the day that we shot Zach's Captain's picks was
the most stressful day of the entire history of this show everybody's teed up we feel like we've
got all the the you know cameras and the crews and the positions that we need to but now it's
like it's all going to happen it's going to be bang bang and you know the idea that we'd built
up this entire season of the show to like pay off at this moment I do not have you this part of
this job and I think the scene that we're talking about is something that no one's ever seen before
I'm Chad mum executive producer of full swing and this is how we captured Zach Johnson's Ridder cup
picks from full swing season 2 we need you there and we need you ready so I'm not I'm not concerned
about that I'm just I'm just stating facts um it's time to get to work and we're going to bring
that we're going to bring that cup home buddy we knew we wanted to do the riter cup in season 2
um felt like an obvious next step in escalation to the series and and the drama for the characters
that we've been following from season 1 um but this time we had to convince uh not just the PG
of America but the DP World Tour and writer cup Europe and it took us over a year to kind of work
with them and figure out what that would look like to bring it into the series and so for them to be
able to commit they really needed their captains to say yes and so at the end of 2022 I flew out
to Sea Island uh to meet with Zach Johnson and it was was one of those pivotal meetings in that
I've had several times in the course of this show where it was a little bit to or die we showed
them a little bit of full swing season 1 which hadn't come out yet and Zach loved the show and
we had a conversation I thought it was going to be a long pitch where I had to talk him into why
he could trust us as soon as the episode ended he looked over and said this is going to be super fun
I'm in and then we were kind of off and running to have a group of guys collectively after the same
goal and to be able to piggyback off the momentum we've been having the last couple years and to
hopefully start what could be a new Dynasty in that tournament I think that's really our goal
we shot 900 hours of footage last year to cut down into sort of sixish hours of television and
it's really hard to predict who's going to win a major U but for the Ryder Cup it was it was
something we knew was going to be drama and so it was important to us to to build it in almost
the anticipation to that event across the Arc of the entire season so you know when you watch
the show you'll see Ryder Cup kind of comes up almost in every episode as a as a key dramatic
beat for all the characters and and subjects of the series and what we love about the writer cup
what made it great from a filmmaking perspective is it's one of the few times we could ever predict
like with certainty that we were going to have a dramatic moment at this time on this day and
that if we could nail the logistics we could have our cameras there any player who gets onto a
rder cup team that's all they want to do is is do it again and so for Justin who is so driven by
that kind of head-to-head competition and it's been such a force for the for the American team
you know for him as he was you know frustrated with his game as the year went on the Ridder cup
just started looming larger and larger and and was he going to be able to qualify in his own or was
he going to need to be a captain's pick and was he going to get it the first time I sat down with
Keegan Bradley at the beginning of the season and we asked him what his goals for the season were it
was just about the rder cup it was like I want to do everything I can to get back on that team but
he knows he's getting older and this might be his last chance to play on a rder cup team so for him
every single thing every decision he made every tournament he played was building up to how do I
how do I earn myself a slot on that team and and you know if if it comes down to a captain picks
how do I put myself in the best position to get picked one thing I'll say is being a writer Cup
captain is a tremendous honor but it is a lot of work and having seen it up close it is a full-time
job where you know you've got a 50% chance of of being a hero or being a villain so the fact
that they both agreed Zach and Luke to let our cameras be there for pretty much everything
the entire season is is is unprecedented and I think the scene that we're talking about
is something that no one's ever seen before [Music] so this is all taking place during the
FedEx Cup playoffs Zach has been scouting out his players I believe after the BMW Championship
the qualifiers were locked so Zach knew who his six Auto qualifiers were and we knew that he was
going to make the captain's picks after the Tour Championship but we didn't know if it was going
to be Sunday which was August 27th or potentially Monday or Tuesday so we flew a crew to Frisco
where Zach was uh as he was sorting through his kind of last minute like trying to make the
call we who's it going to be there was a lot of conversation about like having some veterans
around given you had guys like Windam Clark and Brian Haron who were major winners for the first
time sort of on that team for the first time you know Max hom had never played in the ryer cup
before and so I think they were waiting this idea of experience and and sort of current form we
knew that Ricky Fowler was really on the bubble we knew that Justin Thomas was on the bubble we knew
that Keegan Bradley was on the bubble we assume that Jordan spe had probably done enough to to
get a captain's pick and given that he's kind of the heart and soul of that team but we weren't
entirely sure we thought the first calls were going to go out Sunday so we asked Jordan spe
