Patty Sheehan - Part 3 (Winning the 1992 U.S Open)

Outro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started.

Mike Gonzalez 0:14

So we come right out of dinner with Ronald Reagan and we got to go right back onto the LPGA tour. We're now in 1988. And another couple of wins for Patty Sheehan. Uh the first being her third win at the Sarasota Classic at Bentry Country Club. Again by three over Joanne Carner. I haven't kept track, but that's at least the fourth or fifth time now, I think, Patty.

Patty Sheehan 0:35

Yeah. I think she still likes me. I don't know.

Mike Gonzalez 0:40

Uh you think she was keeping track?

Patty Sheehan 0:43

No.

Mike Gonzalez 0:44

Huh? No. No. She was competitive, though.

Patty Sheehan 0:49

Yeah. She was.

Mike Gonzalez 0:52

I mean, very unusual to to uh stay out there as an amateur until like age 30 before she finally decided to come on the tour, right?

Patty Sheehan 0:59

Right. Yeah. Yeah, she uh she she was a longtime holdout. Yeah, she decided to make the jump. But she was she was so always so fun to play with, you know. You just never knew what she was gonna do. You know, first time I ever played with her was at the LPJ Championship in King's Island, and I was playing with her and Pat Bradley, and um Big Mama hit uh a par five and uh uh into the bunker and next to the green, and uh Pat Bradley's up. Her shot was like four feet away or something, but right in Big Mama's line from where her bunker shot was gonna come out. So Big Mama asked Pat to move her marker.

Mike Gonzalez 1:51

Oh, interesting.

Patty Sheehan 1:52

Yeah, yeah, she didn't hit her bunker shot, and she's like, I I I think I need you to move that marker. You know, she was planning on hitting it in a hole, and yeah, I I just thought, wow, that's a good one. I've never seen that before.

Mike Gonzalez 2:07

Just trying to intimidate you youngsters.

Patty Sheehan 2:10

Yep, yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:12

Well, you had a you had another win, your second one at the Mazda Japan Classic. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce that golf course name.

Patty Sheehan 2:21

Musa Shigayoka.

Mike Gonzalez 2:23

Musashigayoka. Very good. And that was in a playoff with Lisa Let Neyman.

Patty Sheehan 2:29

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 2:30

Well that was quick. That was quick. First Hall Birdie. Thank you.

Patty Sheehan 2:36

Yeah, thank you. I didn't want to go into a playoff with Lee with Lotta that much. Uh I'm thinking, um, I'm thinking that was the same year she won the U.S. Women's Open. Um, and she beat me by a stroke or two. Um, I think it was that that year.

Mike Gonzalez 2:59

She won uh exactly right at Baltimore Country Club. She won the U.S. Open 1988. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 3:06

Yeah, she beat me.

Mike Gonzalez 3:07

Good memory.

Patty Sheehan 3:12

I didn't know what happened here.

Mike Gonzalez 3:13

I mean, that wasn't even the notes. No. Well, let's go to 89, which was uh an interesting year for a couple of reasons. But uh one, uh uh, you go up to Rochester, and by the way, uh, I can remember talking to Kathy Whitworth in our audio test, and we talked for 20 minutes, and the subject of Rochester came up, and how much fun and how much she used to enjoy traveling to Rochester for that tournament. There must have been some great supporting uh uh residents in that town behind that tournament. Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 3:46

Uh we I think we probably got the biggest crowds there.

Mike Gonzalez 3:49

Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 3:50

Of all of our tournaments. It was huge for Rochester. And the whole the entire city just uh just about closed up for this event. They were amazing. And um, you know, you you you just knew you're in a special place that people love golf. I mean, they know a lot about golf up there. And uh uh the golf course was was wonderful to play, it was just right for us, and um uh I think that was the year uh 1989. Um the year that I maybe not. Okay, I can't remember, but I I had a double eagle on uh the 17th hole on that golf course. I don't remember if that was to beat Ayako or not, but uh I don't know.

