R4, HOLE 2: What Will Golf Be Like Without Tiger Woods? J.R. Smith & Stephen Malbon from The Masters

J.R. Smith

Unbelievable. The dudes you won't see on the weekend. DJ Spieth, Hovland, Harmon Fowler, Adam Scott. Or Hideki gone. And song Jay, DJ Havlan.

Stephen Malbon

Spieth. Spieth. I never thought I would say that. Augusta for Spieth, you know, just missed the cut. Ricky Fowler.

Damn. Wait, so Ricky. Ricky gone. Justin and Jordan is gone. So the trio's gone.

J.R. Smith

The little. The dorks.

Stephen Malbon

The fucking Dorks club. Yeah, the nerds. Justin Rose out. Oh, shit. Rosie's out.

Remember we told you what was happening with the cut? How it kept every gust, it was up. The fucking cut is seven over, six over. You're in. So Rom's in.

J.R. Smith

She finished the six, I believe. No, so that wasn't even true. So Fowler's six under projected cut? No, because that fucking cut keeps going up. The windier it is, people aren't in.

Stephen Malbon

Is Sungjae is seven under. Justin Rose Garcia. Zach Johnson. Justin. Justin Thomas.

Wyndham Clark, seven over Hoveland. Here's all the eight. Hovland, Spieth, Bubba out. That's why when you talk to Bubba, he was. He was getting the jet organized for sure.

He getting the fuck on. Dustin Johnson, 13 over. Them dudes just don't care or some shit. Dj, what does he care? He just rich and over it.

I mean, it's okay. It's okay. No, honestly, I think they care. It's like, bro, somebody made a, like, brought up a great point about Rahm. And then today, I think it really shows that, like, bro, he won three tournaments before Augusta last year.

He was on one. He was on one. You got that rhythm of playing and, like, consistently, like being there. And then, like, when you're not consistently working on your game four or five days a week, getting prepared for a tournament, and then, you know, by the time shit week six, seven rolls around, you ready to go. But if you don't have that time and you only playing, hopefully Miami, 54 holes, we'll play Dubai, 54 holes.

J.R. Smith

And what other event do they have? Miami, Dubai, Vegas, in the last, what, five months? You can't play. You can't play like that. Not nine compete.

Now, when you plan to get dudes who play every other week, at least that's my only knock about, Liv, for real. They don't play enough. They don't play enough. If you don't play enough, then the guy's not practicing enough. You're not practicing enough.

You're not gonna be prepared enough. You're not prepared enough. You go out that bitch and miss the cut shit. Especially at Augusta. That Augusta ate them motherfuckers up.

I mean, yeah, later on in the day got fucked up, but earlier they didn't seem that bad. But you saw it if it start ripping, I was like, damn, what time we left? Like 3230 started to rip. Hello, everybody. Per usual, we would like to give a big warm welcome to one of our favorite sponsors on earth, Topgolf, for bringing us peach ice cream in Augusta, Georgia.

Stephen Malbon

Thank you for all you do, Steven Marvin. Oh, my goodness. Let's get what's up, everybody. Welcome back to the world famous part three podcast. I am one of your hosts, Junior Smith.

J.R. Smith

This is obviously my co host, Stephen Malvin. We are live from Berkman's place over here in Augusta, Georgia. We are having a ball, we. This is day two of Augusta, Georgia. We've seen some great rounds today.

Steve, how you think is going? Going good. The weather today was wild. It was a bit windy out there and it was interesting to see the cut line go from three over. That was the cut.

Stephen Malbon

Then it went to four, then it went to five, then it went to six. So people were scrambling to get in and stay, you know, keep the score three over. But the wind was whipping so hard out there that like, that's what I kept thinking. It's like the cut's gotta go up. And it was shocking to see the people who didn't make the cut.

Spieth man, Justin Thomas. Himathy. My man sung. Jm. He didn't make it.

Him and the wave. God. But Ricky. Ricky didn't make it. Bubba.

J.R. Smith

Bubba. We saw Bubba out there, so can I. So we just saw Bubba. And when Bubba was walking by, junior hit Bubba with a, hey, bubba, I came to watch you play golf today. You're welcome.

Stephen Malbon

And he turned and looked awkward as hell. And then he saw it was junior. And was like, what's up, my man? Bubba, they're hugging his shit. So I was like, oh, what was that?

Why'd you talk to bubble like that? And then someone explained it if you could. Cause I didn't know what the hell on and not me. I'm just like, this dude is wild. All the fans, the patrons were like, did he just say that?

I came to watch you play today. You're welcome, son. Nah, shout out to Bubba, man. So me and Bubba, we tight, man. That's my dog.

J.R. Smith

We linked in Orlando about 2016, right after the championship, I think 2015 maybe before he took me out to Isworth and like really like that's when I seen, and this is when he's, like, the number one player in the world. So this is like when I seen the LeBron James of golf being LeBron James, just messing around. You know, I've seen LeBron playing practices, I've seen kyrian practices and seeing these dudes do certain types of things, but when you're with a professional PGA Tour player and you're playing with them and they start hitting shots that you, like, wouldn't even dream of hitting, it's very surreal. And, you know, for me, like, to watch Bubba. Cause for me, Bubba is a shot maker.

