Ian Woosnam - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Mike Gonzalez: 0:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin, I'm excited about today because we've got one of Europe's Big Five with us.

Devlin, Bruce: 0:24

We do. We have a gentleman that has an OBE. He wins the Masters in 1991 and has 52 victories around the world. And what a pleasure to have with us today Ian Woosnam, Ian, great having you along my friend. Mike and I have looked forward to this for a long time.

Woosnam, Ian: 0:47

Well, yeah, I've seen your, your emails and whatever asking me and eventually got together in that sort of like, it's not like I don't want to do a podcast. It's just that I'm not sure what I'm doing half the time on a computer. So yeah, it's good to be here. Thank you.

Mike Gonzalez: 1:05

Thanks for joining us Ian and as you know, we're here to tell your story. And we're excited to do that. I think just for the record, because we hope people will be listening this 50 years from now we're recording this on the day after the conclusion of play of the the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill, which occurred yesterday, Brooks Koepka won that event in fine fashion, Michael Block is a name that people may not know, 50 years from now, but they'll certainly know his story. Now, what a wonderful story, it was as a club Pro to not only qualify for the event, but then to make a pot on the last to finish in the top 15, which gets him a spot in the in the next year's event. And on top of that, what does he do on 15?

Woosnam, Ian: 1:51

You know, I switched it on, I was watching pretty well all afternoon. And amazing that the guy, you know, is there four hours early, he's full of beans. So exciting didn't even look like in practice much and he just went out there and he just played with his guts. And in and, you know, we just loved it. And I just, you know, everybody loved him as well. And I think that's it's a testament to golf and professional golfers, club professionals. He truly deserved what he got, you know, times I thought, you know, some of the places he got up and down for up and down like on the last hole, it was incredible. 17 and 18. So and having the hole-in-one. You know, it's, it's, you know, always dreams come true all in sort of 18 holes for some reason. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez: 2:42

You know, almost seemed like fate was was there wasn't it? Just a magical weekend. And Bruce, he's coming your way for the Colonial so enough about history, but I thought we'd make that point for future listeners that this is when we're recording this particular story within. Ian, we always start at the beginning. And so we got to take you back to your childhood days. What you can remember growing up in, in a part of England that sort of abutted Wales did it just south of Liverpool, I guess.

Woosnam, Ian: 3:10

Yeah, sort of in between was called Oswestry, St. Martin's a little village is a mine in mine in a mining, little village and a lot of people from different areas came to live there. So my parents were actually from more mid Wales, and eventually moved that way. I guess my dad, dad moved to Shropshire just on the border in the early, early 50's. And then, you know, my dad had a small old and My granddad had the big farm and eventually it was passed on to my dad and then we went to live there and worked on the farm. And you know, that's the story of being a farmer's son. You have to work on the farm and learn how to do things. And no, it was always Mendelian on driving tractors, milking cows, you name it, I did it. And I'm shoveling, oh, yes, yes. Well, yeah,

Mike Gonzalez: 4:10

you got to do it all if you're going to do it probably some early mornings too. On the farm. That's typically what happens.

Woosnam, Ian: 4:15

Exactly, Before I went to school I was started work about two hours before that.

Mike Gonzalez: 4:20

Yeah. golfing, family, sporting family.

Woosnam, Ian: 4:24

Well, I gotta say this. My dad wanted to be a professional boxer. So in Wales when he left school and every night and he said to his parents says, Look, I want to be a professional football professional boxer. And his parents said, no chance Harold, you're going to be a farmer. And that's it. So any chance my my dad said if any, any child who was any good at any sport, he would give them a chance to go and follow their dreams, right.

Mike Gonzalez: 4:54

And so how did you get your your introduction to the game?

