Ep82: Mark 'I Love LIV's Teams Format', Nick's Top 5 Pro-Ams, Cam Smith to QLD, Anniversary of Marks "ESPN Worst in Sport' Award

Talk Birdie To Me

All over the place this week. Mark's in Port Douglas without a shirt on, watch out ladies, Nick is at home in Melbourne, as is Dan, and the wonders of technology means we're still yakking golf!

Over the weekend Mark watched the highlights of the LIV teams event, and loved it - he describes the format as the perfect teams event structure, the best he has seen, and says LIV have nailed it. Nick watched the last 2 or 3 holes, and said it was fantastic. We discuss it, and Cam Smith's performance in particular. Mark chats about Dustin Johnson's backswing. Nick tells us about the time he went to Shaquille O'Neal's joint for a barbie in Florida!

Back to Cam Smith, Nick and Mark are looking forward to commentating the Queensland PGA even moreso now that Cam has confirmed he is playing. Leads to a convo about the Australian Open - stand alone vs mixed. We've discussed it previously, the guys not a fan of the mixed format. Mark has said for years that a challenge with golf coverage in Australia is the lack of camera's available, and this is one reason why mixed tournaments are hard to cover effectively. He outlines his breakthrough moment in the 1992 Open and how it was captured on camera, a game changer for him financially as a young player, but this doesn't happen enough now.

We discuss Jeff Guan's horrific eye injury, and what it may or may not mean for his career. We're all thinking of him, the prognosis is yet to become clear.

And we remember the 10-year anniversary of, in hindsight, a highly amusing occurrence to do with golf and Mark Allen. It resulted in Mark being awarded the 'Worst in Sport' on America's ESPN. We play the audio.

Top 5 from Nick is on his favourite Pro-Ams, thanks to our mates at Southern Golf Club. The #1 surprises Mark. Nick talks about playing with a couple of big music stars in the US, one we've heard of, one we haven't.

Feedback thanks to Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure, and there are a couple of members of the Talk Birdie Wolfpack taking issue with Nick. And Damien gives all of us a whack over some comments he didn't like on last week's pod.

Nick goes around the world with the PING global results, and we wrap with a masterclass from Mark - thanks to the watchMynumbers app on Cam Smith's short follow through with his putting of late.

If you're enjoying the podcast, please tell a friend or two about it. A big thanks to our great Talk Birdie partners:

• PING will help you play your best, like they have for Nick O'Hern. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;
• The new watchMynumbers app, the most powerful data based golf app in the world, download from the App Store or Google Play;
• Golf Clearance Outlet, join GCO Live for great member benefits and comps. They're in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Sunshine Coast, or online here.
• Southern Golf Club - Home of the Australian Master of the Amateurs in January 2025, entry is free!
• Flinders Golf Club, an historical treasure!

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