#I am literally competing in a big tournament in under 2 months and I have not had any intentionality about anything

[autogeneity]

sigh, failing to escape the sneaking avolition/abulia effects of my halved medication dose

[iri-scrublord]

Chill Season! 2!! Weapon Review!!!

Alright so I'm going to put my faith in the fact that this god-forsaken site is going to put most of my shit under a cut so your dash isn't inundated with my stuff, so here we go. I'll put my overall thoughts in the tags in case you can't be assed to read what's probably going to be a hell of a post.

I'm going to ramble for a bit about accessibility here so if you don't give a shit about that look for the next big heading.

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a weapons guy. I'm disabled, I've got dwarfism, which means I'm way shorter than the average inkling at 3' even. I've got shorter limbs and (importantly) smaller hands/shorter fingers than the average squid does.

Now anyone who knows Squidforce knows that at the best of times they can be kinda fuckin' ableist. Remember the fiasco with Kraken Poisoning seven years ago? Or, hell, to foreshadow my thoughts on the weapons now, the Splattercolor Screen?

I mod weapons. I do them in my garage, Mr. Grizz is my hero and role model. But unlike him, who just takes the safety off of literally anything he gets his hands on, I mod my weapons to be usable by squids with different body types (sometimes I also take the safety off for fun). And before the De-Recall era, where the pro leagues moved to Splatsville (represent), what I do was considered illegal for tournament rules.

And people are going to tell me that we have the Extra Leagues, and sure. I've participated in those. And honestly they're really cool, especially because all things considered I'm one of the lucky ones who has a splat's chance in hell to participate in Turf and Anarchy. Some squids and octos have ailments that make that literally impossible, but still want to compete. I'm not knocking the Extra Leagues here. Hell I make weapons for the damn things.

What I am saying is that I know modding weapons. I know how it works, I know how much of a pain in the fuckin' ass it is to get synergies to work right, and I lose my fucking MIND every time some drooling idiot goes "This weapon needs a Burst Bomb"

BITCH EVERY WEAPON NEEDS A BURST BOMB, YOU THINK EVERY WEAPON'S GOING TO TAKE ONE? SOME KITS ARE GARBAGE FOR A REASON

Anyway, accessibility and modification possibility are things that I rank pretty highly in weapons, and while SF's been cleaning up their act since the De-Recall FOR THE MOST PART, there's still a few stinkers in here I'm going to be docking points from.

Okay that shit's out of the way here we go.

Foil Squeezer (w/ Autobomb and Splattercolor Screen)

Right out the gate I alluded to something that I'm going to need to talk about right away. The special of this thing terrifies me. The hell was Squidforce thinking?? Sure, the structure of the thing's impressive. Throw a sippy cup and you've suddenly got a huge strangely shaped wall of liquid.

What's that liquid do? It gives you goddamn achromatopsia. Who thought this was okay??? Who the hell looked at something like that and said it was fine?? There's already been several complaints I've heard about it around my circles, and I wouldn't be surprised if this thing got banned or reworked in the coming months.

Anyway this is supposed to be about the Foil Squeezer not the Screen so.

The Squeezer is already a pretty solid weapon, two firing modes, hell of a mechanism in the thing to have two separate compartments for the different pressurization levels of the ink inside. Pain in the ass to mod. As far as kits go, we don't know how much it sucks to get the Splashdown or Screen onto them yet (haven't got my hands on a devkit yet) but autobombs are pretty reliable. In terms of synergy? You can throw the bitches through the screen to put pressure, so that's good. Pretty costly for an already ink-hungry weap, but I'll say it's decent, if with a scary scary scary special.

Nouveau's Snipewriter 5B (w/ Splash Wall and Ink Storm)

Remember when Snipewriter first came out and we thought it sucked

hahahaha

This thing's synergistic as all hell. A wall to protect it. A Storm for chip damage which Snipewriter thrives off of. And to top it off a nice red finish. I think they used a different type of wood for it too, which I can appreciate it. Softer.

Fun fact: the origin of the 5H and 5B for the Snipewriters are from the ancient rating system the humans used to use on pencils way back when. 5B uses a much softer graphite for the pencils than the 5H does - art more than writing. I'm not a huge history buff compared to some of my friends but I thought that was neat.

Anyway this weapon's horrifying but I still respect it more than the E-Liter.

