Nick Price - "Mr. Hogan and Colonial" SHORT TRACK

Lee Trevino 0:07

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

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to we'll finish up with the 2002 Colonial again. You had a lot of good success uh there. Another commanding performance by five over Kenny Perry and and David Thoms.

Nick Price 0:24

Yeah, uh it was my last win on the tour, on the regular tour. Um and what I was, I was 45 uh then. So I mean I had, you know, I think to win in your mid-40s and late 40s is a real achievement on the tour, I still think. Especially, you know, I turned pro at uh in 1977, so it was before my 20th birthday, so I had 25 years of going at it. Um and you know, I was very, very proud of that win. Um because the nerves were starting to get a little bit uh Bruce, you'll know the nerves start going a little bit, you know, around then 40. Some guys not, but for some of us you can start feeling the sharpness is not there in that. I suppose that's better than saying nerves, but um, you know, I played really well. Um that Peter Green uh hit the ball uh where I wanted to the whole week, and my short game was strong, and uh, you know, another strong victory, and and also Jimmy Johnson was on the bag again. So um, you know, that was it was a significant win for me.

Bruce Devlin 1:32

Great scoring too that year. Two 267. That's uh that's a pretty fancy score in Colonial.

Mike Gonzalez 1:41

Well, you guys are both on the champions board down there, aren't you?

Nick Price 1:45

Yeah, we both are very proud of that, you know. And uh the other thing that was great for us, and I'm sure Bruce would agree, was we got I signed with the Hogan Company back in '84. So I got to spend quite a bit of time with uh with Mr. Hogan. Uh and you know, uh the first time I met him, I uh it was like going into a principal's office when you've been bad. You know, you thought, oh my god, this guy I've heard all these stories. And he couldn't have been nicer. He was very, very good to, you know, all of the players who were playing his equipment at the time. But um you know, uh when we'd go for dinner, you'd have all of the players on a staff for dinner at Shady Oaks, and I sat next to him three or four occasions, and um just a uh he was he was such a I I got on really well with him. I know that there were times when he may have been crusty to other people, but I think you you got f from uh Ben Hogan what you gave. You know, if you were a little rude and didn't were weren't quite um well mannered in front of him, he he could be quite hard. But I think if you did all the stuff because he was old school, you know, like Byron and and so but uh unfortunately I never got to see him hit balls. He asked me on a couple of occasions, but um, you know, colonial we were starting to do a lot of things for uh at that time for at that time for charity, like we'd go to the children's uh uh hospital and visit with the kids who had cancer and then we you know do some other stuff. So I never really got the chance to see him, but um I wish I had.

Bruce Devlin 3:26

He was he was pretty pretty good, man, I tell you. It was a fun time in my life, and uh you you you touched on something that I feel very, very strongly about. I he was one of the nicest men I ever met, you know. A lot of different stories about Ben Hogan, but if you were a friend of his, man, you you would you you just couldn't find a nicer person.

Nick Price 3:51

Great values as well, you know. I mean uh you know, uh, but anyway. One of the swings that I've I I mean I idolize his swing. I think his golf swing, the power and the the rhythm that he had, and I just absolutely I could watch that swing, you know, time and time and time again. I just think it was uh it was just an absolute phenomenal, you know, he was a phenom phenom.

Mike Gonzalez 4:20

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.

Lee Trevino 4:43

It went smack down a fair way. And it's time to just listen, just smack your flat. It went straight down the middle file away.