You know, whenever he has creativity, whenever he sees a shot, and you can see his mind working, and he feels as though he could pull every shot off. And for me, like, I really connected with me in the basketball realm. But long story short, how we got to that term, he came to the Orlando game after we played Osworth playing in the game, and, you know, I don't think I played that well. I was shooting pretty bad, and we were, you know, giving each other smack back and forth the day before on a golf course, and he's like, hey, junior, I can't even watch you play. You're welcome.

Stephen Malbon

So it was kind of like full circle. Yeah, full circle is kind of throwing back. But unfortunately, I didn't know he wasn't playing that well and didn't make the cut, so it was probably bad timing. He was calling the jet. Yeah.

Yeah. He was packing the kids up and getting gone, man. But it was good to see him. It was good to see his wife, it was good to see his daughter, see the family. You know, just being around them is really good energy, and to see them, it was fun.

J.R. Smith

You know, unfortunately, obviously, he didn't make the cut, but this is an event where a lot of the pros, you know, don't take for granted, understand the privilege that they have to be able not only to be invited, be able to be. To be able to play the sport at the level that they do, and to be able to see him walking with his kids and, you know, seeing his family walk alongside him as he's playing, it was like. It was very inspiring in a way. You know, it's everything that you want as a. You know, as a man.

You go out there and try to provide and protect and do all these things, but to know that it's appreciated and it's being reciprocated on the other end by them taking the time out to come up and watch you play and grind, it's hand to hand. And I really enjoy that part of it. Look, it was cool to see, you know, we didn't know if he made the cut or not. We didn't know what he shot at all. But whatever it was, he didn't look too upset.

He had his kids with him. It was like, you know, he's a member of Augusta. He already won it once. Like you say, there's, like, a privilege of being there. I mean, I feel privileged being there, just walking around it.

Stephen Malbon

I remember when we got out on, you know, two or three or whatever, it was like, dude, look at this place. It's special. We were walking towards Amen corner, and, like, for me, like, it really hit when it was just like, there's a lot of people who walk around this place and walk around these places, and especially aggressive for however long they've. They've been going or whatever, but we've. We were fortunate enough, you know, shout out to Charlie, but we were fortunate enough to walk it with Luke Donald and watch shots with a.

J.R. Smith

With a guy who's played in this tournament. Not only played in this tournament, but, like, played it at a elite level to where, you know, he's not just a regular guy who made. Who played the PGA Tour for a couple years is Luke Donald. He's talking about Luke Donald. So Luke Donald toured us around today and walked us around and was telling us stories from here, from there.

Stephen Malbon

He told us the story where Tiger. He told me Tiger hid it in the water. When you went to the bathroom, and we were waiting out there for you, he said that he's like, right, there's where Tiger did the illegal drop. And I'm like, what's the illegal drop? And so he basically, he hid it in the water, and you can go up to the water and drop, and you can come back as far as you want.

Right. But he decided to drop where he was, which you have two options. Drop, go to where it went in the water, and you can come back and pick your distance and drop. But he went from exactly where he hit it in the water, and then he went two yards back and dropped it. Yeah.

And he just had a brain slip. Like, he just made a mistake. He just forgot that you can't do that, you know? And then when he was done, they gave him a two stroke penalty or whatever. So he told that story pretty interesting.

And then another story. He said he was. He chipped in on, you know, two or something for eagle, and he was one back, and he's going on one back in the master on 80. Chipped in, he chipped in on eight. He now he's one back.

He goes on nine, hits a perfect drive, had a nine iron coming in, and he said he was setting up to hit the nine iron. Everything's good. And then he could hear a lady talking and, like, messing around with her chips, you know, making noise and such. So he said he stepped off it, no big deal, stepped back in, got right, hit the best nine he's ever hit. And he said, as soon as he hit it, he turned and looked and was like, this is money.

And then he said, at that point, it was like a weird feeling of just this huge gust of wind. Like ten cup. Like ten cup. That's what he said. It was like tin cup.

And hits the front of the green, rolls all the way back down. Nine. It's the false front, really high up, green rolls all the way back down. Chipped it up, came back, chipped it up, came back, chipped it up, made triple bogey. And that was the closest he had ever come.

And that was on a Sunday. And he was in second when he made the eagle. He was in second until a triple. And he went back and he ended up. I think he said he finished 10th.

Yep, that's his best finish at the Augusta. And now a word from our sponsors. Whether you're a world class athlete or a podcaster, we all understand the importance of mental and physical well being and proper recovery for top notch performance. That's why we are excited that Unified healing is sponsoring this episode of the par three podcast. What is the EE system?

Unified Healing is a new and super innovative global network of wellness centers powered by energy enhancement system, or EE system. If you haven't heard of the EE system yet, you'll want to listen up. This technology promotes wellness, deep relaxation, purification, and rejuvenation. Whether you're in California or hundreds of other locations across the globe, access to a center is easy and affordable. Interested in experiencing the EE system technology for yourself?

Go to unifiedhealing.com par to learn more and find a center near you that's unifealing.com par. No material or testimonials on the unified healing website are intended to be viewed as medical advice or the substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regime, including the EE system. Walking around that dude. Junior's a humble dude.

