STEVE SANDS: We are going to introduce three really, really big names in the sport. It's my honor now to welcome them up here to the stage.
Let's start with the old guy, Scott Verplank. He etched his name in the record books when he triumphed in a playoff at Butler National here in Chicago to win the 1985 Western Open, becoming just the sixth amateur to win a PGA TOUR event at the time.
He's a Dallas native. He won the Western Amateur just a few weeks earlier at Point O' Woods up in Michigan, joining an exclusive club: Chick Evans, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, and this man, Scott Verplank, everybody.
(Applause.)
One of the greatest South African golfers in the history of this great sport, Trevor Immelman competed professionally for a couple of decades, notched 11 worldwide victories.
He broke onto the scene in 2006 when he won the Western Open at Cog Hill and earned a PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year honor in 2006.
Then a couple years later, he won that little tournament down in Georgia called the Masters. He competed in a couple of Presidents Cups. He also was the team captain on the International side at Quail Hollow a couple of years ago.
Today he's one of the best in our business. He's a credit to television and the sport. Please welcome Trevor Immelman.
(Applause.)
And now someone who might be young enough to be Scott Verplank's grandson, Michael Thorbjornsen is a name that you all need to remember over the course of the next two, three decades because he is going to do a lot of great things in this sport.
He played collegiately at Stanford. He ended up being No. 1 in the PGA TOUR U rankings, which earned him a spot on the PGA TOUR.
His crowning achievement as an amateur came at the 2021 Western Amateur, where he emerged victorious at Glen View Club. He's a three time All-American at Stanford. He reached the Western Amateur Sweet 16 three times in his amateur career. He won the 2018 U.S. Junior. He made the cut as a 17-year-old at the 2019 U.S. Open and has already finished in the top ten three times on the PGA TOUR.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Michael Thorbjornsen to the stage.
(Applause.)
Scott, let's start with you. 1985, 39 years ago, what do you remember about being an amateur here and winning the Western Open?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, man, I remember when Michael was born, my grandson -- oh, you brought that up earlier. Congratulations.
(Laughter).
Anyway, I was such a little kid. It's funny because I got here today, and it brings back so many great memories. I know I'm getting old, but I see a lot of my contemporaries and peers here, so that makes me feel a little bit better that there's some people besides myself that would still remember that.
One of the greatest -- you know, I'm a junior in college, and the Western Golf Association, I won the Western Amateur like three weeks before, and they gave me a spot in the Western Open. It was Peter deYoung and Brian Fitzgerald said, hey, you should come play in this pro event. I'm like, oh, perfect, I'll do it.
Both of those guys, I mean, they both told me that they thought I could win the tournament before the week started. I had a lot of good things going for me. Made great friends in Chicago, stayed with Bill Sheehan, who some of you may or may not know.
(Applause.)
Became lifelong friends with Bob Verdi because he was the only one who could get me to talk.
STEVE SANDS: He's a legend. I love him.
SCOTT VERPLANK: He is a legend. The Evans scholar, had Jimmy Allen on the bag. I think it was the second to last year that the actual Evans scholars local kids caddied, amazing. It's really amazing that all that happened.
Amazing to be here, look back on it, and appreciate it with everybody from the WGA.
STEVE SANDS: Fantastic. I did a dinner one time about 20 years ago, and Jim Thorpe was alongside. If anybody's ever been around Jim Thorpe, every other word is a curse word, so I will clean this up, I promise.
I asked him, who's your favorite player in PGA TOUR history in your long storied career? It was a room probably like this, about 300 people. And he said, oh, Scott Verplank. And we're like Scott Verplank? The whole room was like -- no offense -- (laughter). I'm just kidding.
SCOTT VERPLANK: That's okay, Johnny Miller.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: You just dug yourself into a hole.
STEVE SANDS: I'm just messing with you. He goes Scott Verplank. I go, wow, Scott Verplank, that's kind of interesting. He goes, Sandsy baby -- I'll leave out the curse words -- Sandsy baby, that guy won the event, and he was an amateur. I picked up the first place check. That's my guy.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Jimmy is amazing.
STEVE SANDS: Trevor, let's go to you. 2006, you come over here. We talked about this before. Why is it important for international players to come to the U.S. and have success like you had in 2006, winning for the first time at the Western Open.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I think it's one hand washes the other really. I think it's important for international players to come over here and test ourselves against the best.
In my case, I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. Others from all over the world, Australia, Japan, wherever else, we grow up dreaming of playing against the best, and that is on the PGA TOUR.