Mike Gonzalez 4:45

Yeah, you won one with Birdie on the first extra hole in a in another playoff. Um but uh uh and and and if if the double eagle is coming up, we'll get to it. I don't know. Maybe that was maybe that was the tournament. I don't I don't know.

Patty Sheehan 4:59

I don't remember. I I won uh Rochester three times, so it could have been it was one of those three times that I I made a double eagle. Only one I ever made.

Mike Gonzalez 5:07

Yeah. So let's go on the fall. Uh we're in San Francisco and uh your world is a little shook up.

Patty Sheehan 5:14

Yeah, it was at uh um uh the stadium candlestick park candlestick park for the um World Series, yeah, World Series game between San Francisco and Oakland. And Oakland was up a couple of games, I think. And we were uh I was in Willie McCovey's box up uh in Candlestick and having a good time, had a couple of cocktails and you know, pregaming, and the pre-game got a little shaken by the Loma Prieta uh earthquake. And I I opened the window, there's big windows up there in the box seats, and I opened the window and I said, We can make the earth move, not knowing how bad it was, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple wines in, I'm we can make the earth move, and I was hearing, you know, the giants on, and all of a sudden, um a cop comes to our door and says, uh, Mr. McCovey, you and your guests need to leave right now. You know, this was after we saw the players walk in and the players' families walk in, and and they're like, you gotta go. And so we made our way out through the men's locker room, through the giant's locker room, actually, because uh Willie's car was parked right outside the door there. So we got in his car and sat in traffic for hours and hours, and finally I got to my car and was driving down 280 South in the Bay Area, and uh the freeway was closed at an exit called Magdalena, and it happened to be the same exit that Julie Inkster lives off. So we went to Julie's house. Uh, Rebecca, my wife, and I went to Julie's house and knocked on the door and walked in and couldn't believe the devastation in her house. I mean, it was incredible. Um her uh uh pool in the backyard had you know sloshed so much water out, it was coming into the house. Um her entire uh Waterford collection that she had in her dining room was toast gone everywhere. Um it was just you know, that was that was my first indication that things were not gonna be going too well. And it was right at the beginning of um cell phone kind of connections, you know, DC.

Mike Gonzalez 8:14

Yeah, right at the beginning, yeah.

Bruce Devlin 8:16

Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 8:16

Uh and so Rebecca had a cell phone, and um, we tried to call our families to let them know that we were okay, and we couldn't get them for many, many hours. And once we did get them, you know, they were obviously relieved to know we were okay.

Bruce Devlin 8:33

Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 8:33

But it uh I stayed stayed at Julie's house for I don't know, a couple of days till we could find a a way to get back to our house down in the Santa Cruz Mountains. And so uh they finally opened up 280 down to Las Gadas, and then we had to take Highway 9 up over the mountain and then get on one south and then come back up Highway 17 to get to our house. And so it took nine hours from basically Julie's house to my house, which only took typically I don't know, 50 minutes. Yeah, took me nine hours to get there. So um, my first thought when I drove up to the house was, oh, it's still standing. I think we're okay. And then opened the front door, and there's a gap. Stuff everywhere, like this between the front door and the rest of the house. Like, oh wow, and I looked down, I could see, you know, the foundation and dirt, and looked around and everything was smashed. And uh the uh I had three uh three fireplaces and every chimney was off of the roof, you know, fell off the roof. And it was just, you know, it was a lot of devastation, um, stuff. It was all stuff that was broken. Um I I um um tried to figure out a way to you know get insurance to pay. And of course I didn't have earthquake insurance, so I didn't have any income coming there. Went to FEMA, stood in line FEMA for a couple of hours, and got to the end of the line and they looked up my name and they said, No, you make too much money, move on.

Bruce Devlin 10:28

Goodbye.

