Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry Talk Ryder Cup, Golf, Basketball

Mike appreciate you uh sitting down with me uh this is really an honor one because of who you are but more than that we're obviously here on a golf course and it's a pretty uh special bond in terms of the basketball players who who love golf um that that group is growing by the years a lot more people picking up the game but you've been in it from for a long time and I'm fascinated just to know you know how that love for golf in general just started um and how you balanced uh you know

Golf and basketball while you were playing cuz I'm in that boat right now and I feel like sometimes I'm playing too much golf but sometimes I feel like I'm not playing enough well that's the EAS that's the easiest point I mean that's the easiest question I can answer is that you know when I was playing it was snow on the ground in Chicago it was no golf courses it was nothing if it was things would have been a little bit different but I I kind of got into golf uh mainly because from a competitive standpoint

to me it is the hardest game to play absolutely uh I can always respond to an opponent a defensive guy offensive guy whatever but in golf it's like playing in a mirror and you battling yourself consistently to try to get Perfection every swing every [Applause] putt for a competitive person like me this is what keeps me sane you know because when I walk away from the game of basketball you know that was enough to keep my competitive juices working absolutely now when I I'm I'm I don't have that game this game and it even drives

me crazy then now I go fishing in between my golf because I got to show patience in fishing that's going to be Rel relative to to God good morning and welcome to the first day of the 43rd Ryder Cup we're here at the Ryder Cup we're here at Whistling straights I'm I'm fascinated by this event cuz this is my first time here when you get here and you see the the atmosphere you the chance and theise and I'm wondering what do you think from a team perspective you know when guys are individuals throughout the whole

year how does that permeate Eng golf cuz with us we hit Rah in the in the locker room how's that accountability you think work in that locker room when well it's tough it's tough you know I mean I I've had countless conversations with some of the players and if I can put it in the most simplest terms is that you know you have to give up bits and pieces of who you are mhm for the benefit of the team and that can be you know something so simple as either you know response you know support

uh spending time having lunch dinner either way um I learned that later in my Years cuz it initially in basketball I was so focused in my craft that that was matter that's what matters the most but to win you have to get parts of yourself to other people and and look at people in a different Manner and come to accept them rer cup is very similar in the same sense I mean yeah you got Tiger Woods on your team Tiger Woods can only win one point one point you know and he may not even win

it depend on if you're playing alternate shot so it's things that you have to you know factor in our best asset is on Singles you know but we always seem to struggle in alternate shot and two in best ball uh and that I think has been something that the European team has always been able to capitalize on and for us we should learn from that well a fixture at Ryder cups through the years I first remember seeing Michael Jord at his first Rider Cup in valderama Spain in 1997 these guys can go to any event

they won in the world and they never miss the Ryder cups I know you've traveled to Europe and and been on the road venues you've been in home venues if you were on the Ryder Cup team yeah would you rather be playing on the on the road you know somewhere in Europe playing against that road crowd being a shut them up or would you rather be on home turf you know hyping feeling the energy here with the uh with the home you know the answer to that I just want to hear I just I'd rather

be on the road i' rather be on the road you know I love playing on the road and it seems as though your concentration level is much much better um you know that you're not expected to win so that you get have the opportunity to to prove the unknown uh and a lot of times when you play at home you let your hair down you get relaxed you see more F friends you see more family you got to worry about tickets you got to worry about so many other different things so uh we I always

love playing on the road so it minimizes my thought process and I can focus on my craft and I I would imagine if I was playing on the rder cup that's exactly I would much rather play in Europe than to play home and there's another one for Dustin Johnson Michael Jordan on board you got a lot of different characters on the USA team do you see yourself in any of uh the know the Team USA members who do you see yourself in the most in terms of their demeanor on the course or wow that's something

about them hard um you could say nobody cuz they ain't on your level yet no I think you know I like to say that the competitive nature is is it's you can see on a lot of the guys and it comes in a lot of different ways you know I can see a little bit of myself in JT mhm I can see a little bit of myself in Brooks I can see a little bit of my calmness and and confident in DJ so I I mean I can see a lot of those qualities as it

take to be successful basketball especially in in in the way that you played the game you could impact the game on both ends of the floor and you always I'm sure you always felt like there was time for you to to flip a switch and and get things back under control in golf you can't really control what the other person's doing how do you think that mentality is is uh is mastered in golf um I think when I talk to all of my buddies you know when they're playing the big matches and I see that

