Mark O'Meara - Part 4 (The Major Wins)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Why don't we move on to some of the really good stuff? We've talked a lot of good stuff, but uh let's move on to the majors to talk a little bit about uh Sonya's success there. I guess we'll start with the Masters and just recapping Mark O'Meara's record for our uh for our listeners. Uh Mark has 34 starts there, 19 cuts made. He had two top fives, uh three top tens, eleven top twenty-fives. Of course, your best finish there was 1998, uh, winning by one over uh Freddie Couples and David Duvall. Uh, who were the 36 whole leaders, I as I recall.

Mark O'Meara 0:52

I think you're right. I mean, those guys were both playing well. I mean, David was at the top of his game. Fred, you know, Fred Couples is Freddie, as we know, and a former champion there at Augusta National. So he was always a fan favorite and plays really, really well around Augusta National.

Mike Gonzalez 1:09

So just take us through that whole experience that week. Uh, do you feel any different going into that week than others uh coming into to Augusta?

Mark O'Meara 1:16

No, to be fair, I played prax rounds with Tiger that week in '98. I was hitting it terrible. I wasn't putting well, I didn't have that much confidence. My confidence on the scale of zero to ten. And you started that too. Yeah, it was like a one. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I went out there the first day. It was windy, it was playing pretty tough. And I'll never forget, I was on the 10th green and I had about an eight-footer for par. And it was about a cup left to right break putt. Um, and I yipped it. I mean, I I I mean, I had a little bit of hit in my stroke and I yipped it. And so I finished the round, I shot two over par, 74. And I remember walking off the 18th grade, and my my wife and my kids were there, and Hank Haney was there, and they were like, oh, you know, like typical support grouping. Oh, you know, you didn't play that bad. The conditions were kind of tough. And I'm trying to I looked at like, yeah, trying to, you know, smooth the agony of shooting two over par. And I remember looking at him and I looked at Hank and I'm like, let me get something straight. I know you guys all want to come with that, and that's fine and dandy. I said, but I'm yipping him on the 10th green. I yipped the putt on the 10th green on Thursday. I'm like, give me a break. I said, and so Hank's like, well, let's go to the putter green. It was late because I played late the first day, and we were on the putting green out in front of Augusta National, and he's like, you know, I'm all it looks to me like your putter face, it looks like your eyes are aiming too far to the right and your putter's too closed. I'm like, what? And he goes, Yeah, I think what she should do is tilt your eye line to the left a little bit more and open your putter face up. And I looked at Hank Haney and I'm like, this is like seven o'clock in the night. Are you crazy? That's what I said to him. I said, Do you understand, Hank? The greens run like 14 on the stem meter out here at Augustine National. Now, let me get this straight. You want me to cock my head and tilt my eyes to the left and open my putter face up? And I said, Really? And he goes, Well, what do you got to lose? I'm like, Well, that's a good point. And so, yeah, you know, I didn't feel very comfortable at all. I mean, I didn't feel comfortable the first day on the greens, and so the second day I'm out there, and on the first green, I got my head kind of trying to tilt to more left. And to make a long story short, I shoot 70, which was great because you know what? Now I make the cut, yeah, and then I get to play on the weekend. So I shoot 70, and now my game plan is okay, let's just play good enough on the weekend to make the top 24 because that gets you invited back to the masters the following year. And I go out on Saturday, it was kind of windy, and it wasn't playing that easy. And and um, you know, and I must have played decent. I don't I don't remember. I just know that I shot 68, and the reason why I know I must have played decent is because I was paired with Scott McCarron. I don't remember it at the time, but I know that Scott brought it up to me. He goes, you know, I was playing with you on Saturday and you played awesome and you putted good. And I'm like, wow, if you can only know how I felt over my putter, I did not feel good whatsoever. Uh and so lo and behold, now I'm in the final group on Sunday. And I think I'm four under par. Yeah, I was four under par. I believe there was a couple other Fjork was four under, maybe Duval, somebody else was four under, and Fred was six under. And so I'm paired in the final group with Fred Couples on that Sunday afternoon uh at Augusta National. And, you know, look, to win any tournament, it's not easy, let alone a major championship. And you know, you got to get a little bit lucky here and there, as Bruce knows. I mean, when we were fortunate to win, you know, it's a bounce here, it's a it's uh, you know, hit an edge over here, a good break there. You know, on Sunday, um, you know, I got off to a decent start. I made a par. I remember sniping it on the second T, kind of hit the trees, it didn't go down to the ditch, it dropped straight down, laid up, hit it on the green, made a 12-footer for Bertie. I made a long putt on the fourth hole from the left side of the green from like 60 feet. I was just trying to two putt. I was praying for a two-put, just praying for one, and I made it. And then that put me in a tie for the lead. No, no, we bounced around, we got to the back nine. Um, Duvall