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00:00Welcome back to in-game live all-access and this next guest.
00:08I'm so thrilled to have on because this one's near and dear to my heart from this recent
00:12trip.
00:13I just made to Scotland and this is Katie McNichol who is a PGA teaching professional
00:18at North Barrett Golf Club of the West Links is Katie.
00:22I think maybe my favorite place in the whole golf world after having made this trip.
00:26I just was so thrilled with just seeing the way that the course and the town mesh together.
00:31And so I just want to have you want to talk a little bit about why that's such a special
00:34place.
00:35And here we are.
00:36We're playing the open in Scotland.
00:37Of course, it true in this week, but this last week, the Scottish Open in North Barrett
00:43at the Renaissance and just seeing all those pros come out and enjoy this place and sort
00:48of showcase it to the world.
00:49And also the cool stuff we saw with some of the juniors at the wee links with Victor Hovland.
00:54That was super cool stuff too.
00:55So let's just start with, you know, a little bit of your sort of journey and background.
00:59I know you played on the Ladies European Tour, you know, for a stint of time and then how
01:02you ended up at North Barrett and why you love this place so much.
01:05Just give us a little bit of that sketch.
01:07Yeah, sure.
01:08Thanks for having me.
01:09And yeah, it's a really busy time.
01:10So I'm actually went Martins.
01:11Let me never a few minutes.
01:12It's just a quick chat.
01:13But and I think, yeah, I think we might.
01:14Oh, sorry, Katie.
01:16I think I think we're we're trying to establish a line here a little bit.
01:34We're having a little bit of a connection issue.
01:35Are you are you let's let's see if we can't stabilize Katie's line and kind of bring her
01:37back in once we have a little better connection here.
01:39Because this is a conversation I'm greatly looking forward to.
01:42So we'll look, this has been the weekend
01:46of live production meetings.
01:47All right, we've had, I'll raise my hand
01:49to be the first person to say
01:50I had a camera go out yesterday.
01:51So that was on me.
01:53And so this is, we'll figure this out.
01:55We had Tate Fraser on yesterday
01:57from the beautiful Washington state.
01:59So, you know, we had a little,
02:01we had some tech stuff there,
02:02but when we got there,
02:03we got a beautiful, beautiful backdrop.
02:05Much the same for Katie joining us from Scotland.
02:07You know, I know this is a long range connection.
02:09So let's see if we can't get that sort of,
02:11get Katie back on here on the next few minutes
02:13or as we close the hour.
02:15So we, let's just do a quick leaderboard update here
02:19as we wait on that.
02:21So Billy Horschel, one under through one hole.
02:24So he's off to a good start.
02:25And as the solo leader of this tournament
02:27remains in that position,
02:28Justin Rose, one under through three holes.
02:30He's making a move up the leaderboard.
02:32And Scotty Scheffler, one under through three holes.
02:34So you got your leader at five,
02:36Justin Rose at four,
02:38and you've got a number of players at three under par,
02:41including Dan Brown, Xander Shoffley, Russell Henley,
02:44Sam Burns, and Tristan Lawrence.
02:46And then Jon Rahm putting together
02:48one of the rounds of the day, four under par,
02:51two under for the championship through nine holes.
02:54He is tied for ninth.
02:55I'm told Katie's back.
02:57So this is good stuff.
02:58We're gonna, we're gonna dive right back in here.
02:59Katie, apologies.
03:00Technology difficult for all of us, myself included.
03:03So let's pick back up with just, you know,
03:05your story, how you get to North Berwick,
03:06why it's such a special place.
03:09Yeah, sorry about that, guys.
03:10I've switched to my phone now,
03:15so this might be a bit better, but yeah,
03:17so really special.
03:19We've been fortunate to have a lot of players come out
03:24over the past couple of years, more so this year.
03:27I think probably the only venue
03:31that people then want to play extra golf
03:33when they're in the vicinity.
03:35So yeah, we're super lucky.
03:37We've got some really good connections
03:39with the Scottish Open and do Scottish golf.
03:43You know, a lot of the tour pros,
03:45they give back to a lot of the kids here, which is great.
03:47And like this year was super special
03:50because FedEx, I think,
03:52decided that they want to host something
03:54on the children's course.
03:56So we've managed to set up.
03:57I think we had, I think the idea was along the lines
04:00of when Messi played against those hundred kids,
04:03they wanted to try and do something similar.
04:04So we got 11 kids,
04:06which was good enough to beat Victor.
04:08So he was a really good sport.
04:14Oh, did we lose?
04:15Did we lose?
04:16I think we might've lost Katie once again.
04:20She was, okay, that's all right.
04:21Listen, we're working through it.
04:23This is how it works.
