The guys continue their streak of PGA Pros for the Stick & Hack Show- catch Corey Pavin chat with Adam and Mike about his Ryder Cup, and other PGA Championships.

Stick & Hack: The specific bulldog reference, just before we go any further, do we have that right? I mean, people call you that, is that a thing? Does that even make sense to you today and back in your playing days? 

Corey Pavin: I got that nickname awhile ago, back in the early 90s. 

S&H: Our research team has also indicated that you hold a very cool record. This is lowest strokes needed to complete nine holes. Now, I have a very similar record, the opposite most, but the lowest strokes needed to complete nine holes and a PGA event at 26. You were eight under after nine holes. Uh, the question, Corey, is what? Is that possible? 

Corey Pavin: Is that a question or an expletive you choose? Yeah, I didn’t actually know that I had shot a 26. I knew I was eight under, but, I didn’t realize that it was a par 34, 9 holes. I found out later that it was a standalone record and it, and that was what, 2006. And it’s still, still a stand-alone record. There were a lot of guys that had shot 27 and quite a few of them came up to me afterwards and were not happy with me.

They did not like that they were off the first page of the record book, I guess. But, you know, Andy North was one of them who was playing in the tournament, and he said, “man, you just took me off the record book.” And in my nice, bull-doggy way, I said, “well, that’s just too bad.”

S&H: Corey let’s get right into the Ryder cup stories. We’re a month removed from a US victory, but when you were captain in 2010, we fell a point short to the Europeans. Do you remember every moment of those days as Captain? Or was it kind of a blur for you? 

Corey Pavin: Well, I remember most of the stuff that happened during the week. There’s tons of stuff that happens for two years leading up to it. I’m too old to remember them all, but the competition itself is always the meat and potatoes of it.

So, you know, that was a lot of fun for me, I enjoy doing it. It was a great honor to be captain, that’s for sure. Doing the pairings. Watching the guys play, it was a pretty exciting week, to say the least and we just don’t get to do things like that very often.

I’m not even sure how many captains there’s been now, maybe like 28 or nine or something. So it was a huge honor to be selected to be captain. And I did the best I could and got the guys ready to play, and it was unfortunate that we fell a point short. But, we made it pretty exciting on the last day.

Cause I think we were three or four points down going into the end of the singles and we got within the last match, it came down to the last match. So it was pretty exciting stuff. 

S&H: Corey, I remember back you were a part of another great Ryder Cup team in the War on the Shore. And, I remember there was, I guess, a controversy that you wore a camo hat. I always felt like it was completely blown out of proportion. What was your perspective on tha when that all happened? 

Corey Pavin: Well, that was interesting, you have to remember when it was, so it was, as you said, 1991, you know, Iraq was happening. Basically what the camo thing was, was supporting the troops, which was actually a coalition. You know, Europe was part of that coalition. So people are going to interpret things the way they want to, but, you know, they thought, it’s a war, we’re battling, you know, and that’s why I’m wearing it. I thought it was kind of a cool hat actually.

It was really in support of the troops overseas, and it got blown out of proportion. Somebody said something about it being a war, playing the Ryder Cup, but that had really nothing to do with it. Dave Stockton was our captain and, you know, he ordered these hats and he said, if you want to wear it, you can wear it. Dave’s a big hunter, so he just thought they were cool and he wanted to probably have them to go hunting. And I thought it was fun too. In a way, the Ryder Cup can be, I’d say it’s more of a battle amongst friends. So it got blown out of proportion a lot, and I think the Europeans got upset that we were wearing it.

Uh, Steve pate and I both wore it. Stockton actually wore a hat with a camouflage on it too. Uh, nobody ever said anything about him wearing it, but you know, if you’re a player you’re under a little more 

S&H: Let’s go to the US Open, Corey. You didn’t just win the US Open. You won the US Open at Shinnecock Hills. You won the US Open beating Greg Norman. And you won the US Open in dramatic fashion on 18, it’s every kid’s dream to hit a major putt, a sinking putt, to win a US Open or win a major. But you had a near perfect shot. I call it near perfect because it didn’t go in the hole. I read that you were going to go with a four iron or a three iron, and then you switched at the last second and it turned out to be the perfect club for you. Uh, it set you up for the US Open victory. Take us back to that, to that moment, and all of those things lining up for your moment as a US Open. 

Corey Pavin: Yeah. Well, you know, it was ‘95, so I was 35 years old and I’d won 13 times at that point, but never a Major. Uh, it was certainly on my list of things to accomplish and I hadn’t done it yet. So I was very keen on trying to win a Major championship, and get it done soon, ‘cause I was getting a little bit older. When I got to 18, I was actually one up on Greg. He was a couple of holes behind me. And when I got up to the shot, Eric, my caddy and I, we got the yardage. And the conversation was a very simple one. Uh, it was, you know, at the time I had actually had a two iron in the bag and I said, “Eric, can I get a two iron there?” And he said, “no,” which was a great answer. Uh, and I said, “what do you think, four wood?” And he goes, “yeah, absolutely.” So it was a very quick conversation. Uh, very decisive conversation and there was no doubt. So, uh, I just got up, went through my routine that I had done all week, made sure I was ready to hit the shot and just got up and hit the shot. 

And you know, the second I hit it, I knew it was pretty good. So when I hit the shot, I ran up the hill so I could watch it land. It was a fairly important shot in my life and, you know, watched it land and roll up and you know, all I could see was the ball and the pin, it looked like it might actually go up and go in and it broke a little bit off to the right at the last minute and went about, you know, I guess about five feet short right of the hole.

And um, it wasn’t guaranteed at that point, but it was in pretty good shape. It would’ve been hard for Greg to catch me, uh, and he ended up bogeying 17, actually. So I ended up winning by two. Um, unfortunately I didn’t make the putt, which would have definitely sealed it. 

Catch the rest of the episode to watch Corey discuss more about this professional career, and which weird sports are considered Stick or Hack.