uh eighth grader at La Paz Junior High. But then when I came in my freshman year to high school, we had a a good high school golf team. And then you know, certainly in 1969, 70, 71, I mean, golf wasn't that cool, you know. In those high school early days, I mean you either played football or you played basketball or baseball, you know, some of the major sports. And as Bruce and I both know, I mean, you know, golf wasn't kind of the game that you would say that it is today.

Mike Gonzalez 7:33

Did you play other sports in in high school?

Mark O'Meara 7:37

Yeah, you know, I played little league baseball, I played tennis a lot when I was in when I lived in Dallas, I played tennis almost every day, so I got decent at that. But once I found golf when I was 13, uh, I put everything else on the back burner and I just said I was totally focused and and intrigued by, you know, the fact that I could go down there and and and do it by myself, and then certainly, you know, having those high school buddies that played and developing a good high school team and a rapport with the the younger players, that was very beneficial.

Bruce Devlin 8:08

So, Mark, even though uh Nick Nicholas was the greatest player when you were started watching the game, was uh was there any other player whose swing you tried to emulate or uh any facets of somebody else's swing that you liked a lot and tried to incorporate in your game?

Mark O'Meara 8:26

You know, Bruce, I I I I watched all those players, and I was fortunate to to be able to grow up during that generation. And, you know, players like Gene Littler, you know, who had you know an amazingly smooth, well-balanced golf swing. Um, you know, so I I mean it was players like that that maybe some of the younger generation don't realize, and you know, yourself, Bruce, included. I mean, I I you know, look, I I I would I came along like at the right time. I was telling Mike this that you know I got to to witness, you know, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Sneed and Mr. Nicholas and you know, yourself and and and Floyd and Trevino and you know Watson. We can go on down the list. That, you know, my admiration for the players of the generation that came before me was tremendous. And so then, you know, it was the next step to just keep trying to get better, work on your game, take one step every year, try to improve a little bit, and that's basically what I tried to do.

Bruce Devlin 9:27

You just put me in a class above my head, sir. Nah, no, no, sir. Yes, you did. Put me in the same class with those guys. I mean, what a and you know something, you you know, the Mike come up with this idea of uh, you know, doing a podcast with all you great players. And the further we've got into it, the more we realize, boy, wouldn't it have been great to have started this some, you know, a few years earlier, where we could have got the likes of Arnold and because you know the the ultimate idea with this whole thing is to get one of the four major golf organizations in the world to archive all this stuff because, you know, somebody says, Well, who who was that guy that didn't win a major until he was 41? Oh, oh, Mark O'Mira. Yeah, somebody said that. Well, you know, go to the PGA Tour or the USGA and click on Mark O'Mira, and you could listen to Mark O'Mira talk about his his wonderful career. I think it's a great idea.

Mark O'Meara 10:26

Well, it just shows that it can be done, you know, Bruce. And we we saw earlier this this past summer, um, you know, Phil Mickelson winning the PGA championship at his 50s. So, you know, the golf ball, as it sits there on the ground, it doesn't know how old you are. No, it doesn't. It's just waiting to be hit. Uh we know how old we are, but the golf ball's right.

Mike Gonzalez 10:46

That's right. Very good point, Mark. Uh, where did you guys uh first get together? Where you remember meeting?

Mark O'Meara 10:53

Wow, Bruce, when when I mean it must have been maybe my first or second year on the tour. 80. I turned pro in the fall of 80, um, after I got beat in the amateur. And you know, Bruce, as some of the people know, and I know Bruce will probably bring this up, when I was fortunate to win the U.S. Amateur, I played a young man named Kel Devlin. Uh, I believe it was maybe the second or third match, do you think?

Bruce Devlin 11:19

Round of 16, I think it was. There you go.

Mark O'Meara 11:20

Yeah. Bruce, really round of sixteen. So, you know, you realize, you know, certainly how good Kel Devlin was. And um, you know, I just have always had admirations for for Bruce and his family. And, you know, we have I've known Kel for all these years, and so we've we you know, I just like I said, just a lot of admiration for the for the Devlin family. And, you know, I I mean that's that's kind of what it's all about. They they set a standard, you know, Bruce and his generation set a standard for like my generation to come along and understand what the game is all about, one understand the the the players that came before us, and hopefully set the table right for the players that were gonna come behind us. And you know, that's what golf tries to do.

