When James Fox sets his sights on the green, it's not just a game—it's a testament to a lifetime of dedication. From childhood memories in Portmarnock, to grueling 36-hole days that test his mettle, James's story is a striking narrative of passion and perseverance. Join us as we explore the fabric of a golfer's journey, stitched with family traditions, the allure of competition, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.
As we swing into the heart of James's experiences, the conversation veers into the meticulous balance between the love of the game and life's other pressing demands. Imagine the discipline it takes to maintain a rigorous practice schedule amidst family and work commitments. That's the reality for amateur golfers like James, who navigate the tricky fairways of ambition with strategic precision, ensuring that every championship round is a step closer to fulfilling their golfing dreams.
Wrapping up our session, we're reminded that the serene facade of golf belies an intense battleground of the mind. Victory is not just about perfect swings and pristine putts; it's about the mental fortitude to stay calm when the stakes are highest. James shares personal anecdotes of nail-biting playoffs, offering wisdom on the transformative power of resilience. For anyone with a heart for the sport, this episode is a compelling look behind the curtain of competitive golf, where every victory is a lesson and every setback fuels the fire for another round.
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When James Fox sets his sights on the green, it's not just a game—it's a testament to a lifetime of dedication. From childhood memories in Portmarnock, to grueling 36-hole days that test his mettle, James's story is a striking narrative of passion and perseverance. Join us as we explore the fabric of a golfer's journey, stitched with family traditions, the allure of competition, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.
As we swing into the heart of James's experiences, the conversation veers into the meticulous balance between the love of the game and life's other pressing demands. Imagine the discipline it takes to maintain a rigorous practice schedule amidst family and work commitments. That's the reality for amateur golfers like James, who navigate the tricky fairways of ambition with strategic precision, ensuring that every championship round is a step closer to fulfilling their golfing dreams.
Wrapping up our session, we're reminded that the serene facade of golf belies an intense battleground of the mind. Victory is not just about perfect swings and pristine putts; it's about the mental fortitude to stay calm when the stakes are highest. James shares personal anecdotes of nail-biting playoffs, offering wisdom on the transformative power of resilience. For anyone with a heart for the sport, this episode is a compelling look behind the curtain of competitive golf, where every victory is a lesson and every setback fuels the fire for another round.
Follow amateur info
https://instagram.com/irish_amateur_golf_info?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Okay, welcome back to the Irish Amp podcast. This week I'm joined by James Fox. James, welcome to the pod. How are you, Hi Gary? Thanks for having me on. Not at all. Did you enjoy the Christmas break?
Speaker 2:I did, it was a nice. Yeah, it was still an exciting time. In our house we had three young kids, so that's an excitement. So, yeah, it was a good Christmas.
Speaker 1:And was the North of Ireland trophy the centrepiece on the Christmas table?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the selection boxes get emptied into that, so it's full of sweets and chocolate bars and stuff. So, yeah, that's what it's been doing since it's been sitting in the house anyway.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about you winning that one in a minute, but first off we'll go back to the start. So when did you take up the game?
Speaker 2:Probably maybe about seven years of age. My dad got me a half set of cut down clubs. I think when I was seven and I always joke about him it was the most expensive set he ever bought, because in the first week it broke two windows in the house.
Speaker 2:So yeah so that's when it kind of started. And then he's bring me down to Permanic golf club. We lived about a mile and a half in the course, so he's got in in summer evenings with him and hit balls and sneak out in the course the odd time. And that's how it started. Really, my mom played as well. She played a certain golf club and she was a keen enough player. And then obviously my older brother, noel, was. By the time I took up the game he was probably close to scratch. He's nine years older than me, so I mean it was the ideal sort of environment for me to take up golf. Really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I suppose a family full of golfers and very competitive household as well.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that was a really competitive player, Like he was a good sportsman. He played Gael football for the Dubs. He won an all Ireland in the 60s. So he like he wasn't a scratch golfer, I think he got to about six or seven but he was really really competitive. So that was kind of ingrained in Noel and I from from from the get go and we still kind of have that same. You know, someone was asking me there recently like God, you know, you must really love golf, like you've played it so long, and I said actually I don't love golf, I love competitive golf, like I love tournament golf. Yeah, and I play really. You know I was. I was looking at my handicap record there recently and I think in in the last two years I think I've 51 rounds and I think 49 of them are in championships. So you know I literally don't play anything else and the type of golf I like yeah.
Speaker 1:So like I suppose the competitive environment kind of is all the kind of ticker, drop fancy really. So with that one, so like we say, you take it up at seven and when do you start kind of realizing that you're kind of something that you want to pursue a little bit, I suppose?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you couldn't at the time, you couldn't join for Mark to your 12. So it kind of played sort of intermittently a bit until I was 12. And then that summer I turned 12, I would get in there every day and there was another really good young player who was here younger than me, called Angus McAllister. So when he joined some of your listeners will know Angus he actually was a really, you know, top class amateur in Ireland about eight years ago. He's moved to Boston now and he's married with a family there.