Woosnam, Ian: 4:58

Well, you know, as I say My dad was a, he was a good sportsman, he loved his boxing, he played a lot of soccer and football. And when he got to the age of surf, like he couldn't play football anymore, he decided to go on play golf, like all his other mates who, at that time were doing that, you know, where we lived in this little village, everybody thought, you know, you a rich man's game, you know, there was something wrong with you play golf, really, you know, you were like, you know, you have to upper class, but it wasn't like that. So one day decide, we all got in the car, we went up to Llanymynech Golf Course, and which is 14 miles away. And we all went up there like after the milk, the middle milk, the cows, and we all started playing golf together. You know, I had an older brother and a sister and a younger brother came along, but 10 years later, so we're, we've been a sporting family all our lives really.

Devlin, Bruce: 5:58

And being a sporting family did. Did you play other sports besides golf in new days?

Woosnam, Ian: 6:06

Yeah, you know, when I was in school, you know, we played football. And what really happened I was I was chosen to play golf, or play golf, play golf, or play football on the same on the same date in our counties. Like for for Shropshire. And I think I was 14 at the time, and I thought I'm gonna make a decision. Do I want to be professional footballer? Or do I want to be a professional golfer and I made that decision, I wanted to be a professional golfer there

Devlin, Bruce: 6:39

and then was moved.

Woosnam, Ian: 6:41

Well, it turned out that way, the way I looked at it, you know, it's amazing. You look back at times and thinking, well, I looked in the future, and I thought, well, I can play golf, too. I'm in my 60s. And, and I made the right decision pulled out a soccer player, a football player, he's finished it 34, 35. So yeah.

Mike Gonzalez: 7:02

Yeah, a lot of our guests have shared that same story about the decisions they made competing in various sports. And it seems that for most of them, it worked out pretty well.

Woosnam, Ian: 7:14

Yeah, I think you know, if you if you become a successful sportsman, I believe that whatever I would have done, I would have been pretty good. Yeah, I believe because I had, I felt I had the right mentality to do what I wanted to do.

Mike Gonzalez: 7:31

So we're close to the same vintage, you're a little bit younger than I am. But we probably would have been exposed to a lot of the same golf stuff back in the 60s and 70s. Growing up, you know, with the different magazines, and what little television there was, how did you come across the game? How did you how did you learn the finer points? Was it through observation, reading? How was it?

Woosnam, Ian: 7:53

Oh, just watching. Very, very, very interested in that. You know, we obviously could afford a television and watched all the tournaments, what was on, you know, the big three that Jack, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer, you know, that's, that's why I look back now. And I think, you know, it doesn't, you know, obviously, Gary Player was a little guy. That was that was me, you know, but I took a little bit of a character out of all of them, all of them. Really, Gary was the little guy at the fight. You know, he had to sort of like, he hadn't got the strength like the other guys had, but he had the short game, he had the mentality to go with it. Jack had this sort of like laid back you know, he sort of was more methodical and then you had the Bull, you know Arnie he just went full blast out and that's so I feel like that my sort of game is out a little bit of everything and it really loved a lot of them they tried to learn and watch and learn and learn something from every single one of them really.

Devlin, Bruce: 8:55

So in high school did we was there a golf team there are men's golf boys golf team at high school.

Woosnam, Ian: 9:02

Yeah, we we didn't I mean that we are not in school, we just disrupt your boys with it. So I can I play infrastructure, which is in England. And then I also played for Wales boys as well as a junior, so I had the choice really. But then, you know, as I played in, which is an English team in my county, so guess who my partner was? I can't believe he hasn't told you Sandy Lyle AWB Lyle his story, you know, this guy, we live 20 miles from each other big friends. And, you know, we're both 12, 13 years of age and Sandy Lyle was one of the greatest Golf Course golfers I've ever seen at the age of 1415 years of age and, and he was my partner so I could edit in the crop a little bit and then we just get me out of that. And I've told this story So many times and then people maybe don't realize it sometimes is that if it wasn't for Sandy Lyle, I might have not been where I am today because I had a benchmark to reach. And when you have a guy who is destined to be the most probably the best player in the world, and he was the best player in the world, that are the benchmark to get to, and I had to get to that level and allowed him to go after you know, and I'll never my mum went to beat Sunday for the first time and disrupts your boys or somebody says, I told you Sandy Lyle Ian would beat you one day. And it's funny that we go one by one as we go through the tournament system. The world match player was at Wentworth 1987, a British British player never won and never won it. And me and Sandy, were playing in the final. So we one of us was going to win two boys from Shropshire a little tiny County, and there, we were playing each other and I managed to beat him in on me and, you know, it was didn't matter if I beat him or he beat me. We're just it was a great occasion anyway.