Bruce Devlin 12:05

Yeah, good point. I I believe that we first met, uh definitely was in '81, but uh I was talking to Mike earlier about your fabulous career at Pebble Beach and uh in 1982. You played in the open there, and there was an old fart who was leading the golf tournament after 36 holes. You remember who that was?

Mark O'Meara 12:27

Well, uh, that was probably you, Bruce, was it?

Bruce Devlin 12:32

Yeah, I don't know, you probably won't remember, but it was one of the funniest uh newspaper articles I've ever seen. I woke up on Saturday morning and the San Francisco Chronicle in those days used to have a green uh sports section. And the headline was Old War Horse Leads the Open. Now, you just talk about Mickelson winning uh a PGA championship when he was 50, and and I was and at that time I think I was 42, so it uh just goes to show how how long it can be if you uh you know stick be they are very stick toativeness with this game. It's a wonderful game. Yeah, for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 13:12

Well, let's stick with that U.S. amateur uh championship in 1979 at Canterbury, because Bruce, you had a pretty vivid recollection of uh that match with Kel Devlin and Mark O'Mara.

Bruce Devlin 13:24

I did. I I I actually walked around and and um and watched uh Mark play in Kel. But you know, the other thing though uh that impressed the hell out of me that at that tournament was there were a lot of great young players there. I mean, uh probably some names that were were more known in those days than what Mark O'Meara was. Mark, you beat some damn good players that week.

Mark O'Meara 13:47

Yeah, I mean, you know, Bobby Clampett was there, House Sutton, yeah, Joey Rassett. I mean, there was there was uh that was a world-class amateur field that competed yeah at Canterbury for sure in 79. It was uh it was impressive. And then as you know, Bruce, the the history that that Canterbury has held, you know, with the major championships that they've played there. It's just a wonderful golf there in Cleveland, a wonderful golf course, you know, in Cleveland, Ohio, for sure.

Bruce Devlin 14:12

Yeah, the the Mark and I had also had a little discussion about that. You know, we haven't seen a major championship at Canterbury in a long, long time. And and that uh begs the question, why? Why is that not back in the rotation?

Mark O'Meara 14:27

Well, I think a lot of it, to be fair, Bruce, is that you know the the majors uh have become so huge and so massive, uh the amount of crowds and then the corporate you know sponsorship involvement to be able to navigate people around the course. Where these old classic, you know, style courses. But it is fun to see them to see them go back once in a while to like Marion um courses like that. That it you know, it could possibly happen. And I know that everybody worries that you know sometimes these golf courses are too short uh of length for these young, talented, bombing hitting players. But in fairness, I mean they create the most drama on the golf course when you think about some of the greatest holes in the game of golf or the shortest holes in golf, not the longest hole.

Bruce Devlin 15:15

Absolutely, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 15:17

So you you dispatched uh John Cook eight and seven, I think, in the finals that amateur uh and uh you mentioned Hal Sutton. He he won the the amateur then the following year, didn't he?

Mark O'Meara 15:28

He did. At Country Club of North Carolina, he did.

Bruce Devlin 15:31

And I think Cookie won the won the year before, didn't he? Wasn't he defending champion when you beat him?