Speaker 2:But he and I would literally play every day the summer holidays and then in the evenings then I play with Noel and usually some of the senior cup guys are the assistants from the shop. Literally every evening, like at six o'clock is that the golf club will be quiet, like for Marnacus. There's a lot of stateside of Dublin membership so in summer evenings it isn't really worth people's while coming all the way across the city to play, so it'll be very quiet. Still is today. You know, at six, seven o'clock on a summer's evening you'll play 18 holes, no problem, and it's. There's no nicer place to be really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as playgrounds go like Port Marnac golf club for a young golfer is kind of heaven really, isn't?
Speaker 2:it. It's perfect, like if you're designing an environment to learn golf in. It's perfect, like there's loads of space there's. You know, there's not only if the championship course. You've got very, very good third nine holes, which is extremely well, but I mean you've such great practice facilities like there's Chippin' Greens, puttin' Greens, there's all different places you can hit balls. So, yeah, you get lost in there and I'd literally go down. You know half eight in the morning and you know someone would pick me up at dark. You know it was literally spend that long there each day.
Speaker 1:And boys golf. Then, james, did you play many championships in boys golf?
Speaker 2:I went to boarding school and rugby was a big sport there. So I kind of stopped playing really. So from 12 years of age up to 17, I didn't much exactly during the summer. So I didn't play any boys golf until my last year as eligible and really the only reason I played was the boys. Home Trinatials is up for Marnick and I thought, jesus, if I can get a bit of a run I might make that team of the turn date. I didn't make it, but I played all four boys championships that year and I know it's really the only boys golf I played. I mean, I kind of had a half a chance to make the team. I got to the semi-final of the Ulster boys. Richie Kopatric beat me and he got. He got on the team and I didn't. But that was really my first taste of competitive golf.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and is that kind of where the bug for it came from?
Speaker 2:Very much so. And then around that time Noel was the dominant player in Irish golf so I'd often caddy for him in championships. So I was kind of around the senior championships a lot, probably for seven or eight years before I was able to play in one and I first got into a challenge. I think it was the 2000,. That year when I played boys golf, I got into the South Reserve and that was the first championship I played to, the 2000 South of Ireland, so quite a while ago. Yeah, that's so. Ever since then, you know, I've tried to play as many of them as I can. You know, in the early years I didn't get into many, but as my handicaps started to come down I started to get into the mall and then, you know, from probably kind of 04 or 05 on, I tried to play in anyone I can.
Speaker 1:So pretty much a kind of a bit of a different introduction to championships. So it was kind of caddying first, ever before you got into the course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. And even earlier than that I probably started cutting in things like senior cup at 13, 14 years of age. So I was immersed in really good golf. I mean I only ever really saw great players. And then, as I got a little better myself, I was able to start playing and practicing with some of the senior cup guys. I've always believed the best way to improve at golf is to play with players better than you, and I literally think about now like I only ever played with guys better than me. You know, because you know the senior cup team in Pomeranak back then really was special, like there were some really top players and you know, and I think the very first team I played on like I played with Noel Goulding, noel Adrian Morrow and Michael Bradburn, but Noel Ado and Goulders they have 12 championships between them Like it's not a senior cup team, you know like.
Speaker 2:So I was like a kid going into the Manchester United Strasbourg room. Really was a special group of players to learn with.
Speaker 1:Like senior cup stuff, as you said, like Port Mernock has always had quality players, has always produced quality players are, I suppose, even players going to college would end up there a little bit as well. So like, what's your memories of senior cup at Port Mernock?
Speaker 2:And I remember expectations would be quite high. So there is a bit of pressure involved. I remember when playing my first couple of years I did feel a bit of pressure. We're lucky enough. We won the Barton Shield early on, I think in 0-8,. We won the Barton Shield and we nearly did the double and we lost in the semi-final of the senior cup. But I mean, my happiest memories of golf probably are playing senior cup and Barton Shield, because you're playing which are your pals really, and it's really they're two great competitions, particularly the Barton Shield. I really enjoyed that. I used to play forson with Angus McAlister, who I was talking about earlier. We won the Barton Shield in 0-8 and then in recent years I played with Jeff Lennon as well. So I mean it's great fun and it's good competition too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no 100%, and I suppose, like, as you said, getting to play with players that are better than it was always going to improve you, and particularly in, like we say, barton Cup and stuff like where you were responsible for half of the shot. It's a lot of pressure to put on yourself initially, so I suppose that's going to stand you well over time. Yeah, looking back, now.
Speaker 2:The Barton Shield is actually harder to win because you need all four guys to play well every day, otherwise you'll get beaten. Like senior cup a guy can have a bad day or two guys can have a bad day It'll still get true. But Barton Shield, all four guys need to play or else you're gone. So I've only ever won one Barton Shield, won two senior cups, but I found that much harder to win. The dogs are both great to win and they're a big deal for the club when you do manage to pick one up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Barton is definitely, as you said, like everybody has to play well, this was because you are on the dial of the time, so it can definitely be a challenge. So once you start getting into championships we're talking 2002 kind of with the up and track 2010 period, as you're starting to progress through golf how did you find playing in them initially?