if we could ride with him to the airport so we get a camera crew in the car with Jordan with
this idea that he's going to get a phone call from Zach on the 27th and they make it all the
way to the airport and there's no phone call and so Jordan gets on his flight and leaves and
we're like well that was that was we we tried you know and so we thought okay well at least maybe
that'll be tomorrow so he flies back to Dallas I fly back to my office we've got a crew still in
fris with Zach which we know we're going to film we're hoping that the next day he's going to make
his picks then uh we had a crew in Jupiter Florida because we wanted to capture the Ricky call and
the Keegan call and we were trying to find where Justin Thomas went back to because he shut us down
at the last minute because he was so nervous about whether or not he was going to make it and JT is
the greatest like has leaned into this show as much as anybody and and the fact that he was so
worried just shows you how much it means to him and so we think maybe JT's back in Jupiter we
find out Sunday night that he's actually gone to Nashville where he has a a second house so
last minute like you know I guess near 10:00 we put a producer on a flight to Nashville they
get there that night you know around midnight and we just send her first thing in the morning
so this is now Monday morning we send her to his neighborhood where we know he has a house and
we'd filmed there before and in the meantime we had a we had our crew filming in Frisco and
we had a crew in Florida and Jupiter that had to get from Keegan Bradley's house over to Ricky
Fowler's house which is like they're like 2 miles away so how do we you know how do we be there for
the call and then get a rick get to Ricky's house and get it set up and capture that moment it was
a wild amount of coordination I mean it was we had we had three film crews in three different time
zones you know I'm out here in La it's 6:00 in the morning as this is all going down I felt like
uh I was in like a war room or something because you know we're sitting here in this conference and
looking at texts from everybody and everything's firing back and forth and we're hopeful and
trying to get get it and it was just like this this whole thing happened in about a 25-minute
period everybody's teed up we feel like we've got all the the you know cameras and the crews
and the positions that we need to but now it's like it's all going to happen it's going to be
bang bang and you know the idea that we built up this entire season of the show to like pay off
at this moment I mean we had multiple episodes kind of hinging on this happening and on our our
kind of Mantra filming this thing is if it's not on camera it never happened a producer in fris
sends me a text sort of 607 in the morning and and he sends me the list of the pcks and so we
see the list and Keegan's name's not on it and it's it was heartbreaking for us cuz Keegan is
the greatest you know Dad and professional and and obviously an incredible player and and
when we started the process of like adding Keegan to the show he said listen if it comes
down to a captain's pick I want you there yes or no and and a week before we had said you know
I talked to him the same thing he said listen we think the picks are either going to be Sunday or
Monday we're going to have a crew in Jupiter like is it okay if they come over and he said yes
or no bring them so Zach says okay I'm going to start making the first calls so it his first
calls to Jordan spe we captur that conversation I wish you could see what I'm looking at right
now I'm changing a dirty diaper currently well I didn't even see that you called you want to
go get some points in Rome yeah man love to all right buddy I need you calls Brooks tells him
you know like made the team congratul ations BK what's going on I would love to invite you to
be a part of the 2023 Ridder Cup team perfect I'm super pumped and honored man makes a few of
these calls and now he's got to make the Keegan call you've done great so far it'll be fine I do
not envy I do not envy this part of this job and and it's you just could feel how much Zach how
hard that decision was for him and and Zach knew the weight of that decision and also he's friends
with these guys and knows these guys and has been their peer for a long time and that Dynamic shift
from being someone's peer to being their sort of boss in the form of like being their captain and
making a decision that affects their legacy and their career kind of without that's out of their
control it's totally unprecedented in pro golf so here is Zach you know kind of making the decision
that potentially could affect Keegan for the rest of his career might never make it back onto a
Ryder Cup team and and will for forever be known as the guy who almost got the pick I'm talking
to our producer in Florida you know he's like I'm pulling up to Keegan's house right now we're
like okay you got 5 minutes to get in there get a call from the producer we have the wrong address
so somehow we had filmed with Keegan house before but somehow it got misprinted on the call sheet
and so our producer at the wrong address so he's like two houses down so I have to call Keegan to
ask to confirm what his address is so I call him knowing this call is potentially 5 minutes away
from happening I call him he answers I say hey buddy we got a crew here um can you just confirm
that this is your address and I was like is it okay if we still come in I know you know you
know we were going to be around but is it okay and he's like yeah come on in so you know we go
two houses down open the door we run in as soon as we sit down he gets this devastating phone call