So we come over trying to test ourselves, and in the process, I think it makes the PGA TOUR much stronger having players from all over the world come in and compete against the best American players. When you consider from Gary Player all the way down, through Seve, through, Ernie, all of the players that have come before me, it really is a cool process to have international players come over to the States and test themselves on the best courses in the biggest tournaments like your Western Open, now the BMW, against the best American players.
It's been a system that has worked for a long time. It's been tested over the last few years, but we're almost through.
STEVE SANDS: Maybe that's a caveat to what's to come.
By the way, Trevor has the distinction of being the last winner of the Cialis Western Open, one of the great sponsorships in the history of the PGA TOUR.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Go ahead and stand up, Trevor.
(Laughter.)
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I did get more than a million dollar check, but I did not get a lifetime subscription.
STEVE SANDS: Just wait until you get to be me and Scott's age. You'll be fine.
John Kaczkowski wants me to say this. There's a great sportscaster here. His name is Mark Giangreco. People are very familiar with Mark Giangreco. In the sportscasting world, you would never in your life plagiarize or verbally plagiarize in the sportscasting world.
Mark Giangreco had the greatest line in the history of the Cialis Western Open. John told me, not only gave me permission to say it, he encouraged me to say it. The following year it was named what is currently now the BMW -- Michael doesn't even know what this drug is, by the way.
(Laughter).
The following year, after Trevor wins the Cialis Western Open, BMW comes in, and now BMW is still a partner with the WGA, as the BMW Championship. And Mark Giangreco said, and we're quoting, at a Pro-Am dinner the following year, "We have gone" -- do you remember this line? "We have gone from full erection to fuel injection." One of the great lines of all time from Mark Giangreco.
(Laughter).
All right. We got that out of the way. Let's go. Kevin's giving us the hook here. He's very nervous.
Follow that, Michael.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I've got nothing.
STEVE SANDS: Michael, we'll get to the PGA TOUR, you and how you got to the PGA TOUR in a second, but you did so many things as an amateur golfer. You were a fabulous amateur golfer.
You started out, we met at the Drive, Chip & Putt. I don't know if you remember that, the very first one, 2015 maybe?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: It was a while ago.
STEVE SANDS: Then you win the Junior, and then you win the Western Am, which is such an old and aged story event. How much of a big deal was that to you at the time? And did you recognize how big of a deal it was at the time at such a young age?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I feel like all of the amateur golfers that are trying to compete at the highest level are very aware of the prestigious level of the Western Amateur. When I won in 2021, that was my first Western Amateur appearance, ended up playing extremely well, won the stroke play, and then ended up winning four matches.
I had just finished my freshman year at Stanford. I had a very poor year of golf. So I wasn't really expecting too much to come out of that summer, but that week was one of the best weeks of my life.
I competed against so many amazing golfers in the final match, Gordon Sargent, who wasn't even in college yet, was putting up a great fight. And I think close to half those guys in the Sweet 16 are on the PGA TOUR right now.
So it just shows you the Western Amateur is one of the best, if not the best, amateur golf tournaments in the whole world. Everyone who's playing in it knows that that's a fact.
STEVE SANDS: Trevor, as the WGA celebrates 125 years, which is absolutely remarkable, by the way -- congratulations to all of you involved with the WGA. It's just an amazing run. We're huge sports fans. We talk about sports all the time, not just golf.
What is it about this sport that enables it to give back in a way where we hear stories about James and all the things that go on with the WGA? What is it about this sport that's different than the others?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: It really is incredible, and I get reminded of it constantly. Again tonight, all of us -- Sandsy, you are the odd one out when it comes to people on the stage who have won WGA trophies.
STEVE SANDS: That's very true.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Just wanted to remind you of that.
STEVE SANDS: It's a zero for anything.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: That's right.
He's got a couple (indicating Scott Verplank). He's the leader, having won as an amateur, that's quite something in 1985. But it really is amazing how the sport brings people together. Wherever I go in the world, I experience this.
Even just tonight, sitting at the table that I'm at, a few of the people that were recipients of this scholarship that are now highly successful and years later are still plowing back into this charity. And when you consider more than 12,000 people have benefited from this, and from what I understand, 1,200 that are getting scholarships right now, the way that it's affected young people's lives through caddieing and through the game of golf is just, it's mind blowing.
And then listening to the way James spoke and explaining the adversity that he and his family have gone through, but the light at the end of the tunnel comes through the game of golf and caddieing, and to be able to receive a scholarship like this to then chase his dreams at Northwestern, it's hard to even wrap your mind around.
