"So I just happen to be listening to one of my favorite podcasts, and I'm a golf nerd and to further that, a golf gear nerd…And they announced that the one guy on the podcast, a guy by the name of Andrew Tursky, who was then the senior editor for equipment at GOLF Magazine, was going to be leaving and going to a different outlet. And they literally announced, 'Hey, we're gonna be putting this job opening on LinkedIn,' and I remember Jon Wall, the managing editor for equipment was like, 'I know I'm gonna regret this,' he says on the podcast…I'd never heard of a job opportunity, someone finding out of a job opportunity because of a podcast, but that's what I did."
"This was January 2022. I knew a guy by the name of Michael Bamberger, who is generally considered the 'dean' of the golf writing beat. If you want to look up great golf writers of our generation, that's Michael Bamberger… I got to know him because we played the same golf club in Philly. (I) emailed him like 'Hey, can I get this guy's contact, because I hear they have his job opening?' And he says, 'Sure, here you go, good luck.'"
"So I ended up doing an interview with Jonathan Wall, who is the managing editor for equipment at GOLF Magazine, who then tossed me over to my current boss, a guy by the name of Alan Bastable, who's our executive editor here. And everything seemed to be going great, but then I didn't hear anything for a couple months… So I started looking for other jobs in television at that time."
"I was only about a year and a half into my three year contract. So I started applying to these stations in the top-100 markets for sports jobs, and I was actually getting really good interest."
"And so the stations… Both of them kind of say, 'hey, we'd like to hire you, but we're gonna need written permission from your station that you can be released from your contract.'"
"So I went, asked my boss to be released from my contract… A week later, they said, 'nope.'"
"It was just like everything happens for a reason, because that afternoon, I got emailed again by my current boss, [who] said, 'Hey, we'd like you to do two more interviews.' I did two more interviews, they went great… And then eventually, I think like a month later, around the time of the Masters, this was now April, they come to me and say 'Hey, you know, we're really sorry, that position that you've applied for is no longer available… However, we really enjoyed talking with you, we really liked you, we like your stuff. We think there's a place for you here and we're going to be creating a new position in the coming months, and you're at the top of the list for it.'"
"And then a couple of weeks later, I'm actually getting on a plane to go to a golf trip in Scotland, and my boss calls me and says, 'Hey, we were ready to offer you this position,' and that was kind of it."
"This was January 2022. I knew a guy by the name of Michael Bamberger, who is generally considered the 'dean' of the golf writing beat. If you want to look up great golf writers of our generation, that's Michael Bamberger… I got to know him because we played the same golf club in Philly. (I) emailed him like 'Hey, can I get this guy's contact, because I hear they have his job opening?' And he says, 'Sure, here you go, good luck.'"
"So I ended up doing an interview with Jonathan Wall, who is the managing editor for equipment at GOLF Magazine, who then tossed me over to my current boss, a guy by the name of Alan Bastable, who's our executive editor here. And everything seemed to be going great, but then I didn't hear anything for a couple months… So I started looking for other jobs in television at that time."
"I was only about a year and a half into my three year contract. So I started applying to these stations in the top-100 markets for sports jobs, and I was actually getting really good interest."
"And so the stations… Both of them kind of say, 'hey, we'd like to hire you, but we're gonna need written permission from your station that you can be released from your contract.'"
"So I went, asked my boss to be released from my contract… A week later, they said, 'nope.'"
"It was just like everything happens for a reason, because that afternoon, I got emailed again by my current boss, [who] said, 'Hey, we'd like you to do two more interviews.' I did two more interviews, they went great… And then eventually, I think like a month later, around the time of the Masters, this was now April, they come to me and say 'Hey, you know, we're really sorry, that position that you've applied for is no longer available… However, we really enjoyed talking with you, we really liked you, we like your stuff. We think there's a place for you here and we're going to be creating a new position in the coming months, and you're at the top of the list for it.'"
"And then a couple of weeks later, I'm actually getting on a plane to go to a golf trip in Scotland, and my boss calls me and says, 'Hey, we were ready to offer you this position,' and that was kind of it."
