Ready to discover the captivating world of professional golf? Join us for a riveting PGA Tour Countdown episode, where tournament host Davis Love III provides insights into the exciting anticipation surrounding the RSM Classic at scenic Sea Island. Tag along as we explore the impact of weather conditions on the two courses being played, the significance of FedEx Cup points for players, and how Davis is preparing to get back to playing golf.
Round off this engaging golf experience with a profound reflection on Zach Johnson's tenure as the Ryder Cup captain and his thoughts on future opportunities. Lastly, we leave you with an affectionate glance into Davis Love III's life journey, his victories in golf, and the crucial role of time in affecting player performance in competitive golf. This episode promises a feast of insights, emotions, and conversations, so brace yourself for an unforgettable journey into the heart of the golfing world.
Ready to discover the captivating world of professional golf? Join us for a riveting PGA Tour Countdown episode, where tournament host Davis Love III provides insights into the exciting anticipation surrounding the RSM Classic at scenic Sea Island. Tag along as we explore the impact of weather conditions on the two courses being played, the significance of FedEx Cup points for players, and how Davis is preparing to get back to playing golf.
Round off this engaging golf experience with a profound reflection on Zach Johnson's tenure as the Ryder Cup captain and his thoughts on future opportunities. Lastly, we leave you with an affectionate glance into Davis Love III's life journey, his victories in golf, and the crucial role of time in affecting player performance in competitive golf. This episode promises a feast of insights, emotions, and conversations, so brace yourself for an unforgettable journey into the heart of the golfing world.
This is PGA Tour Countdown, and welcome everybody, frank Bassett, joining you for this edition of PGA Tour Countdown. And we are at Sea Island, one of my favorite spots on the planet, georgia. That is off the coast of Georgia. This is the RSM Classic, one of the final tournaments of this year, one of the closing tournaments of this year, and we will see what happens. Great, great, great golf course at St Thomas Island, sea Island. If you have ever been there, there are two courses there that this contest will be contested. Contest will be contested. That makes sense. Two courses at the Sea Island Golf Club. One, of course, is the Seaside course, a par 70, 7,000 in five yards, and the other is the Sea Island Golf Club Plantation course par 72 and it is 7,060, 55 yards longer, yet a par 72. So two tough golf courses and the weather is certainly going to be a factor this week there at St Thomas Island. But your defending champion was Adam Sevensson from last year and the winner gets 1.512,1 million dollars plus 500 FedEx Cup points.
Speaker 1:And from the media center, we have a few interviews for you. Zack Johnson thought that might be interesting, since he is maybe going to talk a little bit about some things. We need to hear Davis Love, of course, who is a resident there, and just the mayor of St Thomas Island, if you will. And then Camille Obiegas I really feel good story that you all know about. If you listen to this show, you know a lot about golf. So I am not going to sit here and preach to you. What I am going to do is let you hear the interviews and then wrap this baby up and put a bow on it. So, that being said, let's go.
Speaker 2:Okay, we would like to welcome Davis Love III into the interview room, our tournament host at the RSM Classic. Davis, if we can get some comments on this tournament that is near and dear to your heart, and especially this year, more writing on this tournament than ever, with the top 125 in the FedEx Cup being finalized.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just excited to get it kicked off. You know I always look forward to Wednesday night. You know big program draw party tonight, obviously a lot going on. We actually started earlier this year Friday last week with festivities so I got my golf shoes on. I am excited to start playing golf on Thursday morning and get past the Wednesday part of it. I remember before I was a tournament host. We had a tournament.
Speaker 3:The tournament directors always say, as soon as I can get to Wednesday night I hand it to the PGA Tour. I am happy. So I am in that boat now. I am ready for the PGA Tour to start playing golf and I can get in that mode. But yeah, the buzz now is kind of coming around that hey, guys are playing for their card. I am just on the range with Justin Parsons and he is going to help some of his guys get to certain levels, whatever that is. And playing for the next 10, playing to keep your job. It is exciting week, so great story lines and I am excited to get out there and mix it up with him. Last year, unfortunately I missed Last minute. I pulled out with a wrist injury, so I am excited to actually get to play this year.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of that, what is the state of your game?
Speaker 3:My body feels really good. I do not know about my game, but I am trending kind of in the right direction. The last week I had to knock some rust off and I am feeling better about it. Obviously I would rather tomorrow be 70 and calm and get a good practice round in, but it will be a practice round, I guess, for Thursday, because it looks like the weather is the same Wednesday, thursday, friday. But I am excited to play. Obviously got kind of a luck of a draw pairing and that is going to be a lot of fun to play with the Carolina guys and, as I said, get back on the golf course and I am really focused on getting my game ready for next year. So I do not have a lot of expectations this week, but having fun playing 790. So I am chipping away at the Mark Brooks record.
Speaker 2:Alright, we will start here with Gary and then up to Kathy.
Speaker 4:If this tournament fills this role going forward, if you are called Disney used to have this spot and guys were grinding and one guy told me one time that he was not able to enjoy Disney rule because I guess the idea is to be safely ahead, right.
Speaker 3:I have been in that position at Disney too, like you need to get back to playing better and keep your job. I saw a list of six or eight guys from Lee Patterson that have played every tournament in the fall. You do not want to come in here worn out and grinding and trying to keep your job and not get to enjoy the islands, but it is a more relaxing place. I think I played well at Hilton Head because it was not the Masters. It was more relaxing and comfortable and my family was there and happy. So sometimes when the family feels good, you play better. We like our spot and we like the excitement. I have said it a lot we have been three different types of tournaments here and we will have to play this one a few times to see where it shakes out. We are excited. We have some great top players and we have a whole bunch of great new young guys and we have guys playing for position and I think it is going to be a great week.
Speaker 4:Payne told me one time that they should play better in.
Speaker 3:May, I am playing to keep my card too. If I do not start playing better, they will send me home.
Speaker 4:The other one I had for 14 years the same sponsor, the same course, different dates, but the same structure, the same charity, as successful as it has been, especially with this relationship with the sponsor. What do you think next 14 years will be? Where do you see this tournament going forward now?
Speaker 3:There is a lot of things that we are certain of and the Davis Love Foundation, which is a lot of people, not just Davis and Robin and the RSM company and our other sponsors like Yamaha and M3Com they are all in the same boat that we want to keep giving money to charity. The thing that people miss and everything that is going on in the business of the PGA tour right now, all these conversations about ownership and schedule and governance and all these things these term is were formed one for people to watch professional golf, but in the same level of importance is to raise money for charity. We do not want this term, whatever it is, we are going to raise money for charity. If you get FedEx points or not, we are going to raise money for charity.
Speaker 3:The Island loves the week before Thanksgiving. Rsm loves the week before Thanksgiving. Their clients love coming here. This is a home run for our little town, for our community, for our sponsors, and we do not want that to change. We will work with the tour to make this tournament better and better. I remember Tim Fincham sitting out there in front of the lodge on some presentation. He goes. Well, davis knows that there is four or five things that can do better next year. I was like, okay, what are those? But we want to get better every year and get bigger and give more money to charity, but we do not want to leave the PGA tour. I was brought up in it and I watched the PGA tour event in my backyard in Atlanta and then it turned into the players' championship. This is our life, our culture, and we do not want it to change.
Speaker 7:Davis. A couple of champions to our players are here Stuart Sink and Patrick Harrington and, of course, you, although you have been so injured you have been mostly off. How does that make you feel about your tournament that they would come and give up a week? That could be a week off to play and participate?
Speaker 3:Well, I try to convince Stuart that he should stay on the regulatory's plane. So well, not mess with us on the champions. And I am sure some other guys feel that way as well. And then I think it was at Jim Furek's tournament came up to me and said I want to play. Do you think I am going to need an exemption? And I said I am not that smart but I will figure it out.
Speaker 3:And then we started watching it and he obviously got in easily, but we protected him. We knew we wanted Patrick to play. It is exciting. It does not matter how old they are, big name guys and we love having them. But it is nice that the guys want to play. And obviously there are 20 guys that asked us for spots that we just did not have spots for. So it is nice to. It is not nice for me to have to not ask them to play, but it is nice that people want to play and we have that much interest and again, we have a great group, great field. Alright, let's go, mark, and then Kamri.
Speaker 9:Davis, I think you have made some comments recently about the state of things on the tour with the framework agreement and everything else. Where do you think that is at and how confident are you that something is done?