Stephen Malbon

He's got people coming up to him constantly. Jr. I love what you did for New York, for Cleveland, this, that, and the other. And he looks at me and he's like, bro, we're walking with Luke. Donald Trump talking to me.

That's Luke. Donald, you had a golf event. It's like, okay, I can see if we're at March Madness, or I can see if we're at, you know, the finals or playoff basketball or any type of basketball event, but, like, we're at a golf event, and this is Luke Donald Walker with me, telling me me stories and everything else. And y'all like, oh, junior Jr. Jr.

J.R. Smith

Like, bro, I don't know if y'all know, but, like, he's the guy. He is the guy. He's the guy. He was the captain. I heard him.

Stephen Malbon

Did you see when he did the Ryder cup? He got up and he spoke in Italian. Did you see it? No. So they went.

They went up. Zach Johnson, he tried to talk, and he didn't do so well. But then Luke talked. And Luke just was fluent. Just, he put it together like he practiced.

You know, he had his little welcome speech or whatever to the people in Italy, and he spoke proper Italian and very elegantly or whatever. I was like, damn, this dude is on it. And when I played it, the ohoopy alpha match with Grayson, he was my partner. Oh, okay. You know, and then when you.

Today, we saw your partner. Who was it? The green coat. How about the green coat? I wish there was a green coat.

J.R. Smith

Oh, man, I forgot his name, bro. He had those fucking hiking shoes on today, but the church socks. Yeah, with the copper woven. Dane. Dale.

Stephen Malbon

Dale or something, right? Charlie's homie. Charlie's homie. He's a good dude. He live in Denver, man.

J.R. Smith

Shout out to Colorado. My 303 people. Dawg, did you meet any green coats today? No, I didn't, man. I met.

I met a guy who had the potential to take over, like, the chairman of the PGA at some point, but I didn't get to meet any green coats. It's kind of like. It's weird, man. Cause I kind of get scared. Like, honestly, like, I had a couple of guys, you know, guys with passes and everything else, and they're like, yo, man, come on this side of the ropes and this and that.

And, like, I'm like. And normally I'm a rule breaker. Like, I don't, like, fuck it, like shit. All right, this is August, but this is Augusta. Like, and I told one of my boys, like, listen, man, maybe not right now, but like 30, 40 years.

Like, bro, I still got a chance of getting in here. I don't want to fuck that up. I don't want to mess that up. I got the green coast looking behind me, like, hey. Hey, man, you want a drink?

Stephen Malbon

Like, I do, but not right now. Just, like, bring it around the side, bro. Like, bring it around the corner. The green coach. Yeah, it's definitely like Augusta is that place, right?

It's like you got patrons all over the place watching. You got tournaments. You got pr. You got agencies, the coaches and the trainers and the press and every other thing everywhere. But you can't tell anybody who's who, but you can tell these dudes with the Green masters jacket, that's somebody.

J.R. Smith

No, he's somebody. I don't know who this guy is or who this guy, but he's that guy. And they're all just. All these random dudes that are just walking around in their green coats, and they got people with them. They got their grandkids, their wives.

Stephen Malbon

This one people they're hosting, they're giving them a tour of their own home. Course. That's the thing that's so wild is, like, those dudes are members. So, like, everyone is a guest of them. You know what I mean?

It's like, if your club, wherever you're a member, you know? And if they have, like, a PGA tournament there, it's like, well, you're still a member. It's like, it's actually still your clubhouse. So they're all guests. Like, you're letting them in there, but at the end of the day, it's your clubhouse.

And that's how them is. It's their course. It's their club. That place is something else. That place is special, man.

J.R. Smith

Like, I like even hitting a merchandise tent. Obviously, they got memorabilia everywhere, and it's like a grown man's Disneyland, but, like, just as efficient as it's run. Like, granted, we waited a little while till we were about to leave, and the line died down. Cause the line was obviously much longer when we first got there. It just seems like it's not really that hard to get what you need and continuously, you know, and go watch golf and move on about your day.

Whether it be a drink, whether it be a sandwich or food, clothes, whatever. It's just very. The chain is always moving. There's not really many kinks in the chain. And if there is, I'm pretty sure Augusta's like, okay, well, we'll substitute this kink out and put this one in, and then it'll keep running.

Stephen Malbon

So, a few years back, I don't know how many years ago. They obviously sell a lot of merch. They got a lot of stuff coming in. They got FedEx, UPS, all these trucks delivering stuff, getting ready for the tournament, this, that, and the other. They said, look, I'm sick of looking at all these trucks.

So they built a tunnel to go under and then have the garage underneath the merch tent and an elevator to come up and restock it, because they're selling millions and millions of dollars of merch. So that merch thing gets cleaned out. The next day it's full. So you can't have people riding in UPS trucks and shuttling shit in there with all the patrons everywhere. So they go under the ground, and they elevator it up to restock it.

But you never even see this going on when you're out there, you hear birds chirping. It's like no one work. It doesn't look like it's a heavy lift, but the amount of organization and the amount of expertise they put into that thing, there's nothing like that I've ever seen. I've never seen anything run like that. Like, even for you, I'm sure when you go to stadiums and it's like this shit is kind of chaotic, right?