Speaker 2:I was like a scratch golfer, but it actually wasn't any good in reality.
Speaker 2:Like I was an average enough player I'd make the cut maybe every second time, but I wasn't competitive in them really, and that all kind of changed. I met a teacher from America called Dewey Arnett, went to see him with Noel and my dad. He was based in Florida and we went out to see him at the start of 2008, I think, and immediately started to get better. I mean, it's all an instant improvement. He's a really he was a. He's. He's passed away a couple of years ago but he was a former player in the DJ Tour, really class coach, and I used to go see him once a year at the start of the year. And I'm not kind of a technical guy, like we just sort of work on fundamentals and that gave me a work on for the year. But until I met him I was.
Speaker 2:I wasn't any good in reality, but as soon as I met him I suddenly became competitive Like I. Like we won that Barton Shield in 2008 and then in 2009,. I think it was one that's on the scratch cup Then led the East after two rounds in 2009, I was tied up Paul Cutler and then got absolutely schooled by him on the last day and that was my kind of first taste of really been in the hunt. And then I started to get into things like British amateur. Had a couple of good runs back then and made the Lancer team in 2009 for the first time and again in 2010. So that was my first one. I started to kind of get half decent.
Speaker 1:And like as you saw as a lot of that, you're kind of putting down the changes in the swing.
Speaker 2:We did work a bit on swing, but because he was a player, I think he helped me much more with scoring. So he was an exceptional kind of short game coach that immediately went from being a weakness of mine to being my big strength and he was obsessed with score. Like you laid out to me very in plain terms, like at the end of the day, golf is a number. What matters is what can you shoot with the game you have on a particular day. And that's sort of in my attitude about golf ever, since I'm not really a technical player at all but I love the challenge of posting a number and that might be 77, some days it might be 67, but the joy of it for me is actually working out how can I shoot the lowest score I could possibly shoot. So that's really when I started to play with that attitude. That's when I started to see a bit more success.
Speaker 1:Let's just talk these for a second, because this was, like you said, your first time contending in a championship and it doesn't go to plan with Zendo and the final round. What do you take away from that?
Speaker 2:I was very nervous from memory, like a long time ago now, and I kind of didn't really believe I was good enough, I suppose, and that showed in the way I played. I mean, I didn't play that badly, I think I lost eight or nine shots, so I probably still finished in the top ten or whatever. But it was very disappointing, you know, because I really thought, you know, I thought I had a half a chance but in reality, looking back, I wasn't quite ready but it did. Then, you know, it was great experience at the same time. So that started to improve.
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't come quite as close to winning anything the next couple of years. I kind of did OK in a few events. Then I ended up leading these by four shots in 2012, a half way, and I lost that by a shot. And that was tough to take, I must say, because I really should have won that easily. So I was playing well enough to just finish further ahead than four shots. You know what I mean Just get it done. That really stung. But then you know, I said after winning the North if you want to win something generally, you have to lose something first, and if that's that tournament, I don't think I would have won the North and Fort Rush for sure.
Speaker 1:OK. So I suppose, like coming away from them, like again, like you're talking about being a competitive person, is that just kind of instilling the drive, I suppose, to keep going at that point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you know exactly, like I suppose that my kind of love of tournament play. I just love the challenge of you know you enter a tournament, everyone starts at zero. You know your scores are there for everyone to see. I just love the challenge of actually you know what can I shoot here, like you know, I mean I'm an amateur golfer, this is golf sport, but how do you really? Yeah, and you know I've other things going on in my life but for those, you know, five hours, I love the challenge of saying, well, what can I shoot here with the game I have today? And it's that's really what keeps me going, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I suppose, like you mentioned that yourself, like an amateur, like a lot of people that see what I put up on, on what I do, like everyone is convinced that everyone is a full-time amateur or pretty much a semi pro. It's probably the case for 2%, I want to say, of the players. So, like in reality, like like you mentioned off camera as well, like you were a partner on kids and everything else, like so, how do you balance all of that, james?
Speaker 2:It's difficult, I mean you have to kind of accept that you're going to be inconsistent, like I literally played six times a year, you know. So I have to just accept the fact that there's going to be occasions when I'm no use, I mean like last year, like the West of Ireland. I mean I like made the two-rank cup by the time the end of the third round I think I was finished nearly last, yeah, and you just have to accept that. You can't beat yourself up. You know it's very difficult to be to especially early in the year to be ready for those events, and you know you have to just do the best you can.
Speaker 2:Like I try and do a little bit of practice each day. Like I have an online business and I have postal orders that I bring to the post-epos not too far from the golf clubs. So I try and you know whether permitting, I try and get in for half an hour or an hour each day, like when, you know, when the weather gets a bit better. Okay, just I've been taking over, but what I can't do, and I'm sure it's the same with most guys with young kids.
