EP33: Family Life with a World-Famous Athlete

Interview with Mike McGee / Marketing Guru, Lead Dad to Annika Sorenstam

HOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVAN

Mike McGee was a sports marketing guru in his own right before going to work for Annika Sorenstam, one of the greatest golfers of all time. About 15 years ago, their relationship turned romantic, and he’s now a Lead Dad to Annika and their children Will and Ava. Growing up in a golf family – his father was PGA Tour winner and Ryder Cupper Jerry McGee – he learned from his parents about what it meant to live in a true partnership. “I knew I had the love in my heart to do this and the ability to support Annika,” he said. “I’d lived it: it’s about the kids and supporting your spouse. I’m very fortunate to do that.” Listen to how Annika and Mike make the partnership work – and why he prefers guys ribbing him go with Mr. Annika.

---

Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Transcript

00;00;05;16 - 00;00;23;22
Paul Sullivan
I'm Paul Sullivan, your host on the Company of Dads podcast, where we explore the sweet, sublime, strange and silly aspects of being a dad in a world where men were the primary parents often feel they have to hide, or at least not talk about the rules. One thing I know from personal experience is being a dad is not the traditional role for men.

00;00;23;27 - 00;00;40;29
Paul Sullivan
Whether you work full time, part time, or got all your time to your family, parenting is so often left to mothers or paid caregivers. But here at the Company of Dads, our goal is to shake all that off and create a community for fathers who are in the dads, while also welcoming other dads who want to learn more from them.

00;00;41;01 - 00;01;03;26
Paul Sullivan
Today my guest is Mike McGee, sports marketing guru, husband and b dad. Mike lives in Lake Nona, a booming golf community in Orlando, Florida. He has two kids, Will and Eva, and is married to the greatest female golfer of our generation, Annika Sorenstam. He grew up in a golf family but played baseball. He went to work in sports marketing and ended up managing Monica's brand when she was at her peak.

00;01;03;28 - 00;01;15;14
Paul Sullivan
They later married and now their son Will, is on the junior golf set. Mike is also the son of PGA tour pro Jerry McGee, who won four times, and the PGA. Mike, welcome to the company Dads podcast.

00;01;15;16 - 00;01;18;11
Mike McGee
Thank you Paul. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

00;01;18;14 - 00;01;25;09
Paul Sullivan
Okay. You and Annika are playing a few holes at Lake Nona after dinner. Have you ever beat her?

00;01;25;11 - 00;01;50;02
Mike McGee
Maybe in a few holes. But not if we played more than a few. Now, it's actually one of the times we enjoy playing together. In the evening, when it cools down a little bit here. Early in the morning, the four of us. So go out. Even while our kids. And it's usually, the boys versus the girls, because Annika is obviously much better than me and, well, better than our daughter, although she has some talent, but she doesn't play much.

00;01;50;02 - 00;01;55;08
Mike McGee
So, we have a fighting chance with with well, by my side to this.

00;01;55;08 - 00;01;59;18
Paul Sullivan
Annika ever, ever give you a putter? She make you put everything out and sort of trash talk along the way?

00;01;59;19 - 00;02;18;26
Mike McGee
She's not. She doesn't trash talk, but she's she's fair. I'll say she's she's tough but fair. Where she's really nice is show off her help. You know, I'm an 11 something index, but really I don't get to play a ton, so I would say I'm closer to a bogey golfer at this point. You know, I say I'm a 15.

00;02;18;28 - 00;02;29;07
Mike McGee
So she'll she'll be fair with the strokes and offer help, you know, with my swing or whatever, but I'm not going to put the time in to put it to good use, so I don't have to waste your time.

00;02;29;09 - 00;02;39;11
Paul Sullivan
Focus on the kids. Yeah. Does it tell me what to do? In the decade before you went to work for. For the Annika brand. Tell me about your your career up to that point.