Enperry Splat Dualies (w/ Curling Bomb and Triple Splashdown)

You're as beautiful as the day I left you.

In all seriousness I've got a soft spot for curling bombs. And like, not as a traversal tool which like yes it's very useful in that. I like killing with it it's fun

For Triple Splashdown...it's public knowledge that its daddy sucked. That it's one of the worst specials in history, rivalled only by the Reef Slider. So how is the Triple version? It's...

good I guess. I mean like, it's hard to shoot the guy down and not die yourself. So like that's cool. With the Enperries they've got okay synergy? I mean it's no Inkjet, but it's fun to roll in and then pop the special if you've got someone pinned up against a wall.

So like...passable! Which is good!

Undercover Sorella Brella (w/ Torpedo and Splattercolor Screen)

Alright, I'm going to address the mormyridae in the room and talk about the basic Undercover Brella kit. It's awful. Of course it's awful. But nobody really talks about why because nobody talks about the actual logistics for kits.

I kind of alluded to this earlier but one of my pet peeves is like when someone goes "bluuuh why don't they just give this burst bomb" "weh weh Inkstrike would be way better" "why don't you give this thing a wall why does it have a mineeeee"

Giving a weapon a kit isn't as simple as 'This weapon would be good with this sub and this special'. A weapon's infrastructure has to support the sub and special. Think of them like puzzle pieces - the more you try and shove the Suction Bomb piece into a Bamboozler, the more you're going to have to mod it to make it fit.

And as we've been over, Squidforce fucking hates modding.

Put more seriously, tournament regs say that for a weapon alt to be legal, the base weapon itself's gotta perform exactly like the vanilla variant. No differences in ink efficiency, accuracy, spread, ink calibre, nothing like that. So the more you mod a weapon to fit a heavy sub like a Suction Bomb, the less likely you'll get it to work exactly like the base weapon.

That being said: the reason the vanilla Undercover's kit sucks is because it's literally just an umbrella. It's not even a heavy duty one it's one you can pick up at the dollar store for 500G. Weighs five pounds at most, and they shoved an ink chamber into the shaft. Ink Mine and Reef Slider are light as hell additions, and frankly out of the ones that we've got tournament standard are the only ones I would bet you could actually be fitted onto the weapon to begin with.

Which makes the Undercover Sorella an engineering miracle. A middling, mediocre engineering miracle.

Custom Blaster (w/ Point Sensor and Triple Splashdown)

Keeping it short and simple, don't have a lot to say about this one. The Point Sensor's a good support weapon for a blaster, but makes it lack a good poking tool to make people move once they're marked, meaning you're more reliant on your team to poke for you by basically saying 'over there!' Not necessarily a bad thing, but makes it hurt for inking power.

Triple Splashdown....I dunno. I don't see anything for it? It's alright as a panic button, I guess, but the Blaster doesn't have the tools to corner someone, which is where the Splashdown excels.

Special ain't great for it, but the sub changes the weapon's role in an interesting way.

Nintendo's S-BLAST '91 (w/ Burst Bomb and Booyah Bomb)

I went off on how amazing the base weapon is on this a while ago, before I forgot to review the Dread Wringer and the Heavy Edit. I'm not reviewing those until/unless they get alt kits. Fuck you.

I went off on how tough Burst Bombs are to get onto kits a while ago, which...I mean if you asked me before this season I would have told you you were INSANE for saying that something as complex as the S-Blast would get a Burst. But here we are. Some-fucking-how Nintendo worked a goddamn miracle.

Is it effective?

...kinda? Kinda.

Booyah's Booyah, not much to say about it. It's decent on basically everything that gets it as far as I'm concerned.

Painbrush Nouveau (w/ Point Sensor and Tenta Missiles)

Painbrush is another weapon I never really got around to reviewing the base of. It's a scary thing. The Dynamo of brushes except it's actually pretty effective because it only takes a week to come out swinging instead of seven happy years of marriage. I can't imagine a time you'd actually be skating with the thing unless you're in a bad spot, and if you're in a bad spot you're dead anyway.

Unlike with the Custom Blaster, I really like the Point Sensor on this thing. Brushes are meant to be annoying little bastards, and constantly marking people with a weapon that has three times as much range as you think it does makes you the biggest little bastard on the map at any given time.