So to be able to be in a room like this where people all love the game of golf, they love the Western Golf Association and are willing to give back into the sport for the benefit of the next generation is -- I'm like so proud to be a part of that and so thankful --
(Applause.)
Thankful to what the golf has given me. I was a young caddie growing up in South Africa caddieing at my local club and fell in love with the sport. I would watch PGA TOUR events at night. My father would tape them on VHS tapes, and I would watch all my favorite players and learn the courses. It's all I ever wanted to be was to be able to play golf on the PGA TOUR.
When you start to understand all these little threads and commonalities that all of us share through the sport, it's magnificent.
STEVE SANDS: Michael, when we met at the Drive, Chip & Putt, I remember asking you what's your goal, and you said I want to be on the PGA TOUR one day, and now here we are. And one of the avenues to get you on the PGA TOUR is the PGA TOUR U program for young golfers. Michael was No. 1, so he automatically gets his card for the season on the PGA TOUR.
How important is it for the PGA TOUR to take a half step back to the collegiate level to make sure that college kids have a better opportunity to get to the PGA TOUR? How much has it helped you and helped college golf to have that kind of carrot dangling in front of you guys?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Oh, it's definitely helped a lot. It has definitely motivated a lot of college players, including myself. If you look at the different sports around the world, such as football, basketball, soccer, you have drafts where the best players are coming from college and getting drafted from college, whereas in golf, there was really nothing there for us.
So with PGA TOUR U, it kind of allows us to have some sort of a pathway to the PGA TOUR, even the Korn Ferry Tour, and it's huge for us because I think, if you look at the top ten players in WAGR, the World Amateur Golf Rankings, I think all of them are in college. So you have the best players, best amateur golfers now kind of getting their foot in the door in professional golf, and that's something that's huge for us, and it's continuing to grow.
STEVE SANDS: In '85 you won as an amateur. If you go back to earlier this year, Nick Dunlap won as an amateur on the PGA TOUR at the American Express, which is an amazing thing. The field that week was incredible, and he bested them all. Why is it that college kids are coming out to the PGA TOUR more ready than when you guys were that young and got onto the PGA TOUR. What is the difference now between a generation earlier?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Steve, every sport, the players are bigger, stronger, faster. Golf in particular, the equipment has made massive strides in not making the game easier, but making it more athletic. So a guy like Michael's size, he would have been a monster back when I played in college golf, but the guys are just better prepared.
Tiger Woods changed the landscape of golf, all golf, but in particular, professional golf. Guys worked out and stayed in decent shape. Of course, there were some Craig Stadlers and some other guys. There ain't any of those guys anymore. No offense, Craig, if you're out in the audience. I don't see him.
But all these guys, guys that played basketball, baseball, football, soccer, whatever, golf got cool with Tiger Woods, and they switched their allegiance, and all of a sudden you've got all these kids who were much better athletes looking at a golf career. Obviously they could probably do a lot of things, but in a golf career you can last for quite a long time.
I think it's just raised the -- I think there's still the same number of truly elite, great players, but there's a whole lot more really good ones now.
STEVE SANDS: Trevor, Scott mentioned Tiger Woods. In 2006 you beat Tiger Woods. You made that 32-foot putt at the last, and then you dropped right down. What is that, for those of us that will never have that feeling, what is, as you alluded to earlier, what is that feeling like?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Maybe we should show it again.
(Laughter).
I'll tell you exactly what was going through my mind. Obviously it's an amazing feeling, and it's kind of funny, the whole Cialis thing, because my wife was heavily pregnant at the time. Our first child was born two weeks later after I made that 32-footer.
STEVE SANDS: By the way, that son is now playing collegiate golf at Clemson. A big round of applause for Trevor.
(Applause.)
TREVOR IMMELMAN: It's funny how life works, but what was going through my mind as I was standing on that 18th green, is three weeks before I had the lead going into the last hole at Quail Hollow and hit a good tee shot, hit a good second shot, and I had about the same distance just outside of 30 feet for birdie. I had a one-shot lead over Jim Furyk.
It was a downhill putt, very fast, that's my excuse. I blew it like 8 feet by and then missed the come-backer, and then I lost to Furyk in a playoff. So when I heard his voice in that video, I got a cold shiver down my spine.
(Laughter.)
But here I am less than a month later, I'm on the 18th green at Cog Hill, and I'm still looking for my first win on the PGA TOUR. I'd had a few seconds, and I hadn't been able to get over the line, and I had this opportunity. Same situation, I've got a one-shot lead, and this putt has got a massive six, seven foot break from the right-hand side. I can clearly remember what had happened a few weeks prior, so I'm just trying to cozy it up there.