00;02;39;13 - 00;03;02;16
Mike McGee
Yeah, I was blessed. My dad that you mentioned, Gerry Magee, played the tour for, 16 years, playing the Ryder Cup in, 77. And, he left the tour. I had a normal child and grew up playing football, basketball and baseball in northeastern Ohio. But right when he turned 50, he was fully exempt on the the fact that it was called the senior PGA tour and now the PGA Tour Champions, to go out and start playing.

00;03;02;16 - 00;03;20;06
Mike McGee
And he did so right when I went to college, little school in Ohio, Mount Union, and I loved every bit of the tournament scene. Went to a ton of events and, changed my major immediately, immediately to sports management with marketing emphasis and went to work the day after I graduated with a company called Executive Sports, the Jack Nicklaus Own.

00;03;20;09 - 00;03;38;20
Mike McGee
We manage, you know, 50 plus events on all the tours. I would maybe work 15 a year. A lot were LPGA events. That's how I met Annika way back when I left that in 2000 to go to San Jose, and we started a, Champions Tour event called the Siebel Classic. And the sharks hockey team own it.

00;03;38;20 - 00;04;00;17
Mike McGee
So I worked in the arena there, did that for two years, and then went to Florida, and worked for Ken Kenneally, who's still one of my favorite people in the world. Also a great dad. As a player manager, it was called, International Golf Partners. We managed about 25 guys on the tours and and I was the road warrior traveling around looking after their businesses.

00;04;00;17 - 00;04;25;13
Mike McGee
And, Nick, at the time, was with Mark Steinberg, who had Annika and Tiger, and she needed a day to day person because he was so busy with Tiger stuff. And, and the guy they gave her with IMG didn't work out. And so I was fortunate that we started seeing each other in 2005. And, by the end of oh six, she said, you're doing the exact same thing I need for all these other guys.

00;04;25;13 - 00;04;44;10
Mike McGee
Why don't you just do it for me? And, so I left and did that, and eventually we left IMG and we just do our own stuff now. And I've been the luckiest guy in the world ever since. She's a far better person than she ever was a golfer. She's a great mom. She's a great, partner. She's just, a great boss.

00;04;44;10 - 00;04;45;06
Mike McGee
She's awesome.

00;04;45;09 - 00;04;56;15
Paul Sullivan
Yeah, yeah. And when did it go from being, you know, somebody who's helping out with her career to to somebody who, you know, how do you ask Annika out on a on a first date? Like, what do you what do you where did you go, how you do that?

00;04;56;18 - 00;05;16;01
Mike McGee
That it was very serendipitous. I was, at a birthday party and probably 2003. Hadn't seen her in a couple of years. She was there with her husband at the time. And she had gotten so famous that people at this private party literally lined up to say hello to her, and I kind of hung back.

00;05;16;01 - 00;05;35;23
Mike McGee
I didn't think she'd remember me. And and she got to the end and said, hey, what are you doing? And gave me a hug and said, what are you what are you up to now? And I told her, our management player is working for Jan and and she said, do you have a card on you? And I gave her a card two years later and I'll break it down as quickly as I can, but get into the detail I wanted Delta miles.

00;05;35;23 - 00;05;54;05
Mike McGee
My colleague wanted continental miles. So we're going like this to get to, the Tucson Open, where we had eight guys playing. And so I was stuck in Atlanta with storms almost all day. And, so I was in the crowd room. I had time to go through my email. Even my spam glanced through to see if any anything was there that shouldn't have been.

00;05;54;08 - 00;06;10;04
Mike McGee
And I saw this email, that said, hey, Mike, it's cleaning out my office. Found your card. Just thought I'd touch base. All the best, Annika Sorenstam. Of course. I think it's a buddy about my job. She just. I just read she filed for divorce, but I hadn't been in touch with her for a couple of years, and,

00;06;10;06 - 00;06;36;28
Mike McGee
And she. I write back immediately. Sorry about what you're going through. This is really you, you know, good luck with everything or whatever. And, and she writes back to me that, you know, it's really me. And I get to Tucson, and this is where it got very weird, because the next day I waited to about 4:00 on a Wednesday when the tours, the reps are leaving, and I went and asked a Callaway rep very late.