Speaker 3:Well, I think we are in a really, really good spot. I know sometimes I say more than I should, so I am going to try not to, but we are in a really good spot. Jay is doing an unbelievable job of rallying people to work together. I think obviously, there is always going to be differences of opinions, and they had a huge board meeting yesterday and they have been. I have never seen a board work so hard. I have never seen players work so hard. You see a few guys' names in the paper, but there is a lot of guys top players, all the way down the list that are putting a lot of time and effort into this, and I think that is a good thing and, simply, we really don't need to change anything on the PGA Tour running event side. We can always get better, but we have an incredible. All of a sudden now there is a whole bunch of people that want to invest in our business, so I think we are in a really good place.
Speaker 3:I think I keep saying it. I don't know when it is going to happen, but we have to be patient. I think there was an excitement of dropping the lawsuits that got wrapped up in talking about business that maybe shouldn't have been talked about. But the deal that got done of dropping the lawsuits and looking people in the eye and saying, hey, we need to figure this out, was a massive, massive deal and people really don't understand that because they have moved past that into a PR problem. But now they are heading in the right direction and I am 100% confident it is going to have a great outcome. I just don't know when. Let's go Cam and then Rick.
Speaker 10:Hey Davis, Camila Vijaygast just won on Sunday. It was a really emotional victory. It was actually the second week in a row. That was a very emotional victory on the PGA Tour. I was just wondering how hard is it to play with emotion? Did you ever try to channel emotion, or do you have to just try and forget it and then think about all that stuff after the 72nd hole?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is hard to not think about winning. I think when people say, oh, that guy choked, well, he was just thinking about results. And so not only trying to win a PGA Tour event gets you thinking about results, but things that have happened in your past, the emotions of coming out, just get in the way of playing golf. So I tried to put my head down and not look at people and get focused on playing golf, but to see the emotion come out, you see how important it is to guys.
Speaker 3:We were watching again, we protect people with exemptions that we want in, and all of a sudden it looked like on Friday Camila was going to get him a spot, the top 10s or a win. So we were watching it very close and he's just always been one of my favorites and he's been through so much, so I was thrilled for him and I remember Joey Sindelar winning at Wells Fargo and saying I have a job for two more years, and that line has always stuck with me. Camila's got a job for two or three more years and he's a winner on the PGA Tour again. So it was very, very exciting. It doesn't matter where it is. Obviously I've won some of the biggest tournaments on the Tour and I've won some of the smallest tournaments on the Tour. But winning is really really hard and I'm thrilled he's back in the winner's circle again. All right, let's go to Rex.
Speaker 5:David Stack was just in here talking about sort of what it's been like since the Ryder Cup and how, as a captain, you sort of unpack either with a win or a loss. You're constantly thinking about the things you could have done better or things that might have worked. What's the most challenging part for you? You've done it both ways.
Speaker 3:It's just challenging to know that you know, going in, that you really can just give them the best chance you can to succeed, but you want them to win and you can't really just say, well, you know what, I did the best I could and they lost. You'd never have that feeling. You always feel like I mean, we were talking about the left-hole location on 17 Sunday at Medina yesterday. It still bothers me that I didn't force Carri Hay to put it on the left. We wanted it on the left and he said, oh, it's always on the right. Oh, yeah, go ahead. If we had done a few, we Davis would have done a few things different in 2012,. We would have probably won. You can't say that for sure, but I still feel that and it bothers me and Brant Snedeker still apologizes, you know, and that's the way we feel about it. But yes, that was a fun.
Speaker 3:Ryder Cup and 97 at Balderama we went for a practice trip. We went, we had a blast, except for the rain. We had a blast but we lost. But you still have to understand that we took a trip with Tom Kite as our captain and it was a hell of a week. So Zach's dealing with the ups and downs of that, and it will. If he's the next three Ryder Cup captains and he wins all three of them, that will never go away. You know that we lost in Rome, so it's tough. Hopefully this fall or this winter we can sit down and talk about it, because I haven't really gotten to spend much time with him since. Alright Sean.
Speaker 11:Davis, I feel like right now there's never been a more popular time for people to talk about policy board meetings. It's a very popular topic and you've been in your fair share of policy board meetings and right now the board has a couple different people on it that don't necessarily see the world in the same way, to quote Rory. I'm curious if that setting the policy board meeting is that an easy one to find compromise or a difficult one?
Speaker 3:Well, I got my first call about the policy board meeting at 7.30 this morning. So, yes, but the thing you got to understand is you need somebody in every walk of the PGA tour. You need somebody. You need different views and opinions.
Speaker 3:I remember Charlie Hoffman just getting on me that I was running for the board again at I was almost 50 years old and I was 50. And he goes you realize you're going to be on the, you're going to be 50 years old while you're a board member. I go yeah, I didn't ask to run for the board. The commissioner asked me to run for the board. And he goes well, I'm not voting for you. I go well, great, I'm not voting for me either. I'm voting for you because I knew Charlie Hoffman would be a great board member. But that being able for Charlie and I to say, hey, wait a minute, this isn't right, what are you doing? And us to agree. And then we went into that and what came out of Charlie being on the board is we play two golf courses here because Charlie challenged the PGA tour. Why aren't we playing two golf courses in Vegas and others? Yeah, charlie, that's a great idea. Why don't I do that? That's more money for charity, more playing opportunities for players. So you have to have. You have to have Joe Ogilvy and then you have to have, you know, jay Haas and Brad Faxen. The mix is great. So we have Patrick Cantley, who's one end of the spectrum, and then we have, you know, peter Montlalde. He's looking at it from a completely. And then you have Adam Scott. You know, nice and quiet and voice of reason. So it's great and that's why we elect them the way we do and why we have people run for the board.
Speaker 3:Pick these three guys to run. Gives the membership a choice. You can pick from these three guys. We don't force, force it down their throat. We give them an opportunity to pick who they want. And that's the player advisory council is big. The trend down from that is really big. So, yeah, I like the diversity. Right now it's very, very, very diverse and there's some arguments. We have arguments on our zoom calls amongst ourselves that we think we get along, but we but that's how you get somewhere. Every board in the United States that runs a big company. They don't all agree and they bring different things, different expertise. We all bring kind of a golf expertise, but now we're getting the guys we're getting better, more, more active, whatever you call it engaged board members, and I think that's great.
Speaker 12:Hey Davis, you were talking about the interest from private equity and other people investing in the tour. What is that? How do you see that, looking particularly from the consumer standpoint? What's it going to look like if all that comes to be?
Speaker 3:It won't look any. That's the thing. It won't look any different at the RSM classic or the heritage. It's going to be golf tournaments on TV, top players, the business of the PGA tour. So we have a. We have a for profit entity, the tournament players club network. So we have a business that runs and people don't really pay much attention to it and it creates a lot of dollars and it comes back to the, to the overall PGA tour Inc. So we're just going to have some other entity maybe that hopefully makes a lot of money and comes back to the PGA tour.
Speaker 3:So you're backstopping that. We're relying on the sponsors and the economy. Now we could have a business that not only we're a partner in PGA tour superstores, for example, that's a great business for Arthur Blank and we're a minority partner and this great business for us. So that's the way it's, it's business and as big it could be really big business and it could be other tours, obviously now. So it won't change, though, what the fans watch on TV when, when they want. Okay, we're going to start off at Capalua and we're going to play play the century. It's not going to change. It won't change that. Just, hopefully it changes the purses. Okay, over to Adam.
Speaker 13:Davis, how would you assess the first year of the fall in this way?
Speaker 3:Well, to Cam's question, it's been exciting. So far it's been emotional. This is the big week, though. Like, is it really going to have this race to, the card race to? I Think it's put a focus on what how you get in the, the, is it signature, elevated, designated signature events, since I haven't played in them, so I don't know what they're called, but, um, it puts a focus on what's happening next year. So I think the fall is working. Obviously, we're in the, we've been in the unknown for a year plus, right, so we're glad it's here, we're glad we're playing it and so far, I'm very, I'm very happy with the fall. And it ultimately comes down to the sponsors. Like, I think Bermuda just re-upped, yeah, and what? What does RSM say after? You know 2025, that that's the key thing. And so far, obviously, people are very happy with the way it's going and you know the tours delivering on what they promised a year ago.
Speaker 13:Do you think the fall five years down the road, ten years, gonna look the way it looks now, or very different?
Speaker 3:I Would say no, because it hadn't looked the same any five-year period for a long, maybe my whole career. So I don't know, you can't look that far ahead. Hopefully, hopefully, not. Hopefully it just continues to improve. They come up with new ideas. You know the wraparound was was a completely new idea that we'd never heard of before. So I Think it's just gonna continue to improve. But I don't know what that, what that is.
Speaker 13:On a different note, how has pace of play changed since you came on tour?