It's. Nothing is like that. Well, run. These people whispering, if you talk, the bathrooms are perfect. They're lined.

You're going in. They got all these stalls. There's a dude going, you, you, you. And everybody's saying, good morning. Welcome to the masters.

J.R. Smith

Yes. Right? Like, that's everyone. Every single person working there is, have a wonderful day at the Masters. That's all you hear.

Stephen Malbon

Like, when you're going into the bathroom, there's three, four people tell you, I hope you're having a wonderful day at the masters, 100%. So it's all the way through. When you're leaving, I hope you had a wonderful day at the Masters. When you walk in and beep your thang, have a great day at the Masters. It's like, chills, bro.

J.R. Smith

I said that today when we were walking through. He was like, have a great time at the Masters. At the Master. At the Masters.

Forever, man. I felt unaddressed. I'm not gonna lie. I went in there with a sweatsuit on the day, and they made me feel like I was just fucking JJ from good times or some shit, man. Oh, damn, bro.

I felt bad, but I felt bad for me, man. And now a word from our sponsors. Its tournament and major season in the world of golf, and we, at par three podcast, are locked in on prize picks, Americas number one fantasy sports app, where you can turn your golf knowledge into serious cash. You can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks. With as little as four correct picks, prize picks is the best way to get action on sports in more than 30 states across the country, including California, Texas, and Georgia.

Prize picks is really simple to play. You can make picks and submit your entry in less than 30 seconds. Prizepix now offers Apple Pay for quick and easy deposits par three. Podcast has cashed out on Prizepix before, and they'll do it again. Download the app today and use code par three for a first deposit match of up to $100.

That's code par three for a first deposit match of up to $100. Pick more. Pick less. It's easy par three, and prize picks are coming for the top of the golf leaderboard. Together, our picks get paid prizepix.com par.

J.R. Smith

Three obviously, the Internet has broken. Yeah, the Internet has broken. Jason day wore a vest today. And. Quote unquote, because he didn't finish well.

He finished the rest of his round from yesterday, which was six holes, right? Yeah, he finished six holes. Where's the vest? And then comes back out with no vest because they asked him to take it off. But I loved it.

Me, personally, I loved it. I know. Obviously you loved it. If you didn't, you would have designed it. But, like, you know how they always say no publicity is bad publicity to me in this?

I feel like this is the best publicity possible. Yeah, there's a lot of publicity. There's breaking barriers. And, you know, the only thing worse than people talking about you is people not talking about you. Right.

Stephen Malbon

Like, and it makes me think of all the other brands that are there, all the other people there, all the other designers that work their ass off. How many brands each year design green and yellow something shoes? This, that? Everybody is just trying to do it. And for.

For Jay to go out there and rock how he did and get the exposure he did. And it's just interesting. It's just like he wore baggy pants first day. They're high waisted, pleated, baggy nylon pants. And I don't think those old green coats are disrespected.

I think they look at it and say, that's what Sam Snead wore. That's what Bobby Jones wore. Yeah. It's different fabrication. It's done modernly.

You got drawstrings on the bottom, and it's a wind pan and things like this. But, like the Internet's just full of people that are Twitter fashion experts, but golfers. Right. So it's like they're just. The opinions are so strong that, like, you know what I mean?

You don't have to do that much. Tutor fashion experts, golfers, but have a full time job and kids. Yeah. You know, I think a lot of that, too, obviously has to do with who he was paired with. Oh, yeah.

I mean, you were the big cat. If he's not paired with Tiger woods, he wouldn't have been on the tv for 48 hours straight. He wanted to have had the exposure. You couldn't get around it. They followed Tiger with that tv.

That's all they remember. We were watching it. It's like all you. If you watch the last. The first two days of the masters, you basically saw Max, Jason, and Tiger.

Cause they were in the group. And then. How about when we were out? When you're out there, like, the whole thing's empty when you're up at the club. I said, we're up there at the clubhouse behind the big tree, hanging out.

We're over here. We're going on a tour with Luke and this, that and the other. There's no. There's plenty of room because Tiger has. Two thirds of the patrons are all.

J.R. Smith

Wherever he is, 100%. Like, literally, when he walked off the green to finish his 1st, 18, dude. You could barely walk up there. You could barely move. Yes.

From the time he finished, people scattered. The time he came back, it was back to, he can't move sardine. Then, literally, like, I've never. I've never had. I've never seen that effect live in a golf.

Stephen Malbon

Golf course. Yeah. I've never seen it since, like, I've been to certain events, but Tiger didn't play. But, like. And I've seen certain impacts that, you know, that certain players have.

J.R. Smith

But it really makes sense to me now. Like, what tiger brings to the game. Like, I've never seen, like, no, it's like grown men standing 15 people back. Picture a line, right? A line of people.

You got one row, two row, three rows, four row. You got 15 rows of men like this on tiptoes.

Stephen Malbon

Oh, he twirled it. He did a twirl. Yeah, he twirled it. He twirled it. Gary loved that beat.