00;06;37;01 - 00;06;58;22
Mike McGee
I said, Barry, I got a funny question for you. This is email. And he said, yeah, but you know, or I said, but not the email. He said, yeah, that's her. And at that second she's hitting balls in Orlando driving it badly, which doesn't happen. Right. Slams her driver on the ground which doesn't happen. And the little Callaway chevron be like bent or broke off or something, which also doesn't happen.

00;06;58;27 - 00;07;02;14
Mike McGee
She called Barry to ask if that's going to affect the swing. Wait.

00;07;02;16 - 00;07;08;08
Paul Sullivan
So you were standing next to him when she called to say yes? What was wrong? My driver?

00;07;08;10 - 00;07;08;19
Mike McGee
Yes.

00;07;08;26 - 00;07;12;17
Paul Sullivan
And did he say, like, you won't believe who's standing next? Me right now. Mike standing right next.

00;07;12;17 - 00;07;18;29
Mike McGee
To him, he said, I'm standing here by Mike Magee. And he put me on the phone and I was like, sunshine, what's happening?

00;07;19;02 - 00;07;19;16
Paul Sullivan
And that was it.

00;07;19;16 - 00;07;37;12
Mike McGee
And and I had the next three weeks of, the Florida swing at the time coming up with, with being with these tour guys, literally for three straight weeks. And she was leaving for Mexico the next Monday, and I'm going to be gone for three weeks as well. And so I said, you want to go to dinner Saturday?

00;07;37;12 - 00;07;59;16
Mike McGee
And we did. And in fairness, she was in a bad place, you know, heartbroken to divorce everything. And we just we were friends and we stayed in touch and, and I was just there as support. And then literally, you know, probably three, four months later kind of turned the corner and, became more of a romantic was, hey.

00;07;59;18 - 00;08;23;07
Paul Sullivan
That's wonderful. So, you know, you know, Monica famously stepped down, you know, in a prime number two player in the world, to start a family. And we're talking, you know, over the summer now, shortly after, you know, Serena Williams announced that she was retiring for tennis, too. You know, among other things, be, you know, more involved with her family and, you know, the dads, we do a lot to support, you know, our wives to be there for our children still fulfill our own potential, whatever our own careers it may be.

00;08;23;07 - 00;08;38;20
Paul Sullivan
But what do you think about it? And you have deep knowledge in the golf world? Is it's a sports world particularly or uniquely, unforgiving for for athletes to who want to have, a family and, and still, you know, be at the top of their game.

00;08;38;23 - 00;09;01;07
Mike McGee
I would say it's more unforgiving for female athletes. Yeah. Want to want to have babies? The LPGA does a great job with supporting the women. They have, the Smucker's daycare, which steps up and takes care of kids while they're playing. And, and, they do a super job. But in general, obviously it's harder. You got to I mean, some of some players have gone the surrogate route.

00;09;01;09 - 00;09;21;07
Mike McGee
You know, it's it's difficult because you're you're in your prime, but you want to start a family and you either got to step away and come back or, you know, some people find it's hard to come back. And I couldn't imagine, Monica trying to play when we had a one, two, three year old, you know, and I, I give it give credit to these ladies that do that, whether whatever sport it is.

00;09;21;10 - 00;09;38;12
Paul Sullivan
Right. I always think again, on a lighter note, like some of the best branding or brand alignment I've heard of is Smucker's, sponsoring that that child care program. So I know I've talked to several LPGA players and it's the same women, same caregivers travel week after week that kids really get a rapport. Yeah. Your dad, Jerry, was over.

00;09;38;12 - 00;09;57;14
Paul Sullivan
He went several times on the PGA tour, including my favorite, hometown tournament. You know, the Greater Hartford Open, now known as a traveler's. You talked about, you know, when you're in college. And he went on the then senior tour. But what was it like? You know, when you were younger, what was it like having, a touring pro as, as a father?