Mark O'Meara 15:37

Yes, sir, he was. He he had beat Scott Hoke in the finals uh at Plainfield in New Jersey, and then uh obviously I played John Cook in the finals uh there at Canterbury, and you know it was I I believe that everybody it was kind of my to my benefit for the fact that John was trying to win uh back-to-back U.S. Amateur Championships. He was an Ohio native, went to Ohio State. Uh everybody was he was favored to win. And the night before, I thought to myself, listen, what do I got to lose? Everybody thinks John's gonna win tomorrow. So when I went out there, yeah, I was nervous. The first uh 18 holes, I was three down after five, and I was thinking, oh gosh, you know, here we go. But then my putter, which I was never the greatest ball striker necessarily, I had a very upright swing, but I was always a good putter. And then next thing you know, the the table started to turn, and I remember never thinking about winning. I just kept, as the old cliche says, you know, one shot at a time or play one hole at a time. And I believe I was two up uh after the morning round, and I got out to a hot start in the afternoon, uh birdie in about five of the first eight holes, or something like four or five of the first eight holes. And next thing you know, on the ninth hole, which was our 27th hole, John had hit it in the right rough. I had hit a good drive, and we were walking off the T. And at that time, um, basically I I was eight up. And I thought to myself, the first thought was, oh my god, if I lose this thing, this is gonna be the biggest collapse in the history of the amateur. Great foot now. I know it, but you know how we work sometimes. It's crazy. And I said to myself, whoa, whoa, whoa just slow down. And we tied the uh the ninth hole, which is the par five, and so I went to the back nine, eight up with nine holes to go, and he birdied ten. And then I I finished it off with a birdie on eleven and he made bogey. So, you know, to win eight and seven, especially against a good friend, you know, John was a very good friend of mine. We grew up playing junior golf together out in California. Um, so yeah, that was a that was a big moment in my life to to to you know be a U.S. amateur champion for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 17:40

You know, with the uh with the match play format, the U.S. amateur, uh, do you think it's more difficult to go back to back than had it been stroke play?

Mark O'Meara 17:49

Well, it is, and that's why it's you know, when we look at the history of the U.S. Amateur and the players that have won the U.S. Amateur, you know, a lot of those players have gone on to have a very nice professional career and or win another major championship. Uh and then when you look uh at what Tiger Woods has done in his life, not just in the 15 majors and one of the greatest players of all time, you know, for Tiger to have won three straight U.S. juniors and then three straight U.S. amateurs. Yeah, pretty amazing. I don't see Bruce how that'll ever happen again. I don't either.

Bruce Devlin 18:23

I don't see it happening again either.

Mike Gonzalez 18:25

I don't know how many matches that was over those six years, but uh that's a lot of matches.

Mark O'Meara 18:30

Oh, unbelievable.

Mike Gonzalez 18:31

That is yeah. So let's step let's step back just a little bit and and talk about uh the the process you went through in high school trying to figure out what you wanted to do with collegiate golf. How'd that how'd that go?

Mark O'Meara 18:44

Well, I was because I think a lot of times I I we've got moved around so much. I was extremely close with my mother. And when I uh we won the state championship, the high school state championship in California when I was a junior. Tommy, my next door neighbor, was a senior. He went off to he was gonna play golf at Long Beach State. Um the future was that I was more than likely gonna follow him the next year. He ended up transferring from before he even went to Long Beach State to UCI, Cal State Irvine. And when I finished school, my senior year, um, I had a couple different recruiting trips. I got a letter from, I never forget, I got a letter from Dave Williams, who's the head coach at University of Houston, and they had the best team. And it was flattering to get a letter from him, but I also knew that Be had to get on the team. Yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to play, you know, if I go to University Houston. And it's it's it's away from home. And and then I also had I went on a recruiting trip with my father up to LA because UCLA was getting ready to start their golf program, which would be my would have been my freshman year in college. And Eddie Marens, the pro at Bel Air, was gonna be the head coach at UCLA Bruins for the golf team. And so my dad and I drove up to Bel Air, we had lunch with Mr. Marens. Of course, you know, I had a sport coat on, I got my hair cut. Mr. Marens is a very intimidating guy for a young, you know, 18-year-old California guy, uh kind of a surfer dude. Um, we had lunch at Bel Air, then we went over and did a tour of UCLA, the campus, and we were driving back to Michigan Viejo with my father and I, and my dad's like, Mark, you should, you know, this is the school. You know, they they're gonna start their golf program. Mr. Marens is a great guy, he's a great teacher. Um, you know, UCLA's got an unbelievable history, their basketball program, you know, Coach Woodman, all this stuff. And I and I I let my dad speak, and then I finally looked over at my father and I said, Dad, you know, first of all, I'm not going to play basketball. I'm going to play golf. And number two, if I go to UCLA, like I was a BC student, I was an okay student, a little above average, obviously. I said, if I go to UCLA, I'm gonna have to study so hard that I won't be able to play any golf at all. So, you know what, Pops? I'm gonna go to Long Beach State. And he was so disappointed, but I loved the coach there. His name was Don Reed. He was the ex-football coach. They don't have a football program anymore, but Mr. Reed was the football coach for a while at Long Beach State. It was close to home. I knew I could get my degree and my education there. I knew I was gonna play my freshman year. There was a couple players there that recruited me, Bo Baugh, Laura Baugh's brother, a guy named Mike Kranz. They were both there at uh at Long Beach State. And to be fair, I could commute and I wanted to stay at home. And I commuted back and forth. It wasn't a bad drive. It was like back in those days, it wasn't that crowded in Southern California, it was a 35-minute commute. And uh I think my certain my father was a little disappointed in that selection, but yet for me, it really Mike and Bruce, it was the best fit for me to go to Long Beach State.