Speaker 3:They really hadn't. I don't think there's always been. When you play a Full field, it's slow. Thursday, friday, and they put you in twosomes and you feel like you can't keep up. You know you go from really slow, nowhere to go when you make the turn. You know like it at While I. You know when you get to ten it's you're gonna have to wait. On Thursday you guys are gonna be stacked up going for the green. It's always been the same. They try really, really hard. One great old rules official in a board meeting said the best we're gonna do is speed up 15 minutes where you guys got to go. But we have to keep up With the group. So it's fair for everybody. But it hadn't really changed. It's always gonna be an issue. There's always gonna be fast players and slow players and you know I think we have a lot bigger fish to fry right now. But it's always good for the, the rule of staff to stay on it All right, we've got time for one more. Guys, let's go to Jonathan.
Speaker 14:Davis during your heyday. You were one of the longest players on the PG tour and I feel like you're probably a good person to Speak on this, because the US GA has been talking about the Model lookaloo golf ball. I know there's been a lot of different opinions on the ball, but I'm curious what are your thoughts on potentially Bringing in a different golf ball for the the PGA tour?
Speaker 3:Well, I think again is a long time board member. We don't want two sets of rules, no matter what. Bifurcation is a big word, but we don't want two sets of rules. Now, if there's a way, I think and I've upset this for a long time and talked to Mike Davis about it and a lot of other people in US GA meetings If there's a way to do it with a driver, I'd be a hundred percent for it. Jump face. I really don't have to pack about 10 driver heads when I go to turn because of my note crack. So I'm not getting a whole lot of spring right. And then the guys that have to pack a bunch of driver heads crack it. They're getting more advantage out of that jump. And so if you, if you fix that Coefficient of restitution is another big word I learned a long time ago in a board meeting If you didn't have that then you wouldn't get an advantage. Like, why did Bryson try to start swinging so hard? Because he knew it's the faster he went, the more spring he got. And the next thing you know he's gonna have 200 mile an hour ball speed. So we can think about that and explore that.
Speaker 3:I haven't had anybody Smart people at Tile, us or wherever, say no, you're wrong. They're like there could be another way to do it. But I think that's that's one thing to look at, but I hate what it. When do you? When do you break? Who plays with that ball? Did the amateurs have to play the ball? Or if, if I come home to play with my buddies, do I have to play with that ball or can I go back to the other ball? And switching didn't mean just people don't understand, switch the ball. You have to switch every club in your bag to adjust to that ball. So it Practically it would be very, very difficult. I'm gonna go with titleist that they really, they really don't think that's a good idea. So let's, let's try some mounts.
Speaker 2:All right, davis, we appreciate your time. It's all right, Thank you.
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Speaker 15:Okay, we'll go ahead and get started. We'd like to welcome Zach Johnson to the interview room here at the RSM classic, zach's making his first start on tour since serving as captain of the US rider cup team. Zach, you are one of two players who has played every single RSM classic since its inception in 2010. Did you know that? As a quiz that I'm not gonna ask you who the other one is, unless you think you know.
Speaker 16:Well, I know it's not Davis, but it would be Davis if you could have played. I don't have the faintest idea. Charlie Hoffman, no, he's West Coast, Somebody old.
Speaker 15:No really. Getting closer coach. It's Chris Kirk.
Speaker 16:Thank you, okay, kirk, e All right.
Speaker 15:Zach, as someone who's been here at the RSM classic every year, what's so special about this event?
Speaker 16:We don't have a lot of time to get to the whole list, but I mean, for me personally, selfishly sleeping in my own bed and Coming to work like true work every day is pretty spectacular. That's just me. But what makes this special is really, it's it's collaborative, it's it's the, it's the collaboration of RSM making a tournament their own since the inception, seeing it evolve and get bigger and better every year. So those people deserve a lot of credit. It's the people that reside in this facility right here. Certainly Davis and his foundation and what they do is spectacular.
Speaker 16:And then I would throw, obviously throw in Sea Island Company and the amenities with which they offer. So I've got a couple buddies on tour. This is their first time here, which is kind of strange, couple, close ones in particular. But I get it. I mean it's hard, you know, and you can't play every week, but it sounds like they won't want to miss it now. So it's those that come back, those that come here want to come back, and I think that that that says a lot. So and I promise you it was 75 to 85 every day last week.
Speaker 15:And Zack has your game looking coming into the week?
Speaker 16:You know, I've actually been able to work as of late, which has been nice. It's been a nice Change and much needed escape and my game feels great. I mean, we've had a Couple, while we had my entire team. We try to meet at the end of the year. We've already done that, which was really healthy and really effective, and then the communication since that point has been spectacular, so we've got a good game plan, I think. I think we're going to have a week To navigate. It's not like it's anything out of the ordinary, but the difference this year is it's a little more trying going into next year because of the end.
Speaker 16:I mean, it's not uncertainty, it's just a different schedule, as you well know. I don't need to get into the nuances of that, but it's just different. So trying to figure out where I can play and where I can't, and it's going to be a difficult stretch, but my game feels good. I'm excited about this week and the remainder Excuse me in 2024.
Speaker 15:Great, we'll get into questions. You'll just raise your hand. We'll get a mic over to you. We'll start in the front with Gary. Can I grab zack of water please?
Speaker 4:Hey Zach, how you doing I'm getting. Gary, here Do you get a gold certificate of some kind for perfect attendance.
Speaker 15:We will get that printed right away.
Speaker 16:I think I think I should get at least like a chick-fil-a card or something.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, little gold star to put on a hat.
Speaker 16:That's right. I don't know, I don't matter, yeah something. Well, this is the 14th year, maybe at 15.
Speaker 4:The two questions. Sure, rsm, and before that McLeodary, was the same company. Yep, it's thank you. They've been a sponsor for this thing for 14 years. To the health of a tournament. To be able to keep a sponsor for that long and going forward, yes, how much does that play a part into success of the tournament?
Speaker 16:Well, I guess I'm not into the actual architecture of this entire tournament and I don't really know specifically. You know, what those meetings are about. I will say this I mean, I do know some of the executives Very well, even intimately. One in particular sits on my foundation board, um, and so you know, I do know the, the people of rsm very, very well, um, and it does not surprise me that we're at 14 years. Obviously, this place is really great and they've made this a second home. Whether you're talking about sea island, uh, st Simons community, the charities that are benefited, etc. There's a personal connection there. So that's number one. Number two is there's measureables. There's an actual objective data that rsm has used to.
Speaker 16:Basically the full effect on their business and I think, if anything, they could be a model I'm sure they are in pound of e-drift for other potential or current title sponsors and how you utilize the pga tour construct to better your Services, your businesses. I think there's I mean I'm getting into specifics here, but there's real, tangible data and so, um, you know whether it's their clients or, you know, partners or whomever that come here, they want to come back. I mean, I do numerous things with rsm throughout the year and you know, one of the common threads in those discussions is I can't wait to get back to sea island or st Simons, and it doesn't surprise me and then finally, no matter how many, how long you've lived here, how many times you play ocean forest or fred rica were here, sure, but playing out here Does it ever get old?
Speaker 4:the, the course, the scenery, things like that.
Speaker 16:No, not at all. Um, it does not get old. If I'm gonna be completely honest, that's my own fault, because I am human. I probably do take it for a little bit for granted on occasion. You know, it's just spectacular. We're spoiled if you're talking about these two facilities who get get a lot of play, but they're spectacular.
Speaker 16:And then you know I could still call it the new plantation. I guess it's not that new anymore. I think it's a great compliment to seaside. I think seaside is one of the better golf courses we have on tour. And then now ocean forest is redone. Fred rica's amazing retreat Just right down the road is in the best shape I've seen it. So we're we're legitimately spoiled in the golden aisles.
Speaker 15:Go to the back to rex.
Speaker 5:Zach, it's been a couple weeks since the rider cop. In that time period, how often are you thinking back to the events of that week, either good or bad, and is there what? What stands out when you're sort? Of sure sitting on the front ports thinking about that week.
Speaker 16:Yeah, I mean I think about it a lot. I mean, when it's, when it's something that well, I mean I guess you're gonna get really. It was you know a year and a half, maybe 19, 20 months From the announcement.
Speaker 16:I guess, right, um, there's really about a year of true work, maybe 13, 14 months of work. So when, when you have something of that magnitude that you're doing day in, day out for the most part, and then it comes to an abrupt halt, you can't not think about it and I love it. I mean, I just I, I am a fanatic of the router cup, so, given my role in the last one, yeah, I mean, it's natural. I mean I've got a lot of 2020 hindsight things that I certainly think about, arguably some regrets, but I think again, something of that magnitude, when, or lose, you're gonna have that and I, um, that sports, and I think that's when you care and you're passionate about something you're, you're, you're gonna have those natural feelings.