was playing well, um, Furick was playing well, bunch of the guys. It was all there was a few guys in the mix. Uh, you know, and I just remember certain shots like the 12th hole. You know, I get up on the 12th T, it's an eight-iron shot, the pin's in that famous position to the right. I'm aiming for the middle of the green, trying to hit it over the bunker there on the left. And what do I do? I hit it straight at the pin. And but I didn't absolutely flush it. So I'm thinking, oh no, that better get up, get up, get up. I caught it like just ever so slightly a little bit thin, and it flew on the fringe, you know, but a yard short of that, it's back in the race three. Yeah, yeah. And it didn't, you know, it got on the green. I made par and Fred made a mess of the 13th hole, and we get around to the the to the 15th hole of the par five. And at that time, David Duvall had posted eight under par. He had it nine under at one time. I believe he three potted the 16th hole. He was finished at eight under par. We were on the 15th T of the par five waiting. And at that time, um, Fred was six under par. I was six under par. Uh, so we were two shots back. And we we we both hit oh well, I hit a good drive down the fairway. Fred hit it to the right over by the 17th fairway. Those trees weren't there or there. There was two big humps between 17 and uh and 15 at the time. And he was way over to the right. I hit it in the fairway, I hit a three-iron on the green, which again it landed on the front fringe, a yard and a half short of where it flew, it would have been in the water short of the green on 15, but it got up on the green. Fred hit a six-iron over the top of the trees, I believe it was six-iron to about eight feet. Great shot. I two putt. Fred makes his eagle putt. People are going crazy. Now he's eight under, I'm seven, uh six, I'm seven under. And and eight hundred is leading. So we go over to sixteen, and he hits it on the green. I hit up a good six iron to about eighteen feet. Uh, I'll never forget. I I I hit a really good putt. I thought I made it. It should have gone in. It missed on the low side, tapped in for my par. We were walking off the green, and I remember saying to Jerry Higginbotham, who was caddying for me at the time, I said to Jerry, I said, nobody heard this. And I have no idea Mike and Bruce Wise said this, but I I said to Jerry, I said, you know, Jerry, I handed him my ball and I said, you know what? That's as good a six-iron as I can hit. That's as good a putt as I could hit under these circumstances. I said, give me a new ball, I'm gonna burning the last two holes. But I said it real silently, and I and I I didn't believe that. I didn't think that was gonna happen, but I it came out of my mouth. And I I hit a good drive on 17, hit a nine-iron right over the top of the pin, had about a 12-footer. Fred missed it just short, right? Chipped up, made his par. I felt good over my putt. I felt confident over my putting. I felt like I was gonna make the putt. Now I don't know all of a sudden why I felt that much better, but I did, and I made it. And now we're on the 18th T. Three guys at eight on their par. Duvall in in Butler cabin with with Jack Stevens, myself on the T, and Fred couples at eight on their par. Fred hits it in the left bunker, I hit it in the fairway. Fred hits it in the right bunker, I hit a seven-iron on the green, you know, a pin high. It landed uh about a foot or eight ten inches short of that false front and skipped forward. So once again, you know, uh a foot short of that, the ball comes off the front of the green. But my ball went forward to the pin high, 18 feet right of the hole. Fred went into the bunker. People applaud us. Obviously, you need a drink of water, very, very nervous. Your mouth is very, very dry. And he I thought to myself, you know, he's gonna hold his bunker shot. I'm gonna have to make this to time. That was my self-talk because I was waiting on the green. Of course, he didn't. He hit it to about four or five feet. He had a good bunker shot. And I got my ball from Jerry and I put it down and I was lining up my putt. I never once thought, you know, if I win, I make this putt, I win the masters. If I make this putt, I'm gonna have the green jacket. But you know, nope, never thought that. What I said to myself was this I said, you know, Mark, as I put my ball down and I walked around to line my putt up on the 18th green, I said to myself, look, this is what you play for. Sooner or later you got to make a putt, whether it's here or on 10 or 11, and the longer it goes on, the more the odds go out of your favor. So why not just put a good stroke on this putt? So that's what I that's what I was self-talk in my own mind. And I put my ball down, took my practice strokes, went through my routine. I hit my putt, and and after I hit my putt, it was about two feet off the putter. I knew that I thought to myself, thank God, I at least hit a nice putt. Now I had no idea what was getting ready to happen. And as it was tracking down there, a little right to left break, people stood up on the other side of the hole. My ball got to about a foot or so from the hole, it started breaking left. I thought to myself, you know, oh my God, it's gonna go in. And it was breaking to the left. And my last thought was, you know, please don't lip out. And when it caught it caught the left center of the hole and it dove in the hole, my arms and hands and my ping answer two putter went up in the air. And my expression on my face and what I felt was more shock and disbelief as to what the hell just happened. And then I realized I'd won the masters. Yeah. That's great, Mark.

