Nick Price - Part 2 (PGA Tour Wins)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to be able to do that.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

So just to get for our listeners a quick recap. Nick Price won more PGA tour events in the 1990s, 15 than anyone. He was the PGA player of the year in 93 and 94, leading money winner those same years, Varden Trophy winner in 1993 and 1997. I love to watch him hit the ball play golf back in the early 90s. I I just there was nobody out there who was any better.

Bruce Devlin 0:49

Well, he's uh I can I can assure you that there are many, many people that are being in the golf business that say that, you know, of all of the players that played the game, and he he made a reference uh a little while ago to Di Vincenzo being on his left side and Trevino on his right, uh, over in Europe, but uh Nick would Nick would uh his name would be mentioned very quickly if you went if you started to go down names of the players that struck the ball as solidly. And you know, you can start with Hogan and Trevino, and then pretty soon you're gonna get to Nick Price's name, I can assure you of that.

Nick Price 1:30

Thank you. I remember Hobday, you know, I got I've got to tell you a story because you you knew you know you knew Hobday, who was a great friend of mine.

Bruce Devlin 1:40

Terrific guy.

Nick Price 1:41

And I I'll just tell you a quick story. I traveled with him in 1979 in Europe. And so my second year, Simon was 17 years older than I was, so he uh it was really an experience for me, you know, and and he had a a reputation for being a party guy, drinking a lot of beer and staying out late. But he he never really was, uh he never did that. He he he wasn't a big drinker. He would sip, you know, he would sit at a bar for four hours, but he'd drink like three beers he would sip, you know. Unless it was Sunday and there was no tournament or whatever, but he was a sipper, but uh he couldn't sleep, the poor guy. That's why he was always so nervous, you know. He'd wake up, I guess it was because he was a farmer before he became a pro golfer, but he'd wake up at like, you know, four in the morning and he was ready to go. And uh anyway, uh, he'd smoke a pack of cigarettes before I woke up in the room next to him, you know. And I mean it was just anyway. Cut a long story short, I get back home and well, you know, my buddies just can't believe I've traveled with Hobday because he's a legend at home. Yeah. And they said, Nick, you didn't travel with Hobday. I said, Yeah, I did. I traveled with a guy for you know three and a half months in Europe. And they said, What was it like? I said, you know, and then I told the thing, you know, he's not a much of a drinker, and you know, he's whatever. I said, but I did learn one thing really important from you know traveling with him. And I said, What's that? I said, if I'm ever going to be a professional golfer, I have to do everything totally opposite to him. And Simon got a big kick out of that story as well, because he was a terrible dresser, you know, always looked until he looked like an unmade bed the whole time, you know. But he had a beautiful golf swing and he was a great ball striker. And I remember when I was about 14, I was I went to the practice uh range tea, and he was hitting balls there, getting ready to go to Europe, and I said, Mr. Hobday, can I can I watch you hit balls? And he pointed, he said, sit down there. He says, and if you've got any questions, you can ask me. You know, so he's hitting his fire irons, and I mean, just flushing them, and the caddy was shagging, balls was picking them up all around the bag. And I said, at the end of it, I said, Mr. Hobday, how do you become a better ball striker? How do you become a great ball striker? So he says, Well, uh, one thing I learned, he says, when I was young, he says, and he pointed to the middle of the club face, which there was a you know, you know, the chrome, the chrome had been worn off. He says, if you hit it out of there more than the guy you're playing against, eventually you'll beat him. And so that was great, you know. So there was always that was I I guess one of the uh things that impressed me the most. So the strike was something that was important to me.

Bruce Devlin 4:22

Yeah. Well, you you certainly proved that, my friend.

Mike Gonzalez 4:27

Nick, what was the adjustment like uh for you coming to America? Was it difficult or or not not too bad?

Nick Price 4:35

No, not at all. Um I I just I think after being in Europe, I loved the space of America. Uh, you know, the I love the golf courses. Uh generally the courses were in were in such great shape here on on the PGA tour. Uh, you know, the range facilities, the weather, um the it was just so much easier to travel than Europe. And I I really had some great times in Europe. So I don't want to badmouth Europe, but it was just totally different. I made great friends in Europe, um, and I learnt an awful lot by playing over there. Um, but my game was definitely more suited to warmer uh climates. And I think if you look at my record, you'll see that I don't know what the percentage is, but it's a very high percentage of tournaments I won in summer. Um I wasn't a very good, I wasn't a good mudder, you know, I didn't like the wet. Uh I loved the wind, but uh preferred it if it was warm, not cold. Um so uh, you know, this was just a great place for me to come. And uh uh I I just felt so comfortable here. And then I made friends quickly over here, um, you know, based myself here in Florida and have been here ever since. I mean, uh, what am I coming up uh 38 years now in Florida?