Mike Gonzalez: 11:07

Well, he had plenty, he had plenty of nice things to say about you during our visit with him as well. And he finally recalled all those junior matches that you guys were able to participate in representing your home area.

Woosnam, Ian: 11:22

Yeah, so yeah, it's, you know, it's a lot of memories. You know, are we, you know, as I got, you know, I went a different route and Sandy, he was fortunate his dad was played professionally. He hit balls all day in the morning. And then at night when he came home and we're, I had to Sir, go milk, the cows are going hit golf balls out of a foot long grass, you know, that's what I had to do. And we only we only got to play golf on on a Wednesday evening, after after milking the cows at six o'clock in the summer. And then in the, in the summer months, where after we'd finished milking all the cows, we went and play golf on the weekend, so didn't get to play much golf. So when I turned professional at a tee and I, you know, my dad said to me said, Look, this is like an apprenticeship, you've got to learn your apprenticeship and give yourself five years and see how it goes. Basically, it was probably of us traveling around and a little caravan at Viacom, you know, like the surfers do, oh, I just traveled everywhere in Europe in that little town. And I learned I learned how to play golf doing it that way.

Devlin, Bruce: 12:34

It's interesting that, that you look at how you got into professional golf. And then you look at, in this country, all the kids that goes through college and they you know, they spend the four years or five years of college and come out of there, they're ready to go, you know, I mean, they've they've had some really serious competition at a very high standard. But it's interesting how in different parts of the world you end up being a great player by going a different way.

Woosnam, Ian: 13:02

Well, Bruce, saying that I know Sandy went to the college as well and a guy friend of ours as well called Martin Fox and Nick Faldo all at the same time, and that if I had gone, I would have been like, suddenly, we wouldn't have passed the exam. You're either got to be very bright to play golf or not so bright. And so one or the other, huh? Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez: 13:27

Well, why don't why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about the golf a little Golf Course you grew up on?

Woosnam, Ian: 13:33

Well, it's called Llanymynch Golf Club. And they've got 15 holes in Wales and three holes in England, and it goes straddles across the border. And it's not particularly long, it's very up and down. It's sort of like, just above an old quarry really up on the hills and up on the hill. And, and one thing about playing up there is you got you never really got to play off a flat lie. And I think that's a benefit for learning how to play golf, you know, instead of being so manicured, and you're on a flat lie all the time, you got to learn how to edit off of a ball above you or below you or you know, it's not that it was a great, great thing for me and obviously I became a member of the Golf Course down the road, which was hard was also a three golf club a lot flatter and a bit more. You know, the lives were better but it was a it's a great way to learn how to play golf. We had a bit of a windy as well. So yeah, small greens. You have to get good shots into the greens.

Mike Gonzalez: 14:38

Pretty good about letting the juniors get access then back in the day.

Woosnam, Ian: 14:43

It very interesting. We used to have a guy called Bernard Thomas and he was fantastic with the juniors. We always as I say, I used to get up there on a Wednesday evening and there was loads and loads and loads of juniors we had a fantastic team and our goal Trump calls him and we had some really good players and one guy called the Griffis family really and Andy Griffiths turned professional, but his two brothers were really good players as well. And Andy was sort of like a really quite dedicated sort of, like, worked on his forearms on his thighs and he was into the fitness that time and I can remember going home and I thought, I'm gonna start doing that, although I was strong anyway. And I used to, I'll never forget, I used to serve like, you know you did is with a squash ball, just squeezing it and building up your forearms. But, you know, I didn't have a squash ball. So I just went out and got the horse pipe squirt or thing and I just kept squeezing that I just do it too. I cry young got the forearms going. And then you talk about watching the golf, you know, I'd be we'd be watching the golf on the TV and I you know, I just hold my feet off the ground about three inches, but I've just went outside and found a big old lead pipe and put it on and just held it off the ground and sprinted up the legs. And that's the sort of thing and I'd be driving a tractor no power stare and just fingers, you know, just all sorts of little things. little tricks. Stronger. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez: 16:16

So So when did you get your sort of your first serious instruction, as well as lead?