Bruce Devlin 21:42

Yeah, and uh, you know, and it all comes down to you and being comfortable and happy where you're going, too. I mean, I I can understand completely your uh reasoning for Houston. I mean, they had a heck of a team for a long time, didn't they? They were a powerhouse for us.

Mark O'Meara 21:59

Yeah. Absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez 22:00

Hal Sutton, who would have been looking at colleges about the same time, I guess, had told us the story of his college election. He mentioned being recruited quite hard and uh his campus visit featured a game. Uh it might have been the I I may be wrong. It might be the Elvin Hayes Lou Alcinder game that they took him to. I'm not sure. But but the day after uh Coach Williams takes him to the library. And he's thinking, well, wait a minute. What are we doing going to the library? And Coach Williams looked up on the on the wall and he shows him this row of all Americans, you know, these uh from from from Houston. And he looks up at a slot, he says an open slot. He says, he said, now you could be number 42. Wow. And he comes back to his dad uh who who really wanted him to go to centenary. And uh he says, Dad, he says, Do you think anybody will ever remember who number 42 was? He says, but I think they'll remember who number one was at Sentenary, and that's that's how that worked out. But uh so take us through a little bit then about how your game developed during your college career to a point where you finally said, Ah, I may try this professionally.

Mark O'Meara 23:13

Well, I think what happened was I progressively got a little bit better throughout my college career at Long Beach State. And I uh certainly the the blossom year was kind of my junior senior year. I was an all-American and I'd won some tournaments, and then my senior year, like I won at Pasat Tiempo, which is now a uh college tournament that's on the golf channel, that's on TV, uh, which is an Alistair McKinsey designed golf course up in Santa Cruz, California. And then that summer, uh I played well. I I I won the California State Amateur, beating a guy named Lenny Clements eight and seven at Pebble Beach. I won the Southwestern Amateur, I won the U.S. Amateur, I won the Mexican amateur, beating Gary Hallberg in the final. So, you know, when you you have a summer like that, and to be fair, even though I I accomplished those things like my senior year in school, I still had another half a year to go back and get my degree. So I stayed an amateur because I knew I was gonna be able to play in the masters and the US Open, and that would have got me in the open championship too, but I didn't really have any money, so I couldn't go, yeah, couldn't go across the pond. But uh I thought I I yeah, I had a little bit of confidence, but I I wasn't overconfident, not like the young players of today's generations. I mean, these kids are so good. And and when I I played in in 1980 at the in the Masters as the U.S. amateur champion, and I was paired with Fuzzy Zelda the first day. He was defending Masters Champion. Yeah, we played Tucsons back then, right? He used the club caddy, and I stayed in the crow's nest right above the champion's locker room. And I just remember I was way out of my element. I mean, I wasn't that good, to be fair. I think I shot 80, 81, whatever it was. It was somewhere around there, and I remember driving down Magnolia Lane, leaving on Friday that April, and back in Friday in 1980, and my father, it was just my dad and I in the car, and my dad looked over at me and he goes, Mark, are you okay? And I'm like, Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. Why? And he goes, Well, you know, I know you didn't play that well this week, and this and that. And I remember looking at my father and saying, Dad, you know, there's a couple things. Number one, I said, you know, uh, I'm not that good. You know, I'm an amateur. I I, you know, I understand I've had some of the success in the amateur ranks, but when it comes to professional golf, you know, that's a little different ball game. And number two, I said, Dad, you know what else? And he goes, What? And I said, No matter what happens in my life, I said, I got to play in the masters one time. And then 18 years later, I stood on the 18th green with a putt and it went in somehow, some way, and I was a masters champion. So, you know, you just never know what could happen in this game.