Mike Gonzalez 5:58

Uh who were some of your best buddies uh uh on the tour?

Nick Price 6:02

Well, Hal Sutton and I, you know, we'd known each other, but he and I became really good friends in '83. I traveled a lot with him. Um, you know, Mark McNulty was over here, then we traveled together, one of my another one of my countrymen. Um let's see, there was uh Gavin Levinson was playing over here, then Dennis Watson was playing. So you know, we had some good some good friends. Um then, you know, Payne Stewart, I became good friends with Payne. There was the Orlando connection. I lived in Orlando for that time, um, from 82 through to like '94, but before we came down here to Florida, to uh uh Jupiter. Um and so there was you know a lot of guys, Baker Finch, Wayne Grady, um uh just to name a few. Um but my sort of class, if you want to say all the guys was John Cook, Marco Mira, uh we were all sort of the same age. Uh, and uh, you know, it was there was a really good period there for sort of the 57 models, as I called the guys who were born in 57, 58. Um, Sluman, uh Jeff Sluman became a and I still very good for him. Jay Haas, still one of my favorite people. Um, played a lot of golf with Jay. So um, you know, just guys, uh, I don't know, there were so many really, really nice guys on the tour, or you know, absolute characters and guys, all independent contractors who we were all out there chasing the same dream. Um, and you know, you you you never if a guy worked hard and got rewards, you you never ever um what's the word I'm looking for? You you never decried him that. You know, it was something that you you but uh you know there were lots of guys who didn't work hard who had success. But you knew that was going to be short-winded. It wasn't gonna be something that was gonna last a long time because you you had to dig it out the earth, you had to dig it out the ground in this game. Or those w well certainly in our generation we had to do. It was a milestone in my career because I got a 10-year exemption. And a ten-year exemption on the PGA tour is like I don't know what you can say. You you do you you cannot describe how much it means to a guy who comes from another country and can now set his sights for the next 10 years.

Bruce Devlin 9:03

Pick and choose wherever you want to play.

Nick Price 9:04

Pick and choose where you want to play. And and you know, I knew that the whole week, but I was uh I was just so focused. I'd found this swing key that it just I was flushing it, and I hit the ball so well throughout the week. Um it didn't have a whole lot of sleep that whole week. And I can remember saying to one of my buddies afterwards, I said, I don't know how many tournaments Jack Nicholas has won, but I don't know if, or he'd won 70 times, I think it was, or 60 or whatever many times. And I said to myself, I said to my buddy, I said, There's no way I can do that another 70 times because I didn't and not not have sleep. I was exhausted at the end of the week, you know. Uh but uh I managed to pull it off, and uh, you know, Jack was great. I mean, he came up to me on the 18th green, and of course I'm on cloud nine, the adrenaline's flowing through my body, and he was just so nice to me. He just said, you know, you played great, and you know, good luck with your career. You know, of that last round I actually played with uh uh Hale Irwin and Sao Aoki. So those were two guys who, you know, were great players and were having great years then. So uh it was pretty harrowing.

Mike Gonzalez 10:20

Bruce, uh, what would a 10-year exemption have done for you early in your career? Would that have kept you off the Greyhound buses?

Bruce Devlin 10:26

Um yeah, I think so, probably. No, well, you know, we've often talked about how how much the game has changed. You know, we just watched uh, and we don't do this very often, talk about something that just happened a few days ago, but you know,$15 million uh last week. My first tournament I won, I won$3,000. A little different.

Mike Gonzalez 10:52

But it but a 10-year exemption, as you said, Nick, had to do a lot for your confidence too, right? It took a lot of pressure off. Uh you're able to schedule, where back in the day it was hard, especially when um when you were just uh an exempt uh number was 60, which might have predated you a little bit on the tour, but uh a little different.