04:25So Katie was leading into apparently all the kids
04:29at the North Berwick Wheeling beat Victor Hovland
04:31as part of a FedEx cup deal.
04:33So how about that?
04:34Good for the kids.
04:35And not so good for Victor Hovland,
04:38but apparently it was a good sport about it.
04:39So we'll attempt to get Katie back here
04:42before the top of the hour.
04:43And we've got a lot of great names joining us
04:45in the top of, in that 10 o'clock Eastern hour.
04:48But kind of back to the action here,
04:49we were running through it briefly
04:51where Billy Horschel, Justin Rosen, Scotty Scheffler,
04:54all one under to start the day.
04:55And Jon Rahm making that biggest move at four under.
04:58And then moving with some names
05:00that are at that 200 number or better.
05:01We got Adam Scott.
05:03He's two under on the day through four
05:05and two under for the tournament.
05:07Shane Lowry, still kind of in neutral a bit.
05:10He's got a bogey and a birdie today alongside two pars.
05:14He's even through four holes.
05:16That's a guy that we're obviously keeping an eye on
05:17given the way he played the first two days
05:20in conditions very similar to the ones
05:21that we're seeing today at this Open Championship.
05:25But thus far, no real movement up the leaderboard
05:28back into contention for Shane.
05:29He sits in 11th place for the tournament.
05:31And then just looking at some of the best rounds
05:33out there today, Ryan Fox, four under for the tournament.
05:37Unfortunately, he's five over for the championship,
05:40but playing well today.
05:41So that's an indication that there is some scoring
05:43to be found out there in the early going.
05:45Mackenzie Hughes at three under for the day.
05:48Corey Conner is three under for the day.
05:50Alex Thorn's got a two under round going
05:52as does Jason Dale.
05:53Though Jason's about to finish up.
05:55He's through 16 holes.
05:56So that's kind of the sketch of names
05:58that we've seen out there making some moves today.
06:00And interesting to talk to Gary Williams there
06:03about the type of player that should be succeeding today
06:05and what we're expecting to see.
06:07Because I think that it is,
06:09there are a lot of phenomenal potential storylines here.
06:12I mean, a guy like Daniel Brown,
06:15having missed six of his last seven cuts
06:16and coming here and hanging tough
06:18and being right there in the mix on a Sunday
06:20at a major championship for the first time in his career,
06:23at his first major championship, by the way.
06:26That's a really cool one.
06:27And then that last group,
06:28I mean, what an interesting last group.
06:30Billy Horschel is a guy that we know fairly well
06:32in American golf and has a lot of talent,
06:34but has been sort of up and down throughout his career.
06:38But today, again, playing great.
06:40I'm looking at him on the second tee right now
06:42with a 18 mile per hour right to left wind.
06:45And here, it looks like we do have Katie Nickelback.
06:48So Katie, here's what I'm gonna suggest we do here.
06:51We got about a minute left in this segment.
06:53Do you have another six to eight minutes
06:56on the other side of the segment to hang with us?
06:58Is that available to you?
07:01Yeah, it's fine.
07:02Sorry, the signal is so terrible.
07:04So I have to come outside so you can see the players
07:07just hanging up on 18.
07:09Even better.
07:10I think this is the best case scenario.
07:12We are now looking at North Barrett Golf Club behind us.
07:14So that's a best case scenario.
07:16We got 10 seconds left here.
07:17So Katie, we're gonna see you on the other side of the break.
07:19Thanks for being patient with us.
07:21We'll talk to you then, all right?
07:24We are back on Endgame Live All Access.
07:27I'm Charlie Hulme, co-host of The Smiley Show
07:29alongside Smiley Kaufman.
07:30And thrilled today to be hosting
07:32a little bit of an open championship hangout.
07:35And here's what's fantastic.
07:37Katie McNichol, a PGA teaching pro at North Barrett
07:40has stuck with us through the break.
07:41And we are now leading the league in on-site appearances
07:44because we had Steven Sweeney yesterday
07:46standing outside a wall at Royal Troom
07:49fresh off a putting session with Shane Lowry.
07:51And now we have Katie.
07:52We're looking at the West Links behind us, the 18th hole.
07:55We're looking at our guy Martin's Pro Shop back there.
07:57Hopefully we're moving lots of merch for him.
08:00So Katie, you were mentioning this last time
08:02when you were talking a little bit about that,
08:03that fun day where we had, so is it correct?
08:06I hear you say the 11 juniors defeated Victor Hovland
08:09on the Wheeling, still have that correct?
08:12Yeah, so we played a scramble.
08:15So there's 11 kids and they birdied the firsts.
08:19There's some of the footage that went out.
08:20I think Victor asked them for a gimme,
08:22but they weren't having any of it.
08:24So they made birdie and then they both upped it down
08:28on nine and then the kids hold out for birdie on nine.