Speaker 2:You don't have five hour windows to play golf on a Saturday anymore, like they're gone. So that's why my only rounds I play are in championships, Like I don't play things like monthly medals or that, because I just I don't have the time with all the kids activities and everything. You just can't do so.
Speaker 1:like it's pretty much setting up just all early in the year that like you want to play a championship golf and like that's, that's what you could fit in like as a Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so my wife is. She's a doctor, she's a surgeon next year. So she we look at the dates of the championships and she looks at her on call row and we we figure out a way to get me to the six championships. Basically, and and yeah, just try and do the best. Hopefully I might try not add in a couple more, maybe a scratch cup or something next year. So I do find that I'm so rusty that first tournament date. I think it would be beneficial just to play in something before before.
Speaker 1:I think that that was kind of the next question. It's like turning up for a championship that cold I suppose, like, like it's it's wanting hitting balls for half an hour a day but having no competitive golf under. But like I suppose it must be very challenging to do that.
Speaker 2:It is tough, you know, like, and you actually see, a pattern has kind of developed in my golf and recent years where I don't do to go the first time out but by the time the second, like for this year for example, like I do pretty poorly in the West, but then a few weeks later I I'm, you know, after three rounds I'm in the final group of the Irish amateur In the island. So you know, and that the office in there, it's just a matter of to use Tigers annoying phrase I need reps, you know, and so I have to accept that sometimes that first tournament date or the first term after a bit of a break is going to be a sort of an exercise and knocking off the rust, and but hopefully by the time the second and third or fourth one comes, I'm kind of ready to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think like two things that you said kind of a line really that like one you've really learned how to get around the golf course and posting the score and it's what that lends itself to playing less golf Like. It's something I would see with you. Like when I watch you play in golf you always look like you know what you're about to do and it's not just the case of hit a shot and kind of worry about the next one, like you always kind of seem to like two steps to your game, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like my strength is my course management and reality and that from from Dewey, really he when it became apparent that I was no chance of making a living playing golf professionally, like we kind of change tax, and we said, well, look, we're going to try and develop a low maintenance game that you can get out of bed and you can, you know, shoot par, and a lot of that then comes down to having your short game sharp and just making really good decisions. So that's where I sort of learned that the art of kind of course management, and I suppose 20 years experience as well helps with that too. You know I've played all these courses before. Yeah, the place you know, a place like Port Rush. You know I've seen all these holes over many, many years of playing all the this wind direction you know.
Speaker 1:So I kind of have made enough mistakes over the years to know what not to do, I suppose 100% and I like you touched on it there and I suppose, like just briefly as well, like you'd like, there was a small kind of as well. There was a tough process of turning pro for the bit. There was a couple of Q school attempts, so like. So was at that point of your life like I'm kind of looking at that kind of next step or potential next step Was it? Was it a plan of like give it a couple years to see what would happen, or was it just two schools at the end of the year kind of interfere?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I finished college I kind of thought, like at most young players, you kind of your dream of playing golf professionally and I suppose it's sort of a naivety to be back then. I thought I was closer than I was in reality. You know, even today I'm closer to a seven or eight handicap than I am to, you know, a Scotty chef or a John Ram or wherever's top of the world rankings, like that's how big gap is. But I suppose you do need to. You know it's probably a good idea for a young player to go to tour school just to understand that, yeah, see how far away they are and and some people aren't, you know, are very, very tough players May not be that far away, but I think in reality for most young guys it's a good exercise.
Speaker 2:It's not to play in tour school, to least go to it and just see and the sort of depth there is, because we kind of live in a little bit of a bubble here of Britain and Ireland. Yeah, and if you're the best player in the British Isles you were you may find when you go to tour school You're still no or near and the kind of level required to get through it, because the depth on the continent now and it really is incredible. And plus you have all the established pros that are that are still going at it each year. So there really is a very there's very few people in world golf making money. That's the harsh truth of it. But you know, some to some time for a young guy, you know I certainly wouldn't put them off going to tour school just to see where their game is at. And the danger is is that they they chase it for too long and then they find themselves at 30 years of age With no backup plan, and that that's sad to see sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. And I think, like you're spot on with that one of like it's almost a case of goal before you think you're ready and see if, when you're ready, that you're good enough. I suppose, and the question I get why I pause a lot is that like, why don't we produce more poor players last or winners? And like we're a smaller country, like people kind of forget that point. Like just because we see so much of it doesn't mean that, like in terms of numbers, like we're very small and we probably punch above our weight in terms of like even having part of Reagan's here and Rory doing so well and the lads before them, but like I think people expect that like they see so many lads win championships that we should have 20 lads on tour, like you know, and it's not gonna work out. It's a very hard school like it now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we really are in a bubble, like we just we don't appreciate just how good the players and in Spain, france, italy, now Denmark now such an amazing program, yeah, all the Scandinavians, like there's just there's there's 10,000 guys, like the guys you see at the Lidlum trophy or the St Andrews trophy, and that's the harsh, the harsh truth and really that probably 300 guys in the world making a profit at this it's, it's unique in that sense I mean that there's Incredible riches to be made in golf, but it is just so, so tough, heavy. It's not like other sports and and I suppose when people see on TV all the, the, the money been made, they just think out I'd love you know that they have a dream of having a piece of that, but the reality is probably it's really is far, far more different 100% and I suppose I guess what makes it hard or easy depending on what you look at it.