Patty Sheehan 10:29

You don't get any money. I'm like, okay, so you know, the house is toast, and now I have to figure out a way to make my life better and pick up the pieces. Um anyway, we did. We yeah, we slept on the lawn for the next five days until the rains came, and the rains came, and we uh somehow found a place to to stay in a uh little loft above um perfect strangers uh wine cellar that had broken every wine in the cellar, and it smelled so bad. I mean, it was just reek of wine. Anyway, we stayed there, and finally my brother got a hold of a moving company in Reno, and he sent two two big trucks down to get my stuff out of the house. And at that time, you know, my most of my trophies were broken, and um a lot of the glass in the house was broken. Uh, but I could get my car, I could get um a few trophies that sort of got bruised, and I kept them. Um got furniture out, clothes out, um, a lot of things that you know really don't break too much in an earthquake type situation. Um, so my brother rescued me and we went back up to Reno. I rented a house there for about six months. And fortunately that winter, um so the earthquake happened uh October 17th, and the that winter was a really mild winter up in Reno, and I could practice just about every day because that's the only thing that made me feel like I was in control of something. Um my house was destroyed, you know, in the mountains, and I don't have a place to call home yet, and so I would go and I would practice every day. It was nice and mild weather, and thank goodness it was, um, because then um I had something to do, something to make me feel like I had a purpose um and a goal to get back on my feet. Because I went back down to the um to the banks in San Jose, and they said, uh, you know, Machine, you only have$2,000 to your name. And I just went, what? I had no idea where all my cash was. But um soon, you know, after that I figured out where the cash went and it and I had$2,000 to figure out how to make some money uh that next year. And so fortunately I got to practice all winter and I went down to Jamaica. And Jamaica had a big bonus that week in Jamaica, and I won the tournament um and got a bonus. So my first tournament out after um after the earthquake was uh you know the tournament that got me going again. And and it was it was a crazy, crazy day on Sunday. I woke up, I had started my period, I didn't feel well, I had a headache. I felt like I had I was a court low and had no energy, but somehow I hung on and I knew I had to I knew I had to win to get myself back on my feet.

Mike Gonzalez 14:06

Yeah, yeah. Well that tragedy uh sure provided uh uh incentives, no question.

Patty Sheehan 14:14

Huge incentives, yes.

Mike Gonzalez 14:15

Yeah, and and and you responded. I I won't bore you with my story. I too uh lived through the earthquake. Uh was supposed to be at the game, but uh attended a World Series function the night before and opted to join our West Coast team for a Bay Cruise dinner cruise that night.

Patty Sheehan 14:33

Oh my goodness.

Mike Gonzalez 14:35

So believe it or not, we're staying at the Weston Hotel by the airport, which you can see as you go down the highway, right?

Bruce Devlin 14:40

Right.

Mike Gonzalez 14:41

We're just walking out the door when it hit.

Bruce Devlin 14:43

Oh boy.

Mike Gonzalez 14:44

Lady from Southern California who was with me said, Ah, that was nothing. That was maybe a 4-3 or 4-4. I said, I don't think so. But you know, we didn't know any better. We pile into this big bus, this charter bus, and and head down to the pier and show up at pier number whatever. Uh, we're here for our crew dinner cruise, and the guy looks at us like we got two heads. Like, are you kidding me? Do you realize what just happened? Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, six hours later, we we find our way back to the hotel because by then everything was shut down and a mess. Yeah, yeah. Wow.

Patty Sheehan 15:18

Well, anyway, never went.

Mike Gonzalez 15:20

You responded uh well to the pressure because uh now we come into 1990 after that win, and there's a few more to follow, aren't there, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 15:29

Yes, four more wins that year, McDonald Championship at Rochester International, Pink Cellular One, and the Safeco again at uh Meridian Valley Country Club, where where you won again uh rather comfortably by nine over Deb Richard or Richard.

