Secret Golf Podcast

THEME SONG: It's Secret Golf. It's what I'm looking for. It's why I get up every morning, come on, good time with friends. Keeps me coming back for more. Secret Golf! We're headed down the road. We just loaded up a big show, going looking for the heart and soul. Rolling until the wheels fall off, it's Secret Golf.

- (WHISPERED) Sh, it's a secret.

KNOXY: It's another Secret Golf podcast with Elk and Knoxy. I'm Knoxy, Elk is going to be here a little bit later on. He's spending the day on the golf course today, at Champions Club. So I'm going to have to call him up and have a little chat with him, live from some fairway. Anyway, that's what he does. We can't get mad at him for going out and playing golf. I hope you're having a good week so far. It's the week of the PGA Championship. So some great golfing action coming up over the next few days.

Now, here at Secret Golf, we have a roster of players. If you go onto our website secretgolf.com, you'll see them. And also follow us on Twitter, because we like to keep up to date there, and follow all their progress on whatever tours. We're just Secret Golf on Twitter, Instagram, and on Facebook. We have players that are on the PGA Tour, and we've been talking about them quite a lot, over the past few podcasts. We've been joined by Jason Dufner, by Brian Harmon. We've been looking at their events. Also, PGA, we have some fantastic female players on our roster. And with the Solheim Cup, we have a lot more on that coming up soon.

But also Web.com, and it's been a very exciting week for us here, at Secert Golf, after the recent Ellie Mae classic in the Bay Area last weekend. Exciting for us because it was one by Martin Piller, one of our Secret Golf stars. It's great, actually, because Martin is married to Gerina Piller, who is another person that we have here, and we're going to be chatting to her in the next a while about the Solheim Cup. That was the big news for her. It was a weekend of celebrations in the Piller family, with Martin winning his sixth web.com title, and Gerina getting that call saying that she was in the Solheim Cup team for the USC. A little bit later on in the podcast, we'll be talking about Gerina and the Solheim Cup, but right now the focus has to be on her hubby.

It was a huge win on the Web.com tour for Martin Piller, and Elk got him on the phone to talk about the whole thing.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Martin, mate, you won the tournament out in-- what was that? San Francisco area?

MARTIN PILLER: San Francisco Bay area.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I played that tournament about three years ago, or so, when I was out there doing some work in Silicon Valley. Mate, that course was high! What did you shoot? 18 under, to--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

MARTIN PILLER: 18 under, yeah, 18 under. Let's see, par was 70 so, yeah, 262. Yeah, we had good weather, and the course was decently soft. There were some pretty good rough on it, but it wasn't-- the greens got a little firmer on the weekend, but nothing crazy. It was there. It was certainly there the first two days. And then after that, it was kind of what you'd expect. But definitely played really well, obviously all week.

STEVE ELKINGTON: This is the sixth time you've won on the Web.com. Is that a record or is it one of other Secret Golf's own, Jason Gore. Does he own the record, or is it you? Who is it?

MARTIN PILLER: I think Jason-- I was told that Jason Gore, he has seven titles.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Wow.

MARTIN PILLER: I am one off his record, so Jason still holds the record. However, I--

STEVE ELKINGTON: You've got three left this year.

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, I got some time left. So hopefully-- but he's playing out here, so he could add to to it, as well.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Now, a lot of people that don't understand the Web.com, you know, I'm going to do a little explanation here, you can fill in the blanks for me. But, basically, it's the AA or the AAA tour that sits right along the PGA Tour, right beside it, and the top 25 money winners at the end of this season automatically go to the tour next year. You did the biggest jump ever. Tell us what it was. You went from 104th, all the way inside of the top 25. You're now--

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah.

STEVE ELKINGTON: --it's on 24, is that correct?

MARTIN PILLER: Correct, yeah. I think I was 105th or 106th, and then I went to 24th, all the way up to 24th. So as of right now-- and the way you explained that is perfect-- it is basically, in baseball terms, it is like AAA. So it is one step below the PGA Tour. Still a very good level of golf, and you see--

STEVE ELKINGTON: You bet.

MARTIN PILLER: --guys come off the Web.com tour every year and win. You see it every year now, on the PGA Tour. But you need to be in the top 25 on the money list at the end of the year. Right now I'm 24th, so right now we're good. However, we still have a few more events left, so there's still a little bit more golf to be played.

