Exclusive Interview with Kevin Clark, host of "This is Football"
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00:00All right, we're coming to the end here of the in-game live all-access coverage of the
00:08152nd Open Championship, which means you get to hang with us here for another, let's say
00:1315-20 minutes or so, and then flip over to the Open itself and watch these guys come
00:18down the stretch and see who's going to win, declare a jug.
00:20We've got a lot of names near the top of the leaderboard.
00:22It's looking like it's going to be a fun day.
00:24But right now, I'm thrilled to have on Kevin Clark.
00:27And so, Kevin, of course, you probably know his show, a fantastic show.
00:31This is Football, produced by Omaha Productions for ESPN.
00:35He's a veteran of the Ringer, of the Wall Street Journal.
00:38He is a football guy.
00:39He's an Orlando Magic guy, but he's also a golf guy.
00:43And so, this is something you and I have started to kind of delve into the last few times we
00:47chatted about your love for this game and the way you've embraced it.
00:50And so, Kevin, I think a place to start is obviously, this is Football, a fantastic pod
00:55for anyone who loves both the sport, the culture around it.
00:58I wish I could bottle up that moment in your Josh Allen interview at the Super Bowl, where
01:04for a brief moment, he genuinely believes you're going to Pinehurst and you're going
01:09to break the course record.
01:14Golf circles and I.
01:15Oh, whoopie, and he's, you know, he can get on any course in the world.
01:20He's obviously been to Augusta a million times.
01:21I think he's played pebble with Tom Brady, if I'm not mistaken.
01:25Anyway, so we're talking about that.
01:26And I just mentioned I was going on a Pinehurst trip the month after we were talking.
01:30And I said, that course record's coming down.
01:32Now, Josh is a high achiever.
01:34He's what, six foot five.
01:35He probably is used to high level athletes.
01:37So we said, oh, really?
01:38And I said, no, of course not.
01:39I'm going to shoot.
01:40I said, 110.
01:41I actually ended up shooting, I believe, 93 on two, because my driver wasn't working
01:46all week.
01:47But I just love the idea, the Josh Allen optimism that somehow I, 5'10", 160 pounds, was going
01:53to take on the course record at Pinehurst number two.
01:56That's fantastic.
01:57And by the way, our mutual buddy, Charlie Kravitz, out there with you at Pinehurst,
02:00sounded like a delightful trip.
02:02Hated that I couldn't make it down and see you guys.
02:04What was, so as a North Carolina guy, I'm obliged to ask about the Pinehurst experience,
02:09you know, the sort of, the review.
02:11What was it?
02:12How'd you enjoy Sandhills Golf in North Carolina?
02:15It was certainly the best golf trip I've ever been on.
02:18It's like golfer's paradise.
02:19It's what you would do if you could just do anything, is you just live at Pinehurst
02:23and just golf over and over and over again.
02:26And like my favorite thing, I was not doing well with the driver the entire week.
02:30All three rounds we played, I'm going left with the driver, and I'm going on the pine
02:33straw.
02:34And I'm hitting it like a magician off the pine straw.
02:36And I'm thinking later, I was like, what is this here?
02:40Why was I good off the pine straw, terrible off the tee, terrible off the fairway?
02:43And the answer is, my only swing thought off the pine straw is just hit the ball.
02:46And then like, I had an epiphany after that.
02:48I'm like, oh wait, that's all golf is.
02:49I'm sitting there thinking about, oh, I learned this in the STEM.
02:52I learned this in my takeaway.
02:53I learned this with my pivot foot.
02:55No, hit my swing thought on the pine straw was make contact with the ball forward and
02:59straight.
03:00And all of a sudden I turned into Tiger.
03:02And so for me, from now on, like it's changed my golf game because all that passes is just
03:06hit the ball.
03:07Don't think about anything else, Charles.
03:09It's a simpler game than we make it out to be.
03:11I had to laugh just looking at, this is also your world as well as like Sauce Gardner,
03:16his venture into the golf world and he's got his notes, his notes.
03:20I've seen that before.
03:24That's my notes app to lose hands.
03:26I love that loose hand.
03:27What?
03:28Like, come on, man.
03:29Like, I just, I know that first of all, getting in one note, I have one notes file, not a
03:34hundred with, with all my swing thoughts.
03:36Yes, absolutely.
03:37I have the same thing.
03:38That's how, you know, he's a golf sicko.
03:40And I love it.
03:41And it's, it's a journey that we all go on to varying degrees and, and he's embraced
03:45it so much.
03:46Who, I mean, Sauce is one who you mentioned Josh Allen, who were like your biggest golf
03:51guys in the world of football you've come across.