And if it wasn't bastard enough, you have Missiles for extra bastard.

Painbrush Nouveau - a weapon for the bastard in you.

REEF-LUX 450 Deco (w/ Splash Wall and Reef Slider)

*fucking chokes and dies*

Nouveau's Neo Splatana Stamper (w/ Toxic Mist and Crab Tank)

Probably one of the more interesting kits we got. The original Stamper's got the Burst Bomb and Zipcaster. And as everyone knows before the Burst got its infamous capacity nerf, this thing is FEARSOME with the damn things. So when we saw the new kit with Toxic Mist all the Burst Chuds lost their goddamn minds.

What are they going to do, give it Burst Bomb again? Get over yourself.

This version of the weapon's definitely more support based - sensing a theme with a few of the kits this season honestly - but not as much as you might think. Toxic Mist is important soft area denial, but more than that, it makes landing your Vert-Hori combo a LOT easier, because anyone moving through it will be moving slower than your vertical slash, which is saying something because that thing's nearly as bad as the Grizzco Slosher.

This leads the weapon to a much more thoughtful, methodical style compared to its hopped up brother, which I ended up really liking while testing the weapon out. You're not going to be getting quad after quad like Pro Bigboy Chara or something, but with Mist and Crab you're going to be doing your team a service by playing this weapon well.

And that's it. This is the first time I've actually done a real-ass weapon review on tumblr, so...if anyone other than Astral sees this I'll be happy.

Maybe I'll do another one next season? Who knows.

Feel free to shoot me asks or reply in the comments if you've got any questions or dissenting opinions. I love talking shop about weapon shit with anyone who isn't Astral because her opinions fucking suck.

Please someone give me other opinions to go off of I only have hers someone help

[the-blind-assassin-12]

5, 17, 21, 22!

Hey Dani darling! Thanks for these!! 

5. do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

LOL the way that question is phrased made me chuckle. So this might seem like a cop out, but I am a doing being, so both. I identify with my hobbies, or the things I do- I train brazilian jiu jitsu, so i am a fighter, I write, so i am a writer. I enjoy making cookies and the like, so I am a baker. But I also identify strongly with the things that make me ME: I friend HARD, I love HARD, I work HARD (at things that are worth the hard work, i.e. my goals, not my day job) so there. It wasn’t a cop out after all. 

17. would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?

For the most part? Yeah, I think so. Truth is, I’m a big ‘ole nerd who likes music and writing. I say what I mean and I mean what I say, so I only post things that I stand behind. I can be blunt sometimes (I’m from Jersey, whaddayawant from me, huh?) but I always mean well (unless you piss me off or fuck with someone I care about. Then you should be very afraid. My triangle choke is no joke nor are my verbal assaults.) Music is really important to me so sorry, not sorry about the number of audio posts that I share. I’m pretty much an open book with no shame, so if there’s something you want to know or comment on just ask. I swear I’m only scary if you cross me. ;) 

21. do you love easily?

No, but I love deeply. 

22. list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

1- Writing. Whether its emails or contracts for my day job, blog or marketing posts for my side hustle, or creative work for funsies, I spend a LARGE chunk of my day slamming words together. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Even contract writing, while sometimes boring, can be interesting, because I have to think about every aspect of the job I’m contracting: what are the loop holes I need to close off? How can this point be misunderstood, etc. 

2- Reading. Be it the wonderfully written fics that are shared here in this lovely fandom, informative blogs that I enjoy, or books that I can escape into or learn from, numero dos is reading. 

3- Training. I’m JUST coming back from surgery, so my training schedule isn’t quite in full force yet, but when I’m in competition mode I train at least 9 times a week. My goal is to compete in some local tournaments in the next year or so, with a five year goal of getting a slot on the under card of a pro-fight. 

4- Dog walking. My dog is an Alaskan Husky. They are the iditarod sled dog of choice. (Think Balto and getting the serum to Gnome.) He can literally go for 40 miles a day if I let him, but on average we do about 4 miles. He’s like, the bees knees though so I thoroughly enjoy my dog walks. 

5- Cooking. Hubs and I both work two jobs, but both of his require longer, more physical hours, so most of the food responsibilities fall to me. He’s 110% the better cook, although in the last few months I’ve gotten my kitchen incidents down to 0, so I’m getting better! I don’t mind cooking, and I LOVE baking. I am gluten and dairy free for health reasons, so I enjoy the extra challenge of substituting ingredients, and enjoy learning and experimenting with food. 