J.R. Smith

There is incredible. And not on top of that, like, to me, my whole thing was like, I hope he finishes. I just don't want him to wd. I just want him to finish it. Like, okay, you make the cut.

Cool. Make the cut. And finish throughout Sunday. But to be able to move, like, look at him moving. The way he's moving is the best.

He's moving since. He looked good. He looked good. Like, he's, like, he's marching down the fairways. He's marching to the tee boxes, and it's just like, damn, bro.

Stephen Malbon

Like, he birdied number one right out of the jump yesterday. Thursday. Thursday, birdied one, and it was on. He makes the cut.

He's insane. Anytime I've seen him, I've seen him at Riviera. I've seen him, you know, I don't know. I've seen him at Augusta before, but you almost feel bad for every other golfer because, like, I remember at Riviera when, like, Brooks was, you know, as big as he got. Rory and everybody else, this is four or five, five years ago probably, at Riviera.

And, like, they got five people watching them. You know, these are the biggest golfers in the world. And they got, like, their girlfriend, their mom, their coach, and their cousin. The other guy gets five and the other guy gets five. So you got 1520 people walking with every group, and you got 100,000 people with tiger, and they're running and knocking each other over and running to the get position.

Long day. Long drink the finish. Long drink, obviously peach flavor in Augusta, Georgia. Cheers. Tell you a funny story.

My man freckle face, lives down in San Diego, and he's been watching Torrey pines forever. He's San Diego local. He's a legend, this dude. So he had this husk, this trick that, on the par threes, when Tiger mania, when Tiger was the biggest thing in the world, he'd come into the course and he'd bring balls in his pocket, right? A couple golf balls.

So on the par three, you're up by the green. Tiger hit the ball, right? He. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Throw a ball, and then the whole crowd run and circle the ball, and then he'd step right up to the rope and the ball landed on the green, and he could watch a punt.

My man Franklin, he did it two, three years in a row, and the security had been watching him or something and ended up catching them and kicking them out because they were onto this dude. It was the same dude. The trick works every time. Throw the ball, you know, he's like, throw it in the rough over there. Everybody runs, circle around the ball.

They're all fighting an elbow and shit, like a mosh pit, holding it. And then the ball lands on the green. And freckles, he's up right in the front with his little homies and shit. They can watch him putt. That's the only way you can get a good look on him.

That was how about how people are going if tigers on two it's busy on two, three, four and five there's people going two, three holes up and getting in the bleachers and getting ready and getting positioned, whatever and they're just standing there for hour for just wait to see the man walk by and then you know and so it's, it just keeps moving like that. So the whole crowd is within two, three holes of where tiger is. Yeah. From his hole on three holes it's just packed and the rest of the course is empty. You just walk around like where is everybody?

J.R. Smith

It's crazy man. When I got, we kind of got separated a little bit. I know you went to, I had. To go meet somebody you had to. Go meet somebody and whatnot.

And I was walking with Luke I was walking with Luke and Charlie and we walked to 1718 and we were coming up 18 and I think Tiger might have been on like ten, maybe nine coming up. No, nine. Yeah. And I heard one of the loudest roars that I've ever heard. He chipped in.

That's what happened. I think he chipped in. I heard a roar and I'm just sitting here like holy shit. What the fuck is that? What happened?

Stephen Malbon

They love him. Luke looks right over, he said that's a tiger roar. I was like oh shit, it's different. He was like literally this is a PGA pro, played with the man, played against the man. Former number one in the world McDonald.

J.R. Smith

That's a Tiger roar. I'm like oh shit. Like that's incredible man. When you got like, and it speaks volume because like a game like golf where you have all of the best of the best out there at one point in time or one point in time or another but it's broken up opposed to having everybody on the field at the same time. Like a football, you got everybody.

The best players, quote unquote are always on the field at the same time. Basketball always on the field at the same time. Baseball majority of the time unless the guys at bat, they're always on the field at the same time. But in golf it's like okay, he could tee off at 01:00, somebody else tee off at 08:00. They missed, they completely missed the whole rush or whatever.

But like were you following two, three holes ahead of the guy? Yeah. Just to see him and to hear that he's like, he's literally like, he'll have a two foot putt after he just, you know, mister birdie, he's like, nah, let me mark this. Just cause I know if I tip this chat, tap this in, everybody else is gonna run over to the next time and it's gonna distract the guy I'm playing with. So, like, you know what?

Let me mark this. And, like, just even that level of forward thinking is like, it shows you the representative, like, the appreciation that he gets for the game. I was watching him on tv, whatever. Mainly cause I couldn't get close enough to watch him out there with Jason, but Jason hit a drive, rip it, hold the foul through. Perfect.

Stephen Malbon

And you hear, good job. Good job, Jason. And then Tiger starts walking, and then there's just, let's go, tiger. Let's go, tiger. Like, the paw hadn't landed, Jason's ball hadn't even landed.

And there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people screaming, let's get him, Tiger. They're fucking wild for him. He's an amazing difference. Remember back when he won at East Lake that year? They said, I remember they said, tiger, you haven't been out here or you hadn't been at this tournament or something for a few years.

And he said, either have the fans.