Speaker 1:Like the fact is you you can just wake up in the morning and decide to turn pro and People like just think it's kind of a straight avenue and it's not. Like I just said, there's so many golfers there for pretty much 300 places. Like I've stopped low, like a people that be outside that number and have struggled for a long time to try and do it and it's never worked.
Speaker 2:Like it's just such a. It's a close up to like. We take the top 100 in the world today, 50 of those will be in the top 110 years. Not so really. There's lots available in the next 10 years. You know, it's really a scary. You be so exceptional at God's. What I've learned over the years if you are not absolutely exceptional and You're not gonna make make a living playing golf, you know the harsh truth. I'm not sorry. You're not gonna make a living playing tournament golf. There's. There's loads of ways to make a living playing golf and in terms of you know my internment golf then you need to be exceptional, like the absolute best of the best in amateur golf.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, 100%. And like I suppose that goes through the ranks. I think something I get asked a lot is that like what do I see a championship so often? And like I'd come back to that, that, like that we'd say, like there's 200 people that play championships regular with you over the air and the kind of different people so cycling and out was there. Everybody there has a chance of winning, I suppose. And the reason, like we'd say, the top 100 guys there will always have a chance of winning if teams go to the right direction. And like again, you're talking level. Just you can see some of the guys are at the top of the rank a lot and kind of there, but like God for such a fickle sport that it is literally like that one championship can kind of change at all. Like it's just kind of if it's your week, it's your week, like there's no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and to win, to win anything, need things to go your way and sometimes you don't even see what's. What's going your way, like some. Some misfortune could happen to someone else is not only your own good breaks. There's. Other people are probably getting bad breaks on the week if you went and you think everything is rosy. But. But in reality to have won, to win a tournament, you do need To have that bit of luck, unless you're one.
Speaker 1:And I suppose they're turning up to championships and like, I suppose, like for yourself, like what were the last number years? Like you Were turning up and the results are very solid, like and so like it's a case of what's the building blocks for you in the last Number years, james, this was like with life getting busier, like in, I suppose, having less time to practice, like what's the main thing you focus on in the game.
Speaker 2:But I think I've become much better at practice and smarter, so I think I get much more out of an error practice, maybe, than I would have you know, even 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I really only focus on the things that matter, like if I, if you, you know, if you tell me about the tournament in five days time and I said well, at five hours to practice, like Probably four hours, I'll spend chip in the pudding. I'll spend half an hour trying to figure out some kind of driver shot that's in play and I'll probably spend half an hour actually mentally Trying to, you know, get into the. You know the mindset that I'm playing in a tournament in a couple of days, whereas ten years ago I would have been trying to fall. You know I would have been out there hitting six irons like an Egypt trying to find, you know, a golf swing.
Speaker 2:When that doesn't, that hasn't really no impact on your score. Like you're much better off. You know, playing with the game. You have a playing smart with the game you haven't and I haven't your short game shark, you're gonna score better. You know. And it's different now if you view of aspirations to make to turn pro like you do need to be Technically excellent, I think, nowadays, and you have to be good at all aspects of the game but for an amateur player who has limited time, like if you can make good decisions and have a decent short game, you're gonna be competitive without a day.
Speaker 1:So like is there almost a relief in understanding that you don't need to be perfect?
Speaker 2:Completely yeah, and that's again. With the benefit of experience, I've learned that you really don't need to go. Now that I've actually managed to win something, I realized you really don't need to be perfect at all to win. And like I remember that day in Port Rush, like I drove in that last day and you remember the day it was just Wendy and I was looking at the flags blown and guys team off the first and Immediately I thought you know, I can make ten bogies and still win.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know, because I, because I the experience, no, just how tough it was. And Whereas a younger version of me Driving in leading that turn of it, I would have been looking at the weather. They got over. This is gonna be a tough day and you know, I hope it play well, all that stuff. But immediately I switched and thinking I'm gonna make bogies today. Don't beat myself up, it's gonna be tough for everyone. And even the very first hole, like I hit it, we started on the 10th. I hit a nice shot into 10 to about 15 feet and I three put it there. The leads gone, you know so. But and that would have affected me as a younger player, but but with the benefit of the experience, sure, I didn't even know this almost. It's just well, there's one of the bogies you know.
