Professional golf can be a roller coaster but even by those standards England’s Oliver Wilson has been on an epic journey.  From leading amateur to successful professional to twice losing his game almost completely, the affable 43-year-old has seen and done just about everything golf has to offer. In this episode, Wilson sits down with John Huggan for a fascinating chat about life, golf and everything in between.

Search ‘Ryder Cup’ on the internet and it won’t take long before you find an image of Sam Torrance, arms raised to the sky after holing the winning putt at The Belfry at the 1985 matches.  The Scot is the son of one of the game’s greatest coaches. Bob, but also a pivotal figure in both the Ryder Cup as we know it today and the European Tour.  On the eve of the 44th matches between Europe and the United States, Torrance sits down for a fascinating conversation with The Thing About Golf host...

Some names are synonymous with the Ryder Cup and on the European side Bernard Gallacher is one.  Eight times a player and three times a Captain, Gallacher oversaw a time of great change in the matches from before European players became part of the team to the height of hostilities at Kiawah Island in 1991.  His chat here with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan is as compelling as you would expect and the understated Gallacher reveals more than one story that has never been told before.

There are few more thoughtful or interesting voices in the game than Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell. In this wide-ranging chat with The Thing About Golf host, John Huggan, the 2010 U.S Open champion talks Ryder Cup, Pebble Beach, the move to LIV and why he doesn't think he deserves a voice on the DP World Tour.  Agree with him or not there is one thing guaranteed with McDowell: you’ll be entertained (and he’ll make you think).

It's been just over five years since Australian golf lost one of its most popular players in Jarrod Lyle. On episode 100 of The Thing About Golf podcast, host Rod Morri catches up with Jarrod’s wife, Briony, to talk about how the couple met, the realities of living on the road, Jarrod’s legacy and what life is like as a non-golfer in a golfer’s world.

Her voice is familiar to golf fans the world over but there is much more to Dottie Pepper than what we see in the televised golf coverage.  A world class player, major champion, and passionate advocate for all forms of the game, Pepper is an intelligent, articulate speaker and thinker about the game.  These attributes are on full display in this broad ranging discussion with The Thing About Golf host John Huggan, which covers everything from the Solheim Cup to the possibilities of Saudi...

One of golf’s greatest assets, especially when compared to other sports, is the range of people who can enjoy it. Age, gender and even disability can all be accounted for in golf and in that last category one of the best in the world is recent inaugural G4D Open winner Brendan Lawlor. The Irishman captured the title at Woburn in May and in this wide ranging chat with Rod Morri delves into the fascinating — and frankly underrated world — of disability golf.

It's not often you get an insider’s perspective on one of the game’s most important championships but that’s exactly what David Begg, former press officer for The Open Championship, gives us in this lengthy chat with John Huggan. From Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino to Greg Norman and Nick Faldo, Begg had a front row seat for some of golf’s most memorable moments.

Rare is the person who swings from indifference, or even dislike of the game, to becoming a committed and passionate golfer but that has been the journey for our guest Dr Hannah Brown. An accomplished and highly regarded scientist, Hannah found the game later in life and brings a perspective that we in golf rarely get to hear. From what makes the game so addictive to the things we do that look so silly to the outside world, Hannah has some fascinating takes on what golf gets right — and wrong.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

There are few in golf whose contribution to the game could be compared to that of Sir Michael Bonallack.  Unquestionably one of Britain’s greatest amateur players he has also been a long-time administrator of the game serving as both Secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and later Captain of the R&A. As a player, he enjoyed great success but few years were as glorious as the summer of 1968 when the then 33-year-old won the third of his five Amateur championships,...

Christine Fraser is one of only a few women in the golf course design business but the Canadian native is one of the most eloquent speakers and broad thinkers about what golf course design can and should be. While understanding the importance of how golf holes are laid out, Christine has a unique ability to consider design through a much broader prism than simply the shape of golf holes. She’s an eloquent speaker and out of the box thinker and covers a lot of territory in this in depth chat...

Like many TV analysts it’s easy to forget Sky Sports’ Ewen Murray was a player long before he ever sat behind a microphone. In this wide-ranging interview with The Thing About Golf host, John Huggan, he looks back on his playing career on the European Tour, the putting yips, how he got into television, his fallout with Tiger Woods and what he thinks of the current LIV Golf controversy.  It’s a broad and rambling discussion from a man whose life has been immersed in the game and it’s well...

The name Thomson is synonymous with golf, not only in Australia but globally. Five times Open Champion Peter is, of course, one of the game’s greats but ask his wife Mary and she’ll tell you that you never would have known it.  The Peter Thomson the public saw, listened to and read his words was the same Peter Thomson Mary saw at home and the couple enjoyed more than 50 years of marriage, which remained strong from the day they met in the 1960’s to Peter’s passing in 2018. Mary Thomson is a...

The voice will be familiar but there is much more to Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner than most golf fans would ever guess.  From humble beginnings growing up on a family-owned driving range and miniature golf course in a tough part of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Lerner fell in love with the game. A by-product of his time working the range, is a single figure handicap and a couple of club championship trophies from the 1980s. After years of working in the media, he finally achieved his dream job – one...

A golfer can only beat the field assembled on any given week under whatever conditions are present at the time and that’s exactly what Stephen Allan did at the 2002 Australian Open at Victoria Golf Club.  Allan joins The Thing About Golf host Rod Morri to look back on what was not only one of the most controversial tournaments in recent memory but also the highlight of the Victorian’s lengthy career.