Woosnam, Ian: 16:23

Interest? We went a few different pros. Medinah was always tinkering a little bit and we had a guy used to teach us called Collins his name was, Mr. Collins. Anyhoo was up in north Wales, but we didn't get to see him very often. But my first coach was Bruce I don't know. How aold ar you now. Sorry, to ask you that question Bruce.

Devlin, Bruce: 16:46

I'm, I'm about to turn 86 here in a few months. Well, there you go. You I would know who you're talking about? Probably.

Woosnam, Ian: 16:55

Yeah. This is why I'm going to ask it. Royal Liverpool Golf Club. The Pro there was called Searl. Hughes through us. Yeah, it was, you know, by the time of Henry Cotton and everything. And what happened? He retired and moved in, obviously married a woman called or always misses Hughes. Yeah, Mary Hughes . And they live right by the golf club, Llanymynech golf club. My dad my mom was quite friendly with her and my dad got to talk to and I went up to see him and he he this was my first lesson most probably eight years of age and he built a couple of little holes in his garden you know a little 80 yard walls and it was great and and come on lad, he showed me the grip. And you know, we right elbow on my side, you know, keep your elbow on your side break your wrist you know, and this is that was when we started and that's the basics of my golf swing. What it is now today. I'll never forget it and you know, and that was the start of how to play golf. Amazing. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

Mike Gonzalez: 18:07

You had a lot of chance to play as a lad before turning pro tell us about some of the other amateur competitions that you were able to participate in before even that decision to turn professional.

Woosnam, Ian: 18:19

Yeah, we used to travel around my dad you know we come you know, he's like we had a we had the cows, the cows to milk and I remember what we did you know it's a big move for me sold the cows and went into our a bowl which is porn and beef and everything so he could actually you know, I'm traveling with me and I'm spending a bit of time on me helping me along the way to learn the game more of a bloody nuisance of yours and you know what that's like you know it's but you know as I look back I thought he was right but you know bit like me couldn't explain it right properly. Anyway,

Mike Gonzalez: 18:59

yes, it is interesting based upon the type of farming you're in how the responsibilities vary right between dairy farm agriculture beef.

Woosnam, Ian: 19:09

Exactly. So all of a sudden you you the corn is growing so you can get away you've got the beef and everything you know of the it's easy to do, they can go out grazing or whatever they are. It's already in the wintertime. They're sort of inside. Yeah, it gave us time. It gave me time. It gave him time to come with me. And we spent a couple of years going around different competitions, lanes, some amateur tournaments, also playing some international Toram against England, Ireland and whatsoever. Um, basically played a few pros competitions as well at the time. I've God knows I must have gone into them tournaments. I do not know he must have been musta wrote some letters. I just don't know. I remember playing a double diamond at Gleneagles. Yeah, all the school Little someone will not play it. I'll never forget it. For some reason I played with Christy O'Connor Senior. And my dad said to me, what do you think of him that to Christy? He says, I think he's got the best left hand in golf I've ever seen. Pretty much. That's all right. Yeah. Christy O'Connor , Christy O'connor SENIOR Yeah. What

Devlin, Bruce: 20:23

a great guy. Well,

Woosnam, Ian: 20:26

you know, as the years went on, I spent lots and lots of time with the Irish, Christy O'Connor, Hugh Jackson, all and guy, Hugh Jackson, for satisfaction. That's what he used to say. 10 pints a night. 10 pints a day, you know,

Mike Gonzalez: 20:45

we had a great time, you talked about this decision you made consciously at 14 about you know, am I gonna be a professional golfer or a professional football player, you turn to golf, but when did what did you really get serious about that decision about? I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this for a living.