STEVE ELKINGTON: And I did see-- I did check out the money list tonight, and you actually have-- which is kind of unusual, at some point-- is you have a little cush there. You have about a 9 grand cush, which is a pretty-- that's substantial on the Web, because on the PGA Tour, 9 grand is not a very big cush, because it could be--

MARTIN PILLER: No.

STEVE ELKINGTON: --you know, one position, but in Web.com, that could be, you know, if you-- a 10th or 20th could be the, you know-- you've got some nice cush there.

MARTIN PILLER: Right.

STEVE ELKINGTON: As you know, Secret Golf has you, and Ethan Tracy, and Jason Gore. And Jason Gore is sitting behind you, so what-- [INAUDIBLE]. Looks like he's got his money. He's at about 18-- ranked 18th at about 160k. You're at-- right at, what? 40k and I think Gore's at, like, 110. So, mate, we could have all three graduates this year. That'll be worth a party.

MARTIN PILLER: That would be worth a party. That wouldn't be a bad way to get things rolling. But yeah, I think Ethan's good. He's probably the last guy-- I think everybody-- I think 18 is probably set. After that, it could--

STEVE ELKINGTON: You're looking at the dollar amount, right? You guys are looking--

MARTIN PILLER: Exactly.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I've got to get over-- what is it, 140k, or 160k?

MARTIN PILLER: Probably that. Probably what you just said, 160. Probably about that, I would say, with three events left. I would say about-- that's probably a good guess, I would say, 160.

STEVE ELKINGTON: And of course, us tour players, like you and I, we all know how much all this money is because we feel it and we know what it's like out there, so we know it like the-- how good our shoes are tied up, we know exactly what is going to happen.

[LAUGHTER]

Pretty much, right? But you have to be excited. Tell us about what it's been like for you, because you've kind of-- you haven't had a great year. Now, you've actually turned this all the way around, to where you could actually have an enormous finish, walk right on to the PGA Tour next year, or as it would be, it would be this year, because of the wrap-around schedule. Is that true? You'd go run on this year?

MARTIN PILLER: Right, that was the case. Yeah, you would finish the Web.com finals, and then you would start up immediately in Napa for the Safeway, yeah.

KNOXY: Oh, we're absolutely delighted for Martin. Such a good guy and, you know, that win being so important to him right now, with it nearing the end of the season for the Web.com. And looking ahead to the PGA Tour cards for the top 25. Now, a little bit off topic here, but we have to talk about this, because this week-- well, last week on the Web.com, when Martin won, the event probably had a lot more-- I'm saying probably-- definitely had a lot more media attention exposure than normal. It was because Steph Curry, the NBA player, he got sponsored exemption, and he was invited to play in the event. Now, it was the Ellie Mae classic, and it was held in the Bay Area. Steph Curry plays for the Golden State Warriors, who are based out of Oakland. So, local event for him. Of course it was going to attract huge crowds. It generated a huge amount of attention on social media. And actually 10 times more media credentials were given out for this tournament. What did the players think, though? What did Martin, the champion, think? Well, Elk went to find out.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Stephen Curry played in the tournament. What was that like? I've got to get your two cents for that before I go any further.

MARTIN PILLER: I thought it was awesome, and most-- pretty much all the guys at the tournament were in agreement. They thought it was awesome, as well. And it was cool because, for the Web.com tour, you're trying to get as many crowds as you can, and obviously you're low on the totem pole, when it comes to the PGA Tour event. And for him, coming out to our event, the crowds were really, really big, which is great. And that's what we want. You just want-- any golfer loves it. I mean, you know, same thing. It's fun to play well in front of a big crowd. And--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah, no doubt.

MARTIN PILLER: --that was provided for us. That was provided for us that week. So, it was awesome. I loved it. And I think it's something other tournaments can explore. Now, it is a bonus that he shot a pair of 74s, which is not bad. I mean, that's really good.

STEVE ELKINGTON: That's about what I shot when I was out there.