Mike Gonzalez 10:22

That's just amazing for our listeners, I'm sure, to hear you talk about the fact that uh it really didn't uh go through your mind much that, hey, I you know, I win this, I'm the master champion.

Mark O'Meara 10:30

Well, I think that's what this is the thing, this is where the mind is such an interesting um uh play when it comes to trying to win golf tournaments. And Bruce would know this because Bruce won plenty of golf tournaments. And sometimes you have to realize that you can't look so far ahead, you can only do what you can control right now. And if you start thinking about like when people would say if Bruce or myself would miss a putt, and you know, you look in the paper the next day, well, that putt- I that would have, you know, I would have won fifteen thousand dollars more, or five thousand or twenty or a hundred, whatever the number is. No, you wouldn't have, because you know what? You never had that money in the first place. Yeah, that's right. You know, yeah, so I look at it as you know what, I can't control anybody else. I can only control myself. And if I start thinking too far ahead, then I can't do what's you know important at that moment. And and uh luckily, I don't know why I I I said that to myself or did that, but I think that was a big reason why you know that putt went in. And I think the also thing is that it goes back to what we said earlier. Sometimes when you lower your expectations, that's when you can kind of have a breakthrough. And what's really interesting is that you know who had the fewest amount of putts in the Masters that year?

Mike Gonzalez 11:42

105. I did.

Mark O'Meara 11:43

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 11:43

105.

Mark O'Meara 11:45

I did. And you know what? I felt terrible over my putting all week. Yeah, that's great. That was astounding.

Mike Gonzalez 11:51

Yeah, it's astounding to see. Uh, you know, knowing that you had 105 putts that week, which, you know, Bruce, you think about that in the context of Augusta National and those greens, and then to hear you talk about how you felt over the over the over the ball on Thursday.

Mark O'Meara 12:04

That's unbelievable. Yeah, it truly is. Pretty never felt that comfortable. I I I did feel, yeah, certainly I was extremely nervous coming down the stretch, but I did feel more comfortable. I mean, well, I might not have felt more comfortable, but I hit better putts. Yeah. So something was going on, something was doing, you know, right for me that that Sunday afternoon.

Mike Gonzalez 12:23

Yeah. Bruce, do you recall who had the final word on the telecast before uh he stroke that last putt on 18? No. Ken Venturi. Ken Venturi. It wouldn't surprise me to see him make it.

Mark O'Meara 12:38

Yeah. And you know what's interesting is he was sitting uh, you know, certainly alongside Jim Nance, who's a great, obviously, in the in the box up there. I mean, one of the best in the business. And, you know, of course, Jim's pulling for Fred Couples because they were roommates at the University of Houston. So and I get it, but you know, Fred had already won the Masters. He doesn't need to win it twice. You know, pass it along to somebody else.

Mike Gonzalez 13:01

So you win it in your 15th try. Uh, how much credit does Tiger Woods uh get uh in the whole scheme of things for helping you prepare for that moment?