[hamiltongolfcourses]

The Best Golf Gambling Stories from PGA Tour Stars

The Action Network spoke with several of today’s top professional golfers to find out their favorite personal golf betting stories.

The players interviewed include: Adam Scott, Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland, Kevin Kisner, Tony Finau, Paul Casey, Marc Leishman, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Zach Johnson, Brendan Steele, Bryson DeChambeau, Corey Conners, Matt Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen, Chez Reavie, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose and Jason Kokrak.

Bryson DeChambeau: A Very Important Reese’s

During his early teenage years, DeChambeau became very good at the game, very quickly – and he wasn’t shy about letting his buddies know just how well he was playing. His favorite bet only resulted in a post-round candy acquisition, but it’s all about the story, one which proved to him that he could someday play high-level professional golf.

“I was about 14 or 15 years old. I was a good player, obviously, and I had a friend named Blake Berry – he’s going to hate me for telling this story – I told him I was playing really well at the time.

“We were playing from the white tees, we usually played nine holes on Saturday afternoon. I pretty much said to him, ‘Dude, I’m feeling really good.’

“He was probably a 2-handicap. And he goes, ‘Alright, what do you want?’ I said, ‘I’m telling you, four shots.’ And he says, ‘Dude, you’ve got no chance.’

“I said, ‘Really? OK, well how about this: I’ll give you a shot every hole. How about that?’ Against a 2-handicap. And he goes, ‘What?! You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘Just watch.’

“So I birdie the first three holes. He pars each of them and we’re even. I eagle No. 4 and par 5, then birdie 6, birdie 7, birdie 8 and birdie 9 to shoot a 27. I had a 4-iron into the last hole and hit it to a foot. I played the best I possibly could.

He shoots 37, bogeys the last hole and I beat him by one. He had to give me a Reese’s afterward. That was the bet.

“That’s when I knew I could do it. That’s when I knew I could play out here, that I had the you-know-what that it takes to play out here.”

Corey Conners: Pressing at Pebble Beach

During a practice round for this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Conners teamed with fellow Canadian pro Mackenzie Hughes in a four-man match that was never going their way. They kept pressing the bet, meaning it all came down to the famous par-5 final hole at Pebble.

“I was playing with Mac Hughes against Nick Taylor and Brandon Harkins, I think. Well, Hughes and I are getting killed all day.

“We were pretty worried for a while. We were getting in a little over our heads.

“We kept doubling the bet.

“I remember when I was a kid, we used to play a little chipping contest for a cookie at the snack shop – a Coke or a cookie, something like that.

“I think when you put yourself in those situations, you still feel the pressure – whether it’s for 20 bucks or playing out here for big money. It definitely keeps you focused and gets your nerves up a little bit, but it’s great practice. I think it’s really helped me become comfortable under pressure situations.

“Back home in Florida, the guys I play with are always bantering back and forth, getting in each other’s heads. It makes things tough, it stresses you out a little bit on the course, but it’s good practice.

“[After pressing at Pebble], I made a 4 on 18 to square it up, so we owed nothing at the end. I had like a 15-foot putt. It was playing too long, so I layed up and hit a wedge to 15 feet and made it.”

Matt Kuchar: A Costly First Albatross

To say Kuchar was a successful amateur golfer is an understatement. He won the 1997 U.S. Amateur and the next year earned low-am honors with a T-21 finish at the Masters and a T-14 at the U.S. Open. But he didn’t win everything during those years. In fact, it was a lost bet with a Georgia Tech teammate that still resonates to this day.

“I distinctly remember losing to my best buddy Carlton Forrester in college. I didn’t have much money to my name, but we were playing for some decent money.

“I was playing great golf, but I was down to Carlton. I doubled the bet on 17, but he birdied to beat me.

“Then I doubled the bet on 18 and he made an albatross.

“That really hurt. That was my first time ever witnessing an albatross and not the one I wanted to see.

“It took me a couple of installments to pay him back. It might have only been 100 bucks total, but that was a couple of installments for me at that time.

