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Adam Scott (Golfer, Masters Champion)

Published on Mon, 27 Aug 2018 10:00:00 +0000

This week, host Stephen Pulvirent and HODINKEE founder Ben Clymer sit down with professional golfer Adam Scott. Fresh off a third place finish at this year's PGA Championship, Adam gave us some time to talk about career highlights, his ambassadorship with Rolex, his favorite surf spots in his native Australia and, of course, watches. Outside of his official relationship with Rolex, he's amassed quite the collection of vintage watches and loves to get into the details. Enjoy

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, hosts Stephen Pulvirent and founder Ben Clymer sit down with professional golfer Adam Scott to discuss his impressive career, his passion for watches, and life on the tour. Scott, who has won 29 tournaments including the 2013 Masters and the 2004 Players Championship, fresh off a third-place finish at the 2018 PGA Championship, shares insights about his journey as a Rolex ambassador since 2001 and his deep appreciation for vintage timepieces, particularly Rolex Sea-Dwellers and Submariners. The conversation reveals Scott's evolution from simply wearing modern Rolex watches as an ambassador to becoming a serious vintage collector, with particular interest in pieces like a Comex Sea-Dweller and a Paul Newman Daytona.

The episode also explores Scott's unique lifestyle, splitting time between residences in Switzerland, Australia, and the Bahamas, and his broader appreciation for design and vintage items beyond watches, including classic Porsches and furniture. Scott reflects on the significance of his 2013 Masters victory, making him the first Australian to win the prestigious tournament in 77 years, and discusses the mental aspects of professional golf, his preparation for major championships, and his aspirations to become a multiple major winner. The conversation is interspersed with stories from a round of golf the trio played at Winged Foot earlier that day, providing an intimate look at both Scott's professional approach to the game and his genuine enthusiasm for watches and collecting.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown Some people are just winners, and Adam Scott is one of those people. Since going pro in 2000, the golfer has won 29 tournaments, including the 2004 Players' Championship and the 2013 Masters Tournament. But it turns out he's also a hell of a nice guy, and he's got an eye for style and watches to boot. For those of you who don't follow the tour, Adam's also fresh off a third place finish at the 2018 PGA Championship. He took some time to sit down with our founder Ben Clymer and me to talk about how he became a Rolex ambassador early in his career, why he's so obsessed with vintage sea dwellers, and what it's like to walk around actually wearing that green masters jacket. I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's episode is brought to you by Tutor. Stay tuned later in the show for a look at the Black Bay Chrono, a new take on one of Tutor's most iconic watches. You can also learn more at TutorWatch.com. Cool. Thanks so much for joining us, Adam. Pleasure. Thank you very much. And uh we also have Ben here today. Hi everybody. And you guys just came in from on the course, didn't you? We did.
Unknown We played golf today. I played golf with V Adam Scott, which was quite a thrill, I need to be honest. It it really, really was. Yeah.
Unknown Well, he's being pretty modest. He played very well, actually. Sounds really good. We're gonna start this off with a lie. L
Unknown et's be clear. Uh but to to be honest, we were actually partners. And so when we were choosing teams, I was like, okay, I choose Adam. Okay, so you're smart. We know that. Yeah. Uh but we we were lucky enough uh through a a friend of Adam's to to play Wingedfoot today, which was always a a dream course for me. I mean it's such a special course in the in the New York area. So thank you again for for making that happen. For people who don't know what Wingedfoot is, can you tell us a little bit about the course? Uh Adam, I I kind of defer to you. What's what's so special about W
Unknown ingedfoot? Well it's one of the historic Northeast Golf Clubs and uh it's hosted many major golf championships most recently, I think the 2006 US Open, uh which I played in, so I'm showing my age a little bit. Uh my good friend Jeff Ogilvy won that tournament. And they'd just done some renovations in the last twelve months to the course, so it was my first look at the new Winged Foot West course and uh they're gonna have the twenty twenty US open there so a little bit of early prep work for me. So do you do much prep work for for tournaments like this? For major championships, yeah, I do a lot. Although probably not two years out like this one but but often I spend uh seven to ten days at at the venue before the tournament. Not necessarily directly before, but within the month or two before really trying to get comfortable with what we're gonna be dealing with during the event
Unknown . Sure. And tour players or can just kind of go into private clubs and say I wanna go
Unknown into And and let us come in, especially if we're already qualified for the tournament. They're happy to have us there. There are a couple clubs though, uh Murrafield in Scotland, you know, don't don't bother giving them a call. Really? No, they're they're not interested. Uh it's a great club and we play major championships there, but they they only let you on for that week. No kidding. Wow. Yeah, it's it's just their club. They're doing what they want
Unknown . It's it's kind of admirable. Yeah, there's something cool about that, right? That they don't they don't feel
Unknown like they have to play that game or or let anyone be be special. But at the same time, I mean like you know, today we were at at Winged Foot, which is you know, a preeminent course, like to say the least in the area. And I mean it was a big deal that that Adam was there if I can embarrass him a little bit. I mean people were watching him tee off and kind of a somebody else for a selfie. Uh a few people asked for an autograph. Uh so I mean this is it's I think it's just as exciting for a lot of these clubs to have people such as Adam show up and and and be a part of it, you know? Yeah. I mean when you when you play like
Unknown today, are you playing totally casually or are you kind of in the back of your mind like always training a little bit?