[LAUGHTER]

KNOXY: By all accounts, Steph Curry playing in this Web.com event seemed to go down with the players. I've read a lot of articles since then from people that work in the media, journalists that kind of thing, people that are part of the golfing world, and nobody seems to have any objections. But I'll talk to Elk about that shortly. Going to get him on the phone and we will find out exactly what he thinks about it. This was a huge win for Martin Piller, as it puts him within the top 25. Now, that alone is just massive, massive confidence. But he's the first one to admit that this year has been a little bit of a mixed bag of results for him.

STEVE ELKINGTON: What has been the difference, for you, this season, from when, you know, you struggled. You were outside the top hundred.

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah.

STEVE ELKINGTON: That's not very good for you.

MARTIN PILLER: No, no.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Outside the top hundred.

MARTIN PILLER: No, no. No, you're absolutely right. This year, you know, this year has been-- it's been an odd year. I felt like this is some of the better-- I've hit the ball well, and I've done everything pretty good with my game when it comes to driving the ball, when it comes to hitting my irons, chipping and putting. Thinking well. I felt like I've been very patient this year. I got on a little bit of a run of missed cuts, here, a few weeks ago. I missed four straight cuts, and three of them, I missed by a shot.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Confidence or just, sometimes you just get a bad bounce or whatever, right?

MARTIN PILLER: It got to the point where I started thinking, oh my gosh, I just want to make a cut. However, I hate that. I hate that mentality because if you're trying to just make the cut-- well, what if you shoot-- what if you start off around-- or what if you start for the first round, and you shoot seven under? Well, you don't want to just make the cut after shooting seven under, you want to shoot another seven under. You want to just keep-- let's keep doing this thing. Because you want to try to win a tournament.

And so, I really didn't like that mindset that I was falling into. Because I don't usually think, I just want to make a cut. I usually think, you know, you want to be up there and, at least in contention. And I found myself, kind of, sliding into that thought process of making a cut, and so I'm like, man, I've got to get out of this. And so, I was talking-- I talked with my wife, Gerina, a lot about it. You know, I've bounced a lot of ideas off her, a couple other players. You know, I called a good friend, Paul Stankowski, he lives by me, here in Dallas. And, you know, said, like, what do you think about when you're out there? Because I felt like it was a mental thing that was holding me back. Because my physical game-- I would go out and practice, and in practice rounds-- and when I was just playing in practice at home, and the ball-- I mean, every golfer knows, when they hit the ball, and they look up and they see it, what it's supposed to do. Like I like the ball to do this.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You're seeing it right where you're supposed to see it, is what you're saying, right?

MARTIN PILLER: Exactly. And the strike, and everything, and I'm like, man my swing feels good. The ball is doing what-- I feel like the ball is doing what I want it to do, but yet, I'm just not clicking it in a tournament. And I was-- as a result, I wasn't playing bad golf, but I was, kind of, hanging around even par a lot. Which is almost more frustrating, because you're like, man, I feel like my game is good, but I'm not getting anything out of it. If I was practicing in practice rounds, and I was just hitting it everywhere and had no clue where the ball was going, then I'd be like, well, OK, I've got some work to do. But I felt like I was I was doing things very well and not seeing the results. And I thought, like-- I got kind of into a bad mental frame of mind. Because I was missing all these cuts.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You're known on the Web.com as the guy that just, when he gets going, you [INAUDIBLE]. You've won tournaments. You've shot some of the lowest scores ever recorded on the Web.com. It sounds like you get stuck in neutral. Once you get going, it doesn't seem to bother you, once you keep going. So what was the thing last week, I'm curious to find out. Was there a switch or was it a momentum deal? Was it a four under five, under six? Walk us through what got you going.

MARTIN PILLER: Right, well, I started-- I actually found something in my golf swing. Just a little key that my-- and I actually looked at Gerina's golf swing. When Gerina goes towards impact, as she gets to the top of her swing and starts to go towards the impact, her head, kind of, goes actually closer to the golf ball, and mine, kind of, goes away. It would work a little bit away from the ball. And I thought, you know, maybe if I could try to hold my head a little bit-- just stay there, and not let it work away from the ball as I get towards impact, that would, maybe, just get me just a little bit of-- maybe a little tighter.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Stay in the pocket, or something. Yeah, if you move in [INAUDIBLE], something's got to go stretch out to get it, right? Is that what you're saying?