Bruce Devlin 25:58

And you got to play there 34 times, not once. I know, Bruce.

Mark O'Meara 26:04

I mean, I I I have I've been able to play with the best players in the world. Great. You know, to come uh uh finally have that major breakthrough in in 1998, uh, that that Sunday afternoon in the final group. Um, you know, of course, like you pointed out, I mean, a lot of media when I went in the press room on Saturday, they were like, oh, you know, Mark, you're on that next best list of players who have never won a major. And and I thought to myself, I said to the media, I said, listen, it's not like I haven't tried. Yeah. I mean, I I've come close. I mean, I don't know what else to say, and I don't look at my life as a failure as a failure. Because, you know, look, I I grew up in a middle class family. I washed cars for a living when I went to college, you know. I mean, I I I picked, I did all that stuff, and and I and I and I'm thankful for that. But, you know, if I if it happens tomorrow, great. If it doesn't happen, you know, I'll move on. You know, I mean, it's not the end of the world.

Bruce Devlin 26:58

Yeah. Sounds like the uh that attitude come through like it did at Canterbury. You know, what what do you have to lose? Exactly.

Mark O'Meara 27:05

I mean, you can't the thing about golf is you know, Bruce, and I know Mike, I mean, you you know, you can't control your opponent. You know, you just and you can only control yourself out there. And a lot of times there's there the great thing about the game of golf is that you know your mind can work for you and it can work against you at times. And it's not a sport where you know the playing field stays the same all the time, or you know, you're again you're you're in a team environment. You're not. You're out there on your own. And every shot's different, no matter whether it's a chip shot, putt, drive, bunker shot, every course is different, and every day is different the way you feel. So, you know, it's it's always a learning process when you're out there on the golf course, no matter what age you are.

Bruce Devlin 27:49

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 27:50

So while you might not have been able to even fathom driving all out out of Magnolia Lane in in 1980, that you were gonna win this tournament, beat the best in the world 18 years later. Did you come across or come away from the experience uh as something that encouraged you or discouraged you? Must have must have encouraged you.

Mark O'Meara 28:10

No, it was pretty discouraging, like, to be fair. Because it didn't get much better later that summer when I played in the U.S. Open uh at Baltasar in 1980, and I was paired with Hale Irwin and Sevi Balasteros.

Mike Gonzalez 28:22

Yeah, so Hale was the defending champ again, right?

Mark O'Meara 28:25

Exactly, and Sevy was the defending open champ. So I I had I had met Hale before, and I'd done an exhibition with Hale earlier that year, and so I I knew Hale Irwin, but I didn't really know Sevi very, you know, I didn't know Sevy, and I and I met him and we played the first day, and I think I shot 79 first round at at Baltis Rawl. Sevi shot 78, and Hale shot like 70 or 69. And the next morning, we played late the first day, the next morning, um Sevi didn't show up for his tea time. Whiffed his tea time, and it was just Hale and I. We played a Tucsome. And you know, I played around and I wasn't playing very well again. I think I shot another 79, and Hale shot 69 or 70, and I haven't told the story. Well, I have told the story a few times. And I just remember on the 18th hole, uh, it's the par five there, and we both hit good drives, and we hit laid up for our second shot over the ditch, and we're walking to our third shots, and I'm walking along by Hale, and I looked over at Hale and I said, Hey, Hale, I said, I I gotta say something. I hope you don't mind, but uh, you know, I'm an amateur, I'm not that good. I I hope I haven't gotten in the way out here. And he put his arm around me and he goes, Mark, he goes, let me let me give you a little piece of advice. First of all, I can't actually say it because I don't want anybody to be honest, but he goes, I could really give a crap how you play. He didn't quite say it in those words, but it was something like we can edit it, of course. Yeah, and the second and the second thing is, you know, the sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be. So he tapped me on the shoulder and he walked off. And and I remember signing his card, and I was fine with that. And I came out of the score stamp and my mom and dad were there, and my fiance at the time, and Alicia and my dad's like, God, I wish I had a camera. I'm like, for what? You can't have a camera out here, Dad. He goes, Oh, I just wish I had a camera. I thought that was very impressive. I said, What? He goes, Oh, the US Open defending champ, putting his arm on the USM, consoling him coming up the 18th fairway. One quite like that. You realize, yeah, you don't realize what he told me. But that's the kind of competitor, you know, certainly Hale is. And I've I've Bruce knows. He's a great competitor. Great. The best.