Speaker 16:So, you know, I think, when I look back, you know, obviously the mission was to go win and we didn't. We, we did not do that, and for you know that that stinks. Again, I wanted to win, I wanted these guys to win, and I'm. It still hurts in some regards, but it's also the journey. This sounds like the right thing to say, but it's the truth. It's the journey with those people, specifically the 12th that I'll never forget.
Speaker 5:And apologies for maybe touching a nerve. If you had to pick one thing that you regret, what would? It might be Sure.
Speaker 16:Uh well, I don't, you're not, you don't have to apologize. Um, I Am, uh, I think I think, the best athlete specifically golfers that I've been around. It's. It's a pretty obvious, especially if you can get into their Intimate details of how they operate. I think compartmentalizing their life is, uh, an attribute that a lot of guys do very, very well. Tiger will be the extreme example. He's amazing at it.
Speaker 16:And what I'm saying about compartmentalization is, I think, when it comes down to it, I look at things. Every piece of my job is just that I, even within that compartment there's compartments, so Sorry. And so I kind of tried it. I try to treat the router cup in that, in that manner. I'm not one to tell them what to do or how to play obviously I'm not their coach, but I am trying to put these guys into position to play their best golf. That's what compartmentalizing is, and so I looked at every aspect Of the router cup before and the week of, and try to diagnose it and study it and figure it out like what's the most efficient way to tackle each and every item and the common denominator that I go back to, that I wish I could have changed, or or or Not changed. I wish I it would have dawned on me earlier is just the pure commodity of time and understanding that it's precious. And I think I, you know, we had the practice round trip.
Speaker 16:No regrets amazing, I don't think the guys would say they had any regrets in that. At least I would hope they wouldn't. But, um, it was spectacular. But I think if I, if I could have you know it's you're looking back on things If I could have put more value into time management, I could have put my guys in a better position to play Uh, play golf at a better rate early on. I'm not suggesting that would have changed the outcome, not at all. I can't. I can't determine that that's sports right. So I'm just saying I think in my seat I didn't see what needed to be seen to allow to the fact. Now it's been seen and it's been voiced by me and Probably a couple others, but specifically myself, and so hopefully next time around, uh, there's a better template put into place so these guys can go play golf.
Speaker 15:Go to the right with Adam.
Speaker 13:Zach, it's. It's kind of natural. It happens every time that the captain that wins is celebrated, the captain loses gets kind of beaten up. But do you feel like you were out coached?
Speaker 16:Well, I'm not a coach You're out captain Um, I mean.
Speaker 16:I don't know I mean I guess that's such a subjective matter there. I mean, if you're gonna look at the scoreboard, you'd say yes, um, I don't, I don't know, I, you know that's it's, it's sports. I mean the bottom line is this is the beauty of this. The absolute beauty of this is it's once every two years. But if I had my 12 guys and I could take them two weeks after that cup to another one, it could be totally different. Now, it's not. That's not the way the formula is, that's not the way it works. And so I get that. So I mean I, I, I'm not going to fault anybody for suggesting that Luke did a better job because they won, and that's that's, it's only natural. Um, I think Luke would also attest to that. You know what? He's happy for his 12 guys that won. I'm upset that my 12 guys did not win.
Speaker 13:Um stricker Davis. They both had chances to captain again. Would would you want to do this President's cup or rider cup in the future?
Speaker 16:Oh my gosh, um, I don't know. That's the first time I've had that question posed. Um, um, I'll just say this I will serve team USA to essentially any capacity. If there's individuals that want me to be a part of it, if I'm the best choice for this, that or the other, whatever that role is, I am able and willing to help them out because I love helping and serving. So, you know, I've learned a lot. Obviously I have some experience, but at the same time, I think again, one of the beauties of Team USA is that we have, you know, new guys coming up that deserve an opportunity and have the ability and the passion to do it as well as far as this week's event.
Speaker 13:In the past, the way the schedule worked, it always felt like the last week of school, right. What does this week feel like, when jobs opportunities for next year are on the line?
Speaker 16:I don't know, I've thought. Actually, I've actually thought about that in the sense that it is kind of the last week of school, I'll say. I mean I only know myself here. Given the uncertainties of our Gulf climate, I mean there's some things that are probably in place and still some stability, but I'm not, I'm not upset that I'm almost 48. But there is opportunity. There will be opportunity for everybody and anybody. And this is another week. Obviously that's opportunistic.
Speaker 16:So yeah, I mean, you know, fortunately I put myself in a position that I'm still going to be able to compete next year on the PGA Tour and hopefully beyond. I mean that's my only focus right now, work-wise, is to get better at golf. But you know, I mean it is the last week for some of these guys and they got to make a dent and I, you know that's golf. I mean that's, that's competitive golf, that's meritocracy, that's PGA Tour golf and I think it's a beautiful thing. It's also extremely brutal because it's hard. Everybody's really good and everybody essentially has the same goals and that's to win.
Speaker 16:So yeah, I mean, you know, I don't know what's going to transpire down the road. I just hope that the stories that will come out, maybe this week, you know, or even I mean, camilo's an amazing story. No one's surprised by what he's done the last two weeks, but there'll be more of those Beautiful stories like that. There's also brutal stories that don't get covered as much, and that's I mean again, it's just it's hard at sports. But you know, hey, the PGA Tour is in a good spot.
Speaker 15:Ron and then Sean.
Speaker 12:Hey, zach, regarding the Ryder Cup, there was a lot of conversation afterward that Europeans had played competitively right before, more competitively sharp than maybe our guys, who many have not played much. You put much stock in it and would you recommend going forward that? Hey, maybe before Beth Page don't take a month off, or it didn't seem to bother a whistling straights, correct.
Speaker 16:Yeah, I mean we've seen it both kind of well for the team USA. We've seen both right. We've seen we've had, we've had Tour Championships straight into our Ryder Cup right, or Presence Cup, and then we've had Tour Championship and whatever three to five weeks off. So I mean it kind of goes back to what I said earlier the commodity of time. That's one of those instances. You know, providing time but then also, what are you doing in that time is another part of that. So, yeah, I mean, ideally you want to have some fresh guys. I mean I'm not gonna. I don't know if it's the captain's role to say, hey, you guys got to go play. That's not, that's not. I don't know if that's the proper way to approach it. Bottom line is those the FedEx Cup is takes a lot of time, energy and they need a rest too.
Speaker 16:Some guys played Napa was only a couple, I mean, I guess, if I think back on it. So, yeah, there could be some truth in that. And you had their guys playing the BMW, which is one of their signature events. You had, I think it was 10 out of their 12 or like in the top 15 or something like that. I'm even better than that, which is pretty ridiculous. So you had, you had, you had that and you only had one time zone change for them to travel. Actually, a couple were in the same time zone. So you know there's some, there's some merit to be said there too. So you know, yeah, I mean it'd be, that was that's been talked about, and I would say it'd be nice to have some collaboration between the PGA Tour and the PGA of America or Rottacup Europe or the European Tour in general, to have some collaboration there to see if we could figure out a really good way to tackle that. I'm assuming the dates I know the dates are scheduled for next for New.
Speaker 16:York. I don't know about Ireland, yet I don't, I really don't know.
Speaker 15:Sean.
Speaker 8:I'm curious. Brian Harmon was in here saying earlier this year he had Texas agent asking about announcing gigs Like he was thinking about hanging it up, and I think he only played this game long enough. He probably thought about quitting at some point and then probably went on to win. As long as you've been at this, what's the closest you've come to hanging it up and quitting? And did a victory follow soon after?
Speaker 16:Can you say that again, Brian Brian Harmon.
Speaker 8:He said it, not me he. He was texting his agent this spring. He was so frustrated with the game about yeah, june, getting TV, doing TV. Brian the it looked like Brian Harmon. Yeah, and I was wondering, in your as long as you're doing this, I've never been that that I mean, I mean my age, yes, I mean.
Speaker 16:what am I going to do next? But I still want to compete. But there's never a frustrating stretch rewer thing.
Speaker 16:No, I mean, I've had frustrating stretches, but I look at it as as opportunity. I mean, I flip negatives into positives pretty darn quick. It's like having a round out there and you, you know, you shoot 73 and you it could have been a 78 if you didn't putt well. Well, you putted well and now you know what you need to work on. That's kind of how I operate. I look at it in a different, from a different lens.