03:54I mean, Mahomes is up there, man.
03:56And I asked Mahomes about it a couple of years ago and he basically said, it gives him something
04:00with all intents and purposes, something to worry about.
04:02That's not football.
04:03You know, I mean, these guys have a, I know we think they all, they do work a hundred
04:06hours a week watching film and stuff, but they need some time to relax.
04:09They have a lot of off time and I think golf is the perfect entry point into that.
04:13And it's, it's community.
04:15You go out and you play.
04:16Aaron Rogers obviously plays a lot.
04:18It was, it was kind of funny.
04:19I have a story.
04:20I don't think I've ever told this story before, but somebody in green Bay a couple of years
04:23ago was at camp and they said, Oh yeah, Aaron.
04:25And I think David Bakhtiari were out at a local public course the day before just hitting
04:29balls, maybe playing nine or whatever.
04:31And everybody left him alone.
04:32Everybody left him alone and just give him space.
04:35No one's going to say anything.
04:37The next two camps I went to one was Cincinnati.
04:40One was Kansas city.
04:41And I told people with those teams, that story, and they were like, Oh, that would not happen
04:45here.
04:46They were like, people are just like sprinting to go take a photo with Joe Burrow on the
04:49green.
04:50Like they lose all golf decor.
04:51Same with, same with Kansas city.
04:54So I thought that was a funny thing about green Bay where it's like, we're just not
04:56going to bother these guys.
04:58But anyway, like I just think every, every kind of young player understands like how
05:03cool golf can be, how many trips there can be, how, how you can link up with your teammate
05:07like that.
05:08I think sauce is seeing that right now.
05:09Like if you're in Jersey right now with sauce and you, and you have a, you have a decent
05:13amount of money, decent amount of free time, like sauce is going to have a lot of doors
05:17open to him as far as what clubs he can play, who we can meet all that stuff.
05:20And I think these guys just understand how much fun it can be.
05:23And also like the reason I love golf so much is that you're always trying to improve yourself.
05:28Right.
05:29And you're always trying to tinker with and say, what if they get a little better?
05:31That's also the athletes mindset.
05:32Like we were joking about Josh Allen thinking I was a good athlete, but like you do have
05:36to have the athlete's mentality, even though I'm not an athlete to, to get, to go from
05:4090 to 80, which is something I'm trying to do right now.
05:42I've gotten close, but not close enough.
05:45So I think it's just, it's, if you're a high achiever like that, it always kind of speaks
05:48to you.
05:49It is, it, there is no mastery of the game of golf.
05:52It is a never ending pursuit and it's a game of misses and it's, it's a game of mental
05:57acceptance of bad results and going and the ball is still going to be where it's going
06:01to be and you got to go hit it.
06:03It's like cornerback play, by the way, speaking of sauce, just like, you know, I sliced off
06:09the tea.
06:10Let's go again.
06:11I'm sitting three.
06:12Let's go like that.
06:13That's the exact mentality you have to have, which is hilarious.
06:15Cause like, I can just imagine like, what if, what if sauce is playing corner, the way
06:18he's playing golf.
06:19And it was like, he's got a list of notes.
06:20Like this receiver does this and this receiver does that and I got, you know, all these different
06:23things down here.
06:24It's like, no buddy, you just kind of go out there and you, to your point of the pine straw,
06:28just hit the ball.
06:30And they're also so big and powerful that like, they at least have this swing speed
06:34floor that is much higher than maybe you and I, so less than a minute here.
06:38I told you, I want to do this EA sports, college football.
06:41I've told myself I'm getting through the open and then I'm going to go take the university
06:47of North Carolina to a national championship.
06:49You seconds here just to give me everything you love about this game and what I need to
06:52do to delve into it.
06:55It won't take much.
06:56Like it is so much fun.
06:57You're going to love UNC.
06:58You're going to love rebuilding them real players now.
07:00And I think that's, that's the important thing.
07:01Although Miami has some real studs missing on their roster right now, but you understand
07:04the college experience.
07:05The reason we love college football, the crowds, the atmosphere, all that stuff, that's all
07:08baked in.
07:09So once you get in there, you're going to love taking UNC national title and I guarantee
07:13you will Charlie.
07:14I guarantee.
07:15Yes.
07:16I'll send you a screenshot of me hoisting the, the, the, the trophy when I do.
07:19So Kevin.
07:20Okay.
07:21Good.
07:22That's a good hot tip.
07:23Appreciate you joining buddy.
07:24Let's catch up again soon.
07:25Thanks man.