Mark O'Meara 13:12

He gets a ton of credit. I mean, I I I've always said this. I would not have won those two majors at 41 years of age if Tiger Woods hadn't come into my life. I mean, I I and people say, what does that mean? I said, well, I said, when you're around somebody that's quite a bit younger, I think he's 14 years younger, something like that, almost 15. Um, you know, and he is pull up full of you know great ability and great drive. And, you know, I think that just when you're around people like that, that helps, you know, bring you along on your shell coat, coattails. It's called osmosis. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think he had a huge impact on me winning there. And it makes it even more special that when I win my first major championship after all these years of playing professional golf around the world, that I sit down there in Butler Cabin and Tiger Woods presents me with the green jacket.

Bruce Devlin 14:03

Yeah, how about that? What a day. Incredible. What a day.

Mark O'Meara 14:06

And you know, Matt Couture was low amateur that year, too. So Matt was down there in Butler Cabin, and we've gone to see how great a career Matt Couture's had. So, you know, those fond memories uh I'll always remember, and and I'm thankful that that that that transpired late in my career. Um, it was kind of the icing on the cake for me to be able to finally you know break through and win a major championship.

Bruce Devlin 14:30

And then you go to a uh you go over to the uh what used to be called the British Open then and a great golf course. I think a great golf course. You won on a beauty over there, right?

Mark O'Meara 14:41

I think so. I mean, certainly Burkdale, Royal Burkdale. Uh, we have so many great courses. As you know, Bruce, you played in so many open championships uh around the Great Lynx golf courses, whether it's in England or Scotland. Um, you know, for me at Burkdale was was one that I had won a European tour event there uh in the late 80s. Uh uh it was called the Lawrence Batley Invitational, it was on the European tour, it was an official event. Later on, it became the English uh classic, English Open later on, but I won there at Burkdale, I think it was in '89, I'm not sure. And then a few years later, on a Sunday afternoon, I was in the final group in 1991 in the Open Championship, uh, tied for the lead with Ian Baker Finch. And your fellow Ozzy put on a display on that front nine that was second to none. 29, right?

Bruce Devlin 15:32

Didn't he shoot 29 on the front side?

Mark O'Meara 15:34

He did. He never he hit every drive down the middle of the fairway, hit every iron at the flag, and made every putt. It's the most incredible display I've ever seen for nine holes. And he held on to become the open champion uh uh in golf that year. Finchy did, and it was it was great to watch. It was fun to be alongside. We came back to Orlando. We were both living in Orlando the next week, and he called me up on the phone and I came over to his house and he toasted me, and I toasted him out of his new Claret Jug that he had just won. And he said to me, You know, Emmo, I'm so thankful that I was paired with you on the final round because that helped me win, because we're buddies and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I appreciate that, Ian, and I'm glad you won. And you're a class act. And I've always believed that about Ian Baker Finch. And then seven years later, as as Bruce pointed back, coming coming over as the defending or as the current masters champion. Um, you know, I'm in the second to last group on Sunday, paired with with Jim Furick, uh Jasper Parnovic, and Brian Watts, who a lot of people didn't know who Brian Watts was, but I knew who he was because he was an American, very talented player that had dominated the Japanese tour, had won so many times, and a very, very fine player in his own right. Um, you know, we came down the stretch, and after 72 holes, you know, we were tied for the lead at even par after four days, and we went into the four-hole playoff, and I went on to win uh the claret jug that year and become the open champion of the world. And you know, that in my mind is if I only had one major to win, and only one major on my resume, um, even though I'm an American, I would say that if I only had one one, I would want the open championship. I think the claret jug and the open championship are what golf is all about. I mean, it would it started over there, it's played on Lynx Golf. Golf is a game of of Lynx Golf, in my opinion, and it's the greatest championship.

Mike Gonzalez 17:31

Uh, just a few things to recall from that uh from that win there. Uh you closed with a 68, which was a pretty fine showing in the final round, but Brian Watts had to make a hell of an up and down on the last, didn't he, out of a bunker with an awkward lie.

