Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. Well,
Speaker 1: we're joined right now by a champion, No, not a
Speaker 1: Dodger World champion, but a champion of the US Open,
Speaker 1: a proud man from San Demos and everybody was so
Speaker 1: happy for him from San Demos and raging waters all
Speaker 1: the way to Dodger Stadium in Alvera Street because he
Speaker 1: is a huge Dodger fan and he had his Dodgers
Speaker 1: scorebook out as he was on his way to winning
Speaker 1: the US Open. And that is the one and only
Speaker 1: JJ spawn JJ. Thanks a lot for calling in.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, hey, David, Yeah, no problem, Thanks for having
Speaker 2: me on last to be on the phone with you.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's meant to be the Dodgers winning the World
Speaker 1: Series in twenty four and a Dodger fan named JJ
Speaker 1: Spahn winning the US Open this year.
Speaker 2: I know, right, Yeah, It's been an incredible year for me.
Speaker 2: And you know, to backup World Series win for the
Speaker 2: city of La with the twenty twenty five US Open, I'm,
Speaker 2: you know, super humbled and proud to be the US
Speaker 2: Open and you know, keep that trophy in Southern California. JJ.
Speaker 1: I spotted your score book with the leather Dodger cover
Speaker 1: on it, and that kind of tipped us all off
Speaker 1: that you're a big Dodger fan. Have you had that
Speaker 1: score book a long time or was that special for
Speaker 1: the US Open.
Speaker 2: I've actually had it for a really long time. My
Speaker 2: father in law does an annual Christmas gift for me
Speaker 2: where he gives me a new yardage book cover, so
Speaker 2: we carry yardage book covers that has all the course
Speaker 2: notes in it, and you know, with community and rain
Speaker 2: and stuff, it gets wet, so you usually have a
Speaker 2: leather cover and people like to personalize there. So my
Speaker 2: father in law has always put a Dodger's theme on it.
Speaker 2: I have a World Series one, but the authentic Dodgers
Speaker 2: one has been my favorite for the last few years.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's been in my back pocket, you know,
Speaker 2: for the last four or five years, and it's definitely
Speaker 2: part of, you know, my my lucky routine, my lucky
Speaker 2: charm for for me on the course.
Speaker 1: That's really special. And you know, we we saw your
Speaker 1: Instagram page where a couple of years ago you actually
Speaker 1: showed up at Chase Field to take a photo with
Speaker 1: Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman. Do you have a favorite Dodger.
Speaker 1: How long have you been a Dodger fan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I've I've been a Dodger fan since
Speaker 2: I can remember, you know, really young. My grandfather used
Speaker 2: to hold season tickets and would treat us to games,
Speaker 2: you know, weekly or monthly whenever we could get out
Speaker 2: of school and stuff during the week. But yeah, I've
Speaker 2: always been, you know, a huge Dodger fan. It really
Speaker 2: kind of escalated and you know my high school and
Speaker 2: college years during the you know, Manny Ramirez Andres You're
Speaker 2: Matt Camp, you know, Era and Kersh. So that's kind
Speaker 2: of when it really grew into a passion for me.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you know, like it's it's such a great
Speaker 2: organization and the there's so many great players that come
Speaker 2: through it's hard to just pick one. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: was fun to see Mooki and Freddie. Actually Mooky was
Speaker 2: my pro am partner at the Pebble Beach pro am
Speaker 2: three years ago, so that was that was a great
Speaker 2: treat to, you know, get to play fifty four holes
Speaker 2: with him and get to know him a little bit.
Speaker 2: So we've kept in touch a little bit here and
Speaker 2: there throughout the years in between, and it's been fun.
Speaker 2: So it's nice to have, you know, a connection with
Speaker 2: with some players that are on the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Did Mookie Betts send you a text after you won
Speaker 1: the US Open?
Speaker 2: Yes, he sure did. Yeah, and his his wife texted
Speaker 2: my wife and they were super very nice and co
Speaker 2: graduating and you know, we we've got some plans up,
Speaker 2: you know, up our sleeves in the future to come
Speaker 2: out to Dodge Stadium make some things happen. So, uh yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a very exciting time to uh, you know, be
Speaker 2: a Dodger fan and and also get to share it
Speaker 2: with all my friends. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: JJ Spahn, the US Open champion, and a kid from
Speaker 1: San Dimas is joining us just ahead a first pitch
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and Rockies. All right, JJ, So if
Speaker 1: I had to tell you you could wear one player's
Speaker 1: jersey while playing a championship tournament, would it be Ethier,
Speaker 1: would it be Kemp, would it be Mookie Betts? Who
Speaker 1: would it be?