Nick Price 11:09

Yeah, Europe, when I played in Europe, they had Monday qualifying. And uh so that first year here in America, they had the all-exempt tour, Gary McCord's idea, and the talk put it into practice that year. So um, you know, getting finishing in the top 125 was was obviously the most important thing. But you know, I at at up until then and and I my career, I'd been very streaky. When I my timing was on, and you know, when I had rhythm, I was streaky. And that's what if you look of my track record up until then, and I hated that because I could go and play two weeks in a row and play great and then miss four cuts in a row. Um, and it it just doesn't do much for your confidence. So when I won the World Series, it gave me the opportunity to really work hard on my swing, on my game, under tournament conditions, which are not many people had that luxury. You know, they were if I was working on something with my swing, you know, it's one thing to do it on the range, it's another thing to take it to the course and try it. Uh and and I did that. And and that period, you know, I I I sort of had sporadic success. Again, I was uh going through these periods where I'd time the ball well and I'd I I'd do well, and then it would go. And then but they were these I was starting to play and hit the ball better and more solid, more frequently as those years progressed. And then, you know, 88, uh, 87, 88, uh, I'd had limited success again, my first after that win at um with a World Series. But you know, I shot I finished third or fourth in the PGA at uh uh Cherry Hills in '85. I played with uh Hubert and Um and Trevino the last round. Uh you know, shot 63 at Augusta and in 86, and 86 I played well at the PGA again. Um you know, there was all these little things that were going on, and I was showing, but not getting through. And you know, lots of top 10 finishes and and top four, five finishes on the PGA tour. And then 88 things really changed. Um, you know, I I started hitting the ball so so much more consistently, and I felt that of a caliber where I could win. And uh, the British Open in '88, um, Sevy and I went head to head at Lytham. And uh he he his short game was head and shoulders better than mine, and that's why he won. And I can remember driving back, you know, with my wife back to London the next day, and I said to her, you know, you're right, because she'd been telling me for a while now, you've got to work on your short game. Yeah, your short game, all these other guys are making putts and you hitting it inside them and whatever. And I say, Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that was really the the the calling card for me. Is uh Nick, go and work on your short game. So I really started working hard on my short game, and you know, two years later it started paying dividends.

Mike Gonzalez 14:16

Uh let's let's continue ticking through some of your regular C uh regular PGA tour wins. Uh you won the 1991 GTE Byron Nelson Classic at the TPC at Los Calinas by one over Craig Stadler.

Nick Price 14:30

And again, that was pr uh uh that was the first win with for Squeaky and I. There were a lot of significant things happened that week. And I played really well T to green the first three days, and then on Sunday I started miscuing it. Um and my short game was just I mean, uh it couldn't have been any better. When I missed a green, I got it up and down. If I needed to make an eight-footer, I made it for par. You know, if I hit in a bunker, I got it up and down. And I ended up winning. And uh on a scale of one to ten, my long game was probably a six, where I was used to a seven and a half or an eight, you know, to T to green. But my short game was a nine, almost a ten that day. And suddenly it was this relief that came over me where I said, Well, I don't have to hit the ball fantastically well and perfectly to win. Which, you know, you have this stigma in your brain about, you know, being a ball striker and whatever. But so that was really an eye-opener for me. That was uh and it had been, you know, on the US tour eight years. So I'd almost used up that 10-year exemption. Um now, whether that was, you know, I I didn't even think about my exemption running out because I was playing so well then that I was finishing in the top 125 without any problem. But um, you know, it was starting to bug me that I wasn't winning. I think 89, 88, 89, I think I had something like uh, I don't know, eight or ten top three finishes. But I just it was always someone was doing something to me. You know, one I'd chip in and another guy would hold a long putt or you know, nearly hole an iron shot on the last hole to beat me by a shot. But uh, you know, that was that was a really great win for me, that Byron Nelson. And Byron, let me tell you, I I still to this day one of my most favorite people I ever got to meet in my life. And I got to spend a lot of time with Byron from there. Not probably as much as Tom Watson did, but um he he was just the absolute epitome of a gentleman, human uh, you know, just humble, um and just as the nicest person you could ever wish to be with. And I learnt an awful lot from him. I really did, you know, just watching him interact with people and uh and just listening to him. He was uh he was a uh a real sage.

Mike Gonzalez 16:57

Bruce, you you were able to play with Hogan a lot. Did you overlap much with Byron?

Bruce Devlin 17:01

No, I didn't. No, unfortunately, Byron had finished playing when uh when I was uh uh you know when I spent a lot of time with Hogan there, uh, you know, playing a lot of practice rounds for about seven years from 62 to 69. But uh I I agree with what Nick just said about Byron Nelson. He was a really class act and one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. And fortunately for me, Nick, I'd I'd won uh the Byron Nelson tournament too. So and in those days we used to have a champions dinner uh at the Byron Nelson, and and of course Byron was always at the champions dinner as the you know as the um the the head guy and uh you know just a just like you said, he was a f just a fine, fine gentleman.

Mike Gonzalez 17:50

Nick, as as you talked about short game, as you found your short game sharpening up did it did it cause you to to uh uh be more aggressive or take different lines coming into greens because you knew if you missed a little bit you could get it up and down?