Mark O'Meara 17:47

He did, and I think it'll be fun for your listeners to hear this. So after I'd finished, um, I two putted the last hole. And uh the guy who finished one behind me was a guy named Tiger Woods. Um, and that was the same year that a young man named Justin Rose at 17 years of age made a big roar and a big splash in the world of golf when he holed it from short of the green on the left for a birdie. I I had heard all these roars because they were in front of me. Um, but after I'd put it out, I'd signed my card and Brian was in the first cut on the left on the 18th hole, which is a really tough, long par four. And the RNA were like, you know, Mark, you can sit over here. If Brian par's last hole, you'll be in a playoff. It's four holes. If he birdies, he wins. If he bogeys, you know, you win. You know, what do you want to do? And I said, well, at the time, my wife and my two kids were sitting out there by the 18th green. I said, I'll just go, you know, sit with my family. I mean, it's not like it's that much time. You know, anyone sit around. And as you pointed out, Mike, Brian hit a second shot into the front part of the left bunker, short just up by the front of the green on 18. The pin was kind of back left. And he was going into the bunker, and it was a tough lie. He had one foot out, one foot in the bunker. You know, the pot bunkers were very difficult around Lynx golf. And I remember my son Sean, who was nine years old at the time, he looked up at me as Brian Watts was getting in to hit his third shot. And he looked up and he goes, Dad. And I looked at him like, What? And he goes, You're gonna win. You're gonna win. And I looked at my son, I said, You know, Sean, I know. I said, You can't think, you can't think that way. And he's like, What? And Brian's taking like practice swings. I said, You always have to expect the unexpected, you have to expect your opponent to do well. And Brian goes, hits this bunker shot, it comes out 10 inches from the hole. Sean looks at me, he's like, Dad, how'd you know that? And I said, I didn't. I I didn't, but see, now you got to be ready for the playoff. And I think that that was uh something that he never forgot. My son, who's now you know, 31 and played college golf, but he, you know, Sean was like, I never forgot that day. And I said, That's exactly as much as all of us, whether we're playing our friends and we're playing for five dollars or pride or 20, whatever it is, you know, and they got a pot, you're kind of thinking, God, I hope he misses this, you know. But you know, certainly, you know, you you can't, you know, as much as human nature wants you to think that way, and we're all guilty of it, you can't let your mind wander that way. You always have to say, you know what, I'm gonna have to do something better.

Mike Gonzalez 20:12

So you expected the unexpected, the unexpected happened. I mean, he made a brilliant up and down off a real awkward lie. And so your mindset is okay. Yours, okay, that's fine. Let's let's let's go on. We got a four-hole, four-hole playoff. Let's take us through that a little bit.

Mark O'Meara 20:25

Yeah, so I I I got out, they've kind of bushed me over to the sixth uh to the 15th hole real quick. So we were gonna play 15, 16, 17, and 18 at at Burkdale. The 15th hole is a part five. Um, so I got over the T, and unfortunately, I mean, I had to wait there for about 15, almost 20 minutes for Brian Watt. I'm like, what's he doing? And so one of the RNA officials was like, well, you know, he had to go in and use the bathroom, then he wanted to get something to eat. And I'm thinking, you know, come on, man. Let's get this thing done. Let's get on this deal. That kind of ticked me off, to be honest with you, a little bit, and it gave me more motivation. And we went in the playoff and we laid up on the first part five there, and we hit it in there, and we had little wedges. And I can't remember. I thought I had about a I don't know, eight to ten footer, and he was inside me, and I made my putt and he missed. So that was a big plus to to to to have that happen. Um, and then I think I, you know, I went on to win by two shots in the playoff, two or three shots. I can't remember exactly, but I think I parred 16, parred 17, and part 18, and and won by one or two.

Mike Gonzalez 21:30

Did you have a close call in the third round on a nearly a lost ball that was founded last uh minute?