Patty Sheehan 15:49

Richard, yeah. Um yeah, that year um 1990 was um the year that um the year that really made me believe that I can do just about anything um coming back from that earthquake. And I I was playing so well all year. Um and I went to the U.S. Open down in Atlanta uh that summer, or yeah, that summer, and I was still wearing knickers um at that time, and I was it was so hot in July in Atlanta, and I I don't know even how people exist down there, but somehow I we don't, we leave, we leave town. Somehow I you know, I I still had knickers, that's all I had, and I I wore knickers. I was so I was so overheated, and we had so many rain delays here and there, and uh, you know, never could get um meals on time or proper meals or you know, enough water. I that was that was the tournament that that was the turning point for me realizing that um I need to make changes in how I you know dealt with dressed. Yeah, how I how I dress, how I eat, how I, you know, keep myself hydrated, um, because I got pretty severe hypoglycemic um on that Sunday. We had to play 36 holes and heat, and I just didn't have enough fuel. Um, and I I couldn't get around. I at one point during that tournament, I was leading by 12 and ended up losing uh to Betsy King just because I just couldn't function. I couldn't I couldn't perform. Um, so yeah, that was that was uh a big another big turning point in my career was that tournament. Um uh I I lost that one. Uh come, you know, just I had it in my hands and just couldn't function. So the next week I go to um uh farm more classic. This is the week after up in Ohio, and I lose in a playoff to Beth Daniel that very next week. So those two in a row, I I went home and I said, I gotta, I gotta make changes here. I'm just not functioning. I'm I'm not performing. I I don't know what's wrong with me. And so I it was interesting. I got I got so many letters from people in support of you know how I dealt with it, and you know, I was crying afterwards. I just I had nothing left. And I got so many letters from people, wonderful people encouraging me, you know, and hoping that I don't give up and all that stuff. And one guy was a physician, and he and he's the one that pinpointed really what happened to me and and wrote a very nice letter um that I still have today. And um I that's what changed my life. He took he told me I I needed to, you know, talk with a professional and and get get squared away on my nutrition and my uh fluid, and and uh I'll be able to perform a lot better. And he was right, I was able to do that after afterwards. And you know, I'm so grateful to fans that that will reach out in in a kind way and and really be supportive. And and I've always enjoyed that, and I've always um embraced it, uh, and have really been very grateful for all the people that have supported me through the years. And it's it's interesting how you know a perfect stranger can can make a difference in your life when they say incredible things to you. So that was big, and and I I was so happy that I went through that experience, even though it was traumatic for me in a golfing way. And personally, I I wasn't really sure what was wrong with me. Um it was it was it was huge in in the rest of my career as I went forward after that.

Mike Gonzalez 20:07

Yeah, I'm I'm sure it was it's a lot easier to talk about now than it was to experience it at the time, because uh that that was a gut-wrenching loss, like you said, not knowing what was going on with my body and everything else. But uh, you know, some people would have never come back from that. And to look at what you did after that, including a couple of open wins, pretty cool.

[Ad] Did I Tell You About My Albatross

Patty Sheehan 20:26

Yeah, yeah, I it was it was great because it was such a learning uh learning experience and uh one that I needed to to have happen. Um, so I I was I was a really a different person after that. Um you know, I could get enough food and fuel and it would just really changed me. And I I was able to to get through tournaments a lot better uh after that.

Mike Gonzalez 20:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, you certainly fixed the bank account uh by the end of 1990 with that comeback year after that earthquake. Uh you went on and won a tournament uh in Hawaii, the Oryx Hawaiian Ladies Open in 1981, uh by three. 91, yeah. Uh 91, sorry, by three over Pat Bradley, and then uh here comes 1992.

Bruce Devlin 21:16

What a yeah. What a year.

Patty Sheehan 21:19

Yeah, let's see. What did I do then? Let me see if I can find that. Let me see, 1992. Where's my notes? 92.

Mike Gonzalez 21:31

You won an event called the is was it the Daiken Orchid Ladies, uh, which wasn't an official event, but uh um Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 21:40

Was that in Japan? It was in Okinawa.

Mike Gonzalez 21:43

Yeah, okay.