Speaker 2: I would have to go with I think I just
Speaker 2: have to go with Kersh just because he's like the franchise,
Speaker 2: you know, I like, I like to nickname him the franchise.
Speaker 2: He's the face you had just been through it all.
Speaker 2: He's been a champion, he's you know, been such a
Speaker 2: key role player for this team. I'd kind of you know,
Speaker 2: I have a soft spot for curse, so i'd be
Speaker 2: wearing twenty two.
Speaker 1: So tomorrow he'll take the mound here at Coors Field,
Speaker 1: only eight strikeouts away from three thousand. Will you be
Speaker 1: able to watch tomorrow start?
Speaker 2: Yes, of course gotta watch that. I gotta you know,
Speaker 2: obviously Dad route teens with putting the kids to sleep
Speaker 2: and stuff. Well, I guess it's an early game, right midday, so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, one o'clock game tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm resting, relaxing, so you know, I got all
Speaker 2: the time to kill after the last two weeks of golf,
Speaker 2: and it's kind of nice to veg out on the
Speaker 2: couch and watch some baseball. So I'll definitely be watching.
Speaker 1: Love it JJ. I got to ask you this, since
Speaker 1: you're such a big Dodger fan, where were you when
Speaker 1: Freddie Freeman hit his walk off Grand Slam against the
Speaker 1: Yankees last year?
Speaker 2: That's actually a really cool question. I was. I was
Speaker 2: in Tokyo, actually Tokyo, Japan, playing the Zozo. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: was playing the Zozo Championship over in Marita, Tokyo, and
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. I was walking, so it was at
Speaker 2: the time, it was probably ten eleven am in Japan time,
Speaker 2: so you know, back home in the evening, and I
Speaker 2: was in the middle of my round. So I was
Speaker 2: pulling out my phone during that game and seeing happened,
Speaker 2: and you know, I saw it was bomb of the ninth.
Speaker 2: You know, a couple strikeouts are a couple outs and
Speaker 2: faces loaded, and so I had to put my phone away.
Speaker 2: I went to hit my shot and then pulled the
Speaker 2: phone back out like five minutes later on the green
Speaker 2: and it's a game over, and you know, to see that,
Speaker 2: you know, update on my phone, but not the actual
Speaker 2: play was created kind of like freaked out in the
Speaker 2: middle of my round. But I was able to see
Speaker 2: the highlights afterwards, which was super cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a unique story from a very unique lifestyle.
Speaker 1: US Open champion JJ's spawn is our guest. All right,
Speaker 1: since you are a big Dodger fan, would you mind
Speaker 1: answering a question for the all time LA Dodger home
Speaker 1: run leader Eric Carross. Are you good with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, not a problem.
Speaker 1: He sent me a text he wants to know what
Speaker 1: your go to calm yourself before a huge shot or putt.
Speaker 1: Is Is there a song? Is there a verse? Is
Speaker 1: there a saying how do you calm yourself down in
Speaker 1: that big moment like you did in the US Open?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Great question. I think the best thing for me
Speaker 2: to for me to you know, approach big pressure shots
Speaker 2: or putts, is I like to tell myself that I've
Speaker 2: done this a million times, Like whether it's a tea shot,
Speaker 2: you know, I've hit a million of these tea shots.
Speaker 2: I've hit a million of these three footers. I can't
Speaker 2: say I've hit a million sixty four footers and made them,
Speaker 2: but but I have, you know, done everything in between.
Speaker 2: And I think kind of putting that mindset you know,
Speaker 2: before you hit your shot and kind of helps you
Speaker 2: get into your routine and kind of, you know, dumbs
Speaker 2: down the moment of how how big of a moment
Speaker 2: it is, and takes a lot of the pressure off
Speaker 2: by just saying You've done this millions of times, because
Speaker 2: you know, whether it's practice or other tournaments beforehand, the
Speaker 2: best thing to do is just think of it as
Speaker 2: as another swing and another shot kind of like you know, Freddy.
Speaker 2: You know he had to hit it, he hit that
Speaker 2: Grand Slam, But I'm sure he's up there thinking, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is a huge moment, but it's just another at bat.
Speaker 1: No doubt. That's how you got to keep yourself in
Speaker 1: the moment, be where your feed are, and JJ spawn
Speaker 1: certainly did that a couple of weeks ago winning the
Speaker 1: US Open. Can't wait to see you at Dodgers Stadium.
Speaker 2: JJ.
Speaker 1: All the best to you between then and now, and
Speaker 1: who knows, you may see JJ spawn somewhere in San
Speaker 1: Dimas between then as well. Thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 1: JJ appreciate it, of
Speaker 2: Course, David, Yeah, thanks for having me on and go Dodgers.