Mike Gonzalez 30:35

Yeah. So you would savvy it. You were about the same age, weren't you?

Mark O'Meara 30:40

Yes, because so, you know, compared to today's generation, I mean, these kids when they're 21, 22, 20, you know, they're already primed to play the PJ tour and they're winning on the PJ tour. They're ready to win. You know, I would have yeah, I would have been, you know, that was 80, so I was born in 57. That was, you know, I was 22, 23 years of age, and I was still an amateur. And to be fair, Mike, I wasn't that good. And I and I knew that. Um but later that year, or or somewhere during that year, what what happened was I came to Dallas and I played in the Byron Nelson as an amateur at Preston Trails. And I made the cut, which you know, at that time was a good accomplishment for me. And I remember after 72 holes going over to the scoreboard, the big scoreboard, to just kind of see where I finished or whatever. And I went over there and I looked, and obviously O is you know close to N. And so Jack Nicholas's name was up there, and I tied Jack Nicholas.

Bruce Devlin 31:34

And you said.

Mark O'Meara 31:35

And so that's when I said to myself, listen, if I can tie my idol in the greatest player of all time, you know, maybe I should chase this dream a little bit. And that's kind of what was the really the stepping point to say, you know what? Yeah, I I I should go to the qualifying school and give this a try.

Mike Gonzalez 31:52

Which you did.

Mark O'Meara 31:54

Yeah, in 1980, I um I got a couple thousand dollars from from working and saving some money, and I went to Q school. The first stage was in Crystall Air outside of LA and Palmdale, and I got through the first stage, and then the finals were in Fresno, California at Fort Washington later that year. And I'll never forget, I I made it through there, but the guy I played with in the final round, who actually bogeyed the last hole, and he was the last guy to get his card in the fall of 1980, it was Fred Couples. So Freddie and I played together the final round of the final stage of qualifying school in the fall of 80. We both got through. He was the last guy to get through. Back then, as as Bruce knows, there was a spring school and a fall school, and you know what, maybe 24 guys got through, 22 guys, something like that. Depends on the Yeah, no, and I and I got on a plane a couple days later. Uh bar once again, I had a couple thousand dollars, and I flew down and I played the Australian Open, I played the Australian PJ, and I played the Air New Zealand tournament in Auckland. And I made the cut in all three, which I didn't necessarily do that well, but I came home with like $8,000. And I uh I got married and I had a Volkswagen rabbit, and I had the $8,000, and I had five guys at Michigan Country Club that wanted to sponsor me and give me like $5,000 apiece. And my father is like, Mark, they're I know they're all your friends, everybody means well, but why don't you just go out there and play? You don't worry about the money. Um, if we need to go to the bank and borrow some money, we will. But I said to my dad, you make it sound so easy. But to be fair, I didn't really have anything, so it really didn't matter. And I took my 8,000 that I had and I had the Volkswagen Rabbit. Bruce can relate to all these things, and I I drove I drove down to the desert to play in the Bob Hope Desert Classic, was my first PJ tour event, and I made the cut, made sixteen hundred dollars, which got me in the next week because back then, Mike, it was the top 60. Yeah, and if you made the cut, you were in the next week. And if you missed the cut, you had to go to Monday qualifying. Right. And I made the cut and I went to Phoenix and I finished tied for eighth and made like $8,000 the next week. So I was off. Money, money, money. Yeah, I never needed a sponsor. You know, boom. That's right. So it was fun. I played, I think I tell a lot of these young players that, gosh, you know, I need to recover, I need to take some time off, whatever. I played, I played the first 13 weeks, I had a week off and played the next 12 weeks in a row. So I played 25 out of 26 weeks. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 34:22

Yeah.