MARTIN PILLER: Right, exactly. And so, the week-- really my confidence turned around the week before San Francisco, when we played in Kansas City. And it was really Kansas City. And I made the cut. I won that tournament in Kansas City, before, so getting back on a familiar course really did help. And I made the cut, shot a pair of 68s, and I was fine. And then on Saturday, I shot seven under, and that was, by far, the lowest round I'd shot all year. I shot a 64 Saturday in Kansas City. And that round, I was hitting it great. I was never-- it's one of the rounds where you just, you got good looks at birdie all day.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Stress free. Stress free.

MARTIN PILLER: Absolutely, stress free. And you are thinking, man, I have nothing to fear out here. I am pretty much just going at everything.

[LAUGHTER]

And that was around where I was like, OK, that was really good golf. Not only was the score good, but everything was just very steady, very tight. The ball was tight. Everything was just very in control. And so when I went to California, I had a lot of-- I was taking a lot of confidence from that week. Like OK, I like what I see the ball doing. I like what everything's doing. And then I got off to a really good start in California. I think I've birdied three of my first five or six holes to start the tournament. I chipped in on the first hole, actually. Chipped in on the first hole, and I made a couple of more birdies on like four or five or something. I was under par pretty quick.

And after that, it just seems like, something clicked in me, where I was just like, you know what, I don't care what golf course I'm playing, I'm going to hit great shots all week. And I'm not going to worry about the cut, I'm not going to worry about what I'm at on the money list, I'm not going to worry about all that stuff. Because it just doesn't matter. And then I just got on the heater. On Friday, I got off to a good start, again. I shot three under the first day. And then Friday, I shot eight under, and I think I turned at 30. I'd say the moment where I really turned around for me was the ninth hole on Friday. It's this par 5, and it's pretty long.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I know it. I know it, yeah.

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, it's almost 600 yards, but I had a little tailwind, and I roasted a drive, and I had about 280 to the hole, and I roasted a three wood. Dead to the heart of the green. It was probably one of the purest three woods I've ever hit. It comes off just right, lands right on the front, rolls to the middle of green, and I have about 40 feet for eagle and I canned the eagle putt.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Well, there you go.

MARTIN PILLER: And so, I shot three under the first day, and then I just turn at 30. So I'm already-- and the par is 70, so 35-35. So I turned at five under, and-- come out and shoot five under. Now I'm thinking, man, this thing has just been blown wide open. Like, I'm hitting it great, I'm putting great. Man, from then on, it just seemed like I went into another gear where I had-- I was simply focused on what I needed to do. Whatever shot was in front of me, I was just trying to hit it, and just do the best. It didn't mean I hit every shot perfect, but I was just trying to hit the shot as best I could. And I would say it really turned around that night was making an eagle on that ninth hole because then, you go from, oh, now I'm back-- now I'm in contention to win this thing. And--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah

MARTIN PILLER: --after getting off to such a good start, I would say that's where it really turned around for me.

NARRATOR: With only a handful of events left this year, it's definitely a good time for him to turn it around. It's Martin Pillar talking to Steve Elkington on the secret golf podcast after Martin's win at the Ellie Mae classic on the Web.com Tour last weekend. Now, Gerina Pillar plays on the LPGA Tour.

She's one of our players that we have signed to Secret Golf. Actually, we've shot her player channel, and very soon, it's going to be going live on our website secretgolf.com. We'll keep you up to date with that. Also, we're going to have a podcast next week ahead of the Solheim Cup with Gerina and some of her teammates.

Now of course this was a huge weekend. Gerina was over in Scotland and she was playing in the British Open for the LPGA Tour, and with Martin winning, of course there was definitely some celebrations going on. And the lovely thing is, and of course you wouldn't expect it to be any other way, husband and wife are each other's biggest cheerleaders.

STEVE ELKINGTON: We saw that you were on your phone talking to Gerina, who we had-- who had just made the Solheim Cup team. So you were on the cell phone with her. She was in a pub in Scotland. Is that right?

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, so they had their British Open last week. So she was still in Scotland, obviously. And yeah, and so I FaceTimed her immediately when I was done.

That was the first thing I did was get her on the phone and see her. It was like midnight there or something crazy. But you know, she had stayed up and was [INAUDIBLE] on the internet. And so I just wanted-- that was the first person I wanted to talk to was her.