Louis Oosthuizen: A South African Showdown

It’s not often that two childhood buddies each become major champions, but that’s the case for Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open Championship, and Charl Schwartzel, who won the 2011 Masters. About two months after Schwartzel’s win at Augusta National, the two friends were playing a practice round match in advance of the U.S. Open. Unlike most friendly matches, their recurring game features a cruel twist – one which came back to bite Oosthuizen on this occasion.

“We’ve got this recall-mulligan game that we play. If your opponent hits a good shot, you can make him recall it and take a mulligan.

“On the long par-4 15th, it’s a dogleg down to the left and Charl hit one into the fairway bunker. He had 210 yards into the pin. The only way he could do something is if he hit this 40-yard cut 5-wood, because he couldn’t go straight over the left.

“So, he hit this shot to 25 feet, an unbelievable shot. I immediately go, ‘Recall!’ I hadn’t used my recall yet.

“He was swearing and shouting. He said, ‘You can’t do that!’ I said, ‘Hey, that’s the game.’

“Well, he hit the next one to 10 feet.

“He placed it exactly where he wanted to and it stopped 10 feet away. That screwed me completely. He ended up making birdie and he beat me that day.

“We’ve always had good matches between us.”

Chez Reavie: Taking on Lefty at East Lake

Before this year, the last time Reavie qualified for the Tour Championship was eight years ago. He finished in a share of 26th place that week, but the most memorable moment might have taken place before the event ever started, as he competed in a practice round match alongside some big-name fellow pros.

“You know, we have a lot of ‘em at Whisper Rock, a lot of fun matches with good players who give each other a bunch of shit when they’re playing together.

“But I had a good one [at East Lake] the last time I played the Tour Championship. It was Dustin [Johnson] and I against Keegan [Bradley] and Phil [Mickelson]. It came down to the last hole.

“It was when the par-3 [now the ninth hole] was the last hole. Dustin knocked it on the green, I missed the green, but I chipped it up there close.

“We ended up tying with pars and pushing the match. It was exciting. We had guys come out and follow us the last couple of holes, just because they heard what was going on.

“I think we were all happy we tied. I was playing for a little more money than I normally do, so it was a nice to not lose anything.”

Brooks Koepka: I’m Still Waiting To Get Paid

When asked his favorite on-course betting story, the world’s current No. 1-ranked player first starts to tell a tale of losing to a certain fellow pro during an Open Championship practice round without having any cash on hand. He then remembers a practice round for the U.S. Open four years ago, when he didn’t even need his clubs to bank a wager.

“I once played against Phil [Mickelson] with no money in my pocket. That was at Muirfield in 2013 – and we lost.

“Had a good one at Chambers Bay, too. I was probably 80 yards away and I looked at my caddie and we made a bet.

“Well, I threw it into the cup. Straight in, which I thought was pretty impressive.

“Yeah, first try. Just went right in.

“I still haven’t seen the money. Still haven’t gotten paid. I’ll be alright, though.”

Justin Rose: The Worst Social Golfer There Is

While most professional golfers enjoy a little side action during non-tournament rounds, Rose doesn’t usually play for anything when he’s preparing for an event. In fact, the man who’s probably won the most bets against him isn’t a fellow elite-level player, but a largely unknown former pro who once spent a little time playing the Sunshine Tour – his half-brother, Brandon Harcus.

“Generally, I’m the worst gambler. I’m the easiest guy to take 10 bucks off of, I’m the worst social golfer there is.

“For me, I don’t know what the number is to make it feel like it should matter, but I don’t necessarily like playing for that number, because I don’t play a lot of golf when I’m not on Tour. I probably play four rounds of golf per year that aren’t professional rounds of golf. It’s just not something I do. I practice, I hit balls, I get away from the game and spend time with my family.

“On the gambling side of things, I’ve never really done much of it out here.

“My brother loves it. My brother thinks he’s the best putter on the planet. If he manages to hole one, he’s got all the bravado and the swagger before he hits a putt.

“He’ll be standing over a 6-footer to take your money and say, ‘You know what? The last time I missed one of these, they cut one of my fingers off.’ Then he’ll show his 10 digits and roll in the putt to take my money.

“Not only does he take my money, he literally rubs it in my face, too. He actually does have a great short game. If he could drive the ball, he’d be dangerous.”