they're leading you know the I the first first thing I i t i type to them or I text them is keep it simple mhm because now you're not trying to overdo overthink you know just keep it simp simple Fairways and GRE you know blah blah blah you can't get it all back in one hole you got to take a shot at a time to me those are simple conversations that's a simple way to stop what you're thinking I know it's a wrer cup I know there a bunch of people watch it I'm down five

and after five let's just keep it simple let's hit Fairways and green now that's all you can do you know you can't just turn switch and say you know what you race to five let's start all over again no you got to channel your thoughts to start basically working your way back to getting more comfortable confident about your swing scoring or either match now it may not happen that way but I think that's a good start and sometimes it does I've been to uh a couple PJ events I've been to one major this is my

first Rider Cup this is the first time that I've been on a course watching and haven't gotten the itch to go play and I say that because the competition is so ripe usually when I go to a tournament I'm like dang like the shots are inspiring me to I want to go to the range right now and work on this and that uh you feel like a similar Vibe is that competitive nature still like I want I stay in my Lane I stay in my Lane I watch these guys are good yeah they're great and

to watch them under the pressure yeah of being able to hit shot after shot after shot knowing that you got so many thousands of people against you and you have so many thousands of people supporting you you don't want to let them down being able to represent that fan base you know USA or Europe and for me I don't have the skill set to put myself in that environment now if you tell me I got a basketball in my hand now that's a different story but if I if I had a golf club in my

hand there's no way I can get comfortable to hit a 50 yard shot or 100 yard shot not with all these people not all these people got President Bush Michael Jordan over his right shoulder he's got a big moment here to try to turn this thing around who on the European team would you be most scared to play against and I hate using that word with you I I'm not scared of anybody I mean but uh Ian poter every time I Tred you know I used to go and watch him all the time if I'm

at any of his matches are walking down he finds me after he makes a good Putt and it's like man I didn't do anything I like you I support you I stay away from him when he's when he's walking when I'm walking I won't go watch him you sparked the miracle of Madonna right I didn't spark know know I had my I had my own thoughts about it but I did it again those are maniacal eyes aren't they and we went from definitely winning the minina to crying driving home that we just got our butt

kicked and that is that's Ian pure there's always that debate on uh whether you you hate ha losing more than you love winning right and I feel like for me losing just is the worst feeling in in in life at anything whether it's cards golf basketball whatever it is um you how do you feel about that and also like how you think that translates in terms of a team competition and golf that these guys are going through I hate losing I mean it's not even question but I I mean I have to respect losing cuz

losing is a part of winning yeah you you never just you know win you got to Lose to Win and I think the one thing about you know the writer cup situation is that we got to want it bad enough we we were dominant early on and now that they are does it mean as much to us as it does to them absolutely and if that's the case then losing is going to hurt Absolut you know to a point where you would look at how can I do things different how can I change how can

I make this team better and that's that's the thing about a team and you know this too is that before you can look at someone else you got to look at yourself in the mirror because that's how things get started and you got to be willing to change and you got to have a sense of Pride about yourself it's not about the money it's not about anything it's more about the pride and you know the best players whoever's playing the best is going to win what's the most amount of holes you played in one day

oh Bo 63 damn I was Ring 63 I was younger I'm going try to I'm try to beat that one that's luck that's big yeah good luck to me out of all the players here this week on Team USA or Europe whose game would you want to have the most John Ron quick swing doesn't waste time that's that's a keep Simple and he's playing really good right now that's a keep a simple swing right there who's the most fun basketball player you play with on the course or one that you like to beat the most

Danny a he's my new favorite I like that too favorite too talks a lot of trash don't he he does Imagine him on the basketball court yeah I'll just stick with him out here U and last thing what's your favorite thing of just about the rider cup once again the camaraderie the patriotism you know you representing your country the chills I feel and know that everybody's vying to try to win that cup it's not about the money it's not about anything it's more about the pride and you know the best players whoever's playing the best

is going to win you know I hate that we've been playing bad that they won but I got a good feeling this year I got a good feeling let's do it appreciate you sitting down I know how much golf means to both of us and it's nice to connect on that level um anytime and uh yeah bring my wall next time we play come on down in the Grove I got some treatment for you absolutely