Woosnam, Ian: 21:06

Yeah, you know, I wasn't going to be any good at school. And there's one thing and you know why I made that decision that 14 years of age, because they weren't going to melt them cows anymore. One thing I'm not going to be as big of a damn farmer. It's too much like hard work. And I was determined not to do that. And I just put my average guy out into playing golf, you know, you know, we are in the car shed with a long car shed, I made a net. So we had this big borrow and over the top of the car seems to pull it across like this. And they had these, these bags on it, which which have put sawdust and you know, what sold us is we sold them with a baling string. And I used to pull this thing over, put it back the back of the cars and I used to have a cold matter coconut mat with it, have something else to stand on. And wobbly did I just biscuit tin on a piece of string and I used to move it up and down the net. I'll put them through that line. And then I've just moved it up and down. You know, it'd be about about six or seven, eight yards away from it and just trying to get the soap eventually. And it was great. And when I started playing tournament, you just have a little gap through a tree like this. And you know,

Devlin, Bruce: 22:33

oh, I know what club to

Woosnam, Ian: 22:39

do you learn to hit it straight. You talk about the TrackMan, the Skytracks and everything. There it was just using my own SkyTrack. in them days really

Mike Gonzalez: 22:47

just got to hit the 10tinhit the tin. Yeah. Well, if you

Woosnam, Ian: 22:51

can start it straight, you got half a chance haven't you. But when I was a bit younger, it didn't start very straight. It went all over the place went a long way. But she was all over the place. And where was it going right to left, left? Right. Right, left, usually, you know, the All right, and was firing on that too quickly. You know, it's like I was only small and all and big lines and so on. And all I did was jump on it and try and hit it as hard as I can. They were all winding me up as well. But eventually, you know, I went to John Jacobs, or lessons off John Jacobs. And I said, What do you think, Mr. Jacobs, he says, and we're all on a young player score. He says, Just keep it in the bowl. Don't do anything. This is just learn to understand what the ball does, how it spins, you can understand how it shapes. That's how you're swinging it. And that's what I took more from anything. Now if it starts low, and global left in spades, it's over the top feed, you know, I mean, and yeah, you know, you block it up to the right, you got stuck on the inside. Once you so when you when you're younger, you can understand when you when you're out, you're playing, you're in a little bit of a trouble when you can control your shots. And if you can know what's happening by the flow to the ball a little different now with different technology. I can't quite understand it. But is that any older you can understand you could fix yourself on the Golf Course and get yourself around a lot of times.

Devlin, Bruce: 24:23

Yeah, well on the mall, as we all know, then the ball used to spin a lot more than and you could actually make the shape shots a little bit easier. I think. Well,

Woosnam, Ian: 24:34

they'll say the ball never lays does it? No, it doesn't. It gets getting back to that as you're told her that. This is why I see the accident. There's no problem. There's no problem hitting the ball 350 yards, but make it spin. If you make it spin, like the oval article, and you get it wrong. Yeah. Adios and then all of a sudden, that it'll be spinning into the Greens too much you would have to play different shops, you would have to drop down a couple of clubs and play them softer. Yeah, take the spin out. And I think that's the way to go, you know, if they're gonna have this thing, maybe take 10% off or 15%. But then habit spending more, and I think that'll be it'll save the golf courses. And it will be more and more enjoyable, I think to watch as well. And I agree

Devlin, Bruce: 25:23

with you. Absolutely. 100%. That's, I think that's what we've lost in the game, to be honest with you. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez: 25:32

So you decided to turn pro tell us and our listeners a little bit about what that process was? Was it a very formal process to turn professional back then?