08:32So they beat them two up.
08:33So yeah, it was pretty special.
08:35It's like such good memories for them.
08:38And I was so wet, like the weather turned.
08:41And so fair play to Victor for kind of hanging on in there.
08:44And he signed autographs for them
08:46and took pictures and stuff.
08:47So it was really, really special.
08:49That's phenomenal.
08:50Victor's been on the Smiley Show, was a fantastic hang.
08:54Just nerding out about the golf game.
08:55So big fan of his, but Vic, I gotta say,
08:58if you're asking for the gimme,
08:59you're probably not gonna get it, buddy.
09:00So maybe just put it out next time.
09:04So just talk to me a little bit about,
09:06you've obviously played this game at a very elite level
09:08and you've played it in Europe.
09:10And so we've been talking a lot today
09:11about the Lynx golf test.
09:14And I'm sure you see tons of Americans like myself
09:17coming through, playing in North Berwick,
09:19playing other places in Scotland
09:20and just being completely shocked by how difficult it is,
09:24not only to control the ball when it's in the air
09:26with all the wind, but also when it's on the ground,
09:28moving with the contours of these sort of firm surfaces.
09:31And as you are a teaching pro,
09:34what sort of shots or types of things
09:36are you kind of helping people develop
09:39so they can play Lynx golf successfully?
09:43Yeah, so, I mean, I grew up at Carnegie.
09:45So I'm kind of used to really, really hard golf courses.
09:52And I guess, you sort of have to learn,
09:56I watched some of the golf yesterday
09:58and Shane sort of chipped a driver into 17.
10:01And it's just sort of these creative shots
10:04that you have to understand that it's not always about,
10:08you know, trying to hit like a full seven iron
10:09cause it's just gonna balloon.
10:10So, you know, you actually wanna take
10:12some of the spin out of it,
10:14you know, and swinging it a little bit slower
10:16sometimes is the answer, you know,
10:17so you can keep it lower to the ground,
10:20then it will run.
10:21So again, out here, you know, we're not too hilly,
10:23but there's certainly some contours on the fairway.
10:25And, you know, you've gotta allow for those,
10:28you know, bad bounces.
10:30You know, you see a couple of the players this week
10:31finishing on the edge of the bunker.
10:33I think Bob Mack played a shot right-handed as well
10:35with the club turned round.
10:37So, you know, I mean,
10:38when you ever practice that golf shot,
10:40it's just such a, you know,
10:42so some stuff you can't teach,
10:43it's more like, I think when you're a child in Scotland,
10:47you just chip around, you play loads of games
10:50and you just sort of try and experiment, I think,
10:53which is why I find that some,
10:56like I went to school in the States
10:57and a lot of the players that came over,
10:59they just, it's almost like
11:02you just haven't had that creativity
11:03to sort of like bump and run it around the greens,
11:06you know, maybe with a hybrid sometimes
11:07can be quite successful, you know,
11:09so it's just, it's trial and error really.
11:13Yeah, Bob Mack,
11:13he took a good pass at a right-handed yesterday,
11:16like a full swing with the left-handed club.
11:18I had to wonder if that was some of his hurling experience.
11:20I don't know enough about hurling to know,
11:23but I assume you use both sides of the stick to hit it.
11:25So it was a good looking swing.
11:27We got almost about a minute left here, Katie.
11:29So the place I want to just close with you is just
11:32some of the pros you've seen come out to North Berwick.
11:34Who are the guys that you feel like
11:35have enjoyed it the most?
11:36I mean, they just have a smile on their face,
11:38ear to ear, just love playing this course.
11:40I mean, for me, 13 through 16,
11:42I'd put up against any four holes in the world
11:44at North Berwick.
11:45So who are the guys that you've seen
11:46delight in this course the most?
11:49I mean, Justin and Ricky,
11:51they've come back a few times, which is,
11:55you know, they're obviously loving it.
11:56The person we saw most this year was actually a caddie,
12:00was Sung J.M.'s caddie, Willie Wilcox.
12:03Oh, Willie Wilcox, yes.
12:05I think he played 63 or 64 holes this year,
12:08alongside, obviously, a caddie in four rounds,
12:11and now he's obviously a caddie in four rounds at Troon.
12:14But yeah, I mean, they all love it.
12:15Like, they all want to come back,
12:17and if it fits in, I think they'll try and do it again,
12:20you know, next year.
12:21It's just such a fun course to play,
12:23and almost like a caddie,
12:24but it's a child's dream because of what life is.
12:30Yeah, fantastic.
12:31Well, Katie, you're so great to join us and take the time.
12:35Battled through some technical difficulties
12:37as a good TV show should be, so thanks so much.
12:40Enjoy the day out there in North Berwick,
12:42and I hope to catch up soon.