Unknown I try and switch off a little bit so I engage at least with the guys I'm playing with and that was kind of the point of catching up with Ben and the other two today. But uh I I just can't handle playing really poorly so I'm not gonna switch off and just um not concentrate out there. So I'm I'm always working on something. I can't help it. It's what I it's what I do. So I was quite happy with the way I played today, but um yeah, I wouldn't have a lot of fun playing social golf if it
Unknown was
Unknown It's just not happening. It's it's a game if anyone's played it. It just eats you up. When when you're playing good you think you never play bad again. But when you're playing bad you th you don't know
Unknown how you'll ever play good again. Yeah. And speaking of playing well, you had a great tournament two weeks ago at the PGA championship. I did. I'm back in it. Ye
Unknown ah, back in the mix. It was it felt good. It had been a while for me and uh I've just struggled to just get right up there the last couple of years in the majors and to be right there with a couple holes to go was exciting. Tiger was in the mix and Brooks he's unflappable at the moment in these situations. He's won three majors in fourteen months. I mean that's that's an incredible career for for most everybody. No, absolutely. Except Tiger Woods. Basically. So uh it's it's really i incredible out of front row seat I was trying to put the pressure on and uh just couldn't get to him at the end. Yeah, I mean he was really automatic on the He was. Yeah. And and you need a couple of things to go your way and they did for him and he took advantage of it. And you know, that's kind of professional sport at the highest level. It's a knife edge between success and failure. Yeah. Was it fun to see Tiger back in the mix? Yeah, absolutely. Uh you know, I I came along in golf at a great time. I'm just younger than Tiger and he'd already emerged and created this huge buzz, so I've played my entire career basically with him uh, you know, shattering my dreams of becoming the greatest player ever. And for about ten years my dream of being a world number one was really not realistic and then, you know, things worked out and somehow I got there while he was on a bit of a down cycle and uh and I made it. But to now have him back and see how much he moves the needle and the atmosphere and I think more it was fun for me, but more for the younger players who never had the chance yet. The top players in the world, like the Brooks and Justin Thomas and Jordan Speith, these guys who they're the best they're this generation of players, but they've never seen Tiger like up in the mix in the major and what the atmosphere's like and it
Unknown was a bit like old times. It really felt like old times to see Tiger right in there and obviously you were right there as well. It was it was the most exciting golf sermon I've watched
Unknown in years, honestly. Oh well that that's cool. I think uh yeah, they did a great job at the US P GA. They they set it up and we made some birdies and I think that's exciting when we're making birdies under pressure, not bogies. Right. And uh seeing guys win the tournament like Brooks did is is a fun way to go. I just wish it was me.
Unknown Do you think somebody like Tiger making this kind of second big push is good for the sport generally? Do you think it opens up the sport to a new generation
Unknown ? Yeah, I think so, because he was starting to, you know, especially the way we live in this instant world, he was being forgotten and being written off pretty quickly, which I think for some of us who've been around him it's never a good thing to do is write him off because he's always managed to come through when it mattered most and he nearly did again and this is just the start of a comeback so you know I've always loved having Tiger out there he's brought so much to the game and seeing him playing well now uh will be interesting to watch how the younger guys uh adapt to the tiger factor. But hopefully he has that impact again like he had for the last fifteen years on on this new generation, not of players out there, but the younger kids and and still m
Unknown ove
Unknown Uh it is really the coolest uh experience as a professional golfer to win the Masters. The Open Championship and the US Open and the US PGA and and everyone has their favourites, even the Australian Open. I got to win the Australian Open and that was you know such a proud moment for me. But the Masters I think transcends golf. I anything with the Masters on it we talked about and uh it's collectible like if it says masters you want to keep it yeah and uh every week people are there with masters flags for memorabilia signatures and uh I just don't see any other tournament that has the that has the pull like the Masters does. And I I don't know. It it just draws you in. If you're watching on TV, if you go there it's spectacular. If you're watching on T G T V the music just plays along as the intro and y and you're drawn in with the p pretty visions of flowers and rolling green fairways and these exciting moments that always happen and so to be in that club, that Masters Champions Club is something I'll cherish for the rest of my life because uh it gives me goosebumps. Thinking about sitting up in that room with all these legends of the game is very n very neat. Yeah. And so tell me about that that that round. Well, what was that Sunday like? Yeah, it was uh it was probably if you were dreaming up the Sunday to win the Masters, it was nothing like I had in mind, actually. I I got off to a really slow start, I wasn't really shaking things up. I was hanging around. It started raining and getting a bit overcast on the back nine. It wasn't uh the birds weren't chirping or anything like that, so I uh I just hung in there and I stood uh I didn't think about winning the tournament until the 17th fairway, which was probably a good thing looking back. I played pressure free for a lot of the day and I stood there and figured I've if I hit three good shots from here and a couple good putts, I could win this thing, and that's kind of how it went down. I I had the pressure on only for a short time in my mind. And uh, you know, holding a putt on the eighteenth green on Sunday at the Masters is one of the biggest moments of your life. And I reacted like that with some fist pumps and all that all that I did, some screaming but uh ended up having to go back out for a playoff, right? But that made it even better. It got you know, the atmosphere got even better to play in, it was raining harder, it was colder, it was like now raw sports fans out there just cheering on two gu
Unknown That's amazing. I mean that that that I mean as as a golf fan, the Masters, as you said, is such a special thing for for for all of us. It's it's unique in in this game
Unknown for sure. It is. It the the place is incredible and it just somehow produces special finishes every year and pretty fun to think I've got the green jacket for the rest of my life. But you don't get to keep the jacket. No, you don't stays there. Just for a year. You get it for a year while you're the champion and then it stays in the locker. So you don't actually get a green jacket. No, you don't. But what was my next question? I was gonna ask where you wear the green jacket. So like out drinking with your friends and things like that. Yeah, did it all. Did it all. We only had one button fall off in all the shenanigans and uh that wasn't too bad, I think, 'cause I've I've heard worse. And don
Unknown 't they actually they put the the when when whoever wins, they give the jacket from last year's winner to that person. Is that not the same? That's right, the previous winner presents the jacket. So whose jacket were you wearing the day that you won uh the Masters? Uh well they give