he hey buddy um thanks for being patient with me uh there's no easy way to say this my friend um I
find it just best to go in a different direction this year I just it's it's not it's nothing
you did or didn't do because you're amazing um on and off the course I just feel like it's
best this year to go in a different direction I would would love to take 30 guys and I cannot and
just know that I so grateful for you okay Zach I I understand I um wishing you obviously good luck
and hope you guys go over there and win it thank you KS I appreciate you buddy okay all right
thanks Jack thank you bud take care bye [Music] byebye my heart is beating so fast what are you guys doing nothing nothing honey
that a squeeze why you need it and I found out from Keegan sort of after the fact that the fact
that I called him he thought that meant it was a yes he he really didn't think that we were going
to come and film a no call so the fact that we had said hey we got our cruise here and it was
5 minutes before the call he thought this was us getting that heroic moment for him so it was
like doubly blindsiding to him and and he handles it just like such an amazing professional and
you know seeing his wife there seeing his boys just you know being it's their dad you know and
he's just had his art ripped out uh is is just a real moment of just incredible professional
Stakes for somebody and and a real emotional moment that is that is what you can't script and
something amazing about documentaries and then we got to get to Ricky's house so our producer
you know could try you know says thank you to Keegan and basically has to like run out like five
minutes later I mean can't stick around and you know console anybody I mean we're gone producer
gets back in the car and and now it's like a race against the clock can he make it to Ricky Fowler's
house in time for the uh for the Ricky call and so we figured we got we had like sort of8 minutes
to get a producer from or shooter from uh from kagan's house over to Ricky's house he's on the
in you know the highway he's like I'm two and a half minutes out you know our producer in Frisco
is like he's done Sam Burns he's done Colin like where are we are we going to make it in time and
all of a sudden get a text like made it to Ricky's house Allison had open the door he runs right in
you know Ricky sitting on the back on his porch kind of waiting for the phone call set the camera
down right as the phone starts ringing and and get the real time call from from Zack for Ricky who
also wasn't quite sure if he was going to make it is Zach hello Rick buddy would you honor
me in being a part of the 2023 USA Rider Cup team uh yeah I think that's a pretty easy decision
obviously this was kind of my ultimate goal I knew it was going to be a bit of a far reach but I'm
glad I was able to put my name in the Hat honored to have you really am reck you deserve it thanks
so then the final call is JT and so you know we know that it's JT but um but he doesn't know that
yet and nobody in the world other than Zach and I guess us knew at the time and our producers
sitting there on his culdesac in Nashville just saying like no sign of him like clearly there's
doesn't look like there's anybody in the house we've got our crew his agents you know doesn't
know where he is he's not answering the phone so we hear the phone call uh on Zach's side we
obviously film Zach making the call to to Justin so I'm just going to cut straight to it buddy um
and then after it's over you know I tell our crew look I you know just stand by for another hour
maybe he'll come out now that he knows that it was a yes I text Justin tell him congratulations you
know told him that we were filming the Zach side of it and you know he doesn't respond we thought
we might have not had an episode because so much of that story line we were building to lead up
to that moment and it was it was frustrating I mean I think we had texts back and forth like
God it's crushing like we wish we could have had it you know like are we sunk like can we
still make this work and then uh about an hour later I get a text from JT with a video that Jill
had taken and he said I think you'll like this I would like to ask you to be a part of the 2023
R cut team yeah I I think I can make that work Zach that's amazing [ __ ] a man God it's that
stressful you did it to yourself you know I know I did I know I did but I say all that JT we
need you there and we need you ready so I'm not I'm not concerned about that I'm just I'm
just stating facts um it's time to get to work and we're going to bring that we're going to
bring that cup home buddy absolutely man he was too nervous to sit around the house so he
left you know snuck out the back way and went on this long walk and uh and asked Jill to film
it he said I hope this works maybe you could use it and it was like the greatest thing ever and
when we realized that we got it it was like it was just relief for everybody because I think
if he felt confident that he was getting the pick or had tipped his hand or someone you know he
found out he would have let our cameras in there he would have wanted to see that but he was too
nervous he didn't think it was going to happen and then about 4 hours later he sends me a picture
with him with a giant largemouth bass and that's how he went fishing to celebrate uh and so you are
seeing for the first time ever an extremely real extremely dramatic Moment Like captured in ver and
the scene almost plays out in about the amount of time that it went down uh and so for us to kind of
hinge an entire season which we've been building to on this 120-minute period yeah after it was
over I was like I just like I think I just sat down on a couch just was like I can't believe
we got it and now you know let's go to Rome [Music]