Speaker 1:And that's actually mad because I remember saying I think I said it to you after, but I was saying it to someone that day that like you're asking me, like you know how would I think things are gonna go, and I remember like walking the second hole with G D11 to insane. I was constantly at James looks real solid and like they'd known you'd made a bogie, but they didn't know how. But like you walked from 10 to 11, literally as if nothing had happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, completely, because I just accepted the fact that this is gonna be a really really tough, long day and I'm gonna make bogies and and I looked at it in a different light saying like I'm, I'm leading the tournament, so I can probably I can make more bogies than the guy in second, maybe, and still still waiting. You know, I mean like it's. But yeah, like you know the me 10 years ago I wouldn't have had that belief that I could play imperfectly and still win. I think that time, you know that time, I had the big lead in the East and lost, I think I was my whole day.
Speaker 2:I was obsessed with, well, what do I need to do to win, whereas in Port Rush I was just going through my process over and over until I ran out of holes, kind of like a sprinter. You know, the younger version of me was trying to get to the finish line to win, whereas now I'm trying to run through the finish line. The finish line just gets in the way, you know, the tournament ends and I just keep going through my process all the way to the end and with the belief that, you know, I won't be too far away if I just keep doing that. That's been a bit, but it's taken me, you know, 30 something years of playing golf to kind of figure that out. But finally I think in the last few years I've become better at that.
Speaker 1:I think if you write a book and perfect, then it doesn't need to be perfect and to be able to get around the course games it could put on as the best seller. Like there's lots of people out there still trying to figure that out. But like that final day in Port Rush, a long, long day that becomes a very special one at the end. But like, as you said, like arriving saw, like with the mentality of, look, I'm going to make bogies and just kind of get on with it. But we'll see Midway through the first round of that day when the wind really starts to kick up, like what's the thought process? Just to keep yourself going at that point.
Speaker 2:Just to I mean it's a cliche, but just to take one shot at a time, you know, because if you sort of went to, it was the sort of day if you went to sleep on a shot you'd make a double bogey. And I think I did. I did just that in the middle, I think, on the fifth whole of the third round I think I made a double kind of nowhere, and you know. So then you really just you're just really hard trying to play one shot at a time and trying to play in it not in a conservative way, but trying to play in an intelligent way, and hit the shot.
Speaker 2:You know you can hit rather than shot. You hope you can hit, I suppose, and just trusting the fact that if you just keep in your routine and keeping your process that you should have a chance with a few holes to go. Thankfully that was the case.
Speaker 1:I mean, say, after the 18 holes, like it's kind of flip flopping a little bit, but are you able to reset again and kind of almost go. Okay, just keep doing what I'm doing here and all again for another four hours basically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I'm not a big scoreboard watching it and I didn't really know how I stood. I knew I was a shot behind Kali, that we were having lunch together and just as we were standing up I just said to my you know what's the story, you leading or what? And he said, yeah, I'm leading. So I knew I was one behind effectively. I didn't know how close anyone else was and it just again just got back into the process of trying to, you know, hit every shot as best I could. I mean I started bogey bogey in the last round, but again it didn't phase me Cause I knew like there's just so much is going to happen in the next four hours. There's so many, there's so many dangers for all the players and I'll probably make a few birdies as well anyway, you know and yeah, thankfully it picked up a couple then in the next few holes.
Speaker 1:No one like like to be fair. I think it's something that I wanted to touch on. I mean, you've got to put like that mentality is massive, Like I've said it already, but like that's the toughest day I've seen on a golf course, particularly because it's 36 holes and like just to be dejected after one would is hard not to do, I suppose, and then to have to go and do it under the pressure of, I suppose, trying to get a championship done. So the back nine gems of that one, massively impressive as it was under the pressure, under the conditions and everything else. So, like the last four holes, there are probably four of the hardest holes to play in them. Conditions Talk again because I didn't.
Speaker 2:I wasn't, was deliberately didn't want to know how it stood, but I was probably leading on the 15 tee and I made a. You know, then it started lashing rain. Actually we were playing 15. So that's went very far and I think I was hitting like a hybrid second shot into 15, which is kind of crazy when you think about it, but that's how strong the wind was and that didn't sniff the green either. And then I got up and down from about 60 yards and I remember I hold like an eight footer and Kali, in fairness he's, he'd sort of fall away at that stage and he immediately stepped great save. So I knew well that actually must mean something that I've made that.
Speaker 2:And then that 16th hole just played so tough and they even they'd moved us up to the forward tee. That kind of drew me a little bit because I've said never played from there. I mean he was playing at about 140 yards or something and I missed the green left, made another bogey, but I was fine with that. I mean I figured the whole field is bogey in that hole. Then I kind of hit a lovely little pitch on 17 to about three or four feet and I kind of figured over that ball that this probably would seal it again. Thinking back now, why do I even think that when I'm not? I don't know the scores, but you just get a feeling, I guess, as a player. But I missed it. So then I asked Kali he was doing the life score and said, look, what's the story here? And he just said, look, you're one ahead. So then I hit a nice tee shot on 18. And I pulled my second shot a little bit, but I was conscious of not missing the 18 green right and so I would bring double into play with the heavy on the right. So I was, you know, I'd left it in a good spot. The only thing was that I got a really bad lie on the left of the green. So what was a straightforward enough pitch, you know, dead into the wind, became a sort of an awkward one. So I hit it sort of harder than I would have liked it and I had about a 12 footer then from the car. Sanjeev is in a playoff. But because of what I was saying earlier, I'm going through my process over and over until I run out of holes. I was fine with that. I mean, I was still in a good place mentally. I think my attitude is still good.