Unknown me a new jacket. Okay. But uh Baba Watson was putting it on. Got it. Putting it on. And then he won the next year, so then I put it back on. But we didn't reciprocate again. I haven't won it again. But it it's a pretty you know, there aren't too many occasions for wearing a green jacket, but if it's got the mas uh the Augusta National Club logo on it. You kind of get a pass. Yeah
Unknown . No nobody can give you a hard time about that. Well you know, I i it's it's funny, many people might be wondering how Adam and I know each other, and it obviously comes down to watches. And you are a watch person, you know, we we text often about about vintage Rolexes and things like that, and you are a Rolex Aaron Powell I'
Unknown m a Rolex ambassador. And I have been for my whole career since 2001. So I've uh been well entrenched in the watch world. However, the vintage thing only came about a couple years ago for me. And uh so that's been that's been a lot of fun getting into that. I've dug myself a nice deep hole that I'm that's we're gonna scratch scratching around in. But uh and with that came an even bigger appreciation for uh watchers and certainly obviously I'm big into the Rolex and that's where my focus is, but you know, you wander off and start looking and learning about everything. I actually also reside in Switzerland, so this is really convenient for all my watch furnishes
Unknown . So you learned about watches then, I guess, like coming up as a Rolex ambassador, right? What's what's it like to kind of have that be your entry point into the world of watches
Unknown ? Yeah, well when you're starting with nothing and you go to that you don't really know anything else and it's only since I the last couple years since I've really explored out and tried to broaden my knowledge generally about it that I realize what Rolex is and it's quite extraordinary to be honest and uh I never got to tour the factory for the first five or six years as an ambassador. And then when I did, my mind was blown, and you know, I've done it several times since and been able to take a few people on the tour who have interest and it completely changes their perception of what a watch is. Sure. Which is really cool. Uh including my wife. I took her on the tour and uh she wasn't into it at all but then s she could really appreciate you know a great mechanical watch like a Rolex. So uh it's been it's been a great journey and I've really encouraged you know what I've done is really encouraged the other ambassadors to do it because we're professional golfers and we're into ourselves and you know, oh it's just you know, yeah, Rolex ambassador, you'd have another sponsorship but it's really a special company to be a part of and uh so start going back to what you said starting there it was I I didn't know anything different and uh I count myself lucky to be one actually. Yeah.
Unknown And and how does something like this work? How do they approach you? Do they just say, oh, you know, this guy seems like he's gonna be good someday, so let's reach out to him, or how does it work? Yeah, you know, they they've had different uh kind
Unknown of um I guess promotional lines over in their advertising over the years like spirit of excellence or this kind this kind of stuff and and they're looking for that the winner basically. They they want the winners on Sunday to be holding a trophy with a Rolex watch or in tennis, they have ambassadors and other sports as well. But uh that's what they want, so they single out some good young players every few years and they make sure they have the greatest ever, like Jack Nicholas or Arnold Palmer and then cover their bases and and have a great stable of ambassadors. Yeah, and at the PGA a few weeks ago they have Brooks, they have Tiger and they have yourself. Yeah. So they have the top three.
Unknown Yeah, one, two, three. Yeah, they got what they wanted. They know what they're doing over there. Yeah, they're not messing around at all. And you actually are wearing a new Rolex uh today, aren't you
Unknown ? I am. I'm wearing uh the new GMT in steel and Everroes, which I got about a month ago. You like it so far? I'm loving it. Yeah. I was actually a bit blown away when I got it. steel and gold watch before so I wasn't sure how it'd be but it's subtle and I like the detail the bezel it's very cool with the Everos around the bezel and uh I like the GMT too generally so I have a couple of those. But this is Yeah,
Unknown it's I think you know, coming coming out of Basel World, I think everybody expected the kind of Pepsi Bezil GMT to be the favorite. But more the more people I talk to, the more people think that the two tone is is kind of maybe the the sleeper hit
Unknown . Yeah, no no question about it. I mean we were talking about it earlier. You you basically can't buy a Pepsi bezel at this point. They just they're just not in the market. I I while I was on the course I received a text from a friend saying, Hey can you help me get one? And I said, I'm sorry, it's impossible. And even if I could, I probably wouldn't, you know, because I would buy it myself. But uh get in line. Exactly. Exactly. Did did the same type of um lack of inventory impact the ambassadors or you guys I'm sure get some sort of it would make sense if you get it
Unknown . An unofficial pecking order, but uh yeah, when I saw this one I wanted to take a punt on it and I think I got it in a fairly timely fashion, I have to say. So I'm very happy. No complaints at all. But uh I know one of the uh Justin Thomas is an ambassador too and he was number one in the world and he got he actually got the all um gold GMT about two months before I got this one. So there's a peck I saw the pecking order. It's fine, I can handle it, you know, I've I've I've done that too, so uh it's it's good but uh I've seen a I've seen a Pepsi out there with the Jubilee. Yeah. Another ambassador has one of them. So they're they definitely are looking after the guys. Yeah. Uh and there are a few more guys really getting into it, I think, embracing, you know, the watches and really finding them uh fun to collect at whatever level. I don't know that many guys are doing the vintage thing yet. It's funny, we actually on Instagram we got a comment from Paul Casey uh the other day. He's into it though. Is he really? Yes. That's really funny you say that.
Unknown He's right into it. Huh. Because we we left a or somebody said, Oh, you should do a hodinky video and he's like, I'm worthy of a hodinky video. You are. No, yeah.
Unknown He he got me going, he started throwing a few reference numbers out there and so then I had to brush up a bit on my reference. So we can talk a bit of a lingo when we play together that no one else understands, which is fun. That's really co cool. That's super
Unknown ol. How'd you how did you get into vintage watches? Because uh obviously working with Rolex, they're kind of you're you're on the the forefront with all the new stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
Unknown Well, I uh I like vintage stuff generally, you know. So I have an old Porsche in Australia that I've had for about ten years, a seventy uh three, nine, eleven and nine eleven S and it's great and I like that and I like design. I have a bit of a mm history with design through clothing and my wife's an architect and uh liking nice things, I guess. I've learned to like nice things and appreciate the design and functionality of things. So then yeah. I started reading Hodinky and that really got me into it and so, you know, all you guys I have to thank for the hours of trawling through information and and staying up late at night sometimes on the road. That's what we like to hear. Yeah. We're doing our job. Yeah, we're doing we're doing it right. Absolutely.