STEVE ELKINGTON: No doubt, and of course three of our girls at Secret Golf-- Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis, and your wife, Gerina Pillar, they all made not the Solheim Cup. I'm thinking about going up there next week. Mate, have you ever been to a Solheim Cup?

Should-- is that something that we should-- I've watched it intently over the last couple of years. And of course your wife Gerina was the one that just held all the pressure. She handled it all last-- two years ago when she made a 10 footer, as people may not remember, to keep the match alive and then win that match to seal off the Solheim Cup. Are they fired up, those girls?

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, oh yeah. I've been to-- so she played in the Solheim Cup in 2013 and then the last one in 2015. And I went to both. And they are fun. They're obviously identical in format to the Ryder Cup, USA versus Europe, and the team structure, the format of play, the four ball and the foursomes and then the single, 12 singles on Sunday-- identical format.

So it's very easy to follow if you follow Ryder Cups. And yeah, any time-- any time you-- I always related it like the Olympics. Any time-- well, especially in golf, any time it's head to head golf, it's more-- it just has a little extra to it.

And then also any time somebody-- if you watch the Olymp-- sometimes when you watch the Olympics, you may see your country in an event that you may know nothing about. You may know nothing about the event but you know that that's somebody from your country. And so you root for them and you pull for them because they represent your country.

And so it may be something like, you know, like, gymnastics or whatever. You're like, I know nothing about gymnastics, but I'm rooting for them. And you'll watch.

And so that's a cool thing with either Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup. It's, you know what? They have the United States flag, and they are representing the United States.

And so you can-- can follow along with that. But it is-- it's intense. They had a really good crowds. They had fantastic crowds the last two Solheim Cups I went to.

One was in Colorado and the last one was in Germany. This one will be in Des Moines, Iowa. Fantastic crowds, great golf-- the level of golf is obviously great.

And it's intense. It's emotional. All those team event, you know, you see it with either Ryder Cup or the President's Cup. Any time you get on that team format, it's just-- there's something about it that just makes it more emotional.

And I don't know quite what it is. But you all of a sudden now go from as golfers who are just playing for ourselves-- not really for ourselves, but we have our family and our coaches and stuff. But it's kind of you out there.

And now you have other guys, you know, and it's your boys, you know? It's your friends, it's your peers, and you don't want to let them down. You know, you--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah.

MARTIN PILLER: --you want to come through because these are guys you are friends with, you played hundreds of rounds of golf with, and you want to be successful in this format. And there's just something about it that's just-- it's just-- the emotional peg is just lifted a little higher.

STEVE ELKINGTON: And of course, Europe is a worthy opponent. They have beaten the US squad before. So it's a pretty tight match.

This year it appears that the US team, so far, they've had a few changes. Paula Creamer is now on the team from [INAUDIBLE]. She had an injury, so she's out.

MARTIN PILLER: I'm just taking a call.

MAN: Cream is in. Oh, no, no, I just seeing if you needed anything.

MARTIN PILLER: Oh no.

MAN: I didn't know, didn't recognize the vehicle.

MARTIN PILLER: OK, thank you. Sorry.

MAN: No, it's no problem.

STEVE ELKINGTON: OK, was that a policeman? Did you tell him you won last week? [INAUDIBLE] it's all good.

MARTIN PILLER: No, we're all good. We're all good. [INAUDIBLE] Go-- go ahead.

Start that over again. Thanks. Sorry, Steve.

STEVE ELKINGTON: No, I like-- I like having the policeman coming to your car in the middle of the podcast. I like that. I was saying that there's been a few changes.

Is it Jessica Korda? She's out with an arm injury. And now it's Paula Creamer because--

MARTIN PILLER: Yes.

STEVE ELKINGTON: She--

MARTIN PILLER: Yes.

STEVE ELKINGTON: She's in. So that's cool. When I filmed Gerina up in this year for Secret Golf and I did her personal channel and I got to visit with Brittany Lang and of course I know Stacy Lewis well, these players are power players. Like, your wife is like power player.

You don't go to the golf and think that they're going to pattycake it down the middle. I mean, Gerina smokes it, right? You're--

MARTIN PILLER: Right.