Speaker 2:Heading into the playoff there was just more holes. Then Rob nearly drove the first green in the playoff. The playoff holes were kind of I thought I was going to lose on the first. To be honest, I thought I'd hit a lovely second shot and I didn't quite get up the tier. So I had about an 18-footer for birdie and I missed it. And Rob had about seven feet and I had my hat off, ready to shake hands even, and the only thing was that it was just so windy that it was just hard to hold a putt Longer than four feet and I think that's what caught him out. I mean, I think it was Flak Kami's hole in that putt all day. Thankfully I lived to find another hole.
Speaker 1:And it's just something before we get to the next hole actually, because, like I mentioned, you mentioned about the first hole of the day. Like my recollection of that was you walking from there to the next hole and, like you mentioned it there like you walked off 18. And if anyone had looked at you you'd have never known that you'd made Bogey to go into a playoff. Yeah, completely.
Speaker 2:And actually, yes, I realised as the playoff was starting that I walked with my bag to the first tee before I signed my card. So I was completely fine-set up. We're still playing. You know, I didn't it never stopped. So I actually parked my bag at the first tee then walked back into the scores hook. So, yeah, and that really is.
Speaker 2:And, in fairness, like I've really tried to work on that mentality of just staying in the process and because I suppose to sort of sidetrack, I mean last winter and I actually, driving out of Port Rush in the previous year, I really had a cold hard look at my golf Because that day, at the year he foley won, I was sort of in the middle of the pack and then in the last round I was four under three to nine and I'm there thinking to myself God you know, I can't be that far away. I thought maybe I'd be three or four shots away and I really had left nothing out in the course. I was really grinding as hard as I could and Rory Leonard was on the 10 tee and I just sort of said to him casual, rory, he's going to win. And he just what I missed the beat. He said he's got to. He's a put in the last to finish eight under and it was so deflating because I really felt like I was dead at that point, I think level par for the turn. I was just so deflated that my best effort, that grind in this out as best I can, I'm eight shots away and that's a lot. And I literally remember driving when I finished. I mean I've made a few bogeys and I finished like 15th.
Speaker 2:And I get the odd text from people when I leave saying, oh, great effort for a four year old, that's amazing, great tournament. And they know they've just been nice. I'm utterly dejected by the wind. I don't look at my age as an excuse or anything like that. I'm there to win. The finish in 15th to me is tough to take. So anyway, that drive home, ironically, from Port Rush, I really looked at everything and I concluded that my putting wasn't good enough and my attitude wasn't good enough. So I decided I'm going to work on those two things and yeah, so I think I've done a better job with staying in the process, not getting ahead of myself and not looking back either, which is important. I think having my attitude determined my score rather than my score determined my attitude, if you know what I mean. What?
Speaker 1:did you do to work on that?
Speaker 2:It's like it's easy to say that you just take one shot at a time. And then I realized at the first tournament of the year at the West I wasn't able to do it. So actually then I started to. I came up with this mantra that every time I hit a shot, I'm going to decide, execute and accept. So I'm going to decide what shot I'm going to hit, I'm going to execute it to the best of my abilities, and then I'm going to accept the result and move on. So I still know that all year I've been playing with that, those three words in my mind as soon as I get to the ball, I'm going to decide what I'm going to do kind of execute and then I'm going to accept it and move on. And that started to work for me then at the Irish amateur in the island I played way better.
Speaker 2:And then by that time the work I'd done in my putting had started to bear fruit. So that's really what I practiced for the winter was I had this putting drill at the East. I'd take about half an hour and he's trying to do it each day and if I missed the day I'd do it twice. So that kind of I probably had you know a hundred hours of putting done from when I left the north the previous year to when I got to the Irish amateur in the island. So that really showed in my scoring one change. And then the kind of the attitude thing I think has helped a lot, certainly in the 72 Hall of Answers, the kind of the marathon throughout the sprints.
Speaker 1:Yeah, massive. So the second playoff hole, two of the best up and downs I think I've ever seen, particularly under the pressure that you're under, I'd rub on recently enough and Rob, like I was kind of saying to Rob like, looking at the two shots, particularly on camera, rob's looks like he's dead, we'll say, and you look like yours. And Rob made a very good point that once he hits yours as hard as yours was, once he hits yours, yours becomes harder again and it was a kind of real, honest way of looking at it. Like, but you have to come around a mound of a bunker and Rob is inside of both four feet at this point. And again, is it just trusting the process, james?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, like people who know me know that like kind of chipping and pitching and stuff is my strength, so like I wasn't kind of cut off by the shot. The difficulty was it was sitting and I would have hit that shot high normally, okay, like Rob did, but it wasn't sitting very well, it was in a sort of a little depression, so then I had to hit it low. But yeah, rob is right, that shot became because you're not trying to get ahead of yourself. And in reality I'm looking at his shot and I actually had his shot in the morning rain and I hit it to about 15 feet so I thought, well, he's in a tough spot here. So then when he hit it as close as he did, that did put a lot of pressure on me Because I did feel, well, look, this is the tournament now.