Speaker 16:I think it was a short-lived moment of frustration. I'm, I'm. I'm going to assume it was too. Yeah, based on his July August stretch, maybe even late June, because that was Travelers. Right, was Travelers in June. Yeah, I man, that's coming from his mouth, correct? Oh well, well, I mean, jeremy depends on him for a lot. No, I'm just kidding. I know Brian well, very, very, very, very well, and I've talked, we've had discussions throughout the years on how to play this game, how to tackle this game. We approach things very similar. That's why I'm surprised by this. I mean, maybe he was being honest or somewhat sarcastic, I have no idea. That's not the point. I'm just shocked by that statement. Because he is so good, I mean, obviously we're saying because he had a great summer, but that even before that I'm like there's, I almost want to model my game after him now that's. That's really what I'm getting at is because he's so efficient at what he does. I'm surprised by that statement.
Speaker 16:Mark it's the on three network. It's not rivals, go ahead.
Speaker 9:Going back to the Ryder Cup. So have you guys done a postmortem dissection and, given a few weeks out, do you have any more insight into Road versus Home, or it is what it is.
Speaker 16:Can you elaborate more Just how it's been so lopsided? For the home team.
Speaker 16:Well, I mean, I think there's, I think there's a number of factors there and all of them could be possibly correct. I mean, the bottom line is this is sports and you just never know until you tee it up. I mean you never know who's going to. Anybody can beat anybody to end given time. The fact of the matter is is kind of what we've kind of said here.
Speaker 16:I don't think I put my guys in the best position for success. Those guys on the European side were playing great golf and didn't have far to go. A lot of them played multiple tournaments between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, and so, yeah, I mean I look back at Wistling Straits, it was kind of the other way, Like a lot of our guys were playing unbelievable, going into it right, and so maybe there's something to be said about form in that regard. I don't know. I mean, I think you can kind of pick it apart and like, but you cannot prove one way or the other, why and that's why this will be discussed over and over and over again, whether it's internally or in the media, or wherever.
Speaker 16:It's just it's the beauty and the curse of the Ryder Cup. It's just so substantial that you can look at it so many different ways and, yeah, there's a lot of potential in there for being accurate, but you never, you're never going to really know, I mean, I think I think, where we are, we're going to learn from what happened, and so I, I personally believe the team USA will be in a better position for Ireland once we go back over there. Again, that's not going to say that we're going to win by any means, but because it's hard, I don't know.
Speaker 16:I hope there's not as many lopsided victories going forward. I say that, but it's going to be kind of nice to be on. I don't know I don't know. It's hard. It's hard to win in hostile environments, no matter what support it is.
Speaker 15:Any last questions for Zach? One last one from Gary.
Speaker 4:One of the things that Brian said about the Ryder Cup his first Ryder Cup is that I know you know the losing side, whether it's here or across the pond, gets beaten up by, you know, fans and their fans in their media. But I wondered if Brian didn't have the perfect perspective here when he said, mind you, in a loss, he said my expectations for the Ryder Cup were exceeded. So for Rookie, and he talked about the experience of watching the greatest players in the world and about playing with Max the day they had on Saturday and everything. So you know, does he have that in the perspective that you would have wanted your guys to walk away with?
Speaker 16:I mean I'm not going to sit here and have desires over their perspectives, but I'll say it does not surprise me in the least. I mean, shoot, I played in five and I won one and I cherish every one of them. Probably not over 2012 yet, but they're just all so special. Every team is special. Every week is just. It's unlike anything we do and if there's more to it than just the monotony of playing your own golf ball week in, week out, a lot more to it. So that's encouraging. I mean it's encouraging that.
Speaker 16:He said that I'm not surprised by it and I've talked to him. I got again going back to it. I've talked to him, I think, at last, because he's been close two or three times.
Speaker 16:I'm making a team here or there, and so we've had some nice discussions you know, simple and short, but I just kept encouraging to keep doing what he's doing because he's good enough, and we witnessed that. No one was surprised. You know, obviously, with Brian being a part of it, I'm surprised. Maybe he plays the next two or three, you know, going forward at least, because he's so good. So really, what you're saying is, once you experience it, you want more of it, and that's that is so accurate. Again, the beauty of it is it's every two years. The curse of it's every two years, because you want it, you want it again the next month, but that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 15:All right. Thank you all and, zach, good luck in your 14th RSM Classic this week.
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Speaker 15:Well, we'd like to welcome our most recent PJ Tour winner, camilo Bejegas, to the interview room here at the Artisan Classic. Camilo, what a two weeks it's been First your runner-up at the Worldwide Technology Championship and then your first PJ Tour win in more than nine years. What's the last two weeks been like, and have you had a chance to really reflect?
Speaker 18:Yeah, that's an understatement, obviously what those two weeks were very special and very happy to be here. It's been a while since I got called to do a little media day or media before the tournament. It's been a journey. Life is a journey and it goes up and down, interesting. It's hard to start. It's hard to kind of go back to that Colombian kid that came here with a dream and played college golf at the University of Florida and played the corn fairy in 2005 and then everything gets started on tour so great and playing in Augusta, my second year on tour and winning a couple of FedEx Cup playoffs in 2008. I mean, yeah, you would think that that kid was on top of the world and I was feeling pretty good from a performance point of view. But I look at where I am right now and everything that has happened and I truly believe I'm a better person. Maybe the results haven't been there, but this journey has been pretty interesting. And to lose my card, to go through an injury, to lose my daughter, to create me as miracles, to go back to the corn fairy, to keep grinding, to have doubts, to have fears, to have tears, have smiles all of the above I mean you never know where life goes. But I said last week, with all those things and all those doubts and all the ups and downs, I never stop waking up early, 5.30 in the morning, to do what I like to do because, in all honesty, the really cool thing about the last two weeks is not so much the results of the last two weeks but the process and what's been behind those results. And as much as I am enjoying sitting here and reflecting on my win and the energy that I have received from the world of golf the world of non-golf trust me, it's unbelievable. I mean, I had 900 messages on my phone. I'm gonna get to all of them sometime, but yeah, once again, it's a process and it's enjoying the fact that I want to get better.
Speaker 18:Every morning A lot of people asked me what I was doing going back to the, to the corn fairy tour, and I said, listen, I want to play golf on the PGA tour and the corn fairy tour is what's gonna get me to the PGA tour, and I had a chance to play the corn fairy tour in 2005 and that's what got me to the PGA tour. So that's where I need to be and I enjoy this year, there being with the younger guys, in different places, different courses. And then I missed my car on the corn fairy tour because I was doing a lot of swing changes and stuff and they weren't kicking in and I kept trusting my instructor. He told me it was gonna take a long time and and it did. But but here we are. So I'm getting along with his answer and the story and everything but.
Speaker 18:But it's special. I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of those early mornings. I'm proud of my wife. I'm proud of Mia's miracles. I'm proud of Mia how she battled for those five months, for the energy she gives us for, and I'm proud of the journey of life. It's just. It's just fun. Trust me, the PGA tour has been so much for me and this is this is where I wanted to be again. This is where we are. What's to come? Who knows? Like I said, life goes in circles, but I'm gonna continue to do the same thing. I'm gonna continue to wake up in the morning. I'm gonna continue to give my best, treat people the right way, and I think when you do that, you can see how, how happy people get, when you get results. And it's been unbelievable being here this week, all my peers just coming giving me a hug and telling me how they were watching, how they were pulling for me. So we'll do it all over again. We start from zero tomorrow.
Speaker 15:In addition to the win, you won the weekly RSM birdies for love last week, which comes with a $50,000 donation. I assume you're making to me as miracles. How much are you aware of that, and was that on your mind?
Speaker 18:It was. You know, the RSM birdies for love has been a very special program for us. It's touched us personally, direct and it's touched those that are benefited by me as miracles. And when this program started there were there's been a few players that have won the weekly and then the over not the overall Patrick, patrick Rogers, second last year in the overall and they've donated to me as miracles. They've been kind enough they know the work that my wife is doing and the team just to provide smiles to those in need and I'm very grateful for that. So, very interestingly, yesterday I was supposed to tee it up on second state of Q school so I wasn't gonna be able to be here. But my wife was gonna be here Monday. Monday night she was gonna do a little event. She was gonna speak about our foundation and she was gonna tell the story of how RSM birdies for love has impacted and benefited our foundation and the people that we help things change in in in Mexico.