If Tiger goes and makes the cut Saturday, Sunday is on, he misses the cut. People are like, I'm getting my Tiger home. I'm going home the same without him. Thursday, Friday, I can have a good weekend Saturday, Sunday. What does golf need?

Tiger, obviously. What? Going 48 years old. 48. You know what I mean?

You know, it's hard to think about golf without Tiger when he does that shit we just experienced and what the tv is experiencing, right. And what it did to the Jason's pants. Like, it's like without him, it's a different game. It's a totally different game. It's a different viewing experience.

J.R. Smith

I just think it's gonna be hard for the game to survive if it doesn't become another icon in his stratosphere. And I say stratosphere, just like he doesn't have to be, he doesn't have to surpass him. He doesn't have to be like one or two notches below him. But he's got to be somewhere in that realm to gravitate the attention of the eyes, to bring people together opposed to, you know, just people almost not caring. And for me, I see a lot of tournaments and I look at it like, granted, yes, a lot of people are Ricky fans.

A lot of people are Jordan fans, Justin fans, or whatever else, but everybody's a Tiger fan, it seems like. No, I haven't met one person who's like, I hate Tiger fans. It's interesting, too, like, with Scheffler's winning, winning, winning, winning. But I don't think everyone out there is like, I hope Scheffler wins. No, where when Tigers win in, they're like, I hope he wins again.

Stephen Malbon

I hope he wins again. It was like Mike Tyson when he was just whipping out, you know what I mean? It's like 15 seconds. Let's put him out. Just get it over with.

J.R. Smith

I want this dude to win. Talk shit, go out, go to the. Limelight, you know, be in the seat. Like, it's not only Tiger's dominance of Goff, also, it's how he holds himself, how cocky he is. You know, like he said to the comment, like, well, I haven't been here, but either have the fans.

Stephen Malbon

It's like he knows how powerful he is. He always has, you know, even when Curtis Strange, who I met at the thing, I just was thinking for Curtis Strange's sake, like that one interview, Curtis Strange was like, this is your first masters. How do you think you're gonna do? Tiger was like, I'm gonna win. And he's like, you think you're gonna come out here and win?

You got the best golfers in the world out here. He said, well, I always thought if you're gonna show up to a tournament, show up to win, you know, in second place is the first loser or some shit, but, like, I'm here to win. And he said, you don't realize how hard it is, son. And Tiger said, well, I'm just being honest. I'm here to win.

He said, you'll learn. You'll learn, basically, boy. Right? You'll learn. And he's like, that's like, put his shoe in his mouth with that.

J.R. Smith

100%. Cause then the next however many years, the dude was like, I'm gonna, you know, and then he'd be up like seven strokes after Saturday on the field and go hit balls till dark at Augusta. It's like you're up seven going into Sunday, and you're the last dude on the range hitting balls. You know, they say basically, back in the day, you know how when you try to swing and you cross your arm over like that as you hit. The ball, you do like that.

Stephen Malbon

They say he used to have blisters here and here on his forearms from hitting so many balls and turning that thing over. And keeping it that tight where this forearm would press with this forearm, and he'd have double blisters hitting that many balls. Yeah. I don't see how it can ever, like, look, tigers mom and dad are very different than your traditional golf people. Right?

Both of them for their own, in their own ways. And I think that he had a chip on his shoulder because people may have looked at him different or thought, you know, what, do you work here? Or, like, you know what I mean? There was that. So there was that side of it.

He had something to prove. He was pissed. He's like, I'm going to beat them. I don't want to win by seven. I want to win by 14.

I want to lap them, basically. I want to make it embarrass people. I beat them so bad, so many weeks in a row. I think Scottie Sheffield, they said something like, you've been world number one for x amount of time. Are you starting to look at, like, what Tiger did?

He's like, check back in, in ten years. Like, I don't know. I've been number one in the world for however long. Like, I would need to do it again. It's like, tiger was number one in the world for you guys.

Put the stat up on the joint. He was number one in the world for x amount of wheat life for years. For hundreds of weeks. Yeah, for years. Crazy.

Number one in the world. Now you get these dudes. Number one in the world. Like, you know, Jason told me, he said he's gonna be number one in the world again. He said he knew what to do to become number one in the world.

He knows what to do. He knows the work. He knows what you need to do. He knows what all of this stuff to become number one in the world. But back then, he didn't know what to do to stay number one.

And then he starts getting invited. Yo, come, junior, come to the Cavs game. Come here. You're popping. Do this.

Nike wants you to do that. They're opening the casino. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. Next thing you know, you're not number one in the world again. Fucking God.

Tiger was just tunnel vision. And now a word from our sponsors. We are here to talk to you about unified healing segment of the day. This is what we talk about when we're. We're going to play golf tomorrow, but we're talking about recovery.

J.R. Smith

How do you recover after you play around with golf, Steve? I enjoy good sauna, steam room, hot tub, stretch, walk.

Stephen Malbon

If I've played, if I haven't played great, I like to recover by, like, you know, playing with the kids, hanging out with my kids, trying to get my mind off of it. If I've played great, I recover by calling my coach and telling them all the good shots I did, going back through it in my head what I hit here, what I hit there, but mainly just trying to stay calm. That lets me unplug and just sit on. Sit with my feelings a bit. I like that.