Nick Price 18:07

Well, the one thing that helped me an awful lot was um I wasn't a creative uh wedge player. I sort of would be one-dimensional. Uh you know, obviously you would open up that we had I was thinking I had a 56 degree was the maximum out of off that I had. And you know, but compared to a guy like Sevy or Crenshaw or or you know Aisinger who were all fantastic with the 56 degree wedge, and I learned a lot from Sevi, and I would always go and watch when he was in the bunk or Crenshaw when he was hitting pitches and that. But I got the 60-degree wedge, which really helped me an awful lot. I think a lot of guys, it helped a lot of guys who may not have been strong round-the-green chippers and pitches. Um, and then of course we had the square grooves, which meant you could really spin the ball a lot more out of the rough. So short-siding yourself back in those days wasn't as severe as it was maybe in the 60s and 70s, because we had these this equipment really helped us a lot. And that helped me. There was no doubt. Um, I think the I put the 60 in um right the middle of 92 or around about 92 sometime. So uh, you know, the PGA in '92, and then the World Star, sorry, the uh players' championship in early '93. Those were all courses where you really needed a very sharp short game. And I think that helped me an awful lot. You know, that gave me more shot variety. Um and uh, you know, now you've got 64 degree wedges, so you know, I mean that's I wouldn't know how to use one.

Bruce Devlin 19:52

I would not know how to use one. I wouldn't know either. Boy, oh boy.

Mike Gonzalez 19:57

You lay it open and it's 90 degrees, right? Uh yeah. So you won the Canadian Open in 1991. It was another victory uh at Glen Abbey, which uh that that tournament's been conducted there for a long, long time by one over David Edwards. Your recollections of that uh event?

Nick Price 20:13

Uh you know, just uh another great uh a T to Green week. I played uh T to Green, I played really well that week. I I hit a lot of greens. Uh my putting was starting to really turn around, uh, and I started feeling more and more comfortable under pressure. Uh and and you know, back nine at Glen Abbey is a real test of ball striking. And uh, you know, I played a really solid back nine, and um, you know, I just felt like I was off to the races now. I had, you know, uh a game that was capable of winning, I felt like anyway. Uh and the you know, some when you when when you win once, that's one thing in one year. When you win twice, you have this I always say confidence is like an X factor. And for some people it's a times one or times two. I think for me, when I started winning after that lean spell, the the confidence was like a multiplier, five or ten multiplier. So it just it just really sent me off and uh put me in a in a position where I just felt like, you know, if I'm gonna play well, I can win anyway.

Mike Gonzalez 21:22

And so for our listeners, we are getting into the stretch of just some outstanding golf in the early 90s as we move along with regular tour wins 1992, the HEB Texas Open. You won that one in a playoff with Steve Elkington.

Nick Price 21:36

Great golf course, Oak Hill in in San Antonio. Uh you know, I just uh I love golf in Texas. Texas golf to me was very similar to golf in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Um uh you know, Bermuda grass, grainyish greens, um you know, had far. Fairways a little windy.

Bruce Devlin 22:03

Windy for sure.

Nick Price 22:05

You know, so it was uh it was really uh it it was it was great great fun for me to play in Texas and you know not surprising I I think I nearly got the Texas slam. The only one I didn't win was Houston. I came in the top three there a few times, but never could never win that one. But you know, it's colonial. I won twice there and I love colonial. I think colonial was just a was a ball striker's paradise.

Mike Gonzalez 22:32

You've got a red tartan jacket then, and Bruce, yours is green.

Bruce Devlin 22:36

Mine was green originally. Yeah they sent it to originally. Yeah, they sent it to Australia and I never got it, Nick. Oh and then when uh you know many, many years later I'm at uh the colonial dinner and they said, Well, where's your jacket? I said, Well, I you know, you guys I never got it. You said, Well, we sent you one. I said, Well, I never got it. So they they made me up a new one, which is nice. So I now have I now have a champion's jacket.

Mike Gonzalez 23:11

Uh we'll come back to the colonial, but um uh just moving on chronologically, we're getting a 93 now, and and uh you win wire to wire by uh five over longer at the players' championship after opening with a 64.

Nick Price 23:26

Yeah, that was certainly one of the top three tournaments or championship of all time for me. Uh ball striking, uh short game. I was uh I was in full song then. I just played so well from T to Green. And I I think the only thing that was gonna beat me that week would have been you know myself by you know uh making stupid mistakes uh you know strategy-wise on the golf course. So um, but that last day was was it was close. And uh, you know, 17th and 18th, or well, 16, 17, and 18, you know, uh you just aren't you you can't have enough of a lead going in there. Um but I played them so well, and it was just uh uh one of, as I say, one of the top three of my all-time performances because uh I just I felt like I I drove the ball well, I hit my irons great, my short game was good, and uh, you know, but it it was a convincing victory.

Mike Gonzalez 24:32

So what for for us mere mortals, uh do what you can to put into words how it feels when you get into that place where you've got just what you feel to be ultimate command over your golf ball.