Jason Kokrak: He’s Still Pretty Salty

Prior to last year’s Players Championship, Kokrak was invited to play in a nine-hole practice round match. After securing a partner and getting off to a rough start, he vividly remembers how the bet finished – and we’re guessing his opponents still remember, too.

“I gamble a little bit, but it’s mostly with certain people. I won’t name any names, but the most fun I’ve had was at TPC Sawgrass a couple of years ago.

“We had a few bucks on it – not enough to make you sweat, but enough that it was going to keep your head in the game.

“I actually had a hard time trying to find a partner to play against the two guys who wanted a match. I finally found a partner that morning. It was just a straight-up, nine-hole bet for a set amount of money.

“We teed off on No. 10, both sprayed it, and we were 1-down. Then we traded birdies for a couple of holes. We were 1-down going to 16. I hit a 5-iron to about 12 feet. This ‘gentleman’ – one of our opponents – was standing pretty close to me, breathing down my neck. I poured it right in the middle.

“Then we all par 17. On 18, two of us hit it just over the back fringe to a middle pin, so if you putt it just two feet by, it’s going 20 feet down the hill. The other two missed it short. They chipped up and made their pars.

“I was up next and I putted it and I mean, the greens were running 15 on the Stimpmeter. It took about five minutes for this ball to get down there, but I dropped it right in the cup.

“Our opponent was staring at me so bad. We actually haven’t had a match since. He’s still pretty salty about it.”

Adam Scott: Fred Couples, Phil Ivey and $10K

Scott rarely plays money games, but was part of a memorable one nearly a decade ago, playing with Fred Couples and professional poker player Phil Ivey. They started with a small bet, which quickly ballooned into a much bigger one — and then another.

“We had a really soft bet at the start of the round and [Ivey] wasn’t happy about it. Fred and I were playing pretty lackluster golf the first five holes and he said, ‘I didn’t come out here to watch you play like this, but I’ll bet that you can’t make 10 birdies between you for the rest of the round, from the sixth hole on.

“It was a $5,000 bet. I was pretty sure that Fred and I could handle it, so we agreed to the bet.

“We had it all under control, then we slowed down. I should’ve birdied 16, but I didn’t, so we needed three birdies between us for the last two holes.

“The 17th is just a wedge par 3 to an island green and the 18th is a reachable par 5.

“On the 17th tee, Phil knew his chances weren’t very good. It was likely one of us was going to stiff a wedge and both of us could birdie the last. So, he threw a curveball at us. He said, ‘I’ll bet you another five grand that you both can’t hit this green.’

“I’m like, oh my goodness, this is too good to be true. He’s giving us five grand to hit the green on a 140-yard hole.

“We take the bet. Freddie gets up there first. I think he was thinking so much about the second bet that he fanned it into the right bunker. It was just devastating, because now we’ve lost that bet and we might lose the first one.

“I hit it on, but only made par. So it was a lost cause. We both birdied 18, but came up one short, so we were scrounging around for the checkbooks.

“It’s a really good story, but I was completely devastated.”

Justin Thomas: 36 Holes with Michael Jordan

Each year, Michael Jordan and a group of friends would travel to the Kentucky Derby, arriving a day early to play 36 holes at Harmony Landing, where Mike Thomas was (and still is) the head professional and his son Justin was a ubiquitous presence around the course.

Justin spent a few years caddying for Jordan before finally getting the call to play, teaming up with MJ for a memorable match.

“We don’t have caddies or tee times at our course, but they wanted a caddie, so I would go out with them. The first year, I was probably 13. I’d just get out of school; I was going to learn a lot more out there than I was in school.

“The first few years, I’d just caddie. When I was 16, I went out with the group and they started on No. 3 for some reason.

“I was riding with MJ. When we got to the first hole, he said, ‘Go get your clubs.’ He told them, ‘Alright, I’ve got the little man. We’ll take whoever wants us.’

“There’s eight people. He wouldn’t tell me the game; he said I didn’t need to hear that.

“Everyone’s giving me grief, because I was playing the same tees as them. I was tiny when I was 16.

“So we played the last seven holes and I made four birdies. We drummed ’em pretty good. That was fun.

“He just made me feel comfortable. I’d played in some big national tournaments, but that was the biggest deal I’ve ever played in. It was pretty cool. We had a pretty memorable day that we still talk about.

“He always took care of everybody tipping, so let’s just say my tip was a little bigger that year.”