STEVE ELKINGTON: --I know because I've been-- I've seen your stats. But she-- she smashes it as far as I'm--

MARTIN PILLER: She does, yeah. She does. She hits it very far, and you can tell when you watch her swing. She has all that lag held up.

And she gains a lot of power in that lag. She has really flexible wrists. And--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yep.

MARTIN PILLER: --and you can-- you can see when you saw her-- you can't tell when you watch her full swing. In real time, you can't really see that lag. But when you slow it down, you're like, wow, that club is really lagged.

Yeah, there's a lot of-- I think you're-- you'd be surprised when you watch some of the women in person kind of how far they do hit it. You're like, whoa, man, that was popped pretty good. And Gerina is one of the longer hitters. I mean, if you watch somebody like Brittany Lincicome or Lexi Tho-- Lexi Thompson can--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Lexi--

MARTIN PILLER: --smash the ball.

STEVE ELKINGTON: She hits it as far as I do at least. I mean, she flies at 275. She--

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, she-- and the thing people-- some-- Gerina is not very tall, but Lexie is almost six feet tall. Michelle Wie is like six feet-- is over six feet. And some of these girls are over six feet tall. And it's like, man, you know, they can-- you can create a lot of speed.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah, but Gerina is ripped in the legs and stuff. She's ripped. She's got strong legs, man. She's-- she's-- she's stout as far as--

MARTIN PILLER: She does.

STEVE ELKINGTON: --her strength.

MARTIN PILLER: Yeah, she gained that from all of her-- she played volleyball for five or six years as a kid or all through high school. And so--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah.

MARTIN PILLER: --she was extremely athletic, like played a bunch of other sports growing up. So I think that's-- she also has good genetics I would say as far as her mom is-- and all of her-- her whole family is really athletic group of people. And so she has good-- she has good genetics on her side.

STEVE ELKINGTON: And of course all those people that want to come see Gerina's swing, she can come to Secret Golf and see her own private channel. And of course we'll be shooting your channel by the end of this season when you are getting ready to walk hopefully right back onto the PGA Tour which not [INAUDIBLE] future. So you've got Missouri this week.

And then where does it go? There's only three more. Where do you go?

MARTIN PILLER: So there's-- yeah, there's three events, three regular season events left. There's this week Missouri. Next week is in Tennessee, in Knoxville, Tennessee, which I'm going to skip because I'm gonna go up to the Solheim Cup, which is next week. And then the last event is in Portland, Oregon. And that will be the last regular season event.

STEVE ELKINGTON: OK, well, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about your jump, and I'm hopeful to get all my work done this week so I can bring the big show up there next week. And we'll park it up there and put the tent out and we'll just-- you and I and Garrett Chadwell, Stacey Lewis's husband, who's the--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah.

MARTIN PILLER: --women's golf coach at University of Houston with my son Sam plays there on the men's team. So we'll all sit up there and, like, we'll put our red, white, and blue on. We'll shake a few pompoms next week. Listen, mate.

I wanted-- I wanted to take this opportunity to heartily congratulate you. You've pulled off almost the impossible of what you did out there for yourself last week, and we're so proud of you. And [INAUDIBLE] continued success this week. And we know-- we know what you're going to do. And thanks for spending a little time with us on this podcast.

MARTIN PILLER: No problem. Thanks for having me, and proud-- proud and honored to be a part of you and of Secret Golf and everything that it stands for and excited to see what the future holds.

KNOXY: So that win puts Martin Pillar at number 24 on the money list for the Web.com Top 25. Remember to get their PGA Tour card. Our other two players that are signed up to Secret Golf that play on the Web.com are Ethan Tracy, who's actually number 18 right now, and Jason Gore, who's just outside the top 25 at number 30.

But there's still a good few months to go, so fingers crossed. It would be amazing if all three of them could graduate to the PGA Tour for next season. So Elk got Martin on the phone just after he won at the weekend, but I had to phone Elk a little bit earlier on.

I was teasing about the fact that he is on the golf course. But there's a few things that I wanted to ask him about. So Elk, it's [INAUDIBLE] do, actually.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I'm down at Champions in Houston doing a little practice with my son Sam, who is getting ready to go back to college for his third year at University of Houston. Of course, that is where I went to school and his mother went to school. So we are all about the Houston Cougars. The kids-- the kids nowadays in college, they watch so much video of their swings and they change their swing so-- so much that it was just time for Sam to get back to basics and get down there, and you know-- you know, golf-- golf's not that hard swing-wise, you know, when you've got skill like he does.