Mark O'Meara 21:36

Oh, yeah, the sixth hole. The sixth hole, which is a long, long par four, very tough hole. It was in the wind. It was tough conditions all week long. They stopped play a couple different times because the wind was so bad and rain and sideways. Anyways, I'd hit a good drive and I'm in the fairway, and it was like two thirty five to the front. And I thought for some reason, you know, I if I hit a three, what it's gonna get up in the air, and I got a pretty good lie, you know, it's tight. But I don't mind hitting driver off the deck, you know. And I thought, oh, I'm gonna go ahead and hit a driver. And you want to make sure you kind of hold the face open a little bit with a driver when you're hitting off the deck. And of course, I cut it way to the right on the hillside into the gallery up there. And the grass was super high, and we got up there and we're hunting for the ball. And I'm thinking, I don't know if I want to find this. This is pretty bad. This was on Saturday, as you pointed out, Mike. Um, and so I kind of waited for like three minutes. We were looking, and you know, the back then it was five minutes, and so I thought, you know, to it was slow that day, and the people were stacking up, and I thought, you know, I don't maybe I should, you know, Jerry, you keep looking, I'll kind of start heading back or whatever. Uh and then one of the people in the gallery said to my caddy, Hey, that guy over there picked your player's ball up, and he's got it in his pocket. And so Jerry, my caddy, my caddy Jerry's like, Hey, do you have my player's ball in your pocket? And the guy's like, No, no, no. And the other guy's like, No, no, he he's got it in his pocket. So Jerry's like, hey, let's see it. Come on, man, empty your pocket, grab your, let's see what you got in your coat there. And sure enough, he had picked my ball up and it was in his pocket.

Mike Gonzalez 23:11

Oh my.

Mark O'Meara 23:11

So now I'm kind of almost all the way back, and then there's this ruling and the RNA, and they got the rules committee together, and it's like, you know, what do we do? And I told the RNA, I'm like, listen, I'm happy to do whatever y'all want to do. I mean, I, you know, I don't want to cause any problems. If you tell me I gotta, you know, play from back here and take the penalty, I'm fine with that. Or if you let me go up there, that's fine too, whatever. And so they were under the you know the pretense back then, look, you know, it hasn't been five minutes, and you know, the guy had picked Mark's ball up, and that's not right. So they let me come back, to be honest. They should have. Yeah, well, it was it was it was nice, Bruce, to be honest, because now everybody's trampled down all the grass looking for the ball. Yeah, so I got to drop it a couple times and went closer to the hole, and then I got to place it, yeah. And I ended up walking away with a bogey instead of a triple bogey. Yeah, which was, yeah, you're right. Those are the lucky things that happened when you look back that could determine the outcome in a in a tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 24:07

Yeah, was that a tough weather week?

Mark O'Meara 24:10

Brutal. Windy. It wasn't tough, it was brutal.

Mike Gonzalez 24:15

Always fun to play in that kind of weather, huh?

Mark O'Meara 24:19

I mean, I I I think so. I mean, I I think create creativity and learning to be able to play in the wind was always fun. Whether I was down in Australia, you get plenty of it. You get plenty of it down in Aussi Landing.

Bruce Devlin 24:34

Yeah, you get plenty of it.

Mark O'Meara 24:35

And that's why the Aussies have have had such great professional careers. You know, I mean, I they know how to play in all different types of conditions. And when you go to a Lynx golf course, you know, you better be prepared. Yeah, if the wind doesn't blow, they're gonna light it up. Yeah, I don't care where they play in the world. Correct. The biggest determination of scoring in professional golf is the wind. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 24:59

Yeah. Absolutely agree with you, Mr.

Mike Gonzalez 25:02

You played well in a f a few other open championships. Uh, you you mentioned uh um what you did at Burkdale when Baker Finch won, and then uh uh Royal St. George's in 85, uh tied third behind Sandy Lyle, which is another tough golf course.

Mark O'Meara 25:17

Yeah, very. You know, we witnessed this last summer, um, the competition that transpired in the open championship and watching Colin Moraca Moracao go on to win the open championship at at Royal Burkdale. So, yeah, Royal Burkdale is one of those golf courses that's exposed. Most of them are, but it can be very penile when the wind's blowing because every hole seems to be crosswind. And crosswinds and blowing 40 miles an hour are really difficult.

Mike Gonzalez 25:46

So let's uh let's just uh touch on the the U.S. Open the PGA real quick. Did did you feel like you ever had a chance to win in the US Open or the PGA? Is there any particular event that you felt you were right there? Could have done it?

Mark O'Meara 25:59

You know, the U.S. Open I think it was in was it 89 or 90 at at Brookline? You know what year that was? Was it 89 or 90? I think it was 89.

Mike Gonzalez 26:11

Well, it was it was it was 88 at the country club because Curtis won there and then he won in 89 at Oak Hill, right?