Unknown Would you do you have any kind of direction in terms of vintage watches, like stuff that you really like, stuff that you are kind of like just now getting into
Unknown ? Yeah. So I dived right in and in the space of six months I bought five pieces to start out with and good pieces at that. I did. I I I think. You know, I I th I think I like them and I and they're good. Uh and then I s then I had to stop because it was becoming like I'm just gonna buy one every month or what what's going on here and I haven't now bought a piece for nearly a year, which is killing me. Uh but I've wanted to see where it goes and read a little bit more and and and try and find a niche maybe or s something fun to do and for a while I was thinking right, I'll just collect all sea dwellers and have a you know, I I personally like on my wrist the sea dwellers and the subs I think look the best to me. But I think yeah, obviously Daytoners look beautiful and but on my wrist they don't look as good to my eye. I don't know if that's actually how it is, so I I've gone towards subs and sea dwellers. What is it about the subs and sweet sea dwellers that you like? Uh they're they're a bit r more rough, I think. I feel like I can really wear them too and maybe knock them around a little bit. And I mean that's what I like about the collecting vintage watches anyway, that you can actually u use them and you Okay, you've got to look after you want to look after them if they're really special pieces, but uh you can use them a bit and that's what they're made to do. So I like that with the with the subs and the sea dwellers. And yeah, so I got into the sea dweller thing for a while, but I cooled off and I I'm saying all this about subs and sea dwellers, and now I'm just been looking at Daytoners recently. No, it's it's so far down there. But I I definitely f feel like, okay, now I've educated myself a little bit, I've really read up, I've listened to all you guys, I've talked to as many people as I can, and I think I can wherever I go, I'm gonna make a a good purchase and be and be happy with it. And do you wear the substancy dwellers when you're surfing, when you're in Australia, things like that? I I do. I haven't worn them surfing, but uh I do go swim in the ocean with 'em, but uh I haven't actually kept 'em on while I'm surfing or something like that. But uh yeah, I just wear them around. Yeah. They're not that
Unknown precious. That's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the good things about especially vintage sport watches, right? Is like you like you said, you do have to take care of them, but you can kind of beat them up a little bit. That's that's part of the charm
Unknown . Yeah. And uh I like the fact that they're very discreet. You know, they're subtle. No one would know a special piece. I I bought one of them was a Comex, uh sixteen eight hundred Comex, like eighty four sub and uh it's really cool. It's got such great provenance with it. F photographs the whole lot. I was right into this stuff at the start. And uh but no one really knows that it's anything special at all unless you know what a Comex is. So uh that's been that's fun to wear around because I feel like I can wear it around and you know, not really attract attention, but I feel really good. Yeah. I I I know that feeling.
Unknown And now for a look at this week's sponsor. Over the last few years, Tutor's Black Bay Line has become the gold standard for watches that combine a respect for watchmaking history on one hand, with modern craftsmanship on the other. The Blackbay Chrono adds an additional complication to the Black Bay family, but it's all built on that same foundation. You have the iconic snowflake style hands and that sturdy Black Bay profile. Inside, though, you have the manufacture caliber MT5813, which is a column wheel chronograph movement that's both chronometer certified and fitted with a silicon hairspring. The Tutor Black Bay Chrono is bold and modern, but with just the right dose of nostalgia. You can visit your local authorized retailer to see this watch in the metal or visit TutorWatch.com to learn more. Now let's get back to the show Do you have anything that you're like hunting for right now that's like definitely gonna be the next thing or something down the road
Unknown ? Yeah, I really would like uh another Daytona. So I bought a Paul Newman right from the get go I got offered and I I think I've locked in. It it's amazing. Everyone that's seen it says I've never you know, it's in such great condition, a six two four one. Uh with the cr creamy white dial. So uh it's beautiful. But, you know, I've I've sent Bem some pictures of different Daytoners over the last twelve months, six two four O's and six two six threes, something like that. I'll definitely be looking for. Alright. Yeah. Probably a black dial and I think it's sharp. It is.
Unknown That's a watch you can't go wrong with, right? Like that's it. Yeah, I mean Ben is Ben is shrugging harder than I thought it could, you know
Unknown . It's it's like a given, you know. It's like it's it's a six two six three I think is a perfect watch. I said that in the last magazine, it's just it's magic, you know. Yeah. Um d do the folks at Rolex like when you wear vintage watches or not really probably, right? They're they're in the business of of new watches. They are. They're in
Unknown the business of new watches. I think they like that I have an interest in their watches. All of them. They probably don't want me uh out on the golf course wearing vintage watches, sure they want to show people what they can go and buy from Rolex. But again,
Unknown I would imagine that you're one of the few ambassadors that really cares about it. Like I don't I don't see Tiger Woods read
Unknown ing Hodinky every day. No, sure.. Yeah, no I think they I think they appreciate that. You know, even if I was to wear a model that's not vintage that's been discontinued there they'd have no problem with that at all. I mean when you've been with them twenty years. Jack Nicholas was wearing the same watch for the last f fifty years. Yeah. Basically. So Which is a cool watch. It's a very cool watch. Yeah. Yeah, my ears pricked up when when uh I saw that interview w with Talking Watches. Yeah. Like, huh. I'd like to have a look at
Unknown that. Do you have a watch that's kind of like that for you? That's like the watch that for a special occasion or something like that that you just you go back to? There's something kind of comforting about it? So when I first
Unknown became an ambassador, I was twenty one years old and well, I'd never had a a real serious watch before. I'd liked what I liked watches and often when I was a amateur or a junior at golf tournaments you'd win them if you won the tournament and they weren't anything special because they couldn't they weren't allowed to be expensive and tournaments didn't afford it so I'd always liked watches and for some reason so I was offered a watch. Rolex said, okay, you're an ambassador, you can pick a watch. And why? I mean I picked a gold Rolex because I think that's what you think of. So I actually chose a day date that was before they had their new uh Everose gold, it was pink gold. Proper pink. Yeah. Yeah. And uh with a black dial. And I don't wear it that often, but when I do see it and put it on I'.ve just knowing that it was the first one and I think it's really cool now, seventeen or eighteen years later. Uh I was like, Huh. Maybe I just lucked in, but uh I like the fact I picked that watch.