Mark O'Meara 34:23

We we did that though, right, Bruce? It was no big deal.

Bruce Devlin 34:26

You know. When you went well, I was uh started a little earlier than you, obviously, but you know, my my first victory, I won three three thousand, you know. That was a it seemed like a lot of money back then. Uh $3,000. Can you imagine that?

Mike Gonzalez 34:43

Well, you know, if you if you stopped playing for a week, unless you were had some Ford exemptions, you you were back to Monday qualifying, weren't you?

Mark O'Meara 34:51

Exactly. I had to Monday qualify twice my rookie year on the tour. And it was crazy. Because the two places I had to Monday qualify for were the LA Open and the Andy Williams tournament for San Diego. The two courses and tournaments that I lived the closest to.

Bruce Devlin 35:06

Yeah.

Mark O'Meara 35:07

But it was fun because at LA I had to Monday qualify, and it was at LA North, which, as we all know, is a very famous great golf course. You bet. Um, and I shot like 64 or 5. I can't remember. I remember putting my scorecard down. I looked at the PGA tour fish, I got, boy, I hope this is gonna be good enough. Yeah. I won the qualifying. Yeah, you know, that's gonna be one easy. Yeah, no, no, no. So it uh you know, and then then later that year, I think I finished 56th on the money list, which got me into the top 60, and I made $76,000 and I was rookie of the year. So those were all positive things. But still at that time, Mike and Bruce, I mean, I didn't I didn't have a teacher. I didn't have somebody I could like I didn't yeah, I didn't know anything about the golf swing, to be fair. And um, you know, my next year I struggled a little bit on the tour, and that's when they went from the top 60 to the top 125, and I was struggling a little bit, and I remember hitting balls at Pinehurst, it was a Hall of Fame classic at Pinehurst, North Carolina. And that's when I was hitting balls in the range, and this young guy, I was shot 74 the first day. I had sent my money in to go back to the Q school because I was about 118th on the money list at the time. And, you know, that's when the whole thing came about, where this young guy was watching me and behind me, and I'm like, hey, you look like one of the teaching instructors. What do you think? And then he goes, Can I ask somebody else to come? I'm like, hey, bring the whole staff out. I need all the help I can get right now. And he went back in and then he brought this other guy out and he introduced himself. He goes, Hey, he goes, you know, I'm I'm Hank Haney. I'm one of the assistant teaching guys here at Pinehurst. You know, what's going on? I say, hi, Hank, I'm Marco Mary. He goes, Oh no, I know who you are. And nobody really, you know, knew who Hank Haney was, and this and that. And then that's when, you know, all this stuff really changed. I mean, uh, my swing went from a guy that really didn't know anything about the golf swing that was very upright, very handsies. I used to hook the ball a tremendous amount. And, you know, I went to try to, you know, simplify my swing, maybe take some of my hands out of play, get the club a little bit more on plane. Um, and that's kind of what Hank helped me with. And I went from a guy that was about ready to lose his card to taking about a year and a half to almost two years of changing, which was really hard. Very because everybody always likes when uh we all know when we're trying to help somebody, they're like, God, that feels uncomfortable. I'm like, Well, how are you doing with what feels comfortable? Not very good. Yeah, you should try uncomfortable. And so, you know, I two and a half years later, I won my first tournament at Milwaukee, beating Tom Watson, who was the best player in the world at the time, and I had 16 top tens and finished second on the money list. So certainly I was moving in the right direction.

Mike Gonzalez 37:45

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 teat up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.