Nick Price 24:45

Well, I think it's focus. You know, it's not uh people call it a zone, um, but I I don't think it's a zone because you know you've got to walk from your T-shot to your second shot, and there's a lot going on, and you can't really zone out, as I understand the word zone, where you know you're so focused you don't see anything else, you know, you're walking and talking, and you know, you're telling jokes to your Piccadie or the guys you're playing with, or you know, you're chatting about things. But when it's that 10 seconds before you hit your shot, you are totally focused on what you're trying to do. And uh it that's that's all it takes is that 10 seconds to be absolutely 100% focused. And I think, you know, I've worked with Rutella, Bob Rutella in 88 and 89, and so you know, then all the work that Squeak had done, then uh we had done together, and you know, getting rid of the negatives on the golf course, and all of that was starting to really, really come together. And uh, you know, 92 the PGA uh and then that '93, six months later, I win the uh the players' championship. So it was uh that was a big, big time for me. It really was.

Bruce Devlin 26:01

You might also say too, uh Nick, you mentioned uh earlier in the conversation uh when you won the World Series, you beat Jack Nicholas. And I and I have said, and I think Mike's heard me say this before, uh, you could walk down the fairway with Jack, uh, you could talk about anything, yeah. And then when he was about 15 yards short of his golf ball, he just I mean, he went he went in what you call, you know, uh he was in a in a little place all by himself right then, concentrated real hard on what he was trying to do, and when he after he'd hit the shot, he was you know back to Jack again.

Nick Price 26:37

Amazing. Uh his powers of concentration um were were just phenomenal. And you know, I learned a lot from watching him, you know, about what uh Barbara Teller had helped me with. Uh I was watching Jack apply it firsthand in front of us. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play a lot with Jack uh when he was playing his best. But you know, I played quite a few rounds with him uh, you know, in the in the eighties.

Bruce Devlin 27:07

He was a uh he's a few years older than you, so he's my vintage, nearly Nick.

Mike Gonzalez 27:16

We've uh for whatever reason, we've we've had a lot of our guests that have won at Hartford, and uh everybody seems to have fond memories of that because they all relate how supporting a community that was to the of that golf tournament.

Nick Price 27:28

Amazing. Uh when the tournament moved, I never got to play at Weathers Field. Uh the first one I played was at the TPC course. TPC at River uh what's it at Riverside, is it?

Mike Gonzalez 27:41

Um River River Highlands. River Highlands.

Nick Price 27:43

Thank you, thank you. I should know that. Um I just you know got there and it was one of those courses. It was a uh TPC course, but beautiful design. I thought it was a great design, uh rewarded ball striking, um, clear thinking. It there were a lot of risk reward holes there. Um, but you know, I just felt comfortable on the course. It required, you know, uh the ability to maneuver the ball both ways or for T. Um and uh, you know, I just it was the start of summer, it was June, you know, which is great. It was starting to heat up, and I I just seemed to play better in in the heat. And uh, you know, the I I I I I don't know what to say. It's always horses for courses, and I just felt when I got when I felt comfortable on a golf course and my game was in good shape, I knew I was had a chance to contend. And uh Hartford was one of those courses.

Mike Gonzalez 28:37

Yeah, you almost won it the year before, didn't you?

Nick Price 28:39

Yeah, uh Lanny Watkins. Um I think he birdied the last hole. Um and you know, it'd been that wonderful amphitheater, that last hole at uh River Highlands. Um and I I think it was we had huge galleries that that year when Lanny won, and then the next year when I won. Um so uh it was it was it was a wonderful uh uh it's still a great event that and you know a good test of golf.

Mike Gonzalez 29:07

We'll move on later in the summer. Um uh this next tournament was about uh uh twenty minutes from my house. Uh the former venue for the Western Open was about ten minutes from my house, but you won it at Cog Hill, uh the dub's dread course, uh by five over Greg Norman. And and what a great history that that tournament and that Western Golf Association has.

Nick Price 29:30

Well, you know, the Western Golf Association, just uh all the volunteers, the guys that do so much for golf, the Caddy Pro program there, the uh Evans Foundation. Um I I don't know, I again I got to uh Butler, I really liked Butler. Um and we played there, I think, until about 87, 87, 88, and then or maybe a little bit later, we went over to Cog Hill and actually uh got into a playoff at at uh Butler in I think '86 with uh David Frost, Tom Kite, and Fred Couples. Yeah I think Chicago, the sport fans, sports fans in Chicago were second to none. They were amazing and uh they appreciated good golf uh and great sport, obviously. But uh I again got to Cog Hill and this was a golf course where you know just beautiful, beautiful uh golf course. Uh dog leg left, dog leg rights, the ball was releasing in the fair ways, you could hit low shots, you could, you could, you could hit, you just you could play any kind of golf around that golf course. And again again, there were some key holes there where your strategy had to be, you know, spot on. And so, you know, I ended up winning around there a couple of times and then losing in a playoff to Robert Allenby, I think, in 2000 and 2001, I think it was, yeah. So uh great memories of of Dubstreet.