Patty Sheehan 21:44

Yeah, yeah. And I couldn't find much detail on it, but uh well it's it was it was a sponsored event by you know a Japanese company in in Okinawa, which is a pretty obscure place to go. Um but it was beautiful, and I learned a lot about uh the history of the um uh american military that moved in there and changed the whole place. Uh it was it was a beautiful beautiful tournament and you know I'd never seen so many orchids in my life and they grew right in the side of this rock wall. It wasn't man-made it was natural and all these orchids and so you know it was that was cool. I'd never really seen it in in the wild. Yeah um beautiful people there um a lot of them spoke English because it's kind of an English place to go a an American military place to go and it was fun I uh uh had I had Rebecca on my bag as my caddy and that was a different experience because I had to do my yardage by myself and I hadn't done that many many years uh so that was that was interesting and and I've somehow won that tournament and I won a I won a speed boat oh big you know powerful speed boat really that was my Christmas in Japan yeah how do you get that home I didn't I s I I sold it back to him I guess I just got cash for it I I I didn't know what to do with it.

Mike Gonzalez 23:28

Yeah really yeah did you do summer salts on the tarmac this trip as well or I didn't do any there no i you know sometimes you remember stuff like that and I I didn't remember to do that I should have but I forgot.

Bruce Devlin 23:45

Yeah then you know the next tournament you win you you uh you went to New York you won by uh another screen nine over Nancy yeah nine over Nancy Lopez and you did what you did quite often what did I you you shot uh 65 63 back to back no wonder you won by nine yeah what a 70 65 63 71 19 under par all time tournament record what a what a tournament record afraid to go low were you that must have been the year that I had the double eagle I'm guessing huh oh was it could be I think so yeah because I was playing with Nancy uh that day and it was a Saturday and I was playing with Nancy and it was the 17th total par five and it was reachable um so I hit a really good drive then I hit my three wood the yardage was 222 yards and I hit my three wood and it there was a little no little left to right wind coming and I hit it so pure it stayed right online and it went right past the bunker in the front and it rolled up and it went right next to the pin and I'm like oh god that was that was a good shot that was solid that was great and it and the ball sitting there you know and then it falls in and then it fell in like a minute later oh my boy and the crowd went crazy and I could I guess it had like lodged itself between the pin and the side of the hole and I could still see it.

Mike Gonzalez 25:26

Yeah anyway that was any other uh albatrosses other than that one that's it wow that's cool one and done that's cool that's cool um what did you have an albatross before uh Bruce I don't remember uh yeah I think I had one I remember having one a long time ago in Augusta on that on that easy short pie five there at night eight remember that one uh which hole I mean which got eight uh eighth hole at the at the masters oh at the masters yeah that's an easy one yeah yeah so he was part of it he's still part of a trivia uh question you know gene sarizen was the first at uh at uh what uh 135 at 13 yeah 13 no no no no 15 15 and then and then that's for the longest time it's the only one and then mr devlin comes along with one on eight and then you had uh maggrit newstays and come along and get the other two holes yeah amazing isn't it four par fives four different guys uh and and only one at each of the four of them remarkable yeah and he's remarkable yeah so let's continue on in 1992 you go to the Jamie Farr and win by one over four players i i'll I'll leave them nameless for now but uh uh if you're really interested I can if you're really interested I can tell you who they are it was Brandy Burton Heather Drew Tammy Green and Deb Richard and you must have gone back to back then winning the Rochester in the in the previous week.