Speaker 18:After I moved up to 147 in the in the FedEx Hub points list, I didn't have to go to second state of Q school. I called Todd Thompson, the tournament director here, and he could tell you the story. I call him as a Todd. No bullshit, I'm calling you because I don't want to be there. I need to be there. So I don't know how your sponsor extensions are looking, but I don't know what you're gonna do, but I need to be there. And he was laughing. He said I'll call you tomorrow. I figure you're gonna call me. Long story short, next day. He very quickly confirmed his spot for me and then it happens what happened last week. So I guess I kept going from a, from a now being in the field to being a sponsor invite to being in the field as a champion in the last from the previous two years. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 18:So our charter gets delayed. We finally land in Jacks after a long day, hop on the car and I'm rushing to get to the Cloisters to to attend the RSM Birdies for Love kind of reception. My wife is there waiting for me and even though I got a little bit, I got a little bit late and probably with the wrong attire from getting off the plane. It was pretty cool. It was cool to share our story. It was very nice to see what this program has done, how much money they've donated I mean they've raised over $5 million only with that program, and and again to RSM, to the world of golf, to the PGA tour, to this country. I mean this this country is unbelievable when it comes to charity and we've had a chance to experience it and live it ourselves and we'll continue to open our hearts to help others to grow, to partner with a hopefully, rsm and this Birdies for Love program and keep bringing smiles.
Speaker 15:Excellent. With that we'll open up to questions. We're going to start over on the left with KM Morphit pjatorcom.
Speaker 10:Camila, when you won you had. You were surrounded by people with champagne and they were spraying you and I sort of knew who one or two of them were. But I was wondering if you could give a quick rundown of who. Who were those people and also what have they meant to your comeback?
Speaker 18:You know it's pretty cool. It's a little it's it's a little our Latin culture and the energy and everything maybe celebrates a little bit different than the American culture. And a and I got a chance to be there in Puerto Rico when Nico Chavarria is our kid, from Colombia, from Campes, treme de Gines, same place where we grew up very close families. When he won he's looked at me as an example, which is which is cool. I've had a chance to spend some time with him and kind of try to help him. Great talent, great player, and when he won it was it was. It was very cool to be there and I was a little hesitant to just run on the green and just completely spray him. But anyway we did it, we had fun with it and I guess it was his time. It was nice to see him there, to have him there when they run on the green. I'm just looking up in the sky and I'm just enjoying the, the, the moment.
Speaker 18:It was mainly the Latin guys, the Latin caddies, and it was good energy man, we hang around, we help each other and that same. That same night, sunday I went, I went to dinner with a couple Latin players, some of the caddies, and then we had a good time. So what does it mean? It means good energy, it means camaraderie, it means kind of Latin culture and and it means that we're here for each other All right, we're going to go right up front to Kathy.
Speaker 15:We'll get you a mic.
Speaker 7:Camila, I happened to accidentally catch you doing a co-anchor deal on a golf channel, I think it was and I was completely impressed with the way you presented yourself and the way you spoke and how you did the whole thing and I thought, okay, I haven't seen him playing a lot of great golf lately, so maybe he's making a career transition. Is that something you are interested in doing, or?
Speaker 18:It was a very interesting week. I'll tell you the story of how that happened. And this is true. So we're doing our I see Todd there, so he's laughing and had a chance to spend time with him and his team that week at the Wyndham. It was pretty special. I learned a lot, but this is how it all started. So I have my Mia's Miracles first tournament. Last year Todd was very gracious to send us some flags of the major champions to auction and then Steve Sands was there to help us MC.
Speaker 18:I've known Steve for many years and I'm never going to forget it. I mean, I'm on the ninth fairway. Steve shows up on another card, I'm with my wife and we start talking and then he looks at me and says hey, by the way, your name has come up on the golf channel a few times. Do you want to be in the booth? One week and I told him to f off, literally like that I said I'm like man, I'm not ready, I want to play, I just like, and it's. My reaction was because, yes, I'm 41. Yes, I had been playing terrible golf, yes, you don't know where you're heading, and but I enjoy playing, I enjoy trying to get better and I wasn't ready for that. I call him that same night and I said Steve, you know what? Obviously I told you that because I know you're my friend and I could use that language with you and but I'm actually very gracious of the comment. It's an honor for me that you guys are thinking about me. I mean, english is not even my first language and it's probably because you guys have seen how I've handled my career and how I've gone about business that you believe that maybe I could do a good job. So it's actually an honor, but I'm still not ready for that. So then we go to my agent, clark Jones, and he goes listen, but I'm not here to close doors. If you really want me to close this door, I will, but if not, you need to give us a week. Just pick the week next year. I'll try to arrange. So I picked Wyndham, last regular season event of the year, place where I have great memories, where I won in 2014.
Speaker 18:Golf course that I really know the week that I knew there was going to be a lot to talk, which made it easier but harder, and we jump in the booth. I jump in the booth that first day Producer goes OK, how about we do a little rehearsal, 40-second opening? And holy crap, did I get nervous, and this is true. I mean I was scared and we survived that first day it wasn't my best effort, but I also have to say that everybody that I asked for advice, they kept telling me just be yourself, be yourself, sit there, be yourself. And then when I was getting ready to start, I go shit, what does be yourself mean? I know that, but there's got to be an order to all this stuff. There's got to be rules, that the do's and don'ts and all this, and I felt like I was maybe a little bit in the wrong place. But after the first day, a good friend that has done ESPN Spanish for many years, and then the producer and my colleagues and Steve and everybody just gave me some pointers. Second day, I felt a lot better. Third day I felt even better.
Speaker 18:I stayed afterwards after the early show to watch the Big Boys how they run the show and it was pretty cool to see the other crew doing what they know how to do and I learned a lot. I really enjoyed it. The comments were great. Nobody's going to look at you in the face and say listen, you sucked. It was terrible. But I got a lot of great comments and, yes, it kind of stayed in my mind. I said, maybe we open a door there. So I don't want to play golf and I guess, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not ready for both. Hopefully we open a door for the future. It was interesting. I really enjoy hanging with the crew and learning new things, but I think what happened the last couple of weeks? I feel like I am where I belong. I feel like I am where all my work has put me and it's time to spend time with the Big Boys on the PGA tour again.
Speaker 7:Well, if you ever change your mind? It's really true. Usually people don't present themselves as well, but I just thought it was worth telling you my big job.
Speaker 18:Thank you so much. I'm not here. That's not your first career choice, thank you so much, gary.
Speaker 6:Thanks for this morning. You've been tremendous. You've almost covered every question we could ask. Could you just compare, when you first broke through in Phoenix years ago as a rookie, your golf game then to how it is now Pros? What's better then? What's better now? How has it evolved?
Speaker 18:That's a great question. I was doing something with a Colombian interview this morning and they asked me the same question.
Speaker 18:And if something you constantly think, as a golfer, as a human being, you want to go back to those good moments and you want to replicate what was going on. But after analyzing the situation many times, I think it's a little tricky and it can be a little bit dangerous to look at it that way, because life is evolving. As human beings, we're evolving and we're always different. So to try to be the same guy that you were is tricky. You have different information, you're older, you have different experiences in you, so it's really hard to go back. And when I finally accepted that that Camilo Víjegas was not the 20-something-year-old that won two FedEx Cup playoffs in 2008. But he's the Camilo Víjegas of 38, 40, 41 years old and he's dealing with the information and the experiences he has. That's when I decided not to look back so much but just to stay in the presidency what I could work with, and it's been very helpful. And of course, we're different. I mean, just look at the picture from 2008. A long hair 20-something-year-old wearing pink pants. Now my outfits are completely different. I'm a dad man. So many bumps, but so many great things.
Speaker 18:They were asking me this morning also about it was actually pretty cool. They said, hey, well, people look at your life. And they say, man, what a tough life and everything you guys have had to go through as a family, as the personal, as an injury, as a golfer playing on the PGA tour, being the top 10 in the world, going to losing your car, all this stuff, that's got to be pretty tough. And I started thinking about that question and it wasn't resonating what they were telling me Because, to be honest, with everything that has happened, that's life, that's how life goes, and I'm so fortunate I mean I'm so fortunate to have the life I have this kid coming from Colombia, going to the University of Florida, accomplishing the dreams, playing on the PGA tour, and then, yes, there were bumps, but that's life.
Speaker 18:And, yes, I wish my little one was here with us, but she's not and she's truly in a better place after a long battle that she wasn't going to win. So I accepted that too and we keep going. We turn that tragedy into something very positive and I mean, my wife reads me messages from people who help me as miracles every week and I go, man, if Mia was here, we wouldn't be able to do this. So you turn around and my life has been great, with the ups, with the downs. I accepted. Obviously it's better when you're playing good, it's better when you're playing on the PGA tour, when you're winning golf tournaments, where you don't have to deal with those family situations and personal situations. But hey, be ready because you never know when things turn around For good, for bad and we'll keep going.