00;09;57;17 - 00;10;21;00
Mike McGee
You know, it's interesting because I was, he was off the tour by the time I was seven. Okay. And so I remember things. I remember, going to Kingsmill and and riding the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens. You know, I remember SeaWorld at every stop. I was a big SeaWorld fan. I'll describe, places to my mom, and she'll say, my gosh, I was hoping that you were six or whatever.

00;10;21;02 - 00;10;46;25
Mike McGee
So I remember a lot of things, and I remember the the players, like Andy North's kids were my friends, Raymond Floyd's kids. And, and so it was it was fantastic getting to travel around. My mom is the best tour wife. The best mom possible still is. She did everything for me and got up early with me and took me around the playgrounds, museums and did everything all day long so my dad could focus on his work.

00;10;46;28 - 00;10;54;09
Mike McGee
Yeah, and I think that's a lot in me. Why? I knew that I had the love in my heart and the ability to sport on it. Yeah, I mean, I lived it.

00;10;54;15 - 00;10;55;09
Paul Sullivan


00;10;55;11 - 00;11;01;17
Mike McGee
It's about the kids and it's about supporting your spouse, and and I'm very fortunate to be able to do that.

00;11;01;19 - 00;11;08;22
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. Well, what did he do from sort of, you know, the ten years between when he got off the the PGA tour, went on the, the senior.

00;11;08;22 - 00;11;27;03
Mike McGee
Tour, he was a director of golf at a place called Oak Tree Country Club, which was about, not quite an hour away from us. So that's why I never really got into golf. You know, I in Ohio, a little town, you played football, basketball and baseball. You know, most a lot of kids could play any of them at a small school level.

00;11;27;05 - 00;11;45;15
Mike McGee
I was all set to go to one school to play basketball, another to play football, and ended up at Mount Union to play, baseball. The funny thing is, Mount Union's an amazing, football school. And I went to play baseball. I was going to go to Marietta and be quarterback, and they're an amazing baseball school.

00;11;45;15 - 00;12;04;26
Mike McGee
So it tells you I wasn't that good at either one of them. But, so in the meantime, I never, you know, I wasn't around the game a ton. You know, I'd go over see him sometimes. I played a little bit and, but there was really it became the game almost became a penance to him when he was finishing up his regular tour career.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;22;04
Mike McGee
You know, he had hypoglycemia. He's kind of hyper, an excitable guy. And of course, anyways, I suppose a polite way of having a temper. And when he struggled, it was tough on him and he almost didn't want us to be to be part of the game. So my sister and I were never forced into it. I wish he pushed me a little bit.

00;12;22;04 - 00;12;25;01
Mike McGee
So I consistently shoot in the 70s now anyway.

00;12;25;03 - 00;12;25;28
Paul Sullivan
Right.

00;12;26;00 - 00;12;47;13
Mike McGee
But, I was very blessed to have a dad that that was athletic, that supported me, came to a lot of my games when he could. And, but we really, really, bonded traveling on his senior tour time. I just that opened my eyes to the golf world, to hard work, to everything that I'm blessed to do.

00;12;47;13 - 00;12;59;17
Mike McGee
Now, I give him credit for showing me the way and show me how to do it and show me how to work hard and and fight for what you want. And, he passed, a year ago.

00;12;59;19 - 00;13;23;00
Paul Sullivan
So. Yeah, but you said that from him and your mom. You sort of learned a lot of lessons, and you said that you really prepared you for being what you've, you know, been able to do with Monica and your kids and really be there, you know, still have a career, but really be supportive. Was there ever, you know, did you have a discussion when you and I got together and you were going to start your family as to how things would be?

00;13;23;02 - 00;13;28;01
Paul Sullivan
Divided up, or was it something that happened? Just happened?

00;13;28;03 - 00;13;45;17
Mike McGee
No. We we did not really. It just kind of organically happened. But I did have a discussion with my mom, when I started seeing her and truly turning the corner in our relationship, I. I didn't even want my dad to know, because it's such a small world, the golf world that I knew he bragged to his friends.