Unknown And you said you're also into kind of other vintage things and design more generally. Uh in addition to the Porsche, what what else kind of catches your atten
Unknown tion? Uh anything. Luggage. I like stuff like that. Uh tra you know, I I'm traveling so I'm into all that kind of stuff. You know, hotels and and things like that that are a bit different. I mean not vintage hotels necessarily but the design element of it and making it feel more like a place you want to stay for a week. You know, I've stayed in so many hotels and they're just so boring a lot of the time. Sure. And nice touches make a difference if it's furniture, you know I like I love a good chair. Okay. Yeah. So I have chairs scattered around everywhere and uh yeah, I can't help it. I mean I I we had an apartment here in New York for eighteen months and yeah, I went crazy for l we just had a lot of chairs in the Nothing but chairs. Yeah. It was just like pick a chair. Yeah. And your wife who's cool with this. She's into she is a designer. She's a bit. She is, yeah, she's an architect, so she's right into that as well and appreciates all that and she's uh Scandinavian. So they have a strong I guess uh design DNA over there, you know, very very much so. So uh I've learned a lot from her and you know, but she calls me out when I get off track. You do, I need to be kept in check, definitely. 'Cause it definitely can get out of hand, just like uh the watch the watch thing and you know uh but now she I think I've really picked a good thing here with the watches because yeah she appreciates it and I'm I'm kinda g being given a bit of free reign here. That's in the thing. Which helps So I haven't gone into a bad place here. But uh yeah she's she now enjoying wearing some of the watches that I've uh brought back. What uh what does she wear? Uh at the moment she's wearing the green sub the whole yeah which is really I think looks cool. But uh I think uh I think she'd look good with like a vintage day toner too. So that's a good excuse for me to get right. We just rationalized that here on Hodinky Radio. There we go. That's okay. Uh I was gonna say
Unknown also the a ten sixteen like Stevens is such a great watch. Uh not a man or a woman. I I love those. So you also have a uh an atypical living situation. You have a few different residences. You're an official resident of Switzerland. Yes. Uh you're from Australia. And you spend a lot
Unknown of time in the Caribbean as well. I do. Yeah. So uh I've lived in Switzerland ever since I played the European Tour. When I first turned professional I went to Europe before I played the PGA Tour and set up shop in Switzerland and loved it. I live in Crown, Montana, up there, which is up in the Alps. Which is where Jean Claude Beaver also has a home. Yeah, which we we you mentioned to me today, so I don't know, I'd probably freak out if I bumped into him up there. Yeah. I need to become mates with him. But uh it i it's beautiful up there and we get to spend a little bit of time each year up there, obviously travelling around, but then the most of the season for me is playing in the United States on the East Coast and uh we have a we spend time in Albany and Nassau in the Bahamas so it's a real close stop off point for all the East Coast Gulf. And then I try and get back to Australia for November, December and January and and get to see my my parents are back there and friends and take my family back there. It's nice nice spot to be at that time of ye
Unknown ar. I can imagine. What was it like moving I know I know you went to school in the US, but going from Australia to Switzerland, which I can't really imagine two countries more different than Australia and Switzerland. The vibes of the people cannot be. They are
Unknown it they laugh at me because I often stop like driving up the mountain and just look at the Alps and I think they're so exotic. Sure. And they're like you're kidding, because they're thinking of the beaches in Australia that being incredibly exotic, but we have absolutely nothing like Alps like that back home. But I think what's funnier on so I did go to school in the US and I went to Las Vegas UNLV and I think that was the big adjustment going from uh little old beach town in Australia to Los Vegas for university and I never imagined I'd go to university. I was just dreams of playing golf in an Australia. You don't really go through school to f pursue the sport, you go into the academies and I took a different route and thought this is my opportunity to get to America. So I took it and uh that was a real eye opener for the year the year and a half I was in Las Vegas. I can imagine That was a really quick education on stuff
Unknown you don't really want. Yeah. It's American culture like distilled to its kind of purest and filthiest essence, you know? Ye
Unknown ah. And how old were you at the time? I I had just turned eighteen. So this was a long time ago. This was in the nineties. So uh although yeah it was twenty one but there were a couple of places that were frequented by people underage at that point. You know, it was far less strict than the Restricted to what I could do and uh that was probably a really, really good thing because some of the other guys on my college team had way too good of a time. But that's what college is all about. But it turned out okay for you. It did. It was great. It was it was my uh learning years I think, you know, it was it was a I found it a real struggle at start. It was like what is going on in the school and completely different uh culture in America and then the Las Vegas culture and the the golf program was not what I expected but uh you know I had to tough it out a little bit and then kind of moved on and turned pro. Yeah. You really grew up in the game of golf though too, right? I did. Yeah, my family is golf crazy. My dad's a P GA member in Australia and has worked in golf his entire life and my mum's a good player too. Okay. She's been a twelve handicap forever. Wow. And she's a bit of a burglar on twelve, I wouldn't I'd be careful playing her off twelve, but she's she's a very good player also, so they've loved golf and put me into the game and just was a fun childhood for me growing up at a golf club. I the it was real uh uh club atmosphere. Yeah. Everyone had a good time and I was looked after by all the older members, so it was fun for me to just hang out at the club when I was a kid. And what was it like returning to that club when you came back the first time as a masters champion. Yeah. I yeah, when I went home to Australia I became the first Australian to win the masters and, you know, it