Halfway there, I'm like, oh, this has got a chance, this looks pretty good. So when it went in, that reaction is purely relief that I didn't choke like I did three weeks before.
(Laughter.)
So that was what happened.
STEVE SANDS: Relief?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: It was relief.
STEVE SANDS: I got you.
Michael, I'm not going to ask you why you went to Stanford. Everyone your age goes there because Tiger Woods was their hero and they have the poster on their wall. We'll pass over that for a second.
But the larger picture with Tiger and your generation, how much influence did his golf have on you as a kid watching him on TV, the way he was, the way he carried himself, the fist pumps, the roars, the things we never had seen before that, that's only something that you know. We know different, but you've only seen that. How much of an influence was Tiger on you as a kid and now?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: An unbelievable influence. Even, what, did he play his best golf in 2000? I wasn't quite born yet, so I couldn't really watch that.
(Laughter.)
STEVE SANDS: Good night, everybody. That's it. Have a great night. Take care. Safe travels home.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I did get to see some good bits of golf from him, though, in 2008, and I think when he got back to World No. 1 in 2012, 2013.
STEVE SANDS: 2013, yes.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Tiger Woods growing up, it was almost like he was a superhero. Like not a real person, like a video game character. He was the most overpowered video game character there ever was.
You look at someone my age, and even some of the older guys -- you guys, you'll understand.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Like 25-year-olds or something, right?
STEVE SANDS: It's so good.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Collin, Victor.
STEVE SANDS: How old are you?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I'm 23.
STEVE SANDS: 23, there you go.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Tiger was a huge inspiration for those guys as well. Tiger will continue to be a huge inspiration for years to come. But I would not be playing golf today if it weren't for Tiger, and I can confidently say for a lot of people out there and a lot of juniors, collegiate players as well, it's the same for them.
STEVE SANDS: Scott, the game is in such good hands right now with young kids like him with class and grace, brains and obviously talent as well. How happy are you to see, as you look down now at the young guys who are going to bring the PGA TOUR up and keep going with it, how proud are you to see what's going on now with the younger generation like Michael?
By the way, Scott's around the Oklahoma State Cowboys a lot. He's around a lot of college golf. He's very involved, not just with the Pokes but with college in general. How exciting is it to see these guys take the mantle?
SCOTT VERPLANK: It obviously is. Like I was saying, there's so many good young players. There's very few Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els level guys. Michael may be one of them in years to come.
If the powers that be in golf would just get out of the flipping way and let the players play and play to what the market wants them to play for, I think we'd all be better off.
Michael, you've got a long and storied career ahead of you. You're going to make a dump load of money if you play any good.
STEVE SANDS: John is over there smiling.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Hey, the kids are great. They really are. They're more prepared to win. They're more prepared to play. They're more prepared to come here and do an event like this, which at 23 years old, I could barely talk when I was 21 and I won the Western Open. It took Bob Verdi, took him an hour and a half to get me to say something.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: That's because you didn't go to Stanford.
SCOTT VERPLANK: I know. Well, I didn't know how to read and write.
(Laughter.)
STEVE SANDS: To be fair, Michael only went to Stanford because he couldn't get into Oklahoma State.
SCOTT VERPLANK: That's what I always say. If you can't get into Oklahoma State, you can always go to Stanford. Did you go to college, Trevor?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: No. I'm not even sure I finished high school.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Where did you learn that accent?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I was way out of line with that comment. I apologize.
STEVE SANDS: By the way, that says a lot about our profession.
SCOTT VERPLANK: I was just wondering if you learned that in school or something, but I love it. Obviously the girls love it. Keep it up.
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I've been able to fool my way through America with this accent.
STEVE SANDS: Trevor, we talked about your son who's at Clemson. There's a couple things about Trevor that are amazing. We see each other a lot at the golf course where he plays in Orlando. He's a grinder, man, an all time grinder. Do not mess with Trevor when he's on the range.
What's it like as a parent who's won a Masters, who's won a PGA TOUR event like the Cialis Western Open -- I just like saying Cialis. You've won big time events 11 times around the world, the green jacket, the Western Open here at Cog Hill. What's it like for you as a parent trying to watch your son do what you have already done? How are you when he's playing?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: I'm actually quite relaxed, believe it or not. I think it's partly because I understand how difficult the game is, and having been through my own struggles and have run the gamut of professional golf of winning tournaments and then struggling to keep a card at points in your career, you start to understand how fickle and how delicate it is.
