Mark O'Meara - "Winning with Dad at Pebble Beach" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

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

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it's a little bit more. Well you got back in the winner's circle in 1989, so I guess uh uh boy, if you need a victory, just go play Pebble and uh and then do it back to back.

Mark O'Meara 0:25

Yeah, well, you know what happens once again. I mean, we're coming down the stretch, it's not easy to win. You're nervous. There's players that are playing really well right around you. I think that the my self-talk, I'll I'll always remember this. My self-talk on the back nine at Pebble Beach was always, you know, hey, MO, you've done this before, you can do it again. That's what I kept telling myself. That that doesn't mean everybody's gonna lie down and let you win. You're gonna go out there and have to get the deal done. You're gonna have to hit the shots and you're gonna have to make the butts, and you're gonna have to win. And I always butted well around Pebble because I grew up on Poana Greens.

Mike Gonzalez 1:01

Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of guys struggle with those greens, didn't they? For sure. Yeah, so you beat a real real good player in in Tom Kite that year by one. Came back the next year, won it again uh by two over Kenny Perry. And as you mentioned, you had your your dad as your final round partner in that one, didn't you?

Mark O'Meara 1:16

Yep. Yep, it was special. I mean, it was so good. I I just can't even tell you. I remember playing the last hole we were on the team, I needed to make a par to win. And my father, uh, who hit I always back in the olden days, as Bruce will remember, I mean, we we played from like the same T's. You know, we we didn't have like all these different T f configurations. And I always let my dad hit first, and you know, he always hit it pretty straight or a little fade. One time he was a decent player, he was up six or five handicapping, and by now he was you know in his late 70s or 76, 72, whatever my dad was. And he'd he was about 14, 15 handicapped, and he got up on the 18th T and hit this low snap hook right in the ocean right in front of me. And I remember he he was picking his tee up and he looked up and he's like, God, that wasn't a good time to hit one like that, was it? I know dad, just move over here and sigh. And I hung on for dear life uh with my tee shot, and I got it down the fairway and we're walking off the tee, and he's like, What do you think I should do, son? I'm like, Well, Pops, we're not gonna win the team. I said, All I need to do is parse. Just walk. Yeah, just put your ball in your pocket, enjoy the sunset, you know, it's on CBS, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he looked over and he goes, you know, that's the best damn advice you've given me all week long, son. And so he did. You know, I won and gave him a hug and a kiss on the 18th green, and yeah, it was special.

Mike Gonzalez 2:40

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again with the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 3:03

It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice, just smit offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My headache, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. It went straight down the middle, quite away.