Patty Sheehan 27:06

You know what I remember about the Jamie Farr that year had nothing to do with golf really I was uh it was over the 4th of July and the uh the fourth was on a Saturday night and I was staying with some people really nice people in Ohio and uh they took me down to the I don't know waterfront or something in Toledo I didn't know there was such a thing but they took me down there and they had fireworks and uh I was up in their offices they worked for um uh an investment company I forget which one anyway we were up in the high rise and the fireworks were right in front of our face and um I got overserved that night um I didn't normally drink very much but this night I was pretty excited you know I was drinking more than usual so I I got a little bit drunk and the next morning I woke up with a hangover it's Sunday morning um and mind me I I rarely rarely drank um so this was very unusual for me but I I teed off like two hours in front of the leaders um and I went out and I was hungover and I I didn't care what I did I was like I felt so terrible I was just there I was just playing and the ball kept going in the hole and so I'm like okay all right I'm I'm coming up the leaderboard okay I guess I need to start caring a little bit but I still felt pretty crappy and um anyway I got got finished and I I was leading when I got off the golf course I still don't really know how I did it but I did and I was so tired and uh still feeling pretty crummy and uh went I didn't know what to do with myself because I had two hours to go to wait for the leaders to come in.

Bruce Devlin 29:16

Yeah.

Patty Sheehan 29:17

So I'm in and out of the clubhouse. It's hot it's sweaty I go back in and cool off. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm eating I'm drinking water I'm trying to do all the right things but I just you know there's no way I'm gonna be in a playoff or win this thing or anything. So two hours go by and I'm still leading and uh so I I just know somebody's gonna make a birdie coming in so I go to the range and I warming up again and I just hanging out on the range and and it was the strangest way to win you know when you win and you're not even there to at the end just to have a good time with it you know so I walk in there and I'm like here I am oh dear.

Mike Gonzalez 30:10

I'm trying to remember Bruce we had a guest I don't remember who it was who actually didn't think they had a chance they actually went to the airport almost boarded a flight and then had to rush back to the club for the for the prize giving I can't remember who it was yeah I can't remember well three weeks later you were fully recovered let's go to Oakmont for the 1992 U.S.

Patty Sheehan 30:30

women's open okay how'd you do uh that was that was great um talk about redemption yeah yeah yeah oakmont is some special place uh my caddy had been there the entire week before um his name is Carl Ibe really great caddy he caddied for uh Betsy King prior to me um so he knew his stuff and he showed up at Oakmont a week ahead of time and he talked with members he sat and took notes he he scoped out the course um better than anybody and when I got there on my practice round on Monday excuse me um he says all right got it figured out I said okay buddy let's go play and it was a week that we had quite a bit of rain still and getting rain at US open courses is never a good thing the rough is thick it's deep it's and now it's wet and heavy and and you know it's getting almost impossible. So he says all right this is what we're gonna do we're gonna hit we're not gonna hit driver everywhere you're gonna play to you know stay in the fairway like okay sounds good to me so we did that the entire week and um uh was fortunate to to uh play well um nobody gave us a chance to shoot under par. You know that was all in the media this golf course is gonna eat the women up you know it's gonna be an embarrassment for them and blah blah blah and um and so you know we were playing pretty well um uh nothing spectacular but i in its mediocrity it was spectacular um i just kept hitting fairways and and greens and as y'all know doing that in a US open is is key you gotta get you gotta you gotta play smart you gotta be uh really super patient you gotta have the great short game because you're gonna make mistakes gotta get the ball up and down and and um I did that the entire week and it was it was a wonderful um like you said redemption week um it was during the time of uh um uh uh Olympics Olympics were on TV and that what to me is really inspiring um was that Barcelona that year sorry Barcelona that year I don't remember where I think so I think Barcelona was 92 uh Atlanta was 96 yeah so anyway uh uh as we're coming in Sunday um I'm playing with uh Julie um and you know we're going head to head and she's playing well I'm playing well and I'm missing I'm missing greens getting up and down every everywhere and on 16 uh long par three uh I hit the green and I three putted and I was really hot I was ticked off now you're two now you're two back with two to play and I've got two to go and we stand up on 17 and you know I hit my fairway wood up there to lay it up in a good spot and Julie does the same and we're walking off the T and they blow the horn to stop play because rain's coming. So we go in to the clubhouse I'm in my locker room and watching uh Olympics on TV try to get my mind off of things and you know it was that to me is just so cool. It's just God, you know, such great athletes and so this whole my whole mindset changed from being ticked off to come on these athletes can do it so can you Patty come on you've got to go out there and you can do it. So I had this whole you know pep talk with myself and um go back out uh when the they blow the horn to to get us back out there um I hit my second shot pretty good shot on the the green and Julie's a little bit outside of me she two putts for parr and um so I've got to make a birdie here and and somehow I do. I make the putt and now I'm only one back. We go to the 18th T she um I hit my T shot in the right rough she hits a beautiful shot down the middle I get down there and I'm standing in the very um so the the fairway kind of comes down from the T and then it goes up to the green and I'm right at the bottom and I'm right in the the drainage area basically of the water. So all the water is coming through there and my ball is in it and so I get a ruling and a a drop a free drop from the water standing water and so the rules official says um you know you can go to the right you can go to the left but the left is closer so the left is where I went and it happened to be out into the fairway. Well Miss Inkster did not like that at all. No I better she was hot that I got a free drop from deep wet rough into the fairway.