So when I watch him, I view it through that lens, and I don't get too wound up by it, but I absolutely see other parents out there that are just living and dying by their kid's every shot, and it's a tough existence. This sport is hard.
STEVE SANDS: Individual sports for parents are not easy, man.
Michael, moving from Stanford, where you were such a great amateur, to the PGA TOUR, what's the biggest adjustment you have to make to be in the seat with these two as big time winners on TOUR? What do you think the difference is between being an amateur and being a professional?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: These guys probably have the correct answer, but I'm starting to pick up on a couple things here and there when it comes to traveling, taking care of my body, kind of how to attack these different golf courses.
Even though we've played some of them in college, obviously the rough is longer, fairways are tighter, greens are firmer and faster. What I've kind of noticed in myself, when I played junior golf, when I played collegiate golf, I never really started out hot, let's say. It always kind of took me a little bit of time to adjust and acclimate myself and kind of see, okay, where do I need to improve on, and what's the most important part here?
So I've played this summer, I played a couple of events in the fall, I've learned a lot, and every week if you're learning something, that's a positive even if you didn't play great golf. I didn't play great golf this summer, but I did have a glimpse of some good finishes.
I think it's just a combination of everything. This is your job now. You're not really doing this for fun anymore. Well, I am but --
(Laughter.)
You have to treat every single part of your day as a professional athlete and as a professional golfer. So just kind of taking it more seriously.
STEVE SANDS: Very cool. I asked Trevor a personal question about being a father on the golf course. Scott Verplank is giving away a daughter next week. It's going to be very cool.
(Applause.)
SCOTT VERPLANK: Thank God. No, I'm just kidding.
STEVE SANDS: And here at this black tie event, he didn't want to do it two weeks in a row, so he's wearing a jacket today.
SCOTT VERPLANK: That's all I could afford. This is my tie.
STEVE SANDS: We didn't get the memo. You two did. Honestly, what's it going to be like next week walking your daughter down the aisle?
SCOTT VERPLANK: I'm sure it will be brutal. I cried like a baby at my son's wedding. How's that? I think I was so proud of him, my oldest child is my son, and literally my girls were laughing at me, Dad, why are you crying?
Now I have a lot of pressure on me. I've been told if I don't cry for my daughter's wedding, I'm up shit's creek. I'm going to start crying or might need some eye drops or something.
STEVE SANDS: Trevor, how much do you enjoy television compared to the enjoyment of grinding on the range and playing against the best players in the world?
TREVOR IMMELMAN: Look, I love being part of the TV landscape. I always tell people that first place is playing great golf and winning tournaments. Second place is being able to be on TV in the role that I have. And that beats out playing badly on Tour. Struggling on Tour is absolutely bad. I'd much rather have the job that I'm in right now.
It's been a blast over the last six or seven years, been able to work with people like you at Golf Channel all the way through to CBS. To be able to still be a part of the sport and a part of the tournaments and the events that I love and feel this affiliation and have this team atmosphere and camaraderie with so many hundreds of people in the compound all working together to try to put a product out on TV, there's something that is very special about that.
Not quite being able to be good enough to compete at the highest level, this is another way for me to compete and still feel that juice and energy before we go on air. It's been an absolute blessing, and I hope to be able to do it for a long time.
STEVE SANDS: You definitely will.
Last one for you, Michael. Everybody knows your name in this sport who's involved in the game. I know you know your stature in the game at your age and where you are. How do you alleviate the internal pressure of trying to prove what everybody knows is greatness inside you?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: That's a big question.
(Laughter.)
STEVE SANDS: He's a great, great player, and he's going to have a great career.
SCOTT VERPLANK: He went to Stanford. He ought to be able to answer that.
STEVE SANDS: He didn't go to class. He's playing golf.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Just block it out really. Block out the haters. Even when people are kind of talking you up, you can't really think about what's going on off the golf course. You have to focus on what you've been focusing on the past 10, 15 years that you've been taking this seriously that you've been playing tournaments.
It's professional golf. It's still the same game we've played our whole lives. So yeah, you go out there, you get the ball in the hole. That's kind of all you've got to worry about.
If someone is heckling me on the 1st tee or on the 18th green, it doesn't really matter to me. It's all fun for them. I'm just going to block it out, and I'm just going to do my own thing.
STEVE SANDS: There you go, round of applause.
(Applause.)
One thing that will never happen to you at the BMW Championship, see these two guys here at table 3, they are the announcers. Thorbjornsen will never be mistaken at the BMW Championship. I can promise you that.
Michael Thorbjornsen, Trevor Immelman, and Scott Verplank, everybody.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports