Steve Jones - Part 3 (Coming Back to Win the 1996 U.S. Open)

Mike Gonzalez 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to get away. Well, you know, that that mentality you just described, uh losing on one hole by five shots. I think it was that sort of mentality that was going to serve you well in 1996 at the U.S. Open, but there's a lot to cover between now and then, correct? Because you come out of that win in 89 and and uh who would have known what was to come in 1991?

Steve Jones 0:40

That's right. Well, I had an okay year, wasn't a great year in '91. And uh uh I kind of rode a motorcycles a little bit, not a lot, but because I didn't have one. My parents wouldn't let any of us boys have motorcycles, but I I rode them enough to know that I really liked them. Uh so I had a notion to say, hey, let's get two dirt bikes for my wife and I, and we're gonna go out in the desert and just tool around and have fun, right? So that's what we did in November of '91. And um the second second time we went out. Uh a friend of mine, he was on my wife's bike, and he wrecked in front of me, and I stood. I guess I could have should have just ran right over him. But when I tried to stop, um, I wrecked. Um I I knew how to go fast on a motorcycle, I just didn't know how to stop. So that's a problem. And so that's how I got injured, busted up my left finger, left ankle, and separated my left shoulder, and ended up had to put both bikes back on the trailer by myself. My buddy was hurt too bad, and put us in the truck and we drove to the hospital and got treated. And I didn't think it was that bad. I thought, oh, kind of my shoulder is probably the worst, worst thing. End up actually being my finger that took the longest to rehab, and uh just kept micro-tearing it, went through rehab, they kept rubbing it, bending it. Just like that really hurts. Oh, quit being a baby. But they kept micro-tearing my finger and it wouldn't heal. So it just wouldn't heal for took took two and a half years to heal. And that uh took a lot of time off tour and uh lost lost a lot of time.

Mike Gonzalez 2:35

Well, what one of the things our our listeners aren't gonna be able to see this, but uh just show us the grip alteration you had to make.

Steve Jones 2:46

Yeah, so I it kind of a this is just a regular overlap grip. Yeah, and then I went to the reverse overlap. I call it the reverse overlap Varden Jones grip. Yeah because this finger I couldn't I couldn't bend it. That wasn't bend it around the club. So I was actually started off chipping a putting like this. It was up in the air, and I was and then I finally got lower and lower and lower, and then in uh probably around 90, first in 95, I could touch my hand, and then I used that grip for uh eight years and won four tournaments with that grip, and then in 2003 I went back to my my Varden.

Mike Gonzalez 3:30

Interesting, interesting. So I've got that I've got that finger to play with. Yeah, I got that one, yeah, and so the the regular just works perfectly for me, you know? So uh as you said, you didn't think at the time maybe it was all that big a deal, thought the shoulder was going to be the problem, but obviously it wasn't. Uh had to be a hard road back because you took years off the tour in your prime.

Steve Jones 3:59

Yeah, it was it was hard because I I literally didn't hit a golf ball for almost three years, and that was hard. It was just, you know, you get so antsy. Um I was still able to walk and kind of get in shape, but I just couldn't use my left hand like I wanted to. But um a lot of people questioned, are you are you are you sure that you're not okay? You're just milking this thing, or even my mom was like, Can't you just go out and hit balls? Can't doesn't it? I said, Mom, it hurts. I'm something's not right. So it wasn't until 80, well, I guess it was 19, I guess around spring of 94, John Cook gave me a uh his orthopedic surgeon's name in Palm Springs. So I went over there and and talked to his doctor, and he said, you know, even like changing diapers, it was the baby would kick and hit my finger and it would it would micro-tear it, hit a wall. So he just took a little Velcro thing and put about around here and around here, Velcro, so it kept my fingers together. I could bend them, right? But they wouldn't separate, so it would micro-tear it anymore.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Interesting.

Steve Jones 5:17

And literally in three months, I was I felt like wow, I feel really good. And within uh about six months of doing that, I felt like I was 95-98%, and I just didn't want to hurt it anymore. Right. And so that kind of that's what got me going in '94. I might not have ever healed up.

Mike Gonzalez 5:39

So so looking back then, you know, what you sort of learned, do you think uh you probably would have done it a little differently and you could have shortened that time frame a little bit in terms of the comeback?

Steve Jones 5:50

I think if the rehab people had uh maybe treated it a little bit different, they said, Well, we don't want you to lose your flexibility, so we're gonna keep bending it. And uh actually that was what was hurting it. Yeah, they had they had actually yeah, they had actually uh helped Jan Stevenson out the year before. She was in Miami going to a a game, basketball game, and they had pulled her ring finger off the thieves and broke her finger, and they kept telling me, Jan Stevenson, she didn't whine about it. You're whining about this thing hurting. You know, she she gutted through it. I'm like, okay, so anyway, it was a different injury.

Mike Gonzalez 6:34

Yeah. Yeah. Well, uh, there are some parallels. We we you and I talked briefly uh yesterday, but some parallels with with with uh Jerry Pate, because uh you know Jerry at a young age too sustained an injury. Unfortunately, it really ended his career for all intents and purposes. He was 28 years old at the time, uh, had won the U.S. Open, had just won the TPC, the one where he was famous for throwing uh beaming and die under the water. Well, a week later, he blows out his shoulder at age 28 and he's done. Uh, you, he, Bruce Duvlin, all with eight wins on the PGA tour. Uh, in Bruce's case, I suppose if he'd uh not taken up golf course design and broadcasting so early, maybe he would have had more. Uh in your case and Jerry Pate's case, uh, in the absence of any injury, I'm sure you guys would have racked up a few more as well. Because you were, I think, 32 at the time you got hurt, right?

Steve Jones 7:36

Yeah, that sounds about right. It's too much math right here in the morning to figure out, but uh trust me. Yeah, I I kind of I kind of really had two careers. I had that uh 1985 to 1991, and then I had that 1995 to basically you know 2002 before I got hurt again in 2003. So there's six, seven years both times, um, where I had all my wins and everything. And and the crazy thing is I've been injured a third of my career, and that's a lot of years, a lot of yeah, that's a lot of retirement points. When you look at Jeff Sluman, who you know has racked up 30 years of retirement points. So he's he's sitting pretty good right now for his retirement. But um, you know, you you still spend money when you're injured. Yeah, yeah. So it's it's uh it's tough. It's hard because like this is what I want to do, this is what I I'm meant to do, uh play golf for my profession. Um, but at the same time, you know, I had my faith in God, and there was a reason for it. And a lot of people ask me, they say, you know, why did that happen to you? You why'd that why did you get in a motorcycle wreck? I said, I know exactly why. And they said, why? And they said, I said, well, I knew how to go fast on a motorcycle, but I didn't know how to stop. That's why it happened.

Mike Gonzalez 9:05

Yeah. Well, um uh we come to career number two, then as you call it. And uh, you know, as you were going, I guess you started seeing some glimmers of hope, sort of uh 95, getting into the first few months of 96, didn't you?

Steve Jones 9:23

I did. Uh the one thing I took from all of 1995 was I was uh after day one, two, three, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I was uh 9th, 11th, and 13th place average for the year. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, wonderful. By Sunday, I was like 145th average. So I really had a lot of problems. Yeah, I had a you you gotta be a closer. And for me, I just I didn't want to be there. By Saturday, I was like, I can't do another day. I'm just it's just too long the tournament. I'm just my concentration's gone, and I just didn't know what to do, basically. Um, I just Sundays were just gonna be another bad day. Uh and then in 1996, kind of the similar stuff was happening first of the year, playing well, right there. But I mean, I spent probably as much on my last two holes in my career as the money I made in my career. It felt like, you know, I mean, it felt like I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars those last two holes in my career. Um, but uh funny thing happened in uh June of June of '96. Um there was a lot of things happening. There's a big story about the clubs I switched to Cobra clubs in Houston. I missed a cut by like 10. And uh Arnie Cunningham, the Cobra uh rep, said he saw me in Dallas. He said, What are you doing playing those clubs? I said, The clubs are great. I just stunk. So I like the clubs. He goes, Oh, okay, good. So he was happy. And so my brother had I played Dallas, so I go to Fort Worth the next week. My brother had broken his uh Callaway driver, Big Bertha, and I was using Big Bertha, and I was bombing it. And then I took it to the rep at Fort Worth at Colonial. I said, Hey, could you fix this driver for my brother? Uh he broke it, and he said, Nope, tour players only. I can't fix anybody. I said, Oh, so if I would have said this was my driver, you would have fixed it? He goes, Yeah. I said, Well, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, it's my driver. I should have said that. It wasn't that quick, but anyway, Arnie Cunningham brought me a cobra driver on the range, and it kind of he got me a little bit, the callaway guy. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna try this cobra. The callaway I I could only hook, but the cobra I could fade and draw. I'm like, oh, I like that. So I used it and I finished sixth at Colonial. So then the next week we go to Memorial, and there's no reps allowed, so the rep wasn't there to badger me. So I uh shot 67 on Thursday and I'm leading the tournament. I'm like, this is great. And I always I told somebody I said, you know, I'm gonna win in the next, I'm gonna win the next few weeks. I'm playing good, I'm gonna win. And I shot like 78 and I missed the cut by one. So 67, 78, or whatever, missed the cut by one. And now I have Monday qualifying for the U.S. Open on that Monday. So I'm like, I get over, look at the golf courses, I end up making a in a playoff, I got got in the U.S. Open. And I said, that's what I'm gonna win. I'm gonna win the U.S. Open. And so I went back home. We were in Montana at the time, uh spending some time up there and uh practicing, and I told my buddy, I'm gonna win the U.S. Open. So Arnie had got a contract for me with Cobra. So at the U.S. Open, he said, Hey, we want to sign you with Cobra. I said, No, I don't want to sign right now. I said, I'll wear the hat, I'll use the bag, but when I win the tournament, I'm gonna triple the deal. So they're like, oh, really? Oh, okay. Sure. Okay, do that. Okay. So I put the hat on and and uh obviously I won the tournament, I triple the deal.

Mike Gonzalez 13:41

I'll be darned. I'll be darned. Well, for our listeners, we're talking now about the 1996 comeback win for Steve Jones coming off uh a four or five year hiatus here. He's at the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. Uh the monster is uh Mr. Hogan called it, I think. And he wins it by one over Tom Lehman and Davis Love the third with rounds of 74, 66, 69, 69, a little 278 minus two. I'm sure the USGA wasn't happy with your 66.

Steve Jones 14:17

Well, that's a funny story in itself, but I should back up real quick. I what I meant to say, I get on these rabbit trails, but uh we were leaving to uh Detroit on Sunday, my wife and I and two kids, five and three at the time, and we flew out to Detroit and got the rental car and then got a uh courtesy car too, and went to this house. His friend said, Hey, you can stay at my house. Well, we got there, my wife or some one of us locks the keys in the rental car, so we can't get in, but the the house is closed too. So there's no keys. The guy didn't leave a key underneath the door. So my son, we put him in the back window and he went through and uh ended up opening the front door, and we stayed there. And I said, Good luck with the car, honey. I gotta go practice. It's Monday. This was Sunday night late. Um, so um, long story short, is on Sunday when we were flying out from Phoenix to Detroit, my friend of mine had uh given me this Ben Hogan book, an autobiography. And uh he said, Here, take this with you, you need to read it, because he knew I was having problems on Sundays, and so a year and a half I just can't finish on Sundays. So I said, Okay, I'll take the book. So I took the book, I finished reading it on Wednesday, and my what I got from that Hogan book and from Ben Hogan's life, the main thing was uh one shot at a time, something really simple. The most important shot's the next one. Forget about what you just did, get that next shot, next one, next one, next one, next one. And uh without reading that book, I definitely I don't think I would have won the US Open because that put me in that frame of mind to finish off. I had to just think one shot at a time, not oh, I don't want to play today, I'm tired. I'm thinking of the hitting this shot. Yeah, and all the best players in the world, yeah, all the best players have have compartmentalized one shot at a time, no matter what happened. Think of that next shot, and it's not gonna work every time, obviously, because we're you know we're not perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, nobody's gonna shoot 1800 every every day. Um, but anyway, that was a couple storylines behind it, you know, and the guy's power didn't work, and uh he had no air conditioning, and I couldn't sleep Saturday night. Oh my god he didn't have TV, we didn't watch TV, so I'd read other books. My kids, we were hot, and they they actually came home and joined us, my friend and his family. So we had three bedrooms. Uh was nine, ten, that's four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine or ten of us in three bedrooms. And he he gave, did give my wife and I the his uh uh master bedroom, but nothing was going right that week. You know, everything was just you know, it rained Wednesday night, it rained two inches Wednesday night, washed the bunkers out, and it's wet, and I go out and shoot 76, and now now I got to go off last, almost last on Friday. And Greg Norman shoots 66. Greg Norman's coming in the locker room on Friday afternoon. I'm going out for like a 2:30 tea time. He shoots 66, and I said, Hey, great round, shark. No one's gonna beat that today. And I go out there and one reporter came up to me Friday night about eight o'clock and said, You ruined everybody's storyline. I said, Oh, sorry about that. So I tied Greg at 66, and um that's and actually my buddy, what was funny is my buddy after I shot that 74 the first day, he he comes up to me, he says, Hey, think you're gonna make the cut? And I go, make the cut? I'm gonna win. And I couldn't believe I said that. It was the strangest thing because I was like, he kind of made me mad that what do you mean, miss the cut? I'm gonna win. He goes, Oh, okay. Like, yeah, right. Yeah, and it's you know, funny stories of when you everybody that wins, stuff like that happens.

Mike Gonzalez 18:24

Yeah, so you're you're sitting uh with Norman 66, he's at 139, he's won back a paynew. Uh uh Woody Austin was the first round leader. He was sitting uh uh second by one, as was Ells, and then came uh a few guys T5, including you, after your 66. Uh, how did what was the mindset uh for you coming off of that 66?

Steve Jones 18:50

Oh um must not have been very good because I did not hit the ball well on Saturday. Um my putter saved me. I hit the ball actually the worst I hit it, even first day. I hit it, hit it better than I did on Saturday. Um, but a funny tip I was using actually that week, I always kind of came from the inside and I separated my arms going through and I hit a big sweeping hook, but I did it every time. And so I was just too much hook. I said, I gotta hit it straighter this week. So I put a two guy said put a two by four down, and I put my ball real close to the two by four so my club path wouldn't hit the two by four. I kind of had to swing to the left a little bit, uh-huh. And so that 10 to 15 yard draw turned into a five-yard draw if I did it correctly. And I hit that, I hit I played uh two practice rounds, and we I played uh 18. I hit driver every day on 18, and all six days I hit that in the same spot with a driver. So coming down the stretch, I knew I was gonna have to hit driver on 18. It it didn't bother me at all.

Mike Gonzalez 20:02

So you're you're uh won back a layman after three rounds. Were you playing with him in the final round?

Steve Jones 20:09

Yep, yep, and I just felt like it was all Tom because he hit it so perfect, and I hit it actually closer than him, most of the holes on the front nine. Um, but I did I couldn't make a putt. I was even par. I think I was even on the front, something like that, and then um one, two, yeah, I think I was even on the front, except going into nine, first eight holes. Uh, and then uh I ended up hitting a uh three iron on the last hole, number nine, and I the pin was tucked right, and I played my shot five yards right of the green, and I drew it, and it landed right on the edge of the green and kind of hooked by the hole. I think it was ten feet maybe. But to play that shot, that's the confidence I had with those irons. Especially that iron right of the pin. It was ten feet right, and you're gonna probably make bogey, but I just saw my draw and I hit it, and I ended up making birdie, and then I birdied 10, then I birdied uh 13 uh 12. So all of a sudden I was two shots ahead. Um and Tom had bogeied bogeyed twelve. And then uh I bogeied 1317 to poop two par threes, hit decent shots, but uh that came down the last hole.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Yeah, you were tied uh standing on the last T. Tied, right? And you uh hit your driver in the same spot you did it there five times before. That's pretty fancy.

Steve Jones 21:43

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he was uh I I bogeied 17 to make it close, make it interesting, make it more TV drama, you know. And then on 18 uh Tom and his caddy were kind of like back and forth driver three wood. And Tom hit hit his normal draw. He just didn't play it to the right enough. And it with his draw it kicked into fairway and went in the bunker and hit a great bunker shot out. And uh, you know, he had been in like the last group or something at uh I don't know, like five majors in a row or something. Unreal. He he was on a roll and then uh obviously he won a month later at the British Open.

Mike Gonzalez 22:27

Yeah, so you had a you had a pretty comfortable par on the last uh because you you hit your second shot pretty close on 18, didn't you?

Steve Jones 22:35

Yeah, I was uh the funny thing is is on 17 I was wearing sunglasses all day. So I said it's getting darker, so I took my sunglasses off. And I if anybody knows that's ever wore sunglasses, you take them off, it changes your perception. So I didn't take them off quick enough. If I had taken them off after the green on 16, maybe I had time to adjust. But my eyes were like strange, and I I lost, kind of felt like I lost my balance and tried to hit a hard seven-iron hook from trying to land at about 180 on the front because it's so hard and it would roll up to that 200-yard pin. Um, but I didn't hook it, I kind of flared it outright, and it just got stuck in that you know, one foot grass. Um and I made bogey, but then I get to 18, I hit the driver, and I had like 183. I'm like, that's seven iron again. I said, this time stay behind it because I knew I'd went ahead of it on 17, and so to have that same iron that gave me problems a hole before, I said just stay behind it as much as you can, stay behind it. I don't care if you do a mic read, you know, reverse C, stay behind it. And uh it landed right on the front, took one bounce, almost went in a hole, which would have been exciting, like a Gamaz shot. Uh but end up going past the pen. And at the time I didn't didn't I asked my brother walking up the green, I said, How do we stand? I that's the first time I'd ask about how we stood all day because I was playing with the leader, Tom Layman. And he said, Oh, looks like you're tied with uh love and layman. Oh, he said, nope, just layman and you, because they just posted his three-put. And so I said, Okay, so I knew, oh wow, if I could just I need to probably try to make this putt in case he makes his par putt, and it lipped it out. It had one camera view, and the last couple feet, my body was in the way, and it I thought I made it, it was going right lip with a foot to go, and it just hard left and lipped out. And then when I later when I saw Davis Love, how he three-putted, I knew what happened that the putt looks straight, and at the last six inches it just hard left, and that's what his did, how he missed his. Uh, it was really a strange pin placement.

Mike Gonzalez 25:02

Yeah, a tough loss for Davis Love on Father's Day because he bogeys the final two holes, including that uh that missed three-footer on the last that you'd mentioned, where he would have been in a playoff with you.

Steve Jones 25:14

But but the good thing is the next year, you know, his dad had died, and he won the PGA at Wingfoot, and they had the rainbow, and it was a it was a great story. I mean, so we all three got our majors, and none of us uh won another major.

Mike Gonzalez 25:29

So, Steve, you remember who uh who presented that trophy to you?

Steve Jones 25:34

Oh, yes, I do. I I do now. Uh Judy Bell. And I just saw Judy uh in December when uh we had all the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame people came together at uh the Broadmoor Golf Club where Dow Finsterwald was, and uh that the new museum that they put up there is beautiful. And uh it was great to see Judy. I talked to her, took a picture with her, and uh it was a memorable moment.

Mike Gonzalez 26:05

Yeah, well, we're hopeful, uh Bruce and I, as uh Judy is a World Golf Hall of Fame member and one of only five women Golf Hall of Fame members that we've yet to tell their stories. So we're hopeful that we still get that opportunity with Judy at some point. There were five, speaking of Hall of Fame, there were five World Golf Hall of Famers on that leaderboard that final day uh in the top ten. So you you you you won against a pretty tough field, and uh uh a guy that was T5, Jim Fuhrick, he's probably gonna get in at some point, I wouldn't, I wouldn't doubt. I would yeah, I would think so. Yeah.

Steve Jones 26:41

Definitely, yeah. It was uh a good field, but you know, at the time, at the last day, all I was thinking about was uh you know, trying to hold on to second at first because I didn't want to finish worse than second. Uh but then once I my putter got hot for three holes, and um it's US Open. You know, par is a good scorer back then. The grass, the fairways were tight, the you know, you missed the fairway, you're you're chipping out, greens were firm. Um but it it was a funny week because it got we had that two inches of rain Wednesday night, but it rained so hard and so fast that good thing is it kind of flooded off the greens, but it was wet on it was greens were really wet on Thursday, yeah, and it was hard to adjust. You get a lot of backspin on it, and then boy, by Saturday and Sunday, they got so fast. And I guarantee you, if there wasn't had been if there hadn't been that rain on Wednesday, I would say four over. Probably four over would have won, more like a wing wing foot, you know. Yeah, definitely.

Mike Gonzalez 27:50

Was uh Tom Meeks still setting up the golf courses back then?

Steve Jones 27:55

Yeah, yeah, it was uh Meeks and going blank, the other guys at uh doing it.

Mike Gonzalez 28:02

Yeah, yeah, I think he but probably didn't been in charge yet at the at the USGA. Well, we mentioned Jerry Pate a couple times earlier. Uh you were the first sectional qualifier to win since Jerry Pate won at Atlanta Athletic Club in 1976.

Steve Jones 28:21

Yeah, I didn't didn't think about it at the time. Um but uh I just I just had problems with qualifying. I'd been trying to qualify for the US Open since I was a senior in high school, and I just could not could not make it. Even after I think in 1988, after I won Bob Hope, I didn't even try to qualify because I said I I went over to China with uh uh Morris Atalski, I mean uh yeah, uh Larry Nelson and uh Morris Atalski. We went over to China to do a friendship fellowship golf tournament. And Jim Hiskey had set it up, and we went over there, and it was like we played the second golf course in China with the second in command of China, and I didn't even want to go try to qualify for the USO. I'm gonna miss anyway. Let's just go to China. So I I really didn't try to qualify uh until I got in by winning in 1989. I won those three terms I got in. Um, but before and that's the only reason I got in was the money list or however they did it. And even in 1996, I forgot to add this in 1996 because of my finger, it still was sore, and I just I didn't practice as much as I should, but I felt like I couldn't play 36 holes in one day, so I told my wife I don't want to try to qualify for the US Open because in 95 I didn't. So in 96, she said, Look, you can always withdraw, just try to play. I said, Okay. So I'm qualifying in 96 and made it and ended up winning. So 1988 Pebble Beach, okay. My wife will go see it once. But yeah, I mean that's what wife is for. They're very encouraging, and I try to encourage my wife, but she's definitely been a part of all my wins and my career.

Mike Gonzalez 30:20

Yeah. So what changed for you after winning the United States Open Championship?

Steve Jones 30:28

Well, definitely paid more taxes that year. Nothing wrong with that. It's it's good to pay taxes. Uh that means you're making money. Uh I think I had a lot of good guys tell me uh words of advice. Um Andy North, Tom Kite, uh, a lot of different guys said, look, you're not gonna win every week. Don't try to win every week. Don't act like you know you you you you can win every week. Don't get depressed when you miss a cut. You're gonna miss a cut again. Uh just go do what you normally do. Play. Don't think about, oh, I won the U.S. Open, so now I should play better. Put more pressure on yourself. And so that's what I did. And I didn't I didn't go around the world. I I went to a couple tournaments, and that was it. I didn't uh go for the big bucks, play and make the big circuit for a year, uh, like so many guys do, and then they ruin their career because I wanted to make the Ryder Cup, and that was the best advice I'd ever gotten was from those guys to uh just be normal and don't put pressure on yourself, and when you play good, you play good.

Mike Gonzalez 31:45

Yeah. Let's come back briefly to the venue Oakland Hills Country Club. Uh had some great winners over the years between the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in particular.

Steve Jones 31:58

Yeah, there's a lot of guys there. U.S. Amateurs, PGA, and US Open and Palmer, Nicholas. Um, well, I can't even think right now.

Mike Gonzalez 32:10

Gary Graham won the PGA there.

Steve Jones 32:13

Yeah. Graham.

Mike Gonzalez 32:15

Uh Gary Player won the PGA there. Of course, most recently, Podrick Harrington. And on the U.S. Open side, uh uh while there were open winners before this, uh Hogan really sort of put it on the map, and then Gene Littler won. Andy North won. Of course, that was the the memorable championship with uh with two chip chen uh uh you know TC in it on uh uh on about the fifth hole in the last round. Uh and then finally Steve Jones. Uh but uh uh they lost a lot of their treasures uh back in a fire in February of 2022 at that famous clubhouse, didn't they?

Steve Jones 32:52

Yeah, it was that was crazy seeing that on the news and watching it burn and um knowing pretty much everything went up in smoke, and uh it it was uh a good reminder how things don't last on this earth. Uh and it was very sad. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. That was the main thing, but they did form a line up and up there on top and down below, and they got a lot of stuff out. Um but I was hoping they'd get you know a lot of the Hogan and Nicholas stuff out and Palmer, and they did get quite a bit of stuff out. They had some really big, beautiful paintings that were really old and different uh types of old trophies from the club, and they got they got some of it out. I never did get the whole list, uh, but they did did save some stuff, and a lot of stuff they had actually uh in in archives where it wasn't the original because it was too expensive or precious. So they have those too. Um, so yeah, they've started calling the uh a lot of the pros and trying to get some memorabilia back so they can rebuild. And in a couple years they'll have a a really incredible uh clubhouse there once again.

Mike Gonzalez 34:11

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 fairway. It's a minute to slice just smidge of line.