in seventy seven years there'd been lots of good Aussies with chances and especially Greg Norman, you know, he he had close calls. So it was we're a pretty proud sporting country, I'd say Australia, and in the sports we compete in, I think we'd achieved everything you can possibly achieve except win the Masters at that point. And I think even the year before Cadell Evans had just won the Tour de France, so he became the first Aussie to win the Tour de France and that was about it, except the Masters. And then I I won and the reception at home was huge. I mean uh it it blew me away. I I went home at the end of the year and played three or four tournaments in a row and wanted to kind of share the green jacket with everyone but didn't realise how much that would that would be. It w it really had a big impact that the green jacket made it down to Australia. So that was that was a fun month of memories for me, especially with friends and family as well. Uh of course, you know, when it was just lying over the sofa at the end of the day and a friend had come over, he was like, oh, except a green jerk I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, there it is. But it w it was great to see that it had a big impact at home because yeah, I've been very well supported by everyone in Australia, but that that was kind of a nice payback for everyone who'd been into the game of golf. Is is the green jacket dry clean only? In Augusta at the club only. I I did my best to keep it clean so it didn't go into they they do give you a page of rules for the for the jacket. Really? And what are some of the relevants? I skim I skimmed through them. But I I feel like there was something about cleaning it on there. You know, be careful basically. Send a guard with it. And uh you know there's no denim in this this kind of stuff and I'm sure that yeah I'm sure they probably didn't want me going surfing in it or anything like that. But uh I think I think the club has really kind of embraced, you know, opening up a little bit the last few years and I I I think they like you see green jackets a little bit m around. They they wear them out to some tournaments now elsewhere and yeah, they've really loosened up. You know, they're wearing jackets elsewhere, but they are. They they're trying to, you know, help create a buzz about the game of golf and they're a very powerful club and just by doing that can inspire they they'll do it. What's the next goal for you in golf? Oh in golf? I thought we were going back to watches. For today. Well for me in golf, uh certainly coming off a good uh PGA a couple of weeks ago, we have the FedEx Cup coming up here at the end of this year to make a run at that and set myself up for a really great twenty nineteen it'd be what I'm looking for. I'd like to be a multiple major winner. I feel like I've got the game to do it and that was a reminder at the US P GA the other week that I've still got it. Uh at some some times when you're out there grinding away, you know, you you can lose the feeling like you're gonna win again and I think I got it back and got a little bit hungry after that. So I'm looking forward to next year, 2019, but the focus will be on the masters straight away and then and then the following majors and I've had some close calls at the open championship as well and I'd really love to win the Clarit Chug. I you know I'd I'd take any of them, but if we're gonna get picky, I'd I'd take a Claritchug. Sure. And the PGA next year is in May, first of all. And it's in New York. It's at Beth Page. Which seems like an Adam Scott type of course. Yeah, I like Beth Page and I've liked playing in New York. I've had some success. I've won a tournament over well it was in Jersey at Liberty National I won a few years ago and uh enjoy the crowd here a lot. They can they haven't gotten on me too bad. They can really ride some people out there. They give a hard time to? Uh well the obvious one was Sergio all those years ago at Beth Page. They were giving him pretty hard time. That's when he would take you know, he was doing the re gripping thing and you it's tough but uh, you know, he didn't help himself. I think he flipped him off. So that's gonna really get him upset. That'll that'll do it. Yeah. To be fair, he was doing the regripping a lot. I think it's a lot. It was a lot. Yeah. To defend my fellow New York golf bands, you know. Yeah No, but it's a f it really is a fun atmosphere. We were here for the President's Cup last year and you know, I was obviously on the wrong team to get any support that week, but it really makes for a fun atmosphere. That's part of the fun of this job for me is is trying to play good and and see if I can get um people cheering out there and uh it's fun to be in that position. So yeah, Beth Page next year with a PGA will be fantastic. Hopefully it's a mild winter and and we can get some warm weat
Unknown her in May. Yeah. So we we played wing foot today and obviously an extremely challenging course by my standards. How different will it be by 2020 when the US Open is there? Because it was I mean the rough today was
Unknown rough. Yeah, I thought I thought, well look, it was in beautiful condition today, but the rough was there. And we both found it a little bit. There was some hacking. And uh I'd say it'd be twice as long for the US Open, so whatever you however you I don't know what length you thought it was today, but it's twice twice And they're quite an intimidating set of greens at Wingedfoot. It's a little bit like uh showing up at Disney Putt Putt, the first green. You're like really Is this a green? It is, yeah. So when they get fast, um you know you you can really lose your mind out there. So it's gonna be I'd expect it to be fast and and very difficult, rough. And it was the last time we were there, so why would it be any different? Sure.
Unknown Do you ever go around to just like county courses and just kind of blow people's mind and shoot fifty five or something like that and just you know really really take it to take it home. I uh I feel like I would do that. I was just gonna
Unknown say I feel like Ben is projecting. Maybe it's a good idea. Maybe I should do that for a little confidence here and there and just go and and shoot some low numbers. Uh occasionally, uh look, sometimes when I go and play with some friends, we we go and play some uh munis back at home. I I have no problem doing that. That's fun this it's gotta be fun for me when we play social gol I gotta have some fun and there definitely can be some beverages and and you know it just doesn't matter. But occasionally I've shot good scores doing that.