Mark O'Meara 26:17

So it was uh maybe it was 88. So it was the year that it was the year that we played at the country club. It was 88. 88. Okay, 88. I was one shot back playing the last hole. And I needed to uh it looked like I needed to make Birdie, you know, maybe Parr. I had a chance. Uh I hit a good drive on 18, but unfortunately it went through the fairway about a foot into the right rough, and I had a brutal eye on the right rough, hit it in the front bucker, I made bogey, and I I lost by two shots, two shots behind Nick Faldo and Curtis Strange, and Curtis went on to win the open champion, the U.S. Open Championship that year.

Mike Gonzalez 26:54

Yeah.

Mark O'Meara 26:54

So I came close. I had a chance there.

Mike Gonzalez 26:56

Yeah, you had a pen.

Mark O'Meara 26:57

Other than that, you know, I I was never a great driver of the ball. I mean, I I was always the guy that missed a fairway by a yard. And that's something that you cannot do in a U.S. open.

SPEAKER_04 27:07

Yeah.

Mark O'Meara 27:07

Um, when you miss by just a little bit in a U.S. open, that's where the rough is the most penalizing, the deepest part, thickest part, brutal. Um, so that's where I always felt like, yeah, maybe if I would have a little bit better driver the golf ball, I would have had a better chance in a U.S. Open. I'm a way better driver of the ball over the last 15 years, 10 years of my career than I ever was. If I drove it as straight as I do now back then, I would have probably had a better chance to have won a lot more tournaments than professional.

Mike Gonzalez 27:37

Yeah, you had a pretty good PGA that good year of 1998 as well.

Mark O'Meara 27:41

It's a holly, yeah. Um, you know, I I I made the cut at the U.S. Open. It was at Olympic Club outside of San Francisco that year. Lee Jansen went on to win the U.S. Open that year. I think I finished 32nd, something like that. And then, you know, I'd won the Masters, won the Open Championship in July, and then at the uh PGA in August, it was at Sahali, and I was playing well. Um I think you know, VJ won. I think I finished third or fourth or something like that. But it was fun because of all the four majors, I had the lowest cumulative score for the full year. And at 41, as as Bruce pointed out, I mean that was a nice you know accomplishment to finish, you know, highly in the three out of the four major championships.

Mike Gonzalez 28:28

So how uh how uh meaningful was it for you to be uh named in 2015 to the World Golf Hall of Fame?

Mark O'Meara 28:37

Well, I think it was a dream come true. You know, I knew I was a borderline player to adorn that honor. Um I'll never forget. I I was playing a practice round with Tiger at the Open Championship. Um, I don't know if it was 2010 or whenever it was, maybe it was later. Might have been in, I don't remember when it was, but I remember walking along with Doug Ferguson, who's a good writer. And Ferguson and I were talking, and Doug's like, Hammo, you know, I think you're a borderline, you know, player. I have a vote, but I think you're a borderline player on getting in the World Hall of Fame, the World Golf Hall of Fame. And I'm like, you know, I appreciate that. I said to Dougie, I said, you know, I I mean, and I've won 16 times on the PGA tour, two majors. I said, I've won the U.S. Amateur. I said, you know, where I take pride in my career, and Bruce pointed this out earlier, is that, you know, I won around the world. It wasn't like I was just an American player, you know, to have won the Aussie Masters, to have won twice in Japan, five times or six times in the European Tour, one in South America, the Argentine Open, one the Canadian Open. I mean, to me, that's what, and then the fact that no disrespect, that that Fred Couples went in in 2013 and Colin Montgomer Montgomery went in 2013, you know, I didn't win the order of merit like Colin did, but I I had even with Fred, I had one more tournaments than Fred Couples, I had one more majors than Fred Couples. I understand Freddie's an incredible fan favorite, and I love Fred. So I get it. But when I finally got the phone call, because I used to bump into David Graham a lot of different times, and I always felt like David Graham deserved to be in the the World Golf Hall of Fame. I just believe that. I mean, he was a world-class player, two major championships, um, one around the world, um, had a big impact in the game. And and why he was not in the World Golf Hall of Fame, I couldn't figure out. Uh, and then you know, we got that call. I got that call, and um whenever it was in the end of 2014 that Tim Finchin made the call. He called me on the phone. I'll never forget. I was in Houston driving around, it was raining, and I saw my phone vibrate, and I looked over and I was in the truck and and uh I saw it was Tim Finchin calling me, and he never calls me. So I pulled over to the side into a parking lot to take this call, thinking maybe just maybe this is the phone call I've been waiting for. And he answered the phone and I said, Tim, he goes, Mark, and I said, I said, How are you? He says, Good. He goes, you know, he goes, Do you know we're we're we're we we've waited two years because we've revamped the Hall of Fame selection? I said, Yeah, and I said, I saw you were gonna have the induction ceremony over at the old course at St. Andrews at the university in July. I said, next July. I said, that's amazing. I said, you know, that's gonna be really, really cool. He goes, No, what's really cool is you're the first phone call that I'm making. You are in the World Golf Hall of Fame. And I I broke down, to be honest with you. I mean, I I came home and I I told Meredith, my wife, now 13 years. I I said, you know, I mean, this is an incredible honor. Um, and then especially to go in and be inducted to with David Graham and Laura Davies and A. W. Tillinghas at St. Andrews University the Monday of the Open Championship, which I was still playing.