Woosnam, Ian: 25:41

No, not really, is I got to play for Wales International. So at that time, if you became an international player, you could go on the circuit, but you could not earn any money for six months. As for Order of Merit. So I got that in 1976. And thinking right, I'm on a tour next year, but the tour started a player school. So I missed out on that. So I had to go to a place called Fox Hills, and which is down in London there. And, man, this course was the narrowest thing you've ever seen. It was a Golf Course. I can't believe it doesn't really suit me. This is it. But I managed to get my car. I went there three times in a row and AMU fortunate like a little alone, one art and it, you know, my penguin iron at the time, and it got me around the Golf Course on it. You know, what's all you needed to do at Fox Hills? You know, that time to 20 yards or whatever, it wasn't straight. And I managed to do that.

Mike Gonzalez: 26:56

We heard about this little camper that you had. And I read somewhere you dined a lot on baked beans too in those early days.

Woosnam, Ian: 27:06

Well, it was the easiest thing to eat, wasn't it? So? Yeah, it was interesting. I remember playing in the Northern Open and we're playing in Nairn the top of Scotland. Lovely place. Andthat was sort of in the weeks or anything. So the next qualifying for European tour, which we have to try and qualify on a Monday. Remember that song? We hate Monday's. that what we used to do. We were falling so once I got my card, you still have to qualify for the Torrey Pines. So we drive from Inverness, now in this van to Milan. Oh my goodness, you gotta go or get the boat. I mean over Mont Blanc. So I've got this friend with me called Joe Higgins. And I said, Joe, you're going to have to drive he says I don't drive. Drive. Oh, right. We'll sort that out. So I drive and I'm driving I've been driving for 10 hours and we get to necessarily long term I don't just got to Glasgow been driving for 10 hours. So I said to Joe, I'm gonna get you on a motorway and I'm going to put you behind the wheel. And all you do is look at that 50 mile per hour and just keep going keep in the left hand lane and just keep going into when you see Birmingham, wake me up to go somewhere and get some money so anyway, well it's we're supposed to have when he got to Manchester, he's supposed to wake me up. Anyway, he woke me up in Berlin was gone an hour past where we will. Anyway, so three days we would drive in anyway. So great story that so we get we get Similan and this thing starts just sort of going boom, boom, boom, like 10 miles per hour. Oh my god, it's gonna be a new engine or something. We're playing in a Golf Course called Monticello so we'd get to Milan we're in the middle of Milan now and it's going 10 miles I've tried putting putting more petrol in it I've tried this try that and still not working. So we stopped in the middle of Milan in the big street and I said we had a sleep Joe's fast asleep that's one thing he was good at asleep. So I get up and I get my little kind of petrol I Off I go to the petrol station and got to be petrol and filling up Can I have petrol? Italian now I get I get a gallon of petrol. And this man says you should do up Italian mountainous. Do you have a funnel? No, no. He's sort of like, come with me. So I went with this guy. He lived about 100 yards away. Yes, this funnel and I saw that's good. Good as he says, Where's your car? Who was about to two kilometers? He says right okay, I'll give you a lift. One we're getting the car yeah. Gets his bike I'm on the handlebars, I've got the petrol and I've got the cap off I go down to the car can't believe this. I put it all and say thank you very much and we chug off doesn't work anymore. I've got my belt down and down where the petrol goes to see if it's the gauge or anything that doesn't work. Chug off to the golf club Monticello Golf Club there's two Monticello golf clubs, ones on the north ones ones on the south takes about three hours to get to this other one. We got the we both qualify. So for man this is fantastic. So now we got to go to the main course to play can remember of course with Milan, Milan Country Club, whatever so so we started going down the hills and we stop at this other petrol station, talking to the guy to garages or Volkswagen plays around and you know, one guy says, Oh, this is Volkswagen plays around the corner. Oh, fantastic. Follow me. So following this guy went up to two kilometers and narrow was and a guy opens the boat, you know, gets to the engine and I'm not joking. There was a little pipe but just come off like that. And it was sucking in air because they're air cooled and air running. Put it back on. I'm not joking. Royce again, I thought oh my god, I'm gonna have to buy a new engine. So we get to the golf club and I had a great I think I finished 12 that week. So I had a great finish. maze and about one of the other things said and I'm standing on the first tee with my little carrying bag and one of the players goes he says who you Caddying for, you know, that happened a few times. I couldn't afford any clothes proper cause August 2 and clothes, things like that.

