On the Monday of Open week We were lucky enough to be able to speak to Australian PGA tour winner Lucas Herbert. Visiting the "Open House" put on by adidas, we chatted to Lucas about his preparations leading up to the event, how it feels to be part of such a historic major, and we got to know the likeable Aussie a little better as we got involved with a bit of basketball at the "buckets and bunkers" stand. 

 

Scottsdale Golf (SG): How is it being here in St Andrews for the 150th Open?
Lucas Herbert (LH): Its pretty cool, adidas house here, I wasn't expecting a set up like this but its pretty cool.  

 

SG: Have you been out on the course yet today?
LH: I went out the last couple of days, but not today. A day off today, I'll probably be there tomorrow.

SG: What's your prep for an event like this? What've you been doing? Anything you want to work on or change?
LH: I think just hitting it low this week, in the wind. Keeping it low there, running it up on to some of these greens.

SG: Do you think there's going to be many drivers off the tee?
LH: I think so yeah, I think its going to be a low winning score so you've got to get pretty aggressive.

SG: I mean, the conditions, as the winds just picked up, it doesn't look like we've got any rain, which is good, the wind isn't too bad so it should be a great week and very special at St Andrews.
LH: No rain is going to be good for the arcade games sitting outside here too! 

 

SG: So what's it like being here at the 150th Open at the home of golf, is it more special than any other majors? Opens at different venues?
LH: Its pretty special, this one was circled on my calendar for a long time, even just figuring out a way I could qualify. I think at the end of last year, November last year, I got the tap on the shoulder to say yeah, you've qualified and I dont think I've celebrated that hard for getting in to an event before. I was so happy. Yeah when I got told I was really, really, happy because its such a special experience, St Andrews is an amazing place.

SG: Have you played here much before competitively?
LH: Yeah I've played here a couple of times. I've played the Dunhill a couple of times and I've played the St Andrews links trophy when I was an amateur, I think I've been to the town nearly every year, you've got to come to St Andrews every year. To be back for an Open is very, very, cool.

SG: Enough about golf, lets play some basketball! Are you any good at basketball?
LH: No. You know what, I'm going to set low expectations and over deliver.

We then got underway with a "Truth or Dare to tell us" game in which if a shot was made, Lucas got to answer a truth question, however, if the shot was missed a dare question would follow. After whiffing the first shot, Lucas informed us that basketball wasn't his choice of sport back home when he was growing up.

SG: What was your sport outside of golf obviously?
LH: Australian rules football or cricket back in Australia. Basketball wasn't that big, so we just never got in to it.

SG: What is your guilty pleasure?
LH: I'm a big sweet tooth, so you'll get me with anything sweet. If you throw a desert menu at me and there's a wall of chocolate cake on there or something, then yeah.

SG: What's the go to dessert if you could only pick one?
LH: Chocolate. If you go if you go something like a fudge cake or something like that, yeah. I cant even pick one, anything with chocolate and I'm a sucker.
SG: You and me both!

LH: I need to get you with a truth question.
SG: Were getting closer to be fair! 

 

SG: Most embarrassing thing you have done?
LH: Most embarrassing thing that's not going to get me in trouble... I think its always a bit embarrassing when someone waves at you and you wave back and they're looking at the person behind you, there's no coming back from that. With golf too you meet a lot of people and sometimes you see people and you know who that is but you cant remember their name or you've probably met that person before...yeah.

SG: You've just got to accept the wave and move on.
LH: Yeah exactly, pretend it was you and dont even show that you know it wasn't for you.

SG: Okay, shall we move a little bit forward, the ladies tee's?
LH: This is an insult, you're going to have to give me a layup.

SG: Truth question now. Who's the most famous person in your phone?
LH: I'm gonna say, the late, great, Shane Warne. Yeah, that's going to stay in there for a while.

LH: Can I move back to the white tee's now?
SG: Yeah, lets go back. 

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SG: If you weren't a pro golfer what would you do?
LH: I'd be a caddy! I reckon about 14 years old I worked out that nothing from my schooling career was going to be useful for what I was going to do as a job.

SG: Have you caddied when you were younger? How did you get in to golf?
LH: I've never caddied professionally or for money or anything like that but when I've done it for friends and stuff I've really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed trying to pass on my experiences from the golf course to just help with little things here or there. I can get quite geeky with the preparing for a golf course side of things of like where to hit it and what lines to hit and everything like that, its almost hard for me to give that up and leave things to my caddy now, I actually enjoy that side of things, its just too time consuming. Yeah I really enjoy all of that stuff so I could be a caddy.

SG: So still involved in golf then!
LH: The problem is, I would never turn up on time, I'd miss so many tee times. 

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SG: That's 3 for 3!
LH: Now I'm starting to look a little bit better.

SG: You can invite 3 people, dead or alive, to dinner. Who are you inviting?
LH: Id love to talk to John Mayer, over dinner, about how he plays guitars and his watch collection so I think he's getting an invite. I mean Tiger would be such a good answer but I feel like id want someone with even more stories like a John Daly or someone, just yeah, just with some stories to add in on top. I think id want want maybe someone from politics, maybe like an old president or prime minister of Australia, I'll go with Bob Hawke, old prime minister of Australia.

SG: How would he get on with John Daly?
LH: He could out drink john Daly I reckon, all night. Bobs an Australian icon, you could put him up on the big screen at the cricket, and he would neck a beer, that's like his signature thing. Nobody remembers what he did as a prime minister but he'll skull a beer at the cricket and everyone loves him for that. 

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SG: So, your most prized posession? Something you never leave the house without?
LH: I mean, my phones a pretty obvious one!

SG: These days you cant go anywhere without your phone.
LH: Its glued to my hip. I would say this (Bracelet) one of my mates sent it to me last year when I was away from home a lot, and it was kind of a joke at the start and I started wearing it a lot.

SG: Does that come to your tournaments then?
LH: Yeah I wear it all the time, I dont know, its a bit of a grounding thing, makes you not forget where I came from back home so that's probably the most significant thing I've got for you.

 
Lucas went on to compete throughout the weekend, making the cut in a stacked field, eventually finishing a respectable T15 alongside players like Adam Scott and Xander Schauffele. It was an absolute pleasure to get to know Lucas both as a professional golfer and on a more personal level. We could have stayed chatting to Lucas all night, such was his friendly and engaging nature. All of us at Scottsdale Golf wish Lucas nothing but success in the future and hope we can catch up soon!

 

 

 

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