The Thing About Golf Podcast

About the only people in golf who attract more criticism than the players are those who commentate on the game on TV. But not Judy Rankin.

The 26-time LPGA Tour winner and former Solheim Cup Captain is universally regarded as one of the best to ever pick up a microphone and in this broad ranging chat with John Huggan she covers everything from her beginnings in the game to the future of the LPGA Tour.

Jim Furyk occupies an unusual place in the professional game.

Without the profile and attention of the likes of Tiger or Phil or Rory, he more than comfortably held his own in that company for the best part of 20 years.

A Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup stalwart, Furyk has some fascinating insights into the game and the people who play it as you will hear in this compelling chat with John Huggan.

Lots of professional golfers like fast cars but none can quite match PGA Tour of Australasia Legends Tour player Tomas Mezera.

Mezera spent most of his life as a professional car racer including winning Australia’s prestigious Bathurst 1000 in 1988. But at 50, his career took a different turn when he signed up for — and succeeded — at the Legends Tour Q-School.

Mezera's is a remarkable story about much more than just golf and in this wide ranging chat with Rod Morri he talks about escaping communism in Czechoslovakia at 20, discovering golf at the age of 30, playing with Greg Norman as an amateur and now life on the over 50s circuit.

Winner of the 2006 US Open, Geoff Ogilvy is known as one of professional golf’s best interview subjects and in this wide ranging chat with John Huggan he shows why.

From growing up in Melbourne where being a caddie at Royal Melbourne gave him access to the course to playing and winning on the biggest stages in world golf alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros, Ogilvy has done it all with a critical eye and an active mind.

In this chat we find out where his love of golf architecture was born and how three months at the start of the century set up an entire career.

Among the most unique perspectives in professional golf is that of the on course reporter.

Unlike the rest of the commentary team or the viewers on TV, those who walk with the players get to see everything, not just what the director chooses. For many years in Australia that voice belonged to Chanel 7’s Pat Welsh, a Brisbane sports TV icon and one of the industry’s most likeable characters.

Welsh had a front row seat to some of Australian golf’s greatest moments and relives many of them in this wide ranging chat with Rod Morri.

Peter Dawson has been as influential an administrator of the game as anyone in history.

Appointed Secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1999 it was Dawson who oversaw the creation of The R&A in 2004 to take care of the club’s commercial operations, including The Open, through one of its biggest growth periods.

Among the highlights of his tenure were announcing Tiger Woods four times as the Champion Golfer of the Year and several years refereeing at The Masters.

Dawson and John Huggan have known each other many years and while they share a love of the game there is much they don’t agree on which makes for a fascinating discussion.

It’s a long way from Wales to Augusta National and the Ryder Cup captaincy but it’s been quite the loaf journey for 1991 Maters champion Ian Woosnam.

In a special Masters week edition of The Thing About Golf the former World No.1 sits down with John Huggan to reflect on his career.

From starting in the shadow of fellow Masters winner Sandy Lyle to eventually going all the way to the very top echelons of the game.

It’s been 25 years since Mark O’Meara slipped on the green jacket after a tense final round battle with Fred Couples and David Duval.

In this sit down chat for a Masters week special of The Thing About Golf with John Huggan the two time major winner (and Australian Masters champion) reflects not only on that week and but a rich, full life in golf.

He touches on Augusta, Tiger and so much more.

Charlie Earp is an Australian golf icon.

He’s best known for his work with Greg Norman and Wayne Grady early in their careers but his influence on the game reaches far wider than just the professional ranks.

The Head Professional at Royal Queensland for 45 years, Earp was also a dedicated PGA administrator and has worked with countless club members along the way.

He is of an era and generation we hear too little from as will become clear in this chat with Rod Morri.

Playing professional golf is a dream for millions but not everyone who has the skill to pursue it ends up enjoying it.

Elaine Farquharson-Black is just such a player.

In the latest episode of The Thing About Golf podcast, the two time Curtis Cup captain and standout Scottish amateur talks to fellow Scot John Huggan about her life in – and out of – golf.