Mike Gonzalez 31:00

You remember meeting uh Joe Jemsic?

Nick Price 31:02

Joe, very yes, very much so.

Mike Gonzalez 31:04

Yeah, yeah. He was Mr. Amateur Golf in Chicago.

Nick Price 31:07

Amazing man. Uh just absolutely loved the game, didn't he?

Mike Gonzalez 31:11

Yep, yep, and I think his son Frank uh is is probably uh still uh over the top of the place now. So uh can continue in 93, FedEx St. Jude at TPC south wind by three over Jeff Maggert and Rick Fair.

Nick Price 31:27

Yeah, that's you know, we're getting into the period now where uh you know, as I said, uh if I played well, I felt like I could win anywhere. And um that had Zozia Grass in it on the fairways, and uh uh the ball just sat up beautifully for me. Um Belreath, where I'd won the PGA in '92, had Zoizia. We played a few courses that had Zuzia Grass, but honestly, you know, a good Zozia fairway, you could you could almost hit a driver off every every lie you get. So and you could spin the ball off that Zozja. That was the other thing I really liked. Um, you know, uh, and um another course that just fit my eye. It was uh I I I I loved it. And and you know, I had a very good, uh, I think a really good track record on that course.

Mike Gonzalez 32:13

Yeah, skipping ahead of 1994, I'll just recount the the the regular tour victories. Uh Honda Classic by one over Craig Perry. You won the Southwestern Bell Colonial, and you mentioned at Colonial uh uh and also a runner-up to Crenshaw there in 1990, but that was in a playoff with Scott Simpson. Uh you won the Western again at Cog Hill uh and then uh uh the Bell Canadian uh Open for the second time at Glen Abbey by one over Calcavecci. So pretty good year in '94. And we're not even talking about the Makers yet.

Bruce Devlin 32:47

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 32:49

Any favorites among that group?

Nick Price 32:51

Oh, I think you know, all of them were very special. Um the Honda I came from behind. I made a really great putt on 17 for Birdie and uh, you know, uh just all of those ones, you know, Scott Simpson, the playoff we had there. Um, I think I birdied the f the extra the extra hole to win. Um you know, they're they they're all they I remember them all so well. Um but you know the great thing was that Squeak and I were on a roll, and we would get on Saturday and Sunday, you know, when now, you know, you really have to perform. Um I guess Thursday, Friday, you're sort of jogging for position. If you shoot a great round, you shoot a great round. But you know, you you're trying to keep yourself in the hunt Thursday, Friday. But then Saturday, Sunday, now now you've got to play, you know, and and you've got to take chances if you're behind, and you've got to play cautiously, uh, but aggressively if you're if you're ahead. Um, and this is where Squeaky and I were just clicking. Um, we'd walk onto them. We knew exactly what was going on. Um, and we would watch the other guys, we'd listen to the other guys, we'd hear them talking negatively or put using negative connotations, you know, it's this much over the bunker, and this one won't the water's left, the water's in play, you know. We're going squeak and I rolling our eyes, but uh uh we we really were on uh uh on a mission then, I suppose is the best way to put it. And uh, you know, he just had a phenomenal uh acumen for golf. It was he was very, very good. He knew when I was struggling with a line, and then he'd come and ask, Do you want help? Yeah you know, he knew when I if I was in between clubs, he'd say, back off, let's start again and get it right because he knew 100% commitment over every iron shot or every uh shot that you were playing. So amazing uh, like I say, acumen for golf and caddying. Um so that that was and you know, you build on that confidence. You know, when you get on a roll, there I had been for the majority of my career a real journeyman picking up the odd victory, and suddenly I'm thrust into this uh this winning mode, and I don't want to let go, you know, and uh it was and I it it wasn't a blur. I remember everything. Some guys say, Oh, you must remember, you know, quite remember all that stuff. I said, Well, I remember so much of it.

Mike Gonzalez 35:23

So, Nick, we'll move on to 1997, and you win right down the road from where we're at here. Uh, of course, Bruce uh designed a wonderful car down here in Beauford, South Carolina, which is where I live, and just down the street at Hilton Head, uh, we got a little place called Harbertown that Pete Dye and Jack Nicholas developed. Uh, Arnold Palmer won the first event there as the lighthouse in the background was still under construction as he putted out that last uh day on his victory, but you won it in 1997.