Speaker 2:If you don't hit a very, very good shot here, you're done. And thankfully it came out nice. But they were too very good up and downs. In fairness, that whole play is so difficult. I mean it actually is. By the time we played the playoff it seemed like it got more difficult. I mean we both hit I felt decent enough shots and they just turned at right angles to the right, you know at the crosswind. But yeah, they were good up and downs, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1:No, they were great. So then you get to the final hole and I suppose you've only been waiting 23 years, james right. And then it just seems to go pretty much pitch black before we get there. A lot of stuff going on and, again, I suppose, staying composed and staying calm, but let's talk that final part. What's going through the mind at that point?
Speaker 2:Like, yeah, the darkest was a bit weird. I mean I suppose you know, growing up and playing so much in the summers and playing until dark, I mean you know I played golf in the dark before, like, but you know, you never you dream of having to put the win a championship, but you never, ever think it's going to be in the dark. Like it's crazy and it really. Thankfully it wasn't too bad a putt. I mean it was inside the hole and it was kind of, you know, neither uphill nor downhill, it was just pretty, pretty flat and it was okay.
Speaker 2:But it did dawn on me as I was putting the ball down that, because of the way that the count back was working and everything, the put is to win the championship but if I miss I lose the championship. So it's not like other puts to win things where if you miss you live to fight another day, and that you know that was a sort of unique situation and it did. It did dawn on me and I actually just took a couple of seconds just to take a deep breath. But yeah, thankfully it found the bottom of the cup. I mean it would have been a tough, tough loss now if it hadn't gone in and, in fairness to Robbie, he took it really well. You know it was a tough way for him to lose but he's a great fellow. Like it's no surprise that he took it well, but he really was very sporting about it.
Speaker 1:And who was the first person that you rang after you won? I think.
Speaker 2:I call my dad and he was speechless. He's seen all of a lot of success and I think he's been my greatest supporter over the years. He's come all over the country watching me play and I was delighted that the list of brothers who won championships is very short I think it's either four or five, so to add our family to that list is really special. I probably should have said I called my wife first, but it might have been that my dad called me actually as I got into the car.
Speaker 1:Driving home. It's late at night and I suppose there's a lot going on and then you have to drive home. So does the trophy get the front seat?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I scrapped it in the front seat and took a photograph just for memory. I remember when Noel won the West of Ireland in 1998. Myself and my sister went out to watch and I had this memory of him scrapping the trophy into the passenger seat and thought, well, that's pretty cool. So I did just that and yeah, the drive home. I'm sure you found yourself.
Speaker 2:The drive home was tough like you have to walk in all those holes and it was dark and the headlights and everything are a bit dazed and my legs started cramping up so bad I had to stop a couple of times and get out of the car. It was a tough drive, but a happy one, I suppose, at the same time.
Speaker 1:Morning after then. So you wake up, you, finally, I suppose, you kicked off one major box that you wanted to do, so how does it feel?
Speaker 2:I was really happy. I really was. I mean, I've always had the goal not to win a championship, but to win championships plural. But at the same time I'm not getting any younger. I thought, especially when COVID came, I thought, oh geez, I might have missed my chance here now, because I wasn't sure how long we were going to be playing for and very few people in their 40s managed to win these things. It's two in the last 30 years or something like that. So I was delighted, but at the same time I mean, in a weird way I'm actually hungrier now to win another one, because not winning seems much worse. Now I haven't won, I must say, but at a unique situation. The morning after the final at the Club Championship for Marnik was at half 10. So that's very quickly just kind of get back in the saddle and go out and play that. But yeah, it was very tired now the next day, I must say, probably more emotionally than physically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was definitely tough to stay and, as you said, like winning, I suppose no can kind of breed the want to win more. And we're extremely efficient, james is probably the way I put it here, so I don't think that the next year is going to damage you too much in Asia. I think you can get around the golf course and let you know what you do well, so I definitely won't be surprised to see you contending again next year anyway. But before we let it go, james, I just like to say thank you for everything you've done to help me over the past year or so, and I wish you well in 2021 on that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, gary. I mean you're getting eyeballs to this board, which is fantastic. I mean my sister, who's never touched the golf club in her life, follows your page. There you go. You're even bringing it to the non-golf audience. So I think I speak for all the players, gary, in saying you know you're doing an amazing job and we're all delighted.
Speaker 1:Thanks, jess, all right, gary Cheers.