Mike Gonzalez 36:44

Cha ching.

Patty Sheehan 36:45

Yeah so now I've got a chance uh and so I'm like okay uh so I hit my five iron up there probably 18 20 feet short of the flag and she hits you know a nice shot up there too um a little bit outside of me and uh so she two putts for par you know she's got the she's got the open trophy in her hands basically and I make a putt for Bertie to go into the playoff um and she was livid so at that time it's an 18 hole playoff the next day so we go home sleep I get up go drive to the golf course uh oh night before the uh storage room for our clubs they closed it and they said you got to take take your clubs home I said okay so we take the clubs home I put them in the garage uh of the place we're staying in a private house and we drive to the golf course the next morning and I get there and I see Julie and Brian is carrying her bag and I'm like oh where am I I don't have my clubs all expletives yeah and so I'm like so I say to my caddy I will be back as fast as I can get back. I gotta go get my clubs so I it's a 20 minute ride through the windy roads in Pennsylvania and oh my I didn't get pulled over not me uh I get my clubs I get back there and I've got like 20 minutes before we tee off when I get back and I guess TV was like well it's an unusual way to prepare for your uh playoff by not being here yeah yeah so I got there I hit some balls quickly hit a few putts and went to the tee and then um hit uh hit driver two iron and made the putt on the first hole so I birdied the first hole in the playoff and that and I felt like by then all of my adrenaline was gone. Yeah and I could settle and and concentrate on playing and and I I wasn't nervous from that moment on. I didn't have any more adrenaline it was um fairly smooth sailing um and you know Julie was struggling a little bit she missed a few putts here and there but I I got up enough so that I could cruise coming in and I think I bogeied the neck the last two holes or something to to win and beat her. But it was uh you know it was it was a bittersweet kind of win because I was so excited to get that first open um that I totally messed up two years before uh and it but it was against my very good friend Julie and you know just to see how how devastating it was for her and you know she was crying she was holding her daughter and she was crying and I you know you have those uh yeah I want to be jumping up and down and running around and going crazy but I don't want it to be like I'm rubbing this in to my very good friend. So it was it was a little bit muted the celebration in that way but it sure was redemption and it it um I think that particular tournament win um uh really made me uh feel like I have I have come to a point in my career where I can really appreciate everything that's happened and that tournament win uh got me into um uh uh uh being close I can't remember being close to yeah getting closer to the Hall of Fame because at that time we needed two different majors different ones otherwise you had to get 35 wins right well you see it was either 40 wins and no majors 35 wins and one major or 30 wins and two different majors right and I had had what two or uh I'd had two two LPAs three LPGA championships by then and yeah I needed a different one so that's the one that kind of got me over the hump so that I knew that I was really getting close.

Outro Music 41:32

Yeah so yeah so all the homework that Carl did uh in the week leading up to it was that worth at least one shot to you you think I think it was worth probably 10 yeah at least 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 tee it up again for the good of the game so long everybody it went smack down the fairway and it started just like just smitch offline for two but it bounced off nine my head is as long as you're still in the stage you're okay it went straight down the middle