Speaker 15:We've got time for one Last March. We're going to go over to Adam.
Speaker 13:Camillo, you also needed a sponsor invite to get into Cabo. And when you're 223 in the FedEx and you haven't had a top 10 since 2021, where does that self-belief come? To just make that phone call.
Speaker 18:You know Joe, the tournament director, and the Worldwide Technologies and its crew, taylor Ives and all their team. They've been unbelievable with me. That's one thing I've always strived for to just create good relationships with those that run tournaments, with the sponsors, because I know how much goes behind one week. It's very easy for us to just show up to the event, pack our locker, unpack our locker, go to the next one. But you've got to realize that there's a huge group of people working for that one week a year to happen, to provide a platform for us to just do what we do for a living, to play for millions of dollars and to have the opportunity to do what we do. So I stay in close contact with Joe and the Worldwide Technologies team and all those guys and they know how much I enjoyed when we were playing in Mayakoba and I would go to the prom dinner and I would always be available to help them with anything I could help to make the tournament better.
Speaker 18:So when I called Joe again, I said listen, man, I see you have a bunch of spots. You're going to a new place. I know I hear good things and you know I'm always going to call you and I'm not going to push you too. I mean, if there's a spot for me, just let me know, I'm not going to be bugging you. And then he called me and said we're going to have you. So that's kind of the way it goes. It wasn't a tough call to do. But, yes, you get tired of asking for opportunities and spots and sponsor exemptions. But that's another area where I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful for those tournament directors that have been in, that understand my situation, that know how much I want to be out here and then that provide me opportunities to play when I'm not in the fields.
Speaker 15:Camilo, thank you so much for your time. Good luck this week. Thank you Well. We'd like to welcome our most recent PJ Tour winner, camilo Bejegas, to the interview room here at the Artisan Classic. Camilo, what a two weeks it's been first your runner-up at the Worldwide Technology Championship and then your first PJ Tour win in more than nine years. What's the last two weeks been like, and have you had a chance to really reflect?
Speaker 18:Yeah, that's an understatement, obviously what those two weeks were very special and very happy to be here. It's been a while since I got called to do a little media day or media before the tournament. It's been a journey. Life is a journey and it goes up and down. Pretty interesting Sort of start.
Speaker 18:Sort of kind of go back to that Colombian kid that came here with a dream and played college golf at the University of Florida and played the corn fairy in 2005 and then everything gets started on tour so great and playing in Augusta, my second year on tour and winning a couple of FedEx Cup playoffs in 2008. I mean, yeah, you would think that that kid was on top of the world and I was feeling pretty good from a performance point of view. But I look at where I am right now and everything that has happened and I truly believe I'm a better person. Maybe the results haven't been there, but this journey has been pretty interesting. And to lose my card, to go through an injury, to lose my daughter, to create me as miracles, to go back to the corn fairy, to keep grinding, to have doubts, to have fears, to have tears, have smiles, all of the above, I mean it's just, you never know where life goes.
Speaker 18:But I said last week, with all those things and all those doubts and all the ups and downs, I never, stop waking up early, 5.30 in the morning to do what I like to do, because, in all honesty, the really cool thing about the last two weeks is not so much the results of the last two weeks but the process and what's been behind those results. And as much as I am enjoying sitting here and reflecting on my win and the energy that I have received from the world of golf the world of non-golf trust me, it's unbelievable. I mean, I had 900 messages on my phone. I'm going to get to all of them sometime, but yeah, once again, it's a process. It's enjoying the fact that I want to get better.
Speaker 18:Every morning, a lot of people ask me what I was doing going back to the corn fairy tour, and I said, listen, I want to play golf on the PGA tour and the corn fairy tour is what's going to get me to the PGA tour. And I had a chance to play the corn fairy tour in 2005 and that's what got me to the PGA tour. So that's where I need to be and I enjoy this year there, being with the younger guys in different places, different courses. Then I missed my car on the corn fairy tour because I was doing a lot of swing changes and stuff and they weren't kicking in and I kept trusting my instructor. He told me it was going to take a long time and it did. But here we are. So I'm getting along with his answer and the story and everything, but it's special.
Speaker 18:I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of those early mornings. I'm proud of my wife. I'm proud of Mia's miracles. I'm proud of Mia how she battled for those five months, for the energy she gives us, and I'm proud of the journey of life. It's just fun, trust me.
Speaker 18:The PGA tour has been so much for me and this is where I want to be again. This is where we are. What's to come, who knows? Like I said, life goes in circles, but I'm going to continue to do the same thing. I'm going to continue to wake up in the morning. I'm going to continue to give my best, treat people the right way, and I think when you do that, you can see how happy people get, when you get results. And it's been unbelievable being here this week. All my peers just come and give me a hug, telling me how they were watching, how they were pulling for me. So we'll do it all over again. We start from zero tomorrow. In addition to the win, you won the weekly RSM birdies for love last week, which comes with a $50,000 donation I assume you're making to me as miracles.
Speaker 15:How much are you aware of that and was that on your mind? It was. You know, the RSM, birdies for love has been a very special program for us. It's touched us personally direct.
Speaker 18:And it's touched those that are benefited by me as miracles. And when this program started there's been a few players that have won the weekly and then the overall not the overall Patrick Rogers last year and the overall and they've donated to me as miracles. They've been kind enough, they know the work that my wife is doing and the team just to provide smiles to those in need, and I'm very grateful for that. So, very interestingly, yesterday I was supposed to tee it up on second state of Q school so I wasn't going to be able to be here. But my wife was going to be here Monday night. She was going to do a little event. She was going to speak about our foundation and she was going to tell the story of how RSM birdies for love has impacted a and benefited our foundation and the people that we help.
Speaker 18:Things change in in in Mexico. After I moved up to 147 in the in the FedEx Hub points list, I didn't have to go to second state of Q school. I called Todd Thompson, the tournament director here, and he could tell you the story. I call him as a Todd, no bullshit, I'm calling you because I don't want to be there. I need to be there. So I don't know how your sponsors sent. You are looking but I don't know what you're going to do. But I need to be there. And he was laughing. He said I'll call you tomorrow. I figure you're going to call me long story short next day. He very quickly confirmed his spot for me and then it happens what happened last week. So I guess I kept going from a, from a now being in the field to being a sponsor invite, to being in the field as a, as a, as a champion in the last from the previous two years. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 18:So our charter gets delayed. We find a land in jacks after a long day, hop on the car and I'm rushing to get to the cloisters, to to attend the our assemblies for love kind of reception. My wife is there waiting for me and even though I got a little bit I got a little bit late and probably with the wrong attire from getting off the plane and it was pretty cool. It was cool to share a story. It was very nice to see what this program has done, how much money they've donated. I mean they've raised over five million dollars only with that program. And again to our Sam, to the world of golf to the PGA tour, to this country. I mean this this country is unbelievable when it comes to charity and we've had a chance to experience it and live it ourselves, and we'll continue to open our hearts to help others to grow, to partner with a, hopefully, rsm and this birdies for love program and keep bringing smiles.
Speaker 15:Excellent. With that, we'll open up to questions. For your start over on the left with cam. More for it. Pga tourcom.
Speaker 10:Camila, when you won you had. You were surrounded by people with champagne and they were spraying you and I sort of knew who one or two of them were, but I was wondering if you could give a quick rundown of who were those people and also what have they meant to your comeback?
Speaker 18:You know, it's pretty cool. It's a little. It's a little our Latin culture and the energy and everything maybe celebrates a little bit different than the American culture. And I got a chance to be there in Puerto Rico. And Nico Chavarria this is our kid from Colombia, from Campes de Medellin, same place where we grew up very close families. When he won, he's looked at me as an example, which is which is cool. I've had a chance to spend some time with him and kind of try to help him.
Speaker 18:Great talent, great player, and when he won it was, it was. It was very cool to be there and I was a little hesitant to just run the green and just completely spray him, but anyway we did it, we had fun with it and I guess it was his time. It was nice to see him there, to have him there when they run the green. I'm just looking up in the sky and I'm just enjoying the, the, the moment. It was mainly the Latin guys, the Latin caddies, and it was good energy man, we hang around, we, we help each other and and that same. That same night, sunday I went, I went to dinner with a couple Latin players, some of the caddies, and then we had a good time. So what does it mean? It means good energy, means a camaraderie, it means kind of Latin, latin culture, and and it means that we're here for each other.
Speaker 15:We're going to go right up front to Kathy. We'll get you a mic.