00;13;45;17 - 00;14;00;24
Mike McGee
And then I would get back to to her like, oh, we're dating. I mean, it's here she is. You ask, how do you, as the number one player in the world, out. That was the height of her fame. That was after. Yeah. Student 59 colonial. Getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. When? In 13 times.

00;14;00;24 - 00;14;22;06
Mike McGee
12 times. 11 times. And. And so. But it was easy for me because we knew a lot of the same people. We, we ran in, you know, the similar circles with golf. But my mom, I mentioned to her this and she said, that's great. You know, she seems like a wonderful person. And she knew that I was in it for the right.

00;14;22;12 - 00;14;28;28
Paul Sullivan
But but you said don't don't tell dad, is that it? Whatever you do, dad to dad because he's going to college like Ray Floyd or Andy Northam and blow this for me.

00;14;29;01 - 00;14;48;11
Mike McGee
Exactly. I said, for now, don't don't say, And she said, I just want you to remember one thing and you'll be fine. And I said, what's that? She said, every relationship has a king and have a relationship as a queen. Sometimes the king's the queen, sometimes the queen's the king. And, And that is so true, such valuable advice.

00;14;48;11 - 00;15;18;18
Mike McGee
I know she's the the dominant one in our relationship. She's the, the breadwinner. She's, strong and and I support her in every way I can. And I'm proud of that. And I love it, and I I'm happy being a stay at home dad when she's got to go to to Asia for trips or sponsor outings or foundation events or anything, I, I do whatever we can do, you know, the, the trips that I used to go and schmooze and network and try to do more deals.

00;15;18;21 - 00;15;35;01
Mike McGee
A lot of times now I'm staying home with the kids because I know it gives her peace of mind. So I just kind of do whatever she wants, really. But, I mean, she's great. She's respectful. We work hard, we work together. I mentioned we share an office, and we're back and forth all day long. Whether it's our foundation.

00;15;35;01 - 00;15;46;14
Mike McGee
We have seven global events for junior girls. Spent a lot of time on that stuff. She goes to every, every one of the events. I don't get to go to all of them. But then we just started this sparkling classic cocktail called fizzy.

00;15;46;16 - 00;15;47;20
Paul Sullivan
Right?

00;15;47;23 - 00;15;56;08
Mike McGee
Sweetened with organic finding these, Cosmo margarita, Moscow Mule mojito. And that's been like my third full time job recently. So we are. No, no.

00;15;56;09 - 00;16;01;11
Paul Sullivan
No, none of those sound. No sound like popular drinks in Sweden. If you ask me. I, I don't know, like.

00;16;01;14 - 00;16;04;05
Mike McGee
Yeah, they're popular everywhere.

00;16;04;08 - 00;16;07;08
Paul Sullivan
You got to get the transfusion. You got to get the classic golf cocktail in there.

00;16;07;12 - 00;16;10;27
Mike McGee
Exactly. So that'll be part of line too. Once we get there.

00;16;11;00 - 00;16;29;00
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. You know, I, I think any of these I can identify with what you just said and the way your mom put it is, is really true. But I think for a lot of guys, it can be in a difficult, you know, money in masculinity are, are intertwined. You know, you, you are married to, you know, the greatest female golfer of all time.

00;16;29;00 - 00;16;39;07
Paul Sullivan
But I mean, you know, some of your buddies, you know, who used to you travel around with, I mean, did they ever, you know, give you any crap about this or. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah.

00;16;39;14 - 00;17;02;29
Mike McGee
Of course. And I laid down the law immediately. They would call me Mike Sorenstam or Mr. Sorenstam. I said, listen, we don't use the word Sorenstam in anything we do. The entire brand is built around the one word Annika. When she became, you know, in the mid 2000. So everything is Annika. Please call me Mr. Annika. Yeah, but I do have a funny story, though.