J.R. Smith

I like that. For me, honestly, I just got. I got back into biking. Really? Yeah.

So after I play around, especially if I walk, I like to ride and get like that. The blood flow back going just to continuously feel as though I'm doing something. When I sit still after I've played golf or after I've worked out, I get really bad cramps. I try not to, like, you know, just sit back no more. My legs.

Cause my legs will start to lock up, and it's just like, bro, like, I got a lot of miles on these legs. So the moment I sit down after being warm, and then, like, oh, man, that is a rough. That's a rough go. That's a rough go for me. So riding my bike and probably cannabis.

Cannabis has helped me a lot, you know, with cords, back pains, knee pain, joint, and just puts me in a mellow state to where I get back to where I need to be. And there you have it. What impressed you today, if anything, more about just the environment of Augusta? Not even just a plane. Like, what impressed you the most about today?

Stephen Malbon

I mean, today, I think it's just, like, you know, like, it just sounds like the same old shit. But, like, the thing is, they've got it so put together that. That merch experience, right? I got stuff in the Berkman, and that's a small experience. Then they got the thing across the street or whatever.

There's another experience. And then I've been into the membership retail space. So there's three different collections. And then the big merch joint you went in. Right?

But, like, there's thousands of pieces of merch. There's men's, women's headwear, homeware, dog collars. There's babies. Babies. There's infants, children's, you know, onesies.

Five different onesies. There's women's hats, men's hats, gloves. A white with a green thumb, a white with a white. A green with a green. You know, there's.

It's basically. And then another thing is impressive is that most of that stuff is the masters collection. So they're not buying album raw shit and embroidering the masters. It's their own full blown lines, massive, massive clothing lines. They had one that said, like, the, you know, the azalea performance line, and that's all.

They're like, drive shitty tech shit. And then they got over here, the, you know, the magnolia collection, the premium cottons, and over here, they got this and that. And another thing is interesting is that each of those different shopping experiences, the merch plays, there's exclusive stuff. So, like, this hat I got, you know, is a cashmere hat at from Berkman's. It has a gray Augusta logo.

It doesn't say the masters, right? And it's a cashmere dad hat, basically. And they had that in green, blue, and gray. And it sells out each day, and then they bring more in the next day because you got another x amount of people coming in. So the fulfillment, the design, the understanding of what sells.

I mean, how about when we're walking in, there was like, junior was fucking with people walking in, and they're all walking out big ass bags. So in the morning, people go in and buy as much shit as you can, and then you take it all back to your car, and then you come back in to the place. So junior's just strangers walking by, like, yo, how much for that bag? I buy that whole bag. It doesn't matter what's in it, right?

J.R. Smith

Yep. Oh, Ryan's report. What's up, my boy? We'll get Ryan on the show next. Ryan has been here.

Stephen Malbon

I think he said this is his 13 or 14th masters. We worked for Oakley for a long time, and Oakley does brand partnerships, even that, like, they do little collaboration. Oakley Frog skins and shit. You know, you're Oakley guy. So every year, they do x amount.

They do, you know, so it's like limited edition. You can only buy this here. You can buy this here. You can buy this here. How about the collars?

We wanted to buy collars for the Frenchies. Yeah. They said, nah, all the smalls are sold out. But if you come back tomorrow, there'll be more smalls. So it's just, like, unbelievable.

The amount that's very, to me, that was like watching you go in there and shop and seeing that experience. And, I mean, there's hundreds of people, for one. There's a thousand people in line sometimes, and it's zigzagging. And sheffield the other day, standing out front trying to get in. Gary, he's like, they don't know me anymore.

They forgot about me. They won't let me in. I can't stand in a line for 2 hours. Remember we came in, I told you it's a two hour wait. And then at the end of the day, we were leaving.

Now, luckily, it had emptied up, and we got to go in and buy some stuff. But I think that was impressive. What about you? What's the. What do you take from it?

J.R. Smith

I think for me, like, just how everybody just follows the rules. Like, for me, it's like, so many. Like, for me, I've been a rule breaker for a long time. And to see a lot of people, hundreds, hundreds of thousands of people, like, nobody's complaining about, oh, I got to give my phone up. Nobody's complaining about, oh, I can't stand right here.

Or everybody, like, everybody's happy. Yes. You know, somebody stepped on the back of my shoe, and it generally happens, but I don't, you know, get pissed off or whatever. Oh, my. Like, God, guys, like, sorry, my shoe.

Stephen Malbon

Got in front of you. Yeah, the guys like, oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. No worries.

J.R. Smith

Like, no, no, no, I really apologize. Sorry. It's just like, nice. Oh, shit. Like, this don't happen.

You can do that shit in New York? Like, oh, my bad. Oh, you ain't hear me, William? Fuck you, then, punk. Like, you know what I'm saying?

How about a stadium? If you were at the Knicks game, you say, everybody leave your phones, come into the game. No phones the night. We want you to enjoy the game. It'D be empty and they'd be sneaking.

Stephen Malbon

Them in and shit. Like, no one's sneaking in phones. Nobody's there trying. It's just like, I respect it so much. I'm just gonna, you know, I'll lay the law down, and that's what's gonna happen.