Unknown So you mentioned a minute ago getting getting the crowd into it. I think people have this idea that golf is this like quiet, genteel thing with a soft clap at the end. But like you're playing a professional sport at an extremely high level. Like what what is that like? How how does the crowd get into it? How does that affect your game
Unknown ? I think you've got to give him a little something to get a little something back. And uh it doesn't you know, I think Tiger's been a great showman. He if you want to look about someone getting into it, I mean he really draws them into it because that's to his advantage. He likes that. And it's off putting for his opponent. So he likes that even more. Uh but as long as you just don't get intimidated 'em like the New York crowd and uh you know, get 'em off side, then they they're gonna want you to do well most of the time. Of course not everyone likes every player but uh and so if you just give 'em a little little something they'll r they'll really start supporting is what I find. You know, a little crowd appreciation and a or interaction somewhere. And if they get that feel like you're at least not a robot out there, then
Unknown they're gonna get behind you. And so golf is such a mental game. I mean you really have to clear your mind of everything else. Do you practice meditation? Do you do anything to really clear your mind when you play, or do you you're so dialed in now it doesn't even matter
Unknown ? Probably before before big rounds, there's a lot more going on, you know, to try and calm the mind. Right. You know, there's a lot of thought. You can't help but think about winning when you're in a situation like the PGA and you don't want to you know, you've got to stay here right now on this shot, not think about your speech with the trophy, you know, this kind of stuff. So you've got to you do have to understand at least what you're doing. I don't really do meditation, although I do th do things to make me feel calm or energized uh sometimes on the course and sometimes away from the course. I like surfing and I grew up around the beach, so the ocean's a big thing just generally away from golf obviously, for me to go get in the water, kind of clear my mind and come out really energized, whether I'm surfing or just in the water with my kids even. So uh and then on the course I just have to understand like okay my mind's racing let's really start slowing down and for me it's like first let's walk slow and then I start breathing slow and then hopefully thinking slow. Cool. Ye
Unknown ah. Well, we have a couple questions that we're gonna fire off as a little bit of a a lightning round here. This will be, I think, the first time we've done this on the show. So if you can just give me short answers to these questions. I'll do my best. Yeah. If you if you want to go longer, you can go longer. But but feel free to answer them with short answers. We talked about this a little bit, but what watch has been catching your eye lately? I'd have to
Unknown say a 6263. Yeah. Yeah. That's the one. I I have to say I think it I just have to have one eventually.
Unknown I think I think we can probably help with that. Ben Ben is good for for many things. Chief among them, finding data. Mostly that. What's the best place you'
Unknown ve traveled in the last year? Oh in the last year. Where have I where has been a really good trip in the last year? I'm so lucky I get to go to all these great places all the time. You played golf in Nova Scotia. I did. That was a great trip. That was about a year ago. Yeah, that was a really great trip. I went up to Nova Scotia and played at Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Lynx. Okay. And that was as a golf trip. I mean I I rarely do them, but I went with my dad. It was a fantastic fantastic trip and that was kinda out there and I I like that going a bit remote for the golf, you know. Cool. Do you have any guilty pleas
Unknown ures a few of them. We've got pictures.
Unknown Through them surfboards to I've definitely amassed way too many surfboards. Is there a collectible surfboard world? Like is there is there that type of Uh yeah, for the diehard guy, you could definitely appreciate. I don't think it's anything like the watch watch collectibles but uh you know there's there's some beautiful old boards, you know, really good craftsmanship and they look great that have that have stood the test of time. Cool. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? And who gave it to you? Yeah. My goodness. I I was given some good advice that I've never been able to manage, and that was to really become great at managing my time and it's my one of my biggest flaws. I've got plenty of flaws, but I'm shocking at managing my time. I just I'm most often late and uh It seems like you're doing okay from the outside. Yeah, I I was gonna say I don't think it's I think the guy who gave me that so the guy who gave me that advice was one of my heroes, Greg Norman, growing up as a kid, and he's like the ultimate gung ho up at 4 30 every morning and his motto is attack life. And I definitely didn't fall out of the same tree in Australia as Greg. I mean I do love life, but I I just am not charging quite like him. You're a little bit more chill than Greg Norman. Greg Norman also noted Watch Guy. That's right. We just did a talking talking watch guy. I saw it. It was very
Unknown cool. Uh who's the living person you admire the most another tough one.
Unknown That's what Steven's here for. That's a tough question. I wish I had some prep time on these. I uh I'd have to say uh look, I'm gonna say my dad, and that's kind of a sentimental one, but uh you know, he's sacrificed heaps for me because his whole life's been golf and then his kid comes along and becomes the one the number one player in the world and won the Masters and kinda his recognition's been gone out the window but he's done so much and and he sits back and and doesn't uh doesn't get too flustered by it. So, you know, I That's great. Yeah, that's very cool. That's a good answer. That's not a cliche answer at all. That's a great answer. Uh what's the thing you're looking forward to most right now? I'm really looking forward to playing my next tournament actually. And I haven't been this excited about golf. I I do love golf, but you have your ups and downs like in any job. But I at the moment I'm really hyped about playing my next tournament.. Okay The PGA felt good, huh? It did. It really did feel good, yeah. I was buzzing out there today a little bit. You know, I'm I'm pretty mellow, but I was really enjoying it today too. Yeah,
Unknown I mean it for me anyway, today was was such a special thing. It really was. And then to see Adam, you know, playing very well I would say. Yeah. Minus four today. Yeah, something min