Bruce Devlin 31:49

Yeah. Pretty nice.

Mark O'Meara 31:52

I mean, are you kidding me? Couldn't get any better than that. It was an amazing night. I feel very blessed and very honored to be with these greats, the legends that I look up to and that I uh have admired my whole life. And you know, I don't I don't take it lightly. I mean, that's just uh it's uh it's a dream come true. I never would have thought as a young kid getting started on the tour that all this stuff would have happened to me.

Mike Gonzalez 32:15

Uh like Bruce, you got into the golf design business a little bit, huh?

Mark O'Meara 32:19

I did, but I got in not knowing that I was in over my head a little bit, but also you know, timing is everything, as Bruce knows. I mean, I I did three golf courses. I did the golf course that I live on up in Park City, Utah, outside of Salt Lake called Tuhay, uh, where I have a home and where I spend most of my time in the summer and a lot in the wintertime because I have all these outside activities I love to do. I did a golf course north of Toronto up in Muskoka called Grandview, and then I did a golf course outside of Dublin, Ireland called Carton House in conjunction with European Tour Design Group. But, you know, then 08-07 came along and the market and this and that. So I I yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of business out there, and and I don't claim to be any expert in designing golf courses by any means.

unknown 33:06

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 33:07

Well, as we as we wind down with you, Mark, and you've been very generous with your time. There's a couple of questions we like to ask most of our guests, and and uh uh so the first one would be this if if we gave you one career mulligan, where would you take it?

Mark O'Meara 33:21

Oh, that's a great question. Um if I had one career mulligan, I would say that uh, you know, the T shot there on the 18th hole at at the country club at Brookline, you know, put it in the fairway, who knows? I get in the playoff, might have been able to win a US Open. So that would probably be the one shot that I wish I could have over.

Mike Gonzalez 33:45

Yeah. And the the other would be uh if you knew when you were 20 years old what you know now, what would you have done differently?

Mark O'Meara 33:57

I think if I was gonna say anything to recommend anything, I I I I was a big believer that the more golf balls that I hit, the better I would get. And that's not necessarily the correct uh way that I would go about it. If I did it all over again, I would say I would practice quality over quantity.

SPEAKER_04 34:15

Yeah.

Mark O'Meara 34:16

And what I mean by that is that I would stand there and I hit so many golf balls while I was going through my changes with Hank. And I mean, I just kept thinking if I just hit you know three or four of these big yellow baskets that I was going to get there faster. But that's not necessarily the case. Um, I think really quality time practicing is better than over quantity.

Mike Gonzalez 34:41

Yeah. Bruce, we've been privileged to visit with another great World Golf Hall of Famer.

Bruce Devlin 34:46

We sure have. Mark O'Mira. It has been a great time chatting with you. We I can't tell you how much we appreciate you being with us, pal. You've been a great guest, and uh we're I know Mark, uh Mike will wish you the best like I have. I hope uh I hope everything goes good for you in the future. And again, thanks for all your time. You've been great.

Mark O'Meara 35:08

Bruce, Mike, it's been a pleasure to be on with you. I I have like I said to to earlier in the in our little podcast, that I have the utmost respect for you, Bruce, and what you meant to the game. And you know, the listeners are privileged to be able to have you two, you know, doing a podcast like this. And thanks for having me on.

Mike Gonzalez 35:27

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 see it up again for the good of the game.