J.R. Smith

And two for me, like, everybody sees. Was it Magnolia Lane? Magnolia Lane. And they just assume there's, like, these big ass gates, and it's like, da da. It's the smallest of gates, and the fucking driveway is so small.

When you look down to the. I'm like, oh, shit, that was magnolia. You were like, yeah, that was. Yeah, bro. You can see the flag and the little yellow flowers that make the American.

I'm sure it doesn't take away from the drive, like, when you pull all the way in, but, like, at the front, I'm thinking, like, it's gonna be some huge ass. Welcome to Augusta, Nash. None of that. It's low key because you gotta think, this is Augusta, Georgia. And this is like a very low key place and the members there aren't loud.

Stephen Malbon

It's not like there's people pulling ferraris up in there and shit. Right? It is the opposite of that. Now, is there a private airport around the corner that's loaded with jets? But they're not.

You get what I mean? They're not like. They're not flossing like that. They're like country Georgia people. Yeah.

That have born and raised here and yeah, there's out of town CEO's and such to get in, etcetera. But, like, the place is basically built off of, like, the Berkman farm, you know, and it's an orchard. Like, they have all the. Every hole has a different name of a flower or tree or whatever, because that all was grown here before they built it. That's pretty dope, but, yeah, it's insane.

You guys should look up the history of Augusta and see how it all got to be what it is and get your ass down here sometime and. Give it a for sure.

It won't let you down. I'm not gonna lie. 18 surprised me. I felt like it wasn't that big of a turn of the corner from the tv, but you gotta rip a hook, like, pretty good to even get it to that bunker on the left side. Yeah, you gotta hit it hard to get it up that hill.

J.R. Smith

You gotta hit it, especially from the. Tips where they're hitting it. And then the wind and all that. And the next shot is sneaky hard. Dead uphill.

Stephen Malbon

Dead uphill, dead uphill. And they're hitting like, kind of like. Yes, they're. I didn't see a flat spot on that course, almost where it's like. You see this fairways and shit.

J.R. Smith

Yeah. And what about that pin? We were looking at that sneaky pin with Luke and he was showing us that pin that was way at the back. Seven oh seven in the back. And he was like 4ft on from the front.

And there's a bunker right there, right in the front that goes all the way around. And then you're like another 8ft behind the pin. If that, you're off and it's like, how do you land that right there? He's like, no, you just hit. You just hit it 25ft left and hope the ball rolls back to the right.

Stephen Malbon

Cause if you go at it, it's either gonna go over or it's gonna go to the right. And if it goes to right, it's gonna run all the way down to the fringe. Yeah. Yeah. Shane, hit a good shot.

That's awesome. Yeah. That place is so sick. Like, even. Like, even when Tiger was it two, he hit the bum drive.

J.R. Smith

Well, he had a pretty decent drive, but his second shot, he was trying to leave it short, right, to give himself a good look at birdie on the other side, but he kind of hit it a little deep, and that's when the patrons went around. When we were standing a little off, you guys went to the restroom, and I just looked at his shot, and I'm just like, that's probably actually the best shot to beat. That's probably the best place to be. He knows where to miss. And that's what Luke was saying.

He's like, he's been here a few times. He knows what he's doing. He didn't hit it there by accident. I'm just like, oh, okay. Like, that's impressive.

Stephen Malbon

I saw that the guy who won the open, harmon, who won the open championship last year, shot two under round one, decent front nine. This morning, back 947. And he's packing his bags. He's gone. But imagine a dude that good, and we were joking around.

Freddy couples shot 80. It's like, dude, if Freddy couples, what you say? You got the best swing you ever seen? The best one I've ever seen, bro. If he shot 80, what will we shoot?

J.R. Smith

I'm shooting 95. 95. And happy, this boy shot. Harmon shot 47, bro. It's like, I don't know what I would shoot in those conditions with the wind from those tips.

I don't know if I can finish, bro. He's shooting 80 from the fairway. Freddy don't miss fairways like that. He's got a nice, smooth, soft swing. He don't really miss fairways.

He shot 80 essentially from the fairway. That's incredible. That's how hard this place is. There's no way. There's so many.

Was it par four is like 488? Like, you might as well make that a par five, especially for a guy who's 50 plus. No way. And that's what I learned from blocking one time on those part. Like, on that 488 par four, if I played it, I would tell myself, oh, this is a short par five.

Stephen Malbon

I could easily birdie it. Cause if I tell myself, this is a long par four, I might double it. I might just say this. This is an easy par four. I could just bump one up there, try to get up and down for birdie.

Worst case, get the bogey and get gone. But if it's like, 488, I'm a birdie. It. You know what I mean. It might get ugly for sure.

Well, that's another episode of the world famous part three podcast. We'll see you next week from Augusta, Georgia.

R4, HOLE 2: What Will Golf Be Like Without Tiger Woods? J.R. Smith & Stephen Malbon from The Masters

Primary Topic

Episode Summary

Main Takeaways

Episode Chapters

1: Opening Thoughts

2: The Cut and Conditions

3: Reflections on Tiger Woods

Actionable Advice

About This Episode

People

Companies

Books

Guest Name(s):

Content Warnings:

Transcript