Devlin, Bruce: 32:11

So in the early days, you traveled a bit to South Africa to denude.

Woosnam, Ian: 32:19

Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, you know, we went everywhere. We played the Safari Tour. Yeah. So a great experience.

Mike Gonzalez: 32:33

And all that experience just accumulates, doesn't it? Just a lot of little learning events.

Woosnam, Ian: 32:38

Yeah, you know, when you we so we went. First of all, we, you know, obviously Europe was a small season. So we'd go down to Australia from there and play some Australian events or whatever we could get in try and qualify and just get some experience by playing anything. We could do anything read our map. There's another story, so we get down. So I'm with Sam Torrance. And a guy called John here so we go to the Melbourne Cup. Okay, and Sam goes we'll go to the champagne tent, get some champagne, I'm not joking and we go to the champagne tent we got these magnums of champagne? You know, there's all these people who've got all these beers and thre's music go and it's just like, it's it's just like, I don't know, it's just like a great big party. It was sitting down with surrogate and drunken. And Sam says I've got to go to the toilet. And I'm thinking toilet. Where's that? It's partly is miles away anyway, so he gives me his bottle. And I'm holding the ball. Like I'm not seeing Sam for about 40 minutes and I'm thinking I've gotta go now. So I wander off of these two bowls and everybody's having a sip of me champagne and champagne. Having a beer here I mean absolutely plastered. So I've gone down to the toilet garden you know this is I shouldn't be saying I don't feel very well and I'm just throwing up everywhere and there's guys coming walking on dozens of people trying to go to the loo they just started coming over the over the into the toilet over the throne when you get to the I don't know if you ever been coming out you've

Devlin, Bruce: 34:27

got the Melbourne Cup I've

Woosnam, Ian: 34:29

ever Yeah, I'm out and I'm in this I'm in the gutter someone said you better get away from that please get you get arrested m&e. So I come out and I go straight by the train station. I thought if I go to the train station, someone will get me no problem. This is not a like, I wake up, I wake up I look around, there's no one left. Everybody's got a beat to sleep about four or five wandering around looking for Sam and John Hay and I can't find Sam. He's gone. And I find John Hay and he's there and he can't speak now I'm sober now while sober and I find Yeah John and he's is rubbish in Iran and he's in his trash cans and looking for some food to eat he said he went on some boat he went off on some boat so so every week I get back John on the on the train and was like, get stop at a train station. Train Station. The guy says use think thanks by the door. I say yeah, I'm not a bit of a problem solver like me face so like. It's like the same thing. So like the door offers I just can't get get out. Eventually, we get back to the room. And then next thing we hear we get a phone call Brian, Donald samskaara gets a phone call. Sam's coming, where sound coming. He's on a boat and he's swimming in. I'm not joking. And he starts swimming back and we save the man we saved him. There's hundreds of stories, and I could go on forever.

Mike Gonzalez: 36:19

And that ladies and gentlemen his life on golf professional tours.

Woosnam, Ian: 36:26

I could go on process versus asking me about Africa. We're in like, we're in night, we're in Nigeria, and you're in a coup and you're not supposed to be out and we're out. And it gets stopped and is this big guy, big African guy and you wind down the window and he's got a great big ak 40 and he says. Where are you going? I said anywhere you want me to. You've got the gun! it's not very often to get a machine gun in your face twice in Africa. It's

Devlin, Bruce: 37:01

It's scary as hell, man.

Woosnam, Ian: 37:03

It's crazy. I mean, Christy O'Connor Jr. We drove from, from Zambia to somewhere else in our little car like 1000 miles with crazy, amazing stuff you do when you're young. Daft.

Mike Gonzalez: 37:17

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 until your friends until we tee it up again with the good of the game. So long everybody.