Speaker 7:Camilla, I happen to accidentally catch you doing a co anchor deal on a golf channel, I think it was and I was completely impressed with the way you presented yourself and the way you spoke and how you did the whole thing and I thought, okay, I haven't seen him playing a lot of great golf lately, so maybe he's making a career transition. Is that something you are interested in doing, or?
Speaker 18:it was a very interesting week. I'll tell you the story of how that happened. And this is true. So we're doing our I see Todd there, so he's laughing and had a chance to spend time with him and his team that week at the Wyndham. It was pretty special. I learned a lot, but this is how it all started. So I have my as miracles. First tournament last year, todd was very gracious to send us some flags of the major champions to auction and then Steve Sands was there to help us MC.
Speaker 18:I've known Steve for many years and I'm never going to forget. I mean, I'm on the ninth fairway. Steve shows up on another card, I'm with my wife and we start talking and then he looks at me and says hey, by the way, your name has come up on the golf channel a few times. Do you want to be in the booth? One week. And I told him to f off, literally like that. I said like man, I'm not ready, I want to play. I just like and and and it's. My reaction was because, yes, I'm 41. Yes, I had been playing terrible golf. Yes, you don't know where you're heading, and and and, but. But I enjoy playing, I enjoy trying to get better and I didn't. I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't ready for that. I call him that same same night and I said Steve, you know what? Obviously, I told you that because I know you're my friend and I could, I could use that language with you and. But I'm actually very gracious of the comment. It's an honor for me that you guys are thinking about me. I mean, english is not even my first language and it's probably because you guys have seen how I've handled my career and how I've gone about business that you believe that maybe I could do a good job. It's actually an honor, but I'm still not ready for that.
Speaker 18:So then we go to my agent, clark Jones, and he goes listen, but I'm not here to close doors. If you really want me to close this door, I will, but but if not, you need to give us a week. Just pick the week next year I'll try to arrange. So I picked a Wyndham last regular season event of the year plays, where I have great memories, where I want in 2014, golf course, that I really know a week that I knew there was gonna be a lot to talk, which made it easier but harder. And and we jump in the booth. I jump in the booth that first day. Producer goes okay, how about we do a little rehearsal, 40 second opening. And holy crap, did I get nervous and and and this is true, I mean I was, I was, I was scared and we survived.
Speaker 18:That first day. It wasn't my best effort and but I also have to say that I, everybody that I asked for advice, they kept telling me just be yourself, be yourself, sit there, be yourself. And then, when I was getting ready to start, I go shit, what does it be yourself mean? I know that, but there's, there's got to be in order to all this stuff. There's got to be rules, the do's and don'ts and know this. And and I felt like I was a Maybe a little bit in the wrong place. But after the first day, they they a good friend that they has done ESPN Spanish for many years and and then the producer and my colleagues and Steve and everybody just gave me some pointers. The second day I felt a lot better. Third day I felt even better. I stayed afterwards After the early, early show to watch the big boys how they run the show and it was pretty cool to see the other crew Doing what they know how to do and I learned a lot.
Speaker 18:I really enjoyed it and the comments were great. Nobody's gonna look at you in the face and say, listen, you sucked, it was terrible, but but I got a lot of great comments and and and yes, it kind of stayed in my mind I said a maybe, maybe we open a door there, so I Don't want to play golf, and I guess a no, no, no, no, I'm not ready for both. Hopefully we open a door for the future. It was. It was interesting. I really enjoy hanging with the crew and learning new things, but a but I think what happened the last couple weeks a, I feel like I am where I belong. I feel like I am where when all my work has has kind of put me, and a it's time to spend time with the big boys on the pga tour again. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 15:Gary.
Speaker 6:Thanks for this this morning. You've been tremendous. You've almost covered every question we could ask. Could he just compare, when you first broke through in Phoenix years ago as a rookie, your golf game then to how it is now Pros and you know what's, what's better than what's better now, how, how it has evolved?
Speaker 18:you know that's a great question. I was doing something with a, with a colombian a, in a colombian interview this morning and they asked me the same question.
Speaker 18:And if something, mmm, you constantly think as a golfer, as a human being you, you, you want to go back to those good moments and and you want to replicate what was going on. But I've, after, after analyzing the situation many times, I think it's. It's a little tricky and it can be a little bit dangerous to look at it that way, because a Life is evolving, as human beings were evolving, and we're always different. So to try to be the same guy that you were is tricky. You have different information and you're older. You have different experiences in you, so it's really hard to go back and and when I when I finally accepted that that Camilo V Jegas was not the 20-something year old that won two FedEx Cup playoffs in 2008, but he's the column Camilo V Jegas of 38, 40, 41 years old, and and and is dealing with the information and the experiences he has. That's when I when I decided not to look back so much, but just to stay in the presidency what I could work with, and it's been very helpful. And, of course, we're different. I mean, just look at the picture from last 2008 a long hair, 20-something year old, wearing pink pants. Now my outfits are completely different.
Speaker 18:I'm a dad and man. So many, so many, so many bump bumps, but so many great things. And they were asking me this morning also about it was actually pretty cool. They said, hey, well, people look at your life and they say, man, what a tough life and everything you guys have had to go through as a family, as, and the personal as an injury, a as a golfer playing the PG tour, being the top 10 in the world, going to losing your car, all this stuff, a that's got to be pretty tough. And then Started thinking about that, that question, and it wasn't resonating what, what they were telling me us.
Speaker 18:Because, to be honest, with everything that has happened, that's life, that's how life goes, and I'm so fortunate I mean I'm so fortunate to have the life I have this kid coming from Colombia, going to the University of Florida, a Accomplishing the dreams, playing on the PGA tour, and then, yes, there were bumps, but but that's that's life.
Speaker 18:And, yes, I wish my little one was here with, with, with us, but but she's not and and she's truly in a better place after a long battle that she wasn't gonna win. So I accepted that too, and and we keep going, we turn that Tragedy into a something very positive and and and I mean my wife reads me Messages from people who help at me as miracles every week and and I go, man, if Mia was here we wouldn't be able to do this. So you turn around and and my life has been great, with the ups, with the downs. I accepted and, and obviously it's better when you're playing good, it's better when you play, playing on the PGA tour, when you're winning golf tournaments, where you don't have to deal with those a family situations and personal situations. But hey, you ready because you never know when things turn around for good, for bad, and they will keep going.
Speaker 15:We've got time for one last March. We're gonna go over to Adam.
Speaker 13:Camilo, you know you also needed a sponsor invite to get into Cabo. And when you're 223 in the FedEx and you haven't had a top 10 since you know 2021, when does that self-belief come? To just make that phone call.
Speaker 18:You know Joe, the tournament director, and the worldwide technologies and in its crew, taylor Ives and and man all, all their team. They've been unbelievable with me. That's one thing I've always say strive forward to just Create good relationships with those that run tournaments for the, with the sponsors, because I know how much goes behind one week. It's very easy for us to just show up to the event, pack our locker on, pack our locker, go to the next one, but you gotta realize that there's there's a huge group of people working for that one week a year to happen, to provide a platform for us to just do what we do for a living, to play for millions of dollars and and to have have the opportunity to do what we do. So I Stay in close contact with Joe and then and the worldwide technologies team and all those guys and and they know how much I Enjoyed when we were playing in my a coba and I would go to the prom and dinner and I would always be available to help them with anything I could help to make the tournament better.
Speaker 18:So and when I called Joe again I said listen, man, I see you have a bunch of spots. You're going to a new place. I know there's, I hear good things and and you know I'm always gonna call you if there's and I'm not gonna push you too. I mean, if there's a spot for me, just let me know, I'm not gonna be bugging you. And then he called me and said they, we're gonna have you. So that's kind of the way it goes. It wasn't, it wasn't a tough call to do. But, yes, you get tired of you get tired of a asking for opportunities and spots and sponsor exemptions. But that's another area where I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful for those tournament directors that have been a Understand my situation, that know how, how much I want to be out here and then and then that provide me opportunities to to play when I when I'm not in the fields.
Speaker 15:Camilo, thank you so much for your time. Good luck this week.
Speaker 18:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it, some some good interviews and interesting things being said. It's gonna be a great week, great tournament, to hope the weather holds out, love it at St Simon's Island and I wish we were there for the weekend, but can't no do because Thanksgiving is coming up and we're getting ready here in Nashville, tennessee, for a big Thanksgiving. A big Thanksgiving. I'll just leave it at that for the Gulf Tuff America Network crew and and the PGA to countdown crew. I'm Frank Bassett saying we'll catch in the grill room.