Unknown us three or four. Yeah. That's not so bad. That's not so bad at all. Yeah. Yeah, I'd like about four more of those later this week. Yeah. And what's your favorite golf course on the planet if you had to pick just one? On the planet on the planet, Cypress Point in California is probably my faviteour, but I I have to say Kingston Heath in Australia, uh just 'cause I want to give it a shout out. There is such a fantastic golf course. I really love playing there as well. It just doesn't have the Pacific Ocean views like Would you ever design your own course? Yeah, I'm I've had lots of offers to design courses and uh I'm hesitant to really get into it, probably because no one likes any cour not everyone likes all courses and it's not the criticism that I want but uh that I'm afraid of even. I just I I just haven't got to that point. I don't I don't know why. Maybe one day I'd like to do one and just see what happens. Maybe after the playing career is is is over. Yeah. Yeah. If someone wants to let me have a have out a nice piece of land. Where would you want to put it if you could put a course somewhere? I I'd want to put it somewhere near where I live. I'd like to have my own golf course to play at and uh and you know, enjoy a nice facility. I mean there's nothing more when I go to a club like Wingfoot and you see the membership and it's a really nice atmosphere and they're all so passionate about their golf course there. I miss that being on tour, we just come in and mess the whole golf course up and we leave and we don't we don't really get to s I miss like I said growing up at the club as a kid was a really great experience for me and I'd so I'd like to have that later in life. Yeah, it's funny
Unknown today today at Winkfoot you were so excited to go to the Pro Shop. I was like you're Adam Scott, why didn't you go to the Pro Shop? But you were genuinely excited to go in there and kind of be part of of the the experience in the community. Yeah, well they've
Unknown they have neat stuff in some of these shops. There's really good stuff and I I'm a geek on that stuff. I ended up buying a putter head cover and a hat and and a bottle opener that had a Wingfoot logo on it, you know. They're just like a Wingedfoot logo. So uh I I do like all that stuff and we just don't get the chance to do it
Unknown much. You know, one thing that that just came to me as as you were talking about your golf course is when we interview Jack uh Nicholas at his home, Jack Nicholas lives on Jack Nicholas Way. That's right. Which is an incredibly cool thing. That is so cool. That's how you know you've made it when your stre
Unknown et is named after you. I'm definitely struggling 'cause at the moment in uh the Bahamas I live on Woods Drive, so you know, I'm not killed. Is it named that is it tiger? It is it is it is after Tiger. So yeah it,'s tough. We gotta we gotta petition somebody to get this changed. It's all good. It's a great spot down there. But uh yeah, the Nicholas thing's cool and he's built like four hundred courses. Yeah. Yeah. He really is
Unknown . Cool. So just to wrap things up, uh I think we're running short on time here, but uh we always like to close the show with a cultural recommendation. So Adam, if we can start with you, do you have something you'd like to recommend to the listeners that they check out this week? Sure. Uh
Unknown being a guy who travels a lot I guess I I'd like to recommend a place for people to look at their travels and uh my hometown which is very close to Noosaheads in Queensland, Australia. And uh I think it's I like to call it God's country down there, and it's a place where I dream to move back to one day and my my favourite surf spot is right there off Noosa Headland. It's a national park. You walk about 15 minutes from the little town, you see no uh cars, no buildings, nothing once you're out on the headland and you surf with nature right there. It's a really great spot but very close and that's called Tea Tree Bay in Newson Park. So if you're ever down there you want to go out in Newson National Park. It's very nice. Perfect.
Unknown Cool. Ben? Uh so my recommendation for this episode is a restaurant called Atomics. Okay. Which is kind of a hot cuisine Korean restaurant that's I think I saw you Instagram this year. I did, yeah. A friend of mine took me to last week. And I'm not a real fancy food type of guy. I'm much more of like a steak and potatoes type of guy, or buffalo chicken wrap, as it were, today. Uh which was delicious, by the way. Yeah, that's a good choice. The menu was good out there. It was a great tough choice. Great menu, yeah. Uh but atomics is this wonderful uh maybe 12 to 16 seat prefixed restaurant on 30th Street or thereabouts in kind of midtown east. It's this Korean couple, husband and wife. The husband is the chef, the wife is kind of the hostess, and it's really just this wonderful, really exotic, but really kind of refined and interesting uh dining experience. So again, about 16 seats, 12 to 16 seats. Uh they do two seatings per night. Uh and it is it is just the most wonderful Korean food you could possibly imagine, but really interesting takes on things. They do do the the normal stuff with the caviar and things like that, but there's a lot kimchi involved. And it's it's you just you go in and you you're taken care of, and that's it. Uh and it is really a special place. It's really beautiful. You would love the architecture. It's just beautiful. It's in a town home, uh as I said, in in midtown east that is really kind of unassuming. You know, like I walked by it twice. I didn't even see the sign. It's A T O M I X Atomics.. Okay And they're they had previously done a restaurant called Attaboy. Oh yeah. Yeah. So this is like the high end Attaboy. Cool. And you know they're they're tight with the people at Noma and things like that. And it was just a really neat experience. You know, I I I'm seldom really satisfied with with those type of you know this was a 10 course meal. And that that's just not me. Uh but this one was really special and fun and they do these beautiful little cards that that tell you what each dish is and, then they wrap it up at the end of it. It was really a a neat experience. So highly recommended for sure. Cool. I'm gonna recommend somet
Unknown hing way less refined than that, which is the HBO series succession. Okay. Uh which I binged this past weekend pretty hard. It is I guess sort of a drama slash sort of political thriller, I guess, a little bit, about a family that's based on the Murdoch family, uh that runs a media empire and the kind of event that kicks it all off is the father who founded this company is supposed to retire and pass it to his son and then he decides not to. Um and it kicks off this huge chain of event The acting is top-notch. Um you're gonna want to sit down and watch it all in like two or three days. You're not gonna be able to stop it. Yeah, it's good. Yeah. Yeah. I watched it.
Unknown Yeah. It's good. That's cool. Cool. Uh one more thing I wanna I wanna just mention because I know I'm gonna get this question. I've already been getting, I have a few friends that I mentioned I was playing with you today. Uh I want to mention the fact that that Adam Scott drove a green today or just off to the left. And that was just like, oh man, like this is such a different league of of of play than than anybody I'm I'm used to playing with. I g
Unknown otta say, I'm so glad you showed him up 'cause if come if he had come back and been like I kinda was hanging there. He would have been insufferable. There was
Unknown no question about that. That's okay. I'm glad I can do you guys a favor anytime with that. But uh no it it was really a treat to play with you today. No, thank you. It's been really fun and thanks for having me on here. I'm really honored to be on it and I'm a big fan, so I'll keep spreading the word. Thanks. Thanks for joining us. Thank you very much
Unknown . Thank you to Adam and Ben for joining us. This week's episode was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen and recorded at Mirror Tone Studios in New York City. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference. Thank you, and see you next week. Mm-hmm.