KNOXY: Well, that's also what Martin Pillar thinks this week as well. I just talked to Martin Pillar about his win at the [INAUDIBLE] Classic on the Web.com tour. What do you think about that then? How do you think Martin is going to go forward now?

STEVE ELKINGTON: I think he was he has given himself the greatest boost of confidence that any golfer could, whether they're playing on the PGA Tour. To him to come from 105th on the money list to now basically he's 24th on the web. We know that the top 25 graduate to the PGA Tour, which actually happens in about a month. So he's going to get three more events.

He has a $9,000 cushion behind him, which is quite a lot, on the Web.com because the money breakdown out there is not as big as obviously the PGA Tour. So he's got a little bit of cushion. We'll all be following all of our three of our players, Jason [INAUDIBLE] Ethan Tracy and Martin Pillar. But maybe with a bit of luck, we'll have all three graduate to the PGA Tour from the Secret Golf team.

KNOXY: Well, that would be a party in the big show for definite.

STEVE ELKINGTON: That certainly would.

KNOXY: There would be a lot of bourbon consumed that night. The other thing that we were talking about this week for the Elly Mae Classic, and obviously it was in the Bay area, Steph Curry, the NBA player, plays for Golden State Warriors in Oakland, he took part in the event. He didn't make the cup, but he shot a pair of 74s.

Martin was talking about it, saying that all the players were pumped about it. There was a great vibe, big crowd. What do you think about Steph Curry taking part in this Web.com event?

STEVE ELKINGTON: Well, I think it was the right location for Steph Curry. He's so popular out there in the Bay Area. That's where his team plays.

And you know, he-- the thing that he had going for him was he played-- he played college golf or high school golf, Steph Curry did. So he-- you know, it's a little bit of an experiment. I was out there a few years ago playing in that exact event, and they invited Jerry Rice, a famous football player. And it kind of went-- it kind of became a disaster.

He didn't-- he didn't finish 36 holes. He kind of walked off after 27. So it was-- it became a little bit of a distraction. But I think, you know, a pair of 74s, I think we have to summarize this and put it into context that, you know, he only beat five guys, Steph Curry. He's a good player, but you know, I remember when Phil Mickelson went to try out for a major baseball team in Akron, Ohio to throw pitches.

And basically after he went to work out to throw-- to be a pitcher, they said he wasn't good enough and that was the end of that experiment. I'm sort of like, you know what? Let's let these guys go over there and try to make a living.

I know it's a sponsor exemption and I'm not going to ride both sides of the fence when I give you my opinion. I would just prefer to have the young guys make a living without having to be distracted by other players. Now they all-- the argument always is, well, it's going to give more exposure to the Web.com.

OK, sure it did. That's fine. It's going to make more money.

Well, you-- when you prove to me that it's going to make more money for the Web.com, then instead of just saying it, show it to me. Show it to the players and then I'll believe you. All it did for sure is 100% prove that he picked the right profession.

KNOXY: Yeah, and in Elk's case, the golfers should definitely stick to the golf because I've seen him try and play basketball before. I actually saw him and Jason Dufner do a little one on one basketball action. And let's just say Dufner kicked his ass without a shadow of a doubt. It's very funny, though.

Interesting week and a lot going on for the Web.com tour. Again, huge congratulations to both Martin Pillar for winning and wife Gerina Pillar for getting her place on the Solheim Cup team. Later on-- well, actually next week, our next podcast is going to be all around the Solheim Cup. And we're going to be joined by Gerina Pillar, Stacy Lewis, and Brittany Lang, three huge names making up that US team.

This is Secret Golf with Elk and Knoxy. Thank you very much for listening. Don't forget you can check out what we're up to on Twitter.

We're always doing stuff on there-- secretgolf. Goals Also on our Facebook and our Instagram, it's the same name. On our web site, that's where we find out everything-- secretgolf.com.

And that's what of course you get the access to our players that you're not going to find anywhere else delving into their game and finding out everything that you'd want to know. Until next time, I'm [INAUDIBLE]. Thank you for listening.