00;17;02;29 - 00;17;24;25
Mike McGee
We were about this Callaway Invitational that used to be at Pebble Beach. And that prior to the late 2000 and, and my dear friend Andy Bush, who, is married to Morgan Tressel and runs outlier, a golf company management, the management company that has a bunch of tournaments on the LPGA tour and handles some corporate stuff.

00;17;24;25 - 00;17;41;10
Mike McGee
And he said, I'm buying a drink. I said, I'm buying you a drink. Come on. I mean, we grew up working together on executive sports. So for three years we worked together, you know, went our separate ways. And now we're both married. The LPGA players. And so, I was used to the crap. He was used to the crap, and we hadn't really talked about it together.

00;17;41;13 - 00;18;01;21
Mike McGee
And we were at this little bar at Spanish Bay, you know. Right. And he said, I'm buying. And I said, fine, okay. So he wins the check and lady says, what room number? And he says, you know, 212 or whatever. And she says, thank you, Mr. Presto. And hands and we both cracked up because we loved it.

00;18;01;21 - 00;18;05;19
Mike McGee
You know, it's we're proud of it, but it has made me laugh to see somebody else deal with it.

00;18;05;21 - 00;18;25;05
Paul Sullivan
So this I, I've had this happen a million times because, my wife has a different last name. Paula is her last name. And whenever we travel, she'll book it through her American Express. And so we show up at, the hotel. And it's not Paul Sullivan. It's. It's at the front desk. It's it Paul Pollock. And then you'll get somebody, who mispronounces it and says, you know, where are the pollocks?

00;18;25;05 - 00;18;33;19
Paul Sullivan
Who are the Paul looks like? And my daughters are all I have. We have three daughters of Sullivan's last name. They're like, who are we? Like, what are we doing? Like, what are we called?

00;18;33;22 - 00;18;34;23
Mike McGee
Yeah.

00;18;34;26 - 00;18;45;17
Paul Sullivan
Tell me, what's a typical day like for you with work, kids, with, you know, being a husband, having fun? Well, what's a, you know, typical day in the life of of Mike. Me?

00;18;45;20 - 00;19;05;22
Mike McGee
Yeah. We have you know, it's funny. And the fun part, we have many different typical days. I would say the school week when we're both in town, which was today, our kids started sixth and eighth grade, Wednesday this week. So today was my turn to take the kids to school. But we get up, you know, 630 or so.

00;19;05;24 - 00;19;24;20
Mike McGee
Monica's the cook, so she'll start organizing for breakfast. We'll take turns making the lunches for the kids. They'll come down, we'll we'll hang out, talk to them a little bit. In the morning. One of us will work out. Then we all have breakfast together. That's one of our keys. We always do that. And then, who's ever turned heads to take them to school?

00;19;24;20 - 00;19;42;03
Mike McGee
Today was my day. So I take them to school. She went to practice. She has the US Senior Women's Open coming up in two weeks. And then she came back right around when I got back. Today is a busy day. Every hour on the hour we have calls or zooms or something. So, we do that together.

00;19;42;03 - 00;20;02;08
Mike McGee
We'll have, you know, grab a snack together. Yeah. And then either she or I will pick up the kids, and then she and we'll we'll probably play a few holes, and then we'll get together and have dinner and maybe have a glass of wine and, and hang out in the evening. And that's it's really family first. I mean, we are together nonstop when we're here, which is most of the time.

00;20;02;11 - 00;20;23;01
Mike McGee
So that's it's always family first. And we literally ham and egg everything we do now a lot of times, you know, she'll have a photo shoot or shooting social media content or sponsor day or, or traveling to an event. And, and then it's a little different. My mom lives nearby, and she'll help with the kids, and, I guess parents are here.

00;20;23;05 - 00;20;42;05
Mike McGee
Her dad will drive a little bit, maybe driving to school or something. If I'm out of town with Annika and my mom stays with them. We have a great assistant named Krystal who is there for for personally and professionally, whatever we need. But we we are extremely hands on and and just we're honestly like, every normal family there is.