Nick Price 35:50

Yeah, it was a it was a big week uh and a sad week, too, for me. Um, you know, I found out that Squeak my caddy had got leukemia uh back in July of '96, and he had started treatment um uh in in January of ninety-seven. And you know, I uh he he couldn't work, obviously, with having going through chemo, and uh and he was uh you know uh trying to get a bone marrow transplant, which he did from from his mother. Um but anyway, Jimmy Johnson, who was a really good friend of mine, or still is a really good friend of mine, we'd met out in South Africa and he'd come out to play the South African tour. Um, and you know, Squeak said to me when I when he said, you know, I'd asked him, I said to him, Who do you think I should get to work for me? And he said, get Jimmy to work for you, because I think he'll do, you guys will do really well. And of course, we were such good friends. Um, and he'd hung up his clubs, I guess, back in about 88, and had started cadding a little bit in the early 90s or mid-90s. And um actually he hung it up later than that. But anyway, he'd started doing a little bit of cadding in the mid-90s, and so I asked him, and then that was my first win with Jimmy on the bag, and um, you know, it was it was hard for me um because squeak wasn't on the bag. Um, and uh, you know, it was a it was an emotional win. Um, but I I I you know, even though Jimmy and I had success, I wanted Squeaky back, you know, and it wasn't uh three months later he passed away.

Mike Gonzalez 37:36

Well, you must have been focused that week because it was a commanding performance by six over Brad Faxen and Jesper Parnovic. Um Bruce, uh Bill Rogers kind of got into your pocket a little bit there back in 81, didn't he?

Bruce Devlin 37:49

Oh you did you have to bring that up. He did. Yes. Yeah, well, Bucky Boy was a bit hard to beat back in 81, I can tell you that. What a what a wonderful year he had. He was nearly uh he was nearly unbeatable that year.

Nick Price 38:05

It was amazing. I think he won like nine times globally.

Bruce Devlin 38:09

Yeah, you just you you couldn't beat him.

Nick Price 38:11

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 38:12

I'm sure it must have been a similar feeling to what you had back during the stretch uh in the 90s, Nick. Uh he certainly had that stretch for a while.

Nick Price 38:20

It was amazing. I looked back on 94 and I missed a lot of cuts in '94. Um I did. I missed quite a few cuts, um, which was uh uh unusual. But what well, I think one of the things that was the biggest challenge for me was that having been a journeyman and doing odd interview and magazine article or whatever, suddenly, you know, in '94, I'm just getting crushed. And I had a really tough time saying no to people. Uh uh, you know, uh I had some my favorite guys out there in the in the media, but you know, I'd always talk to anyone there. So, but it was starting to really work on me uh, you know, through 95, 96. Um, it was it was it was tough. And if I had to do it all over again, I probably would have said no a little bit more. I think it may have extended my career, but I was I was burnt out. And we were doing what a lot of people don't realize, you know, on the PGA tour, where when you win a tournament, the next year you go back and do a media day for that tournament.

Bruce Devlin 39:23

Right.

Nick Price 39:23

Which, you know, when you win six tournaments, you're now doing six media days, and you're flying from you know this place to this place on Monday. You know, so you finish Sunday and then Monday was a day off for us normally. Now I'm going to do a media day, and you know, you you're back on point. You play golf with the media, and then you, you know, you you do a QA or a conference in the morning, and then you have a dinner or a lunch. I mean, it was really hard. Um, so but you know what, that's goes with the territory.

Bruce Devlin 39:54

Yeah, that that's that's your reward along with the money. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 39:59

But uh Nick, that's exactly what we heard from from Bill Rogers. I don't know if his circumstance was different, but uh, you know, when he got hot, he became popular. Of course, he was represented like Bruce was and Nicholas and Player and Palmer by IMG. And uh, you know, as he said, he he went for it, right? He went to grab as much money as he could because there were a lot of opportunities around the world, and he said, I could have said no. I'm sure as a 29-year-old, it's very difficult to say no, and that's what he found out, and he same thing, he just sort of burnt himself out.

Nick Price 40:31

Yeah. Actually, I spoke to Buck about that, you know, a couple of times. Um and it was it was sad, but you know, he had a great he he had although his career was cut short, um, you know, uh if if he if I think if he had managed it a little better, it probably would have he would have extended it. But um what a great guy too. I mean, what a he and Beth just uh they were so nice to me when I went to Japan in 1980, I think it was, or 79. And I was over there on my own, and we were playing the Bridgestone Tournament and and another event, and I went out for dinner with them. They asked me to go out for dinner with them just about every night, so I got to know him really well.

Bruce Devlin 41:11

They're both a lovely couple, aren't they?

Nick Price 41:13

Great people.