00;20;42;11 - 00;20;49;08
Paul Sullivan
Yeah, yeah. And we know that. Well, likes to play golf, but what's your daughter Ava like to do? What are some of the things that that are fun for her.

00;20;49;10 - 00;21;12;01
Mike McGee
Yeah, she, she plays and she actually plays. Well, she can rip it very, very solid swing at her swing. She enjoys makeup and she's a little more girly like that, like skincare products. And she always wants to do is makeup and, hanging with her friends. She likes to work out, so bike or swim or, go in the gym.

00;21;12;01 - 00;21;33;02
Mike McGee
We have. And, but hang with her friends. She loves playing volleyball. For a club team. We let her talk us into, letting her quit so she could focus on golf, and she. She railroaded us on that one, as it hasn't quite had the focus. We want, but, she she's trying.

00;21;33;04 - 00;21;54;14
Paul Sullivan
So good. This has been one of them. One last question. You know, you've caddy Veronica, your caddy for her. You know, last year at the US Senior Women's Open, when she won, at Brookline was amazing. And I know the kids were there and and, you know, you've caddy for will. You know, he was a Pinehurst, recently who's who's more difficult to to to be on the bag for, like, you know.

00;21;54;16 - 00;21;56;17
Mike McGee
I can't answer that one. You can't.

00;21;56;19 - 00;21;58;07
Paul Sullivan
That's why you're such a smart guy I like.

00;21;58;08 - 00;22;18;16
Mike McGee
Yeah, yeah. No, they they both, are great. They really are. Annika. You know, my dad, bless his soul, he was. He was the hard one. And, I mean, you're putting well today. You're not going to miss everything. You just, you know, type thing. I was far from superstitious. But they are both grinders. I love it. He got that from her.

00;22;18;24 - 00;22;35;19
Mike McGee
They never give up. They fight to the end. They may get mad initially, but they're not, you know, overt about it. They don't show it. Match them. They'll stomp to the next shot, but they'll know. Overcome it and they'll come back strong. So very proud of, both of them. Both of their work. Work ethics. Well, bless his heart.

00;22;35;19 - 00;22;51;00
Mike McGee
He was 50 yards behind these guys on on most holes. Kind of like what? Annika plays a celebrity events. She's hitting 500 in the holes, and they're hitting 8 to 9 irons. And but they're just scrappy and resourceful and and keep fighting. And I love that about both of them. And positive at the end to.

00;22;51;02 - 00;23;07;17
Paul Sullivan
That's what you said that you can imagine both being granted. But you're sort of a little behind the scenes story. So last year, you know, when I interviewed Annika at Brookline, she then hit, you know, a ceremonial, tee shot off the first tee. You you were there. And then your son, he's a lefty. He gets on the other side.

00;23;07;17 - 00;23;21;20
Paul Sullivan
He doesn't. But we were also sitting there with the USGA people, and I was like, where are they? Like, where are they? I don't know, where are they? They they were warming up like Annika and Will were warming up. I was like, are they are they playing eighteens like, no, no, no, they're just hitting a shot. And it was like, wow.

00;23;21;20 - 00;23;37;07
Paul Sullivan
This is like the intensity is like like we couldn't even see where the ball went because it was an overcast day and there they were in. And I think that's kind of the heart of a champion like, you know, warming up even for something as you know, easy for them as just hitting hitting that first tee shot.

00;23;37;10 - 00;23;48;16
Mike McGee
Yeah. That's true. And I remember well, well hit it. I thought it was a good drive. He's pop that up and he was mad. Walk it off the tee. I was like, buddy, all these people here just saw it get in the air. They think that's great.

00;23;48;17 - 00;23;56;13
Paul Sullivan
That's all. That's all, that's all. We knew. Yeah. Mike McGee, thank you so much for being my guest on the Company of Dad's podcast. I really enjoyed our conversation today.

00;23;56;16 - 00;23;59;29
Mike McGee
Me too. Paul, thanks for having me. And, keep up the great work. I like what you're doing.