Mike Gonzalez 41:15

Just a couple of other uh PGA regular tour wins uh 1998 won the St. Jude in a playoff with um one of the one of your graduating class from the one of my good friends, Sluman, yeah. Uh huh. You know, by the way, speaking of that graduating class, you had some real characters, didn't you? I mean, you had Mac O'Grady, Ken Green, uh Gary McCord, and then beauties right there.

Nick Price 41:42

Holy smokes. Well, Mac O'Grady I'd known in Europe. He came over and played in Europe. And uh, you know, he I mean he he he looked at life through a different lens to us, let's put it that way. He had some really crazy ideas, but I mean, you talk about a ball striker, that guy could really crush the ball. I mean, he could he could compress it uh as well as anyone. And probably a lot of people don't realize this, but he was the longest one out there in '83, '84. He was one of the longest hitters out there. Um but you know what both sides of the ball. Yeah, he could hit it. He could hit it left-handed as well.

Bruce Devlin 42:22

But um He wanted to he, you know, he wanted to play with himself in the four-ball tournament. He did. He did. Wait a minute.

Mike Gonzalez 42:32

That doesn't sound quite right. That sounds quite kinky, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 42:35

He he wanted to hit two balls off the team, one right-handed, one left handed, yeah, and play in and take the best ball.

Mike Gonzalez 42:43

Somehow I rem I vaguely remember that.

Bruce Devlin 42:46

Yeah. He he politicked hard to do that. Pretty funny.

Mike Gonzalez 42:51

We'll finish up with the 2002 Colonial again. You had a lot of good success uh there. Again, another commanding performance by five over Kenny Perry and and David Thoms.

Nick Price 43:00

Yeah, uh, that 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 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. Uh that Teter Green hit the ball uh where I wanted to the whole week, and my short game was strong, and uh, you know, another strong. 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 44:08

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

Mike Gonzalez 44:17

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

Bruce Devlin 44:21

Yeah, we both are.

Nick Price 44:22

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 eighty four. So I got to spend quite a bit of time with uh with Mr. Hogan. Um 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 he p when we'd go for dinner, he'd have all of the players on a staff for dinner at Shady Oaks when 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 from 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 and that. 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'll go to the children's uh hospital and visit with the kids who had cancer and then we'll you know do some other stuff. So I never really got the chance to see him, but um, I wish I had.

Bruce Devlin 46:01

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 46:27

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 uh it was just an absolute phenomenal, you know, he was a phenom phenomiz.

Mike Gonzalez 46:55

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but if we polled our uh oh, I don't know, 25 or so guests that we've had on and asked them for their opinions of the great ball strikers, uh uh some of it's age-dependent, I recognize, because some of the younger guys didn't see Hogan as much, but uh it seemed to be Hogan won, and perhaps uh you'd put Lee Trevino in their number two.

Bruce Devlin 47:15

Yeah, that's uh well that would certainly be my ranking, and as I said earlier, uh once you start going down after one and two, you're gonna find Nick Price's name very, very close to the top, I can assure you with that. Uh I had always had great respect for him as a player, and uh uh Nick, you and I didn't spend a lot of time together, but uh I sure admired uh your ability to play this game. It was quite wonderful.

Nick Price 47:42

Interesting you say Trevino, I mean, you know, one and two there. Uh uh I think nobody could make the ball talk like Trevino could. I always say that to my friends, you know. I mean, he just had an incredible control of the ball. And uh I mean it was it was it was lovely to watch. Um and you know, even later on, I mean I've played with him and his son and the father's son with my boy. And uh, you know, Greg, my son, I said, you've got to watch this guy swing. I mean, it looks all over the place, but that you'll not see anyone hit the ball straighter than this guy. And now he's got all these hybrids, and I'm telling you, it just he just rifles them. It's it's gonna it's amazing. I mean, and you know, I mean, if you talk about the equipment, I think if he had had those hybrids at Augusta, he probably would have won Augusta three or four times, you know.

Bruce Devlin 48:34

Um I think I think you're right.

Nick Price 48:36

Same for me. I was a ball, low ball striker, and I, you know, you don't have to hit the ball low at all. I mean high at Augusta, but it does help. Sure helps really helps. You need to have that ball coming in soft, not those little bullets like I had, those knockdowns. And uh, you know, but I think if I'd had two hybrids back in my day, I think I might have been able to win at Augusta.

Bruce Devlin 49:00

Well now now Travina's got a complete bag of them. I think he goes up to I I know he goes to seven hybrid, but he may even have an eight. But he's he's pretty pretty remarkable when it's started to Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game.

Mike Gonzalez 49:19

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 for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 49:35

Smack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. With it's time to slice, just smitch off line. My head is as long as you're still in the stage you're okay. It went straight down the middle file away.